Ariel Publicity

Bob Baker is an author, indie musician and former music magazine editor dedicated to showing musicians of all kinds how to get exposure, connect with fans, sell more music, and make more money. He is a touring speaker and the author of The Guerrilla Music Marketing Handbook, MySpace Music Marketing, and Unleash the Artist Within.
www.bob-baker.com/

Jed Carlson is Co-Founder and COO of ReverbNation, a company that provides Music 2.0 marketing technology to Artists, Labels, Managers, and Venues. He holds degrees in economics and environmental studies from Bowdoin College, and an MBA from Duke University. Past ventures include The Carlson Print Group, a commercial printing and packaging company, and SmartPrint, a division of CD manufacturer AmericDisc Inc, that enabled “on-demand” CD manufacturing for indie record labels.
www.ReverbNation.com

Randy Chertkow & Jason Feehan are the authors of The Indie Band Survival Guide: The Complete Manual For The Do-It-Yourself Musician and The DIY Music Manual: How To Record, Promote and Distribute Your Music Without A Record Deal . They’re also founders of the free and open musician resource, IndieGuide.
www.indieguide.com

Corey Denis has been pioneering digital music marketing for 10 years using everything from ListServs & forums to social networks and MMORPGs. She got her music industry start at What Are Records? where her future thinking & innovative online marketing increased sales and broadened fanbases for Frank Black, Stephen Lynch, Maceo Parker, The Samples, & more. She moved to San Francisco in 2005 to work at IODA where she helped create and market Promonet, before leading the marketing efforts as VP of Marketing at digital distributor reapandsow. Her current consulting clients include SonicLiving, and Opus Music Ventures among others.

http://notshocking.com/?page_id=5

Christina Duren is the PR Director for Ariel Publicity’s Cyber PR Campaigns and co-founder of Cyber PR Urban (the urban division of the company). She started her music career as an intern at Island Def Jam where she spent a year in the Radio and Promotions/ Publicity department working with with Mariah Carey, Rihanna and Ne-Yo. From there she took her first real job at Shore Fire Media working campaigns for The Roots, and Heineken Red Star Soul Tour.
www.cyberprurban.com

Christopher Gesualdi is the Marketing Director at Ariel Publicity & Cyber PR a New York based digital firm that connects artists, authors and filmmakers to blogs, podcasts, Internet radio stations and Social Media sites. His focus is on Social Media strategy and Marketing plan implementation for all Cyber PR Campaign clients.
www.cyberprmusic.com

Rick Goetz is an entertainment professional with deep roots in the music industry. He has been an A&R representative at major labels like Atlantic and Elektra, a music supervisor for independent films and national TV campaigns and has played bass for Grammy award winning musicians. He is currently a music consultant and musician coach and can be found at www.musiciancoaching.com

Rob Gordon As Director of A&R at EMI, Rob brought the Red Hot Chili Peppers and Queensryche to international stardom. In 1991 Rob founded W.A.R.? – What Are Records? which has released over 140 albums since, including Stephen Lynch, Jonathan Coulton, The Samples, Frank Black, Maceo Parker, David Wilcox, Tim Finn, Sally Taylor, The Ocean Blue, and Glenn Tilbrook. W.A.R.? led marketing for the HORDE tour 1993-1995. In 2007 Rob founded United Interests to round out W.A.R.?’s Career Development team. Rob consults and speaks worldwide on topics ranging from Music to alternative energy to complementary currencies to sustainable city building.
www.whatarerecords.com

Ariel Hyatt is the founder of Ariel Publicity & Cyber PR a New York based digital firm that connects artists, authors and filmmakers to blogs, podcasts, Internet radio stations and social media sites. Educating musicians is her passion and her philosophy is: combine social media with Internet marketing to help artists grow their fanbases and increase their income. This is the subject of her book: Music Success in Nine Weeks which has helped hundreds of musicians navigate the Social Media landscape and it is available at Amazon. She is a proud contributor to Music Think Tank.
www.arielpublicity.com

Tom Jackson is the #1 Live Music Producer in the industry. When recording, you need a record producer. But with your live show, you need a Live Music Producer to make it the best it can be! Tom has developed the Live Music Method, an onstage method that makes your live show engaging and memorable, exceeding audiences’ expectations, creating fans for life.
www.onstagesuccess.com

Erik Philbrook is AVP of Marketing Media for ASCAP and serves as Editor in Chief of Playback, the Society’s magazine, in addition to creating audio/ video, editorial and other content for ASCAP’s website, social media channels and the ASCAP “I Create Music” EXPO. He is also a songwriter and bassist for the indie roots rock band The Brilliant Mistakes.
www.thebrilliantmistakes.com/

Lou Plaia – After 15+ years at Atlantic and Lava Records, Lou decided to start a new style of music marketing company which required an odd blend of music expertise and technology. ReverbNation launched on October 31, 2006. And it now serves 475,000+ Artists, Labels, Managers, Venues/Promoters and other Music Industry Pros with a complete solution for fan management, promotion, distribution, direct-to-fan commerce, and analytics. ReverbNation’s mission is to uncover value for the musician. In addition to providing core business services, we seek to create new revenue streams for its users.
www.ReverbNation.com

Michele Samuel is the principal of Beautiful Day Entertainment and works alongside artists building foundations to create artist to fan relationships for a long term career path. Methods have included fan financed music production, touring and promotion, mobile text list building, and fan generated bookings. Her clients include Shane Hines and Corey Smith.
www.facebook.com/michelesamuel

Tom Silverman is the founder, chairman and CEO of the record label Tommy Boy Records. He also co-founded and co-organizes the New Music Seminar, which ran from 1980 to 1995 and which he relaunched in 2009 as a more frequent, touring event. Mr. Silverman serves on the boards of RIAA, SoundExchange, the American Association of Independent Music (A2IM and its predecessors NAIRD/AFIM), and Merlin Network. He previously served on the boards of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and the Dance Music Hall of Fame, plus the NARM Manufacturer’s Advisory Board. Silverman received the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences Heroes Award in 2000.
www.newmusicseminar.biz

Derek Sivers is best known as the founder of CD Baby. After he won the 2003 World Technology Award, Esquire Magazine’s annual “Best and Brightest” cover story said, “Derek Sivers is changing the way music is bought and sold… one of the last music-business folk heroes.” In 2008, Derek sold CD Baby to focus on his new ventures to benefit musicians. His current projects and writings are all at http://sivers.org

Emily White is a principal at Whitesmith Entertainment, a full-service talent management firm based in Los Angeles, New York, and Boston spanning the music, comedy, film, and TV industries. They work with artists who have a unique voice, style and meaning to their fans. Whitesmith balances a youthful edge while maintaining a deep knowledge within the fields of touring, merchandising, online marketing, social networking, branding, sponsorship, as well as physical and non-traditional content releases.
www.whitesmithentertainment.com

MUSICIANS

Jonathan Coulton is an American singer-songwriter, famous for his songs containing themes of geek culture as well as his rise to popularity through the use of the Internet. Coulton’s best known works include his light-acoustic cover of the Sir Mix-a-Lot hit song “Baby Got Back” and original pieces such as “Still Alive”, the theme song for the video game Portal, and “Code Monkey”, which has been featured on Slashdot. (From Wikipedia)

http://www.jonathancoulton.com

Matthew Ebel is a piano rocker who’s been called a pioneer and a leader in independent music. Growing up in Washington State, he began playing piano and singing at age 5. Since then he’s released multiple albums, backed up major-label stars in Nashville, and launched his own subscription site using cutting-edge technology.
www.matthewebel.net

Carla Lynne Hall is a musician and music marketing consultant based in New York City. Her latest CD SUPERNOVA has been described as “Norah Jones meets Sade for tea on the their way to visit The Beatles.” In addition to releasing three CDs on her own label, she has also spent a number of years behind the scenes in the music industry, in publishing, management, publicity, and radio promotion. She is the author of The DIY Guide to the Music Biz, and is also the former music business columnist for Vibe Magazine. Carla also blogs about the life of an indie musician.

http://RockStarLifeLessons.com

Derek Nicoletto is currently working on his first solo album due out in 2010, after two acclaimed years as lead singer and songwriter for Telling on Trixie, the “indie rock powerhouse” (Skope Magazine). Derek’s music has been featured in 11 national TV programs and commercials. He has performed for more than 3 million people live on Sirius Radio. As a TV host, Derek has conducted hundreds of artist-on-artist interviews for MTV LOGO’s New Now Next program, ranging from Margaret Cho, Ludo, The Decemberists, Girl in a Coma and Amanda Palmer. As social media fanatic, he maintains sites on YouTube/, Facebook/, Myspace/, Twitter/dereknicoletto
www.dereknicoletto.com

Phil Putnam is an indie singer/ songwriter and recording artist whose piano-pop/rock style places him in the good company of fellows like Elton John, Tori Amos, and David Gray. He has released seven albums in the past eight years, with his most recent release “Casualties” presenting several hit singles and earning him the honor of having the longest-running video in the history of MTV’s LOGO Network. Recognized for his keen sense of music business, publicity, and social networking for indie artists, he has become an indie music business go-to guy. Also an author, his daily column “Ask Mr. Moxie” can be read on moxieq.com as well as all Sprint and Boost Mobile PDA’s worldwide.
www.philputnam.com

Dudley Saunders is a direct descendant of Daniel Boone. This “experimental folk” artist began singing his “surreal, modern folk tales” (Village Voice) to New York audiences in the early 90s. Full of talking corpses, insane women in rain-swept truck stops, the songs were (and are) an unnerving mix of mysterious-sounding folk and pop, making for a sound The New York Times calls “hallucinatory”. His most recent album, The Emergency Lane, was named one of the year’s Ten Best by Frontiers, Next Big Thing and RobKast Radio. He is currently recording his fourth album in Los Angeles.
www.dudleysaunders.com

Jennie Walker is a New York based singer, songwriter and charity fundraiser. Her debut album, “It’s My Time” was Co-written with Tommy Faragher, Grammy Nominee and 12-time platinum selling producer. Jennie is releasing her much anticipated album on December 10, 2009 on UK based Maddie Records. When not in the studio, Jennie is active in the music industry and in non-profit and charity fundraising endeavors. She is a member of the prestigious Artists Against Hunger & Poverty Program World Hunger Year. Jennie will be donating a percentage of the proceeds of her album to WHY, The Carter Center, Columbus State University, and The Synergos Institute.
www.jenniewalker.com

Jason Walsmith is the co-founder of the band The Nadas and Authentic Records. The Nadas are a Des Moines, IA based band that have been together for16 years, touring the country and independently releasing successful records. Authentic Records is a cultivator of fine musical artists from the heartland and the rest of the country, who may otherwise go “under-noticed.” Authentic‘s goal is to help bring these artists‘ music to the masses, with a focus on not only building individual careers, but also building a community of artists helping artists.
www.thenadas.com

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To check out what’s playing on the Chillcast go to AnjiBee.com

Q: How did the Chillcast get its start?

A: I guess you could say The Chillcast got its start with college radio DJ’ing. After 3 years of doing various shows and working in management at a college radio station, I was pretty well hooked. Then I discovered Internet radio, and started creating both live and prerecorded Internet radio content – including interviews with indie bands like Hungry Lucy and Sunburn in Cyprus. Eventually podcasts were invented, and I put 2 and 2 together.

Podcasting was better than radio because listeners could tune in whenever was most convenient for them – which seemed really revolutionary! My first podcast was actually Chillin’ with Lovespirals, which Ryan and I launched to help promote our 2nd album, Free & Easy. Shortly after, I started getting permissions from indie band friends to create a weekly music show podcast – because you have to understand that at this time the podsafe music movement was barely getting started! Adam Curry had just begun his Podsafe Music Network — which is actually how he and I met and became friends, when Lovespirals joined the site. Adam played us on the Daily Source Code, and then we started talking back and forth on his podcast about Creative Commons vs BMI and all those kinds of things.

To make a long story a bit shorter, I put together a few fledgling episodes of The Chillcast, hosting them on the Internet Archive site and C.C. Chapman, who was really active with PodShow at the time, pitched the show to Adam and PodShow management, and I was signed as one of the first group of podcasters to the new PodShow Podcast Network.

Q: What have you learned from operating on both sides of the broadcasting world, as a podcaster and as a musician?

A: Good question. Podcasting is a great way to communicate with your fans, to give them a sense of who you are as a person, as well as to inform them of your latest projects. You can really build a sense of brethrenship, not only with your fans, but fellow indie musicians and fellow podcasters. Podcasts are more intimate than a newsletter, less time consuming than a forum, and both more immediate and long lasting than a personal appearance. I’m surprised more bands aren’t doing podcasts, actually.

Q: With over one million downloads of the Chillcast, what is the top tip you would give aspiring podcasters in terms of building such an impressive listenership?

A: Consistency. Being consistent with the quality, content, and output of your show is really important. Listeners want to know they can rely on you to provide whatever experience it is you’re providing on a regular schedule. If done well, your show becomes a part of your subscriber’s life that they look forward to, and you don’t want to let them down!

Q: Chillin’ with the Lovespirals was one of the earliest band podcasts, what was the impetus behind such inspiration and foresight?

A: Well I mentioned this briefly in your earlier question, but the idea was to share information about the new album we were releasing, and what better way to promote an album than with the music itself? We had shared audio interviews we’d done with radio stations in mp3 format on music sites for years, so I knew people liked to listen to us talk about our music and band experiences. We have all the recording gear here at our disposal, so it just seemed logical to produce our own audio content and make it available via our site. We had fun doing it, too. At that time, iTunes was just launching their podcast directory, so getting listed on that was a real thrill.

Q: Why should a band be PodSafe?

A: Podcasts are a very low cost promotional tool. Unlike radio, it’s very easy to break into the podcasting world. There are still relatively few bands vying for attention on podcasts. If your music is good, you’re bound to get noticed. And podcast subscribers are truly interested in music. These are the cutting edge people who have sought out an alternative form of entertainment; they’re serious. If they like something they hear on a show, they actually go out and buy it. I get email and comments all the time about buying music from my shows — in fact, I got one this week from a guy who was sad that Sun Dula Amen wasn’t on iTunes yet, because he wanted to buy it! And of course, I know for a fact that I sell my own CDs from podcasts, I see the proof from orders on the Lovespirals Webstore.

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http://www.15secondpitch.com

Branding yourself both online and offline will really set up this coming year to be a break through one for your musical career.

To do this you must start with the most fundamental aspect of you as an artist: Your Pitch!

Two things happened recently to inspire this article.

Scenario #1: I was out at the Mercury Lounge seeing music and between bands I was standing at the bar talking to some friends and someone handed me a show flyer. I was taken with him immediately, I always appreciate anyone who is self –promoting because its not easy to do and it’s especially not easy to do at a crowded bar on a Wednesday night in downtown Manhattan. So, I looked down at the flyer and my heart sank. It said the following:

Name of artist (name is not mentioned to protect the innocent)
Venue (which was the Mercury, where I was)
Date & showtime

There I was, a perfectly primed potential fan, a customer, standing at a bar, out at a live music show, and he lost me forever. Why?

Because not one sentence was included about what genre of music this artist played much less what his music sounded like, who he was compared to (sound alike). In other words what I could expect by coming out to his show. In short I had no idea what this artist sounded like.

That was an opportunity totally LOST. Unbeknown to him he also handed his flyer to one of the most successful entertainment attorneys I know who was in the middle of signing 6 artists to record deals, an A&R executive and one of the best booking agents in the business.

We all looked down at the flyers in our hands, shrugged and carried on with the conversation we were having. He had totally BLOWN it.

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I’m writing this while flying over the ocean on my way back from an extraordinary week in Reykjavik, Iceland. The land of fire and ice has long been on my list of dream places to visit since I fell in love with The Sugarcubes’ “Birthday.” As a freshman in college, I used to put that song on repeat and imagine a far away land where the sounds were coming from.

I went because I was invited to participate in a music conference called “You Are In Control,” a two-day conference produced by the Icelandic Music Export. Fabulously, it coincided with Iceland Airwaves, one of Europe’s most celebrated music festivals. I arrived in Iceland the very week the world had all eyes on them and it was being reported that the country is going bankrupt. Their tiny population of only 300,000 people are no doubt headed for some very rough times. Many people, if not all, will be affected in some way.

Here is what stood out most for me: The creative community. My guide-book pointed out that Icelanders have a rich cultural heritage, and a “impossibly high literacy rate.” It claimed that most young Icelanders play in a band, write poetry, or create some form of visual art. From what I could see, this seems true. Such a small population forces deep community.

Throughout my visit on streets and in clubs, I spotted one of Iceland’s most well know musicians, Jónsi Birgisson’ the lead singer of Sigur Rós, who goes everywhere unmolested. I met many of Iceland’s most popular artists including members from the band Jeff Who, and had a great hang with them. One of them pointed out that even their prime minister works out at the local gym.

Another thing I noticed is all the artists and musicians played together in multiple projects. This level of co-collaboration breeds an incredibly rich community, and a serious flow of musical ideas. As I was heading for the airport, Terry McBride of Netwerk Management commented to Anna Hildur, the organizer of “You Are In Control,” that the level of talent that he witnessed in Iceland was very high, I couldn’t agree more.

I had the pleasure of speaking on panel with one Mugison an artist who newspaper Fréttabladid claims has released best album in Iceland this year. He is a hard working musician who told an amazing story of how he recently toured 13 dates through Canada and personally sold 2,500 CDs just by meeting his audiences and selling his CD directly to them.  I was floored.  Even though he was not officially playing Airwaves Festival I saw him repeatedly at other musician’s showcases and around town.

No one seemed to be in a panic or freaked out about the state of the financial situation in Iceland.  One taxi driver said to me when I asked if the crisis would affect him, “those who don’t anything in the beginning have nothing to lose in the end.” I met with a social media expert who I met through Twitter and he told me that he had lost all of his savings in less than one week, and then in the next breath he informed that he was going to be taking his entire family on a three week vacation to Disney World next month.  The boys from Jeff Who told me that their new album is supposed to be out by Airwaves but because of the credit crisis the masters were not released to the CD manufacturer on time and so the album was not ready.  Judging by how packed the music venues were and by the happy and appreciative audiences were behaving it felt to me that young Icelanders are takig it all in stride. Maybe they have more faith in their government than we do in the USA.  Definitely they are a hardy lot.

I know during times of crisis the only thing to look forward is the great art that comes out of it because of great suffering comes great art.  Mugison said on our panel and he’s got a point.  Here’s hoping that Iceland can quickly come through this crisis and I’m betting that there will be much more great art coming from them.

My Photos: http://tinyurl.com/IcelandAriel

Some of my new Icelandic favorites:

LayLow
http://www.myspace.com/baralovisa
Icelandís bluesiest chanteuse Lovisa Elisabet Sigrunardottir ñ a.k.a. LayLow – is ready with a new album. After setting worlds ablaze and topping the Icelandic charts with her 2006 debut ìPlease Donít Hate Me,î the unassuming starlet is back with a new record that continues her forays into traditional blues and country sounds.

Mugison
http://www.myspace.com/mugison
“If you dumped blues, power pop, psych rock and heavy metal into a transmogrifying machine, the machine would rumble mysteriously, then spit out a brightly colored block of a hitherto unimagined polymer known as Mugison.”
-    Paste Magazine

For a Minor Reflection
http://www.foraminorreflection.com/
The band For a Minor Reflection has been active for over two years now. It started as a hard rock duet in a small garage in Vesturbærinn, Reykjavík, then got into an indie rock trio which lasted for about a week or so, after that a blues quartet and then finally the type of band they are today, an instrumental post-rock quartet.

FM Belfast
http://www.myspace.com/fmbelfast
FM Belfast started out as a duo at Christmas 2005 when Arni R Hlodversson and Loa H Hjalmtysdottir made a song as a present for their friends. What was initially thought of as a studio concern became a live band in the summer of 2006 when Arni and Loa performed an art opening in a cave in the Faeroe Islands. Later that year Arni Vilhjalmsson and Orvar Th. Smarason joined the band. In October 2006 they played their first full concert at the Iceland Airwaves festival in Reykjavik
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Borko
http://www.myspace.com/borkoborko
Borko brings together melancholy and rhythm-machines in a unique way, playing on his passion for the repetitive and altogether explosive enthusiasm. It is a scintillating blend. Borko has been profilic in writing music for both theatre and modern dance as well as honing the art of “lifskunstner” to a frolicky science

Ólafur Arnalds
http://www.myspace.com/olafurarnalds
Ólafur Arnalds brings his unique classically inspired music to the clubs, warehouses, and festival stages. At only 21 years of age, Ólafur Arnalds is Iceland’s latest export. Having already sold out The Barbican Hall in London, toured major European festivals and having opened for Sigur Rós on their most recent European tour, the future seems bright for this young, extraordinary talent.

Klassart
http://www.myspace.com/fridaklassart
If you like the sound of Cowboy junkies or early Tom Waits you should not miss Klassart. Smári and Fríða Dís, brother and sister, are Klassart. Their 2007 debut CD, released by Geimsteinn, hit the stores and it is getting good reviews all over. Örlagablús, their Icelandic version of the Tom Waits song Invitation to the Blues, was one of the most popular tunes on local radio stations in the spring of 2007.

Event Details

• Speaker: Ariel Hyatt
• Date: Monday, November 22, 2010
• Time: 6:00pm
• City: Ariel Hyatt in Reykjavík
• Venue: Nordic House
• Address: Sturlugata 5, 101
• Country: IS
• Notes: Online Music Promotion Masterclass presented by Ariel.
• Add to Google Calendar | Download iCal

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