Ariel Publicity

30: Create Amazing Music – Recorded and Live

Creating amazing songs/music and putting on a killer live show. That is the number one thing an artist needs to do.
- Emily White

31: Record and Release (LOTS OF) Music

No excuse exists with today’s technology to wait for a label, manager, sugar daddy, etc. Write Write Write! Record Record Record! Release Release Release! Plan to release 20-30 songs PER YEAR for the first 3-5 years without any lulls. If you cannot write enough material, find co-writers (Plenty of musicians will not do #1 or #2, but still have great creativity to share with the world). Buy the basic recording gear and learn how to use it (take classes or just experiment!!). Use CD Baby, Tunecore, etc. to release your songs digitally. DO NOT even consider physical retail to start. If you manufacture your CDs, keep them simple. Stick with inexpensive packaging (great artwork is a plus). Use the money you save to buy some more gear or do some marketing. Way too many artists tell me that they spent all their money just getting an album recorded and manufactured. Spend no more than 30-40% of your available cash making / manufacturing music. If you cannot afford to manufacture, then wait. It is far more important that you record, release and play shows
- Rob Gordon

32: Experiment In Public

Speaking of being on my toes, I try to push my comfort level in plain sight. Sometimes I’ll produce a song in a style I’ve never really attempted before and release it to my subscribers at http://matthewebel.net -sometimes it flies, sometimes it doesn’t. My first attempt at Trance, a song called “Night Train”, has become one of the most requested songs I play at live shows now. It’s the first one people have openly talked about pirating. For something I originally downplayed as “just an experiment”, it’s now one of my biggest hits. I experiment onstage as well, trying new arrangements or even lyrics. My fans love knowing that they’re part of something spontaneous, that they’ve got a hand in shaping the very future of my music. Happy fans are vocal fans.
- Matthew Ebel

33: Don’t Be Afraid of Cover Songs And Legally Record Them

Tap into the popularity of better-known artists. Are you known for an awesome rendition of a popular song in your live shows? Great. Record a video of you doing it and post it on YouTube. Better yet, buy a license to record your own version and sell it on iTunes. Then use the video to send people to iTunes to buy the download.
- Bob Baker

Singer/songwriter Steve Acho realized that fans who love a particular song will often collect other versions of the favorites. After getting the proper publishing licenses, he would record new arrangements of songs popular by various artists, and release them on iTunes via TuneCore. When a song-collecting fan enjoyed one of his tunes, they would often also buy his originals.
- Carla Lynne Hall

34: Record Purposeful Specific Music: Appeal to Niches

Record an album to be used by a particular type of person for a very specific purpose. Like Steven Halpern’s “Music for Healing” or Richard Lawrence’s “Music for Concentration” of Bradley Joseph’s “Music Cats Love While You Are Gone.”
- Bob Baker

35: Create Solidly Crafted, Well-Produced, Mastered Broadcast-Quality Songs

Well-produced music will attract more listeners and media makers. People want to be associated with quality. So even if you are ridiculously talented, if you didn’t spend the time or money have your album properly produced, mixed and mastered it will be stopped at the door. You have to be willing to go into debt or come up with a creative way to raise funds to have your music fine-tuned in post production. It’s a step that should not be overlooked.
- Derek Nicoletto

36: Make Instrumental Mixes

Make mixes of your album without the lead and background vocals and throw your instrumental tracks into the licensing ring. It doubles your available catalog and opens up opps for shows that do not use vocal music. If your w/vocal mixes are already copy written (if they’re not, seriously, I will beat you senseless when I see you on the street), you don’t need to register these instrumental mixes separately because the music on them has already been registered. An instrumental placement won’t get your voice out there in TV land, but it could pay for your next EP.
- Phil Putnam

37: Think About Fan Financed Recordings / Projects

As the fan base grows, so does their desire to see an artist succeed. Last year, Shane wanted to record and went out to the fans for support. See www.teamtrance.com. This effort raised just over $34,000 in just 60 days.
- Michele Samuel

Telling on Trixie also leveraged Social Media and their fan base to raise $50,000 and record an entire album that was 100% fan funded www.tellingontrixie.com/news
- Ariel Hyatt

Return to Main Page

Click to continue...

Host of the PC Podcast, featuring eclectic music from around the world: http://pcpodcast.blogsome.com and The Dub Zone, featuring the very best dub reggae: http://thedubzone.blogsome.com and PCP{2}, a deeper look into the musical genres explored in PC Podcast: http://pcp2.blogsome.com

Plus he is the co-host of “Made In The UK”, featuring some of the very best UK music, for the world: http://madeintheukshow.co.uk and AMPed, the weekly digest of the Association of Music Podcasting at: http://musicpodcasting.org

Q: How can a podcaster become a part of Association of Music Podcasting (AMP)?

Firstly, you need to have produced at least 5 episodes of your podcast. We want to make sure you don’t “podfade” after your first couple of episodes. Secondly, all of the music must be http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Podsafe podsafe. AMP is about the music that doesn’t get airplay on mainstream radio. Unless artists have specifically made some of their music podsafe, we can’t play it. We also charge a small membership fee, which helps with hosting and other activities.

Most importantly you need to be good at podcasting. Before becoming a member, your podcast will be peer reviewed. We take into consideration the podcaster’s passion about their music, their broadcasting style, the quality of their broadcasting equipment, the quality of the music they play and even the sample rate they create the podcast at. Not everyone makes the grade.

Q: What is the background story on how AMP came about?

AMP’s history goes back to late 2004, long before I joined. Chris MacDonald, Derrick Oien, Bob Goyetche and Jason Evangelho all had important parts to play in setting up the association long before podcasting became a mainstream term. Back then, Apple was reluctant to accept music podcasts into their iTunes store, because they were worried about licensed music being freely distributed under their umbrella. AMP became the first association to offer Apple a “safe harbour” knowing that AMP member’s podcasts would be podsafe. AMP was also the first association to offer episodic downloadable media, and start creating a library of music. This library later went on to become a profit-making enterprise as the http://podsafemusicnetwork.com Podsafe Music Network.

AMP was, and remains, a non-profit making association, and after a hiatus in mid 2005, George Smyth got things moving again. After revamping the website and building some tools to automate the process of making a collective podcast, the AMPed podcast became a weekly event in the podosphere.

I joined the association in March 2006 and have been a regular contributor since then. Like many new members, initially I just submitted tracks to be played on AMPed, and occasionally became the host. More recently I’ve taken over a few more duties, like webmaster and membership secretary. Now many of the members have regular roles maintaining the podcast feed, making sure we all submit music on time, organizing the host rota and hosting the show. Everyone gets to do as much as they want to do. We’re a good team.

The best thing about the association is that we all have a voice. We’ve had some great suggestions from new members and old members alike and we keep moving forward.

Q: How do you go about choosing which shows to feature on http://amped.musicpodcasting.org/

Each podcaster can submit a track to AMPed each week. If everyone submitted a track the show would be 3 hours long, but we generally get enough submissions to fill a 40-60 minute show. It’s entirely up to the podcaster which tracks they want to play, but as they have only one track to chose, it means AMPed ends up being the best of the best. AMPed is also work and child safe.

The week’s host is the final arbiter of what tracks make the show, and the running order. All the hosts have a different style and like different kinds of music, so it’s as much of a journey of discovery for them as it is for the listeners. I’m sure some of the hosts groan when I’ve submitted a track sung in Russian or Cambodian, but hey, I like that stuff, and I think the listeners deserve to hear it. You don’t hear that on mainstream radio!

Q: How does AMP keep changing?

Every new podcaster brings a new perspective on how to promote their podcast and their favourite music. We have members who really understand Search Engine Optimization (SEO), and we’ve completely revamped out website, http://musicpodcasting.org to pull in all the latest information from our member’s blogs and podcasts, straight to our front page.

We have other members who are really passionate about social networking, be that via Facebook, Myspace or last.fm. We’ve recently started using Twitter to publicize when we have new podcasts available, and we’re looking at using Twiturm to “tweet” podcast “samplers” of the shows out to people on the move.

We also want to hear what our listeners have to say, so we’ve created a survey on the main page of our website http://musicpodcasting.org. They can tell us what they think of the show, what we do right, and what we should be doing better.

Q: What changes in content laws, broadcasting rights, etc. have affected any podcasters being able to air their music?

Back in 2004, there were no clear guidelines, but, as I mentioned, Apple was worried about allowing music podcasts into the iTunes store, especially after the legal ruling in the MyMP3.com case. Because all AMP podcasts were vouched podsafe, this gave Apple the solution they needed and all the AMP member podcasts were approved.

Since then, many content laws and broadcasting rights have been suggested, and these vary from country to country. AMP has always been international and we have podcasters based in the US, Canada, UK, Germany, Portugal, Australia and even Nepal, so it’s not easy to see which rules would apply. There are also more stringent rules for streaming services, than there are for podcast downloads, but as long as we keep within our guidelines of using podsafe music, we can continue producing podcasts.

Today there are a large number of resources that podcasters can use to get podsafe or Creative Commons licensed music, such as IODA Promonet, Magnatune, Jamendo and Music SUBMIT as well as the Podsafe Music Network, and, of course, Ariel Publicity. We also get music from other sources such as Myspace, last.fm and from the artists directly, but we do need to make sure the artist, manager, or label gives us permission first. Ariel Publicity is a great service for us, because we know all the hard work has been done beforehand and we can legally play the music.

Of course, nowadays everyone knows what a podcast is. When AMP first started, artists were quite unsure of our motives or even what a podcast was. It’s great to see some of the big artists like, Tom Waits, Bloc Party, Nick Cave or the Manic Street Preachers leading the way and making some tracks podsafe. This encourages up and coming artists to do the same.

Q: A recent study found blogs to be more effective than MySpace in generating album sales, do you feel that podcasts will have the same effect as well?

Absolutely! I wear a T-shirt that says “Podcasting Is Selling Music” and another one of our members talks about “Promotion Not Piracy”.

Myspace is great for artists to allow listeners to hear their music, but the listener has to go searching if they want to find something new. If you find a podcast that you like, you can let the podcaster be your guide. We’ve all heard from listeners that they’ve bought an album that they never expected to like because they’ve heard it first on a podcast.

I’ve played bands back in 2006 that none of my friends had heard of, and now they’re playing the main stage of the largest festivals in Europe. OK, that’s not all down to podcasting, but it’s part of the process. Mainstream radio only picks up on bands when they have a major record deal. Podcasters are playing the music months, even years before then.

If you want to hear something you’ve heard before by the Beatles or the Eagles, then feel free to go to Myspace or listen to mainstream radio. If you really want to hear something really new; something recorded this year, recorded yesterday, something that’s not even finished yet – then listen to a podcast!

Click to continue...

Six Steps to Maximize Your Conference Experience, Make More Music-Business Contacts, and Advance Your Music Career

Over my 13 years of attending SXSW I’ve seen plenty of bands who did get a coveted showcase and not only did they not get signed, but also they did not meet any key players in the business or benefit their careers in any way by showcasing.

Reasons for this included: They received awful showcase venues and times; they were busy loading and unloading gear, babysitting band members, or getting tanked at parties to make the journey worthwhile; or they opted for their measly $100 stipend instead of for the gold: the festival pass.

Here’s my musician’s South by Southwest survival guide to get your through one of the most massive and overwhelming conferences of the year. This guide is not just for SXSW; it’s also for any music conference out there!

Part of the trick is: Show up prepared. Know who will be attending and create some goals before you get there.

I believe all musicians should attend at least one music conference per year. They are expensive to get to. Think abut it this way: Music lessons were at one time expensive, and so was your equipment and those things are also vital for your career. Conferences are the best place to meet people who work in and around the music industry and are a relaxed environment to connect with vital people in.

For those of you who do not have connections in the music industry, going to a music conference is your chance. This is an annual business trip you should never miss!

Austin, Texas, a wonderful city, and its distractions are many. But, keep in mind that this is not a vacation. It’s a work-related learning experience, and with a little planning and foresight you can have a million-dollar conference.

STEP ONE: Before You Go, Get Connected! Get involved with some online communities that are SXSW-related.

Facebook Group:
www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=2307340129

MySpace Group:
www.myspace.com/sxsw

Ning Group:
www.sxsw.ning.com

Twitter:
When you get there: tweet!
www.twitter.com/sxsw

TIP: Use all of these sites and more social media sites to connect to individuals who may be attending as well.

LOCALS TIP: If you live in one of the towns that a conference is taking place in be helpful – offer advice on where to eat a good inexpensive meal in town, where to get an instrument repaired, find a rehearsal studio, good backline or offer up your couch and floor for a band to crash on.

SXSW site:
Use the SXSW Registrant Directory
www.regdir.sxsw.com/registrants/login

Get registered to the South by Southwest directory and go through and determine who you may want to meet before you arrive in Austin A producer? A publicist? A manager? An agent? Drop them a personal e-mail using the amazing South by Southwest interactive tools Web site and introduce yourself. If you are playing, invite people to come to your showcase. Also post messages on the blog (and if you do blog and Twitter about it before you go!)

STEP TWO: Bring Business Cards, Fizzkicks Cards & Postcards Go armed with business cards. If you over the age of 18, you should have a business card, especially at events like this. Your business card should not just have your name and number, but should have good information about what your band sounds like, your Myspace page, your Facebook, and links to any other places people might be able to find you online. A photo of you or a band logo would also be highly recommended.

I know what you are thinking! It is very easy to unsubscribe once signed up and so it’s not a ploy at all. You are providing a quality offer and you are askig for their email address in exchange for it.

I love Fizzkicks cards because they double as a business card and a music-download card – www.fizzkicks.com

TIP: Put one sentence about your music (your pitch) on your card and the instrument you play. A card with a name and address is totally useless and unmemorable! Put a photo of yourself on the card or your band logo to add even more branding and recognition.

I suggest talking to your webs designer to implement this. aweber and 1 Shopping Cart are two systems that can be integrated into your site to deliver these results.

TIP: I do not recommend bringing a ton of CDs. People are overwhelmed with free CDs so it’s better to get people’s business cards and mail them a CD as a follow-up after you get home.

STEP THREE: Take Risks Introduce yourself to a stranger.
I “accidentally” met Tommy from Universal Buzz at a bar because I thought he was someone else who I was supposed to meet, and we’ve been colleagues ever since. Don’t be scared to take risks and meet people. Conferences are friendly places.

STEP FOUR: Attend Panels
It’s tempting to blow them off and hit all of the parties but you should make an effort to sit in on at least one or two panels per day, on any topic that interests you, and learn. Take notes.

STEP FIVE: Sign Up for Mentoring Sessions
Most conferences have amazing mentoring sessions where you can sign up to have one-on-one face time with the industry people that are paneling (and some of the most important people in the music business will be sitting there ready to meet with you). I never, ever would have met one of the most important editors at Rolling Stone had I not signed up.

TIP: When you do go to a one-on-one mentoring panel, be prepared to meet these people, and make sure that you have done your research and have specific questions to ask them.

STEP SIX: Follow Up!
The moment you get home, make sure to send thank you notes, e-mails and follow up with every single person that you met. If appropriate, add them to your e-mail list.

Never send your pitch or talk about business in the first initial e-mail. Get people to respond to your follow up by just being friendly.

TIP: If you do not follow up your trip and hard work will have been a waste of your time. Do not rip yourself off here!

There are plenty of other great conferences that I recommend including:

CMJ, New York City, NY
www.cmj.com/marathon

Atlantis, Atlanta, GA
www.atlantismusic.com

Winter Music Conference, Miami, FL
www.wmcon.com

Folk Alliance, Memphis, TN
www.folkalliance.org

Americana Music Conference, Nashville, TN
www.americanamusic.org/site.php?content=conference

Taxi Road Rally, Los Angeles, CA
www.taxi.com

Click to continue...

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
-
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.

Click to continue...

A few weeks ago, I threw a book launch party for my friends, Randy Chertkow and Jason Feehan to celebrate the launch of their new fabulous book, “The Indie Band Survival Guide,” published by St. Martin’s Griffin here in New York, and I was honored to be interviewed and prominently featured in the PR chapter. Weighing in at 329 pages, it is jam-packed full of incredible information.

“The Indie Band Survival Guide” is a book that all artists, independent or not, need to own.

Randy & Jason are founding members of the Chicago based independent band Beatnik Turtle, and this book started out as their blog where they chronicled their personal experience releasing a whopping 18 albums, touring, building a formidable following, and writing music for film and TV. This book was not motivated by money or a desire for fame. It came from the 12 years of experience as independent artists that they achieved directly by releasing albums, and as they learned along the way, they wrote it all down. As their lessons and experiences grew, so did their blog, and because of their blog a literary agent approached them, and they got a publishing deal.

Click to continue...