Ariel Publicity

Turntable.fm, yet another new site for us to learn and love. At this point, Turntable.fm is all the rage. It has some 140,000 users already in its first month and appears to be picking up speed. Users sign into Turntable.fm with their facebook login, which makes it easy to find friends already using Turntable.fm. On my first visit, I was able to find several friends right away, chat with them and check out what music they are into right now. And while I initially thought this new platform was little more than a fun time waster, after getting in to it, it became apparent this is very powerful for the independent musician.

Turntable.fm works like this: You sign in and create your own playlist by adding songs Turntable.fm already has loaded in their database. If you can’t find the song you want, you can load any MP3 you want from your computer. This has raised a lot of legal concerns that Turntable.fm will have to address, but I’m a music marketer, not a lawyer, so lets move along with the marketing advice. Once you build your playlist, join a room and listen with others or create your own and start DJ-ing. If people like what you play, you’ll get points and fans. The more fans and points you get, the more popular you get and the more people listen to you.

How might an independent musician take advantage? I’m glad you asked. Here at Ariel Publicity we preach posting interesting and compelling content to get fans engaged with your social media profiles. This mean you can’t be overly self-promotional and hypey. In order to do this on Turntable.fm, it means creating a playlist that will get people to follow you. I recommend adding only a few of your own songs in this initial stage. Make sure the playlist you are building is complementary to your style of music.

Create a following and get people excited about the music you’re playing. If you can build a following and build your numbers, then you’ll have an engaged audience and you can begin to sprinkle more of your own music into the mix. Don’t overdo it though, make sure you temper how much original music you play. People are there to find new music, but they want to hear things they know and love too. That’s how you get a following.

Another idea would be to create events that you can invite people to on Turntable.fm. Get together with other bands you know and like, record some live songs, and invite all of your fans and their fans for a ‘concert’ on Turntable.fm. Promote the event on your social media profiles and see how many people you can get to show up.

You can have guest DJs drop in on the events as well. Make it fun and exciting. Create contests and giveaways in conjunction with the event. If you can get a lot of people to show up, you’ll most likely get other people interested just based on the number of listeners in your room.

Jump in now, while it’s early and easier to create a following. Early adopters have a chance to take advantage of this before Turntable.fm runs into any issues. It’s a great opportunity to introduce music lovers to your music and potentially create some new fans.

So sign in and take it for a spin (pun definitely intended). Let us know what you think. Are people open to hearing your original music? Is it hard or easy to create a following on Turntable.fm? Is this the next greatest social networking site? Have you been doing anything fun and original with this new platform?

Click to continue...

TravelBlog - “How to Backpack, Work Abroad, & Travel the World”
Website: http://yTravelBlog.com
Facebook: http://fanpage.ytravelblog.com
Twitter: http://twitter.com/ytravelblog

1. Why did you start Y Travel Blog?
My husband and I had been living and travelling around the world for 14 years. We felt like we were not doing anything with the experiences we had travelling. After much thought and questioning we decided that our adventures were not just for us alone, but to share. We had always been great at sharing our stories and tips with other travellers we had met on the road, so we decided to write a travel blog and share it to those we could not meet in person.

2. What do you think is the current state of the social media industry is?
I think the social media industry has made it possible for anyone to become successful in their chosen field or niche. It has leveled the playing field. I love how social media alllows you to build your brand and platform and helps you build a community that you can connect with on a more personal level. I think we are only just seeing the beginning to the influence social media has on the decisions we make and how much smaller our world gets. I can’t wait to see how much further it goes.

Click to continue...

http://greatunknownspresents.com
http://greatunknownsmusicexpose.com

Great Unknowns Presents is a music/talk show dedicated to spotlighting new music artists in the unsigned and independent industry. Each artist is interviewed for the spoken and written material to give you exclusive information about each music artist, because the audience deserves to know who they are listening too.
In conjunction to The Great Unknowns Presents is Great Unknowns Music Exposé. An online music magazine focused on featured interviews with the artists behind the music. Each artist is interviewed for the written material and published here. Each and every week, enjoy in-depth questions and unedited answers from the artists themselves.

Q) Tell us a little bit about your podcast. What inspired you to start it?

A) My podcast started as a hobby really. Originally, it was a class project for my journalism class. The podcast option was open to several ideas and I wanted to come up with something that would showcase my talent as a radio host, but also provide a service. Since radio is over done and played out by the “mainstream payola giants”, I wanted to feature artists that no one has heard of. If people had heard of these artists, I wanted to re-introduce these artists to other people. What started out as a mere college program turned into something much greater.
When I received an invite from Ariel Publicity and after I had won two prestige’s awards for best college podcast, I realized that this was more than just a project and I took it to the next level and I began to track my track statistics. With the help of Ariel Publicity, I began showcasing unsigned artists and I moved my show from a free podcast hosting site to a pay site for better quality and for more storage space. Since my very first show, I have been constantly improving my format and it has paid huge dividends and I created a huge following that went from 300 listeners per week to nearly 2,500 listeners per week. When I placed my podcast on iTunes, that was a major catalyst for the shows success and it has grown to a 40,000+ listening audience which is continuing to grow at a rapid pace.

Click to continue...

The Irish & Celtic Music Podcast

MARC GUNN, Award-Winning Celtic American Musician and Podcaster
Thank You for Listening to My Music –> http://www.marcgunn.com
and the Irish & Celtic Music Podcast –> http://celticmusicpodcast.com

Q) Tell us a little bit about your podcast. What initially inspired you to start it?

A) The Irish & Celtic Music Podcast is a twice monthly podcast featuring mostly independent Celtic music from around the globe. It began with a fascination of the podcast as a promotional tool for my band and for Celtic music at large. It started out as an extension of my Celtic MP3s Music Magazine.  Eventually it surpassed the magazine in popularity. I started it with my own desire to promote my own unique stylings of Celtic and folk music. Yet it is ultimately about helping independent Celtic musicians gain a greater voice in a noisy world.

Artists signed to major or even smaller labels usually have a promotional team out there spreading the word for them. I get a ton of CDs from such labels as Compass Records, which does a great service for the Celtic music world. But bands like Poitin, The Tea Merchants, Ed Miller, Maidens IV, Athas, Bedlam Bards, and The Rogues don’t have the money or resources to notify all the Celtic media about their music. I see my role as a facilitator to get their music in front of people who want to hear it. And I’m happy to say that I do just that.

Click to continue...

http://www.astralaudio.net

Q: How can contemporary artists make more money on the internet?

A: Models like what Radiohead, Nine Inch Nails, and Mark Mosher have given potential buyers a choice of what a particular song or album should be priced at. Their success along with keeping things drm free encourages fans to obtain works from the artists. Perhaps if artists gave fans the chance to rate individual songs or the entire album as a whole, then a higher rating could mean that fans are more likely to purchase the work. An option would be to cap the price at around $15.00 for the CD and $5.00 for the digital download. If the rating goes down, the cap should be lowered along side this.

Click to continue...

Q. What are your favorite blogs/audio blogs featuring new music do you like to visit?

A. Believe it or not I love BlogCatalogue.com. Blog Catalogue is a directory of just about every blog mentionable..  I usually go to the music section of blog catalogue and just enjoy the array of music blogs.   When it comes down to the nuts and blots of getting the latest on what’s happening in quality music blogs it’s the Hype Machine (hypem.com)

Q. What inspired you to start site?

A. WSF Radio is sponsored by AWM Records, Inc. The inspiration behind WSF Radio was the demand from independent artists who were looking for outlets, and platforms to be heard from.   Many may not know WSF Radio started out as a sports program which played indies music in between breaks..   It was not long before artists began to contact the station asking for reviews, and their music to be played on the station. The more I listened to music from the independent artists the more passionate I became for playing their music. I was totally floored at the sea of talent that was not being heard. WSF Radio actually stands for Worldwide Sports Fanatics. Moreover, the more I listed to the music the passionate and love to promote and support independent music just grew, in the midst of promoting independent music WSF Radio recognized the shows format needed to be completed revamped to the station which supports independent artists.

Q. What do you think is the impact of blogs, internet radio, and podcasts on independent music?

A. Blogs, internet radio, and podcasts on independent music really are the wave of the 21st century. I really believe internet radio and podcasts have a positive impact on independent music.   These vehicles such as blogs, and podcasts, and internet radio have really created a media to propel independent music into the spotlight versus in years past podcasting was rare. However, these instruments became popular, and gave independent artists a stronger sense of control over their destiny. With the changes in how the music industry has changed I tend to believe more consumers want an alternative music source such as independent music.   Every artist should have a blog, fans love blogs, and blogs is the connection between the artist and their fans. Independent musicians should go after every internet radio station that’s on the web. Internet radio is taking over, and more people are using, listening, and love internet radio more than ever before.

Q. When you started your station, did you anticipate that blogs would have such an upscale trend as it does now?

A. When the station first started the trend of blogs were growing, and we could see the direction of were blogs were headed, but we did not anticipate how quickly blogging would skyrocket, and literally become a household word.

Q. What are the ultimate goals you wish to achieve through your site?

A. Our ultimate goal for WSF Radio is to have our own independent network channel on Blogtalkradio.   Although having our own station to serve independent music does give artists exposure; moreover by having our own network channel it will create greater exposure for artists by having a permanent front page ad on the Blogtalkradio website. We foresee our site as the place where new artists become discovered.   We are working hard on branding our site as the platform where independent artists are pushed to the next level in their music career.

Click to continue...