Ariel Publicity

“The In-Crowd” is an inside look at crowdfunding, with Ariel Publicity Artist Phil Putnam and RocketHub.com co-founder Brian Meece.  Each Monday, the boys are giving us an honest look at a crowdfunding project in action and dish on how things are going each week.

What is crowdfunding?  Find out here.

What does it look like?  See here.
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WEEK 7:

44 days in, 31 days remaining.  $3,753 raised (38% of the $10,000 goal), $6,247 needed.

Phil Says:

Songs About You is at a point that has felt far off and surreal up until this moment: there’s one month left until the deadline.  This snuck up on me, mostly because I’ve been thinking of the timeline in thirds and I know that the middle third always feels the longest and most difficult.  Well, it was difficult, but it just flew right by and now I’m on the precipice of the last leg of the journey.  I’ll be honest, there is a sense of relief due to seeing the light at the end of the tunnel.  This experience has worn on me more than I anticipated, in ways I didn’t imagine it would.  The relief isn’t the lone sentiment in my heart, though.  I’m excited by the possibility that this could still work, that all the money could be raised.  It feels like a long shot, but it’s still in the realm of reality.

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It happened a few weeks ago in Australia.  I was standing at the opening cocktail reception for APRA’s Song Summit Music Conference overlooking Darling Harbor in Sydney, and I was chatting with a perfect stranger (who it turns out is a very famous Australian musician with quite a few top 10 hits in Oz).  Noting my foreign accent he asks “What brings you here?” “I teach artists about online marketing and social media.”  I answer sheepishly, because this news is not always met with elated enthusiasm.

Him: Really?

Me: Yes

Him: You know one thing I have noticed about Social Media and marketing…

Me: What is that?

Him: I noticed that you don’t really have to be a great artist or well respected by your musician peers to succeed now a days – you just have to be really good at marketing and you get more success than you ever would have in the past.

Well, he’s right. I’m not saying that his point is fair and he only voiced what 99% of most musicians only think: That guy’s music really sucks but he got good at being pushy on Facebook and so he gets more people to his gigs than me, and he sells more than me.

Really? Is that what you think?

What I would say is: It doesn’t matter if you think that musician sucks. The POINT is that artist managed to identify and relate to enough people who think his music is great and his fans reward his efforts. So, stop judging others and worry about how to make a difference for yourself.

Why?  Because there are 500,000,000 people on Facebook to connect with.

And anyone can connect with a few hundred people, forge great relationships and then market music that those fans who want it and like it. Simple.

What is NOT simple is getting your judgments about yourself and other artists out of the way and just diving in.

So here I am to debunk a few of your (ahem) resistances and the aforementioned one is #1 on the list of….

Top Seven Reasons Why Artists Strongly Resist Social Media

#1: I don’t want to be pushy and over-hypey, like all those other artists that I hate. (or “I hate the way he markets and I don’t want to market like him!”)

OK – so talking about yourself is icky.  But having people love your music is wonderful. So my advice is: when you use Social Media, take the spotlight off of YOURSELFF and shine it on OTHERS (the people in your community/ fans / friends).

Share things that feel mundane. Don’t even think of marketing yourself or your music for a few months until you get the hang of it; and then after you do, use it to gently lead people to your newsletter sign-up, your website, and to help yourself with Google rankings.

Keep this in mind: 78% of people trust peer recommendations (i.e. the “Like” button on Facebook) for products and services that they BUY.  Only 14% trust TV/radio/print advertising (source: Socialnomics). You need to be one of the artists that peers are recommending.

#2. Promoting my music on Social Media won’t put any money in my pocket I’ve tried it and it just creates more work for me.

Here is what is true: Social media most probably won’t directly put money in your pocket in the short term. But when used in concert with traditional marketing and as part of a plan it can be integral in re-enforcing relationships between you and your fans which will down the line lead them to a point of purchase.

In a recent Top Spin training class I learned that being Googlicious (your Google rankings) and your email newsletter list are two vital components to putting money in your pocket and social media can help you strengthen both.

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Here is a guest blog post that came from musician Esther O’Connor in Scotland (who is also a fellow redhead ).

It is insightful and asks a VERY important question: When is too much unfettered access well, just too much?

Social Media has pulled back the veil a little too much in many peoples opinions, and she makes a poignant remark: No build up, no hype, no anticipation, no waiting. It’s true that the rules have changed.  One artist I met at a conference recently snarkily commented to me: Imagine if Jim Morrison or Hendrix had been on Twitter?

Frankly, I’d rather not.

Times have certainly changed.  The question is: Are you willing to change with them?

Has The Bubble Burst on Fan Culture?

I was brought up in the 80’s and 90’s with my family heavily involved in the music business. (My Dad played guitar for Wet Wet Wet.) I remember being at gigs and the fans literally screaming and passing out. The first aid room at the side of the auditorium almost always had at least one person in there at any given time having their hysteria induced injuries taken care of. For the fans there was the hype of the massive show, favourite songs played on radio weeks before, the anticipation of the band coming to your city to play and queuing outside the record shop for signed copies of the single. For some the gig experience included camping out the night before tickets went on sale and camping out again to secure a place at stage front. Die hards would wait outside in the freezing cold for hours and hours to get a photo with the band after the gig, or a glimpse of them as they turn up early for the sound check, some traveling around the whole country after the tour bus with tickets bought for every gig. I remember, in the early days with the Wets, Glasgow city centre coming to a stand still due to the mass of people that had turned up to the record shop for the ‘in store’ performance. Chaotic, exciting, the stuff rock and roll dreams are made of and perhaps all bit OTT???

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(via The ASCAP Expo Blog)

I’m going to be honest. Initially, I went to the “Your Digital Tool Belt” panel just to stalk Alison Sudol ofA Fine Frenzy for a while. Little did I expect that it would end up being the most engaging thing I did all day. As an 18-year-old in the modern age, I find that I’m constantly plugged in — Facebook, Pandora, Gmail, you name it. Since I’m also one of those people who gets exhausted by too much input, I was less than enthusiastic when Twitter came up with a way for people to share their most mundane experiences. I hate the pretentiousness associated with assuming that anyone in the world cares what you ate for lunch, or what fabulous thing you just did that they should be jealous of. My philosophy is generally that people should get out there and live their own lives without bothering me with the details.

Continue Reading Here

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Ariel’s Top 7 Facebook Apps for Musicians

Do you have a fanpage but still not sure how to make it pop?

Here are six Apps that will set you on the right path, help you to stand out from the pack and keep your fans engaged and interested in you on a consistent basis.

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Kelly Richey has been described as “Stevie Ray Vaughan trapped in a woman’s body with Janis Joplin screaming to get out.” That’s an apt appraisal of the Lexington, Kentucky native who’s now based in Cincinnati for many years. A working musician since her teens, she began her professional career as a member of the Arista Records group Stealin’ Horses; in 1990 she formed The Kelly Richey Band, with whom she has become both a national and international touring artist.

Kelly Richey is also consummate entrepreneur who refuses to quit. Since establishing her own label, Sweet Lucy Records, Richey has released 11 albums and a live DVD.  When I first spoke to her in August 2008 she was at the end of a long struggle to try to break through using traditional PR and radio.  She had spent a fortune on radio promoters, and traditional publicists, retail positioning and other old school tactics that were just not working for her.

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