Music Marketing 101
Ghostbusters and the Modern Musician, part I (Keymasters & Gatekeepers)
I have been thinking a lot about Ghostbusters lately, and the more that I think about it, the more that I believe that there is a lot that independent musicians can learn from the film. Seriously! Thus, our new series: Ghostbusters and The Modern Musician. Today, we examine one of the film’s key subplots, a tale of passion and love that transcends time and all obstacles. Yes, today I want to talk about the love affair of Zuul and Vinz Clortho…
Read comics. Use Twitter. Win a vacation?
Music Ally just posted a story about celebrity Jonathan Ross who couldn’t make a previously planned trip to Eminem’s album release event in Detroit. So what did he do? Like any connected celebrity, he gave away the package (flight, hotel, passes, etc) to a Twitter follower who was wise enough to also read Marvel comics. [...]
Take a photo, win a prize!
Indie musician Allison Weiss is a daily contest 5/4-5/10 via her Twitter account, where her followers and fans are encouraged to submit photos featuring three specific objects. The winners receive either a CD or downloads from Allison. Talk about a great way to engage your fans. (More artists should be doing things like this!) Check [...]
5 Characteristics of Digitally Engaged Music Seekers
Tom Ewing (on his always-enjoyable Freaky Trigger blog) has listed five shared characteristics of a group he has dubbed “Digitally Engaged Music Seekers” (DEMS for short). The list was based on a simple twitter question: What’s your favourite current song and how did you first hear it? Check out the full article here.
Gardening Your Way to More Fans
On the always brilliant New Music Strategies blog this week, Andrew Dubber describes his new method for reaching “tastemakers and gatekeepers” with your music and, more specifically, with promotional copies of your music. His suggestion? Gardening. Learn more here. What do you think–is he on to something? (We think so.)
Trent Reznor: “hone your craft…then present it in a way that exploits it the best”
…Digg finally posted their much-anticipated interview with the forward-thinking Trent Reznor. The questions were all written and voted-on by Digg users, and (happily, for us) the bulk of the discussion revolves around new music business models and includes very detailed advice on how music artists can use technology to connect with both fans and potential fans…
Finding Your Audience: As Suggested By You…
…over the last week, we have looked at ways to find your audience, and the feedback was phenomenal, both in terms of appreciation and in terms of suggestions for additional ways to find your audience. Here, we feature some of the top reader suggestions that apply to our general readership…
Finding Your Audience: Twitter
…Twitter is the hip social media thing to do right now, but after you peel back the hype and “trend-spotting” news reports (and actually start to use the service!), you will discover that Twitter allows for interaction unlike any other type of social media, and there are specific benefits to musicians that no other service can offer, especially when it comes to connecting with fans…
Finding Your Audience: YouTube
…there are many articles and forums to help you determine how best to find an audience on YouTube, as well as examples of people who are doing it successfully. While we do not want to duplicate most of what is already out there in excess, there are some specific things that musicians should be doing to find and network with their audience on the popular video sharing website…
Finding Your Audience: Old-Skool Style
We have been focusing on using technology and, more specifically, the internet to find your ideal audience, but the truth is that musicians have been successfully finding fans for much longer than the last decade, and many of those Old-Skool pre-internet techniques are still very effective. Here are a few tried and true ways to find your audience that the internet can not duplicate…
