The article I chose for this month’s blog post of the month is Avoid These Mistakes! 15 Critical Marketing Mistakes That All Musicians Need To Avoid by Jonathan Ostrow.

Finding this article was quite timely for me, because I’ve been wanting to help a friend with his marketing strategy, but being new to the world of marketing, I wasn’t really sure where to begin. This article really breaks it down and gives some great concrete steps that can help you to begin your marketing efforts.

I think after reading Ostrow’s article, I will probably get started by working on setting up goals- short-term, mid-term and long term goals, determining a target audience, and learning to use analytics.

I will definitely be visiting the links on how to use Google Analytics and Facebook Insights.

I also love the advice on how to create a pitch for yourself.

[Read more →]

“If the first iteration of online video was about silly pet tricks on YouTube, the next wave will be about professionally produced full-length content…” according to Paul Verna, eMarketer senior analyst. “This shift will be propelled by a combination of technology integration, demographics and a growing comfort level with the idea of watching video hosted on Websites.”

As quoted in a recent article on Hypebot via eMarketer, longer, more professionally-produced video will be the next big growth area.

For independent musicians this means you need to start developing your medium and long term online video strategy now.

[Read more →]

You’ve recorded your first album. Now what?

If you are recording an album yourself, here are some important steps you should take to protect your music and to make sure you collect royalties that are owed to you when your music is performed on television, radio, and the internet.

Register your copyrights

An important step to take to protect your rights is to register your copyrights with the US copyright office.

If you are recording your own music yourself, there are potentially two copyrights you could hold: a copyright in the composition and a copyright in the sound recording. You can and should register both.

[Read more →]

I came across an article this month by Greg Rollett called “Justin Bieber and Lady GaGa Marketing” which highlights a video featuring Lady Gaga’s manager Troy Carter and Justin Beiber’s manager Scooter Braun from TechCrunch Disrupt.

Rollett lists some of the highlights of the video in his post, but even at 20 minutes long I think its worth it to watch the whole thing. Carter and Braun discuss strategies they use with their superstar clients, but they still offer some really valuable advice that artists at all levels can use.

One of the most important lessons I took away from this is the impact that producing quality online content can have.

[Read more →]

Webcasting is now finally gaining ground as a legitimate global growth vehicle for any level band.

I was able to meet with two San Francisco bay area musicians – Brian Vandemark and Brandon Watson – both of whom have been gaining knowledge and experience using justin.tv.

They have handled the webcasting duties for their various music projects, and were gracious enough to explain what they have learned so far.

When was the first time you used Justin.tv or any online video streaming site to promote or show your music? What was that experience like?

[Read more →]

When sifting through the many interesting topics which were covered in April music blogs, I came across a guest post on Future of Music by Fran Snyder called “Direct to Fan – the art of the house concert,” which discusses a new trend of independent artists playing concerts in people’s homes.

At first I wasn’t terribly impressed with the idea, but the more I read and the more I thought about it, the more I realized Snyder was actually on to something that could be a valuable tool for independent musicians.

Considering other articles I’ve read recently about the importance of direct to fan sales in facilitating independent musicians ability to make a living, the concept of making the live show available as a direct to fan item makes a lot of sense, and seems like the next logical step in direct to fan sales.

[Read more →]

You’ve been working on promoting your band and your music for quite a while now, but things are stagnating.

Perhaps it is time to re-evaluate your marketing plan.

What would you like to achieve on and off line with marketing?

Are you using Facebook as well you you can? Are you networking like you should in your local music scene, or even networking as you should with folks who can help you move up the ladder in the overall music industry?

It may be time to sit with your band mates and/or business friends and advisers to reconsider these points.

[Read more →]

These days our bandwidth can be so low from working and maintaining relationships with family and friends how do you keep up with the latest and greatest? Easy; use Twitter to follow the people that actually create the technology.

That brings us to Lee Martin – he takes care of Them Crooked Vultures and Beck’s Web needs, and he is also a developer within the Web Music Technology community. I am a little late on being completely blown away by his Twitter app to stream music – twt.fm. To be exact I am up and over 1.7m users late!

Within maybe 30mins I had uploaded links to 3 songs of my band Life Love Misery, including links to purchase from iTunes and it was played almost 200 times. Imagine if you band is popular; watch your bandwidth!

Once you log in and start an account this is what your twt.fm page looks like.

[Read more →]

In his blog “Viral growth trumps lots of faux followers,” Seth Godin aims to debunk the myth that when it comes to social networking, the more followers you have, the better.

Godin reminds us that in the new climate of social networking, producing quality content is still a better method for success than simply striving to have the most followers. Just because you have 200,000 followers does not mean that any of them are actually paying any attention or visiting your page.

Rather, Godin argues a better strategy would be to start with a small number of followers who are actual fans, then produce quality content that those fans be excited to pass along. This should not only cause more long term growth, but result in a move valuable type of follower that is not just a number.

[Read more →]

If you aren’t using Pandora Radio, you are missing an amazing chance to share your music with new fans.

Pandora is the largest and fastest growing radio platform in the world with 45 million registered listeners and growing in the United States.

Pandora offers a unique opportunity to independent musicians – Pandora prides itself on selecting music using a level playing field, where music is considered for inclusion solely based on quality.

Once music is selected for inclusion, the unique musical identity of a song is analyzed through the Music Genome Project. Those attributes are then used to create personalized stations for each listener based on their musical tastes.

… …

I had the opportunity to ask Pandora founder Tim Westergren some questions about the role of independent music at Pandora. Here’s what he had to say:

[Read more →]