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.

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In her article “Get Paid in 2010: Want To Increase Your Bottom Line? Focus On Your Fans!,” Ariel Hyatt is asking you to “take off your artist hat for a minute and put on your business hat,” and use a greater connection with fans as a way to increase your ability to make money.

To be more successful and make more money in the new year, Hyatt suggests you start thinking of yourself and your craft as a brand, and your fans as customers.

The key, according to Hyatt, to getting fans to buy from you, is creating a relationship with fans. “Every study on sales has proven one thing: People hate to be sold to, however people love to buy, and people always love to buy from people whom they like and who they feel they trust.”

So how do you become a person that your fans like and want to buy from?

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Editor’s Note: This month’s Blog Post of the Month was selected by the newest V11 contributor, Renee. Thanks Renee! Happy new year to all!

In What Are You Pretending to NOT Know? Bob Baker has a great positive message for everyone to take into the New Year- “you know way more than you give yourself credit for.”

In his article Baker points out that many times we know exactly what our problems are and how to fix them, but that we instead talk ourselves into looking the other way or believing the situation is out of our control. This article addresses a situation I often find myself in- that I am creating mental roadblocks for myself on the road to success.

I like that this article reminds me that if I give myself a little more credit and have more confidence in myself, that I already possess the skills I need to accomplish my goals.

So when you set your 2010 goals, keep in mind Bob Baker’s advice: Stop making excuses, take responsibility for your self and know that you have the skills to succeed!

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November’s Blog Post of the Month comes from Hypebot’s Associate Editor Kyle Bylin. The Elsewhere Musician: Making Connections in a Fragmented World highlights two key points: (1) all musicians (and especially the “successful” ones) must continuously work harder on the business side of things, and (2) the trend of shorter album cycles.

From Bylin:

Leisure time once spent doing creative things — where an artist could take time away from it all — has turned into work that ranges from learning how to market themselves online and off, answering an endless barrage of messages from fans, bloggers, and managers, and trying to keep all of their profiles, blogs, and social media tools relevant and up-to-date.

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It is great to see the quality and depth of service offerings and blog writings in this space start to truly develop. There should be much to cover in the coming months.

October’s Blog Post of the Month goes to new blogger Kevin Ryan’s article titled: “Are Games the New Rock and Roll?”

VolumeEleven has written about the Rock Band Network and its potential with independent musicians for DIY downloads. Kevin’s posting elaborates on this point by redistributing and commenting on a slideshow from the UK website Music Ally. Music Ally’s slideshow titled “10 Trends in Music and Games” is a must view, especially if you need that extra motivation to get started. 100 million+ downloads on these rock gaming platforms should get anyone’s attention.

Kevin’s advice: “If you think your music can work in the games arena then do something about it NOW!”

Right on! Any musician that has songs that could work in this platform should start the process now in learning what they need to do to prepare songs in this format. It starts with multi-track recording.

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I will admit – I feel completely unoriginal for choosing a Seth Godin post as the post of the month. Still, from my perspective it offered the most thought provoking concept this month for musicians, or entrepreneurs catering to musicians.

In the ultra fast world of online marketing, free may be so 2008.

The underlying hypothesis in Seth’s post is that “some things may be better if they are not free.” He uses Craigslist as an example. If Craigslist charged $1 for every listing the site would be more efficient (less scams and bogus postings) and the site would generate tons of cash to perform whatever social good they would like.

So how does this apply to music? Haven’t we all accepted that music is free now and there ain’t nothing we can do about it?

Well despite the many opinions to the contrary, I am not convinced that charging for music is lost forever.

Rather, I remain convinced that there are still ways to organize music in ways that add value for the listener / purchaser such that paying for such a service will become a rational choice.

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The major problem for an independent musician in the Internet age is cutting through the abundant noise of the online world and getting noticed.

New Rock Star Philosophy’s August post “The Worlds Biggest Cover Band” highlights how one band has used cover songs to lead their path of success.

The important point to realize from this article is that it shows a band using the realities of the situation and making it work to their advantage. In an era when there are seemingly infinite ways a band can market themselves, it may be helpful to stick to a few practical means, that, because of human nature or other reasons, just works.

Simply put, the cover song approach seems to help get people’s attention.

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This month saw a good amount of coverage on past and future music listening and purchasing practices.

Hypebot covered two points on user data this month. One discussed how UK music buyers prefer CDs to digital, and another discussed music sharing data.

As for preferring CDs, it is difficult to imagine this to be fully true, but in reviewing the comments to this piece perhaps there is a compromise scenario here where when you download an album you can opt to get the CD at cost (w shipping) or for a few bucks more. This guarantees ownership in a way that digital downloads do not, and can provide access to album art, lyrics etc. After all, with the economy being what it is, consumers more than ever appreciate the value of what they are paying for. Digital downloads have zero incremental costs to artists, where CDs have more actual hard costs, so purchasing downloads and paying a bit more for a CD too at the time of sale could be a great way to create renewed interest in music purchasing.

Interestingly, these thoughts are consistent with what Apple is beginning to do with record labels. Apple is collaborating with EMI, Sony Music, Warner Music and Universal Music Group with an eye towards creating an interactive bundle on their iTunes shore that includes material such as liner notes, lyric sheets and photos. The “interactive book” would apparently let users play songs without having to return to the iTunes software.

The goal is to spark sales of digital albums, “with a nod to the music-listening habits of a bygone era.”

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During every interview, convention panel, startup negotiation or conversation with an industry peer, there is inevitably a moment when someone says something like, “All this talk about social networking, new media and digital marketing is exciting, but does it work? And if it does, where are all the successful artists that have made it because of music 2.0?”

This excerpt from Hypebot’s “Let’s Prove That Artists Don’t Need Major Labels to ‘Make It’” speaks to the core of what Volume 11 and other related web sites and services for independent musicians are all about.

Who has been using these new models and services to grow?

How exactly have they done it?

What can we learn from them?

As we all know, there are so many ways we can now spend our time marketing ourselves. Role models and/or examples of what is possible and how to do it are vital for independent musicians in this day and age. But with limited time and resources, we need to focus.

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This month’s blog post of the month is Bruce Warila’s post on Music Think Tank: “Don’t go over the self-promotion cliff; crush your local radio station instead.”

His thesis – the promotion tools of the Internet are trends that come and go, and don’t offer the type of return for your time that they should.

However, if you are going to make the effort, focus on “where the puck is going to be”, which according to Bruce will be niche channels of similar content, which will develop their reputations by selecting and continuing to keep organized the best group of music in a particular niche.

Some excerpts:

Look at the fragmentation of the music consumption marketplace this way: genres are coastlines, niches within genres are beachfront properties, and standalone artists are rocks or grains of sand. Sticking with the metaphor: coastlines and beachfront properties are compelling, interesting and entertaining; rocks and sand are things that get stuck in your shorts and sandals.

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