Did you know that Facebook is making some big changes this month to the way Fan pages work?

I had no idea until I read two posts on Tight Mix Blog. So I thought sharing my new found knowledge would be a great use of February’s Post of the Month.

With this new functionality, it will be much easier for artists to customize their pages, capture fans email addresses, share content with users, and monetize their Facebook page.

The only downside is that you have to figure out how to work the new Facebook functions.

Luckily, Tight Mix Blog gives you step by step instructions that will make sense even to those of you who, like myself, aren’t very tech savvy. So no excuses!

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For this month’s Blog post of the Month I chose “The Top 7 Things Independent Artists Do Wrong” (2011 Edition). It is a 2011 revamp of one of Sentric Music’s most popular articles- “8 Things Unsigned/Independent Artists Do Wrong” from 2007.

I can see why this topic made for such a popular article, and I thought it would be a great way to kick off our 2011 Blog Post of the Month column – it gives artists a lot to think about how they can improve for a new year.

The list covers a broad array of pitfalls for independent artists, including lack of quality music streaming, lack of use of stats, and not helping yourself enough.

So start 2011 off right and figure out whether you are guilty of one of the offenses highlighted by Sentric Music!

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For the December Post of the Month, rather than choose a new blog, I decided I would highlight some of my favorite posts of the year.

So this month will be more of a “2010 Post of the Year” than a December Post of the Month.

I think the major theme presented throughout 2010 in my posts has been for artists to take ownership in themselves, their career, and their brand.

Through the Post of the Month column on V11, we have encouraged artists to educate themselves about important business issues, make plans to market themselves, think about how they will brand themselves, build their fanbase, connect with fans, and sharpen skills needed to accomplish these tasks.

We’ve aimed to show artists how much they are capable of doing themselves and hopefully given them some tools that can help them accomplish their goals.

Here are my favorite 2010 Posts of the Month:

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Should an artist sign a 360 deal?

This question is addressed by music manager Peter Malkin in a video blog.

What I like about this video is that in six minutes, Malkin addresses the major issues artists should be concerned with when they are considering signing a 360 deal. While Malkin seems to be on the “against” side of the argument about 360 deals, I think this video can be helpful to anyone who wants to learn about the basics of a 360 deal.

First, Malkin defines a 360 deal as a contract that allows a record company to participate in all of an artist’s revenue streams.

Next he asks- Is the record company putting up additional money for those rights?

Then he discusses the topics that artists should consider when deciding whether to partner with a record company in a 360 deal: Will they provide any expertise, services or funding for anything other than selling records, such as:

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Brushing up on your writing skills may not be something you think about when you are working on sharpening your skills as an artist, but “7 Reasons Why Writing Well Will Help Your Music Career” by Mike Venti will make you want to add it to your to do list.

Sometimes, the person you are trying to reach will read what you have written before they will ever listen to your music! So it is worth the effort to take the time to ensure your writing will draw in readers in the same way that your music does.

The first benefit of writing well is that it can help you get more blog reviews.

Venti points out that to get a blogger’s attention, “you need to create a personal, well targeted email directed solely at [the specific blogger]. If your message looks like it’s been cut and pasted to 500 other blogs, you probably won’t get many reviews.”

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This month Grassrootsy addressed a question a lot of artists have, “Where Do I Start? How Do I Get Album Reviews?”

I love this article for the same reason that usually attracts me to an article- it gives artists a good starting point to accomplish a goal.

Many articles discuss what artists should aspire to, but great articles show artists ways to work towards their goal.

According to Grassrootsy, step 1 is Mimic.

I like this advice because it’s premise is that you don’t have to reinvent the wheel.

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How to build your fanbase – and why the end of the traditional model is a good thing by Ian Clifford reminds artists of the fundamentals on how to build a fanbase – the key to any artist’s success.

According to Clifford, “you MUST build a fanbase to get started and to achieve anything – whether that is DIY and Direct-to-Fan success or the aim of getting signed. Either route will happen much more easily if you have built the fanbase yourself – that’s what other fans will see so they will want to be in the in-crowd – and it’s what agents, managers and record label A&R will see that will help take you to the next level.”

I like Clifford’s point that changes in the industry have made today’s recipe for artist success similar to the one artists used in the pre-MTV days.

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For this month’s blog post of the month I picked an article called How To Cover a Song – HFA by Rick Goetz of MusicianCoaching.com.

I like this article because it addresses a very basic business& legal issue that independent musicians should know how to address- how to obtain a license to cover a song.

A while back a musician friend of mine told me about he was recording a cover song. I asked whether he obtained a license. Cause you know, I’m dorky like that and I’m interested in licensing.

And this was his answer- No, but there are compulsory statutory licenses, right? They have to give you a license to record the song, so if the owners of the song noticed he’d recorded the song, he’d just start paying the statutory fees. *insert visual of my jaw dropping here*

In case any of you are nodding your head in agreement right now- Stop! My friend is WRONG!

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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.

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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.

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