In “Great Marketers Aren’t afraid to annoy and Why You Need to Think Like Them,” artist Minh Chau shares a hard learned marketing tip.

According to Minh, first, before you can even think about marketing, “you MUST have a good product and you MUST know who your target audience is and market to them.”

Next, overcome the fear associated with promoting yourself.

Then when you are ready to market, “the key to great marketing is one word: frequency.”

Minh points out: “Has anyone ever gone out of business because of overexposure? Umm…I couldn’t think of one. Has anyone ever gone out of business because of underexposure? Plenty!”

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(Pesci) Jeff Gray works in music licensing at Fox Sports & is an A&R / Talent Relations contact for Future Content LLC. Previously, Pesci has worked for MTV, Bug Music Publishing, Warner Music & Cleopatra Records.

Pesci also plays an active role in the music community as a performer (guitar), songwriter, arranger and collaborator.

He is a 9 year ambassador for the Hunnypot lifestyle brand contributing to their industry parties and bi-weekly radio show.

Pesci has worked with and participated with artists such as Jennifer Marks, Superdrag, Beth Thornley, Local H, TSOL, Janis Ian, Geza X, Paul Roessler, Lovers Electric, The Shocker, Libbie Schrader and many more.

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This month I came across 2 great posts on how to make music videos.

Since they both discussed different aspects of making a video- one from a creative standpoint, and one from a logistical standpoint, I thought they would both be worth highlighting. That way you have some well rounded information to help you make your music video the best it can be.

The first post I suggest you check out is 7 Tips to Make Your Next Music Video by Lisa Sniderman found on Michael Brandvold’ Music Marketing blog.

In the article Sniderman lists 7 things she learned the hard way by making her own music video.

So now, you can check out her blog, and you won’t have to make the same mistakes.

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RIAA says sales are down. SoundScan says “No way.” Who should you believe?

In April of 2004 I was working on a piece for Keyboard magazine about bar codes. I was trying to determine if the “free” barcode many CD Replicators provide is a real added value to the indie artist, or just a bogus premium.

But what evolved was a much bigger and more important story. Talking to SoundScan revealed a massive mistruth disseminated by the RIAA about the reality of declining record sales.

…

Through my investigation I learned things that would contradict reported statements by the RIAA. Mainly that US labels have had a significant reduction in sales from 2000-2004.

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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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Crucial Music is a one-stop agency for licensing independent music to films, TV shows, and commercials.

One of the premier services of its kind, Crucial has secured many feature placements for independent artists in highly rated television shows, feature films, and advertising.

I recently got the opportunity to sit down with Tanvi Patel, one of the founders of Crucial Music, to ask her about what Crucial Music does for artists, and what artists should know before signing with a non-exclusive catalog.

What is your professional background and how did you get involved in Crucial Music?

I started in radio, in broadcasting. I have a degree in communications. Right out of college I went into the radio business and specifically public radio. I was a DJ and did some event planning as well for the radio station. I decided that I wanted to be in the record business because I was spinning records.

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Isn’t it your dream as a musician to make music, but also your goal to have a music career?

You likely use a variety of methods to promote your music: email lists, a website, word of mouth, MySpace, Facebook and any number of other social networking sites.

You probably put your music online, write press releases, supply a bio, provide photos or create an electronic press kit combining all of these.

All are effective and necessary ways to promote your career.

But are you harnessing the power of online movies to promote your music?

In order to stay ahead of the competition, many businesses are using online movies as part of their online promotional strategy. As a musician, there is no reason you can’t do the same to build your music career.

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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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