Think about this… Do you spend the day online looking for ways to market your music,  exploring how others are making it work, and the try the strategy to find it didn’t work like THEY said it does? And then, do you sit there and think to yourself, or worse, tell everyone you speak to – that it was BS and all a bunch of hype and crap?

Now ask yourself this… could it actually be that the music marketing strategy you are referring to – that worked great for the artist or group you read about, in their particular situation, with their particular fan base, and in their particular region – could have indeed worked but you didn’t get the entire story or strategy?

Following trends, or what you read online, that may work for one artist or musician is smart thinking…. If you think outside THEIR box. Music marketing is all about information and knowing your region, fans, and particulars. Just because you read or hear about one artist, or even ten, selling massive ringtones by using this service or that service does not mean you will get the same results if you simply sign up to the same ringtone service they mentioned.

Music marketing is about planning, information, and putting what you learned into a complete campaign. As in the example, a ringtone service is only a tiny portion of a complete campaign. Trend setters in the music industry know how to watch for tiny things that work for one or two artists, research their particular market, region, and fan base, and then string many factors they have seen work for others on a small scale, together to create a massive trend setting campaign.

Someone who sits at home reading stories on the internet and trying one after the other, with little or no planning, is a follower and doomed to fail no matter how many times they are willing to try half-baked ideas! Followers have no direction and do not know where they are headed or what the finish line even looks like. Followers, well, they follow…. while trend setters create.

The big difference between trend setters and followers….. A trend setter may only strike a few times a year…. but each of his or her campaigns yield massive returns. Followers, well, they work at this or that every day and simply spend money, time, and effort with very little return.

Point…. Stop following and start planing. Stop following and start learning. Stop following and start mapping out your career and find the easiest, cheapest, and fastest route to get you to YOUR finish line!

Peace,
Jai
“Love the MUSIC in Yourself, Not Yourself in the MUSIC!”

Click here to learn how to create your own music marketing campaign and become a trend setter!

OK….

I know most of you are on the grind this morning… obviously I am too, it’s why I am on my blog and not with my DAD yet. STOP what you are doing, go see your DAD, call your DAD, or send a note of thanks! For those out their that have lost their DAD… be there for your MOM. For those DADs out there…. let your kids have your time all day…

Music Marketing Duties will still be here tomorrow!

Peace,
Jai

What up fellow artists, labels, managers, and producers!!!

Just found a new company for getting high quality posters – not the cheap thin posters you usually see for a price indies usually can afford… but real deal posters 80lb cover stock paper, high quality printing, etc. etc. etc. for the low low. And up front, no I am not making a dime for this gem of info I am passing along. I simply have been dealing with John at Gigpromos.com and feel this is a company that really understands indie artists and their need for reliable, cheap music marketing products and services.

I just placed an order for 100 posters online for one of my clients www.TexasMusicUnderground.com since my normal promo company stopped making the larger posters and found John and his team at Gigpromos.com to be amongst the best I have worked with in the indie industry will trying to market music. Everything was handled online, the process is easy, and they have a great FAQ section in case you need a little nudge in the right direction.

Be sure to check em out, see what they offer, and as always in the indie music marketing world we eat and breath in…. if you like em, pass it along to your friends – the only way we as indies can continue to build an industry around us that will continue to support us is by supporting those businesses that help us survive!

PS…. Since I am not making a dime for this service announcement, I would ask that if you order posters, you will see a little comment box on your order page, just drop my name… heck, maybe I can get a discount or two in the future….Hint, hint..John… I am just like you – always on the look out for a hook up!

Peace, Love, and Happiness!
“Love the MUSIC in Yourself, Not Yourself in the MUSIC!”
Jai

Is it all a bunch of crap? I am talking about all the ideas, concepts, strategies, tips, tricks, and techniques you read about everyday while trying desperately to get your music into the hands of your fans… you know music marketing. The thing that you HAVE to do to make a living in this music industry. Again, is it all BS? I mean come on, isn’t marketing really a better way of selling out?

I have struggled with this question my entire career. It feels bad, at least to me, pushing my own stuff on people. I mean they are going to like it or they are not. What can I do to MAKE someone like what I have let alone take hard earned money out of their pocket and give it to me…. and give it to me for something I would freely give away just so my art can be upon the world.

Folks, that is what makes you a true artist. Someone who creates from the heart what your soul NEEDS to get out. Selling out is changing what your heart tells you so you can make a dime. Selling out is promoting a product with your music you know is wrong just to make a quarter. And selling out is being someone you are not while pimping your music just so you can make a dollar.

Being an artist is creating your art, sharing it with the world and hoping someone, event if it is only one person in the billions out their, enjoys it and gets something from it as you have when releasing it from your soul. Music marketing is NOT selling out. The only way that – that one person out there – can find your music that may heal their broken heart, motivate them to get out of bed to face the day, or enhance their time at the lake with friends is if they know you and your music exists.

It took me years to understand that. It took my brother – the one who pushes me hardest to promote and market myself – hour upon hour of telling me to put name on something, get a picture with so-in-so, or build a website (when the 90′s came around…LOL) so another musician or artist would be aware of who I was and how I may be able to help them reach their goal. Because I always thought – WRONGLY – my actions, ideas, or music would talk for itself.

AND IN FACT IT DOES…. but if you are standing in an empty parking lot at 3am screaming at the top of your voice… “I am here! I have great music!” No one will hear you. There is no one there. You are alone. You have no audience. No matter how loud you scream, your music can not speak for you because there is no one to hear what it is saying to them.

Music Marketing is not selling out as long as you do not sell out. Yes, there are “smoke and mirror” campaigns that are BS, there are strategies that take you down the wrong path from what your heart and soul are telling you to do or what is right or wrong, and there are for sure little applications online that will trick twitter, myspace, facebook, and others into gaining you tons of BS “friends.” And these type music marketing activities are for sure selling out.

But real music marketing, real communication, real emotions, real friendships built around your music with like minded fans….. that is only letting people know about you, making friends, and reach further than your music can do alone. I am not saying social networking is selling out. It is not. in fact the words alone… SOCIAL – NETWORKING… it’s being social and it’s about networking. It’s not lying, exaggerating, using “smoke and mirrors,” or being someone you are not……

Music marketing is not BS….. it is sharing your soul with the world and attracting like minded souls to what your heart has to say. Be true to you, no one else -  one fan at a time, over time, and in a way you can stand and be proud of…. that is music marketing that works, that lasts, and that you can wake up everyday and do over and over again without feeling dirty!

Just my 2 cents on what makes me get up everyday and be able to “put my name on an idea!”

“Love the MUSIC in YOURSELF, not YOURSELF in the MUSIC!”
Peace,
Jai

If you want to find out how you can make potential fans aware of your music check out:
The Ultimate Awareness Campaign for Marketing Your Music the RIGHT way!

I get a lot of questions about what gear to buy, what is the best mic, or how do I use a compressor to make my recording sound better. After a few minutes speaking with budding engineers is seems one thing constantly comes to the surface….. What have you done to your room to treat it acoustically? This is usually followed by a blank stare with a huge question mark situated just above his or her head telling me that they indeed have done nothing what-so-ever to treat their studio to sound it’s best!

A studio’s number one tool for good sound is the room itself and how it is treated acoustically. Think about it this way… If you are recording or mixing in a room that is basically telling you that you have too much bass or your high end is too bright, when in fact it is not – rooms do lie you know – how do you know what is sounding good and what may need better micing or mixing to sound better? You don’t. Room acoustics treat a room to be basically flat. Now, don’t get me wrong and don’t get the rampage going…. getting a room acoustically flat is pretty hard and it can be expensive if the room was not built from the get go with acoustics in mind…. However, you can treat a room with acoustic devices to get pretty near flat or at least in an acceptable range that will allow you to know what you are recording or mixing actually sounds like what you are hearing out of your speakers.

Acoustic treatments include broadband absorbers, bass traps, diffusers, and other off the shelf or home made solutions to control the sound within your room. Off the shelf solutions have come a long way in the past 10 years but are still very expensive. Home made versions are cheap, generally do a better job, and are really pretty simple to construct if you have a plan of action! Most musicians and artists know what the 2″ foam stuff looks like. This is typically absorbs the broadband frequencies of sound, but do little for the low end or bass reflections of a room. I have many, many studios that have way, way too much of this stuff around the room. Simply buying off the shelf material and sticking it on any wall you can find is not the solution to any acoustic issues you may have in your studio!

Acoustic treatment is a science, but a science that even a musician can follow…..er um…. I am allowed to say that because I have been a musician for my entire life!

This is the first of many, many blog posts, tips, tricks, and ideas to come about studio acoustic treatment. I just wanted to get you thinking, get you studying and well, wet your whistle a bit. In the next few days we are going to dive into the world of treating your studio so that you have the best tool in the world to a great sound!

Peace,
Jai