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!

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!

Ya Know something…..

I have been in the music industry for over twenty years now. I have worked in recording studios, booked bands and artists on tours, done a million or so radio calls, set up distribution, managed some great groups and artists, and do a heck of a lot of music marketing consulting for indie labels and artists and it shouldn’t, but it does still amaze me at the one thing that always works in the industry…..

You have to actually take an active roll in the music industry to succeed.

That is all there is to it. You have to wake up everyday and decide what you are going to complete, and then actually complete the task. It doesn’t have to be earth shattering or record breaking – it just has to be a step towards your ultimate goal. I know, it just sounds too simple to work. But it does. It has. And it will continue to be the #1 best course of action, strategy, or marketing campaign ever created.

If you follow the blog or read my articles over at www.IamMusicNetwork.com you know that I lay out a ton of strategies and try to tie them all together into a campaign plan to move your music from your hands and into your potential fans hands. But if you look at each and every article or word I have written over the years you will see one thing over and over…. you have to take action to make it work.

I think we all make the same mistake. We are always looking for the magic bullet or secret weapon that will get us ahead of the pack. The one thing that will finally get us to the top of the charts, booked in the exclusive venues, or get our name on the lips of waiting fans. But as we search and search for that solution – that magic trick – we need to stop and actually look within our own mind. Is the problem really that you don’t know what to do next, or is the problem that you are not actually taking steps, consistently, that will lead to your success?

What have you done today to get your music in front of fans? Did you call someone to see if they gave you the “hook up” or did you actually take the time to reach out to potential fans in your social networks to build relationships? Did you send out your EPK to blogs and online radio stations hoping someone would email you back or did you actively seek out the owners of those blogs and radio stations and start relationships? How about this…. did you simply ask people to join your email/newsletter opt in list or did you send out an email today?

Setting up a great website, having a ton of videos on youtube, creating a dozen or so profiles across social networking sites, and signing up for a newsletter/email subscription service is only the first step towards getting your music in the hands of fans. We have all heard the sad story of “Build it and they will come.” or “Play it and they will hear it.” Meaning, if you simply build a website or create great music then surely fans will find you and buy your music. But this simply is not true. Just because you have a killer website, social networking profile circle, or a ton of videos does not mean anyone knows about you or your music. You can not “build (or play) it” and expect fans to come to you.

You have to get up every day and ask yourself – “where are my fans today and how am I going to reach them?”

But here is the secret – when you don’t find them today, you still have to wake up tomorrow and ask the same question! Then, you have to work again tomorrow at actually finding and reaching those fans. It’s not easy, I didn’t say the #1 easiest method of winning in the music industry – But this is the #1 secret to the music industry. You can not get discouraged and stop looking for fans. You can not expect your manager to find you fans. You can expect your record label is getting you fans. And by all means, you can not count on anyone but yourself to wake up every day and search for fans but yourself.

Are you going to hit road blocks….. everyday! Is it going to be tough to stay motivated…. everyday! Will you want to give up because you have been trying for six months or a year and are not much further along…. everyday! But you know what…. everyday, if you keep on the grind, you will get more fans, sell more music, and create your space within the music industry. It does work, it does pay off, and you can make your living. Don’t get me wrong, you still need luck, information, and acquired skills to hit “the big” time. But in order to acquire the skills you have to be honing your game, and luck – luck is being in the right place at the right time and having the skills in place to take advantage of the situation – how are you going to have any luck if you are not on your grind daily? How are you going to develop skills if you don’t work at them everyday – and sometimes fall flat on your face?  Information comes from doing it over and over to see what works and what doesn’t and by actually being in the game to network and meet more people that have the information.

There is only one fundamental truth to the music industry: You have to be in it to win it!

Counting on others to do for you is not being in the industry. Waiting on something to happen is not being in the industry. Watching fro the sidelines is not being in the industry. And most important – you don’t have to have money to make it in the industry if you are willing to work harder than anyone around you. We are in the internet age now, you can make a living right from your house, with your music and merchandise, if you actually work the industry – and that will fund the rest of what you need to do.

You know, really, there is no excuse to not making it in the industry except you didn’t try.

This has been a motivational minute by Jai. LOL!!

Peace,
Jai
“Love the MUSIC in Yourself, Not Yourself in the MUSIC!”
Buy my new book – The Music Business Bible – and learn EVERYTHING you need to know about the music industry to succeed!

Just a quick post for those who are following my series on “Creating A Music Marketing Campaign.” – And for those who are just finding out for the first time….

Part three of the series has been posted:

Creating A Music Marketing Campaign – Part 3

The series will walk you through planning, researching, and tracking a complete music marketing campaign to successful fet your music in the hands of fans!

Let me know what you think about it…
Peace,
Jai
“Love the MUSIC in Yourself, Not Yourself in the MUSIC!”

Wow, It has been a whirl wind since my last post. We are through the slow times of December and early January and fully getting into quarter one of the new year. It always amazes me how the industry pretty much shuts down for a six week period right before Christmas and then like Spring time starts to rapidly grow again around the end of January!

Every year about this time my phone starts to blow up with eager artists wanting to join the ranks with their favorite artists and dip their foot into the music industry waters – in the deep end – instead of the shallows near the baby pool of their home town. This is exciting for me every year. Why? Because this is when I get to hear all the new ideas, concepts, strategies, plans, or as i like to call it…. the “crazies!” of this big ol’ music marketing misconception machine. Oh – don’t get me wrong – I hear some really good stuff too. The craziest ideas are what has sparked some greatest creative music marketing efforts in the music industry… once they have been ripped apart, molded to real world information, and turned into a well thought out plan of course.

That brings me to today’s post topic…. Single -vs- CD. It’s like the soda wars of the 90′s – Coke -vs- pepsi. On one side of the “taste bud” you had the young, hip, in the moment types – following the super stars like Beyonce’ to the Pepsi machine – and then you had the older, more sophisticated taste snobs going after the smooth talking Surgeons, Teachers, and Fuzzy Polar Bears promoting sophistication in drink…. but really, which was better? Neither! They both have their places in the market. They both continuously grow their brands beyond the original developers wildest dreams…. they both co-exist and what’s more important, they both need each other in order to continue to grow and reach further.

Yes, we are in the new world of music marketing, super fast internet downloads, fans that want instant access to music, and the ability for artists, musicians, producers, and record labels to save a ton of money by utilizing the internet to deliver their music to the masses….. but it is not an end-all-be-all tool. The internet does not mean the CD is dead. It just means we have another marketing tool to get the music in to the hands of waiting fans!

Radio stations still like to give the “10th caller” a free CD during contests. Press reporters still like to get an entire CD to add to their massive “free” collection. And fans still like to buy the actual CD at shows. There is no “single -vs- CD” war being waged in the trenches of the music industry. It is made up.

I am working with one artist right now that has gained a massive amount of fans. He has something like a million views on youtube, has fan submitted videos being uploaded to youtube, and is actually selling about $1000 worth of singles a month to all these fans…. but he has reached out to me because he is stalled right there. This artist is hungry. He studies online every day trying to reach further, he has taken all the steps he knows how, and he still seems to be stalled. After talking to him for about a half hour it hit me….

He believes that an artist today does not need to get CDs pressed up. While talking to him I found out he has about three CDs worth of songs but no CD of any of them. For the record, he is great, very very great in fact. His music hits the commercial main stream of his genre, he looks the part, has a great video, knows how to use social networking to the extreme, and seems to have the complete package…. but he really only has half of the package to take it to the next level…

THE POINT….

Budget, plan, and get ready for the need to press up actual physical product for the music industry and your music marketing efforts… i.e. CDs. It is the next step in marketing your music to the masses once you dominate the online world. It is almost impossible to do a Radio Promotional Tour without having physical CDs, Selling singles at a live show pretty much does not work and you are missing sooooo much money by not having CDs at your live shows, and realize… real fans, the one’s that follow and support you for your entire career really do want physical CDs of your music… not just singles.

Singles are great to get you started, to create buzz, gain attention, and get the industry to take notice….. but don’t get left behind thinking that just because you gained all these things with your first few singles it’s all you need. It’s not, it does not get you to your ultimate goals, and you will be stuck at a million views on youtube without really making the money those million views could have if you only had a CD!

THE MORAL….

As you are making your money on single sales from iTunes make sure you are putting at least a portion of that money aside to get CDs pressed up. The cool thing…. you can CDs for as low as $650 per 1000 now. This is full retail ready CDs, shrink wrapped, full graphics packs and all. Here is my favorite spot for CD replication, check em out!

Learn how to take your music marketing efforts further!

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

Hey Folks….

Going into 2010, as you think about your goals, create your plans for reaching those goals, and start acting on those plans – who is your biggest competition while marketing your music in 2010? Is it the local band, artist, producer, or record label down the street, the regional independent touring around your market, or maybe the international major labels that are buying up all the air time on video broadcast stations, radio, and ad spaces in magazines? It’s none of these!!!

Wait for it….. It’s Coming….. Hold on…..

IT’S YOU!!!

Yup, you are your biggest competition in 2010 while trying to push your music to the masses. There is not one person or organization in the entire world that can hurt or help you more than you can. You have the power to make or break your career with every decision you make…. Notice, I didn’t say action you take, move you make, or marketing strategy you try… I said; “with every decision you make!”

Being in the music industry takes total and complete commitment, guts, and willpower. Everything that you can do to get ahead starts with a decision. Here is the definition of decision: “a determination arrived at after consideration, a report of a conclusion, promptness and firmness in deciding.”

You are your biggest music marketing competition in 2010 because only you can give yourself or take away from yourself the power to make firm decisions about what you are going to do to get your music in the hands of potential fans. It does not matter what other artists, bands, producers, or record labels are doing. It doesn’t matter how much buzz others are getting for their music. But most of all, it does not matter if you are keeping up with others actions or not.

There are more than enough potential music fans in the world that you can have as large a fan base as you want. THE WORLD – Yes, I said world… The internet is upon us…strongly! You have the power to gain fans from anywhere in the world if you make the decision to do so. You have the power to book as many live gigs as you want, get your music reviewed by as many magazines as you decide, and get your music on as many radio stations as you take action to do so.

Notice again, I am not saying you are ready to be on the radio, doing live shows, or getting your music reviewed by magazines. No, I am saying you have the power within you to get to the point that these organizations will want your music. You have to make the decision that you will do what it takes, no matter what that may be, to get your music in the places it needs to be to sell more units allowing you to make your living in the music industry. You may in fact be creating music that sucks! I hate to say it, because I know as a creative type myself that you may not like to hear it. But it is important to realize that you have to make a decision that you either want to make music that you and your mom likes or you have to create music that will help you reach your goals. I am in no way saying change who you are…. there is absolutely no need for that…. but I am saying you have to make the decision to listen to what your potential fans are saying…. or not saying… and take the action needed to reach your decision.

You are your competition! That is very worthy of being repeated many, many times. Only you have the power to make the decision to act upon your dreams of being the next superstar. Only you have the decision to get up every day and market your music to the world to reach your goals. Only you have the ability to follow through with what you start and have solid commitment. Only you have the power to make decisions and then use guts to see them through. Only you can do none of these things, make no decisions, and watch your career fade away…. then look back and say, “well, I WANTED to be in the music industry.” as you sit at your 9 to 5 job behind your desk answering phones….

There is a huge difference between wanting to do something and making the decision to act. Refer back tot he definition. If you decide to do something you have determination to follow through no matter how hard, how boring, or how much work it takes… you are committed. Wanting something means it would be nice if you received it – freely, without work, determination, or commitment. Another word for decision in my mind is NEED. A decision is a need. Meaning is you decide to do something, then you need to do it, not want to do it, or maybe will do it – YOU NEED TO DO IT!

OK, this has been your music marketing motivational minute….by Jai. Take it for what you will… or decide to join the music industry; committed, decided, firm, activated, and with guts. You will need all these things if you are going to reach your goals!

Learn how to create an action plan to reach your music marketing goals!

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

Well, 2009 is almost over. How was the year for you and your music career? Did you reach your goals? Did you even start the year with goals? Did you learn new tips, tricks, and music marketing techniques that took you further than the year before… or did you continue to do the same ol’ same ol’ with the same results as before? Are you looking to 2010 to be a better year where you can reach further, gain more attention, create bigger buzz, and drive more fans to buy your music…. or will you do the same things you did in 2009?

I personally love New Years Eve! Not because I can party it up into the wee hours of the night, rather because it gives me a chance at a “do-over.” Every year on New Years Eve day, before the festivities, I spend the entire day day dreaming about what I want the future to look like, pondering the past years activities, and then creating an action plan to move me away from the previous years mistakes and closer to the new years goals. This is the most exciting time for me in my business. I really dig day dreaming and thinking about the future. These day dreams become my goals for the year.

A goal is no more than a day dream if no action is taken, no plans are created, or no movement towards them is accomplished throughout the year. This was a huge realization for me many years ago. Before I came to this notion that I had to act upon my dreams to make them a reality I would always wonder from year to year why I was no closer to making my living in the music industry. You see, I was always doing the same thing I did last year, no matter the results, and somehow expecting because I had a day dream of everything being different It would be…. no matter the action I took… which in my case, again, was doing the same ol’ same ol’ and expecting different results.

So again, I ask you…. Are you going to change your mindset or continue with the same ol’ same ol’ hoping for something to miraculously to happen?

I want to challenge you this year. I want you to take a leap of faith and consider that what you are currently doing may not be all you can do for yourself and your career. I don’t care how successful you are right now, there is always more you can do. The most successful people in the world know that learning something new everyday is the only way to stay successful and that there is always something they are doing that could be done better. So, with that said, I want to challenge you to reach deeper within yourself and find that little spark of energy that will allow you to sit on New Years Eve day and ponder your past, plan your future, and take the first action step of creating a written plan of how you will move closer to your future and further from your past mistakes.

Here are some steps to get you thinking…

1. Write down all the actions you took last year towards making your living in the music industry.

2. Go through each action you took and and rate the success using the 1-10 method (1 being poor – 10 being excellent) BE HONEST!!!

3. Now again go through the list and next to each action item list why you feel it deserved the rating you gave it.

4. Put your pen down and seriously consider your actions over the past year. How can you do better?

5. Close your eyes…after reading this step… and day dream about your future. Let your mind go as far as it can towards how you want to live your live and what would make you the most happy in the music industry.

6. Start a new piece of paper and write down your day dreams.

7. Now, look at the day dreams and consider what has to happen to get you closer to them. As an example, if your day dream is to perform live in front of 50,000 people all screaming your name… what must you do to get there? First, you must learn who the concert promoters are that put together concerts large enough to attract 50,000 people. So, in this case, you would need to start networking with concert promoters. – very brief explanation, but you get the point.

8. List each day dream as a goal.

9. Under each goal write down as many action steps as you can think of to get you closer to that goal. Money, time, resources do not matter right now, you can figure out all that later. Right now you just want to create an action plan of how you can reach your goals.

10. Look at all your goals and action items and create a step-by-step plan of action to reach your goals. Once you have a plan you will be able to see what you need to do, obtain, learn, possess, etc. to reach your goals. This is valuable. Now you simply have to get your hands or mind on the needed items and act upon your plan to reach your goals!

Sounds too simple to work doesn’t it? That is because it is human nature to over complicate, over think, and over estimate everything we do in life. People, life can be easy in the music industry if you plan for it to be. This ten step plan is the fundamental basis to every successful person you have ever met or heard about in your entire life. In one way or another each successful person follows this path to their success. The difference between those that are not successful, those who are moderately successful, and those that have unbelievable success is how well they follow this ten step program and personalize it to their individual needs.

2010 can be a huge year for you in the music industry. All you have to do is plan for your success. So, again, I challenge you to reach your potential…. oh sorry, i hated hearing that in school, let’s change that…. I challenge you to reach deep inside your soul and find what it is you want to do as an individual, define your desire into words on paper (very important), create an action plan to reach that desire, and then research and learn what you need to so you can reach those desires and have a unbelievable 2010!!!

Need help setting up your music industry action plan?
Step-By-Step Action Plan to Reach Your Goals & Succeed in the MUSIC Industry

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

Hey Folks!

Man, I love this time of year. My family celebrates Christmas and my wife goes all out decorating the house, baking cookies, and spending all my money to try and single handedly save the economy as she hits all the shops and malls for presents. I am amazed every year how much she gets done and how well she sticks to her plans no matter how crazy things get…..

Of course that makes me think about “follow through.” I have gone, one time only, with my wife to the malls and shops to “be in the spirit” and help her pick out a few gifts for family and friends and I can tell you that if she did not have “follow through” and stick to her plan we would have never made it out of the mall alive! Me being like a kid in a candy store…. ok, we were in the candy store…. I wanted to go here and there as I saw shiny cool toys and gadgets that I wanted for myself, but my wife kept pointing to the clock, her list, and then telling me “we don’t have time for you to just stroll through the mall window shopping… we have to get in, get out, and stick to the plan!” “But, but, right now I’m here and everything is out and I have been thinking about looking at this stuff for a while now, this is a good time to just quickly look…” I said. “No, we have to keep with the plan or I will not get done what I need to do today to finish everything before Christmas!” she said.

Let me tell you this. When my wife says “NO!” It wakes me up. Usually she is the sweet, quiet type that just kinda goes along with the flow of life at her own pace. Actually, usually she is late to everything because she just moves to her own clock and really enjoys being chill. So, when she puts her foot down and says “NO” I have to wake up and listen….

What does this have to do with music marketing and awareness campaigns? A lot! You see, my wife gets all the shopping done, all the cooking completed, gifts wrapped, house decorated, and everything else that demands her time every year at Christmas because she has developed a plan and then sticks to that plan to a “T.” That one time of going to the mall with her showed me just how much she does stick to that plan and why….. My “five minutes here and there” just to check out a new toy or shinny object added up to making her more than two and a half hours off schedule. And trust me, once she is on a mission – the last thing you want to do is be the one to get her off schedule – she made me work with her the rest of the day to get back on schedule and by doing so I saw exactly what my “five minutes” really did for her day and plan!

Your music marketing activities, especially online awareness campaign work, require strict detail to a schedule. Getting off schedule even a day can throw the entire campaign out of wack until you get back on schedule. This is because each step you take is built upon the previous steps and you can not move forward until you complete each step of the plan. If you do not follow through, down to the minute, of what you are supposed to do you will start to hurt your over all online awareness campaign.

While you are online it is hard not to just take five minutes to look at this or that – you know the shinny things that grab our attention – and those five minutes add up quickly. While you are doing searched on your favorite search engine for radio stations or online magazines, a headline about your favorite commercial rtist might grab your attention, or when you visit a radio station site a picture might grab your attention and make you want to click on the picture to see or learn more…. This takes you off task and off schedule fast. It might not seem like much, but add this up over a three or four hour period of doing research and you have now only spent about half the time you dedicated to research actually researching music industry resources.

Staying focused and following through with your plan while surfing the net is hard work – maybe harder than anything else while marketing your music. You have email, forum announcements, new blog posting announcements, instant message pop ups, etc. that all are competing with your time and energy while doing your work. You have to learn the art of tuning distractions out, turning off announcements, and paying attention only to the task at hand. Your music marketing efforts have got to be the only thing that has your complete and total attention the entire time you are acting upon it. Not just for the time drain, but also for your focus, your commitment, and your follow through.

Constant research, sifting through websites for needed information, and going through lists of radio stations or press outlets to find the ones that are still in business is tedious. I have found that the only way I can do it over and over, day after day, is to set goals. I set a goal of 20 – 25 radio stations a day, 3 – 5 music magazines a day, and 3 – 5 event promoters a day. By doing this I have a goal to keep in mind which forces me to stick to the plan of the day. I then know I do not have time to get distracted by those “new and shinny” things that pop up looking to steal my time and effort.

Here are some tips for making the best of your time online while working your awareness campaign:

• 1. Shut down email programs for the entire time you are working. – Check your email before you start and then after you finish, but not during.
• 2. Turn off your instant message software while working.
• 3. Create goals for each day of work and do not allow yourself to stray away from that goal until you reach it.
• 4. As you find “shinny” things that grab your attention make a note so you can go back to them once you complete your online awareness activities.
• 5. Do not visit your social networking sites or favorite user forums while working.
• 6. Do not allow yourself to read the news, current events, or anything not directly related to your research while on industry websites – Keep note of sites that offer these things and do allocate time for this at a later date/time. It is iportant to stay on top of industry news, but not while working on awareness.
• 7. Turn off your phone while working.
• 8.  Close your office door or let anyone else around you know that you are working and need total focus so no interruptions.
• 9. Once you begin your online awareness activities limit your breaks to only one an hour and make that one break quick so you stay focused and on point.

Hopefully this will get you thinking and you can create a space and frame of mind to keep on point, stay focused, and follow through while acting upon your online awareness campaign! If you have some more ideas that may help other readers please leave a comment or two and I will post for everyone to see and appreciate! As always… keep busy, work smart not hard, and remember – the more effective effort you put into your music marketing efforts the more you get out of them…. Knowledge is power and the more you have the further you will go!

To jump start your music marketing efforts check out The Ultimate Online Awareness Campaign eBook available now!!!

Have a very merry Christmas and happy holidays!!!
Peace,
Jai
“Love the MUSIC in Yourself, Not Yourself in the MUSIC!”

The music industry screams for you to be different, forge your own path, take risks, and be creative in everything you do including marketing your music. And being different is a great thing – to a point. But being different does not mean you have to stay away from tried and true ideas, concepts, strategies, or means in which you market your music. Being different – or better yet – unique – means you find ways to set yourself apart from the crowd while utilizing proven systems of marketing. It does not mean you buck the entire system and “go it the hard way.” But a sad fact is that many, many independents feel that the only way they can have street cred or feel like they are truly independent is to take the hardest road they can find, or worse – try to reinvent the wheel – and somehow grind themselves up the road and hope to miraculously get the same results as the “sell outs” that are using the proven concepts, ideas, and strategies to market their music. CRAZY!

“But what does all this have to do with funneling fans to buy my music?”

For some reason, the music industry stays out of “traditional” marketing channels like it’s a plague. Now, don’t get me wrong, most of the successful artists and labels adopt “traditional” marketing techniques from day one – and they have the sales to prove it! These successful independents get that the easiest, and fastest way to get more fans is to understand marketing as a whole, instead of looking for a quick fix or one-off solution. They understand that marketing music is a process in which you have to first find your potential fans, then get them interested, get them to take a small step of action – not a giant step like buying your music or merchandise yet – then continue to build a relationship and trust, communicate some more, then get them to take a bigger desired action step – get them involved, and then get them to actually buy music and attend live shows. This is called “Funnel Marketing” in the world outside of the music industry. But it’s called the same thing by the successful independents that use it everyday to sell more and more music as well!

Funnel marketing is the backbone of any successful marketing campaign in the real world as well as in the music industry. The concept is simple. Think about a funnel, at the top is a huge area used to collect or attract anyone who may be interested in your music. As those people start down the funnel, through strategic marketing strategies put in place to funnel out people who may not really be into your music, they are asked to take small, actually tiny, steps of action like signing up for your weekly newsletter or participating in your user forum. As the hole in the funnel gets smaller and smaller, the fans that are still in the funnel are increasingly going to be life long fans that support your music. At the bottom of the funnel, where the fan comes out is your shopping cart where the fan can buy your music, buy merchandise, get tickets for live events, or anything else you may want them to purchase or do as an action item that only true fans will actually follow through with.

The key to funnel marketing is starting with a broad range of potential fans at the top of the funnel and directing those fans through strategies – funnel holes – by means of getting them to interact and take small action steps – so by the time they get to the tiny hole in the bottom of the funnel you know you have a dedicated, true fan, that will want to buy your music. You see, most independents try to sell their music way, way before it is time. What happens is that a potential fan is hit with sales pitches everywhere they turn. This automatically sends red flags up in a potential fans mind. They want to discover music, find a cool or groovy artist, or want to feel they are a part of something bigger than themselves. Simply buying a CD does none of this. But by using the funnel marketing technique you offer the potential fan the ability to discover your music, join your community, take action to become involved, communicate with you and other fans, help your movement through small action steps around their own network of friends, become more involved, and only after all that – buy your music. You are letting them test drive the music at their own pace, under their own direction and commitment of involvement, but in reality, through funnel marketing you are guiding them to exactly where you want them to end up – your shopping cart to buy your music. But you are not asking them to buy your music before they are ready! This is important. You are guiding them to the decision and by the time they get through the funnel they are ready with money in hand and can not get your music fast enough!

“Now, this sounds a lot like marketing! Oh NO!  – what gives?”

This is marketing, yes. But I am not saying you are not genuine in what you are doing. Meaning, you still have to be real. You still have to communicate. You still have to offer good music. And you still have to be a real artist, label, producer, agent, or manager. I am not saying stop being who you are or want to be and go put on a suit and tie and call yourself a marketing guru because you have now learned about the marketing funnel. Not at all – THAT IS CRAZY!

What I am saying is in your unique way, being as creative as you want to be, use the funnel marketing technique to gently guide your potential fans down the funnel towards your ultimate goal of selling more music – therefor allowing you to ability to make your living from the music you create or manage. I am saying once you learn that you are trying to sell your music too soon to potential fans you will start to sell more music all together. The music marketing funnel allows you to gently get fans to buy your music by weeding out the people that may not be 100% into your music as well as pull the potential fans that could be into your music if they were given a chance instead of bombarded with “BUY MY MUSIC NOW!” messages and lead to your shopping cart all while having the satisfaction of building a good relationship with you.

Click on the link to learn how to use the music marketing funnel to increase awareness, generate buzz, & drive CD sales!

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

I blog a lot about the importance of planning your music marketing and promotions campaign before spending one dime, exerting any energy, or thinking about any one strategy. The planning stage is the most important part of marketing independent music. It is when you determine the how, what, when, where, and how much it is going to cost to get your music in the hands of potential fans. Planning is what separates the “wanna be’s” from the successful artists, musicians, producers, and record labels. Really! I have seen many, many people that have plenty of money fail and waste their money trying idea after idea with no plan in place. I have also seen people with very little money, that follow a plan, become very successful!

The best tool I have found to plan your campaign is called mind mapping software. The tool I want to share with you today is called MindMeister and it is free to use, available as an online application, and really, really helps you look at the big picture as well as drill down to specifics. Let’s take a look at how to use MindMeister to effectively build your successful music marketing and promotions campaign…

(I am not going to go into detail about how to use MindMeister as they have great tutorial videos available on their website and I would only be duplicating their efforts. Check out the videos to get started on your mind map!)

I am currently working with a Christian Artist, Jeremy Ledgewood, and I will use the mind map I created when determining how I would market him to the world:

The first step to planning a total music marketing and promotions campaign is to look at the entire picture and forget about the details. Often times this is called the 30,000 foot view because it’s like being in an airplane and looking down at a city from the window. You can see that there is indeed a city below, that there are roads, and that the city is laid out in a grid. But you can not see individual road signs, cars, business names, etc. As you start to create your campaign you need to stay at the 30,000 view level and simply think about the big picture items of a music marketing and promotions campaign. Examples would be online marketing, offline marketing, publicity, radio, video, and live show/tour marketing. As you start to use the mindmeister software you need to put the artist or campaign name in the center and then add your big picture concepts to the main heading. Here is an example:

As you can see, I have Jeremey Ledgewood as the campaign title in the center and each of the big picture categories coming off as individual marketing and promotion campaigns.

The second step is to “brainstorm” ideas and specific strategies within each campaign category. This is still not the time to get too specific. Let’s take online as an example. This is a huge category in marketing independent music. What you need to do at this point is decide all the available strategies online marketing offers you – opt in email lists, social networking, awareness, etc. Here is what I did with Jeremey during this stage:

Again, I am still looking at the “big picture” or 30,000 foot view of the entire campaign. Let’s look at online marketing again. In this category I have awareness, opt-in email, and social networking. But I have not drilled down intoany type of specifics like what social networking sites I will use, what I will do in specific sites, how often I will work on social networking, etc. This is because I am simply trying to get a full, big picture, idea of what it is I will do to market Jeremy Ledgewood’s music. As you continue with this process you will get down to the finite detail of your entire campaign. Let’s go another step further….

Now you can see that under the online category > Social Networking, I have expanded out specific social networking sites used by potential fans to find new independent music. Again, I still have not gotten into specifics of each of these site. I have only listed them as a tool I will use in my online marketing campaign.

Your next step is to start drilling down each of the sub categories in each category. Here is an example:

Using our “Online” example and expanding upon it, you can see that now myspace, twitter, and ourstage have sub categories. Myspace is going to be used for the 13-21 year old demographic marketing and promotion efforts, uploading music vidoes, fan club communications, and outstage contest promotions. Again, each of these categories are the “big picture.” The actual steps and action items needed for a successful outcome have not been determined yet. Looking at the big picture as a whole allows you to see the entire campaign. It allows you to see where you can promote the ourstage contests across the entire campaign. When you look at only one peice of the puzzle or “strategy” you get lost in the details. Details slow your music marketing and promotion engine down to a crawl. Plus, if you look only at online > myspace for example, and don’t think about the other areas, you might miss that using myspace to promote the ourstage contests would be a great tie-in marketing strategy.

It is always best when creating your campaign to start at the 30,000 foot view and continue drilling that view down for the entire campaign as a whole until you are to the finite details. Meaning, even after you figure out each of the categories off the main headline, don’t get caught up and “run with the ball” to complete one of the categories – in our case an example would be online. If you only drill down online in our example you would totally miss that you need to place links to radio stations on your myspace page so potential fans can listen to your music or better, request your music at the radio stations you have rotation! Or you might miss that you need to place a link to sign-up for your opt-in email list on your myspace page as well. You see, you have to start very broad, then look at each category and only drill down to the next level as you consider all the other categories as well because they each work together to form your entire music marketing and promotions campaign.

I think you are starting to get the point. This blog post really was not intended to be a blue print for creating a music marketing and promotions campaign…. It was to hip you on a cool, free, tool to help you do the work. I will go deeper into detail over the next few weeks here on the blog and in articles at I am Music Network‘s main site. Go check out the software, start working on your campaign’s 30,000 foot view, and if you have a question or get stuck reach out and comment or ask your questions here on this blog posts comment section and I will try my best to keep you moving forward!

Click on this link for detailed instructions and action plans for creating successful music marketing campaigns and promotions!

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