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!”

In keeping with the “best tool” theme, I thought it might be a good time to discuss awareness strategies, particularly how you make potential fans “aware” of you and your music. Awareness only happens if you direct it to. Menaing, if you are posting pictures, videos, graphics, etc. to your website, social networking sites, or user forums that have nothing on them to associate who you are, what you want potential fans to do, or where to go to get additional information – you are not creating any awareness for you or your music. You are simply giving people something to look at that they may find cool or interesting or not. But if you brand your images, videos, and graphics with your name, logo, and web site you are creating awareness.

Big corporations understand awareness better than anyone. Think about the nike commercials on TV. It takes the entire commercial to figure out what the freakin thing is about. But then at the end you see the little nike logo in the bottom corner of your TV screen. They are not trying to sell anything with the commercial. They are simply trying to make you aware of the Nike brand. THey feel that when you are ready to buy another pair of shoes and think to yourself “what do I want to buy?” you will remember their brand because they made you aware of it over and over again.

Music Marketing works the same way. Think about this: how many times have you been online and run across something you though was cool enough to check out but didn’t have time to do so “right now?” IF you are like most people this happens almost on a daily basis. You think that you will go back and take a look later when you are ready. But what really happens? You either forget or you forget where you saw the thing you wanted to check out. So now, when you are ready, you can’t find it again….. unless…. you have seen it over and over again and remember the brand name, web address, logo, or some other “eye candy” that you can now recall and at minimum search for in google or yahoo.

Research has established that most fans need to see “awareness” at least 7 times before taking the next step of “clicking” to learn more. Awareness campaigns in music marketing are geared to do just that, present your brand, image, logo, video, or other attention grabbing visuals as many times as possible, in as many locations as possible, around the internet. Remember, music fans are finicky. They want to discover new music on their own. They do not like to be told what is good, what is bad, or what they should ask for as a Christmas present this year. They want to discover a hidden treasure and have the ability to share it with their friends so they have the power of saying they discovered the next big thing in music!

Awareness in music marketing is about putting your message in every location on the internet music fans gather to discover new music. But how you brand yourself and music is what will be remembered, not the music itself…. until they “discover” you. It is a hard concept to understand, but awareness is not about the music or even getting people to listen to your music, at first. Once a potential fan “discovers” your music, then you turn the page and go from awareness to marketing.

Awareness Tips:

- Always place your website address on all pictures and images
- Always place a water mark (your web address) on all videos you upload to youtube or other social networking sites
- Remember, awareness is about the brand, not the music. Do not over market or insist on “listening” to your music
- Awareness is a numbers game. Place your brand in as many spots as you can online

Social networking is about awareness. It is why it works so good. But it can also kill your chance of getting a potential fan if you are not regularly updating your social networking sites. Once a potental fan “remembers” your brand and does “click” to learn more, the last thing you want is for them to go to a social networking site that says your last visit was a month ago. Old news is just that. People will see that you don’t care enough to keep news fresh so why would they care to read about what you did a month ago. An awareness campaign is fresh, right now, and up to the minute. Remember, fans are finicky. Once you get them interested, you have to keep them engaged. This means fresh content, new blog posts, new pictures, new videos, and more.

Do not use up all your photos, videos, and blog posts during your awareness campaign. This is a huge mistake a lot of artists and labels make when first learning how to market their music. It is very important that when a fan finally “clicks” to learn more they see fresh content on the site they land on. They do not want to see the same pictures and videos they have already seen the 7 times it took to get them to actually “click.” If you put everything you have out on an awareness campaign what is the point in “clicking” to learn more?

Marketing your music, especially during the awareness phase, takes a massive amount of pictures, videos, and general content. The may be one of the biggest mistakes I see up-and-coming artists and labels make on a daily basis. One photo shoot does not produce enough content to sustain a true marketing campaign. One video shoot of a live show from three months ago will not last for an entire campaign either. You have to continuously update your media. Seriously!

Awareness Media Update Schedule:

- Photo – 20 – 35 usable pictures per week should be taken and prepared with brand and uploaded to social networking sites and website
- Video – At least two new videos – not just music videos, it can be of anything with the artist or group, recorded, branded, and uploaded per week
- flyers, graphics, banners – 2 per week
- Blog Posts – minimum one blog post per day – 80/15/5 rule – 80% about what is happening with artist/label – 15% personal about artist/label – 5% total off the wall non-music

Conslusion

Basically, an awareness campaign is about getting your name, brand, image, or video in front of as many potential fans as you can. It is about constantly updating that image to stay fresh and current. It is about being where the fans hang out and creating an image of always being there for the fan. The only way you can do this is by presenting yourself in as many locations as you can without “feeling” like you are marketing to people. Make your self available, do not push yourself or music upon anyone!

Click here for more FREE Music Marketing Tips, Tricks, & Techniques

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

Hey Folks,

I know I have talked about it a lot, but it is worth mentioning again for any new comers out there. Jango radio is by far the best music marketing tool available online today. I know it works because I use it with all my consulting clients as well as the clients I personally manage. I just released a single on a new Christian artist I am managing and the results were outstanding. After releasing his new single on Jango we got more traffic on his  website and music social networking sites in less than a two days then we had been getting with all other marketing strategies combined. We got a ton of new sign-ups to his email list and we sold some CDs and Merchandise as well.

If you have been reading this blog or following my music marketing articles over at the full site; www.IamMusicNetwork.com then you know I am totally about DIY (Do It Yourself) music marketing so you do not have to pay someone else and you are in full control knowing what is what, what is working, and learning what marketing is about along the way. I feel that Jango does just that. You see instant results from the songs you release, you see where fans are coming from, and you directly communicate with your fans.

Don’t get me wrong. Jango is not a pay for it, release it, and “BAM” it works. You have to work it like any other music marketing strategy. You have to seek out possible fans, make friends, talk to them, and invite them to your profile. Like I have said about every other music social networking site, you have to interact and treat the fans you meet as real friends and take an active part in their interests as you would an offline friend. But man, with the release of Jeremy’s new single; “The Narrow,” I can really see a difference in Jango and that there are a ton of new users creating their own stations that open up your possibilities of reaching more fans.

For those that do not know, Jango is a website that as a listener allows you create your own radio station that will play artists you like. The station throws in songs from time to time that fit within your stations format and then you hit “add” if you like the artist/song and want played on a regular basis on your station. As an independent artist or group, you place your music on Jango and then pick 5 or so artists you feel your music is closest to or that the fans of “big name” artists may like your music as well. Then, your song is played right after the “big name” song on a listener’s station. The really cool thing, unlike regular internet radio stations that only stream one playlist to anyone who is listening, Jango streams individual stations to each listener. This means your song can be played, and heard, a massive amount of times in a single day.

The cost:

250 Plays = $10
1000 Plays = $30
4000 Plays = $100

Folks, this is nothing compared to other music marketing costs. Jango claims that you will get about 40 – 80 new fans for every 1000 plays. I can tell you from real experience, if you really work it like you are supposed to, you can get about 30 – 50 new fans per day of play. I have not found anything else in online marketing that get 30 -50 fans a day period. The cool thing is that once your music is added to 50 stations you start to get free plays as well as the paid plays. Basically, you get put into regular rotation. But don’t get lazy or cheap. The pay to play option still gets your music in front of more fans faster!

I can tell you to do it, you can think it doesn’t work or this is just hype, but try it for yourself, $10 freakin’ dollars is nothing to see the results for yourself! Once you try it, it’s like crack, you will be hooked and you will see that it works better than anything you have tried. TRACK your results. Watch your website statistics, watch your friend count on myspace, watch your plays on reverbnation, and watch the ilike counter go up…. that will be your proof that it works!

Click Here to Check it Out for Yourself!

Next post I will discuss how to effectively “work” Jango to get the most out of your plays!

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