This site is a blog for musicians and music industry people. It is a free educational resource and it is also the way I advertise my music consulting services. I am an entertainment professional with deep roots in the music industry. Throughout my music career I have been a major label A&R representative, a music supervisor, an artist manager, a reality show producer, a bass player and the head of a digital record label.
Shikhee is the founder of the band Android Lust, a band that combines mixes elements of rock, industrial and electropop. A Bangladeshi-born New Yorker, she has always been an avid musician and songwriter and got her start playing in bands in the New York City area in the 1990s. Eventually, she decided to branch out on her own, founding Android Lust as a one-woman project in 1996. For the past 15 years, she has continued to maintain a rigorous performance schedule, toured throughout the U.S. several times and has put out four full-length albums on several different prominent industrial record labels. Android Lust has been covered by publications such as the Village Voice, Boston Globe, Jane magazine as well as MTV, a number of underground music zines and a variety of international blogs and periodicals.
Shikhee spoke to me about the unique experience of building up a presence within the Goth/industrial scene and provided some insight for other artists about creative on- and off-line methods of marketing, networking and building personal relationships with fans.
Thanks so much for taking some time to talk, Shikhee. How did you get into the business, and how were you able to build up the Android Lust band within the industrial/Gothic music community?
Shikhee:
I was always interested in music and songwriting. I started a few bands that didn’t work out because there always seemed to be personality conflicts or directional issues. Eventually, when those fizzled out I realized it was difficult for me find people that I really identified and clicked with. It was exhausting going through the process of trying to meet people. I even put out ads on Village Voice at one point.
I pretty much just decided I just wanted to do it on my own, because the process of trying to find people to work with wasn’t worth the frustration. It was creating a lot of negativity instead of producing something positive. I decided I would just start and figure it out as I went along. And I did. I had learned a bit of recording from my last band, Strange Fruit. We had a guitarist, a drummer and a bass player. But the core of the band had been just the guitarist and I. And after all the conflict we had, it was easier just to figure out how to do things myself than to look for people.
So, I started Android Lust and put out my first cassette demo in 1996. I basically just started going to a lot of Goth clubs in New York and connecting with people: Bat Cave; the Bank and a couple clubs in Jersey. It took off from there.
Were you just playing those clubs, or were you also attending when you weren’t playing and getting to know people?
Shikhee:
I was doing a little of everything. When I wasn’t playing, I was going pretty regularly back then and making friends. That was pretty much my scene back then.
Most artists at one point sit down and think, “Who am I as an artist, and what kind of people would ‘get’ me?” Did you actually have a moment like that, or did you just say, “Underground night clubs, etc. are going to get this”?
Shikhee:
I never really sat down and thought about that part of the process. I think at that point in my life, it was the music that I was listening to and surrounded by I felt connected to. So, I naturally gravitated towards it myself. And the people that were receptive to it just happened to be there at that time. It wasn’t necessarily a conscious decision to push towards a specific goal. I was just there, and I happened to fall into something that I connected with.
Did you ever feel like you had to politic, or had you just become friends with the people who were the gatekeepers into the clubs you wanted to play?
Shikhee:
Politicking and building relationships with people would’ve probably helped a lot, but I’m really bad at networking. I am really not good with just schmoozing, so I never did that. It just happened that I met a guy who was a DJ at one of the clubs, and he had was the head of Tinman Records. He liked my demo, and he ended up wanting to sign me, which was how my first release came about.
I did give out demos, but it was always hard for me to present myself, so I just gave people my cassette demo without doing much else. I guess I was lucky in that way. Networking is a skill I’m still working on, and I don’t know how far I’ve come, but I must’ve gotten better.
You’ve been working on Android Lust for about 15 years now. Knowing what you know now, what are some of the things you would’ve told yourself in 1996, when you were just starting out, that would’ve helped your career?
Shikhee:
In the late ‘90s, it was pretty much all about the music. And I think I was really naïve in a lot of ways. You mentioned politics, and that was something I really didn’t think about. I just thought if the music was good, it would get attention, which I know now just isn’t the case. It just doesn’t work that way. Everything is about relationships and the people you know, those you do favors for and the people you’re friends with. It’s something that I know exists and I accept, but it’s kind of hard to swallow. There are a lot of other introverted artists out there, and it’s difficult knowing it doesn’t really matter how good you are. Ultimately what matters is the relationships. And networking and building relationships is a skill people need to learn, especially now. Because, with social media and everything else, that’s where we’re at, for better or for worse.
And have you found one type of social media more useful than others in promoting your band and getting your music out there?
Shikhee:
I use Facebook and Twitter more than anything else. MySpace kind of died away, and in terms of all the others, I just don’t have the time and energy for them. Facebook has been successful for me, in part, because people who become your fans on Facebook seem to not be out to put you down. With some other sites, there seems to be this sadistic streak where they want to put down artists. There is no accountability, because you’re an anonymous face, and you can just get away with saying whatever you want. You can say things you wouldn’t say face to face. I think people tend to be more genuine on Facebook.
Sure. They’re connected to real personas.
Shikhee:
Right. Of course, there’s other negative stuff that happens there too; I don’t go to Facebook except to manage my band page, because I can’t handle all the noise. But that has become the most supportive community for me in terms of promoting Android Lust.
But interestingly, I’ve actually made some real-life friends through Twitter. In fact, my merch and touring manager, and our road tech are people I met through Twitter. I haven’t found myself building real-life relationships like that through any other social networking sites.
What I find curious about Twitter is that you could say, “I made chili today,” and you’ll get 30 responses. But then you’ll say, “Hey, I bared my soul and created this piece of art that I connect with,” and you’ll get one response. And that’s usually not the case on Facebook, where people tend to respond to that kind of thing. I’m not sure why that is.
Everyone’s experience with social media is different, which is why I enjoy talking to people about it and what they pull away from it.
You guys are definitely in a very specific niche. Do you find that having a presence on niche sites, like, for example Goth/Industrial sites like Vampire Freaks, etc. and other scene or lifestyle sites has helped out?
Shikhee:
Yes. Though, our presence on sites like Vampire Freaks is probably not as active as it could be, simply because I don’t have the bandwidth to maintain all those sites. Also, to be honest, the whole “push, push, push” style of marketing has always been incredibly draining for me. I want to focus on creating and of course I want to connect to fans. But this whole style of constant promotion, which is the new paradigm, is I think in some ways very harmful. It really drains you and takes away that bubble that artists used to be in, that was a good thing for being able to create – the bubble that really isolates you as an artist and allows you to immerse yourself in your own world. Now, you’re constantly doing a back-and-forth. For me personally, that’s not been a great thing.
How did you go from touring regionally in New York, New Jersey and Philly, to pulling off a cross-country, national tour?
Shikhee:
That was a great experience. Over the years, I’ve been getting a lot of DJ play and club support. That was when the music was more club friendly. Now it’s a little more experimental. I did build up a lot of contacts across the country that way. And I basically just put together my first national tour back in 2005.
And when you say you built up a lot of contacts, was that pursuing relationships with other bands or directly with clubs?
Shikhee:
It was about getting on playlists and having people say, “I really like your music. I’m spinning you.” I basically contacted a lot of DJs in different cities that were playing our music and said, “Hey, do you know of a promoter in your area who would want to book me?” I collected a lot of names by emailing and asking for contacts from people that already liked what I was doing. From there, I started contacting the promoters and tried to put a route together across the country. My first cross-country tour was three-weeks long.
Had you talked to these DJs before you got on the label, or was your success with them the result of being on the label?
Shikhee:
Being on the label helped. At that time, I was on Projekt Records. And that definitely helped me get a lot of plays. Back then, I was also in contact with people across the country through MySpace. And in the industrial scene, the DJs were the ones that knew who the promoters were in their local region.
Do you have any other parting words of advice for artists?
Shikhee:
Something I tell myself all the time is, “Self doubt is your biggest enemy.” You need to have faith in yourself. That attitude is something I try to practice, and sometimes I fail, sometimes I succeed. But you need to go for what you believe in, because nothing else really matters.
To learn more about Shikhee, her story and her music, visit the Android Lust website. You can also follow the band on Facebook and Twitter.
Laurie Jakobsen is the founder and president of Jaybird Communications, a public relations and marketing communications firm that represents a variety of tech companies and innovative start-ups. Laurie has an MBA with marketing specialization from NYU’s Stern School of Business and a BA cum laude in English from Tufts University, along with over 15 years’ experience in public relations and marketing, ranging from artist representation to work with start-up dot-coms and major multi-national music companies. She got her start in the music industry as a fan and began writing about bands in the Arts column of her daily college paper at Tufts University. After interning at many different types of businesses within the music space, she developed a passion for public relations. As part of the boutique firm Shore Fire Media, she was part of the team that represented artists including Bruce Springsteen, Wynton Marsalis and the family of Jimi Hendrix. After working with N2K Encoded Music, the first Internet-focused record label helmed by legendary producer Phil Ramone, she went on to work at a variety of up-and-coming companies in the early days of the Digital Age. In 1999, she was recruited to handle all technology-related communications at Sony Music Entertainment, including the launch of one of the first subscription music services, pressplay. In 2003, Laurie joined The Harry Fox Agency (HFA) to build the company’s marketing and communications department so it would be better suited to the digital marketplace. She has spoken on panels at CMJ and the Miami Music Festival and guest lectured at universities throughout the New York City area on PR topics. Jaybird Communications’ clients include Indaba Music, 7digital, Bandsintown, the National Music Retailers Association (NARM), Tunesat and Cellfish Media. She also works with NY Tech Meetup, a not-for-profit organization supporting and promoting the area’s technology community.
Laurie took some time to talk to me about her experience in the music industry and some qualities both artists and tech entrepreneurs need to have in order to succeed. She also shared some advice for artists looking to improve the way they communicate about their brand, so they can better market themselves and their music and build solid careers.
Thanks so much for taking some time to talk to me, Laurie. How did you get into the music business, and what has the experience of watching all the changes that have taken place been like for you?
LJ:
I got my start like a lot of people do: I was a fan of music. I sometimes joke that if it wasn’t for Duran Duran, I wouldn’t be doing any of this at all. I went to college as an English major, and my school – Tufts University – had a daily newspaper. I noticed it had an Arts column, and it occurred to me that I could get CDs and go see shows and write about them, and even get to interview great musicians. So, that’s exactly what I did. My first taste of the music industry was at 18.
From there, I did a lot of internships to try out different aspects of the industry. First, I interned at Good Times in New York as a writer. I also interned at radio station WFNX in Boston, which connected me to the Musician’s Guide to Touring and Promotion, and I started getting exposed to the PR side of things. I liked the idea of advocating for artists that I liked. For me, the downside of being a writer was the objectivity. I wanted to keep promoting the bands that I really liked, and that seemed to be what these PR folks were doing. Eventually, I came back to New York and got my first job in the public relations field.
In the mid ‘90s, it became clear to me that the Internet offered a lot of opportunities for musicians, and I was ready for a change. There was an opening to start the PR department for a record label run by a company called N2K – which was a very early music distribution site, pre-Amazon, that sold CDs by mail order. That started me on my way on the digital and business side of the industry.
And that’s how I got my start, going from artist PR to the tech side of the business, which is pretty much what I’ve been doing since 1997, believe it or not.
It’s interesting because I’ve interviewed a bunch of publicists, and I don’t know that too many of them have the technical proficiency and writing proficiency. And what made me think of interviewing you was when we sat down, and you discussed that today’s artists – and you may have been referring to both musicians and tech entrepreneurs because now your clients are mostly media and tech companies – really need an education on how to have transactional conversations. Can you speak a little bit more about, in your experience with artists and entrepreneurs, what is lacking and what your service bolsters up that they need?
LJ:
A lot of people have drawn the analogy between musicians and tech startups. And I think it’s very apt, because you do have to have that entrepreneurial personality that I would say suspends disbelief when everyone is telling you, “You’re crazy. You won’t be successful. What are you thinking?” Musicians and startup founders go out there anyway and make it happen.
But when it comes to communications, most musicians have a leg up on their business counterparts. Many musicians have been rehearsing their Rolling Stone or MTV interviews with a hairbrush as much as they were singing along to their favorite tracks. But very few entrepreneurs grew up practicing their Time magazine “Person of the Year” interview. I think what people don’t always realize is that in business – to repeat what you said – communications are transactional. And that can sound a little cold. But whether you’re sitting down in a business development or strategy meeting, or doing an interview with a journalist, there’s a purpose to that conversation; there’s something in the end that will benefit both of you. And the words you choose, the way you present yourself, what you choose to show as a visual, even down to the way you dress and the setting of the meeting is all part of that transaction. As a communications person, when you’re counseling people about interviews, they’ll sometimes think the conversation is a toss-off: “I’m just talking. It’s not a big deal.” There is no such thing as “just talking” with a journalist – always be prepared to see what you say in print.
Whether you are a musician or a businessperson, whatever conversation you’re having, you do need to prepare for it. You need to think about “What is this person coming to the table with? What am I coming to the table with? Where do we meet? Do I have to move this person’s point of view towards mine? Do I have to move towards them?” In order to get the best result for both of you, that’s how you need to approach everything related to your business.
When you said “transactional conversation,” I started to think about a lot of the people who email me. And what’s evident is that they need help. But they don’t know what they need. They often will just say, “Can you get me to the next level?” And that’s something that burns in my soul every time I hear it, because it indicates the person hasn’t thought through what they actually need. And one thing my job isn’t is to figure that out for them. So, in your experience, what do you often wind up guiding musicians and entrepreneurs away from when it comes to their introductory emails?
LJ:
When it comes to plain email communications – and I do general communications coaching too, beyond PR, which is why my company is called Jaybird Communications and not Jaybird PR – it starts at the beginning, with the subject line. First off, have one. The number of people that send emails without subject lines boggles my mind. That subject line should sum up the action item for the person you’re sending it to. That’s how people prioritize their in-box. It may sound funny, but I think the subject line is often overlooked.
Then, when it comes to actually constructing an email communication, it’s not that much different from constructing a press release or other piece of marketing material. It’s your classic “pyramid” construct that everyone probably learned in English and promptly forgot: Be cordial, but state what you’re looking for upfront and include all the supporting information after.
This is the classic style of a newspaper story, which is why I counsel people to read their favorite section of The New York Times every day to get the hang of that format. This structure is not intuitive to everybody, particularly people that come from a more conversational background. They will literally flip the pyramid: you’ll have three paragraphs of background information explaining the situation, and then it concludes with the most important point or action item. That is not the most efficient way to have any sort of business communication.
For some people, they have to learn a new communication style for business communications, and that can be tricky. But as you were saying about those who write you and say, “Get me to the next level,” people need to put a little bit of thought into what they’re asking. Sometimes it’s as easy as, “I’m not quite sure what the next step is. Can I meet with you to brainstorm?” And that’s a more specific question than, “How can you get me to the next level.” I think there’s a subtle difference there.
Absolutely. It’s a very specific request. While I don’t deal with as many entrepreneurs as you do, after I read emails from both artists and entrepreneurs, I understand they have a need, but I don’t understand what they want me to do about it. I realize they are in peril, but I don’t know at what point that became my problem.
LJ:
Exactly. I do short classes on communications, and the one thing that tends to blow people’s minds is that the first rule of communications is “Who is your audience?” That question really dictates everything else. Most people, when they think of communications, would think of it in the first person, as in, this is what I have to say. But communications is actually all about the “you” – the audience. While your message is important, if you can’t figure out how to translate that message to help the “you” – the other side of the conversation – take action, it’s an ineffective communication.
I think if someone is failing to get the response they want from their emails or other communications, they have to go back and ask themselves, “What am I doing that’s not making this email, press release, website, etc., effective?” If you find yourself saying, “My audience just doesn’t get it,” then you need to modify your message for your audience; your audience doesn’t have the incentive to move to meet you.
I think that’s a lesson that can be hard for people, especially innovators, that have sensibilities either musically or business-wise that are ahead of the curve. They have to be aware that there is a giant mass of people in the United States and around the world that have to catch up with you. And even somebody as progressive as Lady Gaga is very aware of her audience and not getting too far ahead of them. You need to look at people like that for the lessons they can teach you as communicators, whether or not you like their art.
Interesting. I wasn’t thinking of communication necessarily beyond words, but you’re talking about communication with imaging and all sorts of other things. What does it look like for you when you’re trying to position your clients without the spoken word? Obviously, you have relationships. But what other forms of context+ are important when you’re presenting something with online marketing materials, etc.?
LJ:
It’s funny to say, but really everything. I think that’s what has changed so much in the past 10-15 years. When I started in this industry, email essentially didn’t exist. You faxed press releases and mailed materials. Some people subscribed to wire services, but the way people interacted with your news was very specific. Now, you have to think about video, pictures, what the website looks like, your blog, you name it. There are so many other avenues of communication, which is great. But you do need to now be hyper-aware of what you are doing with things like Twitter, Facebook, Google+ and whether you host your own website in addition to your social media pages. Everyone needs to be much more aware of media, in all its forms.
The most important part is that you really have to look at communications holistically. What you say on your website can’t be radically different from the way you present yourself on your Twitter page or when you sit down for a meeting in person. Because, in this day and age, the first thing anyone is going to do to get ready to meet with you is search and see what they can find out about you on the Internet, Twitter, LinkedIn and Facebook. So you need to know what’s out there and be prepared to address that.
Some of it, too, is that you have to decide the things you’re really good at. I was working with somebody at one point who couldn’t wrap her head around using Twitter, but loved to post video on Facebook. You might think, “Gee, Twitter is easier.” But for some reason, for her, it wasn’t. So, that’s the way she chose to develop her communications. Social media can take a lot of time, so you have to look at what your strengths are.
Also, you have to know what your audience responds to. Particularly if you’re getting into something that is very mass market, people are still going to want to call you up and talk on the phone. You still have to have that 1-800 line. If your customer service is only through Twitter, for example, it’s not going to do it for a mass market audience. But it’s perfectly appropriate for a social media app. As I said, communication always goes back to who your audience is and what they respond to best. And then you put that together with what you’re good at and either decide, “I need to get better at A, B and C,” or, “Even though I like doing a couple of these things, I really don’t need to invest as much time and money on that, because it doesn’t mesh with my audience.”
If you’re a musician, I think Twitter and Facebook both present an opportunity to really sit down and talk to your fans about who you are vs. just promoting your product. To go back to Lady Gaga, she’s been a master at this. Her fans feel intimately connected to her because of what she does on social media. And that’s absolutely fantastic. It’s not for every artist, but it’s an example of what you can do.
I know you’re working with companies like Indaba, 7digital – a music distribution company – and also Bandsintown – a company that works with Facebook to support artists’ live dates. And you’re working with Cellfish Media, who owns Bandsintown and produces a lot of app content, including things for the NFL, NBA and NHL. And of course, you work with NARM and their digitalmusic.org arm. As somebody who is very much on the cusp of helping media technologies develop, do you have any insight about specific areas of growth that both musicians and entrepreneurs should be aware of?
LJ:
I think we’ve all been waiting for mobile to happen in the United States, but it hasn’t quite hit yet. And I think the move to HTML5 is going to be a real watershed moment once it hits critical mass, because right now we live in this split iOS/Android world. How those various markets operate creates lots of difficulties for people that want to be on mobile because it’s such an investment to support multiple platforms.
I think the reality is, as smartphones are adopted more and more, people are just going to go straight to the Internet to get everything they need on their phones. So, I think while apps are very hot, and I’m sure they will stay that way, as Internet connectivity on phones gets better, the need for a specific app becomes less critical.
At the same time, people have been saying the ringtone market is over. But that’s just not true. Cellfish happens to distribute what was the #1 ringtone on iOS in January, which was the “Mom, Mom, Mom” Stewie quote from Family Guy. So, there’s still an incredible market for ringtones.
There’s also still a lot of room for development on platforms like Facebook. You can look at something like what Bandsintown does: Making it easier for artists to promote their shows and get their fans to communicate about them, which ultimately gets more people out to the gigs. There’s still so much that can be done on all these platforms. So, I think there’s a lot to be expanded upon in the media realms that we already know. But we have to be careful not to get too ahead of ourselves by saying, “What’s the next thing? What’s the newest thing?”
This is particularly true if you’re a musician. If you’re Trent Reznor, you obviously want to be on the next and the newest thing. But if you’re somebody that wants to appeal to a big audience – going back to what I keep hammering home about “audience, audience, audience” – you might not want to be so far ahead of them. For example, speaking in a gross generalization, let’s say you’re a classic country artist. It’s not that this audience doesn’t use cell phones, but they may not be using them to text as much or post to Twitter. As I said before, you want to be where they are, not way, way ahead of them. That doesn’t sync well with that audience.
In terms of specific trends, I would definitely say to look out for HTML5, which will help developers go beyond the siloed app experience of, “This is what you can do on your iPhone. And this is what you can do on your Android device, your BlackBerry, or whatever else.” And I’m always fascinated by what I see at NY Tech Meetup because it’s the cutting-edge businesses that come to their events. They’re often barely a company, just one or two people with an idea, and they’ll demo something that’s very early stage.
I love to see how people put their ideas together. I don’t represent this company, but my mind was blown by Shapeways, who did an NYTM demo late last year, because they took something that is on the market – 3D design and printing – and made it accessible to everybody. I gave gift certificates to my artist friends for the holidays so they could render their designs in ceramic, metal or plastic for the first time, no sculpting required. I’m always intrigued by companies that make it easy for people to realize their creative ideas.
Laurie has moved away from representing artists and now mostly works with innovative tech companies and start-ups within the music space. To learn more about Laurie Jakobsen and her company, visit the Jaybird Communications website. You can also follow her on Twitter.
(And the Other Top 4 Reasons Your Email Isn’t Being Returned)
I am a big believer in doing as much legwork on your own as you possibly can before reaching out to music industry executives. That being said- there comes a time in every artist’s career where they are going to have to approach someone in the industry to get to that proverbial next level. Let me assure you that there is a right way of doing this … and several wrong ways of doing this. Sadly, many artists repeatedly write emails that go right into the trash because of very basic mistakes that can be easily avoided.
Obviously the first and most basic rule of the approach is “Don’t approach someone with a cold email if you can avoid it;” knowing someone who knows the person you are trying to get in touch with can help a great deal. However, I realize that going in with a strong referral isn’t always an option. Consider the top 5 suggestions below when you’re putting together your next cold email.
1) Form Letters
Sure, you may be able to get your message out to hundreds or even thousands of people. But if people feel like you are sending them a form letter (don’t confuse this with a newsletter – that’s a whole other blog post) about a specific need or a desired business relationship, then it’s over. No one likes to feel like they are just a name on a list. And speaking of names on a list, sending an email to yourself and cc-ing rather than bcc-ing everyone won’t win you any favors from people who hold positions where both bot-generated and musician-generated spam mail comes with the territory.
It is perfectly acceptable to cut and paste part of a letter to a certain type of executive, but at least take the time to customize the first few sentences and address them by name. Also, let the person you are contacting know specifically why you are contacting them. What makes you think you are a good fit for what they do and why? Let’s just say you are looking to approach a blogger. Saying something like, “I just read your story on this other artist and I really like the way it was written. I thought that since you liked what they do you might appreciate my new single…” is much more likely to get a response than a press release about your new product addressed to no one in particular.
2) Poor Presentation
This is so common it boggles the mind. I often get emails from people in which their names are not obvious from the email address and not included in the “from” field by their email program. On top of that, they don’t bother to introduce themselves or put any kind of signature indicating who they are or where they are from. From my vantage point, I am getting a message from SlappyMcJellyPants@Yahoo.com. The rest of the email had better be stellar (or at least very funny) for me to consider responding.
*As a side note, I’m damn easy to get a hold of. I am in the business of selling music marketing services so it is part of my job to be as reachable as possible. That said, it isn’t hard to tell from presentation who is taking their career and image seriously and who is not. If there are people out there who are having trouble getting a hold of me, then they can forget about people who are really difficult to contact cold like A&R people, Music Supervisors and music journalists. *
Another huge issue in presentation is spelling and grammar. Look, I’m no grammar Nazi and I would be completely lost without spell check, but reaching out to a stranger for help and then sending them what looks more like a text to your girlfriend is probably not a great idea. This all might sound silly, but I have found a huge correlation between the way people present themselves on email and how together their career is, and I respond to emails in order of the likelihood that I am dealing with someone who is serious (and willing to work!)
Lastly on the presentation front: Saying you have talent is meaningless. Executives hear this all day long. The best thing you can do to get someone’s attention is to make a concentrated effort on your pitch prior to crafting any email and running it by friends and peers that can be honest with you. What turns my head is not when people talk about their talent, but when they describe the achievements that they have earned with their talent. Are you drawing well or playing with more established artists? Are you working with anyone who has great credits? Did you win a local contest? Do you have a ton of social media followers and an obvious dialogue with fans online? Do you have a mailing list with a ton of people on it? These are the things that will get people’s attention.
3) Lack of Research
You can much more easily begin a personal relationship with someone when you have specifics about their job function and their professional history. With blogs, Linkedin and any of the other resources available online these days there is no excuse not to have a good understanding of what people have done in the past and on which projects they have worked. Knowing these things can go a long way in adding a personal touch to the email you are sending someone. I am always flattered that people took the time to read about me before reaching out. Admittedly I’m usually annoyed when people don’t bother to read anything and just ask for help without knowing who I am or what I do. And in my case, all that information is provided in a link right next to the contact link. I get intoxicated calls on my Google Voicemail at 3am on a Sunday from people wanting a record deal (from me … even though I don’t run a label) or want me to manage them (I don’t manage artists). My favorite call to date was someone asking for Jay-Z’s phone number (which I still don’t have) and then offering me 50% of the guaranteed collaboration that would result from me giving it to him.
Beyond the research on any one individual though it is important that you also research understand the mindset of a person who is the gatekeeper (Music supervisors, A&R people, Publishers, major journalists etc.) of big opportunities. Firstly, they can’t possibly return all the correspondences or listen to all of the music they get. Secondly – and this is especially true with big organizations – virtually no one executive makes 100% of the decision about a song getting placed in a movie, getting a major write up in a big magazine or getting someone signed to a record label or publisher. Damn near every executive these days has a boss, a client or someone else who guards the purse strings to contend with before pulling the trigger on a decision that could really help your career as an artist. The second part of the job is important to note also, because the easiest part of a gatekeeper’s job is getting in a steady flow of music to pick from. The hardest part of a gatekeeper’s job is keeping a gatekeeper job. It’s easy to think of these people as people who sit around listening to music all day on a pedestal and then giving a Ceasar-esque thumbs up or thumbs down. The politics and juggling involved with keeping everyone happy internally and making sure your external relationships are sound in case you are out of a gig (there is a high turnover rate with creative jobs like this) are almost full-time jobs in and of themselves. Long story short, like these people or hate them, it’s important to know before you approach them that they are often pretty stressed out.
4) Unreasonable Expectations
The next time you go out on a first date… or hell, the next time you encounter someone attractive from a distance, you should briskly walk up to them, say “Hello my name is _____,” and while heading towards them at an uncomfortable pace (preferably without letting them reply to your hello), you should attempt to French kiss them. This is actually best done when starting with your tongue fully extended from a distance of 20 yards or more at a full sprint.
* Editor’s note: Actually, don’t try this. I am not responsible for the whiplash, broken jaw or harassment suits that may follow if you do*
Now you might be thinking, “Wow that was unexpected/inappropriate/ scary…” Yes, indeed. It is. What is my point? Well, my point is that bluntly asking for a huge favor, a contract, a partnership, a record deal or any other lasting business relationship from a stranger in a first email is equally inappropriate (although admittedly it is considerably less creepy). I can’t tell you how many emails I get without any information, background or even someone’s name that say something to the effect of “Help! I am really talented and I need you to manage me.” Not that I manage people, but if I did, would I want to partner with someone who was willing to blindly decide that I was the one to guide their career without having met me or had a phone call? Boundaries, people!
Those are some extreme examples obviously, but the real point is, take your time to get to know someone and what they do. Breaking the ice with an email never instantly leads to a partially executed contract on your doorstep. It’s supposed to lead to building a relationship and getting someone to take you seriously enough to give your material their time and attention.
5) Undefined Goals
Vague emails are really hard to respond to. A very common request I get (and I’m sorry, I know I reference this a great deal) is about “getting to the next level”. Do I understand in a general way what it means? Sure. Do I know specifically what people mean by that and what they need or if I am a good fit for getting these people to said next level? No, I don’t have a clue.
Before asking someone else, make sure that you have clearly defined your goals. Many people respond with knee-jerk responses like, “I want a publishing deal,” or “I need a booking agent.” It’s important to break down these wants into what most people actually mean. What people forget is that for every brilliant partnership, there are plenty of lousy ones. And many of the lousy ones result from people not taking the time to really think through their needs and desires.
When you say, “I need a publishing deal,” do you mean, “I would like…” (‘cause really, people – we need food, water, shelter and good health; lighten up). Don’t you really mean, “I want someone to help me get my music placed in film and TV and arrange collaborations and co-writes with other artists I like and respect”? Maybe it means something else to you. But whatever it means to you, write it out for yourself. Be specific without making a plan that hinges on the participation of a person or a business to which you don’t have access.
Of course, it need not apply to only publishing deals; it can be for whichever goals you have for yourself. One of the most encouraging things you can do in the eyes of a gatekeeper is to demonstrate that with or without their help, you are making progress in getting where you want to go.
I realize I am no longer a gatekeeper but I certainly sat behind a desk where dreams went to die for many years. Still – if you would like to check out a more current A&R person’s vantage point on the approach check out my interview with Jason Jordan VP of A&R at Hollywood Records – here.
Brannon McAllister is the co-founder and designer of NoiseTrade, an online service that offers free music to fans of artists in exchange for their contact information: an email address and zip code. Prior to working with the site, Brannon did record packaging and websites for a variety of artists in the Nashville music scene. However, he attributes most of what he learned about the economics of free music and the music industry in general to being part of the process of building NoiseTrade.
I recently chatted with Brannon about building a successful free music service, how his platform can benefit artists and strategies artists can increase their chances of success within the current climate of the music industry.
So How does NoiseTrade work?
BM:
When artists sign up for NoiseTrade, they can post a single, a live show or a full album. Fans then download the music in exchange for their emails and zip codes, which can be imported into any mailing list application, including FanBridge, Emma, Constant Contact and MailChimp. Many of these services allow artists to send localized email blasts to promote specific shows and / or manage mass mailings to promote upcoming albums, song placements, festivals or national tours.
The site widget can be embedded on artists’ sites, either on a splash page in front, on the home page or even within an online store.
How many artists are currently using your service?
BM:
The site has approximately 4,000 artists. We handle well over 100,000 downloads through the site per month, and about five-ten artists join the site every day. The quality ranges from 14-year olds with a microphone to bands like the Civil Wars, a band that used NoiseTrade to gain thousands of new fans, and currently (Early Feb 2011) has the #1 spot on iTunes.
How did the idea for NoiseTrade come together?
BM:
The first I heard about it was back in 2006. Derek Webb, who’s a songwriter that I’d followed for a few years called me up and said he wanted to meet up at Jammin Java, which is a coffee house based music venue down in Columbia, SC. I drove down from Greenville where I lived at the time and we met up for coffee and talked a bit. He explained this idea he’d had for a while. His own record Mockingbird had come out recently, and there were the seeds of the idea for the whole platform at this time. In September of 2006, he gave away Mockingbird and just required fans to type in five e-mail addresses and zip codes. In about 3 months time, he gave away 80,000 copies; 20,000 was in the first day, the next 20,000 was in the next week and so on.
I’m not very familiar with him as an artist. Did he already have a pretty big fan base?
BM:
The record he’d given away had released earlier that year, and he’d sold about 20,000 copies. He had a pretty decent-sized following. From there, it was a proof of concept. Because the album giveaway went so well, we were sure we had a great idea to apply to the overall platform. We started working on it, and it took quite a while to launch. We launched the site on July 4, 2008 and required fans to enter five email addresses. Some of the other platforms like Twitter and Facebook weren’t quite as dominant as they are now. And at the time, having fans refer their friends by email was our best way forward.
Tell me about the product as it is today. There are so many platforms now. What are the strengths of NoiseTrade vs. any of the other folks collecting email addresses: Nimbit; TopSpin, etc.?
BM:
I think our first priority is been to make it free on both ends of the equation. We make it free for our artists and our fans. We’re making free music, but we’re also providing the platform for free. At this time we find providing the basic level of service for free to the artist enables more artists to join the platform than would otherwise. It encourages a long tail vs. just artists that already understand the economics of free. Initially we did have a sign-up fee of $250 for our artists. Over time, we found the way to run our business without having to charge the artist that startup fee. It just made a lot more sense to provide it for free.
How is it that your business makes money?
BM:
Fans can tip the artists at the end of the download process. They type their email address and zip code and are given a chance to give the artist a tip, anywhere between $1 and $100. NoiseTrade keeps 20% of that transaction, and the artist gets 80%. What’s nice about that model is that it immediately covers all our bandwidth costs. As long as the proportions stay pretty regular, that scales along with the overall growth of the site and covers all the costs of running the site.
Which percentage of people actually do tip in exchange for the free music?
BM:
I’d say 5%, so it’s not very many at all. But I will say that when artists ask fans to tip a certain amount of money, the percentage goes drastically up. Left to their own, 5% of fans are going to give money if they are given a choice. But if an artist actually builds a landing page for a campaign and leaves a message for fans saying, “We think this is worth $6” or “We think this is worth $8,” a much greater percentage will tip at a higher rate. And then when people do tip it’s pretty good. The average tip is between $4 and $5.
We usually tell our artists that they can expect between 3% and 15% of fans to tip, depending on how much they are willing to push for it. If you’re an artist that is mainly concerned about building a mailing list, you just focus on telling your fans it’s free and don’t worry about the tips. Many artists earn a few hundred dollars on tips, but a couple have netted as much as $4,500 in a few months.
Say you were trying to explain NoiseTrade to my mom- she’s never used a computer. How would you explain this platform to her? What is the value proposition for a band?
BM:
Basically, it’s simply a way for artists to exchange music for information about their fans. Ultimately, it’s providing the fans with what they want, which is free music, and the artists what they want, which is fans that have never heard of them through recommendations and information about where those fans live and how to contact them. We still collect zip codes and emails.
Is there a back end? Is that dumped into a .csv, or do you have a mail management client as well?
BM:
We provide the artists with a .csv. They can easily click a single button and down comes the contact file they can drop into Emma or Mail Chimp or whatever they choose.
What about sharing options? Where can you move this, embed this, place this?
BM:
As far as simply sharing a link, you can obviously do that through Facebook and Twitter. But we use an embed code to be able to let artists embed the widget on any website. We even have some artists that build a simple landing page that explains to fans what to do and what the album is, so they can brand it however they want. Using the NoiseTrade landing page is also really helpful and gives fans a more direct way to share and find information about the artist.
Who have been some of the DIY artists that have had success on the platform, and what is it you think they’ve done with the platform that was more effective than others?
BM:
I think that artists that have the most success with it are those that actually turn it into a campaign. Rather than simply uploading music and expecting people to show up and download it, they’re messaging their core fan base already. They’re prepping them for it by building anticipation towards the free music and then messaging their fans hard about it throughout a campaign. Artists that have done a really good job in various ways would be Katie Herzig. She has a growing fan base and often opens for Brandi Carlile. At her shows she can mention she has free music available. I think some of the ways she’s done a great job is that depending on the situation, she’ll change up her strategy. For example, if she has a song that’s featured on a television show, she’ll feature that one single on her widget for a short period of time, for a week or so. As people find out about her after hearing her song in the show, they’ll find that same free song available for the cost of signing up for her mailing list. In some cases she’s even given away a full album.
Artists that post music and don’t put in any effort may see very little results: only 50 or 100 downloads. But some of our most well-known artists have seen anywhere from 15,000-40,000 downloads over the course of several months. Most professional artists that give it a real effort tend to fall between 1,500 and 7,000 downloads.
I’m going to switch gears on you a little bit, because you actually have the design skill set that makes your perspective even more interesting. I would love to talk to you about some of the biggest mistakes you’ve seen with artists packaging themselves from a design perspective with their album covers, press materials, websites and other materials. What advice would you give to artists looking to find and hire a designer, or things they should keep in mind when designing their own stuff? Let’s start with an album cover.
BM:
I think in the days when artists’ records were going to be stacked up on a shelf, where you’re seeing the top spine as you’re flipping through it, the pressure was on to make sure the title or artist’s name was high up on the artwork. I don’t think that’s as big a deal these days. The key things for artists now is to not make their name too small. They need to design it with postage-stamp-sized icons on iTunes in mind. This might help artists lean towards a bolder design in their color scheme that will be more eye catching on a smaller scale. I even see artists on NoiseTrade making the name of their band absolutely tiny, and it makes no sense for a 240 pixels square.
That’s true. You are really left with a Chicklet of the album artwork sometimes. What about from a web design perspective?
BM:
One thing that’s true is that I think artists can get away with a lot more simplicity in their web design than they think they can. I think most artists could actually do fine with a single splash page that has all their connecting points on that one page. I’m thinking in terms of a Twitter feed, a Fan box from Facebook, tour dates, some album cover and a link to iTunes and Amazon. As long as they have that on a single page, I feel like they should go ahead and use that for their website and then spend most of their time out on social networks talking to fans and using the social media space as a home base, rather than creating a huge website presence. There are artists that need to create a huge community and do a huge main site. But I think the majority of artists are going to be served just fine by a single splash page.
————-
To learn more about Brannon and NoiseTrade visit the NoiseTrade website. You can also keep up with Brannon via his blog or Twitter.
One of the more common questions and / or complaints I get from artists is about the Google Onebox song results. Artists tell me they are not getting their music to show up at all in these results or they are getting very old records showing up when they want their newer material represented.
The Google One Box music results are the top results below that provide streaming music for a Google search of U2:
I wish this was an article where I provide an easy solution to the problem but unfortunately it is just a discussion of said problem and a cry for help on behalf of the literally dozens of artists who have asked me this question in the last several months.
(interestingly enough as of the time of the writing of this article every Google Onebox result I have clicked on today has lead to a dead link so perhaps there is some kind of fix in the works).
(It has since gone back to working again a few hours later)
I make no claim to fully understand this process but this is what I have been able to piece together from speaking to different people at different ends of this problem.
This is what I have been told by people who are in the know (or at least supposed to be in the know) happens with these results:
Your record gets distributed via your distribution company (Tunecore, ReverbNation, CDBaby, The Orchard, IODA etc) to a company called Medianet and / or MySpace premium content.
Now per a former executive at iLike – which is the company that was purchased and then subsequently gutted by MySpace music the way this content gets pulled across is as follows:
“The Google Onebox does in fact pull from us MediaNet and MySpace premium content, however they push to production at their discretion. What we have seen to be the trend is the most popular songs from the info those partners feed over. We don’t have any way at this time to control how it appears, artists can definitely reach out to Google to express their desires however as busy as they are it is unlikely it will be a fast turn around. “
Calls to MediaNet per several artists I have worked with usually get forwarded to MySpace / iLike. Contacting Google… well I have a few open questions on a dated thread on this topic and thus far no luck. With iLike seemingly being completely dismantled (or perhaps just being left with a Skeleton crew?) There seems to be no more help coming from that direction.
There is an interesting footnote to the story. I was told by a former executive at one of these companies that when the Music OneBox initiative was implemented there were great hopes for the number of clickthroughs and purchases. He stated that when Sony Music came back with their results after a short trial period that their clickthroughs were “ 1/1000th” of what was predicted. If you don’t have a result there or have dated material up – I guess this is good news?
Anyway- this isn’t much of my typical post but I figured that if anyone has any more insight, stories about trying to fix the problem or has good relationships with any of the folks involved with this process – please leave some details in the comments?
-R-
Matt Howe is the Manager of Business Development and Music Content at the rapidly-growing video site UStream. He got his feet wet in the music business right out of college, working for a small London-based independent label called Adventure Records, working with the former head of Virgin Records in the UK. Matt then moved on and worked in the International Department at EMI Music for two years as a coordinator and junior project manager, where he worked with major artists such as Coldplay, Robbie Williams and Radiohead. While working on Coldplay’s X&Y record through EMI, he established a close relationship with Capitol Records team, and was asked to move to L.A. in 2005 to become marketing manager.
He eventually made his way back to EMI Music, this time in Santa Monica, CA, where he took a position as Director of Strategic Marketing and Business Development to help the company transform the way they managed their internal communication systems about artist releases, licensing, selling and managing the A&R staff. He moved back to the UK in 2009 and worked as an independent consultant for EMI out of its Kensington offices, where he worked on some international releases for several bands, including 30 Seconds to Mars and Alice in Chains. He was offered his current UStream position through a Myspace friend that was running its business development department and wanted an experienced head of music content.
Recently, I spoke with Matt about the explosive growth of the UStream platform in the past year and how artists can leverage it to improve relationships with their fans and strengthen their marketing plans.
What is your role at UStream?
MH:
It’s really two pronged. The first part, and the one that’s really the most intensive, is dealing with incoming inquiries from artists, labels, publishers, managers, etc. and trying to make sure we support all our premium music partners and make sure they’re set up well on the platform, that their channels are created properly, that they have all our latest product developments switched on, that the channels are skinned correctly, that we build out the Facebook applications, etc. and help them with that, and in instances help them with broadcasts when we can. That’s probably the lion’s share of work here. We’re in a very fortunate position at UStream where we’re the preeminent live streaming video service in the music space, so we get a lot of incoming calls, which is great.
On the other hand, another part of my job is more proactively going out and trying to find partners for product launches, trying to strategize internally with our product team and the rest of our business development and sales teams as well so we can find out areas we should be focusing on. Revenue is definitely going to be and has been a big focus for this year for the company. How do we turn this from a traditional ad supported internet business into something where we can actually make money, as opposed to just keep the lights on? We’re going to focus on some of the more revenue-based models and try to figure out where and how they best apply to the music space, and then communicate that through to partners and launching products around suitable partners within the music space.
Your world view must be very interesting given that live video available to the masses in that way in a broadcast kind of medium is still rather new, at least in terms of being this easily and widely available. Are you seeing anyone use this medium particularly well? Can you cite some examples of people that are really using the channel to present and market themselves successfully?
MH:
I can tell you some of the biggest broadcasts we’ve done in the video space in the last year and a half or so. I’d say Kiss is one of the most active artists in our platform in terms of streaming concerts and doing press releases and announcing dates, etc. They use the platform very well, and their management team works with us very closely. Nathan Gregory over there works with us. They get it, and when they can, and when the production is available, they use us very well. I think they still are responsible for our biggest music event to date. They streamed a concert with us from the Staple Center late 2009, and that got us two million streams live, which was pretty insane. That still stands as our biggest broadcast to date. Bon Jovi is another band that has used us a lot, and has used us to good effect. We deal mainly with the guys over at Sparkart. We’ve streamed quite a few concerts with the band, including one from Dallas in April, 2010, which got 1.5 million live streams and over a million uniques, which is again pretty huge. We also recently streamed a concert of theirs from Melbourne. We actually as a company have a pretty large Asian presence. Soft Bank, Japan invested heavily in the company early on last year, so we have a joint venture out in Japan called UStream Japan. We streamed the Bon Jovi Melbourne concert with a lot of support from the Asian office. Even when the band isn’t doing web chats or streaming concerts, the guys over at Sparkart have been pretty good at using the platform to stream concert DVDs, etc. to keep the awareness there and keep providing reasons for fans to watch the channel and watch their live content.
Even with the big brands, is consistency a factor? Are you finding that regularly broadcasting or having a regular stream of live or personal footage is helping garner a viewership?
MH:
I would say moving on from the likes of Bon Jovi, which is the biggest single event broadcast we’ve done, when you look at the urban space and urban artists like Lil Twist, Trey Songz and people like that, they’re very engaged and very regularly on our platform. Nikki Minaj and artists of that ilk seem to get it and have no problem going live regularly. They like chatting with their fans and see the value in it. Through them, people like Lil Wayne have come live as well on our platform. Getting that consistent broadcasting content is definitely a challenge. You have to give fans something worthwhile to keep coming back to. Even the most charismatic of artists is probably going to burn out their audience a little bit if they are going live once or twice a week indefinitely or chatting with fans. You want to try to keep it fresh. Those content ideas are challenging.
The production angle is a challenge as well. It’s not always easy when bands are on the road to broadcast live, streaming video. There are certain requirements such as internet capabilities, etc. that might not be readily at hand, and that we’re addressing with a variety of applications, whether they’re web-based broadcast applications or something else. We have a free piece of software you can download called UStream Producer that enables people to broadcast in pretty high quality from their webcams. And then we have a couple mobile solutions, including iPhone and Android broadcast apps as well. We’re hoping that making that technology available and putting it in the hands of our broadcasters will encourage them to go live more regularly. We’re trying to break that barrier between the technology and the medium. Someone like Twitter has done very well with that. We always have our cell phones or our iPhones in our hands, so it’s very easy for artists to update Twitter multiple times a day. But it’s not so easy to grab a video camera and go live streaming if you don’t have a suitable internet connection, or if you’re just out on the streets in New York and you see something cool you want to stream. We’ve been making a lot of strides into the mobile broadcast realm.
It would still be awkward even if you had a myfi in your pocket to walk around with a laptop and try to talk to your audience. You’re right. It doesn’t necessarily even have to be music, but can you talk to me about people who have successfully built brands by leveraging UStream? One of the people that comes to mind that first turned me onto it – although I don’t know him directly and only know his work – was Gary Vaynerchuk, who wrote a book Crush and advocated it was a great way to dominate a niche for informational products. Have you seen fine artists who did not come in having an established brand use the product with success?
MH:
That’s a really good question. To be perfectly honest, we have had examples of artists who used the product before they were household names and then subsequently broke through to the mainstream. I’d say Nikki Minaj is a good example of this. But I would in no way say their use of UStream was a contributing factor to their success necessarily.
I think it’s safe to say it was probably one of them.
MH:
As part of a broader new media strategy that these artists are employing, and a much more accessible profile to their fan base, I definitely think we fit into an important part of that. I do think when you talk about Twitter and Facebook, we all know the biggest artists out there that are updating those feeds, and they can be easily ghostwritten. But there’s no way to get in front of a video camera and replicate talking live to your fans. I definitely think there are some artists – and Nikki Minaj and also Trey Songz would be examples of that – who have used us as part of broader and more engaged policy with their fans, and then in conjunction with traditional media have broken through to the mainstream.
So, forget about music for a second, because frankly what your market is becomes less and less important, because it becomes “Can you adapt people’s strategies to a different medium?” Are there people that have used UStream who cite that as an important tool to their rise outside the music space?
MH:
Absolutely. I would say there are actually some really weird ones. We see a lot of activity in the animal channels. We had a Shiba Inu cam, where this family was basically streaming an enclosure of their Shiba Inu puppies 24/7, and it was getting significant numbers. I’d say even weirder we have what’s called the Owl Cam which is a couple in I think South Carolina that put a webcam in a bird box in their garden because these owls had been nesting and mating in this bird box for years. They stuck a webcam in there and started streaming it, and I think to date they’ve had 30 million streams of the owl cam. They’ve built a business purely from the technology platform we provided. They’ve sold merchandise and have a fan club and built a business off they technology we’ve provided.
So, a $200 webcam and a UStream channel and Café Press founded a business.
MH:
It’s crazy. They’ve been getting tens of millions of streams of their owl cam, they’re selling merchandise off that. Fans of these things are some of the most rabid fans we have on the platform too. If there are technology problems or interruptions to the broadcasting, we hear about it. There are fans out there that are extremely dedicated to that channel. As we all know, the long-tail hypothesis applied to niche markets can be hugely profitable. That couple has definitely built a business purely off UStream. We actually had a company meeting at our head offices last year in San Francisco and flew them in as our guests of honor as an example of what we’re doing with not even premium content providers, but just mom and pop living in the middle of America. That’s definitely a great example.
When I work with artists’ marketing, I tell people that websites are no longer billboards, but they become the “You” news channel. Are you finding a lot of people are scheduling content mimicking what we grew up with on TV? Is it similar to, “Tune in every Tuesday at 8:00 for the Owl Chat?”
MH:
No. I think with the channels like the owl cam and Shiba Inu cams, the big draw is that they’re running all the time. These people are on 24/7, so you can tune it at any time and watch. It’s especially challenging in the music space as well to get scheduled programming far enough in advance where it can be adequately marketed to the artists’ fan base. Most of my week is reactive. We have artists small to large reaching out on a moment’s notice saying, “We’re going to go live in five hours’ time. What can we do?” And that narrows the window of them being able to do anything to market to that fan base.
Let’s talk about that conversation. If an artist comes to you and says, “We’d like to go live in a few hours. How can I market?” what do you say?
MH:
We just had the craziest one. We’ve been trying to get Kanye West on here for a while, and he was in South Korea before the launch of his My Beautiful Dark Twisted Dream album, and we got a call from him and Island Def Jam to say he’s at an airport in South Korea, his plane leaves in two hours, and he wants to get up and do a web chat and premiere his latest video. We had been trying for so long to get him on board, and no one on his side had set up a channel, so we got our VIP support guy and one of our account managers on the phone and within the matter of an hour skinned a channel together and got a live broadcast with him. But the only other avenues open to market the direct-to-fan model Kanye has are Facebook and the like. So, he blasted it out on Facebook and Twitter. But it leaves us little time to put it on our home page, which gets hundreds of thousands of uniques per day. And it gives us very little time to reach out and get people to schedule this into heir day. That’s the challenge, not just with the Kanyes, but with the other artists out there. We get developing bands from all over the world that will reach out on very short notice and say, “We’re planning to go live at X time. What can you do for us?”
I guess the question is, how would you advise an artist who gave you enough time to market an upcoming concert or broadcast?
MH:
The strongest avenues for marketing still reside with the talent. We’re a pretty heavily trafficked website at this point. We have over 100,000 uniques per day on our home page. We stream somewhere in the region of 17 million videos per month, according to our most recent figures. But we still see, when we’re promote something heavily on our home page, and to our 1.5 million followers on Twitter, if we’re doing this for an artist that doesn’t have a particularly engaged audience online, if they don’t have a particularly high number of Facebook fans or Twitter followers, then all the promotion in the world for us will not create a huge uptick in what we would expect to see. It’s when you see artists like Snoop Dog, or you see artists like The Main, who is a developing band on Warner Bros., who had a pretty active online presence. When they went on Twitter and Facebook 72 hours in advance of a show they were streaming with us, they drove a lot of traffic. The main avenues for marketing and bringing eyeballs to broadcasts still resides with the artists. It invariably means Twitter and Facebook these days. They’re the two easiest launch points to drive traffic over to our platform.
In addition as well, to talk a bit more about Facebook, what has proved very popular with all artists I’ve worked with in the music space has been our custom viewing application for Facebook, where if we’re given the Facebook URL and the UStream channel URL, we can usually within 24-48 hours build a custom Facebook viewing application that the artist can then imbed on their Facebook page. You can go to John Mayer’s Facebook page or probably Kiss’ Facebook page and see examples of those. The fan just needs to click the UStream tab, and they don’t even need to leave the Facebook application to view the broadcast. Obviously we don’t get the page views, but we get the streaming numbers. That’s proved very popular, and we’re trying to figure out more seamless ways of reaching fans and helping artists connect with their fans on those platforms.
To learn more about Matt and the UStream platform and its many tools for artists and other brands, you can visit the company’s website or follow UStream on Twitter.
With 15 years of music industry experience, Dan Kruchkow is currently the Head of Digital Strategies at Crush Management. He got his start as a summer intern for EMI Records in New York City in the mid-1990s. He eventually found himself at Rocket Records, a subsidiary of Island Records, in 1999, where he worked on several Elton John albums and worked closely with major radio mogul Johnny Barbis. This eventually led to a job in the A&R department at Island Def Jam in its early days, where Dan also witnessed the birth of the New Media Department just as the idea of digital music was emerging. Throughout the 2000s, he rose through the ranks of Island Def Jam, eventually following his interest in burgeoning music and technology developments to take over the digital sales and marketing department for several years. While there he created digital plans for artists like the killers, Kanye West, Rhianna and Fall Out Boy. At Crush, Dan has worked with bands and artists such as Fall Out Boy, Train, Courtney Love, Travie McCoy of Gym Class Heroes and Panic at the Disco.
We spoke recently about his company, Crush Management, how digital strategy and management work together, and how artists can use digital tools to build their careers and create a strong online presence.
Tell me exactly what your gig is like now. What does digital strategy look like day in and day out?
DK:
I think the best way to describe what I do is to say that I help our artists’ overall careers on daily basis. Digital strategy is not only about their records and the singles. It’s about the touring and how that relates to their relationships with their fans and how the bands release their content onto the internet and so on. That’s probably the one- or two-line gist of what we do. At the end of the day, the ideas come from the bands, and we help them get things done using their vision. It’s important for the band to be involved and not told what to do. It should be what they want to do.
Can you tell me some of the things you believe are essential as a result of your position with new media and now your work with the management side in terms of fan engagement in the digital sector?
DK:
I think artists need to speak to their fans and shouldn’t have someone speaking to them for them. If they’re not doing it themselves, the B.S. detector is pretty high these days. People can tell if it’s not real. Being real is probably the most important thing you can do right now aside from creating great music.
What about methods of delivery for that message? Are there a handful that you think are absolutely required at this stage?
DK:
They’re almost standard equipment at this point: a Facebook profile; a Twitter account; a YouTube profile. And Tumblr’s a huge community that the entire industry has started gravitating towards in the past year or so. The entire hip hop industry is moving over to Tumblr as we speak. I think the official website for the artist, when done right, is really important as well.
When you start working with a band, what would you say is the most common area that comes up that needs fixing?
DK:
I think you have to take a step back and think about being on the internet and Googling a band name. Maybe you find their Twitter profile and everything else like that. But everything should be connected. It shouldn’t be difficult to get from one place to the other, there shouldn’t be information that’s on one place but not the other. Whatever your current priority is – whether it’s a single or a video or a tour or new music in general or a buildup to a tour – that should be front and center. You shouldn’t make people hunt for things. It should be very easy. The reality is, they’re one click away from leaving. Make it easy for them, so they can find exactly what they are looking for on your site, whether it’s your Facebook page or your website. That way next time they know they can just go there. And then you have them. Then it becomes very easy to talk to people so they know what’s going on.
Here’s a question for you. There are a lot of people coming out of traditional marketing schools of thought and putting up landing pages – squeeze pages – for music. Is that something you would recommend people employing? Squeeze pages come in all kinds of types, but I’m talking about pages where they jack up the keyword, or before you get into their websites they make you part with an email address.
DK:
To require data just to get into a website seems a little silly. Maybe to listen to a brand new song or download a free mp3, you should request some data. That’s fair at the right times.
That’s the way I feel about it as well. But there is a trend that’s kind of more like what you would expect when someone is selling insurance, where you end up on a single page that asks you to fill in your email address.
DK:
Well, Jay-Z and Kanye put their new song on their Facebook page. Rather than only giving it to a blog or a radio station, they put it on their Facebook for people to listen. They went from 15,000 to 60,000 fans in less than a day, and now they can talk to 60,000 fans over and over again for free that we know are at the very least interested in hearing their music.
Are there artists who were not brand names pre digital that have an online strategy you think is worth examining for somebody that would want to be in the space?
DK:
I’d like to say everything at Crush Management is like that. But, take a guy like Pete Wentz. He was always into digital from Day One. He probably had the first artist’s blog in 2000 or 2001, before Kanye or anyone else did. He’s always adapted with whatever the current technology is on his own. He was doing a blog on the Fall Out Boy website ten years ago, drifted into Myspace and discovered that one day, drifted onto Twitter and now has one of the biggest artist’s Twitter accounts out there. It’s really cool to see him doing that on his own and following his gut and what feels right. To me it’s really exciting when it just sort of happens, and the artist discovers it themselves.
Having worked with him as long as you did, is there something you can say content wise that artists discuss? I know a lot of artists gripe, “I’d like to keep in contact with my fans, but I don’t really want to talk about the peanut butter and jelly sandwich I’m eating, because nobody cares.” Other than “hurry up and get interesting,” is there advice you can give along those lines? What should people be discussing on a regular basis?
DK:
Artists can ask their fans what they want to hear. You see a lot of artists say, “Five questions. Go.” And then all of a sudden they answer five questions that were asked that second on Twitter and Facebook, and then they’re gone. But five fans were able to get exactly what they were looking for, and I think that’s kind of cool.
What is it about Tumblr that makes you think it is emerging, and are there any other emerging platforms?
DK:
I think there are two things with Tumblr. One, they have a built in community of millions and millions of people, so there’s an automatic reaction to anything you post that’s interesting in the community. The notion of re-blogging is alive and well there, and it’s very powerful. The reason I think it’s really exploding, especially in music, aside from reading sites like Tech Crunch and all that, you see on Twitter that every artist is posting Tumblr links. In hip hop in general it seems to have really taken hold. It’s a great platform to work with that requires no experience and is dead simple. It just works. It’s the Apple mantra of blogging software. You’re seeing it everywhere, and you’re seeing big reactions.
Which other platforms have a real shot for the future?
DK:
That’s a tough question. If I knew, I probably wouldn’t be sitting here.
I’m partial to UStream, though that’s probably old hat to a guy like you.
DK:
I think live video in general is a good bet, especially when done right. And then you always have the video in demand to do things with. XXL did something really cool yesterday with Static Selektor and Freeway in the studio. They recorded a song, and the whole thing was broadcast live. They had 50,000 viewers. It was XXL’s UStream page. You can probably find it on their blog.
In parting, do you have any tidbits of advice for artists and their online lives that they should definitely think about and be doing?
DK:
I think the most important thing is what I said earlier: keep it real, and make it really easy for your fans. They’re one click away, and when you make it hard, they don’t stick around.
For more about Dan, his company and the artists it represents, visit the Crush Management website. You may also find it helpful to check out Crush client Pete Wentz’s blog on his official website.
Benji Rogers is the founder of Pledge Music – a platform that enables musicians and fans raise money for new records or touring while simultaneously raising money for charity. Prior to founding Pledge Benji played (and actually still plays) in a group called Marwood that were signed to a few different labels in the UK. He started off in the music business as a roadie on various high profile tours. I wanted to catch up with Benji because I had been hearing that large numbers of people were raising money with Pledge – and it was actually working!
Benji, thanks for your time. In your own words tell me what you guys are about and what the vision of the company is.
BR:
I was asked to define what we’re about the other day. One of the business people we are working with said, “What’s your mission statement?” And I think I can really pare it down to this: I want to get as much money in to the hands of artists, their management and their teams as I can, as quickly as possible, thereby putting as much money into the hands of charities as I can as quickly as possible. Basically, I want to create a scenario in which nobody in the transaction loses. The artist wins, the fan wins, the charity wins, the studio wins and the manager wins, because everybody actually gets paid what they are due. That’s the founding principle: to get as much money into the hands of the artist as quickly as possible.
The second founding principle is, it has to be excellent. It has to be the best thing it can be, whether it’s the artist’s campaign or the platform. We won’t let projects launch unless we really feel we’ve gotten the most from the artist creatively in the making of the project, and that we’ve done our job. I like that our business model ties our company’s fate in with the fate of the artist. If we don’t do our job well, the artist doesn’t do well, and nobody wins. If we do our job well, we make sure the campaign has the best chance, and then it’s a success.
Does Pledge actually participate in the marketing of these campaigns?
BR:
What happens is, everybody can sign up on the site, and when they submit the project, we say things like, “This can work, this won’t work, we’ve seen this work, this is illegal, this is improbable.” And we’ve seen some things where we’ve had to consult legal counsel and at one point, we had to consult health and safety as well. It really is an all in process.
One of the reasons we’ve achieved a 77% success rate is because we’re uncompromising in what is possible. We don’t want to limit the artists in what they want to do. We simply say, “This is what works and this is what doesn’t.” The other guiding principle to the way it works is that the artist must at no point appear to be desperate. A lot of times we lose this battle, but what I say is, “Never ask your fans for money.” The job of the platform is to create these incredible campaigns. We’ll help you with them. We do this every day. And there are literally thousands of these back and forth every day between us and the artists. And we’ll say, “This sounds desperate, this is too preachy.” At the end of the day, I want to achieve an 80% success rate. I’m very proud of 77%, but I know why some of those don’t work. We’ve hit a formula that seems to be working again and again. I think it’s really important that artists understand, they don’t need to spend their entire lives blogging or tweeting to do this. What they need to do is spend the right time doing the right things. That’s what we’ve tried to pare the system down to be able to achieve.
Take me through the process of building a typical campaign, once you see an idea you like.
BR:
The fan funding principle, as we call it, is “Pledge here now, and I’ll give you something when I finish.” And there’s a financial transaction involved. That to me is quite prosaic, and a little dull. Ours is a lot different. An artist comes to us and says, “We want to do a new EP. And we want to do nine tour dates and have it come out January 1st, and we have this distributor in mind, and this is a charity we love and have worked with. We like what they’re doing.” So, we turn that into “Pledge here to be a part of the making of our new record. From Day 1, you get access to our ‘Pledges Only’ page. These are exclusive to our pledges, and they give you access to rough mixes, live tracks, demos, video blogs, Ustream concerts, and all this stuff available to you. And once we hit the target, 10% of all the profits from that campaign go to the charity of our choice. Pledge now to get involved, and it will be an amazing time for all of us.” And the updates section and pledges on the updates is really the key driver here. It’s an exclusive part of the site that has a very low barrier to entry. One of the things we didn’t want to do is drop the price too much, because a lot of times people will say, “$10 is a lot of money for an EP.” My point is, “Who’s selling an EP? You’re selling 30, 60 or 90 days of experiences via the updates.” If they are not worth $10, our philosophy is not matching. Five dollars will be way too little to put in. What we’ll see is that people will come in for the minimum, see five pledges on the updates, and see a Ustream concert and say, “I have to put more money in. I have to put $50 or $60 in.” And also, we release a lot more updates as the campaign is rolling along. So let’s say the artist does very well with a certain number of house concerts, then we can release more house concerts. It’s basically a platform that is not bound to a set of structured models. Another founding principle of the company is, “We’re not beholden to what was.” So, we can basically move very fluidly across the music business landscape. And that’s how we’ve been able to work with artists that are signed to major labels, independents and across the board.
Can you part with ballpark numbers? How much money have you raised for artists and charities at this point?
BR:
To be honest, we haven’t really counted it. And I haven’t tallied up because we’re going to do an end or year thing. Our average front line, major artist campaign hits anywhere from $30,000 to $50,000. We do a lot of campaigns in the $7,000 range. The biggest numbers one we did was $75,000 from 633 fans. That was pretty impressive. The fans wanted to give more, but the artist didn’t want to change the campaign once it was in place, so we left it as it was. Just speaking to your previous question too, anyone can sign up on the site, and we will help them through the process. But we also meet with managers, agents, lawyers, producers and studio owners all the time and listen to what it is they want from this process.
A lot of times a manager isn’t going to go to the website, sign up and create a campaign. That just isn’t going to work for them. So we collect their information and say we’ll submit all the information and create the campaign for them to edit in the background. The system is designed to scale to what’s required, but at the moment we seem to be hitting a phenomenal level of talent. We’ve had people signed to everyone from Cherry Lane to Warner Publishing and a lot of labels are approaching us and telling us what sounds good, because it’s the real deal and a real campaign. It shouldn’t ever be seen as a poor man’s record deal. What it should be seen as by artists is, “This is the most exciting, compelling and amazing way for me as an artist to get my music to you, my fans and friends. And I’m going to give you the greatest experience of your life for a minimum of $10 or a maximum of whatever it is you want to put in. The key is that this experience and journey is something we’re going on together. A lot of times managers will say, “I’m worried about providing that much content.” And what we say to them is, “You spend a day with the band, you can record a bunch of pledges only content, and you can set it in the system when it gets sent to the fans.” It doesn’t have to be a lot of downloading and uploading. It’s just running in the background. And what we find is that nine times out of ten, once it begins, the bands really start to have fun with it. They start to make crazy videos, and they have a live, real-time, engaged audience participating. And that’s when it really starts to get exciting.
Have you ever done pledges not driven around the creation of recorded music?
BR:
We’ve done a lot of them. A lot of times an act will come to us and has just finished the record, have gone into massive amounts of debt and don’t have the money to market it. When I first started the company, I met with the directors and said, “Guys, there are thousands and thousands of people that have 850 CDs sitting in their apartments right now because they spent all their money on making them and have no way to actually go and sell them.” Part of what it was designed to do is to say, “Pledge here and be part of helping my CD get out of the can and into the wide world.” And then you would hire a PR person to do a campaign with you. What we’re looking to do is to do campaigns with people like that. We have a partnership thing with Planetary where they will give you a discount on a radio campaign because we can bring a lot of bands to them, and they can do us the favor of giving our artists a deal. It’s about bringing the cost to the artist down as much as we possibly can as a company.
We also do campaigns for tours. We say, “Participate in our tour, and we’ll bring you back a live recording from South by Southwest” or something similar.
What kind of fan base is required to do a successful pledge campaign in your estimation? Because, clearly, we speak about polarizing the fans and having a fan club-esque experience or something that is proprietary to only the people willing to invest upfront. How many fans does someone have to have to make this work? Is there a minimum?
BR:
There isn’t a minimum. And one of the things that has been remarkable is that an A&R friend said to me, “I have an artist I work with, and you have to check her out.” And I checked her out, and she was phenomenal. And I wanted to make it work. So, I asked the artist, “How many e-mail addresses do you have?” And she said, “I have 150 gmail contacts.” And I thought, “Oh boy.” I talked to her and wrote a blog about it that was entitled, “If you want to make music, you have to tell people about it.”
What I said to her was basically, “Tonight at the show, pass a mailing list down from the stage.” And she went from having a mailing list of 150 to 197 in one night. Then, a few weeks later, we were tallying up data capture – because we offer free data capture to our artists – she was able to raise enough money to mix, master and manufacture her CD in about three weeks. It really comes down to how much work you’re willing to do, and if you’re going to give even a few fans an experience.
There’s also the X-Factor of will people respond to your music or what you have out there?
BR:
Yes, there is that. The artist I just mentioned was one of those rare artists that I sent a link out to all my friends saying, “You have to check this out. This is incredible,” and all of a sudden they said it was amazing and that they were pledging. It really depends. I’ve also seen artists with 900 fans raise $24,000. Actually I lost a bet on that one. We ended up giving some more money to charity.
But really, you don’t need hundreds of thousands of fans. You just need to engage with the fans you have. The most important thing for an artist to get into their heads is to stop selling their fans ordinary things. Stop selling them stuff to buy and start offering them experiences. Offer them a way to be a part of what it is that makes you a musician.
It may feel a little weird at first, but I’m bombarded by “Come to my show, buy my CD,” or “Come to my show, buy my bundle with a T-shirt.” And I don’t care anymore, because it’s too much. It’s overwhelming. Whereas, if I see on my Facebook wall, “Here’s an undiscovered track for my pledges only,” I want to check that out. I’m curious, and when it happens again, I’m curious. To play along those lines, what we did is that if you do a pledges only update as an artist, it automatically feeds to your Facebook, your MySpace and your Twitter. If I’m a fan and I pledge, I can set it so that every time you update your pledges only section, it goes on my Facebook, my Twitter and my MySpace. So my friends can see that I’m watching the unreleased song by a certain person, and they have to pledge to get in. Because of the way friend groups work, they get involved, and that’s how you get more people involved with what you’re doing. The other thing we found is that because the pledge campaigns are very personal, the personality of a lot of artists really shines. Some are shy, and that’s when you write a different kind of campaign built around exclusive tracks or handwritten lyric sheets or art pieces. If they’re extroverts though, that wins a lot of people over that might be skeptical. Couple that with amazing music, and you really can’t lose.
I haven’t taken any artists through a pledge campaign, although I’m thinking of submitting a few to you. But I do often tell people that they have to provide their audience with some sustainable and constantly updatable feed of news/entertainment about themselves or their lives to maintain people’s interest. And I think that’s what you’ve hit upon. You’re creating a stream of content or the experiential product that flows over the course of a recording or a tour.
BR:
Absolutely. The other thing a lot of people will say is, “Why don’t I just do an online fan club?” What happens with those online fan clubs, which roll out through the year is they’re incredibly difficult to maintain interest in. There’s no focus to it and no locus on which it revolves.
There’s no urgency…
BR:
Exactly. I see pledges as a three-month fan club. “For three months we’re going to give you the most incredible ride of your life.” And then you go and make a record and do other things, and then you come back with another one. And we’re in our first year, so we’re having our second, third and fourth bands come back right now. The fans are just loving it and eating it up. The bands we have worked with have grown their fan bases. I think it’s really cool. The other thing with the fan club aspect of it that we’ve seen that’s been really interesting is that we don’t display how much money the artists are trying to raise, so on a fan funding site, it’s all about, “We’re looking for $10,000. So, give us your money now, and we’ll make this album.” It’s a big presale in one sense. We don’t show the target amount. So we say, “Pledge to be a part, and once we hit the target …” What’s been phenomenal is that since we’ve began only three people have emailed to ask what that target amount is. Most don’t seem to care. It’s really irrelevant to them, because the campaign is what they’re buying into. And that’s been a real eye opener. The other thing we found is that we offered the ability to show the target amount, and artists that show the target amount tend to get 20% less. So, pledges give 20% less if the target amount is displayed, which is very interesting.
So you came from management DNA (Benji’s parents were managers), you were in a band that signed a few indie deals and now you have started Pledge Music. You are in a pretty unique situation to offer advice to aspiring artists with that varied experience. I was wondering if you had advice for artists in general?
BR:
Absolutely. For one, I’m always cautious of is any service that you pay that purports to get you above and beyond where you are. I fell for so many of those things and I tried everything. All the partners we have on our site, I’ve tried them, or know someone who has tried them. The thing I would say to most artists is that if you don’t have an e-mail list, you aren’t going to be able to tell people about what it is you’re doing. And no one else can tell people that way you can.
It’s a staggering thing, but we had an artist that raised $98,000 from 1300 fans on our site. She released the record to the public two weeks after she released it to the pledges. So basically, the pledges got it, and then two weeks later it showed up in stores. It was projected to sell 5,000-7,000 copies, the reason being that it was a bizarre record. It was a soundtrack and not necessarily a “real” release. Those pledges spoke so loudly and so highly about how much they loved it that 22,000 people bought it with minimal promotion. What that really shows is that you don’t need hundreds of thousands of fans to get the message out; you need great material and to give fans the ability to share, not just what you’re selling them, but what you’re doing and who you are. That’s what people really buy into and want to be a part of.
So many artists sit there and say, “This is such a huge amount of work.” And what I say is, “I launched my own pledge for my band Marwood and I was able to raise $6,200 in six days to record the album. I went and recorded the album and released it about a month later while starting this company.” It can be done, and I know it can be done, because I’ve done it and watched hundreds of other people do it as well. What they have to realize is that if you raise $1,000 or $100,000 on pledge, it’s a) money that wasn’t there in the first place and b) this idea that a record label is going to come and scoop you up and make it all better just doesn’t happen. It’s not part of the mix anymore. As sales decline, what you have to realize is that trying to sell CDs to people that don’t own CD players is kind of insane. There’s no way around that. When we work with labels, we look at them and are dealing with the old school at some points. What I will say is that there are some incredible labels out there, and they look to us and say, “Who looks good?”
I’ll tell you a very funny story. I was on the phone with one of my very good friends who is a concert promoter and was talking about doing deals with an artist and some corporate sponsor. A manager of a big artist said to my friend, “Well, we don’t know. We really have to check with the label, because they really have a lot of influence.” And he said, “Wait. You sold 20,000 records? I’m offering you $20,000 right now. How important can they be?” When he put it in that context it was really eye opening.
BR:
Speaking to that too, we actually started a label and a publishing company just recently. We’re about to start rolling that out. In the time when labels aren’t making sense, it was a big question as to why we would start a label. And the answer I have is that it’s because I really believe in my heart that for the artists I know we can work with, we can do well for them, because we’re going to give them an incredibly fair deal, and my job is to put as much money into their hands as I possibly can as quickly as possible.
This means I can’t strangle them for merch and can’t put them on a 360 deal, but what I can do is give them a way to get to that next level, whether it’s with our label or another label. You have to go in with a base of something., Otherwise, there are a million people with their hands out. And labels are in a position where they have declining sales, so why would they sign you? It’s a tough call.
Learn more about Pledge Music and check out Benji’s band Marwood.
