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.
To mark the end of the year, I wanted to put together a post highlighting some of the notable articles and interviews that have been featured on the Musician Coaching site in 2011. I chose the “Best of” listed below not only because they were some of the most shared on social media sites and the Web in general, but also because they covered some of the most important issues I feel artists and others getting into the music industry should be focusing on as they build their careers.
Your Email is an Unwelcome French Kiss from an Ugly Stranger
Are your emails to industry executives being returned? As I discussed in this article about music marketing from mid April, your attempts to reach out could be met with silence because you’re making the following common five mistakes:
Getting Covered by Music Blogs
Last spring, I talked to Fred Pessaro, a contributing editor at the popular New York City-based music blog BrooklynVegan. Originally from Washington, D.C., Fred got his start in the music industry as a fan of hardcore and punk music and started regularly attending local shows in his hometown at an early age. His interest in freelance writing and photography and his love for music brought him to New York City, where he began to write for and contribute photos to music publications including Fuse, Time Out and Decibel. He has been working with BrooklynVegan since 2007 and also does some booking in the New York City area.
In this interview, Fred was kind enough to share some “dos” and “don’ts” for artists that want to get covered in blogs and other publications. As he said, “I think if you’re a young band today, the best thing you can do is put together a record and give it away for free. Let as many people hear it as possible. I think that’s important on the recorded front and the live front. Any time someone asks you to play a show, you should take it. If you’re a Twee band, and someone asks you to open for a metal band, play it anyway. If you’re playing first on a 12-band bill at 3 p.m., play it anyway. At the end of the day, playing the show is important, whether there are five people there or 5,000 people there. But it’s also important that your name is on a show, and your name is repeated as many times as it can be repeated. If I were a young band, I would play anywhere and everywhere as often as I could, and I would give away my music to anyone that would hear it. Also, maybe you can do something like print up t-shirts with a catchy design that someone might wear whether they liked your band or not. And sell them at cost. Basically, the more times someone sees your name, the easier it’s going to be for them to recognize it down the road. It’s the idea of conditioning. The more times you mention a name, the more the name will become a part of everyone’s consciousness as opposed to ‘just another band out there.’”
In August, I spoke with the legendary Art Munson, founder of Music Library Report, a comprehensive directory of music libraries and services for composers and songwriters designed to help them make educated decisions about choosing to which music libraries they should submit their work. With nearly five decades of playing, songwriting and producing experience, Art got his start in the music industry playing guitar with Dick Dale and the Deltones in the 1960s. He has done studio and live work with artists such as the Righteous Brothers, John Lennon, Billy Joel, Barbra Streisand and Paul Williams. In the 1980s he built and ran his own home recording studio where he worked with artists such as David Sandborn and Vonda Shepard. Just since early 2001, he has written hundreds pieces of music for production music libraries which have been placed in a variety of films and television shows. He and his wife Robin also run their own small record label, publishing and production company called Munsong Records.
Art shared his own story about getting into the music industry and also outlined some best practices for songwriters trying to choose which production libraries are the best fit for their work: “Maybe the best thing I could say is, ‘Write what you really love to write.’ And there are some parameters to follow with library music. You should have editable music, so the music editor can make really clear edit points. It might be a nice, strong intro that’s no more than four-bars long so you can get right into it. And I fight with that editable point too. Because I want to write songs that are musical and have a nice flow to them. And there’s a place for that also. As I said, there are really no hard and fast rules. But I do try to pay attention to really strong edit points, so that music editor can get in and out cleanly.”
5 Tips about Writing Your Own Band Bio
In late October, I featured a guest post by Julia L. Rogers in which she outlined 5 concrete elements that should go into a compelling artist bio. Julia helps me behind the scenes at MusicianCoaching.com and is a classically-trained musician, a published author and a contributing music writer at Bitch magazine. Julia plays out regularly in New York City in various original projects. She also writes about business strategy, social media and emerging technology for corporate clients ranging from the Huffington Post to American Express … and she can be hired to write artist and band bios through the site.
In “5 Tips about Writing Your Own Band Bio,” Julia said, “If you want to be taken seriously as an artist, you have to have promotional material. And your bio is one of the most critical components – if not the most critical component of your press kit. (Sorry, but no one cares about your music if you can’t introduce yourself properly.) Your bio represents your first opportunity to spark interest in someone who will be a champion for your music. Besides communicating essential information about you, a well-written bio portrays you as a professional that has some understanding of the business you’re in – music. And when you take some time to thoughtfully craft it, you convey to your fans, to press, media and labels that you are serious about making music your career.”
And her 5 tips for artists trying to put together an eye-catching bio were …
Jonathan Mann, on Songwriting and YouTube
Prolific songwriter Jonathan Mann has been writing and recording one song per day since January 1, 2009 for his Song A Day project. For over 1,000 days, he has been posting a daily – usually humorous – song to YouTube that touches upon news and current events. A graduate of Bennington College in Vermont, Jonathan started playing guitar and writing songs when he was inspired by the music of Bob Dylan at age 12. Song A Day has earned him a great deal of press attention and brought him a number of interesting collaborative projects. He has appeared on The Rachel Maddow Show and has been commissioned to write songs for companies including Apple, TechCrunch, Dobly, ChaCha, Cisco, Microsoft, Groupon and AirBnB. Last spring, he used the crowdfunding site Kickstarter to raise $13,000, which funded his record Song A Day: The Album.
A couple weeks ago, Jonathan was kind enough to tell me the story of how he first started playing music and provide some insight for other artists trying to stay inspired to write new music. He also discussed how people can leverage YouTube as well as other online (and offline!) tools in order to get their music heard, find opportunities for collaboration and build personal relationships with their fans: “One of the biggest things I’ve observed regarding YouTube is that you have to collaborate. If you want to grow your audience, you find people that you like and that you respect from YouTube, and you reach out to them with a good idea, then collaborate with them and make something. That way, your audience gets to see them, and their audience gets to see you. I started making online video in 2005 right when YouTube started. And had I known that collaboration was one of the biggest tricks on that platform, maybe I would’ve done more of that.”
When asked about time management/finding the time to write, Jonathan added, “…it’s really just about commitment. You just have to commit to doing it. I would also encourage people to do a song a day … Just challenge yourself to do it for a month. Once you commit yourself to it, it just becomes part of your life … What you do when you do that is set yourself up to make great music. If you do that every day, just by sheer probability, something you make is going to be great.”
Of course, I have more interviews and articles from some incredibly talented, knowledgeable folks coming up in 2012, so stay tuned. Happy New Year!
Brian Meece is the CEO and co-founder of RocketHub, a platform that has helped thousands of artists and entrepreneurs further connect with their fans and brands, providing them with tools to help them raise funds and awareness for their creative projects. Brian is also a lifelong musician who continues to perform and record. A graduate of film school, he officially made his way to the music industry through creative media and creative arts. Brian started RocketHub when he began to see how powerful the community funding/crowdfunding model could be for artists across media and decided he wanted to create a company specifically geared towards artists that would educate, empower and support them as they worked get their creative projects off the ground.
Brian talked to me about how the crowdfunding model works and about the mission of RocketHub. He also shared some tips for artists that want to successfully harness the power of this fan funding model in order to build mutually-beneficial relationships with their fans and get their dream projects off the ground.
How did you get into the music industry and come up with the idea to start the RocketHub platform?
BM:
My background mostly before starting RocketHub was in creative media and creative arts. I went to undergrad for film and made some films. And I have been playing in bands since I was in high school. I recognized that in the world of indie filmmaking and the world of indie music, a lot of early adopters were gravitating towards a community funding model that we now know as the crowdfunding model. We were seeing it when Darren Aronofsky raised money for his first breakout movie Pi in the late ‘90s. He reached out to his community to raise about $60,000 and make that movie happen. It was the first time I had seen this phenomenon.
Then, years later, I saw Jill Sobule do a fan-funding campaign on her own and raise over $100,000. I recognized that this community funding model that we know as crowdfunding was something that was going to become part of the new media landscape. And I wanted to build a company that was artist friendly and would educate, empower and support artists and creative people looking to get funding and build awareness for their projects. So, that’s how RocketHub came to be.
And your official title is co-founder and CEO?
BM:
In the tech startup world there are a lot of CEOs out there. It’s important to note that it’s not just me, but the whole team behind RocketHub that are all also cut from a creative cloth. We all came together to build a company and organization that’s really supportive of the Arts and of the folks pursuing their dreams.
What is crowdfunding, and how does the RocketHub platform work?
BM:
Crowdfunding is an online event that harnesses a community for funding, awareness and feedback. This event has a beginning, a middle and end to it. It’s very different from the standard ecommerce play where you open up a store and sell stuff online. And it’s different from a donation play where there’s an online tip jar. Crowdfunding is very much an event that galvanizes communities to participate within a very specific amount of time.
The way our platform works is that an artist comes to RocketHub, uploads the title of their project and what they’re looking to do – whether it’s recording an album, a music video, doing a tour or something along those lines. And they’ll typically have a pitch video talking about themselves, their passion for the project, and a detailed project description. Then, they’ll set a goal amount – what they’re looking to raise. Most music projects we’ve seen are between $2,000 and $10,000. We’ve had other projects raise tens of thousands of dollars and some raise over $100,000. But, most music projects raise in that $2,000 – $10,000 range. And they usually accomplish this goal in between 60 and 90 days. On the project page, there’s also a rewards menu that outlines what funders get in exchange for their financial contributions. For example, they might get a digital download of the album for $10 or a physical CD that’s signed with a memento for $20. They may get a bundle or another cool experience for $50. And it scales up. We’ve seen donations of $100 and even $1,000 or $5,000 come in for certain projects. If the reward is really exciting, and the fan base is there to support the project, it can be a cool and interesting way to monetize communities based on these different levels of support.
You said something interesting to me the other day. You mentioned you really weren’t selling music and the final product as much as you were selling an experience.
BM:
Yes. We really are selling the experience. This funding model is about the relationship that these funders – and we call them “fuelers” on RocketHub – have with the artist/person spearheading the project. It’s about the relationship that those fuelers have with this creative person and that they have with each other – their ability to connect and communicate. It’s really about how fans participate with the funding, how they connect with the artist and the other funders and what they get back in exchange for the financial contribution. It’s a very different phenomenon from just going to the store or downloading something. It’s very impactful when done correctly.
The music projects on RocketHub make up about 25 percent of all the projects that come through the site. And we have a really high hit rate for music projects. Many musicians already have loyal fan bases and are already communicating with fans in ways that they weren’t doing ten years ago. A lot of projects can get made with 50-100 people, because the average contribution to music projects on the site is a little over $60. So, you can go back into the project budget and say, “Okay, if I need $6,000, that’s a little over 100 people I need to say ‘yes’ to this project.” And that’s very doable for a lot of emerging artists that are looking to take the next step with their careers by getting a tour or an album or music video out.
It’s really exciting to see music and crowdfunding fitting together so well.
I’m the kind of guy who struggled to even ask people to sponsor me when I ran a marathon. Do you find that there is some sort of acclimation process involved in the process of getting people comfortable with the idea of asking their peers for donations? How would you advise people to get past that mental hurdle?
BM:
First of all, I don’t really like to look at this as a “donation” model. You want to push the “trade,” not the “aid” angle. And the “trade” angle is where the rewards come in. Also, we’re artists, not charities. We’re asking for support and contributions. But we’re also offering something to our network. We’re offering cool rewards and scarce experiences. That’s really what the campaign should be about: “Here’s what I’m up to. Here’s why I’m doing it. And here’s what you can get if you come along for the ride.” When you frame your campaign around that type of communication, you get a lot better response than you do if you say, “Hey, I need money for this.”
For example, I ran my own campaign. And I can tell you, it takes a little bit of commitment and a little bit of gusto to get it together and put a project out to the world. It’s a little scary. But what I really enjoyed about it was that it gave me an excuse to reach out to people that I hadn’t talked to or seen in a while. I said, “Here’s what I’m up to, just FYI. Here’s what I’m doing and how I’m doing it. If you’re interested in this – and I hope you are – here’s how you can become a part of it. If you’re intrigued, come join the tribe.” And that communication really worked well with my audience. I have a hunch it would also work well with a lot of other artists’ audiences.
That “trade, not aid” mantra gets us, as artists, out of the mindset of fundraising or asking for tips or donations; because that’s really not what crowdfunding is about. It’s patronage meets commerce – a new spin on an old idea. I like to say, “Beethoven, plus social media equals crowdfunding.” What I mean by that is, it’s the old idea of patronage meets this new concept of being connected to a massive amount of people; crowdfunding is really just mass patronage. It’s pretty cool to see this idea of patronage reemerge on top of social media.
Yeah. It’s wonderful.
I often find that musicians, myself included, get ahead of ourselves pretty often and place the cart before the horse in a lot of situations. My inclination with setting up a crowdfunding campaign would be to say, “I put a band together, and we had one rehearsal. Now, let’s raise some money!” Because I don’t have any patience. When is the right time in a musician’s career for this type of crowdfunding campaign? Is there a baseline amount of fans or activity a band should realize before embarking on this type of project?
BM:
I would say that crowdfunding works for artists at a lot of different levels. So, it depends on what you’re trying to raise. The band you just described that has been jamming in a garage for a month or two may not be ready to raise $10,000 – $12,000 to do a big double LP. But they will very likely be able to raise $1,000 – $1,500 to go do a little demo EP or to do a higher-end show to premiere the band.
If you’re an emerging artist, I’d say, be realistic with your goals. And know that the average contribution to music projects is about $60. So, to raise $1,000 you need 20-30 people to say “yes” to a project, which is not really a lot. Just be reasonable in what you want to raise based on where you are in your creative journey. We’ve found that emerging artists that are just looking to start something raised $500 – $1,500. We’ve seen mid-level artists raise $5,000, plus. And we’ve seen larger, working artists that everyone may have heard of raise significantly more. It really just depends on where you are in your career. But you need to be aware that there is a strategy involved. If an emerging artist tries to raise $10,000, it’s going to be a lot tougher.
I know not every campaign is successful. From the vantage point of someone who sees thousands of these campaigns start up on RocketHub, which specific qualities do the artists that are successful at crowdfunding tend to have?
BM:
A successful RocketHub campaign typically has three core components. The first is an awesome project spearheaded by awesome people with passion. Believe it or not, just the fact that you’re making a record, a music video or planning a tour is not enough. It really needs to be as awesome as you can make it. The project doesn’t have to be really big either; it can be something really cool on a small scale. But as an artist, you just have to make it as awesome as you can and be front and center and have your band’s personality, or the creative team’s personality be front and center.
The second component you need in order to be successful is some sort of audience or network to start the campaign to. Obviously, the bigger the network, the more successful a campaign will be. But a lot of projects are funded through small communities. 20, 30, 50 or 100 people can add up significantly with a crowdfunding campaign. You want to have some kind of fan base to start. It doesn’t have to be massive.
The third thing you need in order to run a successful crowdfunding campaign is cool rewards. The $20 level is most popular one for music. It’s the single-most popular price point. But the average – the mien – is a little over $60. So, you want to make sure you also have a cool $50 reward and cool $100, $250, $500 and even $1,000 and $5,000 rewards, just in case you get a big-ticket player that wants to jump in.
Those are really the three core components we find successful projects have: 1) an awesome mission spearheaded by awesome people; 2) that fan base/audience that’s connected to them; 3) cool rewards to offer in exchange for the financial contribution. Those three things together are the Holy Grail.
The tiered model is always an interesting one. I was fortunate enough to work with Jill Sobule – who you mentioned earlier – when I was at Lava Records. For a $10,000 contribution, she actually offered the reward of being allowed to sing on her record. And somebody did it. And I don’t know if he ever sold any of these, but the drummer Josh Freese came up with a list of tiered rewards. And one of the upper echelons was, “Do mushrooms with me and the guys from Tool.” I don’t know if that’s something you’d want to advise, but it’s an interesting take on the model.
BM:
Well, and also, the RocketHub team loves helping artists. We love educating them on how to run campaigns and giving them a little feedback when they need it. As a team, we’re very accessible to artists. If you’re an artist, you shouldn’t look at the platform as just a website. The people behind it – myself included – are really passionate about helping artists raise funds and awareness.
There are a few crowdfunding sites out there, including Kickstarter and PledgeMusic. Why do you think artists should choose RocketHub?
BM:
We share this space with a variety of different companies. And overall, that’s a really good thing. Having some choice in the overall market stimulates demand for the entire industry. I think the biggest way we’re different because we’re always looking to add value for our creative users.
I think RocketHub has some technical differences as well as some softer-touch differences. In terms of technical differences, on RocketHub you don’t have to reach the full funding amount in order to unlock your funds like you do on some of our competitors’ platforms. So, if a musician sets a goal of $15,000 and raises $9,000 or $10,000, they’ll be able to walk away with funds – minus their credit card fees and RocketHub fees.
We’ve found that RocketHub is a great platform for creatives looking to make their projects happen and that are committed to making their projects happen, because they can aim high and still have a safety net if they don’t raise all their funds. On some of the other platforms, you can run a campaign, raise $8,000 or $9,000 of a $15,000 goal, and walk away with nothing because you didn’t hit the full funding amount. We want to really be artist friendly in that regard.
Another way we’re different is that we allow artists to launch projects from around the world. Some of our competitors don’t do that.
We also are looking to add value beyond the funding campaign. So, if you look at the front page of the RocketHub site now, you’ll see one of our Launchpad products. It’s basically a publicity firm in New York that’s going to give a month-long publicity campaign to an artist on RocketHub. These opportunities we open up are free to our creative users that have successfully funded on RocketHub. And we’re going to be doing more and more of that – trying really get exposure and extra awareness for artists that are doing special things on our site.
To learn more about Brian Meece and how his crowdfunding platform helps artists, check out the RocketHub website.
This week marked big news for the business side of the industry as Citigroup suggested it would break up EMI and Google Music eyed the MP3 store space. And Björk made music history by releasing the very first “app” album.
Will Citigroup Sell EMI in Pieces?
Artists and music industry professionals have been awaiting the fate of EMI Group Ltd., home of Katy Perry, Colplay, the Beastie Boys and many others. Citigroup has been deliberating over what to do with the company since they took it over in February. And after final bids came in last week, reports suggested the owner will sell it off as two separate businesses – a label and a publisher.
EMI’s Chief Executive Roger Faxon and former head of EMI publishing has been very opposed to cutting the business in two, saying that the publishing arm and the label arm have a symbiotic relationship, which is what has made the company work for so many years. Since he took over leadership, he has tried to integrate both divisions to make a split more difficult.
Two companies have submitted the highest bids on EMI Publishing: BMG Music, a company run by Bertelsmann and the private equity firm Kohlberg Kravis Roberts and Sony/ATV, a partnership between Sony Corp. and the estate of Michael Jackson.
As for the EMI’s recorded music business, Universal Music Group and Warner Music Group are both trying to seize it. Warner Music has also expressed interest in purchasing all of EMI; however, anti-trust issues on the publishing side and an inability to line up solid financing with the economy and the music industry in particular in flux will likely prevent that deal from closing.
EMI is considered to be one of the last attractive assets in the rapidly-changing music business. In June, the company was exploring alternatives to being sold, running an auction code named “Project Nile.”
Citigroup will also get more money out of EMI if they cut it in half – as much as $4 billion. Winning bidders will be selected by the end of next week.
Google Music Poised to Move into the MP3 Space
Google will likely open its first MP3 store, possibly as soon as in the next few weeks, says a report published in the New York Times. Five months ago, the company launched its first cloud music service – Music Beta, which allows users to back up songs on remote servers and stream them trough mobile and other devices – and is in negotiations with major labels to build a marketplace that will be an iTunes and Amazon competitor.
Music executives say that Google is pushing to open the store – which will be connected directly to the cloud service – as soon as possible. Google seems to be pushing up the launch date of the store in hopes of getting in ahead of Apple, who will open its own cloud music program, iTunes Match by the end of October. However, Google must establish partnerships with labels and publishers before it can have a full-service store.
Earlier attempts to begin a “smart locker service” – a storage system that lets people link their personal digital music collections to a large central database – failed when Google could not convince music companies it was installing anti-piracy features. Many labels and publishers have said they still are not convinced that Google has addressed their concerns regarding piracy, and Google’s ability to license their MP3 store is uncertain. If Google opens an unlicensed service, users will have to upload each song individually, which could take hours, or days depending on the size of the collection.
Björk’s Biophilia is Released as the First App Album
Björk released the first-ever “app” album last week, opening up new possibilities for artists that want to further integrate music with technology and add new dimensions to recorded music releases. Biophilia features a “set of ten apps contained within a mother app” and was made partly on an iPad. It is available as a CD and is being additionally released as a set of apps – one for each track – so listeners can enjoy a fully-interactive experience. The album represents work of Björk herself as well as work from a team of engineers, scientists, writers and artists/filmmakers, including Sir David Attenborough. App designer/filmmaker/media artist Scott Snibb headed the app design process.
Many believe this album could revolutionize how artists, industry professionals and fans have traditionally defined “music album.” The apps – depicted through images in Wired – are filled with links to reading materials and many interactive features. Interacting with the apps is incredibly comprehensive for those that take time to immerse themselves and even go beyond artistic to become educational. However, some critics worry that all these extra features detract from the main focus of any album – the music itself.
However, Biophilia, which explores music through the themes of science, paganism, nature, love and technology is clearly about the music; two entirely new instruments were even created for it. As the music industry experiences a continued decline in album sales and struggles with piracy, many artists have gone the DIY route. Björk’s latest endeavor could represent an interesting new direction for artists that want to get creative about recorded music and find new ways to embrace and leverage the growing technology side of the industry.
The need for today’s artists to develop savvy, creative self-marketing skills in order to make a living was big in music business news this week as Lil Wayne’s new album Tha Carter IV sold record numbers on iTunes in its first week and music journalists discussed the value of remixes for emerging artists. Also, artists won a big battle as the European Union (EU) came close to a decision on the extension of coverage by International Music Copyright Law.
Lil Wayne Proves Business Sense is Critical to Selling Rap Albums
Lil Wayne’s long-awaited Tha Carter IV album exploded onto the U.S. album chart last week, coming in at #1 with a 964,000 unit sales debut. The album was the second-biggest seller of the year, coming in close behind Lady Gaga’s Born This Way, which sold 1.1 million in its first week when it released in early June. Wayne’s accomplishment is even more notable because he chose not to release on Amazon, thus decreasing his overall sales opportunities. He also set a new one-week iTunes record by selling 300,000 on that platform.
While Wayne did not reach his 1 million-unit personal best, achieved with Tha Carter III in 2008, he beat out the Jay-Z and Kanye West collaboration Watch the Throne, which came out at the height of the summer record sale season and only sold 436,000 copies. While industry experts agree that record sales are no longer the main indicator for how good an artist is, numbers do still count; and many feel that Lil Wayne’s ability to self market and sell his own music has been a huge factor in his success.
Lil Wayne is the CEO of his own record label, Big Money, and he has a hand in marketing himself and other artists on his label. But according to the Global Grind website, others note that he will need to do even more to continue to sell albums, especially in the rap and hip hop genre, which, more than any other area of music has been hit particularly hard as the music industry becomes more and more digital. Being a talented rapper alone no longer brings in big money; rap artists have had to branch out and cross over into other businesses in order to stay relevant and grow their brands. For example, Jay-Z is co-owner of the New Jersey Nets, CEO of Roc Nation, owner of Ace of Spades liquor company, co-director of Budweiser and investor in a line of hair products and several clubs as well as being a real estate developer. And without diversifying, his hiatus from recording his own music might have pushed him into obscurity.
Rap music has long been associated with “living large” and making money. And while Lil Wayne has proven he can sell records without the help of a huge label, some feel that in order to continue his upward trend, he will have to up the ante with his marketing tactics, possibly capitalizing on his interest in skateboarding (which appeals to his younger fan base) by branching out into the clothing and accessories market, or, since he just learned to play the guitar, designing a line of guitars that caters to his style of music.
The Beastie Boys and Others Uncover the Value of the Remix
Recently, Major Lazer took on the Beastie Boys’ “Don’t Play No Game That I Can’t Win,” and remixed it as a dance-hall-style song that takes it far from its original state. And this is just one of seven remixes featured on the new Hot Sauce Committee Part 2 album. Leah Collins of the Montreal Gazette asks, aside from giving fans of an artist something more to collect and buy, what is the value of remixes?
First of all, remixing can help an artist reach a new audience; an artist can reshape the song so it has a place in a club, on the radio, or so it gets the attention of an elusive blogger. It can also just give a musician the opportunity to play with a piece of music and make a new form of art. And for a new or emerging artist, remixing can be particularly important because it can help that artist build his/her name, build a community and become more skilled as a musician.
And Major Lazer isn’t the only artist remixing. Ian Swain, who DJs and produces under the moniker “Pho” and also works as half of the dance-hall duo Bonjay used remixes of indie rock hits – including TV on the Radio’s “Staring at the Sun” and the Yeah Yeah Yeahs “Maps” – to build his profile. Swain said, “Putting up those early tunes [and remixing something like ‘Maps’] … was a way that, even though we hadn’t really developed into writing our own material … getting our name out there.”
And he added, “If you’re a band, you cut your teeth doing covers, developing your sound. It’s where you figure out what’s unique about what you do … Remixing is pretty similar in that, when you’re starting out, it’s a great way to hone your style and garner some interest in what you’re doing.”
Besides helping emerging musicians grow artistically and increase their fan bases, doing remixes of popular songs can even in some cases help an artist build relationships with the more well-known artists whose songs they choose, which can lead to new opportunities and wider exposure.
The European Union (EU) Extends Copyright Protection by 20 Years
Musicians could win longer copyright protection of their work abroad as early as next week, thanks to a big decision by the EU which will help make European copyright laws more similar to laws in the United States. For years, artists like Paul McCartney and Cliff Richard have fought to increase the length of time musicians’ work was protected in Europe beyond 50 years as they faced their protection running out within their own lifetimes. If all goes as planned, recordings in Europe will be under copyright for 70 years, making distribution of musical works without permission before this time period expires illegal.
Although some countries are still opposed to this change, industry spokespeople feel that this extension will be made a reality after ministers from EU countries vote on the issue in Brussels on Monday. The decision will also bring extra royalties for major labels Universal, Sony Music Entertainment, Warner Music Group and EMI. The issue of copyright protection has become even more important worldwide in the past year, as global music sales fell 9 percent, a decline linked directly to widespread piracy problems; according to IFPI, 19 out of every 20 music tracks downloaded from the internet are obtained illegally.
IFPI’s CEO Frances Moore also said new copyright laws in Europe would hopefully help make building a career easier for emerging and independent artists: “Extending the term of protection to 70 years would narrow the gap between Europe and its international partners and improve the conditions for investment in new talent.”
In the U.S., music copyright lasts for 95 years after recording, whereas authors of written works and their estates maintain the rights to their creative works 70 years after their deaths.
This past week was marked by music industry loss and innovative technology gains as indie labels reeled from destruction caused by the London riots, Universal Music Group sold defective products to valued customers, mixtape provider Datpiff provides an exciting marketing model for artists and ASCAP brings Netflix on board.
Datpiff Empowers the Mixtape, Helps with Artist Marketing
Free mixtape resource Datpiff came into the spotlight last month when Lil Wayne jumped on board after announcing he would be releasing a free mixtape through the site to reward his fans for patiently waiting for the release of his album Tha Carter IV on August 29. And even Forbes took notice of the site as an exciting business model in the rapidly-shifting music industry with an article published last week about how the site is developing as a happy marriage between artists, music lovers and even record labels.
Leesport, PA-based site Datpiff, which provides free mixtapes and mashups to music fans has been around since 2005, founded by now 27-year old music fan Marcus Frasier. The website attracts 9.8 million visits per month from 3.8 million people and has over a quarter of a million Facebook “likes” and almost 100,000 Twitter followers. It offers a user-based uploading environment (like YouTube). And Frasier has managed to keep pirated retail albums off the site by reviewing each submission himself before putting it up and more recently, by hiring an outside firm to keep quality control standards high.
As he told Forbes, when he first switched to the YouTube uploading model in 2008, “The queue to get on the site was sometimes two to three weeks. So we contracted with a company that did audio fingerprinting that could flag pirated material. That gave us the ability to grow.”
Many emerging online music providers have struggled to work with the music industry, in part because it has been very resistant to support giving away free or inexpensive music to fans. But Datpiff has become a great marketing tool for artists of all sizes, and Frasier has managed to create good relationships with even big recording artists like Jay Z and Kanye West (who also released a mixtape last month to advertise their new album) as well as both indie and major record labels. He says, about record companies, “They know the power of the mixtape. It’s in their best interest to keep the artists’ name going and to sample new styles and get feedback.” And because of the marketing powers Frasier’s site gives artists, he has been able to make money off more than just advertising and premium memberships. Many artists have upgraded their memberships to increase their exposure.
Because of his strong stance against piracy and his ability to prove that Datpiff provides solid marketing opportunities, Frasier has been able to build relationships with labels and artists and draw in a huge audience while other music providers struggle. And he has accomplished something unique in the music industry in that he’s been able to attract not only big artists like Lil Wayne and 50 Cent but also artists on smaller labels or with no labels. And there is an on-going conversation on his site facilitated by active comment boards and social media between Datpiff, artists and listeners, which strengthens the fan-artist bond. Datpiff provides an equal opportunity environment for artists of all sizes to build their fan bases.
Frasier is currently working to copy Datpiff’s model and spin out other entertainment sites through his larger company Idle Media. And he wants to make sure he continues to build future projects on his love for technology: “A lot of our best concepts come up just from us wanting to do something cool with technology. It’s still fun for us.”
Universal Music Group Inconveniences Classical Music Fans
Recently, paying customers on Universal Music Group (UMG)’s classical music site Passionato (a paid site geared towards audiophiles) noticed an odd noise on a variety of tracks. Users discovered the disruptive sound on the defective tracks was watermarking added by UMG after they asked Passionato representatives how to resolve issues with the site, which advertises that it provides “lossless” classical music recordings.
The exchange about this issue on the Hydrogenaudio message boards illustrates that Passionato representatives suggested everything from downloading pirated copies of files without watermarks (even though they had already paid for the watermarked versions), to remixing the files themselves. As Techdirt pointed out, watermarking tracks and then telling paying customers they have to go through the hassle of fixing the problem themselves alienates them and makes it unlikely they will continue to pay in the future.
ASCAP Licenses Netflix
On August 11, ASCAP revealed it would be entering into a licensing agreement with Netflix as the popular service shifts its focus from physical DVD rentals to streaming video. Netflix has become the most popular internet subscription service for film and television viewing, making up 61% of digital viewership in the U.S.
ASCAP decided to provide the license because subscription-based streaming services are emerging as a great source of revenue for ASCAP members whose music has been placed in films and on television. ASCAP also recently announced license agreements with Spotify and Turntable.fm and plans to tie up agreements with Hulu and Amazon in the coming months. ASCAP already has licenses with 18,000 different companies, including start-ups, huge internet companies and mobile networks.
Indie Catalog Destroyed by London Fire
The Sony DADC distributing warehouse caught fire as a result of the on-going riots in London last Tuesday at 4 a.m. The building contained the entire stock of 150 labels distributed by PIAS UK and PIAS Ireland, including Rubyworks, Model Citizen, 4AD, Warp, Rough Trade, Sub Pop, Secretly Canadian, Jagjaguwar, Drag City, Soul Jazz and Domino. According to Billboard, 3.2 million CDs and vinyl units were destroyed.
As labels and stores awaiting their stock panic, reports from PIAS continue to indicate that the warehouse has moved to a new location and is once again up and running. Sony DADC states is has found a new temporary distribution partner and will be ready to pack and ship orders within the next week. Representatives from Sony admit that their biggest challenge is going to be recreating a catalogue with as much depth as the one that was lost: “Re-manufacturing and getting stock in [outlets] next week of the top several lines is do-able, but we had over 8,000 lines at Sony DADC. [As for] whether they will all ever be re-manufactured, there’s obvious issues there and I think some of them will lose out in that process.”
A campaign to help artists and labels affected by the blaze called LabelLove has been set up to help with rebuilding efforts and is quickly garnering the support of music fans worldwide. Music fans are being encouraged to buy albums from one of the many labels affected by the fire: digital downloads of an album or physical albums from their local record stores.
Music Marketing -
While I can be hired to do product management and ongoing music marketing services, most people are unable to afford an ongoing expense. If you are interested in those services, click here to contact me. If not and you would like a DIY solution continue reading.
Get A Music Marketing Plan
I can be hired to create custom music marketing / music business plans for your next music release, tour or just to expand your reach and exposure as an artist. I can guarantee that if the plan is followed your music will be exposed to more people than it is currently without a large monetary investment.
How it Works:
After a plan is purchased I send out a detailed marketing questionnaire so I can get as much background on you as possible. After I have reviewed your responses and thoroughly researched your online presence we connect by phone and go over your needs. After this conversation I take 1-2 weeks to turn around your plan. Once completed and delivered we schedule a follow up call to go over the plan and make adjustments if needed.
What does my plan include?
Your plan will include a diagnosis of your existing business and ways to make that business stronger and grow your fan base. Your plan will include strategies on how to best handle:
Please Contact Me for more information and Rates.
Dane Venable is the head of marketing for Atlantic records. In addition to overseeing several product managers Dane still handles his own roster of acts that he does marketing for personally including James Blunt, Death Cab for Cutie, Jason Mraz, Rob Thomas and Matchbox 20 and a new artist named Robert Francis. I worked with Dane when I was at Elektra and he was kind enough to give me his time and insight on what music marketing looks like today.
Tell me in your words what you see marketing a band at that job entailing for you. Marketing is a broad term, so how do you see your job or your role in marketing a band? What does that look like for you?
DV:
Providing a consistent direction for the artist with the ultimate ability of cutting through the clutter.
Let’s talk about the clutter. When you’re first sizing up a project obviously there’s going to be a lot of creativity involved, but is there a strategy to make a band stand out among all the thousands and thousands of bands out there? Have most of the bands that come to you already identified a niche to market to, or is that something that you try to identify/try to connect them to?
DV:
It always differs with the artist. Some artists come in with a very strong vision of who they are, where they want to go, because some bands have already been out there building touring bases. And by that I don’t mean, “Oh yeah, we played the past six months once every two weeks in Pittsburgh.” The Zac Brown band is a perfect example. He’s been out there ten years throughout the Southeast building a club base.
So funny, yet another time I thought that was an overnight success that turned out to be years and years of hard work
DV:
He’s been doing 150 shows a year for ten years; that guy knows exactly who he is, he knows exactly where he wants his career to go. Sometimes you get a group that is just out of art school and has been practicing in basements and just kind of putting together their music. They may have general ideas, but they need it fully fleshed out, and that’s where we try to help them, because the days are long gone of trying to hang an image on an artist and then make it work. Even though a lot changes year to year with the amount of clutter and noise that’s out there, one thing that’s gotten even stronger is a band’s sense of credibility and what that means in the world.
I think the smell test with audiences is stronger than ever. If you take a look at some of the most trafficked and active websites, they are websites that really do have artist involvement if not complete artist control. Kids go to those sites and know that it is the artist’s voice. It’s not somebody in management, it’s not some uber fan that’s just putting stuff up. That credibility I think really matters for a lot of bands. Look, if you’re an artist that writes big pop smashes or big hip hop smashes and you want to go directly to radio, that’s one route you can take it certainly; that’s always been there. But a lot of the bands we deal with are not looking to go directly there, not that they don’t believe in their songs in the same way, but they want to build their audience, they want to have a sense of discovery before they get to just be known for a song. And so in that way, credibility really matters, the way you approach things matter.
And by the way, when I say credibility, it matters on the other side too. I just got done having this conversation the other day. We want artists to be active with their fans. It’s crucial today. However, it has to be sincere and feel natural. To have an artist on Twitter where it’s not a natural fit and they’re doing it because they think they need to is a horrible idea because it’s not going to come across as sincere or compelling. What we try to do is say, “Let’s choose a medium you are comfortable with.” With some artists it’s writing words, with some artists it’s using video cameras, with other artists they love Twitter, it’s made for them – little short blasts of stream of consciousness. But what we try to encourage is just interaction with the fans in some way that feels completely natural and we completely respect and work with artists that also want to keep some sense of mystery. Maybe there’s an artist that doesn’t feel natural talking about what they’re doing every minute of the day.
How do you compensate for someone who isn’t communicating in these ways because clearly when that is working for somebody it’s a very powerful tool.
DV:
Twitter works amazing for Jazon Mraz. He’s got 350,000 followers but that doesn’t mean Twitter is going to work for a different artist. Why would it? It’s hard to look at a Chad Kroeger Nickelback song and say that doesn’t work, because they are all big hits. But you wouldn’t say, so why wouldn’t my artist just follow that formula?
Well of course, but what are things you do when a band wants to retain its anonymity in some kind of way? How do you end up compensating most often? Do you just look for other ways of connecting through different mediums?
DV: Well, that kind of depends. I like to think in a lot of ways artists whether as diverse as Bjork, Sigur Ros, Tool, even Radiohead, all like to keep their anonymity in some way, shape or form. But all of them have some creative ways of connecting to their fans. With Bjork, it’s usually in art. She does five or six videos per project, or every design she puts out is something that really speaks to who she is as an artist. With Trent Reznor it’s really about just his timing and the inventive way he connects with his fans.
You were talking earlier about bands that were fresh out of art school vs. those that had built a following over ten years. Have you noticed over the last several years that it’s become more one than the other or is the split pretty much the same? The stuff that’s getting signed and winding up on your plate, is that stuff that tends to be more established or less established, or is it the same old 50/50?
DV: Really I wish I could say it’s changed appreciably, but really I think it ultimately comes down to someone’s belief in a song or in a group of songs. As much as in the marketing template or the “Marketing 101” book, I would love to have bands who have had experience touring or have been out there for a while building a fan base or through one or 2 indie releases – that’s the dream come true – so you don’t have to completely start from scratch. But a lot of times an A&R person just hears the song, hears a demo, sees a show and that overtakes everything. It overtakes every other factor. And that happens time and time again, and that’s not a bad thing, because if our company got to a place where we said, “OK, we’re doing 360’s, therefore touring is a huge factor for us so we only want bands that have begun to build a touring base,” that’s kind of dangerous because then it probably means the nature of the songs or the nature of the music is down in the mix, even just a little bit. The music and the song always have to be first.
It’s good to hear you say that, because it can appear sometimes on the outside like it’s something different. Let’s talk about if you’re starting out with somebody brand new. What are some of the low- or no-cost marketing techniques that you consider a must for every band that wants to get noticed?
DV: Building and maintaining your own Web site. And trying to actually market yourselves and build it to a point where, when anyone goes on it, whether it’s somebody from a label, an attorney, another musician, it actually feels like it’s active. It actually feels like you’ve done some work and you’re not just sitting in your bedroom creating these great demos but you don’t have really any motivation to take your music outside your own bedroom.
Along those lines, do you guys spend a lot of time on SEO or is that just not really in the per view for what you guys do?
DV:
We have someone over at Warner Music Group who actually specializes in Search Engine Optimization, Search Engine Marketing and online advertising. He can flip your head back and forth with the amount of research he’s done on it and how you can target advertising to a project. Almost all of our online advertising now is done this way. We rarely just do banners for static placement at this site or that site. The advances in technology and actually trying to be able to reach exactly where you want to reach are like a dream come true.
How are those keywords then determined? It must be kind of hard when you have a middle of the road rock band. Do you keyword tag other bands?
DV: It depends. I’ll give you an example. We have Death Cab for Cutie in the “Twilight: New Moon film.” There’s a person upstairs that comes up with 50-100 word associations that we register and when those hit, “Boom.” You have to just envision yourself and what you do and how you search Google. If you put it in your mindset, it’s not that hard. It’s not like a science. How is anyone going to search: “Death Cab Twilight;” “Death Cab New Moon”? Whatever. There are a thousand different ways. Are you going to get them all? No. But the odds of actually reaching your target as opposed to just reaching all these eyeballs that have zero interest in what you do are light years ahead. It’s completely changed. Print ads are rare, few and far between with the exception of Alternative Press.
Are most of your marketing efforts on or offline at this point?
DV: It depends what you mean, but they all have to start online. Online is where everything starts, it is Ground Zero. Atlantic was the first major label to garner over 50% of our annual revenue from digital sources. That’s a huge accomplishment. If you think that the physical market still takes up 75% of people’s purchases, and 50% of our revenue in the last year came from digital sources – meaning ring tones and digital sales – it’s a really big accomplishment. What that says is that everything we do has to start with some digital structure. That’s where everyone is. That’s where everyone’s living and breathing. So that takes up a lot of our time, especially for developing artists. Certainly then you go to traditional methods depending on your timing. If it’s an established artist, you go a lot quicker. And by traditional I mean, you go to radio and traditional press and there’s touring and tour marketing and hand-to-hand combat out there.
Speaking of traditional, there really aren’t many record stores anymore… Has anything really replaced a band playing in local record stores before a tour date? Where are you guys going when you have a band on the road?
DV: Web chat is the new in-store. You get to see your artists, you get to see them talk, and if we’re doing it right there’s a pre-order or an order right there, and somebody orders their music. Secondly, though if you’re still talking about things that are done more traditionally is that any developing artist that we have, they are out there at the merch booths immediately after their shows signing, meeting, kissing babies, taking e-mail addresses.
Tell me more about Web chat. Do you guys have your own proprietary software for that or are you using something?
DV: There are various methods we can use. One of the ones we’re doing right now on a consistent basis is this guy Jason Castro, and he was in the fourth season of American Idol – he’s the guy with the dreads – and we’re making a debut album with him right now. His first single just came out. Because of his notoriety that stayed around his fan base is exceedingly strong and has remained so. Throughout the process of this album we have bi-weekly Web chats with him. It’s almost like “Date Night.” He goes on camera for an hour and answers live-time questions from his fans. It works, it keeps people connected and it keeps people coming back. The last chat we had we were shut out of three rooms. Three rooms were completely full and we don’t know how many people were waiting. Each one of our rooms would hold a maximum of 1,000 people. I have no idea how many people were trying to get on there, but 3,000 were there.
Anything else you can think of as advice for things that make your job easier when somebody shows up at your door?
DV: An artist that actually wants to work and realizes that they are part of their career.
—-
Please check out the new artist that Dane is working with Robert Francis.
I had the opportunity to sit down with a gifted Music marketing executive named Marc Schapiro recently to discuss how new bands should be focusing their marketing efforts. Marc has had a very colorful career working at labels like Mute, Roadrunner, Ferret and Artemis and recently left to start his own marketing company called Branch Marketing collective. During his career he has worked with artists ranging from Prodigy to Steve Earl To Nickelback. Marc is a highly sought after freelance marketing executive / product manager in the world of hard rock and was kind enough to take the time to discuss his craft with me recently.
Music Coaching:
Marc, first of all thanks for taking the time to answer some questions. It is rare most musicians get access to a marketing executive with the degree of experience that you have. Music marketing can cover a wide range of tasks, can you explain what you consider to be your role when working with a band?
Marc:
I have a couple roles when it comes to marketing depending on how I’m working with the band. One of my main concentrations is with “partnership” and “sponsorship” marketing. So basically it is figuring out the band’s demographic and then finding partners for promotions around the record, tour, etc. Once we find the right strategic partners, my role gets a bit more creative in coming up with the actual promotions themselves. Starting with things as basic as logo placements or contests, all the way to the more “experiential” things that involve interaction with the band. Experiential marketing is definitely one of the most important things you can do since that is how a lot of “word of mouth” is spread and it gives fans a more personal connection with the band.
Music Coaching:
What are some must have marketing techniques that every band must have that don’t cost very much?
Marc:
The obvious answer here is the Internet. I’m beating a dead horse, but if a band doesn’t have an updated MySpace, Facebook, Twitter and YouTube page, then they might as well not even try to tour or release a record.
Music Coaching:
How do you determine who is the right audience for a band or artist?
Marc:
If I knew the exact answer to this, I’d be a millionaire! What bands don’t realize is that they have so much data at their fingertips. They just need to know how to use it. You can look at your merch sales when opening for certain bands or headlining. You have SoundScan. You have websites like ReverbNation that give you data on your fan base. And if you are running your own site, you need to install Google Analytics (free) which gives you so much information on where people are finding out about you, as well as where they are from.
Besides all the analytical things about the band itself, when finding the right partner, you need to make sure their audience links up. Just because your band is selling a lot at Hot Topic doesn’t mean you should partner up with a hair gel company. The is a term “psychographics” which is like demographics, but its more about the person’s lifestyle. Where do they shop, what do they drink, how often do they go out. I know this all sounds very calculated and more like a college class in statistics, but really it’s just talking about all these things and the next thing you know, you’ll know you fans better than ever.
Music Coaching:
How important is it in your mind that a band have their own website in addition to profiles on the key social networks and why?
Marc:
You definitely still need to have some site outside of the social networking worlds. You never know how young or old your fans might be. They might not be on MySpace or Facebook. They might have firewalls at work where they can’t get this information. When you do your own website, you should make sure your news is on an RSS Feed so people can get updates right into their email inbox if they have problems getting on certain sites while at work or school.
Music Coaching:
I know you work a great deal with branded tours and music and brand partnerships – is this something that you recommend for artists that are just starting out and if so, how?
Marc:
Everyone saw the article that companies are going to spend over 1 BILLION dollars on music venues and festivals this year. So of course everyone wants a piece of it. If you are a new band, don’t expect to get a sponsorship until you have toured and have a record out. There are obviously cases where you might get lucky because you have a friend at a company that will help you out but you need to form your OWN BRAND as a band first. Down the line you can partner with others and form mutually beneficial relationships.
Music Coaching:
As a guy in hard rock you work with bands who spend a great deal of time on the road- is there any advice you would have from a marketing perspective on what a developing artists with limited means could do to market their touring efforts?
Marc:
Yeah, in the hard rock world, we all know that touring is the most important thing you can do. Chances are you aren’t getting on TV or the radio, so the best way to connect with your fans is by putting your stuff in storage and hopping in the van. What if you can’t afford to do this? Well, play local shows. Video tape them. Put them online for the world to see. Also these days, everyone wants limited edition and exclusive items. Look on EBay after ComicCon and you’ll see things going for crazy prices. So, do the same. Make limited edition 7″s and t-shirts. Things people can’t download.
After your show, sit with your fans and sell these items to them directly. Don’t go drinking in your dressing room. I know some bands might want to keep their aura “mysterious” and be the next Tool. But you have a .005% chance of being the next Tool, so go out and meet EVERY fan you can.
Music Coaching:
Talent aside – how do you go about separating your artists from the pack both on social networks and online in general?
Marc:
Be creative. You are going to have fans that are in college and do computer programming. Reach out to them and brainstorm, because they will come to you with some of the most creative ideas since they are outside the industry. Having your fans be part of the creation of your marketing will make them feel even more connected and you’ll have them for a lifetime. And not to sound like a jilted industry guy, but put out f**king good quality music. If you are a new band, don’t put your demo on your MySpace, don’t put up a crap video. There are SO many bands out there that you really only have one chance at a first impression these days. If this means delaying the launch of your site, delay it. Music is the most important part of, well, being a band.
Music Coaching:
In your experience, how important is it to a band’s success that they keep a mailing list and actively communicate with their fans?
Marc:
Everything I’ve said above is about a band focusing on being interactive with their fans. Obviously you don’t need to email them every day with what you had for breakfast, but if you send them announcements first via email (before they read it on the web), then they are going to feel even more special and will probably spread the news even faster.
—
If you are looking for music marketing help, I highly recommend you check out Marc Schapiro and his Company Branch Marketing Collective On an Unrelated note if you are looking for a great New York Bourbon Bar - check out Mark’s new Bar Idle Hands on the lower east side
