Wonderful classical sound to the vocals on this song. The flowing & very fast and artistic shots lend a feminine & masculine vibe. Wonderful close up of her make-up shot. Sounds like the lyric, partially audible is actually a long poem set to melody. Met this band at MySpace & am trying to sign a couple of their songs into our music catalog. They are Factory Of Dreams.
SECTION FOUR: SITES WHERE YOU CAN UPLOAD YOUR BAND’S MP3s OR VIDEOS
Double Stereo
PO Box 4397, Austin, TX 78765
PH: 512-825-9108
Sal Silva III sal@doublestereo.com
www.doublestereo.com
A free digital music platform for bands, and record labels (no sign up or membership fees). Our core business is music promotion, digital music sales and merchandise order fulfillment.
MoFro Music
Dave Creel david@mofromusic.com
www.mofromusic.com
It is a place to share bands, reviews, compositions, mash-ups, re-mixes and anything else music related. Anyone and everyone is encouraged to submit whatever it is they have to share.
Music Forte
931 W. 75th St. #137-261, Naperville, IL 60540
PH: 888-659-2867
Greg Percifield greg@musicforte.com
www.musicforte.com
As a social network, we’re unique in that we cater to only musicians and music enthusiasts. We’ve also taken a very intricate approach in seeing that our network is powered by the musical soul. This means that you’ll discover music and services that are relevant to you in a myriad of ways.
WaTunes.com
info@watunes.com
www.watunes.com
A revolutionary music service that helps independent artists get their music into online music stores like iTunes and eMusic entirely free.
CreateSpace
100 Enterprise Way Ste. A200, Scotts Valley, CA 95066
info@CreateSpace.com
www.createspace.com
Join our Community for help, advice, or to throw ideas around and collaborate with other musicians. Distribute your music on Amazon.com and other sales channels as an audio CD or MP3 download. Set the list price for your audio CDs and choose from a selection of royalty plans for your MP3 downloads. Use our online tools to set up your titles — they’re free! Since copies of your titles are manufactured as customers order, you’ll never worry about inventory and set-up fees.
PRS for Music
http://www.prsformusic.com
Exists to help businesses and community groups get access to some of the world’s best loved music, while making sure that songwriters, composers and publishers are rightfully rewarded. We’re proud to work for the future of one of the UK’s most vibrant creative industries. Let’s help the creators keep on creating.
Passionato
145-157 St. John St., London, EC1V 4PY UK
repertoire@passionato.com
www.passionato.com
300,000 Classical music tracks. More CD quality downloads than any other site.
BANDIZMO.COM
contact@bandizmo.com
www.bandizmo.com
The free music site dedicated to the exposure of unsigned bands and independent artists. Allows songwriters and bands to be found through detailed genre-driven search engines. It’s free to join, free to use and has relationships already built with numerous record companies.
myZOOZbeat.com
feedback@zoozmobile.com
www.myzoozbeat.com
ZOOZbeat is a gesture-based mobile music studio, simple enough for non-musicians and children to immediately become musically expressive, yet rich enough for experienced musicians to push the envelope of mobile music creation. myZOOZbeat.com enables users to save the music they create with ZOOZbeat on the iPhone and iPod Touch as MP3s, and share them using Facebook and Twitter. Users can also listen to songs uploaded by their friends, and to special featured and recent songs from users around the world.
ZOOZbeat Latin
feedback@zoozmobile.com
www.myzoozbeat.com
ZOOZbeat is a gesture-based mobile music studio, simple enough for non-musicians and children to immediately become musically expressive, yet rich enough for experienced musicians to push the envelope of mobile music creation. ZOOZbeat Latin allows the creation of songs with Samba and Tejano rhythms.
Musicload
T-Online-Allee 1, D-64295 Darmstadt, Germany
hotline@musicload.de
www.musicload.de
German MP3 download service.
SongCast
2926 State Rd. #111, Cuyahoga Falls, OH 44223
info@songcastmusic.com
www.songcastmusic.com
One of the World’s largest distributors of independent music. We have deals with iTunes, Rhapsody, Amazon, Emusic and Napster, allowing us to put our artists’ music in front of millions of music buying consumers. With SongCast, you can start selling your own music on these major retail sites right away. We also provide you with customized code to link your MySpace and other websites directly to the stores. Your fans will easily be able to find and purchase your music online. Combined with the power and social phenomenon of sites like MySpace and Facebook, it is no longer necessary to give away your musical freedom to a major record label.
MyMusicSite.com
339 5th Ave. #405, New York, NY 10016
PH: 646-670-6611
Brad Turk bturk@mymusicsite.com
www.mymusicsite.com
An online music community helping independent artist sell, promote and create ringtones with their music.
Music Gorilla
12407 Mopac Expressway N. 100-312, Austin, TX 78758
PH: 512-918-8978 FX: 212-258-6394
Alexia info@musicgorilla.com
www.musicgorilla.com
Exposure to major labels, indie labels, film studios and publishers.
Boost Digital
Level 6 220 Pacific Highway CrowsNest, NSW 2065 Australia
PH: +612-9460-1400 FX: +612-9460-0044
Graeme Logan graeme@boostdigital.com
www.boostindependentmusic.com
MP3 music downloads store for independent & unsigned artists & bands to sell, host, promote & download all MP3 music online. A MP3 store to buy & sell all independent & unsigned music online
JukeBoxAlive
311 Montford Ave. Asheville, NC 28801
PH: 828-232-0016
Will Cumberland cumberland@jukeboxalive.com
jukeboxalive.com
Our Advanced Jukebox Player protects your music from being digitally downloaded, yet allows fans to hear your music online. This creates exciting possibilities for you to present yourself to new audiences without being ripped off.
For More Info: http://www.bigmeteor.com/newsletter/may2009.shtml
Monday Inspirations—Here are 3 weekly ideas for song lyric, poems, instrumental titles, photos, video, short story or anything they inspire you to create. Use the title if you like & make something!
19. Wind Down Time - Friday is my favorite day/night to kick back and turn the knob up a notch, open a bottle of beer and dance. Friday nights are for making noise - moreso for me than Saturday nights. Maybe that’s because I used to have 1 1/2 day hangovers and needed the extra recovery time. :-) I’m tamer these days, but still enjoy a good Friday howl and know that Wind Down Time - is a necessary practice for sanity. Wind Down Time,,, come on now stepping up and stepping out.
20. Make Friends With The Butcher or The Butcher’s Bone
Make friends with the butcher
I tell you why
He’s got the rump and he’s got the hind
He’ll sell you some t-bone
He’ll sell you some prime
Make friends with the butcher
steak burgers ribs & shishkabob time
Moved to a new town. Met a new butcher. Asked for a dog bone. He had some in the freezer and got me one. He wrote on the beef soup bone wrapper = Dog Bone = and put it into my shopping cart. I really wanted a fresh bone, but felt the occassion of our first meeting should be one of my gracious acceptance of the butcher’s bone. I said “Thank You” and smiled.
21. Romantic Exaggeration or Big Romance
I need big romance right here in the palm of my hand.
Give me big romance right here in the palm of my hand.
Where is the man with big romance and poetry and purple irises and golden ribbons?
He is my romantic exaggeration, throws me to the ground in a field of grass and devours
my lips. A romantic exaggeration = now there’s a thought…gets you going…>
YouTube, the most popular online video site, and Universal Music Group, the world’s largest music company, said on Thursday that they would create an online hub for music videos and related content, called Vevo.
The agreement is the latest of many efforts by YouTube, which is owned by Google, to put more professionally produced content in front of its huge audience, and in turn, earn more money from advertising.
Music videos of Universal’s artists will be available both on Vevo.com, which will be owned by Universal and powered by YouTube’s technology, and on a Vevo channel on YouTube. The companies said they would share revenue from advertising on both sites, but declined to discuss specific terms of the agreement.
Google and Universal said they planned to introduce Vevo this year. They said they were working to persuade other major labels to join the site. Industry executives and analysts said the partnership appeared to be an effort to emulate the success of Hulu, an online joint venture between NBC and Fox for television shows and movies.
While Hulu’s audience is much smaller than YouTube’s, the site has been able to attract major advertisers who view YouTube’s eclectic collection of video clips with some trepidation. Music companies were among the first in the media industry to license their content to YouTube in 2006, and their videos have been among the most popular content on the site. But those clips have not produced the revenue that music companies or YouTube had hoped, creating new tension between the two sides.
In an interview, Eric E. Schmidt, Google’s chief executive, said he thought that the two sides have finally created a model that would address those issues, by combining Universal’s content and YouTube’s audience on a site that will be attractive to advertisers.
“The music industry has been struggling with how to structure these things online in the right way,” Mr. Schmidt said.
“This is a good model.” Mr. Schmidt credited Doug Morris, chief executive of Universal, which is owned by Vivendi, with the vision for Vevo.
Mr. Schmidt said that the conversations between the two executives began at the suggestion of the singer Bono. Mr. Morris said that over the last few years, Universal has gone from losing $70 million a year in the production of music videos for promotion, to earning roughly that amount now. He described Vevo as the “next step” in Universal’s ability to monetize music videos.
“It is going to be a powerful product,” he said.
Mr. Morris said that Vevo would include other content from Universal, and eventually offer fans the ability to buy merchandise and concert tickets. The agreement also renews a license allowing YouTube’s users to include Universal’s soundtracks in their videos.
If successful, Vevo could compete with other online sites for music videos, including MySpace. But analysts said it was too early to predict whether music fans would flock to the site.
“It takes more than a premium-content destination to really build a business,” said Ross Sandler, an analyst with RBC Capital Markets.
Mr. Sandler said fans could end up choosing to watch music videos on YouTube rather than on Vevo. Mr. Morris said he has been in discussions with the other major labels, which include Warner Music Group, EMI and Sony Music, about joining Vevo.
The labels all said they have indeed been approached, though talks are at early stages. Some of the licensing deals between labels and YouTube have expired recently, and negotiations over renewals have dragged on as music companies have sought better terms from YouTube.
In December, Warner Music removed its music videos from YouTube, saying it “simply cannot accept terms that fail to appropriately and fairly compensate recording artists, songwriters, label and publishers for the value they provide.”
Similar disputes have erupted in Great Britain and Germany. The agreement represents a victory for YouTube, which needs more professional content to lure advertisers to reverse what analysts say are huge losses derived from the high cost of running the site.
Mr. Schmidt said that the agreement could become a blueprint for resolving simmering conflicts with other media companies. “It can serve as a model for the nonmusic areas, which as you know, for us have been problematic,” he said.
Source url: http://www.nytimes.com/2009/04/10/technology/internet/10google.html?_r=1
Here is an article from Ruth Ratny’s ReelChicago e-newsletter. What gets me is the claim - networks are dead. The Internet is the new media outlet. WOW! And there’s lots of Internet. Lots of people/companies/Indie projects needing songs.
We need a group of go-to songwriters who can create song material quickly. Songwriters/artists with radio quality recording equipment that can lay vocal tracks over backing tracks in hours. If that’s you, shoot us an e-mail and we’ll chat. ~ R
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
‘Always accept a beverage when offered’
Laurie Scheer advises on how to ace a pitch session
| Laurie Scheer connects the Heartland to Hollywood |
There will be thousands of visual media outlets in the next few years, said “media goddess” Laurie Scheer, talking to filmmakers eager to learn first-hand from this Hollywood insider in our midst at last Saturday’s IFP conference
With the proliferation of outlets providing so many opportunities to sell content, “you must think beyond the traditional 60- to 90-minute format,” she asserted.
“Networks are dead,” she proclaimed. “You must think online, because that’s where it’s going to be.”
Scheer, who has been teaching at Flashpoint Academy this year, is preaching the gospel of multiplatforms — matching content ideas with multiple outlet opportunities in order to sell your project.
“Know that your content is needed,” she said. “Know that whatever cable show is doing well, say on the Discovery Channel, be assured the producers are looking for companion pieces.”
In order to pitch like a pro, you have to know what’s going on in the ever-changing marketplace, Scheer’s strongest advice is to research.
“It’s all there on the internet. Read the weekend box office grosses, learn who the leaders are, what topics or stories are selling right now,” she urged. “Your idea must resonate with the current culture.” A good place to look for trend is, in all places, the Wall Street Journal.
The reason for all this homework? “So you won’t look like an idiot when you get a chance to pitch.”
And when you are in the producer’s office pitching your idea, “Present yourself as the only one who could be attached to this project. You’re the expert.
“Tell them what your involvement in the production will be. Do you want to sell the idea? Direct, produce? You know what you know, and they know you know what you want.”
Your pitch must be down pat,” she said. “You must speak with authority, anticipate questions about the project and have different versions of your pitch ready.”
In addition, at the session you will need a one page synopsis and a short 3-5-minute trailer on what your show is about.
Scheer then offered a piece of advice you don’t get in books. “When offered a beverage, take it. Then be very specific about how you want it. ‘I’ll take a decaf latte with soy milk,’” as a way to display your confidence.
Scheer’s advice comes from many years in the forefront of cable programming. She was VP/programming for WE Women’s Entertainment, and developed and produced shows for other cable companies.
Scheer is the pitching coach at NATPE’s convention and L.A. TV festival and will speak at the upcoming NAB on multi-platform and digital marketing.
In addition to teaching at high level colleges, she is a mainstay of Media Bistro seminars. You can catch Scheer in action May 6 at a Media Bistro seminar on “How to Write for Online,” at the Theatre Building, 7-10 p.m. See mediabistro.com/courses/cache/instr176.asp. —Ruth L Ratny
Category: Music
From a Bob Lefsetz letter on Soundscan:
Focus on awareness, not sales.
Forget the Pirate Bay trial, forget P2P piracy and cease and desist letters. They are now the sideshow. We’re moving from ownership to streaming. Spotify is king here, but it’s not the only one. There’s MySpace, there’s iMeem and the pay granddaddies, Rhapsody and Napster. Streaming is better than ownership. All of the foregoing are licensed by the major labels and numerous other rights holders. Can these outlets generate enough capital for the rights holders to garner the revenues of yore? Doubtful. iMeem is on the ropes right now. But that’s irrelevant. Bottom line, people are becoming accustomed to being able to access everything whenever they want. The old model of buying individual items will not evaporate overnight, but it will start to fade, just like the CD, which was the last physical vestige of this paradigm.
But, philosophy aside, sales just suck. In eight weeks, Bruce Springsteen has sold 483,803 albums. An absolutely horrible figure. Bruce is fine, he’s got a guaranteed contract. The man who made this deal, Andy Lack? He was neutered and then left the company. Sony is holding the bag, it’s Sony’s problem that they’re upside down on Bruce’s new album. Nothing seems to make a difference, the Super Bowl, all that press, people just don’t want Bruce.
But he can sell a bunch of tickets.
U2 is doing better than Bruce. They’ve got a cume of 693,310. But this last week, their third on the chart, showed another 42% drop, they sold 76,317 albums. Not exactly chicken feed, but there’s no way they get to ten million, there’s no way the label takes everybody out to CUT and orders thousand dollar bottles of wine on this revenue.
Kelly Clarkson is still number one, but she only sold 90,393 albums, after selling 254,671 last week. Her sales are declining. Everybody’s sales are declining. To look to music sales to make your income is to be absolutely horrified. They’re going in the wrong direction.
We can delineate why, but you know, it’s not a secret. You can get the stuff free and you’re not beholden to just a few acts. No one can dominate. It’s every man for himself. Green Day is debuting their new video on MTV. Do labels still make videos? Does MTV still play them? Isn’t that like saying they still make Beanie Babies, or Hula-Hoops? Videos are a passe fad, late twenty first century relics, now it’s about the music once again. And the trappings are not enough to sell the music. Otherwise, Scarlett Johansson’s album wouldn’t have stiffed. Running a record label is bad business, which is why companies want 360 deals. But the label is no longer the dominant player, the focus is now on the act itself. How does the act itself break through?
I’m not saying the act, the musicians themselves, have to do all the work, but they’re no longer slaves on the plantation, they’ve got to take their destinies into their own hands. Rather than look for a fat cat to dump a bunch of money on them, they’ve got to start from the ground up, by themselves, no one’s got that kind of money anymore, you’ve got to start with AWARENESS!
Don’t see it as free music. That’s referencing the old game, where music sales were the main source of revenue. That hasn’t been true in years. Most acts make the lion’s share of their money on the road. How are you going to get people to come to see you?
Sure, radio still has some power, and television too, but they’re waning in influence. You reach fewer and fewer people, many of whom don’t care. And if you’re trying to get them to buy your record to check you out, you obviously don’t surf the Net, because everything is available free, to hear online!
Think about this. You used to have to purchase the record to know what you were getting. Now you can test drive everything first. But why bother to buy after test driving? If the dealer lets you keep the car every day, why bother to own it? That’s what streaming is. Granted, now you can only stream efficiently on the lot, in front of your computer, but that’s going to change, as 3G wireless penetration expands, as 4G makes its debut. You’ll be able to stream your music anywhere. And then the game will change. It’s how are you going to get someone to LISTEN to your music?
After a label sold a CD, it didn’t care if the buyer played it. The label didn’t care if the buyer threw the damn thing away. But in the future, it’s going to matter exactly how many times someone plays your tracks. THAT’S how you’re going to get paid! It’s not about a good come-on, it’s about ultimate delivery!
How can you get someone to spin your tracks so much, so many of them, that they’ll bond with you and not only want to come see you perform, but buy your merch. Online streaming payment is now low, if it grows dramatically, it will be slowly. Piracy will not be the problem, but overall revenues will. So see the game not as getting someone to pony up the bucks for your tracks, but to listen to them!
In this transition period, let everybody stream all of your music, whether it be from a third party site or your own. It’s your only hope of breaking through the clutter. Sure, you can sell your music too. Some people still want to own it, others want a souvenir. But don’t get hung up on recorded music as revenue stream. True revenue comes way down the line, when you’ve established a body of work and a fan base.
Are you getting this? It doesn’t pay to be a one hit wonder. All that money the label spends? It reaches so very few people, only a fraction of whom want to own, and a tiny slice of whom want to see the act live, usually once.
You lamented the decline of artist development at the label? Don’t worry, artist development has come back! It doesn’t pay to jam.
Don’t worry about driving your SoundScan numbers, worry about getting people to listen. It’s not about money, but time. How can you convince someone to burn three or four minutes of their time checking you out. That’s why you’ve got to be really good, because with so many options, both musical and other entertainment varieties, people make decisions very quickly. Good isn’t good enough. Your track has to be GREAT! Otherwise, people will click over to something else, their time is too valuable. Don’t ask for patience, deliver something so appealing that people will be drawn to it, and will tell everybody they know all about it.
And people are looking for great things. And one person can start a conflagration. One unpaid fan will tell everybody how great you are, if you truly are that amazing. They won’t want compensation, they won’t sign up for a street team, they’ll do it because their lives have been enriched.
That’s the game. How can you make the life of the listener better. Not how can you extract dollars from his wallet.
The major labels have been preaching their model, speaking of their woes to an ignorant mainstream media for a decade. All the while, the game was changing, off the radar. The tipping point has been reached. The major labels have lost so much of their power, they’re never going to regain it. It’s about a bond directly between the artist and fan. The fan pays you, not the label, not the bribe-able gatekeeper. Be nice to the fan. Make it easy for him to check you out. Deliver something that will get him through the night. And the day after.
Monday Inspirations—Here are 3 weekly ideas for song lyric, poems, instrumental titles, photos, video, short story or anything they inspire you to create. Use the title if you like & make something!
10. Creepin Decibles
When the volume in your head or outside your head starts getting louder, and louder and louder and pretty soon, you need to turn it off. OFF. Silence. Stop the creepin decibles before they blow my eardrums my mind my future. Then a little lullaby song starts up ever so softly, and you’ve got more creepin decibles.
11. Radical Rampage
Teen angst, pre menstral syndrome, bad boss blues, my baby done me wrong and I’m on a radical rampage song. You can twist it up positive if you like. “I’m finally taking a stand for …. against…. This is me and you better listen up bucko!” I feel a little, radical rampage coming on+++
12. Our Mary Poppins
You can be our Mary Poppins. Float on down and lift our spirits. You can be our Mary Poppins. Teach us how to fly… Do you have a Mary Poppins? I do. She taught me how to dance.
A year ago this month we made a MobiFlick with the team of Christopher R. Coppola’s PAH Fest, at Columbia College in Chicago. The name of our movie is Harry’s Shipwreck and you can view it at www.pahnation.org under Theater - Chicago - MobiFlicks - Harry’s Shipwreck. It was a very exciting project & we split our first scene doing it.
Because of Chris’s energized digi movement, we are now into High Def videotaping of musical events as well as any big or small subject that catches our attention. Digitalized autobiographies so we can look back and say “Remember the day…” 
Thanks Chris, for your willingness to share your love of digitalized videography with the world. You have a kind and generous spirit and it’s an honor to have met you. Thank goodness our paths crossed up on the 8th floor. Salute!!!
Category: Music
From a letter of Bob Lefsetz:
Thought you’d enjoy this very recent interview with Seth Godin
http://www.musicmarketing.com/2009/03/seth-godin.html
I don’t remember how I first met Ritch Esra. I’m sure it was in e-mail, but I don’t remember the content of his missive. But I’m sure it was nice. Ritch is always nice, and enthusiastic and insightful. We’ve developed a friendship. We go out to dinner at least once a year with Michael Laskow of TAXI and Ritch forwards me exclusive information on a regular basis. Which is probably why I agreed…
Suddenly, I remember how I met Ritch, he invited me to be on his radio show, broadcast to students. You might not be able to get me to do this today, especially the part about driving to Burbank, but we develop special relationships with people who are there for us in the beginning. My list had a fraction of the number of subscribers it does today. If someone was tracking me down to give me an opportunity to spread my message, I was accepting the offer.
Last year I spoke at Ritch’s class at the Musicians Institute. Because of our history, because of the relationship. Which is why I listened to this Seth Godin interview. I might have skipped it if someone else had posted the link, I certainly wouldn’t have listened to the whole thing. If Seth Godin HIMSELF had told me to listen to the interview, I wouldn’t have. I don’t like promotion from the act itself. Even though I know Seth a bit. I’d say to him “Why are you working me?” Is that our relationship, where you use me to get ahead? My friends don’t market me, don’t hype me, don’t work me. Maybe if Seth had sent a friendly note, explaining why he thought I’d be interested in the interview, I’d check it out. But this is sensitive ground. Especially when someone already has traction. We’ll help the up and coming, if we know them personally. Bottom line, if you’re up and coming and I don’t know you, I owe you nothing. And if you’re working me, you’re violating our friendship, I won’t view you in the same way ever again.
Furthermore, I listened to entire clip because I figured I might run into Ritch and he’d ask me about it, or e-mail me and want to discuss it further. Let’s be clear here, Ritch was not asking me a favor, he made an assessment of who I was, what I was interested in, and sent me a targeted link. He doesn’t do this every day, rarely, in fact. So, based on our friendship, I listened.
Anyway, the first half of this lengthy interview with Seth was ground I was quite familiar with. Then, when speaking about Tribes in the latter half of the conversation, Seth spoke about permission marketing, the relationship with the fan.
How do you build that relationship? How do you get people interested?
By doing something great. Seth unleashed his book, “Unleashing the Ideavirus”, online, for free, a decade ago, and gained fans that way. He didn’t compile an e-mail list and spam people, he focused on the work. And then using the distribution platform of the Web, he allowed people to pull it, for free! To the point where people implored him to print a hard copy, that they could buy, they wanted to own it. Is your music so great that it will draw its own followers? If not, you’re going to have a hard time in the new universe. Listeners have unlimited choice, they don’t care that you’re broke, went to Berklee and have invested a ton in equipment. They’ve got no preexisting relationship. Your calling card must be your music. The number of friends you’ve got on MySpace, your stunting, they might garner passing interest, but a listener might wonder if you’re better at marketing than music. And so many of today’s wannabes are. They’re computer-savvy, they’ve grown up online. But they haven’t practiced their chops in their bedrooms alone, they haven’t spent endless hours in the garage. So, there’s nothing at the core.
And once you’ve got a fan, once they’ve found you, you’ve then got permission to contact them. But here’s why I’m writing this, Seth said your tribe is people who would be DISAPPOINTED if they didn’t hear from you!
Think about that. Kind of like a girl you met at a bar, at a friend’s house. You exchanged phone numbers, e-mail addresses. You sent her a note, a text and…SHE DIDN’T RESPOND?
You wouldn’t shrug your shoulders and not give it another thought. You’d wonder, WHAT HAPPENED? Did she lose her phone? Does she not have computer access? Did she get in a car accident? When you spam me, telling me about your project I’m not interested in, I don’t wonder if your mom has grounded you, if you’ve been in a car accident, I DON’T KNOW YOU AND I DON’T CARE ABOUT YOU! Whereas if a week went by and I didn’t get an e-mail from Ritch Esra, I’d wonder… Did he go out of town? If two weeks went by and there was no e-mail from Ritch, I’d e-mail Laskow, I’d do a little research, DID SOMETHING HAPPEN?
Today’s acts dun you for notice, and then when they’ve made it, they remove themselves. Whereas a relationship must be nurtured, and CONTINUED! Once you’ve got the relationship, you must KEEP IT UP! To make an album every three years is ridiculous. You’ve got to release a track, a demo, a video, SOMETHING for your regular fans. They’re starving, you’ve got to feed them, to keep up the relationship. Believe me, the guy who doesn’t hear from that girl doesn’t think about her every minute of the day THREE YEARS LATER! He’s on to something else.
The old model was limited product pushed down people’s throats.
Today’s model is endless product available to those who want it.
That’s another thing Seth said. You can’t try to reach everybody, only your tribe, only those who are interested. They’ve got enough money to support you. That’s what the overpriced vinyl and books and CD packages are about. Feeding the fan frenzy, not the casual buyer. The true fan will pay ten bucks for the album at iTunes, he doesn’t need to buy “No Line On The Horizon” for $3.99 at Amazon. Those sales are almost meaningless. Not only do they cannibalize those of the fans willing to pay more, the casual buyer enticed at this price is not going to buy an exorbitantly-priced concert ticket. (The casual fan would be better off getting free access…)
Point being, are you growing fans or just another SoundScan statistic? There are not enough album sales for the SoundScan statistic to be truly meaningful. You’ve got to branch out, sell more to the tribe, your fans, who truly care. If you’ve got a fan club it shouldn’t be primarily about getting good seats to the show, but providing more of what fans truly want, communication, product and access.
Your tribe is enough to support you. As long as you have reasonable expectations. A klezmer musician may never reach 100 million people, but can sustain a career and a life, because of the passion of klezmer fans. He can’t complain that he doesn’t fly in a private jet, he must change his direction if he desires to do that. Then again, he might just have a fan who’s that rich and is willing to put his Cessna at the musician’s disposal.
It’s amazing what friends/fans will do. But they won’t do it for everybody.
Don’t collect e-mail addresses, collect FANS! Don’t spam people, don’t give people what they don’t want, it’s hard enough navigating this world of endless media. Instead, hope your music is good enough to infect fans who will spread the word for you. Not because they’re getting a reward, street teams are passe, but because they love your music and they want their friends’ lives enriched.
I know, I know, this is not how the major labels do it, this is not what they taught you in business school, you’re impatient. Well, welcome to the real world. People only need great. You’ve got to be great. And even if you are, you won’t be an overnight success. But people are looking for great, and when they find it, they tell everybody they know.
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