ITUNES - SELLING SONGS TO SUCKERS!

Here's an article in response to the Steve Jobs article "Thoughts On Music".

Read here why this writer thinks Steve's latest comments are correct but not the issue. This writer feels that those who are buying songs from the iTunes music store, are suckers.

[Resource http://media.seekingalpha.com/article/26283]

STEVE'S THOUGHTS ON MUSIC

Read what Steve Jobs has to say on DRM (Digital Rights Management) from Apple's "Hot News" section.

Here's a small sample (below) taken from the article "Thoughts On Music"

"Since Apple does not own or control any music itself, it must license the rights to distribute music from others, primarily the “big four” music companies: Universal, Sony BMG, Warner and EMI. These four companies control the distribution of over 70% of the world’s music. When Apple approached these companies to license their music to distribute legally over the Internet, they were extremely cautious and required Apple to protect their music from being illegally copied. The solution was to create a DRM system, which envelopes each song purchased from the iTunes store in special and secret software so that it cannot be played on unauthorized devices."

[Resource http://www.apple.com/hotnews/thoughtsonmusic/]

STRUMMING TO A DIFFERENT BEAT

Color your guitar playing by ditching the plectrum and trying pick-hand techniques.

At Reasons To Ditch Your Guitar Pick you'll find a bundle of tricks and techniques that will open up a 'tool box' of new sounds to give your recordings and live performances a twist.

For those looking for more guitar info, be sure to take a look at Guitarz-For-Ever which is packed with all things guitar related.

[Resource http://guitar-tips.musikal-instruments.com/guitar-tips/reasons-to-ditch-your-guitar-pick/]

CRACKING THE US AND EUROPEAN MARKET

Here's an article from the Google group "Australian Music News And Reviews Group". There's a bit of a chat with successful singer songwriter John Butler of the John Butler Trio about the challenges of cracking the US and European market.

Despite spending the last seven years trying to get the attention of the huge American market, the John Butler Trio are only now starting to get recognition and their hard work is paying off. The John Butler Trio can now look forward to knowing within the next tour or two they will break even financially before they leave Australia.

If you're thinking of taking your music, live to the US or European markets, expect a far larger audience, a diverse and unpredictable musical appetite.

You can read this article here.


[Resource http://groups.google.com/group/australian-music-news-and-reviews-group/browse_thread/thread/6dfb1eccc3f4b520/8c93428daeb48315?q=australian+music&rnum=10#8c93428daeb48315]

HOME SWEET HOME STUDIO

If you've ever dreamt of building your own professional home recording studio you'll know there's a lot of decisions to make. Like what equipment are you going to buy for one.

Here's a story from the Seattle Times that how a musician couple built their dream studio, what equipment they chose and how they sourced it to fit their budget.

Read about it here.

[Resource http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/homegarden/2003551767_homestudio03.html]

BRING THE BAND HOME

A while back I made a post to this blog that talked about an alternative to performing your music in pubs and clubs. "A Stay At Home Gig" was about a US concept offering the musician and the audience an intimate and unique live music experience.

Another US based organisation, House Concerts provide links to dozens of houses in 38 states where audience are sure to be appreciative and you'll get your music heard.

I also hinted that the 'home gigs' idea may provide a hidden audience and a legitimate way for a band/artist to find new audiences.

People may choose to stay at home for a gig because of transport or location issues, family commitments or just a desire to avoid a pub type of environment. These types of gigs seem to be getting quite a lot of community support.

House Concerts Australia is an Australian concept offering a similar type of live music opportunity. They not entirely new in Australia, singer Deborah Conway did a series of home concerts in 2004 to promote her Cd 'Summertown'. And some good advice from Deborah Conway for independent artists selling Cd's "...it's really up to artists to find new and imaginative ways of getting there music out there".

For some tips on how you can do a house concerts take a look at House Concerts. PS It's a different website to House Concerts mentioned above.


[Resource http://www.theage.com.au/news/music/band-in-the-backyard/2007/01/30/1169919330426.html]

WATCH AND LEARN

Here's how a band clocked up nearly ten million watches on YouTube. Although this video has only been up at YouTube for four months it has so far been viewed an incredible 9,880,273 times.

This is a perfect example of how a band can harness the amazing power of social networking and teamed it with a unique idea (ie. the video).

With marketing ideas like this, Sick Puppies are sure to be huge. Who wouldn't love to have a video that is viewed by so many people. This really is mind blowing stuff!!




In case you are missing the big sharp point, here's what makes this video such a hit.

1. A unique, true and inspiring story
2. A good song
3. Some marketing

The brilliant thing about this marketing tool is that you only really need an idea and ideas are everywhere and they're free and unlimited. You have the same potential to come up with an original idea of your own and create your own video with the potential for millions of views. You can give your songs the kind of mass marketing previously available only to the major record labels and their marketing teams.

P.S You may have noticed that this video was shot in Pitt Street Mall, Sydney, Australia. Proof that sometimes you don't need to travel to far off distant shores to find a good story.



[Resource http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vr3x_RRJdd4]

MUSIC AT MARKET PRICES

Here's a unique way of selling your music. Amie Street is aiming to make independent music easier and more affordable for consumers to discover. The unique factor with this website is that the prices are set by market forces.

Your music starts off by being offered for free then depending on how many people download it, the price increases as the song becomes more popular to a maximum of USD.98 (98 cents).

Along with a social networking style of promotion where members are rewarded for 'discovering' new songs before they go popular, Amie Street promote artists by interviewing and posting their videos as well as organising showcase concerts in New York.

Artists featured on Amie Street retain full ownership of their work and receive 70% of every sale after a USD5 covering bandwidth, storage and transactions costs.



[Resource http://www.springwise.com/]

HOW TO BE A VIRAL VIDEO STAR

More than 70 million videos are watched on YouTube daily. The question is, how do you get your video to stand out in the crowd.

One way is to rise up the YouTube charts by getting yourself in the top 100 videos. Firstly, you have to have a unique video, something funny, quirky, interesting or clever would help. Next, you have to upload your video, tag it with relevant subjects then create your audience.

Want to know what works and what doesn't? For some ideas and tips go this article "The experts' tips on how to become a YouTube Viral video star" and you'll get some ideas including a tip from a spokesman for YouTube. Like other forms of successful social marketing, it works the most effectively by you being active in a community.



[Resource http://www.presstelegram.com/entertainment/ci_5118793]

PHONE A FRIEND

The immense popularity of social networking is still considered a puzzling phenomenon for some. Now with companies like Boost Mobile (Hookt) and MySpace (Helio), cellular phones are becoming another popular way of social networking by attracting people to join a chat room where they can search for new friends to communicate to via text message. Its growing popularity is looking like taking social networking, blogging and uploading videos and photos mobile.

Click here to read how a Los Angeles based photographer and actress uses Helio and MySpace mobile social networking tools to regularly contact and market to her 4000 strong list of 'friends'.

[Resource http://www.courant.com/technology/hc-businessoflife0130.artjan30,0,5269658.story?track=rss]

SELL YOUR MUSIC AT MYSPACE

SnoCap, MySpace and Merlin are working together to launch an initiative that would allow artists to sell their music directly from MySpace.

Merlin, a new force in the music industry, is billing itself as the "fifth major" in the music industry.

Read entire article here.

[Resource http://www.marketingvox.com/archives/2007/01/22/snocap-merlin-partner-to-let-indies-sell-music-on-myspace/]

HOME DEMO RECORDING

Here's a few time saving tricks and techniques to get your home demo recording sounding good. This article is written by Frank Fuchs, a former staff songwriter for Sony music and EMI music.

Home Demo Recording

[Resource http://www.hoodhype.com/blog/?p=55]

BUILD YOUR OWN HOME RECORDING STUDIO

There are many options for setting up a home recording studio and even more choice of equipment and software.

If you're a little confused as to where to start the best things would be to ask yourself these 2 questions. What purpose are wanting a studio for? Is it to record demos, gigs, rehearsals or Cd releases. Next, you need to decide what your budget is. Shop around and don't be afraid to ask questions or for a demonstration. Your overall budget and recording requirements will dictate where the money should be spent and on what type of equipment.

At a basic level you'll need, a device to record the sound to, monitors to hear what you've recorded and possibly a microphone. For some more ideas on setting up a recording studio have a look at "Building A Home Recording Studio".

[Resource http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/128125/building_a_home_recording_studio.html]

GIVE AWAY YOUR MUSIC AND SELL YOUR SHOW

Digital music is changing the music industry landscape. And this 'new' landscape is one perfectly suited to independent musicians.

You can become without too much effort or expense, a one person record label. You write songs, you own the copyright and publishing, you finance and own the recordings and you also distribute, market, sell and finally collect the profits from sales. Because you as an independent artist own and therefore have control over your music you can also choose to give it away for free. This isn't such an attractive option for record companies (who rely heavily on sales of product-physical and non physical) but for you-here's why you might consider it as an attractive marketing tool.

Thousands of artists already give away their music for free. Which makes the expectation of 'free' music part of the norm.

Your production and distribution costs are extremely low if you offer 'digital' downloads.

You can use your free 'gift' as a way to build your fan base list.

One thing that can't be downloaded (well technically it can-but without the same experience) is a live performance and that my friend is the area where you as an independent musician have every bit as much opportunity to give a unique performance that makes you or your band worth coming to see.

For the foreseeable future of the music industry, things will change and there will be new technologies but none of these can replace the experience of 'live' music. And, this is where the profits come from.

Click here to read a story I found that tells of similar predictions.

[Resource http://www.longtail.com/the_long_tail/2007/01/give_away_the_m.html]

CAN YOU DESCRIBE YOUR BAND IN TEN WORDS OR LESS?

What do you say when people ask you what your band sounds like?

In order to market and sell your music you need to be able to describe it. You also need to describe it accurately and in only a few words.

Ideally your description should describe what a potential listener might expect to hear as well as why they might benefit from listening to your music. Doing this and tagging your website with these keywords will help you generate far more traffic to your website and interest from anyone reading your band/artist description, bio and music magazine articles.

If you're not sure how to go about writing a description for your music, write down some 'keywords' that describe your music and/or the group of people that may listen to it. A description of your music that has some type of 'hook' for a potential fan will give your music a much better chance of being heard than a description like "indie rock" or "pop/rock".

Start brainstorming, what artists is your music similar to? Check out their descriptions if you need some inspiration but find something that sounds intriguing but also tells the reader what they are likely to expect.

Here's some examples that give you an idea of what you might expect to hear if you took a listen to the music:

"Ear bleeding rock", "Melodic hooks that you wont be able to get out of your head", "Drum and bass for dancing to", "Rock 'n roll stripped bare", "Lush layered soundscapes" and "Ambient jazz for lovers.

For more examples take a look here.



[Resource http://www.cursebustersound.com/blog/?p=166]

DO YOU NEED TO GET A LIFE?

Well, a "Second Life" that is.

This is something that has been really intriguing me of late, a website called SecondLife. If you aren't familiar with it, it's an online digital virtual world owned and created by its residents. And residents are in fact the 'users'.

In this 'virtual' world you can create your own 'new' identity and you can also buy, sell and own land along with other items such as entertainment. Second Life boast a 'population' of over 3 million residents since opening in 2003.

Now what really intrigues me about this concept, is the interaction between the real and the virtual world. Swapping your real life dollars for virtual dollars (in the special SecondLife currency "Linden Dollars" and back again into real dollars for use in the real world. This 'new' world has not escaped the attention of 'marketers' and many big organisations such as IBM, Sony, Nissan and Toyota own property and retails stores and even advertise in this Second Life world.

Only time will tell if Second Life is here to stay or a passing fad - but could you be an independent musician and market and sell your music through this virtual world? A folk singer Suzanne Vega performed live in Second Life to a virtual audience with a virtual avatar. An "Avatar" is your persona in the virtual world.

If you're intrigued about this new marketing concept, you may like to have a read of some articles I found here which discuss exactly how big real world companies are marketing in this virtual world and how it sometimes even overlaps with real world.

Strange but true!

[Resource http://rssdiary.marketingstudies.net/content/second_life_1_does_second_life_hold_real_marketing_value.php]

DO SOMETHING TODAY!

Something just occurred to me.

This blog is full of some great posts where you can pick up some fantastic ideas for marketing and promoting your music and while it's great to 'know' all that stuff, 'knowing' and 'doing' are very different. Knowledge is power, right? Wrong. "Applied" knowledge is power.

The point I'm trying to make is this: Don't get all caught up with the 'knowing'. Start 'doing' the things you know or there's not much point in 'knowing' them. Start right now, what area of your music career needs the most work on? Take action today, even doing just one small thing will start the momentum and get you on your way.

What is it you need to do right now to move your music career forward? Want some help? Sign up at this blog page to start receiving your free "Tools For Success" e-zine. We'll not only share some amazing marketing ideas with you, we'll take you through a process that makes sure you take action. Taking action is absolutely paramount, you can't get anywhere without it no matter how much you 'know'.

So whatever it is you are going to do today, take at least one small step towards your goal.

PS Taking "action" is one of the secrets of success.

SUCCESS SECRETS

What do most music artists want? I'm pretty confident in saying that they want to create music (their product) and have people listen to it (like it hopefully) and buy it. So what artists want is simple and the level of fame achieved is simply a representation of numbers. Numbers of fans at your gigs and numbers of Cd's (or mp3's) you sell. Higher numbers=more fame or success or whatever you want to call it.

As we all know, there are musicians who are extremely successful (they have high numbers-see above) but they do not appear to the level of talent that seems applicable to success. So how come they get so popular? Marketing is one factor - but it's not that one thing alone that gets you there.

What you need to study is 'success' itself, however you choose to define it. There are people everywhere (in all kinds of businesses or pursuits) who are achieving it and you need to study these successful people and learn what they know.

Below, I've included a link to an article, written by an independent musician who has discovered one of the 'keys' to success and has written about it.

If you want to know what that 'key' is I suggest you read the article in full, which you'll find here.

If you want to learn more 'keys' to success, as well as some amazing marketing strategies, just sign up to the free "The Indie Musician's-Tools For Success" e-zine. You can sign up at this page or at The Indie Musician.



[Resource http://www.kyndmusic.com/2007/01/17/musician-to-do-list-for-2007/]

MAJOR RECORD COMPANY TAKES NEW MARKETING ROAD

US singer/songwriter John Mellencamp enjoyed major commercial success and had several charting hits and albums throughout 1980's. But that kind of popularity doesn't last forever, so how does a record label go about promoting a new Cd by a 'mature' artist who no longer frequents the top 40 but still writes great songs and Cd's?

Learning from the marketing 'mistakes' made with John's last Cd release, the record label UMe/Universal Republic is taking up the challenge in an enthusiastic way and now has a strong idea of what will work this time around.

Find out what these major label marketing strategies are, in this story Mellencamp's Marketing Turnabout


[Resource http://www.northjersey.com/page.php?qstr=eXJpcnk3ZjczN2Y3dnFlZUVFeXkxNjcmZmdiZWw3Zjd2cWVlRUV5eTcwNjA3NTgmeXJpcnk3ZjcxN2Y3dnFlZUVFeXk3]

THE INDIE MUSICIAN

Over the last week myself and my partner have been getting the official "The Indie Musician" website ready and online. (That's the website home for the business that operates this blog.)

Although the website is still a 'work in progress', we have some excellent resources available already including, "The Indie Musician's DIY Toolkit".

We like to invite you to sign up to our FREE e-zine "The Indie Musician - Tools For Success" at the home page of "The Indie Musician" or on this blog page. Not only will you get sent our regular feature articles which are packed with excellent ideas, resources and tips, we'll also give you a copy of our exclusive eBook called "The Easy Way To Book Your Gigs" which you won't find anywhere except "The Indie Musician".

J:o

www.TheIndieMusician.com