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Indie Music Industry – It’S All In The Planning

I have met many performers along my journey and some of those I have gotten to know pretty well. All of them have a similar story as to how they started in the music industry and it goes a bit like this. I don’t know how I started really, I just sort of fell into it and before I knew it I was in...

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Music Marketing On the Internet

Posted by Music Archive | Posted in Online Music | Posted on 28-07-2009

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We’ve all heard the stories of artists “making it on MySpace“. Well, while there are a few genuine success stories out there, I’m here to tell you that music marketing on the Internet is in no way as simple as simply throwing up a MySpace page, adding a bunch of companions and calling it a career.

While MySpace has a lot of benefits for performers I would actually go as far as to say that MySpace doesn’t really matter. If you already have a excellent MySpace campaign going then great, keep doing what works. However, if you’re about to release an album or you’ve recently released one only to see disappointing results, then I’m going to suggest that you completely rethink your music marketing strategy.

In a nut shell, I have found these to be the components of a successful music marketing campaign.

1. The Mailing List: Focus on building your mailing list. Create a mailing list on every piece of Web real estate that you have.

2. Traffic: Do whatever it takes to send as much traffic as possible to that mailing list sign up form. Use MySpace, Fac electronic book, post in forums, flyers, stickers, emails, pay if you have to, just do what ever it takes. The more traffic, the more sign ups, the more albums sold.

3. Communicate with your fans Don’t sell to your fans, communicate with them. Let them get to know you by sending out fun and valuable emails. Do this as generally as you may in the absence of being too annoying. Once they trust you it is ok to  encourage  your album but do so with respect for their time and intelligence.

Music marketing is an art form in its own right. These are just several simple tips to developing a successful music marketing campaign. With a little bit of know how resolution on your part you ought to start to see an increase in album sales in no time.

Top Ten Music Public Relations (PR) Tips

Posted by Music Archive | Posted in Online Music | Posted on 07-07-2009

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Publicity is a large driving force when you are considering success in the music industry. Although it’s definitely beneficial to retain a publicist once you’ve your music career in gear, you may still manage to establish a little buzz on your own in the meantime. Following are the top ten ideas for generating your own publicity as a music artist.

1. Make sure you’ve a press kit that includes a well-written bio, an 8X10 photo, CD  and contact info.

2. Go Local. Local press is by far the easiest press to get. Let them know your story and send in a compact disc. Shoot for the music editor or columnist and If they don’t have one assigned just, contact the entertainment editor.

3. Social networking websites are all about music these days. For example, Myspace’s reach is incredible for gaining new fans. Where else could you find individuals to listen to your music in the convenience of their own home? Ensure you’re updating your music, adding friends, keeping them all posted, and updating the tour dates. There are magazines on MySpace.com looking for music to feature all the time.

4. Radio is a exceptional way to share your music with the masses. You don’t have to approach the large ones-you may see success with air performance on smaller stations as well. Send in your CD  to Local/Regional DJs and look up college radio shows nationally and see Assuming that the y’ll spin your music. On-line radio is choose ing up these days too… USA4Real.com is a exceptional option… it does not fee much and it gets your music heard.

5. Music licensing is a wonderful way to make resources and get publicity. Try contacting some music supervisors on television shows for a start. Send them an inquiry with your information and a link to your music. If you get placed, you could use it for press-and it becomes a story!

6. Music websites and e-zines are always looking for music to review. Look up their websites and send emails to their editors. Tell them why you’re a fit for their magazine and ask if you could send in a CD. Don’t forget, try to make contact first… sending in a random package can be useless.

7. Youtube.com and Stickam.com are excellent outlets to share your music. When done right, you can really start gaining a fan base. Try to do something charismatic and original. Reaching out to people On-line can do wonders. Start a music video, a video blog, sing an acoustic  set, take a stab at some comedy– anything… Just remember, 1st impressions are everything.

8. Be philanthropic. Charity does wonders for publicity outreach. Locate something you believe in and offer to play at their party or donate proceeds to their cause. Not only does it get you out there and give you a story angle… but it feels good to help out.

9. Send your compact discs to appropriate magazines for your music’s type of. Make sure you call ahead and find out the right contact, unsolicited packages get lost in the shuffle. A nice rule of thumb is to look up specific writers you feel would find pleasure in your music and find out how to reach them.

10. Try to book shows in diverse towns, that way you could simply label the cluster of shows as a tour and contact Local newspapers and radio stations and offer them merch in ex vary for promotions/articles.

Note that Public Relations (PR) is about being smart and creative. It is about finding a reason for people to care about you and your music. Sure, exceptional music and a good look are stimulate ful, but you likewise need to reach out to the public and come up with stories. Think outside of the box and you will really worth from the results in no time. Good luck!

Learn to Read Music On-line

Posted by Music Archive | Posted in Online Music | Posted on 30-06-2009

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If you or any person you know wants to learn to read music, it is a lot easier to do than it used to be. The Internet gives us all access to almost unlimited information, and might deliver an incredible array of products and tools right to our desktops. Not surprisingly, there are some really clever products out there that might advocate you learn to read notes.

“Piano is Fun” from Anthony Fernando is a amazing beginner package for a extraordinarily reasonable price that will train you how to read music. The knowledge and practice available here would fee many times the purchase price ($24.95) in personal lessons. Included in the price are free lifetime upgrades and a 30 day money -back guarantee.

Purchase and Installation – Purchase and installation are both a snap. The entire process takes no more than five minutes and is virtually foolproof. So,what’s in the product? A series of lessons and practice games that educate you how to read music and make it fun! And that’s quite an accomplishment! Most students find it an awesome, dreadful task, but it really doesn’t have to be, as this product demonstrates. When you start the program, you could think that the product is just for children. Well, it is amazing for children, but it is also fun for any person that wants to learn to read music for the piano. My own bass clef reading skills fade in and out, and I actually enjoyed clicking through the lessons and “games” (review tests).

Getting Started – The basic package features a series of twenty lessons that start eminently simply and progress through both the treble and bass clefs. The graphics are extensive and bright and easy to read. There are good sound and visual effects – enough to keep your interest up but not so much that it distracts from the point of learning the notes. The way to get started with the product is to take the tour, which explains the layout of the lessons and the “games” that are used as review tests for each of the twenty lessons. As a student progresses through each lesson, awards are given and displayed on a separate screen – wonderful little reinforcers to keep you going.

Menu and Options – The central menu is completely self-explanatory and includes a button for ” Create Here” which leads to the “tour”, a “Lessons” button, which leads to the twenty lessons, an “Options” button (explained below) and buttons for advanced tests called the Bronze, Silver, and Gold C venue enges. The Options button lets you control what happens when a correct answer is entered (there are a few diverse choice s), and contains an option for teachers that allows the addition or deletion of a student’s name. It’s also possible for a “teacher” to construct “custom” lessons that operate like the other lessons. The option is in choosing the notes that are presented in the test. So,if you want your child or student to concentrate on recognizing certain notes, you might easily establish exercises that contain only those notes. There’s also a sound option that lets you turn on or off the sound effects that accompany parts of the program.

Extra Challenging Exercises – The Bronze, Silver, and Gold C hall enge exercises are more note recognition tests but with the notes passing across the screen at a faster pace, obviously requiring a quicker response from the user. If a student can master these, there is not much doubt that they know their notes.

So that’s about it! This program does not balance your checkbook, manage your portfolio, or vacuum your carpet, but it never claimed to! If you want to learn to read music, or have a child that’s about to start lessons or just shows interest, this product is a great buy. Imagine your piano teacher’s surprise when your 5 year old shows up knowing how to read music on both the treble and bass clefs! She’ll fall off her piano bench! By the way, my son, who has been taking lessons for two years, came home from school yesterday and ASKED if he could use the Piano is Fun program! Think about that!

Getting a Business Degree in Music On-line

Posted by Music Archive | Posted in Online Music | Posted on 07-06-2009

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Different people have diverse thoughts on what makes music beautiful to them. In fact what they contemplate music vary; what it means to them and what they get from it. Today’s music business generally refers to producing, recording and marketing recorded music. With the unremitting evolvement of technology, music production keeps abreast with it. In order to make the most out of this promising tandem, skill ed musicians work best with equally skill ed music businessmen.
Attaining a music business degree doesn’t have to mean leaving the house and attending classroom lessons. If you meet the minimum specifications and pass the entrance examination, then you could apply for an On-line degree in music business from several learning institutions. Every transaction that has to be made in earning that music business degree you aspire is done through the convenience offer d by the Web.
There are standard ally two types of music organizations that you have to know. The 1st one is the indoor music business. In the 1st category, following the musicians recorded their works, your job in the indoor or studio music business is to properly edit and mix the recordings.
This is truly important because the end result of the tunes practically rely on your hands. In the second category, your job involves live stage performances or concert s. You have to make sure that the performance of the musicians will be enjoyed by the fans by providing them with the right sound mixing and using the right audio amplifiers.
Terry College and Ferris State University are just some of the institutions offer ing business degree in music On-line.

MySpace Marketing Secrets – MySpace Music

Posted by Music Archive | Posted in Online Music | Posted on 06-06-2009

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MySpace is one of the most popular and best web sites in the world offer ing a number of services ranging from wiring on blogs to creating your own profiles to uploading your pictures to sending and receiving mail. MySpace has so a lot of valuable services under one roof. furthermore one of the most popular services on MySpace is MySpace Music. The MySpace Music is one of the most visited sections on the MySpace web site.
MySpace Music consists of a huge database of music and music videos. It has one of the biggest collections of music on the Web. All you have to do to join MySpace Music is to register on the web site. Once you are registered you have access to thousands of music tunes and music videos. The web site furthermore has an advanced search feature wherein you could type the name of the song you are looking for and the results are displayed instantly. It cannot get easier than this. Looking for a music artist and want to read about him? The musicians section let’s you have a peek at details of all the past and the current music musician s. In the musicians section you could furthermore search for musicians by entering information on their country of birth and what kind of music they play.
Then there is the shows section on the web site where you could have a peek at the present and the future music shows taking place all over the world. In case you would like to find details about a music show then MySpace Music is the best place to be. Next section is the music forums section. This section is furthermore popular amongst the people as they discuss a lot about music on these forums and share a lot of tips. All the members could keep their knowledge on music update by constant ly being in touch with each other through MySpace Music forums.
In case you are a musician yourself and would like to upload your tunes for everybody to hear, then you could visit the artist sign up page. The artist sign up page has an importance notice that you have to upload the tunes that you have composed and you cannot upload tunes of other musician s. Uploading of tunes of other musicians is a apparent violation of law. So what are you waiting for? Join one of the largest music On-line communities in the world right now.  all of us  are sure you will like every bit of the experience.

Market Your Music

Posted by Music Archive | Posted in Online Music | Posted on 05-06-2009

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Over a period of time and on many diverse projects I have tried all manner of promotional devices for music on the Web. By far the most consistent method I have found to bring fans to music is blogging.
There are a number of reasons for this:
1. Because you are generating a number of new pages with each new post you are constant ly making new content for search engines.
2. Apart from having more pages, all of the major search engine algorithms are aware of the nature of blogs and the constantly updated material. Once your blog has been indexed and identified as such it will cause the search engine robots to pay more attention and visit more frequently.
3. Pinging is a process where you notify the major search engines and blog directories of any updates to your blog. This may be session up so that it happens automatically every time you make a new posting. The real trick here is session ting up your ping list so that it notifies all the important services. (The list is pretty long).
4. Tagging is furthermore a truly important part of the blogging process. This standard ally means that you “tag” your individual posts with relevant keywords which allow them to be categorized more readily by search engines, blog directories and social bookmarking web site s.
5. Internet 2.0 has been a buzz term on the Web for little while now. Basically, it revolves around web sites where you could search for and identify relevant information in a truly similar fashion to the traditional search engines. The major difference is that the results are based on human ratings of the material rather than search engine robot algorithms. Social bookmarking web sites are at the core of this movement. This is truly relevant to how you go about promoting your blog as well.
What I have outlined above is a truly standard outline of some of the reasons why blogging may be such an effective method to bring new visitors to your music. like anything, blogging involves a session of skills and just throwing up a page on blogger or using the offer d service with a MySpace profile won’t bring you that a lot of new visitors in isolation.
On the other hand, a properly optimized blog and correct use of pinging, tagging, social bookmarking, relevant commenting and several other devices will bring 100’s if not thousands of new fans to your music.
As I said, of all the diverse available Web promotion suggestions I have found this to be the single most effective technique. I hope you have found this article useful and if you really want to grow your fan base start blogging!

Music – The Unseen Marketing Force

Posted by Music Archive | Posted in Online Music | Posted on 28-05-2009

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Have you ever pondered music? I do not mean thinking about the notes or the beat or the even the instrumentation. I mean have you pondered it?
To ponder: to weigh carefully in the mind; contemplate thoughtfully: He pondered his next words thoroughly.
Think about what music is. It’s intangible. It’s really indefinable. It has no shape, yet it shapes thoughts. It has no function of its own, yet somehow endorses us function
Music has the power to stir emotions…
…And of its own accord cannot fulfill any of them. It is not important to perform our daily duties, but how a lot of places of business do you find with no music. I certainly do not recall a lot of. Music cannot comb your hair, brush your teeth, or tie your shoes, but it could ease you through those mundane tasks and make you forget about the time.
You do not need words to enjoy music. You do not need status. You do not even need people around. It is not poured from a bottle, shaken from a cannister, or even dolloped from a 5 gallon bucket. Still; it may be as refreshing as champagne, spicy as cayenne, and rich and decadent as gold ring homemade vanilla ice cream. (you Texans will really know what I mean by that final reference)
Music appeals to fewer than our five senses, but it furthermore appeals to more than our senses. When you study musical structure, it makes best logical sense. But when you try to explain why it “moved” you, truly again and again you cannot quite convey it satisfactorily.
It was n’t because it smelled, tasted, felt, sounded, or looked so wonderful. It was what it did to your cerebral cortex. Or could be it hit you in the “gut”, but it didn’t actually hit you, and it was n’t actually your “gut”. See what I mean? You cannot put your finger on it. In fact you cannot touch it at all. You just know. You know?
Why in the world am I going on and on about music? Thanks for asking.
Music is a form of creative copy, too. It’s an al most best way to ingrain an idea into the minds of your target market. Because without exception there has always been this common chord. ( like my musical metaphor?) people love music! No surprise… It’s extremely versatile, dependable, believable, and yet inexplicable.
I’m furthermore a songwriter. I take the same octave countless other musicians use and create my little piece of semi-immortality to satisfy…what? Me? An fans? A paycheck? All of the above? None of the above? The answer is yes to all the questions. I have written tunes for each of those purposes. And each one was satisfying in its own way because each one involved the intangible little friend of mine. Music. I’m not sure why I’m so moved by this unseen companion, but I do know this:
Music is a gift from God. It, and your thoughts, could never be stolen from you, forced out of you, or driven away from you…as long as you want it; you have got it. How incredible is such a gift. Yeah,  all of us  could live without music, but
It would not be nearly as joyous an existence.
To your musical satisfaction…

Five Tips for Increasing Your web site ’s On-line Music Sales

Posted by Music Archive | Posted in Online Music | Posted on 27-05-2009

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In light of the digital music revolution, Web music stores are speedily finding themselves irrelevant. Now that customers are able to readily purchase individual tunes from I-Tunes and other sellers of digital downloads, customers need a really wonderful reason to purchase an entire compact disc. After all, if you only like one song, why pay for everything else? The following article will suggest some creative examples that Web music stores could use to ramp up their sales.

1. offer Sample Music Clips: This seems apparent, but it’s amazing how few stores actually offer this. Most people want to try it before they buy it, so offering a 30 second sample of tunes will greatly increase sales.

2. Search by Song Title: a lot of Web music stores discover that customers again and again search by song title when they cannot recall the artist or album name they’re looking for. Adding a search by song feature (or better yet, search by lyrics) could dramatically increase the opportunitys that your customer will find what he is looking for.

3. Visitor Reviews & Ratings: A short paragraph written by a professional music reviewer is simply not enough. Customers want to know what other “normal” people think of the compact disc. Let them rate and write their own reviews of a compact disc. This will empower your visitors and create a sense of On-line community.

4. Show Them What is New: Do not make your visitors sort through tons of pages just to find a new release. Show them what is new from the start. a lot of visitors do not know exactly what they’re looking for, so a suggestion would be much appreciated. By way of example, C28’s Christian Music retailer shows highlights of a compact discs of Christian Music on their home page.

5. News Section: Keeping your customers informed about what is new and upcoming will create a buzz around your new releases. Having a news section is a amazing way to get your customers excited about upcoming music. like it or not, digital music is here to stay. Internet music stores must find a way to evolve or they will speedily find themselves irrelevant. If properly implemented, the suggestions above will serve as a wonderful starting point for starting this evolution and in the end, will hopefully increase sales.

Three Tips to Marketing Your Music on the Web

Posted by Music Archive | Posted in Online Music | Posted on 26-05-2009

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The Web has revolutionized the way  all of us  do business. You could start  an On-line business for less than $100.00 and start earning a decent amount of income off of it. Because of this, there has been an explosion in the ‘ Web Marketing‘ world. I do not contemplate myself an Web marketer, but I have studied a lot of of them and have learned some ‘out of the box’ techniques that you could readily apply towards bands. Here are just a few of the a lot of suggestions I could give you:

* Give 1st One way to get something from other is to give to them 1st. In music, one way to build a fan base is to play at Clubs that do not charge a cover and invite people to come as your guest. You definately do not want to play a lot of Clubs for free, so you need to somehow communicate that you are doing this for your fans without  saying it outright. You could say, “Hey guys, just to show you are appreciation, Flaming Onions would like to personal ly invite you to this special concert just for you! It’s totally free, so bring your companions and we’ll see you there!” They will come, because they believe that this is a gift from you and the won’t want to miss out!

An additional way to give 1st is through our products. Giving away products has gotten a lot easier since the development of the Web. Digital music is HUGE! Better yet, it costs little to duplicate.

Have you thought about giving away one or two tunes from your new album? What do you think would happen if you did, and left your fan’s favorites available only if they purchased it? 1st of all, they are going to love the fact that you gave them part of your album for free! It’s al most like a free trial that they get to keep. Because you were willing to do this for them, they will be more like ly to buy it from you. Give 1st, and they will give back to you!

* Cross-selling/Up-selling Have you ever gone to McDonalds, ordered a burger and received the question, “Would you like fries with that?” Have you ever ordered one of their value meals and received the question “Would you like to Super-Size that?” What you heard, while innocent enough, was an amazing marketing idea that has been used by On-line merchants all over the place !

It’s a way to increase sales to the same customer (who has bought a product) by introducing other products in your product range. If customers buy a Flaming Onions compact disc, you could ask If the y want to buy a Flaming Onions t-shirt as well.

Seems simple enough, but let’s think a little more out of the box. Let us say the Flaming Onions’ compact disc  sells for $15 and brings in a profit of $10 per album. Let us furthermore assume that their t-shirts sell for $10 and bring in a profit of $6 per shirt.

What If the Flaming Onions Value Pack (consisting of 1 autographed compact disc, 1 t-shirt, and  the album emailed to them in MP3 format with bonus track for their iPod and a desktop background pic for their computer ) sells for $25? I’m willing to bet that this approach sells more. The digital products, as I mentioned above, cost little to duplicate.

You profit would be the same, but I guarantee you would sell more!

* Email List This is might the most important tool that is used by On-line organizations. Web Marketers swear by email lists and base a lot of, if not all, of their systems around them. The idea is simple, you offer a list for fans to keep track of your performer and all they have to do is give you their Name and email address.

You now have a way to directly communicate to them, and better yet, they wanted it! You could  promote  upcoming shows and album releases. You could create contests and drawings for those that are signed up. You could give those who are signed up a special discount on merchandise. The possibilities are infinite. One thing to recall is to only send them things they would want to know. They signed up to hear more about you, so they do not want to receive any forwards stating that If the y sign up for this offer, they could receive a free laptop, blah, blah, blah! Do not abuse your list. Take care of them. This is an elite group of people who wanted to be a part of your success, so treat them that way.

Convincing Viral Marketing Gifts For Your On-line Music Promotion – Part 1

Posted by Music Archive | Posted in Online Music | Posted on 25-05-2009

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In On-line music promotion, word of mouth, or more precisely, viral marketing is an extremely influential tool. Who would not want to be one of the lucky few people to capture notoriety, just by creating something people contemplate cool?
You could furthermore create fun digital gifts for your music marketing campaign.
Whether, the materials you create go viral or not doesn’t really matter. What matters is that your fans have something that makes them value you more. The stuff you are about to learn contains things they could make part of their everyday lives.
Let us do this.
1) Mp3s – the apparent choice – a lot of artists are truly resistant to giving away tunes. However, if you want your music to spread out you need to give your fans your best, all the time!  Do not forget “garbage in – garbage out”.
If fans like your tunes they will put them on their iPods and on their phones. And they will share with their companions.
Plus they will come back for more. That’s when you make your sale.
2) Ringtones – Most phones now aid mp3 ring tones. You could readily use the best parts of your tunes to make cool ring tones. Make clips about 15 to 30 seconds long and you have ring tones ready to go!
You could download Audacity free sound editing software from audacity.sourceforge.net/
3) Wallpapers – These may be made for both your fans ‘ phones and their PC’s. You could make them using free software like Gimp. If you could afford Adobe Photoshop, that is amazing too.
You could furthermore visit mytinyphone.com to create and even upload your wallpaper. Who knows, it could just end up becoming a top download!
This is it for now. Watch out for the second part where I will show you more ways to create viral marketing gifts for your On-line music promotion.