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Monday, April 27th, 2009
The Silver Rule Of Music Marketing
I was approached by this guy the other day. He hollered at me from across the street. It happened at night, so I couldn’t really make out his face, but I could see that he had on a backwards baseball cap, baggy jeans and a CD in his hand.
He said, “Yo man, can I talk to you real quick?…” I thought to myself, “Oh shit. Not another numnuts trying to sell me a CD out of his car trunk.”
By the way, if you approach your customers by saying, “Yo man…” I suggest you stop it. Like, now. It’s kind of rude if you get my drift.
So anyway, this guy asked me if I wanted to buy his album. I said “No” and went home.
I’ve got to say though, I felt kind of sorry for him because he was trying hard. I’ve got a soft spot for people who do their own thing and who hustle. And I hate rejecting people.
But this guy’s problem was that he broke one of the major rules of marketing anything. It’s this: Don’t appear weak.
You see, people basically buy for three different reasons. Think about these reasons the next time you try to sell something to your fans. I didn’t come up with these, by the way. They were laid out by the famous marketer and copywriter Bob Bly. He said prospects pay premium prices because:
1) They want or need what you are selling
2) They perceive your product or service as exclusive and difficult to get.
3) They believe that if they do not act quickly, it will be snapped up by others and therefore not available.
By crawling up to me in the street and shoving his CD in my face instead of me going to him because I like his music, the young man I encountered in the street showed me that he’s got a surplus of what he’s selling. So that makes me think to myself, hmm…how good could it be? By not appearing scarce, he broke rules number two and three.
The golden rule of marketing is this: “Get people to come to you rather than you going to them.” It’s the entire idea behind search that turned Google into a multibillion dollar company.
Mass advertising is what most of us over the age of about 10 have grown up on, but times are changing. Marketing must be personal now because the Internet allows people to find an unlimited number of options other than you. The way you compete now is by being more likeable.
I can easily walk away from you now because I’ll just get on Google to find what I need.
In 2009, my friends, there is no excuse for you to shove your message or your product down people’s throats. Also be careful about some of the advice being given out there about how you should promote yourself at shows. There’s one website I read recently by a former indie music artist, who should know better, which recommended that you stamp your website address on people’s hands at the gate. That way when they get home, they’ll log on to your site and love it and love you and send you adoring letters and flowers until the end of time…
DO NOT even think about doing that! The crowd will chase you out with pitchforks. And worse, you’ll wreck your brand. The way you make people come to your shows and your website is by becoming an authority in their minds. Authority is honey. It attracts all the hungry little bees.
You become an authority by producing great music and great content and by being authentic. People like people, not salesmen. Talk to them. Give them something first and then they’ll reward you.
Mika Schiller is a writer for the Indie music website MADE and he writes about where the music industry’s headed and how it relates to the Independent Music artist. He gives irreverent career and personal development advice to the Indie music artist. For more great writing and irresistible advice, along with a free report on effective MySpace music marketing, please visit www.letsgetmade.com
Posted By xxseattlerockxx @ 1:35 AM | Comments: 0 [Comment on this blog article]
Author's site: http://www.letsgetmade.com
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| Monday, February 16th, 2009
Selective Perception (a method for mixing music)
Much of what I do as a mixer over the course of developing a finished mix for a song is what i call Selective Focus. It's basically a glorified term for paying attention to one thing, or maby two things at a time while listening to playback. When I begin a mix, I always start with all the faders at unity and I start to sort of clumsily put together a perspective for the song, moving elements like bass, drums, guitars, and keys into a rough perspective. From that point on, I begin "shaving" off elements either by doing individual fader passes on the part, say the lead Vocal, while also paying attention to other tangential parts, like say a piano accompaniment on guitar lick that supports the vocal. I have always closed my eyes while riding things because it eliminates many of the things that might be getting in the way of my concentration.
it is a technique that sort of came to my by osmosis, I just found that once I began closing my eyes while focusing that it was easier to "see" the image of the element that I was riding, in this case the lead vocal. Once I have a decent balance on the lead vocal, I sortof place the backgrounds in the back of the mix and then begin the process of bringing out the elements that I feel are important to the listener.
Obviously, if the band or performer play guitar or piano or other lead instrument, that instrument is going to take nearly top billing next to the lead vocal. I think about the Edge and Bono, or Tori Amos and her piano playing, or James Taylor and his acoustic guitar. These elements do a contrapuntal dance through the course of the song. The current project I'm working on for Geffen records is a 19 year old operatic tenor, Griffith Frank, who is the son of legendary synth-pop R and B genius David Frank, who's band The System, had a string of hits in the 80's. David wrote nearly half the songs on the album, and plays piano on quite a bit of the record. In addition, there are some amazing orchestrations by Jeremy Lubbock, who I believe is one of the greatest living orchestrators. Part of my job is to navigate the constantly changing relationships between Griffith, David, and the Orchestra, all of whom may move into center stage at any moment for a beat or a bar.
This is where my technique of selective focus comes into play...I decide before I begin a playback of the song to focus my attention on one or two things at the most.
In this case , maybe the lead vocal and grand piano, who are doing a musical dance where the piano, if well excecuted, is nicely playing in the cracks around the vocal.
I close my eyes, get my ears squarely between the monitors and I focus my concentration on the two things Im thinking about, with my fader on whatever I'm riding. Once they get into wht I believe is a good perspective, I continue with the process with the next supporting instruments until everything is in good perspective.
I usually do this process many many times before using any EQ or COMPRESSION or other processing, particularly with liverecording that are phase sensitive, like Orchestras, Pianos, and Drums. Many mixers are happy to dive right in EQing the drums individually before getting a proper balance and perspective. The problem I have with that approach is that it immediately begins messing with the overall phase of the kit which makes it harder to "see" the images. The same happens with any stereo image when EQ is employed, because EQ is by definition accomplished by altering the phase. This is why many legendary recording engineers use little or no eq when recording live instruments. The same applies to mixing. Not so much with a mono instrument like a guitar, but definitely with multi miked things like drums and orchestra.
Posted By 773145 @ 8:15 PM | Comments: 0 [Comment on this blog article]
Author's site: http://myspace.com/bassybobconsulting
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| Sunday, November 16th, 2008
Marketing Music: Your Band Brand
By: Peter Risman Pilot MarketingStrategy Peter@PilotMarketingStrategy Installment 1 – Your Band Brand Everyone has a personal brand –their own unique identity. Everything about you is included in your personal brand: what you look like; how you speak; how you dress; the car you drive; the books you read – the list is endless. You have a personal brand, whether you want one or not. Whether you are intentional about it or not. Everyone who comes in contact with you also interacts with your brand. Your personal brand often precedes you. People begin forming impressions about you based upon the visual aspects of your personal brand, well before you even open your mouth to speak. Think I’m kidding? When was the last time someone who was significantly better looking, better dressed, in better shape, smarter,and more talented agreed to go on a date with you? All right,then. Every band has a brand – its own unique identity. The same rules that apply to individuals apply to bands as well. Everything about your band is part of its brand: what each of you look like; how you dress; the instruments you use, the music that you play – the list is endless. Your band has a brand, whether you want one or not. Whether you are intentional about creating it or not. Everyone who comes in contact with yourband also interacts with its brand. What’s all this marketing mumbo-jumbo have to do with rock and roll The classic example of a rock band being intentional about defining its brand isthe story of Vincent Furnier and his band Nazz. In the late Sixties, Nazz was a struggling Los Angeles band, unable to catch abreak. Living with Pink Floyd, playing on the same bill as the Doors. A solid rock band in a city filled with solid rock bands, and going nowhere fast. Then they got intentional about creating their brand.“…There was that moment of saying: ‘We’re frustrated. We better do something that’s going to get us a lot of attention.’ That’s when Alice was created. That’s when I said ‘Let’s create this character that every parent in the world is gonna hate.’ The audience was going to go with whatever their parents hated...” (Terry Gross interview with Alice Cooper) I said, "I can create this Alice character to be the greatest rock villain of all time." (Andrew Denton interview with Alice Cooper) Alice Cooper was the direct result of a decision to be intentional about creating a brand that was groundbreaking, andat the same time coolly calculated. If every rock band in the world was playing Peter Pan, Vincent Furnier was going to play Captain Hook. (AndrewDenton interview with Alice Cooper) And the rest,as they say, is history. if your band doesn’t define its brand, your audience will define it for you… …And probably get it wrong.
Posted By xxseattlerockxx @ 4:54 PM | Comments: 0 [Comment on this blog article]
Author's site: http://www.peterrisman.com/
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| Tuesday, September 30th, 2008
What happens on the Internet, stays on the Internet. Forever.
Authored By: Peter Risman (Peter@PilotMarketingStrategy.com)
Date: September 30, 2008
For anyone who is still unclear on the concept, let me repeat it: “The Internet is forever.” Anything that you post or publish online will still be there years from now. Anything that anyone else posts or publishes about you will also still be there.
Try an experiment. Go to Google and search on your first and last name in double-quotes (e.g. “Joe Blough”). Are you surprised by what you see? Find anything that perhaps you wish you didn’t? See anything that doesn’t necessarily contribute to your musical or professional aspirations? What will future employers think when they Google you (and they will…)? Or your girlfriend’s parents (and they will…)?
I thought so.
The bad news is that what’s there now is not going anywhere. The good news is that, by being intentional about it, it’s possible to “rebrand” yourself to reflect how you want to be perceived.
Defining your “online brand identity”
How you want others online to view you – and your reasons for changing it – must first be defined. Is it for personal or professional reasons? The choice is yours, but you can only create one online brand. You can be a flame-throwing, groupie-smothered, Rock and Roll god, or you can be someone’s prospective new employee – not both. Everyone who searches for you, whether they want to see your band or call you for a job interview, will see the same “you”.
Once you know who you want to be, you need to begin an intentional campaign of personal brand building that is similar to the approach that a business would take.
Online Social Networks
Find the online social networks that are consistent with your online brand identity, and become a member of all of them (they are usually free to join at a “Basic” level, which is all you really need). Examples of these networks are: BandMix, Dmusic, FaceBook, iSound, Musolist, MySpace, SoundClick, and many hundreds more. Not all online social networks are right for everyone – find those that are a match for how you want others to view you.
The beauty – and danger – of these networks is that they are indexed by Google, and typically will rank higher than someone’s homemade website or blog. The information that you post will be highly visible and easily found.
Ensure that your profile is complete, and consistent across different social networks. Include your email as part of your profile content – add it to a description if necessary – in order to ensure that your contact information not is limited to “Premium Members” only.
Join appropriate interest groups within each online network, and participate in them. Actively seek out discussions that relate to your area of expertise or style of music, and contribute your thoughts and opinions in an intentional way.
Every word posted by you will soon be visible in online searches – so don’t be stingy. Submit long, in-depth answers that are consistent with your online brand – and that are also related to the topic at hand. These long form responses not only supply plenty of content for search engines to index, but also help build credibility in your online network. Who ends up looking like an expert when everyone one else writes 1-2 sentences, and you respond with 6 paragraphs? You do.
Anytime that you participate in online Q&A or discussions, be sure that your name and appropriate contact details are always included as part of your response. Do not rely on your Profile for this – contact information is often suppressed for non-Premium members and the public at large. And – of course – if you are able to hyperlink back to your site – by all means do it.
Another approach is to ask questions in Q&A groups that relate to how you want to be perceived. All of those insightful responses will be associated with your question – and your name. Again, be sure that your contact details are included in the question, and that you’ve hyperlinked back to your website if possible.
Blogs
The process for branding yourself by means of blogs is essentially the same as for online networks. Find 5-10 blogs that are consistent with how you want to be portrayed, and subscribe to them. If you’re into Jazz, find Jazz blogs. With blogs, popularity matters. When in doubt, those with the most subscribers are best for creating your online brand.
Now that you’ve subscribed to the blogs, read them. Whenever there’s a posting that relates to your area of expertise or style of music – comment on it. As noted above, try to submit detailed answers that showcase your knowledge and insight. Include your contact information as a part of your response. Hyperlink to your website if you can.
But even if all you do is post “I agree”, the content of the blog and all its responses will be associated with your name in online searches. Two-word postings are far from ideal, but better than nothing at all.
Should you create your own blog? There’s no reason not to. But when it comes to creating your online brand, you’ll see results much faster if you piggyback on the popularity of established blogs.
Choosing wisely
There are no do-over’s once you’ve hit the “Submit” button. Controversies never blow over on the Internet. Ten years from now, the firestorm that you ignited with a provocative posting will still be there for all to re-live. Only a complete fool intentionally enrages the blogosphere.
Therefore, choose your words very carefully. If there are two ways to interpret your intent – one benign and the other not – you can be certain that others are going to assume the worst (use this approach with women as well…). If you need to emphasize a word, DON’T use all caps – try something like > this < instead. Be polite. Remember that the purpose of all this effort is to make you appear more impressive – not to make someone else appear less so.
Yes, you have to.
If this all seems like a lot of work, you’re absolutely right. Your alternative is to accept what the Internet has to say about you – good, bad, or indifferent. But the good news is that, unlike so many things in life, your effort > will < pay off. Each week that passes will bring a different flavor to the sum total of online references to you. Almost before you know it, your “online fingerprints” will be consistent with the reputation that you set out to create.
The Internet is forever. Use it. Wisely.
© 2008 Peter Risman and Pilot Marketing Strategy
The Copyright holder is licensing this under the Creative Commons License, Attribution 3.0.
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/us/
Posted By 765178 @ 9:52 PM | Comments: 0 [Comment on this blog article]
Author's site: /peter_risman
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