A blessing is how country singer-songwriter Tanya Marie Harris refers to the last three years.

At the top of 2013 she began pursuing a music career. Her first single, “A Woman Scorned,” hit No. 1 on the Roots Music Report Country Chart in 2013. The track was done with producers Johnny Dwinell and Kelly Schoenfeld, of Daredevil Production, on Music Row in Nashville, Tenn.

Continue Reading….

Hope You Are Your Only Hope Feature

This is the absolutely most exciting time in the history of the music business. It’s unprecedented because you can create any kind of art you want and bring it to the world with the least amount of roadblocks. If you choose to, as an artist, you can create without a committee. Some of you areHope Exciting Time probably scoffing at that but most of you inadvertently create by committee because you’re too focused on emulating what is popular instead of finding your own voice.

 

What is popular these days whether it’s good or bad in your subjective opinion, was created by committee.

Finding your own voice is mission critical to true originality.

 

Finding your own voice is important to me mostly because, like you, I care mostly about ME.

 

Hope Relating

 

That is what will make you stand out from the crowd. Your own voice is truly interesting because somewhere in your own story, there are a couple threads, gestures, stories, experiences, downfalls, victories, struggles, and failures that I can relate to.

If I can relate to your reality, instead of a concocted image or alter-ego, our artist-consumer bond will strengthen.

 

 

That’s real.

 

The music business has always been about relationships and most of you are aware of this to point of it becoming a cliché. You think about these relationships in terms of business relationships. However, I would take it a step further and tell you that the music business is now all about relationships with your fans. Deep relationships at that or at least far deeper than a “follow” or a “like”.

 Hope Like Strength Equation 2

The music business used to be about B2C or business to consumer. Now it’s about P2P or people to people.

 

The artist that focuses on how to do that, how to make the fans feel as if they have a relationship with said artist, is the artist who cracks the Hope Code Laptopcode for success in the NEW music business, You will be the artist that fans will pay money to see live, to download your whole record, and to be a part of your tribe.

 

 

Today is so freaking exciting because YOU have the power. YOU have the strength, YOU have access to all the knowledge you choose to seek out, YOU have the ability, YOU have the talent and as long as YOU are willing to do something about it, there is hope.

 

Hope You Have the Power MEME

 

Hope that your music will become the soundtrack to a specific beehive of people.

 

Hope that your song will become my jam.

 

As long as YOU embrace the challenge of reaching the fans through marketing as seriously as you take the challenge of reaching them through your music, YOU will be successful. There is HOPE

 

YOU will live your dream.

 

Hope Dreams Come True

 

 

 

 

Or at least there is hope that you will live your dream.

 

 

 

 

 

I want you to read this excerpt from an amazing book I am reading called The Content Code by Mark W. Schaefer.

 

This is a marvelous, inspiring period of history when you can shed the traditional burdens of authority and build true influence on the webHope Content Code through your own merits. On the web, nobody cares where you went to college or how much money you have. The color of your skin or your body mass index don’t keep you from connecting to people on your own terms. Your ability to walk or run or even speak doesn’t matter because you can publish.

 

Yes, you can bring your work of art to a targeted audience of people who are predisposed to liking your style of music.

 

You can learn the psychological steps a consumer needs to take to internalize your music and make your song their jam.

 

You can find 1,000 Superfans that will pay $100 per year to experience you in all your glory.

Hope Superfan Meme

 

 

The music business will be better for it.

 

 

 

Gone are the days where a couple radio Program Directors decide what you will listen to, what you will like, and ultimately what music will become the soundtrack of your life. Now you get to choose.Hope No Board Of Directors

 

Gone are the days where a committee of corporate executives get to decide whether you’ll get a record deal and a shot an entertainment career. Now you get to choose.

 

 

Taylor Swift said “Today artists get record deals because they have fans, not the other way around.”

Hope Taylor Swift MEME

 

 

The internet holds the power of the radio times the whole world. The power to influence is more sophisticated but also more powerful and longer lasting.

 

It’s more sophisticated because the internet is decidedly NOT broadcasting which is how we are all used to being exposed to new music. The language has to change from what we know and what we’re used to. That will require innovation much like your music.

 

 

 

Playing an instrument well is extremely difficult.

 

Writing a really good song is extremely difficult because it requires simplicity and economy of words.Hope Guitar Lessons

 

Singing really well is astoundingly difficult and rare. This is why we are so impressed with musical talent. This is why we put rock stars on pedestals.

 

They make us feel.

They make us think.

They make our lives better.

Sometimes they make our lives tolerable.

 

So marketing in the NEW music business can be done well. It has been done well. One has to approach it like the burden they took on to learn to play guitar. I’ll bet most people spent MONEY on lessons, practiced for hours, spent MONEY on guitars, they spent MONEY on amplifiers, straps, guitar stands, cords, pedals, strings, and seasonal maintenance.

Why not marketing?

 

Hope Guitar Gear License Germanium

 

Why not approach marketing the same way one would approach learning a new instrument with all the costs and time involved in acquiring the necessary gear and attention to learning how to make it work correctly?

 

What would happen if a bunch of artists took on the challenge of reaching fans and treated it like the art form that it is?

 

What would happen if these forward thinking artists truly understood the difference between the art of connecting with someone through music and the art of connecting with someone through the internet?

Hope Code

 

What would happen if they spent the same amount of time and money learning to master music marketing as they did to master their instrument?

Connecting with fans is easy and sadly, most artists ignore that.

 

Deepening the relationship is more challenging.

 

Once an artist master the art of creating Superfans, they will own the world.

 

The internet is more powerful because one video can be seen by fans all over the globe as opposed to restricted to one market like a radio station or one country like MTV.

 

Never before has the music industry been more pregnant with opportunity for any artist who is smart enough to see the writing on the wall.

Hope the Unheard

 

Since most artists either can’t see it or choose to ignore it, the performers that do embrace the learning and master marketing will easily rise above the din of the abundant unheard.

 

I just giggled at that.

 

Separate yourself from the unheard.

 

There is hope for the artists who are smart enough, driven enough, and that really work towards getting their music heard.

 

This is the most exciting time in the music business but code you have to crack has changed, man.Hope Dreams flag

 

I say it’s exciting because you are the only one standing in your way; just you and your excuses.

 

You have access to all the tools, all the education, and all the methodologies you need to find your real voice in your music, create that music, and master the art of exposing your music to a targeted audience.

 

Hope Access

 

You are your only hope.

 

The artists that become aware will become successful.

 

The artists who choose to remain naïve will disappear amongst the unheard.

 

Stay

In

Tune

 

If you like this post, please SHARE it and/or LEAVE A COMMENT thank you!

 

Talent Scott Weiland Feature 2 MEME

On December 3rd, of this year, we lost Scott Weiland. We remember our favorite STP songs and Velvet Revolver songs (the “Fall to Pieces” video has now moved from behind the scenes rock-star-chic to disturbing and heartbreakingly downright pathetic). We relish our favorite memories ofTalent Scott the glory, the tours, but none of us see the reality. The work, the pain, the struggle, the compromise, the effort, the dedication, and the compulsion that define the drive necessary for success.

 

Talent_Rolling_Stone_Article

 

 

I read THIS ROLLING STONE ESSAY written by Scott’s ex-wife Mary Forsberg Weiland and his 2 teenage children Noah 15, and Lucy 13. The takeaway to this article was the bone chilling last 2 sentences of the first paragraph.

 

But the truth is, like so many other kids [of addictive parents], they lost their father years ago. What they truly lost on December 3rd was hope.

 

Ugh.

 

This cut me to the bone. I seriously teared up. Not because of the loss of Scott as a person and his artistry (which is horrifying), but because I was thinking of his children and ex-wife.

 

What a waste.Talent Do The Work

 

Scott couldn’t or wouldn’t do the work on himself. He clearly had to outwork all other front men artistically with his bands to get to the heights he achieved, but he failed to turn that drive and that perseverance inward to improve himself.

 

Heroin, crack, cocaine, and alcohol were not what killed Scott Weiland, they were just the weapons that were used. It was the hole he was trying so desperately to fill with these drugs that ultimately became his demise.

 

 

 

Talent HolesWhen addicts are trying to fill holes and partying “for the wrong reasons” they often bounce to new addictions after kicking the old ones. Heroin, cocaine, prescription pills, alcohol, sex addiction, and codependent relationships are the common interchangeable lily pads they land on.

 

 

 

So if kicking a drug like heroin doesn’t stop addiction, then heroin isn’t the problem, is it? The question is “Why are they behaving in this manner?” not “What poison should we eliminate?”.Talent LIly Pad MEME

 

 

 

 

 

The solution is eliminating the demons, not so much the drugs.

Talent NO Demons

 

The hole can be filled if the owner is willing to endure and go through the struggle it takes to fill it. It’s never easy, no matter how heavy or light the demons are that reside in said hole. Hell, I went through therapy for a spell to change some things I didn’t like about myself. It’s frustrating, aggravating, annoying, and scary. It makes you feel introspectively defensive and spotlights the deep inner conflicts you have going on every day.

It’s also worth it.

 

 

Nikki Sixx has done this and come out the other side a better man for the effort.

Eric Clapton did it.Talent Addict Collage

Stevie Ray Vaughan did it too, and then died in a helicopter crash.

 

 

You have to do the work.

 

There is just no way around it.

Talent Do The Work

 

Much like weight loss. I’m feeling a little heavy these days. There is no pill or shake that is going to magically change my weight. Changing my diet and increasing my exercise is the plain and simple, tried and true answer.

 

You have to do the work.

 

 

 

We only see the fame, the glory, we never see the struggle. It’s hard to conceptualize and relate to the work if all you see is the end result.

 

You HAVE to make yourself aware of this.

 

This makes me worry about the artist community that read my articles. I worry because so many of you are completely missing the point.

Talent Love me MEME

 

You want the success without the struggle. It’s really understandable to a degree because the press never shows us the struggle; only the glory.

Too many of you are falsely betting on your talent to make you successful.

 

You’ve heard how “talented” you are your whole life so you justifiably surmise, “that’s the ticket”. If your parents, friends, and local fans see it, why not the bigwigs in the music industry?

 

I got news for you, your success won’t be about your talent. Not one bit.

 

Huh?

 

Talent Totem Pole MEME

 

 You see talent is just a way we categorize the successful.

 

 

 

 

 

There’s a talent totem pole of success that we subconsciously use to rank the artists we’re aware of. Somebody has to be John, somebody has to be Paul, somebody has to be George, and somebody has got to be Ringo.Talent Totem Pole FINAL MEME

 

Sure there are hugely successful less-talented artists, there are mildly successful supremely talented artists, and a ton of able bodies in between.

 

There are also a million unknown, super talented phenoms that we will never hear about because, for whatever reason, they either can’t or choose not to make it out of the basement.

 

I personally know the most AMAZING singer. Her vocal control and tone blows away Whitney, Mariah, and seriously rivals Adele’s.

 

Not kidding.

 

Her talent got her a major label deal back in the 90’s. Guaranteed 2 record deal.

 

She worked with the BEST producers and the best teams in the industry.

 

She was invited by Quincy Jones to perform at the Monterey Jazz Festival. (That’s a BIG DEAL, man.)

 

She’s not an addict, but the way she handles her intelligence, strategy, and business ensured that you’ll never know about her.

 

Total bust for the record label.

 

Talent Quote Meme

 

So once again, your level of financial success or fame has nothing to do with your talent.

 

Talent just gets you noticed.

 

Success comes because of intelligence, strategy, hard work, and perseverance.

 

Once you’re successful, it’s especially awesome to the fans (and the industry) when you’re also super talented. Your success and far reach means your talent will get to touch more people.

But making a living at your passion, what I would define as success, has nothing to do with talent.

 

I hear so many of you tell me that you just need that one important industry person to “believe in you”. Once that ship comes in, it’s all puppy dogs and ice cream. You’ll get PAID. You’ll be FAMOUS.

 

Horse hockey.Talent Horse Poop License David MW

 

Here’s another factual smart-bomb. I think every top Producer, A&R exec, Label President, Booking Agent, Manager, and industry professional would agree, we don’t need to believe in your talent because your talent will be obvious.

 

When we talk about “believing in an artist” as industry pros, we are talking about all the other disciplines that a talented artist needs to succeed.

Talent Struggle

 

We wouldn’t be talking about you if you weren’t talented.

 

There have been so many labels that got burned by not looking more closely at this dynamic.

 

Y’all probably never heard of Mother Love Bone. They were the band that blended the 80’s metal glam with 90’s grunge and really ushered in the Seattle scene. Kurt Cobain and the boys from Nirvana considered them heroes. They OWNED the Seattle scene and with Soundgarden, they paved the way for all the big Seattle names we know and love in the grunge scene to get their shot and become successful.Talent MLB Poster 2

 

Mother Love Bone was important, man.

 

The band was comprised of front man and dreamy lyricist Andrew Wood backed in part by Jeff Ament and Stone Gossard who would eventually become Pearl Jam.

 

Andrew Wood overdosed on heroin days before the March 1990 release of the first major label LP Apple was released.

 

Talent Sublime Image

 

Bradly Nowell was the front man and main writer for the infamous Southern California underground band, Sublime. He overdosed on heroin 2 months before the release of their debut major label release on MCA Records.

 

These 2 stories are just the tippy top of the iceberg and more well known. What you don’t know, and should understand, is that there are literally hundreds of thousands of stories where industry people wanted to “believe” in an artist and got totally burned because the artist didn’t have the disciplines, outside of their amazing talent, to follow through.

 

I remember Tom Zutaut (A&R exec who signed Guns & Roses and Mötley Crüe) being asked if there was ever a band that he was jealous he didn’t get to sign. His answer was something like, “No, but I had a band I really wanted to sign badly and was glad I didn’t get to.”

Talent Tom Zutaut

That band was Mother Love Bone.

 

Too many of you want someone to bet their money and more scarce, their precious time on YOU because of your talent.

 

When you realize that success is about follow through, intelligence, perseverance, and good business, you’ll start to look for ways to showcase that along with your obvious artistic abilities.

 

Y’all know someone or know someone who knows someone that is supremely talented in anything (not just music) but doesn’t have it together.

 

God, I just want y’all to WIN and I want y’all to be healthy doing it!

 

Do the work

 

Do the work on yourself:  Attack those demons. WE ALL HAVE THEM. Generally speaking the more successful people in life learn what they want to change (because we’re all broken) and then take active steps to change it.Talent Therapy

 

I was once told by my manager that therapy should be mandatory like a driver’s license. It’s like college but for your mind. Just for you. You’ll be AMAZED by what you learn.

 

 

 

 

Do the work on your artistry: Constantly be improving.

 

Do the work on your marketing: The internet means the world is your oyster and you no longer need to wait around to find your audience. They’re out there. Find them. LEARN to market.

Talent Learn Marketing MEME

 

These are the traits that make a talented artist sexy to the industry and to big money.

 

We want you to prove you can work and work with an immeasurable consistency.

 

 

If we’re talking to you, we already know you’re talented.

 

So if you’re good enough to have relationships with industry people, and you’re not getting the love that you want, your talent isn’t the problem.

Talent Superman

 

Could it possibly be your work ethic, the pain you’re willing to endure, the struggle you’re willing to tolerate, the compromises you’re willing to make, the effort you’re putting forth, the dedication you’ve shown, and your compulsion that defines the drive necessary for success?

 

 

 

 

Maybe it’s the work outside of your talent, or lack thereof that is making you unattractive and therefore hindering the success you seek?

 

Stay

In

Tune

 

 

If you like this post, please SHARE it and/or LEAVE A COMMENT thank you!

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Path Adamant or Ignorant Feature

We humans are super stubborn especially when it comes to certain paths we take, we’re truly wired up that way.Path Donkey

 

You’ve heard the expression “You can’t teach an old dog new tricks”, right?

 

 

 

Think about this for a second:

 

 

Path Democrat Republican

 

We’re adamant about being a Democrat or Republican.

 

We’re adamant about being a vegan or a meat eater.

Path Chevrolet Ford

 

We’re obstinate about Ford vs. Chevrolet

 

Some of us have deep loyalties about Fender vs Gibson.

 

Path Fender vs Gibson

 

We’re adamant about the manner in which we handle our relationships (most if not all of us need consistent improvement on that, present company INCLUDED).

Quite often we are unwavering on these ideals and we don’t even know why. We don’t have an opinion that is based on any kind of facts or accurate information, we just do what our parents did.

 

We follow the crowd we hang out with.

Path Lincoln Quote

 

We staunchly support an ideal and we have done exactly ZERO research for ourselves.

 

I saw it on Facebook, so it must be true.

 

Ugh.

WAY too many artists are adamant about the path they are taking to climb the ladder of success in their careers.

Path No Excuses

 

They’re understandably resolute in their approach because they’ve experienced and seen the manner in which all their favorite, life-changing, iconic artists have come into their awareness.

But, when does adamant turn into ignorance?

 

It’s GOOD to be inflexible with regards to achieving your goals. This creates perseverance. When I was an artist there was no musician, girl, business deal, booking agent, tragedy, manager, label suit, sickness, injury, or excuse that I would give permission to stand in my way. No plan B. Only forward motion.

 

If you’re stubborn about achieving the goal, that’s awesome. If you’re unyielding on the path you’ve chosen to get there, you’re ignorant.

 

The path constantly changes in real life.

Path Don Henley Quote MEME

The path gets refined as you become more aware of what is really going on.

 

Many of you think you’re determined to succeed but really, as Don Henley says, “That’s just some people talking”.

Too many of you are blissfully clueless when it comes to any kind of discernible business plan to bring your amazing music to market.

 

 

 

Sadly, most of you that have any semblance of a process or business plan to expand the awareness of your music in a market are working with outdated and inaccurate information.

Path blind

 

You’re refusing to recognize this fact.

 

You’re sticking to your current path.

How’s that working for you?

 

What metrics are you using to measure your forward progress?

 

Did you sell more CD’s this year than last year?

 

Are you selling more tickets this year as opposed to 2014?Path Measure it Manage It Ruler

If you can measure it, you can manage it.

 

Do you have a reasonable, credible plan in place for 2016?

 

How is your song going to become my jam?

 

My father says that journeys like life or a business plan are living, breathing, entities in constant need of cultivation and reevaluation.  John Sr. says a journey is similar to the flight path of a butterfly in that it’s never in a straight line.

 

Path Butterfly

 

The butterfly that embarks on a voyage across a field of flowers will fly here, then fly there, fly forward, then backward, zigzagging, advancing and retreating until finally it reaches the other side.

 

A butterfly is never steadfast about the path. Untiring towards the goal, but open for suggestion and often unwillingly relocated by the winds of change along the way.

 

 

I’ve mentioned this in past blogs, but a great example of this was an experiment done in the 1940’s designed to gather information on what makes a person really lucky or really unlucky.

Path Lucky

The results were astounding.

 

Generally speaking, unlucky people are firmly entrenched in their pathway, blind to any outside anomalies or fluctuations happening around them.

Stubborn.

 

Lucky people were more prone to take it all in, pay attention to everything, and learn.

 

Open for suggestion.

 

The experiment asked people to respond to a newspaper ad requesting people reply if they felt they were generally lucky or generally unlucky. The respondents would be paid handsomely.

 

In the experiment, the whole group was given a newspaper and asked to count the number of images that were printed in the paper. They were instructed to hand in their answers once they finished and they would be paid $250 (again, this was in the 1940’s, I think, so that was big money).

The people who felt they were generally unlucky took an average of 2 minutes to complete the task.

 

The people who were generally lucky took an average of 15 seconds.

 

What was the reason for the disparity in the length of time required to complete the task?

 

Path More Than Good Music Meme

 

In the newspaper, on page 2, was a black and white ad in huge block letters that read, “THERE ARE 48 IMAGES IN THIS NEWSPAPER, THERE IS NO NEED TO KEEP COUNTING. PLEASE WRITE THIS DOWN, HAND YOUR PAPER INTO THE INSTRUCTOR AND COLLECT YOUR $250 CHECK.”

 

See my point?

The people that were ignorantly resolute on the guidelines (A.K.A. the path) continued to count all the images never seeing the ad with the answer because it wasn’t an image.

 

 

The answer wasn’t what they were looking for, rather, they were looking for images. Opportunities don’t always come looking like what you’d thought they should.

 

Get it?

What’s your plan of attack to make a living at your artistry?

 

While I’m quite sure you’re determined to never quit until you reach your goal, how resolute are you to the tactics you’re using to get there?

 

Don’t be a moron.

Don’t be naïve.

Plain and simple.

Path Consumers Like You MEME

 

Don’t mistake technologies that offer new ways for artists to connect with fans as the grand solution that will save the failing music industry and thus, your lot in life.

Consumers need reasons to like and stand behind an artist, not a new technological platform. When they have the reason, believe me the platform will not matter, they will find what they want.

 

How are all these artist platforms working for you?

 

Are they getting you paid?

Do you know anybody that knows anybody who BROKE on Pandora, Spotify, Bandzoogle, Reverbnation, iTunes, etc.?

 

If you’re #1 in Kalamazoo for alternative country on Reverbnation how does that translate with regards to your bank account?

 

Now you may say, “Johnny, we make art for the sake of art so the sales don’t matter, the recognition is what matters.”

 

Path Blue Ribbon MemeWell, somehow, at this moment, you’re paying your bills with something.

 

Where did those funds come from?

 

What if your current bosses decided to stop paying you in exchange for blue ribbon each pay period?

 

YOU’RE #1 IN OUR BOOK, THANK YOU FOR YOUR EFFORTS!

 

Can you imagine?

 

What would you do if this happened?

YOU’D CHANGE YOUR PATH AND FIND ANOTHER JOB.

 

You’d have to, wouldn’t you?

 

My point is that somehow, some way, you found out how to get paid for a job that you’d probably rather not do if you don’t straight up hate it.

 

Why on earth wouldn’t you want to find a way to get paid to be an artist?

 

Path StruggleIf you’re struggling that means you aren’t getting paid or you aren’t getting paid enough to survive.

If you’re just getting paid with some BS form of technological praise, I submit to you that the praise you receive PLUS $2.52 will get you a cup of coffee at Starbucks.

 

Change your path.

 

Change it often.

 

It took Edison an average of 1,000 experiments to obtain the successes he needed for EACH of his 2,332 patents.

 

Path Edison MEME

 

 

 

How may experiments have you tried to get paid for your music?

 

 

My guess is the first one, perhaps the only one, the one you’re on now, isn’t working well enough.

 

 

 

Stay

In

Tune

 

 

If you like this post, please SHARE it and/or LEAVE A COMMENT thank you!

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Selling Emotion Sold Out Feature Image

Selling.

Selling is all about emotion not about the product. You sell every day you just choose to think about it differently.

 

Make no mistake, you are selling every day.Selling Emotion SALE Feature Image

 

You’re probably really good at it too.

 

Who is the most effective influencer amongst your circle of friends?

Selling Emotion Beatles

 

 

Who is John, who is Paul, who is George, and who is Ringo in your group?

 

John is the best at selling.

 

 

Think about insurance for example. I don’t think there has ever been an insurance product that has blown the other competing products out of the marketplace so much as to create a market demand like Windows did for operating systems or the Apple iPod did for mobile music.

Selling Emotion Insurance

 

We know that we all need car insurance, homeowner’s insurance, life insurance, renters insurance, final expense insurance, etc. The determining factor as to which insurance company we choose to do business with always comes from 2 places; how we connect with the insurance company’s ad messaging and the salesman.

 

More succinctly, do you like the salesperson?

 

If you like him, you’ll buy from him.

 

Especially on the more complicated types of life insurance that double as investments and estate protection instruments. It’s all about the salesperson.Selling Emotion Salesman Image

 

 

 

 

 

In the entertainment industry, we call this the “It Factor” or “Star Quality”.Selling Emotion Star Quality

 

 

 

If you think about it, it’s all about the salesperson in the entertainment industry too.

 

A hit song is a hit song is a hit song. Period.

 

Adele has a voice that could sell you a phone book.Selling Emotion Adele and Phone Book

 

Her singing, her gift, could sell you a phone book because if she sang the phone book she’d make you feel emotion.

 

Get it?

 

When you’re on stage performing, or when you’re writing a song, your goal is to evoke an emotion.

 

Selling Emotion Emoticon Collage

 

 

You attempt to evoke, love, lust, passion, disgust, fear, empowerment, heartbreak, redemption, empathy, sympathy, support, etc.

 

The better you are at that job, the more people will like you. The more they like you, the more they come to your shows and remember your song.

 

The more people remember your song, the more people will purchase it.

 

 

Consider this fact:  When you meet someone for the first time, they won’t really remember you or what you said so much as they will remember how you made them feel.

It’s the emotion that sticks with them. It’s the emotion that gets deposited into their emotional bank accounts.

 

Not words.Selling Emotion She Made Me Laugh MEME

Not intentions.

Not logic.

Not products.

Not Pitch.

Not Chords.

 

Just emotion.

 

Artists that truly embrace this reality have better radio tours. They charm the rank and file of each station far better than an artist who is oblivious. Thus, they get more adds and, of course, more spins.

 

Artists who embrace this reality have huge, loyal followers on social media and make better livings than those that don’t.

Selling Emotion Seth Godin License Steve Jurvetson

 

Seth Godin has an incredible blog. Y’all should experience it, after all, more knowledge is more potential power that once applied, becomes real, lethal, personal power. In one blog he was talking about Girl Scout Cookies. He talks about how the girls are taught to memorize a complicated spiel where they introduce themselves, describe all the good work the scouts do, and how the cookies will raise money for this or that.

 

Seth goes on to craft a question that in less than 10 words doubles the sales of Girl Scout Cookies.

 

“What’s your favorite Girl Scout Cookie?”

 

Selling Emotion Girl Scout Cookies 2

 

 

This sentence evokes emotion, a memory, and instantly transforms the Girl Scout from a supplicant begging for monetary assistance to a valuable supplier of memories and emotion.

 

 

Pretty powerful stuff, huh?

 

We all seem to equate sales with some kind of supplicant experience. When we think of sales we feel in some way like a beggar asking for change at your local intersection.

 

Most artists don’t want to feel like beggars, thus, the inherent apprehension most artists have with marketing and promotion.

 

That isn’t sales. Rather, that is HORRIBLE sales.

 

Selling Emotion Beggars and Concerts

 

Aren’t songs and artists trying to connect with fans just like selling Girl Scout Cookies? Either you have a mediocre song and you’re begging for people to listen to you, or you have a hit song delivered by a star quality performer, both of which evoke EMOTION and you are the valued supplier of music and memories.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Here’s an example of emotional imagery in a song. This song is called Last First Kiss and was written by hit songwriters Brent Baxter, Jason Cox, and my artist Neill Skylar. The art of songwriting boils down to arousing emotion and imagery in as few words as possible.

 

I’ve been the whiskey on a liar’s lips

I’ve been a moonlight romance, sunrise regret.

I’ve been the suitcase left on the curb

I’ve been the desperate phone call, unreturned.

 

Selling Emotion Hands in Face

 

What emotion do these words make you feel?

 

Do they summon up a memory?

 

Have you been there?

 

Isn’t this what being an artist is all about?

 

Aren’t we supposed to connect with people and make them feel something?

 

Here’s my point:  Why not do this with your marketing?

 

Selling Emotion BoastingMarketing yourself does not have to and should not feel like begging or bragging. It should evoke emotion like the songs that you write and your live performances.

 

Do you feel like you’re boasting when you write a biographical lyric?

 

Most likely not.

 

That’s probably the biggest mistake I see with artists who are marketing themselves. They either come across like beggars (some of them outright begging by informing you of how downtrodden they are in life “I’m blind in one eye and can’t see out of the other, please buy my CD because you feel sorry for me”…Ugh) or braggers (“Check me out, I’m amazing”…double Ugh)

 

When we are inundated with these messages every day, we understandably feel a bit slimy when we think of marketing ourselves.

 

Selling Emotion Bob Marley

 

Don’t let most artist’s atrocious marketing techniques discourage you from finding your own voice.

 

There’s another way to do it.

 

 

We can make them feel something.

 

If they feel something they will like us.

 

If they like us enough, they will listen to the music with an open mind and an open heart.

 

If they like the music, and they feel something with the music, they will buy it.

 

Selling CD’s only helps the company that makes CD’s.

Selling Emotion Conjuring

 

Emotion is what will connect you with your audience and create life-long Superfans.

 

The art of conjuring passions in another is why we call you artists.

 

You do it in your art.

 

Now do it in your marketing.

 

Stay

In

Tune.

 

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Marketing Right Now MEME Feature

Right now, right now, RIGHT NOW is the time you should be marketing. Not after your record is done, not after you find “your sound”, not after the single has been completed and/or decided.Marketing Right Now Start Marketing MEME

 

Music comes later.

Marketing comes now.

 

Besides, it’s a meaningful, educational, and pleasant distraction from any artistic focus you may have going on at the moment.

 

Marketing Right Now Are You Talented

 

 

 

 

Honest question: are you really talented?

 

Honest question: WHAT exactly is your real talent?

 

 

 

Is it your vocal ability?Marketing Right Now What EXACTLY is your Real Talent

Is it a unique and cool vocal style?

Is it your guitar playing?

Is it the harmonies the group uses?

Is it your songwriting?

Is it your live show?

Is it your sincerity?

Is it vulnerability?

Is it salesmanship/stagecraft?

 

What about YOU, captivates people?

 

THAT IS WHAT YOU SHOULD BE MARKETING UNTIL THE MUSIC COMES OUT.

 

Here’s the cold, hard, plain, truth so take a deep breath.

 

Any excuse you are using to convince yourself why you should wait to market YOU is seriously detrimental and will probably prove to be fatal to your career.

Marketing Right Now Fatal

 

Entertainment is about captivating people.

 

Entertainment is about creating an artistic outflow that allows people to escape from their daily lives and feel something powerful when in proximity of said artistic work.

 

 

Love

AngerMarketing Right Now Connection Collage

Angst

Joy

Lust

Life

 

They want to relate.

 

They want to fantasize.

 

They want to be entertained and forget about whatever they got going on.

 

We are running out of icons, people. They are disappearing at an alarming rate due to old age and attrition. The top grossing tours of 2014 tell a shocking tale. Out of the top 25 grossing tours, 14 of the artists (56%) were over the age of 40, 12 of the artists (48%) were over the age of 50, and an astounding 9 (36%) or more than 1/3 were north of 60 years old!!!

Marketing Right Now 2014 Tours

 

The reason this is happening is because artists like you are procrastinating their freaking marketing.

 

So we don’t know about you.

 

Therefore, from the perspective of the world, you don’t exist.

 

 

Maybe that’s secretly the way you want it to be?

 

Maybe you talk a big game and maybe you have a lot of talent, but as my father says, “When it gets down to nut-cutting time, you aren’t worth a damn.”

 

The artist life isn’t for everybody.

 

Its ok, I’ve dealt with that many times as I was coming up as an artist. Each milestone of success was fraught with a departing band member that came to the realization the project was getting too serious for their lives.Marketing Right Now Leaky Dam License Ell Christman

 

The Universe is always as it should be. My mother says, “Water seeks its own level”. Think about that one for a second. Pretty astute observation wouldn’t you say?

 

Here’s the deal, your job is not to be perfect, that will never happen. Your job is to ENTERTAIN these people.

 

Why aren’t you getting to it?

 

You’re self-sabotaging.

 

Why are you self-sabotaging? Have you found your own level? Are you really serious about becoming an artist or is this a hobby for you?

Marketing Right Now Embarrasment of Tools

 

 

There’s no right or wrong answer here, the truth is what’s paramount to your expectations and subsequent happiness.

 

You have an EMBARRASSMENT of tools before you that allow an artist to access the whole world find their audience, connect, create, and deepen a relationship. The relationship is more important than the music initially.

 

I promise.

 

Why aren’t you doing it now?

 

 

 

Don’t think so highly of yourself as to presume that your music, your song, your message is so powerful and unique that they will listen when it’s time to release your project. Don’t be so naïve to think that you will release your first song and it will “catch fire” and “become viral” through fans sharing it and demanding other fans take notice.Marketing Right Now Music Fire Image

I’ve got news for you, all your favorite iconic superstars along with your favorite underground genius “underrated” artists “caught fire”, that is to say they came into your awareness, via really, good, marketing.

 

 

 

Marketing Right Now Monkey See Monkey Do

 

The world won’t care unless they know you, or at least know about you

 

You can and should get started on the “get to know you” part immediately.

Marketing Right Now Getting To Know You

If they like you, they will give your music a listen.

 

 

 

Today’s artist will showcase their ability to captivate, fascinate, and entertain an audience on social media and use it as a tool to create throngs of dedicated followers. In turn, a percentage of these dedicated followers will purchase when it’s time to do business (after the project has been developed and recorded.).

 

 

The more growth in engaged followers, the bigger the percentage of purchasers. The more purchasers, the easier it is for you to make a living.

Marketing Right Now Commerce

 

Not for nothing, obtaining cash for development is a lot easier when an artist can prove beyond a reasonable doubt that there is an audience eagerly awaiting your release.

 

An artist with an idea and 40k Instagram followers is going to convince an investor a lot quicker and easier than an artist with an idea and 300 followers. Doesn’t that make sense?

 

 

An artist with 40k Instagram followers and regular, predicable cash flow, even if it’s not positive cash flow, will have investors coming out of the woodwork.Marketing Right Now Bailey James Gang Instagram 2

 

If you’re not seriously thinking about this, then you don’t really believe in yourself.

 

Period.

 

You didn’t know how to play the guitar, piano, drums, bass, etc when you were born, but you learned because it was mission critical to your artistic pursuits.

Marketing Right Now Gtr Pno Drms Bass collage

 

It was foreign and it was difficult, but you did it.

 

It really was difficult by the way. If it was easy, EVERYONE would be a rock star.

 

Can you guess what else is foreign, difficult, and mission critical to your pursuits?

 

MARKETING.

 

 

Stop fooling yourself about “reaching the next level” and then someone else will do the job for you.

That’s a complete cop out.

 

I’m serious.

 

You won’t reach the next level without marketing and by the time you do, trust me, you’ll be so anal about how exactly you’re marketed you won’t want someone else to do it. If they do, it will be according to your directives.Marketing Right Now We Need YOU

 

We need YOU!! We need new artists! You’re blowing it right now only because you’re afraid!

 

You say you can’t afford to hire someone or you can’t afford to pay for some education on music marketing.

 

HOGWASH!

 

How can you afford that new guitar? How can you afford that little vacation with your significant other? How can you afford that car payment?

 

There are 2 kinds of investments in this world. Good investments and bad investments.

 

Marketing Right Now Market You Cartoon MemeWhat’s the difference between a good-ern and a bad-ern?

 

First off, don’t be upset, unless your parents taught you this you wouldn’t get it from anywhere else and most of your parents don’t know either. We don’t learn about the real value of money in school, man.

 

 

 

Take the money you’re spending on EVERYTHING and put each expense through this simple Future Value Mechanism to decide if it’s really worth it.

 

Multiply the number by 15 to get the future value of the money.

Marketing Right Now Stop Ignorance

 

 

Hint: People who are uneducated about money only think about what they are paying out instead of thinking about what the real value of the purchase is. Bad investments are sometimes necessary (like a car in some areas) but you’ll think about the transaction more carefully once your awareness of value has been increased. Good investments, like certain kinds of education are invaluable because the knowledge can never be taken away from you, it won’t rust, rot, or depreciate.

 

Things that rust, rot, and depreciate are bad investments.

Marketing Right Now Honda Accord MEME

 

Let’s take a car purchase for instance. If you purchase a $35,000 car, that will be relatively useless in just a few quick years, you’re making a bad investment. That money is worth $525,000 to you in the future.

 

 

Buying a nice car unless you have $500,000 of discretionary income sitting around is a seriously poor choice. Who cares what you look like? You’re on a mission.Marketing Right Now Rusted

 

What’s more important looking good now or making a living at what you love tomorrow?

 

 

An educational purchase is a different story when you factor in the revenue a targeted training course will give you throughout your whole life. What about a course that will change your life forever? How much is that worth?

 

Marketing Right Now Education MEME

 

How big of a check would you write to change your life forever in a positive manner?

 

That education, if applied, will change the way you make your money.

 

It will change the time it takes to make that money (making you more efficient).

 

It will change your daily happiness level because you’re working at something you love as opposed to suffering on a daily basis through something you hate to get to the weekend.Marketing Right Now Picasso Dichotomy

 

How many of you, right now, can’t afford to change your lives forever because you’ve got to make that car payment?

 

That’s just one example.

 

You’re smarter than that.

 

Start behaving as such.

 

Marketing Right Now Blue Collar

 

IF you act like a blue collar union worker (not that there is anything wrong with that) then the world will view you as such and treat you as such; manage your expectations. I think it was Steve Jobs who told a sitting U.S. President that one of the problems with education was that the teachers (by far one of the MOST important jobs on the planet to the advancement of our society and species) organized, behaved, and interacted like auto workers.

 

So they’re viewed and treated like expendable, out-sourceable, auto workers by our Government and to a large degree by society, instead of the invaluable rock stars that they truly are.

 

 

 

 

Start thinking, living, acting, behaving, and spending your money like a millionaire and your world will change.Marketing Right Now Steve Jobs Time Quote

 

 

Stop HATING and start LEARNING.

 

 

If you don’t know how to market YOU and your music, pay someone to do it. Get rid of the car and a few guitars and double down on your future. Trust me you’ll learn FAST.

 

Marketing Right Now Double Down MEME

If you can’t afford to pay someone to do it, pay to learn how to do it. Again, DOUBLE DOWN ON YOU!

 

Buy books, webinars, retreats, marketing courses, etc. This knowledge will not seep in through osmosis.

 

You’re going to have to go get it, you know that, right?

 

You believe in yourself don’t you?Marketing Right Now New Skills Crane

 

You’re worth it aren’t you?

 

Every time you spend money you’re creating wealth.

 

Are you creating it for you or someone else?

Marketing Right Now You're Worth It

 

 

 

Stop being such a sucker and take control of your destiny.

 

 

 

 

Watch your world change.

 

Stay

In

Tune

 

If you like this post, please SHARE it and/or LEAVE A COMMENT thank you

 

 

Will Feature Image

I date a beautiful first grade teacher of 17 years who has two amazing daughters that are 11 and 8 years old.   The first week of this past October, it was their school fall break, so I took them up to Lake Geneva, Wisconsin for a couple days to see where I grew up. Lake Geneva is a beautiful, Will Lake Geneva Collagequaint, little tourist town nestled against a large natural lake with AMAZING homes on it (The Wrigley’s estate, the Walgreen’s estate, etc.) I contacted a former co-worker of mine (from a killer restaurant I used to bartend at 25 years ago) who remained in the thriving hospitality industry up there to get a deal on a resort room for the 2 nights we were going to stay. My friend, Geri, had married a guy named Lee who was a GM at one of the resorts. Geri was really a former co-worker and acquaintance to me, but a life-long friend to my little sister who also worked at this same restaurant with Geri and me at one point.

 

Geri came through, I got a sweet room at this amazing resort overlooking the breathtaking views of Lake Geneva for 50% off. This was accomplished through a small but succinct set of text messages.

 

1 week later my little sister texted me to tell me Geri had a brain aneurysm and Lee was about to pull the plug on life support.

 

My first thought: W…T…F

I still had those texts from just one week ago.

Geri had to be close to my age, give or take 3-5 years.

 

Will HeartbeaatIt’s at a moment like this I count my blessings and I take great solace in the fact that I wasn’t afraid to take risks in my life. Maybe that’s weird, but these are the things I think about when faced with my mortality (I don’t have kids of my own).

It’s true you know, on your death bed, the ONLY thing you will regret in life are the risks you didn’t take.

 

 

No one ever thought, “Whew, I’m glad I followed all the rules and flew below the RADAR screen of society my whole life.”

 

This past Friday, like everyone else in the world, I stared on with disbelief at the horrific events that happened in France.Will France Flag

 

There were people attending a huge soccer game, people out to eat with their families, and people attending a rock concert that were all senselessly and purposefully wiped out.

 

 

 

 

 

France has far stricter gun laws that the USA, if you weren’t aware.

Will gun control

 

So these people were exterminated by illegal handguns, illegal automatic weapons, and illegal explosives.

 

It was illegal and still, they were destroyed.

 

 

Who cares why? David Letterman said it best after the 9/11 attacks when he said (and I’m paraphrasing), “If you live to be 1,000 years old, will you EVER make any sense of this?”Will_David_Letterman

 

I mentioned the gun control statement not to start a political rant, but to open your eyes to the bigger picture beyond guns.

 

Your life is short and promised to no one.

 

Too many of you are drinking whatever Kool-Aid you prefer and not paying attention to what’s really going on.

 

Here’s what’s really going on:  You’re wasting time.

 

Will Wasting Time

 

Regardless of what your government says they’re going to do to protect you. Short of putting all 7 billion of us on the planet in straightjackets to shield us from each other, if someone truly wants to damage you they can and they will.

 

Life is never going to be fair in this regard.

 

So the question is, what are YOU going to do about it?Will Straightjacket Collage

 

Any lawman will tell you most crimes are crimes of opportunity, which means you did something stupid and left yourself vulnerable. This stupidity was unfortunately recognized by a criminal mind and the situation was exploited.

 

The first day I moved to California, I was staying in Venice. At the end of the night I had the wherewithal to remove the face of my car stereo and placed it in its case, however, I left the case on the passenger seat like a moron. Next day I awoke to a busted window, no stereo face, and mangled dashboard from the rookie who tried unsuccessfully to pull the unit.

 

That one was on me. It was preventable.

 

What isn’t preventable is when someone REALLY wants to hurt you. When that situation arises, you can only take care of yourself.

 

I’ve never owned a gun and I don’t hunt (hunting in Wisconsin = COLD).

 

The gun control arguments on both sides are laughable. My problem with these debates has nothing to do with guns.

 

It has to do with the byproduct of too much control (of any kind) which is creating a society of victims who rely and/or blame someone or something else for their lot in life.Will Concentration Camps License Rodrigo Galindez

When we don’t take responsibility for our own happiness, love, safety, health, mental health, job, life mission, etc., someone else will, I promise.

The more your government, parents, friends, lovers, etc. step in to protect, the more humans will rely on that and not do for themselves.

 

 

We’re just wired up that way.

 

Nobody is responsible for you but you.

 

And just like us all, you are broken.

Will something Broken MEME

We are all broken.

 

Maggie Rose wrote, “Life’s full of broken things, like hearts, homes, and dreams. We all come from something broken,”

 

You’re health, your heart, your home, it doesn’t matter, because you’re just like everyone else.

 

What will define you is how you play the hand you were dealt.

 

Will you choose to believe the media, the governments of the world, and your naysaying friends when they tell you someone or something else is responsible for your unhappiness?

 

Will Pressure

 

It’s easier to think that. Takes the pressure off of you, right?

You don’t have to do the work but you do have to live with the consequences.

 

 

 

My friend Geri and those unfortunate people in France all stupidly lost their lives too early.

 

Their loss of life was not their fault.

 

How they lived their lives up until that last moment was.

 

I don’t know any of the victims in France. I do know that Geri led a wonderful life. She had grown kids and fostered a loving marriage to her best friend, Lee.

Will Meaning of Life MEME. License Leland Francisco

Photo: Leland Francisco

 

I hate that she had to go.

 

I love what she did right up until that moment.

 

Want to know what the meaning of life is?

 

I know the answer. It’s easy.

 

You are a mission critical cog in the wheel of advancing human society.

Will Society MEME

 

Your job is to be a little smarter, a little wiser, a little worldlier, a little more creative, and a little more aware than your parents were. (For some of you, maybe you’re a LOT more of these things.)

 

 

 

 

 

STOP thinking about what you don’t have.

 

STOP blaming your parents, past events, sickness, trauma, blah, blah, blah.Will Stop Hand

 

STOP waiting around for something to happen to you and START making something happen FOR you.

 

START working with what you have in front of you right now.

 

START making moves right now.

 

You cannot change yesterday.

 

You cannot predict the future.

 

The only thing you can control is RIGHT NOW.

 

 

Will butts

 

 

You need knowledge and you need to apply that knowledge to become more powerful.

 

We all come from something broken so your excuses for not accomplishing what you want to accomplish are like butts, EVERYBODY HAS ONE AND THEY ALL STINK.

 

 

1,000 years of additional, positive, forward progress in our advanced society will not change the fact that one cannot guarantee your safety or any kind of equal outcome to your life experience.Will Downloading Future

 

So blaming anyone but yourself is futile.

 

It’s still going to be up to the individual to craft the results of their life.

 

 

Will BurglarIllegal guns, drugs, alcohol, knives, bombs, automobiles, and hurtful words choices designed strategically for the purposes of emotional abuse will not change the fact that if someone wants to hurt you they can and they will.

 

So it’s on you.

 

Nobody can make you feel inferior without your permission.

 

 

 

 

Who are you authorizing to make you feel bad, inadequate, pathetic, or downright horrible?Will Consent Quote

Is it family?

Friends?

The news channels?

Your government?

Drugs?

Alcohol?

Television?

 

What risks have you been putting off?

 

What are you scared of?

It’s time to love deeper and forget the B.S.

It’s time to be the kind of friend you’d like to have.

It’s time to start working on your dream; start that band, finish that song, record that demo, learn how to market your music, etc.

 

What would be going through your mind if you were one of the victims in France with an illegal AK-47 to the back of their head just before you were executed?

 

What would’ve been your regret?Will Cowboy Up

Life is a full contact sport and nobody gets out alive.

 

Don’t give anyone permission to take your happiness away and put it in the hands of anyone else.

 

You cowboy up and take the good with the bad.

Will Rocky collage

 

You’re going to screw up, we all screw up.

 

 

Get over it.

You’re going to fail, we all fail more than we succeed.

 

Get over it.

 

You’re going to have to get back up again, shake it off, and learn from the mistake.

 

It’s a scientific fact that the big win, the big score, the game-changer in your life will absolutely happen immediately following a failure that you had to recover from.

Will No Traffic Jams Extra Mile

 

Don’t wait, man.

You’re life is almost over.

 

 

You’re out of time.

 

There are no roadblocks in the extra mile. If you’re feeling them, you haven’t driven far enough.

 

Get to it.

 

Stay

In

Tune

 

 

 

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Music Influence 2

In Nashville the tourist trap honkytonks are all located on Broadway between 1st and 5th streets. The North side of Broadway gets 40% more foot traffic than the south side.Music Nashville Lower Broadway 2

 

Location, Location, Location.

 

Here’s the deal, in this market example, the foot traffic is a reality regardless of what bars are there. Putting a business along that street will guarantee you a certain amount of customer traffic. Putting your business on the North side of Broadway will guarantee 40% more opportunities for commerce.

 

Online, when it comes to consumers and new music/artists, there is no “existing foot traffic”. At least none that will pay your bills in any real way.

 

Music Marketing Infographic

 

Platforms like iTunes, Pandora, Spotify, etc. promised exposure to new indie artists. They imply that you’re placing your music within a framework of “digital foot traffic” and through the popularity of said traffic, created by the already branded, famous artists, the indie artists will find an audience.

As if the traffic overflow would create some kind of magical cornucopia of consumers that are interested in spending their precious time exploring new artists.

 

POPPYCOCK! This is a lie. Don’t believe it.

 

They haven’t been able to make that happen as of today.

 

Consumers go to a digital distribution platform to find something they’re looking for, not to browse or “shop”. Consumers always went to record stores back in the day to find what they were looking for, not to shop; this behavior hasn’t changed.Music Online Shop icon

 

 

Here’s a factual observation to bring some persepectivve to this reality. When women go “shopping” it doesn’t always mean they’re going to purchase anything; they enjoy the thrill of the chase as much as the kill. When men “shop” we know exactly what we have to get, we find the store that has it, we do business with that store and then leave. IN AND OUT.

Music Shopping List MEME

Music consumers shop like men.

 

If I put a gun to your head could ANYONE tell me about 1 artist who “broke” on iTunes, Pandora, Spotify, Deezer, Slacker, etc.? Is there even one story about an artist who was NOBODY until they put their music up on one of these sites and then found throngs of loyal fans and started a career?

 

 

 

 

 

Music Marketing iconYOU will have to create the traffic.

The traffic will come from marketing that YOU do.

YOU will have to create the buzz.

YOU will have to influence the minds of these consumers into responding to and purchasing your music.

 

The big question I’m always asking myself (you should be asking yourself) is this: If radio isn’t going to expose the new music to the masses (because consumers have choices and will predictably change the channel to find familiar music), what has to happen for an artist to break?

 

What do I have to do to get ME to break?

 

Music Marketing BEFORE Meme

 

Consider this, in the-old-school-radio-breaks-your-single-world, the music, i.e. the single, was the first interaction consumers had with an artist.

 

Because music was the first experience a consumer had with a new artist, creating buzz and building a brand was initially about the music.

 

You were essentially forced to sit through an unfamiliar song on terrestrial radio while you waited to hear the DJ play ‘your jam” and if the new song was a hit song, you’d probably like it. Then you heard it 6 more times (however long that took was directly related to how much time you spent listening to the radio) and your buying decision was greatly influenced as the killer new song became more and more “familiar” to you. At some point, you were swayed enough that you would go and spend your hard earned money on that new artist’s record or CD.

 

Since artists hate to talk about commerce, I’ll serve up another way, it takes 7 listens (and however many spins in a marketplace that is required for a consumer to hear it 7 times) for your hit song to become someone else’s “jam”.

Music Old School MEME

 

Think about this, it’s a psychological phenomenon that most consumers will always change the channel until they find what they are familiar with. If consumers now have the capability to constantly change the channel, to an infinite amount of stations, until they find “their jam”, how will they be exposed to the new music?

The music is no longer the first interaction a consumer will have with an artist.

 

Whoa!

 

Does that make sense?

 

Music New Music Handcuff Image

 

Before, consumers were forced to suffer through the exposure process, now we don’t have to. We get instant gratification in playing music that is already familiar to us.

 

Your music is important, don’t get me wrong.

 

 

But your music is not going to be the first thing that turns heads and creates a buzz with consumers anymore.

 

They won’t listen to your new song on the radio when they can so easily find their jam.

 

How is it going to work?

 

Wrong Marketing YOU finger 2It’s you, my artist friends, it’s you.

 

YOU are now the first contact, the first interaction, the first connection consumers will experience, if they LIKE you, THEN they will hear your music.

 

You’d better be marketing accordingly, or you’ll experience the crappy sales numbers that all the big dogs are dealing with.

 

Music Drake Album Cover

 

 

 

I think there is only one record that has gone platinum this year, y’all.

 

The old marketing method doesn’t work anymore and the sales numbers prove it.

 

 

 

Here is some data to support my statement.

 

Let’s first look at the history of pricing.Music TP Comparison Meme

 

In 1978 Tom Petty’s Damn the Torpedoes was released and the price was $8.00 which, when put into an inflationary calculator, is worth $28.80 in 2015 dollars. Tom Petty’s new CD Hypnotic Eye (released in 2015) like everyone else’s CD’s can be purchased for $10.99

 

The price-per-widget has declined by 62%.

 

Let’s look at unit sales.

 

Industry Shania Twain UP

 

The bestselling country music record 10 years ago was Shania Twain’s Up! which sold 11 million copies. The bestselling country music record last year was Jason Aldean’s Old Boots, New Dirt which barely sold 1 million.

 

Unit sales are down 90% from 10 years ago.

 

 

 

So, price per CD is down 62% and STILL consumers are only purchasing 10% of what they used to purchase just 10 years ago.

Worthless Empty Pockets Image License Barabara Nixon

Photo: Barbara Nixon

 

Think about this devastating market reality a different way to drive home the incredible impact. What if your current boss told you he was cutting your pay by 62% AND cutting your hours by 90%?

This is a marketing failure.

 

 

 

You may be thinking that the economy is to blame; people are holding on to their money these days.

 

Music Gas to Water MemeI would counter with the fact that every day, the poorest people in this country walk into a gas station and pay more than 3 times the price of a gallon of gasoline for something they can obtain FOR FREE; bottled “purified” water, A.K.A. tap water.

 

 

Think about that. For a 1 liter bottle of the cheapest water you’re going to pay between $1.50 and $1.99.

 

There are 3.78 liters in a US Gallon. With the cheapest bottle that would equate to $5.55/gallon for bottled tap water that you can get for free.

 

It’s not the money.

Music 1 Million Sold MEMEA

Why then, if it’s not the money, are sales down?

 

Jason Aldean had just as much money to promote as Shania Twain.

 

With every single going into heavy rotation, Aldean had just as much exposure on the radio as Twain.

 

Aldean was the bestselling country music artist last year, people are paying to see his sold out arena shows. Heavy rotation on terrestrial radio means consumers are definitely familiar with Aldean’s music and ticket sales mean they definitely like him, so why then aren’t they buying his record?

 

Whenever you pass on purchasing a product you are familiar with and you actually like, it’s for only one reason.

You don’t think it’s worth it.

 

Music 555 per Gallon MEME

 

These days, the consumer buying decisions are being influenced by the artists themselves, not the artist’s music; at least not at first.

 

Now, you may say “They won’t buy the record because they can hear the music for free on YouTube, or get it through their Spotify/Pandora subscriptions, etc.

 

 

You may be right, but again, I give you the bottled water example.

 

 

 

 

The sales numbers show that artists who focus on relationship with their fans sell more records than artists who are old school and let the “music do the talking”. Fans don’t trust a relationship with the music or song like they used to.Music 7 Million MEME

 

Thus, Taylor Swift sells 7 million units with no Country radio support and Jason Aldean, the darling of Country radio, barely sells 1 million.

 

Any indie artist that manages to send a project to duplication has no problem selling the first 50 units.

 

Both of these artist examples sold CD’s because the buyers felt they had a relationship with them.

 

That’s the key. The music can deepen the relationship, but initially the music is essentially useless. The artist’s interactions, talent, and relationship with the fan is going to initiate the connection. Something compelling, clever, honest, truthful, and spiritual will be the catalyst.

 

If this concept makes sense to you, why on earth would you wait until the music is finished being recorded to begin to market it?

 

Let that one marinate inside your head for a second.

 

Music Traffic Marketing YOU DO MEME

 

If making connections is now the way to get people interested in listening to your music you shouldn’t be waiting for anything. The old school methodology of “waiting till the record is done to promote it” is obsolete if consumers aren’t going to hear the music first.

The old school way requires the music to be the catalyst for the sales, for the artist/fan relationship, so it would make sense to wait because you needed the music to do the marketing.

 

 

But if you’re not initially marketing with your first single, you have nothing to wait for.

 

Get it?

 

Radio will continue to lessen in its importance with marketing. That is to say that, in the future, radio will help to “spread the word” but it will no longer be “creating the buzz” and introducing you to the world.Music_Earl_Dibbles_Jr

 

Your proof lies in the sales figures from Taylor Swift, Earl Dibbles Jr., and every indie artist who ever released a shrink-wrapped duplicated project.

 

 

The question is, what are you going to do about it?

 

Stay

In

Tune.

 

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Music Change Comedy Tragedy masks

We can all agree the market has changed in the music industry. If the market has changed then so must the marketing methodologies. Alas, the industry hasn’t changed and the record sales are a direct reflection of this lack of adaptability.

Music Head in the Sand image License Peter

Photo: Peter
License: http://bit.ly/1jxQJMa

 

 

 

This is part one of a two-part article that dissects exactly how the market has changed and how consumer behaviors have changed.

 

 

 

Leon C. Megginson was paraphrasing a concept out of Charles Darwin’s book Origin of Species when he said, “It is not the most intellectual of the species that survives; it is not the strongest that survives; but the species that survives is the one that is able best to adapt and adjust to the changing environment in which it finds itself.”

 

Music Time For Change Chalkboard image

 

This also applies to artists like you.

 

 

 

It’s not the strongest, the most intelligent, the richest, the most talented, the most well-known, the most creative, the most original, the best songwriters, or best musicians that will survive; it’s the most adaptable to the changing environment.

 

 

Let that sink in for a second.

 

Do we have a changing environment or what?

 

This means that if you focus on marketing as an artist, REALLY focus on marketing, your audience will be there when you’re art is ready. It also means you’ll be ONE OF THE ONLY PEOPLE with a grip on connecting to and creating relationships with audiences in the new music industry. This, in turn, means that your audience will be the most loyal as well.Music RIP Mass Mktg 2 Collage

 

That’s a pretty big advantage.

 

Marketing in and to the mass media is essentially a dead exercise; just like 1,000 previous dead religions and dead languages, it’s hardly pragmatic these days. It’s not really useful. Mass media/mass marketing will become the highbrow discussions of intellectuals 30 years from now, 50 years from now, even 200 years from now.

 

This is because you need reach a “mass” of people to make “mass marketing” work. The crowd plays a significant role when influencing the masses.

 

The masses are eroding in the market place.

 

Music Network Collage

In 1979 there were 3 major TV networks and 228 million people watching television. If your show sucked and was in 3rd place, you probably still had 30 million people watching it. That’s still massive exposure.

 

 

Competition back then was about being number one, the most popular programs brought in the largest advertising dollars, but there was an Music Super Bowl 50embarrassment of riches to be had.  (Think about the Super Bowl today. We are blown away by the cost of a 30 second ad, the network can charge these astronomical prices, and companies happily pay because there are so many people watching. I submit to you that the Super Bowl is one of the last big mass marketing audiences)

 

 

 

 

Music Smaller Audience CollageNowadays, there are hundreds of channels and the biggest hit TV shows are lucky to have 3-5 million people watching them. Mathematically, with 330 million people in the USA, that is roughly 1% of the population watching a huge hit show vs. 7.6% for crappy 3rd place in 1979.

 

Competition has now become about survival.

 

If you lost in 1979 you were humiliated but you were still fat, you still ate. If you lose now you’re dead, you’re starving.

 

This dynamic has happened because consumers have choices. When consumers have choices they exercise them.

 

This development is also happening in terrestrial radio. Think about the SHEER POWER terrestrial radio used to have in exposing the masses to a new artist.

Here’s a real world example:

When you get in your car and turn on the radio what do you want to hear?

You want to hear “your jam”.

You want to hear something you KNOW, something your familiar with.

In Milwaukee, WI there were 2 rock stations when I was growing up. I would go to my favorite rock station and (assuming there wasn’t a commercial on) 1 of 3 things would happen:Music Yes No No Collage

  1. They would be playing my jam (So I would stay on that station)
  2. They would be playing something I was familiar with and hated (which resulted in me changing the station)
  3. They would be playing something I was unfamiliar with (which resulted in me changing the station.)

 

There was a 66% chance that I would move down the dial to my second favorite rock station.

 

Music New Music Handcuff Image

 

Once again, the aforementioned subroutine was engaged and there was a 66% chance I would go back to my first and very favorite station, cross my fingers that they would play my jam next, and LISTEN to whatever they were broadcasting at that very moment.

I was exposed to many new artists that way. Some of them I loved, some of them not-so-much but I had to listen.

 

 

Here’s the rub:

Now, with automobiles having 4G LTE Wifi capabilities, equipped with Apple Carplay or Android Auto technology, my “next station” choices as a consumer are infinite.Music Apple CarPlay COLLAGE

 

I can keep changing to other stations, Pandora, Spotify, Deezer, Slacker, IHeartRadio, HD Radio, Sirius/XM Satellite Radio, etc. until I find my jam.

 

Think about that.

 

Music Consumer Choice MEME

 

 

That means I’m going to keep looking until I find something familiar to me.

That means Radio has now lost the power to expose the masses to new artists because consumers have choices.

 

 

 

Consumers like choices and consumers like familiarity (it’s kind of a dichotomy, don’t you think? We all used to “suffer” through the bad songs and unfamiliar songs to get to our favorite familiar songs. The “suffering” was the exposure-to-new-music process).

 

The translation I’m hoping that y’all are getting is that artists are not “breaking” on the radio anymore.

 

I submit to you that rock radio and pop radio have not “broken” any new artists in the last 5-7 years.

 

All the new artists “broke” somewhere else like TV, YouTube, Soundtrack, etc. THEN rock and pop radio started spinning them because they had to. The artists were now popular and in demand.

 

Country radio is still breaking new artists but those days are numbered, man.

Yes there are exceptions to the rule.

No, it is not smart to pin your hopes, dreams, blood, sweat, and tears on a business model that requires you to be an exception to the rule; don’t be an idiot.Music NO Powerball Lottery MEME

 

So how will you be exposed?

 

What is going to be the most effective methodology for artists to actually connect with future fans?

 

How will consumers become aware of your existence?

 

How will YOUR song become MY jam?

Music Emoticon Question Image

 

The music industry keeps trying to invent new ways for consumers and artists to connect and do business.

Spotify, iTunes, Pandora, Bkstg, Reverbnation, Bandzoogle, etc., created new ways for consumers to do business with the artists they are aware of, but these platforms essentially do nothing to expose new music and artists to these consumers. None of these platforms would have ANY TRAFFIC if there were no multi-million dollar brand names on them.

What I’m focusing on, and what you should be focusing on are the reasons why consumers will like you.

If consumers are aware of you and they like you, THEY WILL FIND YOU wherever you are. So the platform really isn’t that important, rather it’s secondary.

 

 

Think about how easy it is to find something or someone who wants to be found these days!!

 

I seriously just screwed up a keystroke writing this article by unknowingly using “Ctrl” + “T” which changed the indent of the next line. Ugh. In 30 seconds I googled what happened and discovered the antidote.

Music Buzz Is Better MEME

Piece of cake.

 

Traffic is what’s important. Buzz is better!

 

Stay

In

Tune (part 2 next week!)

 

If you like this post, please SHARE it and/or LEAVE A COMMENT thank you!

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Mistake Feature image

I keep hearing artists say they can’t afford and they don’t know how to market their music. If you’re not marketing, make no mistake, you have recorded a vanity project.

Mistake Vanity 2 License Phillip Pessar

Photo Credit:: Phillip Passar

 

It’s for nobody else but you.

 

Yes, you’re going to sell a few CD’s at live shows, but these are more of an impulse souvenir purchase as opposed to creating a real fan base. They were drunk and you moved them. If you’re doing over 200 gigs per year, you might make your recording budget back. Otherwise you’re business model is losing money.

 

The consumers that purchased your CD at a live show need to see you again somewhere and hear about you somewhere else for that awesome live show experience to become a mental anchor in their psyche.

In short, for your music to actually mean something to them, you’re going to need more than just a live show.

Mistake Rock Star

 

Isn’t that what you want, for your music to mean something to somebody?

 

You have to give them another reason to talk about you so they can proudly relate the fact that they have already seen you live to their friends.

 

 

 

They also have to interact with you on social media in a way that makes them feel special, a part of something bigger than themselves.

Mistake Sheep Crowd

 

 

This is how you get into the head of a music loving consumer.

 

This is how you slowly build critical mass.

 

Make no mistake, your live shows, songwriting, and recorded music won’t be enough.

Mistake 2 Brains

 

For some reason, in the music world (notice I DIDN’T say music business) wannabe artists think they can write, record, perform, and make records (which is a vastly different endeavor than simply pressing the record button on your home pro tools rig…but I digress) and “make it” on their own capitalizing on sheer raw talent.

 

They think, “I’ll just get these ideas recorded and put them up on iTunes and then wait for the world to notice.

 

Make no mistake, raw talent is just that; RAW TALENT.

Mistake Oil Collage

 

Gasoline, rubber tires, and asphalt are examples of oil based products that consumers spend money on in the marketplace, therefore these items are valuable.

 

 

Crude oil is worthless to a consumer.

 

Crude oil is worthless until it is refined. Once there is a refinement process, and a pipeline to the marketplace, crude oil becomes extremely valuable.

 

Get it?

 

This is how I view y’all. You are all valuable crude oil but with no refinement process and no real pipeline to the marketplace.

 

Mistake Crude Oil

Too many of you don’t understand why consumers aren’t buying your crude oil and you’re frustrated.

 

 

 

Make no mistake, nobody does it on their own, you will need a team around you. Yes that team will consist of managers and booking agents in the future, but not until you have something to manage and you can put some asses in seats.

 

 

Until then your team will consist of people who help you improve (refine) your music (i.e. songwriters, engineers, Producers) and people who help you market your music (i.e. marketing companies), or people who teach you how to market your music, (marketing classes, paid coaching, etc.)

Mistake Marketing

 

Make no mistake, your favorite iconic artists, LEARNED

  • How to refine their art
  • How to refine their approach
  • How to refine their attitude
  • How to refine their image
  • How to refine their songwriting
  • The importance of marketing
  • How to refine their live performances
  • The importance of networking
  • Solid team-building strategies from the professionals around them who made a living in the music business and TAUGHT them how to succeed.

 

 

Your favorite artists were not born famous, they were not born successful, and they were not born knowing what they know now.

These artists were crude oil, worthless until refined.

 

Mistake Springsteen Collage

 

FYI, it took most of these artists 30 solid songs, in 3 solid records, with 3 solid marketing campaigns to “break” and become the household names they are today (even if they’re indie, btw). It was a long journey that took time, energy, perspective, and a team of people to execute.

 

 

Think of your favorite 3 artists. At what point did these artists come into your awareness?

Mistake Bon Jovi Collage

 

Was it the first, second, or third record that you were turned on to them?

 

 

Here’s a real world example.

 

Mistake Greetings from Asbury Park

 

Regardless of your genre, LISTEN to the first Bruce Springsteen release, Greetings from Asbury Park, NJ. You’ll be interested to know that “Blinded by the Light” and “Spirit in the Night” were NOT initially handed in to Columbia by Springsteen with that record. Clive Davis heard the music and told Springsteen he wasn’t going to release the album because radio wouldn’t play any of those songs. He needed to record something that could be promoted on the radio or “The Boss” was going to get fired.

Under tremendous pressure, he wrote 2 more songs, with a little more melody, and clever, intoxicating song structures to stay in the game; “Blinded by the Light” and “Spirits in the Night”.

It’s no surprise that “Blinded by the Light” was first on the tracking list.

 

 

Still that record didn’t blow up, but Springsteen was onto something. He was really good and he was learning.

 

Mistake CoffeeHe was critically acclaimed but that didn’t pay the bills. All the critical praise and .10 cents was going to get him a cup of coffee in 1973.

 

 

 

 

 

Mistake Born To Run

 

Now listen to Springsteen’s 3rd release, Born to Run. Can you hear the artistic difference? Can you hear the refinement?

 

Make no mistake, he didn’t get there alone.

 

He was leaning how to write a better song.

 

He was learning how to make real records.

 

 

It’s not surprising that while the first 2 records were hugely important and critical in the journey, they were not popular, they were not commercially successful (meaning they didn’t sell).

Mistake Class Room

 

 

It was Born to Run that blew up the sales charts.

 

It was Born to Run that broke Springsteen.

 

 

 

 

Now I can hear you lamenting.

 

Yes, I can hear what’s going on in that head of yours.

 

You’re either thinking, “Well if I get my deal, then I’ll be surrounded by the people I can learn from, so I’ll just have to wait to get my deal.” OR your thinking, “Well, I can’t do any of that so I’ll just keep doing what I’m doing and something will change.”

Mistake Tactics

 

Believe me none of these tactics will get you anywhere.

 

The good news is it doesn’t cost $250k to make a record anymore.

 

You have it easier than Bruce Springsteen.

 

More good news! It’s SUPER EASY to target YOUR audience, connect with them, and begin creating real artist/fan relationships.

 

If you don’t know how to do it, you’d better learn or you’re wasting your time.

 

Mistake Kid LearningThe bad news is you’re going to have to change your thought process. You need MOST OF YOUR BUDGET FOR MARKETING, not recording.

 

If you keep spending all your budget on the recording process, you’ll keep getting the results you have always got.

 

Zilch.

 

You won’t expand your fan base.

 

Make no mistake, you have to learn to market your music.

 

If it’s good and you’re wondering why the world hasn’t caught on yet, it’s because they haven’t heard it.

Mistake Rock Concert

 

Cut your next recording budget by 80% by recording 80% less songs. Market the very best gems you record.

 

The world will catch on once they hear it, man.

 

Your audience is out there.

 

Make no mistake, your audience WILL NOT FIND YOU.

 

You will have to find them.

 

How exactly are you going to do that from you home town with no marketing?

 

Stay

In

Tune.

 

 

If you like this post, please SHARE it and/or LEAVE A COMMENT thank you!

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