Tag Archive for: Bailey James

Audience Feature MEME

Audience Collect The Contact DataMany of you have now become aware of different indie artist self-help gurus and they have one common message; collect contact data.

 

 

 

Not for nothing, major label artists, famous people, actors, radio stations, ministers (big and small God’s children all God’s children), film studios, and TV networks could all change their worlds forever with this marketing strategy.

 

The tactic is called Permission Marketing.

 

Audience Permission Marketing

 

I’ve written about this before, but in this article, I’m going to focus on a little perspective and then some real-world applications so y’all can get a better grasp of how it would help you.

 

 

 

Here’s the whole idea of Permission Marketing in one quick sentence.

 

“Permission Marketing is the concept that the future value of a fan is worth FAR more than .99 cents or $10.99 the old music business would have us collect from them right now.”

 

Audience PM Definition MEME

 

 

 

Does that make sense?

 

 

 

 

Audience Broadcasting Success MEMEThe old methodology to break an artist was blasting the message about the artist via many different mass media channels. As tens of millions of people are exposed to the artist’s work via radio, TV, print mediums, and live shows, we would get a small percentage of new fans to become aware of that artist or song. Once a single person has been exposed to the artist via mass media at least 7 or 8 times (which requires massive frequency in the message) the more we will begin to convert those new fans into paying customers.

 

Right now, too many of you subscribe to this archaic promotion method. It doesn’t work anymore.

 

Want proof?

 

How are your sales?

 

How’re the record businesses sales?

 

 

Audience Your Sales Suck Image

The Record businesses sales suck and so do yours. Guess what, it’s not working.

 

 

 

Yikes. Sorry, but I’m trying to be real here.

 

Here’s the issue with the old method in a nutshell.

 

There are no masses anymore. The conversion rates have ALWAYS been small percentages. But mass media was super powerful despite the low percentage of conversions because the masses were so BIG!

 

Now they’re infinitesimal and growing smaller every day.

 

How big were the masses back in the day?

 

When the Beatles performed their American television debut on The Ed Sullivan Show February 6th, 1964 there were 78 million people watching that show! If 1% of the people converted (I believe that percentage was insanely higher but I digress), that means 780,000 people went out and purchased a record the next day.

 

Audience Conversion MEME

 

 

Whoa.

 

 

 

How infinitesimal are they now?

 

Today one of our biggest hit TV shows is The Walking Dead. Their audience is about 3-5 million people. So, if it were a music oriented show, that means a 1% conversion rate would get you about 30,000-50,000 in sales, but the conversions are much lower than 1%, therefore it would be less.

 

Huh?

 

Yeah, the Beatles stuck out like a sore thumb in 1964 for various SIGNIFICANT reasons:

  • They towered over a VERY small pool of artistic competition with incredibly amazing art.Audience Clutter 3,500 Messages image
  • The people they were reaching were not inundated with 3,500 ad messages per day, not even close.
  • Thousands of incredible and wannabe artists were not clogging the ad channels with their art.
  • The day after their appearance on The Ed Sullivan Show the masses all heard the single on the radio because they didn’t have choices in the car; they had to listen.
  • There were only 3 channels on TV for the whole country and probably 1 maybe 2 choices for radio in any given city.

 

Do you see how much everything has changed?

 

Here’s a real world practical example of how Permission Marketing will change your life. I’m going to break it down from a more exposed indie artist all the way down to an artist that is early on their journey so follow me on this.

 

I received a call from one of the highest profile artists we’ve ever explored a relationship with, who I think gets Permission Marketing.

 

He’s a 28-year-old MBA, entrepreneur, rap artist, and TV personality.

 

Audience Shawn Satellite MEMEHe said something like this, “Johnny, I cut my teeth on multiple MTV shows where I was the host. I’m currently signed with Disney as I am a cast member on a new ABC reality show. I just dropped a single featuring Snoop Dog, we’re shooting the video next week. I parlayed all that heat into a new reality show on Bravo (which isn’t in production yet). I sold out 5,000 tickets for a show last New Year’s Eve. Oh, and I’ll know in the next 2 weeks if I get the lead role in a feature film for a major franchise (because it’s between me and one other guy). So, tell me, how would your marketing approach apply to me?”

 

 

Here’s what I said.

 

“Let’s suppose that we were working together from the beginning of your MTV days. We would scrub the internet looking for everybody that hash-tagged you or mentioned your name. They’re easy to find and the social media mentions would be busy during the airing of any given episode. Now depending on what your idea of fame is (meaning doAudience Shawn Explanation MEME you feel like following somebody first is smart or do you feel following somebody first will undermine your fame?) we go out and follow them all. Then, to the ones who follow us back, we offer a free song download or something valuable to them. Now we own the information. If we did that for both MTV shows, the new ABC show, collected information during your sold-out NYE show, and the Bravo show how many contacts would we have?  Oh, let’s not forget the Snoop Dog single! If you’re in the video with him, that’s instant credibility for you. Snoop’s social media wells are the gift that will keep on giving. After all that, could we maybe have 1 million emails? NOW, apply that power to the conversations you’re having with the huge feature film franchise. If it’s between you and one other guy, it’s safe to say that they like your acting chops, they like your look, but the only thing they need to figure out is who is going to fit better. What if you had 1 million contacts who are rabidly awaiting your next message that would directly receive the trailer and some BTS access during shooting? THAT’s TICKET SALES. THAT’S MONEY! THAT’S POWER!”

 

Do you see what I’m getting at here?

 

Are you picking up what I’m putting down?

 

Can you even vaguely see how having the contact list would tip the scales in this situation?

 

the more an artist gets directly connected to his fans the less he needs 3rd party entities to connect him with an audience.

 

He’ll still need those 3rd party entities to help him create and distribute his art, but can you envision how drastically the role of that 3rd party changes when he comes to the table with an audience that he can contact at will?

 

Audience The Bigger The Artists Audience MEME

The bigger his audience, the more power he has.

 

 

 

These 3rd party entities are TV networks, TV production companies, record labels, movie studios, radio stations, corporate sponsorships, branding and co-branding opportunities, etc.

 

Audience iPhone MEMEEnvision the record labels coming to you because you have an audience, you can quantify that audience, and you can contact them directly.

 

What would that do for an actor?

 

An actor with 1 million contacts could take on indie film pet-projects and get immediate funding because the investors would know that they already had an audience to recoup their money.

 

What would that do for a minister?

 

I was interviewing a potential new intern this past week. His resume showed me that while he was interested in the music business, he was deeply involved in his church and had some ideas about being a minister.

 

Audience Preacher MEME

 

Can you imagine the work you could accomplish if you were a minister with 1 million contacts? Get everyone to donate $1 To build schools or houses in Haiti. Boom, just like that you’re on your way! They know you. You have their permission to reach out because your content is relevant and personal to them, it’s consistent, and they trust you to be a good steward of their money. Of course, you would need to spend a small portion of that money ensuring that you document what their $1 investment did for them, but that position would be quite powerful.

 

 

 

 

 

Audience Crowdfunding Collage

 

 

 

Permission Marketing is the mother of crowdfunding. If you do a good enough job with the permission, you arguably wouldn’t need a crowdfunding platform, you could just take the money because they trust you with it.

 

What about on a smaller indie artist level?

 

Audience Bailey James Instagram

 

 

Well, I have a 14-year-old artist named Bailey James. She currently has about 39,000 followers on Instagram. When we started with her she had about 100 or so.  Her Instagram account is large and engaged so she now gets paid good money post stuff on her account. She’s considered an influencer. Bailey has played 3 shows so far. She is in the early stages of her artistic journey, but her audience is strong and growing every day.

 

 

 

Audience Bailey Fan Accounts 1

Bailey has over 20-30 fan created social media fan accounts.

 

 

 

 

I’m relatively sure that’s more than most of you. See the power in the strategy?

 

Audience Bailey Fans 2

 

 

 

Her strength in social media has gotten her many opportunities with PR companies, musicians, and corporate relations.  For instance, her relationship with The Jason Foundation was largely due to her social media audience. That relationship with JFI has led us to a decently paid, full-production gig during CMA week for a private fundraiser.

 

 

 

 

Bailey has a contact list but it’s small right now. That list will probably triple during her first radio tour this summer.

 

What if you’re an indie artist who plays a ton of shows?

 

Man, if you’re not collecting contact info at every show, you’re an idiot. I don’t care if there are 5 people at the show, those numbers add up over time. Think about how many shows you play per year and your average audience size. Add up those numbers. It becomes quite clear that touring artists have a massive opportunity to grow a list if they just understood what was right in front of them. Even for a weekend warrior, you’d have 10’s of thousands of contacts after just 1 short year.

 

Imagine an indie artist with just 100,000 contacts, which is TOTALLY doable in less than 2 years for a band that plays every weekend. What brands would be interested in a direct rifle shot into the hands of 100,000 people that are waiting to hear what the artist will say, sing, play, wear, drink, eat, watch, etc.?

 

Audience Collecting at Live Shows MEME

How much could that artist make with one video message?

 

 

 

What about a TV network or production company?

 

Imagine possessing a massive list of people who love a specific kind of content like zombie thrillers. Now you can email them directly to make them aware of your new show for free.

 

Do you see how this is so important?

 

Bottom line, the bigger your audience, the more power you have. Your audience will grow slowly so get going on it immediately.

 

The best time to plant a tree is 20 years ago. The second-best time is right now.

 

Grow your audience, increase your power, increase your income.

 

Stay

 

In

 

Tune

 

 

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Story Branding Feature MEME

If you aren’t aware of story branding yet then you’re Story Branding Fire Deer MEMEwelcome, in advance. This is your introduction.

 

It’s going to change your life and, YES, I’m going to give you a real world example in this article.

 

Do you know how those memory experts, who during a live performance, can remember 100 random things in order 1 hour after being exposed to them for the first time?

 

Story Branding Memory Expert

 

 

ANSWER:  Story branding.

 

They turn each item to be remembered into an image and then the sequential images create a little movie in their heads which makes it more memorable.

 

How powerful is that?

 

What if you could do that in your music marketing?

 

Story Branding Trojan HorseIt’s like the most awesomely effective Trojan horse that allows you to tap into the consumer brain and hijack it for a certain amount of time.

 

Every movie, book, sitcom, some songs, some commercials are built around story branding.

 

What is story branding exactly?

 

 

 

A story, in its most basic form is a three-act play.

 

Story Branding Act I

Act I: Set up

Act II: Conflict is introduced

Act III: Resolution

 

 

 

 

Here’s the deal, we are wired up to remember stories because we cannot help but place ourselves into the story and begin to compare how we would behave in the situation at hand. It doesn’t matter how unrealistic the story is (think summer blockbuster movies) we all, automatically, put ourselves into the story and begin to make comparisons within ourselves and our own lives.

 

Story Branding Wired Up

 

We think consciously and subconsciously, “Here’s what I would have done.”

 

 

 

Even the best scriptwriters who are EXTREMELY AWARE of the structure of the story at hand, cannot help but get emotionally involved; it’s like kryptonite.

 

Think about that I’m going to repeat it!

 

Even the best scriptwriters who are EXTREMELY AWARE of the structure of the story at hand, cannot help but get emotionally involved.

 

How freakin’ powerful is that? They know what’s going on but cannot exclude themselves from the result that is desired by the writer. They get pulled in when it’s executed correctly.

 

Wow.

Story Branding Boring Boardroom meeting

 

This is so powerful that huge corporations are beginning to require executives to serve up the boring quarterly status reports, typically rife with mind-numbing charts and power point slides, in the form of a story.

 

Everyone remembers, nobody falls asleep.

 

 

You may remember when I wrote How to Actually Get Paid Living As An Artist, I took a lot of heat from the community because I “didn’t offer an exact method to actually get paid, instead it was all this ‘mental mindset’ mumbo jumbo”.

Story Branding How To Get paid

 

A bunch of people didn’t get it and felt I duped them.

 

Story Brand Duped Me

 

 

I’m going to connect the dots in a real world way right now by explaining my line of thinking, so follow me on this, ok? Here is why this mental mumbo jumbo is ACTUALLY THE ANSWER.

 

 

 

I am extremely aware of story branding and content marketing from my reading. For weeks I was wondering and thinking about how to incorporate this power into the marketing for my artists.

 

Execution is certainly required, but with a company like Daredevil Production, LLC, we content market and story brand pretty well. We have a service and information that has the capability to change artist’s lives and careers.

 

When I share little golden nuggets of that information via my blog Story Brand Gold Nuggetarticles and my podcast, it is valuable to the artist community because it’s relevant and personal to them.

 

It helps them.

 

 

Therefore, my messages are mostly anticipated and not ignored like some commercial or ad they choose to ignore 3,500 times a day (real number).

 

Of course, when I have put that info into a story, which I often do, it sticks better, they receive this important information more efficiently.

 

Here’s the rub. With an artist, THEY are the product. So how does one dole out information that is valuable to that artist’s community without sounding obnoxious or narcissistic?

 

Story Brand Narcissistic

 

ANSWER: It can’t just be about the music, there has to be more to humanize the brand and make them relatable. After all, the relationship with the artist will come BEFORE the audience hears the music so this is our “in”.

 

 

 

 

If they like the artist, they’ll listen to the music.

 

This challenge was rattling around in my head for weeks.

 

I was asking the right questions!!!!

Story Brand Brain

Then my subconscious rewarded me.

 

The gift came in the form of a conversation with Kevin, who is Bailey James’ father.

 

Again, because I was asking the right questions and open to all forms of input (all that mental mindset crap if you haven’t figured it out yet), I was able to recognize this information as a game changer.

 

Instead of chalking that exchange up to a random conversation it became my muse because I was looking for it.

 

I was telling Kevin about my ex-girlfriend’s (we were dating at the time of this conversation) youngest daughter, Meryn, who is 9-years-old.

 

Story Branding Messy Room

 

Her room always looks like a bomb went off in it. Typical for that age right? Mom fusses at her to clean her room, Meryn has other plans so she pushes everything on the floor and all visible surfaced under the bed.

 

 

 

Well the day came when Meryn wanted a friend to come over and it was time to deep clean her room which meant under the bed. Mom and I understood that Meryn was overwhelmed and we offered to help her.

 

HOLY CRAP!

 

You can’t imagine the things that we pulled out from under the bed. Bones, dead bodies, sandwiches, brand new outfits/shoes that have never been worn, plates, forks, glasses, OMG (some of those items are false and sarcastic and some are real. I leave it to you to decide).

Story Branding Clean Room

 

Disgusting.

 

Kevin and I were in stitches as I was telling this story and he retorted, “Oh that’s nothing, Bailey has that beat!”

 

He went on to explain that Bailey’s room was always spotless. When Bailey was required to clean her room BEFORE a friend could come over, she would take everything off the floor and all visible surfaces, put these items in a garbage bag or laundry hamper and put it in a closet down the hall that the family hardly uses.

 

The friend comes over NOW and the parents aren’t any wiser until a couple weeks later when mom starts to miss outfits.

 

I thought to myself, “This is GENIUS”.

 

Story Branding Epiphany

 

Ding! Then the light switch went off. If you remember, when we started this Bailey James project, I wanted Bailey’s fans to feel like she spoke for them; the 9-14 year olds.

 

 

 

Taylor grew up.

 

Her lyrics went from “You wear high heels, I wear sneakers, you’re Cheer Captain and I’m on the bleachers” to “I have a long list of ex-lovers, here’s a blank space, you can write your name.”

 

Who’s speaking for the kids now?

Story Branding Bailey TSG Logo

 

All these thoughts came together with story branding in this epiphany.

 

Bailey’s Teen Survival Tips.

 

What If we created a series of say, 30 videos, where Bailey shares her stories on how to deal with common pre-teen and teenage issues? Some issues could be serious, some could be fluffy, but they would all be relevant and personal to Bailey’s audience.

 

Bailey’s audience all have had similar experiences and it’s nice to hear from a peer that you’re going to be ok, right?

 

Story Brand Anticipated

 

 

Which would make these videos anticipated (instead of obnoxious and ignored).

 

 

 

 

Issues like:

  • How to clean your room and get that friend over, right now!
  • How to deal with catty girls.
  • How to deal with a mean teacher.
  • How to deal with peer pressure.
  • When your crush doesn’t like you back.
  • Boys fashion guide.
  • How to deal with mean boys.
  • The right way to eat a cupcake.
  • Some embarrassing moments for Bailey.

 

Are you picking up what I’m putting down?

 

These videos would be quick between 30 seconds and 3 minutes so they’re easy to consume.

Story Branding Relationships

This would be an AMAZING way to create a relationship between the audience and the artist.

 

 

She serves these little teenage value bombs up in the form of real stories. In most of these videos, there is a set-up (act I), conflict (act II), and a resolution (act III).

 

We are about to release this video series this week. I’m going to play with the intervals at which we release the videos but the meat is on the bone.

 

Story Branding Vulnerability

 

We have a story, we have relatable information, we have vulnerability with the artist (which makes her “one of them”), it’s served up in a video format which is far more engaging and sharable than any other format, it feels like the artist is talking directly to the consumer, and it can be multi purposed across all social media platforms to drive traffic to her YouTube Channel.

 

 

 

 

Oh yeah, I forgot to tell you, guess what’s playing in the background of every video during each story?

 

Yep. Her current single. (drops mic)

 

FYI, we spent about $30 on the logo via Fiverr.com and about $100 getting the bumpers created with our video house.

 

Here is an example of one of these videos.

 

FYI, you can story brand everywhere.

 

 

Here’s a “right” question to ask yourself. How can you create a story in a Tweet? Could the image be the set up? Could an image be the set up and the conflict leaving 140 characters to proffer a resolution?  I digress.

Story Branding Twitter MEME

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Story Branding The Business Of Story Logo

 

If you want to dig into story branding more, I recommend this free podcast The Business of Story.

 

 

 

Story Branding Donald Miller

 

 

 

…and this one, Building A Story Brand with Donald Miller

 

 

 

 

 

Stay

In

Tune

 

 

 

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Waiting Traffic Lights Feature

I received a little heat for my last blog article entitled How to Actually Get Paid Living As An Artist. People reached out and commented (complained); they thought it was a misleading titleWaiting Misled Spelling

 

“When do I find out how to get paid?” was a common response.

 

So let’s dig a little deeper because it seems that MANY of you are completely missing the point.

 

“Your title said How to Get Paid and all I read was this mumbo jumbo mindset crap!”

 

I’d hear from the same people if I listed all the ways I have gotten paid as an artist, how I have gotten artists paid, and how I have monetized other businesses. They would complain about too many choices.

 

They would complain about what they always complain about; having to do work.

 

Waiting Renewing the Mind

 

Question: “What exactly do I have to do to get paid, Johnny, which one of these methods will work for me?”

 

Answer: Precisely.

 

 

What DO YOU have to do to get paid and stop waiting?

 

Nobody likes this answer because it means they still have to find the answers on their own and actually do the work.

Waiting Worker Lego

 

This answer means there is no easy button.

 

If you want an easy button, go find a day job.

 

That’s about as easy as it gets. Trade 40 hours of THEE most valuable resource on the planet, your time, for some kind of paycheck.

 

EZPZ.

 

You know the outcome. Everybody wins.

 

Zero faith required.

 

Waiting Extraordinary RESIZED

However, if you’re going to do something extraordinary with your life, then you’re going to have to work extraordinarily to make it happen!

 

God, this pisses me off.

 

So many of you are lazy, whining, and entitled.

 

Too many of you just want to be famous.

 

Stop it.

 

When I was an artist in the 80’s and 90’s the methods to get paid were different then when I had a band in Los Angeles in the 2000’s. The scene was different, the market was different, so the method was,  you guessed it, different!

 

Waiting Snowflake RESIZED

 

 

 

The artists I am blessed to work with now all require different marketing creativity, approaches, and methods to reaching an audience and getting paid.

 

WARNING: Spoiler Alert!

 

Waiting Spoiler Alert MEME

 

Here’s another fact that is going to burst your bubble and make the day job look real sexy: it takes time and patience.

 

 

 

Yes, just ask Guns & Roses how “easy” it was for them once they signed their deal. The money just started flowing into their bank accounts, right?

 

No.

 

They were dead broke.Waiting Guns and Roses

 

In fact, if it wasn’t for their manager who was paying for their housing and paying for them to live, they wouldn’t have survived the record deal at all. Let alone the time it took vet producers, to record the record, to release it after it was completed, the full year AFTER the record was released before it broke, the time it took AFTER the record broke before they actually saw a paycheck.

 

That was the quick way.

 

Today, you have to be patient and build your relationships.

 

This takes time, persistence, and a whole lot of heart that most of you probably don’t possess, because it’s too hard. It’s too hard because it requires an INSANE amount of faith in yourself. I’m NOT talking about you “saying” that you believe in yourself either. I’m talking about you working day in and day out building and building, spending time and money with little initial return on your investment.

That’s the faith and belief I speak of.

 

Waiting Time

Most of you don’t have that kind of faith in yourselves, sadly.

 

 

Why would I write about a mindset and sell it as a way to get paid?

 

Sheesh.

 

Yee of little faith.

 

THE MINDSET IS ACTUALLY HOW YOU GET PAID.

Waiting Brain Money

 

Until you sincerely figure this out, until you really internalize this, you won’t get paid.

 

HOW exactly does a mindset get you paid?

 

If you have the wrong mindset you’re looking for the wrong things. Therefore, you can’t or won’t recognize the right things because your focus is elsewhere.

 

When you are looking for the wrong things two results happen.

 

Waiting Flashligh

 

 

First, if you find the things you’re looking for, which are wrong, they don’t work for you and you waste time, energy, and resources. Second, you’re wasting your energy and gumption NOT looking for the right things.

 

 

 

You get frustrated.

 

You lose faith.

 

You settle for EZPZ.

 

Too vague?

 

Let’s get down & dirty with some details.

 

Waiting Cigar Big Wig

If you’re looking for the big wigs to sign you and make your career happen these are the wrong things for MANY reasons.

 

Number 1. Big wigs are completely turned off by artists who do no work on their own and expect a label or executive to make their career happen. It’s the biggest freakin’ turn off EVER and they don’t care how good you are, I assure you.  They are WELL aware that without the drive to make yourself into something early on, your talent doesn’t matter because you’re missing a mission critical component of success.

 

Essentially YOU believe that once someone else believes in you enough, then you’ll take your career seriously and we’re all supposed to trust that you’ll get down to business at that point.

 

It doesn’t work that way. The big wigs know this because all of them have tried that at some point and been burned; it never works.

 

Additionally, they can’t help you even if they LOVE you because that’s not the business model anymore. Their hands are tied. You HAVE to have a small campfire created at the very least before they can help you build the forest fire you desire.

 

So if your business model is to “meet the right people” and blow them away with your talent you’ve already lost. You’ll be IGNORED and judged as a “wannabe” because they recognize it. These big wigs can instantly ascertain the fact that you won’t work on your career or are presently naïve to the amount of work it will take and that means, talent aside, you’re NOT worth it.

 

Number 2. While you’re busy whining, complaining, and waiting to meet the “right record executive” you’re NOT looking for some little wins that will get your career going, like Social Media. Most of you seriously suck at this and you all have real great excuses as to why.

 

Waiting Bailey Image RESIZED

READ THIS COMMENT!

 

We have opened many doors that we weren’t normally supposed to be in yet with Bailey James simply because the engagement she gets on her social media is so impressive. Once inside these doors, we deepened many relationships because we moved the needle on their social media accounts by shouting out on ours, they fell in love.

 

We did something for them and they weren’t expecting it.

 

 

 

 

 

We were just being grateful but the net result to these future business relationships was a wonderful gesture on our part that had measurable results on their end with something they too, struggle with.

 

That was a result of DAILY work and attention to something y’all can do for free on your smart phone or laptop.

 

But you don’t do it.

 

You don’t do it because you HAVE THE WRONG MINDSET.

 

Get it?

 

Here is one more reason why MINDSET is mission critical to success.

 

This is an actual study.Waiting NewsPaper MEME

 

Back in the 40’s or 50’s a scientist ran an experiment trying to prove that “luck” was a state of mind. They believed that “luck” was the result of a certain interpretation of life events rather than some random circumstance that happened to individuals.

 

The scientist put an ad in the paper asking people to respond if they felt they were “generally lucky people” or “generally unlucky people”.

 

The scientist paid all the responders $250 (a lot of money at that time) to participate in this experiment.

 

Each of the subjects was given a newspaper and asked to count up exactly how many images appeared in the newspaper. Once they were done counting, they were to receive $250.

 

Waiting Lucky

The “generally unlucky” people averaged about 2-4 minutes to count up all the images and get paid.

 

The “generally lucky” people averaged 15 seconds.

 

Why?

 

Because on the second page of the newspaper there was a BOLD ½ page ad that was black & white text which read: “THERE ARE 42 IMAGES IN THIS NEWSPAPER, PLEASE RELAY THIS TO THE TEST ADMIN, COLLECT YOUR $250 AND GO HOME. THANK YOU.

 

The “generally unlucky” people were looking for just one thing, images, and passed right by the big break. Searching for images seemed like the right thing to do because it is what they were told to do, yes?

Waiting Blinders MEME

The “generally lucky” people were completely open to receiving all sorts of information and recognized an answer to get them paid quicker; it WASN’T AN IMAGE.

 

They had an open mindset.

 

Most of you are too busy looking for images and missing all the other opportunities to get paid.

 

Waiting Looking For The Right Things

 

Most of you are way too focused on what you don’t have and are ignoring the momentum you could be creating with what you do have.

 

 

 

Here’s a good question, what exactly are you looking for and HOW SURE ARE YOU THAT YOU’RE LOOKING FOR THE RIGHT THINGS?

 

Stay

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Tune

 

 

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How To Build Your List Feature MEME

How to build your customer list?How To Build Your List Key Ownership MEME

 

Why should you build your customer list?

 

We’re going to answer both today.

 

The reason why is you have to own the information.

 

Simply put; if you don’t own it somebody else does.

 

Whomever owns the information controls the information.

 

How To Build Your List Nacho Contacts

 

Huh?

 

Yeah, those 10,000 fans that you busted your butt to locate and connect with on your Facebook page belong to Facebook, not you.

 

 

Even if you paid Facebook to help you reach them, they’re not yours.

 

Because Facebook owns the information they do whatever or charge whatever and whenever they want to allow you access.

 

Oh, and you trust them to ensure that your message is actually getting to those followers and some random accounts from a crappy click farm.

How To Build Your List Cypher Feature

 

Twitter, Instagram, Whatsapp, Snapchat, YouTube, and every other platform will behave in exactly the same way.

 

Here’s a real example:

 

In December of 2013 Daredevil Production was marketing for Collin Raye who is 90’s country music star with 24 top 10 hits, 16 #1’s and over 8 million records sold.

 

Collin Raye Record

 

At that time, Collin’s Facebook page had 118,000 likes. We were promoting his latest release (while producing the new one) and needed to ramp up the activity on his Facebook page prior to a CTA (Call To Action) post advising people to purchase.

 

In 2013, Facebook had something called “Edge Rank” which was an algorithm that essentially filtered all posts by popularity and relevance to the user. This means that your Mom will probably see every one of your posts and the people you interact with less would need to rank as more popular to get their message to appear on your feed.

Like Collin Raye.

We devised a guitar giveaway contest that was designed to create Collin Guitar Contest 100k commentsmassive amounts of comment activity in a very short time.

 

We ran the contest and we received over 100,000 comments in 1 hour on Collin’s page. (This meant more people would organically see the next post which announced the sale of the new release. Make sense?)

 

Raging success!

 

We replicated this exact same contest with 3 other country music starts in October of 2014.

 

Jamie O’Neal had around 13,000 likes on her page and we garnered about 13,000 comments in 1 hour with the contest.

How To Build Your List Andy Griggs

 

Andy Griggs had about 45,000 likes we got about 45,000 comments in one hour.

 

Ty Herndon was the biggest of the three with 67,000 likes on his page and, you guessed it, we summoned around 67,000 comments in 1 hour.

 

 

FYI, I don’t have a clue why there is a correlation between the amount of likes and the amount of comments in 1 hour, but there was; four times in a row.

 

Fast forward to February of 2015 and we get a super exciting opportunity! Tracy Lawrence with 1.1 million likes on his page.

 

How To Build Your List Tracy LawrenceCan you imagine where my head was at?

 

This is news! 1 million comments in 1 hour is NEWS!

 

Hell, even if we failed miserably and only got 500,000 comments that’s still news, man. That would have blown my company up.

 

Facebook went public, changed the rules, and we only got 50,000 comments.

 

Tracy and his team worked HARD and SMART identifying and connecting with those 1.1 million fans but, like every other person on FB, they had zero control and would have to pay to reach them.

 

Get it?

 

The way around the system is to be collecting contact data, RELIGIOUSLY, the entire time you’re connecting, so you can reach your following whenever you want and as often as you want.

 

The frequency costs money on Facebook.

 

The frequency is free on your list.

 

Don’t hate on Facebook either. They’re a company they need to make money. They have an awesome platform that How To Build Your List Frequentallows an incredible capability of targeting, connection, and communication. It’s worth it.

 

But why pay more than once per fan?

 

That’s the why you build your list.

Here’s 5 ideas on how to build your list.

 

There are many ways to constantly improve your list. The most important takeaway is that you’re constantly asking, “How can I get more people on my list?”

 

If you you’re asking the right questions, your subconscious will reward you.

 

First you’ll need to set up some relatively simple technology to capture these contacts.

 

  1. Squeeze Page – IHow To Build Your List Tonyf you’re not familiar with the name, you’re definitely familiar with the technology. This is where you offer something of value (like a free song, or in my case a free Twitter book) in exchange for their email address. If you want to see what a squeeze page looks like you can peek in at GiftFrombailey.com, GiftFromAbbey.com, GiftFromTony.com, GiftFromAlora.com, and GiftFromJohnny.com

 

Notice a common thread?How To Build Your List Bailey

 

A common look?

 

 

 

 

How To Build Your List AbbeyIt’s because they work. If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.

 

 

 

 

 

  1. Text Capture – Text capture works really well too, especially for live shows. There are many competitors, we like Call Loop. It only costs $10/month for a key word. If you text BAILEY to 38470 you’ll get to download a free song and we get your phone number.

 

How To Build Your List Call Loop

 

You can opt out of both of these technologies at any time. So step one is get the information and step two is make sure you have some content ready to keep them interested.

 

Get it?

 

Here are some killer strategies to get them to actually sign up.

 

  1. How To Build Your List Merch TableLive Show Merch Table Sign In – Have a computer on the merch table by the person who is watching your merch for those who don’t have a device. (Don’t forget you’ll need WiFi somehow…make it happen)

 

If you don’t have a merch table make one.

 

If you don’t have a person, find one.

 

Go to the bar owner and tell her that you’re intelligently building your contact list which will help both of you to improve the draw moving forward as you’ll be able to contact these people directly to inform them that you’re coming back to her bar.

 

How To Build Your List Bar Tab FREE

 

Ask her if she’d be willing to put up a $25 bar tab to a winner that you’d randomly pick from a list of people who signed up that night.

 

FYI, every time an artist has followed my instructions on this, the bar owner DOUBLED the amount to $50. Remember this is NOT $25 or $50 dollars cash from the bar as $25 worth of booze only costs a couple bucks to the bar. It IS worth $25-$50 dollars to the fan.

 

Get it?

 

Remember, everyone is a winner because they ALL get a free song for participating, but the people who stick around till the last song have a chance to either drink for free or put a nice dent in their bar tab.

 

But they have to sign up to win.

 

Can’t win if you don’t play.How To Build Your List Live Show Phone2

 

This will work if you SELL IT from the stage.

 

 

 

“Who likes FREE MUSIC?? If you like free music, get your cell phones up in the air!! Go to GiftFromJohnny.com and get your free song from us as a THANK YOU for coming out tonight. All you have to do is tell us where to send it. BTW, if you do it RIGHT NOW I’m going to pick a name at the end of the night and that lucky person will get a $25 bar tab so if you like free music AND you like to drink, this is perfect for you!”

 

How To Build Your List FSMS

 

This same idea works with the text capture too.

 

We had Bailey James do this at her first show, which was to 730 middle school kids, not all of whom had devices, not all of whom brought their device, and we got 150 contacts. Abbey Cone did it in Texas at a High School and got 400 phone numbers in 5 minutes.

 

 

  1. Recurring Twitter (Social Media) Posts – If you’re Tweeting like you’re supposed to (at least 14-24 Tweets per day) you have room every 3rd or 4th Tweet to THANK THEM for following. Because your #Grateful or #Blessed to have them, here’s a free download of our single. #YOUROCK.

 

How To Build Your List Recurring Tweetts

 

 

 

These will create a slow, steady trickle that builds up over time and increases as you grow your reach on Twitter.

 

 

 

 

  1. Interview Benevolence – In the case of a Squeeze Page, you are NOT plugging anything, rather you are Santa Clause, grateful for the interview, interviewer, listeners, readers, community, etc., and want to offer them a free song as a “thank you”, or a favor, or out of respect, etc.

 

How To Build Your List Adam Carolla
We did this with a killer indie rock band called 7Horse (who’s song “Meth Lab Zoso Sticker” was the theme song for Scorcese’s Wolf of Wall Street). They were able to secure an interview on Adam Carolla’s podcast. We assembled the squeeze page, Joey and Phil mentioned it twice, before and after they performed a live song. We got around 800 email contacts in 24-48 hours.

 

Every radio, print, podcast, and TV interview better have a mention of the squeeze page.

 

If you’re always thinking, how can I get these people to opt in? You’ll figure it out.

 

Then you’d better hit me up on social media and let me know what you came up with!

 

How To Build Your List YouTube Annotations

  1. YouTube Annotations – If you’re posting regular weekly videos on YouTube then annotate each video informing consumers that you’re appreciative of them watching the videos so here’s a free download right now. Bailey’s email list has grown significantly over 18 months using this method alone (she hasn’t toured yet).
  2. Social Media Bios – Screw your webpage, screw your store (you don’t have enough of a relationship yet to ask for money) and put your squeeze page link up on Twitter, Instagram, Facebook, YouTube, etc.

 

Listen, I know you don’t get all of this right now. You don’t have to. Just get that list started. It’s MISSION CRITICAL

 

The money is in the list. I promise.

 

Every time we send out an email to Bailey’s list, we get sales.

 

Period.

 

What have you got to lose?

 

Stay

In

Tune.

 

 

 

Music Marketing Reason Feature

The music industry is SUFFERING because consumers don’t need more ways to connect with artists and purchase products, they need more reasons. Creating reasons consumers want to buy is what music marketing is all about.Music Marketing Bkstg Logo

Why does the music industry keep creating new WAYS for fans to purchase music/merch/tickets, etc.?

You’ve heard of “Murphy’s Law”? Well, Murphy completely underestimated the problem here.

 

A new startup called Bkstg just raised $20 million to create a new social network geared towards artists and music sales. Of course, fans and artists alike will have to adopt the new app, new platform, care about the artist and artist’s product, and there’s your proverbial trouble.

If a cool, easy to use distribution platform was all that was needed to sell more music, indie artists and Music Marketing Barrel Moneymajor label artists alike would be in high cotton selling like crazy on iTunes, YouTube, Twitter, Instagram, Bandzoogle, Reverbnation, CD Baby, blah, blah, blah. The trouble is when you put your music on any digital distribution platform nobody cares unless you make them aware that you are there and then make them care about YOU.

 

Get it?

Consumers need a reason.

 

A good reason makes the purchase worth it.

 

Your music has to be worth it to the consumer not just you, so if you’re thinking “my music is amazing and that’s why they will buy” you are seriously delusional.

Music Marketing WHY Ksayer1 License

Photo: Ksayer1
License: http://bit.ly/1jxQJMa

 

 

 

Your delusions, in my point here, have nothing to do with your music (although that is often part of the problem…but I digress as that issue is not germane to this article).

 

 

 

If we all understand the difference between music distribution (which is where consumers go to Music Marketing Distribution Equalspurchase) and music marketing (which is why consumers will purchase) then it should be obvious to y’all that a new distribution method is a waste of time.

 

There are many BIG investors behind this new Bkstg platform that frankly, seems to be reinventing the wheel.

 

 

 

This is where I see opportunity for all you indie artists.

 

Focus on the “why” right now. Focus on music marketing and marketing yourself.Music Marketing Magnifying WHY

 

 

Ask yourself, “What reasons do consumers have to purchase my music?”

 

 

 

What are your gifts?

Can you sing?

Can you play?

Can you write?

Can you rap?

Can you dance?

Music Marketing Gifts ElfAre you funny?

Are you a big personality?

Share these gifts with the world on social media.

Let them get to know YOU.

 

 

If you own the “why” it really won’t matter what the “where” is because real fans will find a way to get it…just like drugs, or Christmas, or Black Friday, or Valentine’s Day, etc.Music Marketing Why Collage

 

In plain English, any and all distributors (of the consumer’s preference) will be utilized to purchase music from an artist people are genuinely interested in.

 

 

The biggest reasons consumers will purchase anything from an indie artist these days is a relationship with the artist. Period.

 

 

If you’re not thinking about this then you are an idiot.

This is what new music marketing is all about, people.

 

Music Marketing 1 MIllion. Morgan Williams License

Photo: Morgan Williams
License: http://bit.ly/1jxQJMa

 

 

Jason Aldean had lots of promotion, lots of radio spins, and barely sold 1 million units. This number along with almost all the other record sales scares the crap out of industry executives.

 

Aldean had the #1 selling country music record of 2014.

 

 

 

 

 

Taylor Swift had lots of promotion, lots of radio spins (albeit NO SPINS on country radio where all her previous releases were promoted) and a relationship with her fans via social media.

Music Marketing 7 Million Jana Zills License

Photo: Jana Zills
License: http://bit.ly/1jxQJMa

 

 

Taylor sold 7 million units.

Her fan’s reasons for purchasing the whole record vs a single were founded in the relationship they felt they had with Taylor.

 

 

So what are you doing with your music marketing?

What are you doing to create reasons for people to buy your music?

To expose people to your music?

 

Why do so many of you wait until you finish recording before you begin thinking about creating the relationships with your fans online?

Music Marketing Music Don't Talk MEME

This tactic suggests that the music will do the talking. The trouble is if consumers are not aware of you, if they are aware of you but are unfamiliar with you, or don’t like you, they won’t give the music a chance.

Get them interested in your talent, in you as an artist, and they will be curious to hear your music when you release it.

THEN the music will do the talking because the consumer will be open to receiving the communication you want to send. (At that point your music and recordings better be good!)

 

Get it?

Overlooking and under-funding the music marketing for your project is akin to choosing not to put oil in your car because you don’t have “the budget”.Music Marketing Junkyard

You wouldn’t be shocked when your engine freezes up without oil, why would you expect the world to purchase a product they aren’t aware of or familiar with?

 

Look, you’re not sure you know what you’re doing, I get it.

 

It’s foreign.

 

Get over it. FAST.

 

You must learn.

Music Marketing Bailey James MEMEWith Bailey James we have been marketing her on Instagram, YouTube, Twitter, and Facebook since January.

All this activity creating relationships with fans, getting them connected with her as an artist and her talent was consistently happening while we were still developing the project artistically.

 

As of now, we have created a decent fan base that now know her, are familiar with her (they regularly watch her YouTube videos), they interact with her on social media, and they adore her.

8 fan created Instagram accounts have been started so far.

Her EP is loosely scheduled for release mid-September.

 

Listen, YOU’RE the reason get it?

Music Marketing YOU MEME Gabe Austin License

Photo: Gabe Austin
License: http://bit.ly/1jxQJMa

 

Don’t make the mistake of thinking the music is the reason.

 

In today’s indie online market, you come before the music.

 

The more “reasons” you can give, aka the more of yourself that you put out there, the more fans you will get, the more music, merch, and tix you will sell.

 

Get to work now on creating more reasons.

 

Focus inventively on why a consumer will buy your music, not where, and you’ll be one step ahead of the whole damn industry.

 

Stay

In

Tune

Music Marketing Laser  Find Your Audience

Mistake Twitter

 

PS: If you haven’t already downloaded my free Music Marketing On Twitter book, please enjoy it on me. Go to GiftFromJohnny.com put  in your name and tell us where to send it. It’ll teach you how to get 1,000 new targeted followers every month for just 15 minutes per day.

 

 

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

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Lombardi Feature MEME

Vince Lombardi achieved GREATNESS. He was an amazing, driven, highly successful, and highly influential individual who chose professional football coaching as a career back when the pressure was the same but professional football coach’s salaries were nowhere near what they are today.

So he didn’t do it for the money, he did it out of love.

Lombardi Trophy US Embassy Canada License

Photo Credit: US Embassy Canada
License: http://bit.ly/1ryPA8o

 

Just like you do with your music career.

 

Vince Lombardi was so influential in his chosen endeavor that the trophy for the highest level of success in pro football, the Super Bowl trophy (this is the trophy that every pro player, coach, and team owner want to be photographed holding), is called the Lombardi trophy.

It represents excellence, achievement, and culmination of a long struggle.

 

It embodies greatness.

 

Lombardi Green Bay HOF

 

I’m on a Green Bay Packer kick today because my sister, bless her buns, called me last Thursday and said she had 2 extra tickets to the Brett Favre Packer Hall Of Fame induction at Lambeau Field. Of course my girlfriend Cari and I IMMEDIATELY made plans to witness history and went up to Green Bay for the weekend.

Watching Brett Favre address the 67,000 fans (all tickets sold out in 90 minutes, btw) who showed up at Lambeau to share his accomplishment was special. Grown men, and I was one of them, Lombardi Lambeau Fieldsobbing in the stands because Brett and that team brought the air of excellence BACK to the Packers organization.

 

We used to be great, then we lost the habit of winning 20 years prior (when Lombardi left Green Bay), now we simply EXPECT to win every game again.

 

Not hope, EXPECT.

 

Cari, my sister, my brother-in-law, and I were witnessing greatness.

 

That got me thinking of what greatness means.

 

Lombardi Everyone at Lambeau

 

That got me thinking of how greatness is achieved.

 

That got me thinking of how most people so falsely believe that one is born with greatness, they easily and predictably overlook the fact that greatness is always a result of hard work and dedication.

 

This notion naturally circled me back to Vince Lombardi.

 

 

 

Then I imagined how the mind and thought process of Lombardi could be attributed to your music career.

Greatness is attainable for anyone.Lombardi Edison Opportunity Quote MEME

 

I’ll rephrase, greatness is attainable for anyone who is willing to work.

So greatness is attainable to you…if you’re willing to work.

 

 

 

Just like in the music business, the NFL has players who are born with amazing talent who amount to nothing because they won’t work, who buckle in the face of adversity and hang it up mentally.

 

They psychologically quit, and that becomes a habit.

Lombardi Little Guy image

 

Just like in the music business, the NFL has players who are measurably less talented and smaller than those that surround them but are willing to out-work everyone, they know they must out-work everyone to compete to win the job that will grant them the opportunity to achieve greatness.

 

 

 

Brett Favre (2nd round pick drafted to the Falcons as a 3rd string QB) and Tom Brady (6th round draft pick) immediately come to mind.

 

These two men weren’t the “darlings of the NFL draft” to say the least. They were afterthoughts.Lombardi Favre PIc

 

 

Do you ever feel like an afterthought?

Afterthoughts can achieve greatness.

 

 

 

 

I think as humans and certainly as artists we often get mentally hung up on the ultimate goal, which is far enough away that we forget to focus on what will make us great.

Lombardi Momentum Meme

Momentum.

 

We forget to focus on the little wins, the little battles that determine momentum.

 

 

 

Like in Football.

They say football is a game of inches.

Inches that are mission critical in a 4 down series.

Each 4 down series is a battle that needs to be understood, dissected, and ultimately won to create a new set of opportunities; another 4 down series.

Lombardi Football INCHES FREE Pixabay

That leads to another opportunity to add to or change the momentum, and then another opportunity and so on.

 

Many little battles are won and it’s exciting because it creates momentum.

Many little battles are lost and that’s frustrating because momentum is lost.

 

But you can lose a bunch of battles and still win the game.

 

You can lose a bunch of games and still win your division which creates the opportunity to achieve greatness in the playoffs.

 

See my point?

 

Don’t overthink the wins. They are little battles that when won, need to be celebrated but you have another battle coming right up and you need to prepare to win that one, so don’t get carried away on a head trip.

Lombardi Big Head Devil

Don’t get a big head, you DEVIL!

 

 

Get to work.

 

Don’t overthink the losses, they are little battles that if mentally treated correctly, become learning experiences that help you win the war. The same advice applies to these losses, don’t get carried away on a head trip.

Lombardi Head in the Sand

Scared?

 

Get to work.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Here are some of my favorite Lombardi quotes and some notes/responses I have added to apply them to your music career.

Read them and introspect for a moment. Hit me back and let me know which of these quotes resonates with you the most.

 

“Perfection is not attainable, but if we chase perfection, we can catch excellence.”  I think the pursuit of perfection keeps you in writing or practicing mode just long enough to raise the bar.

“The price of success is hard work, dedication to the job at hand, and the determination that whether we win or lose, we have applied the best of ourselves to the task at hand.” – The task at hand is not becoming a successful artist, the task at hand is whatever you should be doing that day to get closer to success. Focus on the TASK AT HAND.

 

Lombardi Statue Jim Bowen License

Photo: Jim Bowen
License: http://bit.ly/1ryPA8o

 

“The difference between a successful person and others is not a lack of strength, not a lack of knowledge, but rather a lack of will.” – This is the most common denominator with successful people in the music business; will to survive. After that there are varying degrees of talent, strength, and knowledge, but EVERYONE must possess the will.

“Leaders aren’t born they are made. And they are made just like anything else, through hard work. And that’s the price we’ll have to pay to achieve that goal, or any goal.” – I am blessed to be working with 2 young artists, Abbey Cone and Bailey James. Yes, both of these girls are very talented, but they are important artists and they will achieve greatness because they out-work everyone around them. That’s really the main reason.

Believe me each of their careers is not an unbroken boulevard of green lights, there is plenty of adversity, they consistently overcome it.Lombardi Abbey Bailey Collage

They are quite literally making themselves into leaders.

 

 

“Dictionary is the only place that success comes before work. Hard work is the price we must pay for success. I think you can accomplish anything if you’re willing to pay the price.” – Therefore you can accomplish anything if you’re willing to do the work.

 

I don’t know why so many artists don’t understand this, maybe it’s a need to be famous rather than a need to be an artist.

 

There is definitely a laziness factor in many people.

Lombardi Laziness Rubiks CubeArtistry in any endeavor is about work, period.

 

“The quality of a person’s life is in direct proportion to their commitment to excellence, regardless of their chosen field of endeavor.” – I see this time and time again and it is ubiquitous across all the industries I have had careers in as well as my personal life. The harder I work at it, the better my quality of life gets.

How much are you really working on improving the quality of your life?

 

 

 “Once you learn to quit, it becomes a habit.” – Whoa.

 

“If winning isn’t everything, why do they keep score?” – Artists should keep score with momentum.

Don’t focus on the ultimate goal.Lombardi Leaders aren't born they are made MEME

Focus on executing the next step.

 

With Bailey James we are constantly attending to the creation of consistent content and growing not only her reach on social media but her engagement. As we increase her engagement we increase her fan base. 5 months later she has astounding numbers (averaging 500 likes and 50 comments per post on Instagram) and we still haven’t released the EP.

 

“I firmly believe that any man’s finest hour, the greatest fulfillment of all that he holds dear, is that moment when he has worked his heart out in a good cause and lies exhausted on the field of battle – victorious.”Nothing beats that feeling of success. Make sure you are managing expectations and setting attainable goals to succeed at. Momentum is key here, get 1% better than you did the day before. ENJOY and CELEBRATE the little victories…then get back to work.

 

“Some of us will do our jobs well and some will not, but we will be judged by only one thing-the result.” – The world doesn’t care about what you want to do, only about what you have done. You better make sure you get that, it’ll help you make crucial decisions as to what the world should see and when they should see it.

Lombardi RISK Free Pixabay“Winning is not a sometime thing; it’s an all-time thing. You don’t win once in a while, you don’t do things right once in a while, you do them right all the time. Winning is habit. Unfortunately, so is losing.”- If you feel like you are in the habit of losing, habits can be changed. Changing habits is a behavior modification. If you keep doing what you’ve always done, you’ll keep getting what you’ve always got. Don’t be afraid to take a risk….What have you got to lose?

 

“The measure of who we are is what we do with what we have.” – This quote sums up the biggest, most common mistake I see artists making. It’s the old “If I only had this, I could get that” mentality.

This thought process is simply an excuse not to achieve.

Forget about what you don’t have and focus on what you do have.Lombardi Tony Iommi Fingers

Tony Iommi who is arguably one of the most influential rock guitar players in history lost 3 finger tips in a Blue Collar job related accident early in his career. He focused on what he had (the ability to play guitar) instead of what he didn’t have (fingertips) and invented leather tips so he could continue playing. Some have argued that it’s the leather fingertips that added to his unique sound, one that changed the sound and tone of Rock & Roll forever.

 

So focus on what you DO HAVE.

 

You will create opportunities

You will create momentum.

 

You will become more attractive.

 

“The greatest accomplishment is not in never falling, but in rising again after you fall.” – This is probably one of the most common human pitfalls.

Lombardi Habits Make Us Celestine Chua License

Photo: Celestine Chua
License: http://bit.ly/1ryPA8o

 

Why are we so focused on avoiding the fall?

 

Is it because we are concerned more with perception over reality?

 

No matter how much thought EVERY human puts into this concept, regardless of intelligence, regardless of work ethic, falling is inevitable. The successful simply learn, get up, and find another way to win.

 

Every success is preceded by many challenges.

Every failure is preceded by an excuse.

 

“Once you agree upon the price you and your family must pay for success, it enables you to ignore the minor hurts, the opponent’s pressure, and the temporary failures.” – I think this quote speaks to being firmly grounded in reality. If you are realistic in what it takes to achieve greatness, you will be willing to endure the many challenges and falls that will surely come. Don’t be naïve as to the price.

 

“The harder you work, the harder it is to surrender.” – I mean, right?!?!?!Lombardi Thomas Edison quote

 

“We didn’t lose the game; we just ran out of time.” – Edison didn’t fail 2,000 times at creating the light bulb, he discovered 2,000 not to do it. Then there was the 2,001st time.

 

Get it?

 

 

“It’s easy to have faith in yourself and have discipline when you’re a winner, when you’re number one. What you got to have is faith and discipline when you’re not a winner.” – NOW is the time to have faith and discipline.

Lombardi I Believe In Me image

 

Why do so many people think they will execute that kind of behavior once they “make it”?

 

 

 

 

StayMistake Twitter

In

Tune

 

PS: If you haven’t already downloaded my free Music Marketing On Twitter book, please enjoy it on me. Go to GiftFromJohnny.com put  in your name and tell us where to send it. It’ll teach you how to get 1,000 new targeted followers every month for just 15 minutes per day.

 

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

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Periscope 16 Music Marketing Ideas MEME

Periscope’s slogan is “Explore the world through someone else’s eyes”Periscope_Slogan

For those of you who are unaware of this app, Periscope (and Meerkat) allow you to broadcast live video through your Twitter app.

 

MIND BLOWN

 

Thank you to my dear friend Gary Shapiro for turning me on to this app a few months ago. He said, “Johnny, I can’t wait to see what you’re going to do with this”

 

Periscope Idea Collage

Can you imagine throngs of people broadcasting live footage (AKA the TRUTH) we can all see during major world events like the terrorist attacks? Tiananmen Square? Watts riots? Balloon Rides? Bosnian genocide? Political Rallies? Live Concerts?

 

This technology has the potential to change the world for the better, including your career.

 

I see Periscope definitely changing the music industry as it can be mission critically instrumental in truly connecting artists with their fan base. If you’re clever you can incorporate interactivity and seriously deepen relationships using this app.

 

 

Watching a broadcast isn’t a passive experience like watching television. On Periscope, the experience is interactive as your audience can influence your broadcast by sending messages and expressing their love by tapping the screen to send hearts.Periscope Child TV Experience

 

FYI, the only discernable difference I can see between Meerkat and Periscope seems to be the “hearts” feature on Periscope which is why I like it better.

 

Periscope Hearts

 

 

 

Consistency will be crucial for some of these ideas.

 

 

 

 

 

Here are 16 ideas I have to help you utilize Periscope to deepen relationships with your fan base. PLEASE, PLEASE, PLEASE hit me back with any ideas you come up with!!

 

  1. Rock Star’s Perspective – Walk on stage to a packed house and broadcast live to let the viewers experience the rush you get when you are showered with applause.Periscope Winner is
  2. Contest Winner Reveal – What if you dreamt up a giveaway of some sort (autographed guitar, gift cards, gas cards, merch, etc.) and the contestants had to tune in live to win?
  3. Interactive Queries – We did something really cool with Bailey James where we asked the “James Gang” via social media to help us choose between 2 songs to pick the last song we would record on her debut EP. We set up a page on her site where fans could stream work tapes of her singing 2 songs. We asked them to choose their favorite and report back on social media. We received TONS of responses making this initiative very interactive. Then, fans had to tune in to a live Periscope broadcast to see which song won. We had viewers from England, Peru, Brazil, and Canada. SO COOL! This provided a sense of satisfaction to viewers who wanted to know which song won, it made the viewers feel like they were truly a part of the experience and decision making process, AND it provided invaluable social proof of the artist in the recording studio with her producers, the band, etc.  It was really happening, not just hype.
  4. Special Consistent Private Performances – Weekly quick performances of cover songs picked by your social media community that Periscope Abbey Cone Memeyou artistically stylize can be super effective. If you’re a solo artist, do it somewhere intimate so the viewers feel special access like your bedroom or studio etc. You WILL deepen relationships if you make them feel extraordinary.
  5. Backstage Pass Live – EVERYBODY wants a backstage pass. I remember getting backstage at an AC/DC concert when I was 16 at Alpine Valley. 60,000 people, I was standing spitting distance from Malcolm’s guitar while they were on stage was an experience that changed my life forever. This access would be amazing for the rituals, banter, and exclusivity of any show but ESPECIALLY big shows where you get the opportunity to play to large audience or a packed house. Announce you are broadcasting live on Periscope and have the crowd scream at your viewers. AMAZING SOCIAL PROOF.
  6. Writing Session – What would your fans think if they could kibitz on your creative moments? With Periscope they can effortlessly come on and off the app at will checking in to monitor progress.
  7. Recording Session – There is nothing cooler for a fan than a front row seat to watch you create magic.Periscope Bailey James Interactivity
  8. Live Access to Pivotal Career Moments/Announcements – Your fans want access, they want to feel like they were a part of your success. Allow them to share your experience of contract signings, big shows, awards, interviews, press, any social proof that you’re on your way to something bigger. In-crowd watches live. Out-crowd watches what they missed. Out-crowd wants to be in-crowd, get it?
  9. Live Q&A – What if you query fans on social media for questions and then answer live on Periscope? HINT: print up SHOUT OUTS of Twitter/Instagram handles from fans who submitted questions and show them live to spurn interactivity (Bailey James does this on her YouTube Channel). I used to LOVE watching funny, crazy, and compelling interviews of my favorite bands on MTV this is your chance to connect!! The most compelling reason a fan will watch is to see you mention THEM. Vanity is as SURE as death and taxes.
  10. Multitask Content – You can download formerly live broadcasts and upload them to your YouTube Channel. This will provide amazing content on a weekly basisPeriscope MultiTasking Whiteboard FREE image
  11. Live Practical Jokes – On band members or other artists in your community. I just saw THIS video of Tyler Farr pranking Jerrod Niemann in Jamaica.
  12. Live Road Trip Videos – What could happen? Are you funny? Do y’all sing? What do you do to avoid boredom? Multitask your boredom avoidance with social media content that will be amusing to your fans. Did the van break down? Stuck at a border? Pulled over by police? Are you crusty, hung over, and at a Shoney’s slightly aggravated and making smart ass comments? SHARE IT LIVE
  13. Repurpose Content – Cut up cool 15 second video moments from your live broadcast downloads and post on Instagram, Twitter, Facebook, etc. This will provide content diversification across multi social media platforms. Remember some people preferred to consume Letterman, some people preferred to consume Leno so an artist appeared on both shows to reach everyone possible.
  14. Get Musically Creative – I love Jimmy Fallon’s musical moments where everyone is on the screen like the Muppets using cheap, weird instruments and creating cool music. You like to be creative, right? Rappers, do y’all jump off on any freestyle rap moments? Inter group contests? Playful trash-talking? This would be great live content.Periscope Jimmy Fallon Music
  15. Tour Rituals – Do you warm up? Take a shot? Say a prayer? Team meeting?Give your fans live access to what you do just before you walk onstage.
  16. Introductions All Around – Introduce your road crew, booking agent, club owner, promoter, parents, etc. let your community in. The more they feel a part of your success, the more they will contribute to keep it going.

 

 

 

I can’t wait to hear what y’all come up with on this app. It just came out in May. Again, please hit me back with any ideas you dream up.

Mistake Twitter

Stay

In

Tune

 

PS: If you haven’t already downloaded my free Music Marketing On Twitter book, please enjoy it on me. Go to GiftFromJohnny.com put  in your name and tell us where to send it. It’ll teach you how to get 1,000 new targeted followers every month for just 15 minutes per day.

 

 

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

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Wrong Marketing Feature Image

Your marketing strategy, you’ve got it all wrong.

Wrong Marketing Unplug Rennett Stowe

Photo by Rennett Stowe http://bit.ly/1ryPA8o

 

Don’t worry it’s fixable, but you are going to have to unplug from what you think you know and consider some alternative, foreign ideas to win this one.

 

Let me explain.

 

 

 

 

Most artists don’t even think about marketing their music. Most artists think iTunes, Pandora, and Spotify is marketing and that’s where their future fans, who are currently unaware of said artist, are going to find this artist’s music.Wrong Marketing Why Meme

Yes, they can find the artist’s music at these digital distributors, but why would they do it?

Artist: “Because my music is epic!”

How do these consumers know that?

Artist: “Because I created it and I’m awesome!”

Yes, but how do they know?

 

Doing it Wrong Adam Swank image

Photo by Adam Swank http://bit.ly/1ryPA8o

 

Because most artists don’t think about marketing, their budgets always reflect this oversight. When you get the coveted major label deal, the MAJORITY of the budget will be allocated to the marketing of the artist, not the creation of the art.

 

Think about that.

 

 

 

How many projects have you recorded?

Each project had a budget.

How many of those budgets had any kind of money allocated to marketing?

Wrong Marketing Monopoly Money SEO credit

Photo by SEO http://bit.ly/1ryPA8o

 

Record labels are not developing artists anymore, rather they’re buying small businesses. This means you have to become a small profitable business to get any real attention.

To become a small profitable business it is mission critical to implement an effective marketing plan.

 

It’s that simple.

 

 

What about the artists who ARE thinking about marketing?

 

Wrong Marketing No Copy image

This subject is doubly heartbreaking for me.

 

If you have a brain in your head and your thinking about marketing, the LOGICAL idea would be to recreate some marketing strategies that were effective in making you aware of some of your favorite artists, right?

 

 

Strategies like touring with a killer headliner for exposure, radio promo, Letterman, The Tonight Show, SNL, press interviews, etc.Wrong Marketing Damn the Torpedoes MEME

Of course I’m generalizing but the major labels are essentially doing it wrong now too, so you if your plan is to copy (what you believe to be working) you are wasting your time with an outdated marketing plan that is probably cost prohibitive.

 

Think about these facts for hot second.

  • Tom Petty’s “Damn the Torpedoes” came out in 1978 and cost $8.00. 8 bucks in 1978 is worth $28.80 in 2015. That’s called an inflationary adjusted price
  • Tom Petty’s new record “Hypnotic Eye” is available on iTunes for $10.99 which is 38% of the $28.80 he used to get per record.
  • The bestselling country record of 2004 sold 11 million and the bestselling country record of 2014 barely sold 1 million that means record sales are down 90% from 10 years agoWrong Marketing Hypnotic Eye Tom Petty MEME
  • CONCLUSION: the price of a record has plummeted 62% and still overall sales are down roughly 90%

 

See how the game has changed?

 

 

The days of terrestrial radio as a super effective promo mechanism are over. 51% of GM automobiles in 2016 will be equipped with 4G LTE Wrong Marketing Apple Carplay imagecapability and some form of Apple Carplay or Android Auto streaming music service.

You don’t need (and may not even want) terrestrial radio in your car.

 

Game over.

What will the major labels do?

 

 

Their main mechanism for delivering the drug we call music is becoming exponentially less effective. The system is broken.Wrong Marketing Broken Needle

 

Proof is in the pudding, record sales are down.

 

 

 

When you heard your now favorite artist on the radio back on the day you were first exposed to them, there was a majesty to it.

Wrong Marketing Impressed theJbird credit

Photo: theJbird http://bit.ly/1ryPA8o

 

You were intoxicated with the music.

 

You were like, “Who is THAT?”

There was an implied power you gave that artist. They were already put on a pedestal of sorts by consumers because they were getting massive exposure on the radio.

 

 

This dynamic helped to create the long lost heyday of the coveted “rock star”.

 

But those days are gone.Wrong Marketing Rock Star

 

Now every artist is going to have to find their audience on their own.

 

Now every artist is going to have to connect with their audience on their own.

Wrong Marketing Connect

 

 

That means y’all are going to have to actually be social on social media.

Just sayin…Wrong Marketing Antisocial 2

 

 

Once you connect, you will need to market your music to consumers. That is to say that you need to begin to influence their buying decisions.

 

HINT: “Buy our single on iTunes” or “I’m freakin’ awesome check me out” is NOT marketing. That’s digital “door knocking” or straight up panhandling.

It doesn’t work.

It’s also a major turnoff to consumers.

Listen, consumers will buy ANYTHING if you serve it up right. Remember the Pet Rock?

Wrong Marketing Pet Rock

 

Are y’all aware that you spend twice the price of gasoline to purchase bottled tap water which you can obtain for free?

How about specialty vodkas for $50 per bottle?

Get it?

 

 

 

The trick to marketing your music online is that you need to understand it’s not about the music.

It’s about you.Wrong Marketing YOU finger 2

 

But you have to make consumers feel it’s about them.

 

Confusing?

Every “Swiftie” feels that Taylor Swift is their BFF in a certain special way. 7 million of them felt so strongly about that relationship they purchased her record.

 

Read Taylor’s Instagram posts and tweets.  Have you EVER seen her say “BUY MY RECORD ON iTunes”?

Wrong Marketing Taylor Swift

 

No, you see a lot of social proof with different milestones she’s reaching on Billboard, VEVO, etc.

 

You see a ton of fan pics.

Taylor Swift’s social media strategy is this: it’s about them.

 

 

If you’re not Taylor Swift you will need to set up an infrastructure for converting attention into contacts, and contacts into cash.

Wrong Marketing Contacts = Cash Meme

If you market correctly, the consumers will line up behind you.

 

 

 

 

Here’s a pic of Bailey James an artist that we have been working with since January.  She went from Zero to 19k followers. But look at the engagement. She has over 700 likes and 120 comments. The social proof was Bailey singing at a contest.

Wrong Marketing Bailey Instagram image

 

She’s amazing.

 

Now these consumers are AWARE of her.

 

They are lining up behind her and by the time we record and release her first EP, they will feel close enough to her to purchase either the $4.99 mp3 download, $7.47 HD download, or some bundle TBD that will cost $40 more.

 

Oh yeah, she just turned 12 years old in January.

 

 

I’m hoping this example of Bailey, who is an independent artist like you, is proof positive that you can change your strategy and get measurable results in just a few months.

So yes, whether you’re ignoring the idea of marketing all together or you are trying to fashion a strategy based off of your favorite major label artists, you’ve probably got it all wrong.Wrong Marketing Fix It

 

If you’re ignoring marketing that’s your fault.

 

You can fix that.

 

If you’re trying to market or thinking about marketing in the way you have been marketed to, that’s not your fault but the fact remains that it isn’t working. I’ll bet you feel like you don’t have enough money to make it happen this way as well.

It’s less expensive than you think.

 

Wrong Marketing Expensive

 

Marketing doesn’t have to require a $500,000 radio promo budget to connect you with fans who are willing to purchase your music.

 

You can fix this.

 

 

So what will you do to fix it?

 

Stay

In

Tune.

 

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

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Iceberg Feature Meme

Most of you are only scratching the surface.  You are only seeing the tip of the iceberg when it comes to marketing your music.Iceberg Keyboard Meme

All the fans you’re ever going to need are right there, literally at your fingertips on the keyboard of your computer.

You can find them and target them.

You can connect with them.

You can create relationships with them.

You can deepen relationships with them.

You can monetize those relationships.

 

 

Iceberg TwitterTwitter is important but it’s not the only thing.

 

Instagram is important but it’s not the only thing.

 

YouTube is super important and most of you aren’t doing anything to really work that platform to its potential.

Iceberg YouTube Logo

 

Almost all of you haven’t set up your web stores. If you have, I guarantee they’re being ignored and need tweaking. There is probably ZERO bundles on these few websites that actually have web stores.

If you understand the difference between digital distribution and marketing then why on earth would you send people anywhere else but your own store on purpose?Iceberg Record Store Banner

 

30% is a TON of money!

 

Of course, you have to have a presence on all the digital distribution sites, but adding products and bundles to your web store that cannot be found anywhere else and purposefully sending people to the store will result in about 45%-55% of consumers purchasing directly from you.

 

Iceberg $1,393

 

Here’s how much: If you sold 1,000 records ($9.99 each) only on iTunes, your take would be $6,893.10.  If you set up your own web store and 55% of your fans purchased from iTunes, meaning 45% purchased directly from you (not including bundles!!) your take is $8,286.70. That’s a difference of $1,393.60.

 

 

Most of you aren’t collecting (or effectively collecting) contact data. This is akin to playing a signature lick almost correctly but with a few wrong notes. If you changed one note on The Rolling Stones “Satisfaction” lick is that ok?

CASE STUDY #1:  I want to share some real world examples and real data with you, as always.Iceberg Bailey James

We are currently working with a 12-year old artist named Bailey James. We started our working relationship with Bailey on January 2nd, 2015.

Since then we have gone from:

  • 0 – 14K targeted Twitter followers
  • 0 – 16K targeted Instagram followers
  • A few hundred to over 18k views on her YouTube Channel
  • 0 – 600+ subscribers on her YouTube Channel
  • 4 independent fan created Instagram accountsIceberg Bailey James Contact Capture
  • 1 independent fan created website
  • (in less than one month) over 160 cell phone numbers (via text capture, WATCH videos)
  • (1 month) over 800 email addresses

 

FYI, we are still in pre-production of her first EP which won’t be released at the earliest until late July early August.

 

 

Here is how important contact information is.

Iceberg Case Study 2

CASE STUDY #2:  We have run a series of autographed guitar giveaways on Facebook (designed to create massive interactivity) with several multi-platinum artists. Tell me what marketing numbers you would intelligently predict on the last artist.

 

 

 

  1. Collin Raye: 118k likes 12/5/2013 – received 100k comments in 1 hour.
  2. Jamie O’Neal: 13K likes 10/4/2014 – received 14k comments in 1 hour
  3. Andy Griggs: 43K likes 10/4/2014 – received 48k comments in 1 hour
  4. Ty Herndon: 67K likes 10/4/2014 – received 69k comments in 1 hour
  5. Tracy Lawrence: 1.1 MILLION LIKES 2/4/2015

 

How many comments would you expect?Iceberg Blind

 

We expected damn close to 1 million comments but received only 50K comments in 1 hour simply because Tracy’s Facebook fan base DIDN’T SEE THE POST. They didn’t see the post because Facebook changed the rules again. We were going to have to pay dearly to reach all those fans his team worked so hard to obtain.

 

 

Do you see how dreadfully important contact/customer lists are now? We can expect all social media platforms to behave the same way once they begin monetizing or once they go public.

 

Iceberg Data Collection Meme

 

 

If we would’ve had contact information we could’ve DRASTICALLY manipulated this number.

Most of you haven’t really thought about your messaging, imaging, and content to determine if it makes sense as a whole.Iceberg Celine Dion

If your music sounds slick and super polished (Pop ish) with more universal pop like lyrics then your look should reflect that with a super polished look. It’s confusing to see a ragged looking artist with a slick sounding record…it doesn’t make sense. For example, Celine Dion wouldn’t work with torn jeans, tattoos, and a beat up biker jacket; nobody would believe her. Rather Celine needs to look glamorous. If you do leather with glamorous she can’t look like a drug addict.

Get it?

Iceberg Celine Dion Old

 

Btw, look at the early picture of Celine vs. the latter, can you see the transformation?

 

 

 

 

 

Conversely, a record loaded with rough edges, very personal edgy lyrics, a raw, more edgy sound, maybe even dark content, wouldn’t sell with a glamorous front-man. The image needs to fit the lyrics and the music.

I see far too many artists sending me songs where the lyrics don’t fit the music. Light music requires light lyrics and visa-versa.

This doesn’t mean you can’t cleverly switch it up but you have to be mindful of the chord changes, melody, and lyric content.Iceberg Breaking the Rules

It’s ok to break the rules as long as you know WHAT rules you’re breaking, HOW exactly you’re breaking them, and WHY you’re breaking them.

 

 

For instance, let’s study 2 songs with extremely dark lyric content: Shooting heroin.

 

Iceberg Mr. BrownstoneFirst look at Guns & Roses “Mr. Brownstone” from their debut record Appetite for Destruction. We all know and get the real gritty image of the band. Look at the lyrics and how literal and matter-of-fact they are. “I used to do a little, then a little wouldn’t do, so the little got more and more. I just keep trying to get a little better, said a little better than before”. Then at the end of the track W. Axl Rose says “Stuck it in the middle and I shot it in the middle and it, it drove me outta my mind, I wish I’d known better said I wish I never met her, said I’d leave it all behind.”

This is not a pop record. This is not slick. This is not glamorous.

 

Now let’s look at The La’s Lee Mavers’ pop masterpiece “There She Goes”. Despite politicking in the press, this is definitely an ode to heroin.  Iceberg the La'sNotice the song structure, the chords, and the melodies. Undoubtedly pure, saccharine, indie pop music.  These lyrics are NOT literal but quite metaphorical. It sounds like he’s talking about a girl so much that they get tons of placements on movie soundtracks sonically supporting the girl imagery, and a Christian band Six Pence None the Richer even covered and released it.

So the lyrics WORK with the chord changes and the melodies.

 

Are you picking up what I’m putting down?

 

Iceberg Sixpence

 

Side note: The La’s recorded 2 versions of this song. The first didn’t chart and the second barely broke the top 50. Six Pence None the Richer covered it and took it to #7. Look at the images. Coincidence?

 

 

 

Iceberg eye roll

 

Now, as I type I can actually FEEL some of you rolling your eyes at this whole post. Some of you think this happens “organically” or “naturally” or you think “Everyone should just love the music, man, peace, love, and groovy-ness.”

 

 

Don’t be naïve.

Iceberg Naive Computer

This is the music BUSINESS.

 

The BUSINESS part of that phrase is about commerce, which requires sales.

 

 

Makes sense right? If you want to make a living at your dream, YOU’RE GOING TO HAVE TO SELL SOMETHING.Iceberg Commerce Shopping Cart

 

 

Sorry for the wounded artist souls on that one, but it’s a fact. Somebody, somewhere, somehow, has to pay money for something in order for you to make a living.

So making a living requires sales and sales requires marketing.

 

It goes deep, y’all, marketing goes REAL deep.  If you keep doing what you’ve always done, you’ll keep getting what you’ve always got!

 

Iceberg Titanic

 

Understand the whole iceberg and you won’t go down like the Titanic, people.

 

 

 

 

 

Stay

In

Tune

 

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

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