Tag Archive for: Marketing

Humility Feature Image

So I’m definitely “on one” right now, apologies in advance if it’s a little edgy. I’m thinking about all us artists and how, because we’re people, we tend to ignore truth and honesty. This is most certainly a byproduct of a lack of humility.

We ignore the honest truth our romantic relationships. (Ever catch yourself wanting to “win”?)

 

In our family relationships.Humility Family photo

 

In our friendships.

In our relationship with our music.

 

Why do we do this?

 

I call these “protection rackets”.

Humility Protection Racket

We are so easily hurt and wounded by the slightest criticism that we resort to defense mechanisms to deflect the pain and put ourselves, albeit inaccurately, into a better light.

 

Why do we use these protection rackets?

 

Why do we so desperately need them?

 

 

They’re destructive to relationships which means they’re destructive to your music and potential as an artist.

Why are we so quick to bow up with a defense rather than absorbing what is being said and processing it intelligently?

Humility Tornado Destructive

 

Maybe the information is coming from a source with an agenda which makes it questionable at best.

 

Maybe the information is coming from a source that is currently hostile for whatever reason so we take it with a “grain of salt”

 

But how many of us really listen and process before we respond?

 

Even the most naïve consumer offering up an opinion can have something important to tell you. Granted, they may be serving it up poorly or naively with regards to lingo and understanding, but we shouldn’t dismiss what they are trying to communicate simply because they can’t articulate it as intelligently as you.

 

Humility Always Improving

We should all understand that no matter what, we need to get better.

Then we’re always improving.

That means there is ALWAYS room for improvement, right? If this is in fact the credo we choose to live our lives by than why is it so intolerable when someone points out a flaw?

 

 

Why are we wired up to defend when someone is telling us we need to do more work?

 

I guess that’s where the humility comes in.  I think humility is a muscle that gets stronger when flexed. I can actually feel more humility just by saying I have it out loud.Humility Shout Meme

Say it out loud, “I HAVE HUMILITY!”

 

Humility means you have to listen with the intent to understand rather than the intent to reply.

 

That’s hard to do.

 

 

Have you ever met that obnoxious person who is constantly cutting you off with their reply? You can see them fidgeting, and feel the disruption in the energy flow because they’ve already tailored a response while you are still talking and simply cannot physically wait to bestow it upon you. Ugh.

Humility Defensive Bear

This is rude for two reasons:

  1. The gesture is annoying as hell and completely disruptive to a train of thought. One wants to free the thought and finish the point. This is hard enough sometimes without having to battle for the proverbial conch and/or talk over someone.
  2. The gesture is proof positive that the person is NOT listening to damn thing you are saying, making the conversation futile which is extremely frustrating especially when you really care about the subject matter.

 

Are you that obnoxious person occasionally?

 

Maybe you’re more socially behaved, but are you that person inside your head when you’re supposed to be listening?

Most of us are, don’t feel bad.

 

Humility Listening

 

I want you all to try to FOCUS on listening in the very next conversation that you have. Trust me, when the person is done talking you will formulate a response so STOP doing it while they are talking.

 

I’d be interested to hear back from y’all on that one. Was it really hard? Did you learn something from the communicator?

 

We need to be honest with ourselves.Humility Honesty Never Gets Old

 

We need the truth as it is what gets us closer to impeccability.

 

We need humility to accept the honest truth and refine the approach.

 

Somewhere in that message we want to deflect so bad, may lie the very key to creating something that is life changing or a step to life changing.

 

What if it’s a muse disguised as disapproval and hard work?

 

Humility Muse

 

There are many of you that are phoning in your marketing and behaving like children who lost their ice cream cone because it isn’t working.

 

How can one really be frustrated when the marketing effort and budget equals 1% of the artistic effort?

Humility Zero Results

 

 

 

 

That’s like spending a ton of money on a beautiful brand new car and being frustrated when you run out of gas because you refuse to spend money making it go. As simple as that metaphor is, I must say it is spot on.

 

No gas means it doesn’t run.

No gas means nobody sees and experiences your beautiful car unless they come over.

Humility Landscape

 

That’s a small market, man.

 

Sound familiar?

 

 

The major label deal some of you seek will drastically change that budget equation to look more like (at the very least) 80% of the capital budget and resources will be spent on marketing leaving only 20% for the product.Humility Budget Hippos

 

 

Think about that. I say it often but I want to get it in your heads.

 

 

 

 

Many of you are also not being honest with yourselves about the quality of your music.

It feels good to accomplish a recording no matter what the quality.  I know the feeling, man, you just want to exercise the muse and get the creativity into some immediately tactile form so you can “hear what it sounds like”.

I seriously get that.

Instant gratification feels good.

That good feeling doesn’t matter to the world, they will judge you only on what you have done.

Humility Chassis

 

Using the car analogy, an engineer should feel excited when he’s created a killer blue print for that beautiful new car.  Personally, as a consumer, I don’t give a shit; show me the car.

 

Get it?

 

If you’re a novice that is just about making music for the sake of making music, God bless, move at your own speed.

 

If you aspire to be a professional then there is a level to which you must play at lest you be thrown into a gun fight armed with a butter knife. Humility Knife and Gun

 

You will lose.

 

The feeling of losing is frustrating, I don’t care who you are. So many of you are experiencing frustration because you have set yourself up to fail from the start.

 

The good news is that’s completely fixable once you find the humility to swallow that jagged little pill.

 

 

 

Humility Pills

 

I’m not saying conform in any way, I named my company Daredevil Production for a reason.

 

I AM saying you can’t use “breaking the rules” or some kind of “outlaw” mentality as a defense for avoiding the honest truth; you always need to be working and learning.

 

The TRUTH is you need to know all the rules before you can break them.  Breaking them is great, but you need to know WHY and HOW you’re breaking them or you’ll never have a clear project vision.

 

Without a clear vision it’s impossible to orchestrate the social movement towards your music and your brand you desire to create. Everything hasHumility Clear Vision to work together, the lyrics, the melodies, the instrumentation, the message, the image, the genre, the recording, the marketing, etc.  It’s complicated and trust me you won’t hit anything throwing darts in the dark!

 

You need humility to be able to identify the people, places, and things that will make us better.

 

 

 

With humility we can more clearly see the honest truth.

Humility Listen Better Meme

With humility we listen better.

 

With humility we evaluate better.

 

With humility we operate better.

 

 

With humility we spend our precious resources better.

With humility we become better people, lovers, parents, and artists.

With humility we are open for improvement.

Without humility we believe we are perfect.

If you believe you are perfect then don’t change a thing.

 

 

Stay

In

Tune

 

 

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Managing Expectation Vintage Car Accident TEXT

I want to help everyone clearly define their music career goals and compare these goals honestly with their career efforts for the purposes of managing expectations.Managing Expectations Dillusion Graph

Are you serious about making a living making your music or are you a hobbyist?

Managing expectations honestly is a crucial component to a positive attitude and general sense of accomplishment in your artistic endeavors.

If you don’t manage expectations intelligently, it’s very easy to get depressed, discouraged, and even disillusioned (in a positive or negative sense) in your career. Often artists get disheartened and dejected because they are improperly processing data.

 

 

It’s easy to misdiagnose a minor, predictable, speedbump or pothole in your career as a catastrophic negative outcome. This misdiagnosis, of course, can cause tons of undo stress and add another “brick in the wall” of defeat we are all trying so hard to avoid.

 

My dad always calls this “making a mountain out of a mole hill”.

 

Managing Expectations Molehill Collage 300x150

 

Here is a good metaphor outside of the music business to illustrate my point.

Managing Expectations Minivan

 

When you purchase a minivan for the family, you expect that vehicle to seat 5 or 6 people comfortably plus groceries, soccer gear, golf clubs, maybe keep the kids entertained, etc.

You DON’T expect that vehicle to take a 90º right turn at 80 mph and stay on the road.

If you mismanage the expectations of a minivan you are sure to be disappointed and quite possibly dead.

 

Conversely, when you purchase a Ferrari, you expect that vehicle to outperform every sports car on the road. I mean, it BETTER for the price, right?  0-60 mph in less than 4 seconds, superior handling, killer sound system, and you presume that people will look at you while you’re driving it, right?Managing Expectations Ferrari

You DON’T expect to get good gas mileage, pay tolerable auto insurance rates, fit 3 kids and a baby seat, soccer gear, golf clubs, and a few bags of groceries.

If you mismanage the expectations of a Ferrari you are sure to be disappointed and quite possibly divorced.

 

 

This example seems a bit silly because it’s so completely obvious, right?

Understanding what your needs are, purchasing the appropriate tools, and executing properly within the constraints of the tool system creates forward predictable momentum and therefore leads to a more positive day to day attitude.

 

This comes from managing expectations.

 

FYI, there’s no right or wrong answer to the question I asked at the beginning. I ask because all too often I see people confuse a lighthearted, naïve, or poorly executed work effort with astronomical expectations from their music career.

They put forth the effort as if it was a hobby only to get super upset when things aren’t happening as if it was how they made their living.

 

So which is it?

Managing Expectations Empty Pockets

 

I mean getting fired or laid off from a job that you make a living at is painful, I don’t care who you are.  You spend 40 hours of your life at that job every week and when you lose it there is a tremendous sense of defeat.

 

The defeat comes from 2 places, I suppose. The first is the most obvious, no more money! How will you pay your bills, right? The second is most certainly a prideful reaction. You spent all that time doing all that work and

now you have nothing to show for it.

 

 

I’ll bet you are quite serious about that day job, aren’t you?

I don’t mean serious with your attitude because maybe the job blows, you’re bored, you hate everyone you work with, and you really don’t care, but you consistently show up, don’t you?

If you don’t show up you don’t get paid, right?

 

Even the biggest slackers seem to be masterful at doing the least amount of work required to keep the job.

Managing Expectations Slacker

 

 

Maybe you’re really lucky and/or smart and you have a day job that you love and excel at. Still, it’s a day job where you bide your time, albeit more productively, until your artist ship comes in.

 

So why do so many of you get equally upset in your music careers when the ONE opportunity you created for yourself, which was met with inferior preparation, fails miserably?

 

We all make little mistakes at our day jobs and yet we don’t quit, because we can’t, right?

In fact, we’re often scared of losing that job after we make a larger-than-usual mistake if for nothing more than the facing the inconvenience of finding another job.

For some reason with artists and their careers, they don’t seem to be fearful of losing that gig as much as they are looking for a satisfactory reason to call it quits.

 

Is this secretly you?

 

Managing Expectations Conflicted

 

Why is a little speed bump or detour so damn devastating to us sensitive artist types?

I submit to you that if we all worked as hard, as efficiently, and as intelligently at our music careers as we do at our day jobs, you’d all be making a living doing what you LOVE to do and were BORN to do.

But there’s that damn conflict going on in your head, isn’t there?

Secretly.

You are afraid to put that much effort into it lest you be denied and rejected.

 

Yeah, we all grapple with that one, she’s a doozy…but here’s the deal.

 

If the equation of “Preparation + Opportunity = Luck” is true (and I wholeheartedly believe in this concept), then the opposite must also be true, Opportunity – Preparation = NO LUCK.Managing Expectations Equation

 

Why, why, why are we just as upset over the lack of music business opportunities as we are when we’re laid off or fired from a job that we put so much effort into.

 

I mean if we don’t invest much time and ZERO dollars into our music careers we should expect a proportionate return, right?

 

Now, some of you are saying, “I bust my butt at my music career, Johnny, you don’t know what you’re talking about.”

 

I believe many of you work very hard, but it’s not enough.

 

 

Managing Expectations Work Hard

 

It’s not enough because you’re not working hard enough, or not working smart enough, or both.

Here’s the self-test to discover the truth.

If you aspire to make a living at it are you making a living?

If you aspire to make a better living at it are you making a better living?

 

 

 

Painfully simple, right?

 

If you’re a hobbyist and you make music purely for the joy of the process, then you are getting an instantaneous return on your investment and you should be happy with that.Managing Expectations Hobbies

Mission accomplished.

 

Don’t expect to gain serious momentum with your project when you only put forth the random, irregular effort of a hobbyist; be happy with your happy.

 

 

If you aspire to be a professional artist, then you are going to have to spend a TON of time (on top of your day job), and invest some money to get this dream of yours to gain some traction.

If you don’t make enough money at your day job to support your music habit, then you are going to have to find a way to win with someone else’s money, time, or support.

 

What has to happen to make that a reality?

 

Managing Expectations Lemonade Stand

 

The instant ROI lemonade-stand-business-approach where you invest in a product, resell it for a profit one-at-a-time doesn’t really work in the music business.

You’re going to have to create songs.

 

You’re going to have to pay to record them at a professional level because most of you can’t, and if you can, you don’t have access to all the necessary musicianship and/or tools to get it done right.

 

You’re going to have to pay for a producer because most of you think you can produce, and some of you eventually will, but you need to learn more right now.

You’re going to have to pay someone to market you music effectively. This helps with a quicker ROI by the way…just sayin.

Managing Expectations Marketing Image

 

If you choose to, and have the will power and work ethic to consistently market yourself, which is TOTALLY DOABLE, then you’re going to have to pay someone to teach you the most efficient and effective ways to get it done.

Otherwise you will continue to do what you have always done and you will continue to get the exact same results.

 

Managing expectations in the music BUSINESS is about constant, non-stop preparation for the purposes of capitalizing on all the different opportunities that will INEVITABLY arise in the future.

 

Managing Expectations Quid Pro Quo Meme

There is no Tit for Tat.

No Quid Pro Quo

No immediate return on your investment.

 

 

 

The more you work, the bigger your body of work becomes, the more professional you look.

 

If you knew already then you’d be making a living.

 

Stay

In

Tune

 

 

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Bob Ezrin Suck it 2

I was reading a Bob Lefsetz post about a letter written to him from famed producer Bob Ezrin (Alice Cooper, Kiss, Peter Gabriel, Pink Floyd). READ THIS LETTER right now, it’s quick. In this letter Bob was nostalgic of the old music business and basically excoriating most of the new artists. While I can completely see Bob Ezrin’s point, I categorically disagree that the good music is gone for good.

Great, meaningful music is not gone for good, it’s just dormant.Bob Ezrin Cyclical

At least it is in the mainstream marketplace at the moment.

The integrity of music is cyclical like everything else.

We are in the middle of a rebirth.

 

 

Bob Ezrin Pink Floyd The Wall

 

It’s never been a better time for artists worldwide.

 

Artists have NEVER experienced such few roadblocks standing between their work and an audience.

 

 

At least not from outside forces anyway, artists still excel at creating their own roadblocks.

 

 

 

Every artist has all the power, access, and affordable tools necessary to make their masterpiece and market it to the world.

So why aren’t we?Bob Ezrin Tools

Why are major players like Bob Ezrin so jaded about the new music business?

Because it’s not like the old music business.

It’s changed and everybody hates change.

Let’s look at the old industry for a second, shall we?

In the old music industry making records was quite expensive. A professional project required an artist to:

  • Pay for major recording studio access (lockout fees $1,500-$2,500 per day)
  • Pay for outboard gear not onboard the recording console ($500-$2500 day)
  • Pay for an experienced engineer ($120/hour in 2015 dollars)
  • Pay for a producer ($25k/song + 5 points)
  • Pay for 10-20 reels of 2” tape ($3,000 – $6,000 depending on the project)
  • Pay for 10 (ish) reels of ½” tape to record stereo mixes ($1,500)
  • Pay for mastering which would run $600 – $1,200 per song

 

 

Bob Ezrin Engineer

 

It becomes really easy to rack up $200,000 or more even on a project with a good band that can be recorded and mixed in a couple weeks ala Van Halen or The Black Crowes let alone a “tinkering artist” who needs time to create the masterpiece.

 

 

 

 

Then there’s the marketing costs…

  • $250k – $500k per song for radio promo (payola never died folks, it just got renamed and restructured to legally protect the broadcast licenses and cash flow, you know, like a side-street-shell-game)Bob Ezrin Payola
  • Tour support – The bus, bus drivers, roadies, gas, hotels, airfare, meals, and booze costs a boatload.
  • Radio Tour – Again, gas, hotels, airfare, meals, etc.

 

Then there was legal fees, manufacturing fees, and shipping costs for distribution, etc.

 

So the old music business required $1.5 million – $2.5 million dollars to create, manufacture, distribute, and promote the first record on a major label.

 

2 words: COST PROHIBITIVE.

Bob Ezrin Euros

 

Even an independent label with 20% of the major label budget meant exorbitant cash requirements that were far too great for any unsigned artists to afford alone.

So serious capital was required to take the risk of developing an artist that had a 90% chance of failure in the major label system during the “hey day” of the old music business.

 

 

Taking risks means there was a carefully guarded selection process loaded with many filters (AKA roadblocks).

It used to be hard to get in the door for a reason.

Let’s go back farther and look at the beginning of the cycle.Bob Ezrin Atlantic Records

 

Back in the 40’s, 50’s, and 60’s the major labels were independents created by visionaries which is fancy talk for diehard musicians and music aficionados that had a business sense and some discretionary cash flow.

 

These visionaries made relationships with artists and other business people to foster the creation of compelling art, market it, and ultimately profit from it.

Bob Ezrin A&M

It all started with passion.

Passion from the artists and the visionaries.

 

 

The Ahmet Erteguns, Herb Alperts, and Mo Ostins had passion for art and a wicked good business acumen.Bob Ezrin Reprise Records

 

 

For what it’s worth to all you frustrated indie artists, these great music men were not devoid of mistakes with their marketing. Ahmet Ertegun’s first 22 singles were bombs so you really should stop lamenting the first couple marketing speed bumps that make you feel like a failure and start concentrating on the future wins.

 

 

Bob Ezrin Sometime You Win SMALL

There is no failure, you either win or you learn.

 

Just sayin’.

 

 

Then, after their company success morphed them into brand names that were associated with important, captivating music and significant artist brand names, they were purchased by big, publicly traded companies.

Publicly traded companies have to make a profit. They live by the quarterly report which means numbers become the focus instead of music.

 

It’s a natural progression really.Bob Ezrin No Music

 

It’s understandable.

For decades we have promoted music via terrestrial radio. It makes sense that people think terrestrial radio is about music because that’s where we were all exposed to our favorite artists growing up, right?

 

Sadly, terrestrial radio doesn’t care about the music either. Hell, it used to showcase dramatic and comedic programs in the 40’s, then TV was invented and the new medium stole the content so music was the next plausible programming solution.

Bob Ezrin Radio

 

Terrestrial radio cares about selling ads. They are ad salesmen, plain and simple.

 

So when you combine a publicly traded company that lives & dies by the numbers on a quarterly report with a group of ad salesmen, nobody cares about the music anymore.

 

 

When nobody cares about the music, the music becomes sterile; it becomes an afterthought. The music doesn’t mean anything to anyone in a position of power other than product data or sales quotas.

 

What matters is can it be promoted?Bob Ezrin The Truth About Milk

To promote it you need to make the ad salesmen happy.

 

The best way to make the ad salesmen happy is to ensure it sounds and looks like what is already being successfully promoted because, today, that’s selling their ads.

Get it?

It’s clear what happened to the music and why.

 

This is how we “lost us” as Bob Ezrin so eloquently put it.

 

He’s right, ya know.

Bob Ezrin I'm Not Cynical

 

Bob was right on time with his analysis but it is definitely from a mainstream perspective. It’s not necessarily accurate, even beyond Ezrin’s disclaimer regarding the inevitable “exceptions to the rule”. In my humble opinion, it’s also a bit cynical and short sighted.

 

But I get it, I understand his frustration.

 

 

 

You see, there is a perfect storm of sorts going on right now in the music business.

Everyone can afford a recording studio when they couldn’t 25 years ago.Bob Ezrin Monkey

That means everyone can make records. Just because you can doesn’t mean you should, but everyone can make records nonetheless.

And record they do. Rather, they completely manufacture performances because they can. In this instance we have the “artists” contributing to the degradation of the art.

 

This is due to a DIY environment bereft of mentors and any record making experience (don’t be naïve, recording music and making records are 2 completely different processes), mixed with the natural human nature to follow the path of least resistance.

 

Bob Ezrin Batman

 

 

Back in the day you had to keep singing or playing until you nailed the performance, no fixes. There was a mentor/elder you respected there to tell you, “Do it again”. Now, we’re all alone and in a hurry to just get it done because we want to bask in our own glory and awesome artistry.

 

Or worse, we want to get the product out ASAFP.

It’s also about 15 minutes of fame instead of real connecting for so many of today’s misguided artists.

 

In 1968, Andy Warhol correctly predicted, “In the future, everyone will be world-famous for 15 minutes”.Bob Ezrin Andy Warhol

 

I am predicting that in the future, 15 minutes of fame will become easy and therefore sterile like the music of today.

This need for fame will become blasé and boring.

 

Artists will begin to be noticed for excellence in their artistic works and performances.

 

This will create followers who strive to be excellent for the purposes of being noticed (they’re all still artists right?)

Audiences will respond to artists who are different and meaningful as long as they’re properly exposed to them.

Bob Ezrin Music = Lif

 

I submit to you the real artists, the important artists, they’re out there, man.

There are tons of artists that are making music with meaning, Bob Ezrin. There are artists that are fighting for their freedom, from oppression, from abuse, from fear, from their past, from society, from the rat-race, and from this business.

You just haven’t heard about them yet because the marketing machine is broken, or getting an overhaul at the very least.

 

 

You will.

 

You see the more crap that goes up on the world’s refrigerator, the more mundane and homogenized everything sounds.Bob Ezrin Fridge Magnets

 

The more mundane and homogenized the music sounds, the more the important artists stick out like a sore thumb with even a modicum of marketing expertise.

Consumers do respond to real performances, and real artists even if they can’t articulate why.

 

That will never change.

 

These important artists have more access than ever before to make, manufacture, and promote their art.

Bob Ezrin Rebirth

 

They have an incredible amount of direct access to an easily targeted marketplace and it’s inexpensive to reach.

 

Like I said, it’s a rebirth.

 

 

 

With all this accessibility, the storytellers get to define their tribe, connect, and tell their story free from corporate intervention.

 

 

That means free from sterility as long as the artists want it that way.Bob Ezrin Story Tellers

The real artists get to emote their truth and the market will respond just like it always has because the market can and will relate to the real artists; “He’s singing about me. She’s telling my story.”

It’s back to being about the music Bob Ezrin.

Because we can.

It’s time for the artists to learn that they need to define and connect with their audience to bring their work to the world.

Bob Ezrin Learn To Live Meme

 

Artists need to learn to market these great works and prove Bob Ezrin wrong.

 

He may be a genius but He’s also old and crusty so don’t pay any attention to him.

 

 

 

 

Keep working y’all.

 

10 years from now the music will be better.

 

I promise.

 

Stay

In

Tune.

 

 

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

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Mistake Do Over image

 

Your biggest mistake ever, ready?

 

Y’all are making it. Constantly.

It’s marketing.

Mistake Peanuts Budget

 

You’re either not even thinking of marketing your music (so there is no budget), you’re convinced marketing is too expensive (categorically UNTRUE), you’re waiting till your project is finished to market it (huh?), or you’re completely unaware of any effective strategies you can use to influence the buying decisions of a music consumer.

 

Most of you are using social media for the digital equivalent of panhandling or door-to-door sales.

 

 

Every day I get 10 Tweets or DM’s saying “Check out my new single” or “Discover us on iTunes”, etc.

 

TURNOFF!!Mistake door to door salesman

 

Why don’t you knock on my door and try selling me dictionaries or something?

 

 

 

Social media is really for making relationships and driving traffic.  MAYBE a little selling, like the “Jab, Jab, Jab, Right Hook” strategy that Gary Vaynerchuk wrote about, but most of you naively have this all wrong.

Mistake Jab

 

 

 

 

 

Mistake Poop

 

 

Most of you are using non-existent or downright crappy marketing strategies.

 

Name one song in your music career that you PAID to discover.

Mistake Discover Music

 

Truth is you heard the song on the radio, in a movie, commercial, viral YouTube video, TV show, or you heard about it from a friend

All of these exposure avenues are free.

Why would you think that anyone would want to pay to discover your music when you certainly haven’t; not even for your favorite bands?

 

Yes, once again, digital distribution (iTunes, Pandora, Spotify, CD Baby, etc) is where a consumer goes to buy your music, marketing is WHY a consumer will buy it.

 

Marketing is the influencing of buying decisions.

 

How exactly and what exactly are you doing to influence people to buy your music?

These days it takes more than “good music” to influence a consumer buying decision.

Mistake Fireworks

 

 

 

They want to be excited, so you’ve got to make them get genuinely excited, you want them to feel the fireworks inside.

They’ve got to feel like they’re a part of something. A movement, a tribe, if you will.

 

 

Live shows are probably the most effective way to do this, assuming you have a good live show.

 

Put the band on tour opening for so-and-so and watch the fan base start building.Mistake Live Show Image2

 

In L.A. I used to put a bill together of 5 bands to ensure a killer draw for the club.  A packed house creates excitement.

 

Consumers will have to be “open” to receiving the information. In other words, they don’t want to feel like they’re being “sold”’.

 

 

If they feel like they’re being sold, they will shut down and ignore your requests and most of them will be polite about it.

 

Panhandling doesn’t work.Mistake Panhandling

 

Digital “door knocking” doesn’t work.

 

So what creates excitement?

 

 

Social Proof certainly helps. Pictures and videos of you playing to packed houses (even if an advantageous camera angle Mistake Social Proofcreates an illusion making the gig look like it’s sold out), recording in the studio, demonstrating your talent on YouTube, showing up in in an online magazine between 2 major label artists, etc., these things will never hurt your reputation.

 

 

 

I’ll give you an example. Most of you have downloaded my free Twitter book by now. Just posting 3 tweets a day with a 3D image of the bookMistake Twitter usually got me around 3 downloads per day. Then I took screen shot of a few people who were publically praising me on Twitter or FB for seriously expanding their Twitter following.

 

THAT was social proof!

 

Mistake Wade Sutton 10K TwitterNow we get about 8-15 downloads per day because I got consumers excited about it.

 

You’re concept of marketing and how to effectively execute it is most certainly skewed when it comes to your music.

 

Don’t feel bad, the industry is just as lost as you.

 

Mistake Lost2

It will take years for them to effectively address this mistake and statistically it won’t be corrected by a major label, rather a small company that makes a lot of noise focusing on this specific issue and gets purchased by a major label.

 

Here’s an assessment of the real damage though, you continue to experience marketing with techniques that are now archaic and ineffective.

 

As long as you keep seeing and experiencing the old ineffective marketing methodologies (especially with bands that you already know about) as a consumer, the more you are encouraged to apply these techniques to your own musical efforts.

 

It makes sense because it’s the only input you really receive, right?

 

It seems like it’s working too, right?

 

Wrong.

 

I’ve mentioned before, the bestselling country record 10 years ago sold 11 million copies. The bestselling country record for 2014 barely cracked 1 million. YIKES!

This change in the marketing paradigm has drastically affected the music industry’s brightest and best.

 

 

Mistake headacheThe more you apply these unsuccessful techniques, the more confused and frustrated you become.

 

Think of it like this, if the only language input you receive is Spanish, then you will speak Spanish until such a time that you change the input to include other languages. Conversely, if you only receive English input you cannot read the script in this picture.

 

Get it?Mistake Input Spanish

 

 

 

 

 

 

All the industry big wigs whose names you know will just continue to utilize the methods that have proven successful to them until the well runs dry, which will be awhile, but it’s definitely draining.

Mistake Industry Big Wigs

 

I have seen this many times during a paradigm shift in several industries.

The big players who are plugged in (and usually in the sunset of their careers) won’t change and don’t change tactics.

Why should they?

 

 

 

Big publicly traded corporations (like the biggest buggy whip company) can’t have visionaries that go back to the board members and tell them the business model they purchased all their shares of stock on has to change (so they should start building cars).  They live by the quarter not for the long run.

 

Therefore they won’t change, not that drastically, because that kind of change requires a lot of forward thinking with no quarterly accountability.

 

Are you picking up what I’m putting down?Mistake Sinking ship

It’s like the ship is sinking but they won’t go down with it, so they don’t care.

 

They don’t have to, they’re going to be fine.

But what about you?

 

Once you realize this you will embrace all that is required to LEARN how to market yourself.

Mistake Headache Remedy

 

 

Once you embrace marketing (like you embrace writing and recording your music) you will see significant changes.

 

 

 

 

The remedy to your biggest mistake ever lies within your ability to recognize that you suffer from a lack of modern data.

 

Time to make a serious change.

 

What will you do to change the input you are receiving and educate yourself on marketing your music?

Mistake Dream is Free Hustle

Stay

In

Tune.

 

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I was watching the “I Heart Radio Awards” while grilling out back with my girlfriend, Cari, when I caught Justin Timberlake’s acceptance speech for this year’s Innovator Award. The always humble JT ended with two amazing quotes.Foolish JT Award

The first was a Steve Jobs quote from a Stanford commencement speech that said “Stay Hungry, Stay Foolish.”

 

Are you truly hungry?

Foolish Mouse Trap

 

More importantly, are you still foolish?

 

Like, REALLY foolish?

Forget about what anyone thinks about you. Foolish What People Think

 

I have seen far too many very talented people fall short of their dreams simply because they put way too much stock in what other people might think.

 

In short, they’re afraid.

Foolish Eleanor Roosevelt Quote

Fear of what other people think is a great excuse to hang it up, or refuse to try.

 

I always had a viewpoint on what other people think, “F**K those guys”.

 

It’s a mantra for me.

 

 

I know I’m going to get hateful responses for cussing in my blog, but I don’t care…clearly.

 

I hear criticism often. From people who are jealous, from people who are angry, from people who are clueless, from people who are nostalgic Foolish Nick Cage Quote(about the way it used to be) and hate change, from people who are threatened, from people who wish success was easy so they wouldn’t have to work and have faith in themselves.

 

 

 

Most people hate change.

Most people hate the people behind the change more than they hate change.

Foolish Feature 12

 

Most people don’t recognize the go-getters for the innovators that they are, they only feel regret and deep rooted anger because they don’t have the constitution to be one of the innovators.

It’s funny, they hate being scared, but they’re scared to fail so they don’t try.

Foolish Vicious Cycle

The result is they just hate.

 

Vicious cycle.

 

 

Listen, music can still be sold.

People want to buy music.

Foolish Power of music

Nothing has changed in our society about how we respond to music.

Music is the soundtrack to our lives. We remember what we were doing, who we were with, and what that moment meant from a single chord in a single recording; it’s literally etched into our mind.

 

 

I can think of nothing more powerful than that.

The great Glen Campbell has lost all memory from Alzheimer’s disease. He forgot everyone, family, friends, his daughter…the LAST thing he Foolish Glen Campbellforgot was the music and how to play guitar.

WOW.

That’s what I call power.

 

I know the EXACT song that was playing the first time I got to 3rd base.

I know the EXACT song that was playing right before my first bad car accident in Rockford, IL.

Y’all got “your song” with your significant other.

 

file0001125655926It’s the one that makes you smile when you hear it.

It makes you giggle.

It makes you miss someone.

It makes you grateful.

It makes you horny.

 

 

It makes you feel loved.

It makes you feel heartbroken because you were loved.Foolish No Music No Life

This is what music is.

It transcends all languages because it’s a direct line into the emotions.

I have seen 1 song, heard for the first time, make a Wall Street multi-millionaire investor break down to tears in front of strangers.

 

That’s power, man. That’s beautiful. That’s music.

Foolish Music Heals

 

Forget about me harping on y’all to be better business people for a second, let’s just focus on the power of it all.

 

If you feel you got something to say, if you feel that you can change people’s lives, if you feel like you have the power as an artist to move someone, then you OWE it to them and to yourself to market it correctly.

Your music needs to be HEARD.

 

It’s called communication. Communication isn’t just the message, it’s how you serve it up. Communication is NOT your intent but what is actually being received.Foolish How You Say it

It’s not enough that the song is a good song, or a hit song, you have to get consumers to a mental place where they are willing to receive the song.

If they’re not receiving your music, and your music is well done, you aren’t communicating.

That is frustrating, I don’t care who you are.

 

Foolish How You Say It image

 

Anyone who is frustrated selling their music isn’t marketing correctly. Period.

It’s the same as if you were an entrepreneur who is trying to sell hamburgers in a vegan community and you just can’t figure out why nobody cares.

 

On that metaphor the fix is simple, but you’d be amazed at how many people miss the easy stuff.

Trust me, there is a fix for selling your music and making a living at it. It has never been more attainable for more artists than RIGHT NOW.

Maybe the fix isn’t as obvious or simple as moving a hamburger stand out of a vegan community, but there are already artists who have discovered the secret.

 

Some of these artists are making 7 figures a year.

Making a living off your music is doable. It’s not just a dream or a concept.

Foolish Chalkboard

 

Most of you are making simple mistakes like trying to hype on social media, or worse, trying to sell on social media.

Educate yourself and be willing to persevere and make errors. You will triumph.

 

 

Most of you are simply ignoring marketing all together. You just want to be artists.

 

Most of you are making excuses so you can avoid the thought of marketing.Foolish Knowledge Empowers You

Marketing doesn’t have to cost a lot of money, but it does cost money.

 

Whether you spend money to educate yourself on music marketing or whether you spend money to get your music marketed, its mission critical to success.

 

Foolish Fight Ignorance

Let me save you the suspense, you are NEVER going to put a song up on iTunes, Spotify, Pandora, YouTube, etc. and have it magically go “viral” and turn you into a somebody.

You’re going to have to work hard at this.

Foolish Work Hard Work Smart

 

 

You’re going to have to work smart at this.

 

 

 

The artists who become students of the marketing game are the artists who will make a living. That’s just a fact.

 

The artists who refuse become the sour elitists who look down their nose at the music business and complain about how unfair it is.

 

Foolish Critics

 

They become critics.

 

 

 

 

 

JT’s last quote had me emotional.

 

I feel this every day.  I had never heard it before JT brought it to my attention on this awards show. He mentioned that he has carried this quote with him, close to his heart, for years.

That should mean something to you.

Foolish Teddy Quote

 

It meant something to me.

 

It’s an excerpt from a speech given by Theodore Roosevelt in Paris, France on April 23rd 1910.

 

It should be a mantra (JT recited this excerpt VERBATIM, btw) for every artist and every innovator on the planet.

 

Read it once, then read it AGAIN.

“It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs, who comes short again and again, because there is no effort without error and shortcoming; but who does actually strive to do the deeds; who knows great enthusiasms, the great devotions; who spends himself in a worthy cause; who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who neither know victory nor defeat.” 

Here is the full speech if you’re interested.Foolish Regret quote

 

 

Have you ever noticed most people are critics?

Have you ever noticed critics don’t like to be perceived as foolish?

 

Foolish Feature 7

 

Have you ever noticed critics criticize who and what they think is foolish?

 

If you haven’t figured it out already you will eventually, critics reside with the cold and timid souls who neither know victory nor defeat.

 

 

F**k the critics, I prefer the foolish.

 

Stay

In

Tune

 

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Music Starving Millions

Consumers really want to buy music.

I keep hearing everyone complain from the bottom and from the top that record sales are down; consumers aren’t buying.Consumers Buy Feature Image

This is true.

Why?

Why aren’t people buying music like they used to if they really want to buy music?

 

Music is such an important part of so many of our lives. Is it that we just don’t care these days?

Are we in danger of having a society where music just isn’t present in the fabric of our lives?

Music is Important

 

No, it’s not that we don’t like music anymore as a society.

Consumers aren’t buying music because we aren’t reaching them.

 

 

 

The methods and dynamics to connecting with consumers has changed, therefore the marketing needs to change to influence their buyingMusic When You Are Happy decisions.

For the most part it hasn’t. We keep holding on to what used to work and by “we” I mean all of us; indie artists and major labels.

Either consumers aren’t aware of the product or they are aware of the product and don’t think it’s worth the price.

The previous statement was the very definition of ineffective marketing.

 

Yikes! They don’t think it’s worth it??

 

Access to the “mass market” is becoming more difficult and complex. The result is the mass market is nowhere near as “massive” as it used to be. This is because the mass market is continually fragmenting into smaller and smaller pieces.

Music Mass Market Niche Market

As a big market disintegrates into smaller, more focused markets the definition changes from “mass market” to “niche market”.

 

As a marketer (of your music) you have to consider the fact that the mass market simply isn’t as easy to reach as it used to be because consumers have so many choices to hang out.

 

In any given media market, there used to be only 3 TV networks (CBS, NBC, and ABC), 1 or possibly 2 (genre specific) radio stations, 1 or 2 newspapers, and maybe MTV for consumers to receive input about any product, project, or artist.

Think about how easy that was for the record labels to reach us when we were such a captive audience.

 

Now we have well over 500 channels on TV in addition to the initial 3 networks.file00041345220

 

There are endless possibilities for consumers to devour radio including their 1 or 2 local terrestrial radio stations, HD Radio, Satellite Radio, I Heart Radio (1,000 stations), Pandora, Spotify, Deezer, Slacker, personal playlists, etc.

 

Every magazine, YouTube, social media, and countless music sites are accessible online at anytime, anywhere in the world from a smartphone.

 

There is a fundamental, paradigm shift happening right now in the music industry.

 

Simply put, the methods that were once effective in exposing consumers to new music and influencing their buying decisions has gone through a drastic change.

 

Music Paradigm Shift

 

These formerly effective methods were geared towards communicating to and converting a mass market.

 

The WHOLE industry will have to change with it and adapt. Until then, it will continue to suffer.

 

 

Consider this, as indie artists and human beings for that matter, our understanding of our everyday reality is directly related to the input we receive.

 

Think about that concept outside the realm of marketing music for a second.Music Input Brain Chart

  • Poor children aren’t aware that they are poor until they are exposed to how the other half lives.
  • Children of famous parents aren’t aware that their parents are famous until they are exposed to other children whose parents aren’t famous.
  • Mentally and physically abused people are sometimes not aware (or forget over time) that there are more peaceful ways to live because they get only one kind of input.
  • People that are constantly told they are bad, horrible, not important, etc., will ultimately begin to believe that if it is the only stimulus they are exposed to.

We are all products of the input we receive in life and, of course, input from the market place is equally applicable.

 

The input we receive becomes our reality.

 

Music Time To Adapt

 

My point is when you think about marketing your music you naturally think about how music (in the form of your favorite artists) has been marketed to you in the past.

 

It’s the only input you have ever received with regards to music marketing, and it worked.

 

 

 

It’s not working now.Music it's not working

Not for you.

 

Not for the major labels either.

 

Shania Twain’s “Up!” was certified 11 million units sold in September 23rd, 2004.Music Shania Twain Up

 

 

10 years later, Jason Aldean’s “Old Boots, New Dirt” was the best-selling country record of 2014 and it barely cracked 1 million in sales by December of last year.

 

Music Jason Aldean Old Boots

 

 

Clearly the record labels haven’t got it figured out yet, man.

 

So why follow them?

 

Consumers haven’t stopped wanting or liking music. The way in which they receive their input about music has drastically changed due to technology and a fragmented marketplace.

 

Music Who Else Should We Target

 

So, in a way, they’re starving for good music, they just can’t find it in the new marketplace. They can’t find it because we aren’t getting it to them in a language/manner they find acceptable.

The artists and labels that have figured this out are thriving.

Listen, consumers are just as desperate to be turned on to really good music as you are to sell it to them.  Crazy, huh?

 

The new way for receiving this marketing stimulus via social media and content marketing through email and text exchanges is consumed Music Chicken Paradigm ShiftCOMPLETELY differently than the mass media branding methods that were effective before.

 

Systems and strategies for addressing mass media don’t work for private, one on one interactions which is how social media, text messaging, and emails are consumed.

 

 

Once the fundamental changes to language and the approach have been internalized, understood, and executed masterfully music sales will rise.

Huh?

 

Taylor Swift provides us with proof of concept on this statement.

Music Taylor Swift 1989

 

While Jason Aldean is an undeniable superstar at the top of his game with TONS of country radio support for his new record, he barely broke 1 million copies.

 

Taylor Swift released “1989” in 2014 and it was certified 4 million in sales January 22 of this year and she did it WITHOUT any help from country radio.

She knows how to communicate with her audience effectively in the new marketplace and she has the sales to prove it.

Not only is Taylor’s audience aware that her new record was released, they all felt it was worth it.

 

Right now I want you to quit lamenting the fact that you aren’t as popular as Taylor Swift and concentrate on the concept here.  COUNTRY RADIO ABANDONED this artist and still, she QUADRUPLED the sales of the #1 selling record that country radio unwaveringly supported!

 

How did that happen?!?!?!  Your future as an artist lies in the answer to this question, people.Music is Live image

 

You hear Jason Aldean’s singles every day, multiple times a day on the radio, every single he’s released is in heavy rotation.

 

You never hear Taylor Swift anymore on country radio (except for very recently but only on the limited number of NASH ICON stations which is a joint venture between Cumulus radio stations and Scott Borchetta’s NASH ICON label who is Taylor’s record label head…so that was just a matter of time).

In plain English, record sales are down because labels are not marketing properly. Period.

 

Music Marketing Sucks

Your marketing sucks too.

 

That is if you even think about marketing.

 

 

 

People want music, people need music, and people continue to consume music.

Just not your music.

 

It’s about the marketing.

 

Artists need innovative marketing strategies.

 

Want some staggering proof that it’s all about marketing?

I’ll give you 2 examples.

This is the absolute dumbest most insanely unnecessary product ever produced.

I believe the infomercials for this product still run today.

That is because of only one reason, it sells.

It sells for only one reason, marketing.

Nobody NEEDS the Pasta Pro but the buyers all feel it is worth it because it’s marketed correctly.

 

 

Here is another example that is simply mind blowing.Music Bottled Water

Bottled water.

Everyday people purchase a 1 liter bottle of water for $1.99.

On average. There are 3.7 liters in a gallon.

That equates roughly to $7.40/gallon for a product we can get for free.

We happily pay more for water, something we can obtain at no cost, than we do for gasoline.

 

Music Worth It

 

This is because of marketing.

 

We feel like it’s worth it.

 

 

 

 

Bottom line to all artists and major labels, if you aren’t selling your music, it’s because people aren’t aware of it and the ones that are don’t feel it’s worth it.

What has to happen for consumers to think your music is worth it?

If we can sell free water for more than twice the price of a gallon of gas, we damn sure can sell music.

 

Stay

In

Tune

 

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Practice Feature Image Juggle

As an artist I spent COUNTLESS hours practicing my guitar.  Practicing my vocals, writing, and practicing with my band.

Practice Feature Image Guitar Pick

When we were making a living at making music there wasn’t a week that went by where we weren’t playing 4-6 hours a day as a band.

It came from our regular practice schedule and then relentless touring gigs.

Practice Nevermind Nirvana

 

When I moved to Nashville after the 80’s hair band thing was abruptly ended by Nirvana’s “Nevermind” record, I recorded some solo material.  I searched for musicians and paid them to get the right tracks, I wasn’t just looking to “get it done” from a project management perspective or just as damaging, an excitedly curious perspective.

 

 

I wanted it to be great!

Know your strengths and weaknesses and address them.

DSCN4391You have to be able to acknowledge the difference between an “A”, “B”, and “C” song.

Just because your song means the world to you doesn’t mean the world will care about it.

 

I paid players to cut the tracks I needed.

I shopped for players based on their talent and not  price tag.

 

You get what you pay for.

Practice You Get What You Pay For

 

I grew up on analog recording so when the industry switched to digital I needed to learn Pro-Tools real fast.

 

 

I used to fly Kelly out to LA to mix my projects. I paid to fly him out and I paid him the “bro-rate” on an hourly basis with the stipulation that I got to ask questions.

I got to be annoying with questions. Practice Luck Circle

He’ll tell you that too, I’m sure.

Learning this software was mission critical to my artistic soul.

 

My band paid money to get vocal lessons.  We wanted to build a better live show and we didn’t have the tools.

You’ve got to pay for tools, and knowledge.

Practice You Don't Deserve To Win

 

It was amazing how many “perks” via favors and good energy that came to us for being a SOLID band.

 

People could easily tell that we were serious and we worked hard at it.

 

They found it “refreshing”.

The moral of the story is that when you do good work and you work hard people take you seriously.

They don’t take you seriously if you plan to do good work.Practice Bruce Lee quote

When you tell people you plan to do good work they blow it off.  You sound like everyone else.

Everybody PLANS to do good work.

The difference between the doers and the talkers is execution.  Plain and simple.

 

The people who actually execute good work instantly separate themselves from the crowd.

The only way to do good work is to be good.

 

The only way to be good is to practice.

 

Practice takes time, money, and energy.

Practice Flow Chart Feature Image

 

These days I pay to learn as much as I can about my current gig which is marketing artists.

We are cracking the code for the New Music Business 2.0 here at Daredevil Production.

 

We collect little pieces of knowledge gleaned from various paid sources and assemble them to construct the vision of our future.

 

I feel like too many of you want people to take you seriously as an artist based on what you plan to do rather than what you have done.

You will never get better if you are waiting for someone to believe in you before you get serious about your career.

 

That’s is probably the most rampant mental flaw that artists possess.  They simply don’t believe in themselves enough so they set up a pretty wicked mental racket. Practice Luck Definition

They say to themselves that if they could just get to the right people that believed in them they would go ALL IN.

Here’s the thing, if you don’t have measurable, tangible evidence that you’re “all in” and your great when you meet “the right people” then you will get nothing from that meeting.

Zero love.

 

The end result is artists frequently meet the right people but are unprepared or unimpressive.

 

Practice Truth image

 

These artists know it so their energy is off. (Why give a CD with disclaimers, btw?)

The “right people” know it instantly.

The artists get jaded.

The cycle begins again.

 

 

This is true in any business.  People are exactly the same. They all talk the talk but until you walk the walk you won’t impress anyone.

 

I created a life-long mentor (who I lost to a heart attack in January of 2014) from a meeting that was set up by our (then) new booking agency.  IPractice Mark O'Toole took him out to eat and kept driving the conversation back to him.  He was fascinating and SUPER smart!  A hustler! He kept telling me the truth, I knew it, and I wanted more.

People always like to talk about themselves.  Sometimes it’s far more productive, far more beneficial to you to keep your mouth shut and pay attention.

I knew I wasn’t going to impress so I kept my mouth shut and appeared stupid rather than open it up and remove all doubt.

 

In the case of this specific mentor (RIP Mark O’Toole), he was extremely humble and very matter of fact.

 

Some are more of the bragging type, but SO WHAT?  As long as they’re talking you should be listening.  Forget about how you feel about the way they serve it up and concentrate on whether you think they’re being truthful, man.

By the simple gesture of taking him to dinner and admitting I was green and needed some input from a pro like him, he liked me.

Practice Honesty

He like my honesty.

He like my hustle.

He probably liked that I kept my mouth shut.

He was attracted to my undying thirst for knowledge and how to apply it.

I think he could see that I was focused on becoming a student of the game.

He remembered me.

 

 

That’s the kind of people that mentors want to help.

 

Mentors don’t want beggars.

 

Practice No Beggars

 

Mentors don’t want hangers on.

 

 

 
They don’t want charity cases.  The whole “somebody needs to help me because I’m unable to help myself” doesn’t IMG_6570usually attract good people in the animal kingdom (of which we are a part of).

 

 

It attracts predators that smell the blood from an easy kill so if that’s you STOP IT.  I promise you will just continue to attract predators.

It’s like sticking a bloody hand in shark infested waters, screaming for the sharks to come, and then complaining that you got your hand bit off.

This is why so many of you that operate from a certain “victim” or “pity” approach keep getting screwed.

Practice Amadeus Mozart Quote

 

If it makes you feel better the story doesn’t change for the artists who punch through into any kind of market awareness and brand name.  The more they avoid the nuts and bolts of their own business, the more they get screwed.

Inspect what you expect.

 

If you don’t learn what to look for (how to inspect and what to expect) you will get screwed when you start making money.

You have to practice to learn what to look for.Practice The Less You Bleed Quote

 

Balance between project management (get the goods to market) and artistic excellence is key as well.

You hear me harp about how marketing will make or break any project.

 

Well we have all seen good marketing break projects that are artistically lame and unimaginative.

We have never seen zero, lame, or unimaginative marketing break an amazing artistic project; it kills it.

 

Either way you’re going to need marketing and team building skills.

 

Either way you’re going to have to practice your marketing.

 

Practice makes perfect.

You can’t effectively market yourself unless you’re willing to suck at it in the beginning.

Practice Suck Meter

 

Just like your music.

 

You used to suck at that too.

Nobody was born with all the tools they need to succeed.

So if you want to move these little products you create and make a living, you will first need to learn how to get better.

 

How to get better at making them.Practice Makes Perfect

How to get better at marketing them.

Of course, that will require practice.

 

Stay

In

Tune

 

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

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Business. Keep Right

 

Good business.

 

We all aspire to do good business.

Business Everyone has good ideas

We all dream of exactly how we are going to treat our employees, business relationships, and charities once we’re on top and the cash starts rolling in.

The trick is getting the cash to start rolling in.Business Cash Flow King

Getting the cash flow requires business savvy.

 

The entertainment industry is no different than selling any other widget. It’s all about creating relationships, creating good product, and selling that product.

Don’t be naïve, just because that product means something to you, moves you emotionally, or is your reason for living doesn’t discount the fact that it is a product, although certainly means it’s an important product.

To you anyway.

Business Savvy

 

The rest of the world won’t know unless they experience it.

If you’re making art for the sake of art, God bless, you need not read any further.

 

 

 

If you’re aspire to make a living at making art, then you not only need to be an artist, but you also need to be a good businessperson.

This important product, for some of you it’s your life’s work, needs targeted exposure to infiltrate the marketplace.

Business Communicate Stick Figure

You got to turn people on to something cool, man.

 

You got to serve it up so consumers are willing to receive your information

You’ve got to communicate with them.

 

The old wives tale that states “great music will find its audience” (or some such nonsense) is perpetuated by legacy artists who had their record deals in the 50’s, 60’s, 70’s, and 80’s and chose not to think about marketing or any other business aspect of their careers.

You have to understand that while they are definitely doing you a disservice by making such a statement, these misguided artists aren’t intentionally lying to you.

You always have to consider the source.

Business Always Consider the sourceThey made music and it found an audience. While this was their experience, I can tell you that the “Great music” statement completely negates the amazing marketing efforts of their label.

Yeah, their great music “found” an audience alright, that’s because some marketing team went out, targeted the audience, and put something wonderful in front of them to consume.

 

Consume they did.

 

How the hell can anyone respond to something they haven’t experienced yet? Sheesh!

 

Listen, there are TONS of people who live and die for music out there; maybe even your music.

 

FACT: 99.99999% of these people will not take the time to discover the music on their own. They need to be shown something good and then they’re a Superfan for life.

 

Here’s the good business dichotomy I see every day with most artists.

Business Dichotomy Break

 

Y’all are MORE than willing to spend your money, your life savings sometimes (or someone else’s), on a killer recording project, be it a single, EP, or full CD.

This is good business.

You’re (hopefully) dead set on creating an amazing piece of work, AKA product.

 

Business Good business is good business

 

 

 

 

 

Most of y’all’s plan to market this product is to “put it out there” on iTunes, CD Baby, Spotify, etc. and see if anyone likes it.

Business Bad Business Practice Band Aid

This is bad business.

 

This is the reason your music doesn’t sell at all.

 

 

This is the reason you’re broke either financially, spiritually (working your crappy job), or both.

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So you’re willing to take the financial leap artistically speaking with regards to making the product.

Why is marketing the product never worked into the budget?

 

 

 

Why is there some disconnect on the value of marketing?Business You're Broke Pocket

That’s like writing songs with beautiful lyrics and melodies only to record them with no singer.

What’s the point exactly?

Business What's the Point GoatWhy is marketing, at best, an afterthought amongst indie artists?

 

This is a mission critical oversight.

Some of you want so bad to be on a label that will do this for you but you ignore doing it for yourself.

 

 

 

This is adolescent thinking because you need to learn to market yourself to get the record deal.

Then you’ll need to know how to market yourself to keep it.

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You have to wake up, your careers are burning.

 

The contradiction lies in the fact that you gladly paid good money to get your project recorded or you did it yourself (which requires thousands of hours of experience for there to be excellence).

You got the sound you wanted for your release.

Now, for some reason you choose not to put the same financial attitude/approach or work ethic into the marketing of your epic release.

I’ve said it a thousand times, once you get that record deal you are so desperately seeking, the label will allocate a staggeringly low percentage of the overall budget to recording.

The lion’s share will go to marketing for the sole purposes of doing good business.

 

 

DSC03800-BLabels understand what you don’t.

You are going to have to pay for customers initially.

 

 

You are going to be a startup business in the beginning.

 

It’s going to cost money to expose this masterpiece of yours to the marketplace.

If your music is as good as you think it is, those customers will become fans.Business Mission Critical

Fans = repeat customers.

 

Repeat customers are far more profitable than preliminary customers.

 

Profitable repeat customers are non-existent without preliminary customers.

 

Get it?

 

If you keep in step with a normal record budget in terms of the financial allocation, at least 75% of the overall funds would go to marketing; the remainder is for the actual recording.

What did your last recording budget look like in comparison to this equation?

Why is marketing so often overlooked when it is the biggest piece of the professional artist pie?

 

 

cmw3_d40_dsc_446_cropped-300 (1)A MISSION CRITICAL piece of the pie you desire so badly.

Think about that statement for a second. If good art was mission critical we’d have no bad songs or horrible artists.

Yep, good marketing is mission critical for an incredible project, it turns crap into commerce too.

 

 

So many of you are spending low or zero attention & money on marketing efforts and consequently getting low or zero dollars in revenue.

Zero marketing = zero revenue.

Makes sense doesn’t it?

 

Here is the way I see it.

You have choices.Business Learn From yourself

  1. You can choose to learn this yourself – in the lifetime you have left after work, family, writing, recording, etc.
    • Yes, this will work just fine (provided you commit to a consistent effort which will require passion for marketing) but you have a huge learning curve.
    • I dare you to work half as hard on learning the marketing as you did learning to play your instrument. Can you imagine?
    • Where exactly will you get the knowledge in this extra life time to learn?
    • How long will it take to tackle that learning curve and begin to see results?
    • How certain are you that this isn’t just an excuse not to start?
  2. You can choose to pay for knowledge – and get a jump start on the strategies while you learn to customize these strategies to your particular situation.
    • This method will cut your time to the coast for sure.
    • It also means you are truly taking action instead of making excuses.
    • Some of you paid for music lessons right? Isn’t this logical as a next step?Business Knowledge Empowers You
    • You still have to put in the sweat equity but at least you are addressing the fact that you need to market your music and you need to learn how to do it well.
  3. You can choose to pay someone to set it up for you
    • Watching someone is the fastest method for learning.
    • Of course, it’s the most expensive of these three options.
    • You will witness the process of developing customized marketing strategies for your particular brand.
    • If you have a brain this would be considered an education because it will get your creative marketing juices FLOWING while it teaches you “how to fish”.

 

I have some thoughts.

 

You probably paid for some kind of musical lessons somewhere along your journey.

Business Music Lessons

You probably paid for studio time somewhere along your journey.

Some of you have paid to play somewhere along your journey.

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Some of you have paid for a music education or recording education somewhere along your journey.

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA

 

 

If you can agree that marketing your product is crucial, then you will need to pay for some marketing education somewhere along your journey.

 

 

 

 

Paying a company you trust to work YOUR project is far more effective than any marketing class you’ll ever take. Kill 2 birds for the price of 1.

That’s just good business.

 

Stay

In

Tune.

Business Steve Jobs

 

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Treasure Maps feature image 6

The mythical treasure maps you see in the movies are like unicorns, they don’t exist. You have to make your OWN treasure map if you want to be successful.CSC_0010

 

This was the first thought that entered my head when I read some of the comments that were posted an old article I wrote entitled “How To Avoid Artistically Starving To Death” that was circulated by Music Clout again last week.

Artistically Starving To Death

 

As per the usual, I get plenty of anonymous positive and negative comments.  I was thinking about some of these negative comments not because they hurt my feelings, (let’s be real, I’m thrilled they’re even taking the time to respond), it was because people are still totally missing the boat.

 

FYI, in this article I explained the difference between marketing and digital distribution which seems to be commonly confused amongst artists.

If you don’t truly understand the difference it would make your sales and marketing efforts as productive as screen doors on a submarine.

 

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Most of the negative comments hovered around the fact that I didn’t explain HOW to market in 1,200 or so words.  Ugh, impossible.

So I AM going to try and share some of the marketing initiatives we have executed and will execute in future posts to give y’all some “HOW” with details.

But for now, let’s really explore the notion of marketing first.

The beginning of “how to market” lies in the concept. Isn’t it better to know what we’re looking for before we can effectively search for any answers?

Marketing is WHY consumers buy and distribution is WHERE they buy.

Don’t get them confused.

Why do you go to any retail store? Is it because you’re dying to spend money on the first thing you see that inspires you or is it because you already knew what you wanted and went there to get it?

Get it?

First you need to focus on a specific artistic lane. Whether you like it or not, whether you want to believe it or not, nobody buys records that contain multiple genre tracks; it’s confusing to the marketplace.

Consumers actually get hostile.Treasure Maps Foreigner

FACT: When the amazing rock band Foreigner released “I Want to Know What Love Is” it was a HUGE Pop hit.  It was their biggest hit.  It also marked the END of the band because consumers showed up to concerts expecting to see a sappy pop act and got gritty rock & roll instead.  They were pissed off because they felt misled.

There are always exceptions to the rule but your favorite artists have always put out records that contain tracks that are genre specific FOR A REASON.

Why question it?

 

The second step requires exposure of the music.

Targeted exposure is absolutely paramount.  Think about this way, if you made the world’s BEST hamburgers would you sell any in a vegan community?

 

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While the misstep may be naïve it’s also borderline self-sabotage.  Even if sabotage is unintended, the damage is the same. Remember that.

A good exercise on market targeting is to ask yourself, “What famous artist’s fan base would probably love your music too?”

In other words, ask yourself (from a business perspective not an artistic perspective) what artist would my business benefit from the most if I opened up for them on tour?

 

As many of you know, I was the front man for a hair band back in the day.  I LOVED Metallica and Megadeth but opening for either one of those acts wasn’t going to help me build my fan base at all. This thought process, is show business, not show heart, friends, or idols.

Make sense?

 

Next, the exposure has to be “framed” or “served up” correctly to this targeted audience.

There is a difference between marketing and pandering. I constantly see tweets that say “TY 4 following, check out my music” or “REAL TALK MAN, dis artist is da BOMB”, with a link; this is pandering and hype.  These two strategies actually turn people off on social media and email marketing. The worst is “Discover this artist on iTunes” where it has to be purchased.  Why would anyone “check out” your music or purchase your music if they don’t know who you are?  Especially in today’s market where EVERYONE is on iTunes, Pandora, Spotify, etc.

Do you respond to these kinds of pitches?Treasure Maps Turn Ons and Turn Offs

What turns YOU off on social media?

 

Consider what emails, tweets, Facebook posts, YouTube videos, and Instagram posts turn you on and peak your curiosity?

Which ones turn you OFF?

Make a list.

 

Why would you ask someone to “discover” your music and make them pay for it?

Do consumers pay for radio?

Do consumers pay to see new artists on TV?

Have YOU ever purchased music BEFORE you heard it?

 

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Tons of artists are discouraged by the fact that everyone can and DOES put their “art” up on the world’s refrigerator.  Listen, this is not an ideal situation but it is winnable if you think about marketing from a business perspective and leave your sensitive woundable artist heart out of the equation.

The good news is that anyone can expose their music to everyone online. So with regards to the market, the proverbial “sky is the limit”

The bad news is that anyone can expose their music to everyone online; which results in a ton of noise on the RADAR screen. Focused attention needs to be paid to how you disseminate your information to excel at this game.

 

If a man named Bob, whom you do not know, randomly introduces himself to you the street, you might be polite but your guard is definitely up no matter how nice Bob may be.  It’s a cold call essentially.  This strategy for meeting people can work but is statistically a loser with regards to creating relationships.

How would that random encounter make you feel?Treasure Maps Referral Magnifying glass

Isn’t that why many of us feel a little weird about introducing ourselves to people?  Don’t you think it’s because we feel more comfortable being introduced by someone else?

Why should you introduce your music to someone any differently?

 

If Bob was introduced to you for the first time by a trusted friend at a party, you are definitely more open to the thought of Bob, aren’t you?

Treasure Maps CREEPYIt’s almost like with the cold introduction you half expect Bob to misbehave and you would be surprised if Bob turned out to be cool.  When the same person is referred by someone you know in a comfortable environment, the opposite is usually true; you expect Bob to be cool and would be surprised if Bob turned out to be offensive.

 

 

Here’s where you have to get creative in the market.

 

What clever methods would allow you to present your music to a consumer online in a referral fashion?

 

How can you create a comfortable environment for consumers to really give your music a chance instead of being on edge?

If this article still pisses you off you simply aren’t ready.

Treasure Maps Teacher

 

For those that are inspired by this I give you this Buddhist Proverb:

When the student is ready, the teacher will appear.

 

 

 

Lastly, I wanted to mention that all these new music marketing concepts are inexpensive if they aren’t free.  The thought that you have to spend millions of dollars to market yourself is asinine and archaic.

This is the first time in the history of marketing where artists have so much access to targeted markets for little or no money.Treasure Maps Earl Dibbles Jr

 

Study Earl Dibbles Jr who is a completely independent artist making 7 figures every year via social media (the CBS gig came AFTER the social media explosion).

 

It can be done people.

 

It is being done people.

You can do it too.

 

Once you get the concept of what you need to be doing I have one word for you.

Treasure Maps GoogleGOOGLE.

 

Find your teachers

 

These are a few of the marketing teachers I follow.  This is how you create your own treasure map.  All treasure maps are different for each artist so the only way up is THROUGH.

 

You have to discover what works for YOU.

 

I recommend following/subscribing to all these people, most are free, some are not.

Let me save you the suspense, ALL of them have products to sell and so do you, so get over it.

Start a new folder in your email for each and just save them as they come in to keep from getting overwhelmed.  It’s a TON of free information with the ANSWERS you’re looking for.  Read them when you have insomnia, or when you’re motivated, or when you’re bored, etc. but READ THEM…or you can continue to complain.

Jeff Bullas – http://www.jeffbullas.com/Treasure Maps Jeff Bullas

Sales Lion – http://www.thesaleslion.com/

Lewis Howes – http://lewishowes.com/

Jon Loomer – http://www.jonloomer.com/

Jon Oszajca – http://www.musicmarketingmanifesto.com/manifesto-novid.html?hop=jj1981

 

 

Stay in Tune

 

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Promotion rotating promo image

We often hear from artists inquiring about marketing and promotion services for their music project.  They want some guidance on the best way to spend their money.  Today I thought I would share some of the most common mistakes indie artists make for their marketing and promotion budgets.

First, I want to point out that these mistakes are shared equally amongst indie artists with small budgets and indie artists who have investors with big budgets.

It’s mind blowing.

You must be careful to separate the emotion from the event.

You must separate what you think is “cool” i.e. a promotional tactic that serves your ego from strategies that will be far more effective in exposing your artistic effort.Promotion Bang for your Buck n 2

 

 

More bang for your buck.

 

Marketing and Promotion is the act of influencing buying decisions.

 

 

This is where you expose your masterpiece to consumers with the intention of creating a deep enough relationship to inspire them to buy your music.

Promotion should be the largest part of the indie artist budget and yet it is the most overlooked.

The same promotion techniques that made you aware of your #1 most-favorite-album-of-all-time were equally effective in making you aware of your most hated piece of crap from the artist that you can’t believe even got a record deal.

Both of those records created cash flow.Promotion Business Strategy

Think about it.

 

 

By far the #1 promotion mistake I see indie artists make is nonexistent promotion.

  • If you’re doing a crowdfunding project you must add funds into the budget for promotion!
  • Back in the heyday of the record business, labels would spend $250,000 on the recording of an artist’s debut record and $750,000-$2,000,000 in promotion
  • That’s a promotion budget between 75% and 87.5% of the overall funds.
  • How do your recording vs promotion ratios look in your business plan?
  • Do you have a business plan?

The #2 biggest marketing and promotion mistake is spending money on ineffective strategies.

 

Limited Budgets and Radio PromotionIMG_1605Listen, there is nothing cooler that turning on your radio and hearing your song coming through your car speakers.

 

It’s better than sex.

 

While it’s quickly dissipating, terrestrial radio is still, far and away, the most effective way to promote music to a mass audience.

But how much money is required to make it effective?

Radio only works when you have a BIG budget.DSC_5393

The reasoning is the magic number 7.

There is a psychological tipping point where a consumer internalizes a song and their buying decision is influenced.

That number is 7.

It takes an average consumer 7 listens to your song to be compelled to purchase it.

 

 

Here’s the thing, it takes a TON of spins to ensure 7 listens.

You need enough money to ensure that each individual hears your song 7 times which means you need to afford medium to heavy rotation or you have wasted your money.

Let’s not forget that radio promotion is all about relationships as well.  You will need money for a radio tour so you can visit every station.

globe_bw

 

Market Size Matters

Sometimes we see artists try to work the whole country at one time.  If you have a decent budget but not a MASSIVE budget then why not focus on a local market?

If the song is good and you can afford solid, steady spins in 1 or 2 markets then your marketing budget is going to be far more effective in a smaller region than the whole country.

More people will be influenced to purchase your music in 1 or 2 markets with heavy spins than in every market with light spins.

And we’re trying to sell our music right?

If you don’t have a radio budget then your money is far more effective with online marketing and socialPromotion Social Media Logos media marketing.

 

Spending money to appear in an online magazine next to a famous artist makes you look famous and important.

Perception is reality.

Now if you add a free download attached to a squeeze page you are growing your customer list.

Spend money building a customer list and monetizing it.

If you don’t know how, then spend money learning how or paying someone to do it for you.

If you spending $20 per month and you don’t know what you’re doing you are wasting your money.

Every artist is unique so what is the best way to focus on your strengths and minimize the weaknesses?  If you don’t know this about yourself then you need to pay someone who does…think of it as an education.

 

Touring and Tour Promotion

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One of the most valuable products you are promoting is your live show.

Spend money wisely on tour promotion.

Spend the budget on infrastructure that will allow you to capture the contact information from everyone that sees you play live. Always be building your fan base FIRST and THEN spend money on getting into new markets.

Trust me, getting your first big tour and going everywhere across the country once is not cost effective. That still stings just thinking about it. Ugh.

Start at home. If you can’t pack your local theater or least a decent sized club then your live show probably sucks.  Spend money finding out what needs to change.

If consumers perceive your show as an event they will come to see it

. darkedinburgh_ghostbus

Once you are packing a venue you are making money.

You have cash flow.

Then dominate a new market and so on.

 

 

Tour Busses Don’t Sell Records

Country artist Sam Hunt released “Leave the Night On” (destined to be #1) in mid-June this year.  This major label artist with major label money Promotion Sam Hunttoured in a van with a trailer from June through mid-October before they could financially justify the cost of leasing a tour bus.

 

 

 

Atco Records recording artist Dream Theater released “Images and Words” in 1992.  They had enough tour support for 6 weeks in a tour bus or 12-14 weeks in a van.  They begrudgingly chose the van at the behest of their tour manager.  The single broke in 10 weeks.  If they chose the bus, they wouldn’t have had the budget to support the single when it broke.

Promotion Dream Theater Images and Words

 

 

 

How are you spending your promotion budget?

 

 

 

 

Spend wisely and stay in tune people.

 

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