Marketing Music – Working Smart
July 8th, 2010 Filed Under General
I conducted a recent survey and the results made me realize that many musicians feel much like I do, they are concerned with the amount of time that marketing, booking and promotion takes them. In fact time and money are the two resources everyone feels squeezed for these days it seems. This is a legitimate concern but not a reason to give up and not pursue a solution. I actually believe it is a call for working smarter, not harder.
The solutions are available. Time is probably the most important resource because you can’t get your time back, you can make more money but you can’t make more time. Time is universally equal for all human beings, we all get 24/7, that’s it. It really does get down to how and what we do with time that determines success or failure. The important thing about time and timing is momentum. Things tend to move in the direction they are already going so if you can get “the ball rolling” everything will come together faster for you and ironically it will feel easier.
One thing that has worked for me and countless others (and not just in the music industry but in all business) is leveraging other peoples information, knowledge and connections. You’ve heard of the six degrees of separation right? Well when you network in any industry that is what you’re tapping into. Networking is an important skill and if you think it doesn’t apply to artists, you are mistaken. I am not suggesting that you become everyone’s best friend or being phony just to get what you want – in fact that is the opposite of what I am talking about. What I am suggesting is that you become a contributing member of organizations and groups of people like yourself, musicians. Go to give and you will find what you need in the process. Here is my networking recipe just in case you are new to music marketing or shy.
- Find an organization that represents you, start with one and don’t be afraid to shop around.
- Find out when and where they meet and attend a meeting. (Some organizations have requirements and fees so seek the organizations that suit your professional level, your focus and your budget).
- If it’s a good fit join and get a volunteer service position if you can – this is the fastest way to get to know people who know things that you don’t know and if you are nice to them and have a helpful open attitude, people will share information and resources with you. It really is that easy and it’s fun. Not only do you learn a lot, you meet like-minded interesting people that you can collaborate with and that is when it gets really interesting. Here is a short list of organizations that I belong to or have belong to in the past that I think are helpful.
WCSA (West Coast Songwriters Association)
NARAS – National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences – The Grammys
ASCAP – The American Society Of Composers, Authors And Publishers
NSAI – Nashville Songwriters Association International
AES – Audio Engineering Society
Another way to get information quick and easy is to buy it. You either have to pay with time and effort or with money (which takes time and effort to make). Sorry, there is no way around this because there is no such thing is something for nothing, it doesn’t exist, but you knew that alreadyJ.
The best resource in terms of purchased information for the independent musician that I know of is The Indie Bible hands down. I am particularly fond of the Radio Contacts section; this has been a very helpful resource in my experience. If you are familiar with this publication you know what I am talking about, if not, you will want to check it out. For a small investment you save a ton of time and energy because they have done the hard work for you. What I love about these guys is that they update this directory every year and now they are publishing a sister publication, Indie Venue.
When you get The Indie Bible you automatically get their newsletter every month, which is full of updates and resources. I have been a big fan for a number of years, and they have saved me a ton of time. Check them out, here are my links:
And yes – I get a couple of bucks if you buy through my links which I appreciate – but that is not why I am telling you about it – this is the resource I used to get played on a ton of indie radio stations which lead to traffic to my site and to sales.
Have fun – Stay Tuned
Elizabeth
Mail this post
Music Marketing Tools for Facebook
June 13th, 2010 Filed Under General
Last month I attended a Grammy Round Table in San Francisco and as always, I learned a lot and met some cool people.
I met the CEO and founder of a new company called RootMusic.com, they offer an automated tool that sets up Band Pages on Facebook Fan Page sites, pretty snazzy stuff. There is a free version and a premium version, the premium version is a whopping 1.99 a month. I am currently testing out and playing with the freebie version for now. It is pretty easy to set up and they provide good directions and video tutorials. You can find this at:
If you missed my previous blog entry about setting up an email sign-up form on your facebook page you can find that at the link below. this is a really smart thing to do if you are intent on building a big list of raving fans.
http://musicmarketings.com/how-to-add-an-email-opt-in-form-to-your-facebook-fan-page
Stay tuned,
Elizabeth Edwards
For more information and other article on promoting independent music check out my home pages at
Mail this post
How To Add An Email Opt-in Form To Your Facebook Fan Page
May 18th, 2010 Filed Under General
Have you been wondering how to best use Facebook as a way to connect with potential fans and customers? Since Facebook is second only to Google in US Traffic I decided to find out how. I am glad I did because I have been getting some really good results for my efforts.
It is actually pretty easy to set up and worth the effort so I thought I would share it with you. It comes down to adding an application to your fan page called Static FBML application which stands for Face Book Mark Up Language.
This application allows you to integrate your opt-in web form HTML code into your Facebook Fan Page. I put together a quick video tutorial that walks you through it. I hope this helps toward your list building efforts. As always I’d love to hear from you so leave me a comment.
Click below to view the video
Stay tuned,
Elizabeth Edwards
For other Useful information about marketing music visit my home page at
Mail this post
Pandora – Amazon Update
April 27th, 2010 Filed Under General
Pandora – Amazon Update
For those of you who read my recent Online Traffic Report , you might have noticed that Pandora Online Radio is the most popular radio station on the internet with approximately 14.8 Million US/15.6 Million Global monthly visitors. Their profits hit $50 million in 2009, Pandora is undeniably the most successful online radio station without a close second.
The process of getting your music on Pandora has unfortunately become more difficult. They’ve teamed up with Amazon and added a few new steps. This is not necessarily a bad thing because Pandora is successful largely due to the quality of the music that they play and if you have quality recordings you should be able to get on. It is still “doable” and definitely worth the effort in my opinion.
I have outlined the process below based on a recent email I received from Pandora’s staff.
The Basics: How to Submit
To submit music to Pandora, you’ll need these items:
1) a CD of your music
2) a unique UPC code for that CD*
3) this CD to be available through Amazon as a physical CD (and not just as MP3s)**
4) the legal rights to your music
5) a standard free Pandora account, based on a valid email address, that will be associated with this submission
6) MP3 files for two of the songs from your CD
Once you have all of these items ready to go, you can submit your music to Pandora for consideration here: http://submitmusic.pandora.com/.
Here is the link for Pandora with some additional information on how to go about getting your music accepted with them.
Additionally I want to let you know about Amazon’s Artist Central site (still in Beta). The good news is that Amazon is making a bigger commitment to online music sales. The process of setting up the Amazon Artist Central site takes a bit of time but is well worth doing. Amazon is a serious marketing machine and retail outlet and they are at our disposal.
Here is my link so you can see what a page looks like, although I am still working on it, you’ll get the idea.
Here are the links for the starting point in the event that you do not already have an Amazon Artist Central site and some general information you might find helpful.
www.artistcentral.amazon.com/faq
I hope this is helpful – I love to get your comments and questions.
Stay tuned,
Elizabeth
For more information on music marketing visit my home page at www.musicmarketings.com
Mail this post
Genre Specific Website Research Video
April 16th, 2010 Filed Under General, Videos From Youtube
Ever Wonder How to Get Your Music
to Stand Out From The Crowd?
The First Step Is To Find The Right Crowd
I found a quick free solution that I would like to share with you
I have put together this short video to show you how easy it is to use www.Alexa.com and www.Quantcast.com and get genre specific information that can help you find websites, online radio stations and other helpful information that you can use to get your music in front of the right people.
By “the right people” I mean, the people who love the genre, people who can review and recommend your music, who have the power to get your music played on online radio and most importantly, in front of the people inclined to buy it!
I hope you get some good actionable information from this post, as always I would love to get your feedback so please leave me your comments. And if you know of someone who might appreciate this information please send them to my blog.
I will be wrapping the survey up shortly and I can’t wait to share the results with you!
Stay Tuned,
Elizabeth
Mail this post
Letterman Learns to Twitter
March 17th, 2010 Filed Under General
There were two really interesting things that caught my attention on Letterman last night – First, Snoop Dogg read the Top Ten list which I thought was very funny – the topic was “”Top Ten Things That Sound Cool When Said By Snoop Dogg”. On that list, number 2 in fact, was something to the effect of “My CD is available on 3/23 and if you illegally download it, I’m coming to your house” I am glad to see an artist of Snoops stature draw attention to the fact that illegal downloading is nothing more than stealing. Don’t get me wrong, I am all for giving out samples and bonuses to allow people to “fall in love” with your music before they buy, but I am the one who gets to decide what the free sample will be and where and when they can get it etc. – Big difference.
One of the people who recently took the survey contacted me and pointed out a membership site that he has set up called FFFfighters. The purpose of his site is to unite artist who are concerned about the issue of illegal downloads. You can get visit his site at www.ffffighters.ning.com. Additionally I want to draw your attention to NARAS , the Recording Academy, (the Grammy organization) as they provide strong representation for us in Washington on this and many other issues. They provide many great information and networking opportunities as well, not to mention they give out the Grammys. If you are not currently a member you might want to check them out at www.grammy.com
And yes, you very likely qualify for membership.
The second interesting thing that happened on The Late Show was that Dave performed his very first Tweet – It was funny. You can watch it at
When I first heard about Twitter I thought – “oh please, I don’t have the time for that”. Then I found our that Dell made $3 million using Twitter, according to Wired Magazine’s web article published on June 12, 2009. This is chump change for Dell but more and more businesses are using Twitter basically because it is free or close to it and it is effectively adding to their bottom line.
Twitter, as it turns out is not just for people who brag about the fact that they are at Disneyland on a Monday when you and everyone else is at school or work! It is an awesome marketing tool for businesses and especially for the independent musicians who don’t have a ton of time or extra cash. I just set up a Twitter account for this blog about three weeks ago – I am getting a lot of visitors from my 140 character tweets. You can follow me at http://twitter.com/musicmarketings
If you have not yet taken the survey, take it soon because I am taking it down shortly and sending out the results to everyone who “opted in” to receive the information. If you are not sure if you opted in, simply sign up with name and email in the box to the right and you will receive some useful information including the survey results when they are complete. For more information on Music Marketing and Online Strategies for Independent Musicians visit my home page at www.musicmarketings.com
Cheers,
Elizabeth Edwards
Mail this post
Thank You
March 3rd, 2010 Filed Under General
Thank You for taking the survey, visiting www.musicmarketings.com and joining the conversations on music marketing. Be sure to check your email and confirm my email address so my emails don’t get stuck in the junk filter. Your report and the survey results will be sent via email.
I look forward to talking to you soon.
Elizabeth Edwards
Singer Songwriter
Publisher -Sassy Girl Publishing
elizabeth@sassygirlpublishing.com
707-567-3747 phone
707-745-2105 fax
www.musicmarketings.com
www.lizesong.com
www.inspired-voice.com
Mail this post
About Us
February 9th, 2010 Filed Under General
Launched in 2010, www.musicmarketings.com website was developed as a new form of community unlimited by physical location or time zone. The focus is on information regarding music marketing including strategies to create awareness of music, musicians products and services and in addition on line multi media marketing. We come together to talk about what is new and interesting in terms of marketing tools andstrategies to help generate traffic to musicians websites. Here, we share our experiences and ideas so that we might be helpful to others.
Visit our home page at www.musicmarketings.com
Mail this post
Contact Us
February 9th, 2010 Filed Under General
Contact Us
If you have any questions regarding the content in this website, about the any products or services that are mentioned, or just any questions at all, don’t hesitate to contact me at the address below.
I’d also love to hear any feedback on the site, if you’ve found it helpful or have some ideas about how I can improve the site in some way.
Please contact me at elizabeth@sassygirlpublishing.com
Visit our home page at www.musicmarketings.com
Mail this post
Privacy Policy
February 9th, 2010 Filed Under General
My Commitment To Your Privacy
Your privacy is important to me. To better protect your privacy I provide this notice explaining my online information practices and the choices you can make about the way your information is collected and used. To make this notice easy to find, I make it available on my homepage and at every point where personally identifiable information may be requested.
My Commitment To Data Security
To prevent unauthorized access, maintain data accuracy, and ensure the correct use of information, I have put in place appropriate physical, electronic, and managerial procedures to safeguard and secure the information I collect online.
My Commitment To Children’s Privacy
Protecting the privacy of the very young is especially important. For that reason, I never collect or maintain information at my website from those I actually know are under 18, and no part of my website is structured to attract anyone under 18. Under my Terms of Service, children under 18 are no allowed to access any services I provide through this website.
Collection of Personal Information
On visiting this site, the IP address used to access the site will be logged along with the dates and times of access. This information is purely used to analyse trends, administer the site, track user’s movement, and gather broad demographic information for aggregate use. Importantly, IP addresses are not linked to personally identifiable information.
Links to third party websites
I have included links on this site for your reference. I am not responsible for the privacy policies on these websites.
Alterations to this Privacy Statement
The content of this statement may be altered at any time.
Have a question? Just contact me at elizabeth@sassygirlpublishing.com
Visit my home page at www.musicmarketings.com
Mail this post