Tag Archive for 'Promotion'

What Do Album Sales Measure?

Published on November 1, 2007 in Blog. 8 Comments Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , .

On the surface, this may appear like an obvious question. Album sales measure the number of people who buy an artist’s music. Let’s look a little deeper at what album and track sales are an actual measure of.

Many artists that experience high volumes of downloads on p2p networks also experience brisk sales. The days of mega-platinum albums are pretty much at an end, so I’m defining brisk sales as between 50,000 to 7 million units sold. This is abroad spectrum, as it includes middle tier artists as well. The future of music will most like include far more middle tier artists, making a decent living, and fewer multi million dollar pop sensations.

The actions of Radiohead, Nine Inch Nails, and Saul Williams are not meant to devalue music to nothing. These artists want people to buy their music. They pay their mortgages, buy their gas, and feed their kids off music sales and gigs. The intention behind these artists’ actions are to move forward a major shift in the music business. The sooner major labels are out of the picture, the sooner our culture can have a conversation about the value of music. It;s great that people can choose how much they want to pay to support artists. At the same time, all of us in the middle or lower tiers of the industry cannot sustain a vibrant career without revenue. Digital music sales are expanding rapidly; obviously people are buying music.

Consider that people can get almost any music they want for free. With a small amount of effort, any album can be found, downloaded, and added to a collection as an MP3. So when people do buy music, what does it measure?

The Love of the Music

Album and track sales measure artist support, and appreciation of the music itself. When major albums are leaked well in advance of release dates and still sell well, it’s clear that the people buying it don’t have to. Why would people buy something they can get for free? It’s not consistent with a capitalist mentality.

Music is in a post capitalist environment, and totally uncharted territory for any commodity. There is no scarcity of music, and the supply outstrips the demand by miles. When people buy an album, they are saying “I like this music or artist enough to support them. I want them to continue to make great music, and I am moved and touched by what they create.”

Sales dynamics and trends for non-major label releases follow a completely different set of rules than mainstream music sales do. Mega-Artists that are joining the ranks of independent musicians aren’t breaking new ground as much as they are creating a public awareness of the way the music business works for most of the artists in it. For those of us in the trenches of our careers, they are putting a spotlight on how we do business.

Free downloads from major artists are simply a proving ground that in the post major label era of music, people will still buy music they support. The only difference between downloading an album for free on an artist site or off Bit Torrent is the amount of effort one has to put in (i.e. clicking a link instead of typing a name into a search prompt).

Although accurate sales totals for In Rainbows won’t be available till the end of the year, it’s clear people are willing to pay for music when they are not forced to. Now that big time acts are involved in the independent music world, there’s no denying that people buy music they love, even if it’s free. The only thing that has changed with In Rainbows is the kind of market analysis we are seeing in major media publications. Major labels can’t whitewash entertainment news about the reality of the business anymore.

When people have access to the music they want for free, and without being treated like criminals, supporting the artist is a natural action to take. it’s when we are treated like criminals, or asked to pay large sums of money for long dead artists, that the public begins to resent buying music.

The Bottom Line: Album sales no longer measure marketing ability or brand placement, they measure people’s love of the music.

What do you think?

What do album sales measure?

Are Radiohead/Saul Williams/NIN breaking new ground, are are they amplifying a message that most of us already hear?

The Cult of Personality – The Modern Artist’s Mantra

Published on October 26, 2007 in Blog. 0 Comments Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , .

Lately I’ve notice that there are musicians and artists that are tuning into this frequency, so here’s something for you to consider:

The future for musicians looks like more than just great recordings and live shows. The opportunities that the internet provides modern artists is available to everyone, and thus its potential is diluted. One powerful tool in creating buzz around your project or career is to get noticed. And one way to get noticed is to generate interest in who you are, and what you’re saying. in other words, creating and maintaining a conversation with your audience.

Pop culture can overwhelm us with the personal lives of famous people, and annoy us to no end with the antics of celebrities. Billboard has an excellent article on the effect of this kind of marketing on the careers of the ultra-famous. Keeping themselves in the public eye is a critical element to the careers of these top tier entertainers. Even bad press is good press for them.

For the independent artist, this same technique can yield different results. We can expand our scope and reach by generating attention for who we are, and what we have to say. Marketing a personality is nothing new. Here’s an article from Time Magazine in 1978, looking at the same methods and issues we are discussing today.

Once you have fulfilled your artistic vision, and you’re putting yourself out there, the make-or-break factor in success becomes notoriety. While having ten thousand friends on Myspace seems like a powerful promotional tool, does it really measure anything other than the number of people that landed on your page and clicked add me?

One of the most effective tools for creating a buzz for yourself, your project, and what you’re up to is blogging, and blogging often. If you are anything like me, you spend at least some of your week surfing the internet and consuming content. You have sites that you visit regularly. Consider that what keeps you coming back to a site is the steady stream of new and interesting content. Content that speaks to you.

A healthy career is grown through a fanbase. Radiohead, Nine Inch Nails, Prince, and Madonna are able to free themselves from major labels and even give away their music because their fans are loyal, and people are tuning in.

While it may seem like the forward momentum is slow, steady and regular content on your project webpage, blog, or social networking page is critical to bring people back. And the more time people spend on your sites, the more interested they will be in supporting your cause.

I am guilty of not providing a steady stream of information on my blogs at times, and it impacts my return traffic, and the hype around my own projects and Polyvibe. I am preparing to condense this blog with my personal blog, providing the same great content with half the work. Like Uncle Scrooge says, work smarter, not harder.

For any artist who is committed to bringing viability to their career, having a powerful voice, and keeping the conversation going are critical elements to success.

I invite you to comment on this post with your opinions. If the waters ripple, we’ll talk more about creating a cult of personality, the results people are seeing from this kind of grassroots marketing, and methodology that can be implemented to increase your results.

Hello, Linkie Winkie ; )

Published on July 29, 2006 in Blog. 3 Comments Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , .

As Chief Technology Officer for Polyvibe Entertainment Group, and the resident internet-nerd, I am a bono-fied stats geek. Every email we send, every myspace post, every blog post, every news update, every everything, I look to see if what we did made an impact on our site traffic and our visibility. So, as I was going through the list of bots in our feedburner stats, I noticed a new one. The one that calls itself Linkie Winkie. What’s interesting about this bot is that the corresponding page is decidedly lo-tech and quite spartan, only sporting a few links and an Alexa traffic chart. The only other text on the page is this cryptic description:

“Linkie Winkie is a bit of a social experiment and we want to see what happens. We’re not going to tell you much about it, except that its a very altruistic little site and loves to be talked about.

So if you can work out what it does, and get your timing right, then Linkie Winkie might help you out for a while.”

From what we can tell, by giving a shout out to Linkie Winkie, they will in turn to give you a shout out. How it does this, is still a mystery, but one blog discusses the effect of Linkie Winkie, while the other provides a bit on who is behind the experiment.

I’ll provide an update here if anything comes of this, but participating in a social experiment of the web 2.0 variety just seemed like a fun think to do on a Friday evening.

Recognize Your Uniqueness.

Published on July 19, 2006 in Article. 0 Comments Tags: , , , , , , .

This is probably one of the most powerful things you can do for your musical career, and for yourself. I don’t mean that “we are all unique snowflakes on god’s tongue” unique. Humans share many traits with one another. We are a social species. But if you can’t figure out what makes you stand out, what makes you more powerful than the next guy, then you should quit. Or get to working on what your core strength is, and start to share that with everyone you meet. This can be found in your passion for your projects. It may have to be dug out from under the rocks of fear, no confidence, or any other manner of excuses that make you stop in life, and halt your progress, and dusted off.
We tell our artists this all the time, and have developed and are developing programs that do just this: Help Them Recognize Their Uniqueness. Once you can stand in that, then nothing can stop you but you. Do not limit your success with fear of failure. Increase your success by owning who you are in the world, what your music does and can do for people, and then TELL THEM ALL ABOUT IT.
If you don’t… Who will?
Now before you go running off telling everyone how great you are, take a second and reflect… is that really how you are going to get them to pay attention? By bragging? It’s verbal spam. Don’t do it. Don’t be that guy.
You see, Self-Promotion is not about tooting your own horn, and comparing yourself to sliced bread… if you catch my metaphor. Instead, you want to operate in such a way that has people RECOGNIZE for THEMSELVES Your Uniqueness. This is what they pay attention to. It’s your job to inspire them to see your greatness. Don’t fall into the trap of fighting for the public to recognize you as musicians. They already do, and do that my making music. That part is a given. It’s about connecting with the music fans that makes all the difference. These are the music fans that will be totally stoked to find you, because you are making the music that they would make themselves if they could. And to connect with them, you’ve got to be able to rise above the white noise.
You won’t be able to rise above all the noise, if you don’t have YOU figured out. That is, if you don’t own, understand, and totally grok your own uniqueness, how you can expect to communicate this to anyone else? If you can figure you out, you can then begin to tell the story of your music in a way that allows music lovers to get what you’re all about. This means clear descriptions of the music, and what the benefit for the listener is.
Remember, you’re not selling music, but emotional head-spaces for your users to journey to. If you can’t tell them where you’re going to take them in a way that excites them, how do you expect them to go with you?
inspired by a post in Bob Baker’s Buzz Factory newsletter
originally published on dr.xnlb.com

So you want to get signed…

Published on July 7, 2006 in Article and Blog. 1 Comment Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , .

This post is a response to the avalanche of half-baked requests we get from our record label’s website, our myspace, and in our email. However, this advice applies to anybody trying to make in the music industry.

Ever since we launched our record label, the number of come-ons we receive from new artists (as opposed to artists we know and already have our eye on) has steadily increased. The avalanche of appeals from both talented and not-so-talented artists is both overwhelming and exciting. However, a pattern has emerged lately that I feel needs to get addressed. This pattern is largely made up of a mix of bad habits and laziness, coupled with a lack of knowledge about what it takes to properly promote yourself. In response, Polyvibe

Entertainment Group offers up the following tips for how to approach us (and anyone) about your creative project with more effectiveness.

  • Formulate a full message. In other words, don’t send something out until you’ve spent sufficient time actually formulating what you want to say and ensuring that what you are saying is landing for the other person the way you intend. This means that you should craft a message that clearly states who you are, what kind of music (or other art) you create, what’s special about it, and why they should care. Write and Re-write it until it’s right. It will never be perfect, but if you’ve covered all your bases you’ll be in good shape.
  • Stay On Topic. Take a page from political play books, and always stay on message. In other words, put together a total package. Every footprint you leave in the world should be reinforcing the same message. By all means tailor your message for your audience, but it should have a common theme running through it. This also applies to your visual communications as well. Everything you put out should have a similar look and feel, and include your logo or other unique graphics. Re-use and Re-mix the same colors, layouts and other distinct elements, whether you’re designing your web site, a newsletter to your fans, or a One Sheet you’re sending out to the press and promoters.
  • Define Your Message. In order to stay on topic, first you need to figure out what your message is. One of the things that we do internally for our artists, and is provide them a worksheet in which to figure out what the message is. We adopted this worksheet from questions we wanted answered, and from information we got from Bob Baker’s “Guerrilla Music Marketing”. It’s an interesting process but what it brings to light is even more useful. It’s an exploration of what drives you as an artist, and forces you to connect with your fans by discovering what it is about you that inspires them to support what you’re up to in the world.
  • Get a One Sheet. If this list was numbered, this would be #1. Think of a One Sheet as your musical resume. In one or two pages, you should be able to clearly state what your music sounds like, why your are unique, and why I should pay attention. List your biggest successes so far. Include links to your best tracks, and to your websites. In short, it should summarize your message and present that information in such a way that it literally turns heads, and motivates the reader to want to learn more. Here’s a decent template you can start with, that explains all the basics and has spots for everything that you’ll want to include. You should create a One Sheet for various purposes – including but not limited to: Seeking Distribution (the example provided above), Booking and Gigs (concentrate on what’s special about your live shows, and de-emphasize, but include information about any of your releases), and General Purpose (expand the info on your sound as well as you, and your accomplishments).
  • Educate yourself about music marketing. You’ve already started doing that by reading this blog, and subscribing to our RSS feed and/or Newsletter. There are tons of books out there, so you need to start diving in and buying some of these books. Also, sites like Rhino’s R-Zine, Bob Baker’s Buzz Factor, and The Indie Bible newsletter, will also help get your marketing chops up to where they need to be. Marketing is an art, not a science, so be prepared for lots of trial and error, but if you present yourself in a clear, concise and professional manner, you will get noticed.
  • Respect your self, and your audience. This can’t be stressed enough. All the bad habits, missing or misinformation, and laziness add up to a lack of respect. This is just how it comes across, even if it’s not intentional. If you don’t have enough respect for yourself to tell me about your project in a way that gets me excited, then how do you expect to have any results? You took the time to craft the music, arrange all of the elements, and get your master just how you like it… so don’t skimp on the time required to promote yourself. Remember, you’re not selling yourself, or even your music. You’re selling the experience, the headspace you and your music puts the listener in. If you’re inspired enough to make it, then take the time to put together a strong message that moves the reader to want to listen to your music. Plain and simple.

In the day and age of a 1:1 ratio of Content Maker to Content Consumer, you’ve got to do more than write a catchy hook to get noticed. If you’re approaching Record Labels to get signed, propositioning Press Contacts for reviews, or contacting Promoters and Club Owners to book you for gigs, then you obviously want to be taken seriously. And if that’s the case, then put on your game face, and suit up. Making music is only half the battle.

If after reading this you are still interested in submitting your music to be considered for release on Polyvibe Records, then put the above advice to work, and send us a One Sheet (PDF preferred), with links to your 5 best tracks and your websites, to press@polyvi.be. We’ll reply to each one of them, but you better come

correct if you want us to take notice. We look forward to your submissions!

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