How to Start a Conversation.

Many people have come to be a part of the RADAR program because they have immediate access to bands. Some of the advocates are in bands, have friends in the music scene, or they work somewhere that exposes them to new music and artists. But what about the other members? The members who have gotten involved because they believe in ArtiSans, or because they just love music. These members do not have direct access to artists, and have to seek out people to refer to ArtiSans. Not only do they need to find venues where they can see live music and artists, but they have to start a conversation with them.

As someone who is in a band, I know that not everyone is skilled in communication and starting a conversation. Add a few drinks into the mix, and it is hard to take people seriously unless they are skilled in striking up an engaging conversation. So I want to be sure that you RADAR advocates have the tools to strike up a conversation with bands so that you can have a productive conversation about their work and ArtiSans Label.

I started doing some research to find helpful hints and tools on how to start conversations with strangers, and found that many articles I read were so spot on, that putting their advice into my own words would just have ruined their effectiveness. So here is an article by Peter Murphy on how to start up a conversation. Next week, I'll go into how to approach and start up a conversation with a Band/Artist specifically, give some pointers in how to engage band members in conversation, and suggest how to bring the conversation around to ArtiSans Label.

“How to Start a Conversation Effortlessly” By Peter Murphy

The ability to converse effortlessly with those you encounter is a critical component of all your personal and business relationships. Good communication skills promote an image of self-confidence and intelligence. This is not to say that those people who find it hard to strike up a conversation are less intelligent. They simply need to develop the appropriate skills. If you need to improve upon your communication skills, here are a few tips to help you get started down the right path.

You can learn how to start a conversation and converse with anybody, anytime.

1. In order to make interesting conversation, you must be interesting to others. Keeping yourself informed on current events, staying involved in activities, and keeping a mental list of good topics of discussion are excellent ways to break the ice. And a great tool to help you learn how to start a conversation with almost anybody.

2. Instead of focusing on how uncomfortable you feel, prepare yourself by thinking of the issues that interest you most and what you would like to discuss about a particular subject.

A little preparation will go a long way in enabling you to easily converse with others. Don't be afraid to ask questions.

In general, people like to talk about themselves and will respond favorably when asked simple, friendly questions. Learning how to start a conversation is not quite as difficult if you prepare in advance.

3. Make an effort to be a good listener when starting a conversation. After you make the initial effort, listen closely to the other person's response.

Often you'll find an invitation to continue the conversation if you listen carefully and respond accordingly. Balance is the key in any conversation. Alternate between talking and listening to what the other person is saying and make additional comments as appropriate. Learning how to start a conversation is really just using good manners and showing a genuine interest in others.

4. Even if you find it extremely difficult, always greet those you encounter with a smile and look them directly in the eye.

It may be hard at first, but self-confidence is a learned skill and by acting confidently, you will gain new self-confidence. Soon enough you will notice that it is not as hard to maintain eye contact and carry on a conversation. Act confidently and you will eventually become confident. Developing self-confidence is an important part of learning how to start a conversation.

5. Try to remember small details about co-workers and acquaintances. Asking about a weekend plan or a relative is an excellent way to start a conversation and show genuine interest in those around you.

If you are interesting, attentive, and act with confidence you will appear to be the kind of person people like to have as a friend.

By practicing these new skills until they become second nature, you will increase your own self-esteem and learn how to start a conversation easily. Learning how to start a conversation is really just a process of practicing your social skills until they become a habit. Repetition and determination are the most important factors in building your level of confidence and conversing effortlessly in any situation.

Your Future is in Your Hands

I was at concert the other night and happen to see a really great band. They sounded very good, connected well with each other on stage, and the songs were well written. After the show I eagerly approached the singer to tell him what I great job they did. He was very receptive of my opinion. It wasn't until I asked him what their plans for the future were that I realized the bands big misconception. "Playing shows and selling CD's" is what he said to me. This is a mindset that I think far too many bands still have. They tend to focus all energy and planning into nothing but playing shows and recording.

There is SO much more bands can be doing and all of the tools are available and ready to be used. There are no more secrets. Anything you need to know can be found by the click of a mouse. The Internet has changed the way artists achieve their goals. It has leveled the playing field. You now have the same advantages as anybody else.

The way I look at it is like the Gold Rush. Over night the average person found a way for his dreams to become reality. The gold was there and ready for the taking. Driven by opportunity men took everything and embarked on a long and hard journey through the wild west. Only those who were willing to take their future into their own hands and see it through to the end found the gold.

The road to turning your dreams into reality is not an easy one, but it is achievable, and it's entirely up to you. Bands ask me all the time, "How do we get to there? How do we do what that band is doing? How do I make a living in music?" The first thing I always tell them is, "You just do it." I think it's hard for some artists to understand this concept at first. But it honestly is the best advice I have for any artist trying to survive in our modern wild west.

Now let's go out and do something that matters.

-Barrett

Audio Engineer Job Possibilities

Good morning everyone. That's right, this blog posts at 7 A.M. Where were you?

Anyhooter, I was recently asked by an aspiring audio engineer what the job market is like out there for our breed. I told him that I know it's extremely competitive. With the home recording growing increasingly popular as well as engineering schools and degrees popping up all over town, the supply of fresh, new engineers has risen. And at the same time, with more people doing home recordings, the demand for them to work at professional recording studios has fallen.

I then reassured him that it isn't hopeless and there are other avenues such as becoming an independent engineer, or working in many other areas of the audio arena.

And then I found an amazing article in Electronic Musician (EM) Magazine. In it they interviewed veteran engineer Dave Hampton. I'd go through all his credits, but you'll see them in the first paragraph of the article. What I can say is I've had the pleasure of speaking with this man on multiple occasions, and he knows this business as well as his favorite mic pre.

So for all you audio engineer enthusiasts, give this interview a read. It is a hopeful insight from a man who knows his ish. Enjoy!

CLICK ME FOR THE ARTICLE!

How to Make $19k in 10 Hours Using Twitter!

Alright, here it is. A success story about someone making money using the Twitter. I am posting this as both a reminder and a validation that there is money to be made using the power of social networking as a way to connect with and maintain your fanbase.

I was absolutely blown away when I read this. I have always understood the importance of connecting with your fans. I get that the tools available to artist these days are powerful and can be utilized in creative ways but I never imagined it was possible to make $19k using Twitter. Oh yeah, and it only took 10 hours!

I would like for you to take note that in this posting she alludes to the fact that she has sold 30,000 records and not seen a single dollar from her record company! If she would have released this album on her own (or with help while retaining control) she could have grossed approximately $300,000 already (based on $10 per album sale price).

Please read on, be inspired and be creative. These days ships don't come in, you have to swim.

From: Amanda Palmer
Subject: twitter power, or “how an indie musician can make $19,000 in 10 hours using twitter”

this story has just been blowing people’s minds so i figures i should write it down.

1. FRIDAY NIGHT LOSERS T-SHIRT, $11,000
about a month ago, i was at home on a friday night (loser that i often am when i’m not touring, i almost never go out) and was, of course, on my mac, shifting between emails, links and occasionally doing some dishes and packing for a trip the next day. just a usual friday-night-rock-star-multi-tasking extravaganza.

i twitter whenever i’m online, i love the way it gives me a direct line of communication with my fans and friends. i had already seen the power of twitter while touring… using twitter i’d gathered crowds of sometimes 200 fans with a DAY’S notice to come out and meet me in public spaces (parks, mostly) where i would play ukulele, sign, hug, take pictures, eat cake, and generally hang out and connect. this was especially helpful in the cities where we’d been unable to book all-ages gigs and there were crushed teenagers who were really grateful to have a shot at connecting with me & the community of amanda/dolls fans.

i’d also been using twitter to organize ACTUAL last-minute gigs…i twittered a secret gig in LA one morning and about 350 folks showed up 5 hours later at a warehouse space….i played piano, filmed by current.tv, and then (different camera crew) did an interview with afterellen.com.
the important thing to undertsand here is that the fans were never part of the plan..,i basically just INVITED my fans to a press day, the press didnt’ plan it…i did.
i was going to be playing in an empty room and doing q&a with afterellen on a coach with only the camera watching.
it was like….why not tell people and do this in a warehouse instead of a hotel lobby or a blank studio? so i did.

it cost me almost nothing. the fans were psyched.

but back to the bigger, cooler story….

so there i am, alone on friday night and i make a joke on twitter (which goes out to whichever of my 30,000 followers are online):

“i hereby call THE LOSERS OF FRIDAY NIGHT ON THEIR COMPUTERS to ORDER, motherfucker.”
9:15 PM May 15th from web

one thing led to another, and the next thing you know there were thousands of us and we’d become the #1 topic trend on twitter.
zoe keating described it as a “virtual flash mob”.

the way twitter works (if you don’t have it) is that certain topics can include a hashtag (#) and if a gazillion people start making posts that include that hashtag, the topic will zoom up the charts of what people are currently discussing. it’s a cool feature.

so anyway, there we were, virtually hanging out on twitter on a friday night. very pleased with ourselves for being such a large group, and cracking jokes.

how do you “hang out” on the internet? well, we collectively came up with a list of things that the government should do for us (free government-issued sweatpants, pizza and ponies, no tax on coffee), AND created a t-shirt.
thank god my web guy sean was awake and being a loser with me on friday night because he throw up the webpage WHILE we were having our twitter party and people started ordering the shirts - that i designed in SHARPIE in realtime) and a slogan that someone suggested: “DON’T STAND UP FOR WHAT’S RIGHT, STAY IN FOR WHAT’S WRONG”. neil gaiman and wil wheaton joined our party. the fdnas felt super-special.

by the end of the night, we’d sold 200 shirts off the quickie site (paypal only) that sean had set up.
i blogged the whole story the next day and in total, in the matter of a few days, we sold over 400 shirts, for $25/ea.

we ended up grossing OVER $11,000 on the shirts.
my assistant beth had the shirts printed up ASAP and mailed them from her apartment.

total made on twitter in two hours = $11,000.
total made from my huge-ass ben-folds produced-major-label solo album this year = $0

2. WEBCAST AUCTION, $6000

a few nights after that, i blogged and twittered, announcing a “webcast auction” from my apartment.
it went from 6 pm - 9 pm, my assitant beth sat at my side and kept her eyes on incoming bids and twitter feed.
while we hocked weird goods, i sang songs and answered questions from fans. we wore kimonos and drank wine. it was a blast.

people on twitter who were tuned in re-tweeted to other fans. the word spread that it was a fun place to be and watch.
we had, at peak, about 2000 people watching the webcast.

at the suggestion of a fan early in the webcastm anyone could, on demand, send us $20 via paypal and we would chew,
sign and mail them a postcard. we sold about 70, and we read all those names at the end of the webcast and thanked those
people for supporting us. here’s how the sales broke down:

all the items were signed by moi and hand-packed by beth and kayla.
the items and highest bidders were as follows:
hilary, ukulele used on the european tour: $640
jake, “guitar hero” plastic guitar controller used in album promo shoot: $250
lary b, copy neo2 magazine, plus two post-war trade slap-bracelets & a crime-photo set: $230
devi, glass dildo, with subtley-sordid backstory: $560
liz b., “hipsters ruin everything” t-shirt, made by blake (get your very own here!!!!): $155.55
shannon m., my bill bryson book, a short history of neary everything: $280
nikki, huge metal “the establishment” sign, used at rothbury festival for the circus tent i curated: $450
j.r., purple velvet “A” dress used in the dresden dolls coin-operated boy video shoot: $400
jessie & alan: who killed amanda palmer vinyl: $100
nikki: wine bottle, auctioned BY REQUEST!!! $320
shannon w., torn-to-shit vintage stockings used in the who killed amanda palmer/ michael pope video series: $200
jodi,
school-note-book break-up letter, written to amanda from jonas woolverton in 7th grade (i still haven’t emailed him about that….): $250
daryl, ANOTHER wine bottle, by request, that we had LYING AROUND: $320

and…………..

reto emailed, having barely missed the wine bottle, and asked us to send him “something funny” for $129.99. we sent a heath ledger statuette.

total made on twitter in 3 hours, including the postcards, was over $6000.
again, total made on my major-label solo album this year: $0

3. TWITTER DONATION-ONLY GIG, $1800
a few days later, i twittered a guest-list only event in a recording studio in boston, to take place a week later.
the gig lasted about 5 hours, all told, with soundcheck and signing. i took mostly requests and we had a grand old time.
first come, first served. the first 200 people to ask got in, for free. i asked for donations and made about $2200 in cash.
i gave $400 back to the studio for the space and the help. we sold some weird merch. i think we should call it an even 2k.

total made at last-minute secret twitter gig, in about 5 hours = $2000
major-label record blah blah blah = $0

…..and for fun, and to thank my fans for being awesome, i’ve been doing some twitter perfomance art, including answering their questions by magic-markering my body until it’s covered, and displaying time-lapse make-up application advice….but that’s another story.

TOTAL MADE THIS MONTH USING TWITTER = $19,000
TOTAL MADE FROM 30,000 RECORD SALES = ABSOLUTELY NOTHING.

turn on, tune in, get dropped!!!!!

love,
amanda fucking palmer
http://www.amandapalmer.net
http://www.dresdendolls.com

Basic Marketing Principles For Artists - Part 3: Increase the Amount of Money That You Charge

by Ariel Hyatt from Cyber PR Blog June 24, 2009

This is the final segment of a 3 part series that was inspired by a mastermind program I am participating in with Ali Brown who is my mentor in the world of online marketing.

Here’s the recap:
There are three ways to increase your income:

1. Increase your number of clients (fans).

2. Increase the frequency of purchase, how often your fans buy from you. (and you’d better have more than just music to sell).

3. Increase the amount of money that you charge.

Increasing the amount of money you charge poses a problem if all you have to sell is music because music is now widely available for free, and people have proven that they are not willing to pay a premium for music.

However, fans will pay plenty of money for experiences, like a great concert or a chance to be a contribution to an artist, a special memento, or wonderful merchandise that really resonates with your fans.

I found two artists that exemplified this strategy – Jeff Krantz who created a BIG payday in one fell swoop and Phil Putnam who has been slowly increasing his bottom line over time.

Jeff Krantz & The $10,000 Song
http://jeffkrantzmusic.com

Just last night I was hanging out with past Cyber PR client who had a fabulous tale to tell. Jeff launched his singer-songwriter career in Second Life where he has managed to build a wonderful fan base.

Through networking online, he met a man who fell in love with his songwriting and became a fan. This man called up my artist and told him that he was having a big anniversary coming up and he wanted a special song written just for his wife. He asked if he would be up for writing and recording a custom song for her.

Realizing that this was a huge opportunity told his fan that he would present him with some options he began to THINK BIG. So he created 3 packages that this man could choose from with three separate prices (depending on how much he wanted to spend / how involved it would be silver, gold and platinum)

Here’s what Jeff wrote about how it worked:

As part of the Gold package that the client chose, I agreed to write 3 different songs (first verse and chorus) for the client to chose from. Once the client selected the song, Ispent 1 week writing 2 full lyrical options for the client to chose from. Once they had decided on the song, Jeff went into his studio and recorded the song, bringing in musicians to fill out the arrangement. He then sent it to a top studio to be mixed and mastered and 2 weeks later he sent the client the finished song (with the masters). “It took about 60 hours in total but it was so much fun and I made almost 10 grand for the effort!”

The point is because he leveraged just ONE relationship with just one fan he managed to make over $10,000 on ONE song.

Had he not been working on increasing his fanbase by networking online, he never would have had this opportunity present itself to him.

Phil Putnam - How To Slowly Increase Your Value
http://www.philputnam.com

Phil (full disclosure: Phil is a Cyber PR client) wrote back with what he did to increase his prices and overall bottom line.

Yes, I have taken a few steps to increase the amounts I can pull in.

1) The lion’s share of my new price leverage has come from having a very successful music video on MTV/LOGO. When you get wide exposure like that, people will pay more to hear/see you.

2) Make longer albums: my latest record “Casualties” has 16 tracks on it, price point at $11.99 on iTunes rather than $9.99, and it sells better than any of my other records.

3) Raise my concert ticket price/door charge $2-3. Ex: from $10 to $12 advance/$15 at door. I’ve seen an increase in my concert attendance since raising the price, and I also book higher quality venues.

In general, I find that being able to raise your price point is a result of two things:

1) Adjusting the perceived value of your work among your listeners. We set the pace for how people perceive us. If we say our show is worth $12 instead of $10, people will pay $12. And then it becomes our job to give them a better show.

2) Working harder to make better music, give better shows, and build better contacts. It’s simple business: you want better pay, do better work. Raising price point isn’t a marketing trick. You have to earn it.

What I like about what Phil did is he increased his momentum at the same time he increased his prices. I’m quite sure that the $2 - $3 he increased his prices by add up to be significant gains over the course of a year or two. Thanks Phil!

But again back to basic principle #1 which Phil leverages excellently: The amount of fans you have, the true fans who are connected and engaged will be the ones who can lead you to bigger opportunities down the line.

Those fans are the ones who will want to engage with you in an authentic way, and purchase whatever it is you are offering even if it costs a few dollars more or give you more than you ever expected because you provide deep value really says something.

I would love to hear how you have managed to add value and get more profit.

How To Target Your Fan Base

These days, it's impossible for bands to market themselves as a traditional label would. Indie artists don't have the resources to take the shotgun approach and target an incredibly large market. It's imperative for bands to identify the particular market that includes their potential fans. Unfortunately, most bands are not aware of that fact and claim that they attract people from the ages of 10 to 60. That obviously isn't a fan base, but more so a demographic.

So then how does a band find out where their potential fans are hiding? The first place to start is to find the fans of bands that sound similar to your music. According to Larry Weintrab, CEO of Fanscape, which is a company that helps manage fan bases, "It's more than simply collecting e-mail addresses. You have to talk to your fans, ask them about themselves and get a handle on who they are." Even a contest, such as the one that I mentioned last week with The Jonas Brothers, which still makes me cringe to this day. A contest will motivate fans to offer up information if they think that there is a possibility that they could get something out of it.

Once you have a basic idea about who your fans are and where they go to have fun, you can start to legitimately target your potential fans. There are many websites available to help identify and track your fan base. According to Weintraub, "By using analytic tools and programs, you can find out about people who visit your websites, post forums, fan sites and blogs."

Here are some sites to help you get started, if you haven't already discovered them...

www.artistdata.com

www.reverbnation.com

Rock out!

Cheers!
Creed

What Motivates People?

Hello ArtiSans Blog Readers and RADAR Advocates!


It has admittedly taken me some time to get the RADAR program up and running. As we have been executing our RADAR program systems and catching up on some backlogged entries, we have been racking our brains about how to try to increase the volume of artist referrals we've been receiving. We have had our double rewards program going for this quarter, and double rewards continue through the end of this month, however we still aren't getting the amount of referrals we'd like. So that leads to a very important question - what motivates people?

I've done some research on this topic, and have gotten some insight to what motivates when it pertains to work and business. Here are some motivators and how they pertain to ArtiSans and RADAR.

Profit: Profit seems to be the most obvious of the motivating factors. Profit motivated people strive for success with money, acquisitions, wealth, income and growth. The harder they work, the better their monetary results.

RADAR is specifically set up to reward the advocates for submitting referrals that translate in to business for ArtiSans. If an artist is referred and signs with ArtiSans, advocates are rewarded with either cash or studio time. During particular periods we'll be increasing the existing rewards with promotions, to try to further motivate our advocates with increased profit for themselves. The beauty of the RADAR program is YOU ARE IN CONTROL OF YOUR INCOME POTENTIAL! The more you get out there, the more artists you meet, the more artists you refer, the greater the chance is that that artist will sign with ArtiSans. If that artist signs, you are rewarded!

Appreciation & Recognition: People who are motivated by 'recognition' are interested in respect, admiration, regard, and esteem. No one likes to be taken for granted...we all want to be appreciated for what we do. This motivator is definitely linked to 'Profit'. If you are monetarily rewarded for what you have done you definitely feel appreciated. But also, receiving a simple "thank you" or words of praise are very rewarding.

Every three months we have a quarterly meeting for the RADAR program and advocates. It is a chance for us to have all the advocates together so that we can thank them for the work that they have been doing. We will recognize our most successful advocates of that quarter and let all the advocates know that we appreciate them. We will also hear what the advocates think works in the RADAR program and what they would like implemented to help them achieve success. We want to be sure that the advocates are aware of how much they are appreciated, and feel that their accomplishments, questions and concerns are recognized.

Belief in Your Product: If you don't believe in the product you are marketing, you will not be motivated to continue to promote it. Everyone at ArtiSans and in the RADAR program strongly believes in the services that ArtiSans offers, and it is that belief that has prompted them to get involved with ArtiSans Label.

Development: Development is KEY in motivating people. Development includes not only training and teaching, but offering new challenges.

We strive to develop our advocates in many ways. This blog is an excellent resource for the advocates to get information about RADAR, ArtiSans Label, Recording, and the Music Industry in general. Your RADAR homepage is another resource for you with sections like Help & FAQ, Program Info, and How-To Strategy, which we are in the process of developing and will continually update. We have also sent you marketing materials to help you as you talk about ArtiSans Label and Studio. Also, the goal of our quarterly meetings is to further develop you as a RADAR advocate and it is there that we will be launching new programs and promotions for RADAR.

Delivering Good Service: Business exists to meet a need. In order for a business to succeed - it MUST deliver good service. That is what keeps people working for that business (who wants to work for a company that delivers bad service?) and what keeps customers and clients coming back.

ArtiSans main goal is to deliver EXCELLENT SERVICE to their clients. ArtiSans mission statement is that "First and Foremost, ArtiSans Label is dedicated to creating integrity in the music business by replacing questionable practices with 100% Artist-friendly deals and knowledgeable, reliable customer service." This statement is the motivator for the company and the foundation of all ArtiSans strives to achieve. Ideally, the promise and delivery of good service is also a motivator for our RADAR advocates.

Internal Factors: Everyone has their own internal factors that motivate them. Perhaps your motivation is providing for your family, knowing that you did a good job, or the satisfaction of accomplishing a task. Only YOU can determine what internal factors contribute to your motivation.

Do you know what motivates you?

Write down what motivates you and how those motivations correlate to with your goals. Having a visual helps you to determine whether you are on the right path to meet the goals that you have set for yourself. When you write down what your motivators are, you are more likely to achieve your goals.

Meanwhile, as your RADAR Manager, I will continue to work to motivate you and help you achieve success in the RADAR program!

10 More Commandments

If you don't follow Hypebot you probably should, especially if you are interested in the music industry. I saw this posting last week and I thought it was interesting enough to re-post it here on my weekly blog. It's simple and I hope it inspires you to think about the way you are negotiating the industry in its current state. I hope you enjoy.

1. Thou Shalt Not Worship False Prophets - Neither a record deal or auto-tune are your saviors.
   
2. Thou Shalt Worship Only One God - He (or she) is called The Fan. (I would list this as #1-J.C.)
   
3. Thou Shalt Giveaway Free Music - Like Jesus and the loaf of bread, give your flock a gift that multiplies as they pass it around.
4. Thou Shalt Not Steal - Borrowing a beat is one thing, but stealing...
   
5. Thou Shalt Blog - Your flock wants to know what you're doing.
   
6. Thou Shalt Create Profiles - Wherever your flock may go, you must be there.
   
7. Thou Shalt Upload Photos - Staged, not staged, backstage, from the stage and at every stage of a project.
   
8. Thou Shalt Upload Videos - Longs Ones. Shorts Ones. Tall ones...you get the idea.
   
9. Thou Shalt Share Thy Bounty. Share gigs. Share ideas. Share with your fans.
   
10. Do Unto Others As You Would Have Others Do Unto You - You meet the same people on the way down that you did on the way up.

Basic Marketing Principles For Artists - Part 2: Increasing the Frequency of Purchases

by Ariel Hyatt from Music Think Tank

The first piece in this series focused on increasing the amount of fans and how this is a necessary step towards success. Part 2 of the basic three principles is increasing the frequency of purchases.

The cornerstone of this is simple: You can not only sell music.

In order to get the frequency of purchases up you must provide something that actually gets your fans to buy more frequently.

If you are only selling one album or one set of MP3s, it's pretty near impossible to get this step accomplished because your core fans will only have one thing to buy (therefore making frequency non-existent).

Billboard recently reported that over 2,500 record stores have closed in the US since 2005. This points out to one very clear conclusion: People are buying fewer CDs (of course we already knew this) but think about it –

Are you only selling music?

I sadly see this all too often. Artists work very hard to put out a great CD, and of course the music is the cornerstone of your brand but to survive and thrive in this industry where music is widely distributed for free online, you must create additional products and offerings to sell.

Remember not to put the cart before the horse here, But if you don't have a fan base to sell these things to, there's no reason to build a series of products. So, at the same time you must be building a two-way conversation with engaged fans and building more trust. This is where Social Media comes in.

Survey Your Fans

Expert Internet marketers never release products without testing the demand first. You may think you know what your fans want but they might surprise you.

Understanding who they are and what they like/ want is therefore critical.

Internet Marketers always ask their core fan group what it is they would like and then they create products and offerings based on their answers.

I have said this may times – that music is a feeling and it’s hard to market a feeling but as Terry McBride points out music acts as social glue that holds us together emotionally and in groups and brands and products can always be sold to groups.

So it's hard to get your fans to give you input on your songwriting - that is your personal journey and your preference but it is EASY to get them to tell you what they like and want to buy.

Is it girlie T’s?

Yoga mats

Special non-leaching water bottles

Limited edition T-Shirts

Extra think hoodies

If you don’t ask them they wont tell you

Set up a survey online and use your email newsletter list or Facebook page to get fans to tell you what they may buy from you in the future. There are many free tools that will help you track your survey results. I like Survey Monkeyhttp://www.surveymonkey.com This services allows you to create a survey that you can send out to your fans to ask them specifically what they might like to buy from you and how much they are willing to pay.

Then make it and they will!

Brilliant Artist Merchandise

I have run into some great merch ideas over the last year.

Here are some great merch ideas to get you inspired

John Taglieri, who I talk about often has a marvelous new series of EPs and books called Lives. This new project will consist of four 6-song EP’s, books & graphic novels, as well as MySpace, Facebook, Twitter, and blogger accounts for the two main characters. http://thelivesproject.com/

Family Force 5 created a limited edition T-shirt of the month club. They offered their fans a new T-shirt every single month and it generated thousands of extra dollars for themselves and their fans loved the limited edition shirts. http://www.myspace.com/familyforce5

Will Deynes made a Valentine's Day song, and he would custom record the name of people's beloved's right into the song. He sold dozens of them to his fan base at Valentine's Day.

http://www.myspace.com/wildeynes

I met Shelter with Thieves, from Halifax, NS and they gave me an awesome USB drive full of music and special bonuses like artwork and videos, and it’s wonderful because fans can use the USB drive for school projects or at work.

http://www.shelterwiththieves.com/

Jen Chapin, being environmentally conscious and clear that her fans are too like purchased a few cases of SIGG Water bottles and had them customized. She sent an e-mail to her entire list that she had wonderful, non-leaching, water bottles for sale and she ended up selling many of them http://www.jenchapin.com/

Carla Lynne Hall is organizing a Bowling Tweetup at The Harlem Lanes near her home just to hang out with friends and fans and bond. He is not selling merch yet but you can be sure that when it comes time for her to sell that extra time she took to make friends with her fans will pay off. Studies show that people purchase from those they like and trust and Carla is building trust.

http://rockstarlifelessons.com/

and lastly I want to mention subscription based websites and fan clubs.

Matthew Ebel & Ari Hest are two great examples to look at

Matthew has a site that gives fans live recordings, new music, ringtones, videos, exclusive invitations.

Ari Hest released a song every single week for a year then he let the fans vote for the best ones to put on his album which he cleverly named Twelve Mondays

Wat are you ding to inspire your fans to incresae the frequency?

I would love to hear....

How resilient are you?

Resilience is the ability to bounce back from adversity, to maintain happiness even during hard times. In my opinion, these aren't hard times. These are devastating times. Everyone is hurting right now and it's obvious to me when I look at most people's faces and they answer the question "How are you?" If I happen to say anything more positive than "I'm okay", then I'm saying it to convince myself that I'm doing better than I actually am. It's like forcing yourself to smile in order to trick your brain into thinking that you're happier than you are... shockingly, it works. I've tried it.

How does this pertain to the five people that might be reading this blog on this beautiful hump day in June? Well, is your glass half empty or half full? Generic question, I know, but an important one none-the-less in these ridiculously depressing days.

Life gets hard when you’re in a band. There are arguments, mean words and threats. What do you do when these fights and uncalled for words creep into the rehearsals and post-show break downs? As my phenomenal friend and prodigy producer Barrett Slagle says, “Don’t break up and you’ll do fine. Work through your shit… just don’t break up. Be resilient.” I adore this man and his opinion on bands and their chemistry because he is a survivor of the traditional label model and educated on the subject of band break-ups. “No matter how hard it gets, you have to believe in what you do, you have to be diligent and steadfast. You’ve started your band because you love music and you believe in what could be. Don’t ever give that up. You start out because you believe in something whether its fame, music or family… that’s worth fighting for.”

Be resilient.

Cheers!
Creed

RADAR: I Referred an Artist...Now What?

Hello RADAR advocates! Last week I wrote about how you can find live music in your area. Referrals are starting to roll in, so I wanted to let you know what will happen once you make a referral to ArtiSans.

Once you log on to your profile and submit a referral, you will receive an automatic reply from the system thanking you for your referral. Both Jen Creed (the artist coordinator) and I are also notified of the referral that you submitted.

Jen Creed will then call you to speak with you about the artist that you referred. She'll ask how you know the artist, or how you met them. She'll also gather any other information you know about the artist, whether they have an album in the works, if they are looking to record, and what services they might be interested in that ArtiSans can offer.

Then Jen will discuss with you how you would like to go forward with further communication with this artist. You may have a personal relationship with them, and perhaps you would like to follow up with them with a phone call yourself. If not, Jen will give the artist a call to introduce herself and find out a little more about them. We would like you to remain a part of the process, and you can discuss with Jen how you can be involved.

Jen is well versed in all the services that ArtiSans can help an artist with. She will be able to determine if an artist is interested in further correspondence, and/or if they have a need for ArtiSans at this time. If it isn't the right timing, she can also make a note to follow up with them at a future date.

As an advocate, you can log into your account and see the status of any artist that you referred. If you click on the "My Artists" icon on your main page, you can see all the artists that you have referred to the system. By clicking on their name, you can then see their information page. Notes can (and will) be added to this page after each conversation with the artist. You can also check on their updated status, which will say things like "initial call made", "follow up in 6 months",
"proposal submitted", "deal pending", etc.

ArtiSans is focused on providing excellent customer service and personal attention to all musicians and potential clients. Most of the staff here are musicians and are, or were in, a band. We strive to treat artists with a respect that they deserve and to provide them with the tools they need to be successful.

As always, if you need any help with a referral, or as an Advocate, you can contact me, and I can help you with whatever you need to make you successful in the RADAR program.

AIDA

by Stephanie Arriaga

When you first start a band or a musician you start playing for close friends and family; however, there comes a point where your friends and family will not be sufficient enough to be a successful and profitable band/musician. Essentially you need to sell yourself to the population. The greater public will be responsible for your "fame" and profitability in the long run since they are the consumers and hold the money for the transaction. Here is where the "AIDA" comes into play. AIDA is used as a tool for personal selling. Personal selling is face-to-face selling in which the seller attempts to persuade a buyer to make a purchase. These letters stand for A-Awareness, I-Interest, D-Desire. and A-Action. AIDA are steps that are essential to completing a transaction by capturing the population into using the product, in this case, you and your music. You are selling yourself to be a part of a person's life, taste, interest, play list or CD collection, and most importantly that person's time. By adopting AIDA you have further increased your chances of making your music career successful.

The first step is awareness; by definition awareness means having knowledge and being informed. As a musician or band, you must catch the attention of your intended demographic. How will people know who you are if they don't know your name or know that you exist? It is important to get your name out there to the public. Word-of-mouth is a good and very inexpensive way to let people know you. Networking is a huge part of sales and business in general; therefore, it is crucial to getting people out to your gigs, buy your merchandise, and your music. Hop on the technology band wagon and use the internet and the different tools you can find on the web. Like so many musicians, use social networks to make people aware of your music; you may know a lot of people, but they may not know that you are in a band or a singer songwriter. Letting people know of your existence is only the first step to personal selling; however, it provides a great stepping stone to accomplishing these next steps.

The second step in the AIDA concept is interest. To create interest, you may want to start with having an intriguing or catchy name for your band or perhaps even use a stage name. Even if you do use a less obnoxious or your birth name, you still need to make sure people see it and read it over and over again. You know when you're building interest when people start asking questions. You can continue building interest by promoting yourself at other shows and gigs of other local musicians that you are a fan of and already have a fan base, want to be associated with, or have similar music styles. Along with building awareness, word-of-mouth can also be used to build interest from the public. Ask your friends to help promote a show, the sale of an album, or just the band itself. Eventually, with success from other factors, people will want to go to a show or buy the music.

The third step is desire. It is essential to create desire in the public to go to a live show and/or buy merchandise and music. A few recommendations would be to create anticipation for an upcoming show or album release. Fliers are a great way to achieve desire; however, the right placement is crucial to the degree of effectiveness. To make someone want to purchase your product, you need to sell them not only the product itself, but the benefit of the product. So when you book a show, make sure it is at a venue where your fans or demographic will actually want to go and see you play. Playing at a great location and time will motivate people to take time and see you live. You can also create desire by having a reasonable price on your merchandise and CDs. Let's face it, you are not in a position to charge ridiculous prices. To encourage your fans to purchase an item, you can use discounts or special sales prices to increase your inventory turnover. Desire then leads to the next and final step, action.

Action is the last and most anticipated step because this is where the potential consumer will actually make the transaction. The exchange of money for your product is what you have been working towards, so try to to make it as smooth and easy for the customer as possible. There are simple steps that will help you achieve this when you sell face-to-face, such as always keeping change on hand, perhaps invest in a credit card machine, and track inventory at specific venues or locations, that way you successfully meet demand at that location. Try selling your merch online for those who can't make it to your shows or even work with local retail businesses such as record stores, thrift/vintage stores, or any other store your fans may shop at to sell your items at their locations. This provides convenience for the customer and may result in an increase in sales.

AIDA is a logical concept that can be adopted and varied according to your needs. So take this process and make it your own. It isn't set in stone, so do what best works for you and your budget. You could be the best musician out there but fail to succeed in the business and marketing side of managing your music. So take charge and be productive with your creation.

Click It or...Have a Poor Recording.

Hello kiddies...Tales from the Crypt anyone? Anyhoo, welcome back, all. Glad to see your shinning faces once again. That's right, I can see you right now. Do not be alarmed.

Today we'll be discussing the importance of the seemingly elusive metronome (or click). Use of a metronome in practice, performing, and especially studio recording will make you a better artist/band by improving your internal clock, and save you time and money in the studio.

In a band setting it is most beneficial for the drummer to have a click so they stay on time and then the rest of the band can follow. This translates magnificently into a live setting, especially when the drummer continues to use the click during performances. The easiest way to do this is create the click track in Garage Band, or any other recording software, and load it onto an MP3 player for the drummer. The biggest reason to do this is groove. The foundation to any band is the rhythm section. If it's not locked in, then the rest of the band can't get locked in, and the people attempting to enjoy your music can't get locked in. This translates into a poor experience for everyone, and you don't keep band members or fans around if you can't quite nail this down.

As a solo artist (you and an acoustic guitar and/or piano for instance), it is extremely advantageous to practice and/or perform to a click for the same reasons listed above. Especially because when there are no drums, you and your instrument becomes the rhythm section.

In a studio session, this is key for many reasons. First of all, if you're used to practicing to a click, then recording to a one shouldn't throw you off at all. This should make your sessions go much smoother and cause you to take less time in the studio, which is the first way it will save you money. The second way is that when you record to a click, the engineer will spend much less time in the editing stage making sure all your instruments line up with each other; another crucial aspect to a quality final product in many cases.

What does this mean for everyone? Figure out the tempos to all your songs, and practice to a click. It's going to be a little odd at first if you haven't done it before, but you'll get used to it as long as you stick with it.

Good luck, kids!

Kyle

Facebook is Finally Letting Users Choose Their Names

If you use Facebook you may have noticed that annoying gray box at the top of your news feed that states "Soon you will be able to have a username". What exactly does that mean and why the fuzz should you care?

What this means is that the URL to your Facebook page will no longer look like this: http://www.facebook.com/username/#/profile.php?id=1324668724 it will look more like this: www.facebook.com/ArtiSansLabel.

Now here is why you should care:

First off, Simplicity. When was the last time you tried to tell someone your Facebook address. Never, that's when. You do it all the time with Myspace because it is simple, myspace.com/yourband, but with Facebook it was always "find us on Facebook" or "...there's a link to our Facebook page on our Myspace/website/whatever." If someone tells me I need to check out a band the first thing I do is type their name after www.myspace.com. If it doesn't pop-up or is the wrong band then I do a search.

Secondly, Visibility. Search engines will love the fact that your name is in the URL and reward you by putting your link in one of the top results. It is a very good idea to make sure that when people search for you, they find you.

Third, Establishing your brand. Many bands have similar names, your band might even have the same name as another band. You might have had to settle for a less-than-cool variation of your bands name for your myspace because of this. Well now you can lock in your simple to dictate, easy to find URL for your Facebook page and put yourself ahead of those other flapjacks that have the nerve to call themselves by your band's name! Not to mention that Facebook is pretty much the reigning champ of social networking sites. (check this out if you don't believe) So if you can only have the perfect URL on just one social networking site, make it Facebook.

So what do you need to do?

Visit this page www.facebook.com/username at 12:01 am EDT on June 13th (that's 9:01 pm on June 12th for all us west coasters) and follow the instructions. I know it's Friday night and you have a gig orwould rather go hangout with your friends but I suggest being on that page right at that time (or have a superfan/friend/your mom do it) otherwise someone else might get the username that you want and need. By the way folks, this happens tonight!

Choose wisely...

Why You Should Unfortunately Take Notice of The Jonas Brothers

In researching my topic for today's blog, I came across a video on YouTube that must be discussed as soon as humanly possible. Viral marketing is everywhere these days and we're in no way immune to it. But unlike other deadly viruses with proven vaccinations, there isn't one for the Jonas Brothers.

Please look at this video of Joe Jonas dancing to "Single Ladies" by Beyoncé and then continue with my blog if I still have your attention.

Before this video I had absolutely no opinion of the Jonas Brothers, but now I am forced to have one. As a teeny-bopper Tiger Beat band that has been birthed by Disney, I think that it's pretty easy to fly under the single, unmarried and childless adult's radar without judgement. But, to my horror, they've managed to grab my attention.

They made a spoof of a music video. Well, actually, they made a spoof of a spoof of a music video. If you don't know what I'm talking about then please see Beyoncé's original video, and then watch the SNL video with Justin Timberlake (which they should never have tried to one-up in the first place).

As of today, the view counter on their official YouTube page for this video is in the upper three million arena. And it's going up with every person who reads this and takes the leap of YouTube faith, which is the infuriating and genius part of the whole thing. They made a video that attracts the beratement of people such as myself as well as the praise of Teen Cosmopolitan. They have reached far beyond their fan base, let alone their demographic, and are causing some of us to pause and notice the strategy behind this. Their new album is out this month and they decided to involve the fans by letting them vote on what ridiculous thing Joe Jonas should do for our enjoymnt. Luckily, the fans chose a music video with heels and a unitard.

The fact that the Jonas Brothers made an absolutely terrible video isn't my point here. It's that they have an album coming out, made an incredibly cheap video that is tagged and labeled correctly and let the fans feel like they're a part of the process... like they're closer to the boys, which all drives up the music sales.

Therefore, I encourage you to be inventive, creative and brave. People like me may hunt you down to write a blog about your stupid video, but you managed to get people like me to write a whole blog about you and your stupid video.

It all comes down to driving up the music sales my friends.

Cheers!
Creed

Where to Go to Find Live Music.

So you're a RADAR advocate for ArtiSans Label. You have business cards, studio flyers, brochures, and artist referral forms. Now you need to meet some artists!

Many of you are in bands, or have friends that are in the live music circuit. You are already aware of local shows and where to go to see live music, in fact you are harrassed everytime your friends band has a gig. But how do you find out about live music shows and venues aside from your friends? Below are a few resources to help you find where to go in your search for bands and live music.

ReverbNation: Are you registered on ReverbNation? If not, register immediately. What is ReverbNation? Jen Creed wrote a fantastic blog about it a few weeks ago, and it is an excellent resource for music fans as well as for bands. All you have to do to find out where you can catch live music near you (once you are registered and logged in) is click on the "shows" tab on the top of your main page. Then you can search for shows in your area by genre, date, distance, etc. Also, when you meet a band you can become a fan of them through ReverbNation. Then you can keep in contact with the band and choose to be updated about any future shows they have.


Village Voice Media Publications: Village Voice Media is the brilliant company behind LA Weekly and OC Weekly (for local So. Cal residents) and Village Voice in NY. They also have publications in Denver, San Francisco, Seattle, Dallas, Nashville, and many other cities. These are free publications that you can pick up in your city or check out online. Venues often place ads listing their show calendar throughout the paper, but there is also an entire live music section where you can find live music shows for the week. On their website, you can search by venue, band, location (city), and genre.

CityGuide: Go to http://citiguide.aol.com/ and enter your city. Then you can choose the tab for "live music" and search for live music in your area (provided by when.com which is apparently another website where you can search for things to do).

Festivals: I have to say....I love festivals! I love to go as a patron, and I love to go to perform with CONJOB. At Festivals.com you can search for festivals in your area, they even have a list of music events.

Festivals are personally my favorite place to play music, and also my favorite place to go see music. As a performer, it is great perform for people who are there to soak up the atmosphere and have a good time. The members of CONJOB will usually hang out most of the day when we play a festival, passing out stickers and fliers and promoting our show. We'll even throw back a few beers with people in the beer garden. We have made more new fans at festivals than at most of our shows combined. The opportunity to meet people and network at festivals, especially music festivals, can't be matched at a bar or club.

Obviously these aren't all the ways to find bands to go see, (there is this fantastic thing called Google which can help you to find anything you need at all), but these websites should get you started in your search for bands to refer. So, now that you know where to look - go see some live shows!

Where does music inspiration come from?

How deep is your love and where does your music inspiration come from? Is it a hobby, a passion, an obsession and how does the out pour of art manifest? It was rumored that Jimmy Page of Led Zeppelin used black magic and cannot recall how or what inspired “Stairway to heaven,” but the cacophony of sound that comes from the mysterious two neck guitar leaves our eardrums feeling warm and fuzzy. …Strange. Some critics acclaim this song to be one of the greatest rock ballads in history. Jimi Hendrix burned and sacrificed his guitar on stage. We all remember this momentous event, and apparently the guitar gods received his sacrifice as his guitar riffs flow with miraculous angel fingers, although the LSD may have played some part.

Now I’m not encouraging black magic or sacrifice to the guitar gods, these are extreme examples of inspiration. Arthur I. Miller writes about Albert Einstein’s affinity for Mozart in an article titled, ‘A genius finds inspiration in the music of another.’ “Einstein once said that while Beethoven created his music, Mozart's "was so pure that it seemed to have been ever-present in the universe, waiting to be discovered by the master." Einstein believed much the same of physics, that beyond observations and theory lay the music of the spheres — which, he wrote, revealed a "pre-established harmony" exhibiting stunning symmetries. The laws of nature, such as those of relativity theory, were waiting to be plucked out of the cosmos by someone with a sympathetic ear.”

Barry Green, author of the book ‘The Mastery of Music-Ten Pathways to True and the Inner Game of Music, eloquently expands on the concept encouraged by David Darling, “Sing what you play, Play what you Sing”.

“Sing what you Play, (Play what you Sing)
Dance what you Sing,
Act what you Dance,
Paint what you Act
Create your Inspiration! “

Barry Green adds, “This all helps to intensify and illuminate your passion, open your nervous system-mind/body/spirit to the creative free flow of universal energy-the same energy that inspires Mozart, Jay Greenberg, me and you!”

Music inspiration can come from anywhere, you may think it is not as extreme or existential as Jimi Hendrix or Mozart, but only history can tell. I’ve been told that you can’t wait for inspiration to come to you, it must be sought out. ‘Tis true my friends. I sat on thoughts for a blog for two weeks without touching my computer and I got nowhere. Finally, I forced myself to sit down and just start typing and words flowed out. The point is I had to create my inspiration. Anyone in the music industry can profess that their love for music runs deep, there is no doubting that. But where does your music inspiration come from? Sometimes it is just a matter of sitting down and forcing it, but when it comes, let it flow!