Weird Music Related IM

[Melodican]

Hello Warriors

I am a working musician (singer/songwriter) playing at least 6 shows a week all around London and I'm currently in the process of recording my debut album which I believe will be a major contribution towards my life's work and legacy on this planet.

At the moment, I am currently getting around 15 uniques per day to my myspace at the moment (I don't have a website) and through my own sincere lack of marketing I could be a lot more established than I currently am and want to at least x10 the amount of folks visiting my page.

Can anyone recommend an effective marketing/ad strategy that can start to build 'a buzz' as the completion of my album draws nearer to completion and what do yout think I should do regarding a site/social networking strategy.

I'm a big lover of Frank Kern, Filsaime, Dillard, DK etc etc and wondered how their teachings and strategies can be used not neccesarily to sell a product, but to get people to visit the myspace, and, keep returning.

Any insight into your ideas are greatly appreciated

Many Thanks

Glen

[Brad Gosse]

I have a great way for musicians to get popular online.

1. Set up a couple of Limewire and Bittorrent accounts.
2. Add the names of the musicians who influence your work to your meta data
3. upload a few releases to the shared folders.

This will get you exposed to the fans of similar music. It's slow at first but it can take off fast.

[alexshelton]

That's a great idea Brad,

I'm actually looking to put on a gig at the Electric Ballroom London in October so will follow this thread very closely. I intend to use Twitter to a certain degree, create some buzz on the myspace forums but could do with some ideas too!

Keep em coming guys

[Andy Immotna]

yeah, twitter would be a big help to your marketing efforts too!

you might want to buy a domain name to brand yourself and just redirect it to your
myspace profile if you don't have yet your own site...

Or better yet setup up your own site using simple platforms like Wordpress
and integrate your social site profiles like myspace on that page -that'd look more pro.

There are a lot of premium themes you can use for your WP site or scour
the available templates WP have...

Just my two cents..

[josefnew]

The bottom line is to set up a website then link it to your myspace and also join a couple more social networking site and link them to you website. A blog would be better since that could be updated with ease and on regular basis, say, after a each gig just a couple of lines about the gig would do.

[Paid Surveys]

1. My first suggestion would be to visit Ableton. This is an online forum where you can network with other muscians and post your msuic. Also try www.SongPeople.co.uk.

2. Get a facebook account it's much much better than myspace for traffic.

3. Open a twitter account and get some followers.

[Melodican]

Originally Posted by Brad Gosse

I have a great way for musicians to get popular online.

1. Set up a couple of Limewire and Bittorrent accounts.
2. Add the names of the musicians who influence your work to your meta data
3. upload a few releases to the shared folders.

This will get you exposed to the fans of similar music. It's slow at first but it can take off fast.

This idea sounds fab but I have no idea about meta data... I understand about meta tags on things like websites but I'm an amatuer on how to add it to music....

Just to clarify, I set up these accounts, add similar artists names to my accounts and the music I'm uploading (?) then share them with the larger community ???

Sorry for being such a noob :-(

G

[Melodican]

Originally Posted by ImmotnaMarketing

Or better yet setup up your own site using simple platforms like Wordpress
and integrate your social site profiles like myspace on that page -that'd look more pro.

There are a lot of premium themes you can use for your WP site or scour
the available templates WP have...

Just my two cents..

I've tried this but struggled adding the WP to my domain in the back office.... I'm with a hosting company that don't use Fantistico... is there an easy way to get round this without having to edit a load of coded files ??

Once again thanks for the help

G

[Emily Meeks]

This isn't really a promo tactic so much as sales, but I thought it'd be worth mentioning: One thing to be aware of. No matter what happens, at the end of the day, people will find a way to get your music for free. What do you do? Take advantage of it! Offer a few free downloads, then maybe a few 0.99 ones, in addition to selling the album.

The great thing about music is it's natural viral effect. Even if one person downloads and they play it for their friends, and they play it for THEIR friends, your name is being promoted. The more they like you, the more likely they are to buy your fan merch (thus essential to make T-shirts, posters, stickers, etc.) and attend your shows. Just mentioning

[Martin Luxton]

Can anyone recommend an effective marketing/ad strategy that can start to build 'a buzz' as the completion of my album draws nearer to completion and what do yout think I should do regarding a site/social networking strategy.

Before you build your site/buzz you need to know

1. What is your brand/USP?
2. What makes you unique?
3. What is newsworthy about you?

Find the angle!

Because EVERYTHING you do has to be consistent with your overall brand. Before you do anything you have to ask yourself - does this add to my brand?

search for music at Brandchannel.com - it has some interesting stuff.

brandchannel.com | Sellaband | Music Brands | Branding Music | Branding Music Labels | Music Label Brands | brands | brand | branding news

If you want an easy delivery platform you can try

Welcome - SoundCloud

Ukbands.net has a good community

UKBANDS.NET - Main page

Two big American sites

Indie Music, Music Licensing, Free Music Promotion, Download Free Music - Streaming Music | Broadjam
GarageBand.com : GarageBand.com

If you want to sell physical albums online

CD Baby: let's find you some great new music... ($35 set up plus $20 for a bar code).

They also have a digital option where you can have your songs available via iTunes and other big companies.

I was well chuffed when I got my first sale from iTunes. Your physical album will also show up on Amazon.

This is great social proof. At your gigs you can tell the audience.

"You can buy my album at Amazon or iTunes but if you buy it now you'll get a couple of quid off plus I'll sign it for you."

But, as I said, before you do that have a very clear idea of who you are and where you are going. Once you've get everything set up it's a bugger to change it. (Bitter experience talking there!)

This guy is an excellent writer and he's well sussed about the music industry. I would sign up for his newsletter if I were you. His free ebook is better than most paid products online.

Free E-book | New Music Strategies


Edit: I found New Music Strategies via this link from traces2757 (Tracy S)

http://www.musicsoftwaretraining.com/blog/?p=215

David Hooper is quite an active Warrior, too.

http://www.musicmarketing.com/music-marketing.html


Hope this helps.

Martin

[Mark Riddle]

Melodican,

Martin gave you some fantastic resources, I'm the marketing guy for KC Cafe Radio

Twitter is going to be your best traffic tool to get people to your actual gigs.

Go to Twellow :: Twitter Directory, Twitter Search, & Twitter Yellow Pages and list yourself there, create your profile there and add your links there (myspace until you get a website) Followers will find you there, AND you will find people YOU should follow there too

Also search in Twitter for music people,

HINT: follow the followers of internet radio stations that match your genre and indie labels.

Also follow music promotional folks such as

David Hooper (davidhooper) on Twitter & Bob Baker (MrBuzzFactor) on Twitter

ReverbNation is a must be place for your music to get noticed by the "right" folks.

When you are ready for even more attention Sonicbids Connects Bands & Music Promoters- Book Gigs and Bands at Sonicbids will help you its not free but it is powerful.

Mark Riddle

Oh Yeah kccaferadio (kccaferadio) on Twitter << the station twitter account