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Christmas music to enhance your mood while you work on your IM stuff ...

by Chris Thompson
14 replies
Hey guys and gals,

This post is about: 1) Free christmas music; 2) a marketing lesson for any newbies (because the rest of us already know this stuff).

I did a bit of research last night to find free sources of Christmas music. This was for a parenting blog, but hey ... everyone who celebrates Christmas might enjoy this.

Here it is:
Some Places to Get Free Christmas Music | Talking to Toddlers

Newbies: I'm not claiming to be some kind of expert on marketing, but I do know that people want VALUE and they usually hate any kind of hard pitch.

What I did in the following post is to research true free sources of Christmas music (the last link is AWESOME - over 50 free songs from Amazon from real artists).

Then I added a bit of soft promotion for the Apple Airport Express (my favorite gadget). I just talked about it and put a link to my Amazon affiliate link.

Personally, I LOVE this kind of promotion. Nobody ever gets annoyed by it and it does generate sales.

What I do with the post is:

1) publish it
2) Tweet about it
3) Send a 3-line email to my Aweber list telling them about it
4) I will re-send the email in a couple days asking people to share a link to it on facebook, etc.

If I had more time to spend on this I would ENHANCE it by giving one of my employees the task of finding every possible source of free Christmas music under the sun, checking to make sure it is good quality, and then adding in some more gadget suggestions in picture / sidebar format. Then I would have a lot more chance of having people re-tweet and share my post to get a bit of viral action going.

Anyway - I highly recommend grabbing the freebies from Amazon. It's pretty awesome.

If you feel so inclined, I'd love to have you drop a comment also.

All the best to everyone in this holiday season.
Chris
#christmas #enhance #mood #music #stuff #work
  • Profile picture of the author Sarah S
    This post has come to my attention at just the right time! I was actually planning to download Christmas music this weekend, and was considering splurging on iTunes for an album and a few extra songs. Thanks for taking the time to share this!

    I also have a quick question: do you know whether there is Christmas music that is "Royalty Free" or "Copywrite Free?" (I'm not what the correct term would be...)

    I've stumbled across lots of Royalty free photos on the internet, and I also know that there are books that were published before there was such a thing as copywrite (like Jane Austin's books and such), meaning that there is no penalty for reproducing parts or all of them online or in print, since no one owns the copywrite.

    This led me to wonder whether a similar thing exists for music- and especially Christmas music, since some of it is centuries old and the composers are unknown. Would this make it possible to package and sell digital music albums of copywrite-free music, or at least give them away without penalty? Any thoughts?
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    • Profile picture of the author JohnMcCabe
      Originally Posted by Sarah S View Post

      This post has come to my attention at just the right time! I was actually planning to download Christmas music this weekend, and was considering splurging on iTunes for an album and a few extra songs. Thanks for taking the time to share this!

      I also have a quick question: do you know whether there is Christmas music that is "Royalty Free" or "Copywrite Free?" (I'm not what the correct term would be...)

      I've stumbled across lots of Royalty free photos on the internet, and I also know that there are books that were published before there was such a thing as copywrite (like Jane Austin's books and such), meaning that there is no penalty for reproducing parts or all of them online or in print, since no one owns the copywrite.

      This led me to wonder whether a similar thing exists for music- and especially Christmas music, since some of it is centuries old and the composers are unknown. Would this make it possible to package and sell digital music albums of copywrite-free music, or at least give them away without penalty? Any thoughts?
      Sarah, the phrase you are looking for is "public domain", meaning the work has no copyright protection. In the instance you're speaking of, things could get a bit confusing.

      Just for simplicity, let's assume that "Jingle Bells" is in the public domain (I didn't have time to check, but I believe it is). That means you could legally use the melody and lyrics for whatever purpose. It does NOT mean you can grab any recording of Jingle Bells you please and use it.

      While the music and lyrics may be public domain, the individual performance may not be, and probably isn't if it's part of a commercial CD, live concert, etc.

      On the other hand, there's nothing legally stopping you from recording public domain music of your own and using that.
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      • Profile picture of the author Sarah S
        Originally Posted by JohnMcCabe View Post

        Sarah, the phrase you are looking for is "public domain", meaning the work has no copyright protection. In the instance you're speaking of, things could get a bit confusing.

        Just for simplicity, let's assume that "Jingle Bells" is in the public domain (I didn't have time to check, but I believe it is). That means you could legally use the melody and lyrics for whatever purpose. It does NOT mean you can grab any recording of Jingle Bells you please and use it.

        While the music and lyrics may be public domain, the individual performance may not be, and probably isn't if it's part of a commercial CD, live concert, etc.

        On the other hand, there's nothing legally stopping you from recording public domain music of your own and using that.

        John, thanks so much for clearing that up for me, you definitely answered my question!
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  • Profile picture of the author DireStraits
    You mean to tell me that "Fairytale of New York" by The Pogues and Kirsty MacColl isn't the most optimal choice of Christmas tracks for marketing?

    Well I'll be damned! :p
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    • Profile picture of the author paulgl
      Originally Posted by DireStraits View Post

      You mean to tell me that "Fairytale of New York" by The Pogues and Kirsty MacColl isn't the most optimal choice of Christmas tracks for marketing?

      Well I'll be damned! :p
      I've always been partial to the Kink's Father Christmas.
      Puts everybody in a true Holiday spirit!

      Paul
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  • Profile picture of the author scortillion
    Hey Thanks! I was getting ready to buy some Christmas music for the holidays!
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  • Profile picture of the author Chris Thompson
    Guys - really INTERESTING result from my original post above.

    I emailed the blog post to my list.

    When I created the link to the Amazon free music I decided "hey what the heck, I'll use my affiliate link". I knew the music was free, but figured using an affiliate link couldn't hurt.

    As it turns out I just saw a MASSIVE spike in Amazon orders over the last two days. Lots of books and DVDs - but every bit helps, and every bit pushes you towards the highest commission rates.

    So DO THIS:

    1) Take the URL I gave you in my blog post for Amazon
    2) Make your OWN affiliate link to it
    3) Email your list with that link telling them they can get free xmas music at Amazon.

    It's 10 minutes of work and it almost assures you more profit. People love free stuff, and then Amazon sucks them in for the purchase of something else they've been thinking about buying.
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  • Profile picture of the author bimawarrior
    Very cool idea Chris!
    Thanks for sharing
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  • Profile picture of the author Chris Thompson
    I sent an email about this to another list, and just saw another spike in sales at Amazon as a result. Wild. I'll have to keep my eye out for other opportunities to promote free stuff. Christmas is the only holiday I can think of where we have specific music for the season.
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  • Profile picture of the author DavidTT
    enhance your Christmas profit by buying my articles man!!!

    haha jk.

    Honesty, I can't work and listen to music at the same time. I don't know how people do this.
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    • Profile picture of the author Rikki_Fawkes
      Originally Posted by DavidTT View Post

      enhance your Christmas profit by buying my articles man!!!

      haha jk.

      Honesty, I can't work and listen to music at the same time. I don't know how people do this.
      I can if I'm doing article marketing, but not if I'm doing paid articles. For some reason, I can't research, type and listen at the same time. Unless it's instrumental, and I'm not THAT fond of instrumental music unless it's epic.
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  • Profile picture of the author Leo McMackin
    Thanks for the tip on the website. The IM information was interesting too
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    • Profile picture of the author Page-One
      I'm totally a PC guy, but for background music...whether Christmas or otherwise, I like using the iTunes "radio" list...an extensive offering of free, nonstop music in gazillions of genres and "stations."
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