Archive for August, 2008

Appetite for Western Destruction

Newly uncovered documents have revealed details of an old Soviet propaganda plan, in which Guns N Roses’ 1987 album, Appetite for Destruction, was to be turned into a 12-episode mini-series on the rise and triumph of Communism. During Vladimir Putin’s hair band days in the KGB, he was known to blare “18 and Life” by [...]

Mahalo – A Newish Search Engine

The new search engine, Mahalo, seems worth checking out, both for musicians and marketeers looking to get a leg up. I’m too busy to learn more about it right now, and its “Add Link” function wasn’t working for me (Beta version), but there appears to be a ton of good music resources aggregated in a [...]

Marketing is an Illness – So Cheer Up!

The deeper I wade into the nuts and bolts of music marketing, the sicker I feel. Are all industries as over saturated and horrifying?

Of all things, music has been the closest to my heart forever. And so I can’t imagine how I would feel, marketing something I didn’t even like. Oh, wait. Actually I can. [...]

Niche Marketing – Omar Hakim, Jack Kerouac, and Satan

I’ve been thinking a lot lately about niche marketing for music. Phil Robinson mentioned it in his MusicSnob interview, and Derek Sivers of CDBaby wrote a good post on it. Sivers says that by solving a particular need, you will sell more music.
The Problem
A lot of musicians approach people this way: “Hey, check out my [...]

Your Online Music Marketing Strategy – Evolvor Media

For some great tips on marketing your music online, we recently turned to Eric Hebert, CEO of Evolvor Media. His company works with bands and labels to roll out successful web marketing campaigns. Here are his thoughts…
In your opinion, what are the essential social networking sites that bands MUST be on these days?
There are [...]

War on Terror Responsible for Low CD Sales

As we all know, CD sales have continued to drop over the past several years. The thugs of the recording industry (RIAA) consistently blame illegal downloading and filesharing, but today a new study brings to light a startling correlation:

After much statistical analysis, it is now clear that the drop in CD sales can be attributed [...]

How to Make Great Web Videos

Do you want your web videos to look like this?

Or like this?

One of the problems with having a budget of practically zero for online music marketing is that it can be difficult to create good quality videos for the web. I have a decent digital camera, but the last time I created a video in [...]

Some Good Advice

Hey y’all, I recently came across Talk Music Biz, which covers a lot of ground that I think would be helpful for any of us poor and crushed musicians out there. The guy who maintains the site posts good videos where he talks about music industry stuff, and has some good tips for online marketing, [...]

Crash on My Couch! Tour Lodging for the Indie Musician

Finally, a company to serve those of us that wish more strange musicians would sleep on our couches!
Seriously, though, this actually sounds pretty interesting. Better Than The Van has recently introduced a site to connect touring musicians with people willing to let them sleep on their couches. Whether they are daredevils, sickos, or good Samaritans, [...]

Human Beings Detected!

I just got off the phone with Rick O’Neal, a friendly staffer from Nimbit. A few weeks ago I set up a free account with them so I could use their embeddable Online Merch Table (OMT), to sell my music directly to people from my various websites.

A Real Voice on the Phone
Though I usually just [...]