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Hits are dead, embrace The Long Tail

10/26/2010

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I recently read a blog post on Digital Music News about how major record labels are still trying to replicate a formula to manufacture hit songs/records.

The major labels should embrace The Long Tail (Amazon affiliate).  I would suggest they put out perhaps half of the volume of material they’re recording, which apparently is about 60 variations of one hook for one song.  If they can be that prolific with one song’s hook they can likely create multiple ten-song albums to release in a short period of time. 

Instead of one ten-song album that can be sliced up and songs sold individually per track, put out three ten-song albums.  Now that’s thirty songs to choose from.  I would further suggest the majors take whatever marketing budget they had for that one album and spread it over the three.  Get fans involved via blogging and social media contests, etc.  Then see which of those three albums sells best.  Chances are they may see moderate sales of all three over time, but collectively all three albums would likely outsell the single album they were originally going to put out with the same budget.

It’s at least good to see the majors putting some extra sweat-equity into their process and not giving up, hmmm, that sounds like the model of indie musicians.  However, the main difference is that indies tend to be much better at gaining a grass-roots following, likely because of their sincere authenticity compared to major labels.

By Nick Venturella
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EZ-Tracks.com

10/21/2010

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Not long ago the webmaster of EZ-Tracks contacted me about adding a link to ez-tracks.com from my Local Music Journey site.  I figured it might be an opportunity to investigate ez-tracks.com and write a short blurb about it.  So here's a few brief impressions about ez-tracks.com...

When I arrived on the ez-tracks.com website I will say, there was quite a bit going on visually and aurally.  The site had a pretty busy layout, which didn't bother me as much as the music that automatically began playing as I arrived on the site.  Even though, I myself am a musician, I dislike arriving on a web page where music automatically begins playing.  I think the site visitor should have the option to turn any music on your site on or off (if that function exists on the ez-tracks.com site I apologize for bringing it up, but I couldn't find it).

I am not an avid ez-tracks.com user, but I did find it's business model beneficial for music listeners.  Plus, the benefit for indie musicians I think comes from ez-tracks.com's Up and Coming Artists section.  This is an area of the website to find indie music.  There's even an opportunity to add your band to EZ-Tracks, which may be a helpful for indie musicians to be discovered by new fans (over 3000 Facebooks Fans have "Liked" EZ-Tracks, according to their site).

As stated on the ez-tracks.com website, here's the value they offer and how they offer it:

“EZ-Tracks.com is a free and 100% legal MP3 music download website. EZ-Tracks.com offers over 50,000 free songs, from virtually every conceivable genre. Popular songs are included as well as recordings from top musical recording artists.”

“EZ-Tracks.com is a legal music download site and does not offer peer-to-peer sharing. EZ-Tracks.com is able to make music available for free because it is ad-supported. Advertisements are shown on the website in order to cover royalty and operating costs. Music can be downloaded in the popular MP3 format, which can be played on the vast majority of portable music devices as well as a computer.”
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SEO for your music

10/11/2010

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I found the following article on search engine optimization as it relates to a musician.  The article is titled, The Power of Long Tail Keywords, from a company called HubSpot.  HubSpot’s main purposes is to help companies increase their ability to be found online. 

There are definitely some good take-a-ways for musicians who really need to understand how to be found online and how to build relationships online to further their success and careers.

By:  Nick Venturella
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Get on TV to gain exposure for your indie music

10/8/2010

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I just finished watching a good independent musician friend of mine, Sean Michael Dargan, perform with his band on a local PBS show called The 30 Minute Music Hour.  It was in promotion of the Sean Michael Dargan Band’s latest album, Snap Your Fingers & Stomp Your Feet.

The format of the show is to have a local band or musician perform their original songs and periodically take breaks to talk about their music and whatever album of theirs they may be promoting at the time.

Shows like this are a great way for local bands to gain some larger regional exposure in one fell swoop.  It’s a lot of fun for the groups performing and the distance a band can get out of such a performance (i.e. posting the recorded video segment on YouTube, the band’s website, Facebook, etc.) is invaluable. 

Plus, such video can be a helpful tool in booking other performances as booking folks like to be able to “see” your stage presence when possible before booking you.  It’s like having a recorded audition.

So how do you get such gigs?  Go to the website of a show like the one mentioned above, find an email address and/or a phone number and start contacting them stating--in a very professional and polite way--who you are and why you’re contacting them.  I would ask whomever you contact if they’re the correct person to talk to about your request, if so great, then proceed to ask about how to get on the show.  If they’re not the right person to talk to ask if they can direct you to the correct person.

By:  Nick Venturella
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