I finally got a chance to check out the SoundLot.  It's a service for musicians, as well as artists and filmmakers, to connect with one another.

At the SoundLot you’ll discover a group of like-minded folks to connect with locally.  The site boasts your ability to build relationships with local musicians, local artists and filmmakers to build an active community online that you'll hopefully be able to take off line to collaborate on projects, shows, etc.

I like the site.  It's super simple and clean - not a whole lot of navigation to figure out what you need to do.  The concept is simple.  It's apparent the idea is to build professional artistic relationships to learn from each other allowing those who participate to further their craft beyond what they could alone.

The site offers user generated resources, tips, other sites to check out and more.  If you're looking for a place to interact with others facing similar things as you, then the the Soundlot is the right place.

Groups are split up by the three main categories, music, art, and film and beyond that there are local groups by city.

Here are some of the features highlighted on the site:

-Field specific profile sections (music, art, film)
-Join local and regional groups
-Group forums
-Shared group documents (to keep info that the community can use)
-Rate posts (reward the best contributors)
-Share your bandcamp, soundcloud, flickr, deviantart, youtube, vimeo, twitter, and personal site

Also, here's an infographic explaining the site (click the image to make it larger):

Not long ago I was contacted through the Local Music Journey website by Glenn, the creator of SongGIG.com.  The message encouraged me to take a look at SongGIG.com, a music video discovery service.  Glenn claimed it could be useful for my readers.  So I went over to SongGIG.com and discovered it and it's artists for myself.  I have to say, I really like the concept. 

For undiscovered musical talent YouTube is great, but it's over saturated with tons of videos in many categories that can make it hard to truly discover new music without specifically knowing what it is you're seeking.  On the flip side, if you are looking for new music and could at least narrow the parameters of your interests on a site that is only focused on music then you've just set the stage (pun intended) to make some fun, serendipitous music discoveries.

SongGIG.com is that answer, and it's free to use.  SongGIG is focused on making it easier for musicians, music professionals and of course fans to find what they're looking for, or make discoveries of music they didn't totally know they were looking for.  SongGIG allows you to search music by band name or artist name, you can even do an advanced search and select the genre of music you're interested in discovering.

If you're an artist SongGIG makes it easy to set up a profile with your bio.  Then you just need to shoot video of yourself performing your songs, post them to SongGIG.com and share them with the SongGIG community.  You can upload your own video or if you already have video on YouTube SongGIG makes it easy to embed your YouTube video to share on SongGIG.  That's what I did for my first SongGIG post.

It's free for both fans and artists to register and the site is super simple to navigate, which is refreshing.  SongGIG.com has one purpose:  to help users find undiscovered musical talent.

Here's a quote from Glenn, the creator of SongGIG:
"My daughter sings and it made me wonder just how new singer's get discovered or seen. There is YouTube, but there are so many videos on there and how does one get found on there? Unless you know what you are looking for. Some of the cream does rise to the top, but I am sure there are many great musicians on there that never get heard. I wanted to develop a resource for musical talent that is easy to navigate (think Apple simple) and for one purpose only."

The only suggestion I would give right now to SongGIG is is to offer Facebook "Like" buttons and one-click Retweet options on every song video web page on SongGIG.  Simple tools like this can help SongGIG fans and artists spread the word about their own videos or favorite videos (if they're a fan) to their social media audiences helping spread the word for the artists, fans and SongGIG.

Feel free to read about SongGIG straight from the horse's mouth.

Posted by:  Nick Venturella

In my book The Local Music Journey, I talk about identifying your ideal fan as part of your band's branding efforts.

It's important to understand who your ideal fan is.  What are the characteristics of those who tend to enjoy your music.

Knowing the characteristics of your ideal fan is important because this will help determine who you're marketing your music to.  It will also help you determine what kind of venues to perform, so you can be sure to maximize your exposure to and impact on your ideal fans.

Also, when you're out on the street handing out fliers to your show if you know what your ideal fan looks like you can be sure to get a flier in that person's hands.

I encourage you to actually write out between 7 and 10 characteristics that encompass your ideal fan.  Ask some friends and current fans of your music what they like about your music and what other interests they have then look for commonalities between the answers to help you formula, at least on paper, who your ideal fan is.

In marketing the "ideal fan" characteristics are often called a "buyer persona."  By writing out the various characteristics of who your ideal fan is, what they look, what other interests they might have beyond your style of music, etc. you can more easily pinpoint who those fans are when you come across them, and you can use that "buyer persona" as the baseline from which you test all your marketing messages against...in other words, keeping in mind what marketing messages will likely resonate well with fans who have the characteristics of your ideal fans.

Posted by:  Nick Venturella

I recently read Don Was on iTunes and the death of liner notes, and it made me think of the experience I had, and still get from having a physical album (LP, tape, or CD) with the album art and liner notes in my hands...Poring over every word of the liner notes, reading lyrics and stories behind the songs and production notes and credits, etc.

The article talked about how iTunes doesn't allow for that experience anymore.  With digital delivery of songs, tracks are taken out of their collective album format and the liner notes are simply gone.  All that remains is a thumbnail of the album cover artwork.  The Don Was post was had a tone of nostalgia about the 'liner notes experience,' but it got me thinking about how music fans, especially younger ones, interact and engage with music these days.

Thinking about that engagement, I don't know that the 'liner notes experience' is gone...well; it is in the sense that Don Was was referring, but not necessarily gone altogether.

A lot of younger music fans grew up with digital downloads now, and they've never fully known the 'liner notes experience' as referred to by Don Was.  I look at this as an opportunity for musicians to recreate the 'liner notes experience' in a new way, a way that makes more sense for how younger fans experience music and engage with it these days.  

Musicians can use their websites, blogs and various social media outlets to create a new 'digital liner notes experience' that one day will be talked about with such nostalgia.

Posted by:  Nick Venturella

Vertical Response recently put out their 10 Great Email and Social Media Marketing Resources PDF.  It's worth musicians taking a look at because there are several helpful tools that can aid your efforts to reach fans and maintain relationships with them.

This document is also a useful resource because, while social media is all anyone seems to be talking about in marketing, email is still a much needed and widely used piece of the marketing puzzle.

The trick is getting all of the pieces of your marketing approach to work together moving in the same direction.

One of my favorites from the Vertical Response list is the Subject Line Checker, what's yours?

Posted by:  Nick Venturella

A quote from Richard Branson’s book, Business Stripped Bare (Amazon affiliate):

“In an era of digital downloads and headphones that tune out the rest of the world, the live-music experience offers something different, authentic and communal.”

As indie musicians have no trouble these days distributing their music (via the internet, etc.) there’s still the issue of actually being heard amongst the enormous amount of new music now available.  So how do you stand out and differentiate yourself--being discovered by new fans while also being completely dedicated to your current loyal fans.

That quote gets at heart of what I think music, business and life are all about--people.  People being their authentic selves and creating relationships sometimes around a communal event or through various forms of communication.

Specifically related to music:  Creating unique experiences like those of a live concert help to create a feeling of involvement in something larger than yourself, an experience that you know is fleeting.  However, a shared fleeting experience creates long-lasting memories.  I also think when people know it will be a one-of-kind experience, meaning they know it is only here for a short while, people become more acutely aware of being present, in the moment.  That, ‘right here and now’ presence-of-mind creates electric energy shared amongst those gathered to experience whatever event it is. 

Those who continue to innovate to create that heightened sense of authentic, communal real-time awareness with their music and/or creative pursuits, both on- and off-line, are the ones who will likely have the most success.  They’re also the ones most likely to recognize that that formula is rooted in human relationships, which transcends any and all technological tools that merely help you more easily communicate your messages to be able to build those relationships.

Posted by:  Nick Venturella

Another Thanksgiving has come and gone, and with it another holiday shopping season begins.  First, of course there’s Black Friday, and now-a-days we also have Cyber Monday (the new younger sibling of Black Friday).

So for all of you independent musicians out there looking to capitalize on the holiday shopping season here’s my recipe for marketing your merch online:

Selling Physcial CDs and Digital Downloads
Be sure to offer your music products in various formats (both as physical CDs and digital downloads).  Surprisingly, the overall majority of people still consume music via CDs-- according to Dave Poler’s poll regarding how poeple prefer to consume music--however, digital downloads is a very close second.  By offer your music in multiple formats you increase the likelihood of sales without alienating any particular way a person wishes to consume your music.

I personally like to automate as much of the online shopping/buying process to make it easy on both the consumer and myself (it helps me manage and keep track of things more efficiently).  For folks who want to order my physical CDs I use the on-demand service provided by Lulu.com.  That way when someone places an order on the site, Lulu takes care of the credit card transaction, the CD is professionally manufactured, packaged and shipped directly to the consumer.

For my digital downloads, I use Nimbit’s service, which does a similar thing--handles the credit card transaction and handles the download process immediately following the purchase.

What I like about both of these services is that there is no set up fee to the musician.  There are other services like CDBaby.com, which is great and can allow you to have both CDs and digital downloads in one spot, but there is a set up fee.  However, the benefit of the set up fee is that you can get your digital downloads distributed to places like iTunes where it’s often harder for an independent musician to get there music added on their own.

Sale of Other Merchandise
If you offer other merchandise (T-shirts, hats, stickers, etc.) make this available as well.  I use CafePress.com for online sale of such merchandise.  Again, this is an on-demand service where items are not produced until an order is placed.  I use the free version of CafePress, but they do offer a paid Premium version as well.

Sales at Live Shows
Don’t forget to have to have all of the physical merchandise folks can buy online at your website available at your live shows, too.  This can even include digital downloads by way of having digital download cards available for purchase or as a free giveaway with one free download song for signing up on your email list.

At live shows I like to also have a few items available for sale that are not available for purchase online.  I often design and screen print my own T-shirts with equipment I own at home and make those exclusively available at live shows.

Don’t Forget to Your Fans Know
Finally, you have to let your fans know about what you have available, and you want to make at easy as you can for them to find and purchase the merchandise they’re looking for.

Use your email list to let fans know of available merchandise in a timely fashion (around Black Friday and Cyber Monday, hint, hint).  Use Twitter, your Facebook status, MySpace, LinkedIn--whatever social networks you’re on, let those you connect with know because they may be looking for what you’re offering, but not be aware of how to find it.

Posted by: Nick Venturella

Learn about building your independent music career in
The Local Music Journey book. 

You can download a FREE excerpt here.

The following is a guest post written by Larry Mitchell. The post came about through a response to me (Nick Venturella), by way of my Resourceful Musician Blog. 

Larry Mitchell is a classically trained violinist who has been helping musicians of all stripes become more successful in selling their music.  He works in marketing for Mixonic, an online CD duplication firm specializing in independent musicians.

Selling CDs - $500 a month.

It sounds like a good trick doesn’t it. Selling your CDs has never been more accessible to the independent musician. We will do the math and figure out how to make $500 a month from sales of your CDs.

We could wave a magic wand and poof, it would happen but in this realm here we need to plan and have a strategy in place to drive those CD sales.

There are numerous sources of CD income. First take a look at selling your CDs by yourself literally from person to person. Start by bringing CDs and setting up a sales table at your gigs. Have someone take care of selling while you are performing. If you work a minimum of say six times a month and sell 5 CDs at $10 a piece at each gig there is $300.

There are several online outlets such as CDBaby, TuneCore, Amazon, even eBay that will sell your CDs. If you are getting on average of $7 a CD from these online outlets and sell twenty CDs that is another $140.

Okay time to start selling around town. Make your stops at every local record store outlet and drop off your CDs. Perhaps you will make $7 per CD. In a month target a minimum of 20 CDs sold; that is $140

We are already up to $580. Why stop there. Are there any swap meets, or craft fair in or nearby where you live. A good day’s work there selling a minimum of 10 CD’s less what you pay as rental fees for the space and you are still making a profit.

Have you thought of calling corporations, charities, even local governments to see if they want to give away your CDs as special favors. Here you will not make as much per CD but still we are talking cash flow and its all good!

You see it does not take long to get to $500 and beyond applying a little bit of planning and initiative. It is up to you to move your CDs however, in todays world wide marketplace it has never been more inviting and feasible to make money selling your CDs. The ideas presented here are only a few. Give it some thought and then sell baby sell!

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Not long ago I was discussing music marketing tactics with a fellow colleague in the music industry.  The discussion was great--there were some instances where we saw eye to eye and others where we didn’t, which is good, that’s typically where new ideas and growth come from.

It’s worth noting that my colleague is of the baby boomer generation and has industry experience prior to the steep decline of the major labels.  In contrast, I’m on the cusp of gen X and Y, and my industry experience has only been of a DIY independent nature. 

So, my music industry colleague asked me, “How would you market a new album if I gave you a collection of songs?”  He asked this question, and in my mind I think he had an idea of what he thought the answer should be (perhaps I’m presuming too much, but that was my initial thought).

I tried to be thoughtful as I began to answer with ideas of building a buzz online via blogging and social media, utilizing online contests and related offline promotions and live shows, but my ideas kept driving everything back to online tactics that can help quickly build a community around the music, if done correctly.

His response, was, “Yes, but how would you market the album.”  Clearly, we had a difference of opinion about what ‘marketing an album’ entails.  I was thinking about building relationships with fans surrounding the album vs. interrupting fans with advertising and radio play.  On one hand the audience being marketed to has some control regarding how they receive those marketing messages vs. having no control over how they receive marketing messages, with more interruptive tactics (ads and traditional radio play).

These differences illustrate experiential and possibly generational points of view.  My question ends up being:  Are both routes correct?

I ask that question because one crucial piece of this conversation that we both failed to address was, who is the target audience for this fictitious album we’re trying to market?  Because, if my target market is baby boomers who are used to purchasing actual albums (on CD perhaps) then maybe what I perceive are my colleague’s thoughts toward marketing an album are correct.  However, if the target audience are from my own generation, more comfortable with blogging and social media, then perhaps I’m right.

My main conclusion is that I don’t think there is a least common denominator for how to market an album to the masses.  In fact, I don’t think anyone is marketing albums to the masses anymore in which case addressing your niche audience and catering your marketing specifically to that audience is perfectly acceptable and exactly what you want to do.

Posted by:  Nick Venturella

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