Music Promotion and Marketing tips for Indie Musicians
Revisiting Tom Jackson’s interview, the Podcasters offer their own thoughts on the importance of developing a great live show. Many of our listeners have taken up the Twitter challenge and called our listener line with tips and tricks for using Twitter and Facebook, plus more calls, questions, emails and comments from our audience. Â Have you identified any “moments” in your show? Have you made a serious mistake you’d like to share? What’s your favorite move on stage?
Tom Jackson is a performance coach. He works with major label artists from all over the world in order to produce stage shows that will create a memorable experience for concert goers. Knowing your songs and reproducing your record live isn’t enough to dazzle an audience.
Tom helps artists develop shared moments on stage that often send an audience clambering to the merch table. Tom says the trick is to develop a structured show that leaves room for spontaneity. Join us as Tom shares his expertise on this often overlooked aspect of being a successful performing artist.
Check out Tom’s website Click Here!
iTunes introduces tiered pricing. Microsoft releases SongSmith, a program that makes anyone a musician. NIN gives away 400GB of HD video. Kevin, Chris and Robert discuss Twitter and how micro-blogging and social networking can enhance your music career. 
Plus calls and emails from our amazing listeners: That’s you!
In episode 41 Alex Steininger mentioned questions that he gives to artists and bands to help them write a better bio and discover some specific story lines. To see some of those questions, Just Click Here!
Not-so-secret secrets revealed! Social media do’s and don’ts. What Bon Jovi, Bruce Springsteen and Madonna have in common. YouTube teams up with Rumble Fish. Robert offers to throw a virtual snowball at Kevin. And the podcasters discuss the importance of knowing the story behind your music. Pour yourself a cup of hot coco, plug in your earbuds, and let the DIY Musician Podcast ring in the New Year.
Mentioned in this Episode:
Techipedia article on Social Networking Etiquette
Alex Steininger, music journalist, 10 year veteran publicist, and founder of ‘In Music We Trust’ (a label, eZine and publicity company) discusses the ins and outs of promotion in the digital age. Alex is the publicist for our own Chris Robley and many others. He discusses how to pick a publicist, what a publicist does and at what point a musician should seek a publicist to move his or her music forward. Don’t miss this one! Your music career will thank you.
Indie legends Wilco release an EP that’s also a free application. Guns ‘N’ Roses finally does it. Video games drive music sales. Robert seems mostly recovered from a minor head injury. The podcasters discuss Pandora Radio and the many ways that people discover music. Plus call-ins and lessons learned from our awesome audience (that’s you!).
playapp.com is the company releasing Wilco’s enhanced EP as mentioned on the podcast.
Pandora radio has revolutionized the way online music fans listen to and discover music. Tim Westergren is founder of Pandora and the Music Genome project that made it possible. With so many musicians creating so many albums music discovery is a more and more important aspect of the music business. Tools like Pandora that help people discover music have become crucial.
Give Pandora a listen http://pandora.com
Kevin, Chris, and Robert make true on their promise to deliver four indie-packed episodes in October. Dell computers announces computers preloaded with Universal music. Guns ‘n’ Roses releases “Chinese Democracy” and everybody gets a Dr. Pepper. The Podcasters discuss the “360” record deal and alternate music business models. Calls from our listeners and more.
Go to www.drpepper.com on the Nov. 23, 2008 release date to get your free Dr.Pepper
You may be surprised to learn that the legendary John Oates of Hall & Oates is an indie musician who sells his albums on CD Baby. John Oates is part of a growing trend where established musicians have been loosing their labels and going indie. John shares with us why staying independent is right for him. He also talks about his songwriting process, his outlook on the industry, and shares some tips for our audience.
John Oates’ New solo album ‘1000 Miles of Life’ is available on CD Baby
Are SD cards the new CD? MySpace launches MySpace Music. YouTube decides to help sell music. We discuss last weeks episode with Carl Saff on mastering. Also, we learn what not to do when performing at a nudist colony. Plus your calls, emails, and more.
P.S. It’s October Podfest this month for The CD Baby DIY Musician Podcast which means we’ll be publishing 4 episodes this month–one every monday. Wha-whooo!
Excite, sweeten, widen, and color your mix. Mastering can make or break an album sonically. But what is it exactly? Why do albums need to be mastered anyway? How do you know if your album is being mastered properly? How can you tell between a well mastered album and a poor one? Join Kevin in this interview with veteran mastering engineer : Carl Saff
Tech Note : We increased the volume and compression on this episode due to some feedback we’ve gotten from listeners. Hopefully this makes listening to our podcast even better 🙂
Surprise, surprise–The new Zune music player fails to compete with Apple’s new line of iPods. Kevin, Chris and Robert offer their own thoughts and processes on songwriting and Robert shares his secret songwriting weapon. Chris Robley discusses the near impossibility of getting your music on mainstream radio. Plus, calls from our audience.
Show Your Love. Nominate and vote for the CD Baby DIY Musician Podcast for the annual Podcast Awards.
Chris Robley’s article/diatribe/rant on radio promotion.
Songwriting is hard. It requires an ear for melody, a mind for poetry, and a heart to translate emotion into the hills and valleys of song. The process of songwriting is different for everyone, but there are also certain insights and techniques that many songwriters share. Evan Mchugh of Atlanta, Georgia is an accomplished performer, song smith and CD Baby artist. He shares his process and thoughts on song writing as well as the music that is the fruit of his labor.
Evan’s Album : From the Second Chair
Robert nearly burns down his apartment building. Yahoo Music folds along with the music that came with it. Chris extols the virtues of gig swapping. We revisit interviews with Anne Roos and Ariel Hyatt. Plus, We’ve got more mistakes and blunders from our audience as well as one story of unbridled success. Kick up your feat, loosen your belt, and pour yourself a cool glass of the indubitably delicious and nutritious CD Baby DIY Musician Podcast.
From our success story : The Elephant Song video by Eric Herman
Making a living as a full-time musician is a dream-come-true for most of us. But many artists are so busy looking for their ‘big break’ they forget to consider the more common and obvious sources of income in their own community. Anne Roos is a Celtic harpist who has made a successful career in playing weddings. She entered the field as a novice and learned a lot along the way. She’s recently wrote a book called “The Musician’s Guide to Brides: How to Make Money Playing Weddings” published by Hal Leonard. You’ll be surprised at how much there is to know about this profession. Join Kevin and Anne as they explore the ins and outs of playing and profiting in the wedding business.
Anne’s book is available on Amazon
Myspace, Facebook, Twitter, Friendster, YouTube and Flickr. Are you on these these websites? Do you know how to take advantage of their many features for self promotion and fan building? Ariel Hyatt of Cyber PR and Ariel Publicity proselytizes that social networking is not just a quaint way of keeping track of your old high school buddies, but a critical element in finding success in your music career. Why? Because these are some of the most powerful marketing tools available and they are all free to use. Join us for this truly valuable interview with an expert in the field of marketing music online. Ariel shares all sorts of great tricks and tips. No matter if you are an occasional myspace user or seasoned social networker, Ariel has insights and strategies that we can all learn from. You may have to listen twice, just to absorb all the valuable advice!
Check out Ariel’s website http://arielpublicity.com
for more articles, books and resources for marketing your music online!
Don’t set yourself on fire with bad lighting equipment. Back up your recording sessions. Keep an eye on your producer when she takes your masters to the bathroom with her. Be careful what you record on another label’s dime. These stories and more, plus the return of vinyl and bands on bikes.
As always our call in message number is 206-426-5683
Get your music reviewed by your local weekly! Amy McCullough, is the music editor for the Willamette Week, a popular and award winning weekly newspaper here in Portland with a circulation of almost 90,000. She shares with us details of her job as well as what she and her staff are looking for when deciding who to feature in their articles.
The Willamette Week website
Guess what? We’ve got a hotline: 206-426-5683. We’ve asked artists to call in and tell us about mistakes they’ve made in their music careers and what they’ve learned from these mistakes. In this episode, find out what songs you shouldn’t play at an Narcotics Anonymous meeting house, why not to taunt your audience at a roadhouse in Ohio and more. Plus music news and other indie delights!
As mentioned in the show : Nielson Soundscan’s State of the Industry Report
Closing song is by CD Baby artist: The Morals
Kevin shares his adventures in the land of 10,000 bands at SXSW (South by South West). Radiohead hits another line-drive and we wrap up our sync licensing episodes with some final insights. Join us as we do our darndest to help you find success in all your musical endeavors.
Music for this episode is provided by CD Baby artist Narwhal Vs. Narwhal
Radiohead’s multitrack downloadable, remixable, iTunes single is Here
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This is how to make money in indie music, plain and simple. In this follow up to our previous episode on music licensing, Kevin takes it home with two more in-depth interviews with music industry professionals who share with us the ins-and-outs of getting your tracks placed in commercial media.
First he is joined by Xbox music director, Peter Davenport from Microsoft Game Studios.
This is an absolute fascinating look at how indie music finds its way into popular video games.
Then join us as Steve Ricardo, who runs Red Car Records and regularly facilitates high profile commercial placements for the artists he works with, gives pointed advice for indie artists interested in licensing their music.
All the music in the podcast is courtesy of Red Car Records :
8BITches
The Esperantos
The Charms
https://podcast.cdbaby.com/PodcastAudio/DIYMusicianPodcast_Episode024.mp3
See your music featured in movies, TV, radio or the web, and make money doing it! This is Part One of our two part special on sync licensing. Don’t know what sync licensing is? That’s what we’re here for! Increasingly, TV shows, films and advertising agencies are looking to indie musicians to find the perfect song for their project. Likewise, indie artists are looking to make their music available to services that can often times turn their tunes into income. Sync licensing is the process that makes this all happen. In this episode, Kevin interviews CD Baby artist Gavin Heaney (Latch Key Kid), whose music ended up in a recent Super-Bowl commercial, as well as Joey Prather, who owns Blue Scout Music, a music licensing company in Portland, OR.
The music in the show is from CD Baby Artist Latch Key Kid
The Coke commercial mentioned, can be found on the Latch Key Kid website.
Blue Scout Music can be found here.
A thousand thanks to Diesel Fuel Prints for the Podcast stickers. Check them out if you need Vinyl stickers for your band!
Record companies and publishing houses duke it out for cash. Harry Fox throws indies a bone. Hip hop producer Timbaland becomes the first mobile phone music producer in residence at Verizon. All this, as well as a look at our recent interviews with David Harrington and Tom Simonson. Join us for the fun!
Closing song is by CD Baby artist Celeste Starchild
David Harrington is the founder and visionary violinist behind the world renowned Kronos Quartet. Kronos has taken the stage with artists as diverse as Dave Mathews, Tom Waits and the Inuit throat singer Tanya Tagaq. In this interview, David takes us back to his earliest experiences in music and talks with us about his many collaborations and how those relationships have changed both him and his music. His fearless, genre-defying approach to music is something any musician can learn from. David paints us a melodious portrait where music is something that none of us owns but rather is a substance that we are all uniquely a part of. Join us for this very special interview.
The Kronos Quartet website is www.kronosquartet.org
Artist management may not be the first thing on your mind when you’ve got your amp cranked up and your creativity flowing. But management is just as essential to cultivating and maintaining a successful music career as is producing killer new material. It also takes a lot of time, business skills, and connections in the music world. So, how do you manage the business side of your career and leave room for making music? This conundrum is why we sometimes turn to bookers, promoters, or artist managers to help us along the way. But is it really prudent to hand over certain responsibilities to a manager in exchange for 15-20% of your hard-earned profits? What if this manager could double or triple your music related income and get you really sweet gigs and publicity?
These concerns and more are addressed as Kevin interviews savvy artist manager and consultant, Tom Simonson. Tom shares his knowlege from both a corporate and indie perspective, helping us decide whether it’s better to look for a manager or to manage ourselves. His credits include Fastball, Mathew Sweet and David Wilcox.
Tom’s Management Website http://simonsonmanagement.com
Our Closing Song ‘Ready to Wake Up‘ is by CD Baby Artist: Shannon Hurley