Wednesday, November 21, 2007

Puff Daddy, New Music industry, 360 deals, Ancillary earnings etc.

If you're smart you're probably thininking . . . but but but puff daddy - I mean uhhh just "Diddy" - is a commercial sell out rapper and I’m a serious songwriter with integrity who’s authentic!!! Or something. Well good. on. you.

So then you understand the crisis of credibility that the advertising industry is facing right now and their desperate need to connect their message in the most subtle and nuanced of ways with . . . you guessed it. Something authentic.

No, you don’t have to endorse “dolphin killers detergent” so I don’t want to hear anybody bleating about “selling out”. if you’re “doing it for the love” then go do it and quit whining about only playing to 12 people and how christmas will be hard this year. sheesh.

I’ve never been a huge fan of his material or anything but the guy knows how to get paid – something of a current preoccupation for musicians currently working part time jobs or looking after their kids.

Also big bad bob is right to chastise Gene Simmons for saying he can’t be bothered making an album if he can’t get paid. Prince, Radiohead, The Eagles . . . have certainly landed on their feet.

http://lefsetz.com/wordpress/index.php/archives/2007/11/19/more-eagles/

Bob's also had another go at Jay Z for his prehistoric decision to not allow his album to be broken up for sale as singles online. The argument maybe that Jay Z's had 10 no. 1 albums and he can do what he likes, but if you're not Jay Z . . . don't try this foolishness at home. It's about access people. Make it accessible. Become a star. Then we'll worry about the cash later.

http://lefsetz.com/wordpress/index.php/archives/2007/11/20/jermaine-dupri-on-the-huffington-post/


Over to the piece on the diddymeister . . .


While the music business continues its downward spiral, the latest talk among label executives is revolving around so-called 360 deals: ventures designed to give them a piece of all the revenues that come an artist's way.

Executives say monetizing and sharing in every aspect of a performer's career--from recording and publishing to movies, merchandising and endorsement deals--could make up for losses in record sales. But critics argue that the strategy is just another way for the majors to take money out of an artist's pocket.

When this reporter sat down for a recent interview with Sean "Diddy" Combs, one of music's biggest voices and a leading architect of the concept of artist as brand, he expressed a few reservations about the record industry's latest magic bullet.

"Right now, everyone just says this brand-building concept out of their mouths so easily, claiming it's revolutionizing the industry," he says. "But it takes a certain type of superstar who understands at all times what it takes to be in the middle of a 360 situation. This is not going to solve the labels' problem."

Brand bonanza

The hip-hop mogul knows whereof he speaks. He has been so successful at building brands outside of music that fashion, fragrances, restaurants, television and film production, and now vodka collectively make up the lion's share of Bad Boy Worldwide Entertainment Group's approximately $500 million in annual sales. Music accounts for just $100 million, according to industry estimates.

Mr. Combs' focus on building an urban lifestyle empire began more than a decade ago, even before he became a huge name on the music scene.

"He created a movement, and he's carried that over into everything he's done in the branding space," says Rob Stone, a former colleague of Mr. Combs' at Arista Records. He now heads Cornerstone Promotion, which specializes in leveraging music to market consumer products.

"Early on, I made a 360 deal with myself," Mr. Combs says. "What separates me is that I always had a blueprint to be a lifestyle brand. The things people are talking about doing now I already did. I always wanted to diversify."

Building his brands didn't come easily. Artists interested in exploring branding and endorsement opportunities need to do their homework, be selective and have a passion for the products they are touting, says Mr. Combs.

Becoming a business

"You have to become and understand the business you take on," he says. A towering poster in Times Square of Mr. Combs, decked out in clothing from his eponymous Sean John line, says it all.

Mr. Combs demonstrates his commitment to the products under his umbrella with the latest addition to his roster of luxury products: Ciroc, a premium vodka that he's marketing in partnership with distributor Diageo. He plans to be hands-on in developing the liquor's marketing campaign.

"This is not about me just throwing a couple of parties and sticking Ciroc in a music video," he says.

Of course, music still matters to Mr. Combs.

"Music is that thing that makes [my products] sexy and edgy and gives me that direct connection to the consumer," says Mr. Combs. "It's an endorsement of how cool my brand is."



See what Puffy's saying? He's only making %20 of his earn of the music he sells. He's leveraging his rock star status to sell 400 mill worth of other stuff that people who won't pay for music WILL pay for.


Cheers for the connection with Kurb.

We’re supporting musicians with successful promotion strategies for a budget. Come by our page, theres plenty to pick up about new developments in the music industry in our blogs and theres a whole lot of free info and articles at our self promotions hub. Get some scope checking out our overview of online promotion strategies and if you’re interested our artist packages or brand new campaign packages including CD’s, posters and a dedicated online distribution, promotion and videomarketing program.

All the best with your music, from Kurb
For direct enquiries get us on gmail as kurbpromo


.....................
Kurb Myspace

Monday, November 19, 2007

content and trust - working backwards from success

It’s always good to take a “working backwards” perspective on things to get a clearer perspective on the journey from where you are to where you want to be.

That is, in my case, I create services out of successful strategies. I think in observing these strategies in both form and content, you can reflect on opportunities to adapt these techniques to your own uses promoting your music.

A lot of musicians are frustrated about not getting paid, and I understand. All I can do is provide concepts that have proven successful in my own web 2.0 kind of way and draw from that.

And basically I’m still promoting two major concepts: Content and Trust.

I don’t think you can be a musician any more. You are a provider of entertainment content. Content is contact. Contact is access. Access is value, and value is revenue.

Secondary content is blogs, videos, and podcasts, you’re covering your main social platforms, Myspace, Bebo, You’ve already signed up for a Facebook band page HAVEN’T YOU?, your blogs are on Blogger, Wordpress, Livejournal maybe you’re paying for Typepad, but if you’re rancid on it, you’re on Stumbleupon, Digg and Del.icio.us. You’re on Last.fm, you use Ilike. You wanna kick out free mp3’s? Of course you’re on Mp3.com, Download.com, Soundclick.

You have to provide this content consistently to build and maintain your audience. This whole album release hype shit is nonsense. Look at youtube: you literally have to become a “channel”. Fans tune in. They want to be updated. They want fresh content. Producing an “album” is a distinctly arbitrary form of delivery.

My blogs are already kicking off quite nicely and I’m still just tooling around. At the end of the day I’ve at least got a couple of Page Rank 3’s under my belt, and most of my key content pages on www.kurb.co.nz has gone to PR3 too. I’m into the habit of posting regularly so things will only build.

As I said this summer I’m finishing our studio set in the garage. My goal is when working with bands, at LEAST fortnightly, we want them in front of the camera, reporting to fans, we want the fans to find out who the musicians are. We want to build relationships.

Presentation is a massive part of content, all this branding stuff, your aesthetic signatures, this IS important. You just can’t afford to spend money on this stuff!

I’m already making connections - obviously we’re living in the 21st century and India is well, it’s basically the done thing. That’s why what I’m doing is finding workers in India who can deliver to an expected standard design and web services on the more techy side of things where I am less adept, at a price that’s affordable for artists.

Which comes round to my second point. Trust.

Honesty and credibility are often in short supply on the internet and that’s why it’s becoming so valuable.


You wouldn’t really trust some Indian on the other side of the world to deliver a high standard of presentation encapsulating the finely nuanced visual message of your music. That is why it is my job to find trustworthy workers working within a quality regulated environment in this area to do so, provide trusted services, and profit from it.

What can I say about trust? How about this? If you’re music isn’t that good, don’t hide from it. Don’t pretend you’re the greatest band in the world if you’re not. This is the internet! People are looking to connect with something that’s honest, that they can understand, that they can relate to, identify with . . . and trust!!!

Trust is a commitment to providing access to valuable content. Useful content. You can gain trust and credibility just by being a source of valuable information – theres nothing to say you cant promote other peoples credited content that you feel has value to your online following.

That’s why I write these damn blogs, and I repost heaps of sourced articles. To most people the kind of stuff I do is way off the map, so it’s up to me to draw potential clients a picture, with them in it, just like I’m doing right now. So are you and your music. You gotta open your mouth and start talking, start a conversation with your fans, get them talking back, staying for a cuppa, and picking up something they can take away, share . . . and a reason to come back!

You don’t have to be the best band in the world in order for people to connect with what you’re doing but you’ve got to show them what your about, you’ve got to tell a story . . . or no one will really care.

Just another bunch of guys with a bunch of songs . . .


Cheers for the connection with Kurb.

We’re supporting musicians with successful promotion strategies for a budget. Come by our page, theres plenty to pick up about new developments in the music industry in our blogs and theres a whole lot of free info and articles at our self promotions hub. Get some scope checking out our overview of online promotion strategies and if you’re interested our artist packages or brand new campaign packages including CD’s, posters and a dedicated online distribution, promotion and videomarketing program.

All the best with your music, from Kurb
For direct enquiries get us on gmail as kurbpromo


.....................
Kurb Myspace

Wednesday, November 7, 2007

Facebook doesn't grab me but I'm grabbing it

FACEBOOK MUSIC IS ON!!!! GO! GO NOW! GET IN THERE.

More coming up on Googles new open social that should fix everything. I mean . . . well . . .

Social networks on the move: Facebook doesn’t grab me but I’m grabbing it

I don’t like Facebook! It doesn’t do much for me! Silly little stupid boxes everywhere and constantly updating streams of information every time someone on my friends list scratches their arse!

People I barely know off my address book are cyber “hugging” me with their crazy apps and widgets (these are little like mini websites embedded within a website page which are massive component for web 2.0 and distributing content) and “challenging me to an arm wrestle” or “buying me a drink”.

It’s bizarre. What does it mean? I came to network!

I came to represent what I have to offer! I came to reap the kudos of electro shocking music promotion techniques in New Zealand into the 21st century! I don’t want to exchange cutesy little trivialities, just read my damn blog feed – and where am I to pimp my big ass backlinks back to my blog and back to the kurb home site, where I’ve got you where I want you? I’ve got to say myspace is much better for marketing and branding. Facebook’s great if you want to mess around with your mates. But I don’t know about breaking new bands.

Oh I know what you’re thinking, I’m just put out because everyone’s leaving myspace and I can’t get them with my spam. Well just you shush up and don’t worry about that. I got all the spam I need – it just takes time to perfect the recipe and this one’s going to take an extra spoonful of my patented innocuous enthusiasm infused with mass produced sincerity too work the touchy feely environment of Facebook. And Bebo is much the same, but with much a much larger teen focus.

On Bebo the concept of a “band page” is more like a myspace group while Facebook you can’t even have a weird sounding name! To me, unless there’s a change in direction, it is even more of a call to develop your secondary content (video, blog, alternative audio content that you can still promote on facebook) as a strong brand for your band’s identity because on facebook . . . your band isn’t allowed an identity!

THAT of course could all be about to change with Facebook music rumours now flying all over the place.

BREAKING NEWS: FACEBOOK MUSIC IS NOW ON!!! GO GO GO!!!

This from Co-Ed magazine:

Here’s how it works:
Major and independent label artists and will register their sub-domain name through Facebook. Like “www.facebook.com/insertbandnamehere” for example.
On this page Facebook users will be allowed to become “fans” of the artist and connect to the media hosted on the “artist page.”
In the first generation of Facebook Music “fans” will be allowed to listen to artist’s music, watch videos, upload pictures, add music to their page, receive tour information and interact with other fans. Online music moguls, be warned.
Future generations will come quickly and allow unprecedented targeted marketing, ad buys and media promotion. Facebook is developing artist specific sales widgets to allow for music sales through the site as well.


Of course there is an important reason I’m bringing up these new socials which relates to a common theme recently – go where the people are, carve your fanbase out of the traffic.

% of web traffic in NZ October 2007-10-25

1 – Google – 7.13%
2 – Trademe – 3.92%
4 – Bebo - 2.06%
8 – Facebook – 1.11%
9 – Youtube – 1.08%
20 – Myspace - .49%

You feeling me? Myspace is done. I hope you didn’t put too much effort like some.

Go where the people are. The kiddies are going to Bebo, and the grown ups are going to Facebook.

And of course, Kurb is offering all the tools to give you the edge. Seeya there.



Cheers for the connection with Kurb.

We’re supporting musicians with successful promotion strategies for a budget. Come by our page, theres plenty to pick up about new developments in the music industry in our blogs and theres a whole lot of free info and articles at our self promotions hub. Get some scope checking out our overview of online promotion strategies and if you’re interested our artist packages or brand new campaign packages including CD’s, posters and a dedicated online distribution, promotion and videomarketing program.


All the best with your music, from Kurb
For direct enquiries get us on gmail as kurbpromo

Tuesday, November 6, 2007

Online music promotion: 44 apps and critical mass

So recently if you follow my stuff on myspace, or my main blog, or facebook, I’ve been talking about the importance of creating and distributing regular online content and now I’m going to be talking about the best way to go about deciding how and where to do that.

I’ve talked about your website as your online “home” – a place where you might build a community for fans, and of sites like myspace as “doorways” to that community. We’re talking about the best ways for you to take your content and fit it in with media communities that already exist – that is, going to where the people already are. So build a great big ornate entrance for the main streets that are Myspace, Facebook, and Youtube but just forget about all those back alley sites that no one cares about!

Gerd Leonhard recently blogged this little slideshow from hypebot/gotoweb2.0 covering 44 web 2.0 music sites. And recently with me having to slog through more geek shit on Social bookmarking now in order to evaluate it’s ability to get results for me and my clients, I had to say, even me, who goes on 6 hour online research binges – is their really time for all this? 44 new web 2.0 sites to promote your music on?

http://go2web2.blogspot.com/2007/10/44-web-20-music-services-in-one.html

I mean guys I get all my juice from such as Andrew Dubber (www.newmusicstrategies.com) and Gerd Leonhard (www.mediafuturist.com) are always like – try this new site, watch out for this new start up, try this new app, add this widget – even those hypebot tips I posted! And what? Is there anybody there? Is anybody listening? Is the crowd calling out for more? Sure if you’re radiohead then it doesn’t matter what platform you’re using, the masses are already looking for you!

Look I been through all this and basically, if you don’t even have an audience to identify, getting exposure for your stuff on the net is going to come down – once again – to the numbers game . . . on the internet means that means TRAFFIC.

These 44 sites – I don’t care. I don’t care how snazzy they look or what exciting new feature they offer. Or how many times they advance theoretically how they can “get your music out to the world” using this new fangled computer internet thing.

If nobodies using their site, if there’s no audience to promote to, then it’s just a waste of time. You’ll come back in a year, and the site will be gone. Another failed online music industry concept start up goes out with a whimper.

Should we get excited about www.we7.com, the site that offers artists a share of advertising revenue in exchange for offering free downloads?

Well why is myspace such a big deal? Bebo? Youtube? Facebook? Google? Itunes? Because it’s what everyone’s using!!! It’s the party that everyone’s at. They’re not at those other 44 sites! I look at the traffic.
Let’s look at specifically our local NZ target audience. I hope you’re not working to hard on your myspace presence or this could be a little deflating. You gotta stay up with it.

% of web traffic in NZ October 2007-10-25
1 – Google – 7.13%
2 – Trademe – 3.92%
4 – Bebo - 2.06%
8 – Facebook – 1.11%
9 – Youtube – 1.08%
20 – Myspace - .49%

See if you’re smart like me you’ll be thinking of clever ways to exploit trademe for marketing. I’ve got a few tricks up my sleeve but i’m keeping those little puppies close to my chest.

(trademe is NZ's ebay for overseas readers)

Socials like myspace dwarf distribution sites like Soundclick, Download and Mp3. Still use them! Use Last.fm – the biggest aggregator, use Garageband.com or sonific to create a media platform you can distribute – for example the Ilike widget for spreading your music on facebook . . . which is NOW partnered with billboard to render chart information!

But don’t waste your time on sites without any qualifying knowledge as to what signing up and maintaining your presence or even paying them for services will really render in return.

Paying to use a website is like buying a cd. It's a 20th century thing. Forget about it. It's antiquated.

But let's use an example, I’m really excited about the new isynx.com site which is attempting to open up licensing and syncing royalties to everyday artist – tipped to be see major growth in revenue distribution for artists.
But it doesn’t matter how romantic I am about these ideas, it won’t make this site work. So no, I’m not going to spend even 20 minutes to sign up. I’m going to come back in a month and see what happens, to see if gets traction, if it can build a critical mass.

So how do you know where to invest your effort? Quick rule of thumb: If you hear a site discussed in offline media – like myspace, bebo or facebook – you better get your ass on there.

This is really about time management. You know you’ve got to build your presence painstakingly online. Every online promo handbook tells you to create every opportunity for exposure, but really! It takes energy to create energy. Your promotional effort online has to be just like a gig, a rookie band playing a warm up, you’ve got to get the crowd involved, create a vibe, foster the community and create something there that people walking past will see and want to be a part of. But not if there’s nobody walking past! Your energy might be better applied to other tasks in other areas.