This post has 2 parts:
part 1: how it is right now
Part 2: what I’m doing right now
I’ve been taking the opportunity this week to step back from the day to day kurb stuff to drop my stress level a bit after a bad run recently with my luck.
Both my BMW and my CD machine has blown up so I’ve basically lost my main source of income and I’m literally going nowhere. Haha.
It’s a bummer but it happens. What can we learn? Have a back up plan, cover your ass and in my case – consolidate your success before you celebrate it!!!
Unfortunately in the music business and with fast moving online technology we simply can’t afford to sit back and say “oh well, we figured out how that works, now we just have to sit back and wait to be successful”
Me, as a music business person, and you as a musician or creative person or a fellow music business person MUST accept there’s not going to be a time when innovating, reevaluating and tinkering with the formula you are using to create success is not going to be necessary.
We are the quick witted, fast moving independents who can turn on a dime. Tomorrow I might decide I don’t want to make any more CD’s or DVD’s or I might give up on artist management services.
One mail I got from a regular reader suggested making working the internet a priority could sacrifice the opportunity to build honest connections with true fans – which connected with the “1000 true fans” riff that got so much traction IE:
1000 fans x 1 days pay p/year ($100) = $100,000 p/year – expenses = a living
And being a myspace guru, I have experienced clients disappointment at successfully growing a contact list of 1000’s and it not translating to sales. But this stuff is just the first step in a journey.
Come on people:
- it’s not a matter of if the internet turns the music industry on it’s head, it’s when!!!
- it’s already started – it may take years for these changes to play out. But we’re not going to turn around and go back. You will ALWAYS still sell CD’s. Probably just fewer and fewer. And fewer. That’s why I don’t make the best CD’s in NZ. I make the cheapest.
- A vibe I’ve already probably mentioned that I’ve been feeling recently is that – especially in regards to my blogs and my website – A lot of the stuff I learnt 4 or 5 years ago, before myspace, about websites, keywords, and google, search optimization, it’s all starting to work.
- BUT BUT BUT I often try and put a theoretically positive front on internet changes to the music industry but the reality is this. Positives have been scarce at this point but what is obvious is the internet is destroying the old business, just taking it apart.
In 2007 the idea of “getting signed” was obsolete. Now . . . as soon as I see someone talking about “getting signed” I actually stop taking them seriously because it tells me they don’t read blogs.
Basically. You better be part of the new business or you’re not going to be part of any business.
ITS FOR-OBVIOUS-SURE: NO ONE KNOWS HOW TO CASH IN RIGHT NOW BUT EVERYONE KNOWS THE DAYS OF RADIO AND TV CAMPAIGNS AND GOLD RECORDS ARE OVER.
Yknow it makes me think. I honestly got freaked out by emo on myspace when I realised kids were listening to bands I’d never heard of. Of course half of them were listening to bands my parents were into so I didn’t have to feel old. That’s just the 21st century.
Marketing is getting good and in the future people won’t ever have to be bothered by things they don’t care about, and things they DO care about will have all the attention . . . and that’s just 1 clever innovation away from creating value that equals $$$$.
The old ways of doing business around certain products and services is beginning to shift forever. They’re talking about permission marketing. They’re talking attention economy. They’re talking about the value of free, and the value you can create for your “tribe”.
Are you not impressed that Trent Reznor’s $300 limited edition
DO NOT FORGET: NIN have been around for near on 20 years now.
YOU MAY NOT MAKE MONEY OUT OF MUSIC UNTIL YOU’RE 5 YEARS IN!!!!!
That’s why I’m developing a 50/50 deal for Auckland and “north of the north” acts.
What musicians have to do is bring a whole new character to how they create their financial proposition, and they have to be part of the revolution of giving and creating significant value before seeing the financial reward.
Bob Baker talks about hooks, and I call them hooks, and Seth Godin calls it a Purple Cow, it’s not just something amazing about you; You’re amazing song or video or lyrics or blog or whatever . . . you need to turn that into an amazing interaction for your fan!
Bruce from unsprung media wrote to me and made some suggestions about my pricing. Make it $8 a day. Sure, you may not have $50 a week. That’s why I write this blog.
That’s why I’m working o 50/50 to create a new innovative proposition that makes artist go WOW! I wanna know about that. I wanna ask about that. I’m not sure about that so I want to talk to other people about that.
I’m still confident and remain positive about my situation. There is nobody else working with independent artists at this level – what I’m saying is NO ONE IS COMING UP WITH IDEAS TO BREAK NEW ACTS!!!
$50 a week may sound like a big commitment. But record labels spend tens of thousands of dollars promoting their artists because they KNOW IT’S THE ONLY WAY. I can tell you none of this stuff you read on all these music promo blogs is going to work if you’re not going at it hard out!!
And I mean HARD OUT. I mean full time. If you’re holding down a 9 to 5, forget it.
Cos if you’re doing nothing you’re going nowhere. You’re just sitting there with your dreams waiting to see if they might come true.
Kurb is a New Zealand based media promotions company providing a regular blog on digital promotion, marketing digital content and creating revenue from new media online.
Kurb also provides online promotion and revenue management services for musicians and artists internationally and online / digital coaching for small business. We rank #1 for "online promotion" in New Zealand.And the best value fast turnover physical media services in New Zealand including CD / DVD duplication and poster services.
Our physical media services come with free graphic set up and support, free delivery, and free promotions advice and support for musicians.
We provide expert and affordable promotion support in all web 2.0 areas: Cutting edge Social Network promotion (Myspace, Facebook, Bebo etc.), Social Media, Blogging, Spam management, Content creation, Content management, Content Distribution, OMD, RSS, Aggregators, podcasts, Search ranking, Search marketing and PPC campaigns on Google and Facebook, Website design, Website monetization, Video production + promotion,
We also have an extensive self promotion area for independent musician and talent featuring dozens of articles, how to features and blog links.
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