Are you having another bloggasm, Matt?
Yes, that’s right.
Maybe it’s trouble adjusting to shifting the blog to: http://www.musicmarketingblog.info
But I will continue to post on both blogs for now.
Well what IS a bloggasm, anyway? Well it’s really a word I thought of, then I figured it could have a meaning. I guess a bloggasm is when you just start blogging uncontrollably.
Really? Can this be healthy?
Well in marketing as well as the performing arts we are most successful when we engage the audience, when we look for ways to make things more enjoyable and useful for those who choose to participate.
This is particularly true of blogging.
People who are the most successful at leveraging their blogs for marketing and revenue have adeptly attuned their blogs to their audiences to maximise income and exposure, but these are professional bloggers who have been building their blogs for sometimes as long as five years or more.
The tone of this blog recently has been very much about learning from top bloggers, top internet marketers and people who already make lots of money online about what they can teach musicians and other similarly creative artists about creating the kind of value online that leads to a full time income.
But the point I’m making by having a little bloggasm over here is that at for me, personally, my blog is not JUST about creating a voice for my brand, it’s not just about marketing.
Last week I was blogging quite vigourously, and getting some really great ideas going! But I also had a record week for visitors. I didn’t quite break the 1000 mark, but I did earn a sum total of $US5.06 from advertising on my blogs on one of the days over the last week, which was another record.
So for the first time I started to anticipate that my blog would begin to play a larger part in sales and marketing as it grew, and that where I the past I used my website and my myspace to generate most of my business, very soon it would be my blog bringing me the business where myspace has fallen off.
So I guess what I’m saying is that if like me, you’re committed to growing your income from the digital music business, when that happens it’s not going to be cool for to just post whatever you like, say whatever you like, or just start bloggasming out and doing multiple posts that lurch from subject to subject, and talking way too much about your own little crusades that your readers really couldn’t give a rat’s arse about. Like I do.
I probably won’t be able to post about rat’s arse’s or tag those posts under the subject: “rats arse” either.
So what can I say, but blog irresponsibly while your blog is young and you have the chance! haha
No, I mean find your voice. Find the voice in your writing that wants to blog every day.
Don’t be afraid to have ideas! Don’t be afraid to use your blog to ask questions to which you don’t know the answer, to seek opinions and to create an open ended discussion, don’t be afraid to have passion!
This is what is making blogging much more than just people writing a diary on the computer that everyone can see.
I figured it’s better that I experiment now, keep writing, keep ranting, keep the passion running high doing it the way I want while most crucially continuing to build up the amount of content on my blog. That way I can keep moving forward with innovative ideas, and draw people who are interested in those ideas toward me and the conversations happening here and basically bloggasm all I like.
Because when I do start to get thousands of weekly visitors and having a bloggasm and just blogging about whatever I feel like blogging about and being sloppy about it . . . will not keep growing my long term success.
Showing posts with label marketing. Show all posts
Showing posts with label marketing. Show all posts
Friday, June 27, 2008
Thursday, April 24, 2008
online band / music / artist marketing and promotion diary April 08
Kurb provides online promotion and revenue management services for musicians and artists internationally And the best value fast turnover physical media services in New Zealand including CD / DVD printing and duplication and poster services.
I guess less time sitting around scratching my head means more time to talk about practical, hands on online promotion strategies rather than selling the idea.
But the first thing I most stoked to announce is that I am earning almost $10 a month from blogging now, unfortunately you have to earn $100 before you get paid so could be waiting awhile.
But I am stoked because it proves that ad supported revenue – which as it turns out I happen to be a firm advocate of – does have potential because I know that what I have done now is only a fraction of what is possible because ad supported revenue will scale vertically as well as horizontally
Meaning: Not only will individual income streams grow, but further income platforms related to content provided will be possible. A dozen platforms combining to create 30c a day now can be scaled long term to 100 platforms combining to create hundreds of dollars a day.
Why am I obsessed with ad supported revenue?
Not only because it is a “make money while you sleep” strategy as praised by Derek sivers recently . . .
But because it’s future proof. Whatever happens to the recorded/digital music industry in the next 5-10 years, ad supported strategies worked by the individual content generator will be able to be worked outside the infrastructure of the industry.
You don’t need to be signed to a label or any other aggregator, with ad supported revenue being developed on your site and your blog its not Myspace or Apple or anybody else calling the shots.
So with the influx of clients I haven’t quite got to the point of informing anyone they will have to join a waiting list BUT I am being picky – I’m going to be more inclined to want to work with Auckland artists, New Zealand artists, more committed artists, more experienced artists and artists prepared to commit to working with me for at least 3 months.
I’m more interested in results now than turnover.
Most of the clients have their myspace pages being promoted with targeted campaigns, and we have established 2 supplementary blogs for each artist to start building content there that will bring in search authority and traffic.
Whereas I will use sites such as Craigslist.com and Squidoo.com for SEO authority, Reverbnation.com on the other hand has tools and a vibe about it which I see as being practically useful, with revenue sharing in place.
Squidoo also has revenue sharing platforms, but the thing about social and web 2.0 marketing is you must use the double movement. Not only are you building backlinks to create search authority but you’re using content to emphasise your unique selling point.
This is where I usually get to on myspace: We’re carrying out the promotion systematically but to create a real point of engagement we need to create a concept around a unique selling point or proposition.
Will it be a free download, will it be a competition, what is the motivation for the fan to interact or sign up for the mailing list, etc.?
I have also established .info domain names for each client as we expand their online presence. I discovered a domain name forwarding to your myspace will bring your myspace up in a localised search, and a myspace page is going to blow the arse off most NZ served pages in terms of authority.
But another reason for the .info thing is the real issues I have with web designers!!! Whether my clients come to me with a website built and functioning or not, the task im attempting to carry out is to tweak the site, or the myspace page etc. slowly over time to bring visitors to the site/page and then compelling them to take actions that are ultimately leading to financial gain by the artist.
If it’s a nightmare to make these tweaks you will never bring your site to the point I have got to with http://www.kurb.co.nz where every day the beast is slowly evolving, bringing visitors closer to exactly where I want them, and closer to creating more reward from less effort on my part.
That’s where I came up with the idea of Kurb Music – not a label, but a platform where I can freely develop search, social and revenue functions for my client base as a whole without the obstruction and complications of addressing individual clients
I’ll be looking at the way unique selling points and propositions deployed in targeted marketing campaigns can help promote the content on this platform, and how this platform can be expanded.
Right now it’s a way to contribute value to my clients as well as working towards a personal goal – a bottom up approach to implementing my business plan for the choice as NZ music portal
Yes, Kurb Music is another one of those “Matt Ideas” like kurb 50/50 or plasticast. The point is not whether the project functions practically, it is that an innovative concept has a complete model and is ready to be developed and tested under the right circumstances.
On my site, search returns continue to surge, all that SEO work is paying off and google searches are accounting for 75% of my traffic.All that really means is all the traffic I’ve lost from myspace over the last 6 months is probably now being made up for.
The issue im trying to face right now is the seinfeld issue. Either you see watch Seinfeld on TV for free or you fly to Vegas and catch him at US$200 a ticket.
Seinfeld has no mid range option.
With me either you read my blog for free or you pay me US$200 a month to help you. Kurb Music is something I’m trying to develop as a mid range promotions product of $10-20 p/week value.
What Trent Reznor did by offering so many different variables and products on his last release was create value at so many different levels for his fanbase.
By creating everything from a blog with a few google ads to DVD’s packed with multimedia content, that’s what Kurb is trying to do for artists.
Here’s an interesting link covering all the social music services.
You know how I feel, DON’T waste your time signing up for every music service under the sun.
HOWEVER there is definitely a thread running through the internet marketing community right now that suggests that we shouldn’t be afraid of a little hard work.
Web 2.0 is different. It’s a vast network without the dead ends of Web 1.0, it doesn’t matter where you start as long as make a start!
Also my habit of focusing on my blogging only one day a week has produced some weird results - I’ve seen something similar before having 500+ visitors to my myspace blog alone in the course of a day or two after a series of posts.
Frustratingly, because its myspace and theres no detailed stats, I have no idea where these people are coming from or how they found my blog!!!! I only have 30 odd subscribers so . . . and it’s not like it generated a whole lot of leads – 500 visitors to the kurb home site would definitely turn out several leads.
Kurb is a media promotions company providing a regular blog on digital music 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 the best value fast turnover physical media services in New Zealand including CD / DVD printing and 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.
http://www.kurb.co.nz/
http://www.myspace.com/kurbpromo
http://www.youtube.com/user/kurbpromo -
http://kurbpromotion.wordpress.com/
http://kurbpromotion.blogspot.com/
http://www.squidoo.com/kurb
All the best with your project, from Kurb
For direct enquiries get us on gmail as kurbpromo
DIGITAL COACHING AND ONLINE MANAGEMENT STARTS @ $NZ250 P/MONTH P/ACT
Sunday, October 7, 2007
The digital revolution and why your music is worth nothing,
This is an older blog from a few months back but stand ready - I was on one of my research binges to the morning light last night so we're gonna have some tight new blogwise action coming this week.
It may be obvious to some of you but without a dedicated online strategy your potential as a career musician is pretty much negligible. That is why Kurb is getting so much traction on the Australasian music scene right now.
The two things I'll be focusing on in upcoming blogs are:
content:
whether you're in partnership with kurb to take care of distributing your content or not we need to have a serious talk about the role producing regular content plays in your long term promotion strategy.
Your idea of the great star making factory needs to be knocked down and built up again from scratch.
when I say "content" of course I mean new music, but in order to fully grasp how the online environment works, you need to understand the best way you can embrace REGULAR blogging and video making to build your online presence and expand you fanbase and key contacts.
CD's:
we're gonna have to start getting serious talking about future revenue streams straight away. I've still got too many people asking me how to market their new CD! Forget about your new CD! No one wants to pay for your new CD! I'm serious!
And if you even wanna talk to me about how you're gonna "get signed" just forget it. Get a grip on where we're at in 2007.
No one wants to sign you, no one wants to pay for your new CD. I mean seriously. If Radiohead and Prince have accepted no one wants to buy their new CD, why in hell is anyone gonna wanna buy yours?
You won't ever be ready for a career as a full time professional musician if you're not prepared to understand where we're at.
ANYWAY . . . Older article from a few months back when i decided to get serious about blogging but thought it was worth throwing up there for a bit of depth.
The digital revolution and why your music is worth nothing.
By Matt Turner from Kurb. Copyright 2007. Don't steal without asking.
Hi I'm Matt from Kurb promo. For my first piece here I was going to try and bring musicians up to speed with how the digital distribution of music is changing the industry but last night I had a realisation that I didn't think many musicians are ready to comprehend let alone accept. That is why I decided to write about it.
Your music is worth nothing.
Purely in financial terms, that is. If you get a lot of fulfilment and enjoyment out of writing and performing that's a great reward, but my clients are people who have taken the step of working towards earning a living from music and so that's my angle. But it's not time to collect the coins in your guitar case and go to the pub just yet.
The internet means music is becoming like water. You can try and bottle it and launch a massive marketing campaign to sell it but most people will still choose the tap. So what do you do? Give them the water for free. Start selling cups and glassware.
What the digital revolution means is that technology has now allowed for information – music - to be more accessible to anyone with high speed broadband than ever before. The fact that entertainment no longer needs to have a physical form (i.e. a CD or DVD) is totally changing the music industry. Labels, publishers, distributors, retailers all those who had the most to gain from music as a physical commodity are now bitterly resisting falling profits. Though we might certainly see a "fairer" music industry, even with the online distribution blooming into life musicians have to face that technology is slowing eroding the commercial value of music as a general retail commodity.
If your music is worth buying its worth stealing. In fact if no one wants to steal your music, you know no one will buy it! Which is all a matter of perception because on the internet it's called "sharing" and anybody with half a clue can do it.
The patterns of consumption are changing. Teenagers aren't going to save their pocket money and buy their favourite CD and listen to it for a month. They're going to download something new everyday and listen to it for a week.
I'm not sure it's a moral issue. The point I'm getting at is that I downloaded the latest Shapeshifter album and I decided I liked 3 of the songs, so I paid US$3 to download them and Shapeshifter gets US$2.07. $3. well that doesn't buy many Porsches. In fact it doesn't even by a happy meal, let alone a decent feed of chips for all the guys.
You have to remember when I buy the CD at the Warehouse for $30 the musician doesn't get much more. And with slumping CD sales due to digital developments the business side of the industry is shrinking dramatically, so although Musicians can now see a bigger cut of their earnings than ever before, they have to be smart to stay in it professionally.
So whats going to pay the bills for poor Bic working her day job? Smart musicians have to realise their music that they love is no longer the product, its the window dressing. Lets talk about how musicians are going to make their money in the future:
Merchandising: To be fair this is going to make a hell of a lot more sense if you're a teen Christian emo band that plays at the church hall once a month and has a massive following on myspace and in the youth groups. That's why you'll notice many of auckland's emo and punk bands have their own label. And no I don't mean a record label. Obviously if you're an experimental free noise artist it may not be immediately obvious what items may interest your audience but everyone likes clothes. Giving away water at shows? Buy a hot False Start cup. Merchandising may also be a cunning way to influence fans to pay for the CD they've already downloaded "illegally".
Gigs: Obviously. At least one thing will never change. Nothing beats a great live show. Maybe you don't have a great live show. Then you might wanna pay to book a headliner that everyone knows does and support them. If you see what I mean.
Videos: "The singers shit but I love their camera work." Again, your music maybe worth nothing but your music videos are worth more than ever. paid content is coming people. What if you wake up in 2008 and you're being paid as much as US30c for every view on youtube? And 100 people watch your video everyday? What if your video is totally next level and it blows up or gets featured and 100,000 people watch it in a week? Hullo? Which means that guy in media school who's always hanging around? He's your best friend now.
Licensing: Music may not be worth anything any more but it hasn't stopped being sexy. Music creates meaning it creates an image, and if a product has no image then it has no appeal. The trends indicate that digital licensing for film, television, advertising software and all manner of commercial uses is coming up in a big way, not only with the Merlin deal but also online licensing agencies multiplying.
See to licensing agents, labels and publishing copyrights are actually now a big drag and they love indie artists who hold all the rights themselves. Take Steriogram, arguably the country's biggest "indie" act. Brad told me their deal with Playstation was done in less than an hour. That'd be a well paid lunch break even for Bic.
So.
Making music is what you love and it's the reason you got into this. But lets face facts. Music is becoming lean and mean, to stay alive, you must evolve. The digital revolution means that already the music you create and record no longer has nearly the value as a product as it has in the past. But it still has value as a brand. It still has value as something true and meaningful that touches people and they believe in it. Which is every marketing manager like me's dream.
Because then you can sell them anything.
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, o
All the best with your music, from Kurb
For direct enquiries get us on gmail as kurbpromo
.....................Kurb Myspace
It may be obvious to some of you but without a dedicated online strategy your potential as a career musician is pretty much negligible. That is why Kurb is getting so much traction on the Australasian music scene right now.
The two things I'll be focusing on in upcoming blogs are:
content:
whether you're in partnership with kurb to take care of distributing your content or not we need to have a serious talk about the role producing regular content plays in your long term promotion strategy.
Your idea of the great star making factory needs to be knocked down and built up again from scratch.
when I say "content" of course I mean new music, but in order to fully grasp how the online environment works, you need to understand the best way you can embrace REGULAR blogging and video making to build your online presence and expand you fanbase and key contacts.
CD's:
we're gonna have to start getting serious talking about future revenue streams straight away. I've still got too many people asking me how to market their new CD! Forget about your new CD! No one wants to pay for your new CD! I'm serious!
And if you even wanna talk to me about how you're gonna "get signed" just forget it. Get a grip on where we're at in 2007.
No one wants to sign you, no one wants to pay for your new CD. I mean seriously. If Radiohead and Prince have accepted no one wants to buy their new CD, why in hell is anyone gonna wanna buy yours?
You won't ever be ready for a career as a full time professional musician if you're not prepared to understand where we're at.
ANYWAY . . . Older article from a few months back when i decided to get serious about blogging but thought it was worth throwing up there for a bit of depth.
The digital revolution and why your music is worth nothing.
By Matt Turner from Kurb. Copyright 2007. Don't steal without asking.
Hi I'm Matt from Kurb promo. For my first piece here I was going to try and bring musicians up to speed with how the digital distribution of music is changing the industry but last night I had a realisation that I didn't think many musicians are ready to comprehend let alone accept. That is why I decided to write about it.
Your music is worth nothing.
Purely in financial terms, that is. If you get a lot of fulfilment and enjoyment out of writing and performing that's a great reward, but my clients are people who have taken the step of working towards earning a living from music and so that's my angle. But it's not time to collect the coins in your guitar case and go to the pub just yet.
The internet means music is becoming like water. You can try and bottle it and launch a massive marketing campaign to sell it but most people will still choose the tap. So what do you do? Give them the water for free. Start selling cups and glassware.
What the digital revolution means is that technology has now allowed for information – music - to be more accessible to anyone with high speed broadband than ever before. The fact that entertainment no longer needs to have a physical form (i.e. a CD or DVD) is totally changing the music industry. Labels, publishers, distributors, retailers all those who had the most to gain from music as a physical commodity are now bitterly resisting falling profits. Though we might certainly see a "fairer" music industry, even with the online distribution blooming into life musicians have to face that technology is slowing eroding the commercial value of music as a general retail commodity.
If your music is worth buying its worth stealing. In fact if no one wants to steal your music, you know no one will buy it! Which is all a matter of perception because on the internet it's called "sharing" and anybody with half a clue can do it.
The patterns of consumption are changing. Teenagers aren't going to save their pocket money and buy their favourite CD and listen to it for a month. They're going to download something new everyday and listen to it for a week.
I'm not sure it's a moral issue. The point I'm getting at is that I downloaded the latest Shapeshifter album and I decided I liked 3 of the songs, so I paid US$3 to download them and Shapeshifter gets US$2.07. $3. well that doesn't buy many Porsches. In fact it doesn't even by a happy meal, let alone a decent feed of chips for all the guys.
You have to remember when I buy the CD at the Warehouse for $30 the musician doesn't get much more. And with slumping CD sales due to digital developments the business side of the industry is shrinking dramatically, so although Musicians can now see a bigger cut of their earnings than ever before, they have to be smart to stay in it professionally.
So whats going to pay the bills for poor Bic working her day job? Smart musicians have to realise their music that they love is no longer the product, its the window dressing. Lets talk about how musicians are going to make their money in the future:
Merchandising: To be fair this is going to make a hell of a lot more sense if you're a teen Christian emo band that plays at the church hall once a month and has a massive following on myspace and in the youth groups. That's why you'll notice many of auckland's emo and punk bands have their own label. And no I don't mean a record label. Obviously if you're an experimental free noise artist it may not be immediately obvious what items may interest your audience but everyone likes clothes. Giving away water at shows? Buy a hot False Start cup. Merchandising may also be a cunning way to influence fans to pay for the CD they've already downloaded "illegally".
Gigs: Obviously. At least one thing will never change. Nothing beats a great live show. Maybe you don't have a great live show. Then you might wanna pay to book a headliner that everyone knows does and support them. If you see what I mean.
Videos: "The singers shit but I love their camera work." Again, your music maybe worth nothing but your music videos are worth more than ever. paid content is coming people. What if you wake up in 2008 and you're being paid as much as US30c for every view on youtube? And 100 people watch your video everyday? What if your video is totally next level and it blows up or gets featured and 100,000 people watch it in a week? Hullo? Which means that guy in media school who's always hanging around? He's your best friend now.
Licensing: Music may not be worth anything any more but it hasn't stopped being sexy. Music creates meaning it creates an image, and if a product has no image then it has no appeal. The trends indicate that digital licensing for film, television, advertising software and all manner of commercial uses is coming up in a big way, not only with the Merlin deal but also online licensing agencies multiplying.
See to licensing agents, labels and publishing copyrights are actually now a big drag and they love indie artists who hold all the rights themselves. Take Steriogram, arguably the country's biggest "indie" act. Brad told me their deal with Playstation was done in less than an hour. That'd be a well paid lunch break even for Bic.
So.
Making music is what you love and it's the reason you got into this. But lets face facts. Music is becoming lean and mean, to stay alive, you must evolve. The digital revolution means that already the music you create and record no longer has nearly the value as a product as it has in the past. But it still has value as a brand. It still has value as something true and meaningful that touches people and they believe in it. Which is every marketing manager like me's dream.
Because then you can sell them anything.
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, o
All the best with your music, from Kurb
For direct enquiries get us on gmail as kurbpromo
.....................Kurb Myspace
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