by Ian on September 22, 2011
Image courtesy of 'hillary the mammal'
You may well have heard about this guy – Jonathan Mann.
Most likely it’s for his song about the iPhone 4 antenna that’s had well over a million hits on YouTube.
He set out on January 1st 2009 to write a song a day and upload it to YouTube – and he’s stuck to it. His channel videos have over 5 million views and he’s getting on for 10,000 subscribers on YouTube.
The point of talking about him is not to reference the way that he has built a niche following – although I assume that it has been successful enough to give him a sustainable DIY musician income from the YouTube partner programme and the opportunities that it has created for him. And I applaud him for that.
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by Ian on September 14, 2011
What if you could track every play of your music on radio or TV, anywhere in the world….in real time?
What could you do with that information?
Would it make a difference to your music marketing and promotion efforts?
And, what else might you learn if you had this information?
Well, you’re about to find out.
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by Ian on August 12, 2011
You need to learn what the music business is all about, right?
And you need to learn from people who actually know what they’re talking about?
If that’s you, read on.
Knowing how the music business works will help you chart your way through it and tell you what you need to learn to promote and market your own music.
That’s what these two music business pdf‘s are all about. Oh, and they are free to download.
Music Business Handbook Volume 1.
Music Business Handbook Volume 2.
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What’s the best way to get your music noticed online?
Is it a Facebook page, a thriving Twitter presence, YouTube videos, your own site?
They are all a factor (and I’m always banging on about how essential your own site is – because that’s true), but the one thing that any musician can and should do to increase their online profile is to get coverage on music blogs.
Music blog promotion should be a key part of any online music marketing strategy, yet all too often I see musicians who don’t take this advice on board.
And I don’t know why.
Well, I have a sneaking suspicion that there are two factors involved. One is that they feel it’s a bit ‘cheesy’ to be seen to be seeking out reviews, links to their sites and general positive mentions from bloggers (duh?), but it’s the other factor that I think takes the biscuit – it requires a bit of effort and a systematic approach.
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The DIY musician? Image courtesy of 'jster91' on Flickr
Can you really make it as a DIY musician?
Is the internet really the great leveller that gives every artist an equal chance that you’ve been told it is?
I’ve spent years finding undiscovered talent and working with them to get a deal and get their music released.
I still do that, but now I also spend time helping musicians do it on their own using ‘Direct to Fan’ techniques – because, yes, these days, it really can be done without the record company machine.
OK, the truth is that not many have done it yet (Corey Smith, Pretty Lights and Jonathan Coulton being my favourite examples of those who have) but the system is now available to all.
But, it’s also a lie that the internet means you can all release your own music and be the creator of your own success.
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Florrie - Image by Paul Scala
This is a tale of a DIY musician who hasn’t quite made it yet, but is well on their way.
There are lessons that everyone who reads this blog can take from her story so far.
This is the sort of post that I’d normally put on our Daily Tips for musicians site – kind of unplanned and all over the place – but I’m thinking about mixing things up a bit so that we get more great stuff on this main site and this seemed like a good post to start with.
It’s about a girl called ‘Florrie’, who I met about 5 years ago. I haven’t been in touch since, but I’ve seen occasional glimpses of her career as she navigated her way to success and a couple of things appeared this week that made me want to hold her up as a paragon of the DIY musician route.
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