You might have heard by now that Martin Atkins and partners started a school: Revolution Number Three (www.revolutionnumberthree.com). Martin Atkins is a regular guest blogger here at KnowTheMusicBiz.com and has a 30 year career in the music business that includes touring with the band s Public Image Limited, Killing Joke, Ministry, Nine Inch Nails and
Pigface, owning an independent record label celebrating its 20th anniversary with over 350 releases. He is also the author of the book Tour:Smart.
Our
friends Martin and Revolution Number Three provide five week immersion
programs where students learn IN the music business, not ABOUT the
music business. It’s hands-on, down and dirty learning in the fast
paced, continually evolving, head spinning, cross pollinated,
entrepreneurial, groovy as all hell HUB that they are.
Check out this video to get a better idea of what R3’s programs are all about:
On August 21 – August 23 r3 is hosting the Weekend Revolution which is
the five week program on speed! In just two and half days they are
going to cram your head with as much information as possible to
revolutionize the way you think about the business of your art. The
revolution weekend is limited to 30 attendees – guaranteeing hands-on
learning and one-on-one time with Martin Atkins and other speakers.
Before
you lose your ass, your mind, your relationship, your car, the reason
you started in the music biz in the first place, and thousands and
thousands of dollars, you can invest $299 on a unique two day immersion
seminar with people who have been there, done that, are still doing it,
and are teaching it!
In two days you will:
• screen print your own merchandise and promo material
• design simple graphics (logos, t-shirts, and postcards)
• write a bio other people will want to read
• engage your online community in tangible ways
• use audio and visual tools to market yourself and your stuff
• hack xboxes and traditional business models
• launch an actionable plan that you can do yourself!
Also, Indie Artist X will be participating in the Revolution Weekend! Participants in the program will have the opportunity to hang with the anonymous artist behind our group music marketing project / experiment.
Click here
to register or to learn more about Martin’s upcoming Revolution
Weekend. KnowTheMusicBiz.com readers can enter the discount code
“martinrocks” and get $50.00 off the cost of attending.
The goal of the Indie Artist X Project is to develop a basic, actionable music marketing plan designed around simple strategy, prioritization of tactics, easy to use tools, and a reasonable budget that can be implemented by any artist who has the inclination to follow it. About.com Music Careers, Artists House Music, Hypebot, KnowTheMusicBiz.com, MusicianWages.com and Revolution Number 3
have banned together to create this community based music marketing
plan. We will be working with one
anonymous artist to design and implement this music marketing plan then track
and report the actual results over a four month period.To keep up with the latest news on the IAXP follow the project on Twitter and Facebook.
When
developing the overall website strategy for the Indie Artist X Project
it became clear the artist’s existing website fell well short of the
functionality needed, let alone desired.
Website Functionality Goals
Before beginning the search for a replacement website solution for the artist we reviewed the overall website strategy
for Indie Artist X then listed out the base functionality the new
website should have a on a page by page basis. Below is a recap of the
desired features we listed for each page:
Homepage:
“About
us” artist blurb, featured streaming music, the ability to offer fans
who sign up for the email list exclusive access to free song downloads,
email list sign up, social media links, artist news.
Music:
Full
length streaming of all released music, free exclusive music downloads
(unreleased, demo, live tracks) available to fans who have signed up
for the artist email list, email list signup.
Shows:
Monthly show schedule with links to the venues and map based directions, email list signup.
Store:
The
ability to sell both albums in physical /CD and digital / MP3 format
directly from the website. The ability to sell all released songs as
individual MP3s directly from the website. The ability to sell multiple
t-shirt designs directly from the website. Accept Visa, Mastercard,
Amex and Paypal for payment. Offer free exclusive music downloads
(unreleased, demo, live tracks) available to fans who have signed up
for the artist email list, email list signup.
Artist Blog:
Include
an artist blog on the site. Use the blog for announcements, news and
general artist musings. Include commenting, bookmark and rss features
with the blog.
Video:
A page that provides streaming of multiple videos by the artist.
Press:
Include
a link to the artist’s electronic press kit (EPK), official artist bio,
high resolution press photos, press contact email address, blurbs /
quotes from artist press coverage
Contact:
Include
contact email addresses for artist press, booking and management
inquiries, links to social media sites where the artist maintains an
active presence, email list sign up.
Build vs. Buy
Once
we identified all the features we desired for the artist website it was
time to explore options for the new artist site. The first decision
point was to decide if we should build a custom website to our exact
specifications or choose a pre-packaged website solution.
Since
Indie Artist X doesn’t have any web development skills building a
custom website would mean that they would either need to hire a
professional website design / development firm or find a friend or fan
who has web development skills to build the site to the specifications.
Hiring a professional web development firm to build and host the site
on a budget of $20 per month (per the budget restrictions of the IAXP)
simply isn’t a realistic option.
Finding
a friend or fan with web development skills that is willing to build a
custom site for the artist can sound like a pretty good idea at first.
However, the risk is the volunteer who builds the custom site will
eventually get hit by a bus, move to Italy with their new boyfriend /
girlfriend, begin a three year meditation retreat or have some other
seemingly unbelievable reason why they can suddenly no longer support
or update the website they built the artist.
Given
that Indie Artist X doesn’t have the budget to hire a web design /
development firm or web development skills to build the site themselves
we decided to pursue a pre-packaged website solution that would meet
our requirements.
The Website Solution
Ultimately, it was determined that the new joint artist website offering from Bandzoogle and Reverbnation
would be the best overall fit for the site requirements we had
identified. Indie Artist X was already a Reverbnation user and found
that many of their widgets would help meet the specific functionality
goals we set out for the website. The RN “Exclusive Downloads” widget
that allows access to exclusive free song downloads for fans that sign
up for the email list was very high on the list of desired website
features (and for the overall fan development and commerce strategy for
IAX).
The
cost of the Bandzoogle / Reverbnation artist website solution is $17.95
per month and includes hosting, email, website traffic reporting and
technical product support.
Audiolife
was selected to power the ecommerce store on the IAX website. There are
several good ecommerce engines that meet the requirements for selling
CD’s, MP3’s and merchandise directly from an artist’s website but
Audiolife’s on-demand production and fulfillment capabilities set it
apart. Indie Artist X has engaged a few local artists in their
community to create multiple custom t-shirts designs. These custom
t-shirts can now be featured and sold on the website without any
upfront manufacturing costs.
There
are no upfront or monthly fees for the Audiolife ecommerce solution.
Per transaction fees vary by type of transaction (physical CD, MP3
download, ringtone, merchandise) and by whether they on-demand produce
products or warehouse existing inventory.
The Outcome vs. Goals
Overall
the Bandzoogle / Reverbnation / Audiolife solution met almost all of
the desired functional goals for the website. Technical support and
service from all three organizations exceeded expectations during the
implementation by a non-technical person.
A few short-comings of the selected solution include:
1.While
Bandzoogle does have many artist website templates to choose from we
never found one that looked great while allowing the homepage features
we desired at the same time. We had to choose between “look” desired
and the “end user functionality” desired. End user functionality did
(and should!) win out in the end.
2.The
integration between the Bandzoogle and Reverbnation products still
needs work. Adding the Reverbnation widgets into the Bandzoogle site
builder often caused formatting / page layout problems that required
help from tech support to resolve.
3.Audiolife
does not yet accept Paypal as an ecommerce payment option or allow
multi product bundling (buy a CD get a free t-shirt for example).
4.The
$17.95 per month price point was quite a jump from Indie Artist X’s
previous Wordpress based site that cost virtually nothing to host.
The
new Indie Artist X website isn’t the most beautiful artist site out
there but it does meet our primary goal of providing fans that visit it
with plenty of options for finding music and videos, free downloads,
artist news, tour dates, links to the social media sites and an overall
easy to use experience. I will be sure to post a link to Indie Artist X's website once the project wraps up and the actual artist's name is made public.
The
next step in the Indie Artist X Project is to develop a solid website
strategy for encouraging fans to visit the site on a regular basis.
Noah Dinkin is a co-founder of FanBridge , the world’s most popular email and mobile fanlist management platforms. The service is free for most bands and just $7 and up for artists
with huge fan databases. Feel free to leave comments or advice of your
own below and check back often in weeks to come for more tips on this
important topic.
#1. Own YOUR List!
I can’t say this enough to musicians. Having MySpace or Facebook friends is not a real fan list.
Same with Twitter. They are all great services and each has a different
purpose, but how much of the actual real info do you have of your
‘fans/friends/followers’ on those places? Can you easily view a list of
everyone’s real name, email address, location, phone number, etc? The answer is no,
yet many musicians forget this because the service is the hot internet
site of the moment and everyone says “oh, you need to be on [insert
site here].”
You
should have a presence on these social networks (more on that in a
later post), but you need to use these services to feed people to YOUR fan list. Fan Relationship Management services like FanBridge
give clients html code that let them put a signup form on their
MySpace, Facebook, website, etc, so their fans can sign up direct to
the band’s own list.
Once you have built your own list, you can do amazing things with it that you couldn’t do otherwise…things like:
Targeting messages by zip code and radius (so you don’t need to blast your whole list)
Scheduling messages to be sent at a certain time
Grouping fans based on custom criteria (street team, bloggers, groupies, etc)
Tracking your messages to see who opens, clicks, and much more
and a ton of other cool features that save you time and build your career.
#2. Communicate Regularly
Most musicians know they should regularly communicate with their fans,
yet they are often at a loss for things to say. I’m here to tell you
that you shouldn’t be stuck on what to say, but rather make sure you talk to your fans on a regular basis!
Why do fans signup for your list? To hear from you!
Don’t
be boring and only tell them about this show, that show, and your new
album. Tell them about YOU. They want to be fans of your music AND you
as a person. Talk about great movies you’ve seen recently. Talk about
other artist’s albums you’ve recently listened to. Come up with a
“special” city of the week/month and explain why.
When we look at the fan list size of artists who communicate regularly and artists who don’t, it becomes very clear. The
artists who talk to their fans regularly (whether it is once every two
weeks or once a month) have lists that are constantly growing and
better interaction (opens/clicks). Artists who send an email every few
months because they have “nothing to talk about” are ones whose list
sizes either stay flat or actually decrease.
Make sure to use a service, like FanBridge ,
that includes a “Forward to a Friend” link in the footer of every
campaign. This lets fans easily pass your message on to their fans and
services like ours will allow you to track who’s doing it. It’s a best
practice to take this info and reward those people that are spreading
the word about you. They’re likely your most avid fans, and rewarding
them will incentivize them to continue to promote you and your music
among their own groups of friends.
#3. Include Links to Places You Want Fans to Go
This one seems obvious, but you’d be surprised at how many bands do not
include a link to their website in each message. Not only should you be
including a link to your website, but you should have a link to your
MySpace/Facebook/Twitter/etc profile, your merch store, a place where
they can download your music, your tourdates, and anything else that’s
important. You’ll be surprised how much more traffic you get when you
start including links.
A
service like ours will make it as easily as possible for clients to
include links in their campaigns. For example, by checking one box, you
can automatically include links to buy your music. We also track every
link you put in a campaign, so you can see EXACTLY who clicked on which
link in your message, and when they clicked. This is very valuable
info, and will help you target future campaigns to specific people
based on their past actions.
#4. Go Professional
Don’t try and do it yourself using outlook/apple
mail/gmail/msn/hotmail/yahoo/aol/entourage/custom server scripts.
Unless your core skills are computer programming, email/mobile
deliverability, and related things, you are probably better off leaving
the fan list management to a professional service and focusing on what
you do best: making and playing music. There are a few providers out
there (some suck, some are great), and obviously we’re partial to FanBridge
for a band’s fan relationship management needs. You want something
that’s simple, intuitive, and will help you to easily and efficiently
maximize that relationship between your fans and your music. And you
don’t need to pay an arm and leg these days to get that.
John Doe is the founder of the seminal Los Angeles punk group X, a solo artist and actor. John answers questions from our community members in the WWJDD? blog. Photo by Autumn de Wilde.
A question from Nick in the UK
Hey John,
I
was thinking about how people measure success in music today - it used
to be simply sales, but I'm curious what the other metrics might be
that a band/artist can use to demonstrate an improvement in performance
from album to album. Is it email subs? Myspace Friends? Venue size?
Hey Nick,
Not to sound too Zen but; How do you measure success? If X would've
measured it by sales, we would've given up after the third record. No
one has to tell you that the music biz is a cruel master at best. You
have to measure success on yr own terms. When I finally understood that
making a record (writing & recording) was the greatest reward I
would ever receive from the whole process; the eventual outcome (sales
& reviews) took it's proper place. And I learned to enjoy it ten
times more. I believe they call it "being in the moment".
I
would say that now-a-days the same holds true. As long as yr audience
is maintaining or growing, @ either live shows or on the web, and you
still love playing & singing, then you are succeeding. If your goal
is to make a lot of money or wield power & you're not doing that,
choose a different line of work. If your gift is to create or perform
& the music biz gives you that opportunity, then you are
succeeding. Many people in music have more than one job & that
allows them to be as artistic as hell when they write & play. GREAT
REASON FOR BOTH ! ! don't forget most poets in the 19th & 20th
centuries had "day jobs". You, as the artist or label rep, will know
when you are successful or not because we are all making this shit up
as we go.
I hope this is helpful and as always,
thanks for writing,
Jd
If you have questions for John Doe about music, the music business or life feel free to email them to wwjdd@knowthemusicbiz.com.
The goal of the Indie Artist X Project is to develop a basic, actionable music marketing plan designed around simple strategy, prioritization of tactics, tools and a reasonable budget that can be implemented by any indie artist who has the inclination to follow it. A group of like minded
people interested in helping foster the success of independent
musicians have banded together to create this community based music
marketing plan. It’s our hope that any hard working, talented musician
can utilize this plan to grow their fan base and help lay the
foundation for a sustainable career in music. We will be working with
one anonymous artist to design and implement this music marketing plan
then track and report the actual results over a four month period. All
the details of the plan are publicly available at:
Each of the sponsors for the Indie Artist X Project have taken on the
responsibility for developing the strategy, prioritizing tactics and
identifying the best tools for a specific music marketing “channel”.
The sponsors are allowed to offer suggestions, advice and guidance to
the artist but are not permitted to do any actual work on the artist’s
behalf.
This music marketing plan is designed to be a community based project. Each
of the sponsors will be soliciting ideas, best practices and advice
from those interested in providing suggestions. It’s expected that the
plan document itself will evolve and change over the next few months as
the sponsors receive community input. If you have any suggestions for a
music marketing channel please forward your ideas to the appropriate
channel sponsor. Your participation in this project would be much
appreciated and hopefully benefit the greater independent artist
community!
The artist participating in the Indie Artist X Project is a talented, hard
working independent musician who has had two previous records released
by a small independent record label. He is currently not signed to a
record label, does not have a booking agent or manager. He has a day
job and is married. His goal is to make music his full time career. We
will share the name of the Indie Artist X artist once the project is
wrapped up at the end of October.
The Artist Website Channel
Artist Website Strategy
The artist website will be the focal point for engaging fans online and the
primary place on the web to find artist news, music and tour dates.
Since we want to engage music fans music will be heavily featured on
the website. All released songs will be available for full length
streaming and purchase, in both CD and MP3 format. Featured unreleased
tracks and demos from the upcoming new release will be available to
download in MP3 format for fans who have signed up for the artist's
email list. The website will be the central place for developing fan
relationships and will encourage fans to sign up for the artist mailing
list on several pages. Fans that sign up for the artist mailing list
will have exclusive access to download free unreleased tracks and demo
version of new songs plus qualify for monthly fan relationship programs
and giveaways.
Artist Website Tactics / Priorities
Music - Make available full length streams of both released albums, make both released albums available for purchase in both CD and MP3 format, make available all released individual tracks available for purchase in MP3 format and feature the artist's most popular songs for streaming on every page of the website. Feature one unreleased track or demo of a new song every 30 days (each song is only available for 30 days) - these tracks will be available for free download exclusively to fans who subscribe to the artist's mailing list.
Fan Development - Encourage fans to sign up for the artist's mailing list on multiple pages of the website. Feature the mailing list sign up prominently on the homepage. Offer fans that sign up for the artist's mailing list exclusive access to free downloads of unreleased demo or live tracks (one exclusive track each month). Feature links to the social networks where the artist maintains a presence so fans can connect with or follow the artist on their favorite social networks.
Basic Search Engine Optimization (SEO) - Link back to the artist's website from each social media or music related site where the artist has a profile. Promote and link back to the fan exclusive free downloads on the artist's website from social media and music related sites where the artist has a profile. Link back to the artist's website in all artist email newsletters. Regularly update the news section of the artist website with new, key word heavy (artist name and genre) content. Updated news will be featured on the site homepage. Provide a RSS feed on the website to follow artist news and announcements.
Artist News - Provide regular (weekly if possible) updates to the news section of the website. Updates can potentially include: promoting upcoming live shows, recaps / thanks for recent live shows, announcing the monthly fan contest winner, announcing / promoting the monthly fan exclusive free download, encouraging fans to sign up for the email list, encouraging fans to connect on a specific social network of music related site, promoting new videos, mentions of other live shows or music the artist enjoyed, tour related tales / updates, lyrics to new songs. Always keep the news and comments positive. Provide a RSS feed for following the artist's news section.
Contact - Always reply to any fan inquiries from the website contact form within 24 hours. Direct contact and discussions with fans is critical. Include all active social media links in the contact section to make it easy for fans to connect with / follow the artist on their favorite social media sites.
Commerce - Make the website store the primary place to direct fans for purchases (not iTunes, Amazon, etc.). Directing fans to the website store will help increase overall site traffic and provide the opportunity to promote upcoming live shows, encourage visitors to sign up for the fan list and promote fan exclusive downloads. The website store should be the exclusive place to purchase any new songs or full releases for at least 30 days before making them available through other sites or via distribution. Implement a pricing strategy that ensures fans will always find the lower prices on music and merchandise on the artist's website store than what's available through online retailers (via distribution).
We would love to hear your suggestions for the Indie Artist X Project artist website channel. There is a community suggestions section setup in the KnowTheMusicBiz.com forums. Click here to contribute to the project and share your ideas about ways we can optimize the artist’s website!
