About the Indie Artist X Project

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:

http://spreadsheets.google.com/pub?key=rZOXUM2iE1MVhswXK0ejn5A&output=html

The Sponsors

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 channel sponsors are:

Andrew Goodrich
Artists House Music
http://www.artistshousemusic.org/
Channel: Fan Development

Bruce Houghton
Hypebot
http://www.hypebot.com/
Channel: Commerce

Cameron Mizell
MusicianWages.com
http://musicianwages.com/
Channel: Awareness

David Rose
KnowTheMusicBiz.com
http://www.knowthemusicbiz.com/
Channel: Artist Website

Heather McDonald
About.com Music Careers
http://musicians.about.com/
Channel: Influencers

Martin Atkins
Revolution Number Three
http://www.revolutionnumberthree.com/
Channel: Live Shows

The Artist

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

1. 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.
2. 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.
3. 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.
4. 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.
5. 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.
6. 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).

Artist Website Tools

We are using the following tools for the artist’s website: Audiolife , Bandzoogle, Google Analytics and Reverbnation.

Artist Website Community Suggestions

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!