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 Robert in Jacksonville, FL

Hello John,

I am in the process of putting a new band together with some really strong players and experienced songwriters. We all have a good work ethic and it feels like we have the real potential to create some meaningful material. I know it's tough out there to get noticed as a new band these days. Any suggestions you have for hitting the ground running and ultimately getting signed to a record label would be much appreciated.

Thanks,

Robert

WWJDD?

OK . . .  You want to be noticed? Just do EVERYTHING YOU CAN THINK OF!!! And try to think of those things all the time.  Believe it or not that's what every one big or small in the music biz does, everyday they're at work & sometimes all night long too.  Wait . . . unless you work at a major label, then like all offices, you fuck around all day & just make sure it LOOKS like your busy.
    Write the best songs, learn to play the best you can (don't forget original style helps but not totally necessary these days), find the best gigs or any gigs, tell as many people as you can think of, make demos & send them to record companies (a contact always helps), make friends in the music scene in yr town, if there is none, then move, make a My Space & Facebook page, a web site, get yr friends excited & throw a party. the list goes on forever but you get the idea.  In my experience when a record or artist "takes off" (and there are hundreds of definitions of that) it's because they did everything & three or four elements or people actually worked. I believe that if yr truly talented, have a little ambition & not a complete social wash-out, you will get noticed.  Many of my friends debate this w/ me but I still believe it because I've seen it happen too many times.  It's all pretty basic.  Just take a shot, cross yr fingers & work as hard as you can at EVERYTHING. I know that sounds like the Prodestant  work ethic but that's the way things seem to succeed.  Though it seems like it, this isn't just drudge work.  It needs creativity & inspiration too. 

I hope this helps, good luck
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.

For more information on John Doe check out theejohndoe.com or YepRoc.com .

 

 

 

There has been tremendous excitement over the past few years about the new technologies and services that help artists directly connect with their fans.  I’m personally a huge advocate of this trend and the opportunity it presents for both artists and music fans.

However, I’ve recently noticed just how many artist websites are still lacking the primary thing music fans are interested in today; downloadable music in MP3 format. Some in the music business blame the rise of the MP3 on the demise of the music industry and reject its use. It’s clear today’s music fans have wholeheartedly embraced the format. Ignoring what your consumer clearly wants in a competitive marketplace is extremely perilous. It’s the consumer’s preferences and desires that drive any market.

In a very unscientific test, I selected 10 of my favorite albums that have been released in the last year or so. I then checked the websites of those 10 bands* to see if they had a MP3 download store. Surprisingly only three (Big Head Todd, Kings of Leon and Matthew Ryan) had any MP3’s available for download at all. A quick check of the websites from several popular independent artists in my area found none of them had MP3 downloads available. Unfortunately several of the local artists didn’t even have their own website. 

Competition for the attention of music fans has never been fiercer. Artists now have to spend more time, energy and money than ever before just to get noticed. Spending countless hours emailing and texting fans, building social networks, writing witty / insightful blogs, or creating contests is largely a wasted effort if fans can’t find what they want when they finally do arrive at the artist’s website. Music fans want downloadable music, in MP3 format. If fans don’t quickly find what they are looking for they will simply abandon the artist’s website. Highly motivated fans might check iTunes or LimeWire as an alternative but there is much less value for the artist in the indirect relationship.  

Having the ability to offer MP3 downloads directly from the artist’s website is a great tool for building a direct, long-term relationship with fans. Regularly providing unreleased tracks, alternative versions of songs, live recordings or acoustic tracks will keep fans engaged and coming back for more. Once the artist / fan relationship has been established (with music) blogs, videos and emails can then help deepen the interest level of the fan.

The question of if, when or how much to charge for downloads is a complicated one and there is certainly no “one size fits all” pricing strategy. Personally, I’m always happy to pay for music from artists with which I already have a strong fan relationship and for music from a new artist that has really gotten my attention.

There are numerous, very good, inexpensive solutions that allow artists to easily add a MP3 download store to their existing website including Musicane , Hooka and Easybe. Nimbit provides the ability to sell MP3’s directly from the artist’s website plus tickets, merchandise, CD’s and DVD’s, all integrated into the same storefront. There is also an option to private label the Nimbit storefront for an additional fee.

Every artist should have their own website. For those artists who haven’t yet taken this important step towards building and protecting their brand BandZoogle offers a full feature hosted website solution that includes an MP3 download store. Their most expensive plan is only $19.95 per month.

With all the music marketing information, strategies and tools being pushed at artists today it can be easy to overlook the one thing music fans are most interested in, the music. It’s critical for music fans to easily find what they are really wanting when the visit an artist’s website, downloadable MP3’s. Hopefully as more artists embrace MP3 downloads it will help them to create strong direct to fan relationships and the opportunity to build a long-term, sustainable career.

 

*American Princes , Austin Collins , Bell X1 , Big Head Todd & the Monsters , Black Rebel Motorcycle Club , Drive-By Truckers , Kings of Leon , Matthew Ryan , Silversun Pickups , Tegan & Sara .

Fiona McLaren is a Label Liaison with Last.FM and based in London

Promoting your music online these days is meant to be easy - but due to the sheer number of sites out there it might not always seem that way. This is a brief guide to why Last.fm should be one of the main sites you use to promote yourself, and how to get the most out of it with minimal effort.

The Last.fm music database

First off, you might already have a page on Last.fm without realising. Huh?

This is how it works. Last.fm is built on the data generated by our community of music fans (21 million of them!) ‘scrobbling’ their music collections. ‘Scrobbling’ means that when a Last.fm user listens to an MP3 on their PC or iPod, the title of the track and artist name is entered into our database – and, if a page for that track and artist has yet to be created, we automatically create one. In this way we’re building a massive, ever-growing database of information about all the music ever made.

So, if you have any music out there already, chances are one of your fans is a Last.fm user who’s scrobbled your music to our database – so you might already have a page on the site. (If not, you can always create one yourself.)

But don’t panic: even if a page already exists, this doesn’t mean we have your music actually on the site. We’ll only have this if you’ve given it to us or we have a deal with your label. So the first thing you need to do is register and upload your music: http://www.last.fm/uploadmusic.

What makes Last.fm different?

The important thing to note about Last.fm (and what makes us different to other services) is that we start promoting your band for you from day one. As outlined above, as soon as one of our users listens to your music it is ‘scrobbled’ to Last.fm. From this point on, we’ll start recording the number of times Last.fm users listen to the track, and more importantly, start actively recommending it to other users with similar music tastes to the people already listening to you.

We know you’re busy, so we also get our users to help out on a lot of stuff: they can upload band photos, write biographies and describe your music using tags. All these things are essential in maintaining an active community, based around music discovery and sharing tastes. What it means for you is that once you have a page on Last.fm, it can be kept up to date thanks to our users.

The Artist Royalty Programme

What’s more, by uploading your music you’re not only helping people discover it, but you can also get paid every time anyone listens to it on Last.fm as part of our Artist Royalty Programme. Enrolling in this scheme allows you to earn money each time your track is played by someone using our On Demand service, or if it is streamed on one of our radio services.

What next?

If you want to go all out and make sure that you get the most out of Last.fm, then here are my top tips for promoting your music on Last.fm.

1. Make your music available for free download

Assuming you have already registered for our Artist Royalty Programme then your songs will automatically be available as free on demand streams for our users. However by making one or two songs available as free downloads your artist will instantly become more visible on Last.fm as we promote free content more vigorously than anything else.

2. Upload Videos

Just as we promote free content, we also push videos straight to users who might be interested in them via their recommendation dashboard. You can upload as many videos as you like and whilst promotional videos are the obvious first port of call you can also upload live performances or anything else you have kicking about, which leads me onto...

3. Create special content

If you want to raise your profile on Last.fm by leveraging your existing fanbase, a great way to do this is to upload special content to Last.fm. This could be in the form of a video tour diary, studio diary or interview, or it could be a preview of your new album interspersed with you chatting about the tracks. Not only will this be promoted automatically on Last.fm, adding interest for existing users, but you can also promote the content via your own mailing lists or MySpace page using our range of embeddable widgets.

4. Add upcoming events

Last.fm has an extensive events system that recommends events users might enjoy, as well as allowing them to invite their friends and see what other people are attending. Adding your artist’s upcoming events is a great way to keep people informed and interested. Plus, if you’ve followed the above steps, hopefully you now have a few of our users who are curious to check your band out!

5. Get involved

Last.fm is a community-based site and so conversation is important. Start using your own personal account, and join some groups. As you start to figure out the landscape you’ll be able to work out when it’s appropriate to mention you’re in a band. If people already trust you, they might be more inclined to listen when you mention an upcoming release or gig. You can also communicate with existing fans through Last.fm via things such as journals, so jump in and have a play!

6. Get an extra boost

If you’ve got an album coming out or a tour to promote, and thus some money to be spent, Last.fm also offers highly targeted advertising. We know what our users like which means that you can make your budget stretch further by only reaching those people you know will be, or should be, interested in your music.

 

 

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 Christina in Half Moon Bay, California

Hello John,

I have been writingabout music for a long time, which also means I read, hear and watch tons about music. As an observer, it seems to me that so many in the media miss good opportunities to learn more about the art of and the person they are interviewing; mostly because they just don't do their research. Like a great photograph, the right question and an honest answer can tell a lot about a person without compromising their privacy. You have been interviewed a lot and appear to give answers that are honest and not canned, even when the questions are just shallow or without thought - you have the ability to shift a bad question into something intelligent. So for those of us who write about music and get the chance to interview artists, what is it really that we should be asking in order to bring out the best, not put so much burden on the artist, and tell the interesting story?

Christina

WWJDD?

Hey Christina,

  What's increasingly common is that the artist has to come up w/ "a story" to tell.  "Why this record or tour is worth me writing about?"  When there weren't thousands of records every release date, the writers or publicists used to have time to come up w/ the story or at least a direction. Telling the story behind the songs can very easily compromise your private life, especially if you're somewhat confessional songwriter.  Intuition is always the best guide for the interviewee as to how much you want to reveal. Even so, sometimes you can get tricked into saying too much. That's why many musicians & actors can be guarded during the process.
  But to answer yr question more directly; research, experience & general knowledge is obvious w/in the first two minutes.  When there's little or none, it makes yr heart sink the way a bad beginning to a first date can make you look at yr watch w/in the first ten minutes (sigh). If a writer doesn't have the time or interest, my advice is to pass it on to someone who does.  If you need the money, do a little research & PLEASE avoid general questions.  Like any good writing, the more specific, the better.  Find a couple of elements that you can indentify w/ & ask about that.  Find a few lyrics that you like. Suggest some influences that you think you hear.  Pretty obvious stuff really.  But the best ones have all that & turn into a conversation.  Lastly, it's also precarious for the interviewer to talk too much about their experience w/ the band. "Back when I was 14 I saw you guys . . ."  OK I'll stop now.
hope this helps
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.

For more information on John Doe check out theejohndoe.com or YepRoc.com .

The rapid growth of Internet radio is undeniable. According to Edison Media Research 33 million Americans listen to a radio station over the Internet during an average week and AccuStream iMedia Research reports that online radio music generated 4.85 billion total listening hours in 2007, up 26.1% over 2006. I personally listen to Internet radio at least 12 hours a day and find it a very powerful tool for discovering new artists.

Radio airplay has been used as one of the primary ways to promote an artist and their music since the beginning of the industry. Record labels developed large radio promotions departments and / or hired independent radio promoters to develop relationships with influential Program Directors securing airplay for their artists. Independent artists have long been all but locked out of terrestrial radio airplay and its promotional benefits. The ongoing shrinkage of niche stations, specialty shows and local decision making for programming have further reduced opportunities for artists who fall outside the mainstream or don’t have the support of a major label.

Internet radio now provides independent artists with unprecedented access to a large and growing audience and promotional opportunities that had only been available to label backed artists. Many of the leading Internet radio stations accept submissions directly from artists so there is no need to incur the cost of hiring a radio promotions person or firm to work a new release to Internet radio stations.

While some stations offer centrally programmed channels many Internet radio stations allow their users to create custom radio stations based on their preferences. Some of the more popular Internet radio stations have developed powerful recommendation engines that, with the help of the listener community ratings, assist their users in discovering new music. With Internet radio the programming power largely resides with the user community instead of a Program Director. Social networking components on some sites allow members to build profiles, add friends, share favorites and discover new music through friend recommendations and by joining groups. The social networking aspect of Internet radio also provides artists a great way to connect directly with their fans by sharing their favorite music, building their own stations or adding unreleased tracks.

Musicians in niche genres (say zydeco or death metal) who have traditionally had the least opportunity with radio now have a great opportunity to be heard by fans of their specific genre. With Internet radio fans of unique or niche genres can easily search groups, genre lists or stations and artist tags to find and discover new artists. Suddenly being in a niche genre becomes an advantage since it’s much easier for that artist to be found or standout than it is for their contemporaries in much more crowded genres like pop or country music.

Internet radio is a very powerful promotional tool but it can also help artists actually make money from their music as well. Several of the Internet radio stations feature a “buy” button next to the track while it’s playing. The button links to a digital retailer like iTunes or Amazon. Providing music fans the option of immediately buying the track they really like is an opportunity many (myself included) have a hard time passing up.

Additionally, much like songwriters and publishers can get paid through ASCAP, BMI or SESAC for airplay on terrestrial radio, Soundexchange pays royalties directly to performing artists (and copyright holders) for tracks streamed on Internet Radio. The royalty payments for Internet radio are based on actual plays or streams and not estimates like terrestrial radio royalties. Artists and sound recording copyright holders must register with Soundexchange to receive payment. Millions of dollars in royalties from digital music services have been collected but not yet paid out simply due to the lack of a mailing address for many artists. If you are a recording artist and / or copyright holder please register at Soundexchange today!

There are an untold number of Internet radio options currently available. Below are a few worth checking out who have a large listener / user base and accept submission directly from independent artists. If there are other stations we should add to this list please let us know.

AOL Radio:Mail Submissions To

AOL Radio
Pete Schiecke
770 Broadway 4th Floor
New York, NY 10003 USA

Last.FM: Artists can build their own profile page and directly upload their music

Pandora: Mail Submissions To

Music Genome Project Submissions
360 22nd St. Suite 440
Oakland, CA, 94612 USA

Yahoo / Launchcast: Mail Submissions To

Yahoo Music
Gina Juliano
2450 Broadway Avenue
Santa Monica, CA 90404 USA

 

 

 

Many new bands record a song or two and add a lot of friends on MySpace then wait desperately for a record company to swoop in to handle all the marketing, publicity, new media and radio promotions that it takes to build a fan base and launch their career. The same misguided thought process regularly takes place when it comes to booking agents, attorneys and managers. New bands often spend a tremendous amount of time, energy and money to find a “team” only to be disappointed when they get no takers.

The reality is, this process almost always works in reverse. The most sought after artists and bands are the ones who have built their own fan base, booked their own tours and managed themselves for an extended period of time. Consider how the business opportunity of working with your band looks from the other side of the table. What is a safer bet for a record label in a really tough environment, investing a lot of time, money and effort to expand the success of proven band with a built in fan base or building a fan base from virtually scratch for a new band very few people have ever paid money to see or hear? Would a booking agent be able to cover their expenses on 10% of the shows you booked last month or a manager on 15% of the income your band earned last month?

Building and expanding a fan base yourself is the most important thing you can do to build a sustainable career and attract the attention of the music biz folks.

Beware – It is very hard to get noticed in the extremely crowded field of artists vying for attention of music fans today. It can be done, but understand this is a long-term process that requires a “build one fan at a time” approach, a lot of hard work, persistence and determination.

To build a fan base focus on these items first:

• Playing live shows is one of the best ways to showcase your talent and build a fan base. You might only play in front of a couple of people at first. Stick with it and there should be more people the next time and the next if what you are playing is of high quality and appeals to the fans at the venue where you are playing. A packed venue is the most powerful publicity a band can have.

• Increase your knowledge and use of the many tools now available for artists to reach fans through distribution, licensing, Internet radio, and more. MySpace is not enough. Check out our Resource Directory and set up a RSS feed from New Music Ideas for starters. Talk to successful bands in your area and find out what tools are and aren’t working for them. Keep up with the latest trends and tools but don’t try and do it all. Prioritize what is manageable and only stick with what actually produces results for you.

• Build and follow a marketing plan for developing and maintaining a personal relationship with your fans. Giving thought to how and what you communicate with fans through your website, blog, or newsletter will help with follow through and getting it done on a regular basis. Developing creative ways to provide fans with extra value out of a direct relationship can pay huge loyalty dividends.

You will know you’re on the right path when record labels, managers and booking agents start calling. Once you’ve done the hard work necessary to build a fan base and are presented with a couple of recording contracts you just might decide your career is better off without involving a record label involved after all.

Developing a loyal group of fans who support you is the best way to build and sustain a career in music. It also gives you a lot more career options, including the one to say “no thanks, I like making all my own decisions” when the music biz folks do come calling.

 

 

 

If you’re a musician working to build a career in the music business hopefully you have already covered the basics like getting your own website, setting up a MySpace page and signing up for distribution through a company like CD Baby or TuneCore.

There are numerous solutions now available for marketing music at a minimal cost but keep in mind that none of them can offer a magic bullet for success in the music business. Below are a few categories and companies worth considering when you sit down to develop your music marketing plan.

Radio

Online radio is growing quickly in popularity among music fans as many of the providers have greatly improved their music recommendation technology and added social networking options to help their members discover new music. Here are two popular online radio providers that accept submissions directly from artists, have a large base of listeners and feature links that allow fans to buy the music they are enjoying.

Pandora – Accepts artist submissions only via mail but it’s definitely worth the effort. They only add songs into rotation that meet their quality standards. Their address is: Music Genome Project Submissions, 360 22^nd St. Suite 440 Oakland, CA, 94612. Cost: $2.50 (for postage)

Last.FM – Artists can directly upload their music to the site, create an artist page, join genre based groups, add friends and build their own station. Cost: $0

Licensing

Licensing music for television, films, video games or advertising has emerged as one of the best ways for independent artists to actually get paid for their work plus gain exposure from a wide audience. If you control the rights to your music, a non-exclusive agreement can be signed that typically pays 50% of the licensing fees collected. Two of the leading licensing companies that accept submissions directly from artists are:

Rumblefish – Rumblefish features an online music licensing store that makes it easy for buyers to search and purchase licenses directly from their catalog of available music. They also allow artists to keep 100% of their PRO royalties Cost: $0

PumpAudio – PumpAudio was recently acquired by Getty Images and is now able to offer Getty’s existing customers access to their music licensing catalog. Cost: $0

Gigs

Playing live shows is one of the most important things an artist can do to build a fan base and create momentum for their career. Of course it’s very difficult to get booked if you are not widely known, regardless of your talent level. A couple of online tools that can help artists improve their chances of getting booked are:

Sonicbids – Sonicbids allows artists to create an electronic press kit (EPK) that can be submitted via email instead of mailing costly and environmentally unfriendly traditional press kits. They also feature a list of promoters and gig openings where artists can submit their EPK for consideration. Cost: $49.95 annually.

Eventful – Eventful is a leading provider of local community events calendars where artists can upload their tour dates. Their unique approach allows fans to create demand for a specific artist to play in their town. Artists can use demand information to help them plan a successful tour. Cost: $0

Mobile

Many music fans now spend more time on their mobile device than their PC: It only makes sense to develop a mobile strategy for promoting your music. Mobile marketing solutions can include text messaging, ringtones, ringbacks, full track downloads, wallpaper and mobile fan clubs. Two solution providers that make it easy for artists to start marketing their music through mobile devices are:

Broadtexter – Broadtexter lets independent artists easily create mobile fan clubs plus text fans with artist news and regionally based tour date alerts. Costs: $0

MyxerTones - MyxerTones allows artists to create mobile phone ringtones and wallpapers that can be bought directly from a mobile device or the artist’s website. Artists can set their own prices and keep 60% of the revenue collected for their content. Costs: $0

Awareness

Building a strong fan base is the key component to a successful career but simply finding a way to get noticed by fans can be quite challenging. There are a lot of great options for promoting your music on the web and here are two you should definitely consider:

OurStage – OurStage features a monthly competition where fans use a voting system to determine the best song and video by genre then select an overall winner. There are several monthly prizes, including a $5000 grand prize. Fans of your specific genre will get exposed to your music and even have the option of purchasing it. Cost: $0

Artist Data Systems – ADS can automatically synchronize an artist’s information, news and tour dates across several social networks and music related sites. This allows an artist to expand the number of places where fans can discover their music without the hassle of individually managing the same information on multiple sites. Cost: $0