Dave Kusek is the Founder and CEO of Music Power Network and Vice President at Berklee College of Music.  He is also the co-author of the best selling music business book, The Future of Music: Manifesto for the Digital Music Revolution.

Here are 10 recommendations for strategies that can lead to success in music, and in life. Take them with a grain of salt. With this new decade comes the promise of digital music, the power of the entrepreneur and the tools to connect with an audience and deliver the goods. Here are 10 Strategies for Success in Music from Music Power Network.

1. Living a life in music is a privilege. Earn it.

There is very little more satisfying then spending time making music. If you make this your life's work, then you can be truly joyful. However, the chances of being successful are extremely low and the only people who are going to get there are going to have to work hard and earn the right to be a musician. Respect the privilege of being free enough to have this choice (if you do) and honor the opportunity.

2. No one is in charge of your muse but you. Be happy and positive.

People can be their own worst enemy. Countless times I have heard artists tell me the reasons why their career is not working out. Most of the time they are putting blocks in their way and pointing fingers at people and things that are holding them back. Stop whining and blaming other people and make the conscious decision that you are going to be successful and that things are going to work out in your favor. You are creating your own reality every day, so make it a good one and excel.

3. Practice, practice, practice - then go for it. Over prepare.

You can never be ready enough for opportunity. Your live shows can always be better, your songs can be more amazing, and your playing can only improve. As the CEO of your own musician business, you can learn how to run the company more effectively, reach out to more fans and be an more effective social media marketer. Don't hold yourself back by not being ready. Be a professional.

4. If you suck, you will never make it. Find a way to be great.

Lets face it, it is really hard to be amazing. Some people have the natural talent and you can see it in the first 5 seconds of meeting them. They are truly blessed. The rest of us have to find our niche, our passion, our calling and then reach for it. Ask people around you for feedback. Find what you are good at and focus on that. Get other people to help you. If you don't stand out and rise above the pack, you will struggle forever. Be amazing.

5. Learn how to breathe and keep your focus. Stay calm.

There is nothing more pleasant than working with someone who knows who they are and what their goal is. Remember the old adages of thinking before you speak, and taking a deep breath before you lay into someone. Most of us have a lot going on in our lives and we can all benefit from staying focused on our goals and remaining calm in most situations. Learn yoga, exercise, run, meditate, sit still, breathe, learn who you are.

6. Don't take yourself too seriously, no one else does. Have fun.

I am amazed at how many people spend so much time looking backwards and trying to understand what people think of them. This is worrying about the past and not embracing the future. Reviews are important, but don't run to them or let them ruin your day. Not everyone is going to like you, but more people will if you are having a good time.

7. No matter how difficult things get, move forward. Don’t give up.

The only thing that will help your career take off is forward momentum. That is how you are going to reach your goals. A lot of people are stuck in their own mud. Take action, make a move and then see what happens. Don't spend time procrastinating or worrying about how hard it is, just do something positive to advance your cause. You will feel much better by acting instead of waiting or worrying.

8. Find a way to make money. Start small and grow. Avoid being in debt.

This is probably the most important strategy of them all and why so many artists have gotten into trouble in the past by taking label advances. All that is, is a big loan. Get some kind of cash flow happening right away, no matter how small. Sell merch, play for the door, license your songs, play sessions, teach, write, start your musician business. The biggest mistake you can make is to borrow a lot of money and then spend it on things that don't matter.

9. Be unique and true to your vision. Say something.

The people that we remember are the ones that are unique, exciting, special, provocative, fascinating, original, inventive, interesting. Music is a basic form of communication. The really successful artists have something to say and work on delivering their message. Your chances of success go up exponentially if you have a unique position and message and create a following of fans who really listen to you because you have something important to say.

10. Work and play with people you like every day. Collaborate Often.

Music is a tribal experience. You cannot make great music alone. Surround yourself with talented people, write together, play together, try new things. Bounce inspiration off of each other and learn. Listen to each other and let the music weave it's way around you. Find a producer, songwriting partner, other musicians and dive in together. The whole is greater than the sum of its parts.

Wonderful things are waiting to happen to you.

E-commerce pioneer, lifelong musician, and technological guru, Patrick Faucher is the CEO and Co-founder of Nimbit . Patrick graduated with honors from Berklee College of Music with a background in computer science and database architecture. Preceding the web’s explosion as a commercial marketplace, Patrick helped launch some of the very first e-commerce websites for renowned artists such as Aerosmith and Phish. In the late nineties, he led the development of BuyItOnline.com, an online shopping mall, which was sold for $60 million in 2000.

Background:  Formed in 1983, the Mighty Mighty Bosstones are often credited with the creation of the ska-core genre, a form of music that mixes elements of third wave ska and hardcore punk. The band released seven full-length albums, three EPs and a live album while touring continuously before their announcement of a hiatus in December 2003. They reunited in the fall of 2007 and performed at Cambridge’s Middle East club.

At the beginning of this project, the Bosstones had no fan database, an inactive (fan run) Facebook page, and had not released an album in seven years. 

Campaign Goals:  

• Recapture fans and build contact database
• Sell 500 VIP ticket bundles
• Market new album release to U.S. fanbase, sell 10,000 units
• Create a basis for future touring, merchandising, and promotion
• Sell out venue for Hometown Throwdown concert series

Strategy: 

Step 1 - (re)Engage Fans:Create multiple entry points for fans to receive free MMB tracks in exchange for offering new/updated contact info.  Provide opportunity to join "VIP" list with exclusive access to pre-sale Hometown Throwdown tickets. 

Step 2 - Reasons to buy:  Place pre-sale bundles (including tickets and merch) in VIP-only storefront on MMB’s new website.  Bundles have multiple offers/price points:  single ticket, ticket plus CD & vinyl, ticket to 3 shows plus CD & vinyl, t-shirt plus CD & vinyl.  

Timeline:

October 2009

• Start promoting via Facebook, MySpace and website, offering free track of a new song, and teasing the new album.
• Use redemption codes to track three different giveaway campaigns (via email and download cards).
• Start recapturing fan contacts through website and Facebook.
• Set up VIP offer to hard core fans for special presale bundle of new album with ticket to upcoming holiday shows in Boston ($50-$100 price point).
• Oct 31 (Midnight) – Message sent to “VIP” list.  Ticket presale bundles up for sale on website for three Hometown Throwdown shows. 

• Nov 1^st – General ticket sales for HOB shows go on sale.
• Public pre-sale of new album available at website and on Facebook MyStore.
• Added a 4th show after original three sell out, blast to email list and Facebook.

December 2009

• New album ships to major retail outlets.
• Special bundles with vinyl album offered exclusively on website.
• Appearance on Jimmy Kimmel live.
• Shows at House of Blues and Middle East in Boston.  Over 8,000 people attend.

Results:

• 600 VIP ticket/album bundles sold in 25 min. from MMB’s website.  Average price:  $40.00
• 2,800 fans redeemed promotional codes for free music
• 7,000 new Facebook fans added (100% increase)
• 5,000 new contacts added to fan list including sales and demographic info
• 4,000+ units sold of new album

Nimbit Platform tools used:  Nimbit MyStore for Facebook, nimbitSkin storefront, download cards, promo codes, redemption widget, print and manufacturing services, nimbitRetail+ account ($20/month)

Martin Atkins has a 30 year career in the music business that includes touring with the bands Public Image Limited, Killing Joke, Ministry, Nine Inch Nails and Pigface, owning an independent record label celebrating its 20th anniversary with over 350 releases, and is an instructor at Columbia College Chicago teaching The Business of Touring, Applied Marketing, and Indie Label Management. He is also the author of the book Tour:Smart.

Martin Atkins' experience from a recent Tour:Smart event:

A guy came up to me after my Tour:Smart event in Traverse City.  He plays on his own, without a band, has a CD, etc.  He's trying to expand his base outside of Traverse City which is, literally, the end of the line in upper Michigan. He had a GREAT idea to tell the local bars, "I'll play for free!" That’s always going to get a good response; but then, even as he told me the next part of his 'pitch' he realized (maybe he could see my face contorting) that the last part screwed it all up "then next time you can pay me $100." I'm sure all the club owners heard was "$100, $100, $100."  Even just spoken aloud to me it sounded like a contract.

Part of his 'getting the hell out of Dodge' strategy had to do with finding a place, any place, to play.  He told me that when he does play people like him and that bars during the tourist season up there are PACKED. I gave him the following strategy (which is a variation of the car park strategy where you flyer the car park of a larger similar genre event and manage to hit everyone within a 50 mile radius, rather than YOU driving all over the 50 mile radius - your target audience has been magnetized to you!) - use it!

Because Traverse City IS a vacation destination, punters (your audience) are traveling there from various parts of the country.  I suggested that he play for FREE everywhere he could, including busking at any busy location (or close to one) BUT to make sure that he collects e-mail information in exchange for a free CD, download code, t-shirt WHATEVER.  The important thing is for him to get as many  legitimate contacts as possible, THEN, wait for the tipping point when a cluster of fans that have seen him in Traverse City appear in, Florida, Detroit, or, shit, a town 50 miles south .......wait to see the data then strategize how you are going to make use of it.  The good news is that because he is only one person he will be able to travel cost effectively to pour some gasoline on those sparks. Also, he knows one more thing about the people from out of town who have picked up his music - they have money to travel out of town and entertain themselves!

A similar strategy could work very well if you live in the Austin TX area. USE SXSW as a built in free world wide trawling for fans and contacts party!   Strategize a cool way to get e-mail addresses, provide a service, and take it from there.  IF all of your connections weirdly end up to be in Norway or Brazil - go there!

For more strategies like this one, attend Martin’s Tour:Smart PLUS 3 day seminar Jan 29 – 31 in Chicago.  Enter code “2for1” for a FREE pass for a friend. 

Also, check out Martin’s talk on the road .  He’s hitting the west coast, UK, and Norway in February. 

 Tuesday, February 2, 2010 - Los Angeles, CA     

    8:00am: New Music Seminar- Henry Fonda Theatre 6126 Hollywood Blvd. Los Angeles, CA

    RSVP: http://lanewmusicseminar.eventbrite.com

Thursday, February 4, 2010 - Portland, OR

    7:00pm: Tour:Smart seminar at The Cleaners at the Ace Hotel 1022 Southwest Stark Street Portland, OR 97205

    RSVP: http://tstourthecleaners.eventbrite.com/

Saturday, February 6, 2010 - Sacramento, CA   

   3:00pm: Tour:Smart seminar at Marilyn's - 1107 9th Street, Suite T-100 Sacramento, CA 95811

   RSVP: http://toursmartsacramento.eventbrite.com/

Sunday, February 7, 2010 - San Francisco, CA

   6:30PM: Tour:Smart seminar at The Union Room at Biscuits and Blues - 401 Mason St. 2nd Floor San Francisco, CA 94102

   RSVP: http://tssanfran.eventbrite.com/

Tuesday, February 9, 2010 - USC La Crescenta, CA 

    2:00pm: Guest Lecture at USC 2820 Manhattan Ave La Crescenta, CA 91214 United States

Thursday, February 11, 2010 - Pomona, CA

    12:00pm: Guest Lecture at Cal Poly (3801 W. Temple Ave. Pomona, CA 91768)

Wednesday, March 10, 2010 - Saturday, March 13, 2010 - Toronto, Canada

Canadian Music Week - Conference, Panel, Speaker. Times to TBD

  Thursday, March 18, 2010 - Austin, TX

12:30pm: Welcome to the Music Business-You're Fucked Speaking at SXSW (Austin Convention Center Austin, TX)

Carla Lynne Hall is a singer, guitarist, and music marketing consultant based in New York City. Her mission is to make music, and share her knowledge with other musicians. As a singer/songwriter, her musical style has been described as "Norah Jones meets Sade for tea on their way to visit The Beatles". For almost twenty years, she has toured the globe as a singer/songwriter, and professional vocalist.

Carla has has spent a number of years behind the scenes in the music industry, in music publishing, management, publicity, and radio promotion. She is the author of The DIY Guide to the Music Biz and Twitter for Musicians. Carla also writes a monthly newsletter, The Soulflower .

To be an indie musician requires an entrepreneurial mindset, and the latest edition of Ariel Hyatt’s Music Success in Nine Weeks promises to “supercharge your PR, build your fanbase and earn more money”. As that may sound like a fabulous claim, many indie musicians may wonder if the book can live up to its promise.

In my own career as an indie musician, I have learned to be mindful of my business goals. To stay on the top of my game, I read A LOT of books on the music business. While some music biz books are filled with contract mumbo jumbo that require translation, others are total fluff, offering pie-in-the-sky promises that don’t show the reader how to get results. Thankfully, Hyatt’s Music Success in Nine Weeks teaches actual strategies that can be put into use immediately.

As the founder of Ariel Publicity & Cyber PR, Ms. Hyatt could easily have written a thinly-veiled promotion piece for her music publicity services. Instead, her book is an easy-to follow nine-week program that teaches musicians how to promote themselves, without any self-promotion hype.

Week 1: Getting Mentally Prepared

Before jumping into the program, the first chapter of Music Success in Nine Weeks program is all about setting goals, and getting into the right mindset. Ariel acknowledges that the music business is not for the lazy or weak-hearted, and that creating realistic goals will create the correct mindset for success.

 Week 2: Your Perfect Pitch

Week 2 teaches how to create an elevator pitch: a description of your music that you can easily repeat in the time it takes to travel one floor of an elevator to another. The best music pitch is easily memorable, and can be used again and again.

Week 3: Optimizing Your Website

In order to attract new fans, a bands’ website must do more than simply play music clips and advertise the next gig. The best music websites compel fans to join your fanbase. Week 3 offers practical suggestions for how your website can become a marketing machine.

 Week 4: Social Media For Musicians

As Ariel herself coined the phrase “Cyber PR”, her expertise of using social networking sites to connect with music fans is obvious. The power that sites like MySpace, Facebook, and Twitter hold to build a global audience has grown exponentially. Week 4 of Music Success in Nine Weeks defines "Web 2.0", and shows you which social media sites a musician needs to create an online presence.

Week 5: Blogging

When the internet first gained popularity, having a static website containing your music, photo, and bio was enough. These days, having a blog on your website enables you to show your personality, connect with other bloggers, and also be found by search engines. Week 5 explains the importance of having a website that updates frequently so that your fans can return to your site, and connect with you.

Week 6: Connecting with Fans Via Your Newsletter List and Conducting Surveys

In my opinion, most band newsletters are selfish, self-promotion emails that aren’t worth opening. Because of this, Week 6 stresses that a band newsletter should be used for more than blasting out the dates for your next gig. Instead, your newsletter can be used to nurture your relationship with your fans. Once your have their trust, you can also reach out to them to ask them what they want from you. It's a lot better than guessing.

Week 7: How to Build Your Mailing List

Once you have an email list, it's also important to add more names each month. Week 7 shows you tips and tricks to grow a healthy fan email list.

Week 8: Real Live Networking Tips

In addition to having an online presence, it is still important for musicians to meet people offline, and make connections with them. Week 8 teaches you how to make an authentic connection in person.

Week 9: Creating a Continuum Program

As enlightening as the rest of this book is, in my opinion, Week 9 of Music Success in Nine Weeks is the high point of the book. Once you build your fanbase, and have permission to contact them regularly, it's time to get your fans to purchase merch from you on a regular basis. Whether it's CDs, t-shirts, or any other kind of band swag, creating a product line will make the difference in your band's bottom line.

Another bonus of purchasing Ariel Hyatt's Music Success in Nine Weeks is that you get free lifetime membership to Ariel's closed online Mastermind Forum. In the forum you meet other musicians like yourself who are working the program, and you have the added support of Ariel and her staff.

There is no lack of book titles in the indie music business help section, as well as the musicians who buy them. However, in the case of Ariel Hyatt's Music Success in Nine Weeks, this book’s true power is teaching you that you can increase the level of your success.

But it’s up to you to follow through.

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 banded 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.

Today marks the wrap up date for the 4 month long Indie Artist X Project. I posted a blog at Hypebot today with an overall IAXP wrap up and summary.

The majority of the inquiries and questions I received during the Indie Artist X Project where about the identity of the anonymous artist who was participating in the project and how that artist was selected. Now that the project has officially wrapped up I can finally announce that the artist who participated in the project is Austin Collins from the band Austin Collins and The Rainbirds.

Background

I first stumbled upon Austin and his band by accident at the 2008 South by Southwest Festival. While I was at SXSW I attended a show case event to see a friend of mine’s band play and Austin’s band just happened to come on stage next. I was immediately impressed with the set Austin and the Rainbirds performed. After the show I briefly met the band and picked up a copy of their latest CD, Roses are Black.

Once I got home from SXSW I began listening to all the CD’s I’d brought home with me and after a few listens I decided Roses are Black was a damn fine record. After many, many more listens I decided Roses are Black was my favorite record of 2008.

At the end of the year I was one of the people who blogged about my “Five Favorite Things”  in About.com’s 2008 Music Wrap Up feature. Soon afterwards Austin contacted me to say thank you for mentioning Roses are Black was my favorite release of 2008. ‘I kept Austin’s contact information but we didn’t communicate past his initial email.

SXSW 2009

Two weeks before I was to depart for South by Southwest this past spring I found out my housing plans had fallen through. Anyone who has been to SXSW can tell you there are no hotel rooms available anywhere near Austin, TX two weeks prior to the event.

In an attempt to try and salvage my trip I pulled a list of everyone in my contacts that lived in Austin, TX and sent out an email asking if anyone knew a place where I might be able to crash during SXSW. Almost immediately Austin replied back to my email saying I could stay at his house. Problem solved!

When I arrived in town Austin and I agreed to meet up at the Guitar Town party after the day’s panels had concluded.  I learned several interesting things hanging out with Austin that first night. He has great taste in music, a wide circle of friends, strong interpersonal skills and a degree in Finance from the University of Texas. When I introduced Austin to Rob Miller from Bloodshot Records I was impressed with how easily Austin fell into my conversation with Rob (and didn’t immediately fall all over himself pitching his band).

The Deal

Austin was very interested in getting my take on music marketing and the music business in general and had a lot of good questions. We found it difficult to talk at the evening parties and showcases so we arranged to talk over breakfast on my last day in town. At breakfast we covered a wide range of music business related topics, online marketing, distribution, licensing, etc. while Austin made furious notes of everything we discussed.

I really liked Austin’s music and found him to be very motivated and driven so I made him a deal that morning. I told Austin I would help him pull together a music marketing / music business plan without compensation but I would only put as much effort into building his music career as he was. I have tried to help a few musicians with their business / marketing efforts in the past but always grew frustrated at their lack of follow through and execution.

We setup a Google Docs page to help us get Austin’s marketing efforts organized and to assign key tasks and due dates. I quickly found out that Austin always follows though. I can’t think of a single time that I even casually suggested an idea to Austin he didn’t have it done before our next weekly phone call.

The IAXP is Born

I initially thought I could pull together a fairly comprehensive outline for a music marketing plan easily enough but found it to be a pretty huge task. I started reaching out to other folks I know and respect to get their input on ideas for Austin’s marketing plan.

While talking to Cameron Mizell from MusicianWages.com one day we stumbled upon the idea of blogging about the creation of Austin’s marketing plan and the results it generated.  We discussed the need for Austin’s name to be withheld so it wouldn't provide him with free publicity during the project and in turn skew any results he might see.

After phone calls to some smart, forward thinking, indie focused music business blogging peers the Indie Artist X Project was born. Hopefully a few musicians will find the music marketing plan we created useful in developing their own plan and furthering their own music career.

What’s Next for Mr. Indie Artist X?

As the IAXP was preparing to kick off Austin won the 2009 AirPlay Direct “All Things Americana” artist contest. Austin is using the $35,000 contest prize package to self release his third studio record, due out in February 2010.

Moving forward you can follow Austin’s progress on his website, Facebook and / or Twitter.

Martin Atkins has a 30 year career in the music business that includes touring with the bands Public Image Limited, Killing Joke, Ministry, Nine Inch Nails and Pigface, owning an independent record label celebrating its 20th anniversary with over 350 releases, and is an instructor at Columbia College Chicago teaching The Business of Touring, Applied Marketing, and Indie Label Management. He is also the author of the book Tour:Smart.

Yesterday I was at The Baltimore Music Conference and met Keith Center from a DC based folk-core band called The Dreamscape Project ....Sometimes bands that aren't obviously, rabidly perusing POP success really fail at the merchandising side of things. These guys don’t so I wanted to blog about them and remember their great ideas......

1. Three weeks before a show they send out a handful of postcards to their fans as a reminder and as a call to arms to hand out a few (more about this in a minute.)
2. Instead of a merch booth each member of the band is equipped with a shoulder bag packed with a few of each item they have for sale and is charged with the responsibility of mingling and selling (more about this in a minute too).
3. There is no 3.

A couple of tweaks from me....

I'd try one time to send out VIP passes or a free live cd to the fans three weeks before a show. I was concerned that a handful of postcards sent to a fan is like sending them a work order, “please distribute these to people at the mall.” But, shit, it’s still GOOD!

My only other tweak (and now I have tweaked both of these great ideas) would be IN ADDITION to having the roaming band-member-merchandise-assault-squad – set up a merch booth. People like me need to know where the table with the merch is because that’s where the merch is. I might not get to wandering around to find the merchandis-ettes. I might grab someone and go, “hold on Betty! There’s no fucking merch at all - we're leaving!” Plus, not everyone wants to deal face to face with a sweaty band member.......people are shy, people are timid.

I hope that I haven't now turned this around into a 'here’s my twenty problems with The Dreamscape Project" because I really liked their out of the box, different thinking. I’m just a hole poker ain't I? Send me your ideas so that I can blog about them. Then, everyone can use them and you'll have to come up with more good ones - that’s the fuel that burns the fire and keeps us all warm.

PLR

MarteeeeeeeeeN

On the road, loading video and typing in the passenger seat

Come to a T:S event. Full schedule here

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.

Paul Chodirker is an entertainment lawyer at Heenan Blaikie LLP in Toronto. He is also featured on the “law boys” radio segment which can be heard every Wednesday night on the Toronto-based radio station, 102.1 The Edge.

What was the number one selling album on Billboard’s top 200 chart at the end of January 2008? It wasn’t Radiohead’s In Rainbows, or Mary J. Blige’s Growing Pains. Can you guess what it was? It was a soundtrack album from “the little film that could” known as, Juno.

If you’re not familiar with the Juno soundtrack, it’s basically made up of indie darlings and musicians that you’ve probably never heard of, like Barry Louis Polisar and Kimya Dawson. Barry Louis Polisar is actually a musician who writes music for children. So, what can the success of the Juno soundtrack do for the average indie musician? The answer: a lot!!

To start, film producers have paid far less attention to a film’s soundtrack since the world discovered how to download these songs for free. Thus, less soundtrack’s were sold and producers no longer saw it as another valuable revenue stream that could be packaged with the release of the theatrical film. It was clear that the music world had indeed changed since the release of the Pulp Fiction soundtrack in 1994 (which sold more than 2 million copies worldwide). Now, Juno has come along to revive the popularity of the film soundtrack and independent musicians are increasingly being called upon to create a movie’s soundscape.

Unless you’re Martin Scorsese and you’re filling your film with songs from The Rolling Stones and Derek & The Dominos, film producers will not be able to afford music from chart topping bands to include in their picture. More so, it appears that a soundtrack which includes indie music would probably sell better anyways. So, how can a musician that nobody has ever heard of get their songs into a film?

Step 1. Get to know and pay attention to a film’s music supervisor. A music supervisor is the person or persons who oversee the music in a particular production. They typically work with the director and producer to choose songs for the score, seek out interesting new sounds that might work well for a particular film and handle the contractual and licensing issues related to the inclusion of music in film. So, the next time the credits start to roll at the end of a movie, stay in your seat a little while longer and write down the name of the film’s music supervisor. Better yet, go to a website like IMDB.com and search your favourite movie’s to find out who acted as music supervisor’s during production. Also, a website like musicregistry.com will sell directories, which include the names and contact information of various music supervisors in the film and television industry. 

Step 2. Understand how and whether I can license my songs for use in a film. The music business is complicated. Anyone who says differently has never worked in the music industry before. I will make the following portion of this article as simple as possible.

There are two things a music supervisor will need before they can include your song in a film – a synchronization license and a master use license. The question then becomes whether myself or my band have the right to provide such licenses to the music supervisor. There are two ways of knowing whether you or your band have such rights:

1: Find out who owns the musical composition.

If I write a song called, “The Guess Who Rock” (and they do), and I solely contributed to the creation of the music and lyrics of the song, I own the musical composition. I could have also written the song with my band-mates, and in that instance, the band may own the musical composition. It is also possible that myself or my band signed to a musical publisher and assigned the rights in the musical composition to the publisher. In that case, the band and its publisher may own and control the musical composition.

Step 2: Find out who owns the master recording.

If I record the song, “The Guess Who Rock” in the basement of my house, the master recording becomes that recorded version of the musical composition. However, in many instances, if a band were signed to a music label, chances are pretty good that the rights in the master recordings have been assigned to the record company. So, in many instances, a record company may own and control the master recordings. However, if I have no affiliation with a label and I’ve recorded the musical composition on my own, I should own and control the master recording.

Why does ownership in the musical composition and the master recording matter? Because, in order to license music in a film, you need to license the use of the musical composition ( typically called a Synchronization or “Synch” license, because you are synchronizing the composition with visual images) and a license to use and synchronize the master recording of the musical composition (typically known as a Master Use license).

Get it? The music supervisor needs two license to put a song in a film – Synchronization and Master Use.

Finally, what fees can musicians expect from the sale of these licenses and what sort of deal should I make if the film producer wants to use my songs on a film’s soundtrack? These topics and more will be included in Part B of this series.

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.