On Dec. 9 of last year, the free (ad-supported) live-streaming site UStream.tv released a live video-broadcasting app for iPhone. I’m sure the data-charges for using it could potentially get really out of hand if you used it over your 3G network, but if you’re within range of a free wifi network there are some really interesting things you could do with this.
broadcast live from backstage before a show, interact with the fans in the audience, …
Read the full story »Posts dealing with community-building, promotion, and marketing for independent musicians
Highlighting musicians and bands who are leading by example, when it comes to utilizing web-technologies to build strong relationships directly with their fans
Thoughts to help musicians and bands avoid distractions and harmful behaviour, and to keep the focus on what’s really important
Articles on using interactivity in the online and offline spaces as an important tool for audience engagement
Features describing online services and websites that could be of use to musicians and bands in the modern age
Several factors have really started to come together to result in a plethora of metrics being applied to music. Record sales (and download sales) are no longer the only relevant metric for analyzing an artist’s fanbase. I’ve personally seen an artist play a single concert to a room holding more fans than have bought their newest album in the entire country. Ticket sales are a good metric, but that data isn’t readily accessible, or accurate until you’re working with promoters and ticketing agencies. But with so many bands playing bar and club shows for cover-charge instead of hard tickets, that metric isn’t a good place to start either. Radio play is another traditional metric, but access to that data for an indie artist is very expensive.
Add to all that, now the main ways artists are connecting with fans are all taking place online, where everything is trackable, and in comes web services offering email subscription tracking, myspace plays, youtube streams, blog-status grading, web-traffic measurements, “hit potential” analyzers, and more.
With more and more onus on bands to develop themselves, before working with business partners, it’s going to become increasingly important for musicians to become even more savvy marketers. To understand all the different and powerful analytics that are available, and interpret the data into actions is going to become increasingly time-consuming (and potentially costly, if these services start introducing paid-subscription business models, which is the current norm for analytics services).
For a musician who’s looking to immerse themselves in information, and study their fan metrics intently, this onslaught is a dream come true, but on the other hand, when your main job it is to be creative, write, perform and practice, this could also become a real problem of time-management.
So what are services like the below doing to make this as easy and understandable as possible for musicians?
What services do musicians find provide the most useful and actionable information?
What are musicians saying about these and other services?
Is this type of information something a musician should pay for?
Are there other services out there that should be added to this list?
Music Metrics Services:
I’m excited to say that my panel topic has been accepted into the upcoming SXSW 2010 program, and I’m honored to have the opportunity to moderate this discussion. Thanks to everyone who voted for it earlier this year!
In October I gave a talk on Communicating With Fans at the Halifax Pop Explosion Festival and Music Matters Conference. I’ve received a lot of great feedback from that talk, and it prompted me to turn it into …
I heard a radio commercial the other day, extolling the virtues of the electronics and audio store’s vast selection of headphones. “And for the aspiring musician on your list… we have the… blah blah blah.”
“Aspiring musician”…. that phrase gets tossed around a lot, but what does it mean? It seems to me that it’s something someone calls you if they don’t think you’re very successful at the moment. It’s almost offensive really. …
When you’re in a band, there are lots of things that have to get done, but aren’t the glamorous parts of the job… Sure when it comes time to get on stage, it’s no problem mustering the will to perform. Or when you have to go on TV or the radio to do an interview, for the most part it’s not a hassle. But there’s many things that need doing, like having to set up …
Recently I was in a discussion about Communicating With Fans, as part of the Halifax Pop Explosion and Music Matters Conference (thanks so much to everyone involved in the conference for having me!) and while I was there a musician asked me something… I’m paraphrasing, but basically he said “you talk often about engaging with current fans, but what about getting new fans? What about trying to get places like Exclaim to write about you, and …
Sadly, this is not some sort of sinister comic-book style supervillain threat… it’s just the truth. When you’re in a developing band, and you’re trying to get people out to shows, or trying to sell the first few shirts/download cards/CDs/what-have-you, you’ll most likely start by telling your close friends. When you do, please keep something in mind… your friends will all ask you to get in to the show for free, to be on the …
A friend sent me the link to check out culturejam.com – after poking around on the site for a bit, it seems like they’re doing some interesting work in the twitter-world, with a specific eye toward music marketing. One of the main things they seem to be doing is providing a twitter-app, that will back-end a download function. Most of the examples they provide on the site seem to live on a sub-domain of the …
This is the subject of a panel topic I have submitted to SXSW2010. The focus of the panel would be to have a discussion over the use of interaction and interactive tools, by bands and musicians. Some musicians say they would rather remain private, and let their music do the speaking to the fans… others are more than happy to open up and communicate directly with fans. Is one strategy better than the other? Are …
Wow, it’s been too long since my last article… will try not to do that again…
Okay, I suppose I shouldn’t speak for all cellphone companies, but in past experience I’ve seen cellphone companies offer fantastic incentives to join their network. They’re offering huge discounts on the handsets, at times even free, very attractive talk and data plans, etc. We all know the catch is that they want you to sign a contract with them for …
Myspace, Twitter, Facebook, LastFM, buzznet, Bebo, Xanga, Hi5, Youtube, Reverbnation, iLike, imeem, orkut, and the list goes on… there is seemingly a TON of different social networks that a band could potentially have a presence on. The problem is, each one then requires updating and managing… which can become very time consuming. The other problem is that these social networks seem to pop up all the time, there’s always new ones around the bend, and …
Okay, here’s a new thing I’m trying out… answering reader questions… I hope I can help.
One reader writes…
Ian,
I am trying to get into the music business with the ultimate goal of owning my own independent record label. I have been asked by a friend of mine to run their street team. What type of advice would you give to someone taking over a street team? They have amassed a large following in the local area, …
Two approaches to promoting your band, both of which are not mutually exclusive. Meaning, you should try to do them both as best you can.
The first, Be Where Everyone Is… is all about knowing your target fans, and making sure that you are active in those places, both online and in the offline space. Being active where your potential fans already spend their time – the bars, websites, blogs, concerts, radio stations, specialty record shops, …
Whether you like their music or not, dark / goth / pop / punk-rock heroes AFI are leaders in fanbase engagement, interaction, and reward. Back in 2003-2005 they ran an Alternate Reality Game that invited fans to solve puzzles, find clues, and interact with each other. The game was rewarding lucky participants with laminate All-Access passes, meet-and-greets, soundcheck parties and secret concerts long before ARGs like this hit mainstream with Nine Inch Nails’ Year Zero. …
Your band, your music, your live shows, your recordings, your websites… everything about your music-making endeavours should make you excited. It should be exactly the way you want it to be, because it reflects who you are and helps other people to percieve you the way you want to be percieved.
True, you should feel as though making your music is what you were always meant to be doing, but on the other hand, no one …
So it’s the kickoff to the North By Northeast music festival here in Toronto, which is Canada’s version of the SXSW fest. NXNE isn’t anywhere near as big as it’s southern brother, but in some ways that’s better… you don’t feel like you miss out on as much. Oh, there’s lots happening, more than enough to fill your evenings with many options of great bands at each timeslot, but not to the point where every …
Here is a great website community that endeavours to “help musicians and music entrepreneurs create sustainable careers.” They’re building a vast wealth of resources that include video clips, articles, blogs, text transcriptions and full-length video pieces that cover a huge range of topics like musician strategy, marketing, production, legal, education and careers in music. These topics then get broken down into more specific sections like tools/gear, careers, genre, networking, songwriting, publicity, promotion, advertising, retail/distribution, merchandise, …
