Those Who Can, Do. Those Who Can and Want People to Pay Some Effing Attention, Teach.

Today I'm covering a Method of Promotion that I would consider 'Outside the Box'. I've talked before about how Youtube can be such a powerful tool when it comes to promoting your music, and by and large this is assumed to mean performances and music videos. But that really isn't all that Youtube is good for...

If you've got the skills to pay the proverbial bills, it's a very good idea to offer a helping hand to musicians who may be looking to pick up some of the knowledge you've already attained. Magazines such as Computer Music are famous for getting artists to record tutorial videos, which drive traffic from Youtube. Rusko's Dubstep tutorial is one of my favourites (he's just such a likable dude), and as you can see the numerous links posted to this video and searches for "Dubstep tutorial" have taken this video to approaching 150,000 views. Can't argue with that.

"But I can't make Dubstep!". Well that's okay. The chances are if you've made music and you're looking to promote it, you have some skills in the world of music (If not, maybe try showcasing them anyway and it could turn into a comedy sensation). If your skills are in production, great, show people how to program a beat, or good EQ settings for guitars, anything you think people might search Youtube, or indeed Google for. If your skills lay in playing music, that's fine too, offer tutorials in how to play a popular song on piano, guitar, bass, or even drums. Be confident in your ability, and willing to throw it on out there for people's benefit.

There are three main reasons for offering tutorial style videos on Youtube. The first, quite obviously, is the ability to include links. Link in your description and it will drive traffic to wherever you want, Myspace, your own website, even Twitter. Another reason is simply getting your name out there, make sure you let everyone know who you are, and if they hear your name again they're more likely to start paying attention to your tunes. Thirdly, Youtube now offers financial incentives to those with accounts, and if you have enough followers you can apply for the right to earn money from the videos you chuck online, and every bit of cash you can make from music helps, as I'm sure you already know.

Recommended Reading: Factory - Mick Middles.

This won't be the last time I mention a Mick Middles book in our recommended reading section. Middles has written with, and about, such influential musicians as The Fall, Elbow and Joy Division. This book is an account of Tony Wilson's Factory Records. Label of Joy Division/New Order, and later the Happy Mondays.

Factory adopted a punk attitude, starting from a bedroom and encapsulating a generation of forward thinking music fans. Factory opened a venue, The Hacienda, which became the centre of the UK music scene, they saw New Order's 'Blue Monday' become the biggest selling single of all time, and released a string of huge albums. But all was not well within Factory, The Hacienda was a financial blow out, bands and releases were mismanaged, and Factory splurged their cash reserves away before eventually going bust.

Contracts written in blood, Singles which made a 5p loss on every sale, and amazing promotion. Factory is a story that we can learn both good and bad practice from. I suggest you do your research.

A DVD of the Factory Records story, 24 Hour Party People, was released in 2002. Steve Coogan and co present the Factory story. It's strongly recommended (may have to buy myself a second copy for when mine inevitably gets worn out).

Let Your Fans Do The Work

Yes, you heard. It's tough to gain followers in this cut-throat world of music, so we'd all be very stupid not to utilise the support we have. We ALL have support, if you don't have 20,000 followers on Twitter or Facebook, don't make the mistake of thinking nobody cares enough to help you out, even if it's friends and family, our methods will help you getting people to spread the word on your behalf.

1. Social Networking - It has to be said that spending all of your time trying to promote yourself on Facebook or Twitter is absolutely useless. Don't obsess, and please don't spam people, or bombard them with suggestions, status updates and links every minute, nobody's going to care. However, in moderation, and used constructively, social networking sites can be useful. Ask your friends, family and fans to invite their friends to a Facebook page, maybe this can be mutual, if they have something they'd like to promote, repay the favour, this helps both of you get your name out, and usually builds your reputation locally. Once you have people as fans, though, use them wisely, don't lose their interest.

2. Who do I know? - Sometimes it can be easy to overlook what your friends and families actually do, as jobs or hobbies, and how this can help you. Maybe you have a friend who works in the media, or even attends a university with a good music scene. Think it through, how can your contacts help? Ask them to pass on a demo or put up a poster somewhere useful. It will surprise you how far this could get you.

3. Merch - Get some Merchandise made! It all helps spread your name. It doesn't have to be T-Shirts. Badges, pens and posters can all be good, cheap ways of getting your band name in peoples houses and offices. Sell them for a small price at gigs, or give them away. I'm not implying that somebody will see your name on a badge and instantly buy your CD, or look you up online, but the more times they hear it, the more likely they are to pay some damn attention!

4. Demos - If you haven't already recorded demos (and recorded them WELL thankyou very much), do so, and don't think they're just for all those important people at the radio stations and record labels. Give them to your friends, give two to a friend and encourage them to recommend it to someone. Not only is it a nice gesture, especially if they're going to help you with promotion, it increases the chances that somebody is going to listen to your music. Get on it.

How to Get Gigs

The vast majority of Musicians will at some stage want to take their tunes to an audience and play it live. It's both fun, and a brilliant way to build your fanbase. The challenge is getting your foot in the door with venues and promoters. So here's a guide to help you through this tough process.

1. Press Kits - You can find articles about press kits and press releases elsewhere on this site if you want to go into more detai. Basically, you need to provide a well labelled (both the CD and the file) demo, along with a well written biography which showcases your achievements (being played on the radio, other gigs you've played, reviews of your music). Think of it as a sort of CV or Resume, don't babble on about what you like to do at the weekend, get to the point, and try and make people pay attention. Impress them, but be truthful, and keep it relatively short, they don't want your life story!

2. Network - Networking is a point I drill home all the time, it's not always something that appeals to creative types, but talking to people and trying to figure out how they can help you will benefit you no end. Make yourself do it. You can network at gigs, or by talking to friends who are musical, or even better involved in the industry, or you can do this online. If online is the route you take, send emails, make sure they're personal and you know who you're talking to. Venues and promoters will have some sort of website or social networking page, usually with contact details, find some local gig listings and trace back who is responsible for them, you're a few emails away from needing to send out your press kit.

3. Don't Demand Cash - If you're just starting gigging anyway, make sure you don't request any money, just be grateful for the chance to showcase your music and meet people. The money will come, and there are plenty of ways to monetise live performances which don't leave the venue or promoter out of pocket (check out our other articles for ideas).

4. Put on a Good Show - This doesn't mean just playing your tunes well (though that really does help), involve the audience perhaps, or showcase something unusual that you've experimented with. I know a guy who does a lot of live-looping, it impresses people, and they remember him. Being memorable is vital to staying in your local gig circuit, and will help you to build a fanbase.

5. Do it Yourself! - Can't find a gig? No music scene where you are? Make it happen. The chances are there are tons of likeminded people wherever you are. Send emails to local venues, or even pubs and clubs, and try and make something happen. Not only will this give you a chance to play your music, it will build relationships too, and we all know how important that is.

So there we go, some tips to help you get gigging. For tips on what else to do once you have the gigs, such as selling merchandise and CDs, take a look at our other articles.

Blogging for Musicians

Blogging is a phenomenon that many musicians have embraced since the internet began to boom. So much so that musical award ceremonies have started running "best blog" categories. So what's the fuss about? Why have so many musicians taken to it, and is it something you should be embracing?

Personally, I think blogs are a fantastic opportunity for us music types, and not just because I'm writing a blog post now! A blog is a way to communicate with friends, fans and contacts in the industry, including a blog on your website, or even replacing your website with a blog is a way of turning a static, brochure style site into a living, breathing online representation of yourself, and your work.

How to approach your blog.

Successful blogs, musical or otherwise, always manage to strike a chord with their readership. Base your posts on what type of band/artist you are, if you're a band who deals with political and sociological issues, write about current events, give your opinion, stir things up a little. If you're an electronica artist, post about your studio, your gear and your techniques. Of course, talking about other musicians can help you too, and linking to their sites or blogs - build a few alliances and you'll be well away. Talking about relevant subjects that don't revolve about how good your latest track is or when it will be released or how people can buy it can not only keep your fans interested in what you're saying, but can even drive traffic from google, or, if you get people talking, provide some word-of-mouth marketing.

Post regularly but not too often, a couple of posts a week is enough to keep people satisfied without overloading them.

Communicate! Blogs, like everything else you do online, should be another way of communicating with people. Industry professionals, fans, even friends. Make sure you encourage people to participate, and respond to all the comments and emails you get, people will think a lot of you.

Be constructive with your blogs, and you'll reap the rewards.

Twitter Tips for Musicians

Twitter can be phenomenal tool for promoting music if used correctly. But it's a confusing place, what with all those retweets and tags and trends flying all over the place. How do you get the most out of your twitter from a musical point of view?

Follow relevant people - Finding people on Twitter who are relevant to what you want to achieve can help you build relationships. If you're an electronica act, follow electronica artists and labels, you never know when a conversation can spark up.

Utilise your relationships - Talk to people you've already built relationships with elsewhere, friends, contacts, bloggers, people you already know will be ready and willing to engage on Twitter.

Be real - Don't pretend to be something you're not on Twitter, talk about your interests and other aspects of your life, it may press someone's buttons!

Avoid overkill - You probably don't need to be told, but if you tweet every three minutes, and tell people every time you put the kettle on, your followers are going to stop paying attention, they might even stop following you. Base how often you tweet roughly on somebody who you enjoy reading on Twitter.

"Join the Conversation" - Tagline it may be, but it's particularly appropriate for Twitter, the rules you'd apply to a social situation are just as relevant on Twitter. Contribute, start conversations, ask opinions, give your opinions. Also make sure you listen to others, and be a part of what they talk about. This will gain you followers, but more importantly it will ensure that you stick in peoples' minds, they'll be much more likely to pay attention when you tweet.

Don't worry too much - Twitter should just be another tool in your arsenal, fretting over how many followers you have won't make them magically appear, just drop in now and then, join in, and get on with more interesting aspects of your career in music (you can tweet about these later).

I'm sure you'll be tweeting like pros in no time.

Know Your Niche

One of the most important lessons you'll learn in your quest to get your music heard is to find out exactly who enjoys it. It sounds a bit too obvious to be writing an article about eh?

Well I'm sure you've all got an idea of what kind of music you make, you know your influences, and you probably have some idea of the kind of people whose iPods you're looking to creep onto. However I'd also wager that you haven't researched this as much as you could've. Us musicians can get quite a warped view of our own music. I make electronica, and once made a track I thought sounded like it had a Massive Attack feel to it, only to be told it sounded like The Knife, something I hadn't considered. There's nothing wrong with this, but a second opinion on who your music sounds like can really help you work out who you're aiming it at.

Being compared to specific artists isn't particularly helpful though, what are you going to do, spam their fansites? What really will help you is to get involved with communities. It's one thing knowing that there's a good alternative scene in your city, hell, you could even find the email addresses of those involved and try to get in touch with them, but they're probably not going to listen. The best way to get involved is to actually get out there and meet people, go to gigs or clubs which are relevant to your music, talk to people, meet people who will either be able to help you musically, or even just recommend your E.P to their friends, or buy it themselves. Not just any old people, relevant people, your niche.

The same applies online, post on relevant forums, talk to people from relevant bands, try to start conversations on Twitter or Facebook. No, DON'T spam, nobody will pay attention as I'm sure you know by now. Contribute, give something to your Niche, and you'll get something back. Build real relationships with these people, and soon you'll have plenty of contacts who are interested, and willing to do you favours.

Interview: Reverb Nation's Jed Carlson

The guys at Reverb Nation are huge players in online music promotion, they provide a music marketing platform, uniting artists, managers, labels and venues. Their Chief Operating Officer Jed Carlson took time out to answer our questions.

Q. How many people use Reverb Nation currently?
A. 650,000+ Artists, Labels, Managers and Venues

Q. Is there a specific genre or style of music that has latched on to Reverb Nation more than the others?
A. No, we serve all genres. We get a huge variety of genres here.

Q. How do you think you differ from all the other Music sites?
A. We provide a 'one stop shop' for Artists and those that orbit them to run the business part of their small music business.

Q. Do you think Myspace Music is falling behind in the race to be number one Music Social Networking site?
A. Yes. I think that MySpace has decided to become more of a content company than a social net. They say as much in their own statements these days.

Q. How does your 'Fair Share' feature work, and how can artists make the most of it? What sort of financial benefits can they expect?
A. We take 50% of the net ad revenue each month and pass it along to the pool of Artists who are using our site on a monthly basis. Nobody is getting rich from this, but we don't feel like we should benefit more than the Artists for the traffic they drive to the site.

Q. How does your 'Street Team' feature work, and how can artists make the most of it?
A. Artists can create missions for their fans to get them to share the content around the web and we keep track of how well any individual fan is doing at accomplishing that goal. Artists who use it to promote specific things like new CD releases, upcoming shows, etc are using it best and getting the most out of it.

Q. Any new features in the pipeline you can tell us about?
A. We don't really discuss new features until they become available. This is for competitive reasons, mostly, but also because we need to test them before they go out to the masses.



Well there we go. Here at Method Promotion we've already expressed how impressed we are with Reverb Nation, and the services and resources they offer. We've kept this interview short and sweet, because the way you'll learn more about how Reverb Nation works is to get yourself signed up. We suggest that you do.

Big thanks to Mr. Carlson!

Music Consumption Habits

When you boil it down, all Music Promotion really consists of is trying to make somebody give your tunes a chance. Obviously you have this beautiful blog to help you with your promotion methods, but amidst all the techniques we talk about, there's something we haven't really covered yet - listening habits.

The inspiration for this blog post came when I decided to listen to a band for the first time. I first heard of the band in question just before christmas, I was working in a record store at the time, and saw their C.D. - that was the extent of my interest, and I thought nothing of them, until a few months down the line, I heard one of their songs on the radio, I was doing something else at the time (eating or preparing food probably) and didn't pay a lot of attention (maybe there was pesto in the fridge, and it made me all the more excited about my sandwich) but I managed to catch the name of the band, draw a link, and somewhere in my subconscious keep this information stored. Next thing that happened? I heard that Johnny Marr had gone and seen this particular band on tour. Now, this part of the sequence was a recommendation, and though my theory as to the acceptance of new music is in its fledgling stages, I've worked out that this section is key. I can draw a direct link through my music collection based on recommendation, when I was 14, I started listening to Radiohead, I heard Thom Yorke talk about David Byrne and started listening to Talking Heads, I also heard him talking about Aphex Twin, through Aphex Twin I heard about Warp Records, Boards of Canada followed, Clark and Autechre took me to a music festival where I heard Modeselektor...and well, you get the picture. Shall I complete the sequence? I heard the band in question again yesterday, on a sporting montage sequence of all things, but this time, I had heard enough hype about the band, and in a roundabout way been recommended the band, so I payed attention. The song was really good, and somewhere in my head they've been added to a list of good music, and funnily enough that list is tied directly to my iTunes, and more unfortunately, my bank account.

The point I'm trying to make here is that for me, music has to prove itself before I even listen to it, and I'm sure it's the same for others. It's not intentional, nor is it a way to pigeonhole myself, and make sure I'm only getting one type of music on my iPod, but when you consider the shear volume of music available to us, I think it's only fair that something has to stand out. I'm sure there are exceptions, and people who are very active in their search for new music may listen to things and develop an opinion the first time they've heard of it, but what percentage of fans are going to come looking for you? Not many is the answer.

So how can we work around this theory of having to prove yourself? Or even use it to our advantage? Well you need to start with quality of course, nobody is going to recommend something they don't like. But if your tunes are up to scratch, perseverance is key. Having targeted an audience, you need to find them in more ways than one, 'cos one wont be enough. I think people need to hear about you three times to give you a chance. So, if you can get yourself in three blogs somebody may read, or somebody they know becomes a fan on facebook and you get in two blogs they read, or you get on a radio station they listen to and two blogs...Well you get it, people will very rarely hear about something once and think it's worthy of their attention, make sure they hear about you a few times. This doesn't have to be tough either, you don't exactly have to get on television - just persevere on Facebook (but don't be a pest), if it takes three invitations to three separate gigs of yours for them to press the play button, then so be it, don't spam, don't ask people to listen every three seconds, just persevere and be patient.

Make sense?

Good.

Bandcamp - Online Music Store of the Future

So, one of our musical ventures "Method Label" has just relaunched. Previously it was called something different, and used Paypal to accept people's money. We're a "pay what you like" label - which made any sort of online shop very difficult to set up. Not many support this method of payment. And neither did Bandcamp, until this month...

Yes, as if by magic, I was trawling the internet looking for an outlet for Method Label's tunes when I heard the news that Bandcamp had just started letting their stores charge what they like to download (if they choose), and not just this, they've started supporting shops for Labels as well. Perfectomundo!

"Well good for you" you might be thinking, "but why bother us with your tales of Ecommerce?". Well I wanted to make sure nobody else ended up settling for mere paypal buttons as I used to, or the STUPID shop that your web provider think is a good idea to include in your package which you CANT EVEN DECIDE ON A DESIGN YOURSELF!

Ok, deep breath, I'm back...

Bandcamp provides an accessible, thorough and FREE service, which I'll wager would rival any paid service you could find. You get your own .bandcamp domain, or you can host your store on your own website. The store is customisable, flexible, and detailed, and allows you to both track and promote your sales with some brilliant features, such as embedding your tunes on blogs and sites, and statistics on plays, downloads and purchases. What's more, the guys that run it are helpful, and have a sense of humour about the way they run their site, which is always refreshing to see.

Am I biased? No, I'm not getting anything out of mentioning this, no freebies from Bandcamp, nothing. I had such a frustrating time trying to find somewhere to sell our music - if I can save one person that effort from writing this article, it really will be worth it. Also, a music resource that's run so well deserves a mention here and there. Check them out!

Giving it Away? Get it right!

The value of music is something that's been debated a huge amount in recent times, and if the music industry is to get out of this rut, that's no bad thing. Sure, the internet has allowed people to steal music in huge quantities, and in this post I have promised myself not to rant about the positives and negatives of that, so I wont. Another thing the industry has given us is the ability to give our music away for free, as a way of building hype, building reputation, and building a fan-base. Great.

And it is great. Before the internet we couldn't have dreamt of finishing a track, and being able to distribute it to fans all over the globe simultaneously, at the click of a few buttons, and letting people have your music for free is an effective way of persuading people your tunes could just be worth the listen. Easy? Well it sure sounds it, but trust me, there's an art to giving your tracks away. I've devised some ground rules.

1. Collect email addresses. I cannot stress this enough, I've said it before, and I will say it again. Every opportunity you have to take the email address of somebody that might be interested in your music now, or in the future, take it. Plus, in the instance of a track giveaway via your site, it makes it feel legitimate. Check my previous articles for info on why a Mailing List is so damn important.

2. Keep it bitesize! If I see somebody giving away a whole album for free via their myspace, or a link on sendspace, I feel like it's something they've made in their room over the course of a week, on a terrible computer, with terrible speakers, and terrible software. I think it's gonna be terrible, if you hadn't already gathered. This could just be prejudice by me, granted. For somebody who runs a record label I should probably be more forgiving of this kinda thing. But I'm really not, and I'm sure that the connotations of a free album from an artist you've never heard of are the same for most people. Give away a track, maybe two, in the run up to an album or an E.P release, and it will make fans feel like they're getting something exclusive, and build some hype for when the release does come. Sorted.

3. Try and include some artwork. An image for peoples iPods wont go amiss, and it'll make sure they remember who you are. Again, it can make it feel more official and professional too. It's the little things, guys...

4. Get it featured! Your giveaway doesn't have to be exclusive to your own websites and social networking. Get Blogs to feature it too. They're often keen to have the content, and find some new music, and indeed draw people to their site. Using a company to spread the word for you, such as Method Promotion can get your music to hundreds of blogs at once, and even if only 20% were to feature it, you can still reach thousands of readers.

That's it folks. If you have any more tips and ideas, stick them in the comments, hell I may even come back and edit the post if they're good enough.

UK Music call for shakeup of small venue gig laws

UK music have today called for a new cabinet committee for the music industry. Awesome - as I've said many times, the industry is changing, and the acceptance of that, and the desire to support an industry that makes is worth £5billion a year to our economy, is crucial.

However, it's one specific aspect of Feargal Sharkey's new proposals that I want to focus on. Licenses for small venues to put on gigs. He's described the necessity for pubs, and smaller clubs and venues to have a license to put gigs on as "a huge bureaucratic burden to place on those pubs and artists". I agree.

To say music needs a live scene is stating the bloomin' obvious. However, perhaps the need for this grass roots level, places where people can play to 50 people in a pub, is something that's not been debated enough. Obviously our focus here is on the promotion of music, and I'd love to be writing an article right now on how finding small gigs to go and meet new people and play your music to is a great way of building fans and even contacts. But I'm not writing that article, because I know how hard it can be. I live near Norwich in the United Kingdom. We have a few venues here, the UEA, Waterfront, and Arts Centre being the main ones. They're fantastic, but I know from experience that they aren't cheap or easy to book, and that for unsigned bands it's almost impossible to get a gig there. I'd love to say there were more venues smothered around my city that made a live scene for small and unsigned artists possible, but yet again, I can't.

"That first step is what is part of the process of what ends up with people being able to stand on a stage at Wembley in front of ninety thousand people." Sharkey goes on. This summarises it nicely for me. I think we need to make it easy for the owners of pubs, clubs, even places that could double up as a venue, if music is to continue to breed talent from a garage band level. Playing to small crowds can be great publicity, a great moneymaker and indeed just great fun! Anything that can make this more common surely can't be a bad thing?

Music Matters. Right?

Music Matters, as you've probably heard, is a new initiative encouraging people to enjoy music legally. The Music Matters logo is already being displayed on the sites of HMV, Tesco, and many more, in order to show the legitimacy of the downloads they supply, and that the money they pay is filtering through to the artists.

There's also a string of videos, reminding people of the inspiration drawn from music, and of the legal ways to listen to it.



These videos are set to be shown in schools as well as spread around online.

I find it absolutely sickening that there is a fresh wave of download sites which look legitimate, and claim to be legitimate, charging for downloads when they are not in any way official, or providing musicians with an income. These sites need to be tackled, and by the look of it Music Matters is taking that into consideration.

When you start debating what music is really worth, things can get really sticky, especially downloads, people can struggle to put a value on something that isn't even tangible, let alone something that can vary in quality so much. A stream of facts from the BPI have shown that 12-19 year olds are paying for music a lot less than they used to, and that 30-40 year olds are putting the most money back into the music industry through actual sales of music. Well, it makes sense doesn't it? Can we expect a 14 year old with no income to save up the pocket money from Granny in order to download an album, when it's always going to be there online for them to take for free, no matter what preventative measures are attempted? Well, no, I don't think we can. However, getting kids to understand that work goes into music, and that it's important to support it where they can, really should be high on the agenda.

Indeed, I hope that this scheme is taking that approach, but a little part of me cannot help but desperately hope that the authorities behind this aren't clinging to the old music model of having to part with £10 in a shop or online when you want to hear an album. Don't get me wrong, this is fine, hell, I do it myself most of the time! But what I'm trying to say is that music has been changed by the internet, whether we cling to the old methods of buying it or not. And I wonder if perhaps we should be educating on alternatives, and new ways to show your support, than trying to reinforce the old school.

I put it to you that buying a CD, released on a major label, does not actually line the pockets of the artist more than a few pence a time. Now I know a big label provide huge promotion, and the part they play means they need to take a big percentage of the cash. However, the internet is changing the way we can promote music too, and the role of a major label may even be dying a death. Now, consider downloading an album for free. SHOCKING hey? Well consider doing it through a small label, that small label is allowing people to take the album for either a donation of the consumers choice, or for absolutely zip, just an email address. So say 10,000 people take it for free, the label has their email addresses, another 10,000 pay a fee, job done. Of the 10,000 that didn't pay, 5,000 enjoyed the album, and 2,000 enjoyed it enough to buy merchandise, recommend it to friends, or see the artist touring. The email addresses they've left allow the label to tell them how they can do all of this, and with a little bit of effort and clever thinking, the money can be recuperated.

I'm aware that I've gone off on a tangent somewhat, but my point is that yes, music DOES matter, and people should understand a need to support artists, but maybe it's time we give something new a try?

More Mailing List Madness

Okay so maybe it's not that mad... However, Mailing Lists, as I have mentioned before, can be a fantastic tool for any band, artist, DJ or label.

I've recently changed from free mailing list providers, which are great for when you're just starting, to paid providers, which have a lot more features for your mailing pleasure.

Having trawled the net looking for a Mailing List Provider on the cheap, I realised it wasn't going to happen, and started to worry that I was going to have to spend a lot to get a decent service. People were trying to charge me £30 a month for a service with a lot of limits and not that many features. Now I don't want to sound like a salesman, but stubling upon the guys at "Your Mailing List Provider" was an absolute godsend.

They have all the features you could ever need, you can have separate groups (perfect for press, radio, fans etc), you can track the success of your newsletters, you can send HTML or text based emails. What more could you ask for? Their packages are tiered really well, and you can upgrade or downgrade any time, so you're only paying for the emails you're sending. It's basically really, really good.

I probably do sound like a salesman here, but I spent so long looking to find these guys, that I'd hate for you to go through the same ordeal. So, if you're looking, look no further: Your Mailing List Provider

Myspace: Is there anybody in there? Poll time...

You don't need me to tell you that the world of social networking has changed over the last few years. I used to use Myspace to contact people for organising gigs, talking about their music, getting demos, getting feedback. Recently I sent a ton of messages to people on myspace trying to set stuff up, people who I thought might be interested in something I had to offer, people who's music I enjoyed, all sorts. I haven't had a reply from a single one of them. Okay maybe people just didn't like what I had to say (it wouldn't be the first time). Or perhaps it's the genre of music, maybe Electronic music provides other outlets for people's tunes so they don't really bother with myspace. Or maybe, just maybe, Myspace as a social networking/music resource is slowly wilting.

Please vote! Tweet, and retweet, comment with your opinions, and post to your Facebook profiles (or Myspace, if you want to be ironic) and lets get a definitive answer as to whether other platforms have overtaken myspace as the home of music networking online.

Cheers kids!

More Youtube Fun

Check out this article in the LA times. Youtube offering a financial incentive for some artists now too. Pretty cool!

You've Got Mail. Or You Should Have...

So, in light of my slightly bitter post not so many days ago, which I wrote as a response to being accused of spamming on Soundcloud. I thought it time to discuss the power of mail, this time not mail on social networking sites, but mailing lists built from your online presence.

One of the most successful things I ever did during my running of a previous record label was to set up a mailing list. We started with a little tiny box in the corner of the website saying "if you'd like to stay updated...blah, blah blah". A few people noticed it, and signed up, but a mailing list containing all of 12 email addresses isn't exactly going to bring a huge amount of traffic when you send a newsletter, so I decided to offer an incentive for people giving me their email addresses. It's simple really, and I'm certainly not claiming to have invented this idea - every time we had an E.P in the pipeline, we'd release a track for free a couple of weeks in advance, all the punters had to do to consume this tasty download was put an email address in a subscribe box. Not just simple, but fair, and more importantly, targeted. We got the email addresses of people who are interested in the genres we specialised in, they got a free track.

Free tracks is just the start. As you grow as an artist you'll be able to collect email addresses from downloads, from CD sales, from Merch sales. I went to a Cribs gig recently, as we queued to enter somebody was giving a way free Cribs comic strips, what did you have to give them in return? Yup, an email address. Quirky, persuasive, fun and useful. Not many refused.

Now for that sticky, sticky subject. Spam. I'm gonna leave this paragraph short. If I get an email address from some random company trying to sell me watches or insurance, I ignore it, and yeah, it annoys me. If I get an email from a band, or a music magazine, or a label, I read it. I'm probably there for a reason! And the chances are I'll be interested. It only benefits you to have relevant email addresses anyway, so don't go offering metal fans free chocolate bars for email addresses so you can send them info on your latest leftfield electronica project, everyone will be happy.

"But I don't want to fork out on a mailing list host!" No, of course you don't, why would you? Well fortunately you won't have to, at least not to start with. If you have a website, many web hosts, 1 and 1 included, offer newsletter building and sending as a part of their packages. If not, try using something like Reverb Nation, if you don't already. You can embed the code in your own website, myspace, even facebook I think. Look:





Shameless.

Hope this gives some ideas. In summary, I think you just have to know how to collect email addresses, and try and be quirky about how you get them. A list of 2,000 interested fans can increase your sales when it comes to release day, or attendance at your gigs when it comes to touring. Be creative in your promotion as well as your tunes.

A Soundcloud Argument

Received a particularly angry email about being on Soundcloud.

I use Soundcloud to try and network, it's what it's for. Method Promotion isn't a Record Label, or an Artist, as you'd usually see on Soundcloud, but I really don't see the harm in trying to network with electronic music makers, even if my business does benefit from it (surely so does a label owner, and even a musician you could argue?)

Short rant. Finito.

The Power of Youtube

Damon Albarn continued a prolific run of form this spring with the release of the latest album under his Gorillaz project. A week before 'Plastic Beach' was released, having woken up and prized my eyes open just about enough to see my computer screen, I saw the news that the video for 'Stylo', the first single, had been put online. Awesome, a car chase, Bruce Willis, what more do you need? (Ha!)

When I saw the video on that Monday morning, it had 2,000 views. I'd heard the song a few times on the radio, but it wasn't until this listen that it really clicked for me, you know the moment when you realise a song's actually pretty damn good. So, the following day I went back to listen again. I was astounded. The view count had reached 800,000. It was just over 26 hours since the video was put online. I quickly calculated that the aggregated viewing time for Stylo had reached around 7 years in a day. I'd never doubted that Youtube was a big deal in music, I use it all the time, sometimes I even prefer it to opening iTunes (don't ask why, I don't know myself), but these facts and figures really demonstrated just how quickly a sensation can be made in the world of cyberspace.

I know what you're thinking. "Oh so all I have to do is become one of the most successful musicians of the last 20 years, get Bruce Willis to star in my video and I'll be away". I know it's an extreme example, the press were always going to be all over it like a cheap suit, not to mention the amount of fans who would have instantly posted the video to their Facebook pages as soon as they saw it. It would be ridiculous of me to suggest that this kind of reaction could be expected for a new artist trying to get some exposure on Youtube. So that's not really my point...

One of the first things I'd suggest for an artist releasing an E.P or even just a single is to try and get a video made. Having run labels myself, I know for a fact that people are more than willing to make videos for you. It doesn't even have to cost you anything. Film/Art students are great for this, get in touch with some and as if they want to be involved, it works both ways, they get credit and exposure, and you can get a great video for your music. If you can afford to, get one made professionally. Youtube videos have provided me with thousands of hits on my website, and I'm a firm believer that the visual aspect of your music really shouldn't be underestimated. The musician, and the maker of the video can tell their friends, and if it's worth watching, they tell theirs, and...well you don't need me to explain the concept of viral marketing.

Time for an example. Well, again, I know what you're thinking. OK Go! Well, it is a prime example. The infamous treadmill video has almost two million hits, and it really is one of those videos that makes you want to post it to your Facebook. OK Go were a pretty small band. I don't have facts and figures, but I'm sure you can imagine how much this video increased their album sales, radio airplay, and in turn the attendance at their gigs. It proves that you don't need to be a big band, or spend a fortune on a video to get it big, and one well thought out piece of work can make a career. However Ok Go isn't the example I'm about to post. Instead, a FAN MADE video for Thom Yorke's 'Black Swan'. It's not even official, but has almost 300,000 views. There's a similar video for Beck's Timebomb. They've just been made with some clever animation, and a lot of thought and effort. They really will leave you wondering if you know anyone who can animate/produce a video. Which, I suppose, is the aim of this post.