More on Music Marketing…

When starting out with a project in the music industry, but especially in the diverse environment that is today’s music, it’s seemed increasingly important to be wide-ranging with your ideas to how any particular artist’s music might be used.

Ideas in books like “Tribes” by Seth Godin and the work of Nettwerk Music Group’s Terry McBride have been major influences in my thinking on how to approach the marketing and tribe building of El Corazon.  To that end, I decided to use an approach that was outlined by Terry in a September 2009 report commissioned by Music Tank – and one that has since been implemented with one of Nettwerks’ artists, James Yuill.

As a starting point, I compiled answers, purely for my own information, to the questions below to better understand the context in which the music and the artist would stand upon release:

1. Who and what is the artist?

2. Who is their aligned tribe?

3. What does that tribe do from the moment

they wake up, until they go to bed?

4. Where does that tribe hang out physically

and virtually?

5. What other artists are resonating with this artist’s tribe?

6. Why do other artists resonate with this tribe?

7. What other brands are aligned with this tribe?

8. What other media types are aligned with this tribe?

9. What are the tribes’ causes?

10. How does this tribe differ from country to country on these same attributes?

(Source:  Music Tank)

Approaches will differ from artist to artist, but the focus here is identifying the community around which and within which the artist could potentially grow, and visualizing aspects of how artist and music can creatively interact with that community.

What approaches are you using for understanding and building a fanbase and what successes are you seeing? What do you think the potential pitfalls would be using the above approach?

Metrics…

If there’s one thing anyone tackling any project in the music industry knows, it’s vital to experiment. But let’s be clear here: an experiment is testing causal relationships among variables or testing a hypothesis. How can you test a hypothesis if you don’t have accurate instruments with which to test it?

The advertising industry has already recognized “how poor metrics are undermining digital marketing“, and the same is absolutely true for music marketing.

I mentioned BandMetrics in my last post (over on PennyDistribution.WordPress.Com), and I’m also a fan of Trendrr.  Google Alerts is a clumsy but useful tool – and there are many off-shoots or versions of Google Alerts (such as Addictomatic) that can be used to track buzz, but they all feel like blunt instruments.

Here’s my question: WHERE are the great innovators in music metrics? What metrics or services are YOU using to find out where, when and how often fans are listening to your music?

Update: Just heard about a very interesting metrics tracking site called www.trendly.com – it more usefully interprets your Google Analytics data, presenting trends etc. Just dipping into it now, but looks very promising!

Update II: Had some great responses – RockDex is another GREAT data cruncher.  But Live365 records plays of your songs, as does LastFM & Pandora.  All great tools to measure impact…

The Deadline [ie. First Gig]

Declan (producer) and myself (Amy – musician) have been trying out a few ideas in studio, here and there, for the last few months. We’ve been ’sketching’ ideas down in a rather loose and somewhat lazy fashion [Last week I spent about 2 hours putting down individual trumpet notes, before playing steel brushes on a plank of wood just to see...all of which was thrown out in the end]. However, all that airy faerie, whimsical  wanderings will soon have to end as we’re about to entre the next stage.

There’s nothing like a bit of pressure to make things happen, so…the band has it’s first gig booked for the 20th of October. It was with this knowledge I gathered four friends, and now band members, to help me make it a reality. Forming as a sort of collective, everything is pretty free flowing at the moment. But two practices in and we have a fair idea of about four songs. It’s strange to be in the driving seat explaining what I want from each member, but thankfully they are all fantastic musicians.

My immediate aim is to get the band ready for the 20th and get at least two songs recorded and finished asap. I kinda forgot all the hard work that has to go into the very beginning of a project, but I’m so excited to be back playing live again and be recording these songs. Through my time playing in a dodgy pop punk band, to singing solo, and my time with Boathouse – I think I’ve grown as a writer/performer and I feel (and hope) that this new project is the culmination of all those experiences and brings me closer to what I’ve been aiming for since I first played a note.

The band line up so far:

• Amy McGarrigle
• Kieran Hughes
• Rory O’Connor
• Conor McCafferty
• Owen Lamont

All the best,

Amy

Recording sessions well under way

A sneak peak of the music and recording space for the project…This is just the beginning.

It’s so damn NOISY out here…

Getting heard.  For any musician, it’s a big problem, and it’s only getting worse.

Here’re some numbers to think about (via US Music Information Service, Nielsen/Soundscan)

• In 2007, 79,695 records were released worldwide.
• In 2008, that number jumped to 105,575 – the largest increase of it’s kind in the history of recorded music.

And there’s your noise.  Releasing music has never been easier ergo more people are doing it.

It’s a terrifying concept for marketers – but a wonderful one for us, the music listeners.  There may be 105k releases every year, but we’ve got the tools, the saavy and the desire to filter that information any way we want – RSS feeds, music blogs, P2P, LastFM recommendations, internet radio – it all makes it relatively simple to find great music.

So how do you get heard?

First off, understand that the rules are still being invented.  There is no “right” way to approach it and the methods are so varied that only a commitment to experimentation, and disciplined measurement  of the results can help you progress.

Second, understand that the listener is in charge, not you.  The audience now controls when, how, where and most importantly IF they pay you any attention – with pay being the operative word.

2 of our favourite methods, and ones that hold much promise, are below:

• CwF + RtB = $$$ – Connect with Fans (CwF) and give them a Reason to Buy (RtB).  More success stories that you can imagine – Mike Masnick explains
• Meet the Millenials – Terry McBride outlines the appoach taken by his company to build and continue to succeed with a wide variety of artists.  The scope not only covers understanding the artist, their influences and processes of creativity but delves into understanding an artist’s audiences preferences – from consuming music to clothes – as well as causes to which the artist may be aligned.

These are only guides.  Inspirations, really, toward what El Corazon is trying to achieve – but important steps toward getting heard.