Indie Musicpreneurs Tipscast

This entry is part 6 of 10 in the series Websites There are a lot of bad band websites out there. There are also a lot of really great ones. Surprisingly there are only a few basic principles that can separate a great band website from a horrible one. Here we cover 3 simple things you can do right now to improve your website and the experience of your visitors. When deciding on a website design, you must do everything in your power to make the experience enjoyable for viewers. It’s the same principle as when your band performs. You hope everyone shows up, has a great time, and they leave wanting more. Stream the podcast below or subscribe on Apple Music or Google Play. Simplify There’s nothing worse than a cluttered website. Let it breathe. When there is too much activity on a page, people are overwhelmed. When people are overwhelmed they get confused. When they are confused, their brain starts freaking out. So they leave. Your website is THE center of your web presence. It needs to accomplish at least 3 things: Convince people to click play. Allow and persuade people to join your mailing list. Lead them to buying music and/or merch. Too often bands try and display their entire career on the home page. Epic fail. This is what you want to happen when a potential fan visits your website. You want them to have easy access to your music. Do NOT make them dig for it. You want to lead visitors where you want them to go. If you are selling copies of your new album, then your website design needs to reflect that goal. If you want mailing list sign-ups, make it easy for people to find your subscribe box. You want them to be able to contact you. What if I found your website, wanted to book you for an interview, but could not find any information on your website with an e-mail address, contact form, or social media link? You just lost out. As far as colors go allow me to share some friendly advice, try to stick to 3 colors: 2 primary and 1 accent. Turn off auto play Auto-play is notorious for interrupting, not only my vibe, but my workflow. If I am in the middle of head banging on top of my desk to the latest Soul Sanctuary album, the last thing I want to do is be interrupted by your bubble gum pop song about puppy love….seriously. Alternatively, if I was in the middle of listening to an interview with my favorite recording engineer, I’m going to be really irritated when your music starts blaring through the speakers. First impressions are everything and your site’s auto-play has put a bad taste in my mouth before I have even given your band a chance. Auto-play can kill a good buzz like the police. Turn it off. Blog You can check out our article 4 Reasons Why Your Band Needs To Blog to learn the why behind this one. I will elaborate, briefly. You need to think of yourself and your band as content creators. In order to be a band, you are already creating content in the form of songs = music + lyrics + practice. For your website, your web presence, and your fan base, you need to think bigger. When consulting with others about their online presence, blogging is always met with resistance and a big… “ugh..I don’t have time for that”. Don’t have time for what? Expanding your fan base? Moving your music forward? Getting s*** done!? Then go find a job. Blogging is a lot easier than people think. Even if you hate writing, you can still successfully blog. More people listen and watch than read so the odds are already in your favor (if you hate writing). Here are some ideas: Have a camera? Create videos discussing the stories, processes, or nuances behind your songs. Pick 1 song a week, figure out how to capture the best quality video possible, upload it to YouTube, then embed the video in a blog post and promote it for a week. Listen to music? Review albums from your friends’ bands, bands you are a fan of, or popular bands in your genre. If you enjoy their music, chances are your fans will too. This will help drive traffic to your site through SEO as well. Podcast. Podcasting is essentially creating an mp3 file and uploading it to the web for consumption. Create a weekly, bi-weekly, or monthly show with a theme or a specific focus in mind. Then let us show you how to get your podcast on iTunes. The important thing is to decide on a strategy, stay consistent, and never give up. Have you seen a horrible band website lately? Share it below in the comments. (Good) Website Examples Soul Sanctuary Mayday Radio Mr. Hunter Brother Octopus Note: There is no such thing as a “perfect” website so do not spend a lot of time stressing out about the design or layout of your website. The important thing is to keep it simple, make it enjoyable for your fans, and make sure you are directing people to take action (download, buy, share). Also, remember that your website is a living, breathing, organic asset. Just because it looks this way today doesn’t mean you can’t change it tomorrow. Join our Indie Musicpreneurs Tribe and receive articles like this one plus more in your inbox.Enter your email below to receive updates, tools and resources useful for marketing music online. You will also be the first to know about upcoming events, courses, webinars and the latest developments. Join the Journey You have Successfully Subscribed!

The point of today’s Tipscast is to drive home the point that artists need to stop chasing the money. Don’t let the industry’s smoke and mirrors game distract you or get you down. I’ve been working with an artist who has been knocking on the industry’s door trying to move his career to the next level and with that process has come some valuable insight into the realities of the current state of the music business. Most importantly…NO ONE buys music anymore Most money (on the higher levels) is being made from product placement and/or sponsorships. Touring used to be the breadwinner for most musicians but now, with 360 deals becoming the standard, even touring is losing it’s financial punch. Unless you are Drake or Taylor Swift or happen to have built a huge following and support system independently (aka Tech N9ne and Strange Music), you are owned by and in debt to the major labels supporting you. It is said that when Drake drops a new project, he receives 1 million streams in a matter of 10 hours. How much money that actually brings in is up for debate. Most of the “bigger” artists who are not Drake but still competing at the major level are not able to pull those numbers. From conversations this week, I am under the impression that artists under a major deal have quotas to meet; say 1 million streams and 30,000 downloads in a 12 month period (for example). If you fail to meet your quota, the label doesn’t have to replenish your budget when contracts come up for renewal. With that said, if you’ve noticed “famous” rappers dropping mixtape after mixtape in a short period of time…more than likely that particular artist is trying to meet their quota. Artists on Drake or Taylor Swift’s level don’t have to worry about it. When Taylor Swift refuses to put her albums on Spotify, everyone at Spotify cringes and feels the pain. However, that’s not going to stop Spotify from hiring someone to create an album of Swift covers so they can at least provide something Taylor-esque to their loyal streamers. You might have heard of the rapper Young Thug. Having received a lot of press and publicity over controversy with Lil Wayne, Baby Williams, and Cash Money Reocrds; Young Thug was only able to sell 19,000 units during the first week of his latest album release. If Young Thug has a quota to meet, he’s probably stressing right now… The moral of the story is to stay focused on your passion, don’t chase the money, and don’t become distracted by the industry or it’s big game of smoke and mirrors. Stay on course and make the best music you can. Join our Indie Musicpreneurs Tribe and receive articles like this one plus more in your inbox.Enter your email below to receive updates, tools and resources useful for marketing music online. You will also be the first to know about upcoming events, courses, webinars and the latest developments. Join the Journey You have Successfully Subscribed!

In this Tipscast, I discuss Facebook. Specifically, advertising, marketing, and band pages. Whether you love or hate Facebook, there is no denying the true power and precision of their advertising platform. In these 10 minutes, I talk about why. Points I discuss include: Facebook advertising custom audiences algorithm changes Lead Ads (new feature) 30 day inactive “Like” dump

This entry is part 5 of 10 in the series WebsitesIn this Tipscast I answer one of the most popular questions I have been asked over the years… Does my band need a website? The short answer is yes but what you really need is a domain name, www.yourband.com. Once you own a domain name, you can then redirect it anywhere on the web (including a free blog site such as WordPress.com or even your FB or Bandcamp page). Why do I need a domain name? Branding. Marketing. Professionalism. Simplicity. Having business cards, posters, flyers, and album art with www.yourband.com is a lot classier than seeing something like mybandrocks.tumblr.com. It also gives you an edge when making first impressions and helps you stand above the artists and bands who do not have their business matters organized as well. If you have the budget available, I HIGHLY recommend you actually go ahead and pay for web hosting and host your own website built by you, a friend or a professional. Why? Control and Permanence. If FB, Twitter, YouTube or any other big corporation you have used to build fan bases over the years ever shut down… You would no longer have access to all those fans. All those views, followers and likes would then become pointless. If you pay for web hosting and maintain your own website, not only do you maintain control of EVERYthing, you can also build your own mailing list and community outside of social media platforms run by other companies with their own agendas. I happen to help bands and indie labels build and maintain affordable, professional, secure websites. You can see some of that work here. If you need a solid company for web hosting, I prefer Bluehost (affiliate link).  I have been a satisfied customer for many years now. Links mentioned in podcast: Web Hosting Price Comparison Table

In this first podcast aka Tipscast, I focus on digital marketing, social media, and the online environment for promoting music as an indie musician. The information in this episode is based on the answer to a question I received. This particular songwriter/artist had moved to Nashville to pursue the dream and although was holding steady at the top of the ReverbNation charts for country and pop/rock crossover; he wasn’t sure what any of it means. I attempted to provide insight and bring clarity to his specific situation and led him to some links and contacts that will hopefully help reach the next step in his pursuits. My 3 recommendations and the main points of this podcast include: Facebook Ads and why YouTube Ads PR – the RIGHT person I also touch on ReverbNation and “what it all means”. Join our Indie Musicpreneurs Tribe and receive articles like this one plus more in your inbox.Enter your email below to receive updates, tools and resources useful for marketing music online. You will also be the first to know about upcoming events, courses, webinars and the latest developments. Join the Journey You have Successfully Subscribed!

In this episode of Mid Tenn Listens, I try something a little different. Instead of featuring music, I hit record on the camera and began an unscripted monologue related to the importance of bands thinking small aka local as opposed to global. Summary and Key Points This rant (for lack of a better term) goes on for 10 minutes but I can sum up the key takeaways in a list. Just because you have access to the Internet does not mean you need to try and market yourself to the entire world. Local does not necessarily mean geographic area. It can mean connecting with an idea, a personality trait, others who read the same books, watch the same movies, and play the same games you do. If you want to make money with your music, you have to get on top of your merch game and you have to play shows. Collect e-mail addresses from people at your shows to figure out which attendees are fans. Booking shows locally, then go to neighboring cities, then leave the state. Combine offline networking (playing shows, going to conferences, and attending shows of other bands in your area) with your online presence and online networking efforts. Use Facebook, Twitter, and other tools to connect with fans in the areas you are playing shows and then use these same tools to let people know when you are playing a show in their area. Basically, you need to treat your band like every other business treats their…well…business. Global corporations did not start out global. McDonald’s was once just a restaurant to get a burger. It has taken around 70 years (estimating) for them to grow to the monster they are now. Same goes for The Rolling Stones, The Beatles, or any other band you love. They once sucked at playing instruments, had no clue how to write a hit song, and knew nothing about music business or marketing. Having access to the Internet doesn’t change this model of growth and development for your band. Think small, start local, and build a community. Resources Music Marketing Essentials: Conquering Your Niche by Jon Ostrow – MicControl.com Nice Music Marketing with Death Row Records via GenYRockstars Join our Indie Musicpreneurs Tribe and receive articles like this one plus more in your inbox.Enter your email below to receive updates, tools and resources useful for marketing music online. You will also be the first to know about upcoming events, courses, webinars and the latest developments. Join the Journey You have Successfully Subscribed!