“Check out my new mixtape.”  We’ve all been approached or have approached people to offer them our latest music.  Unfortunately, many artists are missing the KEY purpose behind music marketing and promotions: getting more fans!

The important thing when it comes to any form of marketing are your metrics, your ways that you are measuring the success of your campaign.  Many artists have 500+ CDs pressed up and then just hand them out without trying to capture those people into their marketing list.

To all of you smart music marketers and promoters you may be laughing and saying, “this is easy” and you’d be right.  But if you think about it the shear amount of musicians who are skipping something as simple as capturing someones name and Email address is ridiculous.

There is a huge problem in music business and that is the focus on making money NOW.  Its not so much an issue with wanting the money NOW it’s an issue of that mentality clouding an otherwise business savvy artist’s judgement.  If you’re an artist who has done shows, think of all the people who’s EMail addresses you could have captured at the door, if you’re smart you could have even offered an EMail discount (business savvy people would be able to make the discount money back easily with their new list).

When handing out mixtapes, there is no reason not to have someone who is on your TEAM (see older posts) out there with you capturing Email addresses.  You can’t create a loyal following by throwing darts at a map, and when you just throw money away with no marketing plan that is exactly what you’re doing.

It isn’t all about Emails, though.  How difficult is it to lock in a show before the release of a mixtape?  Not very.  Try advertising that show and offering discounts on the insert for your mixtape.  Mixtapes can be a costly promotion, but if you are smart about it you can easily make your money back.

Finally, if your team is lazy, consider hiring some marketing consulting from someone who has experience.  If it’s going to help you make money back on items you previously would have considered sunk costs, then it is worth it.

Until next time…make it happen.

Popularity: 15% [?]

K.I.S.S. means Keep It Simple Stupid.

Sometimes we all get way too focused on all of the latest stuff that we never allow ourselves to actually make anything happen.  I remember when Myspace started getting big for artists and you had artists adding all of the latest widgets and gadgets that it completely bogged down their page and made it unnavigable.  You have to be careful about this in your music career as well.

There are tons of ways to market yourself, and you should try to use all of them.  But, the key is to create a system that allows for ease of use and simplicity.  Whenever you begin exploring a new avenue for music marketing and promotion you should be asking yourself “how can I fit this into my system?”

For example, their are tons of social media sites out there, there are also tools that allow you to update every single one of them at once, you should be utilizing these tools.  I use TubeMogul when I want to upload a video, this allows me to upload a single video and then it distributes that video across multiple video sites.

Keeping it simple does not mean that you avoid new things, it means make them work in a system.  Simplicity is best met when you use a team.  Running a team to perform tasks is much easier than trying to do everything by yourself.  But, how do you find a team?  My favorite place for teams when it comes to music is to find college students who have an interest in music business.  A lot of people get this wrong though, they think they can take college students as free work by saying they’ll gain experience.  Be real with them, give them real benefits, and do what you can to give them REAL rewards.  College students tend to have a strong work ethic which is why I like working with them.

Remember: KEEP IT SIMPLE STUPID

-Eric “Fuse” Phillipson

PS.  You can catch me with DJ Fittd on 502FM.com today (Mon, May 10th) at 4PM EST.

Popularity: 100% [?]

Jeff Johnson hailing from Kentucky is a BEAST!  Not just lyrically, but from a business and music marketing and promotions standpoint as well.  He has a new mixtape coming out called “Marketing Genius Branding Tycoon” with KYMP KAMP and Hustle Squad DJ, DJ Slikk.  The moniker “Marketing Genius” definitely fits him well.  Jeff Johnson is innovative and is a SHINING example of how artists can do it themselves.

Check out these quick marketing videos he did below:

For more Jeff Johnson check out his website www.MakingMyName.com

-Eric “Fuse” Phillipson

Popularity: 97% [?]

About a week ago I made a status update on facebook that said, “Logging on just so I can hit ignore, ignore, deny, ignore, mark as read, deny.”  Funny, I know, but its true.  Don’t get me wrong, I don’t deny, ignore, or mark as read everything I get, I confirm things I’ve seen elsewhere or am familiar with, I attend events that are relative to me.  This brings up a few points in Social Media and how artists are using it in music marketing and promotions.

With social media you cannot focus on one place. There is no reason, as an artist, you should be on Myspace and not on facebook and twitter, or even youtube.  These sites work together to build your brand recognition.  Myspace is great for use as a second electronic press kit (your first should be your own website).  Youtube allows fans to connect with you visually, twitter allows fans to see the day to day, and facebook is a great avenue to just keep that crowd up to date.

A good social media campaign for an artist will have all of their social sites working together to build the brand.  As an artist you are a brand and if you don’t think of yourself as such, you need to start.

Beyond keeping social sites in sync, many artists are failing at creating a targeted fan base.  Why am I receiving event invites for parties in New York when I am in Michigan?  The best thing about the internet, from a marketing standpoint, is that it is measurable.  You can measure where traffic is coming from, with ease.  So why take away from these measurable stats by not focusing in on your target market.

Here’s a tip for new artists, instead of spending countless hours adding a bunch of random people, why don’t you invest those hours into targeting potential fans in your city? Once you gain a following in your city, and you’ve captured them through your social sites as well as created your “street” exposure, then branch out to capturing those in your state, from there branch regionally.  If you start small with baby steps, you’ll be able to run eventually.

So why do most artists fail with music marketing through social media?

A) They don’t allow their social sites to build off of each other or run in sync

and

B) They don’t target potential fans

If you think of yourself as a business and make your moves based on business decisions rather than whats easy, you’ll see your career move in a better direction.

-Eric

Popularity: 7% [?]

When we were kids, and we wanted something from mom or dad, we asked.  A lot of us, if mom said no, we’d ask dad.  If we wanted to become a King, we became kings of our own imaginary worlds, we created our own castles out of chairs and blankets.  A lot of times we got in trouble for this, but we continued going after our goals the best way we knew how. Imagine if you knew then what you know now about making your money work for you.

When we are kids, we’re naive, we don’t know any better and taking risks are just a part of every day life.  Entrepreneur’s every day life is also about risk, and managing that risk. I would venture to say that if us as kids saw how hesitant the us of now are in chasing our dreams, we’d laugh and then continue to rule over our newly created fort.

I understand that the risks we take today are usually far greater than those we take as kids, but the thought process we have today is usually what keeps us from achieving our dreams.  As kids we’re eager to meet new people, when we fall down and get cut, sure we cried, but we probably did the same exact stunt that caused us the pain the next day… and you know, we likely succeeded.

Some of us spend countless hours on the planning phases assuming that this means we’re putting in work.  Then when it comes time for action, suddenly we are too busy and don’t have the time.  Don’t be afraid of action, embrace it!  We all fail, and those that give you a hard time for failure never succeeded themselves and honestly, they don’t matter.  Every successful person understands the value of failure and the value behind becoming actionable.

Do something great, take that dream or that goal you have, and act on it.  Take the first step of many in achieving something that you want.  The only thing that ever truly holds us back from success is ourselves.

-Eric

Popularity: 47% [?]

“I don’t believe in team motivation. I believe in getting a team prepared so it knows it will have the necessary confidence when it steps on a field and be prepared to play a good game.” –Tom Landry

I’ve noticed a lot that people focus so much on motivating those around them that they forget the all important step of actually preparing their team.

This stands correct for any situation.

In the music industry, there is so much that has to be done, that without a team, you will fall behind very quickly.  However, many artists and business people alike make a very fatal flaw, they forget to actually prepare their team for the tasks at hand.

The most important factor in gathering a team is making sure you have dedicated individuals.  People with a passion to learn and excel.  People who all share a common dream.

Notice in there I didn’t say expertise.  While expertise is an important factor in more advance stages of a career, in the beginning phases, I feel that you really just need a team of dedicated people who are willing to strive to achieve the same dream.

This is where the preparation comes in.

You must prepare your team members by giving them each roles based off of their strengths, and you must prepare them for the roles that you delegate to them.  If you have tips and tricks to get a certain task done, make sure you share that with your team.

Give your team the tools to succeed by preparing them to handle daily tasks.

If you let your team know how to network, when it comes time for that all important music conference, you’re not going to be the one with the team who is sitting in the corner looking scared.  Your team will have the confidence to get out there and network while making the connections to accel your future.

Even in the more advanced stages of a career, preparing your team so that they may be able to answer questions with detailed answers can really aid you in getting things done quickly.

This is HIGHLY important with promotional teams, I’ve seen teams built that had HIGHLY driven individuals, who really did not know how to properly promote.  Its much more beneficial (and cheaper ) to train these people than it is to waste time hoping to find people who are driven and very knowledgeable.

Prepare your team, so that when it’s crunch time, they will be able to pull through for you.  Be a leader.

Popularity: 32% [?]