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: 100% [?]

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: 2% [?]

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: 17% [?]

“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: 14% [?]

While networking is very important to the sustainability and creation of any career, one must never forget the importance of actually going out and finding your fans.

I’ve been in and out of being sick the past couple of weeks so please excuse me.

Here’s a quick video for ya on the importance of chasing your fans:

Have a great day!

-Eric Phillipson

Popularity: 20% [?]

The following is an article I wrote for Street Knowledge Entertainment’s Knowledge Blog.  It’s regarding the importance of being humble in the music industry.

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Being Humble as a New Artist
Eric Phillipson of SpeakYourMusic.com

New artist’s listen up! We need you! The industry needs you! You need you!  Over the years, through the declining industry, there is one trend that I’ve seen grow more and more.  That is the disappearance of the humble artist and the larger and larger presence of the big-ego artist.  It’s not that I don’t understand your swag or the fact that you’re the artist.  I get that.  What I don’t understand is all of the hating going on in the industry.

I can’t tell you how many artists I once worked with (keyword: once) who felt that they were above others when it came to certain promotional tactics or just working with some people.  Now I’m not talking about your somewhat established people, I’m talking about the ones who are trying to build a fan base or who are not yet making money off of this music they love (by the way, check out Q’s post on giving your music away for free).  These are the artists that need to come down, be humble, and take the “all promotion is good promotion” road.

Now being humble applies to many different things, these are what I’m going to cover:

• Management

• Promotion

• Fans

• Networking

The first one I want to talk about is management.  I see a lot of artists who hear that they should get a manager and then don’t even use them.  When someone wants to book a show, they give them their number or book the show themselves; they cut their “manager” out of all of their deals.  Don’t do that.  If you tell someone that they can be your manager, set up an agreement for compensation, and let them be your manager.  It’s aggravating when you’re told to manage someone so you put effort into them only to have them start cutting you out of the deals.  The being humble part comes into play just off of the simple fact that you need to trust your manager if you’re going to have one.  If you don’t trust them, get a new one.  Management is there to take a load off of you so you can focus on making music, and take yourself to the next level.

The next thing I want to talk about is being humble in the promotions you do.  I’ve seen brand new artists, who had no buzz in an area, who were not willing to go out and hand out CD’s or hang up fliers for a few hours during a late-night promo run. That has to stop!  If you have no buzz, you need to pull all stops and get out there and get yourself a name until you get to the point where you can hire street team help to handle that for you.  I know there are tons of artists who feel that lying about their fan base will bring in more fans or add to their swag; it won’t. If you know you have no buzz in an area, be honest with yourself and get out there!  If people haven’t heard of you at all, they will be more willing to listen to you if you’re actually out there rather than having someone else out there trying to pitch your music.

The fans! Answer every single one of them.  Even something as simple as “thank you” is perfect.  I’m talking to the people who get the MySpace messages or the Emails or have a few people come up to them after a show.  Not the ones who have mobs of people coming up to you.  There are too many artists who get sidetracked and read messages from fans without ever replying.  You’d be surprised how much fans are willing to promote artists who are willing to recognize them.   By the way, make sure people who receive your CD’s during handouts can contact you!  Just set up a “fan” Email address and slip it inside of your CD’s so that fans can contact you.  Fan mail is always a rewarding feeling.

The final aspect of being humble that I want to talk about is being humble while networking.  I’ve known some artists who don’t give others who are trying to come up the time of day.  I’m not even talking about on an artist level either.  Don’t always try to network with bigger people, sometimes networking with others who are trying to come up will work wonders for you.  Be sure to network with people coming up in other aspects of the entertainment industry, not just music.  For example, network with new clothing companies, people breaking into acting, graphic artists, TV people, people who are trying to start their own next big website, people who are trying to break into radio, etc.  Some of these people are bound to do great things, and even those who don’t become huge will still be willing to help as long as you can help them.  Plus, these people would love for you to support their new ventures and it always looks good when you are sponsored by someone.

In the end, being humble as a new artist can take you far.  Don’t get me wrong, I know there are some fake people out there who will try to take advantage of you, just always be sure to check your ego and remain a humble person,  you never know who you might meet because of it.

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Be sure to check out Street Knowledge Entertainment home to Philly based artist Trel Mack.

-Eric Phillipson

Popularity: 34% [?]