conradbuck » Music Promotion

Why music isn’t about making money

conrad — Tue, 03 Nov 2009 04:46:38 +0000

Everywhere I read I see voiced dismay about music not making anyone any money. Music being stolen, music being copied, music being turned into something that is watered down, diluted and shared without any respect for the label or the artist. It’s true, all this is happening but it doesn’t take away the fact that music is still being made without any thought of monetary reward. Musicians all around the world record and perform every day regardless of whether they’ll be paid for it or not. That’s music. Music’s an artform. A way to express, a way to escape, a way to entertain.

Do you think these guys, the Black Keys, think about money upfront before they perform? Do you think they are always worried about who rips off their music?

The Swell Season Perform New Songs at an NPR Music Tiny Desk Concert

conrad — Mon, 02 Nov 2009 21:22:41 +0000

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Black Cab Sessions

conrad — Mon, 02 Nov 2009 21:18:45 +0000

A simply brilliant idea. Take a London cab, one of the most recognized vehicles in the world, and ask well known artists to perform live, unplugged, on the back seat. Amazing. Check out the whole roster here.

Artists at work – The Snake The Cross The Crown

conrad — Sun, 04 Oct 2009 19:23:07 +0000

Bands and solo artists must connect with their fans more than ever before. It’s not enough for a fan to like your music. Listeners don’t just like music anymore, they have to like the performer, the vocalist, the drummer, the guitarist. They even have to like your website design, your tone of voice, your image, your blog posts and Tweets. With unlimited online services available to market music and connect with your fans, mostly for free, it’s tempting to think that these tools are the beginning and end all of your music’s success. Sometimes, direct honesty and a personable insight into your music and your lives are all that is needed to created that fan connection.

“We’re a generation whose medium is television and movies, it just is. As much as we might like music we like it better with visual stimulus accompanying it with digital media, with the inundation of bands, the rate bands are coming out, the rate that music is consumed, I mean people just listen to something once and then move on. People have no choice to make it the music equivalent of a magazine, the go get the ones that you want, the style that you like, you listen to it, then you get another one and just blow through them, I mean they’re not novels, they’re not someone pouring some tremendous amount of time to really make some difference in someones life.

If things keep going that way, it’s not going get any easier for us, I know that’s for certain. I mean if the music is as good as we always hope that it will be, which I have no idea, it’s impossible for us to be, have any idea what we’re doing really, then hopefully people will find it, that it’s worth finding.”

A documentary film by filmmaker Nicholas Kleczewski about one of America’s best unknown bands, The Snake The Cross The Crown.

Mad World – Gary Jules

conrad — Fri, 02 Oct 2009 19:35:42 +0000

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The app – the future of branded entertainment

conrad — Thu, 10 Sep 2009 19:40:10 +0000

The iPhone and iPod Artist app

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Musician Imogen Heap on connecting with your fans

conrad — Wed, 12 Aug 2009 21:54:36 +0000

This article was originally written in August 2009. Why am I re-posting it? The music industry has gone through intense turmoil over the past two years with traditional business models being ripped to shreds. I won’t go on but for many it’s been a real ugly time and if you are a label or an artist that comes out on top then you deserved to be congratulated.

This post highlights one artist, Imogen Heap, who has taken social media to a new level, using it to her advantage, captivating listeners and growing a huge base of followers.

Even if you don’t work in the music industry, there is something to gain from understanding how Ms. Heap has created a following. Not just touting her music in exchange for money, but by being at the frontline of promoting herself as a real person and engaging her tribe of fans using an array of social media tools.

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This week a great article on how the UK artist Imogen Heap (you may recognize her as the other half of the late group Frou Frou) connects with her fans, has been circulating throughout the online music world at the industry level, social media level and at the artist & fan level.

The article has gathered some attention but I don’t think enough attention. Perhaps Ms. Heap isn’t well enough known through the music world to garner the attention she deserves. However, regardless of how popular she is musically, Imogen Heap has created a growing and fiercely loyal fan following, not only because of the intimate, almost obsessive, creativity she adds to her music, but to the ways she has been personally reaching out and connecting with her fans way before social media came into the limelight.

Why am I devoting an entire post to her and the article in question? Well, I have been working in the music industry for close to eight years now and have worked through the successes of traditional artist marketing, CD distribution and the recent exciting changes that are changing the way we listen to, market and distribute music. There is so much information and commentary being written, commented on, blogged and Twittered about the music industry and where it’s going, who is failing, where the opportunities are for labels and artists and what the revenue models will be for the future. It’s actually exhausting, but exciting, to keep up with everything that is going on. I have mulled over writing potential blog postings on “How to get your music heard,” and “Top 10 things an artist can do to promote their music,” but there is so much information out there already I would just be regurgitating what has already been written (and much of it hasn’t totally been proven to be sustainable).

I’m not going to try to recreate history, so if there is one artist, one example, one working model that pushes the boundaries on how artists should connect with their fans, then Imogen Heap is up there at the top. If you don’t like her music then that’s fine but that’s not the point. Read the article here and spend some time watching her videos and following her online. You’ll see the point I am trying to make.

Artists know their music better than anyone, even their listeners. They know their comfort levels and their boundaries with creativity. They experience what it takes first hand to make a new record, get out there in the marketplace to the masses and to be heard in this new music industry where everyone is shouting at once. Artists want to socialize with their fans and create a connection with new followers. Artists are bombarded with calls for “all music should be free” and “you can make money from touring.” Of course it’s tough and requires a lot of work but today there are more opportunities for artists to grow and generate an audience than ever before.

Imogen Heap has been at the forefront of her own marketing for nearly a decade with her own website serving up a “social media” connection with her fans since she and the group Frou Frou, her former collaboration with Guy Sigsworth, disbanded in 2005 (actually Heaps current website has barely changed from when it first launched) She once ran an online fan competition where she invited the lucky winner to her house and cooked them dinner right there in Heaps own kitchen. The competition was an absolute scramble and the rest is self promotion history.

Heap has 735,000 followers on Twitter, has garnered the creative skills of her fan base and involved them in the creation of her new album, has a video journal on YouTube and makes every one of her fans feel like she could be their best friend, auntie or big sister. And they just love her for it.

Music fans don’t want to just listen, they want an experience!

conrad — Wed, 15 Jul 2009 22:01:07 +0000

Last night at the Montreal Jazz Festival I met up with my business associate and friend Arnold Schwisberg, an entertainment lawyer based in Toronto. Arnie and I have worked together over the past eight years on various projects and always end up dissecting the music industry whenever we meet up. Having dinner with him overlooking the throngs of people milling about, watching and dancing at the Jazz festival, gave us front row observation seats to how people interact in the physical presence of music.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/ilker/721462049/

The gratification of buying music in a physical format along with it’s percieved value has almost been diluted with the rise of digital distribution. Music is available on demand. The consumer controls how and when they are entertained. Entertainment is from the bottom up and no longer the top down. The record labels no longer pull the strings, and the consumer doesn’t just dance to any tune. So what was really interesting to observe out on the street tonight was that just the musical attachment and significance to such an event as the Jazz festival was enough to satisfy Jazz aficionados, music fans of all genres, families, children, teenagers, retirees, vacationers and even pets! From the hundreds of Jazz Festival logo merchandise items that were flying off the shelves, to the 200,000 or so people that crammed themselves into the main stage area the previous night to watch Stevie Wonder perform live (and for free) to the throngs of event goers cramming themselves into the Archambault music tent that was selling thousands of Jazz CDs (yes CDs) It was obvious that a music experience is still a bigger promoter, captivator and marketeer than the humble single or the declining album. Even the radio industry is suffering but yet thousands of people come from all over the world to experience the experience that is the Jazz Festival.

From looking at the atmosphere there tonight, it was hard to believe that the music industry was going through such a (for some companies, tragic) change and that there is an impresssion that music is just another throw away commodity that has been devalued. What other genre of music can attract so many fans who just sit and listen and soak up the music and the atmosphere? I believe that whatever genre of music you like, from Reggae to Blues to Rap to Classical to Rock, Jazz music has something in its genetical makeup that satisfies everyones ears. It could just be a riff, a beat, a rhythm or a tone. Whatever the magical formula is, it was alive here tonight and for once the atmosphere gave music and all who create her a encouraging slap on the back. Maybe music fans have changed their listening habits but the experience and the atmosphere that goes with it can never be reproduced online.

Music video shot entirely on an iPhone

conrad — Thu, 02 Jul 2009 19:47:39 +0000

Music video from BJSR

I’ve Got You and You’ve Got Me – New Buffalo Remixed by Broken Social Scene

conrad — Mon, 02 Feb 2009 19:58:20 +0000

I’ve Got You and You’ve Got Me – New Buffalo Remixed by Broken Social Scene from Karen Abad ♥s Dinosaurs. on Vimeo.

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