Promoting

Advice / Music Business / Promoting — Comments Off
12
Dec 10

Starting a Record Label

Photo Sharing and Video Hosting at PhotobucketSo you’re ready to start getting down to the business of music, but you’re slowly starting to realize something awful: you don’t know the first thing about making it in the music business. After all, you’re a musician, not a record exec. But what kind of impact will it have on your career as a musician if you just let your music go without serious promotion backed by a record label? Are you satisfied working that 9-5 for the rest of your life, or do you aspire to something more?

DOES THIS SOUND LIKE YOU?

* You’re good at music, maybe even created a full album worth of material, but you don’t know what to do with it now.

* You’ve sent your music to record labels and faced that cold rejection. Most of the time you never hear back at all.

* You’ve submitted their music online to a few places… but you’re not getting any listeners. You’re getting lost in the crowd, and you’re definitely not making much money.

* You want to start bringing in the big bucks, but you’re stuck playing the same five or six clubs month after month. You feel like your career’s going nowhere fast.

If this all seems familiar, you may want to consider starting your own record label. If music is your thing, but you’re lost when it comes to the “business” side of things, then you need to start thinking hard about how exactly you’re going to pursue music full-time. You need to learn how to promote your CD, how to get people to buy it, how to get it distributed, how to start touring, and how to get on the radio.

THE OLD WAY

The vast majority of people who submit demos to record labels face constant rejection. That shouldn’t be much of a surprise. Most people don’t get ahead in the music biz by relying on overworked, underpaid interns to listen to your demo and hopefully share your vision for the future. If you keep sending your demos to record labels, they’ll likely keep ending up in the same place: the garbage can. Continue reading →

Career / Music Business / Promoting — Comments Off
2
Dec 10

Make Money Singing

Photo Sharing and Video Hosting at PhotobucketYou’ve been thinking about it for a while, but you’re just not sure how much time, money and emotional expense you want to invest in your singing career. You’re sure you’ve got the talent or you wouldn’t even be deliberating the opportunity, but still the question remains. With so many so called “experts” all willing to take your money for some service of some kind, where do you begin to embark upon your singing dream? Certainly if “so and so” can make it in the music business, I certainly should have a chance as well – Or do you?

As a former talent booking agent with the William Morris Agency and jingle singer singing many commercials such as FOX TV, UPN and O’Charley’s, I’ve had the unusual opportunity to visit with many individuals, just like yourself, looking to enter the music industry from one angle or another. Let’s take a few minutes to explore some ideas and concepts that might help to further your career.

The first concept to explore is that you should definitely follow your dream of singing if you feel this strongly about it. We’ll highlight a few strategies you can embrace to eliminate unneeded spending and to avoid the opportunist that line the internet halls and gateways. For now, just follow your passion of singing and look at authentic methods to get you there – And hopefully by the time you’re done reading this you’ll have a foundation to start building from. Continue reading →

Performance / Promoting / Venues — Comments Off
18
Nov 10

Agia Napa More Than The Party Capital Of Cyprus

Photo Sharing and Video Hosting at PhotobucketThe word “Agia” means saint and “Napa” translates into wooded valley so when you go clubbing in Agia Napa be sure to remember that. Yeah right! You will probably associate this beautiful holiday resort with late night clubs and trendy bars buy believe me it has a whole lot more to offer holiday makers of all ages. True, it is a great place for a good time but it is a great family resort too offering something for everyone. So before you write it off as somewhere just for young party goers it could be worth reading on.

The town was once a small fishing village with a pretty harbor and a few local shops tucked away a few kilometers from the bustling resort of Protaras. The harbor is still there and now it is home to a host of pleasure craft as well as the little fishing boats. If you don’t wear yourself out clubbing you can still catch the fishing boats as they return in the morning and maybe even pick up some fresh fish too. Another great feature of the harbor area are the many restaurants where you can relax and watch the world go past whilst enjoying a huge range of cuisine including surprisingly, fish!

The beaches in Agia Napa are amoungst the best in the area perfect for bathing or sun bathing with plenty of beach front bars and restaurants to escape to when the sun gets too much for you. Continue reading →

Career / Music Business / Promoting / Venues — Comments Off
11
Nov 10

5 Sins of Indie Artists

Photo Sharing and Video Hosting at PhotobucketIndie artists are special people that “keep it real” with the fans and with the music they are creating. In any kind of business, project or situation in life, there are some things that you want to avoid if your want to have longevity in anything that you do. There are some basic angles that you have to observe, take care of and watch out for.

Following are the “five” sins that can destroy and indie artist which are listed below:

Lack of Humility – You get more doors open by being humble with what you are attempting to do and your music. Humility actually will protect you from the industry “sharks” that lurk in the background. They look for unbalanced artists and promise them the world and artists with the big head usually fall head over heels and get stung in the end. Why? It’s because the artist has no humility! All humility means is having a balanced perspective, a reservedness with confidence and being honorable.

Circle of Friends – You don’t need friends that hinder your progress or that are going to introduce you to things that are detrimental to your career. You need honest feedback and for friends to tell you Continue reading →

Music Business / Promoting — Comments Off
3
Nov 10

Wheeling And Dealing With Industry Professionals

Photo Sharing and Video Hosting at PhotobucketAt some point every ambitious music artist will have to deal with an industry professional. It may be a booking agent who thinks that you have what it takes to sell out a venue, a manager who expresses interest in helping you achieve success, or an attorney who will negotiate that long sought-after record deal for you. When the time does come for you to establish these crucial relationships, you will be able to navigate your way through them with greater results if you observe these fundamental dos and don’ts.

First the Dos:

DO check into our backgrounds for credibility before dealing with us.

With the ease and access of various search engines on the Internet such as Google, it literally takes just a couple of minutes to get information on someone. Your background check should also include past clients or associates that can vouch for them. Legitimate professionals love to have their backgrounds checked into. It gives you the opportunity to gain a deeper appreciation and value for the services we provide. A proper background check in conjunction with time spent together, affords artists the opportunity to know who is representing them, and the professional the chance to know who they are representing.

DO have a full and complete understanding of what our jobs are.

Your knowledge of what various professionals do should not be limited to how our help relates to your success. There are many people and factors that will determine the extent (or limit) of your success in the music industry; know what they are before you assume that the professional you are working with has super powers to make you an overnight success. Continue reading →

Advice / Industry Trends / Promoting — Comments Off
2
Nov 10

Tips for Going Clubbing for Men

Photo Sharing and Video Hosting at PhotobucketI’m just going to say it right now, I hate clubbing. The music’s too loud, a lot of creepy guys are there, and people in my crew are always getting drunk. Not to mention that the club has its reputation as one of the hardest places to pick up women. However for all the negatives there are, I find myself going there every week. On a Saturday night, that’s where all the attractive women on.

Clubbing is what separates the men from the boys. You’re either one of the guys dancing with women on the floor, or you’re on the sideline with your Corona watching him. It’s difficult, but definitely possible.

1. Whoever approaches the most, leaves with the most numbers

When it comes down to it, clubbing is really just a numbers game. Some women come to the club just to dance with their girlfriends (while dressing like they want every guy to approaching them). It’s hard to weed out which girls are approachable and which are not. The best thing to do is to just grab your balls, and go for it. If you get rejected, then move on to the next girl. And don’t take it personally or let it ruin your night. If you approach a girl, you have a 50% chance of success. If you don’t approach, then you have 0%. Continue reading →

Music Business / Music Investors / Promoting — Comments Off
1
Nov 10

How To Get Big Sponsorship Money for Your Band, Tour, Event or Production

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Touring is a bands greatest opportunity for success. But, touring can be very expensive. Getting your tour, band or event sponsored is critical to your success. Sponsorship can off-set production, travel, promotion and virtually any of your expense. The right sponsor can also significantly augment your advertising, publicity and promotions. But, getting sponsorship participation can take a lot of effort and commitment on your part. You will need to prove to potential sponsors that your opportunity will deliver a good return on investment for them.

The following is a step by step procedure we have used at Multimediary Entertainment Marketing to secure hundreds of thousands of sponsorship dollars for numerous tours, events, artists, television programming and feature films. We have done this for several major record labels and both signed and unsigned artists. Now we want to share our knowledge experience so you can do this on your own.

Create an Introduction Letter

The first step in securing sponsorship dollars is to craft a professional introduction letter highlighting the features and benefits of the opportunity you are offering. Some of these features and benefits might include inclusion in advertising, product sampling, banner display and more. After you have given a brief overview of the opportunity close the letter by asking their permission to send them a more detailed presentation. The introduction letter is the most critical part of the sponsorship success equation. If well crafted, it will get your foot in the door. Continue reading →

Career / Music Business / Promoting — Comments Off
21
Oct 10

Why New Musicians (Rappers) Fail: Three Reasons and Solutions

Photo Sharing and Video Hosting at PhotobucketDespite the title of this article, the purpose of it is actually to HELP new emcees AVOID some common traps on their journey to learning how to rap better. You can come up with a million reasons why new rappers fail…or why any artist fails for that matter, but we’ve boiled the list down to three specific to new emcees.

The three reasons simply put are:

1) The Hobby Factor
2) The Experience Factor
3) The Focus Problem

Through dealing with countless aspiring rappers, we at The State of Hip Hop have noticed that most problems emcees face can in one way or another be traced to these three root troubles.

Simply stating the problems is of use, but of more use is what I’m sure you all are looking for…a solution.

So let’s begin… Continue reading →

Advice / Career / Music Business / Promoting — Comments Off
18
Oct 10

Why Radio Won’t Play Indie Music

Photo Sharing and Video Hosting at PhotobucketAnd What You Can Do About It

As I clicked on a popular music business forum, I was greeted with a question. “Why won’t commercial radio play music by Indie Artists?”

My reply to this person was as follows:

“As a former Operations Manager and Music Director on both the Comm and Non-Comm sides, Let me break the reason down for you.

Commercial Radio needs ratings to get paid from advertisers. Most advertiser’s, on radio, are ad agencies. Ad agencies base their “buys” (sponsorships) on a Cost per point (“CPP”) basis. CPP is based on how many thousands of listeners a radio station can capture in a 15 minute period (or cume).

Many commercial radio [Program and Music] don’t want to put thier ratings at risk, by airing an ‘untested song’ on the air. So what these commercial radio directors do, is, air music based on the national charts provided by Radio and Records, Broadcast Data Systems (BDS) and Billboard. Continue reading →

Become Famous / Career / Celebrity Business / Music Business / Music Investors / Performance / Promoting — Comments Off
16
Oct 10

5 Business Lessons I learned from Hanging out in Hip-Hop Class

MODEL
I’ve been a dancer my entire life. I started out at the tender age of 4 with my first pair of shinny black tap shoes with little pink bows. I later graduated to jazz, swing, ballroom, a little country line dancing and in my mid 20s returned to my love of tap where I studied with a professional dancer who taught the likes of Paula Abdul and other celebrities how to shake a leg.

So when I decided I wanted to drop a couple of pounds before the holidays hit I went back to my roots and signed up for a series of dance classes.

Going in I knew that dance requires creativity, focus, control and power. But driving home one day I thought about how much learning to dance is like running a business. Here are 5 business lessons I’ve learned from hanging out in a hip-hop class.

I can do a whole lot more than I thought.

Each lesson is broken down into sections. It doesn’t matter what class I’m in the instructor belts out 8 counts of new steps and I watch thinking, “my body doesn’t do that”.

You know what, after it’s broken down and we practice a bit, “my body can do that”. It’s the same with your business. What business tasks, systems, phone calls, and risks are you not taking because you think you can’t? All it takes is breaking it down and a little practice and you’ll be amazed at what you can do.

It gets easier with time.

My first day in hip-hop class I looked around at the room full of 20somethings and through, “what on earth is a tap dancer doing in a hip-hop class”? I tripped over myself, got frustrated with the steps and pretty much looked like an idiot. But the more I do it the easier it gets and the more fun it is. To top it off I’m surprised at how fast I’m picking it up.

In business you don’t start at the top. You have to try things that make you feel uncomfortable, self- conscious and maybe even (gulp), out of control. But keep at it because soon things that gave you the heebie jeebies become second nature. Continue reading →

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