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t-shirts, etc., you drive people to your site, and more likely broadcast to all
those MySpace users that you’re on there, too.
It also works in reverse. MySpace traffic drives traffic to your regular
web site, and people to your shows. “Tr a ffic on our site has increased
drastically as well,” says Cox, “and I’m sure that has something to do with
MySpace because it’s been a steady ramp since we’ve been on there.
“I can also remember instances specifically where people have come
up to me at a show and say they heard us on MySpace and decided to
come check us out, which to me is the best. It’s just a big network and a
big word of mouth kind of thing and you can’t get that kind of exposure
unless you’re playing shows every night. It’s just been this awesome
marketing tool.”
Free marketing is the best marketing ever!
Sounds obvious, and it is! But it can’t be understated or undervalued.
Many of the band web sites out there offer great services, and there’s no
reason not to be on every site you can get to. MySpace has the unique
distinction, though, of offering just about everything you could imagine
wanting all under one roof: a potential fan base, an opportunity to
broadcast your music, a place to hang your photos, a web presence with a
decent amount of customization… the list goes on. Not to mention the
features and functions that allow you to be a smart marketer.
“The thing that sets MySpace apart from sites that are just for bands,” touts
Nelson, “is people sign onto MySpace every day, just to check their
messages, read, and communicate. I use it every day, to check in and see
w h a t ’s going on, look for any bulletins from bands, figure out what’s going
on tonight in the city. So just by putting your journal or show dates or
advertisements and songs up there, you’re simply going to get a lot more
exposure than people just randomly checking your web site. People spend
more time on it than anywhere else. I guess credit to Tom there, for setting
it up in such a way that makes it so addictive!”
This article originally appeared in Disc Makers’ Fast Forw a rd monthly
n e w s l e t t e r. Visit www.discmakers.com/music/ffwd to get a free subscription.
HOW TO LEAD PEOPLE TO YOUR MUSIC IN A
D I G I TA L A G E
by Bill Pere, President of the Connecticut Songwriters A s s o c i a t i o n
© 2009 All Rights Reserved. Used By Permission
With the maturity of digital delivery and a proliferation of websites that
allow easy uploading and legal downloading of music, the old models of
making and marketing CDs are gone. The shift from an album-based
economy to a track-based economy spawns many new considerations for
the Indie artist when the time comes to go into the studio and record.
In the old days, the typical strategy was to record an album, release a
featured “single” and people would then purchase the whole album, never
having heard the other songs. Albums often contained several ‘filler’ t r a c k s
of songs which never would have stood alone.
To d a y, anyone can easily hear up to 2-minute samples of tracks before
purchasing, so the notion of using filler tracks is essentially useless – A L L
the tracks have to be good or the consumer will just bypass them and
download the ones they want. More than ever before, the quality of the
songs is important helping your music rise above the baseline of filler
tracks that are out there on CD Baby, i-Tunes, and other internet music
stores. If you spend the time and money to record a filler track, it’s not
going to give you the return on your investment in a track-based music
economy as it might have in the old album-based economy.
This leads to the obvious question, is the concept of an “Album” even
valid anymore? Should an artist spend time and money making a physical
CD, when CD sales are rapidly declining and digital sales are increasing?
If you are a touring artist, you’ll still (for now) want physical CDs to sell at
gigs, but remember that the ultimate goal is always to be able to generate
income without having to be physically present.
Content is king
Consider how a typical listener comes to find new music. As an Indie
artist, it’s fair to assume that most people have never heard of you. How
will they find your songs? The most likely path to your music will come
from consumers doing Internet searches on topics which have nothing to
do with you. However, if your website contains content that might be of
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