IndieMusiciansBlog

Okay, so I wasn’t going to tell anyone these tips…not even you. But I just

couldn’t help it. I mean, it’s you after all. You’ve been there for me since

the very start. Even when I had to shelf IndieMusicLounge.Com for a

while most of you stuck it out with me (IndieMusicLounge.Com 3.0 will be

launching officially next October with some elements of the site launching

even earlier!!!!!!) So for you, anything. These are a few tips I picked up over

the years while working on things online myself, tips from online marketing

gurus and ideas I’ve utilized successfully with indie artists that I have worked

with myself.

You Must Blog as a Musician

Blogging is now old in the quick changing world of the Internet, but it is

still effective. I run several blogs (don’t even update them regularly) and

have been able to pick up a lot of emails for newsletters and funnel marketing

as a result. Don’t just blog about your music as most musicians feel trapped to

do, but rather post on everything relating to you and your band members. I

personally think that every band member needs their own blog on a band website.

You all have different interests and personalities which could draw in different readers

and potential fans.

I think it is best to host the blog on your band website rather than some of the

blog engines out there because you can then for sure put up ads (sparingly)

and promote your own material, especially with a Wordpress powered blog.

Plus, you can usually get some pretty awesome plugins too this way. Check

out my personal blog here: www.b-marcel.com/mainblog for some ideas.

Myspace, Facebook, & Twitter My Way

I think most of you have already come to the conclusion that you must be

wasting your time promoting thru social networks the way that you have

been. In other words, the free way. Free is great and all…it’s beautiful and it

can get you started, but at some point if you are serious about getting out

there you are going to have to start advertising and coughing up at least a

little dough per month. Set a budget for each social network you are involved

with and create unified campaigns with a unified message.

There are also some great free ways to get more profile views on your

social network profiles though, but they are not that obvious. For instance,

you can very easily connect and befriend other artists and then make an

agreement that you’ll both email one anothers email lists/newsletter groups

with information about the other artist that you dig and ask that your fans

support them. This is business 101, networking. Set up mashables with other

indie artists and have them do the same with your music and display them

exclusively on your site or social networking profile. I for my blog am planning

on featuring funny shows spots with local actors and musicians to help promote

them and hopefully they’ll reciprocate the favor. At the end of each of these

Vlogs/webisodes-postings I will be leaving information about the actors/artists

and how they can be contacted, their email list sign up info and where to purchase

their material. The opportunity to network and gain more fans thru other

musicians lists are endless.

That’s it for now. Geez, I can’t believe you got that out of me. Those were my

secret plans , haha. Anyway, I help this helps you out greatly in all seriousness.

Until next time, Get Out There and Manifest Your Career Goals!

Peace,

~Brandon Marcel

Hey, B.Marcel here, just thought that you needed an update on the happenings with

IndieMusicLounge.Com. A lot has been going on behind the scenes, though it may

not look like it from the site and its affiliates. Things on that front have been on a

stand still since September 2009 and earlier even. However, I have recieved a

big offer from an investor (which I didn’t take yet) that led me to truly believe

that I may be on to something here. So I have been redoing my business

models/plans recently to attract hopefully even more money the next time I

pitch to investors early first quarter of 2010. Here’s what I’ve come up with so far:

Site is for ALL music business professionals

When I first concieved the idea of IndieMusicLounge.Com in the early 2000’s

I thought “wouldn’t it be great if there were like a Walmart for indie musicians”.

I admit my first two attempts were very modest and didn’t emcompass things

for the entire music industry to enjoy, utilize and network with, but this was

before the social networks explosion you have to remember. Now there will be

newsletters for DJs, music producers, video models, of course indie musicians,

record label executives and more! I am very excited about what I’ve cooked up

or these sections of the site(s).

Music Related Stores Galore

While looking at Myspace’s/Facebook’s layout and business model it occured

to me that they are not fully utilizing their full profit-ability. There are a lot of

other items that can be sold, that people actually want sold to them that sites

like Myspace could be offering and making a killing at in return. We are going

to be offering a lot of music related items, we’ve already gotten I-Rawk Fashions

up and running and by this Fall may be expanding it from just a t-shirt line off

of CafePress to a full blow line! How many music websites do you know of with

their own fashion lines, huh? lol.

You Make Money for Your Content

Now, before you get excited about this one, hold on. I have seen a lot of

social networks claim to pay out, but seldom make it over their first year

of business. So for that reason IndieMusicLounge.Com will not be introduced

with revsharing elements until the site has actually proven to be popular and

profitable. I don’t want to move off of speculation or high hopes and I definitely

don’t want to try to be one of those site that use revsharing as a ploy to get

members to join and participate in the site’s activities in the early days.

Hopefully I and my future staff and you, the contributors, will do a good

enough job at that.

There is one thing I’d like to try that I’m not sure about though. I figure with

Adsense API and systems like it we can easily give our high performing profile

pages/blogs/article writers/video contributors a share in the profits, but I came

across this site Yuwie the other day and I was wondering if their referral element

might also be a good way to grow the site and get members paid too.

They offer downline payment for referral activities and profile page views if I’m

correct and so I’m trying it out first myself to see. That’s where you come in.

Rather than bug family and friends to help me out (once again) on this as I’m

sure most people in this do. I thought I’d come to you. You would be the ones

potentially profiting off of this I figure. So here’s my ploy, I want to get 100

referrals and to see how much can really be made from this type of system or

if it is really just a sort of a scheme. So here’s my referral link, do with it what

you please, but do know I appreciate those of you that do help me figure this

thing out:

Help B.Marcel Get 100 Referrals on Yuwie!

You Can Sell Your Merchandise

I want to let you know that you as musicians and music business professionals

will be allowed to sell from your profiles and throughout other sections of the

site(s). There are even plans to create a system similar to CafePress/Zaggle

thru the site that allows you to have no costs and no inventory or we may just

align ourselves with one of the top companies in this field down the road. We will

still have strict rules on how you can advertise and types of things you can advertise

however to avoid spammers.

Looking to Officially Re-Launch October 18-23, 2010

Although some of the areas of IndieMusicLounge.Com and its affiliates are

already up and running and more will be up and running starting as early as

January 27th, 2010, the site as a whole isn’t projected to launch until the

18-23 of October 2010. I will be doing video posts to keep you posted on our

staff’s progress, the ups and the inevitable downs and I will also be creating and

posting a lot of new never before seen content starting January 1st, 2010. That

date in fact I will be launching our free to join email list that will be offering exclusive

gifts, exclusive advice, exclusive contests, giveaways, trivia, exclusive articles/videos

all designed to help further and shape your career. That, plus each Tuesday Night I will

be sending out offer emails with some of the top web programs/ebooks/software/etc.

for musicians and music business professionals that I myself have used and approve of.

I have helped hundreds of musicians over the past few years through my

email lists/newsletters/music sites/direct consultations to further their career

and have seen some even offered deals by major record labels. If you want to

learn how to get your foot in the door of the music industry this is the email group

for you and if youwant to take your music career to the next level IndieMusicLounge.Com

3.0 is the company for you!

Thanks sincerely for your time,

-B.Marcel

I recently read the book Meditations on the First Philosophy

by Rene Descartes. In this book he goes about proving the

existence of himself and God by first looking at everything

he knows as not true. So Descartes’ first mission was to prove

his own existence prior to proving the existence of God. I

found one of the most profound statements made by

Descartes to be “I think therefore, I exist”.

The truth in this statement leads me to believe that if I can

merely think myself as being or doing something I can,

overtime, manifest my belief into being. Like Jacob of the

bible placing the tree branches in-front of Laban’s mating

sheep, we too can then change what is, and where we go by

what we put in-front of us. Be it signs, posters, a new circle

of friends, etc. by changing our environment we can almost

subconsciously change our deepest thoughts, which will in turn

lead us to begin making the necessary changes in behaviors, slowly

leading us to be whatever we think ourselves to be.

I have to some degree always believed this to be true. Which

is why it frustrates when I work with artist that constantly

speak against their own creative greatness and success. If you

constantly consider and call yourself a starving, struggling

artist…don’t be surprised when your life manifest just that.

Without faith in yourself you’re doomed to never leaving the

basement or garage and meeting your date with destiny as the

superstar you desire to be. Desire is great, but it won’t carry you

through the imminent hardships of making it in this business.

To do that you need faith and belief in yourself; and the start

place for that? Thought! Think of yourself as already being the

successful act you want to be and eventually you will work

your way into the place and into the circles you need to be in to

fulfill your dreams.

Now Get Out There And Manifest Your Career’s Success!

Often times as creative individuals we move from project to

project never really getting the full potential out of a piece of

work. This is especially true with musicians. Jumping from

project to project, group to group, even genre to genre. Now all of this is

ok and often times necessary to keep you moving successfully

through the industries terrain. However, I’m guessing that

there is hidden gold that each and everyone of you have from

one of those past projects that may of never made it to your

album or didn’t quite fit your genre or personal band aesthetic.

These are the songs that you, your label, or producers deemed

not good enough or not marketable. So then how are you to

cash in on these records if they have been deemed not good

enough? My friends, publishing is the answer. Many televison

shows, movies, etc. are looking for indie records just like yours

everyday. With tight budgets and little focus actually being on

the music itself, even tracks recorded well on 8 tracks have made

there way to the screen. Not only will you increase your revenue,

you’ll also increase your exposure. As well as added some series

bench marks to put on your resume.

So if you’ve got some old tracks laying around or even some

newer ones that you are actively pushing you may want to go

the publishing route. There are many groups and organizations

that you can join for songwriters that will keep you in the loop

of what’s being looked for. There is also another less work intensive

way of going about finding leads which is a company called Taxi

(www.taxi.com). They have thousands of leads given from top

companies, producers, labels, publisher, etc. each year for just

about any genre you can think of. They are all former/current

A&R people and offer feedback for your submissions to help you

along as a songwriter and/or composer. Its $250-300/year to

join and I believe $5 per submission to avoid people submitting

for every lead (spamming their system). Plus you’ll get to attend

their annual Road Rally and come face to face with industry

executives and top songwriters to get their expertise.

Publishing may be your ticket into the big leagues, as many other

in the past have entered through this means. Give it a try, that is

unless the idea of extra money for little work sounds bad to you.

Until next time, Get out there and Manifest Your Career Success!

I decided to start this weeks article off with a story I received

in an e-mail its by an unknown author. I believe it holds the

keys to creating success and wealth in just about any area of your

life, even in your music career:

A woman came out of her house and saw three old men with long
white beards sitting in her front yard. She did not recognize
them. She said “I don’t think I know you, but you must be hungry.
Please come in and have something to eat.”

“Is the man of the house home?”, they asked.
“No,” she said. “He’s out.”
“Then we cannot come in,” they replied.

In the evening when her husband came home, she told him what had
happened. “Go tell them I am home and invite them in!”
The woman went out and invited the men in. “We do not go into a
House together,” they replied. “Why is that?” she wanted to know.
One of the old men explained: “His name is Wealth,” he said
pointing to one of his friends, and said pointing to another one,
“He is Success, and I am Love.”

Then he added, “Now go in and discuss with your husband which one
of us you want in your home.”
The woman went in and told her husband what was said. Her husband
was overjoyed. “How nice!!”, he said. “Since that is the case,
let us invite Wealth. Let him come and fill our home with
wealth!”
His wife disagreed. “My dear, why don’t we invite Success?”
Their daughter-in-law was listening from the other corner of the
house. She jumped in with her own suggestion: “Would it not be
better to invite Love? Our home will then be filled with love!”
“Let us heed our daughter-in-law’s advice,” said the husband to
his wife.

“Go out and invite Love to be our guest.” The woman went out and
asked the three old men, “Which one of you is Love? Please come
in and be our guest.”

Love got up and started walking toward the house. The other two
also got up and followed him.
Surprised, the lady asked Wealth and Success: “I only invited
Love, Why are you coming in?”
The old men replied together: “If you had invited Wealth or
Success, the other two of us would’ve stayed out, but since you
invited Love, wherever He goes, we go with him. Wherever there is
Love, there is also Wealth and Success!!!

So did you get the message? More importantly here, do you see how

this lesson can help you in your music career? For most musicians

the whole reason that they even started on this path of creating a

career and making a living off of their music was the pure love of

their music itself. It wasn’t about groupies, fans, million dollar

contracts, and worldwide fame. It was about the joy of playing an

instrument or the love of expressing themselves through singing, 

rapping or songwriting. However, somewhere down the line artists

tend to forget about this love, pursuing the shine of the pearl over

the pearl itself.

So this week your assignment is to go back and get back in touch

with the original reasons you intended on entering this path.

Refocus yourself to again do it just for the pure love of your own

music, still promote, still market, and still pursue your careers

ultimate goals, but this time do it with the sole purpose of doing

it for the fun and joy it brings and not for the fame and successes

that the industry can bring. I feel that not only will this give you

a new perspective to go from, but it will also recharge your batteries

and set you out on a newer higher course of action. These are just my

personal thoughts however, so do with them what you wish, but it’s

my belief that success and wealth will only chase those that aren’t

chasing them in a sense.

Until next time, Get out there and Manifest Your Career Success!

Are You Getting The Most Out Of Your Website? (Cont’d):

Links- Here you can offer to link to other indie groups that you know or

like, companies that relate to you or your image or your sponsors, as

well as any other places on the web that you yourself enjoy. Make

sure that you add a sentence or two, or categorize these site links in a way

that allows visitors to understand why you added each specific link to your page.

Stores- Your online store is a must. Its very hard to get a large number of

people to leave one area they already are at to another place in real life and

that carries over into the virtual world. I’m not saying don’t have your cd

for sale on sites like Cd Baby, of course you should, but you also need to

have your product for immediate purchase on your own page to increase

the chances of site visitors buying it (Go here to get great quality Shopping

Cart System). Also, it is important that you offer other things that will help

with the branding process of your bands career (t-shirts, posters, pictures,

stickers, hats, and other swag).

Catalogs- This is a way to get maximum exposure without maximum

effort. There are many cheap software programs available that will help

you with the layout of an online catalog. The idea is to not only offer your

own stuff, but also to offer other bands items that have a similar sound and

feel to yours. You each would split any costs of having the catalog pages up and

thus save a lot of money while increasing your chances of making a sell

to new customers.

E-street team zone- This is an area you would set-up where you

would give contact info for street team members, explain your rules, like no

spamming under any circumstances, and then every month or week you give

your members tasks here as well as through e-mails. Some e-street teams

offer gifts to those that complete the tasks the best or the fastest and also

ways for members to report their tasks completions. You may also want to

post the radio stations and their phone numbers in the specific areas that

you are targeting and instruction your e-street team members to call as

often as possible and request your songs. Join a major artists online

street team to get the gist of this idea.

Lyrics/Downloadables- Here offer free samples of your music for

people to feel your band out, the lyrics to your songs and also allow people to

download for purchase some of your songs here, as well as photos,

screensavers, AIM items and different wallpapers. You may also want to offer

ringtones of your music. There are several services and programs out there

that will allow you to create and sell you own personal ringtones so that is

something you may want to try out here as well.

Bio/Discography- This is the most common place of error on not only an

artists web pages, but also in their press kits. Your biography is supposed

to act as a introduction to who you are somewhat personally, but more so

in your career. Things you want to put here are any music related

accomplishments, musical training, former bands, instruments you play,

how you became interested in this field and when you began preforming.

Most artists make the mistake of pouring their entire life story into this

section, but rarely stress the most important thing, Who You Are As An

Entertainer. Of course, other things of interest that feed into who you are,

are needed for instance; what charities and organizations you donate and

contribute to and your personal philosophies on life maybe. The discography

is simply a listing of all of your recordings in chronological order also including

the release dates.

Reprintable Section- This is where you’d house your articles that you may

write to further promote and get exposure by writing on topics related to the

music world. Also, here you’d simply state all of your rules regarding reprinting

the articles and the rules behind podcasting/streaming your available music to

avoid an endless amount of email queries regarding these matters. This section

may also create the idea of using your music in your visitors head for their

podcastings where before they probably would not of even thought about doing it.

Fan zone- Simply include fun stuff like photos, letters, fan artwork, message

boards, fan pictures, contests, and other things like that.

Media Section- Here you put your press info and how to contact you (street,

phone number and email address usually, epks). Its also a good idea to sort of

“hide” your contact information at the bottom of your pages to sort of avoid

spammers.

News Section- In this section you post up all the latest breaking news

surrounding your band. This section is often on the opening page so it is a good idea to

update it frequently to give visitors at least the impression that the rest of the site is

being handled the same, updated frequently that is.

Calendar- This is a listing of all of your current shows and events detailing

the times, dates and locations.

So here are some of the newer and older ways that you as musicians should be

using technology to get the foot up on the majors and stand out above the rest

of the indie world. The biggest key to getting reoccurring visitors to your site

is to keep your page working properly and updated regularly, as well as providing

great content. With all or most of these ideas injected into your website you’ll

surely be getting the most out of your artist web page.

Until next week, Get out there and Manifest Your Career Success!

Are You Getting The Most Out Of Your Website?
This week I choose to list the items and explain how you can adequately use new technologies
and improve your use of the older ones such as chatrooms to get the most out of your site. I also
am going to name the essentials that I believe all good artist websites have included in them, here
we go:

Blogs: Blogging has become the best way to keep everyone up to date in a quick and easy
manner for the artists and their fans. This also gives you the chance to form a sort of intimate
bond with your fans by allowing them to hear things about your personal day to day thoughts,
ideas and grumbles, which in turn can equate to your gaining a bigger truer following.

Podcast: Podcasts are this year’s and last year’s big thing. It allows you to again express
yourself in a more personal way which can only lead to a better sense of connection between you
and your fans. It also allows you to demo songs to your fans and give a personal plead for them
to respond with their feeling about your songs. Plus the ability for others to use your songs as
well will only help you promote in a much bigger and better way, maybe you could make deals
with other musicians that you’ll play theirs one week so long as they play yours. That way you
all make out good.

Chats: A newer twist that I have seen in chatrooms has been focused chats or seminars. In the
seminars one person is designated the teacher and proceeds to offer their specialized knowledge
to the group as well as personally answer questions, but the catch is only a select few individuals
are invited. What music related area are you specialized in? Or do you know of a friend that is a
marketing or promotions expert or entertainment lawyer that you can get to commit to maybe a
hour or so of there time and only allow other indie musicians that have signed up for your
newsletter or bought a cd can join in for free consultation and advice. This also can be a way of
rewarding your street team and fan club members for a job well done after a cd push, it’s free and
will be something they’ll never forget and even make them that much more devoted to your
cause.

Broadcasting/Streaming: Without a doubt this area is sure to be the next big thing online. So
you as a musician must be ready to capitalize on it. You can of course have an area where you
stream your videos, but what about adding promotional commercials, concerts (maybe even livestreamed),
or creating your own show where you’re the host revolving around something about
your type of music or even a behind the scenes type of “reality show” of your band’s going ons.
Or maybe you could add interviews or even have fans submit questions and on a weekly or
biweekly time frame offer them the answers. Things like this will have people coming to your
site more frequently and thus giving you more chances to get them to make a purchase.

Newsletters/Ezines: A newsletter is the old standby as far as creating a relationship with
customers and fans. At shows you can very easily get people to agree to give their emails out just
by simply asking, let alone offering some sort of free gift or contest prizes. This way your
listings grow and you can stay in contact with individuals that wouldn’t normally be reoccurring
customers and wouldn’t even think about going to your site except once every few months, or
when you have a new cd to push. Just make sure your newsletters are full of good content and
most of all that they express your personality the best, after all, you’re selling you more so than
your product here.

[Speaking of newsletters you have joined mine right, The IndieMusicLounge.Com Newsletter,
which each month offers you great articles like this by myself and other industry insiders to help
you along the way, moving your career into farther success. Shameless plug I know, but it really
does have great material in it including articles that I don’t post up here.]

These are just a few of the many ways you can update and get the most out of your artist
websites. I have many more, but after last week’s long article about business plans I thought I
ought to give you time to digest these first. Rest assured though, I have many more ways you can
beef-up your sites, so stay tuned!

Until then, Get out there and Manifest Your Career Success!

Here is a group growing in popularity on Myspace named The Perfect Measure.

We think they are worth listening to so why not check them out here:

http://www.myspace.com/theperfectmeasure

The very first project for most up-and-comers often is an EP. An EP usually consists of
anywhere from 3-7 songs and is usually used as a demo by bands for press and label solicitation.
However, more common than not, those unsolicited EP’s end up in the trash bin remaining
unopened. Yet year after year bands continuously hold on to this aimless tradition that in the end
only leads to heartache and financial losses. There are many of other options that you could do
with an EP that actually could help your career tremendously depending on where you are in your
career.

First, the rules of a great EP. Since this is not an actual cd that you are “pushing” it can then be
treated as sort of a personal compilation/greatest hits of your current and previous works. Often
times musicians will only include newer works on these cds with only some of the songs
realistically having a commercial chance. By taking this approach and compiling your EP of new
and old hits you open up another option, which is remixes of the songs. The whole purpose of a
remix is to make an already hot song even hotter. In fact, most of today’s top radio hits have
actually been remixed prior to there being commercially leaked. Another thing is you’ll already
have most of the songs down pact, which will make the studio sessions a lot quicker and
smoother. Saving you not only time, but money!

Now that you have your blazing hot EP recorded and ready to go you have many options ahead of
you. First off, you could treat this as a promotional item giving them away at your live shows
and the shows of others in your area with a similar sound. Another option is selling them at your
live shows and giving them away everywhere else you market yourself. Say for instance online,
as a way to get people to sign up for your e-mail list so that you can get their all too valuable emails
to be used for future warm sales of your products. Something else you could do is leave
free CDs in stores (preferably on the counter top for maximum exposure) with a display case to
house (Check Galaris.com store) them you can easily spread the word about your band with little
marketing work on your part. This works out great, especially if your tend to play at cafes and
coffee houses. The owners very often will be very open to you leaving cds after or even before a
performance you do at their venue. After all, the more people that they can get into your shows
the more business they’ll be getting.

So that handles the sells and promotional aspects, but what about actually advancing my career
through networking and getting my music into the right hands you say. Well my friends this is
where I shine, guerilla marketing campaigns. Simply sending thank you letters, flowers, candy,
heck even pizza or doughnuts to say, a radio station crew and other people whose attention you
desire can easily sway peoples minds to help your career along. Will you get tons of air-play if
you try this with a radio station, well no, in fact probably only once, if at all. But if it’s a major
radio market in your area think about the possibilities that could open up for you if the Dj does
play your song and likes it, or more importantly interested fans call in wanting to hear it again, or
your web address being said on the air. Still taking a chance, however, the odds of someone
helping you out in such a little way in return to your kindness to them, are HUGE!

People like helping people that are nice to them. Sending roses to the secretary of executives
you’re wishing to get a meeting with and just happening to also send he or she (probably the later
with this example, huh a signed EP of yours with it can put you in a favored place with that
secretary and the next time you walk in trying to schedule or get a favor (EP slipped to their boss)
I bet more times than not you’ll get an ok. There are many other ways and situations you can use
this method. The important thing is that you’re creative and always remember to accompany
your EP with the gesture.

One more thing, with the acts that I have worked with I usually have them send out their EP’s to
venues when they are looking for live shows. Simply calling the venue and asking who the
correct person to contact about booking is and sending in your EP and sometimes a full press kit,
though not always, and not soon after another show’s lined-up. If you are only sending an EP in
this instance, and any other thing mentioned above for that matter, always remember contact
information, preferably a business card or two and to also write it onto the cd itself. Also, as far
reproducing your EP goes, due to the fact that it is only a demo type of product a simple cd-r
burning manufacturing system is all you need to get started and to maintain this process, which is
why an EP is such a good option for promotions.

These are just a few ways that an EP can lead you toward a fuller career and can in fact be Your
Big Ticket.

Now, Get out there and Manifest Your Career Success!