iTunes? Nahhhhhh

This weekend I moved. I mean MOVED. Somewhere in the process of moving one of the guys in my band called me up and proposed the idea of putting one of the songs off our new record on iTunes as sort of a "leak" type promotion. At first I thought it was a cool idea and told him we could talk later about it after I had put down the couch I was holding.

I started to think about it and putting 1 song on iTunes, while in theory is great, won't really do much for a band (unless your selling 50+ thousands of CD's).

What SHOULD a band do?

Help build that band/fan relationship! It's key! If you want to leak a song, put it up on your own website. That way the fans 1) don't have to pay for it and if they do YOU get all the money for it (don't give iTunes a cut for a "leaked" track) 2) you get a ton of traffic to your site because everyone loves free stuff and 3) it actually makes your fans happier getting it from YOUR site than iTunes because even though its online, they still feel like they're getting it directly from YOUR hands. Plus if it's on your site, they'll know YOU WANT THEM TO HAVE IT where as on iTunes they may not know who leaked the song or anything like that.

DIY
DIY
DIY.

-KR

Free is for Me...and You!

Free.

Free.

What does that mean to you? It's usually a good thing. Now how about this,

Free music.

Still a good thing right? I thought so. How about this,

Your music is free music.

Now I'm sure this isn't as good right? Why is it that some artists are freaking out about their music being free?

I am an artist myself and a few weeks ago I got into a healthy arguement with the owner of one of the clubs we play at who is also a good friend after a gig. My band, Highway Jackson, is about to release our second album and my good friend, we'll call him Joe the Club Owner, was very "passionate" about us selling our CD for at the very least $10. He kept saying, "But this music is AWESOME, you HAVE to sell it or you're not doing yourself justice, etc". Of course I thanked him for the kind words about our music (friends always have great things to say) but I also let him know that $10 was WAY to expensive for us to be selling ANYTHING.

Music will be free soon, whether it's ad-supported or through Lala or maybe even a different channel. Most of the uneducated public (in the music business) think they know a lot of things that usually prove to be false.

1. An independant artist who is up and coming should not be selling a CD for anything more than $5. That is for a FULL LENGTH ALBUM. Highway Jackson has 10 tracks, and $5 is the absolute most we will sell it for.

2. The CD, as in Compact Disc, is almost obsolete. The MP3 rules all and technology like the iPhone will make sure it stays that way. Bands used to press 1000 CD's at a time and now they only need to press 3-500 and sell the rest through digital distribution streams.

3. Part of the reason CD's used to cost so much was all the hidden fees and clauses included in a bands record contract. For example, the breakage clause. The breakage clause in a contract basically was created under the assumption that a record (45") could break during the distribution process, so the label would take a larger cut of the sales because THEY assumed the risk of sending the product out, thus making CD's a tad bit more expensive so the artists could get a fair cut of the profits. Now that most music is distributed digitally, clauses like the Breakage clause no longer are in effect (although at first record companies still tried to carry this clause over to digital sales...scumbags).

4. Common sense. If a kid goes to an all ages concert, chances are he/she doesn't have too much money. They already paid between $5-15 to get into concert, chances are if they have any money left it's not much. Make your album as cheap as possible especially at a live show. There is NO better time to get someone to buy your album than at a show. How tragic is it that a individual loves a band and thinks they'd like to hear their album and learn all the lyrics so they can be the ultimate fan only to find out that the album, which has 8 tracks is $10-12. That fan probably won't buy it because 1) they don't have enough money (most bands don't take plastic) and 2) they don't want to spend the money on a gamble, meaning they don't know if they'll like it or not. Make it cheap, if not free. 100 fans with your album for $2 is way better than 25 for $10. Nobody cares about how much money you made on your CD, they care about your fan base.

5. It's a lot easier to create a band/fan relationship with free music. For example, how great is it when a band emails a brand new mp3 right out of the studio to members of their fan club? The fan feels like the band cares about them (which they should).

On that note, never ever ever EVER play for free. Thats for another post.

Over and out!

-KR

Lala...lala...LA! The NEW and IMPROVED online music retailer

To make a long story short, Lala is a new online music retailing selling songs at $.10 each. The only catch is, it's a web song (a song you can only listen to by logging into your account and listening to it via your online library). Right now I need you to do one thing...

STOP!

I know what you're thinking. You're thinking, "Sweet, so I can buy songs for 10 cents but I have to listen to them via an online library which means I need a computer with speakers and an internet connection to listen to my music. Why would I want that?"

You do want this, and I'll tell you why. You buy a song for $.10 and listen to it online only. If you want to listen to it offline thats fine, you can pay the full $.99 for a song and put it on your iPod. There are two big points that I want to make sure you, the reader, understand because this is such a great, innovative idea in the music industry:

1. You can upload your entire iTunes library to your web song library no matter how you obtained the songs(illegal and legal).

***2***. With new technology, the iPhone, the new Google phone, etc, you're ALWAYS online. You may not even realize it but if you've got an iPhone you're connected to the net 24/7. The iPhone doubles as an iPod. See where I'm going with this? For $.10 you can buy a song and listen to it via your iPhone or any other mobile device that has internet connection.

Let me just repeat, you can buy a song for $.10 and listen to it whenever you want on your mobile device that is connected to the internet.

This concept could completely destroy ad-supported music and that rediculous venture that many are trying to push. With this model, if successful, the price of music will not venture into the hands of firms selling adspace on music. Lala has already signed four major labels and 175,000 independant artists to it's online library. Many adsupported music sites can't get one label let alone four.

A year ago I would have been 100% against this idea, but because of devices like the iPhone, I'm betting this service takes off like the iPod.

Over and out,

KR

A Band's Dream: Bandzoogle

I'm sure I've mentioned Bandzoogle before in past posts, but now that I've started using it and really gotten a chance to dive into what it's all about I figure it deserves a proper review.

"Bandzoogle lets bands build great websites in minutes. All the stuff you need (like an online store, mailing list, forum) are built right in. You don't need to know anything about web design -- we do the techie stuff so you can concentrate on your music."-www.bandzoogle.com

Let's start off by saying, you don't need to be an HTML genius to use this service. In fact, you don't need to know HTML at all! Bandzoogle makes everything as easy as a MySpace page...but with the awesomeness of your own website. Yes, I said "awesomeness". Let's face it, while its imparative to have a MySpace page, it's also imparative to have an actual website, a .com, a unique way so people can type in "Your Band" in google and find "yourband.com".

Building a website from scratch is a lot more complicated than knowing how to insert an image or create a link. You've got to be able to make tables, buttons, menus, etc. and that's just the beginning. Don't you love going to your favorite bands websites? They've got awesome graphic design work on their site, killer fonts and overall a vibe that makes you want to come back. That's what's so great about Bandzoogle, it helps musicians and bands create a sense of urgency with their website that they probably would not be able to produce/afford on their own. Check out these sites that are created using Bandzoogles tools:

The Pimps: http://www.thepimps.org/

Namoli Brennet: http://www.namolibrennet.com/index.cfm

Crafty Records: http://www.craftyrecords.net/

Another touchy(and that's putting it lightly) subject with musicians around the globe is the idea of selling music. Everyone agrees it should be sold, the question is, "for how much?". The cool thing about Bandzoogle is you can set up a streaming music player throughout your site, and you can also SELL your music via an online store (completely seperate from the streaming player) at prices you set on your own. No more iTunes $.99 or Amazong $.79. If you're an upcoming band, your music should be $.00. That's my view. Take what you will. This way you can track what your selling (whether it's $.01 or $2.00 a track).

Really quick I need to emphasize the importance of the streaming music player. I remember when my band first hired a web programmer and it was extremely difficult (at least that's what he had us believe) to create a streaming music player for you site, let alone a player that carries over from page to page of your site. The Bandzoogle player is as easy as uploading songs to MySpace. Let me repeat, AS EASY AS UPLOADING A SONG TO MYSPACE.

The photo gallery feature of Bandzoogle is also really great because it doesn't involve page after page of photos. When you click on a photo, it triggers a seperate photo viewing box that lets the user browse through your photos at actual size.

Does your band have a mailing list? I bet you do. Have you gone on facebook and looked at all your friend's school emails and copied them to your "mailing list"without them knowing? I bet you've done something at least similar to that. The Bandzoogle mailing list feature is an awesome tool for bands without a real way of creating and maintaining a mailing list. It allows your site to allow users/fans to submit their own emails to the band and also lets you keep track of each from from a variety of parameters such as city, state, zip code, etc. Remember that gig coming up in Philly? Good thing you have a way to tell which of your fans are from that area so you can send out a personalized email letting them know about your show...Oh wait...you don't. You could with Bandzoogle.

Other great features include guestbooks, blogging, polling (wouldn't you love to know what song is your fans FAVORITE?), contact submission boxes and even an introduction page to show your logo before your fans actually enter the site (talk about branding!).

Now what's the catch? No catch. You obviously pay for the service. I need to emphasize pay for the service. Bandzoogle does it all for you, for as little as $14.95/month to $19.95/month. If you pay $19.95/month thats about $240.00 a year for your website. Most web designers charge $200.00 just for the initial set up!

Being able to update your own "News" section is enough for me. I'm sold.

Go to www.bandzoogle.com right now and start your free month trial.


-KR

The Essential Marketing Plan

So the new Highway Jackson album sounds great, and we're just about ready to put it out (when I say just about ready I mean 3-4 months away). I've been talking a lot about marketing and wanted to put our existing marketing plan out on the table to see if anyone had any cool and innovative ideas that we might have missed.



Web: http://www.highwayjackson.com/ will be up and running within the next 2 months and we'll be giving away one song a week when the album comes out so everyone can get it for free if they wish via the site.



Our last EP "Leave Your Girl Pants at Home" will also be available for download(free) via the site.



The HJ MySpace page is going through a major face lift with graphic designers, etc to turn it into an awesome page instead of a normal band page. The songs will be available to listen to, but in order to download them for free you'll have to visit the official website.



The Facebook group Highway Jackson will be keeping everyone informed of all this as well through messages and events.



Radio: As far as radio advertising goes, HJ will be running ad's for the new album, CD Release Party, Spinout appearance, and pending Bullmoose in-store performance for 3 weeks prior to the release on WCYY, Q97.9, and FNX.



We'll be in the studio with Mark Curdo on WCYY's Spinout, as well as submitting to to various commercial and college stations including WTOS, WFNX, WBLM and WCYY as well.



TV: This is not set in stone, but we'll be pushing an appearance on The 207 as well for an on-air performance.



CD Release Party: We have yet to decide if there will be just one or two CD Release Parties but we are 100% sure the first will be at the Big Easy, possibly another at Champs. We'll have to play it by ear.



During the 3 weeks before the record is released we'll be doing give-aways for CD's, Tickets to the show, free merch and meet and greets with the band for the fans as well.



Retail Sales: The new album will be sold through Bullmoose and Newbury Comics locations. For the first two weeks the online sales will also be sold exclusively through Bullmoose Music before going to iTunes.



Digital Sales: The album will be distributed digitally through one of IODA's subsidiary distributers to over 60 retail digital outlets including iTunes and Amazon.



Promotional Material: We're going to be getting in contact with Daddy's Junky Music to possibly sponsor a banner for the band with the band logo for upcoming shows. We'll also be printing flyers and other print materials to get the word out.



Print Media: We'll be sending the new album to The Portland and Boston Phoenix, The Portland Press Herald, Performer, Northeast Performer, and other well known regional magazines.



Stay tuned for more info...

Licensing Opportunities...do they REALLY exist for young bands?

My band is now an ASCAP member and before that we used Merlin for licensing. I had recently stumbled upon youlicence when I started wondering how good these services really are. Although ASCAP has a registration fee, Merlin was free. The cost itself isn't really a big deal, but what do these companies really do for a young band other than be a name that they can have in common with larger, more well known acts?

I'd love YOUR input!

Marketing Strategies and Band Websites

Is it essential to have a website for your band? I mean let's face it, with MySpace, Facebook, Sonicbids alone you have enough information out there for people to find what their looking for whether they're a promoter, agent or fan. If this is all true, then WHY is it so important for a band to have an official website? Is it the fan/band relationship that people long for? There's something about going to a bands website rather than their MySpace page that feels more personable. A band can fully control their website rather than use cheezy layouts, and can also post as many songs as they like as opposed to just 6. A band can also more accurately track their popularity by charting hits and unique impressions on their website, as opposed to MySpace's inaccurate "friend" list. In the dog eat dog world that we live in it's important to set yourself aside from the pack, and having an official site is the best way to do that.
I've recently been checking out a site that hosts websites for bands and also makes it extremely easy to design and operate. It's called Bandzoogle. There are a few different plans, the most exensive one running you at $19.95 a month, but you don't have to pay anyone to design the site and you also don't have to be an html wiz to get a great product. I highly recommend checking out Bandzoogle and giving it a 30-day from trial.
Part of what a website does is brand the band. Branding is so important to a young band because essentially it's getting your name out there and creating a prior sense of knowledge when someone hears the name. When you release a new album, you can use your website in so many different ways to help promote and drive traffic to and from your other social networking sites such as MySpace.
One great way of doing this would be to have a music store on your site where fans can buy your music for a nominal fee. At the same time when releasing an album, every day or every week you could have one new free download. Essentially if a fan came back just once a week to download that free track you would 1. Have steady traffic to your website and at the same time get your entire album out for free to all your fans over a 10-12 week period depending on how many songs you had on the record.
This is just one of many ideas a band can use to help promote and brand themselves. I'm always finding new ways and always looking so please drop a line if you have any innovative ideas on how to get your music out there!

New Highway Jackson Record Done Tracking...

Just got home from a long stint in the studio tracking the new Highway Jackson record. Things are sounding GREAT, and the incredible Jon Wyman is on top of his game as our producer.

We're still not sure if we're going to sell it, and if so for how much, or give it away for free. It's a 10 track follow up to our 2007 debut release, "Leave Your Girl Pants at Home". With the music business changing so rapidly it's tough to say what would be the best option. On one hand, as a young band you need to make money whenever possible, but at the same time your music getting into the players of the people must be the top priority. Any suggestions?

Many thanks to all our family, friends and fans for all their endless support.

It's Back!

Hey Ya'll,

Trying to get back into this blogging thing. My band is now recording our follow up to 2007's "Leave Your Girl Pants at Home" and we're really excited about the new record.

There are so many crazy things going on in the industry right now, and I'm going to try and stay on top of things and put out as many blogs stating my rediculous and udderly pointless opinion as MUCH as possible. Thanks for staying tuned and keep checkin' this cuz I'll be here!

Why Mariah has a better waiste-i mean Bass line than you

Have you ever wondered why you love "always be my baby" but not something off of Victor Wooten's "Ying and Yang"? It's a harsh reality that certain songs, because of certain sounds, get embedded into our brains. "Always be My Baby" by Mariah Carey, to me, has always been that perfect song. I'm not saying it's the only perfect pop song out there, but it's got all of the traits and qualities of that ideal hit.

You've got to look at it from a scientific standpoint. It's got the hook thats for sure. The bass line is the BEST part, and that 80's synth guitar line takes the cake. So next time your trying to write a KICK ASS pop song...think to your self, "Am I like Mariah with "Always be My Baby"? On FIIIIIIIREEEE!?"

Really though, you shouldn't.

Oh yeah hey Matt, remember when you told me iTunes wouldn't be the number one music retailer...you were wrong. If we weren't doing this damn Biggest Loser thing I'd make you buy me a jelly donut.

Records on the Wall Mean Kids Run it All

There is something about Sunday's that I love. Not sure what it is, but I've always liked Sundays. Sunday's are sort of a lazy day I guess, and I'm sort of a lazy guy in some ways, so I guess that's where my train of thought comes in. As I sit here looking at the walls around me, with framed records and framed 8'11" autographs on them, I look at the artists they represent and realize things are so very different now then when they were up and coming artists.

One thing that comes to mind immediately, almost in alarm, is that the MUSIC INDUSTRY IS NOT IN TROUBLE. The RECORD INDUSTRY is. There is a misconception brought on by the media covering the major record labels that the music industry is in a state of emergency, this could not be further from the truth. Labels are having a hard time selling records, nothing else. The music industry consists of touring, merchandise, records, television, publishing, producing, and so many other things. If one piece of the pie is gone, it doesn't mean the pie is no longer edible.

A long long time ago, when a record came out, if I bought the record it was mine. If I lent to someone to listen to, I no longer had that record. That was the beauty of the record industry. In order to get the music, you HAD to buy it. Now a days, if I give someone an mp3 to listen to, I still have it and so do they. This is the problem the record industry is facing right now. The thing is, it's not going to be the dinosaurs at the major labels to come up with a new business plan on how to do things, it's going to be a young mind, maybe a band, maybe not, that comes up with the plan that revolutionizes the way we do business in the industry.

Bands and artists these days do things like sell ad space on their trailers to fund tour marketing, play elks lodges and vet halls so kids can get in cheap, and they sell a ton of CD's that way. Bands let fans pick the set list for the show, allow fans to design their own merchandise to buy, and do as much as paint their entire van/converted school bus to be one huge rolling advertisement for their band...and then EMI lays off employees to cut expenses down.

It's so sad, and this may be stretching it a bit, but it's so sad that you might have better luck putting a 17-year old lead guitar player who handles the business in his screamo band as the CEO of Sony/BMG, EMI, Universal, or Warner Bros, and get better results than your getting at the present time.

Be innovative. Cut the shit.

Tuesday Run Down- MySpace sleeping with Majors, Winsonic Music Group, Apple bundles music on iPod, and new release tactics

• MySpace is finally jumping in bed with the majors, MySpace.com is rolling toward closing deals with two of the four top music labels, according to a report published Monday. (Check it)
• Winsonic digital media group announces Winsonic Music Group. (Read Press Release)
• Last week the Financial Times reported that Apple had talked with Universal about bundling music with iPods. Other publications mentioned various figures which still other publications promptly dismissed. The news was also said to be at least six months old. (Check it)
• Music industry charts murky waters in unfamiliar release tactics. (Say that 10 times fast)
  

Wednesday Run Down- SXSW Wrap Up, Sandisk in Physical Music Market, Songkick kicks off, FM VS Major Labels

• Stepping into the world of SXSW is to escape from your own mundane reality spent under fluorescent lights wishing away hours of your life and into a week-long binge on music, food, alcohol, and people. (SXSW Wrap Up)
• Sandisk Poised to Enter the Physical Music Market (Flash Memory gone Physical?)
• Songkick music site allows users to track a band by their concerts, as well as compare 3 bands at once. (Still has some kinks but check it)
• FM, Music Split? (Read Full Article)
  

Consultation Service Now at The Opening Note

Now as well as providing free blog posts and articles for bands on how they can help further their music career, The Opening Note is offering consultation services for the bands/artists who take their career a little bit more seriously and are looking for guidance. Check out the "Consultation" section of the site and inquire about what we can do for you! ----------------------------------------->

Monday Run Down-Perez at SXSW, Surrge, Lady cries "It wasn't me!", and Major Labels keep trying...

• Last year when Perez Hilton showed up to SXSW he was a mere spectator. This year, with his new found power, he's a celebrity. Somebody shoot me...(Perez is a tool)
• Surrge, the hottest new brand in the business of online music, launches during South by Southwest this week. Ushering the music industry into the Web 2.0 world, Surrge is a social distribution network and music community that lets fans play a part in any given musical artist’s success. The Surrge experience is one where artists are promoted by their biggest fans; performance fees for music streams are finally paid; and access to target audiences pays off for fans and artists alike. By marrying social networking with music culture, the company is driving a new paradigm for music in the 21st Century. (Check it!)
• Tanya Andersen originally sued the Recording Industry Association of America after its representatives threatened to interrogate her young daughter if she didn't pay thousands of dollars for music that actually was downloaded by somebody else. Check out this lady's bogus claims here. I'm all for privacy and not letting government bodies investigate my life, but if someone was selling crack out of your living room, it really wouldn't matter if it was done by someone else if YOUR daughter was caught snorting it off the computer desk...while listening to illegally downloaded music of course.
• Major Labels considering ISP surcharge...(What's new?)

Friday Run Down-Music Subscription, Music Tax, has SXSW gone glam?

• Recording Industry calls for monetization without representation. This concept has been around for years now. Dave Kusek and Gerd Leonhard wrote The Future of Music and predicted this...though I still don't see it happening. (Check it)
• Industry looking to tax ISP's for piracy. (Bogus?)
• Has SXSW, the once "rebel" of festivals gone corporate and glam? And if so, is it a good thing? (Read more)
  

Thursday Run Down

• Having failed to stop piracy by suing internet users, the music industry is for the first time seriously considering a file sharing surcharge that internet service providers would collect from users. (Check it)
• Sueing Napster was the record industry's biggest mistake...(No Really)
• I have received a few comments about my story talking about Trent Reznor being a genius, because without his labels in the past he never could have done what he did, but readers must understand, NIN is not a huge act anymore. They are none as a fringe act, meaning they were once big but can't sell out a small sized arena. Reznor has made $1.6 million in sales and had over 700,000 transactions. That's more than Justin Timberlake after a month of album sales. (Read a great article on this extremely smart guy)
• Here is a list of peeps that have pissed off the IRAA enough to go to court....Star Wars style...

Untitled from thesixtyone on Vimeo.

Wednesday Run Down

• EMI has made peace with the music industry's international trade association, more than three months after its private equity owner threatened to cut its annual funding for its activities in half or pull out altogether. (Read Article)
• Baby bands looking for that big break, buzz bands hoping to become the next big thing and big bands trying to rejuvenate their careers all bring their A game to about 80 venues -- bars, coffeehouses, nightclubs, parks, restaurants, amphitheatres, concert halls, TV soundstages, churches and even the odd private house. With most of the round-the-clock action centred around two bar-riddled cross streets that are closed to vehicular traffic during the event, SXSW resembles New Orleans during Mardi Gras -- but with cowboy hats, BBQ and much better music. (SXSW Stuff)
• A group set up to protect civil rights in the digital arena has condemned the music industry for mounting High Court action against Eircom. (Check it)

• With an ever increasing number of people downloading their music for free, albeit often illegally, over the web, the music industry is at a critical juncture: adapt or die. We7 is a music download website that hopes to set the tone for the music industry in the 21^st century. It thinks it has found a way to make music available for free and yet still generate revenue for record companies and artists. (Read More)

Tuesday Run Down

• With the new business model for labels being a service based company, digital labels such as Musicwerks, Zoomoozik, and now Missing Beat are emerging. Check out Missing Beats press release HERE.
• Couple taken in as UK's largest music faud! (Read Article)
• Music Conference 2008, for the new music industry (Read Press Release)
• Finally, the RIAA admits that suiting over file sharing DOES NOT WORK! (Read Full Article)
• Civil War breaks out in the Music Industry, and as usual, record label executives seem to be on the wrong side of it. (Check it)
  

Monday Run Down

• Many say that without a corporate tie-in, many bands won't make it. Read article from AdvertisingAge here.
• Consensus at CMW seminar says fees for filing sharing are coming, sooner than later. (Read Full Article)
• History of SXSW Music Festival. (Plain and Simple)
• This year at SXSW, everyone is looking for TV-ready acts! (Check it)
• Canadian music and movie pirating headquarters raided by Mounties (For Real)