How to Break Your Band on the Internet

Slide 1 How to Break Your Band on the Internet Methods, Tools & Tips By Ian Clifford For Make It In Music Slide 2 About Ian Clifford • Worked in the music business for over 20 years • 4 years as a music lawyer • Managed songwriters & producers / artists • Owned Indie labels – Classic / Illicit • Hit records as a manager and label • Studied ‘music marketing’ at Berklee • Consultant – DTF, marketing, records & publishing • Set up ‘Make It In Music’ in 2009 to advise DIY musicians 2 Started as music lawyer Moved on to become manager of songwriters & producers – managed the team that helmed the careers of the Spice Girls. First client, Happy Clappers signed to WEA and had several European hits, inc ‘I Believe’ going top 10 in the UK. Career as a manager saw number of artists signed to major label deals covering dance music (DJ Rap (Sony) / Freeform Five (Atlantic and Universal)), indie (Chikinki (Island)) and electronica (Deadly Avenger (Sony). Labels – set up with DJ’s – legendary house music label run with Derrick Carter, Chicago. With Deadly Avenger, pioneering big beat label – Illicit. Those labels releasing one record a week and we were involved in every aspect of their recording, manufacturing, promotion, marketing and release. We also promoted gigs for the DJ’s 1 and artists in the UK and abroad as well as learning to promote to press, radio and online – ourselves and with specialist PR companies & pluggers. Biggest hit as a label was Fatman Scoop, ‘Be Faithful’ selling a million copies across Europe. Many hits as managers of writer/producers. Currently, we have returned to managing a core group of writers & producers who between them write for LadyHawke, Little Boots, Robbie Williams, Delphic & Tracey Thorn – to name a few. Recently completed the Online Music Marketing course at Berklee Online and became early accredited Topspin user. Now adding a role as a consultant on music marketing, Direct to Fan and any aspect of the modern music business. And, teaching those skills online through our musician resource and advice site, Make It In Music. Apologies – this seminar is a little text heavy to start with, but there’s a lot to cover and I want you to have a complete picture and a plan. Don’t worry, I will be giving you the whole thing, with my notes as a pdf, which you will be able to download when you get home. Slide 3 What is Success? • What does it mean to you to ‘break your band? • Is it self-sustaining your career / lifestyle? • Is it getting a ‘record deal’? • Is it being a DIY musician? • Is it local, national or global success? • Is it success in your genre or the mainstream? • ALL are achieved the same way • By building a fanbase that wants to buy your music • And the internet is the greatest way ever to do that 3 Before we start, we need to define what we mean by ‘breaking your band’ as it means very different things to people. 2 Slide 4 The Caveat • Can be done without the internet or with basic site • Can be done without social media • Can be done without freemium • Can be done instantly – without a build up over time • THIS method is intended to give the BEST CHANCE • Can’t be done without hard work • Can’t be done without great music • It’s hard to make great music and learn to do all this • Get good quality recordings of GREAT material before you start! 4 Done without site and interaction = cult of mystery – Wu Lyf Can be done without social media - Not everyone wants to tweet. Although it doesn’t have to be banal. As we’ll see in a bit, you have to fit all social media activity in to your life as an artist and place your public shared life in that context. And you have to find a style that you’re comfortable with. Much debate about whether freemium works - http://yourbandsbestfriend.com/2011/07/07/sorry- the-choice-is-yours/ In my experience it does and builds fanbase. See Little People giving away half an album for email (sales go up) and an EP for ‘likes’ on Facebook. No build up, but get all your sites ready and slick and then promote all at once. – Weeknd. Helps if you get an endorsement! (Also Fanfarlo) Slide 5 Why the Internet is the Answer • An artist’s enemy is obscurity, not piracy • Now we all have access to the ‘4 keys to commerce’ • Production, Distribution, Promotion, Marketing • “The cost & difficulty of publishing anything by anyone to a global audience just got a whole lot easier” – 2004 • You can build long-term relationships directly • You can reach everyone, not just potential fans, but influencers too. • It’s a 2 way conversation. Give people the tools to spread the word. • You can engage and sell – direct! • Social media is a total culture change over the last few years – allows viral spread • It’s a multi-platform world – you need to be seen everywhere 5 3 An artist’s enemy is obscurity, not piracy – Tim O’Reilly: http://radar.oreilly.com/archives/2006/08/piracy-is-progressive-taxation.html For ‘Marketing’, read ‘Advertising and Marketing’. Having access to these 4 keys, which were previously in the hands of the few is revolutionary. For a while the means of quality production has been in the hands of all musicians with home studios powered by computers and software and now we all have access to global distribution over the web – through your own sites, social media and digital distributors who give access to digital retailers. “Cost & Difficulty” quote - http://www.shirky.com/writings/information_price.html It’s GLOBAL & INSTANT! There is now a pool of producers that you have access to (bloggers, fans on social media, podcasters etc). Tap into that pool of producers and give them a reason to start a conversation about you and spread the word for you! You can build long-term relationships directly – no gatekeepers or middle men when the relationship is established. Hence the importance of email and followers / fans on social media. You can reach them when YOU want, not when someone else allows. Also, the reason why you are ‘always on’ - not just in an ‘album cycle’ You can reach everyone, not just potential fans, but influencers too – Influencers used to be radio, TV and journalists, but now it’s blogs, Twitter users and people on Facebook. As we can see form the way people behave on Facebook and Twitter, people want to hear, talk about and share music. Music IS social. Fans are not just the best buyers – they are also your best supporter and most vocal – they are now Influencers themselves. Peer review and friend’s recommendations are now crucial. Slide 6 Know your niche • You cannot compete with the ‘push’ marketing of the majors • Identify your Fan • Demographic – age, income, education, location & occupation • Psychographic - likes/dislikes, attitudes, opinions & motivations • Niche marketing – target the ideal fan • In a niche the cost to acquire each new fan is higher but the cost to satisfy them is tiny • Target the niche and the rest will follow! • Think mainstream, act niche 6 4 Push (Interruption) marketing of the majors is marketing the music though mainstream radio, press, TV and retail where the idea is that the music and therefore the marketing message interrupts the consumer / fan. The Internet and social media has changed this equation entirely; it's now about millions of channels reaching tens of people. Demographic – age, income, education, location, occupation. Also called the Who, What, When, Where. Psychographics are more esoteric - likes/dislikes, attitudes, opinions, and motivations. Demographic is less important post web as the web has rendered age, physical location, and income largely obsolete as a way to identify fans. Online people tend to band together over mutual interests and shared values. Demographic also simply not as applicable as the web is global and age is no barrier. Also music is not easily pigeonholed as something that a particular age, education or location or sex would be interested in (Pure pop excepted!). Two very different people can like the same music. Psychographics are a much better measure for musicians to use to identify their potential niche (or tribe), particularly online. “Rather than taking an external outward-facing view of your fans, the key to effective use of psychographics is to look inward, identify your own interests and strengths as an artist, and find groups of people (online and off) that share these interests.” Mike King, Berklee Apply this psychographic online not just to fans of similar artists (musically but also in terms of attitude) but also other shared groups – cultural, TV, politics, hobbies. Niche marketing targets the ideal fan and works to increase the revenue from that fan rather than looking for a larger share of the overall market – that can come after dominating a niche. It’s about millions of channels (each focused tightly on specific interests) reaching tens of people, but if you identify those tens accurately and they become fans they will each influence tens of others in that niche. Seth Godin says that a record is a ‘hit’ because people want to listen to what everyone else is listening to. In the past there was one ‘everyone else’ (the mainstream fed by few TV, radio and press channels), but now there are thousands of ‘everyone else’s’ each sector of which is a tightly focused niche. An individual music lover may like many types of music and be in many niches or they may be in a few (or even only one) but in each niche they will have trusted sources – they are your target! 5 Focus on your specific market niche where people are desperate for new music (and related content, news etc) and share it with each other triumphantly and readily.

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