The Graham English Blog » Music Promotion

Radiohead Says Name Your Price, But They Are Not The First

Graham English — Thu, 04 Oct 2007 13:57:48 +0000

Radiohead is releasing their new album In Rainbows next week for any price you want to pay! But they’re not the first.

Canadian art-pop singer, Jane Siberry, sells her music through an honor-payment system. The Freakonomics blog points out how her variable-pricing scheme ends up bringing in more cash than if she were to sell it through iTunes. BoingBoing calls her “the gold standard for a digital artist’s business.”

If you’re looking for a [tag]Music 2.0[/tag] business to model, this is the one.

How To Become An Artist 2.0

Graham English — Sun, 13 May 2007 18:23:04 +0000

Merlin Mann just pointed to a New York Times Magazine article about Jonathan Coulton and The Hold Steady. These artists are thriving in the post-CD music world through intimate virtual relationships with their fans.

Music promotion through blogs and social networks like MySpace is getting more and more powerful. Managing this vast world of [tag]Web 2.0[/tag] can be a daunting task. That’s why I recently created some AppleScripts to help me manage updating all the sites I belong to. I’m still refining the workflow but I plan on posting more about it later.

In fact, that’s why activity has been quiet on this blog. I’ve been “going meta” and examining all of my workflows to see how I can get more done in less time. That way I have more time to actually create music, which has been a major challenge for me as of late.

Stay tuned for a teleseminar on the subject of marketing your music through online social networks. In the meantime, here’s my AppleScript to open all of my Music 2.0 URLs:
Click here to open the script in Script Editor.

Get Your Next Album Paid For With SellABand

Graham English — Fri, 30 Mar 2007 23:55:08 +0000

TechCrunch reports that SellABand just might be working.

But a few months later, wow. 2700 bands from all over the world have signed up, and four have already reached the $50,000 mark and have recorded albums (Nemesea, Cubworld, Second Person and Clemence, and more are on the way. Mandyleigh, one of our readers, is currently no. 4 on the top list and looks to be headed to the studio soon.

How it works is you upload your music and people listen to it. If they like it, they pay $10. Once you reach $50,000, SellABand helps you record your album with a producer. It’s a unique model. When/If you reach your goal and make the album, listeners who paid for your music get a free CD.

If you can get 5,000 people to “donate” $10 bucks to your cause, then you’ve got an album. Of course, if you’ve got the platform, you might just want to ask for the money directly. But if you’re starting from scratch and you have good music, why not let SellABand help you find some believers.

iJamr and Jamglue

Graham English — Thu, 28 Dec 2006 16:13:53 +0000

Here’s two cool sites I found through eHub.

iJamr is a music social network for music makers and webmasters. It provides you with a viral media engine to help help you promote your music at no cost and even make money in the process.

Jamglue is an online community for discovering, creating, and sharing original music. They have remixing contests with cool prizes.

Searching For Other Musicians To Play With? Try This…

Graham English — Sat, 02 Dec 2006 01:49:12 +0000

Musiclocated is a free service that uses Google Maps to help you find musicians in your area. You can submit your URL and you can also link to a YouTube video of your performance or mp3 of your music. Check it out!

The Easiest Way To Get News On All Your Favorite Musicians

Graham English — Fri, 20 Oct 2006 15:30:47 +0000

“Web site earFeeder scans your computer’s music library and creates a customized RSS feed for your newsreader with news related to the artists in your music library.”

Full article from Lifehacker: Get newsfeeds tailored to your musical tastes

It’s still new but looks very promising. It was created by a couple of Boulder, Colorado entrepreneurs, David Cohen and Brad Searle. I wish I knew about them when I was living there just over a month and a half ago. Good luck guys!

New to RSS?

OS X Widget scans your iTunes library, shows concert dates in your area

Graham English — Sat, 07 Oct 2006 22:15:59 +0000

Mac OS X only: Freeware Dashboard widget OnTour scans your iTunes music library, letting you know when musicians you like are coming through your town.

If you don’t own a Mac and you’re a musician, it’s really time.

Click here to download.

WikiMusicGuide

Graham English — Mon, 02 Oct 2006 19:57:21 +0000

From ehub:

Features artists, bands, songs, albums and a compilation of newsworthy events in the music world. Any music fan and site visitor may be the featured user. Visitors and regulars may edit the artists’ pages, give their own reviews and ratings on albums and tracks. URL: WikiMusicGuide.

If you’re a performing artist, it would make sense to get your listeners involved. First of all, it creates listener community. Second, it creates another place on the internet for potential fans to find you. Third, you gain feedback. You can even spy on your musical competition.

How to Market Your Music with MySpace

Graham English — Thu, 28 Sep 2006 15:47:19 +0000

This should go without saying, but …

If you aren’t promoting your music on MySpace yet, you need to start — fast!
If you already have a MySpace artist profile, you need to make the best use of it so you get the maximum exposure possible.

Find out what successful indie acts like Relient K, My Chemical Romance, Arctic Monkeys, and Hawthorne Heights (as well as major acts like Madonna, Coldplay, Foo Fighters, Black Eyed Peas, and Death Cab for Cutie) know … that you don’t. Get this first-ever, one-of-a-kind e-book at an introductory low price for a limited-time.

Amazing Tunes is a Good Musician’s Community

Graham English — Wed, 13 Sep 2006 17:39:16 +0000

Amazing Tunes is a musician’s community that allows you to share your music with the rest of the world. The idea is to create a space to showcase your music and gain much needed feedback.

Google Music Trends

Graham English — Thu, 17 Aug 2006 16:31:45 +0000

See what Google Talk users are listening to: Google Music Trends

Duran Duran to Perform Live… Virtually

Graham English — Wed, 09 Aug 2006 00:20:33 +0000

British band Duran Duran are to create a virtual island within online game Second Life, on which they will perform actual live concerts. Second Life is an online 3D digital world, which is imagined, created and owned by the residents. Are virtual celeb appearances the next big thing online?

What a great idea. I’ve spent very little time in Second Life but I can see the promise. There’s an entire industry emerging that helps you create your “second identity” in the virtual world. read more.

Tell me your story

Graham English — Fri, 04 Aug 2006 15:43:18 +0000

I would like to showcase musicians on my blog. You can promote your music in three ways:

A free link in my musician’s directory
A bio or an article about you and your music
Or just tell me about yourself in the comments of this post

Contact me with any questions.

Rockers Work a Web-Savvy Crowd

Graham English — Fri, 04 Aug 2006 01:56:41 +0000

Rockers Work a Web-Savvy Crowd, by Robert La Franco from Wired magazine.

Japanese alt-metal group Dir en grey’s first U.S. tour finds the band playing packed halls and moving mountains of merch, all thanks to the promo power of anime conventions, video games and MySpace.

If you aren’t promoting your music on MySpace yet, you need to start — fast! If you already have a MySpace artist profile, you need to make the best use of it so you get the maximum exposure possible. Read more.

New Music Model: Amie Street

Graham English — Mon, 24 Jul 2006 14:57:06 +0000

From Amie Street: Awesome New Music Model:

A lot has happened in the music space recently that suggests a steady progression towards the sale of DRM-free music by the big labels. In my opinion this progression/evolution is inevitable, and will be followed by a reduction in pricing towards zero – services will be able to sell based on service levels (ease and speed of download, inclusion of music video content and album art, etc.), but not much else. I’ll expand these thoughts in a post later this week.

The site has some bugs right now but Techcrunch has a high track record of calling winners.

Best Blogs On Music

Graham English — Mon, 17 Apr 2006 07:17:26 +0000

Add your blog:

Your Music Will Sell In Japan?

Graham English — Wed, 12 Apr 2006 17:49:36 +0000

I have been speaking with a business friend of mine, Greg Percifield.Â In case you don’t know him, he’s the owner of Music Forte Inc. We were discussing various CD distribution companies, and the problems that existed in that field of the music business.Â We both concluded that the rate of actual distribution is very poor.Â Many artists get set up with CDBaby or similarÂ distribution companiesÂ just to have their CDs sit on a shelf year after year.
Â
While it may not be the responsibility of these distribution companies to promote music, Greg shared with me TWO unique solutions that will likely see so much success thatÂ Music ForteÂ will become a regular part of any working musician’s career.Â I’ll tell you right off the bat thatÂ these ideas aren’t for everyone, butÂ if you’d like to expand your reach, this is something you should not pass up.
Â
Plan 1
Music ForteÂ has opened its doors to the Far East (Japan, to be specific). I personally know several musicians who have had tremendous success with their music in Japan.Â It’s the World’s second largest economy.Â Much of this wealth is from the entertainment industry.Â Even if you’re not planning on touring Japan, you’ll still be able to find your way into the marketplace, and with the right success, it can be a great compliment to your press-kit or one-sheet.
Â
My main concernÂ when he told me about this was, can itÂ be done effectively?Â The answer is yes.Â GregÂ spent nine years performing in Japan, and has established some very talented contacts that are making their living with music every day.Â With the help of this staff, your CD will not onlyÂ be distributedÂ directly from Japan, butÂ your music websiteÂ is translated into Japanese.Â Then,Â an SEO expert optimizes the site so that it ranks well with the Japanese search engines.Â This is really effective becauseÂ the Music ForteÂ site already boasts over 100,000 pages andÂ a high PR with Google.Â This enablesÂ rapidÂ indexing withÂ major search engines.Â Â
Â
Along with the translations, and SEO work, actual advertisements are run through Japanese publications that frequent bars and clubÂ circuits.Â These publications announce YOUR CD release, andÂ provide the URL which contains both an English and Japanese version of your bio, samples of your songs and of course a sales link that provides shipping from the US and from Japan.Â The Japanese sites are all translated by hand.Â There is no translation software involved.Â Software simply doesn’tÂ do the job right.
Â
If you ARE planning to travel abroad, the Music Forte staff is prepared to provide advanced booking for you. Of course, this is done as an additional service.Â But with your translated website, publication, and sales distribution in Japan, the booking manager is going to be much more interested in having you at their club.Â Either way, you’re setting yourself up to succeed in a market that has not yet been offered to musicians.Â
Â
Because Greg and I are working together, he’s allowed me to sell this service $125 under the normal price.Â But, this is only available for the first 20 people.Â He can’t give more than that away.Â Due to costs involved, and the time spent with each project, they only allow a certain number of registrations per month.Â I was disappointed to hear that at first, because it would be nice to see everyone who has an interest in this service be able to get right in.Â On the other hand, it’s nice to know that each band is getting the full attention they deserve without any delays due to an overload in work.
Â
You will not find a better price for this anywhere on the net.Â So here it is, $250.Â SEO alone is generally priced at over $1000.Â Music Forte takes care of all the work, and even ships your first 5 CDs for you.Â The publication of your ad is also included.Â In fact, there is a huge list of services that you’ll be surprised to hear about. You can get more information now by visiting:

==> http://www.musicforte.com
Â
Remember, this is only available to the first 20 people to signup.Â After that, the costÂ goes back upÂ to it’s regular $375.Â Â
Â
Plan 2
This is very exciting.Â Plan 2 is an idea that EVERYONE can take advantage of.Â And it doesn’t require a lot of money.Â However,Â it’s not ready yet, and he’s asked me not to reveal it just yet.Â I can’t blame him for being timid on announcing the solution of moving all Indie CDs.Â This is a business plan that will surely belong to Music Forte, and you’re going to love it!Â All I can say is that if you’re working with ANY CD distribution companies, and your CD hasn’t moved – Music Forte has found the solution.Â All you have to do is join their Gold Plan.Â Full details will be available within two weeks.Â But why wait?Â Check out the outstanding benefits that Music Forte can offer you right now as a Gold Plan member:

==>Â http://www.musicforte.com

Good Luck!

Edgeio Tags: Listing

Your Best Stuff

Graham English — Mon, 20 Mar 2006 06:04:28 +0000

From Your best stuff:

So, the question: should you put your best song on the free CD?

If it’s your best song, and it’s free, then no one will pay to get it from iTunes. And if it’s the best song on the album, maybe no one will buy the album since they already have the song.

It’s easy to argue that you should hold back the best song, make people pay for that.

Until you realize that the >>> button on my CD player works great.

Keep this in mind as your uploading music to band sites like MySpace and Garageband.com.

Great News: Adam Curry plays Graham English on the Daily Source Code

Graham English — Fri, 17 Mar 2006 07:44:31 +0000

I just got the email I had been waiting for:

Daily Source Code has played your song On My Feet Again. Find out more about this PodShow at http://music.podshow.com/

That right. One of my songs was just played on Adam Curry’s Daily Source Code! I don’t know exactly how many subscribers he has, but it’s a lot.

For those of you who don’t know, Adam Curry was an MTV VJ from ’87-’94 and is one of the founders of podcasting. His podcast, The Daily Source Code, is also played on Sirius Satellite Radio.

BTW, I’m podcasting my own original music at The Graham English Podcast and you can subscribe with iTunes here:
The Graham English Podcast on iTunes

Are you podcasting yet? If so, post your podcast URL in the comments section of my blog.