May 31st, 2007
Ronen talks to The World/Inferno Friendship Society vocalist Jack Terricloth about metaphor, parties, and committing to the bit; and to Ross Siegel (ReIgnition Recordings) about the future of the music industry, fringe culture and much more.
If I had more time on my hands, I would hope to produce a podcast half as intelligent and interesting as Issue Oriented. Ronen is a very articulate host who engages his guests into having interesting conversations. I am listening to the latest volume right now and so far, it sounds great.
Issue Oriented Podcast
Written by Virgil Dickerson | No Comments
May 29th, 2007
If you run a label or put out your own band’s CD and you have limited distribution, you now have an easy way to get your titles into Amazon.com. Through Amazon’s Advantage program, you can easily set up your releases to be sold on one of the world’s biggest online retailers. I recently set up an account to sell some of our releases that are not being distributed by Navarre/Koch and the process was pretty painless.
You only need to follow a few steps:
- Go to Amazon.com/advantage
- Select Amazon for Music and click Apply Now
- Fill out their application and begin to add your title(s)
- Wait for an approval of your account
- After receiving an order, ship the number of copies requested to Amazon
Amazon Advantage is only recommended if you don’t have a distributor who deals directly with Amazon. It is a bit of a ripoff as they take 55 percent of the retail price. If you retail your CD for $13.98, you get $6.29. There is also a yearly fee of $29.95 so if you decide to sign up, you might want to consider working with other labels or bands in your area to make that yearly fee negligible.
Although it isn’t the greatest deal, it is highly recommended that you make your titles available in their marketplace. We have had titles sell hundreds of copies through their site.
Written by Virgil Dickerson | 10 Comments
May 24th, 2007
A little while ago, I ran across TALENTfilter, a blog all about great unsigned music. No hipster kitsch, no specific genre… just great unsigned stuff, as heard by an educated set of ears, with a knowledgeable sense of humor about the music biz-at- large. I find myself checking in on it frequently, and decided to talk to the (anonymous) folks responsible. (more…)
Written by Bill Wilson | 23 Comments
May 23rd, 2007
Back in March, I had announced our little informal book club and had mentioned that I was reading “All You Need to Know About the Music Business” by Donald Passman
. I had planned to finish the book sooner, but due to a number of factors, I just recently finished the book. I am not sure if anyone on this site picked up the book and also read it, but if you did, I would love for you to share your thoughts.
I think that the book is a valuable resource for any band or label as it covers a lot of ground in great detail. You should reserve space on your bookshelf for “All You Need to Know…” as I can see needing to refer to it from time to time. The book was written with mostly bands in mind, but whether you plan to run a label, book bands, or manage them, I recommend that you pick up this book. Understanding the information in this book can be helpful no matter what realm you are involved in. I even learned a few things with regards to how majors approach royalties and how acts handle publishing.
Although I consider this book required reading, I do have some criticisms. One, the music industry is always changing and even with this newest edition, there are so many things not covered. No fault to the author, but the book only touches upon digital distribution models and the current state of the music industry. Two, and probably my biggest gripe is that the book primarily deals with major label thinking and most bands are going to get distorted images into their heads about it all works. The many examples in the book involve major label budgets and royalty handling and honestly, this is not how many indies handle things.
I guess in recommending this book, understand that Majors and Indies are like night and day and you are only getting part of the story with this book.
What are your thoughts?
I will be announcing another book soon so if you have some suggestions let me know. I am leaning towards making “The Dip” by Seth Godin my next book club selection. The book is described as, “A Little Book That Teaches You When to Quit (and When to Stick)” which might not be bad reading for those of us running labels, in bands, or involved in the music industry at all.
Written by Virgil Dickerson | 5 Comments
May 21st, 2007
I have been asked a handful of times recently about how to handle larger email campaigns. Most email providers limit the number of emails you can send out in a day and when you get to that point, it is time you consider using an outside service. I would like to introduce you to Fanbridge. Fanbridge specializes in Email and Mobile fan management for bands.
With Fanbridge, you can upload your existing email list, add emails manually, and put sign ups up on your website and myspace profiles. Once you have an email list, you can send out html or text emails; schedule your mailouts; and since it is web-based, you can sign on from any computer to send out a newsletter. That can be especially handy if you are on the road. You can target specific sendouts to fans by City or State as well as monitor how many people have signed up or unsubscribed to your email list.
The best part is you can try out Fanbrige for free and as your email list grows, they have many pricing options based on how many subscribers you have.
I highly recommend every band and label have an email newsletter. You cannot count on Myspace bulletins as 5 million other bands are sending out their bulletins at the same time. Having your own email list of fans will help your sales, your tours, and having compelling updates will keep your band/label in the minds of tons of overwhelmed music fans.
Learn more about Fanbridge.
Written by Virgil Dickerson | 7 Comments
May 11th, 2007
TuneCore is a digital aggregator with a twist. Instead of delivering music to a company that perpetually takes a percentage of your sales, for one flat price they’ll host and deliver your media to iTunes and a host of other ala-carte digital services. I recently talked to owner Jeff Price via IM.
Let’s talk about overall direction of new media and the music business. You were a “pioneer” in the biz going from SpinArt as a successful label… to eMusic. Explain the differences in the old model vs. the new model.
The old model is about generating revenue from the “exploitation” of the music. We need to “sell” music to make money, and artists gets a small % of the money (band royalty.) The food chain is artist creates music label, mass produces it onto and delivers some kind of finished product to a distribution company That company has a huge warehouse, a huge staff, insures the inventory,etc. The distribution company also has field staff that walks into stores to get shelf space, fronts money for co-ops. In return - the distributor takes a % of the money, so if you sell for $10 they take 25% and the rest goes to the label. The artist gets $1.35 - $1.75 from each sale
(more…)
Written by Bill Wilson | 5 Comments
May 7th, 2007
Every once in a while I run across some very useful web utilities that can help bands or artists with their productivity. One cool thing I found recently is Picnik. It’s an online, flash-based web app that edits images in a way similar to Photoshop. If you’re on the go, can’t afford the cost of an image editing program, this provides most of the services bands and bloggers alike need in a pinch.
(more…)
Written by Bill Wilson | 1 Comment
May 2nd, 2007
I was about to work on the indie sales chart 5-2-07 but before I started, I checked the comments left on the IndieHQ site and the following one stuck out for obvious reasons. I am curious 1. why Nielson Soundscan cares about my very small blogsite and 2. I just publish the indie charts that are sent from me from various distributors. What are your thoughts? Jordan Baker (Mr. Pastepunk), please chime in and let me know your thoughts. I have no interest in getting involved in a lawsuit, but I think posting the indie sales chart is a valuable tool for bands and labels.
I am the attorney for Nielsen SoundScan (“SoundScan”), and it has recently come to our attention that your company, IndieHQ.COM, is publishing Nielsen SoundScan’s valuable proprietary data (“Data”) without any authorization or license from SoundScan. Specifically, your web site, indiehq.com, published the following Data on April 25, 2007, without permission:
THIS IS WHERE HE POSTED THE POST “INDIE SALES CHART 4-25-07″
Nielsen SoundScan’s Data is the valuable, exclusive, proprietary, copyrighted property of SoundScan and your organization’s blatant disregard of SoundScan’s ownership in and to the Data is a serious infringement of SoundScan’s intellectual property rights under Federal and State copyright laws, and can result in your organization paying statutory damages in excess of $150,000 per infringement.
Notice is hereby given that Nielsen SoundScan views this copyright infringement with the utmost seriousness and, unless you immediately cease and desist from using SoundScan’s Data, and confirm that you have, and will continue to desist from this and any other infringement of SoundScan’s rights in the future, SoundScan shall pursue all of its legal and equitable remedies against you.
Michael J. Duffy, Associate General Counsel, The Nielsen Company
Written by Virgil Dickerson | 41 Comments
May 1st, 2007
By now, I imagine most of you have at least heard bits and pieces about the marketing for Nine Inch Nails latest record. Well, I just finished reading a great breakdown about the whole campaign and wanted to share the link. This is probably the most forward thinking idea I’ve seen by those trying to adapt to the extremely volatile music landscape and surprisingly enough was done by the same people who did the marketing for one of the biggest failed products of recent times, the Zune…
The Way A Viral Campaign Should Be Run.
Written by Sean Klassen | 6 Comments
April 27th, 2007
My good friend, Andy Tanner, called me up a couple nights ago asking for my advice. Andy is the former singer/songwriter of a band we worked with called Laymen Terms. If you are ever looking for an incredibly beautiful indie/emo record, look no further than “Drive to Nowhere”. Anyways, Andy recently recorded a full length album and has been sending it out to various labels. I had told him to send a copy to Deep Elm as the record is a really great emo/indie record and I could see the label enjoying his music. He sent the recording to Deep Elm and shortly after, he was contacted by John, the owner, about his upcoming volume of Emo Diaries which he was accepting submissions for. He wrote Andy saying that he would like to put one of the songs, “Ghostman” on the latest Emo Diaries but by accepting, he would have to agree not to release the song for 2 years. The problem is that in naming the album that Andy recently recorded, he had decided to name the album, “Ghostman”, after one of the album’s standout tracks.
So the dilemma for those keeping score is that Andy could have his new project featured on the latest Deep Elm compilation, Emo Diaries. This compilation spot could give him some great exposure and could potentially gain him some new fans. In accepting though, one of the strongest tracks will have to be omitted from his soon to be debut album. What if a label wants to sign him on the strength of his demo package and he now has to tell those labels that the title track from his album is no longer an available track, at least for 2 years.
We spoke about this at length about the pluses and negatives and when I got off the phone, he had yet to make up his mind.
What would you do? Please only post serious replies; and no quips about the name Emo Diaries are necessary.
Written by Virgil Dickerson | 23 Comments
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