Staying Informed – An artist’s duty ~ Part I

 Articles  2 Responses »
Jun 302011
 

I attended a talk about crowd-funding recently with a songwriter’s group. I noticed that except for the presenter and the host, I was the only one that knew what crowd-funding was. I was also the only one in the audience that raised a hand when asked if they might be using crowd-funding in the near future. I was one of the few who asked the presenter any in-depth questions about the nature of crowd-funding (I even asked some leading questions because the presenter was leaving important facts out of his presentation). What was going on here? This was a relevant and interesting topic. Why weren’t more of the attendees participating and asking questions?

As I was driving home from the event I was mulling over some of the ideas that were discussed and I kept coming back to the fact that I was really the only person in the room (besides the host and presenter) that knew about crowd-funding and that had a background of information to draw upon in order to ask pertinent questions. This bugged me. Here we have a roomful of songwriters who could benefit from the information that is being presented, yet because the topic is so far removed from their level of information and experience, they sat there with a blank stare. It’s like these people were students in a 600 level course and they needed the 101 level introduction – everyone was lost in the info-overload.

But this blog post isn’t about crowd-funding. What I realized in thinking about the issue at hand was that most artists I meet are not well informed. They may know their craft and they may know a little about their discipline’s community, but they are not well informed about what’s really going on in the world that affects their community. They are not well informed about how they, as artists, can grow beyond their little hometown and out into the larger world. If you are an artist/singer-songwriter/performer, you need to be plugged in and informed.

So what is needed to consider oneself “informed”? How much of an artists’ day is taken up with getting the news on what’s happening in the world of indie music? I say not a lot and not too much. But just like practicing, it needs to be consistent and high quality. In this part of my blog post, I’m just going to talk about the ‘what’ and not the ‘how’.

Here is how I stay informed. And please feel free to add to this in any way because no one knows it all.

The Essentials:

Books -

Internet -

I still get two print magazines in the mail: Wired and Electronic Musician, but I read them online. I think I get them in the print form so I can get them online for free or as part of the package. For the most part my info comes from the Internet and radio sources and while it looks like a lot of reading, it really isn’t. But just like practicing, being informed needs to be consistent and high quality, so choose your sources well.

Please feel free to add to this in any way because no one knows it all and the list is ever-evolving.

In Part II, I will outline how I use these sources and how easy it is to schedule it into an artist’s day and how I use these sources to keep informed.

 Posted by Darryl at 10:39 AM  Tagged with: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

MSi9W – Week 9.1 ~ Creating the Funnel of Love

 Music Success in 9 Weeks  1 Response »
Sep 052010
 

I am at the point in this 9 part exercise where it truly becomes evident that I am a business. This is where I figure out how to bring in a consistent revenue stream that can support my activities as a songwriter and musician. I am creating the funnel that draws in customers and entices them to pay more and more for my products.

Everything up to now has been laying the foundation for the store that I am building. I have my basic product which are my songs and live gigs. I have interaction with my customers through my newsletter and social media. I am collecting information on my customers so that I can better serve them. And I am scheduling time to keep this cycle going so that it all grows. Watering the garden.

Now I need to lure the customer in further and get them to send me money consistently and at higher levels of pricing. the basic product is what it is, but it can be packaged in different ways so as to make it seem more valuable to the consumer. The idea behind getting fans to pay more is to think of it as a funnel where the least expensive items that would be appealing to the widest demographic is at the top. As you go deeper into the funnel to the tightest point, the products get more expensive and the number of fans who would buy at that level becomes more exclusive.

As I read through this chapter I took a look at my website to see what exists in terms of the funnel. At this time I really only have two levels. Level 1, the widest, consists of free mp3s in exchange for an email address. Level 2 is the purchase of my CDs. Very basic and very obvious. I’m sure that this is what a lot of artists have on their sites: here’s a taste for some information and then you can go buy the whole CD. See you at a show! If any other business were to operate like that they’d go out of business in a week.

I need to think outside of the basic “Buy My Music” paradigm and brainstorm other products and other ways of packaging my basic product. Here’s what I came up with:

  • lyrics on t-shirts
  • lyrics on mugs
  • personalized songs
  • Gift-a-Song: songs for your friends and family as a gift
  • Gift-a-Gig: concert for a friend
  • USB flash drive with all my music and videos
  • stickers with my CD cover and info
  • songs as themes for your business, podcast – commercial
  • mp3s, CDs

Here’s a possible T-Shirt idea with a song lyric:

The take-away from this chapter is that there is more to the music that I write than just the obvious application of recording it and plying it live. Bob Baker often says that we as musicians can learn an awful lot from studying how other businesses market their products. He also says you can’t really have ‘sales’ until you’ve had ‘marketing’.

The other aspect that I am going to have to convince myself of is that this is a viable way to think about my music. As I have had to do constantly over the course of these 9 weeks, I have to convince myself that I am an entrepreneur.

The next thing I need to think about is which of these packaging items I think will work and then where do they fit on the funnel. Here’s what I think it may look like (a first draft):

I did not include the prices since I’m not quite sure what those prices would be at this point, but they would be priced according to the depth of the funnel.

I found this chapter enlightening. This is the ‘think-out-of-the-box’ type of thing that really makes money for an artist and also spreads the product around. This is also something that takes time to develop and does not just happen overnight. When I look at the things I can develop, I may not have that deep of a funnel as compared to other artists. But it all starts with a taste, the ‘pink spoon’ from the ice-cream store an then that leads to an ever more evolving relationship with your fans.

 Posted by Darryl at 6:19 PM  Tagged with: , , , , , , , , , , ,

MSi9W – Week 7.2 & 8.2~ Building the List & Networking – addendum

 Music Success in 9 Weeks  No Responses »
Aug 272010
 

I want to add an update to these two post topics and it comes from an experience that I had last night at an outdoor gig.

When I was up on stage playing I could clearly see that people were digging my music. People were smiling, laughing at my banter between songs and bobbing their heads to the groove. Yes! They like my stuff. They will definitely come up and talk to me afterward, I know it! I made a point of inviting people to talk and to sign up on the list.

My set ended and another performer was up. Out of respect to the performer I did not work the crowd when she was up. I was preparing myself for the networking that was coming up after she was done. I was going over things in my head that I wanted from this crowd and it was mainly email addresses. I didn’t expect to sell CDs since the crowd was being asked to donate money for a charity, but I had them out anyway. I created a goal for myself of getting at least 5 email addresses. That was reasonable and it was a large crowd of about 40 people and their kids and dogs.

Dickenson Park, Newtown CT

This is what happened that makes me take a different look at collecting emails at gigs. I was on stage for a last song with all of the performers and prior to getting on stage I happened to ask my lovely wife to pass the email list around until I got off the stage. That was the key: asking my wife (or someone other than doing it myself) to work the crowd. As the song finished I saw people stand up and start to leave! I had to put away my guitar, unplug, get off the stage, talk to a few officials who were thanking us, etc. I was stuck on or near the stage and people were leaving. WAIT! I want your email addresses… I finally got off the stage and started to network in the crowd, but then I got caught up in single conversations that took time; people were leaving!

At some point, as the sun was disappearing beyond the trees, I bumped into my wife and she handed me my clipboard. It had 10 email addresses! I had gotten 2 using my iPhone to automatically sign them up to my Constant Contact service. So, wait let me do the math… 12 emails! 200% of my goal!

Here’s the takeaway: I will get more from an audience in terms of email addresses, tips, CD sales, etc, if I have a team member there to help out.

To have someone whose task is to simply ask for an email address is a huge asset. I, as the performer, am at a disadvantage. I just got done with a performance, I have to pack up. If I do talk to people, they want to have a conversation which keeps me from mingling. But having a person work the room with just 2 questions to ask: Did you enjoy the show? Can you sign p for Darryl’s list? That’s creating a system that works.

Now I just have to get my wife to come to ALL of my gigs with her clipboard!

 Posted by Darryl at 10:40 AM  Tagged with: , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

MSi9W – Week 7.1 ~ Building the List

 Music Success in 9 Weeks  2 Responses »
Aug 212010
 

It’s all about the list!

I must admit that working through this book is a lot like going to therapy. In order for the material and the concepts to really work, you have to be honest and you have to own up to a lot of unproductive behavior and negative thought patterns. There’s just a lot of stuff here that I don’t want to do and that I have always told myself that I’m not good at doing. Asking people for help and asking people to do things is at the top of that list. I’m not a salesman – well too bad Darryl – it’s time to sell!

Here I am in a business model that requires people to lend an ear and a hand and I have not been asking enough of them to join me in this effort. I suppose it’s a fear of rejection when I avoid asking someone for their email address. I ask an audience – it’s easy to ask a crowd, but asking individuals is hard.

Why would they want to be on my list? Well why not? I have faith in my art. I put out a fun newsletter. And all they can say is yes or no – if no, then I know that that person is not a person I would want on my list or who would send me money. In week 6 Ariel is not allowing me to “wimp out” as she puts it. I must build my “fan” base and consequently my email list and I have to do it fearlessly.

Here are the suggestions that Ariel makes in this chapter for increasing your email list:

  • Add friends and family
  • Filter your email for potential email sign ups
  • Give something away for them to sign up
  • Trade lists with other bands
  • Start a text message list

Adding friends and family is easy you’d think, but if they only hear from you via your gig list then they might get a little testy about the relationship. My sister once said to me that she was tired of getting spam fro me and never a call to say hello. I’m going through my Holiday card list and sending a carefully worded email to those who are not on my fan list.

Ariel suggests setting up a separate mailbox for emails that come from people who might be potential sign ups. I think that this is a good idea, but one that should be approached with caution. Perhaps a relationship should be established before asking. This is one that I need to think about.

Giving something away is a great idea and was addressed in a previous chapter. I have a sign up box at the top of my website that bribes the potential fan with not one but TWO free tracks. Artist sites like Reverbnation make it easy to set up.

Trading a list with another band is a little sticky. I tell my fans that I don’t share their info with anyone, not even another band that I would love to see get more exposure. An alternative to that would be asking another band to send an email to their list on your behalf. They could say something like: We found this great new songwriter that you should hear! We’re going to go out and catch a show this Friday – come join us. You could then do the same for that band. But I would never share my list with other entities.

I don’t text message. It’s not on my phone plan, so I don’t use it. Therefore starting a text message list is not in my communication DNA. I have read stories of Lady GaGa texting her crowd while on stage. Those people are not in my audience and that goes back to knowing who your fans are and what their preferences are.

I’m getting better at asking people for things like email addresses and such, but it still stings when they say no. It’s my issue not theirs. I have added this task of building my list to my weekly rhythm register and it ends up on my daily to do list at least once a week. I set a short term goal at the beginning of the MSi9W project that I would have 25 new sign ups by September and as of this writing I’m at 22. Thanks for the new suggestions Ariel – I’ll get right on it!

 Posted by Darryl at 9:32 AM  Tagged with: , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,
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