Roll & Rock:

Guardian: Kickstarter vs. Catstarter

Guardian: The Cat Starter Project from Guardian Crew on Vimeo.

I have not blogged in a long time.

It seems like the world has condensed down into Facebook burts and Twitter tweets.

Another key reason for not blogging much these days--is that I work for Apple--and I do respect the non-disclosure requests that they make of our team.

But I actually have something worth mentioning here. Or at least I think so.

My band Guardian is doing a Kickstarter project. We’re trying to raise $30,000 to make a new record--our first real record in over 10 years.

That's right. 30 large. That's not chump change

I’m a bit nervous about it...to be honest.

I have marveled at the Kickstarter mechanism. It’s a very disruptive technology...in a good way.

The ability for artists and creators of all types to independently raise funds for their projects is amazing.

But it’s still a bit scary to ask people for money in this fashion. I’m just not used to it.

It’s probably how I was raised.

So I’m torn between embarassment and fear.

Embarassed to solicit contributions…

Yet driven by the fear of coming up short--and not raising the money.

You see, Kickstarter is an all-or-nothing proposition. You either raise all the money asked for--or you get nothing and your contributors offerings remain tucked in their accounts.

It’s a nervous artists conundrum.

But the older I get...the more I am convinced that…

You have to lean it to it.

So here we go...bombs away!

Let the shameless self-promotion begin!

http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/guardian2012/guardian-the-cat-starter-project

 

Happy Hallow Focus: Hocus Pocus

This band was way ahead of their time. This was 1973. I remember having the 45 for this song. Wish I had kept all of those!

I was known to make some rock faces in my day...but this guy is the best!

Bowels of Leadership: The Movement

This is brilliant. I'll let the music do the talking...

 

Yo Ho Music: A Pirate's Life For Me!

 I try to avoid public sparring...AKA "pissing contests".

But today, there was a dialog on a Linked-In group that I could not ignore.

Content creators everywhere are up in arms about copyright piracy.

As they should be. I am a content creator too...and like to get paid for my work.

I am sure the guy that I was "sparring' with is a nice guy in person, but his viewpoint typifies the attitude of many on the creative side: Complaining Without Solutions!

Think you have some good ideas on how to get people to pay for content rather than steal it?

Bring it on!

Don't just sit there and complain.

 

Twitter Cussing: Potty Mouth?

I try not to cuss...but sometimes it slips out.

Fortunately, I have not yet cussed on Twitter.

This should be avoided by artists and bands.

Let your road manager cuss out the promoter...never let it be you!

(I jest on the road manager—most issues are solvable without profanity...or violence—haha!)

You can monitor your potty mouth here.

Remember...Big Bird is watching you...and so are your fans.

Social Music Steroids: Band Metrics

The public beta of Band Metrics was just announced today at MIDEM. 

For bands and artists to have a accurate reading of all of their social market presence combined...that will be pretty amazing!

I am just now diving in, but if this really works as claimed...then I am definitely backing it!

Has anyone else messed with Band Metrics yet?

The Record Business: Whale Blubber Bust!

 

Leave it to Brian Eno to put it all in perspective:

 "I think records were just a little bubble through time and those who made a living from them for a while were lucky. There is no reason why anyone should have made so much money from selling records except that everything was right for this period of time. I always knew it would run out sooner or later. It couldn't last, and now it's running out. I don't particularly care that it is and like the way things are going. The record age was just a blip. It was a bit like if you had a source of whale blubber in the 1840s and it could be used as fuel. Before gas came along, if you traded in whale blubber, you were the richest man on Earth. Then gas came along and you'd be stuck with your whale blubber. Sorry mate - history's moving along. Recorded music equals whale blubber. Eventually, something else will replace it."

 —This excerpt is from a deeper interview in the splendidly-named UK publication…The Guardian!

Gives a new meaning to the phrase “chewing the fat”.

Social Network Aggregation: Sweet Action!

 

What the heck is social network aggregation?

For musicians, it essentially means consolidating multiple social networking profiles into one profile.

Very handy indeed.

Like I've blurted prior...there is no shortage of networks on the web for musicians to promote their music.

But, there are just too many of them.

Keeping up with all of them is major time suckage.

Enter the aggregators!

I have a few favorites:

1. Artist Data - AD is very cool because it is targeted for musicians. You can hit all the key sites in one post. Run...don't walk and sign up for this free service. It's a no-brainer!

2. Ping FM - Jamie Rowe...Social Media Guru (and Guardian Vocalist) really likes this one. It is not quite as musician-focused as Artist Data but you can update an even larger list of networks than you can with Artist Data.

3. Tube Mogul - This is a video aggregator that lets you upload your video content to multiple video sites. It works pretty good but you still need to do a bit of manual tweaking on a few sites. Just remember the video rule...don't upload crap!

Just as there are many social networks appearing daily...I am sure there are new aggregators as well.

Anyone have any recommendations to share?

Music Sales Race: Digital vs. Physical

I have been waiting for this for quite awhile.

A recent marketing study from eMarketer.com predicts that digital music sales will finally surpass those of physical goods (actual CD's) in 2010.

 

Whether it happens in 2010 or not, doesn’t really matter.

Fact  is…that’s it’s gonna happen!

What does this mean for musicians?

GET YOUR DIGITAL MUSIC PRESENCE TOGETHER!

There is no reason for artist’s to not be selling their music digitally direct from their own websites.

I have mentioned this before…but I’ll say it again:

E-junkie rocks! It is such an easy way for artists to sell their music digitally direct.

I even do some occasional consulting for people who need help with E-junkie.

But if you are fairly tech saavy, you can do it yourself.

Don’t get me wrong, iTunes is awesome….and every musician should have their music on there.

But E-junkie lets you sell direct to your fans…at an even better profit margin.

It’s a no-brainer.

But in the big scheme of things, I am excited to see my beloved Apple being in position to be the key player in the digital music revolution.

It’s nice to see a market leader with a soul.

And being the Apple freak I am, I was also stoked to see the robust growth of the iPhone.

 

Golden Delicious!

Social Networking for Musicians: The 4 Pillars

There is certainly no shortage of social networks to promote your music on the Internet.

But only 4 of them are mission critical:

1. Facebook
2. MySpace
3. Twitter
4. YouTube

I’ll tell you why…

Facebook:

It’s an unstoppable juggernaut! Why? Not because it’s interface is so easy (and the music features are not that great...yet)—but because the back-end tools for developers bury MySpace’s. It’s no contest. Just watch the feature growth in 2010.

And say what you will about the vanilla interface…everyday folks like it because it’s not messy…like MySpace.

Facebook is becoming Main Street, USA—Main Street, Worldwide, for that matter.

Maybe all the cool music peeps still hang on MySpace but the average person is more likely to have a Facebook page if they belong to any social network at all.

For sheer marketing value…Facebook rules the roost—and will continue its growth dominance. 

Musicians must have a presence here…it’s mandatory.

My prior posts about Facebook are here and here.

MySpace:

As I much as I’ve come to loathe MySpace, it still has the best mechanism to zoom in on a band’s page and check out their music. It is still the leader for new music discovery.

But in the big scheme of things…Facebook will crush MySpace—it’s only a matter of time.

However, MySpace still draws a lot of water in the music world so you still need your music page…for now, anyway.

Twitter:

As I mentioned in an earlier post, Twitter is easy once you get the hang of it. Just remember to stay interesting and you will grow your following.

My favorite Twitter app is Tweetdeck. It’s great and lets you work with multiple accounts at the same time. Go get it! 

YouTube:

The same Twitter rules apply to YouTube: Don’t post crap!

Make sure that everything that you post is either real good or real funny because mediocrity can haunt you on YouTube.

Sometimes, you may post a quick clip that is newsworthy or timely…but if it’s not stellar...take it down when the timeliness of it has passed.

Less is more on YouTube. There is lots of great content out there. Post only your best stuff and definitely make your own channel for your music-related vids.

These are the four pillars of Social Marketing for musicians. Learn them…know them…live by them.

Some of you may feel that I have left out a few good networks for musicians.

I agree…there are lots of cool smaller networks.

And, there are some networks that bands should definitely be on, in addition to the Big 4.

The challenge is that there are so many of them…and an artist’s time can get sucked away with endless updates.

Fortunately, there are great tools to help with all that. We’ll cover those next.

To be continued...