MUSIC BIZ INSIGHT #11

Power Reading for Busy Music Professionals

Hope you're hungry!

MUSIC BIZ INSIGHT is published for musicians, songwriters, managers, label reps, booking agents, entertainment attorneys, studio owners, music publishers, and all others involved in the music business. Its purpose is to help boost your business, find new markets, make the right connections, develop professionally, work smarter and improve your bottom line.

"As a general rule, the most successful people in life are those who have the best information." Benjamin Disraeli

Published bi-monthly by Peter Spellman, Director MUSIC BUSINESS SOLUTIONS: Turning Music Business Data into Useful Knowledge. Career and Business-building books, articles, consulting and more.

P.O. Box 230266, Astor Station, Boston, MA 02123-0266, USA Phone: 978-887-8041 Email: success@mbsolutions.com

Website: www.mbsolutions.com

© 1997 - 2003, Peter Spellman, Music Business Solutions

In this issue:

• MBS News
• 1998 Entertainment Industry Events Calendar
• Feature: Media Power: Harnessing the Media to Boost Your Business, Part 3
• Genre Spotlight: Ambient Music
• Biz Smartz
  • Business Bartering, Money-Saving Tip
• Illuminating Trivia
• Reads & Resources
  • (Book) Jamming the Media: A Citizen's Guide to Reclaiming the Tools of Communication by Gareth Branwyn.
  • (Book)-- The Wall St. Journal Almanac, ed. by the Staff of the WSJ.

     

MBS NEWS

I've recently become a features writer for MUSICIAN magazine. MUSICIAN used to be about high-profile artists few of us could relate to but has recently become a tremendous resource for the DIY working musician. My first feature appeared in the June '98 issue . It's called "Great Expectations: The Myth of the Deal". Check it out. B.B. King's on the cover.

Now that I'm in this position, I have an opportunity to write about you! I'll be working on the following stories over the next few months and would love to hear from anyone who has some illustrative material relevant to the following themes and topics:

--Success stories related to Internet music promotion, collaboration, production, etc.

--Stories about big label/small label hybrids/deals, etc.

--Stories about creative music marketing and promotion in general.

Email your stories to success@mbsolutions.com

Thanks ahead of time!

!(Still)CALLING ALL MUSICIAN ENTREPRENEURS!

MUSIC BUSINESS SOLUTIONS IS SEEKING STORIES FROM MUSIC ENTREPRENEURS who work for themselves for a book titled, "The Merchant Musician: Tools & Tactics for Entrepreneurial Music Success". Looking for stories from bands, individual artists, songwriters, label owners, music publishers, booking agents, teachers, retailers, software developers, jingle writers, recording engineers, producers, music therapists, etc. The only requirement is that you derive most of your income from your business and that you are a musician too. I have a questionaire I will send you if you are interested. Please send a private email to >peter@mbsolutions.com<. Publication date for the book is January '99. This is a great publicity opportunity for your company and a chance to share some of your hard-won wisdom with the independent musician community!

UPCOMING ENTERTAINMENT INDUSTRY EVENTS- mid-1998

For info on any of the following events that do not have a phone number, call the Chamber of Commerce in the host city. For an online directory of Chambers of Commerce see the World Network of Chambers of Commerce website.

May 27-30 Fourth Annual E3 Expo and Conference, Georgia World Congress Center, Atlanta,Ga. 800-315-1133,

June 20-22 City Of Dreams '98: Music And Urban Fashion Conference Space, New York. 212-613-5758.

June 27-28 Urban Focus Music Conference, Musicians Institute, Los Angeles. 310-289-6350.

July 8 - 10 Billboard's 5th Annual Dance Music Summit, Chicago Marriott Downtown, Chicago, IL

July 9 Biz Tech '98, sponsored by the Society of Professional Audio Recording Services Loew's Vanderbilt Hotel, Nashville. 800-771-7727, spars@spars.com.

July 15-16 Plug In '98, Crown Plaza, New York. 800-488-4345.

August 5-8 Atlantis Music Conference, 931 Monroe Dr., Ste. 102-339, Atlanta GA, 30308; 770-499-8600,

Aug. 13-17 Popkomm, Congress Center East, Cologne, Germany. 49-221-91655-0.

FEATURE/ MEDIA POWER: HARNESSING THE MEDIA TO BOOST YOUR BUSINESS

Part 3 of a 3-part series

Part One of this series looked at developing an understanding of your niche audience and the media around it. Part Two turned to the second component of your media plan: assembling your publicity tools. These include creative promotional materials like photos, tapes/CDs, press kits, press releases and novelties. We also looked at some guidelines for hiring publicist professionals.

In this final section we'll review and "flesh out" some publicity basics that are easily forgotten.

 

PUBLICITY FOUNDATIONS

1. Make yourself and your company FINDABLE. You and your contact information should be listed in every free-listing directory available, from the phone book to the various "niche" directories in your specialty, and everything in between. If you have a legitimate business name (i.e., you have a business license rom your town or city) you can be listed in literally hundreds of directories for free. Online business and niche directories are particularly easy to access and secure listings in.

And, of course, make sure your full contact info is clearly visible on all marketing communications you distribute. Every envelop, letter, tape, article, etc. should broadcast all avenues a person can use to reach you (i.e., phone, fax, mail, email, Web, etc.). Remember, you're communicating with very busy people. Anything you can do to make their job easier will reap goodwill for you and your project.

2. Build a DETAILED DATABASE of pertinent media contacts in your region and music style. These should include:

• General newspapers
• General magazines
• Performing arts magazines
• Performing arts newspapers
• General music magazines
• Specific music magazines (by style, region, instrument or function: recording, giging, songwriting, etc.).
• Newswires (see Music Biz Insight #7)
• Then, all the specific Writers & Editors from each of the above you are building relationships with.

  You can create a media list by using media directories, but to develop your list, you must stay in contact with actual media representatives.

  3. Gather EDITORIAL CALENDARS. Every magazine and newspaper special section has a plan for the year ahead. Their ediorial teams decide which topics or themes each issue will cover and feature. These are available to writers and potential advertisers. They can alert you to topics which may be relevant to your particular project and give you ideas on how and when to pitch a story to a specific publication. when you call to confirm your contact info, request an editorial calendar as well.

  4. Follow-up is ESSENTIAL. I know from experience that of the CDs and tapes that are sent to me, I listen to the ones that are followed up with a personal phone call. A personal phone call gets your package or envelop pulled from the pile faster than anything else.

  Also, as you talk to editors and writers, you may discover how to pitch your idea more closely to their specific interests and concerns, and as they get to know you better, they may see opportunities that you had never thought of.

  But remember, always have knowledge about when a publication's deadline falls and never call during the days surrounding it. Two or three days AFTER the deadline is an ideal time to call.

  5. TYPES OF PUBLICITY you should seek:

• Calendar listings (for performances)
• New release notices (when your tape or CD is about to come out)
• Record reviews
• Live performance reviews
• Interviews with the artist
• Stories about the artist
• "Associational" publicity (when by association with another group, organization or event, your name is also mentioned in their publicity)

  6. Making the most of your INTERVIEW. Here are some pointers for making sure your interview sparkles:

• Prepare. Write out the key points or message you want to convey to the audience.
• Keep the audience in mind. Find out as much as you can about who will be reading, watching, or listening to your interview.
• Don't try to sell yourself or your business. Guest appearances and other interviews are not commercials, and the media is very sensitive to this distinction. Your job in an interview is to be informative and to do so in an entertaining way.
• Arrange in advance for the audience to be able to contact you. If appropriate, ask before the interview whether the interviewer would be willing to let people know how they can contact you for more information. Such a plug will be far more valuable to you than self-promotion.
• Restate the question in beginning your answer. For example:

  Q: "Which song is most requested when you play out?"

  A: "The most requested song when I play out is..."

  This helps the audience stay with you and gives you a chance to focus your thoughts.

• Keep your answers brief and to the point. Radio and television interviews are a conversation, not a monologue, so if your response to a question lasts longer than 30 to 60 seconds you are probably overanswering. Print allows a bit more room for stretching out on answers.
• Talk personally, concretely, and colorfully. Avoid academic, theoretical, abstract, and clinical language.
• Be positive and speak with enthusiasm and conviction. Don't dwell on the negative aspects of your message. Provide info that inspires hope, encouragment, and confidence, and end each segment on an upbeat note.

  7. If your news is NOT picked up. If you don't get a resonable response, don't despair. It could be that your press release isn't interesting enough to that particular medium and you need to re-think how you are going to present your project or product. Or, you may have targeted the wrong media people. Maybe you sent your press release to folk music editors when jazz editors should have been the recipients. Double-check all these things and then try again.

  8. Make sure your publicity leads to MORE PUBLICITY. After you are interviewed or written about, always get the cards, or at least the names (with correct spellings!), of the writers, editors, producers, and talk show hosts you have met. Send these people thank-you notes immediately. Also be sure you get a copy of each article and radio or television segment in which you are featured. Once you have this, add it to your publicity kit.

  9. Read, "The Care & Feeding of the Press: A Guide for Press Relations Staff". Check out this article by Esther Schindler, put its guidelines into practice, and you will be well on your way to building superb media relations.

• This article was excerpted from, Music Biz Know-How: Do-it-Yourself Strategies for Independent Music Success, 2nd edition, by Peter Spellman (1998, MBS Business Media).

   

  Other MBS titles include:

• ALL YOU NEED TO KNOW ABOUT STARTING YOUR OWN RECORD LABEL OR MUSIC PRODUCTION COMPANY,
• and PROMOTING & MARKETING MUSIC TOWARD THE YEAR 2000

   

  ---

  ))) ILLUMINATING TRIVIA (((

Did you know...

THESE 15 PERFORMERS NEVER HAD A NUMBER-ONE SINGLE?

1. Aerosmith

2. James Brown

3. Creedence Clearwater Revival

4. Fats Domino

5. Bob Dylan

6. The Grateful Dead

7. The Hollies

8. Martha and the Vandellas

9. Stevie Nicks

10. Tom Petty

11. Bruce Springsteen

12. Sting

13. The Stylistics

14. War

15. The Who

Source: "The New Book of Rock Lists" by Dave Marsh and James Bernard (1994, Simon & Schuster)

Genre Spotlight covers "niche" music styles that are either ignored by or don't always receive the marketing push they deserve from the larger record companies.

INTRODUCTION: What Is Ambient Music?

In the 1920s, composer Erik Satie introduced the public to what he called `furniture music.' It was intended not for listening, but, for blending in with one's surroundings. In the late '70s, Brian Eno went a step further with his first album, "Music forAirports". It introduced what he called `ambient music.' Eno defined it as music that is as ignorable as it is interesting. In this age of the Internet and digital recording techniques, ambient music might be described as the soundtrack to cyberspace. It's called ambient music because it gives character to space. I personally dig it, especially its more rhythmic varieties.

Electronic ambient music, aka chill, is the other side of techno, the ethereal side, the elegiac side, or (according to some) the wimpy art-school side. For certain, no one was ever more art school than Eno. At his best (in, say, "Discreet Music"), Eno invited the listener into neutral, egoless environs, without specific emotional or narrative cues. You could have sex in this blankish sector or slit your wrists; the option was yours.

These days, however, after the disparate contributions of entities like Tangerine Dream, Kraftwerk, and Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark, ambient music is a more fecund and melodramatic zone, rife with samples of train whistles, Gregorian/goddess chants, weather sounds, and computer-generated loops of pinch-voiced Jenny Holzer/Laurie Anderson-style homilies. It's played in discos, but the current ambient is not a party. Today's ambient aims for a sort of sacredness - a cheesy sacredness, but sacredness nevertheless. It wants to transport you to a place of ritual. And with a culture-wide movement towards personal transformation and a return to things sacred, ambient music will continue to grow in its many forms.

INFO-RICH RESOURCES ON AMBIENT MUSIC

Essential Ambient Information: a Self-Guided Tour

Includes an FAQ from the rec.music.ambient mailing list, and various "notes" on Ambient by Lloyd Barde, Peter Werner and Mike Brown. Click on "Other Ambient Links" under Hyperreal Music Archive and you'll be transported to hours (perhaps days) of ambient explorations. Artists, labels, music stores and mail order services

In 1994 someone innocently asked the members of the Ambient Music Mailing List for their Top 10 All-Time Greatest Ambient CDs. Over the next two years, 88 people contributed their Top 10 lists. One helpful fellow combined all the lists into one, which you'll find here as a potential shopping list for the ambient greenie.

Sleepbot: Ambience for the Masses

KEY AMBIENT LABELS

Alula Records

Astralwerks

Axiom (and subsidiaries Black Arc, Meta/SubMeta, Subharmonic, and the art/music production center Verba Corrige)

City of Tribes (San Francisco, CA)

Fathom Music (San Francisco, CA)

Global Dragon Productions (Santa Fe, NM)

MAP Records (Vancouver BC, Canada)

Waveform (Sedona, AZ)--Check out their compilation of artists called "Frosty"---way cooool!

Did you know that MUSIC BUSINESS SOLUTIONS offers one-on-one consulting to help you plan your next release, scope out new markets and develop promotions that get noticed? Rates are reasonable. Call 978-887-8041 or email success@mbsolutions.com to boost YOUR next project!

Business tips to help you work smarter, not harder.

BARTER: An Ancient Practice for Today's Businesses

Have you ever had trouble scraping together the cash for a marketing brochure you really wanted to do? How about the holiday party you wanted to throw for your staff? When a customer places an unusually large order and you have to throw a lot of your resources behind it, does that strain other things for your company?

Bartering may be the answer for you. A traditional practice, bartering has come back in a big way. Recent estimates indicate that at least sixty percent of companies on the New York Stock Exchange use the principles of bartering as a standard business practice. The reason bartering enjoys renewed popularity in times of tight money is simply that it is the "bottom-line" method of survival with little or no cash.

Barter involves trading one commodity or service for another of comparable value. In earlier times, barter was used more often than money, but the practice fell into obscurity over the years. Then, as now, businesses tended to have more services and products than cash on hand.

Few companies have a budget that can accommodate all the unexpected expenses, sudden opportunities, or dreams of expansion that are part of a successful business. One cost effective way to obtain the services or products that accommodate those needs is to barter.

Opportunities to barter are limited only by the imagination and creativity of the business owner who wants to try a new way of financing business projects. For example, a band or artist might offer to perform at the holiday party of a large grahic design firm in exchange for a professional press kit design. A music teacher could offer music lessons to the child of a print shop owner in exchange for printed brochures and business forms. The possible applications for barter are as varied as the products and services that make up the business community.

There are some rules that govern the success of a bartering venture:

1. Use a marketing approach to initiate barter agreements.

2. Barter with an intent to obtain equal value, not an advantage.

3. Finalize your agreement in writing.

4. Set a timeline for completion of services or delivery of products.

5. Treat a barter agreement the way you would treat a valued customer.

It is common practice to barter individually, but a cooperative barter venture offers more flexibility and opportunity. Members of a barter cooperative typically agree to a fixed value for their service or product at the time they join. Records of credits are recorded centrally, and can be earned by providing a service or product to any member. Members may then use their credits at any participating member's business. Careful records are important and staff to keep those records can be voluntary, or paid through a membership fee -- or with barter credits!

Whether an individual or a group arrangement is used to set up a barter, the end result is a cash-free benefit for your business. Some old ideas -- like barter -- have stood the test of time and are worth resurrecting.

For lots of further info on the art and practice of bartering, see BarterNet and Embryo: The Free Bartering Exchange Search Engine.

QUICK MONEY-SAVING TIP

Comparison shop online and save thousands. This web site lists key features of major brands of office equipment. Get only the features you need, at the lowest prices, and save $1,900 on a copier and $471 on a pocket organizer.

Reads & Resources...

BOOK-- Jamming the Media: A Citizen's Guide to Reclaiming the Tools of Communication by Gareth Branwyn (1997, San Francisco: Chronicle Books, $18.95).

Both a history of the DIY media movement and a how-to guide for those who want to roll up their sleeves and start communicating via zines, cable-access tv, the Net, through CDs, pirate radio, filmmaking and media pranking. Terrific insights for getting your message across without mega-corporate budgets. A paen to the Digital Revolution.

BOOK--"The Wall St. Journal Almanac", ed. by the Staff of the WSJ (1997, Ballantine Books, $10.95).

No source of daily business news and ongoing corporate analysis is as respected as the Wall Street Journal. In The Wall Street Journal Almanac 1998 the newspaper has combined its most instructive facts and figures with long-range interpretations to produce an authoritative resource on a variety of topics that should prove useful to anyone interested in business, finance and culture. The almanac focuses on media and entertainment, politics, technology, and sports, along with top news stories of the year, to paint a revealing picture of trends and issues. The information is as entertaining as it is practical (for an almanac!).

If you're interested in music career-building handbooks, check out these three from Music Business Solutions:

• How to Start & Grow Your Own Record Label or Music Production Company,
• Promoting & Marketing Music In the 21s Century,
• and our newest, Music Biz Know-How: Do-It-Yourself Strategies for Independent Music Success.

All of these books are based on our popular seminars by the same names and all are packed with hard-to-find info to help you grow your music business and career. If you like what you see in MUSIC BIZ INSIGHT, you'll love what's in these books.

SUBSCRIBING TO MUSIC BIZ INSIGHT: The email version of MUSIC BIZ INSIGHT appears two weeks before the hypertext version. To subscribe just send email with the message in the body, "subscribe" to success@mbsolutions.com

It's not an autoresponder so feel free to include any other comments, ideas, suggestions, etc. you may have.

PETER SPELLMAN is Director of MUSIC BUSINESS SOLUTIONS, a business and marketing consultancy to the music industry, and Director of Career Development at Berklee College of Music, Boston. He is the author of several books for music entrepreneurs and teaches music industry courses at Northeastern University (Boston) and the University of Massachusetts (Lowell).

A musician since he was ten, Peter continues to spin riddims in the improvisational collective, Friend Planet and sing Cat Stevens' songs to his kids every night before bed.

BLOOM WHERE YOU'RE PLANTED!

Quote of the Month--

"Is there a job more crucial yet unappreciated than getting an artist organized? No matter how intense, innovative, or inspired a creative person is, he or she must be funneled through a system. Without some order, some system, no artist can be properly showcased. Yet most artists have great contempt for order and its manisfestations--control, procedure, tradition. Even artists who can control their drive toward chaos, still chafe under the regulations of order, especially budgetary constraints that place limits on their imagination. It's their right to rebel--they do it well. And it's part of why they strike such a chord with their fans--or those who can't, won't, and don't have a good reason to rebel but want to. Artists do it for them. That we often read into their creative rebellion a significance well beyond their abilities or intentions is not the artist's fault." -Nelson George, "Seduced: The Life & Times of a One-Hit Wonder"

E-mail: success@mbsolutions.com

Copyright © 1997-2000 Peter Spellman

MUSIC BUSINESS SOLUTIONS

P.O. Box 230266, Boston MA 02123-0266

978-887-8041

Rise up!