How To Build an Email List (As a Music Producer)

March 28, 2018 by Karolina Makarenko

a, an, as, blog, build, email, how, list, meskamusic, music, new, post, producer, to

Email marketing is directly marketing a commercial message to a group of people using email. For music producers, it is all about sending your newest content to notify your fans that you have just released a product which they might have interest in. It’s known as one of the most effective way to allow your products to reach a massive amount of people. For an example, when you release a new track, you want to let people know that you have just released a track and you want them to listen to it. In order to send out those emails, you need to have a list of contacts in your hand. That’s why building your own mailing list is so damn important for the marketing needs. Here are some tips and tricks that you can do to start collecting those emails.

Organizing A Contest

You must have wondered how are you going to do that. Here’s how. When you first enter a new remix contest, you will need to download the stems of the producer’s track for you to start remixing it. Before you get to download those stems, they usually will set up a download gate which needs you to provide values for the organizers. You can use that function to collect your emails. Participants will have to give you their personal emails before they get their hands on the remix process. The more the people joining your contest, the most the emails that you going to receive. Therefore, don’t forget to promote your contest.

Free Giveaway

This idea applies the same concept as organizing a contest. The only difference is producers do not make any effort to win it because it’s just pure luck.

Blog Posts

Music producers mainly gain knowledge through 3 ways: watching tutorials on Youtube, reading blog posts and experimenting themselves. This is why you see all the companies doing business in the electronic dance music world usually have a blog section at their websites. When they publish a blog post with good contents, it usually attracts a lot of music producers to that post. When the content is so satisfying, people want more. Therefore, they provide a free email subscription service so that the readers can get notifications when a blog post is published. Indirectly, they collect the readers’ emails for future marketing purposes.

Youtube Tutorials

This is what W.A Production is doing right now. Every week, Roman uploads tutorials onto W.A. Production Youtube channel to teach people how to take their music production skills to the next level. As a token of appreciation, fans are required to follow W.A. Production social medias and give in their emails in return to help W.A. Production to grow bigger and better. With the help of their new download gate system “Pump Your Sounds”, all these things can be done easily and most of all, it is all FREE. Who doesn’t like FREE and QUALITY stuff?

Sample Packs

In producers’ prospective, who doesn’t like free sample packs as it has that top quality? For an example, you can try to level up your drum design skill and create a pack of tight drum samples to share them with the music community. In return, you ask for their emails so that you can send them notifications in the future when you release a new sample pack. Why not killing 2 birds with one stone when you can upgrade your drum design skill and build your email list? Isn’t that great? It’s one of the best way right now to build your own audience while you’re learning at the same time.

Introducing PumpYourSound.com

The #1 way to increase your social following and build your email list.

What is Pump Your Sound ?

Pump Your Sound is a platform where you can offer download of your amazing work or music in return for Soundcloud followers, reposts, likes, Facebook likes and Youtube follower. With recent update, you can ask for fans’ email as well to build your own DJ email marketing list.

It’s all FREE and does not limit you from creating unlimited download gates.

Here’s an example of download gate offered by PumpYourSound.com

You can set and customize your own download gate in every track that you have released.

Collecting emails has never been so easy.

Still hesitating? PumpYourSound.com has open so many opportunities to music producers worldwide. See it yourself.

Start using it today and see the results yourself.

Thank us later. 🙂

Hope you like it and have a great day!

Original post

Releasing Music: The Musician’s Guide to Marketing Plans Part 2

March 23, 2018 by Karolina Makarenko

artist's, blog, guide, makreting, meskamusic, music, new, part2, plans, post, release, the, to

Music Marketing Plans Second 5 Elements: Ordering the Chaos

The next 5 elements that need to be addressed before any official announcements should be made about new music coming out are

1. Timeline 2. Release 3. Social Media 4. Press & Promotion 4. Shows

If you didn’t get the chance to read through Part 1 we encourage you to please do so before reading this.

1 & 2. Timeline & Release

We have condensed these 2 elements as they go together like cookies and milk.

Plan some milestones starting two months before the release date, and have some benchmarks for at least one month after the album comes out. Here is how this could look:

Three Months Before Release

Are You Registered With A P.R.O.?

Contact an entertainment lawyer to make sure your copyrights are secure and register your music with ASCAP, BMI or Sesac.

Get As Many People As Possible To Your Socials & Newsletter.

This is a practice that you should get in the habit of and your whole band should be helping.

Find your friends and people you admire (bloggers, other artists, venues, local spots you like to hang out in, etc.) on Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook and friend away!

This will increase your audience because as many of the people you follow will follow you back.

If you have not curated lists on Twitter, make some to keep track of your favorites.

Also, start reaching out to people in your inbox and outbox and get them on your list (remember it’s illegal to just sign people up so do this with integrity and ask each person).

Your newsletter is the place where you will be able to monetize so, don’t skip this step.

Here is Ariel’s comprehensive Newsletter lesson from Social Media House.

Take Everyone along on the Journey With You

People like to follow along to real-life stories (case and point: reality TV). It’s a great way to form a stronger bond with your current and growing base.

Send updates on how the recording, mixing and mastering is going using videos and photos via your socials, plus capture longer-form stories for your blog and newsletter.

Engage with your following on milestones like artwork and song titles by polling your fans (Twitter has a polling feature which is cool!) and holding contests to select what cover or title to go with, have your fans weigh in on photos, graphics and get them involved with the process. The goal of all this activity is to get people excited so they are engaging and sharing your updates with their friends.

Six Weeks Before Release

Submit your music to your distributor and make sure to let them know you are releasing a single FIRST before the EP (if this is the case).

Tunecore, CD Baby, and other aggregators like 4-5 weeks to pitch your music to iTunes, Spotify, Google Play, Amazon Music, and other digital service providers (DSPs). Get your social posts in order and draft your newsletter announcing the single.

One Month Before Release

Release Your First Single!

This is a great way to build buzz, get fans excited, and also get some music bloggers interested. Any reviews you can place will help build your overall online profile. On the press side of the house aim for appropriate blog targets. If you are a brand new artist Pitchfork is probably NOT appropriate. Go for smaller, more targeted music blogs!

That being said, be sure to reach out to your “within reason” dream targets with your single(s). It’s not the best idea to wait to reach out to these loftier sites with your album. Album reviews take a considerable amount of time and, if you look, most music sites are reserving these full album review slots for the most anticipated albums.

Download and read our Spotify & SoundCloud Guide to make sure both of those platforms are set up correctly and you have done what you need to to get these working for you.

Announce a Release Event – Live Show or Listening Party

If you play live shows, book a release show and do something to make this show more special than the others. Decorate the venue, work with the bar to create a special shot or cocktail, pre-sell a merch pack, hire a party bus, ask a food truck to pull outside the venue, etc.

If you don’t play out, create a listening party at a small bar, create an after-work happy hour, or choose a local favorite. If you are just starting and don’t think you can draw a large crowd, hold a listening house party with wine tasting, cupcake bake-off, fondue party, etc.
Think about your fans and make this special for them! And, of course, the key is to announce that tickets are on sale.

Start Your Music PR Campaign

This is a great way to build buzz, If you are hiring a PR team – work on the strategy with them or if you plan to do it yourself it’s time to prepare – for help, Download the Ultimate Guide to Music Publicity

Start Your Pre-Sale Campaign!

This is a great way to build buzz, get fans excited, and also get advance sales. Send the word out to your newsletter and socials. Work with Pledge Music to help you with your pre-sales to offer tiers and build excitement.

Create a Facebook or Instagram Live

This is a great way to build buzz.

Two Weeks Before Release

Build the Momentum!

Keep the excitement up on socials by scheduling a countdown.

Hold a contest to win the new music or give away tickets to your show or listening party.

On Release Day

Write a post or make a fun video about the release and post on your website
Send out a newsletter announcement to your mailing list
Skin your socials with “out now!” and artwork (Use Canva to help you)
Update all socials with an “out now” post and images with links to purchase

After Release

Keep Momentum Up!

Again, the more activities you can plan leading up to the release and after it drops will help continue your story and profile building.

The more press and social media-worthy points you can arrange for after a release will keep contacting press with new content, while at the same time reminding them about the new album.

Ask your family, friends, and fans to write reviews of your new album on iTunes, Amazon or CD Baby, and other digital retailers. Studies have shown that albums that are reviewed on iTunes actually sell more albums.
Submit your music to Pandora for consideration
Drop a Lyric video or a video for one of the tracks to keep the music fresh for fans

3. Social Media

A lot of social media elements are covered in the timeline above. At Cyber PR Music, we consider your blog and your newsletter to be part of your social media strategy.

Newsletters should still be going out once a month, blog posts being posted, and socials should never go stale.

Just because you may not have a big “news” item (for example: a new release) doesn’t mean you should stop communicating with your fans on a regular basis.

Update Your Socials Every Day

You should be updating daily and updating also means responding to and interacting with others.

In addition, to all the content we have gone over in this guide, post about things happening in your personal life, repost interesting articles or news items or post a song from a band that you love.

News, food celebrity gossip, parenting, fashion, art, and sports all make good topics for people to engage and connect around. Let your personality show!

Social Media rules are constantly changing and shifting (hello Facebook) so make sure you keep up on social trends so that you are not using antiquated techniques.

We love Mashable, Social Media Today, and Social Media Examiner. And of course, follow our Social Media Pyramid for content guidance.

Use Hashtags!

– #mcm = man crush Monday

– #transformationtuesday

– #wcw = woman crush Wednesday

– #tbt = throwback Thursday

– #fbf = flashback Friday

Always Say Thanks!

Anytime a fan or a press outlet talks about you or your music, share it on your social media outlets. Press and fans alike love when you share a post they’ve written about you.

4. Press & Promotion

Your PR Plan

A big component when promoting a new album EP or single is getting PR. You can accomplish this by hiring a team or by going the DIY route. When hiring a PR team make sure you do your homework and make sure your music is a good fit with that firm’s approach and philosophy. Be sure that the team talks to you about their well-thought-out plan for your campaign.

A PR company should work with you to make sure you are fully prepared before you are introduced to the press.

This is the first part of their job when you engage a firm.

If you’re going with a do-it-yourself approach here are some tips for an effective music PR campaign:

Get Great Photos

Make sure you have at least 3-4 great images and variety is important. Most music blogs feature square or horizontal photos. When getting photos taken think through your brand and think about variety to keep your images fresh as time goes by.

Bio / Your Signature Story

This series is packed with DIY tips, but we suggest hiring a professional to write your bio, which we call a signature story around here. Even if you are a strong writer, it can be challenging to write about yourself. A professional writer will be able to craft a compelling bio that effectively conveys all the important details while keeping the audience in mind, which in this case includes press and music industry folks. We would be delighted to write one for you.

Music Press Outreach

The first people to target should be local press and press outlets that have written about you in the past (if applicable). When contacting blogs make it personal. Be sure to research which writer/journalist of the site is the best or most appropriate to reach out to (if applicable). Before you start talking about your music be sure to address why you approached them and not some other blog. ALWAYS include a Soundcloud link to either your single or album. If your album/EP is unreleased, you can include a private Soundcloud link to the album/EP in a private playlist. Follow up approximately once a week and if you’ve received some press since the last time you contacted them, be sure to include a link in your follow up email.

Then as we touched on in Part 1, plan ahead so you will have content for multiple press outreaches such as a new music video, remixes, or tour dates, as you don’t want to repeat the same message about the new music.

Words of Warning About Press Releases

Please DON’T write and pay to distribute a press release. Press releases are relics of the past and are not favored by music bloggers. Press releases are great if you have something truly newsworthy and releasing an EP, single or album is actually not “news” (even though it is extremely important to you). If it is newsworthy then DO follow this guide.

Building a Targeted Media List
There are many ways to start building a targeted media list. One method – identify a musician or band that is slightly further along and fits into your musical wheelhouse, and take note of the press outlets that they are getting featured on. There is a great chance that those publications may also feature you.

Know That You Need 2 Separate Strategies for SoundCloud and Spotify
SoundCloud will be what music blogger will want. So, you have to have a great Soundcloud Page. Follow our handy guide to get great at this! You need a separate strategy for Spotify as you will need to be known in the platform with verification, a decent amount of followers and of course your current bio announcing your recent release. Spotify has an entire site dedicated to helping you learn how to get established in the Spotify ecosystem. Start here with their guides and best practices and read our 3 part Spotify Series.

5. Shows

If you are already building through touring, continue to tour, hitting the same markets that you played while supporting the new music to build on the momentum that has been made. Martin Atkins has the BEST book on touring called Tour Smart. If you don’t have it, get it!

We also love this post from Ari Herstand.

There are undoubtedly limitations though on how often you can tour and you more than likely won’t be able to tour to every market where there are fans.

And many artists are not touring at all, so if this is the case for you, consider virtual shows and live streaming.

Original post

Part 1

Release Preparation: The Musician’s Guide to Marketing Plans Part 1

March 22, 2018 by Karolina Makarenko

1, blog, guide, how, marketing, meskamusic, musician's, new, part, plans, post, preparation, release, the, to

This is our most widely read series here on the Cyber PR Music blog and we have recently updated it, just for YOU.

In this crazy ever-changing music industry landscape we see the same issue over and over again: A vast majority of artists who don’t have a long-term plan in place.

The reason for this is, in today’s DIY landscape there is no one in charge of creating such a plan. To make things worse, the pressure of consistently releasing great singles or EPs, social posting, writing newsletters, booking, plus learning new technology and platforms, keeps artists busier than ever. These never ending tasks battle long-term perspective.

Marketing Plans used to be a combined creation of manager, label A&R and marketing team, booking agent, and publisher who would be responsible for coming up with a big picture strategy and implementing a plan for each domain that he or she was responsible for.

We pride ourselves on creating long term Marketing Plans for artists, which we now call Musician’s Total Tuneups as we thought “Marketing Plan” was just not doing them enough justice.

Today, most agencies that indie artists hire tackle what needs to be done right now and handle only their responsibilities without taking a 30,000 foot view.

This sadly has a lot to do with how the artists approach their releases. We know once the music is finished a deep sense of urgency rushes in, screaming – “release release!”

We urge you to take a deep breath and read on…

It is completely baffling that an artist or band would work so hard on new music, dedicating hours and hours practicing, writing songs, not to mention spending large sums of money recording, mixing and mastering, creating visuals, and album artwork only to rush the release with no plan in place.

Here are the basic components of our Total Tuneups / long-term Marketing Plans to show you the key elements you need to consider before you get too far ahead of yourself.

Even if your release is not new, it’s important to backtrack and reset the stage.

There are 15 elements to keep in mind when planning a new release – they break down into 3 groups of 5.

THE FIRST 5: RAMPING UP FOR RELEASE

Below are the 5 areas that need to be addressed before any official announcements should be made about a new album, EP, or even a single coming out. To see these in more detail, download our checklist at the bottom of the page:

Distribution
Website
Social Media
Newsletter
Press

Let’s dive in!

(again, if you already released music, don’t worry! Backtrack and reset the stage.)

1. DISTRIBUTION

Digital distribution moves a lot faster than it used to, but you should still choose a distributor. If you are ordering physical copies of your music, make sure that you get them in plenty of time, especially if you are running a pre-sale or having a release party and you want to offer physical product at the show.

*Note: albums used to come out on a Tuesday and now Friday is the official release day (if you are going by industry standards).

CD Baby, Tunecore etc. don’t cover everything, and independently you need to also be aware of additional distribution outlets for increased reach, a list that includes Soundcloud, Pandora and creating playlists on Spotify.

2. WEBSITE

The music industry is built on appearances. To be taken seriously it is very important to have a complete and professional looking online 360 degree presence. This starts with your online home – your website. You need to have a modern and functional site that you can update on your own. Download the checklist to make sure you’re doing everything you can to build your online presence. Your website should have a section where fans can easily listen to and buy your music (not a player that automatically plays, please!), a news section with latest happenings, and a newsletter sign-up that offers an incentive through a juicy offer (such as exclusive tracks).

Ariel wrote a detailed guide to help you with the architecture.

3. SOCIAL MEDIA

Time and energy needs to be spent building a strong online presence in order to be taken seriously as an artist for when the time comes to start actively promoting.

What we see: many artists don’t know the basics. This will hurt your promotional efforts as music industry professionals, music bloggers, and fans will visit your socials to see what kind of existing following you have and how serious you are. Stale, overly promotional, or boring profiles will not help your chances of engaging anyone.

We will focus on the 4 most important socials: Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, and Instagram.

Branding is Key

Upload cover photos and banners that are in alignment with your brand. Use a publicity shot or your current album artwork with text on top of the images that promote the single, EP, or album release date, new music videos, and tour announcements. We love a tool called Canva for fast and easy banner and social skin creation.

TWITTER

We love Twitter because you can easily build a following of targeted users and jump into conversations. Every single person you interact with in real life should be followed on Twitter (friends, musicians, producers, club owners, etc.) Jump start your followers by following people and many will follow you back. Lastly, target similar sounding artists and follow their Twitter followers, as there is a high probability that they will also like your music.

To keep your profile active with Tweets, use Hootsuite. In as little as one hour you can schedule a week’s worth of tweets. Vary the topics you tweet about from career news (which should be no more than 20% of your output) to your interests, passions, and hobbies. News, politics, sports, and/or culture are all great topics to share for people to engage and connect around.

There are many relationship-building practices and benefits for being active on Twitter, of course, that we teach our clients, but by following these instructions you will at least have a respectable presence on this powerful platform.

Watch Ariel’s Twitter Video Class it goes over the basics:

FACEBOOK

Pay-to-play is the reality on Facebook for a Page to get any real exposure. We suggest you spend money from time to time but have goals in place before you do, and you should have a complete Page that is active with daily posts. Make sure the page has a cover banner (as discussed above) and install apps that work as promotional tools for you and your music. Three we love are: an artist profile Bandpage, a store Bandcamp, Tunecore or CD Baby, and a mailing list signup form MailChimp. Even though posts won’t get seen by a large percentage of fans who have liked your Page without advertising, organic reach is still possible, and an active Page helps show that you are an active artist. Videos and images have a greater chance of being seen, so share photos and upload videos as much as possible and finally, ask questions to increase engagement.

For an advanced, deep-dive into Facebook Pages. Our resident Facebook strategist, Andrew Salmon, has a 2 part masterclass in the Cyber PR Social Media House Course.

Watch Ariel & Andrew’s Facebook Class:

Part 2:

YOUTUBE

YouTube is the first place where millions of people go to search for music. It is a very powerful platform where artists are getting discovered. For any artist looking to increase awareness, it is imperative to have a presence on YouTube with a professional looking channel, and a cover image that is linked to your other socials so people can connect with you across platforms. Make categories to group your videos for easy viewing, such as “Behind The Scenes”, “Official Music Videos”, and “Live Performances”. Also, highlight an official music video in the featured spot at the top. The channel for The Flaming Lips is a great example of these practices put to use.

For the videos themselves we often see artists leaving off their artist name in the title of the video, which is terrible for search engines. Make sure you include keywords in your tags and place those important keywords/ keyword phrases at the start of your tag fields. Use adjectives that describe your music and similar artists as keywords with your artist name also being a keyword, the latter of which will show up in the “related videos section” after one of your videos is viewed. We also often see description sections left blank too. This is a crucial piece of real estate to tell the viewer what they are watching and provide links to other content you own, such as your website and iTunes, where they can go for more. Here is a video from NYC blog The Wild Honey Pie, they pack all their descriptions full of information where the viewer can go to learn and watch more. Their channel is branded well too, utilizing the features discussed.

INSTAGRAM

The most popular visual social platform has experienced a meteoric rise. As of the end of 2016, there are over 600 million active Instagram users, over 30 billion photos shared and 80 million photos a day. If you haven’t yet, connect to people you already know on Facebook, and if you choose, you can also search and connect to contacts in your phone. Next, link your socials.

When you post photos, choose at least two hashtags, as this is how photos are found. Top hashtags is a site that will display the top hashtags trending in real time if you are stuck or want to get into the conversation.

In addition to hashtags, you can also add captions to your photos before posting. I caution you to be selective about what you cross-post to socials. You want to tell a separate story on each social channel to get people to join you, and not get fatigued by the same posts across channels.

4. NEWSLETTER

This is the most important part of the strategy that you will want to skip – DON’T.

While social media is key for attracting your crowd and building your numbers, email is still the most vital asset you will build for generating revenue. You make relationships with fans on your social networks, but you turn those relationships into customers with email.

According to the Direct Marketing Association, email marketing produced an ROI (return on investment) of 4,300% — or $43 for every $1 spent.

Contact your mailing list once a month with news. Spend money on a mailing list service provider that can help you design a rich looking email and provide analytics and tracking capabilities so you can measure the effectiveness of your newsletters and make adjustments where need be. A premier solution that many of our clients enjoy working with is MailChimp.

P.S. We strongly suggest downloading the checklist (at the bottom of the page) to make sure you’re not missing anything about this extremely vital step.

Here are Ariel’s recent articles on Newsletters:

5 Critical Things to Add to Your Monthly Newsletter

Cyber PR’s 3 G’s – GREETING, GUTS & GETTING – How To Write An Effective Newsletter

5. PRESS

It might seem a bit early to start talking about press, but it’s not. PR takes time and effort to execute well.

Sadly, many artists believe that PR = blasting a press release out to the top 100+ music sites that they have Googled. This never works, because PR placements start with astute research.

Blog savviness gets placements.

You should now start to identify and familiarize yourself with online publications (blogs), podcasts, and radio outlets that are appropriate and strategic for you and your release. If you live in a smaller town (read: Not in New York, San Francisco, LA, or Chicago) there may be some local press that you can go after, too.

There are thousands upon thousands of active music sites, and there are a million more non-music sites that can

feature your music as well.

Your big goal might be a review on Pitchfork, but what’s your backup when Pitchfork doesn’t respond to you and then doesn’t respond to your follow ups? Is Pitchfork even the right outlet for you to showcase your project? Sure, they have a large audience, but is it the right audience for you? It’s OK if the answer is “no.”

Not only will familiarizing yourself with music publications help you to know where to pitch your music, but it will also give you invaluable insight and ideas for your press photos, your music video, and pinpointing your genre.

Research is not the only thing you need before you send your first pitch. To find out what to do come download our Ultimate Guide to Music Publicity.

Pro Tip: Keep in mind that a music blog is made up of content written by individuals. When it comes time to pitch, you will be pitching to these individuals. Increase your chances that they will be interested in you by first being interested in them. Make a connection by following them on social media and re-tweeting them. Better yet, try to strike up a conversation with them on Twitter if the opportunity arises. A conversation about literally anything other than your music is recommended.

This way when you send that writer an email about your music (or if a publicist does that for you), there could now be some familiarity there and existing relationships that will help in getting your emails opened and even further, help your new music to be featured.

Now that you know how to build a solid online foundation and the beginning of an online community, now is your time to dive in and do it!

Creating a long-term plan with proper execution will put you ahead of the game. Do not cut corners here. Having a true base will put you in a much better position when you are getting ready for your next 5 steps, which is when you will start calendaring for your release. This is the topic for PART 2 of this 3 PART series.

Original post

How to Promote Your Latest Release

March 21, 2018 by Karolina Makarenko

#how #to #promote #your #latest #release #new #blog #post #meskamusic #music #bussines

As an independent artist releasing music can be one of the most exciting parts of your career. This also means that you will need to put in some more work to guarantee it’s reaching all possible listeners. In order to keep your fans coming back for more and ensure longevity on your music that you worked so hard on, you’ll need to keep promoting!

Check out these 5 tips on how to promote your latest release:

Perform at Gigs!

Because who doesn’t love a live performance? This is a great way to have your fans come out to show love while also gaining new ones. I don’t know how many times I’ve stumbled across a band, DJ or artist’s set who was unfamiliar to me at the time, just to later end up LOVING them! It’s a great way to gain exposure.

You can also set up a merchandise booth and sell t-shirts, pins, etc…to market yourself even more.

Create a Marketing Plan!

By implementing this effective guideline into your promotions plan, you can create new strategies and watch as success grow. This concept allows you to identify your strongest and weakest areas, creating an action plan, and grow in those areas. If created correctly, a marketing plan will be great tool for future improvements and opportunities. It can provide you with ideas and concepts that can be used for advertising, social media, and more!

Make Sure You’re Using Social Media the RIGHT Way

As social media continues to advance, it is essential to stay on top of your game. Keep up! Instagram, Twitter, Facebook, and even Snapchat are free marketing tools that give you an advantage that some artists of the past didn’t have the luxury of using. You might want to consider hiring a social media specialist or promotions manager if you’re unfamiliar with this. Remember, it’s okay to ask for help.

Give and Get Support from Fans and Others Working in the Music Biz

Your biggest fans are your friends and family, especially when you first start out! If your buddy has a gig coming up, try your best to attend and show love! Maybe you’ll be able promote your next project there.

Don’t Forget About Email Lists and Blogs Too!

Social media is important but that doesn’t mean that people aren’t checking their inbox! By allowing fans to sign up for your emails, you can spread the latest news about your new music, merch, and upcoming performances.

Consider reaching out to music bloggers to be interviewed or to get a feature.

At the end of the day no one should know your music and fans as well as you do. So when you find yourself frustrated with promotional efforts, ask yourself, “What do my fans like?”

Use social media, get linked up with multiple music websites and blogs, and don’t be afraid to get some help from the pros. Check back soon for more music advice and good luck with your latest release!

Original post

How to Create a Music Marketing Plan

March 20, 2018 by Karolina Makarenko

#how #to #create #a #music #marketing #plan #new #blog #post #meskamusic

So you’re ready to create a marketing plan on your own? Congratulations!

Music-marketing plans play an important role for indie labels and musicians. By plotting your marketing strategies ahead of time, your campaigns will run more smoothly and your efforts are more likely to pay off.

Here’s how you can create a music-marketing plan on your own.

There are 6 core components in a marketing plan. These include the Summary, a SWOT Analysis, your Goals & Objectives, Strategic Actions to be taken, Budgeting, and lastly Tracking your progress.

Summary

The summary should feature key points of the plan. The goal of this step is to lay the foundation down:

Who are you as an artist or label? What is your current state or condition? What are your goals?

A helpful tip: complete this portion of the marketing plan at the very end. This way, all you have to do is fill in what you’ve already completed!

Discover Your Potential

After you’ve figured out your current state, the next step is to create a SWO chart, which is a chart designed to help identify strengths, weaknesses, and opportunities to help discover your potential. It helps highlight key areas that need improvement, so you’ll be able to make decisions that align with your goals and objectives.

Feel free to use bullet points to keep this chart concise. Consider strengths from an internal perspective. What seems to be working you as an artist or label? What generates recognition or revenue? For weaknesses consider from an internal and external perspective.

Are other artists performing better? What are they doing different?

Finally, take a look at your strengths and ask yourself whether they make way for any opportunities.

Goals & Objectives

Based on your weaknesses and opportunities, you must decide what your goals should be.

Do you lack a concrete brand voice? Is the label having trouble building a solid roster of artists? Do you lack strong brand awareness? Are you actively gigging?

Once you decide, then designate a deadline to reach your goals.

To-Do List

After assessing your current state and creating your goals, you must outline how you’ll reach them. What should your next steps be? If you have an upcoming release, is your album cover art ready? Do you need to plan a photo shoot? Are you signed up for distribution? Should you search for sponsorship? Plan a tour? Create an official website?

Create a checklist of every task you have to complete and a timeline (content calendars are our go-to for scheduling and staying on top of things).

Budget

You’ll undoubtedly have to invest in yourself and music, so why not crunch those numbers ahead of time to prepare yourself?

Track every service you’ll need funds for, total it up, and ensure you have enough to get you where you need to be. This helps ensure you’re not overspending.

Track Your Progress

You want to make sure your efforts aren’t in vain, and be able to make strategic changes if it is. To do so, outline what changes you should be seeing as you tackle your “To-Do List.”

Log the number of followers you have from beginning to end. Track the number of sales you receive newsletter subscription sign-ups, etc. This will come in handy for future use.

We hope this helped you to create your very own music-marketing plan!

Original post

Get Sponsorship for Your Next Music Video (Step by Step Guide)

March 19, 2018 by Karolina Makarenko

#get #sponsorship #for #your #nesxt #music #video #new #blog #post #meskamusic

So you have the most brilliant idea for your next music video yet you cannot execute it because you only have a few dollars left in your pocket after recording your first album. But you also know the value of a kick-ass music video- that it could leverage your career faster than you can say OK Go. Now I know how frustrated you might feel right now but you should know that there are lots of solutions for that. If you’ve already established a good number of followers, then my advice is you get a corporate sponsorship.

Here’s a step by step guide on how to go about getting corporate sponsorship for your next MV.

KNOW YOUR BRAND. Huh? What brand? I’m not selling anything! I hear you… but my friend, YOU are your BRAND and you are selling yourself and your music. You just have to accept that fact. That doesn’t make you less of a artist. You have to know your brand 100% so you would know what to sell and to whom.

Know your style. Are you a happy hippie band who loves donating to charities and being spiritual or are you the deep artist who’s into poetry and emotional music? List down words that best describe you as a musician. The corporate guys would need this and you would also need this to identify your preferences and limitations.

Know your Fan base. Get to know their demographics: age group, sex, personality, buying habits…every information you can gather. The companies will check if their target market matches your fan base’s demographics.

Know your numbers. Number of CDs sold, number of site visitors, number of people that usually show up during your gigs, number of facebook fans, etc. This would help you identify whether you should target big or small companies. It’s much easier to contact the smaller ones if you only have a small following. Bigger companies would mean bigger effort and lesser expectations of a positive reply.

LIST DOWN PROSPECTS. After knowing every aspect of your brand in step one, it’s time to make a list of your prospect companies. Here are some tips:

Ø Choose Companies based on your concept and your Brand: Take a look at the list you’ve done in step one and write down possible companies that could benefit from your brand. Of course, you have to think about your concept as well. What companies will look good and benefit from your concept?

Ø Tap All Connections. Do you have good friends in college who are now managing their dads’ companies? Then you are one lucky chap. If their company does not have funds for this kind of marketing or if their brand does not complement your brand, then they might refer you to other companies.

Ø Be Choosy. That’s right! I know you need money badly but please do not just choose ANY company. You might just as well loan from your bank than include a lousy brand in your music video. You are going to be BIG so do not settle for a company that you do not like. You do not have to be too choosy, just don’t settle for something that would make your stomach churn. But if you are creative enough and the deal is good, you can tweak your concept a bit so your video would still come out great.

RESEARCH ABOUT THE COMPANIES. Google the companies you’ve listed down so you would know their programs, contact persons, and mission-vision. Writing some tidbits about the company in your proposal would impress them.

WRITE PROPOSALS. Now you are very ready to make a proposal. If you have 3-5 prospect companies, make sure you make each one separately because no company likes generic proposals.

Ø Paragraph 1: Combine the stuff you learned in step 3 to those in step 1. Tell them in a very short sentence how their company would benefit from partnering with you with your latest music video.

Ø Paragraph 2: Short Bio. Make it brief and only include the relevant information (step 1). You need not give a 3-page paper on how your band started.

Ø Paragraph 3-4:Answer their ‘What’s in it for me?”. You just have to elaborate your point in the first paragraph.

Ø Paragraph 5: BRIEFLYexplain the concept of your video and how you plan to include their brand.

Ø Paragraph 6:Wrap up with a friendly tone.

SUBMIT PROPOSALS. Find ways on how you can talk to the persons on top of the ladder but if you do not have the means, then just submit them to the marketing head of these companies. Make sure all printed proposals read well and look neat because it reflects who you are as professional artists.

Your idea is your greatest asset. Even if you do not have bazillion followers if you have a brilliant idea, you might get the nod of big companies. Never beg for sponsorship especially if it’s just a small company. Know your worth as a band and believe in your idea. I hope you will find these steps useful in getting sponsorship for your kick-ass Music video.

Original post

70 Ways to Promote Your Music

March 16, 2018 by Karolina Makarenko

#70 #ways #to #promote #your #music #new #blog #post #music #bussines #meskamusic

Of all the pieces in the music industry, marketing tends to be the one thing that independent artists tend to struggle with the most. To help out we’ve come up with 70 ways to promote your music!

Here are 70 music promotion tips!

Distribute to online stores with Symphonic
Promote on Soundcloud
Soundcloud Ads
Promote on Facebook
Share on Facebook Groups
Facebook Ads
Bandcamp
Bandsintown
Instagram
Instagram Video
Instagram Ads
Snapchat
Twitter
Twitter Ads
Reach out to blogs
Secure a premiere in a blog
YouTube Video
Music Video
Monetize your video on YouTube
YouTube Networks (ex. Trap Nation)
Traxsource Charts
Beatport Charts
Beatport Mixes
Stream on Spotify
Promote your personal Spotify playlists
Reach out to Spotify non-official curator
Stream in Pandora
Create a Pandora Radio Station
At gigs
Printing CD’s
Pressing vinyl
Getting downloadable cards
On your website
Newsletters
Online Radio
Terrestrial radio
Share it with close family and friends
Google Ads
Display ads in blogs
Wavo / Wavo Boost
Feedback groups (ex. Facebook.com/hrelab)
Dating apps (literally – this is a thing)
Splice’s Community Section
Twitch
Patreon
Word of Mouth
Merch/Stickers
Hype Machine
Sending your music to well-known artists
Collaborating with other artists
Competitions (ex. Unsigned Only)
Throwing USBS at your favorite DJs while they are playing a set (jk)
Tumblr
8tracks
Remix contests (Wavo)
SubmitHub
Reverb Nation
Meta Pop
LinkedIn
Artist Union
Mixcloud
Spinnin Records Talent Pool
Songkick
Google Groups
Yahoo Groups
Reddit
Utilize a street team
EPK
Local Morning shows
Performing live at tailgates
Networking at Music conferences
Live.Me
Periscope
Musical.ly App
Find micro influencers

Got some ideas of your own that you think we should add? Give us a shout and we’ll make sure to add 🙂 Now go promote your music!

Email Marketing for Artists: why it’s still relevant and how you can crush it

March 15, 2018 by Karolina Makarenko

It’s the age of social media and everybody knows it. Right now it’s by far the best way to market your music while engaging with your fans.

Like we outlined in previous articles, growing your social media quickly is paramount to your success as an artist. But, keep in mind you’re competing with thousands of other artists that are trying to do the same.

This means that usually, a fraction of your fan base is actually seeing your posts on social media organically.

Plus, there’s a good chance you’re already fairly adept with social media. And you’re probably wondering why email marketing is still relevant at all.

Well here’s why.

Email marketing gives you more control over the conversation you’re having with your fans. Just think of it as another opening into your fan funnel. Another way of getting your music heard and gaining new and devoted fans while engaging your existing ones.

In this article, we will explore some best practices you, as an artist, can use to grow your list and highlight five of the most affordable email marketing services to get you a step closer to your goals.

The Fan Funnel and how it relates to Email Marketing

As you may know, it is important to create a fan funnel that helps you acquire, engage, and monetize your fans. More on fan funnels here.

Each of your social media outlets can be considered an opening to that funnel where you can acquire new fans, engage them, and then hopefully monetize them down the line. Email Marketing is simply another opening to that funnel, but a much more direct and personal one where a third party doesn’t control who sees your messages. You do. So, how should you start growing the new opening in your fan funnel?

How can I start growing an email list?

Before we dive into the specific email marketing service providers, let’s take a look at some ways to begin growing your email list.

Incentivizing your fans is key when growing your email list. There are a lot of creative ways to do this. The most popular method is giving away a song for free in exchange for a fan’s email. Fan gates like Toneden, Artist Union, Hive, and others make use of this feature with their widgets you can place on your SoundCloud tracks. For example, for WRLD’s remix of “Slow Down”, we used The Artist Union, a free download gate.

When a fan clicks “Free Download” from your Soundcloud, they’re directed to a page hosted by The Artist Union that gives them your track for free in exchange for their email, among other social interactions like a repost or follow.

For a more detailed explanation of how fan gates work and the best ones to use, you can check out our article highlighting our favorite ones here.

Over time, your email list will grow by using these fan gates. While it might not be important to start emailing your fans right away, their emails will become more useful when you’re releasing your first album, or announcing a new merch line or kicking off a tour and want to monetize your fans. Depending on the service you choose to create your fan gates, you might have access to your fan’s locations as well. This might even help you decide where your next show should be.

Many of the email services we highlight below also allow for you to create custom widgets that you can embed on your site. On WRLD’s site we have a place for fans to enter their email addresses, same goes for DROELOE and San Holo. In exchange, we keep them updated on new releases, new merch, and tour plans.

You can also create a widget that functions similarly to how fan gates do on your SoundCloud. Essentially your widget becomes your download gate where fans can trade in a free download for their email address. For example, the indie artist Rachael Yamagata makes use of one of these widgets on her site as you can see below:

Email Management

By default, MailChimp is the most popular email marketing service, but if you’re looking for alternatives we’ve got you covered with three of our favorites – MailerLite, MailBlast or Email Octopus.

All three tools allow you to setup automated emails, create a custom embedded widget for your website, and manage and track your email list. These services provide a one-stop shop to help you gauge who your superfans are and then help you monetize them.<

It is important to remember that you are trying to cultivate an engaged fan base with these emails. That means, as your email subscriber list grows, so should fan engagement, the amount of plays, likes, follows, and eventually dollars.

MailerLite

MailerLite is a rather straightforward email marketing tool. They offer a drag and drop editor to easily customize your email templates, HTML customization if you want to customize your email templates further, free already existing templates, and list management. These seemingly simple features are crucial for artists beginning to learn how email marketing works.

Having free templates to choose from will help you customize the feel and look of your email marketing campaign and show your fans how professional you are. This service also offers you free file management.

That means that once you upload a track you want to give out for free, it will stay there for all future campaigns. Another exciting feature they offer is a customizable free landing page. This means you can customize a page where fans can visit to sign up for your campaign. MailerLite offers a wide range of prices that match your email subscriber base and a free plan for up to 1,000 subscribers.

This email marketing service is best suited for emerging artists due to it being free till you reach 1,000 subscriber. As your list grows, there are a wide range of very affordable options to choose from. The upgrading prices are as follows:

1,001 – 2,500 subscribers = $10/month
2,501 – 5,000 subscribers = $20/month
5,001 – 10,000 subscribers = $30/month
Etc. up to 50,000 subscribers for $140/month

MailBlast

MailBlast is arguably the most affordable email marketing platform on the market. This is because it runs its service through Amazon Web Services accounts which allows them to reduce their costs. For just $15 a month, you can set up email automation to 15,000 subscribers.

You can create, test, and schedule email marketing campaigns from the site. You also get detailed reports of click rates and open rates and can manage unsubscribers. They also provide you with embed codes to put an email signup widget on your site. Just like MailerLite, they offer a free account for someone with 1,000 subscribers or less.

Since MailBlast runs their service through Amazon Web Service, you do have to create an account with Amazon Web Service as well. Setting up the Amazon Web Service account can be a little tricky, however, they walk you through the steps after signing up for their email marketing service.

Amazon Web Service also requires you to enter your credit or debit card information. This is because with Amazon Web Service, if you send out more than 62,000 emails per month, you get charged an extra $.10 per 1,000 emails.

This is one of the the most affordable options on the marketing. It allows you to do everything an email marketing platform should while keeping the price to just $15 a month for up to 15,000 subscribers. Currently, we feel this is the best option out there.

Email Octopus

Like MailBlast, Email Octopus runs through Amazon Web Services. This allows them to keep their prices low as well. Email Octopus is a bit more expensive than MailBlast, running at $15 for 10,000 subscribers a month and up.

With Email Octopus, you can track how your campaigns are doing, manage unsubscribers, automate or drip emails, and access sign up widgets for your website.

Like MailBlast, you must create an Amazon Web Service account for this as well, but this is outlined in a step-by-step guide given by Email Octopus.

These three options are the most affordable by far. If you’re not very comfortable with your tech skills, MailerLite would be the best affordable option.

MailChimp and Constant Contact are considered the “industry standards” for email marketing so they are able to charge a bit more. Plus, they’re a bit easier to set up initially than the three Email Marketing Services listed above and they do offer a plethora of services as well.

Mad Mimi

Mad Mimi is another cheaper option for email marketing. With this platform, you get your first 100 contacts for free rather than the 1,000 offered by the three above.

While Mad Mimi offers most of the same features as the email marketing services above, they charge a bit more to use the platform.

They include features like customizable templates, customizable website widgets, email list management, analytics to track your campaign, and automation.

To boost their value, they include a few add on bonuses. These features include Facebook likes from email, other social media link integration, RSS to email conversion, Google analytics, integration with Etsy, the ability to create surveys, and much more.

While the price of Mad Mimi is considerably higher than the other three email marketing services, they do have quite a collection of awesome features that could enhance your emails.

If you simply looking to engage fans by sending them updates about your new releases, this might not be the best platform to start with. However, this could be a viable option as your brand and fan base grows.

MailChimp

Like the other email marketing services, MailChimp provides a platform where you can manage your email list and automate email responses.

They have many of the same features as the other email marketing services mentioned like customizable email templates, the ability to upload HTML email templates, automation for rapid responses to fans, analytics to track your campaigns, and much more.

MailChimp’s popularity stems from its extensive feature list including the ability to connect to an ecommerce store (merch), create ad campaigns for Facebook, mobile support, and integration with other apps like Eventbrite.

While MailChimp is a bit more expensive, they offer a few more features that the other email marketing services lack. These features are not necessary, but are things to consider when your email list begins to grow considerably.

Now that I have a list and an email marketing service chosen, what do I do?

To run an efficient mailing system, automation is still the key.You know those emails you get right after you sign up for an email list confirming your subscription? That’s what email automation is. With any of the services talked about in our comparison, you can automate emails to send to fans after they signup for your email list.

Here are some ideas one what to include on the first three email automations:

Thank you emails

The first email should be a confirmation that the new subscriber has indeed been added to your list. If you’re giving away free content to incentivize them to subscribe, this email would also include the free download.

This email should be sent immediately after a new subscriber gives you their email. For example, after signing up for San Holo’s email address, you immediately get this email:

The rest of the emails are up to you, but here are some recommendations. The second email could be a deeper glimpse into what is going on in your world as an artist. The second email could include your newest material plus streaming or purchase links.

Tour dates could work too. The goal with this follow-up email is to gauge the open rate of your emails to determine how loyal your fan base is.

Always be wary of sending too many emails too quickly though and spread them out accordingly. Too many emails will cause even your most loyal fans to unsubscribe if they feel that you’re bordering on spam.

At this point, if your subscriber is still with you, that means they can be considered a true fan.

Kevin Kelly argues that all you need is roughly 1,000 true fans for you to make a decent living. These true fans will be the ones who remain subscribed to your list and interact with your emails by opening each email and clicking the links enclosed within.

These true fans will be the ones who end up purchase your new album, items from your new merch line, and tickets to your upcoming shows.

Therefore, your third automated email to your true fans should contain links to your merch, links to your upcoming shows, and any exciting news you want to share with them. This email should be sent at least a week after the second email.

After these emails have been sent, it is important to keep those fans engaged with what is going on in your world. This means sending out regular emails that highlight upcoming shows, newest releases, and any exciting news that is going on in your artist world.

You can also send out exclusive opportunities like meet and greets, secret shows, and other exciting opportunities for your fans to engage with you. As much as possible try and push exclusive content to your email fans first.

When it comes to email frequency you shouldn’t be emailing more than once a week. You’ll want to email about once per release, or other noteworthy news, which depends on your release schedule.

Here at Heroic we’ve found that it usually comes down to once a month we’ll have exciting news to share with our fans, whether that’s a new release or a brand new tour. You can also send your fans regularly scheduled emails to give your fans a heads up of what to expect from you in the next period before your next update.

Summary

So, for you to begin building up your email list, simply begin using download gates or export the emails you’ve already gathered. From there, import them into the email service you’ve chosen. You can then automate your emails so that fans get that free track or remain engaged throughout your email campaign.

However, it is important to remember that this whole process begins with the creation of an incredible track. No fan will be motivated to give you their email for a free download, unless that free download is an amazing tune they have to have. Once you’ve created that amazing track and begin collecting emails, expect to see some growth and interaction with your brand.

Music Bussines

How To Build an Email List (As a Music Producer)

Releasing Music: The Musician’s Guide to Marketing Plans Part 2

Music Marketing Plans Second 5 Elements: Ordering the Chaos

1. Timeline 2. Release 3. Social Media 4. Press & Promotion 4. Shows

1 & 2. Timeline & Release

Three Months Before Release

Are You Registered With A P.R.O.?

Get As Many People As Possible To Your Socials & Newsletter.

Here is Ariel’s comprehensive Newsletter lesson from Social Media House.

Take Everyone along on the Journey With You

Six Weeks Before Release

Release Your First Single!

Announce a Release Event – Live Show or Listening Party

Start Your Music PR Campaign

Start Your Pre-Sale Campaign!

Create a Facebook or Instagram Live

Two Weeks Before Release

Build the Momentum!

On Release Day

After Release

Keep Momentum Up!

3. Social Media

newsletter

Update Your Socials Every Day

Use Hashtags!

Always Say Thanks!

4. Press & Promotion

Your PR Plan

Get Great Photos

Bio / Your Signature Story

Music Press Outreach

Words of Warning About Press Releases

5. Shows

Release Preparation: The Musician’s Guide to Marketing Plans Part 1

THE FIRST 5: RAMPING UP FOR RELEASE

1. DISTRIBUTION

2. WEBSITE

3. SOCIAL MEDIA

4. NEWSLETTER

5. PRESS

How to Promote Your Latest Release

Check out these 5 tips on how to promote your latest release:

Perform at Gigs!

Create a Marketing Plan!

Make Sure You’re Using Social Media the RIGHT Way

Give and Get Support from Fans and Others Working in the Music Biz

Don’t Forget About Email Lists and Blogs Too!

How to Create a Music Marketing Plan

Here’s how you can create a music-marketing plan on your own.

Get Sponsorship for Your Next Music Video (Step by Step Guide)

70 Ways to Promote Your Music

Here are 70 music promotion tips!

Email Marketing for Artists: why it’s still relevant and how you can crush it

The Fan Funnel and how it relates to Email Marketing

How can I start growing an email list?

Email Management

MailerLite

MailBlast

Email Octopus

Mad Mimi

MailChimp

Thank you emails

Newsletter