Online Music Marketing with Jay Moonah

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In episode #4 I talked about the basics of last.fm. This time out, I cover some of the features of the service that you can use for artist promotion, including getting your label account, creating groups, and something called "Power Play".

Music:
Howard Jones - "Building Our Own Future"
Check out Howard's tour schedule

Mentioned in this episode:

• last.fm
• Label Control on last.fm
• Canadian Girls Kick A _ _ - a last.fm group
  
• Insomnia Radio indie music podcast
  
• Pandora by the Music Genome Project

I just posted this to digg and a bunch of other places this morning:

Canadian indie band Uncle Seth are set to "simulcast" a live concert in Second Life. The band's real life performance on November 25th at C'est What (Front & Church) in Toronto will have a real-time mirror in SL at a venue run by podcaster C.C. Chapman. Uncle Seth are just part of the growing grass-roots music community in SL.

read more | digg story

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I'll admit it - myspace.com is not my favorite site. I think it has a lot of problems, but it also has a lot of potential for music promotion.

Music:
The Junction - "Components of Four"
Check out The Junction on myspace

Mentioned in this episode:

• myspace
• Make The Most Of Your Music Player On MySpace by Anne Freeman (from David Hooper's blog)
• MySpace Music Marketing: How to Promote & Sell Your Music on the World's Biggest Networking Web Site by Bob Baker (book)
  

I was so happy to fire up iTunes today and see a new episode of David Hooper's fantastic Music Business Radio podcast! So glad to see David back after some time spent sorting out some of those pesky technical issues.

This is a must-listen show -- be sure to subscribe at http://www.musicbusinessradio.com/.

David continues to post great advice pretty much every day on his Music Marketing and Success Strategies blog, also well worth checking out.

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An introduction to live music in Second Life. It's a bit of work getting into SL and getting set-up to play live music, but if you're into the idea of playing to a niche audience of live music lovers from literally all over the world, the work is well worth it!

Look me up if you're in Second Life, my avatar name is "Weiss Plessis", or you can visit the Uncle Seth storefront to leave me a message.

Oh also, I forgot to mention this in the podcast but there is a blog run by musicians who play in Second Life at http://blog.slmusic.org/ - check it out!

Music:
Melanie Fudge a.k.a. Mel Cheeky - "One of These Days"
You can buy Mel's music on her website

Mentioned in this episode:

• Second Life
• SimpleCast
• secondlifeband.com - the Uncle Seth SL store
• Second Life live events listing

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"All Rights Reserved In Perpetuity Throughout the Universe." The old model of copyright meant that you either issue your material through this kind of blanket license, or you were left without any protection. The Creative Commons organization is changing all that. Listen to the show, check out the CC site, and choose the rights you want to reserve for your material.

Music:
David Hein - "Stagefright"
Visit David's site, and catch him on his North American Tour

Mentioned in this episode:

• Creative Commons
  
• ccMixter
• Brad Sucks
• David Hein
  

So yesterday in anticipation of the Ben Folds CD release, I sent an instant message to 'Ben Folds' in Second Life. I got a reply back from some guy (I assume it was a guy, anyway) named 'Cory', who is apparently running Ben's avatar until today.

Also, today I tracked down one of the people who is putting on the event as to why I hadn't received a confirmation of my place at the event, and apparently they had originally advertised the wrong email address to RSVP, so I'm not on the list for the event even though I responded right after the announcement was sent! Grrrr...

In my interview with Bob Goyetche on Canadian Podcast Buffet last week, one of the things I said about using things like Second Life, podcasts, myspace, etc. as promotional tools was that if you're not going to do a good job of something or it's going to put you in a bad light, you're better off putting your resources somewhere else.

While I do like the idea of big label artists using these tools, I also think they have to be more emerged in the 'world' in question. Second Life is a particularly social place -- if you are going to get someone to come in and act as Ben Folds, they should probably be acting as Ben Folds from the start. Ideally, it should BE Ben Folds running the avatar from the start.

If big media companies are going to use these avenues, they can't continue to act with their traditional top-down, we-built-it-and-you-love-it attitude. And if you're indie and you're going to use something like Second Life as a promotional avenue, don't just "fly-in". Find the real music fans in the space, connect with them. Go to other peoples shows, support each other. It's social media, be social!

Also, if you've sent out an email to a mailing list of thousands of people (which I'm guessing the Ben Folds mailing list would be) and there's an error in the information, send out a correction. Everyone makes mistakes, but allowing them to screw your fans is not cool.

I still love Ben Folds, but I'm a little pissed with his 'people' right now. Yup, I'm looking at you 'Cory'...

I was SO happy when I got an email this morning from the Ben Folds mailing list. I'm a huge fan, so I was double-geeking out that Ben Folds is having a CD release party in Second Life on Thursday!

It's great to see artists of this caliber embracing channels like Second Life as it lends more legitimacy when you're talking to managers, label folks, bandmates, other artists, etc. about using them as a means for promotion of your own music. "Hey, if Ben Folds, Suzanne Vega, Talib Kweli and even Duran Duran are doing it, why shouldn't we?"

Folds is really working the social media angles with this release. He's also doing what his people are calling the first ever "live by request" webcast on myspace. Not a lot details about this, they say you should stay tuned to the Ben Folds website for more -- I sure will!

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A classic eighties song. The new album from a gang of quirky Canadians. An epic opera cycle. What do they all have in common? They've all been the recent subject of fan remixes. In this episode, I talk about allowing fan remixes of songs as a way of promoting your music.

Thanks to Alex Cheung & Brad Turcotte of Brad Sucks for their help with this episode.

Music:
Brad Sucks - "Dirtbag"
Visit the Brad Sucks Online Store to buy this CD!

Mentioned in this episode:

• Wired interview with Terry McBride
• Barenaked Ladies Remix Site
• Alex Cheung's "Shock The Monkey" Remixes
• The McFlies
• Tod Maffin's Dummies' Guide to Podcasting Music in Canada
  
• ccMixter
• Remix Talk on the Brad Sucks Forum
• CBC's Remix The Ring Contest
  

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Search engine optimization (SEO) has been a big deal in web marketing for a few years now. While you can spend a lot of money hiring someone to do your SEO, there are some basics that every band (and indeed, everyone who has a website!) should know.

I refer in this episode to a presentation I originally did at The Big Schmooze, a great music industry event here in Toronto put on by my friend Ellen Drake. Here's a PDF version of "Search Engine Optimization for Band Websites" - it's around 360 Kb.

Music:
+nurse - "Daylight Savings Time"
Check out the +nurse myspace site to download this and other tracks

Mentioned in this episode:

• The Big Schmooze
• Google
• Yahoo Search
• MSN Search
  

Billboard Magazine and PR Web, one of the leading web-based PR wire services, are releasing a new service geared specifically at the music industry. Having used PR Web qutie a bit myself, I can say that this is bound to be a very cool service for indie musicians and promoters. And as it happens, music marketing guru Bob Baker is giving you a chance to try it for yourself, for free! Check out Bob's blog entry from Thursday for information. Bob's blog is excellent BTW and well worth checking out in any event.

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last.fm is, in my humble opinion, one of the best and most overlooked sites for both music lovers looking to discover new music and indie artists looking to promote their music. It's a very sophisticated music recommendation and social networking site, and I give a big plug for it in this episode.

Here's an example of a last.fm chart. This one shows the 5 most recent tracks I've played on my computer. It's updated dynamically, and links to my complete last.fm profile:



Music:
Chance - "Independent"
Buy Chance's music and merch at his online store

Mentioned in this episode:

• last.fm
• Pandora by the Music Genome Project
• Yahoo Music
• F.O.C. (Friends of Chance) last.fm group
  
• CanadaPodcasts.ca
• Canadian Podcast Buffet
  

Not only do we have dates for PodCamp Toronto (February 24-25, 2007), as I alluded to in episode #01 we also have a killer location - the Rogers Communications Centre at Ryerson University! This is going to be a fantastic event, and what's more it's absolutely free. Just sign up on the registration page, and you're in.

Lots more PodCamp Toronto news to come.

I've just established a permanent presence for my band Uncle Seth in Second Life. We've now got a small storefront on the popular island Music City that I'm affectionately calling "Uncle Seth's Lucky Kiosk #13".

I've also created a direct web link to the storefront at the URL secondlifeband.com.

I'll be talking a fair bit about Second Life in upcoming podcasts. I think it's a really amazing way to get exposure for lots of different ventures, including musical acts. Establishing a storefront like this is very cost-effective - it literally costs only pennys a day!

FYI, Uncle Seth is planning a big Second Life gig in late November, but in the meantime you can catch me doing solo shows there under my SL alias Weiss Plessis. My next gig is at the RoC, just around the corner from Kiosk #13. Appropriately enough, it's on Friday the 13th at 5 pm Pacific Time (SL time and Pacific Time are the same.)

As I say, LOTS more talk about Second Life to come.

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A pitch and a couple of tips for artists to use podsafe music sites as a way to get exposure for their music.

Music:

Inner Surge - "Wolves"
Buy this CD from the Inner Surge website

Mentioned in this episode:

• Podsafe Music Network
• Podsafe Audio (another podsafe music site)
• IODA Promonet (yet another podsafe site, this one assoicated with Independent Online Distribution Alliance)

Okay, so tooting my own horn here once again. Just got a copy of September's top songs from the Podsafe Music Network, and it turns out two songs from my band Uncle Seth have charted! "To Be An Angel" made it to the #1 spot, and our podcast PSA/YouTube video song "You Don't Need An iPod" is #7! Thanks so much to our many podcaster friends who made this happen by supporting our music.

Here's the complete chart:

1. Uncle Seth - To Be An Angel


2. The Shakes - Liberty Jones


3. Phil Ayoub - White Feather


4. Lee Coultier - Love in a Bottle


5. The Fire Apes - Hey Kate


6. Panic! At the Disco - I Write Sins Not Tragedies


7. Uncle Seth - You Don't Need An iPod
   


8. Brother Love - Summertime


9. Geoff Smith - Not on the Radio


10. Carne Cruda - El Diablito

So of course I wanted to bring this up 'cus I'm a self-promotional animal, but also as a preview to talking about the Podsafe Music Network, something I'll probably do in the next episode or two. I have my bias on this as a podcaster of course, but I think promotion to podcasts is a critical way for indie artists of just about every genre to get their music out to the world, and the PMN is an amazing place to start. Much, much more on the PMN and podcasting to come.

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A history lesson slash cautionary tale today. Gather to hear the story of the pre-bubble glory of a site called MP3.com, and what it's fate can teach us about how we treat sites like myspace today.

Music:

Matthew Osborne - "Down"
Buy this CD or Digital Download from Matt's site

Mentioned in this episode:

• Brad Sucks
• MP3.com (Wikipedia entry)
• myspace
• GarageBand
• SoundClick
• DotEasy
  
• GoDaddy
• Dreamhost