Monday
Jan232012
January 23, 2012 Is It Time to Trash "Support Local Music"?
A Fan Says Goodbye to “Local Music”
..
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I’m sorry “Support Local Music”, but I’ve fallen out of love with you as a phrase.
It’s not me, it’s you.
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Entries by Derek Miller (11)
January 23, 2012 Tuesday
Nov222011
November 22, 2011 What IS Exposure?
“Getting your name out there.”
Some are willing to give away their entire catalog for free in hopes that the extra exposure will build loytalty and gain fans.
Other artists insist that every piece of music should be paid for and don’t care about exposure.
What, exactly, is exposure worth?
Thursday
May052011
May 5, 2011 Don't Get In Car Wrecks With Your Fans
Guilty admission. Yes, we’ve probably met before but I’m sorry, I don’t remember you. It happens often, so don’t take offense. But I can rap every word of I Like Big Butts like a champ. I’ve got my priorities. And so does everyone else. We’ve only got so much room in our brains. Things we consider relevant stick, everything else tends to float away. It’s efficent and helps our mind stay organized. (In fact, perfect memory is a miserable, horrible existence. Check this Radiolab episode about the man who couldn’t forget.)
Friday
Mar042011
March 4, 2011 The Music Success Formula - Rough Cut
So I got the idea of creating a “back of the envelope” formula that will be a quick way to determine a band’s potential of “breaking through” to the next level, however they define it. This is the potential to be very useful to many musicians, but I need your help refining the idea. Please, poke holes in this so we can strengthen the idea!
What I’ve developed so far is based off the simple equation for force (force = mass X acceleration) except replacing the variables with things related to bands. It would measure, on a scale of 1 to 10, the band’s potential to reach their “fan goal” (which goes into the equation).
tagged band strategy, marketing | 1 Reference
band strategy, marketing | 1 Reference Friday
Feb042011
February 4, 2011 The Musician's Secret Weapon
“Life can be very, very hard for a musician. You’re competing against millions of others, desperate to be heard over all the noise. And you’ve got no money.
But you’ve got a secret weapon. To outsiders, the music industry is sexy. People with day jobs are fascinated with the mythos of “The Rock Star”.
Make the person you’re talking to feel this. Make them feel like a part of this world.
Wednesday
Dec152010
December 15, 2010 What Do You Do For Your Band?
Besides your instrument. Any musician can do that. What makes you irreplaceable in your band?
This is important.
Music is a highly competitive industry, and it’s no secret band lineups change all the time. Unless you happen to be a prophet of the guitar like Hendrix, being “good” isn’t enough to ensure you stay in a band. Youtube practicly has a dedicated channel called “12 Year Olds Who Are Better At Your Instrument Than You Will Ever Be”. A Total musician, the kind of person you always want in your band, contributes something that can’t be replaced by someone who can read guitar tabs.
What would qualify as something making you more valuable to the band?
in collaboration | tagged Band, contribution, irreplaceable, musician, value
collaboration | tagged Band, contribution, irreplaceable, musician, value Wednesday
Sep222010
September 22, 2010 Of Unicycles and Songwriting
Unicycles seem magic. Somehow a stick with a wheel on it being used as a means of transportation seems inefficient. But it works. A good friend of mine decided to take up unicycling as a hobby (?) a year back and now regularly commutes to work on it. He wants to start a unicycle crew and roll around town clowning on those with two or more wheels.
Yeah.
To an outsider, unicycles seem magic. But really it doesn’t take anything more than practice and strong knee pads. It’s a skill. Sure, you can read articles on unicycling, watch youtube videos of professionals in action, or purchase “super high-quality” unicycle accessories to try and get better. But it’s a skill. You get better at unicycling by unicycling.
The same goes for songwriting.
Tuesday
Aug312010
August 31, 2010 How NOT to Social Network
Myspace, as a medium for social networking, is useless. The signal to noise ratio has plummeted so low that there is essentially no point in trying to reach fans through MySpace. It’s all comment spam, automatic “friending” programs, and bots. Most myspace comment boards look like this:
Tuesday
Apr272010
April 27, 2010 On The Efficacy of Flava Flav
Flava Flav is a fascinating case study in the psychology of fans. He’s credited with popularizing the role of the hype man in rap groups, yet often gets unfairly hated on for this role because it appears “simple” and “pointless”. This is incorrect. Flava Flav had a profound effect on improving Public Enemy.
Thursday
Mar042010
March 4, 2010 Who Do We Reward More, The Best or The Most Visible?
Since you’ve been reading my blog and know how I roll, you can probably figure this one out. (Read this fantastic post by Eric Barker for the science.)
The most visible are consistently more rewarded than their performance merits.
That’s why Nickleback has sold over 6 million albums. They’re everywhere, whether you like it or not. Magazines, blogs, radio, tv, etc. Pretty much everyone knows about them. Yuck.
So what’s going on here? Why is this? Is this a giant troll that the world is going to unveil in a few years? (a la Andy Kaufman’s style).
Nope. Once again the peculiar human brain is at work.
Tuesday
Feb162010
February 16, 2010 What's Your Fan Pipeline?
How does someone with ears transform into a fan so obsessive they dig through your garbage?
