Make your flyers and posters literally sing

Attention bands and musicians: we need your help! We are beta testing our new audio QR Codes called tokkers and we’re looking for bands and musicians to try them out (for free!) and give us feedback.

When people scan a tokker that’s printed on your flyer, they can instantly hear your music, see a picture of you, find out more about you and where you’ll be playing, share it on Twitter and Facebook, email it to their friends, embed it in their web page, call or email you, and link to your website.

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How Do You Get Someone to Read Your Email?

I love this meme. I can still hear the AOL sound clip in my mind saying “You’ve Got Mail!” Back then, email was such a phenomenon (especially through AOL), that a film plot with Tom Hanks and Meg Ryan was built around the concept. Not long after, email became so common and inundated with spam that most users end up ignoring most messages that come in.

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The Neighbourhood is a Band to Watch in 2013 [NEW MUSIC/SOCIAL MEDIA]

The power of social media is growing in the music industry.  Does it sell records?  In rare cases, yes, but I believe that since it’s already become a significant factor in how music is discovered, sales aren’t too far behind.  For example, my friends know my basic overall taste in music.  If they don’t, a quick look at my social media channels could easily give them a few ideas.  Charlie sends me a message saying, “What up man!?  How have you been?  I was listening to a band the other day and I thought you would enjoy them too. They are fairly new and are gaining traction quick. http://www.last.fm/music/The+Neighbourhood  I think it’s pretty good stuff.”  That personal recommendation (not a flashing message on the side of my screen or ad on Pandora) got me to open a new tab and listen to their music.  It’s not rocket science people, it’s simply quality music that does the job. When bands take the time to make good music, it will eventually find their audience.

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Moupp, The First Mobile Fan App for Bands and Artists

The first ever mobile app for bands & artists to market and promote themselves. The app alerts fans to notify them of their favorite bands at the right time and right place. Bands increase their fan base, expand their reach and increase earnings.

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Joe Solo: Commonsense advice sprinkled with gems

The more emails and tips I get from this guy, the more his great advice sinks in - and I’m not a working/recording musician. It’s just damned good advice. A mix of “DOH! slap me up side the head” commonsense stuff that we need to be reminded of constantly - sprinkled with brilliant gems of creative advice. I heard him speak at a couple of different songwriter workshops and conferences within a 3-month time span, and then I signed up for his free email tips and video nuggets. It’s THAT good that I suggest y’all do the same at his website joesolo dot com. Did I mention that it’s FREE!!!!  End of public service announcement. :-)

Hip-Hop and Social Media. Promotion vs Spam

This blogpost discusses social media spam and online music promotion through platforms such as Twitter and how to avoid being ignored online.

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How Gangnam Style showed us the Social Media value of a Viral Video - an Infographic case study

Safe to say there have been more than a handful of Gangnam Style case studies bouncing around over the past few months. Case studies looking at things like HOW and WHY the video went viral, WHO was behind this freakishly cult phenomena, and WHAT the contributing factors were in driving nearly a billion views.

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Facebook Edgerank for Musicians 101: Increasing Fan Engagement

The latest update to Facebook’s ‘Edgerank’ algorithm is a bit confusing and has many of you concerned about losing access to your Facebook fanbase. There are differing opinions on why the change was made (whether it was to force you to pay for ads or — the more likely scenario — to take clutter out of newsfeeds).

Here are some tips to help you avoid your Facebook posts getting lost in the clutter:

1. Don’t beg your followers to click “show in newsfeed”

Some bands are asking their fans to click “show in newsfeed,” which ensures that the band’s posts will… show in their fans’ newsfeeds! This is not recommended. Yes, it will work for those fans who can’t see your posts in their newsfeed, but Edgerank changes went into effect in late September; if your fans can already see your post in their newsfeed asking them to take such an action, having them go to your page and check a box that is already checked may cause confusion and even some accidental un-checks!

2. Don’t ask your followers to click “Get Notifications”

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Queen is Britain’s Dream Festival Act, What's Yours?

What is your ultimate festival line-up? A recent competition hosted by a UK ticketing marketplace asked this question and collected 12.5k votes to put together peoples’ ultimate top-20 list.

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Amplage: 0.5 Facebook - Passive Consumption.

Hey readers, I know this might not be best fitting to a music technology blog however I think it is necessary I annoyingly voice my opinions and thoughts on this new manner of passive consumption I have found in the complex of Facebook. Being that I freelance in a media saturated industry I do my best to keep in touch with as much online journalism in the music industry as I can.

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Music Marketing 2.0: Bethel Music Leverages Affiliate Links to Boost Revenue

Musical group Bethel Music now earns additional revenue on top of music sales by promoting its newest album–For the Sake of the World–through refer.ly iTunes affiliate links, giving them more resources to make the music that they and their fans love.

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Music Without Labels Seeking Submissions for New Web Series!

Hello Everyone!

I am the spokesperson for Music Without Labels & Beat-Play LLC.  MWL is an umbrella for many music projects, ideas and conversation. The MWL Live just wrapped up a on a 15,000 mile cross-country video tour covering the hottest summer musicians and artists across the country. We featured several great bands such as Portugal. The Man, Datsik, The Lonely Forest, Yann Tiersen, Carina Round, Vintage Trouble, Dry the River, Washed Out, Gardens & Villa, Fun. and many more! Check out the MWL Live Tour 2012 videos here. 

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Buzz Marketing | Fanbase Word-Of-Mouth

As you know (hopefully), social media websites provide you with a platform to grow your fanbase, and expand your reach to people that you never could have connected with before.

What you need to understand is how to utilise your social media fanbase in order to market your music, promote gigs, and hopefully become commercially successful (If that’s what you’re going for of course). First, a brief introduction…

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Knowing Your Limits With Social Media Promotion

It is not a profound statement for me to say that trying to promote yourself as a new musician in the quick-to-shudder market of today is frustratingly difficult. You’re exhausting many hours trying to find ways to get out there, and maybe sometimes it works. You’re getting everything online that you think you should: a Facebook fan page, a Twitter, a ReverbNation site - all of the goods. 

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