Episode 7: The Music Biz Weekly Podcast E-Commerce Solutions For Bands

Here we go folks, another edition of our weekly podcast featuring Brian Thompson from Thorny Bleeder and Michael Brandvold from Michael Brandvold Marketing.

This week’s topic? E-Commerce Solutions for Bands. 

We discuss everything from getting your music up on iTunes and the Amazon MP3 Store, in addition to options on how to handle your merchandise sales and email marketing campaigns.

What platforms are you using to sell your band’s music and merch?

Be sure to follow Brian on Twitter here and Michael on Twitter here.

Let us know your thoughts in the comments below and share your own tips and tricks with us!

Brian Thompson

Thorny Bleeder

Cloud Music Vs. Subscription Music - Episode 6 of The Music Biz Weekly Podcast

Welcome to episode six of The Music Biz Weekly, a weekly podcast co-hosted by Michael Brandvold and Brian Thompson.

Each week Michael and Brian will discuss the latest events in the music business and music marketing events and techniques.

This week’s episode, April 22, 2011 – Cloud Music Vs. Subscription Music

Episode 6: The Music Biz Weekly Podcast - Cloud Music vs. Subscription Music by Thorny Bleeder

You can subscribe to the podcast in iTunes.

Please leave feedback and comments, we want to hear what you think.

Tune in every week for the latest discussions and comments on the music business

Be sure to follow both Michael and Brian on Twitter for updates on each week’s podcast.

• Michael Brandvold – @michaelsb
• Brian Thompson – @thornybleeder



Always Be Available

Nearly everyone has accepted the new normal today - if you don’t let your fans buy it, they will steal it. Even the major labels (the last people to any progressive idea these days) have gotten the message and have started to release singles on iTunes the second they go to radio. The memo is spreading across the music business fast - Always Be Available (ABA) or lose the chance to make a sale and earn a fan.

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Music website launched for the Midlands

A music news, reviews, and entertainment website has been lauched in the Midlands.

Electric Banana offers media students and amateur writers an opportunity to gain music journalism experience. While offering a platform for young writers, the website also hopes to promote Midlands venues and gig promoters to an audience right across the UK.

Are there any organisations that would be able to support us? We don’t require funding, but help spreading the news would be fantastic.

Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks

The Unofficial Guide to Mobile Roadie Core

Have you ever considered creating your own iPhone app? Mobile Roadie is the best turnkey app creation tools on the market and since I’ve just successfully released my own app, i’d like to share the step by step process with you. Read on to discover how I took a few hundred dollars and flipped it into my own app within weeks.

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Music Business Is Ever Changing

The changing face of the music biz.

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Episode 5: The Music Biz Weekly Podcast - Social Media Etiquette

Here it is folks, this week’s episode of The Music Biz Weekly Podcast, with your hosts Brian Thompson from Thorny Bleeder and Michael Brandvold from Michael Brandvold Marketing. 

This week’s discussion is about Social Media etiquette on Facebook and Twitter, along with some additional tips and tricks to help take you to the next level of engagement and interactivity with your followers and fans.

Episode 5 Music Biz Weekly Podcast - Social Media Etiquette by MichaelBrandvoldMarketing

Be sure to follow Brian on Twitter here and Michael on Twitter here.

Let us know your thoughts in the comments below and share your own tips and tricks with us!

Thanks for listening, see you again next week!

Brian

Music Service Research!

Hey fellow musicians! Think you could fill in my survey? The feedback is very important

http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/KKPVCN9

Cheers guys

Artist Advice: Get an Extra 5% from iTunes

The majority of artists already have their music on iTunes, thanks to simple services like CD Baby and Tunecore. You get 70% of the money every time someone buys your album. But if you are sending you fans to iTunes, you need to sign up for an iTunes Affiliate Account to earn an extra 5% every time one of your fans buys something after clicking on your link! This article tells you how.

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How To Easily Add a New Facebook iFrame Tab to Your Facebook Page and Manage with WordPress.

Many of you may or may not have heard about the recent change Facebook has made to Pages; ending the use of FBML for custom tabs and replacing them with iFrames. If you have existing tabs using FBML they will continue to work, but you will not be able to add new tabs that use FBML. Moving forward every new custom tab you add will use iFrames. iFrames are type of html programming that in its simplest form imports and displays a website or web page inside a frame, in this case the frame is the custom tab in Facebook. Don’t panic if this sounds complicated or confusing. I just spent the weekend looking for the simplest way to create new Facebook iFrame tabs and think I have a drop dead simple way that anyone can do. If you are running your website on WordPress and can install a new plugin, even better! I am going to try and walk you through doing this without any heavy geek speak or programming. If I cross the line please slap me, lol. Step 1: Visit this Page in Facebook, Static HTML: iframe tabs. Click Add this application to your Page in the left column. Goto your page and click the Welcome tab in the left column.

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The Best in the World

You need to be the best in the world. How else will you earn the work and opportunities desired? But come on, do you really think you have a shot of becoming the top musician out there? For most of us, the answer is obvious: NO! Can you have a successful artistic life even if you’re not the best? Absolutely. But that’s fodder for another post. My message today: become the best in the world! (Huh? But you just said…)

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75% Want a Record Deal

On the back of the Reverbnation survey of over 1,800 artists, 75% of whom would like to sign a record deal, it has to be asked: what’s happened to the DIY digital pop revolution?

What amazed me, in particular, about the survey was the record companies listed as Most Wanted: the majors…  Sony, Universal, Warner etc

Is it the innate stupidity of hundreds of music artists?  Or are they recognising the basic flaw in the DIY argument: to promote a group successfully you need money and resources beyond those possessed by most bands and soloists?

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The Music Biz Weekly Podcast Episode 3 – ReverbNation Survey, Do You Want to be Signed

Welcome to the third episode of The Music Biz Weekly, a weekly podcast co-hosted by Michael Brandvold and Brian Thompson.

Each week Michael and Brian will discuss the latest events in the music business and music marketing events and techniques.

This week’s episode, April 1, 2011 – ReverbNation Survey, Do You Want to be Signed

Listen using SoundCloud.

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What I Learned From Justin Bieber

 

Baby, baby, baby oh…Ok I’ll stop right there.  So the story goes that Justin Bieber and his mom uploaded videos of Justin singing at a talent competition on YouTube in 2007.  The next thing you know he’s having a meeting with Usher and on his way to stardom.  Wow!  That is one crazy story!  So anyone can do the same thing and just wait for that major record label to call them,right? Lets just say the odds are not good!

Instead of kids getting their new favorite artists from pop radio, kids discover music on the web. We live in a fast instant gratification world and there is a vast amount of information.  Which means for artists that your 15 minutes of fame (AKA Vanilla Ice) is now 15 seconds of fame.  So as artists, how do we use internet marketing in a way to get real results?

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