Musicadium – Australia’s Dedicated Digital Distributor – is set to launch at The Zoo on Wednesday, February 13 with a fantastic showcase of local acts.
The launch will feature Ranger (comprised of singer-songwriter Cameron Mckenzie, Adele from The Go-Betweens and Martin Lee of Regurgitator fame), recent Triple J favourites The Westminsters and Byron Bay based The Frankie band. (more…)
Bob Baker runs a reasonably high profile blog giving his ideas on music marketing, promotion and branding for artists. Even though his website feels too much like an endless infomercial , he does present some rather compelling information. See, for example, how this guy sold 15,000 albums in 18 months by busking part time.
There’s also compelling (though unintentional) lessons on how not to market yourself:
Sure, theoretically, you could record a concept album using only hollowed out pumpkins and a euphonium and get a whole lot of people to pay attention. But what do you have to give once their attention is on you? Just an unlistenable concept album and a pile of rotting pumpkin.
Getting noticed is important. Just make sure that when you have people’s attention, you have the substance to hold it.
Let me point you in the direction of an incredible music resource.
Andrew Dubber’s site New Music Strategies is a reliable, trustworthy source of information and advice for independent artists.
Andrew has written an e-book - The 20 Things You Must Know About Music Online - and yes, he’s right, you really must know what is contained within its pages.
Go here to download it.
At the end of 2007, thanks to the kindness of Deb Suckling from QMusic, Musicadium was able to interview Hank Shocklee at the Art of Production Conference in Brisbane.
Hank is the production genius behind Public Enemy and one of the most respected minds in music worldwide.
We covered a lot during our chat but one of the coolest things Hank said was how important it was to discover music in your own time and on your own terms.
With all the hype and blog buzz that spins around the music world these days, keeping up to date is tiring and unsatisfactory. The second you’ve got your head around the latest new sound or hot new band, there’s another ‘best new thing’ zooming past you.
As Win Butler from The Arcade Fire says: “There’s never been more white noise - this deafening roar of opinion”.
This is the conundrum. If Pitchfork loves it, gorillavsbear loves it and it’s going gangbusters on Hype Machine - then logically I should love it too.
If I don’t, I sometimes get the feeling that there’s something wrong with me. That maybe I’m just not tuned in right. Or my ears aren’t hearing what they should. Or that somehow my musical tastes are languishing behind current trends.
But here’s the honest truth. In 2007, while everyone was raving about Battles, Animal Collective, Justice and No Age, I couldn’t understand what all the fuss was about. Those bands still sound a mess to me.
And my biggest shameful admission? I don’t dig LCD Soundsystem.
In indie-nerd terms, LCD Soundsystem is probably the most revered musician in the world right now. Saying you don’t like LCD Soundsystem is positively sacrilegious. Every music blogger it seems can’t get enough. ‘Sound of Silver’ is at the top of every 2007 Best Of and ‘All My Friends’ is top ten on every end-of year singles list.
But for me, it’s an album I totally don’t get. And ‘All My Friends’, everyone’s favourite track, is just grating to me. Is it only me that thinks the into is about two minutes too long?
Anyway, the point is this: if I’d genuinely rather listen to John Mayer’s ‘Continuum’ than Animal Collective’s ‘Blackcurrant Jam’ then that’s OK.
Heck, Hank from Public Enemy even says so. As was always the case with Public Enemy (and one of their greatest strengths), it’s about doing it on your own terms.
If you don’t like certain bands, there’s no point feeling uncool and behind the times.
Music is about loving what you love. You can’t do a lot to change it.
From the incomparably good Seth Godin comes this Music Lesson:
“Try to imagine something like this happening ten years ago: An eleven-year-old kid wakes up on a Saturday morning, gets his allowance, then, standing in his pajamas, buys a Bon Jovi song for a buck.
Compare this to hassling for a ride, driving to the mall, finding the album in question, finding the $14 to pay for it and then driving home.
You may believe that your business doesn’t lend itself to digital transactions. Many do. If you’ve got a business that doesn’t thrive on digital, it might not grow as fast as you like… Maybe you need to find a business that does thrive on digital.”
Not only does this encapsulate our philosophy at Musicadium, it’s a valuable insight for independent artists. Sure, people still buy CDs. But the ease with which digital allows people to buy music will mean, ultimately, that physical CD sales will go the way of the tape and minidisc.
A big video production budget is one reason independent bands want to get signed to a major label.
A bigger budget means a better film clip, which means more people watching your band. Or so the logic goes.
But more than a big production budget, film clips need originality and creativity.
With a little thought, you can create original and creative clips on a shoestring.
Case in point, this excellent Bright Eyes clip for ‘First Day of My Life’ from his album ‘I’m Wide Awake It’s Morning’.
Closer to home, Flipbook Media, run by Matt Howland in West End, Brisbane put together this amazing clip for Tom Cooney. Again, a simple, powerful clip that didn’t cost the world.
Check out more of Matt’s work at www.flipbookmedia.com.au
For Tom Cooney, see http://tomcooney.com.au/
Sometimes it’s important to go over the basics.
Like, for example, why Musicadium exists at all.
Musicadium exists because distributing music digitally is hard. It’s so hard in fact that it’s beyond the reach of most bands out there.
Each online store, like iTunes for example, requires tracks in a certain technical specification.
In addition, all tracks require barcodes and ISRC codes to track what’s being sold and to generate royalty payments.
Unless you have an in-depth understanding of the ISRC code process and the ability to transmit perfect metadata to the online stores, you’re not going to be able to distribute your music digitally.
If you are an independent artist or label, looking to get your music released online, there is no chance that iTunes or eMusic will talk directly to you. They don’t want thousands of individuals inputting data to their systems every day. They entrust that process to major labels and aggregators who act as the single entry point for the online stores.
And the truth is, managing relationships with all those online stores is tricky and time consuming. That’s where Musicadium comes in. It’s a simple, one-off fee for a tricky, time-consuming process.
We are really good at it and that’s why we exist.
This month Musicadium profiles one of Musicadium’s first artists to sign up, Pete Hawkes.
Q. What styles and influences are on your latest album?
The Pete Hawkes/Phil Emmanuel album (lost souls entwined) is very different to anything I have done so far and is an errie/spooky kind of album, a dedication to the lost musical greats who were never known in their time, people such as Nick Drake, Eva Cassidy, Roy Buchanan and Danny Gatton who were ‘famous’ only after death. The music has a bit of Nick in the acoustic guitars, Danny and Roy in the electric styles, played by Phil Emmanuel, especially the volume swells on the electric but its a completely new blend.
The Hawkes/Swarbrick album (which is a re- release of an old Festival records album with ou ttakes and some of Swarbricks arrangements that never saw the light of day) is the session we did at Ian Blakes Blue Bear Studio’s which is my folk stuff, written in my own style, using alternate tunings mainly and unusual hooks and melodies although on several tracks you get Swarbricks lilting, idiosyncratic fiddle style that really ended up being THE folk fiddle style that came out of the UK and was prominent on Fairport Convention & Martin Carthy’s albums and many more. He did a very good job on Jemimma’s lullaby and Reuben’s Fancy I thought. The later was his title; he fell in love with my border collie (Reuben) and gave him the tune. (more…)
“What is called the music business today, however, is not the business of producing music. At some point it became the business of selling CDs in plastic cases, and that business will soon be over. But that’s not bad news for music, and it’s certainly not bad news for musicians. Indeed, with all the ways to reach an audience, there have never been more opportunities for artists.”
- David Byrne (Talking Heads)
Read the entire article here.
1. USE paragraphs. Blocks of text are intimidating and ugly.
2. INCLUDE your website, your email address and a contact number/email at the bottom of the page in clear, unmissable font.
3. KEEP it to a page.
4. INCLUDE your band’s collective five favourite albums.
5. INCLUDE short quotes from reputable sources.
6. USE a simple classification for your music like alernative rock or folk or pop, ‘unclassifiable’ is not an option.
7. TAKE care with your band’s logo, letterhead and font. This is so important. Public Enemy had their logo right before they produced a single song.
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