Category Archives: Concepts

Musicians in suits... and traffic — Suits You Sir: Can you play the music game?

The business of music is often anathema to artists.

Equal parts strategy and schmoozing, some do one well but fall down on the other. Whatever strengths an individual artist brings to the table, putting in the effort to fill the gaps is a vital factor in a successful music career.

This recent piece by Ari Herstand on music networking reminded me of the importance of the musician as entrepreneur, treating your band as a business, positioning your creations as a calculated career move.

All of which sounds appalling to many of you, I know, so let me re-frame this in terms that should make it more palatable.

Alternative Applications of Creativity

As a creator, you already own the most fundamental tool to entrepreneurial endeavor.

The ability to imagine and let your ideas follow their own path is one that many finely-tuned business minds struggle with on a daily basis. One need only review the many traditionally successful media giants floundering for a foothold in today’s digital world to understand that creativity, experimentation, and a willingness to breach boundaries are almost prerequisites for advancement in the shifting sands of this environment.

They are also traits synonymous with successful entrepreneurs.

Entrepreneurs ask “what if?“, rather than “what for?”

Entrepreneurs view obstacles as a creative challenge, not a cause to complain.

And entrepreneurs have a guiding passion that fuels them when the path isn’t clear, keeping faith in the greater good of what they’re trying to achieve, even in the face of frequent setbacks.

I don’t know about you, but to me these characteristics also sound a lot like those of successful artists.

Embrace Your Entrepreneurship

Not merely accepting, but embracing the fact that you can apply an entrepreneur’s outlook to your art will expand the horizons of your music career.

Viewing networking not as a chore, but as an opportunity to connect with and to help others who may one day help you, revives your enthusiasm for events and can open new doors. Understanding and accepting the fluctuating revenue streams of the music industry as a creative challenge will open your eyes to potential new sources of income. Taking time to develop a cohesive approach to communicating with your listeners will help to develop life-long fans.

While some artists choose to stick their heads in the sand and complain about the latest ostensibly unfair practice of a music business gone digital, musicians with a broader, entrepreneurial perspective can do the work and climb to the top of their game. As even the notoriously crusty major record labels begin to explore the opportunities presented to them by new technology, rising artists cannot afford to be left behind in a self-indulgent stupor.

Understand your industry and be prepared to poke into every new nook and cranny for the opportunities that are being created. When you spot an early entry point to exploit the next big shift, you’ll be glad you chose to get into the game, rather than standing on the sidelines.

Concepts, Marketing

The Importance of Not Missing Your Moments

June 17, 2013 Steve 3 Comments

Very few things are scarce in the music industry as it stands today.

From vast online libraries of digital downloads – legal or otherwise – to over 20 million tracks available for on-demand streaming, abundance abounds in an industry that once traded on limited distribution and highly anticipated release dates.

All of which makes it crucial for today’s musicians to seize the day when a moment of scarcity arises for your art.

Make Moments for Your Music Fans — Image Credit: Kmeron

Making the Most of Your Moments

I define “your moments” as any opportunity to connect with a fan in a way that is unlikely to arise again for some time, if ever.

Sometimes this will be limited to deepening your relationship, but often it will include a rare chance to offer them something that supports your art monetarily. Some examples:

Talking to fans after a live performance at the merch table is a moment,
The day you release a new piece of music is a moment,
Filming a music video is a moment,
The buzz a fan feels after purchasing a ticket for your future show is a moment,
Collaborating with other artists on a new project is a moment.

Making the most of these requires you to actively nurture the nature of the moment, turning an already important interaction into something even more lasting, be that emotionally, materially, or both.

To transform the scenarios above, for example:

Creating a unique recording of that live show and offering it for sale before the adrenaline fades makes the most of the moment,
Offering limited edition versions of your new release in a physical format with creative artwork or merchandise is making the most of the moment,
Inviting fans to participate in the filming process, perhaps even helping to inspire and refine the concept, is making the most of the moment,
Capturing that excitement and channeling it into a social share or offering a VIP experience is making the most of the moment,
Planning a unique launch event for the collaboration and inviting a select group of passionate fans is making the most of the moment.

Eyes Wide Open

More important than following specific examples such as these is keeping your eyes and mind open to opportunities around you. As you create, network, and interact with fans, always keep one eye on the potential to develop a unique moment.

Anything that closes the gap to your listeners is what you’re looking for, but especially those with the potential to create a memory that can’t be replicated.

Making those moments gives you a long term, inimitable connection to the individuals with whom you live the experience, something that could be worth its weight in gold in an environment where it’s increasingly difficult to make your music stand out for a single spin, let alone the span of a career.

Where have you seen musicians creating moments that live long in the memory for you as a fan?

Share and inspire us, if you’d be so kind…

Concepts

Revisiting Direct-to-Fan Music & Merch: Are You Leaving Money On The Table?

May 22, 2013 Steve 2 Comments

Direct-to-fan (D2F) music was one of the first widely lauded advantages of the digital era for independent artists. With barriers removed, musicians could simply create songs, get them online, and connect them straight to listeners with no middle man delaying the gratification process. Nirvana!

Cut Out the Music Middle Man — Image Credit: Jake Johnson

Except that it turns out we need the middle men.

At the very least – and more accurately – we need some standardized channel, because there exists a mass of music and a bewildering variety of ways to process the payment for it.

In these early years, efficient digital stores have risen up to fill the void. From iTunes and Amazon to Bandcamp and CD Baby, paying music fans have chosen convenience over a deeper commitment to their favored artists. This is understandable, given a voracious appetite for music and the ease-of-access that consumers have come to expect from online transactions.

Nonetheless, this need not eliminate the original promise of D2F, to connect artists directly to their most passionate fans and deepen the relationship between them. This includes selling music and merchandise and is an area where most artists are leaving money on the table.

Know Your Fans, Narrow Your Focus

At any size an artist needs to develop deeper relationships with listeners, but the extent to which a platform is required to do this will vary greatly according to size and stage of career. For those just starting out, the emphasis will be more on discovery and gaining attention, making the breadth of platforms more crucial than the depth.

As a fan base accumulates, however, too many artists stop short and continue to focus on that breadth, without customizing their art, content, and merch to the most passionate fans. This fails to take D2F to its most beneficial conclusion. Those building the closest ties to fans, offering the most of themselves, lay the groundwork for those same people to spend more time with – and more money on – their music.

By narrowing your focus to that small percentage of your fan base that is intrigued by everything you do, opportunities arise to better understand and cater to their needs…

Are they moved by visuals you present?

Do they react particularly well when you post lyrics to your songs?

Perhaps they praised a specific collaboration or project that you worked on?

When you know the answer to what really gets your core fan base bubbling up, you have a starting point for creatively-minded merchandise and physical records that suit the D2F approach.

Separating Merch From Marketing

Although the two are of course inextricably linked, it’s important to remember that D2F music and merchandise is largely to be considered in terms of income. It can be time-consuming to set up anything more than a rudimentary store and will require ongoing maintenance, so both the product and the demand must be there to justify investing in D2F merchandise to any great degree.

Knowing your costs and projecting what you expect to make are crucial factors in deciding just how viable any given D2F product will be.

This doesn’t preclude artists from producing simpler items for fans that can be given away at shows or included as a bonus with other orders, of course. Just remember that these are generally not items with any significant profit margin and, as such, they fall into the category of marketing materials. In the same vein as a show flyer or postcard, their job is to keep you in the minds of listeners for further connection, rather than make money in their own right.

Retaining a focus on cost and sale price helps you to judge what fits into the category of merch that you should sell directly to fans, as opposed to outsourcing the sale to an established digital store front. Limited edition releases and intricate art work related to your music are ideal starting points but this is an area where you can let your creative streak run wild, as the concept of this recent Music Think Tank article explains.

Over To You…

Was the promise of the direct-to-fan model vastly overstated or has it simply been swamped by the generic digital offerings that are presented to music fans today?

What examples have you seen of artists succeeding in offering their fans unique products?

Concepts, Marketing

Think Lifelong To Kick Start Your Career In Music

January 24, 2013 Steve 2 Comments

I’d always been a fan of Frank Turner, but it was a series of social media-centric events in 2009 that turned me into a fan for life.

The English singer-songwriter (“skinny, half-arsed English country singer”, by his own admission) tweeted some enigmatic request for Brooklyn-area followers to get in touch with him, as plans were afoot. Naturally I complied, feeling the urge to hear a familiar song sung in a familiar accent, after several months away from the Motherland.

It turned out to be a show on a date that I would be out of town, yet the simple one-on-one connection with a musician whom I admired drew me into Frank’s blog and Twitter feed still further. This, in turn, resulted in another e-mail exchange on his way back through the tri-state area, through which I learned of a secret show in a tiny Hoboken pub (think pool table in the middle of the “dance floor”) and was able to attend an intimate gig that lingers long in my memory.

Through just a few personal touches, Frank had gained a life long fan.

A Lifetime Customer.

The Value of a Lifetime Customer

Lifetime Customer Value (LCV) is a somewhat inelegant marketing measurement that is, nonetheless, a huge boon to any artist serious about pursuing a long lasting career in music. If you’re in it for the long haul, you’re going to need a dedicated core of fans in it with you, no?

LCV is calculated based on the average spend over a set period of time, multiplied by the expected duration of the relationship. We can work in factors such as losing fans and the cost of keeping them around, but for simplicity the main areas to focus on here are these:

What your average fan spends in a year, and
How long you expect a given project to last.

The concepts are more important than the actual measurement, for the moment, as they get you thinking about where you make money on your music (and, more importantly, how you may be able to increase that average spend).

You also gain perspective on the differing contributions that your various musical projects are making to your income…

Which of your projects have potential to expand into crucial income streams?

Which are more ‘for fun’ and should be prioritized accordingly, at least in terms of marketing time?

Understanding where your effort and time is best spent, along with seeing what the spend will be in return, allows you to contrast the value of a simple album sale or song download with the broader context of a fan that knows you, loves your music, and wants to support you for the long haul.

Turning Listeners Into Lifelong Fans

As there is more and more competition for listener attention, so the distinction between a listener and a fan becomes increasingly important for you and your career in music.

You may begin to attract substantially more listens, be they monetized spins on Spotify or indicative ‘views’ on YouTube, but without converting a good proportion of these folks to fans, then lifelong fans, making a living from your music will be all the more difficult.

I have a full series of articles planned for February and March that will dissect every inch of moving your listeners along this spectrum, from passive listener to passionate fan for life.

The truth is that it’s a slow burn for 99.9% of musicians.

Very few of you will soar from a tightly knit group of fans to superstar status on the basis of one amusing YouTube video or turning your cat into the next big internet meme (this is a valid strategy, should you wish to explore it… but, please remember, that a cat is for life, not just viral marketing). Relationship building, boosted by new media connections, and incremental nudges are at the core of what I believe is the key to succeeding as an independent in the music industry, now that the old models are falling away.

Starting next Monday, we’ll be looking in more depth at the concepts that relate to building a long term fan base and calculating LCV to understand your income from music. To avoid missing this journey, sign up for the e-mail updates over there in the top right hand corner.

I’m excited to start a discussion around these ideas and eager to hear what you want to read about in more depth. So come on, overload me with posts to write by telling me what you need here in the comments!

Life is too short to just sing the one song,
So we’ll burn like a beacon, and then we’ll be gone.
~Frank Turner – ‘Poetry of the Deed’

Concepts, Web Presence Development

A Look Back, A Leap Forward & 3 Words For 2013

January 3, 2013 Steve 5 Comments

Welcome to 2013.

Stark and formal, I know, but I’m sure you’ve been wished a “Happy New Year!” several hundred times by now and you already know I wish you well, so I thought we’d break with the norm. Another standard for this period of the calendar is the onslaught of industry predictions and ways to keep resolutions. To some extent, let’s break with that as well.

One year ago I laid out some goals for this site and sought to fuel them with my three guide words for 2012. Many life changes then took hold in the middle of the year, both personally and professionally, prompting another shift in how I view this channel.

While you won’t benefit from the minutiae of those changes, I hope that regular readers will find value in a brief reflection of what the site was, where it lies currently and, most importantly, where I plan to take it this year.

A Look Back

Go backwards to go forward — Image Credit: William Murphy

My three words last year were ‘Serve’, ‘Tackle’, and ‘Dispatch’. My aims were clear, my results mixed.

In pledging to better serve those of you who take time to peruse these pages – thank you! – I was able to refine the content to only that which added practical value to creators. Or, at the very least, a striking opinion… perhaps a unique insight here and there. I scrapped a lot of draft posts after running them through this filter and feel that the site is all the better for it.

I did indeed tackle more challenges with a single-minded focus, though my need to load on a variety of tasks without dismissing the lower priority ones does remain. I need to better define the most important questions facing creators today and put lesser items on the back burner.

I largely failed to dispatch, if I’m honest. I still have too many projects sitting in the “potential” category, left to linger as they’re not priority one but nonetheless sucking away creative juices to no end product. I need both a better system for passing judgement on my ideas and also a ruthless streak in consigning those that yield no progress to the scrap heap.

Above The Static certainly reached more people and generated more conversation in 2012. What was lacking was consistency in writing and a willingness to post short, sharper pieces. These are in my sights for the coming year.

3 Words for the New Year

My three words to guide action in 2013 are ‘Meet’,‘React’, and ‘Habitual’.

Meet is simply that I need to get offline and do more old-fashioned social, be it networking, collaborating, or simply listening to the stories of the creators I aim to serve.

React is to stop the death spiral that can occur with over analysis and/or procrastination. I’ll be more accepting of content that doesn’t neatly wrap up an idea or concept and act on the impulse of needing to get something done, rather than sucking on it until all the flavor is lost. I’ll deliver ideas here more consistently as a result, removing some of the filters while still guarding against any filler.

Habitual will apply to life across the board, as I focus on changing underlying motivations and not the resulting behavior. I don’t need to cease writing long, detailed articles, for example, but I do need to understand why I’m uncomfortable sitting down for under an hour and knocking out a shorter post. From there I can develop a habit that better motivates me to create the latter, or at least forces my hand to meet a time/word limit. By extension, this will again lead to me publishing more relevant, timely content.

A Leap Forward

Above The Static is here to provide creators with the resources and advice to reach more fans by developing their web presence. With greater variety and regularity of posts, I hope to deliver a lot more value, better serve artists and reach more of you myself.

This site is simply a channel to deliver the insights that I believe can facilitate this, with the resulting discussions and actions being what makes a real difference. I’ll lay the foundation with ideas, after which our conversations across the comments and social networks will serve to build the structures that attract others.

That stated, I submit to wish you a creative and contented New Year!

Above The Static |