Black Friday For Music 3.0

Another Black Friday is upon us and I thought it would be fun to include a short list here. You can find a more complete version over on my Big Picture Music Production Blog. Here are a few items that are perfect for the musician, engineer, songwriter, producer, artist or band.

Social Media Promotion For Musicians - If you don't have the online presence or response you think you should, then this book's for you. Covers Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, Google+, Pinterest, bookmarking sites like Digg and Delicious, your website, blog and mailing list. Take 20% off  on the print version today only by using code 2HJQXWBT (the Kindle version is already discounted).

Shop Amazon - Black Friday Deals in Electronics

Music 3.0: A Survival Guide For Making Music In the Internet Age - The book the blog is named after. If you want to understand what's happening in the "new" music business, this book's for you. Explains who's in control, who's making all the money, and how to get ahead as the business transitions into a new age.

Lynda.com - Have you ever wanted to learn a piece of software, but hated the "how-to" videos you found on YouTube with bad audio and lighting and people that barely know what they're doing? Try Lynda.com, with more than 1500 courses with super high production values by experts and in small digestible bites. Check out my courses, and get 7 days free of unlimited access to lynda.com.

Shop Amazon - Countdown to Black Friday Deals in Musical Instruments

Recording And Music Production Books From Bobby Owsinski - For every musician who records at home, The Mixing Engineer's Handbook, The Recording Engineer's Handbook, How To Make Your Band Sound Great, The Studio Builder's Handbook, and 14 others are the perfect gift.

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Help support this blog. Any purchases made through our Amazon links help support this website with no cost to you.

Follow me on Forbes for some insights on the new music business.

You should follow me on Twitter and Facebook for daily news and updates on production and the music business.

Check out my Big Picture blog for discussion on common music, engineering and production tips and tricks.

The Music Industry Holiday Shutdown

Thanksgiving is a time for family gatherings and banquets, but it also marks the beginning of a time of year that those in the business of music either love or hate - the Holiday Shutdown.

The Holiday Shutdown is the toughest time of the year to do business because the execs that can greenlight a project begin their extended vacations, so they're rarely in the office. It begins Thanksgiving week (some leaving on Monday rather than Wednesday), and really continues until about the second week in January. Oh, they'll be back in the office between now and then, but they're usually so backed up with work that if you're not on the top of the pile you'll be pushed to next year.

One of the reasons why record execs leave is that the release schedules for the year and even into the first quarter of next year are set in stone. The Christmas releases are out by now, and while there may be a record that might drop in the first week of December, it's a rarity. It's a slow season work-wise, so why stick around?

On the other hand, agents and managers are still working as they line up fill-in dates for the end of the year and work on tours for the new year, merch vendors are still working because it's a prime time of the year for retail sales, and publishers are still getting payments and working on synch licenses for television shows and movies (although many of the producers have also left unless they're still in production).

This is also the time of year where bands may still be negotiating for a New Years Eve gig, which may be the best paying, but the worst gig of year, as the audience tries too hard to have the good time they think they're supposed to have.

With all that being said, it's a good time of year to get your marketing in order for 2014, since there's bound to be some downtime in whatever sector of the business that you're involved it. We'll review that more in an upcoming post, but in the meantime, have a great Thanksgiving and don't eat too much turkey!

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Help support this blog. Any purchases made through our Amazon links help support this website with no cost to you.

Follow me on Forbes for some insights on the new music business.

You should follow me on Twitter and Facebook for daily news and updates on production and the music business.

Check out my Big Picture blog for discussion on common music, engineering and production tips and tricks.

9 Steps To Stop Annoying Your Twitter Followers

It's important that we observe proper online etiquette no matter what platform we're using in order to continue to engage fans, but it's especially true with Twitter. Here are 9 steps for better Twitter etiquette from the Twitter chapter of Social Media Promotion For Musicians.

"Twitter is a fairly simple medium, but there are certain unwritten rules that attempt to keep people from annoying one another. Despite this group etiquette, you’ll still no doubt run into situations that may make you want to scream, but keep in mind that it’s probably bugging others as well. Rest assured that sooner or later the offender gets the message and either mends his ways or leaves. Let’s take a look at what you should know.

• Don’t use all caps. One of the things that netizens universally hate is someone COMMUNICATING IN ALL CAPS. This is considered the equivalent of shouting, is more difficult to read, and just plain impolite.

• Don’t be rude. What’s rude in real life is rude on Twitter as well. The problem is that people are more easily offended online because they can’t see any facial expressions or body language, and as a result, what you consider to be a rather harmless tweet can kick up a firestorm. The way around this is to think through every tweet before you send it and stay away from any provocative language.

• Don’t use an affiliate link in a tweet. Links in a tweet are a good thing, but it’s bad form to include one that’s blatantly trying to sell something or make money.

• Don’t ask someone for a favor publicly. Just like doing it in a crowded room, it’s uncool. Better to ask in a private conversation. Use DM instead.

• Don’t auto-DM. It’s possible to set up an automatic direct message welcoming someone when they follow you. Save your time and money as this is considered bad form. If it’s not personal, an auto-DM can do more harm than good.

• Issue a high volume warning. If you’re going to be tweeting more than normal (like from a show, conference or event), tell your followers in advance. No one likes their Twitter feed to be controlled by one person.

• Don’t be negative. Nothing turns off followers faster than negative commentary. If you can’t say something nice and be positive, don’t say it at all.

• Don’t provide too much information. Twitter isn’t a place for details. There’s not enough room in the limited number of characters that you have, which means that you have to resort to more tweets, which puts you into the realm of over-tweeting. As with most things online, less is more.

• Pause between tweets. Another thing that makes people crazy is a big volley of tweets one after the other. Take a break before your next tweet. Give other people a chance to get their tweets seen as well.

Following these online etiquette rules will not only help you keep your followers, but will keep you in good Twitter standing. It’s just a little bit of courtesy, but well worth it."

You can read more from Social Media Promotion For Musicians and other books on the excerpts section of bobbyowsinski.com.

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Help support this blog. Any purchases made through our Amazon links help support this website with no cost to you.

Follow me on Forbes for some insights on the new music business.

You should follow me on Twitter and Facebook for daily news and updates on production and the music business.

Check out my Big Picture blog for discussion on common music, engineering and production tips and tricks.

The 20 Highest Paid Musicians In 2013

It's always interesting to see who are the most successful music celebrities of the moment. Frequently they're not who we think they are since the ones making the most money are necessarily the hottest at the moment. That's exactly what you'll see in this year's Forbes Highest Paid Musicians of 2013.

1. Madonna - $125 million
2. Lady Gaga - $80 million
3. Bon Jovi - $79 million
4. Toby Keith - $65 million
5. Coldplay - $64 million
6. Bruce Springsteen - $62 million
7. Justin Bieber - $58 million
8. Taylor Swift - $55 million
9. Elton John - $54 million
10. Beyonce/Kenny Chesney - $53 million (tie)
12. Diddy - $50 million
13. Paul McCartney - $47 million
14. Calvin Harris - $46 million
15. Jennifer Lopez - $45 million
16. Roger Waters - $44 million
17. Muse/Rihanna - $43 million
19. Jay-Z/One Direction - $42 million

Of course, these numbers and positions will surely change by the end of the year, but it's still fair to say that the 1% of the music business are still making a lot of money.

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Help support this blog. Any purchases made through our Amazon links help support this website with no cost to you.

You should follow me on Twitter and Facebook for daily news and updates on production and the music business.

Marketing Bob Dylan All Over Again

Bob Dylan - 1962

By now you’ve probably at least heard about the latest video to capture our collective online hearts - the first official video of Bob Dylan’s most famous song “Like A Rolling Stone.” The video has caused a sensation not only because it’s interactive, but mostly because it’s based around the concept of doing something we all do probably too much of; watching television. On this video, the viewer can change between different “channels” that represent a cross-section of what we have available today (16 in all), meaning news, reality, sports, game shows, a children’s cartoon and finally a vintage of live video from 1966 of Dylan and the The Hawks (later to become The Band) performing the song.

What’s disconcerting is that each of the television scenarios has the actors lip synching the song, but acting as they normally would on their prospective channels, so there’s a big disconnect between the song lyrics and how the actors are saying it. The interactive part where the user can change the channel is a tribute to technology as the each channel stays in perfect sync regardless of where during the song the channel change is made.

Forget the phenomena of the video for a moment and think about the marketing that the video represents. As brilliant of an artist as Dylan is, he peaked a long time ago and has been mostly irrelevant for at least a few decades. That’s no knock on him, as the same thing happens to all but a few artists. Sometimes it’s the market that dictates it, while other times it’s the artist him or herself that pulls away as the ability to enjoy the fruits of one’s success grows. Either way, the man doesn’t have to push himself anymore as he’s earned his freedom to do whatever he desires.

That’s exactly why I don’t believe that he’s the driving factor behind this video, but that fact is almost irrelevant. There’s some brilliant marketing that we’re witnessing.

First of all, the video revives a hit from 1965. Think about that for a moment. This isn’t a remake or a duet with a new hot artist, it’s the original song, which as great as it is, is still 48 years old! Read more on Forbes.

Join the conversation and let me know how Bob Dylan impacted your life. Share a lesson learned from Dylan below, and please share this post if you know others who’s lives were touched by Dylan.

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Help support this blog. Any purchases made through our Amazon links help support this website with no cost to you.

You should follow me on Twitter and Facebook for daily news and updates on production and the music business.

Check out my Big Picture blog for discussion on common music, engineering and production tips and tricks.