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THE BUZZ FACTOR E-ZINEMusic marketing tips, promotion ideas and moreMarch 25, 2002
In This Issue:
Read the previous issue here: Current number of subscribers: 6,546 See the end of this message for Subscribe and Unsubscribe instructions. ============ Buzz Factor Sponsor ============
Three reasons OASIS CD DUPLICATION should top
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WELCOME! Rev up your music marketing engines. It's time for another dose of Buzz Factor tips and inspiration. I'm excited about this issue, because for the first time, I'm ready to talk about a new promotion technique I've had on the drawing board for months. Here's the deal: I'm looking for 101 indie music acts who are interested in reaching about 30,000 new music fans within the next six months. Interested? I won't take up space in this e-zine to spell it out. However, all the details can be found at this special page: bob-baker.com/buzz/30000.html Check it out now. With more than 6,500 subscribers, those 101 spots should fill up quickly. Deep Thoughts About Fame and Fortune Derek Sivers, of CDBaby.com fame, has a page on his site titled "The Philosophies of Fame." It's a rapid-fire, stream-of-conscious list that proves you don't have to follow the rules of grammar to get your points across. I don't agree with many of the "philosophies" on this list, but there are plenty of thought-provoking ideas here to get you thinking about your own approach to fame. Here is a sampling of what you'll find on the page:
Read the entire list at www.cdbaby.net/derek/gh.htm Have a great week! -Bob =========== Recommended Resources ===========
GUERRILLA MUSIC MARKETING POWER COURSE
MAKE MONEY AS BUZZ FACTOR AFFILIATE
THE ONLINE MUSIC PR HOT LIST ============= Quotes of the Week =============
"There are three kinds of people in the world. Those who
make things happen, those who watch things happen, and
those who wonder what the heck just happened."
"A picture may be worth a thousand words, but a bit of
advice from someone who has achieved a goal similar to
yours is worth a thousand pictures." ========== Bob's Buzz Tips of the Week ========== GET DIRECT ACCESS TO MUSIC JOURNALISTS It's not that hard to find music reviewers and writers online; you just have to know where to look. One place you might want to check out is SonicDetours.com -- a network of writers and publishers whose focus is underground and independent music. Together, their writings are featured in Sonic Detours Digest, a print e-zine filled with indie music interviews, articles, reviews and more. On the following web page you'll find a list of Sonic Detours reviewers currently accepting material, along with their submission guidelines. Many of them cater to music on the fringes (ambient, industrial, avant-garde). It should be worth taking a look at sonicdetours.com/reviews/guide.html A quick search on Google.com pulled up the following list of music journalists' personal web sites. Visit each one to determine if your music would be right for them:
James Wierzbicki
Aidin Vaziri
Linda Spencer
Andy Kaufmann
Jens Christensen DIGITAL MUSIC NETWORK FEEDBACK Last week I mentioned Amazon.com's Digital Music Network, which allows unsigned artists to offer digital music samples of their songs alongside major label acts. Marc Gunn of the Brobdingnagian Bards responded to my request for comments. "The DMN works great," he wrote. "Oddly, it doesn't seem very popular, but it should be. It's a great way to sell CDs. We sell a dozen CDs a month through amazon. And a large part of that is due to our MP3s that have topped the music download charts. Another interesting thing is that most of the major label acts offer their samples in Liquid Audio only." To find out more about the Digital Music Network, head to amazon.com/exec/obidos/subst/jungle/jungle-gateway.html Speaking of Marc Gunn, I couldn't help but notice the great signature file he used at the end of his e-mail. It was eerily similar to a technique I advocated in this e-zine a couple of months ago -- one I think more bands should use. Here it is (note the clever listing of URLs):
The Original Celtic Renaissance. Music of Ireland and Scotland. ========== Promote & Sell Your Music ==========
197 PROMOTION TIPS FOR INDIE MUSICIANS
SELL MORE CDs & MERCHANDISE ONLINE! ======== More Tips and Ideas You Can Use ======== TWO THUMBS UP FOR MUSIC SHARING You may be surprised to learn that Roger Ebert, the movie critic, has more to offer than just letting you know what he thinks about the latest Julie Roberts movie. Ebert writes a monthly column for "Yahoo Internet Life" in which he covers various aspects of living in the Digital Age. In his April 2002 column, Ebert condemns Universal Music's plans to use a new copy-protection scheme that excludes its discs from being played on Macs, DVD players and CD- compatible video game consoles. (Head to the link above to read the entire column.) Ebert writes, "It confuses fans with pirates. My guess is that no musician or band still actively engaged in trying to build an audience will want to come anywhere near it." He says that people grab music off the Net and download it to "find new bands and singers. They are spreading the word. "If the music industry ever finds a way to block the copying of music, the bands that are protected will be invisible to this most sincere form of promotion and publicity. Technically [these fans] are stealing, but in fact they are an instrumental part of the process by which a lot of real CDs get sold." Ebert sums up by saying, "We live in a time of buzz, when musical reputations are formed below the radar of the accountants of the music industry. The way to launch a new CD is to get it talked about -- not to insult potential fans by making it unplayable on their equipment even after they buy it legitimately." Two thumbs up for Roger Ebert! COOL WEB SURFING SHORTCUT Here's a great way to get to web sites faster using Internet Explorer. When heading to a web site that uses .com (which is most of them), just type in the root domain name (example: buzzfactor) into the browser's address field. Don't mess with "http" or "www" or the ".com" parts -- just type the root name. Then, while holding down the Ctrl key, hit Enter. Internet Explorer fills in the rest of the web address for you. (Remember, this only works with .com URLs.) ============= More Cool Resources =============
Guerrilla Music Marketing Handbook
Indie Music Contact Bible
How to Promote Your Music on the Internet
How to Make $100,000 a Year in the Music Business
MusicMarketingBooks.com
Creating Musical Wealth
SPREAD IT AROUND Can you think of two or three indie music people who would benefit from Buzz Factor tips? Forward this issue to them. Encourage them to subscribe. It's easy ... and it's free!
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REPRINT PERMISSION "Reprinted from Bob Baker's The Buzz Factor, featuring free marketing and self-promotion ideas for songwriters, musicians and bands on a budget. Visit www.TheBuzzFactor.com for free details." (Note: This offer doesn't apply to my GetSigned.com columns. Those are exclusive articles.)
Free Stuff - PR Services - About Bob - Order Form THE BUZZ FACTOR is published by Bob Baker PO Box 43058, St. Louis, MO 63143 Phone: (314) 758-7578 - E-mail: info@thebuzzfactor.com
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