Bob Baker's The Buzz Factor

In case you missed them, be sure to take a listen to the last two installments of my Artist Empowerment Radio Podcast.

With this episode, I give you "Marketing Lessons From an 8-Year-Old Girl" and one very important Do and Don't regarding self-promotion.

And go here to find out why you need to stop making excuses or waiting for your musical situation to be perfect. There's only one way and one right time to get busy pursuing your goals. Hint: It ain't tomorrow!

You can also listen using this nifty Flash player:



-Bob

The best way to dive into this topic is to share one of the action steps I recommend in my soon-to-be-published book, Guerrilla Music Marketing, Encore Edition:

Get exposure as an expert beyond your site. While you're posting all of your valuable reviews, links and commentary on your own site, don't stop there. Offer some of your resources to other webmasters, newsletter editors, bloggers and podcasters. Exposure through these other outlets will bring more traffic your way and help establish you as someone who knows his or her stuff.

Also, put together a directory or list of top items in your genre, such as "The Top 10 Cool Jazz Albums of All Time" or "Six Reasons Classical Music Is Good for Your Brain." Make it available as a PDF download from your site and print out copies to hand out at live events. Of course, this list will credit you as the author with a reference to your band and web site.

If I had known about Brent Hoodenpyle & The Loners sooner, I would have included a reference to Brent's brilliant Alt Country Survival Guide. It's described on his site this way:

This is the home of the Alt Country Survival Guide, the ebook filled with hundreds of links to the best alt country sites on the web. It also includes the bonus ebook "How to Turn Your Computer into an Alt Country Tivo That Automatically Delivers Music, Programming, and Interviews That YOU Want to Hear -- To Your Desktop 24/7!"

And this is what David Hooper had to say about the Guide on his Music Business Marketing blog:

Brent wanted to have something to send to people on his mailing list as thanks for their support over the past year, so he created the "Alt Country Survival Guide." To expand his reach, he extended the offer to other bands and let them brand versions of the guide for their lists.

The result was not only increased loyalty from his current subscribers; he also made a ton of new fans and great connections with other musicians who can help him out in other ways.

Now that is smart viral music marketing!

-Bob

Here are four web sites that, for various reasons, are worth taking a look at:

Independent Online Distribution Alliance
www.iodalliance.com

According to one news report, digital music sales tripled in 2005 to $1.1 billion. One company taping into that growth is the Independent Online Distribution Alliance (IODA), which distributes thousands of releases from independent labels to digital music outlets around the world.

Tunetrader
www.tunetrader.com

This service helps indie music creators connect with music supervisors, creative directors and producers -- people who work in film, television and radio who are looking for independent music to use in projects and productions.

Downhill Battle
www.downhillbattle.org

This non-profit organization works to support participatory culture and build a fairer music industry. Its mission is to explain how the majors really work, develop software to make filesharing stronger, rally public support for a legal P2P compensation system, and connect independent music scenes with the free culture movement.

Check out Downhill Battle's six reasons to get rid of the major record labels.

Pandora
www.pandora.com

At this cool site you can enter a favorite artist name or song title and get a list of similar-sounding artists. Not sure how accurate it is, but it's fun to play with.

-Bob

Elvis Costello described her music this way: "If Kitty Wells made 'Rubber Soul' it would sound like Laura Cantrell." Great endorsement.

Last fall, Cantrell was interviewed in an unlikely media source: Psychology Today magazine. Here's how she answered the question "What drives you to succeed?" ...

A few years ago, I remember playing music at home by myself on the weekend and thinking, "Why not try getting on Grand Ole Opry? How hard could it really be?" Maybe that's a blend of naivete and hopefulness and some faith in yourself. I feel that I haven't had any drive beyond the "it's worth a shot" impulse, but that impulse has been very strong for me, even when success seemed pretty unlikely.

There's a lesson for us all here. Success doesn't only come to those who doggedly pursue a music career and bulldoze through every obstacle with the pit bull enthusiasm of an infomercial announcer.

Sometimes, all it takes is three simple qualities:

1. Naivete -- not being aware of all the hardships that others so easily buy into.
   
   
2. Hopefulness -- an optimistic attitude toward what's possible.
   
   
3. Some faith in yourself -- knowing that success does come to certain new artists; why not you?

-Bob