Bob Baker's The Buzz Factor

Have you ever heard of the National Association for Campus Activities (NACA) or the Association for the Promotion of Campus Activities (APCA)?
These organizations have regional and national conferences in the U.S. where independent, unsigned musical acts of all kinds showcase in front of hundreds -- sometimes even thousands -- of college campus entertainment buyers.

If you do well at a NACA or APCA showcase, you can book dozens of college shows worth tens of thousands of dollars at one time.

But here's the thing ...

Many indie artists don't even know about this hidden market. And those who do are confused and intimidated by it.

Ari Nisman, president of Degy Entertainment, is one of the top college music booking agents in the U.S. He knows the opportunities and pitfalls of this hot market more intimately than practically anyone else on the planet.

In April, my pal John Taglieri sat down with Ari and grilled him for more than two and a half hours. During this exhaustive interview, Ari bared his soul and revealed all of his college booking secrets for the first time.

Read more about tapping the college music market here.

You don't want to miss this one!

-Bob


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Check out Guerrilla Music Marketing Handbook, the classic guide to indie music promotion. Now revised and updated, with four new chapters on Internet and Web 2.0 music marketing.


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Ready for more free advice from an independent music expert? Listen right now to the interview I did last night with Ariel Hyatt. During this conference call, Ariel discussed:

• Exactly what Web 2.0 is
  
  
• The top mistakes self-promoting artists make online
  
  
• Some great ways to build relationships on the Web
  
  
• The one surprising thing she did a few years ago that helped her triple her income

The entire 85-minute interview is free to download and share with as many people as you like. Our gift to you.

Download Part 1 here and Part 2 here.

This is the third in a series of free conference calls that preview the Indie Buzz Bootcamp music conference, which takes place June 20-22 in St. Louis, MO. Ariel and several other speakers (including Derek Sivers, Tom Jackson, Nancy Moran, John Taglieri, and yours truly) will be there to mentor you all weekend.

What are you waiting for?

Get all the details here: www.IndieBuzzBootcamp.com

Ariel Hyatt founded Ariel Publicity nearly 12 years ago. Her New York City-based company has publicized thousands of dates for touring bands, hosted hundreds of special events, and launched countless record release campaigns. An aggressive cheerleader for independent musicians, Ariel Publicity built its reputation by working primarily with indie artists.

In 2007 Ariel transformed her company into a 100% digital service called Cyber PR. The company gets bands exposure on podcasts, Internet radio stations, zines and blogs. Her staff matches artists to specific criteria based on genres (and locations for touring artists). Each campaign comes with an 8-week course on how artists can boost their own careers online and off.

-Bob

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This was one of the liveliest, most informative interviews I've ever conducted. Nancy and John, who had never met before, weaved their way through a ton of useful tips and advice for indie artists. It was fun, educational ... and inspiring!

But listen for yourself. The entire interview is free to download and share with as many people as you like. Our gift to you.

To download the file, place your cursor over the title below and right-click your mouse. Then select "save target as" or "save link as" to save it to your hard drive. Mac users: Control-click and select "Download link to disk." Note that the file is 20 megs.

Nancy Moran & John Taglieri Interview, Part 1
(MP3 file, 46 minutes, 10 megs)

Nancy Moran & John Taglieri Interview, Part 2
(MP3 file, 44 minutes, 10 megs)

You can also listen to Part 1 online now, without downloading, using this streaming audio player:


This is the 2nd in a series of free conference calls that preview the Indie Buzz Bootcamp music conference, which takes place June 20-22 in St. Louis, MO. Nancy, John and several other speakers (including Derek Sivers, Ariel Hyatt, Tom Jackson, and yours truly) will be there to mentor you all weekend.

Get full details at www.IndieBuzzBootcamp.com.

Nancy Moran is a Nashville-based singer/songwriter and co-owner of Azalea Music Group. She has released four solo albums, toured from Boston to Austin to Anchorage, and has received radio airplay on over 100 stations across the US and abroad, including XM Satellite Radio. One critic called her "a major creative force to be reckoned with" while another described her as "nothing short of a [modern-day] Joni Mitchell." She's a member of the rollicking ensemble The Four Bitchin' Babes and regularly coaches indie artists and speaks about music marketing, songwriting and creativity.

John Taglieri is one of the hardest working men in indie music. He's sold more than 12,000 CDs over the past several years, tours regularly, runs his own record label and publishing company, teaches, and more. John is the king of generating multiple streams of music income. He's the co-author of "How to Make a Living as a Full-Time Indie Musician" and has a music career work ethic like no one you've ever met. He's even landed sponsorships with Ovation, Marshall and Curt Mangan Strings. John will be an inspiring addition to the Bootcamp speaker lineup.

-Bob

Going the independent, do-it-yourself music route is in full swing, and it has been for years (even though there are plenty of latecomers still stuck in the old ways). But as with all new trends that shake up the system, new systems often emerge to accommodate the new thing. Which some people fear turns the new path into something that looks a lot like the old system.

Confused? Well, here's what Nathan Lilly, singer-guitarist of the Milwaukee, Wis.-based band Call Me Lightning told ReadExpress.com:

"There's definitely a real change in indie music going on and it can be discouraging. There's a system you have to fight against now that resembles the mainstream music industry more than punk rock at this point. It's a little bit more highly organized now — people have streamlined indie-rock and punk touring."

That is, it's harder to go out and do the classic D.I.Y. thing.

"We've always booked ourselves and that can be difficult these days for sure," lamented Lilly. "I'm perfectly capable of booking a show at a small venue where I know the people, but at this point you need people with some credibility larger than your own to get any shows.

"There's always good with the bad," he admitted. "The independent music press, 'zines -- it's really just highly developed and really well organized, which is good. I guess. But there's kind of this much more stable hierarchy in place as far as independent music goes."

What do you think?

Have you encountered new "systems" as you pursue your music career independently? Are you being shut out of supposedly "indie friendly" venues, web sites, blogs, podcasts, etc., because of a new indie pecking order?

OR ... are these just excuses from people who want quick fixes and aren't willing to do the work and put in the time to be creative and slowly build credibility and buzz?

Feel free to click the comments link below and post your thoughts.

-Bob


Register now and get discounted tickets!

Want to create a music buzz online? Check out my special report 70 Ways to Promote and Sell Your Music on the Internet.


Did you enjoy this blog post? Subscribe now and get all of my newest ideas delivered by email or RSS feed. Learn how here.

The conversation lasted a full hour and 25 minutes, and it was a good one. It was a rare chance to get into the mind of someone who has forever changed the independent music landscape.

We talked about how much the music business has evolved over the decade that CD Baby has been in existence (the site celebrated its 10-year anniversary in March). And we delved into how artists can stand out from the crowd with or without money, and why this continues to be an incredible era of opportunity for indie music acts.

The entire audio is free to download and share with as many people as you like. Our gift to you.

To download the file, place your cursor over the title below and right-click your mouse. Then select "save target as" or "save link as" to save it to your hard drive. Mac users: Control-click and select "Download link to disk." Note that the file is 20 megs.

Derek Sivers Interview (MP3 file, 20 megs)

You can also just listen online now, without downloading, using this streaming audio player:


This is the first in a series of free conference calls that preview the Indie Buzz Bootcamp music conference, which takes place June 20-22 in St. Louis, MO. Derek and several other speakers (including Ariel Hyatt, Tom Jackson, Nancy Moran, John Taglieri and yours truly) will be there all weekend.

Get full details at www.IndieBuzzBootcamp.com.

-Bob

Check out Guerrilla Music Marketing Handbook, the classic guide to indie music promotion. Now revised and updated, with four new chapters on Internet and Web 2.0 music marketing.


Did you enjoy this blog post? Subscribe now and get all of my newest ideas delivered by email or RSS feed. Learn how here.

A new blog post by Bob Lefsetz echoes the direct "focus on fans" mantra I've been preaching for years. Here's an excerpt that addresses the age-old need artists have to "get the word out there":

"Realize the focus should not be on the media, but the fan. Just like the Internet rid the music business of the need to manufacture and ship, this same Net allows an act to forgo interacting with the media, to go straight to the fan. You must go straight to the fan."

Here's another gem I highly endorse:

"A Website is no longer just a repository of information, it's the front door to your fan club. You may be a musician, but second to that, you're running a club. You have to spread the word on your music, you have to create demand for your tour."

That's right. You're no longer simply an artist. You're also a community builder, a party planner, and a social director all rolled into one.

-Bob

P.S. I'm not suggested you should ignore the media. In fact, I'm doing a three-hour workshop on effective music publicity June 1 in LA. The real lesson here is that all your marketing efforts are for the sole purpose of attracting fans and building relationships with them.


Register now and get discounted tickets!

Check out Guerrilla Music Marketing Handbook, the classic guide to indie music promotion. Now revised and updated, with four new chapters on Internet and Web 2.0 music marketing.


Did you enjoy this blog post? Subscribe now and get all of my newest ideas delivered by email or RSS feed. Learn how here.

Been going kinda crazy since I rediscovered Twitter. Here's a sampling of my tweets from the last couple of days:

• Derek Sivers of CD Baby is my guest tonight on a free conference call. Should be a good one.
  
  
• StickersAndMore.com is giving away cool music merch packages at the June Bootcamp. Awesome! www.IndieBuzzBootcamp.com
  
  
• "People do business with people they know and like." From "Never Eat Alone" by Keith Ferrazzi, www.tinyurl.com/5u434q - great advice!
  
  
• Amazon just announced a new MP3 Clips Widget. Check out www.tinyurl.com/597uot
  
  
• Attended the St. Louis Publishers Assoc meeting tonight. David Strom talked about blogging basics and Web 2.0 101. Or is it Web 101 2.0?
  
  
• Just finished editing the transcript for a college campus music gig booking audio for indie musicians. Great info. Stay tuned.
  
  
• 5 people have signed up for my LA music "news hooks & story ideas" workshop. I just announced it yesterday! Details: www.tinyurl.com/2aax4s
  
  
• Question: What have you done for your fans today?
  
  
• @innergypsy has a great USP: "acoustic world beat pop music with a gypsy soul" - nice!
  
  
• Just blogged about my new insight on Twitter. Now I'm Twittering about my blog ... about Twitter. Hmm ...
  
  
• Listening to Norma MacDonald, a singer we met in Halifax last year. This girl is good! Check out www.myspace.com/normamacdonald
  
  
• Just got back from nametag guy Scott Ginsberg's after prepping for our Buzz & WOMM class at Pub U in LA May 29 - www.tinyurl.com/6mkvj6
  
  
• Thanks to @jmoonah for the "These Brands Build Community" article link. Great lessons for indie artists. www.tinyurl.com/6mgshf
  
  
• We met Ziggy cartoonist Tom Wilson Jr a couple months ago. Just posted the pic of @Pooki and me with him: www.tinyurl.com/65vx9l - way cool

I wonder if I can keep this up? Follow me at www.twitter.com/MrBuzzFactor

-Bob


Make the most of the world's biggest social networking web site with this great primer on MySpace Music Marketing. Available in paperback or ebook format. Get more details here.

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About a year ago I started a Twitter account. After poking around on it for a few months, last summer I published a blog post called "Smart Ways to Use Twitter for Music." I thought I got it. But I didn't ... until this past Saturday night.
You see, I didn't really enjoy much of what I read on Twitter. Quick posts like "Running late to catch a plane" or "The cat just threw up in my shoe" didn't intrigue me all that much. So I opted to take a practical approach: I used Twitter to link to my most recent blog posts, podcasts and video clips, to announce events, etc.

Nothing wrong with that. But I got distracted and didn't post very often (which is like being invisible compared to the active Twitterers who post something every hour or so). In fact, until this past weekend, my last Twitter post was from February. Why bother?

Then Saturday night Pooki and I had dinner with our friends Helena Bouchez, Jason Feehan and Randy Chertkow. (Jason and Randy are authors of the forthcoming book "Indie Band Survival Guide.") They opened my eyes to a new way of looking at Twitter.

Don't get me wrong, I still tire quickly of the quick mundane posts many people try to pass off as interesting details. But I began to look at it in a different way.

For one thing, most of the lame cat vomit posts I detested were from people I barely knew. But when I took a fresh look at Twitter and examined the tweets of people I knew and liked, I found myself saying things like, "Oh wow, Ariel's in Argentina" or "I didn't know Jason was thinking of moving to San Diego."

I was engaged in a way I hadn't been before. And as our friends explained to me Saturday, there's a sweet spot between being practical with your tweets (and in the extreme, over promoting) and simply dishing out useless personal drivel.

The really good Twitterers find that balance between business strategy and personal revelation. If you like and follow a certain artist or author or even the CEO of a cool company, you may want to know the person's take on business -- but you can form an even stronger bond when you get to know the person.

So, I'm going to take a stab at tweeting more often. I invite you to follow me. And I encourage you to start your own Twitter account. It's quick and easy.

Here's another cool thing: If you've been thinking about blogging but can't muster up the strength to write full paragraphs on a regular basis, Twitter is for you. Anyone can come up with 140 characters (one short sentence) without blinking.

Encourage your fans to follow you. Embed a Twitter widget on your site so non-Twitterers can track your activities. It's fun, it's addictive ... and it just might endear you to more fans.


Gotta run. I just found cat vomit in my shoe. And I don't even own a cat!

-Bob


Register now and get discounted tickets!

Want to create a music buzz online? Check out my special report 70 Ways to Promote and Sell Your Music on the Internet.


Did you enjoy this blog post? Subscribe now and get all of my newest ideas delivered by email or RSS feed. Learn how here.

Will you be in the Los Angeles, CA, area on Sunday, June 1?

I'm looking for 15 to 20 people who want to work directly with me to kick their music publicity into high gear. If you attend this intimate workshop -- the first I've ever done exactly like this -- I will help you craft a customized plan to reach more editors, music journalists, bloggers and podcasters.

Get all the details on this special page.

Many people don't know this, but for 10 years I published and served as managing editor of a music magazine in the Midwest. During that decade I was on the receiving end of every type of music news pitch you can imagine. Phone calls, emails, letters and live conversations with thousands of people who were seeking exposure in my magazine.

But here's the sad truth ...

Click here to read more.

-Bob

P.S. Seats are filling up and time is running out to attend the first Indie Buzz Bootcamp weekend music conference. Experience first-hand access to speakers such as Derek Sivers, Ariel Hyatt, Tom Jackson, yours truly and more. Get all the details here ... quickly!

Check out Guerrilla Music Marketing Handbook, the classic guide to indie music promotion. Now revised and updated, with four new chapters on Internet and Web 2.0 music marketing.

Did you enjoy this blog post? Subscribe now and get all of my newest ideas delivered by email or RSS feed. Learn how here.

More good news about the Indie Buzz Bootcamp music conference, coming June 20-22 to St. Louis, MO.

Our friend RyLee Madison, who is bringing her renowned "Behind the Song Cafe" to the Bootcamp during the Saturday night dinner, was able to recruit hit songwriter Wil Nance to join her.

Wil recently hit the top of the Billboard charts with his Brad Paisley hit "She's Everything." He also penned Paisley's song "Hard to Say Hello." Wil received a BMI award for "Round About Way," a #1 hit single for George Strait which appeared on a few Strait albums that racked up more than seven million sales and counting. He also received a BMI Award for his Joe Nichols single "Cool to Be a Fool."

In addition to performing as part of the "Behind the Song Cafe," Wil will hang around that weekend and be available for songwriting mentoring. I also hope to find a slot where he can present a bonus session on songwriting.

You may not aspire to be a country music songwriter, but no matter what career path you take with your music, you can always benefit from knowing how to write stronger songs that connect with your audience.

And this is on top of the already full schedule of events at the Indie Buzz Bootcamp.

Registrations for the June Bootcamp have really picked up in recent weeks, and I expect that trend to continue throughout May. So if you want to be one of the exclusive group of 150 who attends, there's no time like the present.

See the latest and register today at www.IndieBuzzBootcamp.com.

-Bob


Register now and get discounted tickets!

Want to create a music buzz online? Check out my special report 70 Ways to Promote and Sell Your Music on the Internet.

Did you enjoy this blog post? Subscribe now and get all of my newest ideas delivered by email or RSS feed. Learn how here.

What can Oprah Winfrey and Jerry Springer teach you about creating a powerful brand identity for your music and yourself as an artist? Watch my latest YouTube video and you be the judge.


This short video clip is from a recent workshop I gave at the CIA Summit in Franklin, TN. Amidst the jokes and fun I had with the crowd are some potent lessons on crafting an identity that cuts through the clutter.

-Bob


Register now and get discounted tickets!

Check out Guerrilla Music Marketing Handbook, the classic guide to indie music promotion. Now revised and updated, with four new chapters on Internet and Web 2.0 music marketing.

Did you enjoy this blog post? Subscribe now and get all of my newest ideas delivered by email or RSS feed. Learn how here.