Submitted by novamusic on Fri, 2008-07-11 18:47.
Category: Editorial
So you want more plays and sales on Project Opus? I hate to be the bearer of bad news, especially now that summer is kicking in, but for musicians to see the real benefit of Project Opus – work is required.
I'll try to keep this as straightforward as possible and if you want further information about indie music marketing please see this mini-reference book.
I usually tell people to go for a walk in their downtown entertainment district to get an idea of the competitiveness of the music industry. On this walk, pretend you are not a musician or don't work in the music business. On the first pass walk like you are going somewhere, don't look around unless something catches your eye. Pretend you are late for a meeting. At the end of a few blocks try to remember what music marketing you remember. Not much, eh? Now take the same walk in reverse and this time look for music marketing. It's everywhere – fliers, stickers, posters, billboards – all the way from indie to major artists. Now combine this with all the other advertising in the world – everything from diapers to vacation deals. Trust me – it's like waking up and realizing you are in the Matrix. The average person doesn't actually see advertising anymore – in order to cope we actually filter it out. So, the indie band down the street is not your competition – the entire world of advertising is your competition.
Don't be afraid – you will soon learn how to dodge bullets. I am not telling you this to depress you – more to let you know what you have to consider when marketing your music on any level. You have to reach through the massive amounts of advertising that already exists on the internet and in real life. The internet is the cheapest way to be prolific and Project Opus has great tools to help you, but as with all music discovery websites, it is up to you to direct traffic towards your music. As your popularity grows on those sites, your profile will become more popular on its own.
Here is a basic strategy everyone should use:
Step 1 Upload your music and customize it.
Look like a pro – put up good photos, not ones taken with your webcam. Write up a bio and make sure it contains some info that is truly interesting – your bio is your opportunity to tell us something neat about you.
Customize your player. Under the Edit Music tab there is a section call Opus Players. Using the dimensions they specify, create an image that fits. If you know a little graphic design that helps, but if you don't, simply get a really good band photo and crop it to fit those dimensions. Use this opportunity to make this player your own.
Step 2 Strategize.
A good strategy is to make one page on the net your home page and then have your links bounce from there. I either prefer the official website or myspace. If you are your own web programmer or have one on the speed dial then opt for the official space. If you don't, then use your myspace. In this way, you can market one site and build traffic on all your sites. For example, on a flier you could have "Go to www.myspace.com/dnahq for a free download!" then put a big bold link to your Project Opus site and redirect your fans to that page to get your free download.
This is an example of a flier we have been using for DNA6, we have been using the PO mainpage link, as well as our website links ...
This generic flier is something all bands should have. Print lots of them and give them away at shows, on the street, put them in coffee shops, etc. Get someone to go through audiences at festivals, etc and give fliers away. Or, make the front a cool sticker and the back has all your info on it. Whatever you can afford.
Step 3 Link-back.
Now start placing your music all over the web. On the Home tab, you will see your music player to the right of your bio. Click on "Embed this collection" on the bottom of the player and it will take you to the embed code. Copy and paste the embed code into your myspace or website.
Submitted by David on Thu, 2008-07-10 10:23.
Take that, conventional music video-making wisdom! Radiohead don't have time for your petty, archaic devices, such as, um, the camera. Indeed, they've gone and made a new music video for In Rainbows' woozy "House of Cards" that doesn't make use of a camera at all!
Nope, the "Cards" clip instead utilizes two state-of-the-art fancy-pants hyperoptic-mumbo-jumbo-something-or-other multimedia technologies known as Geometric Informatics and Velodyne Lidar. Um, press release, a little help please?
Ah, here we go: "The Geometric Informatics scanning system employs structured light to capture detailed 3D images at close proximity, and was used to render the performances of Radiohead's Thom Yorke, the female lead, and several partygoers. The Velodyne Lidar system uses multiple lasers to capture large environments in 3D, in this case 64 lasers rotating and shooting in a 360 degree radius 900 times per minute, capturing all of the exterior scenes and wide party shots." Well shucks, ain't that somethin'?
The James Frost-directed video hasn't gone live quite yet, but when it does, you'll find it by clicking here. Until then, feast your eyes on some more stills presumably from the clip that Radiohead posted on Dead Air Space late last month.
Thus spake Thom Yorke in the press release: "I always like the idea of using technology in a way that it wasn't meant to be used, the struggle to get your head round what you can do with it. I liked the idea of making a video of human beings and real life and time without using any cameras, just lasers, so there are just mathematical points-- and how strangely emotional it ended up being."
Finally, much like they butchered "Nude" into convenient little iTunes pieces for your remixing pleasure, Radiohead will be sharing data used in the creation of their new video with fans, so that fans can do their own crazy, rave-y things with it. And good news for folks who think Velodyne Lidar sounds like a character in a fantasy novel: a documentary will soon surface showing just how all this fancy stuff was done.
The "House of Cards" clip and the accompanying fun are due to hit Google later today (July 10). UPDATE: The video launch has been pushed back to a later date, it seems.
Submitted by David on Thu, 2008-07-10 10:23.
With one of the finest names in all of festivaldom and a wide-ranging lineup of old favorites and fresh young upstarts, the Italia Wave Love Festival has plenty going for it. That it takes place right along the water in the lovely port city of Livorno, Italy certainly doesn't hurt matters.
This year's Italia Wave Love Festival goes down July 16-19, and among the many who've responded to its call are Gnarls Barkley, the Verve, the Raveonettes, Stereo Total, the Chemical Brothers, the Ting Tings, the Whip, Chrome Hoof, and Appaloosa.
Submitted by David on Thu, 2008-07-10 10:23.
Photo by Kristin Burns
Hey kids! Wanna sound just like your real-life guitar hero, Smashing Pumpkins leader Billy Corgan? Oh sure, you could stub that big toe pretty good, then make haste towards the microphone... or, er, you could head on down to wherever Fender instruments are sold and pick up one of the iconic guitar makers' new line of Billy Corgan Stratocaster guitars.
"Designed," as the press material would have us believe, "for maximum sound versatility"-- so that's why Mellon Collie was so long-- "the new Billy Corgan Stratocaster is an especially modern take on the iconic Fender Strat® model, built especially for a high-gain sound and designed to create Corgan's signature mid-'90s buzz saw tone."
Guitar tech geeks, rejoice: the Billy signature Strat sports "three DiMarzio pickups (two of which are custom-wound for the instrument), a string-through hard-tail bridge, jumbo frets, a satin nitrocellulose lacquer finish and a vintage tweed case." You can fondle Corgyboy's frets on one of two axes: the first, with "an Olympic White finish, with a black pickguard" and the other, "black finish with a white pickguard, reflective of Corgan's signature style." Yeah, he does like black and stuff.
Billy and company are still planning those big anniversary runs in NYC, L.A., and Chicago, though that's going down in August-- not, as first believed, in September. The first Chicago area date was just announced for August 9 at Hammond, Indiana's Horseshoe Casino.
The Gish shows, too, are on, though those have been moved back to 2009. The Gish box is still in the works, and the band wants your vintage Pumpkins photos. And there's also that DVD of their Fillmore run from last summer, but no further details have emerged since our last report. You guitar guys never can keep to a schedule, can you?
Submitted by David on Thu, 2008-06-26 12:05.
Reuters - Radiohead has released a live video album exclusively on iTunes to coincide with the band's run of U.K. outdoor concerts.
