Music Marketing Rant

Hey just posted a rant on music marketing over at Seamus.TV - click the link below to check it out:

Seamus Music Marketing

Seamus - Musician

I’ve just posted over at Seamus.TV - it’s a post called Seamus - Musician and it’s some thoughts on diluting your personal brand by using hyphenated jack-of-all-trades descriptions for what you do. It has been bugging me lately, and so I am going to change all of my branding to simply Seamus - musician (even though, yes, I can write, sell, this, that and the other).

Maybe not world changing stuff but hey worth checking out if you are currently calling yourself a musician-astronaut-music business consultant-dishwasher or whatever.

Loyalty Punchcards for Bands

I have been on holiday and I am now back and faced with a mountain of work so might not have time for posting much for a week or so but here’s two links worth reading:

http://diymusician.cdbaby.com/2010/06/promote-the-old-fashioned-way/

http://diymusician.cdbaby.com/2010/05/5-tips-to-make-your-youtube-videos-work-for-you/

I especially like the punchcard idea in the first link.

Hang the Gatekeepers! … and then what?

OK you might need to go watch Seamus.TV episode 5 to understand what that means.

Introducing Seamus.TV

Hey! I am happy to announce that I have decided on a name and concept for my new video blog - or vlog as “the kids” call it.

Seamus.TV - A Musician’s (Potentially Dubious) Guide to Giving it a Red Hot Go

I am pretty excited (and nervous) about this new project.

The reason I am starting another website is because I simply believe that those who get in now and start their own online TV shows will be in a good position to get some serious eyeballs and opportunities in the years to come.

So while what I have there now is pretty simple and the video and sound quality is totally shit, I will improve this over time and I am hoping it will grow into a really interesting source of inspiration for musicians all over the world.

The basic premise of the show is this:

• I have privately (sort of) come to the decision that I cannot really be happy doing anything else other than pursuing my music (doing the right thing by my health, my family and society aside that is).
• I have come to the conclusion that there is nothing sensible about “sensible”. What I mean by this is that by playing it safe all we achieve is mediocrity. I have been pounding my head against the desk for years now trying to come up with a “sensible” career option - but I cannot make it work despite ample raw talent - because I simply only have one love - music (and yes, writing, the two are inseparable to me).
• What this means is that I will never really achieve any great level of satisfaction and/or income doing anything but following my passion.
• So, while I will always make sure that I first meet my responsibilities to my family (which is pretty easy really), once the rent is paid all bets are off. “Sensible” can go fist; I am up for some Epic Shit. I don’t care if it IS a damn fool idea, I am chasing that beautiful, wonderful, music all the way to Zanadu.
• And I reckon there’s plenty of people out there, other musicians, who could use some support and inspiration to make the same crazy (smart) decision that I have made. I would LOVE to help somebody reignite their passion and put their musician hat back on in a big way. So while I get on with making and promoting my music, I will be documenting the process through Seamus.TV

So there you have it. Now all I gotta do is tell my wife - Ha!

Seriously, that is the theme of my next video post - announcing the above plan not to the world “out there” (that’s easy) but to the immediate world of my partner, family and friends.

THAT’s what I am a bit nervous about - not of failure or looking a like a mug (I’m used to that shit) - but of putting the above plan to those people in my life who know me, have seen me try all kinds of wacky schemes and who probably just wish I could be happy settling into a nice, sensible career.

But … Sensible? Stuff that up a dead duck’s arse!

I am pretty hopeful that the people closest to me will be cool about it. After all as my best mate Peter Owen said to me the other day (something like): “You and the normal world = square peg and round hole”.

Amen to that.

So go check out Seamus.TV and subscribe by email or RSS

First Seamus Video Blog Post

I have been wanting to do this for ages, but my Lizard Brain kept feeding me reasons why I should hold off till later.

Until today when I said “Screw it, let’s do it”.

This first post, completely spontaneous and unscripted, is a ramble touching on what this blog is about and where I see it going - essentially what it means to be a musician, how to get satisfaction as a musician (as I reckon 99% of us are frustrated) and ways to differentiate ourselves as musicians. I don’t actually answer these questions yet - but feel free to start up the convo!

I recorded the above video on my iPhone, same goes for this song below called “Never Gonna Be A DJ”:

Two-Step Music Success Hypothesis

Having completed the last rash of music work, getting the reckoning website and store up, recording my Anti-Christmas carol Friggin’ Christmas and then pushing it all ‘out there’ a bit online, I’ve been taking some time to read up and get some strategic ideas about what my next move in the cut-throat world of big money showbiz will be.

I have become convinced that there is more opportunity for artists now than there ever has been … BUT … it’s all up to the artist - i.e. you.

The following is my incomplete, two-step music success hypothesis. Incomplete as in there are surely more steps - hard work, persistence and people skills anyone?

By the way - I hypothesize because I neither want to preach what I cannot claim to practice nor do I want to blab on about things I’m “gonna do”. Theory is theory. It has a tenuous relationship with fact at best; might as well be honest about that.

First Step - Self-Empowerment

When I started out in music back in the early 90s, the best you could do was get an awesome thing happening, get as well known as possible locally and then hope you got picked up by a record company or a national booking agent or whatever. Sure, there were skills useful to making this happen (high-powered suction capacity being just one) but even if you were good-looking and available, it was kind of hard to sweet talk a record executive when there weren’t any within a 700 kilometer radius.

Now this has changed. I think a lot of musicians know this but, just in case you don’t - there is now nothing difficult about recording and distributing your music globally from your bedroom. It’s pretty much a given. The only thing stopping you is a lack of self-empowerment.

Even at my incredibly advanced age, I’m not that well-off that I don’t have to scramble to find the money to record, buy a better instrument or press a bunch of CDs, but if you scramble enthusiastically, you can usually find the dosh you need.

It also takes patience to learn how to market your music online, how to record your own music on your PC, do your own cover art  - or how to score a chick who can do your art for you - a specialty of mine - but you can learn new skills. All you gotta do is empower yourself to do it.

For some people this ain’t easy, but it is doable. If you live in the first world and you ain’t getting your art out there, then that’s because of YOUR failings not the screwed-up system. Turn of the video games and get off the pot - it’ll help.

The next trick is rising above the noise; getting noticed.

Second Step - Make Like Dog Balls (Stand Out)

Low Cost Recording and Worldwide Distribution Are Easy - Now What You Gonna Do?

I can’t remember if I am paraphrasing Seth Godin or Derek Sivers (aka God) but I am pretty sure both have commented that the real trick these days is not getting the music made and available, but marketing it in such a way so as it gets noticed, talked about, bought, borrowed, stolen, cared about.

There is a great line in a Pavement song that goes something like: “Songs mean a lot when songs are bought”, and terrible as it may seem to the sensitive amongst us, I am afraid it’s true. Whether people buy the songs literally on CD or online, or via concert tickets, or via a t-shirt doesn’t matter. Money is energy, when they trade money for your stuff it’s ‘cos it means a lot to them.

So How Do You Stand Out?

Well, it’s simple - Ha! - be remarkable. And this brings us back to self-empowerment.

If you empower yourself to make your music, to learn how to use all of the tools and resources available to us and to stand out and be unique, different, original, remarkable, amazing, commendable, outstanding, pass-on-able, memorable, wonderful, essential, must-see-able - and if you have all of your other hypothetical little ducks in a row - then you may do well.

This is my challenge as this new decade comes around.

It ’s probably yours too.

Good luck.