Using Social Media Marketing for Tour and Gig Promotion

July 16th, 2010

It’s time for tour! Just getting to this point takes a ton of work and doesn’t happen for every band on the planet. You’ve got some shows booked (hopefully) and maybe more on the way. You’ve got your merch ready to sling and of course your band is crazy-tight and ready to kill it. Now it’s time to gas up the van, head out and let the cards fall where they may. Right? Wrong. You’ve got more work to do.

It’s time for a little social media 101. You’ve got Likers, Followers, Friends and Fans that you want to follow every happening on the road. While they do, they’ll help spread the word about you through their networks. Why? Well, they like your music and want everyone to know about it. Or it’s because you’re a band on tour and everyone wants to do that, or at least be a voyeur to your shenanigans. So here are a few tips to help you keep them up to date and possibly get more people out to shows.

  1. Facebook
    If you don’t have a Page, make one. Maybe even swing by RootMusic and sign up for a free “band page” which ads some “band-centric” functions to Facebook Pages. Most importantly keep it updated and fresh. Talk to everyone who talks to you. Post photos and videos from tour on it constantly. Of course it helps if someone in the band has a iPhone, Blackberry or Android, but there’s a lot of down time on tour. Find yourself some internet and have at it with your laptop.

    Another simple idea is to make Events for every show and invite all your Likers to every show. Even if they don’t live that city, they may have friends that do and suggest your show to them. It’s all about the personal referral.

  2. Twitter
    If you don’t have a profile, get one. Then follow all of the people from your email list (you have one right?) and start tweeting and retweeting as much as you can. Try to stay consistently engaged. People want to know what you’re doing at all times. So much of touring is “hurry up and wait” so it’s a great time killer to just sit around, drink a beer and tweet away while waiting for sound check. Just make sure it’s some-what

  3. Tour Diary Blog
    I used to think this made sense but with Facebook and Twitter not so much anymore. Bands usually keep at it for a few days and then fall off. You can try if you like, but I’d stick more short-form communication that’s closer to real-time.

  4. Foursquare
    It’s new. It’s fresh. It’s all about checking at places and getting fake prizes. Yes, it does sound kind of lame but it can work for you. Create a profile that’s the name of your band. Next, when you’re at the venue or cool spot check-in at that location to see what other users are there, and then send them a friend request. The same goes for your shows. If the venue is set up as a “Place” and other Foursquare users have checked-in, they’ll show up in the application and you can send them a friend request. All the while be sure to check in at every place you stop. It doesn’t hurt to leave a “Tip” about your band or show at every venue you play. It’s just another way for people to find out about your band.

  5. Keep at it!
    One band that I see really on top of their social media is Freelance Whales. Personal tastes aside, they really do make an effort to update their fans on what’s happening, when/where they’re playing and creating good conversation. When they first started only a few people where paying attention, but they kept at it and it’s paid off. They’re able to really engage people on every stop on tour and get a lot of free publicity out of the deal.

I’m sure there are a ton of other ideas and if you have them, throw a comment on here. It’d be great to hear them. Don’t forget that a lot of this stuff you can do when you’re not on tour. You can even prime the pump pre-tour and hire someone like War Room PR to get things going. Remember, being in band is essentially a story you get to tell while it’s happening. Everyone loves a good story. Just keep pushing it out, keep it interesting and remember it’s all just one big conversation.

Posted in music business, old music marketing article, social media | No Comments »

Limited Risk Growth: Auckland Copying and Marketing Services

July 13th, 2010

Kurb offers marketing and promotions services from Auckland to New Zealand and online services to clients internationally - check out the www.kurb.co.nz website for bargain deals on cd and dvd copying, auckland copying, poster services, internet marketing specializing in  music and small business marketing, talent management, seo, ppc, online video production and promotion,  graphic and web design -. .

Can we just make some money without having to go into retail or hire anybody else right now?

You look at all those businesses with premises and employess and you figure they must be doing alright somehow. Somewhere is a dude who owns a whole lot of businesses and makes a tonne and doesn’t spend too much money on anything not covered by business expenses.

That’s how real entrepreneurs roll.

But maybe they don’t. Maybe huge rents and huge payrolls prevent them from actually doing the kind of stuff I’ve done and grown fast.

Their businesses are 4 times the size of mine, but they’re probably making the same as what I am, and they’re riding on the back of 20 years work. Sure when youre 50 you may as well have a big pile of money and sit on it, and work if you want to, especially if it keeps you from getting older faster than you want to.

Maybe I do better by staying small? Maybe I’m too impatient. Should I just focus on growth that doesn’t involve risk?

The main idea that came to mind first is of course my pirate entertainer business. How much less commitment would it involve to bring that up to the point I was performing every weekend?

It would bring me in probably a similar amount of profit as if I had an assistant or a leased space, but without the huge commitment. Except I have to do the work myself. But in this case the work is simply showing up for an hour once or twice a weekend.

I have a miscellaneous group of projects I’m working on that I just combine into one knowing whichever is the first to spark, will probably be the one that I expand to add to my auckland copying, dvd copying and general marketing services.

The first was the shop, which presents an opportunity to establish myself long term in retail and hospitality which will always see its ups and downs.

There was another idea I thought which is somewhat secret that was high profit and high risk. Risky mainly in that it wasn’t particularly savoury. It could effect my brand. Issues would be raised over exactly what parties knew they were taking part in - it wasn’t completely transparent. It’s hard to do fair and open business that way.

Then there’s the talent agency but that is in no way short term. But I guess I could be making more effort now to streamline the activities for the future and develop the real estate so to speak of the online property.

I guess really it’s about mixing it all up. Pirates. Djing. Talent. Online Video. Even my other high risk idea flirts around the edge, it’s about employing a broad strategy to develop these areas looking for the spark that shows demand, potential profit, a revolving business model that works.

You’ve got to look at where the profit is made and compare that to the effort required.

I can earn $150 - $200 a sale with pirates

I can earn $500-$600 a sale with the high risk venture

I could go all into building my sites up and make $100 a week that way

I could work on a DJ night and gigging more for $200 a gig

I could focus on making videos for clients that were quality, that I could spend $100-200 making and charge $300-$500 for. Once I was making more videos, I’d have a platform for the talent agency to begin working on.

So compare - what is the easiest, painless and most likely to happen soon?

Pirates? DJing? Doing videos and developing talent?

Is it 3 times easier to do this than organise and cover myself in executing the high risk strategy. Is it twice as hard as trying to live on ads?  No. Man can not live on ad revenue alone!

Well why can’t I do them all? Because I want to focus on a strategy to build. There’s only so far the pirates can go as the business model works. SO short term it’s pirates, but long term I want to expand the entertainment available.

I want to earn money as a musician or entertainer. I want to develop my video platform. I want to work with other talent and develop it. If ads add to the kitty there, then fine, splendid.

And I want to be aware of where the high risk strategy can be executed securely.

So on each side lies the shop, the secret high risk concept, and ads - these are all offshoots to be carried on my progressive effort.

But the centre of that effort has to revolve around where I can connect value to profit. That starts with pirates as the most obvious step, but it looks as if video development may come second in this race, beating out music earnings and talent earnings that really can’t be dictated.

I can still creep confidently into the online video marketing space offering production, marketing and promotion as a package, thu slaying the foundations for my end game: A fully functioning ad advertising agency with in house talent.

music promotion game

Tags: , , , , , , , ,
Posted in CD DVD Duplication, auckland services, printing, small business marketing, social media | No Comments »

Video For Auckland Gig / Event Promotion with Posters and Flyers

July 12th, 2010

Hi I’m Matt from Kurb!

Check out our deals on auckland posters - email kurbpromo@gmail.com // 027 684 8250

Kurb offers marketing and promotions services from Auckland to New Zealand and online services to clients internationally - check out the www.kurb.co.nz website for bargain deals on cd and dvd duplication, auckland printing, poster services, internet marketing specializing in  music and small business marketing, talent management, seo, ppc, online video production and promotion,  graphic and web design -. .

Hi I’m Matt Turner from Kurb and after 5 years of providing printing, design and distribution of posters and flyers, I can tell you it’s still the cheapest way there is to get awareness about your event or organisation out on the street in Auckland.

Kurb’s printing and placement deals around auckland are simply the cheapest on offer and are perfect if you don’t have a big budget for a street campaign, I know all about event promotion and why it’s so important to strike the right balance with your marketing budget.

The areas we mainly poster are areas where we’re experienced and know what to expect in terms of results. Our main areas we target are K rd, the Auckland University area, Symonds St, Ponsonby Rd, Grey Lynn, Kingsland, Mt Eden, and we can target other centres within Auckland City. I started putting posters up for gigs back in 2002 so I know the spots in this city inside and out. You don’t want to end up overpaying other companies for expensive placements that end up down a back alley in a neighbourhood unlikely to connect with whatever it is you’re promoting.

Now we are also prepared to consider postering other parts of Auckland, further out from the city but this usually includes an extra $50 travelling fee.

In terms of turnaround, we can often have posters going up within 48 hours of receiving your art, just remember thursdays and sundays are our main postering nights, and we don’t poster on a friday or saturday.

If you’re just looking for great printing deals we offer some of the cheapest printing deals in Auckland on shorter runs with a handy free delivery service – Some of those prices will be here on this page but don’t hesitate to look up our dedicated printing deals page at www.aucklandcopying.co.nz or just drop me a line at kurbpromo@gmail.com or call 027 684 8250

If you just need posters you’ve already had printed placed up, we have a set price of 60c per A3, 1.00 per A2 and 2.00 for an A1.

We also offer design services and can easily have a super professional poster design within 48 hours for you for just $80.

Also if you need us to supply photos of a sample of your placements, just add an extra $20. Don’t forget if you need some posters sent to a venue or to yourself – again absolutely free, just let us know.

Of course we combine deals with both posters and flyers - This is a good idea to have both posters on the street and smaller printed flyers placed in cafes and shops for more exposure. We can place these flyers for you, but we often recommend you do this yourself because you maybe more likely to know where the audience you’re targeting would frequent.

We are happy to place these for you at a price that works out around 10c p/flyer, so 500 flyers would be $50 to place.

If you are promoting an event we also offer short term online advertising campaigns targetting Auckland specifically which when combined with posters on the street, can dramatically increase your exposure while keeping costs under control – these commonly cost an additional $50 - $95 on top of your poster campaign to have targeted ads appear on Google and Facebook.

So if you’re on a budget and looking for exposure squarely targeted at Auckland for your event or organisation, you simply can’t go past the deals and experience offered here by us at kurb promo, so don’t hesitate to drop me a line at Kurbpromo@gmail.com or give me a call 027 684 8250 – I’m looking forward to get your poster and flyer campaign hitting the street at the price that can’t be beaten. Cheers


Tags: ,
Posted in auckland services, kurb announcements, printing, small business marketing | No Comments »

What’s Next for This Auckland Marketing and Promotions Business?

July 11th, 2010

Hi I’m Matt from Kurb!

Kurb offers marketing and promotions services from Auckland to New Zealand and online services to clients internationally - check out the www.kurb.co.nz website for bargain deals on cd and dvd duplication, auckland printing, poster services, internet marketing specializing in  music and small business marketing, talent management, seo, ppc, online video production and promotion,  graphic and web design -. .

So I’ve been working hard to get the website rehauled, get new videos done for the site, not because I want to generate new business so much, as I want to be sure we’re not missing out because the standard of presentation is poor, and a year can go by quick without this sort of diligent maintenance.

Things can turn ugly quick also if your not keeping the foundations of your business solid. Probably 80% of the money I make comes from half a dozen pages on the kurb promotions website, so thats what I’ve been focused on, and I’ve already beaten back the tax monster this year, so I’ve really covered a lot of lost ground.

So the big question is what comes next?

An assistant would allow me to expand my general marketing base, which would be a useful precursor to building an agency, as would increasing my flirtations with video to a full blown affair.

One idea I had was just maybe taking some time to get better at my writing, well not better, but rather than just pushing out sub standard material, actually try and write consistent articles that have some quality.

Thats when I though of the idea of focusing on just improving what I’m doing now.

Do I have to open a space? Do I have to hire a marketing assistant? Do I have to do these things right now because I can? I know that the auckland cd and dvd duplication and copyinging services that are my bread and butter wont be looking so good in 3 years from now, it’s better to start working towards new ideas now then getting caught short under a wave of diminishing returns.

I know I want to hire a markerting intern / PA, I know I have to open a shop, I know I have to establish a talent agency and then finally establish a advertising agency proper.

I know I want to expand my pirate entertainer business, and also use my skills to develop a way of making money from more creative stuff that I do.

But 3 years is a long time to cover a little bit of lost ground.

Right now I can’t help but think that I have the opportunity to wait and see, and prepare by paying attention to the details. My writing could be better. By playing around with video I’ll get better there, start evolving that into something more disciplined and organized, with a clearer picture of how to provide for people who want cheap video production.

I had several simpler ideas for lifting revenue which wouldn’t leave me so exposed. Maybe that’s what I should be looking at but it’s the commitment thats the problem - a leased space or a hired assistant forces me to be active and commited to pushing through to the next level.

But these are really just little things, which would be nice for making me more comfortable now, but long term they’re not big ideas that I can back and grow.

It will be hard committing to a new staff member, a new space, and new creative content efforts, but they can be pushed to break even and beyond, my other fringe ideas couldn’t really generate more than a few hundred dollars here and there without committing more - overcommitting really - to something that does have limited potential.

Hiring a marketing assistant or intern, getting a space to happen, getting more committed to making strong video content, they are not only big steps in themselves but they pave the way to the ultimate steps: starting a bona fide auckland marketing and advertising agency, and establishing a powerful creative brand as an artist that carries inherent value.

But then it turns around on itself and says, well do I need that money now? Do I need to do that now? 3 years is a long time.  slight increase in profits would be nice, but I don’t need a big boost to my income. What I need to be for my businesses sake is prepared.

……………………………………………………………..

Tired of convention. Desperate for more adventures, don’t want to wake up every day and do the same damn thing.

Want to do things, make things.

Wanna meet a girl that could make me stupid again . . .

Tags: , ,
Posted in auckland services, business journal, internet marketing, online video, printing, small business marketing, social media | No Comments »

The Music Business Money Trail

July 11th, 2010

Need more info or services on music marketing and music business management - check out out blog or contact Matt - kurbpromo@gmail.com

The Music Industry’s Funny Money

Still think a music career is an easy path to a blinged-out life? Don’t believe the hype. A whole lot of folks have to get paid before the musician does. The Root traces the money trail.

If you thought the life of most musicians was comparable to the blissful and blinged-out existences of Kanye and Rihanna, you’ve clearly not heard much about our ever-desiccating music industry. According to the latest Nielsen research, only 2.1 percent of the albums released in 2009 sold even 5,000 copies — that’s just 2,050 records out of nearly 100,000, and to fewer people than go to a small liberal arts college.

As if that weren’t bad enough, even the bands who do move units end up paying through the nose, mouth, eyes and ears for management, legal fees, producers and other expenses, leaving most of them scrounging to pay for record advances and, if they can afford it, health care.

From the outside, it often sounds fun to be in a band. But before picking up that guitar or microphone, take a look at where the money from a record goes.(Scroll down to continue)

SLRP: The suggested list retail price of a CD is currently $16.98, while the standard wholesale price — what retail stores pay the label per CD — is about $10. Once the retailer gets the CD, they can sell it for however much they’d like — hence “suggested.” Artist’s royalties are a percentage of the retail price. Superstars can get 20 percent of the SLRP, but most get 12 percent to 14 percent.

Packaging charge: 25 percent of the SLRP goes back to the record company immediately for what’s called a “packaging charge” — that’s the label literally charging the artist for the plastic case in which his or her CD is sold.

Free goods: In essence, “free goods” are a roundabout way for labels to discount records so stores will be more inclined to buy them. So rather than sell Best Buy 100,000 records at the regular wholesale price, the label will sell them 100,000 records for the price of 85,000. The artist is then paid for the 85,000 CDs, not the actual 100,000 sold to the retailer.

Reserves: Records, especially records by newer artists, are generally sold with the caveat that retailers can return to the label whatever copies they don’t sell for a full refund. Thus to ensure they don’t lose too much money on artists, record labels will sometimes pay artists for only 65,000 copies out of 100,000 copies, just in case 35,000 (25,000 if you consider the free ones) are returned. If the retailer ends up selling all their copies, the label will then pay the artist the balance owed, which can sometimes take years.

Distributor: Music distributors are entities designed to promote and distribute records. The major labels maintain in-house distributors, while most all indie labels use private distribution companies. For smaller bands’ records, the distributor can take as much as a 24 percent cut of the SLRP; bigger bands might only be charged 14.2 percent.

Songwriter/publisher: If an artist doesn’t write his or her own music, someone else has to. And someone who writes a song must first go through a music publisher, whose job it is to place that song with a recording artist who will agree to perform it. If an artist buys the song, the writer and publisher then receive 9.1 cents for every copy of the song sold, a sum they must then split.

Personal manager: This manager guides the career of the artist and gets about 15 percent of the artist’s gross earnings.

Business manager: This manager is the artist’s money man, making sure the musician repays his debts and invests his earnings wisely. A business manager charges 5 percent of an artist’s gross.

Lawyer: While it’s not always the case-many charge hourly-some artist’s lawyers charge 5 percent.

Tags:
Posted in music business, old music marketing article | No Comments »

Growing Into Real Auckland Marketing Agency Business

July 10th, 2010

Hi this is matt from kurb, we offer marketing services, including online marketing, online video marketing and more right here in Auckland New Zealand!

KURBPROMO@GMAIL.COM

We’re also looking for interns to join us in our rise to full fledged advertising agency status - if you have the artistic, creative or generally organised kind of skills to work with us get in touch!

I think there could be some good opportunities for me starting a proper online marketing agency in the future, bringing in serious clients for projects worth five figures or maybe more.

It’s about bringing together loose strands that I’m working on already.

If I’m already offering cheap video production;

If I’m already developing my talent agency;

And I already have online marketing systems and techniques in place

And I plan to get a space where presentations and meeting with clients can be hosted

I’ve pretty much got all the elements in place, it just comes down to my ability to play Don Draper and come up with concepts that will helpmy clients sell more stuff and bringing that to life through youtube, facebook, twitter etc.

It’s not just social media, it’s strong creative video, copy and art direction, which is then distributed through social media, seo, advertising online, video, and community management projects that capture attention, engage, receive permission and then sell, or otherwise, enhance the brand.

If I could collect $200,000 a year in contracts and pay one creative, artistic guy to do design and video, and pay another to be organised and look after the clients and the contractors, and do everything I would otherwise do, then I could pay them $50k each, and be the creative director guy who just gets paid 100k to do detailed pitches and run the show.

Of course as I said the talent agency would be in house.

But the reason I’m drawing attention to this is now, for the first time, I can make my own ads for kurb and start putting a lil creative pep into them so it might get to the point that these ads are not just advertising small business marketing but also video marketing and production and general management of online marketing, viral marketing, and iteractive social media management.

Because people will start to see them and they will wonder if I can put that sort of quality of work that is funny and interesting and well executed together for their campaigns.

For me, it might be that I’m just beginning a long journey of chipping away and extending my reputation, it make take years of making stupid videos before I start to get attention.

How much would I charge for such a campaign, including a website a series of funny videos, social media an advertising campaign, art development, all of that kind of thing?

That already sounds like a job that would $10,000. 4 funny videos, a blog, a facebook and twitter presence, design plus advertising . . . definitely $10,000. But I need to come up with a package that would cost $5000 which would probably just be a funny video and some extras.

But that’s the thing any idea would need development. I guess initially I’d charge $5,000 until we were doing 10 a year then, I could start putting my prices up, just like the music marketing services - wait until it reaches a point that I’m too busy and then raise the prices gradually.

Man I just realised I could provide music as well. Brilliant.

I think the idea is to use the same strategy I’ve used in building my promotions with kurb, starting with really stupidly low prices and big promises founded on a significant trial period practicing this stuff for myself, and then waiting for the market to react, obviously producing a little bit of friction as growth kicks in, but ultimately getting to a point where I can do 10 x $20,000 campaigns and

In fact I’m thinking my project with reality compound, if I did secure sponsorship, could cover one $50,000 campaign and then the next year I would turn around and ask for $100,000.

I’m liking this already, it may take me 5 years, but hey, 5 years ago I was just bumming around on myspace the whole time not really knowing what was up yet and had just done my first tour. 5 years is a long time to get this done.

And all it really means is making more money, but hey, thats okay. I’m sure I’ll find something to spend it on.

Tags: , , ,
Posted in auckland services, business journal, internet marketing, kurb announcements, online video, small business marketing | No Comments »

Musicians Using Email Lists To Build Fans

July 10th, 2010

Need more tips on how to develop your music marketing online? Check out out blog, and consider our service starting from $250 per month - email - kurbpromo@gmail.com

Your relationship with your fans has never been more important. They hold the money and are the ones that want to buy directly from you. They love your music and are whom you need to develop an intimate relationship with if you want your band’s career to grow. If used right Email and Email management is a powerful tool to make that fan relationship grow. Email can be used in a range of ways such as a personalized message to give them an update on your band or a call for action to buy something from you. We have put together what we believe are the 17 best ways to use Email to connect with and grow your fan base and sales.

1) Bands (and not management or interns) should always write their own emails to be authentic.

2) Noon Eastern time on Monday, Tuesday or Wednesday is the idea time to send broadcast Emails to your fans when people are at work across the US and Europe.

3) The ideal frequency of emails to fans is about every 2 to 4 weeks with updates on your tour, merch and music announcements.

4) Negotiate upfront if you leave from a record label that you keep your email list and you own it.

5) Give great deals on email offers for pre-orders, such as a $50 package for $25.

6) Don’t put links to iTunes and Amazon in your Emails. Fans want to buy direct from you so always link them directly to your home site.

7) In each Email make sure you have direct and separate links to buy merch, buy tour tickets and buy music. Don’t be afraid to have a big “Buy” button at the top of the Email.

8) Sell Email exclusive package offerings around holidays such as Christmas, Halloween, Cinco De Mayo, etc or just give some music away for free that day in exchange for an email.

9) Your fan Email lists are gold and building them up is huge! Collect emails and zip codes from your fans at shows or ask for them when giving away something for free like a download.

10) Pay someone to go around and collect emails and zip codes at your shows. It’s that important.

11) Ask your merch company for the emails and zip codes for the fans that bought your merch.

12) Send emails by zip code so you can target upcoming shows to promote them and ask them to come out. The best time to send a show announcement is 30 to 45 days before the show date. The ideal time to send an email reminder about an upcoming show in a particular town is 5 days before the show. Offer them something special like a $5 coupon off at your merch table. In the subject line put the name of that city such as “New Tour Date announced in Chicago”. This will personalize it and increase the overall open rate for that Email.

13) Don’t go overboard in graphics and special effects in your Email but make it look nice and spend some time designing it. Resize images in HTML as they download quicker.

14) Before you send out a fan Email send a test email to you and your band members Email to see how it looks and fix any issues before sending.

15) If you have only a fans Email and no zip code give something away for free such as a live show recording or free album download in exchange for it and tell them it will help you more effectively communicate with them in the future about tour dates or special appearances in their city. It’s the truth.

16) Don’t cut and paste blanket Emails to your fans. Be authentic even if it takes you longer as it will go so much further this way. They will tell a friend this band sent me a personal Email and viral marketing will begin. Split up the Emails and get everyone in the band involved.

17) Send an Email to fans in a particular city you just played and thank them for their support and have a local connection in your email to those fans and tell them what you did in or thought about their city besides your show.

Tags:
Posted in music business, old music marketing article | No Comments »

The Concert, Touring and Gig Promotion Business

July 10th, 2010

Check out Kurb’s Gig Promotion and Music Marketing Services

This from Lefsetz

“The major labels create a culture that isn’t based on music, but on celebrity.”

Wait a second, I’ve got another one almost as good!

“…if in 1994 you’d wanted to understand what our lives would be like right now, you’d still be better off reading a single copy of Wired magazine published in that year than all of the sceptical literature published ever since.”Clay Shirky in the “Guardian”: ‘Paywall will underperform – the numbers don’t add up’

And the reason I quote Mr. Shirky is because in the above article he says:

“Everyone’s waiting to see what will happen with the paywall — it’s the big question. But I think it will underperform. On a purely financial calculation, I don’t think the numbers add up.”

And the reason I quote this is because most of the “Wall Street Journal”’s articles are behind a paywall, and therefore the newspaper has little impact on societal discourse, especially regarding music. Mr. Shirky says that the Web has unlocked social desires in the populace that have heretofore been dormant, lacking an outlet. And now people are exchanging information, playing along, investing their time for free. Boiling it down, if you want to get paid first and foremost, you lock yourself out of the equation. Only by allowing your information to be freely traded are you relevant in today’s society.

I’ll make it very simple. Those deejays that are never featured in TMZ or PerezHilton, they make light years more money than all those acts that believe it’s about publicity.

It ain’t about publicity, but music. A great deejay can make $20 million a year. As for his expenses… Let’s see…there’s no U2 mega-stage, no flock of roadies, no buses, just a first class airline ticket and a laptop, maybe some turntables too.

The Electric Daisy Festival had more attendees than Coachella. Think about that. Electric Daisy got a fraction of the press. Sure, everybody there was on drugs, it was about being there as much as the music, then again, isn’t that EXACTLY what blew up music in the classic rock era? You had to go to the show!

Do you really have to go to the shed to see has-beens or rip-off artists while you overpay for parking, beer and…

The stars?

Only known by the audience. Like in the sixties. Your mother knows who GaGa is, but David Guetta? Deadmau5?

Remember when music wasn’t mainstream, but an alternative culture? That’s the electronic music scene.

Quote number 3:

“How do you inspire them to come?”

Read the article to see who said this, but it’s the essence of our future. You don’t inspire people to come by offering lawn tickets for ten bucks, certainly not by offering service fee holidays. Then you’ve got a business proposition, and as long as you’re in that mode, you’re destined to lose. Commentators constantly chide Apple for overpricing its products. But the public seems to have no problem paying premium prices for iPads and Macs. The Apple Store is a temple with low pressure salesmen that glide you through a purchasing process that leaves you elated.

How can we create music and gigs so enthralling that people can’t help but want to come? Oldsters lament the loss of marketing tools like MTV and the decline in power of radio. But if you’re looking backward, you’re missing the future. Success is about creating a scene, something that isn’t in your face, but draws you to it. Whether it be Bowie in the seventies or Deadmau5 today.

And I’m gonna let you in on a secret hiding in plain sight. Both Deadmau5 and David Guetta have deals with EMI. Sony, trumpeting their success with Susan Boyle? That’s an evanescent inspirational story, that’s not inspirational music. But these deejays, it’s not about fame, but what comes out of the speakers, the entire environment. Hell, it’s public knowledge that these two deejays are signed to Terra Firma’s company, but you’d be fascinated by the details of the deals…

Final quote:

“Sales aren’t an accurate measurement of popularity, he told me. ‘My fans are all computer literate. For every album I sell, it’s passed on to 30 other people.’”

Passability, not sales, that’s what’s important. Pay attention to BigChampagne, not SoundScan. How do you create something so good people want to steal it, need to turn others on to it, that’s the question you should be asking, not HOW DO I GET PAID!

As we can see by the electronic music scene, there’s plenty of money extant, you’ve just got to drill down and create irresistible music.

Furthermore, these electronic music festivals aren’t cheap, tickets are nearly a hundred bucks, but that’s no impediment if you’ve got to be there, if you’re trying to have the time of your life!



THIS FROM GAWKER - WHY PEOPLE AREN’T GOING TO CONCERTS

Ticket sales for all the concerts in the country combined has dropped to a new low, and many big-name acts are under-performing. How could this happen? Maybe because all the bands are old and no one wants to see them.Don’t feel too bad for the concert industry: They still grossed $965.5 million in the first half of 2010, although that’s down 17 percent from the same time last year. Some of the acts who didn’t do as well as expected might be to blame. Who are they? The Eagles (old), the Jonas Brothers (ancient in tween years), and the American Idol finalists (old the week after they were voted off). Some bands have canceled their tours like Limp Bizkit (old), the Go-Gos (old), and Christina Aguilera (washed up), and the Lilith Fair (old back in the ’90s) scaled back its scheduled dates. Do concert promoters know what decade they’re living in? Guess what, guys: the Flock of Seagulls/Men Without Hats double bill probably isn’t going to do big business either.

Some of the acts that made scads of money were Lady Gaga (still new and drawing record crowds), Taylor Swift (fresh out of the box), Justin Bieber (young, but approaching middle age in tween years), and James Taylor and Carole King (both youn—say what?!). OK, some nostalgia acts performed well, like the Taylor/King gang up (really, can your mother resist a good rendition of “I Feel the Earth Move”?), AC/DC, and Bon Jovi, but mostly the bands that tanked seem to be a bit stale.

Pollstar, the trade publication for the concert biz, says people “may be turned off by piggish top-tier prices, resentful of ticket add-on fees, and downright angry when they hear about discounted tickets after they have paid full price.” All true, but people will suffer through all that to see a band they really love. So maybe this isn’t “the economy” or horrible ticket monopolies engaged in price-gouging and just a batch of bad acts.

Tags: , , , , ,
Posted in music business, old music marketing article | No Comments »

Small Business Options For Growth and Expansion

July 7th, 2010

Hi I’m Matt from Kurb!

Kurb offers marketing and promotions services from Auckland to New Zealand and online services to clients internationally - check out the www.kurb.co.nz website for bargain deals on cd and dvd duplication, auckland printing, poster services, internet marketing specializing in  music and small business marketing, talent management, seo, ppc, online video production and promotion,  graphic and web design -. . .

you can contact me directly by email - kurbpromo@gmail.com or call me, Matt

I’m trying to balance lifestyle with growing my business, but growing business is such an enticing challenge.

Growth means having further to fall but it also means flying higher.

What are the steps to making the big picture happen?

It’s back to that argument assistant vs. shop. Space vs. Staff. With a shop, there’s more to gain, but the assistant is less risky.

If I had an assistant I could get much more marketing work running through, but they would have to cover web design, adwords set up, contacting odesk people in regards to twitter, youtube, facebook,myspace, doing the aweber email stuff, and most importantly, get stuff done when I couldn’t be bothered moving on it.

writing, photoshop, video skills also would be a bonus. But really, that stuff is all needed. Someone who could do all that would be worth $20 p/hour though.

How do you find this person?

“It’s minimum wage but you definitely actually get to learn stuff about real life online marketing and stuff”

It really underlines the value of finding top staff, and developing people to the point where they can allow you to grow your operation. And that finding good staff is as much an opportunity of finding a great space to grow your business activity.

In fact if I had a space it would be more appropriate for developing people who could come in and work, and those are the people who in 3 years time could be graduating to running my bar or my restaurant.

In a space it’s easy to say, well come here, into this working environment, and lets see how you work, and how you learn and pick things up. If they’re able to start dealing with outsourcers, and writing about artists and clients, and logging into social media and using it effectively, completing design jobs, doing website and email admin stuff.

Hey I could even get them managing my appearances gosh i didn’t think of that.

It really doesn’t matter who, or where or when as long as they can start doing jobs and getting paid.

What are the real choices? What if I don’t? Staying small means staying vulnerable if and when the cd dvd duplication runs dry, I need to make some money!

$1500 from production

$1000 from my agencies

$500 for performance

$1000 from retail and hospitality and cratch

Posted in CD DVD Duplication, auckland services, business journal, internet marketing, online video, printing, small business marketing, social media | No Comments »

Dreaming of Small Business Marketing Success

July 6th, 2010

Hi I’m Matt from Kurb!

Kurb offers marketing and promotions services from Auckland to New Zealand and online services to clients internationally - check out the www.kurb.co.nz website for bargain deals on cd and dvd duplication, auckland printing, poster services, internet marketing specializing in  music and small business marketing, talent management, seo, ppc, online video production and promotion,  graphic and web design -. . .

you can contact me directly by email - kurbpromo@gmail.com or call me, Matt 027 684 8250


Thought it might be time to go over some thoughts on kurb’s direction right now because I can sense the stormy weather is over and the business is wanting to grow again.

But do I want to grow it? Should you grow your business just because you can?

I have a lot of ideas at the moment to branch out and take my business to the next level. A retail operation, an extended talent agency and looking at the way I could take my skills on the road for sniper hit pay outs on high value offerings.

But I don’t really want to stress myself out. What is the point of building a business without enjoying it?

It’s important to make hay while the sun shines, but it’s also important to be realistic, how much hay do you need for when or even if that long winter ever comes? What if it doesn’t come?

That’s why I put forward ideas like a shop, a hospitality business, a talent agency and a proper ad agency because they might be fun and it doesn’t really matter if they don’t make huge money, however they do ask me sinking commitment into them so I should really be looking at the least commitment.


If we know with certainty where we want to go, and have equal clarity on where we are right now, we will figure out how to get there. As long as we have the beginning and the end, that will allow us to create a few “next steps” to keep us going.

A stream seems to meander meaninglessly; quiet, rushing, muddy, clear, looping back where it came from – it doesn’t seem to have any clear purpose to it. We see it this way because we’re focused on the process, which does seem random. But the purpose of the stream couldn’t clearer – to do whatever it has to do in order to get to the ocean. And the stream, with all it’s apparent randomness, is 100% successful – every time.

Do you know exactly where you’re going with your business? What does it look three years from now at maturity? What does your lifestyle look like then? What is the specific date you’ve picked to get there? Do you know with clarity where are you now – what are the gaps that need to be filled first?

Yeah okay so where will my business be? I’ll have a shop running all my physical stuff and a bar and/or restaurant, but I’ll probably still head up the agency side as a proper agency. I mean not just a talent agency but a marketing agency, which I would run with one assistant, and perhaps then one assistant for each part of the agency.

So right now it’s just like having a shop and an assistant. Those are nice goals. Maybe I should go for the assistant first.

Getting my talent agency and my shop underway, breaking in a new assistant - that should keep me occupied for the next 18 months and I’m sure I’ll know by then if I’m ready for a bar.

But the agency and assistant are not big commitments, firstly a shop would be and then a bar even more so. Finally, the flash of a real agency well I think that would be a natural progression - you got talent, video, online promotion, design all under one roof, so I will want to go into 5 figure campaigns.

But cheap ones. That’s how we’ll roll, we’ll take on the big boys by offering a humble yet superior service.

I’ll take Kurb to do for $20,000 half of what it would take you $100,000 to do.

They won’t get the best campaign, they’ll get the best value campaign, and soon enough I’ll collect 10 clients who want to spend $20,ooo a year, then pay people $50,000 to spend $100,000 to make it happen and I’ll put the last $50,000 in my pocket for being so clever.

Sounds Good.

$1500 from production

$1000 from my agency

$500 for performance

$1000 from retail and hospitality


Posted in CD DVD Duplication, auckland services, printing, small business marketing, social media | No Comments »

« Older Entries
Newer Entries »