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Happy Social Media Day!

(#mashsmday #smday) "Today we acknowledge and celebrate the revolution of media becoming social," writes Vadim Lavrusik at Mashable. "A day that honors the technological and societal advancements that have allowed us to have a dialogue, to connect and to engage not only the creators of media, but perhaps more importantly, one another."

He writes, "It’s a day to celebrate the changes in media that have empowered us to stay connected to information in real time, the tools that have enabled us to communicate from miles apart, and the platforms that have given a voice to the voiceless and victims of protest injustice. It’s a revolution worth celebrating."

Today, Bruce and I at Hypebot, along with Mashable and many others, celebrate Social Media Day and we hope you’ll join us.  Here's an overview:

Voyno: Is Social Media Killing Your Band?

(# mashsmday #smday)

In the few short years since Social Media has invaded our lives many artists have been steamrolled into picking up the technology, but few have been trained in how to use SM.  Not that there is a huge difference between how an individual uses Twitter vs the way a band uses Twitter, but there is a difference.

Band SM means you must know how to interact on 2 levels. You must have an idea of what is appropriate for your social group (your fans) and what media (twitter, fbook, YouTube) will work for you. Blasting away on Twitter about anything and everything may work for you IF you're a singer songwriter whose already revealed much in your music.

Ryan Van Etten: "Social Media Is An Epic Win."

(# mashsmday #smday) Social media is frictionless communication. There are no roadblocks between me and the world and I love that. It makes the world feel smaller in that way, but at the same time bigger when I realize how much creative content is out there, and how quickly it can be amplified. It's an epic win for society because it empowers pawns and fosters synergy.

-Ryan Van Etten, Editor/Producer of VirtualMusic.tv

MTV Makes Ad Sales Deal With WMG

MTV Networks has just announced a deal to sell advertising for the Warner Music Group.

  MTV will sell ads around WMG music videos in the U.S. across MTV Music Group digital properties and mobile services, as well as on WMG artists sites and third-party affiliates. As part of the deal, WMG’s video views will now be counted as part of MTV Music Group’s presumably as part of an effort to raise click-thru numbers.

 The MTV is exactly the kind of partnership that WMG promised when publicly opted out of the VEVO video monetization latform embraced by the other three major label groups. Prior to this agreement most of WMG’s online ad sales functions were handled by Outrigger Media.

Is advertising - even on their own web sites - good for artists? 

Mike King: 5 Social Media and Online Marketing Tips

(# mashsmday #smday)

Mike King (@atomzooey), Director of Marketing at Berkleemusic and teacher of Online Music Marketing with Topspin, sent in this informative post:

1. Social media is a tool which amplifies existing efforts. These are not my words (I think it’s from Jeff Jarvis?), but it rings true to me.  Folks talk about the importance of access and context, but without engaging content (be it amazing music, video, contests, information, humor, or other) social media outlets won't do much for you in terms of marketing.

2. Data Analysis: Awareness, Engagement, Fan Acquisition, and Monetization. Back in the day, the best ways to measure the success of your marketing efforts was to look at your ship number and any press, radio or TV interest prior to release, and make some assumptions on how well your release will do when street date comes. 

Justin Boland: "We're All Just Numbers..."

(#mashsmday #smday) I want to thank Kyle Bylin for the opportunity to speak on this, because I add a dissonant note to the Social Media Day celebration.

See, I'm not the biggest fan.

The most important thing for artists to keep in mind about Social Media is that someone else owns it. Someone else makes money off it, someone else ultimately controls the content. So for artists, the goal is to get people off Social Media and onto your media. quickly and reliably.

Definitely, engage people, be sociable, leverage the internet -- but do all of that through your channels, your platforms.

Dan Schawbel: The Social Media Basics

(# mashsmday #smday) Although social media allows you to connect with fans, build an online street team, and sell more albums, email marketing converts more, so you should invest in it. Make sure you integrate all of your social accounts and that you have profiles on the top networks, including Facebook and Twitter. This way, your fans will be able to connect with you where they are active and engaging online.

Form alliances with other artists and cross-promote. This will help you build your own brand name, and grow your follower base.  Use Tubemogul.com to distribute your music video's to all the video sharing websites in just a few clicks. This distribution is free and will get your name out there. Offer a few songs for free on your site in exchange for a name and email address, so that you can build a list of potential CD buyers, and gain more visibility. -Dan Schawbel, author of Me 2.0 and the Personal Branding Blog.

Mike Volpe: How To Improve Your Online Presence

(# mashsmday #smday) Artists in the digital age have a big advantage, because so much of marketing and building brand today is based on publishing remarkable content, and that is what artists do professionally.  Artists should find a medium - blog, podcast, video, photos, images - and publish content online and build an audience for that content, which will them stimulate sales of your other products. 

One example would be Eugene Mirman, who is a comedian, and one of the funniest people on Twitter that I know.  Following him on Twitter makes you want to consume more of his other content (CDs, books, live shows).

Some other tips would be to grade your website using the free WebsiteGrader tool, and grade your Twitter profile using TwitterGrader - both of these tools will give you some advice on how to improve your online presence. - Mike Volpe, VP Inbound Marketing, HubSpot

Greg Rollett: Leverage Other People's Audiences

(# mashsmday #smday)

Social media gives everyone a voice, but not all voices are created equal. As an indie musician, you have to understand that some people have bigger, wider and more responsive audiences that you do.  

All the music marketing teachers, coaches and bloggers out here today (including me) tell everyone to create content, blog, blog, blog and connect with your fans.

Where this fails to work is when you do not have the audience to even watch your videos, read your blogs and check out your content, even if its dope content.

Refe Tuma: Cold Pitching & Social Media

(# mashsmday #smday)

Contrary to what some self-proclaimed social media gurus might suggest, social media is not well suited for direct sales and conversions. 

Social media allows you to find, engage with, and develop potential fans, customers and clients - not pitch them a product cold.

What does that mean for artists? Stop sending out tweets like "Buy our album!" or "Check out our merchandise!" or "Give us money for a new van!"

Instead, develop relationships first, drive them to your site and convert them into buyers or contributors there. People expect to spend money on websites, but trying to pitch them in a social media context will only leave a sour taste in their mouths.

-- Refe Tuma, author of Creative Deconstruction

Get Your Music On Blogs & The Joy Of Discovery

Over at our sister blog Music Think Tank, there are two new posts up.  One is from Chris Bracco, the digital marketing coordinator at Intrigue Music, LLC, on how to craft a killer pitch letter and get your music on blogs.  The other, from Esther O’Connor, owner of Redhead Records, is on  how the joy of discovery plays into marketing in the brave new media world.

From The Essay: "One possibility in my mind is to maximize the excitement in the sense of discovery. If you are marketing cleverly on the internet and a music lover (who is predisposed to like your music) ‘stumbles’ across you or your artist that sense of excitement is powerful stuff. Like finding treasure on a beach or seeing something of value glint among the grass, therein lies the basic human excitement of discovery."

LIVE: 600+ Social Networking Day Meetups Today

More Music Industry News: Verizon iPhones, Prince, YouTube Flash, Pandora, IMDb & More

• Report: Verizon wireless will start selling iPhones in January. (Bloomberg)
• The bext mobile battleground is music subscription services. (paidContent)
• Prince bypasses record stores again with German a magazine deal. More territories expected to follow. (Guardian)
• YouTube: Why the Flash era isn't over. (DeepTech)
• HMV full profits rise thanks not to music sales, but rather to the popularity of Blu-Ray DVD's. (Bloomberg)
• Stockholm based Aspiro has sold its music and tv mobile entertainment unit to Lobus Mobil. 
• MobiTV for the iPhone has surpassed one million downloads.
• An analog vs. digital audio smackdown. (Audiophiliac)
• A look at Pandora and founder Tim Westergren. (Fortune)
• Hip-Hop Doesn't Need Saviors (The Atlantic)
• College students continue to face penalties for sharing music files. (Poughkeepsie Journal, Inside Higher Ed)
• Go-to celebrity database IMDb goes social with IMDb Everywhere a series of integrated iPhone, iPad and Android apps, as well as, Facebook and Twitter integration.

Amazon.com Suffering Outages

(UPDATE 2)

4PM ET - America's largest online retailer and second largest online music store Amazon.com has been suffering sporadic outages much of this afternoon.

5:30PM ET - Troubles continue.

WED. AM -  After many hours. the outages appear to be over at Amazon.com and to have been limited to North America.  No details yet as to why there were problems.

Sonicbids Adds Execs From Monster.com & Yahoo

Fresh off its acquisition of ArtsitData, Sonicbids has expanded its executive team and board of directors. Former Monster.com CFO Martin Kelleher has been named Chief Operations and Financial Officer and former Yahoo product manager Nitzan Achsaf will step in as  VP of Product. ArtistData founder Brenden Mulligan had been named VP of Strategic Partnerships after last week's acquisition. 

Sonicbids has also appointed Jeff Taylor, the founder and former CEO of Monster.com, Giorgos Zacharia, the Chief Scientist at Kayak,  and Ted Werth, Founder, Chairman and CEO of PlumChoice.com to its Board of Directors.

Shinobi Ninja Release iPhone App, Bundled With EP

Remember those awesome side-scrolling beat 'em up video games like Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and Double Dragon?  I do.  Brooklyn's Shinobi Ninja has released an iPhone app called Shinobi Ninja Attacks! and bundled it with their new EP. In the game, instead of katanas and nunchucks, fans select a member of the group and use drumsticks and guitar to fight their way through a torrent of obstacles and hipsters on their way to rock a show at Club Babylon.

What's really neat about the Shinobi Ninja Attacks! app is that it rewards fans for playing.  As fans reach higher levels, there are two free music videos can be unlocked.  As well, using smartphone GPS capability to locate concertgoers who have installed the app; it rewards fans for making the real world journey to a show by delivering more free music and promotions over-the-air, onto their phone.

To me, this is another great example of CwF + RtB = $$$.

 (Check out their music after the jump.)

Interview: Chris DeLine of Culture Bully

Recently, I spoke with Chris DeLine, who is a writer and author of the music blog Culture Bully.  In this interview, Chris shares his perspective on a number of big ideas, ranging from late-bloomers to the Hold Steady to the ten-thousand hour rule to the work of economist David Galenson, and back again. 

In recent years, as the media hype cycle has accelerated, so too, has the creativity time-line for artists collapsed.  Put differently, the Internet has amplified the speed of word of mouth and music publications have interlocked themselves in never-ending competition to see who can champion an aspiring artist first. 

With a seemingly endless supply of new artists to advocate for, publications no longer need to worry as much about the merits of the subsequent albums by artists who have since lost their buzz.  In tandem, the acceleration of the hype cycle, the amount of space between, or “downtime” rather, that an artist can afford to take between releasing new creative works has shrunk, based not on the discretion of the artist but of the demands set forth by the changes in society. 

9 Things You Need To Know About The Internet

John Naughton, a professor of the public understanding of technology at the Open University, has published a brillant overview of everything you ever need to know about the internet in the Guardian.  In his essay, he goes over nine of the big ideas that are central to understanding this massive technological force:

1. Take the long view
2. The web isn't the net
3. Disruption is a feature, not a bug
4. Think ecology, not economics
5. Complexity is the new reality
6. The network is now the computer
7. The web is changing
8. Huxley and Orwell are the bookends...
9. Our I.P. regime is no longer fit for purpose

Microsoft's Bing Music Search: Coming Soon

Microsoft has been touting upgraded music and entertainment features for its Bing search engine over the last few days.  But at least when it comes to streaming music, Bing's music offering is "coming soon".

Test searches for a variety of our artists including Roger McGuinn and Solomon Burke yield some impressive results - until you hit the plat button. A nice looking Zune music player pops up quickly. But no music plays and a message read:

Coming soon 

Zune and Bing are working to bring you closer to the music you care about.

Please come back later.

MOG Expands To Roku, iPhone

Music streaming service MOG has expanded its reach with the a new deal to offer access via the popular Roku tv setup box and Apple's approval of its iPhone app. For $5 -$10 a month, Roku customers can access MOG's 7.5 million songs via their TV sound system or other connected device.  The iPhone app, which should debut in July, has been held up in Apple's app approval hell for more than a month.

MOG has many competitors and like the others, it hopes to be available anywhere a user might want to listen.  “Our goal, when we started MOG, was to deliver MOG everywhere people want to consume music,” said David Hyman, founder and CEO of MOG. “We started by bringing MOG to the PC in December, and then we introduced our mobile app. Now, via our partnership with Roku, the market leader in internet streaming media players, we’re bringing the best digital music experience to people’s living rooms.”

Hypebot Celebrates Social Media Day Tomorrow

A few weeks back, the social media blog Mashable announced that they are celebrating Social Media Day on June 30th. In accordance, we decided to do a little something special ourselves.  Tomorrow, we will be featuring some guest commentary from a few of social media's finest -along with some other voices that you'll be familiar with - on how artists should use social media.

Expect to hear from Refe Tuma of Creative Deconstruction, Mike Volpe of HubSpot, the guys behind The New RockStar Philosophy, and Mike King of Berkleemusic.com, among many others.  

INgrooves Continues International Expansion

Digital distributor and marketer INgrooves is continuing its international expansion with new distribution deals with several UK based label groups including San City High, Upside Records, Genepool, Prime Direct Distribution and Groove Groove Melody.  INgrooves also recently added U.S. indies Vagrant Records and Kirtland Records for international distribution.

This Week's iTunes Top 10

For the week ending June 28, 2010.

Top 10 Singles

1. "Love the Way You Lie," Eminem
2. "California Gurls (w/Snoop Dogg)," Katy Perry
3. "Airplanes (w/ Hayley Williams" B.o.B.
4. "Billionaire (w/ Bruno Mars)," Travie McCoy
5. "OMG (feat. will.i.am)," Usher
6. "Cooler Than Me," Mike Posner
7. "Ridin' Solo," Jason Derulo
8. "Not Afraid," Eminem
9. "Dynamite," Taio Cruz
10. "Find Your Love," Drake

Top 10 Albums

How To Submit Indie Music For The Grammys

(Updated) The Grammy Awards are easy targets for independent minded artists. But few would deny that it would feel pretty good to win of even be nominated for one; and submitting your music for consideration is easier than you think. The Recording Academy is welcoming all record labels/media companies to participate in the 53rd Annual Grammy Awards Online Entry Process.  The process will begin on July 7. In order to submit titles for consideration, you must be a registered media company.  It's free to register.

To register as a media company:

More Music Industry News: Dre On Leaks, mSpot, SanDisk, Marky Ramone, Friendly Music & More

UPDATED

• Dr. Dre 'Didn't Even Get A Chance To Finish' Leaked Song 'Under Pressure' -  The Doc laments online leak: 'It's just one of the things we have to deal with in the business today.' (MTV)
• mSpot launches a cloud based music locker for PC and smartphone play. (press release)
• 5 Free Ways To Find Local Concerts on Your Smartphone (Mashable)
• Branded Entertainment Set to Surge - Increased spending in the sector is expected to continue unabated. (AdWeek)
• SanDisk CEO Eli Harari proves he's no flash in the pan. (USA Today)
• Marky Ramone sues over $175,000 in unpaid royalties. (TMZ)
• Rumblefish's Friendly Music for YouTube videos has gone live. (TechCrunch)
• Swedish ISP Blocks The Pirate Bay Following Injunction - Last month one of three injunctions obtained by Hollywood lawyers required that Swedish ISP Black Internet must stop providing access to the world’s most famous BitTorrent site. The provider has just complied with the court order and in turn became the first in Sweden to cut their customers off from the site.(Torrentfreak) 
• R.I.P. - Original KISS manager Bill Aucoin.