Music Marketing

6 Marketing Insights From Topspin CEO Ian Rogers

image from www.crunchbase.comTopspin CEO Ian Rogers posted an overview of the keynote he delivered at NMS. While the entire post is worth the read, even the slides are full of music marketing insights. This is a look as Rogers' step-by-step guide to creating an online sales plan that works. Best of all, these insights can applied to artists in all stages of their careers. Here's how to market music online:

The Business of Music:

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1. Awareness

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2. Create Fan Connections

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3. Communicate

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4. Offer Things of Value

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5. Turn Fans Into Customers

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6. Optimize

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Plan Review:

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Read his full post here. More on the new Topspin Open Client.

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9 Comments

  1. An excellent and concise presentation of the key items to focus on as part of a band’s overall marketing and business strategy.
    The only thing I would add would be a loop back to the beginning to “Repeat”.

  2. Personally I understand and agree with all of the above, but 2,500 fans? That seems like a difficult and hard number to reach. Then it almost seems like anything you do doesn’t matter unless you have an audience this size. Is this even possible for unsigned artists without the backing of a label?
    Free album download at http://www.facebook.com/chancius

  3. Yes, I agree and that’s part of the thinking that guided it. There’s a difficulty in presenting the concept cleanly – you want to avoid it looking like Madden went nuts with the telestrator.
    “Awareness” is the high-value grab initially. After that, once you establish a connection (be it FB posts, twitter follows, an email, etc), your communication is in the Connection/Communication segment of the funnel, which ideally is an ongoing discussion and relationship with your fans. Ideally you’re occasionally bouncing fans down to conversion (be it to retweet something, purchase a track, download, etc) and then keep them back in the Connection/Communication zone. If a fan feels like they’re at arm’s length, you may see them drop off, etc in which case you’re fighting the battle to re-acquire their interest. Not good.
    There’s a tendency to acquire and forget – or pretend to communicate without actually communicating (we’ve all seen it). IMO this is one of the most crucial phases of actually building a connection with your fans, and one that is probably the hardest to execute successfully. Provide some interesting, unique info – unvarnished thoughts, casual conversation, etc, and pepper it with occasional BIG STUFF and you’re actually building a relationship. Just blast anonymous links to a blog or the same announcement in email/fb/twitter pointing to a website with no conversation and that connection is harder to keep vital.

  4. It’s just economics, man. 2,500 is very, very low and attainable. And, necessary for profitable and successful returns from your music promotion work.
    Obviously, yes, it’s completely possible and it happens all the time and Hypebot has been covering those success stories for years now. Where you been?

  5. One of the challenges with trying to generate more money by selling high end packages to some fans is the potential for creating a VIP elite. In reality, those who spend a lot of money for music-related items aren’t necessarily rich, but I can see some issues arising if those who spend money are treated differently than those who don’t have money. On the other hand, those who are paying do deserve to get something for their money.
    Here’s something to ponder:
    http://hyperallergic.com/18910/orgy-of-the-rich-protest-sothebys/

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