hypebot

Apple Will Help You Create & Sell Multimedia Music Projects For The iPad

Guest post by Bob Baker of TheBuzzFactor.

Apple caused a stir some weeks ago when it launched iBooks Author, a new free app that indie authors and book publishers can use to create multimedia ebooks for the iPad. Another great thing about this development is that Apple is giving content creators a way to take the titles they produce with the new app and sell them (or give them away) in the iBooks Store.

What does this have to do with you and your music?

On Brands, Bands & The Commercial Concept Album

Guest post by Chris Borchert of kickshuffle.

Here’s an idea: I’m VP of Marketing for the Y___ Corporation and I want to make headlines with an advertising campaign. I have a boatload of cash, so I contact management for (insert Artist here) and propose the following offer: produce for me 10-12 previously unreleased songs for a new album. The Y___ Corporation will then release, one by one, 10-12 ad spots, each one featuring a different (insert Artist here)’s song, and the 10-12 songs will culminate in (insert Artist here)’s next official album release.

Karmin Goes From Covers On YouTube To Originals On Saturday Night Live

I've previously written about both Karmin and Walk Off The Earth using unique covers of popular songs to attract attention. Karmin has taken things to the next level with an appearance on Saturday Night Live featuring their original music and an album on the way.

Plus, Walk Off the Earth recieved over 50 million views for its music video cover of Gotye's "Somebody That I Used to Know."

Graphic Music Marketing: Fizzmatik's iBook, Wildlife Control's Video, Machine, dear's Vinyl

Three graphically appealing projects package music within creative presentations that have the added bonus of providing a marketing edge. Fizzmatik and Wildlife Control take DIY routes releasing albums as an animated iBook and creating interactive video respectively. Machine, dear's vinyl release of "Killing something that's already dead" is presented in a mesmerizing package that comes alive when opened.   

The Civil Wars On Piracy As Marketing

The Civil Wars have previously discussed marketing with free music and the importance of fans sharing the duo's music with their friends. However, I had not heard their take on piracy as a form of marketing prior to E.D. Kain's interview with The Civil Wars for Forbes. It's yet another example of the growing body of evidence that artists are finding ways to benefit from piracy when they approach it as another form of music sharing and discovery.

11 Top Ways To Create Compelling Music Video Content

This guest post is by Bob Baker and Kendra Wright of www.TheBuzzFactor.com

Every artist should be using online video as part of their promotional toolkit. That means you must set up a YouTube account (also known as a “channel”) if you haven’t done so already. And once in place, your channel must feature new videos on a regular basis.

Outsider Marketing & The Case Of Willis Earl Beal

Willis Earl Beal didn't set out to be an Internet celebrity. But he's in the process of becoming one, though the next few months label XL Recordings seem focused on making him an offline star as well. As someone who might be pigeonholed an outsider artist, I'm impressed by the insightful treatment of the music publications that are currently featuring this powerful young singer online.

An Inside Look At The DJ Shadow, SoundCloud Remix Competition

(UPDATED) Guest post by Michael Fiebach (@mfiebach), founder of Fame House & DJ Shadow's Digital Marketing Manager, who coordinated this collaborative remix competition with DJ Shadow and SoundCloud.

Following the success of the DJ Shadow Remix Project in 2009 / 2010, DJ Shadow set out to up the ante with a Remix Contest to help promote his newest album, “The Less You Know, The Better”. The first “DJ Shadow Remix Project” in 2009 / 2010 allowed remixers to take any DJ Shadow track and add their own creative twist to it. There were numerous highlights, among them NiT GRiT’s rendition of “Midnight in a Perfect World” and Awkard’s version of “Halfway Home”.

PledgeMusic's Benji Rogers On Going Beyond Fan Funding To Power Album Campaigns

PledgeMusic is a unique web service for indie musicians and labels that, in my opinion, faces a bit of an identity crisis. When I recently spoke with founder Benji Rogers, he maintained that they are not a fan funding company, though most musicians perceive them as one. I am sympathetic. Yet given that fan funding is a key tool in PledgeMusic's album campaigns, the problem is not in being mislabeled; but rather that there isn't an easy label that encompasses all that they actually offer.

Rock Star Marketing: M.I.A. Flips the Bird, Tenacious D Rizes, Flaming Lips Sing with Siri

M.I.A.'s recent 5 second assault on the sensibility of America reminds us that no one can market music like a rock star. As overblown as the Super Bowl middle finger coverage has been, it's just one recent example of interesting marketing efforts from notable musicians including Tenacious D, who teased his upcoming album with a SoundCloud-powered splash page, and The Flaming Lips, who featured vocals by Siri in a recently released track.

New Music Marketing Opportunities On Tumblr, Instagram & Chill

Being an early adopter has its pluses and minuses. You can get wrapped up in chasing every new thing and lose site of your overall goal. But if you're already involved with a service or platform, new developments can give your music marketing a fresh look. For example, Tumblr is now offering highlighted posts for a buck and Jux has introduced a photoblog option for Instagram pics. Chill is also trying something new with a pivot from being a group video viewing service to becoming a video sharing site.

Music Marketing With Facebook Timeline Covers & Movie Maker

The introduction of Facebook's Timeline opens up new possibilities for music marketing that will become even more significant as it is extended to Pages. Though most bands and many individual musicians are currently left out, marketing opportunities include offering fans band-focused Timeline Covers for individual accounts via a Fan Page. The related introduction of Movie Maker, which takes highlights of your Timeline and turns it into a short video, also opens up new possibilities.

Music Industry Insiders On The Creation Of Lana Del Rey

The debut of Lana Del Rey's "Born To Die" at #1 on many nation's iTunes charts confirms her successful adoption by the mainstream. Yet many still focus on a variety of claims regarding how she came to be and who influenced her transformation from Lizzy Grant to Lana Del Rey. In recent weeks multiple insiders have come forward to share their accounts of the creation of Lana Del Rey.

Soundsupply: GroupOn For Indie Music. Get 10 Albums For $15 Today Only

Soundsupply is a new startup that is experimenting with a digital bundle of music featuring 10 albums from 10 bands for $15. The offer ran for 10 days, and today is the final day to purchase Supply Drop #1. Lots of digits in this description but the idea of offering a huge amount of music at a low price seems potentially viable for indie rock. I like the idea of monetizing this marketing move but I have to wonder to what degree free has undermined low price offerings.

PLUS: How To Get Your Music Featured In The Next Bundle

Don't Ignore Old School Music Marketing: Creative Ideas For Press Kits, Merch & More

Though we like to cover new and interesting music marketing ideas and services on Hyepbot, focusing on the tried and true is key to long-term success in music. Such methods include encouraging the press to open your press kit, creating low cost band merch that can be used as promotional items and getting people to review your music. Here are some creative ideas for traditional marketing plus bonus coverage regarding Twitter brand pages and Tumblr content discovery plans.

Get Your Press Kit Opened

Musicmetric: Co-Founder Talks Pro Edition, P2P Data Tour Planning App

Musicmetric is a web analytics platform that recently launched a Pro edition in Beta. It offers an impressive range of stats on everything from social media activity to mentions in articles on websites. One of the most noted features in recent media coverage is their tracking of file sharing activity. Access to such data also powered a midem Hack Day app called TourrentPlans that helps musicians plan tours based on the location of their filesharing fanbase.

Music Marketing With Free SoundCloud Story Wheel

SoundCloud recently released Story Wheel, an app for creating a slideshow using Instragram pics and audio via SoundCloud. It's an interesting webtool with a lot of potential for music marketing involving storytelling. Though they will be connecting Story Wheel to additional services, the creators are insistent on maintaining a retro feel via Instagram's use of filters. The combined limitations of retro pics and talking can either be used to create something one might not otherwise think of creating or to be pushed against to give a different look and sound to stick out as more people produce Story Wheel shows.

Gigs4Good: Connecting Artists & Non-Profits

Team Up for Nonprofits is a Seattle-based nonprofit that organizes music events for other nonprofits in their Gigs4Good program. Created in 2009, they're building up to their 10th event benefitting a Washington state-based organization. The focus is on raising both funds for and awareness of nonprofits among the 20 and 30-something demographic. It's a great idea that allows good causes to gain support without having to start from scratch with music events.

How The 80/20 Rule Applies To Your Social Media Strategy

The Pareto Principle, more commonly also known as the 80–20 rule, states that for many events, roughly 80% of the effects come from 20% of the causes. In business for example, 80% of a company’s profits tend to come from 20% of their customers, 80% of sales are made by 20% of the sales staff, and so on. For today’s music artist, this rule of thumb applies in a more indirect way in regards to how they should properly communicate with their audience.

Lana Del Rey Leaves Early Adopters Behind

I have to admit, I ignored the Lana Del Rey phenomenon for a variety of reasons including the fact that great musical artists rarely look like beautiful movie stars and most of the hardcore hype was on sites I don't follow. But somehow the now controversial Saturday Night Live appearance broke through the walls and, upon closer examination, I realize that Del Rey is a fascinating example of America's unrealistic expectations for authenticity from performing artists even when they should know better. She is also an example in the arts of what the tech world calls "crossing the chasm" from early adopters to mainstream adoration.