Music Business

In this clip from www.artistshousemusic.org – Syd Butler, founder of French Kiss Records, introduces himself and his label, and discusses various aspects of being an independent label owner in today’s music industry. He shares his thoughts on how Austin’s SXSW festival has evolved and what it’s useful for today, the challenges of financing a small label and finding distribution, the benefits of owning your own publishing rights, how to avoid falling prey to the less ethical elements in the industry, and what you should know in order to have a shot at the success you deserve.

The following ranking comes from music software (DAW) specialist Digital Music Doctor.  Throughout the year, the company has been scanning roughly one-hundred search terms related to 15 music software packages.  And this is what they interpolated on broader demand.

This isn’t based on actual sales data, though search traffic arguably offers a rough approximation of demand.  ”This index is based on a quarterly moving average of annual internet search activity on Google, Yahoo, Microsoft and AOL,” the company explains.  ”Collectively these four search engines represent approximately 95 percent of searches on the internet.” –Digital Music News

Plan some milestones starting from two months before the release date to at least one month after the album comes out. Here is how this could look:

Two Months Before Release – Release a single, a great way to get the fans excited and also to get some current press quotes to include when contacting press about the full length album – Announce to your fans that tickets are for sale for the CD release showMore

A big component when promoting a new album is the press campaign, working with either a PR company to handle your press outreach or going the DIY route. I talk to many independent artists who don’t see the point in a press campaign for their new release, usually because either an artist they know, or they themselves, had spent thousands of dollars on a PR company in the past with little to no results. I definitely feel for artists here, but ignoring press completely is not the solution. When hiring a publicist make sure your music is a good fit with their existing roster and that the publicist has a well thought out plan for the campaign, and most of all, honestly likes your music. An expensive campaign with a PR company that has some major label big name clients is not by any means a slam dunk that you will get “tons” of “great” press for your independent release, and many times will be the exact opposite. Try contacting boutique PR firms that can offer more personal attention or PR companies that are focused on independent artists. A PR company will work with you on making sure you are prepared and will handle the press outreach, but if you’re going with a do-it-yourself approach here are some tips and strategies for an effective campaign:

Pictures Make sure you have at least 3-4 great press shots. And variety is very important, so try and have both landscape and portrait options, and some that are in color and also some that are black & white. Taking the photos in interesting locations or while dressed in “wacky” outfits are good to have, too to help make you stand out, but you should also have some simple and more straight forward shots.More

A great way to build excitement amongst your fanbase leading up to the release of a new album is to organize a pre-sale campaign. Hold a contest, where everyone that makes a pre-sale purchase is entered in to win a prize. Prizes could be additional merchandise, tickets to the CD release show, or if you really wanted to get crazy, offer to write and record a song about the winner. From your online store, you should have a few different pre-sale packages at different price points available. For example: – Tickets to CD release show and digital album – Autographed CD and tickets to release show – Autographed CD, T-Shirt and tickets to release show and make sure everyone who purchased the album during the presale gets their purchase by the release day (that’s the point of the pre-sale!), so mail out any packages a week beforehand and send them a digital download of the album by release day or better yet, the day before.