Hi everyone. Not sure there are a lot of you still following this space, as it’s been kind of dormant and my blogging efforts, sporadic as they are, have largely moved over to Fearless Creativity! at this point. Moreover, this whole blog will likely be replaced soon by a dedicated page for the upcoming Cliffjump! Manifesto – though I’ll keep the archived content available, ’cause that’s just the right thing to do.

However, since this was the venue for my Music Success In Nine Weeks contest blogs, I thought it would be a good place to announce that… umm… I seem to have come up a winner! (One of a few actually, as it seems like Ariel was overcome by some combination of generosity and indecisiveness… not that i’m complaining! I feel like I’m in good company there – some great work by all the other winners). Read the rest of this entry »

For reference here are all the ‘contest posts’ I entered in Ariel Hyatt’s ‘Music Success in Nine Weeks Blogging Challenge’ – in the order they appeared, rather than reverse chronological order, which hopefully will help them make a bit more sense.

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photo credit: Diegosaurius Rex

So, here we are at the last of my Music Success in Nine Weeks contest posts. It’s been an interesting journey, in some ways a microcosm of the somewhat larger personal and professional transformation I’ve been going through. I have to say it again: I really didn’t know what I was getting myself into. I was looking for some tips on more effectively marketing my existing back-catalog of instrumental work, as well as a little multimedia-book project I’m launching. I got more than I bargained for.

I’m going to begin with a little wrap-up of what I’ve come away from this with, then segue into focusing on this chapter and what I plan to do with it.

As far as I can tell, there is really only one way forward at this point for independent musicians (and/or other creative types) who want a viable and sustainable way to make a living from our creative work in this brave new digital world as it careens forward into an increasingly chaotic and unpredictable future, and that is to play a bigger game. Take it to the next level. Read the rest of this entry »

Jason Alexander as George Castanza

As mentioned, I’m kind of blasting through these as the contest deadline looms, which I feel a bit bad about as it’s not quite the spirit of the thing. At the same time, even though I’ve been too busy and all-over-the-place to post about it, I have in fact been reading and digesting all of these lessons over the past few weeks and things have been percolating, so now it’s really just a matter of writing down some of the results of that process.

And so: Chapter 8 is all about live networking – you know, the old fashioned kind where you actually meet people face to face and interact with them in person. Strange concept, I know, but most business used to work that way and if the truth be told, much of the important stuff probably still does.
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photo credit: List

I’m kind of down to the wire on these ‘contest’ blog entries – I do like to finish what I start but I’ve had so much going on lately, largely as a result of how this journey has expanded in scope since I began it. I have to confess that other projects have in some ways eclipsed the MSNW book in terms of the amount of time they are taking… and consequently I have made less progress on the specific goals it concerns itself with than I could have if it were my only focus. On the other hand, said goals are kind of universal and are fundamental tenets of online promotion, so it’s not like I’ve been living on a different planet.

So. List building. I suspect it is the weak point of most people in my position, and it is certainly mine. I think many artists are conflicted about self-promotion generally and are uneasy about contacting relative strangers with news, views and offers – even when said strangers have willingly and knowingly asked to be on the list. Actively trying to get them to sign on really takes some getting your head around… Read the rest of this entry »

photo credit: kenicii

So, it’s update time. Since time is a valuable commodity these days, I’m going to kill a few birds with one stone here (figuratively, of course – I like birds and have no intention of harming any). In a dazzling display of multipurpose efficiency, I’m going to combine a) a blog post… b) more precisely, a ‘contest’ post for the MSNW series… and c) an email newsletter. Since the next chapter of MSNW is all about email newsletters, I figure rather than telling you what I’ve learned I will just show you by including the newsletter here.

Before we get to that, I will preface by pointing out that my list is actually still pretty small, since I don’t play a lot of shows and have really only recently begun to get myself organized and maintain a list or a newsletter of any sort. Still, I’m a fairly quick learner, and I like to wade into the thick of things, so that’s what I’ve been doing: learning the ropes and laying the groundwork for more serious list-building later on…

I did some research and selected MailChimp as my email and list management platform – as far as I can tell the features rival anything out there, they have great tutorials and a very low-key, easygoing and fun vibe. Also, the whole service – not a limited or dumbed-down version, the full premium package – is completely free until you hit 500 people. From that point on their prices are in line with their competitors, so I figure this is both friendly and smart on their part. A nice way to get started on a serious platform without spending too much until you have the numbers to justify it. Read the rest of this entry »

This is a kind of ‘meta-post’: a blog post about blogging. Well that’s actually not particularly unique, as I’ve discovered that there are currently 341,672 blogs out there that are more or less exclusively about blogging. I have no great interest in joining their ranks, but I’ve been doing more than a little sniffing around these past couple of months and have a few observations. Basically they can be boiled down to this: blogging is at the core of online promotion, and anyone who is serious about it has to be on board one way or another.

Week 4 of the Music Success in Nine Weeks course covers social networking. It’s the longest and meatiest chapter so far, not surprisingly as this topic has in a short time become an absolutely essential component of marketing – not just music, of course, but just about anything – and it is growing in importance daily. Ariel covers several of the major networks in some detail, offering strategies and tactics and some specific resources for getting more out of each.

The course also links to some introductory videos at Commoncraft.com, which do a great job of introducing the basic concepts and the major platforms in clear, straightforward presentations. It would be both difficult and pointless to try to do it better than they have, which is presumably why Ariel has linked to them, and so I will follow her lead. If you don’t know what I’m on about, go there.

Instead, I’ll give my spin on what social networking means to a musician who wants to get some value out of it without getting lost in what is, frankly, a bit of a jungle. I’ll preface this by revealing that I am actually quite new to the whole phenomenon, having dismissed and avoided it until quite recently. Oh well – better late than never, and I’m learning fast… Read the rest of this entry »

photo credit: Darius Baužys

As per previous ‘contest entry’ posts, this one focuses on my progress through a specific chapter of the ‘Music Success in Nine Weeks’ book. I’m a little behind schedule, for various reasons – I’m not a very linear person, for starters – but definitely making progress. Progress is good.

So. Chapter 3 is about web optimization. Now, I suspect my internet presence is a bit more complex than that of most musicians… partly because I am attracted to complexity (some might say I have ‘complexity issues’…), which is something I am trying to work on in terms of presentation… but also because I have a lot of albums and a number of ongoing projects to present.

Furthermore, I’ve been doing this online music thing for a long time. I’m not saying that this makes me any better at it than anyone else, or that I have been doing it particularly effectively – quite the contrary in fact, which is one reason I’ve undertaken this course.
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photo credit: Matt McGee

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I used to pitch in little league baseball. I wasn’t a great pitcher. Pete Byers, our first call, was a great pitcher. I was the reliever. Normally I played third base; I was a pretty good third baseman. Third base is all about the turnaround – like the guy on first, you have to be able to catch anything in your general vicinity, but then you have to turn it around FAST and accurate to make the double-play.

Pitching is different. Pitching is psychological. Pitching is about speed and control, yes, but it’s also about confounding expectations – faking the batter out. You have to be as fast and accurate as a laser, yes, you have to know exactly where you want to put the ball and be able to nail it every time, like a Zen archer… but you also have to give it a twist, change it up, do something just a little unexpected.

The second chapter of Music Success in Nine Weeks (here we go) is about crafting the perfect pitch, and although we are talking about marketing here, a subject into which I claim no special insight, I am going to go out on a limb and suggest that the lessons of the baseball mound might very well apply.
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