It’s been a few months since I’ve posted anything here. I wanted to drop in very quickly to let you know that Tight Mix will be going on an indefinite hiatus, since I am not really working in the music industry anymore. I mean, I still makes websites for bands, but beyond that I’ve sort of left the game for now. Thanks to everyone who has supported me over the years, it’s been a hell of a ride!

Sincerely,
Chris

This guest post was written by Marcus Taylor, founder of TheMusiciansGuide.co.uk, a music promotion site offering resources to help musicians succeed in the music business.

After a few years of many musicians using Twitter only as a promotional tool, I’m glad to finally see musicians starting to use Twitter effectively — my Twitter feed this morning was full of musicians having conversations with their fans and sharing interesting, exclusive content. Phew!

However, there’s still room for improvement.

The thing is, we’ve still got a long way to go — I want to see bands setting up their Twitter accounts to optimize the amount of opportunities they receive — more gigs, more song sharing, more fans, more free gear, more free beer, more publicity of the band, etc. I’m confident when I say that I believe Twitter can get you more of pretty much whatever you want, if you set it up properly.

Remember, luck = preparation + opportunity. Twitter is full of opportunities, you just need to be better prepared in finding and dealing with those opportunities if you want to be “lucky” more often.

Here’s a few ideas…

Using Twitter to get more gigs

If I was asked to book a band a tour using Twitter alone, here’s what I’d do. First of all, I’d open Hootsuite or Tweetdeck or something and set up a “stream” containing searches for things like “looking for bands near:Melbourne” or “need a band near:Melbourne”, obviously changing Melbourne to whichever city you were looking for gigs in.

Secondly, I’d find and follow all of the local promoters who could offer gigs, and create a stream in Hootsuite of their tweets. I’d regularly tweet with them and share their content to get recognised by these people. When the time’s right and they’re familiar with who I am, I’d send a request to perform at their venue.

Thirdly, I’d find people tweeting about concerts coming up in my genre and follow them — if they’re going on about the V Festival 2012, and I write cheesy pop music, they may like my music. As most venues book the bands that provide a good balance of demand, quality, and low cost, it makes sense to focus on directly approaching the venues, and also getting fan demand for your music in a certain area, too. If you want more gigs, build more fans.

Finally, I’d follow hundreds of bands in the area and do the same as I did with the promoters — get to know the local artists and build relationships with them. The likelihood is that other bands will know promoters and venues who would be able to offer you gigs. Building connections with other bands is often easier than building them directly with promoters and it gives you a foot in the door.

Any more ideas? Leave them in the comments!

I love this and have no words. Henry says it all.

This post was written by Shane Jones, a music industry fanatic who’s interests extends beyond just listening to all the intricacies involved with networking and building a brand. His real passion lies in folk-Americana bands, particularly projects he has worked on in the past, such as The Vulcans. You can follow him on Twitter @shanejones15.

Causing a buzz across the entire U.S. internet community is the widely unpopular bill proposed by Congress known as SOPA, the Stop Online Piracy Act. Coupled with its sidekick, the Protect IP Act (PIPA), the two bills pose a major threat to online rights and freedom of speech by censoring any site that has allegedly engaged in copyright infringement.

The aim for these bills is to inhibit online practices of digital theft, and disseminate a strict anti-piracy culture across the web. This attempt to censor the web from all sites that encourage copyright infringement comes with the increasing trends of digital piracy and the negative implications they hold for the entertainment industry, specifically the music and film industries. These trends have been outlined in the infographic created by the internet marketing company WebpageFX (at the bottom of this article).

Luckily, because of the widespread opposition from U.S. citizens via the web, these two bills have been declared “toxic” and postponed until further notice.

While the intention behind SOPA/PIPA appears beneficial to musicians at first glance, here are three examples which indicate otherwise:

1. Karmin and YouTube

Newly discovered pop duo, Karmin hit it big after a series of YouTube cover videos caught the eye of the public. Karmin’s talent may have gone completely unnoticed had the bills been enacted. Under SOPA/PIPA’s terms sites like YouTube could be shut down on a regular basis to take down videos littered with copyrighted music, TV clips, and movie footage. Karmin first went viral with creative covers of the hottest new songs to hit traditional radio.

2. Indie Artists

If anything has been proven from the recent awards shows and ceremonies over the last couple years, it is that indie music is gaining momentum and popularity — mostly because of the web and its potential to reach millions in short periods of time. With performances by Arcade Fire, Florence + the Machine, and the Avett Brothers on major television networks and programs, it’s hard to deny the interest of the public. SOPA’s goal of protecting corporate interests denies smaller labels any significant market share, as major labels would gain more control over the distribution. That happens through the legislation’s allowance of major labels to halt the shut down the distribution, and discovery platforms on the web that allow us to discover and connect with these independent artists. Without the lobbying presence to protect the sites they utilize for distribution, independent artists could remain undiscovered.

3. Sharing

Music is an inherently social activity. We all want our friends to hear the latest artist or song that we just discovered. So we naturally give them burned CD’s, tweet Spotify links, or post YouTube videos of them across our Facebook walls and personal blogs. And from the recommendations of our friends, we usually fall in love with these albums and declare our loyalties to those artists, which usually results in spontaneous spending on iTunes, merchandise, and concert tickets.

Without the ability to share music easily on the web, whether it be through legal means or piracy, the music industry would be shooting itself in the knee cap. Personally, I onle end up spending money on an artist after I’ve discovered and had a chance to listen to them. I would never buy a CD or MP3 on a whim just to “try it out” without hearing it first. Online music platforms like Bandcamp and SoundCloud recognize that if you make it easy for your fans to listen and buy, you can turn convert those fans into a lot of real purchases.

Innovation is the solution to piracy, folks. Not legislation.

[Image credit: Click here]

I know we are well into the new year already, but I still find myself thinking about things I want to accomplish this year, and how I’m going to make it all happen. 2011 was a fun and busy year for me, which is why posts on Tight Mix have dwindled a bit. I want to be able to find the time to blog more in 2012.

I also wanted to ask all of you — the musicians, industry hustlers, music fans, and tech nerds alike — what do you want to accomplish in 2012? Please leave a brief comment below so we can all riff back and forth to get each other pumped up before our (apparently) inevitable demise.

[Image credit: click here]

This is a guest article by Ruben Corbo, a writer for the website Broadband Expert where you can find internet service providers in your area and compare prices on different mobile broadband deals.

More and more, mobile devices are being utilized for the creation of high quality music content. Currently, there are several music production and editing applications for both the iPod/iPad operating system (iOS) and the Android platform. Amplitube, available on the iPad, lets the user feed audio from microphones and instruments directly into the device using a simple adaptor. Android’s Tape Machine Recorder application allows users to record and modify voice and other audio recordings to create professional grade music. Soon, Apple is going to take mobile music production to another level with the introduction of touch sensitive screens on new iPads. The iPad 3 will feature an accelerometer, which will enable the device to detect the difference between a light and soft touch. The implications of this with regards to mobile music production are HUGE!



Future mobile music producers and beat makers should consider the challenges unique to mobile music production before switching from traditional methods. Many of these applications require a lot of processing power, and will quickly drain the device’s battery. Some of these applications might not be intuitively easy to use, either. The iPad 3 will include a touch sensitive screen, but other devices will still lack the tactile response necessary for many music producers to effectively practice their craft. And iPad 3 users may be at an increased risk for damage to their screens due to applying increased force when using pressure sensitive applications.

Luckily, for mobile music producers, there are a number of mobile broadband deals available that not only allow artists and DJs to download the appropriate music making applications, but also to access program tutorials from their smart phone or tablet device. 

As mobile music production becomes more popular, fans can expect to to see more artists and producers creating entire songs and albums using nothing more than a smart phone or tablet device.

New York City DJ and music producer, Rana Sobhany, released her debut album “Destroy the Silence” using nothing more than a couple of iPads, a single iPhone, stock music, and editing applications purchased from the Apple iTunes store. Some of the iOS applications used by Sobhany to produce her album and perform an hour long DJ performance include Beat Wave, Easy Beats LRG, iDaft, IK Multimedia Groove Maker Series, Jam Pad, Looptastic HD, and Pianist Pro.



In the future, iOS and Android OS devices will continue to be more affordable to the average consumer and therefore more attainable, especially as smart phone and tablet devices from competitors are introduced. Increased battery life and audio storage capacity will also be standard features, along with audio input ports for attaching microphones and other devices. Music production and editing applications will also be priced affordably, making it possible for nearly anyone to produce music and beats from any location. However, it wouldn’t be nearly as easy for mobile music producers to create music on the go without having access to mobile broadband from their smart phone and tablet devices. Savvy artists, DJs and music producers will seek out value priced mobile broadband deals to acquire unlimited access to new mobile music recording and editing applications, and educational material explaining the capabilities and functions of said applications.

[Image credit: Click here]

This post was written by Brittany Lyons, who aspires to be a psychology professor, but decided to take some time off from grad school to help people learn to navigate the academic lifestyle. She currently lives in Spokane, Washington, where she spends her time reading science fiction and walking her dog.

British record label EMI has teamed with technology company The Echo Nest to launch a music-based application coding project. Operating through the OpenEMI initiative, the project grants developers access to EMI’s music catalog for the purpose of creating applications for Apple and Android devices, and the internet in general. Potential applications could include streaming services similar to Pandora or music-based games like Guitar Hero.

The music coding project aims to create interactive technology tools in a democratic manner. Established and beginner developers have an equal shot at designing a potential application for the label’s approval—you don’t need programming PhDs to participate in the project. The end result is a product that promotes an EMI artist, The Echo Nest’s technology, and the career of the developer all at once.

EMI provides “sandboxes” featuring music titles and associated artwork from the company’s catalog, as well as a packaged collection of code containing the basics that must be present in order for the application to work. Developers use the sandbox as a foundation for building a customized application.

Current sandbox offerings include both artist-specific bundles and more general, wide-ranging bundles. Artists featured in the bundles include Pet Shop Boys, Tinie Tempah, Eliza Doolittle and Gorillaz. The general EMI Selection sandbox opens up nearly 2,000 songs from the EMI catalog for development. Genre specific sandboxes include Classics, for classical music, and Blue Note, which focuses on the label’s jazz imprint.

The application process is strictly defined by EMI and The Echo Nest, but developers can informally practice and experiment working with the sandbox offerings. Design work operates within a free application programming interface (API) created and hosted by The Echo Nest. To formally create an application, the developer must first apply to gain access to the specific sandbox. Approved developers will receive personalized login information for logging into the API to design.

Coders must develop a demo application to present to EMI for approval. After EMI approves, an upfront revenue sharing agreement is established. This is currently set at a split that earns the developer the majority of 40 percent of profits, subtracting only a small payment to The Echo Nest. The exact amount of The Echo Nest’s cut depends on how much the application relies on its technology.

Developers maintain the intellectual rights to the application with EMI’s stake represented through a license. Source code must be turned in to the company with the application. EMI and The Echo Nest will take care of the application marketing. The company can also help developers gain a license to materials not currently offered in the sandbox packages, including songs from independent artists on the label’s smaller imprints.

EMI plans to expand the sandbox offerings in the future to broaden the tools available to developers. The music coding project is in its early stages and further changes are likely as the company adapts to needs and troubleshoots issues. The changes will uphold the purpose of the project, expanding the relationship between music production, promotion and technology.

Independent artists would do well to take note of EMI’s project, as it’s a great way to combine music with social technology. Developing smart phone apps is a relatively simple task for talented developers, many of whom are trying to establish names for themselves. Creating partnerships with engineers is just one more way that independent artists can get a foothold in the industry.

[Image Credit: Click here]

Ian Rogers’ video series This Week In Music produces some really awesome videos on a weekly basis, but I rarely find the time to actually sit and watch them because they are usually around an hour in length. I woke up a bit earlier this morning so I decided to use my free time to watch this interview, and I’m really glad I did.

David talks about his interesting career path through the music industry, and how he ended up as CEO of MOG, one of the best music streaming services out there (They’re second best to Rdio, in my opinion).

Since the F8 conference and the integration of Facebook and music streaming services, MOG has been the fastest growing music streaming service (according to David & Ian). I think this is mainly due to the fact that there is no friction to listening to music between Facebook and MOG. When you click the little play button next to a song on Facebook that your buddy is listening to via MOG, you are sent directly to MOG’s HTML5 web application and the song streams instantly. There is no interruption to download software (ala Spotify) or sign up for an account (ala Rdio), which puts them at a huge advantage when it comes to acquiring new users.

This is a guest post from Shaun of Independent Music Advice, a website dedicated to increasing the business knowledge (and income) of independent musicians.

I’ve been watching a lot of live gigs recently. Some of the shows I’ve witnessed have been really good, and others…not so much. In terms of maximizing the outcome of every performance, most musicians simply aren’t doing enough.

Here is how a typical gig plays out for many artists:

1. Get a gig.
2. Sort out what they’re going to perform at the gig, and practice the routine until they feel comfortable.
3. Let their friends know they are performing a show.
4. Turn up on the night and carry out their performance.
5. Mention their website once very fast once their performance is over.
6. Hang around for a bit then go home.

Can you see any problems here? Without going into the lack of promotion that has probably occurred (a whole different topic for another day), it’s the last bit that I want to bring to your attention. So let’s say you’ve just had a great performance, and people were really into the music and paying attention. They are probably open to hearing more music, or learning more about you.

Despite this interest that develops among crowds after a great show, none of the musicians I’ve seen recently took this opportunity to feed the crowd’s curiosity a bit more, and instead left the stage with nothing more then a round of applause.

So, what should you be doing once your performance is done? In this case I think it may be more helpful to learn from other’s mistakes…

Mistake 1: Not providing contact information effectively (if at all)

As I mentioned above, many artists tend to quickly mumble their website at the end of their performance. I don’t know why, but this is a common thing I noticed. Maybe they mention it fast because of nerves, or maybe I don’t fully catch it because I wasn’t expecting them to say it at that particular moment. Either way, they’ve lost the chance to get me (and others in the crowd) to go back to their site.

A lot of musicians don’t give out any contact information, either. Most just end their set with a “thank you” and leave the stage to a round of applause. In fact, one act I saw even forgot to tell people his name (The audience actually had to ask him, to which he replied his name very fast like he was embarrassed or it wasn’t important). Yes the crowd liked you, but don’t you want them to become part of your fan base? If the crowd doesn’t know your name or how to find out more, they won’t remember you at the end of the night.

So what should you do? Make it obvious that you’re about to share your website and contact information. Give the crowd the chance to get their phones out and write down your website address.

A simple message like this works:

“Thank you so much for coming out. If any of you want to hear more of my material, please visit my website at [www.YourWebsiteName.com]. Once again, that’s www.YourWebsiteName.com. If you want any more information or just want to say hello, please come and talk to me after the show.”

Simple, direct, and polite, right? This gives people the chance to take down your details, and lets them know exactly what’s going on and how to find out more.

If you have a difficult website name to spell (or if it’s just an uncommon way of spelling a common name), make sure you also spell out your website address exactly. In fact, you may want to do that even if it’s a common name. Who’s to say everyone in your audience will be a good speller? Make yourself as easy to access as possible, and you will maximise the amount of new fans you retain from the show.

Mistake 2: Not offering the audience a product

One thing I don’t see often is bands letting the crowd know they can buy their music and merch at the show. To me, this doesn’t make any sense at all. You have just performed in front of a decent-sized audience, an audience that knows they will be watching live acts all night. They are clearly into your type of music, even if they haven’t heard of you personally before. But that’s what they’ve come out to do, hear new acts and have a good night. So why wouldn’t you try and ask them to help support you by purchasing music and merch?

When it comes to showcase events especially, audiences almost expect you to offer them a product. They often have spare change in their pocket in case they run into an act they like and want to buy their CD. As I’ve seen though, many musicians fail to take advantage of this. Don’t be shy to let people know you have music to sell. Simply mention it once your set is over to put the idea in people’s heads. You can then go round during the break or at the end, and ask people individually if they want to buy one of your CDs (The sooner you can do this after your set the better, you want to be fresh in people’s mind after all).

While you will probably get some rejections, if you had a good performance some people will being saying yes as well. Be okay with the fact that not everybody is going to want to buy your music, because once you’re okay with that notion it becomes much easier to ask in the first place.

Mistake 3: Doing nothing to stay “top of mind” amongst a crowd

One final thing that’s often not done well is ingraining your name (or website’s name) into people’s brains. If you’re performing at a showcase event or talent show, chances are there will be other acts performing there too. You might have a good set and have people cheering at the end, but how will that help you tomorrow if no one remembers your name or website?

You should mention your name a few times during your slot, to ensure that people remember it. People often need to hear things a few times before absorbing that information. You may want to mention your name a couple of times before you go into songs, during your songs, and a few times after. Make the way you say your name catchy so people find themselves humming it after. Tell a quick funny story or joke for people to associate your name with. Have your name on your clothes if you want. However you do it, make people walk away with your name stuck in their brain. Who knows, they may just look into you more when they have a free moment.

Conclusion

The live show is the lifeblood of many musicians’ careers. Not only does it allow you to get out there and impress people face-to-face, it also gives you the opportunity to get paid for doing so. Despite this, many musicians aren’t doing everything they can to make their shows a success. If you’re playing live but aren’t seeing any real results from it (more fans, subscribers, and money) then something is missing from the equation. It may be one of the things listed above.

And if you haven’t gotten round to gigging yet, what are you waiting for?

If you found this article helpful, then consider checking out the IMA Music Business Academy! This is a weekly online course that will fill you in on everything a independent musician needs to know about the music business. If you’re ready to fast track your music career and get things moving, then enroll today!

[Image Credit: Click here]

I was really excited about Google+ when it first launched, and made sure I was one of the first people to snag and invite and try out the platform. As they build out and expand, Google+ has just recently introduced professional pages for businesses and brands.

If you’re a band or musician, you finally have a proper place to represent yourself on the social network. Instead of creating a personal account to promote your music (at the risk of violating the terms of service and being banned), you can now create a page much like you probably already have on Facebook.

I created a Google+ Page for Tight Mix, just for kicks so you can see how they look… you can also check out the page that All-American Rejects recently created to get some ideas for content.

They are still rolling out the functionality to users, so to check if you have access to create a page, head on over here.

Update: I had an excellent time at the conference, met lots of really awesome people and was so humbled to cross paths with a few existing readers and purchasers of my e-book! Thanks so much to the festival and anyone brave enough to attend my presentation, I had a blast. Time to take the puddle jumper back over to Portland, ME!

This weekend I’m heading up to Canada for the first time, and I couldn’t be more excited. Scott Long from NSMW asked me to do my own presentation and sit on a few panels at their conference this Saturday, November 5th 2011.

Novia Scotia Music Week is an exciting collection of events and fun things to do, all music-related. There are tons of great indie bands scheduled to play, meet and greets, panel discussions, presentations, networking opportunities, and more.

Click here to check out the full schedule of the conference.

The presentation I’ll be doing is about (you guessed it) “How to REALLY Get Your Music on Blogs.” I’ll be speaking on the topic for roughly an hour, and will try my best to get it recorded in some form. I’ll also consider posting the slides if that is something people are interested in seeing.

If you are from the Yarmouth, Nova Scotia area, I highly encourage you purchase a pass and come join the fun! My presentation is at 4:10pm on Saturday, November 5th in The Yarmouth Room at the Rodd Grand Hotel.

Need directions? Here ya go.

In addition to the presentation, I’ll be sitting on two other panels: “10 Ways to Promote your Music on a $1,000.00 Budget” on Friday morning, and “The Blogger’s Roundtable,” later that evening.

Click here for the schedule of panels and presentations for this upcoming weekend at NSMW.

This is my first professional speaking engagement and first time up in Canada so I cannot wait!

It’s so nice to receive e-mail from my contact form that isn’t spam or self-promotional nonsense. It’s rare, but when it happens, it’s awesome, brings a smile across my face, and restores my faith in humanity.

Hello Chris,

My name is Chase. This is nothing but a thank you. I just read your How to get your music on blogs article via CD Baby and I think it’s awesome that you take the time to give advice to aspiring artists and bands. Sincere advice from a successful source seems to be the most helpful and it’s very hard to come by at least in my experiences so I always admire anyone willing to do it and I vow to do the same upon achieving success in the future. So thank you for sharing the knowledge. Best wishes and take care.

— Chase of Casual Hearts
Singer/Songwriter

You’re very welcome, Chase :)

When my alternative-pop band, Escape Directors, set out in early 2011 to use the crowdfunding platform Kickstarter to raise money for our new EP, we spent a lot of time researching tips and suggestions from those who had successfully set out to accomplish the same goal. There are a few articles out there giving the basics, but I figured I would share experiences from our successful campaign now that we’ve been through the trenches. I sought out additional advice from a few other Kickstarter-successful artists — Idgy Dean and Case In Theory — to get a more in-depth view of how other indie artists made it happen as well.

I’ll assume everyone knows the basic components of a campaign and how it works — if you don’t, click around their help section and you’ll figure it out quickly. Let’s start with the preparation. Take at least a month to plan, look at other projects, get an idea of the pledge incentives you want, making the video, etc. Do not attempt a campaign without properly preparing yourself and giving it 100%. Case In Theory says the best advice they can give is to “take your time, plan it out, be realistic, and most of all BE PROFESSIONAL!” Go into it with the attitude that if you aren’t successful, you can’t make your album (or whatever your project is).

Your video is the most important element of the project. Idgy Dean said, “The video seemed absolutely clutch to the success of my project. Having that expert presentation of your project, the look, the sound, and making sure it’s short and sweet (1-3 minutes tops), will help garner much more attention to your campaign. So, if you’re not crafty yourself with video editing, etc., be sure to find someone who is.” Find a friend with a nice DSLR camera to shoot the video – it’ll pay off as the video determines the first impression for your project and will essentially either gain pledges or turn away potential pledgers. Keep it short as Idgy Dean said — quickly explain what you’re doing, how Kickstarter works, and try to keep their attention. We performed a new song in our video with cut-ins of us explaining our project. We kept it short and promised our fans that if we reached our goal we would release the entire video (which had our fanbase buzzing about the video and demanding it after we reached our goal).

The project length is also important — we kept ours at 30 days.

“I recommend keeping the campaign length relatively short — just enough time to generate hype and excitement, but also urgency, so that people don’t put off pledging.”

— Idgy Dean

The project goal is another very crucial part to think about. Don’t just settle on what you think should be the goal.

“We spent many times debating on the length of the campaign, the incentives, and goal before we launched. We did not want to set the bar too high where it seemed like it was unobtainable.”

— Case In Theory

Be honest with yourself. Do not set your goal at $10,000 just because that is what your record will cost. Acknowledge your fans and your prior sales. Remember, if you don’t reach your goal, you don’t get the money. From what we saw, reaching your goal early will not dissuade others from pledging, so don’t feel bad about underestimating your worth, but at the same time don’t sell yourself too short. We felt $2,500 was a modest goal that reflected our current position at the time — not overzealous but still a “confident” goal.

The pledge incentives are important to think about too. You can get really creative with these, and this is where I suggest taking time to research other projects to see what has worked for other people. The incentives you choose are entirely up to you. However, understand that the more ambitious you are, the more work you’ll have afterwards in fulfilling your pledges &mash; usually in the midst of your album release when you have hundreds of other things to worry about.

For example, for $100, we offered to write and record a personal song for people. It was a fun few days doing all the songs and packaging all the other trinkets, but did take a lot of time. There is a lot of psychology involved in creating the incentives as well. Don’t create too many because people will become overwhelmed with choices. The most popular price point for 90% of projects is around the $25 range. We knew that going in, so we tried to make our $20 pledge very appealing. We didn’t put too many other options around it, only a $5 pledge then a $35 one. The jump in quality-of-rewards up from the $5 pledge to $20 was big and the jump up from there to $35 wasn’t too big. As a result, our $20 pledge accounted for a third of our backers, which was great. This incentive just made sense to people so we were able to draw a lot of pledgers to it that way.

Check out our campaigns:

• Escape Directors Kickstarter page
  Alternative pop band — Goal: $2,500
• Idgy Dean Kickstarter page
  Solo garage-pop artist — Goal: $3,000
• Case In Theory Kickstarter page
  Progressive rock band — Goal: $4,000

The most important advice I can give, personally, is to get pledgers right away. This attributed a lot to our success, and this parallels the preparation we put into it. We didn’t put it up and then start advertising it. We spent the whole week prior to the campaign’s launch letting all our close fans, friends, and family know about the campaign, so that when it launched we got a flood of initial pledges to create momentum. Don’t be ashamed to get support from your closest fans in advance. Contact the people you know will 100% support the cause and let them know you’d appreciate their support as soon as the project launches. We reached 73% of our goal in 2 days as a result of the avalanche effect this caused.

With all the proper preparation, you’ll be taken away by the support you receive.

“I was so in awe of the extent of generosity people displayed in support of my project, not only close friends and family, but total strangers, too. I was also pleasantly surprised to see the variety of people who re-posted and pushed for this project’s success on Facebook… good friends, friends-of-friends, friends-of-friends-of-friends, long-lost people of my past who I rarely if ever communicate with, just, the masses.”

— Idgy Dean

We had someone we’ve never met pledge $500 just because a friend linked them and they liked our video (another reason I stress the importance of the video).

(Click to enlarge the graph)

Keep the momentum going, it’s all about your marketing. Case In Theory says they had a steady stream throughout, whereas you can see that we hit a plateau around a week in. Our last two days we hit our social media hard, which got 10 last-minute backers to bring our final funding to 200% our original goal. Knowing our fan base and the sensitivity of repetitive posts, we didn’t want to do daily reminders. We did a heavy first week, and then waited to the very end to hit people hard with a last-minute reminder: “Last chance to get our new EP in advance and support our production!” This worked very well with our fanbase, but you may want to tailor your strategy differently.

Final thoughts

• Don’t half-ass your project. Treat it as the gateway to your career and give it the proper preparation to set yourself up for success.
• Get verbal commitments from your closest fans / friends in advance of your project launch, ensuring that they will pledge.
• Don’t call pledges donations. Donations don’t require reciprocation. While many people would donate to your cause anyway, make sure they know you care about their contribution. You are rewarding them for their entirely selfless pledge, not just doing it to get into their pants (wallets).
• Research, research, research. Don’t let this be the only article you read. Here is a particularly great one to dive into.

If you have any questions along the way, do not hesitate to drop me a line. I’d love to give you my advice: nick@escapedirectors.com

And now, for a moment of trippy Swedish awesomeness.

Man, this bunch really has a hard time giving away their service. I guess you’ve got to commend a company with such tenacity and idealism, right? Being idealistic myself, I normally would applaud such behavior, but I think Rdio is taking an enormous risk by only offerring part of their service for free.

People who stream music can already listen to unlimited music on all devices, for free, with Spotify and Pandora. I’ll be so bold as to say that people using said services have already become used to the free, ad-supported experience of Spotify & Pandora (if they weren’t already used to it from traditional radio). With Rdio’s free version, a user cannot use the mobile app, and does not receive unlimited streaming (they become “cut off” after a certain period of time).

Out of all the music streaming services I’ve tried, Rdio really does provide a superior user experience. They do an amazing job of making music social, the search function is incredible, and everything else feels intuitive and seamless. Is that something that people will see as valuable and worth paying for on a monthly basis? I definitely do, but I’m definitely not everybody.

Have you tried any music streaming services yet? Which is your favorite so far?