How Vinyl and iPods Ganged Up to Kill the Audio CD

NPR reported that CD sales tanked in 2010, particularly among younger buyers. The trend suggests that vinyl and iPods are sinking the audio CD into the so-called “fidelity belly,” where mediocre products go to die.

In his book Trade-Off, journalist Kevin Maney wrote that a truly successful product provides either the richest user experience (fidelity) or the greatest convenience. Less successful products fall into what he labeled the fidelity belly, “the no-man’s-land of consumer experience,” characterized by commercial apathy, insufficient fidelity, and insufficient convenience.

Apple succeeds in the consumer computer market by providing the richest pre-sales experience in its retail stores. Dell and HP succeed by providing an ultra-convenient pre-sales experience online. Who is in the belly? Everyone else.

Sinking into the fidelity belly is essentially the fast track to obsolescence. Staying out of the belly is never assured, because customer expectations for fidelity and convenience constantly evolve.

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Marketing Plan Tactics For Independent Musicians - Part 2 of 3: Album Launch

The first piece in this 3 part series discussed steps you should take before you start promoting a new album, such as having your online presence all in order. In Part 2, I will go over some basic elements for, yep you guessed it, promoting a new album.

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MusicThinkTank.com Weekly Recap: Why Music is Less Valuable Than Expertise & More

Where

The Music Industry

Thinks Out Loud

• Ariel Hyatt: Musician’s Arsenal: Killer Apps, Tools and Sites - GigFunder
• Jamie Leger: Why Music is Less Valuable Than Expertise and Information…?
• Simon Tam: How to Book a Tour: Unconventional Advice
• Chris Hacker: Marketing Plan Tactics For Independent Musicians - Part 1 of 3: New Album Preparations

Marketing Plan Tactics For Independent Musicians - Part 1 of 3: New Album Preparations

Chris Hacker here, I create Marketing Plans for artists at Cyber PR® and really enjoy working with my many clients. I’ve noticed a huge problem though. Artists call the Cyber PR® offices all the time looking for us to promote their new album, totally fine of course, but the problem lies in that many of these artists call us when their albums are coming out the next week!! It completely baffles me that an artist or band will work so hard on an album, spending hours and hours writing songs and practicing these songs and then spending large sums of money recording, mixing and mastering, to only rush the release with no plan in place! Not planning enough lead time for a press campaign isn’t the only issue, but many people we talk to try to release their album when some of the basic music promotion elements aren’t even in place, for example a website where you can sell the music!

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How to Book a Tour: Unconventional Advice

There’s plenty of advice out there for booking a tour. In fact, I’ve written on it a few times (including this step-by-step guide). People generally talk about the same kind of stuff: how to approach a venue, where to book, promoting, etc. However, I want to cover some of the territory that people don’t talk about, the pitfalls that you’ll come across along the way.

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Why Music is Less Valuable Than Expertise and Information...?

Today had me thinking about two questions that i want to address with you… Is music less valuable than expertise and quality information? And is this why music cannot be sold for high prices?

Unfortunately, just knowing something, or having experienced something, doesn’t mean all that much. At least in terms of creating and adding value to peoples lives. Although there are many things that you can grasp and understand creatively and in the realms of your own thinking, this is NOT where the value comes from. With any content that you create, whether its an article, a book, a program, or a song… The value doesn’t come from your knowledge, the value is created by you speaking directly to an immediately recognizable  issue/thought or feeling. With information products, you then of course uncover the solutions that you’ve found and explain how people can use them to improve some aspect of their lives or business.

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Musician's Arsenal: Killer Apps, Tools and Sites - GigFunder

Fan funding: it is the saving grace for the broke independent band. Where before bands couldn’t consider studio time or hiring promotional companies to support their release, with a little hard work, some social media love, and good old fashioned word of mouth spread, bands can raise the cash they need to fund their dream projects. With the big four players fairly entrenched in the field (PledgeMusic, Rockethub, KickStarter and Indie GoGo), it’s hard to imagine a new player coming into play. However, GigFunder has found a unique need to fill in the fan funding world.

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MusicThinkTank.com Weekly Recap: Making A Living Is The New Success & More

Where

The Music Industry

Thinks Out Loud

• Simon Tam: How to Get Sponsored: Rethinking Sponsorships
• Bobby Owsinski: Making A Living Is The New Success
• James Aviaz: Q&A: Getting Music Placed in Advertising
• Simon Tam: 5 Non-traditional Ways to Promote Your Music

5 Non-traditional Ways to Promote Your Music

Artists tend to be creative people. We write music, create dazzling visions of art, and express sentiments in the most unique ways. However, when it comes to promoting our art, something else happens. For one reason or the other, most artists fail to express any creativity in their business endeavors.

Here are five easy (non-internet) ways that you could promote your band. I hope that more than anything else, they get your brain going and inspire you to create ideas that work specifically for your art.

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Q&A: Getting Music Placed in Advertising

After our recent post about getting music placed in video games, we had a bunch of requests to find out also about the same process for advertising. We spoke with James Alvich from MAS (Music and Strategy) who provides a full range of solutions for brands and advertising agencies including original composition, music supervision, licensing, talent procurement, and sponsorship packages. James has over 11 years experience in advertising, specializing in television, radio and online commercial production.

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Making A Living Is The New Success

For more and more musicians, the idea of stardom seems to be further and further away. While some still see stars in their eyes, a great number have come to the realization that the goal is now a lot different, since just making a living in music can now be considered a success.

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How to Get Sponsored: Rethinking Sponsorships

When most people who want sponsorships think about their ultimate goal, it involves money. They’re looking for someone to fund their event, to pay for their tour, to raise money for their charity, and so on. When many business think about sponsoring someone, it ultimately involves money as well: even if it is an incredible cause, at the end of the day, they want to know how sponsoring will help them get more customers. Each party treats the sponsorship as a transaction. However, I believe it is important to shift the definition from “a cash and/or in-kind fee paid to a property (typically sports entertainment, non-profit event, or organization) in return for access to the exploitable, commercial potential associated with that property” (IEG, 2000) to something more equitable: a partnership.

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MusicThinkTank.com Weekly Recap: How to Begin a Career in the Music Industry & More

Where

The Music Industry

Thinks Out Loud

• Corey Crossfield: Why Mobile Apps Matter For Music
• Frank Woodworth: How to Begin a Career in the Music Industry: Advice to the graduating class of 2012
• Ariel Hyatt: Basic Marketing Principles For Artists - Part 3 of 3: Increase the Amount of Money That You Charge
• Simon Tam: How to Choose the Best Songs for Your Album

How to Choose the Best Songs for Your Album

If you’re heading into the studio to record an album, you should go in with plenty of songs to spare. Sometimes, things don’t work as well in recorded format, sometimes your tastes/ideas change. At any rate, going in with more ideas allows you to choose the very best songs for your album. Besides, it’s always better to have too many songs to choose from than not enough. But how do you decide which songs should stay and which should go?

This is what I recommend that you do: Treat it like a songwriting contest.

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