Stay out of the scene

Conventional wisdom in the music business has it that you should send promo copies of new releases to music publications and music radio. This, of course, makes perfect sense. People who are reading about music are likely to be interested in the music that you make, as long as it’s within the ballpark of the music that they came to the periodical or the broadcaster for.

The logical extension of this idea — that you should send promotions to the online equivalent of music broadcasters and publications — also makes perfect sense. Therefore, one of the most clearly sensible things to do would be to locate MP3 blogs to have much in common with the kind of music that you promote.

Here’s a good place to start looking:
MonkeyFilter’s MP3 blog listing

MP3 blogs are written by enthusiasts who have become opinion leaders in their field. They provide MP3 use of songs that they recommend to their readership. This differs from a music publications in the sense that every review is therefore necessarily a positive one. So by extension, if you send them your music and they choose to talk about it on a blog they are doing so as an opinion leader with their implicit approval.

Of course you have to content worth the idea that your music is now being given away for free to potential customers. However as we have discussed, and will no doubt discussed further at great length, this should not concern you. At any rate, MP3 blogs typically leave music up online for only a week or so, so that bandwidth costs do not become excessive.

Since it costs nothing, or next to nothing, to send promos via MP3, it does make sense to cast the net more widely than you might if you were posting physical CDs. With that in mind, I would like to propose a further lateral step beyond the logical MP3 blog approach.

People who write blogs with large readerships, but which are not about music, also probably quite like music.

That is to say, enthusiasts and opinion leaders in the area of politics, popular culture, technology — even accountancy — could still form part of your potential constituency, even if they are not readers of music publications. In fact, it’s probably fair to say that the vast majority of music buyers do not read music publications.

It’s probably also true that most of these opinion leaders are never sent promotional copies of music. The chances of an MP3 blogger choosing to promote your music on their blog is probably slimmer than the chances of a political blogger promoting your music on their blog… simply because being sent a promotional disc is nothing new to people in the music business — but quite a novelty outside of it.

So picking me a bunch of blogs that you have some affinity for (other than musical affinity) and locating the authors via e-mail might actually be a very good way to expose your music to a readership that isn’t looking in the places you might ordinarily expect.

You may find you want to do this more thematically. For instance, readers of blogs about wine, food, expensive cars, or right-wing politics may not be the ideal audience of your angry indie protest band.

However, there’s nothing to say that readers of blogs about hi-fi equipment, surf boarding, alsatian breeding, or indeed someone’s personal life, might not have clear areas of intersection with your kind of music.

So, strategy: spend some time on the Internet having a look at a range of different blogs. Track down the ones with significant readership that may have things in common with the kind of people you might expect to listen to your music.

Put a couple of MP3s on your website somewhere that the authors of these blogs can access them (but which aren’t immediately obvious to the general public). Send the blogger of choice a polite e-mail saying that you enjoy their writing, and that you would very much like for them to listen to your music. If they like it, you’d be very pleased for them to give it away as an exclusive gift to their readership.

For most recipients, this will most likely be a first. The sheer novelty of it will at least get you past the first hurdle. It will get listened to. However, I’d suggest you politely request that if they are going to go ahead and give it to their fellow alsation-fanciers, that they host the MP3’s on their own server. That way, they’re not just giving out a free link to your music to all and sundry but are instead valuing the promotional gifts to their own constituency and managing its distribution.

As a PR strategy, this strikes me as an incredibly effective ploy, and one I haven’t seen put in practice as yet. It gets your music in front of a whole new crowd of people that you might ordinarily never have had access to simply because they are not the people who read the music publications or listen to the radio stations you imagine they might.

In other words, it’ll get you talked about in the vast majority of scenes untouched by the rest of the music industry. Which strikes me as potentially of some value.

 If you are packing your bags for Austin Here are my tips for you (This guide is not just for SXSW; it’s also for any music conference out there!)

Envision What You Want Before You Arrive

My first bit of advice: Arrive prepared. Know who will be attending and create some goals before you get there.

Attend at Least One Music Conference Each Year

I believe all serious musicians should make it part of their job to attend at least one conference a year.  They can be expensive to get to, but think abut it this way: Music lessons were at one time expensive, and so was your equipment and those things are also vital for your career. Conferences are the best place to meet people who work in and around the music industry and are a relaxed environment to connect with people in it who can change the course of your career.

Austin, Texas, a wonderful city, and its distractions are many. But, keep in mind that this is not a vacation. It’s a work-related learning experience, and with a little planning and foresight you can have a million-dollar conference.

Before You Go, Get Connected!

SXSW Social Media:

Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/SXSWFestival

MySpace:www.myspace.com/sxsw

Twitter: www.twitter.com/sxsw

Get registered to the South by Southwest Directory

Go through the site, which is VERY user friendly and links to your Twitter and Facebook seamlessly to determine whom you may want to meet before you arrive. Drop them a personal e-mail using their interface.

Bring Business Cards, Fizzkicks Cards & Postcards

Yes, You should have a business card and your card should not just have your name and number.  It should have good information about what you or your band sounds like (your pitch) , your Twitter handle, Myspace & Facebook URLS, and links to any other places people might be able to find you online. A photo of you or a band logo would also be highly recommended.

Don’t Haul A Ton Of CDs

I do not recommend bringing a lot of CDs. People are overwhelmed with free CDs and they won’t want to carry them home so it’s better to get people’s business cards and mail them a CD or better yet send your music digitally through Bandcamp of Soundcloud as a follow-up after you get home.

Talk To Strangers

Don’t be scared to take risks and meet people. Conferences are friendly places.  Just walk right up and ask “So, what brings you here?” You’ll have a new BFF in no time.

Attend Panels – You Will Learn Something J 

It’s tempting to blow the panels off and hit all of the free day parties but I encourage you to make an effort to sit in on at least one or two panels per day, on any topic that interests you, and take notes.

Get Mentored!

Most conferences have amazing mentoring sessions where you can sign up to have one-on-one face time with the industry peeps. Some of the most important people in the music business will be sitting there ready to meet with you.

When you do go to a one-on-one mentoring panel, be prepared to meet these people, and make sure that you have done your research and have specific questions to ask them.

Follow Up!

The moment you get home, make sure to send thank you notes, e-mails and follow up with every single person that you met. If appropriate, add them to your e-mail list. Never send your pitch or talk about business in the first initial e-mail. Get people to respond to your follow up by just being friendly. If you do not follow up your trip and hard work will have been a waste of your time. So, don’t rip yourself off here!

Please add your own tips or tricks here:



After hanging out and playing with him for a while, the scene turned pretty nasty when the talk of a lollipop surfaced.

Now, anyone who has kids knows very well that when the discussion around candy hit’s the table, you know you’re in for a tough negotiation. They usually nag until that sugar stick is firmly wedged in their mouth without interruption.

Being that it was late in the afternoon and dinner was approaching, I had to pull out my deceptive ninja tricks to keep him from wanting that lollipop he was screaming so loudly for.

As you might imagine, as the standoff continued, the scene got pretty messy. It wasn’t until twenty minutes after a barrage of screams and cry’s, that I finally let him have his way.

Finally, as silence and calm hit our living room once again, I was able to breathe calmly again and re-gain my thoughts. I started watching him in his delight eating his lollipop and started thinking about the whole situation in a little more detail.

Other than realizing that my son is one heck of a negotiator, there were a few other thoughts I had that I think might help you and your band in those moments of panic and doubt though the up’s and down’s of your music career.

1. Never Take “NO” For An Answer

In this business persistence is everything.

I know so many bands that get disheartened by one sour review or one agent who doesn’t like them or one radio station that will never play their music.

Remember this fact and be inspired by it – The Beatles were turned down by every single major record label before they released their first single.

The Offspring recorded a bunch of albums and toured for ten years before having their breakthrough album Smash. TEN YEARS!!

The point is that there are so many times and cases where you just don’t know where or when that big moment is going to arrive and the key is to never stop and never ever, for any reason take NO for an answer.

You just have to keep going, just like my son, who’s father eventually caved in and gave him the lollipop.

Back in the day, our band Noise Addict sent our music to a radio station. We got a letter back and the first sentence they wrote was –

We think your band sucks!

Aside from being totally funny and comical, we took it with a grain of salt and kept going. About five years later that very radio station were playing our song on high rotation.

Once when there was a big push on that album, we took that letter in to them and had a good laugh about it. But the point is that getting a No or a You Suck should only strengthen your resolve, just like with my son persistence to get his lollipop.

2. Find That Little Wedge or Opening and Milk It

When my son went to war for his lollipop, he didn’t just kick and hit me until he got what he wanted (three year olds today are much smarter than that), He pulled reverse psychology tricks on me. He got his little sister to gang up on me and he also started running around the house making a mess until I conceded.

In short, he kept working all the angles until he found that little wedge that caused me to cave in – screaming and crying!

I’m not sure about you but one thing I cannot handle is the constant crying of a kid. It drives me crazy. So after five minutes of screaming and crying, his wedge of opportunity opened and delivered him exactly what he wanted.

The same holds true with the music business. There are so many ways to penetrate and get to the right people in this business. The first trick is to really know and understand who your prospect actually is. This is really a whole process in itself.

Once you’ve covered this ground, then it’s a matter of understanding how to pull their strings and find their soft spots. Finding that wedge or opening to lure them in and get whatever it is your looking for from them.

In most cases, it might just be the need to have a great story up your sleeve to suck them into your world or being able to rattle of some compelling statistics about your band to prick their ears up, but the key is to be able to find that wedge and milk it, just like my little boy did.

3 Frequency Frequency Frequency

I guess the most frustrating part of dealing with children sometimes is that when they don’t get what they want, they keep going at you like a broken record, and I think we all know that the concept of frequency really works.

When a message is thrown at you over and over again in a concentrated period of time, the chances of escaping is very hard.

Frequency works!

All successful ad agencies will tell you that a consumer needs to hear a message at least eight times until they’ll act or respond.

I guess for bands, it means that to really create any sort of ground swell you must be out there working all the angles in your music scene so potential fans and industry insiders cannot avoid you.

Play play play. Even if it’s to no-one at first. Even if it’s at your local library BBQ. It doesn’t matter. What matters is that your creating some sort of frequency and consistency.

Email your fans once a week, post on your facebook page every few days with updates. Whatever it is, just keep doing it….. If anything, just for the sake of frequency.

Once an A&R guy sees you in three or four places that he himself is already prowling for new acts, or hears about you from two of his trusted friends or see’s you in a trade journal he trusts, you’ll start to see how the tides turn and the interest in your band will take shape.

Frequency for your band’s profile also involves understanding the different types of “media” (radio, TV, online, print etc) that are out there and knowing how to get free exposure and frequency from them.

Again, there is so much to be said about each topic, however leveraging these “medias” and creating frequency is so important to help attract industry attention and build your fan base.

So there you have it, three innovative thoughts around my super stressful Sunday afternoon session with my son Elijah. I do have to say though that he’s not half as bad as I made out.

If his music career will be anything like his desire for lollipops, you’ll all be hearing much more about him very soon!

By Daniel Kohn 


Check out my blog - www.AskKohnny.com

Check out my new book - Inside The Music Biz

Let me explain …

In the 1990s, back when I published a local music magazine in St. Louis, Missouri, I remember feeling so frustrated at times. Especially when certain businesses wouldn’t advertise in my publication or sponsor music events I put on.

“What’s their problem?” I would whine. Didn’t they see all the work I’d put in to create a great resource? Can’t a guy with a good idea get a break in this town?

Of course, I really knew the answers.

In some situations, the business and the event simply weren’t a good match. I may have wanted their participation, but from their perspective, they needed to allocate their limited marketing dollars to other things. There was a part of my brain that realized that, but I paid no attention to it.

In other situations, I simply hadn’t put in the time to develop the relationships that other media people had. Therefore, I didn’t get those ad dollars. I even told myself many times how I needed to get out and meet with more potential advertisers and sponsors. But I rarely acted on it. And as a result, I lost out on some business.

I knew what the problems (and the solutions) were. But I chose to ignore them, get frustrated, and chalk it up to other factors that were out of my control.

In other words, I was pretending to not know something … when I actually knew it all along.

So, what are YOU pretending to not know?

For instance, you know … people are easily distracted and that it can take a number of follow-up attempts before you get a response from somebody.

Yet … you give up after one attempt to reach someone and complain about the lack of response.

You know … what inspires you and your friends to support a new artist and buy their music.

Yet … you act as if you have no idea how to promote your own music and connect with fans.

You know … the importance of spending time practicing and writing new material.

Yet … you settle for mediocre performances and songs that “will do” when you put out new music.

You know … how you like to be treated and communicated with when someone has something of value for you.

Yet … you pretend to have no clue about how to leave a voice mail message or send an email to someone who can help you.

I guarantee, you know way more than you give yourself credit for.

So, I ask you again:

What are you pretending to NOT know?

-Bob

http://TheBuzzFactor.com/
http://MusicPromotionBlog.com/

For this installment I asked my new friends at Sorted Noise in Nashville to introduce me to some of their artists who are doing it right.  I am happy that they introduced me to Josh Ryan. Josh fronts the group Secrets in Stereo and in just two years has made some impressive inroads by using social media (blogs) to bond with a tight knit community of fans who support him. What is interesting about Josh is the fact that he makes a lion’s share of his money from TV/Film placements and not from live shows. 

Ariel Hyatt: Do you believe that 1,000 true fans is a theory that can work?

Josh Ryan: (quoting directly from the article) “Someone who will purchase anything and everything you produce. They will drive 200 miles to see you sing. They will buy the super deluxe re-issued hi-res box set of your stuff even though they have the low-res version. They have a Google Alert set for your name. They bookmark the eBay page where your out-of-print editions show up. They come to your openings. They have you sign their copies. They buy the t-shirt, and the mug, and the hat. They can’t wait till you issue your next work.”

Then, geez…absolutely.  Obviously, this means that it’s the artist’s responsibility to continue to crank out content, and give them something to buy.  And I think (as you are finding out with previous “In Defense” interviews) the number is much lower than 1,000 for a solo artist because of the low overhead.  Although I write, record, and promote under a band name, I’m actually a one man show.  So, this applies to my situation.

AH:  Are you currently making a full-time living as a musician from your music? And How many years did it take you from day job to part time job to F/T Musician?

JR:Yes.  My head is above water at the moment. When I moved to Nashville 3 years ago, I forced myself to only work part time.  I live by this thought process… Whatever you spend the most hours in the day doing, then that’s what you are.  If you work in a warehouse for 40 hours a week, and write songs and play shows on the weekends, then you aren’t a songwriter.  You’re a warehouse worker.  Writing songs and playing shows is just your hobby.  Like watching football. 

I know that thought process may rub some people the wrong way, but it worked for me.  I didn’t move to Nashville to be a waiter or a warehouse worker.  And, if that meant trading in financial “security” for time in the day to spend on my real job, then that’s what I had to do.

But, to answer your question more directly… I’ve been fully supporting myself financially with music for two years.

AH:  If possible (I know you may not want to share this information), can you share the amount of money you have grossed in the last 12 months, broken

JR: I’ll give you a larger sample if that’s ok.  Let’s look at the two years I’ve been self sustaining.  Also, I’ll break it down into Direct (money made directly from Secrets in Stereo music) and Indirect (money made from outside opportunities created by Secrets in Stereo music).  I will get into the details of each in the next question.

Direct Gross = approximately $80,000

Indirect Gross = approximately $17,000

Total Gross over the last 2 years = $97,000

AH:. Can you give us a breakdown percentage wise of the following:

JR: DIRECT

A. Licensing for TV/Film/Advertising 59%

I made a decision early on to make this my focus for Secrets in Stereo.  Obviously, it is.  And, that will be reflected in the following numbers as well.

B. Live shows 0%

Yep… that number is right.  For a few reasons.  One, I live in Nashville.  You don’t make money playing in Nashville.  You lose money.  And, two, my overhead is very high to take what I do (and do it right) on the road.  Partly, because I use hired guns and those hired guns are good and expect a certain amount of pro level pay (Again, remember, I live in Nashville).  And partly because I have a fairly elaborate show.  Lots of players, lots of tracks, lots going on.

I intentionally listed “Live Shows” second, because I want to illustrate a point… There are more ways to make money in this business than those on  the traditional route.  Hitting the road makes A LOT of sense for A LOT of bands.  It just didn’t and doesn’t for me.  When I play shows, they have to count.  They have to have a purpose.  And that purpose (for me) isn’t necessarily to make money.

C. Digital Sales 14%

This is securely connected with licensing.  Placements equal digital sales. And the best part about these sales, is you don’t have to do anything (outside of the placement, of course) to get them.  You make money while you sleep. 

D. Fan Funding 5%

This is an on going campaign (as of Feb’10) for my next album.

E. Merchandise 5%

F. Physical CD Sales 2%

My focus is on digital.

INDIRECT

A. Licensing other artist’s music 9%

B. Consulting 5%

C. Session Singing? 1%

AH:How many die hard fans, fans that will buy everything and anything from you, would you imagine that you have?

JR: About 100. 

AH: How long did it take you to build up this many fans?

JR: From the day I launched my Myspace (wow… that sounds so stupid now) until today.  2 1/2 years.  It’s definitely a snowball effect.  It was pretty hard at first.  The key for me was not only having small tipping points but being able to attack and capitalize on them. 

My first being my first placement 2 years ago… a 2:30 feature on an MTV show called Engaged and Underage.  The second that episode went off, I was all over blogs and message boards making sure everyone knew who sang that song.  Some of those fans I made then are what I would consider “die hard” fans today.

AH: What Do you mean you were “All Over Blogs? This seems like a very interesting tactic! Can you elaborate - what type of blogs did you hit?, how did you find them?  what did you say when you got on them?  how did you make “fans” out of that?

JR: There are really 3 levels to this tactic…

1. First things first.  I needed to be found when someone went to Google or Yahoo to search for me after they’ve heard the song.  I call it “Proactive Searchability” Although MTV has gotten better at this, at the time, it was hard for viewers to find who sings a song they heard on a show.  So, when I found out my song was going to air, I went to Yahoo Answers and Google Answers, created a profile, and asked the questions that I thought a viewer would ask.  Something like, “Who sang the song in Episode 7 of Engaged and Underage with the lyrics ‘I don’t wanna live a day with out you, I just wanna make you happy’?”  And this would all be before the airdate.  Then, I logged in with my Secrets in Stereo account, and answered the question (with links of course).  Voila!  Proactive searchability.

2. The next thing site I targeted was MTV itself.  They have a cool blog for everyone one of their shows called MTV Remote Control.  Engaged and Underage has been off the air for a while, and they had a blog post yesterday.  So, it’s pretty active.  For this site, I just went through the comments and looked for people asking who sang the song.  Then, I just answered them.  Simple as that.  Also, an answer is always better than just posting a comment announcing who you are.  If no one’s asking who you are, then your music didn’t connect.

Also, on MTV, they air all episodes online.  This is a great opportunity to become a part of the conversation as it happens.   The Hills gets over 1,000,000 plays online alone.  So, when I had a song or two in that show, I would stake out the live forum, waiting for someone to ask who sang that song.

3.  The third level of this tactic, is all the 3rd party blogs, forums, etc about the show.  All I did was Google “Engaged and Underage,” and a slew of sites popped up.  Obviously, Facebook groups were a great place to start.  But, there were also a handful of independent blogs that were ecstatic about hearing from an artist that was on their favorite show.

AH: Do you have a strategy with long-term and short-term goals in place to get to 1,000 true fans or for any future looking aspects of your music career? If so, can you share these goals?

JR: I have long-term, short-term, mid-term, weekly, daily, hourly, minute-ly goals (OK, maybe not “mintute-ly.”  That’s not even a word.)  But, all of those goals point towards my overall objective… Grab a potential fan’s attention, collect their info, convert them to a die-hard.

Tactically, that might play out like this…

1. A potential fan hears one of my songs on Grey’s Anatomy

2. I’ve written a blog on my site about the placement entitled “My song Not Today featured in the November 17th episode of Grey’s Anatomy.”  So, when that potential fan Googles “who sang the song with the lyrics, ‘not today, not tomorrow’ in the November 17th episode of Grey’s Anatomy,” guess who they find?

3. On my site, I give away a lot of music in exchange for emails.

4. 3 months down the road, my new fan knows all my songs by heart.  I send her email asking her to join the subscription portion of my site (A big goal for me in 2010).  She does.  And, now she’s a die hard.

AH: Have you ever made money from social media sites like Twitter, Facebook, or Ustream? Can you please tell us exactly how and correlate them?

JR: I don’t really see them as money makers.  Although, I’m sure the sites have effected sales.  If you’re smart and use them tastefully and creatively like Amanda Palmer’s auction, then it works.  But, even with that example, she didn’t look at Twitter as an ecommerce solution.  She looked at is a communication and community building solution.  It just so happens money was involved.  The moment we start looking at Twitter and Facebook as money makers, they will become Myspace.  

AH: Has your connection to the podcasting and online world, and your popularity with podcasters helped you to earn more money?

JR: I made a big push with PMN [Podsafe Music Network] a while back, and got great coverage.  I need to revisit that.

AH: What are your next steps to continue to help yourself move forward in your own career?

JR: My ongoing goal, is to continue to get TV/Film/Advertising placements, and build buzz and a fan base from the exposure of those. 

A big 2010 goal is build a well put together subscription portion of my site.  When you look at artist like Matt Ebel, it’s refreshing and exciting to see how that can be such a profitable platform.  If you do it right.

Beyond that, who knows where the industry goes.  Let me say this… I’m not one of those major label haters.  I think they aren’t really a logical solution for 99.9% of artists right now.  But, they aren’t going away either.  And they shouldn’t.  At some point, they are going to have to see working with an artist as a “joint venture” or “partnership” where the artist is bringing just as much value to the table as they are.  And when that day comes, they might make more sense to me as an artist. 

I’m looking forward to the day when an artist (hopefully me) comes to a major label and says… “Ok, I don’t need help with all this other stuff you offer.  But, I’ll partner with to you release and promote my record, and you get X number of points per sale.”

AH:  If you could give a band or artist any type of advice on how to start in social media, what would you advise them to do?

JR: The strategy of a few years ago was “be everywhere.”  And I think that’s true to a certain extent when referring to being “Googleable.”  But, I would say, go to where the people are.  Not more musicians.  Don’t waste your time building profiles on social media sites that won’t be around in a year.  Do your research, and stay up to date with new sites and trends.  I recommend hypebot.com, mashable.com, and musicthinktank.com (of course).

AH: If you had $500 to spend on marketing and promotion, how would you spend that money?

JR: If it was just money that was given to me, I would experiment on a thing or two that I’ve been wanting to try.  Google Ad Words.  Facebook Ads.  Things like that.

AH: Is there anything else you would like to say about 1,000 true fans?

JR: As I read through my answers (and think about them from a reader’s perspective), I need to make one point.  Obviously, I can’t make a living solely based on the finances of 100 True Fans.  And I don’t, as you can see from my percentage breakdown.  That doesn’t mean that the theory is bogus. 

If I had 500 True Fans (and hopefully I will sooner rather than later), then I could never get a TV/Film placement again and be fine financially. 

But, that’s the beauty (and reality) of it.  You don’t have to depend solely on those True Fans.  They are the foundation of what you do.  They give you security.  But, then you’ve got all these other peripheral revenue streams to compliment and build that foundation.

AH:  How do you use analytics to your advantage? What are your measurable online results, and how do your measures help you with your music career?

JR: I’m a big data geek, but I realize most people aren’t.  If someone just wants basic info that might open their eyes and answer some questions, the “Insights” section of your Facebook Fan Page is a great place to start.  It’s fairly basic, but it’s got some great info that can help an artist begin to shape their target audience profile.

AH: . On a scale of 1 to 10, would you say you share a lot (a 10) or are you guarded in what you exposure on social media sites about yourself and your personal life?

JR: I share things that I would want to hear from an artist.  As long as you’re personal at some level, you’re using Twitter correctly.  A fan doesn’t know what you’re leaving out.

AH: What would you say to a fellow musician, that thinks that Twitter is just sharing “eating a tuna sandwich”  and is stupid?

JR: Not much.  I got tired of trying to help artists that don’t want to help themselves a while back.  The reality is, if they don’t see the value in it, then they aren’t going to use it usefully.  Therefore, for them, it would be stupid.

Come hang with Secrets In Stereo

Official Website – http://www.secretsinstereo.com

Twitter - @SecretsInStereo

Facebook Page – http://www.facebook.com/secretsinstereo

So many artists ask me how to get their music placed in Film & Tv and Josh is blogging in deep detail about his experiences and hopefully he will give us all some pointers for how to generate placements. Josh is writing a series of detailed blogs on www.sortednoise.com based on his experiences up to this point, as well as about his experiences over the next 4 months as he writes, records, promotes, and releases his next new album.  He says about  the blog posts: “I’m basically talking more in detail on what I’m referring to here in these answers. It’s going to be focused on TV/Film placement.” 

Here are the links to the first two…

http://www.sortednoise.com/a-living-breathing-case-study-of-a-diy-artist-part-1-meet-the-artist/

http://www.sortednoise.com/a-living-breathing-case-study-of-a-diy-artist-part-2-3-things-that-have-let-me-quit-my-day-job/