Madalyn's Blog

by Madalyn Sklar

We all know that Facebook has become quite popular with more and more musicians flocking to it. It's so different from Myspace. With Mypace we see results quickly and can reach so many at one time. My take on Facebook is it's slow going but very useful. I believe that Facebook has established a place for indie bands, artists and music businesses. For months I have been spending a great deal of time reading blogs and articles on Facebook and looking for ways to maximize its potential. I was excited to find an eBook simply called Facebook Marketing. It's geared for musicians and is filled with many useful tips on how to get the most out of Facebook.

When I read this paragraph on their web site, I was compelled to buy the eBook.

These Facebook marketing techniques come from years of experience; they aren’t screwy tips like “message your friends” or “write on their wall,” and this isn’t a flaky ebook. They are hand-picked and customized, being the most effective and efficient techniques for Facebook marketing.

I bought it and was impressed. Yes, I learned new things!

This eBook, Facebook Marketing, is a valuable investment for only $16.49. See for yourself. It's on my recommended list.

Copyright © 2009 Madalyn Sklar, IndieMusicCoach.com

Madalyn Sklar is a music business coach & consultant, blogger, social networks expert and author. She has spent over 13 years helping independent musicians and music business professionals achieve greater success. Her motto is: working smarter not harder. She also founded GoGirlsMusic.com, the oldest + largest online community of indie women musicians.

Madalyn's Sites:
IndieMusicCoach
GoGirlsMusic.com
Social Networks for Musicians

Follow Madalyn @ Twitter / Facebook / LinkedIn

Labels: bands, Facebook, marketing, myspace

Hey Indie Bands & Music Businesses:

Having a Myspace page is great but it takes a lot of precious time to really work it. Time that you can't spare. Wouldn't you rather work on your music or business while we promote you on Myspace? We have spent the last two and a half years working with indie artists and bands, helping them increase their presence on Myspace. In addition we have built an impressive Myspace page for GoGirls and our affiliate business sites. It has worked for us. It's worked for our artists and bands. It can work for you!

Basic Promotion Package:

We will add friends, post your bulletins and blogs, send messages and leave comments on your friends pages. You can expect increased exposure resulting in more profile views, song plays, comments and messages.

Increased Myspace Exposure = Increased Opportunities for You!

Get additional information and pricing at http://www.gogirlsmusic.com/promo

Rock on,
Madalyn Sklar
IndieMusicCoach.com
~providing one-on-one indie music consulting & coaching~
http://www.indiemusiccoach.com/

Madalyn Recommends:
	Using Myspace to...Promote You & Your Music (newly revised edition!) available in the GoGirls Music Store

Labels: bands, gogirls, indie, marketing, music, myspace, promotion

I get lots of information that relates to the music business. From time to time something really cools pops into my inbox. This is one of them...



Friends of ReverbNation,

I'm writing to tell you about our latest innovation a few days ahead of the official announcement. Its called 'TuneWidget', and it is live and available to our users today. Its our belief that this widget will become an indispensable tool in the music promotion and cross-promotion arsenals for artists, labels, and managers. Play around with a working sample here:
http://www.reverbnation.com/main/tunewidget_overview

What's so cool about it?

1. Its the closest thing to having an entire band website in a portable, sharable, trackable widget. It contains music, video, an interactive tour map, join the mailing list function, and more.... with more to come (including selling music).

2. The artist, label, or manager can customize the background image of the widget and change it whenever they want (thus changing the image in real-time on all outstanding widgets). This is an effective way to make real-time announcements about things like a new CD launch, tour, etc using the image as a communication vehicle.

3. The most unique, and arguably most important feature of Tunewidget is that it allows artists to cross-promote other artists to their fan base. Labels and managers understand the value of cross-promotion as a way of introducing new acts to their established fan bases, and for years artists have used the MySpace Top 8 as an effective way of recommending other artists. TuneWidget makes it easy for anyone to cross promote friends, label-mates, touring partners, etc. across the web as a whole. They can have any number of recommended artists in rotation at any time, and can change who they are recommending in real time. Clicking on the "recommended" artist at the bottom of the widget switches the widget to display the complete mini-site of the recommended artist (including songs, schedule, video, mailing list, etc).

Like everything else we build, the TuneWidget is tracked and comprehensive stats are reported back to the user.

Does it work as a promotion and cross-promotion tool?

Beta test results indicate that TuneWidget is extremely effective for both promotion and cross-promotion:

* Fans played the music at double the rate of other music widgets

* Fans stayed engaged longer with TuneWidget than other music widgets

* Fans switched to view recommended artists almost 50% of the time if they had played the primary artist's music

* Fans tended to listen to a significant portion of the song from the recommended artist when they switched to them

Update on ReverbNation.com

TuneWidget joins our other widgets, the My Band application at Facebook (creates a mini artist profile on your facebook page), the integrated music player at Freewebs, the TunePaks that send music via email and IM, the FanReach email system, and our Street Team module to create a complete online "hub" where artists, labels, and managers can base their promotional efforts and track the results.

Every metric on the website is growing at over 30% month over month, with artists adding over 1,500 songs each day. Growth is good and important, but we continue to focus on our "artist first" philosophy, believing that we can create a company that has real lasting value for the customers we serve.

Please feel free to ask me any questions you have about TuneWidget or anything else at ReverbNation.

Best,

Jed

Jed Carlson
Chief Marketing Officer
ReverbNation
jcarlson@reverbnation.com

501 Washington St.
Suite D
Durham, NC 27701
919-321-2268

Labels: bands, CD, indie, music, ReverbNation, share, tunewidget

Okay so you have submitted your band for a music conference but "uh oh" do you know where the conference is located at? What city and state? Do you care?

I just dealt with a band that submitted to a great opportunity we offered over at GoGirlsMusic.com. There was no submission fee. And if your band was selected you even got a FREE registration badge. Can you get any better than that?

So this band submits. They are offered the opportunity but don't confirm timely. After sending a second request to confirm they ask where is the conference located at.

Huh??

Okay call me um ignorant but what the hell?

I find out they live in Seattle, halfway across the country and had no intention of traveling. I know, it makes no sense. Why would you waste your time and that of others? I just don't get it.

I'm going to tell you this very, very nicely because I don't want you to make the same mistake...

Don't EVER submit to an event and not know where the hell it is! You will make a complete fool of yourself. People in the music business will not want to work with you.

My time was wasted because of this band's stupidity. Here is what you can learn from them.

Be smart. Open your eyes. Research. Respond timely.

Yeah it's simple.

Okay done with my rant...

Rock on,
Madalyn Sklar
IndieMusicCoach.com
~providing one-on-one indie music consulting & coaching~
http://www.indiemusiccoach.com/

Madalyn Recommends:
	Learn how to make the most of a music conference! Get the MP3 download! available in the GoGirls Music Store

Labels: bands, conferences, indie bands, music, stupid

Coming up next month is one of my favorites, the Dewey Beach Music Conference. There will be so many great opportunities to meet and network with lots of great industry people. But what do you need to do to prepare?

There are lots of things:

*Load up on business cards and CDs.
*Have pen/paper to take notes
*Bring flyers about your show & don't be afraid to pass them out
*Show up with a positive attitude
*SMILE - it will make a huge difference

I have two great resources available in the GoGirls Music Store that can help:

Music Conference Teleseminar Panel
Earlier this year I hosted a Music Conference Panel featuring Allie Shaw (Hyperactive), Angie DeVore (Dfest) and Vikki Walls (Dewey Beach). They dished out lots of information and advice on music conferences. Including a Q&A session with the audience!

Check out this teleseminar call and learn how to make the most of a music conference!



Using Myspace to...
create a buzz @ a music conference
In this e-Booklet I'll show you how to use Myspace to get attention at a music conference! I talk about image & branding as well as useful tips before, during & after the conference.

I also provide Myspace page examples plus details on how to track friend requests. You'll learn valuable tools in this e-Booklet!

Rock on,
Madalyn Sklar
IndieMusicCoach.com
~providing one-on-one indie music consulting & coaching~
http://www.indiemusiccoach.com/

Labels: artists, bands, conference, dewey beach, indie, madalyn sklar, music

Madalyn is available for one-on-one consulting and coaching at affordable prices. Check out http://www.indiemusiccoach.com/ for more info.

Madalyn Recommends:
	Teleseminar: Radio Tips for the Indie Artist Get the MP3 download! available in the GoGirls Music Store

Labels: bands, indie, motivation, musicians