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The internet has revolutionized the way we do business. You can start
an online business for less than $100.00 and start earning a decent
amount of income off of it. Because of this, there has been an explosion
in the ‘Internet Marketing’ world. I don’t consider myself an internet
marketer, but I’ve studied many of them and have learned some ‘out of the
box’ techniques that you can easily apply towards bands. Here are just a
few of the many tips I can give you:

• Give First
  
  One way to get something from other is to give
  to them first. In music, one way to build a fan base is to play at venues
  that do not charge a cover and invite people to come as your guest. You
  definately don’t want to play a lot of venues for free, so you need to
  somehow communicate that you are doing this for your audience without
  saying it outright. You could say, “Hey guys, just to show you are appreciation,
  Flaming Onions would like to personally invite you to this special
  concert just for you! It’s totally free, so bring your friends and we’ll
  see you there!” They will come, because they believe that this is a gift
  from you and the won’t want to miss out!

  Another way to give first is through our products. Giving away products
  has gotten a lot easier since the development of the internet. Digital
  music is HUGE! Better yet, it costs nothing to duplicate. Have you thought
  about giving away one or two songs from your new album? What do you think
  would happen if you did, and left your fan’s favorites available only if
  they purchased it? First of all, they’re going to love the fact that you
  gave them part of your album for free! It’s almost like a free trial that
  they get to keep. Because you were willing to do this for them, they will
  be more likely to buy it from you. Give first, and they will give
  back to you!

• Cross-selling/Up-selling
  
  Have you ever gone to McDonalds, ordered
  a burger and received the question, “Would you like fries with that?” Have
  you ever ordered one of their value meals and received the question “Would
  you like to Super-Size that?” What you heard, while innocent enough, was an
  amazing marketing concept that has been used by online merchants everywhere!
  
  It is a way to increase sales to the same customer (who has bought a product)
  by introducing other products in your product range. If customers buy a Flaming
  Onions CD, you can ask if they want to buy a Flaming Onions t-shirt as well.
  Seems simple enough, but let’s think a little more out of the box. Let’s say the
  Flaming Onions’ CD sells for $15 and brings in a profit of $10 per album. Let’s
  also assume that their t-shirts sell for $10 and bring in a profit of $6 per shirt.
  What if the Flaming Onions Value Pack (consisting of 1 autographed CD, 1 tshirt, and
  the album emailed to them in MP3 format with bonus track for their iPod and a desktop
  background pic for their computer) sells for $25? I’m willing to bet that this approach
  sells more. The digital products, as I mentioned above, cost nothing to duplicate.
  You profit would be the same, but I guarantee you would sell more!
• Email List
  
  This is probably the most important tool that is used
  by online businesses. Internet Marketers swear by email lists and base many, if not
  all, of their systems around them. The concept is simple, you offer a list for fans
  to keep track of your band and all they have to do is give you their Name and email
  address. You now have a way to directly communicate to them, and better yet, they
  wanted it! You can promote upcoming shows and album releases. You can create
  contests and drawings for those that are signed up. You can give those who are signed
  up a special discount on merchandise. The possibilities are endless. One thing to
  remember is to only send them things they would want to know. They signed up to hear
  more about you, so they don’t want to receive any forwards stating that if they sign
  up for this offer, they can receive a free laptop, blah, blah, blah! Don’t abuse your
  list. Take care of them. This is an elite group of people who wanted to be a part of
  your success, so treat them that way.

Like I said these are just a few things you can do to market your music online (and even
a little offline). Be creative and have fun with it. To help you out, here are a few
resources to check out:

• GigMinder: MySpace
  Edition - a free, automated mailing list for MySpace bands
• Music
  Marketing Cheat Sheet Deluxe Package - discover the secret formulas that the most
  successful Internet marketers have used to make vast fortunes online applied to musicians!
• The Professional Musician’s Internet Guide - The bible for musicians
  wishing to take advantage of all of the opportunities the Internet offers for promotion,
  sale and distribution of music

FullTimeBand.com is a company that was started in June, 2006 with a simple automated mailing list program called GigMinder. GigMinder was created for a musician friend and was used to remind fans of upcoming gigs for the coming week. FullTimeBand.com has made this tool available for all bands and fans to use for free. FullTimeBand.com is planning on creating many more tools to assist bands in aiding in their everyday promotional and management chores. You may vist their site at http://www.fulltimeband.com. You can sign up fot eh GigMinder - MySpace Edition for FREE at http://www.fulltimeband.com/msgigminder.

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Where to begin? How can I put you off this awful profession? Many ignorant people think that any kind of placement in the Top Ten is a guarantee of easy money, easy sex and hard drugs. Let me state at the outset: Most bands are skint, smelly, underfed and too wrecked to engage successfully in sexual congress.

And that’s the successful ones.

Pop music isn’t a career, it’s an obsession, an excuse not to get a proper, paying job. For me it started in secondary school. From then on I committed a number of sins against the great Goddess Fortuna which have doomed me to be a ‘never-were’. Here are the things I should have done. Read on and wise up.

1. Start Young.

Take up an instrument at the latest in your early teens, or don’t bother. By the time you’re old enough to order a pint in a bar or club, you should be proficient enough to get a gig there and not embarrass yourself. Assuming you have talent, that is. If you leave it too late you’ll not be proficient enough to earn a living from your muse.

2. Have Talent.

Lots of people can get by in pop, it’s simple music. If, however, your friends and early audiences think your music is ‘all right’, if you keep having to make excuses for your performances every effing gig, then TAKE A HINT! Give up, get back to college, you self-deluding fool! Better yet, learn a trade that people really _want_, _and_ which you can make good money at.

Listen to that small still voice in the night. It knows.

3. Pop Music Is Not Art.

In some ways it’s Art’s antithesis. Artists strive to authentically represent their own subjectivity. Pop musicians just want to get laid and paid. It’s vulgar and Pop-ulist. It’s what gets people to crowd onto the dancefloor and what they roar along to on a drunken Friday night.

So don’t disappear up your own backside, Mr Marylin-Manson-Morrisey-Wannabe. We won’t be sending out search parties.

4. Save Your Money.

One of the worst ways of spending money in this game is in other people’s studios. Most studios in Britain are staffed by under-qualified chancers who say, for example, that, sure, they can sync your two workstations to their 24 track tape machine so you can do some vocal overdubs and a mix all in a 10 hour session at

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Whether you’re a music manager or an aspiring musician, I believe you should always hope for the best when you sign your music management contract. After all, your partnership signals the beginning of some very great things. With lots of hard work and a little time, a manager and a musician can accomplish a lot together.

Of course, it doesn’t always work out that way. The reality is that even successful musicians don’t always stay with the manager that brought them to the first big break in their careers. Managers and clients often separate when a record label demands that a signed act bring in experienced supervision before cutting an advance check. Other times, managers that are tremendously effective for clients in their home region can get stretched too far when their clients start touring nationally. And, in the worst cases, managers and clients start behaving poorly towards each other after a personal dispute.

Whatever the reason for a split between a music manager and an artist, both parties must protect themselves from exploitation by adopting a “sunset clause” in their music management contract. A sunset clause recognizes the contribution that a manager has made to an artist’s career, while leaving the door open for artists to effectively void their agreement and work with other professional advisers.

In most cases, the “sunset” refers to the amount of commission paid to a manager over the two years after a split. Most music industry professionals agree that it can take two years for a band and their new management to put a new strategy in place. Therefore, a sunset clause typically grants the old manager full commission for six months following the split, stepped down by a third every six months until the former manager no longer can claim a commission.

Without a sunset clause, a band could split with their management and still find themselves liable for paying commissions of twenty percent or more for a period of up to seven years. Some unscrupulous managers sign deals with clients, only to perform no duties and sue for management commissions. On the other hand, an effective manager can use the sunset clause to recoup their investment of time and money when a client becomes successful enough to warrant signing on with a larger, more experienced management team. The sunset clause forces both parties to take their relationship seriously, while allowing for the possibility that a band and their manager might grow apart before the end of their traditional seven-year contract term.

Joe Taylor Jr. has written four books about the music business for aspiring musicians, including Music Management for the Rest of Us. You can learn more about professional music management contracts at: http://www.musicmanagementfortherestofus.com/contracts/

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