Strategies

Browsing my Google Reader today I stumbled into Kyle Bylin’s interview with Jay Frank of Futurehit.DNA and CMT (a division of MTV Networks) at hypebot. Jay’s new book “FutureHit.DNA - How The Digital Revolution Is Changing Top 10 Songs” you can download for free on his site.

Well, of course the digital revolution has changed music. But there are some claims of his that I do not necessarily agree to in the way Jay puts it. It’s a bit of context that’s missing.

First of all, you might easily forget about the fact that he’s talking about chart music only. During the interview I can’t help getting the feeling the majority of musicians (from Jay’s point of view) are merely in it for the money. Rules to follow, issues to avoid - just to make sure your song makes the Top 10.

Honestly, the probability any song makes it there is very low. Let’s face it: It’s near zero. You might as well spend your time and money on lotteries.

Continue reading "Why Jay Frank (FutureHit.DNA/CMT) Fails: It's..." »

Georgia Wonder is Stephanie Grant from London and Julian Moore from Portsmouth. We got to know each other via Andrew Dubber’s blog and Twitter. You’re searching for a pop/rock/folk band serving beautiful tunes and a brilliant female voice - buy their tracks. You can even choose if and how much to pay for downloads. Or you may order a physical copy.

Julian Moore and Stephanie are never short of clever ideas to add to their marketing. And they are really running the marketing themselves. Blogs, videos, Bandcamp, iTunes, We7, Twitter, homepage, mailings (email as well as snail mail), Facebook etc. - it is time consuming but they’re constantly connected to their fans.

Continue reading "DIY-Marketing #3: Georgia Wonder Serving Fresh..." »

I started this article two days ago (which isn’t quite correct because I started writing it about a week ago), though I have yet to come to the main part - the lessons themselves. Hope you enjoy, have your read.
Continue reading "Music Business: Lessons In Free Strategies From..." »

If talking to independent musicians about the benefits of distributing content for free you most certainly will come across four arguments in monolithic defense.


Please note: I won’t discuss copyright issues in here. But no matter if you give away your song for free to billions of people or if you sell a licence to one company - your copyright in your song remains unaffected. Please keep that in mind.

Continue reading "Music Business: Lessons In Free Strategies From..." »

Is this provocative to ask? Well, yes. No. Depends on. Of course everyone has his ups and downs. Yet there’s more to it. Because nobody has the skills to be creative in every field. Or is there a sculptor in your band who is perfect in weaving tapestries, writing scripts for plays at the Old Vic, and at the same time artfully handling his stock shares himself and piling up his riches at the Caimans?

So why do I ask?

I’m not talking about finding a strategy or business model here. It is the very basic that comes first: ideas. Sounds simple, but be prepared for hard efforts. You know for yourself that ideas just won’t pop up when handy.

Continue reading "DIY-Marketing #2: Can Artists Be Creative?" »

Actually, I intended to start out with suggestions in DIY marketing for artists today. Suggestions I would have come up with by myself.

Then Amanda Palmer posted her response to the feedback her posting on donations generated. Anyone: Read her response. In full. It is essential and the basics to everything I can tell you. Some of it she already mentioned at Berlin’s all2gethernow.

For all those who don’t have the time to read through Amanda’s terrific response I’m going to highlight some parts.

On her website, Amanda has a page called “The Till”. Anybody who’s willing to can pay any amount as a donation. If you pay you will get no CD, merch or whatsoever.



Why to pay anything? Does she really think there are people crazy enough doing so? - That’s what you might think.

my cellist friend zoe keating (@zoecello), who more or less runs her own business out of her house (and isn’t signed), told me a few days ago on the phone that people have been ordering multiple CDs directly from her website and simply putting, in the comments section of paypal “PLEASE DON’T MAIL ME THESE CDS - i just wanted to send $40 because i want to support you!”.

Please note: Zoe Keating is a rather unknown artist. If you’re regularly reading liner notes though, you may have read her name on covers of Amanda’s works as well as Rasputina’s and others.

Continue reading "DIY-Marketing #1: Amanda Palmer's Basics in..." »

Deutscher Artikel: Siehe “Der Tagesspiegel” vom 26.07.2009. Continue reading "Die gute Tat der Piraten - von Kolja Reichert" »

I just stumbled upon this via an article at TechDirt. But, it’s Trent Reznor again who has something to say - and it’s absolutely essential to every musician out there. Maybe labels might consider reading it too. It’s his “thoughts on what to do as a new / unknown artist” these days.

Funny thing is, when posting this to the NIN forum Reznor obviously was on his way to Luxembourg... I’m still suffering from the aggressive light show yesterday. But the NIN gig was a pure intoxication of virtuosity & entertainment.

Reznor’s point is straight forward and easy to understand.

Bottom line is, master music & online tools, work hard, deliver something good - and sell something unique other than music. Because you can’t rely on selling (recorded) music in itself. Music is ubiquitous. And it’s free. Cash is about extras.

Some advice by Reznor is about what to avoid and what to do in particular. The aspects he mentions do remind me a lot of Andrew Dubber’s ebook “The 20 Things You Must Know About Music Online”. For a free download go here for the English version (German version).

The interview is now online on Vimeo in full (German language). To view part 4 & 5 right here on this site, just click the link for more. To read any article related to the interview, simply click the tag for Wolfram Huschke.
Continue reading "Cellonaut: On Music Industry, Self-Marketing,..." »

[Deutsche Version] Earlier in March, I mentioned Michael Masnick was about to hold a keynote presentation at Leadership Music Digital Summit 2009 in Nashville. He announced to update the case study on Trent Reznor (= Nine Inch Nails) he presented at Midem, which was simply brilliant. So the expectation of extending a presentation of this quality requires full attention.

I was hoping for another video of the presentation, and yes, finally here it is. While the first one ran 15 minutes, the keynote clocks in at almost 30 minutes – and every second is worth it. After Midem’s presentation, one of the main issues many people had was about how Reznor’s business model could not apply to less known artists building upon a much smaller fanbase. Hence, Masnick’s pays tribute to this and takes into account several musicians from different success levels.

No spoilers here, just sit back and watch it. And have some good laughs.

Unfortunately, if you’re a major label’s executive chances are you might not be amused at all.

This video is essential for learning.




Leadership Music Digital Summit 2009
Mike Masnick keynote address, 3/25/09
from Leadership Music Digital Summit on Vimeo