IOTM Blog
Posted: Mar 26, 2018
Category: Marketing
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**Guest post written by Lucie Watson of Platoon.
"If you’re working in the music industry as an artist, manager, label, distributor or any other field you’ve probably had or heard a conversation about the power of Spotify playlists. Some questions I frequently get asked are “how can I get on Spotify’s playlists?” or “how can I get on New Music Friday?” or “when can I start to see playlist additions?”. What I’d love to tell artists and managers is that it’s easy...but more often than not the response I give is this: there’s no way I can guarantee placement on a playlist ahead of a release."
View Full ArticlePosted: Jan 29, 2018
Category: Marketing
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**Guest post written by Scott Aumann, originally featured on The Legit Musician blog.
"Find out what your fans want by asking them. I learned this little tip by following online guru Michael Hyatt. He does a reader survey every year, and he learns how to run his business from the results. Don’t be afraid to ask your fans what they want. Most of the time, they will be excited to share this info with you. It will make them feel more connected to you as well."
Posted: Sep 11, 2017
Category: Music Streaming
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**Guest post written by Corey Koehler, an indie singer-songwriter from Minnesota, as featured in his blog MusicGoat.com.
"Do you think a Spotify payment like .004891 cents per play sucks? Then you are gonna love this…" View Full Article
Posted: Jun 19, 2017
Category: The Musician Business
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**Guest post by Vinnie Hines of Artist Collective.
"It’s almost understood that if you’re a musician, you’re likely unemployed, homeless, broke or all three. I deal with it constantly when people ask what I do for a living. Though I love writing and booking, I will always and forever identify as a “musician.” It’s my passion and my purpose and here’s the kicker: I’m not broke. The reason for that, is that I have approached my music like a business from the get-go." View Full Article
Posted: Mar 13, 2017
Category: Online Presence
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**Guest post written by Wes of Bandzoogle.com.
"SEO is one of those mysterious and challenging topics for musicians who want to use search engines to promote their music, and who understand how powerful it can be. If SEO matters to you, but you're not sure where to start or how to do it: we have something great to give you..." View Full Article
Posted: Mar 6, 2017
Category: Facebook
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**Guest post written by Josh Klemons, digital storyteller and strategist of Reverbal Communications.
"If you spend time on social media, you’re probably familiar with Facebook Live, a relatively new Facebook tool that allows you to broadcast live—in real time—directly to your audience...Facebook, at least for the time being, is extremely committed to this tool and is offering all implementers a powerful free gift for using it: guaranteed exposure and engagement! Here are 5 ways to use Facebook Live to greatly expand your band’s reach..."
View Full ArticlePosted: Feb 6, 2017
Category: Social Media
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**Guest post by Doug Beney, lead editor of MIDI Lifestyle.
"You've been improving your skills for months, spending countless hours slaving over your DAW, perfecting every slight detail in your mix. Finally happy with your track, you publish it on Soundcloud, sit back, and.....Crickets...What I hope to provide you with today are some quick, practical improvements you can make in how you promote your music that will actually get you results..."
View Full ArticlePosted: Jan 17, 2017
Category: Marketing
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**Guest post written by Nicholas Rubright of Dozmia.
This is the last part of "50 Ways to Promote Your Music and Grow Your Fanbase".
View Full ArticlePosted: Jan 9, 2017
Category: Marketing
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**Guest post written by Nicholas Rubright of Dozmia.
This is a continuation of last week's post "50 Ways to Promote Your Music and Grow Your Fanbase - Part 1".
View Full ArticlePosted: Jan 3, 2017
Category: Marketing
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**Guest post written by Nicholas Rubright of Dozmia.
"Succeeding in the music industry is hard work. You're competing with literally millions of people crawling their way to the top. However, most of these people don't know how to effectively market themselves or their music...Instead, set yourself apart from the crowd by learning all you can about different music marketing tactics, and treating your music career as a business. Here's a list of 50 music marketing strategies to get you started..."
View Full ArticlePosted: Dec 19, 2016
Category: Social Media
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**Guest post written by Ari Herstand, the author of How To Make It in the New Music Business. It originally appeared on Ari's Take.
"I get it. It’s so annoying every time a new social site pops up or updates their platform and then you have to completely relearn it (or start to lean in). The DIY world was a hell of a lot simpler when there was just one social network that mattered: Myspace. But those years are behind us. Let me help you make some sense of this all before we dig into it..." View Full Article
Posted: Dec 5, 2016
Category: Marketing
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**Guest post written by Wade Sutton of Rocket to the Stars.
"What I am going to talk about in this article is rooted so deeply in common sense yet so few bands actually do it. Your live show will ALWAYS be your most powerful tool when it comes to marketing your music, your merchandise, your music brand, and getting people to sign up for your e-mail or text lists..."
View Full ArticlePosted: Nov 14, 2016
Category: Marketing
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**Guest post written by Joshua Powell, singer-songwriter, DIY musician, and frontman for Joshua Powell and the Great Train Robbery, as featured in his blog Fearsome Folk.
"When Tom (Myspace) and the gang fell behind in the social race, Facebook successfully jockeyed for the top social spot, but was slow to adapt to the segment of music marketing that their predecessor had cornered so adroitly. It never felt as personal. Third party plugin apps confused us. And even though Myspace was on its last legs back in ’09, it feels like Facebook still hasn’t caught up. Certain bands are more active on Twitter or Instagram, or else funnel the bulk of their resources into apps, email campaigns, or good old-fashioned websites. Bands’ pages can be tough to find, navigate, or engage. But for all its problems, we’re stuck with the ‘book' for the foreseeable future—for better or worse." View Full Article
Posted: Oct 10, 2016
Category: Online Distribution
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**Guest post written by Corey Koehler, an indie singer-songwriter from Minnesota, as featured in his blog MusicGoat.com.
"Here’s the good news: These days if you want to sell music online it is pretty damn easy. You find a nice music distribution service, upload your songs and BAM… you are worldwide. Your music is blasted out all over the world in less than an hour. Here's the bummer..." View Full Article
Posted: Sep 6, 2016
Category: Online Presence
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**Guest post written by Nicholas Rubright of Dozmia.
"Even if your website is well optimized for search engines, it’s unlikely that people who have never heard of you are going to specifically search for you or your website. Because of this, the best way to generate new, well targeted website traffic is to start blogging...Here are some topics you can blog about that can help drive more organic, relevant traffic to your website."
View Full ArticlePosted: Aug 1, 2016
Category: Marketing
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**Guest post written by Corey Koehler, an indie singer-songwriter from Minnesota, as featured in his blog MusicGoat.com.
"It is not a bad place to network with other musicians. They have a few decent tools. And its nice to have some links back to my website and other social media properties. If you are just starting out and testing the waters, you could do a lot worse. But if you want to get serious about marketing online, building your fan base, and growing your music career, you should be thinking beyond ReverbNation. Especially when it comes to your email marketing." View Full Article
Posted: Jul 12, 2016
Category: Social Media
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**Guest post written by Andrew Jones of Checkered Owl Media.
"I’ve been meaning to write a blog for a while about how CRITICAL video is becoming to Facebook, but this week I read 3 important pieces of news confirming that Facebook is going full focus on video, so it’s time to actually get this out. I’ll keep it fairly tight, but, if it’s going to get TLDR (Too Long; Didn't Read) for you let’s make this super clear, if you want to be successful at social media moving forward Facebook video better be a part of your plans..." View Full Article
Posted: Jul 5, 2016
Category: The Musician Business
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**Guest Post by Bret Alexander of The Badlees and Saturation Acres.
"I have always said that the best way to break up a band is to make a record. I’ve seen it a hundred times. A bunch of guys have a rock and roll dream. The band gets all excited and starts diligently writing songs. They save up some money...Then, they do the recording. Then, they put together the artwork. Then, they plan the release party. Then……. About two weeks or so after the release party the phone calls start coming in. The band is depressed. At this point they ask the question that whole empires have risen and fallen on: Now what?"
View Full ArticlePosted: Jun 27, 2016
Category: Merch
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**Guest post written by Jessica Kane, a music connoisseur and an avid record collector. She currently writes for SoundStage Direct, her go-to place for all turntables and vinyl equipment, including VPI Classic.
"The modern musical industry may be almost entirely digital, but this does not mean that streaming songs or downloading audio files is the best way to listen to music. Though they are not the main method of experiencing music anymore, vinyl album sales actually continue to grow, and modern vinyl sales levels have not been this high since 1988. Audiophiles might insist that vinyl is better because it sounds nicer, but there are also several other reasons why it is the superior format..."
View Full ArticlePosted: Feb 16, 2016
Category: The Musician Business
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**Guest post written by Sylvana Joyce, NYC based indie artist, originally featured in her blog Scenipedia.
"Let's face it. I'm not Lady GooGoo and I'm not rolling in the deep, deep cavern of Scrooge McDucklike's money vault. But I am a small indie band who has built an intimate fan base from the ground up - enough of a fanbase that I was able to raise $2000 in less than 24 hours to fund my debut album. So let's say I have something to say on the subject of oh, being a successful indie band...here are the 10 things I think are important to making sure you're on the right track as a band and to make sure you have a long and prosperous career where you continue to grow and shoot for greatness..." View Full Article
Posted: Dec 7, 2015
Category: Marketing
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**Guest Post written by Alan VanToai, Co-Founder of www.CrewFire.com (turn your existing fans into your Facebook and Twitter ambassadors).
When you think visionary brands, who comes to mind? Probably Apple, Red Bull, or Nike… right? Well, how about we add one more to the mix: The Grateful Dead...Long before social media or digital marketing ever came into play, they employed viral marketing, social networking, and word-of-mouth marketing...50 years later, the game has changed – but the principles are the same. And word-of-mouth remains one of the most powerful marketing strategies out there.
View Full ArticlePosted: May 4, 2015
Category: Merch
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**Guest post written by Carlos Castillo of Schwilly Family Musicians - music marketing strategist, web designer, live performance recordist, international road-tripper, lap steel player, and Captain of the Schwilly Family.
""Don't rely on the promoters. As long as you put on a killer show and have killer merch, you'll always have enough gas to make it to the next stop"...The bottom line is that if you want to be a professional musician, you should have a solid merch setup and promote it effectively at your gigs. Because it might be the only money you make that night..."
View Full ArticlePosted: Mar 30, 2015
Category: Merch
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**Guest post written by Ari Herstand. It originally appeared on Ari's Take.
"It was a great show [Low Cut Connie at the Echo]. So naturally I stopped by the merch table afterwards to get their vinyl and a T...when she told me the price for the vinyl and T I thought there must be some kind of mistake. $27?! For both? No way. They were charging $13 for the vinyl and $14 for the T. Way too low!..." View Full Article
Posted: Jan 6, 2015
Category: Advanced Ticketing
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**Guest post written by Joy Ike, creator of Grassrootsy.com and Independent Musician, as featured on Grassrootsy.com.
"Oftentimes people don’t understand the importance of pre-sales...But pre-sales are important because they help you the artist gauge how well your promo is going, help the venue determine how busy the night is and how many employees they need to staff the room, and help both you and the venue determine if it will be a well-attended, successful show. Here are some tips for encouraging pre-sales and making sure your show is a success even before it even happens..."
View Full ArticlePosted: Oct 20, 2014
Category: Online Presence
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**Guest post written by Randy Young from the Ottawa based rock band Cherry Suede.
"Using storylines to create context for your content boosts its relevance to your audience. The result? More fans, sales, and profits!"
View Full Article