The Evolvor Music Marketing Manifesto for 2010

Posted by Eric Hebert on Mar 13, 2010 in Marketing | Comments

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Hello students & clients of mine – whether you’re just jumping on board the Evolvor train or have been with me for a few years, I hope I’ve proven through working with you that I have the knowledge and ability to help you in your music endeavors. It’s a tough, tough world out there I know, and without a zillion dollars to dump into marketing and advertising, trying to “make it” seems near impossible. And I would agree that it is.

Now, I’d like to think I have a pretty good grasp on things, but working with my partner Greg Rollett on Label 2.0 for the past 8 months has opened my mind to new marketing concepts that, while they have always kind of existed in my large brain of knowledge, maybe never were tried or mentioned to you before.

More so because I know many of you don’t or won’t take this advice because of our programmed assumption of what the music business model is. However, after seeing where marketing is going and what the business really is all about (the “new music economy”, as Greg as dubbed it), I have to make sure that you are all understand where it’s going and what you can do to be a part of it.

I’d like to think I’ve had success with each of you, maybe more than others, in understanding how the web works, understanding SEO, social media, driving traffic, etc. I’ve even preached the value of building the email list and how this is ever so important. We’ve even tackled the distribution channels and most of you are distributing music directly to your fans.

And while all of this is wonderful stuff, and I’m sure you’re all grateful for what I’m teaching you, at the end of the day, you’re still small time bands, trying to make it in a big, big world. Not even the brightest of marketing minds by himself can make you go from part-time musician to full time rockstar.

The truth is, unless you’re already touring consistently, just sitting around waiting for the right person to hear your music or counting the new Facebook friends you’ve just acquired isn’t going to cut it. Even the free track you are using to entice someone to hear you, and hopefully buy your album, isn’t going to cut it.

The point I’m trying to get across to all of you is this:

YOU ARE NOT GOING TO MAKE ANY MONEY SELLING YOUR MUSIC UNTIL YOU ARE ESTABLISHED

That’s it, I said it. Unless you have money to dump into promotion, it’s not happening. 90% of music downloaded online is pirated. No one has ever heard of you and no one really cares. Why should we buy your music?

In order to charge money for something, it has to have VALUE. And when it comes to building value in music, that is a very, very hard thing to do.

So how do you build value in music?

Well, first and foremost, value is built in the studio. From songwriting, to performance, to the actual production, a good solid recording is the first step in building value.

Think about it. Everyone sells their downloads on iTunes or what have you for the same price, but not everyone spends the same amount to create those recordings, do they?

I laugh when I hear of Joe Schmo artist who can’t sell a track off iTunes, knowing he spent $200 to record it. What about my other friend who spent $20,000 to record his?

So you gotta ask yourself right off the bat, does my recording have any production value?

The second, and unfortunately most important part of building the value of your music, is to create the DEMAND for it.

Now, their are 2 ways to create demand.

1. Grassroots style. Tour your ass off, rock THEIR asses off, shake a lot of hands, and slowly build that rabid fan base over the course of a couple of years. If you work hard enough and do it right, if you really create an experience for anyone that sees you, word of mouth will spread and you will have created some demand for your music, where people hear about you and want to be a part of it and are willing to pay money for it.

2. Major label, Super Exposure style. We’re talking radio, MTV, billboards, interviews, in other-wards plastering your ass everywhere to the point where everyone goes “I have to have that”. This is accomplished by spending hundreds of thousands of dollars in order to get EVERYBODY to go out and buy your music.

So there you have it. Either get in the van and go out and make it happen, or find someone to dump $500,000 into you. Those are your 2 options.

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OK, so you don’t think you can do either of those. I understand – not everyone can tour their asses off; that shit is hard. AND let’s be real, the chances of you getting a million dollars from a Label is a pie-in-the-sky dream as well.

SO what are you to do?

I’ll give you 2 more options on how you can create value (I know, I lied). However, one is one more way to create value for your music, and the other is a way to create value for the owner of the local McDonalds.

1. You just give your music away. If you can’t tour and have no money to promote yourself, this is how you can create that value. Sounds crazy, I know. Wouldn’t you be de-valuing your music?

Yes and no. I’d say give it away to the first 50,000 people that you can, if you can work hard enough to get there, and then see what happens. Even if you never get a cent from selling the tunes, you sure as hell can sell a zillion other things to those people along the way. Hell, maybe you can put together some small tours now that you have fans who want to see you play!

Whatever the case, you’re creating an expereince with people by giving them your songs, all for a measly little email address. If they are good, and the people fall in love with them, and tell their friends to them, and laugh and cry to them, then you have something special, you have hope, you have a reason to keep creating music. Once the fans are there, the money and business side will come.

2. You decide that Eric is crazy and continue trying to sell your “CD” or maybe direct some traffic to that iTunes link. You occasionally play shows. Your work your ass off anytime a new possible promotional opportunity presents itself. Months and years roll by and you’re still in the same boat. This situation is the result of you not focusing on the most important aspect of this business – the fan. SO as a result, you do nothing but create value for the local McDonalds, because that’s the only place you can afford to eat (and your biggest fan just so happens to be the owner).

So if you’re ready to actually focus on the things that mean anything in this business – creating your music and getting it into the hands of as many people as you can (isn’t that what it’s all supposed to be about?), then here is the process you need to take in 2010:

1. Set up a “squeeze”page on your website. Greg’s opened my eyes to the power of these pages; I’ve seen them a million times before, but no one’s really done them with music but they really do work!

Here’s the concept – on one side of the page is a short video of you introducing yourself and asking the viewer to simply sign up to your email list, and then they’ll get a free copy of your album. That’s it in a nutshell.

2. Network the shit out of your website, with the main goal being getting people to that damn squeeze page. It’s all about collecting email addresses. This is where social networking, social media, viral marketing, all of that stuff comes into play. Drive traffic and convert that traffic into email addresses. Entice your newly aquired fans to tell their friends and build, build, build that list.

That’s it. That’s your goal for this year. You know what’s gonna happen if you were to just focus on this? Your list would grow everyday, and it will make you happier then a pig-in-shit. You’ll get to see people everyday downloading your music and loving it, sharing it, talking about it. At some point, you’ll forget that you’re still working that dead end job and can’t keep the electric paid on time – none of that shit will matter because you know you’re making a difference in someone’s life, and you can’t put a price tag that.

And if you can make it this far, THEN you know you have something special. THEN you can come up with something to turn that list into a business. Maybe it’s a new album, maybe it’s creative merch, maybe it’s a digital fan club – whatever it is, if you have the following and create the demand, you’ll be able to generate revenue out of it.

But you have to start somewhere, so starting today, let’s just focus on the important part, ok?

Here’s to your success in 2010.

P.S. have to shout out to Todd for letting me steal his terminology all the time!