Indie Advice
Music & Marketing Q&A: Watch It Live @ 7pm PST
Aug3102:44 PM
** UPDATED POST **
The video below is now the pre-recorded version from the live event.
Tune in tonight...Tuesday, August 31 at 7pm PST (10PM EST), to take part in our very first Live Video Q&A Session with Thorny Bleeder's Managing Partner, Brian Thompson, on the music industry, marketing, and any other questions you might have. And of course, it's 100% free!
Watch the live video & interactive chat right here on this very page. Just login with your Twitter, Facebook, AOL or MySpace login and you're good to go! I'll see you tonight...
Click To Read More...
19 Essential Artist Advice Blogs You May Have Missed
Aug3001:59 PM
We know, it’s summer and you don’t want to stay indoors all day everyday, staring at a computer screen and reading blogs about how you can improve your career in music. Well don’t worry, even if you missed some of our columns while relaxing on the beach, we’ve put together a great list of our previous Indie Artist Advice columns on The Bleeder Blog so you can get you all caught up.
Summer is almost over and Fall is quickly approaching. If you're an independent artist, now's the time to dive in and refocus your efforts for the last quarter of the year.
If these articles leave you hungry for more information and ideas, we do private one-on-one consultations. Maybe we can help you out! Even if you're not in our area (Vancouver), we also do sessions via Skype. Feel free to send us an email if you're interested: brian@thornybleeder.com
Ok, let's get to it. Dig in and enjoy...
Click To Read More...
LIVE Q&A on Music & Marketing with Brian Thompson
Aug2501:25 PM
Hey folks, I had a random little idea this morning and decided to waste no time and throw it into action immediately. And that's the beauty of the world we live in today, you can make anything happen almost instantly!
So, here it is. Starting this coming Tuesday, August 31 at 7pm PST (10PM EST), I'm going to launch a weekly Live Video Q&A Session on the music industry and marketing. And of course, it's 100% free.
So in order for this test to work, I need you to mark down this date and time in your calendar and show up on time...otherwise I'll just be sitting there staring blankly at an empty chat window, twiddling my thumbs.
It's an open forum, so feel free to ask me anything you like: advice, tips, suggestions, experiences, thoughts, ideas...you name it!
Click To Read More...
Top 10 Ways To Break Up Your Band
Jul0910:52 AM
I've worked with tons of bands over the years and one thing remains constant, they almost all breakup eventually. Sure, some can go the distance and outlast the others, but what sets them apart from the bands that just can't seem to keep it together and fall apart?
Well, if you hate the music you play and you want to break up your band, here's a quick checklist for you:
- Leave the business side of things to just one band member.
- Don't have regular band meetings.
- Don't educate yourself on marketing and promotion.
- Don't make a list of goals (and never revise them if you do).
- Don't utilize the power of social media and online networking tools.
- Don't take your band seriously as an entrepreneurial business.
- Don't network with other bands and industry people.
- Don't build a team of passionate and experienced people around you.
- Assume that potential fans, blogs, press, radio stations, labels and agents will find out about your band just because your music is so damn awesome.
- Don't respect your fans, and don't interact with them in the way "new media" empowers you to.
Top 10 Ways To Sell More Merch
May2711:42 AM
I remember reading an interview with the band D.R.I. many years ago, who said that if it wasn't for t-shirt sales they wouldn't be able to exist as a band. As a kid, I was shocked that a band wasn't able to survive on music sales and performances alone. And that was many years before music's digital revolution.
So here we are in 2010 and band merchandise is more import than ever. As an artist, independent or signed, merch is your lifeblood. It's your store front. It's where you make your money. It's where you connect with your fans. It's what gives your band a face on the streets.
Your merch table is your music career survival kit, and it deserves to be treated as such.
As a former music buyer for one of Canada's largest music chains, I spent many hours analyzing consumer behaviours and how people react to product placement, display techniques, and their affect on sales. It's not a hard thing to grasp, much of it is common sense: Make your shit look good and put it in a highly visible location.
So let's get to it. Here's my list on how you as an artist can make the most of your merchandise...
Click To Read More...
Watch It Grow: An Experiment In Digital Busking
May0702:59 PM
If you're a regular reader of The Bleeder Blog, you'll remember a blog we posted in late April titled: Vancouver Musician Cultivates Earth Day Interest. On Earth Day, April 22, Victoria singer/songwriter Scott Valentine hit the streets of Vancouver and handed out 19,000 digital songs via free download cards.
It's a little grassroots street level marketing campaign which I've decided to call Digital Busking (or if you prefer, Busking 2.0). So if you happen to hear this term pop up anywhere in the next couple of years, remember that you heard it here first!
Continue reading for exclusive photos and feedback from the event...Click To Read More...
How To Break Your Band: Social Media
Apr0210:22 AM
The following video is from social media marketing guru Gary Vaynerchuck from Wine Library TV, who I've mentioned before here. This guy is doing everything right with social media and he's created an amazing brand for not only himself, but his company too.
In only 4 minutes he successfully explains why you must embrace and exploit social media now to grow the profile of your business. While his thoughts are directed towards businesses, we all know that as a DIY artist in an independent band you face the exact same hurdles; reaching a new audience, gaining new fans, and monetizing your new followers to grow your business.
Watch this video, there's some important lessons here for everyone!
Click To Read More...
Top 31 Ways To Suck At Social Media Marketing
Mar2912:46 PM
If you want to truly SUCK at using social media, please follow this list closely and you'll be guaranteed limited exposure and zero online buzz!
Click To Read More...
Persistence Leads To Success
Sep2302:00 PM
As an artist you are just like any other entrepreneur, hoping that your passion and talent will lead to a sustaining career. But as with any entrepreneur, simply having a great product isn't enough.
How will people hear of what you have to offer? How will you develop a buzz around your music?
Creating a solid business and marketing plan with a clearly defined goal is the first step. But as you work through your plan and make all of the necessary calls, you'll undoubtedly be confronted with many closed doors and unanswered emails. This is where the majority of bands falter and begin to lose their way. They give up far too early and aren't prepared for the countless hours of working the finished product...your album.
So what sets successful artists and entrepreneurs apart from the rest of the pack? Persistence and perseverance. It may sound like an overused cliche, but it's the truth: Persistence leads to success.
Click To Read More...
How To Make Successful YouTube Videos
Sep0411:18 AM
I had a conversation with someone this morning about how to create successful viral vidoes for your band, so I figured I might as well share my thougths with everyone on The Bleeder Blog since it's something that most artists can improve upon.
In a world of expensive marketing and promotion campaigns, creating online video content for your band is a no brainer. It's inexpensive, quick and easy, and more often than not it leads to a source of discovery for new fans.
Click To Read More...
Metadata And The Name Of Your Band
Aug0504:46 PM
There's a new, major label Canadian band that just popped up recently, a product of Universal Music Canada and Much Music's "reality show" disBAND, and they're called Stereos. Their name actually sounds kinda cool. It's almost daring, to boldly name yourself after such an archetypical item of pop culture is risky.
Personally, I can't stand the band. Their music makes me angry. They're a young, hipster, tattooed band in skinny jeans and dayglo t-shirts that tries to look rock, yet they sing with a digital vocoder/auto-tuner thing, not unlike all of the poppy hip-hoppers. You know, that damn voice modulation thing, that dreadful device originally brought upon us by Cher (you know the song I'm talking about).
But the point of this post isn't to bash their music or their style (I'll save that for another post). The point I want to bring up and discuss is their name, Stereos, and whether it's a wise choice considering the time we're in, the age of Web 3.0?
The Online Artist Report Card
Jun1708:48 AM
Some of the things I discover online are far too important to just send a quick little tweet about, and this is one of them. In today's world of Web 2.0 and the development of independent artists, what you do in the online world is quite possibly the single most important aspect of your career.
Are you hunkering down at the computer every day, connecting with fans or trying to find new ones? Are you easy to find online? Is there enough interesting content about your band to keep fans interested and excited about what you're doing?
I found this Online Artist Report Card on the music marketing and social media blog Way Cool Jnr at this link, which was originally developed from Native Digital.
So if you're pursuing a career in music, take the following quiz and see how you measure up with 'Social Media Marketing'.Click To Read More...
Show Success Before Asking For Help
Jun1112:17 PM
Regardless of how everyone is probably sick of hearing all the press and buzz about Twitter, myself included, I continue to use it daily to spread music industry related news and articles, free mp3's, and tips for music marketing and promotion. To the uninitiated, Twitter is an over-hyped, social web-thingy that doesn't really make any sense. But if you give it a chance, and 'follow' the right people with similar interests, you'll find a wealth of information and knowledge that would otherwise be lost.
Here's an example of the type of thing I send out on Twitter: http://sivers.org/success-firstClick To Read More...
Top 5 Touring Tips for Artists
Jun0809:16 AM
Martin Atkins, drummer from Public Image, Killing Joke and Nine Inch Nails wrote a book called Tour Smart. A video was just posted online at New Music Strategies where Andrew Dubber gives him a quick interview and he shares some touring tips with everyone.
See the video interview below, followed by another video of Martin Atkins talking about his book:Click To Read More...
3 Axioms of 21st Century Music Biz
May3110:59 AM
The following summary regarding the marketing and promotion of music in the twenty-first century comes from James Lamberti, VP Of Marketing & Artist Services for Topspin Media, a new technology startup.
These three tiny bullet points summarize the business perfectly for today's artist and content owner. Of course, it does over-simplifiy things greatly as none of these steps are simple to excel at, and each requires a tremendous amount of time to successfully develop. Click To Read More...
Give 'Em What They Want
May2702:02 PM
To be a successful business you need to understand your customer, how they relate to your product, and what they want from your product.
Is the music business doing this? Are you doing this?
Click To Read More...
Podcast: Media, Gatekeepers, Fandom, Gaming & More
Mar2304:23 PM
Have a spare hour to listen in on a captivating discussion from music industry insiders?
Click To Read More...
Twitter Music Promotion and Marketing Guide
Mar1110:44 AM
Are you on Twitter yet? Is your band?
It can be confusing at first, regardless of how simple it may appear to be.Click To Read More...
Five Tips for Musicians to Engage Their Fans Digitally
Mar1110:25 AM
In today's wired marketplace, musicians have to forge a personal relationship with their audience to keep their fans' interest. And for many, that means creating opportunities for fans to have an inside look into all aspects of an artist's life.Click To Read More...
6 Hot Tips For Building Your Fan Base
Jan2006:24 PM
Our special guest contributor Kimberley Bjorklund, from K&B Management/Consulting in California, weighs in with some great tips for the independent artist.
Click To Read More...
Building Your Fan List
Jan1911:24 AM
What's the most important part in Music, that has always been there, and always will be, but is the most Ignored?
Click To Read More...
Why Give Music Away For Free?
Jan0603:28 PM
I've had a lot of people ask me recently why The Bleeder Blog and Thorny Bleeder Records would give away music for free. As I approached bands for our Get Thorny free album download, you can imagine what some of the reactions were.
Click To Read More...
A Band As A Brand
Jan0512:50 PM
When the word "brand" comes up in indie music circles people are often turned off, insisting that the branding of music dilutes creativity and reduces artistic expression into a commodity, devoid of expressive merit. But what is a brand? Is having your band as a "brand" that awful of a thing?
Click To Read More...
Music. Life's Bookmark.
Jan0209:46 AM
It's a wonderfully strange world we live in. Our time on earth is such an incredibly short footnote in the history of mankind, yet our memories still seem to escape us. They're stashed away and filed into the dark depths of our memory, often lost forever and never to be recovered. However, we do have a unique emergency backup to recover our lost memories - our senses and their amazing memory recall abilities.
Click To Read More...
The Power Of Goal Setting
Dec3010:26 AM
Are you in a band committed to making music your full time career?
If so, do you have a 12 month plan? a 24 month plan? What goals have you set for yourself, other than "playing lots of shows and selling lots of CDs"?
Click To Read More...
5 Key Elements To Success
Dec2106:33 PM
I've been spending a lot of time thinking about what the key elements to success are and I've come up with this list of traits that should be an essential part of your every day life. These aren't intended to be exclusive to a musician's career, they're for anyone pursuing a goal in life, business or otherwise.
Click To Read More...
