Music has a good future in the smartphone market, says Terry McBride

I think Terry McBride, from Nettwerk Management, is onto something in his blog posting today about how music can be part of the future of smartphones. He doesn’t provide any easy solutions, but a call to action to get busy on generating your ideas and programming software to deliver to the masses. What does this mean for musicians? A new delivery channel is emerging, so jump on. And he is not talking only about the music streaming Apps, he is talking about how music could be an enhancement to many smartphone applications.

Don’t know much about iPhone and iPod Touch music specific Apps? Here’s a little piece from Paste Magazine. I suggest reviewing their list of Apps and verifying that your music is available on them. If not, contact the company and find out how to add your music. And don’t forget to register with SoundExchange so you get paid for the streaming of your songs.

The Lefsetz Letter on Practicing

This installment from the industry vet, Bob Lefsetz, suggests that bands today don’t practice or play enough to be great. Do you?

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Alex Steininger podcast

CD Baby has released a new podcast interview with Alex Steininger from In Music We Trust about how to choose a publicist. Good stuff! Alex is a pro, and there are lots of pros out there with great advice. His advice is to get a publicist, right on. The more and more I am working in the independent music business, the more I find that most of you musicians know what to do to promote yourself in this day and age of the internet. It’s the implementation piece that is lost. That is why service companies like Crandall’s Corner exist, to help implement strategic marketing and communications, and I emphasize strategic.

Are fan-driven private concerts the answer?

Over at the Music Think Tank an author writes about how house/fan-driven private concerts could be the answer to a successful music career. I am not convinced it’s the answer though it is one. Read below.

For the fans, by the fans…are fan driven private concerts the next big movement?
There are many entrepreneurs who are working on the next frontier of filtering great music to the world through technology.  The industry is currently awaiting the release of the ‘silver bullet’ technology that can dissect good from great music and the relativity of that music by user group and then geographic preference. While this is bound to be on the horizon there has to be a means that every world class musician can develop a sustainable business making great music by bonding with their true fans.  

More here

Fancentric Promotion for the Independent Musician

Today I was trying to wrap my head around the myriad ways that the independent musician has available today to directly and indirectly reach fans. It’s sort of astounding. The best way for me to understand this was to create a visual diagram of the fan-centered marketing and communications space for musicians. I’d love to share it with you once I set up my FTP site. For now, you’ll have to just take this little bit of insight and run with it.

I figured out that there are 12 areas that indie bands today need to focus on at some point in their careers when they get serious about success. In these 12 areas are a slew of strategies and targets to make the whole thing work and to support your brand. A valuable exercise for you right now is to look at each of these areas and see if you are succeeding or not, and if not, discover why, and if you need help reach out to people you know who can assist. Here are the 12 areas. By the way, in my meeting today with Kill Rock Stars I presented my diagram along with my services brochure and they found it to be very helpful. Have fun!

“How can _________ help me to reach more fans?”

The Band Website (the core of your brand)
The Social Web
Live Shows
Fan Interaction
The Band
Press
Web Streams
Web Stores
Retail Stores
Digital Distributors
Radio
Record Label

PS > I can’t get this Blind Pilot video out of my head. The song and video are just so cool, simple, unexpected and catchy. Shot on location in Portland, Oregon it looks like.