I guarantee you will enjoy more success with getting “famous” or getting signed, or getting rich with your music if you can just remember two things. Because these two ideas will make you think twice before you get disappointed, expecting sales and expecting overnight success… or expecting for some A&R to hear your music and give you an instant record deal.

Why Independent Artists Fail at Music Promotion

It gets increasingly harder and consequently more expensive to promote music as an independent artist each year, by the year, regardless of whether those efforts are online or not. Until you cross the chasm to reach a success level where your popularity, music and finances catch up to each other, you are more likely to rely on a limited amount of information to determine the value of your music career. For example if you are a music artist with a fan base of 100, it is easy to believe that 80 people out of 100 think you are destined for worldwide success. This is a limited window of honesty that can cripple your efforts to reach a wider audience that spans beyond the local market to reach worldwide audiences.

Without a more concrete and easy-proof system in place, you can continue to create music that no one cares about and no one buys except the people in that window of 100. In order to broaden the listening audience it is important to understand their world view in three phases:

• How they viewed music in the past
• How they view music in the present
• How they “think” they will view music in the future

You should know that to reach mass audiences “nowadays” that they probably prefer to download your music easily, because it’s faster and they are not restricted to listen to your music where a CD player is present. Read the rest of this entry »

Island Def Jam executive Steve Gawley gave an insider’s account of the changing strategy of record companies to a packed lecture hall at Harvard Law School (HLS) Friday.

Gawley, an HLS graduate, focused his talk on the highly publicized all-in-one contracts of big-name stars such as Madonna and Jay-Z.

He said that despite the threat of music piracy to CD sales, the music industry continues to thrive with profitable tours and merchandising.

“Music has never been more popular,” said Gawley, adding that he is not convinced by claims of the record industry’s imminent demise. “The music industry will survive, but in what form?”

As consumer spending shifts from albums to live shows, Gawley said, celebrities like Jay-Z have left their record labels in favor of all-inclusive contracts with concert promoters such as LiveNation.

These promoters purchase the rights to an artist’s entire profitable output­—CDs, tours, T-shirts, and even collectible bobblehead dolls—for one lump sum.

Gawley predicts that record companies will ultimately embrace these so-called “360 deals” and will be best equipped for these contracts because of their experience in brand management.

Friday’s talk was hosted by the Harvard Law School Recording Artists Project (RAP), which provides legal services to local artists and hosts lectures on legal issues in the music industry.

According to RAP co-director Ethan B. Schiffres, lawyers will play an important role in the negotiations of these emerging 360 deals.

“Artists’ attorneys will continue to fight to allow more creative and financial control for their clients and will continue to play a role in the creative process of scouting and shopping acts,” Schiffres said.

Written by By MARK A. VANMIDDLESWORTH
Contributing Writer

Article Source: http://www.thecrimson.com

For more education on careers in the music industry, check out: www.Music-Career-Guide.com

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