I recently had a great conversation with David Dufresne, CEO of Bandzoogle, an amazing company that probably a lot of you already use to build your websites. Bandzoogle is based in Quebec and have made a major impact on the independent music scene giving tools to musicians to help build their career. In our conversation we discussed ways you can ensure visitors to your website are converting into fans and spending their time and money where you want them to, website dos and don'ts, apps and responsive websites as well as knowing your audience and who consumes your content. With David's background as a venture capitalist he shares his unique perspective on this new music industry.
A while back I interviewed radio host, author and music marketer David Hooper about his book Six Figure Musician. We did the interview in Nashville about a week prior to the launch. At the time he told me about his plans for the book and how he intended to market it. I thought it would be interesting to follow up with him and find out how his marketing strategies were working and what he had learned about his audience.
Today's interview is with Gregg Stewart, a marketing expert with over 13 years of first hand experience in the entertainment industry. As the Associate Director, Music Marketing Strategy & MuchFACT he's the main point of contact for music industry partners at Bell Media Inc. when it comes to music and entertainment.
Finding success in music or business is all about the accumulated experience and knowledge that allows us to recognize and seize the opportunity that ultimately results in what the general public observe to be "overnight success." I was curious as to what those opportunities had been for Jeff. With his experience and first hand stories to tell about artists and their careers I was curious as to what advice he could offer for those looking for a career in music.
While meeting with a songplugger friend in Nashville, he asked me if I would interview some clients of his that were in town. The truth be told I was not really interested. I have always tried to keep my personal interviews (unlike when I am being hired...) to be with people that I have actively searched out. This situation was a little different and also a perfect example of how the industry really is based on relationships. I didn't want to offend my friend and I understand in this biz that if you scratch my back I'll scratch yours. So I said "sure."
Oscar is a renowned Canadian radio promoter who has worked with the likes of Sarah McLachlan, Tiesto, Swollen Members, Classified, and Marcy's Playground to Jets Over Head, Madeleine Peyroux, Robbie Robertson and Jordan Knight. He focuses on commercial radio in Canada and knows exactly what it takes to break on radio.
This week's interview is with Bill Caywood. Bill is a graphic designer and branding expert, he is the CEO of Brett Manning's Singing Success, the Creative Director of TraitMarker, founder of NashvilleParties.com, co-founder of Festivalus and the co-founder of Caspian Productions. His clients range from Faith Hill and Jimmy Eat World to Interscope Records, EMI and Warner Brothers.
After interviewing many successful artists, entrepreneurs, authors, etc... after a while a number of similarities start to appear, from their personality traits to the environment around them. Although one of those traits is the ability to put yourself out of your comfort zone, the real question is what have been the experiences that build people up to not only recognize opportunities but to also risk taking them. What in Rick's past experiences and development have allowed him to consciously choose to put himself in a place of vulnerability along way from his comfort zone? Not only once but many times over and excel?
Ditto Music is a digital music distribution company with offices in Liverpool and Nashville. As CEO of Ditto Music Lee Parsons overseas distribution and marketing campaigns for over 20,000 worldwide artists including Suzi Quatro, Finch, Lil Wayne, Prince, Sir Paul McCartney and Kid British. Starting from their bedrooms in 2007 Lee and His brother Matt launched the first ever unsigned artist into the UK Top 40 singles chart which got them into the Guinness Book Of World Records. Ditto Music have now had 11 UK top 40 singles, all with unsigned artists.
Today's Interview is with vocal coach extraordinaire, Brett Manning. Brett has worked with many well known artists including Taylor Swift, Hayley Williams, Keith Urban, Wes Hampton and has also coached several Grammy and CMA Award winners, as well as recent Broadway casts of Les Miserables, Jekyll & Hyde and Elton John's Aida.
Karen Kang is a recognized brand strategist and the CEO and founder of BrandingPays LLC, a corporate and personal branding company (www.brandingpays.com). She is the author of BrandingPays: The Five-Step System to Reinvent Your Personal Brand. She has trained thousands of professionals on the unique BrandingPays™ System for personal branding.
Charles helps artists, musicians & songwriters create and extend their online presence. He implements strategies and runs campaigns to increase fan acquisition, engagement and create brand awareness. The intent of these efforts are to acquire and nurture a fan base that would help artists build and maintain sustainable careers.
Design is a tremendous tool for improving and simplifying education and learning; creating experiences that are more delightful, functional and meaningful; developing businesses, organizations and initiatives that will have sustainable long-term growth, and a positive effect on the community and environment.
Josh shares a ton of hands on advice in this interview that will be invaluable to building your brand's visual identity.
A musician in his free time, chris has surprisingly good knowledge of the current music industry and has a ton of great comparisons and examples to share.
Chris is a New York Times Bestselling author of books like The Impact Equation and Trust Agents (cowritten with Julien Smith), Social Media 101, and Google Plus for Business.
Ariel is a thought leader in the digital PR world: the founder of a successful PR firm; international speaker & educator and the author of two books on social media and marketing for artists. Ariel’s Cyber PR® process marks the intersection of social media with engaged behavior, PR, and online Marketing.
Today I have Martin F. Frascogna on the show, he is an attorney who specializes in international entertainment law. He has worked with international musicians, Grammy winners, labels and tours, currently representing clientele in 23 countries spanning 6 continents.
Today I am speaking once again with Marty Neumeier. The last time we spoke it was on the topic of branding, a topic on which Marty is an internationally renown authority. He has written many books including Zag which was named one of the "top hundred business books of all time" for its insights into radical differentiation; and The Brand Gap, considered by many the foundational text for modern brand building. It fascinates me how often musicians are told to find a real job and that they will never be successful in terms of a career at their art. However, it seems that "real jobs" are less and less of a "real option" in today's economy as technology is taking over in what Marty is calling "the robotic age."
Today's podcast is with David Das, a sonic architect with a wide-ranging and unique background. He is an active composer, producer, and songwriter based in Los Angeles. His experience covers the range from films, TV shows, commercials, and other media work, over to pop/rock/jazz music production, choral and orchestral writing and arranging, and more. His clients include 20th Century Fox, Coca Cola, Delta Airlines, and Disney, and numerous pop, rock, R&B, soul, and jazz artists.
Rennie is arguably one of the most forward-thinking managers in the business. He understands which old school promotions methods still work and which don’t. He has opinions on which digital strategies produce measurable results and which are wastes of time and money. And he wants to share this knowledge with you free of charge with no strings attached. Steve Rennie pulls no punches. No topic is off-limits, ever.
Today I'm talking with the head of music supervision at Elias arts and Saturday night host on KCRW, Jason Kramer.
Elias arts is a prestigious music production company based in Santa Monica and New York. Elias Arts specializes in original music composition, sound design, music supervision, and audio branding for television, film, and commercials, and has won countless awards for over the years. Jason’s extensive knowledge of music coupled with a great intuition makes him an integral part of the Elias Team. His job is to help find the perfect music solution for every project.
