Archive for the ‘Music Industry’ Category
Music Industry Quick Tip: Be Honest in Your Press Releases
When you write a music press release, it can be tempting to stretch the truth a little bit. That’s easy to understand. Your press release will be competing for attention with tons of others, and to get your story told, it needs to stand out. The thing is, kind of like lying on a resume, your liberty with the truth will almost always come out. Here are a just a few press release no-nos:
- Attributing an endorsement from a member of the media to an endorsement by an entire organization is bad practice. For instance: the front page of this site contains a blog, written by me. This site is owned by the New York Times. If I write in my blog that I think your album is the best album I have heard all year, you can’t then turn around and send out a press release that says, “Best Album of the Year – New York Times.” An opinion expressed in a blog, on a radio show or in some other informal environment that is not an official review must be expressed as such. In the case mentioned here, you would need to attribute the quote like this: “Best Album of the Year – Heather McDonald, About.com Music Careers.”
Now, if the “Best Album of the Year” claim was in a specific review of your album that was published on, say, Pitchfork, then you could say, “Best Album of the Year – Pitchfork”. When in doubt, always come down on the side of attributing a quote very specifically rather than generally.
- If you have worked with a well known artist or producer on one track, be clear about the extent of your relationship. Don’t suggest that an entire album was produced by someone if they only did a few tracks or that the artist has closer relationship with your project than they do. Even if you don’t come out and say that they did work they did not do, leaving the suggestion open that someone produced your entire record when they didn’t is still misleading.
- Don’t say you toured with someone when you only played one show with them. Landing a gig as the local opening act for a big name musician is impressive on its own. Simply say “have opened for (insert list of names)”. Saying that you toured with them misrepresents the situation.
- You’ll notice a trend here – being clear is key. You also have to find a way to promote yourself by working with what you’ve got. For instance, although you don’t have to say that when you opened for musician X that they had nothing to do with selecting you, you can’t be ambigious about the fact that you shared the stage with them on more than one occasion. Before you add something to a press release, consider whether or not the person on the other end of the claim you are making would back you up. Not sure? Don’t write it.
And of course, it goes without saying that out and out making things up is never, ever OK.
Why It Matters
You may be thinking, “who cares if some journalist thinks that I played five shows with musician X instead of one, if it gets them to write about me?”. Well, it matters. A lot. Here’s why:
- When you send out a press release, members of the media usually take your claims in good faith. If they promote your music/cover your story, and your claims turn out to be false – or even if turns out you stretched the truth a little bit – you have compromised their integrity. At best, you have embarrassed them in front of their readers and given the impression that they are less than reliable. At worst, you could cost them their job. Making enemies in the media is not a good course of action for anyone in the music industry.
- You will be embarrassed when the truth comes out. It takes all of a minute and half to verify anything you say in your press release, and the truth will come to light. If someone you have inappropriately attributed a past association or quote to calls you on it in a public forum, it will be extremely embarrassing for you. If a member of the media decides to write about you making false claims in your press release, it will hang-your-head time. Getting a reputation for dishonesty is bad for business. Image the story covered on a blog and the trail of snarky comments it would receive. Bad look.
What To Do If It Is Too Late
What happens if you have already sent out a music press release that contains misleading information? If you haven’t been called on it, immediately revise your press release and send out the corrected version. If you have been called on the info, here’s how to handle it:
- Apologize for the miscommunication.
- Own the mistake. Don’t try to save face by clinging to the false story. Simply say that you didn’t intend to give the wrong idea. If someone got the wrong impression – you gave it to them. Accept it.
- Offer to do what you can to correct the mistake. If someone has covered your story somewhere, ask them if there is anything you can do to take the blame away from them, like writing an official statement correcting your info that they can print.
- Send the corrected press release.
- Reiterate that you didn’t mean to cause harm and say you hope that you can still keep them informed about your music news.
There is no guarantee that someone burned by running with misleading information from you will be OK with working with you in the future. However, apologizing and owning up to the mistake will go a long way in most people’s books.
Music Biz: Where Independent Artists Go for Reliable Opinions About the Music Industry
There are many avenues for one’s music creativity. Most of which are provided not only for work but also for entertainment such as theaters, movies, or as independent performance. There are certain groups who accommodate one’s creative expression and when good, it creates popularity. Most independent artists search for these opportunities wherever they can find. Independent artist can do well in the competitive world of artistry when they are equipped with knowledge on how to go about with selling their expressions and capturing the interests of the public.
In the music world, independent artists can look into several resources where they can get knowledge on how music industry works. These resources provide knowledge to independent artists on the stand of other workers in the music industries who provides possibility on how to make an independent artists’ craft succeed. One of these resources can be seen in Music Biz site online. Music Biz provides articles related to the music industry. The articles are opinions and analyses that come from the players in the music industry such as artists, producers, recorders, music marketers, music distributors, music enthusiasts and other contributors from the music world. Independent artists and other interested music lovers can capture the thoughts of these music insiders by the way they express their opinions in the articles.
Articles contributed to Music Biz are scrutinized and edited well to meet the standard of how the articles should be presented. Articles are required to be specific in terms of music events and situations that support the comment or opinions. Generality does not provide the needed knowledge of the readers in the music world. Since articles are more of opinion or comment rather news, Music Biz requires that contributors should be reasonable and logical in their observation, experience or own point of view of a certain subject concerning the music industry. Writers are also encouraged to write new perspectives, issues, and events in their articles to add to the spool of articles already in the site. Lastly, Music Biz encourages contributors in the music world to be identified so they can be known and establish their credibility among readers. However, if the writer wishes to be anonymous, especially when discussing critical issues or events, Music Biz will also respect that.
Music lovers, independent artists and other music players can learn from the articles in Music Biz. It will help them set their pace and understand what music enthusiasts think about what is going on in the music world.
Music lovers, independent artist and other music players can learn from the articles in Music Biz .
The internet continues to revolutionize the music industry
There are many benefits to joining one of the top music networks. It is best to focus on two or three at the most and create, as well as maintain, a standout profile page for your music or band. If you spread yourself too thin and try to join every music site you come across then you will find yourself struggling to maintain an active profile. If you join one of these music networks then you will gain a massive amount international exposure for your music.
Try to devote 30 minutes each month in updating your profile with new photos, gig dates, videos or music samples. On a more regular basis you may want to respond to forum posts, reply to comments posted on your page and also respond to any emails sent to you. You need to treat these music networks as an advertisement and great way to promote your band. Therefore spending some time on the site could bring about some lucrative and life changing publicity for you.
The key point to gaining the most exposure for your music on these sites is to be proactive and make the most of the features available to you. You will want to post recent photos of yourself or your band. You should add some new photos each month. Try and add some bright and colourful photos of each of your band members as well as some group shots. Ask a friend or partner to take some high quality photos of you while performing.
Music videos are all the rage due to YouTube. You can use a camera to take some footage of the band performing one of their most popular songs. Just as a great video can make your band; a bad video can have a negative impact on your music. If a music venue manager is not the network to look for a band for a gig and they listen to a poor quality live performance then they will just move on to the next band. So make sure the video you submit is one that will impress your viewers.
Why spend time in the forums? Because you never know who is online and who is reading the forum posts. Many of the top music forums not only allow bands and musicians to sign up and create a profile but also music promoters, managers, music venue owners, music producers and professionals from the music industry. As a result, you may just catch the eye of one of these promoters who could give you the lead you need. Post positive and informative posts that will require a similar response. Avoid getting into any personal attacks or conflicts with other forum members. Maintaining a high level of professionalism is of the utmost importance in building the reputation you want to succeed.
What about writing an article? It is quite easy to write an article about a topic you are passionate about and have knowledge in. How can this help you? Well in a music network you have members who are musicians and are therefore craving information to help them with their band or music. As a result you can gain some valuable exposure by adding your name and active link at the bottom of the article. You can basically piggy back these top music networks who already achieve high page rankings in the search engines for your own benefit. Search engines love quality content about a specific topic. As a result these search engines will pick up the keywords used in your article and rank it highly as the article is located on a reputable site. Both these combined will give it a good chance of being spread throughout the internet.
One of the best features is the ability to post your upcoming gigs or events. What other way can you get free advertising for your gigs! When posting your gig make sure all information is correct and if any of it changes be sure to return to your profile and update it. There will be fans that listen to your music samples, watch your videos and then decide on attending one of your gigs if they like what they hear. You don’t want to upset them by having them go out of their way to attend your event only to find that the details were changed and there is no gig! Try to include the date, time, cost and location of the event. Some of the top networks will have a feature where your fans can “subscribe” or add their name to an attendance list. This will also allow you to send emails with specific details to these members. This is networking and building a fan base.
Classifieds are also a great way to buy and sell instruments, equipment, search for new band members, post jobs or look for a gig, sell tickets to events and so much more. Make sure you only add the information you want people to see and only use a respectable payment solution provider in the transaction. Most sites leave transactions up to both parties and are not responsible for any disputes or problems with the sale.
Are there dangers associated with music networks? Yes, but only if you post personal information that hackers or people involved in criminal activity can use to spam you or rip you off. The top sites will have internal email systems where your personal email address is protected. They also have a feature that allows you to block any members you wish not to correspond with. Remember that you use these music networks to promote your music and not your personal life and details as a lot of the “Social Networks” do. This is why you should stick to the top music networks that operate with the sole purpose of assisting bands and musicians in promoting their music.
If you maintain an active profile you may just be lucky enough to gain additional exposure from the site. For example, the music networks highlight and profiles a new band each month. This profile puts the band on the front page, generates extra hits for the band’s profile page, spreads their band across the internet due to the quality content in the profile and provides a reputable promotion for the band by a music industry leader. Want to make your own luck? Then be proactive and contact the site team and let them know that you would like to have your band or music be considered to be profiled.
One more great tip is to use “Keywords” in your title for photos, events, profiles etc as these keywords will appear in that page’s URL. This will help for better search engine exposure as they love keywords and targeted content.
The key is where to start when selecting which music networks to join? There are many ways to promote your music and three of the best methods for music and band promotion is by creating a profile on MyBandMate and MySpace Music or posting your music videos on YouTube Music.
So if you want to showcase your music to the world and are not active in these top two music networks then you better get on to it. It takes time, some effort and a desire to make your music reach a global audience. Be proactive, utilize all of the key features to gain maximum exposure and build a fan base by responding to their emails and comments. Don’t include any information in your profile that you don’t want the world to see. Treat your profile page as an advertisement for your music. You may only have one chance to catch the eye of a music promoter, producer or music venue owner looking for a band so make your profile look professional.
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