The main focus about music marketing is trying to get people who love your music to buy a few tracks from you or maybe a CD at your live performance. But is your music the main stream of income anymore?

Of course the whole industry is shuttering around the thought that music is going to be free real soon but is that the fault of the majors?

Some would say that it should be free but only as a means to further grow a fan base and groom other streams of income for the artist and music labels.

Not withstanding the fact that illegal downloading and all the other forms of piracy is rampant, there is a uniform subliminal reason for why the consumer thinks music should be free.

In this video I explain what is currently happening to the music industry and why the value of music is shrinking.

Yea, this is only my opinion but it has stirred up the neurons of many of my colleagues which do agree that the devaluation of music in the retail market is due to the labels them selves participating in these kind of commercial opportunities to get what money they can, any way they can for their intellectual properties.

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For as long as the music industry has been around, you had to follow all sorts of rules. None was more important than what your image was and the style of music you performed. Pretty obvious thinking for marketing music.

Usually your style of music dictated the persona of your band or solo artist image but in the case of the last 15 years it has been about marketability in a corporate way.

If you were too fat, old, wrong color or worse, didn't sound and look like the latest hit you were done! But all that is changing fast.

Yes, if you want to tap into a successfully pop market then you tailor or music and image in that direction, but now if you want to go your own way the flood gates are open.

In this video I talk about the new born freedom today's sonic artist have to create and release music no matter appearance, style, beliefs or musical direct.

YOU are in charge of you. Take the chances and that is what will set you free. You'll find how many people (potential fans) are starved for musical and performance uniqueness.

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Opposite from my Artist Image video, if you are looking to infiltrate the power pop music market you need to define your musical niche.

Here I talk about once you have chosen the style of music you want to pursue then you have to look into that marketing and form your plan of attack.

Not to say that if it is indie Rock that you performing that you can't use many different styles of arranging but the under lying style is still present. Successful music marketing works around a niche.

So in essence, you don't present yourself as a Hip Hop artists and decide that because you wrote a cool Country sounding track that you should drop that in there. Be CONSISTENT!

If you mix up your style you risk loosing fans not to say getting new ones that don't understand what you're putting out there.

Great case in point is the band Extreme (dating myself). They were a great rock band but there first release as "More Than Words" which was an acoustic song.

Many people returned that CD because the thought that Extreme was an act that was acoustic driven. Actually, I would have blamed the label for that fuck up!

Andy McKee is at 19,452,900 views and counting. Another example of an artist who took advantage of his niche marketing!

Buy Andy McKee's Music

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Putting together a band is something that you always take seriously for the obvious reason - it's got to gel and you got to sound great!

But I have seen many bands, some of them with huge potential, break-up because of everything from personal issues to professional issues.

I have seen band members leave a band right in the middle of a deal because their wife got pregnant or they hated the manager or even because they think that they are the reason why everyone else got signed. Yea, arrogance has been a huge noose around the success of some bands.

In this video I talk about the things you need to talk about with potential band members to avoid most of the pitfalls of members bailing out on you.

From my own experience, I bailed from a band because it was a creative difference that happened about 2 years into the process. The lead guitar player wanted to bite the styles of other successful bands I said now way.

After some in-fighting, we took a band vote and I got booted.

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How do I do this without sounding like Bob Lefsetz or Hits Daily Double and the rest of the old school industry bashing soap box mob?

I'm not going to bull shit you. There's a REAL SLIGHT CHANCE TO NONE you might get some kind of a major record deal. But if that ever gets dropped on your plate, you have already done most of the work.

I'm not going to crap on the all the things wrong with thinking about a major record deal here. I like most of the people in the majors do know that there is still some kind of deals left for artists.

So in this video I'm talking about what is most obvious in getting noticed by one of the major labels that are still giving out various sorts of deals.

Considering that all of the record companies are trading under $10 on the Wall Street Index it is really a pass at an old dream.

But out of respect of my past with the industry I took some antacid and did this video.

Burp..............

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A long time ago in a galaxy far, far away....or at least it seamed that long. In this video I talk about the Endorsement Deal; a powerful stream of income for artists, bands and indie labels.

Now I don't want you to get this confused with selling ads or having Google accounts pasted all over your site. Sony just tried this and it looked like shit!

I'm talking about the co-opp partnership between the artist/band/label and a product or business that sponsors any given act with a single presents package.

I have been teaching this for over 6 years now but it took a long time before it caught on. I am not the inventor of the Endorsement Deal, but all I did was take a page from the old Groucho Marx show and repurposed it for music.

This is also a very important issue when it comes to how you structure you web channel and all the social media sites. That's right, web channel not web site.

After watching this video I'm sure that you can look in your own backyard for some like-minded business that would want to get in the act with you.

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There is no way that I can tell you in a short video about how to open your own label. But I do hit on some of the basics you should know about if you're considering opening a record label.

With all the new developments in the music business thus far and more new twists and turns on the way it's so much more than selling and licensing music.

Opening your label now is much more than it use to be with all the new streams of possible income. But at the end of the day the structured business plan for the most part remains the same.

I'm talking about understanding the business you're getting into, budgeting, correct way to set up your business, identify for strength and weaknesses as well as streams of income and your liabilities.

Once again, this is just a light overview of the first steps to take in opening your label. There are many sites and professionals out there that can help you with this.

I'm sure in time I'll have a few of them somewhere on my resource page.

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