Music Business Blog by Jason Feinberg

I often get asked by up and coming artists if they need a manager. Although there is not a concrete set of rules to determine the answer, there are a few guidelines that may give some clarity.

First, you have to understand there is a difference between business manager and personal manager. More on that some other time. For the purposes of this entry, the guidelines are the same.

Ask yourself this – have you done everything you can on your own to advance your career? Have you put flyers in every record store in town? Have you sent your CD for review on indie websites? Have you spent time building a MySpace profile? Have you sought out airplay on local-content radio shows? Have you been playing gigs around town? What about a mini tour in the surrounding areas?

If the answer is yes to all of the above, it might be time to seek out a manager. The thing to remember is this – do everything possible on your own before you bring someone else in the mix. Sure, they can advance your career, but at a 20% price tag. If there are still actions you take on your own that may have tangible results, you may wish to pursue them before giving away a fifth of your income.

In marketing there is a fundamental concept that we call branding. It is one of the holy grails of a marketing effort, and you’re about to see why.

Branding is the act of creating a perception that your product possesses unique properties that cannot be found anywhere else. It also includes the efforts necessary in order to create a recognizable entity that represents your product.

In English – by creating a logo, slogan, service offering, or some other uniquely identifiable trait, your product or company has effectively carved out a niche for itself amongst its competitors. And we loooove that.

How do you do this? Anyone can come up with a logo, or a saying, or representative colors. The art of branding can lie heavily in the marketing efforts associated to presenting the brand to the public.

And how do we ingrain our brand into the public’s pretty little heads? Consistency.

People do not react to marketing messages that they only see once, no matter how fantastic something may be. Occasionally you may have a campaign (or product) so ingenious and highly targeted that a first impression makes a customer, but that is not traditional. What is much more common is a person begins to develop brand recognition through seeing a consistent effort over time. As the brand is continually marketed to the public, brand recognition can turn into brand loyalty. Now we’ve got em!! When you have brand loyalty, you can develop an inherent sense of trust in your product – a sense of quality about your brand.

This adds up to two of my favorite words – repeat business.

So remember – find a trait or image that shows the unique value of your product, then consistently create awareness of it. If your product is worth it, you will develop loyalty that can almost guarantee long-term customers.

Don’t forget your free iTunes tracks – every week they give one away for free.

As I spoke of in this post, risk is a big part of all we do. Rarely is something worth achieving that does not bring with it risk – risk of failure, risk of embarrassment, risk of losing money…

Somewhere along the line, most of us are taught that risk is bad. That opportunity should always take a backseat to any potential risk. I am here to say that this is horrifically flawed thinking.

Below are some excellent quotes about risk.

He that is over-cautious will accomplish little. – Friedrich Von Schiller

I would rather fail in an attempt at something new and uncharted than safely succeed in a repeat of something I have done. – A. E. Hotchner

If you want to achieve a high goal, you’re going to have to take some chances. – Alberto Salazar

Empty pockets never held anyone back. Only empty heads and empty hearts can do that. – Norman Vincent Peale

Encouraged people achieve the best; dominated people achieve second best; neglected people achieve the least. – Anonymous

I in particular like Hotchner’s quote. He is basically saying that it is easy to keep doing what you are currently succeeding at, but there is always more out there. There is little joy or accomplishment at simply maintaining. Those that take the chance at losing are the only ones that have a chance at winning.

When I had a “safe” job working in computers in Seattle in the late 90s, things seemed unstoppable. However, I missed being in the music industry, so I left the job to move down to Los Angeles. I took a tremendous risk – at the opposition of most – but found it worth it from day one. Fast forward 4 years – I own a successful marketing company that is growing by leaps and bounds, whereas the company I worked for laid off 80% of its staff and had to ask the remaining 20% to wait on paychecks for a few weeks. Just goes to show that you cannot judge risk solely on the surface factors.

When you are faced with a situation that includes risk, you must always look at the big picture and at all the factors. Ask yourself these questions:

- What do I really want out of life? Not what do others expect of my life, but what I truly desire.

- What are the primary factors that influence the risk, and how much control can you develop over them?

- Is the opportunity (the payoff) worth the potential failure?

- Are the odds in your favor? Calculated risk is not the same as blind risk – knowing the chances of success and failure (from an objective point of view) can quite easily steer you the proper direction.

So there you have it… Go out there, find opportunities, and do not be frightened by risk. With some intelligent analysis, common sense, and the willingness to achieve no matter what it takes, you can turn a potential hazard into prosperity.

Recently OTMG has partnered up with The Indie Bible – the single greatest resource out there to musicians at any stage in their career. We use this phenomenal book nearly every day at On Target, and I consider it to be one of our greatest (not-so) secret weapons. I mean this when I say it – every single artist, manager, label, or anyone else looking for radio, print, and Internet exposure should get this book. It might be the best money you invest in your career for years to come.

Click Here For More Information.

If you only learn one thing from reading this blog, please let it be the following:

The Music Industry is built on one single word: Relationships.

Make no mistake – everything that happens in the industry is centered around this simple concept. The saying “It’s not what you know, but who you know” is highly accurate, although not entirely complete. I prefer to say it like this:

Who you know gets you a job; what you know keeps you employed.

Hmm, that’s not entirely complete either. Let’s expand even further:

Who you know gets you a job, what you know keeps you employed, how you present what you know to who you know allows you to move up and find greater and greater success.

Maybe I should copyright that. It is pure music industry gold, let me tell you! It is imperative that you understand this concept – that you can know everything there is to know about the biz, or you can be the greatest songwriter of all time, but if you do not cultivate your networking and people skills, you will simply not find the success you are capable of.

I don’t care how you do it – you must develop networking skills to survive this industry. Some people come across it naturally – good for you. If you don’t, buy a book, go to a seminar, take a class, or just go out and meet people.

Remember – the entire music industry revolves around one single word: Relationships.

Every few weeks I post any contests and promotions that are running for my artists. Here are the ones currently open (links open in a new window):

Win One of Five Billy Sheehan “Cosmic Troubadour” CDs

Win a Tommy Emmanuel and Billy Sheehan Prize Pack

Eric Johnson Contest – Win a trip, guitar, etc.

Steve Vai Guitar and CD Giveaway

Good luck!

I am continually asked how one gets their music in a movie or television show. Most artists think it is wholly unobtainable until you are established, have a big budget, or have a smooth talking wheeler-dealer manager. Of course all these things help, but they are not essential – to be honest, getting your music placed into alternate media is a very simple process. Let me break it down.

The people that decide what music is to be matched with a scene, used for the opening credits, and any other application of music in film or tv are known as Music Supervisors. You may occasionally hear of them referred to as Music Directors – this is generally something else, but I’m not here to dispute semantics. However they are referred to, these are the people who are responsible for finding the music that fits the mood, tone, visual elements, and intended vibe of the scene.

So how do you reach them? The same way you reach anyone who is an outlet for your music!

With a Budget:
1. Hire a firm that has relationships with Music Supervisors and can service the record for you.
2. Sit back and hope they do a good job.

Without a Budget:
1. Get a directory of Music Supervisors. Here’s one. There are plenty.
2. Contact them – find out what shows they are working on, what type of music they need, and how to properly submit material. Some do not accept unsolicited servicing – if this is the case, and you really want to get it to them, you might be better off going with the “With a Budget” routine above.
3. Send them a kit that is tailored to their needs. They don’t need press clippings out the wazzoo – they are concerned with one thing – getting music that fits the scene. Have a concise, one page sales letter that tells them all the highlights of your story, but remember the focus is the music. Have a sticker on the CD that points them to the tracks they are most likely to use.
4. Follow up – make sure they received it. Ask them when an appropriate time to follow up would be. The process unravels itself from here. You might want a music attorney if you get this far.
5. Send me a percentage of your fat licensing royalty. This one is optional, but appreciated.

It is that simple. All you need now is the right music!

Spent the past 5 days in New York. What a city! If any of you, dear readers, have not been there – to Manhattan especially – you must understand that there is a wholly unique experience to which you have never been subjected to. There really is no other place on earth like NYC.

While strolling the streets of the Village or the Upper West Side (or really anywhere) it becomes near impossible to avoid the contsant inflow of marketing messages being propelled at you from every angle imaginable. Billboards, street vendors, human signage, flyers, cabs, the sidewalk – you cannot escape it.

And frankly, I love it.

It is fascinating to see how New Yorkers are marketed to. Given the cultural speed of the city and its residents, marketing messages get about a millisecond to make an impression and either reel them in or leave them cold.

It must be an amazing challenge to be an NYC marketing firm. It seems one would need to truly have their ear to the streets at all times – to understand the immediate culture of the residents. The city is so vibrant, so alive, it certainly changes all the time.

Who knows, some day OTMG may accept the challenge.

None of us can build an empire alone. To succeed at any level above the bare minimum, we must employ outside assistance – hire someone to perform a function, buy some software that expedites a repetitive task, or subscribe to a service that is better at a task than you. As a business owner, I spend a lot of my time researching available tools and determining which are the most useful. With that in mind, I present a tool that can make music promotion and fan relationships far easier, be you a struggling musician or an executive looking to streamline your procedures.

iFanz – The Ultimate Fan Development and E-mail Marketing System.

What you can do with their services:
Collect names
Develop a relationship and a dialog
Get guidance from your peers
Blast out gig calendars
Download your data to see where your Fanz are geographically
Send a personalized automated birthday greeting to each fan on their big day
Send newsletters by State or Zip
Much much more.

Here’s my suggestion – go to the site and sign up. It is completely free and you can start using their services immediately. When you get to a point where your needs have grown, their services grow with you and are a tremendous value for their price.

Click Here For The Free Sign Up