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Apr17

People Click The Strangest Things….

Posted at 9:58 AM • No Comments

I knew that charity shops were doing a great trade in old vinyl, Domino Records have even had Arctic Monkey’s exclusives via the Oxfam store, but I was quite taken aback at the flurry of activity from this Tweet:

Yep, Oxfam have an online vinyl store http://t.co/HjeNGBPm

April 17, 2012 8:58 am via TweetDeck ReplyRetweetFavorite

@Buzzsonic

Adrian Fusiarski

The RT’s continue to accumulate and after an hour the link (using Bit.ly analytics) had already got 165 (and rising) clicks. Well, obviously those aren’t server melting stats but an eye opener for me as to what you’d think was ‘link bait’ and what actually is!

Related Reading

Charity Shop Vinyl Challenge Pt2 (Sabotage Times)
Generation Why (Oxfam)
Shop the Beatles at Oxfam (Oxfam.org.uk)
Charity Shop Classics (Mixcloud)

Apr10

The Digital Music Distribution Handbook

Posted at 4:24 PM • No Comments

OK, this one has been ‘in the pipeline’ for ever and a day but is definitely in the final drafting stage at last. ‘Music Industry Hacks Vol:1-The Digital Distribution Handbook 2012′ is a more professional (I hope!) version of my previous digital distribution round-ups I did way back in three parts right here. The three lengthy posts were cobbled together as one PDF rather crudely a while ago (which you can still grab here) for reference purposes. Looking back at it now its all quite haphazardly edited and quite out of date now. The Buzzsonic Digital Music Distribution Handbook 2012

So, I felt it was time to get something together that updates everything and goes a little bit deeper with the ‘Digital Distribution Handbook 2012′, which should pull in every digital music distributor on the planet, including some direct-2-fan services (like Bandcamp) as well as the expected aggregators.

It will be in PDF format only, simply because that’s a more universal format that can be read on Mac’s, PC’s and handhelds everywhere.

Its completely free and is expected next month and if you want to get it first simply add your email address (click the clumsy looking red box above) and you’ll get a download link before everyone else. If you dont want to share your email address that’s fine too, there will be a direct download link at a later date. So make sure you keep your eyes peeled on the @Buzzsonic Twitter feed.

Meanwhile feel free to add any suggestions in the comments. Great stuff!

Apr8

Keeping Up With Buzzsonic

Posted at 8:01 PM • No Comments

I was using Twitter Tools to gather my machine gun Twitter feed and post the days shouting into one neat post over here. Worked OK for a while, but after a WordPress update somewhere (I don’t know which one) things started getting a bit moody with the database and I found I was getting duplicate posts every day which was a real pain to edit out daily.

So, have been looking for an alternative that looked a little better too and am now trying out Twitter Blackbird Pie, which basically uses shortcodes to post selected tweets in a blog post like thus..

'How to Promote Your Music with Facebook Ads' @SongCast http://t.co/pCt6oowj

April 7, 2012 12:03 pm via TweetDeck ReplyRetweetFavorite

@Buzzsonic

Adrian Fusiarski

Actually looks much better than what I was doing here (let me know what you think OK).

Donna Summer ‘I Feel Love’ the story behind the classic http://t.co/Ad9sezA3

April 7, 2012 11:33 am via TweetDeck ReplyRetweetFavorite

@Buzzsonic

Adrian Fusiarski

Having said that, am looking into the new beta of Twitter Tools, so may well revert back or use a combination of both!

That @AlexMetric 'Rave Weapon' tune that Radio 1 daytime are playing already.Free (officially) here; http://t.co/U0zxncwX Brill!

April 7, 2012 10:36 am via Tweet Button ReplyRetweetFavorite

@Buzzsonic

Adrian Fusiarski

Other ways of keeping track of the resources I post via Twitter are at my Delicious account, which grabs all the URL’s I post (why they had to mess up Trunk.ly I don’t know), and another really cool tool I’ve been using is Twylah, which basically grabs your Tweets and arranges them in a neat categorised news display, excellent!

Dec4

Viinyl.com. MP3 Singles Promotion In ’3D’

Posted at 10:05 AM • 3 Comments

Viinyl is a cool new service from Canada that enables anyone to create an interactive single song-site within minutes that comes with lyrics, artwork, videos, notes, various download options, promotional tools and analytics.

I was able to upload a track, add a YouTube video, about page and sort out my one page site in just a few minutes here. It’s a great tool for bands and artists who want a way of dishing out a free download in exchange for that all important email, or as a mini EPK or simply as a quick introduction for a promoter, potential manager or A&R.

The service is in Beta invite only mode right now as they test and add new features. What is looking promising is the possible use of Viinyl as use as a satellite micro-site for acts to promote singles once Viinyl add buy links (iTunes and AmazonMP3 purchase links are on the way.)

Right now Viinyl offers the option of adding YouTube, Twitter, Facebook and MySpace social network links and integration with services like Soundcloud is promised within the next few weeks. One neat touch is the ability to add your Google Analytics code for extra tracking.

The site reads , “The Viinyl platform turns your song into an interactive website – a digital version of the 45rpm single with artwork and videos. Viinyl sites are optimized to travel the web, engage fans, grow market demand for your band and increase customer loyalty using marketing techniques for the web.”

My only ‘difficulty’ with Viinyl was preparing the background image for the page, and getting it positioned correctly, which proved time consuming without any template guidelines. Not a problem you’d encounter if you were using a single large image (guidelines are 1280 x 800px), but if you were trying to position logos and the like it takes a few attempts to position things correctly. CEO Armine Saidi promises a template system to counter these potential problems asap.

All in all, its a fantastic looking service, very easy to use and will prove to be even more invaluable when the promised new mods and additions come into play in a few weeks.

Some great examples of Viinyl users here.

Related Reading

Music Singles Enjoy Record Breaking Year (The Guardian)
Official UK Chart Rules (OfficialCharts.com) PDF
Billboard Digital Songs (Billboard.com)
Best Year EVER For UK Digital Music Singles (Slyck.com)

Nov26

12 Golden ‘Rules’ To Keep Your Fan Base Engaged

Posted at 5:27 AM • One Comment

I was browsing through some old bookmarks and came across (again) Dave Allen’s brilliant piece, ‘ The End of the Music Album as the Organising Principle’ , originally published on his blog, and on Music Think Tank (both worth a visit just to read the commenters feedback) back in April last year.

There’s a bunch of quotable bits from the whole piece but I thought that Dave’s twelve bullet points were a good starting point for ideas on how to keep your fan base regularly and consistently engaged.

Not your usual, “the CD is dead” diatribe.

“Music fans are no longer patiently waiting for their favorite bands to deliver new music according to the old customary cycle – album, press release, video, radio, tour. No, the fan base has to be regularly and consistently engaged. Some Ideas:

• First, communicate openly and ask your fans what they want from you
• Listen to what they have to say. Really listen
• Provide unique content such as early demos of new songs
• Never under estimate the power of a free MP3
• Forget completely the idea of an organizing principle. Invent a new one
• Use social media wisely. Twitter and Facebook Pages are best, MySpace is too cluttered
• Don’t push messages to your fans, have a two way interaction with them
• Invite them to share, join, support and build goodwill with you
• Scrap your web site and start a blog
• Remember to forget everything you know about the CD “business”
• Start to monetize the experience around your music
• Remember – the browser is the new iPod

And finally I leave you with one organizing principle that works as a tactile and experiential format and gives great pleasure – the vinyl album. Having said that I do not want to contradict any part of this article as I do not suggest using vinyl as a format for delivering an album-length piece of work. I do suggest using vinyl for the physical manifestation of your demos, out takes, live tracks etc, and always accompany it with a coupon for free download of any related digital product.”

Read the whole piece…..

Related

How Killing The CD Single Killed The Recording Industry (Pampelmoose.com. Oct 2007)
The End of The CD and the End of CD Retailers (Pampelmoose.com Oct 2007)
How To Press Up a Vinyl Single and Add Instant Kudos to Your Release (Buzzsonic.com March 2008)
The Disintegration of the Compact Disc (RoyChristopher.com:Jan 2008)

Aug16

The Ultimate Digital Music Distribution Round-Up (Part Trois)

Posted at 2:21 PM • 2 Comments

I’ve actually been promising an update to my two earlier posts on digital music distribution for waaay too long now, so apologies to all for the horrible delay (April 2009? What the..). Anyway. In case you missed them…

Part 1: ‘Exploring The Digital Music Distribution Jungle’ April 2009
Part 2: ”Digital Music Distribution Round-up Part 2′ April 2009

There were seventeen companies mentioned in Pt.1 and thirteen in Pt.2. Out of them, the only change to report from part one is that Australian based Musicadium has been rolled into Valleyarm.

In part two, WaTunes dropped their bespoke distribution service and changed tack to become a ‘social music store’ and now choose to go thru ReverbNation for distribution services.

The rest, as you were.

Rather than go over the same points here you’ll be much better off catching up with the first two parts. To make things a little more convenient I’m welding the three pieces together as one PDF so you can print and study at leisure.

Some points you may want to take into consideration when choosing a distributor.

Location. Is your distributor of choice in your own country? Possibly a key issue because of currency differences and support concerns. Do they have phone support? A physical address?

Read the websites about page to find out names, history and credentials. If they have none, move on. Use Google. A lot.

Always amazes me when some site pops up claiming combined “20+ years industry experience” but giving no actual NAMES. Then you get a PO BOX for a mailing address. Run. In the opposite direction. Read the rest of this entry »