Category: Music

Cool or Not Cool? Bandzoogle and it’s Cool Connection to Direct-to-Fan

Kelli Richards December 5, 2011

I recently interviewed Dave Cool, the “voice” of Bandzoogle. Dave Cool writes the Bandzoogles’ blog, well known for inspiring and supporting Bandzoogle’s #1 mission: To make Direct-to-Fan a very real accomplishment for artists and bands everywhere.

Dave Cool is perhaps best known for having directed and produced the documentary film “What is INDIE? A look into the World of Independent Musicians” which documented the experience of being an independent artist in the music industry. That movie actually became it’s own testament about the power of Direct-to-Fan, creating a huge movement around indie music and the process that independent musicians go through around today’s new tech and the seemingly endless opportunities.

The film featured several leading experts in the music industry, including Derek Sivers (CD Baby) and Panos Panay (Sonicbids), as well as with 20 independent artists. Without any background in film and funded entirely on his own, Dave Cool took the film from a small do-it-yourself project and turned it into an indie success story in its own right, with the film screening all over the world and being mentioned on CNN.com and in Newsweek Magazine.

A big inspiration in the world of musicians and bands, Dave inspires artists to keep control of their content on as many levels as possible and to maximize their fan outreach and merchandising.  If you are a musician breaking out in today’s world, this is a must. In the end, however, one thing Cool makes infinitely clear, is that it’s still about doing great work.

Bandzoogle is a web-based platform for artists and bands, allowing them to create a dot.com website – something bands MUST have, especially in the world of ever-changing social media.  If a band puts their energies into MySpace, for instance, well… we all know what happened there.  So a Facebook page is great, but a dot.com is still a necessity, and Bandzoogle is the leader in making this accessible and easy – ”Easy enough for even the drummer to do,” jokes Dave Cool during our interview.

He also spoke quite a bit about social media NOT being a one-size-fits-all – and perhaps not being a good fit for some artists at all.  (Sacrilege right?)
You can hear this interview in its entirety at https://bit.ly/DaveCool and you can get a complimentary digital copy of “What is INDIE?” when you sign up for Dave’s mailing list at: https://bit.ly/hs4uk6

 

Kelli Richards
CEO
The All Access Group, LLC


 

A Fantastic Freebie from Fanatic.FM

Kelli Richards November 25, 2011

To celebrate Fanatic.FM and their great contribution to DIY brand building for artists, Fanatic.FM is offering a special bonus for Kelli’s tribe. Click here for a free subscription to The Fanatic and enter to win a 1-hour session with the Fanatic.FM social media tune-up experts. Deadline: December 5.
At Fanatic.fm, musicians, brands and fans unite to create music that changes the world. For musicians, Fanatic.fm is an innovative album publishing platform where brands bid to sponsor new musical projects. Bands take control over choosing sponsors. Every time music is played using the Fanatic.fm player, which can be embedded in any site or social media page, the band is paid a set cost per music play by their sponsor.  Learn more at www.fanatic.fm.

Kelli Richards
CEO
The All Access Group, LLC

 

We did it! #1 on Amazon in Music!!!

Kelli Richards November 20, 2011

A HUGE thank you to everyone who supported the Amazon Launch for  “Taking the Crowd to the Cloud – Social Media for the Music Industry” – an eBook that raises the bar and demystifies social media marketing, helping musicians, agents and anyone in our industry to  THRIVE.  Not only did we spend all of last weekend at #1, as I write this, we’re STILL top ten!

Essentially, Taking the Crowd to the Cloud empowers and transforms the marketing mindset for artists.  Featuring a few tips on the most commonly used social networks (like Twitter and Facebook); it also holds the keys to eMail marketing, Streaming Radio, YouTube, and Meetup Groups. (It even covers how to port your MySpace contents to Facebook Music.)

Although we’ve put the price raise into Amazon, it’s STILL at $3.99 while they process it, so grab your copy now if you haven’t already.

If you choose to, you may buy the book from my website for full price ($37) and have access to continually refreshed and updated content on this topic as a BONUS addendum.

Kelli Richards
CEO
The All Access Group, LLC

 

Hypebot Promotes “Taking the Crowd to the Cloud”

Kelli Richards November 14, 2011

I’ll write a separate blog about how my eBook went all the way to #1 on Amazon this weekend, but I wanted to take a moment and offer a special thanks to Bruce Houghton – a powerful voice in the music industry – who writes for HypeBot. He made an exception to his SOP to review the book, and his observations are spot on and very important to me. Because of the holiday weekend, I made the executive choice to leave the eBook at the launch price just until mid-week, giving all of the artists out there a chance to grab it (and use it!).  MANY thanks to Bruce and to everyone who supported our effort to offer a hands-on, simple, DIY look at social media for the music industry. 
~ Kelli Richards

Kelli Richards’ Social Media For Music eBook Just $3.99 Today Only – Published 11/11/11

I don’t normally due blattant pitches for book’s seminar’s, etc. But after downloading Kelli Richard‘s eBook Taking the Crowd to the Cloud – Social Media for the Music Industry to be supportive on her Kindle launch day and spending time with it, I’m going break my rule.  I won’t tell you that this is the only rescource on social media for musicians. But Kelli Richards is an industry vet (btw, don’t forget today’s the real Veteran’s Day in the U.S.) who fights the music marketing fight every day; and to grab the most up to date information for $3.99 is a bargain.

Kelli’s guide covers all the usual modern marketing avenues from a musician’s perspective: Facebook, YouTube, Twitter, blogging, email marketing and even MySpace. There are also chapters on less utilized recources like Blog Talk Radio, Linkedin, Meetups and live event networking. Along the way, there are examples and short case studies.

Finally, she takes a look at several of the major players in ditect to fan marketing including ReverbNation, Topspin and Nimbit as monetization tools. It’s all there. But don’t just read about it. Use it.

$3.99 today only:Taking the Crowd to the Cloud – Social Media for the Music Industry

Written by Bruce Houghton, in DIY for Hypebot

https://www.hypebot.com/hypebot/2011/11/kelli-richards-social-media-for-music-ebook-just-399-today-only.html

Kelli Richards,
CEO of The All Access Group, LLC

11/11/11 eBook Launch! Help me hit #1 on Amazon!

Kelli Richards November 11, 2011

Taking the Crowd to the Cloud –
SOCIAL MEDIA for the Music Industry

Kelli Richards’ new eBook, “Taking the Crowd to the Cloud – SOCIAL MEDIA for the Music Industry,” teaches you to run your content, your revenue, your merch and your fan base ANY WAY YOU WANT TO. It’s easily the best eBook on Social Media for Musicians, ever.  Today is the ONLY day you can get the book on Amazon at $3.99. https://amzn.to/eBook-Crowd

This eBook raises the bar and demystifies the social media process.  It will help you THRIVE in this tough economy and transform your online presence and your marketing mindset.

It provides an overview of the top 10 online spaces and gives a brief look at how to maximize your social media presence to build and keep your audience – and turn them into your own personal sales force.

  • MORE FANS! The ultimate end-game!
  • BRAND TRANSFORMATION! (Yes, trust me, you are a brand!)
  • MORE MONEY! That’s an easy one, more fans + more content = more sales.
  • SIMPLE! Written in easy-to-follow language with easy-to-implement instructions.
  • FAST! You’ll learn about 8 no cost Resources to build your brand and your fan base!
  • STOP WORRYING! No more worrying about missing the opp for social media success.
  • No Cost Online Business Tools and List Building Tools worth 10X’s the cost of the book.
  • FR EE DOM! How about turning your work into a business that does not depend on a label, a manager or ANYONE. Do what you WHAT you want, WHEN you want, and WHERE you want… You can set your own hours… You can live anywhere… All you need is an internet connection… The sky is the limit.


Kelli Richards’ new eBook, “Taking the Crowd to the Cloud – SOCIAL MEDIA for the Music Industry,” teaches you to run your content, your revenue, your merch and your fan base ANY WAY YOU WANT TO. It’s easily the best eBook on Social Media for Musicians, ever.

Today is the ONLY day you can get the book on Amazon at $3.99. https://amzn.to/eBook-Crowd.

A Digital Insider Scoffs at Townshend

Kelli Richards November 8, 2011

As an industry insider – on way more than one level – it’s hard to take Pete Townshend’s comments as anything more than another great artist railing at the system.  Look, in the end, we all have to admit that the system is broken.  That’s one thing that Townshend got right in that interview.  After that?  Well, it’s all up for debate.  But the fact that the debate was called to the floor again, that’s a good thing. 

Let’s look at what he probably got wrong.  Apple is not the villain here.  In fact, probably the opposite.  Apple is responsible for 75% of all LEGAL music downloads.  And there’s no way that this makes them a vampire.  It makes them a hero, of sorts.  By creating a closed system, where one download went to ONE machine, Apple stopped the bleeding of way more than royalties. It addressed a cultural shift that it was OKAY to steal music.  “Sharing.”  So there’s something else that Townshend got right in that interview.  Stealing and sharing are not the same thing – and the mere idea that music should be free is an utter insult to the millions of people who give their lives to create it. 

I should disclose here that I was part of Apple way back when and helped launch digital music before it broke wide open, but my 13+ years in digital consultancy have certainly shown me every side of this equation (and argument). 

Whether or not music should be free has gone where it belongs. It’s gone to artist-controlled DIY.  DIY creation and DIY distribution. The indie artists have unlocked the code.  Give away great material to build a tribe, and get that tribe to adore you.  They’ll show up with the money, for sure, but only after the love affair has begun. 

Here’s the other problem with Pete’s point of view – it assumes that Apple controls the digital distribution industry, and quite simply, it does not.  In the world of Spotify and MusicShark and locker systems, Apple is only one giant float in the parade.  Let’s clarify, they may even be leading the parade, but after a brief initial claim to the universe, way back when, they’re far from alone.  Having said that, it’s obvious that the consumer, overall, loves Apple.  Quite simply, in the words of futurist Gerd Leonhard, it’s easy.  It’s a plug and go solution.  It meets busy consumers where they want to be met, and serving the consumer IS the end game on the business side of music (and anything digital). 

The artistic side?  Producing great content and hiring mentors to aide and abet that?  I wish I could ask Townshend why that is at all iTunes’ responsibility.  That is a model that we see fading at every label, sadly (& that’s me wearing my hat as a former A&R exec at one of the majors).  From this insider’s viewpoint, however, it will fade, but not die.  There is a space for grooming artists, from a label’s point of view – otherwise we end up with the music industry’s version of Yentl for every project.  (The same Editor, Producer, Writer and Actress, if you needed me to spell out that comparison.)  Without label support, bands have limited objectivity of their work, at best.  But we KNOW what percentage of artists get signed.  So this new world of digital DIY is an amazing opportunity for artist AND consumer. Which brings us to Townshend’s issue with gatekeepers – one that social media and DIY will summarily trump, given enough time. Spaces like iLIke and Facebook will level the playing field.

Finally, it’s NOT Apple’s job to bridge the gap between labels and DIY. They are, like it or not, a retailer.  Why should they be expected to fix what’s broken in music?  The business model for direct sales/acquisition of recorded music in the traditional sense is collapsing.

But with all of the GREAT minds in the digital and music space, of course we’ll find a new model.  Music does far more than soothe the savage breast, it is the most vital language of unification.  Ask the millions of Chinese listening to Gaga or Beiber – or just look at the worldwide recognition of Mozart.  Or the global domination of Idol.

Yes, there are definitely parts of the foundation with cracks, or worse, but I have full confidence from my life experience of consulting with the industry leaders and artists, that we’ll find a new and more powerful model to propel us forward. Until then, in the immortal words of Sonny and Cher, the beat goes on. 

Kelli Richards
CEO
The All Access Group, LLC

The Pandora Box of Mobile – The Sky’s the Limit

Kelli Richards October 17, 2011

If you were at the Web 2.0 Summit in San Francisco last week, you probably heard Pandora Founder Tim Westergren share that SEVENTY PERCENT of their usage is through mobile venues.  Yes.  70%.  And having created a super-successful digital space for themselves, Pandora doesn’t see Spotify, iTunes, or any other competition eating their lunch any time soon.

Tim Westergren shared the following about the portability of the iPhone and its impact on Pandora, “Overnight it transformed our business. We almost doubled our growth rate. It changed Pandora from being desktop computer radio to being like real radio.”

One can’t completely appreciate the enormous (and growing) impact of the mobile industry without really understanding its past. On my BlogTalkRadio series, I recently interviewed my longtime colleague, Anthony Stonefield, a leader in the mobile and digital industries, who literally pioneered downloadable song distribution in the 90’s and popularized ringtones worldwide in 2000 (creating today’s $8 billion ringtone market). Anthony also executive produced the worldwide mobile program for the Live 8 event, and the mobile charity part of Melissa Ethridge’s “I Run for Life” breast cancer campaign, among others. I asked Anthony Stonefield where he thought super distribution will take us in the next few yeas and to talk about SmartPhones and their broad effect on users.

“Smartphones put everything that you had on your PC into your hand… I think what’s happening now is that we’re unlocking the true internet. Until today, we have always thought that we are driving the web, but now, SmartPhones are reaching down into the emerging markets, to the next several billion individuals, and these people are creating revolutions, changing the face of the planet, because they’re getting their first real-time connection to the rest of the world, through SmartPhones.  As these phones infiltrate emerging markets, we have a whole new world to embrace… this is changing the nature of the human being and the way we interact.”

“My experience is that entertainment media is always consumed on impulse.  So the technical solutions are also part of this equation.  4G will eventually enable a distribution model that can scale, but until then, we face serious limitations of scale… 4G has a way to go before it can provide viable, reliable user experiences, but it does enable a way to discover and present media very rapidly.”

You can hear the entire interview here.

Getting back to the future, so to speak, Pandora’s founder explained at the Web 2.0 Summit that Pandora transformed from a simple desktop radio to a “real” radio when users started taking their iPhones and plugging them into their cars and living rooms.  It’s important to realize that, conceptually, Tim Westergren does not consider Pandora competition to Apple, Spotify or other subscription music services.  He considers it a streaming radio service, and does not charge for participation.

With revenue skyrocketing due to ad sales, similar to traditional radio, Pandora has forayed further into radio, actually developing programming and content – and perhaps even newscasts and “sports radio” broadcasts in the future, further solidifying them as the leader in this industry – at least for now.  Like any great industry, competitors WILL show up.  AOL, who could arguably be called the founder of online radio, relaunched its own product within hours of Westergren’s speech, with half of the audio commercials.  (And AOL Radio already carries ESPN Radio and ABC News stations.)

It’s hard to know if AOL will be the biggest contender in the mobile war, but with Smartphones becoming the “transistor radios” of the future, Pandora’s box is definitely filled with opportunity.

A client of mine is about to launch her 2nd eBook. I’d like to change the price on her FIRST eBook on Amazon (and everywhere else it’s up). Could someone tell me how to do that? If you need to see the eBook for some reason, it can be found at: https://www.amazon.com/Taking-Crowd-Cloud-Industry-ebook/dp/B005H3ZK1Y

Kelli Richards,
CEO of The All Access Group, LLC

Billboard.Biz – “Music-Industry Characters You Need To Follow”

Kelli Richards October 6, 2011

Billboard.biz

Even with the best of intentions, in today’s hyperdriven digital age, it’s easy to use someone else’s article or lyrics and misunderstand how copyright and sourcing needs to be applied.  And so, in addition to sharing some great insights around the global issue of copyright, on today’s blog I also want to thank Billboard for sharing their Twitter list of “Music-Industry Characters You Need To Follow” which was used, in large part, in my own social media eBook, “Taking the Crowd to the Cloud – Social Media for the Music Industry.”

Because she had made a few significant changes to the list, my copyeditor did not realize she should source the list and link it back to Billboard.  I’ll certainly change it in reprints, and will source Billboard.biz in my webinars and teleseminars on the topic, but I also wanted to publicly acknowledge and thank Billboard and Billboard.Biz for being an amazing source of information and support to the music industry.

Copyright is definitely one of the greatest issues that has come to the forefront of the new digital age.  Of course, it was always an issue.  But when music and literature were hard pressed into vinyl and pages, and the middlemen controlled the product funnel, believe it or not, it was much easier to keep tabs on who owned what.  With media passed around at the speed of light via digital distribution, solutions like meta-tagging and “watermarking” become an artist’s lifeline to their work. In our recent one-on-one chat, thought leader Thomas Reemer shares about the application (and implication) of watermarks and how they effect digital distribution.

(For those who don’t know, Thomas Reemer is the CEO of 88tc88.com – an online service that, among other things, translates western titles and artists, enabling access for Western Music to the vast Chinese mobile market, including direct access to China Mobile, China Unicom and China Telecom – the trifecta of the Chinese tech industry.)

Please click here to listen to my entire interview with Thomas, and if you’d like to be included on the MP3 distribution for my entire interview series (with industry leaders like Ian Rogers, CEO of TopSpin Media; Michael Robertson, CEO of MP3.com and DAR.fm; and groundbreaking musicians, such as David Pack, Musician, Songwriter and Lead Singer for Ambrosia; and Academy Award Winner, Irene Cara) simply sign up for “VIP Access” at the top of my website at AllAccessGroup.com.

Kelli Richards,
CEO of The All Access Group, LLC

PS: To get your own copy of my eBook, “Taking the Crowd to the Cloud – Social Media for the Music Industry,” and be invited to the exclusive webinar to support my readers on this topic, please click on the title.

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Complimentary Access to NARM Webinar Thursday 9/22

Kelli Richards September 20, 2011

I will be offering a 45 minute presentation with NARM this Thursday 9/22 at 1pm PST.

The team at NARM has graciously given me 15 free “seats” at the Webinar to share with my followers and colleagues. The topic will be “Taking The Crowd to The Cloud – Social Media for the Music Industry,” which was the focus of my recent eBook.

Please use code WEBINAR-15-narm when you register to get your free access to this exciting Webinar.  https://netforum.avectra.com/eWeb/DynamicPage.aspx?Site=NARM&WebCode=EventDetail&evt_key=74695d42-1584-4595-ae87-e36c1e3822ef

***NOTE: You go through the entire registration process before you get a chance to enter your code and save the $29 fee. But it’s there, don’t worry. Hope all 15 seats get used!

Kelli Richards,
CEO of the All Access Group

An Intimate Fireside Chat with Video Music Director and Producer, Robby Starbuck

Kelli Richards September 15, 2011

This month’s Fireside Chat is an informal Q&A with Music Video Director and Producer, Robby Starbuck.

Robby Starbuck is an artist who’s willing to take huge risks to walk the walk and paint his unique voice on his own private canvas — film. He’s directed music videos for such amazing artists as: Snoop Dogg, Smashing Pumpkins, Escape The Fate, Metric The Sounds, Pierce The Veil and dozens of others and has, to date, almost 28 million views on his YouTube channel.  CEO, Producer, Video and film director, Robby Starbuck is pioneering a new interpersonal relationship between music, video, artist and film. He is first an artist, but constantly raises the bar on himself as a CEO — and on the industry in which he operates.

Kelli:  Let’s switch gears a little bit and talk about the industry itself. Video’s been given new life by social media, and especially through YouTube. Videos by Vevo alone were seen by almost 40% of the unique US videos last year. Do you think video will continue its new popularity after being on the decline for so long?  AND if so, do you think mainstream media, like MTV, could jump back on board?

Robby Starbuck:  Well there’s two answers there, I think absolutely yes, as far as video continuing its rise… if you look at the numbers and the statistics … and combine it all, it’s staggering.  Now is the time when we see the most music videos ever watched in the history of television and the modern era.  One thing that we have in the palm of our hands is that people are watching from third world countries, tiny cities in Africa.  Do they have TV with MTV on it?  I think not.  But they’re watching on YouTube.  As far as MTV goes, from what I know about production at MTV, I doubt there’s going to be a huge resurgence.

Kelli:  Would you share, in broad strokes, what your social media campaign looks like and how you’ve used it (quite brilliantly, I might add) to embrace the fan tribe around your work? 

Robby Starbuck:  I really feel like such a huge part of me getting to do what I do was building a social network and a following, and my approach to it has always been wanting to know people. Still to this day you can access me any day.  Some people would argue that it’s a bad thing, but I love it.  I love having that connectivity with my audience.  Yeah, I’m very accessible, you can contact me pretty much on any social network…. That’s been my approach, to just be me.  I’ve had a lot of relationships grow just mentoring kids, where I’ve exchanged emails to try to keep them up. Kids need that.  A lot of them don’t have a system or foundation to be confident.  That’s what I’m trying to do, to give people something to believe in themselves about.  Just loving people is what it’s about for me.  Genuinely wanting to be a piece of the puzzle.

Click here to hear the entire interview…

Kelli Richards,
CEO of The All Access Group, LLC

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