Overview of online promotion strategies

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Okay people! This for all those on the artist packages and those maybe
interested in what the shape of a comprehensive online campaign looks
like.

Sorry if you haven't heard from me for awhile – on the road for a
month on tour while trying to keep the business going turned out to be
a real over commitment on my part!

Of course I learnt plenty of lessons on the nuts and bolts of putting
on shows around New Zealand so feel free to bend my ear if you're
headed in that direction.

There was a lot of housework to do once I got back but now I'm on top
of that it's back to all the good stuff we were bringing in.

What I've got for you today is a quick overview of everything we're
doing online. So this has got nothing to do with Web design, CD/DVD
Duplication and posters all of which is still going also with decent
discounts for those who are signed on.

However I am strictly limiting the number of acts I am working with
now - so we're starting at $NZ200 p/month but this is way more than
just myspace now. As before you're under no obligation month to month
BUT if things get too crazy with the amount of business we're doing
here you will have to wait for a spot!

My suggestion is this kind of promotion may not turn you into a global
internet superstar overnight but it puts you in the best position to
take advantage of the way the internet is currently completely
changing the music industry – this is the biggest revolution in music
since the phonograph!!!

My approach is dealing with you in a way to address which of these
services are going to be of most benefit to you according to what you
can afford.

But the basics are that I need strong and regular content
(music/video/blog) provided from you in order to make the distribution
and access that I provide to this content worthwhile.

attached is two HOT diagrams one is on online music listening trends
and the other is on future music revenue trends.

Breakdown:

Online distribution - full support
Search – high google rankings, google ad campaign
Social – ongoing automated targeted promotion on social sites, viral
triggers through access
Content (video etc.) – Automated distribution of video and other
content through content providers; automated promotion on youtube
Viral + Web 2.0 strategies – utilizing P2P sharing, Aggregation and RSS feeds
Content required

Online distro + players with storefronts

I can't set it up for you – that's too complicated when we want all
the money going straight to the artists, but I can pretty much walk
you through the whole process and make recommendations based on my
experience. In areas where income is derived from the sale of music my
aim is to keep clients up to date with the latest opportunities.

Search manipulation + advertising

Google search is obviously the main way New Zealanders find things,
it's the most frequently used site here. It is also the internal
search engine powered within myspace.

By generating backlinks from automated distribution of content, I've
learned to manipulate Google pretty successfully for Kurb, but results
come about slowly over the weeks and will vary depending on the nature
and volume of the content available (e.g. acts with a distinct name or
spelling have a distinct advantage on google!)

In addition, an ad campaign on Google on top of "organic search" is
inexpensive and easy to manage – giving the act a higher profile
through googles immense network while helping to underpin traffic
generated from key relevant phrases – for example:

"New Zeland Hip Hop" (back 2 basics was the first nz site a #4)

"Auckland Hardcore" etc. (the myspace of a band "Cell" from west
Auckland came up #1)

The result is obviously we want the name of the act to come up as
close as possible to first when its typed into google. We want the
myspace coming up and we want results from youtube coming up.

Automated social campaigns

Digital promotion on myspace you know about – regularly maintain
searching and requesting of targeted audiences of between 50-100 per
day, then following up with specific campaigns consisting of targeted
messages and comments related to content (new single, new video, tour
announcement, etc.) and offering direct links to downloads, videos,
blogs, backlinks to relevant sites and all relevant content.

The same applies to other social sites to varying extents, I am still
experimenting with this but we already know that Bebo is tremendously
popular with New Zealand teenagers while Facebook has started to
siphon off older and more sophisticated myspace users in there 20's.

A global campaign would involve applying this across many different
accounts with specific geographic or demographic targets assigned to
each account. A New Zealand focused campaign doesn't really require
more than one account.

In regards to security, I feel I need to create separate social
account that is managed separately from the original account
established by the act mainly because if I'm going to get the best
results I don't want to be worried about the consequences of taking
responsibility for a bands account being compromised – though this has
never happened - but just as important I need to know exactly whats
going on with that account, back up data, make specific content
available etc. – especially where key differences in the nature of
specific social sites in relation to artists (myspace/bebo/facebook)
may call for a different approach - without the artists getting
tetchy that im messing around with their personal profiles. This way
of course the artists also keep their privacy.

There needs to be some delineation between the bands own accounts
where the band can be contacted directly and the nature of the
"satellite" account as a promotional entity. obviously the term
"street team" is undesirable but there'll be something related to the
content that will be appropriate.

Again content is key. I can request, I can comment, but the audience
have got to engage with the content beyond another spam campaign
albeit a local one. Obviously providing access to the tools that allow
users to initiate the viral process (specifically promoting access to
the relevant codes that allow users to promote/share/embed content)
should be promoted, but the next step is encouraging/prompting users
to interact with the content – for example: users creating their own
videos applying audio content, making content freely available for
myspace bedroom producers to remix etc.

And once promotion has taken on a life of it's own separate from the
actions of you or me that's when it's "gone viral".

Also a thorough campaign will make use of all other aspects of social
sites available – forums, groups, bulletins etc. – to present content
and make it available for viral proliferation by again making relevant
codes easily accessible.

Youtube . . . + content sites for Video/Blogs/Free Mp3's

Again this applies the concept of taking artist generated content
(video/mp3/copy) and where possible automating distribution through as
many user channels and sites as is reasonable to create blanket
accessibility – Youtube obviously that dominates video content as
well as key social sites that offer content (Myspace, Bebo, Facebook),
key blog sites (Blogger, Wordpress, Livejournal), key mp3 sites
(mp3.com, soundclick, download.com) , reinforcing the presence of such
content online with appropriate and intelligent tagging (tags enable
searches within content providing sites), furnishing with other
content and backlinks to all relevant sites where possible.

Digital promotion allows for this kind of blanket distribution, while
the digital promotion techniques used on social sites (requesting
adds, messaging, commenting etc.) can also be applied on Youtube. The
time consuming part of this job is really in establishing the sites
and managing all the account information.

But the effect is that you're building up a massive self reinforcing
network. Some blogs, some videos may never even be seen, but they
still reinforce the acts presence by the benefit of the links, tags,
and key content phrases.

Viral tie ins

Video/Blog/Mp3 sites present content, social sites are a point of
first contact where promotion can be conducted in order to encourage
users to adopt, interact with and redistribute content and the acts
website is ultimately where we want users to end up – signing up for
mailing lists, seeking in depth information, interacting with primary
content and sharing secondary content with other users in a community
(48may nailed this one).

Players: players allow music to be provided to be presented for
listening (and digital downloads of content in multiple formats
retailed) in a full range of key online environments so are a key
viral tool. Right now many free services exist its just a matter of
utilizing the most useful amongst a range of competitors.

Spam fatigue: it's fundamental when automating promotion to conduct
this in a way that has some authenticity above your garden variety
spam campaign - creating relevance through whatever targeting is
available and creating interest by offering something of value – not
just another excuse to get in peoples faces.

Obviously the big push in in presence - awareness and accessibility,
not the hard sell to move units. But the key is creating as much ease
of access for those who just want to see the video or hear the song
and share it with their friends online to those who do want to
purchase downloads, merchandise, etc. or order cds.

P2P/RSS/Aggregation

P2P (Limewire, Bittorrent, Soulseek etc.) promotion is a forward
looking technique engaging viral users in their own environment, as
P2P is obviously the way most mp3 and increasingly video content is
distributed, albeit illegally. By making mp3 and video content
available 24 hours through all the most appropriate P2P networks,
you're releasing that content "into the wild" so to speak.

Much like creating searchability through the tagging of content, this
content can be duplicated and labelled in different ways to bring in a
broader range of search hits.

Aggregation services such as Last.fm are getting more popular as a
means to discover new music by recommending users music based on the
choices of other users who listen to the same music. As they expand on
the nature of the different music services they provide they're
crossing into providing content also, but creating access through
aggregration is the key.

Whereas RSS technology is still slowly catching on, when it reaches
critical mass, there will be an opportunity to respond by creating
access there.

Content required:

Obviously in terms of audio, video and written copy I work with
whatever I get, but images will be required as buttons and banners for
digital promotion and given the broad scale of promoting video and
audio content and the way that once it "goes viral" theres vey little
control over where it goes I think theres a need to include basic
information within the content – who the act is, their website, etc.

Alright! If you read all that you probably deserve a biscuit!

Don't be afraid to drop me a line!

Cheers all, Matt @ Kurb

Kurb is back

Alright . . . Kurb is BACK!!!

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I've actually been back over a week but I quickly realised I wasn't going to just slot back into where my head was at before I attempted to do a 14 date tour while keeping kurb steaming along . . . as if that was ever gonna happen! More on that later.

Now by the end of july I had started to get a pretty good grasp on where things were headed from the crossroads of music and technology – and how what kurb does fits into that - the big question was the same one most clued up people are asking . . . we understand the direction new technology is taking the music industry, we're just not sure how to make money off it. Yet.

Many of the experts I follow almost religiously (Andrew Dubber, Gerd Leonhard, Bob Lefsetz) Seem to advocate an almost blind faith in a theoretical premise that if you're creating value (i.e free downloads) for users through content (Your songs etc.) and you can build recognition for your brand, you're gonna make some money one way or the other.

One fascinating thing Bob keeps banging on about is how little money there really is left in Top 40 music - his inference is that the people who listen to that music don't really care about it. Most of the biggest earning acts in the US are country acts I've barely ever heard of.

I keep referring back to local D'n B act Concord Dawn, who have accepted that filesharing is the reason they get good money playing to full houses in obscure east European cities they've barely heard of. Those who are the first to embrace the new technology will be the first to benefit.

Anyway, I didn't want to come back on it after my trip without something solid for people to get stuck into. Here's Gerd Leonhards latest slide on revenue streams.



Look at that. I think I'll have to take the time to analyse this in more detail at a later date.

For those looking at Kurbs agency fees of $200-300 p/month obviously it would be wonderful for us to guarantee a return on your investment, but like so many other comparable business models, building an enterprise in the music industry is about investing in your personal brand and creating value in it before seeing a return. Kurb is a business modelling itself to allow artists to take advantage of any proven opportunity the internet is creating an income from the content and brand provided by an artist.

So its situation Normal back at Kurb – you got New Zealand cheapest rates on short cd, dvd and poster runs – we're not talking about high end production standards we're talking about facilitating a multi level promotions strategy on a budget. We don't charge set up fees for graphics plus free delivery in New Zealand on all posters and CD's means you save on heaps of hidden costs on top of the saving you've already made.

So then it's about tackling the whole online situation because however you choose to see it, the internet is continuing to expand its ever growing influence on the music industry. This certainly doesn't mean we should turn our backs completely on traditional means, but in a country like New Zealand (where musicians are really feeling the pinch in a tiny market) you've got to be enthusiastic about how many more opportunities present themselves on a global level. I know this is pretty basic stuff but I'm just settling back in and all.



Though Kurb's key online strategies for artists can be divided into two distinct areas – Social (Myspace, Bebo, Facebook etc.) and Video (Youtube etc.) it's grounded in a concept that the artist is creating content (music, video, blogs, etc.) and we support the artist by mass distributing this content using all the "exclusive insider knowledge" (oooh! aaahhh!) I've built up - building and feeding a massive electronic information distribution network of digital pathways (profile pages, mp3 streaming, mini sites, blogs - lots of blogs) that reinforce themselves - and of course our particular skills and techniques for drawing on the massive audiences and opportunities for exposure and key network contacts created by a number of prominent internet communities – starting with this one.

Again, a future topic will definitely touch more how social networking is evolving – and more technical specifics of what I do for artists in networking and video promotion and why you've really got to approach your whole online marketing in terms of developing and maintaining a content "eco system" for your fans – it's not enough to have a free download on myspace or a cool video on youtube it will never be that simple anymore no matter what the press say.

I'm still watching the competition but still am not aware of anyone else doing everything I'm doing. When I'm talking about the techniques I use with Kurb I'm not talking about getting in amongst the throng, I'm talking about cutting through it and standing out - and using as many electronic loopholes and shortcuts as I'm aware of to get there.

I'm really excited about working with more artists and entrepreneurs who are serious about realising a vision and creating attention for those who are serious about delivering something people will treasure and gives them meaning. It's a really exciting time because what the internet has done is created an environment where quality and substance really does shine out amongst all the crap and for the first time in a while if you haven't got something to offer that's original and authentic you simply wont last.

I'm just getting back into it so drop me a line at kurbpromo@gmail.com

cheers, Matt


Kurb - a promotions company for artists serious about using the most effective online techniques to market their music. Come by our page and read our blogs on how the music industry is fundamentally changing now or check out:
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Cheers and all the best with your music from Kurb