Passive Promotion — “Set it and forget it” music promotion

7 Best WordPress Plugins for Passive Promotion

October 8, 2010

I’m convinced that WordPress is the most powerful and easily implemented website platform for musicians. Most of my social networking efforts are aimed at directing traffic to my band site, which serves as my base of operations. Countless free plugins allow me to add new features and customize to my heart’s content. I recently overhauled both [...]

Read the full article →

4 Steps to Film and TV Placement

September 3, 2010

I’m often asked how to get music into film and TV. I owe my only success to a music supervisor from Bunim-Murray who found me on thesixtyone and placed four of my songs in MTV shows (UPDATE 9/19/11: Just got my biggest one yet! More info here). For a more helpful answer, I turned to [...]

Read the full article →

The Individual Edition CD

August 17, 2010

This month I released my 8th full-length album, slated to be my last physical release. I might have gone the digital-only route this time if I hadn’t won free CD manufacturing from Disc Makers through the John Lennon Songwriting Contest. The fact that it was a physical release allowed me to take pre-orders, which provided [...]

Read the full article →

The Jango Focus Group

July 8, 2010

Devo got loads of press by letting fans choose everything from the songs on their new album to the color of their hats. If you’re secure enough to make your own wardrobe decisions, you can get useful feedback on your songs by conducting a focus group on Jango. It only cost me $75 to play [...]

Read the full article →

The Death of the Bridge

April 22, 2010

Many of my all-time favorite songs are “growers” – album tracks that don’t really grab you the first few spins, but eventually dig their hooks in and don’t let go. Few artists these days have the luxury of writing growers, because listeners aren’t willing to invest that kind of time. Unless the artist is proven [...]

Read the full article →

Rock Band Network Authoring Best Left to the Pros

March 4, 2010

After 45 hours of work over six weeks, my song is one of the 118 approved to be in the RBN Store when it launches. My last article laid out what it takes to get your song in the game, namely a deep skill set and lots of time. While I managed to clock in [...]

Read the full article →

Rock Band Network for Dummies?

January 26, 2010

A few weeks ago, Kevin English of eleetmusic got me in to the closed beta of Rock Band Network, which provides the necessary tools to get your songs into the game. When it launches, the RBN Store will sell those songs through the game’s interface, with 30% of the purchase price going back to the artist. Now [...]

Read the full article →

My First ReverbNation Street Team Mission

January 18, 2010

I love ReverbNation. I could write a dozen articles on the various tools they provide for artists. For now I’ll focus on one I just tried for the first time: Street Team Missions. Whenever a fan subscribes to your mailing list, they’re given the option to join your street team. You create missions to direct your [...]

Read the full article →

Help Me Win $507!

January 7, 2010

Full details are here, but to cut to the chase: Would you please download my track? (it’s free) http://www.reverbnation.com/playlist7?artist_id=334871 If time permits, I’d like to write about my first ReverbNation street team mission after the voting ends on Monday at 11:00 a.m. EST. UPDATE 1/11/10: We won! I’m still planning to write about the street [...]

Read the full article →

The Case for Online-Only Promotion

December 28, 2009

I promote to establish and nurture a genuine relationship with my fans. I measure my success by the number of subscribers to my mailing list. Notice I said mailing list, not Twitter followers or MySpace “friends.” I’m talking about the people who grant me permission through a double opt-in process to email them directly on [...]

Read the full article →

← Previous Entries

Next Entries →