-Sean

(PC Mag) Comcast Partners With 'Diddy' for New Music Network

The rumor that has been circulating for weeks has finally been confirmed: Comcast is launching a new cable channel devoted to music programming, headed up by music industry mogul Sean "Diddy" Combs.

The announcement was made in a video posted by Combs and offers some insight into the channel's direction and format. "The revolution will be televised," Combs said. "I'm here to announce my new cable network Revolt. I first want to say thank you to Comcast, the Comcast diversity council and NBC for recognizing the importance of minority ownership in cable television… I would also like to encourage and invite Time Warner, DirectTV, CableVision and all the other distributors to come and get down with the get down because Revolt TV is bringing that revolution that television needs."

Read the entire article here!

Earbits is a startup radio service that makes the BANDS the customers, and listeners the product. Unlike Pandora or other internet radios services, Earbits is only here for emerging artists. Using social-networking sites as a gateway, Earbits finds your closest friends and sorts them by listening taste. Is this service worth it? Are people interested in finding new music through ads? Some interesting insight into that question and the music startup product creation process can be found in the article below! 

-Christine Galante 

(Hypebot)  Advertising Indie: Earbits Helps Bands Find Fans

It’s easy for bands to distribute their music, but hard to market it. They can pay to get their songs in the right places—iTunes, Amazon, and Spotify—but it’s unclear how to get them heard by the right people. Earbits, a Los Angeles-based startup, aspires to turn their radio service into an ad platform where bands can buy airtime and gain exposure for their songs and upcoming live performances.

While the web-music sector is crowded with established services like Pandora and Spotify, Earbits stands out because it focuses solely on emerging artists and provides fans with a compelling way to discover them. The service offers genre stations, which are common, but it has many features which aren’t.

Read the entire article here! 
 

So you’re in a band, and you’re living in an area that is accessible to colleges and their students. It shouldn’t be that hard to book a show at one of these higher learning institutions’ on-campus venues and sell it out, right?

WRONG.

Well, sort of wrong. Marketing your college show is no easy A (pun intended). Though there are thousands of students with all sorts of personalities, interests, and characteristics, a college campus can be an easy place to get lost in the mix. With a lot of noise (or “confusion caused by too many messages trying to be delivered at one time”) surrounding these types of areas, artists need to make sure they’re creating enough buzz around their name to set themselves apart from the rest of the crowd.

So how? Before we get that far, let’s get one thing straight. Once you have the booking agent on the phone (colleges usually book 6 months out) and have the show confirmed, ask him or her everything you need to know! You’ll get much more useful and timely information out of this person when talking over the phone then you will over email, and it shows that you care about promoting the show.

Things to ask:

• Get the direct contact for campus promotions people, and ask if you can solicit a poster or fliers to them. Venue booking and promotions staff often work in close connection with each other. If there is no department available to hang fliers, ask where it is OK for you (or your street team) to hang them so they don’t get removed. If you have the means to promote in person, ask these people where the best student hangouts for doing so are.
• Get the direct contact for campus press organizations: Arts magazine, Newspaper, Radio, etc.
• Ask if any Student Groups might be interested in co-presenting your show. If any moderately popular student group hops on board, a certain number of their members will show up and also help promote the show on campus.
• Get the booking agent’s office mailing address. This is so that after the fact you can send him or her a thank you swag package with some pictures, a handwritten letter, and some other goodies (chocolate goes a long way). People--especially students--in these positions love receiving these packages, and will often display the goodies they receive in the office for years to come, visible to all office visitors in that time period. This marketing ploy will last long after your show has ended!

Do Not:

• The booking agent or some other university promo person will inevitably ask you if you’d like their students to design the event poster. The answer should always be no. Yes, there is a surplus of talented graphic design students out there, but it’s risky at best to take the chance that one of the talented ones will be designing your creative. If it comes out looking amateur, it will cheapen your impression on campus.

Once all of that information is gathered, then you can get started!

College Radio

Although it doesn't currently enjoy the success it did before the Internet era, radio is still the way that a large majority of people discover music. College radio is especially influential because of the "tastemaker" students that host it and listen to it. Whether you decide to contact the station itself or a host of one of the shows (this is where that direct contact info from the booking agent comes into play), getting rotation on college radio will undoubtedly help your band attract new listeners. To lessen your chances of rejection, be sure to research the individual shows and find one that is the best fit for your audience and music

Once you’re in touch with some DJ’s, see what they have to offer on their shows (interview, on-air performance, music added to rotation, or ticket giveaways), and get your name out there in the terrestrial radio world! You should be sure to contact the school’s radio station at least 4 weeks before the show to setup whatever promotion you can. If you can’t make your way onto one college radio station, remember that, at least in big cities, there are probably a number of other college radio stations that might be worth reaching out to. Check out CMJ to learn more about college radio and what bands are succeeding in that arena.

College Publications (Print or Online)

With the contact info you got from the booking agent, be sure to reach out and ask for a review or interview a few weeks before the show. If the timing doesn’t work for that piece to be featured in the print edition, at least it can make it online in that time span and an excerpt can be used in your press kit.

Once you have their attention, highlight things that make great talking points in an article to assist the writer in representing you properly. For example, you can ask for them to review unreleased material, conduct a feature interview with the band on something interesting they’ve done in the past, or pick your brains on something totally unrelated.

Remember that these publications are run by students who are eager to learn the ropes of arts journalism, especially music journalism. Getting any coverage shouldn’t be too difficult. You can always invite them out to the show as well so they can write a concert review follow up, especially if it wasn’t possible to write a review before the show.

As put by Asher Roth, “Do Somethin’ Crazy”

This can be anything in terms of Guerrilla Marketing, but the most important thing is to BE ORIGINAL. You’ll just look like an asshole if you’re stealing other people’s tactful and witty ideas on how to attract fans. So whether you’re circling a college campus in your branded Van, heckling people via loudspeaker about your show that night, chalk stenciling your band’s logo and show info on a student activities building, or you’re promoting a Valentine’s show by hosting a kissing booth in the center of campus, come up with a cool marketing tactic that can attract the eyes of young people and will set you aside from the people on the street trying to get you to “Save the dolphins!”

Another common tactic for Guerrilla Marketing is chalk stenciling. After making sure that it's OK with the school (you don't want to vandalize their property and end up with your show being cancelled!), create a cool idea for a chalk stencil installment in a heavy-traffic area that students will see while passing by on their way to class. Be sure to include all relevant info about your show on campus, as well as a way for people to find you online to check you out beforehand.

Play a Party

This idea is really only viable for local groups or national groups with an off-night on a weekend the night before a campus show, but it’s worth exploring nonetheless. One of the most important things you can do is expose college students to your music in a quick, easy way. If you’ve got a show coming up on campus, you’re going to want to give the students a chance to see what you’re all about beforehand. What better way to do that than to perform at a house party?

Although it may be tough to make sure that no one spills a solo cup full of PBR onto your pedalboard, it’s important to capitalize on performing for students in their natural weekend environment. Learning a song or two that the crowd will be able to recognize could set the mood for the party and you could end up with a very receptive, captive audience. Be sure to promote your upcoming show while you’re performing, and do the best you can to make sure that the attendees leave the party that night with some kind of reminder about your show coming up on campus. For example, you may want to create some kind of promotional giveaway that party goers can take home (flier, sticker, handstamp, etc.), so that they haven’t forgotten about your group when they wake up with a dreadful hangover the next day.

Host a Listening Party

If you have a budget, you can book a room on campus or a bar off campus for a listening party (released or unreleased material), and make sure to give some bonus to people who come (pizza, drinks, merch, download codes, etc.).  If you don’t have a budget for this, then partner with a (relevant) brand that does. You can pitch the fact your fans will be in attendance, your data shows they’d be interested in their product, and they should foot the bill for the room to be exposed to targeted customers through banners and product placement. If you play your cards right, you can get away with producing a successful event with lasting impressions for between $50-$200.

Students are much more impressionable than the rest of us, and will surely be excited about the opportunity to meet a favorite musician of theirs and experience the band’s music together. If the student at the listening party has a great time getting to know the band and hearing the music, they will probably tell the whole wide world.

Film a University-Specific Promo Video

Upload a 30 second commercial video for the show (the apps that make this easiest are covered in our mobile marketing tools post), that is very pointed towards the university’s student population and gives a shout out to the school. Spread it on social media, and tag the school. Social media interactivity like this that makes colleges look “cool” and begs to be re-posted by official school and school press accounts.

Conduct a University-Specific Ad Campaign

Launch a Facebook ad campaign a week or so in advance that is targeted towards the school’s Facebook network. If you sound like any of the bands at the top of CMJ’s Radio 200 chart, don’t hesitate to call that out in the ad copy.

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Though there are thousands of things you can do to promote a show on a college campus, you need to make sure you promote properly across all channels to ensure that your show will be a success. Winning over an audience of college students can be a tough feat, but if you can set yourself apart from the crowd by taking a proactive approach to promotion you will see direct results for your campus show. Although they may be busy, college students are the tastemakers of today's music industry and can be a great market to tap into for musicians looking to spread their music to a wide audience. Do the best you can to get your music into the hands of students in your area, and make sure to use some tact when promoting your show on a college campus. Happy booking!

Bob Lefsetz is known to most as the omniscient music industry observer who can be found flooding your email inbox around the clock. But while he has undoubted clout, is there more to the man behind the computer? A recent article on Wired sheds light on Bob Lefsetz' background. Check it out if you're interested in his industry history, and don't miss the reader comments at the end! 

-Aidan

(Wired) Who the Hell is Bob Lefsetz?

A lot of the time, the hate mail Bob Lefsetz receives is simple and succinct, stuff like “You are a fucking shithead” or “You are an amazing douche.” But once in a while, the put-downs get more elaborate, as was the case when Kid Rock lashed out at Lefsetz in a 2007 email. “Your a failed musician with a big mouth,” wrote the rapper-singer, his typing fingers undoubtedly damaged by years of devil-horn gesticulations. “You do NOTHING but talk. See you on the streets you punk ass mother fucker!!”

Lefsetz is the author of the Lefsetz Letter, an online record-biz op-ed that mixes analysis, rants, boomer-rock reveries, and the odd bit of futurism. Like most music bloggers, Lefsetz posts frequently and verbosely; unlike most music bloggers, he has actually gained the interest of the music industry, so much so that even Lefsetz’s most casually tossed-off missives get noticed. The line that irked Rock: A simple “Fuck Kid Rock”—just the sort of low-grade blogenspiel that a star of Rock’s stature would normally shrug off.

Read the entire article here! 

It isn’t often I write in the first person; nor do I often mount a proverbial soapbox from which to pontificate and, as is the unfortunate case at times, bloviate. I do so, now, because these opinions are my own and not those of Indie Ambassador. I beg the pardon of those who read this piece, as I play at the pulpit and channel my personal hero and savior, Glenn Beck. That last part was a joke.

A common trope of postmodernity is that everything has been said and done—no thought is original; nothing said, no matter how well-articulated or gussied-up, is new. Here in America, we are a society of sloganeering, of rehashed social notions, of the laughably-predictable media narrative, and of the cheap, trite sort of recycled platitudes to which the ignorant perpetually subscribe. If, reader, you think this piece is going to elucidate something no one has ever said or thought of before now, you will find yourself sadly mistaken.

This same notion of the already said and the already done can be expounded from thought in contemporary times to anything creative, really. Think about it and let your inner curmudgeon flourish—from Hollywood to television to modern art to music, there’s little creative originality left to be claimed. Have you ever thought: “[insert genre of art/music/what-have-you] all looks/sounds the same to me?”

Those among us who consider themselves artistically discerning have undoubtedly loosed a drawn-out sigh, scratched their heads, and pondered this very issue, to no avail. This is a problem of conventions. The conventions of modern creativity have been rehashed and recycled, again and again, into the predictable and, sad as it may seem, the forgettable.

Click the picture for the entire chart

Because this is a music blog, let us narrow our focus to the craft of music. As any musician worth his or her salt should be able to tell you, the creation of music involves the use of certain conventions. These conventions are culled from every element of music: chord progressions, dynamics, tones, etc. They are also comprised of a variety of techniques. These conventions can often be genre-specific. Let’s consider an easy example of this notion, something like the genre of metal. Before you crucify me, all you metal purists, let me elaborate. Let’s assume, for a brief second, that “metal” is an umbrella term, negating the idea of sub-genre. The conventions of metal would be things like: power chords, heavy drums, finger sweeping, pinch harmonics, breakdowns, etc. Arguably, these tenets make the genre. They also bereave it of originality over the course of time. Extrapolate this example to every other genre of music you can think of, especially pop. Again, I ask you how many times you’ve been unable to differentiate between bands or songs in a genre, or how often “it all just sounds the same” to you.

So it would seem the basic conventions of musicality have been tired to the point of the blasé, the pedestrian. If this is true, then how are artists making new music; how are they still captivating audiences? This question has three easy answers and while they can’t possibly encompass every instance of every new band to achieve notoriety, they may certainly help us to understand the matter more adequately.

One: Artists are making new sounds. Using myriad new technologies, artists are actually augmenting their overall sound by the creation of new tones and new instrumental and vocal sounds. Go to CMJ or SXSW and check out some buzz bands and you’ll see for yourself this kind of innovation, bands like Forest Fires, Sleigh Bells, Youth Lagoon, and Gauntlet Hair, to name a few standout examples. In some cases, the stages are covered in effects pedals and trigger pads. Even the vocal mics are routed through effects to create new and different sounds. Some of these bands choose to push the envelope through the use of noise, overtly fuzzy or distorted instrumentation, or just plain dissonance. Others are creating a new wave of indie pop by branching into “dreamier” territory, creating softer, warmer vocal and instrumental tones. These bands and artists are buzzing because of their deft utilization of modern day technology.

Youth Lagoon

Two: Artists are exploiting their image. As music itself becomes less and less original, more artists are being forced to use an image or “story” to garner attention. Artists are “playing the game,” so to speak, in the creation of this image. Popular examples of this idea are artists like Lady Gaga, artists who may not sound particularly original within their canon, yet use an image to cement themselves into popular iconography. I myself can think of at least a couple bands who purposely mislead fans and critics, lying about a detail as seemingly trivial as where they’re from. While this notion may seem disingenuous, this is the crossroads to which many artists have come, where they’re forced to pit musicality and integrity against the prospect of commercial success and, conversely, the fear of never being noticed.

Three: Artists are looking backwards—vintage is in; retro is cool. From bands like The Gaslight Anthem and fun., who purposely channel Bruce Springsteen and Queen, respectively, to artists like Adele, who revels in old-school funk and soul, dredging forth the past has never been so popular. What are techno and new-school dance music if not reiterations of disco?

The Gaslight Anthem

As a related side note, there seems to be somewhat of a corollary to this argument—much of the criteria for the notoriety of many contemporary musicians may not be totally or exactly applicable to electronic artists, such as the kind referenced above (electronic dance music), as the medium by which an artist creates the “music” has, itself, changed in relation to what music was from its inception until the mid-90s. Many critics, to this day, refuse to acknowledge the legitimacy-by-ubiquity of electronic music, because the artists themselves are using means that don’t necessarily rely on tactile and physical deftness to utilize. However, as some may argue and as history would show, age seems to bring with it an inherent tendency to disregard newer iterations of the craft of music, itself; how many of our great-grandparents hated Elvis and how many of our parents wouldn’t understand the popularity of a group like Odd Future?

The point is, while something like dubstep might arguably be said to “push the envelope,” creatively speaking, it might not be entirely correct to refer to it as “music,” in regards to this particular argument. Anyway, dubstep is just another identifiable set of musical conventions—wobbles, or displaced, syncopated triplet patterns, played in a bass tone and distorted, mixed with a variety of samples or chord progressions.

It would seem today, more than ever, people have become more discerning with their tastes. Critics are coming down hard on “phonies” like Lana Del Rey, people who’ve tried to cultivate a certain type of image and have been called out for doing so. Personally, I can think of more than a couple producer friends who “hate music,” now, because they’ve been repeatedly forced (as is the pitfall inherent of their career choice) to endure the same ill-conceived confluences of trite and tired musical convention. The same can be said for many career musicians (those skilled enough to be somewhat original have to stand out against a saturated background of garden-variety hackery), music critics, or anyone who finds themselves constantly bombarded with “new” music.

Ladies and gentlemen, I give you the death of creativity in music. In essence, our industry has grown barren and moribund, with the radio waves mired in repetitive schlock and the few who seek to truly create and produce something original lost in the static of crappy bands making crappy music.

However cryptic this assertion may seem, is it possible we can move forward from here? Another idea, no matter how often repeated, is the notion of the so-called “best and brightest” being sociocultural bellwethers, responsible for pulling forward culture as we know it. Perhaps the Radioheads and Jack Whites among us will, hopefully, continue to prove me wrong. Though there may be few frontiers left in the field of music, I’m not saying we can’t still try. It would be comforting to think the best of what music has to offer may be yet to come, but the future appears tenuous at best. Only time will truly prophesy what little blood may be drawn from our old, reliable stone.

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Paul Adler is a freelance writer, blogger, musician, and former liquor store employee. Connect with him on Twitter or Tumblr.

It has been reported that Microsoft is in the process of planning a new digital music service, one that would provide its service through the Xbox Live system. Microsoft is supposedly in talks with several major labels. As of now, all details of the service appear to be just speculation. My major concern is whether this service is even necessary. Let's be real, the company doesn't have the best track record. I mean, how's that Zune player of yours? Still, I get it. It's a market with a huge hole in it, and everyone wants to be the one to get it right. There are 40 million Xbox users worldwide, maybe one of them could appreciate this new integrated service. Only time will tell as Microsoft continues to release more information.

-Anishka

(CNET) Microsoft mulls plan for new music service

The software maker, which has a spotty record in digital music, has discussed creating a delivery service that would supply tunes to the Xbox as well as an upcoming Windows-based phone, according to sources with knowledge of the talks. It was unclear exactly how this will differ from Microsoft's Zune Music Pass, which is the music service currently available to Xbox subscribers.

Negotiations are still in a preliminary stage and the two sides have yet to drill down into all the specifics, the sources said. Nonetheless, Microsoft has roughly outlined a service that it hopes could launch sometime this year and include streaming music as well as downloads, the sources said.

They added that the company has also mentioned the possibility of teaming with HTC and Nokia on the proposed phones. A spokeswoman for the company said, "Microsoft does not comment on rumors and speculation."

Read the entire article here! 

Every week, resident tastemaker Taylor Pile (FSOJ, Mirror Lady) lists 5 must-see concerts in the Boston area. This week's bands include Earthquake Party, ABADABAD, Portlandia, Flogging Molly,Sharon Van Etten and Company of Thieves. Hear each selection in the video playlist above! 

Show: Allston Pudding Presents - Earthquake Party, ABADABAD
Date: Monday February 20th
Venue: Great Scott
Why: Allston Pudding is without question one of Boston’s most well versed music blogs. I personally can tell you Earthquake Party and ABADABAD are bands worth checking out. I also can tell you there is almost no chance the tastemakers over at AP will disappoint when putting a show together.
Similar Artists: Surfer Blood, Real Estate, Youth Lagoon

Show: Portlandia
Date: Monday February 20th
Venue: Berklee Performance Center
Why: Flannel, fixed gears, ray bans, DIY cardigans, fanny pack, facial hair... you probably haven’t heard of it yet.
Similar Artist: Wild Flag, Sleater Kinny, Neon Indian, St. Vincent, Wash

Show: Flogging Molly
Date: Tuesday February 21st
Venue: House of Blues Boston
Why: Flogging Molly is a 7 piece “Celtic punk” band, and being sober at their show is frowned upon. Need I say more?
Similar Artist: Dropkick Murphys, The Tossers, The Real McKenzies

Show: Sharon Van Etten
Date: Thursday Februrary 24th
Venue: Paradise Rock Club
Why: Sharon Van Etten is an incredible songwriter. Don’t agree with me? Aaron Dessner of The National sure does - her latest effort was produced by him. This is the perfect show for any fan of creative, out of the box songwriting.
Similar Artist: Wye Oak, Little Scream, Porcelain Raft

Show: Company of Thieves
Date: Friday February 25
Venue: Cafe 939
Why: Company of Thieves stick out to me in a very specific way. The reason I say that is because the band is all over the place musically; just by listening to them you can tell that all the members come from different backgrounds to create an organic, yet exciting sound. Sidenote: there will be horns.
Similar Artist: Sleeper Agent, Gold Motel, An Horse

Having a sleek, mobile website is essential for musicians in this day in age. The days of flash websites are expiring, and HTML5 is becoming the norm. ShareSquare has a cool platform that can identify elements of your website and translate them into a mobile version, built in HTML5. Whether you've got your website on display on an iPhone at your merch table or you're trying to convince some cute girl at a party how cool your band is, get on the mobile bandwagon and check out ShareSquare!

-Mike

(Hypebot) ShareSquare Offers Quick & Easy HTML5 Mobile Sites For Musicians, Bloggers

ShareSquare, once known primarily for its mobile QR Code campaigns, has expanded its services to offer an HTML5 mobile website creator. Basically ShareSquare detects content and design elements on your original site, if you have one, and "mobilizes" those elements by prepopulating related modules to create the initial version of your mobile site.  So instead of being faced with a bunch of initial choices, you begin with a site that draws together feeds and sometimes even fans from such services as Twitter, Facebook and SoundCloud.

The result is an easy way for musicians to quickly and very affordably create a mobile presence.

Getting started on ShareSquare is easy. You enter a domain, it gathers what it can from your website, encourages you to make some initial choices and then offers an array of modules to add additional options to your mobile site based on your chosen plan.

Read the entire article here!

Presidents Day is unquestionably one of the more drab holidays around, but at least most of the working world gets a day off, right? The good people over at BuzzFeed have compiled the best songs commemorating presidents and/or history in some way -- check them out to add a little spice to your Presidents Day 2012!

-Aidan 

(Buzz Feed) The 10 Best Songs for Presidents Day 

Washington Rap by Brad Neely

The Presidents by Jonathan Coulton

See the rest of Buzz Feed's 10 Best Songs for Presidents Day List here! 

Once your band gets a live gig, there's more to think about than just getting some local recognition. Putting on one hell of a show with a great turnout involves research on the venue, smart promotion to capture fans, "pretty" visuals on stage with a flowing set list, and even post-show planning. Become the talk of the town by reading more of Dave Cool's "Four P's of Playing Live Shows" in the article below. 

-Christine

(Music Think Tank) The Four P's of Playing Live Shows 

The “Four P’s” is a term used to describe the traditional Marketing Mix: Product, Price, Placement, and Promotion. Well, I’m going to borrow from that expression and talk about the Four P’s of Playing Live Shows: Preparation, Promotion, Performance, and Post-Show. This series of blog posts will cover the things that you can be doing as a live performer to maximize each show. Part 1 is all about preparation.

The Four P’s of Playing Live Shows: Preparation
We’re going to start with the assumption that you’ve chosen a venue and confirmed a date with the venue booker. For tips about getting booked, see one of my previous posts 5 Ways to Impress Venue Bookers and Get More Gigs.

Once the gig is confirmed, here are some things you will need to prepare for the show:

Who will the opening band(s) be?

Read the Entire Article Here!