"Creating The Successful Artist"...Volume 1

Creating the Successful Artist
Volume 1
Finding Out Who You Are

Today’s entertainment culture is flooded with a variety of artist genres extending from one spectrum to another. There’s Pop, R&B, Jazz, Alternative, Neo Soul, Hard Rock, Soft Rock, Tribal and the list goes on. Due to this vast denomination of musical styles it is important for an artist to know themselves creatively to therefore understand the avenue in which to follow, which leads us to, Volume 1 of our Creating the Successful Artist series…”Finding Out Who You Are”.

It is easy, or presumptuous I should say, for many artists to place themselves in a category from which they feel will best fit what they are going for musically. What makes this so problematic sometimes is that Artists tend to hear what they want to hear, or make themselves sound a certain way to fit a certain genre. This may not be the case for every artist, but it certainly does happen a lot with new and upcoming artists.

Step 1: Find out who you are! What makes you different? How do you stand out from other artists or people in general? What do people like about you? What do you like about yourself? What types of food do you like? What are some of your favorite products? What are some of the things you feel passionate about supporting? What types of clothes make you feel good, or comfortable? How do you perceive yourself and how do others perceive you? This information is most imperative because it will dictate the direction of your career based on a marketing and economical standpoint. By knowing who you are, you are more able to express your likes and dislikes for any and all business decisions you are placed with, i.e. production, promotional material, endorsements, etc. By making these sound decisions and continually expressing your uniqueness with your public, it will in turn create the ground works the resurrection of the image you are looking to portray in the entertainment community, and keeps your consumers familiar.

Knowing yourself is extremely important because like they say, “First impressions are always lasting impressions,” and it certainly holds true in this case. The way you step out from day one is the way your audience will perceive you for the duration of your career, regardless of any changes made thereafter. Take your time and make the right decisions early, instead of playing catch up later on down the line. It is also vital that you communicate your ideas to you marketing team and publicity manager so they know how to better partner you and get you placements that fit you as an artist and a brand.

So now you have your image, you know your sound and how you stand amongst the masses. You are now ready for Volume 2…”Knowing your Target Market”.

Is HipHop Dead?

There is currently a lot of talk about if Hip-Hop is dead. From NAS singing about it, to legends speaking on how hip-hop has changed drastically over the past 10 years, is this really true? Is the music out there now superficial and lyrically hollow? Or is it what we want to hear? Is the music today, speaking about primarily hip-hop, music that we have accepted because marketing departments of fortune 500 companies, and the media have forced us to accept it as "good" entertaining music?

Some may argue that mainstream hip-hop is causing the real hi-hop to decay. With songs like "This Is Why I'm Hot" by Mims, some may argue that artists today don't have much to offer through their lyrical content. Some may say that because radio doesn't push underground hip-hop and they force us to hear only mainstream hip-hop, we have been trained to accept non lyrically challenging music.

Also one may argue that underground lyricists that want to have a voice in the music industry can't because they are the one's that never get marketed properly because it's not mainstream enough, or what it boils down to is it doesn't sell records. Today we hear very catchy, trend setting music, that is here today and most of the time gone tomorrow. Hip-hop artists with positive messages and something to really say continue to strive to get a place in the industry and up the standards of what real hip-hop is.

Marketing of the right artist can help in changing the mentality of how people perceive underground hip-hop that is not music that you can only play in the club. By Marketing an artist with an edge, that stands out from the rest and letting people know that music that is thoughtful, mind stimulating, and fun to listen to works too..

For more information on how we can help you market yourself as an artist and your music, please visit us at http://www.swan-marketing.com/

Women Who Jam Music Showcase

Bringing Music and Marketing Together in one Night!

Yesterday on April 19, 2007 I attended Women Who Jam, a monthly music showcase hosted by NABFEME, which brings talented artists and music industry legends to one place, the Sugar Bar, to enjoy an evening of great music, great food, and critiques to each individual artist's performance.

The night was filled with live performances which included a line up of New York's own Abby Dobson along with the soulful singer Omar. This event is great if you are an artist looking to perform in front of people who love "good" music and want to be heard by music legends like Donald Harper, and some of 105.1's music personalities and Djs.

For more information about attending or performing, visit http://www.nabfeme.org/

Swan Marketing is a proud member of NABFEME. Artists looking to advance in their career and get in the forefront with their music, visit Swan Marketing http://wwww.swan-marketing.com/, the premier Marketing and PR company for entertainers in the music industry.

Paid Content

So what is this whispering going on, or should I say yelling, about paying people to post blogs on topics they enjoy talking about?

Well it's a conversation about taking away how traditional blogging was started, which basically allows someone t0 write about something they like, for example their favorite dish or their major issue on a political topic and get paid for it. So the questions that have raised in my mind are, because someone now gets paid to post their comments, does it make the content less valuable or objective? Or will people begin to write non important topics because they are now getting paid and it doesn't come as second nature?

I believe that it depends on the topic you are writing about. Meaning if it's music, someone can still write an objective opinion about it, because music is apart of almost everyone's life and each person has their own personal view. Where as on the other hand if someone is getting paid to write about a biochemical nuclear chip that is being studied, but has no interest or knowledge on that topic, you can guess, that the blog won't be that compelling or objective. I think paid content, is definitely a direction that we are moving into, we just have to see how it plays out, and if it grows to a new level, as some are already doing it.

Stay Tuned...

Dream Girls - New York, NY

On Feb. 17, 2007 NABFEME hosted an edition of DREAM GIRLS, a panel seminar where women in their dream jobs speak out to other women, about their jobs, how they got there, and what obstacles they have faced and overcome in the music industry.

To view the video go to: http://www.swan-marketing.com/NewsandEvents.html

Email Marketing

Yesterday, I went to a seminar luncheon where Matt Blumberg from Return Path, who spoke about email marketing. It was a very interesting talk, as he touched on how to build your list, how to make creative emails that grab your readers attention, and what to do and not to do when doing email marketing. A few major take aways that I got from our talk were:

1. Try to build a house list (people that raise their hand to email them rather than renting a list)
2. Make sure you have email sign up options on your home page and throughout your website
3. Give your visitors an incentive to sign up, tell them why you want their email address and what you will give them in return
4. Be aware of view panes which people nowadays view their email in. Your call to action should always be at the very top.
5. Test, Test, Test - your subject lines, color, copy, and style to improve response rates over time.

Please stay tuned for more helpful tips and ways to sign up for our monthly newsletter coming soon! Check out our current events and news now at http://www.swan-marketing.com/

Search Engine Optimization

The other day I received in the mail, a booklet from Quickbooks that talked about how important it is now for businesses to optimize their websites and get involved in paid and natural search, in order to drive more traffic to their site. As a customer of Quickbooks, I wouldn't have expected that they would send me something like this because, let's face it they help me process my transactions and manage my financials, not not help me decide how I should market my website to try and get more business right?

So when I saw it I thought oh, they are just trying to up sell me for something.. Don't we all think that when we get mail from a vendor we are already getting a service from? So let's just say it sat on my desk for about a week, but continued to interest me, about what was in the booklet. I was thinkging, can I learn something new if I read it? I thought I already know about SEO (search engine optimization)..

So anyhow, I went to the spa a week later, and decided to actually bring the book with me to read since I would be doing nothing just sitting in the chair, while I got my nails done. As I got comfortable in my chair while the lady intructed me to to begin soaking my feet, I pulled out the book from my small spa robe pocket, I had stuffed it in and began to read. After about an easy 10 minute ready, I said to myself, I have never read any book or had someone explain SEO to me in such a simple way. I also thought, wow they even gave me tips on exactly what to do instead of just telling me to "better optimize my website, like really what does that mean and how do you do it?

The problem with search engine marketing books, and info that is out there, is it's hard to understand if you don't work in that world. This booklet however, really explained why it's important today for people to be able to find your business on the search engines, (that is when someone goes to Google and types in a word, lets say Flowers, if they are trying to find a flower company, in the search box if your business is a flower business, your site will pop up) and how you can make this happen, naturally (by putting the write words on your website so that the search engines pick up words on your site, to rank you higher) or to pay for a spot by purchasing keywords you think people will search for your business under, and then you pay every time your website link is clicked on.

All this is based on marketing strategy, understanding your customers, and molding your website to match what they are looking for through your content (what you say on each page of your website, what words you use and so forth).

I thought the fact that they took the time to create a small booklet like this, shows they understand their customers (who I am), and care about the productivity of my business. So kuddos, for Quickbooks!

We at Swan Marketing will be offering information on SEO (search engine optimization) along with other useful tips to help you market your business or artist in our client area on our website, as well as through our newsletter for non clients. You can visit us to sign up for our newsletter at http://www.swan-marketing.com/ContactUs.html.

Monique Duarte

Marketing and the Effect on Music

Well hello. Usually I like to talk about things that can help or educate people, but today I want to talk about this link that a friend referred me to go to and listen to. It's a video with D Brad talking about how corporate america has changed the music that we listen to today.

Check it out at Real Talk - www.realtalkny.net/2007/03/topic/videos/confessions-of-a-bet-producer

He talks about his years of experience in the music industry where he worked on rap city, and paved the way for young hip hop artists like Eve, Kelis, and the Lox to be successful. But what he really hones in on is the fact that BET a corporation that he worked for, has now turned corporate. He claims that all the creativity of what use to be of the network, is now gone, and is built now on what mainstream America is publicising.

In the interview he challenges someone to listen to the radio for 10 minutes and then turn on BET and tell him what you see. He guarantees that you will see the same artists 's videos that you heard on the radio 10 minutes ago. He claims that this is because BET has become a dictatorship run by top executives that are usually older white color men who are untapped within the urban music market, but that is more so focused on what sells, and what we think the audience wants to hear.

He goes on to say that we have brought our audience down so much from what real music is, that they now only expect so much. For all the Nases, Kelises and other artist out there that want to make real music, that has lyrical content and that is creative and has meaning to it, it's almost like there is no market for these types of artists anymore.

What do you think? Have we shaped our own music society?

Ok well yesterday, someone asked me how do you market an artist? I then thought to myself, that's a good question and there are many answers... but I started by saying..

1. The music industry has dramatically changed over the years, so the dynamics of how artists break into the industry are a lot different than say 10 years ago. With Piracy on the rise, and record sales plummeting, artists and labels are always trying to find new ways to engage listeners and gain true loyal fans. Fans are so fickle and the competition is high so these are all things that you want to keep in mind when thinking about how you plan to spend your marketing dollars to promote an artist.

First, you want to understand your product, in this case the artist or the specific type of music. Figure out what makes it different from other artists. For example, does the artist have a unique style, a different way of performing? Then you want to identify who your audience would be? Meaning, is it an urban group, rock, alternative, or a genre that is a mix of different music types that would attract people. After evaluating these aspects, you can then try to begin to decide what would be the best way to market your artist.

Some suggestions

1. Make a good record (test it, by asking people who will be honest with you what they think)
2. Get DJ's to play and promote the record
3. Get a street team together to distribute flyers in places where your target group would most likely be.
4. Try to sell your music at events in your local area
5. Create an online presence through sites, like Myspace, Youtube, Blackplanet, Blogger, Facebook..
6. Perform, Perform, Perform
7. Network and tell people about your music. The saying, you have to be in the right place at the right time, holds true in the music industry...
8. Be a voice not only on a musical level but active in other activities in the community where you can cross promote your music where appropriate
8. Partner with other brands, for co-branding opportunities
9. Email marketing- send out newsletters on upcoming shows to friends and fan base
10. Mobile Marketing - this is new, but a great way to reach people
11. Last but not least - always continue to perfect your craft


Miss D

Piracy & Music

Ok so today, we know that the music industry is still battling piracy and all the downfalls that it has to offer artists. Piracy is so bad that the artist Talib Kwali, accidentally left a copy of some of his music in the studio, and it got into the wrong hands and before you knew it, songs from his unreleased album was all over the Internet.

His solution was to release his next album online in the hopes that it will reduce people illegally downloading it the second time around. So what can we do to to stop piracy?

I open up the questions to you...

Music Marketing - New Artists

Hello everyone, and welcome to the first edition of The Marriage of Music & Marketing, a blog written by myself Monique Duarte. I am the owner and founder of the marketing company Swan Marketing. Please visit us online at http://www.swan-marketing.com. I am so excited to start talking with others about my Passion, music & marketing, and to find out what interests others on this topic.

So for my first discussion, I am going to start with a topic that I have studied, done research on, and analysed..

Why Do Artists Fail?

One thing I have studied throughout my career, is that it is always a struggle for unknown artists to get discovered, and succeed in the music industry even when they have a deal with a major label! I never understood this from the outside looking in, until I started working with labels, I guess because if you don't hear about an artist, you don't know they ever existed right?

My point is, there are so many artists that get a record deal and because there are other "A" list artists on the label with seniority, their budgets are lower, they get treated like no a priority, and in turn, don't get the promotion they need to really be successful. Do you think this is fair? How does an artist get ahead if he has no control over it? What can marketing companies and the labels do to make sure everyone has equal opportunity? What things effect these situations?

Well one thing is for sure, downloading and piracy have played a big part in the shift in the music industry, including layoffs and smaller budgets to work with. Other factors include time constraints, regulations, artist cooperation, and the amount of resources available to properly manage a new artist. Sometimes it is also about the risk, meaning the label wondering, will we recoup the money that we invest in this artist? Or will their album be a flop because they are a new artist and they don't have a strong following yet? These are all issues the labels face and that we try to help overcome.

To read more and get info on our marketing services please visit http://www.swan-marketing.com/


Thanks for reading!