subject: Dave Crane Tv How To Make An Album With Social Media Training [print this page] As a former radio presenter and club DJ there's nothing better than seeing your own CD on the shelves of a Virgin Music Store. It's like getting an oscar for the 'lifetime achievement award'.
My own CD 'Now That's What I Call Hypnosis Volume 1' has sold over 3,000 copies across the region. Not bad for a niche product with no fanbase, no perceived market and no promotion or advertising. Especially when the region is predominately Arabic (my CD is in English) and nobody has a clue what NLP stands for.
As proud as I am of my publishing achievement, I probably won't do it again. It was too hard and painful. Waiting for EMI to license me the name of 'Now That's What I Call...' took 6 months alone. Then there's the waiting game. Don't get me started on that.
Instead, I will do it all again on my own within a quarter of the time (or less) and show lots of people how to do it too.
The Music Industry is dead.
Long live The Music Industry.
The new music industry will allow you to become an instant superstar in a minimum amount of time to a smaller audience.
Let me explain...
1) People don't buy CD's anymore. Well not much. Certainly not enough to make the levels of sales that guarantee riches.
2) The 'younger generation' not only see all digital information as free, but see it as their right to share it with anyone who wants it. To them IT IS NOT THEFT!
3) The power of music distribution has been removed from radio stations and TV shows as people find the stuff they like through friends and recommendations or even to search through online sellers like iTunes and then downloading whatever they want.
4) The 3 hits and a load of filler concept album is dead. People take the song they like and don't bother with any of the rest of the tracks.
5) The record industry is dying from lack of revenue from music sales thanks to file sharing and piracy. Also because when distribution is free online, you don't need a record company with a big fat cheque book.
6) We all have the ability to create over 1,000 fans in whatever we do who will pay for all our great materials and products (and possibly stalk us too).
7) The world's biggest artists can't survive on CD sales alone. A megastar like Beyonce, Justin Timberlake nor Britney Spears will probably take home about $50,000 USD each year from music royalties after the costs of promotional videos, travel, touring, advertising, production, entourage, lifestyle and agents fees. Their only real revenue comes from concert ticket sales, merchandise, perfume and clothing deals, corporate sponsorship, merchandising spin-offs and personal appearances.
8) We, with smaller expenses, have every ability to advertise what we do without the huge risk factors of the big stars. We don't need to live in a mansion or have 5 cars in the garage. So profits become REAL profits.
9) The new music industry rewards talent by stick ability because of people's attention span, keep them engaged for 3 minutes and they'll tell their friends too.
10) Your efforts will stay online forever.
10 simple points but symptomatic that the world is changing with more power being distributed to the many, even if it means they have less followers of their stuff.
If you have a good tune, you can
a) Record it and mix it on your laptop.
b) Get a flip camera and make a promo video on the beach, in your house or in the shopping centre.
c) Upload the video to You Tube, the music to iTUnes and the accompanying story can be Tweeted at each stage to gain followers from curiosity alone.
d) You can create a fan page on Facebook and ask all your friends to check it out too. As they tell their friends and a crowd gathers, you can look for a corporate sponsor interested in reaching your audience demographic on LinkedIn.
e) You can get all your fans to subscribe to your membership site and then drive them to your webinar where you do a live concert in your bedroom.
The possibilities are endless but at no point is the old music model used apart from expertise and quality production. These are tangible goods that the digital age fans will pay for.
That and live concerts.
When all tickets can be advertised and bought online, the profits for the clever marketer get bigger and bigger.
The same is true, of course, for books and other creative products, especially when the digital book can be viewed and stored on the iPad and Kindle easier than the bookshop shelf.
So now you know how I am going to be releasing my 40 new CD's and 4 new Books.
If you'd like to join me, come on into the internet and start surfing. The water is lovely every time of year...
