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Music Marketing
Why Music Supervisors Are Not Listening To Your Music.
Get a paper and pen. Just do it, it’ll totally be worth it. I’m about to blow your mind.
Quick – tell me 3 people you want to listen to your music that you think will be able to put it in a commercial, film, or TV promo! Even if you’ve already contacted them, write down a name with a little space beneath to complete this exercise.
Done? Great! Now write down 3 things you said to persuade each person to listen to your music (they can all be similar or the same if you do a lot of copy/paste).
Easy, right?
Alright, now for each person list 3 things about them that have nothing to do with their job, or music.
Hmmm…alright, take some more time and think about it…times up!
Now, as fast as you can, write down 3 things you can do for that person based on their needs or wants!
If you can come up with 1 thing for that last one, I’ll give you props. But only if it isn’t ridiculous (like “give them a million dollars” or “cut them in on license fees they secure for me” – because that’s payola, and payola is illegal…unless you’re Clear Channel).
The above exercise should prove to you that your emails suck. “Me, me, me.” That’s what you write about. “Listen to this! Check that out! I’d LOVE for you to put my song in a commercial!”
Great. I’m sure there aren’t 100,000 other people out there sending the same thing.
However, if you’re far enough along to know who to contact and actually have gotten some contact info, you’re STILL ahead of the game, as sad as it is. But you need to know something and you need to PRACTICE and GET BETTER at it as soon as you can:
The music business, and life in general, doesn’t work the way you think it does.
You cannot just sell yourself cold. It’s a waste of time. If you don’t have a good relationship with someone, it’s really tough to break through and make a connection. Especially one strong enough where they have confidence and enough trust in you and your music that they’ll give it a real shot.
How many emails have you received from someone or some entity that you didn’t know or agree to take part in? How did it make you feel? Did you read it carefully and take action doing what they ask? No?! What a surprise!
Here’s a gigantic tip:
Find a genuine connection to EVERY person you want to listen to your music before you ask them to listen to it.
That is HUGE takeaway. Huge. You should read it again, think about it, write any immediate ideas that come to mind, and then read it again.
Is it coming full circle yet? Do you get it?
Music supervisors are inundated with requests from people they don’t know and therefore don’t care about every day. They are flooded with emails like the ones you’ll find here. What makes you different?
Do you think changing your wording or coming up with a better email subject line makes you better? Wrong.
What most music supervisors will tell you is that they want a ‘filter,’ someone or some entity that they know well who they can reach out to for their music needs. What you need is to either discover one of those filters and partner up with them, or look for pre-existing relationships that act as that filter for you.
Whatever you do, don’t write another crappy email.
No one cares about the 8-word catch-phrase that sums up your music perfectly. Your album art is NOT good enough to get someone’s attention. Your 15MB attachment consisting of your amateur band photo, 1 sheet, and latest ‘single’ from 2 years ago? You guessed it. It couldn’t penetrate chocolate pudding.
Don’t get mad or frustrated – get smart. CHANGE your approach. Make yourself relevant to the person you’re contacting. Emphasize key elements that will filter you out from the crowds of morons or partner up with someone who can. The intelligent independent musician can find ways to make themselves valuable IMMEDIATELY. Sure, it takes work. Yes, you have to do more than copy and paste the same form email to 200 people. You’re better of sending 10 effective emails in an hour than 200 bogus ones.
Shape up. Get relevant, get genuine, and start focusing on the right things. You’ll find it goes a lot further than the lame attempts made by most everyone trying to get their music licensed.
If you’re not sure where to start when reaching out to music supervisors, you should subscribe to my free newsletter where you’ll get an 8-part course to help you do just that.
Should You Choose An Exclusive Contract To Get Your Music Licensed?
Previously I discussed some of the pros and cons of signing a non-exclusive contract to get your music licensed. It’s definitely an interesting option and can provide a lot of opportunity. But before you go uploading your music to Pump Audio, why not consider all options?
Exclusive deals can be very rewarding experiences not just from a monetary stand point (though that’s certainly nice), but also from an artistic one. However, they’re definitely not as easy to come by and there can be other drawbacks to signing on with a major publisher or label.
Let’s check out a the pros
Pros:
- Perceived Value is Higher
- Retain Greater Performance Royalties
- Better Synch Fees
- Better Percentages
- Creative Control
It all starts with perceived value
When I was pitching music for ads at a music library it was usually a struggle to get them to consider a library song versus a commercial track. In most cases I got the phone call only when the budget was low and not before.
Was the music quality THAT much different between the two tracks? Generally speaking, no. In many cases you could easily send a library track and commercial track and save for the name attached to it have no idea which was which. That’s the power of perceived value; big money opportunities are more available.
Performance royalties, sync fees, and percentages…
The number 1 fantastic thing about an exclusive deal is that all fees and percentages are negotiable. It doesn’t matter if you’re U2 or You Who?, you too (see what I did there?) CAN negotiate to some extent (and I’ll talk about how to do that as a little guy in a future article).
The bottom line is: any additional percentage you can get negotiate pays dividends.
Creative control
For the most part music doesn’t get pitched for political or religious advertisements just out of principle. However, how stoked would you be if your song got placed in an ad for a discount furniture store? If your answer is “ehhh,†that should be a clue about which contract to pursue.
Think of all the products you see at your local drug store and if any of those (like adult diapers or prescription drugs) are not something you’d want to attach your music to, then creative control is an important thing for you. You also get the opportunity to turn down jobs that don’t pay enough (you hoity-toity art-nerd).
Looking at the list initially it may seem like a no-brainer – hit the pavement and get after a major label or publisher. But hold on, there are some cons to consider before you go hucking your wares to Universal.
Cons:
- Difficult to secure
- Lost in the shuffle
- Are they pro-active?
- Organization
Don’t overlook how difficult it can be
It can take years. In fact they can just not happen at all. However they DO still happen and they are out there. If you decide to go for it, do it with all your heart and soul. Just know that like anything worth having, it is tough work!
Lost in the shuffle
Major labels and publishers have some pretty amazing music to tout when it comes to placing music in film, TV, and advertising. On top of that, they also have a ton of other music that is maybe not so amazing, but that they still need to make money on.
For that reason its possible you’ll get lost among the other artists in the catalog. You might make the same case for non-exclusive style companies, but keep reading as the next two items are what REALLY separates the wheat from the chaff.
Are they pro-active?
Many companies are changing but still far too many wait for the phone to ring or depend on clients to reach out to them. So sure, they may get a call when someone has $200K to spend on a Super Bowl spot, but guess which artists get first dibs on that kind of money? So if you’re not a superstar, you need to MAKE SURE the company you’re signing with is abreast of as many opportunities, large and small, as possible.
Organization
They’re not sure who wrote what, they don’t have useful systems in place to help them find the right music, and maybe they don’t even know who represents the other side of the sync placement. Yikes. This means you could miss an opportunity simply because the company doesn’t know some critical business facet. Some entities really have it together, and some can barely make it to work.
In the end, whichever route you decide to go just be aware of the potential caveats. Now there are more and more people offering services and opportunities to up-and-coming writers. If you do your homework, chances are you can land somewhere that will be a great fit!
As always please leave a comment with your own stories. I’m always looking to hear more about your experience and answer questions!
Get On The Right Track
My commute to work in the morning is a fairly simple process but it does involve two sensible options.
Option 1: I can get on the F train at Delancey/Essex, then change at West 4th street for the uptown C or E. I’ve made the commute as quick as about 20 minutes and typically it doesn’t take longer than 30 minutes.
Option 2: Get on the F at Delancey/Essex, and get off at 34th Street, then walk the rest of the way.
Option 1 means I have to wait for a second train but be slightly closer to my office at the exit. Option 2 means I don’t have to wait for a second train but I do have a little bit further to walk.
It may seem like a snap. Maybe choose to walk a littler further on nice sunny days like today, or perhaps take option 1 when I’m in a hurry. But more goes into it than that. Because some mornings I don’t bring coffee so I like to stop and get iced coffee at Starbucks. Of course, if it’s chilly and I want a hot coffee the cup at the local deli on my way to work on option 1 is just fine.
But of course if I stay at the back of the train on Option 2, I walk fewer short blocks and only 1 long block.
And on, and on it goes and I tell you this isn’t a single-time occurrence. This happens in my mind almost everyday depending on how close to being on time I am vs. my need for coffee, etc.
This morning I realized I was over-analyzing my situation and from now on, I’ll just take option 2. Not for any “good reason,” mostly just because it feels better and I am TIRED of over-thinking about it.
It dawned on me that in life, we often do this.
When we try to achieve a goal, how often do we over-think our situation? And how often are we presented with the same, or similar situations, and continue to choose based on lengthy mental analyzations?
As musicians here’s how it might manifest itself:
Goal: “Today I’m going to submit my music to a label”
Thought process: What if they don’t like it? What if someone doesn’t answer the phone? What if someone does answer the phone? What if I forget to attach my pkit to the email? Should I follow up with the person I’ve just emailed a couple of days ago? What if it bothers them? What if I get the wrong person? I’d better research the right person to talk to. Crap, I can’t find the person I need to talk to. Now what do I do? I found the main line but I’m terrible on the phone.
…and on and on. The reality is we think too much about almost everything and too many times we manage to convince ourselves into prolonging efforts or even worse, into in-action. Analyzation can be a very useful tool but we need to ACT more on our guts. ACT on the goal.
If you have a goal set for yourself for today, or next week or this year – what are you actively doing to move closer to it? How can you take a step right now to simply DO that thing? If it’s a long term goal can you back-track from end-result to what you can do TODAY to progress just a little more towards the desired result?
Today, choose a path to take and a take the first step to move down it. Put down the Xbox controller and write the chorus to that song. Close down iChat and make a list of 15 main-line phone numbers for labels to call. Turn off the TV, and turn on Spotify and listen to 15 new songs you’ve never heard before.
Your goal can be a simple one so long as you keep moving forward.
How Does An Independent Artist Stay Relevant While Creating New Music?
How often does a band you love come out with new music? If your answer is “typically once a year” you win the prize (which is getting to read the rest of this article). Last night at a happy hour with some clients I had the unique opportunity to chat with Wise Girl (an independent artist) and the CEO of Melody Robot (and freelance ad agency producer) at the same time. It was great. I love picking their brains to see how the two different sides think and bouncing ideas off of them to see how they resonate.
Looking to successful businesses and marketing campaigns can help eschew old music industry models to advance independent music. Lately my big thing is product cycle.
If you’re an avid Apple fan you really look forward to June, September, and January. Why? Because these are typically the big refresh dates for Apple products. If you watch Breaking Bad on TV chances are you look forward to every Sunday night for 13 weeks in a row and then download the series to watch it again in a few months. Or maybe you love to shop at J. Crew and can’t wait for Fall, Winter, Spring and Summer catalogs to show up in your mailbox.
Are you starting to formulate what I’m driving at? At its fastest music generally comes out once per year. You get 10 songs, sometimes as many as 16, and maybe a concert, and then it’s back into hibernation.
Now, for a band like Pearl Jam that has sold nearly 32 million records and has a huge global fan base, you can choose to release an album once a year (or longer) and go on tour for 3 months and know you’ll sell a ton of records. People will punch each other in the face just for the miniscule chance they’ll be able to buy a ticket to see a live performance too. Leading up to that release, they’ll scour the web searching for every tidbit they can about the band. They have the luxury of already having a hungry public in place. But what if you don’t have a huge fan base? What if you need to transition from being “this band I kind of like” to “I cannot wait for their next album!”?
Shouldn’t independent artists be in frequent contact with their fans? Shouldn’t they seem prolific? Wouldn’t scheduling yourself to write and record music be an insanely useful exercise? So why bust your ass to save up $5K, take FOREVER to complete a project, then release it and act surprised that you don’t immediately gain fame and fortune?
Here’s the deal: as a new artist you have a lot of work to do and only about 20 percent of it is actually writing music. You need to garner some attention from current fans, they need to know what you’re doing, hear the results, and get an exclusive look at how you did it. Fans need to be engaged in your work and encouraged to pass it around to their friends due to its raw magnetism. It is NOT good enough to release an album once a year or an EP every 6 months, play a few shows, and then go back to waiting tables while you wait for something to happen or try to shop your 10 songs around.
The game has changed. Consider using a content calendar. Tweet photos, post temp tracks, ask for feedback, populate and maintain a mailing list (I LOVE Mail Chimp). Find ways to engage your fans, solicit new ones, and keep them posted with what you’re doing, what it looks like, how it’s sounding, and building that anticipation for the final product. After all, it works for Apple.
**Feel free to leave your ideas in the comments about how or if you currently do this, and note which tools you like best.
Billboard Music in Advertising Keynote with Kid Rock
At the BBMiA conference waaaay back in June I was simply blown away by Kid Rock. Not having really listened to his music (other than not really liking Bawitdaba’s radio domination years ago) I wasn’t sure what to expect.
What I heard at his keynote was:
1) A guy who has worked his butt off from day 1.
2) Someone who’s taken the time to learn ALL aspects of his craft (creative, business, etc).
3) A very down to earth individual with a fantastic outlook on life.
…and more. I was able to record some of the Q&A at the end of the session with my phone and I’m posting it here. I hope you enjoy it!