Marketing101 Archives - Haulix Daily

Hello, everyone! Thank you for finding a few minutes in your schedule to spend with us. This post was created after learning of a fantastic new service made available from a company that would have been considered an industry pariah a decade ago. It’s a little crazy in theory, but it’s working to connect artists with their fans in a more direct way than ever before.

This blog exists to promote the future of the entertainment industry, and to do that we need input from people like you and your entertainment-loving friends. If you have any questions about the content in this article, or if you have an artist you would like to see featured on this blog, please contact james@haulix.com. We can also be found on Twitter and Facebook.

Sitting at my desk this morning following a brief brainstorming session for the coming month of editorial content, I could not help thinking that a decade ago it would have been considering craze for someone to suggest promoting new music through BitTorrent. The service, which rose to fame/infamy because of its ties to illegal file sharing, has worked extremely hard to build a legitimate business out of questioning beginning in recent years. One of the biggest components of this positive resurgence has been the company’s ability to partner with innovative and influential members of pop culture to share content in a way that artists and other content creators are able to control from beginning to end. Their ‘Bundle’ series has partnered with everyone from G-Eazy to Radiohead frontman Thom Yorke in recent months, each offering a different variety of media and promotional materials, and every campaign has widely been considered a massive success. We’re not talking about thousands of engaged listeners, but millions, and they’re receiving content curated by the people who created it with little to no voice from the middle man (BitTorrent) bringing them together.

This week, roughly 18 months after launching in beta, BitTorrent has opened its digital magnetization platform BitTorrent Bundles to all musicians and other creators of digital content. I know there is a lot of skepticism around the idea of embracing a company once known as the knife slicing the achilles heel of the music industry, but a lot has changed in the last decade and BitTorrent are doing their best to leverage their massive user base in a way that promotes the continued support of creative people. You may have used services in the past that allowed for sharing of free media and other promotional materials, but none of them had the built-in audience, nor the transparency, that this service offers. For further explanation, we put together a list of three reasons artists, labels, and other industry folk should seriously consider using BitTorrent Bundles as part of their next promotional push. You can read those reasons, below. Those interested in signing up for access to the BitTorrent Bundles program can do so here.

1. The cost and distribution fees are so low it makes Apple look like a school yard bully.

Signing up for BitTorrent Bundles is absolutely free, as is choosing to share your material without a paywall, but if you choose to charge fans for access to your material BitTorrent will charge you for using their service. The company charges 10% of the purchase price of each Bundle plus about 5% in transaction fees. This is almost the exact same right as Bandcamp, not to mention being only a fraction of the $40+ distribution fees that are deducted from iTunes sales. And let’s not even get into how this compares to the average per stream payout offered by services like Spotify or Rdio.

2. The access to information you receive may be worth more than your financial gain

iTunes and Amazon Music are two of the biggest digital music stores in the world, and they’re recognized by almost anyone with an internet connection. Those are two facts that cannot be denied, and it’s completely understandable why artists choose to have their music on those sites even though the fees and costs associated may often be viewed as unfair. Something else these companies fail to do very well when working with artists is provide any information relating to the types of consumers who purchase their product. BitTorrent shares the email and other purchase data of every transaction with artists. That’s something almost no commercial competitor can offer.

When BitTorrent Bundles went public this week, Straith Schreder, director of content strategy for BitTorrent, spoke about how this lack of transparency hurts artists in the long run. “Platforms like iTunes take up to 40% of sales revenue – without disclosing fan contact information or data. Which means that, as an artist, you have no idea who’s buying your work, and how to reach them. To deprive artists of this data is to deprive them of the ability to build a viable business.”

3. In a world of tired ideas, BitTorrent Bundles are still considered ‘cool’

Though every John Hughes movie would like you to believe there is nothing wrong with staying far away from emerging trends and whatever it is the quote/unquote ‘cool’ kids are up to, a big component in digital marketing today is the ability to adapt the latest trending topic/craze to suit your needs. BitTorrent Bundles offer a low cost method of engaging fans with new and unreleased material that otherwise may never get to them without first cutting through miles and miles of industry nonsense. In a time where it’s harder than ever to forge lasting connections between two regular people, let alone a person and a brand, this service has found a way of reaching passionate music fans that has proven results for a large variety of talent. Anyone choosing to not try and further connect with their own fan base out of fear of being thought a sell out or something equally ridiculous need to realize their ego will forever hold them back from achieving their dreams. Embrace the now, embrace what’s popular, and find a way to make it your own.

The last few editions of our Haulix Advice column have focused on making introductions and getting your music in front of people who will [hopefully] share it with their readers. Today we’re focusing on selling what lies behind the music: Yourself.

Once your music begins getting traction online, the time will come when you desire to setup additional features for your band with notable publications. Interviews are always a great route to go, but all too often the bigger outlets do not have the free time needed to execute a face-to-face feature with rising acts and an email interview (sometimes referred to as a form interview) may have to suffice suffice. This may seem like a negative, as everyone tends to express themselves better through conversation than statement, but with careful thought and consideration fill-in-the-blank questionnaires can be a gateway to a deeper relationship with your fans, as well as an effective marketing tool. After all, any opportunity for exposure is better than none, and rarely will you come across an opportunity as customizable as this.

For everything a form interview lacks in terms of human interaction it more than makes up for in the endless freedom offered to the artist. The questions outlined should be viewed as starting points for conversation with the reader rather than individual bullet points. Make your introductions quick and be sure to answer everything clearly, but keep in mind every response is another opportunity to connect with listeners on a deeper level. They want the details (that’s why you’re being asked you questions), so make sure you take your time to answer everything in full. That may sound fairly obvious, but having spent last half decade in journalism I cannot count the number of one-word or single sentence responses I’ve received from artists of all sizes. It’s not engaging or entertaining to read. Ever.

In terms of reaching new listeners, form interviews offer you the opportunity to discuss elements of your art that may pull in the casual webzine reader. In depth information regarding your inspiration, goals, antics on stage and behind-the-scenes, views on music, and the like can offer the publications printing the article an angle to sell, and with the right hook you’ll be reeling in new listeners in no time (pun unfortunately intended).

To offer additional insight on how artists can make the most out of email interviews and the reasoning behind why it’s important, I turned to a few notable members of the music world for advice. You can read their insight below. If you have additional tips for artists reading this column, please feel free to comment at the end of this post and add your two cents.

“I think the short responses in interviews via email are not because the artist or musician doesn’t care, it’s because either: 1) The artist feels as sense of entitlement because someone cares enough about their art to interview them about it. OR 2) They aren’t viewing their art as a business. If you want to be taken seriously, you need to act professional. no one wants to work with unprofessional artists who are flakey and don’t care about their perception to the public. – Mike Sacchetti, Bad News Bears

In the unfortunate event that an interviewer is left with no other option but to send out an e-mail interview as opposed to doing a phoner or in-person, it’s important that the artist(s) being questioned elaborate on their answers to make for an interesting and insightful read. There is generally no way for the interviewer to anticipate how the artist(s) will respond so more often than not, an e-mail interview will not flow as well as an in-person or phone interview would, as the interviewer doesn’t have the opportunity to ask follow-up questions in regards to the artists’ answers.

I would suggest that the interviewee read all of the questions before they begin answering because it has been my experience that the artist will answer with similar responses multiple times throughout the interview due to the order of the questions. Many times, the artist(s) will answer a question as well as a succeeding one at the same time which isn’t always necessarily a good thing in terms of length and an engrossing read. This also falls into the responsibility of the interviewer to ask engaging and unique questions to hopefully get the most out of the interviewee, in way of in-depth responses.

In some instances, an artist will be cooperative enough to allow you to send some follow-up questions if you’re unclear on something they answered or you feel that you need to expand on something that could ultimately make for more piquant content. It would be nice if all artists offered this option knowing that an e-mail will typically need a little more life than what is breathed into it in the initial transaction. – Brian Lion, Under The Gun Review

When filling out digital interviews, every band should take the time to make sure they not only hand in thoughtful answers, but responses that are professional. Time and time again, I read and put together interviews where artists don’t take the time to even run spell check over their answers, which can reflect poorly on your band. Put in a few extra minutes, look over your answers and make sure what you’re saying is representative of how you want your band to be perceived. – Tyler Osborne, ToZ Productions