Hello, everyone! Welcome to the beginning of a brand new week. We are kicking things off with a little help from our friend Seth Werkheiser, and we hope you’ll heed the advice he has to offer. The piece you’re about to read was originally part of Seth’s popular ‘Novelty And Nonsense’ email list. If you like what you read, click here and signup for future mailings.
This site 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.
On YouTube you’re the pink space above. That’s it.
With a pre-roll ad you disappear.
See those videos on the side? Distractions. Noise. All aiming to be more compelling than your video, chosen my algorithms to drive more clicks (and money) for YouTube. Cha-ching (for them, not you).
That’s the fight you enter into each time you Tweet a link to your brand new video on YouTube.
You’re bringing a knife to a gun fight.
Do this instead. That pink space? That’s yours.
Fill your space with upcoming shows, links to your merch, and / or pretty pictures of your cute face. Don’t give up that space to other bands, makers, speakers, or bullshit BuzzFeed videos (because they’re engineered to win).
It’s 2015 – start driving traffic to your stuff instead of landing pages for fancy-pant sites engineered to distract your fans.
Seth Werkheiser is the quiz master of metal trivia at Skulltoaster. He’s also the founder of some music sites you may have heard of, including Noise Creep (2009) + Buzzgrinder (2001). He’s anti-Facebook, anti-clickbait, and anti-growth hacking. You should most definitely follow him on Twitter. Yes, right now.
Hello. Thank you for finding time in your schedule to browse our site. You can go just about anywhere on the web without fear of government issued vehicles raiding your house, so we’re thankful you have chosen to spend your precious time here. The post you’re about to read is aimed at improving the social networking efforts of musicians on the rise, but in reality the tips provided can be applied to almost any individual or small business hoping to further their digital impact.
This site 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.
If you work in the live music industry, you spend a lot of time inviting people to concerts. Hopefully you are inviting them with a variety of methods, Facebook events being one. Which is great as long as you do it properly.
I get invited to a TON of shows, that the glorious nature of being friends with so many bands and promoters, there is always something going on, there is always too much going on really. The byproduct is that you receive a lot of Facebook event invites, which is great, great FB events get you all the details and can be a perfect way to get show info HOWEVER there is one kind of invite that becomes REALLY tiresome:
Invites to shows that are nowhere near me.
Now, every once and a while someone may be genuinely confused, maybe they met me in Calgary and keep inviting me to Calgary shows, no biggie, I may reach out to let you know but we all get confused sometimes. The thing that will get under your fans skin is the generic shotgun blast invite everyone to everything. I am obviously not got to come to your shows in Toronto, Winnipeg, Regina, Boston, Portland, Vancouver and Calgary, so don’t invite me, this isn’t confusion it’s laziness.
It only makes your invites less effective.
When you keep seeing the same basic information over and over that doesn’t apply to you, pretty soon you brain stops really taking in that information. Our brains know that they can’t handle every little detail they see in a day, so it categorizes things in order of importance, when your event is continually irrelevant to your listeners, pretty soon…it goes into the wrong bin, it’s irrelevant.
But it’s hard work to invite everyone! It’s slow! I can’t possibly know where all 2700 of these people are from!
Yes, it is harder, but if it’s more effective. It is a bit slow, BUT Facebook has given you the tools to make it not so very painful AND to make sure you can find the right people AND it’s free! If you don’t know about Graph search yet, you are missing out. Here is how it works:
In the search bar you type: My friends who live in __________
Facebook will then display a list of all your friends who live in that city. Killer.
Now, open up a separate window.
You could use a tab, but having two windows side-by-side will make this go much faster. As you go down the list simply type the name of the person and invite. I takes time but it’s really not bad at all. And that’s just the beginning of how musicians can take advantage of graph search…but that’s for another post!
This post was written by Andrew Jones, editor of Checkered Owl. It originally ran on his blog, but we loved it so much we felt it deserved to shared once more on ours. If you like his work and want to read more of his writing, or if you want to be super cool and offer him full time industry employment, reach out and connect with him on Twitter.
Hello, everyone! I know we took a little time off yesterday without warning, but a close friend of the Haulix family passed away and we needed some time to mourn. Fortunately, many of our close friends in the industry reached out to help us continue our content creation efforts while we reflect on our recently deceased friend. The piece you’re about to read was created by Seth Werkheiser, and it offers insight that could help bands and artists of all sizes improve their digital marketing efforts.
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.
I’ve talked to a handful of musicians and bands lately about the subject of “social media.” I usually steer the conversation towards email marketing, and explain how it converts better than the “social media flavor of the week.”
“But I don’t want to just email out our tour dates,” they usually say, explaining that they don’t like those emails.
There’s a simple solution: don’t be like the lazy bands who do just that.
Copying and pasting your tour dates into an email is very boring. An unpaid intern could do it. In their sleep.
Instead, try this: out of the 34 photos you posted to Instagram and Facebook during the course of your last few shows, or tours, pick a handful that “clicked well.” What dose that mean? That means the photos that got the most "likes,” or shares. Take those, and put a few of them into your next email.
Now, here’s the part where an unpaid intern can’t do what you do.
You write the back story. The location. Explain what happened. You lived it, bled it, slept in it. You drove all those hours, got sick, met an amazing character in a small town, hung out with coolest people.
Everyone loves a good story, and as a traveling musician you’ve got stories to tell, so stop “blasting” your tour dates every five minutes like every other hack band out there.
As Betabrand founder Chris Lindland says, “the assumption is that not everybody wants to shop every single time they get a newsletter.”
Think about that for a second: not everyone is ready buy tickets to your next show or watch your new music video (they might be watching Netflix at the moment). But if you tell a story about how cops nearly shut down your video shoot, you might distract them from ‘Orange is the New Black’ long enough to at least get a click!
For example, there’ a new video out from the Cancer Bats, for their song ‘Satellites.’ In the video they shoot fireworks at their drummer in a field the whole time.
Wait, they what?
How did they not get arrested shooting that video? Did anyone get burned? How much did they spend on fireworks? Who came up with that idea of shooting fireworks at their drummer?
Their YouTube description field? "SATELLITES!! Hope you like it!” Snooze.
So don’t do that with your own email newsletter. Get creative. Just because every other band out there sends a list of tour dates and nothing more doesn’t mean you have to do the same.
Share some photos, stories from the road, and then paste your tour dates at the bottom of the email. Heck, list the mileage between stops, or the tourist destination you’re planning on visiting. Ask your fans for suggestions on places to check out, the best food stops in town. Invite a few out for pre-show pizza.
These are the people who might may to come see you, right? Maybe buy a CD or shirt?
Remind your fans what you’re about, not just where you’ll be two months from now.
Seth Werkheiser is the quiz master of metal trivia at Skulltoaster. He’s also the founder of some music sites you may have heard of, including Noise Creep (2009) + Buzzgrinder (2001). He’s anti-Facebook, anti-clickbait, and anti-growth hacking. You should most definitely follow him on Twitter. Yes, right now.
Hello and welcome to the beginning of a new week of music industry insight and conversation. We are beyond thrilled to have you joining us this afternoon, and we certainly hope you stick around for all the content we have planned in the days ahead. The piece you’re about to read is one that took ten years to create, but we’ve only been working on it for about a month. 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 and share your thoughts. We can also be found on Twitter and Facebook.
There was a time in 2001 when I thought the world would never be without the band known as CrazyTown. Having risen out of virtually nowhere, this California based rock outfit had taken top 40 radio by storm with a little song called “Butterfly,” and in doing so managed to sell more than six million copies of their debut album (The Gift Of Game). You could not be in public for more than twenty minutes without hearing frontman Shifty Shellshock’s voice crooning “Come my lady, come, come my lady” from every car stereo, bodega radio, and department store sound system in the country. If you somehow made it this far in your existence without experiencing it, now is the time to change you life:
In 2004, things took a wild turn when CrazyTown began butting heads with their label over the material being created for their Sophomore release. The execs wanted another “Butterfly,” but anyone familiar with the band’s catalog can tell you that song was an oddity from day one. It was never meant to define the sound of the band, and they were determined to stick to that plan with their latest record. They got their way, but for whatever reason the album was not given the kind of major promotional push their debut effort had received. Months later, the band was dropped.
Frustrated by their experience on a major label, not to mention the overall decline of the industry as a result of digital piracy, the members of CrazyTown decided to take a short break, allowing everyone the chance to pursue other projects. That short break quickly turned into a decade, but after years of demand the band is finally back together and quickly wrapping up production on a brand new release. Having seen the highs and lows of life in the industry, we knew we had to ask the guys about their experience coming together once again, and to our surprise founding member Bret “Epic” Mazur was more than happy to write an in-depth editorial about the behind-the-scenes things that have to happen in order for a band to reunite. It’s fun and informative, both for fans of the band and those thinking of restarting their own, long forgotten projects. You can find his thoughts below.
CrazyTown have only played a handful of shows since announcing their reunion, but we expect to see them playing many more cities in the months to come. Before we get to the interview, take a few moments to hear some of the band’s latest material:
So, you want to get the band back together? This isn’t for the faint of heart and I assure you that you must have passion for it to make sense at all. In my case, we are speaking about my band CrazyTown.
My name is Bret “Epic” Mazur and I am a founding member of the band. Just to catch you up a little bit, I had a very successful career as a record producer at a very early age during the late 90s. I was producing the Black Eyed Peas first record when Will I Am introduced me to Seth Binzer, thinking that we should start a band together. That is exactly what we did and we got a major record deal with Columbia records in 1998. We built a legion of dedicated fans touring extensively for over a year and a half. We sold over six million records and in 2001 we went number one round the world with our single “Butterfly.”
Fast forward to 2004. The music industry is in turmoil due to illegal downloading of music, overpaid record execs and a general shift in the way business was being done The Internet had rocked the music business. Many bands and record execs were let go at this time, and so were we. We decided to take a little break and everybody in the band started doing their own thing for little bit. I went back into writing and producing and Seth went on to pursue a solo career. What was supposed to be about a year-long break ended up becoming 10 years.
After various false starts and stops to reignite CrazyTown once again, we had accumulated roughly an albums full of unreleased material. I gave Seth a call and we decided to meet for coffee and discuss potentially releasing this music. It wasn’t so much that we wanted to try to make money with it, but more so to let our fans who had been patiently waiting for so long to hear it.
We wanted to work on a couple of brand-new songs to throw into the mix. The thing was that the vibe was so good in the studio that we decided to work on a whole brand-new record.
The decision was made. We were going to rise from the ashes. Rather then me just babbling on with my story, I’m going to go through the various aspects of what this entails. And it applies to any band, whether you are making a comeback or starting new. The only real difference is whether or not you will be engaging an existing fan-base. In both cases you are obviously looking to make new fans.
Every bands situation is a little bit different, but I found this to be a general order of things and the way they should go. Be prepared to wear many different proverbial hats. You will have a lot on your plate. This list doesn’t include everything but certainly the key points.
PASSION FOR THE MUSIC
Is this really what you want to do? Do you really enjoy still making music together? If the answer is yes and it feels good, then do it! Create the music you want to make and don’t think about what you think the fans want to hear. Have fun with it.
WHAT IS YOUR STORY?
Make sure you tell your story and don’t let anybody define who you are.
SOCIAL MEDIA
If you have existing social media accounts make sure you become active on them and start engaging your fan base. If not, set them up now! Content is king! Now more than ever you can get your message across unfiltered and unobstructed by record labels. Some call social media a necessary evil and some truly love it for the tool that it is. Either way, the truth is we can be in contact with our fan base directly. The obvious and necessary social media accounts to have are Twitter, Facebook, YouTube and Instagram. If you are not familiar with how to use any of these it is imperative that you get somebody on your team or in the band who does. Hootsuite is an amazing tool that brings the operation of all social media accounts into one convenient location. It is highly suggested. Rally your fans as street teams to help your online outreach and to help promote your shows. Set up a special email address to collect all their email addresses so you can supply them with artwork, posters etc. Promote contests and giveaways, upload pictures and videos live from the studio, talk to fans, possibly upload song snippets… the possibilities are endless. This is fan engagement!
MANAGEMENT
If you do not have current management that you are happy with, Then I highly suggest that you manage yourself. You can actively be looking for the right manager, but this way you are not dead in the water or handing the reins over to somebody who might not be the right fit. If your band has a brand value that you are re establishing, that is a serious asset that must be taken into consideration. The financial arrangement you have with any manager should be 100% supportive of your band and brand being revitalized. I am also a firm believer that no manager should ever make more money then any key member of the band.… especially on tour. It is my experience that there are some amazing managers out there, but many either do not know how to do their job or just don’t.
DISTRIBUTION
There are so many different ways to get your music out there these days. I am not going to go over all of them but you do not need to make a deal with a major distributor at all. Either way, the days of the major record deal are all but over. Record company advances are nothing but terrible loans anyway. In fact they are the worst loans you can ever get. They essentially turned recording artists into slaves. You really can be completely independent these days. You could also make a purely record services deal with either a strong indie or major distributor with no advance. These deals are usually in the 80%/20% range. 80% to the artist obviously. Just make sure you get a firm understanding and financial commitment as to what services the distributer can and will be responsible for. If you do make a deal with a distributer or label, market share and leverage are important here.
BARTER AND GET FAVORS
Hopefully you haven’t burned bridges and are able to get people to help you along the way. The truth is, at this point you’re going to have to get people to pitch in their time and expertise. If you are appreciative of peoples time and have been good to people in the past it’s amazing how much help you can get. Don’t be afraid to ask and make sure you are able to take care of them when you can.
CASH FLOW
This is usually the big conundrum. Until you are off and running and making money how are you going to pay for everything? Hopefully you have some money saved up or are earning money in other ways but typically at this point you could either get an online store selling Merch going and you can set up a pre sale campaign with a company like Pledge Music…this is always a difficult hurdle to get over.
BOOKING AGENT
If you still have a relationship with your old booking agent and they are ready to fight for you then do that by all means! If you go with a new agent then make sure they will “fight for you”. You have to stay on top of them either way. It is not necessary to be with CAA or William Morris, as great as they are. Just make sure that its an agency that is actually in the game. Better to be a big fish in a little pond but leverage is very important here too.
TOURING
Make sure you have an idea of the type of touring you want to do. That might mean being direct support for a band whose fans you want to steal. I suggest playing a mix of shows where you are direct support as well as headline. Festivals are also an amazing way to play for many potential new fans and make good money. Make sure you’re touring is routed in a way that is financially feasible. Be realistic as to where your guarantees are and arrange your tour accordingly so that you can make money. Share rooms, fly coach, eat at the venue…etc. Everybody’s situation is different but what I’m saying is make compromises to make money. We are doing this for the love but also to be successful. Also try to align yourself with a corporate sponsor. This can help offset any expenses that are incurred which reach beyond what you can afford.
All in all, these are really just the basics. I’m sure I am going to remember like twelve things I should have added, but I too am wearing many hats. I’m late for rehearsal! As I said everybody’s path is going to be unique. The important things to remember are to have fun and enjoy what you’re doing but treat it as the business it is, especially if you were like me and it was all just a party.
Hello and welcome to the final artist advice column of the week. We have been planning to run this article for a while, but with Warped Tour kicking off this weekend it seemed no time could or would be more perfect than this afternoon. Whether you have a full tour planned this summer or a single show, we believe the information below will improve the likelihood of fan retention while also increasing merch sales. If you have any questions about the content of the blog, or if you would like more information regarding the distributional services offered by Haulix, please email james@haulix.com and share your thoughts. You can also find us on Twitter and Facebook.
We are less than two weeks from the official start of summer, but thanks to the crazy weather of 2014 most of the United States has only recently begun to feel the heat of the impending season. The vast majority of our population has spent the better part of the last eight months indoors, keeping themselves company with the glow of their laptop or smartphone screen. If you’re in a band, you probably also spent this time mastering your online marketing skills. If so, bravo! This post is for you.
In the time since summer last gave way to fall you have gained hundreds of digital followers across Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and Tumblr, not to mention having finally found a way to network with the people who run some of your favorite music blogs. People are tweeting about you and posting photos of the merch they ordered from your online store, which you love and gladly reply to because you’re not a heartless artist expecting money from strangers (and it requires next to zero effort on your part). You probably even have a summer tour in the works, or at least a handful of dates with a festival appearance or two. You may even be on Warped Tour. If so, again, bravo! You are well on your way to turning your digital buzz into real world success, but in order to do that you will need to shed the safety net of digital engagement and learn to interact with customers, as well as potential customers, in a real world setting. Be it slinging merch at an upcoming show, or working the line outside a major festival, there are several things to keep in mind if you want to maximize the impact of your time and marketing efforts.
1. Prepare in advance. Be quick and efficient whenever possible
It’s relatively easy to plan for on site marketing and merch sales, but being prepare to act on those plans is another story entirely. Before you ever step foot in a venue or on festival grounds you need to make sure you have everything you need organized in a way that makes accessing it quick and easy. If you’re selling merch, make sure to count stock, organize and arrange you product prior to arriving on site. If you’re working lines or festival grounds with music, make sure your iPod has battery life, additional chargers, and at least two sets of headphones. If you need signs, make them the day before. Time spent setting up or dealing with unorganized merch is time lost with music fans.
2. Remember no ones like a hard sell
When you’re an up and coming artist depending on merch sales to get to the next town, let alone eat, it can be very tempting to try and push your merchandise on music fans. RESIST! You may have the best music in the world that no one has heard, but it’s never going to go anywhere if people feel like they’re being sold something the moment you begin speaking with them. If you come across as friendly, helpful, and knowledgable you will have a far better likelihood of gaining (and retaining) consumer interest. Share with people why you do what you do, and what it is about your music and message that sets you apart. Leverage your authenticity to make yourself more appealing to customers, but be careful to not push too far and come across as cocky or overly confident. People need to know you believe in yourself, but no one wants to support someone who likens themselves to a god.
3. Think of every interaction as a new opportunity to network
It’s great when people buy things and ask for more information about your music, but even if they walk away from their initial encounter with you and your art empty handed they can still aide your longterm marketing efforts. You never know who they may know, and being a generally likable person will go a long way towards leaving a good impression. Also, person-to-person interactions are a great way to learn about your fan base, as well as the regional scene as whole. Do people support unsigned bands in this area? Are there a lot of venues you could play at on future tours, or is this more of a one basement town? These things matter, and the best way to get accurate insight on the climate of any music scene is from the people who help it thrive day in and day out.
4. Try and get feedback, even if it’s not what you want to hear
This bit was written more to those sharing their music with first time listeners than those selling merch, but it can and should be applied to both. Wherever you go, make it a point to listen to people as much, if not more than you speak to them. If you’re sharing your music, ask them what they do and don’t like about it. Ask them who they think you sound like and whether or not they could see themselves catching your live show at some point in the future. Take the wins with the losses, and always do your best to be polite. There may be people who treat you like crap or speak ill of your art, but it is of the utmost importance that you find the power within yourself to rise above and treat that the same way you would a regular fan. Music, like everything creative, is subjective, and they are not wrong or bad simply because they do not like the art you create. By accepting that fact and taking the time to hear their complaints, you open yourself up to the possibility of seeing, hearing, or otherwise understanding your own creation in a whole new light.
5. Smile and be polite
Following the point made above, kindness is next to godliness in this world, and the quickest way to win over the heart of a consumer inundated with advertising is through being a generally decent human being. This probably goes without saying, but people are for more willing to engage with people who seem friendly and inviting than those who look pissed at the world or out to make a buck. There was a time when businesses could succeed through deception, trickery, and wordplay, but in the modern age you need to forge a relationship with consumers they can trust and that is best accomplished through kindness.
