3 Beatles Music Marketing Tricks To Sell More Music To Mainstream America

Why are the Beatles considered America's most popular Rock Band ever?

Stick around for the reason's and use them to effectively market and sell more of your music to Mainstream America.  But first, take a look at the new commercial for the Beatles Rock Band video game below.



How Did The Beatles Take America By Storm?

John Lennon of the Beatles knew insitinctively what I'm about to share with you about marketing music to American's.  So in the spirit of coming together, I'm going to share top three music marketing tricks that the Beatles used to market music to mainstream America.

1. K.I.S.S. "Keep It Simple (for the) Stupid".

If you're a Beatles Fan you know that their music was composed dynamically and produced excellently.  But the Beatles lyrics were very simple. "She loves you yeah yeah yeah", "Let it be, let it be, let it be yeah let be",  Those are two of the choruses ('hooks') of the song's 'She Loves You' and 'Let It Be' .  Now let's take a look at how the Beatles kept their verses very simple.

Here's The First Verse From The Beatles 'All My Lovin'

"Close your eyes and I'll kiss you, Tomorrow I'll miss you, Remember I'll always be true, And then while I'm away, I'll write home every day, And I'll send all my loving to you."

It doesn't take a Music Scholar to see that the verse above is simple enough for even the most stupid listener to understand.  Many Musician's make the major mistake of choosing abstract lyrics and complicated story-lines in their songs.  Those songs my receive critical acclaim, but rarely sell more than a few hundred copies.  Keep it simple and you'll keep them coming back for more.

2. Using Pictures Can Be Worth A Thousand Record Sales.

Remember, a picture is worth a thousand words.  In the Music Biz, a picture is worth a thousand record sales.  When the Beatles first started performing in Germany, every other Band was wearing two-piece suits and trying to look like the Guy every parent would approve of.


The picture to the upper-left is of  (left to right) John Lennon, George Harrison, Paul McCartney and Pete Best in the early in 1961 (before Pete Best was replaced by Ringo Starr).

The Beatles Image:"we're the Guy's your Parents warned you about"

 John Lennon was the Beatles Image Coach.  John was always fashion-forward because he knew that listeners paid attention to how Musician's looked as well as how they sounded. John Lennon had the Beatles ditch the suits and wear leather jacket's and jeans.

The Beatles goal was to differentiate the Beatles from all the other stiff-suit Rockers in Europe.  The message the Beatles meant to send was "we're the Guy's your Parents warned you about" .

When the Beatles came to the United States, every Rocker was wearing leather.  The Beatles seeking to be seen as different, started wearing the two-piece suits. And again it worked.  The Beatles again were seen as different and made an instant impression with Fan's, male and female alike and went on to become the greatest Rock Band of all time.

3. Sell-Out To Sell More Music


John Lennon admitted to Rolling Stone Magazine that he and the Beatles "sold out".  What was the result? Billions on sales of the Beatles music and a legacy that lives on nearly 40 years after they broke up.

I hear today's Artists and Musicians ranting and raving that they'd rather die broke as opposed to selling out.  And that's what a majority of Indie Artists and Musicians do - die broke because they wouldn't sell out.  The Beatles, made simple music that the whole family could sing along to.  The Beatles image was one that was compelling.  The Beatles knew that if they made their music too abstract, no one would listen or buy their music.

The Ugly Truth Of Music Marketing

The Music Biz is not the art of music - it's the business of music.  The ugly truth is, if you as an artist are not willing to sell out you are not willing to sell many records.  The Beatles knew this fact and used it to sell more music to more fans more than any other artist.  The good news is you can do the same if you are willing to follow the three music marketing tips of the Beatles.

What is your take on this topic?  Feel free to place your comment below.  In the mean-time, here's to your success in Today's Music Biz.

Click Here to Discover the Secrets of Success in Today's Music Business. Or log onto www.simbiz.info.

The 2009 iPod Nano With FM Radio (Video)

People who thought that Radio was a dying form of Media were dead wrong! At least that's what Steve Jobs, CEO of Apple seems to think.  If you haven't heard yet, the new Apple iPod will have an FM Radio.



New Radio Features On the New iPod Nano:


The new iPod Nano will take Radio to the next level with the following features:

• Live Pause; the listener will be able to pause live radio and play it back.
• iTunes Tagging; when the listener hears a song they like, they can tag it in the Itunes Store 

Why Should Musicians Care About the New iPod Radio Feature?


Radio takes unknown Musicians and makes them Superstars.  In fact over 70% of the music purchased on-line is heard first on the Radio.  I'm certain that Steve Jobs is aware of this fact.  Apples' goal is to sell more products (music) to more people more often.  That is the mantra of every successful marketer.

What better way to sell more from the iTunes Store than to allow listener's to hear a song on their iPod, tag it, and then buy the download from the iTunes Store?

As a Radio Expert, few things frustrate me more than people assuming that Radio Airplay doesn't matter.  I've  heard people say, "the Internet is where the Fan's are" or, "Radio Airplay doesn't matter, because I can sell my music to Fan's on Myspace".  I know Radio hater's and naysayers to be dead wrong about Radio.

What Does the New iPod Nano Mean for Music Marketer's?

The new iPod Nano Radio feature makes it essential that every Music Marketer learn the secrets of getting Radio Airplay. No one wants to leave potentially millions of dollars on the table because they ignored Radio Airplay.

Check out our new site Today'sMusicBiz.Com

Lil Wayne Finds Success In On-line Learning

f You Missed "Lil Wayne" Wayne on the view today, I've dugg up the Video that I favored on  Today's Music Biz's YOUTUBE Channel.  

Why Would I Give Prop's To Lil Wayne? Because in the interview, 'Young Weezy' discussed education.  In fact a large portion of the interview on "The View" was dedicated to Wayne's quest for higher learning. At Today's Music Biz, we've been encouraging Musicians to educate themselves on-line. Wayne is studying Psychology, but I bet a big part of his college courses deal with "Music Business".  We offer various real-life courses and discussions on how to succeed in Today's Music Business. I could go on all day about the libraries of Musician's who failed to educate themselves on the business aspects of the Music Business. For example, did you know that TLC the biggest selling female group of all time, sold 11 million units? TLC ended up having to file for Bankruptcy Protection because they were taken advantage of.  "TLC was shafted because they didn't educate themselves about the Business of Music."  The Music Biz is not all about platinum grills, big rims and sexy fan's. The Music Biz, now more than ever It's about Accounting, Marketing and a bundle of other intelligence that every artist must have to succeed.  I hope after watching an objective source (Lil Wayne) discussing his education goals, you'll consider enrolling in the best music schooling. 


Check out our new site Today'sMusicBiz.Com

Music Marketing: Top 5 Reasons To Have A Fan Page On Facebook

What Do Kings Of Leon, and Ani DiFranco Have In Common?

They have large Facebook.com followings. If you're a musician, singer, songwriter, producer in Today's Music Biz and you don't have a Facebook Fan page, you're missing a huge opportunity.

According to Entrepreneur Magazine (September 2009), Facebook has 200 million users, beating Myspace.com by 100 million. For that reason, Facebook is Today and Myspace "is like, so yesterday".


Top 5 Reasons To Have A Fan Page On Facebook

1.  Facebook allows Public Figures to have a 'Facebook Fan Page'.


A  Fan page is different from your profile page and allows people to comment  and  'like'  your  latest  updates. It also allows Fan's to show you some love without you having to worry about deleting spam comments.


2. Skanks stay away from Facebook.


I hate friend generators.  The good thing about Facebook is that it doesn't have any friend generator applications.  So people who become Fan's of your Facebook Fan Page, are usually not attention whores, trying to pad their friend counts.  I've been on Facebook for about a year now and I've never gotten a request from a 'Spam Skank' inviting me to come watch her sexy vid's.  Facebook allows you to truly build your fan base without the skanks and spam.


3.  Facebook makes Music Marketing easier

Facebook allows you to get more traffic to your website, YOUTUBE Channel, blog and even your MySpace and Ilike pages. For example, if you have a gig coming up, you can update your status and inform your fans. Kings of Leon have over 1 million fan's (which I'm one of a million).  Ani DiFranco has over 30,000 devoted fans on her Facebook Fan Page.


4, Facebook also allows 3rd Party applications.


If you're already on Twitter, there's good news.  You can have Twitter automatically update your Facebook Page.  Facebook allows many 3rd Party Applications.


5. Facebook makes viral marketing easy.


On Facebook, if someone likes what you're doing, they can share it with as many friends as the want.  I know from experience that friends like to pass on stuff their friends send them.  Facebook makes sharing easy.  Viral Marketing is just a savvy word for sharing and Facebook is a simple way of marketing.


Check out our new site Today'sMusicBiz.Com

Music Marketing: How To Increase Fan Downloads By 77 Percent

Kasondra Kay (aka "Ms. IT") has been encouraging Music Marketing Professionsals to use digital Media tools for a few years.  Ms. IT has been promoting one tool in particular.  New research from NPD and reported by CNET confirms what Kasondra suspected.

A July 2008 study done by NPD finds that Twitter can help Music Marketers increase downloads by 77%!  Kasondra deserves a BIG pat on the back for having the vision to see through the endless tech tools and select twitter.

"People on Twitter purchased 77 percent more digital downloads, on average, than those who were not tweeting. One-third listened to music on a social-networking site, 41 percent listened to online radio (compared with 22 percent of all Web users), and 39 percent watched a music video online (versus 25 percent of all Web users)."

In our Music Biz Podcast's we are known to be on top of  the latest Music Marketing tools.  That's why we urge every serious Music Marketer to follow Kasondra on Twitter to get the latest show updates and cutting edge Music Biz Tech Tips..

The ABC's Of Music Marketing

This Music Marketing blog post is brought to you by the letter's A. B. and C
The are three fundamentals for Marketing Music in Today's Music Biz. What are they?  Stick around and keep reading for today's answer. You can jump ahead of the class by watching this video.




What is Music Marketing?

"Music Marketing is the science of selling more music, to more of your fans -  more often".  

That quote isn't entirely mine.  I learned it from Sergio Zyman.  Mr. Zymans' book, 'The End of Marketing As We Know It', was revolutionary.  In that book Mr. Zyman shattered a lot of the Marketing missteps and helped me to focus on what was important for my clients; selling more of whatever they marketed.

The ABC's Of  Music Marketing.

As the title of today's post suggest there are three components to marketing music to gain more sales. The ABC's of Music Marketing are:

• Audience
• Benefit
• Conversons

In fact, there is an easy to remember formula to use when marketing your music to Fans:

"Audience + Benefits = Conversions"

Audience:

Who is your audience?  In marketing terms, what 'Demographic(s)' are you trying to sell to?  Here are some good questions to ask:

• What age range are your fan's? Are they Women 18 - 24 or are they Men 35-54?
  
• What are they into?  
• Where do your fans shop? 
• What life-style do they lead?
• How do your fan's vote?

Once you have a grasp of the Demographic Segments ("Demo) you're trying reach you'll save a lot of time formulating your marketing plans.

One thing that frustrates me is when an Artist asks me for help but they don't have a clue as to whom the Artist is trying to reach.  If I had a dollar for every time a talented Indie Artist said, "I'm trying to reach everybody", I would have retired long ago with a fortune.

 The sad fact is, every song won't sell to every one.  For that reason, it's important to pick your Target (Market / Demo) carefully.

Benefit's:

Benefits include what's in it for the 'Buyer'.  Benefit's should not be confused with features.  For example, if you've got some great graphics as Cover Art, those graphics are features.  On the other-hand if those graphics can make the buyer relax, that is a benefit.

OK, let's take another example.  Say you go to buy some speaker wire and you're on a budget?  You find all kinds of colors, lengths and price ranges.  Since you're on a budget, the higher priced wires are features, prevent you from buying.  Whereas the speaker wires that fit your budget will provide you a benefit.

Now let's say the sales person at the store is trying to sell you on the various colors of the wires (but at a much higher price).  How will that benefit you? It won't. Unless you find a benefit in color coordinating your sound system you'll buy any speaker wire that fits your budget. Fan's buy based on benefits - not features.

Conversions:

A "Conversion" is any action that your fan takes, based on your call to action. Marketing Professionals have a saying that, "nothing matters until after the conversion". Nothing could be more accurate in Today's Music Biz.

For example, Jay-Z has a new website (Rock4Life.com).  This website allows visitors the opportunity to convert and follow all of "Rock Nation's" artist.  How does he do this? By allowing visitors to make their own profile page on the site.

Every Music Marketer should have a feature that allows for small conversions to turn into big conversions later.

So there you have it, the ABC's of Marketing.  Do you have anything to add?  Maybe you have some questions?  If so, feel free to comment below.
Click Here to Discover the Secrets of Success in Today's Music Business. Or log onto www.simbiz.info.

Top 3 Music Marketing Major Mistakes

The goal of today's article, is to reveal the top 5 mistakes music marketer's make.

Mistake Number One: Distregarding Ones Image.

In the 1970's there was a saying that, "Image is everything".  Nothing could be more true in Music Marketing today.  This may be the reason why the OHIO PLAYERS (Album Cover pictured left) used sexy women on their Album Cover Art.

Artist or Bands who fail to keep a consistent image will find less fan's, get less (if any) free publicity, and will sell fewer units.

In fact, the OHIO PLAYERS rarely ever appeared on their album overs.  Yes, one of the greatest Funk Bands of all time had the marketing smarts to use sexy women on their Album Covers.

I was on a plane flight from Phoenix, Arizona to Orlando, Florida this summer.  I was already aboard the plane when five men (about my age) boarded.  Everyone else (including me) were greeted with the standard "welcome aboard".  But these five guys were treated like Rock Stars.  The Stewardess asked to take pictures with them, and they even got upgraded to the best seats as soon as all the passengers were seated.

What made these guys appear to be Rock Stars?  They weren't handsome my any means, but they all had their hair done.  A couple of them had beards trimmed in unique ways and they all had tattoos covering their arms.  They looked like Rockers.

On the other-hand, I've seen other artist (like life Jennings) who've, in my opinion, come to Radio Station meet in greets looking like they were awakened in the middle of the night by the police to take a mugshot.  Fan's who were excited to meet the artists were not impressed.

I've even heard fan's say to the artist, "you don't look anything like I imagined you would".  What those fans were saying is, you don't look like a superstar.

Mistake Number Two: Lack of differentation.

A saying popular in marketing goes something like this, "difference makes a difference".  What that means is, in a sea of sameness, sticking out creates more attention and awareness.  Many artists look and sound like other well established artist.  This tragedy of copy-catting imaging jumps Genre's.  One can see evidence of this in Country and Hip-Hop and Rock Genres especially.

"Every artist or band must have a Unique Selling Position 'USP' ".  

Without a USP, Fan's won't even notice that the artist or band even exists.  Every artist must ask themselves, "what is my unique selling position"?  Where do I fit in? An artist or band must get in where they fit in; or give up their hope for success in today's music biz.

Mistake Number Three, Ignoring Undesirable Aspects.

If you've ever watched American Idol from the start of the season, you'll notice that something transformative happens.  If you haven't let's take Clay Aiken as an example.  The video below features Clays' first Audition, in Atlanta GA.




Clay was not a good looking guy.  He wasn't hideous, but he wasn't handsome - at all.  His hair was a mess, and his clothes looked messy.  Simon Cowell said, "you don't look like a Pop Star, but you've got a great voice."  Clay said, "I think we should let America decide.  And they did.  They selected the Teddy-Bear of R&B, Ruben Studdard.

Why did American Idol Fan's pick Ruben over Clay?  It boils down to image.  Ruben had more of an acceptable image.  Sure Ruben was overweight, but he looked better than Clay.

For the record, I detest the fact's that I've laid out today.  But the truth is, they are facts that no Music Marketer, Artist, Band or Record Label can afford to ignore.  Image is everything. Differentation matters, and undesirable qualities if not improved can damage one success in today's (fickle) Music Biz.

Click Here to Discover the Secrets of Success in Today's Music Business. Or log onto www.simbiz.info.

The Big Secret Of Music Marketing

In my days as Music Director of a Hip-Hop Radio Station, I learned one big secret. This secret influenced not only my career, but every successful artist that I've worked with. What is this big secret? Two words "Emotional Marketing".

Taylor Swifts' latest single, "You Belong With Me" (in the video above) is one of the most added songs in America, at Radio, last week August 13. Why is that? Many people don't believe that Ms. Swift has the best singing voice. So what makes Taylor Swift so successful? What is her Secret?

Ms. Swifts' secret can be summed up in the words of every one who has ever been a teen with an unlikely crush on someone. In the song Ms. Swift is singing about a boy she likes. The problem is the boy is dating a popular (but mean) Cheerleader. What Ms. Swift is marketing in her music is love and desire.

Music Marketing is not about how "hot" or "rockin" or 'twangy" your music is. Music Marketing is about getting Fan's to trust the artist. Fan's want to identify with something. Hip-Hop Fan's identify with artists who have 'Swag' a.k.a. confidence. Rock Fan's identify with artists who are not scared to rebel, Country Fan's identify with music that reflects their values.

So, before you launch your next Music Marketing effort, take a moment and think about the emotional qualities of your music. Make sure that you communicate those emotional factors in your publicity efforts. Try to win Fan's emotionally and you'll be more persuasive at selling your music.

How do you feel about this big secret of Music Marketing? Let me know by placing a comment below? Also feel free to subscribe for Music Marketing updates.

Radio Insiders are dishing the dirt on the details of the RIAA's attempts to collect Royalties for Radio Airplay. The National Association of Broadcasters ("NAB") note that the Woodstock Music Festival would not have made history, if it wasn't for Radio Airplay.

For example, Carlos Santana, most remembered as the best performer at Woodstock. Mr. Santana, and his Genre jumping blend of Rock-N-Roll, continues to be promoted on Radio.

Below is a video of Santana performing at Woodstock in 1969.

In fairness to Radio, on the subject of Woodstock, it's true.

A NAB Spokes person says the RIAA and radio royalty advocates, must be smoking something funny, if the RIAA rebuses to recognize that Radio still plays a Majority of Woodstock Artists.

I wasn't even born yet, but I knew the legend of Woodstock before I was old enough to drive. How did I first hear about Woodstock? Yep, on the Radio. So Radio does Recording Artists a service, by playing and promoting Recording Artists.

I personally think the RIAA should surrender. Leave it alone. Radio delivers thousands of listeners to RIAA Artist every second.

Click Here to Discover the Secrets of Success in Today's Music Business. Or log onto www.simbiz.info.

We obtained this slide show from one of America's leading Digital Marketing Guru's - Mark Ramsey from his 'Hear 2.0' Blog. This show is full of fact's and should be read by anyone using Social Media to futher their business. ~ Jeronimo Black.

What the F**K is Social Media: One Year Later

View more documents from Marta Kagan.