Hi,
This blog has a new name, Blow Your Own Horn, and you can find it here.
The wordpress.com blogs are great and they’re free but they restrict embedded content so I moved the blog to my own (virtual) server.
I’m moving the content over there one post at a time and I will turn the best comments into new posts.
Thanks,
Hairy Larry
Hi,
This post is called the big picture but I could have called it the bare minimum. Because if you’re serious about promoting your music on the internet this is the bare minimum starting point.
A website
A mailing list
YouTube videos
A playlist widget with your songs
Pictures
MySpace, Facebook, etc.
– A website
The website is your home on the internet with your domain name. Registering a domain name costs $10 a year. This is the only thing on the list that has to cost money. So if you want to play along you can do it for free. (or for ten bucks)
Your website with your domain name is your Grand Central Station for your internet presence. You should be able to get to all your other sites from there with one click. All your other sites should link back to your domain. Think of it as the super home page for all of your web presence.
Your website should be your blog. Your fans log onto your website to find out what you have to say and what’s new with you. This brings us to the major point of the big picture.
In order to promote your music on the internet you have to do the work. You can’t pay someone to write blog posts for you, it doesn’t work. You have to be the one responding to comments whether they are on your blog or your YouTube. You have to answer your email and write your newsletter.
The fans demand it. And they can tell.
For this blog I’m using WordPress.
– A mailing list
The mailing list is the goal. It is the key to internet marketing and promotion. Your fans want to hear from you and they will sign up for your mailing list. Emailing your fans directly is the greatest, most personal way to stay in touch. They can hit Reply and talk right back at you. These are your fans and your customers. Your mailing list is the most important asset for promoting your music on the internet. I use phplist for the Delta Boogie mailing list but for Larry Donn we set up the ReverbNation fanreach mailing list.
How do you get people to sign up? You ask them. It’s that simple. Ask and they will join.
– YouTube videos
The internet was made for music videos. A YouTube account is free. If you don’t have video equipment yourself enlist a friend with a camcorder. Chances are they already know how to make a YouTube video. Here’s an article I wrote about it.
Larry Donn has videos already but he wasn’t able to get them ready for the internet. That’s how I got started on this blog. By helping Larry Donn with his videos. He asked me about marketing his music on the internet and we took off from there. This blog grew out of our experience in setting up Larry Donn’s web presence.
To promote your music on the internet you must have videos.
– A playlist widget with your songs
Most musicians already have audio recordings of their songs. You can post these at ReverbNation and load up a great widget that can be embedded on your websites and your friends sites.
You should also record your live shows and post them at the Live Music Archive.
I use Creative Commons licensing for the songs and videos I post.
– Pictures
Performance and promotional pictures might be more effective than audio and video files. At least if you have good pictures you are more likely to get someone to listen.
Be sure you also have several avatar pictures that look good small. This is the one thing you should be sure to upload to your social networks. A good avatar picture.
– MySpace, Facebook, etc
The social networks are great places to promote your work and meet fans and other musicians. I also like the ning sites and twitter. This is the deal. If you join their site they’ll join your site. Simple reciprocity works.
Social networking sites do not substitute for the sites and services listed above. They are an addition to your web presence. By themselves they are very limited.
Always set up email notification so you get an email when someone leaves a message or a comment. Do this whenever possible. The funny thing about interenet promotion is that it’s the personal touch that counts. When a fan gets a response from you they remember that.
– The big picture
So that’s the big picture. A blog at your domain name. A ReverbNation mailing list and playlist widget. A YouTube playlist with your videos. Other social network, video, and music sites as well but they will center around your blog, mail list, audio, and video.
And you have to work at it. New text, new songs, new videos. If someone visits you last week and they come back this week you want something new for them.
Always something new is the secret.
Thanks,
Hairy Larry
Hi,
This is what I decided. For now, anyway, because you have to do something.
Following up on my Make Your Own CDs post I’ve been checking prices and fulfillment services and as always it’s a new world every day on the internet.
First the CDR duplication with black on silver printing is available in small quantities around a dollar a disc. So even if you don’t want to buy a CD printer and make your own you can still purchase affordable CDRs to promote your music. Meaning it might only take $50 to $100 to make an order and have CDs to sell at your shows.
With regards to HairyLarryLand my plan is to open an account somewhere. Upload the artwork and mail the CD master. Make an order and be sure everything is good. Then let the band/songwriter open an account at the same place. Everything’s all set up. All they have to do is order.
I will be selling these CDs from the HairyLarryLand website or CD Baby for $5.95. Black on silver printing in a white envelope. Liner art available on the website.
I have also opened an account at CreateSpace.
They are an Amazon company. They do On Demand manufacture and fulfillment. It’s a full color package. Manufacture cost 4.95. They take 15% for sales from your estore. 45% for Amazon sales. Ouch, I know. But you do get your product on Amazon even if the 45% is ridiculous.
CreateSpace also can make your songs available as Amazon downloads. I’m going with both. I’m going to sell the color CDs for 11.95. This price works out good for the estore sales but the take is less than $2 for Amazon sales.
The important thing for me is to see the product on Amazon. Not to make a lot of money. Profits from CD sales are not really part of my business plan.
So I envision a three tier distribution system.
Tier 1 – Free downloads from HairyLarryLand or archive.org. Downloadable liner notes and artwork.
Tier 2 – 5.95 CD with black on silver printing in a white envelope. Liner notes and artwork on the website. This product would be sold at shows and given away for promotion. Sold at HairyLarryLand or CD Baby.
Tier 3 – 11.95 Full color package with everything fancy. Available on the net only. Sold from HairyLarryLand and Amazon.
I think it works. Let me know what you think.
Thanks,
Hairy Larry
Hi,
I am also working with Delta Blues guitarist, John Shepherd, and he sent me an email about making your own CDs. I thought most of what I said should be a blog post.
Here’s my updated copy.
The way I’ve been making CDs is plain silver media with the info printed on them in a white envelope. If they follow the link on the CD they can download and print the artwork as well as getting the song titles, personnel, etc. I also use the artwork for buttons and web images promoting the CD. I don’t like selling brandname CDs.
When selling CDs at a live show carry a permanent marker so you can sign the CDs.
I’ve been selling HairyLarryLand CDs like this on the web for $5.95. So you could sell them new for $5, undersell the web price, keep the whole profit. You’ll move a lot more at $5 too. People are used to paying $10 or $15. But then they get the expensive packaging. Since we can’t afford the expensive packaging we get to undersell them. And when you sign the CDs that means more to your fans than color printouts anyway.
It’s easy to get set up to print your own CDs on plain silver media. The printer isn’t expensive. I use a Signature Z1 which I believe is the same printer as the Uprint. At least I’ve been using the Uprint cartridges which are fully compatible. Teac also sells this same CD printer.
Casio has entered into the low cost thermal CD printer market too. Their ribbons are cheaper but I don’t know how many CDs they print. Both the Uprint and the Casio solutions can be had under $100. My Signature was given to me. Thanks, Uncle Fred. (And no I don’t have a rich Uncle Fred, that’s his stage name.)
The trick to controlling ribbon costs is to not print too wide on the CD. Make one area good enough, print top or bottom but not both. Use more lines and smaller type to keep the ribbon costs per CD under control. Using the Uprint cartridges I pay a nickle or a dime per CD. Plus you have to amortize the cost of the printer. If it prints 1000 CDs for you (and mine has done more than that) it will add a dime per CD to the cost. If it prints 10,000 a penny. The actual cost is in that range.
My media costs 26 cents a piece with the white envelope. So my CDs, ready to go, cost me less than 50 cents. It’s a spiff. I give them away but people are glad to buy them too. A CD is a CD. The reason they buy CDs at a live performance is to let the artist know how much they liked his work.
I use shop4tech.com for my media and consumables.
Anyone with experience with the Casio system please post your observations in the comments.
Thanks,
Hairy Larry
Hi,
I had to transfer larrydonn.com. This was free but it’s not something to do without some experience or a very good help desk.
I am trying to show how you can set up your own web presence without being a programmer or hiring one. Of course everyone has a different level of experience.
If you can answer email you can maintain your web presence. If you can set up a YouTube account you can install most of it.
For transferring the domain or setting up a new domain name you may need some help.
Here’s the new Larry Donn domain name working.
For domain registrars and low cost virtual hosting I use Blue Host and my son uses Dream Host.
Please click over to Larry Donn’s website so you can see our progress so far.
Thanks,
Hairy Larry
Hi,
WordPress is offering domain support for their free blogs. This is important because you want your users to find you at myname.com or myband.com.
At least for now WordPress is not supporting email to your domain. That’s ok. Your gmail or yahoo account is fine.
I want to emphasize how important choosing the correct domain name is. You want it to be rememberable. You want it to be spellable. You want it to be free of dashes, underscores, or other punctuation. You want it to be short or at least not too long. You want to be able to say it without having to spell it out or explain it. All these things are important.
Larry Donn was lucky. His son had already set him up with larrydonn.com. We just have to get it transferred to his blog.
Your domain is your main gateway into your web presence. It should host your blog which will be your most frequently updated place on the web. Why is this? Because everytime you upload a YouTube video you will make a blog entry. Every time you add a song to ReverbNation you will make a blog entry. And you will also make blog entries that aren’t tied to media.
When you start using twitter for microblogging your twitter account may be updated more than your blog. But your blog will host an RSS feed to your tweets so every time you tweet your blog will also be updated.
Well I’m flying way ahead of myself here and I can see I’m going to have to do a Big Picture post to explain where we’re going. I am excited that WordPress free blogs support domain names. This means musicians can build their web presence with no monthly bills and only one small bill a year to keep their domain registered.
Thanks,
Hairy Larry
I’ve been working with Larry Donn on a blog here.
http://deltaboogie.com/larrydonn
As you can see he is also using WordPress. I thought I would blog the experience using a WordPress free account. That way I can learn wordpress and help him out but I can also evaluate the free version offered at wordpress.com.
So far it’s a lot like the install at Delta Boogie.
Thanks,
Hairy Larry
