Rapper Kanye West was described as one of the most effective communicators with his fans, during a panel discussion at the MidemNet conference in Cannes.

The “Serving Artists, Serving Fans” discussion, moderated by Billboard international bureau chief Mark Sutherland, focused on creating value from the relationship between fans and artists. MidemNet is a two-day conference covering the digital music business.

Bryan Calhoun, VP of new media and external affairs at Sound Exchange, is a consultant to Kanye West and says the rapper is “very active with communicating with his fans” on his blog and sometime posts seven or eight times a day. His music recommendations on the site have made him something of a tastemaker, or “curator for what is cool” according to Calhoun.

“It’s definitely him,” Calhoun added, referring to the entries at www.kanyeuniversecity.com/blog. “It’s totally authentic. You can’t pay to put things on there [West's recommendations] — people have tried.” He declined to say who had tried.

The “significant amount of traffic” to the blog also means it makes money from advertising, Calhoun added.

Mailouts and annoucements to fans are specifically from West, never attributed to Island/Def Jam, which Calhoun said is crucial in personalizing the service and making the connection. He stressed that West is “very particular” about the messaging and there is complete control over his online activity at the blog and other platforms.

“The digital footprint we’ve amassed for him is really significant,” said Calhoun.

Australian pop singer Sia, one of the artists recommended by West on his blog, is represented by another of the panelists, Tim Clark of IE Music. He also manages U.K. pop act Robbie Williams.

Sia was dropped by a major a few years ago, but Clark said that has worked out for her. “Now we wouldn’t have it any other way,” said Clark. “It meant we could go out and find the best service providers in the world.”

He said that technology “allows fans to connect with the fans and vice versa” and he doubted that majors are even the best option for acts that require global marketing. “We are happy to talk to majors about global marketing solutions, but at the moment their costs are too high,” said Clark. “What we have to give away is ludicrously high.”

Clark also wanted to see some of the power swing back to artists, away from Apple iTunes and MTV. “I don’t think artists have got a fair return,” he said. “I think he [Steve Jobs] got a great deal from us, as did MTV.”

Fans of late artists also have to be carefully considered, too, according David Schulhof, co-founder and co-CEO of U.S. publisher EverGreen Copyrights, which controls rights to dead artists including folk singer Nick Drake and Roy Orbison.

Schulhof announced during the discussion that Evergreen has signed a deal with Jack Johnson’s Brushfire Records label to release a Nick Drake tribute album, featuring covers by Johnson, Dave Grohl, Eddie Vedder and Norah Jones.

“Fans are willing to pay for that kind of product,” he said. “I don’t think labels are doing that and I certainly don’t think publishers are doing that.”

The recording process was filmed and will be released as a DVD package. It will also include the late actor Heath Ledger’s version of “Black Eyed Dog,” filmed in late 2007 for a multimedia installation about Drake but never officially released.

By Jayson Asbury

Today vs. Yesterday vs. Tomorrow
Do everything in your power to develop and maintain your fan base.
A lot of you may read this and say “that’s freaking common sense”. A lot of you will realize that you aren’t talking to your fans, or doing this or doing that, and a special note for the ones of you who get nothing from this and aren’t willing or able to take a look inside to see what you really aren’t doing and can’t take constructive criticism, you will fail in this industry, because there is always someone better to take you place, and no matter what we have to band together in this biz, and people skills are INTEGRAL.

1) TALK TO YOUR FANS!
Seriously talk to them, get to know them, their names, what they do for work, are they married, kids, etc… This makes them feel personally connected to you. If you are playing at a restaurant, recommend something you eat there that you enjoy or a good drink you like. Take your break with them, break your band into groups of two and sit with people for a few minutes to talk. If you are a smoker and go outside to smoke, invite some of them with you. If you and some of the guys are going to do a shot, cheers the crowd. (If allowed by the club!) When a group of people you know walk in, announce them to your audience as your biggest fans or something clever, say hello. Trust me it’s cool for them.

2) HAVE SPECIAL EVENTS
Birthday party’s are great. If you are booked on a band members birthday or around it, make a flyer and something for your website and invite everyone to come and celebrate with the band. There are more than likely at least four of you in the band that means you can average a special event almost every quarter of the year.

We do an event at a smaller venue twice a year, and have for four years now. We play the Sunday before memorial day and the Sunday before labor day at the same place each year. We hype it up, and the last one we hit 220+ people through the door. We have a deal with the club that if we break a certain # in sales dollars we get a percentage of the ring as well. It’s on a sliding scale, so if we break $1200 we get 5% of that so it’s an extra $12 a man. $1800 it goes to 7.5% $2000 is 10% $3000 is 15% $5000 is 17%. We usually make enough from the ring % alone to pay for our drinks and get breakfast on the way home.
You do the math…
Club pays $750
Door Pays $1100
$1850
Divided By 5
$370 per member, twice a year, ON A SUNDAY NIGHT.
When we started this, we asked the club for $350 and if they rang $1500 they paid us $500. Then we went to work promoting it. Now people email me a month in advance or a few days after the last one saying they can’t wait. We made a Sunday night twice a year special to our fans, and profitable for us. Here is how I did it: I let the fans make the set lists for that night. I had a contest on the website with four prizes, three of the winners get to write one set list and the fourth gets to supply the break music. It’s a holiday weekend when we do this thing, so we inform people that for an extra $15 they can ride home in a party bus. We simply tell the bus/limo company that there will be a minimum of $100 that they make if no one chooses to ride, and we pay that if it would happen, but it never has. The deal we worked out with the company is that it’s $15 anywhere in the county. It’s a Holiday weekend, but not one where all their busses are rented, so it’s not a big deal for them to come out to make a least $100. We always RIDE in the bus. So look at it this way, a cab would be more than $15 for anyone, and a DUI costs $$$$ so each band member pays the $15 themselves. Joins the masses and kicks it with the fans in a party bus. They think it’s great, too!
Enough about that…

3) CONTESTS!
Like I mentioned above, we have contests frequently. Just don’t over do it, and actually do something cool. Free shirt, the set list thing from above, design your next bumpersticker or shirt, name a song, first fan to bring ten people to a show gets breakfast after the show with the band, (the band pays) there are a zillion things, just rack your brain.
Just make sure there is some reward, and be creative.

4) ASK FOR HELP
Get your street team happening! DO IT NOW!
Another great way to involve your fans is to downright ask for help. Ask a few good looking girls to go pass out promos with you, ask them to always repost your stuff on myspace, ask them to let their friends who are getting married or having party’s know about your band, and to consider booking you. Residual business is what we in this business thrive on, and there is nothing wrong with asking for it.

5) HAND OUT INFO
When a band like yours, or an event with attendees that are your target audience is in town go to it, stand outside, and hand out a postcard that is flashy looking on one side, and get this… it’s a big one… HAS YOUR SCHEDULE OF GIGS ON IT!

Make sure to include some light contact info like myspace, website, etc.. also be sure to describe what you do. You might not get them to your show this time, but if they hit your myspace and listen to a song, maybe they will sign up on your email list, and eventually give in and come see a show… TAKE YOUR NEXT MONTH OR TWO’S SCHEDULE PRINTED OUT ON A 4’X 6’ POSTCARD OR PAPER TO EVERY GIG…GIVE 20 OF THEM TO EACH BAND MEMBER TO HAND OUT…SET A STACK BY YOUR TIP BUCKET… (please tell me you have a tip jar)

6) BRAND
I think it’s important to be instantly recognizable, I think it makes you memorable.
Try using a few different logos, and pictures. Just a few, maybe two each. Put your website on everything. We wear uniforms (in the cover/show band) people always know who we are by that. Plant the seed in their brain, then when something comes up you will be on their mind.

7) BE NICE AND NETWORK - BEWARE OF YOUR ATTITUDE & REPUTATION
Doing something nice for someone still goes along way, and first impressions really are that important. Persistence is key.
If you are a jerk on a gig, word will travel fast, and NO ONE cares how good you play or sing or look. You will soon find your self out of work. I have seen it happen many times.
I’m not harping on anyone, just saying it’s always time to check your attitude…

We send Christmas cards to all of our booking agents, club owners, radio stations, even some fans, etc… We have an annual BBQ for other musicians and some select fans (which we have a contest to let the fans win) we pay for and cook the food, supply games for the guys with kids, and people can bring the booze if they want. It’s a great networking tool, and it’s cheap. Guys remember it, and it’s also a freaking blast! We spend a lot of time on the phone and sending out promo packs, to event planners, wedding planners, and hotels that have weddings / private party’s. I call first and use my best polite phone guy voice, ask permission to send them a package and dvd, verify the address, then tell them I’ll follow up in a few weeks to make sure they got it.

Then I ACTUALLY FOLLOW UP! I say hey, thanks for taking the time to look at the package, now that you have seen how great the band sounds and looks, I hope that you will keep us in mind for your future events. I verify that they have my contact info and bid my farewell.

Another thing we do that works is this: I had postcards for the holiday season made last year, I think I got like 2500 for $100 full color front and back. They just say hey if you are planning your holiday office party, or a Christmas party with friends, we are available for booking. We can also dj your event. On the other side there is a blank box I can put upcoming dates in on a sticker or write it in. It also says we do weddings, party’s, and are self contained. (Sound lights, etc…) I send these to Law Offices, Doctors offices, Staffing places, and any place with a large staff, or any place that makes a lot of money! It’s cost me maybe 185 bucks with postage, and I’ve closed three gigs with the full band, a trio with a piano player and singer, and 6 dj jobs. Small investment - big return.

From: Music Marketing [dot] com

When I talk about developing a relationship with fans using video, this is what I’m talking about…

This is Ronald Jenkees. He’s based in Kentucky.  In my opinion, his videos are some of the most authentic I’ve seen from any musician.

And that seems to be working well for him…

As of this post, is has over 70,000 subscribers to his YouTube channel with 69 videos which have been viewed as many as 3,300,000 each.

Not bad for a guy playing music in his bedroom…

Anybody who thinks that success in music is “all about the music” needs to read this.

In 2006, Ronald Jenkees started a YouTube channel and put up videos of himself playing keyboards.  Pretty soon, people started watching, and telling their friends, and buying his self-released album.

There’s nothing really special about the production quality of his videos…  They’re pretty basic, just like anything else you can see thousands of times from everybody and his brother, who thinks they have something to say via the computers in their bedrooms.

But the authenticity of the videos, as well as the music, is something you don’t see often.  “Video quality” is more than just a sharp picture, you know.

An example…

When I talk about developing a relationship with fans using video, this is what I’m talking about.  Every musician using video should strive to do something like Ronald Jenkees is doing.

Read more….

Canadian startup Sayvee will “soon” launch a new service that allows artists to quickly and easily create their own websites to sell their art, build community, support positive political causes and more.

ReadWriteWeb

It’s clear now that the Web has once and for all replaced TV’s role in the music business. Yesterday Guns n’ Roses released their very long awaited album Chinese Democracy via a colorful MySpace page. Then today NPR announced that they will offer an “Exclusive First Listen” to the new albums of two music legends - Neil Young and Paul McCartney. In late September NPR had a similar arrangement for Bob Dylan’s latest album. Younger musicians are flocking to Web platforms such as Imeem and last.fm to promote their music. For bands still under the radar, all the afore-mentioned sites cater to them - but also small sites like Muxtape (a notice on its homepage currently reads: “relaunching soon, in the service of bands”).

My proposition to you is to spend less time worrying about the number of friends or followers you have on social networks. Instead, focus on fewer but more valuable people.

Online social networking tools can be powerful, but numbers are just numbers and don’t necessarily represent your real “reach.” Does having 500 friends on Facebook mean that 500 people are paying attention to what I do and value what I say? Maybe. Maybe not.

At worst, putting your faith in the stats can mislead you into taking steps you (and your bandmates) might not yet be ready for (e.g. We have 5,000 MySpace friends in Chicago, so we should divert our tour there!). Do those numbers really represent the group of people that will actually show up to a show when you make it into town? Or if you are leveraging your friend stats to try to get a label deal, do those numbers actually represent how many people will fork over the money to buy your album when it finally gets released? If not, do you know about how many will?

You know what I’m getting at. Even though it’s extremely tempting to use your friend statistics to measure success and reach, in reality I think those numbers are typically misrepresentative because the systems are so highly diluted.

Consider another scenario: I could fill my Rolodex with thousands of music industry contacts that I’ve managed to scour from websites, e-mails, chance meetings, etc. These people represent the movers in the industry, but unless I have developed relationships with those people on some kind of meaningful level, their information represents absolutely no value to me whatsoever.

So instead of trying to befriend the masses, just befriend the individuals you can build genuine relationships with.

Pay attention to these people first and foremost, because they are the people that will go out and spread the word about what you do - especially if you have convinced them that you are a real, authentic, and valuable person. They are the ones that will actually show up to your shows and purchase your albums.

Plus, if you spend your time developing good relationships with smaller numbers of people, you’ve effectively reached thousands. Each one of those unique people that you now have a personal rapport with has the ability to reach and influence possibly hundreds of others. If you give them the tools to do so, they probably will. Now that you’ve developed a really core group of committed people around what you do, you can rely on them to represent you to more people than you could have ever reached by mass marketing in the beginning.

Don’t waste your time trying to reach the masses - that’s what your friends are for!

I had an opportunity to interview Moe Arora writer of MakingtheMogul.com. MakingTheMogul.com is a personal blog about his journey in the music business. Which also feature interviews with key decision makers, tastemakers and other professionals.   Moe also handles the Marketing & Operations for Entertainment & LIfestlye Firm. Rockstar Branded. Rockstar Branded works with entertainment and corporate clients looking to compete in this oversaturated and highly competitive marketplace. Moe was able to give some great tips for artists building a social networking strategy for artists.

http://MakingTheMogul.com | http://twitter.com/moearora

WIth the music industry shift into the digital world, what would be the best advice to give an artist looking to start a social networking strategy?

I’d suggest for artists to first figure out what their goals are. A lot of people (artists, DJs, producers, managers, labels, etc) jump into things without first understanding the medium, the purpose or even themselves.

What I mean by that is; what do you wish to achieve by starting an online strategy? Do you want to sell music, concert tickets, merchandise, or are you just focused on raising your brand awareness at the moment?

Most people will say they want to do it all, and that’s fine, but you need to have a strategy.

One of the most useful pieces of advice I can offer anyone is to draw it out. Go get a big whiteboard and write down each of your goals on the board in a circle. Then figure out if there’s a way of connecting each of those goals to one another. You’re basically playing “connect the dots”. If there is something on the board that cannot be connected to anything else, then you either have to find a way to make it connect, or push it to the side for the time being. What this does is it allows you to understand your overall strategy and how each of your goals interacts with one another.

Too many people try to do too much at the same time but never figure out how to take full advantage or make the most use of all their avenues. How many times do we see startup record labels that also claim to have a fashion line, a sports agency, an energy drink and 18 other products or services? These people don’t have a strategy. They have a bunch of dots on the whiteboard that don’t connect. Connect your dots - that’s the first step in creating a real strategy; for your brand and for your career.

Once you have this in place, then coordinate how you will execute each phase of your promotional plan. If you have a team of multiple people helping to update all of your sites and networks, then make sure you’re all in sync with one another. There’s nothing worse than an artist whose MySpace page conflicts with information on their website and their Facebook group.

First coordinate then execute. If you don’t handle yourself like a professional, nobody will take you seriously and you’ll be left complaining about how hard it is to break into the industry with the rest of the procrastinators and unorganized artists.

What would be your top 5 social networking sites recommendations you would give to an artist to get on to promote themselves online?

It depends on what your goals are and what markets you’re focused on, but for the most part:

• Twitter
• Kyte/Qik.com
• Facebook
• MySpace
• YouTube

What was your goal in starting MakingtheMogul.com?

It actually started with the name oddly enough. I came up with the name Making The Mogul a few years back. I had started my first internship at a major label and Donald Trump had just launched the show, The Apprentice. Everybody used to joke around calling me “the real apprentice” due to my work ethic and the fact that I’d never go home until the last bus ran.

At the same time, Diddy had taken over the Making The Band franchise and it was a major hit. I barely watched any television, but those were 2 shows I’d always make sure I caught. I loved the drive and hustle that was needed to survive and succeed.

With those 2 being amongst my favorite things to watch at the time, I always thought there should be a show that mixed The Apprentice with Making The Band. A show where people compete to make it in the business side of the music business.

We ended up getting one TV series that was almost amongst those lines, BET’s “Ultimate Hustler”. I say “almost” because the show didn’t seem to have a defined goal; if you win The Apprentice, you work for Donald Trump, if you win Making The Band, you get signed to Bad Boy, but if you won Ultimate Hustler, you won a car, a new wardrobe and I think some cash. Didn’t make much sense to me.

We also had AOL’s web series, “Tha Biz”, which was more along the lines of what I wanted to see, but it was only aired online and didn’t really receive much of an audience.

I figured if nobody else is giving me the content I want to see, then why not create it myself. Years later, I decided that a blog was the best format for me to deliver my story. I might incorporate video and other elements into the blog later on, but for now, the blog is my main platform.

So my blog is my version of the show/story that I always wanted to see - the journey of a young professional in the music business. That’s MakingTheMogul.com.

Bloggers are the new A&R. Read More…

Q&A: Rapper on Collaborating With Zune and Hip-Hop’s Changing Attitude Toward Brand Partnerships

By Charlie Moran

While the Sex Pistols’ Johnny Rotten hawks butter and Usher designs men’s lingerie, there’s at least one successful artist practicing some rather stringent brand discipline.

Common: ‘Microsoft is classy, it’s a timeless brand, and it means something to the world.’

In his 20 years in hip-hop, Common has issued seven albums and partnered with even less advertisers, but, in anticipation of his latest release, “Universal Mind Control,” due this December, the Grammy-winning rapper (born Lonnie Rashied Lynn) decided to work with Microsoft — a decision, he says, he didn’t take lightly. And judging from the number of platforms the partnerships spans, neither did Microsoft. The software giant and music-hardware upstart is sponsoring his current tour with N.E.R.D., and backstage footage from a gig in Seattle is being used for a new artist video-podcast series called “The Green Room,” available exclusively on Zune’s newly revamped desktop software. Common and the Zune team also have a T-shirt line in the works, and the iPod challenger even got a brief cameo in the video for Common’s latest single. The Chicago native took a moment away from the tour bus to speak with Ad Age about how hip-hop musicians and marketers have come together, and why he’s fine with integrating an MP3 player into his new Hype Williams-directed music video.

M&V: I saw the video for “Universal Mind Control,” and I almost missed the Zune that appeared in the first five seconds.
Common: The video, or any visual, is very important to me, and for me to be open to showing a product in my video means a lot, because it’s a representation of me. With anything I associate myself with, I think, “Is it gonna help or bring me down?” The Zune is something that I’ve been confident about associating myself with, because I think it’s got a fly presentation to it. It is truly about music lovers, for me.

M&V: What persuaded you to work with Microsoft?
Common: Their tradition. … I know that Microsoft has been around for 20 years, they established themselves in the mid-’80s, and since then they’ve progressed. Microsoft is classy, it’s a timeless brand, and it means something to the world, internationally, and I felt like that’s the direction of what I want Common to be, to be honest. I want to be timeless, I want to be international, and those are the things I feel like I’m working toward now. I was able to team up with them for some of those reasons. Like I said, I liked creatively where they wanted to go. Actually Microsoft and I are about to do a line of T-shirts coming out in November. I’m designing them.

M&V: Do you feel like Microsoft has similar goals to you?
Common: Yeah, definitely. Because I listen to what they want, and they want to touch down with the community and they want to touch the world. And they also obviously want to hit certain audiences that are hip and cool. So yeah, we’ve got certainly have similar goals. And Bill Gates is a philanthropist and does good things in the world. There’s nothing wrong with making money, but you definitely want to be able to give back, and I see the head of their company giving back, so from that point right there, the head is giving back to the people, so that automatically can tie him in with me and make him alright with me and make the company alright with me.

M&V: You’ve been rapping now for a couple decades. How do you think the hip-hip community’s attitude toward brand partnerships has changed since you started?
Common: Before, it used to be, “Oh man, you don’t mess with corporations.” I mean, you know corporations; they just represented the evils of America at a certain point. They represented capitalism and the exploitation of a lot of people. And hip-hop is so rooted in culture that it’s based on a love for art, and art and corporations didn’t seem like they mixed, but I think the Sprite commercials [from the mid-'90s] are what started turning it around for a lot of people. They’d go out and get Grand Puba, CL Smooth, Afrika Bambaataa. I remember I knew one of the guys who used to write those commercials, and he was a pure hip-hop dude. I think more hip-hop artists became open with more people in corporations when the corporations really started to understand the music and respected the artists. So corporations could go out and get [KRS-One], and not just get the popular person, the person of the day.

M&V: As in people who have deeper connections with fans.
Common: A deep connection and a true following.

M&V: So whose attitudes have changed more: rappers or corporations?
Common: I think the rappers’ attitudes changed because the corporations, some of them really had a respect for true artists and they knew what they were talking about and they presented things that made sense for the artist. And also artists realized that we have to make a living too, and if it’s something that’s gonna go well with what I do, then why not do it, ’cause these corporations are making money off it. If I mention something in a rap, they’re making money off it anyway, so why shouldn’t I get a piece of it?

For more on the wild and wooly world of music-branding, licensing and partnerships, check out Ad Age’s Songs for Soap blog.

From The Music Snob:

For some great tips on marketing your music online, we recently turned to Eric Hebert, CEO of Evolvor Media. His company works with bands and labels to roll out successful web marketing campaigns. Here are his thoughts…

In your opinion, what are the essential social networking sites that bands MUST be on these days?

There are a ton of networks out there, and with new ones coming out every day it seems, the task of setting up all these profiles can be time consuming. Obviously MySpace and Facebook are no-brainers, they’re going to be the ones you use the most. If you’re in the rock genre, Purevolume and GarageBand are must haves. Virb is becoming very popular because of its clean but customizable options. You’ll have to get on YouTube for videos and Flickr for photos, they’re part of the plan as well. You’ll also need to make traction on the big three streaming networks - Last.fm, iLike, and Imeem. Saving the best for last, Reverbnation offers the best tools out of any of these networks to help promote their music and nurture their fanbase.

How can an independent artist use MySpace effectively to develop a fan community? Is that even possible anymore?

MySpace is just a tool in your toolbox. It has to be part of a bigger plan. You’ll use it to gain fans and communicate with them, but ultimately you’ll want to have your own website, your own blog, your own contact list. Use MySpace and the other networks to interact and bring them to your website. Do you own the contact list you have through MySpace? You want to build your communnity and own the asset.

What are some of the most exciting music marketing tools you’ve seen lately?

I mentioned Reverbnation, they are offering fantastic tools, mostly for free. They have the best streaming music widgets out there, the sound quality is far superior to MySpace’s player. The have a full list management system that also coordinates your street team. I used to pay money for a similar system that was harder to use! Full analytics for everything as well, all in very nice charts and graphs. Their Gig Finder helps you book shows with contact information available right there. Soon they’re going to be rolling out some awesome new options, you really need to check them out.

What do you see as the biggest opportunities online for artists to get heard?

That’s a tough question. The “opportunity” is the website. If someone land’s on your site, how soon can they hear one of your songs? Do you have your album streaming? Are there free downloads? That’s the opportunity. Many bands screw this one up. They force you to buy an album first or make it difficult to just hear a song. The sooner someone can hear something the faster they’ll become your fan and hopefully buy the album, see the show, etc. I could answer this question ten different ways, but being smart about how you present your music is just clutch.

Do you think unknown artists should give away music for free?

Abso-freaking-lutely. Artists that don’t want to give some music away for free are in denial. I’ve found that if you give a song away, just give them a file, you’re halfway there. People love free stuff and will take anything that’s free. If they like it, then they’ll want more - and that’s when you sell the album. You give away the “single” for free. Then maybe you give another song away for free, but this time you ask for their email so you can add them to your list. If they like you after one song, they’ll LOVE you after two. I’m seeing bands give away entire albums, and I think that’s great too. The album isn’t the only revenue model anyway, and any band that wants to become financially successful should have alternative models - touring, merchandising, sponsorships, and fan club revenue. Get them to hear the music and you have a chance to sell all of those things as well.

Continue reading…