One of the most interactive ways to promote your music on Spotify is by creating a collaborative playlist. [See below for an example of a Spotify playlist embedded in this blog post]. It’s kinda like one of those mix-tape clubs I once read existed back in the 80’s where each member added one song to a cassette and then mailed it to the next person in the group—only with Spotify, it’s instant—so everyone can contribute at once!

A collaborative Spotify playlist gives you an opportunity to promote your music in a new, social way (since Spotify is integrated with Facebook). Rather than shouting “Listen to my music on Spotify” every few hours, try one of the following:

1) Create a themed playlist-

Include SOME of your band’s music (like,… one or two tracks to get things started), and then share the playlist with fans. Ask them to add their favorite music that fits the theme (genre-based, local acts, a specific mood, etc.)

2) Ask your fans to make a “tour mix” for you-

They add the songs; you promise to listen to the mix while on the road. You can even comment on each song on Twitter or in a tour diary.

3) Take cover-song requests-

But do it by asking fans to add a song to the collaborative playlist on Spotify that they think you should cover at your next show. You pick your favorites and learn ‘em.

4) Let fans choose the bumper music for your shows-

Your fans are the ones who have to actually listen to the bumper music before your show, or between sets—let them pick the tunes!

5) Interactive set lists-

Ask fans to each add one of your songs to a playlist. The first 10-20 songs (or however long your show is)… that’s your set for the next tour date.

How to create a collaborative playlist on Spotify:

1)   Log into Spotify.

2)   Click  “+ New Playlist” on the left-hand side of the Spotify player.

3)   Name the playlist.

4)   Right-click on the playlist and select “collaborative playlist.”

5)   Add songs.

6)   Right-click again to share, embed, or copy the URL of the playist.

7)   Post the URL on your blog, Facebook, and Twitter.

8)   Invite other Spotify users to add songs to the playlist.

See? Easy! And fun. If you want to see how one looks or behaves, CD Baby has its very own collaborative Spotify playlist: CD Baby Mixtape. Check it out below— and while you’re at it, add a song of your own to our playlist. We’ll be rocking out to your contributions at CD Baby HQ.

Have you used Spotify playlists to promote your music? How did it go? Let us know in the comments section below.

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When it comes to building up the recording budget, some bands sell plasma, some bands launch fan-funding campaigns, and some bands seek venture capital investment. Wait, what?

Yep– the talented young guys in garage-rock outfit Cab 20, along with their manager Tom Callahan, went on ABC’s show “Shark Tank” to pitch their project to potential investors.  Watch the clip above for the drama; read the interview with Tom Callahan below for details.

———————–

Can you talk a little bit about the history of the band leading up to the point where you decided you wanted to seek VC investment? 

I have been developing the band for about a year, recording, and getting the lineup correct, etc.  Bert Hoover, the leader singer/writer/guitarist, is very proactive and has been very involved.  The new bass player Jason is as well and handles most of the website stuff. I brought in grammy winner Krish Sharma (who I also manage) to produce.

How had you made money in the past? 

Me personally? — As a record promoter, manager and consultant. For the band, they are not at the stage where they are making any significant money.

The band is still pretty young, but how have things changed over the years? 

Bert has grown as a songwriter. I met him when he was 17. He is 19 now.  He has developed confidence and vision for what he wants.

What was the economic situation of the band like right before the show? 

The same as it is now, we turned the money down .

Who thought of the idea of going on Shark Tank? 

A mutual friend of the executive producer contacted me.

What was the process like of getting on the show?  

We had recently shot a video and I submitted that and also had a phone conversation with Clay Newbill, the Executive producer. Then I had coffee with him.  Done.

What were your expectations going into it? 

My expectations were we would get an offer…whether we accepted or not was not the main issue.  The bigger point was to have the band perform in front of 7 million viewers.

Did you have an internal band agreement about what you would settle for and what offers would not fly?  

I sort of did with my attorney, and I shared that with the band.  They trusted my judgement.

What was the experience like of actually pitching Cab 20?  

Truthfully, that was nerve-racking!  The entire pitch and negotiation was about 90 minutes, which of course they edited down.  The band performed 2 full songs and they edited down to 40 second.

Why did you decide against the deal?  

I know $200K is a lot of money, but it can go pretty fast.  It would certainly have been useful, but the shark would have owend 50% of every revenue stream and every dollar made.  I thought with the exposure alone I can raise that much for a lesser percentage. The exposure alone will have the desired effect….that money can’t even buy.

Having gone through the process, do you see this approach (perhaps not on TV… but venture capital in general) as a legitimate or fruitful funding avenue worth exploring for bands?

I don’t think the VC route to fund a band or entertainment venture is anything new…it was the process that was unique here.

What words of advice and warning would you give a young band out there who’s looking to make things happen, but might not have the money to support their ambitions?  

There are other avenues to explore such as kickstarter that can help raise funds.  Friends and family can also help get things going.  Branding is another option but admittedly more difficult for an unknown band.

What are y’all up to now? How’s it going? Did your TV exposure lead to other opportunities?  

Well it’s only been a week and so much is happening already.  Record label meetings, agency interest, etc etc.  We shot this last October. So since then we decided to finish the CD to take advantage of the TV exposure and also for obvious reasons of having a CD….

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Few of your fans are interested in minute-by-minute updates on your iTunes listening activity. BUT… there is a useful feature of this integration: When you tweet an iTunes link, your followers can stream the clips right in Twitter without having to link elsewhere or open a new window or player.

How Your Fans Can Stream iTunes Clips within Twitter

1. Copy the iTunes URL for the album/single you want them to hear. The easiest way to do this is by right-clicking on the album art within the iTunes Store. Click “copy link.”

2. Paste the link in a tweet (it will automatically shorten), along with a short description, question, or photo. Click “tweet.”

Your tweet will display like this:

3. Your followers can click the “view album” link in the bottom left-hand side of the tweet to stream iTunes clips. The tweet will expand to look like this:

This is an easy way to promote your own music to your fans on Twitter, support other bands in your “tribe,” and recommend the music that has inspired or challenged you.

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——————-

These days, venues, ink, and listeners are limited. You’re always going to be competing against acts with bigger budgets and better publicists. So what can you do to get ahead in this music game?

The most important thing you need, even above money, above connections, above good press, is energy; it’s easy to feel drained when you’ve taken control of your own career. Keeping track of so many things at once can zap your energy, drain your battery, burn your fuel, or whatever other metaphor you might like to use. Things can easily slip into cruise-control, grow stale, and stall-out. 

Here are 4 tips to give your music career a shot in the arm:

1. Make new music-

If your career is on life-support, maybe you need to create new music. Meaningful music. Make music that reflects your current place in life.

Playing the same old songs can be a drag. If you’re feeling like you’ve run your set list into the ground, even adding one or two new tunes to the mix can give an energy boost to your whole show. And when you’re excited about your music, you’re excited about your music promotion.

2. Revamp your website-

Like set lists, websites can grow stale pretty quickly too. Even your die-hard fans are probably only checking your site a couple times a month, but you— you have to look at that thing every single day. Freshening up your website involves more than pressing “refresh,” but you don’t have to get carried away with a major overhaul either.

It’s amazing how just a few design tweaks or color changes can make your existing site feel brand new. And when your website feels brand new, it’s almost like you’re a brand new band– with the energy to get out there and share content, engage with your audience, interact on social media, etc.

Which brings us to…

3. Create collaborative content-

If you play a lot of shows, if you spend hours a day on social media, if you record a lot in the studio… maybe it’s time you took a break from those activities and worked with some friends, peers, or professionals on another kind of project: music videos, new T-Shirt designs, a fan-funding campaign and video, paint your touring van, stencil limited-edition posters, etc.

By switching gears a little, you can recharge the batteries, while still putting equal time and effort towards your musical goals. And the creative energy and enthusiasm of the people you’ve enlisted to help with this new endeavor will be infectious. If they’re excited, you’re excited. If you’re excited– then you know you’re doing something right.

4. Interact with fans-

You don’t just want to create a feedback loop of good feeling with your collaborators; you want that  kind of back-and-forth with every fan.

Interaction, both virtual and real, leads to relationships, and relationships lead to word-of-mouth promotion. Whether you use social media or make a point to stay out late after every show to talk with fans, the more willing you are to meet the folks who appreciate your music, the more they’ll appreciate your music– and the more energy and support you’ll get in return.

Remember to step out of the artist role and talk about things outside of your own music, too!

What do you do when you need to put your rally-cap on and get back in the game? Let us know in the comments section below.

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[Jumper cable image from Shutterstock.]

Martin Atkins, author of Tour:Smart, gives us a lesson on how to use an Excel spreadsheet and disto-map to route your tours for maximum gain. 

The moral of the story is (perhaps not surprisingly): minimize the distance between your tour stops; it’ll save you gas money and road-hours.

The more money you have– the more money you have! The less hours you spend on the road, the more time you can spend building relationships with your fans, bonding with bands, and promoting your shows. 

Ah, the magic of Excel!

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A small music scene probably doesn’t warrant a full-time music club. Realistically, it might not be possible to build the kind of infrastructure necessary to support one.

But what do bands in those towns do? Give up? Practice endlessly in the basement without a show in sight?

No– they take matters into their own hands, either by touring or by booking themselves at an “alternative venue” in their hometown.

Here are 3 articles that will broaden your performance horizons (hmmmm: that phrase sounded like something you’d read in your junk folder):

1. DIY Venues: Get Creative with Your Performance Spaces- How to turn your local movie theater, restaurant, art space, ice-cream shop, or hardware store into an event space for one magic night.

2. Strip Down/Double Your Reach- (Again with the spam-worthy headlines!) How to alter your setlist, arrangements, and presentation in order to fit comfortably into more performance settings.

3. Touring Tip: Play In-Studio and In-Store Shows- Some towns that do NOT have music venues still have record stores and radio stations. Play those!

Have you had experience creating your own gig opportunities despite a lack of local venues? Let us know how it went in the comment section below.

[Band photo from Shutterstock]

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[This post was written by guest-contributor Richard Lee Jackson, drummer and co-producer of the independent rockband Enation. Their music has been featured on ‘One Tree Hill,’ ‘General Hospital,’ and MTV.com.]

As a musician, playing live in front of an audience is one of the most thrilling parts of being an artist. To feel the immediate connection and response from your fans, or even the challenge of ‘winning over the crowd’ is oftentimes exhilarating.

Weeks or months have gone into preparing for your shows. Sometimes you’ve rehearsed or gigged so much that it seems like the songs can play themselves. On stage everything is falling into place, and the atmosphere is electric with possibility.

But what about those moments or gigs when things don’t go the way you’d hoped? What about the major mistakes you make on stage that almost seem to shut down the song, or even worse, the entire show?

If you’re a musician who plays live gigs, chances are you’ve made at least a couple of gaffes on stage at some point in your life. Some mistakes have probably been worse than others. As the drummer in the rock band Enation I have had my fair share over the years.

For instance, early on when I’d really get rockin’ I’d sometimes accidentally lose grip of one of my sticks and watch it fly away from me like a wounded duck into the audience (or somewhere over my head). Not the desired effect I wanted for the song or the show. I would then have to try and make my (still formulating) drum brain tell my independently-operating-somewhat-autonomous-empty-hand to grab another stick from my dangling drum bag attached to my floor Tom — most of the time quite clumsily — all while trying to keep the hemorrhaging beat alive with my kick drum and singular stick. This was usually at a point in the song that needed both sticks and the crescendo would be, well, less than climactic.

This didn’t happen just once. This seemed to happen once per show.

There were other shows where the whole band felt awkward. Even though we were playing on click it just seemed terribly slow, and the crowd, it seemed to us on stage, felt about as interested as a group of high school students at a ‘Taxes 101 Seminar’.

Even though years of practice and gigs have rid most of those rookie mistakes, even now with much more experience under my belt, I still occasionally screw up. (Ugh. I want every gig to be a flawless one!)

Just recently one such blunder happened to me. It was one of the biggest gigs of our lives. Our band had spent months preparing for a Nashville showcase, the kind of gig where big shots in the music industry come out and see you play as part of the process to decide if you’re a band they want to throw their industry muscle behind. The room wasn’t filled with Enation fans – these were fairly jaded music executives who were there to, essentially, judge you. I had done quite a bit of groundwork in setting the showcase up, so my heart and mind were full of the months of hard work getting to this point. All of the planning, rehearsals, emails, phone calls, and travel came down to this moment.

As we started to play I could feel nerves kick in. If you ever get them you know what I mean. Not so fun. It’s that feeling when your whole body tightens up and your mind starts to race. Those nerves usually aren’t there for me at gigs now, but this time they were — and it took a lot more concentration to play well. I started thinking about lots of things; what the execs thought of us, worrying about making a mistake, wishing my mix was different in my ears – and then I thought about how I shouldn’t be thinking about any of those things and that I should just focus on playing the song well and enjoy the moment. Stop thinking about thinking is a hard thing to do.

On our second song the nerves kinda got the best of me. Just before the guitar solo I completely botched one of my drum fills. Something in my brain froze and it was like I forgot what I was supposed to play — I almost stopped playing during the fill it was so awkward.

I wasn’t sure how bad it sounded to my band or to the audience, but to me it felt as if I was a little kid standing in the front of my classroom, naked, with everyone staring at me. (Okay, I don’t really know what that would be like but when I imagine that scenario I think it’d feel very similar.) Then my thoughts went to ‘I wonder if anyone is going to leave now. They might assume we’re not ready. This makes us look terrible. I’ve just botched the biggest gig of our life.’

Experience has taught me no matter what is happening during a show on stage, you have to play through it. If you have a defeatist mentality the audience will pick up on that. If you play through it, there are still chances for brilliance.

Laker legend Kobe Bryant has a great philosophy about his failures. He has said that if he misses a shot he doesn’t think about it. He thinks about making the next one. And if he misses the next one, then he thinks about how he’s really due to make the next one. I think that’s a great way to look at our live concerts and songs.

After the showcase I put on a good front… but honestly I was disappointed in myself. It’s hard for me to feel like a big moment wasn’t performed at the top of my game.

However, after the showcase what our band got was incredibly positive feedback. We had follow-up meetings and great interest from many of the executives and companies who came to see us play. No one said anything remotely close to what my thoughts were like on stage. No one said, ‘Well, we really love your band, but your drummer needs some work.’ It was, in the grand scheme of things, not that big of a deal.

Often times, (miraculously, thankfully!) our mistakes aren’t registered by our audience. And even when they are, most audiences are forgiving.

My mistake was bigger to me than to anyone else.

It was also comforting to think about some of my favorite bands and knowing they, too, have made obvious mistakes at their gigs; and not just ‘early on’ in their careers. Take U2 for example — arguably the biggest (and arguably the best) band of their generation. On more than one of their live concert DVD’s the Edge, one of the best guitar players in the world, has made obvious mistakes. Just flat out hit the wrong note. One of the shows he grinned and kept playing, as if to say, ‘Oh well, it happens.’ But at a different concert when the band made a pretty big mistake, he threw his guitar down in anger and yelled at Larry Mullen, Jr., their drummer.

I understand both reactions.

Most likely our audience will react to obvious mistakes the way we do. If we tense up and are upset by them, they’ll notice that and see it as a big deal. If we grin and laugh it off, or play through it with that much more conviction, they’ll take their cue from us on stage and continue to be engaged and have fun with us.

Everyone makes mistakes, in life, as well as on stage. If we allow our mistakes to define us we will get lost looking back. If however we allow our mistakes to be the catalyst for improvement through grace, then we will be focused on the brilliance that lies ahead.

But we need to play through it to get there.

—

www.EnationMusic.com

@Enation on Twitter.

[Oops image from Shutterstock.]

Richard Lee loves music, writing, and hoverboards — and can’t wait to buy one when they’re finally on the market in 2015.

What do you think? Leave us your comments below.

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Busking takes guts.

But if you do it well, street performance can be great for building chops, winning fans, and making money.

Are you thinking of striking out into the wide, intimidating, and rewarding world of busking? Check out a few of our favorite articles on the topic:

1. 6 Tips to Busking Success

2. Taking it to the Streets: Busking Tips from Veteran Street Performers

3. Outside-the-Box Busking Tips: an interview with Headwater

[Photo of busker from Shutterstock.]

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Is Your Music Marketing A Blindfolded Cliff Jump Or A Well Executed Dive?

As an advocate of well executed social media/blog-focused music marketing, I think it’s crucial to understand not only why you should be marketing your music, but how you should be marketing your music.

Taking the step to becoming a proactive, marketing-savvy, social musician can mean the difference between success and failure. Yes, it is that cut and dry, and yes, it is that simple.

However, before you dive right in and just start marketing your music to anyone and everyone you can, there are a few different things that you’ll want to consider and have prepped and ready to go. Having a grasp on the following will ensure that you are ready to start marketing your music, and that your efforts are worth the time and effort, even from day one.

1. Original Concept

So obvious and yet so overlooked, making sure that your music is good and your concept is original is the absolute first step to ensuring your are ready to market your music. No matter how much time and effort you spend on networking, blogging, tweeting, and engaging with your fans, if your music sucks or is flat out unoriginal, people will go elsewhere.

 2. Identifiable Brand

This is a simple mistake the almost everyone makes… hell, I even made it when I first started marketing my own music. Your image, your sound, your personality, your mission; all of these things make up your brand. It is crucial that your brand is instantly recognizable by anyone and everyone, especially if you are going to be seeking out blog features and are hoping that the publicity will lead to retaining new fans. Long story short, no matter how good your promo is on blogs and other online publications… if people can’t EASILY find you, you’re wasting your time. The two most important ways to ensure that your brand is ready to be instantly identifiably online are:

1) Consistent URLS (i.e. YourBand.com, Twitter.com/Yourband, Facebook.com/YourBand)
2) Same profile pic on all social networking accounts

3. Understanding of your Fans and Niche

Marketing without understanding exactly who your fans are, and whom within your market can actually help you to grow your fan base is like opening the phone book, picking a name completely at random, calling them and telling them to listen to your music.

If this sounds laughable… it’s because it is.

Just like any product or service, properly marketing your music requires that you understand your target market (your fans and your scene) as well as the major promotional players within that market (local, regional and national blogs, online magazines, etc.).

4. Content Strategy

Probably the most important part of marketing yourself online is having a proper content strategy in place. Not only should you consider the style of content (remixed music, covers, blog posts, etc.), but the format (youtube, soundcloud, etc.) and even the frequency (once a day, once a week) should be fully fleshed out before you begin to execute your strategy.

Doing this before you begin you execute your strategy will help your fans familiarize themselves with your brand and presence as early as possible, ultimately helping you to increase the dedication of your fans as quickly as possible.

5. Fan Retention Strategy

Ultimately you are marketing your music and your brand through social media for the sole purpose of retaining new long-term fans. So, you must have a strategy in place to do so before you dive into your marketing campaign.

The most obvious way to retain fans is to create a mailing list (editor’s note: using a service like our very own HostBaby) and use a pre-built widget to collect the email addresses of your fans through Facebook, your blog, your website and/ or any other place you can think of.

However, just asking fans for a email address many not be as simple as you’d think. With so many artists asking for email addresses, fans begin to choose carefully and become less interested in giving their email address away. So, you need to create a strong call to action in the form of a FREE giveaway (i.e. an unreleased song, access to an exclusive cover video, etc.) that is desirable enough that your fans will want to join.

What Else Do Artists Need To Consider Before Marketing Their Music?

How else can artists make sure they are making a well executed dive into their music marketing strategy? Leave any suggestions below in the form on a comment!

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[Picture of concert crowd from Shutterstock].

Whether you hit the road for 3 months at a time or just tour regionally on 3-day weekends, Touring as an Indie offers you expert advice on booking strategies, assessing your band’s tour-readiness, budgeting, and more.

Topics covered include:

• * Are you ready to tour?
• * Booking strategies
• * Using social media
• * Getting resourceful with accommodations
• * Maximizing your earnings
• * Budgeting for your tour
• * And much more!

Learn how to book better gigs, play better shows, travel cheaper, sell more merch, and stay sane while you’re away from home. Ready to take your show on the road? Download our free guide: Touring as an Indie.