The Nashville Feed

The KickStarter Dilemma. Is It High Tech Begging or Pre-Selling?

2012-04-09T18:05:26Z

(MP3/iPad/iPhone)

Kickstarter has been around since 2009 and only just recently it has burst into the view of the mainstream internet user. Every week, tens of thousands of people pledge millions of dollars to projects from the worlds of music, film, art, technology, design, games, fashion, food, publishing, and other creative fields. Since its launch more than one and a quarter million people have pledged $130 million to projects by creators who always maintain full ownership and complete creative control of their work.

But there is a stigma associated with the crowdfunding model in the music industry. That Kickstarter is no more than begging for money from friends and relatives. In this episode of the Nashville Tech Feed we dive into the topic of Kickstarter and crowdfunding. Independent author Brett Henley joins us to discuss his Kickstarter project and share his experience from start to finish. Also in the conversation is Artist manager and entertainment attorney Eric Griffin with the music industry perspective.

In the second part of the episode we go over the upcoming Podcamp Nashville 2012 which is April 14, 2012 Downtown Nashville.

As always we end the show with what media we’re consuming.

Runtime: 1:09:00

Show Notes

Stop Trying to Sell CDs and Start Building Relationships

2012-04-09T18:00:15Z

Are you still selling content? Jeff Jarvis author of the books “What would Google Do“, “Public Parts” and co-host of This Week in Google argued that the New York Times is making a mistake by reducing the free pageviews by half. (TWiG episode 139 1h12m point) That newspapers aren’t in the business of selling content anymore but should be in the business of building relationships.

So what does this have to do with the Music Industry? More than you might first think. They are very similar where that they both previously and still sell a physical product which has shifted to the digital medium. They are struggling to get people to pay for the content after their consumers were used to getting it for free (music industry didn’t do that one on purpose). Finally, the digital revolution has created inexpensive or free tools that in turn has reduced the barrier to entry for each industry. For music an example is Apple’s GarageBand and for the Newspapers it’s the internet blog cms like wordpress.

My take from the discussion and I agree with is that the New York Times is penalizing what could be their biggest advocates. The people who read the online paper more than ten pages a month, coming in via a social link still wouldn’t count against your page count. Jarvis in his suggested solution is a sort of social referral currency. So instead of reducing access you open it up not with forcing people to pay for cash subscriptions but with access for promotion. Since the only incentive is more access once a person accumulates more pages than they need it.

So what can an artist do to improve the social relationship and turn that in currency into actual real cash in hand while not ruining it. Here are a few of my suggestions:

Share every access of your creative and touring process. Not to give away your music but the actual steps you’re taking to make that new album, video or tour.

Identify your “super fans” and start engaging them a little more than you would casual fans to build that relationship. Tools to measure that are freely available online. (I’m looking into Commun.it, they’re in beta and there is a waiting list )

Throw a few surprises. Send a signed CD to them, a t-shirt, ticket to a show, priority meet and greet or what ever you can think of. Even a movie ticket or a book you love.

By doing these things you’ll build relationships with your fans that will go a long way beyond a hit single. Start with why, then how and they’ll know what it is.

Nashville Weekend “It” List: Hunger Games Edition

2012-03-26T15:27:05Z

It’s back! The Nashville Weekend “It” List! This is our weekly list of things to do in Nashville that doesn’t suck…at least we say so. So dig in….

This is opening weekend for the Hunger Games movie and I am going to have to see it. I wasn’t interested in it at first but it got a 87% from critics collated at Rotten Tomatos. Wired magazine had a great write up about how it’s female lead goes against the grain of heroins in cinema. She’s more of a Ripley in Alien than a Gene Grey of X-Men. That article alone convinced me that its something I’d like to see.

Friday:

PREDATORS FOUNDATION WINE FESTIVAL AND TASTING - March 23, 6 PM, Bridgestone Arena – Enjoy Wine tasting & heavy Hors d’oeuvres over the ice on the Bridgestone Arena floor. Enjoy tastings of over 200 higher end wines ,Anheuser-Busch products, a Cocktail bar culinary delicacies from Bound’ry Restaurant , meet Predators personalities with GNASH photo opportunities and an extensive silent auction. Tickets are $75.

Saturday:

LOONEY TUNES AT THE BELCOURT - Sat, March 24 at 10am Appr. 100min, 35mm – This is always loads of fun…Here’s a mixed bag of classic Looney Tunes shorts screened on 35mm. Catch Bugs Bunny, Daffy Duck, Pepe Le Pew and the whole gang. It doesn’t get much better…The Age Factor: All Ages $5
NASHVILLE ROLLERGIRLS DOUBLEHEADER – March 24, doors open at 5 PM, Municipal Auditorium – Roller derby is back as the Nashville Rollergirls open their home season. Tickets are $10.
3RD ANNUAL NASHVILLE CHERRY BLOSSOM FESTIVAL - March 24, 10 AM-4PM, Public Square – This is a day of Japanese cultural demonstrations, performances and more. Another 100 cherry trees will be planted as Festival has a ten year goal of 1000 trees planted. Free admission.

Sunday:

Find a patio and enjoy a cool beverage with friends. Red Door East and Beyond the Edge offer 2-for-1 drink specials all day on Sunday.

All Weekend Long:

NASHVILLE FLEA MARKET – March 23-25, Tennessee State Fairgrounds – If you have never experienced this, I recommend that you check it out. You have to rummage through a lot of things you would never use, but you find the occasional item that makes it all worth the effort. It is rated as one of the top ten flea markets in the country. The winter months are still happening though a lot less vendors.

AVENUE Q – Wanna See Some Puppet Porn? It’s a comedy, it’s a musical, and it’s opening tonight for its first local production through April 15 at Street Theatre Company, puppet musical for adults — we repeat, FOR ADULTS

Online Music Business 101: Build Your Email List Not Likes

2012-04-02T17:39:37Z

A few years ago I had lunch with an artist friend and we discussed social media specifically MySpace. He had great momentum and had lots of people who “friended” him there. In that conversation I asked him how many emails of these “friends” he had. This conversation was a few years ago but he’s answer was along the lines of not many in comparison. Fast forward several years, I run into the same musician friend and talk again. He said that he’s trying to get more “likes” on Facebook and how could he get more engagement. I asked again about his email list and he’s response was about the same. So grabbed dinner to discuss how to get started….on building his email list.

Your email list is the most important contact point of all the ones online you have. You might ask what about Facebook likes, Twitter followers or Pintrest Pins? I’m going to say no those are secondary. Why? The goal of most online social network services is to reduce the connection friction as much as possible where “liking”, “following” or “pinning” something is as simple as breathing. Do you remember that deep breath you took two minutes ago? No, well neither do most users remember what they “Liked” on Facebook two months ago.

Here is the steps to begin building your email list:

Why – Why do you need an email list? If you know that then you need your prospective subscribers to understand why they should subscribe. Trust and honesty will help motive people to subscribe. Tell them why it matters to you that they sign-up.

How – There are online list tools that are free to start with. My personal favorite and one that I use for my list is MailChimp. Easy to use and lots of free professional templates.

What – Show them an example of your email newsletter. Then they will know what they will receive in their inbox. Let them know how often they will receive your and stick with that schedule. Don’t start off to aggressive try once a month at first.

Email is something still fairly personal and if a fan offers you their email it’s something special. They trust you enough not to abuse it so don’t. Building an email list is going to be much harder to do than getting Facebook “likes” or twitter “followers.” So when Facebook or Twitter are replaced by the next big thing you won’t lose any momentum by starting over again. Stop chasing after people on social networks…inspire them to follow you.

5 Reasons a DYI Artist Should Attend Podcamp

2012-03-23T20:12:44Z

So the Nashville Feed has been on hiatus for the past year while other projects take priorities and I figure that no other way to kick off blogging again but a post about Nashvilles very own Podcamp. It is an event for that anybody that creates something should attend.

From Podcamp.org: PodCamp isn’t just about podcasting! If you’re interested in blogging, social media, social networking, podcasting, video on the net, if you’re a podsafe musician (or want to be), or just someone curious about new media, then please join us — and bring a friend or colleague.

So why should you attend Podcamp Nashville? It’s an event that DYI music artists can get lots of useful information on how to take the tools of the Internet and leverage them to your advantage.

Here are my top 5 reasons a independent music artist should attend Podcamp Nashville 2012:

Sessions Help Your Marketing – Where Music & Tech Meet, Stop Social Media Pollution, New Concept in Social Media marketing…. Be genuine and so many more.
Networking Outside the Music Industry – There are a lot of tech geeks who will talk to you offering lots of free great info.
It’s Free! – That’s right all you have to do is show up. It is recommended to purchase lunch there which helps pay for the venue.
Knowledge is Power – The knowledge you gain at Podcamp can help you save time and money.
It’s in a Bar! (non-smoking) – As an artist this is probably a location you would be familiar and comfortable place to hang out.

My advice is if you’re not sold yet take a look at the other articles in the Podcamp Nashville blog tour. It’s a good opportunity to play more and work less.