New Years resolutions can be a pain.  You know you’re supposed to follow through but it’s not always easy.  That’s why it’s important to set realistic ones that are simple to achieve but will make you feel accomplished. If you’re ultimate goal in 2010 is to advance your music career, then the following 5 resolutions will help you achieve that goal:

1. Give back to your fans.  This is always important and simpler than you think.  It could be a friendly little email with an exclusive download or even a video of you playing a song about how great they are.

2. Be creative. This is obvious but crucial to really focus on and remember at all times.  As a musician, it’s your job to be creative. But it’s also important to think outside of the box and be creative in other areas of your music career as well. Such as what you’re going to do for your fans in #1.

3. Create a bank account for your music career.  If you want to have a music career then you have to treat it like a business.  Take it seriously by setting aside some money to invest in merch or better equipment. And remember, there are some great ways to promote and sell your music and merch for little to no costs (like Audiolife)!

4. Embrace technology. Seriously guys. If all you have is a MySpace profile, it’s time to focus some of your efforts elsewhere too.  There is a slew of great resources out there JUST FOR YOU! Embrace them. Love them. Use them!

5. Have fun! After all, I did say it’s important to be realistic. [:

I’d love to hear some of your own New Years resolutions in the comments below!

Category: Marketing, Music 2.0 | 3 Comments »

© Bertold Werkmann | Dreamstime.com

This is a list in the making.  It started with 5 Music Industry Leaders (You Should Follow) followed by 9 Music Industry Leaders (You Should Follow).  Thanks to your comments, we’re now up to 14!

Follow Tim Westergren
Founder of Pandora
Almost a decade ago, Tim Westergren and his colleagues launched one of the most disruptive online music projects the music industry had ever had to cope with. A revolution in both technology and user experience, Pandora become the leading online music streaming service and recommendation engine for music lovers around the globe. With that, Pandora was also at the forefront of royalty disputes with major content owners.

Follow Daniel Ek
Co-Founder and CEO of Spotify
Daniel Ek is a serial entrepreneur. A child technology marvel, he started his first company at the age of 14 and has since created, led and sold several companies at the cutting edge of new media and tech. His most recent project, Spotify, a legal streaming music service, has taken the world by storm.

Follow Martin Atkins
Speaker and Author of Tour:Smart
Martin Atkins, a veteran ‘progressive’ drummer, has recorded and toured with Nine Inch Nails, Ministry, Killing Joke, PigFace, and Public Image Ltd., among other post-punk/industrial acts. He has emerged from his highly-charged Rock ‘n’ Roll lifestyle to guide the next generation of artists through educational programs, speaking engagements, and how-to literature on the subject of independent artist promotion and touring.

Follow Bruce Houghton
Founder and Editor of Hypebot
Hypebot is the most respected music industry blog. Read religiously by music business professionals, independent artists and music enthusiasts, no other blog provides such coverage, information and analysis on music business trends. Bruce Houghton is a regular speaker and moderator at prominent music conferences.

Follow Paul Resnikoff
Founder and Publisher of Digital Music News
Digital Music News is a leading news and information resource for the music industry. Paul Resnikoff has become well known for his executive writing style and “Resnikoff’s Parting Shot”, a colorful commentary on current events.

» Continue Reading

Category: Social Networking | 4 Comments »

Tags: music industry leaders, twitter

My mom is very proud of me.

I gave her a CD of my music last Christmas.  Whenever her girlfriends come over, she slides out the inlay card and points to the credits where it says, “Thank you mom for being my greatest supporter!”

I know my music is not exactly her cup of tea.  But she’s always been my biggest fan.

And there’s my dad.  He’s my number one follower.  When I told him that everyone’s using Twitter, he went to Home Depot looking for one and came back with an alarm clock. He says it works just fine.

My mom and dad are at the top of my fan list.

Who are YOUR biggest fans and what are you doing to make them feel special this holiday season?

Leave a comment

Happy Holidays!

Category: Audiolife, Direct to Fan, Marketing | 17 Comments »

Tags: artist to fan relationship, building a fan base, Direct to Fan, DIY musician, Holiday Promotion

The following video tutorial will show you how to manage your Audiolife store. Below you will find a transcription of the video.

Run time: 2:50

1. Once you’ve logged in, click on Manage My Store. You will first see a list of merchandise with everything that’s available in your store.

2. You can Remove the item or Edit Item. If you want to change the design of the shirt you need to first Remove the item.

3. By clicking on Remove, you don’t actually delete the item. It gets moved down to the section of items that you have created but not yet added to your store (scroll down the Manage My Store page to see these).

4. Here, you can click on Edit Item and you will be able to actually edit your design.

5. At the top of Manage My Store, you will notice tabs for Albums, Downloads, and Ringtones as well. You can do the same with Album Designs as you can with Merch Designs.

6. If you’ve created an item but haven’t added it to your store, then scroll down to that section and select Add to Store. If you have a lot of items that you haven’t added to your store yet, it can be a great way to release items over time to your fans.

7. If you want to buy one of your T-shirts, then all you have to do is go to the products already added to your store and select Buy Now. You will be able to purchase it for the base price. Select how many you’d like and click on Add to Cart. You can buy in bulk to take on tours or to sell at shows or special events.

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Category: Video Tutorials | 4 Comments »

Tags: Audiolife, managing your store

The following video tutorial will show you how to launch your Audiolife store. Below you will find a brief transcription of the video.

Run time:  2:32

1. Once you log in, click on Post Everywhere near the top and choose the Dimensions of your store.

2. Click on Update Dimensions to see the defaults. If you click on the dimension the page will update and you can change the dimensions under Current Store Dimensions. The page should refresh to show you the new store. If it gets messed up you could always select Default Size. Once you’re done, click Save which will take you page to the Post Everywhere page.

3. There are several ways to post your store:

a. If you have a MySpace Music page, you can copy and paste the code at the bottom. Same with your own web site.

b. For all other accounts, you simply click what you want and there will be on-screen instructions on how to embed your store on those web sites.

4. To track the success of your store, click on My Stats next to Post Everywhere, and you can see how many of each item you’ve sold along with overall total sales.

5. You can also provide your friends with codes to post your store on their own networks to promote you.

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Category: Video Tutorials | 3 Comments »

Tags: Audiolife, launching your store, selling merch online, selling music online

The following video tutorial will show you how to create merchandise to sell through your Audiolife store. Below you will find a brief transcription of the video.

Run time: 3:44

1. Once you’ve logged in, click on Create Merchandise on the left.

2. Enter the Item Name and click on Go.

3. Click on Start Designing in the next step and the Design Studio should load.

4. Choose which apparel item you’d like to design on. You can choose colors and click on Rotate View to see what it looks like on the back as well. Once you’re satisfied with the item, click on Select Item to begin designing.

5. Click on Add Text on the left hand side and write your text in the Text Field and click on Apply Text. You can click and drag it around on the shirt, change the size of the text, rotate the box and change the size of the text box. You can also change the font, color and style of the text as well. At the bottom you can choose the alignment of the text.

6. If you want to add multiple text fields then select Add New Text Field. If you want to delete it, select the text and click on Delete at the bottom right.

7. Click Save once you’re done.

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Category: Video Tutorials | 2 Comments »

Tags: Audiolife, creating merch, selling merch online

The following video tutorial gives you instructions on how to create ringtones to sell through your Audiolife store. Below you will find a brief transcription of the video.

Run time: 1:54

1. Once you’ve logged in, click on Create Ringtone on the left.

2. Select Browse and choose the song you’d like to make into a ringtone.

3. Enter the Song Name and click on Add which will upload the file.  If you choose a full song file, it will only select the first 30 seconds of the song. Using an editing program you can choose which 30 seconds you want and just upload the 30 second clip.

4. Once it’s uploaded you have the option to change the Song Name.

5. The set price for a ringtone for cell phone downloads is $2.49, which you get $0.50–and that’s fixed.

6. If you want to make the ringtone available as a download from the store as well, click Yes next to the question. The page will load again and now you can choose a price. The default price is set to $0.99 and you would get $0.69 from each sale. You can raise the price and whatever additional amount you charge is yours to keep.

7. Once you’re satisfied, click Add to Store and should see that the ringtone is now available in the Ringtones section of your Audiolife store.

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Category: Video Tutorials | 1 Comment »

Tags: Audiolife, creating ringtones, selling ringtones

The following video tutorial will show you how to create and design an album to sell through your Audiolife Store.  Below you will find a brief transcription of the video narration.

Video run time: 7:22

1. Once you log in, click Create Album and enter the name of the album. Click Go.

2. Choose the album type (i.e. CD album, MP3 album or both).  Upload the album thumbnail from your computer.  Recommended image to be 300×300 pixels with a resolution of 72 dpi, which can be done in Photoshop or Illustrator, etc. You should be able to view the picture once it’s uploaded.

3. Click on Upload Music and select the song(s) from your computer.  You can change the name of the track to be different from the file name.

4. Click on Back to Create Album once you’re done and select Design a CD Label. Click on Upload Image and select the artwork you would like to use for the CD. You can then click on Advanced Tools and alter the image or select a pre-existing template to use and alter. Once you’re done with the CD Label, be sure to save it.

5. Click on Design 4-Panel Booklet. You can upload an image or download a template to Photoshop to create one. You can also use Advanced Tools to alter your booklet.

6. Click on Design CD Tray Card which is the image that will go under the CD in the jewel case.  Again, you can upload an image or use Advance Tools to alter the image or a template.

7. Once you’re done with the design and have uploaded your music you can select Buy to purchase in bulk or select Sell to add to your store.  Add the price of each item and click Save.

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Category: Video Tutorials | 1 Comment »

Tags: Audiolife, creating an album, designing an album

The following video is a guide to using images in the design studio when creating your album art or merchandise. You will find a transcription of the video below.

Run time: 2:41

1. Once you’re in the Design Studio, click on the Add Image tab on the left.

2. There are several designs to choose from. You can sort through them by category. Once you’ve chosen an image, select Apply Image.

3. Just like with text, you can click on the image on the shirt and drag it to wherever you’d like. You can change the color and size.  If you mess up, just click on Restore Size to get it back to normal.  You can also rotate the image and/or select the Style tab next to the Color tab and apply some effects.

4. If you want to add your own image, select Add Image again and choose Upload Image. We recommend the image be 3000×3000 pixels and 300 dpi. You can do this by using programs such as Photoshop or Illustrator. You can resize the image and apply effects but but you can’t change its color.

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How to Create Merch

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Category: Video Tutorials | 2 Comments »

Tags: Audiolife design studio

The following video is on Secure Payments through Audiolife. Below the video you will find a brief transcription.

Run time: 0:45

Any payment you make through the Audiolife web site is 100% safe and secure. Additionally, any sales made through your widget that’s embedded on your web site or social networks are also 100% safe and secure.

This can be verified by the “VeriSign Secured” symbol displayed at the bottom of the widget so your fans and customers can also be assured that they’re safe purchasing from you through your Audiolife storefront.

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Category: Video Tutorials | 2 Comments »

Tags: secure payments