Tips for aspiring artists #1: BE SEEN.

Today it seems that sound itself doesn’t quite cut it. Audiences are demanding and want a performance that is aesthetically pleasing in every domain- ESPECIALLY those sitting in their underwear in front of a monitor.

Musicians hoping to get any form of recognition from the current online music community need to understand one thing:

YouTube is your friend.

If you don’t have a YouTube account stop everything and create one. Now.

Also if you haven’t got a video camera we suggest you go and buy yourselves one of those pretty soon too.

A lot of big names in music have YouTube to thank for helping them make it in the industry who wouldn’t have normally had the opportunity or the resources to be discovered.

Here’s one example you’ll probably know.

From a home video singing in his living room in clothes that are too big, to making $116,423 within the first week of his new single “Boyfriend” (still in clothes that are too big), it’s not hard to see that Justin Beiber, or his mum, really hit something on the head here.

While Beiber might not be exactly your style, it seems that using YouTube has really paid off for a number of other great artists including TerraNaomi, Lisa Lavie, Mia Rose and many more. Talent scouts are constantly scanning the web for up and coming talent and what better way is there to be seen than showcasing everything you’ve got right there on their computer screens.

To be continued…

Design Ideas

Hey guys,

After our presentation and feedback on the website/multi-page feature confusion I started thinking about ways we could set out our feature. With our ideas for multiple sections, I think this would best be displayed using tabs across the top, making it accessible and immediately noticeable. The other option is to have a list of bullet points in the sidebar but I don't find it aesthetically pleasing, nor does it really attract the viewer to explore the other pages.

A design feature for our multi-page story.

social media pitch ideas

At Music Hub, we are seeking to provide the resources for aspiring individual artists and bands with no current industry affiliation.

Our website, being Sydney based, allows effective local engagement with these aspiring artists.

While we want to create a new space for these young and fresh artists (16-35year olds) to explore, we will be seeking to network and make affiliations with existing sites such as triple J, 3CR, or FBI radio, so as to tap into their existing online communities and explore the ways that these sights connect with their audiences.

One of our greatest challenges has been confronting exactly how we will convince aspiring artists that our website actually provides the information they need, and what functionality is required to appeal specifically to musicians. We combated this in a few ways;

• Firstly we recognised the importance of sound as a device to draw in the audience, be it through a constant media player in the background, or even creating upload areas where people can give feedback and communicate amongst each other.
• Secondly we recognised the importance of the visual. As Carmen mentioned we want to provide a twofold method of exploring the site, with bite size snippets, which lead to longer features. Through the use of video and photography, rather than a constant stream of words, as well as Facebook and Twitter snippets and links, we feel our audience will most appropriately respond to the messages we are trying to deliver.
•  Finally, we realised the importance of interviewing people within the industry who have a sound understanding of what it takes to make it as an artist. Through potential competitions which would allow aspiring artists to be mentored, as well as creating events external of the website, we are seeking to encourage our audience to be part of something bigger than just a website

Eastside Radio

As you know, I host a program on Eastside Radio and we only feature independant, non-commercial music. This could be useful for our blog somehow. We have a website that  has program blogs, news, gig guides and more so it could be a useful building block for our own blog.

Social media and the music industry.

Breaking into the music industry has changed, with artists no longer relying on old-school tactics to try and land a record deal. Technology has disrupted the music business like bands creating location aware based albums. MySpace used to be the social networking site of choice for aspiring artists. The once popular site has been attributed to launching the careers of Lily Allen and Soulja Boy, as well as boosting sales of already established artists. But, MySpace dropped 10 million unique visitors at the start of 2011, bringing users down to 63 million compared to Facebook’s 500 million users.

Now-a-days it appears three websites are critical to the advancement of aspiring artist's careers; Facebook, Twitter, and Youtube. These social media platforms allow artists to develop an online career through the creation of profiles, uploading of content, sharing of daily habits, and allowing their fans to directly provide feedback about their work. According to an article by Alexandra Topping, it is this new interactivity afforded to the public, which puts "the power of discovery into the hands of fans".

Social media has become the phenomenon it is today for people in the music industry, due to the interactive nature of social media; smaller labels and less mainstream artists can now spread the word about their talents for the world to see.

Ideas to explore:

• A tips section for how to begin your social media career.
• How the social media revolution affects the way music is produced 
• Income for artists
• What legal ramifications are there for artists and fans in terms of copyright material, sharing of files and defamation.
• What online music means for the record labels

group meeting - idea development

Just thought i'd post everything that Maddy typed out the other day onto the blog page.

Target Audience: Emerging and aspiring musicians navigating the digital world.

Aim: To encourage and help aspiring artists to gain the skills, information and platforms to be heard in the music industry.

Our Issue: The impact of new media platforms on the music industry.

 Target audience: aspiring musicians.
- (Research more into audience) Where are these people going already? What media is already relevant to them?

Ideas for pages

Dispersed throughout the website:
- Have our own photos
- Have our own videos
o Identifiably our own photos and videos through style etc.
- Embed a media player to play automatically when the website is opened.
o Soundcloud?

- Simon Callwell, established DJ, works at AIM. INTERVIEW
o Independent
o Tips for how to get started etc.

- Legal section
o “How to protect your intellectual property”
o How much of a concern is this for new artist?
o Rebecca campbell interview (Posse)
• “Changing dynamic and hierarchy in music industry”
• Death of the producer
• Role of social media in music production

- Amanda Palmer, “kickstarter.com” (online platform)
o Success story
o Funding
o Compare with someone who failed in same field

- Larry Page (music producer in the 60s and 70s)
o Interview
o What does he think of the way the music industry has changed?
o Does he think what has happened to the music industry is positive?

- Rick Chen
o “Pozzible”

- Virtual Communities/ Cult followings
o The role of social media

- Top 5 aspiring artists of the month
o Engage audience by getting them to vote, give feedback to other musicians

- Create forums
o Expert? Or group chatroom?
o Moderator could be resident expert.

- Add for the website’s “end of year summer jam”

- Gig guide page
o Information about upcoming gigs
o Reviews of gigs

 

This site has been archived but it contains some relevant material and good interviews. The guy who launched this blog, Nick Crocker, has been a bit of a digital pioneer when it comes to music blogging and building communications & music industry websites, like We Are Hunted and  Native Digital.

For those who didn't see the AManda Palmer Kickstarter success story yet, look here. Her fundraising target was $100,000 and she raked in more than a million... awesome!

A helpful website for aspiring artists

It seems we are all interested in creating a website that includes music, the issue of copyright or perhaps piracy, and how the internet and social media controls this today. It seems like there are a lot of websites for "music lovers" to find new music, and there are websites that create platforms for musicians to upload their music and promote themselves, however I haven't come across a website that provides direct tips to musicians trying to get their music off the ground- A website that is directed solely towards aspiring musicians that has articles that are relevant or helpful, e.g. "How to be seen online", or "Steps to avoid music theft" etc. Aside from this we could also have a "news" page which keeps artists up to date on all the latest online sites, opportunities and perhaps some "success stories" where artists share their experiences.

There are three articles on Mashable that triggered the idea for this website which might be useful to read:

http://mashable.com/2012/08/13/google-pirate/

http://mashable.com/2012/08/15/mtv-artists-platform-launch/

http://mashable.com/2012/08/15/silversun-pickups-romney/

If we are going to focus on online music communities, this article could be of interest.

Might have to kick things off with a little linkage... so, here you have it... some thoughts on Copyright in a digital world from industry blog Music Think Tank... they seem to be doing the kind of thing that we talked about doing... could be worth looking at. They seem to have an active, engaged community (most posts seem to have a lot of comments)... what do you think makes them interesting/worth following? Have you guys heard of Seth Godin? He's a bit of a communications/innovation/marketing guru... you can probably find a bunch of cool TED talks featuring him. He is also a very successful, highly-followed blogger. Could be worth a look in too.