Madalyn's Blog

"Ninety percent of the success of any product or service is its promotion and marketing." -- Mark Victor Hansen

Let's think about this for a minute. Ninety percent of the success of your music sales is it's promotion and marketing. What are you doing to promote and marketing your music? Do you think by simply having your CDs on your web site and CD Baby they will sell itself? What are you doing to stand out from what everyone else is doing?

Give me your feedback. I would love to hear cool marketing stories!

Rock on,
Madalyn Sklar
IndieMusicCoach.com
~providing one-on-one indie music consulting & coaching~

Here's a quick and easy way to keep track of your online press kit (print ready photos, mp3 clips, bio, etc). On your computer's desktop make a folder and keep these items in it. This will enable you to stay on top of things. Organization is a good thing! The next time your local newspaper or a national magazine contacts you for a bio and 300 dpi photo for your band you'll be armed and ready!

Rock on,
Madalyn Sklar
IndieMusicCoach.com
~providing one-on-one indie music consulting & coaching~

It's easy to say "if you record it and put it out, people will buy it". There's a lot more to selling your CDs than just putting them out there. What are you doing to market your music? Do you have a web site? Does it look professional or homemade? Are you selling your CDs in other places like CD Baby? Are you selling them at your shows? Think about these things carefully.

There are a lot of great resources out there that can help you sell more CDs. But YOU have to work it. YOU have to commit yourself to doing the work or hiring someone to do it for you. Either way, there will be work.

My favorite resources:

The Indie Bible is filled with so much information it's scary. In it are publications that will review your CD, radio stations that will play your songs, services that will help you sell your CD, sites where you can upload your music files, plus a lot of resources. You can't go wrong with The Indie Bible.

The Music Phonebook is another great resource with lots of valuable information. In it you will find booking agents, entertainment attorneys, managers, producers, promoters, publicists, record labels, venues, web resources and more!

One of my favorite books is the Guerilla Music Marketing Handbook by Bob Baker. In it he provides lots of great ideas on how to effectively market your music to the masses.

Charlie Cheney's Indie Band Manager is the ultimate instrument for for booking and promotion. It's an affordable database software program for managing your tours, venues, fan emails, press contacts, merch and more! There is a free download so you can try before you buy. What's really cool are the add-on features. For an additional fee you can get CD Baby's College Booking list and/or Ariel Publicity's tour press contacts.

I hope this information helps you in your music career. I firmly believe if you take the time to do the work, you will see great things happen. If you sit around waiting for things to happen, you will be sitting a long while.

Rock on,
Madalyn Sklar
IndieMusicCoach.com
~providing one-on-one indie music consulting & coaching~

"Laugh at yourself and at life. Not in the spirit of derision or whining self-pity, but as a remedy, a miracle drug, that will ease your pain, cure your depression, and help you to put in perspective that seemingly terrible defeat and worry with laughter at your predicaments, thus freeing your mind to think clearly toward the solution that is certain to come." -- Og Mandino

Rock on,
Madalyn Sklar
IndieMusicCoach.com
~providing one-on-one indie music consulting & coaching~

A good friend and ALSO incredible artist reminded me today that "Diamonds are made from the pressure received by ugly, nasty old COAL!" She's right. SOOOO right! Good people, get lots of pressure in life. And it seems the ones with bad agendas get the cake all the time. Well....not really.......and certainly not in the longrun.....

We all have people in our lives that tell lies to make themselves look better, and most have serious self-esteem issues, especially in this industry. But, people NEED people to succeed, and as crazy at it is... the ones that end up bitter and resentful of others that are accomplishing things...are people who have made their own beds as difficult people and resent those achievers that now refuse to help them because they burned that bridge for whatever reasons. First...NEVER second guess the future of someone you insult or treat badly. And when you make the decision to not work with someone that has done that to you..make sure it is for reasons you can live with later....but know, that deciding not to help someone is not the same as hurting them. And you don't have to help anyone. Just don't set out to hurt anyone purposefully. It's the right way to be.

Annette Warner
www.AWarnerEntertainment.com
Editor-GoGirlsMusic.com

Read something inspiring every day. When you get up in the morning and before you go to bed, spend 15 minutes reading something inspirational, motivational or enlightening.

The book I'm reading right now that is inspiring me tremendously is "The Success Principles: How to Get From Where You Are to Where You Want to Be" by Jack Canfield.

Rock on,
Madalyn Sklar
IndieMusicCoach.com
~providing one-on-one indie music consulting & coaching~

"How long should you try? Until." -- Jim Rohn

Rock on,
Madalyn Sklar
IndieMusicCoach.com
~providing one-on-one indie music consulting & coaching~

This is from Madalyn's series on "How To Get Ahead" Tips.

Make Action Plan
- set long term and short term goals
- set goals that are attainable with some work
- write down your goals and post it where you can see it everyday
- make a daily "to do" list

Rock on,
Madalyn Sklar
IndieMusicCoach.com
~providing one-on-one indie music consulting & coaching~

You are free to use information from this blog as long as you add the following:

Reprinted from Madalyn's Music Biz Blog
Copyright © 2009 Madalyn Sklar

Madalyn Sklar is a music business coach & consultant, blogger, social networks expert and author. She has spent over 13 years helping independent musicians and music business professionals achieve greater success in the biz. Her motto is: working smarter not harder. She also founded GoGirlsMusic.com, the oldest + largest online community of indie women musicians.

Madalyn's Sites:
GoGirlsMusic.com
Social Networks for Musicians

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Please shoot me an email letting me know you are reposting my information. I can be reached at madalyn@sn4m.com.

Rock on!

Offering your community something extra for coming to the shows you promote is a great thijng to do. Everyone is suffering at the moment with attendance, and everyone is in need of more 'bang for their buck'.

Here are a couple ideas!

1. Make sure the entertainment you book...is truly great entertainment. And entertainment that the following you wish to pull in will enjoy. Your reputation depends on it and your show-goers will talk when they leave about either what a great show it was...or what a bad show it was.

2. Depending upon what kind of show you are booking...one of the biggest mistakes you can make as a promoter is not separating friendship and business. If your 'friends' or local aquaintences just don't do it for your ears....don't book them for your shows. As a promoter..you are selling your ears. And your 'ears' are what you build your reputation on. Don't be afraid to say NO.

3. Work with your area businesses to offer door prizes at ALL of your shows in exchange for advertising. People love winning things, and music doesn't have to be THE only reason people show up...but you DO want it to be the reason they stay. It doesn't have to be a special event to give things away...make EVERY gig a special event!

Peace and good music..always!

Annette Warner
A. Warner Entertainment
www.AWarnerEntertainment.com
www.CoffeeHouseTour.com