Music Marketing [dot] com

Today I'm Going to Make a Record...with my iPod

Jimmy Camp made his new album on an iPod, with no multi-tracking, no cutting and pasting. and no overdubs.

He put out a documentary that explains the process.

The End of Digital Rights Management (DRM)?

Consumers hate it and now the music industry is feeling the same way.

2/3 of major label presidents have recently said that they would like to see copy protection dropped.  Now, Steve Jobs from Apple is saying the same thing.

Jobs said there appeared to be no benefit for the record companies in continuing to sell more than 90 percent of their music without DRM on compact discs, while selling the remaining small percentage of their music encumbered with a DRM system.

"If such requirements were removed, the music industry might experience an influx of new companies willing to invest in innovative new stores and players. This can only be seen as a positive by the music companies," he said in a statement posted to Apple's Web site.

Can Musicians Read? You Tell Me...

If you're a musician and are worried about competition, I hope that the following post will show you that the majority of that "competition" is nothing to worry about.  Why?  Lack of reading skills.

A few days ago, I posted that Music Business Radio is looking for demos to review.  I gave a mailing address and wrote "Send your CD to:" in front of it.

Seems simple enough, right?

Apparently not...

The reason I asked for a CD is because I need a CD.  Why?  Because we use CD players to play music...not Windows Media Player, not iTunes, and not iPods.

This is a radio station; we get tons of music from people who can follow our submission directions.  Therefore, we don't need to jump through hoops to get music.  That means we're not going to look on MySpace, Sonicbids, or anything like that.  We're also not going to take your mp3 attachment and convert it to an audio CD.

I know some people are not in the US.  I know it will cost you a little bit more money than US-based people to something to us.  Life is like that.

This opportunity is not for everybody and it may not be for you.  But it is what it is and we need music in the format we requested.

Music Business Radio Wants Your Demo

Was in the studio cutting a new episode of Music Business Radio and our production coordinator, Amanda, let me know that we could use more music to review.  We go through 6-7 per (weekly) show, so if you send something, there is a good chance we'll get to it and you'll be played not only in front of our industry guests, but a worldwide audience as well.

Don't get Music Business Radio yet?  Get the podcast free.

Who will listen to your music?  Guys like this... And women like this.

We accept music of all genres.

Send your CD to:

Tuned In Broadcasting
ATTN: Music Business Radio
1310 Clinton St. Suite 200
Nashville, TN 37203

How to Sell Music Downloads via Ebay

Not only is it a great way to expose your music to new fans, selling digital music via Ebay is also almost totally automated. There is no upfront cost for the services you'll need to do this, and all fees you'll pay will be based on a percentage of sales.

Here's a step-by-step guide on how to do it...

What you'll need:

1. Ebay Account (Get a Free Account with Now)
2. Paypal Business/Premiere Level Account (Get a Free Paypal Account Now)
3. Payloadz Account (Get a Free Account Now)

Step-by-Step Process:

I'm going to assume you already know how to fill in the forms to get your accounts at Ebay, Paypal, and Payloadz setup.  Note that your Ebay, Paypal, and Payloads email address need to be the same.

And once you've done that...

1. Log in to your Payloadz account, look under "account" (at the top), and get the URL of your "IPN Link."  It will look something like http://www.payloadz.com/pay/index.asp?Id=xxxxx.

2. Visit your "Instant Payment Notification Preferences" at Paypal.  It needs to be set to ON and you'll add the URL that you received in step one.

That's it for Paypal...

3. Visit Payloadz and upload the product you want to sell.  Make sure the title also works for the auction you want to list, as this will need to be an exact match for Payloadz to deliver your goods instantly.  Copy this item name into your clipboard.

4. Log into Ebay and create a listing.  The listing title needs to be what's in your clipboard, assuming you followed step 3 and have the Payloadz item you want to sell in there. ;)  If not, you can type out the action title, but make sure it's exactly the same as name of the Payloadz item you want to sell.

6. Specify your auction as a digital item and fill out the information requested.  File format, operating system, required software, etc.

7. You want to sell your item instantly and you don't want the auction to end as soon as one is sold, so the auction should be fixed price and the quantity of items should be more than one.  To do this, set the payment option to "require immediate payment via Paypal" and set the quantity so that it won't run out.

8. http://payloadz.com/d1/lookup.asp is your file delivery location.

9. Submit the listing.

If all goes well, and it should, your auction will appear within a couple of minutes.  When somebody buys what you're selling, they'll pay via Paypal, be taken to a page which links the "file delivery location," and be able to look up the order via the auction/payment information.  The file will be available via a web page instantly and they'll also get an email which gives the URL of that page, in the event that they missed it the first time around.

As this strategy for selling is almost hands free, it's a great way to add another stream of income to your business as well as add to your mailing list.  The hardest part is setting up your listing for the first time.  Once that's done, you simply "relist" the action when it's over, and you're back in business.