Music Marketing [dot] com

One Way to Get Something Done...

If you've been reading this blog or following me on Twitter for a while, you may know that I've been working on new book for the last year. I'm really close to being done, with maybe 10,000 words to go, but as I get closer, I find that I'm running into more resistance.

In short, it's getting harder and harder to write.

Have been working with a business coach for the last year and talked to him about this earlier today. His solution was something called a "punitive nudge."

So I've just written out several $250 checks to Westboro Baptist Church and sent them to him. If I miss a day of writing, he mails one.

And I'm not going to let that happen...

Which means the book will be available very soon.

More details:

1. The book will be called $100,000 Musician. It will show you what it takes to be one.
   
   
2. It will be available here, free of charge. Subscribe to the feed to make sure you don't miss it.
   
   
3. Within the next month, I will be looking for a select number of musicians to look over a pre-release copy and provide me with feedback on what needs to be added or expanded on. If you're interested getting a jump on everybody and helping me to make this book great, subscribe to the feed to make sure you see the announcement. 

12 Albums in 12 Months

Last month, I wrote a post about Mr. Billy and how he leveraged the popularity of Angry Birds to sell music and get attention for himself. Since it's the first week of the new year, I think it's appropriate to talk about his current plan to release 12 albums in the next 12 months.

The plan...

1. Decide what the album's theme will be.
2. Write (or find) awesome songs and record them in 2 weeks or less.
3. Mix and master the music.
4. Do the artwork.
5. Have the digital version available for sale world wide.
6. Have the physical CD available for sale via CD Baby and MisterBilly.com.
7. Rinse and repeat 11 more times.

Visit Mr. Billy's blog to follow his progress.

With the ease and low-cost of both recording and distribution, this is something that any music can do. So why not you?

How to Turn Your Music Business Dreams Into Reality

As we're in the first week of a new year, a couple of days ago, I talked about How to Reach Your Music Business Goals in 2012. If you've gone through that exercise, perhaps you've asked yourself, "Are my music business dreams attainable possibilities or just wishful thinking?"

If your answer is "wishful thinking," there are ways you can take your dreams out of that category and put them into the realm of possibility by using the following strategies...

1. Want it for the right reasons.

Before you go off chasing a big dreams, stop and ask yourself, "Is this what I personally want?" Sometimes, it’s so easy to get caught up in what your family wants or what society dictates that you lose sight of what’s important to you.

• Stop and think about how your life would change if you achieved your goal.


• Tweak things so they are exactly what you want; not what your parents want, your spouse wants, or society wants.


• Consider if the end result is worth all that you'll be required to do.

2. Take small bites.

Once you’ve decided that your music dream is really yours, you’ll need to create a game plan for achieving it. A big part of that is to break down your humongous goal into smaller, more attainable goals.

• If turning your dream into reality has large costs, break down the expenses into smaller amounts that your income can accommodate over time.


• If your goal entails great personal changes, divide these changes into a series of small, achievable steps that will lead you closer and closer to your goal.


• Set realistic targets for achieving the mini-goals and hit them! This can be done via the 10-goal technique I referenced in  How to Reach Your Music Business Goals in 2012. I also have a system called Move Your Music Forward - Goal Achievement System for Musicians, Songwriters, and Music Business Professionals, if you're looking for something a bit more fancy.

3. Network.

As the saying goes, "No man is an island." Take advantage of the knowledge, skills, help, and support of others around you to help you meet your goals.

• Seek mentors that have already met goals similar to yours.


• Find out how others who have been in similar situations to yours have overcome challenges to meet their goals. 

4. Sacrifice.

Most successful people will tell you of sacrifices they had to make in order to attain their goals. Turning big dreams into reality takes time and effort, but the end result is that you'll be able to live the life you desire. However, if you continue to do things the same way you always have, you can only expect to get the same result!

• Do you have spending habits that are hindering your progress toward your goals? Put some frivolous expenses on the back bench in favor of expenses that are directly tied in with your dreams.


• In order to bring some time into your schedule to work on your goals, perhaps you could substitute some of the time you spend watching TV, mindlessly surfing the Web, or playing video games with actions that lead you closer to your goal.

There’s no reason why you can’t turn your music business dreams into reality. You’re the only person who dictates whether or not what you want is possible. So do it!

How to Reach Your Music Business Goals in 2012

Here's a quick exercise you can do to reach your music business goals (or any goal) in 2012.

        1. Make a list of 10 goals you want to achieve in 2012.

        2. Below each goal, list three things you can do right now take to make it happen.

For example, if your goal is "Play 50 shows in 2012," action steps can include, "Call the booker from Club ABC," "Update press kit," and "Call Band XYZ about an opening slot."

        3. Take action.

Do this daily and you'll be amazed when 12/31 rolls around.

Your goals should be big enough that it will take a while for you to achieve them. If you can achieve a goal this month, you're thinking too small. Stretch yourself.

Can a goal be too big? Only if it's something that will cause you to sabotage it. A good rule of thumb I use, especially when a goal is sales related, is to think of the highest number that you can realistically sell now and then double it.

By doing this exercise every day, your capacity to make things happen will be expanding, so take that into account. The goal has to be something you can get your head around though or else you'll give up, using the excuse that it's "impossible."

"Impossible" only means it hasn't been done yet. Still, you have to sell 10,000, and then 100,000, before you can get to 1,000,000. Take things in chunks and you'll get where you're going.

Want a system that's a litte more fancy? Try Move Your Music Forward - Goal Achievement System for Musicians, Songwriters, and Music Business Professionals.

Are Good Musicians Born or Made?

In his book, Outliers, Malcolm Gladwell says the key to success in any field is, to a large extent, a matter of practicing a specific task for a total of around 10,000 hours. 

Dan McLaughlin is testing this on himself, with 10,000 hours of "deliberate practice," in hopes of going from a newbie golfer to playing on the PGA Tour.

Dan, who is currently at about 1600 hours, started with very minimal golf experience. In fact, he had never played a full 18 holes of golf and had only been to a driving range a couple of times. He's an average guy by most standards; a 30-year-old commercial photographer with no previous experience as a competitive athlete and not in particularly good physical condition, with slightly under-average height and weight.

Visit TheDanPlan.com for more information and updates...

To break this down what he's doing for you, his schedule is six hours of practice, six days per week, for about six years.

Would a newbie musician trying this get good results? Or is musical talent something we're born with?

Post thoughts below...

The Problem with Drag Queens (and the Music Business)

I have access to more music than ever before.  I subscribe to five satellite radios, I have a Pandora subscription, and I have probably 3000 CDs.  I have two big ass hard drives full of music, two iPods, an iPad, and a phone that plays music.

And I get music in the mail daily...from promo lists I'm on and from musicians contacting me directly.

So why am I so bored with music? 

You'd think with the ease that people are able to record a great album, there would be some really great stuff out there.  You'd think that the tight playlists on radio stations would mean that only the best stuff actually makes it on the air.

Was thinking about this over the weekend, with "Black Friday" sales on Amazon discounting recent albums to as little as $1.99 and iTunes having a huge blowout for $6.99. 

I grew up around the music business.  I play guitar.  I have a degree in music.  I love music.

How come I'm not buying any, even when it's $1.99 for an entire album and I can get it instantly, without getting up from my chair?

I think I've figured it out...

As a marketing guy, I'm fascinated by what makes people tick.  Because of this, I love documentary films. And there is a great film called Paris is Burning, which follows a group of urban drag queens in the 1980s, that I think does a good job of explaining this major "problem" of the music business today.

During the film, one of the older drag queens is being interviewed about the performance attire he and the others wear while on stage.  This, for the most part, consisted of high-fashion items that were very pricey and a stretch from what the majority of people in Harlem, where the film was shot, could afford.

Many of the drag queens would "borrow" (a.k.a. shoplift) their outfits.  This guy didn't.

Why?

"You can tell the people who steal things," he said.

In short, the people who got their outfits through theft didn't want them as much as the people that had to work for them.  And that "will to succeed" was missing from their performances.

Could it be that the music industry is suffering from the same issue?

Think about it... It used to be that you'd have to really work to get good equipment.  But quality equipment keeps getting cheaper and cheaper.  And it's easier than ever to find exactly what you want and have it shipped to you.

And recording is even easier than ever...

And making videos is even easier than ever...

And communicating with fans is even easier than ever...

And distributing music is even easier than ever...

And taking money from fans is even easier than ever...

In fact, almost everything in the music business is easier than ever.

The only thing more difficult is cutting through all the noise, because everything has become so easy that the music business has been flooded by people who would have been wiped away 10 or 15 years ago, because they don't have the passion that it takes to look up venues, get the booker on the phone, book a show, promote a show, get a van and drive to the show, perform live, and do whatever it takes to repeat the process again and again, until somebody "inside the gate" notices.

So is the music business really better off because of new technology?  You tell me...

You Can't Sell a Ton of Music Online Unless...

Working on a new book for musicians and asked people on my mailing list to email me with questions about how to make money in the music business, just to be sure that I don't miss anything.  Got this...

"I really would love to learn how to sell music online and actually make money. How can I do this?"

This could mean a lot of things... Does he need to know how to get his music up on iTunes or is it deeper? So I responded, asking for more specifics on where he is right now and what he's trying to do. I asked for specific goals he has.

And he responded...

"Well to be honest, I don't have any goals right now. I have started to build a website and I have completed music. I just don't really know how to attack the market."

How to attack the market depends on the goals you have, so that's the first thing you need to do.  Personally, I start with "lifestyle" goals and work backward from there.

Here are some questions to help you narrow down what you want...

1. What do I want my typical day to be like?
2. How much do I want to travel?
3. What type of home do I want to have?
4. Where do I want to live?
5. What type of relationships do I want to have?

Once you have this, you can ask more specific questions.  For example, if you think New York is a great place to live, you could ask yourself specific questions about New York, such as...

1. How much does it cost to live in New York?
2. What type of housing is available in New York?
3. Is New York convenient to where I want to travel?
4. Does New York have the type of people I want to associate with?
5. Will living in New York allow me to live the lifestyle I want?

Then go deeper on each of those questions... If a house in New York will cost you $5000/month, what do you have to do in order to make that much money?  Will those things work with your "typical day" goals?  Keep going...

Sooner or later, you'll get to the goals that are very specific to your music.

Why all the work to come to this?  Why not just say, "I want to make $1,000,000/year and have a Platinum Record on my wall?"

Because that doesn't work.

If you think the music business is hard, it may be because you're not clear enough on what you want from it.  When you have your "story" together and know why you want what you say you want, things get a lot easier.  You're more driven to make things happen, because you know the reason behind them, how those things will add to your life, etc.

Final thoughts...

Goals should be specific and measurable.  Selling "ton of records" means different things to different people, but "selling 50,000 records" is what it is.

Don't just say you want "more fans" or "radio play."  Get specific.  How many fans do you want?  How many radio stations should be playing your music?  Measurement eliminates argument.

Also keep this in mind...

If it's going to happen for you, it has to be something you believe can happen.  If you say, "I want to sell 2,000,000 records" or "play Saturday Night Live," but you don't have the foundation in place to make something on this level happen, it's just a fantasy.  What you're looking to do when you set goals is put something down that stretches you, but isn't impossible.

Don't worry if your goal will seem small compared to those of other people.  Forget the people that tell you to "think big."  You should think big, yes, and "2000 records sold" isn't as sexy as "sell out five nights at the Superdome," but 99% of the people that talk about things like this have no plan in place and are just dreamers.  You, on the other hand, want to make dreams come true and that happens by making several sets of organized goals come true, each time going for bigger goals that stretch you just a little more than the previous ones.

What are you specific goals, that stretch you a little, but are attainable with a bit of work?  Post them below...

Advice for Musicians

So here we are...at the end of another year and, in this case, another decade.

This would be a great opportunity for me to do something like a "year in review."  Nothing like a good "Best of" or "Worst of" to finish out the last few days of a decade, right?

There are plenty of those stories around, so instead, I've decided to give you the best advice for music business success that I've got.

Do it now.

Sounds simple, and perhaps you're wondering, "Do what now?  I don't know what to do!!"

The answer to that question was best answered by Ray Bradbury, when he said, "Jump off the cliff and you build your wings on the way down."

The Best Way to Be Successful at Anything

Being successful within the music business is a lot like learning a new language... 

What's the best way to learn a foreign language?  Go to a country where they speak it all the time and you'll learn more in a month than you would in years of "school."  Total immersion is the best classroom.

Same for your music business career.  You can say you want to be a fulltime musician, but as long as you have a job or something else to keep you in your comfort zone, it's unlikely anything will change the current situation you're in to make that happen.

Are You Pavlov's Dog?

If you're working a day job, you've got a tremendous amount of inertia to overcome.  Most people have years of heavy social programming, which makes them think they "need" a dayjob.  Beyond that though, a "weekly paycheck" trains us in its own way.

We're more like animals than we think.  Do a trick, get rewarded.

Just worked 40 hours?  Here's a paycheck.  Good boy!

That's hard to walk away from!!  I get it.  But understanding this will help you do just that.

How to Change Your Music Business Career in a Single Day

In my years of working with musicians, the two biggest problems most have are:

1. Comfort
2. Treating music like a job

Total immersion solves both of these very quickly.  It immediately takes you out of your comfort zone of a regular paycheck (and what comes with it-- food, clothing, shelter, etc) and puts you in a place where you have to make things happen in order to survive.

Have a problem asking for what you're worth?  Giving away CDs?  Playing for free?  Do music fulltime, get a little hungry, and watch what happens...

Have friends who think what you're doing is a "hobby" and want to attend your shows for free?  Do music fulltime and the problem is solved.

And the list goes on and on...

So let me repeat my advice one more time...

Do it Now

Seriously, do it now.  If you really want this as much as you say you do, do it now.  Otherwise, the upcoming year end up just like this one did.

It Wasn't Raining When Noah Built the Ark...

Here's more advice from my new book, Never Leave Money on the Table - How to Grow Any Business and Get Really Rich with 10 Simple Marketing Strategies. This isn't a book about music, it's a book about business.  More specifically, it's a book about how you can grow your business and make more money with it.  Same business, more money.

The book focuses on 10 principles and how you can use them to get more customers, generate more money, and do more of what you love.  If you're already doing these things, this book will show you to to do them better and more efficiently.

The principle I want to focus on now is planning for success...

Ask any 9-to-5er what you should plan for when going full-time in the music business and they'll tell you, "Have a back-up plan in case you fail." True entrepreneurs, however, will warn you to plan for success. Because, surprisingly, it's success that can really kill a new business if you aren't prepared for it.

When two renegade cows took over a billboard above a busy highway outside Atlanta in 1995, no one knew the message they conveyed would be heard all around America. The three-dimensional billboard shows one black and white cow atop the back of another cow, who was painting the words, "Eat Mor Chikin®."

In his book by the same name Eat Mor Chikin, Inspire More People, Chick-fil-A® founder S. Truett Cathy explains that the company had no idea that the advertising campaign with the now-famous cows would prove to be so popular. The company had not planned a major, nationwide billboard campaign, but when Cathy saw the positive response from that first billboard, he saw the unexpected opportunity and took advantage of it—and the rest is history. For more than a decade, Chick-fil-A's renegade cows have been amusing the public and driving customers in herds to the popular fast-food restaurant.

According to Chick-fil-A, within a year, the Richards Group, the advertising agency that developed the original billboard, turned the renegade cows into an integrated advertising campaign that included point-of-purchase items in the stores and radio ads.

Since the cow campaign debuted in 1995, Chick-fil-A's business has increased five-fold from $500,000,000 in 1995 to more than $2.64 billion in 2007. Not bad work for a couple of renegade cattle and a paintbrush!

Prior to that campaign, the company hoped for success in the general sense, but no one could have foreseen the impact that one little billboard would have. So, don't just prepare for failure; prepare for success.

Numerous business books are filled with horror stories of businesses cannibalized out of business by their own success. It doesn't matter how good you are if you can't meet an increased demand for your product or service. Be ready to succeed. Plan for it and have a contingency plan.

In 1995, when teenage rebel Shawn Nelson decided to build a bigger, better beanbag, not too many folks laughed. He sold the oversized, overstuffed bean bags to family and friends until one day he got an order for 12,000 of them from a company rep who saw and liked the bags. He officially founded LoveSac® with some friends in 1998.

Their $500,000.00 order might have seemed like a windfall, but with a company of one, Shawn had to scramble to produce that first big order. He did, using all the profits to complete the huge order, but the Cinderella story had begun. In 2005 he walked away with $1 million as the winner of Richard Branson's (Virgin Atlantic® owner and billionaire) reality TV show "The Rebel Billionaire."

Then in 2006, with only $500,000.00 in estimated assets, Nelson filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy. His top 30 unsecured claims totaled more than $3.2 million. That hasn't stopped him. In 2008, Nelson's unique seating became the only seating in a refurbished Texas movie theater. He hasn't let his roller coaster ride of success and failure deter him from his business.

Entrepreneurs, especially in the music business, never travel smooth, flat highways. While most businesses won't ever experience the extreme ups and downs of Shawn Nelson's LoveSac® venture, complete with winning a reality show and a million dollars, you never know what can happen. So, plan for success. Failure will take care of itself. If you focus on failing, that's where your mind will be. Refocus and plan to succeed. Big corporations do.

Car manufacturers are working on new models years before the public ever sees them. Microsoft knows what will happen this year, next year, and the next. Even as one new product is hitting the shelves, research and development has already started working on the next product and the next improvements.

For the new full-time musician just starting off, that pressure can seem immense. You haven't even gotten your first year under your belt and already you need to project the next year and the next and the next!

Relax. You don't have to do it all at once. There is a process to get to the top of the stairs. Take it one step at a time . . .

Recognize that most musicians are entrepreneurs by default. Default entrepreneurs simply have a hobby, passion or need to make more money selling something they're particularly involved in. They are sold on their product and assume others will be too. They fail to look ahead, let alone plan ahead. If this is you, be aware that there's a lot more to owning, running and succeeding in a business than just having a good product or service.

So what are your plans for the upcoming year?  Post your thoughts below...

How to Get More Done - A Guide for Musicians

The new year is almost here.  That means we're going to see a lot of resolutions soon.  To get you ready to go when January 1st hits, here are some "get more done" strategies that I use in my life and business.

The idea to post these came from watching people's habits via Twitter.

For the last year or so, I've been using Twitter to post updates and photos from when I'm in the studio, on the road, or find something of interest to musicians, which might not warrant a full post here.  See my Twitter page, if you're interested.

To me, this is good use of Twitter.  Fans of this site, Music Business Radio, or other stuff I have going on can get more "behind the scenes" stuff and I've got a place to put all the related content, such a photos and videos.

One of the issues we all face these days is the massive timesuck that is Web 2.0.  80% of Facebook users visit the site daily and the average visit is 20 minutes.  That means millions of people now have 20 fewer minutes each day than they did just a few years ago.

Now, add email, the hours spent watching videos on YouTube, MySpace, chatting on IM, fooling around with your mobile phone, and whatever other "new technology" you've acquired to simplify your life...

Time is your most valuable asset.  If you have enough time, you can get anything done.  Yet most people throw it away. 

Can Twitter be used to promote your band?  Yes.  But it's one of those tools that can work for you or against you.  Like email, Google, mobile phones, or MySpace, it's easy to feel like you're working when you're just wasting time.

Last week, I decided to do something different with my Twitter page.  Rather than just post "music business" stuff, such as photos from when I'm in the studio, I posted my daily tasks from the moment I got up until I went to sleep at night.  Not everything...but close.

People often ask me how I get so much done.  Several books per year, the radio show, several blogs, etc.  If you look at my schedule, you'll see, not from the tasks themselves, but...

Consistency - I write daily.  I create daily.  And when I say daily, I mean it.  That may sound obsessive to some, but I believe that if it's worth doing at all, it's worth doing daily. 

This isn't to say that I spend all day doing it.  I judge tasks by their effectiveness, not time spent doing them.  More below...

Sleep - Sounds like a no-brainer, but this is important.  If you're not getting 7-8 hours of quality sleep per night, your waking hours are not as efficient as they could be.

Rest - Working a typical 8-5 day isn't effective for most people.  You'll get more done by breaking that time into chunks and spreading it throughout the day.  I understand that people have other things going on, such as kids or family obligations, which may require that a certain schedule be met, but don't use that as an excuse for burning yourself out with long periods of intense work. 

There is a point of diminishing return, which is usually sooner than you'd think.  Take more breaks, get away from your work, and when you do work, hit it hard and intensely, rather than going at 50% and taking twice as long to do the job.

This is what I refer to as...

"The Pulse" - This is where you work, take a short break, work again, take a longer break, and start the cycle again.

You can make your own schedule, but what I've found works for me is to break things down into chunks of 50/10, with 50 minutes of work and then a 10-minute break.  I do a couple of those in the morning, then eat and/or exercise.  Come back to the office, do another group, then break.  Then do another group in the evening. 

The length of time you give yourself is up to you.  I've played around with 40-50 minute chunks of work and 10-20 minute breaks and this has worked well for me, depending on the type of work I'm doing.  Obviously, your results may vary, but I can guarantee you'll have better results working this way than "marathon" sessions that fatigue your body and mind.

I like to use a egg timer to keep track of time.  Set it and forget it.

Diet/Exercise - I've been vegetarian since 1997.  I eat a lot of fruit, whole grains, and legumes.  If you're looking at incorporating diet as part of your "get stuff done" plan, you don't necessarily need to take it to this level, but I highly recommend you cut out the "burger and fries" diet that so many Americans are fond of.  Too much to ask?  Even cutting back on this stuff for a few meals a week will make a big difference.

I wasn't always like this.  I used to eat 12" meatball submarines and other similar food.  Had somebody told me when I was younger than I'd give up on meat, I never would have believed it.  But here I am, blogging about it... :)

Just try it. The amount of energy you'll get from fruit and vegetables will make up for the lack of taste...or perceived lack of taste.

As for exercise, this is something else which will help you to get more done.  Major companies are now allowing employees to have a two-hour break in the middle of the day, one hour to eat and one hour to exercise. They've found employees who take this option get more work done, even in a shorter amount of work time, than those who work a full day, with just a one-hour lunch break.

You don't have to do a lot...just do something.  Even walking on a treadmill for 30 minutes will give you big results as far as your productivity goes.

The specific process...

Morning Routine - When I wake up, I do yoga.  This happen daily and in the last seven years, when I started a daily practice, I've missed five days at most...usually because I'm traveling overseas and my sleep schedule is off.

After I do yoga, which is a quick practice that takes about 30 minutes, I have breakfast, usually in silence, and review my day.  This preparation helps me to get the most of my day and helps prevent me from ending the day asking where all my time went. 

Evening Routine - Before I go to bed for the night, I turn everything off and write down a list of everything that needs to be done the next day.  I get it out of my head and onto paper, so I don't have to worry with it while I'm sleeping.

Cut Out Distractions - This one is very important.

If you really want to get things done, you need to cut out distractions.  This means no phone calls, no text messaging, no IM, no email, and no Twitter.

Distractions like this take you away from your schedule and put you on the schedule of somebody else.  Don't let this happen.  If somebody wants to get in touch with you, let him leave a message, so you can get back to him on your own schedule.

While the actual phone call, text message, or email might take just a minute or two, the time it takes for your brain to "switch gears" to something new (and then back to your project) can be considerably more.

Turn the ringer off.  They'll call back.

No Multi-Tasking - It sounds counter-intuitive, but concentrating on one thing is better than working on multiple things at once.

Yes, there are certain tasks where you'll need to schedule things.  This is very similar to cooking a meal.  Some things have to happen first, some things will need to be thawed, etc.  This is what your planning session is for.  When you're working on something, work on it...don't be worried about what's going on in the background.

Think of it like this...  If you have three credit cards, it's much better psychologically to pay off one in full, then the next, and then the final one, rather than make payments on each and try to pay them off at the same time.

Focus on one thing at a time.  The other stuff isn't going anywhere.

Work From a List - This is another big one and what both your morning and evening routines are for.

Where do you start on the list?  It's doesn't matter.  Just do something.  When you finish it, do the next thing.  If you have the list planned out before you start your day, you'll get a lot more done than without it, since you won't have to waste time wondering what to do next.

Outsource It - If you don't have to do it, hand it off to somebody else.  As a musician, you need to play music and that's it.  Sometimes you need to write the music, if that's part of your gig, but even that can be outsourced.  And if you're a band like Blue Man Group or Kiss, even the playing music can be outsourced.

Final thoughts...

When adding anything to your life or taking anything away, it's best to do it just a little at a time.  You want something that is sustainable and a habit takes about 40 days to form.  Concentrate on making one thing happen and getting it in stone before moving on to the next.  For example, change your exercise plan then change your diet, don't change both at the same time.

I'll be posting more on time management in the next few weeks.  In addition, starting in January, I'll be teaching a six-week course on how to handle everything you face as an independent musician-- marketing, web traffic, music licensing, distribution, promotion, publicity, etc.  That's going to be free as part of IndieMusician.com.  If you haven't already, drop by and get my free course of music licensing.