Music Marketing [dot] com

United Airlines Breaks Guitars

A Canadian musician is getting tons of North American press because of a viral video on YouTube. As the story goes, last year, while on a United flight, the baggage carriers were throwing around his band's guitar cases and ended up breaking a guitar. United wouldn't pay for it, so he wrote a song and made a video...

Classic 80s Hits... Interpreted for Ragtime Piano

Ever wonder what 80s hits by bands such as Journey and Bon Jovi would sound like if they were written around the turn of the century, at the height of the ragtime piano era? Probably not, but NYC pianist Scott Bradlee did and the video below has helped draw attention to his music with over 77,000 views on YouTube...

Seth Godin on the Music Business

This is a special, Internet-exlusive episode of Music Business Radio featuring Seth Godin.  This episode was taped backstage at the 40th annual Country Radio Seminar in Nashville, TN.

We talked about the changing music business, how musicians and labels can make more money, how to get raving fans, word of mouth, tastemakers (and how to be one), licensing, and much more.

Special thanks to Jeff Walker and the staff of AristoMedia for help with this interview!

For future Internet-exclusive episodes, subscribe to our podcast.

Ronald Jenkees

Ronald Jenkees has almost 100,000 subscribers to his YouTube channel with over 2,400,000 views.  Why?  The videos are compelling thanks to Jenkees' music and quirky personality.

When something like this happens, there are always people coming out of the woodwork with skepticism. 

A few months ago, I posted something here asking the question, "Is Ronald Jenkees a Fake?" I argued that a big part of Ronald Jenkees' success was his personality and that it would be a shame if it turned out to be a big act. Why? We all want to see the underdog, the musician playing music in his bedroom with just a dream and a webcam, make it big.

Today, somebody sent me this...

Thoughts?  Assuming this video is true, would you be less likely to buy Ronald Jenkees' music?

Jack in the Box and Viral Marketing

Nice viral campaign by Jack in the box...

More at HangInThereJack.com...

Your Band on a Reality Show?

Would you do something like this to promote your music? Check out the video and leave comments below.

Barack Obama and Social Media

Barack Obama takes over as President of the United States today, so I thought it was a good time to talk about some of the interesting things his team are doing to get people excited about what is happening.

One of the things, specifically related to the music business, is a "Victory Lap" mix by DJ Z-Trip.  From a marketing standpoint, this is genius...

1. It associates Obama's inauguration, with some very powerful music that people are already connected to emotionally, which will add to the excitement people feel about having him as President.

2. It associates Z-Trip with a very powerful emotional event and the goodwill that Obama has will be spread to him.

Download Z-Trip's "Victory Lap" mix here.

One of the most powerful marketing concepts is getting involvement from the people you're marketing to.  That's the reason order forms have a "check here" box or ask you to peel off and place a "Yes!" sticker when ordering.  The more you're "involved" in the sales process, the greater chance you have of following through with the order.

Tonight, ABC will broadcast the Washington, D.C. Neighborhood Ball beginning at 8:00 pm Eastern, and people at Neighborhood Balls across the country will be sending in photos and videos of their celebrations. People are being encouraged to share their photos and stories at http://www.pic2009.org/celebrate.

Those with mobile phones can text OBAMA to 56333 for instructions on how to send in congratulation messages and pictures.

Facebook has an interactive application.

There is an app for iPhone.

You can follow the inaguration on Twitter.

Regardless of whether you're a fan, you should keep an eye on Obama's use of social media and Web 2.0 sites.  What he's doing is working and it will work for your music career also.

Would You Sell Out Your Friends for a Hamburger?

As a vegetarian, I certainly would not, but there are plenty of people who are doing just that...all in good fun, of course.

"Free" is the most powerful word in marketing and Burger King has struck gold with a Facebook promotion called Whopper Sacrifice.

Thoughts?  How can you do something similar to promote your music?  Leave comments below...

1/16 UPDATE: Facebook disabled the application.  Perhaps because it's the online version of a Ponzi scheme?

Taylor Swift - Will You Produce My Record?

21-year-old Ryan Laird moved from Ontario, Canada to Nashville with the hope of kickstarting his music career.  He then found out that lots of people do the exact same thing...

So he spent his "life savings" on a billboard that read "Hey Taylor, I LOVE your music. Will you produce my album? — Ryan."

What it looked like...

More on the story...

What happened because of it? Check out this video at the 1:35 mark.

Gotta give Ryan credit for going balls out like this. He didn't put a tiny classified as in a free newspaper, he didn't get a bus bench, and he didn't try to save a few bucks on the art design.  He went big and it paid off.

Of course, if you're going to do something like this, you have to be able to back it up with good music.  Check out Ryan's MySpace page and just that for yourself.

Thoughts?

College Friends Sign Record Deal Thanks to YouTube

This is what can happen...