There is no doubt that the music industry is one of the most competitive industries in the world and finding a record deal can take what seems an eternity. For many signing to a label means years of hard work, busking on cobbled streets and wearing rucksacks filled with free EPs that are given to passers by.

 With the help of online media platforms, marketing and promoting music has become easier and more cost effective for new and upcoming talents desperate to stand out from the majority. As the industry adapts to these technological advances, digital sales have sharply increased; with 6 million albums downloaded in 2011, a 24% rise on the previous year. Sites such as Bandcamp and Soundcloud are two platforms that have enabled artists to distribute their own material, free of charge and from the comfort of their own homes.

 2011 saw the introduction of the popular and expanding media platform SBTV. Founded by Jamal Edwards back in 2006, SBTV has been tagged as the ‘UK’s leading online youth broadcaster’, a title that I’m sure Jamal would like to keep hold of. SBTV is based on a simple concept of filming upcoming and undiscovered talents and posting the videos online for the public to watch, admire and comment on. The concept behind Jamal’s idea seems simple enough, however SBTV has somehow managed to accumulate over 166,000 YouTube subscribers as well as a staggering 92.5 million views and counting. Seeing as there are currently only 1,384 videos on the channel, this is a remarkable set of statistics that can only guarantee worldwide success for SBTV in the future.

 With the industry being as vast as ever, many new and upcoming artists have been able to collaborate and tour with artists from other genres. Halifax born signer songwriter, Ed Sheeran, has been blowing up the music scene with his ability to work with a number of different genres such as Grime and Hip-Hop. The acoustic prodigy began his career at the age of 14, touring London and playing over 600 gigs in the space of 2 years after meeting his idol Damien Rice, backstage at a gig. Sheeran has become an inspiration for many artists who choose to use a DIY route, which enables them to step into the mainstream territory and potentially bag themselves a record deal. Sheeran used simple methods of marketing and distributing music by handing out free CD’s from rucksacks, on tube stations and popular shopping destinations in London. In February 2010, SBTV contacted Sheeran and agreed for him to perform the track “You Need Me”, live in a studio.

Here is the original footage of Ed Sheeran’s live performance on SBTV:

SBTV – Ed Sheeran ‘You Need Me I Dont Need You’ – A64

Since the live performance went viral it has received over 5 million views, becoming an online hit with fans of both Sheeran and SBTV. Not only has SBTV given many artists the chance to make the step from independent to mainstream, it has also helped talents such as Ed Sheeran, Rizzle Kicks and Jessie J to secure record deals worldwide. In 2011 Asylum/Atlantic Records snapped up Sheeran, 4 days after releasing No.5 Collaborations Project in January 2011. The project featured a host of Grime artists such as Devlin, Wretch 32 and Dot Rotten. Later that year, Sheeran’s debut album ‘+’ hit the shelves, producing a number of top 10 singles such as ‘A-Team’ and ‘Drunk.’ The continuous success album sales and sell out tours announced early in 2012, is merely down to the hard work ethic Sheeran has stuck to, since recording at the age of 14.

Here is Ed speaking about his deal with Atlantic and what has inspired him throughout his current musical career:

Ed Sheeran Official Interview Part 1

Artists such as Sheeran, and acoustic sensation Ryan Keen, have been touring endlessly for the past couple years which is vital for those who aim to build hardcore fan bases up and down the country. Contacting media platforms such as R&R Productions and SBTV is a great way of distributing new material on a global scale. Online media players like Soundcloud enable artists to upload material for fans to listen to and download. For those who are relying on self funded releases, Facebook and Tumblr allow users to create pages dedicated to promoting video and audio content as well as information on upcoming gigs and tours. For those who are regular performers at local venues, Ustream is an online broadcaster that enables users to stream a live video to worldwide audiences. In 2011 Ed Sheeran used Ustream to broadcast a live gig held in a fan’s living room.

Ed Sheeran’s Ustream Channel

The online interaction with the fans was seen as a success as over 20,000 people watched the live performance.

With the introduction of these new online experiences, promoting new music couldn’t be easier. For new artists to succeed and develop, new doors must be opened which may lead to unexpected successes. Build up the fan base first; they are the ones who will guarantee sell out tours and sales. Websites, blogs and online profiles related to the artist should be updated on a weekly basis as these will be the first sources A&R will look at, once they pick up the scent of a potential star. Sheeran has proved to people that you don’t have to attend places such as Brit School to make it in the industry. Constant gigging, saying ‘yes’ to every opportunity given to you and taking advantage of the new media platforms have proved to be effective for artists looking to swap busking on the streets to recording in the studios.

In today’s digital age the most surprising stats to emerge from last year’s music industry figures was the resurgence of vinyl.  There was a sharp rise in album sales last year.  Vinyl album sales catapulted, with 341,000 vinyl albums sold in 2011, up 40% compared to 237,000 in 2010.  The last time album sales were this high was 2005, when 359,000 vinyl albums were sold.

Thanks to releases last year from some of today’s biggest artists the likes of Radiohead, Adele, Arctic Monkeys, Noel Gallagher and Beady Eye means that vinyl sales enjoyed a six-year high in terms of units sold.  In today’s digitally driven industry it’s the oldest recording format still in existence that refuses to go away.   There are plenty of reasons why vinyl continues to sell and be popular in today’s market.  The decision by major record companies and major artists to continue to release and push new albums on Vinyl has paid off.   There is still an ever-growing market for vinyl releases.  So the question remains why has vinyl survived for so long?  Audiophiles say they want the format’s overall experience the much warmer sound and the sensory experience of putting the needle on the record, the feeling of side A and side B and the joy of lingering over the liner notes and artwork that other formats do not have.

Most of the artists in today’s market who release their albums on vinyl do so in limited edition runs.  This means that they are more likely to be sold not long after the release date rather than later on due to the fact they are more expensive than CD.  There is an argument therefore to say vinyl has a much shorter shelf life than CD.  These vinyl releases are aimed at a core of dedicated fans and collectors whose preferred format continues to be vinyl.  Another big pull for both the consumer and the record label is that many vinyl releases these days come with a digital download code meaning everyone gets the best of both worlds. Even the art of DJing which relied on vinyl so heavily for years has changed with the times also as nearly all DJ’s nowadays use high quality digital recordings rather than vinyl.

These figures show more than anything else that there is still a demand for vinyl however small and there has been a big resurgence in the marketplace over the last year. In today’s technology driven age even where even a CD album is seen as disposable (think of the amount of cover mount CD’s that are given away free) there is no denying a vinyl is still seen to hold some value. You have a shelf full of records, every one telling a story about where and how you obtained each title.  Many of today’s consumers see music as something they have access to and not something that they own this is a viewpoint that has developed over time as the industry has become more digitally orientated which in turn has made music more disposable. There is a whole culture that began with the birth of vinyl and has remained ever since. The world’s longest surviving recording format is still going strong and doesn’t show any signs of stopping yet.

Over the Christmas holidays a tweet caught my attention by a company I know well claiming they were the only company to offer independent artists the ability to put classical music online especially Apple iTunes and classical music is too complicated for any other company to deal with.  This immediately got me wanting to know more as to my knowledge most companies have the ability to deliver classical music.  By classical, we’re talking about orchestral music, things like symphonies, operas, choral works and even chamber music – music that generally is not main stream and uses instruments such as violins etc.

I hate inaccurate infomation so I should make a few things clear that the blog had clearly got wrong and was either trying to sensationalise themselves with a quick PR gimmick that was factually incorrect or just didn’t really understand how things work.

•  Cross over artists such as Josh Groban, Katherine Jenkins, Myleen Klass, and many others have no additional difficulties than any other artists that choose to have a mix of music from the popular related genres to the classical styles.

• A number of people out there are talking about the death of CD and yes looking at the latest statistics, CD album sales are getting lower each month, year on year.  However let’s also look at these statistics more closely.  Firstly the main core of those statistics is based upon artists signed to major records.  Secondly, a lot of artists don’t register their release as they don’t really sell product in shops; instead they sell direct to fans at the concert.  In my opinion this is a far more sensible solution but it means these sales are never seen by the Official Charts Company.

• There are no additional copyright laws or rules governing classical music.  Laws passed in all countries around the world enforce the same rules in their country in regards to IP (intellectual property) protection regardless of your music being opera or rock.

• The uploading process may take longer for classical music, as sometimes a performer may chose to record a work where a movement or work lasts an hour, but that doesn’t really matter.  In the dance music field, they have music that can last equally as long.

• The only real difference between uploading a rock piece and a classical piece is in regards to the track name.  In rock music, 99.9% of music does not have movements and is not called a symphony or concerto; it just has a name like “Stairway to Heaven”.  In classical music you do have movements and also give additional information such as the key the movement is in along with the Italian tempo direction.  In this instance for Apple iTunes there is a very specific format in how you present that information to ensure consistency that is it, nothing complicated.

Album title examples:   Mozart: Symphonies Nos. 38-40 or Brahms: String Sextets, Op. 18 & 36

Track titles are in the following format: 

Name of Work, Key, Catalogue Number: Movement Number. Movement Title

Example:  Symphony No. 5 in C Minor, Op. 67: I. Allegro con Brio

There are many companies that offer classical distribution and it’s not just iTunes that sell classical music.  Most online stores sell classical repertoire and there are also a couple of classical only stores such as Passinato and The Classicalshop.net .  Each company will have their own rules on how metadata is presented, so just make sure if you’re unsure ask your distributor for some guidance but it should not be a big deal or problem and you cannot go wrong using the formula above from Apple.

Written by Nick Dunn of Horus Music Limited

Yesterday Apple iTunes made it possible for artists to release into a further 12 new territories not covered by the stores before.  In total iTunes music is now available in 35 different countries (not 29 as reported by some other companies).  As an artist, if you have given worldwide rights then your music and videos will automatically be available, but if you have chosen which territories your distributor can sell in then it’s not automatic that your music will appear.  To take advantage of the new territories, you will need to tell your delivery partner / music distributor that you want to sell in these new countries.

Some people think that because they have their music on iTunes they are now selling themselves around the world.  The reality is that your not, but you are selling in all the countries with the highest consumption of music.

So far the following countries have an iTunes music store:  Australia, Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Canada, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, Mexico, Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, United Kingdom, United States of America.

You may think it seems silly that iTunes is not available in every country, but the reality is that Apple has to obtain agreement with their suppliers to sell in each country and so if permission is not granted by all or the majority, then I can understand why the company holds back until it is able to offer a full catalogue to your potential customers.

The digital music market appears to be going from strength to strength.  Total singles sales for 2010 were a record breaking 161.8 million, up to approximately the beginning of December.  Digital single sales accounted for 98.7% of this.  Singles sales for 2011 are set to eclipse this figure with digital sales accounting for 99.6%.

Although artists total album sales are down 1.4% on last year, digital album sales are continuing on an upward trend.  Figures for the end of 2010 show that a total of 13m digital albums had been sold from January through August compared to 16.2m for the same period this year.  This continues from figures of 9.6m and 6.1m for the same period in 2009 and 2008 respectively.

It appears that the decline in the sales of the physical format is responsible for the overall decline in album sales.  This is due to the fact that the physical format accounts for a much higher percentage of album sales compared to single sales, which are now almost exclusively digital.

The percentage of physical albums being sold, however, is steadily decreasing; from 89% in 2009, to 84.4% in 2010, and now 74.1% so far in 2011. This would suggest that as this percentage edges closer to a 50% share, the exponential increase in digital sales will see a plateau and subsequent increase in overall album sales in the future.

This post was written by Pete Shorrock.

Copyright 2011 Help for Bands.  All rights reserved.

The EU Council has voted in favour of extending music copyright from fifty to seventy years.  This news has been gladly received by record labels and musicians alike.  Brussels has not specified an implementation date but has suggested that the new provisions should be incorporated into member states legislation in the next two years.  This will undoubtedly mean artists such as the Beatles and the Rolling Stones will be urging the government to act fast to incorporate the Directive into UK law, before their early hits become part of the public domain.

The contention in this matter has always been that the evidence suggests it would be mainly the record companies and already wealthy artists who would benefit from a change in legislation.  Of course it would help lesser known musicians and session musicians but to a much lesser extent.  Record companies claim that this extension in copyright term will allow them to invest more in new musical talent and offset money that has been spent on less successful acts.

Artists such as Cliff Richards and Adam Faith have already started to lose ownership of their early work.  The implementation of this directive will not retrieve them the copyright to music already lost to the public domain, only secure music from the date of implementation.  Once the law has been changed musicians will need to have their record labels make their music available in different formats to retain the rights.

This post was written by Pete Shorrock.

Copyright 2011 Help for Bands.  All rights reserved.

We all know that musicians are often amongst society’s most disorganised people. It is therefore no surprise that the details of gig preparation and sound checking are often overlooked by bands. The importance of preparation cannot be underestimated and the implementation of some basic rules can be the difference between a decent gig and a great gig.Firstly, when confirming the gig with the venue, ask them to email you a list of equipment provided and equipment you will need to bring with you. This may seem obvious but it is surprising how many times bands arrive at the venue without everything they need. Make sure you check that everything works before you leave and take as much spare kit as you can. Things that worked at the last band practice tend to break on the day of the gig just to spice things up, so take spare jack leads, guitars, strings and batteries. The time saved running around trying to find a working jack lead will allow you to implement the other rules of gig preparation.

Be on time. Being fashionably late does not apply to gigs. This is very much in the bands interest. If you are late you may have to do a rushed sound check or none at all. You may also hold up other bands which isn’t going to make you very popular. Despite the archetypal Rock ‘n’ Roll, “us against them” mentality, it can be important to keep the other bands sweet. If you introduce yourselves to the other bands, they and their fans are more likely to support your band, and stick around if you are on later in the night. Building up contacts with other bands exposes you to their fans and their opportunities. These band relationships also facilitate a less segmented gig and therefore a better atmosphere, with each band’s fans supporting all of the bands.

Other than the obvious rules, the most important is to introduce yourselves to the sound engineer. This doesn’t have to be the whole band, but the singer should definitely do this (they are bound to be the one doing the most talking). The sound engineer has the power to make you sound as good as he wants, so know his name! If you appear professional to the sound engineer,  rather than trying to get his attention by shouting “Mate!” or “Oi!”, he will care more about your sound. If the sound engineer comes across as abrupt or surly, remember, he has to put up with a lot of unwarranted arrogance, so just bite your tongue! Usually persistent professionalism will thaw them out a little.

If you want to be ultra-professional, the sound engineer will always appreciate a stage plot/ input list. A stage plot should depict the position of each musician, microphone and amplifier and the type of equipment being used. This can be emailed to the venue, in advance, for the attention of the sound engineer. If you are touring or playing bigger gigs, or have a complex musical setup, this is much more of a requirement.

During the sound check communicate clearly with the sound engineer, ideally one at a time. You will be asked to play your instruments one at a time so try not to twiddle about while someone else is being asked to play. When the vocalist is asked to sing to get the levels, actually sing. It is no good getting levels for you speaking the words “one, two… one, two”. The characteristics of your singing voice will be very different to that of your speaking voice.

Each musician will need to be responsible for each sound they use. For example if the guitarist uses a pedal and has one clean sound and one distorted sound, let the sound engineer know so they can account for both. Also if you have any specific requirements, do you do anything unusual or play a different instrument in just one song?

At the end of the sound check play two (not necessarily complete) songs which cover as a many of the different sounds and instruments you use as possible. At this point you need to be aware of what you can hear in the monitors so you can let the sound engineer know what you need to hear more or less of from other member of the band. Try and get accustomed to the size and shape of the stage and the area you will be performing to. If the vocalist uses the microphone off the stand they should do the same in the sound check and find out where it feeds back. Often the microphone will feed back if held lower than a certain point, so find out where that point is so you don’t do it in the gig. It can also be valuable for the singer to go into the space where the crowd will be, while the rest of the band are playing, to get an overview of the sound, and see if anything else needs to be changed.

Remember, a gig can only be as good as your preparation and sound check… Good luck!

This post was written by Pete Shorrock.

Copyright 2011 Help for Bands.  All rights reserved.

Online Promotions and Marketing – Part One

This is a three part blog covering the area of digital store promotions but much of the information can be applied to the physical world too. In this part I’m going to cover what promotion is available with digital stores; part two will be how do I get this and part three will be looking at the one sheet / sales sheet.

So, a question I’m often asked is, what promotional opportunities are available with digital stores (downloading and streaming)? Many stores offer similar opportunities, but how you get them is often very different. Additionally not every store offers the same promotional opportunities and in some cases you even have to pay for it. I must say upfront that I will mention Apple a lot and it’s not because I’m Apple obsessed, I’m not and I use a PC, but it’s a company I work with a lot on a daily basis so I’m more familiar with their workings than some others.

The most obvious and most sought-after opportunity is to get at least a Pac shot on the front page of a store, and even better a promotional banner. In the case of Spotify, artists / labels do have to pay for these whereas most other stores will do it for nothing. The equivalent of front page in the physical world is being able to have your product placed right in front of you as you enter the record shop and like Spotify, it is an opportunity labels have to pay for especially in the case of large music chains. In the case of Apple iTunes there are nine rolling banners at the top of the store, 32 sliders in the middle and 18 bricks and this is replicated on the genre pages. The genre page is often overlooked by labels but for any new band or artist, this is much more likely the place you will first get your major promotion and can still be rewarding. How you get these I will cover in the next blog but I will make it clear, Apple, like many other stores, gives this opportunity to artists for free.

Some stores have made it easy to find product by using unique URLs and this is useful if you’re on radio as you can say to the listeners, my new album is available on iTunes and you can go directly to it by visiting www.itunes.com/bobmarley. Every artist on iTunes has their own unique URL like this and you can go a stage further by adder a further / and putting the name of your release after the artist name. This is much better than just saying it’s available online; at least you can now point your audience directly to your own page as many people will not spend a lot of time searching for product.

Some stores have made it possible for artists to create widget type interfaces that can then be copied and pasted to your own website / social networking site that will give the fans the opportunity to listen and then buy straight from that store without having to search. I know Apple iTunes has this ability, but the artist has to obtain the code from their distributor unlike other stores where it can be created from within the store and also create playlists of your releases or somebody else’s.

Most stores allow the use of their logo to help push audience members to the various stores. Most come with instructions on how you can or cannot use the brand, so do make sure you follow them carefully. Additionally you can sometimes give out custom codes that will allow you to essentially give away your music for free to fans or press etc. In some cases these are paid for by the label or the artist, but it’s still a promotional opportunity if used correctly.

These days all sites have their own pages on various social networks especially on Facebook and Twitter and they have a large number of people following them. On Facebook the demographic tends to be a younger audience and older on Twitter, so one option is to ask for your release to be plugged by the store to these social sites. This is an opportunity that many artists could obtain much more easily and it’s more targeted to your potential audience so don’t be afraid to ask for a plug by the stores on these social sites.

One thing Apple iTunes does that nobody else does that I know of is hold their own festival. Each year in July, iTunes holds a festival in London in which two artists will perform each night and the festival take place for a whole month. The festival does get television exposure around the world as well as a lot of media interest both in terms of radio and press. I was pleased to see in the festival line-up this year that at least one quarter of the artists taking part were from independent labels so well done to iTunes for being even-handed with that. Of course artists taking part in this festival gain additional promotion with front page exposure and lots of other Apple branding behind them, so this is definitely an opportunity to aim for, but not something you will get starting out, it’s more of an opportunity to aim for once you have some success and story behind you.

Some stores do give away music such as Apple iTunes single of the week. This of course is a great opportunity for letting the world know about a great new artist or band and I’m sure the number of music fans taking this opportunity for free music is high. One thing to note is that the artist does not get paid for this, they only get paid mechanical fees.  I believe however the editors choice of the week is very different and you are paid for each downlaod.

At the start I stated this would be a three part blog and in the next I’ll cover how you can go about trying to get some of these opportunities. For companies that are giving these opportunities in their store for free, there is a lot of work you need to do and having great music is a start, but it’s not the whole story.

This post was written by Nick Dunn.

Copyright 2011 Help for Bands.  All rights reserve.

How to break into France ?

If you decide to aim for France, you should have a look at the figures for the industry, what kind of music is the most sold, how the music is sold, what is the best marketing plan to promote your music, etc. Visit institut-francais.org.uk/music/ to learn all that you need about the french music industry.

Bureau Export

The best thing to do is to have a look on the Bureau Export: french-music.org which provides help for French bands but which can also be useful for foreign bands.
There are many services that your local bureauexport can provide you with:

• - networking with french music professionals
• - professional meetings organised in local territories and in france
• - invitations to festivals and meetings in france
• - access to a database with french music professional contacts
• - information on large-scale grant applications for your french-produced projects through a french information on small-scale grants for local projects with france through your localbureauexport office
• - promoting your french-produced shows and releases to the public, local music professionals and media
• - french vibes, our monthly newsletter about french-produced artists around the world
• - newsletter about the latest french shows and music projects – if you are a professional based in the uk, germany, the us or japan – subscribe here
• - up-to-date information on the french music industry
• - education opportunities with french music

Feel free to contact them.
if you are American :

The French American Fund for Contemporary Music

The French American Fund for Contemporary Music supports contemporary music projects – commissions, residencies, performances, tours, and master classes – that foster cultural exchange between France and the United States.
They provide funds for these categories :

• 1 Contemporary music for classical instrumentation
• 2 Computer-assisted composition and research with multi-media tools
• 3 New forms of improvised and electronic music

The website: facecouncil.org/music.

This post was written by Florian Philippe.

Copyright 2011 Help for Bands.  All rights reserve.

The first step is to know whether your act is at the right career stage for an international showcase.

For acts at the right stage of your career, playing an international showcase or industry facing festival can raise your profile at home and abroad, strengthen key industry contacts, lead to recording, synchronisation and distribution deals, and further gigs & tours.  It is not unknown for artists to be famous overseas yet at home nobody will have heard your music.  More often or not, if you are looking for deal overseas, it is really important that you raise your profile at home with lots of press coverage both online and in print as well as a good fanbase following.

The main problem for deciding to travel overseas is that of the costs involved with international showcasing, travel and accommodation.
One option is help with all these costs for promoting yourself abroad is to find a financial support.  A lot of organizations in different countries offer this kind of help.  Here are some examples of how they can support you:

The British Music Abroad

The British Music Abroad Scheme helps quality emerging British acts to access this international platform.It’s a funding programme which helps British acts to perform at international showcases and key international tastemaker festivals which have a strong industry presence, and hold a good track record of artists achieving success following appearance at the event.
British Music Abroad supports up to 75% of travel and accommodation costs, which break down as follows:

• Return flights
• Transport toand from airports
• Hotel
• Per diems (up to £20 per person – daily allowance for subsistence/food expenses)
• Visa applications (if applicable)

You will be expected to finance at least 25% of these costs yourself or from other sources.
Click here to apply or for more informations.

Factor

The Foundation Assisting Canadian Talent on Recordings is a private non-profit organization which provides support to recording artists, songwriters, managers, labels and distributors.  Factor provides also some tools to assist the applicants in various ways.  They provide:

• Marketing Plan Guide
• Merch Sales & Revenue Tracking
• One Sheet
• Supplementary Budget Guide
• Tour Date Template
• Tour Expense Tracking
• Video Treatment Guide

FACTOR started out with an annual budget of $200,000 in 1982 and is currently providing in excess of $14 million annually to support the Canadian music industry.  Visit their website.

This post was written by Florian Philippe.

Copyright 2011 Help for Bands.  All rights reserve.