Archives for the category ‘Industry Advice’
January, 3rd 2012 13:39
We are very happy to launch a new partnership with Radar Music Videos, a great service used by record labels, independent artists and music video directors to commission and promote music videos worldwide. They also publish some very useful articles. Radars founder Caroline Bottomley has given us a few choice tips from their guide “29 Ways To Get The Most From Your Music Video”
From the section ‘Preparation, Preparation, Preparation – how to commission a great video’.
* Research the kind of video you want
These sites find and feature the best music videos on the internet:
Vimeo Staff Picks http://www.vimeo.com/staffpicks
Lost At EMinor http://www.lostateminor.com/category/music/
Music Vid Kid http://www.musicvidkid.com
Submarine Channel http://2pause.submarinechannel.com/#/new
Promo News http://www.promonews.tv/
VideoMilitia http://www.videomilitia.com/
RadarTV http://www.radarmusicvideos.com/videos
When you’re briefing potential directors, give them links to music videos you like.
(more…)
Tags: Advertising Campaign, Dailymotion, direct a music video, Facebook, Facebook Ads, Google Ads, iTunes, Lost at EMinor, Make a music video, music blogs, Music Vid Kid, Newsletters, Promo News, Qiora, Radar Music Videos, seo, Submarine Channel, twitter, VideoMilitia, Vimeo, YouTube
Posted in Industry Advice, Partners, Zimbalam News | No comment »
November, 3rd 2011 14:35
It’s a tough enough task to be an unsigned musician – gigging relentlessly, as well as updating your website, manning all your social media and crafting new tracks for forthcoming albums. Add on top of that the task of collecting fan data, and it might seem that there aren’t enough hours in the day.
BUT – the importance of having your fans details cannot be underestimated. It’s basically a necessity, as it allows you to understand your fans better and reach out to them for help with putting you on the musical map.
Here are our top five tips to making the most out of getting to know your fans:
1.Email collection
Getting fans emails is perhaps one of the most worthwhile things you can do as an artist, other than, of course, making good music. Zimbalam have email grabbers on the players, or there are widgets you can get and embed into your website, that allow fans to enter their email addresses for you to keep. However, fans will see straight through you if you just ask for their emails without offering something in return…
(more…)
Tags: Analytics, Bastille, email collection, fan data, fanbase, Newsletter, Social media, unsigned musician, Zimbalam
Posted in Industry Advice, Zimbalam Tools | 1 comment »
October, 27th 2011 13:46
The nice people at YouTube have been changing things up a bit, adding more features to make sharing and uploading videos much simpler and a whole load more fun.
There have been at least five new features added to the site to make it better and easier for people to upload videos, including:
- WeVideo – the cloud-based editor
The WeVideo feature allows the user to edit movies using media files from any device, and to do so in the browser. You can combine clips with music, effects, transitions, animations and titles. You can also share what you’ve just made to your facebook or your twitter, or any other social media site with one little, easy click.
YouTube have redesigned the end-screen that appears when a video finishes playing. They did this so that it would make it even easier to find the next video to watch. (more…)
Tags: Arcade Fire, Beggars Group, G+, Google, independent musician, Indie Label, Merge Records, Merlin, National Music Publishers Association, Topspin Media, Vampire Weekend, WeVideo, YouTube
Posted in Industry Advice, News | No comment »
October, 6th 2011 14:27
Playing live is an essential part of being a band, and an important factor for both self-promotion and increasing your fan base. This week on the blog, we will be looking at what happens behind the scenes of playing live, and what work you have to put in in order to secure those all important gigs.
The early gigs that any band do should be used to find out who you are as a performing artist, and to get the feel of being onstage. Once that’s out of the way, you can really begin to use gigs as a platform for marketing and broadening your amount of followers.
Finding gigs
For any unsigned band or artist, your local live scene should be your priority, as it is a brilliant starting block for getting loyal fans. Get familiar with all the venues and promoters in your area, as they are the ones that will be booking you for gigs at the start. If you don’t know any yet, go along to other gigs and ask around there to see if you can get a slot. Make sure you have a demo record to hand to the promoter so they can hear what you are like. Many gig venues have their own websites where you can submit a demo in order to be considered to play.
If you can, make up a press pack of a bio, demo and interesting press cuttings, as well as your contact info, as the more you can give a promoter the better.
(more…)
Tags: Band, DIY, fan base, gig, Live, Live Music, pay to play, performing artist, promoters, sound engineer, venues
Posted in Industry Advice | No comment »
September, 29th 2011 16:37
After looking at how to promote your music via media and why your image is important the last couple of weeks, we thought we’d focus the blog again on different parts of the industry. This week we are looking at publishing companies. So what does a publisher do?
The role of a publishing company is to generate revenue by licensing other people to use a songwriter’s music. These uses include sheet music, cover versions and placing music in film, TV and games. This placement is known as synchronisation.
Do you need to sign with a publisher?
Not necessarily, you will still receive money if you own the copyright. PRS and MCPS will collect royalties for a song wherever it is played or recorded.
(more…)
Tags: contract, Copyright, film, games, licensing, MCPS, Media, music, music publishing, Musicians Union, PRS, publisher, Royalties, synchronisation, TV
Posted in Industry Advice | 1 comment »
September, 22nd 2011 12:58
It’s not all about social media – there are many avenues available to artists when they are trying to promote their music through the traditional media, whether they have the backing of a record company or not. There is no reason why an independent artist shouldn’t treat a promotional campaign the same way a label would. From trying to promote gigs through local media to getting your stuff on websites and the radio, there are many routes to explore. Organisation is key, as is building a database of contacts in the media as you go along - print and web journalists and radio DJs.
Here are Zimbalam’s tips on how to promote your music through the media:
There is a huge amount of other bands out there who all want column inches and air play. The competition is made harder as they, like you, will all be playing gigs that they want people to come to, and releasing an album that they want people to buy. You need to think about reasons why a radio station would pick you over another band or artist – what makes you stand out? This could be a series of live gigs promoting an album, a gig in an unusual location, or performing at a benefit for charity, but you must have something of interest for the readers or listeners. (more…)
Tags: Album, Bands, Charity Gigs, Local Media, Magazines, Media, music, Newspapers, Press Releases, Promotion, Publicity, Radio, Websites
Posted in Industry Advice | No comment »
September, 15th 2011 13:06
We’ve decided to take a break from looking at the industry this week and decided to focus on you, the artist, and why your image is important. Although it is mainly about the music, it is also fair to say that image does play a part in a band or artists success – the image has to fit the sound.
Why does image matter?
Having a distinctive image is important as it allows the audience to identify with you straight away. Because of this an audience can make up their mind about an artist before they’ve even played a note. In the same way that you may judge someone by how the look when you first meet them, an audience will do the same to an artist so first impressions count. An audience seeing you for the first time can also tell a lot about your genre from you image, and will liken you to other artists that look similar. For example, if you walked out on stage in jeans and a flannel shirt the crowd may instantly think about grunge rock like Nirvana and be predisposed to like you, because they like them. Similarly, if a female artist walked out in a designers creation then the audience may instantly liken them to successful pop acts, and like or dislike them because of it. (more…)
Tags: Artists, Band image, Beyonce, Fashion, Image, Lady GaGa, Michael Jackson, music, Nirbana, Personality, Rolling Stones, Stone Roses, Style, The Beatles
Posted in Industry Advice | No comment »
September, 8th 2011 13:48
In our last post we told you all about royalties and took a look at the key collection agencies. This week we’ve decided to give you a look into the world of the record label, and what they expect from artists. So, firstly, what types of record labels are there, and what’s the difference?
As you should know there are two types of record label – the major and the indie. In today’s music industry the four major record companies that dominate the business are Universal, Sony, Warner and EMI – all of which are made up of many smaller labels and companies for different markets and regions. The other labels are all indies – independent labels that are much smaller than the majors, with a much smaller budget to match.
Difference between majors and indies:
The obvious difference of income and budget affects how much a label can do for an artist, but there are also other factors that separate the type of label -
- Advance – With a major the amount of advance an artists receives will be bigger; with an indie, you may not get an advance at all.
- Royalties – however, with an indie, you will get a much greater percent of your royalties back.
- Promotion, contacts and influence – Because of the size and the larger budget, majors have more to spend on things like promotion and marketing for an artist. They also have a lot of contacts, and a lot of influence in the business, which will make the process easier and quicker. BUT, majors also have a lot of artists on their books, so the amount of dedicated attention they spend on you won’t be as much as an indie could offer.
- Masters – Major record labels own the master copy of your recordings, whereas with an indie you usually get to keep ownership.
- Creative control – There is a danger when being signed to a major label that a band or artist will lose creative control in the interest of business. With an independent label, you get given a bit more respect for your vision, and get to keep control. (more…)
Tags: Advance, CD, Company, Creative Control, Demo, Distribution, EMI, Getting Signed, Independent, Indie, Label, Major, Mp3, music, Music Video, MySpace, Record, Recording, Recording a demo, Royalties, Signed, Sony, Tour, Universal, Warner, Zimbalam
Posted in Industry Advice | 3 comments »
September, 1st 2011 17:26
Last week we gave you our top 5 self management tips, leading on from this we thought we’d explain the world of royalties and have a look at the key collection agencies. So first up, what are collection agencies and how do they benefit you, the unsigned artist?
Collection agencies are organisations within the music industry that simply collect your Royalties. Every time your music is played on Radio, used on TV, Played in a pub or club, Performed Live, or sold, you are entitled to money. Without these agencies, collecting all the money that’s owed you would be an impossible task. There are three main agencies that will benefit you at this stage in your career. They are PRS (Performing Rights society), PPL (Phonographic Performance Limited) and MCPS (Mechanical Copyright Protection Society) although PRS and MCPS have merged to become PRS for Music. These agencies collect money based on performing rights and mechanical rights.
Performing rights entitle you to receive royalties whenever a song is played or performed in public, for example:
• When your music is played on TV or Radio
• When your music is Listened to online or downloaded
• When your music is played Live
• When your music is played in a club, bar or shop
(more…)
Tags: Collection Agencies, Copyright, Mechanical rights, MU, Musicians Union, Performing, Phonographic, PPL, PRS, Royalties, tips for musicians, understanding music industry, unsigned artists
Posted in Industry Advice | No comment »
August, 25th 2011 14:30
After our look at press releases last week, this week we thought we’d give you a bit of insight into the world of management, and what unsigned artists are expected to be doing for themselves.
When starting out as a band or artist there’s a lot to think about, and the management aspect often gets overlooked. However, it’s important for unsigned acts to know what to do to maximise their potential, before they can get a professional manager. Here are our top five tips to help you on your way:
- Options – When your band starts to generate commercial interest is generally around the time management companies want to get involved, but until then there are pretty much two options that you can do for management. Firstly, look at the strong points and interests of the members of the band – one of you might sideline as an artist and create amazing artwork for your record, while another might have a passion for numbers and can take care of the accounts. (more…)
Tags: Artists, Bands, Demo, gigs, Management, Manager, Marketing, music, Promo Pack, Promotion, Self Management, Tips, Tour, Unsigned, YouTube
Posted in Industry Advice | 4 comments »
