Taking the Crowd to the Cloud: Social Media for the Music Industry

By Kelli Richards

“Taking the Crowd to the Cloud - Social Media for the Music Industry” raises the bar and demystifies social media, helps you THRIVE in any economy and transforms your marketing mindset. It features 10 top social networks for musicians and maximizes your social media to build and keep your audience.

Musicians, celebrities, artists and authors must recognize that in order to succeed in today’s mega-connected world, we must think and act like chief marketing officers. Knowing how to navigate and succeed at social media can be a full-time, mind-numbing and overly complicated if you’re not careful.

“Taking the Crowd to the Cloud - Social Media for the Music Industry” solidly teacher the following: How to get the ultimate end-game: more fans. How to create a brand transformation (yes, you are a brand). How to make more money: more fans + more content = more sales.

Written in easy-to-follow language with easy-to-implement instructions, this eBook is easy and fast. You'll learn about 8 no-cost resources to build your brand and your fan base. No more worrying about missing the opportunity for social media success. You can be your own boss, run your content, your revenue, your merchandise and your fan base any way you want to! FREEDOM! How about turning your work into a business that does not depend on a label, a manager or anyone? Do what you WHAT you want, WHEN you want, and WHERE you want... You can set your own hours... You can live anywhere... All you need is an internet connection... The sky is the limit.

IMPORTANT: This is not a "get rich quick" guide. It will require some effort on your part... especially in the early stages. But “Taking the Crowd to the Cloud - Social Media for the Music Industry” is the plan you need to understand and utilize the best one-way ticket to your fan base out there.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Kelli Richards
• Release date: Aug 11, 2011

Kelli Richards

Kelli Richards is the CEO of All Access Group, a thought leader in digital media and technology, a member of The Futures Agency and a contributing editor to the leading technology website, Techpinions.com. She is a true trailblazer in digital music and media, with more than twenty years of senior-level experience. With a unique talent for connecting innovators in technology with creative leaders in entertainment, Richards is a highly sought-after consultant, mentor, speaker, producer, coach and author, As the CEO of The All Access Group, Richards and her team facilitate strategic business opportunities in digital distribution between technology companies, established artists and celebrities, film studios, record labels, and consumer brand companies to foster new revenue streams and deliver compelling consumer experiences. Prior to founding The All Access Group, Kelli served in senior roles at Fortune 100 entertainment and technology companies, including Apple Inc., where she launched Apple’s earliest focus on music and drove all music initiatives during her 10 years with the market leader. She also served in senior-level executive capacities at EMI Music as an A&R exec, and Silicon Graphics (SGI) where she helped launch Silicon Studio, the company’s entertainment division. She co-developed PatroNet, the first Internet-based artist subscription service with rocker partner Todd Rundgren in the mid-90s – and helped to launch the entire digital music revolution. A frequent speaker and panel moderator at digital music and entertainment industry conferences globally, Kelli is also an acclaimed talent producer of award shows, concerts, and celebrity fundraiser events. She co-produced a celebrity fundraiser event to support the UN’s “Adopt-A-Minefield” initiative featuring Paul McCartney, Brian Wilson, Stephen Stills and hosted by Jay Leno. Additionally, she was a 20-year talent producer behind the BAMMIES, and remains a long-time talent executive and co-producer of the annual Pollstar Concert Industry Awards. Kelli Richards has co-authored and published two books, including the critically acclaimed “The Art of Digital Music: 56 Artists, Visionaries & Insiders Reveal Their Creative Secrets.” And her next book, “You Say You Want a Revolution - An Artist’s Manifesto for Success in the Digital Age,” is due out 11-11-11. A true renaissance woman, Kelli is also a Certified Integrative Life Coach trained under best-selling authors and coaches Debbie Ford and Alan Cohen. She is actively mentored both by best-selling author & coach Alan Cohen, and by Alan Weiss (“The Million Dollar Consultant”). She lives in Cupertino, CA in the heart of the Silicon Valley.

Book preview

Taking the Crowd to the Cloud

Social Media for the Music Industry

Kelli Richards

Published by the All Access Group

Smashwords Edition, License Notes

This ebook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This ebook may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each recipient. If you’re reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then please return to Smashwords.com and purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.

Special thanks to Gerd Leonhard and my colleagues at The Futures Agency – I look forward to many years of disruptive leadership and influence together! And to my amazing team, Chief Strategist, Chad Barr; VP of Client Services, Sandy Schmidt; VP of Operations Dori Etter; Branding Guru, Libby Gill, and my Copyeditor, Mary Agnes Antonopoulos.

Contents

Introduction

Social Media Marketing: The New Backstage Pass

Chapter 1: Bridge Over Troubled Water: An Overview for All Social Media

Chapter 2: Teenage Wasteland: MYSPACE, Don’t Count Them Out

Chapter 3: Face Toward the Sun: Facebook Continues Global Domination

Chapter 4: Tweeter And The Monkey Man: Twitter

Chapter 5: Video Killed the Radio Star: Using YouTube as a Social Connection

Chapter 6: Blogging

Chapter 7: Pump up the Volume: BlogTalkRadio

Chapter 8: Just a Link in Your Chain: Linkedin

Chapter 9: E-marketing and E-Newsletters

Chapter 10: Meet Me Halfway: Meetup Groups, Live Event Networking

Chapter 11: An Overview of Four Direct to Fan Services

Conclusion

Final Thoughts

More About Kelli and How to Connect

Appendixes

Introduction

Social Media Marketing - The New Backstage Pass

The landscape of how audiences are built has completely, thoroughly changed in the last decade – in fact, it has redefined itself more than once. Being malleable enough to grow with the flow can mean the difference between big successes or devastating failures in the music and digital arenas. All of us, whether we’re artists or authors or thought leaders, must recognize that, in order to succeed, we must also think and act like CEOs and marketing mavens.

Knowing how to navigate the ever-changing, ever-growing field of social media becomes its own tapestry and can definitely feel like a full-time job if you’re not careful. This ebook is designed to provide an overview of the top ten social networks and a brief look at how to maximize your presence in order to engage your best audiences – and hopefully to turn them into brand advocates and your own personal sales force.

As you use this ebook, remember that an engaged, loyal audience is your endgame. How you find that audience is by consistently sharing content – how you engage them is consistently baring your soul – no kidding. In today’s world of uber-connectivity, audiences want more than they ever did. They’re not satisfied with a great product any longer, whether that be a song, a show, a book, merchandise. Now they want to be connected to you as an individual, and whether they’re right about this or not, they believe they’re entitled to it. So while it’s okay to choose not to go that route, just know that your competition is happy to step in, open their kimono, and eat up your market share (and your lunch). In the recent words of industry thought leader, Bob Lefsetz, At first you pay your fans, then they pay you, it’s not the other way around anymore.

Quite simply, in today’s world, Direct-to-Fan marketing is what every artist and band should be doing, whether they’re signed or not, but it takes a lot of time (plus a decent amount of know how, to be honest). At its core, D2F allows artists to keep a higher percentage of their own sales, compared to the old business model where labels, distributors or even iTunes take 30% or more.

Truth be told, if the connections are built with some good boundaries in place, there’s no reason not to reach out and touch your audience. Done correctly, it’s just a win / win. You give them more access, and they, in turn, want more and more of what you produce.

One good safe way to create this connection, and to stay ahead of your audience’s trends, is through inquiry – another is by providing special back-stage content and allowing them to comment or give feedback. A simple thank you here and there, or better yet, a free offer in response for their time, will both be worth their weight in gold.

In a recent discussion on All Access Radio with Jeff Brandstetter, the co-author of the highly acclaimed book, The Music Business Explained in Plain English, he talked about the future of the music industry and where social media would fit in:

Kelli Richards: Jeff, what do you think the future of distribution is going to look like in say, five years, and how much of an impact do you think on-demand digital distribution will have?

Jeff Brandstetter: It’s interesting that you’re asking me this question, Kelli. As you know, eleven years ago I was asked this exact same question on a panel about the future of the music industry. I think people tend to accelerate adoption faster in their minds than it actually occurs. I think the reality is that we will still see physical product around for a while, and there will still be revenue around physical product for a long time… I think what the landscape will look like in 5 years is that content creators will fast become the hub. Right now everybody is chasing the distribution outlets du jour… because they see the largest numbers in terms of traffic going in that direction…. Indie content providers don’t need huge numbers of their own content to recoup their production budget, and that’s what they should be most interested in. Where are they going to maximize their revenues? As long as they’re passing their content along to third parties, and essentially giving them all of the rights, wholesale, to distribute it, and