How To Get Featured On A Music Blog Audio Interview:

So no doubt, you have heard people going on about how important
blogs are and you may have even tried to send music to some.

Well – you are not alone – bloggers are now inundated with
requests to feature artists music.  I got on the phone with
Joe Sparrow from ANewBandADay.com so that he could tell
us how best to approach music bloggers so that they dont ignore us.

**Listen to the interview here:**

or right click HERE to download

BTW Niche Music System opens on Thursday Noon Pacific (PST),
5pm EST and 8pm GMT.
You may have noticed that everyone is promoting it, and there are only
200 spots, so it will probably sell out pretty fast… If you want to join,
make sure you go to www.nichemusicsystem.com at that time and claim
your spot!
There is an early bird list – send me an email: hagopt@gmail.com
and I will put you on it so you get a heads up before it goes crazy…

http://www.themusicvoid.com/2010/05/event-report-unconvention-music-pies-macclesfield/

Audio Interview With Gavin Bain

Last week, subscriber’s to my premium service,
Niche Music System and I got to put our
questions to Gavin Bain who wrote the book
California Schemin’.

When told that rapping in his Scottish accent
wasn’t going to cut it, Gavin Bain and his co star Bill
reinvented themselves as two West Coast rappers
from California and ended up with a £250,000
record deal and a £70,000 management advance.

This interview also delves into the fascinating
depths of one mans incredible passion, drive,
persistence and good old fashioned hustle!
…SO GOOD ;p

Here is the interview:

Let me know what you think….

Get This Book For FREE!!?

Im giving away my copy of the book to the
first person to join Niche Music System and tell me that
they heard the interview…(I’ll send it first class)!

BTW Pretending to be someone else is not why I wanted
to interview him. What drew me in was the extreme use of
“dramatic reality”.

So many artists miss what it is that their audience
really wants and in this extreme example,
Gavin and Bill (aka Silibil and Brains) hit the nail on the head.

In my own case, refining our concept really made it easy for
people to become fans and understand what we were doing
(ie got us way further…).

The converse of that would be doing things that make people
NOT interested in what you are doing!

What are you doing?  Repelling or attracting?!

When it comes to streaming music on a mobile device, I have been waiting
impatiently for a service with a great user interface, fast streaming, good sound quality….

At home, I usually crack open the laptop and use GrooveShark as my main
source of streaming music (the browser version free to use).

I have also tried out the Spotify desktop client, and by far prefer using
Grooveshark because I can simply log in to another computer and all
my playlists are right there, I also like the navigation elements.
No need to install a clunky client….

Anyway, I cant believe I’m two weeks late on this, but today I learn’t that Grooveshark
has its own Iphone app!!!!

So I decided to install both the Spotify and the Grooveshark app to give them a test drive.

Note: Spotify is officially approved by Apple, Grooveshark is not -
you can only install Grooveshark on your Iphone if it’s jailbroken!
[for some reason Apple wont approve them...   ??]

Both apps allow streaming over wifi and GPRS/Edge network..
They also both have offline capabilities – useful for going on the Tube/out of range.

Spotify cost = £9.99 ($15 approx) per month, not available everywhere..
Go here for details
Grooveshark cost = $3 per month! available everywhere (i think?)
Go here for details

Lets take a look at Grooveshark first:

This particular Iphone is jail broken, and uses something called Cydia.

On Grooveshark’s site, they have a notice about how to get it.

So once you have it installed, here’s what it looks like:

So from here you can search for tracks or look at your playlists
(one of my favorite features of Grooveshark).

Once you have performed a search, you get a screen with
all the tracks that it has found:

When you decide which song you want, if you tap the
blue arrow, this is what you will see next:

If you decide to make it available offline,
next time you open up Grooveshark, regardless of whether
you are online, you will be able to queue up that track.

In the settings, you choose how much of your disk space
you want to allocate to these offline tracks:

Groovesharks mobile app also has the “Radio” function
just like in the desktop/browser version.
When you turn it on, it suggests tracks and you can
also tell it whether you liked the recommendation or not..
(See the smiley face, sad face and the illuminated “radio button” in the pic)

Grooveshark freely admit that their app is new and
needs some time to iron out all the kinks, but its still
really good.

Where I am at the moment, the mobile internet is a little slow,
but depending on the track I chose, its generally pretty good.

Over wifi, its killer and the fact that I can access my playlists,
AND save music for offline use is great ( Spotify does all of this too…)

I love Grooveshark and my mobile world has just moved to a whole new dimension.
The jailbreak scenario is prob going to be an issue for many Iphone lovers,
who wont want to tamper with their beloved device.

For $3/month, to me its a no brainer.

Next up I tested out Spotify.

Here’s the search screen:

With search results:

Browsing songs was easier for me on the Spotify app,
than on Grooveshark and seems alot more simple…

When you chose the song you want, it starts to play:

Clicking the “i” in the top right corner brings up
this screen where you can build a playlist and also
have further play back options..

As far as I can tell, there’s no option to take a track offline
to the actual device like Groovesharks mobile app – you have
to do it from the Spotify desktop software and then it will be transferred
to your Iphone/Ipod touch.

Here’s the Spotify screen for accessing offline tracks:

Taking content offline was easy – I queued up alot of albums and
they were very soon available on my Iphone without
needing to be connected to the internet.

If I Had To Chose..

At the moment, I would go with Spotify because it feels
a little more robust and the songs loaded very quickly.
The price tag for Spotify is very high though,
and as Grooveshark’s mobile app finds it feet, I suspect that
I will go with that (especially at $3/month!).

All in all, I am very happy with just having the ability to stream
music to my Iphone.
The implications for the music business
are huge – especially because of the offline capability.

Bottom line – more opportunity to consume more music,
with no real barrier. Its interesting that Apple wont allow
Grooveshark in the App Store, and I’d love to know why??

So what about artists in all of this?

To me, it comes down to engagement.
If people will eventually be able to stream any track
to any device, the attention of the listener will be even harder
to maintain.

So the key to making money, selling tickets, merchandise, and various
bundles (including recorded music) is to work on developing a brand,
and on top of that, cultivating and maintaining attention.

Artists have always had to have this certain something that makes them
stand above the rest, and that could just be making and performing great music.

But its really about standing for something in the mind of the listener and

engaging with different “tribes” of people so that your music becomes part of
the fabric of this particular time in their life.

Final addendum:

I should mention that Grooveshark does have an Artist Promotion section
where you can upload your tracks and get them played next to similar tracks
so that you can direct your music to people who maybe predisposed to
liking them… see here.

Over and out.

Im also giving you a sample Engagement Plan at the end so that you will
have all your engagement activities planned out for the next 6-12 months.

To read this free special report, just click the graphic or the link below, download the report to your computer, and read it.

Come back and leave a comment about what you thought about the report after you’re finished!

CLICK HERE to download report.

We are in the middle of launching a new training program,
and are having major problems!

Part 1 of the video series was sent out on thursday,
and Parts 2 and 3 were meant to be on their way by now,
but unfortunately I had a little accident…..

Some of you know that I love to play squash,
and usually play every Friday night.

Unfortunately on Friday, the guy I was playing
decided to hit the ball very hard- straight into my left eye!

I was immediately blinded, and blood started to
pour down my face.

People rushed to help and called the ambulance ->
I was going in to shock  – shaking/nausea/wanting to fall asleep..

Eventually the ambulance came and we were on our way to the hospital.

As they operate a triage system, we ended up having to wait to see the doctor,
and during this time, as the adrenaline started to subside, the pain began to
take over and it started to become unbearable!
It was like someone was poking a stick into my eye repeatedly!

Finally I was able to see the doc, and get some x-rays done.

The eyeball had sustained some major damage and
also it looked like I had fractured the socket of my eye!

At 2am, they referred me to another hospital to get the
fracture checked out..

I didnt get to bed until 7am, and then had to go to see another
specialist a few hours later to check out the eye ball damage…
This guy confirmed that I had  a huge, in his words “Star Ship Enterprise”
shaped scracth on my eyeball, and also had severe bruising to the back of
the eyeball and also some blood around the front!

Im currently waiting for it all to heal and am applying
various ointments and drops.

Its very difficult to use a computer and to read anything.

My left eye lid keeps itself shut, and so the right eye has to work extra hard
to compensate, but even just moving the right eye makes the left eye move,
and then Im again in agony!!

It looks like I will get better and should make a full recovery,
but probably will delay the launch videos a bit.

Its great that so many people have emailed asking for the next videos,
so thanks very much for that!

(if you havent seen part1, go here to see it:http://nichemusicsystem.com )

As soon as I can get things up and running and out to You All,
I will!

Im so grateful that I am not blind!  The Doc said I was VERY lucky.

Sorry for the delay and I will speak to you very soon.

All the best,

Hagop.

What does this mean for music promotion?

People are sharing music that they like via posting links,
People are letting others know that they will be attending xyz concert/show.
People are posting up their own pictures and videos whilst at events.

As the Music Maker, remember – YOU ARE THE CONTENT!!

Its your responsibility to make sure that people can find you,
share you, follow you, comment on you etc..

So take a good hard look at your next campaign or promotion -
is this something that your fans would love to tell others about?

Make it easy for them, give a reason for them to share,
create incredible events…..
IS it great content?
Would you want to share it?
Would others?

Depending on where you live, there maybe a local social network of choice.

But whatever it is, get on the top social networks, and start presenting
great content.

Make an engagement plan and roll it out!

if you want help with this – get in touch with me at:

http://getyourstage.com/contact-us

DO IT NOW!!

So whats this got to do with your music?

well -> at CES, they showcase the latest technology and alot of this technology is what people will be using to listen to, watch and engage with your music.

So far this year there is a huge emphasis on connecting the web to the TV.

This means devices that allow you to consume content direct from the internet on your TV.

Apple has already put this in our hands with Apple TV, but the landscape is constantly evolving.

So what you need to think about is this:
If people in the near future will be engaging more and more with your content through their TV,
what kind of content should you be making ?
And how can you make it for maximum impact through the TV??

Just something to think about …

Over and OUT!

Check out this blog post:

CLICK HERE

LET’S GET RAGE AGAINST THE MACHINE TO THE CHRISTMAS NO.1 SPOT THEN!

Q: So how do we do this then?
A: Take your pick(s) of the digital providers below. It should take you to the page where you can purchase your copy of KILLING IN THE NAME. in most cases it’s track#2 but check before you click!

DO NOT DOWNLOAD IT 6 OR 7 TIMES…IT’LL JUST GET ANNULLED IN THE CHART.

7DIGITAL – £1.19P – track #2
http://bit.ly/ratm-7digital

AMAZON – 29p – yes it will count
htpp://http://bit.ly/rage-amazon

TUNETRIBE – 49P – track #2 – LIVE version (yes it counts)
http://bit.ly/ratm-tunetribe

TESCO DIGITAL – 67p – track #2
http://bit.ly/ratm-tesco

HMV.COM – 79p (careful – this is track #1)
http://hmv.com/hmvweb
http://bit.ly/ratm-hmv

PLAY.COM – 70p – it’s the only track on the page
http://bit.ly/ratm-play

WE7 – £1.07p – track #2
http://bit.ly/ratm-we7

iTUNES – 99p – track #2
http://bit.ly/ratm-itunes