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!!

The Namm show is one of the biggest music instrument/gear shows in the world.

If you are making or playing music, chances are that your world is affected by the
latest unveilings at Namm. (Especially if you are a gear nut!)

Its not open to the general public.. trade only,
but if you want to get a head start on the latest innovations..
here’s the link to the latest videos and goings on at Namm 2010:

http://www.namm.org/thenammshow/2010

Here is the list for December:

Top U.S. Music Services On The Web (in unique visitors, December, 2009)

1. Vevo: 35.4 million
2. MySpace Music: 33.1 million
3. AOL Music: 29.0 million
4. Warner Music: 23.3 million
5. MTV Networks Music: 17.6 million
6. Yahoo! Music: 16.4 million
7. Jango Music Network: 9.6 million
8. ToneFuse Music Network: 8.3 million
9. MSN Music: 6.6 million
10. Rhapsody: 6.5 million

To see the full article, go here

So it makes sense that if you want to give your music some exposure,
you probably want to get it on some of these sites.

Interesting to note though is that the number one site, Vevo,
is actually a joint venture involving Google and that its main source
of visitors is Youtube.

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!

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/in_depth/8447023.stm

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

not that kind of engagement!

Im talking about engaging your fans.!

So recently, I have been interviewing many many people from record companies,
publishing companies, and promoters.

The subject:  Digital Marketing.

We are doing a worldwide survey and Im learning some fascinating things.

Here is a good idea for engagement:

So in your career, you will have 4 different phases:

1. Recording
2. Releasing music
3. Touring
4. Doing nothing.

For each phase, pretty much everyone I speak to in record companies big and small has a 6-12 month engagement plan.

That means that they map out exactly what they will be doing and then create content to keep the interest and heighten it around significant events.

Many report that around the times of doing nothing, they post up content maybe once a month.

But in the build up to a major event or release, they ramp it up to weekly and sometimes even more frequent communication.

BTW Im not talking about micro blogging here, here is what I mean by engagement content:

• Video
• Audio
• Images
• Text

Video doesnt have to be music video.  It can be:
interview, live footage, rare footage, behind the scenes etc.

Audio:  Remixes, special collaborations, live versions, old rare tracks, cover versions.

Images and text – you can get very creative with this – It depends what fits your band or act.
Radiohead released a song and a pdf some time back that had several images that they wanted you to
print on tracing paper…

So once you have all your rough dates and the amount of content you need, start making and assembling it..

Then you just have to drip feed it whilst you are getting on with the “real” work of writing, recording and playing!

Get to it!