TuneCorner

Get Your Music Ready for the Holidays! by Jake Smith

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Jake Smith is a TuneCore Customer Support representative and editor of the weekly newsletter

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I'll come right out and say it - I love Christmas music.  People like me are the reason soft rock radio stations play "Santa Clause is Coming to Town" October 31st through New Years Day.  Yet, in my adoration of these songs there lies jealous anger.  All around the world, radio stations have "All I Want For Christmas" and "Baby Please Come Home" on rotation 10-20 times a day for 2 straight months, EVERY YEAR.  Add in direct sales, TV and movie placements, features on compilations, and royalties from cover versions and we're talking some serious cash.  It's hard to imagine why the songwriters behind these classics would do anything but swim in their coins like Scrooge McDuck.

What's to keep us from using our talents to cash in on the Holidays?

It may seem a bit strange to discuss Christmas songs in August, but I mention it for a few reasons.

• I just read an article from Billboard News confirming that Bob Dylan will release his first ever Christmas album this October to raise money for     Feeding America.  If Bob Dylan was able to get himself in a Christmas state of mind while recording in hot summer months, so can you!
• Writing, producing, mixing, mastering, uploading and delivering a track can take time so you should always think ahead.
• Holiday songs are not limited to Christmas - patriotic song sales spike around the Fourth of July, spooky songs get a big boost around     Halloween, and tunes about poultry and mashed potatoes go through the roof on Thanksgiving (that may not be true... but you never know).

I am no expert on this issue (I did do an independent study on Christmas music in college... just sayin'), but these are some things you may want to think about if you plan to release holiday music into the world.

    1. Mix covers and originals.  You'll often see holiday records where established artists will perform standards but also include one or two songs they wrote themselves.  I'll listen to anybody's version of "Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas" at least once - This might lead me the other songs on their album, which might lead me to other non-holiday songs they've released.

    2. If you plan to write an original holiday song, spend some time studying the ones that have stood the test of time.  You may notice certain chord changes, riffs, or key phrases that pop up in a number of holiday tunes.

    3. Look for a fresh angle.  Understanding what makes other songs popular does not mean you need to rip them off do what's been done 1,000 times before.  Maybe you should try the exact opposite.  Flip a classic on its head with a unique instrumentation, write an album of Hanukkah Hip-Hop songs, combine different holidays within a single EP or a single track, whatever!  Hit people with something they've never heard before and you could end up tapping a market no one has before.

Who of you out there already has holiday tunes online?  Do any of you plan on writing or covering a holiday song this year?  Does anyone think they have a unique approach to holiday music, the likes of which the world has never seen?  Share your thoughts here on the TuneCore blog.

Nashville vs. NYC Songwriting by Cliff Goldmacher

Cliff Goldmacher is a songwriter, producer, engineer and the owner of recording studios in Nashville and New York City.  When he’s not writing songs, Cliff is also a regular contributor to EQ Magazine and Pro Sound News as well as a number of online blogs.  He can be reached at cliff@cliffgoldmacher.com

 

As a transplanted songwriter from Nashville to New York City, I’ve had the chance to observe, up close, the approaches to songwriting and the songwriting communities in both cities.  While there are of course many similarities, there are also quite a few differences. By the way, I feel I should mention that the following observations are really more my impressions than hard facts.

Differences Within the Similarities:

In this article, I’ll start with a similarity between New York and Nashville as it’s readily apparent and then explain how, within that similarity, one city differs from the other.  One of the first similarities is that both cities have huge songwriting populations.  The depth and breadth of talent in both places encompass many more genres that the obvious country music for Nashville and pop and rock music for New York.  There are great pop writers in the suburbs of Nashville and extremely accomplished country songwriters living in Greenwich Village.

Finding the Songwriters:

One difference between the two songwriting communities is how easy they are to locate.  Because Nashville’s artistic community is predominantly made up of singers, songwriters and musicians, it’s much easier to find the music/songwriting community there.  New York, on the other hand, has a wonderful songwriter population, but it’s mixed in with the countless other artists and creative types that live there and is thus less obvious.  In other words, it takes a little more effort to find the songwriters in New York, but believe me, they’re there.
 
Before moving from Nashville to New York, I’d taken several writing trips a year up to New York and, by a process or trial and error, I found a core group of NYC songwriters that became my go to people on every trip.  This way, when I eventually moved to New York, I felt like I was instantly part of the community even though I had to discover it little by little.   I highly recommend this approach for anyone considering a move to New York as it eases the transition and makes the entire process much less overwhelming.
 
Cowriting:

Although both New York and Nashville have large numbers of songwriters, cowriting is much more a part of the day to day routine in Nashville.  It’s not unusual for a Nashville writer to have five cowriting appointments in a week where they meet with a different cowriter every day in a publishing company office on Music Row.  This happens for several reasons.  First of all, as a hired staff songwriter for a Nashville publishing company, you are given a yearly quota of songs that you need to fulfill. The more songs you write,  the more quickly you’ll fulfill your quota.  Publishers make a real effort to connect songwriters they think will work well together and go as far as to set up cowriting appointments for their writers.  As a result, it’s fairly common in Nashville to be set up on a “blind date” cowrite. Secondly, even though you’re only credited with half a song for a cowrite, it’s easier to motivate yourself to write if you’ve got someone to collaborate with.  The act of scheduling appointments and being expected to show up significantly eases the stress of having to create on a schedule.  This approach seems odd to a lot of New York writers who are either artists themselves and used to writing with their own bands or are songwriters used to working with artists whose schedules are much less predictable.

Lyrics:

Staying with the generality that you’re writing country in Nashville and pop or rock in New York,  I’ve noticed  that the rules of lyric-writing between these genres and cities differ significantly.  In Nashville, the story is king.  This means that the lyric has to make perfect sense, the images are concrete and the story has a logical flow from beginning to end.  There’s not a lot of room for poetic, impressionistic lyrics that don’t have the arc of a story.  New York, on the other hand, while it certainly has its share of great songwriter/storytellers,  has a broader tolerance in its pop and rock genres for words that “feel” and “sound” good together.  Please don’t misunderstand.  It takes just as much skill to write a great pop lyric where the words convey the emotion of the song and carry the nuances of the melody as it does to write a great story in a country song, but it’s a different skill set.  I’ve found that switching from one approach to the other can be creatively liberating and quite a bit of fun.  Also, it’s interesting to see how one city’s lyrical approach can bleed into the other’s.  In this way,  you can end up with country lyrics where the words in the story sound good next to each other or pop lyrics with the arc of a story to them.

Labels:

Speaking of artists, another similarity in the two cities is that they are both home to major record labels and their signed artists.  This alone attracts a huge number of songwriters to both cities.  The difference here is that country music artists are still largely dependent upon outside songs for their projects.  In New York, bands tend to write their own material and it is less common for these artists to go looking for outside songs.  Occasionally songwriters will be paired with these bands/artists in New York allowing the writers to end up with cuts on these acts.  Of course, all of these distinctions are lessening as more country artists write and cowrite their albums as well.

You Can’t Lose:

At the end of the day, both communities are great places to work and create.  Ironically, after living in Nashville, working as a staff songwriter and writing for the country market for twelve years, my first cut was with a New York writer and was recorded by an Irish tenor on Universal Records named Ronan Tynan.  In my opinion, it was the blend of our New York and Nashville songwriting sensibilities that came together to create that song.  What I mean by this is that somewhere between the soaring melody more suited to pop and the lyric that had more of a country attention to detail, we came up with a classical crossover song.  So, if you’re a Nashville writer thinking about working in New York (or vice versa) I’d highly recommend it.  Sometimes it’s the differences that create the best art. 

Questions or comments?  Share them here on the TuneCore Blog!

Making A Name Locally by Christian Klepac

Christian Klepac is a writer and musician who lives and works in Seattle WA. He currently plays guitar and sings in the band Stereo Sons. He has a solo album coming soon via Tunecore.

An important goal for any emerging artist is to develop a following at home. Touring, recording, and creating a web presence are all important too, but the surest path to a viable career is building a fanbase from the ground up, starting in your own backyard. Here are some tips on getting things rolling in your hometown.

1. KNOW YOUR VENUES

A major city can have a bewildering number of live music venues, and even a small college town might have half a dozen. Before sending out your press kit or even a friendly email, get to know as much as you can about these venues. Most clubs will have a website with a show calender, though smaller ones might do this through myspace or another social networking site. Find out who's playing this month, and listen to those bands online if you can. You're looking for a venue that books your kind of act. The local heavy metal club will probably ignore a booking request from your twee indie project, or worse may unknowingly set you up for a disastrous show.

Another factor here is the size of band each venue is likely to book. If you're a fledgling singer/songwriter or rock band, you might not want to start your quest for world domination at your local big theater that specializes in high profile national touring acts. Rather, you should find the kinds of clubs that will place you in the company of other bands like yours, so you can meet each others fans and help each other out (more on this below).

2. KNOW YOUR BOOKERS

The brave men and women who book talent at your local bars and theaters are people too! Their days are spent fielding an endless stream of emails and phone calls from bands, label reps, DJs, and other folks who want something from them, not to mention the venue managers, sound and light techs, and bouncers who depend on them to do their own jobs. The best way to stand out is to treat these people with respect and try to make their lives easier.

Keep a notebook or database of local clubs and try to find out who books the ones you want to play. Your local weekly paper will often mention or profile these folks. You can also do some internet sleuthing - the venue's website may have info on the bookers, or you could write to some other bands who have played there. Bookers are often new-media savvy and may be present on Twitter and Facebook.

Note that making a connection here is not the same as stalking these people! Any booker with sufficent experience has had a run-in with a musician or agent who is a little too pushy and can't respect personal boundaries, and will instantly shut down contact with such a person. Respect is key, and if you can help out by offering to book the rest of a bill, or providing needed gear, or hand-delivering flyers to the venue, you're likely to get a good response.

3. SELL BEER

As high as your artistic aspirations may be, and as vital as it is to hang on to them, it's important to remember that when you're playing a set at a local bar, you and your bandmates are in the business of selling beer. Bands who make money for the venue get invited back and placed on better bills, those who don't, don't - it's that simple. Use every technique in your arsenal to mobilize people to attend every show. Often this means (paradoxcially) cutting your local presence down to one show a month - it's better to play once and get everyone you know out than to play five times for five people each time.

Aside from the standard and indispensable tools of flyering and mailing list promotion, try contacting your local radio stations and newspapers about your upcoming gigs - they'll often have a person on staff to handle upcoming events. Consider placing an ad in your local weekly paper, and of course keep your web presence current with blog posts and status updates to remind potential attendees about the big show.

4. JOIN YOUR SCENE

The most important step for local musicians is, for some, the hardest. If you've practiced your chops, trimmed the fat from your songs, and sent out all your social networking reminders, you might fool yourself into thinking that your job is done. It's not! Find out who the bands are in town that you want to play with, then go to their shows. Keep a personal calendar of upcoming events you want to attend. It can be expensive, but it's as vital an expense as guitar strings. At the venue, introduce yourself to your colleagues, ask about teaming up on future shows, or just hang out and have a beer. The more you do it, the easier it gets.

Again, networking is not stalking, or obsequious schmoozing. Think about the good feeling you get when someone comes up to you after a performance and genuinely wants to talk to you about mutual interests. Every musician wants this, and you can provide it to others while making new friends.
Another avenue toward joining your scene is to get involved with local music-related charities and non-profit organizations. Many of these groups put on big benefit shows, and by volunteering your time you can meet the movers and shakers while doing something good for your community.

5. DON'T FORGET TO ROCK

It's sad, but some bands get so caught up in the whirlwind of emails, phone calls and meetings with industry pros that they forget to focus on what really matters. Ultimately, a great song, a quality recording and an exciting performance are the true coin of the realm. Before you turn on the hype machine, make sure that you've created something that you are truly proud of and want to share with the world. If you find yourself getting too caught up in the surface glamour of the music world, go home, unplug your computer, lock the door and re-connect with your instrument until you remember why you decided to do all this in the first place.

My experience with Jango Airplay by Taylor Simons

Taylor Simons is the director of Customer Support and Solutions.

I first tried out Jango Airplay back in April when I first heard about the service. I used my colleague’s group OMG!Michelle to create a free account since I am not in a band myself. The upload process was super easy and I didn’t have to make any changes or conversions to the MP3 I uploaded. I first purchased 1,000 guaranteed plays and found it pretty thrilling to watch the play count rise over the first few days.

The songs I uploaded were quickly being played side by side with songs from OutKast, Beyonce, Kid Sister, Usher, Snoop Dogg and tons of other legendary artists. I then started to receive comments on my band page like, “Do you have a my space??? I wanna collab on a track wit you if possible. I like your style :] hit me up!!!” from a user in Lompoc, CA. And “Stupid Song….” From Ralnesha in Roanoke, VA.

Hey, it's all feedback, I just may not be booking a gig for OMG!Michelle in Roanoke anytime soon!

I bought another 1,000 the second my first thousand ran dry. So with a total of 2,000 purchased plays, to date I have received 40 comments and acquired 46 fans with an extra 297 free plays coming from general rotation. What I found really cool was that the fans were coming from OMG!Michelle’s hometown, NYC, Cali, Europe, South Africa and more!

What’s even better is that Jango gives me a way to e-mail each fan directly from my Jango Airplay account. Jango also does a great job of providing you with reports by gender/age and which other artists your fans listen to. (See below).

All of this is really helpful because you can request that your song be played on stations that those relevant artists are played on as well. You can also target fans by geography, which may be a great tool for getting some extra promotion around your tour dates.

In addition, Jango provides you with an artist page that allows you to upload pictures and a bio and permits listeners to leave you comments. There are many other cool features with Jango such as targeting fans by gender, age and more. Take advantage of our great relationship with Jango by purchasing guaranteed airplay at heavily discounted rates.

My one complaint about Jango Airplay is that I personally find it to be a bit addictive and they have yet to include a “Got an Airplay addiction? Call this toll free number” on their site; so purchase plays at your own risk…

Making Your Release Unique by Jake Smith

Jake Smith is a TuneCore Customer Support Representative and editor of the weekly newsletter

A few months ago, I wrote an article called "Marketing Outside The Box", in which I discussed artists (most of whom had been on a major label at one point) who had come up with a unique way of making their content available.  Radiohead gave away "In Rainbows" on their website and allowed fans to pay whatever they thought was a worthy price.  Jill Sobule let fans contribute money before recording her album in exchange for prizes of different tiers (the lowest tier guaranteed a copy of her CD when available and a higher tier earned fans a private house concert).  Of course in discussing "outside the box" techniques, we had to mention Nine Inch Nails:

"Nine Inch Nails (with some help from TuneCore) offered their album Ghosts I-IV in a number of different formats, including 9 free tracks on BitTorrent sites, all 36 tracks on Amazon, and then multiple physical packages including a limited pressing $300 deluxe version."

Now, I would agree that the above ideas are all fun, buzz-worthy, groundbreaking, etc., however Jill Sobule, Radiohead and Trent Reznor were already well known artists before they made such creative leaps from said box.  If I, Jake Smith, have an upcoming release will anybody (aside from my mother - God bless her soul) be willing to pay $300 for a deluxe version of my album? No.

Trent Reznor wrote a post on the NIN forum today which addresses this exact issue.  You can read his full article here.  Highlights include:

• Set your goals: Do you want to be a megastar and share the rights to all your content with a major label, or do you want to forge your own way?
• "Make your record cheaply (but great) and GIVE IT AWAY", as your goal should be to reach as many new fans as possible.
• Sell your physical product on Amazon
• My personal favorite, "Use TuneCore to get your music everywhere".
• Follow the lead of the Beastie Boys and make your content available in as many formats as your fans could possibly want it.

Should we take this quickie post from Trent Reznor as gospel?  Definitely not, I know plenty of TuneCore users who have done great without giving their songs away (unless you consider MySpace streams giving the music away) and who sell only digital files without a physical component.  However, with so many artists fighting for attention, it can't hurt to spend some time thinking about how to make your releases unique.  I often think of two examples:

One was from an artist named Peter Mulvey who rode his bike to every gig instead of driving as a way to raise environmental awareness.  He filmed a short video about the experience and got some good press as a result.  The other was from a cool group I saw play in Asheville, NC called 'Hope For Agoldensummer' who constructed their own fabric covered, hand-bound, screen printed limited edition CD for sale on their website.  Because these artists demonstrated a passion beyond simply songwriting and recording, I felt more connected to what they had to offer musically.

What are your guys' thoughts?  Do you agree with Trent that the only way to become "Lady GaGa/U2" famous is to sign with a major label, or will artists eventually be able to reach those heights on their own? Do you think you should provide music for free as a way of reaching a larger audience, in addition to making it available for sale?  As a new or developing artist, what ideas can you think of to make your release more noteworthy?  Let me know!

Promoting Your Music with Facebook

Jake Smith and Mike Leikin are TuneCore Customer Support Representatives

A few months ago, we included an article in the TuneCore newsletter about how to promote your music using Twitter (you can read that article here).  We decided that for this week, with the rise in popularity of our own TuneCore Facebook page (thanks to everyone who became a fan!) we would discuss the pros and cons of promoting music with this site and discuss some tips on how to make the most of your own page.

A note before reading: Personally, we would recommend promoting your music on as many free social networking sites as you feel you can comfortably manage instead of putting all your eggs in one basket.  Facebook, MySpace and Twitter are the three most popular sites that exist, and often you may have fans who use one but not the other.  If you don't have an online profile for your music anywhere, then these three places are probably a good place to start.

This article is meant to serve as food for thought, it is not a step-by-step manual for how to create your own page.  So let's get started!

First and foremost: What is Facebook?

For many of us, Facebook is such an integral part of our daily lives that this doesn't seem worth discussing, but for those who aren't as familiar, Facebook is the largest social networking site in the world (it beat MySpace for the title last month).  You can use it to keep up with/update friends and can join internal networks based on city, school, occupation, and more.  You can make updates by computer or using a mobile device (much like Twitter).  You can host thousands of pictures which other users can comment on or share, and you can now personalize pages with "facebook apps".

Facebook artist pages can serve as an interactive portal to update your fans and get feedback. The real strength of Facebook, and the artist pages, is this interactivity. On the TuneCore Facebook page (http://www.facebook.com/tunecore), we have been running weekly polls. There have been great responses and it's awesome to see fans actually communicate with us and with each other.

As a band or artist, you can post videos or links of your tracks and get real time feedback. You can also encourage fans to spread the music to their friends and so on etc.  Facebook also has a very large catalog of Apps (such as iLike applications) that you can use to customize your page to create a unique experience on your artist page.

We will soon be releasing an updated version of the TuneCore widget which can be used as one such Facebook application.  With this widget, you will be able to pick and choose which of your songs you would like to feature, enter band info & twitter feeds, and your music will have links that can take people directly to your iTunes store page.  More details will be coming soon, but here is preview of what to expect:

There are a few downsides to Facebook pages, but they do seem to be improving.  For example, artist pages do not feature a music player as directly or immediately as the MySpace player. For this reason, artists and labels often see Facebook pages as a poor tool to reach new fans.  For a while, Facebook URLs were very complicated and not very pretty to post anywhere, and on top of that visitors were forced to sign in before being able to view anything.  FB is in the process of trying to fix this by introducing "vanity" URLs, for example, you can now go to "facebook.com/artistname" to view many pages.  As a cool upside, you can have Facebook features that are available only to people who have signed up as your fans.

 

Do any of you have your own Facebook artist pages you are especially proud of?  Do you have a favorite Facebook page of any other artist?  Do you have any favorite applications or tips on how to make a page really shine?  Share your thoughts here!

Planning Your Record Release, Part II: The Release Show

Jake Smith is a TuneCore Customer Support Representative and editor of the weekly newsletter.

You can read Part I of this article on the TuneCore blog.

Part II: Planning your release party

Record release parties can be awesome for a number of reasons.

• They're "buzz" worthy: If you're trying to spread the word that you have a new album coming out, then a targeted event and date can lead to a lot of chatter all at once about your music.  Chatter is good. (Especially when it comes from the press - invite all of your local music writers to get early reviews!)
• The crowds are bigger: In general you'll find fans and friends feel more of an obligation to attend a record release than they do other performances.  It's a special day for you and they won't want to miss it.
•  It's a party!: There's a certain excitement in the air at record release events that regular performances might lack.  It's like a birthday, except with your CD instead of a baby.

If you're getting ready to release your own CD, think back on some of the record release shows you've attended yourself (if you've never been to one, just think back on shows you've enjoyed, or look one up online and catch one this weekend).  What, if anything, made those events memorable for you?  Was it the venue, was it the lighting, was it something crazy the bass player did, etc.?  How would you have done it better if you were in the same position?  You'll want to keep your answers in mind as you plan your own record release.

The Venue

One of the first things you'll need to do is find a venue.  What space is best suited for your music: a bar, a coffee shop, a living room or a back yard?  How will you perform?  Acoustic or full band, will you invite other extra instrumentalists (eg. guest vocalist, a string quartet), or will you just play the CD and treat it like a "listening party"?

After you've decided all of this, you can then make a list of exactly what you'll need for the show.  What do you already have on that list and what don't you have that you'll need to borrow or ensure your venue provides?

Make absolutely sure you know the following about any venue:

• What is in the venue's "back line" - Some places will provide certain parts of a drum set, like kick and toms, while requiring you bring your own kick pedal, snare, cymbals and hardware.  Some places will provide amp cabinets but will ask that you bring your own amp heads. Some places provide a few microphones but that may not be enough for you.  Many venues have a great PA system, while other places will expect you to provide your own.  If you come short of necessities between yourself and the venue, make sure you buy, rent, or borrow with enough time before the record release date.
• When do you need to arrive?  How much time do you need for set up, and how long can you play for?
• How does the door work?  How will you get paid?  Is it a 50/50 split, do you have to recoup a certain amount at the door and then you take all earnings after?
• Are there age limits?  If the majority of your fans are still in high school, it probably won't do much good booking your show as a 21+ club.
• Is there an area you can use to set up a table and sell merch and CDs?

The Promotion

Some people are born promoters, while for others promotion can be excruciating.  That being said, your record release is no time to start skimping in this department.  In addition to posting the date and time on your myspace, website, twitter, etc., get your fans writing about you as well.  When you reach out to bloggers asking them to review your CD, promote your release party through them and offer some kind of incentive for them to show (free tickets, free swag, free beer and so on).  Print out flyers to post in music friendly places.

Try and think of some "hooks" to make your release more exciting.  Maybe entry is free, or tickets are half price with pre-order or your ticket gets you a free copy of the CD and the cover charge includes open bar.  Or another great idea... if 60 or more people attend, you and your band will play completely naked! (...or... maybe not).  Playing is on the safer side you can always have some special guest who's known to draw crowds.  Which brings me to...

The Lineup

Depending on the venue, you may be able to exert varying amounts of control over the evening.  If you're in your own back yard, you can pretty much do whatever you feel like until a neighbor calls the cops.  If you're at the local coffee shop, there might already be tightly booked evening of artists before and after your performance.

If possible, you may want to see if you can get at the very least one act to specifically open for you.  This is good for a few reasons.

• Other artists bring their own fans to the show, and by opening for you they are giving your group a stamp of approval (likewise, choose a band you like and your fans may be into as well).
• Having a group serve as your opener makes you the "headline" of the bill which is good for press and audience perception.
• If the act or acts opening for you are good, the audience will be pumped up and ready to go for when you come on stage.

The Performance

Far and away the most important thing is the performance itself and the music you are sharing.  I don't want to go into too much detail about this as I think we all have our own unique stage personas.  That being said, here are a few "take or leave" pearls of wisdom from my own experiences:

• Practice, practice, practice.  Do not go on stage and wing it (unless musical improv is part of your hook).  Know your set list inside and out.  Even if you and your band have played a song a thousand times but just for just this show you're going to extend the intro, don't just try it once during sound check and assume you're good to go.  Memorize the song order until it haunts your dreams.  First impressions are lasting impressions and you do not want new potential fans witnessing a sloppy performance.
• Have someone tape the show.  Good to study on your own later, good content to post online.
• Spend time on but don't obsess over the little things - discuss outfits and "bling" with the rest of your group but don't let it take away too much time from rehearsal.
• Brush your teeth and bathe regularly - not just for your show, but now and for the rest of your life.

The more prepared you are, the more focused you'll be on the performance itself and the more fun you'll have.  Enjoy it and so will your audience!

Do any of you have record releases coming up or have you played any recently?  Let us know about your experience.

Interview with Stella Mowen of Shockhound

Stella Mowen works in Label Relations for the online music store Shockhound.  These answers are from an interview originally conducted in March 2009

Editor's Note: I decided to do this interview to help TuneCore users learn a bit more about the Shockhound store.  Many of you are live there already, while others of you may not be because there wasn't enough information at hand when you first submitted.  Whether your material is there or not, I thought it would be helpful to know how, as an artist, label, or manager can you best use this store to your advantage?

Your feedback on this will be very helpful to me moving forward - Would you like to see interviews like these with other stores?  Are there any follow up questions you would like me to ask?  Read the complete interview and share your thoughts here on the TuneCore blog.  Thanks!  - Jake Smith

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TuneCore: How would you explain Shockhound to someone who's never heard of it before?

Stella Mowen: ShockHound (www.shockhound.com) is the one-stop, genre-spanning music site loaded with millions of MP3s, a vast selection of artist merchandise, the latest music videos, and exclusive and compelling editorial content. With a wide array of interviews, album reviews, original “webisode” videos, and individual artist pages, ShockHound not only has the goods on favorite bands, but also promotes discovery of new and emerging artists. ShockHound encourages its members to be an integral part of the editorial voice, offering users the opportunity to join in the never-ending musical dialogue via user reviews, comment sections and personalized user pages.

TC: Let's say I'm already a loyal user of a different service like iTunes or Amazon MP3.  Why should I sign up for Shockhound?  What would you offer me that other music sites don't?

SM: ShockHound satisfies all your music needs in one place.  Where else can you read/watch an interview about your favorite artist, instantly purchase music in a DRM free format, make playlists, buy exclusive merch, become an entrepreneur from your own online Shock Store, while discovering new artists from a trusted community of music lovers all at the same time? Plus, at any given time you can comment or email any of us staff members and talk about music that gets you excited and we are all about it! We love music just as much as you do.

TC: As an artist, why would I direct fans to purchase music at Shockhound over a different online store?  Are there any promotional tools available to me?

SM: As an artist, you can create a Shock Store on our site, send people to the store filled by you, with all of your favorite artists represented (including your own band).  When people purchase anything from your store, you’ll make a commission! That means you get your full royalty from Tunecore and an additional percentage on top of that from ShockHound...and the best part...in addtion, you’ll get a commission for anything sold in your store by any artist you put in your store! It doesn’t even have to be your own merch or music. Why? Because we appreciate the fact that you believe in us as a site and we believe in you as a community member!

TC: Do you generate additional artist content on your own (album reviews, artist bios, additional artist photos, etc.) or do you pull them from an online database like the All Music Guide?

SM: We use an online database to provide bios and photos because we don’t want any artist to be required to manage their pages.  Any artist, however, can have access to their profile page and update their own bios or artist photos. Just contact your Tunecore rep and they’ll walk you through how or email LabelRelations@shockhound.com with your question and we’ll help you out.

TC: Can anyone sell physical merchandise through the Shockhound store?

SM: Not currently, but stay tuned...

TC: Are there any changes coming to the site, either soon or far in the future that artists and users should know about?

SM: We make updates to the site all of the time.  We place these updates on the user dashboard, which you will have access to when you are signed in.  We’ll also keep you posted on any cool new contests or news items on the dashboard as well.

Planning For Your Record Release, Part I

Jake Smith is a TuneCore customer support representative and editor of the weekly newsletter.  He is best known for his Tony nominated performance in the TuneCore tutorial videos.

The idea of this writing this article came about from a conversation I had with my co-worker and good friend Mike.  We debated the value a "traditional" record release, where labels and artists leave months between an album's completion and an album's release to market, promote, and build up hype for the street date.  The digital revolution changed everything in that sharing and selling music worldwide became something ANYONE could do and at any time.  For that reason, some feel that creating a full length album and waiting months to release is an antiquated practice.  Millions of others still believe in the LP as a sacred art form and that this will stay true regardless of how people consume music.

In this article I am focusing on the idea of a more traditional record release, however I hope my musings will still apply for those of you who follow a different path.

For some artists, just finishing a record can be extremely difficult.  For others, the real hard stuff comes after the studio work is complete.  After putting so much time and energy into a project, the idea of having to do even more can become very overwhelming.  Making great music is the most important thing, but almost as important is figuring out how to get it heard.

Below is a list of some things you may want to consider prior to your record release.  This is by no means gospel, but I hope you'll be inspired enough to make your own check list! 

1. Make a budget

This first step is really important and is true for both money and time.  How much are you ready to spend promoting you project?  How much time do you need to get all of the work done?

This will vary from project to project.  Some things you may want to put funds aside for are:

    * Logo/website design
    * Online or print marketing campaign
    * Swag materials for sale or giveaway (t-shirts, buttons, stickers)
    * Promotional material like flyers, posters, business cards
    * Photo shoot
    * Press packages (including artist/album bio, music samples, photos/graphics, positive reviews, upcoming shows etc.)

Before you spend a penny on anything, think about friends, family members, or casual acquaintances who may be able to help you do some of these things for a reduced cost or completely free.  Think about what you can offer other than money (such as time in your studio, free piano lessons, free tickets to your next show etc.) for their help.

Next you need to think about how much time you'll need to get all of these things ready. Make sure you set deadlines for every last thing from CD manufacturing to flyer design.  Maybe your web designer is helping you for free but needs 2 months to finish everything, or maybe your "friend of a friend" who happens to be great behind the lens won't be available at the same time as your band.  Even when you're submitting your materials through TuneCore - remember that the iTunes store review can take as few as 3 weeks but as many as 6. Timing is everything when trying to coordinate a release and set a budget.

A record release can be one of the most exciting things about making music.  It is unfortunately this same excitement that can make artists take shortcuts near the end of the process.  My group ended up facing a WAY too early self-imposed record release deadline, and as a result we had almost no time to think about artwork, press photos, or additional promo materials.  Our CD manufacturing order ended up arriving about 24 hours before the show itself which made it very difficult to relax and focus.

2. Press

In the age of blogs, twitter, facebook, etc., everyone with an opinion and computer access is also a reporter to some degree.  There are millions of people out there who love sharing their thoughts on music, and if you play your cards right there are millions of potential outlets for your album to be reviewed and promoted.  And of course, the best part about press is that it's free.

The best place to start is to search for blogs that have written positively about artists you like or share similar qualities with.  If you are putting out a Polka album, you probably shouldn't spend your time reaching out to writers of Jay-Z fansites.  Ask your friends to list four or five music acts they'd compare you to and work from there.

When reaching out to writers, don't come across as just spamming their inbox with an email blast.  Make it personal, let them know that you like the way they write, that you have common taste, and if they are interested you would love to have them review your album.  Some things you'll want to be armed with:

    * A free promotional copy of the album
    * 1 or 2 songs off the record they can share with their readers
    * A "one sheet" giving some artist and album background so that they'll know where to start
    * A band photo
    * A press kit, either physical or online where they can learn more about you

If you really want to go above and beyond, you may want to consider making an EPK, or "electronic press kit", including pre-taped interviews, concert and/or studio footage.  The more you give album reviewers to work with, the more consistent your message will be across the web.  Once you've got a few glowing reviews (which I'm sure you will), feel free to quote them or link to them from your myspace page or website.

Let me know what you think, especially if you feel I'm missing anything.  Thanks!

Tune in next week for part II - Planning your release party

This Tangled Web Is Yours To Weave

Thembisa S. Mshaka is a 17-year veteran of the entertainment business. She is also the author of the comprehensive career guide Put Your Dreams First: Handle Your [entertainment] Business, available at www.putyourdreamsfirst.com.

There are few things I love more than a great question. Questions that are new to my ears and give me pause; taking my brain beyond thoughts provoked to truth spoken to power. Questions like these are right up there with Haagen Dazs on a perfect summer day.

Jake, the editor of this newsletter graciously invited me to contribute to this week’s issue. He posed a very thought-provoking question to me.

‘Have women been able to use these tools [including MySpace and YouTube] to their advantage or have they simply increased the pressure to fit a particular mold?

I had to read this repeatedly and turn it over in my head for over a week. Initially, it led to more questions: had self-doubt and second-guessing many women experience borne of institutional sexism found its way to the internet too? Or can women be who they want to be in cyberspace instead of embodying a patriarchal stereotype?

The more I thought about it, the more I arrived at  certain answers. Two challenges that all sites face are those of being personal and connected: to establish a bond that sticks, and lasts, with whoever logs on. Be grateful for the progressive men in your virtual world and social networks; they are making the Internet a better place one guy at a time (hats off, gents!). The bad news is, until sexism is wiped from the planet, it will continue to be practiced on the Internet. Cyberspace contact remains the ultimate cold call. At times,  virtual and impersonal nature of the medium even lends itself to furthering the objectification of women.

The more I thought about it, the more I arrived at certain answers. Two challenges that all sites face are those of being personal and connected: to establish a bond that sticks, and lasts, with whoever logs on. Be grateful for the progressive men in your virtual world and social networks; they are making the Internet a better place one guy at a time (hats off, gents!). The bad news is, until sexism is wiped from the planet, it will continue to be practiced on the Internet. Cyberspace contact At times, virtual and impersonal nature of the medium even lends itself to furthering the objectification of women.

The good news is women artists and entrepreneurs now have Web 2.0 on their side: With social networking and  user generated content, the Berlin Wall that stood between artists and consumers has in many ways fallen. Distribution, sales, professional development, instant marketing, instant feedback - All available to you. All digital.

So even though there are misogynist morons are still logging on, you can be whoever you want so long as you’re not infringing on the identity of another of course…and yes, you can be yourself. You can tailor and target your message (most likely your music or your business proposition) with laser-like efficiency. Don’t wear makeup? No problem. Is your monster budget more like the size of a mighty (albeit diminutive) action figure? In the land of homemade tracks and videos, your campaign can stand out because of the substance of your product—and how you roll it out instead of how much you spend. The constraints of connecting directly with your audience have been removed, but the work is now up to you build and sustain the fans that labels used to bring to you. Pop sensation Colbie Caillat is a bona fide MySpace discovery. She didn’t have to glam up or strip down to appeal to her audience. Colbie had this to say in her bio about the leverage the Internet afforded her in her negotiations with labels:

"Nothing much happened for a few months," she remembers. "Then I wrote this song called ‘Bubbly’ and put it up there and it got this huge reaction. I mean thousands and thousands of hits every day." In the end, she became the number one unsigned artist on MySpace for four successive months, garnering an almost unbelievable 10 million plays. Record labels started courting her and she signed with Universal Republic because, she says, they offered her total creative freedom. "The great thing about MySpace is that you can build up an army of fans and then when you go to a record company, there's no point in them trying to change what you do because it's already been tried and tested," she points out.

Not that a major label deal has to be the objective; R&B vocalist Mykah Montgomery is also building her story from the virtual ground up, with her single “I Just Wanna Go Outside” from her debut album Me & U on iTunes and a self-produced music video streaming online all as an independent (ME Records) without traditional, terrestrial distribution. Les Nubians have a comprehensive site for their creative endeavors, Nubiatik.com, and sell their catalog and merchandise there while they keep their global fanbase up to date on new music and performances.

But know this: direct access is no substitute for a solid product. In fact, it’s easier to spot a fraud online. Don’t let limited resources handcuff your presentation. Bad music or shoddy production is painfully obvious in the virtual space. MySpace and YouTube are the tip of the iceberg. As an artist, a presence on MySpace is vital until your following grows large and loyal enough to migrate them to your own social network, for example. As for YouTube, I even have a channel there, and I’m an author.

YouTube.com/ThembisaMshakaTV houses my original content, from press clips to my self-produced commercial—plus content from other sources related to my book.

On this new web, niche is queen, and it’s all in how you spin your silk. Oh yeah, Jake also asked me to offer up advice for new artists, managers and producers. Next issue, I’ll share some direct insight from women in my book that will give you the affirmation you need to make like a Black Widow and kill ‘em out there.