Musical Type

This post is the fifth of nine that will track my experience reading Ariel Hyatt’s “Music Success In Nine Weeks”

Why you should blog.

Why should you blog? Why should you do anything that isn’t writing and practicing and performing your music. That’s what a songwriter or band is supposed to do right?

Why would you teach a class on songwriting at your local writing center? Why would you teach guitar lessons to your neighbor’s son or daughter? Why would you speak on a panel at a music conference?

Would you do these for the self promotion? The networking? To get more people to hear your music? Yes. But each of the aforementioned activities are not just means to an end.

In today’s music world, being a well-rounded music centric person can be very closely related to your success as a musician.

You do these music-related things to extend who you are as a person/musician (your “brand” if you will) into the world. Why would you want to do that. Because you and your qualities, your interests, your ups and downs… these are things that people can connect with.

The more connections you have with the world around you the more meaningful your life as a musician can be. The promotion, the networking, the listeners… will follow.

In the end its not necessarily about blogging. You shouldn’t feel obligated to start and maintain a blog which, by the way, is a lot of work. You SHOULD feel obligated to make as many connections as you can.

So what are things you as a musician can do to make more of these connections? You could run an open mic, a monthly songwriting showcase, or join your local music association and volunteer your time and energies. All of these activities will present you with many opportunities to connect with A LOT of different people. Musicians, future fans, booking agents, venue owners, bartenders and the like.

So what part does blogging play if we are out trying to make as many connections? Blogging just happens to be a very good medium for connecting with A LOT of people. Those connections might take the form of readers of your blog, contributors, commenters, and twitter followers. They might engage with you in conversations of their own or simply promote your posts with links or tweets.

“But what do I write about? I have nothing meaningful to say!”

Sure you do. Write what you are interested in or passionate about. It could be your songwriting process, your marketing strategies, your life as a lounge singer.. anything, really. It works for your songs right? Don’t you write your songs with passion? I would hope so. Well, that passion is why people connect with your music in the first place. Why not grow the number people you are connecting with… through blogging.

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This post is the fourth of nine that will track my experience reading Ariel Hyatt’s “Music Success In Nine Weeks”

I’m skipping “Week 3: Optimizing Your Website” for a reason. For the past 5-6 years I’ve worked as web designer for a few marketing, advertising, and PR agencies. Because of this I have a lot of opinions, ideas, and strategies that will led themselves to a longer, more detailed post. I will post “Week 3″ when I launch my own personal website later this year. Onto “Week 4″ and social media.

This post will not be about why you, as a musician, should be using social media. This post will detail a specific social media tool that you should use to your advantage, URL shorteners. Otherwise known as “tiny URLs” or “Bit.ly Links”.

For this post I will reference http://bit.ly as it is my preferred URL shortening service. There are a number of these services out there. I use bit.ly because through an account I can manage my URLs and keep track of their analytics.

If you don’t know URL shortening is exactly what it sounds like.

For a quick example, let’s say you want to tweet a link to this image of a crazy looking guitar:

http://prototype-typeo.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/09/b-c-rich-platinum-beast-guitar-black.jpg

but you need to shorten the URL to keep your tweet under 140 characters.

Visit http://bit.ly and type in the long URL, click “shorten” and voila! you’ve shortened your URL. Furthermore, you can customize your URL so that instead of appearing as http://bit.ly/fuMw07 you can give it a custom name like http://bit.ly/crazycoolguitar

Don’t make your custom name too long or it defeats the purpose.

Test your shorter, customized URL in a browser to make sure it works. Now you are ready to include the link into your tweet, email, or newsletter.

BUT WAIT! There’s more.

As I mentioned earlier, through a Bit.ly account or simply by adding a “+” to the end of your short URL (i.e. “http://bit.ly/crazycoolguitar+“) you’ll be able to view statistics about this link. Stats like, number of clicks, referrers (where the click came from) and even geographic stats which show which country the click came from. Go ahead, click: http://bit.ly/crazycoolguitar+ and you can see the stats on our crazy cool guitar URL.

As a musician you can use this tracking to your advantage in what I like to call a “Mini Social Media Campaign.”

For Example:

There will be many times in a young musicians career where he/she will play non-paying gigs. In most cases the people who are hosting you are willing to promote the heck out of you and your music. If they are active social media users (twitter / Facebook) they are even more willing to promote you with a link to your website or music. This is a perfect opportunity to use a service like Bit.ly and its analytic features.

Ask your host to post your “Bit.ly” link in a tweet or Facebook post promoting your upcoming performance. The tweet might look like this:

“Stop by Moe’s Coffee from 11-3pm today to hear live music from René Moffatt. Download his music here: http://bit.ly/ReneMoffatt_FreeMusic”

People like free music. When the followers or fans of Moe’s Coffee see the post there’s a good chance they’ll click on the link.

(Note: I usually host a .zip file of free .mp3s on my website server or on a DropBox server)

During your unpaid gig you might be lucky enough to make a few bucks in tips and get 3-4 email signups. But with this “Mini Social Media Campaign” you can get your music out to more people. In the next 24 hours (when tweets are their freshest) check http://bit.ly/ReneMoffatt_FreeMusic+ to see how many people have clicked on the link. Many times folks will even retweet the link giving you even more exposure. If your free music strikes a chord… you just gained a new fan.

I do this constantly. Not just with unpaid gigs, but also when I know that someone is willing to promote my music with a tweet / status update. I’ve seen clicks reach 25-30 people at a time. I’ll take 20 new listeners over none any day!

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This post is the second of nine that will track my experience reading Ariel Hyatt’s “Music Success In Nine Weeks”

In my last post, I mentioned my belief that week 2 would be the harder of the exercises for me. Simply put it’s extremely difficult for most artists to objectively listen to and describe their own music to someone else.

But the more serious you take yourself as a musician the more important it is to effectively communicate what your sound is like. Ariel Hyatt tells a great story in her book of how easy it is for musicians to miss big opportunities when they don’t have their “perfect pitch” down pact.

Before I continue… the “Pitch” is brief description, usually one-two sentences, that clearly and concisely explains what your music sounds like to someone who has never heard your music before. In business circles they call it an “Elevator Pitch”, an idea you can convey in about 15 seconds, or the length of an elevator ride.

Having just left a job whose office building was on the 11th floor, I can’t tell you how many times fellow riders saw my guitar case and asked, “What kind of music do you play?” And even within the last week, while I was going through this “pitch” exercise, I was asked the same question, at least two or three times.

Let me tell you. As a serious songwriter, there was nothing more personally embarrassing as knowing that I was missing a chance to use a well developed pitch. Proof that even though this week’s exercise would be tough, it would come in handy real quick.

If you carry a guitar around, you can bet the royalties off your first hit that you’ll be asked “what kind of music do you play”

But how do you begin describing your own sound. A sound that is arguably a composite of your entire music listening life. You can list your biggest influences, align yourself with an established artist’s sound, or simply re-use who other people say you sound like. It’s easy to see how difficult this might be.

More than likely, your biggest influences are artists you grew up listening to. In my case:

Beatles, Beach Boys, Jackson Browne, Brian Wilson, John Lennon, Paul McCartney, Simon & Garfunkel, Dave Matthews Band, John Mayer, Ben Folds, Billy Joel, Ryan Adams, Belle & Sebastian

I cannot say I sound like any ONE of these artists. But I will venture to say I might sound like the love-child of all these artists. (Gross, I know)

I’ve been told by a few people that I sound like: Jackson Browne, Jack Johnson, John Mayer, Blind Pilot, Ray Lamontagne, Joshua Radin.

One might argue that combining these lists and throwing out the outliers might give you your sound. This is a good place to start. But more serious consideration should be put into it. Mention these “similar” artists to your friends, fans, and fellow musicians and see if they agree. This will kickstart the process of defining your sound. But it doesn’t end there.

Define… your audience.

One thing that isn’t mentioned in ‘9 Weeks’  is the topic of “audience.” Who is your audience? Who are you describing your music to. Here are a few examples of audience.

Booking Agent: they’ll want to know what your sound is because they are determining if your sound is right for their club/venue/event.
Older Fan: Will a 50 year old “get” your sound if you tell them you sound like (insert young, obscure indie rocker reference)
Younger Fan: Will an 18 year old “get” your sound if you say you sound like The Smothers Brothers

Having two perfect pitches might sound like extra work, but it will go a long way when it comes to effectively communicating your sound to as many people as possible.

Ask An Expert

This can mean many things. There are services where, for a fee, you can have your music reviewed or a pitch/bio written for you. You can also reach out to an experienced local music critic. These individuals spend every waking hour listening to music of all kinds and its in their job description that they be able to reference other artists when describing a new artist.

On an alternative note, did you know that when your music is accepted by Pandora, it is categorized by individuals who have advanced degrees in musicology? Pandora evaluates each song by 3-400 identification points which are then used to cross-reference and compare your music to the rest of the Music Genome! Apparently you are able to look up this data once your music is on Pandora. A hidden perk I’ll be sure to check out myself.

I will certainly rely on many sources to help define my own sound. And at least once a year, or each time you come out with a significant piece of music, you should reevaluate your pitch.

Your Perfect Pitch

You might wake up tomorrow and think, “This is not who I am. This is not what i sound like.” (add The Talking Heads to the list of influences ) But changing your pitch is okay. you can’t say you do or don’t like something if you’ve never done it.

Lastly, I’ll leave with with a few alternatives I jotted down in the process of finding my first perfect pitch.

“Hair Like Dylan”
“Lennon Covers McCartney”
“Acoustic Folk n’ Pop”
“Si-funkel”
“I’m the fifth Eagle”

- René

René Moffatt is an acoustic-based singer-songwriter with the heavy folk-rock influence of Jackson Browne coupled with pop tendencies that range from John Mayer to Billy Joel. He sounds a lot like a solo version of The Eagles.

René Moffatt needs to find a pitch directed towards a younger audience.

René Moffatt is constantly revising his “Perfect Pitch” and so should you.

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This post is the first of nine that will track my experience reading Ariel Hyatt’s “Music Success In Nine Weeks”

“Set goals.” Something you practically hear every day of your life. And if you knew me, you would have heard that from me. I’m a guilty preacher.

That being said, when I opened Ariel’s book and saw “goal-setting” as Week One’s objective, it brought up feelings of uneasiness. That discomfort comes from my repeated inability to right down concrete goals.

I’ve always thought of myself as being “goal-oriented”. I’ve always had dreams, I’ve always been striving for one thing or another. What I know now is that I’ve always had drive. Drive can get you to where you want to go. But it won’t unless you know, specifically where it is you want to go.

In the past my goals were too general, too vague, too out of reach to ever achieve them. I never tried to bring them down to earth or make them tangible enough to a) achieve them b) work towards them in a progressive manner or c) give myself the opportunity to decide if the scope of my goals / dreams needed to be changed, adapted, amended, or dropped altogether. This state of “overdrive” prevented me from having any sort of perspective on what I wanted to achieve.

Writing down specific goals, with specific deadlines gives you the perspective you need to achieve what you want… or find what it is that you do want. Furthermore, this act of documentation reveals the necessary steps, questions, concerns that you have to face if you want to achieve anything.

This may sound obvious to you. But I’ve lingered for too long in the murky waters of unspecified goals. Doing simple exercises for smaller goals exposed larger issues or “mind blocks” that would eventually prevent me from achieving bigger, more complicated long term goals.

And many times, especially when preparing to release an album, your goals will intertwine and be dependent upon a sequence of accomplishments. For example, say I set the goal of redesigning my website prior to CD release. In this case my album design will larger influence/effect my website look and feel. Album art is determined by photo choice. Laying out all of your goals, big and small, allows you to see which steps need to be tackled first.

Working backwards: Website redesign < Album Art Finished < Album Photos Selected < Photo Shoot Complete < Find A Photographer < Secure Funds to Pay Photographer < Finding Work To Make Money

A goal that may be a month or two away is made up of a few or many steps. Steps you might be able to act on right this minute, today, or this weekend.

This progression will be different for each person. But just know that writing down your goals will reveal to you the things you can’t see, or better yet, the things you are ignoring and need to confront!

Next week I’ll be writing about “Your Perfect Pitch” which I anticipate being one of the more difficult exercises.

- René

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You’ve got a show coming up. Or maybe you are hosting an upcoming songwriters showcase or another event. The venue calls you at the last minute to say that they won’t be providing someone to work the door.

Now you might be thinking, “Crap, one more thing I’ve got to think about when I’m trying to run my show.”

It’s easy to fret (get it?) over having another responsibility added to the pile when you’ve already got so much demanding your attention.

But just as connecting with the audience is key to your on stage performance, connecting with the friends, fans, and walk-ins who come to your event is another opportunity to send them away with a good impression.

Instead of seeing door duty as just taking money, stamping hands, and counting heads, see it as another chance to exchange a few kind words.

“Thank you for coming out tonight, we can’t wait to play for you.”

Or when the night has come to a close:

“Thanks for coming out tonight, don’t forget we’ll be here next month.”

Any interaction with folks at your show can be a chance to send them off with a quality experience.

For instance, hand them a flyer describing the artists featured in your showcase. Your handout might have upcoming show information or URLs where they can find each artist who played.

And don’t worry about having to spend your whole evening stuck at the entrance. If its your turn to play or you want to network (and by network I mean doing shots) ask another songwriter to hop on door duty for a bit.

So, the next time you are stuck with door duty, don’t be like the rock star who freaks out when the venue forgets to sprinkle rose petals on the green room floor… just work it like you do when you are up on stage and you’ll be just fine.

- René

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Jason regularly appears in color as well

MusicalType’s first artist website is for Philly-bred, Baltimore/DC based songwriter Jason Ager. I’ve known Jason for a couple of years now. He’s an amazing live performer who is able to captivate audiences and always has them bobbing their heads to his hook-filled tunes. In addition to the website, we worked with Jason to develop a reusable show poster, as well as handled the design of his album “Lunchdate” available here on iTunes & cdbaby.

Check it out: JasonAger.com

Among the many elements on this website is a YouTube embed which will pull in Jason’s recurring “Videologs”

I’ve shared the stage numerous times with Jason and will continue to do so in the future! Please visit his site, tell a friend, and contact us if you want your web presence to (dramatic pause) “look as good as you sound”.

~René @ MusicalType.com

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Even at this tiny size you can clearly see the impact shelling out $20 will give you. Go for the Plus! Tell them I sent you.

So, when you are ready to create a Facebook Fanpage (we might cover the creation of this in a later post) if you are concerned about image/brand or even just the way you and your music appear online you are going to want to have a more branded, image driven appearance on your Fanpage.

There are a few companies out there who are doing this, but one I stumbled upon recently caught my attention, RootMusic.com. While you can use their free version “Bandpage” I recommended using “Bandpage Plus” and shelling out the $20 a year (come on! that’s like 5 beers, 3 if you call DC home).

With this you get an extremely easy to update user interface that lets you customize header and background images as well as adjust the colors of fonts and other design elements. Installation of RootMusic’s Bandpage is a snap with their step-by-step process and multiple video tutorials.

In addition to having a branded Fanpage, RootMusic allows you to publish show dates, music files, and tweets to the Bandpage providing a simple, elegant presence on Facebook.

Need help designing or getting ideas for your Bandpage? Check out some of the artists using RootMusic (as featured on the home page) and you’ll get a clear idea of the potential design layouts.

Not design savvy enough to make your page look good? Share RootMusic.com with your friendly neighborhood designer and he’ll thank you for introducing him to such an easy way to brand Facebook Fanpages.

Now go see my new RootMusic Facebook Fanpage too see it in action .. and don’t forget to “Like” the page to prove you were there. Ciao!

My inspiration was a bottle of Pinot Noir

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Used & Abused

So, you’ve worked hard and toiled through the songwriting process, have a handful of songs in your repertoire, and you are starting to play around town … maybe even in front of some people.

Chances are, if your songs catch people’s attention, they’ll want to hear more. They might come to your next show or “friend” you on Facebook. Maybe you’d like to get in touch with them. Let them know when you’ll be playing next.

Why not have them sign up for your e-mail list! As we all know, this is a great way to stay in touch and communicate with fans. But there’s a problem. Its called handwriting. And ever since the invention of the computer, handwriting has gotten worse!

If only there was some way to force people to write legibly. Remember the mantra, “Stay between the lines”? Well there is a reason for staying in between the lines. How else are songwriters going to grace you with their shoddy prose informing you of their next show, or begging you to fund their next album of emo/funk rap (I made that one up, but I’m sure someone’s doing it)

That’s why I designed the perfect email sign up list. And all you gotta do to get it is download this .zip file

Inside you’ll find a couple of versions.

1   .eps (if you are design savvy and want to hack my design)
2   .pdf with editable header region (“Your Band Here”) Edit with Adobe Acrobat.
3   .pdf with a blank header if you want to put your own graphic atop

Once you’re finished with customizing the template, print out about 50-60 copies and have them bound at FedEx Office (It’ll always be Kinko’s to me) I prefer a tape bind or something involving screws (see picture) but most of you will go with a spiral bind so you can flip it over easily.

Get lots of use out of it. And shoot me a comment or email if you have any suggestions or improvements on the form template.

Now go out there and trade songs for email addresses!

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