The David Andrew Wiebe Show

Content marketing is an amazing way to build your music career or drive business.

Unfortunately, it’s easier to fail in your content marketing efforts than it is to succeed, especially if you don’t have a defined plan.

In this episode of The New Music Industry Podcast, I share several things that holds people back from getting the kinds of results they’re looking for from their content marketing efforts.

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Podcast Highlights:

00:14 – What is content marketing?

01:08 – Failing at content marketing

01:21 – Content marketing and long-term mindset

01:44 – Two ways content marketing can work

02:36 – The third approach that never works

03:10 – Achieving balance with your content marketing

04:05 – Just ship it

04:27 – Stop being a perfectionist

04:34 – Why ghostwriters are hired

04:50 – Unrealistic expectations around content creation

05:11 – The subjectivity of “perfect” content

06:12 – The trap of perfectionism

06:45 – Jack Conte and letting go of perfectionism

07:06 – Developing a content marketing strategy

Transcription:

If you’ve been listening to the podcast for a while, then there’s a good chance you already know about my love of content marketing.

In case you aren’t sure what content marketing is, let me borrow an eloquent description.

Content Marketing Institute defines it this way:

Content marketing is a strategic marketing approach focused on creating and distributing valuable, relevant, and consistent content to attract and retain a clearly defined audience – and, ultimately, to drive profitable customer actions.

If you’re creating YouTube videos on a weekly basis to attract an audience for your music, you’re leveraging content marketing.

If you’re podcasting to build an audience of musicians and music entrepreneurs like I am, you’re leveraging content marketing.

If you’re publishing daily articles to drive traffic to your website like Soundfly is, you’re leveraging content marketing. You can hear Ian Temple talk about this in episode 80 of the podcast.

Content marketing is effective. But over the years, I’ve seen plenty of people fail at it, or arbitrarily put a stop to their initiative because they don’t see an immediate payoff.

That’s actually the first issue I want to address:

Content marketing requires a long-term mindset.

Frequently adding valuable content to your site can help you get more organic traffic. If you’re serious about search engine optimization, then you simply can’t ignore the importance of creating content.

But for better or for worse, whatever actions you take to optimize your site today probably won’t produce results for six to 12 months.

I’ve only seen this work two ways:

Publishing on a regular schedule. It can be tough coming up with content ideas and creating something new every day, three days a week, once a week, or whatever the frequency. But if you treat every content piece like an experiment and track which of your experiments bear fruit six to 12 months down the line, you can get a good sense of what type of content attracts your audience and create more of it.

Publishing quality content sporadically. This strategy seems to work well for people like SEO expert Brian Dean. He doesn’t publish all the time, but when he does, he puts out posts that are jam-packed with a ton of value. He spends a lot of time researching keywords and ideas before he even dedicates time to writing the post. Then, he proceeds to market these posts with every bit of enthusiasm he can muster. That’s a key point.

Meanwhile, I’ve seen some people take a third approach, and I have yet to see this work. They stop and go, rinse and repeat. They publish a few pieces, try to measure their effectiveness, and then pause while they assess whether what they published worked.

Inevitably, these people get left in the dust because there are plenty of other people publishing valuable content on a more frequent basis.

Now, don’t get me wrong – I do believe in getting every bit of leverage out of a content piece. But unless you’re producing at the level that someone like Brian Dean is, you’re not going to impress anyone with your 300-word blog posts.

You must find your balance. If you’re going to be publishing frequently, you’re probably not going to be spending as much time researching, distributing, and marketing your content. But it’s like chipping away at a piece of granite. Every piece of content you publish can help you move toward your goals of attracting an audience and selling to them.

If you’re going to be publishing less frequently, then you should be spending more time in research. And, because you’re going to be spending a lot of time writing, you don’t want that piece of content to go to waste. You should also spend a lot of time distributing and marketing it.

Stopping and going does nothing whether you look at it from the perspective of your audience, or the perspective of search engines. If you’re only going to be sharing bit pieces, your audience is going to want to hear from you more frequently. There’s nothing wrong with snackable content, but you must publish a lot of it to keep that traffic coming in. This will also send a signal to search engines that you’re creating something worthwhile.

I believe in creating quality content. But I’m not obsessive. I believe Seth Godin was right when he said, “just ship it”. Once something is out in the world, you can get feedback and gauge people’s response to it. So long as it’s sitting on your hard drive and you keep tweaking it, you’re wasting a lot of time that could potentially be better allocated.

Once something is out in the world, you can get feedback and gauge people's response to it.Share on X

That brings me to my second point:

You must leave perfectionism at the door.

Okay, I admit. I’m voicing one of my frustrations as a ghostwriter here.

Businesses and entrepreneurs tend to hire ghostwriters because:

They don’t have time to write their own content.

They don’t view publishing content as a high value task.

They don’t enjoy writing, or they aren’t very good at it.

A combination of the above.

Unfortunately, people hiring ghostwriters tend to have a lot of unrealistic expectations around what a ghostwriter can offer.

You must realize that a ghostwriter tends to have many clients, not just one. So, if you want their full, undivided attention, you should consider hiring them full-time.

Why is this an issue? Because many entrepreneurs and businesses want perfect content.

What does “perfect” mean? Well, it’s entirely subjective of course.

Most people would consider things like:

Grammar

Spelling

Voice or tone

But there can be a myriad of other factors often not considered by people hiring ghostwriters.

You might have certain regulations you need them to adhere to. You might require the ghostwriter use certain industry jargon or terminology. Or, you might even need the ghostwriter to follow your style guide.

But you’d be amazed at how many businesses don’t have a style guide, and when they do, it’s so long and detailed no one could possibly absorb it in a few tries. It can take ghostwriters awhile to sus out one’s exact needs.

But again, I must also go back to what I said earlier. Assuming the ghostwriter is working with many clients, their attention is going to be divided among them. And, if they’re getting paid the same across the board, there’s simply no way for them to prioritize your project over others.

Can you see how this would put a serious damper on how much content one could publish in a given timeframe?

Certainly, you don’t want to put out subpar content. But you also shouldn’t take forever putting together something that may not even be read, heard, or viewed by your audience. You could spend hours, days, weeks, months, even years on it, and when you finally publish it, there’s no guarantee it will get a response.

Now you know why an editorial calendar and deadlines are amazing tools. If you know you must create another video by next week, you’ll find a way to put it all together – even if you must cut a few corners or simplify the concept to achieve the desired result.

I once interviewed Jack Conte. He told me that one of the obstacles he had to overcome was letting go of perfectionism and publishing songs when they weren’t finished.

I don’t see the word “perfection” in Content Marketing Institute’s definition of content marketing. I do see the words “valuable”, “relevant”, and “consistent” though, and that should be your goal.

If there’s anything else to add, it would be this…

Content marketing requires strategy.

What are your goals? What do you hope to achieve with content marketing? How do you plan to reach those goals?

I can only assume that a lot of people stop and go because they don’t have a strategy and they’re constantly second guessing themselves.

So, they try writing 300-word blog posts for a week.

Then, they try their hand at podcasting but quit after a month.

Then, they sporadically publish videos for the next four months.

Now, I’m all for experimentation. But if this is how you’re approaching content marketing, I can tell you right now Kim Kardashian is more organized than you are. Just look at her Instagram feed.

At The Music Entrepreneur HQ, we publish blog posts on Tuesday, podcast episodes on Thursday, and weekly digests on Friday.

This is always subject to review, and sometimes we publish more, sometimes we publish less. But as a basic guideline for what to achieve each week, it works.

Our content is geared towards musicians and music entrepreneurs.

We believe in simplifying difficult concepts and explaining them in plain language.

We believe in helping artists think outside the box.

We believe in empowering artists and in helping them adopt a strong mindset....

What? It isn’t the New Year? Why talk about starting your year the right way now?

The reality is it’s never too late to get your year on track. And, if you’re not on track right now, this would be a good time to get back on track.

In this episode of The New Music Industry Podcast, I recap the various posts and podcast episodes that were published to inspire you in 2018.

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Podcast Highlights:

00:14 – Wrapping up the New Year content

00:43 – Why I put together inspirational content for the New Year each year

00:59 – Each post that was created to help you find your footing in 2018

01:51 – A recap of the New Year posts

02:01 – 2018

02:34 – Setting Your Defaults

03:08 – The Fewer The Options, The Better

03:36 – Closing the Chapter on 2017

04:02 – Reflecting on My 3 Theme Words from 2017

04:32 – What Did I Accomplish in 2017?

05:30 – 10 Things I Did in 2017

06:01 – 4 Impacting Books I Read in 2017

06:48 – How to Determine a Focus for Your Music Entrepreneurship Career

07:26 – Top 10 The Music Entrepreneur HQ Posts in 2017

07:45 – Were you inspired by any of this content?

09:00 – New resource

Transcription:

Well, it has taken a while for me to get through the New Year content here in 2018, but I hope you’ve enjoyed what I’ve had to share with you to this point. This podcast episode is the last in the series.

It’s already May as I’m putting this episode together, and it may be June by the time I finally get around to publishing it. My plan wasn’t necessarily for it to take this long but I had a lot of interview requests and thought it would be a shame to put off publishing the great conversations I was having.

I always like to front-load the year with a dose of inspiration, because it’s usually the time when we begin thinking about setting goals and what we’d like to accomplish in the New Year. There’s a natural rhythm to the year, and going with the flow keeps you moving forward at a faster rate.

I’m going to take a moment to mention each post that was created to help you find your footing in 2018, and these posts will be linked up in the show notes of this episode:

2018

076 – Setting Your Defaults

077 – The Fewer The Options, The Better

078 – Closing the Chapter on 2017

079 – Reflecting on My 3 Theme Words from 2017

081 – What Did I Accomplish in 2017?

083 – 10 Things I Did in 2017

084 – 4 Impacting Books I Read in 2017

090 – How to Determine A Focus for Your Music Entrepreneurship Career

093 – Top 10 The Music Entrepreneur HQ Posts of 2017

I would love to hear your thoughts on each of these posts. In case you missed these, here’s an overview of what I talked about in these posts and podcast episodes:

2018

In this post, I shared what I believe is going to happen in 2018 from a spiritual perspective, as well as what’s in store for The Music Entrepreneur HQ. I’ve already made some adjustments around what I’m working on and what I’m looking to accomplish, but I would say I’m happy with the progress I’ve been making.

Making predictions is kind of fun, and even if you aren’t right, people tend to enjoy reading what you have to say about things to come. I think what I said about 2018 in this post is valid, but you’d have to read it for yourself to see if it resonates with you.

076 – Setting Your Defaults

While I do believe in the power of creating and sticking to a routine, it takes considerable discipline. Though I always get a lot done, I haven’t had much success with keeping a regular routine in the last year or so.

So, here’s a different way of thinking about planning and scheduling. Setting your defaults helps you eliminate the energy you might otherwise expend on determining what to do with your time daily. If you have a predetermined default for your day or for specific time blocks in your schedule, decision making becomes much easier.

077 – The Fewer The Options, The Better

Your desktop workstation isn’t set up. You’re in the process of moving, and your belongings are spread across your previous residence and your new residence. Although you have a laptop or two lying about, you can’t access the internet. What do you do?

The answer is simple – you focus!

In this podcast episode, I share why it’s better to limit your options than it is to be distracted by the millions of options starting back at you.

078 – Closing the Chapter on 2017

I agree fully with leadership mentor Michael Hyatt – if you fail to process the year you’ve just experienced, you’ll end up carrying that baggage into the New Year. That stops you from taking full advantage of the clean slate.

This podcast episode shows the process he and I use to jettison any baggage we might be carrying into the New Year before embarking upon new adventures.

079 – Reflecting on My 3 Theme Words from 2017

I like Chris Brogan’s theme word idea. Every year, he sets three theme words for the year.

As with routine, goal-setting isn’t my strong suit. But if I set an intention for the year, things start to show up and experiences begin to manifest in unpredictable and incredible ways.

So, every year, I share my theme words and what happened as results of setting an intention. Some amazing things happened last year to say the least.

081 – What Did I Accomplish in 2017?

This was another reflection I did, mainly because I felt I achieved a big goal in 2016 but wasn’t sure I had grown or advanced my goals in 2017.

As I reflected, I realized I had. And, I also affirmed the importance of taking breaks. In the entrepreneurial culture, long hours at the office are worn like a badge of honor. Unfortunately, this has a way of getting us thinking we must be productive every waking moment. Andrew Galucki and I talked about this in episode 91 of the podcast.

But I don’t think it works that way. Like a lumberjack, we must spend time sharpening our saws before going to log. That allows you to cut down more trees, not fewer.

As you lose sleep, work long hours, forget to meditate, exercise and eat healthy, your body deteriorates, and you begin to burn out. So, regular breaks allow you time to recover and reflect on where you’re going. This also helps you identify any adjustments you might need to make.

083 – 10 Things I Did in 2017

What did I do in 2017?

I thought this might prove an interesting reflection. It would help me see how my career was progressing and could also offer some insight into what you could be doing to make the most of your music entrepreneurship career.

I don’t necessarily want to give you the impression that being a music entrepreneur is about how many things you can do at the same time. But you might be able to identify one thing from the list that you’d like to pursue with everything you’ve got.

084 – 4 Impacting Books I Read in 2017

In 2015 and 2016, I was successful in reading 52 books or more – one book for every week in the year.

I let this habit go in 2017. I still love to read, and I will keep exploring more books in the future, but I think I learned something valuable as result of cutting down on the constant consumption of information.

As my business coach James Schramko says, he has good filters around what to consume and not to consume.

I’ve begun to realize there’s limited value in constantly researching different topics. Certainly, it’s important to keep an eye on what’s happening in your industry, but this doesn’t need to be your top priority.

When you spend less time consuming, you can spend more time creating. That’s the key point.

When you spend less time consuming, you can spend more time creating.Share on X

090 – How to Determine a Focus for Your Music Entrepreneurship Career

How do you determine a focus for your music entrepreneurship career?

In this episode of the podcast, I shared a few ideas around what filters to use to decide on a viable direction for your career.

Perhaps, based on things you’re already doing, you could identify a few winners to focus on and cut off the losers that just aren’t working.

Such objective thinking can be difficult when you’re attached to an idea, but maybe you could set aside a small amount of time in your schedule to work on side projects while you maintain focus on the key products and services that generate income.

093 – Top 10 The Music Entrepreneur HQ Posts of 2017

And, of course, I looked at what content fared the best on The Music Entrepreneur HQ in 2017. Perhaps this could offer some ideas around the types of content you could be creating, or help you come up with ideas for guest posts you could write for us.

My question for you is:

Were you inspired by some or all this content, and if so, did you stay inspired? Did you set any new goals? Did you complete any big projects? How are things coming along? It’s never a bad idea to check in mid-year and assess your progress.

As for me, to this point, I’ve launched two new products. I’m basically launching at a rate of one new product every two months, which I think is a great pace and I’m hoping to keep to that.

And, I’ve affirmed something important: You guys seem to respond more to books than other types of products I’ve created, like eBooks and courses. Maybe this is unique to my audience. Or, maybe all this talk about books on The Music Entrepreneur HQ already has you predisposed towards buying books.

In episode 81 of the podcast, I talked about the fact that I’ve achieved more clarity around what I’m doing at The Music Entrepreneur HQ. I recently reaffirmed this direction.

This was important to me, because I was thinking about expanding in different directions and testing a lot of products and services. What I gradually realized was that I have three business units, and I need to separate them as such. One of these businesses is being built with the idea of selling it in mind.

But I digress.

...

Content, content, content. There’s so much to consume and so little time. Aren’t you glad you can listen to this instead of reading it?

In this episode of The New Music Industry Podcast, I share the top 10 posts on The Music Entrepreneur HQ from 2017.

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Podcast Highlights:

00:14 – We publish a lot of content at The Music Entrepreneur HQ

00:42 – 6 Things I Learned From Believe in Yourself by Joseph Murphy

01:17 – 10 Jaw-Dropping Music Industry Stats [INFOGRAPHIC]

01:46 – How to Earn Money from Affiliate Marketing for Musicians

02:25 – 9 Ways to Make More Money in the Music Industry

03:01 – Top 10 Free Music Apps for Android 2017

03:29 – I Asked Jack Conte About Success… Here’s What He Shared With Me

04:10 – 10 Tips for Beginner Guitarists – Do’s & Don’ts

04:41 – Ari Herstand’s Song or Album Release Checklist

05:15 – How to Become a More Confident Musician & Living the Entrepreneurial Life

05:58 – 6 Impacting Books I Read in 2016

06:22 – What was your favorite post from 2017?

Transcription:

Each year, we publish a lot of content at The Music Entrepreneur HQ.

But there are always a few posts that stand out among the 100 or more posts that go live on a yearly basis.

This is because the subject matter of these posts resonates with you in a way that other pieces simply don’t, or because you derived greater value from them.

2017 was no exception – certain posts had greater reach than others, and in this podcast episode, I’m going to highlight the top 10 posts from 2017.

1. 029 – 6 Things I Learned From Believe in Yourself by Joseph Murphy

To this day, the most popular post on The Music Entrepreneur HQ is 6 Things I Learned From The Power of Your Subconscious Mind by Joseph Murphy.

So, I thought to myself, if people like to learn about Joseph Murphy and his works that much, I should share more about the topic.

That’s exactly what I did, and not surprisingly it emerged as the top post in 2017.

The next step for me will be to write a book on the topic of the subconscious mind, but I’m not promising anything in the immediate future.

2. 10 Jaw-Dropping Music Industry Stats [INFOGRAPHIC]

I had a feeling this post would catch on, even as I was writing it. Compared to other industries, it seems like there isn’t as much transparency in the music industry, making relevant stats harder to find.

When I was researching and putting together this content, I knew that I wanted to turn it into an infographic, something I finally did here in 2018.

If you haven’t seen the infographic yet, it’s worth revisiting this post just to have a look.

3. 042 – How to Earn Money from Affiliate Marketing for Musicians

Based on the popularity of this post and some coaching requests I’ve had, I’m thinking about creating a course on affiliate marketing.

Since affiliate marketing involves promoting a product you didn’t have to create and earning commissions on it, there are a near limitless number of opportunities to explore.

I believe it’s a revenue stream many musicians and music entrepreneurs aren’t thinking about, so that alone makes it a topic worth covering in more detail.

I’d also like to prompt you to check out episode 89 of the podcast with Brian Poillucci of EVO Band Apps, as you might be interested in leveraging his app to create your affiliate income.

4. 9 Ways to Make More Money in the Music Industry

There was a contract writer I’d hired to put this post together, and she clearly did a great job.

The topic of money isn’t always one artists like to broach, because it tends to be a personal and sensitive matter, but it’s clearly an important topic based on the number of people who read this post, which offers a good introduction to the various income streams available in the music industry.

If you want to learn more about managing money, you’ll want to keep an eye out for the bonus content I’m creating for The Essential Guide to Music Entrepreneurship: 2018 Edition book.

5. Top 10 Free Music Apps for Android 2017

Today, every business is a publisher.

I treat every content piece as an experiment, gauging interest and engagement. You never know what’s going to work until you put it out there.

This post was developed by a guest poster Faisal. He’s contributed a few pieces to The Music Entrepreneur HQ in the past.

While a post like this may not offer much value to musicians, music consumers and entrepreneurs might find it interesting – especially those creating apps.

6. I Asked Jack Conte About Success… Here’s What He Shared With Me

I’ve often raised Pomplamoose and Jack Conte as a great example of independent success in music.

Instead of requesting a full-length interview, I decided to ask him one question – what mental blocks or obstacles did you have to overcome to find success as an artist (and entrepreneur)? What drove you to keep experimenting when there was no assurance that you’d eventually connect with an audience?

When Jack responded, he was quick to say that’s one of the most important questions one could ask and proceeded to elaborate on why that was the case.

I had some success syndicating this article as well, which may have contributed to its popularity.

7. 10 Tips for Beginner Guitarists – Do’s & Don’ts

Here’s another guest post that managed to sneak into the top 10 for 2017.

Guitar is clearly a topic people are interested in, and something I’ve shared about on the blog here and there over the years.

Guitar is a fun instrument, and if you’re a vocalist or aspiring musician thinking about picking up an instrument, I would argue that guitar is a great place to start.

I made a guitar eBook a couple of years ago, and I intend to add to it and turn it into a proper book down the line.

8. Content I Wish I Created #2: Ari Herstand’s Song or Album Release Checklist

When I heard Ari Herstand share this checklist on the DIY Musician Podcast, I knew that I wanted to make notes on it.

Every year, it seems like I have a new obsession. In 2017, I dug into content distribution and syndication. I started making checklists for myself and thought about all the places I could get my content out to – whether it was a song, a blog post, a podcast episode, or a video.

Ari’s checklist will prove a valuable resource to me and is complementary to the ones I’ve been creating.

9. 068 – How to Become a More Confident Musician & Living the Entrepreneurial Life – with Christopher Sutton of Musical U

You won’t hear me say too many subjective things about the content we publish here at The Music Entrepreneur HQ. But I must admit that my interview with Christopher Sutton is one of my favorites.

I’ve occasionally thought about having a small group of regular rotating guests here on the podcast, and if I would ask anyone to be a part of that, Christopher would be at the top of the list.

I’ve had the opportunity to spend some time within the Musical U community, and if you’re looking to learn how to play an instrument, I would recommend checking it out. Learning to play an instrument isn’t something we cover step by step at The Music Entrepreneur HQ, so head on over to Musical U if that’s your present goal.

10. 025 – 6 Impacting Books I Read in 2016

Every year, I share a list of the best books I read the previous year. These books are often more business, marketing and leadership oriented than they are music oriented, but I’m always happy to make recommendations because I do a lot of reading.

Our audience always seems to enjoy it when we talk about books, so rest assured there will be more content like this in the future.

Conclusion

What was your favorite post from 2017?

Are there any topics we should be covering in more detail on The Music Entrepreneur HQ?

I look forward to seeing your response in the comments section.

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These days, recording project related data doesn’t get captured the way it used to. This leads to incomplete metadata and a loss of opportunity for those involved in the recording process.

In this episode of The New Music Industry Podcast, Deborah Fairchild of VEVA Sound shares about how easy it can be to collect the right data with their Studio Collect plugin.

Download the PDF Cheat Sheet

Podcast Highlights:

00:14 – Introductions

00:24 – What is VEVA Sound?

01:52 – Why is metadata so important?

03:51 – Why aren’t studios collecting recording data anymore?

09:33 – What are some common mistakes engineers make in recording data

11:14 – What have you seen people do with collecting data that surprised you?

13:20 – How does the Studio Collect Suite plugin work?

15:43 – Do you need a plugin like SCP to begin collecting recording data?

16:37 – How can metadata help with monetization?

18:18 – Where do you see things going next with metadata?

19:44 – What advice do you have for audio engineers?

20:50 – Conclusion

Transcription:

David Andrew Wiebe: Today I'm chatting with VEVA's executive vice president Deborah Fairchild. How are you today, Deborah?

Deborah Fairchild: I'm doing well. Thank you. How are you?

David: I'm great, thanks. Thank you for asking. So tell us a little bit about VEVA Sound and what you do.

Deborah: So, VEVA Sound is an asset management company that we started 16 years ago in Nashville. And we're the bridge between recording studios and the creatives and content owners. So we work with a lot of the major labels in the US and Europe, and Universal, Sony... Companies like that, as well as people like Bruce Springsteen, Garth Brooks, that own their masters, we can handle the catalog transfer, legacy equipment. So we have a collaboration with Blackbird Studios in Nashville where we pretty much have every piece of machinery available from every format that music was created in. But through the years, the past 10 years, especially we've focused in on everything is already digital. So there's a lot that goes on in the back end. You know, all the files, being on servers and recorded in studios and different houses and things like that. We facilitate the collection of the metadata and the audio files, and then provide it in platforms where companies and entities can utilize it and re-monetize it and repurpose it. Sorry, that was a little long winded?

David: No, that's very helpful. Why is metadata so important? And why should credits be collected during recording sessions?

Deborah: So, it's interesting... I've always been fascinated, I've been doing this now for 15 years, and everyone at VEVA has an engineering background. And we've all went to audio school and have worked in studios and part of the creative process. And what we found in our work that we do for the record labels and things like that, but for whatever reason, the concept of collecting your credits, while you create your your music is something that's been lost in the digital age. So previously, like when we've done transfer work, we were literally scanning track sheets that have all of the instruments and who played on it, and what studio they were in and the date and all kinds of information descriptive, and technical metadata about the recording. And when things have gone digital, it's really something that has been left behind. So what ends up happening is because of the way the fragmented recording process occurs, which is also really cool, you know, I can be in London and send files over to LA. And depending on the file size, they can have it in 20 minutes and download it and start working in LA on the same project. So everything is so fast paced, and people are forgetting that they need to, you know, write down who is there. So then eventually upon release, it can be discoverable and available to consumers. And so we're really hoping with the plugin we've created, it'll the ease of access to actually gather this data can start happening within the Pro Tools session, Logic session, things like that, and then travel with the session, and then ultimately reside in a better user consumer experience.

David: Why is it that many studios aren't collecting recording data anymore?

Deborah: Well, it's not the role of the actual studio, which I think a lot of people kind of get confused on that part too. So the role of the studio is to provide, the gear and the acoustics and different things like that in terms of a lot of people will go to a certain studio because they have a specific microphone that's really rare. And it sounds amazing and stuff like that. But from a business perspective, it's up to the actual engineers and producers to collect the data because then as soon as you leave the studio, you take your files with you. And the knowledge of who was there goes with you as well. So it's more up to the individuals creating the music to actually document it because they're the ones there. So the studios aren't very reliable, sometimes for files, but even then, you know, once the session is paid for and done. It's up to the person who paid for the session to keep track of the files and things like that.

David: I'm sort of imagining engineers or producers being too shy to ask for everyone's name, or maybe just so caught up in the recording session that they even forget to ask.

Deborah: Yeah, I think it's, it's really fascinating to me why all of the reasons why it's not happening. I think it is a time thing. I think people think it impedes on the creative process at times to kind of stop a session or even start a session to ask. So there could definitely be some of that embarrassment or not wanting to rock the boat or things like that. But we feel that as things continue to progress with, you know, Spotify has announced that they're going to start doing enhanced credits, there's a company called Jaksta, that is launching this year out of Sydney, to be a global database at this sort of thing. And open doors doing some work in... different companies are starting to display more metadata, and I think that shift is going to cause a stir within the creative community because they'll want their names, at the point of stream or sale, or I think it lacking on that area is kind of causing an adverse effect in the studio, because, you know, the engineer's name isn't readily available anyway. So they're thinking why waste time doing it,

David: So, they don't feel like they're being credited to begin with. So then they're kind of going like, well, I shouldn't have to do this.

Deborah: Yeah, it's kind of like the chicken and the egg issue. But it's also a bigger issue within the Grammys and getting nominated and things like that, you have to have actual credited information in order to get nominated. And a lot of people sometimes get left out of hit records, because their names didn't get collected along the way, which is really sad, you know, it's a big issue within the music industry as a whole. But I think there are lots of companies that are working to make it better. And so we our company is just part of the process to try to raise awareness of the issues, of course, but also show that there is a light at the end of the tunnel. And there will be companies that come along. So like the Jaksta company, it's in beta right now. But you can click on a guitar player, for example, and then see every recording that that guitar player played on, which is really cool. Or mix engineer, click on a mix engineer's name and see every album they ever mixed. So that's something that's really exciting and cool. That's on the horizon.

David: That's huge, because it's not the same as like a ghostwriter who isn't credited on the recording, but still collects royalties, versus somebody who doesn't have their name on it and can't collect anything that's owed them.

Deborah: Yeah, so it's really cool as far as, and also just getting work. So, you know, back when people were buying CDs, you could open up the liner notes and see the guitar player and different producers and people like that and they would maybe hear hear a sound and then contact the player because they want that that person involved or right now that's also lost.

David: Yeah. And that kind of goes to a deeper issue as well, where so many things sound alike, and a lot of producers are copying each other or trying to emulate one another. And there's not as many unique sounds, but in an instance where there are I think you're right on that there's people that would love to contact and work with you if you have a trademark sound.

Deborah: Yeah, it's definitely... I think as more of the companies start displaying this metadata, which is definitely in the works with a lot of entities, I think our our help in it, of providing, you know, this plugin, really we're trying to be non-intrusive, and something that engineers will want to use. So, in the grand scheme of collecting metadata around a whole project, that may seem like a lot of information, but if it's gathered along the way and collected as they're creating, it really isn't that much time or effort to add the little bits of metadata as you go along. That's what we're hoping happens, you know, like that, it isn't some cumbersome, big deal, a big drag, you know, like, "oh, I don't want to do this." It's something that it happens in the session, it gets saved, you know, the next engineer opens the session, they can add their bit of data, and then it travels that way.

David: So, let's say an engineer is diligent about collecting data. What are some common mistakes engineers make and recording data when this responsibility falls to them?

Deborah: Well, something we haven't touched on yet, but this is a good segue into that is, there's an entity called DDEX that is all of the company's digital data exchange standardizing how data is sent around and our plugin exports a RIN file which is the recording information notifier th

Do you wish you could work with Nashville session musicians on your next release? Are you having a hard time finding the right kind of players for your recording project?

In this episode of The New Music Industry Podcast, I talk to Andrew Galucki of Nashville For Hire, who shares about working with session musicians and the ups and downs of the entrepreneurial life.

Download the PDF Cheat Sheet

Podcast Highlights:

00:14 – Introductions

00:32 – What is Nashville For Hire?

02:48 – Country music

04:28 – Visiting Nashville

05:07 – Networking

07:11 – How do you determine your focus?

11:02 – Self-inflicted pressure

13:01 – Finding quality session players

14:59 – Second guessing your purchases

16:00 – Isn’t it expensive to hire quality session players for your project?

18:04 – What is the biggest advantage of working with Nashville session musicians?

19:11 – Delegating and trusting others with work

21:43 – How do you market your business, and what channel has worked best for you?

30:21 – What is the biggest challenge of selling to musicians, producers, and engineers?

33:45 – Adding value vs. fly by night

35:05 – What are some of the biggest struggles you’ve encountered as an entrepreneur?

38:57 – Focus and adapting your approach

41:16 – What are some of the biggest victories you’ve experienced as an entrepreneur?

44:09 – Comparison and entrepreneurial insecurity

44:57 – Which books have inspired and helped you on your journey?

50:15 – Donald Miller, Blue Like Jazz and Steve Taylor

51:24 – What tools and apps are you using to run your business?

Transcription:

Coming soon.

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Have you decided on a direction for your music entrepreneurship career? Are you being as effective as you can possibly be?

In this episode of The New Music Industry Podcast, I share how I’ve decided on a direction for my career, and what you can do to achieve clarity and focus in your career.

Download the PDF Transcription

Podcast Highlights:

00:14 – Who do you learn music entrepreneurship from?

01:14 – Irons in the fire

02:08 – What you’ve told me I should be doing with my time

02:54 – Why I enjoy having multiple pursuits in my career

03:13 – 2017 income analysis

04:12 – What you can learn from analyzing your revenue streams

04:32 – Which income sources should you grow?

05:48 – How to spend your time

06:08 – Generalist vs. specialist

06:55 – If you were me, which income sources would you focus on?

07:50 – Questions you can ask to determine a focus for your music entrepreneurship career

Transcription:

A lot of you come to me with questions about my credentials and qualifications in the music industry.

I don’t like making the podcast about myself, but these are fair questions to ask, because if you’re learning from someone that doesn’t have results or isn’t at least on their way to achieving the kinds of results you want, you could end up spinning your wheels or wasting your time learning from them.

All along, I have been quite transparent about where I stand regarding various aspects of my career.

On the blog, I’ve talked about 21 ways I’ve made money in the music industry. That number continues to rise, and I have no doubt it will keep going up.

I’ve also talked about the fact that I work almost exclusively from home. Some of the community work I do gets me out of the house and into music venues and other spaces, and I also have the occasional meeting. But aside from that, I’m not required to go to a specific workplace to do my work. I don’t actively brag about this fact, but it was a huge achievement for me personally in 2016.

Additionally, I’m the kind of person that craves variety in life and likes having a few irons in the fire.

I recently met up with a friend I hadn’t seen in about seven years, and he said to me, “You’re the kind of guy that if one thing doesn’t work, or if you get bored of it, you always have other projects ready to go.”

He’s right.

I’ve started many blogs and websites with various product and service offerings. A few years ago, The Music Entrepreneur HQ was just one among many. I decided to stick with this project because I’m passionate about music, creativity, and business. And, to be fair, it was the business unit that was producing the best results.

After spending years spreading myself out and trying different things, I decided to dig in and get focused on this project.

If I wanted to be doing something else, I could be. But I think it would prove difficult to find anything quite as fulfilling for me.

So, that brings me to an important point. Many of you have suggestions about what I should be doing with my time to prove my worth as a music entrepreneur.

Some of you say I should be making and releasing more music.

Some of you feel I should be talking more about sync licensing and placement opportunities.

By the way, I don’t know everything there is to know about the music industry, which is why I often bring guests onto my podcast to share about subjects I know nothing about.

And, some of you believe I should be creating a university level education for music entrepreneurs.

These are all valid pursuits, and I think there is value in all of them.

Rest assured, I have no shortage of ideas of what to do and what I’d like to do in the music industry, and some of the things just mentioned are on my radar.

But going back to what I was saying earlier, I like having multiple pursuits. I like the fact that my life doesn’t revolve around recording and publishing music, live performance, or session work. I get to do all those things and make money at them, but they don’t rule my life. If they did, I’m not sure I would not have time for The Music Entrepreneur HQ.

It’s tax season, and I recently had to get all my ledgers and receipts in order to submit to my accountant. I decided to do a bit of an analysis of the various income sources I have. So, let me give you a bit of an idea of where I tend to see the biggest results from.

If you check out the show notes for this episode, you’ll find a pie chart that breaks down my income from 2017.

I had 17 distinct income sources in 2017, but the top five were:

Content writing

Ghostwriting

Community

Live performance

Crowdfunding

It’s worth noting that roughly a quarter of income had very little or nothing to do with the music industry.

Regardless, content writing and ghostwriting alone made up over 50% of my total income, and if I included other income categories like content marketing, book sales, and product sales – all of which represent other forms of writing income – that number would be even higher.

This type of analysis can help you gain clarity on objective reality. What you say doesn’t matter as much as what you do, and if you want to determine what motivates someone, watch what they do, not what they say. That way, you’ll never be confused. You can see from my income analysis that most of my energy went into writing content.

What you say doesn’t matter as much as what you do, and if you want to determine what motivates someone, watch what they do, not what they say.Share on X

Having 17 income sources is a good thing – it mitigates risk. If one income source is lost, you can always fall back on another and find a way to grow it.

But I don’t think it’s worth thinking about how to grow every income source, especially when you have that many. At most, I would look at the top five categories, and maybe only the top three. If I was 25, I might think about this differently. But I’m 35 now, and while I do have many productive years ahead, I already have several years of momentum behind me, so though I want to remain flexible and adaptive, especially as technology continues to bring about change, it makes more sense to ride the wave than to push against it.

So, in my case, my top three income sources would be content writing, ghostwriting, and community work. If there are certain income numbers I’m looking to reach, and I am, I would focus on enhancing my earnings from these categories, and not worry too much about trying to grow the others, which will basically take care of themselves because of the reputation I’ve established and the relationships I’ve developed.

This also works well for my personality and temperament, because as I’ve already said, I crave variety. Doing too much of the same thing can bore me and leave me unfulfilled. I don’t like being restricted.

That may not be how you operate, which means you may prefer to limit how you spend your time instead of spreading it across multiple projects and income sources. For example, you might look at how to get as many gigs as possible, and if you dedicated the most productive hours of your day to this task, I have little doubt in my mind you would see huge results from your effort.

Basically, what I’m saying is this:

I’m a good generalist. I’m not a great specialist. I’ve done a lot of things in the music industry, not all of them great. I would say I’m great at least a few things, such as playing guitar, content writing, and web design, because I’ve put a lot of time into those things. But maybe not good enough to be world class in any one area, because of how many things I can do and am competent at.

No, I may not have results in areas you want to achieve big things in. But the work I do is still important. Who is going to do the research? Who is going to write the articles? Who is going to interview the experts? Someone needs to have a foot in both worlds and I enjoy being that person. There are plenty of perks to being someone in this position, too.

Regardless, let’s say I was looking to grow my income to six-figures, and I am. If you were me, which income sources would you focus on?

I could work at my music sales, session playing, and live performance income. Particularly, live performance is in my top five revenue sources, so it’s obviously possible to increase. I enjoy all those things, and I know I can make a decent income in those areas. But it would be necessary to dedicate most of my time to them, leaving me with significantly less time to write content. I would end up pushing against a wave of momentum.

My daily responsibilities include writing content for various clients. So, it’s much easier for me to boost my income as a writer than in other areas. When I finish my work for my clients, I’m already at my desk, my mind is already in gear, and I can save energy and remain effective for longer if I’m not constantly switching between different tasks.

So, based on what I’ve just shared with you, here are several questions you can ask to determine what the focus of your music entrepreneurship career should be:

What do you enjoy doing? Does your personality thrive on variety? Do you prefer to focus on one thing at a time?

What are you doing that makes you the most money? Is there room for you to grow it, or are you capped?

What could you do to reduce single-source dependence? Could you diversify your income, so you aren’t caught off guard if you end up losing one or multiple sources?

What skills and experiences have you gained through the years? How could you combine them to get the greatest leverage from them?

In what areas do you see the greatest upside potential? If you’re riding a wave of momentum, what could you do to ensure you stay above the waters and not get swallowed up by that wave?

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Musicians must start from scratch every single month. Streams, music sales, merch sales, and paid gigs rarely happen on autopilot, and must be actively pursued. But what if there was a way to generate a predictable monthly income without having to chase after it?

In this episode of The New Music Industry Podcast, I chat with Brian Poillucci of EVO Band Apps, who shares about the power of his new app that can help you monetize your music like never before.

Download the PDF Transcription

Podcast Highlights:

00:14 – Introductions

00:24 – What is EVO Band Apps?

03:58 – We’re all in the content business now

08:31 – Relationship marketing

13:35 – The recurring business model

16:40 – Building your email list

18:25 – Automating fan engagement

21:35 – What monetization opportunities are musicians missing out on?

28:07 – Affiliate marketing

31:57 – Creativity and business: are they in conflict?

33:51 – Musicians will buy what they perceive as being essential to their career

35:35 – Final thoughts

Transcription:

David: All right. Today, I'm chatting with founder of EVO Band Apps, Brian Poillucci. How are you today Brian?

Brian: Doing really good. How are you doing, man?

David: I'm doing great. Thank you for asking. Let's get right into this. What is EVO Band Apps?

Brian: Oh, well, that’s kind of a long story in itself. Long story really is I am a digital marketer by trade but really, I'm just a guitar player and an audio engineer, right, at the end of the day.

Recording my first album got wicked into the studio side of things. I wound up going to school for audio engineering and that's where my passion laid and was but years ago trying to make money.

And we know the recording studio business has changed. I'm sure I've heard other episodes, and other people, the whole recording structure and business has changed so you don't need to come to the studio and pay me anymore basically of recording music.

So, back in 2008 we tried to figure out how to keep the studio business really going and that led to a lot of online mixing and mastering, which I started dipping my toes into the online advertising world in general.

That did well for a while, but it turned into me helping other friends evolve and adapt especially as a digital guy, right? We’ve as musicians, we've all lived through the analog to digital change, right? We all went from the tape to the decks and hard drives we’re on now. It's the same thing in business that's evolved.

Helping other bands and friends and people with their online marketing. I was doing my business to try to keep going. I started making more money helping them as a freelancer really going and that's really where it took off into training and I educated myself and dove in really heavy into the digital marketing world.

Fast forward, probably about six years now we've got a lot of small business clients. We've built websites, Facebook ads. We do over $4.7 million a year in other people's ads. Facebook, which is the place where fans need to be.

But that all evolved into how do we take the same strategies, the same models, the same things that are working for all my other clients, righ?. The podcasters with the membership groups, the Twitch video game guys with their subscriptions, the vloggers in YouTube where every day at work it seemed like I was going, "Damn. If only a band was following these same strategies, the whole industry would change."

Luckily now, there's a lot more of these guys like you. There's a lot of great resources, including even the other guy Indiepreneur, with that guy Kyle and how he's teaching people really great complex sales funnels for their finding fans with Facebook ads.

You're starting to see more guys like you guys come out and you're starting to see more real case studies and proof of people leveraging these same tools and strategies. Even the Patreon model for example of charging memberships.

Basically, it comes down to selling your music just like every other product is sold online. The new music business like you say, it's not really a music business, it's a content business. We're all in the content game now.

David: Yeah, exactly. The sooner you can wrap your head around that idea that we're all content creators and publishers. We need to get that out to our fans. We need to distribute it. We need to market it. Then, we need to attract an audience and build an audience through that – not just an audience but a list more concretely. We need an email list or some kind of list that allows us to continually market to those people.

Brian: And We've learned that the email list is becoming more and more important as people say, "Oh, email’s dying." Look at what the changes on Facebook recently, the changes on any platform. Anything could be gone and dead tomorrow either way.

It's same thing. If you're thinking of your band as a business, number one rule is business. Build your business on your own platform not someone else's. You can't rely on a third-party platform to build your own business. So, having that list is number one.

If we want to break it down, right, for what this really means, it all comes down to the difference between hope marketing which is, “I'm going to make an album and hope people find it. I'm going to play a show and I hope that the people I tell to go visit my websites, I hope some of them turn into actual fans that will buy something.”

That's all hope marketing. So many bands saying, "Oh well, my marketing plan is crushing it. I've got all these plays. I'm on these lists. I'm on this and that." But that's all still hope marketing. Without a plan in place to turn somebody from cold to warm to hot, which is in the marketing world if anyone's familiar, that's the "will you marry me" marketing model, right?

In a lot of bands, I think this helps them to break it down, right? So, will you marry me marketing is a simple way to understand that selling any product whether it be a service or product, your band, getting that super fan to pay you, it's just like trying to find a husband or wife.

You cannot walk up to a random person and say, "This is me. I'm awesome. I want to marry you right now. Let's make it happen." Trust me. It's the same thing when you hope someone sees you at a live show and buys your music. You're just going for the close. You're going for the end game. Nobody makes purchasing decisions, relationship decisions, any type of decision that way.

You need, as a band, as an artist, the same type of sales funnel, marketing funnel, call it what you want but the process to move them between the cold audience, who are people who have no idea who you are and you're going to engage with them for the first time. Your warm audience, you're going to talk to her different after you introduce yourself, right? Let's go from that, from cold – “Hi! This is my name. This is us. Here's a peak.” All right. I'm here and I'm still here. All right. Well, let me warn you up and give you some goodies and show you why our band is more than just these songs. That this is what we stand for. These are things we believe in. That really pushed into that hot audience. Then she's ready for the close. Then you can go in and say…

The same idea works with bands as it does any other product. It's understanding that so much hustle that so many great independent musicians put in – and it feels… It drives me crazy when I look at them – the guys who are really hustling to connect and engage with their fans. And on the backend, they don't have a lead magnet or that tripwire product to turn them in.

I know you've gone over a lot of this in your books and a lot of your stuff, but it's the break it down fundamentally – I think those are the barriers to understand the difference between hope marketing to understand what the basic sales funnel, what your plan is, what is your strategy to move that person between cold to warm to hot.

And then, if you can get that that empowers everybody on the band like everyone in my office on the same goal. We have a team. There's a goal. We need to introduce ourselves to these cold people. Warm them up. Turn them into buying paying fans and ultimately the real game is the monthly recurring revenue, right? That's the ultimate game for anyone. It happens way more than people really think, I think.

David: And by the way, I did meet a girl once who wanted to be married and it didn't really seem to matter to whom. She would post these articles on Facebook and then send them to me. I would go "That's really weird." These articles would talk about love at first sight and people who got married upon first meeting each other and things like that.

Brian: Or how arranged marriages really work.

David: Yeah. As the story goes, I did eventually ask this girl to go to lunch with me. Not because I was thinking "Oh, I hope she marries me." That's not the thought process at all. I was just like, "Let's try to put an end to this, one way or another." And she said, "No." Can you believe that?

Brian: Burn.

David: Yeah, it's crazy.

Brian: People have their own interpretations of what a meaningful relationship is either way when they push through. Just like that guy. There was a recent viral video of that guy that was being kind of a dick. He posted this Facebook Live video like, "Look. If you want to go out with me, let's just do it. If you don't think it's on, then screw you. Go away."

But it's the same. It's the same thing we do in real life we need to translate online. The relationship building strategies that we do in real life has to translate online. Really at the of the day that's what the business model, you could say, that you could take that we wrapped around the mobile app platform as in itself. So, the idea is to...

Originally, our app platform was built for businesses....

Marketing is a critical piece to the success of any business. If you can get your marketing figured out, a lot of other pieces tend to fall into place.

In this episode of The New Music Industry Podcast, I share two dangerous mistakes musicians and music entrepreneurs make in their marketing, and how to mitigate them...

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Podcast Highlights:

00:14 – Critical mistakes musicians and music entrepreneurs make in their marketing

00:19 – Mistake #1: building entirely on rented land

00:35 – The dangers of building on rented land

01:43 – The critical importance of building your own website

03:19 – Mistake #2: single source dependence

04:17 – How I’ve mitigated the risk of single-source dependence

06:03 – The solution to single-source dependence

Transcription:

There are a couple of critical mistakes many musicians and music entrepreneurs make in their marketing.

The first mistake is building their business entirely on rented land.

Rented land includes sites like Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and YouTube.

I’m not saying you shouldn’t utilize social networks in your marketing. I use social media to promote The Music Entrepreneur HQ in a variety of capacities.

But the problem is that you have no control over whether your account gets shut down.

Some people have built entire businesses using Facebook groups. And, while Facebook groups are fantastic tools for creating community and engagement, if Facebook decides to shut you down, there’s nothing you can do about it.

Furthermore, it may not be as result of you doing anything wrong. Someone in your community could end up violating Facebook’s terms, leading to your group’s termination. You have no control over that, and if your group was monetized, you instantly lose all that money.

What happens to your community then? Do you have everyone’s contact information? Are they on your email list?

Unfortunately, all too often, the answer I hear back is “no”.

It’s important to acknowledge that this isn’t anything new. As MySpace started declining in popularity around 2009, and Facebook became the default social network for social networkers, no one got to keep their friend’s list they’d worked so hard to build.

We need to learn from history and not repeat it. If you want to build your business and keep your business, you can’t build entirely on rented land.

We need to learn from history and not repeat it. If you want to build your business and keep your business, you can’t build entirely on rented land.Share on X

I feel like I’ve harped on this issue for years, but it’s why I’ve been saying you need to build your own website. By the way, no, I don’t recommend using Wix or Squarespace.

There are only two ways of going about it that I recommend:

Set up a hosting account with Cloudways and use WordPress to build your site.

Set up an account with Bandzoogle and build your website there. Their tools are incredibly easy to use.

Why do you need to build a website?

Because your website is not rented land. You own it.

You can direct people to your website to buy your products and sign up for your email list. Your email list, like your website, is also yours – nobody else owns it.

I’ve heard people say email is dead, but that idea is entirely unfounded. You can get a much better response rate from your email list than your social media followers, guaranteed.

I don’t understand why there is so much resistance to going through these steps. It makes perfect sense from a business perspective. You should prioritize what you own over what someone else owns.

Yes, you should partner with powerful allies such as Facebook, but at the end of the day they will never be as invested in you as you are. They could care less if you lose your business overnight.

Many people tend to think of their most popular social media account as the central hub for their content. Stop that. Instead, build a website, and use that as your central hub. Then, extend your arm out into different directions, such as Facebook and YouTube, and get the people who are on those websites to visit your website, so you can build a relationship with them.

The second critical mistake musicians and music entrepreneurs tend to make in their marketing is single-source dependence.

Someone recently commented on one of my YouTube videos. This comment is no longer visible, but essentially what it said was, “30 views and 40 subscribers? Who are you to talk to me about getting my music heard?”

I basically replied by stating that one should not judge another’s online presence by their following on one platform alone.

This concept seems lost on a lot of people. If you’re actively building on rented land, of course you would think this way.

“Once a YouTuber, always a YouTuber.” That’s how a lot of people think.

That’s not a great way to think about marketing. As we’ve learned from mistake #1, your account could get suspended or shut down. I’ve seen this happen on various social networks.

What happens to your thousands of YouTube subscribers when YouTube decides to delete your channel? They’re gone for good!

I’m not worried about that because I’m not dependent on YouTube for my traffic.

So, what’s the alternative? Let me share with you some numbers. I don’t share these numbers to brag, because there are plenty of businesses, blogs, and YouTubers with a bigger following. I share these numbers, so you can see how I’ve mitigated the risk of single-source dependence.

First, my website gets an average of about 500 views per day. It’s taken a long time to build up to that point, but the content we publish on a weekly basis helps us achieve that

That traffic helps us build our email list, which is currently up to 1,132 subscribers.

My podcast gets an average of about 900 downloads per month, but at times I’ve seen as much as 2,100 downloads.

I have over 1,800 followers on my primary Twitter account, but if I added up all my Twitter properties, that number would be 2,608 followers.

My primary Facebook page only has 224 likes, but if I added up all of the Facebook pages I use to promote The Music Entrepreneur HQ, you would see that I have 325 likes total.

I have 496 followers on Instagram.

My YouTube channel currently has 40 subscribers.

Are you beginning to see how this is anything but single-source dependence?

I don’t necessarily have a lot of time to dedicate to social media, and it’s not my focus. But I still get regular traffic from it, so I don’t discount it. I just keep publishing where I expect to see the greatest return from.

If Google decided to de-rank my website, that would suck, and I could lose a lot of organic traffic. But organic traffic isn’t my only source. I have traffic coming from a variety of sources, and I know how to build that traffic on other platforms if I ever end up needing to.

Being single-source dependent leaves you and your business vulnerable, because you never know if you’re going to be de-ranked or shut down.

Being single-source dependent leaves you and your business vulnerable, because you never know if you’re going to be de-ranked or shut down.Share on X

The solution is simple: Once you’ve built one source of traffic, begin branching out and build other traffic sources.

I’m not saying you should spread yourself thin trying to increase traffic from every source available, so don’t get carried away trying to do everything. You can gradually increase your online footprint over time, by focusing on one traffic source at a time.

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What is music entrepreneurship? Should musicians see themselves as small business owners? Is it more empowering to think of yourself in this way?

In this episode of The New Music Industry Podcast, I read an excerpt from my new book, The Essential Guide to Music Entrepreneurship.

Download the PDF Transcription

Podcast Highlights:

00:14 – The release of my new book

00:58 – Where you can learn more about the book

01:15 – Excerpt from the new book

Transcription:

David Andrew Wiebe here. I'm not sure if you knew this but I recently released a brand-new book on April 1 called The Essential Guide to Music Entrepreneurship: 2018 Edition. The reason I quietly released this new book is because it is a shorter work compared to The New Music Industry.

I also didn't want it to overshadow all the work that I'd put into Flashes of Elation, which is still forthcoming. But I am planning to release more shorter volumes like this one to test out a few ideas. But I think this is a very important work because I don't see too many books out there about music entrepreneurship and I kind of wanted to put my stake in the ground and say "Hey, this is what I'm about."

So, you can go to davidandrewwiebe.com/musicpreneur to learn more about this work.

In today's episode, I'm going to read the introduction, so you can get a feel for it. If it's something that you want to pick up, you can go to the link I just mentioned.

So, here's a little excerpt from the book. I hope you enjoy it.

Introduction to The Essential Guide to Music Entrepreneurship: 2018 Edition

Increasingly, the term “music entrepreneurship” is coming into more common use.

In the last few years, many colleges and universities have been launching music entrepreneurship programs, none of them completely alike. I did a bit of research, and what I found was that the frequently covered subjects include, but aren’t limited to:

An introduction to what music entrepreneurship is.

The skill set you need to develop as a music entrepreneur.

How to work with others.

How to present yourself – etiquette and professionalism.

Developing a repertoire.

Auditions, competitions, and festivals work.

Setting up a private studio.

Social media.

Event planning.

Theatre management.

As I look at this list of topics, I can’t help but feel puzzled. Some of them are sensible, and even important subjects to cover. But I feel that curriculum developers are a bit confused. Some seem to equate business with having a job. Sorry, what? I thought we were talking about entrepreneurship!

Some schools are even covering topics like “social media in the digital age”, which I don’t even understand. Did we have social media, as we know it today, before the digital age? Fax machines, maybe, but social media? I don’t think so.

Did we have social media, as we know it today, before the digital age?Share on X

But most experts, course developers, and professors seem to agree – “music entrepreneurship” means many things to many people, and on this point, I concur.

In case you don’t know, I’ve been running a site called The Music Entrepreneur HQ – a site that has its roots in a podcast I first launched in 2009, simply called David Andrew Wiebe Podcast (today, I have a podcast called The New Music Industry Podcast). More to the point, I’ve been exploring the connection between music and business since 2011.

A prospective investor in my business once said to me, “You need to offer a university-level education for your customers.”

As I thought about that, I realized how disconnected he was from my vision. I have never wanted to develop a university-like system with my resources – especially looking at what’s being taught in most music entrepreneurship courses. I’ve always wanted to create better information and facilitate independent thinking in the process.

I believe that music entrepreneurship is a movement toward innovation, not away from it!

Entrepreneurship is a movement toward innovation, not away from it!Share on X

There are many exciting developments in the music industry, unlike anything we’ve ever seen in the past, driven by technological advancements, and most notably, the internet. So, why do we feel the need to hold so tightly to the past?

I don’t believe any introductory music entrepreneurship module should consist of learning how to write a résumé (this one has me scratching my head), what to wear and how to conduct yourself, or developing a repertoire for that matter. Before anything else, you should be given the opportunity to learn what music entrepreneurship is, why it matters, and why you would even want to pursue it in the first place.

I am not under the impression that you don’t know what “music entrepreneurship” means. I’m certain that images of tech startups, music streaming apps, bootstrapped businesses, venture capitalists, and other “isms” are all flooding your mind already.

I wrote this guide because I think it’s important to cover the basics. An entrepreneur is a self-starter, someone who aims to solve other people’s problems, someone who builds assets they can live on. And this is the vital part that appears to be missing from many existing courses.

So, whether you’re looking to treat your music career like a business, start a new business venture in the music industry, invest in a company, or acquire an existing entity, I wanted to offer a simple, straightforward guide to music entrepreneurship that covers the key elements you need to know.

We’re all strapped for time – that’s why I’ve kept this guide short. It won’t necessarily tell you “how” to get your business off the ground, but it should answer “why”, and give you enough of a foundation to stand on to make your passion your life.

My hope is that you will learn, be inspired and entertained, and apply the principles within to better your career.

Upgrade to Members Only Audios for more exciting, exclusive training.

Are you working yourself to the bone? Do you have time to step back and enjoy life? Are you being effective with your time, or are you in an endless pursuit of productivity?

In this episode of The New Music Industry Podcast, I talk to James Schramko and tease out some amazing insights into building a business and life you love.

Download the PDF Transcription

Podcast Highlights:

00:14 – Introductions

00:45 – What is Effective Hourly Rate (or EHR)?

09:31 – Overcoming mental blocks around building a team

18:03 – What holds business owners back from creating an offer that converts?

27:26 – How do you transition from hourly pricing to value pricing?

28:48 – Profit Formula Template

29:33 – Customer Lifetime Value

32:24 – How to generate referrals

35:29 – Ascension model vs. Chocolate wheel

44:11 – The recurring subscription business model

48:27 – What do you feel has contributed to the success of your book?

53:13 – How do you stay up to date in your industry?

54:05 – Closing remarks

Transcription:

David Andrew Wiebe: Today I'm chatting with the founder of SuperFastBusiness and author of Work Less, Make More: The Counter-Intuitive Approach to Building a Profitable Business, and a Life You Actually Love, James Schramko. How are you today James?

James Schramko: I'm doing spectacularly well. Thank you, David.

David: Thank you so much for joining me on my podcast. I'm really excited to talk to you.

James: Well, I'm just very excited to be here. It's the morning here so you've got my maximum energy.

David: Oh, fantastic. So, you're all fresh.

James: Yeah.

David: Well, I'm going to start right in with what I think is going to be a pretty straightforward question, but still an important one and something our audience may not really know about is what is effective hourly rate and why is it so important for business owners to understand?

James: Effective hourly rate is a benchmark or a measuring system that I like to use to help people to start to get an understanding as to how they spend their time. If you want to calculate your effective hourly rate you would take your revenue for a certain period, let's say in this case we're talking about a year.

Effective hourly rate is a benchmark you can use to get an understanding of how you spend your time.Share on X

You take your revenue for a year. You subtract all of your costs, which are generally made up of fixed and variable costs. That leaves you your profit. This is like a profit before tax. Now, you divide your profit by the number of hours that you worked to get that profit and that is your effective hourly rate.

So, if you had a job, let's say you worked in a music store and you had a salary, then that's pretty much your profit, because you don't have any real costs as an employee. Unfortunately, not that many deductible ones unless you work outside maybe you can deduct sun cream but that's about it.

You divide that by the number of hours you work. That's what we all know as your hourly wage. Whatever is on your pay slip is probably your effective hourly rate if you have a job.

But for entrepreneurs, most people have never actually sat down to work this out.

Where it becomes a very effective tool is when you start breaking it down by different product lines. Let's say you are a session guitarist and you are getting paid to do studio time, then you could work out how long do you spend in the studio and how much you get paid.

Then you might think, "Well, I might start a music business. I'll start a label." And then you might sink a lot of time into that trying to find artists and set up the label.

Then at the end of the year it might make a small profit, but you might have spent hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of hours to build that up, so your effective hourly rate would be quite low.

In this case, you'd want to be doing a fair bit of session time to bring up your income while you're building that label on the side. So, it's a good way to know where to spend your time.

Now, it's not the end all measurement because it doesn't take into account things like building an asset or the sale value of what you're creating.

However, it does help you work out simple stuff like should I be answering support tickets, should I be building my website, should I be mowing my lawn?

Because if you can hire somebody for a lower amount than your effective hourly rate, then it's usually a good deal to do that.

David: Right. And I think in the example of the session musician, what's interesting about that is I think that many wouldn't really think of this as being part of the calculation, is the amount of time they spend practicing and preparing to go into the studio or going on stage to perform.

Then your effective hourly rate kind of instantly goes down, because it's not just the time that you're on stage and it's not just the time that you're in the studio.

James: That's right. It's like in my industry if someone's an expert speaker or they do keynote speeches they might say "Oh, I got $10,000 for a keynote speech for 60 minutes in front of an audience of 3,000."

And then you think okay, but you had to travel there. You had expenses relating to that gig. You spent probably a week in advance preparing a keynote presentation and rehearsing it in front of a video camera. All of that time should be considered for that activity.

Now, there are subtleties here that could be by products maybe practicing for a session guitar also helps if you're in a band or also helps you if you're doing a how-to-play-guitar info product. You might be able to split that time up between those multiple activities.

That's a case in my business when we had a coaching business, an SEO business, and a website development business among others.

When I go to a conference, I would actually split the travel costs for that conference between the three different divisions. Then it was a fair sort of situation because I was representing all of them.

David: I ended up buying two copies of your book and then I gave one to my friend and she started reading it and then she calculated her EHR at $5 an hour and I just thought "Wow! That is intense."

James: Are you still friends?

David: Yeah, still friends.

James:  Thank you for buying the book.

David: I introduced her to your book, as well as Ezra Firestone on the eCommerce side, and she's loving that. She's actually getting a lot of value from it.

But I think now she's thinking in terms of effectiveness and not just productivity. All the time that we spend, not just the time she spends in the technical aspects of things but also the time spent at home marketing or sending out emails or entering data into you know things that you wouldn't necessarily want or should necessarily be doing as a business owner. So, I think it's been enlightening for her.

James: I think that the thing that makes it powerful is it's something you can actually measure because there's plenty of things you can't measure that are having an impact on your business.

Like it's hard for you to measure what your customers are saying about you right now behind your back. That's what we might call marketing. It can be hard to measure that.

But it can be easy to measure time. You could literally write down what you're doing. There are tools that did this if you are using a computer for your work. It can tell you where you spent your time. Having an awareness of it is a big step towards being more effective. I use that word over productive.

The other aspect to it is that you can take advantage of Parkinson's Law, and this one is fantastic. This is that last night of homework phenomenon, where activity will expand to fill the time available.

Activity will expand to fill the time available.Share on X

If you give someone five hours to do a job, like a retail clerk. If you say, "Can you stock the shelves?" They might take all day to do that.

If you said, "Look, the boss from the regional office is coming. We need those shelves stocked within the next 20 minutes or we're all going to get fired." Then amazingly, you could do the same job in 20 minutes.

So, as soon as you start measuring this, it gives you a powerful tool to increase your effective hourly rate. And, now every time that you sit down to do work or stand up in the case of a musician probably, then you are going to get paid more per hour.

That's how I sort of arrived at this idea that you don't need to work more hours. You just need to get paid a little bit more for every hour that you work and then you can choose how many hours you want. You could actually still have a life.

You don't need to work more hours. You just need to get paid a little bit more for every hour that you work.Share on X

David: Yeah. Because one of the ways you said you could instantly increase it is by working less which is counterintuitive just like the book title says but very true.

James: If you can do the same job in less hours then you will actually make more money. Or the same money working less. You could work the same hours and have a higher effective hourly rate then you can make more by working the same.

If you can do the same job in less hours then you will actually make more money.Share on X

But you can also dial the mix whichever way you want. You could work more and make a lot more, or you could actually work less and still make more if you get that mix right.

David: And you mentioned software. I recently installed RescueTime on my computer. I've used it before, but I just haven't been using it in a while so I'm looking forward to calculating my EHR which, I hope is not $5 an hour.

James: To me I used it in the beginning to get a sense of how long I actually spend on the computer in a week. When I do this for clients, it's actually quite eye opening....