@mr. tunes – why are you surprised that I mentioned Frank Kern. He is one of the most respected and legit names in Internet Marketing. He has been working with the likes of Bill Clinton and Tony Robbins on creating internet campaigns and has a great (well went from shady to now great) track record. The reason I bring him up is the way he relates to his prospects. Most musicians treat their fans like shit. Asking and begging them to come to their shows, buy merch and get bombarded with spammy bulletins or Tweets that provide no value. The Internet Marketing world has experienced amazing growth by “caring” about their prospects and customers and in turn they make a great living because of it.

Selling music is that easy if you make great music and communicate with your fans to the level where you bring value to their life. All the fancy tools in the world cannot connect you on that level with your fans.

Absolutely. A lot artists I’ve brought this up with, interestingly enough, recoiled from it like it was dirty. This kinda blew my f’ing mind, because it seems to Myselvis that if anything, you’re being very generous by giving your fans a slice of the profits from the referrals they’re giving you.

Even once artists understand it better and consider it, they’re usually daunted by the logistics of setting up an affiliate system. Any recommendations there?

I respect 50 Cent more as a businessman than I do as a musician (even though I like his music) and I think it’s fantastic that you broke down his first major product launch in such a clear-cut manner.

I need to get working on my first major product launch ASAP and apply your insights to my planning.

- DbryJ

As far as affiliates, I think this is an area that is WAY underutilized for musicians. I would gander to say that most do not even know this world exists. I can go on for days about affiliate marketing and how to apply it to bands from promoting others in your circle to empowering fans.

Frank Kern and some other marketers have some great experience playing into the minds of their prospects and that is where their value lies, and like you said you need to get past the intro fluff and the $$ dreams they talk about.

Thanks for dropping by.

The product launch seems to be a central point, along with branding, building strong mailing lists, and execution. The one main area where musicians have an edge is in the product creation area. Frank Kern stressed the importance of creating your own product and earning 100% revenue. As musicians, we can create music whenever our emotions call for it, and keep expanding our business at a low cost.

I believe in creating anticipation as you stated above for your music. The hard part for many music operations is not being able to ask for the money correctly. Don’t be afraid to ask your visitor to check out your music or sign up for your mailing list. Don’t forget the business side: networking with fellow bloggers and building those affiliate relationships.

I think (and I believe that you do too) that a product launch goes way beyond the freebie. It gets your buyers, customers, fans into a frenzy to where they are excited to see your emails, enthused to retweet your posts and are clicking refresh every 2 seconds to be the first to buy a product. Getting your fans in that mindset is no easy feat, but by looking at what marketers and the NLP process does to condition your mind, its not a bad place to look for guidance.

What’s especially useful, though, is the stripped-down approach to branding that guys like Kern take. Keeping all your communication consistent just requires a system…I’ve recommended “Think Two Products Ahead” by Ben Mack for a good number of years now, it’s a very complete guide to the process.

This was a good run-down. I think you could do a follow-up post looking at the current product launch extravaganza that Jay-Z is pulling off this month.

It applies to our music in a large way. For years (when we were still providing B2B service) I’ve advocated for approaches like this. Being a film lover, I also sway towards the use of movie industry marketing. Both internet marketers and film marketers build an all encompassing sense of “I need to get involved now! now! now!”

Sadly, this proves to be a major hurdle for most independent music-oriented teams. A few years back, I grew slightly jaded, well honestly, let down by many of the groups I would consult & build strategies for.

Maybe marketing & publicity is an entirely separate Passion from being a musician. Personally, I’m still yearning to be a bit more optimistic for the Indie Industry, and especially here online. The opportunities are HUGE!