The New Tyler Hilton EP and Why It Should Sell

One Tree Hill fans will remember Warner/Reprise artist Tyler Hilton in his recurring role as the villainous Chris Keller. Those of you who without an affinity for the soapy CW teen drama may remember him as Elvis in the 2005 film Walk The Line. Though throughout his 10-year career as a recording artist Hilton has not quite been able to match his success on the screen with success on the charts, he's been on my radar since I first heard 3 brilliant and memorable acoustic/pop tracks from his 2004 album The Tracks of Tyler Hilton (When It Comes, The Letter Song, and Pink and Black). I believe that When It Comes is still in my Ipod's Top 25.

A few days ago I saw a Facebook Ad announcing a new release of Hilton's-- likely targeted to me because I'd listed him years ago as a favorite artist. Since he'd already earned my trust I was more than willing to give his new music a chance, but the first thought that popped into my head was "I am not paying $8 for 5 songs that I haven't heard and may or may not like." The second thought? "I don't have time to listen to 12 new tracks that I haven't heard and may or may not like." To my surprise and delight, the 5-song EP was available on Itunes for only $2.99. I downloaded it without hesitation.

Kudos to Warner/Reprise for appropriate pricing and marketing on this release.

Will EPs eventually replace full-length albums as the default method for releasing new music? This marketer and music fan hopes so. Think about it; unless we're talking about a full-length new album from an artist that one is very passionate about (I can only think of 5-10 of these off the top of my head), why should I allot hours of my time to dedicate the 3-5 listens to 12 songs that it normally takes to reach a level of familiariarity and enjoyment with each? Also, why should I spend $9.99 on unknown music when I could just as easily use this money to purchase 10 songs that I love?

If labels and artists want digital downloads to compete with the Groovesharks of the world as a means of music discovery, a fairly priced EP is definitely a step in the right direction.

Photos from Winter Music Conference 2010

7 Artist EPK's and What I Like About Them

I am currently in the process of developing my first artist EPK and came across a few things that I liked in my research. The main thing that I learned in the process is that an artist EPK (Electronic Press Kit) Video doesn't have to be anything specific, but it should always accomplish one specific goal. Whether that goal is to introduce a developing artist to a wider audience or to promote their 11th studio album, it probably makes the most sense to keep that goal in mind during all aspects of production and not to try to do too much.

While I have yet to find the 'definitive' artist EPK, here are 7 that I came across that possessed a great quality or two that we can all learn from.




I love the EXCITEMENT that this projects. It tells us that Michael Buble is a worldwide phenomenon and makes us feel like even bigger things are in store for 2010.

Alice In Chains
I like how this is shot like a film and the artistic qualities conveyed. I also like how the use of black & white imagery contrasts the video content. They don't appear to have had much video content other than the interview to work with but these two factors help tremendously.



James Hunter "The Hard Way" EPK @ Yahoo! Video

I like how the song titles appear digitally in the corner of the screen as they show the live footage and the print media quotes add a nice touch. Both great ideas.



I love how the best and most dramatic clips of their music are used the way the timing of each music clip works with the storyline. The dominance of the music in this EPK makes me feel like the music itself is the strongest part of their act—that they don’t expensive video effects, high quality performance footage or a compelling interview to show us who they are.



I like how it starts off with her voice and name IMMEDIATELY in the first couple of seconds without delay. The video also shows a good balance of live audio with mastered audio tracks.



I like how the different effects on the still photos make them feel ‘alive’ as well as the use of childhood photos. I also like how he talks about the songwriting process and most importantly how the video genuinely ‘introduces’ the artist. It doesn’t assume that I already know who he is and what he’s accomplished; I'd never heard of him and the video told me everything I needed to know.



Again I enjoy and appreciate the ‘filmlike’ qualities of this. They really only have interview and rehearsal footage but the editing technique makes it feels like so much more. I also enjoy the way that the start of a new song in the background signals the beginning of a new topic of conversation.

Top 25 Music Discovery Sites

I did a bit of research for my own purposes and thought I'd share the results.

I'd been reading a blog post entitled 'The Top 5 Music Discovery Sites' and was surprised to see at least 1 that I was unfamiliar with. The article linked to a similar article on Mashable that cataloged the top 50 services. I noticed, however, that both articles seemed to be a bit outdated-- at least in online terms. I thought I'd check on the Alexa traffic ranking (U.S.) of each site listed and see how they stacked up against one another. The top 10 results turned up at least 2 sites that I'd never heard of and I was unfamiliar with most of the listings after that.

Here are the results:

The Top 25 Music Discovery Sites with Alexa Rank

1. Pandora (77)
2. Ilike (607)
3. Grooveshark (911)
4. Blip.fm (1946)
5. Mog (2298)
6. Purvolume (4487)
7. Hypster (9462)
8. Haystack (9586)
9. Magnatune (29,702)
10. Finetune (61,084)
11. Ijigg (65,884)
12. Musicovery (67,262)
13. ProjectOpus (87,077)
14. Audiolunchbox (103,941)
15. Epitonic (127,899)
16. Babulous (168,678)
17. Flyfi (229,655)
18. MusicNation (245,618)
19. Twones (273,138)
20. Bandbuzz (643,332)
21. Soundpedia (706,069)
22. upto11.net (910,787)
23. OneLlama (1,221,092)
24. Musicmesh (1,284,224)
25. Audiobaba (1,524,016)

Tricks of the Trade for Building a Twitter Following

In the past couple of months, building Twitter followings for my marketing clients has become a part of my everyday workload in the way that can only be compared to myspace 'friend adding'. If done improperly it can be enormously time consuming and extremely frustrating. Here are a few tricks that I've picked up in my own work that I am confident will make the process easier for you.

First and foremost you must understand your options for identifying people with common interests within the Twitter network.

Tweepsearch allows you to search Twitter profiles-- specifically what people have written in their name, location and 1-line bio. It does not search actual tweets but can be extremely useful, especially if you are hoping to target people in a specific city or state, or people whose primary reason for being on Twitter revolves around a specific purpose (as described in their 1-line bio).

Search.twitter.com allows you to search tweets but not profiles. Be sure to use the 'advanced' option in order to limit your search to specific phrases and keywords. The advantage here is that when you search, those who have written updates containing your search term recently show up in the results. It lists them in order, in fact. This helps because you will waste less time searching through profiles of people who have abandoned Twitter months ago.

Now that you know where to search, here are a few tips on HOW to search and who to follow.

1) Only follow people whose most recent update was posted within the last 2 weeks. If somebody has not logged into their profile since early 2008, they are probably not going to log in the next day to follow you back.

2) Only follow people who appear to be real people; avoid following accounts that appear to be business, informational or promotional. These profiles certainly have a legitimate place within the Twitterverse, but the truth is that most are exclusively interested in their own product or service and have no interest in learning about yours. This includes other artists. Instead, follow those who have a profile picture or name that identifies them as a real person.

3) Do not follow profiles that appear to be sex-oriented. This can be signified by the letters 'XXX' within the person's username, by an erotic profile photo or through updates. These folks are only interested in one thing and it isn't you.

4) DO follow people who are already following somebody with an interest very similar to your own. Underneath the 1-line bio on every profile you can click on the 'followers' number and link. If you find somebody whose followers you feel would be interested in learning about you, this link will bring up a list of that person's followers. Using the rules above, simply click the 'follow' button to the right of each person's username. I find that this strategy is the most time-efficient because unlike searching on Tweepsearch or Search.twitter.com, you do not need to open a new window to follow somebody.

5) DO follow people who appear to be posting in your own language. The return-follow rate for users in other countries is simply too low to be worthwhile, even if you are promoting a product or service with international appeal. This is the only difficulty with finding people via #4 above.

6) Do not follow people whose 'followers' list drastically outnumbers their own 'following'. This is the case with many promotional and business related profiles. Tweepsearch allows you to see these numbers before clicking through to a profile; definitely worth a glance.

5 Questions for Eric Michael Hopper

If in the past few years you have taken even a casual glance at the myspace unsigned artist charts you have no doubt come across the profile of country artist and top 10 mainstay Eric Michael Hopper. With over 2 million song plays and 100k 'real' friends I just had to dig deeper and put together 5 questions specific to his substantial self-marketing success. A big thanks to Eric for taking the time to respond.

5 Questions for Eric Michael Hopper

DM: You have consistently ranked among the top artists on the myspace music charts for as long as I can remember. To what do feel you owe your enormous popularity on the site?

EMH: There are a number of different factors. Social networking and new media have changed the way artists and fans interact. I have a more immediate relationship with my fans and friends online than what was possible in the past. I also believe the new media paradigm allows for a more level playing field in terms of what content the public decides to embrace. We are migrating back to a situation where content can be king again. The intersection of these points gives me a sense of obligation to be sure not to let my fans and supporters down. I really do try my best in the creative process because of this. I understand that everything else hinges on the quality of what you are putting out there.

DM: I found it interesting that you appear to be much more active through your personal facebook profile (3400 friends) versus your fan page (800 fans). Can you explain your reasoning behind this?

EMH: 1) Although facebook is a social networking site, it is not geared toward multimedia discovery. 2) My approach has never been to simply take the role of artist or celebrity figure. I have always focused more on the relationship of myself with my fans and friends online, rather than as the artist as a figure. I embrace the "fans" for what they really are... my online friends.

DM: As a marketer I can't help but notice the dramatic increase in 'clutter' on myspace; sometimes it feels like there are more spam profiles, businesses and artists trying to promote themselves than actual people. With over 100,000 friends, what do you do to weed out and communicate with your true fans?

EMH: It's pretty simple. I really just dont accept or add anyone that appears to be a spam or solicitation myspace page. It doesn't take long to be able to recognize these profiles.

DM: I just saw a Facebook status update inviting friends to join your mobile fanclub. Which service do you use? What do you like or dislike about communicating with fans via mobile messaging as opposed to the web?

EMH: The deliberation is still out on this matter so I'd rather not mention any sites.

DM: I've seen you on the popular live video/webcam network Stickam.com. Many artists and celebrities steer clear of web shows because of the vulnerability inherent to appearing in a live, unedited, un-moderated chat setting. What has your experience with live webchats been like?

EMH: For me it's been great. It has allowed people to see that I am a real person and not just a management company running my sites. Vulnerability is not always such a bad thing. We're all just people. It's really been more of a reciprocal relationship between myself and my friends online.

5 Rules for Successful Artist Newsletters

With the advent of social media and the ease of managing relationships with fans provided therein, many artists these days see email communication with fans as a thing of the past. I, however, still find the monthly newsletter to be a relevant part of the overall marketing objectives of most artists. Probably the most difficult aspect of digital marketing for artists is the fact that in this day and age people interact with music and artists online in a plethora of ways and places. I think that it is important to respect fans decisions to interact with you when and where they choose to do so and to accommodate them accordingly. Email is still an important part of most people's everyday lives, and if fans choose to offer up their personal address to you it is your responsibility to give them what they want and deserve. In no particular order here are 5 rules for getting the most out of your email newsletters.

Rule #1: Limit Frequency
When considering how often to send out your newsletter it is important to keep your position in the recipient's life (and Ipod) in perspective; Do not assume that every single signup is a superfan who wants you to bombard their work email account every day of the week with what you ate for breakfast that morning. On the contrary, assume that the majority of signups are content to hear from you once in awhile and use your newsletters sparingly. My recommendation is once per month; definitely no more than twice. If you overwhelm your fans inboxes they will simply stop opening the message, rendering your newsletter ineffective. If you are facing a quiet point in your activity as an artist and you have nothing compelling to say in a newsletter, wait until you've got something exciting to send it out.

Rule #2: Provide Original and Compelling Content
You must give your fans a reason not only to sign up for your newsletter but to open it once it arrives in their inbox each and every time. Without at least some small tidbit of original content that does not exist elsewhere online, what is the incentive? Always include something that is exclusive to the newsletter; a personalized note from the artist; a sample of a new track in the works; exclusive photos. You can also use this content as an excuse to promote your newsletter via your web properties. Another idea is to offer giveaways such as free CDs to random signups; do this once per week if you are able and announce the winners in the newsletters to show that the giveaway is real.

Rule #3: Promote Effectively
Provide an easy way for your fans to sign up for your newsletter and feature it prominently on every web property available. The easiest way to do this is with an email collector widget-- the type offered by ReverbNation and other services. I also like to draw added attention to the newsletter by creating a custom banner that sits on top of the widget. The banner can invite fans to sign up and provide the incentive you've created for doing so. On Facebook, use the Gigya Mystuff Application to add your collector widget. Cross-promote the newsletter through mentions on Twitter once in awhile and remember to include your incentive for signups. If you are using myspace comments to communicate with fans, plug the widget and banner into your comment code and invite all new friends to sign up.

Rule #4: Limit Sales Pitches
A common artist mistake is to overwhelm web properties with sales pitches; ie. links to purchase on Itunes AND rhapsody AND CDbaby AND Amazon, etc. It's easy to take for granted the fact that your fans are knowledgeable about purchasing music whether digital or physical and will have no problem finding it should they decide to do so. Use your newsletter to announce new single and album releases; encourage fans to listen to and enjoy your music and make their own purchasing decision when the time comes. After your music is available steer clear of overwhelming pleas to purchase. Also relevant to this, be very careful not to overemphasize tour dates that are only relevant to a small percentage of those who signed up (ie, a newsletter to promote your big show in NYC when only 10 of your signups live there).

Rule #5: Format Effectively
Like all of your web properties your newsletter must be formatted perfectly; use color schemes and artwork that are in line with your other pages. Proofread all text to avoid errors in grammar and punctuation. Double check to make sure that all links are functional. Use fonts that are appropriately sized and easy to read. Format all pictures and text in a way that is clean and attractive. If it's within your budget, hire a graphic designer to create a custom newsletter template for you.