Artist Essentials

MillionMedia.com theartistnetwork.ws!A digital marketing guide from Million!

ARTIST ESSENTIALS a digital marketing guide from Million

& The Artist Network

1.  The official website 2.  Official shop 3.  Fan Forum / Community 4.  Facebook 5.  YouTube 6.  Twitter 7.  Soundcloud 8.  Mailchimp 9.  IFTTT.com 10.  Tickets


Artist Essentials

This presentation is based upon a lecture I give to music students entitled ‘Artist Essentials”. In it I give my 10 essential tools & services for a musician to focus on. Further information at: www.millionmedia.com

& www.theartistnetwork.ws


Musicians should think of their official website as the hub at the centre of a wheel. The spokes represent the social network and community, such as Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, Flickr, Instagram etc. These sites should regularly link back to the official site and encourage fans to visit often to buy

products and sign up for the mailing list.

Example: Coldplay have nurtured their online community with a constant flow of news and exclusives surrounding their new albums. Mumford & Sons use their website to focus attention on the band member’s interests in photography, cooking and books. Arcade Fire use their website to push fans towards new releases, social media, filmed projects and their online store.

The official website remains the most essential digital marketing tool for a musician


When an artist links to iTunes or Amazon for a sale it’s really a lost opportunity, not only to sell direct and enjoy higher profit margins but more crucially, to acquire fan data. This is typically in the form of an email address which can be used to build a valuable relationship with the audience.

Example: TopSpin is a leading ecommerce service for musicians. They offer detailed case studies of artists who sell direct to fans and build valuable data about their fan-base. Artists include Paul McCartney, Arcade Fire and Beastie Boys. By selling direct these artists gradually accumulate a large database of fan information and contact details.

The official artist store, connected to the artist site, is vital for developing direct to fan sales


It’s easy to fall in to the trap of thinking your efforts to build a community of fans can be done on Facebook or Myspace. However, this limits your ability to build meaningful relationships with your audience and also puts the control of your community in the hands of third party organisation.

Example: Lady Gaga created a fan zone called ‘Little Monsters’, which was built exclusively to manage and develop her fan community.

Grow a community around your artist site - not leave it to Facebook or MySpace


Facebook’s 1 billion people network is an ideal way to reach millions of potential fans

Facebook’s immense reach in to every corner of the globe provides a super opportunity to connect with millions of fans. Use your Facebook profile to update your audience about new music and video, using embedded Soundcloud and YouTube widgets. Use the tabs to provide more

information and keep posting content fans will want to share.

Example: Labrinth uses his Facebook to constantly post updates. However, he also uses the Tabs to provide interactive competitions, access to merchandise, tour info and pre-order information.


YouTube is a vital music channel for both discovering, sharing and playlisting

YouTube is one of the most important digital marketing tools available to musicians. Fans use YouTube to discover and share music using embeddable widgets. Musicians can use it to post promotional videos, footage from the studio, live performances and spoken messages to the camera.

Example: Alex Day holds the UK record for the highest chart position by an unsigned artist. He has based his career around regular updates on his YouTube channel. Psy, an artist from South Korea, enjoyed a huge global hit with Gangnam Style based significantly on the popularity of its YouTube video.


Soundcloud provides a wide range of versatile tools to record and distribute music. Fans can hear music, leave comments, share tracks via widgets and create playlists. For a low fee artists can add extra features including the extremely useful ability to see which blogs have posted the music.

Example: Diplo posts his new remixes on Soundcloud alongside tracks & mixes by friends and artists on his label. Disquiet, an avant-garde artist from San Francisco, posts his audio projects and claims, ‘Soundcloud groups are the record labels of right now’.

Soundcloud - the ‘YouTube’ of audio - is used by fanatics to discover new music


Twitter posts are immediate, direct and global. Your followers will see what you have written seconds after you posted it. Your fans want to know what you, and no-body else but you, has to say. Which means empowerment is at your fingertips. Now, the news is all under your control.

Example: Amanda Palmer is a regular Tweeter who made over $11,000 in 12 hours by selling Tee Shirts direct to her fanbase.

Twitter can be used as an instant communication tool to both fans and the media


Email continues to be a cost effective way to directly contact your most valuable fans

Email direct to fans remains a critical digital marketing tool for musicians. The fans who sign up to receive your marketing messages are likely to be your most ardent, and perhaps critical, fans. When they sign-up they expect to receive news & offers from you, so ensure you provide them with both

on a regular basis.

Example: Mailchimp is a leading provider of email software and offer the first 500 subscribers for free. This is a great way for musicians to start their mailing lists. Topspin claim over 40% of sales come direct from offers on a mailing list sent from artist to fans.


IFTTT.com is a great site for updating multiple sites. It works on the basis of ‘If this, then that’, e.g. If Wordpress has a new post, then update Facebook with the headline. You can set up a lot of trigger events which save you valuable time updating all your profiles.

Example: You can set up IFTTT to post an update to Twitter and Facebook everytime you update your blog. Updating multiple sites is often time consuming and difficult for artists (or their assistants) to manage.

IFTTT (If This Then That) is a great time saving tool to update multiple websites


Performing live is a vital part of being a musician. Selling tickets direct can make you a slightly higher profit margin. However, it’s the email and data captured that is most valuable to you over the long term. Selling tickets direct enables you to capture the details of your most valuable fans and build

a direct relationship with them.

Develop a way to sell tickets direct, either through your official store or third party site

Example: Mumford & Sons phenomenal success was built, in part, on the decision early in their career to sell tickets direct using Music Glue. This enabled them to build a database of fans, which they could use to sell music and more tickets and so on….


Neil Cartwright is a veteran of Digital Marketing, having built his first website in 1995. He joined Sony Music as their first dedicated digital marketing manager in 1997 and pioneered in areas such as social media, online PR, digital distribution & Direct to Fan sales. He now runs his own agency,

Million, and artist academy.

About the author

Million Media Website www.millionmedia.com Artist Academy www.theartistnetwork.ws

Credentials: •  Invited to present concepts of ‘Digital Marketing’

at MIDEM 7 years running •  Lectures on ‘The Music Industry’ at The Institute,

Europe’s finest school of modern music. •  Presented Digital Marketing at conferences

around the world •  Was voted by The Observer as one of the 500

people who will change the future of the UK •  Chair of music charity, Community Music, one of

the UK’s longest established music training courses


Artist Essentials

This presentation is based upon a lecture I give to music students entitled ‘Artist Essentials”. In it I give my 10 essential tools & services for a musician to focus on. Further information at: www.millionmedia.com

& www.theartistnetwork.ws

Date post:	12-Apr-2017
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Artist Essentials

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