How to increase CD sales by 600%

[maxlowe]

Hey all!

My name is Max Lowe and I'm hoping you can help me out with a couple of things.

First of all, you might be interested in this study (http://blog.maxlowe.net/2008/02/20/sell-more-cds-how-to-increase-your-cd-release-success-by-600/) from NYU's Stern School of Business that's found a CD release that's had 250 blog posts written about it does 6 times better than the average release. Those are some pretty powerful numbers. Check them out here. (http://blog.maxlowe.net/2008/02/20/sell-more-cds-how-to-increase-your-cd-release-success-by-600/)

What I'm wondering, is whether any of you have tried the blogging route for your CD release? What fans were blogging about your new album, why, and how did they get onto the idea?

I write a daily independent music marketing blog (http://maxlowe.net) and have also written a book called 'Max Lowe's Ultimate Guide to Promoting Your Music Online (http://blog.maxlowe.net/buy)'. I'm always interested in hearing stories from other bands and artists who are using the internet to promote their music.

I also run something called 'Maxlowe.net's Socially Awesome Band of the Week (http://blog.maxlowe.net/maxlowenets-socially-awesome-band-of-the-week/)' contest where you can win a free copy of the book and gain some free publicity by being featured on the site. All you have to do is fill out this form (http://blog.maxlowe.net/maxlowenets-socially-awesome-band-of-the-week/) and show us why you deserve to be crowned the Socially Awesome Band of the Week.

I'm looking forward to hearing from you about your music marketing efforts. If you ever need a hand, don't hesitate to drop me a line!

All the best,

Max Lowe
maxlowe.net (http://maxlowe.net)

[Electroswank]

spammer?

[Red and Shiny]

Hard to tell. Lots of links in that post though.

[Centurion]

Doesn't everyone have a blog now? I think "blogging" was something new a few years ago. Now either on LJ or on some other site blogs are like all over the place.

[maxlowe]

Centurion said:

Doesn't everyone have a blog now? I think "blogging" was something new a few years ago. Now either on LJ or on some other site blogs are like all over the place.That's exactly right, Centurion. Blogs, in one form or another, are pretty much everywhere and they can be very influtential in introducing people to new tastes and ideas. If you get people talking about your music on their blogs (or, from another angle, sharing your song on their Facebook profile with an app like iLike), you can have a powerful team of dedicated evangelists spreading your band's message 24/7!

-Max
maxlowe.net
'taking the mystery out of music marketing in a web 2.0 world' (http://maxlowe.net)

[Trentreant]

I think that blogs are also niche oriented so if you are trying to promote music via your blog or other blogs it has to fit into the genre of what your style is. Trying to blog about some of the music that is talked about on this forum on most of the blogs out there would lead to raised eyebrows and exclusion.

[Red and Shiny]

Do artists still focus on increasing CD sales? I though that the CD was on its wau out slowly but surely. Maybe they should focus on selling digital downloads and then they can sell them right through the blogging that they do.

[maxlowe]

I think that blogs are also niche oriented so if you are trying to promote music via your blog or other blogs it has to fit into the genre of what your style is. Trying to blog about some of the music that is talked about on this forum on most of the blogs out there would lead to raised eyebrows and exclusion.

Definitely. One of the reasons blogs work so well is that they are often focused on very specific, and even obscure niches. But that's good news. It means that when people talk about your music on a blog with authority in your target market, it almost guarantees highly targeted traffic to your website or profile. Instead of MASS marketing your music (i.e. mainstream radio) you can MICRO market it to the readership (10, 50, 100, 1000, more) of blogs that are already talking about music and topics related to your band! Less work, less money, better chance the person hearing your music is interested! Win, win, win!

Niche Music in the Blogosphere
(via Technorati, english language blogs 'with some authority')

'goth music' (about 144 blogs (http://technorati.com/blogs/tag/goth+music), about 193 posts (http://technorati.com/tag/goth+music?authority=a4&language=en))
'industrial music' (about 300 blogs (http://technorati.com/blogs/tag/industrial+music), about 450 posts (http://technorati.com/tag/industrial+music?authority=a4&language=en))
'electronic music' (about 1500 blogs (http://technorati.com/blogs/tag/electronic+music), about 2,800 posts (http://technorati.com/tag/electronic+music))

You could also search longer keywords (i.e. goth music sweden) or words related to your band (similar artists, names of other bands and songs in your genre, magazine names that cover your genre).

[maxlowe]

Do artists still focus on increasing CD sales? I though that the CD was on its wau out slowly but surely. Maybe they should focus on selling digital downloads and then they can sell them right through the blogging that they do.
We sure do!

Of course, I'm using CD sales as a broad term...it could be physical CDs or digital downloads. Either way this is still an important revenue stream, particularly for indie bands.

Right now I'm working with a band who is promoting their first album, but unable to do any touring to support it until mid 2008. They're focusing their efforts entirely on building an online fanbase and selling their disc through cdBaby and iTunes. And its working.