Virtual Music.TV is a blog about music and tech-driven culture edited by Ryan Van Etten. Music has gone digital. Artists own the show. Rock indie business. Embrace change. Hack the industry. This is a place to share ideas, tips, stories, and artist resources.
Communicate Like Drugs
Communication is a drug. Active ingredients: Force, Information, Relevance, Entertainment. Across any medium, from email to blog, newsletter, tweet, text, status, song, or video, when you communicate you want to deliver verbal Valium. Three elements of F.I.R.E. is a gateway drug. Four is mainline euphoria. Full molecular composition and drug facts are detailed within. Warning: F.I.R.E. triggers action.
Art Causes Change
Bob Marley: “My music fights against the system that teaches to live and die.” Seth Godin: “Art is a personal gift that changes the recipient. The medium doesn’t matter. The intent does. … Art is unique, new, and challenging to the status quo. It’s not a decoration, it’s something that causes change. If there is no change, there is no art. If no one experiences it, there can be no change.” Has art changed you?
Music Blogs: Taste or Waste?
Is The Hype Machine the Lonely Planet of music blogging? “I just feel like everyone tries to do something different, but you always wind up doing the same damn thing.” Our world is a paradox without a crash course. The streets are filled with drivers who supposedly ‘can’t drive’ and writers who supposedly ‘can’t write.’ Perception is all you have. Run with it.
Count Clicks To Content
Mr. Owl, How many clicks does it take to get to the rock n’ roll center of a retail mp3? Let’s find out. A One… A two-HOO…too many! Mr. Owl just BitTorrented right in because it was easier than buying it on iTunes. It took less clicks. It took less clicks. Are you testing your fans’ user experience?
One Call To Action
“Decide an important action + encourage fans to do the action.” There are three phases according to Vinson: Attract fans from social networks a.k.a. “outposts.” Engage them with a “compelling fan experience.” Sell through simple calls to action. Have one concept per page—one call to action. “Artist websites emphasize an artist’s own brand.”
You Have 10 Seconds
10 seconds to engage someone. 10 seconds to impress them. In his research for Futurehit.DNA, Jay Frank discovered an impressive trend: Shorter song intros lead to better sales. “2/3 of bestselling songs have an intro that’s less than 7 seconds.” The average intro length for Top 25 songs is 6.6 seconds. “You really have 10 seconds to engage people.”
NMS NYC 2010 Photos
New school and old school collide here. New Music Seminar in New York last week was a 2.5 day collision of industry minds talking strategy and technology in today’s music market. You’ll see a mix of photos from the discussions and performances which included the Artist On The Verge contest, where three bands from OurStage were voted on to perform and compete—Yonas, Comic Book Heroes, and HotSpur. 28 photos
video pick: "Mt. Baker throws another awesome party/jump session in Bakers back country. 2010"
Produced by Ryan Van Etten.
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