New Way of Selling Music

In our every changing music industry the way we listen to music has even changed. We have come a long way from A-Tracks to MP3 players. That is no different from how music is being sold and bought. 

We have come from walking into you local record store and buying the newest album to now going digitally and buying just singles.  We use to have to buy a complete album just to hear your newest favorite song. But not anymore, with services such as iTunes that allows a fan to go in and buy just one song and not the complete album which may contain at least twelve songs.  

This new way of selling records has also created a more level playing field when it comes to main stream artist and the indie artist. An artist can remain indie while still being able to go gold or even platinum by selling a single. It may raise a question, within the next 10-15 years will there even be a need for record labels? Of course a record label can give you the money backing that you would need and allow you to get tour money. 

But as we all know that this industry is forever changing and we will have to just wait and see what type of changes it will bring to the industry.

Alternative Funding

Funding is the most important component for a business. Without funding there is no way a business can function with its daily operations or for that matter even thrive.

Finding funding is may be difficult for those of you that may not have a rich relative, and I must say I do not have a rich relative so I too would need to find funding when starting my small business. There are all types of funding, such as loans, investors, grants and etc.

There is also many alternative funding such as the EDA (U.S. Economic Development Administration). The EDA is a federal program that promotes growth in all American regions.  They also help establish job growth regionally throughout the United States. By offering a grant process there are a few guidelines that have to be determined to make sure that your business will fit the goal that they are trying to accomplish.

There are six guidelines that the EDA goes by to make sure your business is right for their grants:

1. Collaborative Regional Innovation
Initiatives that support the development and growth of innovation clusters based on existing regional competitive strengths. Initiatives must engage stakeholders; facilitate collaboration among urban, suburban, and rural (including tribal) areas; provide stability for economic development through long-term intergovernmental and public/private collaboration; and support the growth of existing and emerging industries.


2. Public/Private Partnerships
Investments that use both public- and private-sector resources and leverage complementary investments by other government/public entities and/or nonprofits.


3. National Strategic Priorities
Initiatives that encourage job growth and business expansion related to advanced manufacturing; information technology (e.g., broadband, smart grid) infrastructure; communities severely impacted by automotive industry restructuring; urban waters; natural disaster mitigation and resiliency; access to capital for small, medium-sized, and ethnically diverse enterprises; and innovations in science and health care.


4. Global Competitiveness
Initiatives that support high-growth businesses and innovation-based entrepreneurs to expand and compete in global markets, especially investments that expand U.S. exports, encourage foreign direct investment, and promote the repatriation of jobs back to the U.S.


5. Environmentally-Sustainable Development
Investments that promote job creation and economic prosperity through projects that enhance environmental quality and develop and implement green products, processes, places, and buildings as part of the green economy. This includes support for energy-efficient green technologies.

6. Economically Distressed and Underserved Communities
Investments that strengthen diverse communities that have suffered disproportionate economic job losses and/or are rebuilding to become more competitive in the global economy.

(http://www.eda.gov/investmentPriorities.htm)

If you would like to see more information about the EDA and see if they may be able to help fund your business visit them at EDA.gov

Being An Independent Artist Just Got Easier

tunecore.com

Remember when every artist goal was to sign a record deal with a major label. Now that the technology has changed so has the music industry and the game as well.  Being an independent artist 10-15 years ago was a major struggle for the artist music to be heard outside of their community and own city.

That is no more the case with websites and services such as TuneCore. TuneCore is a digital distribution website that allows independent artist to not only distribute their own music to the public on major online stores such as iTunes, XBOX Live, Zune, and Amazon MP3. 

By giving independent artist the opportunity to put out an album, single and ringtone creates a new level playing field from being mainstream and independent as an artist. 

TuneCore acts as a distributor for independent artist. Being independent now may be easier than ever before. Not having the overhead of a record deal from one of the major record labels, can allow artist to focus on what they love and that is making music. 

Even though this is not a free service the prices are very reasonable for independent artist. Distribution cost start out at $9.99 per year for each single and ringtone and $39.99 for each album. The most important thing about TuneCore is that as an artist you keep all the rights to your music and you keep 100% of the royalties. 

With perks like that any artist that is independent should really question, should they stay an independent artist or should they be hunting that record deal that once was so important? Not to say that as an artist you should not or would not want to get that record deal, but with websites like TuneCore it makes it easier for independent artist to stay independent longer.

Learning From The Experts

One of the best ways of learning is by learn from your mistakes as well as from those within the industry and field you wish to be in. This is very essential when you are in the initial stage of creating a business plan and trying to secure funding from different types of investors. Doing research and getting key points from the experts will surely make creating a business plan much easier.

When doing my own research on business plan experts, I found a few key points that will not only assist with writing a business plan but will help become a successful business owner. One piece of advice that I have learned and every business owner that is starting out should know, you should never give away ownership when you are starting out. According to Tim Berry, Don’t save starting costs by giving the business away. A lot of time people give away percentages and when the business starts to do well they have forgotten that their business partners own a percent of the business and has not done any work to deserve the pay. Don’t Give Away Ownership As If It Were Just Credit. Please, is an blog post that is a must read.

From this blog I have made sure that if I have a business partner within my owner business the only way they would be able to get a percentage of the business is if they were going to put in the same amount of blood, sweat and tears as I would.

What I believe to be the most important section in a business plan to investors would be the marketing plan and sales strategy. An investor needs to know how people will know about your company and product(s), by having a solid marketing plan will show them just how you plan on doing so. The sales strategy will let investors know what a companies long-term goals are and what competitive advantage it will have over the existing companies in their industry.  

Business Plan Experts

Tim Berry

Tim Berry is the founder and chairman of Palo Alto Software and bplans.com as well as co-founder of Borland International. Berry received his MBA from Stanford. Married for 42 years and a father of five. Tim stated, “I believe in business planning but I don’t think a business plan is a document (Timberry.com, 2012).” Aside from being a founder, co-founder and chairman Berry is also an author, speaker, and blogger.

With a MBA degree from Stanford, Berry also graduated with honors from the University of Oregon with an MA in Journalism, and received a BA in Literature from the University of Norte Dame.

Berry has published books that help small business owners create business plans as well as help them with business startups. He has written books with titles such as The Plan-as-you-go Business Plan, Business Plan Pro, 3 Weeks to Startup, Sales and Market Forecasting for Entrepreneurs, and Hurdle: the Book on Business Planning. Tim has been very vital, as a business plan expert, Jim Blasingame, one of the most well-known small business radio talk show hosts, has referred to him as “The Father of Business Planning.”

Tim does not believe in writing business plans for business owners but instead he provides free business plan advice and coaching, through his blog. This blog has over 200 posts that contain all types of articles, videos, presentations, and even a couple of books.

 

Ellen Rohr

Ellen Rohr is the president of Bare Bones Business. Rohr teaches business basics as well as a columnist for PHC News and a writer for many business journals and trade magazines. With a college degree in Business Administration, Rohr started out running a family plumbing business which she also let belly up.

In 1995 Rohr started Bare Bones Biz, a venture capital and consulting company. Over the next 17 years she made many contributions to numerous of company, Office Depot and American Express Open Forum just to name a couple.

Rohr has a seminar entitled, "Business Planning made EASY: A simple strategy for a powerful business plan that will DRIVE you in the direction of your GOALS."

In this seminar she makes six points that you should follow when creating your business plan.

·      Setting Sight.  What do you want your business to BE?  How will you know when you have “made it?”

·      Building the Team.  Who does what?  Why, how and when?

·      Making Money.  Learn the bare bones basics for building a budget, keeping score and bringing in the bucks.

·      Getting it Sold.  How to create a sales-focused culture…without insulting your soul.

·      Getting it Done.  Developing sure-fire systems for doing things the first time, every time.

·      Making Sure.  Are you on the right track?  How do you get back on track?  It’s all about asking and answering the right questions.   

For more of Rohr’s business planning insight you can visit her website How To Grow A Small Business...Into Freedom!

Be Seen

As the Internet has grown over the past 15-20 years, we have seen a change in how people interact with each other. We have come a long way from just using email to chat rooms to now having social media and blogs. Social networks such as Facebook and Twitter have become greatly popular for companies and artist for promotion and being able to interact with their fans and customers first hand.

One entertainer that has seemed to use social media to their advantage is none other than Sean “Diddy” Combs. Diddy has his hands in just about every aspect of the entertainment business. From music, appeal, fragrances, TV reality shows, to beverages, you name it Diddy has done it.

Diddy uses his social networks to keep up with his fans as well as interact with them. On Twitter Diddy has over 5.5 million followers, over 80 pictures and 20K plus tweets it is safe to say that Diddy keeps up with his fans through his twitter. He is so interactive with his social networks Diddy has his Facebook site link on his twitter page.

Diddy’s Facebook page is more fan interactive than his Twitter account. On his Facebook page he gives his 1.2 million Facebook fans more of the inside look of Diddy. With 8 different photo albums, music and music videos us as fans are able to get more on a personal level with Diddy.

Diddy has the impact on the entertainment industry that what he says goes and when he speaks people listen. Make sure that you go follow him on Twitter or add his as your friend on Facebook. I guarantee he will keep you entertained and up to date on all the need to know in the entertainment business.  He is a major trendsetter, not only will he be heard but he will always be seen.

Look Who is Changing the Music Game

http://www.reverbnation.com/images/v3/standard_resources/logo_resources/reverbnation_logo_dark_normal.png

There is no secret that the music industry is one of the most fast paced industries within the entertainment business. As an artist you can be hot one day and known as a one-hit wonder the next. The music industry has changed greatly over the past five years and we see more indie artist putting out their music now more than even before.  ReverbNation is a site that is designed to help indie artist gain more exposure and an outlet to being heard worldwide. When looking at ReverbNation it puts you in a mind frame of a “Facebook” for artist.