MusicIsMyBiz

This post is for business and musician alike.  While this post might not seem like something musicians may benefit from on the surface, the following information is something that everyone who is actively involved in selling themselves, their services, their products, or their business can learn from.  It’s important to keep in mind that, if you’re a musician, you’re also a small business.  You have to promote yourself just like any other business.

Businesses are often saddled with the task of having to market on little or no budget.  This is the case whether you’re just starting out, or if you’re already established.  Marketing is a necessity!

The video series below is designed to help you market your small business with YouTube videos, Jingles, and On-Hold Messages.

If you need help with marketing your business using Jingles or On Hold messages, or if you need a voiceover for your YouTube video, Butler Productions Multimedia can help!

Good luck promoting your business!

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Since audio is an often overlooked business tool, Butler Productions’ Audio Marketing Solutions department exists to help small businesses implement audio in ways that can benefit both sales and awareness. There are a number of ways that audio can be used to the benefit of your business.  Here are the three most common:

Jingles

When creating a marketing campaign, awareness is the first hurdle to overcome. Obviously, potential customers must know about you before they come to you. Using a jingle is an excellent way to help achieve awareness. A jingle is simply a short, catchy song which provides information about your business or product. However, it doesn’t stop there. A jingle, in whole or in part, can be included into radio, television, and internet advertising (YouTube videos, your company website, etc.), so it’s a very versatile tool. Some jingles can stand alone as a commercial, while others are great openers or closers. Jingles are relatively inexpensive to create and can serve your company for years to come. Learn more about getting started with jingles here.

On-Hold Messages

Converting potential customers into paying customers is the next hurdle. You’ve created a jingle that creates awareness for your company, and now phone calls are pouring in. On-Hold Messaging is the next tool, which helps keep customers on the telephone line and provide valuable information while they wait for to speak to someone. The music and messages that callers hear helps to reduce caller anxiety, reduce the number of hang-ups, and create further awareness of your products and services. All of these results help to foster more sales for your business. These can be coupled with your jingle to help reinforce your brand and image in the mind of your callers. These are also easy and inexpensive to start and maintain, and most telecom services have the ability to incorporate music/messages on hold. Learn more about getting started with on-hold messages here.

Point-of-Purchase Audio Advertising

Ok, now you’ve caught a potential customer’s attention with your jingle, and you’ve kept them interested in your business when they called with your on-hold message. Now they’ve come to your business or store location. The next hurdle is to convert browsers to buyers. Point-of-Purchase Audio Advertising is a great tool for this task. These brief messages, often interspersed within background music, can inform shoppers of new products or services, sales and specials, or any other useful information. While some contain background music, many consist of just a voiceover or announcer, so they’re quick, easy, and inexpensive to produce.  Again, you can use your jingles here as well, adding even more value to your initial investment.

These are just three examples. Feel free to drop us a comment of your ideas or useful ways you’ve used audio for your business. If you’re interested in implementing audio for your business, contact Butler Productions, and we’ll be glad to help!

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In yesterday’s post, Creative Ways to Make a Living with Music (Part 1), we discussed a few ways to earn a living from music.  We touched on the following topics:

• Teaching private lessons
• Being a recording session musician
• Being a music copyist

Today, we’re going to dig a little deeper with more options for savvy musicians who don’t necessarily want to tour and gig.  Let’s move on to Part Two of Creative Ways to Make a Living with Music!

Production Music/Licensing

I’m sure more than a few of you can relate to this scenario.  You produce a CD.  You call up Discmakers and have 1000 copies pressed.  It’s now five years later and you’ve stopped performing.  You have 812 CDs sitting in your garage.  Strike a chord with anyone?  Been there.

Chin up; there’s hope!  You can still earn money on your music even though you’re not actively selling CDs.  Your music may be usable in film and television, and it’s easier than you might think.  Television shows and films are constantly looking for music to fit different scenarios, for instance, source music (music coming from a source in the story)–a car radio, a bar band, a jukebox.  That music has to come from somewhere.  It may as well be you.  Placements can generate thousands of dollars in up-front monies.  Better still, you get paid a little every time the show is broadcast.  Those payments can really add up! 

Perhaps you’ve been told you’re “too old for a record deal,” or that your music “sounds too dated”.  With music licensing, no problem!  Some of the more frequently used pieces of music are often the ones that sound distinct to a given time period.

Production music libraries are a source for various types of music.  Your music may fit into one of their categories.  If so, and you’re able to get connected, they will essentially act as a publisher, actively seeking opportunities for your music.  The ins and outs of this topic are too vast to go into great detail in this particular post.  Check out www.taxi.com for a great way to get started.  (If you sign up, make sure to tell them Clay Butler referred you!)  Also, see my book recommendations below for more information on the topic.

Also, if you have a considerable amount of recorded music, you can start your own production music library.  By offering your music to local video production house and photographers at a reasonable price, you may be a valuable resource for their videos, presentations, and slideshows.  See how I license music on my site.  While the ins and outs of music publishing and licensing is a bit too in-depth for this particular post, here are some great books that deal with the topic in great detail:

Jingle Composer

This ain’t your momma’s classic Roto-Rooter jingle market anymore.  Today’s jingles are as fresh and relevant as the music on the radio.  Think of a jingle as a 30-second pop song.  Just like the main objective of a hit songwriter, jingles are designed to stick in the heads of listeners.  If you can write a memorable melody with a catchy lyric that sums up a product or company, then the jingle market may be for you.  You can hire outside talent to perform the parts, or, if you’re a studio savvy multi-instrumentalist, you may be able to perform them yourself one-man-band style.

Jingle Singer

If you’re not into writing music, then promoting yourself as a session vocalist or jingle singer can provide great extra income if you’re a singer.  I’ve made a considerable amount of supplemental income from being a jingle singer on projects all over the country, and it’s a blast!  Part of the fun is the challenge involved.  One session might be a country session, the next jazz, and the next rock.  But the real icing on the cake is that it’s usually quick work.  You usually only have to sing anywhere from eight seconds to sixty seconds worth of material (excluding double tracks and harmony parts).  On average, after I receive the backing track from the producer, I can have the tracks sung and the files in his email inbox in a half hour.  The money goes in my PayPal account or a check goes in the mail.

Part of the success of being a jingle singer comes from having access to a recording studio.  But, setting yourself up for jingle singing doesn’t take a lot of equipment and expense.  A decent microphone, an audio interface, and a laptop are sometimes all you need.  Couple that with some modest acoustic treatment (a couple of thick blankets in the corner), and you could have all you need to get started.  The real necessity, however, is that the tracks are clean (free of extraneous noise) and are recorded at a decent level.  Usually your jingle producer will handle the compression and EQ.

Here’s a great USB studio microphone/audio interface–an excellent tool used with our free recording software options from the last post:

Producing Other Bands

Nowadays, anyone with a computer and a CD burner can crank out their own CD.  That, however, doesn’t always mean that their music couldn’t benefit from some outside help.  If you’re solid at arranging parts for your own band, then you may be able to produce for other bands.  Again, you will need access to a recording studio, but as we mentioned earlier, most computers now have the capability to record decent quality music.  Some even come with music software already installed, like Apple’s Garage Band.

Producing takes some knowledge of music theory, coupled with the knowledge of how to arrange parts so they don’t compete with each other.  This happens before the recording begins by arranging each instrument to play in its own register (or octave).  Parts are written to complement each other.  After they’re recorded, competition is further eliminated with EQ and panning.  Combine that with some contrast between the verses and choruses by changing the dynamics, rhythm, and density of the parts.

Aside from the musical aspects, there are other responsibilities as well.  A producer is usually organized (which is usually the antithesis of a musician, but who am I to judge?), can plan ahead, has attention to detail, and can work well with people.  Although this is a very basic description, if you have the musical know-how, people skills, and the organization, then you may have what it takes to be an independent producer, even on a small scale.

Here are a couple of great books I recommend on becoming a producer:

Now go make a living doing what you love!

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