Today's Music Biz

Today is the age of the “fail”. Can you believe that people actually search the internet for ‘fail videos’?

Why Are We discussing Rebecca Black?

Digital Music News Reported

Ms. Black has sold $198,685 on YouTube and iTunes alone.

(1) YouTube = $102,000

• Plays approaching 102 million  (as of April 14th)
• at a $2 CPM, with a 50% content owner payout, the total equals $102,000

It seems that the only way to succeed in marketing these days is to fail. Speaking of fails, at the time of this post, Rebecca Black has sold over 196,000 digital downloads of her singe “Friday”. In addition, Ms. Blacks’ video has gone viral, gaining over one million views on YouTube.

I have to admit, Rebbecca Blacks success defies the odds. To say the song is…well, not good would be being nice. I personally don’t enjoy listening to the song. But no one can deny with 96,000 iTunes downloads, and 100,000  in digital sales on YouTube, ‘Friday’ is a big payday for Rebecca Black.

I also have to admit that I love when the Underdog wins

Rebecca Black was the Underdog now she is the top-dog. This young girl is not even in high school yet and has sold more singles than most in the Music Business. She is a role model for chasing your dreams.

As the story goes, Rebeccas’ parents invested $4,000 to have a song and video produced for ‘Firday’. The return on investment is an estimated $98,000 (even if she only got 50 cents per sale). So just doing simple math you can see that her parents investment gave them a huge payback.

In addition, her efforts have gained her fame. Stephen Colbert, Jimmy Fallon, Taylor Hicks and others have performed ‘Friday’ to audiences reaching millions of fans.

Friday is not perfect. But they say, “perfect is the enemy of good”. So, if you are an up and coming musician, don’t worry yourself about perfection. Instead get your music out there and let your work speak for itself. You may have to deal with horrible comments  about your work (like Rebecca Black).

I realize that every musician is sensitive about their work. But take it from Rebecca Blacks’ example: get your music out there and hope that millions of people have something…anything to say about it. You may be able to sell a few hundred thousand copies and laugh all the way to the bank like Rebecca Black.

They say, “Those whom don’t plan to succeed plan to fail”.

Those who succeed in the Music Industry have had a plan.

Many Musicians wonder what makes a music biz plan work. I bet at one time or another, every recording artist, music producer, songwriter and music manager has wondered, “how do I make it in the Music Industry”. Well, I’m going to tell you some words that I hope will help you.

How To Make Music Business Plans More Successful

• Create your Music Business Plan: This fact can not be argued; Music Business Plans are needed to make it in the music biz. Why can’t this fact be argued? Well…ask yourself how many stories you’ve read of musicians stumbling on a record deal? Any of those stories you may have heard about someone stumbling upon success are false.

  In fact, I believe stories of success without a Music Business Plan are – in reality – part of the plan.A Music Business Plan can inspire a struggling or up and coming artist to reach to top of the charts. Lack of a Music Business Plan can cause depression and despair.

• Understand that succeeding may be difficult: Understanding that you may face some set-backs, and that finding success may be more difficult than you imagined will keep you from losing your focus.

• Stay committed to your plans: Have you heard the story of 7-up? Yes, the story of the soda pop. The story goes like this one day a man developed a great tasting soft drink. He tried to sell it…it failed. So he changed the name to 2-up. Again it failed. Same with 3-up, 4-up, 5-up and 6-up. Feeling discouraged he quit trying to sell his great tasting soft drink. He decides to sell the recipe.

  Along comes a buyer for the recipe. The buyer changed the name to 7-Up and the rest is business history.

• Hold yourself accountable for succeeding: You may be tempted to find someone else to blame when dealing with difficult times and challenges. Few people will be willing to take the blame for your plans. They are willing to take the credit…but never the blame. That is why the only somebody you can count on at the end of the day is you.

• Have faith in your Music Business Plans: If you have a solid Business Plan, you are ahead of 90% of the people in the Music Business. See that things are not working out as fast or as easy as you’d like, try to keep your faith. Having faith may mean taking action. Faith may mean that you leave your comfort zone and learn the things that you know you don’t know about the Music Biz. Having faith may require an investment of time money or talents.

  Have you heard of Alternative Rock Band Arcade Fire? If you haven’t heard of them, no biggie. What I wanted to tell you about Arcade Fire is that in 2011, they won a Grammy for Best Album of the year. Before shocking the Music World, Arcade fire released “Funeral” in 2004. That’s six years between their first full-release and the fame of winning Best New Artist at the Grammy’s.

• Stay proactive: Those who succeed in the Music Biz are proactive. For every member in the Rock N Roll Hall of fame, there are millions in the Music Business Hall of Shame. Fame comes from paying your dues, and keeping the good will of those whom can help you. Shame in the Music Biz has always come from being reactive.

  Being proactive means “Doing you”. A proactive person makes a plan B. So, their plan  A is not working.

I can not lie and say that if you; create your music business plan, understand that it will be difficult, hold yourself accountable, have faith and stay proactive, that you will succeed. But I can honestly say that if you do all of the above, your Music Business will be much more successful.