Today's Music Biz

“Imagine yourself as the person you want to be. Then live up to that image”

~Legendary Songwriter / Actor
Kristoffer “Kris” Kristofferson.

Fonzworth Bentley completed “C.O.L.O.U.R.S. (Cool Outrageous Lovers Of Uniquely Raw Style)”The recording was to be released on Sony Urban. But it was never released. It was not promoted (“shelved”). Why? His record label was “dissolving” underneath him.

Mr. Fonzworth Bentely

Who is Fonzworth Bentely? You may remember him as Sean P.Diddy Combs side-kick. At least that is how I remember him. What most people don’t know, is that he has sold to a market of fan’s by focusing on four paths that are unseen by many. Today, I’ll show you those 4 paths.

1. Create Your Space:

Be different. Fonzworth Bentley created space himself by being different. In marketing it’s called having a U.S.P. “Unique Selling Proposition“. You also may have heard of it as “positioning” in the market.

Mr. Bentley was able to make space in the music business by relying on visual images to separate himself from the thousands other would-be M.Cs. in Hip-Hop. Fonzworth made himself different from other Rappers by wearing a bow-tie, argyle sweaters, expensive dress shoes and umbrella.

His message? He was the gold-standard for hip-hop. His style? One of a millionaire. Unlike every other Rapper from Atlanta, who wears the sagging pants and un-tucked shirts. Fonworth wears old money clothes. That is being different.

Have you created a unique image?

Every successful artists from Elvis Presley, to Freddie Mercury, to Nicki Minaj, to Lady GaGa, Elton John, Shaggy…all and more, have made room for themselves using visuals to create room to get into a crowded and competitive music market.

2. Generate Awareness

In what ways can you generate awareness of your Music Business?

C.O.L.O.U.R.S. (Cool Outrageous Lovers Of Uniquely Raw Style) got Mr. Bentley noticed. But he shelved the release because his record label was crumbling. He held off on releasing the project until he could generate enough awareness and have a fan base ready to buy.

The result: Bentley sold 90,000 singles in 6 months and over 120,000 videos for the single “Everybody” (featuring Kanye West and Andree 3000 of OutKast).

According to Mr. Bentley, selling leads to the kind of success that creates a “Situation of Awareness”. Major label are willing to deal with you…on more fair terms…once you have built awareness.

3. Watch Your Step

When Sony Urban was “dissolving”, Fonzwoth was offered an opportunity to release his first record anyway. He declined. Instead, Fonzworth waited until the Music Industry settled down.

The Music Industry changes every 6 months. It’s an unlucky fact that some of the greatest artists never have a chance. They are shelved…

Alicia Augello Cook, was shelved because her record label had no idea where to “position” her music in the market. She was signed to Jermaine Dupis’ So So Def Recordings, but the parent company Columbia Records didn’t know who would buy her music. So she signed to Arista Records which dissolved a short time later. 

Clive Davis, one of the greatest Record Executives – ever, started J. Records and signed Alica. She released “Songs In A Minor” and the world became fans of  Alicia Keys.

Keeping in mind the lessons learned from the mistakes of other recording artist, Fonzworth waited to release his record. This smart step saved Fonzworth the frustration of  having his record under-promoted while Sony Urban was dying a slow death.

Imagine if Fonzworth had of released his record?  It would have went un-promoted or “shelved” (as the say in the Music Business).

It’s a good thing that he decided to take a step backward to generate some awareness. This step allowed him to move forward with more control to chart the direction of his career.

4. Watch Your Thoughts

Mr. Bentley has removed three words from his vocabulary “Can’t”, “But” and “Trying”. Think about it? Those 3 words can prevent you from having the success you really desire. “I’m trying to get my music out there but I can’t because…” LOL

Below are some helpful insights:

• Watch your thoughts.
• Listen to what you say to yourself.
• Attitudes become beliefs.
• Beliefs guide conduct.
• Conduct leads to consequences.

Dr. Amen, in his groundbreaking book, “Change Your Brain – Change Your Life” discusses “A.N.Ts (Automatic Negative Thoughts). More specifically Dr. Amen suggests that you crush these ANTs as soon as you notice them.

In today’s Music Biz, each must chart their own path. Hopefully,you will take the right paths along the way.

What are the 4 Music Business Marketing Elements that every Musician promoting their music should know?

We’ll get around to that in a few. But first, imagine your music product done? Your music is ready. You’ve got your song ready. Heck, you may have even went to DiscMasters and got a few hundred CD’s pressed and ready for sale.

The problem is, you haven’t done any ‘Music Marketing Research’. So you stand there with your head spinning with ideas to “get your music out there”.

The not-so imaginary scenario above is common among musicians, songwriters, producers, managers…Everyone at some point has to figure out how they will “get their music out there”. With this in mind, below I’ll go over the 4 Elements of Music Marketing

1. Product: Why does Jay-Z, Willi.i.am, L.A. Reid and other Professionals in Music Promotion speak of their music, they say “Records”? Because they understand that a Record is a “product”. A product is anything that can be brought or sold.

2. Place: The great Rapper Rakim said, “It ain’t where you’re from it’s where you’re at”. I’ll bet if you’ve dabbled in any kind of Marketing, you’ve heard the word “placement” being thrown around. Picture placement as the location? You’ve most likely heard the phrase, “Location…location…location”. There is a sound reason for this.

3. Promotion: After you’ve got your Product, and figured out the places you want to be, it’s time to focus on how you want to promote your music. Did you know that a great majority of excellent records fail to sell because of a flawed Promotion Strategy? How you promote your music product is as important as where.

4. Price: iTunes, Ticket Master and many big players in the Music Industry have heard back-lash from Fans and Recording Artist (like Prince). That is because some people believe those companies charge too muc. Yes, you can charge too much money for music.  You can also charge too little money for your music. Charge too much and you’ll turn off too many. Charge too little and your fans may turn your offer down.

Speaking of Prince, I few day’s ago I heard him say, “People tend to de-value stuff they can get for free”. I’ve seen it myself in the products that I sell. Doing a favor for a friend, for free will likely be forgotten – or, keep them coming for more free stuff.  The same is true of Music Buyers. Today’s Music Fan asks, “Why pay if you can get it for free?”

The good news is that successful Music Marketing is now easier than ever before. That’s because I’ve shared the basic marketing structure. You didn’t get this valuable information from me for free. You had to pay some attention to what I was showing you.