Today's Music Biz

“Ah ha, you know what it is”…

Wiz Khalifa (pictured above in the hoodie) is getting higher using Radio Promotion

It’s your Man – Jeronimo Black with another story of success in today’s music business. Hip-hop Rapper, Wiz Khalifa is rolling up on the radio charts with 2,226 spins on radio this week (a 74 percent increase from last week).

Wiz has another radio chart-topping hit titled “Roll up”.

If you’ve listened to hip-hop over the last year, then you may remember hearing Wiz Khalifa’s 2011 Pittsburgh Steeler’s anthem “Black And Yellow”.

But even if you’ve never heard of Wiz Khlaifa don’t let that distract you. He is just part of the bounty of information you’ll learn today.

Are you are an up and coming;

• Recording artists

• Producer, Music Publisher

• DJ

• Music Manager

• Record Label

If you are then, I’ll bet that Wiz Khalifa knows something that you don’t…that is how to get thousands of spins on radio.  If you think you need to pay to get radio airplay. OK…I respect your belief.

But the truth is you don’t need to pay to get radio airplay.

You don’t need to be on a Major Record Label.

Wiz khalifa has released many chart-topping singles on Independent Record Label Rostrum Records.

Some are saying his album titled “Deal Or No Deal” is a response to his frustrations with his former Major Record Label (Warner Brothers).

The release of “Deal or no Deal” was a shocking success rolling up to number 10 on the Billboard Rap Charts. He also did something that I recommend anyone to trying to promote their music biz do…

(I reveal that in Radio Promotion Secrets)…Wiz then went on the road with the tour and eventually landed another deal with Atlantic / Rostrum.

In a recent interview with Radio Station Power 105.1 (on the Breakfast Club) Wiz stated that he wanted to get his brand together and his music out there. He is using radio to build his brand.

That’s why I am profiling Wiz Khalifa.Power 105.1 reaches millions of listeners.

You can easily multiply how many millions Wiz has managed to reach with over 2,000 spins on radio stations across America.

So, what’s in this story for you?

A reminder that radio promotion is the strategy used by the successes in today’s music biz.

Sure, the internet is a powerful weapon…Just not as powerful as getting your music heard by thousands to millions of people listening for new music. Radio airplay brands you more powerfully than any other music promotion method.

Radio Promotion as part of Wiz Khalifa’s music marketing strategy has been growing his popularity. He’s also put out a half dozen mix-tapes…that I’ve never heard.

What echoes in the heads of Wiz Khalifa’s Fans (all over the globe) is two words heard on radio…”Black and yellow”.

Wiz Khalifa took a pinch out of the promotion stash at Warner Brothers Records and used it to reach top 25 on the U.S. R&B Chart… on an Indie Record Label.

Now, who else wants to learn how to succeed like Wiz Khalifa?

I don’t care what they say…Radio Airplay is the way to become a Music Superstar.

What causes music lovers to wait in line to buy records?

This time around, I’ll tell you a secret…that secret is what’s called a Pre-sell. Successful Musicians (or their team) understand the process of pre-selling music.

Pre-selling music is a a marketing method used by promoters, artists and anyone who refuses to risk their time effort and talent to chance in today’s music biz.

Any musician trying to sell music will be doing themselves a favor by using pre-sell strategies. Pre-selling music will give you an edge.

What Is Pre-Selling?

Pre-selling is the process of telling Fan’s (or potential fans)… about your music or event – before the sale officially begins.

For example, Justin Bieber’s pre-sold his movie Never Say Never at least six weeks before it was to play in theaters. Thousands of teens stood in-line waiting…often in the cold…to see the Musician they love and adored. It is very possible for every Musician in every genre can have fan’s lined up outside of their events (sales).

I’ve seen it locally many times. More importantly, I’ve been a part of many pre-sell events. Some pre-sell’s have been out of this world successful.

For example, the Janet Jackson 4 Jamz pre-sell Promotion. The Janet Jackson pre-sell promotion was an immediate success for the mid-west based concert promoter I helped.

Pre-selling Prevents Music Promotion Failure

More importantly…pre-selling prevents local musicians from loosing mass amounts of money promoting sales that are not going to give a return on investment.

I’ve seen many musicians waste time and money for concerts that didn’t peak any interest during pre-sell. I won’t name any names. But the smart ones ended the concert promotion. The not so smart musicians (or their promoters) didn’t stop the promotion and the result was failure.

It sucks to lose money… but it really sucks to lose hundreds or thousands of dollars on a promotion that loses money.

The good news is that you can use a pre-sell to help you prevent a poor promotion from ever happening. So here’s what you can do before you burn your hard-earned dollars on a promotion that may…or may not succeed.

• Offer special discounted price (for a limited time):

  
  I’m sure you’ve heard of someone calling themselves someones number-one Fan? People like getting an advantage. When they can, people will give themselves an advantage. A special price offering gives the Fan the opportunity to take or give that special advantage to themselves.

• Offer special access to Fan’s who take advantage of pre-sell offers:

  One of the greatest pre-sell methods is to offer additional access to the musician. Backstage, and VIP Access offers a compelling reason to buy that drives sales like very few other methods.

Even better news is…Musicians can use pre-sell events and specials for digital music downloads as well as off-line sales and concerts. There is no reason to suffer through another failed music promotion. Not when pre-selling provides promotions insights as well as if your sale will return your efforts a return on investment.

Everyone in the music biz seems to be hearing the same message: “the best way to succeed in the music biz is to start and run your record label.”

There are three fact’s that everyone (especially Musicians) out to know before starting a record label. You’re invited to watch this video in today’s blog post to learn what these two valuable fact’s are

The information came to me as I was working with Major and Indie Record Labels over the last 20 or so years. I hope you find this information insightful and helpful. Of course, you’re invited to tell us your opinion after watching the video.

You’re also invited to subscribe and become a member of Today’s Music Biz. You’ll get the best information needed to succeed in today’s music biz.

My Argument: Today’s Business Of Music Marketing Still Requires Myspace In the Mix

Myspace is still a relevant place for Musicians to Market to

Myspace is still an important for every Musician Marketing themselves today.

That’s because for one…somewhere in the Music Business there is a transaction going on between two people. One of them is a Musician and the other is a fan.

The fan is looking for music and entertainment and the musician is looking for as many Fans to sell as much music to as possible.

The second reason why Myspace is still relevant for Musicians trying to market their music is because the site has the number one digital music interface.

Take a peek at the image of the Musician, ‘Pink’ above to your right for a second?

Thanks. The reason why I share that image is not only because my love for Pink as a Musician…it’s because I needed an example to show you.

Pink is number one…yes #1… in Digital Music Sales this week on Billboards top 100!

As a fan, when I went to purchase Pinks latest single,  “F’**in “Perfect”

So, what purchase option did Billboard offer for purchase?… I bet you guessed it already… Myspace.

Although I have extensive experience behind-the-scenes in the Music Industry…at heart… I’m a fan of music and entertainment

I seek new music to buy, download and play back. I’m a Music Buyer. More importantly…I am only one of BILLIONS of fans looking for music to buy on Mysace!

Unlike your average Fan, I have the experience and background to give you well informed advice on marketing your music as a musician. Myspace is still a very valuable piece of digital real estate.

I don’t know if you’ve heard that Myspace is up for sale. I say ignore those reports.

Why?? Even if Mysapce is sold, the link equity and authority that the site has (in search engines like Google) can be so valuable that it would be a mistake to not utilize it to sell more music.

tech claim: 59S55K7FBM6G

Rapper Lil Wayne gets a Qwiki
(pronounced “quickie”)

Lil Wayne Gets A Quickie

There is a new social experience being created on the Internet. Lil Wayne is on of the beneficiaries of this great experiment. The website is called “Qwiki”…Think of it as a quick wiki like wikipedia. You can check out Lil Wayne’s Qwiki here.

Many Musicians trying to Market themselves to Record Labels often fail. And they often fail because of one simple mistake.
I’ve seen many up and coming Musicians who didn’t “get signed” because they made the mistake of skipping one step.

Getting a record deal can be easy to do with proper planning. There are many experienced professionals in the music biz who will tell you that the music biz is all business. I agree. With any business, proper planning is the key to success in the music biz.
This article describes some simple steps to plan your success.

Think of your career as a business. Have you assembled your business plan? How do you plan to market? What is your mission statement? Are you going to start your own record label to be distributed by a major, or are you going to use the full service resources of a major label? These are all important issues that you have to have in order to really succeed in the music biz. A music biz plan helps you resolve these issues well in advance.

A lot of recording artists enter the music biz with one big goal “to make it”. These artists see themselves on a big stage in front of thousands of screaming fans, but often that is as far as the planning goes. Artists rarely conduct the planning that it takes to succeed in the music biz.

I’ve yet to speak to an artist who has a business plan. In my experience if you don’t have a business plan, then you shouldn’t plan on being in business. A good business plan will cover your business and legal structure, your marketing model, financial projections, goals, benchmarks and finally what you’ll do after the your career is over.

I’ve met many recording artists who treat the music biz like a glorified hobby. They often don’t have business cards, a website or in many cases, a valid email address. Many more artists don’t have the marketing structure in place that will allow them to get the attention from fans or record labels. Remember that the music biz is all business. If you treat your music career as a hobby then you might as well just play your music for friends and family and be content with people pretending to take you seriously.

Getting attention and interest from record labels is easy if you are on the radar. Many Artist and Repertoire Representatives (A&R Reps) agree that if an artist is making it happen on for themselves (by selling a couple thousand CD’s locally or selling out a 2,000 seat venue) they will get on the major label radar. You can’t get on the radar of the record labels (or your fans) if you are flying by the seat of your pants and living on a prayer.

As a wise person once said “failing to plan is planning to fail”.

Jay Z and Kay West Come Hard As A Mutha...

Yo! What’s Good?…

This is ya Man…Jeronimo Black with the songs I predict you’ll hear on Radio over the next couple of weeks.

Beware! You will get tired of hearing these songs over…and over…on the radio.

Let me kick it off, with a Dirty South Joint form Kanye West with Jay Z – H*A*M Hard As A Mutha F—Not their best work but worth a listen.

Skillz “Rap Up” 2010

Ahhh…2010 is over. And as usual  M.C. Skillz wraps up the year with his “2010 Rap Up”. It’s always good to hear MC’s that can work word-play as well as the Mic. Listen to Skillz Rap Up 2010 by clicking play on the video below.

Other Hip-Hop and R&B Artists Getting Radio Airplay Include:

• Dev-Back Seat
• Tinie Tempah feat. Eric Turner-Written In The Stars
• Nelly feat. Kelly Rowland-Gone
• Snoop Dogg-Sweat
• Eminem feat. Jay-Z, Dr. Dre, Ca$his, 50 Cent & Stat Quo-Syllables
• Alicia Keys feat. Eve-Speechless

Are You Ready To Hear Your Music On the Radio?

If you really are, you should take a look at Radio Promotion Secrets. Radio Promotion Secrets shows you how to  get your songs heard on any Radio Station that your Genre of music fits in.

Radio Airplay is STILL The Best Way to Become A Music Star”

• Once your music is played on the air, you’ve turned your ”Star Machine” on. Once your music is heard on radio… people who doubted that you would “make it” start believing in your success!
• You can be like many artists who HAVE become rich and famous with only one song on the radio!
• Radio Airplay gets you noticed by the Record Label!
• Radio airplay brings tons of more people to your shows!
• Radio makes it possible to sell millions of your CD’s!
• And much more!

To learn more about how to get your music heard on radio click here