tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32384442008-05-13T15:41:21.126-05:00Music Promo BlogMarc Gunnhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09259760600015369364noreply@blogger.comBlogger69125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3238444.post-48365706082976353272008-05-13T15:40:00.000-05:002008-05-13T15:41:21.202-05:00Indie Buzz BootcampMy friend, Bob Baker, wrote the book on music marketing. It's called Guerrilla Music Marketing. Now he's started the Indie Buzz Bootcamp in St. Louis, MO with some amazing marketers in the lineup. I'd love to be able to hit this event. If you're in the mid-West, don't miss it.
Find out more here.
Reserve Your Seats Now for
Indie Buzz Bootcamp 2008 An exclusive group of only 150 people will be
Marc Gunnhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09259760600015369364noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3238444.post-81970310862371422562007-10-22T22:06:00.000-05:002007-10-22T22:22:02.908-05:00It Can Happen to You! - Internet Wedding FraudI'm miserable right now, and $2500 poorer. My band was the subject of internet fraud.
So rather than totally wallow in my own misery, I want to educate you on how it happened and how You can avoid this same problem. Because Your band may be next.
In September, we go an email for a wedding gig. They found us through our Celtic weddings website. It was a little difficult for Andrew to work out Marc Gunnhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09259760600015369364noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3238444.post-25283335723766010712007-10-16T16:19:00.001-05:002007-10-16T16:19:55.257-05:00No-Cost Teleclass with Marc GunnI'll be Julie Blake's guest for a one-hour conference call titled "Turbo-Charge Your Music Career with a Guerrilla Marketing Mindset." Should be an hour of power thinking.
That call will take place on Tuesday, Oct. 16, starting at 12 noon Central (CST). That's 1 PM Eastern and 10 AM Pacific. Register for the call here: www.getmusicsuccess.com/GuerrillaMindset.html
Then on Tuesday, Oct. 23, I'llMarc Gunnhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09259760600015369364noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3238444.post-47650656557059606232007-05-13T18:02:00.000-05:002007-05-13T19:14:23.978-05:00Why You Want to Surprise the Hell Out of Your FansA few days ago, I surprised the Hell out of one of my fans using a cool internet tool called Technorati. This site allows you to see what people are saying about you in their blogs. But why do you want to surprise the Hell out of your fans?
You see, guerrilla music marketing is about getting your music to potential fans aggressively and at low cost. One way to do that is to build a viral buzz Marc Gunnhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09259760600015369364noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3238444.post-67233212889886635852007-05-11T13:04:00.000-05:002007-05-11T19:48:17.215-05:00How to Surprise the Hell Out of Your Fans"Holy Crap! You found me!"
That was the latest comment I got when I posted a "thank you" in a fan's Livejournal. She had just finished writing a praise-filled post about how cool my Irish Drinking Songs for Cat Lovers CD was, when I appeared... just two hours after she wrote it!
That's not the first time I have blown away fans by personally responding to a blog that they would never have Marc Gunnhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09259760600015369364noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3238444.post-82666228651881696892007-05-08T22:47:00.000-05:002007-05-08T23:10:05.344-05:00How to Earn Good Will in the Music BusinessNow that's one way to get someone's attention.
I got an email from Mousie on Myspace. She has an independent website where she reviews bands that she thinks are Must Hear bands. This month, she picked my band, the Brobdingnagian Bards.
What struck me about this was when I went to her DeathSong website I saw a band at the top of the page called Lourds. I immediately thought they were the band Marc Gunnhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09259760600015369364noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3238444.post-35929918878725381372007-04-25T16:17:00.000-05:002007-04-25T16:23:46.925-05:00Don't Lose Your Domain Name!by Marc Gunn
That always shocks me. I was composing the shownotes for my Irish & Celtic Music Podcast, checking URLs. One of the bands in this week's show had a domain that was no longer functional. It expired two months ago and was about to be released to the public. Fortunately, I knew her and gave her a call.
She had no idea the domain was ending, but since her band broke up she didn't thinkMarc Gunnhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09259760600015369364noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3238444.post-2290945046676367332007-04-13T10:20:00.000-05:002007-04-13T10:21:18.121-05:00Challenging the Status Quoby Peter Spellman
Someone once said, "Remember that the great wise men of the past held no respect for today's conventions, and neither will the great men of the future." If you desire to improve your world - or even your own situation - then creativity will help you do so. The status quo and creativity are incompatible. Creativity and innovation always walk hand in hand.
When singer Elvis Marc Gunnhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09259760600015369364noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3238444.post-28396775907661525072007-02-27T13:14:00.000-06:002007-02-27T13:16:07.521-06:00Attention MySpace Music SpammersI just saw an email from a music marketer publicizing the latest MySpace spammer. Ye know, this program will post a comment on every MySpace page that meet certain keywords and and have high page rankings. Ooo! Sounds tempting doesn't it?
It is. I can't deny, I've thought about using MySpace spamming programs. But I can't get my head around the idea that it is STILL SPAM! And no one likes spam. Marc Gunnhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09259760600015369364noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3238444.post-1161208837655027432006-10-18T16:59:00.000-05:002006-10-18T17:03:13.926-05:00Billboard and Vocus to Launch Music and Entertainment SEO Press Release ServiceNEW YORK, NY and LANHAM, MD (PRWEB) October 5, 2006 -- Billboard, the world’s most trusted source of music, video and digital entertainment news, charts, reviews and analysis, and Vocus, Inc., (NASDAQ: VOCS), a global leader in on-demand software for public relations and corporate communications, today announced plans to launch a major music and entertainment business promotion and marketing Marc Gunnhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09259760600015369364noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3238444.post-1145337608262868732006-04-18T00:03:00.000-05:002006-04-18T00:26:41.050-05:00Top 13 Music Marketing Articles of March 2006It is always a good idea to know what people are searching for when they want music marketing and music promotion tips. I decent number of music marketing articles though I've been negligent over the past few months. With any luck that will change.
Why? I plan to mentor bands in the Austin area via the Austin Music Foundation. It is always good to give back to your community. My band does that Marc Gunnhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09259760600015369364noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3238444.post-1145148507546957462006-04-15T19:46:00.000-05:002006-06-23T18:06:17.936-05:00My Favorite Music Business PodcastsAre you listening to podcasts? I love 'em. Not only are they fun to listen to and a great promotional tool (thanks to the Podsafe Music Network), but now they are also a great educational tool.
Here's a couple music business podcasts that I listen to.
Musicians Cooler by Dave Jackson
It's a bit longer than I'd like, but the content is fantastic. So I continue to find myself Making time to Marc Gunnhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09259760600015369364noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3238444.post-1145146151913951232006-04-15T19:01:00.000-05:002006-04-15T19:51:29.206-05:00Are You Wasting Your Fans' Time?On Thursday, I went to the Alamo Drafthouse's bi-monthly Movies in the Park series when my phone rang. It was a fellow Celtic musician who moved to Austin a few months ago. She was going to see a band. I was dying to meet her at last and to hear this band she raved about, so I decided to tag along.
In October, she was at the Saxon Pub and saw an amazing singer who was playing to an empty room. Marc Gunnhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09259760600015369364noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3238444.post-1141319651639584562006-03-02T10:48:00.000-06:002006-03-02T13:46:10.153-06:00What Every Musician Should Know About PodcastingAs a podcaster, I'd like to think that most artists have at least heard of podcasting, even if they don't understand it. But just in case, let me educate you a little bit.
The term "podcast" was coined by Adam Curry combining "broadcast" and "iPod". Despite the name, no iPod is needed. A podcast in its basic form is just a downloadable radio show... an MP3. What makes it exceptional is that how Marc Gunnhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09259760600015369364noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3238444.post-1140487260618365802006-02-20T19:54:00.000-06:002006-03-02T11:14:57.886-06:00The New Rules of Writing Press Releases for MusiciansWhen I first published The Bards Crier, I sent out a lot of press releases; both for the Crier as well as for my band, the Brobdingnagian Bards.
Well, somewhere on the way I got lazy. I stopped writing them. That made it harder than ever to write them when next I needed to.
As a result, I missed out on some big opportunities.
Two weeks ago, I sent out my first press release in probably a year.Marc Gunnhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09259760600015369364noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3238444.post-1138860289193066412006-02-01T23:57:00.000-06:002006-02-02T00:04:49.203-06:00How NOT To Use A Mailing ListThere's this band I know. I met them at a conference, and they seemed cool. I gave them my card. Big mistake.
First, they added me to their mailing list without asking. This was a faux pas, but I let it slide, because hey, I'm a musician too.
Then, the deluge. Email after email after email, sometimes three or four a week. Begging me to come to their shows, in places thousands of miles away thatMarc Gunnhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09259760600015369364noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3238444.post-1127421448072383972005-09-22T15:35:00.000-05:002005-09-22T15:38:26.170-05:00A Great Band Nameby Ande Rasmussen
Sometimes a great band name can get a band much more media attention than if the musicians went by their own names or some lame name.
Not many people have heard of Mark Stuart, but many more have heard of the Bastard Sons of Johnny Cash (BSOJC).
Johnny Cash’s own advisors told him that BSOJC infringed on his trademark and Mr Cash should force BSOJC to change their names. Marc Gunnhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09259760600015369364noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3238444.post-1121031630065847082005-07-10T16:34:00.000-05:002006-03-02T11:16:04.070-06:00Your Speaking Skills Can Make You a Better Music PerformerIt's interesting to compare the articles written on how to give an exciting speech with how to put on an exciting show. I have not seen that many articles for musicians on that topic. Fortunately, the two topics are fairly similar. So it is easy to transpose public speaking articles to live gig articles.
Speech writers know that you have to grab the audience's attention in 30 seconds. That's Marc Gunnhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09259760600015369364noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3238444.post-1119971044958184342005-06-28T10:00:00.000-05:002005-06-28T10:04:04.966-05:00Filling Your Music Marketing FunnelI saw this article by The E-zine Queen, and it got me thinking. Here she lays out something well-known to most brick-and-mortar businesses. You need multiple pricing levels to really maximize your profit. Read and see what you think. I'd love to hear what kind of pricing structures you might offer.
"Filling Your Marketing Funnel"
by Alexandria K. Brown, "The E-zine Queen"
A client of mine, Marc Gunnhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09259760600015369364noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3238444.post-1119450993781044742005-06-22T09:27:00.000-05:002006-03-02T11:16:24.983-06:00Top 10 Websites Linked to Me in MayIt's important to give credit where credit is due. Here is May's Top 10 list of websites that linked to me. Here goes: Sonic Awareness - Free Music DownloadsOcean - Exotic Funk Danceable PopBattle Scarred - UK Punk RockCeltic Harps by Rick StanleyKoretz Music OnlineAnti-HeroRodd P.Third Monk RecordsSlow Dog PromotionsSue Hart Band - Jazz Singer It is easy to become a part of this list. Just add aMarc Gunnhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09259760600015369364noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3238444.post-1119305846467743972005-06-20T17:13:00.000-05:002005-06-20T17:17:26.470-05:00Don't Just Spend MoneySound advice from Jeffrey P. Fisher's FREE Moneymaking Music Tip of the Week:
There is an old business adage that says you must spend money to make money. I heartily disagree. You must spend money promoting to make money! It's not an expense, either. Promotion is an investment in your future success.Marc Gunnhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09259760600015369364noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3238444.post-1118710467173610562005-06-13T19:52:00.000-05:002005-06-13T19:55:54.006-05:00The 21 Most Powerful Copywriting Rules of All Timeby Joe Vitale
Joe Vitale is a master at educating people on how to sell with the written word. Here are some of his most-powerful tips.
1. Know your USP.
USP = Unique Selling Proposition = a one line statement (proposition) that explains (sells) how your product or service differs (unique) from the competition. You can't know it unless you research your product as well as your competition. Marc Gunnhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09259760600015369364noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3238444.post-1118413555625205122005-06-10T09:16:00.000-05:002006-03-02T11:17:33.723-06:00Easy Gigs Around the Globe at No Cost to Youby Marc Gunn
I got an email from a fan asking if we were performing at the North Georgia Celtic Festival this year. Unfortunately, we contacted the festival. They were having trouble finding sponsors this year and couldn't fit us in their budget. I understand that. However, Lady Red asked a fascinating question that got me thinking perhaps there is another way.
Did you watch "Star Trek Marc Gunnhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09259760600015369364noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3238444.post-1116454138396119942005-05-18T16:55:00.000-05:002006-03-02T11:18:45.936-06:00Top 10 Websites Linked to MeIt's really nice to give thanks to those people who go out of their way to promote you. So I decided to create a Top 10 list of websites in April that linked to me. Here goes: Sonic Awareness - Free Music DownloadsBattle Scarred - UK Punk RockOcean - Exotic Funk Danceable PopThe Fall Guys - Texas SongwritersCeltic Harps by Rick StanleyAnti-HeroSlow Dog Free Music PromotionSue Hart Band - Jazz Marc Gunnhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09259760600015369364noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3238444.post-1115303179758517982005-05-05T09:22:00.000-05:002005-05-05T09:27:11.233-05:00You've Got... Complaints! How to Turn Disgruntled Customers Into Raving Fansby Alexandria K. Brown, "The E-zine Queen"
Did you know that marketing isn't only about getting your clients or customers? It's also about KEEPING them, and keeping them happy. That's a big key to growing your business, because not only will those customers themselves keep coming back to you for more, but they'll send their friends and colleagues as well.
Studies done by the American ManagementMarc Gunnhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09259760600015369364noreply@blogger.com