Recap: Martin Atkins Speaking/Playing at Red7
Musician, author, lecturer and man of 10+ skills, Martin Atkins gave a presentation tonight on modern music promotion. Here are some highlights:
Free is the New Black
Use free music to generate revenue in other ways. He briefly mentioned Radiohead's pay what you feel campaign for In Rainbows but stated that was now antiquated (amazing how fast the industry has changed). Rather he used the example of Prince giving away a free copy of his new album in a UK tabloid that resulted in a string of sold out shows at London's O2 arena. Another analogy could be Nine Inch Nails giving away their Ghosts album for free but providing a premium package that netted Reznor 750k in a day.
Have a Strategy
You should always have a strategy in anything that you do. One example that he used to bring the point home was a map of the United States and on it were the locations of the top 100 markets in the United States. If you draw a line roughly between Minneapolis and Austin, 85 of those markets are to the east where 15 are to the west. The idea behind it was that bands can make irrational touring decisions by failing to plan a tour that is both economical and reaches burgeoning fan bases. (see analytics below)
Brick by Brick
Everything you do to promote and improve yourself as an artist adds allows you to build your brand and eventually brick by brick you will be able to build something great. He mentioned looking at the Great Wall and marveling at its construction but then realizing it was built one brick at a time. Martin emphasized constantly working and making connections even if its only one or two people per show because over time it adds up. Having 10,000 fans is only a multiple of interacting with small groups and individuals.
Be Original
This wasn't really about creating original music as it was creating original ways to sell and promote it. He used some of the following examples:
Moldover's circuit board theremin cd case
Shogun Kunitoki's strobe light kit and (video)
Use Analytics
Martin demoed YouTube's analytics capabilities by showing visitor locations and level of attention. He argued that you should use analytics tools that give geographical data in order to find out where your fans are located and that you should use YouTube's hot spot feature to see where attention drops off during your videos and edit content appropriately.
Music is ...
"A 28 hour a day, 9 nine day a week, 58 weeks per year commitment"
Oh and there's an asterisk
"If your songs suck, you don't practice and your live show sucks, forget any of the above."
What I wanted to hear:
I thought it was a great lecture but the only thing that was missing was any discussion of online promotion. He alluded to the demise of Myspace but he didn't really mention alternative online promotion strategies. For a while there every band had a Myspace and you had to be on there for better or worse but with Facebook stealing users, bands have to find new ways develop fans and Facebook's page application is useful (aka analytics) but doesn't compare to Myspace. He did mention he had 60+ slides he didn't cover and I could have probably gotten into a long winded discussion with him if I wasn't so pre-occupied with who was winning Game 6.
More on Martin Atkins:
Wikipedia
Twitter
Tour Smart
That Music Video I Was In
Embarrassment Meter x 10000
Thanks to: Blake, Logan, Chris, Lindsey
How Family Matters Should Have Ended
Skip to the 1:00 mark (the first minute is the show introduction)
My Old Boss Can Dance
Mstrkrft Austin Concert Recap
Mstrkrft played at Republic Live on Friday. It was a fun concert. This was the first time I wore ear plugs to a concert. Here's my recap:
8:43
Show up and wait in line for Will Call. Got the VIP tickets aka free vodka for a few hours. Republic Live is a great venue that doesn't know how to operate. Its a new club though so they'll work everything out in time but still, major hassle just getting my tickets.
9:20
Finally got my tickets, walk in order drink number one.
9:20 - 11:45
The opening DJ was really awesome and set the tone for the night. Since I had paid for "free drinks" (if that makes sense) I proceeded to begin ordering as many free drinks as possible. I made friends with an Asian woman who looked a lot like the opening DJ, and myself and "Jarvis" this musician from LA who knows alot of people and wants to make beats, were able to convince her to order shots pretending she was the DJ when really she was an anthropology major from TX State (of course this is what I remember but Will + Free drinks = not so good at the memorization).
Eventually the bartender notices she's serving me every 15 minutes (it was a long line folks) and starts giving me a double to keep me from getting back in line. So I simply get back in line with twice the alcohol.
Will + Free drinks generally equals trouble but I surprisingly held my alcohol well. I manage to send out a few texts that are actually in respectable English and make sense. Later on the real DJ gave me her business card and her name is Grace and she works with 77002.com. I sent her an email asking for her set list because she was actually really good (update 11/10 she sent me some of her set list, on to beatport I shall go).
11:00?
Two guys dressed as Mario and Luigi start to DJ. I was dancing and doing my thing. I wonder what they normally dress like?
12 ish
Mstrkrft start their DJ set. I push my way up to the front and basically spend the entire set three feet away from them while they do their thing. At the end of the set, they poured out shots of crown to people up front and I was lucky enough to get one. If you want to know what it was like, I found a video through twitter that was taken directly to my right by @jposty. (caution loud disruptive bass, turn speakers down)
2:30
I go to Katz's. The place is overpriced and generally sucks but I know that if I eat anything greasy, the contents of my stomach will become a sidewalk art project. I order my food and am served by a muscular man dressed as some Greek God. I feel bad for him because he spent five minutes telling me about his costume and I was giving him this look of "where the hell is my food?" Of course you pay $15 for a sandwich so I feel its within my rights.
Images:
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- Picture from their set
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- Second image from their set
My Love Affair with the Triple Meat Triple Cheese
Whataburger is my homeboy. The reason of course is the fact that Jesus has never descended from heaven with a bag containing a 2,000 calorie hamburger, fries, a drink and some napkins (but he might ... Murphy's Law).
That being said let me tell you the only reason I have been going to Whataburger recently. The Triple Meat, Triple Cheese. It's three patties of meat, three cheeses, some tomatoes and onions. It's fuckin delicious and makes Wendy's Baconator and Burger King's Quadruple Stacker look like Saturns at a Ferrari dealership. Its the best burger you can buy for $9.05 and I love setting my schedule around whether I will or will not eat one.
Step 1:
Prepare. I generally go light on breakfast and light on lunch before I eat one because after all, I'm eating my daily allowance of everything (except most vitamins and minerals) with one single meal.
Step 2:
Order it. I've tried this heavenly delicacy at three Whataburger locations and the best one is made at S. 1st and Barton Springs. The other two Whataburgers are full of clueless hamburger manufacturers but this one seems to attract the best talent. It's like Whataburger has auditions and sends the best of the best downtown.
When you order it make sure to get the meal. Trying to eat this thing by itself will cause your mouth to self-destruct and probably cause you to choke. The total with tax is $9.05 but let's say you ordered fast food for lunch ($6) then came home and ate a cheap meal (Sandwich + Soup) you've basically spent around the same price.
Step 3:
Eat it like you actually mean it. This thing is full of grease so tilt it downwards to let the grease drip onto the wrapping. I would even advise periodically stamping the back of the burger to the wrapping or a napkin in order to remove as much grease as possible. It's how a George Foreman grill works and its how you should always eat giant piles of fat and preservatives. With grease, each triple will take two days off your lifespan, without grease you only take one day off.
Step 4:
While eating, look around like your a hot shot burger tycoon because guess what, you are! I love ordering this massive pile of meat and collecting the looks of astonishment and "wtf" from fellow diners. Sometimes they stare at it thinking "Does this guy know somebody who works here? How the hell do you even order something that massive? Does this man have a death wish?" Heck if I wasn't busy eating, I'd walk around the store with my hamburger and show it off to the ladies. "Hey beautiful, I noticed your man can only afford a single meat combo, why don't you let me be your fast food sugar daddy and ditch this loser?" It would work and I'd get at least 5 numbers a week, but women of Whataburger, I've got a job to do and I don't have time to chit chat.
Step 5:
Once you finish it. Raise your arms like you just won the Superbowl. You should feel joy and happiness. However if your burger inhaling experience didn't go as planned, don't feel bad or think about the amount of weight and arterial plaque you just gained, think about the fact that for $9.05 you bought the best burger money can buy.
Odd People, Odd Searches
Note: This was originally posted as a Facebook note on 10/16/2007 back when I had my t-shirt site Solameiloveit.
I was looking at search results (in google analytics) that people have used to get to my site solameiloveit.com:
Here are some of the more recent Halloween related results:
nudist costume x12 <--- Hmmm I want to look naked, how do I do that?
nude halloween costume x4 <--- Just go naked
slutty men's costume x8 <---- Why? Seriously, Why?
make your own halloween costume slutty x 3 <---- Remove the top
strike costume x2 <--- WTF dress up as a labor movement?
Some odd people.