What Can Independent Musicians Learn From Lady Gaga's Controversial Marketing Techniques?

Indie bands - What can we learn from the marketing techniques employed by one of the world's biggest pop stars, Lady Gaga? If at this point you're saying "She's a sellout" or "I hate pop music" you've quite possibly closed the doors available to you and sorely missed out. Let's also forget the obvious point that Gaga has millions of followers anticipating her every move. I plan to use this individual simply as a conversation starter on the topics of controversy and originality, which are becoming ever-more important in today's music industry.

While so many independent bands are still wasting their precious time spamming potential fans on Myspace, Facebook, Twitter, and Reverbnation, while in the process repelling any potential of success, artists like Lady Gaga are focusing on a much overlooked aspect of music marketing: controversy. Whether you think her recent single "Judas" is a catchy tune or you think she is the spawn of Satan sent to destroy our children is wholly irrelevant. They would both fall under the opinion category. The point at the end of the day when it comes to promoting music is - does it work? If you can approach this topic with some neutrality and genuine inspiration then you may be in a position to start planning your hype machine.

It doesn't matter whether you are a pop music fan or not, or whether you agree with what Lady Gaga is doing. It works. These days, if you strike where the iron is hot, it can really pay back in spades. Now that anyone, for better or worse, can upload media on innumerable websites such as YouTube and Vimeo, anyone is a prospect for a strong reaction. Guess what people did to protest the release of "Judas"? They posted videos to YouTube. They wrote blogs. They made their opinions known online. Guess who this helped? Since the people expressing their opinions have no pre-planned way of capitalizing on them(such as printing t-shirts, for example), this solely feeds the Gaga machine.

Granted, these tactics work much better when you have millions of people anticipating your record. If you go back to the drawing board, though, and come up with a strong idea that resonates with an aspect of humanity, you can start a conversation. Conversations get started when something is OUTSIDE OF THE BOX. I'd advise any independent musician to scour their material and see if there is anything genuinely controversial (not necessarily shocking. Will it start conversations?) or if it could be easily dismissed.

Keep in mind that many topics you may think are shocking typically are not. Take the metal genre, for example, which has in some ways become a parody of itself, with thousands of releases annually exploring the anti-Christian agenda. They are certainly projecting something, but no one pays much attention, and for good reason. The topics and arguments are perceived by many as tired and boring. Now, if you were a Satanic electro-pop duo with an image to match, you may just have a potent idea brewing. Here's the point. If you are simply towing the line for your particular scene, you're not shocking. Why not introduce ideas where they are not typically welcome?

"Towing the line" for your scene would mean sitting in full agreement with it's chosen philosophy. It's the reason you sometimes feel like you've stepped into a cult meeting when you go to a local show. This can work well for the teenage post-hardcore band selling t-shirts in the school gymnasium, but with such an oversaturated music market, it's important for genuine artists to put effort into individualizing themselves as much as possible. Sometimes this means saying goodbye to the expectations and comforts associated with bands of your type.

This is not to say that if you are a folk band that plays pleasant music about the good old days, you should automatically start writing a concept album inspired by Zeitgeist 3. Play what fits. But guys, open your minds and stop spamming people on social media networks such as Facebook and Reverbnation. Studies have shown this to be grossly ineffective. You're going to need real press to gain footing in the industry. If you're creative, which you should be, there are many ways custom fit to your band to get people talking.

The bands who are getting attention on the music blogs these days have a one of a kind image. They are not the hardcore bands talking about perseverance or the punk bands with leftist leanings. For better or worse, there is no one else like them.

Ask yourself - are you truly an original in every way or are you kissing up to your genre elites in hopes of being accepted and getting coverage?

James Moore is a Canadian music consultant and author of the popular music marketing book "Your Band Is A Virus! Behind-the-Scenes and Viral Marketing for the Independent Musician". For more information please visit http://www.yourbandisavirus.com/.

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Some Ideas on Ways to Make a Living With Your Musical Skills

Of course change being the only constant, the music industry has changed into a new landscape of opportunity for independent music. Independent artists can now use the internet to share and sell their music, making them an enterprise in themselves. And being enterprising, it may be worth considering how your musical skills could generate more income for you. There are many transferable skills you are not even aware you have and you could be paid for.

There are many opportunities working as a creative facilitator working in mainstream primary and secondary schools and in schools with children with special needs. This may entail writing a song or learn to play an instrument and often leads to a performance or recording. This work is really interesting if you enjoy working with kids and young people and find it rewarding to watch them learn, express their voice and be creative. Other creative facilitator or community musician projects can be working in other contexts such as prisons, community centres and in theatres.

Being a musician you may also be able to teach others one to one how to learn and instrument. This can generate considerable income and you can advertise locally in shops and online for free to find new pupils. Again it helps to be patient, remember what is was like to learn your instrument/craft and be able to break down the steps of development into manageable tasks for your students. You may use a computer to make music, and passing on how to use music software can be much in demand.

You could advertise your musical skills as a session musician - playing music for different musicians and producers in recording studios or for live shows. This can also be a lucrative hourly rate. Contact local recording studios and rehearsal rooms and tell them of your enthusiasm and ability. Be sure to be reliable and friendly and you may get called in on a regular basis - I know of studios who always call on the same drummer and string quartet because they like working with them and they get the job done well.

You may have been recording your music for years to an acceptable standard to sell your independent music at gigs or concerts. You could then offer to be a recording engineer for other musicians you know - especially if you have the equipment and a recording space already set up. This could easily become a nice form of income if word of mouth recommendations come your way. You can also do take an intensive audio engineering course to make sure your skills as a recording engineer are up to a professional standard. If you enjoy engineering it opens you up to so many more musical styles and approaches so you can be expanding as a musician too.

Collaborating can also be rewarding and fruitful financially. You can advertise for and find other musicians to collaborate with, and their complementary skills or style may make music that is more likely to sell as independent music or mean that you may get paid for performing live. I know vocalist friends who work in cover bands that do very well on the wedding and functions circuit. Again it is all practice and you may just get to play and/or sing your favourite music. You could also consider building a portfolio of making music for dance, theatre and film.

So if you are a skilled musician or one of the more independent artists making creative music, you could find other avenues of income to allow you to be making music and learning about music part of your career.

Caro Churchill aka caro snatch is a female solo producer of creative music. She is also a creative facilitator working in school and community settings enabling others to make music.

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My Top 5 Les Paul Guitars Of All Time

I have continued to be a Gibson Les Paul fan for many years and there have been individual Les Pauls, wielded by a few star players that created a big impression on me. They all have a different tone, partly on account of the guitars and their pickups and partly because of the player's style and their amp setup.

So in no specific order, I give you my five favorite Les Pauls of all time:

1. Billy Gibbons' Pearly Gates - This guitar just oozes Texas blues. A 1959 Sunburst model with one of the sweetest tones ever to come out of a 59 Les Paul. Acquired from finances raised from the sale of a automobile called 'Pearly Gates', this is without doubt the best buy Mr Gibbons ever made. The guitar's pickups alone would cost you an arm and a leg (rumor has it that Billy turned down $5m for this axe!).

2. Peter Frampton's Black 3 pickup Custom - Who can forget the iconic image of Frampton holding on to this guitar on the cover of the epic 'Frampton Comes Alive'. The guitar gave out a wonderfully musical sound and amazingly it was given him by an extremely generous soul by the name of Mark Mariana. Regrettably this guitar was destroyed in a plane crash in 1980.

3. Jimmy Page's No1 Standard - A quite amazing 1959 Sunburst model which was purchased by Jimmy from Joe Walsh, who'd insisted that this particular guitar was just right for him. With its scalloped neck and customized electrics including push-pull controls, Jimmy's No1 was definitely his favorite electric guitar and has been described by him as his 'mistress'. This guitar may be heard on any Led Zeppelin album and has been captured in an incredible number of iconic Page images from over the years.

4. Mick Ronson's Natural Finish Custom - This is the cool Les Paul that can be seen or in virtually any 'David Bowie and the Spiders From Mars' images. This guitar began its life as a solid black 1968 Custom version but Mick had the top sanded off and re-finished. Mick played this guitar amazingly on all the Spiders' acclaimed albums.

5. Eric Clapton's 'Beano' Les Paul - Described by some as the one that kicked it all off, this specific 1960 sunburst model gained its name from the John Mayall and the Bluesbreakers' Blues Breakers with Eric Clapton album, as Clapton can be found reading a 'Beano' comic, giving rise to the name 'The Beano Album' and therefore The 'Beano' Les Paul. Considering the amazing tone achieved by Clapton on this album it's certainly strange that he defected to a Stratocaster for a huge part of his long career.

So there are 5 superb Gibson Les Pauls. I'm not sure how I can conceivably leave out Jeff Beck's cracking oxblood model or Peter Green's 'Greeny'. I guess something had to give!

The author has been playing both electric and acoustic guitars for many years and enjoys playing many different styles of music. He is also a keen builder of guitars and highly recommends Tub Guitar Pickups for top quality replacement humbucker pickups and Les Paul pickups.

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People Will Download Your Music For Free No Matter What

As Trent Reznor himself said, people will download music for free - no matter what.

You need to accept this. Period! The record labels have not accepted it. Many artists have not accepted it. But it's the truth of the modern music industry. People will download music for free whether you choose to offer your own music for free or not. Would you rather them have your music and potentially spread it or not? In fact, you not only need to accept the fact that people want free music. You need to embrace it and make it a core part of your promotional strategy. This is not the time to offer poor quality preview snippets of one song from your album. We are in an age of instant gratification, and if we don't get it, we move on.

The more music you have distributed for you free of charge, the more you will sell. Some of the people who catch the "virus" will be the ones who prefer to support the artist by paying for music. Just remember, right or wrong, it's the nature of the business today that music is essentially free. The only people who pay for music currently are people who:

a) Prefer to support the artist and have the funds to do so

b) Good samaritans or people who feel it is wrong to download music for free

c) Do not the have means (such as a computer or file-sharing network) to download for free

d) Do not have the technical know-how to download for free

It's time to embrace the future and become your own torrent site. The days of hoarding your music are over. Release your album digitally on your own website free of charge and advertise the fact that it is freely available. Make it easy and convenient for people to get your album. Upload torrents of your album to the major Torrent websites yourself. As your band gets more recognition, many people will search your band name on Google. If they can't find torrents of your latest album, they will bypass your band and move on to the next artist on their download list. It may not be fair, but it's the way things are. If you want your music to be played in their music library and potentially spread virally to more people, you need - at the very least - for your music to be accessible and free for digital download.

James Moore is a Canadian music consultant and author of the popular music marketing book "Your Band Is A Virus - Behind-The-Scenes And Viral Marketing For The Independent Musician". For more information please visit http://www.yourbandisavirus.com/.

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The Best Beatmaker DUBTurbo Review!

DUBTurbo review

Do you possess musical talent, but lack the resources and time to get into a professional studio? You can now start your very own imaginary studio using nothing put your PC or mac and the DUBTurbo software. Actually you can be producing top quality beats within minutes of purchasing the software! It doesn't matter which computer platform you use DUBTurbo will have you producing beats that rival record labels in no time. The software comes with free instructional videos that not only get you started but show you how to promote and sell the music you make!

The best part is you get a complete package, including a 16-track sequencer, a 10-pad 16-bit drum machine, a 4-octave 16-bit keyboard and thousands of pro sounds plus some outstanding bonus kits. The tools used for editing are very easy to use and will greatly speed up production time. You wont be pumping out crappy sounding mp3 files DUBTurbo cranks out WAV 44.1Khz 16-bit stereo sound for export. You also get premium free updates every time they update the software.

I was looking for a long time before I finally found something that actually interested me, a beat making software for 30 dollars! I thought to myself this has to be a scam either that or the software is junk. I did some research on it, looked around the website, and I have to say, I was intrigued. Not only because of the look of it, but because of the price, I mean, even If the software was a piece of crap it's not like I spend 3 digits on it, right?

So yes, I purchased the software and I have to say I was more than happy. All in all the navigation, the controls on it, and even the interface was exceptionally well done. I don't think they could have done a better job with DUBTurbo.

The most amazing part of the deal is the 60 day money policy, if you decide at anytime in this 60 day period you decide you dont like the software you get a full refund. Everything from ease of use to price to the many, many extras you get make this a spectacular deal for new producers and seasoned vets alike. I have been producing for quite a few years myself and I give this my highest recommendation. This software rivals expensive equipment I use myself.

DUBTurbo review this is my honest opinion of this software I think it is the greatest thing since sliced bread and couldn't recommend it more. Please do your self a favor save yourself time and money and give this product a chance.I did and i wouldn't have it any other way. http://eazye123.blogspot.com/2011/08/dubturbo-review-best-beat-making.html

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Rihanna's Rise In The Music Industry - Who Is Rihanna?

Who'd think the famous Rihanna's real name is actually Robyn? This currently 23 year old is sweeping awards left and right and has become a true world musical phenomenon.

She hit the charts with "Pon De Replay" which was her first huge hit and has peaked in August 2005 by getting to #2 on Billboard Hot 100. After that it was a smooth ride to the top of charts all around the world.

When I heard her for the first time I was instantly hooked. Her voice differentiates from other singers which is a common trait of every successful vocalist. Creating commercial songs with flavors of a wide variety of genres she created something favorable for almost anyone. She mentioned Madonna as her idol and said she heavily influenced her taste of music.

Her style rapidly changed though which was clear with her Good girl gone bad album. She was trying to convey she's not the innocent girl we all thought she was and that she has an adult side to get artistic expression.

In her personal life things have turned to the worse when Chris Brown, also a young rising star of hip-hop, assaulted her. She had to cancel her then Grammy Awards appearance. The leaked photograph showed just how serious her injuries were. Although there was an imminent public backslash on Chris Brown, it was evident that fans and public overall has a short memory because the incident had almost no effect on Brown's career.

Things have turned for the better when Rihanna collaborated with Eminem on a song called "Love the way you lie" which was another hit in several top charts. Eminem, a seasoned performer has obviously recognized Rihanna's talent which produced a really successful song. After Eminem, she continued to work with Kanye West and created All of the Lights as a result.

On November 2010 she released her fifth studio album called Louder. It sold over 200,000 copies in the first week and was yet another success in a career of this young lady. At this point Jay Z started managing her and she also created Rihanna entertainment with a goal to pull together all of her diversified ventures.

Currently she is working on a new album which will be released this fall. We can expect more successes from her since almost anything she creates becomes an instant hit being played all over the world on basically every radio station.

Download and listen to free Rihanna mp3.

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Promotional Clothing Is The Trendy Way To Promote Your Brand

One of the most successful ways to showcase your concern's brand is with the help of a variety of promotional products that can be gotten from a reliable supplier. One of the promotional products which each and every business owner appears to be taking advantage of is promotional clothing. Utilizing promotional apparel is really an exclusive way of promoting your business.

There are numerous promotional clothing items like t-shirts, caps, corporate clothing, polo shirts, long and short sleeved shirts etc. which can be utilized to promote your company's brand image. Your company's name, slogan, message can be imprinted on them.

The incredible part about using apparel is that there are so many types of promo clothing obtainable out there and you get to select items depending on your particular requirements and budget. You'll find out that there are loads of apparel styles obtainable in the market that will suit your taste and style. Your concern's logo and name won't be limited to the wearer alone but will catch the attention of individuals who see it. This is an incredible way to publicize your company's products and services to the public.

Clothes are popular and commonly utilized promotional items which are used in order to unintentionally and intentionally promote brand awareness. For example, work-wear with custom-printed logo and company name may be used as uniforms thereby saving your staff money whilst simultaneously advertising the concern's brand by captivating the attention of those who see it outside the work place.

Promotional clothing has even proven to be a really amazing item for distributing at sporting events, trade shows, trade fairs, corporate events, exhibitions and several other business functions. Promotional apparel is incredibly worth its application, since it actually proves to be very beneficial in the promotion of existing products and the launch of new ones. These clothing items assist to create awareness much faster among the masses, as the individual viewing the brand which is proudly displayed on the clothing is not just in one location, as the carrier of the trademark takes the concern's message with him or her wherever they go.

The principal motive behind offering promotional clothing is to publicize the concern's products and or services; with clothing, there are no space constraints. Even small accessories such as promotional bags, lanyards, caps etc. have ample space to emboss a name, slogan or message of any firm. Larger items like shirts have the advantage of allowing many areas for branding. These are particularly useful in situations where there are lots of sponsors who all have to be represented.

Promotional clothing is easily accessible. There are actually suppliers that provide quality clothing items in Australia. But, it makes sense to select a supplier that has been in the business longer; this way, you are certain of obtaining quality products at a decent price.

If you are looking for information on attaining top quality promotional Clothing items in Australia that won't cost you an arm or leg visit http://www.dingopromotions.com.au/. WA based promotional products company delivering a full range of promotional products Australia wide. Established since 2000 with prompt reliable service. Here you will find a wide range of promotional products and corporate gifts to suit any budget.

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