The idea of this lesson is to create something really cool that you can give away to people for free, then approach other websites and influencers who have the ear of your potential fans to distribute it.

The great thing about this process is that you don’t even need a website or any money to get started because we are going to be using some wicked free tools to set this up.

The incentive for the sites you work with is to be able to offer their readers a really special and unique product for nothing. With a bit of luck (and some help from you) they will send it out to their mailing lists, post a link on their social media pages and do all manner of other things to spread your freebie around.

At the end of this lesson you’ll be able to send a pitch email like this…

“Hey I’d like to set up a special promotion to offer 200 of your readers a free copy of my latest album package (usually it goes for $25)… is that cool?”

…pretty tempting right!

But that’s not even the best bit…

… because all those new hits will go over to Facebook where you will ask people to “Like” your page in return for the freebie. You can now keep on entertaining them long into the future and posting the odd link to something they can buy.

Let’s get into the action =>

Step 1 – Creating your package offer…

Forget about a couple of MP3s…your thing needs to be real tempting to convince people it’s worth a mention.

The question is how do you create something worth $25 (or more) that will cost you hardly anything to create or deliver?

The simple answer here is that you need to set up a package offer.

A little hop over to Itunes confirms that the going rate for a new album right now is around $10.99 with a music DVD often being sold at around $15.99. So to convince potential partners that your thing is worth spreading around we’re going to base our offer around that.

Here’s what I suggest you put together….

Create a file on your computer and spend a little while setting up the best darn free offer that your fans have ever come across.

• 10 track album (Just a collection of the best songs you got)
• Album artwork (An image to represent the front cover. You can create this in Pixlr, it should be 12cm by 12cm)
• Handwritten lyrics (Scan your songbook, if you don’t have a songbook get one! It adds a lot of value to your package)
• Album documentary video (15 minutes long will do, uploaded as a private YouTube video. Here is a killer example from one of my clients. Either make it yourself or find a friend or film student to help)
• Video of a live show (Go back to your new movie producer and ask her to come down to a gig. Offer them BEER!)
• Bonus track and outtakes (A couple of acoustic versions from he album will do)
• Photo album (Document one of your shows from the time you arrive to when you leave the venue at the end)

Note: One thing I should mentioned when it comes to delivering videos is that it’s going to be easier if you just create a word document that introduces each movie then links people over to private YouTube videos. Uploading and downloading online video takes ages and is not a slick process for you or your fans. (But again you want to let people know upfront that these are private ‘just for them” to keep your thing special and valuable)

So that’s the package offer done…I think anybody would agree that all those goodies are worth at least $25 so you’re not going to have to beg people to spread your thing around. Feel free to add in anything else you can think of as long as it does not cost you much and people can download it. (Don’t offer a free puppy or anything like that )

Step 2 – Compress and upload your package

To make your file easier to manage you want to compress it before uploading…

All you have to do is put all your files into a folder on your computer and then turn it into something called a “Zip file”.

Here’s how to Zip stuff on a PC
Here’s how to Zip stuff on a Mac

Now that your package is created we need to put it somewhere online so that your people can download it…

The usual place would be a website hosting account but we are going for the free option here so Google docs will do just fine.

Watch the video below for details…

Step 3  - Setting up Facebook

Now comes the really cool bit…

We are going to set up your Facebook page so that people who have “Liked” your music will be able to download your package instantly, but the new people will have to hit Like before they get access.

First thing you need to do is create two videos, the first one will welcome them into your musical world, tell them what they’re getting and then ask them to hit the Like button…and the second will thank then for Liking your page and tell them to click the link below to get your thing.

Watch this video to figure out the Facebook stuff…

So there you have it…

You’ve created the simple delivery process, now all you have to do is find people who have lots of Klout in your music scene and convince them to promote your thing.

By the way…”Klout” was a clue.

Alternative option

So far I’ve been showing you how to set this up using a Facebook page, but feel free to use the same process on your own site asking people to join your mailing list…it works just the same.

3 ways to find other sites to spread your freebie around…

1. Klout

This is a site that tracks how influential people are online based on a bunch of stats taken from social media interactions and stuff like that…

It’s an amazing tool because they have already created a Klout score for 100 million people so it’s kind of like a big giant research area to find out who can connect with lots of your potential fans quickly.

Watch the video below to see how I use Klout…

2. The biggest websites in the world

Klout is great but sometimes you need to dig a little bit deeper to uncover some more gold…

This process is not about one site in particular but a new way of thinking that goes like this:

• Visit the most popular sites in the world
• Find the most popular people on those sites who are talking to your potential fans
• Then email or call them to see if they would like to offer their people your freebie

So let’s try this with a couple of “King Kong” websites…

The websites below are among the most popular on the web which makes them perfect for the process outlined in the video:

• YouTube
• Facebook
• Twitter
• StumbleUpon
• Digg
• Technorati
• Amazon Authors
• Blogger
• Tumblr
• WordPress.com
• LinkedIn
• Itunes
• FlickR
• Pinterest

3. Your other interests

Finally I want you to make a big giant list of things you like to do outside of the music game.

This could be movies, sports or even monster trucks…put it all down on a piece of paper and make sure that you don’t drop food on it, because this is going to become a very crucial document!

Your fans don’t sit at home all day listening to the Ipod in a dark stinky room, they’re just like you and will usually have a bunch of other interests which lead them to sites totally unrelated to music.

So these sites also become a potential launch pad, and it will actually be easier to get their attention because they are not getting hammered by 100s of musicians everyday.

The reason I want you to start with you’re own interests is that your perfect fan is probably quite similar to you, so this is as good a place to start as any.

Let’s use ME as the guinea pig for a minute…I’m into this weird global treasure hunting game called Geocaching, so I might take my music to the Geocaching website and work out some kind of tie-in.

I’ll set up a real personal offer for them and chances are that the other Geocachers all around the world will subconsciously know I’m one of them and be more open to my free package.

Sure you’ll probably get your thing in-front of a few people who never listen to the kind of tunes you play but the cool thing about the music business is that fans are wild in their tastes, if you ask most people what they’re into the answer will usually be “all kinds of stuff…”

I think even if somebody did not especially like your style as a rule they would still download a package worth $25 just to get something free, and if your stuff really is cool you might even CONVERT THEM!

In any other industry you would never cross promote quite like this…

I mean if someone owned a Ferrari, you would not spend your time or money trying to sell them an old banger…but it’s not beyond belief to think that people who like rock music might also listen to the odd rap album once in a while so let’s give it a shot.

…this is a little off the wall but I hope it kind of makes sense.

You should now go back to the Klout method and the “biggest websites in the world” and uncover opportunities for a little cross promotion.

Remember that music sites get pitched by bands all the time but these other sites will probably not have come across this kind of offer before and may well be more open to what you have in mind.

*Bonus tip*

Another potential source of new fans is other musicians who may also be open to spreading your thing around.

Although I often find it’s easier to convince them if you can give a little financial incentive or if you can promote something of theirs in return.

Getting on the radar before you ask them to promote you

Most of the time if you just randomly email someone you’re going to get a big fat silence and not hear a thing back.

The steps below are for those of you who want to go the extra mile and do a little ground work before you go in for the kill:

• Re-Tweet them
• Comment on their blog
• Send them an email thanking them for all their good work
• Add their site to a list of the best sites in your music scene and post it to your blog (Then email the site owner to let them know)
• Like there Facebook page then ”Like” and post comments on their updates
• After a while send them a friend request on Facebook and start interacting with what they have going on
• Offer them a guest post
• Interview them for your blog

The point of all this is so that you’re sort of “online friends” with this person before you ask for their help and they will recognize and feel good about hearing from you when you pitch your thing.

This is a great position to be in because it can be the basis for an ongoing promotion which turns into a regular source of new fans each month.

How to find their contact details

Here are 3 foolproof ways you can find the contact information of almost anyone you want to work with:

1. Most of the time there will be a contact button at the top or bottom of the page but if you can’t find a link press “control+f” on your computer keyboard and search the page. (They may have put the contact information somewhere weird)
2. Sign up to their email list. The messages will usually come from a email account that they check so you can just hit reply to the first message they send you.
3. Search for the website on www.whois.net, this will often list the site owner and maybe provide a contact email. (After you run a search you may have to visit a link at the bottom of the page for full contact details)

I should also mention that if you can find them on Facebook you can send a direct message through there. But if you do this too much Mr Mark Zuckerberg could get angry and ban your account. So I often find a better option is to look at their public Facebook page and check out the “About” info to see if you can find an email address.

Here’s where you find that:

Your pitch email

You always want to keep your pitch as personal to your target as possible but to save a little time here is a sample email to get you going:

“Hey Bob, love your blog…

[personalize your message - mention something they have blogged about or tweeted recently. This will show that you care about what they’re doing and it’s not just a bulk email]

I wanted to have a word with you about setting up a special promotion to give say 200 of your readers free access to my latest album and the collectors package to go with it. The normal price is $25.

We’ve been working real hard on the record, DVD and all the other goodies so I hope your people will really appreciate the freebie. (Just my little way to thank you for spreading the word)

I know that you would only want to pass around stuff that you’re into yourself so I’ve set you up with a free copy to get started…

=> You can download the album yourself HERE

That’s my little idea, hope you love it.

- Chris

P.S If you would like to go ahead with this I can provide a pre-written email, website banner and a bunch of other promo tools so that this won’t take up all your time.”

You want to let them know that this is special and that you’re not just giving it away to any Tom, Dick or Harry. I also suggest that you set up your package for sell on your own site so that you can show that others really do have to pay for what you’re giving them. (The fastest way to do this is with a simple PayPal “Buy Now” button)

After you send the pitch email, make sure you head over to Facebook or Twitter and let them know you sent them a message. This might give them a little push to look out for your thing.

As ever you should wait a couple of days and if you don’t hear back make sure that you send at least 1 follow up email or try to call them.

So that’s about it…

One massive lesson I want you to take away from this is that you don’t have to do all the marketing on your own. Each time you hear about a new music marketing tactic ask yourself if someone is already doing it and if you could convince them to let their audience know about your thing.

If you want to turn this into a complete “getting hits” engine just set up your package and then start connecting with 10 – 20 partners everyday. If you do this all year round you will have more hits than you ever need. Just another little example of how keeping it simple and making a commitment to one effective plan can build momentum and be all you need to get fans into your sales funnel.

Please let me know if yo have any questions and leave you comments and suggestions below…

- Chris.

Tags: Music Marketing Hustle

Chris Rockett is ‘The Man’ when it comes to actionable free content!

Sufferers of the condition known as G.A.S (Guitar Acquisition Syndrome) need no longer wrestle with the mental anguish when making buying decisions… simply follow the flow chart!

After a break…. I’m hitting the road again. I’m working on new songs, putting up videos on YouTube, and having a lot of fun with live music.

I’d like to see you.

One of my favourite things to do is house concerts, where I can really get to know the people I play for (and with!). These events are so much fun, and so memorable, that it’s a growing trend.

American Airlines did a story on it last December, and CNN just did a story about it too.

Are you a little bit curious?

Watch the short video that people use to promote these great events to their friends. http://youtube.com/watch?v=try-z4-4h04

If you think your living room is too small, you’ll LOVE this. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S8TQmolyuHg

I’d love to play for you and your friends, so please contact me if you are interested.

We can compare calendars and decide when I could be in your area.

Cheers - Andy

http://www.andyrogersmusic.com/music/mercy-tracks-me-down/

“God is all over that song… That song has the breath of God on it…
it’s about what God wants to do now… that song is going to sung with
this move of God” - Lance Wallnau

Love Bono’s commentary on the alleged End of the world

For me this is a great ‘Easter Song’ - one of the best around at the moment.

I love John Mark McMillan’s poetic lyrics in this one and his others including ‘How He Loves Us’, they provoke me to deeper thought.

Thinking is a good thing!

Though the Earth Cried out for blood
Satisfied her hunger was
Her billows calmed on raging seas
for the souls on men she craved

Sun and moon from balcony
Turned their head in disbelief
Their precious Love would taste the sting
disfigured and disdained

Chorus:
On Friday a thief
On Sunday a King
Laid down in grief
But awoke with keys
Of Hell on that day
The first born of the slain
The Man Jesus Christ
Laid death in his grave

So three days in darkness slept
The Morning Sun of righteousness
But rose to shame the throes of death
And over turn his rule

Now daughters and the sons of men
Would pay not their dues again
The debt of blood they owed was rent
When the day rolled a new

Chorus

Bridge:
He has cheated
Hell and seated
Us above the fall
In desperate places
He paid our wages
One time once and for all

Rumours have been swirling lately about border guards and customs agents getting stricter with musical instruments entering the U.S.

Restrictions on exotic materials in instruments exist for good reason: to protect endangered species and prevent poaching.

However, musicians are understandably worried about what is, and isn’t at risk of confiscation when crossing the border in either direction.

Grit Laskin, internationally renowned luthier, has kindly provided Roots Music Canada with this superb and detailed guide to crossing the border with your instrument.

BACKGROUND AND THE PLAYERS:

1. CITES, the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species, lists flora and fauna into three categories of Appendices:
Appendix I lists species that are considered the most endangered; Appendix II lists species that are not necessarily now threatened but may become so unless trade is closely controlled; Appendix III is a list of species included at an outside request (ie. a single country) that already regulates trade in the species and that needs the cooperation of other countries to prevent unsustainable or illegal exploitation.

2. US. Fish & Wildlife Service is the enforcement arm of the CITES restrictions in The US.

3. “Listed” species in CITES Appendices, of relevance to musical instruments:

-Brazilian Rosewood (Dalbergia Nigra) has indeed been an Appendix I item since June of 1992.
-Mahogany from Central America (the best quality of the world’s numerous mahoganies) is an Appendix II item.
-Abalone Shell was recently added to Appendix III
-Pernambuco, the Brazilian wood used in violin bows is NOT on a CITES Appendix, however Brazil itself banned the export late last year.
-Elephant ivory has been an Appendix I item for more years than I can recall.

DETAILS:

Brazilian Rosewood

There are 7 different rosewoods that come from Brazil alone (there are over 200 species in the world’s rosewood family), but only Dalbergia Nigra from Brazil is endangered. It would be entirely impossible for a customs agent to do the swab test Brodsky described and be able to distinguish one Brazilain rosewood species from another. If the wood was described as Walnut or Mahogany then yes, the difference would be marked. But I can assure everyone that a customs agent would never be able to tell Dalbergia Nigra from Dalbergia Retusa (another rosewood known as Cocobolo, also from Brazil). One of the reasons I can say this with confidence is because I once sent a sample of what I thought was Brazialin Rosewood to what I’d been informed was the best wood identification lab in all the US. The results came back confirming 100% Dalbergia Nigra. Then, when I began to resaw the lumber billets into guitar backs, the very first bandsaw cut reveled that the wood was Cocobolo, and my resulting hives (I knew I was allergic to Cocobolo) only double-confirmed it. If the finest US lab cannot assess with certainty you know a customs agent couldn’t do so either, except by blind luck. More about customs people later.

If, as I do, one uses Dalbergia Nigra–or has a guitar made with it–with wood that was cut prior to the ban, official CITES paperwork is required. My supplier in Brazil obtains the CITES permission to export and includes the official documents with the shipment, so I can import without problem and can supply copies of the paperwork to my clients along with their finished guitars.
Importing with the wood is also doable, so my US customers (if they choose this route) can apply for the permit themselves, to F&W, with the paperwork I supply. I have never had any customer do this (yet) and I understand it can take 6 months.

Side-note:

Madagascar Rosewood has become popular in recent years as an alternate to Brazilian Rosewood. It has some similar grain characteristics, although it is a bit denser. This wood is not a controlled species. However, you may have heard about a recent shipment to Gibson being seized. That has more to do with illegal harvesting. Non-permit clear cutting and uncontrolled forestry practices are a global problem, across hundreds of species. This was the issue in this instance. We have to assume F&W had tracked the illegal timber once it hit a US port, and seized the wood under the US Lacey Act (originating nearly 100 years ago, designed to control illegal timber cutting, and amended in 2008). That said, there are legal timber cutters in Madagascar who also ship the wood, and it is easily available in the US, so it is not a problem to have a guitar made from this species.

Abalone Shell

Because this species is now on a CITES Appendix, Fish & Wildlife are making a more concerted effort to monitor and control traffic in its use. It is still legal to use and export however, so if you wish to do it by the books, F&W require the supplier (where I buy shell) and the producer (me) to apply for a permit ($100.for me / $150. to my supplier). It is basically extortion money and creates needless delays.

NOTE: there are NO restrictions on Mother-Of Pearl, Blacklip Pearl, Paua, Awabi or any of the other species of mollusk shell used in instrument inlay.

Mahogany

The mahogany used in most guitar necks is the species on Appendix II. It’s still legal to be used, but getting harder to obtain–at least the high-quality lumber. That’s as much indication of its status as the fact that the commercial timber industry is beginning to harvest less of it. Solo luthiers like me as well as bigger producers like Larrivee or Taylor all keep our eyes and ears open for the availability of boards. In short, I buy Mahogany whenever and wherever I can find it. At any moment it could move up to Appendix I, and be either unavailable or, like Brazilian Rosewood, outrageously expensive.

Ivory

Elephant Ivory stopped being used for Nuts , saddles, piano keys, etc. many decades ago. It is rare for it to be used, as the ban is so ubiquitous.
Walrus ivory, from Nunavut is legal, fully so in Canada (as the inuit hunt the animal for sustenance), and legal but sometimes “examined” by F&W in the US if it looks like elephant ivory to them. I buy from hunters in the north, and keep my receipts to prove it.

FISH & WILDLIFE and/or CUSTOMS Personnel:

If a customs official decides to be suspicious, or makes a snap decision, however faulty, they have you over a barrel. They could be 100% in the wrong, but if they want to confiscate an instrument, they can and will. Then, it’s left to you to do all the paperwork, submit all the forms, make all the phone calls to get the information, to retrieve your instrument from their clutches, weeks or months later.
The safe bet is to have as much documentation as you can assemble so that if you happen to be asked you can show that:

1. the body is made with Indian Rosewood, (or Koa, or mahogany, or maple, etc.) not Brazilian.
2. that’s mother-of-pearl, not abalone.
3. that’s plastic imitation abalone.
4. that’s plastic or bone in the nut in saddle, not elephant ivory.
5. yes, it is brazilian rosewood, but here is the CITES paperwork and/or but here’s the receipt to show the guitar was purchased before June/92.
etc. etc.

CERTAINLY NEVER VOLUNTEER ANYTHING, IE. NEVER INSIST THAT’S REALLY WALNUT ON THE BACK & SIDES (unless it is). IF YOU DO, YOU’RE ASKING FOR THEM TO PUT THE INSTRUMENT UNDER A MICROSCOPE.

Having said the above I should also balance that with the fact that in 39 years of building guitars and shipping them all over the planet, I have never once had an instrument stopped for suspicion of controlled materials. When flying to the US with instruments, I’ve also never had their materials questioned.

There may be more to report on these issues in the coming months, which I will do. But for now, I hope this information is useful.

Addendum:
Here is a link with a good explanation of the developing situation with the woods and shell materials in musical instruments, and how they are being affected by the recent amendment to–and even more recent decision to begin enforcement of–the Lacey Act in the US. This is an excellent and sobering article and A MUST READ for anyone traveling into the US with instruments.
-Grit Laskin

Grit Laskin Shop Tour

Tags: grit laskin, guitars

This entry was posted on Wednesday, June 9th, 2010 at 1:00 pm and is filed under Advice. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

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I’ll be leading worship at this event on Friday.

Micah 6:8 says that God’s basic requirements of us boil down to DO justice, LOVE mercy, and to WALK humbly with Him. Dr Cecil Stewart OBE is the director of the Dream Centre in Belfast whose mission is “To reach, rescue, and restore the hurting in Belfast”. Dream Centre Belfast has grown out of the work of Dream Centre LA (http://www.dreamcenter.org/) in the USA where the work of believers getting right into the heart of the most needy areas with love and outreach is having a profound effect.