Lambert “Retweets” Pistol Annies

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The Pistol Annies have been causing a buzz and making registers ring. The band’s digital-only album was released in late August and debut sales were a remarkable 42,000 units. At the same time, the trio’s most famous member, fiery Miranda Lambert, has also been lighting torches. Lambert recently debuted Four The Record which hit the charts at No. 1 selling more than double any of her previous debut albums. Pistol Annies includes Ashley Monroe, managed by John Grady and unofficially signed to a solo deal at Warner Bros., plus Angaleena Presley, managed by Scott Kernahan.

Last week the Pistols stole the show on the American Country Awards and are now wrapping a three-show series at the House of Blues in Vegas and West Hollywood (see performance video below), plus Buck Owen’s Bakersfield Crystal Palace.

Gary Overton

“I don’t believe it’s ever been done or attempted before in country,” says Sony Music Chairman/CEO Gary Overton. “A solo artist with a current hit album who is also part of a band with a current hit album. That’s one of the things you get working with Miranda. She leads with great music and her heart, and then we all follow and try not to say ‘No’ just because it’s something no one’s done before.”

“Everyone talks about new models,” says Marion Kraft, whose Shopkeeper Management steers the careers of Miranda, Pistol Annies plus Chris Young and a few others. “But no one is trying anything. But let’s be honest about this project, I didn’t have a choice. Miranda called me one day and said, ‘I want to be in a band and this is who is in it.’ Later when it wasn’t going quickly enough she called me back and explained that she was ‘very serious’ about this. Isn’t that awesome? But in my mind I don’t see it as a dual career. I just have two different clients, Pistol Annies and Miranda Lambert.”

Two different clients, yes, but a unique case where one client sort of retweeted the other. “Miranda gave Pistol Annies a lift by putting them on her tour last year in selected cities,” Kraft continues. “Those performances generated great feedback so we went a step further, and decided to do three Pistol Annies shows. So far we’ve done a good job of building both brands by making it a bit of a dance. We put Pistol Annies in front when their album was released, then moved them aside in October/November for Miranda and her album launch. Then this last week we’ve come out again as Pistol Annies with three West Coast dates and a few other appearances to activate holiday sales.”

“We didn’t want to ask our physical retail partners to buy 50k units up front since there was no radio airplay and no tour,” says Overton. “So we decided to put it out digitally-only and see what happens. After we had a big first week it was, ‘Wow, we want that too.’ So we quickly got orders together and stocked the physical stores. Miranda pulled the trio out for a few numbers during some of her concerts, and there have been a number of key exposure moments including Good Morning America, the American Country Awards and more. Now we’re getting calls from pop radio and media people asking for tickets. The cool thing is we aren’t going to corporatize this, we’ll just let people discover it. And the band has done a great job of touching people through social networking. From an industry standpoint the dual albums may raise questions, but the fans aren’t confused at all. They don’t care that it is two projects, they just like what they like. The fans love Miranda’s record, but at the same time they love the Pistol Annies, too. It’s all driven by great music. People are telling their friends about it.”

With all the acclaim and excitement does this mean that the Pistols might shoot a single out to radio? “For this band we’ll call it ‘Focus Track,'” says Kraft. “‘Hell On Heels’ was our first focus track to guide the album. If all goes as we envision we’ll pick a second. Most likely the first 3-4 months of 2012 will be Miranda Lambert time because we are supporting her record and On Fire tour. Then hopefully around the end of April the Pistols will start gearing up and in the Fall play some shows on their own.”

Marion Kraft

Are there any thoughts about a second album for the Pistol Annies? “Since it’s all about the music,” Kraft continues, “why not give the fans more music and find some different ways of kickstarting this country format? People want more music, more often. There are young successful bands in our format that sing beautiful harmonies like The Band Perry and Lady Antebellum. It’s a style of music that’s working. As compared to Lady Antebellum or TBP the direction of Pistol Annies I would say is a little more like looking back in time. It’s blue collar and story specific, like housewives hanging out. We feel there’s room for more of it.”

A little over half of the Pistol Annies album sales have been digital. Does that mean that they are appealing to a very young digital-friendly demo? “It’s just the way it’s been marketed I believe,” says Overton. “If we had it on country radio you’d see digital and physical sales match more closely with the broader spread of the entire country music demo. But the music has been very active online which explains why digital sales have also been proportionally high. (According to Nielsen SoundScan 20% of this year’s country album sales have been digital.) Everything is going so well and it is such a special, fun project we don’t want to lock and load with respect to singles and normal marketing plans. We have every intention of keeping this about the music. The girls have been great to work with and Miranda has been able to compartmentalize her solo and band roles nicely. This is the dream thing, why we all got into the music business… to find some great music and let it get out there.”

Fact File: Through week of 12-4-11 Four The Record has sold 258k units; Hell On Heels has sold 175k. Miranda has 2.8 million Facebook likes and 535k Twitter followers. Pistol Annies has 132k Facebook likes and 43k Twitter followers.

 

YouTube video

The Band Perry’s Debut Album Goes Platinum

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This week marks significant milestones for The Band Perry. Following their performance on The Grammy Nominations Concert Live!, the sibling trio received its first Grammy nomination in the all-genre Best New Artist category, and now the group’s debut album has been certified Platinum by the RIAA.

“We are excited and honored beyond belief. A Grammy nomination is like a gold star from the people you most look up to. As we begin our next album, this is a great vote of confidence…we promise not to let you down,” said Kimberly, Neil and Reid Perry.

The Grammy contenders, already the reigning ACM and CMA New Artists award winners, show no signs of slowing down after coming off Reba‘s All The Women I Am Tour as well as headlining their own concert dates (including a sold-out Ryman show in February 2012). They’re set to join Brad Paisley’s Camobunga! 2012 World Tour in January and will continue working on their second album.

“In this environment, it takes something amazing to break through and The Band Perry has done just that with some extraordinary feats,” said Jimmy Harnen, Republic Nashville President. “There has always been something uniquely special about their music and them as individuals. On behalf of Republic Nashville, we couldn’t be prouder of Kimberly, Reid and Neil, who accolade after accolade, continue to be dedicated and humble,”

The Band Perry’s self-titled debut album features the No. 1, triple-Platinum smash “If I Die Young;” Gold-certified single “You Lie,” and their current single “All Your Life.”

Blair Garner To Release Compilation CD

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For nearly two decades Blair Garner has hosted his nightly syndicated radio show, “After MidNite,” conducting candid interviews with some of Country’s biggest artists. In addition to his busy broadcast schedule, Garner recently announced he will be releasing Beyond The Hits, the debut compilation CD from his newly formed TriPower Production Company. The CD will feature non-single tracks off previously recorded albums by Lady Antebellum, Jason Aldean, Keith Urban, Kenny Chesney and more.

“Obviously not all the songs get the spotlight of being a single; it just doesn’t work that way. Because of that I think some songs may not get their fair share of attention. Beyond The Hits looks to change that. We want fans to realize the sheer depth and brilliance of these artists. Every cut on Beyond could have been, in my opinion, a number one. I’m just lucky to be the guy to bring them to light,” Garner says.

Beyond The Hits Volume 1 will be available on iTunes as a $9.99 digital album beginning January 10, 2012. A percentage of the profits from the sales of Beyond The Hits will benefit charity.

Beyond The Hits track listing:

Alan Jackson – “If Jesus Walked the World Today”
Martina McBride – “Sunny Side Up”
Luke Bryan – “First Love Song”
Tim McGraw – “Can’t Tell Me Nothin’”
Brad Paisley – “Better Than This”
Jason Aldean – “I Believe In Ghosts”
Sara Evans – “You Don’t”
Trace Adkins – “Southern Hallelujah”
Lady Antebellum – “Slow Down Sister”
Darius Rucker – “Be Wary of a Woman”
Miranda Lambert – “Guilty In Here”
Kenny Chesney – “In a Small Town”
Carrie Underwood – “You Won’t Find This”
Keith Urban – “My Heart Is Open”
Josh Turner – “Gravity”
Rascal Flatts – “Cool Thing”
Toby Keith – “Hurt a Lot Worse When You Go”
Sugarland – “One Blue Sky”
Billy Currington – “Heal Me”
LeAnn Rimes – “You Take Me Home”

Lady A Owns October RIAA Certifications

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Many of Nashville’s artists earned top metal awards this fall, according to the October tally of Gold and Platinum certifications released yesterday (11/30) by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA).

Lady Antebellum’s latest album Own the Night (Capitol Records Nashville) was certified Platinum in only one month. The recently named CMA Vocal Group of the Year now has three career Platinum (or higher)  album awards under its belt, with 2008’s Lady Antebellum currently double-Platinum and 2010’s Need You Now triple-Platinum.

Capitol Nashville continued its hot streak as Luke Bryan and Eric Church collected their second Gold album awards for their respective sophomore summer releases Tailgates & Tanlines, and Chief.

RIAA also awarded Eli Young Band with its first-time Platinum download certification for “Crazy Girl” (Republic Nashville).

Additionally, Brad Paisley and Carrie Underwood earned a Platinum download award for their hit duet “Remind Me” (Artista Nashville). Paisley’s “Old Alabama” (Artista Nashville) also scored a second digital Platinum single, and Miranda Lambert claimed one as well for “White Liar” (Columbia Nashville).

Black Friday Unable To Reverse Weak Release Schedule

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A quick look at our YTD comparison chart (above) shows that it’s seemingly going to take more than Black Friday sales, a big turkey dinner, and this year’s abbreviated release schedule to put country music buyers in a mood to buy more units than last year. The slide from +9.8% to today’s itsy bitsy +.8%  has taken only six weeks and shows faint chance of reversing direction.

Taylor Swift’s Live DVD/CD package hit bins this past week landing in the No. 2 spot with about 77,000 units behind Scotty McCreery who rang registers almost 88,000 times to earn the No. 1 position (again). McCreery’s Idol fans are on a wild sales spree, racking up close to 588,000 units in a scant eight weeks. With five weeks to go, to have the YTD% equal zero, we need to sell 7.84 million additional units for a year end total of 43.72 million. For those math wizards in the audience, it means 1.567 million for each of the remaining weeks. (We actually got close this week shifting 1.38 million.)

Tracks Story 
Like love in the Spring, a young man’s fancy turns to tracks when album sales disappoint. Increasingly, tracks and TEA seem to be where the action is, if not the large profits. Country track sales this week were off slightly from last week (-2%), but clicked in at 2.504 million downloads.

Toby Keith “Red Solo Cup” (62k) and Luke Bryan “I Don’t Want This Night…” (54k) held onto the top two spots again this week. Band Perry “If I Die Young” (43k), Lady Antebellum “Just A Kiss” (39k) and Blake Shelton “God Gave Me You” (36k) filled out the top 5.

Do we need better track sales accounting so we can measure TEA (track equivalent, albums: 10=1) both overall and by artist? Track sales aren’t as profitable as albums, and there is a smaller group of artists that are reaping a majority of the track sales benefits, but despite these issues it seems more likely each week that labels will have to adjust to these new parameters to stay in the game.

Are Music Revenue Streams Drying Up?

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2011 has been an eventful year for the music industry and its consumers. Apple’s “big dog” online music retailer, iTunes, remained the king of market share, but as the months rolled on music consumers welcomed a slew of new arrivals.

Amazon’s download store, although not new, benefited by offering ultra low sale prices. For example, it elicited oohs and ahhs from consumers and groans from the industry when it offered Lady Gaga’s newest album for 99¢.

The music space also got a great deal more congested with the arrival of Spotify and its subscription/access model. Instead of buying albums or tracks and owning the files, Spotify says, “Pay us one monthly subscription fee and we’ll give you access to all the music, you don’t need to own it.”

Online streaming radio giant Pandora and others such as Slacker, iHeart and Last.FM also gained momentum with their subscription hybrids as smartphone penetration continued to escalate and automobile manufacturers announced systems that would allow consumers to listen to online streaming radio while driving.

In the midst of these choices, cloud services appeared from Apple, Amazon and Google. (Google also just took the wraps off its new MP3 store tied to the cloud and G+.) These offerings differed as to terms and functions, but basically gave users the ability to upload both previously and newly purchased tracks and then stream them over mobile and desktop computer units.

And to keep observers from becoming complacent about the overall music landscape, Facebook and Google Plus ushered in a new era of social media music sharing, finding ways for users of many of the above named companies to show friends, followers and circles what sounds they were enjoying.

While consumers were trying to take advantage of some of these new functionalities and discover which ones best fit their lifestyles, record labels and DIY artists were also studying the field, feeling perhaps like students getting ready for an exam where the content keeps changing. While it’s exciting to write about and experience a new buffet of choices for enjoying music, to record labels and artists it is a confusing new landscape. What is the best way for music-makers to navigate these seas of change? What should they expect going forward and most importantly, are music’s traditional revenue streams drying up?

Jay Frank

“The largest growth area is going to come to the masters company that thinks more like a publishing company,” says DigSin record label Founder/CEO and author of Futurehit.DNA Jay Frank as he deftly renames record labels into masters companies. “With growth in digital radio, cloud lockers and subscription services, the revenue sources diversify. As a result, the money made from masters will come from those who can successfully place, market and collect from the most places. It’s not just a dollar business going to a penny business as we are seeing in the small royalties from digital airplay. It’s that there will be numerous penny businesses to collect from that will form a sizable whole. Publishers have been doing this for years, and now labels will have to adapt to that way of thinking.”

Frank continues, “From any one pure source, the largest revenue growth in the next five years will come from YouTube. Very quietly, YouTube has become the No. 2 or No. 3 digital revenue source for many indie labels and musicians. They have made great strides fingerprinting and matching, which allows for greater attribution of content. With that, you can also monetize any video that the artist can think up, even if there’s no music involved. People are going to start to figure out how to maximize that stream next year. It will provide sizable revenue gains in 2013 and beyond.”

Pinky Gonzales

Pinky Gonzales, VP West Coast Operations for Bubble Up Interactive thinks, “The biggest move will be toward streamed services, whether you call that ‘the Cloud’ or use individual company names like Pandora or Spotify. And now Google and Apple are getting into the mix. With the Cloud, you upload your own songs and have access to them from any device. With Pandora, Spotify, and others like them, they provide the music and/or let you access their catalogs in addition to your own. On a side note, MyPlay.com, a Web 1.0 “music locker” service led by David Pakman, did exactly this back in 1999. The world just wasn’t ready for it. The real question here is, ‘What does this mean for the artists?’”

Gonzales continues, “Streaming revenues are dramatically lower than revenues from sales of digital music, and especially physical product,” Gonzales continues. “The major labels have been pacified for the moment, but once these contracts are up for renewal, it will be interesting to see what kind of profit there is to show for all these advancements in technology and bandwidth availability.”

Somewhat ominously, Gonzales questions the future of music sales for musicians. “What YouTube did for the music video may well be on its way to happening in the music streaming space,” he says. “High viewership and ubiquitous availability, but very few dollars in exchange. A copyright holder currently receives about $1,000 for every million video plays on a sponsored channel, meaning that to generate a million dollars in gross revenue, one BILLION views are required. Now split that money between your label, manager, bandmates and so-on, and suddenly the whole streaming model looks pretty bleak. That said, there will always be demand for new music, people willing to make it at any cost, and a lucky few that will make enough money to make a real career out of it. As long as there are tickets, t-shirts and tour sponsorships out there to pay the bills, the industry will find a way to support itself.”

David Gales

David Gales, Founder, The Gales Network agrees that lately the industry and technology supporting it have been spinning like an out of control carousel.

“Brands face a marketplace that is running at hyper-speed and morphing constantly,” he says. “I wonder if the lending model that is rolling out in the book space will have traction in the music industry. We have purchase, we have subscription, but not institutionalized lending. Music margins have eroded so much in the last several years. Already there isn’t very much room between 99 cents and free, so I don’t know if a viable paid lending model can be constructed. But anything that gets consumers to pay something is better than paying nothing for music. Also hopefully we will begin to see micro-payments for using music in user-generated content, which continues to be a huge and growing market. Would anyone have a problem with paying 5 cents to use a song on a video of their cat dancing? I personally wouldn’t buy the song ‘Feelings,’ but I might use it in my dancing cat video. Of course publishing reform would have to make this viable. Can’t get 9 cents on a 5 cent payment.”

Morgans Media Group Hires Roger Murrah

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Morgans Media Group has named songwriter and publishing veteran Roger Murrah to the post of Executive Vice President and Chief Development Officer, it was announced today by MMG President/CEO Geoff Owens. In this new role, Murrah’s responsibilities will include directing overall objectives of MMG, initially focusing on the development of the company’s national Honky Tonk TV | Your Country television program.

“We’re delighted to find someone with Roger’s experience and reputation to lead our Nashville operation,” said Owens.

“Roger has both the creative and business skill set that we feel will complement our company very well,” added Morgans’ Chief Operating Officer, Chris James. “Establishing our presence in Nashville has been important to us and with Roger’s help, we can keep moving forward with our plans to pursue some really creative opportunities.”

Most recently Sr. VP of Bug Music Nashville, Murrah is a member of the Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame and a former chairman of its foundation. He has won Songwriter of the Year and Songwriter of the Decade honors from BMI. He also founded his own Murrah Music Corporation in 1990, which won Billboard’s Independent Publisher of the Year honor.

Murrah will represent MMG from the company’s new Nashville offices in MetroCenter. “I’m thrilled to be a part of Morgans Media’s innovative vision for promoting Country music in new and exciting ways and I look forward to working closely with Chris and the whole professional and creative team,” he said of his hiring. Congratulate him here.

Cyber Monday Set To Click Into Record Books

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Last year, for the first time, during the Monday after Thanksgiving—Cyber Monday—consumers clicked over $1 billion in sales, according to comScore. This year merchants are again expecting to enjoy record results. Sparked by increased access both at work and at home, the marketing strategy which began in 2005 has likely surpassed the dreams of its founder, Shop.org.

Online music is chiming in on the marketer’s holiday with special deals at Amazon and the new Android/Google Music Store. And of course iTunes is packed with product.

Here’s a comparison among the three online retailers.

iTunes which has a lock on the Apple universe is not as price conscious as its  Amazon and Android counterparts. In addition, Amazon has the option to download MP3s or purchase physical CDs through the mail. Shoppers looking to get the best prices and hottest bargains probably need to shop at more than one store to reap the most savings. As an added incentive, Android has a nice selection of free albums and tracks, many of which are live albums or older material.

Happy Shopping…

 

 

Country Sales: Six Weeks Remain

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It’s the day before Thanksgiving, so I’m going to be brief and promise this year not to wing it with the holiday puns. Everyone is too busy stuffing holiday bins trying to get a leg up for the upcoming black Friday sales to suffer the gobble gobble jokes. If you’ve been keeping a-breast of our weekly sales reports then you’ve noticed the fowl downward direction that our YTD comparisons have been taking since the week of 10-23. Oh how the mighty have tumbled into a cranberry bog! Country album sales YTD have been carved from a surplus of 9.3% one month ago, to our present 1.4% increase. All genre sales are doing slightly better, still ahead 2.8%.

The squashed numbers are easy to explain, we just haven’t had enough product this year to match the plate full of releases we had at this time last year, and that’s it. For example, last year at this time we had debuts from Rascal Flatts and Keith Urban who together sold almost 325,000 units. Still we should be Thankful because there are encouraging signs on the horizon especially in the tracks department, but wait let’s not jump to dessert before the main course.

Country album sales are topped by Idol phenom Scotty McCreery who shifted over 33,000 units to land at No. 1. Lady Antebellum (32,000), Miranda Lambert (28,000), Luke Bryan (22,000) and Jason Aldean (21,000) round out the Top 5. David Nail has the only Top 10 country album debut this week scanning about 13,000. Taylor Swift’s CD/DVD live package is in the racks now, so we’ll get some numbers next week. No idea where that will land, but it’s going to be hard to offset the continued decline in country’s YTD album tally.

For those counting we have six more weeks to complete the year. To equal last year’s total (43.720 million) we need to sell an additional 9.2214 million units or an average of 1.535 million for each of the remaining six weeks. (Last week we sold 829k).

Talking Turkey
If you’re not winning, why not challenge the system measuring your results? And in fact, readers of this column know this writer’s desire to have Nielsen SoundScan create country and overall TEA (track equivalent albums) charts in time for next year. (It would be a great Christmas present!)

YTD country has sold 128 million tracks. That’s a TEA of almost 13 million albums, almost a 40% increase if added to country album sales. That is significant and either is or should be profitable. Some people will find this upsetting to hear, but get over it—tracks are the new albums with respect to sales.

Need more convincing? This week’s top five country track positions were filled by Toby Keith “Red Solo Cup” (58k), Luke Bryan “…Night To End” (56k), Taylor Swift “Movie” (52k), “Ours” (47k), and Blake Shelton “God Gave Me You” (42k). Added together that is 255,000 tracks or over 25,000 TEA albums. Total country tracks this week hit 2.56 million or a quarter million albums!

Have you tried the new Google Music offering yet? Join me at +davidmross or tweet @davidmross and let me know your reaction.

A special HAPPY HOLIDAYS to all. Your readership means so much to me. Thank You so much for your support. Best to you and yours—have a great holiday!

Country’s Marketing Chess Board—Staying In The Game

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If country marketing is like a game of chess then imagine that the pieces you control are named Product Distribution, Publicity, Radio, Touring, Digital and Endorsements/Sponsorships.

Click to see larger image.

[Reprinted from MusicRow Oct./Nov 2011]

Taking the chess analogy one step further, there are a number of sophisticated moves that each of these pieces can complete. In fact, sometimes it is advantageous to create combo moves where two different pieces support each other and affect a situation where the whole becomes greater than the sum of the parts. It will require planning, expertise and experience to decide which moves are both affordable and will push a career forward. Too many plans can exhaust your resources and cause you to fall out of the game too soon. Too few, and you’ll never achieve star velocity.

As with all journeys, good directions are essential. In the case of building a country music artist career that need still applies, although the pathway from “unknown” to “household name” is a lot more complex than just getting from point A to B. Hopefully, the mind maps and circles presented in this article will help ease your passage.

But before you begin familiarizing yourself with the various tools and techniques, let’s absorb some basic research about the fans you are hoping to acquire.

According to the massive CMA Country Music Consumer Segmentation study presented in 2009, approximately two in five American adults ages 18-54 (37%) qualify as “Country Music Fans.” These Fans split into two groups based upon revenue contribution—a small core group (4.7%) who invest heavily and a larger group of “Low Funding” fans who engage with country for free (32.6%).

The core fans, or CountryPhiles and MusicPhiles, skew female (54%), are more likely to be married (59%), caucasian and from small towns versus the average American adult. They appreciate the core values of the format and the artists. And, their commitment translates to both significant engagement time and industry revenue.They are an extremely valuable group, perhaps 15 million people, that pay over 50% of the country music bills.

The low funding portion of fans (100+ million) skew a bit more male (55%). They are younger, more diverse (especially Hispanic) and more urban. They are extremely hip, high tech, engaged music lovers who happen to include Country Music in the mix.

This CMA data is now several years old. No doubt, all segments have more effectively embraced the digital revolution and unfortunately, have also been adversely affected by the weak economy.

Now let’s look at the mind maps. Here’s a brief rundown of the six “key” areas on the map…

Product Distribution 
The Product Distribution area splits into digital and physical pipelines. The digital side is much less expensive because there is no inventory to create, ship, etc. Consumers are interacting with digital product via paid downloads (Own), monthly all you can play payments (Subscribe) and unpaid channels (Free) which often means P2P piracy. Physical shelf space at major music retailers is now mostly the exclusive domain of major labels and established artists. However, physical product can be profitable, especially for sale at gigs.

Publicity 
DIY (do it yourself) is all the rage, but adding a publicity expert to your team can still be a wise investment. When it comes to imaging and getting a realistic appraisal of an artist’s media skills, one can’t rely solely on Mom. A publicist can be essential in taking your story to the media and you to another level.

Touring 
Gigs are a musician’s lifeblood. Even superstars will tell you, touring is where the money is. Start regionally. Be sure to acquire fan emails whenever possible, and have merchandise and product on hand. Social networking sites can also help you to interact with acquired fans in a more personal way (without leaving home).

Endorsements/Sponsorships 
You don’t have to be playing arenas and stadiums to get one of these coveted partners. But it is crucial to find a brand that fits nicely with who you are and the fans you attract. Get creative in finding a way to make it fit. Think about local, regional and national brands. Find out what the brand expects from you and make sure you deliver.

Radio 
Only a few years ago, this area was limited to terrestrial radio for country music. Today add satellite and online to the mix. Plus there are new hybrid arrivals like Pandora and Last.FM competing for listeners’ attention. Competition means additional opportunities.

Digital 
Digital marketing and all it entails has become an absolute necessity for success. The list of outlets is substantial with new ones busting loose almost daily. Digital begins with content, video and social networking. Leveraging these areas can provide low cost, high power energy to your career when used in a conscientious daily regimen. Artists should be at least somewhat familiar with every red circle company on the map. The landscape is fragmented with lots of choices. Try to discover the ones that best match with your fans.

Fan Engagement Tools 
The Engagement mindmap is a tool box for creating content, reaching out to fans one-on-one and measuring your progress. Taming your mass email program is a must. Analyzing your marketing efforts is how you begin to see what works best and fine tune your strategy. Content generation tools and imaging also play a large role in helping you implement strategy. Good luck and remember the term “overnight success” was invented by Hollywood. Don’t confuse it with “reality.” •