A question for everyone

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Permalink Reply by Tensionitis on September 13, 2009 at 10:47pm

I haven't come near the 1 million mark with views - I'm just a bit over 1100. Still, I have my own personal theories:

1) Have good music that people can identify with and that stands out
2) Find the right hooks and get lucky

Personally, I'm working on the first one now (my first album is all instrumental, which I think makes it harder for people to identify, and there are *so* many electronic acts out there), and the second one may never come for me, but I'm ever hopeful.

There's another blog I read fairly regularly (out at http://techdirt.com), and they talk quite a bit about how to get by in the new music market, and their advice is to give the music (the infinite good) away for free, and create a compelling reason that people will want to pay for something else (the scarce good), e.g. custom box sets, innovative packaging that adds value, art, and so forth. That approach doesn't work for everyone, of course, since not everyone is an artist, but it's definitely food for thought.

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Permalink Reply by Dan Armstrong on January 21, 2010 at 9:42pm

My advice for you is to produce one great CD then go on the road. Put together a show with dependable musicians and a good vocalist and open for a popular act. All the big labels use this proven method. When you select the material to use for this purpose, either try to say something with the lyrics or pick songs that have catchy hooks that can be whistled and better yet, how about both? Good luck!

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Permalink Reply by mark allan wolfe on January 21, 2010 at 10:21pm

I just wanted to say that things are starting to expand and I am humbled. I have been able to get the music out and finding my niche. I also created a cool shop to sell my wares. I just had to make the decision to focus on one thing rather than a bunch

make custom gifts at Zazzle

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Permalink Reply by Nate Richards on January 22, 2010 at 1:35am

Hey Mark,

Here's an article I found that relates to you current problem. In my opinion, this has nothing to do with your music itself, it has to do with what's on your websites, or as I like to call it, the place that over 1 million potential customers have visited...

This is all about your action message.

http://ow.ly/Zeuo

OK, I visited your websites. They look very nice, but they are spread over too many topics. The markallanwolfe.com site is (or should be) you production music site. That's it. You should keep it all business.

Don't try to appease the common person with that site, go after the person with the budget looking for stock music for their project. Start by letting them know they can choose from two options, original scores or license an existing stock music track. Don't even introduce yourself, you do that with your banner. And better yet, if you assume they know who you are before they visit your site, it makes you seem even more credible. It's like if you went to John Williams website and he started by saying, "Hi, I'm John Williams, I write music for a living." You would question if you're even on the right site.

I'd keep everything non-business related, like the live performance stuff, on it's own page or even own site. If you offer too much, it dilutes what you do well. Keep everything unrelated to people wanting to license your music, like the fact people bookmark your site and just listen to tracks all day, off of this site. Consider starting another site for the personal stuff like that, where people with a different agenda will visit, and share that kind of information with them there. When people go to your production music site, they should only be thinking about one thing, Mark Allan Wolfe the acclaimed composer, who will provide them exactly with what they need for their project.

Repeat the process with a new site for each action that you wish to accomplish, like selling cds for Mark Allan Wolfe - the musical genius, getting live gigs with Mark Allan Wolfe - the master musician, etc. Link between the sites to account for any cross traffic, but keep the info clear on each.

I promise you that you will come across as more of an authority on each, rather then a guy that can do a little of everything, and your sales should translate.

Hope this helps!

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Permalink Reply by mark allan wolfe on June 7, 2010 at 1:04pm

I just wanted to respond and say thank you. Between you and a few other wonderful people who took the time to help me straighten out my A.D.D lol I have re vamped my website and would invite you to stop over and check it out. When you take a look at it you will see the updates that reflect better what I am doing. I also have succeeded in creating more hits and better SEO tactics. Come on over and listen to some new jams as well.

markallanwolfe.com

Attachments:

• final frontier.mp3, 5.3 MB

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