Indie Music Forums

How To Market Bad Material

admin — Mon, 31 Mar 2008 02:42:38 +0000

When Billy Joel wrote "Only the Good Die Young", it was at first banned by many radio stations. It was a controversial song to the Church, and the religious forces did everything they could do prevent it from receiving any air-play. Of course, what happened was all the young kids caught wind that they weren’t allowed to listen to it, and so they all ran out to buy it, and it became a number one hit.

On a different note, we recently received a CD that I can easily classify as the worst album submission ever. The artist, classified his music as "Classical". He even stated a variety of great composers as his influences. He sent in a CDR. I don’t have any complaints about that. A lot of artists have sent CD-Rs, and a lot of those artists sell them as well. I only point it out, because it is bewildering what the artist (in this case) is trying to achieve. Apart from the fact that their is horrible marketing presentation, the music itself can only be heard as some sort of morbid fascination.

What the artist describes as Classical Guitar Solos, are actually 5 or 6 tracks of almost identical music which simply plays a diatonic scale with no metric system. It’s something you would have to hear to appreciate how awful it is. And even for those who are into modern art, this would be the equivalent of rubbing feces onto a canvas to make a picture of nothing.

Strangely the whole thing makes me angry. Do you think Music Forte should decline and refund music that sucks without a doubt? I am certain that it is impossible for this artist to not know how bad his CD is, and it almost makes me wonder if he’s laughing in the background as if he’s pulled off a some sort of joke. Maybe it would be equally funny to set up a new genre called "s**t" and simply place it there all by itself.

So there is my review of the artist I have so far decided not to mention. I hope for his sake that their is another motivation behind this "CD release". With that said, I wonder if everyone wants to rush out and hear it now. Hopefully you have something better to do with your time. Apparently, It was enough to compel me to write about it.

Rewrites and 301 Redirects

admin — Tue, 25 Mar 2008 17:58:48 +0000

Many of you may have noticed changes to your product URLs. This is done primarily to make the URL more search engine friendly. Even though many of the product names we currently promote are already on the first page of Google, it looks a lot cleaner to have a URL that doesn’t end with long tag lines such as product_id=48472&cat=43&you-get-the-idea…

What you’ll find now are clean URLs similar to the following cd/748/your-band-name/ Of course "your-band-name" would be substituted. This new format has been applied to CDs, Mp3, DVDs, and everything else our product line includes.

So what happens with the old URLs? They redirect in the way that Search Engines like. A 301 redirect is useful, as you won’t lose page rank, and it avoids creating duplicate title tags which could penalize your listings. Most of all, if anybody happens to use the old URL, they’ll have no trouble being brought to the correct new page.

No, this is not big news. It’s just a tid-bit from "Behind The Curtains".

Getting started with Music Promotion at Music Forte

admin — Sun, 23 Mar 2008 16:25:50 +0000

You just joined Music Forte. You have some media files you’d like to sell. So now what? This is a question that many artists have not asked themselves.

With the thousands of existing social networks around these days, it is easy to jump on board just to state that you’re on the passenger list, and then jump ship. Hopefully, you’ll take a thorough look around first. If you are pressed for time and worried about missing the next boat, there is ONE thing in particular we think you should know about - Music Forte’s widget code.

What is a widget?

In short, "widget code" refers to some copy-and-paste code that you take from Music Forte and upload to your own website or other social network sites. You’ll find this code when you log in to Music Forte and click on "My Promotions > Widget Code".

This code has been an incredible help to many of the artists who register at Music Forte because it provides you (the artist) with 100% profit of your digital sales. You heard that correctly; Music Forte does not take a cut out of your digital distribution!

Customize that widget!

There are not too many boundaries here. We have plenty of "skins" (styles) that you can use so that your personal media player will fit the look of any site. They come in all shapes and sizes, and have their own unique features.
However, before you can customize the widget you will need to have at least one song uploaded. What good is a media player without any media?

Give it a test drive

I can’t stress this enough. Once you have the code on any of your other sites, try it out. Make sure that it is working the way you intended. Is the sales button leading your visitors to your digital sales page, or the CD sales page? Is your album cover art displaying as your music plays. There are many features that you are able to customize and you should ensure that they are working the way you planned.

Artists who use our code on active sites, are receiving sales every single day with the code. If you choose to promote your digital sales, that money goes straight to your PayPal account (free to setup and available worldwide) providing instant delivery of media content, and instant money to your account.

OK Now what?

That depends on how ambitous you are. Some artists kick back and focus their attention elsewhere while passively earning money from Music Forte’s media player code. Hey, there’s nothing wrong with that. By all means focus where you need to. The setup described above is aimed to take a minimal amount of your time, while providing hands free sales; meaning that you’ll be able to work without having to worry about constant maintenance and follow-up procedures. Or you can make this a part of your more intensive promotions. Artists who work it hard-core, are not just working to bring attention to this media player; they are also bringing attention to their entire website (where the media player happens to exists), which in turn, allows them to showcase all of their talents and products.

That’s great, but how does it work on the customers end?

The purchasing process is a breeze. Customers simply click on the "buy" icon, or your cover-art image that appears on your media player. If it is directing them to digital sales, they’ll be able to preview and check mark all the songs that they want to purchase. All customers receive an email receipt with download links that expire. If that customer is registered at Music Forte, they will have an area in their account where the download is permanently saved for their convenience. Music is delivered instantly and easily and requires no work from the artist. If you are using PayPal, the transaction information is saved in your sales history, so that you can email your new customers follow-up promotion and information about your music!

Try Music Forte’s widget code today, and let us know how it is working for you. We’ll take the good and bad feedback and publish it here, with a link to your own website! The back-links from our blog will be a help to the site you are focusing on, and your feedback will be a help to us, to ensure that we continue to move in a direction that is helpful to the artists.

Music DVD’s (MVD) now available

admin — Tue, 11 Mar 2008 03:34:06 +0000

I honestly am excited about the addition of MVDs to our storefront. Although we do aim to help Independent artists, where would we be without the bands that have inspired us?

Personally speaking, I haven’t written an original tune in a long time. I’m one of those "cover tune guys" that usually gets shunned by artists who are doing their own thing.

Nonetheless, I have taken a stab or two at writing original music, and when I’ve had writer’s block, there has been nothing more inspiring for me than to watch a live performance of an artist that I admire (I’ve had enough people roll their eyes, so I’ll keep my inspirations to myself).

So here we are… Music Forte introduces a large line of MVD (music videos in DVD format) of your favorite artists.

If you’ve been following the graphic above, I’ll tell you a bit about those products you’re seeing. If you plan to buy one, remember to log in to your Music Forte account first. Just logging in will give you a 5% - 10% discount. Also we have free shipping options available.

All My Loving MVD
All My Loving is a groundbreaking documentary on music and its effect on pop culture in the late ’60s, with previously unseen footage from the Beatles, Cream, Jimi Hendrix, the Who, Pink Floyd, and many more. Produced and initially broadcast in 1968, this compelling documentary is just as pertinent and relevant as ever. Now for the first time, this BBC Film is available on DVD.

“This is just great; absolutely what we meant.” – Paul McCartney. 52 minutes.

Blood, Sweat, & Tears - Spinning Wheel
As initially conceived by Al Kooper, Blood, Sweat & Tears was the first and best of the jazz-rock horn bands. BST epitomized post-’60s eclecticism, crafting Top 40 hits out of musical influences as disparate as Billie Holiday, Tim Buckley, and Erik Satie. This DVD features a full live show from the band’s 1980 UK tour, and includes the hit singles “You Made Me So Very Happy,” “Spinning Wheel,” and more.

Bruce Springsteen - Under Review 1978-1982: Tales of the Working Man
Although Bruce Springsteen’s huge body of work has had its highs and its not-so-highs, there is one distinct period within his career that remains, almost unarguably, his most creative, consistent, and satisfying. We talk of course of the trilogy of albums he released between 1978 and 1982, comprising Darkness on the Edge of Town, The River and Nebraska. Across these records Bruce’s storytelling was up there with Steinbeck’s, his songs ranked with Dylan’s best, and the live shows were as exciting as anything James Brown had ever delivered. This documentary film looks again at these albums and the shows he performed around them, and charts Springsteen’s journey through this dark but glorious period. Includes rare interviews and photographs. 83 minutes.

Neil Young - Under Review 1966-1975
This documentary film reviews the music and career of one of rock’s true giants during his formative and most creative years. It features obscure footage, rare interviews, and rarely seen photographs of Neil Young. Throughout the film, live and studio recordings of Young classics are reappraised by a panel of contributors. Also included are reviews, comments, criticism and insights from John Einarson (Young’s biography author), Robert Christgau (Village Voice), Barney Hoskins (author, critic), Nigel Williamson (Uncut), Dave Zimmer (ex-editor of BAM magazine), Bruce Tergesen (house engineer on “Mr. Soul”), Johnny Rogan (CSNY biographer) and many others. 88 minutes.

Some other cool MVDs that are in stock now include:
Anderson Bruford Wakeman Howe - An Evening of Yes
Bill Bruford’s Earthworks Video Anthology - Volume 1: The 2000s
Bill Bruford’s Earthworks Video Anthology - Volume 2: The 1990s
Buckethead - Young Buckethead Volume 1
Buckethead - Young Buckethead Volume 2
Tim Buckley - My Fleeting House - Classic Full-Length Performances, Rare Clips, and Interviews
Moogfest 2006 Live
The Pink Floyd and Syd Barrett Story
Mike Stern Live - The Paris Concert
War - Loose Grooves: Funkin’ Live in England

And more… You know where to find them!

Kevin McDonald Presents the Heavy Metal/Jackass Conversation

admin — Mon, 03 Mar 2008 20:23:42 +0000

Learn a thing or two about Heavy Metal. A crazy conversation about the music and artists.

If you think you’ve heard it all, Reconsiderate

admin — Sun, 02 Mar 2008 18:32:13 +0000

Reconsiderate has long been a favorite of ours at Music Forte. If you need some candy for the brain, there is no shortage of ideas delivered in his music and poetry.

We’re happy that Kevin McDonald hosted a special one-on-one event to feature Reconsiderate as a guest artist throughout the Seattle airwaves. If you missed the show, tune in right now.

Reconsiderate’s new CD release, Niche Work, is available today at Music Forte! If you’d like to get more personal, be sure and visit his Music Forte profile page, or join his discussions in the forums.

Joseph Patrick Moore performing with Stewart Copeland

admin — Sun, 02 Mar 2008 17:10:44 +0000

Fresh off of a reunion tour with the Police, drummer Stewart Copeland will be excercising his Jazz rhythms with Joseph Patrick Moore on Bass. Congratulations! This is sure to be an exciting event for you and all that attend.

How did Joseph land a gig like this? We know one thing for sure, his musical skills raise the bar for other accomplished artists. If you’re a fan of Jazz, or simply enjoy great music, you’ll love Joseph Patrick Moore

Get tickets for this event

The “Underground” World of Music Forte

admin — Sun, 17 Feb 2008 22:01:48 +0000

"The other day, I received another email from Music Forte stating that I had earned a new commission. I didn’t think much of it at the time, because I’ve built a fairly nice group, and I’m accustomed to receiving those email. A few days later, I was checking my commission report, and I noticed a grave error. Their reporting showed that I had earned $47 from referring just one member.

At first I thought this was great! But then I started wondering how Music Forte could pay out that much money on just one referral. It didn’t make sense. I’ve seen a enough companies struggle or fail because they hadn’t balanced their books well. I have to say, I’ve enjoyed Music Forte. I’ve received a lot of great music. I am happy with the CD I received, and to reiterate, I have grown a nice downline. So I was concerned enough that I wrote an email to their support team. As much as I didn’t want to lose that hefty commission, I thought they should be made aware of this error that they were making.

I sent an email to find out what was going on. To my surprise, there was no error in the calculation. I had actually earned $47 from one referral, and Music Forte had earned money as well. On top of that, Music Forte was even helping me with my own personal business, and they weren’t charging me any additional money.

Before I get too excited, let me slow down and tell you what it is I do. I will not get in to the small details of my job, because it wouldn’t be right for Music Forte to promote my business to people that have been invited to the program from a different sponsor. With that said, I run a "coaching" service. I have my own website from which I gather leads. On top of that I have organized several audio collections that are presented in my training eBooks.

A few months ago, I decided to create a CD. I visited the Music Forte forums and learned that I could create professional CDs (with bar code, shrink wrap, and laser printing on the disc) for less than $2.00 per unit. On top of that I was able to produce the CDs in small volume. Since I wasn’t sure how well they would sell I ordered 10 CDs. When they arrived to my home, I was overly impressed with the great work. They really look professional. I had no idea that it could be done for such a small amount of money.

I was excited now, and wanted to start selling. I remembered that Music Forte’s Gold Plan was included in my Platinum subscription. Once again, I was venturing into the unknown. I didn’t even know if Music Forte would accept my CD. Like I said, my CD was spoken training material; not music. but you never know what you can get until you ask.

Music Forte would not only help me to sell my CD, but they also advertise it at Amazon.com, Google Products, and their own site. Still I had my reservations. How would people find it? And once they did, would they even want it?

I do not know all the details about how Music Forte promotes their products, but I do know that within the first week of sending my CDs to Music Forte, I sold three! This is the important part you need to pay close attention to. By adding a CD to my Music Forte profile, I nearly quintupled my regular commission! Turning $10 into $47 is very hefty increase. You really owe it to yourself to understand how this works.

Here is my take on it, broken down by components of the commission earned:

1. Music Forte pays bonuses each week to the top 2 members who referred the most for each and every week. If you haven’t noticed this, be sure to pay attention to the email updates that are sent around Monday or Tuesday of each week. I’m proud to say that I was the first place winner once! For that I earned a $25 bonus.

2. As you already know, $10 is paid out for each direct referral. Now my earnings jumped to $35.

3. When I signed up at Music Forte, I remember choosing a CD from the registration page. Apparently this area of the site has been upgraded. The way it works now presents the sponsor’s CD (that would be mine, in this case) to the members I refer as their first option for their CD Bonus Gift. I also happened to notice that a preview track is played for the other possible selections. This is going to make new members happy, because they’ll be sure they receive the music that they like. But back to ME! I priced my CD at $15. Music Forte keeps $3 from each sale. My earnings just jumped from $35 to $47.

And then I realized it got even better! At my coaching website, I had also put the CD on sale. I want to make money wherever I can. What can I say? I’m an ambitious person. During that same week, I had also sold a CD from my own website. I wasn’t really prepared for the sale. I had set myself up with PayPal to process the sale. Like I said earlier, I was moving into unfamiliar territory. Nonetheless, there were not any obstacles that interfered with me moving ahead. I simply went to Walgreens and purchased a CD mailer. I went home and wrote out the address of the person who was receiving it. I took it to the post office, and they weighed it and charged me almost $2.00. In total, I had spent roughly $4.00 and approximately one hour of time, to get this CD properly shipped. You see where I’m going with this?

I was making more money and saving more time by using Music Forte’s service. Additionally, customers at Music Forte could purchase with any credit card, instead of being restricted to PayPal, like they were on my own site. Best of all, I was turning over my business and growing my business that was not focused on Music Forte (but rather building a network in general), and their fulfillment team was doing all of the "grunt" work for me!

At the end of that day, I was so excited about these new discoveries I had made, that I just got into a "Googling" mode to see what else I could find to help my business. As it turned out, my seminar was now listed on the first page of Google as a search result provided by Music Forte. Mind you that the seminar name was not the most competitive keyword that people search for. However, Music Forte got it to the top so quickly. My own site was reporting the seminar on page 4 which had climbed up from a page 27. I know about linking strategies, and I have no doubt that the links I placed on my Music Forte profile page played a large part in giving my other business a much needed boost in rankings.

To wrap it all up, I need to go back to my initial concern. How does Music Forte do this without losing money? From what I learned they are processing hundreds of orders per week. They maintain an online storefront with over 300,000 products of which the majority of products are not tied in with the affiliate program. So the money given away as a weekly bonus, may be a loss, but a small one, and well worth the initiative to refer members, which helps us all. The $10 bonus is offset by the one-time join fee of $30. The $12 I received for the CD is also offset by that join fee. So Music Forte made $8 from my referral, minus a few bucks I imagine they spend for shipping and handling. My concern was resolved. Music Forte was making money, I was making more money than I ever had, and spending less effort thanks to their Gold Plan fulfillment service.

Bottom line is that I made $47 from a referral, while improving greatly with my other business and you can do the same! If there is any part of the above that did not make sense, please go back and read it again. This is the best opportunity I have found in a long time, and being excited about it as I am, I hope that you will not miss out on the incredible potential we all have. Thank you very much Music Forte! Your services have helped me in more ways than I had ever imagined they would."

100% on Digital Distribution! What’s the catch?

admin — Thu, 03 Jan 2008 20:24:44 +0000

I’ve realized that many members are not earning near their potential from Music Forte’s distribution services. In many cases the problem is as simple as providing a PayPal email address.

I’d like to discuss some of those pitfalls that other members might have encountered and how Music Forte is set up to deal with those "pitfalls".

The best way to explain it is to simply walk through the process from start to finish, with provided examples of how it all works.

Step 1

Get your free PayPal account. PayPal operates in over 190 countries and regions, so chances are, that you DO have access to their services and so will most of your customers.

Step 2

Assuming that you have already uploaded songs at Music Forte and decided on the plan that best fits your needs, you will need to provide your PayPal address. It’s an easy process. Just login to Music Forte, and click "My Music" > "Add/Edit Mp3". Near the bottom of the page, you will see the field for you to provide this email address.

Notes:

You need to provide your PayPal email address. Not a user name or any other piece of information.
If this information is not provided and a customer tries to purchase your music, you will get an email advising you to provide the correct information. Additionally, the customer is notified that you have not set up your account, and to try the purchase at a later time.

Step 3

Promote your download page. We do plenty of promotion for you. In fact, the amount of traffic that arrives at our storefront is much higher than that of our forums (which also receive a high amount of traffic).

There are several ways for promoting your mp3s. You can use the widget code, media banners, or your own customized links. If you need more suggestions, please review a recent forum post that helps explain some of the further promotional ideas available.

1,2,3.. you’re done!

It’s really that simple. Nonetheless questions come up from time to time that would attempt to make the process seem more complex. Here they are with the most common solutions:

Possible Problem - I ordered music and it hasn’t arrived.

Solution 1 - In most cases, the buyer is using a free email account with filter restrictions. By modifying the permissions of their email filter, or by checking their filter, they can find the download email.

Solution 2 - If the buyer has a Music Forte account, they will also find a permanent link with the download locations for all the songs that they purchased.

Solution 3 - Rarely, the musician has set their PayPal account so that they need to approve payments before they are received. If you have set your PayPal account up in this manner, it is your responsibility to approve the purchases. Why would you turn away sales?

Intervention: If necessary, Music Forte keeps a copy of all the purchase email, so that we can send it to the customer again quickly and easy. It’s a very simple email. Here is an example of what it looks like:

If a customer has not received the above email, we can easily forward it back to them.

Possible Problem - PayPal takes a minimum fee from the transaction.

Yes, they do. But you can set the mp3 prices independently. Keep in mind that most customers purchase more than one song at a time. So chances are if you have four songs for sale at 99 cents each, and PayPal takes 35 cents, you’re still doing a pretty good job. There are not any places that we are aware of that can provide a better deal than that.

What’s next?

There are many things that Music Forte does to help promote your digital media. Wherever you decided to sell, be diligent. Explore all the opportunities available, and take advantage of the service to it’s maximum potential. You owe that to yourself!

Easy Money with Digital Distribution

Thu, 15 Nov 2007 22:13:58 +0000

eMusic is the world’s largest retailer of independent music and the world’s second-largest digital music retailer overall…and a partner of Music Forte! Through your member’s area at Music Forte, submitting your music to eMusic literally takes about 30 seconds…but will provide you with an endless stream of passive income for many years to come. The quarterly commissions we have seen get paid to our members have ranged from a few dollars to several hundred at a time, and one of the greatest features is that once you submit your music there’s nothing else you have to do…except receive your money!

Gold and Diamond members at Music Forte have NO registration fee to submit their songs to eMusic, but free members will have to pay $24.97 to submit their songs. To become a Gold member at Music Forte you only have to pay $30 one time and you get a wealth of additional tools…so it seems like a no-brainer to become at least a Gold member at Music Forte first, doesn’t it?

To submit your songs to eMusic, simply login to your Music Forte member’s area, click on the "My Music" tab in the left navigation panel, click on "Digital Distribution" and you’re on your way! If you have multiple albums, simply go through the registration process again for each album…as there is once again NO additional fee for Gold and Diamond Music Forte members to submit more songs.

eMusic sells music in the universally compatible MP3 format — the most widely utilized digital music format, used by hundreds of millions of consumers, and the only one that offers all the functions of physical music products such as the CD. eMusic focuses on selling music beyond the commercial mainstream in every genre, including rock, jazz, comedy, hip-hop, blues, classical, country, folk, children’s music, electronic, world, reggae and more. Unlike so much of today’s commercial Top 40, independent music is simply about great music!