We’re working hard to improve our storefront for you. Not only are we planning to increase our product offering, but more importantly, we will improve on the service and website functionality that our customers expect.

We’ve always valued customer feedback. In fact, a letter that we received from a Mr. Hite back in January, prompted us to make several upgrades that you may or may not be aware of.

Since that time, we have implemented online tracking of all US orders. We also generate automated email to provide you with those tracking numbers. We’ve lowered our shipping costs, increased our inventory to over 300,000 product titles and most recently we have changed our warehouse to utilize a shipping fulfillment team that will ensure all orders can be delivered much faster than we’ve ever been able to.

So what’s next? In approximately two weeks, we will be unveiling a completely unique new storefront. We want to build it specifically to your tastes. That is why we are asking for your feedback now, and in return we have a special gift for you!

We’ve provided two special coupons that you can take advantage of from now until July 10. We’re letting you know before anybody else, because it is a limited time offer and only valid while inventory still exists. You can either receive 10% off your total purchase order. Or if you prefer, we will send you a free book of Manuscript paper.

There is no purchase limit to receive either of the gifts!

The manuscript paper contains 32 pages of 6 large staves per page. The book is 81/2 x 81/2 and includes a music notation guide that is great for students and educators.

We invite you to take advantage of this offer today by shopping at Music Forte. Your coupon codes are available here!

Please remember to leave us any feedback you might have by using the "Leave A Reply" link below, or you may send it to support@musicforte.com. We appreciate your feedback very much, and we’ll be collectively utilizing your suggestions and comments for the redesign of our new storefront.

We’re just two weeks away! We’ll let you know as soon as it is finished in approximately two weeks, so that you can see how we followed your suggestions. Of course, if you do not want us to notify you, you may unsubscribe. Please refer to the link at the bottom of this email.

Thanks again for shopping at Music Forte.

Before I tell you what I learned, I think that it is important to note that the information I received was not based off of a person’s opinion.  The consultation they provide is based upon resources and pools of data that they have collected throughout the US for years. To get right to the point, it is simply accurate information.

With that said, the average sales conversion ratio for an eCommerce website that is well-designed, and selling products between $10-$50 is less than 4%.  Wow!  Imagine that.  I have several friends that are building their business online, and many of them don’t even receive 100 unique visits in a day.  Imagine if their customers are not happy with that website’s functionality?  Or maybe they just aren’t pushing the sale.  It is easy to create distractions when developing an eCommerce website.  Most sole-proprieterships don’t have the money for an eCommerce solution that works well, and as a result, those sites may perform at less than 0.1%. 

That is a tough business. It almost sounds depressing.  However, with a bit of work each day to improve your storefront, you will obviously increase your traffic and sales.  It may be an enduring process, it might even be fun.  The important thing is to keep going.  There are hundreds of strategies that can help you build traffic and improve your conversion ratio.

One of the features that Music Forte has implemented is a coupon offering.  The coupons help our customers, Music Forte, and anyone operating an eCommerce site. How?

• Our customers save more money. 
• Music Forte increases brand awareness.
• You are providing additional "buyer incentive" for your products.

This strategy is used widely among a variety of  large and small businesses.

If you feel that Music Forte’s product line may be of interest to your website visitors, we encourage you to get your personalized coupon today.  Just send an email to Music Forte’s support team and tell us that you’d like a coupon.

We’ll send you the instructions back for implementing it.  Your customers can print the coupon for future use, or simply store their coupon code on their computer.

Claim your Music Forte coupon and start increasing ‘buyer incentive’ today!

Each cookbook contains a stimulating collection of unique concepts on teaching and conducting written by 57 of today’s most outstanding music educators. Problem solving tips, philosophical concepts, ensemble-building skills, and thought-provoking ideas are all assembled in each easy-to-read collection. An ideal source of exciting strategies for all levels of performance ensembles. Check out the following cookbook collection at only $24.95 each!

• The Music Director’s Cookbook
• The Brass Player’s Cookbook
• The Choral Director’s Cookbook
• The String Teacher’s Cookbook
• The Woodwind Player’s Cookbook

Order onlin today or you can call our E-Z Order Line at (888) 659-2867.

The themes are available here:
http://www.musicforte.com/info/wordpress-themes/

Screenshots are available. They both have a music-based them so that they are practical for bands, music e-commerce, radio, or just music chat.  So why aren’t we using them?  I suppose it loses appeal that way.  These are unique for you and we hope you’ll find them to your liking.

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.

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".

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.

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!