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It’s All About the Music
If you think you’ve heard it all, Reconsiderate
Posted in March 2nd, 2008
by admin in Uncategorized
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
Posted in March 2nd, 2008
by admin in Artist News
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
The “Underground” World of Music Forte
Posted in February 17th, 2008
by admin in Uncategorized
"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.
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?
Posted in January 3rd, 2008
by admin in Uncategorized
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
Posted in November 15th, 2007
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!
Updated Portal with “Drag and Drop”
Posted in November 6th, 2007
by admin in Uncategorized
For those who have been using the Music Forte portal in the past. You may need to add the modules that interest you once again.
You won’t have to do this again, as the stable release of our database structure with Drag and Drop functionality is now in place. The "Drag and Drop" allows you to position the content of your page, the way you want it to look.
The portal will still keep the Beta stamp until all additions are completed and tested.
What we want:
We’d like for you to make our portal your browser’s start page. Remember to login at http://www.musicforte.com/home, add the modules that interest you, and bookmark the page.
What if you don’t want to bookmark the portal page?
Obviously we’re not going to try and force you to do something you are not interested in. But maybe you can give us ideas that would make this interesting for you.
Specifically, if there is some sort of content (module) that is not present and you would like to see it included, let us know! There are all kinds of possibilities, so please share your ideas on how the new portal page would become more appealing to you.
Thank you for your help!
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Upgrades and Site Development
Posted in October 14th, 2007
by admin in Uncategorized
There have been many changes at Music Forte and many more to come. What you might have noticed already is that the shop has been dramatically changed.
Shopping:
You’ll notice that the shopping area of the site is being improved in layout and design. There is still more to come. However, at this point artists have a much better presentation page, and shoppers have much more ease in navigating to your music.
MP3 songs are presented as digital albums. CDs of artists are also presented on the digital album pages.
Have a look at the example:
Some of the notable improvements that may interest you are:
- Multiple MP3s are added instantly in the buy now buttons
- Musicians get 100% of the profits, but you must have a PayPal account in order for Music Forte to allow that distribution offer
- 30 second preview tracks are available for each presented song
- If the artist has a CD listed at Music Forte, it will be presented on the mp3 pages with a mouseover effect (as shown in picture). - Better organization and navigation for customers
- More to come
Feel free to give it a try. Here is the link to the production page as shown in the above image.
Every area of the site is being redesigned and improved with a fine-toothed comb. The new layout and simplified navigation will create a much better presentation of you, as an artist, and will also provide many additional features for all members of Music Forte.
Also updated is the home page design and new portal page:
Home page and Portal:
The new home page has a strong sales approach. However, that does not mean that you are forced to see that each time you come to Music Forte. Basically, there are two indexes:
One for current members and the other for members who are coming to the site for the first time. If you are already a member you have your choice of being taken straight to your account where there is some updated information such as forum topics, charts, spotlight artists, and blogs.
You might also choose to try the new portal (BETA version). Simply login to your account (check mark the box to "remember me" and go to http://www.musicforte.com/home
This area of the site will allow you to design your start page of Music Forte as you see fit. Put the information on the site that matters most to you! You’ll also find useful tools such as weather, guitar tuning, chord finder, music news, sports, and many things that you might like to start your day with.
Why Taxes?
We’re looking forward to a continued and successful relationship with you. As part of our current development, we are collecting all relevant tax information from members who are required to file. Without a doubt, Music Forte is poised to double or triple traffic within the next three months. As we have hired additional staff, the expertise at Music Forte Inc. is flourishing in ways that will truly benefit you and the entire membership. This is a very exciting time for us, and we’re happy that we can move forward with your complete confidence.
If you are a Platinum Plan member and ready to get started, please login to your account, and click on "Tax Information" in the left-hand Platinum Plan menu.
What’s Ahead?
The future of Music Forte is incredible. Every thing that you see at the site right now, is going to be revised and improved. The functionality, and layout will make much more sense. Navigation will improve, and effectiveness of every area of the site will be perfected. Not one page will be skipped. But as you can imagine this is a large process. Music Forte has well over 300,000 pages. Luckily for us, many of them share a common template. However, even these templates will be revised and improved.
In short, Music Forte is on the way to becoming everything that you’ll want from a perfect website for an Independent Music Community.
We’re excited to be able to present to you the changes, and will certainly update you often in regards to new features, and tips to help you get the most out of Music Forte!
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Kevin McDonald Presents: Addie Lee
Posted in September 3rd, 2007
by admin in Kevin McDonald Presents
Addie is a trail blazing lead guitar player who helped break down the door so women could play lead guitar. An incredible voice and songwriting ability rounds out her incredible talent. She has played with and around the great artists of our time, or maybe they were lucky to play with her! Great music and a fun interview makes this episode a must listen to!
Kevin McDonald Presents: Julie Gribble
Posted in August 22nd, 2007
by admin in Kevin McDonald Presents
In this episode, Kevin McDonald speaks with Julie Griblle. With her mellow alternative rock and a twist of Americana country style, Gribble has entranced audiences with her modern stories of life love and relationships
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