iTunes Killer

Guvera. A word not recognized in the spell check of Microsoft Word, or by any human, until now. An Australian company, which was first launched in the United States this last March, is coming for the chokehold on iTunes.

As we all now, digital piracy cannot, and probably will not be stopped. Illegal file sharing has been going on for quite some time now, and as long as it is around, who would want to pay for any music or movies? Especially in this day and age, where everyone is struggling to just buy food off the McDonald’s dollar menu, people are having a hard time trying to afford 99 cents per song? That is almost one of your meals for that day!

Guvera changes all that, Guvera allows individuals to download their music for free, while the artist still gets paid. The way it works is the artists get paid via the advertisers. In order for you to download your music, you will be required to view multiple ads from companies that are sponsoring the Guvera music website, and paying the artist for the music download as you watch their advertisement.

This is a genius idea, as I mentioned before, no one wants to pay anything for any kind of digital media anymore, so why fight it? Have advertisements placed before a large audience, and have the companies pay the artists for the music downloaded, instead of having the whole world illegally and immorally steal music from artists. Remember, artists are supporting themselves with their music, and if you want to continue to hear great music from your favorite artists, they must be able to make a living. You wouldn’t like it if someone came in to your work and stole your paycheck, now would you?

Reference:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oNwCgJ-Z7rg

Financial Options for Small Business Owners

The American dream, the dream of starting your own small business, buying a home with a white picket fence, and raising a family. Yes, many Americans are still starting small businesses everyday, taking huge financial risks. However, most inspiring entrepreneurs never even have the chance to take the first step towards entrepreneurship due to the biggest problem that even this entire country is facing; financial backing.

Luckily, there are tons of websites that are dedicated to helping inspiring entrepreneurs obtain the financial backing they need to start their companies, finding small business owners a mentor or counselor, and offer professional help and advice on company advancement. A couple of these websites are websites such as www.eda.gov (U.S. Economic Development Administration), and www.microenterpriseworks.org.

The first website, www.eda.gov, offers a few different financial funding options to small business owners. Federal funding is available through the government to businesses that qualify for specific federal funding options, as well as grants and special programs to help small businesses reach success. The website also contains an application page that details exactly what is needed and expected from small business owners to achieve financial backing.

The second website, www.microenterpriseworks.org, also known as AEO (Association for Enterprise Opportunity), is a national organization that consists of hundreds of member organizations. They have helped over two million small business entrepreneurs support their businesses and well being through business ownership. These organizations offer different funding options for small businesses as well as help business owners plan ahead for their target market, and to set goals to achieve success.

In today’s economy, small business owners need as much help as possible to reaching financial funding even for the simplest of businesses. Some small businesses may achieve financial backing by a small business loan, or some may need only as much as a credit card with enough of a spending limit to purchase lawn care equipment. However, for other small businesses that require more funding to launch off he ground, websites such as these are a secret weapon.

Views on business plans from industry experts

A well thought out business plan is the foundation for every successful business. It is essential that a new business have a solid plan for development and operation. After all, attempting to start up a business with lack of a plan is equivalent to steering a ship with no rudder. Business owners and aspiring entrepreneurs must know the direction they are headed with their business, and the steps necessary to take it there. However, do you know what it takes to create a business plan that can drive a successful business? No worries, in this blog I will look at two experts, Bobby Flay, who is one of America’s top chefs and restaurant owners, and Steve Ells, who founded the national chain restaurant, Chipotle.

Bobby Flay has been into the restaurant industry for quite some time. “At the age of 17, Flay took a job at Joe Allen’s restaurant where his father was a partner.” Burhoe, 2011. Flay attended the French Culinary Institute, where he currently is a spokesperson and Master Chef for the Institute. Flay has opened up such places as BOLO and Mesa Grill. Beyond restaurants and cooking, he also has published several books including Boy Meets Grill and Bold American Food. It does not end there; Bobby is also featured on several hit TV shows as Hot Off the Grill for Food Network and The Main Ingredient for Lifetime.

Our other expert, Steve Ells, took a loan from his father for less than $100,000 and founded the now popular chain of restaurants known as Chipotle. Ells took a different approach than Bobby Flay, and graduated with a Bachelors of Arts degree in art history from the University of Colorado. However, he also graduated from the Culinary Institute of America in 1990. Both Steve Ells and Bobby Flay are currently big investors on a new NBC hit series known as America’s Great Next Restaurant.

Bobby and Steve, investors on this new hit series, are looking for the next big restaurant to invest in. Well, this includes looking over business plans for each of these concepts that are brought to the table. Amongst some of the things they look for in a successful business plan is the name of the business, the logo, the slogan, and marketability.

Bobby and Steve have mentioned that the name of the company must fully represent exactly what the company is about, and not mislead consumers to believe anything different of the company. The logo must not be complex and directly portray what the company is about. The slogan must be original, creative, and catchy. Consumers must be able to memorize the slogan with ease and the slogan must portray the company perfectly. The company must also have a solid marketing plan, as any business lacking a solid marketing plan is sure to fail.

These are just some of the simple things to keep in mind while creating a successful business plan. For more information, please visit: http://bpexpertviews.blogspot.com/

Resources:

Burhoe, Steven. (2011) Expert Views on Business Plans. www.blogspot.com. Retrieved on July 12, 2011 from http://bpexpertviews.blogspot.com/

Social media marketing in the music world

Social media is an excellent way for people to meet new friends, connect with communities, and share ideas with others. Websites such as Facebook, YouTube, and Twitter allow users instant access to huge social networks. Beyond being a great networking tool, social media is now a huge part of digital marketing, especially in the entertainment industry.

Artists can market themselves and promote their albums and tours directly to their fans through any means of social media. One of my personal favorites, Deadmau5, utilizes Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, and Ustream to connect with his fans and market his new tour dates and album releases. Joel Zimmerman (Deadmau5) has recently announced his new tour dates via Twitter and Facebook for his upcoming North America tour, officially named the "MEOWINGTONS HAX TOUR". Mr. Zimmerman even goes as far as streaming himself live on Ustream, from his home studio, as he works on new music and interacts with his fans via Twitter, getting instant feedback on brand new music. By utilizing such social media, not only do you effectively market yourself, but also your fans will feel like they are involved in something and are giving their input. When you let fans interact with the artist in such a way, it will draw the fans further into the artist’s life, and create a dedicated, loyal fan base. Deadmau5 regularly posts on Facebook about his cat named “Meowingtons” and keeps fans up to date on his home life. Just a few days ago he posted on Facebook “I am going to get a haircut”, and received thousands of likes and comments within 30 minutes. He already has his fan base drawn into his daily life and interacting with him on almost a friendly level.

I have seen other artists that are now jumping on the bandwagon; as Will.I.Am from the Black Eyed Peas has recently started streaming himself live as he works on new music. Social Media has become an extremely valuable tool as far as marketing your brand and your music goes. It is truly the cheapest way to reach the largest amount of people.

Survey time! :D

Digital Marketing and the Future of the Music Industry

These days everything int he music industry has gone digital. Major studios have thrown out tape machines and switched over to an all digital format, cassette tapes have been ruled obsolete ages ago by the CD, the CD is now ruled obsolete due to the iPod and digital mp3 music, even marketing and distribution in the music industry has gone digital.

The age of digital information sharing is a great tool as far as marketing yourself as an artist, but the downfall is that with digital technology comes music piracy at an alarming rate. Recording artists these days can not rely on music sales alone to make a living, they now have to turn to other means of revenue such as merchandise sales (t-shirts, books, memorabilia, etc.) and ticket sales from live shows in order to be make a good income.

One positive side of this is the fact that any unsigned artist can effectively pursue a music career on their own without the help of a record label. Even musical spoof videos go viral on YouTube and launch the individual into a web-star. For example,

“Our friends Amy Heidemann and Nick Noonan are Karmin and have found amazing lightning-fast popularity with this cover of Chris Brown ft. Lil Wayne, Busta Rhymes Look At Me Now.

2.9 million views on YouTube as of a few minutes ago, in less than 7 days. Wow. That’s some velocity.” D. Kusek, 2011.

Utilizing digital marketing today, if done correctly, can be just as good - if not better, than the old way of marketing music artists via television and radio. There are plenty of really amazing recording artists in the world that never get their chance to be heard, because record labels are afraid to take a “risk” with a new sound. Record labels tend to go with proven artists that have sold tons of music before and hope their flame does not burn out. Things are going to change in this digital age, as major labels will recognize that independent artists can effectively reach success on their own. Who needs a major when you have digital marketing and distribution?

Similar blog post regarding digital marketing:

http://cliffanderson.blogspot.com/2011/04/music-publishing-in-digital-age.html

Reference:

David Kusek, 2011. Quality and Talent Win, www.futureofmusicbook.com, retrieved on 05/08/2011 from:

http://www.futureofmusicbook.com/2011/04/quality-and-talent-wins-online/

In depth with digital distributor Catapult

Catapult is not just a medieval siege weapon, but one of the many great choices as far as self-publishing and digital distribution goes. So who is Catapult? “Catapult Distribution is a leading digital distributor of audio content for Artists and Labels from around the world. We distribute music CDs, albums and other audio content into the top digital music stores such as iTunes, AmazonMP3, Rhapsody, eMusic, Napster, Zune and many more. Once albums begin appearing in the music stores and customers make purchases of the content, we then report the downloads and make payments to the artist or label.” Catapult, 2011.

From reading the last statement about the company, you may wonder what separates them from the competition? Well first, they distribute your music to over 100 digital music stores across the world! So you will not be restricted to just one market area, like iTunes USA for example. Secondly, they have very reasonable prices per upload, $9 per single track, and $25 for a full album. These prices are very reasonable considering the competition charging over $50 per album. Thirdly, they take a very small portion of royalties from your music sales, about 8%.

Seeing as you are getting charged per upload and a royalty rate, you may think it is not such a great deal. However, you are getting much more than you would get at any competitor. You are getting fast payments from your music sales, 24 hours upload time to all the digital stores, and on top of that, worldwide distribution! For the little bit extra you go much further than with other digital distributors, such as CDbaby. Your payments are made once a month, however, every digital music store is different and has different intervals of payments. Catapult promises to make a payment to you every month, depending on what each music store has paid out to them.

Catapult is a win-win situation, for a small fee you can distribute your music globally within 24 hours. You can be completely unavailable to the world and within a day be available to all your eager fans!

Reference:

Catapult, 2011. About the company, www.catapultdistribution.com. Retrieved April 17^th, 2011 from:

http://www.catapultdistribution.com/front_about.html