New Blog: Music Marketing at WesDavenport.com

Image

All future blog posts will be at WesDavenport.com. I’m so pumped about the new features and flexibility my self-host site offers.

But what kind of host would I be without offering refreshments? There are already new posts waiting for you to help your music career.

Continue reading at WesDavenport.com

Posted in Uncategorized | Leave a comment

5 Real-Life Business Skills Taught by Twitter

Twitter_Skills_Music_Wes_DavenportNote: Music Think Tank features a slightly altered version of this article.

Twitter is not so much about your follower count, retweets, or mentions. Those are just numbers. Here’s the real deal: Twitter prepares us for the future by teaching us valuable, real-world skills.

Here are five practical business skills Twitter teaches us on a daily basis.

Continue reading

Posted in Artist Advice, Music Business, Social Media | Tagged , , , , , , | 2 Comments

How Bands Can Team Up With Local Businesses

Partnering with a business can be give a band fresh exposure, further causes both parties believe in, and sharpen your overall business skills.

Though you may love Ikea furniture and Coke products, your band probably doesn’t have the connections or clout to forge a partnership with those companies. So what do you do?

You go local.

I wrote this short guest series about how independent artists can team up with local businesses for How To Run A Band .

Continue to How To Run A Band for my interview with Tyrus Morgan, my interview with Jonathon Dewveall, and my takeaways you can use to apply to your own career.

And while you’re there, be sure to download Seth’s fantastic new eBook, Get More Fans To Your Shows!

Posted in Artist Advice, Industry, Merch, Music Business, Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , | 2 Comments

5 Music Business Lessons from Black Friday

This year, I was one of the suckers in search of deals at the mall on Black Friday. Every store blasted some nameless artist who butchered classic holiday songs. I thought “Last Christmas” was my favorite holiday song until one particular cover made me question it.

Suddenly, upon walking through the rabid crowd, I heard lush piano renditions of seasonal music. It was shocking how much the music stood out from Muzak throwaway takes of “Winter Wonderland.”

It was seriously a relief to my ears, so I had to investigate.

Continue reading

Posted in Artist Advice, Industry, Marketing, Merch, Music Business | Tagged , , , , , , , , , | 5 Comments

Music Marketing Round Table: Should You Buy Into SMS Marketing?

I wrote a post asking “Should Texting Really Be a Part of Your Music Marketing?” I researched SMS marketing for musicians to see if my take was off-base, but I didn’t come up with much. So I thought it would be helpful to gather opinions from some of the best minds in music marketing to shed some light on the subject.

Read my guest post at Michael Brandvold’s blog!

Posted in Artist Advice, Marketing, Mobile Marketing | Tagged , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

6 Add-Ons to Upgrade Your Digital Music Downloads

When bands release a digital download, fans usually punch in their email to receive a lonely MP3. There’s nothing inherently wrong with that, especially if the song is good.

Nashville electro-rock band Vinyl Thief (client) took their free download plan a bit further by releasing a digital package. Our goal was to pack more value into the download for fans, giving them a bit more to chew on than the new single, “White Light.”

Here are three items we bundled with the MP3, followed by three more ideas we’re considering for the next release. Continue reading

Posted in Artist Advice, Content Marketing, Marketing, Merch, Mobile, Social Media | Tagged , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

The Music Publicity Insider’s Guide: How to Use News Hooks & Story Ideas to Get Media Exposure

Update: The discount has expired, but look for the new, improved course soon.

Bob Baker is currently offering his exceptional course on publicity at a discounted rate about to drop a BOMB with the release of his new publicity course. “The Music Publicity Insider’s Guide” is 1 hour and 50 minutes of insight-packed audio, and nine PDF worksheets to take your press releases to the next level (or perhaps to the next two or three levels).

I listened to the whole course, and I’m extremely impressed with what Bob is bringing to the table. Honestly, I thought I was pretty good at creating a press release, but “The Music Publicity Insider’s Guide” offers fresh, immediately impactful information. I ended up with plenty of new, exciting ideas for publicity.

Though I have experience in news writing, the course lays a solid foundation for beginners, too.

I don’t want to sound like an advertisement, but I’m pretty jazzed about this thing. Bob asked me to send him a suggested price, but the $14.95 he’s offering today is price upon release will be way, way below what I recommended.

I love sharing resources to help your career, and this one’s a doozy. So check it out now!

Posted in Marketing, Publicity | Tagged , , , , | Leave a comment