12 Quick Tips to get More out of Soundcloud
While many of us virtually live on Soundcloud, I’ve recently realized through several conversations that a number of people don’t necessarily use it that often unless they are posing a track/mix, or sent there for a download. Personally I thing it’s a very valuable tool to become proficient with. If you take a little time to learn the ins and outs (and make use of it briefly every day or so) you can find an increasing wealth of fresh tracks as well as drive traffic to your own music. This list is by no means exhaustive (email subscribe to Sound Movement for more updates in the future), but it gives a few ideas to get more out of the service, especially if you don’t already frequent it. Here we go:
- It may seem obvious, but follow more people to have them show up on your dashboard (the main wall that tracks and comments show up on). You may find it useful to follow the artists that artists you enjoy are following (ie: look at who you follow, follows.)
- Search for, and start following relevant groups (ie: search “jungle“), to have their tracks show up on your dashboard. I will sometimes indiscriminately follow a number of groups or artists, then later unfollow those that post unsuitable tracks.
- Use “advanced search options“. After you use the search bar in the top right corner of the dashboard, click the “Show advanced search options” and if you like, specify things like genre, tempo, or that “Tracks should be downloadable“…
- Search for remixes. Popular new track just drop? Chances are it’s been remixed. Use the advanced option to hunt for edits and bootlegs. (Take this tip with a grain of salt – you will sift through 90% garbage, especially with pop-ier remixes, but may just find a gem hidden among the trash.)
- If you regularly play larger gigs with headliners, add your SongKick URL for gig postings that automatically add themselves to your page.
- Upgrade your membership and it will allow you to send tracks to more groups you are a part of (easy way to share your music with thousands instantly!!!) Thx to Grasp the Erro on this one.
- If you’re going to buy a premium account, use coupons from here and save a couple bucks (%25 off is nothing to sneeze at)
- Make checking your dashboard a habit. Seriously. Just take 5 minutes everyday after work or whatever, click on “Incoming Tracks” on your dashboard, and scroll through what’s fresh until you see yesterday’s tracks..
- Show some character. Go to Settings > Advanced Profile and in “description”, post a short bio (no one reads more then a paragraph), write something silly or leave an email for bookings. Be sure to add your website and Facebook page, etc. here too.
- Comment & favorite more. While I actively discourage you from directly asking other artists to listen to your tracks in their comments, this does not mean that you shouldn’t comment at all. If you like a track, leave a comment or click “add to favorites”. While it is by no means guaranteed that they will check your tracks in return, they are many time more likely to notice you if you do leave a tasteful comment. And you can go back and check your favorites later to see about releases and perhaps download links if you like.
- Return the love. If someone leaves a great comment on your track, reply with a thanks.
- Just Listen. Bottom right hand of the player? There’s a little icon shaped like a cartoon speech bubble. Click it to turn off comments to be able to scroll through faster and easier on popular tracks. Thx to Outsider on this one.
- Oh, and make sure your tracks are properly tagged
Boom! Let us know if any of these work for you, or if you have a tip you’d like to share! Thanks for the comments and reposts.
Value Proposition
A value proposition is a promise of value to be delivered and a belief from the customer of value that will be experienced. – wikipedia
This week I came across a post on http://yakezie.com entitled “What Makes Your Website Different?”. The point applies to musicians as well. We live in a world that is growing increasingly connected, and we are up against more and more competition. To be effective building a strong audience, you need to define who exactly it is that you’re trying to get your message to (as a musician this may mean a particular genre or a particular audience) and what exactly makes you worth listening to over the next guy?
The following is a 0-5 rating system borrowed from Marketing Experiments that is in reference to websites, but also directly applies to your music website. Take a moment and think of your website / Soundcloud / Bandcamp, etc. (you have one right?):
0 – No real value proposition (a full-price retail product that can be bought anywhere).
1 – Limited value to a small market. There is extensive competition and/or few barriers to entry.
2 – Substantial value to a medium-sized market. There is limited competition and/or significant barriers to entry.
3 – A product or service with strong product differentiation, but little competitive protection.
4 – A unique product or service that is highly valuable to a large market, and strong competitive protection and/or extensive barriers to entry. This may take the form of a registered patent or limited access to product components.
5 – A unique product or service that is highly valuable to a large market, and exclusive or near-exclusive control of essential product components. This may also include a registered patent.
Take an quick but honest look at your music website and consider:
- What value are you offering to your audience?
- Is your music or performance actually different (unique), and can you communicate that clearly?
- Do you know who it is that you are trying to reach (“market”)?
- How would you rate your website?
Know ⇨ Like ⇨ Trust
There is a very particular process that building a successful, long term relationship with your audience goes through. If all goes well for you, the process looks like:
Know ⇨ Like ⇨ Trust
First someone knows about you,
then they like you (or what you do)
then they trust you (and your work).
It’s virtually impossible for it to go any other way. People can’t like or trust you unless they know you first. And do you think that someone would really trust you if they didn’t like what you are putting into the world?
Lots of musicians simply try to gain exposure (know), but a) don’t have a high quality brand or music (which would enable people to like easier), or b) aren’t consistent enough for people to build trust in their work.
I believe being authentic is at the core of true likability. Don’t bullshit your fans. We live in a different world now. If your act is fake, you will get burned, it’s that simple. Also having a unique and powerfully communicated message (read: sound) is vital. It helps you stand out. But people have to like more that just your music, they have to like you as well.
Trust is a very deep topic to discuss, but for now, it is essential to understand that without trust from your audience, their interest will be short and they will not spread your music in the same way. Consistency is an important factor in the trust equation. Trust is also very easily lost – all it takes is one wrong move.
The process takes time – it doesn’t happen over night. Focus on all three steps for sustainable success.
What do you think? Thank you for all your comments and reposts.
The Power of Social Proof
What is social proof? Put simply, it’s the positive influence created when someone finds out that others are doing something. - Aileen Lee
In his highly regarded and best-selling book Influence, Robert Cialdini outlines how to use (and defend yourself against) six principles of persuasion: reciprocity, authority, commitment & consistency, liking, scarcity, and social proof. This week we’re going to take a quick look at the latter in greater detail.
Facebook advertising has done spectacularly well, in part because it shows how many people you know already “like” a page. The more of your friends that like something, the more likely we are to check it out and like it as well. Re-posting on Facebook and Twitter is a great example of social proof – it shows we support something. Make sure any site you run has scripts that make it easily share-able (and in the right places – highly visible).
You may know, one of the main factors in weather someone decides to attend an event, is how many people they know are attending as well. Although the company may be flagrantly evil, McDonalds’ “Over 99 Billion Served” slogan certainly shows it has support. Another prominent example of social proof is the gigantic lineups outside Apple stores on launch days for new products. People love to advertise that they support the brand. Having a brand and product (music in this case) that is high-quality is definitely a pre-cursor to mass support.
Some consider social proof is to be “the new marketing“, and rightly so. You can see here from this study by the Nielsen Company, that “recommendations from people known” ranked highest in trust-ability of all forms of advertising tested:
For me personally, when Skream gave a quote in support of a remix I had done, that quote went on to display major celebrity social proof. Think “If the pros are supporting this – maybe I should as well too, or at least have a look for myself.” Between that, and it charting on Beatport (also social proof), it created obvious support, and that support (think of a crowd gathering, and thus attracting a greater crowd) created even more support. Have a promo list that you regularly send you high-quality finished work to, and don’t be shy to ask prominent artists for quotes of support if they are playing your tunes (celebrity social proof). I even see some people using these on the right-hand side of their Soundloud pages.
Today a tweet from Royal-T had me looking at at Temple Run, an iPhone game. Even while writing this article, I still unconsciously looked at the customer rating (5 star avg. from 306312 Ratings) as a barometer for the value & quality of the game – essentially weather or not it’s worth downloading. Perhaps I am programmed to care if other people care.
A few more examples of social proof in the music industry to think about:
- DJ’s playing your tracks, either live, on radio, or in mixes
- Audience and other artists re-posting your music and activities
- People attending your events in person is major social proof
- (Also, a velvet rope outside a club with a line of people)
- Pre-show posts on Facebook event walls
- Tracks charting on online download sites
- Blogs and music aggregate sites like Hype Machine
- Being included in DJ charts
- User-generated videos on Youtube etc for tunes, uploaded by fans
If you have a great product waiting to be discovered, figure out how to build social proof around it by putting it in front of the right early influencers. - Aileen Lee
The key here is to consciously understand how social proof works, start seeing how individuals and crowds respond to it, and prominently display it – use it to your own advantage. Do not underestimate the power of it. As you see in the above chart, it ranks as incredibly useful. Even if you are a beginner, start using every bit of support you have to build more and more of it – it builds its own momentum. When there’s a critical mass of people supporting something, there’s a certain tipping point where more and more people start supporting because the social proof is obvious.
- Can you think of other ways that social proof influences the music industry?
- How are you currently using it to your advantage?
- How can you start using it to your advantage?
Please repost! Spread the word
12(K) Principles
A minimal(istic) electronic record label and mastering house “12K“, based out of NYC and founded in 1997, caught my attention this week. In the about section on their website, they describe how they consciously approach their music and the marketplace. They give us “12 Principles Upon Which 12K was Founded“.
I believe that having intention behind what you’re doing and being able to easily communicate your philosophy helps it spread.
Some of these ideas may not resonate with you personally (such as 4 or 7 – I understand and appreciate them but may choose different approaches), but there is value to all of these perspectives. I equally enjoy their music as well as how they tell their story.
“..Trying to create something beautiful, however small, in this oversaturated, violent world that we live in. A small space – a place to breathe.” Taylor Deupree
TWELVE PRINCIPLES UPON WHICH 12K WAS FOUNDED:
1. Don’t tell listeners what they want to hear, let them discover that for themselves.
2. Treat your audience as they are: intelligent, passionate lovers of art and sound.
3. Evolve constantly, but slowly.
4. Stay quiet, stay small.
5. Strive for timelessness.
6. Never try to be perfect. Soul is in imperfection.
7. Simplicity. Anti-Design.
8. Never try to innovate, be true to yourself, and innovation may happen.
9. Explore sound as art, as a physical phenomenon – with emotion.
10. Develop community.
11. Be spontaneous.
12. Everything will change.
What do you think? Leave a comment!
Thanks to @djfractal for passing this along.
Vital Visual Impact
As a part of the sub|division fam, a group of West-Coast music lovers pushing forward thinking sounds, we are celebrating our two year anniversary this month. 24 months packed with parties, mixes, tracks, and media coverage and the crew is still gaining momentum and further support. For sub|div, 2 years of content also means we’ve needed a lot of graphic work done. A lot. One undeniable aspect of this success is the consistently high quality branding work done by Carlin @ Cab Design. The identifiable logo, color schemes and fonts are a big part of the glue that holds the brand together (Monolithium being the other major ingredient in the adhesive mix!).
Silent Season is a BC based label that imparts a strong visual impact. Their website (perhaps my favorite ever) and every release feature high quality nature images including beautiful Vancouver Island forests. It feels like there photos they use for their website and releases are so much more than just images, they are an integral part of everything they do. It imparts their ethos.
Even if you are doing a free release, I believe it’s 100% worth it to commission some cover art. I’m speaking for myself here but I’m more likely to check out a track or mix if there’s quality cover art. Perhaps it shows that you value your work. High quality posters raise the pervieved value of events. Using great art that is somehow logically connected to each other creates a sense of consistency. Have you noticed in record stores or online that you can often tell what label a release is on before you read it?
I absolutely love Prison Garde’s no-nonsense approach to the visual element (as he also acts as a curator for Catalog Gallery).
On the topic of design. If you are booking me for a show, and the aesthetic for the print material resembles a psychedelic spirit / shaman disguised as a forest animal / has more than on fluo pantone on a primrary color/ has my name written in weed leaves, or any type of budda/shiva/lion of judah icons, I will not post the information about the show. Forgive me, but I place a great deal of importance on visual language, and do not wish to be lumped into things that I find aesthetically offensive.
With that being said, if you are booking me, and want a tight looking flyer, drop an extra 100 bucks on the booking, send me the copy, and let me handle it for you. I will make it pretty, promise.
If you look at Cabfree’s work for sub|division – your subconscious mind (see what I did there) already knows that it’s part of a body of work even before you consciously identify it.
- Create an impression on your audience before they even listen.
- Hire someone to do your graphic work (let a pro work for you!)
- Consistency, consistency, consistency is key.
This post is not so much a “big up” to efforts of friends, but rather to highlight what is working. Consistent visual branding helps tremendously (thank you Carlin). Don’t miss a crucial aspect of music culture. Look good, on purpose.
A Quality Artist Page in Minutes
Having a home page for an artist is a necessity. You need to have somewhere you can send fans and potential fans to get a vibe for what you’re about, and have access to your music. It’s almost 2012 and I think only a percentage of producers and performers have this nailed. I was hoping tumblr would fill this need, but I find it more useful for updates and photos and perhaps not ideal as a hub for all your info. Facebook pages have become bland, uninteresting, and are not particularly customizable. Myspace is dead. If you still have an account delete it now. If you’re good with html or CSS etc., then you can build your own page with code, but not everyone knows tech, and I assume most artists would rather be making music then testing scripts. Enter flavors.me.
Not too long ago while browsing Twitter, I’d come across sub|division’s Eames’ page flavors.me/kevinehman that he has linked in his bio. His page is pretty bare bones, but gives a quick idea about what he’s up to, his personal style, and most importantly – links your to his vital pages easily and cleanly. You may be thinking “Ugh, another thing to sign up for”, or “I don’t need any more social networking, thank you”, but there’s no real maintenance required and it really only takes a few minutes to get something looking good. It’s such a quick and easy process there’s really no reason not to set one up.
“Flavors allows you to create a gorgeous website in minutes, bringing together social media updates, photos, videos and more into a unified web presence.”
Part of the beauty of flavors.me is that there is the option to load feeds from particular social media streams automatically (Facebook / Soundcloud / Twitter feeds, and so many more). This means that when you click on my Twitter button, my feed pops up right on the page! Same goes for even lesser known or used sites such as last.fm or Vimeo. You can have a feed load automatically when someone arrives. This integration seems smooth and uninterruptive.
A few notes:
- Minor HTML is available, such as bold, italics and linking for your bio
- You can upload your own background (and change where the text layout is accordingly)
- There is no advertising or pop-ups. Your site is clean and without unnecessary tabs, bars, or other crap
- In addition to social media streams, you can add any RSS feed as well
- $20 a year gives access to advanced features, but they are not at all necessarily for a functional and eye-pleasing page
- The upgrade allows for a custom URL, such as “www.rhythmicon.com” I believe (assuming your address is available)
- You can also be sneaky and purchase a domain name yourself (often for less than $10 a year) and then route it to your flavors page.
Have a quick look at one I set up today:
Note: There are other sites that provide similar services such as about.me. I was actually going to write about it first before I came across flavors. After using both, I found about.me be a bit faster to set up and more intuitive, but flavours.me certainly has more options and is highly customizable (though also blocks advanced features until you pay for an upgrade). It took me about 3 minutes to set up with about.me and about an hour with flavours.me get everything right (although you can do one with less time). You could try both for free though and see what works for you 
Watch a quick 2 min video on it and go set one up!
If you have any thoughts, suggestions, or would like help setting up a page: leave a comment below. Heck post your own
Does Facebook Still Work for Promoting?
There seemed to be a time when Facebook was the Holy Grail for artists and promoters. While it was gaining popularity (and Myspace was dying horribly) everyone seemed to be paying attention. There was a novelty to seeing new events and new artist pages – people were getting excited.
Flash forward 4/5 years, add ceaseless daily updates and invites that became spam and you have a recipe for moaning about FB as a necessary evil and reduced attention from the public. “Attending” counts for Facebook are no longer as accurate as a gauge of actual attending, and people are less active in engaging and sharing on event walls. People mass-spamming tracks on walls gets them “hidden”. Of course Facebook is still considered by many to be a requirement for events and it will not be going anywhere for a while. One of the major problems with the ubiquity of promotion on FB is:
As soon as something becomes predictable to people, our minds shut it out automatically.
People may see a genuinely valuable post, event, track, etc. of yours but it may be consciously ignored or unconsciously filtered out because FB is now so overloaded with consistently irrelevant content. Weather you love or hate Facebook is besides the point. Your goal is to connect with your audience and compel them to take further action such as attend shows, download mixes, purchase your tracks and share your music. Here’s some actions you can take to get your push out to the public:
- List gigs on the info column for Soundcloud through Sound Kick (post if you’d like help!)
- List gigs on your website (ie: local DJ / designer Outsider)
- Hand out flyers in person
- Start a dialogue with your audience on Twitter (ask questions, engage in discussions)
- Keep business cards on you
- Hand out CDs (or even tapes) instead of telling people to DL your mix (many will forget!)
- Send event info to media outlets such as cfuv 101.9 & Monday Mag (on time for cutoff)
- Consider starting a newsletter to regularly update your fans
The key here is to have several routes of promotion you use consistently.
- Try every appropriate approach you can think of
- Experiment – see which ones resonate with your own DNA
- Refine the strategies and methods that work for you and get a response
(Note: I have chosen not to participate in Google+ at this time thus do not have any experience with it, but the agreement online seems to be that it essentially failed in it’s attempt to overthrow FB. Just like any process, if it works for you – use it. They just allowed pages for artists recently.)
What is your experience with promoting on Facebook? What do you do outside of it?
Essential Tagging and Labeling
Proper labeling is important; people know what they’re getting. In this case, when you tag your new mix or track, your audience (as well as labels and supporting artists) get the correct info they need to spread the word, give you credit, and as an added bonus your hard work looks professional. Let’s take a look at some often overlooked elements.
Tagging mp3′s
There are an unlimited amount of programs for editing ID3 tags (ID3 is the metadata format holding info such as the title, artist, album, track number, and other information about the file to be stored in the file itself). Personally I use iTunes to add this info, but then I also cross check that the info shows up through other players. Although I haven’t tried it yet, Jaikoz looks pretty badass and runs on Mac, Windows and Linux. Here is the most widely accepted (and understandable) standard I’ve seen for file naming:
Artist X – Track Title (Artist Y Remix)
ie:
For ID3 tags, at very least, I add to the following fields:
- Name (Artist – Track Title)
- Comments (for website info / email / AIM etc.)
Important Note: If you are shopping your tunes to be signed: include your email + AIM in the file name in brackets as well as in the ID3 tag. This applies for sending tunes to labels or artists via AIM / sendspace etc. I’ve read about label bosses unable to play or press tunes because the artists neglected to send the proper contact info with digital tracks.
Soundcloud
I will readily admit that this is personally a gigantic pet peeve – people uploading tracks with improper tags and expecting that Soundcloud does tag editing. Soundcloud does not rename your mp3 files for you automatically! The title for your track you see on screen is not what people will see when they download it. The exact same copy you upload is the exact same copy you download.
The labeling you do online is just for the screen on Soundcloud, and your mp3 remains untouched. Also, clean up titles that include “MASTERED”, “Copy of”, “unfinished”, track or bounce numbers, and the like. This may be useful to you for sorting, but is unnecessary for your audience. All tracks shared publicly should be complete, finished and mastered. This applies to tracks uploaded anywhere, not just on SC. Also, be sure to use SC’s own tagging system (including adding a genre tag). You can be creative with the genre tag if you like, but having it nonetheless catches the eye. People using search can find your track via tags and this can help your exposure.
Tracklists
Unless you are playing a set of entirely your own material or are premiering dubs that artists would not like identified yet, then you should be putting up tracklists with your mixes. If you’re playing someone else’s tunes – please give them credit. Would you want them doing the same for you? Here is how I’ve written out tracklists for the last 5 years (and I believe to be the most well regarded way):
- Artist X – Track Title [Label Name]
- Artist Y – Track Title (Artist Z Remix) [Label Name]
- etc..
note: replace “label” with release details if necessary, or unreleased (dub)
Here’s an example of a nice TL for an old d+b promo mix.
Pro Tip: In iTunes, use “Right click > get info > lyrics tab” then write out your tracklist and it will show up with the cover art all fancy like. You can get even more advanced with tracklists in mp4′s.
Embedding Album Art
It surprises me how few people embed photos in their mixes. Visual impact is an important part of branding and when a mix comes up on your screen or iPod it has an infinitely larger impact then absolutely nothing at all. I like to do pictures with my tracks (pictures of artists you are remixing work well) but would never post a mix without some kind of cover art. Even just your logo is better than nothing.
- Download some of your own tracks from your Soundcloud, blogs etc. and see how well presented they are.
- Use at very least, a (high quality, square) photo for artwork, or better yet, commission some cover art
Stories.
If you are a Victoria or Vancouver resident I assume you know about Habit coffee shops. With two bustling, trendy locations they have positioned themselves as a hip urban place to enjoy a hot beverage and some company.
While standing in line, you will see recycled-paper postcards that tell you part of the story of their business.
“Habit was founded on the idea that coffee can be better – not just in terms of a drinkable product, but in terms of every step that coffee takes – from seed to cup. Before building a location, or making a menu, we worked to find partners that share our vision of ethical, responsible, and community-based business practices and a focus on quality in every detail.. ..We believe that coffee isn’t simply about getting a buzz, or enjoying a flavor, we believe it’s about a culture of optimism, exploration, and communication, and we hope you enjoy the fruit of our collective effort. Thank you.”
After reading that – do you feel more compelled to support their business?
Part of a larger campaign, the card subtly conveys many things, from mastery of their craft to their status as a social hub. Here is more on the intended outcome of the work of their design/marketing team Cargo:
“In advance of opening its first location, Habit Coffee approached (Cargo) to help develop a comprehensive visual identity. To reflect the community-oriented, craft-focused approach to their business (the cafés employ entirely manual equipment, brewing exclusively artisan roasted beans), graphics, typography, and materials were kept deliberately low-fi. To attract a diverse, forward thinking crowd, typography and imagery varies greatly, but each element is infused with a tongue-in-cheek playfulness, and a whimsical reverence for coffee’s connection to contemporary culture.”
As an artist, you tell your story to your audience. You could also think of it as a “picture you paint” for people to view. Where you are from, where you are going, your character and values, your passions, and so much more – are all part of a message that you broadcast to the world. The question is – are you doing it strategically?
The advertising work done for top level celebrities and musicians does not happen by chance. Virtually all the information received by the public is selectively chosen, filtered and amplified to make it as enticing as possible. Take a look through bios, websites, and interviews of high performing producers and performers. Identify the key elements that you connect with personally. What is it in those stories that draws you in? What makes you feel like “Yeah – this guy is like me“?
Take a few moments and consider the story you are telling your audience. Is it unique? Does it draw people in?
(Tip: Getting objective feedback (not from friends or supporters) on your brand can give you valuable insights.)
How can you encourage people to want to be a part of your story?
