Cutting Edge Voices News

Daylle Deanna Schwartz e-mail Newsletter Issue # 31

I hope that you're enjoying the warm weather I must apologize for the long delay in sending this out. It has been rewarding to hear from so many of you, asking if you're still on my list. Nice to be missed! : )

You may have heard about the 20 story crane falling in NYC, flattening one building, shearing off parts of others, and killing 8 people. While I wasn't directly affected by it, the crash happened right outside my window. The clean-up effort went on for weeks, 24/7. Loud noise and helicopters flying around it were reminiscent of 9/11. I lost over weeks of work time trying to mentally recover and sleep with all the noise. Better now!

For the last bunch of months I've been buried in writing 2 books simultaneously. I just finished the third edition of Start & Run Your own Record Label (out in 2009). It's been a grueling labor of love. I did dozens of new interviews with indie labels and also many people who are in the forefront of the digital revolution, such as Scott Lapatine, founder of the popular blog, Stereogum. I'll include portions of some of the interviews in the next issues.

HELP! If you've read my Start & Run Your Own Record label book and found it helpful, I need quotes for the inside cover of the new one. If you have a sentence or 2 to say about the book, I'd appreciate it. Include your full name and the name of your company too if you'd like. Thanks!

I began an Embracing SUCCESS series weeks ago on my blog, Lessons from a Recovering DoorMat http://www.lessonsfromarecoveringdoormat.com/. On Wednesdays, I have an interview with someone who became successful by following their passion. While it's not all music industry related, I have interviews with some fabulous industry people that you might enjoy.

* Tim Westergren, founder of Pandora, my favorite online radio. His story is so motivating. I'll have more of his interview, with specific tips for musicians, in the next issue.

* gossip blogger, Perez Hilton. He's been breaking a lot of music on his blog, and is negotiating his own record label under Warner Brothers. He was so much fun and his passion for music was gratifying. Check my blog late in the day to read it.

And, I have Ingrid Michaelson the following week. Ingrid posted some songs on MySpace. They were found by music supervisors for Grey's Anatomy, who used several for the show. Then someone from Old Navy heard her song, Take Me the Way I Am and licensed it for one of their commercials. She's sold over 200,000 albums from all that exposure!

Feel free to contact me about my fees if you need CONSULTING on how to make progress in your music career or need a shot of motivation by using my CAREER COACHING. I do it in person and by phone. Email me at consulting@daylle.com for more info.

Please forward this e-zine to your mailing list or anyone you'd like. If this was forwarded to you and you'd like to subscribe, send me an email that says "subscribe" in the subject header with your name and city/state. If you'd like to post it on your site, please ask for permission and I'll give it. Read past issues at <http://www.daylle/monthly.html>. If you prefer to be taken off my list, please say unsubscribe in the subject header of an email.

My other e-zine, Self-Empowerment Quarterly, for the body, mind and spirit is also free. This WON'T come to you automatically. If you don't receive it and would like to subscribe, please send an email to subempowernews@daylle.com with you name, city/state. Read back issues at <http://www.daylle.com/daylle/newsletter-growth.html>.

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This issue has interviews with Panos Panay, founder of Sonic Bids (a fabulous site for expanding your touring), and Jed Carlson, co-founder and Chief Marketing Officer of ReverbNation (a supportive website with tons of FREE, useful tools for marketing yourself on the Internet). I must admit, both Panos and Jed brought me to happy tears with their passionate desire to support musicians. There's also an article about DMX, a company that licenses a ton of music for stores, restaurants and more, written by Christopher S. Harrison, vice president of Business Development. The rest is written by me. Please feel free to write with suggestions and questions that I can include in future issues.

1. Developing Bigger Cojones
2. Interview with Panos Panay (Sonic Bids)
3. Daylle's Stuff
4. Licensing Opportunities With DMX
5. Interview with Jed Carlson, ReverbNation
6. Minding Your Music Biz: Tips for Touring
7. Ask Daylle

1. DEVELOPING BIGGER COJONES: Often when I ask musicians why they haven't put together a tour yet or pushed to get their music out, or why they turned down a last minute opportunity, the response is, "I'm scared." It's okay to be scared. But getting past your fears by getting up the nerve to ask for what you want, or say yes to opportunities, works better if you want to get further than you are.

You MUST take risks if you want to be happier. You MUST take risks if you want to be really successful. You MUST take risks if you want to live to the fullest extent of life. You MUST take risks if you want to build confidence in yourself. And you MUST take risks if you want to have the career you say you want.

Saying and doing are two very different things. People say what they want, and what they hope for, and what they dream of. That's the easy part! "I want a national tour" but he never plays out of his hometown. "I want to license my music" but she never sends it to anyone. Actually becoming pro-active about making it happen takes BALLS! Guts! Brazenness! Cojones! People say I'm lucky to have done so much and had so much success. Hello! You make your own luck by not running from opportunities and taking risks. My rule in the last many years is if a good opportunity is offered, say YES and then figure out how to make it work. Even if it scares you a lot. Do you think I wasn't terrified to go on the Howard Stern show? But I did it, and it helped sell a lot of books. You must say YES to any opportunity that's offered that can help your careers, no matter how scared you are or how many excuses you come up with. Then do what's necessary to work out the logistics. If someone offers you the opportunity to open for a large name act at the last minute, there's only one answer. It doesn't matter if you haven't rehearsed in a while or your guitar player is sick or you're flat out scared. Say YES! Then hustle to make it work. I advocate developing a bigger set of BALLS in order to say YES to taking more risks. That means developing a personal level of courage. Here are some things that might help you:

* Become more spontaneous. Accept more things on a spur of the moment basis and occasionally make plans at the last minute. Often being a bit too rigid keeps us in the habit of turning down everything if there isn't lots of time to plan for it. Take a deep breath and just do it! Initiate something you've never done before. Call a venue you've never tried to get booked in. Do things fast, without time to second-guess.

* Squash the excuses. It's easy to find reasons for not saying YES. List your excuses for avoiding what you're afraid of failing at. Put an X next to any you can catch yourself and don't use it-each time. Applaud yourself each time. When you have 10 X's by an excuse, cross it out and give yourself a thumb's up!

* Ask yourself what you're really scared of and what's the worst that can happen. What specifically scares you? Looking silly? Most people don't notice the things that make you feel silly. Asking for a higher percentage of the door from a venue? The promoter saying "no" won't kill you. Performing in front of a larger than usual group? The worst that could happen is you get a note wrong or go a little off key. Laugh and the moment will pass.

* Practice acting confident. You don't have to be confident to act it. Take deep breaths, put on a smile, and assure yourself that you'll be okay. Hold your head high, speak slowly, and think self-assured. That helps create confidence.

* Become pro-active in situations where you lack confidence. Try something new, even if it doesn't work, instead of complaining, indulging in self-pity, or convincing yourself you can't. No matter what their facade, intimidating people are human. No one is better than you are, unless you make them so. And most situations can be conquered!

* Talk to yourself in the mirror. Tell yourself you can do it and that you plan to do what's necessary to achieve your goals. Over and over. And over until it starts to sink in.

* Applaud ever effort you make, even if you don't get the results you hoped for. There is still success in having tried. You made the call, even if you were turned down. You sent the music files, even if they weren't chosen. So be proud of every baby step you take and each little fear you conquer, even for the moment. It does get easier.

* Tap into your spiritual support. You have support getting the gig or any other opportunity and you'll have support on the other end too-when opportunities materialize. When you get nervous or have self-defeating thoughts, keep saying "thank you" for what you want, even if you haven't received yet. If you're saying thanks, you can't think the negatives at the same time. Let the Law of Attraction manifest the positives!

Ask yourself, "Would I prefer to feel safe or be happy?" Safe isn't happy. I was very safe before I got my career going. Miserably safe. I thought security was more important than happiness. But happiness and getting your career going feels great, while striving for safety by avoiding risks is just passing time. Plus, avoiding risks doesn't really create security. It just keeps you stuck. If I hadn't said YES to the dare from my students who said a white woman couldn't rap, I'd still be a bored, unhappy teacher. CHOOSE to take more risks and see what happens. You can make your own miracles when you begin to say YES to things that scare you. That to me is also saying YES to life!

(http://www.sonicbids.com) logo everywhere. It's on many music industry websites and listed as a sponsor for many events. I knew they provide members with a special format to create a press kit, since I get links to many. I also knew that many festivals, showcases, and other venues use the Sonic Bids submission services for people to apply to participate. But now I know that Sonic Bids is an absolutely fabulous, effective resource for anyone who wants to do live performances, license music and more. And, I'm in awe of how its founder, Panos Panay, had a blessed vision to help musicians get their music out to the world that he pushed to fruition. I interviewed him to find out more about it.

What is Sonic Bids?
"Sonic Bids is the matchmaking site for bands and people who book or license music. We make it possible and easy for these parties to find out about and connect with each other. And hopefully do business."

What was your original goal?
"To build a destination site where any band in the world and anybody who is looking to book or license music can go and find out about each other, and be a meeting point. And not a site where I say you're good enough to join or someone else says you're good enough to be a part of. Ultimately it's a place where market demands determines who plays and who gets selected. I don't want the industry to be about who you know. I want people to have equal access and equal opportunity."

How can an artist make the most of joining?
"For me, the first thing is, have a goal. You can't just go into Sonic Bids and willy-nilly submit to hundreds of listings that we have. You'll spend a whole lot of money and end up being very disappointed if there was no strategy behind what you went after. And you'll be rejected. Have a plan. Do you want to do things that are in close proximity to you? Do you want to expand your reach beyond coffee houses and clubs and diversity to play other [kinds of venues]? Are you interested in licensing your music? Be willing to deal with the fact that rejection is part of life. Make sure that after you submit to people through Sonic Bids that you follow up with them. Don't rely on a mouse to do the job for you after you submit your electronic press kit to them. Too many people submit to a listing and don't follow up by any other means."

What else should artists be aware of?
"It's critical to keep your electronic press kit current. Most artists don't realize that things like-where they're playing, press reviews, update their biography-are as critical as their music when it comes to how they present themselves. Invest some time in the way it looks and in the pictures you put up. All these things make a difference."

How can someone create the best chance to book gigs, if they have the talent?
"Go to the venue's website. Find some information about it. See who they've booked before. Make educated decisions instead of making knee-jerk reactions to something that seems cool. Or thinking that if you submit to 100 of these your chances of being selected are a hundred times more."

Why do promoters list on sonic bids?
"We make it very simple for them. Instead of getting 300 Myspace links or different websites, we make it easy for artists to submit them in a standardized, organized format. And it's very easy for them to manage all these applications online, as well as share the applications they get with different members of their team. They get an account and all submissions go to what's like an email inbox. We have an awesome community of bands. They're active. The average band on Sonic Bids does 28 shows a year all over the world."

How do you feel about how far Sonic Bids has come?
"I love it! I've always had a grand vision about Sonic Bids and still do. I don't feel we're anywhere close to fulfilling this vision of this big open marketplace where any band can find out about any listing, ranging from a coffee shop to obscure things to wineries and licensing opportunities. My mission in life with Sonic bids is to empower a middle class of artists to make a living out of what they do best. We have about 130,000 bands from about 100 different countries. This year we had over 60,000 gigs take place through the site. When you look at the power of the internet and what it can do to bring people together, we want to double and triple that."

Panos Panay continues to look for ways to improve Sonic Bids. The membership rate is low, so it is worth joining if you're an artist/musician who wants to do more gigs. You can get a taste for free, to see what it's like. <http://www.sonicbids.com>

3. DAYLLE'S STUFF: From now on, I'll only speak when someone puts an event together and brings me in for it. If you want more info about booking me to speak, please email me at booking@daylle.com. I'll keep you posted on my speaking gigs that are open to the public. I do music industry and self-empowerment workshops.

GIRLS CAN DO - my first rap record. It was endorsed by N.O.W. and put me on the map as the Rappin' Teach. I wrote the lyrics and music.

SENSUAL POWER - The artist was called Heart On but I confess, it's me! It got great reviews, charted in Japan and was spun at clubs around the world by some of the top DJs. I was compared to Donna Summer and Samantha Fox and actually got offered an artist deal from BMG in London but my lawyer at the time dropped the ball on it.

My latest book, I Don't Need a Record Deal! Your Survival Guide for the Indie Music Revolution, continues to do really well! The focus is on making money from musical talent. It guides you to creating as many income streams as possible and has specifics on how to pursue the variety of opportunities. It's the only book I know of with so many specifics on how to tour and license music in international markets. People are surprised to find chapters on taking care of your physical and mental health too. But part of surviving and thriving includes taking good care of YOU.

return) in check or money order (made out to Daylle Schwartz) with your name, address, and email address. My other books, The Real Deal: How to Get Signed to a Record Label and Start & Run Your Own Record Label are also available from me at the same price. Please specify if you want it autographed. Send it to:

       Daylle Schwartz
       PO Box 6802, FDR Station
       New York, NY 10150

4. LICENSING OPPORTUNITIES WITH DMX Rather than me paraphrasing, I asked Christopher S. Harrison, vice president of Business Development for DMX to explain to you the great licensing opportunities they offer.

For over 35 years, DMX' core business has been providing music, video, audio messaging, and environmental scent services to some of the most identifiable international brands. Recognized as a leading designer of brand experiences for commercial environments, DMX uses sight, sound, and scent - backed by science and knowledge - as building blocks to create brand texture through an integrated, multi-sensory environment that connects businesses with customers. A sample list of our clients can be found on our website at <http://www.dmx.com/about/our-clients>. DMX also provides music programming services for satellite and cable television networks in the U.S. and Latin America, currently reaching 6 million digital households.

Responding to the needs of its business customers, DMX recently launched a new suite of direct-to-consumer products that enable it to deliver music content to consumers' personal computers and mobile devices. DMX is now the only business media provider capable of delivering branded music content to commercial environments, private residences and directly to consumers' cell phones via over-the-air downloads, personal computers via streams or digital music downloads, and via pre-loaded portable media devices. By enabling cross-platform consistency, DMX' commercial customers can effectively integrate their branded sound into their consumers' lives, delivering a uniform and branded experience wherever and whenever consumers want it.

Finally, DMX will launch its own D2C digital music service known as Sonic Tap this summer. Sonic Tap <http://www.sonictap.com/> is a unique music discovery service that relies on DMX' professional music designers to guide the discovery process through expertly crafted playlists. Sonic Tap will deliver thousands of playlists organized by genre, style and theme. Rather than relying on complex but unreliable computer algorithms to recommend music, each playlist is crafted by one of DMX' professional music designers to blend together the right music experience for any occasion. Because computers are good at a lot of things, but recommending music isn't one of them.

With the decline in physical CDs sales and the concomitant decrease in retail shelf space, finding alternative ways to distribute content is paramount to any artist or record label. Because DMX sits in between businesses that need content to differentiate and distinguish their brands and artists and record labels who want to expose their content to as wide an audience as possible, DMX offers compelling opportunities to both artists and labels. For established artists represented by record labels, DMX is able to help promote artists through brand associations, such as the recent promotions involving All American Rejects and American Eagle Outfitters and The Pussycat Dolls and Mandee. Record labels that do not currently have a relationship with DMX and wish to have their music exposed to the millions of consumers who enjoy DMX' music through thousands of commercial establishments should email DMX' licensing department at legal@dmx.com.

For unsigned artists, DMX provides a unique platform to be heard. Currently DMX has unsigned artists playing in thousands of businesses across a variety of genres, from country to dance to hip hop and beyond. Importantly, DMX pays unsigned artists just like represented artists whenever their music is played. Unrepresented artists who want the opportunity to be part of DMX'

commercial and direct-to-consumer services should visit DMX' unsigned artist service Get U Played at <http://www.getuplayed.com/> .

ReverbNation: My friend, Jeff Price, founder of Tunecore <http://www.tunecore.com>, told me that Reverbnation has a widget on steroids. So I had to find out what they offer. It's a lot, from a group of caring people who want to do their best for musicians! Read on:

What is ReverbNation?
"ReverbNation is your 'home base' for marketing and promoting your roster of Artists across the entire digital realm, including social networks like MySpace and Facebook, as well as email, IM, blogs, etc.

It starts with a Profile page that is tailored specifically for Labels. It has a 'Roster' section that provides links and song samples of all of your Artists, as well as a 'New Releases' section to highlight the latest stuff. From your Label Profile you can create and manage all of your Artist Profile pages with a single login. We create free widgets that you, your Artists, and their fans can virally spread across the net to other friends and fans. We even provide a free email service so that you can send customized, targeted emails to the fans of your Label or each individual Artist. Finally, we track everything for you, including where the music is being played, spread, and shared, so that you can understand how each Artist is growing in popularity."

Why did you start it?
"We started the company because nobody else was making Artists and Labels their top priority and giving them the free tools they needed to easily develop a comprehensive attack plan for the internet. Our approach is to provide tools that let you take the Music to the people, wherever they spend their digital time, rather than driving people to the music. Our operating philosophy around the office is called "Artist First". This means that we do not develop any solutions that do not first help the Artist."

How do your tools help?
"We have tools to promote the label as well as each Artist. We make it easy to employ a digital strategy for all of your Artists from one hub, without having to login to multiple accounts to do it. With our tools, a Label can easily place music players, show schedules (with interactive tour maps), 'join the mailing list' widgets, etc onto all of the Artist's web presences. Once placed, all the Label or Artist needs to do is update the ReverbNation profiles with new info (like a new song or a new show date) and it automatically updates all of their sites in real-time. It's a life saver for Artists and Labels who need to save time so they can focus on making the music."

What is a widget?
"A widget is simply a 'box' of information that is pulled from one website and placed into another. A YouTube video is a great example of a widget. Its a video that can be embedded onto another web page for people to see. ReverbNation provides a variety of music-specific widgets that Artists or fans can grab and place onto other sites. We have widgets that are music players which can be customized in terms of color, size, and whether or not you want the music to play when the page loads, or play when the play button is pressed. They can live on other web pages, blogs, etc. We have other widgets that are the Artist's show schedule or the 'fan collector' that let's people join the mailing list. Our most popular widget is called the Tunewidget, and has almost all of an Artist's info contained in one small box, including songs, videos, blog, show schedule, fan collector, and photos. This widget is different from most and can be used as an electronic press kit for Artists, as well as a replacement for their MySpace player. We have many Artists using it as a replacement for their MySpace player, including 50Cent. The benefit of using a ReverbNation widget is that is can be shared by fans, which creates a viral way for other people to generate exposure for the Artist onto other web pages. We track all of our widgets for Artists so that they know where their content is spreading and who is spreading it. It's a great way to learn who your best fans are."

How are you sharing revenues with artists?
"Fair Share is our revenue sharing program with Artists. We share 50% of all our advertising revenue with Artists. Artists simply opt-in to the program (its free) and start collecting money based on how much site activity they generate each month. We introduced this program in May of 2007, long before other sites began tinkering with the idea of sharing their ad revenue. The big difference is that we never attempted to 'negotiate' for lower rates with the Artists. Because of our 'Artist First' philosophy, we have always looked at Artists and Labels as our business partners. We never even considered giving them less than 50%. Sites like last.fm and others are now beginning to share about 5%-10% of their revenue. In our mind, this is not a proper amount of compensation for the value that their content creates for a site like ours."

What can we look forward to from ReverbNation?
"We are working hard to build new revenue opportunities for Artists by connecting them more directly with Brands. As selling music becomes more challenging, Artists are going to need new ways to earn money online. It is our belief that the core asset any Artist possesses is the relationship they have with their fan base. In the future, they will use the influence they have to make money by carrying other people's messages to their fan base. It is our belief that creating an environment where ALL Artists can receive Brand sponsorship will help them earn money from that influence that they have. We are building that environment right now. The key is to give Artists many options to choose from in selecting a 'sponsor'. We are going to deliver that for them."

Get to know ReverbNation <http://www.reverbnation.com/> and what it offers. If you're not sure where to begin, try to find someone to guide you into it. But it'd worth making the effort to explore and learn!

6. MINDING YOUR MUSIC BIZ Booking a tour can be tough. A whole country or region full of venue opportunities to approach. Where to begin? If you're doing a tour that covers a lot of ground, focus on booking what's referred to as anchor gigs. Those are key venues in cities you know you want to play in, possibly on the weekend. Once you see where and when you're playing these gigs, work to find others in that vicinity or on route from one to the other. Plan how to book them and research venues to find ones that are appropriate for your music instead of making it a crapshoot.

How do you find them? Join Sonic Bids. Use the Musicians Atlas <http://www.musiciansatlas.com>. And now there's a new kid on the block for finding venues-the Indie Venue Bible < https://nt4.magma.ca/bigmeteor/ivbds_order.cfm>, a live music venue directory published by David Wimble, who publishes The Indie Bible. It features 26,000 venues and 2000 booking agents in the US and Canada. There are listings of venues of all sizes including clubs, restaurants, lounges, coffee shops, festivals, theaters, halls, churches, book stores, community centers, house concerts, jams and open mics. There are also over 1000 colleges listed for any artist that wants to plan a college tour. There are 6 US directories (NE, SE, N. Central, S. Central, SW and NW) and one for Canada. You get a discount if you buy several. The directories are coded with easy to use colors to identify genre.

7. ASK DAYLLE: Everyone tells me I must tour, but it's hard since I have a day job. I try to get out and play. But my job gets in the way. Can I get my career going without going on the road?

It's possible, but much harder. I mean MUCH harder. Yes, you can work the Internet in your free time and maybe create a buzz and some sales, or get songs licensed. I interviewed Ingrid Michaelson when she was on her first real tour, after selling over 200,000 albums. But, she's a very big exception to the rule. If you like long shots, stay home and do what you can. Or do your music as a hobby and accept that you probably won't get further than a local tour and some friends on MySpace.

Everyone has to pay their bills. Some artists find jobs that are flexible, and work around their touring. It often boils down to asking yourself how much you want a career in music and how much you believe in your craft. The music industry doesn't make special concessions for people with day jobs. YOU must make the concessions. Try to create income streams from music licensing or giving lessons or singing at weddings on the weekend. Then slowly let go of your job. Or continue to be a victim of it.

Musicians tell me how happy they are to be compared to successful artists. "Someone said I sound just like Cheryl Crow." Or "He swore Tim McGraw was singing when he heard my CD." That sounds nice on some levels. But, how can you stand on your own?

Bernadette Peters said, "You gotta be original, because if you're like someone else, what do they need you for?" It's so true. I once had a client who had an older rock sound. I asked him how he could make it current. He smugly told me about how many people like his music. I probed, asking who might his CD, beyond his limited circle of fans. He replied that there was a big market for it since everyone said he sounded just like Tom Petty, and look how popular he is.

I burst his bubble by explaining that if people want to hear music that sounds like Tom Petty, they're much more likely to buy a Tom Petty album.

Hello! Why would people buy a Joe Never-heard-of-him album over the original artist? If you want to succeed, bring something new to the table. Sound like YOU. That doesn't mean it's wrong to remind people of other artists. But, you need something that's unique to you also. That's what will attract fans. The greatest music comes from within your soul, not an imitation of someone else's. You must be authentic to have the best shot.