music success in nine weeks: aaaaaarrrrggh.

Working my way through week 2: creating the perfect pitch. This *should* be simple. I pioneered our band. I carry its vision in my DNA. I work insane hours for it, and I should be able to create this pitch. Quickly.

Not so much. At this point I will settle for a good pitch. Or an OK pitch. *Any* pitch. Because I have been struggling with this for a week and I (insert favorite expletive) cannot seem to do this. *epic fail*

I have the steps down. We sound like Sarah McLachlan, Sara Groves, Jars of Clay, a touch of KT Tunstall. We’re influenced – heavily – by U2, Coldplay, again Sarah McLachlan and KT Tunstall. We play acoustic rock, and sometimes just plain rock. Feelings and vibes we want to create and convey through our music: Intimacy. Call to action. Community. Passion.

So why can’t I write this pitch? Help?

music success in nine weeks: setting goals

It’s amazing and sad at the same time, how easy it is to get caught up in the day-to-day work for your music career, and either not write down goals, or not pay attention to them once you write them down. I guess that’s what you get for being a (largely) one-woman operation: the tyranny of the urgent raises its ugly head and I all too willingly give in.

So. Goal-setting. One of the reasons I jumped on this blogging project is that it will force me to focus on certain things, and this is a biggie.

First, eleven music goals for the next 12 months:

1. write a music marketing plan for 2010 and use it as a guideline for daily, weekly, and monthly tasks
2. redesign/program the blog- and news-sections for our website so they are easier to access and use – post at least 10 news items per month, and 4 blog entries per month
3. add 500 people to our email list
4. sell 1000 copies of our new CD, More Than This; sell 500 copies of our self-titled CD, Offering; sell 500 copies of our Christmas CD, Comfort and Joy; and sell 300 copies of our original music CD, No Shoes Required
5. sell an average of 300 downloads per month for all projects combined
6. add 40 quality Facebook friends to our Facebook page each month
7. create at least 6 videos this year to be placed on YouTube, Facebook, and other social networking sites
8. create a new website for Arts in the Alley (one of Offering’s big projects)
9. develop a podcast concept and produce at least one podcast per month, starting in March
10. pursue PR – get played on internet radio stations (25/month), featured in blogs (2/month), local radio coverage (4/year), local TV coverage (4/year), local print coverage 4/year)
11. Actively pursue Twitter and Flickr – increase Twitter followers from 1100 to 2500 this year, and tweet at least 3 times/day. Research Flickr and start using it more (need to flesh that one out more).

Why eleven? Totally random . I started with six (like the book suggests), then went to ten, and realized I had to have Twitter and Flickr in there.

Phew. Time to get to work.

music success in nine weeks: small victories

OK. Here we go. I am really excited about working through Music Success in Nine Weeks because I have owned the book for almost two years. And I have read it. Sort of. I have even done some of the exercises. But I have not systematically worked my way through the program. So I have missed little gems like this first one:

Write five small victories/successes down every day. That’s right. Every day. Ariel tells me (well, page 12 of her  book tells me, but you get the idea) that you should write down five positive things you do every single day. The cool thing: they don’t all have to be music-related. Which makes a lot of sense.

Five positive things I accomplished yesterday:

1. played a show at Cafe Caturra (a locally owned coffeeshop)
2. sent an email to the band starting the booking process for February/March (who is available when)
3. listened to 8 new mixes for our upcoming CD and approved 6 of them
4. cleaned out our linen closet
5. applied for ISRC codes for new CD

The list for today (so far):

1. started the Music Success in Nine Weeks blog
2. confirmed the date for a mini-band-road-trip to West Virginia the last weekend in February
3. assigned ISRC codes to all songs for our new CD
4. approved two additional mixes for the new CD
5. created a blogging assignment for my students at Thomas Dale High School tomorrow

More later.

music success in nine weeks

For the past few years I have been reading an amazing blog by Ariel Hyatt, who heads up an amazing company called CyberPR. She has put a challenge out for musicians to work their way through her book “Music Success in Nine Weeks” and blog about it for the coming ten weeks. I love the book, and I have read almost all of it, but it is one of those books you should read and then immediately put into practice – so I am joining the challenge! Stay tuned for at least weekly updates, but hopefully more frequently!