We talk about Twitter a lot in relation to artists and promoting music. That’s because Twitter is still the top resource for getting awareness for your music next to Facebook and Youtube.

We’ve had great results for our artists who are using Twitter effectively, increased sales, followers who share the artists music with their friends and their followers, artists getting hired to perform on other artists albums around the world, and more fans, web traffic and general awareness about the artists’ music.

But as we’ve been observing artists Tweeting habits, we’ve seen that like many Twitter users, many of you are just literally tweeting ‘what your doing’ at the moment, or doing blatant self advertising…

However this is not an effective way to really use Twitter. It’s not enough to make your tweets cut through the noise of the heavily updating marketers, and millions of other Twitter users out there…

Instead of “get my new music here” “I ate something I shouldn’t have”, or “sick of work, this job sucks”. or “when is it going to get hotter?”, Try things like, “I just came up with a new melody for a folk pop tune”, or “just tried out a new guitar I’m thinking of getting” or, “rehearsing for my next show where I’ll be playing some new songs about….” or even, “what do you think a fair consequence would be for this oil spill?”

Be interesting! You all lead interesting lives and do highly intriguing things every day! Tweet about them! People want to know these things, your a creative, talented musician for God’s sake! Why are you tweeting the same stuff as everyone else? Your better than that!!

AND, very importantly, if you don’t know what to tweet that is interesting, you should be RETWEETING interesting tweets (look for them amongst your followers), and REPLYING to people’s tweets that you have any kind of response for. This creates reciprocal communication and connection with other people that if replied to, can get you exposure to hundreds if not thousands of followers! Our artists have had thousands of visitors to their website in one day by using this technique.
This may be even more important that tweeting what you are up to! It is very important and easy to do.

Lastly, write the same way you would talk to a stranger in person.
Would you walk up to someone and say “hi stranger, go buy my CD here”? NO! So don’t do it online, be a human being when you write anything online.
Using these techniques you can make the most of the time spent on exposing yourself to new fans. And doing it with a free power Twitter tool like Hootsuite can really make life easier, and allows you to manage large follower lists more easily and effectively.

And if you are having trouble getting time to fit Twitter into your schedule, contact us about setting up tweeting via text messaging from your phone so that it updates all your social networking profiles and your website, and how this can be a very powerful tool for your music promotion!

What progress have you made with Twitter using these techniques or others?

“You can’t make it in the old system anymore.

This ain’t about theft, this ain’t about copyright infringement, this is about opportunity.
For a new golden era. Where the artist sits at the top of the pyramid.

Are you ready to climb up and take control?

Then make great music.
Respect your audience.
Give people the tools to spread the word, never rip them off.
Know that growth will be slow. But that the edifice you’re building is solid, that it will pay dividends like the old record company pension plan, but now the beneficiary will be YOU, not the fat cats.

Believe in yourself. But don’t be delusional.

Is your record… lightning in a bottle?

If not, keep your day job.

Forever. ”
- Bob Lefsetz, 2008

Blind faith is the belief in yourself and your music. The belief that it is good and it has value. As strange as it sounds, many musicians and artists lose it especially when their promotional efforts don’t yield the results they want, the media doesn’t respond favorably to their music and/or they don’t sell the amount of CDs or downloads they wanted. Regardless of what people say, whether they are in the media, the industry or they are music fans, you have to believe in your music and yourself. Too many times as artists we give more value to the negative responses than the positive ones. Ten people can say how much they love your music but if you get one negative email, you let it bother you more than enjoying what the ten other people said.

To find the blind faith that was once there, stop doing some of the following (I’m sure you can think of more!):

Stop comparing yourself to other artists! If someone doesn’t like one of the artists you compared yourself to, they won’t even listen to your songs!

Stop using genres to limit your audience. I recently spoke at a conference where an artist introduced himself and told me what kind of music he played. I told him I didn’t like that kind to see how he would react. He was stuck. He didn’t know what to do next. I told him music fans can react the same way. Tell them what’s in your songs and make sure not to use any clichés about the performances in the recording.

Stop telling people that your new songs are better than the old ones. Every artist, songwriter and musician evolves and grows. Their songs are different as time goes by. What would Beatles fans think if the band said, “Our old songs sucked. The new ones are much better. I hope you didn’t buy any of the old records.”

Stop limiting what you are capable of! You can accomplish more than you think.

The point is, you have to find the blind faith you once had and use it! The faith that made you write songs, record them and then go out and sell them. The faith in yourself that made you get up and play in front of family, friends, everyone you knew and complete strangers. It’s time to get rid of the excuses and limitations and once again realize the value you and your music have right now. Believe in what you have created and push us to listen to it and become fans!

Here we are in January, the start of a new year where every artist has great hope for new fans, better shows and a lot more sales to go along with achieving their biggest dreams and goals. Sadly, most artists’ careers will go backwards this year because they won’t change the ways they promote themselves or their music. With that in mind, let me give you an interesting thought to consider.

Sometimes a step back into classic promotion or using an “old school” method can yield you greater results in the short and long term.

For example, instead of just emailing and texting your friends and fans about your next show, call them! Calling and talking to them is more likely to get them to come and hang out with you. It certainly is a better way to explain the “benefits” of coming to your next show.

The time you spend on the phone could make a big difference besides just emailing and texting.

- By Tim Sweeney
www.TimSweeney.com

Tim Sweeney, one of the music industry’s most sought after experts and consultants, offers this advice….

A few weeks ago a new artist called me and asked how he can get more people to a new venue he wanted to play. The booker told him as the opener he had to bring 25 people. Not an overwhelming number by any stretch. The only problem was he was averaging 5-10 people per show.

I asked him what he had done to promote his previous shows. He sent me copies of his emails or should I say, “show announcements.” He discovered about 2 percent of his mailing list responded to his emails and he wasn’t sure if anyone was ever coming to a show. With that in mind, I told him let’s start with a basic idea, go through your mailing list and make a list of fans you feel you can count on to really support you. He came back with a list of 57 people who lived in the area of the new venue. I told him to start calling each one. For the people he didn’t have phone numbers for, simply email them a note asking them to call him, nothing else.

We talked in great length about what his conversations should be about and also we wrote a new email to go out to the rest of the list. While he first complained about the amount of time it would take to call everyone, I reminded him of the joy of playing to an empty venue.

To make a long story short, 39 people came because of the phone calls and another 16 came from the new email. Then as life goes, he learned some other important lessons that night at the show.

As the “opener” he brought 55. The person who played after him brought 10 and the “headliner” brought 4. Not only did the booker get mad at the other artists, he gave their money to my guy and told him he would pay him double if he played there next month as the headliner! The other artists asked him how he got so many people to come. They said they had sent out emails like they always did and didn’t know why people didn’t come.

The comical ending to the story is that the artist sold 21 CDs to the people including fans of the other artists and even one to the writer from the newspaper who always ignored him. The writer told him he was there to review the headliner but came early because he really liked my guy’s email about the show. Good thing he called all those people and connected with them more personally then an email!

The moral of the story? Most likely you got someone’s email address from talking to them in person. You had a connection with them for them to give it to you. Pick up the phone whenever possible and continue the relationship. You call the bookers to get a show, the press for a story, industry people to see if they reviewed your music, call your fans!

- Tim Sweeney (www.TimSweeney.com)

THANKS TO ALL THE ARTISTS WHO ENTERED OUR CONTEST – WE WILL NO LONGER BE CONSIDERING CONTEST SUBMISSIONS. BEST OF LUCK TO THE 2 LUCKY MUSICIANS. WE WILL BE POSTING OUR DECISION DECEMBER 1ST!

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Receive 6 months of professional management and promotion to take your career to the next level!
Services and support selected artists will receive include:

• professional phone consultation and education with CEO of Pro Soul Alliance on the artists development *and career
• a professional blog based website they can edit and update, complete with hosting by Rackspace, one of the best in the world, with artistsname.com
• Professional bio and press copy writing, blog development and updating
• Search engine optimization for effective search ranking
• Graphic design, photography and image assistance for promo materials
• Social networking configuration and integration, connecting with fans (ReverbNation, Facebook, MySpace, Blip.fm, Twitter, Youtube, Ourstage etc)
• Offline & online marketing assistance, radio airplay, follow up, and tracking
• Product development, design, CD production and digital distribution through major online retailers worldwide including ringtones and mobile phone
• Licensing and song placement; electronic licensing options online
• Scheduling of show dates for live performances
• Video Production; Youtube promo viral marketing videos

To narrow down the 2 winners, Pro Soul Alliance will be choosing the artist that is the most marketable, and has already shown commitment, and dedication to their career.

Contest ends October 30th. Details, entry information and music submission can be accessed here: http://www.prosoul.com/contest

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Building a successful career in music on your own terms and with your own two hands is a difficult task – the business side and the art of self promotion, may rain on the “rockstar” parade.

Your reaction may be – is it all worth it?

Another successful example of the wonders of social media and the marketing genius behind a talented DIY (Do It Yourself) artist, describes Imogen Heap as she tweeted us through the 2 years leading up to the release of Ellipse. Yes, she has a major record label, and when she began promoting Ellipse she already had a committed fan base – a host of films and TV shows featuring her music.  But with Ellipse Heap has expanded her reach exponentially thanks to her determination.  She refinanced her house to fund recording, and with over 1 million twitter followers, she communicates constantly with her fans. ” I’ve been tweeting about making my new album, Ellipse (out 24th Aug). Now… I guess I’ll be tweeting about how it gets from my studio to your ears.”

Using Twitter to allow her fans a glimpse into the world of a “rockstar” with a few lines of text en route to a Berlin airport, or while preparing for a video shoot -  responding fans RT or reply, just as friends would, and as the relationship grows – so grows the fan base and eventually trickle through revenue.

So, is it all worth it – considering the artist/fan relationship is the “expected” in today’s music marketplace and that relationship also takes a lot of time and energy to maintain – and with every successful relationship, takes time to nurture?  Being ‘all about the music’  is being about your career, and there are many other responsibilities vying for your attention.  Depending how deeply you feel your passion, and what sacrifices you’re willing to surrender in order to manifest a dream into reality – is the hard work, commitment and dedication really worth it – time will tell.  Join as many music networking sites as you possibly can, and build your Twitter profile, and may be the most important in your arsenal of social media tools.

And if you need a hand, don’t forget – There is professional help, that’s what we’re here for!