Selling More Than Adele With MMM?
Wow, I just realized that I haven’t posted anything since late last year. No doubt the biggest bout of silence since the launch of Music Marketing Manifesto back in 2009. But there’s a good reason for that… I’ve been busy.
It was never my intention to become a “marketing guy”. I’ve spent most of my life as a working musician and – while my primary focus over the last few years has been raising a family and growing MMM – “musician” continues to be my answer to that proverbial question: So, what do you do?
That said, as my record and publishing company advances began to shrink over the years – and always having a relentless entrepreneurial streak – I began looking for new ways to bring in reliable income somewhere around 2006. It didn’t happen overnight, but the result was a booming online business that evolved (somewhat accidentally) to become Music Marketing Manifesto.
I have had many thousands of musicians come through my programs and MMM has become one of the most rewarding endeavors of my life. There is nothing more gratifying than receiving an email from someone who has experienced their first album sale as a result of using the strategies I teach. Hundreds (if not thousands) of those emails have come in over the years, and it’s been incredible to see.
However, one thing I refuse to do is become the “those who can’t do, teach” guy. For that reason, and despite it being a colossal commitment of time and energy (of which I have little to spare), I make it a point to jump back into the trenches once or twice a year and take on an individual client. Both to keep my marketing instincts sharp, and to prove that there is merit to the strategies
I teach.
Over the last few months I’ve had my hands full with two such projects. I was brought on by Blue Elan Records to handle the digital sales and marketing for singer songwriters, Keith Harkin and Janiva Magness. While we are still setting up Janiva’s album, Keith’s album was released less than two weeks ago and we couldn’t be happier with the results.
In keeping with the “windowing” strategy that I spoke about during the build up to the release of “Record Release Formula“, the majority of our focus went into the pre-order campaign. The idea being that the real fans are going to buy the album because you ask them to buy it. Not because the price is right, or because the platform is convenient. I’ve long stressed that it’s important to use an incentive to drive sales with your existing base BEFORE the album is released universally, and especially before it hits the streaming platforms. In this case that incentive was a collection of bonus tracks that were offered exclusively to those who pre-ordered.
That said, each artist is different and while for some it might be best to drive the sales to your own site (as we will be dong with Janiva) for others you might want to drive the sales to third party platforms, as we did for Keith. In his case Blue Elan’s goal was to drive sales to iTunes, Amazon, and Barnes and Noble to increase his retail positioning as well as brand awareness with the larger distributors and retail outlets.
We’re happy to report that this is exactly what happened…
Keith Harkin’s new album “On Mercy Street” climbed as high as… wait for it…
- #1 on Amazon World.
- #20 in all music on Amazon.
- #3 in all music on Barnes & Noble.
- #2 on the iTunes singer songwriter chart.
- #8 on the Billboard Folk Music chart.
- …and #10 on Billboard’s Independent Label chart.
Now keep in mind, this is an independent album, released on a modest budget. I don’t want to over-hype its success because the reality is that it’s tough out there, and there is still a lot of work to do. That said, this album has yet to go to radio, and press coverage has not been a major focus. The overwhelming majority of sales have come in as a result of direct to fan sales. Knowing what the industry is up against, and the big names (and budgets) Keith is up against, I personally find his success to be pretty outstanding, and something I’m very proud to be part of.
I also need to stress that the success of the album is due to a team of people at Blue Elan Records, who believe in Keith, and have been working their butts off to see it succeed. Moreover, Keith himself has done an incredible job at winning the support of his fans, without which nothing would be possible.
But I’ve also been sitting here behind the scenes, watching the needle move every single time we would create a landing page, send an email, or turn on an ad campaign; straight out of the Music Marketing Manifesto playbook.
On a purely superficial level, it’s pretty damn rewarding to hit send on an email and watch the album your working push ADELE out of her spot, bump out a legend like Bob Marley, or mingle with artists such as David Gray, and Jeff Buckley on the Billboard Folk chart.
Moreover, all of this activity was a result of “album sales”, a huge majority of which were physical albums. Not individual track downloads, streaming, or anything like that. Just fans buying albums; old school. And once more, giving credence to the fact that (especially on an independent level) people will, and are, still buying albums. You just need to be building a rapport with your audience, and directly asking them to buy your music. MMM 101 🙂
But once more, I really want to stress that this was only possible due to the hard work of Blue Elan Records, and the dynamic personality and abundant talent of Keith Harkin. If you’re not familiar with his album then by all means, grab a copy of “On Mercy Street” and show your support of a fellow independent artist. You’ll be happy you did, and you might pick up a few pointers as you go through the process 🙂
Anyway… that’s about it really. I just wanted to share the win and remind everyone what is possible using the same tactics I teach in Music Marketing Manifesto and my other music marketing programs. Up next: Janiva Magness!
Hope to recap things a bit once the dust settles on both campaigns and I am able to come up for air for.
And for those of you who have been asking, TunePipe is coming. Still finalizing a few things, but beta testing is taking place as we speak, and we hop to be opening it up to the public soon.
Leave any questions you have below. Thanks for reading.
Her var det mange bra filmer. Noen har jeg sett, andre ikke.Tror jeg snart mÃ¥ ta opp de 8 kartongene med dvd som ligger i kjelleren slik at jeg har noen filmer pÃ¥ lager jeg kan se en stille stund…
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Hi Prashant, I would request you read the order of the Division Bench again. The paragraph (paragraph 4) you have quoted is not the operative part of the order and is rather a submission made by Cipla.
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Same here! I’ve only been blogging since Mid November but I hope to keep up with it regularly. Right now I’m a M-F kinda gal. This may increase or decrease with time but we’ll see. Cheers to a 2012 filled with successful blogging! I’m a dork I know. Happy New Year!
11:05 AM Yeah, they just got coverage in the guardian, the telegraph, the sun, the mirrow, the london paper, etc hundreds of blog entries and dozens of thousands of new hits on you tube.Wish I’d ever do an ad that gathers that kind of attention. Twice.Can’t wait to watch what Cabral and Kuntz came up with.
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you didn't like it. Who the hell are you anyway and what do you matter. Whilst I am sorry that Bukowski is rubbish. It is. At least they have the minerals to do what they believe in. And Pizza East is class. They obviously saw you coming!
Pai Cetin , daca in seara de Ajun face Gabi Firea o emisiune live in care bagau in ei ca spartii vreo 358 de feluri de mancare, asta e educatia frate , ce sa le mai ceri la amarasteni ?…MERRY CRISIS AND A HAPPY NEW FEAR !
"Duplicity" sono andata al cinema a vederlo, incuriosita dal trailer. :)Ha difficoltà ad ingranare, forse è sviluppato un po' male, e a parte qualche scena carina, non mi ha poi divertito tantissimo Julia Roberts un po' troppo diva qui secondo me, se vuoi vedere un bel film con lei e Clive Owen, ri consiglio di vedere "Closer". 😉
Mitchell – How does the PHP tag behave? I looked it up real quick and read that it was similar to the code tag, so I added it to the previewer and it seemed to work ok:Edit: As a site note, right now it’s use is just set to be [php]php code here[/php]
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Que fotos lindas, Emi!!! A primeira vez que eu olhei a segunda, pensei que fosse uma sala de cinema, hahaha!!! Adorei 🙂 Acho o formato do telhado que esse tipo de telha faz tão lindo!! ?
ça me donne envie… j’en veux plein!!!! (on m’a parlé du jus à la carotte, qui mélangé à d’autres fruits donnait une saveur toute particulière à l’ensemble)
tu peux être contente, elle est superbe ta carte.j'adore le tampon monté sur mousse posé délicatement sur les fleurs…la petite fille va être ravie.bisous. laurenceps: j'ai hâte de voir tes essais.
Alex, you are the classiest & most secure of the housewives in NYC.you & simon love each other, love your children, & that’s all that matters! The rest of them can worry about who said what, gossip, etc. You have your priorities straight & don’t get involved. Keep being you, cherish your playful children & if a child crawled up my leg, I’d take it as a compliment!I look up to you! Keep being you!!!
1aaEi Paula, adorei o post!Comecei um blog há pouco tempo e essa semana participei de um encontro promovido pela Ana, do TT. Conheci tanta gente bacana lá e percebi que o que vale mesmo nesse meio são as pessoas que a gente conhece… nada de brinde ou $$$, mas sim poder contar com pessoas bacanas que podem se tornar amigas um dia.Bjosss
In France, when a judge wants to stop the criminal career of immigrant "youths", he sends them to a skiing or sailing camp to help their rehabilitation. I think Oystros would like the same thing for the Jews, if we ever manage to kick them out of the race-replacement business.
‘Stepping in’ here, to thank you very much for taking notice of Omnium, Mr. O’Dell, and to leave at least a short com(pli)ment: Chapeau!I shall certainly come back.In case Allan does so, too: Feel free to contact me, Mr. Cavanagh, if you think I could be of help on your quest. :)Finally, Stan: Thanks, also in the name of Jams O’Donnell Esq.. 🙂
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– I’d take Stockton over Nash purely for defence (though I love Nash), and McHale over Dirk as he is grittier, grabs more boards, and is the best post player to ever live.
Lien définitivement impossible à ouvrirRédigé par : H. P.Non mais c’est parce qu’il faut mettre des plugins ! Lesquels on sait pas ni où, mais enfin il faut en installer partout… De toutes les marques des free des non-free des libres des attachés…
Is it abnormal for me to already be sad about the end of squash season?! I tried a kabocha squash for the first time yesterday and loved it too.There is a butternut on my counter begging to be a guinea pig for this recipe today.
I have similar music taste to you so I thought I’d give ya a couple of recs!Have you heard “Evacuate the Dancefloor” – Cascada? I think you’d like it if you haven’t – sort of between that Wow song and Good Girls Go Bad (another guilty pleasure of mine).Heartbreaker by MSTRKRFT is similar to Memories, and has that thumping bass I love to run to.
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Observer, the stakes are high and the problems don’t seem to be insurmountable–maybe there’s some wiggle room between Heritage and the ANC now that everybody’s paying attention to this election??Anyway, I think we’ll have to start calling you the Prosecutor General if you’re going to talk about “hypnotized people.” Jeesh…
The smoke and sky and sea all share the same shade of blue. Very pleasant. I would guess that a tree grew up and entangled itself around the wire. When the tree was removed it was safer to leave the log attached rather than try to cut it loose.
J’adore… je ferais bien un City trip Parisien juste pour profiter de cette technique… y a t-il quelques part en Belgique un artisan capable de faire une tel chose???
Thanks a lot John for shearing. I’ll love to use this for my marketing. But the problem I’m having now is to build a solid fan base so I can sell successfully using MMM.I already have a music website.
Is there anyway I can use MMM to promote my music website and after start selling my music using MMM ?.
Hi Joul,
Thanks for your interest. Yes absolutely. One of the main focuses of MMM is to help you build that responsive fan base to promote your music too.
You can find out more about MMM 4.0 here:
https://www.mmmanifesto.com/mmm4
Let me know if I an ever help with anything else.
I definitely need marketing for my 4 artist I’m pushing the new video of JOE MAFIA OF WU SYNDICATE
Hi Fatty Bread,
Thanks for your interest. I frequently send out actionable info to help you move forward with your marketing. Be sure to check your inbox from time to time. If you need more assistance, feel free to get in touch at support@mmmanifesto.com with your questions.
That’s awesome! Thanks for sharing the great news and providing real world results from MMM. You get it because you actually take time to respond to comments. By far the most professional and courteous instructor on the web! Thanks again for sharing.
Thanks Sid. Thant means a lot. Happy Easter!
You are amazing and it’s great music and just goes to show you have to have a great product and market the crap out of it! : )
Thanks for the inspiration!
Thanks Marc, glad you enjoyed the post.
A big CONGRATULATIONS John!
You da man!!
Thx for sharing that.
Thanks Dan!
&li;soqtaun c est enorme. A quand nos monuments a la gloire de napoleon ( qui a ensanglante l europe joyeusement en son temps) ou d autres plus recent. Par contre pas touches a nos chers poilus et autres resistants. Zut c t peut etre le cas pour ce monument ? Oups. Pas grave. En tout cas c est un joli travail
Great job!
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Bunch of BS al this guy taljs about is Word Press this Word Press that..
Always interesting to hear how some things work in the industry.It’s more complicated than most people realize.
Thanks for reading Paul. Glad you enjoyed the post.
That’s fantastic John! I’ve been pretty quiet in the IC lately too, but because I’ve been writing and playing live a bunch. I’m always thinking strategy though, and it’s nice to hear about Keith – I’ve seen his ads in my newsfeed and liked it for sure. Looking forward to peepin the recent IC lesson!
Thanks for checking out the post Brian. Catch you in the Insider Circle soon.
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