On this week’s episode of ManageMental, Blasko and Mike welcome their friend and manager Randy Nichols (Underoath, Beach Slang, The Starting Line) about marketing plans and what it takes to properly market your band. This is gonna be killer, so let’s get mental! &nbsp; &nbsp; Original Article:  http://www.hypebot.com/hypebot/2018/03/your-marketing-plan-is-your-future-do-you-have-one-cyber-pr.html &nbsp; *Guest post by  Ariel Hyatt of CyberPR &nbsp; Do You Have A Marketing Plan? &nbsp; Rising above the chatter is one of the most important and difficult problems faced by any music marketer or musician. But the task becomes far less daunting if you have a marketing plan. &nbsp; STEP #1: Set Your Goals (Short term / Long term) &nbsp; STEP #2: Identify Your Niche &amp; Leaders in it! &nbsp; STEP #3: Create Your Signature Story &nbsp; STEP #4: Create Your Customer Archetype &nbsp; STEP #5: Attend To Your Social Media &nbsp; STEP #6: Create Consistent Compelling Content &nbsp; ---------------------  Rockabilia is your One Stop Shop for all band merch with the largest selection of officially licensed music merchandise in the world! Find merch from your favorite bands and use PCJABBERJAW for 15% off at www.rockabilia.com &nbsp; ------------ &nbsp; Bandzoogle makes it easy to build a stunning website for your music in minutes. Choose from hundreds of mobile-friendly themes, then customize your design and content in a few clicks with Bandzoogle’s easy visual editor. All the features you need for a professional website are already built-in, including: &nbsp;  Tools to sell your music &amp; merch commission-free, right on your website Mailing list tools to grow your fan list and send newsletters Integrations to pull in content from all of your online services like Twitter, Instagram, and SoundCloud And live support from their musician-friendly team 7 days a week  &nbsp; Bandzoogle plans start at just $8.29/month and includes your own free custom domain name. Go to Bandzoogle.com to try it free for 30 days, and be sure to use the promo code “MENTAL” to get 15% off the first year of your subscription. Bandzoogle: websites built for musicians, by musicians. ------------ &nbsp; Want more industry insight? Outerloop Coaching has got you covered, head over to www.outerloopcoaching.com &nbsp; ------------ &nbsp; We want to hear from you so please don’t hesitate to email any questions or comments to askblasko@gmail.com &nbsp; Find Blasko on Twitter and Instagram: @blasko1313 Find Mike Mowery on Twitter and Instagram: @mikeoloop &nbsp; ManageMental is part of the Jabberjaw Media Network. www.jabberjawmedia.com &nbsp; Check out Blasko’s Spotify Playlist here volumeforever.com &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;

Episode 63 - Marketing Plans with Underoath Manager Randy Nichols

This week on ManageMental, Blasko and Mike talk about how artist can boost their Spotify streams…legally! This is gonna be killer, so let’s get mental! &nbsp; &nbsp; Original Article:  http://www.hypebot.com/hypebot/2018/04/5-spotify-tips-for-fast-streaming-results-.html Author: Manuel MANTU Overbeck of 1st Strike &nbsp; &nbsp; * Guest post by Manuel Overbeck on Hypebot 5 Tips To Boost Your Spotify Streams Legally  With Spotify now becoming one of the best ways to showcase new music, artists are eager for ways to get their music on the platform and quickly see results. Here we look at five different avenues for getting your music into the ears of potential fans via Spotify. &nbsp; Fanpush Ask your fans, friends &amp; family to add your song to their private playlists right at the beginning. Do a competition and motivate them to playlist your song. Even the smallest playlist counts. &nbsp; Pitching with your distributor Ask your distributor to pitch your song to the "New Music Friday” Playlist. Also do some research and find out in which other (bigger) playlist your song would fit and tell the distributor as well. &nbsp; Share every playlist Share every playlist your song got added to and tag the curator to show you appreciate and promote. &nbsp; It‘s a very important step to build up a strong relationship with the playlist curator. If you connect on a good level it’s a win-win situation since his main goal is to have a successful playlist that gets promoted and yours is to be part of that list. &nbsp; Pitch "Non-Spotify" Playlists Find 3 private playlists that fit your music and then find out the contacts of the curators through social media to pitch your song. Offer to share and promote their playlist when they add your track. Slowly build up a relationship but don’t be too pushy. If they include your track and it happened that you got some outstanding promotion results because of it, it’s ok to tell them so they might give you more playlists or move your track higher. &nbsp; Own playlist &nbsp; Start putting together your own playlist and share it. You can push your own songs and offer other playlist curators to exchange tracks. Build up a playlist network. &nbsp; ---------------------  Rockabilia is your One Stop Shop for all band merch with the largest selection of officially licensed music merchandise in the world! Find merch from your favorite bands and use PCJABBERJAW for 15% off at www.rockabilia.com &nbsp; ------------ &nbsp; Bandzoogle makes it easy to build a stunning website for your music in minutes. Choose from hundreds of mobile-friendly themes, then customize your design and content in a few clicks with Bandzoogle’s easy visual editor. All the features you need for a professional website are already built-in, including: &nbsp;  Tools to sell your music &amp; merch commission-free, right on your website Mailing list tools to grow your fan list and send newsletters Integrations to pull in content from all of your online services like Twitter, Instagram, and SoundCloud And live support from their musician-friendly team 7 days a week  &nbsp; Bandzoogle plans start at just $8.29/month and includes your own free custom domain name. Go to Bandzoogle.com to try it free for 30 days, and be sure to use the promo code “MENTAL” to get 15% off the first year of your subscription. Bandzoogle: websites built for musicians, by musicians. ------------ &nbsp; Want more industry insight? Outerloop Coaching has got you covered, head over to www.outerloopcoaching.com &nbsp; ------------ &nbsp; We want to hear from you so please don’t hesitate to email any questions or comments to askblasko@gmail.com &nbsp; Find Blasko on Twitter and Instagram: @blasko1313 Find Mike Mowery on Twitter and Instagram: @mikeoloop &nbsp; ManageMental is part of the Jabberjaw Media Network. www.jabberjawmedia.com &nbsp; Check out Blasko’s Spotify Playlist here volumeforever.com &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;

Episode 64 - 5 Tips To Boost Your Spotify Streams Legally

On Episode 65 of ManageMental, Blasko and Mike chat about how bands should properly submit their music to a record label. This is gonna be killer, so let’s get mental! &nbsp; Original Article:  http://www.hypebot.com/hypebot/2018/04/8-label-submission-tips-for-saving-you-time-and-frustration.html &nbsp; Author: Bobby Owsinski of  Music 3.0 &nbsp; * Guest post by Bobby Owsinski on Hypebot.com 8 label submission tips for saving you time and frustration &nbsp; Even though most artists are doing so much for themselves these days, many would still prefer to be connected with a label to relieve at least some of the burden of the business that doesn’t involve creation. Submitting your works to a label can be tricky though, and unless you’re careful, can result in rejection before you even get started. Here’s a list of 8 tips to help with your next submission.  There’s no such thing as a demo. Label people have extremely high standards as they’re used to consistently hearing great material, so make sure the music you submit is as good as you can make it.  &nbsp;  Make each submission note label specific. In other words, don’t send a generic submission note to multiple labels at the same time. This will probably result in a pass before anyone even listens to what you have to offer.  &nbsp;  Don’t submit blindly. Try to find a name of someone at the label that you can send your submission to. Send to only that person, and don’t copy to other people at the label unless you have friends there. Sending to a general label email will usually result in no one paying attention to your submission. Don’t attach an MP3 file. Not only do label execs hate this, everyone hates it. Also, many email accounts and ISPs are now configured to reject an email with a large attached file, so your submission won’t even get to the person to begin with. If your music is on Spotify, send the link. Otherwise, it’s best to get a SoundCloud or similar streaming account that will host your music where you can send the person to listen.  &nbsp;  Attach a link to a specific song – two at most. If the label person finds it interesting, he or she will ask for more. If you send someone to a page with your entire music catalog, chances are good that they’ll choose a song that might not represent you best. Worst case, they’ll just give up and move on.  &nbsp;  Don’t pester the label person on social media, especially with direct messages. It’s okay to follow the person and it’s great to engage with their posts, but don’t expect any personal interaction to be greeted with open arms unless invited. Just stay cool, don’t act desperate, and if the exec is interested, he or she will reach out.  &nbsp;  A referral is still the best entrance. People trust other people they know, which is why you’ll probably get an immediate listen if the referral comes from an attorney or manager, an artist already on the label, or someone who does business with the label.  &nbsp;  Don’t take rejection personally. There have been too many artists to count that have been passed over multiple times that have gone on to be legends. Rejection isn’t necessarily a comment on your music. The timing might be wrong, you might not fit in the label’s plans, you might sound too similar to someone already on the label, they might not have the budget for another act right now, or any of dozens of other reasons might come into play. Keep writing and recording, and keep sending those submissions. The key is to remain persistent.  &nbsp; ---------------------  Rockabilia is your One Stop Shop for all band merch with the largest selection of officially licensed music merchandise in the world! Find merch from your favorite bands and use PCJABBERJAW for 15% off at www.rockabilia.com &nbsp; ------------ &nbsp; Bandzoogle makes it easy to build a stunning website for your music in minutes. Choose from hundreds of mobile-friendly themes, then customize your design and...

Episode 65 - How To Submit Your Music To A Record Label

This week on ManageMental, Blasko and Mike take some questions from our loyal listeners. This is gonna be killer, so let’s get mental! &nbsp;  Cory  So, my band just recently got offered a very great European tour. The catch is that it is a buy-on and also we have to pay for the agencies services on top of that price. And also find our own transportation. &nbsp; Many others I have talked to have said the cost is not worth even the resume bump. By the time all is said and done I’m sure this will cost around $15-20k. Which We would have to put on credit cards. Would you advise doing something this drastic for a bands resume or should we keep slugging it out on small DIY tours in the USA until we hopefully find tours that are bigger and not buy ons? &nbsp;  Tarek  Hey Guys, I love the show and have been listening since I discovered it 5 episodes in. I binged it in one night and managed to keep up. My question is how the hell do I get PR companies to answer me? My band has been around for 5 years, has several releases, done some light touring up and down the east coast, made 3 professional videos, pressed our own albums in vinyl, and basically established ourselves. This is incredibly frustrating because we’re 100% willing to pay, I’m just having trouble with figuring out why our money isn’t wanted? &nbsp;  Eddy  I am a regular listener of the Manage Mental Podcast. I think it's great you’re so open to listener questions like this. You guys have a good thing going, so keep up the great work! &nbsp; I work with a newer band, a manager of sorts. I have been working with the guys on improving the bands branding and marketing. A big part up the update we need is a more professional looking band logo, one that fits with what we are trying to accomplish. We have already been through multiple rounds of sketches with two different artists, and we have not seen anything in line with what we are looking for. Both artists have great portfolios of band logos. For both artists we have started out by giving them creative freedom, and eventually progressed to giving them a lot of specific instruction. It almost seemed like the result got worse. So, I’m wondering if you guys have any suggestions on communicating with digital artists? How to convey what we are looking for in a band logo? &nbsp;  Romain  Love the Manage Mental podcast. I was wondering if you could dig into the subject of « studio bands », bands that only record music but don’t play live shows. I am currently starting a band like that, and I’m working to find ways to make it as interesting as a regular band. &nbsp; I was wondering if you and Mike had any experience with a band like that and if you had any advice for artist that won’t do live shows, regarding promotion, or ways to keep feeding fans some content in between albums. &nbsp;  Jeff  Just thought a lot of your listeners probably don't know what specific people make up the "team," i.e a lawyer, booking, management, etc. and maybe discuss what what each one does and the importance of each and order in which you should find them?   ---------------------  Rockabilia is your One Stop Shop for all band merch with the largest selection of officially licensed music merchandise in the world! Find merch from your favorite bands and use PCJABBERJAW for 15% off at www.rockabilia.com &nbsp; ------------  Want more industry insight? Outerloop Coaching has got you covered, head over to www.outerloopcoaching.com &nbsp; ------------ &nbsp; We want to hear from you so please don’t hesitate to email any questions or comments to askblasko@gmail.com &nbsp; Find Blasko on Twitter and Instagram: @blasko1313 Find Mike Mowery on Twitter and Instagram: @mikeoloop &nbsp; ManageMental is part of the Jabberjaw Media Network. www.jabberjawmedia.com &nbsp; Check out Blasko’s Spotify Playlist here volumeforever.com &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;

Episode 66 - Blasko and Mike Answer Your Questions

Two experienced artist managers and music industry professionals bring you their take on the modern day music business and how they mentally approach the profession of management. Join Blasko and Mike Mowery as they cover hot topics in the industry, answer fan questions, provide insight on sales numbers and showcase new music with a slant toward developing artists.

MANAGEMENTAL PODCAST