If you’ve been looking into John Oszajca’s Music Marketing Insider Circle and wondering if it’s right for you – keep reading. I’ve been a member of the Insider Circle since late August of 2011 and will give you my assessment on whether it’s right for you or a waste of time and money.

However, there’s more to this than just John.

Check out John Oszajca’s Insider Circle video here.

Fast Forward To Fame's creator: Cari Cole

There’s a launch going on currently for a 12 week coaching program called Fast Forward to Fame by Cari Cole that I thought I’d share with any readers who haven’t already heard about it. I’m a little late in sharing the details, as a week back or so Cari had a bunch of prelaunch videos and downloads that appear to have gone offline as I write this.

Cari is yet another person out there that is looking to help musicians today make the most of their music career via music business coaching, and one of the things that I love about her prelaunch material I checked out last week is that she talks frankly about money and how important it is for musicians to wrap their head around how to make it and how to get the roadblocks out of their way to attracting more money into their lives.

I also love how she’s upfront that you need to have a handle on the business end of things if you want to make a go of it as an independent artist today.

Having said that – I’m not overly keep on the word ‘fame’, but that’s just me. I think there is a substantial amount of people who think they want fame and use music as only a vehicle to get it.

However, since Cari is upfront with what her program is about (everything from the business, productivity and motivation to making your website work for you) I can forgive the fact that there’s the word “fame” in the name of her coaching program.

Anyway, her program is open but there are only a few spots. I think it’s worth checking out her Fast Forward to Fame site to see the video she made that shares some great advice while revealing more details on what her program is about.

Here’s the (non-affiliate) link:

http://www.fastforwardtofame.com/signup/

From what I can gather, Cari started out as a vocal coach and has broadened her horizons to go far beyond that. She’s also an artist herself – but you can find out more at her site.

Now, she’s not giving away her expertise for nothing, it’s definitely not cheap. I also question her math when it comes to what a newbie artist gets paid per gig ($500?) which certainly isn’t true in my experience – and may not be true for you – but could be the standard in New York City where Cari operates her business.

I’m not promoting her as an affiliate because I know nothing about her and have only just checked out her launch material. However, I think she’s sharing some great free content so you have little to lose to check it out and see if it works for you.

Lastly, before you invest money in any training – do a gut check and ask yourself a few tough questions. Are you going to dedicate the time to focus on the program and give it your all? Cari Cole mentioned in her online question and answer session that her students should expect to spend 4 to 5 hours a week on the material. That’s a pretty small price to pay to invest in yourself and build a sustainable music career – but many will still end up drawn to watch the TV instead.

Which one are you?

The program starts November 15th, 2011. So depending on what you have going on in your life – now might not be the right time. Also, this coaching is recommended for artists that already have their own music and are looking for guidance on how to get it out there; if you’ve never written a single song or never performed in front of a live audience – this training is probably a few levels over your head.

Check it out and share what you think – is Fast Forward to Fame by Cari Cole for real?

Out of the blue I was inspired to write a post called Why Your Band Sucks; however I did some research and read a bunch of other stuff out there about the topic. It threw me off so this is what you’re getting instead – What Your Band Needs To Succeed Online.

Keep It Simple Stupid

I don’t know about you, but there are times when I make things WAY more difficult than they need to be. Having said that – there is so much information out there that it’s easy to get overwhelmed by what you need to do and what you need to watch out for. This post is an attempt to keep it simple, so let’s do this.

#1) Your Own Website

Are you sick of hearing this one yet? I’m getting tired of saying it, but I’m going to keep saying it until everyone is doing it. If you don’t have your own domain name registered with a website setup yet – what are you waiting for? There are sites out there like Bandzoogle and Hostbaby that offer lost of help for bands looking to get a site at an affordable price.

However, if you’re not keen on spending $15 to $20/month on your band website – I put together my own training manual that reveals where to get hosting for as little as $3 a month. At that cheap, nobody has any excuses for not having their own website! I offer a DIY Band Website training course that spills the beans on this and a lot more – check it out.

As for where to get your domain names, right now I recommend Name Cheap. Not only do they offer great prices, they let you pay with Paypal without having a credit card on file. This is one reason why I don’t like Godaddy (that and the fact that they upsell you to death when you go to make a purchase).

Do I really need to tell you WHY you need your own website? How about ownership, autonomy and leverage for starters? To me, having your own website is like having your own place to head home to after socializing at the clubs; it’s where you invite people so you can get to know each other better without the noise and distraction at the club. WordPress makes it easy to have a site up in minutes.

2) Optin Page, Autoresponder, Enticing Freebie

Okay – this is technically three different things but they are dependent upon each other to succeed. Creating an optin page is probably the trickiest part – especially if you use WordPress. I’ve attempted to build a page using an html editor and tables to layout the page properly but had mixed results at best. There are themes like Optimize Press that do this easily with sweet graphics, but it’ll cost you $100 or so and will change the entire look of your site – which might be a negative for you if you’ve already customized your website the way you like it. If it’s not perfect – who cares. A somewhat lame looking optin page is better than no optin page at all in my books.

Luckily, getting an auto responder isn’t that tough these days. $20/month gets you started with industry leading companies like Aweber and Constant Contact – however if you’re just getting started and are tight on cash, again I have an alternative for you: Mail Chimp.

I’ve been using Mail Chimp for over a year now and have nothing but good experiences so far, it also doesn’t hurt that they’ve gone from allowing you to collected first 500, then 1000 and now 2000 email addresses 100% for free! Not only that – but they have a free optin widget that you can install on the sidebar of your WordPress site (not as good as a dedicated optin page, but definitely better than nothing).

There are some limitations with Mail Chimp; you can collect 2000 email addresses, but that is the max and you can only mail out 2000 messages in a month. That means you have this limitation:

• Mail a list of 2000 x 1 per month
• Mail a list of 1000 x 2 per month
• Mail a list of 500 x 4 per month
• Mail a list of 250 x 8 per month

If you’re just starting out, this is more than decent for free. I’d imagine that by the time you start wanting to go beyond 2000 names on your list – you’ll be able to afford to start paying Mail Chimp or start up a list with Aweber that you can switch your database over to.

The enticing freebie will be up to you to figure out what you’re comfortable with, a single MP3 might not be enough, an EP or full Album will garner more interest. Make sure to play up the word “FREE” whenever you can since everybody likes freebies.

#3) Compelling Content

Okay, so what exactly is compelling content anyway? Well in this case I’m referring to anything that offers value to your potential fans whether it’s online or off. If you’re a band – compelling content will be the music and lyrics that you write, the videos that you post on Youtube, the blog posts and status updates that you share online.

Done right, compelling content wins you fans. They get a taste for your personality and want more (hopefully) and eventually start paying for your music and merch. Compelling content adds value and helps to build traffic on your site.

To me this is all about creation – this is the work of the artist and guess what – you’ll never stop working until the day that you die! You need to produce new content and material to stay relevant and let your audience know that you’re still make it happen.

Some of your content will be free to attract people to sign up to your list and so that they can find out what you’re about. However, you’ll also need to make some money if you want to keep your band afloat, so commercial product is necessary as well…which brings us to:

#4) Shopping Cart

You’ll need a way to collect money for the products that you sell; this doesn’t have to be an expensive piece of software that requires a team of IT people to operate – it can be as simple as adding a Paypal button to a particular page, post or email to your list.

Are there problems with using Paypal? Sure there are – but don’t sweat the small stuff, just get started and get some sales happening. Once the money is rolling in – again you may want to look into getting a dedicated merchant account or more sophisticated software that allows for affiliate tracking and all the rest.

The beauty of Paypal is that it’s a low cost and low tech solution for bands that want to start selling their stuff online today. Keep it simple…remember?

So there you have it – four relatively simple and cost effective items you need to cross off your list to increase your odds of becoming a success online with you band. Of course talent, good looks and superb songwriting abilities also couldn’t hurt you.

However, I purposely omitted three things that you’ll need to truly succeed. Can you guess what they are? Leave you best guesses in the comments below and I’ll follow up with my response soon!

When it comes to entering a battle of the bands contest, most bands are clearly thinking all about themselves – the prizes, the venue, the judges and all the rest; but what about the fan appreciation?

Yes, the fans…remember them?

When it comes to most BOTBs, the fans are an afterthought and often get the worst of the experience. They become ‘bodies in the venue’ or ‘tickets sold’ or ‘cheerleaders’ as opposed to real people who need to be valued or potentially lost forever.

So what is so bad about inviting your fans to a BOTBs competition? For the last time I’ll say that it depends on what the quality and reputation of the event is. For the most part for a BOTBs gig your fans will have to:

• Travel farther to see you perform
• Watch you perform for a shorter set
• Pay double or triple what they’d pay to see you at one of your own shows
• Feel obligated to stay and cheer for your band
• Endure barrage of bands, most of which they’ll have zero interest in

This is especially the case if you live close to a major city where a big time BOTB event is being held. I live about an hour away from the biggest city in Canada (Toronto), and inevitably all the bands within a 3 hour square radius want to do a gig in the “Big City” where they can be “discovered”.

In this instance, they have to travel to the city, pay outrageous parking fees (plus find a place to park) pay the cover charge, wait until “their band” hits the stage, buy food, avoid buying too many expensive drinks, get the heck home as soon as possible afterwards.

And all for what? For the bands to feed their ego to perform on the ‘big stage’ in the ‘big city’ for the ‘big prizes’.

Is it any wonder why most bands have to beg and plead to even sell enough tickets to get some asses in the seats? What’s in it for the fans?

Unfortunately, until bands stop looking for shortcuts to fame and fortune and start paying more attention to their audience – they’re going to continue to walk all over the few fans they have to hopefully win the favour of a ‘mysterious stranger’ who will wave their magic wand and grant them a record deal so that they can live happily ever after.

The funny thing is that without the fans, all the showcases and meet n’ greets with the ‘big shots’ isn’t going to get you very far. When you have a pile of dedicated fans that are willing to actually pay for your music and shows, the big shots will start taking notice anyway.

So the next time you’re considering being part of a Battle of the Bands competition, battle of the bands showcase, band wars or whatever name they want to call it next, consider how it will affect the people that you’re leaning on the most to ‘win’ at the competiton

Image via Wikipedia

Okay, onto part three of the Battle of the Bands competitions series. This time we’re going to dig into the business end of Battle of the Bands contests. Hopefully this post will be a bit of an eye opener for those who think that performing at these band versus band competitions is the ‘cats ass’.

In my first post I went over the basics of what a Battle of the Band competition is, well often bands are so preoccupied with what participating in this type of contest can mean for them (prizes, new opportunities, exclusive club, big production/big stage/pro lights and sound etc.) that they don’t think about what lurks beneath it all.

It’s for this reason that many bands are swept away blindly by the opportunity to perform at one of these shows that they don’t even consider the business end of them. Once you do, you may get a bit of a sour taste in your mouth for these events.

The Battle of the Bands Romantic Version

Lets get romantic for a sec and look at BOTBs in the most positive light – the “Hollywood” version if you will. This version is what you see on TV and the movies:

• Band is getting nowhere fast
• Band signs up for BOTBs
• Band performs at a top-notch club against formidable rivals
• Band has the opportunity to be discovered by hotshot record execs
• Band wins (somewhere in the top two), gets approached by labels and suddenly their career is on fire

While that certainly sounds nice, the reality behind battle of the bands contests is often rooted in the mundane.

• Bar/club is suffering from low attendance
• Bar/promoter comes up with event called Battle of the Bands
• Bar/promoter announces the competition so bands will sign up, promise big prizes and industry reps as judges to lure in the bands
• Bands pay money to participate
• Even lazy bands sell a few tickets because they are motivated by the ‘big event/opportunity’ provided
• Event is scheduled for a slow night of the week
• Bands bring in paying customers, prizes money is mainly recouped by entry fees to the bands and by offering advertising in return of prizes to local studios and music stores.
• The bar gets a shot in the arm and makes good money from the event. It’s also exposed to a lot of new potential customers who wouldn’t have visited the bar before.
• Winning band(s) collect their loot – bask in their 5 minutes of fame and promptly implode or go on to do nothing particular successful for the rest of their music career.
• Bar/club/promoter  rinses and repeats this formula anytime their need an influx of cash into their business.

Too cynical? Think that bars/clubs and promoters run battle of the bands strictly out of their love of music and to elevate the profile of the acts in their scene? …can I have some of what you’ve been smoking?

Making money isn’t wrong for the bar or the promoter. Without sufficient money, the venues that cater to live music will close shop and bands will have nowhere to play – nobody wants that.

However, keep in mind what the ulterior motive is for having a battle of the bands. In the best case scenario it’s a win/win situation for both the bar and the bands involved.

In the worst case scenario it’s a cash grab aimed squarely at making money off the inexperienced and the gullible; preying on their hopes and dreams in order to make a quick buck.

So how do you tell the difference?

Telltale signs that a BOTB is garbage

1. Entry fee is $50 or more
2. Anyone can enter
3. Ticket sales are a large part of the final score (in other words, tickets trump talent)
4. Set times are only 15 minutes or so to cram in the maximum amount of bands in a single night
5. The style of the bands range from country, metal, jazz to bluegrass in a single night
6. Names of ‘industry judges’ are never revealed. Bands unable to learn the results of the judges feedback regardless of whether they succeed or fail in the competition
7. The contest is scheduled in early afternoon, Sundays or any other ‘slow business’ day or time.
8. Prizes are ‘incomplete’ – like 8 hours of studio time (enough time that it seems ‘valuable’ but ultimately isn’t enough time to create even a finished 4 track EP).

By their nature, just about every Battle of the Bands competition is going to have a few of these points, but if there are 4 or more – chances are the competition is nothing but a cash grab.

Okay, so we’ve looked at BOTBs in general, why bands sign up and the business behind it – however there is still one aspect left – the fans that actually attend these shows. I think many bands would rethink their participation if they stopped to consider what they’re doing to their fans. Confused by what I mean? I’ll explain fully in the next post.

Have you played a “dud” BOTBs competition that was a thinly-veiled cash grab? Leave a comment below.

Battle of the bands competitions have been around for years, and while they’ve probably started to lose some momentum chances are they’ll be around for years to come. The reason for this is that the entire concept of a band contents is based on the following things that lure bands in.

1. Big prizes
2. A chance at fame
3. Opportunity to play a club they’d never get a gig at

Lets face it, there isn’t a lot of attraction to having to pay your dues for bands – most would prefer to take a shortcut right to the fame and fortune that they’ve seen on TV and the movies. We live in an ‘instant gratification’ world these days and bands want to sidestep the work of building a sustainable career and would rather win the “rock star lottery” and become instantly famous overnight.

A recent Reverbnation.com survey indicated that as much as 75% percent of indie bands want a record deal and I’m sure that much of the same demographic signs up for a battle of the bands competition for similar reason.

Like it or not, a Battle of the Bands competition is considered ‘an event’. The bands have invested their own money to participate (these are the same bands that rarely invest in promoting their own shows) and then have to go out and convince their friends and family to come to the show to see them – another thing that these bands often aren’t willing to do.

The band competition is a business model that manages to suck in beginner bands in droves as well as bands that should know better but decide to do it anyway. So why do they do it?

Why bands sign up for Band of the Band Contests

• Some bands sign up because they are new and it’s  a chance to play at a ‘real’ club.
• Other bands sign up for the opportunity to get some free recording time, local radio play or a chance to put a club that they could never get themselves booked into on a regular night onto their ‘band resume’.
• Some bands want to get feedback from the music industry judges to find out if they’re on the right track with their music and performance.
• Some bands are also hoping that some agents, labels or other ‘industry big shots’ are in the room to ‘discover’ them.

Like I said in my first Battle of the Bands post – these reasons may be right or wrong for your band depending on where you’re at. However, the reputation of the event is very important since there are increasingly many shady competitions out there that prey on the hopes and dreams of young musicians.

However, there is a negative element to playing these shows in my personal experience.

Firstly, you can pretty much forget about winning any new fans at typical Battle of the Bands gig. The reason being that each band is bringing out their personal cheering squad to ensure that they have the best opportunity to win the competition; even if they like your band they won’t dare “betray” the band that they came to root for.

Next, networking with other musicians is often trickier at one of these gigs. People take the competition part of this too seriously when the reality is that winning the event isn’t likely to make a whole lot of difference to the band’s music career anyway.

Lastly, if you come into these types of events looking for some validation from judges, crowds or prizes that help to take you to ‘the next level’ chances are you’ll be disappointed. An angel isn’t going to drop from the sky, point at your band and proclaim that you are destined for greatness – you have to claim it for yourself and bust your ass to make it a reality.

I did my fair share of Battle of the Bands in my time and for the most part they were great learning experiences if nothing else. If you decide to enter it – just make sure you go in with your eyes wide open and your feet grounded in reality. Do your due diligence and make sure the bar or promoter running the show is reputable before you hand over your hard-earned cash.

There’s more to say about Battle of the Bands yet – next post I’m going to dive into the business model and perhaps remove a lot of the appeal of these contests at the same time.

Have a Battle of the Bands story to tell? Share it below in the comments!

Image via Wikipedia

This is a topic that is near and dear to my heart – Battle of the bands competitions and are they worth it? Just thinking of this topic brings up a bunch of feelings in me and makes this a bit of a ‘charged’ issue; so I think that means I’m supposed to share this with you guys!

However, this is also a pretty big topic and there are a lot of angles to cover – so I’m feeling a multi-post session coming on. I guess we’ll see.

Okay, so let’s start at the beginning and assume that you don’t already know what a battle of the bands competition is, so here it goes:

A battle the bands contest is basically an event to get numerous bands to play an abbreviated set (so more bands can play in a finite amount of time) to compete for a grand prize of some kind. The prizes vary from musical instruments and supplies from the local music instrument retail store to recording time at a local studio to winning a spot opening for a famous band.

Depending on how the contest is run, a band may have to pay a fee to enter the contest, sell a certain number of tickets in advance of the event to qualify, win the most or a certain number of votes or get the thumbs up from an audition.

Once the contest begins, bands are generally judged by their stage performance, quality of the music, crowd response along with other factors which may include the number of actual tickets sold (perhaps as a tie-breaker between two otherwise equally talented bands). Judges are often from the ‘music industry’ though that may be a very loose interpretation.

While the lure of winning the grand prize is ever-present, many bands (especially those that are just starting out) are happy just to have the chance to perform on stage at a larger club with full sound production and lights compared to their garage or basement;the prizes are just the cherry on top.

So is it worth playing a battle of the bands showcase? It’s hard to say really, because it depends on several factors including:

• The size of the competition and prizes
• The band’s reason for wanting to compete
• How your band feels about pay to play
• Whether your band is experienced or just starting out
• The legitimacy of the event itself
• How much you have to pay to enter the event

I can give you my biased opinion either way, but it’s up to each band and their particular circumstance to make that decision. I will give this word or warning however – winning a battle of the bands is rarely a shortcut to a sustainable music career.

There is no shortcut to paying your dues, writing great songs, giving killer performances and knowing your way around the business end of being in a band. There are plenty of bands that win the big prize in these types of event and crash and burn shortly thereafter.

Heck, you can even look at how many viable careers have come out of events on a far bigger scale like American Idol and Rockstar: Supernova/Rockstar: Inxs!

Anyway, I’m going to leave it at that for this post – can you sense that I was holding myself back a little? Yeah – I was because, there’s a lot more that I have to say about Battle of the bands competitions. Ultimately, the choice is yours…but perhaps you’ll want to read the rest of my case before you render your final verdict – stay tuned!

I’ve been thinking about the spirit of giving that is celebrated each year at this time and also happens to be a big part of a winning strategy to acquire new fans and build up a list.

You offer a free download (it could be a single song, EP or full album – it’s up to you really) in exchange for an email address in return. Once you have that email, you also have permission to contact that person in the future (as long as they remain a subscriber to your list), this is a very simple process and guess what – it works!

However, there were some people questioning whether this still works during the recent launch of John Oszajca’s Music Marketing Manifesto 2.0 a few weeks ago. John took the time during his question and answer video to single out the reservations some were expressing. It seems that some people didn’t believe that others would willingly give up their email address ‘just to get a free song’. John reassured everyone that this process does indeed work and has been working for him for years.

I think there are two main reasons why musicians may resist this model. First, they’ve poured their heart and soul into their music and feel that they are devaluing it by giving it away for free. Second, they’re looking to justify their own false assumptions on a thing (in this case marketing their music online) rather than put in some work, take fate into their own hands and make some honest-to-gosh progress with their music career.

Does that sound too harsh? Then it could just be that we all tend to over-complicate things when Keep It Simple Stupid works best (or  if you prefer – Keep It Stupid Simple works too). Isn’t it funny how people who say something can’t be done will argue with the people who are doing it? The people that are sure that giving away free music in exchange for an email won’t work should just  set up a squeeze page, offer a freebie and prove the model wrong before passing judgment on it.

In fact, the other day I signed up for a free song from a musician I never heard of before. As someone who realizes that giving my email will mean getting future messages that will likely include calls to action to purchase this musicians music – I gave him my email anyway. Why? Because the song was free and if I didn’t like it I could always unsubscribe. It turns out that I ended up enjoying the music more than I expected and now this musician has my attention and possibly a future purchase from me.

How did this happen?

Simple, I was told about his music from someone I already liked and trusted (hint – I was on their mailing list) and this musician had a squeeze page, a free song offer and an auto-responder set up to make the whole transaction happen seamlessly. I had enough curiosity to gladly trade my email to hear the song.

I was taken to a page on the guitarmonks.com site (not that particular page) where I could download his zero limits audio. It was a three and a half minute long solo guitar track that I ended up enjoying more than I would have thought.

No, I haven’t spent any money yet – but there is now an opportunity where one didn’t exist before and that’s all you need to succeed if you duplicate this consistently several times a day. Sooner or later, you’ll be able to entice someone to buy and ever so often you’ll uncover a true fan in the process.

It’s simple, but most people over-complicate it or fail at following through. Besides having an enticing freebie and getting people to find your optin page in the first place – the key is your auto-responder sequence and how will it works to develop a relationship with your subscribers while soft selling other products in your catalog.

For those who think this model won’t work – try it. You’ll be surprised how much sway a word like FREE has when it comes to internet music marketing. Once people know that they have nothing to lose but their email, and that they can unsubscribe at any time – even immediately after downloading their freebie – they often warm up to the idea; their curiosity gets them to take the required action.

So with 2011 just around the corner and the lingering spirit of giving still in the air – you could do worse than to get this business model working for your band.You’ll need to put some thought into it and do your best to entice the fans that you want to attract, this may be different for each genre music so it’s definitely not a one-size-fits-all mold that you just slap together.

This is not a new idea, it’s been working online for many years and shouldn’t break anytime soon. You might as well get your online music marketing up to speed and prove it for yourself!

With the new year just around the corner, right now may be the perfect time to gift yourself the New Music Economy training by Greg Rollet. I gave the course a favourable review several months ago, and if you happened to miss out on the recent Music Marketing Manifesto 2.0 launch – the New Music Economy video training is an alternative that offers solid training and information at a lower price point.

Since it’s the season of giving, I’m going to match the bonuses that I offered for the Music Marketing Manifesto 2.0 launch:

Bonus #1: How to Make Money By Giving Away Your Music For Free
This is a short and straight-to-the-point report with some cutting edge strategies on how to earn money while giving away free mp3s.

Bonus #2: WordPress Installation Guide + Training Videos
This is a product that I haven’t launched yet and walks you through the process of setting up your own blog/website using the amazing (and free) WordPress platform. This will show you how to setup and host your own website and set it up so that it’s optimized to ‘play nice’ with Google and the other search engines. This comes with a 20+ page PDF manual along with 7 videos that walk you through the initial setup phase and setting up a theme for your site.

Bonus #2.5 The $3/month DIY Band Website
This short and sweet no-fluff report will give you all the resources you need to build a website and save as much as $206 versus the leading musician webhosting service. This info alone ***if you follow it*** will save you more than what you invest on the New Music Economy training!

Bonus #3 Blogging Guide for Musicians (unreleased)
Blogging is an essential way to promote your band  – this guide will cover what you need to know to start driving traffic to your site by using a blog. I cover keyword research, which blogs to consider using and how to leverage all the features of a blog to squeeze as much traffic from the search engines as possible.

Bonus #4 Blog Monetizing Strategies for Musicians (unreleased)
Have a blog already? I’m going to share an alternative income stream (besides selling your own Mp3s and CDs) that can help offset your online costs. More money coming in is never a bad thing, and using this strategy along with the Blogging Guide for Musicians can lead to recurring money between CD releases.

Bonus #5 Lifetime Updates to bonuses 1-4 plus extra added videos tips.
That’s right, as long as you remain on my special list available to only those who purchase the Music Marketing Manifesto 2.0, you’ll get unlimited updates to the above mentioned products. Which is cool, because I have a lot more WordPress training to create. In this case the lifetime equals how long you remain on the list (don’t worry, it’ll only be used to deliver updates on my products to you) or as long as I continue to run the Indie Band Alliance.com.

Lastly, you can keep all of these bonuses even if you decide to refund your New Music Economy purchase! How’s that for a deal?

How to get these sweet New Music Economy bonuses

I’m going to limit this  bonus offer to the first 15 people who buy the New Music Economy through my link. You’ll be asked to send me a copy of the receipt you get from Clickbank to verify that you did  purchase the New Music Economy – once I verify this, I’ll add you to my super secret list and start sending you the first two bonuses, with the unreleased bonuses to follow later this month. You’ll get a confirmation email along with instructions on how to get your freebies within 48 hours of sending me your receipt.

Remember, these bonuses will remain yours even if you choose to get a refund on the New Music Economy – but I highly doubt you will!

Follow these steps:

• Step 1: Purchase the New Music Economy through my link
• Step 2: Send me your receipt info indicating that you paid for the New Music Economy by using my contact form here with “New Music Economy” in the subject.
• Step 3: Email instructions will be mailed to you within 48 hours with further instructions.

So if you feel like treating yourself for Christmas and giving your music a chance to explode into 2011 – do yourself a favour and pick up the New Music Economy and get all my bonuses for no extra charge!

Happy Holidays from the Indie Band Alliance!

P.S. I’m limiting this special offer to only 15 copies or until January 3rd – whichever comes first! If you snooze…you lose!

A few weeks back I wrote about the Music Marketing Manifesto 1.0 by John Oszajca, little did I know that he’d be releasing 2.0 so shortly thereafter.  In case you’ve been away from your computer all week, John’s been releasing a ton of excellent material for diy musicians this week in anticipation of the release of the Music Marketing Manifesto 2.0!

Let me start out by saying that this isn’t a review of the Music Marketing Manifesto 2.0 – because it hasn’t been released yet. However, I’ve been following the launch very closely and had the chance to take a sneak peak ‘behind the curtain’ so-to-speak at what John will be unleashing upon the public on Monday. I’ll share some of what I discovered in the Music Marketing Manifesto 2.0 preview in this article.

In my review of the Music Marketing Manifesto, I stated that I thought it was loaded with great information for a beginner, but the fact that there wasn’t any video training or specifics behind John’s particular success as a former major label artist turned indie-entrepreneur had me recommend that those more familiar with online marketing might want to look elsewhere.

From what I’ve seen – John has answered the call with Music Marketing Manifesto 2.0. This time instead of getting a PDF with great training, John has built a private members-only site chocked full of video training on topics like Twitter (which was barely a blip on the radar when Music Marketing Manifesto was released two years ago). He has four main modules that cover the strategy, mechanics, traffic and communication aspects of John’s online music promotion techniques.

Each module has several lessons that focus on a particular aspect in detail – for instance the traffic module goes into detail on Twitter, Facebook and plus three other sources of traffic that’ll help fans discover your music. There’s also a bonus module that covers CD Baby Secrets along with two other cutting edge topics that I’m going to keep quiet on (not sure how much of this stuff John wants be to reveal before the launch and I don’t want to steal his thunder!). These are deep lessons as well, for instance in Lesson #5 alone there are six videos 10 – 20 minutes each worth of training!

Again, I haven’t had the chance to go through the training videos myself at this time, but I feel confident recommending investing in the Music Marketing Manifesto 2.0 based on the quality of the material John has already released on the prelaunch. He’s given away the basic video blue print behind his online music marketing strategy, a squeeze page template worth more than $250 and a video teaching how to set it up. Lastly, just yesterday he released the video case study he did with Billy Burke – a debut artist with the #1 sales day record at CDbaby – who had John working with him behind the scenes to make the launch of his first CD a major success.

John’s offering the techniques, strategy, tools and more in a variety of formats; video, audio and pdf, so the Music Marketing Manifesto 2.0 is definitely a content-rich, one stop solution for those who want to get their music in front of as many people online as possible.

John is keeping the cost close to his vest at this point in time, but it’s definitely going to be a high value offer. If you’ve watched any of the pre-launch videos he’s released this week, you can tell that John knows what he’s talking about.

For all of these reasons, I’m endorsing the launch of the Music Marketing Manifesto 2.0 to my visitors here at the Indie Band Alliance. Not only is John offering in-depth, content-rich training that goes beyond what he offered with the Music Marketing 1.0 – there’s also a 60 day money back guarantee offered through Clickbank – so if for any reason you’re not satisfied with the product…just get your money back!

There will only be a limited amount of people let into the membership training for Music Manifesto 2.0 – so if you want to sit on the fence about whether you want to sign up, you’ll risk losing your space to those who are ready to get their hands on John’s training right away.

That’s all that I have to say right now about MMM 2.0, if you haven’t checked out the pre-launch content that’s on offer right now – I urge you to do so before it goes offline. If what John is teaching sounds like a good fit for your situation right now – go ahead and pull the trigger for the Music Marketing Manifesto 2.0 – there’s no risk to you and spaces are limited.

Music Marketing Manifesto 2.0 Price Revealed!!!

Update – John announced today (Dec 5th, 2010) that the Music Marketing Manifesto 2.0 will be consist of multi-media training delivered via an exclusive membership site for a one time price of $97. Not only that, but there will continue to be new content modules added and John himself with interact and answer questions in the comment area below each lesson.

Looking for  a Music Marketing Manifesto 2.0 Bonus? Check out what I put together for those who choose to purchase MMM 2.0 through my link.