Congrats! You’re On The Inside.
Welcome to the Music Marketing Insider Circle! Please watch the introductory video below to get up to speed.
In short, the Insider Circle was created to kick things up a notch and take Music Marketing Manifesto to the next level.
While Music Marketing Manifesto teaches you the fundamentals of marketing, driving traffic, and creating a sales funnel, the Insider Circle will be teach you additional ADVANCED strategies, and keep you on the cutting edge of this rapidly changing industry.
I hope to make this your one-stop-shop for music marketing intelligence, training, and networking.
But always remember, there are no magic bullets out there people. Every artist is different and results will vary significantly. By following the strategies discussed in the Insider Circle you are not guaranteed any specific income or results.
That being said, everything discussed here is the REAL DEAL, and this stuff really does work. So get to it!
I’ll see you in the forum!
– John
Hi everyone, I’m Hank Down.
I have just connected up with MMM which appears to be a very unifying comprehensive approach to selling music or for any online business ventures.
I am a multi medium artist, Musician, Painter, Sculpturist and Author. I am operating under two alias names, one being Hank Down and the other Bent Straightly.
Hank Down is primarily my musician name and Bent Straightly for books and paintings etc…
I have created a genre of music that I call ‘Twisted Gospel’, a mix of folk, country and blues with my central theme being focused on consciousness, awareness of what it is being human, spirit having a physical experience, often dark and satirical and equally positive.
I am in the process of recording three to five albums I have created over the last twenty years, which will be available for sale in the next couple of months. I look forward to connecting and sharing with everyone involved with MMM.
Deep gratitude to John Oszajca for sharing his work with us and being personally involved. My partner, wife, soul mate, Anna will be doing most of the communicating and marketing work as I really need to stay in the studio for I have so much work to do in music, painting and writing.
A new journey begins in this never-ending journey together? All the best love and truth to everyone. Hank Down and Anna
Hi Hank,
Welcome to the Insider Circle. Please take a moment to introduce yourself in the forum and please enjoy the content.
Let us know if we can ever help with anything.
Hi Guys, Just joined and would like to introduce myself. My name is Peter Harper. I am a musician, sound engineer and producer. Previously I was printing corporate audio and a year ago turned independent. I now own and run a very cool hi end recording studio in the beautiful Scottish countryside. Ayrshire to be exact.
I am looking forward to getting on with the course. I play and produce in a band called ‘Up In Smoke’, have recorded other great local talent as well as a cool studio chillstep project called ‘Drunken Monkey’.
My challenge will be to succeed in marketing the band, studio and label so I expect to be burning the midnight oil for a while 🙂 I’d like to thank John for all your hard work to put this together, it’s exactly what I’ve been looking for and I’m looking forward to being an active part of the community.
Peace and best wishes for 2016!
Peter
LCRecordings.com
@_LCRecordings
Hi Peter,
Welcome to the Insider Circle. We hope you enjoy the members area and please make yourself familiar with the forums.
Let us know if we can ever help with anything.
HEY Y’ALL!! Names KYIRIM .. just signed up today! Excited. I’ve been thinking of signing up for about 8 – 9 months now.. i just didnt have time to focus on new material to study.
Brief history: been rapping for 13 years now. Released 5 studio albums. Been on 2 tours.. Hardly have made any $$ with it tho.. but the rides been fun.. lol
Figured I’ve been doing something wrong… & its time to buckle up.
This is me: http://www.soundcloud.com/kyirim
Latest Music Video: https://youtu.be/70QKqmXaYpM
Peace!
Hi KYIRIM,
Welcome to the Insider Circle! We hope you enjoy the content and we look forward to seeing you in the forum.
Let us know if we can ever help with anything.
FxPro: The broker announced the suspension of all CHF trading.
Hello everyone! I hope everyone is having an awesome Thanksgiving Day!
My name is George Arriola and I am from El Paso, Texas. I thought I would try this site out. I was given the gift for the love of music since the age of four. I love plating several instruments, singing, composing, recording and producing. I enjoy composing instrumental music and instrumental rock. Also, I enjoy composing songs about God, the gospel, family and a love song here and there. I just started a Kickstarter campaign also so if you wish to check that out you can visit my website at:
http://www.georgearriolamusic.weebly.com
My hope is that this site will be a good guide for me to get more people to hear my music especially since I don’t play live show anymore and hopefully enjoy my music but I hope I can also maybe be of some help to theres in any way I can.
Thank you and God Bless!
George Arriola Music
Hi George,
Welcome to the Insider Circle. We hope you had a great Thanksgiving as well.
Please get yourself familiar with the forum and we hope you enjoy all of the monthly content.
Let us know if we can ever help with anything.
Hello! My name is Konstantin. I’m from Russia. Making chill out electronic music.
Also I’m making websites, but I love music more. So this is the main reason, why I’m here :)))
John and Steve, thank you for your amazing projects! :))
Hi Konstantin,
Welcome to the Insider Circle. It’s great to have you here and we’re happy to see your enthusiasm about the program.
Enjoy the content and feel free to get familiar with the forum.
Let us know if we can ever help along the way.
Thank you! :))
This is a pretty elementary question but I need some help with it. When delivering albums to customers what is the best format to deliver the files? MP4? MP3? Zipped wav? I’m pretty computer illiterate so please forgive my ignorance. Thanks!
Hi Alex,
Steve here from support.
In reality you could use any of the above formats. Just make sure you zip them, so that they actually download, rather than just beginning to play in the browser.
We typically just recommend because it is still the most widely recognized sound file type and compatible with most of the existing players out there.
Let us know if we can ever help with anything else.
Hey!
Thankful and excited to John and his team for creating this community. I’m here to work hard. I would be glad to network with anyone to offer feedback. I am an accomplished marketer and businessman, who transitioned from real estate (13 years) into music full time as of one year ago. If you are still reading, here are my specific target concerns with my particular brand/offer:
1. Does my sound (www.JustinCross.com/Music) have a niche enough sound to isolate what type of demographic I should target? It’s Indie-Pop I think.
2. I only have 10 songs, split up over 3 EP’s, so how should I craft the initial offer on the sales page (offer 7 songs for $6.95) and then include the other 4 songs for $9.95 for the ‘Limited time offer’?
3. I need help with my core story/sale page approach. I actually have a very interesting story, but i don’t know what to focus on with the issue tied to question #1?
Can’t wait to help wherever I can, and join the inner circle success! My best to you all!
Justin C. Cross
http://www.JustinCross.com
Hi Justin,
Welcome to Insider Circle!
I took a listen to your songs and I there are more than enough pop elements there to safely assume that you can tap into a market for your music.
As far as how to package your material, you might lead with a one song from each EP as your free content, then offer a full EP as your initial product, then offer a bundle of the other two EPs as your upsell.
Fleshing out your story can be tough. You might consider starting a forum post to get some insight there.
Let us know if we can ever help with anything as well.
Hey thanks so much for responding. I’ll definitely follow up on this advice. Thanks!
Hi Everyone,
I’m a Lead singer in a progressive/Southern Gospel Trio. I just released my first solo project and am looking for tools to boost my CD sales. I just completed my sales funnel and have launched my campaign. I have had some success driving traffic but haven’t seen any sales yet. I need to tweek my funnel a bit to start getting the sales end working. Looking forward to learning and applying the proven techniques in this forum.
Hi Phillip,
Welcome to the Insider Circle and congratulations on getting your sales funnel up and running.
If you are not yet seeing sales, but are having success with driving traffic and converting it into subscribers, then keep an eye on your email messages’ open and click rates. That will give you clues as to where your funnel might be breaking down.
Sometimes something as simple as a different subject line can really boost an email’s open rate.
Let us know how you are making out, or if we can ever help with anything along the way.
Thanks, I’ll work on that
Hi Everyone
I’m Nick Studholme, I’m a guitarist in a corporate/covers band by day, but I’m currently branching out into selling my own music. Which is studio based Electronica in a similar style to Orbital, Boards of Canada and Air.
I’ve just completed MMM 3.0 and very much looking forward to driving some traffic and adding some much needed fine tuning to my sales funnel.
Hi Nick,
Welcome to The Insider Circle. Really happy to hear that you’ve completed your MMM funnel and are ready to move into more advanced strategies to help you see it’s effectiveness.
Enjoy the monthly calls and lessons, but be sure to use the forums any time you need a little feedback on your marketing.
Let us know if we can ever help as well.
Who am I? How did I get here? Hi John, well I’m off to the races with MMM.3. I’m very much looking forward to this, so thanks in advance.
Hi David,
Welcome to Insider Circle! Enjoy the content and make you sure you check out the forum as well.
Let us know if we can ever help at all.
Hello everyone,
I’m a bass player, songwriter, booking guy, tour manger, promotions guy for our band in S Texas. Guy with many hats…..Looking for new strategies for a new album next year and maybe try to sale some old albums as well. Looking forward to being here.
Hi Damon,
Welcome to the Insider Circle. It’s great to have you here.
As you can see there’s plenty of content. We hope you enjoy it and make the most of it. Don’t hesitate to start a thread in the forum, if you have any questions, or would like some feedback on your marketing.
Let us know if we can ever help at all as well.
Hi I have studied the fb training for ads and have a good result so far ,from all the people who have liked me, can I then message them ( how do I do this)and invite to my squeeze page, that’s how I gt their email addresses is it. I am enjoying the studying and have lots of plans.
Louieze
Hi Louieze,
Steve here from support. I guess you could do that, but then it might make more sense to use Facebook ads to drive visitors directly to the squeeze page, instead of running ads for the sake of just getting “likes”.
You’ll find that you really can’t do anything with a “like”, other than feel good about it. Plus having to manually message everyone who lies you, just sounds like a lot of work. While most people will definitely appreciate the personal touch, you can streamline the whole thing by sending people to the squeeze page, from the ad itself.
Let us know if we can ever help with anything else.
Thank you I will cheers
Hello everybody,
I am from the UK city of Bristol,
I am a songwriter singer and produce my own songs I haven’t actually finished recording my album or done any videos but want to learn and be ready. I plan to go to the shop tomorrow as I am ill in bed today, and buy a fat hard back book to take notes I am looking forward to learning and promoting my music from stratch I am totally unknown at the moment so have no fans I am looking forward to learning how to get fans and make sales.
Hi Louise,
Welcome to the insider Circle! It’s good to have you here. Enjoy the content and feel free to start a thread in the forums, whenever you need some help, or just want some feedback.
Let us know if we can ever help at all.
Hi! I’m George Lower a folk artist from Florida. I’m working hard to release my debut folk album “Sunshine State of Mind.” It is great to be here and I hope to learn a lot about marketing. I’ve spent the money to make and have not compromised in either songwriting or production for this album…time for some ROI.
Welcome George!
Thanks for getting started with the Insider Circle. As you can see, there is a lot of content here, so we hope you enjoy it.
Let us know if we can ever help with anything else.
Hello everyone! My name is Shai. Rhymes with pie. I make rock music. The goal is a mix of Weezer and Katy Perry. Fun catchy pop that gives you triumphant feelings deep down. Here’s a link to my previous band: hugeface.bandcamp.com. I’m excited to join this community and learn new strategies! See you around!
Shai
Hi Shai,
Welcome to the Insider Circle! It’s good to have you here. Please enjoy all of the previous and current lessons, as well as getting yourself familiar with the forum.
Let us know if we can ever help with anything.
Very excited to be here. I’m a singer/songwriter in Portland, OR (online at pdxdaemon.com) and am back to busking on the streets and playing smaller gigs to break in new material.
I’m here to learn more about the business of music, to connect with other artists to see what’s working for them, and to make sure I’m not leaving any stone unturned when it comes to growing my business.
Hi Maria,
Welcome to Insider Circle! It’s good to have you here.
As you can see there are plenty of resources here in the members area, but feel free to visit the forum and start your own thread if you every want anyone’s feedback or input.
Let us know if we can ever help as well.
I am a long time original recording artist (20+ years) living in the vast expanse of Western Canada. I took the MMM course back in December of 2013 during my first stretch of life as a stay at home dad. In January my band was already experimenting with it and by the fall we were using it very effectively to promote a new album throughout 2014. Even though we still have a certain level of publicity management working for us and a distribution deal, I can’t say it enough – branding and expensive advertising make you look famous, but DON’T sell albums!!!
John has repeatedly asked me over the last year “you’re in the insider circle, right?” to which I always answered “well, no…” so here I am at last. I am also very hungry for knowledge on how to further tweak MMM strategies in the new internet of 2015 (our sales websites were set up in Dec/Jan 2013, things have changed).
Look forward most of all to partaking in discussions, we’ve got a lot of MMM experience under under our belts!
Hey Xerxes,
Happy to see you here! Thanks for picking up the membership.
Lots to go through, so enjoy it and please let us know if we can ever help at all. See you in forums!
Peace and Love to the MMM family! I’ve been moving kind of slow with the material, yet the wheels have been turning, and finally finished my album and ready to construct my squeeze page and put it into action. The question that I would like to ask concerns in putting together a kickstarter page or a Gofund me page to raise some capital to give my campaign the boost that it needs. How would I go about putting either one together? Which one would give me the best results?
Hi Terrance,
Steve here from support. Thanks for picking up the Insider Circle membership and welcome to the members area. I’ll have to double check with John to see if we have nay content regarding crowd-funding.
However it’s usually best to think of those platforms as sales platforms, where you are essentially pre-selling copies of your album, rather than just trying to raise funds. In other words, rather than just asking for help, you’re actually making an offer and letting people essentially vote with their money to get a project finished that they would like to actually own. If that makes sense.
Again though, I’ll check with John and see if we can point you to some content.
Thanks for your patience in the meantime.
Thank you for your input. If you find anything please let me know.
Hey Terrance, I have no issue at all with a crowd funding campaign, the only thing to remember is that crowd funding is really no different than asking for a sale. So the only way you will have a successful crowd funding campaign is if you have a list (or a base of some kind) to lean on for support. So it becomes potentially odd to ask a base you don’t have to support you so you can build a base. You know what I mean? Whether you go about using Kickstarter as a sales platform or you take orders from your website in the traditional way, your first goal is to build up that email list (aka fan base) so you have some people to request support from.
I understand where you are coming from. I already have a product for sale, and trying to sell my album is the same as trying to raise funds to produce future works. I have to build a fan base from the ground up, and when I have dedicated followers of my music then I can raise funds for future upcoming projects. Thanks John!
Hey Guys,
I know this might be a rudimentary question to be asking in this forum, but do you have a way to tell whether or not a user has downloaded the 4 free songs? I mean, is there an app that you use that tells you who actually clicked on the download 4 free songs link?
Thanks,
Gene
Hi Gene,
While you really can’t tell whether or not someone actually downloaded, you can track whether or not people have clicked the link to download, via Aweber’s link tracking feature.
Essentially, you can run a segment of your list, to see which people clicked that link in your first email. If that number is less than your total subscribers, then a few people have not clicked the link.
Not much you can do about it though.
Let us know if we can ever help with anything else.
Hi folks,
I’m a singer/songwriter from Sydney and I’m excited to be a part of this community! Did MMM 3.0 earlier this year, and have been converting sign-ups to customers at around 20% (even more are buying on iTunes, but I can’t track those so well!). Still having trouble breaking even at the front end of the funnel (ads and squeeze pages), but very optimistic about where it’s headed, and excited to be in conversation with others on a similar journey. Forging a music career in Sydney has been more “impossible” than “difficult”. It’s wonderful at last to be seeing my efforts turn into results! So thank you John and team!
Rachel
Hi Rachel,
Welcome to Insider Circle! Really happy to hear that you have been having some success with MMM 3.0.
Are you really converting subscribers to customers at 20%? That’s outstanding.
Let us know if we can ever help with anything.
Hey John and gang! I’m Joseph, I’ve been through the MMM3.0 course and loved it. I’ve been soaking up some serious books and advice the past while, and I figured this was the next step. Can’t wait to learn more. It was great talking to you John 2 years ago (2 years already, wow) and excited to be back “in the loop.”
If anyone’s curious, I’m a solo rock artist Vitne (www.Vitne.net) as well as a member of the Charleston, SC band Gölden Palace (www.GoldenPalaceBand.com)
Hi Joseph,
Thanks for picking up the Insider circle membership. It’s good to have you here.
Enjoy all of the content and the forums. Please let us know if we can ever help with anything along the way.
Hello, I play a few instruments, drums, guitar, bass, vocals but am singer/songwriter for my band Awful Normals. Purchased the MMM about a year ago and still working on perfecting that with the marketing. Seems like I will always be chopping away at trying to market music along with writing. I live in Orange County CA. I have bought a few music mentor programs and had some good and bad experience with it. Just got a passion for music and willing to do what it takes to be able to make it happen!
Thanks,
Blake
Hi Blake,
Welocme to Insider Circle and thanks for picking up the membership.
Yes, marketing is one of those things that should always going on in the background, so that you have an audience for when you’re finished writing and ready to release something new.
Let us know if we can ever help and we look forward to seeing you n the forums.
Hello all,
My is TyLean. I’m an American-born, British citizen living in Valencia, Spain. I just finished MMM 3.0, and I wanted to join the Insider’s Circle, because I need all the help I can get! I’ve been in the music business since before I could legally drive a car, so it’s second nature to me really… but being an Avant-Garde artist, it has been a constant uphill battle all the same. I pride myself on my most alienating work… needless to say, my music is a damn hard sell!
Hi TyLean,
Welcome to the Insider circle. Happy you decided to join. Enjoy the content. As you can see there’s plenty here.
Let us know if we can ever help and feel free to use the forums as well.
Hey Folks –
Singer songwriter living in Gloucester, MA fighting the good fight to play some good music, make some friends, and perhaps sell a few more CDs. Now can anyone tell me why I can sign in to my WP account myself but when I try to do so through Gravatar I cannot? I’d sure like to see my smiling mug up here.
Hi Eric,
Steve here from support. Thanks for picking up Insider Circle and welcome!
With Gravatar, is the image in Gravatar set for the email address you are using on this site? If not, login to your Gravatar and set up a pic for the email address you are currently using.
Thanks again and let us know if we can ever help with anything else.
I’ve gone through the entire music marketing manifesto course before checking out the forum. One thing that I did not see addressed is this. How realistic is it that music fans in this day age would actually buy your music. There are very well know acts like Radiohead and Nine Inch Nails etc… who give away their CDs for free. Would it not be a more sound marketing idea to give away way your entire catalog right out of the gate in order to build your fan list? Once you can hook them with a “shock and awe” package with all your music, videos, hand written lyric sheet, audio commentary on your CD, interviews etc… you would have created a more solid relationship directly out of the gate with them. Thoughts?
Lou –
I’ve thought about this but I’m afraid that for us indie “unknown” artists, giving everything away free makes it appear valueless. With major label acts, they have the “stamp of approval” if you will b/c they’re major label acts and they other streams of income. I certainly believe giving away a few tracks can accomplish the same thing. My $0.02 anyway.
Hi Eric,
Steve here. I agree, for the most part. You definitely want to keep people wanting more. That’s a huge part of what makes this direct response approach so effective. Through your relationship-building process, it’s important to hint about your upcoming (or current) release and start to build up interest and desire in people to want to own it. Couple that with a limited-time offer, or some other selling trigger and you can have a ton of influence over that person’s decision to buy, once you make the offer.
If you give it all away, all the value has already been stripped out because in this day and age, whether we like it or not, music is a disposable medium. No reason to make it a completely cheap throw-away. Deciding to sell it, but actually having a process for selling it and effectively selling it, is a way to take your power back, despite the current norm.
Let us know if we can ever help with anything else.
Hi Lou,
Steve here from support. Welcome to the members area!
This is an interesting question. I totally recall when Radiohead let people name their own price for their “In Rainbows” Album, a few years back. A lot of people thought that was the death knell for the indie artists because how could any struggling indie compete with that? However there was an important lesson in there which I think gets overlooked.
At that time, Radiohead didn’t even need radio to sell a platinum album. The reason was that they had such a huge fan base that not only loved them, but heralds them pretty much as legends. So when they have something new, they’ve already got such a large audience that they’re still going to make a killing off of by letting people name their own price. People love them so much, that they’ll buy anything they put out, at any price.
Let’s translate this lesson for the indie artist. If you have a large enough fan base, you are going to sell. The only variable is how well are you going to sell? If you are going to tip the scale, so to speak, on the free offer, you at least want to make sure you still have something to sell at the end of the day. So sure, you can load up the boat for the free offer and people will appreciate that, but if you give away everything, no one will ever buy anything (because there’s nothing left to buy).
With John’s approach to selling, you are using the free offer to give people want they want anyway. What you get in return is the opportunity to keep your music and message in front of people, by way of email. This gives you an in to build a ton of influence over someone’s decision to buy your music (instead of some other artist’s).
So if you want to use all of your previous material to earn subscribers, you’ll likely be successful with that, but you’ll also be successful by reserving your latest, or upcoming release for actual sale to the large list that you accumulate. I agree that people will likely love you if you’ve hooked them up, but be sure to leave them wanting more.
Having a ton of adoring fans can make you feel alive, but actually selling to them can make you a living. You deserve that, don’t you?
Let us know if we can ever help with anything else.
Hello all.
We are a small independent record label, formed primarily for the release of Carmen Rubino solo releases. We are the team of John Barcelona, Producer, Engineer, Artist and musician, and Carmen Rubino, musician and composer. We have released our first album “Aquarian Dream”, released November 27th, 2014. We have already completed airplay campaigns, and the record is now into distributorship. This is a New Age, Neo-Classical genre release, with a hint of Progressive. The record has won Best Contemporary Instrumental Album of 2014, at the One World Music Awards, on One World Radio, based in London. However, sales have been sluggish, and we are eager to put together an effective marketing plan. All of the groundwork has been laid. We are on all popular music sites, and CD Baby, as well as distribution into brick and mortar stores. So I am guessing our aim is going to be a bit different than most of you, whereas, we would like to find out how to make best use of our “existing weapons” so to speak. Great to be here and hopefully this will be beneficial for us all!
John Barcelona & Carmen Rubino
Hi John and Carmen,
Welcome to the Insider Circle. I’m sure you’ll find plenty here that is relevant to your particular situation. Feel free to use the forums as well, if you ever need any insight on something you’re doing with your marketing.
Let us know if we can ever help with anything as well.
Hi John, hope you are doing fine, I enjoyed the couching call today. How dto I turn on the setting that ensures I get an email informing me that someone has replied to my comments on the insider circle dashboard. Please can someone email me at jesse@jessewilde.com with the answer to this question because I don’t check the insider circle dashboard everyday. Regards, Jesse
Hi Jesse,
Steve here. We have sent you an email with some details about getting notifications from the site.
John,
Again, thank you so much for making this information available. I am a Project Based Learning Educator in Philadelphia & I integrate my love of music & recording into every project that I design. I am also an artist, I rap in spanish & english, I produce my own tracks for hip hop & raggaeton music. I can’t wait to learn your methods & execute them. I see a number of monthly lessons going back for some time, is there a particular one that you recommend I start with?
Frank-B
Hi Frankie,
Thanks for picking up an Insider Circle membership. Welcome! No, there’s no particular lesson your should start with, however I do recommend getting your MMM funnel in place and then perhaps deciding which lessons seem to fit best with what you have planned.
Although it’s always a good practice to download the most recent lesson, so that you have it. As new lessons are released the previous ones are no longer downloadable.
Let me know if I can ever help with anything else.
Im in! Getting to workNOW! Hi Guys!
Hi Widmark,
Welcome to the Insider Circle! As you can see there’s plenty here to go through.
Feel free to use the forums if you have any questions, or would like some feedback on your marketing at all.
Let us know if we can ever help with anything as well.
Hey John and MMM Staff,
My name is David and my artist name is Dave Show. I do a solo project where I sing and play keyboard. My genre is alternative rock, but I throw in aspects of other styles on top of it. My main squeeze page is at http://www.daveshowmusic.com
I went through the entire MMM 3.0 program. I’ve got a sales funnel in place, but not a lot of content. I only have two albums that I recorded in my house and I’m selling one of them for $5. I don’t have my limited time offer set up because I don’t have any great reason for it yet. I’ve just got a couple blog posts and a bunch of videos hoping to charm people into liking me haha!
So far my site has been up for about a month and I’ve gotten 2 people to submit their email address for the free download and get all my automated emails. I get 2 web site clicks per day from my facebook ad which has a budget of $1 a day.
Those 2 people signed up on the very first day I ran my ad. A few days went by and nobody else signed up, so I started messing with my squeeze page without having any real data as to what works and what not, so I recently changed it back to a similar version of what it was on that first day. If ya’ll could critique it, I’d certainly appreciate it.
The only other ways right now that I am trying to drive traffic is by changing my twitter name to daveshowmusic.com and posting on Pearl Jam’s forum, which allows links. Neither has converted and neither one of the two people that opted in on that first day made a purchase after receiving and opening 92% of my emails.
One thing that makes me self conscious is the fact that John mentioned a few times in the program that people don’t want to buy from some guy in his basement. They want to support real artists that are out there with a supporting cast and a lot of social proof. Well, I feel like I’m the guy in his basement. I don’t try to hide it as I sing about how hard it is to leave the house.
Howard Stern asked Kid Rock, “How do you make it big in the music business? Is it about who you know?” and he answered, “Just write a great song.” That’s what I endeavor to do. How do you feel about that? Here’s my sales page: http://www.daveshowmusic.com/introversion/
I look forward to checking things out over here. Thank you for existing.
Dave
Hi David,
Steve here.
Actually I think your squeeze page is pretty good. While I like the idea of using song descriptions, I think they would be more powerful if they were described by someone else, as means for some social proof. You mentioned being the guy in the basement, but that shouldn’t stop you from trying to get honest reviews. It doesn’t have to be from high-profile sources either. It just has to be something that shows your visitors that others have had a favorable experience with your music. You could simply ask your friends to perhaps tweet something about your music, then you could screenshot those tweets and paste them in place of where the testimonials would go.
I also checked out your sales page and the one thing that jumped out at me is the headline. While you are selling a “download”, the idea of a download doesn’t really inspire people to take action. What inspires them is the experience they will get from listening to the download. You seem to have done this on your squeeze page, so it shouldn’t be too tough for you to make this tweak on your sales page headline as well.
Let us know if we can ever help with anything else.
Hey John,
I’ve been listening to your Podcast for a while now and have finally decided to take the plunge into the MMM 3.0 course…and nice job on the up-sell into the Insider Circle! Lol!
I perform with my wife, singer-songwriter Jackie Pock (www.jackiepock.com) and we recently relocated to Texas from Seattle.
We’re lucky enough to be in a situation now, where I can work full time on the booking and business side of things for us and so I’m all yours man!
Thanks so much for all of the incredible content that you have out there on your podcasts and website! I’ve learned so much from you already and I’m really looking forward to diving into this material and taking our career to the next level!
Hi Brandon,
Welcome to the Insider Circle! Thanks for taking the upsell. They definitely work a measurable and predictable precentage of the time, which is why I use them and recommend that artists do as well, to help increase the potential for ROI and for making ad campaigns profitable.
I hope you enjoy the members area and feel free to use the forums if you want to get some feedback on your marketing.
Let me know if I can ever help at all.
My ad agency just told me my previously approved Facebook ad became not approved by Facebook and the reason Facebook provided to the agency was that “page traps” (what we’re calling exit pops) are not allowed. The exit pops are a big reason my conversions are working and it was a feature that took me literally weeks to get working because I had to find a decent plugin that actually functioned correctly, so I’m unwilling to give it up.
I’m at the point of saying forget about ads on Facebook (ever again, after spending over $1,000 on them over the last five years, and without the album sales to recover the money spent) and focus solely on making paid tweets work. What say the purveyors of the Music Marketing Manifesto?
Hi Dairenn,
Steve here from support. Yeah, unfortunately Facebook makes the rules with regard to their ad platform.
That said, I don’t see how using an exit pop script constitutes a page trap. Unless of course there’s some feature on the script that doesn’t allow a person to leave without closing the window. If a person can leave the page, simply by clicking the option on the dialogue box, then I don’t see how it’s a page trap. Worth looking further into.
That said, a good squeeze page shouldn’t need an exit pop for conversions. If you are properly targeting traffic, the page should convert on the strength of the free offer.
Also, if you are not seeing sales, that would indicate a problem with your funnel, not so much a problem with Facebook ads. If you look into your funnel statistics (email open and click rates), it should be very clear where the disconnect is.
Look into your numbers and see what needs improving.
Let us know what you find.
Hi Steve,
Naturally, it’s FB’s platform so FB gets to make the rules but you’re right. An exit pop is not a “page trap” because you can just click the X to close out the popup and be on your way.
This is a problem because I am depending on Facebook ads to drive traffic to the site. I paid 2 different SEO guys to take care of the backlinking that was described in the program but is too time consuming for me deal with, and, right now, there’s no traffic coming in from that. All of the hits I ever received were from the Facebook ads, while it was up. So in this case, the lack of sales does have less to do with the funnel and more to do with ads and SEO because my daily page hits were 3 human visitors per day and, with the ad, it climbed up to about 20. Granted, that means I should have been getting 2 subscribers per day but I actually received just one in the last month.
If the traffic gets up to that 300 human visitors a day level that the program describes, and I’m still seeing bad numbers like 4 subscribers a month, then, I’ll likely hire a squeeze page content/design person to experiment with the look and feel until it converts better and the subscription numbers come up. But right now, the slow traffic is my bigger issue. Perhaps I need to pay a better SEO person, but, I don’t have a whole lot of $ to spend on someone better than the folks I could find on Fiverr.
Hi Dairenn,
Steve here. If you are not getting subscribers, then the problem is both traffic related and squeeze page related. Is your squeeze page tailored to the type of visitor? I other words, you should have different squeeze pages for each targeted group, so that the conversation is consistent and relevant to the visitor.
Again though, sales numbers are a direct reflection of a problem within the funnel itself. You could have a squeeze page that converts very highly, but you won’t see sales if there’s a disconnect somewhere in your funnel. This where your Aweber open rates and click rates are useful. They will tell you the health of your funnel.
Also, what’s your squeeze page conversion rate?
Two thing to keep in mind are:
1) SEO is ever-changing. What worked last year might not work as well this year. You never know when the search engine is going to change it’s algorithm for ranking, so the best you can do is focus on on-page optimization for keywords, but also social backlinks and relevant content, so that people are inclined to share an article written about a topic that matches the keywords.
2) Free traffic strategies and SEO are long-term strategies, meaning you’ll have to continuousy crank out content, in hopes of picking a some visitors here and sme visitors there, until you’ve got enough content to pick up sustainable long-term traffic. Whereas Facebook ads are fast,direct traffic. The free traffic helps to offset your cost to acquire, so free and paid work hand in hand in that scenario.
Again though, if you are seeing a good conversion rate on the squeeze page, but are still lacking sales, then the problem is funnel-related.
Have you tried running ads to a version of the page that doesn’t have the exit pop?
Let us know if we can ever help with anything else.
Hi Alex muddy Smith here. Singer/Songwriter multi-instrumentalist.
Just wanted to say hi. Got most of my sales funnel set up and ready to start getting er done.
Interested in my music and other info, blog
http://alexmuddysmith.com
thanks
Muddy
Hello Alex,
welcome to The Insider Circle! Really happy to hear you’ve just about got your funnel set up. Great job.
Enjoy the content here. Hopefully we’ll see you in the forum a bit.
Let us know if we can ever help with anything.
I’m a singer-songwriter-producer based in Los Angeles, CA. You can hear my music here : http://soundcloud.com/michelevreeland Anyone going to NAMM this year? I’ve been running my own indie label for a while now, so I’m always looking for ways to market music DIY style.
Hi Michele,
Welcome to the Insider circle! There’s plenty to go through, regarding various aspects of your marketing. Please take the time to enjoy the content and feel free to start a forum thread if you ever need help, or just want some feedback with what you’re working on.
Let us know if we can ever help as well.
New hear. Can’t wait to learn some new tools.
Hello again,
I have a lot of work to do but I am excited to get started. I am looking forward to studding and putting to practice what I learn for MMM 3.0 and this insider circle.
Hi Brian,
Welcome to the Insider Circle. We hope you enjoy the membership and we look forward to seeing you in the forum too.
Let us know if we can ever help with anything at all.
I am ready to ge this started. #EXCITED!
Hi Widmark,
Welcome to the Insider Circle. As you can see, there is already a lot of content to go through here.
Be sure to visit the forums if you ever need help and don’t hesitate to start a new thread if you’re not finding answers to a specific question.
Let us know if we can ever help at all as well.
Hi-
I need to talk to someone about membership How would I do so?
Thanks
Dave
Hi Dave,
Steve here from support. Thanks for reaching out.
You can contact us about your membership at any time, by dropping us an email to support@www.mmmanifesto.com
We look forward to hearing from you.
I came across an article here (http://www.viperchill.com/squeeze-page-optimisation/) and it’s among two I’ve found advocating against the traditional squeeze page in favor of prettier squeeze pages that pitch the offer slightly differently. I don’t see anything radical in here to make me think about dumping the one I’ve painstakingly engineered, but I am concerned about getting over 1,400 hits a month and seeing no e-mail subscribers thus far. So I am looking for what the industry trends are on squeeze pages and how to improve them beyond merely the headline. I did the best I could to describe the experience a person is promised to have if they listen to my music but if at the end of the day, someone looks at the page and immediately goes away because of what it looks like, we’re going to have a problem.
Any advice on whether these new squeeze page trends are just a fad, or is–indeed–the wave of the future throwing up things like 3-10 minute videos and trying to pose headlines as potential “information gaps” that the audience will want to desparately close? How does that even make sense for selling music?
Your advice would be well appreciated.
Thank you.
Hi Darrien,
Steve here from support.
You know, this really depends on the context, as well as what’s being offered. Even on John’s squeeze page for the Music Marketing Blueprint video, he uses video to push opt-ins because what he is offering there is information-based and requires some “back-story” if you will, to connect with the target audience and let them know that they are in the right place.
That said, what John shares with regards to squeeze pages in the MMM 3.0 course is to give you a baseline squeeze page, as a starting place, with a design that has been proven to work, through real word testing.
If you feel strongly about using video or additional elements to help you better connect with your visitors, all you can really do is implement those features and test them.
Let us know how you make out, or if we can ever help with anything else.
Hello John,
I am Philip Adams, founder of PoPaBiLLy MuZic, LLC. I am a songwriter, music producer, and indie label owner. I have been writing and producing for over 30 years. I am the son-in-law of the late Johnny Cash and June Carter, widower of Rosey Carter. Looking forward to reviewing your information and putting it into practice with my own personal business/music objectives/visions.
Best Wishes,
Philip Adams
Hey Philip. Welcome to the IC. It’s great to have you here. While I haven’t spoken to her in a number of years, Tiffany Lowe is an old friend from both of our early days in Hollywood. That makes her your niece, is that correct? You talk to her often? If so, please say hi for me. Regardless, it’s great to have someone like yourself here in the group. Just let me know if I can ever help with anything.
All the best!
Hello again John, and thank you! Are you talking about Carlene’s daughter? Thank you again for your kind words!
Best Wishes to You as Well!
Hey Philip,
Yes, Carlene’s daughter if I’m no mistaken.
Cheers.
Hi John, hi all.
My name is Julius Lutero. Im in Perth, Western Australia. I released my debut full length album ‘Rise & Shine’ last year. I perform a lot around town with my trio The Julius Lutero Band. As well as teaching.
Really stoked to have signed up to this. Thanks so much John for making this information available. I think its awesome and I’m excited to get it all set up and start learning how it rolls. I think its an amazing opportunity and I’m very grateful you are sharing it.
Strum on from Jules.
🙂
Hi Julius,
Welcome to Insider circle. It’s good to have here as a member. As you can see there is a lot of content here to go through. Don’t hesitate to get involved in the forum as well.
Let me know if I can ever help with anything.
Hi John….Hi Everyone,
I am a singer/songwriter and Independent Artist from Smyrna,DE in the USA. Looking forward to meeting everyone and learning with you. I currently have a song out called “My Baby Girl” that is doing well across the country as the father/daughter dance song at weddings. Up ’till now, it’s growth has come exclusively from a YouTube video. I’m excited to learn strategies for nurturing this and growing my business beyond this one niche song. http://www.SolKnopf.com (I know….I know…I need a squeeze page! haha)
Hi Sol,
Welcome to the Insider Circle. We hope you get a lot out of the content. Feel free to start a thread in the forum, if you ever have questions, or want to share anything related to your marketing.
Let us know if we can ever help with anything.
Hello everybody, Soren Bebe here from Copenhagen. Jazz pianist, composer and owner of a small label. Just joined the insider circle and looking forward to look around and meeting all of you 🙂
If you’d like to know more of me visit http://www.sorenbebe.dk or my squeeze page at sorenbebe.com
Cheers, Soren
Hi Soren,
Happy to have you here in the Insider Circle. Enjoy the content.
Let us know if we can ever help at all.
Hello everyone,
I’m really excited to be hear and take my career to the next level. I am a Mastering Engineer and Electronic Music Producer. I’m looking to use this course to help market a new line of high end audio libraries I’m producing as well as market my record label and mastering business. http://www.gridbasedbeats.com
I’m looking forward to working with all of you!
TV
Hi Tim,
Welcome to Insider Circle! Nice to hear your excitement. Enjoy the content and let us know if we can ever help with anything at all.
did not receive the call in info please send
Hi Everyone!
I have been a member for awhile, but not at all active and quite honestly it’s all a bit overwhelming. I plan to really dive in and and use all this incredible information that is at my fingertips.
I am a singer and songwriter. Currently a solo artist, but you never know what the future holds. I have never really been computer savvy, tech savvy or “business” minded although I understand the concepts- it just isn’t “me” if you will. But now I am fully committed to a DIY independent artist approach, so I know I have to get on top of it and become all those things!
I look forward to learning and executing the steps of advice and information in this forum.
Have a wonderful week!
Rosy Donovan
Hi Rosy,
Welcome to the Insider Circle. It’s good to have you here. Enjoy the content and hopefully we’ll get to see you in the forums a bit as well.
Let us know if we can ever help with anything.
Hi people glad to be here and make my way around meet you all reside in Australia Brisbane/Gold Coast.
Hi Frazer,
Welcome to Insider Circle. We hope you enjoy all the content here and we look forward to seeing you in the forums as well. Let us know if we can ever help at all.
Wow wow wow. I’ve just started diving into what MMM 3.0 and the insiders circle have to offer and it’s far and away the most informative stuff I’ve consumed since I started researching how to market our music. I’m part of a brand-spankin-new project called Eli & the Straw Man (we have yet to record our first album).
It will take me awhile to digest all this stuff but I plan to be an active member of this community once we get going. So talk to you all then…
Hi Tami,
Welcome to the Insider Circle! Really happy to hear that you seem to be getting some good info out of the content. There’s certainly a lot to go through here. Don’t hesitate to use the forums if you ever have any questions about a strategy, or if you just want some feedback on your marketing.
Let us know if we can ever help with anything.
Hello everyone,
I am a solo acoustic guitarist currently residing in Vancouver, BC, although from the states. I write my own solo guitar music for both steel and nylon string.
Been a member of Inner Circle for a few months now but just getting around to checking it out. Am interested in how to market my solo guitar album online, without the use of iTunes, Amazon, et al. Looking forward to seeing what I can learn.
Hi Bill,
Welcome to Insider Circle. Nice to see you here. Good luck with the album. Don’t hesitate to use the forums for any feedback on your marketing, or if you are looking for more info on a particular subject.
Let us know if we can ever help at all as well.