Interview with Ariel Hyatt, Indie Music Publicist and Author of Music Success in Nine Weeks

The Rock Star Life Lessons Interview with Ariel Hyatt, Indie Music Publicist and Author of Music Success in Nine Weeks
by Carla Lynne Hall

Rock Star Life Lessons: How has your marketing yourself and your career changed in the last 5 years?
Ariel Hyatt: Wow – great question – it has changed radically…. Since the evolution of Social Media my own PR and marketing has shifted from making our promotion and marketing all about a one way conversation: Hey artists: We have been in business 12 years and look at our reputation! Coupled with the fact that I was very much in the background as the “pitcher” to the writers writing releases and telling a very one sided story using press releases and mail and phone call follow -ups.

Now the primary marketing tool that I employ my expertise and how I can share what I have learned being on the court to help musicians understand not only the value of social media but also how to do their own PR and Marketing. The more I share, the more Cyber PR seems to flourish because people buy from those that they like and trust and I have built up trust by sharing good ideas and having a two-way conversation in the musicians community in the form of blog posts, vodcasts and newsletters and well as real-life interaction by teaching workshops and bootcamps and paneling at music conferences.

RSLL: What is Cyber PR?
AH: Cyber PR is my online PR firm and we get musicians and authors featured on blogs, podcasts, Internet radio stations, and all over the Internet. We also help artists come up with a social media strategy that works in tandem with a marketing plan so they can take advantage of the new ways to build a fan base and a community online.

RSLL: What do musicians need to know about social networking and/or Web 2.0?
AH: Social media is a wonderful way to engage your fans, meet new people and use cool interactive technology to communicate BUT artists must realize that this is just one piece of the puzzle. The real money and profits comes out of having a strategy and setting goals and working towards them.

I see so many artists that have thousands and thousands of fans on MySpace and on Facebook and they are making no money. The reason is: no one comes to MySpace or Facebook with their credit cards out ready to buy music – they do that at iTunes and on Amazon – so there needs to be a strategy that gets engaged fans away from the cool Web 2.0 portals where we meet and chat and interact into an atmosphere where we are used to BUYING – Amazon, iTunes and live clubs are where fan pull money out of their pockets and buy so if you are only on MySpace and Facebook and you are frustrated about why you sold way less than you expected ask yourself: Where are you asking for money? and how are you asking for money? Is there a strategy behind your asking or are you forgetting to even put a plan into place around this? Or even worse are you forgetting to ask at all because asking for money means you are being too pushy and aggressive and you hate the idea of asking?

You need to look at the Internet just like you look at your telephone or your fax machine – its a way of communicating NOT a place where you just will magically make money without a strategy and some knowledge of how traditional marketing works and a willingness to employ real plans and actions.

RSLL: What are some of your latest product and service offerings for indie musicians?
AH: Aside from Cyber PR campaigns, My best selling product is my book that I released last year. It’s called Music Success in Nine Weeks and it is a Nine week program that helps artists do 3 things:

1. Build a bigger fanbase
2. Get more PR (via using Social Media)
3. Earn more money

The way I teach this is by taking artists through a process that helps them:

1. Laser focus their message so that potential fans can understand them
2. Start a two way engaging conversation with all fans
3. Capture vital information (email addresses)
4. Create a plan that is based on traditional marketing so that they are set up for making money

My book comes with a lifetime membership to my closed online forum (which in the interest of full disclosure I will say Carla helps me manage!) where artists can get direct coaching from me and Carla and get a plan in action with the support of other musicians.

You can buy the book here: http://www.cyberprbook.com

RSLL: What is one action a musician can take to build their music business?
AH: Being in control of your own mailing list and start a regular email newsletter and send it at least once a month! This has been the #1 technique that I have noticed works the most effectively for musicians.

RSLL: If you were starting all over today as a musician, what would you focus on?
AH: I was never a musician so this is a hard question but I would say I would focus on building a community of fans who are engaged and involved with me on a personal and authentic manner. The bands that I meet who are making the most money and having the most success during these weird and uncertain times are the ones who work really hard at knowing who their fans are and what they like, don’t like and what they will respond to. These artists also provide a steady stream of communication and music and opportunities to engage with fans – either online or offline.

Thanks Carla – it was fun being interviewed!

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Ariel Publicity was founded 12 years ago, and has since represented over 1,400 artists. The publicity game has changed radically over the last few years, so the company went 100% digital to accommodate the new landscape in January of 2007. Cyber PR is currently handling campaigns for artists of all genres and at all levels of their careers.

Ariel’s bi-weekly ezine “Sound Advice” has over 6,000 musicians and music professional subscribers. Her first book, Music Success in Nine Weeks, came out in June 2008. She is a contributing blogger to New Music Ideas and Music Think Tank and her articles have been featured in the Discmakers and ASCAP online newsletters. Ariel Publicity also offers Band Letter, a musician’s newsletter service to handle fan outreach.

Ariel has spoken at dozens of music conferences including SXSW, The Philly Music Conference, NEMO, The East Coast Music Awards, OCFF, & Les Rencontres (Canada), A2A (Amsterdam), CMJ, BMI Music Panel Series, and The Connective Panel Series.

Ariel’s Websites:
Ariel’s Blog
Ariel Publicity on Twitter
Ariel Publicity on MySpace
Ariel Publicity on Facebook

Ariel’s Products and Services:
Ariel’s eBook: Music Success in Nine Weeks
Cyber PR Campaigns
Band Letter Newsletter Services
Review You

First Annual CYBER PR 2008 Holiday Fundraiser

This holiday season I’m participating in the CYBER PR 2008 Holiday Fundraiser by raising money for The Songs of Love Foundation, which is a non-profit organization dedicated to providing personalized songs for children and teens facing tough medical, physical, and emotional challenges, free of charge.

I am inviting you to make a difference in a child’s life by making a donation towards a personalized song. One thing that I like about this charity is that the recording cost of a child’s personalized song is only $250.00, so it doesn’t cost much to create a special healing gift that will bring a smile to a child’s face.

Songs of Love is a charity that I’ve been involved with personally for a few years now. I started out by contributing donations, and holding fundraisers towards songs, and last year I became a songwriter for them as well. I can’t put into words how it feels to write a song for a child, knowing that the song will provide the “medicine of music”. Over this month, I’ll be featuring Songs of Love songs and videos so you’ll get a taste of why I feel so strongly about this organization.

As a thank you I will send you free goodies as a token of my appreciation:

Donation Levels

Silver Tinsel – $10 – $24
Donate between $10 – $24, and I’ll send you a copy of my Front & Center CD and a signed holiday card.

Sparkly Lights – $25 – $49
Donate between $25 – $49, and I’ll send you a copy of my Front & Center CD, a signed holiday card and homemade holiday ornament.

Shining Star – $50 – $99
Donate between $50 – $99, and you’ll get a copy of Front & Center, Supernova, a signed holiday card, and homemade holiday ornament.

Holiday Angel – $100 – $249
Donate between $100 – $250, and you’ll get Front & Center, Supernova, the soon-to-be-released Dirty5 Live EP, a signed holiday card, and homemade holiday ornament.

Santa’s Helper – $250+
Donate $250 or more, and you’ll get my entire CD catalog, the signed holiday card and ornament, AND your name will also appear on the child’s personalized CD.

Kris/Krista Kringle – $1000+
Donate $1000 or more, and you’ll get all of the Santa’s Helper’s goodies, PLUS a live video of a personalized song written just for YOU.

Songs of Love is a 501 (c) (3) non-profit organization, so your donation is also tax-deductible!

ALSO – If you’d like to contribute as part of a group, let me know. After confirmation, each individual donor will get a Santa’s Helper gift pack!

Simply email me proof of your donation by forwarding your confirmation email or send a screen shot as a proof of your donation to moxiemaven64 [AT] gmail [DOT] com, and I will send you your free gift!

Click here to donate to The Songs of Love Foundation.

For our collective efforts I will be rewarded by Cyber PR, a music PR firm that will send me DVDs, books, and audio courses, to help grow my knowledge of the music business. And as always, I will share what I learn here in this blog at Rock Star Life Lessons.

If I raise $2,500 or more I’ll get a complimentary full Cyber PR campaign that will expose my music to thousands of online resources. If I raise $5,000 or more, Mama’s getting a virtual assistant!

Please click here to donate to Songs of Love and have a happy holiday!

Happy Holidays from Rock Star Life Lessons!

Carla Lynne Hall

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Founded by John Beltzer, Songs of Love has given over 17,000 children their very own personalized Song of Love. To celebrate the 10,000th Song of Love, 10 year old Matthew McKinnon’s song was created with the help of 15,000 NY Mets fans at Shea Stadium, led by Sesame Street’s Bob McGrath.

Songs of Love Event at Shea Stadium/2008

Creating the Perfect Pitch ~ Guest Blog by Ariel Hyatt

Creating the Perfect Pitch
by Ariel Hyatt

Branding yourself both online and offline will really set up this coming year to be a break through one for your musical career.

To do this you must start with the most fundamental aspect of you as an artist: Your Pitch!

Two things happened recently to inspire this article.

Scenario #1: I was out at the Mercury Lounge seeing music and between bands I was standing at the bar talking to some friends and someone handed me a show flyer. I was taken with him immediately, I always appreciate anyone who is self -promoting because its not easy to do and it’s especially not easy to do at a crowded bar on a Wednesday night in downtown Manhattan. So, I looked down at the flyer and my heart sank. It said the following:

Name of artist (name is not mentioned to protect the innocent)
Venue (which was the Mercury, where I was)
Date & showtime

There I was, a perfectly primed potential fan, a customer, standing at a bar, out at a live music show, and he lost me forever. Why?

Because not one sentence was included about what genre of music this artist played much less what his music sounded like, who he was compared to (sound alike). In other words what I could expect by coming out to his show. In short I had no idea what this artist sounded like.

That was an opportunity totally LOST. Unbeknown to him he also handed his flyer to one of the most successful entertainment attorneys I know who was in the middle of signing 6 artists to record deals, an A&R executive and one of the best booking agents in the business.

We all looked down at the flyers in our hands, shrugged and carried on with the conversation we were having. He had totally BLOWN it.

Scenario #2: The second thing that happened was an artist called my PR firm to talk about hiring us for a Cyber PR campaign, and two minutes into the conversation started, my blood was beginning to boil. It went something like this:

Me: What do you sound like?

Artist: I sound like absolutely nothing you’ve ever heard before.

Me: (annoyed and now understanding why he’s not where he wants to be as an artist) Really? So you have invented a new genre of music, and you don’t sound like anyone else in the history of music?

Artist: Yes

Me: Can you at least tell me what type of music you play?

Artist: It’s old school Hip-Hop

OK finally we were getting somewhere and, I totally understood his point, but here’s the problem with having an approach like his:

People are constantly looking for a context to put things into. And if you don’t provide them with one, they will move on to the next thing that their little pea brains actually can grasp.

The critical that was missing in both scenarios was: The Pitch

So, you need a pitch or as marketers call it a USP (unique selling point), or, as my friend Bob Baker calls it a BIS (brand identity statement) or as my fellow mastermind group member Laura Allen calls it, a 15-second pitch. Call it what you want, this thing, my friend, will change the way you market yourself and your music and give everyone a context. It is critical that you have a concise and easy to understand pitch that will help you shape your brand. The rest of this article will help you focus on creating the perfet pitch.

It does not have to be lengthy to be effective, it just has to explain your sound in a few words or sentences.

Here are some of my clients’ pitches to help jump start your brain:

Leftover Salmon – Polyethnic Cajun Slamgrass

John Taglieri – If Vertical Horizon and Third Eye Blind got hit by Train!

FIGO – Influenced by groups like Primal Scream, NIN, The Misfits, The Chemical Brothers, and The Ramones, the band fuses intense raw live energy with pounding beats and samples.

Devil Doll – Jessica Rabbit meets Joan Jett.

Girls Don’t Cry – An all girl rock band featuring edgy guitars polished with five-part vocals, retro synth sounds and danceable grooves.

Creating Your Pitch

First, take a deep breath, clear your head, and tell yourself that what you are about to do is exactly like writing a song. You do not record the first thing that comes out (or at least I hope you don’t but that’s a different conversation) it takes some honing and some tweaking and possibly some collaboration.

Take out a clean piece of paper, and write down the following:

(I suggest writing this by hand with a pen and paper instead of using a computer because the ideas flow differently through a pen)

1. Write out the type of genres you play. Roots, rock, reggae, folk, punk, jazz, AltCountry, Chillout etc. No more than two or three should actually be selected in the end.

2. Write down all the artists that other people say you sound like.

3. Write down a list of all artists (or authors or famous people) that influenced you.

4. Write down all of the feelings and vibes that you want to create or convey with your music

Use these elements as a guideline to help come up with a few words or sentences that sum you up.

Now, go to this fabulous website: 15secondpitch.com

This will help you structure and hone your pitch and it will TIME you too! (This site is more of a personal pitch site but the structure that it provides is very helpful)

Now write out on a blank note card or a small piece of paper your mission statement. Read it out loud standing in front of the mirror. Do you love it? If you don’t, then don’t use it. I once worked with a band that chose the term “Soul Rock” to describe their sound and after it was published countless times, they were hating it, so make sure it’s something that you can deal with in print over and over again, and something that you won’t get sick of. Now stand in front of the mirror and practice saying it. Does it feel comfortable saying it, or do you feel like a dork? If you feel like you’re speaking your truth, you will absolutely know, and then it is the perfect pitch for you.

Still not sure?

Read it to a bunch of friends and fans and ask them to work on it with you!

Don’t overthink it. Keep it simple and as concise as you can.

Where You Must Place Your Pitch

Online Branding:

1 On your website’s homepage (yes on the HOMEPAGE not buried in the site).
2 On your MySpace.
3 On your Facebook.
4 On all social networking sites that you use and anywhere else you have an online presence.

Offline Branding:

1 On your postcards.
2 On your show flyers.
3 On your posters, and anything else you have in print.

So now when you’re out somewhere and you hand someone a flyer announcing your show, you’re handing someone your brand. People will know exactly what you do, and it will be effectively marketing instead of just spinning your wheels.

Not sure if you hit the nail on the head? E-mail me your pitch and I’ll give you my honest feedback.

Good luck!
Ariel

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Ariel Publicity was founded 12 years ago, and has since represented over 1,400 artists. The publicity game has changed radically over the last few years, so the company went 100% digital to accommodate the new landscape in January of 2007. Cyber PR is currently handling campaigns for artists of all genres and at all levels of their careers.

Teaching and educating musicians is Ariel’s passion and a major part of the Cyber PR platform is to empower artists to take charge and get into action around their own online marketing. Several times a year, she leads sold-out workshops to musicians and music industry professionals looking to learn about community building and online promotion in the “new” music business.

Her bi-weekly ezine “Sound Advice” has over 6,000 musicians and music professional subscribers. Her first book, Music Success in 9 Weeks, came out in June 2008 and is selling swiftly. She is a contributing blogger to New Music Ideas and Music Think Tank and her articles have been featured in the Discmakers and ASCAP online newsletters. Ariel Publicity also offers Band Letter, a musician’s newsletter service to handle fan outreach.

Ariel has spoken at dozens of music conferences including SXSW, The Philly Music Conference, NEMO, The East Coast Music Awards, OCFF, & Les Rencontres (Canada), A2A (Amsterdam), CMJ, BMI Music Panel Series, and The Connective Panel Series.

Ariel’s Blog
Ariel Publicity on Twitter
Ariel Publicity on MySpace
Ariel Publicity on Facebook

The Recession Proof Musician: Week 2 ~ MONEY

As we begin Week 2 of the “Recession Proof Musician” series, I have to warn you that we’ll be talking about MONEY!!!

Next week’s blogs will feature articles about how your access to money affects your music career. We’ll be discussing how your beliefs about money affect your music career, as well as sharing ways for you to make money with your music.

In other news, two of my music biz “cyber colleagues” are also providing “Recession Proof Musician” guides: Bob Baker, the original “Guerrilla Music Marketer” is releasing a free report, How to Recession Proof Your Music Career while Ariel Hyatt from Ariel Publicity has just completed her newest ebook, which is titled The Recession Proof Musician. I’ll be providing more info for both reports later this month.

The economy is on everyone’s minds, but resources for musicians abound!