Sympedia
Claim your Label/Artist Pages!
Have you claimed your page yet? Remember that most retailers offer the option of allowing you to have an artist and/or label page. Remember to claim yours! Below you will find the instructions on how to with each particular retailer!
Every artist has the possibility of getting an artist page on the website. The requirements are basic but very important. First, the photograph MUST BE a professional artist photograph. With that done, the size of the photo needs to be 590×404 JPG. If these two requirements are met, and you have music being sold on Beatport, then you can visit this website to submit your artist picture. The same procedure must be done if you wish to change. Click here and update yours!
Through DjShop’s “Toolbox” you can create an artist page, label page, and much more! Simply follow the on screen instructions and you’ll be set to go! The “Toolbox” is found by clicking on a release, label, and/or artist page. (See below for screenshot). Claim yours here now!
With iTunes you can place artist images for your artists and even include galleries! This greatly helps the consumer identify better with an artist! Artist Images must be .jpg files, square, 1200 x 1200 pixels, in the RGB color space, and at least 72 DPI. Do not upscale. Only upload images you can legally share worldwide are accepted. To get an artist page done, send over an email to marketing@symphonicdistribution.com with the picture in the format specified as well as your artist name as it appears on iTunes!
Note: (By uploading images you agree each image is lawful and you have cleared all necessary rights (such as publicity rights, copyrights, and trademarks) for worldwide use by Apple to display them in the iTunes Store and related materials, and deliver them to end users for display in iTunes and related software, in association with artist’s music)
Artist Page
Collects artist discography, bio, photos, links to website(s) + social media and related editorial. Artist info is supplied and can be sent to content.music@rovicorp.com.
Album Page
The album point of purchase page includes link to artist and label content on eMusic, as well as album review and related editorial.
Artists may find that a page already exists for them on Nowtrax. Great – somebody already loves your music! Look out for the ‘Is The You?’ logo (pictured above) on your profile. Click it and we can arrange for you to take control of your page and start filling it with info to help boost sales and recognition immediately. Giving the power back to the people! Another of the features that make Nowtrax the ultimate, cutting edge resourse for artists, labels, DJs and music lovers worldwide.
Self Social Diagnostic
In an era of 140-Character Tweets and information overload its vital to be able to make a first impression quickly and sharp. The fans of this new age of technology value simplicity and have a low tolerance for mistakes. Simplicity is a synonym for authenticity and is a core motivator of action. This is why with today’s social media presence is very important having a consistent branding effort and give fans the ease of finding information about your label and artists effortlessly. Below we’ve made a very useful list that can be used as a social checker. So let’s see what your diagnostic looks like!
1. Website
Getting a website right does take work and commitment. If you want it to succeed you must spend time to get it right and present the right impression to your potential fans. Here are a list of must have’s:
• Biography on the label
• List of Current Releases
• Press Kits for artists you currently represent
• Easy to locate link of all social networks
• Subscription to mailing list option
Example:
Great example of a label that has a great artist bio section of artist they work with in a consistent basis is, NoShame.com. In their artist pages they include the bio and social media links of the artist. Your social presence HAS become your press kit, so take pride in it!
2. Facebook Account
Facebook Business/Band Page
If you are still using your personal Facebook page as your Label Page, you are missing out on features that Facebook offers business pages. Plus you will look for professional and legit and you will NOT lose your friends, these will simply transfer automatically as fans. Wanna do the change? Here is how!
About
Make sure your About Section tells us about YOU, how you started, what genres you focus on, where do we send demos etc. what makes YOUR label unique! If English is not your 1st language we are more than welcome to help you get a solid bio. Email us at marketing@symphonicdistribution.com.
Example:
Need some inspiration or examples of labels with solid Facebook pages? Go and search for Play Me Records, Simplify Recordings and Heavy Artillery Recordings
3. Soundcloud
Basic Info/Contact Info
Include all of your social media links to all of your label pages. In addition, have a well written biography so people can find out a little bit more about who you are and what makes you different.
Music!
It’s amazing but there are many Soundcloud profiles that do not have any material loaded on them! Upload releases consistently and upload some free tracks from time to time as putting up FREE material is a great way to engage fans. (Think DJ Mixes, Free Tracks, and if Soundcloud lets you, Remixes). Remember to tag your songs as well!
Get Inspired
Need ideas on how to engage with the Soundclound Community? Here is an excellent article that provides great tips on how to! Read more details here!
Example:
Here is a great example on simple details that your Soundcloud page should include.
4. YouTube
Main Featured Video
Some record labels will have different budgets but if you currently are doing videos, make sure to use a display template that features a bit about you, your brand, its artists, and of course, the material you are pushing. There are millions of people on YouTube thus, it’s a great way to get noticed!
About
Just like Soundcloud, include all of your social media outlets, a well written biography, and perhaps even Buy Now links to Beatport, iTunes or whichever store you are marketing yourself with. If your video gets a ton of attention, having a link right on the “About” of the video and/or the profile will greatly increase your sales.
Example
Here is a good example on personalizing your YouTube, along with the main feature showing what we do as a business and some of our latest videos.
If you’d like more details or are interested in us helping you and develop a more cohesive look for your brand, we are more than welcome to help you get there! You are also welcomed to explore our Marketing Tips section which is updated weekly with the latest industry tips and marketing recommendations!
New & Old School Marketing Tips That Get Results
I feel like I’m beating a dead horse when I say this, but this is not our parents music industry anymore. Nowadays we all know that if you’re a band or artist without a strong online presence, you’ll be left in the dust. Your band website, facebook page, and twitter page are all integral to your success as a musician, and we can now include music apps into that equation due to their growing popularity. Boy oh boy how a band even 15 years ago would’ve killed to have these enormous avenues to promote their music.
It’s all very awesome and exciting how easy it all is now, but this doesn’t mean that we should expect to be able to pull off a successful career with emails, keystrokes and mouse clicks. There are still hands to shake and babies to kiss out there everyone, and we must not forget that there are still great ways to gain clout the “old-fashioned” way. Not to mention the ways that both can be used together to gain maximum exposure.
Facebook and twitter are great for letting your fans know about what you’re currently up to, such as when and where you are going to be performing next, but how about using these mediums to let your fans know about other bands that you have become friends with? It has always been good practice to form alliances with other bands, and if you come across one that has good music similar to yours with good people, maybe try making a deal with them where you help promote each other on the web. It could be as simple as tweeting something like, “Come check out our friends The So and So Band at The Viper Room tonight, we will be there rocking out!” Then go to the club, dressed like the rockstars you are. I don’t how many times one of my old bands would do this and everyone would come up to us and say, “You guys just look like you’re in a band.” Then we would reply, “As a matter of fact, we are! Why don’t you check us out next week at Club X,” then we would give them a flyer or ticket or whatever physical form of promotion we had brought with us.
Continue Reading Here.
5 Daily Habits for Effective Social Media Marketing
The number of recommended actions and suggested tasks that social media managers must engage in can seem downright overwhelming. Not only are you supposed to update dozens of different profiles every day, you have to connect with potential new followers and monitor your company’s branded keywords in order to manage any negative mentions you encounter. And more.
To prevent yourself from becoming overwhelmed and unable to get anything done at all, refocus your efforts on the following daily social media habits made up of tasks you know you can complete. Doing so should help you to form positive brand recognition and responsive follower bases — without driving yourself crazy over everything you could be doing.
1. Check the pulse of your social profiles.
As a social media manager, the first thing to do every day is to log into your social profiles. Although this seems like a fairly common sense recommendation, many companies create their social profiles only to let them lie dormant for weeks or months on end.
So whether your company has chosen to focus on Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest or Google+ — or any combination of these and other social networks — your first step every day should be to simply log in. Once inside, you’ll be able to complete your goals, all of which play an important role in effective social media marketing.
2. Respond to direct interactions from followers.
One of the most important things you can do within your social profiles is to respond to any direct messages you’ve received from followers or potential fans. These interactions come in a number of different formats, including:
Facebook messages
Posts to your Facebook wall
Facebook status or picture tags
Twitter direct messages (DMs)
Twitter “@” replies
What’s important about these interactions is that they represent people who have put forth the effort to engage with your brand on a higher level than simply observing your content. While these interactions may be good or bad (as in the case of negative reviews), it’s important that you respond to them out of respect for the initiative these followers have shown.
3. Post stimulating content to encourage conversation.
After you’ve responded to any direct interactions that have occurred since you last logged into your social profiles, take a few moments to post a status update or message that’s designed to encourage interaction among your followers. For example, you could:
Ask a provocative question
Share an interesting blog article
Comment on a recent news item
Post an inspirational picture or quote
Request follower feedback on the specific products or services you offer
As you create these messages, make your call-to-action obvious, as social followers are often so overloaded with media inputs that it takes a clearly-defined request to encourage action. Pairing your stimulating content with a statement such as, “Let me know what you think” or “Share your thoughts in the comments” can prompt the type of action to make your social profiles appear more welcoming and engaging to potential new followers.
How to Grow Your SoundCloud Community
The heart of SoundCloud is its deeply engaged community of creators who share the sounds they create with each another and the world. SoundCloud is not only about sharing sounds but also about sharing common interests, attitudes, goals and connecting with people who share your passion.
We believe that a community is comprised of more than just one person so in order for you to build a strong sense of community, having meaningful, relevant and genuine connections with others is crucial.
How to Grow Your SoundCloud Community
Thanks to community member Oliver Sadie, here’s a handy list of 10 tips for you to learn about how you can build your own community on SoundCloud.
1. Listen closely to many sounds from many ‘Clouders.
This is the first and most important step in growing your own community: understand what’s already out there and who’s doing what. Use search tools and groups to find sounds you like.
2. If you like it, fave it, drop a note and follow.
Adding a track you like as a favorite goes a long way with people, who may just return the favor. Dropping a timed comment often starts a conversation, and following the person keeps you in the loop for future uploads.
3. Make honest, relevant, useful, encouraging comments, often.
It’s ok to say “nice” but even better to say “nice drums, but sounds like some bass details are getting lost. Check EQ?”. It’s not great to say “nice,listen to mine” if you didn’t actually listen to it – many perceive that as spam.
5 Music Ideas for DJs On The Move
One of the great things about digital DJing is that you can work on your music anywhere. And one of the most obvious places is when you’re travelling – especially on long-haul flights.
Why? Well, on most flights there’s still no internet to distract you, for a start. And even better, you’re also cut off from practically everything else that could otherwise make claims on your time. And while I know globetrotting DJs who use this downtime to simply watch film after film, I prefer to get stuck in to some music tasks. Here’s my list of suggestions:
My 5 music ideas for DJs on the move
1. Work on cue-points and beatgridding. Easy enough stuff to do in your headphones, and saves time you’d otherwise be wasting reading and re-reading catalogues of cheap watches, perfume and overpriced food and drink…
2.Make mash-ups or re-edits for your DJ sets. Using Mixed In Key Mashup, Ableton Live or your DAW of choice, flight time can be constructively spent coming up with exclusive remixes or re-edits to use in your sets. Nothing like dropping something nobody’s heard before at your gig in another city or country!
3.Listen to lots of music you wouldn’t normally hear. Travel detaches you from your usual world, so why not uncouple from the music you normally listen to as well, and take the time to listen to something new? I like to grab a load of albums in advance by artists I’m vaguely interested in on Spotify, then hit the “listen offline” feature (obviously, so I don’t need an internet connection on the flight), so I’ve got loads of new stuff to while away the hours on my headphones
How To Balance A Family, Your Music Career, & Your Stresses
It can be difficult for adults to have to take care of their families and manage their music careers. This can cause a lot of stress and anxiety. As a result, here are a few steps in how to do take care of your family and your music career without getting stressed.
Try to set goals for yourself when you manage your family or career. When you go to work each day, try to set some goals for you to accomplish. For instance, let’s say your goal for today is to finish the report that your boss wants. At the end of the day, you will feel better about yourself knowing that you were able to finish that report. When you accomplish these smaller goals, you will feel happier, more confident, and less stressed.
Delegate part of your responsibilities. When taking care of the family, get your spouse to help out. If your kids are older, get them to assist you. If you are at work, only take on what you can handle. Don’t try to do everything all at once. Learn to delegate and work with other people.
If you try to do everything, you will get stressed and anxious. A person can only do so much in a given day. Do not everything. Learn to manage your responsibilities. If you feel like your doing too much, then take a break and evaluate your situation.
Continue Reading here.
The Best Days to Post to Facebook, Based on Industry
Switching gears is common for people who work in social media.
Among the greatest challenges is determining exactly when to post a given piece of content so it attracts the most “likes,” comments, and retweets. A recent infographic from LinchpinSEO could help crack that code by showing the best days to post to Facebook. Even better, it organizes the information by industry.
For instance, companies considered “general retail” will find more engagement on Mondays, whereas nonprofits will see greater success on weekends, according to LinchpinSEO, which analyzed the user engagement of more than 1,800 Facebook pages from the world’s top brands. The data were collected from April 1 to May 31.
It’s important to remember that each brand will have a different best day and time to post to Facebook. This infographic could help you identify it.
Continue Reading here.
6 Quick Instagram Tips for Brands
Stop me if you’ve heard this one before: Instagram is a pretty big deal.
It’s not breaking news but something I thought about as I was going to bed last night. I was about to fall asleep when I realized I hadn’t checked my Instagram feed. I reached from my bed, grabbed my phone and scrolled through the square, filtered photos of people, buildings, foliage, workouts, posters and, of course, food. I commented, Liked and even searched through a few hashtags to find fellow Instagrammers who share my passions.
For the better part of the last decade, I haven’t checked a social media platform not named Facebook or Twitter daily until now. Instagram has quickly become one of the top three social networks, and since photos are more personal than a 140-character statement, it has the potential to connect brands with fans on a deeper level than Twitter.
Instagram is a channel that brands soon won’t be able to ignore, and innovative brands are already making waves on the platform.
Here are a few tips for steering your brand’s journey on Instagram:
1.Employ User-Generated Content
If you can motivate your fans to submit photos of their own, like pictures of them using your product or just living your brand story, add them to your Instagram stream. Sharpie does this well, often featuring works of art created with its pens and markers.
2.Offer a Glimpse into your Humanity
While Instagram can be a place to feature your products in action, consider using it exclusively as a place where your brand’s fans can get a glimpse behind the scenes. Feature photos of faces and places they never get to see. Show them that your brand is more than just the product or service you sell. The Boston Bruins have done a great job of this, especially while the league is in a lockout. The team often shares photos of their fans, the players, and the organization’s philanthropic endeavors.
3. Product in Action
There’s no hard data to back this up, but I’d bet that Instagram features more photos of food than any other subject. Outback Steakhouse and other restaurants have used Instagram as a place to find photos of all their dishes in their filtered glory. There’s a thin line between sharing great content and being overly promotional, so be considerate when sharing photos of your product in action.
Continue Reading here.
Increase The Probability Of Getting Featured
As Technology is growing and becoming much more accessible all over the world, more Record Labels and Artists are getting their Music Production hats on and releasing music to the world. The thrill of seeing the material out on stores such as Beatport, iTunes, Google Play, and others is a great feeling but then the artist and record label begin to realize there is not enough attention that is needed and begin to ask, how can I get featured and get a banner on Beatport or iTunes and others?
As a distributor of hundreds of thousands of releases, we don’t ever want to promise anyone that he or she will receive features because it would be dishonest and bad business. We will instead tell you that we will work extremely hard and WE WILL submit any release that you want to be featured for consideration to stores worldwide such as long as it fits the specifications set forth by our partners. The best part is that often times, most of the products we do submit actually DO get features and this happens because the products have certain things that are looked upon positively.
This post won’t put forth any guarantees that you will be featured however, it will set the right expectation and speak about how digital service providers think when choosing a featured release as well as what you can do to increase your chances of being noticed and considered for a featured release. This is what this post is about, to help guide you with doing what you have to do to ensure your products are what a digital service provider is looking for. But first! Let’s get two simple misconceptions and rumors that have always roamed around on why releases ARE featured.
Let’s begin by dispelling a rumor. There is nobody that can guarantee you a feature on any website, period. If you ever stumble onto a company that promises you a feature just because you release music and/or because they are “close” with a brand, then you should really be forewarned prior to dealing with them and know that no distributor, record label, and/or individual has any control whatsoever over what a Digital Service Provider will place.
There are over 30,000+ Record Labels on sites such as Beatport, JunoDownload, Trackitdown and more. On non-genre specific sites such as iTunes there are over 100,000 record labels and millions of songs. Day in and day out there are hundreds of thousands of songs being added from new artists and record labels each day. Every artist and record label that is being added daily is looking for the same thing, to get featured and noticed. It’s important to understand that these sites receive hundreds of thousands of featured requests day in and day out and they are doing their best to accommodate every single request.
Prior preparation is needed and is KEY before sending a release for featured consideration. Get your pen and paper for some very helpful notes and there are quite a bit of them that should be considered heavily!
Get a good web presence!
In this day and age it’s important that you have a Social Network presence. Virtually every artist is now on Facebook and Soundcloud and if you are an artist and/or a record label, then your first step is to create a professional Fan page. Since personal accounts are meant for individual people, they aren’t suited to meet your business needs. Pages offer more features for organizations, businesses, brands and organizations. Plus, all your confirmed friends and subscribers will be converted to people who like your new Page. So you won’t lose any of your current fans! Plus, Digital Service Providers actually look up labels and take in consideration the structure and that these are current.
The Web = Your Press Kit!
Just having a website and/or Social Network isn’t good enough. Your website, Facebook, Soundcloud, or any other social networks are now considered your online press kit! Include professional press pictures of your artists, label, and a properly written biography of your label, its releases, artists, and even latest news and after you’ve built it, ACTUALLY keep it updated! Take the time to actually write a good bio that will give people a good idea of who you are and what you represent. (Concise, clear, and professional)
Your Release Cover
Assuming you have done the above and you have good quality music you’d like to release, let’s continue with the release cover of your product. It’s amazing how important this aspect is nowadays as no digital service provider is going to promote your release if it looks…. well…. weak. Take pride in the music you release from the sound of the product to the look of the product. If you have a label logo or artist picture in a plain, low quality format then the chances of it being featured will be slim. Needless to say, don’t feel that you need to go out and spend thousands of dollars getting the best photographer to shoot you or your band but here are some helpful tips to consider.
Create a story for your Release
Digital Service Providers pay very close attention to what you are telling them. It’s important to write a good, clear, concise biography of the release. It’s also good to keep the mindset of writing a good story in a simple fashion. (This coming from this long post eh?). Keep your bio short, perhaps 1 paragraph. Simplicity is a synonym for authenticity and is a core motivator of action and keep in mind that Digital Service Providers may not have time to read it. We have seen a growing trend of products BEING featured for having a great story to go alongside a professional cover and of course, high quality music.
Deliver it WITH TIME!
So your release is set! Now what? Deliver your release at least 4 weeks ahead of release date. That’s right, set your release date to be a complete month or even longer for your request to be considered and always ensure you’re getting in the hands of the Content Department as quickly as possible. The more time that a digital service provider has to look you up the better and they will not consider any release if it’s sent less than 10 days.
Create A Buzz
By now, you have a solid sounding release, great looking image cover, a great bio, and a professional web presence, so what next? If you have delivered the release to us and you’ve sent us a Featured Release form with the information being considered above, then the next step is for you to build a buzz for your product.
Contact music blogs, print, and digital magazines that cater to the type of music you are releasing and do what you must to get the music reviewed by them, at least 3 weeks prior to release being live. You may not get an answer but reaching out to publications of all sorts WILL help create a buzz and Digital Service Providers LOVE when there is a buzz on a product prior to it being released.
We don’t really think you should spam email inboxes and send promos through promo systems UNLESS you truly believe it will help the product and you have a core niche of followers that will take the time to read your email and download your promos. There are so many promo services out there that promise the world but really, all they do is fill up inboxes with emails that immediately get deleted.
If you’ve done this once, then you can do it again, and again, and again. Consistency is the name of the game, the key to being successful in today’s Music Industry and what keeps people coming to sites such as iTunes, Beatport, etc.
But keep in mind that in an era of 140-character Tweets and information overload made possible by the rest of the Internet, our target market values simplicity and have a low tolerance for mistakes. Again, simplicity is a synonym for authenticity and is a core motivator of action, thus we recommend that you always treat your record label and/or music being released like a business and professional.
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Release Often
We’re not saying to saturate the music with sub-par content however, have a plan to release more than one release every six months. Work hard to actively seek out new artists. Consistently producing releases from different artists that work on other labels is a great way to diversify the catalogue and get your brand more attention. Essentially offering a new sound each time a release comes out.
The Pro’s and Cons of Being Exclusive
Exclusive! The very word can send waves of excitement throughout! Something about getting a scoop nobody else has, knowing something nobody else knows! Choosing Exclusives can always pose a challenge, because we normally choose this option hoping that it will increase the chances of being featured. Truth is that it may increase chances but doesn’t guarantee one. Then many other retailers feel they have been “kicked in the teeth when most labels go exclusive to the larger competitors” and sometimes do not feature these releases. Today, a lot of big labels like OWSLA, Dim Mak, Mad Decent, Firepower all release on the same day and most retailers, will always give those labels who release same day priority treatment. Fruit for thought!
Follow Up
Even with you doing this plan for every release, it’s still tough and we totally get it. Do your best to follow up (also read this post from the past regarding following up). Doing so may just increase your chances! Also review and evaluate how you reach out and communicate to people. Here you may find some interesting tips on why you are not getting a response on emails as well.
Communicate with Us or Whomever
Keep a good line of communication with your Distribution Company. We are here to assist as much as possible and as we mentioned, we won’t guarantee a feature but we will guarantee that we will work as hard as possible to do what we can to push your product. We have a great relationship with our partners and each week we provide a summary of all releases for featured consideration. Along with your request, make sure to include a ‘one sheet’ or include as much of the following information as possible.
• A short description about the release itself.
• DJ Feedback (‘downloaded for (artist name)’ isn’t real feedback)
• Tour Information (start – end dates and cities).
• Blog Coverage (RA, Discobelle, etc.).
• Online & Print Press (confirmed placements only).
• Radio (internet, terrestrial, and podcasts).
• Banner Campaigns.
• Print Advertising (where applicable).
• Relevant Chart Action (DMC, RA, Groove Magazine, Billboard, etc.)
• “X” amount of Twitter, Facebook, Soundcloud fans.
• Traffic Driving – example “Facebook page, 20120 likes. Link to iTunes Page”
• Any previous sales history on the artist.
And remember to keep our Marketing Department, updated with any new marketing information by email one week before release date to be able to update our Digital Distribution Partners.
If you get featured, that’s awesome! However, you may not always be getting that banner again, if the consistency is not held up. We hope that after reading the above, you understand that digital service providers have a lot to deal with from the featured release front and that being consistent, professional, and sending in material in a timely manner is absolutely crucial to your products being featured.
As a request to you, the artist, record label, and/or potential music industry mogul, please understand the facts, know that it is not easy to be featured (especially each and every time you put out a product) and always be patient. Conan O’Brien (former host of the Tonight Show and now host of his own TBS Show) once said “Nobody in life gets exactly what they thought they were going to get. But if you work really hard and you’re kind, amazing things will happen. I’m telling you, amazing things will happen. I’m telling you, it’s just true!” So, work very hard and things can definitely happen!
