I’m sure I’ve mentioned it before, but I love my iPhone. Actually, I’ve loved all my iPhones, and upgrading to the new iPhone 4 was a no-brainer for me. 7 hours in line on the day of release didn’t deter me in the slightest! Hey, I’m a trooper. Patience is a virtue. And all the cool kids were getting iPhones, jumping off bridges, and wearing acid washed jeans. Or...
September Song…
Better marketing through Cheesecake…
Back in college I waited tables. I’m fairly certain it goes hand-in-hand with attending music school. One of those establishments was The Cheesecake Factory. Being there 40+ hours per week got you very familiar with the menu. While that may have been a detriment to my overall and future health, it was an incredible tool for my product and marketing brain. And that education continues to...
Dude, got any t-shirts? A lesson in creating merch…
I get asked a lot of questions, but lately this one has risen to the top: “Can you recommend a good/cheap/fast place to get shirts made?” Every single band feels that after they’ve recorded some tracks and booked a few gigs, they need to have t-shirts to sell. And while your “Kiss Army” t-shirt from ’82 is a prized possession, keep in mind that you’re...
I love Rdio.
I wanted to come up with a more profound title, but I couldn’t. Although, a declaration of true love seems pretty emphatic, don’t you think? Staying up with the trends in the music industry is important to me. In particular, I remember the brouhaha surrounding Qtrax. They were one of the first to offer a subscription based program with unlimited music from all your favorite artists...
Say what? Say how? Just say it?
I had an interesting conversation today. While the topics ran the gamut of marketing “disciplines,” the recurring concept being debated is that of appropriate voice. And I have to admit, the debate continued long after the conversation ended. Because it was somewhat of a lazy Sunday, there wasn’t much competition for my brainwaves, but regardless I couldn’t reach my own...
Gotta be all Mr Smarty Pants…
The other day I accepted an offer to do a guest lecture at NYU. More specifically, it’s in the “Clive Davis Dept. of Recorded Music” of the Tisch School of the Arts. For me at least, that’s all kinds of impressive. I’ve guest-lectured a bunch of times at Berklee, UMass, Emerson, and a few other places, but this one seems just a bit more special. It’s not like I...
Vacation failure
Palm trees were gently swaying. There was brilliant sunshine glistening off of the water. Folks were laughing, frolicking, and cavorting. And me? I was responding to a series of emails despite the automated away message that clearly explained I was far from any device with an apple on it. So what happened? How’d I manage to vacate my vacation so easily? I guess the answer is pretty simple...
I love Tom Silverman
While this might come across as something, I’d carve into an oak tree during the last week of summer camp, it’s really more of a professional statement. In a recent Digital Music News post, I read the following: “80 percent of all records released are just noise — hobbyists,” Silverman told Wired. “Some companies like Tunecore are betting on the Long Tail...