Building a list and staying up!

As I look back through years of shows and mailing lists come and gone, I can’t help but be a little disappointed in my efforts to collect and maintain a large database of people that I have come across in my musical career. Since I started this competition I have been making a daily effort to increase mailing list members through exclusive giveaways and by trying to create an interactive environment.
I am on so many lists and there are ones that I will open weekly and then there are ones that I ignore completely. Here are things that turn me off:

• Errors – please take the time to check before you hit send
• Spam – I want a direct connection with the lists I am involved with. If you are committed to the philosophy of 1000 true fans, there is no reason for any of your communication to look like spam. There should be no shortage of things to discuss with your mailing list members.
• S.O.S – Same Ole Shit. We have all heard it before…. By now…. WE HAVE ALL HEARD IT BEFORE! Be original, be descriptive and be concise. Please get to the point and make sure your list flows. Follow the “intro, guts and call to action” format as outlined in “Music Success in Nine Weeks”
• No offer, just asking – Always hitting me up on your email list asking me to do something is annoying. What’s in it for me? Always reward!

I have really thought about what I like/dislike and I am taking that and applying It to my mailing list. I am committed to giving something away weekly in the form of an exclusive e download, giving everyone on my mailing list a free album and letting my mailing list vote on things like which songs should be included, T-shirt art, sticker art, etc.. I also want to try and communicate twice a month.

The biggest thing that I need to accomplish is growing my list. I have gone through my contacts on Gmail and asked their permission to add them to my band list, most said yes which increased my list instantly. I am also making sure to collect emails at every show by walking around and trading CD’s for emails. Now this next idea is something that I think is totally unique and well worth the small investment. Not only is it effective but it works in so many situations.

Go to a coffee shop with a nice looking bowl, tell the coffee shop that you want people to drop their business cards in the bowl for a chance to win a free lunch, you pay for the lunch and get to keep all the email addresses. Clearly have it stated that the email addresses will be added to your mailing list and make unsubscribe very easy to do. This can be done anywhere your demographic shops: Surfshops, Skate Shops, Music Stores, Record Stores, Art Supply Stores, Bars, etc… This technique has worked in the business world for years so it easily applies to the MUSIC BUSINESS world.

Check the video below out, It is a little highlight reel from our studio session on Friday:

People in your neighborhood

Check out this weeks Exclusive Download. These are available only to mailing list members and I'm putting them out weekly. Thank you to everyone who has signed up so far. Much Love!

Thankful for the Hustle

My Mom sent me this in the mail the other day and it is probably the first flier I ever made for my band called Jafiki. You can tell I made it cause there are spelling errors Ha! I hope everyone has a great Thanksgiving and eats a lot of Turkey.

I am thankful that I have been able to spend my life creating music with beautiful friends and family and today I think about those we have all lost and those who are still with us.

It is easy to get caught up and today we unwind. FYI, the Doogie Howser MD theme song was playing in my head while I was typing.

A Doctors Advice - Live Life

I have been pretty sick this last week and finally decided to go to the doctor. After a short exam, he looked at me and said, "you have the flu".  Well, shit I thought I had pneumonia so whew. I told the Doc, "as I get older...." He interrupted and said, "You have earned a lecture Son." He told me about this book called "the Pump house" by Thomas Wolfe where 2 surfers contemplate life after 30 on the beaches of Encinitas. The Doctor looked at me and said, "your not old." This was a wake up call for me, I realized you have to hustle every day, even when you are sick so there is no excuse for this blog being late (Ariel :))

This week in the Music Success in Nine Weeks challenge is all about connecting with your fans through newsletters and such. Well, we have been hard at work adding names to the mailing list so when we send out content we will at least have an audience. I give away tons of Cd's at shows and after doing so, I ask for an email address and most people will be happy to trade it. If they don't, I swipe their drink off the table and chug it... ha ha.

Newsletters, like blogs, are very tricky because there are so many out there. Just like in songwriting, it is important to follow some guidelines when writing a newsletter to shape the content and keep the readers attention. The basic format is the personal introduction, the guts and then the call to action in which you ask your audience to do something like buy a CD, go to a show, write a review etc... to check my latest newsletter out, CLICK HERE.

I am a big fan of newsletters, but more often than not they are way overused. So many of them I send to my trash so it is my commitment to my mailing list that I will only send 2 a month.. Unless there is massive news that needs to be communicated otherwise. I am also offering exclusive merchandise, songs and early releases of music through my newsletter so if you have not signed up yet....What are you waiting for?

Living Life....

The State of the Industry

The music industry is in a horrible place, that is if you are a record label. I saw this week just how far out of touch the current industry is with its audience by the release of the Beatles catalog on Itunes. I understand that the Beatles are very important to music and it is some what of a big deal that their music is now digitally available, but so much of this just hit a sour note for me. First of all, the Beatles not including their music on Itunes was not a moral stance, rather it just took so long for the controlling parties to come to agreements on royalty share. Secondly, their song prices are $1.29 which is way above the industry average. This seems like an attempt to squeeze every last bit of profitability by targeting older Beatles fans who will for sure be buying the albums for years to come. This just came off looking desperate to me.

This is why the music industry is in the best shape it has ever been in. There is a connected global audience tuned in 24/7 sharing music, videos, ideas etc.. and talent is everywhere. The playing Field is level to anyone willing to work and put time in and I think now more than ever being genuine counts. The tools and resources the independent musician has at their disposal are unreal and people that can harness all of that are beginning to make livings for themselves.

We are at a time prior to some sort of musical revolution and we have to make the most of this time. Something big is going to happen soon, because the current industry can't survive and sustain at this rate. Itunes has made it so easy for musicians to track their accounting and this scares an industry that blew up on endless recoup-able fees and crafty accounting.

I think John Lennon said it best, "I don't believe in the Beatles, I just believe in me."

Blogging - Easier than hanging fliers

This is another entry in the Music Success in 9 Weeks blog challenge. This is week 5 and I only have 4 more weeks to go. This week (and corresponding chapter in Ariel Hyatt's book) is all about the blogshpere and developing a presence on strategic music blogs. This is something that takes some serious time and commitment and the most important rule is not cruising around the web hyping yourself and looking for bloggers to pay attention to you. Bloggers are in fact artists themselves and you have to stroke their ego to get any return attention. There are obviously exceptions to this, but for the vast majority... this holds  true.

I have been using multiple blog search engines to target my efforts, but wanted to discuss a specific situation.

I came across tightmixblog.com and wanted to share this with everyone. Chris is the author of this blog and their are great tips on this site as well as some great indie bands on here that Chris has come across. Chris is also the author of the EBook, "How to really get your music on the blogs" which I read and has great advice that runs parallel to this chapter in the competition. I thought a lot of Chris's ideas were in line with Ariel Publicity and it turns out he actually used to work (or intern...can't remember) for Ariel. After reading his blog, I contacted him and we are in the beginning stages of Chris taking over my social media presence. I was really impressed with his quality of writing, insight and passion for indie music. I think this is the ultimate example of what Ariel is talking about in this chapter.... I read, reached out with sincerity and then developed a mutually beneficial situation. Everyone is happy.

Also on this front, I got Musicbailout.net to write an article on my music and as I mentioned last week the podcast (audio blog) Coverville recently featured on of my songs.

The most important thing that I am taking away from this is consistency and professionalism. I have always believed that if you treat venues and booking agents with respect (Show up on time, get on and off stage quick, etc.), treat people with kindness and sincerity and just act professional you will be way ahead of 95% of the bands out there. Just by following up and taking chances this is what I have accomplished in the last few weeks:

• Free Video Shoot scheduled for next week - I asked my network of anyone that knew of production companies that did good work. It turns out someone needed a band to shoot for their school project and they chose us out of the dozens of bands because we had a vision, the material and locations all ready to go.
• I am in negotiations with a Dubstep producer who I will not name yet to remix a Tommy Dubs song for my next release.
• I have musicians in Barcelona, Buenos Aires, Brooklyn and now Arizona all singing or playing parts on tracks for my upcoming album
• I secured 50% writing credit on a song that is in heavy rotation
• I have established articles, reviews and plays on blogs
• booked high profile gigs
• Increased my mailing list daily through shows and reverbnation widgets
• Contacted an established up-n-coming blogger about spearheading my social media efforts.

Check out this video from our show Friday night.... We need a better camera angle next time :)

This weeks Free Track

This is the Exclusive Track for this week. Sign up on the mailing list to get a free download at reverbnation.com/tommydubs

BAILOUT!!! and Fully Fullwood

This week Musicbailout.net posted a nice write up on me so be sure to check it out RIGHT HERE and support their site.

I have been working every day on my new record and have been releasing exclusive tracks on my Reverbnation Mailing List. Sign up for the mailing list and every week I upload a track to the music player that can only be downloaded by mailing list members. After I get about 20 or so tracks, I am going to have the mailing list vote on which songs I should bring down to Capricorn Studios and produce, so make sure to sign up.

Today we booked a show at the Belly Up on Nov 30th opening for the legendary Fully Fullwood band. Seismic Leveler and crew will be performing with me and this is going to be a great show. All you North County San Diego fans represent!

Yesterday I bought a new bass since I have been rocking the same one for the last 15 years or so. I got a used Fender Jazz Bass MIM and could not be more stoked with it. I got home, wrote a bassline and 1 hour later I had written a whole song called "Won't be coming home". It is basically a soulish Motown type song and that has to be a first for me. Jay from Seismic Leveler came over, recorded guitar and vocals and I do have to say it turn out pretty sick.

I figured the song needed some great horns so I got in touch with my old homie Justin Berry in Tucson Arizona. Justin is a great musician and we played together for the better part of 5 years in my old band Stucky. I just got done sending him the tracks and could not be more excited to hear what he writes. Again, being able to record with musicians all over the world from the comfort of my studio is a trip. I am going to release the demo version of the song through the mailing list this week, sans horns, so get on that list.

See you at 710 Beach Club Tomorrow night where we will be opening for High Roots and Mystic Roots.

Who's got time for it all?

This is week 4 of the "Music Success in 9 Weeks" blogging challenge and the corresponding chapter in Ariel's book is all about social media and Web 2.0. The Internet has become so interactive and such a great way for bands to reach out and have a 2 way experience with music fans and other musicians. There are so many great tool and resources, but keeping up with it all can be a full time job. I mean who has time for Twitter, Twacker, Tweeker and Tooter when you have to write songs, hang fliers, play shows and record albums? Well some how or another you have to make time.

The problem is, the ease of sharing songs and videos has become so easy that it seems impossible to stand out amongst the endless other artists trying to do the same thing. I have come to see consistency is king and the job of marketing through social media is never ending. Luckily some sites are making it easy to stay current with tools such as widgets. Widgets are applications that can be customized and placed all over the web and they draw their content from one source which is easily updated. Reverbnation.com has mastered this and is well on the way to being the next inclusive music site for fans and bands. I highly suggest signing up for Reverbnation.

Taking part in this blogging challenge is forcing me to stay on top of shit and I wanted to talk a little bit about what I have accomplished in the last 4 weeks. What I am most excited about is I started recording my follow up to "En Los Campos". To get fans involved with the this, I have been releasing demo versions of tracks exclusively through my mailing list. I knew that this would increase the amount of people signing up for my email list but I decided to take it one step further. My Goal is to write, record and release a new song every week until I get 15-20 songs and then let the mailing list vote on which songs I should further produce and then release on my next record. Taking it a little further I decided to give free copies of my new CD and "En Los Campos" to anyone who took part in this and voted. Pretty stoked on this.

In the last couple days I have been talking to Danny from the Cool and Deadly and Aleko from Planeta Lem about swapping tracks and collaborating. I finished a track last night that  I am sending to Brooklyn for Danny to record on and tonight I finished a song that I am sending off to Barcelona for Aleko to be on. I love being able to record with people around the world through email, there is something really special about that.

Last couple of weeks I have also been lucky on the Podcast front. Cue, from the freestyledub podcast has invited me to host a couple of the next pod casts and Coverville (best of Itunes Podcast series) included my cover of Donovans "Berts Blues" on their latest podcast. Download the whole show here

It really is amazing everything you can get done when you are keeping your goals and little successes in the front of your dome.

Sunset Session