amplifiedsteve-blog

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Join me on Bridge - my new startup

Hey, Hope business is treating you well. It's been some time since we last spoke and over the past year I've been working on a new startup called Bridge - it's a real-time chat network for startups and entrepreneurs. We're currently in closed beta but you can take a look at our info page http://amplified-media.us2.list-manage1.com/track/click?u=c39c05931aa5acec01e2fe2b7&id=245190173b&e=9c15259cfb Another note is I've been studying Lean Methodology and have been applying my knowledge to my aforementioned startup. It's an amazing method of developing business model / ideas and testing these before you invest in building the business. If you're a Lean practitioner or you're interested in learning about the Lean Methodology we have started a private Lean Startup group on Slack and you can register from this link: http://amplified-media.us2.list-manage1.com/track/click?u=c39c05931aa5acec01e2fe2b7&id=13d9c02f6a&e=9c15259cfb - hope to see you there. That's it from me, any questions just hit reply and I'll happily discuss. All the best, Steve Mullen ps. apologies for the long ugly links (it's a mailchimp thing)

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Happy Tuesday! It's Tuesday and so we're announcing something special! Get your Fan Pages designed by us, Amplified Media. Customise your Facebook Page any way you want with contests, sweepstakes, videos, custom forms and a whole bunch more from £147 per page (normally). If you are using Facebook business pages for your business you'll definitely want to learn more about what we're offering. Best Facebook Pages For Business utilise Facebook’s powerful iFrame functionality that lets you, the business / the brand, feature fully customised Facebook pages to showcase anything to do with your business – Like to unlock, Coupon Codes, Sweepstakes, Contests, Mailchimp Integration, Twitter & RSS Feeds… anything you want. Click the following link to get 20% Off - special discount for being our friend!

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Keith, The Penny Black Remedy, back stage at Hootenanny, Brixton - Feb 2011

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Still a long way to go but about bloody time...

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Love and Endure Each Other - where is this?

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I found this to be an interesting read, been checking out Gigwiz. Good to see they're gaining traction..

Major ticketing services will see new players in the market with “direct-to-fan” platforms that allow event organizers and artists to turn to a smaller marketing middle man. Both Topspin and brand-new Gigswiz announced at the New Music Seminar this week marketing tools that artists can use to sell retail and direct ticket sales through their own websites.

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Adverts placed on YouTube videos can turn a profit for their creators.

It’s no secret that the last decade has been tough for the music industry. Hit by piracy, recession and falling sales, record labels have shed artists and staff in an effort to stay afloat.

Costs have been cut in almost every area, with one glaring exception.

“What people tend to forget is there is a fixed cost in breaking artists,” said Mark Robinson, vice-president of Warner Music last year.

“On average, it still costs $1million (£621,000) to promote and launch a new band.”

It’s a big figure - incorporating the price of recording an album, styling a band, marketing their music and everything else that finally, hopefully, pushes an act into the mainstream.

But is there an alternative?

A growing number of musicians are establishing their careers on YouTube, with little or no financial outlay. Last year, an unsigned band from New York even entered the Billboard charts courtesy of their online fanbase.

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Last year, major labels Universal and Sony received more revenue from Spotify than any other Swedish music service or digital and physical record store, according to local newspaper reports.

The news came as a surprise to many independent labels and to Swedish songwriters, as their royalty statements tell a very different story. It appears that not only do the majors own shares in Spotify, they – and their artists – also get much better streaming rates than the indies. Some of the indies threatened in early December to withdraw their music from Spotify in response.

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david-noel:

Seeing the name Joe Strummer by way of his foundation for new music used together with SoundCloud players for emerging bands supported by the foundation makes me incredibly happy. (weirdest sentence I’ve ever written in English?)

Read more about this integration in this short interview with Steve Nelson over at Strummerville. Oh and check out the bands too, some really nice stuff. 

(via soundcloud)

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soundcloud:

Around the same time last year, Steve from Strummerville got in touch with us to look into ways to use SoundCloud for the DIY initiative of the Joe Strummer Foundation For New Music. While Steve and the team started using SoundCloud back at the time, they’ve now rolled out a deeper integration with SoundCloud. Let’s hear what Steve has to say about it.

Hey Steve, tell us what Strummerville is?

Strummerville is a registered charity that aims to create new opportunities for aspiring musicians. Set up by the friends and family of Joe Strummer in the year after his death, we seek to reflect Joe’s unique contribution to the music world by offering support, resources and performance opportunities to artists who would not normally have access to them.

What’s the latest?

We’ve just announced our re-vamped DIY music platform and we’re really excited about our Top 20 DIY Playlist that features bands with the most downloads from the previous week - the response has been amazing. Our DIY pages give new artists an opportunity to be heard for free by a community of people who care about real music.

How did you make use of SoundCloud and what made you decide to go with us?

By fully integrating our DIY music platform with SoundCloud we can now virally promote the 250+ bands & songwriters we are working with (more being added daily).

SoundCloud makes it really easy for fans of our DIY bands to share their favourite tracks on Facebook, Twitter, websites, blogs etc. with each download counting towards our Top 20 Playlist chart. As well as all this the SoundCloud team are an amazing group of people who absolutely love what they do and that’s move music, and that works very well for us.

Thanks, Steve! We’re thrilled to be involved in the project of a legend like Joe.

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Where will the music industry be in 2021? Let’s think about it. In 10 years time will there still be record labels? In 10 years time will people still ‘buy’ music?

Unless we can time travel, of course, we will never truly know today the answers to these questions but one thing we have learned seen since the launch of Music Supported Here is that we all have opinions on what we think will be the future of the music industry.

To try and make sense of this we want to know what you, our peers, think and so today we’re announcing the publication of a new poll ‘Ten in Ten’ – more info to follow in the coming weeks.

For updates and general chit chat on this topic follow us on Twitter @musiciansrights using #10in10

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Marcus Mumford (Mumford & Sons) recently talked to BBC 6 Music all about their new material, plans for the year ahead and whether they're feeling the pressure.

There seems to be no stopping Mumford and Sons following an incredible 2010 off the back of their debut album Sigh No More.

So, after a massive 2010, what does 2011 hold? Take a listen:

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The Vagabonds (download now from Strummerville)

Had the pleasure of coming across these guys working on Strummerville DIY. The Vagabonds are from Dublin and have a great sound, here's their track "John Mellor"

The Vagabonds - John Mellor

"…a brilliant slice of apocalyptic punk that’s just the medicine for recession depression. It’s no wonder legendary producer Stephen Street picked up on these lads." - The Daily Mirror

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newspeedwayboogie:

Gorgeous picture of Mimi, younger sister of Joan Baez. 

Celebrations for a Grey Day, which she recorded with her husband Richard Farina, in 1965, is one of my most favorite recordings.  Drone before there was drone, freak-folk before there was freak-folk.  I will have to post a song from there tomorrow.

furtherfromage:

Mimi Farina -along with her husband Richard - is a huge favorite.  I’ll have to dig some up soon. 

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2011 TIP: Social Media turn-over is vanity, bottom line is sanity

The internet has undeniably revolutionised how grassroots musicians take control of their own career development but that does not mean floods of new prospective fans will be flocking to purchase said bands music. On the contrary there is simply too much noise. What bands & musicians seem to be forgetting right now is that to sustain a viable career you NEED a fanbase. Seems obvious, right?

Not so. Think of this business adage: "Turnover is vanity, bottom-line is sanity" - in other words having 1,000's of followers within your social media network is wonderful but it does NOT mean they are buying your music or merch, going to shows, forking out for limited edition prints etc. So with this in mind you (the artist) really need to start identifying and building relationships with your PAYING customers.

To close this subtle rant I would like to suggest that for any grassroots band or musician to realistically build and sustain a career within this fickle industry your resolution for 2011 really must be to BUILD & NUTURE YOUR FANBASE oh, and please stop thinking SHORT TERM and start thinking LONG TERM.

Peace, Steve

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"Money had never been the main thing for me. It's the legacy that was important." Barry Gordy, Motown Records

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Gretsch 6073 meet Amep SVT Classic. My new bass set up...