June 12, 2020

Kohrey - Building Artist Brands through Creating Views, Streams, and REAL Followers with Digital and Influencer Music Marketing

June 12, 2020/ Chris Goyzueta

You can also listen to this episode on Apple Podcasts | Spotify | Stitcher |

In the last few years, for the first time we’re living in an age where musicians and artists can take control of their music career, and use powerful strategies to promote their own music. In the digital age, artists have the ability to find real fans to stream their music on Spotify and watch their videos on YouTube, TikTok, Instagram, and Facebook. Musicians don’t have to rely on labels or others to make a living doing what they love. Also, the artist team no longer needs to follow the traditional model of manager, attorney, agent, label, publicist, and publishing company. In the new music industry, one of the most powerful persons to have on your artist team is a digital marketing expert.

Kohrey is a digital marketing expert, and the co-founder of the Brandman Network and Contraband Agency. Through their companies they have created powerful results for independent musicians in finding a real audience that they can convert to loyal fans. They teach artists how to do this through their agencies and with all the amazing content they share on their YouTube Channel and Instagram. Kohrey and his partners are making a real difference in artists careers, and taking them to build successful businesses.

In this conversation, we talk about digital marketing, promoting shows, about the different platforms to promote music and much more. To learn more about Kohrey visit https://www.contrabrand.agency/ and https://www.instagram.com/kohreydasavior/.

Quotes from Kohrey
“If we’re seeing that people are willing to come to an old bakery to watch a concert, it really opens up the world to what artist touring can look like.”
“Events, if you have the stomach for it, the capacity for it, and the team for it, it’s one of the best networking things you can do.”
“The way to play the game in marketing is the same whether you’re emerging or established.”
“Content is 60% of the game. If you don’t start there, you’re not even competing.”
“You should know enough to know what you’re not good at and what you need to delegate.”
“You don’t need to run your marketing campaigns forever, but at least understand enough about it so when you’re hiring somebody you know what they’re talking about and what questions to ask.”
“Spotify is like the industry scoreboard.”
“YouTube is the most rewarding platform to grow on.”
“TikTok is the first social media platform where there is music promo going on 24/7 and everyone is clearly fine with it.”
“Spotify doesn’t convert as well to other platforms, as other platforms convert to Spotify.” “Ads alone are not enough to break an artist.”
“Ads make it easier to take risks on the other stuff.”
“The strategy is in the long term.”
“The email list does show work ethic.”

Highlights from this Episode
[02:35] Promoting Shows in Alternative Venues
[10:58] Organizing Blue Summer Festival & Booking Touring Artists
[22:07] Promoting lesser known artists through Digital Marketing
[26:24] About Contraband Agency
[31:10] Developing Your Artist Team
[35:40] Booking Agents
[41:40] How to know who’s a good manager
[47:27] Best platforms for musicians
[53:03] The right time and way to direct people to Spotify
[56:15] Advertising on YouTube
[01:01:36] Engagement with retargeting ads
[01:03:20] Directing fans to your email list
[01:09:44] Taking care of your fans along the funnel
[01:13:10] Getting to know Kohrey

Links to people, places, and things mentioned
Blue Summer ATL
Paradigm Agency
International Entertainment Buyers Association (IEBA)
Jonathan Hay
Brandman Sean
Kendrick Lamar
Meek Mill
Travis Porter
Miguel
Creative Juice Podcast
Earn Your Leisure
Joe Budden Podcast
[BOOKS]
All You Need to Know About the Music Business by Don Passman
Never Split the Difference by Chris Voss
All Marketers Tell Lies by Seth Godin
Jab, Jab, Jab Right Hook by Gary Vaynerchuck
The Art & Science of Respect by Jay Prince
Hustle Harder, Hustle Smarter by 50 Cent

Kohrey’s Definition of Making It:
“Being able to do whatever it is that I wanna do in the moment comfortably, without ever worrying.”

Get in touch with Kohrey
https://www.contrabrand.agency
Instagram | YouTube

Related Articles & Episodes:
Cheryl B. Engelhardt - Rockin’ Your Email Subscriber List [Episode #083]
Mark Schaefer - Strategies to Building Your Brand [Episode #073]
Kyle “Circa” Lemaire - Disrupting the Traditional Music BusinessKyle “Circa” Lemaire - Disrupting the Traditional Music Business [Episode #054]

Keep in touch:
chris.goyzueta@gmail.com
www.makingitwithchrisg.com
https://www.instagram.com/chrisgoyzueta/
https://www.facebook.com/makingitwithchrisg

Credits:
Host: Chris Goyzueta (Chris G.)
Producer: Jason Trosclair
Executive Producer: ONElive Creative Agency
Music: Emily Kopp

April 09, 2020

Rick Barker - Taking Your Independent Music Career to the Next Level Through Digital Marketing, Content Creation, and Building Relationships

April 09, 2020/ Chris Goyzueta

You can also listen to this episode on iTunes | Spotify | Stitcher |

Rick Barker is one of the leaders in the DIY Musician space. He is a phenomenal speaker and has a great way of explaining things. I love his philosophies on the music business and his style of coaching and mentoring. His career started in radio in 1989, where he spent over a decade of his career learning what listeners want to hear and how to build a community around music. Rick started a country music station in 2001, KRAZy Country, and launched the first country radio tour “Nashville to You,” where artists were paid to perform. Through his experience in radio, he met Scott Borchetta, founder and CEO of Big Machine Label Group, the label that signed Taylor Swift. Scott hired Rick to be a radio promoter for the label, which led him to become the manager for Taylor Swift early in her career. Taylor once told Rick that she wanted a Gold Record (500,000 in sales), and he told her “then let’s go meet 500,000 people.”

Today, Rick Barker coaches and manages musicians, working with over 1,600 clients. He teaches his lessons through his podcast “The Music Industry Blueprint,” YouTube Channel, courses, public speaking, and spending time coaching artists through Instagram Live. Rick is also the co-author of the book “$150,00 Music Degree.” People call him the Gary Vee of the music business. He’s constantly crushing it with valuable content through all his social media platforms, always going live, and finding ways to engage with people online. Not only is he a leader in the DIY Musician world, but he’s a brilliant digital marketer, spending countless hours always educating and improving himself.

This was a really fun episode full of amazing insight. In this episode, you’ll learn about Rick’s journey in the music business, and so many tips to building the right relationships, where to start in your music career, touring strategies, marketing strategies, and so much more. I’m excited to share this conversation with the amazing Rick Barker.

Quotes from Rick Barker
“Focused hustle is more important.”
“The best way today to build relationships is by putting out content and showing up on social media and say thank you.”
“The internet now allows us to play that game. We have direct access to fans.”
“Stop waiting to be discovered.”
“Stop trying to be everything to everyone, and just focus on who your audience is.”
“If you come in with something already happening, you can partner with a label. You don’t have to be at mercy to the label.”
“Fall in love with the fans. Write music for your fans.”
“When you buy courses, you’re buying someone else’s experience.”
“We want to know what you’ve done, not what you’ve learned.”
“Those that pay, pay attention.”
“I would do a lot of getting to know before you just show and say you have tickets on sale.”
“Too often people are trying to get seen before they’re ready.”
“All you need in the beginning is a vocal coach. If you want to be a songwriter, write songs.”
“Anyone who’s smart has a coach.”
“They’re not there to see you, they’re there to be entertained.”
“Get your music right, before you start to go out and do shows.”
“If people aren’t showing back up, it’s all on you.”
“Become a digital marketer. Period.”
“If you are not having success doing it yourself you don’t have the skills and need to learn them.”
“Until you have something to offer, don’t make those calls.”
“Build relationships with your venue first.”
“Become friends with promoters. They’re the ones taking the calls from the booking agents.”
“There is no competition. There is only collaboration.”
“Nobody can take advantage of you if you do your homework.”

Highlights from this Episode
[7:20] Inspiration to coaching musicians
[9:30] Focused hustle and redirecting your focus
[13:12] How Rick got started in the business
[16:00] Radio for Independent artists
[18:15] Benefit of labels
[20:05] Lessons learned from Taylor
[22:10] Standing out as an artist manager
[26:30] Coaches and Mentors
[32:15] Where to start after writing new music
[34:45] Playing open mics
[36:30] Knowing when you’re ready
[37:50] Live music producers
[38:58] Building your team
[40:35] Relationships and playing the right venues
[42:52] Building your email list
[45:00] Getting people to come back to shows
[46:20] Playing shows outside of your hometown
[48:50] Booking Agents
[50:05] Getting the attention agents and managers
[52:35] Become friends with promoters
[56:30] Getting to know Rick Barker

Links to people, places, and things mentioned
Gary Vee
Taylor Swift
Scott Borchetta
Big Machine Label Group
Russell Brunson
Click Funnels
Todd Brown
Sunny Lenarduzzi
Ari Herstand
Wade Sutton
Circa from Indepreneur
Episode with Rick on Creative Juice
Amy Porterfield
Dawn Beyer
Shannon Curtis
Tom Jackson
Prince
Bruno Mars
Rel Carter
Roc Nation
Creative Juice Podcast
Chris Greenwood / Manafest
Rob Level / Smart Rapper

BOOKS
Traffic Secret by Russel Brunson
The One Thing by Gary Keller
One Million Followers by Brendan Kane
How to Make It in the New Music Business by Ari Herstand
Ask by Ryan Levesque
Jab, Jab, Jab, Right Hook by Gary Vaynerchuck

Rick Barker’s Definition of Making It:
“When someone is able to do what they love, and can make a living doing what they love.”

Get in touch with Rick Barker
https://rickbarker.com/
Music Industry Blueprint Podcast
YouTube Channel
Instagram | Twitter | Facebook

Keep in touch:
chris.goyzueta@gmail.com
www.makingitwithchrisg.com
https://www.instagram.com/chrisgoyzueta/
https://www.facebook.com/makingitwithchrisg

Credits:
Host: Chris Goyzueta (Chris G.)
Producer: Jason Trosclair
Executive Producer: ONElive Creative Agency
Music: Emily Kopp

February 15, 2018

Mark Schaefer - Strategies to Building Your Personal Brand and Becoming KNOWN

February 15, 2018/ Chris Goyzueta

You can also listen to this episode on iTunes | Spotify | Stitcher |

One of my favorite topics in marketing since starting the podcast is the concept of content marketing and building media companies. It’s something that’s been happening for decades. As Joe Pulizzi mentioned, he modeled the Content Marketing Institute on Disney’s business model as a media company. Over the last 10 years or so, there have been some brilliant marketers that have studied content marketing or building a business around being a media company. They’ve done endless amounts of research, built media companies themselves, and have many amazing success stories. Musicians should be the best set-up at building media companies because they’re building a business around media. Yet unfortunately, many musicians struggle with building an audience, including their labels. However, there is a ton of amazing information out there and marketing strategists that have identified simple steps on how someone can build a media company, and become KNOWN. One of these marketing strategists is Mark Schaefer, the guest for this episode on the show.

Mark Schaefer is a marketing and social media strategist. He’s a six-time author, which includes the book KNOWN - “The handbook for Unleashing Your Personal Brand in a Digital Age.” Mark is one of the Top-10 Most retweeted marketing authorities, a public speaker, a professor at Rutgers University, well-known blogger for the blog {grow}, and even has his own podcast, The Marketing Companion. In this conversation, we discuss the book KNOWN, and how musicians can use these strategies to find their sustainable interest, build a powerful brand, and creating an effective social media strategy to grow your business, and become KNOWN.

Grab a copy of KNOWN by Mark Schaefer on Amazon

Highlights from this Episode
[2:31] Mark’s first memorable live music experiences
[6:15] Mark’s Story
[7:45] Why KNOWN is a good start for Musicians
[13:10] Finding your sustainable interest
[15:34] How to find your sustainable interest
[19:57] How to find the right space that’s not already oversaturated
[23:34] Four types of “rich” content to consider
[27:32] The importance of focusing on one type of content on one platform
[31:58] How consistent and patient do we need to be?
[37:52] Using Twitter advanced search
[42:10] Where is the trend of content consumption going in 2018
[46:25] How Mark Schaefer would design a Music Business program
[48:40] Mark’s Hollywood Vampires
[50:01] Getting to know Mark Schaefer

Quotes from Mark Schaefer
“There is only one thing that matters today. Either you’re known, or you’re not.”
“Being known is really the only sustainable competitive advantage a person can have today.”
“Every single person, in every field, everywhere in the world, did the same four things to be known.”
“I didn’t follow my passion. My passion followed me.”
“To be known, you have to identify your sustainable interest.”
“All of the great musicians have combined genres, they’ve combined cultures.”
“Many of the musicians we look up to today, when they started, they didn’t have it right. But they started.”
“If you want to stand out in some way, you have to find a way to do it that really hasn’t been done before.”
“There are so many new and exciting opportunities out there.”
“The whole idea is to be discovered and to create something new in a new space, where you can be discovered and loved.”
“A social media audience is different from an actionable audience.”
“On average it took people [from the book] two and a half years to tilt.”
“The key is focus.”
“Twitter is the most powerful way to find a targetable audience.”
“The number one consideration has to be; what brings you joy?”
“If you’re not having fun, not having joy, the audience will find that.”
“When you put content into the world, it’s a daily performance review.”

Links to people, places, and things mentioned
Bruce Springsteen
Pat Metheny
Hologram Electronics
NAMM Conference
Isadora et Marisa (Food YouTuber)
Rodney Hazard
Slide Share
“Got Twitter? You’ve been Scored” (NY Times Article)
Advanced Twitter Search
Rutgers University
Walter Isaacson
Elon Musk
Ernie Watts
“Blogging and Your Moment of Truth” (Article inspired by Ernie Watts)
[BOOKS]
KNOWN
The Tao of Twitter
The Content Code

Mark Schaefer’s Definition of Making It:
“Peace in your heart. When you get to a place when you get peace in your heart, you feel satisfied, you feel rewarded for giving back to the world in whatever way. That’s the ultimate definition of success for me.”

Get in touch with Mark Schaefer
https://www.businessesgrow.com/
Twitter: @markwschaefer