Direct to Fan Marketing: From Foundation to Execution

Hey Bandzooglers, I’ll keep this intro short so that you guys can spend more time watching Mike’s presentation (embedded below). It is a long one, but well worth the time. Mike does an amazing job at explaining what is "state of the Art" right now in terms of direct-to-fan marketing. Berklee, in general, is an amazing resource for musicians and we have pledged to collaborate with them as much as we can, so expect more great content coming from them (and us contributing there). Also the next term at Berklee starts April 4th so check out Berkleemusic.com asap ! Also, you Twitter users should follow Mike, a.k.a. @atomzooey.

Hey there,

This is Mike King from Berkleemusic.com, the online extension school of Berklee College of Music. I had the pleasure of meeting David Dufresne at the SF Music Tech Summit last year, and it was immediately clear to me that we share some fundamental ideas on best practices for online marketing; namely that musicians need a “home base” of sorts online, and that they should have complete control of this “home” online. I talk about the idea that social media and other third party sites should act as a funnel to a site where musicians can customize the landing experience in the best possible way for their targeted fans, and I think that Bandzoogle is providing a really easy and effective way for musicians to do this.

I think another really important attribute of a successful musician is to be as educated as possible. The technological developments that are happening in the music industry right now are non-stop, and it helps to have resources and people around that can help you identify not only what companies are truly adding value to the musical ecosystem, but the best practices in how to use these resources effectively. Berkleemusic.com provides over 100 online courses and multi-course certificate programs to help musicians in all areas of music, from production and recording, to mastering, marketing, sales and much more. I’ve been lucky enough to write and teach three music business courses for Berkleemusic, including "Online Music Marketing with Topspin", and it’s a complete thrill to turn students onto the newest developments in marketing. Very fulfilling to be sure.

Berkleemusic’s next term starts on April 4th. You can take a look at our complete course catalog here.

I also spoke at MIDEM a couple weeks back. My presentation was called “Direct to Fan Marketing: from Foundation to Execution.” You can watch the complete presentation below. A word of warning – it’s long! But I think there might be some useful pieces of information in here for folks that are interested in undertaking an online music marketing campaign.

All the best,

Mike King