Episode 4 - Interview with Randy Chertkow

Show notes:
Randy Chertkow is a musician with the band Beatnik Turtle and co-author of The Indie Band Survival Guide. Randy and I ran into each other at DragonCon this month and he was kind enough to grant me an interview.

Send feedback to workingindiemusician@gmail.com.

Episode 3 - The Facebook Debacle

Episode 3 show notes:
- welcome to episode 3! (feels weird to be at 3)

Feedback
- from Jonathan Romley of Artist Force
- moderator of the panel I talked about
"I enjoyed your video. I also hoped for some more insightful vision of the future than I was able to extract. You've made a good point – often, our guess is as good as the next well informed social media fanatic. I wish you the best with your vlog."

- from Doug Hanna, filmmaker
"Love the show- Keep it up!

I don't have a music Facebook page, but what I find from a Facebook Fan Page for my films and movies is that it does get you a few new fans. Facebook makes a big deal about anything anyone does so if someone becomes a fan of "Bob The Singer" it will come up on all of their friends home pages that says So-and-So became friends with "Bob The Singer". You might get fans that way."
- goes on to talk about some of the general benefits of having a fan page.
- This happened to me with The Leviathan Chronicles.

So I Set One Up
- http://www.facebook.com/pages/Devo-Spice/116693183739
- the set up sucked
- browser crashed 6 times while trying to upload photos
- discography application kept erroring back to photo album application
- after completing the photo album the discography application still didn't work
- uploading music requires that you prove you're who you say you are by faxing them a copy of your drivers license, then takes a few days to approve
- I was approved, but still don't know where users can play the songs I uploaded

Was It Worth it?
- maybe
- 121 fans, as of now, roughly 1/3 of friends on personal page
- however, many fans are not friends, possibly half, so I am reaching new people

Don't Invite Friends?
- couldn't figure out how to invite friends, so I asked a friend
- she said don't, she hates when bands invite you to become fans
- then volunteered to do it for me
- I posted on Twitter, cross posted to my status

Set Up on TheSixtyOne.com
- easy process
- must have separate account as listener, can't be both artist and listener
- makes a game out of listening to music and discovering new music
- several friends jumped onto it after I did and have become hooked

Question
- What web sites do you use to promote your music, and how well has it worked out for you?
- send feedback to workingindiemusician@gmail.com

Episode 2: The So-Called Marketing Experts

Show notes:

Feedback
- like it, but don't record in front of a waterfall

ASCAP New York Sessions
- I'm not happy with ASCAP, but that's a whole other show
- I attended New York Sessions back in March, wasn't worth it, but I'm glad I went
- I attended the Marketing from the Driver's Seat panel - basically do it yourself marketing
- panelists:
Moderator - Jonathan Romley - Founder, CEO - ArtistForce
Reed Calhoun - Director, Artist Relations - ArtistForce, Artist - Rock Kills Kid; Songwriter - Plain White T's
Jonathan Eshak - Artist Manager, Brett Dennen, The Walkmen - Mick Management
Irving Fain - Director, Digital Marketing & Content - Clear Channel Online Music & Radio
Lawrence Peryer - President - 23 Omnimedia
Thomas Silverman - Founder, CEO - Tommy Boy Entertainment
Lucy Weber - Publicist - Swift PR
- the panel went over the usual stuff: MySpace, Facebook, Twitter, etc.
- 2 people then asked "what's next?"
- THEY COULDN'T ANSWER
- That's when I realized they don't know any more than I do
- So what do they have that I don't?
1. money
2. connections
- this realization was encouraging and discouraging at the same time

Question for you
- Has setting up a Facebook fan page for you helped?
- Are you getting any new fans from it, or is it just another place for your existing fans?

Feedback to workingindiemusician@gmail.com

Episode 1: Welcome!

Show notes:

Welcome!
- my name is Tom Rockwell, aka Devo Spice
- I do comedy rap, but don't let that throw you. This blog is for anyone working as an independent musician, full time or not.

Why?
- Lots of podcasts promise to help, but all seem to be from outside looking in.
- Strength in numbers. If enough people get involved we can all help each other out. Hopefully we can learn from each other. My weak spot is promotion and marketing.

Experiment
- If it works, I'll continue. If not, I'll stop.
- No set schedule for now.
- Why video? So I don't spend more time than necessary on it.
- If it was audio I'd feel compelled to polish it. I already spend roughly 10 hours a week on Manic Mondays. Can't afford another 10 hours a week.

Today's topic: Time Management
- This is something I'm good at.
- 3 kids, wife, dog, house, full time job, weekly podcast, run The FuMP, freelance. Where do I find time for music? Wherever I can.
- All those things I listed come before my music. The trick is simply to prioritize and do a little at a time whenever you get a chance.
- Tell jar story from college.
- Big rocks - family
- Marbles - job, house, freelance
- Sand - music
- If something is important to you you will find the time to do it
- May have to give up or cut down something else, like TV, video games
- Used to do it in my head, but things were slipping through the cracks, and then I'd be up late as deadlines approached. Now I have a to do list- simple google doc divided into 4 sections:
1. Do now - the current priority
2. Ongoing - weekly or monthly stuff: podcast, accounting, etc.
3. Active jobs - things I'm actively working on
4. On hold - things I can't work on because I'm waiting for something

Tips
1. Delegate when possible
2. Invest more time now to save more later
3. Do a little at a time whenever possible (lunch break, etc.)
4. Prioritize - quick/easy things first to get them out of the way, then look at deadlines
5. Learn to say no - Even to yourself. Really evaluate the value of a project before you undertake it. Will it be worth your time? If not, don't do it.

Feedback
- time management tips, tools, or any questions, future topics, whatever
- send feedback to workingindiemusician@gmail.com