"Music marketing" - online music promotion course

This course gives an aspiring musician the knowledge and very specific and practical help in building an attractive image and brand, making the art heard by the masses using the Internet and social media possibilities, and earning money by making music. You will learn how to raise an army of loyal fans; build a professional website with a minimum budget and minor technical knowledge; craft a product creation and promotion strategy; talk to the labels, media and promoters to land record, coverage and booking deals; set and achieve big, SMART goals.

Below you will find the syllabus of the Music Marketing course. It is flexible, and different for bands/musicians and DJs (a different program for marketers is available as well). The contents of the classes are adapted according to preferred music genre and other specifics of a particular student. The course is modified for you for the best possible outcome.

Every student finishing the Music Marketing course automatically receives a chance to be released on a digital label World Disorder Records.

Text in bold below marks examples of "real," practical bonuses that students receive from the instructor besides the consultations.

MONTH 1

Lesson 1: The state of the music industry. Comparison of the traditional and modern business models in music. Introduction to Direct 2 Fan marketing. Possible and sometimes overseen by young musicians ways to earn money with music. Setting goals for the next 3, 6 months.
Lesson 2: Further explanation of D2F and permission marketing. Importance of forming a brand and defining your "value proposition". Crafting an image. Describing target audience, niche. Forming a team. Available tools for effectively managing a band.
Lesson 3: Contents of a remarkable press kit. Creating a pitch. Examining your background, picking the most notable stories. Writing pitch and bio.
Lesson 4: The importance of Social Media. The foundations of the modern online marketing. Optimizing social network profiles.
Lesson 5: Deep Facebook customization: filling in the Timeline, understanding EdgeRank, types of message and strategies for their placement (combining the formats, finding optimal time to post). Using third-party applications. Setting up BandPage. Increasing the number of initial number of Likes for up to 500 (the method has a downside, hence this point is optional).
Lesson 6: Deep Twitter customization. Content publishing tips specific to this micro-blogging platform. Using professional tools for managing Twitter account(s). Getting the most out of hashtags, advanced search, Twitter lists.
Lesson 7: Niche and interest-based social networks for musicians. Detailed explanation of Soundcloud, best usage practices and lesser known ways to promote your music using Soundcloud. How to get maximum out of presence on Last.fm. How and when to create a Wikipedia page.
Lesson 8: Crucial importance of a personal website. Destroying myths about musicians' websites, review of the existing and affordable CMS (Content Management Systems). How to create a high quality, professional website on a limited budget in two weeks. Domain name registration, temporary redirection to one of your primary social networks, email address with your domain name.

MONTH 2

Lesson 9: Usability, structure, design of a website. Examples of properly built and optimized for conversion websites of musicians. Specific instructions for website creation (understandable even by the not tech-savvy students).
Lesson 10: SEO optimization of a website. Link building strategy, content marketing. Blogging: what to write, how often, for whom, what language to use. How to increase the website's traffic through social networks. Creating a mobile version of a website.
Lesson 11: Tools for automatizing content publishing on social networks (e.g. how to spend half an hour a day watching your favorite music videos on YouTube and listening to music on Soundcloud and through that creating a stream of interesting content for your social media profiles). Places to network with other musicians, cross-promotion. Promotion on social media profiles of XSSR Academy, XSSR Music, Dotted Music.
Lesson 12: Audience building strategies. Increasing the brand's demand. Campaigns to keep fans' attention, increase engagement. Market segmentation techniques. How to measure relationships with fans.
Lesson 13: Everything about Email marketing and its effectiveness. Why you need an email newsletter. Email marketing tools. How to design email newsletters, create branded HTML templates (free examples from XSSR).
Lesson 14: Laws and rules of Email marketing, best practices. What to write about, how to name, structure email newsletters. Examples of correct and wrong bands' email newsletters.
Lesson 15: Podcasting, Internet and traditional radio. How to promote your music by creating your own shows and through appearing on existing shows and podcasts. Creating your own podcast: from recording to placing it on iTunes. Examples of emails to podcast hosts and radio DJs.
Lesson 16: For bands / musicians: How to find a worthy label (where you can actually be signed at the current stage of your career). Understanding the structure and needs of a record label. How to approach label managers and A&R. For DJs: Communities for DJs. How to receive free promo from musicians through DJ Pools. Best practices of getting promos directly from the artists and labels.

MONTH 3

Lesson 17: For bands / musicians: comparison of online distribution services. How to self-release your music. How to register your label. The importance of music streaming services, free music distribution to Spotify. For DJs: How to launch your own label and as a result: become its primary resident (even if you haven't written a single track in your life), receive free promos, release music of other musicians, earn money and build important connections.
Lesson 18: Introduction to publishing, licensing. Placing your music in movies, ads, games, TV shows. The list of licensing websites, conditions, registration rules. Recommendation and best practices.
Lesson 19: General overview of the most popular marketing tools, detailed overview of one of them (e.g. FanBridge, Reverbnation, TopSpin). How to get maximum out of the tools' free features. Customizing and using widgets.
Lesson 20: Video & YouTube marketing. Secrets of viral marketing. Recommendations for creating budget, effective video content. YouTube channel customization, SEO optimization. Tactics to increase the number of channel subscribers and video views.
Lesson 21: Touring. Creating technical and hospitality rider (with real examples). Booking gigs. Strategy of building connections with promoters, tips and email templates for approaching promoters.
Lesson 22: Building relationships with media. How to find thematic blogs and get actual coverage on them. Creating offers that most of the media resources will not be able to refuse. Email templates.
Lesson 23: Merchandising. Strategies for selling physical products (t-shirts, caps, flyers, buttons). Creating unique merch, review of concept ideas and implementation ideas.
Lesson 24: Importance of analytics and working with data. Basics of Google Analytics. Getting the most out of free features of available analytical tools for musicians. Analyzing competitors to optimize your own activity. Using A/B testing. Experimentation as a way to get the best results.

At the end of each consultation a student receives automatically generated minutes from the lesson, with the corresponding material and all links and files refereed to during the call. A student also receives tasks to complete before the next consultation.

If a student keeps using our individual consultations upon ending the course (consider this having your personal manager-for-hire, but at a very affordable price) - the Dotted Music agency formally becomes his/her management and booking representative.

Duration of the course: 3 months
Number of lessons: 24
Duration of one lesson: 1 academic hour (if 2 lessons per week) / 2 academic hours (if 1 lesson per week)
Cost: $380 / month

To learn more about the course and get a free first lesson, leave a request. We will contact you shortly!