BTTV BLOG

Got videos of your band? Want to make a little passive cash. Slap some ads on that hoss. Here’s how.

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I was at a digital music event earlier this year, and was shocked to find out how many people had not heard how easy it is to monetize your YouTube channel through Ads.  YouTube will pay you for doing what you already do! Take your money!

Here’s how it works…..

YouTube offers revenue sharing for their ‘Partners’ through advertising that they show on your videos and pages.  You are eligible (in fact, they want artists!) to become a partner by filling out the Partner Application.

Please note that you cannot become a Partner if you cover songs on your channel!  You need the global rights to all video, images, and audio used on your channel.  Just don’t use anyone else copyrighted content and you will be good!

The main benefits of being a YouTube partner:

• Gain advertising revenue
• Advanced channel branding and design (Customize Top Banner and Side Box - See Example)
• Access to YouTube’s Content ID, which lets you track, monetize, or block any uploaded videos using your songs

Ever wish you could sneak a peak at real major label record contract? You can, thanks to Benjamin Burnley, frontman of hard rockers Breaking Benjamin. He’s fired the band guitarist and bassist, Aaron Fincke and Mark Klepaski, and filed launched a lawsuit against them. Burnley claims they have making decisions on behalf of the band, like releasing a greatest hits and remixing some tracks, without his authorization. They’ve countersued, but the real winners are the musicians who get to look at this major label contract between the band an Disney’s Hollywood Records.

The entire court filing is available thanks to Tunelab. The actual record contract starts on page 25.

If the external PDF isn’t loading correctly into the viewer below, you can view a version hosted directly by Google Docs.

These Breaking Benjamin court documents are public record. These are the court documents in full, with the exception of sensitive personal information being redacted.

Via Hypebot and Tunelab

Is your city “important”. Take a look from at this from DMN.

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Where does the music industry live today, anyway? The simple response is ‘everywhere,’ because creation, innovation, and promotion can happen anywhere, anytime. But ultimately that answer is too simple, too digitally utopian.  After all, great music demands great marketing, and careers require access to media outlets, contacts, communities, tours, and connections to scenes.

Turns out that location still matters after all, but which locations matter the most?  That’s a tough question, but when it comes to the music industry, we looked internally to find the densest industry populations.  Accordingly, we tracked unique IP addresses on Google Analytics (anoymously) for the past one million uniques, and found that incredibly dense hubs still exist in New York, Los Angeles, London, San Francisco (& Oakland), Nashville, and Boston, among others.

1. New York (12.23 % of the past 1MM uniques)

2. Los Angeles (10.43%)

3. London (3.55%)

4. San Francisco (and Oakland) (3.24%)

5. Nashville (1.55%)

Read more @ Digital Music News

Managing your band’s expenses may eventually become an annoying chore, if it hasn’t already. Don’t let it get in the way of you reaching your full potential. Check out Skyclerk and breathe easy knowing there’s a better way of keeping track of all that merch money. Who knew accounting could be so simple?

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Accounting for bands can be tough. One persons is at home taking care of expenses, while the group is out on the road getting receipts and racking up money and debt. Skyclerk is a great web based accounting tool. With plans that include both Free and $9 a month you are able to keep track of your accounting from anywhere in a clean and easy to use interface.

via MusFormation

Maybe it’s worth your time to work on telling the story of your band than trying to sling your songs. Perhaps?

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In 2009, Rob Walker and Joshua Glenn tried out a little experiment. They spent $128.74 on a bunch of yard sale junk and hired professional writers to draw up interesting stories about each item. Then they put everything up on eBay with the stories that they created to see what happened.

They spent $128.74 on junk and turned that into…$3,612.51!

How does that work?

Sounds like a good question that’s worth exploring, doesn’t it?  You might find some insight from the story of a flannel ball that they sold.  A pretty worthless object, right?  Not much practical value there.  Accordingly, they originally paid $1.50 for it.  You might be surprised to know that they ended up selling the ball of flannel for $51!

How? Well it all started by imagining it as something with a story.  Something beyond just the utility value.  Check out the first paragraph of the story that was written for it by Luc Sante:

After my friend Claude had his accident I went to visit him in the hospital. When I saw him I had to cough to divert a laugh. He looked like a guy in a cartoon, his entire body wrapped in bandages. He had broken everything that could be broken, from his skull to his toes. Somehow he was conscious and could speak, although to hear him I had to put my ear right up to his mouth-hole. I thought he said “door,” so I shut it, but he was still agitated. Eventually I got it: “drawer.” The one in his bedside stand contained a single object, a ball of wrapped flannel that looked like his head, only more colorful. I went to pick it up with my fingertips, but then had to readjust. Astonishingly, the thing weighed at least five pounds. I gaped at it, but Claude was making noises. I finally understood: “Don’t unwrap it.”

Read more @ DIY Musician

It’s all about getting your show dates into as many hands as possible. SongKick, who is also picking up people from Google left and right, now has a Facebook App to jack those show dates into your band’s Page.

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If your group is smart, you have been making sure that Songkick has your concert dates up to date. Whether it is to raise awareness or make sure that your Bandcamp page has dates you should always make sure Songkick has your dates. Another great reason to do it is they now have an awesome App for Facebook that will show your concert listings. In the above pic you can see them. Simply search Facebook for the Songkick App and get started!

via Musformation.

Really interesting piece from NPR about the price of concert tix, where the money goes and how much bands can expect to make. Plus a few interesting stories on how much it takes to actually quit the day job and pull off touring/playing full time. A little taste is below but definitely pull into NPR for the full story.

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“At club level, many [bands] can’t even generate enough to cover basic expenses,” Bongiovanni wrote. “From a club or promoter perspective, the act is only worth part of what it can dependably bring in the door. The stronger the draw, the safer the risk, and thus the artist can command more of the money. At this level it really is eat what you kill.”

Dawn Barger, who manages indie bands – some of whom still play small clubs and some of whom, like The National or The Antlers, have moved on to larger venues – says that’s about right.

“If you look at the finances of having a band on the road at the small club level … you’re barely covering costs in a lot of cases,” Barger says.

For bands at this level, every ticket really does count. Smaller venues – in an effort to compensate fairly – often poll audience members at the door, and pay each band on the bill the portion of the total receipts that corresponds to the number of fans who said they came to see that band play. For groups starting out in this situation, Barger paints a lifestyle ruled by modest expectations.

“I mean, if you’re selling out every night, you’re probably supporting yourself and you’re able to quit your job,” Barger says, “but you certainly have roommates, you’re barely getting by, you’re watching how many hotel rooms you get each night.”

Read more @ NPR

It sounds like MySpace Music is starting to re-group and make sense of what they’ve got. Clearly all our Tweeting, Posting, Blasting needs to be understood in context. Is it connecting with fans? How to do it better, faster and more efficiently. The MBA’s call these “pain points” and MySpace is looking to soothe what ails yah with Wildfire. DMN has the details.

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Are you just blasting your social networks, and spreading yourself thin responding to every last tweet?  Yes, according to many of the labels, artists, and managers we’ve talked to, and it’s just not working.  But, how can this be done more intelligently, with more efficiency and better fan engagement?

This is a serious problem in music marketing today, and one that MySpace Music is now attempting to address.  According to details shared with Digital Music News over the weekend, MySpace Music is now working on a social media intelligence platform called ‘Wildfire,’ a concept currently in the early pilot stages.  At a top level, the Wildfire platform is designed to more intelligently identify the most important nodes of a fan network, and give bands and labels a better strategy for making things ripple.

More @  Digital Music News