Brenden Mulligan Consulting

Helping musicians make sense of digital marketing & social media tools

Posts Tagged advice

Introducing my artist consulting service!

Nov 4

Posted by Brenden in Artist Advice | Comments

Today I’m really excited to announce something I’ve been contemplating for a long time.

Although, ArtistData helps over 15,000 artists be more efficient with their digital marketing, I also know that artists need more than tools. Regardless of how many tools are built for the artist community, there’s still a lot of musicians who need help figuring out how to best use them. That’s why I’ve just launched a service, aimed at doing just that.

Brenden Mulligan Consulting

I’ve spent the past 2 months on the road talking at music industry conferences. During this time, I’ve sat down with a LOT of musicians, asking endless questions about their frustrations. I expected answers like “I need newsletter manager” or “I need a better website”, but instead I heard “I need to know why people aren’t opening my email newsletters”, “I want my website to rank higher in Google”, and “I don’t know how to capture my fans attention through Twitter or my blog.”

Sometimes artists just need to ask someone “Here’s what I’m doing, how can I do it better?” And it’s helpful to ask someone who knows what they’re talking about.

I’ve spent the past 8 years watching this industry experience massive change. Since MySpace launched, I have focused on digital marketing. It’s what I know, and I love helping artists understand and leverage it.

So that’s what I’m announcing today. One-on-one sessions to help artists better understand digital marketing. I posted the full info on this site.

Check it out and let me know what you think. I’d love feedback. This is an evolving experiment with the honest goal of helping bands better understand how to move their careers forward.

I look forward to chatting!

Brenden
http://www.twitter.com/bmull

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Following Through as an Artist

May 28

Posted by Brenden in Artist Advice | Comments

This post was originally posted on the ArtistData blog

As the guy running ArtistData, I hear a lot of new music. About two months ago, I heard a track that stuck out by a band that I won’t name. I listened to more on MySpace and was really impressed. They seemed to have a good following, a bunch of upcoming shows, and thoughtful branding (by that I mean it looked like they cared about their CD artwork, site design, etc…).

After listening on and off for a few weeks, I decided to do something I rarely do: I emailed friends at labels and agencies recommending the band. It isn’t often that I hear an artist that I’d promote to my network, but this band stuck out. So I tried to help.

Before I emailed my network, I asked them for permission to pass along their music, as well as confirm they wanted to build a team. Their email response: “We’re actually looking for an agent number one, possibly a manager. Our main goal right now is just playing more shows … so an agent would really help.”

So I sent out the music. I also asked the band to send me MP3s of the album in case anyone was interested in hearing more. They never did. After a few weeks, an agent friend at Creative Artists Agency asked to hear more. Since I didn’t have more music, I emailed the band, telling them CAA wanted the album and gave them the address and contact to send it to. I also asked them again to send me MP3s to pass along to the agent (at his request this time).

Silence.

Six days later, I emailed them again, confirming they got the email. They responded immediately, blaming phone troubles on the lack of response from a few days before. Not a big deal, but instead of responding with the digital files, which I had asked for twice now, they said they’d put a package in the mail and asked me if he’d want digital files too. I responded saying (or I should say repeating) it would be great if they could send me the MP3s.

Since then, I haven’t heard from them. And neither has he. They never sent the package!

Speaking with him today, he said “Well, it’s better to know that they are that type of band sooner than later.” I couldn’t agree more.

Now, it is my opinion that the correct response for a band who, a few weeks after handing out their music to strangers at SXSW had a agent from CAA personally requesting their album, should have been this:

1. Celebrate
2. Overnight multiple CDs immediately with a handwritten “thank you for listening” note
3. Realize that whatever happens next, just impressing an agent at that level is an accomplishment worthy of a celebratory beer

You have to follow through.

Not only did this band waste my time, but also came off looking unreliable. They’re a great band, and I bet they’ll succeed. But I wouldn’t work with them, and I’d tell that to anyone who asked. So would the agent.

You have to follow through.

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