Donuts and Sharks TOGETHER!

Donuts and sharks are not two things you wouldn’t typically think of putting together. 

In a couple weeks we will see the return of The Discovery Channel’s Shark Week and one of the main partners/sponsors is Dunkin Donuts. What is Dunkin Donuts doing in conjunction with Shark Week? They are releasing a limited special edition donut. A "life preserver" donut. 

Dunkin Donut's limited-edition "life preserver" donut is a perfect example of a brand finding a way to make themselves relevant in what will inevitably be a big conversation piece come August. 

Life we said, donuts and sharks aren't something you'd think of putting together, but when you actually think about it, a life preserver donut makes perfect sense for Shark Week. It’s got a nautical theme. It’s something you often see associated with sharks (usually with teeth marks in it) and the life preserver itself is often referred to as a donut. 

Sometimes in marketing you have to do something different, something not expected. Pairing donuts and sharks together isn’t something you’d typically think to do, but by figuring out a way to make it work together both parties benefit. Brings a little more attention to Shark Week and Dunkin Donut get a little additional attention from a segment they might not normally get exposed to. 

You can’t continually do the same thing or what everyone else is doing. Trying new things, partnering with the unexpected are great ways to stand out from the usual. Whether that's your usual or someone else's usual. 

That being said, one thing to keep in mind is don’t do something crazy and different just to do something crazy and different. If Dunkin Donuts decided to sponsor Shark Week but only ran their usual ad, it would be no different than running their usual ad. By also releasing the life preserver donut it makes the pairing with Shark week make more sense, stands out and gives people something to talk about.

What can you do that's different? Is there a strange, unexpected and/or different partnership you could pursue that will get people talking about you? 

I need to start working with more country artists...

Alan Cross posted this earlier today from www.statista.com

To see the original article CLICK HERE

6 Things You Need To Know Every Musician Hates To Do (Seriously???)

I was not impressed seeing the following article make it’s rounds today in various social media corners. As the title suggests the article outlines “6 Things You Need To Know Every Musician Hates To Do”, but I believe the title should’ve been “6 Things Musicians Tend To Continually Complain About Having To Do”

Feel free to read the article first before reading my comments below. CLICK HERE

Now, before I go off on my rant about this article, let me first point out that I spent many years playing in a band at various levels and throughout that time I had to do all 6 of things these. I don’t disagree that some of these thing aren’t the most fun or exciting things to do, but the reality is they’re part of the job. That’s right JOB!

Its frustrating hearing musicians continually complain about these tasks. For the most part, all of these tasks come with the job and are part of being a musician.

Any career you look at I guarantee there are tasks people don’t like doing. When chef’s first open their own restaurant, they often complain about having to do the accounting or managing their staff, when all they really want to do is create amazing dishes for people to eat. A police officer loves serving and protecting the people, but hates the paper work that comes along with it. A teacher enjoys inspiring the next generation of youth, but can’t stand talking to their parents during parent teacher interviews. All jobs have aspects that people don’t enjoy doing.

That being said, lets look at this list.

1.     Promoting shows. If you want a serious career as a musician, if you want to be a rockstar you will ALWAYS have to do this. When a major artist is doing an interview with local radio or TV they’re promoting the show. Even if the show is sold out, they’re still technically promoting it and themselves. Sure, at that level promoting is different but its still part of the job and remember, the people you think you’re annoying now, will be the same people annoying you for free tickets when you make it. As a new artist this is such a huge part of what you have to do. Think about any new business. How is that business supposed to get customers through the front door if they don’t promote themselves? And that business is probably open everyday and you’re complaining about promoting your next show that’s what, a month or 2 from your last one? You hate that people don’t respond to your show announcements or promotional activities? When a business runs an ad promoting an upcoming sale in the local paper do you think they tell their customers, please let us know if you’ll be coming in for the sale or not?

2.    Selling Merch. I can relate to this one. I hated doing this when I was playing out on the road, but something I noticed about selling merch and working the merch booth was that it gave me an opportunity to talk to people. Find out what our fans liked about the show, find out about the local scene other local bands and it never failed, anytime I had an engaging conversation with someone, even if they didn’t buy a shirt, they were at the next show and sometimes even brought friends. There’s more to selling merch than selling merch.

3.    Playing Cover Gigs. The interesting thing about this point was that the author basically points out that there are musicians who love playing in cover bands, but the point of the article is what musicians hate doing so he then goes on to complain about playing in a cover band. The thing about cover bands is simply this…it’s a choice. Yes, it is an opportunity for musicians to make additional cash, but it’s not something they’re required or obligated to do. I once had a friend who worked for a law firm during the week and then took a part-time job at Wal-Mart to save up some extra money to pay off some debt and take an over seas vacation. She hated working at Wal-Mart but it was a choice she made to help make that additional money. Taking a cover gig to make some money is no different.

4.    Waking Up Early. When I read this one I really started wondering if this article was meant to be funny and not serious. All I can say to this is that there are other jobs that work late shifts, roles that alternate, one week earlier the next week lates.

5.    Playing ‘exposure’ shows. This is an ongoing discussion and I’m actually working on another blog discussing my views on this, so for now I will be brief and simply say this. Rightfully so, musicians have a legitimate complaint about this topic. I’ve seen requests for musicians to do ‘exposure’ shows where it was obvious there was no ‘exposure’ to be gained. But at the same time, there are ‘exposure’ shows that are worth it. Regardless of how big the artist is, none of the artists who have ever performed during the Superbowl’s Half Time show have ever been paid. Why? That’s one of the most watched shows in the United States. Tons of exposure for any artist playing at the Superbowl. When it comes to ‘exposure’ shows musicians just need to realize it’s okay to say no. If you know you’re not going to get any exposure from the show, then chances are it’s not going to hurt your career to say no to the gig either. Lawyers are expected to put in a specified number of pro-bono hours on an annual basis, but even though it’s required the lawyer can still choose which pro-bono cases they’re going to take on.

6.    Working A Day Job. Again…this is a reality. If you need a day job to pay your bills, your boss at that job is your boss. Chances are if they’re being a dick to a musician either the musician deserves it or the boss is simply a dick. And just like most of these points, it’s not just like this for musicians. I remember working shitty jobs, with dick bosses while going to university. I also remember working great jobs, with great bosses. I even had one boss who would come to my shows even though he wasn’t into the music.

In the end, if you want to be serious about being a musician, if this is the career path you have chosen, there is stuff that comes along with it you probably won’t enjoy doing. Complaining about it isn’t going to make them go away and if anything I think it makes people, maybe even potential fans lose respect for you and what you do. You’re not going to get famous asking people to feel sorry for you.

If these things really are issues for you, if you just want to play music and love playing music, ironically you mentioned the one musician gig you could do where you wouldn’t have to worry about it. Play in a cover band.

Status Hi-jacking

Status Hi-jacking

I’m sure this has happened to everyone at one point or another. You post something in your status on facebook and someone hi-jacks the status.

Some examples…

• Two of your friends have started their own conversation within your status.
• Someone has used your status to ask you a question unrelated to the topic that they could’ve (or should've) easily messaged you privately about instead. 
• Someone has posted something that is not related to the topic of your status in anyway shape or form.

The last one is what recently happened to me and prompted this blog.

Earlier this week I posted a status with a link to an article entitled “135 Reasons Why Radio Won’t Play Your Song”. A couple people had liked the status and one individual posted a comment. At first I excited and anxious to see what the comment would be, but unfortunately the comment wasn’t about the post. The comment wasn’t even related to the post in anyway. I don't remember the exact wording, but the individual's post was something along the lines of “Check out some of my music” and then a link to their webpage. 

Now there is a chance the individual who did this is reading this blog and to be perfectly honest, I hope they are, simply because they need to know/learn that hi-jacking someone else’s status is probably one of the worst ways to promote yourself.

Also, if you are reading this please understand this rant isn’t directed entirely towards you, because you’re not the only one to have done this. I administer a couple different facebook groups and not all of them are music related, but I still regularly find myself deleting the random “Check out my band” posts that pop up.

Did we not learn anything from MySpace? That was one of the main annoying factors with MySpace. Everyone’s message board or wall (did they call it a wall, I can’t remember) was flooded with “Check out my band” type of messages. It turned people away, not only from the offending artists but from MySpace as well.

Now before anyone says, “I do it because if even just one person clicks on my link and likes my music, it’s worth it”…sorry, no it’s not. Your return on investment, investment being the effort it took to post the comment will never be recouped. And when you think about the amount of effort you put into posting that comment (most of these posts are obviously just copied in pasted from one comment box to the next), not even coming close to seeing the return on the effort means it’s not worth your time and you should be focusing your efforts elsewhere.

In this day and age where we are FLOODED with spam (yes, what you are doing is a form of spam) and messages like this are some of the easiest to ignore. Even if they do check you out, the chances that they will actually retain and remember who you are, is next to minimal. Regardless of whether your music is good or not, the likely hood of actually connecting with a potential fan is very slim.

Studies have shown that major brands like Nike, Harley Davidson and Louis Vuitton typically only see a 2% return on their posts and that just their posts! Comments see an even smaller return and I may be wrong, but I’m pretty sure your link to your webpage isn’t as strong of a brand as Nike, Harley Davidson or Louis Vuitton.

You want to connect with a potential audience, gain a potential fan…make an effort. Hi-Jacking other’s status or trying to disguise spam by posting it as a comment is not effective and not where you should be focusing your efforts. 

The number of people you will annoy with these types of promotional tactics significantly out weight the number of people who might see the comment, click on the link and actually like your music (again…regardless of whether your music is good or not).

(Almost) 135 Reasons why radio won't play your song

About a year ago, Alan Cross posted a list of 101 reasons why radio won't play your song. Eric Alper, with the help of some Music Directors, Program Directors and other radio types from across North America have expanded the list to 135 (although I noticed "It sounds like something my mom would hate" appears on the list twice). 

Over the years, whether I was working a single for a major signed act with BMG or a new indie artist with Oddball Productions, at one point or another I heard every single one of these. Sometimes I could understand where the reason was coming from, sometimes it seemed to come straight out of left field. Nature of the business. Regardless, when you believe in a track you're going to keep working it...even if you're told "It sounds like something my mom would hate"

No il will to any of my radio friends...more than anything, this was just a fun read.

135 Reasons Why Radio Won't Play Your Song

New Music West Aug 15 & 16

Oddball Productions is excited to announce that we will be working with New Music West to put on the New Music West Festival Showcase & Music Mini-Conference, August 15 & 16 at The Pawnshop and The Westin Hotel. 

Here’s the schedule: 
Friday Aug 15 at The Pawnshop (hosted by Alan Cross) Doors @ 8PM
Bryan Finlay
Short Of Able
Eyes On Ivan
Russ Dawson
The Wayne McLellan Band
CLICK HERE to buy tickets

Saturday Aug 16th at The Westin Hotel Doors @ 1PM
Music Industry Mini-Conference
Featuring:
Alan Cross and other music industry personalities

Saturday Aug 16th at The Pawnshop (hosted by Alan Cross) Doors @ 8PM
REND
My Sister Ocean featuring Chips
KickupaFuss
The Gibson Block
VERA
CLICK HERE to buy tickets

Both nights hosted by ALAN CROSS! 

For more information on the event check out the Facebook Event Page HERE

Casual Friday

This week's Casual Friday theme at my 'day job' was "Wear a rock t-shirt" and it was interesting seeing all the different shirts people were wearing. 

Everyone was taking the time to stop and talk to each other about the shirts they were wearing. 

It was entertaining listening to the girl in the Cher shirt tell the girl in the Madonna shirt why Cher was a better performer. 

I realized I incorrectly stereotype the guy from accounting as boring and bland when I saw him in his Amon Amarth t-shirt. 

Sure..there were the girls wearing the glittery Guns N’ Roses t-shirts they obvious paid WAY too much for in the trendiest store in the mall and probably couldn't even name a GN'R song, but there was also some people wearing old school AC/DC and Rolling Stones shirts that they got at an actual concert. A concert they were more than willing to talk about and share their how awesome it was. 

I hear a lot of people in the music industry, both musicians and other industry roles, complaining that people don’t care about music anymore. 

What I witnessed at the rock t-shirt themed casual Friday I think was proof that they’re wrong. 

People do still care about music. They care about THEIR music. 

The music that reached out and touched them, the music that was important to them, the music that help to identify who they are and thanks to this casual Friday theme, gave them an opportunity to show their co-workers another side of themselves they may not have normally seen. 

We all got to know each other just a little bit better thanks to this casual Friday theme, where we shared our love of music expressed through our t-shirts.

Rapid Decline Of Social Media

My gut is telling me social media as a promotional tool is on a steady, rapid decline. Sadly everything this guy says in this video I have read on Facebook, Twitter, etc.



I was going to encourage artists to post replies sharing what they're doing now that social media isn't the strong promotional tool it once was, but then I realized if anyone does share what they're doing and other bands read what post, the other bands will start mimicking those new activities and just like social media it will become over saturated and easy to ignore. I also realized, there are a lot of bands still doing the same stuff this guy was mocking in his video, so there was also a chance no new ideas would get shared. 

And yes...I get that it is somewhat ironic...maybe even hypocritical that I posted this on a form of social media...

Canadians Doing Canadians

To help celebrate Canada Day today, I'm helping spread the word about a cool compilation that's currently available as a free download. 

The album features Canadian artists covering Canadian artists. Some highlights include CANVAS version of Zuckerbaby's "Andromeda" and KASHKA's cover of Sandbox's "Curious"

What I really liked about this album was that it wasn't your typical Canadian bands (although there are a couple of those on here too). Someone even covered Sons Of Freedom!!!  Unique versions of some of our more unique bands. 

The free download is only available for a limited time so get it now. 

CLICK HERE to see full track listing and link for download.