CoryFossum.com

Music Pioneers are Changing the Way Albums are Promoted

While everyone is heralding the end of the music industry as we know it, it's fascinating to watch how the groundbreaking artists are using new media to their advantage.

Most recently, Radiohead released their new album on their website and asked fans to pay what they wanted for it. I'm not sure how it worked out for them financially, but I do know the effect it had from a PR point of view.

Borderline brilliant.

That album was the talk of the web for weeks leading up to its release, and for weeks after. They didn't have to release a single (good news for a band that hasn't had a single in 10 years) and fight it out for radio airtime. They didn't have to go on a long tour or wrestle with record labels.

They just announced their controversial payment plan and their fans went ape. So the media went ape. No matter how many free digital albums they ended up giving away, or critics they created, or whatever, Radiohead came out on top with this promotion.

And tonight I was just over at the Quicktime site and noticed that Tori Amos is having a promotional contest to see who can create her next music video.

Check out how brilliant this is...

Videos are expensive and they aren't even played on TV anymore, having been relegated to tiny boxes on computer screens (which I often watch, so I'm not knocking them). So instead of hiring a huge production team to create her next video, Tori is asking her fans to make it for her.

You can download five clips of her playing in front of a green screen, and then it's up to the fans to use those digital assets to create the video for her. The best one will end up being "the video" and it will be displayed on her site.

So what is she doing here? She's using an alternative method to promote her new album by holding a contest. As marketers, we're told all the time to hold contests. Looks like the recording artists are catching on.

Word gets out about the contest, she ends up on blogs and in the news, and on Apple's site. Lo and behold, an album is being promoted without traditional airplay.

What's more, Dan Kennedy talks about the time-honored tradition of shopping for an ad agency. He explains how the big accounts put the word out to the agencies that they're looking for a new agency and then they ask them to pitch ideas.

The agencies, desperate for the accounts, put their best minds together for weeks to come up with something good to pitch. The company watches a series of pitches, shoots them all down, and then takes the best ideas and keeps them for themselves to use with the agency they finally choose.

Basically, they got a bunch of free ideas for their campaign. Which is exactly what Tori is doing here with her music video.

Why pay expensive professionals, when semi-professionals and hobbyists are willing to do an equal or better job for free? Today's technology makes it all possible.

So while the record industry is scrambling to get back on its feet after misjudging the popularity of digital downloads, some of our most popular artists are embracing technology and marketing themselves in groundbreaking new ways.

It's fun to watch. And even more fun to apply to your own business.

Turns Out I'm Not Crazy Afterall!

In browsing through Yahoo! News, I just came across this article about phantom phone vibrations.

Turns out I'm not the only person in the world who feels his cell phone vibrate, reaches into his pocket to grab it, and then realizes it's not even in there. Or anywhere nearby for that matter.

I first started feeling the phantom phone a few years ago when I got my first Treo. My pockets would suddenly start vibrating, but nothing was in there. It's only gotten worse as I've worked through my second Treo, a placeholder phone, and finally my new iPhone. I'll be in the middle of doing anything and my phone will go off. I'll get that twinge of excitement that someone is trying to find me.

But alas, no one is. I'm just addicted to technology. At least this article has given me comfort that I'm not alone.

What do you think? Have you ever felt the phantom ringer go off in your pocket?

Why Your Post-Sale Copy Still Matters

I just ordered a copy of my friend Cory Cullinan's new CD "The Ballad of Phinneus McBoof" from an online independent music store called CDBaby.com.

It could have been a standard-fare process. Press the order button, go to a thank you page, and then receive a receipt by email with a line-item accounting of the purchase and a quick "thank you for your business, please come again" message.

And in many ways, it was. But it was also something so much more: an exercise in "Warm and Fuzzy Marketing."

CDBaby is a really simple-looking site. No bells or whistles. No huge branding platform -- except for a cute logo with a crying baby. It's just a really organized and straight-forward way to find the independent music you're looking for.

However, from the first time you order with them, you will quickly discover that there is indeed a brand. And not just that, but it is friendly, endearing, and just edgy enough to feel cool, without overdoing it. It makes you want to come back for more.

But how do they achieve this without splashy graphics and/or a cutting-edge Flash-based website and/or an insanely cool but totally complex user-interface?

Simple. They use great copy.

Here's the email I received to confirm my order:

- - - - - - - - -

Cory -

Thanks for your order with CD Baby!

This is just a happy automated email to let you know a real person will email you as soon as your package is sent, and you will also receive a paper receipt with your order in the mail.

Please save this email in case you have any questions about your order.

** NOTE: if any of the info below looks wrong, please hit REPLY now to let us know!

Or you can always call us at: +1-503-595-3000 (California time)

THANK YOU!

--
CD Baby: sales and distribution for the best independent musicians
5925 NE 80, Portland, OR 97218-2891 USA phone: +1-503-595-3000
cdbaby@cdbaby.com / http://cdbaby.com <-- new music added every day!

- - - - - - - -

It has everything I need to know about my order, which is great. But it also has something most receipts don't: a voice.

A day later, I received this message:

- - - - - - - - -

Cory -
Thanks for your order with CD Baby!

Your CD has been gently taken from our CD Baby shelves with sterilized contamination-free gloves and placed onto a satin pillow.

A team of 50 employees inspected your CD and polished it to make sure it was in the best possible condition before mailing.

Our packing specialist from Japan lit a candle and a hush fell over the crowd as he put your CD into the finest gold-lined box that money can buy.

We all had a wonderful celebration afterwards and the whole party marched down the street to the post office where the entire town of Portland waved "Bon Voyage!" to your package, on its way to you, in our private CD Baby jet on this day, Friday, October 5th.

I hope you had a wonderful time shopping at CD Baby. We sure did. Your picture is on our wall as "Customer of the Year." We're all exhausted but can't wait for you to come back to CDBABY.COM!!

Thank you, thank you, thank you!

Sigh...

--
Derek Sivers, president, CD Baby
the little store with the best new independent music
http://cdbaby.com cdbaby@cdbaby.com (503)595-3000

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

All it needed to say was that my order has been shipped. But they took it a step further and decided to make a bigger impact on their new customer by using clever and charming copy. I smiled and even chuckled a little. I felt great about my order. I explored their site some more, which I wouldn't have done otherwise.

And then I wrote about it in my blog.

If your copy isn't having this kind of an effect on your customers, you need to re-evaluate what it says and what you are trying to accomplish. A few sentences in an email is all it took for CDBaby.com to grab my attention and turn me into a repeat customer. It's all part of the experience of doing business with you, which will lead to more business if it's a good experience.

Make your customers feel something positive about doing business with you, and they will return the favor in kind.

And also pay attention to when I received this warm and fuzzy messaging -- after I placed the order. Remember, your job as a marketer is not over once you make the sale. In fact, it's only beginning.

My iPhone Review (hint: oh my gosh it rocks!!!)

I’ll be the first to admit that I am one of the bigger Mac geeks out there. And I should also mention that they are a client of mine. But I was a fan 20 years before I was a vendor, so I write this completely as the former.

So here’s the deal.

I had my guard up with the iPhone. I knew it would be awesome, but I told everyone I knew that I would wait until the second generation came out. You know, give them the chance to iron out the bugs. See what they come up with for improvements.

That kind of thing.

And I was doing pretty well at keeping to my word. I had gone 2 weeks since the June 29 launch, in fact.

But then I got my hands on one. And 2 hours later I was at the Apple Store in Valley Fair buying an 8GB iPhone. To be honest, there was no way I could have slept otherwise. And I mean that quite literally.

To make a long story short, I love my iPhone. I love the way it looks. I love the way it works. I love how I have all my music, photos, and videos right there when I need them. But I’ve had them all with me before on a cell phone and iPod. So what’s the big difference?

It’s all about the experience of using the iPhone. I have never had one like it before. And that is what sets it apart from every other product out there.

When I use my iPhone, I just feel really, really good. It makes me smile. It makes me happy. I have an emotional connection to this product in a way that I just don’t (and perhaps, shouldn’t) have with any other electronic device. (Except for maybe my Canon Digital Rebel camera - a year later I still get a giant rush whenever I use it.)

Now this emotional connection has nothing to do with being on the cutting edge of technology. Sure, it’s fun to be an early adaptor and see the looks on people’s faces when I show them new gadgets. But I find myself there all the time. In fact, I’m trying to be a little discreet about using the iPhone in public. Don’t want to seem like I’m trying to draw attention to myself.

What I’m talking about is a much deeper connection. This thing allows me to take the most important “things” in my life (photos and music - and everything they represent to me) with me wherever I go. This means I can share them with anyone I want when I am away -- much easier than carrying around loose photos and the such—or I can just sit back and enjoy the experience myself. And what a user experience it is.

It’s only been a few days and I can’t imagine life without it. So much for having my guard up. This thing rocks.

Which begs the question: what kind of experience are you giving your customers?