Musformation Presents:

GET MORE FANS: The DIY

Guide To The New Music
Business
Everything You Need To Know About:
Twitter ¥ Bandcamp ¥ Facebook ¥ Spotify ¥ iTunes ¥
SoundCloud ¥ Getting Fans Excited ¥ Kickstarter ¥ Using
Free Music To Make You Money ¥ Tumblr ¥ Getting On
Blogs ¥ YouTube ¥ Going Viral ¥ Licensing Your Music ¥
Getting More Fans At Shows ¥ TopSpin ¥ Next Big Sound ¥
Getting Publicity ¥ Hype Machine ¥ Rdio ¥ Booking Shows ¥
Selling More Merch ¥ Pandora ¥ Direct-To-Fan ¥ Instagram
¥ Plug.dj ¥ Using Torrent Sites To Your Advantage ¥
Limited Run ¥ Managing Your Band ¥ Amazon ¥ Pinterest ¥
Targeting Potential Fans ¥ ReverbNation ¥ TuneCore ¥
ArtistGrowth ¥ Last.FM ¥ CD Baby ¥ Maintaining A Mailing
List ¥ FanBridge ¥ WordPress ¥ Music Industry Rules ¥
Artists.MTV ¥ Beats Music ¥ Making A Great Website ¥
ASCAP, BMI or SESAC ¥ SoundExchange ¥ Marketing
Ideas ¥ Reddit ¥ Choosing A Record Producer ¥
PledgeMusic ¥ Going Viral ¥ THOUSANDS OF CREATIVE
IDEAS ON HOW TO PROMOTE YOUR MUSIC

Thousands Of Tips For Musicians Of Every Size, Whether

You Have Zero Or 1,000,000 Fans

A Detailed Look At How To Get More People To Hear

Your Music & Build Your Fanbase
! !
"#$!%&'#!()*+,!-.#!/01!"234#!-&!-.#!5#6!%2+37!82+3*#++!
! !

By Jesse Cannon And Todd Thomas

Musformation.com
GetMoreFansBook.com
Copyright @ 2013, 2014, 2015 by Jesse Cannon and Todd Thomas
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-
Noncommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License.

Published by Musformation, 540 39th Street #1, Union City, NJ 07087

For more information visit musformation.com

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Cannon, Jesse
Get more fans : the diy guide to the new music business / by Jesse
Cannon & Todd Thomas
p.cm
ISBN-13: 978-0-9885613-0-4
ISBN-10: 0988561301
1. Music Business 2. Music Resources

Manufactured in the USA

Credits:
Authors: Jesse Cannon and Todd Thomas
Editor: Thomas Nassiff (bit.ly/thomasnassiff)
Cover Design: David Ahuja (amoebalabs.com)
Additional Editing and Insight: Jeremy Winter (jettbrando.bandcamp.com),
Jackie Brennan (jackiebrennan.com), Mike Oettinger
(cannonfoundsoundation.com), Michael Davidson and Erica Sackin
Book Website: Matt Hucke (mhucke.com)

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Table of Contents
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Introduction - The Flat Playing Field Of TodayÕs

Music Business
ÒHow do we get more people to hear our music?Ó

ÒHow do we get more fans?Ó

ÒHow on Earth does a band get thousands of likes on Facebook?Ó

ÒHow do we get signed to a label?Ó

ÒHow do I make a living from my music so I can stop working at Taco Bell?Ó

I hear these questions from musicians every day, whether IÕm out at a
show, party, bar or in my recording studio. These questions are common,
precisely because their answers arenÕt obvious. It takes a lot of time and
dedication to get the kind of fanbase where the answers to these questions
become clear. The fact is, this information has never been readily available
and it isnÕt a Òone-size-fits-allÓ answer.

TodayÕs music business has allowed musicians to take matters into their
own hands. Gone are the days of musicians waiting for a gatekeeper
(someone who holds power and prevents you from being let in) at a label,
late-night talk show or radio station to say they are worthy of the spotlight.
In todayÕs music business, you donÕt need to ask for permission to build a
fanbase and you no longer need to pay thousands of dollars to do it. Every
day, musicians are getting their music out to thousands of listeners without
any help from industry bigwigs. They simply deliver it to the fans directly,
without asking for permission or outside help to receive exposure or
connect with thousands of listeners.

The Music Landscape Today

While the Internet has opened new doors for musicians, many still think
these opportunities are exceptions to the rule. TheyÕre not. Unlike in 2008,
musicians who do it themselves have nearly identical opportunities to
major label musicians who receive tens of thousands of dollars in
promotional budgets. Musicians can now sell their albums in the same
stores as their idols, play concerts in the same venues and get their music
on humongous radio outlets like Pandora; it just requires a smart, diligent
work ethic. As long as fans enjoy the music you make, you can build a
fanbase just as easily as any musician with a huge budget behind them.
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Every day there is more news of doom and gloom in the music business.
What these reports don't always note is that the gloom is reserved for
those who have traditionally held power in the industry, not those who are
presently rising up in the business. In the old music business, gatekeepers
(major labels, record stores, booking agents, radio, MTV, A&R, etc.) with
questionable values and even more questionable methods held back
musicians who didn't fit into a certain mold. These musicians then had no
way to access essential tools to build a fanbase. That old music business
crumbles a little more every day, simultaneously leveling the playing field
between all types of musicians. Just a few years ago, there were many
outlets and opportunities that a DIY musician could never gain access to.
Today, there are very few opportunities that arenÕt open to those who do it
themselves.

A half a decade ago, it seemed a musician's best hope was to put a song
on Myspace, add friends, play shows and hope for the best. If they were
any good, they might start to gain some fans and experience a small
amount of success. But as Myspace disappeared and as major studios and
record labels collapsed, we were suddenly left with a variety of blogs to
dictate the cultural zeitgeist. The music business had changed and the way
musicians approached building a fanbase had to change with it. Acts like
Metric, Nine Inch Nails, A Day To Remember, Mach Miller, OK Go, Circa
Survive, Coheed & Cambria, Amanda Palmer and Radiohead are now
successfully selling records without a label to support them. In 2013
Macklemore & Ryan Lewis even have a Platinum selling #1 single and
album (one million copies shipped) as a DIY act on their own label. New
musicians are starting to wonder how they can emulate these larger acts,
no longer just in sound, but also in business practice.

While major labels are getting weaker, DIY musicians are growing
stronger. Every day, the record stores that used to give major labels
preferential treatment--in exchange for behind-closed-doors cash--are
closing up shop and the power of the major labels that bought exposure for
their acts dies a little more. Instead of discovering music through this
unethical product placement, fans hear about music through more organic
means. The result of hearing about new music in a word-of-mouth fashion,
whether it be from close friends or bloggers youÕve never met, is a more
pure, egalitarian method of selection in terms of which musicians get
discovered by new listeners. Each day, music fans are exposed to
musicians who earn their fanbase by listeners responding to their music,
instead of benefitting from promotions paid for by major label bucks.

CT! !