Posted by Mike McCready | September 12th, 2012 | 1 Response
You can increase your odds on Music Xray by understanding how it works. You’ll have a competitive advantage over many other users of the site who are not paying attention to our blog. So, here’s to those of you who are.
The whole site makes sense if you understand the following: We help musicians do three things and three things only.
You can go anywhere else for the other services you need to advance your career. But when it comes to these three things, Music Xray is second to none. Yes, we know our site could use some love from our design team and that there are a few rough edges. We’ll address that soon. But the far more important thing is that our products work; that they get results. You see, everything we say, every tool we make, every feature we add is to help with one of those three things.
Say it with me again. What do we help you do? “Get deals. Get fans. Get better.”
The next thing you need to know about Music Xray is that the difference between musicians who are successful and those who are not is not luck. It’s not a lottery. It’s not a game of chance. It’s got very little to do with odds. Musicians and songwriters who are successful have better music (or their music is a better fit for a particular opportunity) than that of others.
Music Xray gets you to the table with industry professionals and fans but once you’re there, you’re going to get the the kind of unvarnished feedback the industry is known for. Our platform is populated with real music fans and real professionals. If they like your music, you’ll know quickly. The same is true if they don’t.
But here’s the good thing about that; no one is going to have to spend months or years seeking the kind of real-world feedback they can get very quickly via Music Xray.
1. Upload your entire catalog to Music Xray.
This enables Music Xray to analyze all your music and keep it on file. You will be alerted immediately and any time in the future industry professionals seek music like yours.
2. Fill out all the metadata for your songs, including the section called “search related data”.
We know. It’s not intuitive but that’s why reading this puts you at an advantage over other users. Filling out the genre and the similar artist section enables us to identify potential fans for you. It also gives your tracks an advantage when industry professionals use our internal search engine.
3. Submit your best tracks to 10 to 15 different opportunities each.
I know. That seems like a lot. You don’t have to do it all at once. You can do it over time. In fact, I’d advise against making more than five or six submissions at a time for a single song. Some tracks are selected immediately but from what we’ve observed, tracks that are eventually selected for an opportunity tend to have been submitted to multiple opportunities. You have to combine persistence with a thoughtful submission strategy. Pay close attention to the ratings you receive from the industry professionals. We alert you each time your track is rated but we only show you the ratings after you’ve received five. So, after your fifth or sixth submission, you’ll get to see the average of the ratings. This will tell you whether or not to continue submitting that particular track to other opportunities. If the ratings are high go for it. If they are low, consider trying with another track.
4. Pick your best track and run a Fan Match campaign.
Don’t run a large one. It’s probably best to not spend more than $50 to $150 on your first campaign – but you can spend as little as $20. By the time the campaign is over (once your song has been heard by a group of potential fans) you’ll see how many people become a direct fan of yours. If the results are good, run another campaign. You should acquire as many fans as you can. During and after your first campaign, on your dashboard you’ll see how much each fan cost you (we divide the dollars you spent by the number of fans you acquired minus any tips you received from the new fans). Then, you’ll know if running further campaigns is worth it to you. You’ll know that by knowing how much a fan is worth to you over the course of a year and over the course of your career.
5. If you’re getting good results, just keep repeating steps 1 through 4. If you’re getting bad results go to step 6.
6. Get better.
Improve by submitting your tracks to the myriad of industry professionals, hit songwriters and the occasional celebrity artists who are on Music Xray only to help you make improvements, offer sincere song critiques, and even direct and personal career coaching. After completing step 6, go back to step 1.
This cycle is infallible. If you simply follow these steps, you will get deals and fans successfully.
If you’ve read this, you’ve got an advantage.
Mike McCready
co-founder & CEO
Music Xray
Mike McCready is an entrepreneur at the crossroads of music and technology. He pioneered the introduction of Hit Song Science into the music industry and followed up with Music Xray, the company he co-founded and serves as CEO. His companies have been the subject of case studies at Harvard Business School, IESE and he frequently guest speaks at many of the top business schools around the world. He helps the music industry identify high potential songs and talent and helps musicians get deals, get fans, & get better: http://musicxray.com