I have two tubs of “butter-like” substances in my fridge.

One of them is …butter and the other is margarine.

I rarely use the butter even though, I prefer the taste.

Why?

Because the margarine is more spreadable. It’s easier to use. I don’t like the taste as well, but in my busy life simplicity trumps quality.

I imagine your music fans are somewhat like me. If you want them to spread the word about your music, you need to be spreadable. You need to make it as easy as possible for them to promote you AND you have to give them something to promote.

Don’t just create a great CD. A great CD alone won’t make people talk about you for long.

• Create a great CD – definitely a good place to start.
• Give away a free song (to give them something to talk about and promote).
• Make graphic badges, logos and buddy icons and make it easy for them to use (post the code, host the images on your server)
• Have a story to tell. Give them some background on one of your unique songs or a particular experience you’ve had.
• Offer bios and copy of various lengths so that journalists and bloggers can easily get and use the information they need.
• Post YouTube videos of your live show. Encourage your audience at each show to video your set and post it to YouTube.

Put yourself in their shoes and try to think of any way you can make it easier for your audience to spread your music.

Be spreadable. Like Margarine. Not Butter.

Here is a great little definition of Christian music by Chris McConnell, the founder of Band With a Mission. BWAM is essentially a Christian battle of the bands. You might have heard the name of the event before; it’s where Rush of Fools got their rise to the public eye.

There are a lot of bands that aren’t quite sure whether or not their music fits into the Christian scene. Listen to what McConnell has to say about it here. For another, more in depth, look at this blog.
And as a little bonus, here’s a YouTube video of a drum solo by Boochie Shepherd drummer Heath Hood:

Boochie Shepherd music on iTunes

Here’s a quick blurb to let you know that GodTube is a great new place for Christian artists (or any Christian, for that matter) to host their videos. It’s essentially just a YouTube for people who love Jesus. It’s very new, but it could serve as a great way to help market and promote your music to your target audience.

Uploading videos is a great way to bring in exposure and even merch sales for your band. Boochie Shepherd uploaded the new video for “Vertical” onto YouTube and it has received over 1,200 views in under a month.

www.godtube.com

Props to fellow blogger Brian Alexander for turning me on to this site.

Nobody wants to hear a full CD.

OK, maybe that’s a little excessive, but let’s put some thought into it…

When was the last time you stopped and listened to an album in its entirety? For me, it hasn’t been that long; I dig hearing an artist’s entire thought process. But I fear that I might be in the minority these days.

iTunes has taken over music. They sell singles at less than a buck. They give away free singles every week. Even when people do get a full CD from iTunes, they usually just listen to the songs they’re interested in. That’s not to say that actual, physical CDs are unnecessary. Far from it. You can’t make any money at a live show without a CD to sell.

But let’s say somebody does buy your CD. They are likely gonna listen to it once, then rip the songs they like to their computer, iPod, or whatever digital medium they choose.

That having been said, maybe it’s time to spend more energy focusing on singles rather than entire albums, especially if you are an indie artist.

There’s a good article about all this over at the Lefsetz Letter (be warned: he does use a few “choice” words, so if you are offended by that, be careful).

What can your music career learn from this? Maybe there is more potential for a single to gain exposure (and earn income) for an artist if it is marketed properly than if all the promotional money and effort were spent on an entire album. From my own personal experience, Boochie Shepherd has sold far fewer full CDs on iTunes than we have copies of the current single, “Vertical.” Seriously, it’s probably a 10:1 ratio in favor of the single.

And a single on its own can propel an artist to stardom. Remember when Lisa Loeb’s “Stay” hit #1 before she even had the album to support it? She simply got it placed onto the right soundtrack and then woke up one day with the most popular song on the planet. I think I love her, by the way…

So, let’s brainstorm and think about ways to make this concept work for us as indies, shall we?

Prince is a genius. Need some proof?

Apparently, he gave away over 2 million copies of his new CD, packaged with the British paper Mail on Sunday (check the story here). In so doing, he has made some people on the retail side of music very, very angry. How does that make him a genius?

First of all, Prince has completely engaged his fans. And he has stirred up a ton of buzz. On top of that, he was paid a handsome share by Mail on Sunday to include his CD with their mailing.
Most importantly to me, he has shown us indie musicians that there a lots of different ways to skin a cat.

How can you take this and apply the concepts to your own music career?

Get the new Boochie Shepherd CD on iTunes!

 Fat Kid Records on Squidoo.

OK, this is slight deviation from my standard posts, but I thought it was worth discussing if anybody is up for it…

I saw an article on the ‘net earlier today announcing that a church had canceled worship services in order to go view the new movie “Evan Almighty.” I went to check out the thing for myself, and here it is (see the page for yourself here):

Sunday, July 1
Evan Almighty
9:00 and 11:00 am
$5.00 per person
No Sunday Services!
Click here to order tickets online.

So, how do you feel about this? Personally, I don’t think it’s cool. I’m all for the movie; that’s not my point. But to replace an actual worship service, an established worship service that the community knows about, with a movie watching session… I’m not hip to it. I’m especially not to hip to charging the members to see it, ya know?

So, let’s discuss, shall we?

Click here to download “VERTICAL” by Boochie Shepherd!

Boochie Shepherd website

Fat Kid Records on Squidoo.

It’s such a difficult thing to talk about song writing. The processes and the motivations are very different for everybody. Some people are setting out to write a hit song; others intend to write a worship song. Some people want to motivate others; some only intend to express themselves.

Whatever reason you have for writing a song, we almost all want the same thing: for people to love our song. That having been said, here are some thoughts on what makes a great song great…

1. People can relate to it. I can remember lying on my bedroom floor as a teenager, with all the lights turned out and Pearl Jam’s “Black” playing on the stereo. I distinctly remember thinking, “This guy knows exactly how I feel.” And in that moment I knew I wanted to write songs that brought the same reaction from other people. A great song is great because people can relate to it. It’s wonderful to express yourself through songwriting, but if you are the only one who understands the meaning of the song, people simply won’t connect with it on the same level as they would with a song that expresses a feeling or emotion that they are experiencing or that they understand.

2. It is emotional. Not only lyrically, but in the performance as well. If the lyrics say, “She broke my heart” but the performance doesn’t convey that, most of the song’s emotion is stripped away. In the Boochie Shepherd song “All the King’s Horses” there is not only an emotional lyrical content, but an emotional performance, as well. I truly believe that just singing the song beautifully wouldn’t do the emotion of the tune justice.

3. The music isn’t overly complicated. As a musician, this one takes some pride-swallowing. Sometimes to simply write “3 chords and the truth” is almost offensive to a seasoned musician; but almost all of the greatest songs ever written are very simple musically. And some of the most phenomenal musical pieces of all time simply don’t make great songs. Maybe they aren’t very singable; maybe they involve too many difficult musical phrases… whatever the case may be, sometimes it’s just easier to convey a great message within a very simple framework.

4. Use lots of imagery. As a songwriter, you should force the listener into the place you want them to go. For instance, in the aforementioned “Black” by Pearl Jam, Eddie Vedder uses some very vivid imagery to describe his feelings. Rather than saying “My whole world is falling apart”, he says:

“And now my bitter hands cradle broken glass

of what was everything.

All my pictures had been washed to black…

It tattooed everything…”

That’s vivid, and when combined with the vocal delivery and the musical atmosphere, there is no room to wonder about the emotion of the situation.

5. Make a suitable musical atmosphere. Don’t write heavy metal songs with lullaby lyrics. And don’t write lullabies with gangster rap lyrics. Use a musical medium that properly facilitates the message you are trying to convey.

These are just a couple of thoughts I have on writing better songs. You can check out Boochie Shepherd on iTunes to hear some of these concepts in action.

I’d love to hear your input!

Fat Kid Records on Squidoo.

Indie Christian musicians don’t make money. They’re all starving.

WRONG.

You can make money as a Christian musician; at least enough to support your family. I’m not talking about getting rich, but if your goal is to get rich then I hope you don’t play Christian music anyway.

The first thing that all of us as artists have to do is define what “success” is. For some of us “success” is simply being able to get in front of a crowd and share our music and our message. That’s great! For some of us, success means selling 1,000 CDs. That’s a good goal, too.

My family has set the goal (with my band Boochie Shepherd) of making enough money so that my wife can stay home and so that we can personally sponsor 2 full-time missionaries. Once we reach that goal, I will feel that I have succeeded.

When you play Christian music, it can be really easy to fall into the mindset that because you are ministering to people you should be playing for free or for very little; and it’s even easier for churches to fall into that mindset. But I want you to consider carefully the following passage from 1 Timothy 5:18:

“Do not muzzle the ox while it is treading out the grain. And the worker deserves his wages.”

Paul is specifically talking about the fact that ministers deserve to be taken care of. If you believe that your music is a ministry, then you fall into that category as well. Consider that the next time a church tries to low-ball you. Don’t be rude by any means, but help them to see that you do have expenses and that you are using the talents that God has blessed you with to meet those expenses.

The problem is that a lot of churches have small budgets, especially if you are playing for the youth group. So how do you supplement your live performance fee (honorarium)? Here are a couple of quick suggestions:

1. Be sure you have at least one product to sell. As a general rule, if it’s for sale, people will buy it. And live shows sell more CDs than you’ll probably ever sell through any distribution channel. So go out tomorrow and get t-shirts, hats, stickers… something!

2. Consider working for other bands or artists in your area. Do you have a level of expertise in some particular aspect of the music business (booking, web design, promotion, etc…) that would allow you to charge a small fee to other artists in exchange for your services? Take advantage of that!

3. Get an Electronic Press Kit (EPK). This can save you a ton of money on physical press kits. Try Sonicbids or Crossdogs.

4. Don’t give away anything! Even your momma has to pay for a CD. If she’s not gonna buy it, who is? Your family and friends should be supporting you even when no one else is.

5. Ask the venue to take care of your expenses. I know that sounds elementary, but some people (especially less experienced artists) never even think about this. If you are playing for churches, taking care of your expenses is usually a very easy thing for them to do. Ask them to provide meals and lodging for the band. If you’re not too good to eat a pot-luck and stay at somebody’s house instead of a hotel, you can save some cash. This can also give you more room to be flexible with your honorarium.

6. Dedicate yourself to your craft. This is a no-brainer. You should be working every day to become a better musician, singer, speaker, songwriter… whatever it is that you are doing. Dedicate a portion of your day everyday to getting better at what it is that you do. Becoming a better musician will pay dividends in the long run.

7. Above all, seek God’s guidance. If you believe that God has blessed you with the talent to play music, by all means, do it. But be sure to seek his guidance. We probably all know people that are using “God wants me to do this” as an excuse to be able to do what it is that they want to do. Be honest with yourself and seek God’s will for your life.

With my band, Boochie Shepherd, we have tried to implement all of these things and have seen enough profit that I can set some realistic goals of having my wife stay home and of us being able to support missionaries with our income. I hope that you can take some of the ideas that Boochie has used (however simple they may be) and put them to work for you!

Fat Kid Records on Squidoo.

Have you ever been moved by someone else’s passion?

Last night, I had the privilege of seeing Shaun Groves. I found out about his concert, ironically, when he commented on my blog. Kind of weird circumstances, but very much a God thing, methinks. Not only was Shaun’s concert amazing (he’s funny on top of being a fantastic musician), but his passion stirred me like no other Christian musician I have ever seen.

Shaun Groves is an advocate of Compassion International. It turns out this guy has really made some noble sacrifices to do everything he can to support this organization. I highly recommend that you check them out. I don’t get any kind of compensation for saying this; it’s just a genuinely worthy cause.

I say all of that to say this: be passionate. Whatever it is that God has reserved you for, be passionate about it.

If you are a Christian musician, sing and play with passion.

If you are blessed with the talent of encouragement, do it with passion.

If you are a great speaker, do it with passion.

You see, passionate people make a difference in this world. The Christians of the first century were so passionate that they were willing to die in order to let others know about forgiveness and unconditional love and a Savior. Their passion has changed my life and, if you’re reading this, probably yours, too.

As a Christian musician, you have a responsibility to be passionate about what you are doing. You are placed in front of an audience every night (or however often you play); you have a platform to speak beautiful things and to feed the spiritually hungry. Don’t ruin that influence by being afraid to be passionate about the way you play, talk, and perform.

As a member of Boochie Shepherd, I pray that my music and performances will inspire people in the same way that Shaun inspired me last night.

Thanks, Shaun. And God bless you.

brandon mc

Fat Kid Records on Squidoo.

If you don’t know what BurnLounge is, be glad.

I just came across an article here that claims that BurnLounge is about to go down, and in much less than a Blaze of Glory (thank you, Jon Bon Jovi). Apparently, the FTC is out to shut BurnLounge down permanently. You can find BurnLounge’s response here.

Essentially, BurnLounge is a business that is trying to steal some of the iTunes market share, only they are using a pyramid scheme to do it. They’re trying to sell people on the idea that they can get rich by selling music downloads. That ain’t happening, folks. Especially when you consider that they don’t even sell in a format that is compatible with the iPod, which is the portable music player of choice for pretty much everybody.

For the last couple of years, people on forums and blogs all over the ‘net having been debating whether or not BurnLounge was on the up and up or whether it was just another scam. (Check out some of the discussions here and here.)

There are some pretty reputable people in the business that are really into BurnLounge, but I don’t understand it. In the Christian music world, Shaun Groves has written some things about it. He has an article on his blog discussing it. I know that people from Rick Dees to Shaq own a BurnLounge store. And while that might add some weight to it for some people, here’s the bottom line: Shaq plays basketball and Rick Dees is a DJ. Neither of them are business men.

Make whatever decision you would like about it (and I hope you succeed), but as for me and my house (which includes Boochie Shepherd), we will stick with iTunes.

Fat Kid Records on Squidoo.