little www.amplifier.co.nz moan and some other NZ stuff

Yup had a record day on my blog yesterday . . . into 3 figures on uniques . . .

YAY

So my post on dirty youtube tricks has had heaps of hits but my new search bait blog which was pretty hot off the mark to announce the latest celebrity nudes to hit the net has had . . .

0 hits.

 Remember that when you’re building your niche people/

I’ve held my tongue in regards to amplifier.co.nz for awhile now, but whats crazy to me is that P-money has an amplifier widget on his page and I have heard nothing about amplifier releasing a widget.

In fact for almost 18 months I’ve been wondering “why doesn’t amplifier help to build the New Zealand music export economy by building and promoting access to widgets for kiwi artists?”

This seems a bit on the nose.

 And don’t complain that Brad Carter from Steriogram got $50,000 from the government for a band that doesn’t exist either.

I tend not to complain. It doesn’t do any good.

Complaining about NZ on Air or Creative NZ never helped me as a musician.

In New Zealand you just tend to look like the leader of the poppy cutting brigade.

Just get on with it. If you’ve got talent and passion you don’t need a hand out from the government.

I’m going to have another go on nzmusic.com soon. They always ban my posts.

 

Whats that about?

Not that I’m complaining. I thought with the standards of the blogs kept there they’d actually welcome someone talking about . . . y’know . . . music.

 

Hot tip – muzic.net.nz PR4’s all over the show . . . get yer link on it! 

 

also – undertheradar.co.nz – is now selling presales from thier website?

 

  

ANNOUNCING THE KURB 50/50 RECORD DEAL IN NEW ZEALAND

The kurb 50 / 50 record deal for Aucklanders and North Islanders.

Kurb is a provider of digital media services for artists at the forefront of new models and developments in the music industry.

We are introducing a new concept in artist management initially to Auckland, New Zealand and then extendingit to the whole North Island of New Zealand.

The Kurb 50 / 50 Record deal.

Basically it works like this.

The digitisation of the music industry has begun to collapse the whole business into a tighter, more niche driven operations, more focused, providing higher value to a smaller audience through a greater range and diversity of products and services then before – but at much higher margins.

In the past a record deal bound an artist to their label exclusively and under limiting financial and creative conditions, including effectively mortgaging the band into debt to pay for the production, marketing and distribution of their album.

BUT THIS IS WHAT WE’RE DOING:

Under Kurb 50 / 50 Kurb is signing the finished recordings themselves, Ideally, at least 40 minutes worth for an “album” project.

And kurb will provide every expense in manufacturing CD’s and providing physical distribution within New Zealand.

Kurb will be responsible for collecting all revenue, distributing 50% OF ALL REVENUE to the artist and providing the artists with legitimate sales and activity reports not less than once a year.

SO WHAT DOES THIS MEAN FOR THE ARTIST?

The artists commitment is in having already produced the music. Kurb’s commitment is in taking whatever steps the album requires to reach digital distribution and to produce as many CD’s as we feel is fit to meet demand so at least the artist’s mother can buy one.

PLEASE NOTE: KURB will set the price of the music as we see appropriate, we are likely to give some of the music away free online, and set the price of CD’s at $NZ10 – AND THE BAND WILL HAVE TO PURCHASE THEIR OWN CD’S AT HALF PRICE.

- this may seem tough. But remember who’s paying for everything!

IF I discover the artist has been selling CD’s they’ve manufactured themselves the contract will be forfeit AND I will be PISSED OFF.

That’s pretty much the only hard and fast rule.

KURB makes the CD’s, distributes and monetizes the content online, giving the artists half the money – ARTISTS don’t make thier own CD’s of the recordings to sell.

So (I feel like I’m repeating myself but this must be made clear) what that really means is:

ONCE THE ALBUM IS RECORDED THE ARTIST IS UNDER NO OBLIGATION TO PROMOTE THE ALBUM OR WORK FOR OR WITH KURB IN ANY WAY AGAIN.

BUT ONCE IT’S DISTRIBUTED . . . NOR ARE WE.

We will be pushing the recordings that we sign that prove they can make money. If certain songs or material can’t be monetized then . . . we can only do so much.

What is hoped for is that a true organic partnership is arrived at where everything that Kurb does to create opportunities to monetize the content, also enhances the artists brand, and everything the artist does builds brand recognition that increases the value and appeal of the recordings.

THREE POTENTIALLY NEGATIVE SCENARIOS FOR THE ARTIST

1: The band takes off and the album turns over tens of thousands of dollars, and guarantees a residual income. Kurb continues to collect 50% and the artist decides to release in future completely independently. The artist may decide to retain kurbs regular online artist management services starting at $200 p/month.

2: Despite distribution and promotion, absolutely no one is interested in the album whatsoever. The artists mother purchases a CD for $NZ10, the artist receives $5. Given the result, we decide to recognise that this arist is a low priority for our label.

3: You’re a teenage former child performer with breast implants and have just spent 50k on producing your album and another 50k on your Video and other associated content production expenses. You’re going to need a publicity budget of that again to even dream of recouping and . . . I don’t have that much money. You should probably try and sign with a major label.

WEAKNESSES:

Artist management: I am responsible for your songs, for management of your digital content, not for you. performances and endorsements and such is totally up to you, you should maybe get an agent. If you want to talk about merchandising you can either talk about doing that with us or . . . look after it yourselves or otherwise. Ask nicely and I will probably do some posters for your show.

Publicity. I know the addresses of the Radio stations, the Television stations and the Magazines. I know how to make a press kit. I know how to lick a stamp. But I am not friends with anyone who works at these places and that’s basically what a publicist is. If you’ve got 5k or so it might help there – you might get on TV. And no, I don’t want to “go you halves”.

OKAY I’M INTERESTED, WHAT NOW?

kurbpromo – AT – gmail dot com

027 6848250.

The very best time to call me is lunch break. That is MY lunch break. 5pm-7pm.

I HATE “MEETINGS” AND WILL AVOID THEM AT ALL COSTS. DON’T BE OFFENDED.

You know how much time I’ve spent sitting around talking about things that never happened? TOO MUCH.

I’m going to be really fussy at first before I get into it and loosen up a little bit.

I’m not relying on this being successful, but it would be nice, I guess.

I want an act that’s already performing every month with quality recordings, and a half decent website. I want an act that’s committed to blogging and/or regular production of video content.

Don’t be disheartened if we’re not interested initially. When and if I start scaling up, I can afford to be more lenient in regards to quality control.

PLEASE BE AWARE: I HAVE KNOWN PERSONALLY AND WATCHED 4-5 BIGGISH ACTS IN NEW ZEALAND GROW FROM SCRATCH. THEY WERE ALL PRETTY MUCH DRIPPING WITH TALENT FROM DAY 1 AND IT WAS OBVIOUS IT WAS JUST A MATTER OF HOW AND WHEN.

MAYBE I know my stuff. or MAYBE you just gotta be THAT good.

http://www.kurb.co.nz
http://www.myspace.com/kurbpromo
http://www.youtube.com/user/kurbpromo -
http://kurbpromotion.wordpress.com
http://kurbpromotion.blogspot.com
http://www.squidoo.com/kurb

360 deal out – kurb 50/50 in – kurb to become a label and offer contracts?

 

 

Awesome link provided by J vibes @ http://www.bluevibestudio.com

 

http://www.knowthemusicbiz.com/index.php/BIZ-BLOG/A-Fifth-Beatle-for-the-Digital-Age-by-Tim-Westergren.html

 

 

 

Need a 5^th digital beatle? Get my number . . . don’t call me in the morning because I’m up all night writing blogs and putting up posters in town.

 

 

 

ANYWAY 50 / 50 lets talk about it!!!!

 

 

Last year – I hope I posted it!!! Or not! Haha – I did a riff about kurb creating deals with artists.

My slightly smug I suppose proposition was that in exchange for promoting a band I would take 100% of the profits from their recorded music. The bands share would be whatever else they could make from gigging, merchandise etc.

just like a real label, really, I wasn’t really serious.

 

 

recently after reading so much stuff about the new wave of marketing – and how the whole “free” thing is blowing up – not just music, Chris Anderson, Mr. Long Tail , and all these mad marketers are talking about making everything free, it’s like world war free!!!.

These people want to do what TV did to movies . . . to everything else!!!

Imagine that? buying – wait – being GIVEN a drill if you accepted receiving ads for other tools for 3 months??

Anyway. Back to the proposition. I realise, as I mentioned in a recent post, there’s a need to continue to be innovative and deliver propositions that make people go . . . wow!!! I gotta know more about that!!! To progress/

Also I’ve been aware of my own position of advantage to create these types of truly innovative propositions, and although my current proposition protects me from going unrewarded for any work put into a certain act there are definite flaws, because there are walls, and the new media environment is all about access.

The biggest wall is obviously the $NZ50-100 I expect a band to pay me each week.

To create value from the types of services I provide will undoubtedly take months, and it can be a nervous relationship between an artist and I when cash is short and the artist expects revenue to come when that simply isn’t going to happen without months of work and thousands of dollars investment.

Now to create the dynamic proposition, I have to put myself in a position where I am showing I am sharing the risk in good faith and accepting responsibility for the outcome of my efforts – if it doesn’t work then I don’t get paid – and the poor artists are not left out of pocket.

But I have to protect my investment. And my investment is not the artist, but the songs. I am not signing acts to 50/50. I am signing groups of songs as a project.

But everything I do to promote and monetize those recordings helps the band. And everything the band does to monetize outside of those recordings, still promotes those recordings.

The whole point is as far as collecting revenue from publishing, royalties, licensing, retail, ad supported platforms etc. the artist doesn’t really have to do a thing once the recordings are finished.

But then I guess that’s the catch with 50/50. Because I’ve followed through on my initial commitment to make the music available for download and CD release, neither do I.

Okay

 

NEXT POST . . . IT’S HERE KURB 50/50

 

 

PUT AN ALBUM OUT WITH KURB.

YOU GET HALF. WE GET HALF.

EVERYONE’S HAPPY.

 

PS haha isn’t it ironic that I’m only offering the service in Auckland initially because . . .

 

AT LEAST I KNOW I CAN SELL A FEW CD’S.

 

Oh it’s all changing so quickly isn’t it?

 

 

Haha – hey! coordination is all about judging HOW FAST a moving object is going.

 

If I pass you the mic . . . don’t drop it.

Kurb is a New Zealand based media promotions company providing a regular blog on digital promotion, marketing digital content and creating revenue from new media online.

Kurb also provides online promotion and revenue management services for musicians and artists internationally and online / digital coaching for small business. We rank #1 for “online promotion” in New Zealand.

And the best value fast turnover physical media services in New Zealand including CD / DVD duplication and poster services.
Our physical media services come with free graphic set up and support, free delivery, and free promotions advice and support for musicians.

We provide expert and affordable promotion support in all web 2.0 areas: Cutting edge Social Network promotion (Myspace, Facebook, Bebo etc.), Social Media, Blogging, Spam management, Content creation, Content management, Content Distribution, OMD, RSS, Aggregators, podcasts, Search ranking, Search marketing and PPC campaigns on Google and Facebook, Website design, Website monetization, Video production + promotion,

We also have an extensive self promotion area for independent musician and talent featuring dozens of articles, how to features and blog links.

http://www.kurb.co.nz
http://www.myspace.com/kurbpromo
http://www.youtube.com/user/kurbpromo -
http://kurbpromotion.wordpress.com
http://kurbpromotion.blogspot.com
http://www.squidoo.com/kurb