It looks at artists like Radiohead, Nine Inch Nails, Danger Mouse and Sparklehorse, Mos Def, and Groove Armada, and analyzes what they’ve been doing right and wrong and why they’ve been doing it in the first place.

So while you wait for the thesis and the launch of FutureOfMusicDistribution.com, how about going through this 20 page paper?

To download and read the whole paper, just use this link:

http://www.basbasbas.com/online_promotion_of_new_musical_content-Bas_Grasmayer.pdf

And feel free to redistribute it, it’s licensed under a Creative Commons license!

Love,
Bas

See the post in its original format at BasBasBas.com - Serial Expat.

Best practices of the online promotion of new musical content

Entrecard is a social network for bloggers who can drop by each others’ blogs and earn credits in return. With these credits, they can advertise on each others blogs. A nice system, but in the end it’s not worth it for me.

8 Reasons to Quit Entrecard

If you’re a blogger using Entrecard, don’t take any of the following points personal. If any of them insult you, please keep reading on until the end of this article.

1. Poorly invested time. Unless you’re on a very fast connection, it’s going to take you a considerable amount of time per day to get the best out of Entrecard. To get the best out of it, 300 drops per day is a must and its results are spectacular then. However, your time is better invested in discovering and commenting on relevant blogs, using Twitter and more actively engaging the blogosphere, because…
2. Entrecard traffic has low value. Much of the traffic generated through Entrecard just inflates your statistics and increases your bounce rate. Many people just “drop and run”, as it’s dubbed in the Entrecard community. In the end, the traffic has more value than that of most social bookmarking services, but is for the most part still of low value.
3. Bad quality blogs. I’ve had it with low quality blogs. There are too many of them. Poorly written content, grammar and spelling mistakes all over the place, lots of sponsored posts, bad designs. Stay away from me.
4. Non-interesting blogs. I suppose making a blog about your cats is fun, and I’m sure it’s fun for many others to read it, but I’m simply not your target group. You don’t need me on your blog and I don’t want to be there to be honest. There are many other types of blogs I am not interested in that I had to visit because of returning ‘drops’.
5. I don’t care about your ‘hubby‘. Dear Stay/Work At Home Mom (SAHM/WAHM) bloggers, please erase this word out of your vocabulary. If I see it one more time I will puke. Never thought this word would end up on my own blog. Refering to your spouse like this in every one of your blog posts is like two ugly people making out right in front of me. My stomach cannot help but revolt. Sorry. I guess Entrecard has brought me to your blog, but I doubt you really want someone like me there.
6. Linkback building obsession. My God, is there an immense obsession with getting linked back on Entrecard. It’s good to get links back to your blog, because it helps to build your status in search engines. Google Bombs are proof of this. Entrecard is a BAD place to build your linkback. Firstly, you want to get linked back from blogs and sites that are relevant to your site. I don’t need topdropper links back to my page from blogs about cars.
   Secondly, I don’t want to give “link juice” out to unrelated blogs. It’s unfair to the related, relevant or highly interesting blogs that I link to. More about this on SeoBlogr. I read a better article about it recently, found it via Entrecard, but forgot to bookmark it. Doh! So stop caring about your Google PageRank (PR) people, I have zero PR and I get a LOT of search engine traffic. Start worrying about writing good content, writing some linkbait and having high keyword density (but not too high or you’ll get flagged as spam ).
7. The captain is drunk. I’ve put a lot of energy into the community on the Entrecard ship and we’ve sailed far and become friends, but the captain has been making poor choices and I suspect he’s incapable of taking this censorship much further. I love the community on board, but I’m getting off before we hit an iceberg. Graham, the owner of Entrecard, is childish and yesterday banned one of Entrecard’s top users. As you can see in the comments, many people are outraged. I think this was the final proof of Graham’s immaturity and incapacity to make the right decisions at the right time. Although Turnip‘s tweet wasn’t a great show of maturity either. While Graham is saying the negative publicity is only good for Entrecard, his poor leadership is not and new and current members will soon realize that.
8. No more obligation. Like I said before, Entrecard’s a great system if you’re willing to visit 300 blogs per day to make your dropping rounds. This might explain why there are so many SAHM/WAHM bloggers on the network. If you don’t make the 300 a day, or skip a few days per months, the system becomes a bit more mediocre. I got addicted to dropping, every drop is a potential visitor, much more if you drop 300 a day consistently. Had I spent one third of that time on promoting my blog through other manners (new strategy outlined below), the amount as well as the value of my traffic would be much higher right now. That’s good for me personally, as I enjoy writing for people who care and it’s good for potential advertisers (they don’t like high bounce rates).

Some positive things about Entrecard

To say that I’m not crazy would be an exageration, but I’m not that crazy, so if I spend so much time using a particular system, I have good reasons to. So let’s mention some positive points about Entrecard…

• The strategy I’m going to be using to promote my blog now, is not easy. It will be more effective, but it’s not for everyone. Entercard offers a much easier and possibly more fun alternative. Plus, because of its addicting nature, you will not give up promoting your blog so fast. In other words, Entrecard is great for people with a not so technical background.
• I’ve made some great friends through the Entrecard network and I’ve found some fascinating blogs. I will not mention them now, because I’m very scared to leave some of these awesome people out. Most of my top commenters, by the way, are Entrecard users. Entrecard can be a great way to build a community around your blog, but whether that community will stay when you leave Entrecard…. We’ll see.
• Entrecard is, arguably, a ‘cheap’ way to advertise your blog. It costs a lot of time – if that time were spent on making money, one could spend their money much more efficiently on some well-viewed ProjectWonderful ads. If you’re not comfortable with spending money on this and think these ‘credits’ differ much from money, then use Entrecard.

What now?

The big question. Until the 16th, I’ll keep dropping and I’ll be visiting many Entrecard blogs.

• I will subscribe to my favourite Entrecard blogs and I will get more active on your blogs. I will start commenting more. One person who definitely deserves this is Martin, an expat in Bulgaria as well as one of my blog’s top commenters, but there are many others. Every one of your comments has meant a lot to me! You guys inspire me to write! You guys inspire me to deliver the best content possible! Thank you!
• I will set up some new sites. I’ve been thinking about them for a long time and it’s time to ACT. One will be a blog about the future. Next week is a holiday, so if Bluehost finally registers the domain I paid them for, I expect it to be up and running before next weekend. Exciting!
• I will employ the following tactics to promote my blog... The most important thing is to have great content, so this will always be my focus. Now, I’m talking about external, promotional methods.
  Firstly, I will start using my feedreader again. Entrecard was so time-demanding that I didn’t have time to keep up with my RSS subscriptions until I finally just stopped opening my feedreader. Big mistake. I will find more blogs that I’m interested in and that would be interested in this blog’s content. I will follow them and I will comment on them. This makes everything A LOT more relevant for everyone. This is still one of the best ways to get your blog “out there”.
  Secondly, I will place more emphasis on Twitter. In just a short time I have become a Twitter evangelist. Why? Because thanks to Twitter, in just the last few weeks, I have made my first commissioned DJ mix, got offered FTP space and torrent tracker possibilities for my DJ project, found someone a job and I got helpful business connections for my final university thesis in Bulgaria. There’s much more but it’s simply been overwhelming! If you didn’t read it or pay attention to it, now might be a good time to read my article 5 Reasons to Use Twitter and 5 Tips on How to Use It Right. Hey, even Entrecard hearts Twitter…

Concluding

I really love my regular visitors. I hope you will keep stopping by, even if there’s no widget to drop on. I hope you will reflect on the time you’re spending on Entrecard. I hope you will start investing some of that time in Twitter and we can stay up to date about each other. Maybe some of you didn’t get it when I wrote the aforementioned post about Twitter, but I am really interested in you and would really like to stay up to date about you via Twitter. Yes, YOU who is reading this. Please see what it’s all about, join the conversation and get in touch with me.

With a wink to the late Douglas Adams, I say to you all… So long, and thanks for all the drops!!

BasBasBas.com is about a Dutch student living in Istanbul. I regularly write about my adventures in Istanbul and travels in the region. If you’d like to stay up to date, you can subscribe to my RSS feed or get email updates in your inbox.

See the post in its original format at BasBasBas.com - Serial Expat.

So long, and thanks for all the drops! (8 Reasons to Quit Entrecard)

Firstly, I’ll explain what EntreCard is. Secondly, I’ll go through some of the basics for all the readers who are not members yet. Thirdly, I’ll explain what I do in the form of some tips and pointers, so hopefully the whole EntreCard experience will become better for all of us.

I find it extraordinarily hard to explain what EntreCard actually is. It’s a blogging community, it’s an advertising system, it’s a way to network with other blogs… On the main page Entrecard talks about themselves as “your businesscard 2.0″. The most essential thing about Entrecard is surfing to other community members’ blogs and “dropping” a card on their Entrecard widget (see top right sidebar). By dropping cards, you earn credits, which you then can spend to advertise on sites that are on Entrecard.

Entrecard partnered with SezWho, a comment tracking system, so that it can give you credits every time you comment on another person’s blog. Great way to stimulate community-forming on members’ blogs! So as you’re going through your daily dropping, be sure to leave comments! Maybe you get tons of comments nowadays and they don’t mean much to you, but remember that time when one or two comments did matter. Comment on other blogs and experience the gratitude and reciprocation.

Something else I do regarding comments on my own blog is I generally give them 5 stars through SezWho. What can I say? I love every one of them. This helps people to build their rep on the net.

If you like a certain post on someone’s site, or like the whole overall site… Stumble it! Digg it! Whatever you use… Just do it! Write a Tweet about it, it doesn’t matter. When using Entrecard, many people are so wrapped up in it, that they forget to give a “thumbs up” for content they like. Start Stumbling content you like of other Entrecard users and you’ll notice that the next time people you stumbled visit your blog, they might leave a stumble before leaving.

If you place an ad on a site… Stumble or Digg the site! Either when you apply for it, or on the day it’s actually running. Increase your chances of visitors in any way you can.

Reciprocate drops. Check your inbox and reciprocate. That’s the easiest way to get a basic reader community on your site via Entrecard.

Put some statistics on your website. I generally check for three things:

• Number of subscribers to the site.
• FEEDJIT. Since my blog’s about Istanbul, Turkey, it helps me to assess where most people’s visitors are from. I find that Europeans are generally more interested in my site than people from Indonesia or the Philippines.
• BlogCatalog. It allows me to see how often the blog gets visitors. It shows the names of BlogCatalog community members and shows how long ago they visited the site. It gives me an indication of the traffic the site gets.

When none of these are present, I can be a bit wary about spending my EC credits, but not always of course. A lot of Entrecard is about experimenting! After all, it’s just credits you’re spending, so spend away.

Monitor your EC statistics, award your top ten droppers publically (giving an incentive for others to drop on your site regularly), and make friends! Because EC offers such a friendly environment, if you’re the least bit active, it’s impossible not to make friends.
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See the post in its original format at BasBasBas.com - Serial Expat.

EntreCard my way

1. I’m extremely busy, so this post will be short;
2. I’ll be able to go back to my marketing professor in Holland, after my placement, and tell him I had breakfast (or high tea) with Kotler.

Yesterday as I went to the Philip Kotler seminar I spoke about earlier to interview some of the participants, I was invited to stay and witness the seminar in the afternoon. Sweet.

Note: you can use these pictures IF you include a link to this website. Do NOT infringe copyrights. I will find out.

Then today I went to the press conference, which turned out to be in the panorama restaurant of the Kempinski hotel here in Sofia. Very good service from the personel, as can be expected in a classy hotel like the Kempinski. It was just a round-table setting, everything was translated to Bulgarian also (to my annoyance), but it was pretty informal and comfortable to ask him a question. Also got a Bulgarian translation of Kotler’s book “Lateral Marketing” signed by him. Sweet. Maybe some day I’ll be able to read the book. More content another time, have to get all my stuff through to the radio first. Can’t post any real data on here before then. I’ll make sure to post the links to all the material as soon as they’re up on the Radio Bulgaria website.

Oh, go check out my Photoblog, it has updates!

Notice there’s no picture for today yet. That’s because I’m joining a journalist from Hristo Botev to the CD presentation of the Bulgarian Pop Idols winner. We’ll see what’s more interesting

See the post in its original format at BasBasBas.com - Serial Expat.

Philip Kotler in Sofia, seminar and press conference

Daniel Solove, an associate professor of law at George Washington University law school, blogged that Facebook “might be assuming that if a person talks about a product, then he or she consents to being used as an advertisement for it. It is wrong to assume that just because a user visits a Web site or rates a product highly or speaks well of a product that the user wants to be featured in an ad.”

Now to put it quite simply, this guy doesn’t understand what he’s talking about. Sure, he understands laws and surely he understands at least a little about the internet… However, times are changing, marketing is changing and he doesn’t get the concept that Facebook’s using.

Basically it’s a type of viral marketing, using the functionality of a Web 2.0 application. These ads should not be seen as any traditional ad we know. It links a user’s action to a product, but does not claim the user endorses the product. You see this a lot in blogs right now, where writers give their honest opinions about products. They may be very critical about it, but they will often offer affiliate links for all the skeptics.

Now my point is, the ads will most likely pop up in users’ news feeds as:

* Bas reviewed product X.
or
* Bas purchased product X.

This does not mean anything. Other users now have the opportunity to contact me to see what I think about the product, or read the review. In other words, if an advertiser doesn’t offer value, he will not make sales. This is the new marketing.

Showing these ads does not mean you endorse the product, it means exactly what they say; that you either reviewed or purchased the product. Nothing more, nothing less. And if Facebook can earn a little money from that, why not. Let’s not make an overcomplicated system with requests for endorsements everywhere, when it really isn’t necessary.

And hey, if a review inspires friends to give a product a chance, why not. It’s what we do anyway. When we see our friends walking around with certain products, we buy them (*cough* iPod *cough*). When we buy something from a shop, the vehicle for carrying it (usually a plastic bag) is an ad for the shop. You’re now advertising for the shop, only because you bought one product.

Let’s just stop being so scared and get ready for a transition, the old types of marketing stopped working – long ago. We’re finally recognizing this and now we have the opportunity to get some genuine recommendations, not from marketeers, but from our friends and family. This is both good for the consumer, as well as for the sellers of products who offer value. Bad value products; your best days are over.

See the post in its original format at BasBasBas.com - Serial Expat.

Facebook’s Social Ads & Privacy

1. Go to the hotel where the seminar is to hold interviews with some participants. The organizers helped arrange this.
2. The day after the seminar I’m attending the press conference.
3. Interview with the organizers!

It’s not the same as attending the event, but this is as close as I can get. Hopefully I’ll be able to pose a good question for the press conference, but I’m not exactly a press conference veteran so we’ll see how it goes.

See the post in its original format at BasBasBas.com - Serial Expat.

Philip Kotler in Sofia

Specific: more likely to be a smaller group of visitors, but you can expect these visitors to be interested in the content.
Broad: more likely to be a bigger group of visitors, but expect a lot of them to not pay attention to the content so much.

Use both ways, especially if it’s this easy.

See the post in its original format at BasBasBas.com - Serial Expat.

A tip for WordPress marketing