Hollywood’s going nuts this weekend, because of a deal between Lionsgate, Groupon, and Fandango, to pack theatre seats for the premiere weekend of Matthew McConaughey’s new movie, “The Lincoln Lawyer.” Here’s how the deal works. In most cities, it costs…
Author
Joe Taylor Jr.
Would you really want to be the next Rebecca Black?
Rebecca Black made it into the iTunes Top 100 this week. While Jay Frank’s analyzing the songwriting mechanics that make Rebecca Black’s “Friday” a chart success, I’ve been getting lots of e-mail and DMs about a new wave of song…
My @SproutSocial Experiment: Setting Boundaries on Social Media
I’ve been teaching some workshops on social media lately, and one of the questions that comes up very often involves how to keep Twitter and Facebook status updates from taking over your life. In the new edition of Grow Your…
Why I’m paying $60 a month for someone to pick my music.
The first I heard about the scandal at NPR was a tweet from my former colleague at WXPN, Bruce Warren: That sounds about right. In case you haven’t been following the news, a senior NPR official got pranked by a…
How microfunding sites like Kickstarter can stifle success.
Michael Epstein suggests that microfunding better suits a label model, where funders on a Kickstarter-type campaign can invest in a slate of projects rather than in a particular artist. Scott Andrew notes that sites like RocketHub encourage some acts to…
Finding the Twinsumers in your perfect audience.
I love reading the monthly briefings from the Trendwatching team. This year, they called out “Twinsumers” and “Social-lites” as part of their 11 Crucial Consumer Trends for 2011. Grow Your Band’s Audience charts a course for finding “your perfect audience.”…
How to offer your services as a producer, and how to find local talent.
Mailbag time! One of our readers writes: I am into urban/dance music. This relies on an artist as well as a producer. I’m a producer. Here is what I am willing to offer the artist: -I am willing to allow…
Bieber’s Grammy Snub, Explained
Steve Stoute’s a little angry at NARAS. Every year, folks complain about a Grammy snub. But Steve’s wondering aloud, in an open letter to the New York Times, whether the Grammy voters have consistently snubbed “pop culture” with its selections…
What’s Culturally Significant? (Part 2)
A few weeks ago, I joined a gathering of about a hundred professionals from the arts, entertainment, and creative communities in Philadelphia to discuss the concept of “creative vitality” in our city. The fact that all of these talented individuals…
What’s Culturally Significant? (Part 1)
Philadelphia Inquirer columnist Annette John-Hall covers a delicate controversy brewing just a few blocks from my home: Jamaican Jerk Hut–one of the places I thought I’d truly regret leaving behind the second time I moved away from Philly–has a new…
How to tell people you make music for a living.
It’s so easy to focus on social media marketing and street team strategies, that we often overlook some of the most basic ways that you can grow your audience. Every day, someone probably asks you what you do for a…
How learning to hear “no” can save your career.
Yesterday, I wrote about how our culture cast Simon Cowell as the villain of American Idol, just because he has the audacity to tell people “no.” We’re so concerned with being liked, with validating everyone’s experiences, and with wanting happy…