One of my favorite things about my role at Strategic Blend is keeping up with clients, and seeing what they’re up to, how they’re using their digital properties, and watching them grow!

Some examples of recent innovative uses come from Drivin N Cryin, Karli Whetstone (and her new site theme), and The CO

DNC

Drivin N Cryin is a great example of motivating your community in a time of crisis/tragedy.  In a blog post dated Sept 13th, Drivin N Cryin took to their website with the following message:

Between 3:45am and 6am on Saturday September 11, Drivin N Cryin’s tour trailer containing their stage gear was stolen from the La Quinta Inn at x-169 on I-75 in Macon, GA. The black Quicksilver Racing 5×10 trailer held the band’s guitars, amplifiers, drums, merchandise and stage production gear. A complete list can be viewed here: http://www.facebook.com/topic.php?uid=5912085821&topic=15178#topic_top and photos can be seen here: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=235150&id=5912085821. 3 items have since been recovered at a pawn shop in Atlanta, GA. The person responsible for pawning these 3 items has been identified as Atlanta resident Reginald Ellis. More information on Ellis can be found here:http://www.drivinncryin.com/thief/.

Drivin N Cryin would like to thank their friends, fans, the Georgia music community and the Atlanta/Macon media for the outpouring of support and assistance. For 25 years, you guys have been the best fans. We are truly grateful.

Not only is this horrible for a touring band, but especially for a band that’s been on the road for 20+ years.  Taking a look at some of that gear will make any music fan tear  up.

Using social media (and not to mention craigslist, hilarious!) to showcase the gear stolen, adding a page to the site to help catch the theif (that rotten bastard).  The general response has been overwhelming.  Bringing an entire musical community together in the search for their stuff, and, more importantly, getting the word out that they’d been robbed, someone was pawning their shit, and THIS IS THAT DUDE.

A great use of WordPress, a great use of facebook, and a good strategy in a time of panic.  DNC, may all your stuff be found, may it all be in one piece, and may they put Reginald Donta Ellis in a cell UNDER the jail, and never let him loose.

Karli Whetstone

Karli’s career has been steadily progressing, and she decided to give the site a new look!  What I feel is a more grown up / sophisticated look and feel.

In addition she’s also begun blogging.  And unlike this blogger…. she’s diligent.   Rarely missing a day to update you on what’s going on in her world.  It’s very “daily diary” in nature, and is currently the most popular section of her site.  Between that and a persistent twitter feed, her fans know what she’s up to every day… and that will pay off in spades!

A loyal, devout, and connected following is a very powerful thing!

The CO

The CO are one of my favorite artists we’ve worked with.  They just GET IT!  They have integrated every portion of their digitally owned properties into a really robust site.

Troy’s Blog is filled with some great video updates, quick quips and stories… and most importantly, his passion for giving back to the world around him.

Collin’s Blog has great introspection, and images.

Not to mention the great video blog on the general band blog page

Much like Karli’s site, you really get a sense of who these guys are, and what they’re up to!

So here’s to you guys…. I hope to continue learning from you, growing with you, and helping find success with you.

The Billboard Site

There’s the Billboard site, it’s informational, doesn’t really ask you to do anything, but tries to convey information in a concise and direct manner.  Sometimes it will walk you through the ins and outs of a product service.  It doesn’t pressure you to act immediately, but hopes to leave an impression, like driving by a billboard on the highway.  Their hope is the imagery and information stay with you long enough to a) visit their establishment, b) tell someone else about their business, or c) make you aware of their business so that you think of them next time you’re in need of their products/services.  Think of it as a multi-page ad in a magazine.  These sites should always gather an email address of those that are interested in the product, and give the brand an opportunity to reconnect with interested visitors.

The Sales Site

Most Billboard sites think they are Sales sites, but they fail at one crucial juncture.  To transform the user visit into a transaction.  The sales site drives you to action, it describes the product, but asks you to buy, or sign up, or act at every turn.  These sites, if poorly designed can seem overbearing and pushy at times.  A well designed sales site can be a great revenue stream (and sometimes the ONLY revenue stream) for an organization.  Well crafted messaging and product description are critical, where to place sales pitches are important as well, but most important is turning a casual visitor into a customer.

The Content Site

This site is heavy on, you guessed it, content.   The main purpose of this page is to inform consistently with new and relative content each post.  Much like this blog that you’re reading right now.  We rarely ask you to act and purchase anything, we occasionally call out our services, but the inherent reason you’re here is to read our ramblings, get some ideas, and potentially put them into practice.

The Issue with these Three Site Types:

Most sites want to do ALL of this stuff.  They want to thoroughly inform you of their product, hopefully get you to spread the good word about what it is they do.  Not only do they want you informed, but they’d LOVE for you to make a purchase of some sort.  They want action, follow through, and they want to know who you are so they can reach out to you and keep you coming back for more.  Moreover than just selling you on something, they want to PROVE to you have a great deal of knowledge in their craft.  They want to tell you how to use their products/services and build a rapport through consistent updates of content.

When you try to put all of this stuff on one site, it can become distracting and confusing.  I could call out hundreds of sites that have been constructed asking you to “check out my band” and also “buy this album” and also “check out our blog” and also “look at our tour dates”, etc.   These are all great aspirations, but what is MOST important to you.  What do you want featured?   Is it most important for people to know about you and what you’re doing?  If that’s the case then the blog/journal is your vehicle for your brand.

The primary focus of your site can be a vehicle to promote other aspects of your business (i.e. you can promote your product/service at the end of your blog, read a little further and you’ll see this in action).

Similarly you can use the promotion or sale of a product/service to reach out to your customer base and let them know about your content.  Every site should incorporate a method of capturing email addresses, building a list to reach back out to loyal customers.  When you begin producing enough content to garner followers, it may be a good time to reach out to this customer base via email and let them know there is a new way to keep up with your business.

As you can see, setting up this type of site is not impossible, but the concern becomes content layout.  9 times out of 10 this type of site becomes a disaster area.  There is no streamlined layout to tell the user, “hey, check this out first.”  It’s no surprise that most sites want to have it all.  To do that effectively you’ll need a great plan, a better sitemap, and seamless execution.

If you’re interested in our assistance in building a Billboard, Sales, or Content site, please let us know. (ah-ha, there’s a call to action)

Moreover, if you’re looking to “have it all,” we’ve mastered the art of focusing on one element of your business and connecting those pieces to the other (equally important) pieces.  Focusing on what your most viable hook might be, and then continuing the product/service experience with the other elements of your site.   If you’re in this boat…please let us know, we’d love to make your web presence a viable revenue stream, and create a great experience for your site visitors.

A label’s catalog is its most valuable asset.  Once a song or album is commercially released to the public, it becomes part of a label’s history of music assets.  From that point forward, its the label’s job to do everything in its power to expose, promote and sell that product.

So why do none of the majors promote catalog or history on their websites?  Why is there never a whisper of past successes or the legacy of their artists?  Exposing new artists is only PART of the game folks – you’re intentionally leaving money on the table by not recognizing your catalog.

Check out a few examples: Warner Brothers Records and Universal Music are bad enough – no different than any generic music streaming portal.

But Sony Music, my God….what happened?

They don’t even promote their CURRENT music!  Sony’s site is like a basic business card site I could create in under an hour for fifty bucks (I’m pretty sure they spent far more than that on it). Sony’s site says to me “We don’t care if you buy our product or not, we aren’t even going to try, you may as well not even bother.”  They should post a single photo of Droopy Dog with that speech bubble over his head.

Sony controls some of the best catalog in the history of recorded music!  Elvis, Alabama, Bob Dylan, Miles Davis, and Aerosmith just to name a few.  Where are they?!?  Where are the artist bios, music charts, photos, videos, album buy links, iTunes buy links?  Looking deeper and tracking down their affiliate labels, the story is no better: Sony Nashville‘s website is pathetic and RCA Records is a joke.

at least Motown gets it…

Their site splits into a current and classic section – the classic side doing just what I’m suggesting.  They list all the old artists, list album cover art with buy links and sell ringtones and other new media around their catalog.

Think about all the music that was financed by labels that gets shelved and never heard because the first single didn’t hit.  Majors could start featuring and selling that music on their site too!  Using Long Tail economics, they’re going to sell at least ONE copy of everything and it would cost them nothing to do it.  Why don’t they?

Ultimately its a tragic waste.  A waste of opportunity and a waste of a company’s potential, especially in this case.

And for those non-music folks out there, this same idea can still apply.  A company’s history is good content that not only gives your brand more depth but gives folks a reason to visit.  All of that content, properly positioned, can be searchable and used to increase traffic.

Increaed traffic = more potential customers = more $

There is literally NO excuse for not doing this.

We can all think back to some of our favorite album covers – album art and packaging that stuck with us and gave us an appreciation for the artist beyond just hearing the songs. (A good music video should do the same, but we’ll save that for another day). You know a good cover when you see one – iconic imagery, carefully crafted logo or nameplate, original illustrations or amazing photography. Yet somehow, lately, many of these components have been totally neglected. How did this happen?

A little history…
From the 50s to the mid 80s, Vinyl ruled and so did big album covers with lots of real estate to try new and interesting ideas. It was important to have a great cover and great photography because the thing was so big, it had to look good! Consumers also organized their albums based on these covers, so the packaging benefited the consumer as well as the label.

Then came the mid 80s and the popularity of CDs, and suddenly covers were a whole lot smaller. The more noticeable change, however, was that consumers were now taking CDs OUT of their cases and putting them in binders and organizers, never to use or care about the packaging again. Labels saw this behavior and decided they didn’t need to spend as much time or money on something a consumer wasn’t going to really care about in the long run. During the next 15 years, great packaging was still released, just not to the same degree as before.

Then came 1999 and Napster and digital music libraries with hundreds of thousands of songs, and album artwork became even less important to many music consumers. So labels and marketing people collectively decided to abandon any real quality in creating cover art and packaging.

Change, of course…
The pendulum of change has swung yet again, and this time it’s returned us to a place where cover art is important. New devices like the iPod Touch have given consumers reason to recognize an album cover, and use it for organizing their collections. Amazon, iTunes and countless digital stores have positioned music product in ways that ONLY display album covers. Most important of all, the sheer glut of product that’s released into the market every single day has created thousands of identical artists with the same sound and imaging. These artists have to not only compete amongst themselves for consumer attention, but also with video games, DVDs, Harry Potter books and everything else you can find at a Best Buy or Borders.

This competition means your product has to have the most compelling marketing message possible, because 9 times out of 10 folks are NOT going to have any familiarity with who you are or what you do. 9 times out of 10 the ONLY interaction they will ever have with your brand will be through your album cover. That’s an opportunity to leave an impression – one that could result in a sale or at the very least a curiosity that could grow over time and online.

Visit any big-box retailer and you’ll see just how important product imaging has become. “Drive-by” impulse buys are becoming the new core business, and if your product can’t move, it’s replaced with something that can. This is why Walmart continues to shrink its music section and has been placing certain albums at the checkout line.

Who’s the biggest offender?
Speaking of Walmart, walk into the dwindling music section of your local and you’re bound to be greeted by an entire row of abysmal CD covers in the Country section. Sure proof that most “creative directors” at Nashville record labels need to be fired. Their idea of packaging seems to include a busy afternoon of taking “generic artist photo” and slapping “generic crappy font” on top. No color correction or creativity required! They probably fired up ‘ole Microsoft Paint to accomplish this. (In case you think I’m exaggerating, take a peak at this.….from 2005!)

Our sources have even confirmed Mike Dungan (head of Capitol Nashville) has stated “cover art doesn’t matter…fans aren’t interested in this.” Clearly this is why Dungan ended up with covers that look like this, or this.

Country covers didn’t always used to be this way. There was a time when the same high caliber photography and creativity that led to so many great pop/rock covers also benefited country. Take Kenny Roger’s The Gambler album cover for example. It draws you in, creates a story and an atmosphere that compliments the music. And it SOLD you. Granted, Kenny had the help of a huge #1 single to push units, but had he not, this cover would have still served as a powerful marketing message and advertisement. The same goes for Restless Heart’s Big Dreams In A Small Town and Wheels covers. Joe Galante (Sony/BMG Nashville head) used to care about this sort of thing. He once employed a creative dept who toiled night and day, sometimes over holidays, to arrive at packaging that truly served the product and helped push sales. No longer.

Lighting the future
Ultimately, it’s the responsibility of every artist to look after the presentation of their product and brand. By understanding the importance of an album cover, you can move one more notch ahead of the competition and build stronger fan relationships. No one marketing piece can have such a widespread, or long lasting impact. Just ask Rob Thomas, who clearly left his last album in the hands of a Phil Collins fan.