Leverage the Internet

Everyone knows that by signing a record deal doesn't mean the work is over. Even thought Tate Music Group is the best label around and gives artists the freedom and flexibility they need, I will be the first one to tell you as the Director of Music Marketing that we are not going to do everything for you!

Yes TMG will handle marketing, publicity, promotion, advertisements, radio, booking, distribution and so on... we rely on the artist to network like crazy. The artist needs to be focused on growing, relating and mobilizing their social networks at all times. We need the artist to utilize the tools and services the Internet provides. They should leverage the internet as much as possible to grow their fan base, increase sales and actually grow their music business...and it is a business.

Besides twitter, facebook and the other social networking platforms that are out there you have to get creative. For instance TMG took our niche and organized Variance Magazine. It is an industry magazine that allows us to feature TMG artists along with articles of larger named acts. Scale Variance down a little and you have an industry newsletter. Every artist out there should have a newsletter that informs their family, friends and fans of what they are doing on a quarterly basis. This is just one example but you see how creativity can really allow you to stay relevant in the business. Check out "100 Resources for DIY Musicians" for some other tips.

Variance Magazine's Launch Party

Just off of our Sophomore issue, Variance Magazine hosted a launch party last weekend at the Marquee in Tulsa. We had a great turnout by both fans and vendors. Local business sponsorship was at it highest due to the enormous buzz on the web about Variance's success.

Variance is a magazine for the people by the people. We take submissions from fans, artists, promoters, industry pros etc... and publish them if they fit the magazines structure and integrity. Variance is completely different than any other magazine on the market today for just that reason.

VM staff pictured above at the Marquee.

TMG Highlights Artists in Front of 12,000 Radio DJ's

Tate has partnered with a new radio provider that allows us to promote, highlight and deliver TMG music to the hands of radio DJ's and Program Directors world wide.

Recently we sent music to over 12,000 DJ's and Program Directors. The partnership allows us to build music profiles for all of our artists and highlight specific artists to DJ'sand PD's of particular genres and regions.

This is a new partnership that brings great exposure to TMG artists.

Variance Magazine Releases Sophomore Issue

Variance Magazine just released their Sophomore Issue with a bang. The Goo Goo Dolls graced the cover and the issue was filled with captivating articles on some industry movers and shakers.

By far the biggest response we received was from the fan base of Cobus Potgieter. Within 10 minutes of Cobus posting on Facebook and Twitter the website was shut down due to the amount of traffic that was trying to access the issue at once. We were overwhelmed but in a good way.

This is a new experiment from Tate Publishing and Tate Music Group that is proving to be a success. As of today, which is 5 full days after the magazine released we have had 74,751 unique views. The big draws are obviously articles on artists the majority of the public have heard about (Goo Goo Dolls, Underoath, The Spill Canvas, Cobus Potgieter). We use those articles to drive attention to our artists. In this issue you can see TMG artists such as Jeff Chandler, Chuck Tocco, The Fab Rudies, Michelle Buzz, Vanessa Vasquez to name a few.

The best way I can describe the benefit of this publication is that the above mentioned TMG artist have just received 74,751 impressions in the last 5 days that wouldn't have been their without it. Tate Music Group is continually looking for ways to publicize and promote our artists, Variance Magazine is just another idea that we've executed. If you take a look at www.variancemagazine.com you will notice a tab named "Variance TV" which is underway now!

TMG Now Produces Music Videos

Tate Music Group now provides our artists with professional music videos. Even more than handing our artists a finished video we work with them to help promote and market the video once it is completed.

Take a look at the first music video we did in house for TMG artist Scarlitt Redemption


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AyMLlWAKVmg

Radio

It is pretty universal regardless of the genre of music being created, most artist want to be on the radio. It is probably one of the first questions we get asked when artists are ready for marketing here at Tate Music Group.

If you've read any of my blogs you know that I am a big fan of performing over radio success. I believe that by performing you are creating a larger buzz and it will be easier to break radio than by starting cold in the opposite direction. With that said Tate Music Group offers great resources to our artists that help them find success.

Anyone who has ever tried their hand at the business knows that breaking into radio is one of the hardest aspects and provides some of the greatest challenges for an artist, label, manager, or promoter.

One of the cool aspects about Tate Music Group is that we have relationships with hundreds of radio stations across the nation. Our relationships and partnerships have allowed us to create weekly programing for these stations where we are able to insert TMG artists into a top 40 format.

Over a two week period we average 92 plays for TMG artists on over 433 radio stations across the nation. Again Tate Music Group chooses the artist we want to submit into each format. This is a win win for everyone involved and allows TMG to provide a radio resource to our artists.

Even though those numbers are incredible in their own right that is not where our radio promotion stops. Tate Music Group has our own in house division that works with advertisers and outside promoters to push our artists music even further.

We work with hosting companies such as PlayMPE and others to send TMG artists music directly to Dj's and PD's. This is how music is transferred in today's climate. If you are sending a physical CD to a station you are probably wasting your money. We've just been selected as a VIP partner to a hosting site that allows us to send music to over 40,000 radio professionals worldwide. This service is automatically created when marketing starts for every Tate artist.

Radio is a hard nut to crack but Tate Music Group provides our artists with the correct resources to do so.

Rock the Universe Pictures