Last week when I posted about this free compilation I failed to note Toyota’s involvement.
Smart move on their part. Just giving credit where due and suggesting you take a listen with their embedded player in this post (if you have not yet downloaded it) - which much to my surprise does not include any Toyota branding….

“Partnering up with brands to release great new music in interesting ways, be it with a compilation like this, providing the soundtrack for a product release, or using our depth of catalog to provide the ambience for a film, a whole series worth of television, or video game is something we not only are willing, but are quite excited to do.” - Ghostly Director of Publishing and Licensing, Jeremy Peters

Via Ten Music and Ad Age

Continue reading for the widget - had to hide it to stop the autoplay (more…)

From Darcy at Divorce:

I am trying to clear space for new records, so until May 9th shipping in Canada is free on orders over $45. The usual 4% fee will still be charged for all pay pal transactions. Quantities are limited and availability changes quickly (sometimes before I can change the website). Prices for pick-up and Lost and Found remain the same.

Shipping on LPs is usually around $10 in Canada, so this is a good deal. Check out the facebook group or divorcerecords.ca for information. Thanks.

Continue reading for the full catalogue (more…)

As of this minute, Coldplay has 392,819 friends on MySpace and 43,156 fans on Facebook. MySpace’s Coldplay page has four songs on it; Facebook’s one. MySpace’s are embeddable on your page; Facebook’s are not, yet. MySpace supports for-pay downloads (they’re priced absurdly high, but that’s not MySpace’s fault); Facebook does not. MySpace’s page has some personality; but Facebook’s has a user video and a discography. They both have band info and touring info.

Don’t count the “old guy” out just yet.

From David Card, on March 25th

Go vote over at Wired

Radiohead and Nine Inch Nails have been taking turns giving the music industry the finger. The British band made headlines last October for releasing In Rainbows without the support (read: control) of a record label, and Trent Reznor’s group followed suit with last month’s Ghosts I-IV.

The two bands have also been busy one-upping each other with their innovative promotion strategies. We were tempted to let the groups coexist peacefully at the forward edge of digital distribution until Nine Inch Nails’ Trent Reznor accused Radiohead of betraying fans by selling them low-quality files. In light of Reznor’s accusations, we put together a 10-round, voting-enabled smackdown to find out which band is really blazing the trail of innovation.

With March 15 falling on a Saturday, the deadline for the Export Development Program (EDP) funding is 5:00pm Monday, March 17.

NOTE from Rob: Same goes for the Emerging Music Program - also with a March 15th deadline.

Applications must arrive at the MUSIC NOVA SCOTIA office on or before the deadline date to be eligible. The original application plus 4 copies are required. Electronic submissions will be accepted. PDF’s are preferred. Please email to funding@musicnovascotia.ca and clearly identify the order in which the pages should appear when printed. A signed and dated “Terms and Conditions” form must be mailed or faxed to MUSIC NOVA SCOTIA to accompany electronic submissions. Only the current application forms will be accepted. If you are unsure whether you are working with the current forms, please consult the Program Officer or download at http://www.musicnovascotia.ca/funding/.

My tips contribution:

1) As Jonny noted, there are way more applications submitted than can be funded. Thus the best rule I can give anyone on grant writing:
DO NOT GIVE THE JURY A REASON TO ELIMINATE YOUR PROPOSAL
By that I mean, if the grant app asks for a 3 year budget [this point is just an example] make sure you provide a three year budget.
Do not think your application is so good that you can ignore what is asked for, or change the way it it asked to be presented [do they tell you to submit 5 copies? well submit 5 copies].
Every jury I have been part of has had applications that are missing required components. But it does make it easy for a jury to decide if that app will be funded or not [and it won’t be].

2) Answer the basics: Who, What, When, Where, Why, How
When I read [or I am writing a grant], I want to make sure that anyone who reads the grant app will have any and all questions they may have answered. KEEP IN MIND: The jury can’t ask you about the application so they need all the info to be in your app to address your submission.
In your budget make it clear what the money is being used for, when explaining who is part of the project include bios so I know the publicist you are hiring is suitable for your project. You really can’t have too many details.
Have someone read over it, if they have any questions about the hows and whys etc of the app, address them.

3) Once you have made sure you have all the required aspects covered and then you have reviewed your proposal ensuring any questions a jury may have have been answered, take some time and present the proposal in a nice clean layout.

Make use of bold, underlining, use two or three fonts for main text and headings, make good use of white space.

Not only does it add a level of professionalism [odds are you will apply more than once so just make a nice template] but when the jury is debating your application it makes it easier on them to find the info they need.

Those points will not guarantee you receive any funding, but I will guarantee that your proposal will definitely be evaluated on the merits of the project itself and not rejected for something that could have been avoided.

Some expanded advice from Jonny Stevens - Education Coordinator of Music Nova Scotia, musician, all round good guy and new contributor to this blog:

#1.WHAT TO DO:
#1. READ THE GUIDELINES THOROUGHLY!
≈ Who is eligible?
≈ What expenses are eligible?
≈ Can expenses be incurred before the funding deadline?
≈ What supplemental information besides the applications provided by the funding body do you need to include in the submission?

If any one of these details is overlooked, it can mean your application is turned down or deemed ineligible and will not be processed. I call people when there are missing pieces because I’m too nice. Most funding programs (like FACTOR for example) will just remove it from the submissions.

#2. When creating your budget, price check all costs that rather than estimate. ie. flights, car rentals, professional services like photography, publicity, or tour management.

#3. Identify the people you intend to utilize for the professional services. Don’t put TBA where a name should appear, and then a budgeted amount for that service. This may not be common to all funding programs, but it’s certainly a pet peeve to the jurors in the EDP program and the Emerging Music Program.

#4. Every line item that appears in your budget should be justified in the marketing plan.

#5. When putting together your marketing plan, think ‘COVER LETTER’ or ‘LETTER OF INTENT’, then ‘WHO, WHAT, WHERE, WHEN, WHY, HOW’, plus ‘FOLLOW-UP’ or ‘AFTER-CARE’ plan.

WHO ≈ start by describing the artist/group/or business if you’re an industry professional. The jury doesn’t need to know every minute detail, but they need a Readers Digest summary.

WHAT and WHERE and WHEN ≈ will be addressed briefly in the cover letter but will obviously need elaboration in the marketing plan.

WHY ≈ is very important. For a tour, you will need to explain why you’re focusing on these centres. Is there a reason you’re choosing to focus on this territory? Is there added value to playing some of these cities or towns? Touring for the sake of touring is totally valid and necessary. But when applying for funding, you’re wanting to impress upon the jury that this tour has added value for the artist or band in terms of furthering their progress toward their overall goals. Distinguish your project from the other 50 million submissions the funder will be reviewing.

HOW ≈ is how you plan to execute the plan. This is where you will talk about the team and describe the service providers who appear in your budget. The team might be the band.

FOLLOW-UP ≈ is uber important and often glossed over or completely absent. Drives juries nuts. Don’t assume the panel will assume you will follow-up your activity. Tell them. Follow up implies following up with business contacts, not the funding body.

#6. Use headings, bold, and underline in your marketing plan!

#7. Write in the third person.

WHAT NOT TO DO:
#1. DO NOT PAD YOUR BUDGET!
≈ The panel will know.
≈ If you’re actually awarded your entire ask, you may need to match the spending.

#2. Once you think you’re finished - the letter of intent, the marketing plan, the budget, and any other required components, give the entire package to several people to read and give you feedback. You stare at something long enough you don’t even see the weaknesses.

If the people who read give it back to you with no questions, need for clarification, concerns about budget, it might be ready to submit.

#3. Once you think you’re finished, ask yourself “Have I provided enough information that if someone presented this plan to me and asked me to personally invest in the project, would I?” Ask the others who read it the same question.

DOES THIS PLAN MAKE SENSE? WHAT IS THE RETURN ON INVESTMENT?

REMEMBER: All funding programs are oversubscribed. There is alwaysway more demand on the money than there is money to give out. You may not be successful your first time out, or maybe you will.

And some closing advice from Waye Mason of the NSCC Music Business Program, also Director of the Halifax Pop Explosion:

The most important thing is that you can be good and not get money. You have to be great, and your app has to be great, as Jonny said, they are oversubscribed, 1 in 5 get money.

Sometimes it doesn’t mean the jury wouldn’t give you money, it means they didn’t have money to give.

As for me, last time I did Emerging Jury it was me and Stuart from the Barra McNeils. Now, you are thinking, I am sure, what was that like? What was the Halifax Pop Explosion guy and the celtic family guy from Cape Breton like together?

The answer is: we agreed on every damn thing. Every one. The criteria are clear, so it doesn’t matter if the music is hip hop or celtic or rock, or metal, or whatever, what matters is the realistic and well written application meeting all the criteria, and scoring better than everyone else.

Go figure. - Ars Technica

The amount of online “chatter” about an upcoming album release directly correlates to higher physical album sales, according to two researchers with New York University’s Stern Business School.

Title is a comment taken from Digg.com regarding the newest Nine Inch Nails`record

Nine Inch Nails presents Ghosts I - IV, a brand new 36 track instrumental collection available right now. Almost two hours of new music composed and recorded over an intense ten week period last fall, Ghosts I - IV sprawls Nine Inch Nails across a variety of new terrain.

Trent Reznor explains, “I’ve been considering and wanting to make this kind of record for years, but by its very nature it wouldn’t have made sense until this point. This collection of music is the result of working from a very visual perspective - dressing imagined locations and scenarios with sound and texture; a soundtrack for daydreams. I’m very pleased with the result and the ability to present it directly to you without interference. I hope you enjoy the first four volumes of Ghosts.”

And if you don`t want to buy it or even download it from the official site, but prefer to get it via your usual torrent site, well it is already on private torrent sites. The best part being how clear it is who put them there.

The site is currently UP, but from another comment, pricing details:

FREE DOWNLOAD
Ghosts I - The first 9 tracks from the Ghosts I-IV collection available as
high-quality DRM-free MP3s (320kbps LAME encoded, fully tagged) including complete 40 page PDF. Also includes the digital extras pack - various wallpapers, icons, and graphics tools for your computer, website, profile, etc.

$5 DOWNLOAD
Ghosts I-IV - All 36 tracks in a variety of DRM-free digital formats (320
kbps LAME encoded, fully tagged; FLAC Lossless; Apple Lossless) including a 40
page PDF. Also includes the digital extras pack - various wallpapers, icons,
and graphics tools for your computer, website, profile, etc.

This version is also available from the Amazon MP3 store.

$10 2XCD SET
Ghosts I-IV - 2 audio CDs in a gatefold digipak package with a 16-page
booklet. To be shipped TBD. Includes immediate DRM-free download of the
entire collection in same choice of formats as $5 Download option. Download
will include the 40 page PDF and the digital extras pack - various wallpapers,
cons, and graphics tools for your computer, website, profile, etc.
This configuration will be released to retail in North America (April 8), Australia (April 5), the UK (April 8), Japan (April 5) and most European territories (April 8).

$75 LIMITED EDITION DELUXE PACKAGE
Ghosts I-IV - Hardcover book holding 2 audio CDs, 1 data DVD of all 36
tracks in multi-track format (in .wav files readable by Mac and Windows), and
Blu-ray disc featuring stereo recordings in high-definition 24 bit 96Khz with
exclusive slide show. Includes immediate DRM-free download of the entire
collection in all formats and with all extras mentioned above. Also includes
48-page hardcover of photographs by Phillip Graybill and Rob Sheridan.
Discs and art book both housed in fabric slipcover.

$300 ULTRA-DELUXE LIMITED EDITION PACKAGE
Ghosts I-IV - Contains all elements from deluxe package, along with
exclusive 4XLP 180-gram vinyl set, and two limited edition Giclee prints
available exclusively in this package. Disc book, art book, and prints are
all housed in a fabric slipcover. 4XLP vinyl set comes in its own fabric
slipcover. INCLUDES immediate DRM-free download of the entire collection in
all formats and with all extras mentioned above. LIMITED TO 2500 PIECES,
NUMBERED AND PERSONALLY SIGNED BY TRENT REZNOR.

What breaks records is repetition.
- Bob Lefsetz

How else can you get that from potential fans if you can’t get on the radio, on Much/MTV, be in Guitar Hero etc?

I am stealing this quote from a post Mack Collier made on his The Viral Garden blog. While he mentioned it regarding the originating company’s intention to reach out and empower their evangelists, if you replace evangelists, since few bands seem to refer to their fans as such, with ah, fans, you are talking about one and the same and it is a great point all bands interested in building a long-term career should take note of:

We enjoy talking to our customers one-to-one. It really is in our nature. We never worry about the fact that this is inefficient because we are only talking to 50 or 60 or a thousand or ten thousand instead of a million. Which you do when you try to slap everybody on the ass with an advertising message. Because we know that our next customers are going to come from their efforts, not from our efforts.

I have mentioned the Viral Garden [and the point I am about to make again] in the past, and it represents just one quick example of finding great ideas and information that can be applied to your music career in places you may not expect to find it and likely you aren’t looking.