© 2009 Vinny Ribas
It may sound impressive to say you have thousands of friends on MySpace. Are you capitalizing on all of that traffic and finding ways to turn it into income? It is certainly great that you’re booked every weekend or every week. Are you making as much money as you could be? There are a lot of tips and tricks that artists use to maximize their income. Here are a just a few:
- Have product (CDs or downloads) to sell. Don’t put out a bad recording of yourself.just to have product. But you can find a way to record an EP instead of a full CD or maybe an acoustic CD that is inexpensive to produce. You can also pre-sell your CDs at a reduced rate if you know your release date! Give early purchasers a gift, such as 2 free downloads of songs not included in your upcoming.
- Sell 2 or more different CDs. If someone likes you, they will buy more than one CD. Bundle them together (e.g. 1 for $12, 2 for $20, 3 for $25).[private_member]
- Sell merchandise, such as t-shirts, photos etc. Find something unique, such as a cool bracelet, that you make part of your identity. Then sell them so your fans can ‘be like you’.
- Bundle merchandise and CDs. For example, ‘buy 3 CDs and gert a free t-shirt’.
- Collect names, email addresses and zip codes of everyone no matter what or where the touch point is. Get your MySpace fans to sign up for your newsletter. Give out free download cards at your gigs to anyone who signs up for your newsletter. That way you can keep them informed of where you’re performing, any new products you have for sale, or just what’s happening in your life and career.
- If you’ve developed a reasonable fan base, try asking for more money for your gigs. Test the waters slowly and keep raising your price until you’ve reached your threshold. Then try again in 6 months.
- Charge more for ‘limited edition’ CDs. If you work hard to create loyal fans who can’t live without having your music, they will be willing to pay more than others to get a ‘collector’s item’.
- Sell ringtones, screen savers, etc. Keep up on digital innovations that give you opportunities to create another stream of income.
The bottom line is that is very smart business to diversify your income. Generating income from multiple sources or through creative means takes much of the risk out of your income stream. While one cash flow might slow down, hopefully others are picking up the slack.[/private_member]
