Buy it for yourself or use the iTunes Gift feature to make this a virtual stocking-stuffer for anyone who needs a good laugh this Christmas season.
I am asked this question quite frequently by new musicians looking to expand their presence on the web. I don’t blame them; the legion of music sites are both numerous and constantly changing. Ten years ago I would have pointed you straight towards the great behemoth that was MP3.com, but we all know how badly that turned out.
Photo by Easternblot
To be honest, most music sites are a waste of time. Unless it’s iTunes, Facebook, or Amazon, the only people that visit the site are other musicians. Not fans, other musicians. If you’ve ever played an open mic night, you know how this works: You’re onstage baring your heart and soul for a crowd of people who are disinterested and just waiting for their turn to do the same. Posting your music to these sites would be like trying to sell time-share condos at a telemarketing convention.
My advice, for the curious, is simple: Go where your fans are. I say “your” fans, not “the” fans because there are so few “music fans” and so many “songs about robots” fans or “electric bluegrass” fans. If your fans are into manga comics, go post your music on art sites that feature manga comics. Are you an activist? Go post your music where people are supporting the cause. If you don’t know what your fans are interested in, that should be your first step: ask them.
It’s so much easier (and effective) to spread the word in communities you’re already a part of, rather than trying to build a taller billboard than the band next to you.
I’m frequently asked, when new fans want to buy a track or album, “what method gives you the most money?” I’m touched that a lot of people want to make sure I get the most of their hard-earned dollars when they decide to support my music. The fact is, though, that I want you to pay the sales staff.
(Wait a second, he doesn’t have a sales staff, what is he talking about?)
Photo by Andyrob
If someone or some service is actually introducing you to my music, I want them to stay in business. I want them to get a piece of my good fortune. I want to reward anyone who is helping spread the word about my music, so long as they’re doing it legitimately.
So if you’re worried about the extra $2 per CD or 9¢ per track, don’t be. Please just do what you can to keep my sales people in business. If they’re making a living, then I’m making a living!
Every day Google sends me an update as to which blogs are talking about me. This morning I came across a review that made my day. Here’s a clip:
Ebel accomplishes something far more impressive: the songs, though catchy and great in isolation, are even more strong when listened to as a cohesive album… There are reprises, melody replications (where they makes sense), and the layout of the tracks was undoubtedly intentional.
YouMakeMedia.com
This was also posted on the album’s page in the iTunes Music Store. Very cool!
[tags]Matthew Ebel, piano rock, youmakemedia.com, Goodbye Planet Earth, album, review, iTunes, iTunes Music Store, iTMS[/tags]
If you remember Beer & Coffee‘s release, you’re probably as surprised as I am that Goodbye Planet Earth made it to the 
Music Store in less than a month.
Well, it’s there! And it’s only $9.99 for the whole album. Granted, if you want high-quality DRM-Free tracks, you’ll need to get it from CD Baby or MySpace, and that’s only $12.99. But if you’re dying to get your copy of the new album from iTunes, it’s there!
And please leave a review on iTunes if you’ve already heard the album! Just CLICK HERE to go straight to the iTunes Music Store.
[tags]Matthew Ebel, piano rock, Goodbye Planet Earth, iTunes, iTMS, iTunes Music Store, DRM, MP3[/tags]
I’m sitting in the Nashville International Airport waiting for a giant metal bird to take me home for Christmas. In the mean time, I caught this gem of a post by my friend Chris Penn. Here’s a clip:
Music industry – the lesson is not that free will always win. EASY will always win. I could rip this track for free by breaking the DRM and converting to an MP3, but thats 10 minutes of my day I can spend doing something else (like blogging about it). That would be free, but I want easy. I value my time more than my money, because I can always make money, but my lifespan is finite and irreplaceable.
-It’s Not Easy Being Legal
The larger implications of his post are debated on his site (which I recommend you check out, it’s a good read), but that paragraph in particular really resonated. I’m the kind of guy who will look on iTunes for a track, then go steal it if it ain’t there. I don’t buy CD’s unless I’m at a live concert, and if a label is too stupid to get their music on iTunes (especially here in the US), they’ve told me that they don’t want my money.
I also try and live this philosophy- I’ve got all my selling albums on (even though Goodbye Planet Earth isn’t listed yet), on CD Baby as both a disc and MP3 download, and on MySpace. I want to make it as easy as possible for people to buy my music legitimately.
To be honest, I’m kind of glad the major labels aren’t jumping on this with both feet. It puts us independents a step ahead.
[tags]Matthew Ebel, piano rock, Christopher Penn, music industry, iTunes, iTMS, MP3, MySpace, major labels[/tags]
A few months back I asked you to help get the attention of a [tag]sponsor[/tag] for my [tag]podcast[/tag], [tag]High Orbit[/tag]. Now I’ve got a few companies interested, but they’re all asking me the same question… How many listeners do you have? You know I want to bring you [tag]live music[/tag] every week, but I can’t do that unless one of these companies helps me out. All I need from you is a little help drawing a crowd!
I need your help to make this happen!
Here’s the mission and it’s a very simple one: Get a friend or two to subscribe to High Orbit
All they need is [tag]iTunes[/tag] or [tag]Juice[/tag] or any other [tag]podcatcher[/tag] program. If they’ve got a [tag]Palm[/tag] or [tag]Windows Mobile[/tag] gadget, there are ways to subscribe there as well. Just point ‘em at this page:
Want to buy the new [tag]Matthew Ebel[/tag] album, but don’t want to trust your credit card information to the internets? Good news! We take cash!
If you’ve got a local [tag]CD[/tag] store (the ones that used to be called record stores), you can get [tag]Beer & Coffee[/tag] by simply ordering it from the clerk behind the counter. This doesn’t mean you’ll find copies on the shelves just yet, but if you want to support your local retailer or don’t want to order through your computer, you’ve got a new option that’s pretty much worldwide!
(Of course, you can still order Beer & Coffee via [tag]iTunes[/tag] or from the Store page.)
[tags]music[/tags]
That’s right, [tag]Beer & Coffee[/tag] is still brewed with the same recipe as always, only now it’s been fortified with 100% pure [tag]iTunes[/tag]. What once had to be purchased as a round piece of plastic can now be downloaded from the world’s most popular download store.
All 10 album tracks are available for $9.99, and you will actually own them, thanks to iTunes.
[tags]music, Apple[/tags]
Thanks to the innovators at the [tag]Podsafe Music Network[/tag], you can now buy any or all of my [tag]podsafe[/tag] singles for a mere 99 cents a track!
Sorry, the whole album still hasn’t made it through the slow, slow process at [tag]iTunes[/tag] or most other music services, but if you’ve heard a song like “[tag]Drive Away[/tag]” or “[tag]Trees[/tag]” and want to buy it for your own [tag]music[/tag] collection, you can get it through the [tag]PMN[/tag] here:
