A New Revenue "Stream"

With the economy in the state that it is, fewer people are as loose with their money when it comes to entertainment as they used to be.  Not only that, but the decline in album sales in the past years and the trend in the youth pirating the music they do download, it is often hard for new artists to make ends meet.  A lot of bands have realized the old model of doing things just simply doesn't exist on a small level anymore, you can not support yourself of music sales and need to find other ways to make money.  Thanks to the Internet, there are a lot of ways for artist to share their music and promote shows, allowing them to reach more people and get "bigger faster."  However with the majority of their income coming from concerts and tours, where do they make money while in the studio or writing or doing anything besides touring?

Well a few artists have found a very interesting way to "Stream" their revenue in the downtime.  Online "Streaming" is becoming more and more popular in all fields of entertainment from music to video games.  With multiple site options available virtually anything is available for view. Dave Melillo >>>>>>>>>>>>>>
is one such artist utilizing online streaming. He does a show every monday called Melillo Monday's during the time he asks from requests from viewers, answers questions and more or less provides his community with a "live vlog" experience. Streams provide the artist with the ability to manually run ads or have the run at certain times, the amount of viewers as well as clicks on the ads that run are what makes up the income for the artist.  Depending on the amount of viewers this income can really start to add up.  There are also options to "donate" to the streamer as well as the priceless ability to plug new shows/merch and releases.  This one week show is just one way artists are making money with streaming, some bands could do studio/rehearsal streams or even concert streams,  not unlike the Ben Folds ChatRoulette Concerts. Some streamers like Steven "Destiny" Bonnell II, a professional video game player, make the majority of their income from money made streaming.  I hope we see a surge in the music industry a few months down the road as streaming begins to catch on, this is an amazing way to connect with fans while earning a little extra income.

Gold Coast Music Group and Renee Yohe!

As Gold Coast Music Group pushes forward looking to make a name for them in this industry it was apparent that focusing on small acts would only help get their name so far.  By taking the time to consider their strengths as a publicity firm and evaluate potential cliental they were able to secure new campaigns that, with the pull of the clients, will hopefully push them into that next level and help not only bring in more business, but validate them within the industry.  In the next two blog posts I will be talking about two up and coming opportunities, how they came about, and GCMG’s plans for the publicity campaigns. First we will look at the new project from “To Write Love On Her Arm’s” inspiration “Renee Yohe.”

Renee is known for her books as well as being the driving force behind a teen help program “To Write Love On Her Arms,” which is set up as a support program for troubled teens dealing with drug/alcohol abuse and suicide.  Renee is now finishing a full-length project that blends pop style vocals with folk driven rock.  The band is currently in the end stages of the project and hopes to be releasing with in the year. 

Sean from GCMG is actually very involved with the project as he not only writes for the band, but also plays guitar in the band currently.  This is the main reason for GCMG being able to pick the project up.  With the press from TWLOHA as well as a movie based one Renee being released in the near future, securing features in online publications such as Pitchfork, Daytrotter, and PureVolume will be rather simplistic.  Besides this GCMG hopes to push the album through soundcloud and as many “free” online publications for the most cost effective press.

Once interest has been made and features secured the print publications will be alerted for not necessarily “release” date interviews and features. 

Gold Coast Music Group and Dave Melillo

Besides the Renee Yohe project Gold Coast Music Group also has been able to secure a publicity campaign for former “Cute is What We Aim For” bassist Dave Melillo.  Apart from playing bass in CIWWAF Melillo is also known for fronting and writing for his acoustic project “Nocturnal Me.” NM released a new EP earlier this year, and Dave has just recently released a five song acoustic EP to help get his name back into the spot light for his upcoming Mix Tape release entitled “Thinking of You.”

Melillo came to Gold Coast Music Group with an interest in gaining press for the mix tape after seeing their work with the Iowa natives “The Anytime” and their March release “CRAVE”  GCMG was able to secure multiple high profile interviews as well as features for the band in addition to gaining them a main page feature on PureVolume which translated into over 14,000 plays within the 3 day feature.  Melillo will be releasing the entire 20-song mix tape for free and is looking for as much free publicity as possible. 

The guys over at GCMG plan on targeting college music blogs and news sites as well as blogs that focus on mix tape based submission and news.  In addition to searching for new publications and listeners, with the release of the new EP the also plan to send the mix tape to all the people talking about it as well as the places that supported Melillo’s original work in hopes of getting old listeners excited again!  Because this will be a completely free release it is important to focus energy of sites that do not charge for feature placement, as well as push hard to get any fee based publication to cut the price as a sign for good faith.  GCMG feels that the record is strong enough to stand on its own, and it is only a matter of time until it takes off!