The 20 things you should know about music online

I was recently in a Panel on a music industry event here in Birmingham. The topic was ' Is this the best time ever to be in the music industry? '. Of course, there was some debate. My brief was to come up with some simple tips to cope-and thrive--in the music industry in these ' best times '. So I drew up a list of bullets to discuss.

I originally aimed at a top 10 list--but more things than to understand if you want to make any progress with music company online. I made a top 20.

In no particular order (but numbered so you know where you're up to):

1. don't believe hype: Sandi Thom, Arctic Monkeys and Lily Allen has not super famous, rich and successful because of MySpace, nor because they drew a crowd of thousands miraculously for their homemade webcast. PR, traditional media, record labels and money was all parties involved.

2. Consult/like/purchases: It is the golden rule. People hear music, so they like music, so they buy music.It is the only order, it can happen in. If you are trying to do it on any other sequence, it just doesn't work.

3. the opinion Leaders rule: we know the importance of radio and the press. There are now new opinion leaders who want to tell your story with credibility.You must find out who they are--or better yet, become one of them.

4. Customize: A tailor-made solution to at best, or at least a tailor-made kitset approach to your Web presence is crucial.An off-the-shelf number will almost guarantee your anonymity.

5. the Long Tail: Chris Anderson has pretty much proved that the future of retail selling less of more. Bring everything online.Expand your catalog. you want to make more money selling a large number of niche products than you want to sell a few hits.

6. Web 2.0: don't forget to become a destination--becomes an environment. Let your customers brand and sort your catalog. Open up for user-generated content. Your site is not a brochure – it is a place where people gather and connect with you and with each other.

7. connect: Learn how to tell a story, and learn how you can see it in an appropriate manner to Web communications. Consider how that could be translated into both new media and mainstream PR outlets.

8. Cross-promotion: your online thing is not a replacement for your offline stuff, and also does not exist it independently of the. figure out how to do the two truly intersect.

9. fewer clicks: This is especially true if you want any part with their money. If I have to fill out a form, navigate through three layers of the menu and then enter a password, I would not want the music more.

10. Professionalism: Have a proper domain. MySpace is not your homepage. Learn to spell.Use high quality photography. Get a Web designer who understand design--not just the code.

11. Death of scarcity: find out that the economy of the Internet is fundamentally different to the economy in the world of shelves and limited inventory.Know that you could give away 2 million copies of your entry in order to sell a thousand.

12. Distributed identity: From a PR perspective, you are better off scattering yourself all over the Internet, rather than staying put in one place. memberships, profiles, comments, and networks are incredibly useful.

13. SEO: you must understand how Search Engine optimization works and how you can maximize your chances of being found.Be both easier to find--and searchable.

14. Authorization: This is very basic things. do not spam.Let people opt-in makes the information you send them relevant, useful and welcome.Long lists of dates and events are impersonal and desire to work. personalised messages seems far more important.

15. RSS: Allows it, use it and learn it. relying on people to come back to visit your site is ultimately soul destroying.So they always becomes more content all the time. RSS is single most important aspect of your site.Treat it as such-but remember this is still new to most people. help for your audience to come to grips with it.

16. Availability: not everyone has a fast computer or highspeed. Not all have the gift of sight. Make everything you do online available.Make your site XHTML compatible. It is easy to do, it is important, and it keeps you from what people away at the door.You would have a shop without access to a wheelchair, would you?

17. Reward & promotion: all is now access to all of the time.Give people a reason to consider you as a part of their economic engagement with music. A 30-second streaming sample is worse than useless.

18. Frequency is everything: Publish daily. There is nothing sadder than a brownfield site or a voided forum. search engines prioritize active sites; you want people to come back? Give them something to return to that they have not seen before.

19. make it viral: whatever you do, make it something that people want to send to other people. your best marketing is word of mouth, because online, Word of mouth is exponentially more powerful.

20. Forget product-seller relationship: the old model of the music business is dominated by the sale of an individual artefact for a given sum of money is still completely. iTunes old school; the new model is about to start an ongoing economic relations with a community of fans.

And a bonus:

21. Chart is a mug game: not only is the top 40 singles chart entirely meaningless, it even has stopped working as a promotional tool. Not strive for the chart--strive for a sustainable career.

And this is what I came up with. I could dedicate time to deepen the majority of them during my presentation, and so I have gone into more detail on each of these points one at a time, in order to explain each of these basic principles in greater depth on new music Strategies website.

Andrew Dubber is an associate professor of music Industries on UCE Birmingham, and consultant in online music strategies. His blog, new music Strategies (http://newmusicstrategies.com) explains the most important issues for independent music companies dealing with the changing commercial and technological environment; you can also download the free e-book the 20 things you should know about Music Online, which explains each point in much greater depth and with examples.