5 Steps to a Successful Audition

In this article, I want to shed some light on what an audition process looks like from the point of view of the "auditioner" rather than the "auditionee.” I'll give you five tips that will hopefully help you prepare better for upcoming auditions.

1. Audition only when you feel that you have a good chance of passing

Often musicians apply for a job they are not qualified for. Now, you could argue that that's what auditions are for, and people couldn't possibly know in every case whether they are qualified or not. I agree, all I'm saying is that if the job description mentions that strong sight-reading skills are required for example, musicians should ask themselves how good their sight-reading skills really are and be honest about it. Being dishonest about what your skills really are can hurt you in more ways than one. Let's assume for a minute that you slip through the cracks and you end up in an orchestra but you can't cut the gig. First and foremost, you'll be humiliated in front of other musicians, you'll feel uncomfortable, you may actually feel guilty for not being able to do the job, and you will get fired on top of it, which will most likely kill your career before it has begun. (This happens all too often...) So if you are unsure about whether you are qualified or not, ask questions. Call the agency you are about to audition for and ask specific questions that will help you get a good picture of the job you're about to apply for. With that knowledge you can always postpone the audition and work on the skills that you may feel you're lacking.

2. Be flexible enough to present what's actually needed

Let's assume that you got all the details on the job description and you realize that you don't exactly fit that description. It is probably wiser for you to take some time to try to fit the description, rather than trying anyway, hoping it'll pass somehow. Try to make changes to your line-up, add some repertoire or start a completely new project that’s geared toward the job in question. You want to avoid getting turned down, otherwise it may be hard or impossible to establish credibility with the company you’ve auditioned for, which in turn can ruin your chances for a future career.  

3. Get the details on the job description

This is one of the most important steps. If you know exactly what it is that the employer is looking for, you won't waste time, money, and energy presenting the wrong package. There is no point in submitting a CD/DVD of your local blues band if the employer is looking for a cover band that plays all kinds of musical styles. Similarly, there is no point in applying as a clarinet player if the job description clearly indicates that woodwind players have to play saxophone, flute and clarinet.  Also, if sight-reading is the main focus of the job you're applying for, there is no point in hoping you'll slip by simply because you can improvise like Art Tatum.

4. Put some time and effort into preparing your best possible package

This applies to bands, small ensembles, and solo entertainers. Often artists get turned down, not because they are bad entertainers, but because they didn't supply a package that's appealing, that can be viewed quickly and that presents exactly what was asked for in the beginning. Often this happens because the artist already has some demo laying around that could kind of qualify but not really, and instead of modifying it or recording a new one that fits the specifications, they send it in anyway. Usually, demo packages include the recording itself, which should present the exact repertoire you're planning to play on the gig, a short resume of each member, and a list of your repertoire. You won't impress people with fancy DVD animations or 12-page resumes, but rather with short examples of the repertoire that's asked of you, played with energy and skill.

5. Try to impress with your playing, not with your resume  

I would say 7 people out of 10 probably fall under this category. Simply put, a masters degree from the best school in the country won't get you a gig if you can't play, yet all too often do people try to sway the decision in their favor by mailing in overly long resumes stating all the famous people they've played with. You're doing yourself a disservice if you hype yourself up with your resume and you can't back it up later during the audition.  

James Lazzeroni is recognized internationally as a remarkable force in contemporary solo piano music. James' original solo piano music, which have featured prominently in TV and film, resonates with listeners in over 60 countries around the world. Over his career, he has garnered numerous accolades and an astonishing millions of streams on Pandora, Apple Music and Spotify. His musical portfolio consists of over 15 solo piano works. James Lazzeroni is proud to be a member of SoloPiano.com.

Digital Music

Just about every artist and label is releasing music in some digital form these days. That's a no-brainer, and I see no reason not to release any new project digitally -- as bits. There's lots of upside and no discernable downside.

But many clients are asking themselves if they also need to release in one of the traditional physical formats such as CD or LP -- in other words, as atoms.

Such a decision has to be based on the many disparate aspects of a business and will be different in each instance. It all depends on an artist's or label's circumstances.

Why wouldn't one want to release a CD? Well first there are all the costs -- designing the packaging, plus the printing of tray cards, booklets or folders or other special packaging such as Digipaks, the pressing of CDs, the assembling of all the materials, and finally the expense of shrink-wrapping. It also means the necessity of keeping track of inventories and accounts receivable.

Next there's the matter of attracting the attention of a distributor willing and able to get a reasonable quantity of CDs into the marketplace. Most established distributors -- even those that specialize in indie labels -- won't take on a new account unless they can be guaranteed about a million dollars worth of business. That's a lot of money and an unlikely circumstance, particularly to a new and unestablished artist or label.

So if you're an unknown or a start-up, you may have to consider going it alone. And that's not an easy task. It means that that you'll have to make deals directly with retailers willing to stock your music, plus you'll also be on the hook for the costs of manufacturing and shipping, not to mention returns.

Yet I've known of artists and labels who've started out on their own in a small way, but with lots of drive, stamina, and stick-to-itiveness, found themselves eventually succeeding. A substantial part of such a winning formula is that you be extremely proactive.

This means that if you're a musician serious about your music and your career, or if you're committed to the eventual success of your label, you must see that your artists are constantly performing in front of audiences, thereby building fans and a constituency. Such artists are also not ashamed to sell CDs, T-shirts, and other related paraphernalia at all their performances, and it can become a substantial part of their income.

You've also got to make lots of sales calls to accounts. In addition -- and this applies also to those who only release digitally -- you'll have to work all possible avenues of publicity -- be it local newspapers, fanzines, or national magazines and syndicated news programs. You must also try to get your music played on as many appropriate radio stations as possible. Then there's the matter of trying to get your music used on televisions shows, feature films, and even commercials. This may be the hardest task of all, but it can mean the quickest way of getting your music known, and paid for!

And don't neglect your website which is a great way to sell digital downloads, CDs, and other merchandise.

Article by James Lazzeroni

Composer of solo piano music

Official Website

How To Make a Living with Music

I would like to share my personal experience and advice on how to make a living with music, with the hope that it can be helpful to independent musicians and bands.

I composed solo piano music simply because I loved doing it. I started composing music for piano, and the only reason I recorded my first piano album was because it seemed like the obvious thing to do. I had written some songs, and so what else is there to do with them, but record? So saved up some money and I recorded my first album.

I didn't record the album because I hoped to sell a million copies... I did it just to have a permanent record of my solo piano work, and I figured I could share it with folks I knew and maybe sell a few copies.

At that point, I kept playing the very occasional show, I played in public maybe only 5-6 times a year.
But I kept selling music and I saved the contact info for everyone I sold an album to. When I released my others solo piano albums, I informed all the folks that bought the first one, and most of them bought my second. So that's how I started.

At the same time, I started promoting my solo piano music on the Internet, and that opened me up to a whole new audience. I kept composing and recording, and kept promoting my solo piano music on the web.
In 2018 I released my complete collection The Best of Solo Piano album.
In 2024 I released my new album EP Top Piano Hits by James Lazzeroni (if you'd like, you can take a listen on Spotify).
It took years and years to get there.
No one helped me.
I built my own fan base. 

So yes, you can make a living doing music.... providing that your music is music people want. That's one of the key things you must have that you can't get around. Your music must be music that people fall in love with - music they want to own - music they want to invest in.

Now you might be saying.... "James, tell me all your secrets to making money with music!" Well, there aren't secrets. 
Living the dream. Doing music full time.
Promoting music online is an ongoing life process.
In my life and business as a solo piano artist, I have come to realize that whether or not you make it artistically depends on your ability to outlast and out persist almost everyone else.

Begin at the beginning.
Just make a professional artist website to present your music. Next, get your music on all digital stores for purchase and streaming such as Spotify, Amazon, Apple Music, Pandora Music, YouTube. Then use the social network for promoting your compositions.

The internet has changed the face of the music business. That what you do on the internet today may very well determine how successful you are in the future.
It's a long process, but worth it.
Don't stop. Don't give up.
You can do it.

SoundExchange

SoundExchange is an organization that administers royalties from the music played internationally on satellite radio, streaming digital music services, internet radio such as Pandora and satellite television services.

As an independent musician, you are more likely to earn royalties via SoundExchange than you would via Performing Rights Organization.

If you're doing you job promoting your music via internet radio, there is great potential for you to earn some very nice royalti checks from SoundExchange.
Find more information at https://www.soundexchange.com

Bandname.com

Established since 1997, Bandname.com (https://www.bandname.com) is the music industry standard for registration of band names.

This worldwide band name registry is basically a place to register your band name to ensure no one else is using it. In addition, you'll find a great selection of music articles, and a well organized link page to other valuable resources.

Jonathan Coulton: Thing a Week

Growing up in rural Connecticut, the son of a lawyer and a schoolteacher, Jonathan Coulton, called "Joco" by fans, in September 2005, he quit his job as a writer software and became a full-time singer and composer.

He set a goal for himself: he would write and record a song every friday for a year in a project called Thing a Week, posting each one to his website https://www.jonathancoulton.com.
His project had attracted a sizable audience. More than 3,000 people were visiting his website every day, and his most popular songs were being downloaded as many as 500,000 times.

This might get you excited about the possibilities of marketing your music online using a blog or a website.
This articles shows how tenacity can really pay off. To develop a regular readership, you have to deliver something on a regular basis, something that your targeted audience will keep coming back for. The key to marketing anything online is consistency and tenacity.

Videos Distribution

YouTube isn't the only place you can post your musical videos.

There are some of other video-based websites where you can place, distribute and promote your videos.

Vimeo: https://vimeo.com

Dailymotion: https://www.dailymotion.com

The John Lennon Songwriting Contest

In honor of John Lennon,The John Lennon Songwriting Contest is an international songwriting contest that began in 1997 to give songwriters an opportunity to express themselves, gain recognition, and get their music heard. The JLSC is made possible by Yoko Ono Lennon.

12 Categories - Rock, Pop, Hip-Hop, Country, Jazz, R&B, Children's, Folk, World, Latin, Electronic and Gospel/Inspirational.

For more information about the John Lennon Songwriting Contest, Visit https://www.jlsc.com/ or send an email at info@jlsc.com

Google Alert: A Great Way with Your Fans

Google Alert is a free service, a great way to build relationships with your fans. Google offers a tool for monitoring who is talking about you.

On https://www.google.com/alerts, enter the search term you want to monitor along with your email address, and Google Alert will send you an email with a listing of websites making reference to your selected search terms.

I monitor my own name James Lazzeroni; whenever someone mentions my name, I get notified. When my fans post blogs about my piano music, or a video of them playing my solo piano compositions on YouTube, I get an alert about it. It's common for pianists to post videos of themselves playing my music on YouTube. When they do, I get a notice from Google Alert, I can watch the video and write them a comment to pat them on the back for their work.

Google Alert is a great way to monitor when people mention you, your blog or website, keyword and keyword phrase you want to track. Once you receive the alert, you have an opportunity to jump into the conversation and post your own comments on the topic.

How to Promote Your Music

How to promote your music, here are some promotion ideas for you....

• Tell your friends about your music.

• On X, Facebook or Instagram? Recommend your music to your friends!

• Write a blog about your music and talk it up. Post your thoughts on your music in any groups, forums or chat rooms (like Facebook, X, Instagram) you regularly participate in. Be sure to include a link back to your website.

• Watch and recommend some your videos on YouTube, and then email your favorites to friends.

• Help encourage others on iTunes and Amazon who find your music to take the plunge and purchase it!

James Lazzeroni, solo piano artist
Official Website

5 Tips About Making Your Music Videos on YouTube

If you want to dig deeper into making videos on YouTube, here there are 5 tips about making your music videos on YouTube.

How to Make Your Music Videos....

• Talking to an audience on YouTube is like talking to a live person, and when you're talking to people, eye contact is key.

• Make videos that range anywhere from 15 seconds - a short video - to a maximum of two to three minutes.

• Be funny, be interesting to watch.

• Watch the lighting. Without artificial lighting, videos shot inside tend to appear dark.

• Know what you're going to say before you say it. Some improvisation might be fine if you're gifted at it, but even so, write a script.

If you'd like, you can take a look at my official artist channel on YouTube

James Lazzeroni, solo piano artist
Pianist and piano composer
Official Website

7 Golden Rules for Sending Successful Newsletters to Your Fans and Promoting Your Music

Whenever someone subscribers to your newsletter, you should be sending them some kind of email to confirm their subscription and to thank them for subscribing.

How to sending successful newsletters to your fans and promoting your music....

1. People are busy, so get to your biggest news first, so that if the reader only reads the top third of your newsletter, they'll see it.
2. Don't annoy your subscribers. Send your newsletter to once a month.
3. On both your newsletter sign up page and your subscription confirmation email, inform your fan what your newsletter from email address will be. That way your newsletter will always get through.
4. The subject line of your email has incredible influence over whether your recipient actually opens and reads your newsletter. For example, if you're sending out an email to announce a new album release, put the basic event information in your newsletter subject line: "James Lazzeroni's New Solo Piano Album JUST Released!".
5. Make each newsletter interesting and new. Don't send out a newsletter unless you have something newsworthy to share.
6. State that you never add anyone to your mailing list unless they specifically signed up for it, and then give your reader a link to opt out of future emails, and unsubscribe if they so desire.
7. Keep it short. Don't overwhelm your reader with too much information.

James Lazzeroni, solo piano artist
Pianist and piano composer
Official Website

How to add Apple Music to a Website

For add an Apple Music player to your website, click any playlist, album, song or artist and select "Share".

Then click on "Copy Embed Code" and paste that code in HTML into a web page to your website where you want the Apple Music player to appear.

If you want that the Apple Music player to appear on the center to the page to your website, before pasting the code, in HTML write the following piece of code:
<center>

Below there is an example of embed code from my album The Best of Solo Piano on how to add Apple Music player to your website:

<center><iframe allow="autoplay *; encrypted-media *; fullscreen *; clipboard-write" frameborder="0" height="450" style="width:100%;max-width:660px;overflow:hidden;border-radius:10px;" sandbox="allow-forms allow-popups allow-same-origin allow-scripts allow-storage-access-by-user-activation allow-top-navigation-by-user-activation" src="https://embed.music.apple.com/us/album/the-best-of-solo-piano/1406719564"></iframe>

Below you can see how the Apple Music player to appear after pasting the embed code into HTML.

James Lazzeroni, solo piano artist
Official Website

Getting Royalties with BMI and ASCAP

If you reside in U.S. you probably already know BMI and ASCAP, two performing rights organizations that monitor royalties due artists of their compositions in the United States.

If you're an up-and-coming artist, band or songwriter, you will likely need to between BMI or ASCAP. You'll find artists arguing for and against both BMI and ASCAP for a variety of reasons. When it comes to you choosing for yourself, just read up on both services and go with your gut.

About BMI and ASCAP

BMI at https://www.bmi.com is a corporation and is owned by broadcasters.
ASCAP at https://www.ascap.com is the largest of the performing rights organizations (PRO) and is owned by songwriters and composers.

BMI and ASCAP use different methods but it basically comes down to a combination of sample surveys from play logs and cue shets provided by broadcasts and stations.
For example if your music is used by a company, and that use is reported to the BMI or ASCAP, then you'll get your royalty.


James Lazzeroni, solo piano artist
Official Website

Last.fm Internet Radio

Last.fm is an internet radio.

At https://www.last.fm you can upload your music. You can even set up your own artist page on Last.fm so that listeners can find out more about you.

If you like, take a look of my artist page on Last.fm.

Your musical tastes actually impact what songs are recommended to other Last.fm listeners who share your musical tastes.

Last.fm provides independent musicians the option of advertising on their network.
On Last.fm fans can share music and playlists with each other like a social network, so your music can actually go viral on Last.fm.

Last.fm can be accessed from over 200 countries, so it's well worth signing up.


James Lazzeroni, solo piano artist
Official Website

The Best Music Affiliate Programs

The music affiliate programs are when you sell a third party product direct from your website.

How to Music Affiliate Programs Work

Music affiliate programs work on a commission basis.
You get paid a percentage of any product sales generated from your website. There are many product possibilities for music related websites; for example sheet music, t-shirts, piano lessons, book about how to play piano.

Between the best music affiliate programs there is Amazon.
At https://affiliate-program.amazon.com you can find all info.
Amazon sells virtually everything and will pay you up to 15% on any item sold via a link from your website.

You need to consider your target market.
So, in order to have success marketing an affiliate product, you've got to offer something your website visitors are likely to want.


James Lazzeroni, solo piano artist
Official Website

How to Write a Good Description to Your Website

Write a good description of your website is very important for search engines.

The description of your website must contain some keywords that can favor the indexing of your website on search engines.

For example, in my case, being a solo piano artist, in the description of my official website I wrote:
Official website of solo piano artist James Lazzeroni. Pianist and piano composer

As you can see, the description of my website contains a summary of what I am, but above all it contains some powerful keywords such solo piano artist, pianist, piano composer.

Free Web Counters

If you're doing a lot of traffic on your website, a free web counter might help you solicit advertising from your visitors.

Any quality web host will be able to provide you with a stats management program you can use to view detailed traffic statistics for your website.

You can browse through a number of free options at https://www.free-counters.org

If your web host service does not offer a stats service you like, GoStats offers a free web counter for your website. At http://gostats.com you can copy and paste the code they provide into your web pages you want to track.
This free service will give you access to some great information, for example you'll be able to see what pages on your site are most popular, what keywords your visitors are using to find you, where your visitors are coming from.


James Lazzeroni, solo piano artist
Official Website

How to Add Spotify to a Website

For integrate a Spotify player to your website, from desktop right-click any playlist, album, song or artist and select Share.

Then click on Copy Embed Code and paste that code in HTML into a web page to your website where you want the Spotify player to appear.

If you want that the Spotify player to appear on the center to the page to your website, before pasting the code, in HTML write the following piece of code:
<center>

Below there is an example of embed code from my album The Best of Solo Piano on how to add Spotify to your website:

<center><iframe allow="encrypted-media" allowtransparency="true" frameborder="0" height="580" src="https://open.spotify.com/embed/album/6uCKEFL3TfrQUTJSt3HGlP" width="350"></iframe>

Below you can see how the Spotify player to appear after pasting the embed code into HTML.

James Lazzeroni, solo piano artist
Official Website

Every time you write a blog, it's like writing a new article on your topic of choice and putting it out there for the world to discover.

You can write commentaries about the release of the new albums, comment about artists, find a way to tie those commentaries into your music. You can use the blog to direct people to your music page, Spotify artist profile, website.

The Best 5 Ways to a Blog Well Done

1. Write About Your Personal Experiences about your last concert. Who inspires you? Write it. Have a next music project? Write it.
2. People love lists, so create lists. 10 ways the music industry can do for the musicians. 20 perfect songs for your playlist on Spotify.
3. New Music Technologies. The most popular blogs dwell on the topic.
4. Write Reviews about music, artists, YouTube videos, Albums.
5. Interview Artists via email. Find someone artist who has a good audience and interview. Your interviewee will likely promote the interview to his fans, bringing your blog new readers.

James Lazzeroni, solo piano artist
Pianist and piano composer
Official Website

Meta Tag Tips

Here are a few more tips for creating keyword meta tags.

• Some search engines consider capitalized and lower case words to be two different words. If you think a keyword is likely to be typed both ways during a search, you might include both variants in your meta tags. For example, "Piano" and "piano".

• If one of your keywords has a common misspelling as a variant, use it. Do people commonly misspell your name? "James Lazzeroni" or "James Lazzaroni"? Do you see the variant? Chances are, both are searched for.

• Add the letter "s" to the end of every word where appropriate. For example, if you use the phrase "piano article", change that to "piano articles". 

For meta tag tips, be inspired on my official artist website.

Optimizing a Website for Search Engines

I want to summarize some general things you can do to help search engine spiders crawl your website for optimizing.

• Use text links throughout your website and link often between important pages

• Keep your descriptive text high in the page

• Create a page that links to all of the major pages within your website. And link to this page from your Home Page.

For optimizing your website, If you'd like, you can take a look on my artist website.

Website Relevancy - Keywords

An important factor a search engine uses to determine how to position your website in its listings is the relevancy.

After the page title has been established, search engines tend to sort pages based on the density of keywords or key phrases within a website and a page. The resulting calculation is translated into a relevancy rating, which determines how relevant your website is to a particular phrase searched for.
Search engines tend to give more importance to text that appears high in that page, in the first paragraph.

How to Improve your Website Relevancy

To improve your revelancy for a set of keywords, include as many of keywords in the opening paragraph description your website.
If you'd like, you can take a look of page title on my artist website.

Another way to improve your relevancy is to keep your web pages relatively short. The longer your page goes on and on with endless words, the less each of your keywords will stand out because the more text you have, the less relevancy each key phrase becomes for that page.

Selling Digital Music Downloads

You are wondering how you can sell digital downloads of your music, rather than just having people listen to them in your music prayer.

You'll be happy to know there are some nifty ways to combine a Flash music player with a shopping cart system for just this purpose.
Your visitors can preview your music in a flash player, and then purchase your music directly from the player if they desire to.

How to Selling Digital Music Downloads

Once you are doing $100 a month total in product sales such as CDs, DVDs, concert tickets, take a look a CCNow.com.
Once you sign up with them and add your products to their database, CCNow gives you HTML code to link your website directly into their shopping cart system.

Once great thing about CCNow is that when the transaction is complete, your customer is returned to your website. Also, in terms of dependability and reliability, CCNow is a well-established business which has been on the internet for years.

James Lazzeroni, solo piano artist

Official Website

Wimpy MP3 Player

I would like to discuss what should be one of your highest priorities as an online music promoter creating a means by which your website visitor can sample music from your website thanks to Wimpy MP3 Player (https://www.wimpyplayer.com).

There are several reasons I prefer the Wimpy MP3 Player over the others. First, the music loads quickly. Secondly, you can customize the design to your liking.

The only downside of the Wimpy Player option is that it does take a little technical know-how to get up and running. You do need to read and follow instructions to make it work properly, and if you're not familiar at all with HTML, you might find the process of setting it up a bit intimidating.

If you're not familiar with HTML, you could add the Spotify Player to your website like I added on my website in the Listen page.

Targeting by Website

I want to introduce you to a marketing technique called Targeting by Website. For the purpose of targeting new customers, targeting by website can be really, really effective.

The idea behind targeting by site is that you figure out what topic your potential listeners or fans is looking for on the internet, and build a website around that subject. A general topic website specifically designed to appeal to the people who are most likely to be interested in your style of music.

The more topic related content you have on your that new website, the more pages you can populate the search engines with. And on each page of that website, you can promote your music adding to a link to your albums, a link with more details, and a... BUY link like this on my official blog and website.

How to Targeting New Customers

When you're ready to begin targeting new customers, you can do your own self-promotion. Find forums, chat rooms and discussion groups where your target audience is likely to hang out.

When people post comments on a topic that is in your target, respond and get involved in the discussion. Every time you post a message to someone, use a specific signature like this:

James Lazzeroni
Solo Piano Artist & Composer
Official website & blog: https://jamespianomusic.blogspot.com

Reviews from listeners to James' piano music:
https://jamespianomusic.blogspot.com/p/testimonials-from-listeners.html?m=1

Founder of The Music Biz Piano Academy: https://themusicbizacademy.blogspot.com

Free Gifts for You!
Subscribe to James' Newsletter:
https://jamespianomusic.blogspot.com/p/join-james-e-list.html?m=1

You don't even have to blatantly promote your music when posting a post. You shouldn't do that as people will dismiss you as an... opportunist.
Join in discussions, answer questions.
If you post messages frequently, people reading your messages will be curious about you and your music, and will check out your artist pages and your website.
People might ask you questions about your music, and you'll make new fans.

How to Targeting Your Customers

If you are a performing artist, you have one advantage over artists that don't regularly perform.

You have captive audience to promote your music and website to every time you play. Here are a few suggestions for promoting your website at your shows.

The Best 5 Tips for Targeting Your Customers to the Max

1. Pass out business cards that contain your contact information and website address. On your business cards include a one-line catch-phrase about your act that sums it all up.
2. Rubber stamp the hands of all concert attendees with your website address as they enter the venue.
3. Are you ever at a loss for words when doing a sound check? Make good use of that moment and integrate your website address into your sound check.
4. Got an iPhone? Remind the crowd that they can purchase your music on iTunes RIGHT NOW using their iPhone.
5. Announce the availability of sheet music available for purchase and FREE download from your website.

How to Tag Images on Your Website

If you make use of images on your website, you can use those to create more text thanks to tag for the search engine spider to feed on, by taking advantage of the ALT command for your images.

Here's an example of a standard HTML tag images from my website in The Best of Solo Piano page:

<IMG SRC="the-best-of-solo-piano.jpeg"
HEIGHT=142 WIDTH=171>

Now, here's an example that employs the ALT command:

<IMG SRC="the-best-of-solo-piano.jpeg"
ALT= "The Best of Solo Piano by James Lazzeroni"
HEIGHT=142 WIDTH=171>

The addition of the ALT command creates a text description for your images. To see this effect on any web page, move your mouse pointer over the images and if you see a text area float over the images, you know the ALT command is in use.
A few search engines will read that ALT information as it gathers information about your website.

How to Increase Traffic to Your Artist Website

The most powerful tool you have to increase traffic to your artist website via the search engines for find your music is your web page title.

The page title which appears in the top bar of your web browser, is also the text that displays in the search engine results. It's the text the searcher will see and click on to go directly from the search results page to your artist website home page.

Web Page Title Artist Website

Your web page title artist website has more influence over your search engine listing than any other single aspect of your artist website. Therefore, placing your page title very carefully. Word the title of your main your home page in such a way that you make use of your most powerful keywords and phrases so that search engines find your exact match. At the same time, keep in mind people are reading your page title and using that to determine whether or not your link is worth the effort of clicking on.

If you'd like, you can take a look of page title on my artist website.

I need to emphasize that your page title will be of absolutely no benefit to you if it doesn't reflect your actual web page content. The spider is looking at more that just your page title, it's examining the whole of your page content. So whatever keywords you use in your page title on your artist website, those same topics, should be addressed within that page.

Planning Your Artist Website

As you begin formulating a plan for the overall layout of your personal artist website, try thinking of your site as an online press kit.

Your personal web pages should contain the following:

• Your name and contact information

• A band or artist photo or photo gallery

• A band or artist biography

• Product information (CDs, T-Shirts, posters, whatever)

• CD details (album background, free sound files)

• Your upcoming concert schedule

• Reviews, customer testimonials

• The latest news about your career

If you'd like, you can take a look at my official artist website.

These are the things your artist website should have at a very minimum, and these items ought to be easy for your website visitors to find. If you hand your business card to a club manager who might want to book you and they look to your website for information, they ought to be able to find that information quickly and easily. They will also need to be able to contact you directly from your website.

Keep all this in mind as you plan your website layout. However, as you will soon see, there is more to maximizing your website for music promotion than just creating a personal web page from which to sell your music. Your online press kit will be just one very small part of your growing Internet presence.

How to Prepare a Website for Music Business

In this article I'll talk about how to prepare a website for your Music Business.

First of all, there is a golden rule to marketing any product on the internet: limit your visitors' options.

When someone visit your website for the first time, they have no idea what to expect.
So, when designing the layout of your website, set it up in such a way as to draw your visitor gradually to your Order Page. So, keep the links to your power pages such as "order", "albums", "listen", "sheet music", "purchase" front and center all times.
They are the pages that make up the absolute core of your website and the pages represent a "call to action".
If you'd like, you can take a look at my official artist website.

As you prepare your website for music business, include links to your power pages at the top of every page you build and make them stand out. In your Home Page make the links to your power pages central to that.
Finally, no matter where you go on my website, you'll see the same link options at the top of every page that either return you to the home page, or move you on to one of my power pages.

How to Increase Sales from Your Website

The best way to increase sales from your website is to turn your one-time visitors into long-term customers.

Repeat customers, repeat business is an important, very important necessity. If the fans are coming to your website often, you know they are into you.
The moment your visitor comes to your website they will start making judgments about you.

If you are like me, a simple independent musician who needs his fan base, getting downright friendly with your fans can make a real impact on your sales from your website.
Get friendly with your fans and they will carry your music to other people and friends. That's helpful because when Holiday season comes around, you'll use your newsletter to encourage them to purchase your music.
Tell your visitor that if they order your album on your website right now, they'll receive something else, a bonus item for FREE.

There are certain marketing buzz words that draw attention to themselves. One of those is the word FREE. Free Downloads, Free Articles, Free Sheet Music. People like free stuff.
So, if you want to sell your music, incorporate this word into your website.

Promote Your Music - Best Of Album

When you promote your music, if there is one thing I've noticed in my marketing experiments over the years, it is the effectiveness of the term Best Of.

It encouraged me to create an actual The Best of album called The Best of Solo Piano by James Lazzeroni.
Well, to this day, this is my best selling album, not only in streaming on Spotify and Pandora Music, but also on Amazon and iTunes.

Why is having a Best Of album important?
While folks might like the music they hear on your website enough to keep on listening, they may not be convinced to purchase your music. But if you offer a Best Of album of your best songs, that might just be enough to encourage them to go ahead and buy it.
Best Of albums give your visitors one more reason to try your music and pay for it.
Purchasing an album containing your best music will definitely motivate some folks to take the plunge and buy your music.

One of the great things about creating a best of album is that it costs very little to do so. The music has already been recorded so there's no new studio time to pay for.

How to Write a Music Press Release

If you want write a music press release about your brand new album, ask yourself Who cares?.

The answer to the question is a good test to determine whether your news item is worthy of widespread distribution.

When I released my new album Top Piano Hits by James Lazzeroni, who cares? My fans do, so the news release would be sent to them, as well as those who have subscribed to my personal newsletter.

So the music press release would be sent to any internet newsgroup or discussion group where piano music is a topic interest. So, are you working on a project worthy of widespread recognition?

The Best 3 Places to sending your Music Press Release

Mi2n is the first place to go to find out what's going on right now in the music industry, and you can submit your news release for free.

Press Release Wire is a music press release service designed specifically for musicians that I've consistently heard good things about.

Rapid Press Release sends your music new release to producers, music groups, labels and journalists.

When you write your artist bio, you are writing a music business document. Your bio then is written for the music business contacts you want to impress, deal with, and create lasting relationships with.

Before you begin to write your bio, be sure you have taken an inventory of your background, accomplishments, goals, and objectives as a musician. When you are ready to write your Bio using this outline can keep you focused and organized.

How to Write an Artist Bio

So, let's get going. Follow these directions and you will have the tools to write your own bio, and essential part of any Press Kit, analog or digital.

1st Paragraph:

Start with an introductory sentence that clearly defines the essential artist name, your specific genre of music, where you are from, and perhaps a positive quote about your music from a contact you have made in the music business.

2nd Paragraph:

This section should address the immediate purpose of the Bio. If a new CD or digital release is coming out, that should be the main topic of the first sentence of the second paragraph. In other word, a reason why the Bio has been written should be clearly stated early on.

3rd Paragraph:

If you have developed a plan for your career path, additional paragraphs elaborating on this type of can be written, that demonstrate how your current project is part of a larger career development plan. Quotes from a couple of your songs can be useful to highlight your new release.

The Best Places to Promote, Sell and Distribute your Piano Music on the Internet

In this article we'll give you our recommendations for what we consider to be the best places to promote, sell and distribute your piano music online. These are the web stores you'll want to attach yourself to and create a presence for promote, sell and distribute your piano music online. Your task, as you promote your piano music online world at large, is to use the next places of exposure to attract visitors to your piano music online.

The Best 5 Places to Promote, Sell and Distribute your piano music online

1) iTunes. In terms of digital music distribution, iTunes is the first place to sell and promote your piano music.

2) Spotify. In terms of streaming, Spotify is the first place to sell and promote your piano music.

3) YouTube. YouTube is by far the most popular destination on the internet for watching video. As far as your piano music goes, YouTube can be a gold mine for creating new fans.

4) Amazon. Amazon is by far the internet's biggest and most popular all-around store. They provide a music distribution outlet for independent musicians.

5) Pandora Music. As an independent artist, you can submit your own piano music to Pandora. Pandora will begin recommending your piano music to listeners who enjoy your particular style of music.

James Lazzeroni, solo piano artist

Pianist and piano composer

Official Website