to own the rights to her music

 Taylor Swift rereleased her Red album recently in an affort to own the rights to her music.

Taylor Swift 

Back in November of 2020 Taylor talked about a sale of her masters to a third party. This transaction occurred without her knowledge or permission. Taylor started rerecording those albums and Red is the second one.  

Red is raking in the streams.

A post on morningbrew.com was the source for this post.

dylan's nashville skyline

Bob Dylan's 9th studio album Nashville Skyline has turned 50 years old.

No one was anticipating a traditional country music album from Dylan.

"These are the types of songs that I always felt like writing when I've been alone to do so." 

The album was a different vocal style for Dylan. He created a new vocal persona to match his style of music. 

Nashville Skyline was recorded in 4 days

Here is the link to the Rolling Stone story about the album.

Nashville Skyline was a vocal change for Bob Dylan. https://t.co/nsuuN90SUo via @RollingStone The album turns 50. It opened up country rock. #savingcountrymusic #BobDylan #musichistory

— Mike Bertelsen (@mikebertelsen) April 12, 2019

jamie lin wilson

Jamie Lin Wilson lives the good life. She's thankful for her roots.

Jamie Lin Wilson, former member of The Trishas, from Sealy TX, makes her life fulfilling. https://t.co/TSThbAUTEI #savingcountrymusic #Texas #musicians

— Mike Bertelsen (@mikebertelsen) December 21, 2018

the lens of transformation

Advertising agencies are changing the scope of their business. They are seeking solutions across commerce, digital content, and media distribution. This shift has been slow. Quite frankly, they've been wrapped too tight in their own traditions. However, to their credit, they've moved with much precision.

The shift has changed the face of marketing. TV marketing is waning, giving way to social media, digital media, user experience or open source. A new wave of innovators is poised to bring their expertise to this new ecosystem.

Accenture, IBM, PwC, and Deloitte are engaged in the acquisition of agencies that have capabilities in user experiences, digital marketing, design, Web, and mobile. These organizations have services traditional agencies can't match.

Digital marketing must fit into the overall business strategy.

Jon Hamm as Don Draper in Mad Men

Client-agency relationships will be revolutionized. A new breed of ad agency will be born. This means that agencies will create websites, app, and video games. Digital initiatives for brands will be created. A variety of platforms will be created for content and production.

Newsrooms will bring a bigger power to brands. The customer experience will be transformed to deliver goods and services with the customer's journey in mind.

The customer will be a major part of a brand, acting as the salesman for the product they buy.

Creation and distribution are key. Many elements will be transformed that will give the entire spectrum of media a new meaning, a new way of doing things.

Source: forbes.com (November 2016) My 'Next-Big-Thing' List: Who Will Transform The Post-TV Ad World In 2017

Related topic: B2B and Social Media

don't lose sight

What drew you to music? For me it is a connection. I imagine it's a connection for a lot of us, to connect with other people, whether that's the musicians, audience members, and others connected to the "music thing" in general.

Music has been around for a long time. The first recovered piece of recorded music goes back to 800 BC. So music can be proven to have been with the human race during early expansions into new lands and territories. Where humans went, they brought along their music.

Music probably inspired people to explore and discover, to worship and love, to settle and conquer. 

Music is an exciting topic. For as long as it has been around, no one really understands why we love music. This topic has been studied and researched for three centuries. Researchers, scientists, and philosophers have tried to find a practical function for music. We have a variety of notions and ideas why we put music into our lives, but these are so varied that we often fail to "hit the nail on the head".

Researchers have yet to find a "music center" in the brain.

It's fascinating to contemplate and think about what the point of music actually is. It makes us feel good. It can make us feel bad. Either way, music elicits an emotional response in the listener.

Don't lose focus on the music connection. Keep the connection alive as a musician, an audience member, and a music industry associate. There comes a responsibility with the music focus. Automatically we know what that responsibility is.

Don't lose sight of what drew you to music in the first place.

value and engagement

You might be wondering what the difference is between value and engagement.

Engagement is visible social media reactions. Comments and "likes" on Facebook are examples.

Value can be entertainment and information. 
News is a subset of information and stops to be informative after a limited time.  

High level social media advice given by consultants can be summarized to:

• Provide value.
• Get and grow engagement.
• Grow your audience and increase return on investment (ROI).

We don't get to decide what value is.
Our social media plan is about the value we provide to our audience. 
But what audience? The TARGET AUDIENCE. The target audience really is the key to unlocking social media success. Value is a goal and our job is to provide a lot of value.

What is target audience and value exactly?
The target audience is who you want to reach. Say males from 25 to 34 years of age. Value is information that is useful to your target audience.

Let's say you sell diapers. You could blog how to best use your products. Or perhaps about children's toys or toy safety. Another subjects is tips on handling a busy life with a child. Let's assume that your audience already knows you sell diapers. Your not blogging about your product to give value to the audience. Blog about items that are related to your product or to the people who use your products.

What is exactly the right item to blog about?
Well, that's a challenge. We really don't know for sure. It's up to trial and error. If your blogging to a niche market, initial data helps. 

We can only measure.
But what? 
Engagement is an indicator for value.
Engagement. Traffic. Sales.    

Look for engagement within the context. 

Relate to your audience. Personalize your blogging. Try to anchor your audience with the initial information they receive.