Review of Ariel Hyatt's Music Success in Nine Weeks by Carla Lynne Hall - Know The Music Biz

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Carla Lynne Hall is a singer, guitarist, and music marketing consultant based in New York City. Her mission is to make music, and share her knowledge with other musicians. As a singer/songwriter, her musical style has been described as “Norah Jones meets Sade for tea on their way to visit The Beatles”. For almost twenty years, she has toured the globe as a singer/songwriter, and professional vocalist.

Carla has has spent a number of years behind the scenes in the music industry, in music publishing, management, publicity, and radio promotion. She is the author of The DIY Guide to the Music Biz and Twitter for Musicians. Carla also writes a monthly newsletter, The Soulflower .

To be an indie musician requires an entrepreneurial mindset, and the latest edition of Ariel Hyatt’s Music Success in Nine Weeks promises to “supercharge your PR, build your fanbase and earn more money”. As that may sound like a fabulous claim, many indie musicians may wonder if the book can live up to its promise.

In my own career as an indie musician, I have learned to be mindful of my business goals. To stay on the top of my game, I read A LOT of books on the music business. While some music biz books are filled with contract mumbo jumbo that require translation, others are total fluff, offering pie-in-the-sky promises that don’t show the reader how to get results. Thankfully, Hyatt’s Music Success in Nine Weeks teaches actual strategies that can be put into use immediately.

As the founder of Ariel Publicity & Cyber PR, Ms. Hyatt could easily have written a thinly-veiled promotion piece for her music publicity services. Instead, her book is an easy-to follow nine-week program that teaches musicians how to promote themselves, without any self-promotion hype.

Week 1: Getting Mentally Prepared

Before jumping into the program, the first chapter of Music Success in Nine Weeks program is all about setting goals, and getting into the right mindset. Ariel acknowledges that the music business is not for the lazy or weak-hearted, and that creating realistic goals will create the correct mindset for success.

Week 2: Your Perfect Pitch

Week 2 teaches how to create an elevator pitch: a description of your music that you can easily repeat in the time it takes to travel one floor of an elevator to another. The best music pitch is easily memorable, and can be used again and again.

Week 3: Optimizing Your Website

In order to attract new fans, a bands’ website must do more than simply play music clips and advertise the next gig. The best music websites compel fans to join your fanbase. Week 3 offers practical suggestions for how your website can become a marketing machine.

Week 4: Social Media For Musicians

As Ariel herself coined the phrase “Cyber PR”, her expertise of using social networking sites to connect with music fans is obvious. The power that sites like MySpace, Facebook, and Twitter hold to build a global audience has grown exponentially. Week 4 of Music Success in Nine Weeks defines “Web 2.0”, and shows you which social media sites a musician needs to create an online presence.

Week 5: Blogging

When the internet first gained popularity, having a static website containing your music, photo, and bio was enough. These days, having a blog on your website enables you to show your personality, connect with other bloggers, and also be found by search engines. Week 5 explains the importance of having a website that updates frequently so that your fans can return to your site, and connect with you.

Week 6: Connecting with Fans Via Your Newsletter List and Conducting Surveys

In my opinion, most band newsletters are selfish, self-promotion emails that aren’t worth opening. Because of this, Week 6 stresses that a band newsletter should be used for more than blasting out the dates for your next gig. Instead, your newsletter can be used to nurture your relationship with your fans. Once your have their trust, you can also reach out to them to ask them what they want from you. It’s a lot better than guessing.

Week 7: How to Build Your Mailing List

Once you have an email list, it’s also important to add more names each month. Week 7 shows you tips and tricks to grow a healthy fan email list.

Week 8: Real Live Networking Tips

In addition to having an online presence, it is still important for musicians to meet people offline, and make connections with them. Week 8 teaches you how to make an authentic connection in person.

Week 9: Creating a Continuum Program

As enlightening as the rest of this book is, in my opinion, Week 9 of Music Success in Nine Weeks is the high point of the book. Once you build your fanbase, and have permission to contact them regularly, it’s time to get your fans to purchase merch from you on a regular basis. Whether it’s CDs, t-shirts, or any other kind of band swag, creating a product line will make the difference in your band’s bottom line.

Another bonus of purchasing Ariel Hyatt’s Music Success in Nine Weeks is that you get free lifetime membership to Ariel’s closed online Mastermind Forum. In the forum you meet other musicians like yourself who are working the program, and you have the added support of Ariel and her staff.

There is no lack of book titles in the indie music business help section, as well as the musicians who buy them. However, in the case of Ariel Hyatt’s Music Success in Nine Weeks, this book’s true power is teaching you that you can increase the level of your success.

But it’s up to you to follow through.