John Taglieri has created a profitable livelihood with his music, playing 200 shows a year and getting ready to record his tenth studio album. He's local, so we had a chance to sit down over lunch and talk about making music, making money, and the role mobile can play in his career.
Tag loves making music, but he truly is a performer. He's making a very good living, and it's 95% from live shows and 5% from music sales. He thinks that, of all the Artists out there making music, only about 6 percent are able to make a living at it, so he's in rare company. He was able to create this lifestyle for himself because he was willing to do whatever his agent asked him to do, Play a show in Georgia on Friday night and Syracuse on Saturday night - he'd do it. His fans - we'll get to that - know that they are going to have a good time when they go to his shows.
Tag knows his fans. He likes Reverbnation for the fan details he gets from them, and he's active on Facebook. He believes he has 1,500 - 2,000 "True Fans" - fans that show up when he's in town, buy his tickets, music and merch. He's also a big fan of download cards - he goes through about 5,000 cards every 6 months. And they work for him - last year, he gave out about 11,000 cards and got 4,400 hits. We're going to promote his mobile site on the next run of download cards.
Tag runs his operation like a business. Each year, he starts with a plan. In 2012, he'll be in the studio in January recording his tenth CD, and release it in March. From April through August, he'll promote the new material with a well thought out plan to offer the CDS, singles, and various packages of current and past music, including "best of" and full catalog products. One product will be a 50 track compilation. He'll tour on his own - acoustic shows, with the Joe Bachman band, and with his band. It's all planned out.
We talked a lot about mobile. He thinks mobile is the future, and he's always looking ahead. He knows that it's better to get into mobile now, at the front, so he's "there" when his fans want to connect with him on mobile. We talked about how to get fans to connect with him on mobile and he thinks the Artist has to tell his his fans how to connect with him on mobile and guide them to use new technology. "It's like American Idol - they told viewers to vote, how to vote, this is how it's done. Now, 80 million people vote on American Idol." If you run it like a business, it looks like the science of selling. It takes 10 touches to make a sale, so you have to keep at it. Give your fans a good product (music) and good customer service and you'll make the sale.
It was a treat to talk to a music pro who understands the hard work neccessary to make a career out of music, a forward thinker who sees that new mobile technology can help him grow fan loyalty and grow his sales. We'll be working with Tag throughout 2012 to create mobile marketing campaigns that complement his marketing activities. All part of the plan. You can check out his mobile site on your phone at www.adva.us/tag, and by texting gettag to 88704 on your phone.
