August 26, 2025 • 35 mins
In this episode of Musicians Tip Jar, we sit down with Jenna LoMonaco, Head of U.S. Marketing at ONErpm and veteran digital strategist who has worked with Shawn Mendes, Nick Jonas, Demi Lovato, The Killers, and more. Jenna shares her journey from intern to label executive, and the key lessons she’s learned about:
More about ONErpm at https://onerpm.com/ and https://www.instagram.com/onerpm/
https://onerpm.com/
Visit MusiciansTipJar.com for more resources and tools to empower your financial journey.
Intro & Outro Music Donated by: The Magi https://www.themagimusic.com
Intro Read by: David “DJ” Lee of The Magi
https://soundcloud.com/rockababyrock
Pictures by: Kit Chalberg https://kitchalberg.com/
Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/musicians-tip-jar--4698023/support.
Visit MusiciansTipJar.com for more resources and tools to empower your financial journey.
Intro & Outro Music Donated by: The Magi https://www.themagimusic.com
Intro Read by: David “DJ” Lee of The Magi
https://soundcloud.com/rockababyrock
Pictures by: Kit Chalberg https://kitchalberg.com/
- What labels actually look for in new artists
- How to build real, engaged fans (not just followers)
- Why genre-specific strategies matter and how to adapt them
- Using social media without losing your authenticity
- The balance between creative passion and hard data
More about ONErpm at https://onerpm.com/ and https://www.instagram.com/onerpm/
https://onerpm.com/
Visit MusiciansTipJar.com for more resources and tools to empower your financial journey.
Intro & Outro Music Donated by: The Magi https://www.themagimusic.com
Intro Read by: David “DJ” Lee of The Magi
https://soundcloud.com/rockababyrock
Pictures by: Kit Chalberg https://kitchalberg.com/
Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/musicians-tip-jar--4698023/support.
Visit MusiciansTipJar.com for more resources and tools to empower your financial journey.
Intro & Outro Music Donated by: The Magi https://www.themagimusic.com
Intro Read by: David “DJ” Lee of The Magi
https://soundcloud.com/rockababyrock
Pictures by: Kit Chalberg https://kitchalberg.com/
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:01):
Welcome to the show that explores the methods and strategies
on rockin' the financial side of your music business. With
over forty years combined experience, here are your host Chris
Webb and Dave Tamkin.
Speaker 2 (00:15):
Welcome to you, musicians Tip Jar, where we talk about
musicians and money. We are always in charge of our
own marketing and socials. I'm Chris Webb, joined by my
co hosts and MTJ's Chief Socials Officer or CSO, Dave tamp.
Speaker 3 (00:30):
Thanks for having me back, Chris. I didn't know that's
what that stood for, but I'm happy happy to know
that I have that title now.
Speaker 2 (00:37):
Part of your long list of titles around here. Today
we chat with Jenna Lomonico, who is head of the
US marketing at one RPM Records. They specialize in working
with artists in the more advanced stages of their careers.
We discuss how her journey took her from intern to
head of marketing. She shares how she has helped break
artists to massive success using their social media marketing, as
(01:00):
well as her keys to gaining momentum on your socials.
Today's quote comes from Jenna something that some artists run into,
especially when they start to get a hit is do
these people see you as a song or do they
see you as an artist?
Speaker 3 (01:14):
This week's nonprofit is Stand Together Music. They serve as
a strategic partner for artists and industry leaders lending entertainment
with social impact. They act as an expert extension of
their partner's teams, using their deep industry experiences to help
scale causes effectively. A key asset to their unique network,
which connects artists to influential figures ranging from Fortune five
(01:35):
hundred CEOs to major festival promoters. Through these connections, they
design and launch high impact cultural campaigns and activations. Primary
goal of these initiatives is to transform important ideas into
new positive social norms. Ultimately, Stand Together Music works to
create lasting cultural change and help artists build a meaningful legacy.
If you find this information useful, please rate and subscribe
(01:57):
to the podcast, and also slam the like button if
you're on YouTube so we can help keep you up
on the finance side of your music business.
Speaker 2 (02:03):
Jenna Lomonico is a digital marketing expert who has used
her love of music and knowledge in the social media
space to help break up and coming artists into the
mainstream music space for over twenty years. After studying audio
production and working at her record studio straight out of college,
she truly started her career in pr at Girly Action
in two thousand and five. In two thousand and seven,
(02:26):
Jenna got her first big role at an up and
coming record label, Glass Note Records, as the head of
New Media. New Media. That's by the way, it's just
social media back then, right. It was there that she
blossomed her skills into the digital space, helping break artists
such as Mumford and Sons and Phoenix and Childish Gambino.
(02:46):
After five years at Glass Note, she left to join
a new label service branching at Cobalt, Jenna worked in
the digital department, where she handled digital strategy for artists
such as Martina McBride, Lenny Kravitz, and New Kids on
the Block. In twenty fifteen, as Island Records was relaunched
as a solo label after separating from def Jam, Jenna
(03:08):
joined the Island team to run the digital marketing department.
It was here that she began to work with newly
signed teen artist Sean Mendez. Using her social media knowledge,
she helped create a social media strategy. She helped to
grow Sean's social following into the multimillions. She also led
the digital marketing effort for artists such as Nick Jonas,
The Killers, Elton, John bon Jovi, Fallout Boy, and Demi Levado.
(03:33):
Jenna has now joined the one RPM team, heading up
the US marketing team, where she oversees all marketing, DSP,
advertising and digital marketing strategy. She is so kind and
so full of great advice for working musicians to build
on your marketing in this current environment. So let's go.
Speaker 3 (04:07):
Jenna, and welcome to musicians. Tip Jar so happy to
have you. Thanks for taking the time all the way
in New York City today.
Speaker 4 (04:14):
Thank you so much for having me.
Speaker 3 (04:16):
We thought we'd like to, you know, we just read
all your accolades, so we thought maybe we can hear
from you, Like, maybe you can start about your journey
into the music industry and what initially do you to
combine marketing with your passion for music?
Speaker 4 (04:29):
Sure, totally. When I was in college, I just knew
that I wanted to work in music somehow, but I
didn't know anything about the music industry or how anybody
that worked in it. So I went to school for
audio engineering, and I started working at a studio and
I realized quickly that wasn't the best fit for me.
So after about a year of working at the studio,
(04:49):
I quit that job and I went back to interning
and interns out of PR firms, and I we just
worked my way up there and I started doing what
they called new media at the time, which is now
social and digital marketing. So from there I went to
glass Note Records. I also ran their media department. I
(05:11):
worked for Cobu Levil Services for two years where I
was on their digital marketing team, and then I went
to Island Records, where again I ran their digital marketing team.
And then four years ago I joined the team at
one RPM and actually here I oversee the entire marketing team,
so digital falls on debt, but also project managers csp
(05:33):
is advertising, influencer marketing from our whole marketing team.
Speaker 3 (05:39):
Can we take a few steps back, and I believe
your career started at Girly Action Media. Is that correct?
Speaker 4 (05:44):
Yep, yep, that was my first job.
Speaker 3 (05:46):
Can we talk about that as far as what you
learned there in those early days that still influence the
way you approach things today.
Speaker 4 (05:55):
I think that starting off with PR was a really
interesting way to start a marketing career because I think
that it gave me a really good understanding of what
highlights and what markers people really care about. Right, So
understanding what is important to us and the label, what
is important to us as the artist team, and then
(06:18):
what does the wider music industry care about as a highlight,
and how to kind of differentiate what are those key
points that that kind of bring attention to an artist
and a project. I think that's a really important thing
to understand, and then also being able to chase after
those highlights that help bring attention to a project. So
(06:41):
on the business side, I think it would be that,
I mean, we're working directly with artists. I learned, you know,
some valuable lessons in that. And then also you know,
I started off as an intern at that job, and
I worked my way up to getting hired and I
just outworked all the other interns. So I think it
was a good lesson and it just like life wise,
on how to out hustle everyone else.
Speaker 3 (07:05):
What were some of those things that the label's looking
for out of the gate when they're prospecting maybe a
new artist.
Speaker 4 (07:11):
Yeah, so I think that understanding streaming numbers, audience numbers, engagement,
those are all key things that we look at to
understand the growth of an artist. So it really depends
on where you are in your career. So maybe you know,
if you're pitching a story to press, maybe you growing.
(07:35):
You know, one thousand followers to five thousand followers doesn't
seem that impressive in in you know, a two month
span to like a PR in a PR perspective, But
to us, we're like, okay, now now you're really seeing
some growth. Looking at that engagement and seeing how those
numbers react. I think we're always looking to see what
(07:57):
the organic reaction is to fans, and I think those
are the things that we really look at that might
not necessarily translate on like a like a broader marketing highlight.
Speaker 2 (08:11):
What are some examples of that. Is it is it
more like how people what people say in their comments,
or is it is it more just how often they're
coming back to the same artists? What are some things
that you look at to kind of engage what's working
for an artist?
Speaker 4 (08:23):
I would say, like, obviously you want to look at
your engagement percentage and seeing, you know, how many people
follow you, so like for a long time people were
getting bots to get you like one hundred thousand fans
on Instagram. But if you have one hundred thousand followers
and twenty people comments are like your post, you obviously
(08:46):
don't have an engaged audience, right, So it doesn't actually,
in my opinion, it's not how many followers you have
or it's how engaged they are, right, because what we're
looking for is to see how many people are like
true fans. Are they a casual listener or are they
(09:06):
a true fan? And so you also want to compare
that when you're looking at streaming numbers, right versus your
social engagement. Because something that some artists run into, especially
when you start to get a hit, is do these
people see you as a song or do they see
you as an artist? And you always want them to
(09:27):
see you as an artist for the longevity of your career.
A label can make money off of the song, and
some labels are very happy with that. At One or TM,
we're more focused on artist development, So we want to
see that there that we're working towards a long term
goal of making sure that you're more than just a song.
Speaker 3 (09:47):
Yeah, that has to be nice for your clients. You
know that they're they're entering a family that believes in
the long term, I hope. So, yeah, can you tell
us of a like a maybe a project. Let's let's
move to like Island Records. So by the time you
got to Island Records, can you tell us about your
experience there, and perhaps I'm a like a memorable project
(10:08):
or two.
Speaker 4 (10:10):
Oh yeah. So I was part of when Nick Jonas
went solo, which it was a cool experience because you know,
I think that there was, you know, this kind of
idea of who the Jonas brothers were, and then Nick
kind of stepped out on his own and was able
(10:31):
to kind of make a name for himself and and
that album did really well. So that was an exciting one.
I mean, I always talk about my work with Sean
Mendes is That's something I'm very proud of. And that
was a fun project because we were able to really
work with his fans to like make them a key
(10:52):
part of everything that we did. Same thing with Demie Levado.
Demi has very engaged fans, the Levatics, they called them themselves,
and again, like I think the funnest thing about those
artists was just like the rabid fan bases and how
we could create these exciting moments for them. That was
(11:13):
something really special.
Speaker 3 (11:14):
Well, you hear a name like Shawn Mendes, and we
know of Shawn Mendes right now, but when you started
with him, it was very early in his career, correct,
So what were what were some of those key elements
that you use for early digital growth for him?
Speaker 4 (11:28):
Yeah, I mean, I think it's what we spoke about
in the very beginning, right, was that you want to
make sure that the fans that you have are super
uh engaged and activated for all for all of your
marketing uh activations. And so we were very, very focused
always on figuring out ways that we can help make
(11:50):
those fans feel like they were a part of it,
and they helped make every step that we took. Those
fans literally helped make it happen like they were a
key in targo piece of it. So when he saw success,
they saw success too, right, because like they were so
proud and they really wanted to advocate for him. And
so I think that that was like a true case
(12:11):
study in you know, making sure that your fans can
can be you know, a key part of your marketing
and how important it is to really pay attention to
those fans because they're a part of your success.
Speaker 3 (12:27):
How long have you been doing this?
Speaker 4 (12:30):
Oh over a little over twenty years, So I started.
I got my first job when I was funny.
Speaker 3 (12:37):
Wow. So I guess, like genre wise, you've been all
over the place. I know you mentioned John Mendes, but
I mean even Elton John too. Correct.
Speaker 4 (12:45):
Yeah, when I was at Islands, we worked at Elton
and that was an incredible experience. So I got to
work some really amazing legacy artists like I worked with
fun Jovi when I was at Cobalt and raised with
Lenny Kravitz New Kids on the Block, which was really
fun one, especially because when I was a little kid,
I would like have their post on my wall and show.
Speaker 3 (13:06):
So did Chris. Chris had kids too, so.
Speaker 2 (13:11):
Yeah, I was super into them and boys demand and
like all that. That whole era.
Speaker 4 (13:15):
That was an amazing time in music.
Speaker 3 (13:18):
So totally. I love that When you could sing as
well as Chris does, I mean it was easier for
him to sing along with those songs they.
Speaker 2 (13:29):
Sing to the post. Yeah, so you never felt like
you wanted to do music yourself. It was just more
that you were interested in working for the industry, Like
that's a unique start.
Speaker 4 (13:41):
Yeah, well, I think the thing was is like I
wish my parents would have like challenged me more to do,
like play an instrument or something, but I really have
no musical talent of my own. But what I did
have was like a deep passion for music in general.
I remember I used to sit in front of my
house and played the No Doubt album Tragic Kingdom like
(14:02):
at like full blast on my front porch, and my
neighbors must have hated me. Like I just was, like
I was just so passionate about being a fan of
music that I knew that it was something that like
I needed to be a part of, and I just
I didn't know how. And actually, the way I got
my first internship in a studio was I sat and
(14:22):
I went through all my CDs and I found what
studio each of them were recorded at, and I just
went line by line and emails all of them. And
that's how I got my first internship.
Speaker 2 (14:32):
That's incredible. That is so far forward thinking then most
people at that time in their lives.
Speaker 4 (14:38):
Thanks, and it was very cressive effect then still.
Speaker 2 (14:41):
Now, Yeah, it probably would be that simple. Although nobody
reads the liner notes anymore, right, no.
Speaker 4 (14:47):
One does, which is a bummer. Yah.
Speaker 3 (14:49):
When you have clients that's such a different age group
and also genre group, how do you tailor digital strategies
uniquely for your client.
Speaker 4 (15:00):
Yeah, so's something that we have at one RPAN here
is we are structured into what we call business units,
which is genre. Right, So we have a team in
Atlanta that focuses on hip hop, a team in Miami
that focuses on Latin, and we have a team in
Nashville that focus on country. And then you're gonna like
kind of tends to be rock, pop, dance, alternative, And
(15:22):
so we have people that are specialized in those genres
because I believe that every genre has its own subculture,
and I think it's really important to have people who
are imberseed in that subgenre. But I also am a
big believer that if you are a good marketing person,
you can work any genre. I mean, I grew up
(15:44):
in Brooklyn listening to like Biggie and I've worked country
albums before, you know what I mean. So, like, I
think that if you know how as a fan base
and to find those key moments that people really care
and connect with the artists. I think that allows you
(16:06):
to work any genre. I think essentially music is something
that it's emotional and it's a passion for people, right,
and so how do you find those key points that
people connect themselves with emotionally to that genre? And that's
really essentially what it is.
Speaker 2 (16:26):
Boy, that is so interesting too to think about. Like
I mean, as an artist, like, the hardest thing you
can ever do is start switching your mindset from this
is just the music I love to like, how do
I market this and hit those relevant points within this genre?
You know, yeah, it can feel so foreign to them
or or I don't know, maybe like it's deluding some
(16:46):
of the integrity of their art. You know.
Speaker 4 (16:49):
I actually think we're living in a time where people
are the most genre fluid ever, right Whereas like you
have people that you know, I live in New Jersey
and I feel like country music is huge in New York,
New Jersey now, right, Like that was never a thing
when I was a kid. And I think that the
(17:10):
same person who will listen to hip hop will listen
to country music, will listen to a dance record. Like,
so I think it's more. It's it's there's more opportunity
to find new fans because people are more open to
different different genres. It's more about trying to find like
those cultural moments that tie you to the fan.
Speaker 2 (17:35):
So you get these artists in that are kind of
crossing the boundaries now too, like that Tipsy song, right,
isn't that kind of country kind of that?
Speaker 3 (17:43):
Yeah?
Speaker 4 (17:44):
No, totally, Yeah, that was kind of one of a
perfect example that like everybody listened to that song. It
was on top forty pop radio.
Speaker 3 (17:53):
You know, yeah, doing this as a profession and also
you know, you started from wanting to do audio engineering,
so you have this creative side in you that you
want to be able to approach your clients and share
your expertise. Now of twenty years so you have an
opportunity to be creative on a subjective level. But then
(18:16):
also what you do has to be quantified by data, correct,
So how do you share that with musicians that sometimes
have to get out of that subjective area to say, hey,
these are hard numbers or hard facts that you know,
we have to grow your audience. And especially I mean,
I would guess even for you, technology is changing every
(18:39):
probably seventy days. You know there's new streaming platforms, new
way of connecting socially. How do you stay ahead of
those changes and how do you hope your artists stay
ahead of those changes.
Speaker 4 (18:53):
I think it's just a matter of staying connected immersing
yourself with in the music industry, right, Like artists have
to understand that they're in the business of their music, right,
So you can't go into this and not understand what's
happening in the music industry, right Like you have to
(19:14):
read Billboard, you have to read hits, you have to
listen to different podcasts such as this one. You really
have to educate yourself. And like, to me, one thing
that bothers me is like if an artist is like, oh,
I don't I don't listen to Top forty. I don't
even know it would be on the radio. But that's
really important for you to know, right, Like having an
(19:35):
understanding of who's on the charts, what's on the charts,
what people are listening to. It's really important to understand
those types of things because that is the business that
you're in, and you have to know where the music
industry is going. You have to know how to use
all of the DSP platforms. You have to be on
(19:57):
short form video content sites like TikTok and reels and shorts.
You have to understand how that works. You have to
speak the language of those what I call subcultures of
social media. You really have to immerse yourself in those
worlds because there's no way for you to succeed and evacuum.
Speaker 3 (20:16):
I'm sorry. All I heard was you should continue listening
to top podcasts like this one, right, that's what you said. Okay,
that's okay. I'm sure everything after that was very important.
Speaker 2 (20:31):
We talked recently to Sides, who does a lot She's
a producer and she does a lot of art artist
development within her own brand, And one thing that really
stuck with me that kind of just connected to what
you just said, was that you have to have this
good relationship with your social media, with social media in general,
and I think so many artists are still so stuck
(20:54):
on the side of consumer instead of you know, developing
something using it as that tool. And our artists are afraid,
I think sometimes to say something I know I feel
sometimes if I'm i'm my social media platform, so if
I'm saying something I feel like might be too I
don't know too too opinionated. I'm concerned that it's going
(21:16):
to cause some sort of negative rip in the environment
because everyone comes from different backgrounds, especially when you mold
different genres, Like you don't want to insult anybody you're
worried about, like what you might say.
Speaker 4 (21:29):
You might say, yeah.
Speaker 2 (21:31):
Like everything, but it's there's almost like that line you
walk in as is when you're working with your social
media that you you want people to react, you want
to say something that that is true because you can't
be lying, but you then also need to find ways
to to kind of keep it with that healthy relationship
(21:51):
where you're not emotionally driven by this. You're you're doing
it strategically, you know. Total, Who would you say, are
some of the artists that you're seeing do this really well?
Speaker 4 (22:00):
Right? So one artist who's like more on the mainstream
side that I think does it really well as Charlie XX,
just because I think that she posts enough for it
to seeing her Like she's engaged with her fans and
the content that she posts is often very in line
with what's happening on social media in that moment, and
(22:22):
so I think that she's one that like follows a
great example of how to use social media in a
smart way with like out overdoing it. The most important thing,
in my opinion, is like figuring out what that conversation
is that you want to have with your audience. And
it doesn't have to be overly personal. It could really
(22:44):
be just about the music in general. If people are
connected to your music, they're connected to you emotionally by default, right,
so what are pieces of you that you want to
share with your audience And that could really just be
talking more in depth about why you wrote a song
and what the inspiration was behind the song, or we
(23:06):
have conversations with oursel the time about you know, whatever
your passions, what do you love doing. Is it cooking,
is it working out? Whatever it is, and then speaking
to those things and sharing those pieces of yourself. It's
just kind of figuring out, like, what is that relationship
that you want to have with your with your fans.
Speaker 3 (23:40):
There's one thing about having a boss that has started
from an intern in the industry that you truly have
to respect that she has been there from day one.
Talking about even again bringing up Vince one more time,
is you know maybe a runner or I remember as
an intern stuffing CDs, you know, for the local online
(24:05):
store within the record company. But she's done at all
and shows what hustle and expertise brings you over the years.
Speaker 2 (24:13):
Yeah, I totally agree in that. I don't think there's
very many people out there that can really start from
the bottom believe in themselves enough to get to the
top like that, And that's why they're so rare. You know,
It's funny because I think of a I've met a
lot of gms at hotels over the years working with hotels,
and one GM in particular, his name is David did that.
(24:35):
He was the maintenance guy at Hyatt and then worked
his way all the way up to GM. And you
know another thing about that is they understand everyone else's
roles really well. They understand everyone where everyone's coming from,
and they have more empathy. I think because of that too,
because they've been where a lot of these people are,
and it helps other people believe in themselves more because
(24:56):
they see that their leader has gone through what they
want to do.
Speaker 3 (24:59):
I love the story about just the initiative she took
to find that internship too. Found her favorite labels on
the liner notes. What are liner notes?
Speaker 2 (25:08):
Yeah, right, she definitely does the grassroots right like that
that is still so useful, so effective for people to
try to figure out how to get a start in
what it is they want to do is just dig right,
dig and reach out and be persistent. And she just
shows that it still works.
Speaker 3 (25:27):
She brings up technology a lot in this episode. And
we have no excuses to find the information now. I
mean we could joke and say, you know, no more
liner notes, but we could find anyone in any company
that we need to reach out to if we're looking
to pursue our passions.
Speaker 2 (25:43):
Yeah, there really is resources for every area of the
music industry if you just look in the right place.
It's not that stuff is hidden, it's just that no
one seems to care about it anymore.
Speaker 3 (25:52):
Right, And her driver is considered new media, which now,
what is the new media? You know, if it's if
it's social marketing back, then at least you have new
technology now to help you find any information you need
using AI. I'm not going to go and you know,
we kind of talked about the emotional aspect of music
(26:13):
on that, but as far as finding out how to
get something you're copyright done or finding a producer you
want to work with, you take advantage of this new
technology because there still are no rules if you have
creative initiative like she did to again follow your passion.
Speaker 2 (26:30):
Yeah. The other thing that struck me, and we've said
this season of our podcast has really been themed around
strategies on social media, and certainly she fits perfectly to
keeping that trend going for us. The thing that hit
me was that she said people are either true fans
or casual listeners, and you have to distinguish which one
(26:52):
are the ones that are commenting on your stuff on
social media. There's so many people she talked about the bots, right,
there's so many people that get all this content engagement,
but that engagement is coming from worthless comments. Right. It's
like when you say something that's just super opinionated and
people just comment. Yeah, that helps get the algorithms like
in you a little bit more. But as an artist,
(27:13):
it's not really what you're trying to do. You're trying
to build a community of people that are actual true fans.
Speaker 3 (27:20):
An example of that would be say I have a
Rockford show coming up, and I took a small video
and I put the poster on it and Let's use
TikTok for instance, and I spend twenty bucks over four days,
five bucks a day just to target five minutes around Rockford.
I mean that video had over two thousand views, and
(27:40):
then you see that there's only like one comment or
four comment or the next post only has one hundred
and forty views, and I mean it goes up and
down like that. And that's not even asking for new viewers.
You're just trying to get seen. And even when you're seen,
if it's not something that they find value in, they're
not coming back. So that's what you need to find.
(28:02):
If she said, define your audience.
Speaker 2 (28:05):
Yeah, and know what you're trying to say, And that
kind of also comes into this what is the conversation
you're trying to have? You know, she worked with I
mean Sewn Mendez when sometimes we're always like, well, what
people do at the top quote unquote, if you can
see that is different than the rest of us. And
maybe it is in the sense of how much money's
being pumped in, especially in pop like she said, but
(28:27):
there's also the reality that they are not doing anything
that different, that they are just doing it better or
they're doing it more consistent. Or their strategies are just
more targeted, and all of those things need to be
recognized when you're trying to get towards this higher level
and your results as the social media goes, you need
(28:49):
to realize that the more you target, the more that
you understand what you're trying to say, those things are
going to initially and gradually grow everything else after that.
If those things at the beginning aren't clear, the rest
is a mess. And you see Shawn Mendez that worked, right.
You see Demi Levado building those loyal fans that they
(29:09):
do their art is great, right, that part we just
are not talking about right now, But it is the
other end of it of how do they gain that
engagement with true fans.
Speaker 3 (29:18):
That theme was repeated with a Big Fish booking company
when we talked about how do you find a booking
agent that Okay, you can have so many viewers, but
how many people are actually engaging and in what city
and how many times in that city. Venues do the
same thing if they're looking for what is your draw
(29:38):
like in Cincinnati although you're in California. So she was
talking about what do labels look for. They're looking for longevity,
not just like she said, a song but an artist.
Speaker 2 (29:50):
That concept, to me is really powerful because you when
I look back at them, little moments of true fans
that really helped me over my push during my early
career years. They would do anything for you, right. They
would go out and sell your CDs for you. They
would help set up before a show, they would run
(30:11):
your merch table, right, they would help reach out and
do marketing for you, all of that because it wasn't
just that they believed in you. It's this concept that
she Jenna mentioned that they want to feel the success too,
and they want to be a part of that. And
that is that is something that I think we could
really try to bring to social media to try to
(30:32):
allow more and open yourself up, allow them, allow your fans,
your two fans, to be a part of the journey
and feel that success as well as you grow.
Speaker 3 (30:40):
When we first started musicians, Tipjar, do you remember having
all the different fonts that we did, and we you know,
on each of our own social medias, we just put
like those contests up just to say we were starting this.
And I mean I think I got more engagement on
that than any posting I was doing anytime around there
because you want that feedback in a different way because
(31:02):
you're moving forward, and it's so easy sometimes to get
in a one way conversation where you're just always telling people,
telling people, telling people, rather than asking for feedback.
Speaker 2 (31:12):
Yeah, leaving it open for people to actually help, not
just to keep dumping your content on them, right. That
was another thing too, as we kind of talked about
the subculture reality, how marketing itself was kind of universal,
but it really does depend on these subcultures and how
each of them interact differently with art, with music within them,
(31:35):
and how people also recognize outside music and whether or
not they're more open to that or not. Those are
really interesting concepts that I would I would spend a
lot of time reading about because I enjoy that kind
of research and understanding how people live and how music
is a part of their lives is really fascinating to me.
Speaker 3 (31:54):
As I'm starting to build out AI assistance for just
accounting for myself, for running through emails and organizing them,
I see a lot that are using these assistants for
social posts, but they're for products, which is different. I mean,
you can look at music as a product if you want,
but if you're selling yourself. That authenticity has to be there,
(32:19):
which I think is very hard to outsource, and if anything,
be more advantageous to learn how to be more creative
to express yourself with that rather than trying to just
get it done. And I think I like that about her,
where she was saying, you know, take a day and
look into it or ask for help, immerse yourself in
(32:39):
that subculture, see what they're posting about, comment on it,
get feedback, and with that you find where all all
roads lead back to the people you're trying to connect with,
which is the reason we started writing songs in the
first place, was to not feel alone and to show
someone else out there that they're not alone.
Speaker 2 (32:59):
Yeah, like she said, you can't succeed in a vacuum,
right Like this music has to be shared and it
has to have the life of its own in that way.
The last thing I want to say, and this was
that she mentioned that she thought the most important thing
was to figure out what the conversation is that you
want to have with your audience. That alone, the concept
(33:21):
that you know what it is your conversation is is
something we've heard a couple times now. Besides, she said
that too She said that you need to write a
mission statement kund of similar but this one is a
little bit more about an open ended, more casual approach
to the idea. So I thought for our action step
today that you should spend about twenty minutes or so.
(33:42):
I don't know if it would take any longer that
just to get started on this to write out what
that conversation is that you want to have with your audience.
As Jenna said, it is everything. This is your guide
to the content creation, all the interaction, all the outreach,
all that follows what it is that you define as
the conversation. We know that your time is valuable. We
(34:02):
appreciate you spending this time with us and being a
part of this community. It is our hope that you
feel that since community here at musicians tip jar, and
that you'll help spread the word to make us all stronger.
If you'd like to get a hold of us or Jenna,
what's the best way to do that.
Speaker 3 (34:15):
Check out musicians tipjar dot com for tools, resources and
discounts billed specifically to help keep you up on the
finance side of your music business. And reach out to
us anytime at musicians tip jar at gmail. Dot com.
We'd love to hear your story. If this episode resonated
with you, share it with a friend, leave a review,
or hit that like button if you're watching on YouTube.
It helps us grow this community and support more musicians
(34:35):
like you. You can check out Jenna's bio at RPM dot
com and everything that they offer their artists. Also, you
can look her up on LinkedIn as well.
Speaker 2 (34:45):
As always, thank you for joining us, and remember there
is already enough for everyone, We just need to know
how to get it. Until next time on behalf of
Dave Tampkin and myself Chris Web, Stay happy, healthy and wealthy.
Your brand is a reflection of who you are yourself
by your passion, not by other's opinions. This is Musicians Tip.
Speaker 5 (35:06):
Jar Somebody Somebody.
Speaker 4 (35:18):
Nothing on this show should be considered specific, personal or
professional advice. Please consult an appropriate tax, legal, business, or
financial professional for individualized advice. Individual results are not guaranteed,
and all discussed strategies have the potential for profit or loss.
Speaker 5 (35:34):
Fellows are operating on behalf of Musician's Tip Jar l
Els exclusively
Welcome to the show that explores the methods and strategies
on rockin' the financial side of your music business. With
over forty years combined experience, here are your host Chris
Webb and Dave Tamkin.
Speaker 2 (00:15):
Welcome to you, musicians Tip Jar, where we talk about
musicians and money. We are always in charge of our
own marketing and socials. I'm Chris Webb, joined by my
co hosts and MTJ's Chief Socials Officer or CSO, Dave tamp.
Speaker 3 (00:30):
Thanks for having me back, Chris. I didn't know that's
what that stood for, but I'm happy happy to know
that I have that title now.
Speaker 2 (00:37):
Part of your long list of titles around here. Today
we chat with Jenna Lomonico, who is head of the
US marketing at one RPM Records. They specialize in working
with artists in the more advanced stages of their careers.
We discuss how her journey took her from intern to
head of marketing. She shares how she has helped break
artists to massive success using their social media marketing, as
(01:00):
well as her keys to gaining momentum on your socials.
Today's quote comes from Jenna something that some artists run into,
especially when they start to get a hit is do
these people see you as a song or do they
see you as an artist?
Speaker 3 (01:14):
This week's nonprofit is Stand Together Music. They serve as
a strategic partner for artists and industry leaders lending entertainment
with social impact. They act as an expert extension of
their partner's teams, using their deep industry experiences to help
scale causes effectively. A key asset to their unique network,
which connects artists to influential figures ranging from Fortune five
(01:35):
hundred CEOs to major festival promoters. Through these connections, they
design and launch high impact cultural campaigns and activations. Primary
goal of these initiatives is to transform important ideas into
new positive social norms. Ultimately, Stand Together Music works to
create lasting cultural change and help artists build a meaningful legacy.
If you find this information useful, please rate and subscribe
(01:57):
to the podcast, and also slam the like button if
you're on YouTube so we can help keep you up
on the finance side of your music business.
Speaker 2 (02:03):
Jenna Lomonico is a digital marketing expert who has used
her love of music and knowledge in the social media
space to help break up and coming artists into the
mainstream music space for over twenty years. After studying audio
production and working at her record studio straight out of college,
she truly started her career in pr at Girly Action
in two thousand and five. In two thousand and seven,
(02:26):
Jenna got her first big role at an up and
coming record label, Glass Note Records, as the head of
New Media. New Media. That's by the way, it's just
social media back then, right. It was there that she
blossomed her skills into the digital space, helping break artists
such as Mumford and Sons and Phoenix and Childish Gambino.
(02:46):
After five years at Glass Note, she left to join
a new label service branching at Cobalt, Jenna worked in
the digital department, where she handled digital strategy for artists
such as Martina McBride, Lenny Kravitz, and New Kids on
the Block. In twenty fifteen, as Island Records was relaunched
as a solo label after separating from def Jam, Jenna
(03:08):
joined the Island team to run the digital marketing department.
It was here that she began to work with newly
signed teen artist Sean Mendez. Using her social media knowledge,
she helped create a social media strategy. She helped to
grow Sean's social following into the multimillions. She also led
the digital marketing effort for artists such as Nick Jonas,
The Killers, Elton, John bon Jovi, Fallout Boy, and Demi Levado.
(03:33):
Jenna has now joined the one RPM team, heading up
the US marketing team, where she oversees all marketing, DSP,
advertising and digital marketing strategy. She is so kind and
so full of great advice for working musicians to build
on your marketing in this current environment. So let's go.
Speaker 3 (04:07):
Jenna, and welcome to musicians. Tip Jar so happy to
have you. Thanks for taking the time all the way
in New York City today.
Speaker 4 (04:14):
Thank you so much for having me.
Speaker 3 (04:16):
We thought we'd like to, you know, we just read
all your accolades, so we thought maybe we can hear
from you, Like, maybe you can start about your journey
into the music industry and what initially do you to
combine marketing with your passion for music?
Speaker 4 (04:29):
Sure, totally. When I was in college, I just knew
that I wanted to work in music somehow, but I
didn't know anything about the music industry or how anybody
that worked in it. So I went to school for
audio engineering, and I started working at a studio and
I realized quickly that wasn't the best fit for me.
So after about a year of working at the studio,
(04:49):
I quit that job and I went back to interning
and interns out of PR firms, and I we just
worked my way up there and I started doing what
they called new media at the time, which is now
social and digital marketing. So from there I went to
glass Note Records. I also ran their media department. I
(05:11):
worked for Cobu Levil Services for two years where I
was on their digital marketing team, and then I went
to Island Records, where again I ran their digital marketing team.
And then four years ago I joined the team at
one RPM and actually here I oversee the entire marketing team,
so digital falls on debt, but also project managers csp
(05:33):
is advertising, influencer marketing from our whole marketing team.
Speaker 3 (05:39):
Can we take a few steps back, and I believe
your career started at Girly Action Media. Is that correct?
Speaker 4 (05:44):
Yep, yep, that was my first job.
Speaker 3 (05:46):
Can we talk about that as far as what you
learned there in those early days that still influence the
way you approach things today.
Speaker 4 (05:55):
I think that starting off with PR was a really
interesting way to start a marketing career because I think
that it gave me a really good understanding of what
highlights and what markers people really care about. Right, So
understanding what is important to us and the label, what
is important to us as the artist team, and then
(06:18):
what does the wider music industry care about as a highlight,
and how to kind of differentiate what are those key
points that that kind of bring attention to an artist
and a project. I think that's a really important thing
to understand, and then also being able to chase after
those highlights that help bring attention to a project. So
(06:41):
on the business side, I think it would be that,
I mean, we're working directly with artists. I learned, you know,
some valuable lessons in that. And then also you know,
I started off as an intern at that job, and
I worked my way up to getting hired and I
just outworked all the other interns. So I think it
was a good lesson and it just like life wise,
on how to out hustle everyone else.
Speaker 3 (07:05):
What were some of those things that the label's looking
for out of the gate when they're prospecting maybe a
new artist.
Speaker 4 (07:11):
Yeah, so I think that understanding streaming numbers, audience numbers, engagement,
those are all key things that we look at to
understand the growth of an artist. So it really depends
on where you are in your career. So maybe you know,
if you're pitching a story to press, maybe you growing.
(07:35):
You know, one thousand followers to five thousand followers doesn't
seem that impressive in in you know, a two month
span to like a PR in a PR perspective, But
to us, we're like, okay, now now you're really seeing
some growth. Looking at that engagement and seeing how those
numbers react. I think we're always looking to see what
(07:57):
the organic reaction is to fans, and I think those
are the things that we really look at that might
not necessarily translate on like a like a broader marketing highlight.
Speaker 2 (08:11):
What are some examples of that. Is it is it
more like how people what people say in their comments,
or is it is it more just how often they're
coming back to the same artists? What are some things
that you look at to kind of engage what's working
for an artist?
Speaker 4 (08:23):
I would say, like, obviously you want to look at
your engagement percentage and seeing, you know, how many people
follow you, so like for a long time people were
getting bots to get you like one hundred thousand fans
on Instagram. But if you have one hundred thousand followers
and twenty people comments are like your post, you obviously
(08:46):
don't have an engaged audience, right, So it doesn't actually,
in my opinion, it's not how many followers you have
or it's how engaged they are, right, because what we're
looking for is to see how many people are like
true fans. Are they a casual listener or are they
(09:06):
a true fan? And so you also want to compare
that when you're looking at streaming numbers, right versus your
social engagement. Because something that some artists run into, especially
when you start to get a hit, is do these
people see you as a song or do they see
you as an artist? And you always want them to
(09:27):
see you as an artist for the longevity of your career.
A label can make money off of the song, and
some labels are very happy with that. At One or TM,
we're more focused on artist development, So we want to
see that there that we're working towards a long term
goal of making sure that you're more than just a song.
Speaker 3 (09:47):
Yeah, that has to be nice for your clients. You
know that they're they're entering a family that believes in
the long term, I hope. So, yeah, can you tell
us of a like a maybe a project. Let's let's
move to like Island Records. So by the time you
got to Island Records, can you tell us about your
experience there, and perhaps I'm a like a memorable project
(10:08):
or two.
Speaker 4 (10:10):
Oh yeah. So I was part of when Nick Jonas
went solo, which it was a cool experience because you know,
I think that there was, you know, this kind of
idea of who the Jonas brothers were, and then Nick
kind of stepped out on his own and was able
(10:31):
to kind of make a name for himself and and
that album did really well. So that was an exciting one.
I mean, I always talk about my work with Sean
Mendes is That's something I'm very proud of. And that
was a fun project because we were able to really
work with his fans to like make them a key
(10:52):
part of everything that we did. Same thing with Demie Levado.
Demi has very engaged fans, the Levatics, they called them themselves,
and again, like I think the funnest thing about those
artists was just like the rabid fan bases and how
we could create these exciting moments for them. That was
(11:13):
something really special.
Speaker 3 (11:14):
Well, you hear a name like Shawn Mendes, and we
know of Shawn Mendes right now, but when you started
with him, it was very early in his career, correct,
So what were what were some of those key elements
that you use for early digital growth for him?
Speaker 4 (11:28):
Yeah, I mean, I think it's what we spoke about
in the very beginning, right, was that you want to
make sure that the fans that you have are super
uh engaged and activated for all for all of your
marketing uh activations. And so we were very, very focused
always on figuring out ways that we can help make
(11:50):
those fans feel like they were a part of it,
and they helped make every step that we took. Those
fans literally helped make it happen like they were a
key in targo piece of it. So when he saw success,
they saw success too, right, because like they were so
proud and they really wanted to advocate for him. And
so I think that that was like a true case
(12:11):
study in you know, making sure that your fans can
can be you know, a key part of your marketing
and how important it is to really pay attention to
those fans because they're a part of your success.
Speaker 3 (12:27):
How long have you been doing this?
Speaker 4 (12:30):
Oh over a little over twenty years, So I started.
I got my first job when I was funny.
Speaker 3 (12:37):
Wow. So I guess, like genre wise, you've been all
over the place. I know you mentioned John Mendes, but
I mean even Elton John too. Correct.
Speaker 4 (12:45):
Yeah, when I was at Islands, we worked at Elton
and that was an incredible experience. So I got to
work some really amazing legacy artists like I worked with
fun Jovi when I was at Cobalt and raised with
Lenny Kravitz New Kids on the Block, which was really
fun one, especially because when I was a little kid,
I would like have their post on my wall and show.
Speaker 3 (13:06):
So did Chris. Chris had kids too, so.
Speaker 2 (13:11):
Yeah, I was super into them and boys demand and
like all that. That whole era.
Speaker 4 (13:15):
That was an amazing time in music.
Speaker 3 (13:18):
So totally. I love that When you could sing as
well as Chris does, I mean it was easier for
him to sing along with those songs they.
Speaker 2 (13:29):
Sing to the post. Yeah, so you never felt like
you wanted to do music yourself. It was just more
that you were interested in working for the industry, Like
that's a unique start.
Speaker 4 (13:41):
Yeah, well, I think the thing was is like I
wish my parents would have like challenged me more to do,
like play an instrument or something, but I really have
no musical talent of my own. But what I did
have was like a deep passion for music in general.
I remember I used to sit in front of my
house and played the No Doubt album Tragic Kingdom like
(14:02):
at like full blast on my front porch, and my
neighbors must have hated me. Like I just was, like
I was just so passionate about being a fan of
music that I knew that it was something that like
I needed to be a part of, and I just
I didn't know how. And actually, the way I got
my first internship in a studio was I sat and
(14:22):
I went through all my CDs and I found what
studio each of them were recorded at, and I just
went line by line and emails all of them. And
that's how I got my first internship.
Speaker 2 (14:32):
That's incredible. That is so far forward thinking then most
people at that time in their lives.
Speaker 4 (14:38):
Thanks, and it was very cressive effect then still.
Speaker 2 (14:41):
Now, Yeah, it probably would be that simple. Although nobody
reads the liner notes anymore, right, no.
Speaker 4 (14:47):
One does, which is a bummer. Yah.
Speaker 3 (14:49):
When you have clients that's such a different age group
and also genre group, how do you tailor digital strategies
uniquely for your client.
Speaker 4 (15:00):
Yeah, so's something that we have at one RPAN here
is we are structured into what we call business units,
which is genre. Right, So we have a team in
Atlanta that focuses on hip hop, a team in Miami
that focuses on Latin, and we have a team in
Nashville that focus on country. And then you're gonna like
kind of tends to be rock, pop, dance, alternative, And
(15:22):
so we have people that are specialized in those genres
because I believe that every genre has its own subculture,
and I think it's really important to have people who
are imberseed in that subgenre. But I also am a
big believer that if you are a good marketing person,
you can work any genre. I mean, I grew up
(15:44):
in Brooklyn listening to like Biggie and I've worked country
albums before, you know what I mean. So, like, I
think that if you know how as a fan base
and to find those key moments that people really care
and connect with the artists. I think that allows you
(16:06):
to work any genre. I think essentially music is something
that it's emotional and it's a passion for people, right,
and so how do you find those key points that
people connect themselves with emotionally to that genre? And that's
really essentially what it is.
Speaker 2 (16:26):
Boy, that is so interesting too to think about. Like
I mean, as an artist, like, the hardest thing you
can ever do is start switching your mindset from this
is just the music I love to like, how do
I market this and hit those relevant points within this genre?
You know, yeah, it can feel so foreign to them
or or I don't know, maybe like it's deluding some
(16:46):
of the integrity of their art. You know.
Speaker 4 (16:49):
I actually think we're living in a time where people
are the most genre fluid ever, right Whereas like you
have people that you know, I live in New Jersey
and I feel like country music is huge in New York,
New Jersey now, right, Like that was never a thing
when I was a kid. And I think that the
(17:10):
same person who will listen to hip hop will listen
to country music, will listen to a dance record. Like,
so I think it's more. It's it's there's more opportunity
to find new fans because people are more open to
different different genres. It's more about trying to find like
those cultural moments that tie you to the fan.
Speaker 2 (17:35):
So you get these artists in that are kind of
crossing the boundaries now too, like that Tipsy song, right,
isn't that kind of country kind of that?
Speaker 3 (17:43):
Yeah?
Speaker 4 (17:44):
No, totally, Yeah, that was kind of one of a
perfect example that like everybody listened to that song. It
was on top forty pop radio.
Speaker 3 (17:53):
You know, yeah, doing this as a profession and also
you know, you started from wanting to do audio engineering,
so you have this creative side in you that you
want to be able to approach your clients and share
your expertise. Now of twenty years so you have an
opportunity to be creative on a subjective level. But then
(18:16):
also what you do has to be quantified by data, correct,
So how do you share that with musicians that sometimes
have to get out of that subjective area to say, hey,
these are hard numbers or hard facts that you know,
we have to grow your audience. And especially I mean,
I would guess even for you, technology is changing every
(18:39):
probably seventy days. You know there's new streaming platforms, new
way of connecting socially. How do you stay ahead of
those changes and how do you hope your artists stay
ahead of those changes.
Speaker 4 (18:53):
I think it's just a matter of staying connected immersing
yourself with in the music industry, right, Like artists have
to understand that they're in the business of their music, right,
So you can't go into this and not understand what's
happening in the music industry, right Like you have to
(19:14):
read Billboard, you have to read hits, you have to
listen to different podcasts such as this one. You really
have to educate yourself. And like, to me, one thing
that bothers me is like if an artist is like, oh,
I don't I don't listen to Top forty. I don't
even know it would be on the radio. But that's
really important for you to know, right, Like having an
(19:35):
understanding of who's on the charts, what's on the charts,
what people are listening to. It's really important to understand
those types of things because that is the business that
you're in, and you have to know where the music
industry is going. You have to know how to use
all of the DSP platforms. You have to be on
(19:57):
short form video content sites like TikTok and reels and shorts.
You have to understand how that works. You have to
speak the language of those what I call subcultures of
social media. You really have to immerse yourself in those
worlds because there's no way for you to succeed and evacuum.
Speaker 3 (20:16):
I'm sorry. All I heard was you should continue listening
to top podcasts like this one, right, that's what you said. Okay,
that's okay. I'm sure everything after that was very important.
Speaker 2 (20:31):
We talked recently to Sides, who does a lot She's
a producer and she does a lot of art artist
development within her own brand, And one thing that really
stuck with me that kind of just connected to what
you just said, was that you have to have this
good relationship with your social media, with social media in general,
and I think so many artists are still so stuck
(20:54):
on the side of consumer instead of you know, developing
something using it as that tool. And our artists are afraid,
I think sometimes to say something I know I feel
sometimes if I'm i'm my social media platform, so if
I'm saying something I feel like might be too I
don't know too too opinionated. I'm concerned that it's going
(21:16):
to cause some sort of negative rip in the environment
because everyone comes from different backgrounds, especially when you mold
different genres, Like you don't want to insult anybody you're
worried about, like what you might say.
Speaker 4 (21:29):
You might say, yeah.
Speaker 2 (21:31):
Like everything, but it's there's almost like that line you
walk in as is when you're working with your social
media that you you want people to react, you want
to say something that that is true because you can't
be lying, but you then also need to find ways
to to kind of keep it with that healthy relationship
(21:51):
where you're not emotionally driven by this. You're you're doing
it strategically, you know. Total, Who would you say, are
some of the artists that you're seeing do this really well?
Speaker 4 (22:00):
Right? So one artist who's like more on the mainstream
side that I think does it really well as Charlie XX,
just because I think that she posts enough for it
to seeing her Like she's engaged with her fans and
the content that she posts is often very in line
with what's happening on social media in that moment, and
(22:22):
so I think that she's one that like follows a
great example of how to use social media in a
smart way with like out overdoing it. The most important thing,
in my opinion, is like figuring out what that conversation
is that you want to have with your audience. And
it doesn't have to be overly personal. It could really
(22:44):
be just about the music in general. If people are
connected to your music, they're connected to you emotionally by default, right,
so what are pieces of you that you want to
share with your audience And that could really just be
talking more in depth about why you wrote a song
and what the inspiration was behind the song, or we
(23:06):
have conversations with oursel the time about you know, whatever
your passions, what do you love doing. Is it cooking,
is it working out? Whatever it is, and then speaking
to those things and sharing those pieces of yourself. It's
just kind of figuring out, like, what is that relationship
that you want to have with your with your fans.
Speaker 3 (23:40):
There's one thing about having a boss that has started
from an intern in the industry that you truly have
to respect that she has been there from day one.
Talking about even again bringing up Vince one more time,
is you know maybe a runner or I remember as
an intern stuffing CDs, you know, for the local online
(24:05):
store within the record company. But she's done at all
and shows what hustle and expertise brings you over the years.
Speaker 2 (24:13):
Yeah, I totally agree in that. I don't think there's
very many people out there that can really start from
the bottom believe in themselves enough to get to the
top like that, And that's why they're so rare. You know,
It's funny because I think of a I've met a
lot of gms at hotels over the years working with hotels,
and one GM in particular, his name is David did that.
(24:35):
He was the maintenance guy at Hyatt and then worked
his way all the way up to GM. And you
know another thing about that is they understand everyone else's
roles really well. They understand everyone where everyone's coming from,
and they have more empathy. I think because of that too,
because they've been where a lot of these people are,
and it helps other people believe in themselves more because
(24:56):
they see that their leader has gone through what they
want to do.
Speaker 3 (24:59):
I love the story about just the initiative she took
to find that internship too. Found her favorite labels on
the liner notes. What are liner notes?
Speaker 2 (25:08):
Yeah, right, she definitely does the grassroots right like that
that is still so useful, so effective for people to
try to figure out how to get a start in
what it is they want to do is just dig right,
dig and reach out and be persistent. And she just
shows that it still works.
Speaker 3 (25:27):
She brings up technology a lot in this episode. And
we have no excuses to find the information now. I
mean we could joke and say, you know, no more
liner notes, but we could find anyone in any company
that we need to reach out to if we're looking
to pursue our passions.
Speaker 2 (25:43):
Yeah, there really is resources for every area of the
music industry if you just look in the right place.
It's not that stuff is hidden, it's just that no
one seems to care about it anymore.
Speaker 3 (25:52):
Right, And her driver is considered new media, which now,
what is the new media? You know, if it's if
it's social marketing back, then at least you have new
technology now to help you find any information you need
using AI. I'm not going to go and you know,
we kind of talked about the emotional aspect of music
(26:13):
on that, but as far as finding out how to
get something you're copyright done or finding a producer you
want to work with, you take advantage of this new
technology because there still are no rules if you have
creative initiative like she did to again follow your passion.
Speaker 2 (26:30):
Yeah. The other thing that struck me, and we've said
this season of our podcast has really been themed around
strategies on social media, and certainly she fits perfectly to
keeping that trend going for us. The thing that hit
me was that she said people are either true fans
or casual listeners, and you have to distinguish which one
(26:52):
are the ones that are commenting on your stuff on
social media. There's so many people she talked about the bots, right,
there's so many people that get all this content engagement,
but that engagement is coming from worthless comments. Right. It's
like when you say something that's just super opinionated and
people just comment. Yeah, that helps get the algorithms like
in you a little bit more. But as an artist,
(27:13):
it's not really what you're trying to do. You're trying
to build a community of people that are actual true fans.
Speaker 3 (27:20):
An example of that would be say I have a
Rockford show coming up, and I took a small video
and I put the poster on it and Let's use
TikTok for instance, and I spend twenty bucks over four days,
five bucks a day just to target five minutes around Rockford.
I mean that video had over two thousand views, and
(27:40):
then you see that there's only like one comment or
four comment or the next post only has one hundred
and forty views, and I mean it goes up and
down like that. And that's not even asking for new viewers.
You're just trying to get seen. And even when you're seen,
if it's not something that they find value in, they're
not coming back. So that's what you need to find.
(28:02):
If she said, define your audience.
Speaker 2 (28:05):
Yeah, and know what you're trying to say, And that
kind of also comes into this what is the conversation
you're trying to have? You know, she worked with I
mean Sewn Mendez when sometimes we're always like, well, what
people do at the top quote unquote, if you can
see that is different than the rest of us. And
maybe it is in the sense of how much money's
being pumped in, especially in pop like she said, but
(28:27):
there's also the reality that they are not doing anything
that different, that they are just doing it better or
they're doing it more consistent. Or their strategies are just
more targeted, and all of those things need to be
recognized when you're trying to get towards this higher level
and your results as the social media goes, you need
(28:49):
to realize that the more you target, the more that
you understand what you're trying to say, those things are
going to initially and gradually grow everything else after that.
If those things at the beginning aren't clear, the rest
is a mess. And you see Shawn Mendez that worked, right.
You see Demi Levado building those loyal fans that they
(29:09):
do their art is great, right, that part we just
are not talking about right now, But it is the
other end of it of how do they gain that
engagement with true fans.
Speaker 3 (29:18):
That theme was repeated with a Big Fish booking company
when we talked about how do you find a booking
agent that Okay, you can have so many viewers, but
how many people are actually engaging and in what city
and how many times in that city. Venues do the
same thing if they're looking for what is your draw
(29:38):
like in Cincinnati although you're in California. So she was
talking about what do labels look for. They're looking for longevity,
not just like she said, a song but an artist.
Speaker 2 (29:50):
That concept, to me is really powerful because you when
I look back at them, little moments of true fans
that really helped me over my push during my early
career years. They would do anything for you, right. They
would go out and sell your CDs for you. They
would help set up before a show, they would run
(30:11):
your merch table, right, they would help reach out and
do marketing for you, all of that because it wasn't
just that they believed in you. It's this concept that
she Jenna mentioned that they want to feel the success too,
and they want to be a part of that. And
that is that is something that I think we could
really try to bring to social media to try to
(30:32):
allow more and open yourself up, allow them, allow your fans,
your two fans, to be a part of the journey
and feel that success as well as you grow.
Speaker 3 (30:40):
When we first started musicians, Tipjar, do you remember having
all the different fonts that we did, and we you know,
on each of our own social medias, we just put
like those contests up just to say we were starting this.
And I mean I think I got more engagement on
that than any posting I was doing anytime around there
because you want that feedback in a different way because
(31:02):
you're moving forward, and it's so easy sometimes to get
in a one way conversation where you're just always telling people,
telling people, telling people, rather than asking for feedback.
Speaker 2 (31:12):
Yeah, leaving it open for people to actually help, not
just to keep dumping your content on them, right. That
was another thing too, as we kind of talked about
the subculture reality, how marketing itself was kind of universal,
but it really does depend on these subcultures and how
each of them interact differently with art, with music within them,
(31:35):
and how people also recognize outside music and whether or
not they're more open to that or not. Those are
really interesting concepts that I would I would spend a
lot of time reading about because I enjoy that kind
of research and understanding how people live and how music
is a part of their lives is really fascinating to me.
Speaker 3 (31:54):
As I'm starting to build out AI assistance for just
accounting for myself, for running through emails and organizing them,
I see a lot that are using these assistants for
social posts, but they're for products, which is different. I mean,
you can look at music as a product if you want,
but if you're selling yourself. That authenticity has to be there,
(32:19):
which I think is very hard to outsource, and if anything,
be more advantageous to learn how to be more creative
to express yourself with that rather than trying to just
get it done. And I think I like that about her,
where she was saying, you know, take a day and
look into it or ask for help, immerse yourself in
(32:39):
that subculture, see what they're posting about, comment on it,
get feedback, and with that you find where all all
roads lead back to the people you're trying to connect with,
which is the reason we started writing songs in the
first place, was to not feel alone and to show
someone else out there that they're not alone.
Speaker 2 (32:59):
Yeah, like she said, you can't succeed in a vacuum,
right Like this music has to be shared and it
has to have the life of its own in that way.
The last thing I want to say, and this was
that she mentioned that she thought the most important thing
was to figure out what the conversation is that you
want to have with your audience. That alone, the concept
(33:21):
that you know what it is your conversation is is
something we've heard a couple times now. Besides, she said
that too She said that you need to write a
mission statement kund of similar but this one is a
little bit more about an open ended, more casual approach
to the idea. So I thought for our action step
today that you should spend about twenty minutes or so.
(33:42):
I don't know if it would take any longer that
just to get started on this to write out what
that conversation is that you want to have with your audience.
As Jenna said, it is everything. This is your guide
to the content creation, all the interaction, all the outreach,
all that follows what it is that you define as
the conversation. We know that your time is valuable. We
(34:02):
appreciate you spending this time with us and being a
part of this community. It is our hope that you
feel that since community here at musicians tip jar, and
that you'll help spread the word to make us all stronger.
If you'd like to get a hold of us or Jenna,
what's the best way to do that.
Speaker 3 (34:15):
Check out musicians tipjar dot com for tools, resources and
discounts billed specifically to help keep you up on the
finance side of your music business. And reach out to
us anytime at musicians tip jar at gmail. Dot com.
We'd love to hear your story. If this episode resonated
with you, share it with a friend, leave a review,
or hit that like button if you're watching on YouTube.
It helps us grow this community and support more musicians
(34:35):
like you. You can check out Jenna's bio at RPM dot
com and everything that they offer their artists. Also, you
can look her up on LinkedIn as well.
Speaker 2 (34:45):
As always, thank you for joining us, and remember there
is already enough for everyone, We just need to know
how to get it. Until next time on behalf of
Dave Tampkin and myself Chris Web, Stay happy, healthy and wealthy.
Your brand is a reflection of who you are yourself
by your passion, not by other's opinions. This is Musicians Tip.
Speaker 5 (35:06):
Jar Somebody Somebody.
Speaker 4 (35:18):
Nothing on this show should be considered specific, personal or
professional advice. Please consult an appropriate tax, legal, business, or
financial professional for individualized advice. Individual results are not guaranteed,
and all discussed strategies have the potential for profit or loss.
Speaker 5 (35:34):
Fellows are operating on behalf of Musician's Tip Jar l
Els exclusively
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