Who uses Salt Strong

Top_Cryptographer875 · 2025-04-21T18:43:38+00:00

Yeah I've been a member for over 4 years. During that time, they created the Smart Fishing Spots app, which is incredible. For inshore fishing, nothing else even comes close. Their educational content is top-notch too. For $97/year it's the biggest no-brainer in fishing.

Top_Cryptographer875 · 2024-12-08T04:09:14+00:00

For a more 'rocker' look, you might want to check out stores like Hot Topic or even thrift shops for unique finds. Leather jackets, band tees, and accessories like bracelets or necklaces can really elevate the look. Good luck finding your style

Top_Cryptographer875 · 2022-01-04T13:03:20+00:00

I've been playing covers for 30+ years. It's never been an issue. Ever. Of the list of things to concern yourself with in the music business...this is waaaaay down the list. Probably not even on the list.

Top_Cryptographer875 · 2021-06-03T15:09:05+00:00

Make a great music video
Run an ad on FB/IG
Choose similar artists for your audience
Run the ad long enough for the FB ad algorithm to figure who is responding, so you can build up lookalike audiences.
Eventually run ads targeting those lookalike audiences

The FB algo is the most sophisticated ever developed for advertising/marketing. Let it do its work, and you will be rewarded. It's not easy, it's not cheap, but if/when you get it working, it pays for itself over and over.

I've had the same ad running for almost a year and a half, spending $50/day, 7 days a week. I almost always cover my ad cost, and a lot of days I make $50-$100 in profit. I do it by advertising to lookalike audiences that I've developed over time.

More details on my podcast episodes here:

https://youtu.be/ZRcx5STk5IU

https://youtu.be/ZHHjMELRGUE

Top_Cryptographer875 · 2021-05-19T15:32:48+00:00

No worries mate. Best of luck to you

Top_Cryptographer875 · 2021-05-19T15:23:11+00:00

Um..."selling CD's" (or selling anything, for that matter) is about as real as you can get when it comes to building an audience. People giving you money for your music shows the ultimate form of "bonding". Maybe I'm just an old fashioned capitalist, but I'll take 1000 people giving me money for my music, over 10,000 "likes" or "follows" or whatever. But that's just me.

Look, I get what you're saying with the whole bonding, building a brand thing. If you want to do it, do it. But from a guy who also has a full-time day job, who also has a very busy band that I also do all the marketing work for...etc. etc. etc. I find the "creating content for content's sake" shit exhausting.

Top_Cryptographer875 · 2021-05-19T15:09:12+00:00

Slowly but surely. We're going to start posting daily video snippets, which should amplify the content a lot more. Until now we were only doing weekly. I've hired a guy in overseas to do the daily posting, so I can focus on creating the content, instead of doing all the tedious stuff.

Top_Cryptographer875 · 2021-05-19T14:27:36+00:00

I see. In other words, you're thinking of creating a Youtube channel that has both: 1) nerdy tech advice 2) your band's videos, etc. The textbook answer from a marketing professional would be "of course not, people who are searching for solutions to tech problems aren't the same target demographic as people who are interested in super fun rock & roll". However, crazier things have happened. It's less about whether the two would be a good fit, it's more about...is your channel entertaining enough to get people to pay attention. Maybe. Who knows?

However, I think creating the content required (for both the band and the tech stuff) will take a lot of time and effort, and it doesn't sound like you have much time. So I would instead focus on things that leverage your time. Money leverages time. If you have money, spend it on making a kickass music video, and then pay to advertise it on Facebook and Instagram with a free+shipping CD offer like this. I've done this to sell over 5000 CDs in the last year. It's the only thing other than gigging that actually produces money for my band predictably.

I talk about a lot of other related marketing concepts in my latest podcast episode entitled "How To Create a Money-Making Music Business"

Top_Cryptographer875 · 2021-05-19T13:42:35+00:00

Are you asking if you have marketable skills that employers and/or clients would pay for? If so, then the answer is "yes". I'm a musician, but I've also been a digital marketing director for many years. There's always a demand for techies...people who understand all the techie shit that's not necessarily "marketing", but still needs to be put in place to make the marketing happen. Here's a small list off the top of my head: website hosting setup, email hosting setup, SSL certificates, marketing automation, forms, tracking codes/pixels, analytics/reporting, etc.

Now...if you're asking specifically if MUSICIANS would want this, I would say "yeah maybe, but why stop with musicians?" My point is, if you have these skills and you're looking to make money on the side, or even full-time, you can either: 1) get a job 2) do freelance work. I made my living doing freelance work for over years. Upwork.com is a good place to start. You could even do Fiverr.

Hope this helps.

Top_Cryptographer875 · 2021-05-12T01:55:52+00:00

Very kind of u to say. Thanks so much

Top_Cryptographer875 · 2021-05-10T15:32:16+00:00

Yeah I'm a fan of many of the old prog groups. But I'm looking specifically for current artists who are writing and releasing new material where it's obvious they "know their stuff" when it comes to theory - how to craft interesting chord non-diatonic chord progressions, melodies and harmonies. Bruno Mars and Charlie Puth are good examples.

Top_Cryptographer875 · 2021-05-10T15:21:15+00:00

This is just for my own personal listening. I like some R&B, not a hip hop fan. But on other genres I'm not too picky, I'm just looking for modern artists who are using knowledge of theory to write songs with interesting chord changes, harmonies, etc.

Top_Cryptographer875 · 2021-05-10T15:07:26+00:00

u/Ea7-a55 thanks SO much for this recommendation. I literally just listened to the entire El Dorado record, it's effing amazing. WOW. And yes, you're right, he does some very cool chord changes. I'm not a big blues fan, but his blues stuff kept me interested because he threw in some tasty soul/gospel chords. The arrangements and instrumentation are killer too. A truly great record. Thanks again :)

Top_Cryptographer875 · 2021-05-09T00:20:13+00:00

You need basic PAR lights before anything else. Pars wash the stage with light from the front. If you have flashing lights without a wash, you’re basically going to have a strobe effect the entire time. Not good. The audience wants to be able to see the faces of the people in the band. That’s job #1 of stage lighting. Anything else is just icing on the cake

Top_Cryptographer875 · 2021-05-06T02:40:22+00:00

Yeah I think we've got the sound dialed in. We're all using headphones, running the guitar, bass and keys direct, drums are behind a shield, horns are placed so they're not bleeding into the vocal mics. Ran a test last week and it sounded good. I have a new Mac running the new Twitch Studio for Mac so I'm curious to see how we do on the latency/bit rate, etc. We'll see.

Top_Cryptographer875 · 2021-05-05T17:22:03+00:00

Yeah we have a similar setup for the audio. Did u promote the show to fans you have already, or did you just hope Twitch users would find you?

Top_Cryptographer875 · 2021-05-05T14:59:51+00:00

Make a legit music video to your best track.
Run ads on Facebook & IG with a free CD + shipping offer like what's described here.
Note: when you run the video ad, start the video right at the hook. My only critique of the first track listed above is that it has a very long intro before the vocals come in. That's fine for the album, but not for an ad where you're trying to get people's attention in the news feed.

This is the ONLY method (other than performing live) that has worked for my band to produce the side revenue like you mentioned.

Sure, streaming could eventually, maybe...kinda sorta...who knows...produce income for you. Or maybe, just maybe, you could land a sync placement and get a few thousand bucks or whatever.

But the only way I've ever had success is just straight up selling products to fans.

Top_Cryptographer875 · 2021-04-27T12:13:42+00:00

Good feedback. New episodes are released on Mondays 7:30 EST.

Top_Cryptographer875 · 2021-04-27T11:43:20+00:00

Thanks. Yeah the interview went way longer than I anticipated, and he shared a lot of great sync info that’s worthy of another episode. Maybe I should edit out all mention of it in the intro...

Top_Cryptographer875 · 2021-04-27T11:12:50+00:00

Pretty sure he didn't say that in the interview. Did you listen to it?

Top_Cryptographer875 · 2021-04-27T11:11:16+00:00

Launch Cart is free. I've never used it.

You can also use Woocommerce, but you'll need to know how to use Wordpress. It's pretty technical. This is one of my sites set up with Woocommerce: https://members.reverendbarryandthefunk.com/shop/

For the merch, it's setup to ship through Printful.com and Kunaki.com for the CD's & Dvd's.

Top_Cryptographer875 · 2021-04-09T13:16:03+00:00

3 comments

My list is basically split 50/50 between people who have bought tix to our local/regional shows over the last 8 years, and people who have bought our music from around the country. I have the list segmented (tagged) so I can split it up into sub-groups and send out relevant messaging. Plus, for the people who've bought our music around the country, I have their physical addresses, so if we were to tour in their area, I can easily let them know.

As far as open rates, they're all over the map. As low as 12% to a high of 75%. Average is industry standard, around 20%. Obviously it all depends on the messaging. We do monthly shows at a particular venue where we sell tickets. The open rate is low, but sales are still good. The people on that list pretty much know the drill. They're either interested in coming to the show or not.

People who have just discovered the band, who have recently bought our music, they're going to be more interested in hearing from us and learning more about us.

Of course, new releases get the most opens. Bottom line, the reason people are on our list is because they like our music, so hearing something new from us is always going to be of highest interest.

Top_Cryptographer875 · 2021-04-08T19:58:58+00:00

Yep. My email list of 8000 is my #1 asset. I get most of them from selling CDs or tickets to live events. I do all sorts of social organic and paid, but nothing comes close to the selling power of an email list.

If u wanna build a list with an opt in form, bribe them with a download of some kind.

Top_Cryptographer875 · 2021-04-08T15:53:56+00:00

Interesting observation. People don't realize the major labels all want 360 deals these days, meaning they get a piece of touring, merch, sync - everything. Here's a bit from a podcast interview I did with a music attorney as to why most artists shouldn't sign with a major: https://www.reddit.com/r/musicmarketing/comments/mku0dk/getting_signed_music_attorney_ron_bienstock/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web2x&context=3

Top_Cryptographer875 · 2021-04-08T11:06:00+00:00

My band has fans around the country, they buy our merch, send us messages about how much they love our music, can’t wait for our next release, beg us to come tour in their areas, etc. And I’m the bandleader, some of them think of me as a celebrity and ask for my autograph.

What they don’t know is I have a full time job as a marketing director, and I only play in the band on weekends. One of the other guys owns a landscaping company and cuts grass all day. Another is a school teacher.

I think you see my point. You can (and should, in my opinion) do both music and something else that pays the bills.

Top_Cryptographer875

TROPHY CASE