What's Happening: Week of December 4, 2017

And so, December is upon us.

In addition to being a time to celebrate the holidays with family and friends, it's also a time to look back. Specifically, I'm looking back this month to figure out what has worked for my music business, what hasn't worked and what I want to do in 2018.

What has worked in 2017 is my music for podcasting. Over the course of the past several months I produced close to 150 different tracks and variations of intro and looped music covering styles as diverse as rock, country, light classical, pop, urban and more. Some of my "corporate" work has been among my best-selling items this year, and music in my podcast collection now accounts for anywhere from half to two-thirds of my total sales. All of my sales growth this year is the result of podcast intros and loops.

What has not worked, in my opinion, is my social media promotion. It's very difficult, without taking a lot of time to line up data from multiple sources, to figure out if your social media efforts are translating into interest, and then into sales. I can see that some of my posts promoting various stock music items get link clicks on Twitter. But I can't say what happens from that point. What I do know is that unit sales of my holiday music were twice as good in November 2014, when I wan't tweeting, than they were in November, 2017 when I was promoting my holiday music like crazy on Twitter and Google+.

The conclusion that I cannot escape here is that social media is not making a dent in my holiday sales. That begs the question: what should I be doing with social media? Before you ask, I don't use Facebook. I've always felt that Twitter hashtags make it easier to connect with people who are more likely to be interested in my work. But that assumption may be in need of re-examination.

What does it all mean for me in 2018? I've giving thought to that, and may talk about some possible changes in strategy in a later post before the end of the year. (Unless something wonderful or awful comes up.)

Meanwhile, you may have noticed the image at the top of this post, and maybe it looks familiar to you. If it does, it may be because this is the image I used, with some cropping and other work, in the cover for my single "Snow Globe." The picture was actually taken in February 2008 by my wonderful wife Danita. She's a terrific photographer and has worked on subjects as diverse as real estate, architecture and nature. With her permission I cropped this photo to focus on the gazebo, then sharpened it and cropped it into a circular shape to become my "snow globe."

Don't be surprised if Danita's work shows up in my covers and other work again soon.

And so, December rolls on. I hope yours is lovely and that you'll stop by to read again soon.