#godirect

The Samurai could write a book and is.

Here's more of his insane wisdom:

When you "Go For Rejection" and "Die In Battle" something happens...

Besides getting over your fear, this huge gaping space opens in your awareness. See most of us are in our head all fucking day about this girl or that girl and strategizing/analyzing our life away, instead of just ACTING.

Go direct all the time, ask for what you want and yes, you'll be shot down a lot... But you'll also get into this super-human state of clarity of purpose. There's nothing to think about if you've been shot down or if you are now getting laid... You have all the information you need in the moment.

This awareness coupled with the state of "I don't give a fuck-ness" makes you Superman.

When and only when you get there, THEN you can start being a bit more artful in your approach...

And we'll cover more on Direct v Indirect later.

There’s a seemingly unlimited supply of music on the web these days, and while fan traffic is abundant overall, it often comes in sudden waves and spikes for individual artists. It’s important to be prepared to take advantage of that fan traffic when it hits. Here’s how to use your MTV banner to connect directly with fans and drive traffic to your website:

1. Create an eye-catching banner for your MTV page. MTV banners are clickable and can be linked to any page on the web, which means you’ll have an opportunity to drive fan traffic wherever you want it most. If you want fans to click your banner, give them a compelling reason to do so, like a free download:

2. Upload a great track to your GoDirect account to use as your free download offer. Use our built-in page features to display your free download offer over any website you want. This is where fans will ultimately land after clicking your download offer:

3. Set up your new banner in “My MTV Page > Edit My Banner”. Copy the URL of your free download page and paste it into the “URL destination” of your MTV banner:

Check out the final result on Radkey’s MTV page. Now, when fans click your MTV banner to get a free download, a number of really awesome things happen: you create a focused opportunity for new listeners to download your music, join your mailing list, share your offer with friends, and ultimately, land right on your website for further engagement. It’s a simple but effective method we’ve used countless times to convert thousands of anonymous fans into actual mailing list subscribers and site visitors.

Log in now to set up your own optimized MTV banner!

Today, MTV announced the launch of a new platform designed to help artists submit their music for consideration across all its TV, online, and live channels, and Topspin is proud to provide the underlying technology. 

This artist opportunities hub is an expansion of our deep partnership with MTV, which began last year. Through it, any artist who claims their page on Artists.MTV, Artists.VH1, or Artists.CMT can also opt into having their music placed into consideration for being showcased across MTV's various properties.

This includes:

Music videos on MTV, VH1, CMT, MTV Hits, MTV Jams, VH1 Soul, CMT Pure and Palladia. MTV's programming staff will monitor fan engagement on each artist's page to evaluate potential placement.

Editorial coverage on MTV's various outlets like Buzzworthy, Hive, EMT Edge, VH1 Tuner and more.

Booking for live events that MTV is involved in, such as the Hangout Music Fest and Hunter Hayes upcoming concert this June. 

There are also opportunities to submit music for the soundtrack of specific shows, and in the future we'll add brand and advertising partnerships, mobile tools, and other enhancements. 

With programming reaching 100 million households, 165 million online fans, and accounting for over 100 hours of music videos aired every single day, MTV/VH1/CMT are opening the gates to an ocean of new fans.

Like our initial partnership with MTV, this artists opportunity hub is a direct reflection of the direction Topspin is taking to help artists both establish and manage their careers. Topspin has always been passionate about helping artists connect directly with their fans. Our tools have converted millions of listeners into mailing list subscribers, social media followers, and loyal customers for our artists.

Yet, for many up-and-coming  acts, connecting with existing fans is only half the battle. One of the most frequently asked questions we receive from emerging artists is “How does Topspin help me gain more exposure and get my name out there?” This is one of the many ways we're responding to that question. 

Even better, opting into opportunities is free and easy. Head over to the artist opportunities hub to get started. If you’re not already a Topspin GoDirect user, you’ll be prompted to create a free GoDirect account so you can start publishing your music and videos directly to your official MTV/VH1/CMT artist page. MTV’s crack team of music programmers will be on the lookout for the freshest new artists, songs, and especially music videos. The more creative you get, the more MTV/VH1/CMT music programmers will take notice, and the more fans you drive to your artist page, the faster they’ll be able to find your content. Ready? Go forth and seize the opportunities!

Cheers!

You can now sell your music with Topspin GoDirect! Starting today, we're going to be rolling out a bunch of new features in GoDirect -- all of which help you earn money from direct sales of music.

Up First: Track Sales Our goal was to make it as easy as possible to sell a track for $0.99.

Here's How it Works: 1. Upload a track 2. On the Download/Sell dropdown, choose "For Money"

That's it. Your track immediately has an offer page and is on sale for .99. Want to change the price or the sales copy? Hit the gear and adjust the price or change the product description. Want to promote that track's on sale? Hit the promote button and send a tweet or post it to your facebook page.

In early September, Topspin released a new product called GoDirect. Since then, thousands of you have signed up and taken control of your page on MTV. And a bunch of you have written in or hit me on Twitter to give us feedback, suggest features and generally ask, what else can I do? 

Today I have some good news for you. Based on your feedback, we've just released a ton of new features in GoDirect. We've rearranged the navigation, to put more direct links to the stuff you need on the left side of the app. We've added the ability to delete products, and we've given you an easy way to tweet out direct links to new songs, videos and your MTV page. 

But the coolest new feature by far is the ability to get more fans on Facebook, Twitter and email by giving away free downloads.

Here's how it works:

Upload a new song or video (yes, you can upload MP3s now!)

Choose Facebook, Twitter or Email as the action fans have to to take in order to download.

Use the Theme Editor to style up a killer landing page for your download widget.

Promote the new song with a tweet to your followers -- we'll auto-generate a tracking link.

With the recent launch of Topspin GoDirect comes an array of great artist pages. We've combed through hundreds of them and chosen a few below to highlight creative uses of the platform's easy interface, providing ALL of the following:

Get more fans with free downloads. Collect Emails, Twitter followers and Facebook Likes. The first 250 fans are FREE.

Get more exposure with streaming audio & video players that work on Facebook, your site, blogs and all mobile devices. The first 250 plays are FREE.

Get access to promotion across MTV. Get heard by music supervisors. Submit your video for on-air and online video rotation. Get considered for live performance series like Unplugged or Crossroads, and considered for selection for emerging artist franchises like Push (MTV), You Oughta Know (VH1), Listen Up (CMT), and First Take (Hive).

Check out all these pages with artists reaching new fans, publishing tracks and videos, replacing their bio, and uploading images for their Artists.MTV pages:

Amon Tobin

The Offspring

The Henry Millers

The Technicolors

The Mother Hips

Dangermaker

TRICIL

Otherness

Elena Faye

Vacant Windows