Who knew Thriller would end up being the perfect selling album of all time. There was no way to prepare for its success because nobody saw what was coming. Yet, Michael has not been able to duplicate studio magic he and Quincy had; the artistic “roll” he was on; the total awe and submission of the media; the overwhelming force of his presence or the mesmerizing control he’d over millions of listeners globally. Therefore, even though more convincing than any other entertainer, he never repeated the success of Thriller.

But he might have. Even without all of the magical ingredients that help ed him make musical history, he might have used the momentum created by Thriller to sale another 40 million albums. All he’d to do was have knowledge of who he sold those 40 million records to. Get it? If Epic Records were smart, they would have gotten the address and phone number of every person who purchased the Thriller album. Do you understand what that might have meant? That means that they would have had the ability to “pre-market” and “pre-sale” Michael’s next few albums to 40 million, already satisfied customers!

Whoa! That means they may have sold 40 million plus albums of the next record. The profits would have been bigger too. Why? Since you’re not spend ing dollars on “mass-marketing”, you’re able to cut your budget in half! You’re direct marketing to people who already want your product. likewise, if Epic were smart, and they weren’t, they may have sold Michael Jackson Merchandise directly to those already addicted fans.

They really screwed up. But you may learn from this example. You may quickly “eat well” off your music by doing what Epic, Michael, and every other label has failed to do. Capture the name and email address of every fan that visits your website /page. I understand that it sounds too easy. I understand some of you are doing this already. But are you doing it correctly? Every musician on MySpace should have a bare minimum of 1000 audiences that will buy their music. Not MySpace “friends”. I am talking about straight-up audiences, the kind that spend money. If you have been on MySpace for two years, you should have 10,000-20,000 real audiences. Once you reach 100,000 audiences that are willing, at some point, to give you money you will be performance ! Your focus will be to make music for your fan base, selling to the same audiences over & over. It is backwards to start your marketing resolutions over every time you get ready to release a project. Why keep looking for new buyers when you may sell to satisfied customers. As a natural effect, your fan base will grow with little resolution on your part.