BASM Client Jesse McFaddin Snags the Cover for Ollie Mag’s May ’12 Issue

A short & sweet post since it’s so early in the AM!

One of our favorite & most philosophical clients, Jesse McFaddin is on the May cover of Ollie Magazine, one of the mainstays for Japan’s lifestyle magazine niche.

Jesse McFaddin (center) featured on the cover of Ollie Magazine

If you have the chance, snag a copy or check the magazine out online at www.olliemagazine.com.

Jesse McFaddin is the lead singer and founder of the extremely popular Japanese rock group, RIZE . RIZE is a hard rock/metal band that has been around for eleven years with major accomplishments such as performing at Live 8 in 2005 and Live Earth in 2007, having their song “Zero” licensed by Coke Zero Japan/Asia, various songs used for PS2 games such as “BioHazard”, and have appeared live with NIN, Run DMC, Jay Z & Oasis. They toured in the US in 2003 on an “All American” tour with The Kottonmouth Kings, performing at 38 shows across the country. Both the group, RIZE , and the lead singer, Jesse McFaddin , are major icons in the Japanese music and pop culture scenes, influencing music, entertainment and fashion by way of Jesse’s clothing line Slip&Co which will debut in the US in February 2012 at the influential MAGIC – s.l.a.t.e. convention.

This Week on Windows Media…

We’re back with more King Klutch!

This week, King Klutch snags a placement on the Windows Media HipHop Music page! Check it out below!

King Klutch on Windows Media HipHop Music Page with “Valentine”

King Klutch is a Canadian based artist who straddles the world of hip-hop & R&B. Valentine is one of the more popular singles on his self titled debut album which launched this year. Both the single and the album have earned well deserved praise from countless media outlets since its release. For more info on King Klutch, visit www.kingklutch.com.

WindowsMedia.com, WindowsMedia.com/mobile and the Windows Media player for PC are all a division of Microsoft. They are considered an entertainment guide and receive roughly 250 million hits a month, with 14 million of those being unique. Although the majority of the traffic is from the US, they also receive a large amount of international traffic. Content is featured from around the world and spans television, music, film, video game and radio station content. If you’re interested in having your original entertainment content posted on Windows Media, please contact BASM at contact@bigapplestylemarketing.com.

BASM Gets a Tumblr!

Ermmm yeah…kinda self explanatory haha!

BASM Tumblr!

But yes…we’ve got a Tumblr y’all! Follow us at www.bigapplestyle.com. But we don’t just write about work – although right now we’re dominating posts with recaps from our East Meets West concert from Monday 3.26.12. But you’ll see everything on there from the super cute pup above to shoes, clothing & anything in between!

 

 

BASM Does SEO Right for JRock Clients with 1st page & 1st Entry Google Search Results!

Yes, we’re patting ourselves on the back – why? Because we do organically what other marketing firms do through (what we like to call) less than ethical means – TRUE ORGANIC Search Engine Optimization (SEO).

SEO is the practice of using content to increase the page rank on search engines organically. This means that officially, you shouldn’t be paying companies to rank you higher or paying people to write about your products and/or brands. But just through natural conversations, articles, etc – you should see your page rank improve. SEO is important because from a marketing perspective, it’s rare that consumers search Google past the 3rd page. In fact, you’re lucky if they go past page 1. So, if you aren’t ranked high enough, then people can’t find you. Now, BASM doesn’t normally offer SEO for all of our clients unless we’re truly handling their marketing campaigns – rather than just doing straight distribution deals (which is the bulk of our business). But for a few specific clients we do offer SEO.

As background, when BASM first signed fade and RIZE as clients, it took digging to page three to find them on Google. Note this is for the Google US site not other countries. This was a challenge for us because when we submit artists for distribution, the first thing that platforms do is – you guessed it – “Google them”. If someone has to dig to find an artist, it can be a bit more difficult to get them placed.

Fast forward to today & both RIZE and fade are dominating page 1 when you search “RIZE band” or “fade band” (the most common search terms we’re seeing through the BASM blog). This was through combined efforts of reaching out to national and international blogs to write stories (not for pay), Twitter posts (which fans loyally retweeted! Thx!), Facebook posts and of course the BASM blog. What’s more – we’re doubly pleased because it’s not just RIZE & fade’s official websites that are showing – but content from other sites that references them. So, for us – it totally plays towards relevance and helps to further solidify why both bands (which are awesome by the way & yes we’re biased) deserve to take their place in the US spotlight! Check it out for yourself!

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

 

East Meets West Benefit Concert Gains Blogger & Web Attention!!

We’re a few days away from our East Meets West concert slated for Webster Hall’s “The Studio” in NYC on Monday, March 26th and we’re already starting to get tons of feedback from supportive blogs & press! For those who aren’t familiar, East Meets West is a benefit concert aimed at bringing together two seemingly opposite-spectrum music genres (hip-hop & rock) and cultures/countries (Japan & the United States). All donations received prior to and during the event will be donated to a charity working directly to assist with the Tohoku disaster recovery efforts. Tohoku was the one region hardest hit in last year’s Japan Earthquake (3.11.11). Incidentally, the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant is located in the Tohoku region of Japan. So, yes there’s much work to be done!

The night will have four performances from two US acts and two Japanese acts:

HipHopGamer – www.hiphopgamershow.com

JR Junior – www.iamjrjunior.com

RIZE – www.triberize.net

fade – www.fadeonline.com

Entry is free but by RSVP ONLY – so if you haven’t done so already, please visit our Facebook event page, RSVP through Webster Hall or visit Guestcode.com and enter code 1097.

19 to enter, 21 to drink.

And did we mention that we’re going to have an Asahi Beer open bar all night long! Shouts to @AsahiBeerUSA for being our alcohol sponsor for the evening!

Anywho! We’re super psyched that some very nice blogs & local event sites have started posting & promoting our events. BASM would love to give a shout out to the following blogs and websites who’ve shown our upcoming event love!

Soletron.com

Sparkplugged.net

MyFreeConcert.com

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

For full details on East Meets West, visit our Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/events/145521058904035/

Questions about East Meets West? Contact Dorian@BigAppleStyleMarketing.com

RIZE & fade Featured in a JaME Article for Canadian Music Week

A short but sweet post since it is a bit late here in NYC!

As usual, we love it here at BASM when someone else writes about our clients and we’re happy to report that tonight we’re promoting an article that was published February 5th on the website Japanese Music Entertainment or JaME for short. The article basically highlights that both fade and RIZE will be acts showcasing their awesome talents at the upcoming Canadian Music Week festival (CMW) that is slated to take place in Toronto, Canada from March 21st through the 25th.

RIZE & fade article from JaME for their upcoming CMW appearance

And of course, both groups will be making a guest performance appearance in New York (fade’s first US performance, RIZE’s return US performance) in an “East Meets West” event immediately after CMW. The bands will be sharing the stage with some amazing up and coming US acts that are actively making moves in their respective genres.

Details regarding specific performance dates and venues for CMW are TBA – as well with their NYC appearance.

For more details about fade visit www.fadeonline.com

For more details about RIZE visit www.triberize.com

For updates regarding RIZE & fade’s CMW performance schedule, check out their respective artist pages on the CMW website:

fade CMW Artist Profile

RIZE CMW Artist Profile

For interview requests, booking and press inquiries for either RIZE or fade please contact:

Big Apple Style Marketing

Attn: Dorian Smith

Email: Dorian@BigAppleStyleMarketing.com

Fade Fans…Take a Tiny Poll for Me!

As many of you know, I don’t usually write in first person on the BASM blog – mainly because it’s not about me but about my clients or random marketing things I see online, on TV or in the world. But it’s been a busy few days for me with interesting and exciting news!

I (Dorian) am now the International Street Team Coordinator for fade. fade fans know that there’s been a huge push towards creating regional street teams and some of you have been interacting with me over the past few weeks. Which by the way…I think you guys rock and am so psyched to see this project blossom!

Now, if you’ve followed the BASM blog, you know that in 2011 I laid a lot of ground work for fade in terms of distributing their content. So, if 2011 was laying the foundation…2012 is the year we build the house. Do me a favor and take the little poll I created. It’s literally just one question and is oh so painless!

From there, I can seriously start creating targeted strategies for you street teamers! ^_^

And please share this post with other fade fans who may not be aware of it!

Note, I’ll also be posting a link to this blog post in the fade street team forum!

US fade Fans – It’s Call to Action Time! ^_^

Last year BASM laid a lot of great ground work for fade’s US entrance, including getting their three latest albums on Pandora & Jelli – two US based Internet radio stations – and added them to the Shazam catalog. We distributed them to some of the top CMJ college radio stations, had their audio tracks picked up by Promo Only (the largest music record pool in the US) and got them interviewed by music discovery blog Pens Eye View.

fade is set to do their first North American performance this March at the Canadian Music Week festival with plans to perform in NYC as well. But if you want fade to come to your neck o’ the woods (because let’s face it…as awesome as NYC is it isn’t the ONLY city in the US of A!) it’s time to make your voice heard.

We love that you’re so passionate about your love for all things fade & Jon, and want to bring them Stateside for the long term. But if we want to fast track fade’s arrival in the US…it’s time to take that fan passion to the next level! And this is wear BASM wants the fade & Free Jon fans to join us in the campaign to bring fade to the US & make them a fixture in the rock scene. This means:

• call your local radio stations
• call your college radio stations (if you’re in college)
• create accounts on Jelli.com and Pandora to request their songs (don’t make multiple accounts!!!!)
• go on MTV, VH1, Fuse & the like to request fade’s music videos
• contact your area’s venues & ask them to book fade
• promoting them on your favorite music/pop culture blogs (keep in mind your favorite site’s TOS – please don’t do anything that gets you banned!!!)

Do it daily, and get your friends involved! 

Why? Because as awesome as our contacts are as an “official” marketing & PR firm, it means a lot more to big platforms like radio stations, music networks and booking agencies when they get consistent requests from consumers. You guys give our outreach campaigns more strength. Together we can make fade a household name in 2012!!!!

A Shameless Self Plug! Re-Launching My First Novel: Mind Games

 

I know I know…I almost NEVER talk about myself on here. Sure, I wax poetic on marketing campaigns I love and the activities of my clients, but normally I keep myself out of the situation! But today, I decided to do a bit of self-promo. So, about 2 years ago, I wrote a romance suspense novel that really is more of a peek into the concept of the butterfly effect as it relates to human nature, love, and emotions. If you’re not familiar with the idea of the “butterfly effect”, it’s basically the belief that even the most inconsequential of actions by one person can create enormous after effects – both good and bad – in the lives of those around them (even to the extent of people that they don’t personally know…think 6 degrees of Kevin Bacon…I know…I’m running on about psych and sociological concepts!).

The title of my book is called Mind Games, and primarily follows my lead character, Michelle Beauford and examines how her life and that of her social circle is irrevocably changed after she meets a mysterious man while on vacation. So, long story short, I officially published this book last year just after New Year’s but I was so busy focusing on getting Big Apple Style Marketing off the ground that I really didn’t have time to do a proper promotional campaign for it. In fact, I didn’t even have time to make a proper piece of cover art for it. Right now, the book is exclusively available in e-book format on Amazon.com specifically for the Kindle and also on Smashwords.com for all other major ebook formats (i.e. iTunes, Sony, etc).

 

 

But the main reason that I’m doing this self plug is a bit of a two fold thing. One, I finally got off my duff (lol) and had a proper cover art piece created. And I have to give a shout out to MalArts for creating it for me! ^_^ And the other reason is because 10% from each book sale will be donated to charity. I’ve been doing this since the jump, but no one really knew because I wasn’t promoting it. So, a while back, I wrote about a charity that I support called Building Community Bridges or BCB.

BCB, is a not for profit charity that focuses on providing water pumps in West African villages to offer alternatives for clean drinking water. This is a severely vital necessity, since in many areas, not only are villagers trekking long miles just to access water, but they’re also sharing those same water supplies with local animals – leading to potential contamination from deadly diseases. In addition to providing access to clean and consistent drinking water, BCB also focuses on specifically training women in a variety of the villages with trades that offer financial self sustainability, education services, providing health care in areas where it is much needed and acting as an advocate for women and children, in countries that have a high incidence of child trafficking and gender imbalance.

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

So, as a Christmas/Holiday gift for that special someone in your life who loves to read, I suggest you snag a copy of my awesome book! Right now it’s on sale specifically on Amazon.com (also available in the UK, France, Germany, Italy & Spain) for $3.99 and on Smashwords.com for $3.99 as well. And as an added incentive, I’m offering the Smashwords version for 25% off (now $2.99) if you use the following coupon code: DY42G. The coupon is good until January 20th. And on both websites, you can read a sample chapter!

And for those who are curious, Mind Games is just the first in what I want to be a series of romance suspense novels that focuses on the gritty nature of love. Right now I’m currently working on the follow up novel, Nemesis.

For more details about Mind Games (synopsis, character overviews, etc), visit www.mindgamesbook.com.

To purchase Mind Games you can either visit Amazon.com or Smashwords.com!

For more information about Building Community Bridges, visit www.bcombridges.org!

For up to the minute updates, follow my Mind Games Twitter: @MindGamesBook

“Buy Facebook Fans” Spammers Targeting Blog Comments for Advertising Pingbacks

So, as everyone knows, I abhor “quick follow” social media companies. You know what I’m talking about, the kinds of companies that promise you 100,000 followers or Facebook friends/likes in less than a week. Companies fall for it and then wonder why those follows, likes and friends never amount to more than the number at the top of their Twitter page or Facebook side bar. Seriously, organic is always best. But I’m not on here to wax poetic about why companies, entertainers, brands and small businesses shouldn’t use those marketing scams. I’m on here to talk about a particular Facebook spammer company/website that seems to think that if they keep linking to me via the comments section of my “about” page on this blog or to my client articles that I post, that it will somehow boost their rating. Normally, I’ve been ignoring and just deleting, but enough is enough.

Yes, I’m putting you on blast, “Buy Facebook Fans”. Everyday for the past two months, you’ve written 20+ comments on my blog hoping that I’ll foolishly post them. Clearly it’s a bot as every comment comes to the same conclusion: “check out this blog that we’re linking to.”

Facebook scammer

To consumers and businesses out there, be aware, the websites listed don’t actually link to real websites as the user has just bought the domains and is clearly funneling the traffic elsewhere. But to the curious, since this website owner feels compelled to keep coming back to my site in particular, the IPs listed above are known to spam multiple forums and comment sections for all kinds of unscrupulous spam messages.

For the full list of spammer activity coming from this particular IP, visit: http://www.stopforumspam.com/ipcheck/66.219.25.239.

If you’ve been the victim of this obnoxious spammer’s busywork, don’t despair. You can report abuse to “abuse@netriplex.com” which is the hosting service for this spammer. In fact, here’s the full registry information for this “Buy Facebook Fans” hosting company: http://whois.domaintools.com/66.219.25.239. Trust me, I’m about to send them an email myself with this post as proof. And don’t feel bad for the spammer. They’re probably churning through IPs as fast as they can because of the amount of times consumers are clicking “Spam” or their IPs are getting blocked.

And as a note to all future would be spammers:

Be advised that I used to work for a direct marketing company that developed consumer marketing offers and implemented our own mailings (usually 2M emails sent per day). If there’s one thing I know how to do, it’s a backend data search to find details on a domain, IP, email address and more. So…up next will be the Russian spammers who keep sending me comments about printer ink…in Russian.