Brad Powers

After her guest performance on Britain’s Got Talent, Avril Lavigne expressed her respect for this season’s contestants. She said this year’s level of competition has been very high, and that it takes courage to perform in such a competition.

“Everyone did a really great job. Sometimes it’s tough to get up on stage and especially having judges in front of you. Even I felt judged… It’s a hard thing just to get up here and do it.”

She added that her favorites were Jay Worley and James Hobley.

Tags: Avril Lavigne, Brad Powers, Britain's Got Talent, Music Industry, Singing
Posted in Brad Powers, Music Industry, News |  | Comments Off

Cheryl Cole, the British superstar, has been announced as one of the new judges on Simon Cowell’s The X Factor. Cole has been a judge on the UK version of the show for the past three years.

Simon said “I’m thrilled for Cheryl. She is massively excited about this show, and has been fantastic to work with. She is also a complete brat! Most importantly, this girl can spot talent.”

Cole is successful as both a solo artist and as a member of Girls Aloud. Once married to British soccer player Ashley Cole, Cole is now said to be dating Dancing with the Stars professional Derek Hough.

Tags: Brad Powers, Cheryl Cole, Girls Aloud, Music Industry, Simon Cowell, The X Factor
Posted in Brad Powers, Music Industry, News |  | Comments Off

Taylor Swift was honored with the 46^th Annual Academy of Country Music Awards on Sunday night, much to the delight of her fans.

While accepting the Entertainer of the Year trophy, Swift was very emotional. She shared that this was the first time that she has ever cried over an award.

Other nominees included Toby Keith, Brad Paisley, Jason Aldean, Miranda Lambert and Keith Urban.

After the award ceremony, Ms. Swift thanks her fans profusely for the experience, and then went on stage with the performers to treat the audience to her song “Mean.”

Tags: ACM Awards, Entertainer of the Year, Music Industry, Taylor Swift, Taylor Swift "Mean"
Posted in Brad Powers, Music Industry |  | Comments Off

Singer George Michael has recently acknowledged the Spice Girls as major influences on British music. The Spice Girls, who include Victoria Beckham, Emma Bunton, Melanie Brown, Geri Halliwell and Melanie Chisholm, became famous in the 90s, changing the music industry for females everywhere with their “Girl Power” mantra.

Michael believes the group served as the inspiration for young girls like Adele and Jessie J.
“I know people don’t take them seriously, but I think the Spice Girls changed the entire landscape and British music massively under-exploited female talent,” Michael said on a radio show. “These girls now that are out there are absolutely giving the Americans a run for their money, they come from that generation that ran around the playgrounds going ‘girl power!’ and I think that’s fantastic.”

Tags: Adele, Brad Powers, George Michael, Geri Halliwell, Jessie J, Melanie Brown, Music Industry, Spice Girls, The Spice Girls, Victoria Beckham
Posted in Brad Powers, Music Industry |  | Comments Off

Some people – for whatever reason – had to leave school without getting the full education they wanted or needed. Now an opportunity has presented itself that is enabling them to return to the world of education…online. For those individuals who are working 40 hours a week and taking care of their kids, finally there is an option for them to complete their education. eLearners.com has provided a solution for these people, with a site specifically dedicated to then called Project Working Mom 2010, giving “up to 285 full-tuition scholarships from eight accredited online institutions worth about $5 million in total to working mothers and fathers.” This project is not the first of its kind however. It is actually “the fourth in a series of programs run by eLearners.com to ‘tackle the crisis of the undereducated adult population in America.’”

Tags: Brad Powers, Online Education
Posted in Brad Powers, Online Education |  | Comments Off

There are always many exciting and fun developments in the area of online education. One of the recent ones is Evenbrite.com, which is very useful for those looking to enroll students in a workshop or course. The beauty of Evenbrite.com is that it facilitates online registration by its capacity to take credit card payments; can manage a waitlist for cancellations (if the class gets too full) and put number caps on events. A cute gimmick of the program is that it lets you print name tags for the students and certificates for when they graduate. The program has no cost when used for events. For those selling tickets the charge is 2.5% plus $0.99 for every ticket sold.

Tags: Brad Powers, Online Education
Posted in Brad Powers, Online Education |  | Comments Off

The online music industry may have seen better days, but the internet is certainly a good tool for publicizing new tracks and albums to a vast range of people with very little effort. Music videos are a good example of this. Sites like YouTube can rapidly increase the popularity of songs in younger crowds. One of the more popular videos today is teenage heartthrob Justin Bieber’s “Pray”, which is posted below.

Tags: Brad Powers, Justin Bieber, Music Industry
Posted in Brad Powers, Music Industry |  | Comments Off

After the CD market flat lined, the music industry turned to digital music sales to replace their primary source of revenue. At first this went beautifully, with individual song sales growing 27% in 2008. Much to the dismay of the industry, however, sales were down to 8% in 2009, and a mere 1% this past year. The slowing digital music market is a result of free, legal ways to listen to music on the web.

Eric Garland, the chief executive of Big Champagne, a digital music consulting firm, says the change suggests another shift in the market- one leading to free and legal alternative music sources like YouTube and Vevo.
“What’s changed is that people are listening to vastly more free music without breaking the rules,” he said. “that can have a cannibalization effect.”

The decline in the market and the increased price of top-selling songs on the iTunes store occurred simultaneously. Previously, the majority of digital music sales came from that online store. Now, with the price upped 30%, from 99 cents to $1.29, the situation has changed once again.

“The vast majority of the top 200 digital tracks are now $1.29,” explains David Bakula, a Nielsen music analyst. “So while sales of singles are flat, their revenue is absolutely going up.”

The increase in price for singles has boosted the $9.99 album market, upping digital album sales 13% last year.

Tags: Brad Powers, CD Market, Digital Music Industry, Music Industry
Posted in Brad Powers, Marketing, Music Industry |  | Comments Off

Experts, such as Brad Powers, understand that the popularity and vastness of the web can be both an advantage and a disadvantage for online marketers. On one hand, the internet can be inexpensive and is visited by millions of people from all over the world. On the other hand, because it is so big, it is hard to get your name out, as there are probably thousands of people just like you, competing for the world’s attention. What, then, can you do to stand out? One of the most successful techniques, if done correctly, is viral marketing. This method uses word of mouth (or in this case, word of mouse), and promotes a product, brand or idea by being passed around on social networking sites. In order to do this, you need to come up with a creative way to interest the website visitors, such as a photo, video or interesting article.

One idea for such a hook is giveaways and competitions. People love free things, and love to compete. This way, you’ll also have the user’s information, such as their email address, and will be able to update them about your business. Make the competitions easy to enter. The prizes need not be big, just symbolic.

Tags: Brad Powers, Online Marketing, viral marketing
Posted in Brad Powers, internet marketing, viral marketing |  | Comments Off

This video is a perfect example of a successful viral marketing campaign. The soap and cosmetics brand Dove released this video to the public, and it spread incredibly fast. Online marketing experts like Brad Powers are very familiar with advertising methods such as this.

Tags: Brad Powers, Dove Evolution, viral marketing
Posted in Brad Powers, internet marketing, viral marketing |  | Comments Off