Mike McCready

While there is no one formulaic way to success, we’re starting to see an increasing number of success stories emerge on Music Xray and I’d like to share the stories of two artist and how they each got it done differently.

It’s an attention economy and Music Xray is willing to pay you a few cents for yours if you’ll kindly click the mouse a couple times to provide your opinion of a song or an artist.

Failure is a necessary step on the path to success. As I once heard it put, good judgement comes from making mistakes. Making mistakes is the result of bad judgement. That’s has also been my experience.

Many emerging artists are too young to remember the days when labels, publishers and the like would not even accept unsolicited material. In my day, you’d send your demo tape or CD to a label and most likely you’d never know if it even arrived, let alone get any acknowledgement that your music had been listened to.

Getting guaranteed feedback from top A&R executives, program directors, music supervisors and more is a watershed for musicians and song owners and I am proud that Music Xray is again the first to make something like this a reality.

Today, Music Xray has launched a focus group feature that enables anyone to conduct a focus group for their song(s). It provides a way for musicians and industry professionals to know immediately how the market will react to a song, which market demographic is most receptive to the song and if the song has serious hit potential.

You pay $200 and Kyra Larock will organize a 30 minute face to face meeting for you with an A&R representative of your choice from any of the following labels: Jive (Sony), Capitol (EMI) or Universal or Bad Boy. I mean, seriously, if you’re serious about your career and you think you have what it takes, why wouldn’t you leap at this opportunity?

I have already initiated the search process to replace myself as CEO of Music Xray. It’s time.

While I’m confident we can get the job done with our current team, I believe Music Xray could use the skills of a seasoned entrepreneur/executive in this space who has previously taken a company from our current stage through a successful exit. There are a few in my network to whom I’m reaching out and we’re also meeting new people. There’s no rush but sooner is better than later given all we have to do in 2011.

Music Xray is a platform used by over 600 music industry professionals to receive song submissions from artists, acts, & rights holders. The company is announcing the launch of a new song to opportunity matching service called S₂O that automatically pairs songs to opportunities.

Artists simply upload their songs at MusicXray.com and wait to be alerted when appropriate opportunities for their songs are identified. The new service is completely free and marks the first time music analysis technology has been combined with other talent-identifying tools to form the world’s first and only enhanced A&R platform.

I read about this in one of Bob Lefsetz’ emails and when I watched the video I knew I had to pass it along. This is so interesting and for anyone who doesn’t know what goes into taking a song from a guy and a guitar to a full blown record it’s a thrilling peek [...]

This week I feature Jonathan Clay, Mark Johns & Esteven Johnson & Mary Sarah. I discuss how to network with industry professionals in the music business. Great new music and discussion about the music industry. Listen here or subscribe via iTunes Alternatively, subscribe via rss here.