• by Laurie Sullivan  @lauriesullivan, July 16, 2009

Indie artist Michelle Mangione has teamed with former Jefferson Airplane lead singer Grace Slick to launch an online contest promoting her second CD. The marketing campaign taps search engine optimization (SEO), and Twitter, Facebook, MySpace and other social networking sites to give away a guitar signed by Slick.

Mangione took a SEO class to understand how search engines pull information from Web sites, index the information, and rank the listings at the top of search queries. The SEO strategy to promote her newly released 13-track CD, "What is a Saint," ties keywords "Michelle Mangione" with "Grace Slick," so when someone searches on one term, they get information on both. Other keywords include "singer" and "drummer."

Slick, the iconic songwriter and lead signer for Jefferson Airplane (later Starship), has turned toward art for self-expression, but went back into the studio to collaborate with Mangione on lyrics for two songs. Those songs include "Love Disappears," and the CD's title track, "What is a Saint," which asks "Are you ready to be someone to a stranger of less fortune. Would you offer up your smile just for the love of it. What is a saint to you?"

The guitar giveaway promoted on Twitter, Facebook, MySpace and Mangione's Web site, aims to get the word out about the new music. Each 10 CDs sold gives the person one ticket entered into a drawing to win the guitar that Slick autographed. Referrals are valid, Mangione says, those trying to win the Lace electric guitar need not buy the CDs and resell them.

Future plans will prompt Mangione to explore Google Analytics, too. While musicians have been using social media to promote an event or music, there has been a move toward measuring results through Google Analytics, says Avinash Kaushik's, Google Analytics Evangelist, during an interview last month.

Popular music festivals have begun pairing social media with Web analytics to track results. For example, WebShare supports Google Analysts for C3 Presents, the promoters of Lollapalooza and Austin City Limits.

Slick believes online marketing works well for young musicians, but doesn't quite get the concept of Twitter. "None of us are interesting enough to hear about every little thing we do," she says. "If you think about it, the name Twitter is really stupid. I'm not sure what I would have called it if I named it."

Mangione and Slick agree social networks have changed the music industry. Slick says musicians like Michelle can figure out online marketing, but at 70 she chooses not to take the time. "If you're not signed by a label, putting your music on the Internet is a good idea," she says. "The problem is when you're going online to find new music, what do you punch into [the search engine,] 'new stuff,' and see what you get in return?"

Reaching out to fans and managing the wave of emails has been a learning process for Mangione. CDs are sold online. Songs are distributed through Amazon and iTunes. Hundreds of emails come in daily on Facebook alone, and sometimes one person will send 20, banging them out on their Blackberry to get her attention. But Mangione loves the "intimate connection" social networks allow her to forge with fans. "It's all about keeping an open mind and exploring things like tweeting," she says. "A lot of musician in the computer age just like to play music, and it's really difficult for artists to get out and do marketing, even online."

Aside from promoting her work through SEO, social media and radio station interviews, the emerging artist also beats the pavement the old-fashioned way by taking CDs into local Los Angeles-based stores to put the music on consignment. But even that has a twist: many of the old record stores have been replaced by digital downloads, so she hits hair salons or mom and pop coffee shops willing to peddle 10 CDs on the front counter for $10 each.