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Thanks again

I'm rushing out to DJ a prom night but just a quickie

to Gmmm1

then nothing wrong with your money and apologies if I offended you in any way

its just many of you are kinda like family to me (heck when I had the time I spent more time here than with my family!)

I've been with you guys in a cyber world for 5 years I've laughed and cried and bored y'all with my life story and I wasn't sure if I could take money from good friends but, hadn't thought of it as being offensive so, of course when its set up I'll be glad for any of you to be my first customers. Without out the selfless help and encouragement of many of you I wouldn't be anywhere near as good so I kind of owe you one really?

Book me in to Seattle anytime and I'll be right there LOL


Lee

Lee,
I probably owe you $5 anyway from what I've learned from your videos on your blog already! I use your "noodling" quite often in my playing. I'd be interested in paying for a lesson or two. I say go for it and let us know when you're up and running! And here's a suggestion for a name for your program..."Seaside's Piano Noodle Magic For All In A Flash!" What do you think? (hee hee)

That is too funny!!

catchy though?


Lee

I don't want to bust your bubble, but to be honest, I think most of you are really missing the point here.

You guys are already talking about communication and targetting and SEO&Adwords; whilst the most important fase is just completely forgotten?

What about the market, does it really want or need this?

In my opinion, i'd say no. There are so many free piano tutorials available at Youtube, that you'd have to focus on very hard or rather unknown songs. That would mean your target group would shrink significantly.

Sure, there will be some people willingly to pay, but will your revenues outrun your costs (hosting, time,..)

However I am aware of youtube tutorialists who apply an e-commerce system (cfr. Shawn Cheek)) but he uses an alternative learning method. In the end you'll just have to convince people that your tutorial is worth their money.

Seaside Lee:

Just a question to ponder:

You put in an enormous effort learning the Piano Magic way to play, and therefore even with possibly your own twist, your own approach to the piano would most likely be from the PM perspective. How would you teach piano-related material without really teaching what PM already teaches?

The reason I think this is a perfectly valid question (rather than being rhetoric or argumentative) is that I have wrestled with this issue myself. My primary instrument is the guitar, and though I have a long history with the instrument, I am always learning new things. I have worked a lot, especially lately to truly master Robert Conti's materials and have really come to appreciate the depth of what he teaches. I suspect that my relationship to Conti's materials is similar to your relationship to PM - I can truly say that I owe my current playing level to the quality of what Conti teaches. Any good and honest student will always credit his or her teacher(s). What I am really unsure of is, now that I have matured to some extent my chord melody abilities on the guitar (translate to piano as "cocktail style"), how could I teach a song without "giving away" (selling, whatever...) what one would pay Robert Conti to learn as I have? It isn't some "secret" that no player ever knew before, but instead it is Conti's way of making it accessible to the average guy that is very unique. I don't want to be in competition with Robert Conti by being yet another source for essentially the same information (or at least information that is heavily based on what he already teaches). He worked hard to carve out his market space, and I certainly don't deserve to cut in on that.

If I could resolve this issue, I could easily come up with literally hundreds of chord melody arrangements of standards, Beatle tunes, show tunes, etc. to teach via sheet notation and/or videos. The gist of what Conti teaches is the VOCABULARY that allows you to play any tune any way I want to in real time. I can therefore take, say, a Beatles tune and play it several different ways with very little effort (now that I have "paid my dues" ahead of time). Each of those several different ways could be another video lesson. But Robert Conti already teaches the vocabulary, and anyone who "cares enough" (David Sudnow's term) to learn the vocabulary can do it themselves without me teaching them anything.

On the other hand, I am thinking about starting another blog that would help those studying Conti's materials to maximize their efforts based on my experiences. That, I would not charge for and I am reasonably sure that Conti would not mind, since it would enhance his students' experience rather than my cutting into his market.

I don't have an answer for this quandary and am raising it here because I feel it is relevant in that you and I are both considering a similar pursuit. Maybe I am creating a "problem" where there really isn't one at all, but I would need a clear conscience to go ahead with my own venture.

Now, I see that Edward Weiss is in here with some ideas. I did sign up for his online materials for a short while. I feel that his materials are good - he knows what he is talking about. But more importantly (for this conversation), he does not appear to be rehashing what somebody else already does. His approach to teaching is uniquely his own, so I don't see the issues I am raising here as being applied to his work. Maybe you can present yourself completely distinctly from your work with PM. I know that what Robert Conti teaches will be central to anything I have to offer. The man really is a genius in imparting is knowledge to others, and I would be little more than a shadow of that.

Tony

This is a most interesting topic to me.

I currently teach piano and guitar to beginner/intermediate students, in their homes, and for several reasons,(mostly health related) am branching into teaching via the internet, which I can do from home.

I have set up a website with some free piano lessons, using video, and also begun to introduce lessons via Skype, which shows great promise.

The web based piano lessons, are attracting many users from all over the world, according to my stats, and email responses.

I already make individual video tutorials on learning a particular song, (mostly on guitar) for some existing students, but so far, this is a private arrangement, so I have not had to consider the copyright implications.

Although there is much competition from YouTube lesson videos, I still believe that people are prepared to pay for a quality lesson, from a source that will be ongoing, and able to adapt to individual needs, and offer the 'personal touch'.
Although, other sources are available, I believe that a personal student/teacher relationship, is worth paying for.

I will be following this thread with interest, hoping to learn from the experiences of those already making an income using internet technology.

Here's the thing about the music lessons market - it will always be expanding because people are ravenous for new information.

As far as having too much of the same for too small a market, I'll share a secret with you. They're not buying the product so much as they will be buying Seaside Lee's expertise. And since there's only one Lee (last I checked) the value is increased.

I'll never forget the time Howard Stern had some Asian DJ's on his show. They couldn't figure out the key to his success. Finally, Howard gave up and screamed ... it's my personality! That's why people listen. They want me.

The same thing can be applied to conservative talk radio hosts as well. It's the personality they're really buying.

Hi Edward

Yes I think you are right about personality and thank the lord there is only one Seaside_Lee huh?

Hi Rob

Yes I hope this thread pans out in a useful way for others (I have the video done) now for the hard part uploading to my webpages at my hosted domain then figuring out how to do the paypal button thing? and how to set up my autoresponders to direct people to the download page once they have paid for it? This is going to be quite a steep learning curve but, I'm intrigued to see how it pans out and if I can do this?

Hi TonyB

Yes I have those concerns too but, Mike always encourages us to create our own individual unique voice and no matter how I try to escape it (I have one! LOL)

Mike teaches how to play by ear and he is the best at it (in my opinion)...my video will not be teaching you how to play by ear it will be just one song but, it will allow anyone who watches it to develop their own way of playing free from the chains of having to play as written in a style similar to mine I guess. So, it definitely will not tread on Mikes toes

Again thanks for the replies


Lee

Okay guys

I have a teaser video in the can

and a 40 minute tutorial uploaded and stored that can be downloaded

But, I am at a standstill because I cannot figure out

How to set it up so that if someone pays maybe by paypal? or if I use that credit card thing? mahlzeit suggested earlier how do I make it so that when somebody orders I can send out an automatic email to give them the link to the video? or after they've paid automatically send them to a download page containing the link?

Are there any websites that teach this kind of stuff?...because I'm lost


Lee

Hi Seaside,

Paypal has a feature where buyers can click a link to get back to your website. It's all secure so no worries there.

Create a page where buyers go after the sale and that's that!

That's just what I need Edward

thank you


I shall check it out over the weekend and try and get it to work? LOL


Lee

When marketing this, remember that image sells.
You need a catchy name for this (don't call it
"tutorial," because that word has unpleasant
associations), and pictures of women in alluring
outfits playing the piano, etc., and a product will
sell, even if it is technically worthless.

Gyro, you mean something like this...



Seaside Lee Taught Me How to Play Piano!

I seem confident don't I? That's because of Seaside. You see, I couldn't play a lick before. Now ... I can play. Really play.

Thanks Gyro - pictures of women in alluring
outfits playing the piano rather than tutorial - got it!


Edward I think that's PERFECT!!! wouldn't matter if she couldn't play a lick really would it?


Lee

Okay folks

Drum roll...

It is finally here the world premiere

of my first "ultra-sexy" piano tutorial

Learn to Play "I Dreamed A Dream with Seaside" TM

[Click Here] to Visit my site

The first 250 customers will get it for $4.95 so that should cover everyone here who wants to add to the "get Seaside Lee back on his feet after all his disasters!!" fund

Seriously though please if you do purchase it let me know if it works (fingers crossed) I think I need a good lie down now (this has been so hard to put together I can't believe it!!)

I am trusting you guys to give me good feed-back on the video, the ordering page, the ordering process etc etc


regards


Lee

Lee, you are brilliant. I just ordered. The ordering process was a breeze. Your homepage is EXCELLENT!

Is this the same Seaside Lee who didn't have a clue as to how to go about this just a little over a week ago?

You have made GREAT progress.

Good luck with this.

Barb

PS - I just received the confirmation email. Now, how do I download the 40 minute tutorial?

Hi Barbara you should have been sent back immediately to the download page once you bought it (grrr!)

The first person has successfully downloaded so I don't understand why it didn't do it for you?

I shall PM you the page to go to

yes it is the same Seaside LOL (Edward has helped me a lot so props to Edward )


Lee

Lee - It is downloading now. My mistake in that I did not click the "Return to Merchant" button. Once I clicked that, it took me to the download page.

Hi Lee,

First of all, congratulations! That is a stunning website you have there. :-)

Just one question. What was the procedure for obtaining permission to teach this song on a commercial basis?
I would like to do something similar, but possibly for guitar.
I have done some private videos for students, but wary of going public, without the required permissions.

Once again, congrats, and I wish your venture, all success.

Rob

Hi Rob

It may be different in Australia but you have to get a PRS licence over here and then I will have to pay about $0.15 per download (so I'm hoping I have to pay about about a million dollars in commission by the end of the year )

There is some good advice earlier in this thread

this has been the steepest learning curve I have ever known to get things working as they are now and there still needs some tweaking but, I'm giving myself a gold star for effort!


Lee