PG Music Home Forums PG Music Product Forums Band-in-a-Box for Windows PETITION: Mr. Gannon, hook up Deaconblues09 with an affiliate marketing link!!!

We’ve all seen the posts…

Dozens of them over the years. “BiaB does not do “modern music,” or the music you see on the top of today’s charts.” “BiaB’s userbase is aging out.” “Is BiaB relevant today?,” etc, etc,

As I see things, from a market niche perspective, here’s the good news: Band in a Box currently has basically zero competitors.

The bad news? The amount of people who actually care about that is decreasing at alarming rates with each passing year. Furthermore, over the past few years a number of programs and apps have been released that can create backing tracks from chords in a multitude of styles, that cost a fraction of what BiaB’s most basic package will set you back. There are also a number of VSTs on the market that use real recorded phrases from actual instruments that will play along to chord progressions. Granted, they do not come close to the quality and variety you can get from RTs, but they also have a robust marketing presence, and are getting better by the year.

In my own experience, as a person who is either active on, or lurk, dozens of music practice, production, software, and gear-related websites and forums, I find it extremely rare to find anything on BaiB. If you want to learn more about Reaper, about Native Instrument products, about Garageband, or any other number of products/programs out there, you will likely easily find scores of videos, blogs, and whatnot to learn from. However, with BiaB you basically have PG Music’s tutorials, Joanne Cooper’s content, and a then a number of scattered videos and blog pages spanning over that past few decades.

Where am I going with this? Well, basically I’m an attorney who has an incredible passion for music, and who would ideally like to make music my full-time job. I’ve been playing guitar since my teens, and picked up bass in my early 20s. I initially purchased BiaB for practicing and learning, but over the years have become more interested in production. Not only have I watched every video produced by PG Music since its inception, and pored over each page of the manual at least a half dozen times, I have also spent hours on end watching YT videos and reading tutorials on MIDI, Reaper, and other aspects of music production.

For a while now I have been toying with the idea of creating a BiaB centered blog with an associated YT channel. There are dozens of topics I would love to make posts and videos about. Some examples:

An entire series of videos on how MIDI works, and how to use MIDI in Band in a Box. (For instance, I generated this little snippet off of a single held piano MIDI track! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eSJTQSI12gw&feature=youtu.be ) (BTW, I know, this particular audio was not optimized for YT, so it does not sound very full or rich, but you can get the idea of what it sounded like in my DAW. I want to learn how to optimize videos for YT, but more on that in a second).

Regular (monthly or bi-weekly) videos and/or blog posts demonstrating my favorite MIDI and audio VSTs/effects to use in BiaB

Tips and tricks for interesting and creative uses of BiaB for learning guitar and/or bass.

How to produce contemporary music styles with BaiB such as Trap, Trance, Dubstep, Chillout, Trip-Hop, Downtempo, etc,), as well as old school hip-hop in the style of Cypress Hill, Wu Tang Klan A Tribe Called Quest…

General mixing and song arrangement tips, and more.

So much more!

So what’s this whole “affiliate program link” thing about?

Briefly, an affiliate program is where a vendor (such as PG Music) creates a special kind of link that affiliates (Youtubers and bloggers) can include in, on, or below their posts and videos. The affiliate gets paid when the person watching their video or reads their blog either clicks a link, buys a product, or takes some other action as specifically set out in the affiliate agreement.

So say I publish a video on Youtube titled “How to Make a Kendrick Lamar Style Beat with Band in a Box” and include a link to BiaB below the video, I could get paid if that person either A) clicks the link to view BiaB, or B) actually buys it (obviously the amount an affiliate gets paid varies greatly based on whether they agree on a click or sale!).

Affiliate marketing is a win-win-win situation. The vendor sells more units, and the affiliate gets a percentage of the sales, or certain amount for a click which the vendor determines represents a advantageous ROI. The third winner is you. You guys get to watch well-produced content without paying a cent. I know all this as a consumer of affiliate videos and purchaser of products. I have spent more money than I care to admit over the years on products I was convinced I wanted not because of any video put out by the vendor, but because I saw how someone else used it before making my purchase decision. And after I purchase the product I continue to watch the videos as they come out. And new videos keep coming out because the affiliate wants to generate more leads (and also because the affiliate loves the product, and enjoys being a "brand ambassador" of sorts).

Note that there are thousands of affiliate programs out there, and this is not a novel concept...the vast majority of Youtubers make little, if nothing, off Youtube advertisements (which is why affiliate programs and Patreon are the way folks that are posting actual informative content, instead of stupid fail or cringe compilation videos, actually get paid).


Now, if I was going to do this full time, and actually publish sleek and well-produced content, I would have to learn video editing inside out, purchase some decent equipment and recording gear, and, you know, spend hours a day recording and editing content that is optimized to reach the widest audience.

I’ve been reading a ton on SEO, marketing analytics and the like, and I think I can increase BiaB’s visibility and overall sales exponentially. But before throwing all my time, energy, effort, and some cash into this, with the idea of it being something I can (eventually) make a living from, I need to know that I could actually make a profit in return for all my time and efforts.

As someone who these days mostly listens to Trap, Dubstep, Downtempo, and other contemporary music styles, (despite my username which is actually a reference to my all-time favorite band, Steely Dan), I actually think that BiaB can be an incredible tool in the arsenal of every music producer, student, hobbyist, and tinkerer.

In fact, I’ve been noticing a lot more “organic/real” instrumentation in the music coming out lately. Also, the VST plugin (which, incidentally, I HATED in its original 2019 iteration), is an absolute triumph and potential game changer for reasons I could get into at length… In fact, if BaiB’s plugin were integrated more smoothly with Pipeline’s,...I don’t even have words to express the possibilities, but that’s another story.

So to conclude; Band-in-a-Box, warts and all, is an incredible product, and I want to prove to the world that BiaB is not just for old people to make old music, but that it’s also a tool for the younger generation(s) to learn, to use in new ways, and even invent new forms of music for all to enjoy and appreciate!

So, Mr. Gannon, (if you’re reading this), whaddya say?!

P.S. In case y'all are wondering why I’m splashing this wall of text here in the forums, it’s because I searched Google to determine whether BiaB had established an affiliate marketing program, and found a post in the forums where Mr. Gannon advised someone who had a similar inquiry to contact Callie in marketing. I sent an email to Callie on the matter 3 weeks ago and have not heard back from her, so I figured I’ll post it here, and maybe I’d have better luck).