Posted: Feb 10, 2020

Category: Touring

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**Guest post by Fang from Lords of the Trident, the most METAL band on earth!

"Episode 16 of Words of Fang. Eventually, your band will be faced with the daunting task of touring outside of your home country. Here are some Dos and Don'ts about DIYing your cross-country-conquest!"

Posted: Feb 3, 2020

Category: Promotion

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**Guest post written by Rahil Verma of Promoly, a software that helps record labels and publicists keep on track with their promotion.

"Even though any promo is better than none, it’s undeniable that some music marketing strategies are better and more effective than others. That means that choosing how you’ll promote your music is half the battle. These are the six music approaches we recommend you start out with."

Posted: Jan 27, 2020

Category: The Musician Business

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**Guest post by Jeff Lysyczyn, music industry veteran, educator, and creator of Music Business After Dark.

"The fifth episode of Music Business After Dark, a series of informative vlogs by music industry veteran and educator Jeff Lysyczyn."

Posted: Jan 21, 2020

Category: Show Booking

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**Guest post written by Tom Jordan, originally featured on The Legit Musician blog.

"You can make [booking shows] easier on yourself by using some effective strategies that help me book 200 shows a year. I pay my bills exclusively with music, and I’ll tell you how...If you’re prepared up front, you’ll avoid a lot of frustration. Preparation is important and makes a HUGE difference in outcomes."

Posted: Jan 13, 2020

Category: Touring

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**Guest post written by Vinnie Hines, Co-Owner of Artist Collective AKA @ac_vinnie.

"As a music consultant for Artist Collective, I constantly hear the complaints and excuses of artists all around the country about the industry and the idea of ‘touring’...so to start chipping away at the brainwash, let’s knock down these 5 HUGE LIES ABOUT TOURING IN 2020..."

Posted: Jan 6, 2020

Category: The Musician Business

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**Guest post by Fang from Lords of the Trident, the most METAL band on earth!

"Episode 15 of Words of Fang featuring John McLucas, discusses some of the positive aspects of being in a band."

Posted: Dec 23, 2019

Category: The Musician Business

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**Guest post written by Scott Ronald, musician, songwriter, and creator of GuitarGearHeadz.com.

"Before signing a deal, artists need to be able to weigh up what the label can do for their career versus the rights, control and income they are signing away. These are four important questions you need to ask yourself when evaluating a label offer, in order to ensure that you make the best decision for your career..."

Posted: Dec 16, 2019

Category: The Musician Business

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**Guest post written by Scott Aumann, originally featured on The Legit Musician blog.

"Most successful musicians...had a goal and did what they needed to do in order to achieve it. Lots of talented people give up too soon...Nothing comes easy and it usually takes many years to get to a point where you become successful. Remember, persistence wins the game."

Posted: Dec 9, 2019

Category: Social Media

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**Guest post written by Wassim Awess, founder of the Music Career Guide.

"Understanding the importance of social media in this day and age is not enough to take you to the next level. It’s very much about testing, seeing what works out for you when you use the platform and how you use it. Here are 8 tips to help you maximize your efforts with social media marketing..."

Posted: Dec 2, 2019

Category: The Musician Business

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**Guest post by Wade Sutton of Rocket to the Stars Artist Services.

"I just received an e-mail from an agent/producer in LA pitching a pop artist he is working with and the bio is literally one of the biggest travesties in the history of modern writing. And, yes, I e-mailed him telling him so."

Posted: Nov 25, 2019

Category: The Musician Business

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**Guest post written by Nicholas Rubright, founder and editor at Dozmia, and lead guitarist for the band Days Gone By.

"Sometimes, the income from even a full-time job isn’t enough to get the finances you need [for a music career]. Thankfully, we live in the age of the internet - where there’s opportunity to make money from anywhere that has an internet connection! Here are 5 ways to make money online that are great for musicians who need extra cash - even while on tour."

Posted: Nov 18, 2019

Category: Fundraising

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**Guest post written by Tom Jordan, originally featured on The Legit Musician blog.

"Unfortunately, many bands often shy away from sites like gofundme and Kickstarter, because of the way they’ve been misused by others. Many artists fear that they’ll look like beggars or scam artists, taking advantage of people. How does one ask people for money without sounding like a huge dick?"

Posted: Nov 11, 2019

Category: Online Presence

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**Guest post by Randy Chertkow and Jason Feehan of MakingMoneyWithMusic.com. Reprinted with permission.

"What not every musician knows about or takes advantage of is there's a second way to make ad revenue off of your videos -- even if you can't become a YouTube Partner. The key is to register your entire back catalog of music with YouTube's ContentID service..." 

Posted: Nov 4, 2019

Category: Online Presence

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**Guest post by Randy Chertkow and Jason Feehan of MakingMoneyWithMusic.com. Reprinted with permission.

"YouTube is the top music search engine in the world, so having your music there is critical. But when it comes to making money, YouTube has raised the threshold for creators to become a YouTube Partner. This is important since it’s only Partners who can monetize the ads being played on their channel and videos...In this article, we'll share two more critical ways to boost views, hours, and subscribers."

Posted: Oct 28, 2019

Category: The Musician Business

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**Guest post written by Ari Herstand. This is an excerpt from his book How to Make It in the New Music Business (second edition). This post was originally published on Music Connection.

"Before you release your next single or album, make sure you set it up for the best chance of success. Don’t forget to do these 26 things before the release..."

Posted: Oct 21, 2019

Category: Online Presence

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**Guest post by Randy Chertkow and Jason Feehan of MakingMoneyWithMusic.com. Reprinted with permission.

"YouTube is essential for getting your music discovered and heard. But to make money from your channel's advertising, you need 1000 subscribers and 4000 watch hours. In this three part series, we'll give you the techniques you can use to hit this threshold so YouTube starts sending you checks for the ads running on your channel and videos."

Posted: Oct 14, 2019

Category: The Musician Business

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**Guest post by Jeff Lysyczyn, music industry veteran, educator, and creator of Music Business After Dark.

"Episode 2 of Music Business After Dark, a series of informative vlogs by music industry veteran and educator Jeff Lysyczyn."

Posted: Oct 7, 2019

Category: Live Performance

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**Guest post by Eki Shola, a musician and physician that creates a healing and transformative space for the listener through sharing her lush, jazzy-soul, live electronica vibes.

"We all do it but I’m not sure if we openly talk about it. Instead, what I’ve observed are a range of reactions - some subtle and others not. I’ll chat about two different scenarios but in reality, I think we all fit on a spectrum, save for the bands that appear to play completely perfect and are tight all that time (but I guarantee they did not start that way)..."

Posted: Sep 30, 2019

Category: Live Performance

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**Guest post written by Joe Hoten; an avid writer of songs, content and song related content, and regular contributor to Bands for Hire. Originally featured on Ditto.com.

Posted: Sep 24, 2019

Category: Marketing

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**This post originally appeared on the Disc Makers Blog for indie musicians by Randy Chertkow & Jason Feehan of MakingMoneyWithMusic.com. Reprinted with permission.

"Your best social media strategy is to entertain your fans throughout the year rather than just drop an album and disappear. Create a strategy to make your fans anticipate your every release — music, videos, merch, and more — and attract new fans in the process."

Posted: Sep 16, 2019

Category: The Musician Business

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**Guest post by Jeff Lysyczyn, music industry veteran, educator, and creator of Music Business After Dark.

"The first episode of Music Business After Dark, a series of informative vlogs by music industry veteran and educator Jeff Lysyczyn."

Posted: Sep 9, 2019

Category: The Lefsetz Letter

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**Guest post by Bob Lefsetz of The Lefsetz Letter.

"Don't wait for help, do it yourself. Just like you can record and distribute yourself, you can promote too. If you're waiting for a manager to start, don't...Decide who you want to be. A hobbyist, a touring musician or a superstar. This affects your path..."

Posted: Sep 3, 2019

Category: The Musician Business

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**Guest post written by Jake Shane, an American singer-songwriter and guitarist who resides in Spain. He makes his living as an independent artist by touring around Europe. His fourth album will be released in October, 2019.

"A recent article by Larry Fitzmaurice titled “17 Indie Artists on Their Oddest Odd Jobs That Pay the Bills When Music Doesn’t” is by turns comforting and deflating to the indie musician...Contrastingly to me, none of those artists makes their living exclusively from music, and many of them actually lose money touring. So, what does this mean for musicians in general, and me specifically? Well, a variety of things, but I’ll limit myself to three important factors..."

Posted: Aug 26, 2019

Category: Promotion

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**Guest post written by Mark Smith, owner of Musical Instru.

"Let’s face it - a promo photo is an extremely powerful part of music, with its ability to catch the attention of fans, bookers, music journalists, and the industry in general. However, while the capabilities of a promo photo can’t be overstated, it all depends on the amount of care you exert into its production. To be honest, your promo photo is just as capable of effectively telling your story as your music, but that’s only if you get it right..."

Posted: Aug 19, 2019

Category: The Musician Business

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**Guest post written by Wade Sutton of Rocket to the Stars Artist Services.

"A few weeks ago it occurred to me that I had recently seen multiple posts on Facebook from artists and songwriters asking for information on how to “jailbreak” devices like the Amazon Firestick and the Google Chromecast...Jailbreaking those devices allows users to download applications so they can watch pirated content like movies currently in theaters. I had a big problem with this..."