Posted: May 23, 2016
Category: The Musician Business
live performances make money max garcia conover merch music business taxes the diy musician touring
**Guest Post by Max Garcia Conover, modern folk singer-songwriter out of Portland, ME.
"i just did the taxes for my first year as a full-time independent songwriter and i wanted to share some details about the business side of the work i’m doing...so here’s me...taking some pride in humble, honest, hard-won earnings:"
View Full ArticlePosted: Apr 26, 2016
Category: The Musician Business
bret alexander career goals have fun joy live performances the marshall tucker band
**Guest Post by Bret Alexander of The Badlees and Saturation Acres.
"Many years ago I remember standing on the side of the stage talking with a crew member of The Marshall Tucker Band...We were in the middle of our first tour as a major label act and I was chatting with him about our experiences on the road...After a while, the roadie pointed up at the sound check that was taking place onstage and in his thick Southern accent he said, “These guys are just happy to still be playing.” Things had certainly changed for these guys over the years, but they were still at it. Why?"
View Full ArticlePosted: Apr 18, 2016
Category: The Musician Business
build a buzz commitments danny barnes ego gear gigging hometown make money sidemen stay connected taxes
**Guest Post written by Danny Barnes as featured on DannyBarnes.com.
"I hear so much complaining about this subject, I just wanted to lay my practical experience on you. free... Assuming... you are financially workable and you have the music where you want it and you are surely called into the art, here goes, in no particular order..."
View Full ArticlePosted: Apr 12, 2016
Category: The Musician Business
accountants build a buzz danny barnes doctors expenses gossip jobs know your audience lawyers make money managers record deal taxes value
**Guest Post written by Danny Barnes as featured on DannyBarnes.com.
"I hear so much complaining about this subject, I just wanted to lay my practical experience on you. free... Assuming... you are financially workable and you have the music where you want it and you are surely called into the art, here goes, in no particular order..."
View Full ArticlePosted: Mar 28, 2016
Category: The Musician Business
commercials ep vs album licensing live performances make money movies music libraries mystery loves company publishing singles tv video games
**Guest post written by Carlos A. Machado of Mystery Loves Company.
"With almost 200 shows and multiple music conferences in the past two years, Maddy and I have learned a ton about the current music industry. For those wanting a career as singer-songwriters, here are a two things we think are worth keeping in mind..."
View Full ArticlePosted: Mar 14, 2016
Category: The Musician Business
attorney career goals diy indie artists make money musicianship record deal record labels supply and demand
**Guest post written by Gaetano, a NYC based Singer, Songwriter, Producer, and Guitarist, as featured in his blog and on Digital Music News.
Posted: Mar 7, 2016
Category: The Musician Business
adapt bret alexander calendar listings jack of all trades music business physical vs. digital record deal show booking
**Guest Post by Bret Alexander of The Badlees and Saturation Acres.
"Pretty much for all of the 1990s, I played with one band. One band. That was it...Ours was a pretty typical scenario for a band around that time. The object of worship was the CD. Or even a few cassettes and vinyl. Those little circles of information were your lifeblood….. and your salvation...Cut to 2016. Things have definitely changed. Quite a bit. CDs barely sell on an independent level. Vinyl has some appeal, but I would think on the ground floor it would be a break even proposition at best. There are download sales, but as we all know if you want the music for free it ain’t too hard to find...Musicians no longer worship that little round piece of plastic. Their new object of worship is square. And much bigger. It’s called a calendar."
View Full ArticlePosted: Feb 16, 2016
Category: The Musician Business
be yourself career goals community support consistency health management marketing music business professionalism scenipedia sylvana joyce
**Guest post written by Sylvana Joyce, NYC based indie artist, originally featured in her blog Scenipedia.
Posted: Feb 8, 2016
Category: The Musician Business
career goals ex big-wig indie artists industry schemes major labels music business music x-ray pay for feedback pay to play
**Guest post written by Gaetano, a NYC based Singer, Songwriter, Producer, and Guitarist, as featured in his blog and on Digital Music News.
Posted: Jan 25, 2016
Category: The Musician Business
career goals gigging keys to success licensing live performances los colognes making it masters music business practice publishing sync placements
**Guest Post written by Jay Rutherford of Los Colognes.
"Like millions of other morons out there, I'm attempting to make music both the primary joy and primary financial security in my life. My band Los Colognes has achieved marginal success, just enough to get mom and dad off our backs, so to speak. Without further adieu, here’s me convincing myself I have achieved some wisdom, when in reality I have no psychological control over any of it yet. Pretend this is the Old Ben Kenobi version of me, from somewhere in the future..."
View Full ArticlePosted: Dec 21, 2015
Category: The Musician Business
career goals hometown make money music business musician networking real job rocket to the stars
**Guest post written by Wade Sutton of Rocket to the Stars.
Posted: Nov 30, 2015
Category: The Musician Business
bandzoogle career goals control distribution diy funding independent label major labels pros and cons record labels
**Guest Post written by Dave Cool of Bandzoogle.com.
Posted: Oct 26, 2015
Category: The Musician Business
checkered owl media house shows music career selling your act vintage vinyl
**Guest post written by Andrew Jones of Checkered Owl Media.
"The music industry, like much of our society, can become obsessed with what is new: The new better way to sell music, the new way to connect with fans, the new DAW to record your new album...But if you pay attention to culture and society, you will notice a shift. People are beginning to embrace old..."
View Full ArticlePosted: Oct 12, 2015
Category: The Musician Business
bret alexander career goals constant creation experience know your audience music business music career practice radio airplay record deal songwriting
**Guest Post by Bret Alexander of The Badlees and Saturation Acres.
"I’ve been a vocational musician for almost 30 years...This is an incredibly difficult business to make any sort of sustainable living at for that long, so inevitably people ask me what advice I would have for anyone who wants to do the same. Opinions are certainly like assholes, but I’ll give you my take on that. Do with it what you will..."
View Full ArticlePosted: Aug 17, 2015
Category: The Musician Business
emotion facebook music streaming services musik and film record labels social media songwriting twitter youtube
**Guest post by Stephen Wrench, CEO of Musik and Film.
"I recently had the pleasure of pitching a very talented well produced artist to major labels...They never listened to it [the music] because their social media numbers were not good enough?"
View Full ArticlePosted: Jul 20, 2015
Category: The Musician Business
freelance grassrootsy health insurance know your options obamacare
**Guest post written Aly Keller, an avid pianist, musicologist, and marketing analyst, as featured on Grassrootsy.com.
"Turns out, musicians often do make that decision [medical debt or a musical career]. Last year, 43% of them lacked insurance. And this is in the post-ACA (“Obamacare”) environment where health insurance has never been more accessible to employer-less freelancers. But is health insurance something you really want to go without?"
View Full ArticlePosted: Jul 6, 2015
Category: The Musician Business
apparatus career goals diy entrepreneurship keys to success music business networking the grind
**Guest post written by Brandon Waardenburg, founder of Apparatus (an artist accelerator providing music advice and coaching to independent artists and DIY musicians) as well as a musician, songwriter, "musicpreneur" and consultant.
"The luster of performing can die pretty quickly when it becomes old...Truthfully, any activity can turn into a grind no matter how intentional we are about keeping focused..." Here are some signs that you are on the right track.
View Full ArticlePosted: May 26, 2015
Category: The Musician Business
career goals delegate responsibilities diy entrepreneurship keys to success music business music career
**Guest post written by Ashley E. Norton, a Colorado based nomad, currently touring across the country with her Indie duo, Whitherward.
"I've been a professional singer-songwriter for about 10 years now...and I've been screwed over many times...I moved to Music City 5 years ago to hire a team of people to do the behind-the-scenes work I was so tired of doing my fucking self. Like many of us, I wanted to solely focus on my craft. This, is the only mistake I've ever made..."
View Full ArticlePosted: Apr 20, 2015
Category: The Musician Business
ariel hyatt branding cyber pr deuce ellis fan engagement have a story live performances make money merch monetization music business publishing relationships with fans
**Guest post written by Deuce Ellis, Buffalo-born and Brooklyn-raised rap renegade. Originally posted by Cyber PR.
"Here’s My Guest Blog After Attending the #YourMusic Seminar; maybe this whole thing is easier than you think…First things first, let’s demolish whatever train of thought you may have. Demolish it. Let’s destroy and rebuild..."
View Full ArticlePosted: Oct 13, 2014
Category: The Musician Business
confidence constructive criticism entrepreneurship keys to success make money music business perfect your performance practice professionalism value
**Guest post written by Carlos Castillo of Schwilly Family Musicians - music marketing strategist, web designer, live performance recordist, international road-tripper, lap steel player, and Captain of the Schwilly Family.
“The first requirement for being successful in anything is to define what success means to you. That is one of the biggest challenges musicians face today. There is no standard to follow..."
View Full ArticlePosted: Aug 18, 2014
Category: The Musician Business
don't bad-mouth free shows merch networking orange county music league pay to play show booking support your scene
**Guest post written by John Safari, President and Co-Founder of Orange County Music League.
"A lot of bands complain about the music scene for one reason or another. In my opinion, most of these bands aren’t thinking of the bigger picture, or outside of their band for that matter. I started Orange County Music League to put an end to pay to play. Bands are not a dollar sign. Here are some things that local bands are going to need to start doing in order to build a thriving scene..."
View Full ArticlePosted: Mar 17, 2014
Category: The Musician Business
create scarcity fan support hometown marketing music career professionalism show booking
**Guest post written by Samuel Mahler, marketing manager, booking agent, and band member of "The Electro-Lights".
One of the major problems that has plagued today’s music world is the bad stigma placed on bands’ lack of “Professionalism”. This seemingly simple word that should be self-explanatory has been the death of many a band. Why is this, you may ask?...
View Full ArticlePosted: Feb 24, 2014
Category: The Musician Business
diy entrepreneurship licensing make money marketing plan music business
**Guest post written by David Priebe of Green Room Music Source, a full time agent/artist manager and also part time instructor of music business at the Institute of Production & Recording in Minneapolis.
"It official- it’s now impossible to make money in the music industry." There are scads and scads of articles and commentary that sound a lot like that statement. What you hear much less about are the people who completely disagree with that sentiment. I’m in that camp, and I’m going to tell you why...
View Full ArticlePosted: Oct 28, 2013
Category: The Musician Business
career goals fan engagement merch music business networking promotion radio promotion setting goals touring strategy
**Guest post written by Brian Penick, author of Musicians' Desk Reference and Touring Musician, as featured on Billboard.com.
1. Reality Check! (Setting Milestones + Goals) 2. Proper Merch Mentality 3. Take Care Of Yourself First - Initial Self-Servicing...
View Full ArticlePosted: Sep 9, 2013
Category: The Musician Business
bbc radio network clear channel diy indie artists musik and film payola radio promotion
**Guest post by Stephen Wrench of Musik and Film as featured in their blog.
If you want to get a hit in the US, you will have to play the game. Meaning - you better have some very deep pockets to play in this high stakes game. You will need to hire a team of promoters to maneuver your song into the charts. This team will need to be in a position to grease the airplay wheels to get your song played. Call it payola, call it big business, call it what you want. But the bottom line is -- unless you have a million dollars to drop into your single you are not going to get a hit record in the US.
View Full Article