IOTM Blog
Posted: Dec 2, 2025
Category: Merch
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**Guest post written by Julia Kater for Bandzoogle.com.
"Bundles are a smart way to sell your music and clear out merchandise while reinforcing the artist-to-fan connection. They also increase average order value (AOV) and can streamline fulfillment — especially if you pre-kit bundles or ship items from a single location. Setting up and promoting your bundles on your music website can revitalize your site and help you move digital music, physical merch, and print-on-demand items."
View Full ArticlePosted: Sep 16, 2025
Category: The Musician Business
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**Guest post by Musician Indie Coalition, Business-Based Artist Development Experts who help DIY Musicians develop, launch and scale their music careers.
"In the music world...your artist or band name plays a massively important role in shaping audience perception and marketing opportunities from the very start. When selecting your artists or band name, you should give significant thought and consideration."
Posted: Jul 1, 2025
Category: The Musician Business
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**Guest post written by Octavius Crouch, Founder & CEO of Red Octave.
"If you're an independent artist or label looking to hire a team for label services, the options can be overwhelming. From companies with polished pitch decks to flashy Instagram pages showing off work with major-label artists, it can be hard to tell who actually knows how to build success from the ground up and who only knows how to ride on someone else's momentum...When you’re hiring a label-services team, you need partners who understand what it means to grow something from zero."
View Full ArticlePosted: Jun 17, 2025
Category: Merch
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**Guest post written by Tony van Veen, originally featured in the Disc Makers Blog.
"One of the questions our Disc Makers product specialists get asked the most is this: If I spend $1000 to press vinyl, will I make my money back? In this article, I’ll discuss the cost of vinyl records and what your profit margins will be when you sell your records directly to fans. This will allow us to calculate how many records you’ll need to sell to cover your vinyl manufacturing cost. I’ll also explain the profit margins for distributors and stores, and I’ll provide some surefire tips for making money on vinyl. Let’s get started..."
View Full ArticlePosted: Jun 3, 2025
Category: Fans
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**Guest post by Morgan Coates, Head of Music Partnerships at IYK.
"Most artists don’t know much about the fans attending their shows. That detailed demographic data is often siloed in ticketing platforms and with promoters, who aren’t incentivized to share fan data with artists. This is a massive issue for artists looking to maximize their return on the touring investment. After all, the people that show up to support you on tour are your most engaged fans. Over the life of a tour, thousands of fans could attend your shows and buy your merch, yet you don't know who they are."
Posted: Feb 19, 2025
Category: Merch
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**Guest post by Wes Wolfe of Tangible Formats - Custom Vinyl Records For All.
"For many independent artists, releasing vinyl isn’t a viable option. It’s impractical—the process is expensive and complex. The final product is heavy, inconvenient to transport, and takes up valuable space...Fortunately, we’re in a time when pressing plant capacity finally exceeds demand. Independent artists now have more options and leverage than they did just a few years ago...Releasing your music on vinyl is now more accessible for artists at any stage of their career."
Posted: Jan 8, 2025
Category: Online Presence
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**Guest post written by Joseph Longo for Bandzoogle.com.
"Your website is one of the most powerful tools in your artist toolbox. It’s your home base online, where fans can connect with you directly and discover everything they need to know about your music. To make your site work harder for you, here are five essential tips to help you maximize its potential..."
View Full ArticlePosted: Sep 4, 2024
Category: Online Presence
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**Guest post originally featured in the Symphonic Distribution Blog.
"Spotify is a powerful tool for any artist interested in reaching a larger audience. One of the most effective ways to utilize the platform is to create a custom Spotify for Artists profile which will help you get verified, easily manage your profile, learn about your fanbase and more. In this post, we’ll break down some tips to help you make sure your profile is optimized and ready to go."
View Full ArticlePosted: Jul 24, 2024
Category: Merch
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**Guest post written by James Hill, a veteran of the music industry. He has worked at Warner Reprise Records and then Interscope/ Geffen Records and now helps indie artists with branding and manufacturing through his company Unified Manufacturing, a CD/DVD, custom vinyl records and merch company in LA.
"The second half of the year [has just started]. You guys still have [a little less than] 6 months to release your merch line together with a music release, gig show, or a tour. If you’re having second thoughts on releasing them, then I urge you to go on with it. They’re a great promotional tour for whatever you have going on...Here are 22 custom merch band ideas to help you start planning." View Full Article
Posted: Jul 3, 2024
Category: Live Performance
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**Guest post written by Adam Percy for Bandzoogle.com.
"While they had a bit of a shaky start when they came out, QR codes have now become a popular tool for sharing content and for promoting pages or products online. The advantages of QR codes are that they’re very portable, they’re unique, and they can be used just about anywhere—they can be scanned with a smartphone camera to quickly get anyone to a specific page on the web...Here are five ways you can use QR codes to elevate your live shows..."
View Full ArticlePosted: May 21, 2024
Category: Fans
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**Guest post written by James Hill, a veteran of the music industry. He has worked at Warner Reprise Records and then Interscope/ Geffen Records and now helps indie artists with branding and manufacturing through his company Unified Manufacturing, a CD/DVD, custom vinyl records and merch company in LA.
"So aside from talking and interacting with your fans, you can also try using quantitative data from different analytical tools. You might get overwhelmed with all of it, especially if you hate numbers. But I tell you, they’re worth investing a few minutes of your time. Plus, they’re actually not that hard. In this article, we will mainly be talking about the different tools you can use to analyze your fans and how they are important. Let’s start!" View Full Article
Posted: May 14, 2024
Category: The Musician Business
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**Guest post written by Modern Musician and featured in their blog.
"You love making music and in order to keep moving forward, you need to create a sustainable income. So how do musicians make money from their music? It’s something a lot of independent artists struggle to do… but we’ve got answers!...I’d like to introduce you to a simple system that will help you to earn a real living from your music..."
View Full ArticlePosted: Mar 5, 2024
Category: The Musician Business
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**Guest post written by James Hill, a veteran of the music industry. He has worked at Warner Reprise Records and then Interscope/ Geffen Records and now helps indie artists with branding and manufacturing through his company Unified Manufacturing, a CD/DVD, custom vinyl records and merch company in LA.
"So, you’ve finally decided to release an album. Wuhoo! But listen up – getting your album out there isn’t just about tossing it into the world. It’s more like planning a grand wedding for 1000 people – you need a solid plan. In this guide, we’re going through fifteen essential tips—covering everything from using digital tools to finding the right partners—to make your album release stress-free (or at least less stressful than usual). Let’s get started!" View Full Article
Posted: Dec 13, 2023
Category: Promotion
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**Guest post written by Cyber PR, originally featured on the Cyber PR Blog.
"Here are some killer Holiday Tips to help you increase your engagement with your fans! As an artist, there is no better time than the HOLIDAZE to work on building engagement and connections with your fans." View Full Article
Posted: Oct 25, 2023
Category: Technology
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**Guest post originally featured in the PlaylistSupply Blog.
"In the evolving music landscape, streaming platforms like Spotify have reshaped how music is consumed. For independent artists, this evolution presents both an opportunity and a challenge. While it’s easier than ever to distribute music, the challenge of getting noticed amidst a sea of tracks has intensified. So, how do indie artists stand out?"
View Full ArticlePosted: Aug 23, 2023
Category: Fans
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**Guest post written by Jubran Haddad, originally posted on Chartmetric's blog.
"Discover the key stages, real-life examples, and essential tips for artists to navigate the fan journey from discovery to advocacy." View Full Article
Posted: Aug 15, 2023
Category: Merch
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**Guest post written by Janelle Borg, originally posted on AmplifyYou's blog.
"For gigging artists like you, music merch should be an integral part of your brand-building strategy. It’s not only a great way to project your musical identity through a tangible item, but also serves as a much-needed financial lifeline. Best of all, music fans love merch, and are ready to spend money on quality pieces they truly like. If you need convincing, here are 5 reasons why you should start selling merch now rather than later." View Full Article
Posted: Mar 21, 2023
Category: The Musician Business
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**Guest post by Kristen Ford, Nashville based indie rock act with a passion for music business and a book on DIY touring in the works.
1. Live Performances 2. Online Sales/Consignment/Out the trunk sales 3. Sync/Licensing placements 4. Private Events/Colleges 5. Streaming income...
View Full ArticlePosted: Feb 14, 2023
Category: Fans
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**Guest post written by Caleb Murphy for Bandzoogle.com.
"As an indie artist, you have several ways to make money from your music. And launching a fan subscriber community is one of those ways...To succeed at this, you need an established fanbase - people who regularly listen to your music, open your emails, and engage with your social media content. The trick is, getting those fans to subscribe and effectively become super fans. There are lots of ways to encourage more fans to subscribe, but below are six of the most creative perk ideas."
View Full ArticlePosted: Feb 7, 2023
Category: Merch
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**Guest post written by Jordan Gates, of Megaphone Agency and Indie Gigging.
"Merchandise sales make up a significant chunk of revenue for many artists. Concert goers are willing to spend money on all kinds of apparel and novelties as keepsakes to support their favorite artists. Simply put, if you’re a touring artist and you’re not selling merch, you should be! And if you are already selling merch, these tips and tricks will help you stay organized and sell more!"
Posted: Sep 13, 2022
Category: Online Presence
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**Guest post written by Wes Walls of Bandzoogle.
"Once you have created a music website, you can take your online presence a step further by optimizing your band's ranking in search engines. This is called SEO for musicians, and it makes it easier for your fans to find the information about you that they want. Whether you want to discover the best SEO keywords for musicians, or just start making your songs, social profiles and events show up in Google, this checklist will help you to get started."
View Full ArticlePosted: Sep 6, 2022
Category: The Musician Business
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**Guest post written by Jesse Young El.
"You're an artist who's just starting out in your career. You've been hustling, grinding, and making connections for years, and you're finally starting to see some success. Your music is starting to get attention, and you're beginning to perform at shows and venues. Or maybe that's not your story at all. Maybe you're rarely getting calls for shows. Maybe the venue you do get booked in is paying you very little. Perhaps your music isn't generating much revenue from royalties. If any of these is the case, then you're really going to have to hustle differently to make additional income. But don't worry, there are ways that you can make money as a singer or hip-hop artist beyond just shows and royalties."
View Full ArticlePosted: Jun 15, 2022
Category: The Musician Business
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**Guest post written by David Andrew Wiebe, founder & CEO at The Music Entrepreneur HQ.
"Have you ever sat down to work out all the ways you could possibly make money with music? I have, and I was surprised at the sheer number of ways I came up with. If you’re new to the music business, then it’s not your fault that you don’t know all the secrets yet. So, in this guide we cover a variety of ways musicians make money."
Posted: Apr 19, 2022
Category: Merch
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**Guest post written by Atomic Disc, CD & Vinyl Manufacturing for musicians, by musicians.
"After two years of pandemic lockdowns, some of us are starting to feel a glimmer of hope that gigs and tours will soon return to their pre-pandemic stages. With that comes the biggest opportunity for independent artists to sell physical formats of their music and merch. When people are at your show, all amped up and excited to finally be out to see live music, they want the experience to last, to take a little bit of it with them home. This is where the money is for indies."
View Full ArticlePosted: Apr 11, 2022
Category: Touring
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**Guest post originally featured in the Disc Makers Blog.
"O Canada! So close… yet sometimes so far away. Music flows freely across the border, but there are times when musicians and instruments have a little more trouble. If you’re planning a trip to play music gigs in Canada, here’s some advice and a few online resources to help make your border crossing smooth and easy."
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