Posted: Apr 4, 2016
Category: Merch
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**Guest Post written by Jon Ostrow, Director of Sales at Bandsintown, Founder of MicControl, lover of all things music, a raging Phish head, and a coffee addict. Also featured on Bandzoogle.com.
Posted: Mar 28, 2016
Category: The Musician Business
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**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 21, 2016
Category: Licensing
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**Guest post written by Matt Bacon, originally featured on IndependentMusicPromotions.com.
Posted: Mar 14, 2016
Category: The Musician Business
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**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
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**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 29, 2016
Category: Show Booking
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**Guest Post written by Dave Cool of Bandzoogle.com.
Posted: Feb 22, 2016
Category: Selling Music
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**Guest post written by Corey Koehler, an indie singer-songwriter from Minnesota, as featured in his blog MusicGoat.com.
"For the past 30-40 years musicians have been releasing albums. Many times the time between those albums was a year or more. Many bands and musicians these days still model their own release schedules after this same one. This is a mistake. These days you should be learning how to release a single and doing it often. Here's why..."
View Full ArticlePosted: Feb 16, 2016
Category: The Musician Business
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**Guest post written by Sylvana Joyce, NYC based indie artist, originally featured in her blog Scenipedia.
Posted: Feb 8, 2016
Category: The Musician Business
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**Guest post written by Gaetano, a NYC based Singer, Songwriter, Producer, and Guitarist, as featured in his blog and on Digital Music News.
Posted: Feb 1, 2016
Category: Touring
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**Guest post written by Joshua Powell, singer-songwriter, DIY musician, and frontman for Joshua Powell and the Great Train Robbery, as featured in his blog Fearsome Folk.
"I’ve been on and off the road with my band for over three years now, and it’s been entirely DIY, grassroots, self-booked. We’ve learned a lot along the way, but I’ve discovered one secret to touring as the single most valuable principle to make sure your tours are worth the trouble. Never play a show without booking 1-3 other bands as local support..."
View Full ArticlePosted: Jan 25, 2016
Category: The Musician Business
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**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: Jan 18, 2016
Category: Online Presence
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**Guest Post written by Melanie Kealey of Bandzoogle.com.
Posted: Jan 11, 2016
Category: Technology
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**Guest post written by Blake Morgan, artist, musician, record producer, and founder and owner of ECR Music Group. Originally featured in The Huffington Post.
Posted: Jan 4, 2016
Category: Live Performance
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**Guest post written by David J. Hahn, originally featured on MusicianWages.com.
"You get a call. It’s a friend of yours, they are throwing a big party, and they want you to play for the guests...You get another call. It’s a local non-profit. They are throwing a fundraiser at a fancy venue and they want you to provide entertainment for a couple of hours...A third call comes in. It’s a local venue. They are having an event next month and 5 bands are playing a 30 minute set each. They’d like to invite you to perform...So what do you do? Do you take these gigs? You know that you have to make a living, but you know you also have to get out there and play for people."
View Full ArticlePosted: Dec 21, 2015
Category: The Musician Business
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**Guest post written by Wade Sutton of Rocket to the Stars.
Posted: Dec 14, 2015
Category: Licensing
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**Guest post written by Michael Gallant as featured in the Disc Makers' Echoes Blog.
Posted: Dec 7, 2015
Category: Marketing
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**Guest Post written by Alan VanToai, Co-Founder of www.CrewFire.com (turn your existing fans into your Facebook and Twitter ambassadors).
When you think visionary brands, who comes to mind? Probably Apple, Red Bull, or Nike… right? Well, how about we add one more to the mix: The Grateful Dead...Long before social media or digital marketing ever came into play, they employed viral marketing, social networking, and word-of-mouth marketing...50 years later, the game has changed – but the principles are the same. And word-of-mouth remains one of the most powerful marketing strategies out there.
View Full ArticlePosted: Nov 30, 2015
Category: The Musician Business
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**Guest Post written by Dave Cool of Bandzoogle.com.
Posted: Nov 23, 2015
Category: Social Media
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**Guest post written by Chris Robley, originally featured in the DIY Musician Blog.
Posted: Nov 16, 2015
Category: Promotion
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**Guest post written by Jonathan Sexton, CEO of Bandposters.
Selling out shows in your hometown isn’t easy...Having lead time and a local tribe gives you an opportunity to do something special. But what do you do when you go out of town?..Here are a few ideas to get you started building your fanbase in a new place.
View Full ArticlePosted: Nov 9, 2015
Category: Live Performance
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**Guest post written by Joy Ike, creator of Grassrootsy.com and Independent Musician, as featured on Grassrootsy.com.
Posted: Nov 2, 2015
Category: Marketing
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**Guest post written by Matt Bacon, Senior Campaign Manager at Independent Music Promotions.
You look out on the crowd after a high powered set opening up for one of your favorite bands – and then instead of playing another song off your latest release you instead pull off a killer cover of Just Like Heaven...People love artists who pay tribute to their influences.
View Full ArticlePosted: Oct 26, 2015
Category: The Musician Business
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**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 19, 2015
Category: Online Presence
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**Guest Post written by Dave Cool of Bandzoogle.com.
Posted: Oct 12, 2015
Category: The Musician Business
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**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..."
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