Posted: Aug 2, 2023

Category: Live Performance

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**Guest post written by Katherine Dvoskin, Co-Founder & Piano Teacher for K&M Music School, San Diego.

Posted: Jul 18, 2023

Category: Technology

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**Guest post written by Leonard Patterson of Artist Collective AKA @ac_leonardp.

"...the truth is, we have control of how and when A.I. impacts our jobs if we lean into it and don’t ignore it thinking “this too shall pass...” That’s why I wanted to gather a list of A.I. tools that you can use to enhance your instruction, courses, and lessons...My hope is that at least one of these tools inspires you or better yet helps you continue sharing your gifts and passions with others."

Posted: Jul 5, 2023

Category: Career Goals

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**Guest post written by Katherine Dvoskin, Co-Founder & Piano Teacher for K&M Music School, San Diego.

Posted: Jun 13, 2023

Category: Tips & Tricks

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

"We sit down with Martin Atkins - the godfather of the DIY band business, and inspiration for this whole video series - to talk about the current state of the music business, and how to make your band stand out!"

Posted: Jun 6, 2023

Category: The Musician Business

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**Guest post written by Logan Crowell, Founder & President of HOME, Helping Our Music Evolve.

"Whatever the case, if you are starting a community, and especially if you are planning your own music industry support hub, you will benefit from the tips I have shared in this post. By implementing effective community building strategies, support hubs like HOME - Helping Our Music Evolve create an environment that encourages collaboration and engagement among their members."

Posted: May 31, 2023

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.

"If your goal was to become a doctor, a teacher or even an athlete, there are clear paths and guidelines for pursuing those professions that you would be required to follow....In contrast, if you’re pursuing a music career, this dynamic doesn’t exist...Even if your goal is to sign a record deal, you need to first build a successful business around your music, because labels are looking for proven acts that they can exploit and not acts they need to develop...This is why you should seek guidance from someone that can explain the overall process for building a music career, as well as someone that can help you overcome the challenges and obstacles you’ll encounter as you progress through your career. This brings us to our main topic: 5 Reasons You Should have a Mentor..."

Posted: May 16, 2023

Category: The Musician Business

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**Guest post by One Submit, the ultimate music submission platform.

"Over the course of the years, I have learned that there are very important and valuable skills in particular that make a big difference and, from experience, have helped me continue to improve. Surprisingly, it's not time management skills, networking skills, or even improving your songwriting skills or talent that will launch your art career. So, what is the most important skill you'll need to become a successful artist?"

Posted: Apr 19, 2023

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.

"When it comes to pursuing a music career, we’ve all been brought up to believe that becoming a professional artist or band is just one lucky encounter or chance meeting away – that if an artist focuses all their efforts and resources on creating great music, they just need to get it in front of the right industry professional and they’ll get signed to a record label. From there, a manager or label rep will take care of the business side of their career and the artist can go on doing what they know and love: writing and recording music, playing shows and interacting with fans. This is what we call ‘The Getting Discovered Mindset’ and it is all too pervasive among aspiring artists...I’m here to tell you this is NOT the correct way to approach your music career."

Posted: Mar 28, 2023

Category: The Musician Business

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**Guest post written by Just Rijna, a guitar player based in Rotterdam, the Netherlands. In addition to teaching private students, he is also the founder of a guitar educational site, www.stringkick.com.

If you make original music, you know how difficult this question is to answer ["So what kind of music do you make?"]. You’re right in the middle of the project and familiar with all the influences, contrasting genres, and subtleties that have made their way into the music. How do you summarize all that in a couple of sentences? What’s more, as musicians we have trained ears that simply hear different things than the average listener. This makes it even more tricky to communicate what your music is about. So in this article, I’ll share a few tips that will help you nail down your pitch.

Posted: 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: Nov 8, 2022

Category: Tips & Tricks

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**Guest post written by Don East of Killer Rig Music in the USA.

"No one ever plans on their instrument being damaged or stolen, but the unfortunate truth is that accidents happen all the time. That's why it's important to have insurance for your musical instruments. This way, you can rest easy knowing that they are protected in case of an emergency. In this article, we will discuss the importance of musical instrument insurance, and touch on some of the policies to consider."

Posted: Oct 11, 2022

Category: Recording

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**Guest post written by Hovey Otis.

"As a musician, there are few things more frustrating than feeling fatigued during a recording session. You're in the studio, you've been working hard all day, and suddenly your creative spark just seems to disappear. It's normal to feel exhaustion setting in from time to time, but there are ways to overcome it and get back on track. Here are some tips for dealing with fatigue during a recording session."

Posted: Aug 9, 2022

Category: Tips & Tricks

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**Guest post written by Logan Crowell, Founder & President of HOME, Helping Our Music Evolve.

"Put yourself in their shoes for a moment. Imagine that your job and your next promotion rides on finding that one in a million song or artist that is going to take the world by storm. IT MAKES SENSE THAT EXECUTIVES AND A&R REPS RELY MORE ON DATA ANALYTICS THAN THEY DO ON THEIR EARS. They can find artists and songs based on the reactions from a huge ‘test group’ like TikTok, which gives them more objective confidence in their decision making than their own ears can. STILL...DON’T UNDERESTIMATE THE POWER OF THE PITCH."

Posted: Jul 25, 2022

Category: Live Performance

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

"Every musician should get into a habit of practicing and rehearsing. Some people think these are two words for the same thing. Practice and rehearsal are not the same things. You need to know the difference so you can do both properly."

Posted: Apr 4, 2022

Category: Tips & Tricks

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

"Well, the secret's out..."

Posted: Feb 22, 2022

Category: Career Goals

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**Guest post written by Eyvindur Karlsson, a singer-songwriter and songwriting coach who helps artists stop wasting time staring at a blank page and waiting for inspiration so they can write more songs of higher quality. He is passionate about coaching songwriters to help them get more great music out in the world and is the owner of the website Strongwriting.net.

"If you want to improve in any area, whether professionally or personally, goal setting is vital...when done right, goals help us to assess our progress and reassess if we get off track...In this article I'm going to cover the basics of goal setting, from a songwriter's perspective, and introduce you to the SMARTER framework of goal setting."

Posted: Jan 31, 2022

Category: The Musician Business

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**Guest post by Eric Todd of YFM, The Big Break Solution.

"Once upon a time, back in the 80’s the world was chock full of record labels, both major and indie, limited to a single one-way street to success. It wasn’t good, it wasn’t bad, it just was what it was...No one could imagine that we’d be living in the Bizarro World in 2022 (on so many levels), where the exact opposite is true. Today, only a few big labels exist, but there is now a multi-lane superhighway to find success, by whatever success means to the artist. It’s not good, it’s not bad, it just is what it is."

Posted: Jan 24, 2022

Category: Tips & Tricks

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**Guest post written by Logan Crowell, Founder & President of HOME, Helping Our Music Evolve.

"The combination of new technologies, outdated systems, and the global pandemic have ushered in a rate of change that far exceeds any other period in recorded human history. AND IT SEEMS TO KEEP SPEEDING UP. So what do we do about it? We become more flexible… more adaptable… more malleable in our way of thinking..."

Posted: Nov 29, 2021

Category: The Musician Business

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**Guest post written by Yona Marie, originally featured in her blog.

"Releasing songs as an independent artist is pretty easy thanks to technology. 50 years back, you'd be out of luck for the most part, but now is the best time to thrive as a musician or artist without having to rely on a label! The main thing about being independent is that you want to make sure you're always growing and learning when it comes to music industry knowledge. You are in charge of your career and will not have any big-money company backing you or guiding you."

Posted: Nov 15, 2021

Category: Marketing

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**Guest post by Kate Polishchuk, expert on the Russian and CIS music market, founder and CEO of Wool Music & steezy.

"Every artist at some point of their career meets a need to expand the geography of their listeners. For some it will be a natural development of an already successful career, and for some it will be a necessity caused by small market opportunities in the terms of a particular genre in the country of their residence. Regardless of what your current situation is, I would like to share my overview on international expansion for musical artists, so as its advantages for your career and some things that you will have to keep in mind while “conquering the world” =)."

Posted: Aug 30, 2021

Category: The Musician Business

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**Guest post written by Hovey Otis.

"Now that bars, venues and festivals are opening up, we as musicians are hungry to hit the stage. But, lots of musicians (myself included) had a rocky 2020. Here are a few tips to reignite your creative flow, collaborate, start recording, and get back into the music world!"

Posted: Aug 9, 2021

Category: Show Booking

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**Guest post from Vinnie Hines, Co-Owner of Artist Collective.

"Kyle Weber of Indie On The Move is one of the most seasoned booking experts in the country!...We've truly recommended this super affordable platform to countless artists and use it ourselves regularly...In this episode, you'll get a clear vision of the booking landscape in 2021 and beyond with some great tactics to be seen!"

Posted: Aug 2, 2021

Category: The Musician Business

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**Guest post written by Nick Voorhees, founder of Melody Nest.

Posted: Jul 6, 2021

Category: Touring

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

"I've been playing shows FOREVER, yet I ALMOST NEVER see bands bringing these 10 ABSOLUTELY CRUCIAL items to their shows! Make your life on the road 100% better by keeping these ten items at the ready!"

Posted: Jun 21, 2021

Category: The Musician Business

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**Guest post from Marcus Welch, President & CEO of Quadio.

"There are so many talented creators out there who could benefit from the help a label provides - many, many more than you think...finding one another in the vast sea of musicians can be hard. On top of that, the right choice for an artist might be to go at it independently - which is a totally viable strategy for some, and can be leveraged in all kinds of ways with a creative enough approach."