Posted: Apr 1, 2019
Category: Merch
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**Guest post written by Imri Merritt aka M, originally featured on the Rush Order Tees Blog.
"In this post, I’ll go over some of the tried and tested band merch, explain what they are, and why they are popular. This should give you some ideas for creating customized swag that will excite your fans and bring in some bucks. They asked me to list 10, but I’m turning it up to 11."
View Full ArticlePosted: Mar 25, 2019
Category: Fundraising
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**Guest post written by Jennifer Hughes, staff writer at Know Your Instrument and enjoyer of traveling to new/obscure places and checking out new indie bands.
"Independent musicians often don’t have enough money to spend for renting rehearsal spaces and studios, paying graphic artists and photographers for album art, hiring professionals for music production and promotions, touring and the like. When a crowdfunding campaign is done right, it could help musicians get the exposure and the backers they need for their venture."
View Full ArticlePosted: Mar 18, 2019
Category: Touring
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**Guest post written by Michelle McAfee, founder of Songbones, a small magazine/podcast for grassroots singer-songwriters..
"In September, I toured the southwest with another singer-songwriter for two weeks. We decided to do this tour differently. To weave other passions into the fabric of our days on the road. This didn’t necessarily make the tour easier, but it certainly made it an adventure! One that I will always remember."
View Full ArticlePosted: Mar 11, 2019
Category: Giving Back
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**Guest post written by Jamie Wyman, singer-songwriter and Executive Director of The Great Blue Song Project.
"How many times have you heard people say, “I always wanted to learn to play the guitar” or, “I wish my parents made me practice the piano when I was a kid”? You are one of the few who followed through. And now that you have nurtured your musical superpower, you must use it for good. Here are five ways you can use your musical powers for good..."
View Full ArticlePosted: Mar 4, 2019
Category: Performance Rights Organizations
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**Guest post written by Scott Aumann, originally featured on The Legit Musician blog.
"I am always surprised at how many musicians I talk with that really have no idea what a Performance Rights Organization is, or what it does for artists. I’m not just talking about indie musicians either. Some well-known national acts are in the same boat and could learn some things from this post. Let me explain how you can become a pro by joining a P.R.O."
View Full ArticlePosted: Feb 25, 2019
Category: Marketing
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**Guest post written by Nicholas Rubright, founder and editor at Dozmia, and lead guitarist for the band Days Gone By.
"with email marketing, you have direct contact to some of your most passionate fans...While [touring] can be a great way to gain exposure to a new audience, if you want to develop good relationships with the venues you're performing in, it’s also important that you get your existing fans to come out to the show...With these things in mind, how do you leverage your email list to get people to come to your show?"
Posted: Feb 19, 2019
Category: The Musician Business
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**Guest post written by Donna Maurer, a contributor on multiple music blogs and lover of creating helpful articles for her fellow musicians and music lovers.
"If you want to be successful as a musician today, you must learn to diversify your income streams. That way, when the live gigs and album sales slow down, you’ll still have money coming in from other areas to keep you going until things pick up...Here are some unique and creative ways to make money when your career hits a lull."
Posted: Feb 11, 2019
Category: Music Streaming
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**Guest post written by Chris Senner, keyboardist for Vinyl Theatre and founder of Keyboard Kraze.
"Everyone knows that Spotify is one of the most important platforms for musicians in today's day and age. However, most people don't understand why...The Spotify Artists App allows musicians to track their results and see cold hard numbers on what a song that is connecting looks like."
Posted: Feb 4, 2019
Category: Touring
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**Guest post written by Brandon Stoner of Thieves & Lovers.
"Winter is in full swing and it’s been a particularly brutal one due to the polar vortex that swept across the United States this past week...I wanted to write an article with some tips for touring during winter, as I’ve done so numerous times both as a performer and as a part of a tour crew and wanted to share some of the things I’ve learned along the way."
Posted: Jan 28, 2019
Category: The Musician Business
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**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.
"...before “Time Management”, “Business Planning”, “Email”, “Social Media”, “Content Planning”, “Making Money”, “Crowdfunding”, or any of that other stuff that you need to understand but can easily get overwhelmed by...You need to do a Vulcan Mind Meld between your mindset as a “Musician” and your mindset as an “Entrepreneur”. That’s how you can arm yourself with a set of key values..." View Full Article
Posted: Jan 22, 2019
Category: Social Media
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**Guest post written by Charles Berthoud, originally featured on the iStudios Blog.
"There are basic pre-requisites to building a large following - posting engaging content, posting regularly, using appropriate hashtags - which we basically all know and understand. So I'm going to skip to 5 quick, easily-implemented tips that will boost your social to levels you would never have expected, if you carry them out on a daily basis."
Posted: Jan 14, 2019
Category: Music Streaming
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**Guest post written by Scott Aumann, originally featured on The Legit Musician blog.
"As an indie musician, I love Spotify even more [than as a listener/fan]. I can release music on a platform where millions of music lovers are. I recently dove into all the things we can do with Spotify as an indie musician. Now, I will show you how to get the most out of Spotify."
View Full ArticlePosted: Jan 7, 2019
Category: Marketing
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**Guest post written by Cassie Phillips as featured on The Music Entrepreneur HQ.
"No matter how talented you are, or how much effort you put into your music, getting exposure for your art can be a challenge...To effectively promote your music, you will need to develop your marketing skills. Marketing will allow you to raise awareness for your brand and be better connected to your target market."
Posted: Jan 2, 2019
Category: The Musician Business
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**Guest post written by PJ Taei, the founder of Uscreen.
"With the number of streaming video sites and over-the-top services available today, starting your own online course on literally any topic has never been easier than it is right now...creating an online music course is a good idea for a wide range of different reasons, all of which are worth exploring."
Posted: Dec 17, 2018
Category: Touring
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**Guest post written by Brandon Stoner of Thieves & Lovers.
"24-Hour Gym Membership, Hotel Breakfast, Show Logistics, Power Inverter, Weather Woes, Rules of the Road, Tune Your Vehicle, AAA, Poor Man's Laundromat, Gear Conscious, Always Have Toilet Paper..."
Posted: Dec 10, 2018
Category: Marketing
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**Guest post written by Joshua Bloomberg, singer-songwriter for The One 800s out of Los Angeles.
"A lot of you must be wondering, Why the hell is Josh trying to get me to call a 1-800 number?...for the curious, I thought I’d explain why I’ve chosen this archaic method of communication to promote my new album – and why one week later it’s already a success."
Posted: Dec 3, 2018
Category: The Musician Business
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**Guest post written by Matt Santry, independent musician and founder of the Well Paid Musicians Club.
"There’s a character named James [in the Netflix series "Westside"] who works construction by day. In the first episode, he asks his boss to cut his hours down to 3 days a week so he can have time to practice for an upcoming show. They show James digging ditches, tearing down walls and doing backbreaking manual labor...This is insanity to me! He's a talented guy. So why couldn't he do 1 cover gig at a private event and make that same amount [of money]?"
Posted: Nov 26, 2018
Category: Marketing
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**Guest post written by Alper Tuzcu, a Berklee College of Music and Denison University alumni, a Boston based guitarist, songwriter and producer, and regular contributor to the Adva Mobile Blog.
"A high stream-count on the first day of your song release can be an indicator of success for your newest song or album on various streaming platforms like Spotify or Apple Music. Why is this important? Because in order to get placed in large playlists with thousands or millions of followers, you have to boost your first-day stream totals AND also be getting fans to save your song to their queue or library."
Posted: Nov 19, 2018
Category: Show Booking
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**Guest post written by Jordan Gates, of Megaphone Agency.
"Booking shows can be difficult, especially if you don’t have an experienced booking agent working with you...Most artists start out booking their own shows early on in their career...Knowing how to properly represent yourself to venues and get booked is an essential skill for independent artists. There is no definitive playbook for getting gigs, but here are some things that can help get your foot in the door."
Posted: Nov 12, 2018
Category: Recording
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**Guest post written by Nicholas Rubright, founder and editor at Dozmia, and lead guitarist for the band Days Gone By.
"After spending some time in the studio to record my band’s first EP, that [satisfaction with my line 6 amp] all changed. I set out to get the best tone possible for this EP. Here are some things I learned about guitar tone while in the studio."
View Full ArticlePosted: Nov 5, 2018
Category: Fans
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**Guest post written by Evan Price, Music Mentor and Founder of Artist Collective.
"Instagram focuses in on content gold like photos and videos. Luckily for us, they are still running an interface with few ads that allows pages to be grown easily. Careers have been built on the back of strong Instagram followings and I’ve seen it work."
View Full ArticlePosted: Oct 29, 2018
Category: Music Streaming
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**Guest post written by Angela Predhomme, a singer-songwriter / music producer of inspiring soulful songs.
"As independent artists releasing music on streaming services, we have one goal: that people come across our music and like it...First, I’ll go over a little background information about music streaming and promotion, and then share the details of my own personal experience..."
View Full ArticlePosted: Oct 22, 2018
Category: The Musician Business
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**Guest post written by Cloe Matheson as featured on The Music Entrepreneur HQ.
"Are you an aspiring musical artist looking to increase your bandwidth with listening audiences?...Thinking like an entrepreneur means realizing that when you combine your talents with those of an artist or musical act who are perhaps more established, you’ll expedite your own songwriting, music production, and promotional success."
View Full ArticlePosted: Oct 15, 2018
Category: Delegate Responsibilities
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**Guest post written by Scott Aumann, originally featured on The Legit Musician blog.
"Nobody ever has enough time to do everything they want to do. That’s a fact! Most of us want to do more, but can’t seem to find enough hours in a day to do it. That’s why we all need to focus on the really important stuff and just do those items. Get other people to do the dirty work for you!"
View Full ArticlePosted: Oct 8, 2018
Category: The Musician Business
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**Guest post written by Dan Miraldi, a Cleveland-born New York City-based rock and roller.
"As an indie musician, I have to balance being an artist and being a businessman. My inner businessman understands why it is not practical to release a full-length album...Regardless, I ignored this knowledge and chose to make an album - a full-length album." View Full Article