IOTM Blog
Posted: May 23, 2016
Category: The Musician Business
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**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: 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 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.
"Let's face it. I'm not Lady GooGoo and I'm not rolling in the deep, deep cavern of Scrooge McDucklike's money vault. But I am a small indie band who has built an intimate fan base from the ground up - enough of a fanbase that I was able to raise $2000 in less than 24 hours to fund my debut album. So let's say I have something to say on the subject of oh, being a successful indie band...here are the 10 things I think are important to making sure you're on the right track as a band and to make sure you have a long and prosperous career where you continue to grow and shoot for greatness..." View Full Article
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.
"If you’re one of the millions (yes millions) of independent artists/producers out there trying to make something of yourself, you’re going to love what I’m about to tell you. If you’re one of the shady opportunists still trying to “hustle” your way into a quick buck, you’re going to hate me. I must be totally unapologetic about this. I don’t care either." View Full Article
Posted: 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 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.
"I'm an American songwriter and singer. I first became a blip on the music advocacy radar when an email exchange between myself and the founder of Pandora, Tim Westergren, was made public in The Huffington Post. What lay at the heart of that exchange was that I'd gotten tired of billion-dollar tech companies lecturing musicians like myself about how hard those companies are working to "find ways to incentivize creators." Musicians know exactly how they could incentivize creators: they could pay us fairly." View Full Article
Posted: Dec 21, 2015
Category: The Musician Business
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**Guest post written by Wade Sutton of Rocket to the Stars.
"I’ve been blessed with working with independent artists from all over the world for the past couple of years...I’ve also found myself, from time to time, serving as a pseudo-therapist for artists struggling emotionally when somebody close to them suggests their love for music is nothing more than a hobby and that the artist should consider a more traditional type of employment. You know. A “real job.”" View Full Article
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..."
View Full ArticlePosted: Aug 10, 2015
Category: Touring
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**Guest post written by James Wilson, lead singer and songwriter for Brooklyn based alt-country band The Paisley Fields.
"Do... 1. Eat Healthy and Exercise. 2. Drink lots of water. 3. Treat everyone with respect. 4. Get your $$$$.... Don't 1. Have a bad attitude. 2. Leave before the other bands have finished their set...."
View Full ArticlePosted: Jul 6, 2015
Category: The Musician Business
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**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
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**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
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**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: Nov 17, 2014
Category: Licensing
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**Guest post written by Jennifer Kes Remington, composer and filmmaker, as featured on Pyragraph.
"So in my quest to throw multiple things against the wall and hope that money comes out of it, I’ve been licensing a lot of my music to library companies...I asked a few other composer friends if they knew of any library companies offhand. On their initial recommendations, I started entering my music into a couple music libraries, and waited and watched as the royalties came in..."
View Full ArticlePosted: Oct 13, 2014
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.
“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: Jul 7, 2014
Category: Live Performance
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**Guest post written by Wade Sutton of Rocket to the Stars.
"Saxophonist Dave Goldberg has been getting a lot of attention lately for an open letter he wrote to operators of venues that host live music. The letter was Goldberg's way of sounding off against venues not paying artists as much money as they feel they deserve. The text, while not hostile in nature, was extremely misguided and managed to ignite another round of firestorms by similarly misguided artists. It was missing a lot of important information concerning why the music scene is the way it is right now and really offered little in the way of how to improve it other than to say venues should simply pay bands more money..."
View Full ArticlePosted: May 26, 2014
Category: Live Performance
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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.
"So we’re on this bill and the first act is a singer-songwriter who sang from a digital piano. Now, I have zero intentions of discrediting him or her, or of being condescending in any regard – this blog won’t serve as an outlet for snark for snark’s sake. But in my observations of this artist, I collected some notes that demonstrate well what I believe to be three ways to NOT conduct yourself as an artist who aims to be taken seriously..."
View Full ArticlePosted: May 5, 2014
Category: Licensing
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**Guest post written by Mallory Zumbach, Sr. Director of Creative at Round Hill Music.
"You might be wondering what exactly a company like RHM looks for when they’re signing a songwriter, artist, or band with the goal of having significant synch success with them. First and foremost, of course, we want to work with tremendously talented people. The music has to make us sit up and take notice the first time we hear it—if it does, we know that people in the synch world will take note, too..."
View Full ArticlePosted: Apr 21, 2014
Category: Live Performance
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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 met with my old friend Sal at Panera one morning. He’s a young and aspiring musician and was willing to look past my greasy hair and elbow-holed flannel to ask for advice on getting his foot into the door of the independent music community....As I fumbled to explain to Sal what I believed makes our show (or any show) one of superior quality, I realized that I could distill most of the factors into four easily digestible elements...and I believe them to be..."
View Full ArticlePosted: Mar 10, 2014
Category: Music Festivals
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**Guest post written by Salina Sias. Salina is a Brooklyn based singer-songwriter with a deeply personal folk-inflected vision and serves on the board of directors of Women In Music. This piece was originally posted on ThrowtheDiceandPlayNice.com.
"I just got back from the 26th annual Folk Alliance International (FAI) music conference in Kansas City, MO...They [music conferences] can be overwhelming, as I can attest after having just dragged my butt back to Brooklyn from Kansas City. So, the generous soul that I am, I thought I’d share my experiences and advice after my first trip ever to a “folk-music conference.”"
View Full ArticlePosted: Mar 5, 2014
Category: Renman Music & Business
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Finding the right manager might be the most important decision an artist makes after they've picked their musical partners. But finding a great manager is not easy. In this lesson of Renman U, the Renman talks about why to hire a manager, what a manager does, what qualifications you should be looking for in a manager, what personality traits to look for, when to get a manager, how to connect with a manager, and about the artist manager relationship.
View Full ArticlePosted: Mar 3, 2014
Category: Show Booking
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**Guest post written by Joy Ike, creator of Grassrootsy.com and Independent Musician, as featured on Grassrootsy.com.
THE QUESTION: I have a question that I hope someone here can help me with. After you’ve sent an email and you don’t hear back for a week or two, is it ok to resend the same email in the case that it got lost in the shuffle? I don’t want to come off as being pushy, but I want to make sure that they actually received the email.
THE ANSWER: Art, this is a really great question that I think a lot of people struggle with. It’s hard to know how to follow up on a email when you don’t know if it was ever read, if it reached the correct person, or if the receiver purposely didn’t get back to you. So we’ve got a few suggestions on what you can do...
View Full ArticlePosted: Feb 24, 2014
Category: The Musician Business
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**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: Jan 13, 2014
Category: Marketing
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**Guest post written by Brandon Swift, musician and creator of Yovigo.com.
Music marketers and artists who have come after The Grateful Dead have been trying to emulate this marketing model since the group's success with it. The model casts a wide net of influence for any artist or group hoping to make a serious mark in the music industry. Here are some reasons giving away your music works so well and has the power to help those who are willing to make a considerable profit.
View Full ArticlePosted: Jan 8, 2014
Category: Renman Music & Business
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In this Renman MB throwback clip, the Renman sits down with Jay Boberg, long time record business heavy hitter. Jay reminds us that truly good art can be good business if the art is the focus and not used solely for exploitation. Among other gems of knowledge, Jay leaves us with a great quote about today's business: "The music industry is a river, not a lake. It's moving."
View Full ArticlePosted: Jan 6, 2014
Category: The Lefsetz Letter
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**Guest Post by Bob Lefsetz of The Lefsetz Letter.
Your ability to play exceeds social networking. Your chops are more important than your social skills. Frequently the best musicians are near mute, they speak through their music, which brings adoring fans to them. First learn how to play. Everything else comes next...
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