Posted: Oct 12, 2015

Category: The Musician Business

bret alexander career goals constant creation experience know your audience music business music career practice radio airplay record deal songwriting

**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..."

Posted: Oct 5, 2015

Category: Music Festivals

be realistic community support epk have fun music festivals networking practice promotion show booking

**Guest post written by Amir Mozafari, Director of BD for Everfest and formerly of C3 Presents.

1. Develop a relationship with local promoters. 2. Practice, practice, practice! 3. Keep your EPK (Electronic Press Kit) up to date...

Posted: Sep 28, 2015

Category: Promotion

gigging indie 411 live performances merch networking newsletters promotion

**Guest post written by Brad Barnett, professional musician and founder of Indie 411.

Most musicians have a general idea of how to promote their upcoming shows...With so many musicians actively promoting their gigs, it comes as a surprise to me that most of them stop there. What I mean by that is they work hard to try and get people out to their event, then don’t do anything to promote or sell their brand once it’s show time...If the goal is to get as many people to know about you as possible, then there are a few things you should be doing at gigs to maximize your reach.

Posted: Sep 21, 2015

Category: Promotion

college radio indie artists musicsubmit pay to play payola radio airplay radio promotion radio stations

**Guest post written by Michael Corcoran of musicSUBMIT.

"It goes without saying, all bands and musicians want to get their songs on the radio. There’s no point drumming up all the benefits of having your music broadcast to thousands of listeners with one spin on the radio. And of course radio stations want to find songs they think their audiences will want to hear...

But therein lies a nearly century-old problem for both artists and radio stations..."

Posted: Sep 14, 2015

Category: Live Performance

eat healthy gear merch newsletters posters professionalism promotion sleep social media

**Guest post written by Megan Liscomb, originally posted on TakeLessons.com.

"Congrats on getting the big gig! Whether you’re preparing for your band’s first show or your album-release party, these tips will help you learn how to promote your band, make your best impression on stage, and get invited back to the venue to do it all again."

Posted: Sep 8, 2015

Category: Online Presence

bandzoogle google homepage text online presence page descriptions page titles search engine rank seo social media website improvement

**Guest Post written by Melanie Kealey of Bandzoogle.com.

"Making your website rank well in search engines can seem like a daunting task...Even starting with a few small things can help with the search engine optimization (also called SEO) for your website. Let’s look at a few quick ways to update the text on your website to help it rank better in search results!"

Posted: Aug 31, 2015

Category: Technology

adobe creative cloud create videos diy hank & cupcakes indie indie artists lynda.com video marketing

**Guest post by Hank & Cupcakes, Brooklyn based Indie/Pop/Rock duo.

All of us are aware of how important the visual aspect of our music is for promoting, exposing and marketing our band. It seems that many indie bands are afraid of making their own videos mainly because there's a common mythological assumption that it is very complicated, expensive and technically demanding to create this kind of content, so many bands don't even try to explore this territory which is today as accessible to us as the audio recording field is...

Posted: Aug 24, 2015

Category: Technology

about.me blogs doodle entrepreneur on fire facebook google analytics google webmaster headspace just plain folks musicmunch trello wordpress

**Guest post by Harrison Welshimer, creator of MusicMunch Reviews and Interviews.

"Do you love FREE as much as I do? Duh, we’re musicians! Here are the top 10 free internet resources I recommend from personal experience..."

Posted: Aug 17, 2015

Category: The Musician Business

emotion facebook music streaming services musik and film record labels social media songwriting twitter youtube

**Guest post by Stephen Wrench, CEO of Musik and Film.

"I recently had the pleasure of pitching a very talented well produced artist to major labels...They never listened to it [the music] because their social media numbers were not good enough?"

Posted: Aug 10, 2015

Category: Touring

diet eat healthy fan support make money music business promotion the paisley fields touring touring strategy

**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...."

Posted: Aug 4, 2015

Category: Publishing

ascap bmi cd baby mechanical royalties publishing publishing administrator sesac sync placements the diy musician

**Guest post from the DIY Musician Blog.

"One of the other topics of consistent confusion for our members is the differentiation between what a publishing administrator does and what a performing rights society does. Many members of ASCAP, BMI or SESAC that I’ve heard from think their performing rights society IS their publisher and that they are getting all of the income they’re entitled to directly from that P.R.O. (performing rights organization). In this article, I relay a couple of actual questions we’ve received on the topic and try to give some clear, concise answers."

Posted: Jul 27, 2015

Category: Online Presence

authoritative sources brandon seymour google online presence seo web presence wikipedia

**Guest post written by Brandon Seymour, musician, SEO analyst, web designer, and social media marketer.

"Wikipedia pages are the holy grail of online citations. Although the site is a collaborative effort that allows virtually anyone to create or edit content, most pages are deleted shortly after being published...But I can tell you from personal experience that it [building a Wikipedia page for your band] can be done, and if you do it right, it won’t cost you a thing."

Posted: Jul 20, 2015

Category: The Musician Business

freelance grassrootsy health insurance know your options obamacare

**Guest post written Aly Keller, an avid pianist, musicologist, and marketing analyst, as featured on Grassrootsy.com.

"Turns out, musicians often do make that decision [medical debt or a musical career]. Last year, 43% of them lacked insurance. And this is in the post-ACA (“Obamacare”) environment where health insurance has never been more accessible to employer-less freelancers. But is health insurance something you really want to go without?"

Posted: Jul 13, 2015

Category: Live Performance

built-in crowds convenience draw exposure fan engagement friend support local concert goers promotion

**Guest post written by Cristof Ensslin, cellist/manager of The Wilhelm Brothers, folk rock with cello infusion from Asheville, NC.

"Are you booking for an indie band? Have you ever come across a venue mentioning you ought not to play another show within a certain radius and timespan? Chances are, you have." But what if you could play multiple shows in the same town in the same week and the venue could also benefit...

Posted: Jul 6, 2015

Category: The Musician Business

apparatus career goals diy entrepreneurship keys to success music business networking the grind

**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.

Posted: Jun 30, 2015

Category: Social Media

following graphics online presence promotion relationships with fans social media splashflood stay connected twitter

**Guest post written by Frederic Sahyouni of SplashFlood, a mobile app that rewards musicians for their talent.

"So you started a new band or a new solo music project and, as you absolutely must, you want to set up your online presence on all the typical social media platforms available...Here is a list of things you should and should not do in order to kickstart your social media presence on Twitter..."

Posted: Jun 22, 2015

Category: Music Streaming

apple music exposure itunes make money music streaming services royalties spotify takelessons

**Guest post written by Megan Liscomb, originally posted on TakeLessons.com.

"Online streaming is changing the face of the music industry, for artists and fans alike. Recently, Apple announced their entry into the streaming game via their new music streaming service Apple Music, due out June 30.

So what does Apple Music mean for you? Whether you're looking at the service as an artist or as a music fan, here's what Apple Music has to offer..."

Posted: Jun 15, 2015

Category: Live Performance

addressing your crowd fan engagement live performances rocket to the stars sentence structure

**Guest post written by Wade Sutton of Rocket to the Stars.

"In the third of a three-part video series, Rocket to the Stars' Wade Sutton continues examining how artists can improve their speaking skills when on stage performing at live shows!" Sentence structure is key...

Posted: Jun 8, 2015

Category: Live Performance

addressing your crowd dynamic energy fan engagement live performances perfect your performance stage rules

**Guest post written by Wade Sutton of Rocket to the Stars.

"In the second of a three-part video series, Rocket to the Stars' Wade Sutton continues examining how artists can improve their speaking skills when on stage performing at live shows!"

Posted: Jun 1, 2015

Category: Live Performance

addressing your crowd fan engagement how to run a band live performances live performing make money perfect your performance rocket to the stars

**Guest post written by Wade Sutton of Rocket to the Stars.

"Finding a comfort zone while speaking to audiences between songs is something that has been problematic for MANY singers...So I spent a large portion of time over the past year ­and ­a ­half exploring this very issue and looking for ways artists can improve at this extremely important, yet often neglected, skill..."

Posted: May 26, 2015

Category: The Musician Business

career goals delegate responsibilities diy entrepreneurship keys to success music business music career

**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..."

Posted: May 18, 2015

Category: Social Media

charities facebook fan engagement get personal google hangouts marketing plan scatterradio social media twitter

**Guest post written by Melinda Lewis of ScatterRadio.

"The evolution from simply surfing the internet on a computer to consuming content on mobile phones has put a growing emphasis on social media. And, the pressure to be “good” at social media has never been stronger...Your audience may be inundated with the same messages from different people and the quest to stand out oftentimes seems like an uphill battle. Instead of focusing on the quantity, cultivate quality..."

Posted: May 11, 2015

Category: Promotion

call-to-action direct to fan free downloads marketing plan newsletters social media sonicbids the diy musician website improvement

**Guest post written by Hugh Mcintyre via the DIY Musician Blog, originally posted on the SonicBids Blog.

"These days, everybody’s email inboxes are fuller than ever, and people are becoming more and more selective about what newsletters they sign up for. Here are six tips that could help you..."

Posted: May 4, 2015

Category: Merch

budget cd's make money marketing merch monetization relationships with fans schwilly family musicians t-shirts vinyl

**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.

""Don't rely on the promoters. As long as you put on a killer show and have killer merch, you'll always have enough gas to make it to the next stop"...The bottom line is that if you want to be a professional musician, you should have a solid merch setup and promote it effectively at your gigs. Because it might be the only money you make that night..."

Posted: Apr 27, 2015

Category: Live Performance

advanced tickets bar coffeehouse diy grassrootsy house shows music album release music festivals show booking

**Guest post written by Joy Ike, creator of Grassrootsy.com and Independent Musician, as featured on Grassrootsy.com.

"...we thought it would be important to talk about the different types of shows out there and give you a comprehensive understanding of the types of shows you should be taking at certain stages in your career depending on what city you are in and depending on the timing. Yea, that’s a mouthful, but stick with us and you*ll get what we mean..."