IOTM Blog
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."
View Full ArticlePosted: Nov 22, 2021
Category: Marketing
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**Guest post written by Leonard Patterson of Artist Collective AKA @ac_leonardp.
"Regardless of the true meaning of the holidays, one thing is universal. People will flock to the stores, click on shiny objects, and buy. the. stuff. Whether or not you have “stuff” to sell already, here are a few easy-to-implement marketing, content, and planning ideas to help prepare you for the season."
View Full ArticlePosted: 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” =)."
View Full ArticlePosted: Nov 8, 2021
Category: Promotion
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**Guest post written by Ariel Hyatt, previously featured on MusicGoat.com.
"Music pr is designed to raise awareness of you in the press. To help build and share a story, as well as build up critical acclaim. Of course, a great article or review may lead to sales, but overall, if selling music is your goal, music PR services are not the only thing you will need. WHY?"
Posted: Nov 1, 2021
Category: Marketing
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**Guest post written by Cyber PR, originally featured on the Cyber PR Blog.
"We have already outlined building a solid foundation for your music marketing plan in Part 1 – The Nuts & Bolts, and outlined strategies for a successful music release launch in Part 2. Now it is time to kick back and relax for a little while before starting to write material for the next single, album, or EP that you’ll release down the road right? Wrong… couldn’t be further from the truth." View Full Article
Posted: Oct 25, 2021
Category: Marketing
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**Guest post written by Cyber PR, originally featured on the Cyber PR Blog.
"Do you have a plan for your next music release? This can be a single, a music video, an EP, or an album. In our most popular series The Musician’s Guide to Marketing Plans, which we call Total Tuneups, we address the overlooked importance of having a marketing plan in place...Here in Part 2, we break down the next five elements for your music release so you don’t miss a single opportunity." View Full Article
Posted: Oct 18, 2021
Category: Marketing
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**Guest post written by Cyber PR, originally featured on the Cyber PR Blog.
"In this ever-changing landscape, we see the same issue consistently: A vast majority of musicians don’t create long-term marketing plans. Artists skip this vital part of their music careers. Plans used to be the responsibility of the record label when artist development used to be a thing or a great management team but very few artists are lucky enough to have either (or in many cases, they don’t want a label). This leaves a void in today’s new music business...You work so hard on new music, dedicating hours practicing, writing songs, not to mention spending large sums of money recording, mixing, mastering, creating visuals, and album artwork only to rush the release with no marketing plan in place." View Full Article
Posted: Oct 11, 2021
Category: Promotion
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**Guest post written by Bruce Wawrzyniak, who runs Now Hear This, Inc. and www.InterviewTipsCourse.com.
"...this list of 20-plus ways that you can promote (your music, your podcast, your book) can overwhelmingly be done alone and with little to no cost! So, rather than sit back and say, “Okay, my new release is on Spotify or my podcast is now on iTunes or my book is on Amazon,” promote the little minnow rather than sitting back and waiting for people to find it swimming in the ocean-sized inventory of content on those platforms. Remember that as easy as it is to hire me to be your publicist and do the promotion for you, up until then, when you’re on your own, if you don’t promote, who else will?"
View Full ArticlePosted: Oct 4, 2021
Category: Promotion
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**Guest post written by Bruce Wawrzyniak, who runs Now Hear This, Inc. and www.InterviewTipsCourse.com.
"...this list of 20-plus ways that you can promote (your music, your podcast, your book) can overwhelmingly be done alone and with little to no cost! So, rather than sit back and say, “Okay, my new release is on Spotify or my podcast is now on iTunes or my book is on Amazon,” promote the little minnow rather than sitting back and waiting for people to find it swimming in the ocean-sized inventory of content on those platforms. Remember that as easy as it is to hire me to be your publicist and do the promotion for you, up until then, when you’re on your own, if you don’t promote, who else will?"
View Full ArticlePosted: Sep 27, 2021
Category: The Musician Business
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**Guest post by Electronic Musician.
"Can you describe your music in 6 words or less? It's the first question that anyone asks you about your music: What kind of music do you make? Your answer to that question is the most important thing. It’s even more important than your story. So don’t wing it. You should prepare it ahead of time and have it at the tip of your tongue when interviewers, the media, and people you meet ask. Don't try to make a perfect and complete description: the goal is to get them curious enough to ask to want to hear your music. That's how you'll know if you've created the right description. Here are some simple ideas to help you describe your music effectively..."
View Full ArticlePosted: Sep 20, 2021
Category: Live Performance
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**Guest post by Fang from Lords of the Trident, the most METAL band on earth!
"Playing live with other musicians [online] USED to be impossible, but thanks to a bunch of incredibly smart Stanford scientists, it's now 100% possible to perform LIVE with other musicians - even if they're hundreds of miles away! Check out Jacktrip."
View Full ArticlePosted: Sep 13, 2021
Category: Tips & Tricks
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**Guest post written by Logan Crowell, Founder & President of HOME, Helping Our Music Evolve.
"SO MANY PEOPLE HAVE THIS FEELING THAT THEY COULD BE DOING MORE… THAT THEY ARE JUST SEEING THE ‘TIP OF THE ICEBERG’ IN TERMS OF WHAT THEY ARE CAPABLE OF. Before we dive into specifics about how one can become more productive, let’s first understand what it means to be productive..."
View Full ArticlePosted: Sep 7, 2021
Category: The Musician Business
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**Guest post written by Bruce Wawrzyniak, who runs Now Hear This, Inc. and www.InterviewTipsCourse.com.
"It has come to my attention that there’s a whole generation barely even using email...regardless of your age, if you think you’re missing out on opportunities, it might simply be because (gasp) you did send one email and then gave up, moved on, when you didn’t hear anything back. The simple fact is, if it’s important enough to you, a second email should be sent when sufficient time has gone by (in other words, not the next day) and that simple follow-up could make the difference in actually getting a response."
View Full ArticlePosted: 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!"
View Full ArticlePosted: Aug 23, 2021
Category: Live Performance
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**Guest post written by Kristen Ford, Nashville based indie rock act with a passion for music business and a book on DIY touring in the works.
The East Room is one of 13 Nashville venues where either "Proof of a Vaccine or Negative Covid Test" is required for entry...All of New York City has this policy, as well as all NIVA (National Independent Venue Association) venues...Music festivals such as Folk Alliance and Kerrville already have similar policies for future events. This means regardless of your local rules and regulations, or your personal views on vaccinations, touring artists need to be ready for this policy change.
View Full ArticlePosted: Aug 16, 2021
Category: The Musician Business
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**Guest post written by Carla Malrowe for Bandzoogle.
"A brilliant band photo is one that captures the style and story of the music, expresses the characters of the musicians, and bears elements akin to the genre. It is impressionable, professional, unique and authentic. Brilliant photos sell the total sonic experience that awaits the listener...Here are the do’s and don'ts when it comes to putting together your band photoshoot project."
View Full ArticlePosted: 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.
"It’s absurd to think that the “starving musician” stereotype proves to be true more often than not. Producing, composing, and engineering songs to a professional standard is inherently valuable because thought-provoking sound is necessary to the human experience, but many musicians find themselves broke regardless. It’s usually not due to a lack of talent or drive, but because musicians tend to be un-blissfully ignorant of the abundance of digital opportunities available within their electronic reaches. It doesn’t have to be this way." View Full Article
Posted: Jul 26, 2021
Category: Promotion
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**Guest post by Vince Martellacci of ForgeCollective.
"There are three main ways musicians can go about getting their music on playlists, ranging from old school to modern...They are: email outreach, digital submissions, and social media relationship-building...all three have their place, and all three work."
View Full ArticlePosted: Jul 19, 2021
Category: Royalties
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**Guest post written by Cyber PR, originally featured on the Cyber PR Blog.
"Facebook recently released a new tool for indie artists to share their music in a much easier way. The social media giant announced their partnering with TuneCore and Distrokid early this summer. Cyber PR discusses what this means for indie artists and what the new partnership entails." View Full Article
Posted: Jul 12, 2021
Category: Live Performance
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**Guest post written by Melanie Kealey for Bandzoogle.
"As restrictions are starting to ease in some parts of the world, we thought it would be beneficial to have a conversation with Kyle Weber (founder of live show & tour booking platform Indie on the Move) and Kristen Ford (singer-songwriter and touring artist) to gain some perspective on how artists are going about booking or re-booking tours..."
View Full ArticlePosted: 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!"
View Full ArticlePosted: Jun 28, 2021
Category: Merch
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**Guest post by Michael L. Moore, a vinyl record enthusiast with a passion for R&B and soul music. He is the owner and editor of Devoted to Vinyl and recently wrote about his newfound appreciation for synthwave music on vinyl.
"Every industry was deeply affected by this crisis [in 2020], and independent artists were no exception. Unable to sell tickets, go on tour, and earn revenue through merchandise sales, 2020 turned every creative into a “struggling artist.” But 2021 is a new year, and as things slowly open back up, there remains a fairly untapped revenue stream that indie artists should strongly consider jumping into: the world of vinyl records."
View Full ArticlePosted: 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."
View Full ArticlePosted: Jun 14, 2021
Category: Recording
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**Guest post by Martin Kristiansen, founder of HomeStudioIdeas.com.
"Getting stuck on unfinished tracks is probably one of the most common issues for producers. I think we all can agree that starting a new track is so much easier than putting the finishing touches on an existing project. Today I want to share 7 tips that you can use to achieve some closure on your music-making. Let’s dive right in!"
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