Posted: Oct 18, 2023

Category: The Musician Business

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**Guest post written by David Andrew Wiebe for Bandzoogle.com.

"One of the reasons musicians end up choosing to become artists and joining bands in the first place is because they love live performance and simply can’t get enough of the adrenaline and dopamine cocktail. That is, of course, until they’ve been rejected by 10 venues in a row and grow tired of trying to grind it out. It’s usually at this point that the bassist chimes in with – “I know! We should find a booking agent!” But is now the right time for a booking agent? And, if it is, how do you get one?"

Posted: Aug 15, 2023

Category: Merch

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**Guest post written by Janelle Borg, originally posted on AmplifyYou's blog.

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: Jan 31, 2023

Category: Marketing

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**Guest post originally featured in the Symphonic Distribution Blog.

"Effective marketing is a fundamental part of being an artist. Without it, you, your music, and your branding can only go so far. This is where spending the money for thoughtful and dependable marketing comes into play. But how do you know how much money is the right amount to help you achieve your goals? In this part of our marketing journey series, we’ll break down everything you need to know about building a successful marketing budget..."

Posted: Dec 7, 2022

Category: Tips & Tricks

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**Guest post originally featured in the Symphonic Distribution Blog.

"Every year, from about mid-December on, the music industry becomes a ghost town. People start going on vacation, taking time-off, major label artist releases slow down big time, and for indie artists, it’s no man’s land. And while that, coupled with the frigid temperatures, might be enough to have you want to hunker down and avoid leaving the safety of your home for the next few months, this time of year is actually incredibly powerful for setting yourself up for success. You just have to know how to take advantage of it. Here’s how..."

Posted: Aug 23, 2022

Category: Managers

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

"Have you reached the point where you need someone else to manage many of your business aspects in order to you to be able to focus more on the creative side of things? Are you unsure of the process for getting a manager that fits your style, location, budget, and interests? You are not at all alone...Not everyone that can manage should manage you. Also, more importantly, not everyone that is looking for management is ready for it."

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: Mar 1, 2022

Category: Promotion

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**Guest post written by David Andrew Wiebe, previously featured on MusicGoat.com.

"Looking for a Patreon alternative to create a better fan experience by offering exclusive content? Had thoughts of selling content and paid subscriptions? Wish you had direct access to all your stats and fan data so you could market better? Interested in creating a profitable online fan club? And what if you could do all this on your own, brandable white-labeled website?"

Posted: 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."

Posted: Oct 18, 2021

Category: Marketing

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**Guest post written by Cyber PR, originally featured on the Cyber PR Blog.

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?"

Posted: 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."

Posted: Feb 15, 2021

Category: Marketing

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**Guest post from #1 YouTube Consultant Derral Eves.

"I understand that a lot of musicians love to share their music in live settings, and why wouldn’t they? In the past year, unfortunately, sometimes the only option for exposure has been online. So...what better time to focus on your YouTube audience than now?...How do you build a bigger audience, foster brand loyalty, and grow revenue?"

Posted: Feb 1, 2021

Category: The Musician Business

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**Guest post by Randy Chertkow and Jason Feehan of MakingMoneyWithMusic.com. Originally featured in the Disc Makers Blog. Reprinted with permission.

"While you hear a lot about independent musicians and how you can build a music career with a do-it-yourself mentality, doing it yourself doesn’t mean doing it alone. There isn’t a singular music industry. Instead, there are industries that serve every facet of the foundation upon which you build your career, and you have to master them all to succeed and grow as an artist...Today we’ll tackle another subset of roles to help grow your music career: those associated with merchandise and getting media exposure."

Posted: Aug 3, 2020

Category: Marketing

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**Guest post by David Figueroa of Avoid Cliche, a musical artist branding company.

"You've made your music, but you need to decide how you want to present yourself to the world. Even if you're making music just for fun, it's always good to give people an extra layer of the artistic story, so people remember you. Here I'll explain why visual branding is vital and even get into some fun psychology. Buckle up..."

Posted: Jun 1, 2020

Category: Marketing

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**Guest post by David Figueroa of Avoid Cliche, a musical artist branding company.

"When you've got your music ready, you want to send it out into the world for everyone to listen to it, but the worst thing you could do is to send it out in shoddy clothing. It's important that you get your branding right. You only get one shot. Here are some common mistakes that I see over and over again. And how to avoid them."

Posted: Feb 24, 2020

Category: Show Booking

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**Guest post written by Rachael Rubright of Dozmia.

"...a booking agent has a lot of artists vying for their attention or pulling their interest away from you. So, what can you do to put yourself on that booking agent’s radar? This article will outline some tips to help you get noticed."

Posted: 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: 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."

Posted: Apr 23, 2018

Category: Marketing

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**Guest post written by Jordan Gates, of Megaphone Agency.

"A huge component of being successful in the music industry has to do with how you market yourself...Creating a powerful brand will help you achieve [lifelong fans]. Your band is the music making machine that will enable your career, and your brand is the face of your music that people will learn to know and love."

Posted: Jan 2, 2018

Category: The Musician Business

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**Guest post written by Joshua Rich, a pop pianist out of Washington, DC.

"The best thing I have learned as a performer is how to get out of my own way - to look at myself through other people’s eyes...Listening to others and being open to what your strengths are can be the difference between making it and not..."

Posted: Jul 31, 2017

Category: The Musician Business

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**Guest post by Vinnie Hines of Artist Collective.

Posted: Jun 19, 2017

Category: The Musician Business

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**Guest post by Vinnie Hines of Artist Collective.

Posted: Dec 12, 2016

Category: Show Booking

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**Guest post written by Louise Dodgson, Editor at The Unsigned Guide.