IOTM Blog
Posted: Jan 13, 2026
Category: Online Presence
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**Guest post written by Adrian Dunevein.
"Look at any musician's website these days and you will invariably see nice pictures of the band, a contact me page, a merch page, a list of upcoming shows and perhaps some teaser videos of the band performing. But ask the musician running the website how much work the site brings in and invariably you get the admission that the site doesn't do much; it's just there as a glorified business card with contact information..."
View Full ArticlePosted: Jan 6, 2026
Category: Career Goals
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**Guest post written by Scott Aumann, originally featured on The Legit Musician blog.
"Every year, we humans make a promise to ourselves that this year will be the year we achieve our goals. Every year, we find out that we are probably lying to ourselves. In fact, we probably make that same promise to ourselves over and over. Statistics show us that 92% of us will fail to keep our resolution. Your New Year’s resolution is a SCAM! Stop fooling yourself, and let’s come up with a better plan for success..."
View Full ArticlePosted: Dec 23, 2025
Category: The Musician Business
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**Guest post written by Ari Herstand. This is an excerpt from the third edition of How to Make It in the New Music Business.
"There’s no simple answer because it all depends on what your goals are. But I’ll tell you one thing—age has absolutely no correlation with success (or talent). It’s never too late to chase your dreams. There is no age limit on a music career. No one can define success for you. As a little encouragement, here are 21 musicians who found success after 30..."
View Full ArticlePosted: Dec 16, 2025
Category: The Musician Business
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**Guest post written by James Woolwine, a composer/songwriter who plays guitar and piano; Classical music lover, and teacher.
""Music isn't a competition!" This oft-repeated phrase is meant to ease our anxiety when we compare ourselves to musicians who are better (or more successful). It's a nice blanket statement, but like most blanket statements, it over-simplifies a complex issue. If only it were so black/white, but all kinds of people play music with all kinds of motivations. Some find this catchphrase patronizing. Let's break it down with more nuance..."
View Full ArticlePosted: Dec 9, 2025
Category: Tips & Tricks
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**Guest post originally featured in the Symphonic Distribution Blog.
"Every year from about mid-December onward, the music industry becomes a ghost town. People start going on vacation and taking time off, major-label artists’ 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 hunkering down and never 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. Instead of seeing the slowdown as a setback, think of it as a reset. It’s the perfect moment to catch up, get organized, reflect on where you’ve been, and plan where you’re going next. 🧠⚡️Here’s everything you need to know to make the most of it..."
View Full ArticlePosted: Dec 2, 2025
Category: Merch
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**Guest post written by Julia Kater for Bandzoogle.com.
"Bundles are a smart way to sell your music and clear out merchandise while reinforcing the artist-to-fan connection. They also increase average order value (AOV) and can streamline fulfillment — especially if you pre-kit bundles or ship items from a single location. Setting up and promoting your bundles on your music website can revitalize your site and help you move digital music, physical merch, and print-on-demand items."
View Full ArticlePosted: Nov 26, 2025
Category: Indie on the Move
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While non-community members can still access certain bits of information and some functionality on the site, a free user account is going to expand on those features quite a bit even for music venues and promoters. Some big differences include the ability to post and respond to show availabilities, member to member messaging, and photo/video tagging.
Posted: Nov 18, 2025
Category: Promotion
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**Guest post written by Cyber PR, originally featured on the Cyber PR Blog.
"I know you’re tired of being told you have to always be on: posting, promoting, chasing streams, keeping up with the endless hamster wheel. But if you want to give yourself a good shot at consistently jolting the algorithms, I suggest you release singles every five or six weeks...This post is here to provide you with a step-by-step framework for how to pull this off — without losing your mind." View Full Article
Posted: Nov 11, 2025
Category: The Musician Business
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**Guest post written by Bobby Owsinski, originally featured in the Music 3.0 Blog.
"As we all know only too well, fame is elusive. Everyone may get their 15 minutes sooner or later, but some are lucky enough to keep it going way longer than that. That said, even those that reach a superstar level don’t stay there forever, and a good example of this is Ed Sheeran."
View Full ArticlePosted: Nov 4, 2025
Category: The Musician Business
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**Guest post written by Tyler James Cook, an independent musician from South Carolina.
"while there are more outlets for musicians than ever before, the much-vaunted democratization of music has made our jobs even more difficult. Instead of being a songwriter and musician, we must fill multiple additional roles, all of which might help us get towards the indie musician's dream: financial security through music. It is a noble and achievable goal, but it takes time. During all that practicing, recording, performing, promoting, and touring, musicians need to feed themselves. The solution is elegant in its simplicity, and immensely profitable: teach private music lessons...Here are a few reasons why indie musicians should make time for private lessons..."
View Full ArticlePosted: Oct 29, 2025
Category: Indie on the Move
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For those of you that have used the QuickPitch functionality on the site, you may notice venues getting marked as "recently emailed" from time to time. This video explains how and why...
Posted: Oct 22, 2025
Category: Songwriting
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**Guest post written by Scott Aumann, originally featured on The Legit Musician blog.
"Think about all the great music made in all of history. We only have a relatively small amount of it created with the latest technology and access to almost anything we need to be delivered to our doorstep. I want to give you an exercise in limitations. What can you learn about yourself and your music by putting certain limits on your creative process?"
View Full ArticlePosted: Oct 14, 2025
Category: Promotion
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**Guest post written by Cyber PR, originally featured on the Cyber PR Blog.
"I run a music publicity and marketing firm, which means I frequently discuss release plans. Many of you have recorded full albums...And I get it. Albums are sacred. They’re art forms, not content drops...If you’re releasing a full album, you need to know that long-form media coverage — those thoughtful, in-depth reviews of your entire record — are very, very hard to come by today. This doesn’t mean you shouldn’t present full albums... It just means that this part of your release journey — the press part — probably won’t look like it did ten or even five years ago. This post explains why no one is reviewing your album anymore — and what to focus on instead." View Full Article
Posted: Oct 8, 2025
Category: Marketing
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**Guest post written by Jason Lekberg, a musician with 20+ years of experience in the industry and creator of Hard Target.
"As indie artists, marketing can feel overwhelming. There is no shortage of companies promoting “shortcuts”, including the social networks themselves. Whether or not you’ve ever executed a campaign before, you are likely skeptical of them all. And rightly so. Between AI, bots and trolls, the internet is more toxic and crowded than ever. There are few better examples of a necessary evil. How do you focus? How do you know which path is right, and which is essentially setting your money on fire."
View Full ArticlePosted: Oct 1, 2025
Category: Licensing
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**Guest post written by Sync Songwriter. Their mission is to not only help independent artists and songwriters learn and understand the sync licensing world but to also help them build relationships with music supervisors.
"Recently, I had the chance to sit down on a Zoom call with two heavy-hitters in the music industry: a music supervisor who works on Oscar-winning films and an entertainment lawyer who represents some of the biggest stars and labels in the world — while also advocating for indie songwriters. We had a candid, in-depth conversation about the growing role of AI in music creation, especially as it relates to licensing for film and TV. What followed was a revealing look into both the opportunities and the landmines that artists need to understand as this technology evolves. As AI in music licensing becomes a more urgent topic, artists need clarity on what’s legally safe — and what’s not."
View Full ArticlePosted: Sep 23, 2025
Category: Indie on the Move
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If you are familiar with the site, then you may be aware that you can follow not only venues, festivals, and colleges, but also other community members. This information is readily available in the follows section of your account, but it is easier to browse and interact with that information via the corresponding directories. Here's how you can do so...
Posted: Sep 16, 2025
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.
"In the music world...your artist or band name plays a massively important role in shaping audience perception and marketing opportunities from the very start. When selecting your artists or band name, you should give significant thought and consideration."
Posted: Sep 10, 2025
Category: Music Streaming
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**Guest post originally featured in the Symphonic Distribution Blog.
"The reality is… not every fan is created equal. Some people will stumble across your track on a playlist and move on, while others will keep coming back, saving your songs, and actually buying tickets when you’re in town. In your Spotify for Artists dashboard, these are called your super listeners, aka the ones who go beyond casual listening and become the backbone of your fanbase. In this post, we’ll break down how to understand them and use them to your advantage. Here’s the rundown..."
View Full ArticlePosted: Sep 3, 2025
Category: The Musician Business
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**Guest post written by Barbara Samuelson of Music Makes You Move.
"Indie bands often focus on raw instruments, heartfelt lyrics, and live energy. DJs specialize in reading the crowd, building anticipation, and dropping tracks that shake the floor. When the two worlds collide, something powerful happens. You don’t just have a concert—you have an experience."
View Full ArticlePosted: Aug 26, 2025
Category: Indie on the Move
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The answer is because those emails (individual and QuickPitch) go directly into the inbox that those talent buyers use for their booking and outside of the Indie on the Move system. The messages sections of IOTM accounts are reserved for user to user communications and stay within the platform.
Posted: Aug 19, 2025
Category: Promotion
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**Guest post written by Julia Kater for Bandzoogle.com.
"No matter what tools you use or how smart your promotional strategy is, quality and creativity in your actual music is what wins fans over, and keeps them coming back. That's why one of the best audience-building strategies for indie musicians these days is still the same as it was a decade ago: cover songs. But not just any covers; covers that truly stand out. A creative, personal take on a familiar song gives new fans a musical on-ramp into your world. Think of it like a gateway: the right cover can grab attention through familiarity, then win people over with your originality and style."
View Full ArticlePosted: Aug 12, 2025
Category: Marketing
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**Guest post written by Scott Helmer, a touring singer-songwriter whose music blends rock and pop with heartfelt storytelling and powerful vocals. He has opened for Heart, Eddie Money, 3 Doors Down, Jeff Bridges, and Eric Burdon & The Animals. A Guinness World Records title holder, he has performed over 1,000 shows and helped raise millions for good causes.
"I’ve removed all of my music from Spotify, Apple Music, Amazon, and every other major streaming platform. I’ve also deleted my YouTube channel and all social media accounts. No more chasing algorithms. No more playing a rigged game where real artists are buried by bots and manufactured content. No more relying on tech giants to reach people who already want to hear from me. From now on, everything I create—music, videos, tour dates, photos, and merch—lives only at my website. I’ve gone 100 percent direct-to-fan."
View Full ArticlePosted: Aug 5, 2025
Category: Technology
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**Guest post written by Scott Aumann, originally featured on The Legit Musician blog.
"If you’re a band manager, publicist, or just a die-hard fan trying to keep tabs on your favorite act, staying informed about every mention online can feel overwhelming. Luckily, Google Alerts is a free and powerful tool that can do most of the legwork for you. In this post, I’ll walk you through how to use Google Alerts to monitor a band’s online presence—whether you’re trying to track press coverage, spot fan activity, or get ahead of potential PR issues."
View Full ArticlePosted: Jul 30, 2025
Category: Indie on the Move
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From your account dropdown menu in the top right hand corner of the site, there is an option for settings...but the "Manage Follow" button on that page can take you to the more advanced alert customizations...All of these preferences will help you to be as informed as possible about the opportunities on the site while limiting the unwanted/irrelevant alerts.
Posted: Jul 23, 2025
Category: Technology
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**Guest post written by Bobby Owsinski, originally featured in the Music 3.0 Blog.
"If there’s one thing that just about everyone can agree on, it’s that AI-generated content known as “AI slop” is seriously boring and beginning to clog up the internet. Not only that, it’s pushing out content created by humans as sometimes recommendation engines can’t tell the difference. If this continues, you may see users begin to flee existing streaming and social platforms in search of true authentic content. In fact, content with flaws may soon become a sort of badge of honor for creators. To that end, YouTube has announced steps to combat AI slop in its upcoming update to its terms of service agreement."
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