Posted: Mar 11, 2025

Category: The Musician Business

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**Guest post by WordPlay T. Jay, hip-hop artist and producer based in Tacoma, WA.

"Since the advent of music streaming, our careers have not been the same...Streaming services partnered with the major labels to carve out exclusive rates in exchange for vast catalogs of music and market share...It’s discouraging and that diversity is under threat. Fans want to see artists thrive and musicians are struggling to earn a living. Fortunately, you can do something to help musicians earn a living wage."

Posted: Mar 4, 2025

Category: Tips & Tricks

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**Guest post by Melissa Mulligan, Recording Industry Vocal Coach & Music Career Mentor for independent artists.

"When I sat down to make the two videos I'm sharing with you here, I did not intend to publish them. So, you're literally seeing me, in my home studio, helping a friend get ready for his tour. But the 10-minute routine I captured that day has been working so well for so many singers, I keep sharing this with more of the touring artists I coach. Even if we are working together weekly on more long term vocal goals, this routine is consistently upping the level of my vocalists' performances!"

Posted: Feb 19, 2025

Category: Merch

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**Guest post by Wes Wolfe of Tangible Formats - Custom Vinyl Records For All.

"For many independent artists, releasing vinyl isn’t a viable option. It’s impractical—the process is expensive and complex. The final product is heavy, inconvenient to transport, and takes up valuable space...Fortunately, we’re in a time when pressing plant capacity finally exceeds demand. Independent artists now have more options and leverage than they did just a few years ago...Releasing your music on vinyl is now more accessible for artists at any stage of their career."

Posted: Feb 4, 2025

Category: Music Streaming

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**Guest post from Chartmetric as featured in their reports.

"Spotify has become the go-to music streaming platform for listeners across the globe. The artists that Chartmetric track had a combined total of 61.4 billion listeners and 23.4 billion followers...Of the 11 million Spotify profiles tracked on Chartmetric, only 1.58 million (14%) have more than 10 listeners from month to month - emphasizing just how much the platform is utilized by undiscovered artists."

Posted: Mar 12, 2024

Category: Music Streaming

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**Guest post written by Greg Fuhs, co-manager of indie label Dying Code Media and member of indie bands Anti-Social Club and Object X.

"As you may have heard, Spotify recently announced that it will no longer pay royalties for songs receiving less than 1,000 streams per year, instead redirecting those funds to artists with songs exceeding that threshold. The company claims this is to better support “emerging and professional artists” and estimates they will redistribute as much as $1 billion over five years. They also claim that small indie artists won’t miss this money – although I don’t think Spotify asked any of us about this..."

Posted: Jan 17, 2024

Category: The Musician Business

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**Guest post by Oren Sharon, founder of One Submit, a music promotion platform for independent artists.

"Spotify recently announced it has made serious changes to its royalty model that will affect independent musicians, digital distributors, and eventually the whole music industry. [This] is a summary of the changes made by Spotify, starting on January 1, 2024, and their anticipated impact on Spotify's royalty pool and all the players in the industry."

Posted: Jun 13, 2023

Category: Tips & Tricks

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**Guest post by Fang from Lords of the Trident, the most METAL band on earth!

"We sit down with Martin Atkins - the godfather of the DIY band business, and inspiration for this whole video series - to talk about the current state of the music business, and how to make your band stand out!"

Posted: Jan 18, 2023

Category: Promotion

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**Guest post written by Lacie Blue, director of artist relations at Musik and Film Promotions.

"Nashville used to be the land where dreams came true for musicians. Superstar makers would walk into a bar and swoop up the “next big thing”—pretty soon you had Garth Brooks. Perhaps it still happens…once in a blue moon. Once upon a time, musicians and songwriters created music to create. They performed because it was in their blood to perform. They didn’t care if they fit into a genre. They wanted to connect to people on a higher level through music. Gone are those days. (But not the musicians…)"

Posted: Feb 7, 2022

Category: Career Goals

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

"Back in the day, you didn’t need much but talent and potential in order to grab the attention of an A&R or label scout. A huge amount of time and money from a label was invested into the artist development process for fresh acts that needed to be groomed for the music world. Now, with so much competition around, musical acts that bring a lot to the table usually outshine those who are talented but less prepared. Here are some tips that will help you reach the top of the ladder among other musicians and artists who are on the front lines for opportunities."

Posted: Jan 31, 2022

Category: The Musician Business

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**Guest post by Eric Todd of YFM, The Big Break Solution.

"Once upon a time, back in the 80’s the world was chock full of record labels, both major and indie, limited to a single one-way street to success. It wasn’t good, it wasn’t bad, it just was what it was...No one could imagine that we’d be living in the Bizarro World in 2022 (on so many levels), where the exact opposite is true. Today, only a few big labels exist, but there is now a multi-lane superhighway to find success, by whatever success means to the artist. It’s not good, it’s not bad, it just is what it is."

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."

Posted: Jul 19, 2021

Category: Royalties

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

Posted: Sep 9, 2019

Category: The Lefsetz Letter

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**Guest post by Bob Lefsetz of The Lefsetz Letter.

"Don't wait for help, do it yourself. Just like you can record and distribute yourself, you can promote too. If you're waiting for a manager to start, don't...Decide who you want to be. A hobbyist, a touring musician or a superstar. This affects your path..."

Posted: Mar 26, 2018

Category: Marketing

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**Guest post written by Lucie Watson of Platoon.

"If you’re working in the music industry as an artist, manager, label, distributor or any other field you’ve probably had or heard a conversation about the power of Spotify playlists. Some questions I frequently get asked are “how can I get on Spotify’s playlists?” or “how can I get on New Music Friday?” or “when can I start to see playlist additions?”. What I’d love to tell artists and managers is that it’s easy...but more often than not the response I give is this: there’s no way I can guarantee placement on a playlist ahead of a release."

Posted: Aug 7, 2017

Category: Promotion

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**Guest post written by Michael Corcoran of musicSUBMIT.

Posted: Feb 21, 2017

Category: Marketing

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**Guest post by Garrison Snell of Crosshair.

"Placement on playlists is the digital equivalent of radio placement, except that playlists aren't limited by geographical location AND they can be used to work your song into bigger playlists...Influencer marketing (placing stuff with influential digital celebs) is still the most organic form of promotion and word of mouth..."

Posted: Jul 5, 2016

Category: The Musician Business

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**Guest Post by Bret Alexander of The Badlees and Saturation Acres.

"I have always said that the best way to break up a band is to make a record. I’ve seen it a hundred times. A bunch of guys have a rock and roll dream. The band gets all excited and starts diligently writing songs. They save up some money...Then, they do the recording. Then, they put together the artwork. Then, they plan the release party. Then……. About two weeks or so after the release party the phone calls start coming in. The band is depressed. At this point they ask the question that whole empires have risen and fallen on: Now what?"

Posted: May 9, 2016

Category: Royalties

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**Guest Post by David Lowery, frontman from Cracker and Camper Van Beethoven. Originally featured in The Trichordist.

Posted: Mar 14, 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.

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.

Posted: Nov 2, 2015

Category: Marketing

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**Guest post written by Matt Bacon, Senior Campaign Manager at Independent Music Promotions.

You look out on the crowd after a high powered set opening up for one of your favorite bands – and then instead of playing another song off your latest release you instead pull off a killer cover of Just Like Heaven...People love artists who pay tribute to their influences.

Posted: Sep 21, 2015

Category: Promotion

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**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: Aug 31, 2015

Category: Technology

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**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: Apr 13, 2015

Category: Promotion

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**Guest post written by BeTH isBell, host of The Flower Power Hour and the New Releases show on KMUD, an FM station in Northern California.

"1. We have a music library at the station where we label and file all CDs, and vinyl records, that we receive from artists, labels, and distributors. What I've noticed is that CDs in jewel cases or digipaks with the artist and album name on spine get pulled for airplay 5x-10x more frequently than CDs in slim cases or sleeves where the artist/album name, and sometimes, the CD itself can't be seen hiding on the shelf squeezed between the CDs in jewel cases. Truth..."

Posted: Nov 25, 2014

Category: Technology

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**Guest post written by Dae Bogan of Dae Bogan Music.