Posted: Dec 10, 2018
Category: Marketing
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**Guest post written by Joshua Bloomberg, singer-songwriter for The One 800s out of Los Angeles.
"A lot of you must be wondering, Why the hell is Josh trying to get me to call a 1-800 number?...for the curious, I thought I’d explain why I’ve chosen this archaic method of communication to promote my new album – and why one week later it’s already a success."
Posted: Nov 26, 2018
Category: Marketing
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**Guest post written by Alper Tuzcu, a Berklee College of Music and Denison University alumni, a Boston based guitarist, songwriter and producer, and regular contributor to the Adva Mobile Blog.
"A high stream-count on the first day of your song release can be an indicator of success for your newest song or album on various streaming platforms like Spotify or Apple Music. Why is this important? Because in order to get placed in large playlists with thousands or millions of followers, you have to boost your first-day stream totals AND also be getting fans to save your song to their queue or library."
Posted: Jul 7, 2018
Category: Social Media
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**Guest post written by Ariel Hyatt, originally featured on the Cyber PR Blog.
"Instagram — the most popular visual social platform has experienced a meteoric rise. As of today, there are over 700 million active Instagram users, and 95 million photos shared every day...We hear from artists all of the time that they love Instagram the most because of it’s ease of use."
View Full ArticlePosted: 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 22, 2018
Category: Marketing
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**Guest post written by Cassie Steele, content editor for GuitarFella.com.
"The internet has opened up a world of opportunity for musicians, enabling you to release music to a wide audience without the gatekeepers of record labels or a distribution company. However, you need to know what you’re doing. Releasing music online without a marketing plan and expecting it to sell is like dropping your CD in Times Square and expecting a record producer to pick it up..."
View Full ArticlePosted: Dec 4, 2017
Category: Social Media
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**Guest post written by Ged Richardson of Zing Instruments as featured in the Ultimate Guide To Social Media Marketing For Musicians.
"The commonest mistake that musicians make is not to consider who they are trying to reach with each platform. That’s right. You need to think who are you trying to reach. And the complexity doesn't stop there. People you’re trying to reach don’t all use the same social media channels either..." View Full Article
Posted: Aug 21, 2017
Category: Touring
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**Guest post written by Ari Herstand, the author of How To Make It in the New Music Business.
"I’ve made a ton of mistakes and got screwed over by talent buyers, promoters and club owners more times than I’d like to admit. I learned everything the hard way and it took me years to figure out how to actually book a successful, money making tour. The biggest thing you want to remember when thinking about setting up a tour is: do not book a tour just to go on tour..." View Full Article
Posted: Jul 31, 2017
Category: The Musician Business
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**Guest post by Vinnie Hines of Artist Collective.
"For ages, there’s been a cliché dream for any would-be musician...You’re immediately bombarded by these different suits throwing you offers from every record label you could think of, and finally, you’ve made it. You’re “signed...It’s all bullshit.” View Full Article
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..."
View Full ArticlePosted: May 2, 2016
Category: Touring
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**Guest Post by Ezekiel Morphis, San Diego based Americana/Folk Singer-Songwriter.
"If you just started playing music last week, this article will aid you further down the road as long as you stay committed and work on your music first. If you are like me — two EPs completed, well practiced, working on an album, playing for a handful of years, don’t mind smelling like beer and shame for days on end and still want to know how to tour DIY — then this is the article for you."
View Full ArticlePosted: Feb 22, 2016
Category: Selling Music
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**Guest post written by Corey Koehler, an indie singer-songwriter from Minnesota, as featured in his blog MusicGoat.com.
"For the past 30-40 years musicians have been releasing albums. Many times the time between those albums was a year or more. Many bands and musicians these days still model their own release schedules after this same one. This is a mistake. These days you should be learning how to release a single and doing it often. Here's why..."
View Full ArticlePosted: 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.
View Full ArticlePosted: May 18, 2015
Category: Social Media
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**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..."
View Full ArticlePosted: May 11, 2015
Category: Promotion
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**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..."
View Full ArticlePosted: Feb 23, 2015
Category: Sponsorship
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**Guest post written by Anelka Argiro, VP of Brand Partnerships for Wind Up Records.
A good song just isn't enough [to break through the clutter] these days...Enter your new best friend -- brand partnerships.
View Full ArticlePosted: Dec 22, 2014
Category: Promotion
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**Guest post written by Wade Sutton of Rocket to the Stars.
"It is no secret that creating and adding to a list of e-mail subscribers is one of the most important marketing tools for singers and bands. It is also one of the most difficult and frustrating tasks to undertake..."
View Full ArticlePosted: Nov 4, 2014
Category: Marketing
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**Guest post written by Brandon Seymour, musician, SEO analyst, web designer, and social media marketer.
"I know - I'm not the first genius to point out that the music industry is dead. I'm also not the first person to point out that artists have been complaining about this for a very long time. I just can't help but wonder if maybe - just maybe - the music industry needed to die..."
View Full ArticlePosted: Jul 28, 2014
Category: Promotion
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**Guest post written by Erica Sinkovic, CD Baby's Web Product Manager and general music enthusiast, as featured in the DIY Musician Blog.
"Whether you’re an independent artist or signed to an independent label, you’re sure to have a lot on your plate already. Between booking shows, debating merch, planning your next big marketing move, juggling social media-insanity, oh yeah, and writing new material, the last thing you want to add to your plate is a radio campaign...I’m here to tell you: don’t abandon radio."
View Full ArticlePosted: Jul 7, 2014
Category: Live Performance
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**Guest post written by Wade Sutton of Rocket to the Stars.
"Saxophonist Dave Goldberg has been getting a lot of attention lately for an open letter he wrote to operators of venues that host live music. The letter was Goldberg's way of sounding off against venues not paying artists as much money as they feel they deserve. The text, while not hostile in nature, was extremely misguided and managed to ignite another round of firestorms by similarly misguided artists. It was missing a lot of important information concerning why the music scene is the way it is right now and really offered little in the way of how to improve it other than to say venues should simply pay bands more money..."
View Full ArticlePosted: Jun 30, 2014
Category: Promotion
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**Guest post written by Alan VanToai of SimpleCrew - the mobile app for street teams. This article originally appeared on the SimpleCrew Blog.
"Street teams are a powerful force for independent artists - they’re a win-win all around. You get to engage your fans, give them a chance to get closer to you and “in on the fun”, and you get to spread the word about your shows." Read on for ways that you can use online and offline technics to power your team...
View Full ArticlePosted: Jun 9, 2014
Category: Promotion
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**Guest post written by Patrick Hertz of Tinderbox Music. This article originally appeared on the Sonicbids Blog.
"College radio is a unique mix of non-commercial stations that range from small-watt student-run operations to huge, vastly influential public and/or community stations. This spectrum allows for most any independent artist to find terrestrial radio airplay – that is, of course, if the music is good..." View Full Article
Posted: Apr 28, 2014
Category: Promotion
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**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.
"The truth of the matter is that if you want to take a proactive approach to getting attention for your music, you have to think about that kind of stuff [your story]. Whether you are looking for some press or simply to connect on a deeper level with your fans, your story matters. That’s right. Not only do you have to write and record the songs, but you also have to tell an engaging story..."
View Full ArticlePosted: Mar 24, 2014
Category: Online Presence
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**Guest post written by Brandon Seymour, musician, SEO analyst, web designer, and social media marketer.
Independent bands and musicians in particular stand to gain a great deal of exposure if they put the time and effort into creating quality, engaging videos and marketing themselves on popular video platforms like YouTube, Vimeo and others of the like...Plain and simple, videos work. It's just a matter of figuring out how they can work for you...
View Full ArticlePosted: Feb 24, 2014
Category: The Musician Business
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**Guest post written by David Priebe of Green Room Music Source, a full time agent/artist manager and also part time instructor of music business at the Institute of Production & Recording in Minneapolis.
"It official- it’s now impossible to make money in the music industry." There are scads and scads of articles and commentary that sound a lot like that statement. What you hear much less about are the people who completely disagree with that sentiment. I’m in that camp, and I’m going to tell you why...
View Full ArticlePosted: Jan 13, 2014
Category: Marketing
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**Guest post written by Brandon Swift, musician and creator of Yovigo.com.
Music marketers and artists who have come after The Grateful Dead have been trying to emulate this marketing model since the group's success with it. The model casts a wide net of influence for any artist or group hoping to make a serious mark in the music industry. Here are some reasons giving away your music works so well and has the power to help those who are willing to make a considerable profit.
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