IOTM Blog
Posted: Apr 19, 2022
Category: Merch
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**Guest post written by Atomic Disc, CD & Vinyl Manufacturing for musicians, by musicians.
"After two years of pandemic lockdowns, some of us are starting to feel a glimmer of hope that gigs and tours will soon return to their pre-pandemic stages. With that comes the biggest opportunity for independent artists to sell physical formats of their music and merch. When people are at your show, all amped up and excited to finally be out to see live music, they want the experience to last, to take a little bit of it with them home. This is where the money is for indies."
View Full ArticlePosted: Apr 11, 2022
Category: Touring
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**Guest post originally featured in the Disc Makers Blog.
"O Canada! So close… yet sometimes so far away. Music flows freely across the border, but there are times when musicians and instruments have a little more trouble. If you’re planning a trip to play music gigs in Canada, here’s some advice and a few online resources to help make your border crossing smooth and easy."
View Full ArticlePosted: Mar 14, 2022
Category: Merch
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**Guest post written by Atomic Disc, originally featured on their blog.
"Production times for vinyl used to be 2 to 3 months and labels and artists would plan their release campaigns around this. Now, we're looking at 10 to 14 months for vinyl runs...The total capacity of the roughly hundred vinyl pressing plants around the world is about 160 million records per year. The current demand, or orders in the cue, are between 320 and 400 million records...To make matters worse, every stage of the manufacturing process from producers of raw materials, printers of the vinyl packaging, pressing plants and transportation were hit with either shutdowns or slowdowns due to Covid restrictions."
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 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 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: 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 7, 2021
Category: Merch
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**Guest post written by Desi Thorne for Bandzoogle.
"The beauty of digital merch is that you can offer it to fans anywhere in the world. Create some one-of-a-kind items for your online store."
View Full ArticlePosted: Jun 1, 2021
Category: Merch
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**Guest post written by Desi Thorne for Bandzoogle.
"To get started, think about the different kinds of band merch you might offer. Items that can be handmade may be difficult to reproduce, but can also be offered for a significantly higher price point. Offering a good balance of custom merch and scalable merch allows you to offer unique merch for all fans at different levels of dedication."
View Full ArticlePosted: Apr 26, 2021
Category: Touring
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**Guest post written by Patrick McGuire for Bandzoogle.
"...responsible budgeting is just as important here as it is in any other facet of life. If you’re just starting out booking shows on the road, or if you’ve had bad experiences that have cost you gobs of money in the past, here are four considerations to make so that you can safely avoid going broke on your next tour."
View Full ArticlePosted: 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."
View Full ArticlePosted: Dec 14, 2020
Category: Promotion
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**Guest post written by Cyber PR, originally featured on the Cyber PR Blog.
"It is that time of year again...As an artist, there is no better time than the HOLIDAZE to work on building engagement and connections with your fans...you will find 7 tactics to first activate your fan base around holiday music promotion and ultimately build engagement, generate sales, or both." View Full Article
Posted: Nov 30, 2020
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.
"...there’s a lot to managing a music career if you intend to make money with your music. Fortunately, do-it-yourself doesn’t mean do-it-alone. Plugging in and outsourcing to music services that handle different aspects of the industry is one way to get the help or expertise you may be lacking. In this post, we’ll tackle roles and services associated with live music events."
View Full ArticlePosted: Oct 5, 2020
Category: Online Presence
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**Guest post written by Dre Dimura of Bandzoogle.
"With so many methods of promoting your music online these days, the importance of having a dedicated website can often be overlooked. Websites are still one of the best tools to drive fan engagement, curate your web presence, and manage the rest of your socials from a branded homebase. Here are five reasons to have a website for your band or solo musical effort..."
View Full ArticlePosted: Aug 31, 2020
Category: Merch
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**Guest post written by Conor Farrell of Solid Merch, a comprehensive source for independent artists and record labels to stock their merch tables and web stores, and engage with their fans and communities.
"One of the factors contributing to vinyl’s renewal has been creators’ focus on unique releases that become collectible works of art on their own, distinct from the creativity contained in the grooves. While black vinyl has been the standard option for much of vinyl history, most pressing plants have expanded in recent years to include more color choices, and some even have the ability to combine multiple colors into eye-popping designs."
View Full ArticlePosted: Jun 8, 2020
Category: Touring
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**Guest post written by Bug Hunter, a "thoughtful, self-reflective pop" singer-songwriter out of Seattle.
"It started as a plan to play a couple East Coast shows while attending our old drummer’s wedding in North Carolina. Eventually our radius got so big that we just decided: “Hey, let’s just drive out there and play a show every night along the way”. So we packed up the minivan in Seattle and drove for 15 days, playing 14 shows without any prior experience in the markets we were visiting (save for Seattle and Portland)."
View Full ArticlePosted: Apr 20, 2020
Category: The Musician Business
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**Guest post written by Jordan Gates, of Megaphone Agency.
"This isn’t the first time [the music industry] has been forced to adapt to tremendous change and adversity. No one is immune to the threats of disruption, volatility, and hyper competition that exist in this industry. Despite the fickle nature, there are things artists can do to set themselves up for success in the long run. Here are some thoughts on how to weather the storms and come out on top..."
Posted: Apr 6, 2020
Category: Tips & Tricks
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**Guest post by Kristen Ford, Nashville based indie rock act with a passion for music business and a book on DIY touring in the works.
Seeing as so many gigs are canceled, with business as usual impossible due to coronavirus social distancing, I am trying to make the most of this unfortunate situation. If you are a musician like me, whether you are self employed, have a small business with a few employees or just do music part time and are still missing some of your income due to Coronavirus cancelations, I hope some of these resources will be helpful...
View Full ArticlePosted: Oct 28, 2019
Category: The Musician Business
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**Guest post written by Ari Herstand. This is an excerpt from his book How to Make It in the New Music Business (second edition). This post was originally published on Music Connection.
"Before you release your next single or album, make sure you set it up for the best chance of success. Don’t forget to do these 26 things before the release..."
View Full ArticlePosted: Sep 24, 2019
Category: Marketing
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**This post originally appeared on the Disc Makers Blog for indie musicians by Randy Chertkow & Jason Feehan of MakingMoneyWithMusic.com. Reprinted with permission.
"Your best social media strategy is to entertain your fans throughout the year rather than just drop an album and disappear. Create a strategy to make your fans anticipate your every release — music, videos, merch, and more — and attract new fans in the process."
View Full ArticlePosted: 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..."
View Full ArticlePosted: Sep 3, 2019
Category: The Musician Business
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**Guest post written by Jake Shane, an American singer-songwriter and guitarist who resides in Spain. He makes his living as an independent artist by touring around Europe. His fourth album will be released in October, 2019.
"A recent article by Larry Fitzmaurice titled “17 Indie Artists on Their Oddest Odd Jobs That Pay the Bills When Music Doesn’t” is by turns comforting and deflating to the indie musician...Contrastingly to me, none of those artists makes their living exclusively from music, and many of them actually lose money touring. So, what does this mean for musicians in general, and me specifically? Well, a variety of things, but I’ll limit myself to three important factors..."
View Full ArticlePosted: Apr 1, 2019
Category: Merch
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**Guest post written by Imri Merritt aka M, originally featured on the Rush Order Tees Blog.
"In this post, I’ll go over some of the tried and tested band merch, explain what they are, and why they are popular. This should give you some ideas for creating customized swag that will excite your fans and bring in some bucks. They asked me to list 10, but I’m turning it up to 11."
View Full ArticlePosted: Feb 19, 2019
Category: The Musician Business
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**Guest post written by Donna Maurer, a contributor on multiple music blogs and lover of creating helpful articles for her fellow musicians and music lovers.
"If you want to be successful as a musician today, you must learn to diversify your income streams. That way, when the live gigs and album sales slow down, you’ll still have money coming in from other areas to keep you going until things pick up...Here are some unique and creative ways to make money when your career hits a lull."
Posted: Jan 14, 2019
Category: Music Streaming
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**Guest post written by Scott Aumann, originally featured on The Legit Musician blog.
"As an indie musician, I love Spotify even more [than as a listener/fan]. I can release music on a platform where millions of music lovers are. I recently dove into all the things we can do with Spotify as an indie musician. Now, I will show you how to get the most out of Spotify."
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