Posted: Feb 1, 2021
Category: The Musician Business
distribution social media merch make money website improvement promotion marketing online presence publicist branding delegate responsibilities promoters
**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
promotion cyber pr live streaming social media merch newsletters fan engagement instagram experience google hangouts facebook live contests charity
**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 2, 2020
Category: Touring
show booking lodging touring plan promotion gear practice health be realistic vip tickets free ticket giveaways presell keys to success hudson moore digital tour bus
**Guest post written by Hudson Moore, originally posted on DigitalTourBus.com.
"I’ve been a touring independent artist for 10 years. I’ve booked, advanced, produced, and promoted almost every headline show I’ve ever played. I still have a long way to go, but I’ve been fortunate to play some amazing shows to fans across the US and over the years I’ve picked up a few tried and true tips and strategies that have helped me that will hopefully add value to you as well. So without further ado..."
View Full ArticlePosted: Aug 24, 2020
Category: Fundraising
promotion fundraising crowdfunding incentives fan engagement setting goals plan ahead email pre-promotion bandtwango
**Guest post by Nicole Hoglund, Managing Director of Bandtwango, the premier crowdfunding platform for country music artists.
"There are always elements that can lead to an artist having a successful campaign. From choosing the right incentives for their audience, shooting for a realistic monetary goal, and to having an engaged fanbase all help, however there is one element that we know is the most important one for artists to succeed, pre-promotion of their campaign."
View Full ArticlePosted: Jul 20, 2020
Category: Social Media
social media diy facebook marketing platform promotion direct to consumer fan engagement budget know your audience value blogging web traffic
**Guest post written by Eddie of The Entrepreneur Drummer, an online blog/resource dedicated to teaching business education to session musicians.
"Facebook now makes the majority of its revenue through selling advertising however it's a dangerous game to get into, especially if you're a novice. A whole array of deep-diving settings and unknown terminology means that it's very easy for you to lose a LOT of money very quickly. Don't fret though, I've found a great way to find new clients on Facebook for absolutely free, all it costs you is your time."
View Full ArticlePosted: Jul 6, 2020
Category: Marketing
marketing fan engagement know your audience content word of mouth posters emotion lighting collaboration promotion spotify social proof les flair
**Guest post written by Kai Marks & Lyron Haceon of Les Flair, an electro-pop project based in London.
"With not a single track released and a limited budget in tow, we sold out a string of live shows across the UK, led by word of mouth alone. Which we've now come to realise, is the most powerful tool in music marketing. Here’s our top tips for building a strong WOM foundation and translating hype into sales..."
View Full ArticlePosted: May 4, 2020
Category: Marketing
promotion marketing fan engagement artist collective quality long-term equality real-time updates visibility cost-effectiveness social media newsletters
**Guest post written by Vinnie Hines, Co-Owner of Artist Collective AKA @ac_vinnie.
"At Artist Collective, we’ve found that the most effective way to engage with your fans is through meaningful relationship building exchanges. These types of connections are invaluable and the foundation on which any type of notoriety is built...We urge you to use text message marketing for these 5 AMAZING REASONS..."
Posted: Feb 18, 2020
Category: The Musician Business
record labels youtube promotion marketing music album release schwilly family musicians videos invest the music entrepreneur grow your audience
**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.
"Things I DO KNOW are: Music and Business. I studied them separately and built a BRAND NEW bridge between them. And that bridge is a LOT easier to cross when you don't have a herd of greedy trolls weighing you down..." View Full Article
Posted: Sep 9, 2019
Category: The Lefsetz Letter
record labels merch diy managers promotion music festivals indie artists songwriting nyc la bob lefsetz genre booking agents
**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: Jul 1, 2019
Category: Online Presence
music venues show booking booking agents record labels managers promotion music festivals radio promotion publicist bandzoogle press corporate gigs private gigs
**Guest post written by Dave Cool of Bandzoogle.com.
"An electronic press kit (EPK) is essential for making a strong first impression on promoters, bookers, media, and other music industry professionals...You can use your EPK to help you get more press, more gigs, and come across as a serious artist."
View Full ArticlePosted: May 13, 2019
Category: Touring
show booking press and radio touring touring plan promotion stay connected health be patient please and thank you plan ahead physical health collaboration ellisa sun
**Guest post written by Ellisa Sun, Jazz/Soul musician formerly based in San Francisco currently full-time RVing across the USA.
"200 days ago, my partner Ken and I left our home base in Oakland, CA to spend one year full-time RVing and playing as many shows as we can to build an audience, learn about the industry, and hopefully earn enough money to survive...the following 10 Things I’ve Learned are more focused towards DIY Musicians like myself..."
View Full ArticlePosted: Feb 25, 2019
Category: Marketing
touring promotion marketing relationships with fans newsletters dozmia create scarcity target geographically drip campaigns a/b testing excitement fomo
**Guest post written by Nicholas Rubright, founder and editor at Dozmia, and lead guitarist for the band Days Gone By.
"with email marketing, you have direct contact to some of your most passionate fans...While [touring] can be a great way to gain exposure to a new audience, if you want to develop good relationships with the venues you're performing in, it’s also important that you get your existing fans to come out to the show...With these things in mind, how do you leverage your email list to get people to come to your show?"
Posted: Jan 14, 2019
Category: Music Streaming
merch cd baby promotion spotify pay to play online presence music libraries playlists playlisting the legit musician indiemono submithub songkick merchbar
**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."
View Full ArticlePosted: Dec 10, 2018
Category: Marketing
make money cd baby promotion spotify marketing plan newsletters music streaming services free downloads joshua bloomberg the one 800s phone calls
**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
social media promotion spotify distribution music album release apple music playlists marketing plan adva mobile blog Alper Tuzcu
**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: Nov 5, 2018
Category: Fans
make money promotion relationships with fans online presence super fans instagram branding monetization web traffic targeted advertising artist collective free trial
**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."
View Full ArticlePosted: Oct 29, 2018
Category: Music Streaming
record labels diy promotion spotify music streaming services music album release playlists playlisting playlist push angela predhomme
**Guest post written by Angela Predhomme, a singer-songwriter / music producer of inspiring soulful songs.
"As independent artists releasing music on streaming services, we have one goal: that people come across our music and like it...First, I’ll go over a little background information about music streaming and promotion, and then share the details of my own personal experience..."
View Full ArticlePosted: Aug 13, 2018
Category: Social Media
social media facebook promotion facebook videos facebook live hashtags Indie Band Coach Lip Sync Live musical.ly karaoke
**Guest post written by Leonard Patterson, an entrepreneur, certified content marketer, frequent hi-fiver and Founder of IndieBandCoach.com.
"Not only has Facebook been making tons of copyright deals with major and indie labels, but have now announced a new feature called “Lip Sync Live”...Imagine being able to go live at your next gig and record your best covers and not have your video taken down...Finally, right?"
Posted: Jul 30, 2018
Category: Promotion
promotion marketing be honest know your audience interviews basic interview skills be polite be prepared ditto
**Guest post originally featured on Ditto.com.
"Whether it’s with a major media publication or a local music blogger, interviews offer a great avenue for publicity. Nevertheless, they can be a daunting experience for anyone new to the publicity circuit. If you’re worried about an upcoming interview, here’s some advice to help ease the jitters." View Full Article
Posted: Jul 7, 2018
Category: Social Media
social media facebook twitter promotion marketing plan instagram cyber pr videos hashtags captions timing
**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: Jun 25, 2018
Category: Promotion
discover weekly ditto fan engagement marketing new music playlisting playlists promotion release radar spotify
**Guest post originally featured on Ditto.com.
"Musicians often focus on making it onto curated playlists, whether that’s Spotify’s own weekly compilations like New Music Mondays or alternative playlists built by independent users. However, if your aim is to gain more streams, getting on algorithmic playlists like Discover Weekly and Release Radar can be much more effective...Before we delve into Release Radar and Discover Weekly individually, here are a couple of pieces of advice that apply to getting on both of these algorithm-based playlists..." View Full Article
Posted: Jun 18, 2018
Category: Promotion
checkered owl media emotion facebook fan engagement instagram promotion social media sponsored content video marketing youtube
**Guest post written by Andrew Jones of Checkered Owl Media.
"Most people have noticed that video is often the most effective way to both spread your message AND create engagement with an audience. People watch more and more video all the time...So, with that in mind, we all need to be considering video content. The big question becomes what kind of video to make? What will actually help you stand out from the millions of other videos being created every week? We can help with that. I divide most business video content into four levels..."
Posted: May 14, 2018
Category: The Musician Business
advertising budget ep vs album music business promotion publishing relationships with fans soundstage direct
**Guest post written by Ellie Batchiyska, a writer for SoundStageDirect, the number one online source for the best vinyl records and turntables.
"The final step in your self-promotion efforts, however, should be none other than creating an EP...Having an EP is great for giving people a taste of your musical sound and style. Think of it as your curriculum vitae, a summary of your most impressive and promising work."
View Full ArticlePosted: Mar 26, 2018
Category: Marketing
apple music deezer digital influencers get creative have a story indie artists know your audience marketing platoon playlisting promotion spotify youtube
**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."
View Full ArticlePosted: Jan 22, 2018
Category: Marketing
advertising google adwords know your audience marketing plan online presence promotion trueview video marketing youtube
**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 Article