IOTM Blog
Posted: Nov 1, 2023
Category: The Musician Business
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**Guest post by One Submit, the ultimate music submission platform.
"Being a full-time artist, musician, or vocalist is no different from being a mechanic, a carpenter, or an attorney. You'll eventually get there if you wake up to work every day. One of the most effective ways to do this is to diversify your sources of income. Try to locate multiple sources of income that will eventually add up to a respectable monthly salary, rather than putting all your eggs in one basket. Here are the top 12 ways to make an income as a musician..."
Posted: Feb 2, 2022
Category: Royalties
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**Guest post written by Blake Morgan, artist, musician, record producer, CEO of ECR Music Group, and founder of #IRespectMusic. Originally featured on Hypebot.com.
"Artist and advocate Blake Morgan has penned a letter on behalf of more than 14,000 petition signers calling for artists to finally get paid when their music is played on AM/FM radio...The letter was sent to the Board of Directors at the two largest radio broadcasters in the US, iHeartRadio and Cumulus Media. Both earn billions of dollars in ad revenue yearly while refusing to share it with the performing artists whose music makes it all possible. This Wednesday February 2nd at 10 AM ET. the House Judiciary will hold a public hearing on changing that by passing the American Music Fairness Act."
View Full ArticlePosted: Jan 10, 2022
Category: Technology
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**Guest post written by Bear of MusicRiser.com.
"A cryptocurrency is a form of digital currency that is designed to work as a medium of exchange. The crypto coins use blockchain technology for transactions, an open-source, decentralized, public ledger that records transactions on the network...I bet you all heard about Bitcoin or crypto until now, and lately, a new concept has been raised, and it's called NFT."
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."
View Full ArticlePosted: Jul 19, 2021
Category: Royalties
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**Guest post written by Cyber PR, originally featured on the Cyber PR Blog.
"Facebook recently released a new tool for indie artists to share their music in a much easier way. The social media giant announced their partnering with TuneCore and Distrokid early this summer. Cyber PR discusses what this means for indie artists and what the new partnership entails." View Full Article
Posted: Apr 6, 2021
Category: Royalties
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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.
"The new Mechanical Licensing Collective collects digital audio mechanical royalties from download and streaming services. Learn about the collective and see if you qualify to sign up so you can receive these new music royalties."
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: Jul 15, 2019
Category: Music Streaming
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**Guest post written by Tatiana Cirisano, originally featured on Billboard.com.
"Spotify is drawing heat from artists and music execs for an ad campaign that urges listeners to "dance like nobody's paying," a pitch for its free 30-day Spotify Premium trial..."
View Full ArticlePosted: Mar 4, 2019
Category: Performance Rights Organizations
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**Guest post written by Scott Aumann, originally featured on The Legit Musician blog.
"I am always surprised at how many musicians I talk with that really have no idea what a Performance Rights Organization is, or what it does for artists. I’m not just talking about indie musicians either. Some well-known national acts are in the same boat and could learn some things from this post. Let me explain how you can become a pro by joining a P.R.O."
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 15, 2018
Category: Royalties
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**Guest post written by Blake Morgan, artist, musician, record producer, CEO of ECR Music Group, and founder of #IRespectMusic. Originally featured in The Huffington Post and later featured in The Trichordist and Digital Music News.
Last week, Blake Morgan published a story in the Huffington Post that discussed his heated exchange with Spotify execs in a closed-door "artists-only" meeting. Just as the article was gaining traction, it was suddenly removed...Here's Blake's original article...
View Full ArticlePosted: Oct 23, 2017
Category: Touring
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**Guest post written by Andrew Tufano, Nashville based Acoustic Pop Singer-Songwriter.
"I’ve made $44,917.42 in revenue in the past 18 months exclusively as an independent touring musician without a fan base. Over that time I played 249 shows, taught 91 lessons, and did other musical jobs for cash. There’s nothing particularly glamorous about my financials, but enough people have asked me to help them through theirs that I thought I’d publish my strategies. Here are some tips to keep your finances in order so you can tour profitably." View Full Article
Posted: Jun 5, 2017
Category: Copyright
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**Guest post written by Clay Mills, hit songwriter, producer, performer, and founder of SongTown.com.
"For years I have heard the phrase “Poor Man’s Copyright” thrown around in songwriting circles. The term is often brought up as a cheap alternative to an official $35 copyright from the US Copyright Office...BUT..." View Full Article
Posted: May 22, 2017
Category: Licensing
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**Guest post written by Donna Kay of Donna Kay & The Carousers.
"After the time and expense of recording, mixing, designing the cover artwork, and launching the CD, I had two tasks: Copyright the CD, and obtain the licenses to release (for sale) and perform our version of “Minor Swing”...I had to obtain two permissions to use the song: One from the owner of the publishing rights, and after submitting their permission in writing, the Easy Song standard licensing fee to record and perform our version of the song. This took a full month of digging, e-mailing, getting responses and finally finding two brothers in NYC who run a publishing company and own the rights the song."
View Full ArticlePosted: Feb 27, 2017
Category: The Musician Business
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**Guest post written by Nicholas Rubright of Dozmia.
"Releasing music requires a huge amount of work, which makes it easy to miss something important. In addition to promoting your new release – sending it to radio stations, getting bloggers to write about it – there are some important things to take care of on the administrative side. Here’s a checklist of all the boring things you should take care of when releasing new music..."
View Full ArticlePosted: Aug 16, 2016
Category: Royalties
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**Guest post written by Katie Lott, Songwriting & Voice Coach, as featured in her blog Modern Songstress.
"So what the heck are royalties, and how do you get them? Royalties are fees that are paid to the composer (that’s you!) every time a song is played anywhere: radio, live venues, TV, satellite radio, internet radio, streaming services, etc." View Full Article
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.
"If you are a Tunecore songwriter, you recently got an email asking you to sign up for the NMPA/Harry Fox Agency/Spotify settlement. Songwriters are directed to [a] Survey Monkey form. This is it. No details. Nothing. Nada. In particular, there is no mention of the possible statutory damages that songwriters are waiving by opting in to this..." View Full Article
Posted: Jun 22, 2015
Category: Music Streaming
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**Guest post written by Megan Liscomb, originally posted on TakeLessons.com.
"Online streaming is changing the face of the music industry, for artists and fans alike. Recently, Apple announced their entry into the streaming game via their new music streaming service Apple Music, due out June 30.
So what does Apple Music mean for you? Whether you're looking at the service as an artist or as a music fan, here's what Apple Music has to offer..."
View Full ArticlePosted: Feb 10, 2014
Category: Royalties
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**Guest post written by Blake Morgan, artist, musician, record producer, and founder and owner of ECR Music Group.
"The Washington beltway turned a deaf ear to artists' rights until one guy, one activist, wrote the words "I Respect Music" on an index card and showed it to the world. Now, thousands upon thousands of music makers and music lovers are standing together and making history by adding their names to a petition that is not only shaking up the music world, it's shaking up Congress." View Full Article
Posted: Feb 3, 2014
Category: Digital vs. Physical
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**Guest post written by Danny Schmitz, an indy musician, writer, and connoisseur of all things Mexican food.
"I had a conversation via email with a friend from LA, and another friend living in Singapore. All three of us are musicians and frequently talk about the current state of the music industry. We were talking about the streaming music subscription service Spotify..." View Full Article
Posted: Nov 11, 2013
Category: Fundraising
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**Guest post written by Dae Bogan, Music Industry Insider For The Indie Artist, of Dae Bogan Music.
"What do you do when you don’t have a label underwriting your career and you have to choose between paying your personal bills and paying a studio engineer, publicist, or rental van company? You fund raise!" But how...
View Full ArticlePosted: Oct 21, 2013
Category: Performance Rights Organizations
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**Guest post written by Dae Bogan, Music Industry Insider For The Indie Artist, of Dae Bogan Music.
"A lot of indie artists are confused about the difference between ASCAP, BMI, SESAC and SoundExchange. I’ll attempt to break down the most important differences between these groups and elaborate towards the end about other considerations and other royalty collection entities."
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