Posted: Dec 7, 2015
Category: Marketing
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**Guest Post written by Alan VanToai, Co-Founder of www.CrewFire.com (turn your existing fans into your Facebook and Twitter ambassadors).
When you think visionary brands, who comes to mind? Probably Apple, Red Bull, or Nike… right? Well, how about we add one more to the mix: The Grateful Dead...Long before social media or digital marketing ever came into play, they employed viral marketing, social networking, and word-of-mouth marketing...50 years later, the game has changed – but the principles are the same. And word-of-mouth remains one of the most powerful marketing strategies out there.
View Full ArticlePosted: Nov 30, 2015
Category: The Musician Business
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**Guest Post written by Dave Cool of Bandzoogle.com.
"...it can be difficult as an independent musician to determine the best path to take for long-term growth and success. Ultimately this crossroads is met with three separate avenues: DIY (Do It Yourself), Independent Label, or Major Label. There are pros and cons to each avenue, which should be weighed carefully against what type of musician / band you are and how you expect to see growth." View Full Article
Posted: Nov 23, 2015
Category: Social Media
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**Guest post written by Chris Robley, originally featured in the DIY Musician Blog.
"If you’ve been on the planet for more than a quarter century, you could be forgiven for not really knowing much about Snapchat...with 77% of college students using the app daily, and over 400 millions “snaps” a day (and a valuation of $16 billion) Snapchat can’t really be ignored anymore. So let’s ask the question: do you need to be on Snapchat as a musician?" View Full Article
Posted: Nov 16, 2015
Category: Promotion
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**Guest post written by Jonathan Sexton, CEO of Bandposters.
Selling out shows in your hometown isn’t easy...Having lead time and a local tribe gives you an opportunity to do something special. But what do you do when you go out of town?..Here are a few ideas to get you started building your fanbase in a new place.
View Full ArticlePosted: Nov 9, 2015
Category: Live Performance
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**Guest post written by Joy Ike, creator of Grassrootsy.com and Independent Musician, as featured on Grassrootsy.com.
"For a while there, house concerts were a trendy idea for independent artists that caught on pretty quickly...But now house concerts are actually becoming the primary means for many artists to make their living...Here are 5 ways that I’ve used to generate solid house concert leads." View Full Article
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.
View Full ArticlePosted: Oct 26, 2015
Category: The Musician Business
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**Guest post written by Andrew Jones of Checkered Owl Media.
"The music industry, like much of our society, can become obsessed with what is new: The new better way to sell music, the new way to connect with fans, the new DAW to record your new album...But if you pay attention to culture and society, you will notice a shift. People are beginning to embrace old..."
View Full ArticlePosted: Oct 19, 2015
Category: Online Presence
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**Guest Post written by Dave Cool of Bandzoogle.com.
"There are many different kinds of people that will be visiting your website, but likely for different reasons. These include your current fans, potential new fans, as well as media, bloggers, bookers, and other industry folks...To make it easy for media and industry to find the information they need (and quickly), the best thing to do is create a Digital Press Kit section on your website..." View Full Article
Posted: Oct 12, 2015
Category: The Musician Business
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**Guest Post by Bret Alexander of The Badlees and Saturation Acres.
"I’ve been a vocational musician for almost 30 years...This is an incredibly difficult business to make any sort of sustainable living at for that long, so inevitably people ask me what advice I would have for anyone who wants to do the same. Opinions are certainly like assholes, but I’ll give you my take on that. Do with it what you will..."
View Full ArticlePosted: Oct 5, 2015
Category: Music Festivals
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**Guest post written by Amir Mozafari, Director of BD for Everfest and formerly of C3 Presents.
1. Develop a relationship with local promoters. 2. Practice, practice, practice! 3. Keep your EPK (Electronic Press Kit) up to date...
View Full ArticlePosted: Sep 28, 2015
Category: Promotion
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**Guest post written by Brad Barnett, professional musician and founder of Indie 411.
Most musicians have a general idea of how to promote their upcoming shows...With so many musicians actively promoting their gigs, it comes as a surprise to me that most of them stop there. What I mean by that is they work hard to try and get people out to their event, then don’t do anything to promote or sell their brand once it’s show time...If the goal is to get as many people to know about you as possible, then there are a few things you should be doing at gigs to maximize your reach.
View Full ArticlePosted: 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..."
View Full ArticlePosted: Sep 14, 2015
Category: Live Performance
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**Guest post written by Megan Liscomb, originally posted on TakeLessons.com.
"Congrats on getting the big gig! Whether you’re preparing for your band’s first show or your album-release party, these tips will help you learn how to promote your band, make your best impression on stage, and get invited back to the venue to do it all again."
View Full ArticlePosted: Sep 8, 2015
Category: Online Presence
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**Guest Post written by Melanie Kealey of Bandzoogle.com.
"Making your website rank well in search engines can seem like a daunting task...Even starting with a few small things can help with the search engine optimization (also called SEO) for your website. Let’s look at a few quick ways to update the text on your website to help it rank better in search results!" View Full Article
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...
View Full ArticlePosted: Aug 24, 2015
Category: Technology
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**Guest post by Harrison Welshimer, creator of MusicMunch Reviews and Interviews.
"Do you love FREE as much as I do? Duh, we’re musicians! Here are the top 10 free internet resources I recommend from personal experience..."
View Full ArticlePosted: Aug 17, 2015
Category: The Musician Business
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**Guest post by Stephen Wrench, CEO of Musik and Film.
"I recently had the pleasure of pitching a very talented well produced artist to major labels...They never listened to it [the music] because their social media numbers were not good enough?"
View Full ArticlePosted: Aug 10, 2015
Category: Touring
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**Guest post written by James Wilson, lead singer and songwriter for Brooklyn based alt-country band The Paisley Fields.
"Do... 1. Eat Healthy and Exercise. 2. Drink lots of water. 3. Treat everyone with respect. 4. Get your $$$$.... Don't 1. Have a bad attitude. 2. Leave before the other bands have finished their set...."
View Full ArticlePosted: Aug 4, 2015
Category: Publishing
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**Guest post from the DIY Musician Blog.
"One of the other topics of consistent confusion for our members is the differentiation between what a publishing administrator does and what a performing rights society does. Many members of ASCAP, BMI or SESAC that I’ve heard from think their performing rights society IS their publisher and that they are getting all of the income they’re entitled to directly from that P.R.O. (performing rights organization). In this article, I relay a couple of actual questions we’ve received on the topic and try to give some clear, concise answers."
View Full ArticlePosted: Jul 27, 2015
Category: Online Presence
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**Guest post written by Brandon Seymour, musician, SEO analyst, web designer, and social media marketer.
"Wikipedia pages are the holy grail of online citations. Although the site is a collaborative effort that allows virtually anyone to create or edit content, most pages are deleted shortly after being published...But I can tell you from personal experience that it [building a Wikipedia page for your band] can be done, and if you do it right, it won’t cost you a thing."
View Full ArticlePosted: Jul 20, 2015
Category: The Musician Business
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**Guest post written Aly Keller, an avid pianist, musicologist, and marketing analyst, as featured on Grassrootsy.com.
"Turns out, musicians often do make that decision [medical debt or a musical career]. Last year, 43% of them lacked insurance. And this is in the post-ACA (“Obamacare”) environment where health insurance has never been more accessible to employer-less freelancers. But is health insurance something you really want to go without?"
View Full ArticlePosted: Jul 13, 2015
Category: Live Performance
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**Guest post written by Cristof Ensslin, cellist/manager of The Wilhelm Brothers, folk rock with cello infusion from Asheville, NC.
"Are you booking for an indie band? Have you ever come across a venue mentioning you ought not to play another show within a certain radius and timespan? Chances are, you have." But what if you could play multiple shows in the same town in the same week and the venue could also benefit...
View Full ArticlePosted: Jul 6, 2015
Category: The Musician Business
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**Guest post written by Brandon Waardenburg, founder of Apparatus (an artist accelerator providing music advice and coaching to independent artists and DIY musicians) as well as a musician, songwriter, "musicpreneur" and consultant.
"The luster of performing can die pretty quickly when it becomes old...Truthfully, any activity can turn into a grind no matter how intentional we are about keeping focused..." Here are some signs that you are on the right track.
View Full ArticlePosted: Jun 30, 2015
Category: Social Media
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**Guest post written by Frederic Sahyouni of SplashFlood, a mobile app that rewards musicians for their talent.
"So you started a new band or a new solo music project and, as you absolutely must, you want to set up your online presence on all the typical social media platforms available...Here is a list of things you should and should not do in order to kickstart your social media presence on Twitter..."
View Full ArticlePosted: 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 Article