You know that question people ask musicians “who influences you most”? Well, I’ve never been able to answer it. For a while I thought I’d just list what music I grew up listening to, as that must have made an impact on my writing style. Later, I started listing musicians whose music I currently am into because I must be trying to be more like them if I am a fan, right? Read more.
Posts by author:
Music promotion isn’t just about amazing content, it’s about how you share it. Let’s assume you have high quality content, like a music video posted on YouTube that you just spent weeks pouring your heart and soul into, and it hasn’t quite gone viral yet. How can you boost views, downloads, and likes without bugging the heck out of your fans or spending a gazillion dollars on ads? 
Traveling to play music gigs is expensive. Being on the road also takes a lot of planning, time, energy, and day-of alertness for travel plans to be flawlessly executed. Whether touring around your favorite regions of the globe or traveling to a far off city for a music conference, there are a few tricks and tips that can help make your travels go smoothly, and keep your bank account afloat at the same time. 
Today, a typical jingle is only part of advertising music content. You will also hear underscores, or music created specifically for the video. You may also recognize a favorite song, or discover a new band to like in the thirty seconds that an iPod ad plays, or hear a cool rendition of a favorite old tune. As long as it’s memorable, musical, and arcs the same way the story of the ad arcs, you’ve got yourself some ad music. In this article, I am going to focus on the process of creating new music (either an underscore or a jingle) for an ad. 
New Year’s Resolutions — they’re created with the best intentions. To do better, live better, be better. They hang over our heads, guilt us into temporary action, and for 92% of Americans, they’re a distant memory by Valentine’s Day. These resolutions tend to be vague goals with no real measurable result, like "lose weight," "fall in love," or "be a better friend," and they can get in the way of the one thing that can bring us what we want: a commitment to a purpose. 
Music videos never seemed like something I should pursue. I never understood how they could translate into sales or revenue, and I certainly didn’t know how to come up with an idea that wasn’t a literal translation of my lyrics – “all I have to say is I love you” only invokes an image of two people running at each other in slow-mo, arms open for an embrace… cheese city. 
As an indie musician with multiple careers in music to juggle, there have been many times when I’ve caught myself in the "Predictable Paycheck Predicament," or PPP. It’s the one where I’m jealous of my roommate as she leaves the apartment at her regular time to go to her regular job to get her regular paycheck.
I work in waves. I can write a ton of songs in a few months then nothing. I used to freak out that my songwriting creativity was gone forever. Now I know this is just how I work. I have three phases of my music career process: the touring, the creative and songwriting, and the business. They seem to weave in and out of each other. When I’m in touring mode or song writing mode, I’m never really psyched about booking, making phone calls, or sending emails. When my touring and creative spurts are over, I kick my music business plan into high-gear.
