Music industry experts talk business skills

Answers from music industry experts on important business skills and online services every musician should be using

Two enterprising students just launched a music industry blog and asked 11 music industry experts the following questions:

1. What one business skill do you think musicians/songwriters should spend the most time developing as they look to build a career for themselves?

2. What online service or tool do you think every musician should be using?

I am listed among the “music industry experts,” and Chris Robley from CD Baby and our friend Chris Rockett also weighed in on the topic.

My 2¢:
1. Networking – and that doesn’t mean buying a suit and attending business lunches. Networking means developing interpersonal skills so when you:
• reach out to a booking agent or a club owner, you present yourself as someone they’d like to work with;
• befriend other musicians, you can work out complementary gig swaps and pool your resources;
• run into a local industry pro, you have your 15-second pitch at the ready so he/she gets a clear impression of what you and your music are all about;
• meet with fans after a show, you can be friendly while always being alert for a potential opportunity to further your career.

On the business side of things, it really does boil down to relationships. From there, your music and your live show have to be equally (actually, more) impressive.

2. While there are plenty, I guess I have to go with CD Baby. Where else are you going to earn as much on your album and download sales? It’s incredibly easy to track and monitor sales, and with the Facebook and web widgets, you can lead everyone to your music and your sales pages with ease. Another (less nepotistic) suggestion is Dropbox. It’s a great way to share files with band mates, collaborators, producers, and even fans. Not necessarily a marketing tool, it is an easy way to share larger music files.

Read the entire post.