Traditional music videos are one great way to introduce your music to an audience, but there are many other music video ideas – including mashups, vlogs, and animation – that can help your grow your YouTube channel. YouTube generates over 100 million social actions on videos every week, including comments, likes, and shares. Read more.
You’ve heard it before, “it’s called the music business for a reason,” and one good business practice that can help you meet your music career goals is holding effective band meetings. To ensure your meetings go smoothly, check out the following eight easy-to-execute tips. Read more.
As I take people through the challenging self-discovery process, I’ve realized that a lot of indie music artists, at all stages of their careers, share a common issue: they are reluctant to celebrate success. They often feel uncomfortable announcing even the major milestones – like EP releases, show and tour announcements, notable press interviews – that are the product of their hard work, growth, and development. Read more.
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. Read more.
All of the tools to do anything and everything – including things you never even thought of – are online, available and waiting for you to put them to use. Dropbox, Hootsuite, and SoundCloud are three services that indie musicians are using to help manage and promote their careers. Read more.
Take a really good look at yourself and your act and find those qualities you may have wanted to hide in the past thinking no one would like or you might have been embarrassed to show, or be, or write about. Audiences want to see something interesting, be a part of something new and exciting. The media is looking for something exciting to share with their audiences. So find your unique qualities and talk about them, let them shine, and let them propel you above the crowds of other performers. Do something interesting… uniquify yourself! Read more.
Like it or not, if you are interested in how to make money with music, you are officially in the music business, so you need to play the part. Read more.
Are you in danger of playing too much in your chosen markets? We all want to gig more often, but have you really taken a look at how gigging too much in a given market might impact your ability to grow? Read more.
I was just working on an article comparing some out-of-the-box promotion ideas; the ones that were successes and the ones that were failures. The thing is, I couldn’t think of a single “failure.” And it’s not because I think I’m some huge indie music success. It’s simple: When we’re still trying, we never fail. Read more.
As a musician I wake up every day and say, “What am I going to do today that will push my music career forward?” The worst feeling is when I can’t answer that question. Like now. I’m at a point where I feel like I’ve reached out to all of my music industry contacts, tapped out my fans, and done everything I can think of doing. I know there is more to be done and I don’t know what it is, and I’ve reached some creative/career exhaustion that’s making me not want to do anything, anyway. Long story short: I’m stuck. Read more.
When you focus on productivity rather than creativity, your art and your business suffers because your whole reason for doing the business, expressing and sharing your creativity, loses its momentum and drive. Productivity metrics such as how many CDs you have sold, how many gigs are booked, how many Facebook fans you have, or how many tweets you’ve tweeted can leave you feeling out of sorts and divorced from your artistic self. Read more.
Independent artists ARE more empowered today than ever before, but at what cost? There are followers and there are leaders, and when it comes to making a career out of music these days, being a leader has become a matter of survival. The tech boom, along with the slow strangulation/metamorphosis of many record labels into black holes for intellectual property, has left independent artists with a plethora of tools to produce, promote, and release better products on their own, while simultaneously releasing them into a mire of audience and market over-saturation. Read More.
While most bands would like to have a marketing plan and budget that would allow them to promote their latest album on TV, radio, and billboards, it’s more likely you have just enough to print up posters for your next gig. And yet, indie musicians can get the kind of attention that can build a real fan base and help make a career in music with the right songs and the right marketing strategies and promotional approach. Read more and download your FREE guide.
The united state of independent music is thriving big time, and we have the numbers to back it up. CD Baby put together this infographic to highlight some of the key figures from 2011. Highlights include nearly $42 million paid out to musicians, close to 4 million songs distributed, and over 61,000 new albums and almost 30,000 new singles added in 2011. Check out the infographic for more details.
Working as a producer/engineer in the music business, I see (and hear) a lot of things when it comes to indie music and recording. One of those things, more often than not, is a conversation that goes something like this… Read more…