IOTM Blog
Posted: Jul 28, 2014
Category: Promotion
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**Guest post written by Erica Sinkovic, CD Baby's Web Product Manager and general music enthusiast, as featured in the DIY Musician Blog.
"Whether you’re an independent artist or signed to an independent label, you’re sure to have a lot on your plate already. Between booking shows, debating merch, planning your next big marketing move, juggling social media-insanity, oh yeah, and writing new material, the last thing you want to add to your plate is a radio campaign...I’m here to tell you: don’t abandon radio."
View Full ArticlePosted: Jul 21, 2014
Category: Online Presence
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**Guest Post from Bandzoogle.com.
"When reviewing websites for musicians, we generally break down the reviews into 3 categories. For each category, there are certain key things that we look out for...So here’s our 16-point band website assessment checklist to measure how your website is doing..." View Full Article
Posted: Jul 14, 2014
Category: Promotion
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**Guest post written by Joy Ike, creator of Grassrootsy.com and Independent Musician, as featured on Grassrootsy.com.
"...the question you’re asking is: “How do I get write-ups when nobody knows who I am?” Well I’d like to pose 4 different answers to your question..."
View Full ArticlePosted: Jul 7, 2014
Category: Live Performance
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**Guest post written by Wade Sutton of Rocket to the Stars.
"Saxophonist Dave Goldberg has been getting a lot of attention lately for an open letter he wrote to operators of venues that host live music. The letter was Goldberg's way of sounding off against venues not paying artists as much money as they feel they deserve. The text, while not hostile in nature, was extremely misguided and managed to ignite another round of firestorms by similarly misguided artists. It was missing a lot of important information concerning why the music scene is the way it is right now and really offered little in the way of how to improve it other than to say venues should simply pay bands more money..."
View Full ArticlePosted: Jun 30, 2014
Category: Promotion
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**Guest post written by Alan VanToai of SimpleCrew - the mobile app for street teams. This article originally appeared on the SimpleCrew Blog.
"Street teams are a powerful force for independent artists - they’re a win-win all around. You get to engage your fans, give them a chance to get closer to you and “in on the fun”, and you get to spread the word about your shows." Read on for ways that you can use online and offline technics to power your team...
View Full ArticlePosted: Jun 23, 2014
Category: Songwriting
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**Guest post written by Maryann Harman, founder of Music with Mar., Inc, as featured in the DIY Musician Blog.
"As with anything, you should know who you are working with. In the performance field, this is called knowing your audience...you wouldn’t sing a song that lasted more than 2 minutes to a young child. Now, I’m not saying that can’t be done. It would, however, involve a lot of props and movement. When it was over, their attention may have all been spent on that one song...Here are the basics about how children respond to music..."
View Full ArticlePosted: Jun 16, 2014
Category: Live Performance
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**Guest post written by Wade Sutton of Rocket to the Stars.
"So many artists forget about and fail to take advantage of what makes an acoustic show in a small venue so important to building a fan base. The audience is close to you. The setting is intimate. The audience can see you expressing emotions with your eyes and face. Yet so few actually capitalize on the opportunity." Read on to find out how you can...
View Full ArticlePosted: Jun 9, 2014
Category: Promotion
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**Guest post written by Patrick Hertz of Tinderbox Music. This article originally appeared on the Sonicbids Blog.
"College radio is a unique mix of non-commercial stations that range from small-watt student-run operations to huge, vastly influential public and/or community stations. This spectrum allows for most any independent artist to find terrestrial radio airplay – that is, of course, if the music is good..." View Full Article
Posted: Jun 2, 2014
Category: Recording
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**Guest post written by Bobby Owsinski, producer/engineer and best selling author, as featured in his blog The Big Picture Music Production Blog.
"A fairly large project usually has numerous rentals of both long and short term. The trickiest long term rental is always the studio, since if you don’t complete what’s needed on time, then you’ll have to move somewhere else if the studio has booked time after your booking has run out. This can be a royal pain, since it means tearing everything down and setting up again, losing some time and momentum, and your sound, in the process. Here are 5 types of studio time that musicians should be aware of..." View Full Article
Posted: May 26, 2014
Category: Live Performance
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**Guest post written by Joshua Powell, singer-songwriter, DIY musician, and frontman for Joshua Powell and the Great Train Robbery, as featured in his blog Fearsome Folk.
"So we’re on this bill and the first act is a singer-songwriter who sang from a digital piano. Now, I have zero intentions of discrediting him or her, or of being condescending in any regard – this blog won’t serve as an outlet for snark for snark’s sake. But in my observations of this artist, I collected some notes that demonstrate well what I believe to be three ways to NOT conduct yourself as an artist who aims to be taken seriously..."
View Full ArticlePosted: May 19, 2014
Category: Show Booking
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**Guest post written by Paula Tolly, one half of the Boca Raton based Americana duo 33 Years.
"You know the scenario.... you’ve been trying to get into this local bar for who knows how long and your buddy just gave you the name of the new booker. You email him or text or whatever his preference is and you get the dreaded dead end comment back: "How many people can you draw at my venue....?" Your heart sinks, your confidence dwindles and you think, "Hey, is there anyone out there who really cares about the music nowadays?""...
View Full ArticlePosted: May 12, 2014
Category: Online Presence
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**Guest post written by Phil Johnson, as featured in his blog, Big Whiz Bang!
"Your artist bio, whether you’re a musician, comedian, or any other type of artist, is the most important document in your promotional arsenal. It’s most people’s first introduction to you. So it really needs to succinctly communicate what you’re all about as an artist."
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Posted: May 5, 2014
Category: Licensing
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**Guest post written by Mallory Zumbach, Sr. Director of Creative at Round Hill Music.
"You might be wondering what exactly a company like RHM looks for when they’re signing a songwriter, artist, or band with the goal of having significant synch success with them. First and foremost, of course, we want to work with tremendously talented people. The music has to make us sit up and take notice the first time we hear it—if it does, we know that people in the synch world will take note, too..."
View Full ArticlePosted: Apr 28, 2014
Category: Promotion
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**Guest post written by Carlos Castillo of Schwilly Family Musicians - music marketing strategist, web designer, live performance recordist, international road-tripper, lap steel player, and Captain of the Schwilly Family.
"The truth of the matter is that if you want to take a proactive approach to getting attention for your music, you have to think about that kind of stuff [your story]. Whether you are looking for some press or simply to connect on a deeper level with your fans, your story matters. That’s right. Not only do you have to write and record the songs, but you also have to tell an engaging story..."
View Full ArticlePosted: Apr 21, 2014
Category: Live Performance
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**Guest post written by Joshua Powell, singer-songwriter, DIY musician, and frontman for Joshua Powell and the Great Train Robbery, as featured in his blog Fearsome Folk.
"I met with my old friend Sal at Panera one morning. He’s a young and aspiring musician and was willing to look past my greasy hair and elbow-holed flannel to ask for advice on getting his foot into the door of the independent music community....As I fumbled to explain to Sal what I believed makes our show (or any show) one of superior quality, I realized that I could distill most of the factors into four easily digestible elements...and I believe them to be..."
View Full ArticlePosted: Apr 14, 2014
Category: Live Performance
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**Guest post written by Danny Schmitz, an indy musician, writer, and connoisseur of all things Mexican food.
"Being a musician, it has taken me a long time to accept the fact that music is actually quite visual. To be honest, I’ve always intrinsically known this, but have never really realized it. There is no disputing that people associate their favorite artists with their best-known songs, but it is almost always accompanied by a visualization of the artist." View Full Article
Posted: Apr 10, 2014
Category: Renman Music & Business
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In week #5 of RenmanMB's Insider's Guide to Today's Music Business, the lesson looked at the key contracts and agreements you will likely come across if you are doing something big in the music business. Among many topics covered are the 4 key agreements: Band Agreements, Management Agreements, Recording Agreements and Music Publishing Agreements. To help teach this session of Renman U, Renman enlisted Gary Gilbert Partner and Co-Chair of Entertainment & Media for one of top entertainment and media legal firms in today's business.
View Full ArticlePosted: Apr 7, 2014
Category: Show Booking
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**Guest post by Chris "Seth" Jackson, a bass guitarist and composer and founder of HowToRunABand.com.
OH no! I can't get a show! I keep sending out booking emails that never get replied to. What do I do?...
View Full ArticlePosted: Mar 31, 2014
Category: Online Presence
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**Guest post written by Brandon Swift, musician and creator of Yovigo.com.
When marketing a band online, a musician should create a website that lets the band accept countless payment methods, establish numerous pages on the social media networks, encourage people to write positive reviews about the group and consistently post ads for the band in local directories. So how do you do this?...
View Full ArticlePosted: Mar 24, 2014
Category: Online Presence
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**Guest post written by Brandon Seymour, musician, SEO analyst, web designer, and social media marketer.
Independent bands and musicians in particular stand to gain a great deal of exposure if they put the time and effort into creating quality, engaging videos and marketing themselves on popular video platforms like YouTube, Vimeo and others of the like...Plain and simple, videos work. It's just a matter of figuring out how they can work for you...
View Full ArticlePosted: Mar 17, 2014
Category: The Musician Business
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**Guest post written by Samuel Mahler, marketing manager, booking agent, and band member of "The Electro-Lights".
One of the major problems that has plagued today’s music world is the bad stigma placed on bands’ lack of “Professionalism”. This seemingly simple word that should be self-explanatory has been the death of many a band. Why is this, you may ask?...
View Full ArticlePosted: Mar 10, 2014
Category: Music Festivals
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**Guest post written by Salina Sias. Salina is a Brooklyn based singer-songwriter with a deeply personal folk-inflected vision and serves on the board of directors of Women In Music. This piece was originally posted on ThrowtheDiceandPlayNice.com.
"I just got back from the 26th annual Folk Alliance International (FAI) music conference in Kansas City, MO...They [music conferences] can be overwhelming, as I can attest after having just dragged my butt back to Brooklyn from Kansas City. So, the generous soul that I am, I thought I’d share my experiences and advice after my first trip ever to a “folk-music conference.”"
View Full ArticlePosted: Mar 5, 2014
Category: Renman Music & Business
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Finding the right manager might be the most important decision an artist makes after they've picked their musical partners. But finding a great manager is not easy. In this lesson of Renman U, the Renman talks about why to hire a manager, what a manager does, what qualifications you should be looking for in a manager, what personality traits to look for, when to get a manager, how to connect with a manager, and about the artist manager relationship.
View Full ArticlePosted: Mar 3, 2014
Category: Show Booking
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**Guest post written by Joy Ike, creator of Grassrootsy.com and Independent Musician, as featured on Grassrootsy.com.
THE QUESTION: I have a question that I hope someone here can help me with. After you’ve sent an email and you don’t hear back for a week or two, is it ok to resend the same email in the case that it got lost in the shuffle? I don’t want to come off as being pushy, but I want to make sure that they actually received the email.
THE ANSWER: Art, this is a really great question that I think a lot of people struggle with. It’s hard to know how to follow up on a email when you don’t know if it was ever read, if it reached the correct person, or if the receiver purposely didn’t get back to you. So we’ve got a few suggestions on what you can do...
View Full ArticlePosted: Feb 24, 2014
Category: The Musician Business
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**Guest post written by David Priebe of Green Room Music Source, a full time agent/artist manager and also part time instructor of music business at the Institute of Production & Recording in Minneapolis.
"It official- it’s now impossible to make money in the music industry." There are scads and scads of articles and commentary that sound a lot like that statement. What you hear much less about are the people who completely disagree with that sentiment. I’m in that camp, and I’m going to tell you why...
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