Posted: Jan 25, 2016

Category: The Musician Business

career goals gigging keys to success licensing live performances los colognes making it masters music business practice publishing sync placements

**Guest Post written by Jay Rutherford of Los Colognes.

"Like millions of other morons out there, I'm attempting to make music both the primary joy and primary financial security in my life. My band Los Colognes has achieved marginal success, just enough to get mom and dad off our backs, so to speak. Without further adieu, here’s me convincing myself I have achieved some wisdom, when in reality I have no psychological control over any of it yet. Pretend this is the Old Ben Kenobi version of me, from somewhere in the future..."

Posted: Jan 4, 2016

Category: Live Performance

exposure free shows have fun live performances make money musicianwages.com networking non-profit show booking

**Guest post written by David J. Hahn, originally featured on MusicianWages.com.

"You get a call. It’s a friend of yours, they are throwing a big party, and they want you to play for the guests...You get another call. It’s a local non-profit. They are throwing a fundraiser at a fancy venue and they want you to provide entertainment for a couple of hours...A third call comes in. It’s a local venue. They are having an event next month and 5 bands are playing a 30 minute set each. They’d like to invite you to perform...So what do you do? Do you take these gigs? You know that you have to make a living, but you know you also have to get out there and play for people."

Posted: Nov 9, 2015

Category: Live Performance

ask fans fan engagement grassrootsy house shows live performances make money newsletters postcards social media

**Guest post written by Joy Ike, creator of Grassrootsy.com and Independent Musician, as featured on Grassrootsy.com.

Posted: Sep 28, 2015

Category: Promotion

gigging indie 411 live performances merch networking newsletters promotion

**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.

Posted: Jun 15, 2015

Category: Live Performance

addressing your crowd fan engagement live performances rocket to the stars sentence structure

**Guest post written by Wade Sutton of Rocket to the Stars.

"In the third of a three-part video series, Rocket to the Stars' Wade Sutton continues examining how artists can improve their speaking skills when on stage performing at live shows!" Sentence structure is key...

Posted: Jun 8, 2015

Category: Live Performance

addressing your crowd dynamic energy fan engagement live performances perfect your performance stage rules

**Guest post written by Wade Sutton of Rocket to the Stars.

"In the second of a three-part video series, Rocket to the Stars' Wade Sutton continues examining how artists can improve their speaking skills when on stage performing at live shows!"

Posted: Jun 1, 2015

Category: Live Performance

addressing your crowd fan engagement how to run a band live performances live performing make money perfect your performance rocket to the stars

**Guest post written by Wade Sutton of Rocket to the Stars.

"Finding a comfort zone while speaking to audiences between songs is something that has been problematic for MANY singers...So I spent a large portion of time over the past year ­and ­a ­half exploring this very issue and looking for ways artists can improve at this extremely important, yet often neglected, skill..."

Posted: Apr 20, 2015

Category: The Musician Business

ariel hyatt branding cyber pr deuce ellis fan engagement have a story live performances make money merch monetization music business publishing relationships with fans

**Guest post written by Deuce Ellis, Buffalo-born and Brooklyn-raised rap renegade. Originally posted by Cyber PR.

"Here’s My Guest Blog After Attending the #YourMusic Seminar; maybe this whole thing is easier than you think…First things first, let’s demolish whatever train of thought you may have. Demolish it. Let’s destroy and rebuild..."

Posted: Mar 23, 2015

Category: Live Performance

artistic conviction be courteous how to run a band live performances perfect your performance stage rules

**Guest post written by Paula Tolly, one half of the Boca Raton based Americana duo 33 Years.

"My band recently did a gig where, just after the first song, a note was delivered onto the stage...“Turn it down a few notches, please.” Really? It’s Saturday night and this is only the FIRST song. (sigh) So I ask you, ‘what would you do?’ At first, this seems like a pretty easy question, right. But think - there you are in your first set and how do you really want to deal with this negative feedback?"

Posted: Jan 20, 2015

Category: Touring

fan engagement house shows live performances make money pyragraph shannon curtis

**Guest post written by Shannon Curtis, an independent songwriter, singer, performer, recording artist, and author, as featured on Pyragraph.

"Then we discovered this awesome phenomenon of house concerts: they’re viral..."

Posted: Aug 11, 2014

Category: Live Performance

fan engagement house shows live performances make money merch rocket to the stars website improvement

**Guest post written by Wade Sutton of Rocket to the Stars.

"When you take into consideration how many singers and musicians complain about the current state of artist-venue relationships, you would think most performers would jump at the opportunity to explore alternative methods of putting on shows and generating income...I'm here to tell you that there IS an alternative live show model, house shows, that many artists ARE having a great deal of success with...So I reached out to somebody for answers..." 

Posted: Jul 7, 2014

Category: Live Performance

fan engagement live performances make money marketing plan music business promotion rocket to the stars supply and demand

**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..."

Posted: Jun 16, 2014

Category: Live Performance

fan engagement live performances perfect your performance practice rocket to the stars setting goals stage rules

**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...

Posted: May 26, 2014

Category: Live Performance

be courteous be honest live performances live performing music business networking perfect your performance practice stage rules

**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..."

Posted: May 5, 2014

Category: Licensing

licensing live performances make money music business publishing synch

**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..."

Posted: Apr 21, 2014

Category: Live Performance

artistic conviction branding dynamic energy fan engagement live performances music business persona stage rules

**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..."

Posted: Apr 14, 2014

Category: Live Performance

fan engagement live performances pandora stage rules youtube

**Guest post written by Danny Schmitz, an indy musician, writer, and connoisseur of all things Mexican food.

Posted: Mar 5, 2014

Category: Renman Music & Business

breaking bands discovery getting started live performances managers music business web presence

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.

Posted: Dec 16, 2013

Category: Live Performance

fan engagement fan support how to run a band live performances relationships with fans stage rules

**Guest post written by Sarah Lynch, digital music marketing and social media content manager.

"Just how powerful does a statement have to be in order to capture an audience’s imagination?? For musicians, having a killer live show is essential because it is one of the only opportunities that fans have to see, interact with and get to know you as a person behind the music. So how do you make an audience fall in love with you?"

Posted: Dec 10, 2013

Category: Fans

fan engagement fan support friend support live performances marketing music career promotion

**Guest post written by Dae Bogan, Music Industry Insider For The Indie Artist, of Dae Bogan Music.

"There’s something I want to share with you. You may not know this–or you might have forgotten–but your friends are not your fans. Shocking? Let me explain.."

Posted: Oct 7, 2013

Category: Merch

budget live performances make money marketing merch relationships with fans t-shirts

**Guest post written by Phil Johnson, as featured in his blog, Big Whiz Bang!

"So let me tell you my strategy for this. Just like on the internet, content is king. The more the better. Your goal should be to have a merch option for everybody that wants to take a souvenir home. And make no mistake, that’s what it is. A souvenir..."

Posted: Jul 8, 2013

Category: Managers

clout discovery diy live performances managers social media web presence

**Guest post written by Ari Herstand, a DIY singer-songwriter from Los Angeles, CA with 500+ shows under his belt, as featured in his blog "Ari's Take". 

"A manager's biggest asset is not being you. A manager talking his band up will get a much better response than the singer talking his band up. Even if the manager is the lead singer's brother (Imagine Dragons)...You need to be kicking ass on your own BEFORE any manager will want to represent you."

Posted: May 13, 2013

Category: The Musician Business

live performances make money music business promotion relationships with fans

**Guest post written by Nifty of MusicFullTime.com.

"What many struggling artists fail to realize is that “successful” musicians operate with solid business principles. Successful business models – for the most part – can be applied across different businesses and areas of life. The primary business principle I’m talking about is “putting your customer first”; in this case, your “customers” are your fans. Fall in love with your fans and stop falling in love with your own music..."

Posted: Apr 2, 2013

Category: Renman Music & Business

entrepreneurship helping artists live performances stageit

Evan Lowenstein started out in the music business as an artist with his brother, and they produced a top 20 single in their hey day. However, Evan felt a calling to something bigger than just his career as an artist. He wanted to help other fellow artists knowing what the struggle can be to even succeed in this business. Therefore, he decided to dive in and create a company that could serve as a platform to benefit all artists. This was the genesis of StageIt, a virtual interactive platform on the web where artists could sell their live performances. In this clip, Evan explains how he started this project and what to expect when developing your own entrepreneurship!

Posted: Mar 12, 2013

Category: Live Performance

be courteous live performances live performing stage rules fan engagement

**Guest post from Jordan Gaw of Final Drive, a Metal band from St. Louis, MO.

As an independent band, we all play countless shows in small venues and DIY spots with local promoters and club owners. Communication, respect and networking are essential for getting the most out of every gig. Gaining new fans, establishing relationships and executing an amazing show, that not only sounds, but runs smoothly, is your mission (should you choose to accept it).