IOTM Blog
Posted: Oct 13, 2014
Category: The Musician Business
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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 first requirement for being successful in anything is to define what success means to you. That is one of the biggest challenges musicians face today. There is no standard to follow..."
View Full ArticlePosted: Aug 11, 2014
Category: Live Performance
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**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..."
View Full ArticlePosted: Aug 4, 2014
Category: Licensing
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**Guest post written by Ari Herstand. It originally appeared on Ari's Take.
"There is no one way to get music placed on TV (or in film). In addition to how I've gone about it, I've spoken with many of my musician friends who make livings on song placements about this." So what is their advice?... View Full Article
Posted: 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 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: 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: 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...
View Full ArticlePosted: Feb 10, 2014
Category: Royalties
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**Guest post written by Blake Morgan, artist, musician, record producer, and founder and owner of ECR Music Group.
"The Washington beltway turned a deaf ear to artists' rights until one guy, one activist, wrote the words "I Respect Music" on an index card and showed it to the world. Now, thousands upon thousands of music makers and music lovers are standing together and making history by adding their names to a petition that is not only shaking up the music world, it's shaking up Congress." View Full Article
Posted: Feb 3, 2014
Category: Digital vs. Physical
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**Guest post written by Danny Schmitz, an indy musician, writer, and connoisseur of all things Mexican food.
"I had a conversation via email with a friend from LA, and another friend living in Singapore. All three of us are musicians and frequently talk about the current state of the music industry. We were talking about the streaming music subscription service Spotify..." View Full Article
Posted: Jan 13, 2014
Category: Marketing
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**Guest post written by Brandon Swift, musician and creator of Yovigo.com.
Music marketers and artists who have come after The Grateful Dead have been trying to emulate this marketing model since the group's success with it. The model casts a wide net of influence for any artist or group hoping to make a serious mark in the music industry. Here are some reasons giving away your music works so well and has the power to help those who are willing to make a considerable profit.
View Full ArticlePosted: Jan 6, 2014
Category: The Lefsetz Letter
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**Guest Post by Bob Lefsetz of The Lefsetz Letter.
Your ability to play exceeds social networking. Your chops are more important than your social skills. Frequently the best musicians are near mute, they speak through their music, which brings adoring fans to them. First learn how to play. Everything else comes next...
View Full ArticlePosted: Nov 18, 2013
Category: Show Booking
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**The following is an excerpt from MusicBizAcademy.com's "The Truth About NACA: Gigging on the College Circuit" by Fran Snyder, originally published in 2001.
"The National Association of Campus Activities, established in 1960, is a non-profit organization that puts on regional conferences where music acts, comedians, lecturers and other entertainers showcase in front of campus activities programmers from around the country. There are 1200 member colleges and 600 associate members (talent or agent) which makes NACA the largest organization of its kind." So how do you land one of these coveted showcase slots and secure college bookings with fantastic guarantees?...
View Full ArticlePosted: Nov 13, 2013
Category: Renman Music & Business
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Jack Conte is a musician, businessman, and creative entrepreneur. He's probably best known as one half of the band Pomplamoose, but what we didn't know was what an interesting perspective he has on today's music industry. In this clip, Jack talks about what it takes to be successful in today's music business and how the industry has changed from massive rock stars to everyday hustlers. It's the rise of the middle class musician!
View Full ArticlePosted: Nov 11, 2013
Category: Fundraising
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**Guest post written by Dae Bogan, Music Industry Insider For The Indie Artist, of Dae Bogan Music.
"What do you do when you don’t have a label underwriting your career and you have to choose between paying your personal bills and paying a studio engineer, publicist, or rental van company? You fund raise!" But how...
View Full ArticlePosted: Oct 9, 2013
Category: Renman Music & Business
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As an artist, it's hard to make creative decisions based on money. Sure, you need cash to make a living, but when it becomes your main decision maker, you can run into trouble down the road. In this clip, musician and founder of Artist Growth, Matt Urmy, talks about these challenges and how he's learned to deal with them. In addition, Matt reminds us how an artist in today's Music Industry needs momentum and traction on the business side to supplement the music.
View Full ArticlePosted: Oct 7, 2013
Category: Merch
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**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..."
View Full ArticlePosted: Sep 16, 2013
Category: Merch
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**As featured in Indie on the Move's Touring Tips Section.
When first breaking into a new market, even the best promotion can often yield poor results in attendance because you have yet to build name recognition in that area. Other times, you are forced to play for exposure alone just to get your leg in the door at one of the local music venues. In either case, merchandise sales can not only get you to the next show and pay for gas, but also allow you to continue and finish the tour without going bankrupt.
View Full ArticlePosted: Aug 28, 2013
Category: Renman Music & Business
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Seth Hurwitz is a partner at I.M.P. Productions and a longtime veteran concert promoter. As part owner of the 9:30 Club in Washington DC, Seth has been involved in the independent promotion business for decades and his experiences in the business shaped a "realist" attitude toward the industry, to say the least. In this clip, Seth advises aspiring artists to simply: bring it. And for the aspiring business professionals, Seth says the key to success is to figure out what reality is, stick by it, and don't change your version of it because someone's trying to change your version of it. Wise words from an experienced veteran.
View Full ArticlePosted: Aug 26, 2013
Category: Show Booking
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**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".
"...But what all the non-superstar musicians in LA have in common is, when we play a show in town we accept shitty shitty deals...This isn't going to be a post about LA (as that could fill a book), but rather the issue of "pay to play" clubs. Let's explore some of the many scenarios bands get offered by venues and promoters every day..."
View Full ArticlePosted: Aug 5, 2013
Category: Promotion
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**Guest post by Mike Vial as featured in his blog.
"The fact that it’s free or crowdfunded shouldn’t be the story; those are footnotes to the actual story, a story about the music."
View Full ArticlePosted: Jul 15, 2013
Category: The Lefsetz Letter
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**Guest Post by Bob Lefsetz of The Lefsetz Letter.
"DON'T DEPEND ON THIRD PARTIES - Being an artist is doing it your way. Now you no longer need a label, gatekeepers are not as powerful as they once were, so why are you playing to them? Of course it's more difficult going your own way, but that's the paradigm of the future. He who plays by the rules gets left behind..."
View Full ArticlePosted: Jul 2, 2013
Category: Live Performance
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**Guest post written by Nifty of MusicFullTime.com.
"Begin by thinking of yourself as more than just a “hired” musician playing for an evening in a nice (or not so nice) restaurant. Viewing this opportunity as a typical “gig” is actually a 9 to 5 mentality that’s fatal to your income potential. The restaurant has hired you, not for the purpose of doing “you” a favor, nope. The restaurant owner is trying to add value to her customers."
View Full ArticlePosted: Jun 21, 2013
Category: Songwriting
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**Guest Post by Bret Alexander of The Badlees and Saturation Acres.
"Sometimes the artist doesn’t even know if he likes his own work...When Bruce Springsteen heard the test pressing of “Born To Run”, he smashed the record into tiny pieces. Couldn’t stand to listen to it. He thought it was the worst piece of shit he had ever heard...The writer Saul Bellow is quoted as saying, “Works of art are never finished, they are abandoned.”...This is true. So the real question is when do you walk out the door? And if you are in a group, how do you get everyone going in the same direction so you can finish?"
View Full ArticlePosted: Jun 3, 2013
Category: Merch
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Booking fees and ticket sales only represent a portion of a performer's income for everyone from the independent artist to the big name band selling out huge venues. As a result, it is essential to take advantage of any opportunity to bring in extra cash via merchandise sales for CD's, T-shirts, and the like. But how can you create an inventory of merchandise without breaking the bank? Here are a few places you might be able to score some great deals...
View Full ArticlePosted: May 16, 2013
Category: The Lefsetz Letter
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**Guest Post by Bob Lefsetz of The Lefsetz Letter.
"...That's one thing wrong with the younger generation, they date in groups, they want to be a member of the club, individuality is shunned. But when it comes to lasting art, individuality is key..."
View Full Article