IOTM Blog
Posted: Jun 11, 2024
Category: Songwriting
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**Guest post written by Bug Hunter, a "thoughtful, self-reflective pop" singer-songwriter out of Seattle.
"As a full-time song-writer, I have done my best to keep putting out new content often enough to keep my audience interested in my music while making sure everything about each song meets a SUPER high bar I’ve set for myself in terms of content and lyricism. I’ve averaged a new album every 1.5 years. But 40+ songs later, I found myself coming to the ends of my own experiences and imagination. I’ve covered fresh love, heart-break, sibling rivalry, and screen-peaking emails on airplanes. I’ve even ventured into ghostly neighbors, time-traveling toasters, and metaphorical bank robberies that may or may not be a stand-in for taking too many samples at Costco. I’ve covered all the usual bases."
View Full ArticlePosted: Mar 5, 2024
Category: The Musician Business
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**Guest post written by James Hill, a veteran of the music industry. He has worked at Warner Reprise Records and then Interscope/ Geffen Records and now helps indie artists with branding and manufacturing through his company Unified Manufacturing, a CD/DVD, custom vinyl records and merch company in LA.
"So, you’ve finally decided to release an album. Wuhoo! But listen up – getting your album out there isn’t just about tossing it into the world. It’s more like planning a grand wedding for 1000 people – you need a solid plan. In this guide, we’re going through fifteen essential tips—covering everything from using digital tools to finding the right partners—to make your album release stress-free (or at least less stressful than usual). Let’s get started!" View Full Article
Posted: Nov 23, 2022
Category: Promotion
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**Guest post written by Cyber PR, originally featured on the Cyber PR Blog.
"Here, in How To Be Your Own Music Publicist Part 2, we will go through the 5 things that need to be addressed before you can start pitching to music blogs and publications. 1. Research Music Blogs 2. Prepare Your Target Lists 3. Get Your Email and Newsletters in Order 4. Determine Your Ideal Release Schedule 5. Prep Your Visual Assets and Social Media Posts" View Full Article
Posted: May 17, 2022
Category: Marketing
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**Guest post written by Feature.fm, an all-in-one music marketing solution to get more fans, boost streams, and grow your sales.
"Smart links are shareable URLs that automatically route fans to your music on their preferred streaming service. You can learn more about your fans by using a smart link because it tracks engagement analytics and it allows you to customize the landing page with your own artwork or music video."
View Full ArticlePosted: Nov 29, 2021
Category: The Musician Business
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**Guest post written by Yona Marie, originally featured in her blog.
"Releasing songs as an independent artist is pretty easy thanks to technology. 50 years back, you'd be out of luck for the most part, but now is the best time to thrive as a musician or artist without having to rely on a label! The main thing about being independent is that you want to make sure you're always growing and learning when it comes to music industry knowledge. You are in charge of your career and will not have any big-money company backing you or guiding you."
View Full ArticlePosted: May 17, 2021
Category: Marketing
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**Guest post by Christopher Carvalho from Unlock Your Sound.
"Think of a shop. The top of the funnel is the people walking past the shop. The first layer down is the people window browsing. The next layer down is the people who enter. And then the next and final layer is the people who purchase something."
View Full ArticlePosted: Aug 17, 2020
Category: Music Streaming
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**Guest post by Fang from Lords of the Trident, the most METAL band on earth!
"Daniel Ek, the CEO of Spotify, has been in hot water after stating that musicians "can’t record music once every three to four years and think that’s going to be enough". Is he right? Are we just slaves to never-ending work?"
View Full ArticlePosted: Feb 24, 2020
Category: Show Booking
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**Guest post written by Rachael Rubright of Dozmia.
"...a booking agent has a lot of artists vying for their attention or pulling their interest away from you. So, what can you do to put yourself on that booking agent’s radar? This article will outline some tips to help you get noticed."
View Full ArticlePosted: Feb 18, 2020
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.
"Things I DO KNOW are: Music and Business. I studied them separately and built a BRAND NEW bridge between them. And that bridge is a LOT easier to cross when you don't have a herd of greedy trolls weighing you down..." View Full Article
Posted: Dec 23, 2019
Category: The Musician Business
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**Guest post written by Scott Ronald, musician, songwriter, and creator of GuitarGearHeadz.com.
"Before signing a deal, artists need to be able to weigh up what the label can do for their career versus the rights, control and income they are signing away. These are four important questions you need to ask yourself when evaluating a label offer, in order to ensure that you make the best decision for your career..."
View Full ArticlePosted: Oct 28, 2019
Category: The Musician Business
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**Guest post written by Ari Herstand. This is an excerpt from his book How to Make It in the New Music Business (second edition). This post was originally published on Music Connection.
"Before you release your next single or album, make sure you set it up for the best chance of success. Don’t forget to do these 26 things before the release..."
View Full ArticlePosted: Sep 24, 2019
Category: Marketing
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**This post originally appeared on the Disc Makers Blog for indie musicians by Randy Chertkow & Jason Feehan of MakingMoneyWithMusic.com. Reprinted with permission.
"Your best social media strategy is to entertain your fans throughout the year rather than just drop an album and disappear. Create a strategy to make your fans anticipate your every release — music, videos, merch, and more — and attract new fans in the process."
View Full ArticlePosted: Nov 26, 2018
Category: Marketing
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**Guest post written by Alper Tuzcu, a Berklee College of Music and Denison University alumni, a Boston based guitarist, songwriter and producer, and regular contributor to the Adva Mobile Blog.
"A high stream-count on the first day of your song release can be an indicator of success for your newest song or album on various streaming platforms like Spotify or Apple Music. Why is this important? Because in order to get placed in large playlists with thousands or millions of followers, you have to boost your first-day stream totals AND also be getting fans to save your song to their queue or library."
Posted: Oct 29, 2018
Category: Music Streaming
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**Guest post written by Angela Predhomme, a singer-songwriter / music producer of inspiring soulful songs.
"As independent artists releasing music on streaming services, we have one goal: that people come across our music and like it...First, I’ll go over a little background information about music streaming and promotion, and then share the details of my own personal experience..."
View Full ArticlePosted: Oct 8, 2018
Category: The Musician Business
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**Guest post written by Dan Miraldi, a Cleveland-born New York City-based rock and roller.
"As an indie musician, I have to balance being an artist and being a businessman. My inner businessman understands why it is not practical to release a full-length album...Regardless, I ignored this knowledge and chose to make an album - a full-length album." View Full Article
Posted: Feb 22, 2016
Category: Selling Music
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**Guest post written by Corey Koehler, an indie singer-songwriter from Minnesota, as featured in his blog MusicGoat.com.
"For the past 30-40 years musicians have been releasing albums. Many times the time between those albums was a year or more. Many bands and musicians these days still model their own release schedules after this same one. This is a mistake. These days you should be learning how to release a single and doing it often. Here's why..."
View Full ArticlePosted: Apr 27, 2015
Category: Live Performance
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**Guest post written by Joy Ike, creator of Grassrootsy.com and Independent Musician, as featured on Grassrootsy.com.
"...we thought it would be important to talk about the different types of shows out there and give you a comprehensive understanding of the types of shows you should be taking at certain stages in your career depending on what city you are in and depending on the timing. Yea, that’s a mouthful, but stick with us and you*ll get what we mean..."
View Full ArticlePosted: Aug 21, 2013
Category: Renman Music & Business
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It's easy to understand that there wouldn't be a music industry without music, but sometimes we forget that the creation process is only the beginning. Once created, a major part of the battle is having the right people, plan, timeline, and creative ideas to get your music to an audience. In this clip Pat Magnarella, manager of Green Day, talks about marketing an album a year and a half before release and some of the pieces he used in the campaign.
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