Posted: Oct 26, 2015

Category: The Musician Business

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**Guest post written by Andrew Jones of Checkered Owl Media.

"The music industry, like much of our society, can become obsessed with what is new: The new better way to sell music, the new way to connect with fans, the new DAW to record your new album...But if you pay attention to culture and society, you will notice a shift. People are beginning to embrace old..."

Posted: Oct 19, 2015

Category: Online Presence

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**Guest Post written by Dave Cool of Bandzoogle.com.

Posted: Oct 12, 2015

Category: The Musician Business

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**Guest Post by Bret Alexander of The Badlees and Saturation Acres.

"I’ve been a vocational musician for almost 30 years...This is an incredibly difficult business to make any sort of sustainable living at for that long, so inevitably people ask me what advice I would have for anyone who wants to do the same. Opinions are certainly like assholes, but I’ll give you my take on that. Do with it what you will..."

Posted: Oct 5, 2015

Category: Music Festivals

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**Guest post written by Amir Mozafari, Director of BD for Everfest and formerly of C3 Presents.

1. Develop a relationship with local promoters. 2. Practice, practice, practice! 3. Keep your EPK (Electronic Press Kit) up to date...

Posted: Sep 28, 2015

Category: Promotion

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**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: Sep 21, 2015

Category: Promotion

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**Guest post written by Michael Corcoran of musicSUBMIT.

"It goes without saying, all bands and musicians want to get their songs on the radio. There’s no point drumming up all the benefits of having your music broadcast to thousands of listeners with one spin on the radio. And of course radio stations want to find songs they think their audiences will want to hear...

But therein lies a nearly century-old problem for both artists and radio stations..."

Posted: Sep 14, 2015

Category: Live Performance

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**Guest post written by Megan Liscomb, originally posted on TakeLessons.com.

"Congrats on getting the big gig! Whether you’re preparing for your band’s first show or your album-release party, these tips will help you learn how to promote your band, make your best impression on stage, and get invited back to the venue to do it all again."

Posted: Sep 8, 2015

Category: Online Presence

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**Guest Post written by Melanie Kealey of Bandzoogle.com.

Posted: Aug 31, 2015

Category: Technology

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**Guest post by Hank & Cupcakes, Brooklyn based Indie/Pop/Rock duo.

All of us are aware of how important the visual aspect of our music is for promoting, exposing and marketing our band. It seems that many indie bands are afraid of making their own videos mainly because there's a common mythological assumption that it is very complicated, expensive and technically demanding to create this kind of content, so many bands don't even try to explore this territory which is today as accessible to us as the audio recording field is...

Posted: Aug 24, 2015

Category: Technology

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**Guest post by Harrison Welshimer, creator of MusicMunch Reviews and Interviews.

"Do you love FREE as much as I do? Duh, we’re musicians! Here are the top 10 free internet resources I recommend from personal experience..."

Posted: Aug 17, 2015

Category: The Musician Business

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**Guest post by Stephen Wrench, CEO of Musik and Film.

"I recently had the pleasure of pitching a very talented well produced artist to major labels...They never listened to it [the music] because their social media numbers were not good enough?"

Posted: Aug 10, 2015

Category: Touring

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**Guest post written by James Wilson, lead singer and songwriter for Brooklyn based alt-country band The Paisley Fields.

"Do... 1. Eat Healthy and Exercise. 2. Drink lots of water. 3. Treat everyone with respect. 4. Get your $$$$.... Don't 1. Have a bad attitude. 2. Leave before the other bands have finished their set...."

Posted: Aug 4, 2015

Category: Publishing

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**Guest post from the DIY Musician Blog.

"One of the other topics of consistent confusion for our members is the differentiation between what a publishing administrator does and what a performing rights society does. Many members of ASCAP, BMI or SESAC that I’ve heard from think their performing rights society IS their publisher and that they are getting all of the income they’re entitled to directly from that P.R.O. (performing rights organization). In this article, I relay a couple of actual questions we’ve received on the topic and try to give some clear, concise answers."

Posted: Jul 27, 2015

Category: Online Presence

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**Guest post written by Brandon Seymour, musician, SEO analyst, web designer, and social media marketer.

"Wikipedia pages are the holy grail of online citations. Although the site is a collaborative effort that allows virtually anyone to create or edit content, most pages are deleted shortly after being published...But I can tell you from personal experience that it [building a Wikipedia page for your band] can be done, and if you do it right, it won’t cost you a thing."

Posted: Jul 20, 2015

Category: The Musician Business

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**Guest post written Aly Keller, an avid pianist, musicologist, and marketing analyst, as featured on Grassrootsy.com.

"Turns out, musicians often do make that decision [medical debt or a musical career]. Last year, 43% of them lacked insurance. And this is in the post-ACA (“Obamacare”) environment where health insurance has never been more accessible to employer-less freelancers. But is health insurance something you really want to go without?"

Posted: Jul 13, 2015

Category: Live Performance

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**Guest post written by Cristof Ensslin, cellist/manager of The Wilhelm Brothers, folk rock with cello infusion from Asheville, NC.

"Are you booking for an indie band? Have you ever come across a venue mentioning you ought not to play another show within a certain radius and timespan? Chances are, you have." But what if you could play multiple shows in the same town in the same week and the venue could also benefit...

Posted: Jul 6, 2015

Category: The Musician Business

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**Guest post written by Brandon Waardenburg, founder of Apparatus (an artist accelerator providing music advice and coaching to independent artists and DIY musicians) as well as a musician, songwriter, "musicpreneur" and consultant.

"The luster of performing can die pretty quickly when it becomes old...Truthfully, any activity can turn into a grind no matter how intentional we are about keeping focused..." Here are some signs that you are on the right track.

Posted: Jun 30, 2015

Category: Social Media

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**Guest post written by Frederic Sahyouni of SplashFlood, a mobile app that rewards musicians for their talent.

"So you started a new band or a new solo music project and, as you absolutely must, you want to set up your online presence on all the typical social media platforms available...Here is a list of things you should and should not do in order to kickstart your social media presence on Twitter..."

Posted: Jun 22, 2015

Category: Music Streaming

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**Guest post written by Megan Liscomb, originally posted on TakeLessons.com.

"Online streaming is changing the face of the music industry, for artists and fans alike. Recently, Apple announced their entry into the streaming game via their new music streaming service Apple Music, due out June 30.

So what does Apple Music mean for you? Whether you're looking at the service as an artist or as a music fan, here's what Apple Music has to offer..."

Posted: Jun 15, 2015

Category: Live Performance

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**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

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**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

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**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: May 26, 2015

Category: The Musician Business

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**Guest post written by Ashley E. Norton, a Colorado based nomad, currently touring across the country with her Indie duo, Whitherward.

"I've been a professional singer-songwriter for about 10 years now...and I've been screwed over many times...I moved to Music City 5 years ago to hire a team of people to do the behind-the-scenes work I was so tired of doing my fucking self. Like many of us, I wanted to solely focus on my craft. This, is the only mistake I've ever made..."

Posted: May 18, 2015

Category: Social Media

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**Guest post written by Melinda Lewis of ScatterRadio.

"The evolution from simply surfing the internet on a computer to consuming content on mobile phones has put a growing emphasis on social media. And, the pressure to be “good” at social media has never been stronger...Your audience may be inundated with the same messages from different people and the quest to stand out oftentimes seems like an uphill battle. Instead of focusing on the quantity, cultivate quality..."

Posted: May 11, 2015

Category: Promotion

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**Guest post written by Hugh Mcintyre via the DIY Musician Blog, originally posted on the SonicBids Blog.

"These days, everybody’s email inboxes are fuller than ever, and people are becoming more and more selective about what newsletters they sign up for. Here are six tips that could help you..."