ONLINE MUSIC'S CRUNCH TIME

The debate is on.

Since Steve Jobs open letter last week ("Thoughts On Music") about DRM, much has since been written about the direction online music should take.

This article "Crunch Time Coming For Online Music", gives a good account of the background and reasons behind the debate.



[Resource http://www.santacruzsentinel.com/archive/2007/February/10/style/stories/08style.htm]

technorati tags:digital+music+downloads, digital+rights+management, drm, internet+music+promotion, indie, independent, musician

ARE YOU MAKING THESE MISTAKES?

Do you know the 10 things every independent musician should know to help their career?

Sometimes it takes only a small and simple idea to produce big changes to results.

Here's an article I came across called 1o Things Every Independent Musician Should Know To Help Their Career and I think it's worth a read to see if you making some of these mistakes?


[Resource http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/140227/10_things_every_independent_musician.html]

technorati tags:promote+your+music, indie, independent, musician

ADWORD MARKETING TIPS

Do you use Google adwords as part of your marketing strategy?

If so, you may be interested in an article I came across with an example of how one small change can increase your traffic by over 200%. Read about it here.


[Resource http://blog.mindvalleylabs.com/marketing/sure-fire-headline-for-google-adwords-boosts-roi-by-200/]

technorati tags:google+adwords, music+marketing, internet+marketing, indie, indie, indie, indie+musician

NEXTUNE

NexTune is a music marketing company bridging the gap between the music industry and technology.

You can read in this press release (below) how NexTune are providing for retailers, records labels, music consumers and have found a largely ignored online music Cd market.

NexTune Bridges The Gap BetweenThe Music Industry and Technology

[Resource http://sev.prnewswire.com/music/20070212/CLM07912022007-1.html]

technorati tags:digital music downloads, indie, music distribution, indie, nextune, promote+your+ music, sell+your+independent+music, indie+music+promotion, indie, independent, musician

WAITING FOR THE MUSE

Would you like to be able to choose from dozens of songs for your next recording?

If you're not naturally a prolific songwriter, you might find these tips helpful to get those songs coming. It's not a magic pill, it's just common sense and a method used by some of the worlds best songwriters.

Read, "Songwriting, and being ready for the muse".



[Resource http://davedturner.blogspot.com/2007/02/songwriting-and-being-ready-for-muse.html]

technorati tags:independent+music+career, free+music+career+resources, songwriting, independent, indie+musician, independent, musician

YOU PICK THE HITS - SONG COMPETITION

Here's a song competition with a twist on the usual.

The judges are not industry professionals, songs are judged by the public and it's an online competition. The cost to enter is USD$30 per song for each category (eg. 1 song entered in 2 categories would cost $60).

The 2007 song entry deadline is April 23. For entry forms and details, go to U-Pick the Hits.

[Resource http://www.upickthehits.com/]

THE EASY WAY TO GET GIGS

Would you like an easy way to keep all your gigs organised?

The Indie Musician's new resource 'The Easy Way To Get Gigs' is a FREE resource written by a musician for musicians.

To get your free resource, join The Indie Musician's free "Tools For Success" program here.

The Indie Musician

MAKE YOUR OWN FREE LOGO IN MINUTES

If you're taking your music marketing seriously, you should have a logo. You can use this to 'brand' your music or band as well using them as banner links on websites.

If you're not a graphic designer and/or you haven't got some lazy money sitting around, your problems are solved!

Cool Text is a free Graphics Generator website where you can create and download your unique logo in a few minutes. There's plenty of choice from layout design to color, font and size and you'll get your own jpg file to download in seconds from completing your design.

As they say...."Here's one I did earlier"

[Resource http://cooltext.com/]

FAST GUITAR

There's a saying about music that "less is more" and it's easy as a producer and performer to add to rather than take out parts from songs. Restraint can be important.

Having said that, there's a place for using different techniques for adding color to your songs. Fast guitar playing is one method and something which many guitarists aspire to. So here are some myths about playing fast guitar and some techniques you can apply to learn how you can be a faster guitar player.

How To Play Fast Guitar

[Resource http://guitar-reviews.blogspot.com/2007/02/how-to-play-fast-guitar.html]

SECTRETS OF A GREAT PRODUCER

Here's the story of music producer Rick Rubin, who has worked with artists as diverse as Beastie Boys, Slayer, Neil Diamond and Johnny Cash. His latest work has been a Grammy award winning album with The Dixie Chicks, helping them rescue their career and direction.

He is "a song doctor", "very decisive and knows when a song is right" and above all "he's a good listener".

In one of his rare interviews Rubin himself says "I don't even know what a traditional producer is or does".

Click here to read more about Rick's career and influences.


[Resource http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/1501119/story.cfm?c_id=1501119&objectid=10423736]

APPLE GETS SQAUSHED

Apple may dominate the download music market but, with a potential subscriber base of 690 billion people, mobile music is a market share that mobile network operators and music companies are not going to let go to Apple.

Already, 23 mobile network operators have signed up to use a software called MusicStation which has been developed by UK firm Omnifone and will be pre-loaded on to new handsets including Nokia and Motorola.

Onifone hope to have their service up and running in all countries for when Apple iPhone launches in Europe.


[Resource http://www.itnews.com.au/newsstory.aspx?CIaNID=45784&src=site-marq]

WRITE PRESS RELEASES THAT DAZZLE

"When a reporter is wowed, intrigued, surprised or captivated by your press release, you can be pretty sure you’ll get some media coverage. And for most businesses, positive media coverage is worth its weight in gold. The bad news: Although truckloads of news releases fill reporters’ inboxes every day, few of them are dazzling, or even interesting."

Nancy Jackson, owner of The Write Shop is a former editor and speaks from experience in this article about how you can avoid having your press release ending up in the garbage.

Read "Press Releases That Dazzle"


[Resource http://www.your-lease.co.uk/leasearticles16.html]

CAN YOU BE A SESSION MUSICIAN?

Can you really earn a decent living playing bass, drums, guitar, etc?

Just how realistic is it for you to make a living from playing music? This article will explain the realities of being a session musician. Earning A Living As A Session Musician


[Resource http://www.recordingreview.com/articles/articles/186/1/Can-You-Be-A-Session-Musician/Earning-A-Living-As-A-Session-Musician.html]

PERSONALISED ONLINE RADIO

Here is a review of 4 slightly different websites that each offer a personalised listening experience where you can choose to be exposed to new music that suits your listening tastes.

The reviews are for Pandora, The Hype Machine, Last FM and Fine Tune.

Read the reviews here.


[Resources http://www.watchmojo.com/music/blog/?p=818]

PASSING THE AUDITION

You find an ad for a band who require the services of someone just like you. You contact them, things go well and they invite you to an audition. You could just turn up and play of course, or you could take a look at these 16 tips on increasing your chances of winning the band audition and turn up prepared.

Auditioning For A Band?

[Resource http://www.mediatricks.com/how-to-audition/auditioning-for-a-band/]

MUSIC INDUSTRY FACES FUTURE

As more and more singers and recording artists enjoy the freedom of being independent and having control over their music and its distribution, what does the future hold for the majors.

Boston based Entertainment and media lawyer George Tobia talks here about challenges faced by the music industry. Will lawyers become the new 'major record companies'?

[Resource http://home.businesswire.com/portal/site/google/index.jsp?ndmViewId=news_view&newsId=20070209005343&newsLang=en]

SONG FOR AUSTRALIA

This is fantastic! I came across this story and I thought it worthy of a mention for it's unique and inspiring story.

Manjit Boparai was a teacher and author from India before emigrating to Australia in 1988. He moved his family to Brisbane in the mid 1990's and took a job as a taxi driver.

With the opportunity to tell overseas visitors riding in his cab, what a great and diverse country Australia really is, Manjit decided to write a song so he could play it to his cab riding audience.

The song Manjit wrote in 2003, "Song Australia" was on high rotation in his Brisbane taxi until March 2005 when Manjit's cab picked up film maker Faramarz K-Rahber. Manjit told Faramarz of his dream to make a Bollywood music video and between them they set out to make it happen.

Working with Australia's SBS television Manjit and Faramarz produced a documentary and music video showing off Australia and its wonderful multi cultural population.

Read the lyrics to "Song Australia" here.

Manjit's website for "Song Australia" is here.

As an independent musician there are some excellent lessons here on marketing and never giving up on your dreams.



[Resource http://www.music-videos.duncans.tv/2007/song-for-australia/]

BARENAKED MARKETING

For Canadian band Barenaked Ladies, the decision to go 'green' is proving popular with their younger environmentally conscious fans.

The band tour in bio diesel buses and trucks, use bio degradable cups, real plates and even have a plan for recycling their old guitar strings.

This independent band who were formerly signed to a major label now have greater creative and marketing scope as an indie band including recycling their music.

Read here, all about the new environmentally friendly incentives and marketing tricks of the men who are Barenaked Ladies.



[Resource http://www.canada.com/saskatoonstarphoenix/news/lifestyle/story.html?id=060932e6-76cb-45d4-b941-f6661d62be08]

GET PAID FOR PRACTICING

Here's an article I came across that tells you how you can do just that. Get paid for practicing. It was written from the personal experience of Kevin Brown, a saxophone player who has spent the last 36 of his 40 playing years, getting paid to practice.

This is well worth a read for some ideas. Read it here.

[Resource http://geoffandwen.com/blind/newsarticle.asp?u_id=17473]

MUSIC BUSINESS RADIO WANTS YOUR DEMO

Music Business Radio does a podcast show each week. They play and review 6 or 7 songs in each weekly episode to a worldwide audience as well as industry guests.

They accept music of all genres and you can send your Cd to:

Tuned In Broadcasting
ATTN: Music Business Radio
1310 Clinton St. Suite 200
Nashville, TN 37203

You can subscribe to the free podcast here


[Resource http://www.indiemusician.com/music_business/2007/02/music_business_.html]

ITUNES - SELLING SONGS TO SUCKERS!

Here's an article in response to the Steve Jobs article "Thoughts On Music".

Read here why this writer thinks Steve's latest comments are correct but not the issue. This writer feels that those who are buying songs from the iTunes music store, are suckers.

[Resource http://media.seekingalpha.com/article/26283]

STEVE'S THOUGHTS ON MUSIC

Read what Steve Jobs has to say on DRM (Digital Rights Management) from Apple's "Hot News" section.

Here's a small sample (below) taken from the article "Thoughts On Music"

"Since Apple does not own or control any music itself, it must license the rights to distribute music from others, primarily the “big four” music companies: Universal, Sony BMG, Warner and EMI. These four companies control the distribution of over 70% of the world’s music. When Apple approached these companies to license their music to distribute legally over the Internet, they were extremely cautious and required Apple to protect their music from being illegally copied. The solution was to create a DRM system, which envelopes each song purchased from the iTunes store in special and secret software so that it cannot be played on unauthorized devices."

[Resource http://www.apple.com/hotnews/thoughtsonmusic/]

STRUMMING TO A DIFFERENT BEAT

Color your guitar playing by ditching the plectrum and trying pick-hand techniques.

At Reasons To Ditch Your Guitar Pick you'll find a bundle of tricks and techniques that will open up a 'tool box' of new sounds to give your recordings and live performances a twist.

For those looking for more guitar info, be sure to take a look at Guitarz-For-Ever which is packed with all things guitar related.

[Resource http://guitar-tips.musikal-instruments.com/guitar-tips/reasons-to-ditch-your-guitar-pick/]

CRACKING THE US AND EUROPEAN MARKET

Here's an article from the Google group "Australian Music News And Reviews Group". There's a bit of a chat with successful singer songwriter John Butler of the John Butler Trio about the challenges of cracking the US and European market.

Despite spending the last seven years trying to get the attention of the huge American market, the John Butler Trio are only now starting to get recognition and their hard work is paying off. The John Butler Trio can now look forward to knowing within the next tour or two they will break even financially before they leave Australia.

If you're thinking of taking your music, live to the US or European markets, expect a far larger audience, a diverse and unpredictable musical appetite.

You can read this article here.


[Resource http://groups.google.com/group/australian-music-news-and-reviews-group/browse_thread/thread/6dfb1eccc3f4b520/8c93428daeb48315?q=australian+music&rnum=10#8c93428daeb48315]

HOME SWEET HOME STUDIO

If you've ever dreamt of building your own professional home recording studio you'll know there's a lot of decisions to make. Like what equipment are you going to buy for one.

Here's a story from the Seattle Times that how a musician couple built their dream studio, what equipment they chose and how they sourced it to fit their budget.

Read about it here.

[Resource http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/homegarden/2003551767_homestudio03.html]

BRING THE BAND HOME

A while back I made a post to this blog that talked about an alternative to performing your music in pubs and clubs. "A Stay At Home Gig" was about a US concept offering the musician and the audience an intimate and unique live music experience.

Another US based organisation, House Concerts provide links to dozens of houses in 38 states where audience are sure to be appreciative and you'll get your music heard.

I also hinted that the 'home gigs' idea may provide a hidden audience and a legitimate way for a band/artist to find new audiences.

People may choose to stay at home for a gig because of transport or location issues, family commitments or just a desire to avoid a pub type of environment. These types of gigs seem to be getting quite a lot of community support.

House Concerts Australia is an Australian concept offering a similar type of live music opportunity. They not entirely new in Australia, singer Deborah Conway did a series of home concerts in 2004 to promote her Cd 'Summertown'. And some good advice from Deborah Conway for independent artists selling Cd's "...it's really up to artists to find new and imaginative ways of getting there music out there".

For some tips on how you can do a house concerts take a look at House Concerts. PS It's a different website to House Concerts mentioned above.


[Resource http://www.theage.com.au/news/music/band-in-the-backyard/2007/01/30/1169919330426.html]

WATCH AND LEARN

Here's how a band clocked up nearly ten million watches on YouTube. Although this video has only been up at YouTube for four months it has so far been viewed an incredible 9,880,273 times.

This is a perfect example of how a band can harness the amazing power of social networking and teamed it with a unique idea (ie. the video).

With marketing ideas like this, Sick Puppies are sure to be huge. Who wouldn't love to have a video that is viewed by so many people. This really is mind blowing stuff!!




In case you are missing the big sharp point, here's what makes this video such a hit.

1. A unique, true and inspiring story
2. A good song
3. Some marketing

The brilliant thing about this marketing tool is that you only really need an idea and ideas are everywhere and they're free and unlimited. You have the same potential to come up with an original idea of your own and create your own video with the potential for millions of views. You can give your songs the kind of mass marketing previously available only to the major record labels and their marketing teams.

P.S You may have noticed that this video was shot in Pitt Street Mall, Sydney, Australia. Proof that sometimes you don't need to travel to far off distant shores to find a good story.



[Resource http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vr3x_RRJdd4]

MUSIC AT MARKET PRICES

Here's a unique way of selling your music. Amie Street is aiming to make independent music easier and more affordable for consumers to discover. The unique factor with this website is that the prices are set by market forces.

Your music starts off by being offered for free then depending on how many people download it, the price increases as the song becomes more popular to a maximum of USD.98 (98 cents).

Along with a social networking style of promotion where members are rewarded for 'discovering' new songs before they go popular, Amie Street promote artists by interviewing and posting their videos as well as organising showcase concerts in New York.

Artists featured on Amie Street retain full ownership of their work and receive 70% of every sale after a USD5 covering bandwidth, storage and transactions costs.



[Resource http://www.springwise.com/]

HOW TO BE A VIRAL VIDEO STAR

More than 70 million videos are watched on YouTube daily. The question is, how do you get your video to stand out in the crowd.

One way is to rise up the YouTube charts by getting yourself in the top 100 videos. Firstly, you have to have a unique video, something funny, quirky, interesting or clever would help. Next, you have to upload your video, tag it with relevant subjects then create your audience.

Want to know what works and what doesn't? For some ideas and tips go this article "The experts' tips on how to become a YouTube Viral video star" and you'll get some ideas including a tip from a spokesman for YouTube. Like other forms of successful social marketing, it works the most effectively by you being active in a community.



[Resource http://www.presstelegram.com/entertainment/ci_5118793]

PHONE A FRIEND

The immense popularity of social networking is still considered a puzzling phenomenon for some. Now with companies like Boost Mobile (Hookt) and MySpace (Helio), cellular phones are becoming another popular way of social networking by attracting people to join a chat room where they can search for new friends to communicate to via text message. Its growing popularity is looking like taking social networking, blogging and uploading videos and photos mobile.

Click here to read how a Los Angeles based photographer and actress uses Helio and MySpace mobile social networking tools to regularly contact and market to her 4000 strong list of 'friends'.

[Resource http://www.courant.com/technology/hc-businessoflife0130.artjan30,0,5269658.story?track=rss]

SELL YOUR MUSIC AT MYSPACE

SnoCap, MySpace and Merlin are working together to launch an initiative that would allow artists to sell their music directly from MySpace.

Merlin, a new force in the music industry, is billing itself as the "fifth major" in the music industry.

Read entire article here.

[Resource http://www.marketingvox.com/archives/2007/01/22/snocap-merlin-partner-to-let-indies-sell-music-on-myspace/]

HOME DEMO RECORDING

Here's a few time saving tricks and techniques to get your home demo recording sounding good. This article is written by Frank Fuchs, a former staff songwriter for Sony music and EMI music.

Home Demo Recording

[Resource http://www.hoodhype.com/blog/?p=55]

BUILD YOUR OWN HOME RECORDING STUDIO

There are many options for setting up a home recording studio and even more choice of equipment and software.

If you're a little confused as to where to start the best things would be to ask yourself these 2 questions. What purpose are wanting a studio for? Is it to record demos, gigs, rehearsals or Cd releases. Next, you need to decide what your budget is. Shop around and don't be afraid to ask questions or for a demonstration. Your overall budget and recording requirements will dictate where the money should be spent and on what type of equipment.

At a basic level you'll need, a device to record the sound to, monitors to hear what you've recorded and possibly a microphone. For some more ideas on setting up a recording studio have a look at "Building A Home Recording Studio".

[Resource http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/128125/building_a_home_recording_studio.html]

GIVE AWAY YOUR MUSIC AND SELL YOUR SHOW

Digital music is changing the music industry landscape. And this 'new' landscape is one perfectly suited to independent musicians.

You can become without too much effort or expense, a one person record label. You write songs, you own the copyright and publishing, you finance and own the recordings and you also distribute, market, sell and finally collect the profits from sales. Because you as an independent artist own and therefore have control over your music you can also choose to give it away for free. This isn't such an attractive option for record companies (who rely heavily on sales of product-physical and non physical) but for you-here's why you might consider it as an attractive marketing tool.

Thousands of artists already give away their music for free. Which makes the expectation of 'free' music part of the norm.

Your production and distribution costs are extremely low if you offer 'digital' downloads.

You can use your free 'gift' as a way to build your fan base list.

One thing that can't be downloaded (well technically it can-but without the same experience) is a live performance and that my friend is the area where you as an independent musician have every bit as much opportunity to give a unique performance that makes you or your band worth coming to see.

For the foreseeable future of the music industry, things will change and there will be new technologies but none of these can replace the experience of 'live' music. And, this is where the profits come from.

Click here to read a story I found that tells of similar predictions.

[Resource http://www.longtail.com/the_long_tail/2007/01/give_away_the_m.html]

CAN YOU DESCRIBE YOUR BAND IN TEN WORDS OR LESS?

What do you say when people ask you what your band sounds like?

In order to market and sell your music you need to be able to describe it. You also need to describe it accurately and in only a few words.

Ideally your description should describe what a potential listener might expect to hear as well as why they might benefit from listening to your music. Doing this and tagging your website with these keywords will help you generate far more traffic to your website and interest from anyone reading your band/artist description, bio and music magazine articles.

If you're not sure how to go about writing a description for your music, write down some 'keywords' that describe your music and/or the group of people that may listen to it. A description of your music that has some type of 'hook' for a potential fan will give your music a much better chance of being heard than a description like "indie rock" or "pop/rock".

Start brainstorming, what artists is your music similar to? Check out their descriptions if you need some inspiration but find something that sounds intriguing but also tells the reader what they are likely to expect.

Here's some examples that give you an idea of what you might expect to hear if you took a listen to the music:

"Ear bleeding rock", "Melodic hooks that you wont be able to get out of your head", "Drum and bass for dancing to", "Rock 'n roll stripped bare", "Lush layered soundscapes" and "Ambient jazz for lovers.

For more examples take a look here.



[Resource http://www.cursebustersound.com/blog/?p=166]

DO YOU NEED TO GET A LIFE?

Well, a "Second Life" that is.

This is something that has been really intriguing me of late, a website called SecondLife. If you aren't familiar with it, it's an online digital virtual world owned and created by its residents. And residents are in fact the 'users'.

In this 'virtual' world you can create your own 'new' identity and you can also buy, sell and own land along with other items such as entertainment. Second Life boast a 'population' of over 3 million residents since opening in 2003.

Now what really intrigues me about this concept, is the interaction between the real and the virtual world. Swapping your real life dollars for virtual dollars (in the special SecondLife currency "Linden Dollars" and back again into real dollars for use in the real world. This 'new' world has not escaped the attention of 'marketers' and many big organisations such as IBM, Sony, Nissan and Toyota own property and retails stores and even advertise in this Second Life world.

Only time will tell if Second Life is here to stay or a passing fad - but could you be an independent musician and market and sell your music through this virtual world? A folk singer Suzanne Vega performed live in Second Life to a virtual audience with a virtual avatar. An "Avatar" is your persona in the virtual world.

If you're intrigued about this new marketing concept, you may like to have a read of some articles I found here which discuss exactly how big real world companies are marketing in this virtual world and how it sometimes even overlaps with real world.

Strange but true!

[Resource http://rssdiary.marketingstudies.net/content/second_life_1_does_second_life_hold_real_marketing_value.php]

DO SOMETHING TODAY!

Something just occurred to me.

This blog is full of some great posts where you can pick up some fantastic ideas for marketing and promoting your music and while it's great to 'know' all that stuff, 'knowing' and 'doing' are very different. Knowledge is power, right? Wrong. "Applied" knowledge is power.

The point I'm trying to make is this: Don't get all caught up with the 'knowing'. Start 'doing' the things you know or there's not much point in 'knowing' them. Start right now, what area of your music career needs the most work on? Take action today, even doing just one small thing will start the momentum and get you on your way.

What is it you need to do right now to move your music career forward? Want some help? Sign up at this blog page to start receiving your free "Tools For Success" e-zine. We'll not only share some amazing marketing ideas with you, we'll take you through a process that makes sure you take action. Taking action is absolutely paramount, you can't get anywhere without it no matter how much you 'know'.

So whatever it is you are going to do today, take at least one small step towards your goal.

PS Taking "action" is one of the secrets of success.

SUCCESS SECRETS

What do most music artists want? I'm pretty confident in saying that they want to create music (their product) and have people listen to it (like it hopefully) and buy it. So what artists want is simple and the level of fame achieved is simply a representation of numbers. Numbers of fans at your gigs and numbers of Cd's (or mp3's) you sell. Higher numbers=more fame or success or whatever you want to call it.

As we all know, there are musicians who are extremely successful (they have high numbers-see above) but they do not appear to the level of talent that seems applicable to success. So how come they get so popular? Marketing is one factor - but it's not that one thing alone that gets you there.

What you need to study is 'success' itself, however you choose to define it. There are people everywhere (in all kinds of businesses or pursuits) who are achieving it and you need to study these successful people and learn what they know.

Below, I've included a link to an article, written by an independent musician who has discovered one of the 'keys' to success and has written about it.

If you want to know what that 'key' is I suggest you read the article in full, which you'll find here.

If you want to learn more 'keys' to success, as well as some amazing marketing strategies, just sign up to the free "The Indie Musician's-Tools For Success" e-zine. You can sign up at this page or at The Indie Musician.



[Resource http://www.kyndmusic.com/2007/01/17/musician-to-do-list-for-2007/]

MAJOR RECORD COMPANY TAKES NEW MARKETING ROAD

US singer/songwriter John Mellencamp enjoyed major commercial success and had several charting hits and albums throughout 1980's. But that kind of popularity doesn't last forever, so how does a record label go about promoting a new Cd by a 'mature' artist who no longer frequents the top 40 but still writes great songs and Cd's?

Learning from the marketing 'mistakes' made with John's last Cd release, the record label UMe/Universal Republic is taking up the challenge in an enthusiastic way and now has a strong idea of what will work this time around.

Find out what these major label marketing strategies are, in this story Mellencamp's Marketing Turnabout


[Resource http://www.northjersey.com/page.php?qstr=eXJpcnk3ZjczN2Y3dnFlZUVFeXkxNjcmZmdiZWw3Zjd2cWVlRUV5eTcwNjA3NTgmeXJpcnk3ZjcxN2Y3dnFlZUVFeXk3]

THE INDIE MUSICIAN

Over the last week myself and my partner have been getting the official "The Indie Musician" website ready and online. (That's the website home for the business that operates this blog.)

Although the website is still a 'work in progress', we have some excellent resources available already including, "The Indie Musician's DIY Toolkit".

We like to invite you to sign up to our FREE e-zine "The Indie Musician - Tools For Success" at the home page of "The Indie Musician" or on this blog page. Not only will you get sent our regular feature articles which are packed with excellent ideas, resources and tips, we'll also give you a copy of our exclusive eBook called "The Easy Way To Book Your Gigs" which you won't find anywhere except "The Indie Musician".

J:o

www.TheIndieMusician.com

FROM SONGWRITING TO PUBLISHING, HOW IT WORKS

I found this post on the Zunester website. It gives a nice and simple overview of the 'industry' links in the chain of music from its conception to its earning potential

You can read it here.


[Resource http://www.zunester.com/2007/01/music-store-value-chain.html]

INDIE LABELS JOIN FORCES

In an effort to keep up with the marketing and sales might of major record companies, several indie labels including those behind The White Stripes and Arctic Monkeys have announced a new global deal.

The deal which is conducted by Merlin, a non profit licensing agent who will cut deals on behalf of the independent labels. Merlin will be liaising with download sites and mobile service providers to negotiate better deals with online retailers.

Although 80% of new music comes from independent labels their market share of revenue is only 30%.

To read the story in full, click here.



[Resource http://biz.thestar.com.my/news/story.asp?file=/2007/1/21/business/20070121090500&sec=business]

PERFECT 'STAGE' PRACTICE MAKES PERFECT 'STAGE' PRACTICE

There are two types of 'rehearsals' to consider: 'live rehearsal' for the stage and your 'technical ability rehearsal'. Both types of rehearsals are necessary but rehearsing only your technical skills will not set you up well for performing on stage 'live' to an audience.

When you rehearse with your band or practise on your own you are only honing your technical ability and playing skills. This is necessary of course for you to be able to learn to play the parts you need to play but the the problem is that the stage environment is different to the rehearsal room environment.

When you get up in front of an audience there's leads and equipment to avoid, space limitations, sometimes there's no fold back speakers and you can't hear yourself properly, there's often people talking throughout your performance and lighting or special effects can make things more difficult to see etc. Performing live is a different environment from playing your songs at home or at the rehearsal room. Even small things like what clothes you wear on stage can inhibit comfort or maneuverability and it can get very hot under stage lighting.

If you're under rehearsed in 'live' performance you may find yourself stressed or even too relaxed in an environment that is going to be very different to your 'rehearsals' where you're practising your technical skills. This anxiety can throw off even the best of players who 'know' they can play the songs then stumble or don't perform to the best of their ability when they get on stage.

Anxiety is just adrenaline, it's normal and it's very common among performing musicians and public speakers. With experience you can learn to work with it and even use its energy to the advantage of your performance. Here are some things you can do to minimize the effects of anxiety so you don't end up ruining your well rehearsed live performance.

Try rehearsing your 'stage performance' as well as your general band practise and at home practise. Both of these practices serve different purposes but many bands forget to practise their 'stage performance' and just practise their 'material' or technical ability to play.

One thing you can do is to rehearse under 'stage' like conditions. Maybe invite some friends (or strangers) or family members along to a rehearsal for an 'audience'. If you can't do this and you use practise rooms where there are also other bands rehearsing, maybe you can invite them to be your 'audience' and in return, you can sit in as their audience.

Wear what you would wear on stage, clothes that look good but are to practical for performance or are uncomfortable will not help you give your best performance.

Set up some lighting to give you a 'stage' like atmosphere. Direct a light on each band member.

Next, you must treat this 'rehearsal' as if you were playing a gig in front of an audience. That means: walk on to the stage from the side of the room then pick up your instrument, do not stop midway through a song even if you have made a mistake, talk to the audience - introduce yourself and your band and perform your entire set as you would if you were doing a 'real' gig.

Try performing with a 'not so good' sound mix. Try performing with no fold back speakers.

Change the stage set up around the next time you practise and make the performing area smaller or larger or in a corner. Even find a different location to perform your live performance rehearsals.

If you're keen to have an even more 'realistic' stage practise, try doing some physical activity to get your heart rate up. This will produce similar side effects to that of anxiety so you'll become more 'comfortable' with the feeling.

Rehearsing under all these conditions will get you as used to as possible to the feelings and environmental factors that you will face on stage in front of an audience.

The more you practice rehearsing your 'performance' using different stage set ups the more comfortable you will be when you do it for real with an audience of strangers and a stage you've never stepped on.

Of course the more you practise both types of 'rehearsals' the better you'll get and getting better means better shows which means more enjoyment for you and your audience.

IDOL VOCAL COACH

Ever wondered what a vocal coach could help you learn. Sometimes what you need to 'unlearn' can be just as important according to Canadian Idol vocal coach, Debra Byrd who gives a 'Byrd's Eye View' interview here.

PERFECT PRACTICE MAKES PERFECT PRACTICE

If you're a performing musician, you probably spend quite a lot of time practising your instrument and your performance parts. You probably also spend many hours rehearsing with your band getting ready for your performance in front of an audience.

Then, to your embarrassment and dismay you mess up, in front of your audience, parts that you had practised over and over and you know you got perfect every time in rehearsal. Surely, I can't be the only person who has done this!

Now, I know I'm alone in suffering from stage anxiety and I also know that it can contribute to you giving a performance far less than you're capable of giving, which is always a real disapointment, not least of all to yourself. So does this mean that all that hard work at practise is just going out the window as you step on a stage in front of an audience?

No, and better still there are things you can do to prepare you for stage performance and deal with your anxiety.

Tomorrow, I'll be covering the steps you can take to help you achieve a great live performance every time.

SHOW THE WORLD YOUR MUSIC

Got a music video that you'd like people to see (& hear)?

Music Nation is an artist development agency that promotes unsigned rock, pop & urban artists. Here's what they say about themselves.

"...it’s essentially a niche YouTube for emerging artists, allowing visitors to explore the newest and most viewed clips, track down artists in their local area..."

[Resource http://mashable.com/2007/01/15/music-nation-youtube-music/]

MUSIC NATION COMPETITION

Music Nation is currently running an online contest. The 15 week long competition will accept votes from January 29th onwards, and the winners in the pop, rock and urban categories will all get contracts with Epic Records. One of the winners will also appear on ClearChannel’s TV show, Stripped. It’s worth pointing out, however, that YouTube is also capable of discovering talent: the YouTube Underground contest was a virtually identical idea. Likewise, Bix.com is doing similar things and MySpace Music has long been a powerful tool for emerging artists to build an audience. Music Nation is nicely implemented, but surely new bands are looking to go where the audience is: on MySpace and YouTube. That means challenges ahead for all the music social networks and startups.

[Resource http://mashable.com/2007/01/15/music-nation-youtube-music/]

ARTISTS ARE THE ULTIMATE ENTREPENEURS

Artists create products (yes, your music is a product) and then look for a market to sell to. Some artists look for a market and then create a product to sell to that market. That makes you an entrepreneur and all entrepreneurs start from the same place, but there are many artists of all kinds everywhere that make little or no money from their creations.

We all know of gifted people with remarkable talent that are generally unknown to the wider population and we all know of many people who we consider not so gifted (I'm being polite!) who have fame, and financial success.

These 'unknowns' are missing one of the important 'marketing' steps that are used by successful businesses everywhere. Branding. You need to create a brand because that's what your band or music is. A brand.

Fear of 'selling out' particularly among musicians, seems to be common place. Fear of 'lessening their art' by making money from it is another popular misconception that artists have. Ever noticed how these 'beliefs' become self-fulfilling?

Your fear will hold you and your music career back. Don't let it.

Here's a great article that describes what branding is, why you need it and why you have been fooled into thinking that branding means slogans, TV ads and other such things the independent musician usually thinks of as 'negative'.

"Branding is the power to be who you are and communicating it to everyone proudly"

Branding Is Not Selling Out: It's Selling In



[Resource http://www.ireview.name/]

SONGWRITING COMPETITION TO PRODUCE 'INSTANT HITS'

US reality talent show 'American Idol' are planning to introduce a songwriting as part of future series.

Ratings show that people love to watch both ends of the spectrum, highlights of the really bad performers and of course the winners. Only problem is that the winners of the contest are forced to perform renditions of bland and forgettable songs. So, to overcome this American Idol are introducing a songwriting competition to winning formula so that by the end of the competition the country has not only their chosen singer, they also have the song they want.

So if you think you can write better songs than the ones currently being performed on American Idol (I'm sure you can) why not enter the competition yourself.

Details of the competition are still being sorted out but you can read all about it here.

Keep an eye out at the official website for American Idol for details of when and how to enter.

In the mean time, if you've got a urge to enter your songs in a competition why not try

The USA Songwriting Competition


[Resource http://cbs5.com/topstories/local_story_013175017.html]

SELL MORE CD'S AT YOUR GIGS

Here's a few suggestions to help you sell more Cd's at your gigs.

Introduce yourself or your band to the audience. Tell them who you are, if they like you it'll help them look you up in gig guides and etc.

Give out fliers or postcards with a brief bio and some contact info. If there's someone on the door, have them hand one out to each person as they come in. If you don't want to be so upfront just leave some on the tables and/or at the bar for people to take if they wish.

You can use other merchandise as free give-aways to promote your band. Fridge magnets, stickers, key rings etc.

Get someone (a friend or fan) to walk around the audience with some Cd's and ask people if they'd like to buy one. You should also be doing this with a mail-list.

Offer a free bonus with the first sale or first 5 sales, or however many you choose.

Mingle with the audience after your gig. Go and meet them face to face, talk to them and get some feedback. Make physical contact (appropriate contact obviously :-) shake their hand, ask their name and use it.

If you have only 1 Cd available, tell the audience about it and tell them of other artists (that they know) that are similar to your band. If you have more than 1 Cd available, tell the audience which is your favourite and why and describe as similar to another artist the audience may have heard of.

Does your music align itself with a political or social message? If so, why not give a % of your Cd sales profits to a charity or organisation that is relevent to this. You may even be able to afilliate your band with the organisation and have them advertise your Cd to their existing members.

Smile and talk to your audience :-) 'Involve' them in your show by using humour or chat, whatever is appropriate to your style.

Present yourself and band professionally. Create a 'look' for both the band and the stage. It doesn't have to be costumes or big stage props, just make your act look visually appealing and professional and match your style of music.

Finally,

Thank your audience for listening and remind them of where they can see you perform again or how they can find out more about you.

THE FUTURE IS PAST

"History doesn't repeat itself but it rhymes"

I think it may have been 'Mark Twain' (AKA Samuel L Clemens) who quoted that? But who ever it was, there's a lot of wisdom in it.

I've blogged a bit about the changes to the music industry that have come about because of mp3's and so many 'experts' seem to have an opinion on whether music buyers will be buying Cd's or just digital downloads in the future, so who do we believe?

From vinyl records (remember those) to ipods here's a graph illustrating the sales trends of records, cassette tapes, Cd's and mp3's over a thirty year period. What do the results tells us? See above for a little clue or check out the statistics for yourself here.


[Resource http://e-huned.com/2007/01/17/technology-obsolescence-curves-are-cool/]

SOLO ARTISTS - HOW TO STAND OUT FROM THE PACK

There's only so much most solo artists can produce on stage with just themselves and their instrument. Even if you would like to perform with a band sometimes it's just not practical.

Whatever your reason, if you're looking for a way to stand out from the pack and produce a 'bigger' sound or one that's closer to your studio recordings think digital.

You can have a Dream team of musicians performing with you every night like US singer/songwriter Keller Williams who found an inspiring way to promote his music. Inspired by writing an ambitious wish list of artists he'd like to collaborate with in the studio he then decided to Dream big and the Dream which has now come true has turned this solo performer into a one man band who sells out shows across the USA with his innovative looping technique and digital band.

This 'Dream' which became the title of his latest and ninth studio album is literally a Dream come true for Keller who now performs live backed by his 'wish list' of artists.




[Resource http://www.cybergrass.com/modules.php?name=News&file=article&sid=2762]

GIGGING FOR A LIVING

Not a lot of independent musician's can make a living by gigging.

Jazz guitarist Peter Sprague is one of them and in this interview he shares some tips and some of the 'secrets' to how he does it. This interview comes from his book 'Gigging For A Living'.


[Resource http://howtoband.artbox-ent.com/blog/index.php/a/2007/01/14/gigging_for_a_living]

FREE MUSIC CAREER RESOURCES

The Indie Musician Blog (which is what you're reading now ;-) has a new website. Strangely enough it's also called The Indie Musician and you can find it at www.TheIndieMusician.com

Here's what it's all about:

The aim of The Indie Musician is to offer a range of career enhancing and music development resources that will assist independent musicians to perform their music live, produce quality recordings, market and sell their music, improve musical performance techniques and grow a fan base.

GUARANTEED EXPOSURE TO RECORD LABEL A&R OF YOUR CHOICE

Seems good things can come out of all those talent discovery shows such as 'American Idol', 'Australian Idol' and 'UK Idol'. I know there are people who criticize these shows and it's contestants and winners for being manufactured etc. but it seems that these shows are fuelling a thirst for new talent which means that they are having a positive effect on the music industry and this is good news for independent music and musicians.

Why? How?

Because, the popularity and demand for talent discovery thanks to these kind of shows is at an all time high and record companies are looking for more 'unknown' talent with the same potential for a professional music industry career. To help bring new talent to the major record labels, new website MusicBlast offers users a chance at a record deal by facilitating the submission of music demos directly to major record label A&R (artist and repertoire) representatives.

For free, members can post audio, video, want ads, photos and events and for a small fee you can buy a 30+ word review of your demo which guarantees exposure to any major record company A&R of your choice.



[Resource http://www.sbwire.com/news/view/10109]

UK SINGLES CHARTS GO DIGITAL

You can now have a UK number one hit on the singles chart thanks to the latest revolution in the digital music world.

The UK music industry now includes in the singles charts, songs that are available as a digital download even if they are not released in a CD format or stocked in a retail store.

Taking away the need for retail outlets and physical stock theoretically means that an independent artist could have a 'hit'. Not too likely according to the director of new media for Universal Music in the UK. There are several reasons for this. Any song that is available online is factored in, this could mean old 'classic' tracks and re-released tracks. Most of the charting songs will probably be current acts that have their marketing driven by large budgets afforded to them through the major record companies. Along with a massive marketing campaign it's easy to see why these acts become so popular.

Before you start to worry that there's no place for the independent musician there's plenty to be positive about.

The ability to produce your own recordings with mush less cost than a few years ago in the days when you had to hire a studio, press CD's, get artwork done etc.

The ability to launch your own effective and low cost marketing campaigns.

Digital downloads and instant payment facility

Information, advice and resources galore

Artistic control

Do you really need (or even want) to have the same mass exposure as the current 'top' artists?

Major record companies spend huge sums of money on marketing because they need to recoup large spendings (or investments). It's a fickle game, the charts but there's still plenty of opportunities to make a living being a recording and performing musician. You just never know when an independent artist is going to come from out of the blue and arrive into the mainstream charts.

It could be you.

J:o



[Resource http://www.ftd.de/karriere_management/business_english/149431.html]

BLOG YOUR BAND

Blogging is a great addition to your band website. It's a great way to document your band's progess, what you're up to and interact with your fans.

Here's a blog I just came accross from a US indie rock band based in Seattle called H Is For Hellgate. If your not sure what you could put in a blog, take a look at their blog for some inspiration.

Another blog I really like is by the more established singer / songwriter Ben Lee which you can read here.

There's plenty of blogs out there but the point is, you've got to make your band blog reflect the personality of the group and/or its members.

Oh, and you can set a blog up quickly and easily and they're free!


[Resource http://hisforhellgate.blogspot.com] & [Resource http://www.ben-lee.com/blog.htm]

technorati tags:indie, independent, musician, ben+lee+blog, music+promotion, promote+your+music

CROSSING BORDERS

We all like to talk about a great book we've read or a great CD that we've heard and the ability to share this with thousands if not millions is what online communities or social networking is all about.

In a clever marketing move, Borders, the on and offline retailer of books, music and movies have introduced a new online social networking community. A networking community through Gather.com that is a leader in social media for adults.

Borders have teamed up with existing social networking site Gather, which caters to a similar demographic ie. the demographic identified with the Borders brand. (See full article for details). Borders have an exclusive arrangement will allow customers to become members to create their own exclusive online community through a Borders.Gather.com

The message for indie musicians can take from this is to know your market demographic and find as many creative ways of reaching them as you can. Social networking is becoming one of the most important marketing tools of businesses large and small.


[Resource http://www.prnewswire.com/cgi-bin/stories.pl?ACCT=104&STORY=/www/story/01-10-2007/0004503503&EDATE=]

technorati tags:indie, independent, musician, borders+music, social+media, music+promotion, promote+your+music

KEEN TO RELEASE CD'S

UK band Keane have achieved 2 world firsts in music marketing and both in October 2006.

Teaming up with www.concertlive.co.uk for the first UK deal of its kind, fans purchase a live CD of the gig which is recorded mixed and mastered in real time. Within 10 minutes of the show finishing, fans can buy and take home the limited edition of the CD of the gig they were just at.

And for their 2nd world first, Keane released a limited edition single on a re-usable 512mb USB memory stick. Available in the UK through HMV Music it is presented in a standard size CD packaging with the memory stick shrink wrapped to the packaging. The USB is the world's thinnest flash drive.


[Resource http://www.keanemusic.com/news.php?action=get&id=1194&y=06&m=10]

[Resource http://www.keanemusic.com/news.php?action=get&id=1200&y=06&m=10]

technorati tags:keane, world+first+music+marketing, digital+music+marketing, music+promotion

AUSSIE MUSIC WANTED IN THE USA

Thanks to Jet, the most recent Aussie band to break into the $20 billion US music industry in 2004, Aussie music acts are again in demand.

The annual Austrade organised event will this year feature a host of Australian music exports in its annual promotion of everything Australia.

The publicity from this event is expected to reach more than 100 million Americans.

Click here to read which Australian musical acts will headline this year's festival.

[Resource http://www.news.com.au/heraldsun/story/0,21985,21007320-5006024,00.html]

technorati tags:indie, independent, musician, jet, austrade, musician, australian+music, usa+music+industry, music+promotion, promote+your+music

IF YOU CAN'T BEAT EM...

Good news for artists wanting to use copyrighted material for their videos.

According to this recent Reuters article, the music industry thinks generating new income from unused clips & video montages will be more profitable than suing the likes of YouTube.

By licensing deals to sites such as MySpace, people will be able to use or include copyrighted content in videos that they make themselves.

This way both the artist, MySpace and the copyright owner all get to benefit. Now that's much better than law suits! It seems that record labels are deciding 'If you can't beat 'em...join 'em' instead of the expensive and time consuming law suits against copyright infringement. The music industry really is changing and this is proof that the independent musicians have real power.

To read the full article including the 5 technologies shaping this space, click here.



[Resource http://today.reuters.com/news/articlenews.aspx?type=internetNews&storyID=2007-01-02T050015Z_01_N01266714_RTRUKOC_0_US-TECH.xml&WTmodLoc=InternetNewsHome_C1_%5BFeed%5D-4]

technorati tags:indie, independent, musician, music+promotion, copyright, music+video+myspace, promote+your+music

FEED ME!

Happy New Year

Welcome 2007. I had a great night last night, I hope you did too. The food was delicious :-) see yesterday's blog for details. Limited myself to a glass of red with my meal and a few beers at a pub afterwards where I saw the new year in.

This blog post will be short (compared to yesterday) I'm sure that's a relief for most of you!

As you can see if you take a look at the top right hand side of the blog from page, I have added some RSS feed links to the blog. Now you can subscribe to The Indie Musician and have all the posts go straight in to your newsreader or RSS enabled browser (like Flock).

J:o

technorati tags:indie, independent, musician, music+promotion, new+rss+feed

FAREWELL 2006

Things have been a little hectic the last couple of months at "The Indie Musician"....but it's all been for the best. More on that shortly.

This is my last post for 2006 so I'm going to ramble a little bit and tell you a bit about my year (2006) and about some of the exciting things that I'll be sharing with you in 2007.

End of year's are all about getting a bit philosophical and reviewing the year and figuring out what we learnt, where we got off track, what worked and how can we make next year better.

Like many other 'southerners' before me, this year I made the move up north. In May of this year I moved with my partner from our home city of Melbourne (Victoria) to Brisbane (Queensland). We drove up here (around 2000 Km) towing a trailer filled with our belongings. We sold and gave away so much 'stuff' before we left and it was a good feeling to clear out things we didn't really need or use and to start fresh with a lighter load in a new environment. We had lived for the last 8 years in a reasonably large old style 2 storey house in inner Melbourne and had managed to accumulate so many things. I don't think I ever had a spring clean? Nope - can't remember having one.

We've both been enjoying Brisbane and we love the beaches and surf of the surrounding areas - The Gold Coast - Northern NSW and The Sunshine Coast. If I had to 'complain' of anything it's not having daylight saving time like the rest of the east coast states :-( The independent music scene up here is smaller than Melbourne where they have a thriving live music scene - but Brisbane is a growing city and has musicians and music lovers just as passionate as any other Australian city so that can only be a good thing to help grow the Brisbane live music culture.

Whilst working temporarily (but full time) in a job (in Brisbane), I finally launched my e-book 100 Aussie Gigs which I'd spent the previous 18 months preparing and putting together whilst working full time in Melbourne. It was a huge job, I'm glad I didn't realise what I'd be up for before I started or I may not have started at all! So many things just 'fell' into place to get the book finished and make it available on the www. I had very few Internet skills beyond emailing and looking up websites so I had a huge learning curve to climb. All the skills I needed to learn, I had to learn along the way and surprised myself with what I could achieve when I put into practice one small piece of advice - The Only Failure Is To Give Up.

I'm very pleased to say that the response to the book has been a positive one and shows that the book is definitely worth my while keeping up to date with venues, booking contacts and other indie musician resources.

I created the book from my own frustrations of booking gigs. I always wished I'd had a time saving and easy to use resource for finding and booking gigs. Because I never found such a resource I decided to create one myself. Now that it's out - I'm really thrilled with it and it makes it all worth while to have other musicians tell me how much it will help them. We all win.

I spent around two months (October & November) developing business ideas and putting together a business plan and have been able to get some financial assistance for the business as well as a partner to help me in some of the areas that aren't my expertise. Now I can concentrate on the business full time in 2007 which is a dream come true for me.

2006 has like so many years before it, taught me many of life's valuable lessons - most of which I'm still learning (I'm a slow learner!). Patience, persistence and going with your energy flow being some of the key lessons.

So try it yourself - REALLY. Make 2007 a year where you really start to live your dreams and not those of other people. You really will be amazed at what you can accomplish if you take that first courageous step. It doesn't have to be big steps, little steps will get you there too :-)

This seems so simple and we hear it all the time, but it's incredibly powerful if you really GET IT and then, even more importantly DO IT.

DECIDE WHAT YOU WANT? It really is as simple as just figuring out exactly what you want. Many people either don't know or are vague on detail. Time you spend figuring this out now will be time well spent and saved in the long run.

WRITE DOWN WHAT YOU WANT Get your goals down on paper. Somewhere where you can read them frequently. Make your goals specific and don't be too afraid to make them big goals. If this doesn't seem 'realistic' to you, just go for a goal that will advance your life in the direction you are seeking. That's success. There's a quote (yes, I've got plenty today) - You Get What You Focus On - and it's absolutely true so be very careful of what you spend most of your time focusing on.

TAKE THE FIRST STEP I don't know if I heard or read this somewhere, I mentioned it above and I like it so I'll pretend I made it up. I've tweaked it a bit - You Don't Have To Take Big Steps, Little Steps Will Get You There Too - Go ahead, take the first step, you can do it, be brave, what have you got to lose? Actually, you'll have a lot to lose if you don't take some action towards your goals and dreams.

For what it's worth this is my humble advice to everyone for 2007.

Tonight (NYE) I'm going out for tea with my wonderful partner. We're eating at a Nepalese restaurant on Moreton Bay. I'm looking forward to it, neither of us can recall having eaten Nepalese food before so it'll be something new.

As for 2007 - I wont be resting for too long into the new year - maybe a day or two! There's plenty of work to do ahead.

The fantastic new and updated 2007 edition of 100 Aussie Gigs is almost ready to go and as well as being able to purchase the book online, you should find it popping up in some other places soon. I'll keep the blog updated as that happens.

Other things to look out for in 2007 are:

Website for The Indie Musician - The site is currently in development but it will be up very soon. I'll announce it's arrival on this blog - so stay tuned as they say!

There will be indie musician resources and FREE stuff available at this website. I'm really excited about the products that The Indie Musician will be launching in 2007, they are truly unique and will give indie musicians a great advantage.

The Indie Musician blog - (that's this one!) Will be growing bigger and better everyday. Why not subscribe via an RSS feed. That'll be up very soon too. And why not add a comment to a post or share your own experience or advice. I'll create a post especially where you can share your unique experiences.


So, 2007 is shaping up to be an exceptional year. I've got many exciting things to bring to independent musicians. I hope you'll join me. It's truly an exciting time for independent musicians. There has never been so many marketing tools, resources and opportunities available.

Wishing you all a happy and prosperous 2007.

See you next year.

Jo

technorati tags:indie, independent, musician, music+promotion, new+year+philosophy, the+indie+musican, promote+your+music

MAKE YOUR WEBSITE A SELLING MACHINE

• Learn how to attract more fans to your website
• Creative ways to stay connected with your fans
• Selling techniques to generate more sales online

FREE tele-seminar Wednesday, December 20th, 2006

Sign up here to register. Even if you can't be on the actual 'live' call sign up to receive a link to a recording of the call.


[Resource http://www.iwantmorefans.com/FreeConference.html]

technorati tags:indie, independent, musician, music+promotion, promote+your+music+website

SONGWRITING - IF YOU'VE GOT PROBLEMS - HERE'S THE ANSWERS

Having songwriting problems?
Need some tips?
Want a songwriting guru in your ear?

Where do you start and what are the elements that make up a great song. Answers are here. Go and check it out.

....and all the songwriting tips and tools you can handle are here.

[Resource http://writelyrics.blogspot.com/2006/12/comprehensive-songwriting-tips-write.html]

technorati tags:indie, independent, musician, song+writing

A - Z OF MUSIC JOURNALS AND MAGAZINES

This neat little listing comes from the Indiana University School of Music.

It's an A to Z listing of worldwide Internet Music Resources. Music Journals, Magazines, Newspapers and Periodicals.

Have a look at it here.


[Resource http://library.music.indiana.edu/music_resources/journals.html]

technorati tags:indie, independent, musician, music+resources, promote+your+music

RADIO UNSIGNED

Think you deserve exposure on radio? If so, you can submit a track to:

XM SATELLiTE RADIO
Attn: Billy Zero
1500 Eckington Place NE
Washington, DC 20002

Write clearly, include CD, Bio, contact info, Website info, photos, press clippings etc.


[Resource http://www.radiounsigned.com/]

technorati tags:indie, independent, musician, music+promotion, radio+promotion, promote+your+music

BEATING PERFORMANCE ANXIETY

This is an often overlooked topic so I'm glad I've come across something that reminded me of 'Performance Anxiety' as it can be quite detrimental to the career of a musician.

If you suffer from this you're not alone, I've heard of many 'famous' performers who even get physically sick before performances.

Apart from giving up live performances what can you do about it?

Here's an article I found that offers some good tips for overcoming or at least managing your performance anxiety.

Musicians and Performance Anxiety



[Resource http://musicformallplaces.blogspot.com/2006/11/musicians-and-performance-anxiety.html]

technorati tags:indie, independent, musician, music+performance, music+performance+anxiety

UNEARTH YOURSELF

If you're an Australian independent musician making music don't forget to register as an artist on Triple J Unearthed.

Register here.


[Resource http://www.triplejunearthed.com/registration/whyregister.aspx]

technorati tags:indie, independent, musician, music+promotion, triplej+unearthed

ADVICE ON CHOOSING A PRODUCER

Advice for bands looking for a producer for their first release.

These words of wisdom come from Scott Owen (bass) and Andy Strachan (drums) from The Living End. You can read the article in full here as well as listen to an extended interview.


[Resource http://www.triplejunearthed.com/Resources/Default.aspx?ResourceID=17]

technorati tags:indie, independent, musician, the+living+end+interview, song+production

MUSIC BUSINESS RADIO

Music Business Radio is a syndicated weekly 1 hour specialty program spotlighting the inside workings of the music business.

You can subscribe here for a free podcast via iTunes.

[Resource http://www.musicbusinessradio.com/]

technorati tags:indie, independent, musician, musician, music+business+radio, promote+your+music

10 MISTAKES YOU DON'T NEED TO MAKE

Sometimes it's good to learn from your own mistakes and sometimes it's better to take a faster track by learning from someone else's mistakes.

When it comes to marketing your music in this new century, mistakes cost time, so learning from other peoples mistakes makes sense.

US hip Hop musician Roger Kahlon kindly shares some of the 'mistakes' he has discovered that you can avoid.

10 Mistakes I've Made From Hustling My Music


[Resource http://www.prohiphop.com/2006/11/the_10_mistakes.html]

technorati tags:indie, independent, musician, music+promotion, promote+your+music

DIGITAL MARKETING TIPS

Here is a 3 part interview with Tarek Al-hamdouni who represents the digital marketing department of J Records. These interviews give a rare insight into the digital marketing campaigns used by major labels.

J Records was formed in 2000 and is now under the major label of Sony BMG.

Read part 1 here

Read part 2 here

Read part 3 here


[Resource http://hypebot.typepad.com/hypebot/2006/11/j_records_terk_.html]

technorati tags:indie, independent, musician, music+promotion, digital+marketing+tips, promote+your+music

SOCIAL MUSIC REVOLUTION

Here's a site worth checking out Last.Fm This Web site was started four years ago providing a streaming audio service and tracking user tastes.

Today, thanks to a mashup with (amongst others) MySpace and YouTube offers not only streaming audio, downloadable MP3's, user pages, band bio's, social networking, concert listings, purchase area for ticket and CD sales.


[Resource http://www.businessweek.com/technology/content/nov2006/tc20061113_604776.htm?chan=technology_technology+index+page_ceo+guide+to+tech+--+mashups]

technorati tags:indie, independent, musician, music+promotion, promote+your+music

NEW ONLINE INDIE MUSIC RADIO

Itrackradio is on the edge of online marketing. They stream music through its new online radio station which is targeted to the independent music industry niche.

Additional services they provide are to promote music artists to 'traditional' radio staions in the USA.


[Resource http://www.digital-djs.com/talk/thread-view.asp?threadid=15908]

technorati tags:indie, independent, musician, radio+internet, music+promotion, promote+your+music

NEW GENERATION ROCKS ON

Getting back to classic rock is apparently what the 'kids' are now preferring over top 40 type R&B, Hip Hop and other alernative-style derivitives. Seems there's a steady audience for old-school bands from the 60's 70's.

This doesn't mean abandoning the genre you are currently doing of course but I think it does indicate that the rock classic albums and artists had something in common. Songs. Yes, it's as simple as having really strong songs. Songs that can stand the test of time will undoubtably be the songs that wont get lost in the thousands of 'nameless' releases. Something else 'classic' bands have that 'ordinary/unknown' bands have is a distinctive style, when you can identify an artist by the opening seconds of a song, that's a good sign.

But maybe you're not looking for that kind of 'fame' which is ok too, so just have fun and do what you love.

The bottom line is, if you're looking for a genre that will keep you current and on top of the latest sound trend, you'll be chasing your tail forever. Just play from your heart and do what feels right.

To read all the details and statistics on which artists the younger generations are listening to click here.


[Resource http://toledoblade.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20061008/ART10/61007087]

technorati tags:indie, independent, musician, music+promotion, classic+rock+music

SCIENCE OF SUCCESS

Await, the new music industry marketing catchphrase. Emotional connection.

Finally a 'formula' which is really just a bunch of questions, has been designed to calculate how emotionally connected fans are to the music. These 'test' results are called a 'popscore' and the band with highest UK popscore are the Red Hot Chili Peppers at 47 followed by U2 with a popscore of 46.

If you want to read all about this 'new' way for the record companies to tweak their advertising strategies click here.

If not, just do what all the 'great' and successful artists have done for decades. Write and perform great songs that connect with people.

technorati tags:indie, independent, musician, u2, red+hot+chili+peppers