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Learn The Secret to Getting Your Music Heard by More People & Licensed at our FREE Live Stream Event on October 11th at 1pm EST!

Does this sound a bit like you?

  • I need to get my music heard by more people and in front of more people.
  • I’m not sure what my roadmap is or what my next step should be to advance my career.
  • I may have hit a wall with the quality of my productions and am not sure what to do.
  • I don’t have any connections who can help me get my music licensed for movies, commercials or TV.
  • I need help managing my time and getting funding for my projects.

What if it didn’t have to be that way?

  • What if you had a plan for success in music that was exactly suited to YOU and what YOU want to accomplish?
  • What if you could get your music heard by more people, and more specifically: the RIGHT people for your plan?
  • What if you had mentors to guide you with advice and access to resources to help you achieve your goals?
  • What if you could sit down in your home studio knowing exactly how to create a masterpiece recording and then knowing exactly what to do with your song to make money and get your music licensed?
  • What if you knew step-by-step what to do to reach your goals and get the recognition and income you are looking for?

Check out this FREE Music Success Webinar on October 11th at 1pm EST!

The Total Team Process of Creating Masterpiece Quality Recordings

The Total TEAM Process is a BLUEPRINT of exact steps YOU can take to achieve greater success in the music industry and in YOUR life.

It lays out the ideal assembly line for any musician wanting the secret to BE HEARD and desiring success and fulfillment in the music business.

This groundbreaking ASSEMBLY LINE can be applied by EVERYONE – regardless of their previous experience – at ANY LEVEL of their career.

The Total Team Process
1. Observe Vice Watch
2. Leverage Music Theory
3. Tap into Revolutionary Music Production Techniques
4. Recognize that “Life Is A Group Activity”
5. Be Eloquent in all Communications
6. Network by Helping Another Human Being
7. Become a Music Business Ninja
8. Conquer Social Media
9. Practice Perfection by Doing Re-Records
10. Shop for Lucrative Licensing Deals and CLOSE Those Deals!

Music Sync Licensing is Exploding

Music licensing is a multi-billion dollar business with more music being licensed for use in movies, TV, advertising, games and digital media than ever in history. Sync licensing is the #1 fastest growing source of income for musicians of the future.

You can be part of this revolution.

See how to make money, secure LUCRATIVE licensing placements with the music you love to make and get that music heard by more people.

HERE’S YOUR INVITATION TO JOIN 

The Secret to Getting Your Music Heard by More People & Licensed

Here’s exactly what we’ll be covering during the live event (including answering your questions):

  • Learn how to create masterpiece quality music in your home studio.
  • Open up music licensing opportunities for you and your music.
  • Get your music out into the world in ways you never imagined possible.
  • Create a path to do music full time and make money with your music.
  • Tap into a music licensing system that consistently gets placements.

During the live stream we are going to spend extra time showing you details of the Total TEAM Process, including all the tips and tricks — so that you can walk away with solid truths about how to produce pro quality masterpieces in your home studio.

Everything we teach requires NO fancy plug-ins, NO special “sound treatment,” and NO analog gear.

And this is all free of charge.

Show up and we guarantee you’ll walk away enlightened, empowered and raring to go.

>> SIGN UP NOW for this special live event – ALL FREE

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Hang on a moment while we redirect to the new TEAM site! Thank you!

(This issue is derived from a series TEAM CEO & Founder Gary Gray wrote for Tunecore. Click here and here to read the original, full articles.)

Last week, we covered three elements of the method I’ve developed over the years so that you can bring in more clients and get those clients to come back to your home studio again and again.

Everything we talked about last week is what I like to call your “foundation.” So this week, I’m going to share with you a fool-proof, tried-and-tested system for consistently closing corporate clients for your home studio. This system comes down to — do you know your buyer types?

Understand The Two Basic Buyer Types to Get More Clients for Your Home Studio
Sales is a subject that many people shy away from. I’m not surprised. Immediately the image of the sleazy used car salesman may come to mind.

And you might be thinking, “What do sales and buyer types have to do with producing music for corporate clients?”

But over the years I’ve learned this: if you don’t know at least the ‘Two Basic Buyer Types’, you could be missing out on at least 40% of potential sales. This knowledge is vital to getting (and CLOSING) corporate clients for your music.

WHAT ARE THE TWO BASIC BUYER TYPES?

  1. The All-Business Buyer Type
  2. The Emotional Buyer Type

Half of sales is correctly identifying the correct buyer type.

The other half of sales is knowing how to approach each buyer type and doing so effectively.

Both buyer types come to the table with the same thing, and both are looking for the same thing.

They both come to the table with fear.

They are both looking for someone they can trust. The way you win over that trust is where they differ.

The All-Business Buyer Type
The All-Business Buyer Type is a person who, in order to earn their trust, wants accurate and useful facts. They appreciate a person who has done their homework, and they expect you to be fully prepared for a meeting.

When they ask a question, they want either one of two things. 1.) the accurate and factual answer, devoid of any sizzle or story or dressing, or 2.) if you don’t know the answer, they want you to say up-front that you don’t know the answer (but that you will do everything you can to quickly research the correct answer and get back to them with your findings). Trying to cover-up that you don’t know the answer to a question will be 100% transparent to the All-Business Buyer Type and you will absolutely lose the sale.

The Emotional Buyer Type
The Emotional Buyer Type is a person who, in order to earn their trust, wants someone they can look to for advice, who welcomes guidance, a helping hand, who is receptive to and feels good about receiving honest and sincere compliments (key words: honest and sincere). This is a buyer who will accept your offer for a business lunch and who feels the lunch speaks highly of you and your goodwill, who likes to share pertinent stories about the subject at hand, and wants to know they can trust you almost as a friend.

Today’s Takeaway:
Just knowing the first two Buyer Types and the correct approach to both is extremely eye-opening, isn’t it? You can see that, if you approach an “All Business” Buyer like an “Emotional” Buyer, you lose that sale before you even begin. Same goes for approaching an “Emotional” Buyer like an “All Business” Buyer. And those that approach lessons about the business and sales side as intensely as they approach mixing and mastering, achieve a much higher level of success.

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TikTok Takes Over

Wanna know why TikTok is so important to a music career these days? See why music research and analytics guru likes Viberate have shown in their just published annual report shows just how “TikTok Takes Over”.

Viberate analyzed massive amounts of data (more than a trillion data points, thousands of artists and playlists, millions of tracks and videos, and hundreds of festivals) gathered from Instagram and other key social media and music channels, including Spotify, TikTok, Instagram, Beatport and radio. Imagine that?

The TikTok Takes Over report shows which artists performed the best in their respective genres, what got played and liked on different channels in 2021, and which key music trends to look out for in 2022.

Only 1% of artists rule the social media and music channels! That sucks. The lion’s share of engagement and fanbase growth belongs to the top 500 artists, pushing the artists in the long tail of streaming and social media into inventing solid promotional strategies if they wish to break through.

Hip Hop and K-Pop artists are smashing it in streaming but are snubbed on the radio. While online engagement numbers crown Hip Hop and K-Pop as two of the most popular genres, radio is all about Pop and Rock. Multilingual (non-English) tracks thrive online but seem to have trouble getting through radio gatekeepers. Trends suggest that may yet change in 2022.

New Trends are: (1) multilingual music going more mainstream, (2) personalization at the forefront, (3) TikTok acting as a career launchpad, (4) short videos gaining power, and (5) further blending of genres. Here’s a short rundown of each trend (for the full list, see the link below):

Multilingual music is going mainstream. South Korean sensation BTS made it onto Viberate’s top 5 list on almost every channel, while YouTube saw a huge rise in the popularity of Asian Pop and Latin genres (especially Reggaeton). Unlike radio or TV, online music channels have little to no gatekeepers, thus pushing non-English music into the mainstream.

“Personalized everything” will drive an artist’s success. This means that labels, artists and other professionals will benefit from fan-first approaches to their promotion, merch, distribution and licensing. Personalized experiences also go hand-in-hand with securing digital revenue such as tipping, NFTs or paid subscriptions.

TikTok takes over. Not only was TikTok the most visited website in 2021, it also helped artists like Tokischa, Will Paquin or Crawlers break through and boost their streaming numbers. You can use Spotify to “seal the deal” – the artists who transform a TikTok hit into solid streams are the ones with real potential. We can therefore expect more talent discovery and promotional efforts as TikTok Takes Over.

Short videos will rule. Easily digestible formats such as TikTok videos will be the most useful promotional format for artists to stand out and get discovered. As audiences celebrate the DIY approach, content will be more important than production value.

Genre lines will blur further. Rising and breakthrough acts such as PinkPantheress prove genre bending and blending is more popular than ever. Artists and their audiences prefer moods to traditional genre labels, with the trend extending to popular streaming playlists for specific occasions (driving, studying, relaxing, etc.). For example, Spotify’s “Songs to Sing in the Shower” playlist has a hefty 6.4M followers.

See the “TikTok Takes Over” address for the full list of trends, best-performing artists and music tastes of 2021.

How to License Your Music

Do the math. 1,000,000 streams on Spotify will get you approximately $3,000 in royalties.

1 MILLION STREAMS ON SPOTIFY!

Can you even hit that target in a whole year?

I’m not even sure I could make it in TEN years!

Here are 6 different ways you could make $3,000 with music licensing. It might take you a whole year when you’re first starting out but it certainly won’t take you 10 years to get there!

How to license your music income potential

Now doesn’t that seem much more achievable than 1 MILLION streams on Spotify?

And that’s just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to licensing music.

They are many other projects that could use your music PLUS the sales prices above are fairly conservative (you’ll see that with Songtradr’s own pricing tool featured later in this post).

This is WHY you need to look into music licensing.

Now let me show you HOW to license your music.

The first thing I want to tell you is that you don’t need to know every single technical aspect of music licensing to start looking for music licensing opportunities.

In the rest of this post, I will explain the essentials (exclusive versus non-exclusive deals, synch fees versus performance royalties, the role of music libraries, etc.) BUT I want to focus my attention on getting you to actually start DOING something!

Trust me, you’ll learn much more by “doing” music licensing than you will ever learn just reading about it. Even if you feel you’re not “ready” yet, the key is to start!


If you want more guidance on how to license your music, check out this online training program called Get Your Music Licensed.



Want more licensing tips like this? Click here and get this free ebook.


Everything you need to know about Licensing and Publishing Your Music ebook

So here it goes… 

How to License Your Music: Get Your Music Ready for Licensing

1. Pick 3 to 5 Tracks From Your Catalogue & Export MP3 and WAV Files

If you’re not sure they’re good enough, try anyway. You’ll soon find out. There’s nothing that kills the musician’s ambitions quite like perfectionism.

Still, here are a few guidelines to keep in mind for successfully licensing music.

  • Songs and/or instrumentals are fine. Explicit lyrics very rarely are.
  • No samples! Apple loops and such are fine. Samples from other artists’ work or copyrighted speeches are not.
  • You should own the rights to the tracks you’re submitting. In case of co-authors, make sure you’re all on the same page and ok to seek out licensing opportunities.
  • Check with your publisher and/or label (if you have one) before you doing anything with your music, including look for licensing opportunities.

Export high quality MP3s (preferably 320kbps) and WAV files (preferably 24bit, 48kHz).

Note that I wrote “preferably.” Again, if for whatever reason you can’t export your songs in those formats, just pick the next best option available!

For example, an MP3 256kbps or a WAV 16bit, 44kHz).

Here are some basic guidelines to keep in mind when it comes to audio quality:

  • 24 bit > 16 bit
  • 320 kbps > 256 kbps > 128 kbps
  • WAV = AIFF > MP3
  • 48kHz > 44kHz for any music that will be used on video (not in quality but simply because that’s the standard for TV/film)

2. Input Metadata

Make sure your audio files (MP3s and WAV) have the proper metadata attached to them.

This means that if you double click on the audio file and it starts playing in iTunes or whatever app you use to listen to your music, the following information will appear clearly and accurately:

  • Track name
  • Artist name
  • Album name
  • Genre
  • Recording or release date

If possible, add your email address in the “comments” or “additional information” section.

If you don’t know how to do this, I suggest researching “how to add metadata in iTunes” (or whatever system you’re using) in Youtube.

Audacity is a free tool you might also want to explore.

3. Create a Catalogue Spreadsheet

Take the time to create a spreadsheet or Word doc to track your catalogue.

Here is what it could look like:

How to license your music Licensing Spreadsheet

Include the name of the song, the description and a bunch of keywords that will come in handy when you upload them onto music libraries. Assign each licensing opportunity it’s own column to keep track of where songs are placed.

For now, all you need is the column with the track titles really but you might want to anticipate and start thinking about descriptions and keywords.

4. Register Your Songs with a PRO

Always register songs you plan on licensing with a Performance Rights Organisation (PRO).

If you already know what a PRO is and have already registered your songs with yours, move on to step 3!

PROs are the organisations that ensure that you get paid royalties when one of your tunes is performed on radio, TV, etc.

In the US, that could be ASCAP or BMI. In the UK it’s PRS. SACEM is the one in France.

You only need to register with one. PROs around the world collaborate with each other to collect royalties in their territory and coordinate with other PROs to get the composers paid.

There’s no need to be fancy about it. Just register with the PRO of your choice.

Check out this list of PROs to find out the options in your part of the world and how to license your music there.

Conclusion – How to License Your Music

Now you have a super simple roadmap that will get you started in no time. The next step is to start researching music libraries and submit your music!

If you want more to learn how to license your music with more comprehensive licensing guidance, check out our online training program called Get Your Music Licensed.

The class is part of the online music business training offered at New Artist Model.

If you are interested in promoting your music, check out the Music Business Accelerator program (MBA).

Joyce Kettering is a songwriter, composer, music licensing expert, and teacher of the Get Your Music Licensed! program. The music licensing methods she teaches has allowed her to quit her day job at a Fortune 500 company and be successful on licensing alone. 

How you can get your music heard using the Instagram Reels feature – plus more music industry news for indie musicians.

Instagram Reels have been around for a couple of months now. If you’re on Instagram you’ll have seen these super-short, Tik-Tok style videos – usually with music.

As they are still pretty new, Reels are getting featured heavily in the feed. So how can you take advantage of Instagram Reels to get your music out there?

Click to get this free guide

Instagram for Musicians

 

Share your music with Instagram Reels

Reels are getting lots of attention right now, and that means you should be making them too!  Up to 30 seconds long, the video content can be anything you like – but the music sound-track makes them a great way to share your music. You can choose which music clip to include, so get creative with some attention-grabbing visuals.  Here’s an indie musician’s guide to how to do it – from CD Baby.

How to use Reels

Check out this great article from Roland.com for examples and inspiration on how you can use Instagram Reels as an indie musician to get your music noticed.

Your Music on THEIR Reels

Even better, your fans and potential fans can use your music on the Reels they create, which has the potential to get your songs in front of a much wider, new audience.  Learn how, here:

Read more about Instagram for indie musicians, on our blog.

HERE ARE SOME MORE STORIES YOU MAY BE INTERESTED IN

Bob Dylan sells to Universal

The sale of Bob Dylan’s song catalogue to Universal Music Publishing has also been big news in the last couple of weeks.  What can we learn as indie musicians from this deal? Here are 4 takeaways – from Rolling Stone.

Find out more about music licensing here:

Music in a Pandemic – one Band’s story

What’s the best way to promote your music release when live gigs and performances aren’t happening? Using Instagram helped this band to connect, network and grow their following. Here’s Read their story, from Bandzoogle.

 

Follow us on Facebook for more industry news, tips for indie musicians and more. 

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Why the massive growth in gaming is great for indie musicians, plus other news from the music industry.

Did you know that thanks to the COVID-19 pandemic, video games are a bigger industry than movies, and North American sports, combined? With the massive growth in sales on online games, there’s a huge opportunity for music makers who can create music for gaming.

More than Background Noise

If you’re into gaming (or you live with someone who is) you’ll know that music is much more than just background noise. It’s an integral part of the game experience, and that means opportunities for composers and songwriters to both sell, and get exposure for, their music.

Big name games like Grand Theft Auto feature interactive playlists, real DJs and even virtual gigs. An in-game virtual concert held on Fortnite in February 2020, was attended by over 10.7 million players.

With the growth in the role of music in gaming, platforms are investing more of their cash in developing big catalogs of licensed music, which gamers can enjoy as part of their playing experience. Read more in this article from Hypebot.

A New Challenge

Of course, this opportunity has not gone un-noticed, and some composers who have previously been attracted to writing music for films are now exploring the challenges offered by composing music for gaming.

With players spending many hours on a single game, the music can’t get boring or repetitive.  And of course, the soundtrack must respond to the interactive nature of the game.  Think “ambient” rather than prominent melodies, with the score flowing from theme to theme, almost un-noticed. The aim is to keep the player absorbed – and focussed –  in the game, and unconscious of time passing.  This article from Wired dives deep into this fascinating process.

Get into Gaming

So what are game developers looking for, when they are sourcing music for gaming?  In this article, musicradar.com  explore how the process works with Activision Blizzard Inc, – the name behind huge game titles such as Guitar Hero and Call of Duty.

Whilst many big name game developers directly commission their music from composers, others source their soundtracks through music libraries. So, if you’re looking to get in on the growth of gaming, it’s well worth making sure your music is available and easy to find, through music licensing.

Gaming Greats

Even if you don’t call yourself a gamer, chances are you’ve played video games at some point. So which soundtracks stick in your mind? Here’s Pitchfork with their top picks of music for gaming over the last 20 years – see if they match yours.

HERE ARE SOME MORE STORIES YOU MAY BE INTERESTED IN

New Resources from Spotify

Spotify have launched a site especially for songwriters, called Noteable. It will bring together news, product updates, and resources, as well as being a hub for songwriters to connect. Find out more in this article from Musically.com.

UMG Withdraws from Triller

Universal Music Group withdrew its repertoire from TikTok rival Triller after continuing disputes over payments to artists, reported MusicWeek.  Then, In a further twist, UMG expanded its deal with Tiktok. The battle over music in social media platforms looks to continue for some time.

The Invisible Common Denominator.

I’m known in the music industry for doing thorough research. Some of my research projects have spanned more than a thousand hours each. This particular journey led me to discover something I call vice watch. Let me explain.

A lot of my research began while I myself was being mentored and apprenticed by some of the most admired names in the music industry; Phil Collins, Quincy Jones, Phil Ramone, Steve Lillywhite and more.

There is a definite common denominator that has been practiced by all of my mentors. That common denominator when I tell you may sound wrong, or too trite and simple at first glance to even mention.

So often it seems that the actual power of truth is made invisible by the effective mask called simplicity.

I’ve grown enough wisdom over the years to learn something fascinating. The more simple a truth, the harder it is to see. And yet when discovered and applied it becomes life changing.

The Simple Truth

The common denominator of all my mentors was not just that they NEVER GAVE UP, it was HOW THEY NEVER GAVE UP.

“Don’t give up.” I know, you’ve heard it a million times before. No need to write another article about it. Right?

Maybe. But maybe not. Maybe this article shines a new light on a trite subject that could help save your career.

I took that simple truth, “Don’t give up,” and researched the hell out of it until I could deliver to my students a WAY of never giving up that worked every single time it was applied.

Like most discoveries, I found it when I needed it most (necessity IS the mother of invention after all). Vice watch.

There was a time in my career (actually TIMES) I felt totally overwhelmed. I felt I could NOT keep going with my home studio, that I could not keep going with my music career. Too many challenges and problems all happening at one time. I call these times in my life my “Trial & Terror” days. (Months is more like it).

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Learn the Secrets to Operating a Successful Home Studio

Challenges and Problems

See if you can relate to any of these challenges and problems which can, when added up, create the feeling of overwhelm. Especially when you sit down to work on that one thing that should be giving you complete joy in your home studio: music!

  • Computer Frustrations
  • Financial Stress
  • Lack of Exercise
  • Relationship Drama and Family Stress
  • Certain People in Your Life Pulling You Down
  • Contrary & Confusing Tutorials, Lessons and Courses on Music Production
  • Not Enough Time to Learn Enough About Your DAW
  • Not Enough Time to Make Your Recordings Sound Polished
  • Lack of Confidence In Your Ear
  • Lack of Confidence In Yourself as an Artist, Musician, Producer, Engineer
  • Lack of Confidence in Yourself as a Person
  • Stress from Your Day Job
  • Not Having Enough Good Contacts
  • Not Getting Any Breaks in Your Career
  • Too Much Time Needed for Social Media Promotion and Distribution
  • Too Many Distractions on the Internet and Social Media
  • Health Problems Arising from All of the Above

How & Why I Never Gave Up With My Home Studio

I’m going to save you time by getting straight to the bottom line. One thing I know for sure: If you are still reading this article you don’t have time to waste.

Over the years, I developed a way of mentoring and apprenticing as a Life Coach that always works for my students when followed.

From my direct observation, this approach parallels HOW my mentors kept going. HOW they never gave up.

It has to do with character and responsibility.

Vice Watch – A Step-By-Step Approach to “Self-Serve” Life Coaching

You can do this on your own. If you have trouble mustering up enough discipline to maintain this approach — collaborate with someone and help each other through.

This approach to Life Coaching is called “Vice Watch,” so named by one of my students, Robin Kaye of Australia, after he found success by following it.

STEP ONE:

Make a list of all the conceivable vices in which humans could engage on this planet.

Definition of Vice:

A Vice is a practice, behaviour, or habit generally considered wrong, immoral, sinful, criminal, rude, taboo, depraved, or degrading in the associated society. In more minor usage, a vice can refer to a fault, a negative character trait, a defect, or a bad or unhealthy habit.

This is a very personal step. Everyone’s list will be different.

Divide the list into two categories: ACTION and INACTION.

Important Note: Pay close heed to the definition of Inaction: Lack of action where action is expected or appropriate.

Here are a few of many possible examples:

A List of All Possible Human ACTION VICES
  • Excessive Drinking
  • Taking Drugs
  • Gambling
  • Gambling in Life (Taking Stupid Risks and Knowing It)
  • Putting Oneself Down
  • Stealing
  • Cheating
  • Lying
  • Being Rude to Others
  • Bad Sportsmanship
  • Eating Junk Foods
  • Eating Too Much
  • Releasing Music Knowing It’s Not Done Yet
  • Excessive Time On Social Media
  • Excessive Time Playing Video Games
  • Using Cracked Software and Plug-Ins
  • Etc., etc., etc.
All Possible Human INACTION VICES
  • Ignoring One’s Children, Spouse, Boyfriend, Girlfriend, Family, etc.
  • Neglecting Needed Paperwork (Taxes, Licensing Contracts, etc.)
  • Not Educating Oneself Daily Regarding One’s DAW
  • Not Educating Oneself Daily Regarding Music Theory
  • Not Educating Oneself Daily Regarding (Fill In The Blank)
  • Not Exercising
  • Not Sleeping Enough
  • Procrastinating (List Specific Areas of Life)
  • Giving Up on One’s Dreams
  • Etc., etc., etc.

STEP TWO:

Look over your list of ACTION VICES and INACTION VICES in Step One above.

Place a checkmark next to the vices that you consider apply to you. Be as honest as possible.

STEP THREE:

Rate each vice that you have checked off using the following system:

The lowest Minus 10 up to the highest Plus 11.

Keep your list and your ratings written down and updated on a weekly basis.

How the Rating System Breaks Down

Minus 10 means the particular vice in question is literally ruining your life. Regardless of how things look on the outside to others, you know honestly that that Vice is literally ruining your life. Left unchecked, other areas of your life will get worse.

As you improve each vice that you checked off, the numbers will move closer towards zero. Minus 10, minus 9, minus 8, etc.

Zero = Vice conquered.

A Zero means the vice in question is no longer a problem in your life – at all. Period. Gone. Vanquished. This is a big deal and can take some time to accomplish. The point is to work on this vice watch daily, and to note down your ratings weekly. Some people go so far as to note down their ratings daily.

Collaborations

When collaborating (which is a great way to hold yourself and another accountable) there is no need or pressure to share what your vices are. Simply assign each vice a letter, such as A, B, C, D – and a number. All you have to do is let your collaborator know the letter of your vice and the number rating for the week. Some people are OK with sharing what their vices are, some are not. I found that even if one keeps their vices to themselves and shares only letters, this approach still works just as well.

What the Positive Numbers Mean

During my initial research, I set up this approach to life coaching where conquering one’s vice was the final goal and the end of the game.

And then I discovered something that changed my life.

Once you reach zero (vice conquered), it’s now time to help OTHERS conquer THEIR vices. Therefore, a Plus One means you have conquered your vice and are now actively helping one other person conquer that same vice.

Plus Two means you are actively helping two other people conquer that same vice, and so on (Plus Three, Plus Four, Plus Five, etc.) Once you get to Plus Ten (meaning you are actively helping ten other people conquer that same vice), there is one more level up you can achieve: Plus Eleven.

The Goal

Plus Eleven means you are actively helping more than ten other people conquer that same vice.

What is the goal of this approach to Life Coaching?

The Goal is to improve your “numbers” until you achieve an eleven on each of your vices.

Why does this work so well?

I learned from my Mentors that life is a group activity. One cannot be an island and truly achieve one’s potential. You need a team.

Just improving yourself IS NOT ENOUGH.

However, you can’t just “build a team” either, you’ve got to work on yourself as well. You see the balance here?

In my online course The Lucrative Home Studio, I lay out exactly how to build your team by hiring interns, and how to help them achieve their goals and dreams – by being PART OF A TEAM.

Besides the legendary mentors I listed earlier, I was also very lucky to apprentice under the team that supports 25 Time Grammy Award Winning Legendary Musician Chick Corea (Nominated 51 Times!). For two years I learned an incredible amount of wisdom about how to run a business in the music industry and how to organize your personal life and professional life. One reference shared with me, which has helped me successfully apprentice many musicians around the world, is a common sense guide to morals called The Way To Happiness.

The Results

The results are nothing short of life changing and mind-blowing. What this does to someone’s music career can only be described as miraculous. That is all I can say. Here is one of many testimonials I recently received:

“Gary, as important as everything you have taught me about music and music production truly is, I NEVER thought this seemingly unrelated and counterintuitive approach to shattering the “glass ceiling” of my career would result in achieving not only my goals in the music industry (including making more money!), but going way above and beyond what even I believed my potential for success was! I was ready to GIVE UP FOR GOOD. In fact, I had already started packing up my studio. Thank you is not enough! I’m giving back by working hard on a daily basis to get my Vice Watch “numbers” up to eleven!”

Summary

I found that when people give up on their home studios and/or their music careers, it’s usually the result of not working hard enough at strengthening themselves, followed by not building up a team for real. The secret is to work on both at the same time. That’s how you achieve success you can bank on.

When people work on both at the same time, their lives achieve a much better balance, and they become what I call “magnets for miracles.” And many of those miracles show up in the form of unexpected music career successes.

You can see the results of not addressing your vices show up in the following ways; distractions pulling your focus away from what you are doing, feeling exhausted, repeating the same mistakes over and over, not able to persist on an action until it’s truly done, allowing others to pull you down, and ultimately — giving up.

The Vice Watch approach to Self-Serve Life Coaching is an amazingly simple and effective insurance plan against giving up.

The bottom line is this — give it a try. Do it. And let me know how it goes. You might be pleasantly surprised. And don’t be afraid to reach out for help along the way.

I’m always here to listen and to help.

I do believe this article is the most important article I will probably ever write. I am, in essence, working right now on getting my Vice Watch “numbers” up to eleven by helping you!

My personal mission statement is simple. “To create a Renaissance in the entertainment industry which will then create a Renaissance in the world culture.”

Here’s to a balanced life which leads to a productive and successful music career for you!

That’s what we are trying to do at the New Artist Model.

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Written by Gary Gray creator of The Lucrative Home Studio. Out of his one bedroom home studio, he’s completed major projects for The Disney Music Group and 20th Century Fox, CBS Daytime Television, A&E, Megatrax, EMI Production Music London, and others. 

Check out Gary's free Mastering Music for Licensing and Streaming webinar

Check out Gary’s free “Mastering Music for Licensing and Streaming” Webinar

For more information regarding revolutionary approaches to life and music production for the home studio developed by Gary, check out The Lucrative Home Studio.

If you want to work directly with Gary, sign up to get one of your songs critiqued.

A version of this post was also published on the Tunecore blog.

How to make 2021 your best songwriting year yet, plus other news for indie musicians.

With the crazy world we’re living in right now, and so many distractions, finding the focus and inspiration for songwriting can be difficult.

If you’re in a part of the world under a lockdown, you might find yourself with time on your hands. But when we can’t meet up with other musicians, and we can’t get out to gigs, how can we keep our songwriting motivation?

Embrace Virtual Songwriting

The internet offers so many opportunities to find, connect and collaborate with musicians, songwriters and creatives all around the world. Once you get your head around sharing files, working in different time zones, and a bit of back and forth with communications, the creative possibilities are endless. Find out how duo Vin 90 made it work for them during the pandemic in this article from American Songwriter.

Don’t Overthink it

When you’re struggling for inspiration, it’s easy to get frustrated. Staring at a blank page, or sitting at the keyboard for hours, rarely yields a great song. In fact, research shows better songwriting comes from an empty brain. If you find you get your best ideas in the shower, or while you’re driving, then you’ll know what we mean.

Read more on how to harness idleness to boost your songwriting, in this piece from Bandzoogle.

The Story Behind The Legend

Can you believe it’s five years since the death of David Bowie? This article from American Songwriter takes an in-depth look at what inspired Bowie to write the legendary ‘Space Oddity’, and the impact it had on Bowie’s career. From the song’s structure, to it’s mythical hero and sense of loneliness and loss, there’s so much more going on than jumping on the space-race bandwagon.

HERE ARE SOME MORE STORIES YOU MAY BE INTERESTED IN

Podcast Tips

If you get chance to take part in a podcast interview it can be a great way to reach new potential fans. Whether you’re interviewer or interviewee, you’ll want to be prepared before you press “record”. Get some podcast pro tips here, from CD Baby.

Wall Street Gets into Music Licensing

The world’s financial markets have spotted the money-making potential of music catalogs, and they are selling for huge sums. Rolling Stone Magazine investigates this trend, and what it means for the music business, here

Find out how you can harness of music licensing for your own songwriting career, here.

Follow us on Facebook for  tips for indie musicians, industry news and more. 

 

Musician's Guide to Coronavirus

We are certainly in unprecedented times, and so many musicians are having their livelihood affected by the COVID-19 pandemic. In this Working Musician’s Guide to Coronavirus we are going to show you how you can continue making money to support yourself as a musician in these tough times.

It’s been one thing after another. Shows have been cancelled, tours shut down, huge events such as SXSW, Ultra, Winter Music, and Cochella closed or delayed, bars closed, venues shuttered, festivals cancelled. We are being told to stay home and away from other people for the foreseeable future.

“It’s clear that musicians aren’t going to be able to rely on live performances to make money until this pandemic is under control. I started reaching out to gear companies that I work with and asked them to keep me in mind for marketing campaign opportunities… I’m trying to reestablish communication with filmmakers who’d previously reached out to me about scoring their projects. It’s a hustle. Everyone I’ve spoken to is anxious and frustrated… Most of us are definitely freaking out about the sudden loss of income and the uncertainty that lies ahead.” – Sarah Lipstate, Noveller

The implications for festival organizers and the 30+ million people who attend them annually are horrible. But the people who will be most effected, though, are the bands who fill the all-day lineups and the support teams that help them put on the show.  The lives of performing musicians are being severely impacted and many have seen their main source of income suddenly cut off. Their livelihoods shattered.

Without help, many musicians will be left to suffer the profound financial and emotional impacts of isolation and the lack of ways to express yourself artistically in this most stressful time.  

  “We make our money off the road. For me, it’s all about selling merch. This sucks.” – Mercy Bell

As a performer, in any genre, your chances of making income in any traditional way is not going to be available for some time. No one knows how long the crisis will be upon us. So what do you do?

In this article, we’re going to round up some ideas of how you can make the best of this tough situation, learn how to promote your music, stream your music, keep some money coming in, and stay connected.

Ask for Help

It’s clear that musicians are in a difficult situation with the gathering limits imposed worldwide. But your fans aren’t embedded in the music world and they may not know how tough your situation is becoming. Don’t be afraid to ask your fans for help! Create some social media posts or an email to your list telling fans how they can support you. Here are some ideas:

  • Let your fans know you have music for sale and where they can buy it.
  • If you’re able to, allow fans to pay what they want for your music. Set a minimum price, but allow fans to pay more if they have the means and want to support you. You’ll probably be surprised by how many fans throw in a few extra dollars.
  • Let your fans know what you are up to by promoting your music and telling them where they can buy your merch.
  • Create a PayPal.me link so you can accept donations from fans. Even though we’re being forced apart by quarantines, more and more people are coming together through this crisis and supporting each other.

Switch Gears and Focus on Live Streaming

You can’t perform on stage, but the internet opens up a lot of opportunities to continue performing even with the quarantine situation. There are a lot of streaming platforms available including Twitch, YouTube, Facebook and Instagram Live, and StageIt. We all need something to do when we’re stuck at home. So why not hangout with your fans online? Live streaming can be a great way to connect with your fanbase, provide much needed entertainment, and just lighten the panicked mood a little bit with some music! You can even accept donations while you’re live if you have a PayPal.me link or digital tip jar set up. Just add the link into the comments or post of your stream to allow fans to support you. You can even take requests in exchange for donations. Twitch has a built-in donation feature, but if you don’t already have the gear for it, now may not be the best time to get started. Focus on making the most of what you have. You can do a Facebook or Instagram Live with just your phone. If you are interested in Twitch, you might want to check out this ebook.

No matter where you live stream, remember that connection is key. As a performer it’s up to you to bring people together, talk with the fans who join, and do what you can to spread a little positivity.

Look Into These Free Resources for Freelance Artists

There are a lot of organizations noticing just how hard the coronavirus is hitting the music industry and stepping up with support. Here is an extensive list of resources you can look into if you need assistance because of the current climate. Look into emergency grants and funding for the arts, non-profit organizations who are raising money for creatives out of work because of the coronavirus, and get educated on the laws. There is a lot of help out there for musicians affected by COVID-19.

Use the Time to Start Licensing Your Music

Music licensing is still one of the biggest revenue opportunities in music today. Which is why it’s on our list in this musician’s guide to coronavirus. But actually starting to license your music? That’s a big task! So many musicians put off prepping their tracks and submitting their music for licensing because there’s never enough time. 

So if you’re okay financially, this might be the time to dive into your goal of finally starting to license your music. 

Music libraries are one of the BEST ways to license your music. And here’s the cool part: you don’t need any connections or even to leave your house to get started. Any genre can get licensed in music libraries and they work with musicians from any level.

To get you started, we’ve put together a few free guides for you.

If you follow these guides and put in at least a little work for the next week or two, you will have made a good amount of progress towards your licensing goals.

If you want a little more guidance on music licensing, check out our online training program called Get Your Music Licensed.

Want more free music licensing tips? Click here to get this free ebook:

Harness Your Music Production Skills and Take Home Studio Clients

No musician’s guide to coronavirus would be complete without talking about working out of your home studio. Producing music at home for corporate clients, other bands and artists, and for YouTube and other digital media can be a solid way to earn income as a musician without leaving your home. With email, file transfer tools, and free video conferencing tools, you can easily take client work without actually meeting people in person.

And what we have found is that no matter how simple or extensive your home studio is… You can produce radio-ready, corporate quality music at home and get paid for doing it. In fact, after going through our music production training most of our students are now producing work for clients with just 6 or so plugins! It all comes down to your ear, developing your confidence and expertise, and developing your business and sales know-how.

If you have the spare time and are looking to use the quarantine as a chance to improve your skills,The Lucrative Home Studio course will help you master the business, technical, and creative secrets of consistently producing professional radio-ready recordings.

This 8 module online training program will take your production chops WAY beyond tracking, mixing and mastering. We’ll help you produce your way to profit and satisfaction by producing music in your home studio. In the course, you’ll learn how to upgrade your EAR with techniques that will save you time and money and set you apart. And you’ll learn how to build or upgrade a home studio to industry standards without wasting money (including room prep, plans, gear, and equipment).

Learn more about producing music in your home studio AND the Lucrative Home Studio course here.

Click here for more free music production secrets to help you produce better music and get more clients.

Plan your Music Career (for when things open up again)

Next in this musician’s guide to coronavirus, we’re going to look inward. The next few months are a perfect time to take a step back and take a hard look at your music career and where you are going to go with it in the future. You NOW HAVE SOME TIME TO PREPARE and PLAN and get your ducks in a row so that you can move forward in music when things open up again.

We created the Music Business Accelerator to help independent musicians create a game plan for success and give you music career and music marketing strategies you can harness and create your dream life in music.

If you want to make it in the music business, you have to create your own success. You need to build a fanbase and revenue streams in order to get the recognition that will propel your forward.

That’s why we pioneered a new approach… To show you how to get fans that will truly appreciate and love your music. And to show you how you can create the music you love and make money. To accelerate your music career and unlock opportunities you never knew you could achieve, like how to promote your music on Instagram.

The Music Business Accelerator will:

  • Help you harness your passion for music and build a music career.
  • Learn easy and effective ways to promote your music online.
  • Demystify the music industry so you can clearly see what you need to do.
  • How to get your music on Spotify playlists.
  • Help you develop the confidence you need to make career decisions for yourself.
  • Show you the steps to make money as a musician.
  • Learn how to build a fanbase from scratch with organic music marketing strategies.
  • Guide you through a simple process of creating a plan to reach your goals in music..

Check out this simple step by step program to create a strategy for your music and set things in motion.

Learn How to Promote and Market Your Music

And finally in this musician’s guide to coronavirus, we’re going to use this opportunity to show you how to promote and market your music. This is the perfect time to get your act together from a promotion and marketing standpoint. You have streams to promote, remote shows, merchandise, your website, your social media, your email list, and way more. What better time to learn how to promote and market and sharpen your skills and grow your audience.

We have a suite of marketing courses to choose from, including How to Build Your Audience with Cover Songs, Music Marketing 101 and the Promote and Market Your Music Super Pack.

These marketing and promotion courses will teach you:

  • The modern strategies for music marketing, branding and promotion that will work best for you.
  • Tools to identify and create goals for marketing your music.
  • How to build your brand and leverage the power of sponsorships to drive awareness of your music.
  • See exactly how to develop and enhance your website and create an electronic press kit (EPK) to attract attention.
  • See how to master digital marketing including how to build an email list and create effective communications for your audience.
  • How to effectively promote your music on social media and how you can leverage these channels to build your audience on Instagram, YouTube, Facebook and via email.

Get the knowledge to understand marketing and branding and what works for you and your fanbase. Gain the confidence to excel by building alliances with people who can help you grow your audience. See how to sell more music, tickets and merchandise using modern social media techniques. Get more fans = sell more music. Learn how to tap into new revenue streams. Leverage your interests to find real fans and harness momentum. Discover the power of niche marketing and how to find your exact niche. Learn how to differentiate yourself and stand out from the crowd. Tap into like-minded people, sponsorships and causes to find and grow your audience.

Check out these marketing and promotion courses here.

 

Get this free guide to promoting your music online

Think Outside the Box

You may not be able to perform, but there are other revenue models you could tap into as a musician, and no musician’s guide to coronavirus would be complete without a little creative problem solving.

  • Consider taking the time to set up a patronage model. Platforms like Patreon allow fans to directly support the artists they love on a monthly basis. It takes a lot of effort to set up and maintain, but it’s worth looking into.
  • Try offering some kind of fun song commissions for your fans. Maybe you could compose short, 30 second to 1 minute jingles for your fans in exchange for a fee.
  • Give online music lessons. There are a lot of online lesson platforms you could get set up on, or you could offer lessons directly to your fans.

These options are definitely pretty outside the box, but for the right fanbase, they might be just the thing to get you through this crisis.

Remember to Support Each Other

It’s easy to get caught up in the struggles we’re facing and put up blinders to everything else. But now more than ever it’s important to support your fellow independent musicians in any way you can. Give them a donation if you’re financially stable. If you’re not, there are a lot of other ways you can spread the support among your fellow musicians.

  • Share bands and musicians that you love on social media. Give them a shoutout, help them promote streamed concerts, or share their newest album with your fans.
  • Put together Spotify playlists with some of your favorite indie musicians and share it on social media.
  • Comment on the social media posts of your fellow indie musicians and let them know you still support them.

We are currently offering DISCOUNTS on all of these programs for everyone signed up to our email list.  If you are interested in any of these areas, just click below to sign up, get free training and be eligible for the DISCOUNTS we have for you.

LICENSING – Get Your Music Licensed

PRODUCTION – Develop a Lucrative Home Studio

Plan your Music Career (for when things open up again)

Promote and Market Your Music

Dave Kusek is the founder of New Artist Model, co-author of the Future of Music Book, former CEO of Berklee Online one of the people who brought you MIDI and author of this Working Musicians Guide to Coronavirus.

3 Quick Ways to Grow Your Music Career

It has never been so easy and simultaneously so challenging to be a musician and grow your music career! The good news is that if you are resourceful and make good use of all the great musicians’ tools out there, you are bound to be successful. One of the new services that we think you should check out is called Drooble – an online platform for musicians, offering a unique approach to networking and music promotion. Drooble has been growing quickly and is something we want to make you aware of.  In fact we have partnered with them to give you some special pricing and discounts. Here are some of the innovative services that Drooble offers that we consider worth checking out:

Get Feedback for Your Songs From Other Musicians

Sometimes you spend so much time on a song that you literally stop hearing it properly, and that’s when a pair of fresh ears can be really helpful. Constructive feedback from knowledgable musicians is one of the best ways to evaluate what you need to work on, and can uncover things you may have missed in your mix or emotional issues that are influencing the impact of your song.

A great way to get feedback from other musicians is to use the Drooble Song Reviews service. Drooble is one of the only places where you can have your finished or in-progress song reviewed by other musicians from various backgrounds. What the song review service gives you is a well organized song report including written general impressions and recommendations for improvements, along with various other emotional and analytical responses for the track you submitted. The Song Review service will let you get deeper insights into production, songwriting and audience analytics, and is a great tool to become a better musician and grow your music career.

There are other song review services out there, but none that provide feedback exclusively from other musicians. For that reason, we think this is worth checking out. If you want to give their song review service a try, click here to try your first Drooble Song Reviews package. You’ll get an exclusive 20% discount just for being a part of the New Artist Model community. Use the code DYMAD to unlock your discount.

Drooble Song Review

 

Make a Strong First Impression with Industry Professionals

If you want to grow your music career, you want to present yourself to venuеs, labels, promoters, journalists and other industry representatives in a professional manner. This is extremely important. One way to do this is to have a professional website, but that can often be too much for someone to navigate through when they are first checking you out.

Instead, a great way to present yourself in a focused manner is to use an Electronic Press Kit. Think of an EPK like а professional music resume  containing all your content including discography, photos, videos, bio, upcoming gigs, testimonials, downloadable assets and more. It’s a great tool when you want to quickly present yourself and advance your chances of getting noticed.

When creating your EPK, you want to look for a system that makes it easy to create and edit your material. Drooble’s Professional EPK is a great choice among other similar tools on the market and we encourage you to go ahead and try it out. Again, you’ll get an exclusive 20% discount off their Pro option because you are a part of the New Artist Model community, but there is also a FREE edition as well. Check it out. And remember to use the code DYMAD to unlock your discount.

Drooble EPK

 

Expand Who You Know in the Music Community

Knowing how to network and being part of and participating in different music communities is critical to your success. The moment you choose to stop seeing other musicians as competitors and instead embrace other artists as points of connection for you, the further you will go.

People in your network can often be the first to hear your new songs, answer your technical questions or give you a recommendation for your next gear purchase or someone else that you need to know. Getting useful feedback on your songs, discovering connections with industry professionals and finding loyal supporters for your music are just some of the benefits that a music community provides.

One of the things we like about the community available on Drooble is the support you can get from other music creators. At the time of this writing Drooble has over 65,000 independent artists actively exchanging ideas and sharing experiences.

Drooble also has a very unique “Karma System” which rewards people for collaboration and engagement.  Pretty cool. Musicians on Drooble earn Karma Points by participating in discussions and giving feedback to others. Once earned, the points can be used to “purchase” promotion tools available right on the Drooble platform. Take a look:

Drooble Community

We encourage you to check Drooble out an join their community (for free) and explore the numerous benefits of their system and the “Karma” you can create there.

Music is a craft and therefore an endless journey. If you want to grow your music career, it requires dedication and constant improvement, and if you take the right steps, success will follow. Along with training that you can find on the New Artist Model, platforms like Drooble can give you access to tools and people who can help you pursue your dreams.  Check it out.

This post is derived from a series Gary Gray wrote for Tunecore. Click here and here to read the original, full articles.

Two years ago I came up with a five-year plan of how I was going to take an already consistently lucrative home studio up to a whole new level of quality, quantity and income. I wanted to get more corporate clients for my home studio. That plan, by the way, turned into the outline for the online course, The Lucrative Home Studio. It’s only been two years but I’ve already hit the goals and milestones I set for myself.

A lot of things went into my success, but one key factor I want to talk about today is being able to close corporate clients.

I’m very fortunate to service clients on a daily basis like 20th Century Fox, The Disney Music Group, Megatrax, Hollywood Records, CBS Daytime Television, ABC, A&E, etc., all from my home studio. But recently, I reached a brand new milestone.

I received a call from Disney/20th Century Fox. I had up to that point completed ten major projects for them — seven for Disney and three for 20th Century Fox. And now, with this latest phone call, I was being asked to produce, record, mix and master SIX new projects. I am currently making a six-figure income, all from my home studio. And this ONE project will account for more than a third of my yearly income this year.

So today I’m going to share my approach for closing clients and share the method I’ve developed over the years so you can bring in more clients and get those clients to come back to your home studio again and again. Let’s get started.

Learn home studio secrets that will help you produce better music and get more clients. Click to download the free ebook:

1. Upgrade YOURSELF

Now before we get into all the details, and before any cynics get too excited, my home studio is in a small 14 by 14 foot bedroom and I don’t own or use any “high end” equipment, and I don’t own tons of plug-ins. My point – ANYONE can do this.

I have learned and now teach a valuable lesson:

Upgrade YOURSELF, your EDUCATION, and your EAR, not your gear, as priorities when creating, mixing and mastering music.

You will then have a proper foundation from which you can conduct business on a corporate level from any home studio.

2. Mentors are Key

Every student that I have mentored for the last 30 years reminds me of me when I was being mentored. It’s a fascinating aspect of mentoring and education:

They don’t know what they don’t know.

And to a greater or lesser degree, each believe they DO know what they don’t know. In other words, by being students, they are obviously saying, “Teach me, I don’t know everything, I want to learn”. However, when asked what they would like to learn, none say to me, “I would like to learn about things that I don’t even know that I don’t know. Please unveil those subjects to me and everything you can teach me about them”. Instead, they rattle off categories of knowledge that they already know they don’t know. See the difference?

And then one day (hopefully) the student discovers a painful yet empowering truth. They discover something new that they literally never even considered before.

For example, I didn’t even know that I could service corporate clients from a home studio. I thought you needed to be in a high-end, million-dollar studio to even get on the radar of corporate clients. Boy was I wrong! My mentors opened my eyes to the possibilities, and that is exactly why mentors are so important.

3. Learn the Art AND the Science

I used to consider music strictly an art. But there’s a science too, and that is music theory. I call the knowledge of music theory “the most important plug-in you will ever own”. Learning music theory is what gives one the confidence and skill set necessary to ensure that corporate clients will remain corporate clients year after year.

I should have worked on becoming a ninja at music theory every day. It actually doesn’t take as long as you might think to build up a very good knowledge of music theory. This would include music production ear training.

Learning music theory like a ninja gave me an unshakeable and undying level of confidence unlike anything I had ever experienced before, which still persists to this day. That level of confidence, as I learned, can be sensed a mile away by people who are in a position to hire you. And the opposite is also true: a LACK of that level of confidence can also be sensed a mile away.

If you don’t know music theory, that’s like a mechanic not knowing the parts of an engine.

Good luck to that mechanic in finding a top level job in his profession.

4. Understand The Two Basic Buyer Types to Get More Clients for Your Home Studio

Everything we’ve talked about so far is what I like to call your “foundation.” So now I’m going to share with you a fool-proof, tried-and-tested system for consistently closing corporate clients for your home studio.

Sales is a subject that many people shy away from. I’m not surprised. Immediately the image of the sleazy used car salesman may come to mind.

But over the years I’ve learned this: if you don’t know at least the ‘Two Basic Buyer Types’, you could be missing out on at least 40% of potential sales.

WHAT ARE THE TWO BASIC BUYER TYPES?

  1. The All-Business Buyer Type
  2. The Emotional Buyer Type

Half of sales is correctly identifying the correct buyer type.

The other half of sales is knowing how to approach each buyer type and doing so effectively.

Both buyer types come to the table with the same thing, and both are looking for the same thing.

They both come to the table with fear.

They are both looking for someone they can trust. It’s how you win over that trust is where they differ.

The All-Business Buyer Type

The All-Business Buyer Type is a person who, in order to earn their trust, wants accurate and useful facts. They appreciate a person who has done their homework, and they expect you to be fully prepared for a meeting.

When they ask a question, they want either one of two things. 1.) the accurate and factual answer, devoid of any sizzle or story or dressing, or; 2.) if you don’t know the answer, they want you to say up-front that you don’t know the answer, (but that you will do everything you can to quickly research the correct answer and get back to them with your findings). Trying to cover-up that you don’t know the answer to a question will be 100% transparent to the All-Business Buyer Type and you will absolutely lose the sale.

The Emotional Buyer Type

The Emotional Buyer Type is a person who, in order to earn their trust, wants someone they can look to for advice, who welcomes guidance, a helping hand, who is receptive to and feels good about receiving honest and sincere compliments (key words: honest and sincere). A buyer who will accept your offer for a business lunch and who feels the lunch speaks highly of you and your goodwill, who likes to share pertinent stories about the subject at hand, and wants to know they can trust you almost as a friend.

This buyer type approach to sales is something I go into a lot more detail on in the Lucrative Home Studio program.

Conclusion: How to Get Corporate Clients for Your Home Studio

I hope with this article I’ve broken any myths that might be holding you back from pursuing corporate clients. I’ve worked with hundreds of producers from all backgrounds. And I’ve learned something important: No matter how simple or extensive your home studio is, you can produce radio-ready, corporate quality music. In fact, after going through my training most of my students are now producing work for clients with just 6 or so plugins! It all comes down to your ear, developing your confidence and expertise, and developing your business and sales know-how.

I’d love to work with you and help you upgrade yourself and reach new levels in your mixing, mastering and production. Click here to enroll in the Lucrative Home Studio and get me as your mentor.

By Gary Gray

Gary Gray is an award winning composer, producer and engineer. He’s produced multiple projects for 20th Century Fox, Disney, Hollywood Records, A&E, EMI, CBS and many others all in a home studio.

Gary has been mentored by Phil Ramone, Quincy Jones, Jermaine Jackson and Phil Collins. Gary honed his marketing savvy as the advertising and promotions manager for Music Connection Magazine. He has always enjoyed “both sides of the desk” in the music business.

Having taught music since the age of 16, Gary not only walks the walk, he is also widely regarded as an exceptional mentor for composers, songwriters, musicians, producers, vocalists, and engineers. Gary brings you real solutions to real problems that home studio owners all over the world have benefited from.

 

 

How to use Facebook Live to Promote Your Music

You’ve no doubt seen that little “Live” button on Facebook. Maybe you’ve even joined a Facebook Live video or seen other bands using Facebook Live. Right now, live video (on any platform) is one of the most powerful tools available to you and it presents an incredible and unprecedented opportunity to connect with your audience, create some great content they will love, and even make good income. In other words, live videos are a promote your music powerhouse that will let you grow your fanbase and connect with your fans on a whole new level.

So today, I’m going to walk you through how to use Facebook live as a tool to connect with your fans, grow your fanbase, promote your music, and make some income.

Why Use Facebook Live?

It can feel like new social media features are popping up every other day, so why should you dedicate time to Facebook Live?

As you probably know, Facebook uses an algorithm to determine what shows up in everyone’s newsfeeds. And those algorithms make it notoriously difficult to get posts on your artist or band page noticed. But right now, Facebook is giving live videos a lot of priority. In other words, Facebook live videos are more likely to show up in your fans’ and followers’ newsfeeds. And we could all use a little more exposure for our music 🙂

Facebook Live videos > Uploaded videos > Shared YouTube videos

As far as video content goes, Facebook Live videos get priority over videos uploaded onto the platform, and uploaded videos get priority over YouTube videos. And in most cases, video content in general will get more engagement than text or image posts. That means live videos are at the top of the engagement pyramid.

There are a ton of reports out there pointing to the higher engagement and audience retention rate of live videos as well. Typically, Facebook live videos have a higher average watch time than uploaded videos and they get three times the engagement.

And finally, any kind of live video lets you engage and connect with your audience and fanbase on a deeper level. While a lot of social media channels can still feel pretty impersonal, in a Facebook Live you’re talking directly to your fans and responding to them individually by name (more on that later), and that is an incredible opportunity.

Try these social media post ideas on Facebook:

How to Use Facebook Live: What You Need

There’s not many prerequisites for doing awesome Facebook Lives. A phone and a good internet connection is about all it takes. But there are a few things you may want to add on to your live set up to up the quality.

  1. Especially for musicians, audio quality is really important. So it may be worth your while to invest in an external mic for your phone. This doesn’t have to be anything crazy high-end, but the little boost in audio quality will only make your performances better.
  2. There’s nothing worse than your phone falling over in the middle of the best part of the song you’re playing… So a phone tripod or mount is another fairly inexpensive way to up the quality of your Facebook Live. You can get decent tripods or mounts for less than twenty bucks on Amazon, so there’s no real excuse for shaky video.
  3. And finally you need a space that has decent lighting and a quiet, distraction-free environment. Any old well-lit room will probably serve your purpose, but you can also find inexpensive lights online if you feel like your space isn’t up to your standards.

Once you have that, all you need to do is go into Facebook and choose the “Live Video” option. From there you’ll be able to set your privacy settings and create a post description. This will show up in your fans newsfeeds so tell them what’s going on and why it’s gonna be awesome. Press the “Go Live” button and your fans will start coming in!

Live Video Ideas Your Fans Will Love

Live videos are a great form of content marketing. It’s a way to engage with your fans while also promoting your music in a way that just feels fun. There’s a lot you can do with a live platform, so let’s go through a few ideas.

With anything, your best bet is to try out a few things and gauge your fans’ reaction. What kind of lives do they get really excited about? Which lives get the highest attendance? Which get the most engagement?

You can find all of this in your Facebook analytics. To access them, just click on your “Insights” tab. There you’ll be able to see all kinds of stats that will help you make decisions about your live videos. Pay close attention to the “Average watch time.” Ultimately you want your fans to stick around on your lives as long as possible, so experiment and see what you can do to get this number up. You should also look at “Peak live viewers.” If you click through you’ll be able to see how many people were watching at what time. Pay close attention to any large drop offs and try to improve to keep people watching.

Okay, now onto the live ideas!

  1. Small Performance

One of the most natural options for musicians is to simply do intimate performances with just you, your instrument, and your phone. This is a great option for singer-songwriters, but it can work for bands as well – take turns giving each member a chance to do a solo live.

The key to these small performances is to go back and forth between performing and chatting with your fans. This direct engagement is what will keep them hanging around and what elevates a live video from a YouTube video.

  1. Band Jam or Practice

Next, you can turn your band’s jams or rehearsals into a Facebook live video. This gives fans a little look into what goes on behind the scenes in band life. Plus it doesn’t take much effort on your part – you’re already rehearsing, so why not just set up a phone and stream it? These are a little less personal than the one-on-one concerts we talked about earlier, but you can still take breaks and chat with your fans from time to time.

  1. Stream Gigs

This is probably the least personable option. I’d recommend only streaming gigs from time to time – you want fans to actually come out to gigs, not just watch them on their phones, right? With these lives, its best to recruit a friend to be your live camera-man instead of just setting your phone up on a tripod. This can make the experience more engaging and interactive.

  1. Announcements

If you have a really important announcement that you want your fans to know about, make the announcement in a live video to take advantage of the priority they get in Facebook’s algorithm! This way, you can be sure more fans actually see the post. As a bonus, give your live viewers early access or a special discount.

  1. Q&A’s

The music is great, but it’s important to connect with your fans on a human level as well, so try putting down the instrument and just chatting with your fans. Let your audience submit questions beforehand and take some questions live as well. Some bands will get in a schedule where they do a Q&A ever month so fans know what to expect.

  1. Vlogs

Another cool idea is to take your fans behind the scenes with live videos. Maybe bring them live into the studio, or backstage as you prepare for a gig. Talk them through what you’re doing, tell them a funny story that just happened, show them something cool behind the scenes, or give them a sneak peek at something you’re working on.

Facebook Live for Musicians: Best Practices

Okay, now that you have some ideas for live videos, let’s talk about some best practices. These are just some tips that will help you maximize your live videos and get better watch rate, engagement, and even make some money.

Show Up

If you really want your live videos to be successful, you need to give yourself a schedule and show up. Whether you go live once a week or every single day, make a schedule and stick with it.

Why? If you go live intermittently, you’re just hoping your fans are online when you hit that live button. But if fans know that you go live every Thursday night at 7PM, they might plan to be on Facebook just to catch your stream.

To start, use your analytics to see when your fans are online. What days of the week are your fans most active? What time of day? This is going to be different for every audience.

You could even give your live sessions themes. Like “Songwriting Sunday” where you hang out and play around with song ideas and write little ideas live. Or “Throwback Thursday” where you cover a bunch of older tunes that have inspired you.

Use a Tip Jar

There are musicians who are actually making a decent amount of money from Facebook Lives. All you need to do is set up some kind of “tip jar” (PayPal is an easy option) and link to it from the description of your live video and in the comments.

Next, set up a notification or have your computer right there so you can see the donations coming in and thank your fans personally by name. I know it doesn’t seem like much, but this little bit of personal gratitude can go a long way and show your fans that you really do appreciate their support. You see this all the time on Twitch, and it’s really easy to implement on Facebook as well.

If you want more ideas of how to use your Facebook live videos to drive music sales, make sure you check out this article next.

Build a Relationship

A good Facebook Live is not just about entertainment or putting on a good performance. You need to use lives as a chance to build a relationship with your fans.

Relate to your fans, get to know them, and answer their questions. Respond to them and use their name. Talk to them and with them, not at them. You want it to feel like you’re all hanging out on a Friday night together.

Over time, you’ll even get to know some of the regulars who show up all the time. Greet them by name and follow up on a conversation you had in a previous live. Remember, live videos are a rare opportunity to get an *actual* two-way conversation going with your fans, so take advantage of that and be real.

Promote Your Live Sessions

You’ll get the highest attendance if your fans know a live is coming, so post at least once announcing your upcoming live. You can even do a little cross promotion on other platforms like Instagram and Twitter so fans can follow you on Facebook and be ready when you go live. While Facebook does save live videos so fans can watch them after the fact, you’re going to get more audience retention live.

Duration

Facebook Live broadcasts are 90 minutes in length. While you don’t have to stay on for the full 90 minutes, you should try to make your live sessions at least 10 minutes. Facebook staggers notifications so you want to give it enough time to notify all your fans that you’re live.

Encourage Engagement

As with any kind of Facebook post, more engagement will always equal a greater reach, which in turn helps you get more fans on Facebook. So encourage your viewers to like, comment, and even share the live video throughout the broadcast. Try asking direct questions to get fans commenting. And something as simple as saying “Like if you agree,” can help boost the engagement.  

How to Use Facebook Live

Facebook Live (or any form of live video) could be a great tool to incorporate into your social media plan. If you’ve never tried a live before, give it a shot this week and see how it goes! It will probably take some tweaking to find a live format that works for you, your schedule, and your fans, but with all the popularity of live video these days, it’s worth giving it a shot.

Let me know what you think – have you tried live videos on Facebook or any other platform? What kind of response did you get from your fans? Do you think it’s something that you’ll incorporate into your career?

For more great tips and tricks to promote your music, check out this free ebook.

We also have some great music promotion courses here, so take a look and see if they might be right for you.

build a team for music success

Today, I’d like to talk about what it takes to build a team for music.

As a musician, you’ve probably got more things to do than you have time in the day, right? You need to write, practice, play, rehearse, perform, and record.

But you ALSO need to manage your social media pages, manage your email list and email your fans, plan your music releases, pitch your songs to bloggers, music supervisors, venue owners and bookers, and music libraries, and that’s only scratching the surface. And more times than not, these essential business tasks push your music aside.

The simple fact is it’s hard to get everything done on your own.

And this is one of the biggest dilemma of the indie artist.

Isn’t the music why you set out for a career in music in the first place? Is it really necessary to push aside the music to be successful in today’s music industry? I don’t think so.

DIY vs. DIWO

DIY has been the catch phase of the last era in music. But the truth is, no one has all the skills – or time for that matter – to be successful completely on their own in music.

Let’s say you’re trying to do everything yourself… Will you realistically be able to dedicate enough time to do each thing really well? Will you be able to put in the time to come up with interesting and engaging posts for Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and Snapchat while also developing a strategy to get gigs in bigger venues, recording and planning an album release, pitching your new single to music bloggers, and keeping up with your email list? You need to work smarter.

We all start out as DIY artists when the to-do list is shorter, but it’s not usually something that can be sustainable as we begin to grow and we take on more (and bigger) responsibilities – at least not without completely burning out or skipping sleep entirely.

So I’d like to propose a new phrase: DIWO, or Do It With Others. Instead of trying to do everything yourself, try approaching your career like an entrepreneur approaches a new startup. Build an efficient team gradually over time. Start lean with the people you have around you already, divide tasks according to skills, and hire in new team members as you grow.

Here’s some of the key steps in building an efficient team around your music.

1. Figure out what kind of team you need.

There’s no single formula for a team that will work for every musician. Your career path, your goals, your personal skillset, your time commitment, and your career level all factor into who you will bring onto your team and when.

If you need a little help figuring out your goals, I suggest you download this free guidebook: Your Music Plan for Success. It will walk you through easy questions to help you determine what you want out of your music career, which will also help you figure out which team members you should target. Click here to download it for free.

So for example, as a songwriter you may begin working with other songwriters and co-writers in the early stages of your career to grow your catalog and increase your skill set quickly. Depending on your skills, you may work with a producer or engineer to get TV-quality recordings, or you may be able to do this yourself in your home studio. At first, you may start submitting your own songs to music libraries and other licensing opportunities, but you may begin making direct connections with music supervisors, ad agencies, and filmmakers to license your music. As your career begins to grow, you may start working with a publisher to help you get bigger placements and connections. You may not be interested in releasing albums so you won’t even need a record label.

Let’s look at another example. If you’re a traditional band that tours and releases albums, your team will look very different. At first, you might either self-record your songs or work with a producer or engineer you know, and distribute your songs through a service like Tunecore or CD Baby. You’ll probably do a lot of the booking yourself at first, but eventually you’ll employ the help of an agent when your gigs start bringing in enough money. As social media, email, and planning gets too difficult to handle on your own you might seek the help of a manager. And eventually you may begin working with a record label or some bigger distribution partner.

2. Bring on team members when the need arises.

In both examples above, the teams grew slowly over time as the needs manifested. Early on, your team may very well consist of friends and family, and that’s okay!

It’s also important to remember as you build a team for music, that many team members come on board when there is a financial incentive to do so – they need to make a living too! Agents make a percentage of your live performance income, so if you’re only making a few bucks, they’re not going to find the gig too appealing.

3. Assign roles and responsibilities.

A really important thing many musicians miss is that your band members can function as a team in the early stages of your career. Each member has different skills and proficiencies they can bring to the table, and you’ll get a whole lot more done if you divide up tasks.

The first step is to take a look at the jobs that need to get done. You may need to consistently be posting on social media and engaging with your fans. You may need to write weekly newsletters to your email list. Maybe you need to be reaching out to venues and booking gigs (and of course, promoting those gigs). Or perhaps you need to design a basic t-shirt to sell at your gigs, or get a few key photos to use on your website. Get together with your band and make a list.

Once you have a list, brainstorm together who might be best-suited to take each task. Do any of you know photographers, artists, or website designers you could work with? Is one person more comfortable with talking to people and pitching your music to venues? Are any of you a social media buff who spends hours online? Look at each member’s skills and divide up the to-do list accordingly.

Once you start splitting up the tasks, you’re able to get things done a lot faster and move on to new ideas and new goals.

Build a Team for Music Success – Where to Go From Here?

Wherever you are in your music career, planning and building your team accordingly should always be a number one priority. Like we talked about earlier, who you bring on to your team will depend entirely on your goals, so it’s worth getting your goals and expectations straight.

If you need a little help figuring out exactly what you want in your music career, check out this free planning guide: Your Music Plan for Success. This guidebook will walk you through easy questions and exercises to identify your goals and begin building a plan to achieve them. Click here to download the guidebook for free.

In the New Artist Model Music Business Accelerator course, we have an entire module dedicated to team building and time management.

The New Artist Model is an online music business school for independent musicians, performers, recording artists, producers, managers and songwriters. Our classes teach essential music business and marketing skills that will take you from creativity to commerce while maximizing your chances for success.

Check out the Music Business Accelerator (MBA) a new program that will help you plan your music projects, promote your music and create a sustainable career.

One of the biggest questions I get all the time is “How do I self release an album?” The truth is, today it’s easier than ever to release your own music without the help of a big record label. But, there’s a difference between just releasing your album and releasing your album successfully. Anyone can post their new music to Facebook, YouTube, or SoundCloud, or sell it on CD Baby. But how do you make your release really successful? How do you get people talking, downloading, and buying, and make an impact in the crowded world of indie musicians?

I recently interviewed New Artist Model member Alex Cowles. Alex is a producer and DJ going by the name Stillhead, currently located in Riga, Latvia. He creates deep and dub-influenced electronic music and runs the Brightest Dark Place record label and Cut, a subscription-based label that grew out of giving music away for free. On top of that, he’s a blogger and a podcaster, and recently he started sharing everything he’s learned as a self-releasing artist through a collection of courses called How to Self Release. I hope his experiences and insights will help inspire you to self release an album.


Free Download: The Musician’s Guide to Getting More Done


1. As a musician, what are you currently working on?

Right now I have a couple of things happening musically.

Firstly, I decided to set myself a challenge for November. I wanted to try and create a short loop every day, which was no more than 8-16 bars, and didn’t take me longer than 30-60 minutes.

The challenge is to get me into the habit of producing music every day, not feeling like I need to spend forever tweaking sounds before they’re ready, and get into the habit of just finishing things, no matter how small.

So far, it’s been going well – I’ve had a few people join in here and there, although ultimately it’s more of a personal thing for me, than for anybody else.

Secondly, and perhaps more importantly, I’m starting to get things together for promotion of my forthcoming album. I don’t think I can divulge too much at this point, but it’s going to be coming out on CD and 12″ in late January 2016, all going to plan.

Aside from those two things, I’m open for things like remixes, and putting together new tracks, but it’s more of a “when I have time” type thing.

2. You’ve done a bit of everything in the industry. But what drove you to be so involved and get away from the whole “I just want to play music” mentality?

Well, with everything I do that isn’t related to the music industry (design, blogging etc), I’ve always tried to do as much as possible – I never settle with just one project, since I love to have lots of different things happening and keeping me busy.

That combined with the fact that if I see something that needs done and I feel that I can do it myself, I’ll give it a go and try to make something of it. I’m very much of the opinion that if you want something done, do it yourself. That way you can’t complain about it being done badly, and you can generally get exactly what you want from it all.

I think most people also realise fairly quickly that unless you strike it lucky with a big single, or an acclaimed album – as a musician, you have to look at working on multiple income streams and projects. There’s no use just being a musician and expecting everyone else to do things for you. You need to get your hands dirty with lots of avenues.

From something as apparent as releasing your own music, through to sample creation or session musician work – there are always other ways to expand on what you’re doing, and I’d say most f the successful musicians I know do more than just play or produce. They have radio shows, run nights, run labels, own stores, host podcasts, or some combination of any of those things.

3. Do you think artists can still be successful just playing music in today’s industry? How important do you think it is to understand the business and label side of things?

I think if you want to be successful exclusively as a musician, or electronic music producer, you should be prepared to put an insane amount of work in before you get anywhere, and bear in mind that there are no guarantees regardless of your level of talent.

There’s nothing to say you won’t end up successful, but I think more and more these days with popularity being influenced by so much more than musical merit, you’re far better of doing yourself a favour and trying to learn as much as possible about everything affiliated with what you do.

The collateral of your music career is something you should try as much as possible to retain control of, and if you’re not aware of what it all is, or how it all works, you’re at a serious disadvantage, and ripe to be taken advantage of.

hack the music business offer

 

4. I’d love to hear more about your subscription-based label, Cut. Can you tell us a bit more about how it works? How did that idea come about and evolve into what it is today?

Cut stemmed from a logo design. A bit of a backwards way of doing things, but I had a label already (Echodub – which no longer operates really). So I was releasing digital EPs, but I wanted to put music out for free.

I saw artists just sticking zip files up online with badly tagged mp3s, wavs, varying levels of quality, some things mastered, some not, sometimes artwork and so on – and it made me consider a situation where that free music was packaged properly, tagged, encoded, mastered and done in a way that meant it was more than just an afterthought.

So with that, Cut was born – initially for free releases, and we grew pretty fast, all things considered. The core of it was run through Bandcamp and via an ever-growing email subscription list.

But a couple of years ago, I was getting to around 15,000 subscribers, and so it got expensive to run the label. Mastering an EP, sorting the artwork, and then emailing that many people, as well as any promotion was starting to cost more than I was able to get from the kind people who donated for each release (they were “pay what you want, including 0” on Bandcamp).

So a friend suggested that I try switching to a subscription model – and since seeing Soma Records do it to some degree of success back in the mid 2000s, (I don’t know if they still do) I thought it would be worth a shot.

I was able to set the site and system up myself, with my day-job skills (which have been super-handy when it comes to launching new projects!).

So currently we offer subscription at $2 per month. That gives you instant access to all of our entire catalogue, and a new release every month.

The setup allows me to pay artists for their music up front, plus gives them a guaranteed audience (which is growing over time), plus I cover the cost of mastering and promotion for each monthly release.

We’re also approaching our 40th release, which we’re going to be celebrating by releasing our first physical product – a limited-edition miniature-vinyl-style 4 CD box-set, which I’m currently crowd-funding at the moment. I’m confident we can make our goal in the next couple of weeks.

I’m currently also thinking about ways to expand our user base and grow the label, so there may be a free membership level introduced with limited access, or perhaps access to lower quality bit-rate files. I’ve yet to figure that one out!

5. So you’ve released 4 albums and 20 EPs. From everything you’ve learned, what’s the most important piece of advice you could give indie musicians who are wondering how to self release an album?

For a long time I’ve been telling people not to rush into releases. Make sure you’re 100% happy with your tracks before you farm them out to labels, or decide what to do with them.

The thing is, recently I’ve been hearing more and more about how it’s more beneficial to just get your stuff done, get into the habit of finishing and getting your work out there, since some people are of the opinion that releasing as much music as possible is the key to building your career.

I guess my issue is that I felt I was doing that with DFRNT, and it led to lots of regretful releases, which I don’t feel like I can support any more. WIth Stillhead I’m taking my time and being far more careful about it all – which means I’m still super-happy to support, play and discuss my first EP which came out a year ago now. It feels much better.

So I think I’d probably still stick with telling people to make sure they’re 100% happy with their tracks before they send them out – there’s no harm in waiting another month, listening to the tracks again and making sure you’re still excited about them!

6. Tell us a bit about How to Self Release. What is it, and what made you decide to create this resource for indie musicians?

Well… I knew I wanted to impart some advice to people, and to really help them learn from the mistakes I’ve made. After 9 or so years dealing with the music industry, you realise that it helps if you have somebody giving you solid advice, and it’s nice not to have to learn exclusively through making mistakes!

A few years ago, I put together howtosendmemusic.com which was a one-page site, which stemmed from an article I wrote called “Dub Etiquette” which was an interview with a selection of people who were getting sent loads of music. It covered how they like to consume it, what they prefer to get in their inbox, and all of the ways in which they feed back, deal with tagging, file naming and so on.

I wrote the article, published it online, and also published it in a short-run magazine I did for a single issue called “Modus” (yes, I even published a magazine once) – but after that had come and gone, I felt people were still really just not getting it, so I put the site together with some far more straight-forward advice.

More recently, I figured I wanted to help people further, and self-releasing was something I had done a fair bit of before. Usefully though I’ve been on both sides of the table with releasing music, as a label owner and curator doing A&R, management and promotion, but also as an artist on my own labels, and on other people’s labels too.

So with that wealth of knowledge and experience – I wanted to put that into a format where people could learn from it all, and a blog, combined with courses seemed like the best idea.

So the site is basically the hub for my writing on the subject of self-releasing and running your own record label.

At the same time, I’ve put out a free course which has an overview and process for self-releasing or starting a small label.

I’m currently also working on a giant, far more in-depth premium course, which I hope to have done before Christmas, which will be much more of a comprehensive guide to successfully self-releasing or starting a label and releasing music effectively.

In the distance I’m also looking at a course which will help musicians build their audience, but that’s probably a good 6 months away yet. I need to do more of that for my own productions first, and run a few different strategies to see what’s effective and what’s not.

But the best thing you can do is jump over to the blog and stick yourself on the mailing list – it’ll keep you up to date on all the courses and advice I’m giving away.

7. As you know, a big thing we focus on in the New Artist Model is goal-setting. Now obviously you’ve done a lot already, but what do you see yourself doing in the next few years? Do you have an end-goal where you’d really like to see your career end up?

This is a tough one, since I feel my goals tend to morph and change all the time.

I used to think it would be amazing to be a big DJ and to tour and play all over the world, but nowadays I’d be content with a few gigs a year if they were good ones, and people turned up – maybe sit-down gigs. It would be great to be known well enough that people were up for coming to a sit-down gig of my deep, or even ambient stuff.

I’d love to be successful as an artist. Successful enough to have an audience who are dedicated and keen to buy my releases – but I don’t need to be ultra-famous or huge – just a level of respect and admiration that meant if I got 500-1000 units of a release pressed, I’d be able to shift them all comfortably, and make enough to continue to do that in future.

I’d like to build How To Self Release into a resource that people love, and a system that allows me to add new content, while having a recurring income from course sales that affords me time to produce more courses and continue to help people.

I’d like my podcast to be successful enough that some of the bigger labels ask me to premier tracks for them.

And it would be good to get Cut Records to around 1000 subscribers, so that I can feed a decent chunk of money back to artists for their releases, and still have enough to master and effectively promote the releases every month.

I think this list could just go on and on, to be honest – with a multitude of projects and outlets, comes a multitude of goals and ideals – I can’t see all of them working out, but perhaps if one or two do, I can focus on the rest further down the line.

Get more tips on getting more done as an indie musician here

The Future of Music – by Dave Kusek and Gerd Leonhard

The Future of Music book is available in various forms.

future of music

 

You can buy the book on Amazon.

 

You can purchase the audiobook from Audible.

 

You can listen to the book on iTunes as a podcast for free. Go to the iTunes store and search “Future of Music” podcasts and subscribe.

Here are a few of the reviews.

Publishers Weekly
Two innovators in music technology take a fascinating look at the impact of the digital revolution on the music business and predict “a future in which music will be like water: ubiquitous and free-flowing.” Kusek and Leonhard foresee the disappearance of CDs and record stores as we know them in the next decade; consumers will have access to more products than ever, though, through a vast range of digital radio channels, person-to-person Internet file sharing and a host of subscription services. The authors are especially good at describing how the way current record companies operate – as both owners and distributors of music, with artists making less than executives – will also drastically change: individual CD sales, for example, will be replaced by “a very potent ‘liquid’ pricing system that incorporates subscriptions, bundles of various media types, multi-access deals, and added-value services.” While the authors often shift from analysts into cheerleaders for the über-wired future they predict – “Let’s replace inefficient content-protection schemes with effective means of sharing-control and superdistribution!” – their clearly written and groundbreaking book is the first major statement of what may be “the new digital reality” of the music business in the future.

5.0 out of 5 stars THE FUTURE OF MUSIC IS NOW
Gian Fiero (Hollywood, California)

This book is so brilliant that it makes the vast majority of music industry books that are being published seem irrelevant. It discusses in detail, the reasons why the future of the music industry is headed into the digital/mobile entertainment era. It also provides statistical information that professionals, marketers, entrepreneurs, and educators can use constructively. Both Dave and Gerd (the books co-author), have their fingers firmly planted on current music industry activities and trends. They also possess and display a clairvoyant eye toward the future that offers beneficial insight and foresight to those who may not be aware of what this whole digital (i.e. independent) revolution is about, and most importantly, what it will entail to prosper in it. The book is easy to read, easy to understand and simply brilliant. If you buy just one industry book this year, this should be THE one. Buy it now!

5.0 out of 5 stars Indispensible
Stephen Hill “Producer, Hearts of Space” (San Rafael, CA USA)

A stunningly candid source of concentrated, up to date insight about the music business and its turbulent transition into the digital era. This book tells it straight and will make the dinosaurs of the music industry very unhappy.

Like Martin Luther’s ’95 Theses’ nailed to the door of Wittenberg Cathedral, Kusek and Leonard drive nail after nail into the sclerotic heart of the old-fashioned music business. Their rational vision of the future of music rests on the idea of unshackling music from the hardcopy product business in a yet-to-be-realized era of open content licensing, facilitating sharing and communication among users, and growing the business to its full potential.

It provides as clear a vision of the future of the music industry as you will find, from two writers with a rare combination: a solid grounding in the traditional practices of the music business, an up-to-the-minute knowledge of the new technologies that are changing it, and the ability to think through the consequences.

I’ve dreamed about a book like this, but thought it would be impossible in today’s hyperdynamic environment where every week seems to bring a breakthrough technology, device, or service. But by digging out the underlying trends and principles Kusek and Leonard get under the news and illuminate it. Along the way they provide a brilliantly concise history of the evolution of digital media.

I can’t think of any book more important for artists to get the full re-orientation they need to survive and prosper in the digital era. It’s no less critical for members of the music and broadcasting industries who need to consolidate their thinking into a coherent roadmap for the future. In a word: indispensible.

Other things to do from here:

We have a wide variety of blog posts and articles on the music business and the future of music. Please click on any of these links to read more.

How to Promote Your Music

How to License Your Music

How to get your Music on Spotify Playlists

How to book bigger and better Gigs.

Instagram for Musicians

Content Marketing for Creative Entrepreneurs

This week, we are holding live training on content marketing and how to build and connect with an audience around your creative work.

What Exactly is Content Marketing?

I want you to think of content marketing as pulling your fans and audience in with interesting and engaging content (instead of pushing your work in their face). In other words it’s a lot more authentic and engaging than the typical “buy my art” posts you see out there all the time on social media. AND it’s a much more creative and fun practice for you.

In the webinars, we’re going to be breaking down exactly what content marketing is and how you can easily incorporate it into the way you communicate with your fans. So you can BUILD and CONNECT with an audience around your creative work and do it AUTHENTICALLY.

Trust us, adjusting your approach to focus more on content marketing will help you ramp up your promotions and get your music the attention it deserves.

Join us in a LIVE MASTER CLASS and build your confidence and understanding of how content marketing works.

>> Sign up here – We go LIVE Friday and Sunday

MASTER CLASS: >> Content Marketing for Creative Entrepreneurs

  • What is content marketing?
  • Get your content marketing engine setup
  • Build and connect with an audience around your creative work
  • How CreateBiz can help you reach your goals

>> Sign up here – We go LIVE Friday and Sunday

OR Sign up for the live event or get the recording and watch the replay, all for free.

PLUS we’ll be taking your questions and walking you step-by-step through our system of content marketing for creative entrepreneurs.

We will be giving away a free online CREATEBIZ course to one lucky person during each live event. Will it be you?

>> Sign up here

LEARN MORE ABOUT CREATEBIZ HERE: CreateBiz.com

make your cover songs stand out

With the DIY revolution and the rise of the music middle class in today’s music industry, it’s really easy to get caught up in all the business and music promotion stuff.

But despite all the tools and resources and services at your fingertips online that can potentially get your music in front of a huge audience… The MUSIC still comes first. Quality music trumps all!

So we’re going to get back to our roots and share some confidence-boosting skills that could help you take your music to the next level so you can really stand out and get people excited at gigs and online.

One approach is to use cover songs. If you take the time to really bend the song and put your own flair on cover tunes, they’ll serve as a transition that will introduce your original music to new listeners. Think of it like a relatable point of reference that new fans can come through to become acquainted to you and your music.

So, to help you make the most of cover songs and turn them into tools that help you grow your audience and raise awareness for your originals – instead of being a big roadblock – Daniel Roberts from Hit Music Theory and I will be presenting a free webinar to explore how you can use music theory to create some killer cover songs.

Click here to sign up for free and choose the date and time that works best for you.

Come join us! During the webinar we will be covering:

1. How to manipulate rhythm and subdivision to keep your performances fresh and interesting and keep fans on their feet.

No matter how good a musician you are, your understanding and manipulation of subdivision, time and groove is always a rich creative well to draw from. This is especially important for live performances – simple shifts in the rhythm or subdivision can add that extra flair of interest to keep fans dancing and rocking through the whole song.

2. How to use your understanding of scales and tonality to create tension, anticipation, and release in your covers, and how to use these techniques to support the mood and lyrics of your songs.

Whether you know it or not, every piece of music draws heavily from at least one scale which is centered around a particular note. Knowing this scale and how you can manipulate it can open up enormous possibilities for how you approach playing and arranging a song.

But beyond just basic tonality, the notes and scales you draw from can very much influence and comment on the mood of a song. The scales you choose can create tension, anticipation, or release to illustrate musically what’s going on in the lyrics.

3. How to use harmonic function to create endless compelling hooks and riffs.

Many of the greatest hooks and riffs we love seem to have been created as if divined by some spirit or given by magic to a special artist…

But, if we break it down, a lot of the most iconic hooks and melodies are taken directly from a very limited set of notes that the artist knows work well.

Once you see what’s going on, you’ll be able to use the same techniques to create your own hooks and melodies or even adapt the greats to create your own unique cover version.

4. How to use modes to add variety to hooks to keep fans listening and excited even in repetitive songs.

“Modes” can sometimes be a scary word, but an understanding of this concept can open up endless musical possibilities for you.

5. How to use voice leading techniques create space in your arrangements so you can improve the sound of your live set and get that huge sound we all look for.

Your live show is where you’ll make the biggest impression on new and potential fans, so getting that perfect sound is really important. Unfortunately, if you’re playing in smaller venues and clubs, the sound system may not be ideal.

So we’re going to go through an easy voice leading technique that will allow you to create space in your arrangement – sonically separating your instrument parts so they don’t muddy each other down. (Hint: THIS is how those 2 or 3 man bands manage to get that HUGE sound.)

Plus, if you can master this, I guarantee every sound guy is going to love you!

We’ll be covering this and a whole lot more during the webinar. Click here to sign up for free.

Oh! And during the webinar we will be giving away a free online course called Hit Music Theory to some lucky person!

About the Speakers

Dave Kusek

Dave Kusek is the founder of Berklee Online and New Artist Model. Since teaching at Berklee College of Music, he’s been working to reinvent the way music theory is taught. The very best way to learn music is to apply what you are learning right away, so we developed a fun way to learn music theory by looking at popular music and finding the teachable patterns that make up the hits.

Daniel Roberts

Daniel has produced, composed, arranged, recorded, mixed, and mastered many music projects through his own record label, Ivystone Records, and he’s been teaching music theory to thousands of students. His radical approach makes understanding theory easy and something that you can immediately apply to your music.

 

what authors can learn from the music business

Recently, I was interviewed by Joanna Penn, self-published author and indie advocate and educator for writers, about the music business and the changes that have occurred in the music industry which preceded the shift in digital publishing: Physical to digital formats and now streaming and micro-payments; musicians choosing to go indie instead of joining big labels; and the need to establish multiple streams of income and building an audience online.

Even if you’re not into writing, there are a lot of parallels between the music world and the writing world. Both are facing similar challenges as creatives are forced to overcome dwindling revenue and the shift to digital.

But – I think we have a lot to learn from each other. Musicians can learn a lot from the strategies writers use to reach an audience and monetize their work, and a lot of the approaches can be directly translated into the music industry and visa versa. A lot of times looking to other creative industries can spark new, innovative ideas that are totally outside the box.

Here’s a short excerpt, but you can listen to the interview here, or read the full interview here.

What do you advise musicians? How do they build up a fan base, because it’s exactly the same for writers?

Dave:

You’ve got to focus on it. You’ve got to get yourself in a position where you’re able to collect emails. That’s the preferred way to do it, as you well know.

And you want to drive your social interactions to your website where you’re collecting email and you’re trading email for something of value, could be songs, could be lyrics, could be insights into your work or your life. People have a lot of different takes on it.

The holy grail of the moment is having a large following represented in an email list that you are then able to directly promote your shows to, your music to, your appearances to, your merchandise to, your friends to. It gives you just so much flexibility in terms of how you pursue your career.

An interesting thing, when you think of the heyday of the record business, which is what really people think about the music business…you know, you think of The Rolling Stones, and The Beatles, and Elton John, and, you know, massive stars, the labels really had no idea who their customers were. They had no mailing list. They thought their customers were Waterloo and Tower Records.

And so, when this digital shift occurred, and the labels found that people were basically just grabbing the music for free, they had no ability to communicate directly with a fan base. They didn’t have a fan base in a 2017 sense of being able to identify and directly reach your fan base, other than perhaps at a live show where you as…you’re Steven Tyler from Aerosmith and you’re on the stage, you can say whatever you want. But the label didn’t really have that power.

So in a sense, I think that we’re in a transition period in the music industry where it is difficult to monetize recordings, it’s difficult to monetize the most popular digital format, but it’s pretty easy to start building your audience.

And I think as we go forward in the next few years, the musicians that do spend energy building an audience and creating relationships with their audience are going to be in a better position to take advantage of the new formats and new performance opportunities that there may be online. The music business has always been driven by format changes, radio to vinyl, to cassette tapes, to eight-track tapes, to CDs.

Then there was this MP3 that they really just completely missed the boat on, and now you’ve got streaming which, the tech companies are doing quite well off of, you know, Amazon, Apple, Spotify, Pandora, they’re taking the lion’s share of the revenue there.

The labels are getting a small piece and the artists are getting a tiny, tiny piece. But I think there will be another format that we’ll see in the coming years that hopefully, artists with a fan base will be able to embrace those formats and really capitalize on them.

Not everyone is listening to the same thing. Not everyone is reading the same thing anymore or watching the same thing. We’re all in these sort of sub-niches. Do you see that parallel?

Dave:

Yes, I do. I think there’s a huge fragmentation of opportunity for people, and it is really important to define your niche and to create some activity around your art. I mean, an audience doesn’t really form around nothing. It forms around some form of energy and some form of creative expression.

And to the extent that you can focus your energy on a niche, define it, promote yourself in that niche, you can be very successful, as you well know, as long as the revenue model is there to support what you’re trying to do.

If you want more, you can listen to the interview here, or read the full interview here.

When you pay attention to everything that’s going on around you, you’ll be surprised what you hear.

Stop guessing what the chords might be

Instead, learn about keys and harmonic function. This will take enormous amounts of guesswork out of the process. You don’t have to try twenty chords if you know that it can only be one of six chords you like in a key.

Almost all music has a key. Keys are used to organize how we hear sounds and make it possible to quickly find harmonies and other musical ideas that fit with each other.

For instance, if I am playing in the key of A major, I know right off the bat that the chords A, B-, C#-, D, E and F#- will all work very well with each other. Since we usually hear musical ideas inside of particular keys, the more aware of which chords are in which keys, the more you can limit how many chords you need to try to find the sound you hear in your head.

Develop your ear and become a better musician

Believe it or not, you can learn to connect what you learn in theory to particular sounds you hear in music. You can train yourself to do this to such a degree that you can begin to identify EXACTLY what is going on without any instrument at all.

Notice what key you are in.

Training yourself to do this does not require perfect pitch. Instead, you can use things like solfege and other ear training approaches to hear how the music functions. The reason this is possible is that each note in a scale has its own kind of sound (this is why we like some riffs and not others, some chords and not others, etc – we already can hear it all, we just don’t know what to call each thing we hear). If you give a name or syllable to each pitch in a scale, you can start to identify the sound of a particular note in a scale with a particular syllable.

Be aware of the scale you are playing in and what riffs you have that fit in it.

The process of developing your ear never ends, so don’t worry about getting it right all the time. Learn the language of music and make it a priority to sing (singing these notes with syllables is really helpful) and analyse the music you listen to. The more you do it, the better you will become. Once you start being able to hear these notes and sing them, you can tie them into your understanding of keys and chords and identify the chords you are looking for even faster.

Make it your daily practice to identify everything you hear

Many of the best musicians seem to always be analysing everything they hear out of natural curiosity. So many things in our world have pitch, harmony and rhythm. You can practice grooves to your washing machine, for instance. My electric toothbrush hums a middle C when I turn it on. Most pop songs use the same four types of chords inside of a major key (I, V, vi and IV in case you were wondering). Just stay curious and listen actively to whatever is around you all the time.

My electric toothbrush hums a middle C when I turn it on.

Then, when you sit down to practice, take the same curiosity you are developing by listening to everything around you and apply it to everything you play. Notice what key you are in. Be aware of the scale you are playing and the riffs you like to play that fit in it. Name the chords you are using and be aware of how they function inside the key you are playing in. The more you do it, the more natural and second nature it will become to identify, play and write what you hear.

Put it on the page

As you start to get comfortable identifying what you hear, make it your daily practice to take a little time each day to write down something that you hear or are learning to play. It can be a chord progression, riff, rhythm or anything else.

Remember that music is a language. You learned to write by just doing it every day in school. Every language takes time to learn to speak and write fluently. Don’t be afraid of doing it wrong. The only way to do it wrong is to not try.

Enjoy the process and give yourself the time to enjoy and work on music every day. Before you know it, you will find yourself being able to write down your own musical ideas with ease.

Time, Tonality and Harmony

We all want to improve as musicians, but it can be hard to identify clear ways to improve. Just starting to practice on a regular basis can help you enormously, but it can also be a real challenge. Many times it’s hard to decide what to practice when you finally sit down with your instrument, right? We are all on the quest to become a better musician.

Part of the challenge is knowing what is most important to practice each time you sit down. How can you use your practice time to improve as a musician on a consistent basis. To address this, we each have to learn to reflect on our playing and knowledge and to turn that reflection into action. But regardless of whether you are a beginner or a really advanced player, there are some aspects of being a musician that always matter and can always be improved on. You can use these areas as a structure to start thinking about and analyzing what you can work on when you’re practicing. Here are some of the most important ones to me.

Your Sense of Time

At the very foundation of all music is time. You can think of time as the heartbeat (or groove) of the music, and rhythm as the dance that happens from that beat. Every rhythm you play is just a way to dress up the heartbeat underneath everything. How deeply and accurately you feel this underlying heartbeat determines how strongly everyone else will respond to the music. When you really know the heartbeat, your music becomes undeniable. You can often know when you have it, because the crowd will feel compelled to get up and dance.

Think of time as the heartbeat (or groove) of the music, and rhythm as the dance that happens from that beat.

The most important aspects of time to develop are your sense of the beat and its subdivision. We all can count the main beats of a song (think of the drummer counting off “One! Two! Three! Four!”) but do you know how those beats are subdivided? You can usually tell by listening to the drummer’s hi-hat part. Are they playing eighth notes? Sixteenth notes? Triplets? Is the subdivision straight, laid back or played on top of the beat? Is it swung?

Trick #1 – When you sit down to practice, try to think about the subdivisions happening in the music you love and create exercises that help you play them. Start simple. Play your scales or strumming patterns with quarter notes, then with eight notes. Do that for a week and then try sixteenth notes. Start with a slow tempo and ease into it. After a month or two of exploring subdivisions by twos, try exploring subdivisions by threes. Try some triplets. Take your time, have patience, be in the moment and try to think systematically as you create various exercises for yourself. You will probably find that you will stumble on musical ideas you like as you do this. Enjoy exploring them as soon as they come up. When they bore you, go back to your exercises.

Your Sense of Tonality

I cannot tell you how many times I have been in a rehearsal with someone who does not have a clue what key they are in. It’s critical that you know this, because everything you play comes from a key whether you know it or not – and if you don’t know, you may find yourself being that guy in the band who seems to have five heads.

Don’t be that guy in the band who seems to have five heads.

There are two things to know about the key you’re in. First is the tonal center. This is the note everything is organized around. When someone says “let’s play in A major” – they are telling you that everything they are about to play is organized around the pitch “A”.

Second, when they say “major” they are telling you the particular type of organization they are using around the pitch “A”. In this case, they are using the major scale (which is a series of whole and half steps) as a pattern for organizing pitches. The result is a tonality – a set of pitches organized around a central pitch (“A” in this example).

Incidentally, this is why scales are so important. It’s not enough to understand the idea of tonality – you need to be able to play it on your instrument. Scales are just specific instances of tonalities.

Trick #2 – When practicing, consider killing two birds with one stone by practicing your scales with specific subdivisions you want to improve on. For instance, you might choose one scale a day to practice with eighth notes for a week. If you practice every day of the week, you will be much more comfortable with seven new scales and your sense of eighth note rhythms will be much deeper.

Your Sense of Harmony

Once you know the tonality you are in, you can use the pitches and interval relationships inside it to create harmony. Harmony is created anytime you make the listener hear two or more pitches at the same time. You can combine pitches however you like, but we all tend to hear these pitches in similar ways (which we call harmonic function). The ways we hear groups of pitches and how we name them varies. I recommend starting with roman numerals or nashville numbers and the triads associated with them inside of the tonality you are working in.

Trick #3 – In any major key, there are seven basic types of chord function (since each basic type of chord in a key is built on a note in the scale). These chord functions are described with numbers that correspond to the pitch in the scale they are built on (if you build a chord on the first note in the scale, it’s called a 1 or I chord – but if you build it on the second pitch in a scale, it’s called a 2 or ii chord). If you are in nashville you write this function with arabic numbers (1, 2, 3, 4, etc.), but they are called “Nashville Numbers”. In most other music contexts, we use the classical theory system that uses “Roman Numerals” (I, ii, iii, IV, etc.).

You can use these naming conventions to identify and make chord progressions. In C major, chords 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 and 7, respectively are C, D-, E-, F, G, A- and B diminished. Once you learn these chords in C major, see if you can find them in other major keys you know.

A Final Thought:

Once you have found a few things to work on in each of these categories, take the time to practice them each time you pick up your instrument. Organize your practice sessions into a routine so you don’t have to decide what to work on each time you sit down. If you can get into regular routine that address each of these three areas, I guarantee that you will find yourself improving and be well on your way on The Quest to Become a Better Musician.

After two decades and a turn to sobriety, Séan McCann took a good look at his life in the music industry. He wanted a change.

It had been a good living for a while. As a founding member of Great Big Sea, Mr. McCann spent nearly half his life playing and touring with friends. But the road’s familiar rhythm belied the shifting world around them. People weren’t buying records as much, and some years, making payroll for the band’s support staff – let alone the members themselves – could be a tenuous feat.

The Newfoundland-born singer-songwriter had gone sober, too, making tours soaked in the old black rum less enticing. He also wanted to play by his own rules, performing different styles of music and in smaller rooms. In 2013, he announced he’d leave the band at the end of that year’s tour.

Then he started over, alone.

Mr. McCann has retooled his music career for the 21st century. He has brought new meaning to going solo: He is his own manager, booking agent and sound technician. Stripped of the support system of a major-label band, but determined not to give up a career in music, Mr. McCann took a new tack. He became an entrepreneur.

“Right now, the cash flow allows for me and a guitar,” he says. “No tech, no roadies, no agents. That’s what I can sustain financially. And I love it.”

Even for artists who want to break into the major-label mainstream, an entrepreneurial mindset is the price of admission, says Dave Kusek, who founded the Berklee College of Music’s online program and now oversees New Artist Model, a digital music-business school.

“Labels and publishers are generally not making investments in anything that isn’t already proven,” he says.

“You need to be able to find your audience, you need to be able to communicate with that audience and build it.”

Mr. McCann grew up in Newfoundland’s Gull Island and later St. John’s, where he began playing music with Alan Doyle, Bob Hallett and Darrell Power.

In the shadow of the cod fishery collapse, “the economics were bleak,” Mr. McCann recalls. Even as university graduates, “we were functionally unemployable,” he says with a laugh. The quartet began performing as Great Big Sea in 1993.

The band signed to Warner Music in the industry’s cash-flush 1990s and released a bevy of bestsellers including the quadruple-platinum album Upand triple-platinum Play. Their pop-rock take on East Coast traditional music made them darlings on the Canadian scene, and they flooded radio and MuchMusic with songs such as When I’m Up (I Can’t Get Down), Ordinary Day and Consequence Free.

But recorded music has undergone a remarkable change since Napster sunk the business’s sales-centric model in the early days of this century. While streaming-music services have introduced year-over-year industry revenue growth for the first time in nearly two decades, the continuing decline in sales of CDs and downloads has radically reshaped income streams for musicians, in many cases forcing them to depend more heavily on concerts.

Touring helped sustain Great Big Sea through the early part of this decade, but complications arose, Mr. McCann says. After coming to terms with being an alcoholic, he went sober in 2011; following that, playing in one of Canada’s biggest party bands became difficult.

“Every night for us was Saturday night on tour. And going to work, our rider was extensive: a bottle of Scotch, four bottles of wine, 48 beers. That’s our daily allowance, with 10 dudes on a bus.”

Sobriety, too, made touring life seem stale and unsustainable. “Our setlist hadn’t changed in 15 years, and I couldn’t drink enough to continue doing it.” He decided to reel it in.

He’d been writing songs that didn’t quite fit Great Big Sea’s optimism, in some cases confronting his drinking and the reasons behind it – including sexual abuse by a priest as a teenager. As he wound down his time in the band, he took dozens of songs to his friend Joel Plaskett. The Halifax musician and producer sifted a solo album, 2014’s Help Your Self, from the pile.

“He’s got an edginess about him, where he wants to stir the pot,” says Mr. Plaskett, who also produced Mr. McCann’s follow-up, You Know I Love You. “He wanted to push into something more independent, and without rules.”

Walking away from the life and money of Great Big Sea was “brave,” says Mr. Plaskett, who himself runs his career like a small business, with a studio, record store and various touring band configurations. “He’s taken what was a large business and took a small, independent approach. … It becomes about being accessible to your audience, and doing unique things, so the people who care about you can connect with you.”

In 2015, Mr. McCann and his family made another crucial decision: They moved to Ottawa. Newfoundland might offer hundreds of kilometres of highway, he says, “but there’s only three gigs.” (His wife also likes the inland weather better.) In Ontario, Mr. McCann can travel alone by car, visiting two or three new cities or towns for concerts each weekend.

He books the gigs himself, eschewing the cost of an agent. For as much guff as he’s gotten for leaving the East Coast, it has allowed him to build a fresh, growing audience for his solo work.

This is the kind of entrepreneurial groundwork that all bands need to do to sustain themselves, says Mr. Kusek. While Mr. McCann has an existing reputation through Great Big Sea, younger bands need to hustle like this to sustain their work – and doubly so if they lack the financial backing of a record company.

“It’s like in the venture world,” Mr. Kusek says. “Labels are the Series B and C money. You’ve gotta find your angels and Series A.”

Mr. McCann doesn’t want to dip back into big business anytime soon. He’s seen it all, and, at least for now, he doesn’t mind the change. He’s seeing fans – and a whole new side of the country – close up.

“I realized that I’d been all over Ontario a million times, but in the middle of the night, asleep on a tour bus,” he says. “I don’t ever wanna get on a tour bus again.”

This article was written byJosh O’Kane and originally published in the Globe and Mail

There’s no question whether or not the music industry has changed. Some say it’s for the worse, but others see opportunity in the new age of music and are helping others do the same.I has a chance to talk with Nick Ruffini of Drummer’s Resource a few weeks ago about the realities of the new music business and strategies for success that I see working in the New Artist Model online music business school.”Dave has been in the music industry for over 30 years, starting in music technology, then founding Berklee Music Business School online and his most recent venture, New Artist Model. New Artist Model is an online school to teach independent artists how to navigate their way through the music industry.”

new age of music

In this Podcast Dave Kusek talks about:

  • Being an early trendsetter with MIDI
  • Founding Berklee Music Online
  • Mistakes people are making as independent artists
  • Advice for getting gigs as a sideman
  • Networking advice
  • The future of music
  • The new age of music
  • Much more

 

SEO is all about setting up your website so that its pages are easily found and highly ranked by search engines like Google. This Musicians Guide Search Engine Optimization SEO will show you how. While traditional marketing avenues like radio airplay and social media promotion are great for getting new people interested in your music, an SEO strategy around your music can help you gain new fans from a marketing channel that is generally underused within the music industry.

So, how do you get started with SEO? First, it’s important to understand what Google’s ranking factors are. Here’s a list of 200 of them.

While the list of ranking factors is certainly helpful, here are the things I’ve noticed help improve rankings and search engine traffic the most, in order or importance:

  • Backlinks (links pointing toward your website’s pages)
  • Large number of pages.
  • Website formatting and speed.
  • Using searchable keywords.
  • How much time visitors spend on a particular page.

Want to learn how to promote your music and get your music noticed? Click here to download this free ebook with easy music promotion ideas plus 3 social media checklists to get you started!

Musicians Guide Search Engine Optimization SEO

Here are some things you can do to help improve the above metrics for your website to increase traffic from search engines.

Format Your Website Properly

If you want your website’s pages to be found by Google, you need to make it easy for Google to read through them. To accomplish this, be sure to implement the following on your website:

Use Searchable Titles

Many musicians use general, single word titles for their pages like merch, about, tour, etc. If people are looking for your merchandise or tour dates, they’re likely to include your artist name in the search (for example – “Bring me the Horizon tour dates.”)

Because of this, a better approach to titling your pages would be to include your artist name in the page title. This makes it really easy for Google to know that the information on the page should be attributed to you as a musician.

Use HTML Header Tags

If you have a blog on your website (and you should), often times, your articles will contain headers and sub-headers. Many new blog authors make the mistake of bolding and increasing the text size for these.

Don’t do this. Use HTML header tags. This will make it much easier for Google to understand the content hierarchy of your page.

Make Your Website Mobile Friendly

More than 50% of searches are from mobile devices, and when it comes to mobile search, Google de-ranks sites that aren’t mobile-friendly.

It’s important to make sure your site works well and is easy to use on smartphones and tablets not just for search engine rankings, but because a majority of web traffic is from mobile devices anyway. People are more likely to purchase your merchandise and event tickets if it’s easy to do so.

Bandzoogle websites are optimized for SEO. They automatically add things like image alt tags, header tags, clean HTML and schema markup (to help you get Knowledge Graph results in Google). Bandzoogle websites are fast and mobile responsive.

Have Your Own Domain

When you work with a website provider like Bandzoogle, they usually default to hosting your domain as a subdomain to theirs (for example, yourbandname.bandzoogle.com).

You don’t want this. You want to have your own domain name. This way, when people link to your site, you get the benefits of that link when it comes to search engine rankings on your entire website rather than just the page being linked to.

If you choose to go with a website hosting provider like Bandzoogle, be sure to choose the option for a custom domain so you get all of the SEO benefits.

Have a Blog on Your Website

Starting a blog is a great way to increase the number of pages on your website, and the number of search queries your website will show up in. It’s also a great way to create valuable content that people will link to, which increases your website’s overall rankings.

As mentioned above, when you start a blog, you don’t want it to be set up as a sub-domain of someone else’s platform. Use a blogging platform, like WordPress since it makes it easier to get things going and publish content. But put the blog under your own domain!

It’s important that you choose blog topics that resonate with your audience. If people find your articles on Google, you want them to be likely to check out your music and convert into fans.

Here are some blog topic ideas to get you started:

  • Travel stories.
  • Music gear reviews.
  • Review music from other artists in your niche.
  • Making of your album.
  • Songwriting stories.
  • A passion outside of music.
  • Something you care deeply about.

Whatever topic you decide to go with, pick something that excites you. It’s much easier to write about your passion than something that’s just for SEO purposes.

When you write blog posts, make sure they’re easy and fun to read. Each sentence you write should convince the reader to move to the next.

Here are some things to keep in mind when publishing a new article:

  • Use lots of white space with small, 1-2 sentence paragraphs.
  • Make use of bulleted and numbered lists.
  • Write longer posts. These keep people on the page longer, and are more likely to rank well in Google.
  • Put your target keyword at the beginning of the article.

Your blog can be a great tool for building your email list. Integrate apps like Sumome into your blog to collect emails, set up a newsletter for your blog, and include a link to your latest release at the bottom of every email you send out.

Bandzoogle websites have a built-in blog feature, and other promotional tools like mailing lists.

Get Links

In my experience, I’ve found that the single most important ranking factor Google looks at is the number of links pointing to your site. Each link is like a vote for a page on your site.

Very few links will come naturally, so it’s up to you to go out and get them. There are tons of link building strategies available online, but here are three I’ve found work best for musicians.

  • Get Your Music Reviewed on Music Blogs
    If you’re able to get your music is reviewed by music bloggers, the review often contains a link to your music or website. If your music is reviewed on a valuable blog, this can vastly improve rankings across your websites pages, and even send a good amount of referral traffic.
  • Help A Reporter Out (HARO)
    HARO is a simple and effective way to get press coverage for your band, and links to your website. Just create an account, and they’ll send you multiple emails every day from reporters looking for help with a story. Just scroll through the options and respond to the ones you can add the most value to.
  • Guest Blogging
    Guest blogging is still one of the best ways to get backlinks. The reason is because you have complete control over where the links are and what anchor text (the words used in a hyperlink) is used, which Google also factors in when ranking different pages.

To get started with guest posting, you want to find blogs that write about topics similar to what you write about on your blog. You want links pointing to your blog provide real value to readers of your guest post.

Reach Out to Blogs

To find blogs in your niche to reach out to, just head over to Google and use one of the following search strings:

The first option is, “keyword” + “write for us”
Next, try out, “keyword” + “guest post”
And finally, “keyword” + “post was written by”

Once you find a website that you think is a good fit for your writing style, brainstorm 3 ideas and send them an email similar to this one:

My name is [Your Name], and I’m a member of [Band Name].

I’m reaching out because I’d like to contribute a guest post to your blog.

I’ve been brainstorming some ideas that I think your readers would like: (list your ideas)

To get an idea of my writing quality, here are some of my recent articles: (list your articles)

Please let me know if any of these interest you.

Best Regards,
[Signature]

Using the email above to pitch guest post ideas to blogs, I was able to get about a 1 in 5 response rate. And almost all of them converted into my guest posts being published. Guest posting a great way to build links to your website. It’s also a great way to generate awareness for your music in an engaging way.

This “Musicians Guide Search Engine Optimization SEO” is a guest post from Nick Rubright.

Nick is the founder and CEO of Dozmia, a music streaming service currently available on iOS.  He has a passion for helping musicians understand various marketing concepts, and creating the perfect playlist.  Sign up for Dozmia’s mailing list to get music marketing hacks straight to your inbox.

To learn more about setting up your musician website and creating a plan for success in music, check out the New Artist Model online music business school.

New Artist Model member Matt Powell

New Artist Model member Matt Powell

By Dave Kusek and Lindsay McGrath
Sponsored by the New Artist ModelTurn your passion for music into a rewarding career.

On His Own — And Loving It

Canadian Singer songwriter Matt Powell isn’t a big believer in conventional wisdom.  Especially the old saying that there is safety in numbers.  After spending most of his musical career as a member of two different bands, Matt recently stepped out on his own as a solo artist — and is loving it.

The Ottawa-based musician will drop his newest album “Year One” this fall — the title chosen to celebrate his first anniversary as a solo artist.  The songs on the CD represent a journey back to his musical roots inspired by the likes of John Mayer, The Strokes and The Black Keys.

Matt is using a strategy that combines a strong social media presence and lots of gigs to generate buzz for his upcoming release.  He put together his plan with help from the New Artist Model, an online business school for indie musicians.

Currently, Matt has 10,000 followers.  He communicates with them using email, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Youtube and other social media channels.  His videos on Youtube have captured more than 20,000 views and 80,000 on Facebook.

“If you want to be successful online, it is important to respond to every person who contacts you,” Matt says.  “It is also good to “turn the tables” on your fans and give them star treatment.”

“What you want to do is treat everyone as if your favorite artist just responded to you on social media,” Matt says, adding that enthusiasm helps create superfans.  “When I consistently started responding to every single fan, I went from 200 followers to 1000 followers in three weeks.  My fan base grew from 300 to 5700 in 6 months.”

“If they (fans) feel you are their friend and treat them with kindness consistently, they will stick with you and be really, really loyal.  So I am going to continue to be engaging and follow them back even as the numbers go up, up, up.”

Matt communicates often with the people who follow him often.  He also reaches out to the super fans of other artists in his genre.  Matt posts weekly clips and asks his audience what they want to hear.  If enough followers urge him to cover a certain song, he will.  Once the cover is up, Matt engages with the original artist’s following.  He never asks them directly to follow him — rather he simply engages.  It is a strategy that works, he says.

Matt says his success on social media has taught him never to underestimate how significant your reach will be.  You never know you will connect with.  One thing Matt is passionate about — in addition to music — is fashion.  Recently, he had the chance to connect with Anthony Bogdan, a style blogger he’s admired for years “My jaw hit the floor when I got the request,” he says.

“I have people who are happy and eager to share my content,” Matt says.  “The networking and the decency I have been inspired to use have taken my first year as an independent artist and propelled me forward.  I wouldn’t have believed myself at this time last year if I knew where I would be today.”

When Matt is not sharing his music on the internet, he can be found playing at local clubs and bars.  In addition, he hosts a popular open mic event held once a month in the city that is broadcast on Rogers TV Network.  Matt also performs as part of this showcase.

“Doing the open mic is great for networking,” he says, adding that many of the artists he meets during the show ask him to join them at upcoming gigs.

When he plays out, Matt regularly distributes up to 2000 business cards emblazoned with personal email and social media information and asks people to send him a personal message to start a dialogue.

Matt says being an independent artist in Canada requires balancing a unique set of challenges and opportunities.  For instance, radio airplay can be hard to come by.  Most stations are owned by major labels like Warner Brothers, Sony and Universal and play only their signed artists.  

At the same time, Matt says, significant support for indie artists exists in the form of grants offered by the Canadian government.  This is particularly important to Matt who is committed to touring but will keep his home in Ottawa.

“There are lots of government grants available for musicians who stay in the country,” Matt says.  “They can range from $5000 or $10,000 to even as much as $20,000.  Artists can use this money to help record their albums.  This is something I am looking into.”

A typical day for Matt includes communicating with with fans and working on music.  He also takes time, when he can, to review the latest offerings at New Artist Model.

When he wakes up, Matt immediately checks his Twitter Instagram, Youtube and other social media feeds.  He then spends about an hour communicating with fans from around the world including the States, Europe and Brazil.

“I call it upkeep.  I poke and market.  I talk to them in the moment,” Matt says.  After working on his music and spending time with family, Matt finishes his day by checking in with fans again.  “I love interacting with people.”

Matt says that also making time on a regular basis to review material on the NAM site helps keep him inspired and effective.

“I’ve gone back and watched some of the same workshops 4 or 5 different times.  I do that especially when I’ve hit a funk or need some guidance,” Matt says, adding that he has watched some of the video from NAM’s 2015 Nashville gathering 10 times. The Indie Artist Summit was a live mini conference that attracted hundreds of attendees. Top industry pros like Benji Rogers, Patrick Clifford, Barry Coffing, Jay Frank, and more covered topics like building a community of superfans, licensing your music for film and TV, making Spotify work for indie artists, getting your music in front of publishers, and much more. The entire recorded event now lives in the Music Business Guide to Success course.

Matt’s is hoping to reach 25,000 followers soon.  His other goals include playing more big venues, creating merchandise, touring and doing house concerts.  He also wants to open for other artists he admires.

Through it all he plans to continue to stay close to the people who support him — in person and online.

“I will never stop communicating with his original true fans that have helped me from the start.  I have an appreciation and love for them that will never expire,” Matt says.  “The time invested in being personable, kind, and humble, and being appreciative. It comes back to you. ‘The love you take is equal to the love you make.’”

 

To see more about Matt Powell look here

New Artist Model is an online music business school developed by Dave Kusek, founder of Berklee Online. The online school is a platform for learning practical strategies and techniques for making a living in music. Learn how to carve a unique path for your own career with strategies that are working for indie artists around the world. Learn to think like an entrepreneur, create your own plan and live the life in music you want to live. New Artist Model provides practical college-level music business training at a mere fraction of the cost of a college degree. Programs start at just $29/mo.
For more info on the New Artist Model visit https://newartistmodel.com

New Artist Model member Declan O'Shea

New Artist Model member Declan O’Shea

By Dave Kusek and Lindsay McGrath
Sponsored by the New Artist Model Essential Power PackTurn your passion for music into a rewarding career.

Keep moving or die

If you’ve ever been near the ocean, chances are you’ve heard that sharks need to keep moving or else they die.

In his own unique way, singer-songwriter Declan O’Shea is taking that knowledge to heart.  

A member of the edgy alt-rock band, Declan is on the move as he puts together a social media campaign for the band’s upcoming album “The Runner.”

A single from the album entitled “World Set Alight” dropped early this year just in time to be nominated for a Grammy for best rock song and best music video. “The Runner” will be released in its entirety by the end of 2016.  It will feature songs mixed by Tim Palmer (U2 and Pearl Jam) and Bill Appleberry (Stone Temple Pilots, The Voice).

“I am using the New Artist Model to learn how to market the new album properly,” says Declan, who is very active in the Indie Artist Network group.  “I neglected all of this stuff before but am figuring it out.  I am putting a lot of time into Facebook and getting very good at Twitter.  Email marketing starts next month.”

The band, which includes Declan and Christian Montagne, is hoping to build on the buzz generated by its first album “Living on Air” released in 2011.   The National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences recognized the band that year, placing MAKO on its Official Ballot.  Nominations included Best Rock Album, Best Rock Performance By A Duo or Group with Vocals for the song “Unstoppable,” ;  Best Rock Song for “Miss Alison” and Best Short Form Music Video for “Unstoppable.”

Before launching MAKO in 2010, Declan and Christian were part of Cyclefly.  The iconic Irish/French rock group toured Ireland, the United Kingdom, Europe and the U.S. sharing the stage with artists including Iggy Pop, Bush, Live, Linkin Park and others.

Cyclefly released two full length albums.  “Generation Sap” was produced by Sylvia Massy and released in 1999 by Radioactive Records, a division of MCA.  Its second album “Crave,” released by Proper Records in 2002, features a guest vocal spot on “Karma Killer” from Linkin Park vocalist Chester Bennington.

“We played the main stage at Oz Fest and also toured with Bush.  We did the Redding and Leeds festivals.  We did the Woodstock 50th anniversary.  It was all about live then,” Declan says.  “Social media only started kicking in 2000.  Now it’s about downloads, not sales.  Everything’s become ‘game-ified.’  People want to visually see stuff and listen at the same time.”

Declan is using a variety of social media tools to spread news about MAKO and its music.  Email, Facebook, Instagram, Youtube and other channels are all part of his marketing mix.  Currently, Twitter is his most powerful tool.

“We get a lot of airplay through Twitter,” he says, adding that he identifies bands with a sound similar to MAKO and connects with their fans and the radio stations that play their music.

Using auto responders on Twitter is a great way to attract more followers, he adds.  People who follow MAKO automatically receive a message offering a free download of their first album in exchange for an email address.  The message includes a link the MAKO’s website.      

In addition to finding new fans, Declan uses Twitter to collaborate with other musicians, get feedback on singles and find help with marketing.

“I read Dave Kusek’s e-book on Twitter marketing and started sending out tweets and emails to ask for feedback on the new single.  I got lots of positive replies and one fan is helping me with marketing in the States with Spotify,” he says.  “Another is doing photos for the new album and a guy from Germany wants to help find opportunities in Berlin for the band.”

Emailing is an essential part of the band’s marketing strategy, Declan says.  He reaches out to fans on a regular basis with offers of free music and other incentives.  MAKO also gives away its first album for free on NoiseTrade.  

Declan’s day typically begins with meditation and a run.  Then he gets down to work, spending most of each day writing and recording music in his home studio.  He usually turns his attention to marketing in the evening.

He makes it a point to read books that inspire and motivate him.  “Essentialism, The Disciplined Pursuit of Less,” by Greg McKeown — a book recommended by New Artist Model — is one of his favorites.  The bestseller shows readers how to simplify their lives, identify goals and achieve them.

“Every night, I’m reading 10 pages of something. I am going through one after the other.  Lifestyle and business.  Through New Artist Model I’ve gotten many recommendations and blogs to read.  Right now, I’m reading “The 7 habits of Highly Effective People,” Declan says.  

Additional titles he’s found useful include “The Richest Man in Babylon,” by George Samuel Clason,  “The Lean Start Up,” by Eric Ries “Think and Grow Rich,” by Napoleon Rich as well as spiritually oriented volumes like “The Power of Now” and “A New Earth” by Eckhart Tolle.

MAKO is playing the occasional acoustic gig these days.  Once “The Runner” is released, the group will tour in support of the record.  MAKO has played throughout Ireland and toured Brazil twice where they recorded a song and music video with the popular band Medulla.   

Declan has lots of plans that will keep MAKO moving forward — a tour to support the album, continued outreach through social media and a foray into the world of licensing.  If he works hard, Declan figures, things ought to go swimmingly.

“I am working to focus my energy towards my goal and know who I am as an artist,” Declan says.  “Treat your music like a start up business.”

 

To see more about Declan O’Shea and Mako look here http://www.makotunes.com/                    

New Artist Model is an online music business school developed by Dave Kusek, founder of Berklee Online. The online school is a platform for learning practical strategies and techniques for making a living in music. Learn how to carve a unique path for your own career with strategies that are working for indie artists around the world. Learn to think like an entrepreneur, create your own plan and live the life in music you want to live. New Artist Model provides practical college-level music business training at a mere fraction of the cost of a college degree. Programs start at just $29/mo. For more info on the New Artist Model visit https://newartistmodel.com