Dave Kusek is a teacher, consultant, entrepreneur, digital music pioneer, author, speaker, mentor and Senior Partner at Digital Cowboys and New Artist Model. Dave was Vice President at Berklee College of Music in Boston for 14 years, where he created Berkleemusic.com, a hugely successful online enterprise for Berklee. Berkleemusic has since become the world’s largest music school reaching over 20,000 students in 170 countries.
Prior to that, Kusek helped develop the Musical Instrument Digital Interface (MIDI), was co-inventor of the first electronic drums called “Synare”, and founded the first music software company in 1980, Passport Designs, which made it possible for musicians to record and produce their music at home with its award- winning software. His efforts, along with others, set the stage for the multi-billion dollar digital music market that exists today.
In 2005 he co-authored the best selling music business book “The Future of Music: Manifesto for the Digital Music Revolution” which predicted much of what has happened in digital music, including the iPhone, Apple’s SIRI, Spotify, streaming music and the decline of the recorded music industry.
Kusek was a faculty member at Berklee College of Music where he taught music business and a founding faculty member at Berklee Online where he taught The Future of Music and the Music Business.
Kusek has written for or been featured in the New York Times, Boston Globe, Billboard, Wired, Christian Science Monitor, Huffington Post, Associated Press, Boston Business Journal, MTV, CNBC, SF Chronicle, Forbes, NBC-TV, Nightly Business Report, NPR, Financial Times, and the Guardian. Kusek has been a speaker at Midem, Music Hack Day, Digital Music Forum, NAMM, AES, IEBA, MacWorld, Comdex, SXSW, ADISQ, Digital Hollywood and a featured guest on radio and television stations around the world.
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 […]
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 […]
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, […]
By Dave Kusek and Lindsay McGrath Sponsored by the New Artist Model: Turn 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 […]
Guest Post by Caroline of Culture Coverage When everyone is scrambling to bring more to the table, lyric videos pop up to prove to the industry that less is not only better but also incredibly effective. Cropping up as fan posted videos long before they became a thing emulated by artists, lyric videos harken back to […]
By Dave Kusek and Lindsay McGrath Sponsored by the New Artist Model Essential Power Pack: Turn 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 […]
By Dave Kusek and Lindsay McGrath Sponsored by the New Artist Model Essential Power Pack: Turn your passion for music into a rewarding career. Rishi Deva manages the chart topping, award winning Canadian artist Parvati. With his help, she has risen to twice to #1 on the Canadian electronica charts with her rich pop songs, dance anthems, […]
How to Book College Gigs – Case Study from Indie Musician Mike Sullivan Musician Mike Sullivan makes his living touring the college circuit. The Los Angeles-based independent singer-songwriter knows exactly how to book college gigs, playing more than 250 over the past 10 years. As a college music artist, some of the schools he has […]
By Dave Kusek and Lindsay McGrath Sponsored by the New Artist Model: Turn your passion for music into a rewarding career. Luis Hernandez is building a new music company in Mexico Luis Hernandez, founder of Pentagram Records is on a musical mission. He is building a label for Mexican artists who are eager to showcase their […]
What is the best way to start your next song? Opinions differ but sometimes all you need is a new idea! New Artist Model member Lee Pat asked a number of songwriters and teachers 2 questions to see how different musicians approach the dreaded blank page. 1. What is YOUR favourite way of starting a song? […]
Do you feel like you are trapped in social media HELL ? Are you spending all your time promoting your music without seeing tangible results? FREE WEBINAR: “Is Marketing” Killing Your Music? Thursday June 16th at 8pm EST Join CD Baby’s Kevin Breuner and I as we tear down the barriers that kill effective music marketing, […]
By Dave Kusek and Lindsay McGrath Sponsored by the New Artist Model: Turn your passion for music into a rewarding career Breaking into the world of independent music can be tough. But it looks like vocalist Angelia Grace might just have it covered. The gifted soprano is “covering” music from some of the most famous movies […]
Every musician today needs a great website. Each week someone asks me what platform is the best band website builder for musicians to create a killer website. There are many choices to be sure. Bandzoogle has what appears to be the best balance of features and performance at an affordable price. Their monthly packages start at $8 per […]
By Dave Kusek and Lindsay McGrath Sponsored by the New Artist Model: Turn your passion for music into a rewarding career. Music is a family affair for manager Margaret Dombowski. The band she represents — “pop punk” phenom The Magnifiers — is made up of four of her five children. Elliott,16, and Eden, 15, play guitar […]
By Dave Kusek and Lindsay McGrath Sponsored by the New Artist Model: Turn your passion for music into a rewarding career. Cali Conscious is all about good vibrations. The reggae band that got its start playing under the pier in Huntington Beach, California combines a talent for creating great music with a commitment to organizing beach […]
By Dave Kusek and Lindsay McGrath Sponsored by the New Artist Model Turn your passion for music into a rewarding career. Ask singer songwriter Shannon Curtis about the key to her success as an independent musician, and she’ll tell you — literally — to hit the road. She’ll encourage you to start touring with the […]
Part of my thinking behind the New Artist Model online music business school was that I knew that a music degree or college certificate program was financially out of reach for far too many people looking to develop a healthy future in music for themselves. A reporter interviewed me a couple weeks back and here is the story from the Boston Globe. […]
Let’s talk social media. It’s something we all do as artists, but a lot of musicians aren’t using it to it’s full potential. Maybe you’re posting to Facebook and Twitter everyday but feel like your efforts are wasted because you’re not seeing any growth. Or maybe you don’t post as often as you should because […]
Guest post by Jonathan Sexton | CEO Bandposters Before I ran a company, I played hundreds if not thousands of gigs all over the US. I’ve played to 10,000 people (2 or 3 times) and I’ve played to 10 people (more than 2 or 3 times). As important as learning how to book gigs, I’ve […]
The world of recording music has changed a lot in recent years, especially for the indie musician. But one thing still remains the same. Whether you’re recording your first album or your tenth, it still costs money. In this article, I’m going to walk you through some of the expenses you should be budgeting for […]
This article is written by our friends at feature.fm. feature.fm is the first ad platform built exclusively for music, giving you access to promote your music directly inside streaming services. Play your songs to your target audience at the right time. Understand how people genuinely respond to your music with real-time insights so you can make better […]
Social media is a cornerstone to the artist-fan relationship today. With that direct connection you can find a fanbase, and develop a connection with your fans (something that wasn’t possible in the past), and even sell music. Social media really puts your music career in your hands! But with so many options out there it […]
There are a lot of musicians who dream of scoring a sync license. I mean, who wouldn’t want their music on the big screen in front of tons of people? But once you start seriously looking into it, you discover just how much there is to learn, especially if you’re going at it as an […]
Since the beginning, the way we consume and experience music has changed time and time again. In fact, a lot of us have seen at least a few major shifts in musical medium in our lifetime. From vinyl to radio to digital and streaming, one thing we know for sure about music is that the […]
When we think of YouTube, we think of covers, viral videos, and music videos. But, while a lot of the content on YouTube is primarily entertaining, you can also find and learn almost anything from YouTube videos. There’s a wealth of information for musicians from Pro Tools tutorials, song playthroughs, and gear reviews, to presentations, […]
Image via Paul Katcher on Flickr There are a ton of music strategies out there that will help you grow your fanbase, get more gigs, sell more music, sell more merch, and grow your social media following. I’ve even shared a lot of them on this blog. However, I know a lot of people get […]
Our good friend Bobby Owsinski has a lot of great training resources for aspiring musicians and producers. Check them out here: 101 Mixing Tricks His Blogs YouTube Channel His Site Bobby on Forbes
There’s a concept in music called “making it.” You know the story. “Making it” could be getting that big publishing deal, it could be getting the chance to perform in an awesome venue or at an event, or it could be a having your own band and recording your first few songs. It’s interesting that, […]
There’s an interesting divide among musicians. For some, music is just a hobby, and that’s fine. But others need more. Everyone starts as a hobby musician, but eventually some want to take the next step. Unfortunately, moving from a hobby musician to a career musician is no easy task. You might be surprised to hear […]
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