Getting Your Solo Music Career Started

This article by Kenneth Estrada y Santiago originally appeared on Soundfly’s Flypaper

Over the last 15 years, I’ve been part of seven different musical projects. I’ve played in all kinds of bands: a shoegaze trio, an experimental metal duo, an electronic pop group, an indie rock band, an ambient octet, a punk rock quartet, and a German teen pop group.

I ended up leaving all of them. Why? For various reasons, sure, but all with the same thread of ambition attached: I had a vision for myself and my own music making that these projects weren’t entirely satisfying. I wanted to write my own songs. But most importantly, I didn’t want to fight for every single idea I had in my head anymore.

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How To Promote Your Demo Online Without A Budget

In 2018, it’s much easier for up-and-coming creative artists to find their way to their audience with zero promotion budget and not being contracted with monopoly labels. Along with streaming services and indie labels, a completely new phenomenon is being introduced into the music industry: a community label named Younk.

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Are You Treating Your Production Cost Like A Business Would?

One of the best parts of taking your passion project to the next level and treating it as a business is that you are able to take advantages of the tax write off that goes into running your business. Yet many new entrepreneur-musicians struggle to fully benefit from this. Especially shocking given the equipment that goes into production is one of the largest cost to your business. Write that new mixer off baby!

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How To Promote Your Product Or New Project On A Budget

When a product or service promises consumers greater bang for their buck, it’s a powerful motivator. Getting the highest value from spending the least amount of money is what most people want from the products they buy. It’s no different for the marketers themselves. Marketers are always looking for ways to strengthen their return on investment when it comes to promoting a new product or service. Not every business has the promotional resources of Apple or Microsoft, of course, so most businesses won’t be able to use a multimillion-dollar media blitz to advertise a new product or service.

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How To Use Merch To Engage Your Fans

Fan engagement and direct-to-fan are hot topics these days because it’s finally come to light that fans are the real gatekeepers in the music business. And by now we should also know that merchandise is one of the surefire ways that artists can make solid money today. Like most other revenue streams for artists, being successful at your merch biz is highly dependent on your fans. The good news is that in addition to being a cash generator, your merch can actually be used as a fan engagement tool. When you’re using your merch to engage your fans, they’ll feel connected to you.  When they feel connected and as if they are part of your journey, they will be likely to buy more. So how exactly can you use merch to engage your fans? Here are five ways:

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Why Everyone Should Try An Instrument At Least Once

But I kept that old bass guitar and every once in a while, I get it out of its case. I strum my fingers across its strings and our two children cover their ears in mortification. I’ll never regret my time spent dabbling in music, primarily for what it taught me about my family, myself, and the real world.

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8 Reasons Why Artist To Fan Social Apps Work

The big social networks should be seen as the top of the funnel in converting your followers into dedicated fans. Here are the top 8 reasons you should use a GigRev Powered direct-to-fan micro-community platform to build a digital fan club and bring fans closer.

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20 Creative Marketing Resources For Musicians On A Budget

If you’re like most musicians from humble beginnings, you likely don’t have a very large pool from which to gather money to support your dreams in the early stages. Here’s a collection of affordable, often free, resources to help you get your feet off the ground and save as much money along the way.

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Business Cards For Musicians

Business cards, we’ve all had them. Some of us swear by them, others say “neh” and do away with them. Whatever type you are, I’m sure someone’s handed you one at some point. And you probably thought, “what the hell am I supposed to do with this?” Or maybe you were like “sweet dude, I’m gonna call you right away.” Either way it probably got you thinking. You may have thought, “wow this person really comes prepared.” I seriously doubt you thought, “heh, look this guy, what a dinosaur, still uses business cards.”

In this article we’re going to take a look at a few things you can do with business cards to stand out amongst the sea of musicians out there, and why business cards for musicians still can be used today.

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The Music Marketing Manifesto: 10 Principles For Success

Five years ago, we were asked to write a simple marketing guide for unsigned bands and independent artists. We came up with ten principles for success and it was shared on the Unsigned Guide Music Blog. Since then the music industry has changed dramatically with the shift from music sales to music access. iTunes has been replaced by Apple Music and downloads with streaming. Spotify is increasingly becoming the default music service for the masses. With these developments ringing in our ears, we decided to update our principles for success.

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How To Get Your Music On A Spotify Playlist (From A Band That Has)

How you get your music on a Spotify playlists is a hot topic. Most people expect there to be a simple, golden bullet solution. Who can I pay? Who do I email? From experience, the reality is quite different. In this article we’ll tell you the approach we took with The Daydream Club, an independent artist that has amassed over 40,000,000 Spotify plays and regularly attracts between 500,000 and 1,000,000 streams per month.

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Artists & Musicians Are Wasting Time With Social Media

The web is a flutter with news and panicked updates on the decline of Facebook media reach. They saw organic reach drop 52% in 2016 and engagement for brands drop by over 20% from January to August in 2017. Add to that declarations of “Organic reach on Facebook is dead” from this year (2018) and you can see why anybody who’s not pumping copious amounts of cash into the platform’s paid reach and advertising system is wasting their time.

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In The Band: 4 Tips To Having The Best Tour Of Your Music Career

If you’re in a band, you’ve likely dreamt of going on tour. This can be a great time to explore new territories and play for appreciative audiences. However, as fun as a tour can be, you need to take things seriously. A great tour requires plenty of extensive planning. Here are four tips to having the best tour of your music career.

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4 Essentials Every Recording Studio Needs To Have In Place

Whether you’re making your own music or setting up shop for others, a recording studio can be an incredible place. It’s in the studio that aspirations can become a reality. However, a studio alone isn’t enough to create a quality recording experience. You need to give it all the necessary amenities. Here are four essentials every recording studio needs to have in place.

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