How To Find People That Will Listen To Your Music

Do you ever get this strange feeling that someone is watching you? Maybe I’m crazy (don’t answer that), but I do. I hope they don’t watch me too closely because that’ll get weird very fast. I’ll have to scare them away by walking out to the van in suspenders and a buckwheat hat “HEY YALL HOW YALL DOIN” *van screeches away* The other day I was thinking about getting some hot wings. And sure enough, Facebook gave me coupons to Wingstop. HOW DID YOU EVEN KNOW ME SO WELL FACEBOOK THAT’S A…

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6 Things You Can Do With $100 That Will Change Your Music Career

Money. Let’s face it: most artists aren’t very good with it. Most of us don’t have much to invest into our music career (relatively speaking), and when we do, we tend to throw it at some random opportunities without a larger strategy in mind.

Take, for instance, submission fees to music festivals. Each year, thousands of artists spend over $100 in application fees or subscription costs to EPK sites, in hopes of getting a show at SXSW, CMJ, Bumbershoot, or other large festivals. Personally, I think festivals are overrated in terms of importance for your career, but if you really want to get in, try reading this guide: How to Get Into SXSW.

You can easily spend $100 on strings, picks, or sticks. You could even buy a cheap electric guitar. Or, if you were riding in my tour bus, $100 almost covers the gas from Portland, OR to Seattle, WA.

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Your Band Is Building a Name For Itself. So Where's The Money?

I was reading a New Rockstar Philosophy blog post this morning and it got me thinking.

The post was suggesting that major web media could theoretically perform the role previously performed by the major record labels. They are well-placed to get your band exposure, and have pockets filled with gold, in the same sort of way that the majors used to.

At the same time, there are a number of blog posts and tweets out today questioning whether downloading is dead, and suggesting that people can’t even be bothered to steal music anymore, let alone buy it!

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Managing Your Band Bank Account

So you’ve reached the point of making money from your band’s music and merchandise. Most likely a majority of this money will be poured back into your gas tank or will be put toward new merch items. An initial reaction would be to entrust a member of the band to hold on to any extra money in a personal bank account or in a merch booth money drawer. This method of accounting lacks transparency and can easily cause tension among band members. Even if you don’t have extra funds floating around it’s a good idea to create a bank account that keeps all band money separate of personal funds.

Opening a band bank account can be a sure-fire method of keeping money safe, well accounted for, and organized, but can still cause headaches if not managed properly. Poor organization and money management skills will almost always lead to uncomfortable conversations and cause tension within most bands. To provide some advice to get you started we’ve put together this list of tips for anyone interested in setting up and managing a band bank account. 

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Think For Yourself & Question Authority

I have found myself commenting (ranting?) on various posts on Music Think Tank a lot recently, normally versions of one theme, which can be summed up by a phrase borrowed from Timothy Leary, the psychedelic guru/grass, who nevertheless had a way with a catchphrase: ‘think for yourself and question authority’.

What bugs me are the posts that state or imply that there are routes to success available to any artist who follows certain rules.

Hardly any provide proof of any kind.

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Is Your Band Budgeting Correctly?

I’ve encountered two extremes when it comes to bands and saving money. Some bands save everything, don’t pay themselves a cent. Other bands save nothing, paying out the individual members everything. Then there is the moderate approach, saving some of it, paying out some of it.

For the bands that save nothing, when it comes to a major expense, recording an album for an unsigned band, going on tour or even minor expenses like photoshoots and getting merchandise, how do you pay for it? Does everyone just chip in? Do they pay equal amounts? Does one guy bankroll it all? Surely it would be better to not have to reach into your pocket each time your band wants something?

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There is no money in the music industry: Are we all in it for the money though!?

It is a cold Tuesday morning here in NYC and on the typical walk from LES to Chelsea I notice all the boys and girls in their fancy suits and dresses. Money is evidently a huge motivator for people, the root of all evil some will tell you. It got me sighing - if only music was still swimming in pools of cash. But I am comfortable with that. My motivator is the challenges this industry faces. I love a challenge. So I think, is less money maybe a good thing?

Everyone moans there is no money in the music industry. I am one of them. I understand the problems that come from this; less money to reinvest in new artists, less risk-taking for new music, less money for artists’ creativity and intellectual property etc. Everyone needs a pay cheque and rightly so. How much of a pay cheque do we really need to do our dream jobs though?

This could be a great thing for the industry. A chance to take the trash out. The majors are suffering due to lacking any entrepreneurial intelligence, trying to acknowledge the social movements happening on the ground or having foresight.

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DATE CHANGED- The Rights Workshop Presents: Make Music, Make Money: Get Paid To Write Music

Rights Workshop founder Brooke Wentz, who has 25 years of experience licensing music and hiring composers for films, television shows and brand campaigns, will deliver a crash course on music business basics for composers and songwriters. Guest speakers Marc Capelle and Monte Vallier, who have written music for brands like Macy’s, Adobe and Odwalla, and television networks like HBO/Cinemax and The Food Network, will speak about how to get gigs and successfully break into the business.

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We're All Sales People. What's Your Style?

You may not identify yourself as a salesperson, but rest assured you’re doing some selling. Whether it’s selling tickets, selling downloads or selling your drummer on the idea that he needs to start taking showers - you are in the business of selling.

The approach that you take says a lot about how you view the world. What you believe about yourself, your product and the people who you are selling to, will determine your level of fulfillment and success.

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