December 30, 2013 This is part two of my series on how to make more money from your music career. If you missed it, you can see part one here. That looks at the different ways in which you can earn money from gigging.
Today though, I want to look quickly at the power of recordings songs for holiday events such as Christmas, Thanksgiving and the like.
December 19, 2013 I’ve become very fond of Craigslist.
Searching for players, gigs, and gear, somewhere between my first cup of coffee and a cleaner pair of underwear, I feel like I’m going to need a pair of bunny slippers and a robe this winter in order to fully realize my out of work potential.
I stay in the musician section for the most part, but even those ads are littered with nerds, real-estate agents and date rape enthusiasts. It’s a great place to be if you’re a “serious”, “drug free”, 22 year old female vocalist with your own equipment. And it’s as close as I’m ever going to get to Reality TV.
The searching, however, has paid off.
Advice from the Experts tagged Facebook, ReverbNation December 11, 2013 If you’ve been making music for a while by now, you probably already know how to write a song. If not, you’ll want to check this beginners guide to songwriting before you go any further.
Now I’ve a question for you: Does the kind of songs you’ve been writing match the aims you have for your music career?
December 9, 2013 Music Gorilla regularly hosts showcases. At many of these events, we have an A&R rep from a major label that is there solely to watch the performances and take notes on everything they’re seeing and hearing. The performers are introduced to the rep and the networking commences. A few weeks later they receive written feedback on their performances for better or worse. What they do with it is up to them of course, but information is priceless.
Since we’ve been doing these shows since 2004 we figured it was time to put some of that experience on paper. So here we go,
10. Show Up – Obvious, but crucial – in order to perform you have to show up. We can expand on this by saying show up on time, or even early. We have bands come in from all over when we do these shows and when you’re on the road, things can happen. Just try to leave yourself plenty of time so that if (or rather, when) they happen, it doesn’t force you to cancel the gig or become a no-show.
December 7, 2013 December 5, 2013 I sometimes get approached by aspiring recording artists looking for help, and I’ve broadened my skill set from a songwriter to music producer. One of my long-term goals with Leet Music is to be serve as a music / label and publisher for artists within the anime, video game and “otaku” music genre. This article outlines my plans and how I hope to benefit from it.
What is artist development?
Recording artist development is how an publisher (record label, etc.) partners with an emerging artist to create a music product for the first time. Often the artist will provide creative assets like vocals, sometimes the music and lyrics, and the publisher invests in the business of music production, assets like graphic design and music video, as well as promotion and distribution of the record. In exchange for assuming financial risk in the project, the publisher often takes the lion’s share of the earnings from the music.
Advice from the Experts tagged Independent December 3, 2013 It’s been a minute since the first batch of fierce, fabulous, female music business entrepreneurs showed up on my blog, and as you can see it was worth the wait. I’m thrilled to be showcasing now over 100 women. Please share this, retweet this and feel free to repost on your own blogs. With Love, Ariel
December 2, 2013 Hello all, and welcome to Part 1 of what I hope will be a ongoing series on how to better make money in your music career. Whether you want to earn a full time income from your music or you simply want to make enough to cover recording or equipment costs, this series should go a way in helping you achieve that.
Today I’m going to look particularly at how you can make money from gigging. I often see musicians leaving money on the table from their gigging efforts, either through shyness, or simply because they didn’t know how best to monetize their performances. With that in mind, here are some of the main ways you should be making money from each gig.
November 30, 2013 November 25, 2013 Hello again, my Music Think Tankers. Today I’m going to look at 6 HUGE things you can do to better promote your music.
Now before you roll your eyes and think I’m going to tell you to “create a Facebook account and promote through social media” or to “get your music in as many places as possible,” listen up. This guide is going to be full of actionable content and advice that won’t be found in every post on the subject that simply rehashes information the writer has heard and not tried out themselves.
November 23, 2013 
MusicThinkTank.com | Musicians, Should You EVER Pay-To-Play?
Advice from the Experts, MTT, MTT Open tagged Weekly Recap November 18, 2013 
Payola, in one form or another, is as old as the music business:
Labels pay radio stations to broadcast their music, producers pay DJs to spin their records in the club, and promoters ask live bands to pay-to-play at their event.
And it’s always been a hot topic amongst musicians.
So if you’re an artist, should you ever have to pay-to-play?
November 4, 2013 MusicThinkTank.com takes great pride in being a renowned resource for all who comprise today’s music industry. We appreciate the conversations you start, the advice you share, the projects you promote, and the feedback you share and we want to encourage your continued efforts.
Thanks to our loyal readers and contributors, October was a great month for MusicThinkTank.com - so today, we’d like to share that success with you by highlighting October’s most popular posts. On behalf of MusicThinkTank.com, thank you for your support. We enjoy providing a unique platform where the music industry really can think out loud!
Laura Schneider, MusicThinkTank.com Community Manager
Advice from the Experts, Branding, Developing a Strategy, Exposure: Getting Heard Now!, Facebook, Gaining Support, Sponsorships & Endorsements, Getting To Know Your Audience, Handling Public Relations, MTT, MTT Open, Marketing, Marketing Strategies, Music Business Advice, Music Social Media, Music as a Business, Networking, Social Media, The Benefits of Blogging, The Future of Music, The Road to Success tagged Apps, Marketing Strategies, Marketing Tools, mobile apps, music promotion, record labels, social media for musicians, soundcloud October 31, 2013 You know that image we all have in our heads about personal assistants? Only celebrities are busy (and rich) enough to have someone to keep them on track and book their first-class flights. Maybe you don’t see the need for an assistant - you are determined to be the DIY musician and actually believe it’s possible . But your life is feeling unbalanced, and you are finding yourself spending more time updating Facebook than working on your next album.
Hiring a personal assistant is costly for anyone, especially a musician getting their feet off the ground, but there is an option here for you - a virtual assistant. You could still be hurting yourself professionally, financially AND personally by not hiring a virtual assistant - want to know how?
Below are 5 benefits of getting a virtual assistant of your own.
