How to cultivate your stage persona: 10 Tips

Whether you’re a musician in a band, you’re a solo performer or you’re doing something entirely unconventional with your performance, whatever it is, cultivating a stage persona and having a presence that matches the work you’re doing is an important part of reaching your audience effectively. 

One of the beautiful things about stage presence is that everyone is unique and has something to offer, and that includes you. From your fashion sense to your interactions with the audience, your stage presence is your unique means of communication with your audience. 

While, of course, your work should speak for itself, there’s no harm in using other tools to assist you in that pursuit. No matter where you stand in the band or where you are on your journey, here are ten tips that will help you improve your stage presence.

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8 songwriting mistakes beginners often make, and how to fix them

There are probably as many ways to approach songwriting as there are songwriters.

But beginner songwriters are often only equipped with a handful of tools that results in them producing songs that are subpar at best.

We must all start somewhere, so that’s not the issue. Our skills develop with practice.

But you can increase the quality of your songs significantly if you avoid common mistakes.

Here are eight songwriting mistakes beginners often make and how to avoid them.

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Tips to promote your music digitally

There are so many ways to promote your music online. It depends on how much time you can spend on the digital promotion of your music. They’re some of the easiest ways which can help you to promote your music to a larger audience than any other platform.

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6 ways to create more consistent content.

As someone who’s been writing both songs and articles since January of this year — and moved halfway across the country, and survived a shooting, and started working twice as many hours — I have discovered the wonders of burnout.

 

Lately, I just haven’t felt inspired. Only a few days since I have been in Boulder have I had an influx of ideas that I vomited onto the computer screen. So much has happened since March, yet my Muse idly sits in the grass, unwilling to budge.

 

Any creative will become intimate with burnout. The creative process reaches a plateau similar to what Seth Godin calls “The Dip,” and everything begins to feel stagnant and tiring. The office cubicle you longed to escape becomes the creative rut you long to escape.

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4 tips for defining your personal artist brand

You don’t have to be unique to make it as a performing musician, but it sure helps! Having a unique style and presentation (or more pragmatically, “brand”) is key to helping your and your music standout from the crowd, as well as providing a point of connection with your audience.

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Baby steps: Artist’s guide to getting back out there

As the world slowly reopens, artists are pulling the tarps off their touring vans, changing their strings, and getting ready to once again hit the road, but while the light at the end of the tunnel has unquestionably gotten brighter, with more and more shots in arms, anything resembling “normal” touring remains a ways off. Here, we look at a few tips for how to ease your band (and your audience) back into live music.

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How to find a producer who won't break your heart

“The Right Producer Can Make All The Difference!” is an upcoming webinar featuring the co-founders of ItyDity and sponsored by Bree Nobel of Profitable Musician. The Webinar is focused on how songwriters fail to achieve the professional recording sound they want due to three major roadblocks: Working with the wrong producer A lack of knowledge, tools and communication Getting jerked around

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Making the transition from hobbyist to professional musician

As of 2019, over 1,500 full-time musicians were working in the U.S. The key word there is “working.” Being a professional musician is, indeed, a job. Some people take different routes to get there. But, we can probably all agree that there’s a big difference between touring the country to play nightly gigs and having jam sessions in your best friend’s garage.

However, that doesn’t mean there’s anything wrong with that! Many musicians start as hobbyists. Some have no desire to “make it big” or turn themselves into a money-making music machine.

If you do, though, there are things you need to be aware of as you transition from hobby to business as a musician. You’ve undoubtedly heard stories about how hard it is to make it in the music industry. While those can be intimidating, they shouldn’t stop you from working toward your dreams. 

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10 ideas for behind-the-scenes livestreams

It’s no secret that livestreaming has gone mainstream. Some of the biggest names in every industry have developed new technologies, changed their focus, and created new opportunities along the way.

For musicians, now that live music is on the horizon in several markets, that means looking at livestreams less like an alternative to live shows and more like an addition to them. And it’s already begun.

In a recent article from USA Today, Live Nation purchased livestream platform Veeps in January and have just recently begun installing livestream technology in more than 60 venues across the U.S. so far. Selected venues are regular tour stops, and any artist performing at one of them can basically flip a switch to livestream the gig, say when the event sells out. Performers can deliver backstage access and front-row viewing angles, the companies said.

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Tips on mixing cinematic, orchestral music for film with Brian Losch

Guest post by John Hull. This article originally appeared on Soundfly’s Flypaper

Mixing Tips for Cinematic Orchestral Music with Brian Losch [Video]

When it comes to mixing cinematic, orchestral pieces — whether written to score film, TV, and other media or just for the sake of writing ambitious, epic ensemble music — there’s no doubt that each piece comes with its own set of idiomatic peculiarities. Certainly there are norms and expectations when it comes to prepping a mix in this style, but as always, exciting things can happen when you break the rules too.

That said, one thing you’re always shooting to achieve in cinema music and audio is a sense of immersive bigness. And that can come in many forms. So we talked to Brian Losch, a pro engineer with a Grammy Award to his name and a heck of a lot more accolades than that, about how he typically sets up his mixes, what he listens for, and how he tempers the storm of a (typically) enormous amount of stems.

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Dipping a toe back in the water: How to execute a COVID-safe live event

While it’s important to remember that we are still deep in the throws of a global pandemic, there is something resembling a glimmer at the end of the tunnel, enough that artists, venues, and fans alike are salivating for live events to return. 

While anything resembling a normal show remains a ways off, as of yet, live music is once again entering the realm of possibility. In the following piece we offer some pointers on how to ease back into live shows, and certain precautions that should be taken, whether you’re an artist or a venue operator.

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Music photography: 4 Pieces of equipment for the perfect shot

As a music photographer, your job is a challenging one that comes with new curve balls every day. Because of this, you have to learn to be versatile and adaptable. Many different situations will come your way during your career, so get ready for them as they come your way. Working in the music industry will give you a very well-rounded set of skills. Besides that, remember that you will need the right equipment to make yourself a success.

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In search of meaningful engagement

In this article, we explore how to build meaningful engagement and suggest your website and first-party data has a bigger role to play.

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4 Vocal Tips For Getting Sync Placements

Getting a song into a film or TV show is one of the most exciting things an artist can experience. It can be lucrative, and it can be one of the best ways to get discovered in this over-saturated world of DIY music releases. Unfortunately, the cat is out of the bag and everyone wants a sync placement, making the competition fierce. But you might be surprised what kind of singing has the best chances of getting used on a film or tv show (hint - it’s not the songs that show off your incredible range). Read on for some singing strategies that might help you nab a sync!

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