101 Things To Do In 2016 To Improve Your Music Career

You could call these New Year’s Resolutions if you wanted to, but then you’d stop doing them after two weeks, along with the diet and exercise resolutions already on the list. Think that through.

Assuming that you are really intent on doing something meaningful about your music career this year, you could implement these somewhat random and relatively straightforward but not necessarily simple tasks. OR you could just keep on doing things the way you’ve been doing them. But you need to stop and ask yourself at this juncture: How’s that working out?

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Hear And Far: America's Best Cities For Live Music

America has some serious talent and music lovers know the best jams these days happen outside the major cities. Once upon a time, bands had to make it to musical meccas such as Nashville, New Orleans, New York City, or Austin to draw crowds and make a name for themselves. Not anymore! The following places are some of the best cities in the United States to catch some fresh acts and good times.

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Five Things To Consider When Launching A New Single

Ready for the world to hear to hear your brand new track after spending hours in the studio recording it? Not sure exactly how to go about it? You’re not alone! Understanding the moving parts behind a release is half of the battle, and we’re here to help. Let’s honour the time you spent toiling over the tracking process and do this right. This checklist is meant to be used as a resource as you plan your next single release.

So how can you successfully launch your new single into the ether and ensure maximum impact?

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What Is No Pop And Why I Will Use This Tag On All Future Releases

No Pop. I wish I had thought about this myself. With that “label” or tag — call anyway you want — Lonely Vagabond perfectly nails the reality of today music dilemma. New alternative? Not so sure about that. The Pop vs. No Pop antagonism is a reality. Is it a fact. And it’s not only about economics — actually it’s not only about music either. The whole contemporary western world can be read through the No Pop lens.

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10 Tools That Will Make Your Life As An Artist So Much Easier!

Hey artist friends!

Guess what? As Bob Dylan once sang, the times they are a changin’ — and it’s all for the best. Gone are the days of booking your tours with typewriters and fax machines! There are some truly amazing tools out there in the market that you ought to be in the know about! That is if you are anything like me and are obsessed with being efficient and truly productive with your time!

Here are my favourites that I highly recommend with links and a quick overview of why I think they will help change your life for the better! I’ll keep my descriptions short and to the point so you can just get on with giving them a test whirl!

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New Year's Resolutions

The time of year for New Year’s Resolutions is almost upon us again, and with it will come fair-weather promises to ourselves to get into shape, cut down on alcohol, and maybe tidy the garage. For many of you who frequent this site, the New Year’s Resolution will be something along the lines of a fairly vague ‘be more successful’, and that in and of itself is fine, but I’d like to invite you to take a step back a little.

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10 Rules Of Effective Delegation: Increasing Capacity And Getting The Best Out Of Your Team

I meet many very talented entrepreneurs who are great at what they do. Often I’ll hear them using that common phrase, “if you want it done right, do it yourself”, and upon further discussion they’ll almost always reveal that they struggle with the act of delegation. It can be an incredibly hard concept to embrace sometimes, and I can surely empathize. We entrepreneurs want to own our output and are often very independent by nature.

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A Rich-Kid's Game?

As a struggling artist (aren’t we all?), have you ever noticed that those who struggle the least seem to get the most success?

Let’s look at an example. Let’s call him A. West…..no wait, that’s too obvious. Let’s call him Anthony W. Anthony W used to front an underground, but rising band in the UK. This band did a tour as they were just breaking through, and claimed to let a band from each of the cities they were visiting open for them, all they had to do was get their fans to go and like them on Facebook and comment their preferred band’s name on a status.

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Fame Is Purchased - Why You Need To Pay People In The Music Industry

No I can’t make you famous. No one can. That’s not how this works. So why do people like me need to explain this to musicians all the time? Fame is a very intangible thing – and in this day and age it’s largely purchased. By hiring a producer, manager or promoter you’re probably not going to get famous right away. In fact, even having rad music and an entire team behind you does not guarantee that you will make it. It’s only one step forward. Here’s the thing – we live in a world where fame is bought – and any one who tells you otherwise, or that it was ‘better back in their day’ is woefully misguided.

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Tuning And Calibration: For Music And Life

It was a Saturday afternoon in Minneapolis. Charlie Waymire and I were in a studio at college, tuning up his monster double-bass drumset for his band’s recording session later that day. Or maybe should I say trying to tune his drumset. Taking turns wielding the drumkey while the other played, nothing either of us did seemed to get both bass drums to sound the same. All we got were these loud, sonically unmatched thuds.

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How To Be A Successful Performing Artist In The New Millennium - Part Two

Last month, in Part One, we established that the only money in the music business right now is in performing your own songs and owning your own publishing and merch. We looked at the eleven things an aspiring singer/songwriter needed to do in order to be able to take the next step into learning how to become an entertainer and communicate and connect with an audience. Part One involved a lot of hard work and long, boring hours of practice and re-writes with little to no payoff. Now it gets interesting, although there’s still plenty of hard work ahead. Part Two assumes that the artist has completed all the steps in Part One.

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6 Music Business Skills All Guitarists Need To Know

For the most part, the music business skills guitarists need to build aren’t that different from skills other musicians should be equipping themselves with. Communication and networking skills. Marketing, image and branding. Punctuality and professionalism. Money and time management.

However, there are also some obscure or counterintuitive skills that guitarists should take the time to develop, like the ability to teach, write, or speak.

Have I piqued your interest? Then let’s delve in. here are six music business skills all guitarists need to know.

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The Difference Between A Successful Band, And YOUR Band!

Ever wondered why your band struggles to even get pub gigs, yet a fresh new band is packing out venues from day one? Fed up of having to resort to Pay2Play gigs because no decent promoter is willing to take a chance with you? The secret to success is in plain sight, it’s just only a few have the vision to see it. This guide covers the importance of planning ahead, how to gain attention for your band, and how to score those exciting opportunities that are otherwise unavailable to you.

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