Music Think Tank

Andrew Heringer “Under California Skies” Interview

In a recent post, Dan Krikorian, a touring musician, interviews Andrew Heringer about his band’s latest album, Under California Skies. The album contains elements of folk, pop, and rock. In the interview, Andrew Heringer talks about his songwriting process, musical influences, inspirations behind some of his songs, and his musical, “Sleepaway Camp: The Musical”. Fans helped the band raise over $10,000 to cover the costs of recording so the Andrew Heringer Band was able to release their album for free.

“I had a moment that I will never forget when I was probably about 13 or so where I said to myself, “I think I’m gonna be playing music for a long time… This is a real personal album for me and all the lyrics came from a place of real world inspiration for me.” (Read on.)

Social Networking Spaghetti Toss

Brody Harper has posted an article about how the success of social networking strategies is random. He describes social networking strategies to throwing noodles against a wall and seeing what sticks. Artists are all different so a particular social networking strategy may not work as well as for other artists. Mr. Harper talks about how companies like SkörInc handle social networking for artists and marketing. There are so many social networking outlets popping up, but one thing remains important: Artists need to build brands on their website.

“Here’s what worked in this situation, but there’s really no way of knowing it will work in any other situation.” In fact in the music industry, more than once, I’ve described any Social Networking strategy as throwing noodles against a wall and seeing what sticks, and I think there’s a couple reasons for that. Most importantly, not every artist is the same.” (Read on.)

Making It In One Year - Part II

Josiah Mann continues his year-long monthly series about his journey to be fully supported by music within one year. Josiah Mann is the lead singer and founding member of the band Sufficient Cause. Their goal is to become fully supported by their music, recorded or performed, within 12 months without signing to a label. Since the last post, the band has played 7 shows and distributed 600 CDs. The post details the good things that have been happening and the things the band is learning along this hard, but exciting journey. Josiah emphasized the importance of telling a story through music.

“One of the big problems with hearing music online is that it’s just a song. Don’t get me wrong, music is great, but stories are what draw people in. If a song is not connected to any experience, the song, as well as the artist, is quickly forgotten among the mass of music that exists online.” (Read on.)

If you missed Josiah’s first post, check it out here.

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Natalie Cheng is the new intern at Music Think Tank.