Music Videos Have Leaped From Entertainment To Experience, Thanks To Social Media

The talent-hunting reality shows may have started it, but music videos in general, and social media sites, YouTube in particular, have transformed and rebranded music and their artists from entertainment to a lifestyle experience. The interactive component in shows like American Idol, America’s Got Talent, The Voice, and their various versions have given their millions of viewers part of the power to decide who wins and who loses.

Click to read more ...

Follow The Music: Top 5 Cities For Aspiring Musicians

Ready to make your big break in the music business? It might be time to pack up your band and head to a brand new city. Get inspiration from this list of the top 5 musical cities in the country.

Click to read more ...

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.

Click to read more ...

Millennial's Relationship To Music Consumption, By A Millenial

After reading Pierre Priot’s impressions on the relationship my generation has to music consumption (published here few days ago) I felt that, as a Millennial myself I should share my personal view on the matter. Although I can only relate to the European market, and from my own environment, I hope my thoughts will give you more insights into my generation’s mind.

Click to read more ...

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.

Click to read more ...

5 Ways To Integrate Playlisting Into Your Digital Marketing Campaign

 So you have a new track and you’re ready to release it. Great work! What’s your game plan?

There are many marketing avenues for you to map out before you’re ready to release, and each one is just as important as the next. In fact, it’s the decisions you make right now that will either launch your career to new heights, or simply simmer away into obscurity.

Out of the many avenues you are strategizing when it comes to launching your song, one you must consider spending some time on is the phenomenon of Playlisting - which simply refers to a list of songs compiled to represent a certain mood, genre, or event. Playlists are how music fans are discovering most of their new music these days, thanks to the current boom of streaming services like Spotify, Rdio, Deezer, Songza, and Pandora. In fact, Spotify users find, on average, 26 new artists a month through the platform. That’s pretty cool.

Click to read more ...

5 Rewarding Careers to Explore With a Music Degree

While many people dream of becoming a musician, most people assume there are limited career options. However, there are actually many exciting jobs available to music degree graduates. Below introduces five rewarding careers available to those with a music degree.

Click to read more ...

One Helluva Musical Butt Whoopin’

This article originally appeared on PowersPercussion.com

There’s nothing like stacking yourself up next to a heavyweight to remind you where you’re at on the totem pole! Over the years, I have had several opportunities to study and/or make music with some of the world’s best musicians. In many of those interactions, I have met the challenge and performed quite well, if I do say so myself. On the other hand, I’ve also had some encounters that have downright put me in my place.

---

Click to read more ...

8 Ways To Get People To Share Your Song

Does promotion often feel like pulling teeth?

Has it been hard for you to get people to share your music?

If so, continue reading. We’re about to clear things up for you.

Click to read more ...

“Thinking Music” vs. “Emotional Music”: Two Different Kinds of Music Listening Experience

I’ve always wanted to share my thoughts on how I listen to music and how I interpret what I hear. What is it that makes some tracks “work” for me while others leave me uninspired? Of course, there’s no short answer. Sometimes it’s a vocal hook, sometimes a driving guitar part, sometimes a floating ambience or a pumping bass line. With every track it is different. However, after giving some thought to this and “analyzing” the way I perceive music, I’ve come to realize that I can clearly distinguish between the two types of music: what I call “thinking music” and “emotional music”.

“Emotional music” is probably the most obvious kind. This is the type of music that makes you feel good or makes you want to cry or just makes you feel like you’re flying through the sky and all your problems just seem to melt away. This music caters to the basic human emotions, and this is what you usually can hear on the mainstream radio. Of course, that does not exclude jazz or classical or any type of indie or alternative music. For instance, Bach’s “Air on the G string” or Beethoven’s “Moonlight Sonata” or even Philip Glass’ fabulous score to the film “The Hours” are all — to me — examples of this type of music. As are Radiohead’s “Fake Plastic Trees” or U2’s “Where the Streets Have No Name” or Bob Dylan’s “Desolation Row” or even Michael Jackson’s “Man in the Mirror” and, strangely, most of Sigur Ros’ catalogue as well. As you can see, very different music genres belong here. This doesn’t have to be pop music in the narrowest sense of the term but tracks belonging to this type usually have a strong sense of melody and/or harmony and quite simple chord progressions (although again, this is not mandatory) especially when compared to what is called “academic music” or some of the more complex forms of jazz.

Click to read more ...

5 Portable Must Haves for Musicians

Inspiration cannot be scheduled. It could be the rustling of leaves or the sound of traffic whizzing by that forms the theme of your next song. To make sure you can record your latest musical genius, here are a few things you should always have with you.

Make It

If you play an instrument like a harmonica, it is fairly easy to keep it at hand, but what happens if you are a drummer or play the harp? For musicians who can't carry their instruments, it becomes essential to find a tool that creates music in a similar way. A musical app like the KORG iMS20 is a great example because it emulates a synth and is easy to customize. You can install it on your phone, and move around town with a mini studio on hand. It includes a synthesizer, sequencer, mixer, effects and drum machine all rolled into one.

Click to read more ...

Toronto Get’s a Music City Twin - What Does it All Mean?

Well, it looks like Toronto and Austin are now twins. Music city twins, that is. Each city’s respective council have approved a musical alliance partnership between the two cities.The music city initiative, 4479 (named after Toronto’s longitude and latitude coordinates), is lead by Music Canada. 4479 will be a collaborative effort between Toronto city official and members of the music industry to increase attention and tourism towards Toronto’s music scene. 4479 also plans to make Toronto a leading music destination. The city of Toronto will work to strengthen relationships with other music cities around the world, particularly Austin, TX.  Austin is a city that has seen amazing growth and tourism traffic in recent years thanks to music industry events such as South by South West and Austin City Limits, among others. This seems to be an exciting time for the industry here and for the city of Toronto as a whole; but while this is a great step for our city, one can’t help wonder just how much of an impact this alliance can make on the culture and economy of Toronto - in actuality.

Click to read more ...

5 Country Music Meccas of the South

Country music is as American as apple pie and baseball. The genre, a combination of American folk music, blues and western music, originated in the southern American United States in the 1920s. Since then, country music has evolved to appeal to a broad, international audience. Said Scott Stem, the Media Relations Director for the Country Music Awards (CMAs), “We are a very real-life music, based on real-life experiences.”

Click to read more ...

Think of Your Music as a Service, Not as a Product

As an independent recording artist, do you think of your music as a service or as a product?

When the phonograph debuted in 1877, the traditional service of music (live performance) was transformed into a product (recordings). This product was stored on physical media — wax cylinders that eventually evolved into vinyl records, 8-tracks, cassettes, CDs, digital downloads, and other formats. This single innovation, through its ability to reproduce recorded sound, forever changed the way we experience music.

Click to read more ...