Anybody (no really anybody) can contribute anything relevant to this page…All mp3s should be posted on the MTT radio page. If you cannot find your post here, your article may have been moved to the MTT homepage.
If you would like Music Think Tank to publish your contribution, please read our posting guidelines and our posting advice.
April 18, 2011 Have you ever considered creating your own iPhone app? Mobile Roadie is the best turnkey app creation tools on the market and since I’ve just successfully released my own app, i’d like to share the step by step process with you. Read on to discover how I took a few hundred dollars and flipped it into my own app within weeks.
June 3, 2010 Musical behemoth Rock Band Network announced their partnership yesterday with a number of do-it-yourself service providers to help bridge the gap between music and gaming.
Through this program, bands can receive special opportunities from affiliates, including waived and discounted account fees, complimentary distribution and promotion of Rock Band Network songs, banner ads, widgets, cross-promotional linking and more.
April 13, 2010 The lounge was sold out; packed with zombies who starred at the stage for three hours, frequently stopping to check their Twitter or text a friend nearby. Both bands that I managed to catch (Das Racist & Penquin Prision) played until they were dripping with sweat in a valiant effort to please the unpleasable.
March 11, 2010 For the last few days I’ve been going back and forth in the comments section of my favorite music industry blog, Hypebot with a gentleman by the name of Jason who owns the little known label called Viper Bite Records. The post we were so passionately discussing was primarily about metrics but also rasied the question of whether or not the full length album was still a relvant business model. The conversation struck a nerve among readers and became so intense that I’ve decided to expand on these topics in a post of my own. Here is an except from the original blog written by Alex Mann of Trendrr called, “With Mixtapes & Social Media, Is The Album So Far Gone?”.
January 16, 2010 The days of walking into Wall Mart or Target on new release Tuesday are long gone for me. I used to enjoy standing in the isle of my favorite music store, looking at cover art and buying a fourteen dollar piece of plastic. Not anymore. I’ve realized that there is a more cost effective and environmentally friendly way to discover new music…and I’m not alone.
Everyone has their own methods of finding digital downloads.Its a new day and if you are not aware of the possible processes of new music discovery, you’re CD’s are dead in the water. I figured that sharing my normal routine will shed some light on how you can position your work to be found. I encourage you all to try my method and contribute your own in the comments section.
December 28, 2009 I recently came across a tweet from one of my favorite marketing experts, Suzanne Lainson of Brands Plus Music. It was a report on the selected findings of a survey conducted by Leveraging Investments in Creativity. The survey sought to understand artists’ financial circumstances more than a year into the recession, their strategies for adaptation, and their needs and concerns at this time. I found most of the results to be surprisingly familiar to the ones I’ve heard piece meal from my clients last year, however this is the first time I had seen such a complete report from a cross section of people like you - struggling artists clamoring for ways to survive and become more profitable in 2010.
December 21, 2009 For a limited time I will be accepting applications for artists who want to try out the Rock Band Network creation tool on my dime. We’ll get into pricing shortly along with a high level step by step introduction to the platform. I’m guessing all in, the selected artist will save about $150 to $200 in software and subscription charges and gain the ability to make money using the system. Kinda cool right? Well lets get started.
December 12, 2009 As 2009 draws to a close it seems only natural to reflect on the events of the year and provide insight into arguments from both sides of the fence. The fall of the music industry has been happening for over ten years, however this year has seen an influx in the amount of musicians, and industry professionals participants that have been effected by the crisis. Whether you’ve lost your prized music biz job or realized that a label deal is pointless, we’ve all recently changed our concept of reality. When Myspace was en vogue we saw the same phenomenon of over crowding that we are seeing in the How To space. This time Wordpress and Twitter may be responsible for allowing anyone with a laptop and cut-n-paste skills to profess their views on How To Survive the New Music Industry.
December 5, 2009 As an early regifted Christmas present from MTT contributor and new media scholar, Derek Sivers, I present this blog on general topic of time management. Instead of scloding you with a boring presentation about balancing work and life, I’ll pay forward a free technique that we can all use immediatley.
November 30, 2009 1. Clean Up Your Room: Organization is key when creating your marketing plan. One can’t be effective and messy at the same time.
November 22, 2009 It used to be that record lables would operate in a very simple, organized fashion. As long as you were working these specific areas simultaneously, talented recording artists were guarenteed a certain amount of success. Keep in mind that the old industry machine braggeed about a 1:10 ratio. Out of every ten artist, one would go Platinium and pay for the rest. Remember that?
November 18, 2009 When I was a child my parents would constantly remind me that I had a poor concept of money. Thankfully my overhead was low enough that spending all of my paper route money didn’t leave me out on the street. Insert rent, car payment, food and a wireless phone bill and suddenly, I had BIG problems. Unfortunately, many musicians still don’t know how to create an effective budget or sucessfully balance a check book. Musicians are not alone on this. Its very common for workers who have a STEADY source of income to live paycheck to paycheck, or worse, carry a negative cash flow.
November 6, 2009
Updated on November 11, 2009 by
Kevin English
I speak to musicians everyday who desperatley want to become famous, sell millions of records and pack arenas. Once in awhile I have a chance to chat with entertainers who have been to the mountain top only to look down at how far they had to fall. The space in between is reserved for those who live a “normal” life, but I’ve always been curious to know what it feels like after the crowd has stopped cheering and the units stop selling. I got my wish at CMJ 2009.
November 4, 2009 Writhing around the filthy stage like a man possessed, lead singer Keenan “Hot Pants” Mitchell of Bottle Up & Go stole the show at this year’s CMJ Music Marathon and Film Festival. I’d heard whispers of these derelicts from other artists and music industry execs, but hadn’t quite bought into the hype until I experienced them for myself.
A few hours before the late October show, I literally bumped into one third of the band at an open bar on Bowery in New York City. We shouted introductions at each other as a large group of unrelated indie musicians played Rock Band over the venue’s shitty sound system.
