Launching Ribbon – Empowering Musicians to Sell Directly to Fans Via Social Media, Cheaper than Itunes

We’ve recently launched Ribbon (www.Ribbon.co) - see our recent coverage at http://techcrunch.com/2012/11/20/ribbon-a-bit-ly-with-payments-brings-simplified-checkout-to-any-platform/.

Ribbon lets any musician sell mp3s and merchandise directly to their fans and followers on multiple platforms – their blog, twitter, facebook, youtube. Our technology enables the transaction to take place within the platform – leading to more completed transactions.

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Stevie Wonder and Barack Obama say your music isn't good enough to just have people show up at a gig.

Have you heard of Stevie Wonder? Have you heard of Barack Obama? If you knew that a free Stevie Wonder concert was being staged at your local University would you go? Would you at the very least tell someone else about it? Is this too many questions to start an article with?

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Free Music Streaming: Monetizing The Listening Experience

People want free music. Artists want to make money from their art while supplying people with music, be it free or otherwise. Could Spotify, Rdio, and MOG be the answer? Does our use of services like Soundcloud, Bandcamp, and Reverbanation handicap the revenue potential of those services?

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Mixing On Headphones

Headphones are of course an essential part of any studio and tracking would be near impossible without them on most occasions, but what about for mixing?

There are a few consideration to bear in mind when considering going about mixing your next masterpiece on a pair of cans, firstly, the accuracy of balanced frequency representation is a must here.

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Amplify your music career with cover gigs

There is a real uprising of unsigned bands in the UK and the country is full of talent yet to be discovered. Record label development deals are pretty much a thing of the past - and so finding a way to fund your own development costs is a necessity.

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Choosing online mastering

It is always going to be an exciting time for a band, musician or producer when the production process is complete and it’s time to get the project mastered. Mastering is the final production process and it’s goals are multi facetted, level matching, adjustment of tonal response to improve translation to many sound systems, adjustment of the dynamic range, increasing perceived volume, finding unheard clicks, bad edits and glitches, suggestion of mix tweaks if required and ensuring successful deployment to a duplication or release medium.

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Music Without Labels Seeking Submissions for New Web Series!

Hello Everyone!

I am the spokesperson for Music Without Labels & Beat-Play LLC.  MWL is an umbrella for many music projects, ideas and conversation. The MWL Live just wrapped up a on a 15,000 mile cross-country video tour covering the hottest summer musicians and artists across the country. We featured several great bands such as Portugal. The Man, Datsik, The Lonely Forest, Yann Tiersen, Carina Round, Vintage Trouble, Dry the River, Washed Out, Gardens & Villa, Fun. and many more! Check out the MWL Live Tour 2012 videos here. 

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Practice Makes Perfect, But Promotion Makes Success In The Music Business

One of the most advantageous relationships an artist or band can have is with a promoter. At the local level, there seems to be a mystery as to what exactly the promoter does. “Does the promoter promote? Shouldn’t the promoter be responsible for bringing all the people if I’m putting everything into the music end?” These questions resemble those I hear from local artists on a semi-frequent basis. While that logic may seem like it makes a lot of sense, it can ultimately hurt the artist in the long run.

To answer the question; yes the promoter promotes. However, the promotional push varies at different levels based on the expected effectiveness. For example, a large national act or regional touring band has a recognizable name. If I’m promoting a show with a headlining act with a solid fan base, investing in print ads, radio spots, and other means of advertising may make a lot of sense. The average concertgoer will see that name and make it a point to go to that show. The context of the promotional push is much less important at this level. Whether you see a facebook post from your favorite band or a flyer at your bus stop, you’re going to that show regardless of how you found out about it.

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Music Business Training: How hard would you say it is to be successful in the music industry?

Multi-platinum music producer, educator, and book author, Sahpreem A. King shares music business advice on how to become successful in the music business.

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There Are No Standard Record Label Demo Submission Policies

Research Record Label Demo Submission Policies

There are tons of internet resources regarding the instructions on how to submit demos to a record label. I’m here to tell you that there are no standard record label demo submission policies. Labels, even those working primarily within the same genre of music, can be as different as the sub-genres they represent. Do your research and always go directly to the source.

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Life Coaching & The Music Biz

I’ve been working in the music industry most of my life. I’ve been working as an entertainment life coach for about a year. The 2 questions that I get asked the most are…1) What is a life coach? Well, that’s easy. A life coach helps you reach your goals easier and faster than you would on your own. 2) What does an entertainment life coach do? Well, with that question, I find , it is easier to give you a scenerio…

Let’s sat you’ve been studying voice.(or another instrument, or dance etc. Singer/songwriter is just an example) You’ve been working your butt off. Maybe you have one of the best vocal coaches on the planet. You can sing anything. You especially sound amazing when you sing the songs that you’ve written. You work with experienced co-writers and spend time and money going to workshops to make sure your song is just right! You go to other interactive workshops given by some of the best on-stage coaches in the biz. They work with you on how to create a magical show, with your beautiful songs and your kick ass voice. You’re ready to go! But wait….

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Bad Gig? Now What?

Sometimes you have a bad night. Your guitar was out of tune, you forgot the lyrics, you missed cues, and your head was just somewhere else. It happens in music, it happens in sports, it happens in life. But it’s what you do about it that separates the winners from the losers!

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Introducing StudioVox

We’d like to introduce you to StudioVox – The professional social network for creative professionals – and invite all Music Think Tank raders to join our private beta. 

StudioVox (www.studiovox.com) is built from the ground up for creative professionals. It’s not just another profile site. It’s the only social community that encompasses creatives, agencies, industry and fans on a single platform. 

StudioVox offers unlimited music, image and file uploads, so you can express your creativity without restriction.

Here’s our intro video - turn up the volume, set it to full screen and enjoy! 

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When Your Moonlighting Artist Gets Famous

As luck would have it Whitney Houston sang on three of my demo tapes. Now what?

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