None Of Your Business

Copying what other artists are doing is a common problem I often encounter when talking to artists. They have identified a few artists who appears to be active or doing well so they copy them. They do what gigs they are doing, copy what blogs they are featured on and release content with the same frequency as them. They will even go a far to match their follower count through promotion or unsolicited means.

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The Real World vs The Internet

I visited this seminar recently run by a music professional. He explained quite an elaborate picture of the music business but one thing didn’t sit quite right with me. He said “to make it in this business you have to get out in the real world. You can have some success on the internet but eventually you will find yourself having to embrace the real world to progress.”

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5 Tips For Getting Featured On Beatport

So you have a new release and want it to be featured on Beatport. Well get ready, because there is a lot of competition. But the good news is that it can all happen with consistency and, of course, good music. We work very hard to help our clients get features each and every week. Here are some simple yet effective ways to increase your chances of being featured on the coveted site.

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Becoming A Six Figure Artist Part 1

What I’m going to show you isn’t for everyone.  It does take some work to set up.  But if you are willing to make a few phone calls, this will allow you to reach more people with your music and make a bigger difference. 

It comes down to three main things:

• Filling your studio
• Filling your gigs
• A magic ingredient that I will tell you about later.

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Why It's Important To Develop Your Strengths If You Want To Grow As Musician

Yesterday I saw a great quote:
“Success is achieved by developing your strengths, not by eliminating your weaknesses.”
It’s from Marilyn vos Savant. She’s known for having the highest IQ.

Think about it. It sounds quite logical. Weaknesses can be distracting. Eliminating your weaknesses is like eliminating the weed around a young tree. By eliminating your weaknesses, you eliminate some of the distractions that prevent you to focus on your goal, like growing your career as musician.

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Innovation, Our New Job As The Music Industry

I released my first music video, “Rocket to the Moon” today. As a new artist with a low starting fanbase I understood I wouldn’t be able to get much press write up for my music video unless I presented something never seen before. So that’s what I did, I created “The World’s First Portrait Music Video”, and the press followed. It is our new job as the Music Industry to lead innovation.

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Wurrly: New Singing App. If You Have A Voice, Don't Save It For The Shower

Wurrly is a free app that transforms your smartphone into an on-the-go music studio with a fully customizable recording artist experience. Wurrly enables you to choose a song you love, customize it (by key, tempo and instrumentation), then record and share quickly and easily. Wurrly recognizes that a song should never be one size fits all so we celebrate your unique individuality.

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How to Increase the Reach of Your Music

Clients on board of Symphonic Distribution have a lot of offerings, but above all, they have choice. Our clients can choose when they want to deliver their content and where they want to deliver it. That choice is not easily found with our competitors, as some won’t even let clients have a direct account on a partner that the distributor is not delivering to (we call that ridiculous).

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Warner Music Group Collaboration with Shazam Creates Hybrid Record Label

By Zach Rickers

In February of 2014, Warner Music Group and Shazam announced that they would enter into a “strategic collaboration” in which Warner would have access to Shazam’s user data and Shazam would have access to exclusive Warner content.¹  Currently, when a user hears a song that they like, whether it is at a restaurant or on the radio, they can open up the Shazam application on their smartphone and hold the phones microphone to the speaker which will then analyze and identify the song title and artist that the user is listening to.²  Once a song is identified, the app logs data such as the time of day the song was “tagged”, the song being identified, and even where the song was tagged (if the user has location services enabled).³  This is the sort of data that Warner plans to use not only for A&R, but also for marketing and promotion purposes.

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Top 10 Do's and Don'ts for Touring Bands

Congratulations!

 You have an album or two under your belt, a group of fans that come to all of your shows,  your creative thought processes have combined, and the stars are all in alignment.  KILLER.

Don’t forget- there’s still a long road ahead of you.  You are just one band out of a million other bands.  If you want your band and music to stand out from the crowd and make a lasting impression in peoples’ minds, there are a few dos and don’ts of the music industry to understand and follow. These industry practices and tidbits of advice come directly from some of the masters/experts in the field.  They had to learn these lessons the hard way, but at least they learned! With that being said, here is our top-ten list for taking it to the next level if your band decides to tour:

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Post-Show Procedures: 8 Things Every Band Should Do After the Performance

Do you have a post-show plan? Is there a set of procedures that you work on after each performance? Or, does your band simply work on the next upcoming event – the next show, the next rehearsal, time in the studio, etc.?

In almost every professional endeavor, there is some kind of routine or review period to measure performance or follow-up with customers:

• In sports, the coach diligently sits down with the entire team to review footage of the previous game. Team member celebrate successes and most importantly, look for areas of improvement.

• In corporate business, the board of directors and executive staff look over stock performance and make decisions to keep their shareholders satisfied.

• In the arts, performers carefully review each element of the show to see what delighted audiences and what could use work.

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How Artists Should Deal with Auto-Renewing Contracts

It’s easy to fall into the routine of scrolling past terms conditions agreements without thinking much about them. However, they can often affect the future of your music, where it can be released, who controls it, and how it can be distributed. For example, a licensing agreement can change how future revenues are received (or waive future royalties entirely); a contract with one distributor might limit future opportunities with another; some sponsorship agreements will bind you/your band members to one specific type of product. These are all instances when you are limited by the choices made without full consideration of long-term effects.

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How Bands Can Break Into New Markets

One way to grow your music’s reach is to break into new markets. This could be taken a number of ways: new geographical areas (cities, states, countries, etc.) or simply new audiences in general (by demographic, interest, psychographic, etc). Before you try and expand your reach through new markets, it’s important to take a few things into consideration:

• Return on Investment: What is the cost or effort required to break into this market? Is the return on investment worthwhile or would you be better off using those resources to grow an existing market?

• Goals: What kind of role will this market play in your S.M.A.R.T.E.R Goals?

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The One (and Only) Thing A DJ Should Ask For In Return For DJ Mixes

You’re creating boatloads of amazing mixes - yippee! So, it’s only natural that for every piece of music you deliver people should automatically make people want to come to your gigs or buy your latest release …right?

Errrr..wrong.

One singular piece of music isn’t going to translate into an immediate purchase or attendance to your event.

But, I have good news.

Building trust and BFF-worthy relationships with people so that they do backflips of joy when you make an offer is something you can do.

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