An Honest Review of the All-New Sonicbids EPK System

Today, I was checking out a Sonicbids EPK that was emailed to me. Much to my surprise, the layout for a Sonicbids artist profile completely changed – there was no quick bio, music player on top, or a useful set of links (press, stage plot, etc.). Instead, I found a Pinterest-like layout with navigational tiles. I thought it was just some lame option that the artist chose, but decided to check using my own band’s profile.

This is what I found:

Click to read more ...

Need help winning Joe Bonamassa's Blues Masters Competition

Hello my name is Hollaman Lindsay and I am asking all of you to see if you can possibly aid me in my attempt to win Joe Bonamassa’s Blues Masters Competition. The first round for this contest is based off of viral popularity and how many views and shares your audition video gets, now I aint sayin that I cant generate that many views and shares because I dont have the talent, Its just that I live in Hiram Georgia and we got more stock in rakes then we do computers so its hard for me to find many people around me to support it. So I am inquiring you to see if you can help me get my name out there and get my audition video views and shares because if I can get past this first round and make it to guitar duals I think I got it made in the shade.

Click to read more ...

A Music Conference in the Netherlands Wants to Change the Way We Think About Music

OK, so we’ve all heard about the impending end of the music industry brought about by piracy. We’ve also been privy to the industry’s reaction, which took the form of PIPA/SOPA and more recently, ACTA. It’s clear how these measures might benefit a few established labels, but how does this help amateur musicians trying to make a living off their music?

A young team of music enthusiasts decided to tackle these issues by organising an event centred on the future of music distribution, which will take place in Maastricht, the Netherlands. The conference is titled M3 Event and set to take place on Friday, the 1st of June, 2012.

Click to read more ...

They didn’t know (From BRASH! - A Music Marketing Blog)

“They didn’t know how to market me….”

“They didn’t know what to do with me….”

How many times have we heard GREAT artists say this?! Well as for me, I’ve heard it more times than I care to hear anymore. It is important for an artist to be surrounded by the right team that is willing to teams go that extra mile to  push quality artists to the mainstream.  Just because an artist does not fit into a specific mold does not mean that their career has to suffer and miss out on a promising chance. With that being said, artists must be receptive of constructive criticism and understand that they have a team of professionals who are experienced and knowledgeable in their craft.

Click to read more ...

Stormy Weather: Does Cloud Computing have a license to kill the music industry?

Piracy was what the (now dormant) SOPA bill was all about, and was never far from anyone’s lips at MIDEM this year. But bored of the same tired arguments against piratebay, bittorent sites and the infamous Megaupload, the industry has turned its attention to those who actually do stay on the right side of the law

Click to read more ...

Music Isn't Dead........

She’s not dead, but she isn’t well. I don’t want to be like any one of the other Nine Million Music blog posters out there and write about a day gone by like it was perfect, or even that great for music herself. Long ago, music lived in the air, for free, no matter where, no matter what. The only way you could hear instruments being played, is by proximity to a performer, or do it yourself. This is not the time so many seem to sing the praises of. They sing praises of a funnel system, that advocated control of music, and mechanical rights licensing and other dirty words.. They sing of the 50s or 60’s or 70’s or God forbid the 80’s as the hey day for music. I strongly disagree…

Click to read more ...

"When Will We See You On MTV?"...Thoughts of an Independent Musician

“So when will we see you on MTV?” “When will we be hearing your stuff on the (mainstream) radio?”  “You should be famous by now.”  “When you’re famous we can say we knew you when.”

These are all questions and statments that I’m certain many relatively well-known touring independent musicians and bands (including myself) hear on at least a fairly regular basis.  I don’t know about you, but I usually feel slightly taken aback when I hear statements such as this even though I know the person or persons making the statement/s probably mean well.  I’ve sat down to think about why these feelings arise when I hear such statements.  When I think about it though, certain key words from such statements that are frequnently uttered when they are made: MTV, radio, and (most prominently) FAMOUS.  That then raises the question; What exactly is fame nowadays? 

Click to read more ...

Rock The Biz - watch all about: "Tips&Tricks", "Future Of Music", "Income" and more

Finally all our chapters of Rock The Biz - the documentary about the new musicbusiness in Europe - are online. Feel free to watch here 4 further chapters for free:

Tips & Tricks:

Professional musicians, labels and player in the musicbusiness give hints, on what to focus, go’s and no go’s and many more

Click to read more ...

Rock The Biz -The Movie: Chapter 3 "Selfrelease"

In the chapter “selfrelease” european bands, labels and player in the music biz talk about the most important tools, go’s and no go’s if you want to release your music on your own.

Click to read more ...

Rock The Biz - Chapter 2 "Indie vs Major"

In this chapter the interviewed artists, labels and player in the music business talk about advantages and disadvantages of independent- and major labels. You can watch the all 11 chapters for free at www.rockthe.biz

Click to read more ...

Rock The Biz - Chapter 1: The Music Crisis

This is the first chapter of Rock The Biz, the free documentary about the new european musicbusiness, called “The Music Crisis”.

What led to the crisis in tradtional music business, what went wrong and who is responsible?

Click to read more ...

Rock The Biz: documentary finally online for free!!!

The documemtary about the new music business in Europe is now online. 105 minutes with 11 chapters. Watch them for free, download them, share them

Click to read more ...

Your Guide to understanding the Music Industries today.

First, I would like to let you know the music industries are the largest they have ever been. Contrary to the doom and gloom predicted by the press, it is only the plastic jewel cases for CDs that are declining in numbers and some very public copyright lawsuits that reflect some archaic business structures in the industries.

Secondly, it might be good news to you that now is the easiest time to enter the music industries as an artist as due to new technologies introduced at exponential rates over the last decade, we have a plethora of mediums through which to present our art.

Click to read more ...

An Open Letter to the Music Industry.

An open letter from the co-founders of the Restoring Music Foundation.

There is more music available than ever.  The ability for anyone to easily produce music at low cost coupled with an increase in available distribution channels, makes scarcity and control of music a thing of the past.  This is compounded by the proliferation of online piracy, that has made a significant dent in the revenues of the music business over the past decade.  Competing with “free” music is a challenge.  This has resulted in a devaluing of music, which has affected every stakeholder in the supply chain, from the record company to the musician.  This devaluation is the central reason for the Restoring Music Foundation.

In 2009 we defined the economic crisis with the help of our wonderful network of music industry supporters.  We want to personally thank all of you that pitched in your opinions and helped us ask the big questions.  The campaign was a massive success and it was all because of you.  We hope you will continue to stay involved in the ongoing Restoring Music Dialogue.  Thanks again!

Here at The Restoring Music Foundation, our goal is to create and implement solutions to the crisis and in turn, create an economically sustainable road map for the restoration of the music industry.

Click to read more ...