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November 19, 2015 HI I am Michelle Lockey, award winning songwriter and composer for Film & TV. You can see a breif bio below. I write a blog on Writing & Licensing songs for Film & TV. In this weeks episode I am talking about the Pay to Pitch model. Is it a good idea or bad? This is my experience and opinion only. Here you go!
May 29, 2015 Competitions, Contests, Copyright, Creativity, DIY, DIY Artist, Distribution, Indepedendant Artist , Indie, Indie Band Pomplamoose, Indiegogo, Jingles, Making Money For Musicians, Making money from music, Marketing, Musicpreneur, Online Marketing, Selling Your Merch, Vocal skills, careers, contest, direct to fan, entrepreneurship, independent music, indie musician motivation, music production, music promotion, music success, radio, selling, song pitching | tagged Aaron Billings, career, jingles, music, production music, royalty free January 20, 2015 Songwriter Connect has been launched, with this platform already having several members who are successful songwriters with top hits in the US and Canada. Slots are filling fast as the platform will only be accepting 500 members.
July 4, 2013 Imagine if you hand over your best songs to a “robot” publisher who would submit your material to industry professionals and song placements from all around the world, even while you sleep.
This robot would submit to placements that meet your requirements, he would only submit to real (industry lookikng) opportunities and he wouldn’t demand any royalties.
June 20, 2013 Songwriters from around the world will participate in the first “IC Virtual Songwriter Showcase”, an online music industry gathering from Sept. 21-22, 2013 (Saturday-Sunday).
May 23, 2013 It’s no secret that often in the world music, it’s more about “who you know” than what you know. The industry generally favors pre-existing relationships, whether you are looking for a venue, a sponsor, a review on your new album, or a slot at SXSW. Like it or not, networking can make or break an act.
Focus on taking a few steps closer to your goal by working on your contacts a few minutes each day. Here are some of my favorite tips on networking:
Advice, Band Marketing, Booking Agents, Breaking into the industry, Business, DIY, DIY Artist, DIY Promotions, Endorsements, Information, Marketing, Marketing 101, Marketing with LinkedIn, Music 3.0, Music Business Jobs, Music Business Plan, Music Conference, Music Industry, awesome indie music, booking, careers, collaboration, independent music, indie musician motivation, music , music business, music festivals, music marketing, music production, music promotion, record labels, song pitching | tagged A&R, Labels, Music Industry, booking agents, contacts, endorsements, managers, music business, publicists, pull marketing, sponsors, value February 27, 2013 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.
.MUSIC Website, Advice, Artist Development, Artist FYI, Band Marketing, Benefit Concert, Booking Agents, Breaking into the industry, Competitions, Contests, Crowdsourcing, DIY, DIY Artist, DIY Promotions, Endorsements, Feel good, Finding bandmembers, Free Download, Free Mp3 Download, Funk, Future Of Music, Gigs, Home Studio, Indepedendant Artist , Information, Innovation, Live Music, Music Business Jobs, Music Business Plan, Music Conference, Music Industry, Music Industry Crisis, Music Industry Interviews, Music Licensing, Music Management, Music Publishing, Music Reviews, Music Services, Music Strategy, Music Video, New Album , Online Marketing, Performance, Performance Coach, Practicing Musici, Promotion, Publicity, Radio Play, Realistic Music Careers 101, Recording Vocals, Reddit Promotion, Social Media, Soul, TEDx, The Business of Independent Music, Viral Growth, Web 2.0, YouTube, artist, awesome indie music, blogging, careers, crowdfunding , digital music, direct to fan, donations, email, fans, getting signed, independent music, indie musician motivation, mobile, motivation, mtt radio, mtv, music , music business, music discovery, music festivals, music mar, music marketing, music production, music promotion, music statistics, music supervision, music technology, music theory, musician, online music business courses, opinion, philosophy, practicing music, rant, record labels, recording, recording studio, social media for musicians, song, song pitching, soundcloud, sponsorship, streaming, sxsw, the internet, viral | tagged Blues, Guitar Center, Joe Bonnamasa, competition December 4, 2012 Rejection. It can sting. Whether it is a promoter or a record label who doesn’t want to give you the opportunity to shine or it is a critic who writes a bad review of your music, the reality is that sooner or later, you’re going to face rejection. How you deal with that rejection can ultimately determine your success.
September 26, 2012 If you were presented with the opportunity to pitch your band directly to the Chief A&R representative for Capital Records, what would you say? If there was a venture capitalist looking to invest into the dreams of one band, how would you convince them to choose you? If your favorite band was in town and looking for an opener, what would you tell the promoter about your act?
Being able to pitch your band is one of the most important steps in being able to book shows, secure sponsorships, get a booking agent/manager, receive press, and even to getting on a label. It’s also one of the areas that I see independent musicians struggling with the most. Even though I have a disclaimer on LastStopBooking.com that we are not accepting submissions, I still receive about 50-100 EPK submissions and query letters per week. 90% of these sound the same: the band describes themselves as having “great music,” and they almost always say they are different than other artists because they are “hardworking.”
Artist Development, Band Marketing, Band Website Tips, Booking Agents, Branding, Breaking into the industry, DIY, DIY Artist, DIY Promotions, Education, Endorsements, Indepedendant Artist , Innovation, Life in the Music Business, LinkedIn Marketing Strategy, Marketing, Marketing 101, Music Licensing, Music Management, Promotion, Radio Play, booking, epk, independent music, music marketing, record labels, selling, song pitching, sponsorship | tagged booking, booking a tour, booking agent, booking agents, manager, managers, pitching, record label, record label deal, record label demo submission, song pitching, sponsors July 5, 2012 We all know that talent alone doesn’t guarantee success. Musicians who make lots of connections and have the “hustle” tend to get further in their career than the quiet gifted artist. That just seems to be the way of the world in any industry. It’s not what you know or how talented you are, it’s who you know!
So what about pitching websites/A&R platforms, are they a good way to open doors within the industry … and in particular, is it OK to pay someone to listen to your music?
Artist Development, song pitching | tagged A&R, song pitching, song pitching websites February 23, 2012 “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.
Artist Development, Branding, Breaking into the industry, Future Of Music, Information, Life in the Music Business, Marketing, Music Business Plan, Music Industry, Music Industry Crisis, Music Management, Music Strategy, Promotion, Publicity, Unsigned Bands, independent music, indie musician motivation, managing money, music business, music marketing, music promotion, music statistics, public relations, record labels, song pitching February 9, 2012 Getting involved with your following
When I speak of being engaged, in a Marketing perspective it doesn’t mean to “Put a ring on it”. As we all know, you can be engaged with people by becoming involved whether its in a business aspect or a relationship. As an artist, you should want to have engaging conversations with your fans, interested media outlets, and industry professionals. This will help you to expand your brand and exposure in the industry.
Album Release, Artist Development, Band Website Tips, Breaking into the industry, Creativity, Future Of Music, Information, Life in the Music Business, LinkedIn Marketing Strategy, Marketing, Marketing with LinkedIn, Music Industry, Promotion, Publicity, Social Media, Twitter Promotion, Unsigned Bands, YouTube, artist, awesome indie music, digital music, direct to fan, independent music, indie musician motivation, music business, music marketing, music promotion, record labels, social media for musicians, song pitching, website | tagged Artist, Music Industry, blog, facebook, linkedin, marketing, music promotions, recording artists, talent, twitter September 16, 2011 I wanted to know which song pitching services worked best for musicians and have created a simple to understand comparison chart. This Blog post looks at my experience with early pitching companies and my thoughts for the future.
