Biz: Why You Need Musicians Insurance (Pt.1 of 2)

Life as a professional musician these days often means being self-sufficient, self-sustaining, and self-employed. You may throughout your career work with different bands, be signed to different labels, or work for different companies that help shape the story you tell. One thing that you may not consider until you’ve started to develop your career is the importance of musicians insurance. Whether you’re a band on the road, a studio owner, or a private lesson instructor, several levels of musicians insurance can help ensure that your livelihood is protected.

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Tech: An Introduction to Field Recording

Earlier this summer, I was doing sound design for a video game company, work which involved going out into the city to capture source material to use as the basis for my projects. Applications This presented a conundrum of the ‘how should I go about this?’ type. Recording in the field can be applied to live gigs (where legal), band rehearsals — uploading impromptu recordings/videos of your band is a great way to connect with fans – interviews, on-location podcasts, capturing great sound effects and everything else in between.

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Building a Side Project with Mathieu Santos

It’s not uncommon for musicians to let the itch for further artistic exploration get the best of them. Some try out a different role in their current band, others go a step further and create their own side/solo project. The latter was the case with Ra Ra Riot’s Mathieu Santos. A founding member of the group and its bassist since 2006, Santos has come to be known as one of the most innovative bassists in all of the indie rock world. But that peer admiration wasn’t enough — Mathieu wanted to pursue a new creative outlet and did so by branching out on his own as a multi-instrumentalist. The result is Massachusetts 2010, Santos’ eclectic, colorful debut album released on August 2nd via Barsuk.

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