New Free Mobile App Makes Life Easier for Musicians

Red Dragon Records is a relatively new but rapidly growing record label based in the south of the UK. It was designed and built around a business model that involved working with very new artists and the main ethos of the company since its inception is to help artists where possible whether signed to the label or not. To this end, we created a free mobile app (the only app of its kind at the time of writing). This app contains over 1,000 links to radio stations and blogs that have been vetted to ensure that they take music from unsigned or indie label artists. Furthermore there are sections for design companies, sites that will allow artists to find new sources of revenue or even giving artists companies that manufacture CD’s, websites or merchandise. 

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Casting Musicians for TV Show

Are you an upcoming star who works closely with your husband/boyfriend on all aspects of your career?  This could be your big break!  An Emmy-winning production company is seeking people ages 18-50 who are trying to make it in the entertainment world with their husband or boyfriend’s help.  Whether you make a great team or a dysfunctional one, we want to speak to you about an upcoming television series on a major cable network.  

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Musicians looking for Gigs

Are you a musician looking for gigs near you? Come to www.MusicianMe.com and search a large directory of gigs that are lined up. Connect with other musicians and with employers!

What I Learned From Justin Bieber

 

Baby, baby, baby oh…Ok I’ll stop right there.  So the story goes that Justin Bieber and his mom uploaded videos of Justin singing at a talent competition on YouTube in 2007.  The next thing you know he’s having a meeting with Usher and on his way to stardom.  Wow!  That is one crazy story!  So anyone can do the same thing and just wait for that major record label to call them,right? Lets just say the odds are not good!

Instead of kids getting their new favorite artists from pop radio, kids discover music on the web. We live in a fast instant gratification world and there is a vast amount of information.  Which means for artists that your 15 minutes of fame (AKA Vanilla Ice) is now 15 seconds of fame.  So as artists, how do we use internet marketing in a way to get real results?

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So, You Want Be a Successful Struggling Musician . . . Part 1

Over the 20 years that I’ve been a working musician, I have gleemed many an insight into what it takes to be able to do this for the long haul.  With my current band, Fishtank Ensemble, we just released our 3^rd album, ‘Woman in Sin’ and are currently touring about half of the year.  We are an almost completely do-it-yourself band.

So what does it mean to be a successful struggling musician?  It means that you are pursuing your passion, music, while still able to pay to your bills and live a reasonably good life (and hopefully save a little).  There are so many trade-offs in choosing to pursue your dreams.  Non-artistic people think it’s an easy decision to ‘not get a real job’.  Tthat might be true when you’re young.  But the older you get the harder it gets.  These following tips are knowledge that I’ve learned from my experience that will help you down your path becoming a successful struggling musician, and eventually, just a successful musician.

In part 1 of this 3 part series, I will be outlining the more practical aspects of what this entails.

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Moving Beyond The Age of Narcissism

At this point we’ve been glorifying musicians for a long time. Since Elvis and The Beatles (or you could argue Mozart and Beethoven) certain musicians have been elevated to the mantle of genius, star, and that ubiquitous term of musical achievement, “Idol”. But any professional musician who has had his feet in the biz for a while has stories of the absurdities and excess that goes along with the success. More importantly, for most working musicians the idea of becoming a star is not at the top of the list. The larger question is, how do I make a sustainable living from the years of practice, performance, recording and schlepping gear? As the perception of the “successful” musician continues to come into sharper contrast with the realities of making a living in music it seems a good time to rethink the larger question what is the role of musician in our culture today?

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The Musician's Secret Weapon

“Life can be very, very hard for a musician. You’re competing against millions of others, desperate to be heard over all the noise. And you’ve got no money.

But you’ve got a secret weapon. To outsiders, the music industry is sexy. People with day jobs are fascinated with the mythos of “The Rock Star”.

Make the person you’re talking to feel this. Make them feel like a part of this world.

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What Do You Do For Your Band?

Besides your instrument. Any musician can do that. What makes you irreplaceable in your band?

This is important.

Music is a highly competitive industry, and it’s no secret band lineups change all the time. Unless you happen to be a prophet of the guitar like Hendrix, being “good” isn’t enough to ensure you stay in a band. Youtube practicly has a dedicated channel called “12 Year Olds Who Are Better At Your Instrument Than You Will Ever Be”. A Total musician, the kind of person you always want in your band, contributes something that can’t be replaced by someone who can read guitar tabs.

What would qualify as something making you more valuable to the band?

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Branding by Association

Branding by association or Association branding simply means aligning your brand with products, places, and things that relate to or complement your brand. It almost plays into the popular saying that your parents used to tell you “you are only as good as the people you surround yourself with” or something like that. Brand association can effectively build your brands identity, and help your audience, tribe, or fans really get a personal feel for what your brand represents.

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