How artists can promote gigs in Google using structured data

In March, on the Google Webmaster Central blog, Google confirmed it is to start displaying upcoming gigs or concerts on the right-hand side of its search results for band name results.

 

It’s all well and good explaining this to the search marketing audience who already understand and practice such techniques, but does it really mean anything to musicians and artists? Perhaps the more important question is: should they take note?

The answer is yes!

This is great news for both searchers and musicians. The searcher can now see, at a glance, what gigs are coming up, with little effort, when looking up an artist. The musician can promote their upcoming concerts more effectively via Google.

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Press Release: LUNG TRANSPLANT RECIPIENT OFFERS INSPIRATION

LUNG TRANSPLANT RECIPIENT OFFERS INSPIRATION Veteran Performer/Producer Returns To Music And Wants You To Know Being Healthy And Happy Is Possible For All

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Promoting Your Material on a Budget

Now, if you’re an artist or start-up business owner, you most likely know how it feels to go without, for the sake of your career, simply because you have that much passion for it. You may even be going through that phase right now, and you may feel like you’re stuck between a rock and a hard place when it comes to your career. Does this cycle sound familiar to you:

• I don’t have money because my music/business hasn’t taken off.
• My music/business hasn’t taken off because it’s not being promoted enough.
• It’s not being promoted enough because promotion takes money, and I don’t have money.
• (repeat steps 1-3 above)

This is probably one of the most frustrating phases that about every career builder has gone through. The good news about this cycle, is that promotiondoesn’t have to cost loads of money. Ironically enough, the cheapest/free forms of promotion work the best!

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Maintaining Your Vocal Skills

If you aren’t taking steps to protect and enhance your vocal capability there’s a good chance that these tips can ensure you perform at the highest level you’re capable of. Your first wise career move could’ve been to start reading this article!

What you drink is important - Water and warm tea

What you drink impacts heavily on the state and readiness of your voice. Water being one of the primary component building blocks of our bodies (around 60%) is necessary to staying hydrated and keeping your throat in healthy shape. Ideally if you’re male, you should be having about 3 litres of fluids a day or 2.2 if you are female. Cutting out fizzy drinks that are full of sugar is another great step you can take towards vocal health and durability, it should also be a relatively pain free and easy adjustment to make, especially considering the availability of water in comparison.

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How to create a professional sounding audiobook

Creating a good audiobook is fun and challenging at the same time. For first time producers it can be quite daunting. Here are some basic steps to help you produce a crisp, clean and professional sounding audiobook.

Fine tune your material: make sure your material is edited and ready to be recorded. Make a list of things you want to include, like preface, acknowledgments etc. This is very important as re-recording and editing the audiobook again can be quite cumbersome and expensive.

Decide who is going to voice it: Are you going to voice your own audiobook? You definitely can, but before you record, it is better to learn to record good voice overs. If you are planning to hire someone else to voice it, there are tons of VO artists available who can do a fantastic recording.
You also need to decide if you want a female/male Voice and if you need any voice characters.

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A History of Portable Music

Do you know the difference between an 8-Track and a MiniDisc? What about a Walkman and a Discman? Our History of Portable Music gives you an insight into where it started, and how it came to be today. From not-so-portable Phonograph players, to an entire computer in your pocket, we outline the History of Portable Music.

The history of portable music - A video by the team at Beatsuite.com

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Copyright and Your Band: 4 Must-Do's Before Playing a Festival

Festival preparation for musicians goes beyond renting the van and finding a place to sleep. For instance, are your songs copyrighted? Did you know that you should be getting paid royalties for your performance? Here are four things you should do to secure your intellectual property before you pack your bags this summer.

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THE IMPORTANCE OF CREATING AN INTERNAL BAND CONTRACT

     Over the years there have been many lawsuits between and among the members of various musical bands. These lawsuits have concerned everything from disputes over the distribution of money to the right of departing members to use (or not to use) the band name in connection with ongoing endeavors. In most cases, it would have been better to be safe than sorry, and get the understandings of the band members in writing when everyone was in agreement just so all the parties remember what they agreed to at the start.

     The internal group member contract between the members of a band is fundamentally important, but many musical groups ignore this crucial early step. When two or more people associate for the purpose doing business they create a partnership in the eyes of the law. General partnership law applies to the association unless a written agreement states otherwise. General partnership law provides, among other things, that all partners equally own partnership property and share in profits and losses, that any partner can contractually bind the partnership and that each partner is fully liable for the debts of the partnership. In the case of most musical groups, a written agreement setting forth the arrangement between and among the group members as partners is preferable to general partnership law.

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Why mastering your audio is vital

Mastering is the most mysterious and least understood of all audio processes. Sometimes referred to the “black art”, there are many misconceptions around it. Many budding audio producers and composers confuse it with mixing. Mixing and mastering are 2 separate processes and have completely different processing goals. Mastering is a final and the most important step in getting your audio to sound like a million dollar.

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How to Master Confidence On-Stage in 3 Easy Steps

If you have ever held back in a performance and left the stage feeling that you know you could have done better and can’t understand why you didn’t just go for it, then you will get what I mean when I say that confidence on stage can be the difference between a fantastic performance and a lacklustre one.

Yet confidence is one of the things that so many singers struggle with and it is something that is never really talked about. You’re just expected to be born awesome and put on a great show and not doubt yourself, but there isn’t a musician alive who wouldn’t doubt at least one aspect of their performance.

Just as stage craft, musicianship and songwriting are skills that are learned, confidence is no different. Let’s have a closer look at how you can master confidence on stage if you break it down into three easy steps:

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ART vs. COMMERCE: When Rock Stars Meet Radio Programmers

“The industry is both the enemy and the best friend of the artist. Trouble is, they need each other.” – Chrissie Hynde

Is there anything more uncomfortable or awkward than an artist meeting a radio programmer (as exemplified by the photo above with Bono and The Edge at KTIM-FM in San Rafael CA in 1981)? In the world of music marketing and promotion, it’s an essential piece of the puzzle that is intended to lead to airplay. It’s the artist bearing his or her wares to the marketplace by way of a pitch, a smile, a kind word, a thank you - some sort of person-to-person exchange of pleasantries. It gives meaning to the music and the musician, way beyond anything that a cold, faceless, piece of plastic (or WAV file) can summon up.

No matter how many fans, FB friends, record sales or website hits they have, musical artists (and the industry behind them) still need radio, one station at a time, to make it into the ears and the minds of the general public. Nothing has changed in that respect.

The Internet has not replaced the valuable face time between artist and radio programmer.

This strange bedfellow thing is not a recent development. Sinatra reportedly hung out in radio station studios with all-night deejays hawking his latest releases.  Murray The K deemed himself the “Fifth Beatle” when he befriended the quartet upon their first visit to New York and played their records non-stop and back to back on Top 40 powerhouse WINS. I myself spent 20+ years at Warner/Reprise hauling singers and bands into radio stations and backstage meet and greets – almost 5,000 such events by my count – so I know a thing or two about the execution, dynamics and purpose of this ancient rite.

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Ourtunez, the Music Network

I am Nino Munaco, Editor and Blog writer for Ourtunez, the Music Network. Ourtunez is a free music streaming service that features Independent musicians. Any one can sign up, upload their music and instantly receive the benefits.

Your music will gain exposure through our website and app. New music discovery is missing in other music streaming services but Ourtunez excels in that department. Even our “mainstream” stations are full of independent artists who have signed up. They are being played alongside today’s (and yesterday’s) biggest artists. We even have a Comedy station where independent comedians can be discovered.

We are looking for people who want to be a part of this community of amazing artists.

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8 Ways To Keep Up With and Discover New Music Releases

Have you ever felt like you were no longer in the loop when it comes to new music? “Have you heard Beyonce’s new song?!” “Did you get tickets for that gig?” “It went to number 1!”. None of us like to feel left out when it comes to the hottest new songs, the latest summer smash, or that killer album everybody’s talking about.

Here are a number of methods to stay up to date with the best music and most anticipated releases.  

1. Social media
Following your favourite artists and bands on social networks such as Twitter and Facebook will ensure that you are constantly in the know about what’s out and what’s coming next. Artists promote themselves and their music this way as it’s the easiest outlet to connect with their fans.  

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Beats Music v. Spotify

By John Lahr

As of January 21^st Spotify now has a legitimate contender in the music streaming market, as Dr. Dre and Jimmy Iovine’s Beats Music steps into the ring. It is the culmination of eighteen months of development after Dr. Dre’s lucrative consumer electronics company purchased MOG in July of 2012. Entering with a soft launch in late January, the service announced its arrival in spectacular style with a Super Bowl advertising blitz featuring T.V personality Ellen DeGeneres. While Beats Music and Spotify have many similar features, both services have very different views of the future of the streaming marketplace, and different ways of communicating their vision to consumers.

Features Comparison

Like Spotify, Beats Music offers a library of over 20 million songs to choose from, the ability to create playlists and sync them to your mobile device for offline listening, and a radio feature¹.  However Beats offers far more advanced features for discovering music thanks to its “Sentence” radio and “Just For You” curated playlists tailored to taste preferences you give when signing up.

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