Why Dress to Impress? The importance of always looking your best.

In this day and age it’s no wonder that looking your best is one of the most important aspects of gaining and maintaining business relationships. But why exactly should we do it. First of all, looking good is a great self-confidence booster. Nothing feels better than walking into a room and all eyes are on you!

Feeling under the weather? There’s no cure like fashion! Always remember to look better than you feel. Dress your best to be the best, after all, you never know who you might run into. Studies also show that when you “dress for success”, you’re bound to have a higher performance level. So not only will you feel good if you look good, but your work will reflect it!

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The Bass Music Awards - 2013 Highlight

The Bass Music Awards has been widely acclaimed by industry sources. Voting was open to the public for a 3 week period, seeing thousands of members of the public having their say by voting for their favourite DJ’s, labels, events, tracks, videos and producers from the nomination lists that was compiled by an industry affiliated panel of Bass Music connoisseur’s.

BBC Radio 1 and 1Xtra presenter DJ Target was the host for the ‘industry only’ video shoot held at a secret London based venue which saw a selection of winning and nominated artists gather. The artists interviewed on the day included: Andy C, Jakwob, Gorgon City, Hannah Wants, Sigma, David Boomah, Tigerlight, Dub Police artists, The Others, Variations, the Circus Records Crew, Rednek and Xilent.

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Music Education Career In Music Industry

The music industry offers a wide variety of career jobs for those wishing to take music as their professional career. One does not have to be a popular musician or music producer in order to make a hit or be successful in the professional music industry. Pursuing a career in music can revolve around a number of jobs including music education, music business, performers and writers, public relations and advertising, recording and recording industry, music health and radio and television jobs.

The job you choose should be in relation to your skills and/or experiences to enable you effectively perform it. The music education jobs mostly involve teaching and empowering other people about music. This category of music careers can be divided into different sections and titles depending on their specific roles. The salary ranges also differ significantly from one job to another. The common music education jobs one can do in the music industry include;

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Exclusive Tips for Recording Best Music at Studio

Recording is an expensive as well as tiring process as this process involves capturing data or translating the information in a particular recording format and storing it on some sort of storage medium. This is often termed as record or recording in case if any auditory medium is recording. As this process involves various stages, it becomes quite lengthy and exaggerated process. So it is better to make good use of time by maximizing the output and minimizing the stress and expenses. Presenting below some of the exclusive tips that can make your recording experience unforgettable and memorable: 

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Music Artists Need CPAs, Not Just Lawyers

For musical artists just entering the entertainment business or long time veterans, having savvy legal counsel is a no brainer. Intellectual property damage, unpaid royalties, copyright violations and breach of contract cases are just a sampling of issues artists may face along the way. But when the question of financial damages comes into play – lost profits, reputation or something else - that’s when having a certified public accountant (CPA) on the team can really pay off. Whether a major label artist or an independent, consider these four reasons to work with a CPA.

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How to Build a Website for Your Cover Band

If you’re in a cover band that is looking to get booked at private parties, corporate events, and weddings, there are certain elements that you should have on your website.

We’ve written many posts about how to build a great website for bands. From creating your Navigation, the essential elements of your Homepage, to having a perfect Music page. We also released a free eBook: Building Your Website: A Step-By-Step Guide for Bands and Musicians (Download it here: http://bit.ly/buildyourwebsiteebook).

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New Start-Up Provides Independent Musicians and Labels with One-Stop Solutions

Happy Dog Music is one of a handful of marketing centered music start-ups that are a product of the seismic shift that has taken place in the music industry in the last ten years. Happy Dog Music crafts and implements custom marketing campaigns and provides any other ancillary support clients may need during the course of the agreement. Unlike the typical record label deal, Happy Dog Music clients retain 100% of all rights. Happy Dog Music provides major label support without all of the strings that come attached to a major record deal.

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Top 10 Musician Mistakes: You Don't Leverage Your Fans as Marketers

As an indie artist today, you’re most likely in charge of your own marketing. You probably don’t have a record label planning your releases or scheduling your social media for the week, and you certainly don’t have any spare cash for a big marketing campaign. Marketing can seem like a completely daunting task if its just you and maybe a manager trying to get the word out, but you actually have a whole team of marketers just waiting to share your music – your fans!

With the constant presence of social media and the internet, most music fans today are bombarded with more information than they can possibly process. On top of that, new technology has enabled just about anyone to get online and call themselves a musician. As a result, most music fans look to recommendations from trusted sources for new music. These trusted sources could be a good music blog but more times than not it comes from a friend. Think about how you found some of your favorite artists. How many of them did you discover from a friend’s recommendation? Or someone you trust?

The key here is authenticity. Making it real and transparent and interesting. More people will check out your new album after a friend recommends it than would after a flashy TV commercial. This means you don’t need to dish out thousands for a big marketing campaign. The most effective form of marketing is completely within your reach financially!

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Getting Heard is Getting Harder

Not sure if you’re following all the headlines lately. Nearly every day there’s an announcement of another audio platform. Read the press release closely and you’ll find little to differentiate; nearly all claim personalization, wide choice, and song-skipping features. Some speak “playlists.” Others say “curation.” In the meantime, consumers are being fragmented to a point where reaching more than a few at one time is improbable.

“Producing a sound sticky enough to draw those people back (while continuing to add a few new persons each day who will also be drawn back) is the goal.”

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Post-Show Procedures: 8 Things Every Band Should Do After the Performance

Do you have a post-show plan? Is there a set of procedures that you work on after each performance? Or, does your band simply work on the next upcoming event – the next show, the next rehearsal, time in the studio, etc.?

In almost every professional endeavor, there is some kind of routine or review period to measure performance or follow-up with customers:

• In sports, the coach diligently sits down with the entire team to review footage of the previous game. Team member celebrate successes and most importantly, look for areas of improvement.

• In corporate business, the board of directors and executive staff look over stock performance and make decisions to keep their shareholders satisfied.

• In the arts, performers carefully review each element of the show to see what delighted audiences and what could use work.

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Battling The Negative Voice In Your Head

Last sunday night, I was lying in my bed, it was 3am. I had, had one of the most intense weeks. It was my first week back at work, I spent the weekend catching up with old friends and I worked on finalizing some recordings I’d worked on. Sound like a familar story to you? I was exhasted. 

I remember lying there thinking about how tired I was and how much I wanted to sleep. But what was also running through my mind was band practice the next morning - and I was getting annoyed at myself becuase I wasn’t prepared. 

I told myself:

“You should cancel band practice, you need to rest and you’re unprepared. Band practice is never good if you’re unprepared.” 

But I knew that if I canceled band practice there was no way that we’ll be able to play the gig that I had coming up.

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Webster Hall's Music Industry Mixer

Music Industry Hang- Winter Stay Warm Edition

Webster Hall is having an Music Industry Mixer on February 11th, 2014 at 7PM. This is a perfect opportunity for those in the music industry to network and socialize with others involved in the industry. This mixer also includes free drinks! This is a free event, but you must rsvp through the link below in order to enter this event. Please email me at camille@excessdb.com for more information.

 http://www.ticketweb.com/t3/sale/SaleEventDetail?dispatch=loadSelectionData&eventId=4029914&pl=webstudio&REFERRAL_ID=studio

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Dear Music Writer, Enough of the Fluff

Music writers, we’re in a crisis of credibility - as in we’re losing it. Whether we’re confusing readers with our descriptive diarrhoea, numbing them with our misplaced hyperbole or galling them with our shameless clichés, they are gradually becoming desensitized to everything we have to say.

In a moment of clarity Herbie Hancock told me, “Music happens to be an art form that transcends language.” So we music writers deserve some praise, for essentially tackling the insurmountable task of describing the indescribable - of putting into language that which transcends language. So a pat on the back for all of us, very well done, mum would be proud, here’s an award for participation, now it’s time to pull the finger out. The overwhelming majority of publications spouting ‘content’ (as writing has now been demoted to) are now working directly with the artists, or artists’ PR companies, which they are supposedly appraising independently. Advertising has swallowed up critique and the result is suspiciously unbridled positivity – with dance music writers some of the worst offenders. Well, the readers are onto us.

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Win a Pro producer course to the value of £395 with Point Blank

Point Blank is partnered with Middlesex University and offers a legislative Dip HE in Music Production and Business with the University. Besides this, they’re associated with Ableton, Apple, Native Instruments and Steinberg and accordingly offer a variety of integral courses in Electronic Music Production, Sound Enginering, DJing, Music Business, even Singing and Songwriting.

Although the academy is located in trendy Hoxton, it’s also renowned for their online tuition. Their program makes it easy for people from all over the world to follow the courses online. A unique creation of intimate online groups, gives students the opportunity to receive feedback and interact with their tutor and classmates and follow live Master classes through video streaming.

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