Why and When Would a Music Act Invest in Artist Services?

Musicians might grumble about why they are not paid fairly for playing live. As a promoter, I’ve barely broken even in my attempts to new act nights with posters, flyers, articles in the press and industry contacts. I don’t complain. (I got my current job out of it though).

It is never worth deluding yourself that you are worth more than you are. Sadly, many great musicians think they are worth much less than they are. Try to gauge your value. The simple way is by listening to all the responses you and your music gets, even if it’s a one-man-and-a-dog audience in a rural village pub. However, that is no excuse with all the websites there for musicians, which provide free or inexpensive ways to get heard.

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WHY MUSIC IS FOOD (By Piers Faccini)

A few days ago, the English songwriter Piers Faccini - with whom I work closely as a digital marketer - published a great post on his website about his new status as an ‘artist-running-a-label’. In this text, Piers makes a smart parallel between small farmers and musicians who have both had to adapt to a market that has taken a radical turn over the last few years.

His words have all the more resonance considering the current debate concerning streaming royalties and it also shows how important it is for independent artists to be able to develop their own eco-system thanks to the Internet.

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UK Ableton Live Training Weekends

The Producertech team are excited to announce these in-class teaching events, starting this month with 2 Ableton Live weekends by certified trainer Rob Jones. These weekends, one for Beginners and one for Advanced level users, include 2 full days of training on Ableton software and music production in general, as well as instruction on Ableton’s control surface Push, free online courses and £100 worth of samples from Loopmasters.

Located in Producertech’s new UK headquarters, the Echoplex Studio complex in Eastbourne, these events allow students the opportunity to interact directly with certified trainer and online course creator Rob Jones, while he teaches the ins and outs of Live in detail to a class of no more than 16 people. Throughout the day, there will be exercises set, which students can carry out on the provided workstations or their own laptops, along with in-depth group and one-to-one mentoring to maximize students’ experiences and learning.

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DJs That Use Pinterest

List of DJs on Pinterest and how they use it to up their promotional campaigns.

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A Systematic Approach To Booking

One of the most common topics I get asked questions about is booking. There are a lot of musicians out there that have spent countless hours honing their skills and writing their songs, but have no idea where to start when it comes to finding gigs. So I would like to take this opportunity to lay out a systematic approach that you can use to get your gigging circuit started.

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The One (and Only) Thing A DJ Should Ask For In Return For DJ Mixes

You’re creating boatloads of amazing mixes - yippee! So, it’s only natural that for every piece of music you deliver people should automatically make people want to come to your gigs or buy your latest release …right?

Errrr..wrong.

One singular piece of music isn’t going to translate into an immediate purchase or attendance to your event.

But, I have good news.

Building trust and BFF-worthy relationships with people so that they do backflips of joy when you make an offer is something you can do.

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Steve Saluto new EP "12"

Steve Saluto is an italian guitar player, songwriter and producer mostly known for his past works with Richie Kotzen. But, he also has played with lot of big names in the music business ranging from jazz projects (with Jeff Berlin and Danny Gottlieb) to rock music (teaming up with Atma Anur, Marco Mendoza, Terry Ilous, Doug Wimbish just to name a few) … and aside his studio production work he has a very prolific solo career. He has released 11 solo albums … not counting the 2008 project called “La Famiglia Superstar”. 2013 is the year for the latest release, the EP called “12”.

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The #1 mistake musicians make on social media

Do you remember that popular video where two robots were talking about their show and how great it was? This is exactly what happens on social media all the time. Read this article to know the #1 mistake you need to avoid as a musician when it comes to social media.

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Recording Festival Contest

Many a musician has had that lovely daydream about recording for free with an award winning producer in a legendary studio, and making it big so they could travel the world. Recording Festival has captured all these dreams and combined them into one reality, offering artists the chance to win a free two week recording session with a stellar team of music producers (with awards, even Grammys, on their resumes), and doing all this recording in the heart of Ireland in an all expenses paid trip. Is this a dream come true? Most definitely. It will be a dream come true for not one, but for three lucky artists / bands.

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The Case of Video Game Soundtracks as Serious Music

A soundtrack can make or break the mood and atmosphere of a video game. Music in video games is even more passive than movies and television — you don’t always notice it’s there. If you’re a gamer, go back and play a classic like “Halo” or “Devil May Cry” with no music and see just how void the experience really is. If you’re a musician struggling to find your niche, take a look at how some artists created some of the best tracks in the most unlikely place.

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Do Musicians Really Benefit from Digital Music Streaming Services?

Minimum wage woes have been a complaint of the ages. Even when they increase, it seems that there is always something to complain about. In the 1960’s, minimum wage hovered right around the $1 mark, never getting above $1.60. Today, that amount has fortunately increased significantly but for most, it is still not enough. This battle of wages is similar to what is plaguing the music streaming industry right now.

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“An Evening with The Titan of the Telecaster – Mr. Bill Kirchen” 12/20/13

 

 Swing In the holidays with hot Licks, cold steel, and tales of the Tele. 

 

“Bill Kirchen has been a friend of Retrofret for many years now. We never pass up a chance to swap guitar stories and have him spend time at the shop amazing us with his guitar playing.” – Steve Uhrik, owner of Retrofret Vintage Guitars

Friday, December 20th 2013 from 5:00 – 7:00pm

Light refreshments.

Space is limited – so come early!

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3 Things You Need to Know About the Cloud

Much like ‘The Internet’ in the 90s, ‘The Cloud’ seems to be today’s often-used-but-only-partially-understood techie term. Once a vague conceptual evolution of enterprise computing that struck as much fear as it did curiosity (so I’m just uploading my files into the ether?!?!), it is now something most of us interact with every single day, sometimes without even realizing. “Everything’s gonna move to the Cloud soon man…” …”what’s ‘the Cloud?’” … “not sure” - A conversation I probably had sometime in the early 2000s - Any time you check your email, post a pic to Instagram, add a contact to the address book on your iPhone or watch 5 episodes of Extreme Cheapskates in a row on Netflix (what am I doing with my life?!) you are effectively interacting with the Cloud. That said, there is a lot of uncertainty when it comes to explaining what the Cloud actually is. Ignoring any heavy-handed meteorological metaphors and as a Product Manager at Triplay, who specializes in Mobile UX, here are 3 things I think you need to know about the Cloud.

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Pickasound; A movement for the free expression of musical Ideas online

About 8 months ago, me and an amateur musician friend of mine living in Toronto were trying to collaborate on a few tracks for his upcoming album.  

I created instrumentals and he wanted to sing over them. 
We were both excited about working together on a project, but when it came time to communicate our musical ideas online, the process proved to be a daunting task.

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