Pitching Your Band

If you were presented with the opportunity to pitch your band directly to the Chief A&R representative for Capital Records, what would you say? If there was a venture capitalist looking to invest into the dreams of one band, how would you convince them to choose you? If your favorite band was in town and looking for an opener, what would you tell the promoter about your act?

Being able to pitch your band is one of the most important steps in being able to book shows, secure sponsorships, get a booking agent/manager, receive press, and even to getting on a label. It’s also one of the areas that I see independent musicians struggling with the most. Even though I have a disclaimer on LastStopBooking.com that we are not accepting submissions, I still receive about 50-100 EPK submissions and query letters per week. 90% of these sound the same: the band describes themselves as having “great music,” and they almost always say they are different than other artists because they are “hardworking.”

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There Is No Such Thing As A One Hit Wonder Anymore

The other day Kreayshawn’s debut album dropped. Kreayshawn is an artist that deftly used the internet, her colourful personality, an active web presence, and one smash hit song “Gucci, Gucci”+ video to create a career that had her fighting for “Best New Artist” at the MTV VMAs.

Within days of posting “Gucci Gucci” it spread virally across the internet and within weeksa she was signed to a major label and work was started on her debut album.

I have been watching Kreayshawn’s career throughout the last year and when I saw that her anticipated debut album got a 3.0 on Pitchfork I realized that her abysmal rating on the hugely powerful website doesn’t really matter. It’s true that although a large part of her original fanbase won’t be interested in her debut album she STILL will have an audience. This is because in the age of the internet the idea of a one hit wonder is gone, disappeared. At least in our traditional definition.

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How To Market Your Band Successfully

With the state of today’s music industry, most fledgling bands have to achieve a much higher level of success than before for labels to even consider signing them. They need to show proven sales and a loyal fan-base, not to mention a certain amount of drive and initiative. This means a great deal of promotion is necessary to get the word out and get people interested in the music.

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Amplify your music career with cover gigs

There is a real uprising of unsigned bands in the UK and the country is full of talent yet to be discovered. Record label development deals are pretty much a thing of the past - and so finding a way to fund your own development costs is a necessity.

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Audio Network Licenses Music Track to Verizon Wireless for New Campaign

Audio Network licensed “El Presidente” to Verizon Wireless Hispanic Heritage campaign.

September 21, 2012 New York, NY – Production music library Audio Network has licensed its track “El Presidente” by Tim Devine for a new Verizon Wireless campaign, featuring Jennifer Lopez.

“El Presidente” will appear on Verizon’s new advertisement, celebrating Hispanic Heritage Month.  The track has been made available for streaming on internet radio app Pandora and available for sale on Amazon MP3 and other digital retailers.  A 30-second ringtone of the track is also being offered as an exclusive through Verizon during Hispanic Heritage Month.  

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Erinn Knight, The Silver Comet Manager Talks Funding for Vans Warped Tour

In part two of this series of interviews Erinn discusses the hard lessons of funding for the 2012 Vans Warped Tour, the realities of seeking endorsements and financial survival on the road.

Be sure to watch part one where Erinn discusses showcasing and being selected for the Vans Warped Tour.

This is a new series of video interviews with Erinn Knight the manager of The Silver Comet who just returned from the 2012 Vans Warped Tour. The series of interviews will be all about the lessons and experiences they learned preparing for the tour and while on the road. I know there will be some great information for young bands about DIY survival. This is going to be really interesting. This is not a band with a TON of money, a BIG record deal… this is a band of talented kids who got a huge break and had to figure out how to survive and support themselves on the road in order to pursue their dream. This band could be any young band out there.

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Goodbye and Farewell Ping, Could You Be Missed?

I am sorry to report that Ping is dead. For the millions out there who used it, it is a tragedy…

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Audio Network Announces Partnership with On My Blocks Films

As “Official Music Sponsor” Audio Network will provide music access to support this New York City filmmaking initiative.

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Tactus Rosa new CD

Beatles and Pink Floyd …oltre il già noto is the newest album by TacTus Rosa, the ensamble consists of 10 elements that rearrange in acoustic and symphonic way the repertoire of the Bealtes and Pink Floyd. 

This tribute project is original and different from usual other projects, which is characterized by the choice of immortal classics but also lesser-known episodes, in a successful and pleasant mixture for choosing in the live set.

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Choosing online mastering

It is always going to be an exciting time for a band, musician or producer when the production process is complete and it’s time to get the project mastered. Mastering is the final production process and it’s goals are multi facetted, level matching, adjustment of tonal response to improve translation to many sound systems, adjustment of the dynamic range, increasing perceived volume, finding unheard clicks, bad edits and glitches, suggestion of mix tweaks if required and ensuring successful deployment to a duplication or release medium.

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Harnessing the Power of Facebook to Build Interest in Your Band’s Website

So many startup bands have websites that remain unseen. So you might ask yourself “why have a band website?” Well, the answer is that a band website is not a standalone marketing outlet for your band. These days, any band that hopes to be successful needs to fully involve social media in its online marketing plan. One of the best (ok, the best) ways to get your band online is through the use of a Facebook page. Of course, you probably know that. But what you might not know is how you can support your band’s official website (and web store) with a Facebook page. The two mediums can go hand and hand to bring you new fans, and added income.

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How to record acoustic guitar

The acoustic guitar can produce a rich sound full of harmonics and complexity, making a good recording of this instrument can sometimes be over simplified just because it is an extremely common instrument to play. Recording acoustic guitars is fun and it should be quite straight forward when applying some  well used techniques.

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How To Get Your Music Played On The Radio

Did you know you can get your music played on the radio without a label?

TheFanGuru.com is changing the way the music industry works by allowing (almost) anybody to have their song played on the radio. Here’s how it works:

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Music Without Labels Seeking Submissions for New Web Series!

Hello Everyone!

I am the spokesperson for Music Without Labels & Beat-Play LLC.  MWL is an umbrella for many music projects, ideas and conversation. The MWL Live just wrapped up a on a 15,000 mile cross-country video tour covering the hottest summer musicians and artists across the country. We featured several great bands such as Portugal. The Man, Datsik, The Lonely Forest, Yann Tiersen, Carina Round, Vintage Trouble, Dry the River, Washed Out, Gardens & Villa, Fun. and many more! Check out the MWL Live Tour 2012 videos here. 

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