Editorial

Music Business Mentoring Program — Major Announcement Tomorrow

Jul 31st, 2006 | By Joe Taylor Jr. | Category: Announcements

If you’re a member of our mentoring program, you’ll want to check this post.
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Members, Stand By

Jul 27th, 2006 | By Joe Taylor Jr. | Category: Announcements

If you’re trying to log into our members area, hang tight. We’re experiencing some trouble due to a database upgrade.
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Be the Change You Want to See in the Music Industry

Jul 27th, 2006 | By Joe Taylor Jr. | Category: Editorial

Bob Baker’s saying it better than I can, but I’ll elaborate.
If you’re sitting around, pissing and moaning about your scene or the business or the A&R guys that don’t get it, you’re never going to succeed as a working musician.
Musicians that thrive in this business focus on four things:

writing music
performing music
building audience
staying healthy

If there’s anything [...]



Big Moves!

Jun 29th, 2006 | By Joe Taylor Jr. | Category: Announcements

If you’ve been wondering why I’ve been absent from the blog and the members area for the last week, it’s because Lori and I were moving to a new home in Charlotte, North Carolina! We absolutely loved Athens, and always will. The move was prompted because another business that I’m a partner in opened a [...]



How RIAA Litigation Works

Jun 16th, 2006 | By Joe Taylor Jr. | Category: Editorial

Ray Beckerman has posted the most definitive guide to the RIAA’s practice of scaring the wits out of consumers with copyright infringement lawsuits. At the crux of the strategy is the realization that many of the “John Does” in each suit may not have ever downloaded a single song — illegal or legal — from [...]



Stay safe on the Web!

Jun 16th, 2006 | By Scott Andrew | Category: Off-Topic, Tips and Web/Tech

Sometimes I have to stop and remind myself that, for a lot of musicians, the Web is a brand-new place. And with more and more indie musicians trying out services like eBay and Paypal to sell CDs and merch, a lot of them don’t know when to be cautious with their personal information. So this [...]



Taylor Hicks’ Uphill Battle

Jun 1st, 2006 | By Joe Taylor Jr. | Category: Editorial

Analysts are already calling Taylor Hicks’ post-Idol career an uphill battle. Will the folks that phoned in to see him win actually plunk $17.98 for a Taylor Hicks record?
Two things going on here:
1. Record company expectations are too high. In our “first or worst” record business, if Taylor doesn’t make a double-platinum record out of [...]



What does your mailing list mean if it’s not local?

May 19th, 2006 | By Joe Taylor Jr. | Category: Editorial

About once a week, folks will ask me about another new service that’s supposed to “get your music heard.” And some folks will try these services out and report that they got a hundred new people on their mailing lists, or that they ranked on some chart somewhere.
My reply is always:
“And what did that do, [...]



Create.

May 18th, 2006 | By Joe Taylor Jr. | Category: Editorial and General

David comes to the aid of Delta in an earlier post (at least someone’s getting some good service from them), but brings up a bigger issue. If you believe that something sucks going in, it probably will suck for you. Just like if you believe that the world’s beating you down, or that it’s impossible [...]



Fool me once…

Apr 10th, 2006 | By Scott Andrew | Category: General, News, Off-Topic and Web/Tech

It’s worth noting that Sandi Thom, whose webcast concerts from her basement caught the attention of RCA/SonyBMG last week, had a publicity company working the press angle.
That’s not to say her story isn’t legit or success is undeserved, but it kinda takes the wind out of the sails of those “made it big on the [...]