The Future Of Music Coalition has put together a page of health insurance resources called HINT. In addition to tons of informative articles, HINT also includes a free phone service that allows musicians to speak one-on-one to an insurance expert to discuss options.
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Last week I wrote about Howlin’ Hobbit and how he uses his unique talents to connect with his audience. This week, HH joins us for a quick interview about his experiences as a veteran busker.
What do you think “typical” performing musicians can learn from buskers?
How to take the pressure. How to think “audience first.” Humility.
What [...]
Years ago, Derek Sivers of CD Baby created a website called Marketing Your Music, and it remains one of my favorite bookmarks. I consider it a must-read for anyone try to “do something” with music. Why more people don’t know about this website, I’ll never know.
Just a handful of my favorite posts:
What has worked on [...]
“Dude, how did you get Amazon to carry your CD?”
There’s no secret to getting your CD sold through Amazon. Kevin Kelly wrote a step-by-step guide over at his Cool Tools website over a year ago. For US$30 a year plus a percentage of each sale, Amazon will stock and ship your CD through the Amazon [...]
As a solo artist I often lose track of how many CDs I sell at shows. When I’m busy chatting with people it’s too easy to just slip the cash into my back pocket, and a real pain to puzzle out several hours later what people actually purchased (uhh, was it two CDs or three [...]
There’s a popular phrase that’s popped up in marketing circles: “Napsterize knowledge.” What the heck does that mean? Simple: if you know something useful or interesting, share it and watch it spread, and build your reputation in the process. How does that apply to the aspiring musician? Here’s a prime example from my own backyard:
I [...]
There’s no way to compete with people who are downloading music illegally, so why not team up with the system so the songs that people download could be yours? Indie distributor Jeff Price, who started TuneCore, uses digital distribution to “[level] the playing field between major label and independent content.� Maybe [...]
Honestly, I think one line in this article sums it up pretty well:
Seneca College is the first Canadian post-secondary institution to take part in a first-of-its-kind initiative in Canada to highlight independent music and get it heard by the public in a revolutionary way.
Now, I’m not saying that you should completely uproot yourself [...]
There’s this band I know. I met them at a conference, and they seemed cool. I gave them my card. Big mistake.
First, they added me to their mailing list without asking. This was a faux pas, but I let it slide, because hey, I’m a musician too.
Then, the deluge. Email after email after email, sometimes [...]
Looks like Starbucks is moving closer to offering digital music downloads through their Hear Music program, allowing customers to load MP3s directly onto portable players, in addition to CD sales and on-the-spot CD burning:
“A lot of our customers are asking for device fill-up, and going forward we’ll do that,” Ken Lombard, president of Starbucks Entertainment, [...]
