Inspiration

Music Business Education Reaching High Schools

May 8th, 2008 | By Joe Taylor Jr. | Category: Featured Article, Inspiration, Making Money and Selling CDs

Welcome to spinme.com, where we help working musicians make more money making music. If you’re new here, you may want to subscribe to our RSS feed or our weekly newsletter. Thanks for visiting!After hearing so much great response from our profile of Drexel’s campus-based music business program, I’m noticing more stories about schools that [...]



Tip: Write The Press Release First

Aug 15th, 2006 | By Scott Andrew | Category: Inspiration and Tips

I was in a meeting at the day job today when one of the marketing folks mentioned an awesome, mind-exploding idea that fits perfectly with setting music career goals: write a press release, then work backwards.
The idea is to sit down and write the ideal make-believe press release for your project. It’s a powerful, imaginative [...]



What would you do if your to-do list was empty?

Aug 8th, 2006 | By Joe Taylor Jr. | Category: Inspiration

A great prompt this morning from Jason Womack:
If (and I think this is the big if) everything were up to date, your workstation were organized, your projects were identified, and you had a strong/complete/total inventory of “hi-po*” activities…I have a questions:
How would you choose what you choose to work on?
When I speak with musicians [...]



Let me tell you about the ORIGINAL Soul Patrol.

May 25th, 2006 | By Joe Taylor Jr. | Category: Inspiration

When I first started working in radio, one of our station’s specialty DJ’s was a fascinating guy named Bernie Milton. He actually fronted a band called Bernie Milton and the Soul Patrol WAY back in the day. He had a dance hit called “The Waddle” back in the 60’s, and hit the charts again in [...]



Embrace Obscurity

Apr 3rd, 2006 | By Scott Andrew | Category: Inspiration and Tips

Let us now sing the praises of not being in the public eye…
I love this article: Embrace Obscurity. The author is talking about business but it certainly applies to musical pursuits as well:
When no one knows about you you can make mistakes quietly. Learn at your own pace. Fail without the fear of failure. Failing [...]



How to be miserable as an artist

Apr 2nd, 2006 | By Scott Andrew | Category: Inspiration and Tips

Print this out and stick it on the door of your studio or practice room. Or, if it helps, your forehead (via Brad).
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Spoon frontman waxes about work ethic

Mar 23rd, 2006 | By Scott Andrew | Category: Inspiration and News

Here’s a cool article on Brit Daniels and his band Spoon, and his workman-like approach to music:
The singer-guitarist-songwriter says his years intently listening to radio hits were like “extensive research.” Knowing from the beginning that he cared most about music, he set out with realistic, step-by-step ambitions. Now, he even treats the studio like an [...]



5 Questions with Evan Brubaker of Cake Records

Mar 20th, 2006 | By Scott Andrew | Category: Inspiration, Interviews and Tips

In the mid-90s producer/engineer Evan Brubaker founded Cake Records as a boutique label, producing and collaborating on records by artists such as Holly Figueroa and Kym Tuvim. Since then, Cake has undergone a dramatic growth spurt, embracing a wide range of musical genres, securing national distribution and garnering lots of press interest as the Little [...]



On being “real”

Mar 14th, 2006 | By Scott Andrew | Category: Inspiration, Off-Topic and Tips

Seth Godin’s blog is another non-music website I think all working musicians should read. Godin has a rep as a marketing “guru” but I suspect his true talent is a keen grasp on what people really value in their lives.
Godin has a great thought-provoking post today on the value of authenticity which really speaks to [...]



5 Questions with Michael Tarlowe of Virt Records

Mar 13th, 2006 | By Scott Andrew | Category: Inspiration, Interviews, Selling CDs and Tips

Michael Tarlowe started his independent label Virt Records in 2001 with a tight focus on the Triple-A and performing songwriter markets. Virt’s modest roster includes critically acclaimed artists Vienna Teng, Shane Nicholson and Brenda Weiler. New releases from husband-wife duo Ellery and San Francisco folk-popsters The Bittersweets are planned for 2006.
When I discovered that Virt [...]