Jennifer Layton posted a great article at Indie-Music.com about the challenges that independent musicians face when playing outside the U.S.A. She covers more than the usual territory about stringing together some pickup dates in Europe and Asia — she digs…
Author
Joe Taylor Jr.
How to Stay Healthy on the Road
Erika Luckett’s got an excellent article in the new issue of Stave Magazine. She shares “Five Rules for the Healthy Musician,” and she couldn’t be more right. If you’re working the zone strategy now and you can’t wait until you…
Nobody Here Is Hating on Burnlounge. Yet.
Despite my intention to not stir up debate, a whole mess of folks are rolling through the site looking to defend Burnlounge. Judging by some of the e-mail I have received, some readers might have confused my opinion with what…
How to take your own publicity photos (that will look good in the newspaper).
Joan Stewart passes along advice against “execution at dawn” photos, and suggests that you take some publicity photos at angles other than eye level. Here are some other tried and true tips to create a photo that won’t get your…
What would you do if your to-do list was empty?
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…
How to use unconventional musical instruments to make a classic sound, or vice versa.
While technology lets you do some amazing things on stage, the power of your songs can sometimes be muted when your audience focuses too much on the gimmick. It doesn’t sound like this is the case for Pamela Z and…
Hawthorne Heights Sues Victory Records Over Downloads, Ringtones
New media, same old hijinx. Tony Brummel’s been vocal about his distaste for selling individual downloads, to the point of refusing to let some of his acts sell music on iTunes. Now, there’s news that Hawthorne Heights is accusing Brummel…
How to Get the Best from Your Relationship With a Stage Manager
Annette Warren’s got a great article up at GoGirlsMusic about how to be a good stage manager, and how musicians can get the most out of a working relationship with a stage manager. In my experience, the musicians that are…
Music Management Contracts Guide
Music management contracts are always a hot topic around here, and I have broken out some extra information and tips from my music management book in a special, free mini-course…
Three Vital Things to Know Before You Can Succeed in the Music Business
We have a lot of new readers rolling through the site this week, so I thought I’d sum up my philosophy on how to make money making music. I just typed out a quick note to one of the members…
Record labels halt shipments to Tower Records
I think a tipping point for my love of music was the first time I visited the Piccadilly Circus store of Tower Records in 1992. Up until then, my record retail experience was limited to the awful chain stores around…
American Idol 6 Will Include a Songwriting Competition
UPDATE – APRIL 27: Big, huge, fun American Idol liveblog + discussion happening on our new discussion boards. UPDATE 4.5.07: American Idol Songwriter Contest Rules Now Online UPDATE 4.4.07: American Idol Songwriting Competition Signups Open!! Now that’s something I wasn’t…