UPDATE 4.9.07: Some experienced buskers brainstorm about ways Joshua could have upped his collections that morning — some really great ideas! For anyone who’s ever made more money from subway busking than from a club gig, here’s a fascinating experiment…
Merlin Mann offers three really insightful guests on The Merlin Show: The last week or so of The Merlin Show has featured three fun interviews with independent musicians — talking about Macs, handling email, and figuring out how to get…
You might not know the name Dick Dale, but I guarantee you’ve heard his music if you’ve lived in the U.S.A. for more than, say, a week. And he’s got some compelling instructions for young musicians in this short video,…
Wired editor Chris Anderson finds music biz veteran Bob Lefsetz a little exasperating, but points out yesterday’s post about sweat equity among independent musicians. Labels don’t understand the economics of online music, because there’s not much in it to support…
Nancy’s got some great coverage of artists who are discovering that they’ve got to migrate their audience away from MySpace onto their own websites so they can really start to benefit from their relationships with fans. Here’s one funny story…
Lefsetz sums up many of the reasons I loved living in the UK. Even when I was down to my last few quid before payday, I could still afford to see some great shows. The vibe really is different, and…
Are my ears buzzing? If so, you stand a better chance of getting on my radar. And that doesn’t just go for me, it goes for every A&R person, every radio programmer, and every journalist that you want to recruit…
Listen to this great description of how one listener uses and enjoys iMix selections from the Apple iTunes Music Store. People in America used to use radio and mixtapes for that kind of experience, but now they turn to other…
“Sampling Creates Audience.” It’s a phrase we used to use a lot around my office when I worked in radio, and it’s true no matter what business you’re in. While radio has worked hard to weed out the unfamiliar, television…
Plenty of debate has been swirling around Chris Anderson’s notion of the “Long Tail,” including Marc Fisher’s Washington Post column. Fisher posits that audiences still crave “hits” and that musicians (like other creative people) will always strive to reach the…
I was helping to produce a seminar for musicians at the front end of the MySpace explosion — this was a few years ago — and a band pitched a booking agent at the event by saying, “we’ve already got…
I’d love to see someone do a formal study of this (not that the RIAA would fund it, or anything), but it’s always been my personal belief that direct links to MP3’s in places like blogs and bulletin boards ultimately…
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…
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…
I always use Jill as an example of someone who’s been grinding out a living as a working musician in between crazy label signings. She’s successful because she builds great relationships with her fans and she’s not afraid to pull…
Kathryn snapped this photo of a CD-R stuck to a telephone pole: Gotta admit it’s a cool and aggressive way to get your music “out there.” (Via BoingBoing.) My only criticism: there’s nothing on the CD to describe what the…
Virgil Dickerson of Suburban Home Records is asking his blog readers for advice on how to (cheaply) promote a tour for one of his bands. He’s already got a partial list of ideas posted and a few responses (mine included)…
I remember the first time Jennie made me listen to Green Day. We were both working at our college radio station, and I was still mostly listening to Paul Weller. I had no clue what to make of them, and…
Speaking of Music Hates You, Patrick’s got an amazing post on his personal weblog that exposes an experience that every working musician reading these pages has experienced at one point or another. The difference between bands that make it in…
If you use email newsletters to announce gigs and communicate with your fans, you should read Jakob Nielsen’s new article entitled Email Newsletters: Surviving Inbox Congestion. Some interesting revelations from Nielsen’s survey: most people spend less than one minute reading…
I’m one of the guests on David Hooper’s Music Business Radio this week, and we talked a lot about street teams and growing your own audience. (We talked a lot about Music Hates You, in fact — the guys have…
Back in about 1996, I decided to shift my career away from music programming and toward production. That’s because I simply didn’t have the memory capacity of my colleagues, who can remember everything about every act they’ve ever heard. (A…
Yes, back when guys like Cousin Brucie and Dick Clark could open a mic and cause a Sam Goody stampede, radio (and TV) could dictate what records flew off store shelves. Not today. Focus groups and sales forecasts determine what…
I guess with folks dissing MySpace and the Sandi Thom incident souring fans on the idea of an internet-generated music superstar, it makes sense that YouTube is the new meme on the block. I’ve been digging all the tracks from…
Sure, you might have always dreamed about having an audience that follows you around, like Phish or Panic or the Dead. What if you actually facilitated those travel arrangements for them? Travel agents — looking to find new streams of…
Coolfer points out that the new music business still needs money to function, and references two articles about the unseen overhead of promoting a single in the age of MP3s and MySpace. Cheap technology and internet may have eliminated some…
If you’re weary of hauling equipment from gig to gig and pouring your money into repairs for your tour van, you can always try what Scottish singer Sandi Thom did: set up a webcam in her basement. In a packed…
If I could start my music career over, I’d do t-shirts first, before I even had a CD. I’m not kidding. If you’re anything like me, you probably started playing shows long before you had a CD to sell. You…
VayderX points us at an article from ABC that asks whether MySpace is really as popular as the media claim it is. Of course not! There’s a mathematic equation you might have heard called the “Pareto Principle.” It states that,…
Brent from the Music Marketing Cheat Sheet is putting the wolf at the door and challenging himself to grow his own band’s mailing list by 5,000 members. He intends to celebrate his achievement with a big show in a big…
If you think you have what it takes to become America’s next big superstar, I’m not about to suggest that you try out for American Idol. Instead, check out American Idol Underground, a website that provides an online community that…
The Bureau of Labor Statistics has new figures that should send a chill down the spine of folks that want to start making more money as working musicians. 22% of Americans’ “entertainment budget” now goes to cable and satellite TV,…
How can you get your fans more involved with your career with your website? Acoustic soul-rocker Granian has a “share” page with info on how to spread the word about his music. Ironic popster Brad Sucks encourages his listeners to…
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…
Pandora has been building a buzz in indie music circles lately: Pandora is a music discovery service designed to help you find and enjoy music that you’ll love. It’s powered by the Music Genome Project, the most comprehensive analysis of…
For those of you who keep up in the Friendster/Facebook/LiveJournal communities (and for those of you who have no idea what I’m talking about), MySpace is a site that anyone can use, fans and musicians alike. Although MySpace wasn’t necessarily…
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…
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…
Think playing for “a good causeâ€?? means no one signs at the dotted line? Think again. Going the benefit route could be one of the best techniques you got. Check out this piece from the October 2005 Music Edition of…
Well, well, well! It’s great to be back (it’s like my very own Saturday Night Live intro!). I’m excited to be back on board with the spinme.com site, and I hope you all can work with me so that Scott,…
Finally getting back to speed after getting a bad, bad cold during my holiday expeditions (the cold all my Northeast U.S. clients warned me that I would get!) — I’m catching up on a few hundred e-mails. If I haven’t…
If you’re doing something really special with your songs, your fans might be using them to get dates. Now get writing, Cyrano… Track these topics:
Bob Baker has a crazy-good idea to attract members of your perfect audience by highlighting the kinds of things they would shop for on Amazon and tagging them — so your profile appears on the product page. Track these topics:
Scottish band Looper is asking exactly this question. A snippet of their song wound up in a commercial, earning them enough money to stop worrying about selling records. They’re focusing on composing more music for film and television to pay…
Seth Godin just published a blog entry that clarifies exactly what every musician experiences at some point in their career. As you move through your strategy to grow your audience and increase your revenue from music, you hit a point…
There’s an interesting new trend in spam protection that impacts the results you could be getting from your e-newsletters. I often encounter bands that, desperate for attention, add folks to their mailing lists without permission. Ideological issues aside, there’s a…
I have been harping for what seems like years about the fact that you do not need to sink piles of cash into studio recordings before growing your audience. Here’s new proof. With only one “official” single on the market,…
If you had told me ten years ago that the country’s biggest proponent for an aggressive independent music community would be Hanson… I can’t even think of what I’d do. Yes, it’s true. The boys are back, they sound great,…
Web sites like Pitchfork, Tiny Mix Tapes, and cokemachineglow have made being a passive indie fan that much easier. Track these topics:
I’m almost ready to post the recording of our first Street Team 101 call to the members area, but I want to reiterate something I mentioned on the call: A lot of folks are using the term “street team” to…