If you’re a practitioner of Joe’s zone strategy for booking gigs, here’s a tip that’s served me well: incorporate your zones into your mailing list for more accurate mailings. It occurred to me that it doesn’t always make sense to…
What if lack of net neutrality dictated your playlist?
I honestly hadn’t thought about this until now… If the record industry, which has used payola and co-op dollars for decades to squeeze small artists out of radio playlists and off of record store shelves, could actually pay cable and…
Lefsetz on Downloads: WTF?
Lefsetz has some choice language for record execs that don’t understand why there are still ten illegal downloads of a hit song for each paid download. And he wonders why nobody in the mainstream media’s writing/thinking about why this whole…
Music Business Radio – Street Teams
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…
Music Business Contracts TeleClass tomorrow!
Here’s one final reminder about tomorrow’s conference call! Music Business Contracts Everyone thinks it’s smart (if not essential) to consult an attorney before signing any music business contracts. If you’re still struggling to pay your bills, spending money on billable…
Hem: Liberty Mutual’s Accomplishing What DreamWorks Couldn’t
Hem has been honing their sound — a blend of etherial vocals and Americana — for close to seven years now. DreamWorks signed them in 2003, but couldn’t make their records click at radio. Luckily, they’ve moved on to Rounder,…
New Tastemakers
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…
Sales Drive Radio Airplay, Not Vice Versa
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…
How much destruction can a rock star write off on his or her taxes?
Here’s an awesome interview with an experienced band business manager about the kind of expenses he sees each week from his clients (and other musicians). Smashed Guitar? Investment in your image. Nephew wants to open a bar? Stay away, especially…
Que SIRA SIRA
…whatever will be, will be, if you don’t put your two cents into the latest Capitol Hill copyright fight. The Section 115 Reform Act (SIRA) would revise the way that businesses and consumers pay for the right to make “incidental”…
Music Retail Promotion TeleClass tomorrow!
Here’s one final reminder about tomorrow’s conference call! Music Retail Promotion How can you mount a successful record release campaign when you can barely get shelf space at a record store? We’ll share five insights that can shape the way…
Is YouTube Generating Music Stars?
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…