I hadn't ever seen this site until @vonBrucken tweeted it the other day.
And, now, I've been back to it every day since!
Music Nomad is a collection of links and summaries of sites that every musician will find helpful, split into sensible categories.
It's an incredible resource and I can't recommend it enough.
There's also articles and tips on all sorts of topics.
Check it out and bookmark it.
I asked Bob Lefsetz for permission to reproduce part of his recent post on Kanye West as it has this list of 8 things you should use as rules for your music success, and I wanted to be able to point you to them as a reference.
Thanks Bob - here's the original post on Kanye on his site at Lefsetz.com and at lefsetz.com/wordpress
He talks about the way that Kanye has been rehabilitated in the public eye after the VMA debacle by doing it his way.
But, the bit that I wanted to focus on is that he extrapolates these rules - they are BRILLIANT and cut to the core:
1. Be really damn good. Great art makes up for a ton of ills. One can argue strongly if Mel Gibson makes a movie on his own dime and it’s great, he can reemerge from the depths. We’re a forgiving populace.
2. Don’t fall on your sword. Your crime doesn’t mean as much to people as the mainstream press says it does. Kevin Smith sat at home, depressed as the man labeled "too fat to fly", but eventually Tiger Woods crashed his car and Smith’s foibles on Southwest, which were inaccurately reported, faded away. A career in the public eye is first and foremost about persistence, and perseverance.
3. Play the mainstream media game, die by the mainstream media game. News outlets don’t care about you, they care about advertising, they care about ratings. Don’t let the tail wag the dog. Katy Perry is in the news every damn day, but she still can’t sell out an arena. Get your perspective right. Katy’s handlers have got it totally wrong. What does showing off your tits have to do with music? Kanye’s not the best-looking dude on the planet, but it doesn’t matter, because people believe he’s good.
4. If you’re not willing to give away something for free, you’re not willing to have a career. If Kanye can give away free tracks, why can’t you? It’s about your relationship with your fans. The song doesn’t have to be on the album. You’ve got to know where in the food chain to charge, and it’s not at every contact point.
5. Maintain contact. You’re doing your own act. Now, with the Internet, you don’t need permission to do it. You can perform on YouTube, you can tweet, less is more is history. Now you always give more, and the public decides how much it wants to graze in your neighborhood. Fans come and go, but you can’t let it impact your art. You’ve got to do what you want to do, not what you think the audience wants.
6. Have a personality. If no one hates you, you’re not doing it right.
7. Don’t focus on the album release. Your marketing’s got to go on for years. The Doobie Brothers released a new album. Straight to the dumper. There was no Twitter presence, no fan engagement, just a record most fans don’t know exists and don’t want anyway. And I only use the Doobies because they’re an ancient act, and all the ancient acts don’t know how to do it. You don’t need a label and you don’t need an album. You need fans, which you’ve got, and you need to know how to reach each and every one of them. Pat Simmons should have played acoustic in someone’s house. The band should have done live performances of classics on YouTube. They should have gotten their fans involved. If Paul McCartney wants to sell a new album, he’s gonna have to do it this way too. Unless you want to be a recluse, if you want to survive in the new world, you’ve got to get yourself out there. Don’t pooh-pooh it as marketing, it’s performing! And isn’t that what you do! And it can be as much about music as you want it to be.
8. In a chaotic era you’ve got to go your own way, you’ve got to forge your own path. No one knows, certainly not the mainstream media guys or those at the label. They know how it used to be done. It’s incumbent upon you to do it your own way, for yourself. The Eagles can’t sell every ticket? How come Don Henley’s not on Twitter, he’s got opinions. Just putting tickets on sale is no longer enough. Hell, how do people even find out about the gig? Most people complain they didn’t know you were playing. And if you’re a new act? You’ve got to be good. And if your goal is to connect with the mainstream and have it do your bidding, you’ve got it wrong. It’s about a career. And you build it. And it works because you’ve got fans. Your label doesn’t own your fans, nor does the radio station, only you do. Start there.
Bob Baker - @MrBuzzFactor - is the original artist-focused music marketing guy and has been giving advice online to all aspiring musicians for years.
He has now released another free pdf entitled - 10 Success Strategies for DIY Musicians, Managers and Promoters. It has some general ideas, some specific tips and some motivational / mindset stuff.
Got to be worth reading.
Get it here - 10 Success Strategies for DIY Musicians, Managers and Promoters
Hypebot piece on the intriguing Indaba platform that also looks at how the democratisation of the means of production and distribution has given everyone with talent a shot. The gatekeepers are still there but you can go around them, so it's down to you.
Indaba is a very exciting prospect that allows all musicians at any level of skill to collaborate on music or seek out people to help them and vice versa.
It's a great musicians resource that you should check out.
Central to the founding ideology of Indaba Music is the notion of collaboration; they strive to empower musicians with the means to network and make music together. Since 2007 the website has grown to harbor over 500,000 musicians—from amateurs, who make music for the love of the craft, to Grammy Award winners, who've created music on the professional level.
Prior to the emergence of the social web, the tyranny of geography inhibited musicians from collaborating on a large scale and class distinctions were far more predominate than they are today. This prevented amateurs from gaining access to commercial works and professionals from seeing the value that they can create. In the music industry, we've reached the point where more music is being made and consumed than at any other point in history and Indaba has positioned itself to harness the sheer abundance of cultural creators behind it.
This article from Rick Goetz at MusicianCoaching.com is worth a read (as is all of his blog) as it's the first musician advice article he ever wrote from 12 years ago.
But, what makes it worth your time to check out is that almost all of it is still relevant today.
In the main it's about how to put on a good showcase for a label - a dying breed these days, but this is good advice if you find yourself doing it. The article ranges over a load more points of general musician advice.
Working in A&R, I have seen literally thousands of bands in the last several years (I actually tried counting the bands I had seen at one point to try and talk my boss into giving me a raise; no, it didn’t work, but thanks for asking). Let me make an early disclaimer by saying that there is very little scientific about the showcasing process. This article is not meant to be a foolproof plan for how to get signed when you showcase; it is really just a collection of my experiences with what has worked or not worked for people in the past.
A bit of an old video, shot and posted by Andrew Dubber - who knows what he's talking about.
Martin Atkins has seen and done it all and knows more than most about music marketing - from both sides of the fence, as both a working artist, and a respected expert.
Watch the video and learn.
Martin Atkins from Andrew Dubber on Vimeo.
If you are working to build your fanbase using every tool at your disposal then these tips from the panellists at last week's CMJ conference are going to give you an edge.
Collated by the folks at Digital Music News, it's full of great ideas - some you'll know and some will be new.
After a long week in New York, we strongly questioned whether CMJ was actually helping artists by simply doling out endless DIY marketing tips. But the tips themselves were often quite good, though the real question is whether it makes any sense to be a full-time marketing specialist and musician at the same time.
Anyway, alongside that debate many just wanted to review the tips and judge for themselves. And, not just artists, but also managers, indie labels, consultants, and lawyers. So, here are 40 that we wrote down - which really is just a fraction of the overall stream of information from last week. And, this goes beyond DIY and into highly-related areas like publishing and music supervision. Enjoy.
A great list post that has ideas on how to maximise your ability to earn a living from your music.
One to add to a list of musician resources for sure.
Everybody loves Top 10 Lists, from David Letterman’s countdowns, to the Huffington Post’s top 10 this and that. It’s a fun way to maintain the illusion that in a complex world, things can be simpified, or dumbed-down.
So…Let’s play along. Why not a Top Ten List on the subject of Making A Living From Your Music?
The following list highlights 10 habits you should develop if you want to make a consistent living from your music. I can honestly say that these habits are the habits of successful musicians I have known and admired:
We have been members of UK agency, AIM (the Association of Independent Music) for years. One of our many hats has been as a small group of independent record labels over the years. AIM is the UK trade body that gives such labels a voice, so membership is de rigeur.
But they just relaunched their website yesterday. It is full of awesome musician resources. Yes, you have to join or buy their information piecemeal (and I don't get paid for recommending it!) but it is put together by very serious knowledgeable people and I recommend it 100%. Much, much better than most eBooks or musician training (other than ours!) that you'll find on the web.
For example, their 600 page -The AIM Guide to Survival and Success in the Music Business - is probably the best £11.75 you could ever spend.
They also cover music news and run training events. If you're in the UK you'd be mad not to check them out and if you're anywhere esle then 90% of their info is just as useful.
Great resource list provided by Indie Music Tech of sites that can help you find all the gigs you need. Gig swaps, listings, scene building - all that kind of thing.
You'll find a great post on our site that covers all the basics of how to get gigs.
And then go and check out the list of 10 Resources to get gigs here.
