Key Points for Success in Todays Music Business

This came to my attention from Clyde Smith at Hypebot. 10 top tips from the horses mouth so to speak. 

Originally sourced from article in American Songwriter, they asked a range of industry professionals what is needed after you have written some great tunes but haven't built a sizable following or become visible to possible music industry allies.

There is some excellent advice here

Kendel Ratley – Director of Marketing, Kickstarter:

"If you're still establishing your fanbase, check out where your peers, favorite artists, or bands you want to emulate share their music and follow suit. There are countless platforms and venues to debut your work. Identify your audience, think about where you discover music, and post accordingly.".

The top tips have been sorted in Clyde's article here, but for more depth check out the full article on American Songwriter here.

 

Links

http://www.hypebot.com/hypebot/2012/04/10-tips-for-succeeding-in-todays-volatile-music-biz.html

http://www.americansongwriter.com/2012/03/dream-big-how-to-succeed-in-todays-volatile-music-biz/

 

So you wanna be a rock star?

Amusing infographic of facts about musicians from the Band Promo site.

Learn to be great

Two posts from Bob Lefsetz, but I'll also link to an article that he refers to.

The point of the first article is that greatness is within your grasp if you can be bothered to work hard enough.

I'm sure many people who read this post will have heard about Malcolm Gladwell's theory of '10,000' hours that he sets out in his book 'Outliers'. If not, get to Amazon and buy a copy since it's a phenomenal book that will inspire.

In short, the argument, backed up by lots of evidence, is that experts, geniuses, superstars are all made and not born, and it's the effort, application and practice that makes them so - and generally to get to the standard that marks you out as different, takes 10,000 hours.

Just because you have a hard life, just because you’re willing to forgo the spoils of the middle class, that does not mean you’re good.

You’re only good if you work at your craft.  And that does not mean learning how to play "Stairway To Heaven"…that’s just the beginning.  How do you get to the point where you know all the notes, have practiced the scales and can come up with something innovative and new that will make our heads turn?

By spending a lot of time picking.

Your move.

Read that piece from Bob here.

And the old NYT piece that sets out the theory that Gladwell developed is here.

But, go on from there and read Bob's piece about why making singles rather than Albums is the way to develop and then get your self noticed.

It follows on from the need for practice.

It's called 'focus'!

And by making singles and trying to make them amazing you'll also be putting in the hours.

Bob makes other points about why the Single is better than the Album in the modern music business - all of which are valid.

Concentrate on making music.  Focus on making the best music you can.  And release it when it’s ready, don’t hold it back as a result of some sales scheme.   Once again, that’s major label thinking for dead bands.  That’s how they sell the Stones or the Beatles or…  All that hype about the "Exile On Main Street" anniversary set…  Have you heard anybody talk about it recently? It’s set in amber.  Whereas the music of a working band must be in the ears of listeners on a regular basis.

Read that here.

In short - practice forever, become great at what you do, learn to innovate and then make great music regularly and feed it to the world to build a long term rabid fanbase.

Simple, but not easy!

Have you got what it takes?

This is an essential piece for all musicians to read and watch.

I'm loving Wesley Verhoeve's blog as he writes posts that are just that bit more insightful than most. He doesn't follow the herd.

This article asks whether you have it within you to make it as a musician.

Making it as a musician or a music business person takes a lot of patience, an incredible work ethic and the gift of being able to handle delayed gratification. Artists often put in a lot of time, and many years may pass before they move from a crappy apartment in a bad neighborhood, to a decent one in an ok neighborhood, to eventually a comfortable environment.

Please go and read the whole article here.

And, Wesley cites this video as putting it how it is. Watch it, but do read his article for the full DL.

 

Musicians Question Time - The real deal!

Another video from the BBC Introducing Masterclass.

It's a Q&A from the delegates with a panel made up of A&R men, radio director, promoter and an agent.

It's an hour long, but it's well worth your time.

 

Music publishing for muppets

Image by Andy Buscemi

Sorry, you might well not be a muppet, but whether you are or not, this post will educate you on music publishing.

Might sound boring, but once you know what it is, you'll have a chance of making some money from your songs - not so boring now!

This is a great article by the guys at Sentric Music who offer a brilliant publishing service for all songwriters that won't stop you doing a 'big' publishing deal later in your career. They'll genuinely help you out and send you money.

They also know their stuff when it comes to explaining what music publishing is and how it works.

What is music publishing?

It’s essentially your songs.

That was easy eh?

It has nothing to do with your recordings. This must be remembered. As a music publisher I look after your songs. Songs that YOU’VE written. Just by writing the song you’ve created a copyright; a piece of intellectual property that can be exploited to generate income.

(on a side note; the word ‘exploited’ in this usage doesn’t carry the negative connotations you may think it has when you read it elsewhere. To ‘exploit’ in this sense is to simply extract the intrinsic value of something – and your music, no matter how brilliant or rubbish, has value)

You have to learn that music publishing and record labels are very different things. It is important that the people who look after your publishing rights and master recording rights have a good relationship, but I’ll come onto that later on.

I strongly recommend that you go and read the article here. 

It is very much focused on the UK but other than the societies that collect the royalties (MCPS and PRS in the UK, Harry Fox and ASCAP / BMI in the US), it all applies to the US and anywhere else. 

Understanding how your songs make you money is pretty basic to your career as a working musician, so you'd be daft to miss it.

Whilst writing this, I also turned up this very detailed and impressive article on Bemuso, which goes farther and covers the whole shebang. Read this one too!

 

Words of wisdom from established artists

Thank God!

Established artists interviewed by @unsignedguide unanimously advise that the route to success is to master songwriting, become a good player and performer and to stay true to your music.

Amen.

Read their quotes here.

And for more of the same get our free music success tips eBook if you don't already have it.

 

Image by PaulODonnell

10 things every musician should do everyday

Image by yoppy

One of those posts that's useful as much for the comments as the post itself!

Do you or your band have a daily online routine? You better. At the speed this world moves you can’t afford to miss even one day of what is happening. Your competition is not sitting still, so you better be out there. But as a band you have to find a balance that is not going to hinder your ability to be a band. You need to write, rehearse, record, perform… if you don’t do any of those things, being online won’t mean much.

So I thought I would take a look at my daily online routine and maybe you can apply to it your routine.

Read it here - and check out all the comments. They don't all agree and also add some more essentials!

Hook up with serious music industry professionals

I just got tipped off to this site - Music180.com

I don't know a great deal about it but it looks like a refreshing way of being able to get direct help and connections with serious players in the game.

As we all know, if you want to make it in music, it's not just what you know, it's who you know.

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Being good isn’t enough... you need to be great. But you can’t become great alone. You need help and artist development.

Music180 gives you direct access to hundreds of the world’s top music pros to get help, get heard and get discovered.

Now you can meet and work with the same producers, songwriters, managers and other pros who have built careers for many of your favorite artists.

Go and check it out.