Lately, I’ve been having lots of conversations with some of my close friends and band mates about how much time they spend working on their music and how it affects their perspective. These conversations stemmed from a talk with a band mate of mine who truly lives and breathes music. He practices and writes more…
Artists need a visual brand to support their music. Often, it’s the music that gets people to check out an artist, but it’s the brand that keeps them interested. Think of the millions of people that follow Taylor Swift on Instagram and Facebook. Or better yet, think of the millions of people who follow every…
As soon as you start selling merch, you start turning your music into a business. You’re not just selling music anymore – you’re selling clothing, you’re selling a brand, you’re selling a lifestyle. Almost all major artists eventually turn themselves into a lifestyle brand at some point in their careers. You may not be quite…
The new year is a time when people make resolutions. They start setting goals and making plans to achieve them. We all know that new year’s resolutions can be fickle at the best of times, but that’s not to say it isn’t a good idea. Setting goals for your music career is important. You should…
Many musicians have heard about people getting publishing deals and wondered, what exactly is a publishing deal? For a long time I really had no idea what getting a publishing deal entailed. I knew people who had these elusive contracts and seemed to live pretty cool lives, but I didn’t know what they meant. Recently,…
People usually associate unions with factory workers, trades, or a large group of employees, but not usually with musicians. Musicians are typically freelancers, and by nature of the job, you wouldn’t expect them to have a union. But guess what, we do! Nearly every country has a musician’s union. In the UK, it’s called the…
Hiring a lawyer doesn’t really seem like something you would want to do. However, as your career advances, it will become necessary. In fact, if you have to hire a lawyer, it’s usually a sign that things are going pretty well. Before this happens to you, read this article. It’s important to be able to…
Making predictions is always risky business. Nobody really knows what to expect in a year (or 10), but we all like to guess. I would like to forewarn you that I could be completely wrong with these predictions, but they represent my best guesses. According to MIDiA Research, 2016 was the year of the video….
Should bands pay to play? Let’s face it, it happens. At some point in your career as an artist, you will be offered the “opportunity” to pay to play a show. These offers come in all shapes and sizes. From sneaky promoters looking to take advantage of naive bands to legitimate opportunities that may be…
Facebook Live. I’m sure you’ve heard of it or seen it by now – Facebook literally sends people notifications when friends and Pages go live – basically, you can live stream whatever you’re doing, and have people interact with you live. Facebook Live is possibly the best feature on Facebook you can use right now,…
Whether or not you read music, knowing what a time signature is and differentiating between different time signatures is hugely important when you’re learning and writing songs. Have you ever been tapping along to a song and been thrown off? You’re groovin’ out on 2 & 4 and suddenly your foot is tapping in a…
Shazam – an app that allows users to identify a song they don’t recognize by letting their phone “listen” to it – is no longer a newcomer to the digital music scene. Shazam was so successful right from the get-go that they have literally become a verb. Fans will say they “Shazamed” a song, and…
Believe it or not, children’s artists can make quite a bit of money with CD sales, gigs, and even merch. After all, it’s not the kids who are spending the money, it’s the parents, and parents love to spend money on their kids. Children’s music also has real value for kids. Music makes for better…
If you’re looking to start making music, there are generally two schools of thought. In the hip-hop and rap world, in particular, there are artists who buy beats from producers and artists who make their own beats. While members of each camp might be quite convinced that they’re thinking is the right way to do…
Music videos seem to be king these days. Artists are making videos of stunning length and quality, putting as much money and effort into the video as they are into the song itself. Beyond that, nothing goes viral like a great video. So many songs have been made hits because of their video that it’s…