A few weeks ago, YouTube released a creators guide for musicians who use YouTube—detailing best practices and techniques for musicians using the service. The 40 page guide holds much common knowledge but a few gems of wisdom stuck out to me. Below I rounded up a few key points they made, that you shouldn’t miss. Put Popular Searched Items In Your Title – If you have famous guests or keywords users will […]

Artists tend to be creative people. We write music, create dazzling visions of art, and express sentiments in the most unique ways. However, when it comes to promoting our art, something else happens. For one reason or the other, most artists fail to express any creativity in their business endeavors. Here are five easy (non-internet) ways that you could promote your band. I hope that more than anything else, they […]

1. Write, record and play high quality music It seems like an obvious thing to say, but everything starts & ends with the music. If the songs are poor, the recording is bad, and the live show is dull don’t expect to make a living from music. 2. Continue to only deal in high quality Some of the best new bands and artists are let down by terrible videos, bad photography […]

Online music PR takes patience, follow up, and a three-phase plan For any emerging brand (yes musicians, this means you), a music PR campaign is a great way to spark new conversations, build visibility within key markets, and grow your overall influence over a long-term. The problem is, your budget may be tied up in basic costs such as recording, production, touring, rent, food, etc. Working with an established, professional publicity or […]

Networking is the best way to get ahead in “the biz.” It isn’t all about sending your music to Pitchfork and blogs to hope it gets some airplay in the corners of the internet. It’s about talking to the people who matter most in your town to help each other out and to build a core fan base you can build from in the coming months. Mutual Benefit The whole […]

One of the great things about the digital music revolutions is that it opened the doors for indie musicians to cheaply and effectively distribute their music to a wide audience, without having to invest in physical CDs and records. And yet, many have felt that the digital revolution has deprived albums of their visual and tactile components and depersonalized the experience of music ownership. This might have been true in the […]

When launching a PR campaign for music publicity, knowing what to expect is key As an independent musician, digital publicity can be a fantastic way to build the necessary online foundation to set yourself on a path towards success. But like much of digital marketing and music publicity, the process and subsequent results can feel a bit nebulous if proper goals aren’t set in place. Setting goals for an upcoming […]

The better you understand your customer, the faster your business will grow. But new ventures often struggle to define their target market and set their sights too broadly. “We often overestimate the market size, and in many cases there may not be one at all,” says Robert Hisrich, director of the Walker Center for Global Entrepreneurship at the Thunderbird School of Global Management in Glendale, Ariz. Here are 10 questions that can help you […]

Building local momentum through gigs and networking is a great music promotion strategy You’ve spent countless hours writing, revising, and rehearsing, and now it’s time to take your material to the stage and wow some audiences. While a tour bus, road crew, and booking manager are helpful when it comes to worldwide — or at least nationwide — musical domination, gigging locally and building a live following, honing your chops, […]

The ultimate goal of any artist is quite simple; to have their music heard by as many people as possible. Due to the many avenues available now, musicians in the earliest stages of their careers tend to overlook a basic tool to get their music heard by a wide audience; radio. While there is no denying that single corporation domination has hindered independent artist’s ability to get airplay, especially in major […]