How NOT to pitch a band sponsorship Imagine you were running a business and you received an email from someone you didn’t know that looked like this: “Hi, I do a lot of great stuff. Can you give me $10,000 or introduce me to any of your friends who might be able to?” How would you feel? What would you think? Could you imagine a high profile artist such as […]

YouTube: the new radio, the new MTV, the new record store, the new music magazine, the new everything Let’s state the obvious: the world has changed, especially for independent musicians. Music consumers aren’t moving away from the idea of music “ownership” outright (a huge part of the global music market still prefers to buy CDs, after all), but legal alternatives to ownership (ummm… streaming!) have dramatically changed the way listeners […]

360 degree deals present major disadvantages for artists, but faced with a choice of the 360 versus no deal, the 360 may be worth accepting – but only if properly negotiated and only if the major pitfalls touched upon in this article are avoided. First, let me give every artist and manager a quick primer on what a 360 degree deal is.  Basically, the 360 is an exclusive recording contract between a record company and an artist in which, […]

As in any business, your reputation and the impression that you make is a big part of a successful career in songwriting. Being well-respected and taken seriously as a songwriter will, in time, open doors and lead to work that will get your songs to a wider audience and generate income. However, as with almost everything in music, building this reputation takes time and conscious effort. Below are a few […]

By Elliott Wheeler (@elliott_wheeler), a screen composer, producer and cinematic indie-pop musician based in Sydney, Australia. He was the Arranger and Additional Music Producer on Baz Lurhmann’s The Great Gatsby. I’m often asked how one goes about getting into scoring for film and soundtrack work, particularly on a project the scale of Gatsby. The answer (and annoyingly it’s one that’s heard often) is there’s no particular path that works for everyone. In […]

So now you know that it’s possible to make money from your music career, and you also know you should take things one step at a time. But before you go out and start trying to earn money from your career, it’s important you take time to set goals for what you want to achieve. While it’s easy to say, “I want to get a lot more fans” you have […]

My name is Mikey Wax, and I’m a singer/songwriter from Long Island, NY. I’ve released two full length albums, and have been successfully touring for the past few years. After releasing my first album at the end of ’08, I built a small but promising fan base through word-of-mouth on social media sites. From that, I was able to sign with a small booking agency at the time who got me […]

When it comes to choosing a digital music distributor to get your music on sites like iTunes, Amazon MP3 and Spotify, you want to feel confident in your choice.  If music is important to you, you want to know who’s handling your music assets, the quality of the service and the value you’re getting for the distribution fees you’re paying. Here are 10 questions you should ask any digital music […]

Here are a handful of thoughts not necessarily meant to be taken as doctrine, but more to give you some inspiration with respect to how you might change some habits. 1. Apply the Lean Startup Method Applying Lean Startup thinking to the music business is more crucial than ever. I wrote an article on this, but to summarize: I don’t know what music will succeed, you don’t either, nor do any of the […]

Recently I sat down with Music Dealers to discuss the music biz, how I got started and the great things we’re working on collectively. These guys are definitely a great company you want to get to know. Check out the interview below and click here to see the full Music Dealers feature.