Without doubt, the biggest challenge any new band or artist faces is getting their music heard.  So it’s important you give yourself the very best chance of cutting through. Sadly, just having great music is not enough. Bands frequently spend months writing and recording new material and then rush it out before considering the importance of presentation or brand. You might not think of yourself as a brand, but the moment […]

Unlike most countries, the United States copyright law provides musicians and songwriters an opportunity to regain ownership of works that they transferred to outside entities, such as record labels and music publishers. Congress established this “second bite at the apple” for authors of creative works after a period of 35 years. “Termination of transfer” is not automatic, however, and there are certain steps creators must take to regain the rights […]

With the present state of the music industry, the chances of landing that entry-level, dream job in the music business is even more difficult than it may have been ten or even five years ago. As an intern in the music business working for companies that may be in the realm of record labels, music publishing, marketing or other types of social media/digital companies, you may be asked to do […]

Much of the talk about the music industry in recent days focuses on future transformative changes in the way music is consumed. Will it be streaming or downloads? Will we be listening to music files from an app or from a cloud, and if so, who will own that cloud? The possibilities for content in the future are limited only by technology we create, and there will be even more […]

Every artist should be using online video as part of their promotional toolkit. That means you must set up a YouTube account (also known as a “channel”) if you haven’t done so already. And once in place, your channel must feature new videos on a regular basis. Why? Because video allows you to connect with fans and potential fans in ways that other forms of media can’t touch. People experience things […]

Last year I spent more than an hour on the phone interviewing Joe Vitale. He’s the author of more than 50 books on hypnotic marketing, the law of attraction, and more. You may have seen him in the movie The Secret, on “Larry King Live” or “The Donny Deutsch Show.” The interview was amazing and wide-ranging, but I want to share one specific piece of marketing advice that Joe offered during […]

Why is it that even with all of the changes that have occurred of late in the music business — changes that have altered the face of nearly everything — commercial radio today is still not that different than it was ten, twenty, or even fifty years ago? As Jeff Price rightly points out in his article “The Hidden Money In Radio,” commercial radio isthe last stronghold of the majors.  They lost control […]

We have all heard those hit songs that can be considered  ‘timeless classics’. Whether it’s a hip hop track, a rock classic or an 80’s power ballad, these songs share some essential features that ensure they will be on the airwaves for years to come. Obviously there is not one hard and fast rule for this as every song is different, but here is a list of features that many […]

Some PRs will tell you – probably rightly – that you can place too much importance on the good old press release when contacting journalists, editors and DJs. A personalised email or sneaky phone call to an existing trusted contact will usually achieve so much more. Though with hundreds of writers, editors and bloggers out there, inevitably sometimes you are going to want to send out a press release to […]

As a musician, it is vital that you listen to your audience as much as you’d like them to listen to you. Sometimes that could mean going through a change. The Beastie Boys did it, Katy Perry did it, and the Black Eyed Peas did it among many others. At one point, these artists shifted their focus towards a newly refined target audience after realizing that their existing audience responded well to […]