Our friends at Oasis have partnered with David Hooper of MusicMarketing.com to offer you a free PDF copy of the book Six-Figure Musician.
* What it takes to make $150k/year, with only 500 fans.
* How to get record labels to approach YOU.
* “Superfan” secrets — how to develop fans that buy everything you sell.
* Why age doesn’t matter anymore.
* 4 proven cures for music business burnout.
* and more.
Click HERE to download your free PDF copy of “Six-Figure Musician” today!
It’s not QUITE crowdfunding. It’s not QUITE a subscription service. It’s Patreon — a tool created by Pomplamoose’s Jack Conte. Patreon allows fans of musicians, authors, bloggers, photographers (any kind of content creator, really) to become patrons in an interesting new way.
Instead of pledging money towards a major project (album release, book launch, film editing, etc.) like you might through crowdfunding sites such as Kickstarter or RocketHub, Patreon users can pledge a certain amount of money for each new product/project that the creator releases, with a monthly cap on spending.
Are you committing any of these social media sins?I’ve been personally manning the Jaden Social Facebook and Twitter pages since starting the company in my bedroom back in November 2011. And let me say straight up, getting my hands dirty right from day 1 has been one of the most valuable and eye-opening experiences I could ask for as a business owner, musician and marketer.
In 18 months I have gone from checking in barely a couple of times a week to deal with a handful of interactions, to spending upwards of 12 hours a day monitoring and managing more than 100 interactions 7 days a week (thank you Chrome for the ability to permanently pin tabs to the browser window).
Now I would say I’m a pretty chilled out dude for the most part, but there are some things that musos do (and say) online that really make me cringe. Since I too was once a blissfully ignorant and, at times, cringe-worthy muso, I’m not going to sit here and get self-righteous about it. No, I’m going to do the next funnest (that’s a real word, I swear) thing and compile a list of 7 deadly sins I feel are damaging the online efficacy of all my musician friends’ content & promotion strategies on Facebook & Twitter.
This is without a doubt one of the biggest no-no’s that exists on EVERY Social Media platform today. Read more »
How does a songwriter earn money? —— [Insert your own punchline here.]
But the real answer is… music publishing!
There’re a number of different kinds of publishing royalties you can earn from the usage of your original music.
One of the big sources of publishing revenue you’ll earn as a songwriter is performance royalties. But an even bigger revenue stream (at least for the music publishing industry at large) is mechanical royalties, which we’ll talk about in this article.
Wikipedia says:
The term “mechanical” and “mechanical license” has its origins in the “piano rolls” on which music was recorded in the early part of the 20th Century. Although its concept is now primarily oriented to royalty income from sale of compact discs (CDs), its scope is wider and covers any copyrighted audio composition that is rendered mechanically; that is, without human performers.
In a nutshell: every time a song you’ve written is manufactured to be sold in a CD, downloaded on a digital music retail site, or streamed through services like Spotify and Rdio, you are owed a mechanical royalty.
Music publishing and CD Baby Pro: an interview with Justin Kalifowitz of SongTrust
Music publishing is arguably the most confusing — and important — aspect of the music business. In episode #121 of the DIY Musician Podcast (that’s right, we’re finally back in the swing of things), CD Baby’s Kevin Breuner talks with Justin Kalifowitz of SongTrust, experts in the world of independent music publishing.
Some of the topics they discuss include:
* What kinds of royalties are you owed as a songwriter?
* Which royalties do performing rights organizations like ASCAP and BMI collect for you? What WON’T they do for you?
* Why is it so hard for independent artists to collect some of the money they’re owed?
* How does music publishing differ from country to country?
* Is CD Baby Pro for me?
In this podcast, Justin answers all these questions and more — plus, they talk about how CD Baby Pro solves many of the publishing-related problems independent artists face today.
Listen or download the podcast now for free on the DIY Musician Podcast website or on iTunes.
How to Record, Design, Mix, Master, Manufacture, and Promote an Album in One Week — for FREE!Last fall, I interviewed American singer/songwriter Eric Eckhart about his experience making an album from start to finish in one week’s time, in front of a live audience, and without spending any money.
Working out of a former supermarket in Berlin, Eric and his artist collective “A Headful of Bees” pulled it off: recording, mixing, mastering, design, manufacturing, and the release itself. In the process, they ended up creating their own “alternative, open-source music industry.”
Now there’s a short documentary to tell the story too, and you can watch it before it premiers in Berlin on May 24th.
* Click this link: http://vimeo.com/64897625
* Type in the password “together.” (The video is privacy protected until it’s official release date, but you can watch in now by using that code.)
Why your music should be available on streaming services like Spotify and RdioIn the Internet Age, EVERY musician is a global act; your audience is everywhere.
With the popularity of YouTube, blogs, on-demand streaming services, download retailers like iTunes, and social networks, you never know how or where you’ll find your next fan — or more accurately, how they’ll find you. Hell, you could become an overnight sensation in a country you’ve never even been to before.
As an independent artist, you can’t afford NOT to make your music available digitally (as both MP3 downloads and streams) — because when something you’ve created goes viral, you need to be ready to capitalize on that splash.
A windowing strategy is when you make your product available to the world in stages, according to certain windows of time. Read more »
Music publishing is one of the most important revenue generators for an artist that writes original material.
To read about the various kinds of publishing royalties you can generate through the usage of your music, click HERE.
But in this article — we’re going to talk about one of the big ones: performance royalties.
Some industry experts claim that the amount of performance royalties distributed to songwriters and publishers each year accounts for as much as 30-35% of the total available publishing royalties — so there’s big money to be made.
A performance royalty is owed to the songwriter and publisher of a particular song whenever that composition is “broadcast” or performed “in public.”
These instances include:
• plays on terrestrial and satellite radio (Sirius, KEXP, etc.)
• usages on network and cable TV, film, commercials, games, etc.
The folks at Presskit.to recently invited me to be a guest on their webinar about writing great band bios and taglines. It was called “The Art of Tasteful Boasting” and featured 3 panelists: Julia Rogers, Editor in Chief at Musiciancoaching.com; Jem Bahaijoub, Founder of imaginePR; and… me.
* How do you get started writing a band bio?
* How do you deal with writer’s block?
* How do you find your narrative voice? 1st Vs. 3rd person bios?
Checked out The HostBaby Blog lately?
Every week, we post new web and social media tips for musicians. You’ll learn how to grow your email list, how to get fans to engage with your online content, how to draft newsletters that convert to sales, how to optimize your site for search, and more.
For those of you who haven’t been keeping tabs on the HostBaby Blog…
1. Is Your One-Page Website Hurting Your Career?
2. How to Add Google Analytics to Your HostBaby Site Builder
3. Does Your Website Reflect Where You Are in Your Career?