knowthemusicbiz

knowthemusicbiz

Imagine you’re at a busy metropolitan airport. The luggage carousel goes around, and people stop by, check the luggage tags, and pick up their belongings. As the day wanes, though, there are still lots of suitcases left on the conveyer belt with no luggage tags and no one to claim them. Now, what if I [...]

knowthemusicbiz

As an indie artist you have no job security, no constant paycheck and no retirement plan. You might not be able to do much about the first two but you can definitely do something about the last, the retirement plan. As a self employed musician you can invest in your future and save [...]

knowthemusicbiz

If you’re in charge of a band and you hire musicians you need to be aware of the tax filing requirements for Form 1099-MISC. The filing deadline for the form is quickly approaching and there can be penalties if you don’t file. The forms must be postmarked by January 31st. Copies of the forms and [...]

knowthemusicbiz

One of the most important aspects of being a musician these days is trying to understand how to efficiently use the web to promote your tunes to people in the hopes of creating a rabid fanbase. Unfortunately, most do not understand the underlying principles of how to use your website in order to actually get [...]

knowthemusicbiz

Carla has has spent a number of years behind the scenes in the music industry, in music publishing, management, publicity, and radio promotion. She is the author of The DIY Guide to the Music Biz and Twitter for Musicians.
To be an indie musician requires an entrepreneurial mindset, and the latest edition of Ariel Hyatt’s Music [...]

knowthemusicbiz

Are we there yet? So, you’ve recorded your music, found a producer interested in using your song in a film or television series, and negotiated a price for a synch and/or master-use license…so, now what? Well, everything else.
What else should you be weary of before signing a synch and/or master use license?
Limited Media and Internet [...]

Chuck Prophet
knowthemusicbiz

I wished I’d have guzzled lots less alcohol and fucked lots more. I sort of wish I hadn’t bitch-slapped a promoter who cheated me. But what good would the crystal ball have done? The journey is the destination as they say.
Try not to take yourself too seriously. Try not to be terribly precious — [...]

Martin Akins
knowthemusicbiz

Yesterday I was at The Baltimore Music Conference and met Keith Center from a DC based folk-core band called The Dreamscape Project ….Sometimes bands that aren’t obviously, rabidly perusing POP success really fail at the merchandising side of things. These guys don’t so I wanted to blog about them and remember their great ideas……
[...]

Martin Atkins
knowthemusicbiz

Martin Atkins has a 30 year career in the music business that includes touring with the bands Public Image Limited, Killing Joke, Ministry, Nine Inch Nails and Pigface, owning an independent record label celebrating its 20th anniversary with over 350 releases, and is an instructor at Columbia College Chicago teaching The Business of Touring, [...]

knowthemusicbiz

Paul Chodirker is an entertainment lawyer at Heenan Blaikie LLP in Toronto. He is also featured on the “law boys” radio segment which can be heard every Wednesday night on the Toronto-based radio station, 102.1 The Edge.
So You Still Wanna Do The Show Business?
The title to this article comes from a lyric in a [...]

Fiona McLaren
knowthemusicbiz

Promoting your music online these days is meant to be easy - but due to the sheer number of sites out there it might not always seem that way. This is a brief guide to why Last.fm should be one of the main sites you use to promote yourself, and how to get [...]

Paul Chodirker
knowthemusicbiz

Paul Chodirker is an entertainment lawyer at Heenan Blaikie LLP in Toronto. He is also featured on the “law boys” radio segment which can be heard every Wednesday night on the Toronto-based radio station, 102.1 The Edge.
What was the number one selling album on Billboard’s top 200 chart at the end of January 2008? [...]

David Rose
knowthemusicbiz

About the Indie Artist X Project
The goal of the Indie Artist X Project is to develop a basic, actionable music marketing plan designed around simple strategy, prioritization of tactics, tools and a reasonable budget that can be implemented by any indie artist who has the inclination to follow it. A group of like minded [...]

John P. Strohm
knowthemusicbiz

John P. Strohm is a transactional entertainment and intellectual property attorney with the firm Johnston Barton Proctor & Rose LLP . John’s practice focuses on the representation of musicians, songwriters and independent record labels. Prior to becoming an attorney, John was a professional musician and producer for over a decade. He performed and [...]

Loren Weisman
knowthemusicbiz

You need to professionally present yourself, your music and your career.Your recording, promotion, marketing as all your soliciting materials and legal materials need to be done the right way. A strong professional package and promotional presence goes a very long way while a fake or weak presence will hurt you more than you know. [...]

Martin Atkins
knowthemusicbiz

It turns out that Nike is right. You can JUST DO IT. If, when faced with a less-than-ideal situation, you find yourself immediately getting defensive or rolodex-ing the million reasons (and people) who are responsible for your lack of action, movement forward, success, or blowjob - then STOP. Stop everything.
If you’re [...]

knowthemusicbiz
Nick Fitzsimons

Peers, Friends & Fans
It’s one of the most memorable scenes from “This Is Spinal Tap” and marvelously summed up the prima donna cock-rock superstar. Tap’s guitar player, Nigel Tuffnell, draws his managers attention to the buffet plate back stage, complaining about the size of the bread, and that he can’t make a sandwich [...]

Loren Weisman
knowthemusicbiz

Seriously. It’s time for some artists to get a clue about social networking sites, specifically MySpace and play counts, page views and friends. It has gone from ridiculous to completely freaking insane.
For those of you who might not be aware, there are a number of artists out there that actually spend money on “marketing [...]

David Rose
knowthemusicbiz

I’m a firm believer that the longer an artist can manage themselves the better off they will be in the long run. I wrote a blog post last year titled “Build It and The Music Biz Will Come ” I encourage artists to read before rushing out to find a music management “team” early [...]

Kevin Cole
knowthemusicbiz

KEXP is an unusual radio station. Our DJs have the freedom to play anything they want along with the privilege and responsibility to curate their own shows. While we have a rotation for our variety freeform mix, our DJs aren’t forced to play anything they don’t want from rotation.
KEXP is also rare [...]

David Rose
knowthemusicbiz

1. Write Great Songs
If you are trying to attract the attention of music fans it all starts with great songs. It’s understood that this is much easier said than done but it is a critical starting point. Great songs with mediocre / poor marketing will ultimately trump mediocre / poor songs with great marketing [...]

Jed Carlson
ReverbNation

Email is an essential part of the fan relationship equation for artists, labels, and managers. While it is difficult to say the exact value of collecting any individual email address for musicians, marketers from other industries peg the generic value of getting an email at about $1 each. But it’s [...]

Alyson Miller
knowthemusicbiz

Taxes are usually the last thing on the agenda of the touring musician but as tax season approaches it’s a good time for you to get organized. There are a number of tax deductions that are unique to musicians and therefore handled incorrectly on the tax return or forgotten all together. Before we discuss [...]

Martin Atkins
knowthemusicbiz

Martin Atkins has a 30 year career in the music business that includes touring with the bands Public Image Limited, Killing Joke, Ministry, Nine Inch Nails and Pigface, owning an independent record label celebrating its 20th anniversary with over 350 releases, and is an instructor at Columbia College Chicago teaching The Business of [...]

Martin Atkins
knowthemusicbiz

If you’re going to SXSW to get signed, you should know from reading my last blog post that it’s not going to happen. If you’re going to SXSW to get crazy ass drunk every night instead working your crazy ass off networking for five sleepless nights, stay home and sit on your crazy ass.
SXSW [...]

David Rose
musicianwages

This past year I posted a blog called The $52.45 Music Marketing Plan that turned out to be the most read article at KnowTheMusicBiz.com all year. There are now so many options available for marketing music online it seems like everyone who has ever written a song is giving it a go. Let’s [...]

Cameron Mizell
knowthemusicbiz

Nearly every musician I know is a creatively diverse individual, yet many of them are singularly focused. If they have a goal for their career as a musician, it’s often accompanied by tunnel vision. They place all their dreams of making it as a musician in one band or one project, and [...]