As album sales are becoming a less meaningful component in the overall success of an artist or band, the live performance sector, including ticket sales and merchandise sales, is becoming increasingly important. While the live show itself must be unique in order to encourage repeat customers and ultimately drive ticket sales, the merchandise table has the opportunity to drive significant revenue and first hand, artist-fan engagement. But just having a merch table is not enough, as there are essential elements that must be accounted for in order to make the effort worth while.

Tribes exist as a way to connect and to share an interest in a topic, and it is because of this that you as an artist must recognize that creating a tribe is an essential step towards success and career-longevity. And since a developed tribe acts as its own entity, the incessant ’shameless self-promotion’ that unfortunately paints the walls of all too many artists’ Facebook and Twitter pages will become a thing of the past.

Emerging musicians are in an eternal struggle against two evils: funding projects and growing a fanbase. In the past, musicians have funded their own albums, and have used it as leverage to gain more fans. But artists on a fixed income may run into issues funding their own projects, which can have harmful effects on the quality of the final product.

In an attempt to open up the discussion, lets explore a few unconventional ways that musicians can use their Twitter accounts. The idea here is for musicians to use their Twitter accounts in a way that is ultimately unique enough to rise above the static of the thousands of self-promoting musicians to increase their following and more importantly their engagement with fans.

These days, everyone is “on-the-go” and chances are if you own an iPhone you’ve recognized the fact that you’ve got a lot going on and you don’t have the time to sit in front of your computer trying to get your music to the masses. These apps are specifically for you, the musician that wants to stay connected and enhance your career, even if you’re on the train, in the waiting room at the doctor’s office, or waiting to meet with the executive of a record label. These apps will help you promote your music, stay connected with your fans, and even create music while on the move.

If every artist, band or group represents it’s own brand, and must be sold as such to the public and to the music industry, then every brand needs to be packaged in a way that will effectively showcase it’s strengths and marketability. By now, most musicians understand the importance of a press kit- it is your brand, your image, it is you in a package and is the key to selling venues and a&r reps from both major and indie labels on the fact that you WILL make them money. But just making a press kit isn’t enough. In an industry with such a low barrier of entry, anyone can make and submit a press kit, decreasing your chance of actually getting recognized by those who matter. So what will you do to make your press kit more remarkable than the rest? 


Musicians are entrepreneurs whether they want to believe it or not. By writing music under a band name, pen name or even just their own name, they have effectively created a brand that must be properly marketed if it is to thrive and flourish. But there in-lies a major problem: not all musicians know anything about marketing and they will eventually make some critical mistakes that lead to the demise of their short-lived venture. It is, however, the musicians who take the time to learn from past mistakes made by other musicians, and furthermore learn to correct these mistakes, that are the ones who build up the kind of influential brand that has lasting power.

Facebook Pages are the most effective way for musicians to get their name out there. While each application has its own stand out features there can be some overlap between what each application offers. Choose the apps you use wisely, you don’t want to hit your fans with information overload and leave them overwhelmed and unlikely to return to your page. Whether you use one application – or a combination of a few of them – make sure your fan page stays well-organized and users can easily find what they’re looking for without searching through a bunch of clutter. After all, wasn’t that was wrong with a majority of MySpace pages?

Every musician is looking for that perfect gig- the gig at a dream venue with a huge payoff both in terms of money and exposure. Unfortunately these are typically unattainable without already having a fan base to work with. Bars and clubs can be great, but it is becoming more and more of a reality that venues in major cities expect the artist to bring in a crowd, not to find one there. If you expect to book a gig in New York City, you better bring the crowd with you. For the most part, clubs like CBGB, which had a its own established crowd, are all but gone. It is now up to you to find other ways to build up your fan base and create the kind of demand that will grab the attention of those who do the booking at the most desirable venues.

For the past few years, there has been quite a bit of talk of the ‘360 deal’ and how it is becoming the new trend throughout the music industry, as major record labels attempt to rewrite the way they do business. Some see it as signing a pact with the devil, and others see it as a way to establish the kind of powerful and influential brand that otherwise may have been impossible to attain with out the help of a label. While there are clear cases for either side of the argument, it is important to understand what a 360 deal is, and how it can both positively and negatively effect your career path.

While music bloggers make up a significant portion of the overall population of the blogosphere, there are far too many blogs that just float along in cyberspace without the understanding or direction to put their blog onto the path of success. Meanwhile, there are far too few artists who truly understand the power of a blog and why it should be used in congruence with a strong social media presence. Therefore the purpose of The Blogging Side Of Music is twofold- First, to share some powerful insight with existing music bloggers as to how they can get on the right path towards success. Second, is to elaborate on the effectiveness and usefulness of a blog in any artist’s overall marketing strategy.

If there is one thing that almost every musicians dreams of, it is of that first major tour. Its that feeling of playing night after night, in the best venues of all of the major cities around the world, and always to a sold out crowd. But before that will ever happen, you need to answer one major question: Do you have a plan? If not, you can be sure to kiss that dream goodbye. And if you do have a plan, is it good enough? Music is a business just as anything else, and as such it is your job to play entrepreneur and marketer. While it is your product or service you are trying to sell, it is also your job to expose your music to the public.