Music Business 101:
Making Music Your Life
At the Music Business Academy, we have two primary goals: first, we aim
to teach musicians how to use the Internet to their financial advantage, whether that means using the Net to sell
more CDs, 'get the word out,' or simply to make some extra cash. Secondly, we aim to arm musicians with all the
information they need to move their music career forward in the 'real' world, with or without a major label record
deal. Find out more about our musician
services, visit our musician's guide to the web, read our music business tips,
or get help with planning strategies for effective music promotion on the Internet!
Subscribe FREE...
to the Music Biz Academy Digest! Music promotion tips, articles, site recommendations, and industry news will be delivered
to your inbox. It's FREE! Details Here.
Newsflash!
CD
Baby Passes $65 Million in Indie
Music Sales If
anyone tries to tell you independent music is
unimportant, has no significance,
and no market of any value
- just them
that CD Baby has now paid over $65 MILLION to independent musicians. In addition to retail sales, CD
Baby distributes the music of
its artist members to services
such as iTunes, Rhapsody,
BuyMusic, MSN Music and Sony
Connect.
Read
more about CD Baby here.
"Music is Your Business" Workshop in Portland...
Christopher Knab will be in Portland, Oregon for a "Music Is Your Business" workshop for 4 evenings starting Monday, July 21st thru Thursday July 24th. Complete details available in this Word doc.
Podcasts...
FourFront
Music Podcast: Key Issues About
The Biz
Podcast: As a music business
consultant Chris Knab goes through a series of questions that he asks his clients
about their knowledge of the music business, what their goals are, and what
they have done to promote and grow their careers. This podcast is a VERY useful
one for any serious musician or band. Chris helps you THINK about all the key
issues involved with the business of music, and where you stand as you prepare
to market your music. or to launch your career. Take a notepad with you as you
listen to this podcast and note all the things you may or may not have done up
to this point in your career. Remember too that Chris is available as a
consultant to help you help yourself with the business of music. Just email him
for details on his service at Chris@Knab.com. To play, click on the play button above or right-click
this
link and choose "Save Target/Link
As..." to download
the mp3. Or you can open with Windows
Media Player or another
player.
New Articles
at the Academy....
Latest articles & music business tips for musicians.
Starbucks: Why Mainstream Can Kill It's amazing. Starbucks mastered the art of selling $4 drinks and ultra-expensive snacks. Not only that, customers will spend their most precious commodity - time - waiting in line for the privilege. But Starbucks has always been selling more than just coffee. Part of the allure is the predictability and comfort that Starbucks offers - the famous "third place" envisioned and carefully crafted over the years. Sitting, sipping, philosophizing, zoning out, or just running in-and-out - the Starbucks atmosphere is worth its weight in gold. Or, at least that's been the story until recently. Article by Paul Resnikoff.
How to Write Your Own Music Marketing Plan I want
you to sit down right now and write the answer to this question on a piece of
paper: “Of all the things I could do
in my life, WHY do I want to learn how to write a music marketing plan?" I ask
this because the only business that needs to know how to market music
are record labels. If you are just an independent musician who has recorded a CD but wants it to
sell, then (whether or not you want to admit it....) you are starting your own
record label, and record labels must write music marketing plans if they
have any chance of selling the recordings they have made! Article by Chris Knab.
20 Things to Do While You're Sitting Around Waiting for Your Fans to Show Up
This article was forwarded to us recently by an associate. It's an older blog
(posted July 2007), but still very "current" in topic and worthwhile reading,
especially if you're scratching your head thinking "what now?" in regards to
promoting your music online. Article by Michael Lee
Is Reznor Reshaping the Market? Ghosts is a variation on a theme created by Radiohead. The latest NIN album is part free, part paid, part digital, and part traditional. And a broad range of consumer preferences and budgets are accommodated by the initiative. Reznor and Radiohead are important market-movers and fearless risk-takers. But are these experiments really relevant to the broader music industry? Article by Paul Resnikoff.
Will Awards and Contests Lead to Bigger Things? Human beings are
fascinated with awards.So,
it’s no surprise that musicians are constantly submitting to the many awards
and entering the myriads of contests offered to unsigned artists every
year.But what if you continue to
enter and never win?Will you be branded as a loser?Will your fans abandon you, asked to be
removed from your mailing list, line their birdcages with your CDs?It is really better to have entered and lost
than never to have entered at all? Article by Sheena Metal.
Record Labels: Survival of the Fittest We all know that the record business is in major transition, has been for a few years now. Still, major labels and independent labels are trying to figure out what the new model is. But the real problem with most labels is that they still want to be in 'big business'. This is the first real issue labels have got to deal with. Because CD sales are on the downturn and record labels are cutting back on staff (hence the EMI shake up recently). Commentary by Chris Standring
2007 Stats and the Future Last year, overall sales declined a considerable amount from 2006, as delineated by Ed Christman in the January 12th issue of Billboard. Year to year CD Album Sales were off a dismal 18.8 percent -- from 553.4 million units in 2006 to 449.2 million in 2007. On a somewhat brighter note, Digital Album Sales were up more than double -- from 32.6 million to 50 million. Individual Digital Tracks were up 45.1 percent from 582 to 844 million. 2007 stats and commentary by Keith Holzman.
How to Copyright Music How
Do I Copyright My Music? That's
a question I get asked a lot
here at the Music Biz Academy.
And so, I decided I might as
well write a formal article
about it. Article by David Nevue.
David Byrne's Survival Strategies for Emerging Artists — and Megastars What is called the music business today is not the business of
producing music. At some point it became the business of selling CDs in plastic
cases, and that business will soon be over. But that's not bad news for music,
and it's certainly not bad news for musicians. Indeed, with all the ways to
reach an audience, there have never been more opportunities for artists. Where are things going? Well, some people's charts look
like this....
20
Steps to Creating a Successful
Blog for Your Band Part
One: Blogs
prove to be a tricky field to conquer, especially when it comes to gaining an
initial reader-base.However, once you
get that reader base, great potential for increasing your online reputation is
created.Successful blogs keep their
status by following these 20 rules from the start and throughout their blog’s
lifetime. Article by Lance
Trebesch ofTicketPrinting.com.
Quote...
"I've been promoting my music on the Internet since 1995. I'm
now doing music full time. I didn't need a record label to accomplish that. I did it on my own, by the grace of
God, and in fact, I really don't care if my music ever is 'discovered' by a major record label. What I do care
about is the fans who listen to my music every day, how it touches their lives, and how it brings them joy. I get
such encouragement from my fans, email from people I've never met from all around the world. And now I'm able to
work from home, write my music, and spend more time with my wife and beautiful little boy.
That is my definition of success." - David Nevue, author of How to Promote Your Music Successfully on the Internet.
The MBA Musicians Directory: Featured This Month Latest reviews, additions and updates to our web directory.
IndieKazoo IndieKazoo is a very clever, easy-to-use "web store" add-on tool for your web site. Create your own personal music store, sell your own music (CDs and/or downloads) directly to your fans and receive 100% of your sales revenue. Sales go directly and instantly to your PayPal account. It's an easy setup, and you are only charged a flat-rate of $20/month. Pay-as-you-go, no contract, cancel at any time. You can sign up for a free 30 day trial to try it out. The store integrates seemlessly between your own web site and PayPal. Added 04/03/2008.
CD Poster Shop With most manufacturers, if you want high-quality short run CD duplication, you're going to pay an arm and a leg for each disc. CD Poster Shop, however, keeps the costs down. You can get retail style packaging of as few as 25 CDs for just $1.80 per disc. Customize your package however you want and your new, adjusted price is immediately updated on the web site so you can see exactly what you'll pay up front (without having to wait to get a quote back.) CD Poster Shop also does poster printing as well as just CD inserts if you want that. Overall, we were very impressed with their short run pricing, and that's why they are included here. Added 01/11/2008.
Oceanbound Entertainment Want a job playing
music on a cruise ship? Oceanbound Entertainment Inc. is looking for solo
musicians, 2 to 4 piece bands, string ensembles, individual musicians to be a
part of the ships orchestra, and variety entertainers such as jugglers,
magicians, comedians, instrumentalists and singers. Visit our website for more
details.
Rock
and Roll Design and Hosting Get
hosting for your band page with
a terrific premade or custom
web site design templates for
as little as $10/month. You
can look great online without
a lot of the
hassle. Their fully integrated
content management system supports blogs, music
pages, album sales, lyrics,
digital sales, merch sales,
an event calendar, guestbook,
video, forums, flash media players,
mailing lists, email and more.
Everything under one roof,
with one standard interface.
MosesAvalon.com Moses
is somewhat of a controversial
figure in the music business.
He well-respected by some, dismissed
by others. But no matter what
you think, his commentaries
are interesting, well-written,
and raise important questions.
I recommend subscribing to the
Moses
Supposes
newsletter, at the very least.
Moses has his finger on
the pulse of the business, and
he always has an interesting
point of view.
The Complete Guide to Starting
a Record Company
This
wonderful book guides you step
by
step through the process of starting up your own independent record label.
It
includes vital advice on how to retain lawyers and accountants, construct budgets, sign artists, navigate
artist contracts, find a distributor and how to develop and
execute an effective marketing plan.
More...
MySpace
Music Marketing With tens of millions of registered
users, MySpace.com has become a
godsend for countless independent artists. If you're not promoting your music on MySpace yet, you
need to start - right away. Everything
you need to know, including tips
and tricks, interviews with successful
MySpace bands, and how to fine-tune
your MySpace profile for maximum
punch. The perfect "how to"
guide for MySpace beginners, especially!More...
Music Is Your Business Christopher Knab and Bartley F. Day's expanded edition of "Music Is Your Business" is filled
with more insights into the business side of being a successful
musician or band. Included are chapters on both Internet and traditional
music marketing methods. The essential legal issues you need to
know are explained as are music contract tips, how to license your
music, attract
distributors, get radio airplay and create a
demand for your music. More...
The Music
Phone Book The
Music Phone Book lists detailed contact information for over 1,000 live music clubs and venues (More than any other
magazine) in the U.S. Also listed are over 1,800 independent and major record labels, nearly every national
touring artist, and thousands of music contacts that can't be found anywhere
else.More...
Guerrilla Music Marketing Handbook!
This is your guide to independent music success secrets, featuring over 175 ways to thrive and prosper with your
own band or record label. Goal setting, networking, lists of distribution channels, offbeat promotional ideas.
It's all here! More....
The Indie Bible
With 350 pages containing over 10,000 contacts, including music reviewers and radio stations, The Indie Bible
is a resource for songwriters and musicians who wish to have their music heard, reviewed, or considered for radio
play. More....
