Music is a product of many factors. The more avenues an artist can draw upon, the more original their music will tend to sound. For many aspiring musicians, there exists a notion that being self-taught, often in a rather unorthodox fashion, is what being a successful musician is all about. Although it is true that some rare musicians will thrive with this philosophy, the reality...
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There’s often a joke among musician about how an artist spends their day. They usually kid around that their day is spent something like 10% rehearsing, 15% writing music, and 75% dealing with their crippling self-doubt. And while it’s total self-depreciating humor, in today’s industry, I don’t blame ‘em. We’re living in an industry where artists are making a fraction of a penny per stream...
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Independent musicians now dominate the music industry, the data shows. The independent segment’s market share grew from 25.8 to 34.5 percent between 2007 and 2013, surpassing previous industry leader Universal, according to Nielsen SoundScan. By 2020, independent musicians will outnumber label-employed musicians by 1,830 to 190, the Bureau of Labor Statistics projects. Today’s technology makes this the best time in history to be an independent musician. But becoming a...
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It’s almost that time again – that time of year when every band and singer worth their salt makes that annual pilgrimage to Mecca (Austin) for the week-long SXSW festival. A week of no sleep, watered-down drinks, bad food, unrewarding performances and the heartbreak of the ultimate realization that it wasn’t really worth it. Never have so many spent so much time and money for so little notoriety and...
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As a hip-hop artist, just making music and putting it out there for the world is not enough anymore. Technology has made it easy for almost anyone to purchase the basic equipment and become a rapper. Not only has this made promoting your music more difficult, it’s also made getting your music featured in hip-hop blogs less likely due to tons of artist submitting their...
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I am not interested in money. I just want to be wonderful. – Marilyn Monroe I’m fortunate to have had, early on in my life, a close-up view of this industry’s most important element: talent. Spending my childhood with my dad at Trident Studios and seeing influential artists such as The Beatles, Queen and David Bowie pass through the doors set a strong precedent for my...
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Julie Flanders is an expert in Creative Leadership, Self Expression and Change. She provides creative business consulting, excellence training, whole life coaching balanced-lifestyle approaches and dream achievement. She is also the founding member of the influential pop rock group October Project. 1) Ariel: How have you managed to keep your momentum and enthusiasm alive after all the many years and iterations of October Project—major label, indie label,...
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Since the 1967 release of Don’t Look Back, D.A. Pennebaker’s seminal Bob Dylan doc, the music documentary — or rockumentary — has been an integral part of popular culture, giving us a look inside the worlds of our favorite artists. But while the “rock doc” was once reserved for upper-echelon artists (the Beatles, the Rolling Stones, the Who) or major events (Woodstock), the 21st century has seen a proliferation of...
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Amongst the many bombs hurled against the current copyright system is the length of the current copyright terms: life plus 70 years after death for a human author, or 95 years for a corporate author. The idea behind these criticisms is that if copyrights were to be pushed into the public domain much earlier, that there would be this great, vast public benefit. As...
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In what may be a real breakthrough for artists, Sony Music has developed an app that shows exactly what their daily streaming royalty earnings are. The app also includes information about how these earnings impact their label advances as well. Other features include other key information in real time, such as streaming volume across all platforms, airplay data, profiles by age, gender and location of listeners, and...
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