Musicians: Are Your Prepared?

They say success is inevitable when opportunity meets preparation. I know from experience that this is also true for musicians and the music business. So today we will want to examine whether you are prepared when opportunity comes knocking. Do you have everything ready? Let’s find out…  Continue reading

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The 7 Month Music Marketing Challenge

The hardest part of DIY music marketing is not really the promotion of a new album. What’s even harder is staying on top of everyone’s minds during the long, often dry period that stretches from one record release to the next. Let’s discuss a few things you can do in order not to vanish.  Continue reading

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The Next Steps in the Music Business

In part one of this little two-parter we discussed ways to attract fans with the help of our first couple of finished songs, all with regards to a subsequent album release. This time we move another step further and look at building media and distribution contacts as well as generating buzz.  Continue reading

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Your First Steps in the Music Business

You have just finished a few songs – but what now? How do you proceed as a musician in order to make money from your art one day? When is the right time for certain action? While I must admit there is no one-size-fits-all solution (if there was we’d all be rock stars now and this blog would be about money laundering), there are a few proven things that have helped a number of successful musicians ‘make it’.  Continue reading

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What Booking Agents expect from Bands

Why does one band get the gig while the other doesn’t? I have posed this question to a number of club owners and booking agents to put some light on the issue of successful band applications. Based on the answers I have got the difference between professional and merely miserable comes clear.  Continue reading

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Organize Your Own Concerts Successfully

When clubs don’t have any more slots available or even just turn you down your only choice left is either to resign or to organize your concerts all by yourself. The latter can either end up in a catastrophe or even prove to be very lucrative if it’s done right. Here you will find a few basic tips that will help your self-organized concert become a success.  Continue reading

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That was MusicBiz Madness 2015

The MusicBiz Madness Conference 2015 started up to ist name: Madness presented itself with a false fire alarm five minutes prior to the official welcoming. Thus we got set back for an hour and had to re-schedule all speakers to make sure they would still catch their trains back home. Quite “the Punk of all music conferences”.  Continue reading

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Before You Sign Your Name

Let’s face it, the music business is still a hotbed for sharks and crooks. Don’t blame the big ones, look at small business operations who cash in on musicians’ naivete, left alone those who know right away they will cheat a little here and there to make ends meet. I know countless musicians who have been ripped off by their labels, distributors or managements. But is there anything you can do?  Continue reading

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eMail Marketing Bullshit Systems

Two out of three music marketing courses you find on the internet will sell you an eMail marketing course all the way based on annoying autoresponder messages that contain fake special offers. These courses are missing one key feature of music promotion and while they prove to be working they are rather ineffective compared to other, more serious music marketing methods.  Continue reading

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How To Make Quick Money With Music

Becoming a successful musician is usually a long term goal and requires respective endeavours. No hit song is really an overnight success, even “Mambo No. 5” took more than two years to create and refine, followed by polishing doorknobs. Still there are a few proven ways to boost your short term revenue as a musician. Today we would like to introduce four of them.  Continue reading

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