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The Amplifier from Eleven consists of our blog content, new career tips delivered to your inbox at the beginning of each month, downloadable career resources, and other free content to help you succeed in music.
Know Your Band Audience (No, Your OTHER Audience)
When I hear live performing musicians complain about low gig payment guarantees and a lack of gigs overall, the cause is usually pretty easy to identify: they’re typically not [...]
SMART Goals for Musicians: A Case Study By DJ Stacktrace
By now you should have a good understanding of what a S.M.A.R.T. goal is. In case you don’t, here’s a quick recap. A S.M.A.R.T. goal is: Specific Measurable Achievable [...]
A Guide to Record Labels, Record Label Services, & Labels as a Service
RECORD LABELS: An outdated business model that takes ownership and control away from the artist LABEL SERVICES: A music-first alternative that provides record label services without debt and loss [...]
How to Make Money with Music Using the Revenue You Already Have
Did you know that there are two ways for music creators to increase revenue? Reduce your expenses And/or increase your income Ideally, finding a way to [...]
Time Management for Musicians – Balancing a Plan & Staying Flexible
Time management. It's a skill we all struggle with and love to hate. There’s an old saying "there’s never enough time in the day." Do you agree? I certainly [...]
Is Music Career Coaching Right For You?
Did you know that if music creators develop their business skills they are more likely to succeed in music and be happy? As we share this month, the plans [...]
Like It Or Not, You Are a Music Entrepreneur with a Small Business
Did you know that if music creators develop their business skills they are more likely to succeed in music and be happy? As we share this month, as a [...]
Career Planning for Music Creators: A Routine That’s Sure to Take You Farther
Did you know that if music creators take the time to think about their career planning on a regular basis they are more likely to succeed in music and [...]
Having a Music Mission Statement Means More Musicians on a Mission
Music creators who develop their business skills and have a personal and business music mission statement defined are more likely to succeed in music and be happy. Changing the [...]
What Is Song Mastering / Music Mastering & Why Is It Important?
Did you know that if music creators develop their business skills they are more likely to succeed in music and be happy? This month's Amplifier, in partnership with Artist [...]
Musician Ears Reminder: Your Mom Said To Protect Your Ears!
Did you know that if music creators develop their business skills they are more likely to succeed in music and be happy? But as we share in today's article, [...]
Music and Money: How to Have a Profitable Music Career
Did you know that if music creators develop their business skills they are more likely to succeed in music and be happy? As we share in this article, being [...]
How to Book My Band: Consider the Live Music Venue’s Needs First
DISCLAIMER: This may not be the advice you were looking for when you searched "how to book my band", but know that this approach is going to make you [...]
Multiple Income Streams for Musicians: How to Become Recession Proof in Music
Did you know that if music creators develop their business skills they are more likely to succeed in music and be happy? As we share [...]
I’m a New Music Producer: What is a DAW?
The music industry is full of words & terms that might seem frightening to a beginner. One abbreviation that is constantly being thrown around is DAW. What is a [...]
How to Stay Productive and Organized for Musicians
Did you know that if music creators develop their business skills they are more likely to succeed in music and be happy? As Eleven's Steve Banik discusses today, staying [...]
Know Your Why: Start with a Personal Development Plan
"Many musicians find it hard to develop their music career professionally because their “real lives” and the complexities of the music industry have gotten in the way. When musicians [...]
Album vs Singles: What’s Your Music Release Strategy?
In today’s rapid content, easy-streaming/consumption-from-the-cloud climate, what’s a better music release strategy: albums or singles? Music Release Strategy #1: The Storytelling Nature of Albums Albums are still important when you [...]
Musician Mental Health Check: Take Time For Yourself Daily
Digital Workload and Mental Health I recently read an interview in Tape Op about the producer of the band Fugazi. He spoke about their photographer transitioning from film to [...]
Looking for a Band Manager? Think Again Before You Delegate The Work
Occasionally we will get asked by a musician or band if we are a management company or where they might be able to find one. We tend to answer [...]
Song Royalties for Beginners: Are you Getting Paid what you’re Owed?
Before we jump in, I have two questions for you: When your song is used by someone else, are you getting paid for it? If you’re not, how would [...]
SMART Goals for Musicians: How to Set a Clear Direction for Your Music Career
In this article, I’m going to show you how to get clear on the direction you want your music career to go using SMART goals. In fact, we at [...]
Why Are You Still Wondering How to Get Signed to a Label?
The music industry landscape has changed drastically over the past 15+ years. It’s pretty much unrecognizable from the music industry that I grew up with [...]
Social Media for Musicians: How to Best Use Social Media for your Music Career
In our last article we talked about having a digital “home base” that you own, a website and the importance of constantly collecting interested fans to add to your [...]
Band Website Required: Why Musicians Should Have a Home Online
Having a digital “home base” that you own (not borrowed, like your Facebook Page or Instagram) is vital. Your band website is an "always on, always available, always working [...]
Songtrust & Eleven – Helping Music Creators Succeed Together
In keeping with Songtrust’s mission to educate creators around the world about music publishing, we’re working with organizations like Eleven Music Career Center to provide readily accessible and curated [...]
Ways to Earn Money Beyond Live Performances (during tough times)
Musicians are primarily gig workers. They string together numerous gigs to create a full-time income. When something like the recent coronavirus outbreak threatens musicians’ livelihood [...]
Why You Should Pay Musicians
Recently, I was having a discussion with a friend about the pay for artists’ and musicians’ services. My friend was perhaps half joking/half serious about [...]
The Value of Music Coworking for the Music Entrepreneur
While being a musician involves writing, rehearsing, recording, and performing your music, that makes up about 20% of what needs to get done in order [...]
Connecting With the Audience: Making a Meaningful Moment and Keeping It Real
What’s the secret to connecting with an audience? If you’re a solo performer, how do you give the people gathered to hear you a meaningful experience? What about for bands? Is [...]
Three Keys to Booking Gigs at Small Venues
If you perform as a solo singer-songwriter with guitar and/or piano, or if you have a small band, you are likely looking for gigs at local venues such as coffee houses, church [...]
Getting Inspiration From the Greats
My favorite concerts make me want to rush home, grab my guitar, and practice into the night—until I’m so tired I just can’t hold the instrument anymore. […]
Crowdfunding 101 For Musicians
You’re in a band, which means you have no money. Ah, the eternal joke…but it’s true, of course. Those expensive instruments you bought certainly weren’t free. The thousand-watt amp that [...]
Are you Employable? Finding a Survival Job Outside of Music
For about a year, I held a factory job, performing quality control tests and working on creating a database to organize the results. It was enjoyable work, with pleasant colleagues, [...]
DIY: Making a Live DVD (Part 3)
Today we come to the final article on DIY DVD production. If my first two articles didn’t scare you away – congratulations! You’re an official DIY badass, or perhaps slightly [...]
Making a Live DVD – DIY! Part Two
In our last article, we talked about the video aspect of creating a live DVD for your band. Now we’re going to talk about something that hopefully all of you [...]
Making a Live DVD – DIY! Part One
All right all you insatiable DIYers out there, I’m about to hit you with the ULTIMATE in DIY projects for your band. No, not a mechanical fire-breathing dragon. No, not [...]
Marketing Recorded Music to Make Money at Live Performances
Here’s what I want to know: Are CD sales and digital download sales really where musicians are going to make their money now and/or in the future? […]
Your Band is a Brand, Market it like One
What image is conveyed when you read this description: “We play ska-country-jazz, have purple hair, and wear corduroys.” […]
Fang’s Rules for Gig Etiquette (aka Don’t be a Dick!)
Manners. Etiquette. Remember those things your mother tried to teach you? “No, honey, that’s the SALAD fork.” Turns out they’re actually pretty important in the real world. […]
10+ Types of Custom Merch you Probably Haven’t Thought Of
I had a wonderful opportunity to sit down with Roy Elkins, CEO of BroadJam.com (one of the internet’s leading sites for artists to submit their music for consideration of placement [...]
When Should You Give Up? (Hint: Never?!)
“We know what you want to accomplish. We may even know how you’d like everything to turn out. The real question ends up being– what are you willing to push [...]
How Music is a Vehicle to Build Relationships
Here’s a quote from Richard Branson’s book, Business Stripped Bare: “In an era of digital downloads and headphones that tune out the rest of the world, the live-music experience offers [...]
How to Increase Your Show Attendance
This month’s article continues on some of the lessons I’ve learned from former NIN drummer, label owner, and all around awesome-haired-British-dude Martin Atkins. Last month’s article was more hands-on and [...]
Sharing Rehearsal Space: It Is Everyone’s, and It Is No One’s
The idea of mixing business with pleasure, through the oft-needed shared work space, came up recently during a discussion with two friends in NYC. He currently shares with other like-minded [...]
The Top 10 Music Industry Blogs You Should be Reading
I’ll be the first one to admit, compiling top lists like this is never easy and subject to author bias and reader criticism. However, I’m still gonna go for it. [...]
The Most Metal Guide to Printing Your Own Band Shirts
I’ve been fortunate enough to have a chance to work with one of the top names in the business side of band management – Martin Atkins. Besides being a super-cool [...]
Are Fans your Band’s Friends or Foes? (Part 2)
You remember this one– the blog post about the recent survey results indicating the #1 thing a band or artist needs to do in the current form of the entertainment [...]
7 Ways You Can Support Your Local Music Scene
There are several ways you can show your support and help local music in your city or town, as well as any place that has [...]
5 Additional Ways to Monetize Your Music
Earlier on we identified 6 revenue streams that can make you a full-time musician. Due to the demand of this topic we’re offering a few more approaches to monetize your [...]
Google Apps MotherF#@$%, do you speak it? – Part 3
We’ve finally come to the end of our series on using google apps to manage your band. If you haven’t read the previous articles yet, then you’re only getting ⅓ [...]
Springboard to Fame? Why Festivals may still be Worth the Trip
Dreaming about getting your band on a festival ticket where your music will get heard by those in the industry who may be able to help? Well, read on as [...]
The Revenue You May Be Missing Out On
As a new band starting out, you might immediately think that there are only a couple of ways to earn extra revenue. Between that and the fact that people around [...]
Google Apps MotherF#@$%, do you speak it? – Part 2
This week is a continuation of our last post on managing your band using free online resources. If you haven’t read the last post, then go check it out before [...]
Are Fans Your Band’s Friends or Foes? (Part 1)
There’s a recent music-related survey (Yes, ask anyone who knows me, I actually enjoy tearing apart the results of almost any type of survey) and it asked hundreds of people [...]
A Simple Idea to Get Started Building Your Fan Base
Like any business your ability to bring in a crowd at your live shows, or sell your albums means you need an ever-growing list of potential buyers — also known [...]
Google Apps MotherF#@$%, do you speak it? – Part 1
Unless you’re very rich, or very lucky, as the leader of your band, you’ll also be the manager, secretary, booking agent, and public relations contact. You might also be writing [...]
Your Music as a Business at Tax Time
“Apart from death and taxes, the other thing certain in this life is that I’ll never be a fashion icon.” – Iron Maiden Lead Singer Bruce Dickinson A bit of [...]
Why You Should Keep Licensing and Royalty Management In-House
With all the discussion about tackling the music business on your own and choosing not to get signed by the existing industry, it’s hard to keep the two separate. There [...]
Do you look like a band?
Picture your favorite five bands at the heyday of their popularity. Now, for the sake of argument, let’s put them all in a big bowl, cover the bowl, and have [...]
The Art of Pulling Together a Press Kit
You want publicity for your project? It starts by thinking about your band, not as just a group of amazing musicians, but as a “brand.” And it means pulling together [...]
SXSW: The Ultimate Guide to Representing your Band and Brand
It’s almost March, and if you’re in the music industry, you know what time it is: South by Southwest (SXSW) time! As many bands make the annual trek to Austin [...]
The Anatomy of a Band Bio
As a band, writing a band bio is probably one of the least favorite things you will do. Just your luck, it is also one of the most important things [...]
Breaking Out as a Cover Band
There’s no shame in taking inspiration from tried-and-tested music. […]
9 Essential Tips for Kick Ass Band Posters
So you’re a newer band on the Madison scene, and you want to start making a name for yourself. You’re going to want to let people know that you exist, [...]
To Social Media.. Or Not to Social Media?
As an instructor, consultant, journalist, and personally active-user of social media of all types, I am often asked if posting to Facebook or sending out tweets can really make a difference [...]
Today’s Popular Music is about Quantity, not Quality
Let’s face it: more and more of us are putting away the good ol’ fashioned FM radio and opting for services that give us more options and freedom, such as [...]