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 organized is a big part of that. How to Stay Productive and OrganizedIf you’re like me, you might sometimes have trouble getting organized to keep your music business productive and profitable. We’re creatives, so we prefer to create rather than enter receipts, [...]
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 stop learning and investing in themselves, they hurt their chances of succeeding in their career." Maybe you read that first paragraph and thought "sure, but what does that have to do with Eleven?". This paragraph is a part of Eleven's [...]
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 have something to say as an artist via a collection of songs that have cohesion. If you’re inspired to create such a collection, and you think it will resonate with your audience, then you should pursue that. Music Release [...]
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 digital, allowing for thousands of photos to be captured at each shoot. That change meant that the new enemy (from the photographer’s point of view) was the difficulty in committing to a change. With thousands of digital photos to choose [...]
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 their question with another question: What makes you think you need a manager? A good manager will open doors in terms of connections and opportunities that lead to more revenue for you from your musical craft. Doors that you would [...]
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 you even know? These are tough questions to answer. Sometimes it’s not clear how your music is being used, even when a contract is signed by both parties. For example, are you retaining 100% of your writer’s share? How much publishing [...]
SMART Goals for Musicians: Where is Your Career Going?
Recent articles from Eleven and the Amplifier focused on a few basic marketing tactics you should refine. This month, we're going to try something different: Setting the GPS on your music career and setting goals for musicians and bands. Think about this for a minute: Where you currently are is POINT A (Starting Point). Your music career journey is the blue line that your vehicle follows. Your vision of [...]
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 through high school. So why hasn’t the mindset of the musicians Googling “How to Get Signed to a Label?” changed as fast? For those seeking a musical path to stardom, it sounds to me that the majority of bands still see “getting signed” as Nirvana [...]
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 email list. Another communication layer to add is social media. This is important because using social media for musicians' careers offers a method of quick communications that can either be narrowly targeted or widely distributed online, on a regular (daily) [...]
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 for you" place for your fans and music industry contacts to easily find you, listen to your music, watch your videos, sign up on your email list, and directly contact you. Social media is necessary too, but your own website [...]
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 (i.e. live performances being cancelled), it’s wise to have other ways to earn income. […]
When We Help Others, We Succeed (Guest Post)
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 resources for creator communities. […]
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 having me perform at an event for her work. In a half joking response I said, “Sure, if the price is right.” […]
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 to thrive as a professional musician. […]
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 it even possible? […]
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 and community music centers, and restaurants or bookstores with live music. […]
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 the neighbors constantly complain about was not purchased at a Wal-Mart for a low, low price. And instead of going to law school, or learning to be an investment banker, you spent your formative years learning how to play “Stairway [...]
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, providing some of my earliest computer training in SQL. […]
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 delusional. In either case, you now have excellent video and audio from your event. It went off without a hitch – all your fans have been talking for weeks about the giant rotating drum kit and the chorus of belly [...]
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 musicians out there have experience with – audio! Today we’ll be talking about how to capture the amazing live audio to complement your amazing live video! […]
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 an automatic autotune machine for your singer. I am, of course, talking about the ultimate in luxury items for your merch booth – the LIVE DVD. […]
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 in TV, movies, commercials, etc.). […]
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 through any dips for– what are you willing to stand up for, bleed for, commit to, and sometimes be unreasonable about because you want it so much? It is what’s actually going to get done.” […]
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 something different, authentic and communal.” […]
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 physical, as I taught you how to make your own t-shirts. […]
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 custom furniture builders without a problem. She no longer shares with other musicians due to the multitude of bad situations she kept finding herself in. […]
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. And that’s only because I’m putting this disclaimer here and letting you fantastically awesome people tell me what else I might have overlooked or should not have included in the comments on this article. We good? Aight, let’s do this. [...]
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 guy, Martin is the former drummer for Killing Joke, Pigface, and Nine Inch Nails. […]
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 industry is– to make your fans your friends. You can easily re-read it here […]
7 Ways You Can Support Your Local Music Scene
There are several ways you can show your support and help local music in the Madison area, as well as any place that has a local music scene. Supporting local music isn’t expensive, a serious headache, or inconvenient. This list proves it, so no more excuses! […]
The Madison Artist’s Complete Guide to the 2014 MAMAs Red Carpet Experience
As most of you who live in Madison know, the Madison Area Music Awards, or MAMAs, are held late spring, early summer at the Overture Center. This year the MAMAs are on Sunday, June 22. The theater doors open and the Red Carpet Experience kick off at 6:00pm and the curtain rises at 7:00pm. […]
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 music that can further your finances. […]
Google Apps MotherF#@$%, do you speak it? – Part 3
We’ve finally come to the end of our series on using google apps to manage your band. If you haven’t read the previous articles yet, then you’re only getting ⅓ of the data, so go back and brush up before coming here to read…THE FINAL ARTICLE. […]
Springboard to Fame? Why Festivals may still be Worth the Trip
Dreaming about getting your band on a festival ticket where your music will get heard by those in the industry who may be able to help? Well, read on as we are pleased to share this guest blog from Mike with the hard-working band Sunspot. He explains what keeps luring them back to one of the biggest music gatherings in the country. It may just make you want to go, [...]
The Revenue You May Be Missing Out On
As a new band starting out, you might immediately think that there are only a couple of ways to earn extra revenue. Between that and the fact that people around you are telling you to give up the musical dream and get a real job, you might think that music will never be an actual job. But I have good news for you: music IS a real job, and those [...]
Google Apps MotherF#@$%, 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 reading this article, as some of the topics we’ll be discussing this time will be cross-referenced here. […]
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 linked with the entertainment industry to answer one basic question: what do you believe is the most important thing for any band or artist to do? […]
Hang Your Stockings! It’s Record Store Day!
Each year, people in the record store industry have looked forward to that special time in April when the jolly man comes down their chimney and fills their stockings with all sorts of gifts and goodies. This year, that man is no other than Public Enemy’s very own Chuck D. And just for the record (pun intended), this has nothing to do with Christmas. It’s the third Saturday of April: [...]
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 as, your fans. […]
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 songs, writing lyrics, and communicating with your fans on a regular basis. That’s a lot of jobs, and that’s a lot of work! I get asked all the time – “Fang, how do you do it?” Thankfully, there’s an easy [...]
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 humor as we dive into the timely topic of taxes. April 15th is looming on the calendar, and since I’m a deadline driven type (for better or worse!) the conversation is just beginning with our own tax consultant. […]
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 is plenty of overlap in several subjects that pertain to both the mainstream and independent industries. The one thing that most people say you should leave to the mainstream is your royalties and licensing. I personally would beg to differ [...]
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 giant robot from Queen’s News of the World album shake them all up. Could you have a friend who knows nothing about any of the bands in question put the bands back together, just based on what they look [...]
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 one of the most important publicity tools for any artist. Your own press kit. […]
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 to either perform or promote, we thought it would be a good idea to put together a guide that covers some important things to remember when representing yourself, your band, your business and your music to fans and industry professionals, [...]
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 your band will ever do. It most likely will be the first impression your band makes on anyone who gets their hands on it. […]
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, and that they should come see you play! So what’s a band leader to do? Spam facebook? Start an email chain (“Send this event invite to 5 friends or you’ll DIE UNHAPPY AND ALONE!!”)? […]
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 in the long-term branding of an artist or band. The simple answer is yes. […]
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 Pandora, Spotify and other Internet-based services. […]
My First MAMAs Experience (2010 Guest Post)
Saturday, May 9 was a day of firsts. First MAMAs show at the Overture Center. First time for capturing pre-show red carpet interviews. It was also the first MAMAs awards show for yours truly. The annual music awards show is in its 7th year running, and I wanted to blog a day-in-the-life of a MAMAs staffer shadowing Matt Jacoby to try to capture the energy of the day. [...]