55th Annual Grammy Award Nominees 2013

The 55th annual Grammy Award nominees in the top categories. Brodacast on February 10, 2013.

Bruno Mars Performing
Bruno Mars will perform at the 55th annual Grammy Awards on Febuary 10, 2013.

The Grammy awards will be broadcast on February  10, 2013. These are the nominees in the most popular categories for the 55th annual Grammy awards.

Record of the Year

  • Lonely Boy – The Black Keys
  • Stronger (What Doesn’t Kill You) – Kelly Clarkson
  • We Are Young – Fun. featuring Janelle Monae
  • Somebody That I Used To Know – Gotye featuring Kimbra
  • Thinkin Bout You – Frank Ocean
  • We Are Never Getting Back Together – Taylor Swift Continue reading “55th Annual Grammy Award Nominees 2013”

Get Your Music Distributed On iTunes And Amazon.mp3

Get your music on iTunes, Amazon mp3, Napster, eMusic and many other online sales channels using TuneCore.

   Today it’s easier than ever to get your own original music recorded either at home or at a professional studio. Once you have the perfect recording of your original song it’s easier than ever to sell your music to your fans. The beauty of current online music distribution channels such as iTunes or Amazon.mp3 service is that anyone can get their music sold through those channels. Today I’m going to tell you about a very easy way to get your music distributed through iTunes, Amazon.mp3, eMusic and many other major online music distributors.    Continue reading “Get Your Music Distributed On iTunes And Amazon.mp3”

Grammy Awards 2010 Preview

The 2010 Grammy Awards will include an interesting cross-section of live performances.

Shakira
Shakira Performs At The 2007 Grammy Awards

   The Grammy awards are coming up this Sunday January 31, 2010. They’ll be shown on CBS at 8PM ET/PT and just like last year, I’m sure they’ll disappoint. Every year I watch the Grammy’s and then vow that I’ll never watch them again. Let’s face it, since music distribution has gone so heavily digital and hit songs are basically just hits in a certain niche, the Grammy’s just don’t hold the same allure as they used to have. I guess an indication of all the niche markets is the fact that there are over 100 categories for for Grammy awards. So if you’re into rock and roll, you should get about 10 minutes of enjoyment out of the Grammy awards.

   I guess it’s just how the music industry is that everything is categorized and marketed to a certain audience. The Grammy’s, after all, is as much a celebration of targeted marketing as it is a celebration of musical creativity. The Record Of The Year category is loaded with the top sellers for 2010. But great albums like “It’s Blitz!” by the Yeah Yeah Yeahs are crammed into their own niche. So congratulations Lady Gaga, you have been marketed very well this year. Good luck winning the Grammy for your silly song “Poker Face”.    Continue reading “Grammy Awards 2010 Preview”

AC/DC Countdown To What?

AC/DC is currently counting down to a major announcement. What will it be?

   I’m a huge fan of hard rockin’ AC/DC so I check in on this excellent live band to see what they’ve been up to from time to time. If you go to their website, www.acdc.com, you’ll see that they currently have a countdown timer running on their homepage. I did a little checking to see what I could find out about what AC/DC has up their sleeve.

   The rumors are running wild in all the fan forums with speculations on everything from a new tour, a new album or a new box set just in time for Christmas. I put the most credence in the box set speculation simply because of the fact that they’ve created a brand new website called acdcbacktracks.com which is showing a video clip of some classic Bon Scott footage.     Continue reading “AC/DC Countdown To What?”

How To Find And Work With A Booking Agent For Your Live Band

To get good gigs for your live band, you really need to secure yourself a good Booking Agent.

Famous Booking Agents - Creative Artists Agency
Famous Booking Agents - Creative Artists Agency

   One of the greatest challenges for any live band is finding and booking regular paying gigs. It can take more time to get out and book your own gigs than it takes to practice and get your band in shape to play gigs. That’s why live bands secure the services of booking agents to help find and schedule gigs.    Continue reading “How To Find And Work With A Booking Agent For Your Live Band”

How To Make It As A Professional Musician

Making it as a professional musician is as easy as getting out of your comfort zone and start talking to people that can help you.

Madonna - Top Of The Promotional Heap
Madonna - Top Of The Promotional Heap

   Ask any musician that you know if they would like to make a living playing music full time in a live band or even as a studio musician and I’m pretty sure their answer will always be an emphatic “yes”. Every guitarist I know dreams of making their living playing guitar. The thing is, great musicians are a dime a dozen. You can find excellent musicians living on every block. So how come so few of them are doing any professional playing?

   The answer is incredibly simple, it’s because they have failed at self promotion. So how do you self promote? Again, the answer is a simple one. All you have to do is get out of your practice room and go talk to people! Musicians are notorious for staying in their own little world and dreaming about making a living playing music. All it takes to get out there and make it playing music is to get speaking to anyone and everyone that can possibly help you in your quest.

   So where can you find people that will help you with your quest to play professionally? The first place is your local music store. Get down there and start talking to the salespeople. Find out who the top players in your area are. Try to find out where you can meet the best players and highest level musicians in your area. Maybe they come into the local music store regularly. If so, see if you can find a time to talk to them while they’re at the store.    Continue reading “How To Make It As A Professional Musician”

Market Your Band With Social Networking

Using social networking sites like MySpace, Facebook and LinkedIn is a perfect way to market and promote your band and music.

Visit Matt's MySpace Page
Visit Matt Rushton's MySpace Page

   There are so many ways for live musicians to reach our audience today that there’s really no excuse not to be using some of them. Today I’m going to discuss using the social networking sites out there for marketing you, your band and your music. I’m talking about using MySpace, Facebook and LinkedIn to connect with your fans as well as other musicians and bands. There are a lot of social networking sites and some that are dedicated strictly to music and musicians but I’m going to focus on Facebook, MySpace and LinkedIn.

   Of those three big social networking sites the one that caters the best to musicians and bands is MySpace. MySpace allows you to create a musician specific profile about you or your band and upload your own original music for playback on your profile page. You can also allow people to download your songs for free. The big advantage to MySpace is you get a unique URL that incorporates your name, or a version of it in the URL. For example, my MySpace URL is http://www.myspace.com/mattrushtonmusic . It’s fairly short and it has my name in it. Continue reading “Market Your Band With Social Networking”

Bruce Springsteen Superbowl XLIII Performance Review

Review of Bruce Springsteen’s Superbowl XLIII Halftime Show.

Bruce Springsteen - Working On A Dream
Bruce Springsteen - Working On A Dream

   I was pretty excited to see one of the top live performers of all time, Bruce Springsteen a.k.a. The Boss play the Halftime show at Superbowl 34. I was prepared for the game with loads of delicious junk food and all the anticipation that comes with an expected win by the Pittsburgh Steelers. I sure didn’t think the Cardinals were going to prove to be much of a challenge for the Steelers but it turned out to be a pretty exciting game. You gotta love it when the win comes in the last two minutes of the game. But we’re here to talk about the music and The Boss’s live Halftime performance.

Continue reading “Bruce Springsteen Superbowl XLIII Performance Review”

The Key To Successful Band Marketing, Network

Networking In Action - Eric Clapton's All-Star Jam

   Probably the single most important thing a live musician can do to successfully market themselves, their band and their music is to network with as many other musicians as they possibly can. I can tell you from experience that I’m able to keep playing gigs because of who I know and associate with in my musical realm. I’m not a big self-promoter but I have contacts and friends in the music world that are really good with promotion and finding gigs. Networking with these types of people have really helped me advance my career. By networking with other bands and musicians you can increase your chances of hooking up with them for all sorts of gigs and musical projects.

Continue reading “The Key To Successful Band Marketing, Network”

Guitar Collecting

Fender American Deluxe 50th Anniversary Stratocaster
50th Anniversary Fender American Deluxe Stratocaster

   I am a guitar player so it goes without saying that I love guitars. I have 14 guitars and I would still like to have more. It’s really hard to pick just one favorite because they all have certain things they do well and each guitar comes with its own special vibe.         Continue reading “Guitar Collecting”

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