Resources for Performing Musicians
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The 55th annual Grammy Award nominees in the top categories. Brodacast on February 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
Get your music distributed on iTunes, AmazonMP3, Rock Band the video game and many other places using TuneCore.
The top online music retailer is Apple’s iTunes but others such as Amazon.com MP3 service are rapidly catching up. In today’s music industry the old channels of music distribution are quickly being replaced by these digital distribution services. The good thing for us as independent musicians is that it’s easier than ever to get our music out there for sale with more of the profits going directly to us.
It’s pretty easy to become a content provider for iTunes and other digital distribution services. You usually just have to fill out an application and wait to be accepted into the program. But it can be a challenge to manage all your sales avenues. That’s why I’m recommending you give TuneCore a try for your music distribution. Continue reading “TuneCore Resources For Music Distribution”
Every member of your live band should share some basic, common goals.
One of the biggest challenges I’ve faced in my live band is getting a group of musicians together that all share the same goals. There are a lot of musicians out there but not all of them want to play in bars. Some musicians just want to jam and don’t want to play any live gigs at all, ever. If your band is going to succeed you really need to have common goals.
The first thing you need to discuss before you even decide on what type of songs you want to play is where and when you will play gigs. This will determine your song selection as well as whether or not the individual band members are willing to commit to certain types of gigs. Too many bands dive right into learning songs which is always the first goal of any band. Let’s talk about that first goal of learning songs for minute. Continue reading “Band Members Must Have Common Goals”
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”
Step by step instructions for listening to Shoutcast Radio streams in iTunes or Winamp.
I’ve been doing some live online broadcasts of my live band lately using Shoutcast. Shoutcast is a technology that allows anyone to broadcast audio from their PC to the Internet. Shoutcast broadcasts in MP3 or AAC+ format and can be played by Winamp, iTunes or the somewhat unreliable mini-player at Shoutcast.com. Broadcasters using Shoutcast can have their station listed in the Shoutcast.com Radio Directory.
I’ve had a lot of listeners complaining that the Shoutcast Mini Player has been crashing browsers and computers. So today I’m going to write a tutorial on how to listen to Shoutcast Radio streams using either Winamp or iTunes. Continue reading “How To Listen To A Shoutcast Stream With Winamp Or iTunes”
Review of the live online broadcast of the band Bonne Nuit playing their first live concert.
This past weekend my latest live band, Bonne Nuit, performed a live online concert. First of all let me tell you a little bit about Bonne Nuit. It’s a band that features myself, Matt Rushton, on lead guitar and vocals. I’m also playing with my 3 oldest sons, Erik on guitar and vocals, Austin on Bass Guitar and Skyler on drums. Their ages are 18, 15 and 14 respectively. So as you can see, we don’t play in any bars.
Bonne Nuit plays primarily current rock hits such as Kings Of Leon -Sex On Fire. We also do a couple classic rock numbers and a couple of originals. We’ve been learning songs and rehearsing for about 3 months now and we finally have enough material to do about a 1.5 hour show. So we decided we’d follow my own advice given earlier on Live Musician Central and broadcast a live online concert. Continue reading “Gig Report – Bonne Nuit Live Online Concert”
The 2010 Grammy Awards will include an interesting cross-section of live performances.
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”
Tipping the bartenders and waitresses at your live band gigs will get your band remembered and re-booked.
One of the most important things to have when you play in a live band is places to play. Without having a club or venue to play in we couldn’t really call our band a “live band”. It would just be a band that gets together to play for each other and although that’s fun for a while, the real fun is playing in front of an audience at a venue.
I’m sure you know there is a lot of competition between bands to get into the places that feature live music. Even if you have a regular gig you can rest assured that there’s another band ready to step in and take that gig if your band can’t fulfill it. Most clubs have several bands on a regular rotation and there are many other bands trying to get their foot in the door and get booked too. Today I’m going to talk about a very simple way to set your band apart from the other bands that are playing in the same clubs as you. Continue reading “Tipping The Bartenders And Waitresses”
Lowering your live band rates will help you get a gig, but it could hurt your band and other bands chances of getting paid full value in the future.
The current economic conditions have been especially tough on live bands. Gigs just seem to be drying up and disappearing altogether. There is very fierce competition between bands to get the gigs that are still available. Sadly, this has led to many bands lowering their gig rates simply to get any bookings at all. So what should you do when it becomes a matter of money that is the final deal breaker between you and another band getting a gig?
That’s a very tricky question to answer because lowering your rates will not only hurt your band, but it will hurt every band that plays at the club you lower your rates to play in. The biggest problem with lowering your bands going rate is that the new, lower rate will become the accepted pay standard for your band every time you play in that club. The club owner can then use your lower rates as leverage against other bands to get them to drop their prices as well. So as you can see, it hurts all of your local bands if you undercut everyone in pricing just to get a gig. Continue reading “Lowering Your Live Band Rates To Get A Gig”
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?”
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