Tag: Music Industry Marketing

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”

Live Musician Central – Weekend Album Picks 4-11-09

Stay on top of the current music scene and download the top weekly new album releases.

   Live Musician Central presents this weeks most heavily marketed new album releases. Every week we pick new releases based solely on the amount of music industry marketing hype they generate. Because these may not necessarily be the best albums out there, we do throw in a couple of certified classics for you to download and add to your personal music collection. We pick these albums so you can build your band’s setlist and break music selection. Like it or not, people in the clubs are going to know these songs because they’re going to be pushed hard on the Internet, Radio and in the clubs.

 It’s a great way to start out your weekend, by downloading some brand new MP3’s from Amazon.com or if you prefer to pay more, from iTunes. Which brings us to the fact that iTunes is raising prices for their MP3 downloads. We’re fighting the iTunes price increase by offering high quality MP3 downloads from Amazon.com MP3 service. The Amazon.com MP3’s are encoded at 256kbps and they sound top notch! Plus, you can save a lot of money by downloading from Amazon.com. So start downloading some music just for you!

Apple iTunes Continue reading “Live Musician Central – Weekend Album Picks 4-11-09”

Live Musician Central – Weekend Album Picks 4-4-09

Every week we pick the most heavily marketed new releases so you can stay on top of the current music scene.

   Yes it’s time for Live Musician Central’s weekly selection of album downloads for your perusal. Every week I pick the most heavily marketed new album releases as well as throwing in some serious selling classic albums. The reason I pick these albums is so that we as musicians can stay on top of what the music industry is pushing on the music listening public. It’s a great way to stay current with your bands set list or even just with your break music. The songs I post up are going to be marketed to a lot of listeners and if you play them at your gigs, people will recognize them and you’ll look more professional because you’ll appear relevant to the current music scene. My band plays a lot of classic rock and metal but during breaks we’ll throw on the current top club hits and the crowd will really dig it. It keeps the party going and it saves us from having to learn the new Bow Wow hit. There are enough new rock band releases that you can build your band’s set list with these songs as well.

   I post up links to iTunes which is the current largest music retailer in the United States as well as links to Amazon.com MP3 downloads. Amazon.com MP3’s are encoded at 256kbps MP3 format which sounds incredible and they’re usually cheaper than iTunes. Another thing I like about Amazon.com MP3’s is the fact that they are DRM free and they can be played on multiple MP3 players. They work perfectly in iPods and iPhones as well as Zune’s and generic MP3 players. So here you have the new releases, enjoy!
Apple iTunes Continue reading “Live Musician Central – Weekend Album Picks 4-4-09”

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”

Live Musician Central – Weekend Album Picks 3-14-09

Download the most heavily marketed new releases for March 14, 2009.

Every week on Live Musician Central we pick the top new album releases for the week. In case you’re wondering how we determine the top album releases, we base it solely on the level of music industry marketing behind the album. These particular releases may not be our personal favorites but they are being pushed like crazy by the music industry. How does that help us as live performing musicians? It keeps us in step with the rest of the industry and can also serve as a reference to what’s going to be played by radio, tv and dj’s across the nation. That can help you with song selection for your band when building your set lists. Knowing what people will be listening to will help you when programming your break music that you play during band breaks. It’s a fact that marketing by the music industry plays a huge part in what people in general are listening to. That can help your band appear on top of the scene by playing songs that people are going to be familiar with. We do put some classic albums and personal favorites up as well.

   We feature MP3 downloads from Amazon.com because of their extremely high quality (256kbps MP3)  and excellent pricing. You can save a bundle downloading from Amazon.com and everything you download from them is DRM free and can be played on multiple music players including iPods and iPhones. We also include links to the top music retailer, iTunes!
Apple iTunes Continue reading “Live Musician Central – Weekend Album Picks 3-14-09”

Live Musician Central – Weekend Album Picks 3-7-09

The most heavily marketed new album releases for March 7, 2009.

   Every week on Live Musician Central we pick the top new album releases for the week. How do we determine the top album releases? We base it solely on the level of music industry marketing behind the album. These releases may not be our personal favorites but they are being pushed like crazy by the music industry. How does that help us as live performing musicians? It keeps us in the loop with the rest of the industry and also serves as a reference to what’s going to be played by radio, tv and dj’s across the nation. That can help your band with song selection for building your set lists or programming your break music that you play during band breaks. It’s a fact that marketing by the music industry plays a huge part in what people in general are listening to. That can help your band appear on top of the scene by playing songs that people are going to be familiar with. We do put some classic albums and personal favorites up as well.

   We feature MP3 downloads from Amazon.com because of their extremely high quality (256kbps MP3)  and excellent pricing. You can save a bundle downloading from Amazon.com and everything you download from them is DRM free and can be played on multiple music players including iPods and iPhones.
Apple iTunes Continue reading “Live Musician Central – Weekend Album Picks 3-7-09”

Live Musician Central – Weekend Album Picks 2-28-09

Live Musician Central picks the top releases for the current week as well as some classic albums for building your setlist.

   Every week at Live Musician Central I pick some of the top new releases available for you to download from both iTunes and Amazon.com music service.  These new release choices reflect the heaviest music industry marketing. There are a couple of reasons I post up the most heavily music industry marketed albums. First, by checking out these releases you’ll be able to keep a finger on the pulse of the mainstream music industry. It’s music industry is a very powerful business that heavily influences peoples buying choices. The second reason is that a large number of people are going to know these albums. So if your band is looking for new music to put in your bands setlist these would be good choices simply because your chance of people knowing the songs at your shows will be very high. You’ll also look very on top of things and current with your knowledge of music. So these albums are a great resource for your song selection. I will also post up links to some top selling albums of all time for the reason of song selection as well.

   I use links to both iTunes and Amazon.com. iTunes is now the top music retailer in the U.S. so it goes without saying that people are going to be downloading their recommended new releases. I put links up from Amazon.com because their music service is an incredible bargain and their MP3’s are DRM free. You can save a bundle downloading entire albums from Amazon.com instead of  iTunes. Amazon.com MP3’s are also ripped at an excellent sounding 256kbps and since they’re DRM free you can play them on multiple MP3 players including iPods and iPhones.
Apple iTunes Continue reading “Live Musician Central – Weekend Album Picks 2-28-09”

Live Musician Central – Weekend Album Picks 2-14-09

Every week I pick the most heavily marketed albums and new releases for you to check out. This week it’s the 2009 Grammy Winners.

   Every week at Live Musician Central I pick some of the top new releases available for you to download from both iTunes and Amazon.com music service.  These new release choices reflect the heaviest music industry marketing. There are a couple of reasons I post up the most heavily music industry marketed albums. First, by checking out these releases you’ll be able to keep a finger on the pulse of the mainstream music industry. It’s music industry is a very powerful business that heavily influences peoples buying choices. The second reason is that a large number of people are going to know these albums. So if your band is looking for new music to put in your bands setlist these would be good choices simply because your chance of people knowing the songs at your shows will be very high. You’ll also look very on top of things and current with your knowledge of music. So these albums are a great resource for your song selection. I will also post up links to top selling albums of all time for the reason of song selection as well.

   I use links to both iTunes and Amazon.com. iTunes is now the top music retailer in the U.S. so it goes without saying that people are going to be downloading their recommended new releases. I put links up from Amazon.com because their music service is an incredible bargain and their MP3’s are DRM free. You can save a bundle downloading entire albums from Amazon.com instead of  iTunes. Amazon.com MP3’s are also ripped at an excellent sounding 256kbps and since they’re DRM free you can play them on multiple MP3 players including iPods and iPhones. This week I’m putting up some albums by the 2009 Grammy Award winners!
Apple iTunes Continue reading “Live Musician Central – Weekend Album Picks 2-14-09”

Powered by eShop v.6