I recently had a chance to sit down with Katey Laurel, a self-described “Colorado hippie cowgirl with a pocket of folk-pop songs,” and talk about her music. She’s an award-winning artist and folk music powerhouse in the Colorado scene. She’s also got some great out-of-the-box ideas that artists and music industry professionals can learn from! … Read more
Last week, I received several questions about bands or venues canceling last minute and what the repercussions were. Between that and taking law classes at night, I’ve had a lot of contracts on my mind. Hopefully, this will help answer some of your questions about band contracts, if you need them, and how to create one. I’ll … Read more
A while ago, I wrote an article for Music Think Tank: 5 Tips on Getting a Label, Sponsor, or Booking Agent. This week, I got some follow up questions on the best route to go for choosing and pitching to a booking agent or agency. Here’s my thought process on how to find the right partner … Read more
If you were presented with the opportunity to pitch your band directly to the Chief A&R representative for Capital Records, what would you say? If a venture capitalist was looking to invest in the dreams of one band, how would you convince them to choose you? If your favorite band was in town and looking for an … Read more
Now that the application window for SXSW is open again, I think it’s time to revisit some of these concepts. First of all, if you read the previous article, you’ll know that I spent a lot of time discussing the appropriateness of your act applying for the festival. The committee that reviews applications looks at multiple factors … Read more
I’m about to leave for a tour with my band. However, I thought I’d share my newest idea for boosting traffic on videos and increasing engagement with fans. Specifically, I’m talking about the videos that our band creates while we’re on tour. In the past, we’ve had a partner sponsor our tour video blogs: we would … Read more
For many years, I’ve held some doubts about Kickstarter and crowd-sourcing in general. For some artists, I thought it was a great fit for the culture of the band. However, for my personal band, I had some more reservations. I thought it could make the band look desperate or be a huge embarrassment if we ended up being pitifully … Read more
A while ago, I wrote this article about How to Get Better Results From Your Sonicbids Submissions. Since then, there have been a few changes to the site (both for promoters as well as performers). All of the advice from the first article still applies so if you haven’t read it, take a look at it … Read more
Artists tend to be creative people. We write music, create dazzling visions of art, and express sentiments in the most unique ways. However, when it comes to promoting our art, something else happens. For one reason or the other, most artists fail to express any creativity in their business endeavors. Here are five easy (non-internet) … Read more
There are a few ways to make sure you get to open for a major artist in town: The first option takes time, energy, and hard work. In the process, you’ll gain the respect of the local music industry. You’ll build true fans that will come to other shows, buy your merchandise, and support your … Read more