Coldwave Blog - Music Tips For Independent Artists

Post originally from MusicClout . By Robin Yukiko . I understand how frustrating the music industry can seem at times. Sometimes it's like you are shouting into a void and you hear no reply except your own echo. But you have to ask yourself something and then decide: If I never made a dime from my music, would I still do it? I asked myself rather recently and decided yes. Nothing will make me stop (permanently), even if I never become rich, famous, etc. A lot of people get into music because of how others make them feel when they play. I know I had a moment like that when I was 17. I was onstage, in a band, and fans (okay, my classmates) were screaming my name. That's when I knew for sure that that's what I wanted to do.  But as I continued on the path, I found so many other rewarding things that kept me in music. It’s different for everyone. For me, the challenge of writing a song that is different from all the others, and then delivering that song to u...

Post originally from SymBlog . By Dave Kusek A lot of people in the music industry call merchandise one of the best revenue streams musicians have left. Sometimes, however, getting people to buy your branded T-shirts or other knick-knacks can be difficult, especially when you’re just starting out. Merch can become a great revenue stream for you and your band – if you have some strategies in mind when pitching and selling your merch. Here, we’ll cover 4 Creative Ways to Sell More Merch. 1. Let people know you’re selling merch Okay, this one isn’t exactly “creative,” but you’d be surprised how many musicians fail to do it, whether it simply slips their minds, or they aren’t comfortable playing salesmen. We’ve all been to a concert where the excitement of the music and being with friends means we just don’t think about merch. Something as simple as mentioning that you have a merch table or even directly asking fans to check out what you’ve got for sale will increase the numbe...

Post originally from Label Engine Blog . Every distributor and Beatport partner received an email that looks to clarify the guidelines of what is an acceptable Promotional Campaign that encourages fans to buy tracks in exchange for something and what is considered an attempt to “game” the charts to unfairly gain a better ranking in the top 100. This has always been a controversial topic, often discussed in forum and social media. Everybody has a definition of what they believe is an unfair advantage and people often point fingers are suspicious activity in the Beatport top 100. Beatport continues to publicly guarantee they are doing everything in their power to keep their charts free of cheaters and maintain the reputation their charts have built as a standard measurement of how popular an artist is (although that is also disputed these days). We thought it would be great to share this information with all our users and blog readers, be sure to read the full message from the ...

Post originally from SymBlog . By Kaitlyn Raterman The Art of Networking in the Music Industry: The SXSW/WMC Edition SXSW and Winter Music Conference are all about networking. Networking is a blanket word, and different people have different approaches to it. Too many of us leave conferences with a hazy memory of faces and a bunch of business cards of people we don’t remember. You swarm the big-name panelists along with thirty other eager hopefuls, confidently approach the hot-shot speakers, but maybe they won’t accept your card and act completely disinterested in what you’re saying. You meet countless participants, exchange cards and some casually random banter you hardly remember. You followed up with every single person on the cards… but you receive little to no response. The conference passes over as if it never happened. Life moves on. What did you spend that multi-hundred-dollar ticket for anyway? Sound familiar? Picture this instead: By the end of any confer...

Post originally from SymBlog . By Janette Berrios The number of recommended actions and suggested tasks that social media managers must engage in can seem downright overwhelming. Not only are you supposed to update dozens of different profiles every day, you have to connect with potential new followers and monitor your company’s branded keywords in order to manage any negative mentions you encounter. And more. To prevent yourself from becoming overwhelmed and unable to get anything done at all, refocus your efforts on the following daily social media habits made up of tasks you know you can complete. Doing so should help you to form positive brand recognition and responsive follower bases — without driving yourself crazy over everything you could be doing. 1. Check the pulse of your social profiles. As a social media manager, the first thing to do every day is to log into your social profiles. Although this seems like a fairly common sense recommendation, many compa...

Post originally from Omari MC . Buying SoundCloud plays has become a popular thing to do with aspiring artists, DJ's, and producers on the site. Everyone is in a mad dash to be heard, and sometimes they may even sink to the level of going unheard in order to make it look like they were heard. With this I mean that most of the services that offer SoundCloud plays use bots or fake plays in order to fulfill the requirements they tell artists they can give. Here's 5 reasons why it's a bad idea to buy off these services, and also what to do instead when you're trying to get more listeners. 1. HOW TO TELL WHEN THE PLAYS ARE FAKE There's a few ways to spot a fake service out. If they give a hard number of plays instead of a range (Fake) If they talk about them being 'safe' plays (Fake) If they guarantee likes, comments, and re-posts (Fake) Why are these fake indicators? Real promotion services usually give a range of plays that will be delivere...