Coldwave Blog - Music Tips For Independent Artists

Blog post originally from the   SymphonicBlog . By Concert Window . Whether you’re an emerging artist or a seasoned professional, it’s easy to get overwhelmed by the amount of online resources out there these days, all claiming to be the best way to either engage with your fan base, reach new audiences, or make money. The virtual concert is a relatively new concept, but one that is growing rapidly and is proving hugely successful on every level. A virtual concert is basically a show you broadcast online, allowing people to tune in from anywhere by mobile device or computer. It’s as easy as opening up your laptop and performing from your own home. Music fans around the globe can tune into the live show, pay for tickets, give tips, buy merch and chat with you, all in real time. Best thing about it is you only need to get dressed from the waist up.. . . . we’re joking…. No really, please cover up! Below is a guide to help you create the best experience for fans and cash ...

Blog post originally from the   SymphonicBlog . By John Waltmann. So you’ve created your Twitter page for your artist or band, that’s great! Now what? Here’s How to Promote and Utilize Your Band or Artist Page on Twitter. It can be a scary and intimidating situation starting a social media page from ground zero and these tips may help you grow your network of followers and help promote your music for the future. First and foremost, the Twitter page you’ve created should have an association with the rest of your musician or band social media pages. Google and other search engines will prioritize your pages if it can recognize multiple pages for your band. In a perfect scenario, all of your slug URLs would be properly streamlined to look like, for example: Facebook.com/mybandname Twitter.com/mybandname Soundcloud.com/mybandname If you can’t get these perfect, it’s not the end of the world, but try small variations like adding ‘music’ or ‘band’ or your local ‘city’ af...

Blog post originally from the SymphonicBlog . Guest Post by Camille Evelyn. “As social media marketers, we tend to sweat the details. Am I posting at the most ideal times? Are my posts formatted to perfection? Do my updates have the right tone and brand personality? But while these things are important, there’s one thing that is most critical. And it’s something that is often overlooked by many marketers. That thing is consistency.” – Kelvin Claveria Welp! Mr. Claveria said it quite well! This article has one purpose, and that is to give you ideas on how to keep your social media buzzing and creating consistent content. Here we go! Have a weekly show/release Having a weekly show is one of the most common ways to keep your fanbase entertained on a regular basis. You can do a vlog (video blog) of your activity for the past week, release a cover or freestyle. If doing a cover or freestyle, have a download link in the description of the video. Also, be sure to give the segment a cat...

Blog post originally from the MusicClout . With today’s technological advances, musicians have an unlimited amount of choices for furthering their music career. The rise of social media in the last ten years has made it easier than ever to attract and reach out to your fans. With each one of today’s social media platforms having its advantages and disadvantages, it is important to have an understanding of what works and what doesn’t on each particular platform. In this article, we will focus on Twitter. Twitter is an online social media networking service that enables users to send and read short 140-character messages called, tweets. Users can access Twitter through the website interface, SMS, or the mobile device app. In 2013 Twitter was one of the ten most visited websites. It has been described as, “the SMS of the internet.” Twitter, more than any other platform,  makes it easy to find new fans of your music. Below I’ve outlined a list of nine things every musician m...

Blog post originally from the SymphonicBlog . Written by  Joe Pacheco . Most artists often think of Spotify as a place where fans listen to music, but it is more than that these days. Yes, fans rely on streaming services such as Spotify more and more every day but need the same interaction from social media platforms such as Facebook to stay updated and continue being listeners. Here are some reasons why Spotify is important for artists to maintain their fans! Spotify playlists Curated playlists on Spotify are a really big deal in staying relevant and continuing to be discovered. Here are some reasons why playlists are important for musicians to maintain: •    Creating playlists as an artist will show fans what songs and artists you enjoy listening to and be something fans can follow and interact with you through. •    Update your playlists often so you always stay active on follower’s feeds. •    Following and listening to your Discov...

Blog post originally from the SymphonicBlog . Managing an online presence doesn’t come easily to everyone. As a DIY musician, though, you don’t have much choice in the matter. Keeping your pages active and updated is hugely important to the maintenance and growth of your fanbase, as well as key in getting press and booking gigs . That said, you don’t have to use every single platform out there. Unless you’re a natural social media expert, consider streamlining your online presence by focusing only on the profiles that matter most. We believe these four are at the top of the totem pole of potential. We’re not saying the ones we’ve left out aren’t useful; they certainly can be. But spreading yourself too thin in your online efforts isn’t hard to do, so zoning in on mastering this lot will likely do you the most good. Here are the top four online profiles every musician must have! 1. Facebook The latest reports continue to show that, in terms of popularity, Facebook remain...

Blog post originally from the SymphonicBlog . Written by Ta'Rikah Jones . If you’re an artist or a band that’s new to the world of social media, hashtags may seem confusing or pointless. These little symbols are a vital way for way people communicate and digest information online. Not only are they important but they can also increase your engagement rate and followers. What is a Hashtag? A hashtag is social media’s way of categorizing something, whether it is a Tweet, an image, or video. It allows web surfers (who can be fans or potential fans) find your content related to the keyword you use that can be related to a specific topic, music genre, upcoming show, or new music. For example, let’s say you want to promote your latest song on Twitter: ♬ Check out my latest song | “Lean On”(insert link) | #NewMusic #ElectronicMusic Anyone who comes across your tweet can click #NewMusic and immediately be directed to a Twitter database full of Tweets with that hashtag. ...

Blog post originally from MusicClout . A Guest Post by  Sahpreem A. King . @sahpreemking I get sick and tired of artists telling me that they are already doing the things necessary for success, when in fact; most of them haven’t the foggiest idea what music business success looks like. When you don’t know, then your objective should be humility, and within that state of humility you will allow yourself to be open to not only constructive criticism, but also opportunity. Nowadays, a lot of artists have grown accustomed to writing checks with their mouths that their asses can’t cash. Moreover, artist arrogance is not a new phenomenon it has existed ever since the people who cut the checks told average musicians that they were superstars. Nevertheless, artists like Kanye “I am Michelangelo, I am Walt Disney, I am Steve Jobs” West have gotten more and more famous for being high off their own supply (rants) rather than their music.  Sure it is arguable that Kanye ...

Blog post originally from MusicClout.com A guest post by Janette Berrios of Symphonic Distribution Being a musician these days is tough! Back in the good ‘ol days, artists just had to worry about learning their craft and booking shows, hoping to get radio support along the way that could eventually get you signed to a label. But today things have gotten a bit more complicated. But with every challenge there always lies opportunity. This opportunity is that we now have more access to information than ever before–information is knowledge. Now all the barriers of entry only large record labels knew about are out there in the open. With a bit of research and time, we know the industry works and we know how musicians can make money in it. Artists today are lucky to have a window of opportunity literally at their fingertips for thousands of music fans to discover them. These music promotion tips will help you to bring your music into the digital age. Hopefully this post will sh...

Blog post originally from MusicClout . A Guest Post by Rowen Bridler . The good thing to note about realising you’ve made a few mis-steps in your career is that this is a perfectly valid entrepreneurial business tactic – it’s called ‘testing’. If something didn’t work, you know not to do it again and that way, you learn what does work. However, far too many musicians spend too long doing things that aren’t working without realising it, and that adds up to tedium, frustration and a major lack of progress. So, stop for a moment and check if you’ve been doing any of these things: 1) Being inconsistent Do you only work on your songs when you feel like it? Do you only play gigs when a friend mentions there’s a free slot one evening? If you can’t say when you practise and when you’re next gigging, you are probably projecting a kind of ‘hit and miss’ approach to your career. You can fix your inconsistent behaviour by setting aside certain non-negotiable times when you’ll defi...

Blog post originally from the   SymphonicBlog . Written by Jorge Brea . As technology is growing and becoming much more accessible all over the world, more Record Labels and Artists are getting their Music Production hats on and releasing music to the world. The thrill of seeing the material out on platforms such as Beatport, iTunes, Google Play, and others is a great feeling but then the artist and record label begin to realize there is not enough attention that is needed and begin to ask, how can I get featured and get a banner on Beatport or iTunes and others? As a distributor of hundreds of thousands of releases, we don’t ever want to promise anyone that he or she will receive features because it would be dishonest and bad business. We will instead tell you that we will work extremely hard and WE WILL submit any release that you want to be featured for consideration to digital service providers worldwide such as long as it fits the specifications set forth by our partne...

A Guest Post by The Musicians Guide Originally from MusicClout One thing that fascinates me about how bands develop is the ‘leaps’ where a band grows exponentially over a short period of time. Very few bands grow at an incremental rate their whole career – but what causes these leaps? In practical terms, how can you double, triple or quadruple the size of your fan base in a short period of time? I urge you to not just read this post and go back to browsing Twitter. No one builds their fan base by clicking on links all day. You build your fan base by taking action – testing and learning what works, and eliminating what doesn’t. 1. Every single fan must (on average) generate at least one new fan To double or triple the size of your fanbase you need every one of your current fans to (on average) introduce your music to one or two of their friends who will also take the same action. This is the most fundamental point to this blog post. The larger the number...

A Guest Post by The Musicians Guide Blog post originally from MusicClout . As some of you may know, I have a real passion for understanding human behavior, and over the past few years I’ve dedicated a lot of my attention to learning about sharing. In this post I want to explain the science of sharing and how you can use this knowledge to encourage fans to share your music more frequently. Nothing Goes Viral To begin with, there is no such thing as viral – songs don’t go viral, nor do YouTube videos of cats – they simply go through ‘compound sharing’. There’s a reason I emphasise this, and it’s to stop people saying ‘we want to go viral’, which does nothing but put ‘viral’ on a pedestal. If you want your song to ‘go viral’ you must have a high compound rate. Here’s what I mean. Let’s say that 1 in 100 people who listen to your song share it, if you initially reach 5,000 people, and each person who shares it exposes it to an average of 50 new people, your song will reach an e...