Coldwave Blog - Music Tips For Independent Artists

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...

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...

Blog post originally from SymphonicBlog . If you’ve ever found yourself doing the Gangnam style or even the Harlem Shake, these are great proof of the impact of music videos. In addition, with YouTube becoming one of the largest websites in the world, which actually caters to videos, it’s a great source of exposure and a revenue opportunity. Once you’ve decided to make a music video, then its time to distribute it. There are some solid offerings in the market, such as the ones Symphonic offers, which allows you do deliver your music to the top music video destinations, like Vevo, iTunes, TIDAL, and more. Before you decide on a distribution outlet, you will need to make sure you have certain details in place so you are prepared ahead of time and can deliver your music video in a timely manner. We’ve put together some video distribution tips for your next release. • Send your video distribution request at least 2 weeks prior to your wanted go live date to allow our video partne...

Post originally from the SymBlog . If you’re an artist or DJ, YouTube can bring you new opportunities for finding potential fans and spreading your music. Your YouTube channel is a representation of not only your music but also yourself.We’ve put together a few tips for your YouTube channel. Complete your profile Fully completing your channel’s profile will help you to build up your YouTube reputation. Having good channel art is the first step to completing your profile. Uploading a profile and cover photo that are relevant to your branding as an artist makes a huge difference. YouTube’s cover photo specs are 2560×1440 px. Add your best video Adding a video as your “Featured Video” (subscribers) or “Channel Trailer” (non-subscribers) is the next step you want to take to improve your channel. If your most recent video isn’t one of your bests, swap it out with another one that will attract viewers to watch it and hopefully click subscribe. To update your channel’s featured ...

By Kaitlyn Raterman Originally from SymBlog Being a musician is not as simple as writing a song, recording an album, selling it, and getting money from your sales. As an independent musician trying to learn a real living off of making music, it’s vital that you understand what kinds of royalty streams are out there. The first thing to understand is that in the most general sense, there are 2 parts, or 2 “sides,” to every “piece” of music. 1) Master The master is the sound recording. It’s the thing you hear when you play an mp3, vinyl, CD, YouTube video, etc. 2) Publishing The publishing side has to do with the underlying musical composition, which is embedded within a sound recording. The “publishing side” refers to the notes, melodies, chords, rhythms, lyrics, etc. to the piece of music. The “publishing side” is the musical composition. Various usages of each “side” to a piece of music generate their own royalties. If you write your own song, r...

By Lauren Gill This post originally appeared on Sonicbids . With the rise of social media platforms such as Instagram and Snapchat, artists must create high-quality visual content to consistently engage their fans. Great visual content helps to increase your exposure among your target audience, grow your fanbase, and even land major career opportunities. Here are five types of visual content you can use right now to promote your music 1. Music videos The traditional music video is still one of the most effective forms of visual content to promote your music. A good music video can keep the momentum going when promoting your single. With many music fans watching videos on YouTube and Vevo, a good music video can also help new fans to discover your music. Shoot a music video that captures the essence of your song. Hire a good videographer to shoot and edit your music video. Do not sacrifice the quality of your music video by hiring someone with little to no experience....

A Guest Post by Sahpreem A. King Originally from MusicClout Every now and again, I like to write about a few mistakes I see artists make on a regular basis. It wouldn’t be so bad if the mistakes were isolated incidents, but they are becoming a bad habit. I believe that part of the reason’s artists continually make the same mistakes is because they are merely mimicking other artists who have bad habits, they lack of music business knowledge, and they are too arrogant to think beyond their limited understanding of marketing and promotions. If you follow me on the music blogs and in the trade magazines, you will notice a theme within my writing. If you are just being introduced to the mind of Sahpreem A. King you will find that although, I am a bit abrasive, the goal of my writing is to literally knock artists from off of their high horses and show them the grand view of the music industry and thusly the world. My teachings are about educational empowerment, motivati...

Post originally copied from the Symphonic Distribution blog . The guys at http://www.hypebot.com have done a great article on how to release music One of the more interesting documents from the Ibiza International Music Summit is YouTube’s “Top Strategies for Electronic Music – Labels, DJs, Festivals.” The series of tips and how tos covers a lot of ground that’s worth considering for any musician using YouTube. In fact, very little of the document seems electronic music-specific though it clearly speaks to YouTube’s desire to maintain good relations with the EDM crowd. YouTube’s “ Top Strategies for Electronic Music ” was sent to us by Hisham Dahud (former Hypebot analyst) of Fame House who is overseeing digital marketing for IMS Ibiza . The tactics are “designed specifically with Electronic Music labels, DJs and event producers in mind” and do a nice job of including specific suggestions for “ways to do it” along with the “strategies” which are actually tactics. For ex...