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Welcome to MusicBizAdvice.com!
MusicBizAdvice.com
contains music business advice and
lifestyle tips for working musicians, bands, songwriters, indie artists, and behind-the-scenes music industry
professionals from the local to international level.
Whether you work in songwriting, publishing, recording,
live music performance, artist management, production, concert promotion, or
as part of the crew, we strive to provide you with the most accurate information.
As of August 01, 2010 MusicBizAdvice.com has readers in
77 countries and territories.
MusicBizAdvice.com's content is primarily the equivalent of PG-13, as outlined in our
Terms of Use.
(Our Body and Soul musician's health &
lifestyle section may contain material
intended for readers over 18.)
Remember: Legitimate music industry companies
never ask a minor to come to a meeting alone. The parent or legal
guardian is required to be present at all meetings and must sign any contracts on the minor's
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This month
on MusicBizAdvice.com:
Packing up for a gig? Use our printable checklists so you don't forget
anything. You'll find them in
The Gig Bag: What to Bring to the Show Whether You Sing or Play Guitar,
Banjo, Mandolin, Drums, Bass, Flute, Horns, Brass, Percussion, Saxophone, or
Woodwinds.
Stage presence:
you know when someone has it, and you want to improve yours. What do the
American Idol judges mean when they say things like "create a moment"
and "you have to own it"? In
From Lead Singer to Front Man: 10 Ways to Improve Your Stage Presence
and Entertain an Audience we'll show you exactly what to do
onstage to improve yours.
Ever noticed how after Graduation season a slew of
new (read: inexperienced) promoters & small labels pops up?
This article explains what to ask an unfamiliar promoter,
plus gives you easy tips on how indie bands and small label touring
musicians can keep from getting ripped off by someone who may not be telling
you the real deal about their company finances (especially in light of the
mortgage & credit crisis).
Planning a photo shoot for your
band's new photo? Darcie Wicknick's Photos, The
Media, and Photogs: What Every Artist Needs to Know about Photo Shoots,
Promo Shots, and How Photos Are Used in the Media tells you
what you need to know before you step in front of the
camera--straight from the mouths of mega-publicist Anne Leighton and
celebrity photographer Jeff Ufberg.
In How To,
we discuss why double-bookings should never happen, along with
five easy ways to prevent them (whether you're a DIY indie band or an
artist with an agent), our own
Office Guru Jinjer Hundley gives you simple
tips on how to manage your band's schedule with Outlook, we
offer a Quick Tip on how to use MySpace more effectively to
gauge response to your tracks.
How to
Read a Live Performance Contract
aka the AFM
Standard Performance Agreement tells you everything you need
to know about what should go into a performance contract, including specific
contract language and wording to help avoid potential conflicts. In this
article you'll also learn the important aspects of
Deposit and
Payment Terms, Radius clauses, Transportation, Settlement, Force majeure,
What Happens When a Show is Canceled, and Why Artists, Agents, and Managers
Won’t Work with Promoters they Don’t Know.
Ever wonder
why some talented, hard working local musicians never make
it past the local level, or why some artist's careers seem to stall out just
past the starting gates? Check out
20 Reasons Why Musicians Get Stuck at the Local or Regional Level,
which helped inspire an article in Independent
Weekly.
Think a Poor Man's Copyright (mailing a copy to yourself and not opening
the envelope, or emailing yourself a copy of the song) will protect you against copyright infringement? It won't.
Read this, as well as the
MusicBizAdvice Blog, to
find out why.
Speaking of Copyright, did you know there is an all-in-one form called Form CO? Or that online registration
is available through the Copyright office? Try it out
here on the Copyright Office website.
(If you're confused about how to fill out copyright form
CO, Darcie-Nicole Wicknick breaks it down for you
here.)
Need to get organized? Even "paperless" offices need a little paper file
management. We'll show you easy ways to do it our new, updated
How to Create and Manage a
Filing System. Gigging musicians can even learn the easy way to
create and maintain show files, just like platinum-level pros.
Looking for a music industry internship, or about to start one? Learn how to
make the most of it with How to
Be a Good Intern and
How To Get the Most Out of Your Music Industry Internship.
Our
Reviews section covers music, as well as music industry related
film, TV, and DVDs.
In Body
and Soul, our
cold and flu prevention tips are tailored especially for
musicians...including how to handle the meet 'n' greet.
Also in
Body and Soul
a hard hitting interview
with Soraia's Sue Mansour about heroin addiction and more.
If you missed it, check out our
interview with Soraia's Sue Mansour. In it, Sue tells how she went from studio
intern to recording at the legendary Henson (former A&M) Studios with Bon
Jovi recording engineer / producer
Obie O'Brien...later going
on to open for Bon Jovi at several large capacity venues.
Over on our blog,
MusicBizAdvice.com Editor-in-Chief talks about a slew of topics from
Facebook to
the addicted client and role of artist managers, and
more.
Congratulations to Contributing Writer Darcie-Nicole
Wicknick, who
is a 2009 ASCAP
PLUS composer award recipient in the Jazz/Pop category!!!
You can check out some of the article's Darcie's written for us in Features,
where
Darcie
gives you the scoop on the
difference between a record label and a production company, and explains the
history and evolution of the production company. There you
can read about The Production Deal, the Imprint Deal, the Joint Venture, and
Pros and Cons of Recording and Production Contracts, as well as things to
consider in a major label deal.
Also in Features, Darcie, who is the co-founder of the Boston Hip Hop
Alliance, has
written a provocative
op-ed about use
of the n word and the b word in pop culture.
Want to analyze what happened with American Idol 2009 and why Kris, not Adam
won? We've got the complete
rundown for Season 8 (and for previous seasons too) in the
MBADC American
Idol Armchair
Quarterback.
In Q&A,
we answer a promoter's question about
hiring an A-list band,
how to become a preliminary round judge for reality show talent
competitions such as American Idol, we update our advice about
double commissions for artist managers, and advise a young songwriter
how to stop making excuses and just write. Also in Q&A learn
why it’s important for artists to write their own songs,
why label
execs don't smile much when they go to see an artist's show,
How to Find a Manager and What You Need to Know Before Contacting Management Companies,
and
what the biggest factor is in deciding whether to go for an Indie label deal
or a major label deal.
The MBADC Performance Coach
helps you learn how to turn an unusual performance setting into a winning
one, getting more emotion out of the lyrics during your performances, and
how to make a cover song your own.
Ever wonder what became of those bands that
populated the Sunset Strip in the 80's? Jinjer Hundley's
Where Are They Now:
The Decline of Western Civilization Part ll: The Metal
Years tells
you what became of the bands featured in the documentary, The Decline of
Western Civilization Part ll: The Metal Years.
In Music Business
Lesson from Berklee Press
check out
The 5 Primary Functions of a Music Publisher. Also in Music
Business Lessons:
Management: Finding it and Making it Work for You,
3 specific things focusing on one musical
genre does for your songwriting or publishing career, and more.
Body and Soul has
HIV/AIDS Prevention Tips and Facts, voice care tips,
how to prevent getting colds or flu at your band's next Meet and Greet,
and more.
Check out
James Auburn's interview with Red K Records CEO Clayton Savage.
In it Clayton talks about
his work with Sugar Hill Records, the early days of Hip Hop and how its
musicianship and live performance have changed over the years, and
ugly breakups in the music industry...stuff any artist can relate to, regardless of genre.
At the opposite end of the spectrum,
Bon Jovi, whose single for "Who Says You
Can't Go Home" made them the first rock band ever to hit #1 on
Billboard's Country Singles chart, have been going strong for over 25 years now.
Maintaining visibility in a music industry career for over two decades takes
as much business smarts as talent, and our
MusicBizAdvice.com Case Study:
Why Bon Jovi is Music Business 101 highlights some of their key
marketing decisions. Meanwhile, Jon will be speaking at the Advertising Week
Billboard Live
seminar in New York on September 25, 2008 at 12:00 noon.
If someone you know
still insists on using online
modeling and talent agencies, show them our
ScamAlert Safety Alert report
about kidnappers posting fake audition notices. Although some of the facts of
the story sound hard to believe, we verified it with Emmy Award winning
reporter Kristin Stinar, who first
presented the story on The Big Idea with Donny Deutsch. This story
contains material some parents (and parental filters) may find
objectionable, but it's important to get the information out there.
Also in ScamAlert, see if you can spot the 6 red flags that indicated
the audition notice was fake. They apply to other online modeling and talent
agencies as well. (The
Red Flag Safety Quiz
Answers contain no material that parental filters should object to,
so you can still learn the red flags that indicate a potential scam.)
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Editor in Chief's blog
at
http://musicbizadvice.blogspot.com .
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MusicBizAdvice.com recommends Barbara Brabec's home business
books, such as
this one .
For a list of Barbara's other books, click
here. |
