An Open Letter to Venues That Exploit Their Musicians
The below post has earned quite alot of attention over the last seven weeks. Full-time saxophonist, Dave Goldberg, wrote an honest letter to venue owners addressing their disregard and exploitation of the working musicians. The post is powerful and I asked David if I could republish this article on Grassrootsy. I’m hoping that you’ll read this [...]
5 Reasons Why You Need At Least One Professional-Looking Video
Live music video by Joy Ike. Shot by Steve Ellington First of all, if you don’t have a YouTube account, you should. In fact, if you don’t have a YouTube account that’s a serious problem. Next to Google.com and Facebook, YouTube is the 3rd most popular site on the internet! You should be on it! [...]
5 Tips For Getting People To Your Show In the Winter
Getting people out to shows in the winter is tough stuff! You’re competing against cold temperatures and potentially dangerous road conditions. Unfortunately you can’t control the weather, but here are some ideas on getting people out. 1. HOUSE SHOW! The thing about winter is that people want to be cozy. Do more house shows. [...]
How I (a Non-Social Media Nut) Approach my Social Media
Today’s post is another contributed article by UK-based artist, Andy Mort. He goes by the moniker, Atlum Schema and this time writes on how to uniquely use each Social Media platform. You’ll find tips for the obvious (Twitter/Facebook) and not so obvious (Tumblr/Instagram) music-friendly platforms. Take a breath, read it through, and then give it a try! [...]
Domains? Hosting? What’s It All About?!
I first started this blog because I wanted to write about real issues that musicians deal with. And I wanted to write about it in layman’s terms – simple English that anyone can understand without having to pull out a marketing dictionary. Forget the technical terms and the music industry jargon. In most cases DIY [...]
Grassrootsy’s Top 10 FREE Resources for Musicians
We’re excited about EVERY SINGLE one of the following resources. We hope you will be too! INDIE ON THE MOVE Yes, we truly love these guys. We wrote about them a while back, but quite alot has changed since our original post in 2009! For one thing, IOTM is still the #1 place to get an artists [...]
How Do I Get A House Show?
ARTIST: Jonathan Wood Vincent (New York, NY) QUESTION: Is there a house concert listing online. Like a reference of places offering these? ANSWER: Hey Jon. The short answer is “Yes”! There are a number of resources out there. Here are a few familiar and not-so-familiar websites that we suggest. Concerts In Your Home These guys don’t mess around. [...]
Starting From Scratch: Tips for the Brand Spankin’ New Musician
This is a post I’ve been meaning to write for quite a long time. Having talked to many of our readers online, I realize you all are coming from different places in your careers. Some folks have been playing for years, some have been touring for years, and some of you are closet musicians. Well, [...]
Grassrootsy’s Top 10 Posts of 2011
Here it is! The top 10 posts of 2011. The below is a cross between most read posts, most commented on, and most engaging. We encourage you to check out reader comments below each post because you all had alot to say. 1. TURNING FACEBOOK LIKES INTO LOVES Just because they happened to like your [...]
11 Tips to Improve Your Music Career in 2012
1. WRITE IT DOWN Have some ideas on where you want to be by the end of 2012? Get a pad of paper and write it down. List all of your goals (crazy and sane) and isolate the most important ones. Tack it on your wall and hold yourself accountable. 2. TELL YOUR FANS [...]
How to Create An Invoice
I thought I’d revisit a blog from last year: Money: Ask and You Shall Receive…Sometimes. There have been a number of really great reader comments on this post. So yes, learning to ask for money is important. And whether you’re being contracted by an individual or an organization, it’s absolutely imperative to have something in [...]
It’s All In the Packaging
I watched this commercial the other day and said “That is SO stupid! Why would Orbitz spend thousands of dollars of airtime to talk about the colorful boxes their gum comes in?!” And then, when I was in Rite-Aid today I decided to buy a pack of Orbitz because I liked the packaging. It wasnt [...]
Breaking Into a New Scene
A good friend of mine has just moved to a new city and has, for the most part, put his music on hold. He doesn’t know much about the music scene, he doesn’t have any fans in the area, and he doesn’t know where the good venues are. Maybe you’re running into something similar – [...]
Is It Possible to Play Several Shows in One Month & Get Great Turnouts at All of Them?
This question is the average local artist’s biggest dilemma. You don’t want to dilute your show turnouts, but you do want to play out as much as possible to get as much exposure as possible. So how do you do this while ensuring that each show is good, well-attended, and worth it. Here are some [...]
The Best Way to Book a Tour
Booking is hard. Here are some valuable tips on how to hopefully make things a bit less stressful. If you have other tips, post them in the comments section. 1. Start with the Weekend Where do you want to spend your weekend? Book your Friday and Saturday gigs first? Its likely that these will be [...]
Grassrootsy’s Top 10 Posts of 2010
Hmmm…it was really hard to pick just 10. Perhaps these are personal favorites. But we felt like these posts were worth taking a second look. If there’s another gR post that has stuck with you this year, stick it in the comments section. Oh…and we cheated. The last one on the list is actually 5. [...]
The Things You’ll Hate To Do…But Should Do Anyways #2
To see the first post in this series, visit The Things You’ll Hate To Do…But Should Do Anyways #1. Ummm…read! I imagine this is hard for many musician (and not just me), but you’ll find that when you do take the time to read magazines like American Songwriter, Music Connection, or BMI Music World (i think you must [...]
5 Tips for a Booking a Successful Show
I’m knee deep in booking shows, and here are some more things I’m learning along the way about booking. If you’ve recently learned a thing or two, put it in the comments section. 1. Call Ahead If you are unsure about the venue you’re about to book, call the venue (as if you are a [...]
Lesson from Lilith: A few things I Learned at Lilith Fair
So Grassrootsy has been dormant for nearly 2 weeks. Sorry about that! But there’s good reason. I’ve been on the road and had a chance to perform at Lilith Fair last week. I had the opportunity to meet with some really awesome female musicians and see/hear their thoughts on what its like to pursue music [...]
What Do Working Musicians Do About Health Insurance??? PART 2
Today’s post is a continuation of ”What Do Working Musicians Do About Health Insurance??? PART 1” Thanks to Ellen Cherry and Chubby Carrier for contributing some really insightful information on how necessary it is to have health insurance. ellen cherry (Baltimore, MD) I’ve lived without health insurance for 6 of the last 7 years as a [...]
