CD Baby or Tunecore?

16
February

It’s funny how quickly the music industry and social media change. One day A is good. The next day B is better. Then a week later, C trumps them both. After trying both CDBaby and Tunecore, I’ve seen my allegiance shift back and forth. So I thought I’d offer pros and cons of each company [...]

Bandcamp – A Great Place to Pitch Your Tent

27
January

I first really got into Bandcamp when Pittsburgh Indie band, Colonizing the Cosmos, launched a digital release of their brand new album The First Frontier.  Just when you think there are too many online digital music websites, another pops up. But Bandcamp is unique for several reasons. Here’s why you’ll love it and why it [...]

Selling Your Music – Setting up an Online Merch Store

09
March

    Be sure to read the first two posts in this series 1.)  Starting from Scratch: What it takes to Release a CD 2.) Alternatives – CD Packaging, Production, & Distribution So once you’ve got the recording, artwork, and packaging done, its time to decide on ways to get your music out there. We talked a [...]

Alternatives – CD Packaging, Production, & Distribution

05
March

This is continuation of yesterday’s post: “Starting from Scratch: What it takes to Release a CD“. Read that past to get ideas on CD recording, artwork, photography, and packaging. Now, lets say you don’t want to go the Dismakers or Oasis route (even though they handle digital distribution and other great hookups).  Lets say you just [...]

Starting from Scratch: What it takes to Release a CD

04
March

            great artwork that matches title                 Here’s a question someone asked me last week.  It definitely deserves a blog for those of you who are spanking new to this music thing.   Some of these questions have been answered in this blog but [...]

Helping Yourself #3

01
January

  Here is the 3rd installment in this “Helping Yourself” series.  Also check out the Helping Yourself #1 and Helping Yourself #2 posts. To recap, Derek Sivers wrote a blog called “Nobody’s Going to Help You.  Does that encourage you or discourage you?“  Several singer-songwriters and industry reps responded to the post with their two cents.  Here is [...]

Helping Yourself #2

31
December

  This is a continuation to “Helping Yourself #1.  Check back tomorrow for the 3rd installment.  As previously mentioned, this post is centered around a recent blog by CDBaby guru Derek Sivers. The blog was called “Nobody’s Going to Help You.  Does that encourage you or discourage you?“  Read it is you havea chance.    The post [...]

READ, WATCH, LISTEN, GO – A Musician’s Guide to “Making It”

08
December

  As a full-time musician and publicist, I’ve learned in the past 6 years that simply being aware of what’s going on in town is more than half the battle of getting gigs, building a fanbase, and “making it” as a artist. Whether you tour or stay local, when you know what’s happening, where its [...]

CDBaby vs. Paypal

01
December

Ok, perhaps this posting will only be relevant if you have a CD… If you’re like most independent artists, you’re either working with Discmakers or Oasis to mass produce your CD and line up digital distribution via iTunes, Napster, PayPlay…etc.  Discmakers tends to be the most popular and the avenue I’m most familiar with. Dismakers [...]