My first piece of advice that I would give to any beginning songwriter is… “Never throw anything away, EVER!”
Just think, that piece of paper that you’ve thrown in the bin with some half finished lyrics penned the night before might have contained the ideas for THE song that defines you as a performer, artist or songwriter.
I love it… “Never throw anything away, EVER!”
Grooveshark CEO Sam Tarantino defended the approach of the company he dropped out of college to co-found at age 19 in 2006 with his friend Josh Greenburg for nearly an hour, before he took a train to catch a plane.
Below are the six main reasons he thinks recorded music wants to be free, just like it (mostly) is on Grooveshark:
I dont necessarily agree with some of the points but I thought it worthwhile to start a discussion about “the value” of music.
Put more simply, your music, by itself, isn’t worth much. It’s when put into context, when it becomes part of your fan’s enjoyable experience, that it becomes valuable. That can mean someone buying 2 CDs, a t-shirt and a poster at the merch table, or it can mean someone buying one track for $1.29 on iTunes.
This is a brilliant article about the similarities between the perceived value and the real value of music to a work of art seen in a gallery or in Ikea.
Well worth the read… What do you think about it?
What most bands do not know is that the CD packaging can be a good marketing tool. If you believe in the marketing power of the CD and you want to exhaust its marketing potential, here are the things you should include in your packaging to enhance its marketing power:
This article came to me just in time for my own CD to be launched 
Now just over 4 months since the accident, Meldrum has released an open letter of appreciation to all those who helped with his recovery and sent their love and support.
It’s great to see that Molly is getting better and his trademark humour is still intact
‘Creativity is not a talent. It is a way of operating.’
Much has been said about how creativity works, its secrets, its origins, and what we can do to optimize ourselves for it. In this excerpt from his fantastic 1991 lecture, John Cleese offers a recipe for creativity, delivered with his signature blend of cultural insight and comedic genius. Specifically, Cleese outlines “the 5 factors that you can arrange to make your lives more creative”:
I love John Cleese… He has a way of being funny while talking about serious issues without the comedian getting in the way of the message.
Pure genius and a great video
YouTube has been been paying a percentage of ad revenue to a small percentage of top video producers. Now they’ve opened their YouTube Partners program and the revenue that comes with it to just about everyone.
This is great news for anyone who does a lot of heavy promoting on YouTube
As we all increasingly download our music rather than browsing through the shelves of our local record shop, album artwork is less important. Or is it?
There is evidence to suggest that musicians and audiences are still interested in imagery surrounding music.
That’s one thing I miss these days… Really cool album artwork. You just don’t experience that with a download
Lots of new tools and features are rolling out from the big guns of social media that music marketers will find of interest:
Lots and lots of goodies for all you online music marketers out there
During the Social TV Summit in San Francisco Tuesday, Google Engineering Director Chee Chew tipped a major expansion of Google Hangouts that will open up many new opportunities for artists to interact directly with their fans.
AWESOME! I love Google+ and this latest development of their “hangout” function make G+ an even more viable marketing option for musicians
Corey Stewart Online Open Mic Network
