All you need to know about the music business.

Donald Passman is the foremost expert on the music business, having written the indispensable book,  Everything You Need To Know About The Music Business.  He also has a lot of video discussions available at Artistshouse Music, a fabulous resource for musicians and the people who support them.

Always learning something new.

It's been a minute since I last posted.  Between school, the day job, and the work that I do for independent musicians, I have been busier than a one-legged tap dancer in a butt kicking contest (this is the South...we love our similes!).  I have, however, been picking up some new indie career tips for musicians.  Here are a few of them:

• I have discovered that ReverbNation now offers the ability to insert your own links to your posted songs so that when you click on the "buy" button it will take you to the page you designate, whether that be iTunes or Bandcamp.  If your songs are already posted, you simply select the "edit" link to insert this. 
• ReverbNation also has a custom module that I am using to insert the most recent album image, along with the link that will take a visitor to where they can buy the actual CD.  While logged in, click on "control room", "my profile" and then "customize".  The module will be in the inactive modules column.
• While you're looking at the "customize" section of ReverbNation, make sure that the modules you aren't using get moved to the inactive column so that you aren't cluttering up your profile page.  Move the active modules around so that the most important ones are the most prominent.  Also, consider customizing your background so that it looks nice and blends with your website theme.  Example of how to rearrange modules:

I love the BandPage app for Facebook from RootMusic.  It is extremely functional and looks fantastic.  I did discover, however, that the music player does not work on the iPad, as the iPad cannot use Flash.  WTH, Steve Jobs?!  This is good to know, and something that I hope Apple will address.  I am, however, very proud of my latest BandPage, constructed for Diane Durrett:

I created the banner in Photoshop and uploaded it to BandPage, then customized the colors to match.  The goal is to look sleek and professional.  One quick tip about BandPage...be sure to set it as as your default landing page on Facebook so that new fans end up there first to get the best possible impression of you!

I'll soon have another service to tell you about; I'm still in the process of vetting it, so you'll have to wait until I know more about it, but if it does what it purports to do, it is revolutionary.

I will try to be more regular in my posts.  Thanks for taking the time to read my tips; I hope they are useful to you!

Radio for the indie artist.

Radio is notoriously difficult to break into for the independent artist. Without the backing of a major label with clout and cash for palm greasing, it is darned near impossible. Mind you, I'm not talking about internet radio...I'm talking about radio broadcasting that you'll pick up on your car stereo. Bona fide air waves.

Allow me to introduce you to KYHY,  a Burbank, CA station that features indie music. They are actively soliciting your music.  For a very nominal submission fee and a copy of your CD, you'll be placed in their rotation.  You can then encourage your fans to email in to request your songs.  I've experimented with several other stations that are purely internet-based; all of them require monthly fees, so KYHY sounds like a great deal.  I'm going to try them out and report back.  In the meantime, you can get all of the details here.

As always, I'd love to hear about what is working for you.  Talk to me.