So You Wanna Be An Artist Or Writer Or Publicist?

So You Wanna Be An Artist Or Writer Or Publicist?

By indie rapper Kosha Dillz (@koshadillz).

This is an interesting twist. The same advice you give to an artist (rappers, singer, band), you can also give to a writer and/or publicist. I think there are 7 things you must prepare for in basic level, and I think this article can spin off into many responses. There are probably way more things to write about with this topic, but these 7 are very key for anyone who is embarking on a life long journey.
I believe music is an art, just as much as journalism and being a publicist. To make it into a job will take a lot of cojones and patience, and you might want to reconsider heading this route. But since I'm sure you will not reconsider it, let's give it a whirl.

1. Make good music that you can perform x represent great music.
Since being part of the music world is so much of an in-person experience, try making amazing music, that you can play. If you make amazing opera music, you might be in a different work than us, but maybe it can work out provided you find the right feel. Writers and publicists who touch topics that aren't what their brand is…will have them judged by their audience. Basically be involved with the best of the best in the brand you are trying to deliver. If you want that 200,000 email industry contact bullshit for $49, you will deal with clientele that associates with, and it doesn't win you "fans".

2. Have a dope music video / column that delivers your brand.
Music videos are the way to be in 2014. A video can describe a person so much. Let me fix that, a music video will describe you to the person as their first impression because it's the easiest way to get to know you in 3 minutes. Audible Treats does a great podcast of their artists that is well put together, and since we trust the brand, we download it. Writers should start a column. I used to write for Ruby Horney and did interviews with people in a "fill in the blank" form. I always asked silly questions and made people fill in the blanks.

3. Be prepared to be rejected.
Have you ever tried Tele-marketing? It's great practice for the music business. Imagine being rejected a lot by people for whatever reason. No …NO….not interested…I'm not into that kind of music….no. This goes for rappers, writers and publicists. You don't know when a no will turn into the yes.

4. Be prepared to be underpaid.
A lot of people consider music business a hobby. What this does is compare a real writer to a "blogger". It considers someone like MC Supernatural who gets paid tons of cash to perform with his freestyle shows to a random person who is drunk and "freestyles too." Just because you drive a car doesn't mean you are a race car driver, but sometimes all people need is the car. For this reason, you will be underpaid provided you don't stick to your worth.

5. Don't have a backup plan.
Anyone who ever is a part time artist or a part time writer/publicist will never fully understand how to have a full time job as an artist. I have never met a part time doctor, or a part time dentist. They put in years of work for nearly slavery (4 years college, 4 years med school, 3 years residency min, 1 year fellowships). But the pay off is great after all the years of hardwork. Notice how this time is spent working with other people.

6. Document and publish you.
Artists def have to put their life out on the line just like writers and publicists do, because we all know that it isn't always objective reasons for the way things get done. Kevin Lyman recently spoke at the ASCAP conference about ways to introduce music to someone. For him specifically, you'll want to chat about fishing and not your music. For me and people like Diamond Media 360, you'll want to chat about collegiate wrestling. Writers and publicists do the same thing. You can't only pitch music. People want to work with you because of you. At least in my experience…I think.

7. You must go out.
Kinda hard to say. You stress over time, but we all have the same amount. Go out and meet other people. You have to get clients. You have to get things to write about. You need inspiration. You need to show other people support. The internet has made everyone lazy. Stop texting and start calling. Stop sitting in the back and get in the front. Some of my biggest successes, like beaching a video game character in NBA 2k, happened because of me being out at an event. Every article I write is because I am out somewhere and get inspired to write.

Well. I think this is all a good place to start. Recently I was street performing on Hollywood BLVD and was discovered by a Vlogger named Roman Atwood, Vitaly, and Kevin Brueck. Performing for four people has gotten me over 365,000 views in the past few weeks, and inspired me to start my own 30 day vlog challenge.
Subscribe to my 30 day vlog challenge on YouTube.

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10 Reminders For SXSW Before You Enter The Abyss

8 Ways Musicians Can Gain Media Coverage Indirectly [Kosha Dillz]

Location:Hempland Rd,Mountville,United States

3 Simple and Free Website Design Resources for Musicians

3 Simple and Free Website Design Resources for Musicians

A Guest Post by Crowd Audio

I’ve harked on marketing for a few posts now.

Not for nothing, because being a band in a vacuüm is pointless.

You want fans, and marketing is the thing that will get you fans.

It gets a bad rap, but marketing isn’t evil. It’s what you do every day when you talk about your music, upload a song or post a music video.

And as you all know by now, you should be doing this through your own website.

Where Do I Find a Good Website Design for My Band?

Good question.

The answer is: ALL OVER THE PLACE!

It’s actually quite frustrating because you can feel like you’re drowning in designs when you go search on Google. But let’s narrow the search parameter a little bit and focus on something that’s more budget friendly.

Or as you musicians might know it as: free.

I’m only recommending and talking about WordPress themes because that’s what I’m familiar with and confident to talk about.

There are a ton of free options out there, and even more Premium, paid themes as well.

Just a quick search on Google for “free WordPress themes for musicians” yields some good results. Obviously they won’t all be free but here are some great sites that have some good free options for you.

Premium Free WordPress Themes

PremiumFreeWordpressThemes has some good options for musicians on a budget that would like a simple and nice design.

The Retro Music and IndaClub are both cool options for wildly different genres.

Heaven Themes

Heaven Themes looks super cluttered and seems to portray itself as a massive hub for website themes. At first glance it looks like Amazon.com if they only sold website themes.

But once you get past that you can’t deny the massive amount of different themes available on their site. And they’re not only limited to WordPress so if you have different preferences for your platform(you shouldn’t) then you can choose a Joomla or a Blogger theme (don’t do it).

TightMixBlog

There are some interesting choices on TightMixBlog. I guess the generic 2010 theme could work for your music, but it just lacks design and is a bit “blah…”

However, the author’s favorite theme on the site is Sight, a really cool free theme that comes with a bunch of customizability.

I actually used it a few years back as the theme for my band so I can highly recommend it to anyone who needs a simple but cool looking theme that won’t cost them a dime.

Other notable mentions are the City Dreams theme, which would come in handy if you have a really cool band photo or an awesome live shot of your band rocking out on stage.

Make it Simple

You don’t need an expensive designer to make you a website. You just need some intermediate skills in setting up your free WordPress theme and you’re good to go.

This is something anybody in your band should learn because you should always treat your website as your flagship marketing tool.

What themes are you using on your website? Did you go with something free, or did you treat yourself to a premium theme?

Crowd Audio helps you take your music to the next level. They connect independent bands and musicians with excited audio engineers eager to help them with their music.

If you’re a musician, Crowd Audio gives you access to a community of audio engineers eager to mix and master your music, giving it that professional sound.

If you’re an audio engineer, Crowd Audio creates a community of like minded individuals looking to gain experience by doing the audio work they love.

Through community and crowdsourced competition, bands get a professionally produced sound while audio engineers get exposure and experience

How To Be Creative On A Limited Video Budget

How To Be Creative On A Limited Video Budget

Kelley James (@yourboykj) is a singer/songwriter whose music is a fascinating collection of acoustic guitars, hip-hop beats, thoughtful lyrics and freestyle flows. His brand new album 'The Pattern Transcending' was released on Oct 1st, 2013.

Being a recording artist in the digital age means you have more resources than ever to share your content and engage your fans. With so many different blogs, music platforms, and social media outlets, it can start to get a little overwhelming, both from the sheer number of options and the other voices threatening to drown you out.
Despite all these avenues, there is one channel that many artists let fall by the wayside: video. At best, most will have a few videos of themselves performing live. On the other end of the spectrum, some have only a vacant YouTube channel, or worse, no video presence at all.
Creating engaging video content may seem like a burden, but I’m willing to bet it’s actually a lot easier than you think. I’ve pulled together a few easy steps every independent artist should take to not only amp up their content, but increase their digital footprint by connecting with the people who matter most - the fans.
1. When creating content, think outside the box.

Everyone is pretty familiar with the two main standbys that most artists will utilize when it comes to creating videos: the video-blog update and, of course, music videos. One is low budget with the potential to be stale and contrived while the other often seems like too big of an investment for artists who are still growing. That’s why it’s very important to think outside the box when it comes to video content. What are your viewers getting from your videos that they can’t get elsewhere? If the answer is “nothing”, they probably won’t be tuning in any time soon. When I’m creating content for my channel, I like to give my fans something they can’t see at a show or buy on iTunes, so I like to do one of my signature freestyles on-the-spot. Other times, I’ll mash up two songs into one streamlined acoustic performance. Once your viewers realize that they’re getting in on something special when they watch your videos, you can bet they’ll be back again next time.
2. More is less.

There’s proof all over the web that a clever idea can be as valuable, if not more, than a bloated budget. A lack of funds can be a blessing more than a curse in that it forces you to think creatively and work with whatever resources are immediately available. In 2012, I released my single “Summertime On My Mind” and wanted to create a unique video to promote it without spending a ton of cash. I was involved in a campaign for Patagonia at the time called “Repair, Reuse, Recycle” which was aimed at promoting cleaner environmental practices and conserving resources, and I saw one that one of the logos was an acoustic guitar with only one string. Inspiration struck. With the goal of showing that you can create something awesome with only simple tools, I rounded up five friends and six guitars - each with only one string. We played the entire song together, one string per person, and over 13,000 views later, I was able to prove that it doesn’t take more than a few buddies and some ingenuity to make something special. Don’t get caught up in trying to copy the music videos you see on TV, because the average major label video usually has a budget somewhere between $200,000-$500,00. Use your brain and remember, more is less.
3. Utilize live-streaming platforms to bring your content to life.

One of the greatest things that technology is doing for artists is tearing down the barriers between us and our audiences. Live-streaming services only continue to get better with time, and they can be a powerful weapon in your social media arsenal. Websites like StageIt can help you easily create streaming content to share with your fanbase. I use StageIt to turn any location with an internet connection into a concert venue by allowing my fans to tune into scheduled performances via webcam. Artists are free to charge whatever they please for access to the show, and can leave a digital “tip jar” open if audience members feel so inclined. This is a great way to let your audience know that they matter and that you’re willing to go above and beyond to provide them with a unique musical experience.
4. Get to know talented filmmakers and videographers.

Everyone dreams of the day when they’ll be getting paid big bucks to do what they love, but as most of us well know, you have to start somewhere. There are as many talented people behind cameras as there are behind guitars and microphones, and it makes sense for us as artists to get to know each other and discover ways we can help each other out. Filmmakers and videographers want their work to get noticed too, and it never hurts to ask to see if there are options for you to work together to promote your respective brands. Some of them may be willing to work with you for free, while others won’t consider it without some promise of payment - either way, it’s only beneficial to get a sense of what your options are. At the very least, you might find yourself inspired by some of the material you find. I constantly draw new musical ideas and vibes from my friend Mike Greene’s video work. Bottom line: you’ll never know until you get out there and do some research, and with the entire internet at your fingertips, you have no excuse to not do it.
At the end of the day, video content is one of many, many tools that can be used to make yourself stand out from the crowd and engage people. The fact that it gets overlooked by a lot of artist should provide you with that much more incentive to take advantage of it in the most resourceful, cost-effective means possible. Being creative with your webcam today means that you might get to be creative behind a big-budget music video tomorrow - so get to work!

Make Videos That Fit The Artist and The Audience [Leadership Music Summit Panel]

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Make Videos That Fit The Artist and The Audience [Leadership Music Summit Panel]

An unlikely sounding panel at this week's Leadership Music Summit in Nashville, "Bringing Content to Fruition," kicked off a lively discussion about videos, music marketing and even a bit about building and monetizing a relationship with an audience for the long haul. Opinions varied but all seemed to agree that most choices come down to creating videos that fit both the artist and the audience.

Tuesday's Leadership Music Summit featured numerous talks and panels. A discussion focused on "creating video content...to expand a band/brand's message" touched on a number of interesting points.

Moderated by Hit Shop Records' David Ross, the panel included:

Stokes Nielson - Stokes Tunes/Country Now

Dez Dickerson - The Pavilion Group

Jamin Guy - Streamweaver

Brody Harper - Skorinc

Jared Scheel - Populr.me

High Points of the Discussion

Stokes Nielson got things going early with the audacious statement that musicians should be making videos because they're the "most effective way to communicate with other human beings."

Later Jared Scheel pointed out that video is an "incredible storytelling platform."

But to unleash the power of video, from music videos to backstage chronicles, many of the panelists spoke to different aspects of authenticity.

Dez Dickerson shared the first of many concepts he uses, in this case, to understand the act's "DNA" as a way of maintaining authenticity:

Who are we?

What do we do?

What are we doing it for?

By discussing such questions a band and team can then more easily evaluate a video project and whether or not it's appropriate for the act and the audience.

The panelists also discussed the fact that fitting both the act and the audience can affect such issues as production values. A new act has less money so a low-budget look is appropriate. More established acts are expected to have higher and therefore more expensive production values.

But this was one of the spots where panelists resisted formulating a one size fits all approach.

Stokes Nielson pointed out that first looks are so important that it can make sense for an emerging act to spend more money to make a strong first impression.

While Brody Harper says they've found with bigger stars that more off-the-cuff videos can work cause it offers a more human connection than fans are feeling from social media. On social media, they don't know if a tweet is actually written by an artist or by a team. When the artist is sitting there adjusting their webcame, it's a much more intimate moment even when watched by a large audience.

Other Tips and Insights

Stokes Nielson encouraged musicians to do collabs on YouTube to reach their audiences. In particular, he pointed out that YouTube stars are likely to be open to a collab with a musician as simply a cool thing to do, so reach out.

Jamin Guy suggested making sure your video works for all devices. Sure, it plays, but how does it actually look when played on a big screen vs. a smartphone screen.

Videos are a powerful tool for building relationships with one's audience. Dez Dickerson maintained that the long-term play is a shift from a transactional approach (i.e., buy this new release) to a relational approach (i.e., let's get to know each other so we can be friends for a long time).

As Dickerson pointed out, a hit doesn't necessarily translate into a music career. But if you have an audience, you can have a career.

Hypebot Senior Contributor Clyde Smith (@fluxresearch/@crowdfundingm) also blogs at Flux Research and Crowdfunding For Musicians.

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YouTube For Musicians: Single Frame Music Videos, Free Analytics, Creator Updates

YouTube For Musicians: Single Frame Music Videos, Free Analytics, Creator Updates

YouTube continues to be a primary tool for many musicians and fans and third parties are here to help out. To create a quick single frame music video, see TunesToTube. Want to track your YouTube action across the web? Try Strike Social. Just need more insights into using YouTube? The Creator Playbook has been updated.

TunesToTube Creates Single Frame Music Videos

YouTube is not only a great way to market your music but, for many musicians, it's becoming a great way to monetize as well. And since making a full music video for every track you with to add to YouTube is probably out of the question, some musicians are creating videos with one image that then serves primarily as an audio player.

TunesToTube (via Musformation) offers a free service to combine an MP3 and an image into a music video that's then posted to your YouTube account.

For those who donate to the site, an upload to SoundCloud option is also available.

Strike Social Offers Free YouTube Analytics

Strike Social is a new YouTube analytics service whose current features are free and should remain that way. According to CEO Patrick McKenna, long-term plans include additional premium features for monetization.

Special features include:

"Strike Score" - One overall score based on "more than 100 data sets across YouTube, Facebook & Twitter."

Engage - Discover and engage with viewers across YouTube, Facebook and Twitter.

Promote - Video advertising to increase viewership.

So the Strike Score gives you a quick overall take while you're also able to get more detailed, for example:

"Publishers can also look at what people are saying about the video, sort those comments based on the size of each commenter’s social media following, and respond to specific remarks from within Strike Social — in particular, McKenna says that the tools are 'more actionable on the Facebook side' than the competition."

YouTube's Creator Hub & Creator Playbook Updated

YouTube recently announced the update of their resources for videomakers, Creator Hub and Creator Playbook.

Hypebot Senior Contributor Clyde Smith (@fluxresearch/@crowdfundingm) also blogs at Flux Research and Crowdfunding For Musicians. To suggest topics for Hypebot, contact: clyde(at)fluxresearch(dot)com.

Related articles

• YouTube For Musicians: Single Frame Music Videos, Free Analytics, Creator Updates (hypebot.com)
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8 Effective Ways to Better Promote Your Next Release

8 Effective Ways to Better Promote Your Next
TWEET BY: ANDY OTHLING

There have been a whole bunch of revolutions lately. One of the ones I’m most excited about is the revolution in the area of recording gear and software. I think it’s really incredible how just in the past few years tools have evolved to the point where people like you and I can get REALLY great recordings on our own, in our own homes.

I think a lot of people are aware of this particular revolution and are really jumping on board, which is awesome! But there’s another revolution I want to talk about today that I think a lot of people are missing… and that’s the promotion revolution! Just like in the recording arena, there are tools that are now available to normal people like you and me that we can use to really effectively promote our music.

As artists we spend a lot of time making sure that our songs and recordings sound great, but I see a lot of people that think their work ends there. They get their album done, throw it up on iTunes or Bandcamp, send out a few Facebook or Twitter posts, and that’s it. This is a HUGE missed opportunity for artists. Album releases are a big deal, and with all the hard work you’ve put in to your album, you need to give it the best release possible.

Today I want to give you some ideas on ways to turn your album release into a special event that gets people as excited about it as you are!

1. Give it Time
In order to really build excitement about your release, you’re going to have to give it some time. I realize that sitting on finished songs that you worked so hard on can really test your patience, but trust me. Sit down and plan out how you want to build up to your release. You should incrementally release information about it such as the title, track listing, cover, etc. Having a time of dedicated promotion before your release will really help transfer your excitement to your listeners.

2. Set up a Preorder
If you’re using Bandcamp to sell your new album (which I highly recommend), you have the option of setting up a preorder for your new album. You can read the specifics of setting that up here, but basically your listeners will be able to stream one song from your new release, and if they preorder it they’ll immediately get a download of that songs. On release day, Bandcamp will automatically send out an email to anyone who preordered with a link to download the full album.

This is a great thing to include in your pre-release promotion because it gives your listeners a taste of what they’ll be getting in the full release and gets them excited about it. But most importantly, while they’re in the midst of their excitement, it gives them a chance to take action and reserve a copy for themselves.

3. Make a Music Video
Obviously setting up a preorder means unveiling a new song. So why not spice that up a little more and make a music video? Videos are inherently more engaging than just audio, and combined with a preorder you might see a higher percentage of your listeners engaging with it AND the preorder.

4. Noisetrade Promotion
Noisetrade is a similar platform to Bandcamp, but with a few key differences. Anything you put on Noisetrade can be downloaded for free, although there is a “tip jar”. So it’s very similar to Bandcamp’s name-your-price option, and you do get email addresses from everyone who downloads. The biggest difference though is that you can pay Noisetrade to promote your album on their site. There’s a few different options, but basically your album will be placed on their homepage for a week and you’ll be included in one of their bi-weekly emails that goes out to a pretty massive list.

One way to use Noisetrade to promote an upcoming release is to take a select few songs from it and put them up as an EP or sampler. Not only does this serve to excite your current listeners with some new songs, it can bring you a lot of new listeners, especially combined with Noisetrade’s paid promotion like I talked about above.

But how does this get people to buy your new release when it comes out? Well, you do get the email addresses of everyone who downloads your EP or sampler on Noisetrade. You can keep these emails separate within your mailing list service and send them a special email once the album comes out, letting them know that they can get the whole thing. Even better would be to include a special discount code just for them, since they’ve already gotten a few songs from your release!

5. Utilize your Old Releases
This might be more indirect than direct promotion for your new album, but one good way to reinvigorate your fan base and attract new listeners is to extremely discount or give away your back catalog for a limited time. Tell your listeners about it and ask them to share with their friends! If you’re using Bandcamp for this promotion, you’ll get the emails of every new person who downloads your music, and you’ll be able to send them a nice email letting them know about your new album when it comes out. If your curious about the results of this, check out this case study and see what happened when I gave away all my music for free for a day.

6. Do a Reddit AMA
Reddit is kind of a weird place, but it’s a very popular place. It’s also well known for hosting AMAs (Ask Me Anything) where people essentially allow themselves to be interviewed by the community. The way AMAs work is that you schedule a time that you’re going to be available, and at that time you start a post, allowing people to comment on it and ask you questions. You can use this within your promotion campaign to give people a chance to interact with you directly and have them ask question about your new release. Your fans love to interact with you, so this will get them excited!

7. Do a Live, Interactive Stream of Your New Album
Another way to build excitement is to do a live, one-time stream of your new album before it releases. One way that you could do this is through mixlr.com, which let’s you broadcast audio to a live audience. Basically you can hold an online listening party and interact with your fans while they hear the entire album for the first time. This is another instance where having a preorder set up will give your listeners an action they can take while they’re excited about what they’re hearing.

8. Submit your Album For Review
While you’re working on all this other stuff in your release campaign, it’s a great idea to submit your currently unreleased album to different music sites for review. Spend some time making a list of all the ones you want to submit to that fit your style and genre, and also spend some time coming up with a solid pre-release “press announcement”. And shoot high here… even if you think a certain blog or site is way above you, send it in anyway! You never know what might catch someone’s ear, and you might find yourself getting a review from a huge site and tons of new interest!

As you see, there can be a lot of work involved in running an album release, but I believe it’s worth it! Figure out which of these things you want to try out, be creative, and plan it out. I know you won’t regret the effort you put into this, because your music is worth it!

I’ve been building my career for that past five years as Lowercase Noises, and my blog is meant to share my experience and help you achieve some of the same successes I’ve had. When you sign up for my email list you’ll receive two free ebooks; one detailing all the tools I use to create and promote my music, and an extensive write-up on the best ways to use Bandcamp to promote your music. I’d love to see you there!

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Indie Artist Outsources Music Video To Bangalore, India With Surprising Results (Hypebot)

Indi Artist Outscores Music video To Bangalore, India With Surprising Results