There will be a free educational workshop and networking event on Saturday, June 23. We’ll be talking all about labels and the pros and cons of signing or going it on your on in today’s climate. For more information, go to my Events page.
Vancouver Area Music Business Course Starting Up Again
Well, spring’s here (tell that to the weatherman!), and summer is around the corner. I’m really looking forward to getting back into the local lakes for my regular mile swims, not being a big fan of chlorinated pools.
Thinking about this also brings to mind how short our summers really are. They seem to end before you know it. Indeed, it is only a few months before September will be rolling around. While Fall is a while off yet, it really isn’t too soon for artists to start thinking about plans for the last part of the year. One thing I encourage everyone to consider pencilling in on their calendar is the music business course I teach at Douglas College called Your Career In Music. It starts up again in September, and will be into its fourth year there. Best thing of all, it’s affordable and open to anyone–it’s a non-credit evening course, so you don’t need to be in their music program to take it. Continue reading
Posted in Music Biz Courses/Tools
Leave a comment
Dealing With A Booking Agent And Protecting Your Interests
The agent has a responsibility not only to you, but to the party hiring you. He has to be confident that you will fulfill that party’s needs and that the party will also live up to their responsibilities. For all intents and purposes, then, the agent has both the employee (the act) and the employer (the hiring party) as clients, for ultimately his agenda is to make sure that both parties are satisfied. This dual responsibility is directly reflected in how money flows between the parties. Continue reading
Posted in Live Music and Performance
Leave a comment
Steve Jobs Takes Me Into The New Year Pondering Our Future
One of the gifts I got this Christmas was the Steve Jobs biography by Walter Isaacson. I’m a Mac person and have been for 20 years now, and a baby boomer like Jobs, so I’m looking forward to the read.
When I mentioned this to a good friend of mine, he chirped something to the effect that Jobs was a genius who turned a whole generation into social misfits Continue reading
Posted in Personal Musings
1 Comment
Finding An Appropriate Booking Agent
Before you start researching booking agents and knocking on doors, write down in summary form what it is you want an agent to accomplish for you, based on your goals and what you now know in general about the agency role. Then, based on a realistic self-assessment, create a check list of what you are able and prepared to do for them and their hiring clients. This is a useful reality-check exercise that helps you Continue reading
Posted in Live Music and Performance
Leave a comment
First By The Post – Manual vs. Automatic Transmission to Social Media Sites
Most people when they go to buy a car look for something with an automatic transmission. That’s understandable. It’s one of the great innovations many of us have come to take for granted that makes driving just that much easier to deal with.
Navigating the intricate world of Internet marketing and social media is far more challenging than driving, so when an innovative tool comes along that promises to make our digital lives easier and more productive we are apt to want to adopt it, especially if it’s free.
One such tool that has drawn a lot of accolades and users is Continue reading
Press Kits: The Number One Rule
The PK is an important tool for any artist or band aspiring to make inroads in this business. Thus, knowing what it should contain and paying serious attention to each element are key to giving yourself or your group the best chance of getting the interest of industry members. Continue reading
Improving Your Odds Of Getting Live Gigs
It’s an interesting and, for artists, rather unfortunate reality that clubs, restaurants, bars and such in many towns are, for the most part, paying no more today for live acts than they were when I was gigging around 25 to 30 years ago. Many venue operators think they can’t afford to pay more than they are or simply don’t have to. With so many acts these days wanting places to play and fewer establishments than ever offering live music, it’s a buyer’s market.
So, here’s a few tips that could help you increase your chances of landing the kind of gigs you want. Continue reading
Posted in Live Music and Performance
Leave a comment
