Eric is one of my all time favorites. Here is his performance from NAMM 2009
Recently I was listening to a podcast about startups called This Week in Startups with Jason Calacanis. I enjoy learning about how business works and the process of developing and executing ideas. During an episode, Jason had what I thought was a GREAT idea about how to revolutionize independent cinema. Check out this short video:
Could this idea work for indie music artists as well?
What if a company such as MySpace (who is in desperate need of some help) took 10 million dollars and invested it into 100 unsigned independent artists. Each band would get $100,000 dollars to record an album and schedule a tour. The albums would be exclusively heard on MySpace and available for free. The artists would own everything about the music (masters, publishing, etc…).
Each artist would be REQUIRED to blog the entire process and document how every cent was spent (A great idea would be to give each band a credit card with a $100K limit and set them up on Blippy). This would give a unique transparent view and make each band accountable for the money.
There is another aspect of this I was thinking of. What if you got the top 75 – 100 music clubs in the country and gave each of them $100K a year to book one or two of the 100 artists in this program for a free showcase each week.
Imagine the exposure for an artist. They could play a great club full of potential fans every night. Since the shows would be free, it would be easy for fans to take a chance on a new act and maybe buy a CD or download or even PAY for a ticket next time they come through town. The venues would also be responsible to report the usage of the money just like the bands were.
So overall you are looking at 17 – 20 million dollars to create 100 new albums, help produce up to 10,000 live music events a year and expose new music to countless fans. Say you did this for 5 years and spent 100 million dollars. This would change the music business and give a boost to indie artists that has never been seen before.
Of course MySpace isn’t the only company that could do this. Apple, Google, Microsoft, Yahoo and many other companies have this kind of cash just laying around.
The idea here to give struggling artists the chance to be great.
Get people used to the idea of seeing live music.
Make the venues open their doors to artists who might not of had a chance to play there.
It would truly bring music to the masses.
Tours come in all shapes and sizes, from loading up in an old beat up van for a week to being flown around the world on a private jet for six months. Regardless of the budget or length of the tour, there are certain steps you can take to prepare yourself for life on the road. Touring can be a lot of fun, but not if you’re losing your sanity because you ran out of clean clothes five days ago! From band rehearsals to healthy eating, prepping your gear to getting along with your bandmates, I’ve compiled some tips from my own experience that will help you feel your best and play your best every show, every night.
MusicianWages.com is a must read for any musician who wants to get their career together.
I recently came across a great resource for artists and bands who want to get their website together. My website is built on Wordpress, one of the most popular CMS out there. The big advantage to WP is the amazing level of customization you can have. Most people start with some basic theme that they like and then they tweak it from there. One of the best themes aimed at musicians is at BandWebsiteTheme.com.
I have spent the last few days playing with this theme and I found it to be not only easy to modify, but a great way to get a professional web presence going without breaking the bank. There are a few features that really stand out to me.
The first one is the integration with all the major social networks. All you need to do is enter the URL of your profile and click a button and it automatically places the proper links on your website. Another great feature is the ability to host a solid e-commerce area right on your website. If you have t-shirts, posters or pretty much anything else to sell, this website comes ready for that.
If I was just starting out and I wanted to get a website up and running in a hurry, this would be the first place I would go to get started.
Click the logo below to check it out.
