Management

Musicians hate the word 'networking.' It feels contrived and dishonest. Marketers and entrepreneurs love the word and the act. These people are constantly out meeting new people and... wait for it... networking.So why do musicians hate it so much, but traditional entrepreneurs lo...

I've never had a manager. Don't take this as I never wanted one. I made it the goal of 2008 to find a manager. I didn't find one that year (but I did open for Ben Folds). I didn't find one in 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012 and I'm still self managing my career myself (and have managed ot...

...unless you know how to leverage it. I got a few questions this past week about my take on singing contest shows (from Request a Topic form below). I touched on it in You Should Try Out For American Idol, but I'm going to go a bit deeper.+You Should Try Out For American IdolLet...

Darren Campbell wrote in (via the Request a Topic below) and asked I write on this... so here it is!'The chief cause of failure and unhappiness is trading what you want most for what you want right now' - Zig ZiglarSome people claim that college is about the party. College isn't...

I was going to write an entire post about the world of music PR and discuss when it's time to get a publicist and what you should expect to pay and WHAT THEY DO (most musicians have no idea), but I figured why not just interview a successful music publicist (and one who I have wo...

I know basic US music copyright law. I mean, I'm no lawyer, but I studied it in college and just spent a couple hours on the US Copyright website to brush up. Technically as soon as you put your song in a fixed form (paper, cd, digital counts - performing it does not) then it's c...

I once organized a show with a manager of a band in a city where I had a sizable draw. The show was pitched to me by the manager as a great opportunity for me to get in front of many new fans and make a good amount of money. He told me his band brought 550 to their CD release. I...

If you're the leader of your band (I imagine you are because you're reading this), you can't force your members to do business duties they really don't want to do. Evaluate everyone's strengths and get them to do the jobs that they enjoy doing. Yes, everyone needs to contribute t...

Once you get to know your scene better you'll notice that the gatekeepers at the top are friends with each other and they talk. If the top promoter in the city likes you and respects you then he'll tell the venue he works most with and also the music editor of the newspaper as we...