I heard a radio commercial the other day, extolling the virtues of the electronics and audio store’s vast selection of headphones. “And for the aspiring musician on your list… we have the… blah blah blah.”
“Aspiring musician”…. that phrase gets tossed around a lot, but what does it mean? It seems to me that it’s something someone calls you if they don’t think you’re very successful at the moment. It’s almost offensive really. …

When you’re in a band, there are lots of things that have to get done, but aren’t the glamorous parts of the job… Sure when it comes time to get on stage, it’s no problem mustering the will to perform.  Or when you have to go on TV or the radio to do an interview, for the most part it’s not a hassle.  But there’s many things that need doing, like having to set up …

Recently I was in a discussion about Communicating With Fans, as part of the Halifax Pop Explosion and Music Matters Conference (thanks so much to everyone involved in the conference for having me!) and while I was there a musician asked me something… I’m paraphrasing, but basically he said “you talk often about engaging with current fans, but what about getting new fans?  What about trying to get places like Exclaim to write about you, and …

Sadly, this is not some sort of sinister comic-book style supervillain threat… it’s just the truth.  When you’re in a developing band, and you’re trying to get people out to shows, or trying to sell the first few shirts/download cards/CDs/what-have-you, you’ll most likely start by telling your close friends.  When you do, please keep something in mind… your friends will all ask you to get in to the show for free, to be on the …

Lets face it… if you’re a musician, you like the music you make.  You know it, you live with it, it swims around in your head all day long.  Other people don’t know your music at all.  I’m going to assume your goal is to try and change that fact.
The problem is, people (your target fans) are so inundated with things thrust at them, in hopes they’ll buy it, they have their guard up, and …

Many bands and musicians are chasing a goal that is intangible at best, and perpetually unattainable at worst.  They want to “get big.”  There’s this unspoken definition of “making it big” and just by saying those three words, people think they have a general understanding of what that means, and that it’s what they want.  The fact this “making it big” has become an actual goal for people shocks me.  It’s vague, its a moving …

I was recently watching a fascinating documentary called “Connected: The Power Of Six Degrees”  that focuses on a growing field of science called Network Theory.  It’s origins stem from the celebrity-game “Six Degrees Of Kevin Bacon” that challenges people to connect two seemingly random actors through the movies they’ve been in and via their co-stars.  The documentary focuses on how the world is much smaller and more connected than we ever thought it was.  They …

Your band, your music, your live shows, your recordings, your websites… everything about your music-making endeavours should make you excited.  It should be exactly the way you want it to be, because it reflects who you are and helps other people to percieve you the way you want to be percieved.
True, you should feel as though making your music is what you were always meant to be doing, but on the other hand, no one …

Interacting with your fans in the online and offline spaces is one of the most important things you can do as a band.  From social networking, to email, to live-chats, to live concerts, meet-and-greets and merch-table conversations, forging a relationship with your fans is a very important part of being in a developing band.  That’s not to say that should you be so fortunate as to have massive international success that you should be any …

Jumping off from where my last article ended… I just want to expand a little bit on the shift in the mindset of the modern musician.  Or, at least, the shift I think should exist.
It’s very true, you need to treat your band like a business.  Keep track of costs and expenses, manage inventory, market, promote, sell, spend time and effort doing research and development (music lessons and rehearsals!) etc.  But there’s another aspect to …