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        <title>Grindstop | Empowering Independent Artists Blog</title>
        <description></description>
        <link>http://www.grindstop.com</link>
        <lastBuildDate>Sat, 19 May 2012 02:05:02 +0100</lastBuildDate>
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            <title>about us</title>
            <link>http://www.grindstop.com</link>
            <description><![CDATA[Providing Artists, Managers, and Independent Labels&nbsp; with the solutions they need to market and sell directly to their fans, and build successful businesses. &nbsp; (from the Grindstop archives: circa 2008 Founded in 2008 by Justin Chollet, &nbsp;Grindstop is the music industry&rsquo;s leading direct-to-fan platform for musicians, managers, and emerging labels. Grindstop powers the brands and businesses of thousands of successful artists by giving them the ability to easily market and sell their music and products (digital and physical) directly to fans, wherever they are (web, gigs, social networking, etc.) A complete online solution for fan engagement and monetization, Grindstop ensures musicians&rsquo; long-term sustainability and success by fostering strong, interactive, lifelong, and profitable fan relationships. Our Mission Grindstop pioneered this space when we started building the most comprehensive platform for direct-to-fan marketing and commerce. At the time, the industry as a whole was not ready to embrace direct to consumer models, but many artists started to make viable careers outside the standard label model by going direct to fans with their material, calling it DIY (do-it-yourself). We started serving these artists, listening, constantly adapting and evolving the platform. &nbsp; (Grindstop: 2010) Today, the direct-to-fan channel is essential to the sustainability&nbsp;of&nbsp;nearly every artist at every level. Large segments of the industry are now rapidly adopting the Grindstop platform. Our mission is to provide THE direct-to-fan business platform that successful artists, managers, labels and the entire music ecosystem use to collaborate and thrive. Our Company Grindstop is an all-in-one platform for direct-to-fan sales, marketing, distribution and artist management. What does that mean? Once the music is produced, Grindstop provides storefronts for you to sell with, fan and customer management tools to market with, and distribution services to deliver your products and music everywhere. Then we throw in website and content management capability and a bunch of other business services. It&rsquo;s all in one place, seamlessly integrated to help build and manage your music business more efficiently and effectively. ]]></description>
            <author>admin</author>
            <pubDate>Thu, 03 Jun 2010 05:42:34 +0100</pubDate>
        </item>
        <item>
            <title>About Us</title>
            <link>http://www.grindstop.com</link>
            <description><![CDATA[Providing Artists, Managers, and Independent Labels&nbsp; with the solutions they need to market and sell directly to their fans, and build successful businesses. &nbsp; (from the Grindstop archives: circa 2008 Founded in 2008 by Justin Chollet, &nbsp;Grindstop is the music industry&rsquo;s leading direct-to-fan platform for musicians, managers, and emerging labels. Grindstop powers the brands and businesses of thousands of successful artists by giving them the ability to easily market and sell their music and products (digital and physical) directly to fans, wherever they are (web, gigs, social networking, etc.) A complete online solution for fan engagement and monetization, Grindstop ensures musicians&rsquo; long-term sustainability and success by fostering strong, interactive, lifelong, and profitable fan relationships. Our Mission Grindstop pioneered this space when we started building the most comprehensive platform for direct-to-fan marketing and commerce. At the time, the industry as a whole was not ready to embrace direct to consumer models, but many artists started to make viable careers outside the standard label model by going direct to fans with their material, calling it DIY (do-it-yourself). We started serving these artists, listening, constantly adapting and evolving the platform. &nbsp; (Grindstop: 2010) Today, the direct-to-fan channel is essential to the sustainability&nbsp;of&nbsp;nearly every artist at every level. Large segments of the industry are now rapidly adopting the Grindstop platform. Our mission is to provide THE direct-to-fan business platform that successful artists, managers, labels and the entire music ecosystem use to collaborate and thrive. Our Company Grindstop is an all-in-one platform for direct-to-fan sales, marketing, distribution and artist management. What does that mean? Once the music is produced, Grindstop provides storefronts for you to sell with, fan and customer management tools to market with, and distribution services to deliver your products and music everywhere. Then we throw in website and content management capability and a bunch of other business services. It&rsquo;s all in one place, seamlessly integrated to help build and manage your music business more efficiently and effectively. ]]></description>
            <author>admin</author>
            <pubDate>Thu, 03 Jun 2010 05:42:09 +0100</pubDate>
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        <item>
            <title>How to Promote Your Music on Twitter:</title>
            <link>http://www.grindstop.com</link>
            <description><![CDATA[The way to do this is to use Twitter search. Enter keywords, such as your favorite band names, local venue names, favorite TV shows, etc. Anything that people who are like you would be tweeting about. Then click through those search results and follow as many of them as you can. The ones that return the follow will be more likely to read and follow your tweets because you share a similar interest.  Here&rsquo;s a tip to make this process easier: Do a search in twitter, then click on &ldquo;Feed for this query&rdquo;. Add this search results page to your RSS reader (my reader of choice is Google Reader). Then click through the feed once or twice a week to constantly add relevant Twitter friends to your following.  The powerful Twitter app, TweetDeck, also makes the process of searching for followers very easy.Make your tweets interesting, funny, controversial, valuable&hellip; Anything to draw a response or re-tweet.  Tweet links to your band&rsquo;s website or blog. Tweet about new songs, new gig announcements, and other band happenings. But don&rsquo;t make this your only Twitter content. You must engage others directly and vary your tweets among any subject or mood that strikes you. Your promotional links should only be a small percentage of your tweets. The more people know you and pay attention to you, the more likely they are to click on your promotional links when you do post them. Useful Twitter Tools  tweetlater.com - set up tweets to go out at a scheduled time. ]]></description>
            <author>admin</author>
            <pubDate>Sun, 23 May 2010 06:57:58 +0100</pubDate>
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            <title>The ABC's of DIY</title>
            <link>http://www.grindstop.com</link>
            <description><![CDATA[So you're all excited about the CD you've just gotten back from the pressing plant. Now what? Shop to the major labels and get the usual artist royalty of 13 points AFTER recoupment? Possibly, if there happens to be an offer on the table. How about shopping to the more receptive independent labels for a deal with no "advance" but a more substantial royalty of let's say 50%? Maybe, if there happens to be an offer on the table. If the first two options to turn out not to be options, don't despair. There are some very simple and effective methods of marketing and promoting your CD. And they don't include having to disguise your voice when calling radio stations, or wearing a fake nose and glasses and pretending to be your bands manager to visit a retail outlet. You will incur some marketing and promotion costs, but the return on your overall investment will be well worth it. More importantly, you can be the ultimate controller of how the marketplace perceives you or your band. Most record companies are looking to break artists nationally rather than regionally at first, but in reality, it is easier to sell 20,000 units to a particular region of the U.S. with a population of let's say 15,000,000 people than it is to sell 20,000 units to 272,000,000 people nationwide using the exact same amount of marketing dollars. As a new artist (major or indie label), you will find yourself waiting in a long line behind pre-existing, established artists that all want (and will likely get) those one or two slots that open every Tuesday when radio stations set their weekly playlists. This is why the window of opportunity for multiple spins at commercial radio stations is pretty slim. So how does a band with a small budget enhance the chances of radio airplay in order to sell albums at retail? There are several ways and they all connect with touring. When setting up a tour, an artist should initially look at an area that is within a days drive (4 to 6 hours) from their home base. This way the artist can leave on a Thursday afternoon or Friday morning for a show on Friday night, then drive to another market (3 to 4 hours) for a show on Saturday night, then onto another market on Sunday followed by the drive home (another 3 to 4 hours) so that you can be ready for getting back to the day job on a beautiful Monday morning. Tiring? Yes it is. But developing a strong following of fans is very important as it allows the artist to support him/herself and eventually radio, retail, press, and the major labels will be forced to look at what an artist is achieving in his particular market. Now that you know where you're going, what do you do you do when you get there? Find out which radio stations in that area play your kind of music. Invite them to your show. Take them lunch. Play for the staff. Make friends. Identify which retail outlets (record stores, Best Buy, etc.) in each market are the easiest to approach with your CD. Which ones are supportive of indie music? Invite them to the show. Make more friends. What weekly, regional, daily's, fanzines, and other publications are located in each market? Send them advance notice of your gig with CDs for review. Make even more friends.  Now that we've established the three key ingredients, let's get back to the vehicle that is going to get those ingredients to work for you: touring. How do you get gigs in clubs you've never played, in cities you've never been to? Simple: Offer to play a free show. The club owner gets customers in drinking at the bar, and you get to show impressionable young people that you are the Next Big Thing and sell them CDs after the show. How do we make the masses aware that you are going to playing a free show? Again it's simple. Run ads on television. No, really. Did you know that you can buy prime-time TV spots on major networks like MTV, VH-1, ESPN, and the Home and Garden Channel (OK, you may not want to run spots on every channel) for as low as $12 for a thirty second spot? It depends on the size of the market but these spots are available even in major cities for not much more than $35 each and can reach nearly a million households. Yep, all local cable companies have a certain amount of advertising time for sale right alongside the "Coca-Cola", "Rogaine", and "Partnership for a Drug Free America" ads. Not only can you advertise your free gig and pack the house, but if you set up an 800 number and offer a free two or three song cassette/CD on your TV spots, you can build a powerful mailing list of fans to whom you can market your future gigs and recordings. These methods require lots of homework, research, and dedication, as well as some kind of a budget, but they can put you in control of a self-sustaining career that is not dependent on major label whims, while at the same time making you more attractive to those labels. Remember that when you come up with the idea of making and pressing your own CD, the ultimate goal is to sell them as well. So many artists press their CDs then do nothing with them, and end up giving them away to friends and family. Think about why you are making and pressing your own CD and have a game plan. &nbsp; ]]></description>
            <author>admin</author>
            <pubDate>Sat, 29 Aug 2009 07:20:21 +0100</pubDate>
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            <title>Everything You Need to Know about Production Music Libraries</title>
            <link>http://www.grindstop.com</link>
            <description><![CDATA[Welcome back to our series on making money with production music libraries. If you&rsquo;re a music composer looking to find placements in television, film, video games, and other places, submitting your music to production music libraries is a great place to start. In this installment, we will look at the process of evaluating online production music libraries, and submitting your music.  For those songwriters and composers who are new here, check out the other articles in this series and be sure to sign up for free email updates or the RSS feed to keep up!     1. Introduction / What are production music libraries    2. Produce tracks that sell    3. Copyright your music    4. Register with a Performing Rights Organization (PRO)    5. Submit your songs to production music libraries    6. Leverage your music placements to gain future music for picture work  Find Online Production Music Libraries  Through just a bit of Googling or Twitter search, you will quickly find a ton of online production music libraries. Some of the terms that generate lots of results are, &ldquo;Production Music Library&ldquo;, &ldquo;Stock Music Library&ldquo;, and &ldquo;Royalty Free Music Library&ldquo;.  Included at the end of this article is a list of production music libraries that openly encourage music submissions. This could be a good starting point for finding the right set of libraries to shoot for. Differences Among Music Libraries  Online music libraries tend to fall into one of three categories: 1) Those that act as the Publisher  These production music libraries will generally control 100% publisher&rsquo;s share of performance royalties. You, the composer, will still retain 100% writer&rsquo;s share. In addition, each library varies in the way they split licensing fees (if any) with the composer. A song that is licensed through this type of music library cannot be licensed through another library under the same song title.  While this option may seem to offer the least financial benefit to the composer, these libraries do offer the potential for lots of placements, which can generate a sizable amount of performance royalties over time. Remember, your tracks can be licensed over and over on a non-exclusive basis, which makes them a continuous money-maker over the long-term.  One example of this type of music library is Freeplay Music. 2) Those that act as the Administrative Agent  These production music libraries allow you the flexibility to submit and license your music through other libraries in addition to theirs. Here&rsquo;s how these types of music libraries generally work: Upon accepting your submitted music, they will rename your songs. Then they will register your renamed songs with their PRO, and handle all collections and distributions of performance royalties. This renaming and PRO registration process is for the purposes of this library only. You are free to submit your songs (under your own titles) to other music libraries.  An example of this type of music library is Pump Audio. Through their system, Pump Audio takes 50% of the publisher&rsquo;s share of performance royalties. You, the composer retains 100% of the writer&rsquo;s share (150% total for you). In addition, all licensing fee&rsquo;s are split 50/50 between you and Pump Audio.  Pump Audio is a great place to submit music to since they are among the most popular services out there. Aside from the large amount of TV placements they can deliver, their service also drives the music section of Getty Images. 3) Micro-payment sites  These music libraries stay out of the publishing game altogether. You are free to submit your music for their library as well as others. Your music is posted on their site for relatively small licensing fees (usually only a couple bucks per download). They offer you a percentage of the licensing fees collected through downloads of your music. Your cut is usually fairly small so it requires a long period of time to really accumulate a decent amount of cash from licensing. Of course, you still retain 200% of the performance royalties should your music end up on a TV show, radio spot, or other royalty-generating exposure.  An example of this type of music library is Audio Jungle. They offer the composer 25% of the download fee, which ranges from $1 to $10. Not much, but give it time. They also offer you the option to become an &ldquo;exclusive&rdquo; composer, which means you agree not to offer your music anywhere else besides Audio Jungle. Exclusive composers get 40% - 70% of sales, depending on volume. Research / Contact / Submit  As you can see, it takes a bit of digging through the fine print on these websites to figure out which category of music library they are.  Some offer extensive FAQ&rsquo;s while others simply offer an email address.  Find out as much as you can, then use the provided contact form or email address to get in touch.  Follow the instructions they provide for submitting music.  This usually involves mailing in a CD, but it may be as simple as uploading your tracks through the website.  Each library has a different system, and some have more advanced websites than others.  Sometimes this info may be a bit hard to find.  If the website doesn&rsquo;t have a dedicated page for composers, the info is usually located in the &ldquo;Help&rdquo;, &ldquo;FAQ&rdquo;, or &ldquo;Contact&rdquo; sections. List of Production Music Libraries  Here&rsquo;s a list of production music libraries to get you started on your search.  Some of these have generated nice sums of money for my music, others just seem to show potential (although I have not personally used them for my music).  Dig in:      * Freeplay Music     * Pump Audio     * Audio Jungle     * Stock Music (stockmusic.net)     * Beat Suite     * Proud Music Library     * Ditty Base     * Gratis Music Library     * Sound Image     * Fresh Music     * Premium Beat     * S3MX     * Oak Stock Music     * 615 Music     * Production Music Library     * APM Music ]]></description>
            <author>admin</author>
            <pubDate>Mon, 19 Apr 2010 07:32:52 +0100</pubDate>
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            <title>52 Podcasts That Feature Indie/Unsigned Music</title>
            <link>http://www.grindstop.com</link>
            <description><![CDATA[The internet has become the new center of the music world. Music placement in podcasts is a great way to boost your online promotion efforts for your band. &nbsp;It&rsquo;s a great way to gain new exposure for your songs and reach a wider audience. There are loads of audio and video podcast shows out there are always seeking fresh new music to feature as the intro, outros, segues, or theme music for their online production. As the majority of these podcasts are independent in nature themselves, they often seek out music specifically from unsigned artists. Targeting podcasts is&nbsp;a unique way for new and unknown bands and songwriters to find promotional outlets that haven&rsquo;t been available to them before. Podcasters are often very accessible and easy to deal with and are often happy to entertain new music placement ideas for their podcast. Many of them drive pretty serious traffic to their shows, which means a healthy number of fresh ears for your music! It&rsquo;s for your music is also an excellent way to tap into a niche audience. Be creative here. Find podcasts on a subject matter whose audience might align nicely with your genre of music. You might try and find obscure ones and use trial and error to see which podcasts are worth coming back to for future music placements. This list of 52 podcasts were pulled from all corners of the net. The subjects range from politics to women&rsquo;s roller derby to midwestern farming. The key criteria that made them list worthy is the fact that they feature music in their shows and display music credits on their websites. It&rsquo;s the longest list so far among the collection of link roundups here at Serve The Song.  Dig in&hellip; PodSafe Music Network - This is a site where podcasters and&nbsp;independent&nbsp;artists and bands can connect. Promote your music for placement in these podcasts: Freelance Switch Podcast Wicked Good Podcast Kennebec Homebrew Supply Radio Geek.Farm.Life Podcast Random Fandom Podcast The Eclectic Review Winnipeg Folk Festival Podcast Irie Knits Compulsive Writers Podcast Tulsa Music Pulse Podcast Wholly Scrap! Podcast The Tarot Connection Rezzed and Confused Gamers With Jobs Tump Podcast Rules For The Revolution Carolina Roller Girls Podcast Hackaday Podcast The Roadhouse Podcast Techheds Podcast House Full Podcast Hawaii Diner Podcast IndieFlix Podcast UKotaku Podcast Macworld Podcast PC Powerplay Community Podcast The Overcast Across The Sound The Golden Rules The Digital Explorer NiCHE Podcast The Amber Theatre The Marketing Martini Trader&rsquo;s Diary TechCanuck Podcast The McVie Show in Stereo! Contexts Podcast Madeira School Games Are Fun Outside The Loop Radio Radio Antioch Harry Potter Fan Fiction Hingham Weather Devon Johnston Video Podcast City Boy Radio Contact With The Enemy Fork You! Write The Book Bend The Media George Eastman House Podcast Blog Rodent Podcast Hour of Slack&nbsp;View Article Source ]]></description>
            <author>admin</author>
            <pubDate>Mon, 19 Apr 2010 09:19:05 +0100</pubDate>
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            <title>How to Promote Your Music on Last.fm: </title>
            <link>http://www.grindstop.com</link>
            <description><![CDATA[Promoting your music online these days is meant to be easy - but due to the sheer number of sites out there it might not always seem that way. This is a brief guide to why Last.fm should be one of the main sites you use to promote yourself, and how to get the most out of it with minimal effort. The Last.fm music database First off, you might already have a page on Last.fm without realising. Huh? This is how it works. Last.fm is built on the data generated by our community of music fans (21 million of them!) &lsquo;scrobbling&rsquo; their music collections. &lsquo;Scrobbling&rsquo; means that when a Last.fm user listens to an MP3 on their PC or iPod, the title of the track and artist name is entered into our database &ndash; and, if a page for that track and artist has yet to be created, we automatically create one. In this way we&rsquo;re building a massive, ever-growing database of information about all the music ever made. So, if you have any music out there already, chances are one of your fans is a Last.fm user who&rsquo;s scrobbled your music to our database &ndash; so you might already have a page on the site. (If not, you can always create one yourself.) But don&rsquo;t panic: even if a page already exists, this doesn&rsquo;t mean we have your music actually on the site. We&rsquo;ll only have this if you&rsquo;ve given it to us or we have a deal with your label. So the first thing you need to do is register and upload your music: http://www.last.fm/uploadmusic.&nbsp;View Article Source&nbsp; ]]></description>
            <author>admin</author>
            <pubDate>Mon, 19 Apr 2010 07:19:58 +0100</pubDate>
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            <title>Music Business Contracts for DIY Songwriters</title>
            <link>http://www.grindstop.com</link>
            <description><![CDATA[The music industry can sometimes seem like a battle field of shady business practices, stolen property, copyright infringement, and shattered relationships.&nbsp; With so many people shooting to make it big, it&rsquo;s more important than ever to protect yourself and your music.&nbsp; It all comes down to one golden piece of legal advice:&nbsp; Get it in writing!Who Needs Music Business Contracts?If you&rsquo;re a songwriter or composer looking to license your music for use in television or film, then you will need to have a music licensing contract in place.&nbsp; Perhaps you&rsquo;re working with a music publisher.&nbsp; Before entering into an agreement, you must make sure all of your goals and rights are protected in a music publishing licensing agreement. Are you taking the plunge and signing with a major label?&nbsp; Obviously this involves a record label contract.&nbsp; You might be involved with a brand new indie label who doesn&rsquo;t have their legal documents in order.&nbsp; You better have your own.&nbsp; Then again, maybe you shouldn&rsquo;t be involved with such an inexperienced label at all. Thinking about hiring a manager for your band or songwriting career?&nbsp; You better put into writing (in the form of a signed contract) the exact percentage of your income this manager is entitled to as well as the roles this manager is expected to perform. Are you a music producer working with artists?&nbsp; Then you should have a producer-artist agreement in place, which maps out the goals of your working relationship and the percentage of income from sales or royalties each party is entitled to. &nbsp; A contract between bandmates is never a bad idea, especially if you are beginning to find financial success.&nbsp; How are your music copyrights split among bandmates?&nbsp; How are touring revenues split?&nbsp; What&rsquo;s the breakdown of record sales?&nbsp; Get it all in writing sooner rather than later.&nbsp; This will save you many complications down the road, and might even save your friendships when things go sour.Where Can I Find Music Business Contracts?Hiring a lawyer is one option, but often not an affordable one for most DIY songwriters and bands.&nbsp; If you happen to know a lawyer who can hook you up, then there ya go.&nbsp; Otherwise, here are some alternatives to consider: musiccontracts.com has a nice collection of standard music contracts.&nbsp; I&rsquo;m no lawyer, but these are clearly well crafted documents specifically designed for use in music industry agreements.&nbsp; Their prices are very reasonable in comparison to hiring a lawyer.&nbsp; You can download the documents instantly in Microsoft Word format for easy editing.&nbsp; They even give you detailed descriptions in plain english to help you sift through all the legal jargon. 101 Music Business Contracts is a book containing just that, 101 music business contracts.&nbsp; This is another great resource to have at your disposal. This last idea may sound a bit strange, but I&rsquo;m not totally against writing up something yourself.&nbsp; You might consider crawling through music business forums to find sample music industry contracts.&nbsp; Grab those and make your own adjustments as necessary.&nbsp; Let me be clear: this should be a last resort, and I don&rsquo;t highly recommend this option in comparison to the ones above.&nbsp; But I believe that having something in writing is certainly better than a verbal agreement, or no agreement at all.Music Contract in Place = Smoother Working RelationshipMusic business contracts not only protect all parties in a business agreement.&nbsp; They will also make your working relationship much more effective and enjoyable all around.&nbsp; When everyone is re-assured about what is expected of them, you can move forward with carrying out your projects and not second guess yourself or your partners.&nbsp; Having a contract in place can provide a roadmap for success.&nbsp; If each party delivers on the points they are contractually obligated to, then your goals should be easily met.View Article Source&nbsp; ]]></description>
            <author>admin</author>
            <pubDate>Mon, 19 Apr 2010 09:21:39 +0100</pubDate>
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            <title>10 Music for Picture Composition Tips: </title>
            <link>http://www.grindstop.com</link>
            <description><![CDATA[Pinpoint a specific mood. Music placements are chosen because they perfectly match the mood of the visual scene they are supporting.&nbsp; Try to envision how your composition might be used.&nbsp; Would it be for a rainy day scene?&nbsp; Winning the big game?&nbsp; A horror sequence?&nbsp; A bedroom scene?&nbsp; Maybe a fast-paced car commercial.&nbsp; Or a fun-loving kids television show theme song.&nbsp; Often times, when you pinpoint a specific visual mood for your composition, it will end up being compatible with lots of other common moods that media producers look for.Choose the right instruments. A big part of shaping your composition is in choosing just the right sounds for various parts.&nbsp; From the start, you might have a general idea of which instruments you want to use.&nbsp; Go ahead and lay those parts down quickly using MIDI.&nbsp; Then spend extra time later choosing the perfect instrument.&nbsp; For example, you know you want a piano.&nbsp; Start out with a general grand piano patch.&nbsp; Lay down the part.&nbsp; Then go back and switch the patch from your typical grand piano sound to a darker, more muted aged piano - if that&rsquo;s what will serve the composition well.&nbsp; Here&rsquo;s an article about effectively using MIDI in your composition flow.Mix and match styles and genres. Music for picture is all about uniqueness and originality while capturing a specfic mood.&nbsp; The majority of compositions used as background music don&rsquo;t fall into one specific genre or style.&nbsp; They mix and match elements from a variety of styles.&nbsp; You might have an orchestral sequence layered on top of an electronica drum beat.&nbsp; Or a country song with a soaring lead guitar solo placed within it.&nbsp; My favorite thing about composing music for picture is the endless possibilities for creativity in song structure, style, and instrumentation.Craft with dynamics.  Many visual scenes will require a change in pace.&nbsp; Incorporate a few different stages of dynamics within your composition to accommodate changes in a visual scene.&nbsp; Start with a stripped down section, and move into a more full-bodied section.&nbsp; Or incorporate an alternate arrangement every 8 bars.&nbsp; Be sure to make these changes quickly - within 10-15 seconds of each other.&nbsp; Music placements on television tend to last only 30 seconds or less, especially for commercial spots.&nbsp; Dynamic compositions with a few changes will be more useful to television producers than ones that stick to the same repeated loop for two minutes.Choose names that sell. The name of each composition should reinforce the intended mood.&nbsp; Choose a name that paints a visual picture in the mind of the person choosing the music.&nbsp; Most production music libraries are browsed by track name, so you want to create names that jump right out of the list.&nbsp; Examples of good names are &ldquo;Ticking Time-Bomb&rdquo; or &ldquo;Fields of Passion&rdquo; or &ldquo;Stormy Night&rdquo;.&nbsp; These are in line with the needs of potential music buyers.&nbsp; Examples of names that get passed over are &ldquo;Guitar Song 3&Prime;, &ldquo;Track_8&Prime;, &ldquo;Synth Mod XT&rdquo;.&nbsp; These names offer no information about how this track might be used.Cover all the bases. When putting together your collection of music for picture tracks, be sure to cover a wide variety of styles, moods, genres, and potential uses.&nbsp; You don&rsquo;t want to limit yourself to only hard-rocking action sequence music.&nbsp; Or only love-scene ballads.&nbsp; Try and cover as many bases as possible.&nbsp; A wider variety of tracks in production music libraries will earn far more placements and potential royalties because they fill a wide variety of needs.Produce a quality mix.  You might have composed the most amazing piece, with tons of potential uses on television or film, but if the audio quality and mix is no good, your track will sit on the shelf collecting dust.&nbsp; Make sure you have a good handle on producing quality mixes out of your music production studio.&nbsp; That means finding a pleasing balance of EQ, dynamics, panning, volume levels, and overall mastering level.&nbsp; It&rsquo;s quite possible to produce perfectly use-able tracks in a home recording set up.&nbsp; If you&rsquo;re not experienced with basic audio engineering, you might want to consider hiring someone to mix and master your tracks.Not too short, but not too long. Your tracks should be at least 1 minute long.&nbsp; 2-3 minute tracks are good.&nbsp; It&rsquo;s probably not worth the time and effort to produce tracks longer than that, especially if you&rsquo;re introducing new parts past 2 minutes in.&nbsp; Most tracks won&rsquo;t get played that far.&nbsp; Barely any tracks will be previewed that far.&nbsp; Plus, music supervisors may cut up your song and loop only the first 10 seconds.&nbsp; You want to strike a balance between producing a useful length, and not wasting your own time producing tracks that are too long.Watch and learn. While you&rsquo;re chilling out and watching some television, pay close attention to the background music of the programs you&rsquo;re watching.&nbsp; This is where you want your music to be placed.&nbsp; Take note of the instrumentation, arrangements, dynamics, moods, audio mix, etc.&nbsp; Watch the commercials!&nbsp; Don&rsquo;t flip the channel or skip with your DVR.&nbsp; Commercials feature background music that is quite interesting and often times very well crafted.&nbsp; Mixing and matching styles is very common in advertising spots.&nbsp; Grab musical ideas from the stuff you hear on TV.Find a productive groove. Making money with production music libraries is all about quantity.&nbsp; The more tracks you have out there, the more potential for placements in broadcast, the larger your royalty checks are.&nbsp; Get into a working groove for your composition process.&nbsp; You should be able to quickly knock out a quality music for picture track in just a day or two.&nbsp; Do that for a month and you should have a solid 20-30 tracks ready to push on production music libraries.&nbsp; The more your produce, the faster you become at making compositional decisions and mixing and mastering your audio.&nbsp;View Article Source ]]></description>
            <author>admin</author>
            <pubDate>Mon, 19 Apr 2010 13:08:18 +0100</pubDate>
        </item>
        <item>
            <title>Twitter-ing Your Music and Google Alerts... </title>
            <link>http://www.grindstop.com</link>
            <description><![CDATA[One of the aspects of Internet marketing I'm working on for the next edition of my book (the 2009 Edition) is the impact of social media on marketing music. Now, every year there is inevitably a "buzz" about the this or that - some big new something that is the rage in online marketing. Well, right now it's social media. And so one of the things I have been exploring is the viability of using social media to promote ones music. And one of the tools I have just started using is Twitter.Now, for those of you who don't know, Twitter is, essentially, a micro-blog. You have just 140 characters to type in what you're doing right now, your comments, capsule reviews, link recommendations and so on. People who like you and who are interested in you (say fans, friends, your mother-in-law) can "follow" you and watch your every move, your ever public thought, and whatever else you want to put out into the micro-blogosphere.Is Twitter good? Is it bad? I don't know, but it's kind of fun. And it's a bit addicting for some strange reason. Can addictions be good?Another tool that I use regularly is Google Alerts. I use this to monitor certain keywords., and Google notifies me whenever the search engine indexes a keyword or phrase that I'm monitoring. Of course, one of the keywords I'm watching is my name, David Nevue, because I want to see who's talking about me and what they are saying. Usually, this is a good thing. Sometimes it's not. Do you really want to know what people say about you when they think you aren't listening? :) I'm always listening. What can I say, I'm a control freak. It's part of why I'm successful (because of my dogged do-it-myself determination) and also, unfortunately, why I can't sleep at night.At any rate, I am notified by Google Alert whenever anyone posts any page anywhere that includes my name and Google indexes it. It could be a blog mention, a CD review of my music, a playlist, or someone giving away my MP3s illegally. If it gets into Google, I know about it.I mention this because of a pleasant surprise I discovered with Twitter this morning. Now, I've only been on Twitter for a week or so. I probably should have been involved with Twitter sooner, but the reality is, there are a zillion things going on out there on the net and I can only investigate so many and still keep my business running (plus I am first and foremost, a musician - there is this thing called practice and performing I have to do!) So I only want to spend my time on the marketing opportunities that are here to stay for awhile. Well, Twitter has, in my opinion, become one of the biggest successes of the new "Web 2.0" social networking experience. It has become so successful, in fact, that it's actually had a number of technical problems keeping up with it's popularity. Remember how unreliable MySpace was in it's first couple of years? Well, MySpace has gotten a lot better, hasn't it? Well, Twitter is going through those same growing pains now.Here's the point of all this (my, I'm taking a long time to make my point!), I've been on Twitter for just a week now and I've got about two-dozen people following me. Hey, it's a start.Someone Twittered about me yesterday and guess what? Already that Twitter has been indexed by Google. I know this because of my Google Alerts account. Someone mentioned me yesterday and boom, there it is a day later in the Google search engine results for my name. I was shocked at how quickly that happened.What this means....Everything you type in Twitter gets indexed (or has the potential of getting indexed) by Google into their search engine results. That makes Twitter a VERY useful marketing tool for those of you who are search-engine aware. If you enter specific keywords into your twitter communications, those Twitters may be found by people searching Google on that particular keyword.So, for those of you using Twitter, be aware of this. When you Twitter anything about your day, be as specific as you can and use keyword-rich content. If you're preparing for a concert gig, for example, when you mention that on Twitter, include the name of the gig venue, so that when someone searches for that Venue name in Google, there is the chance that they'll discover you.There are so many ways you can target Google searches using Twitter, and then draw people to your own Twitter page and then, hopefully, to your music. Just ponder this, and then, as you twitter, consider ways that you can get specific so that your Twitter messages might benefit you on the search engines. This is NOT to say that you should use Twitter as a spam machine (if you do this, no one will bother following you on Twitter), but just that, as you post your daily routine, think of ways you can include specific keyword text that people may be searching on.There are so many things you can twitter about and then relate back to your music. Popular movies you see, celebrities, artists who sound like you, books you read, political events and so on. The key with Twitter is that you have just 140 characters to do it! That can be a challenge. But it's a fun one - sometimes fitting your thoughts into 140 characters feels very much like solving a crossword puzzle.One another thing...This blog should be the perfect reminder that EVERYTHING you type ANYWHERE online is being archived somewhere, permanently. So for those of you with privacy concerns, this is yet another heads up. Watch what you say. Nothing you do online is truly private.And yes, (hopefully), people are following you.View Article Source ]]></description>
            <author>admin</author>
            <pubDate>Mon, 19 Apr 2010 09:26:08 +0100</pubDate>
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            <title>The &quot;Secret&quot; to Selling Lots of Music</title>
            <link>http://www.grindstop.com</link>
            <description><![CDATA[I just received my biggest single payout ever for digital music sales from CD Baby. Over $2,000 just in digital music sales. That got me thinking. Why do people buy music? What is it that makes someone, a total stranger, actually go out and PURCHASE music? Especially when, in this day and age, people can find so much music for free on the Internet. To what do I owe my great digital sales success?&nbsp;View Article Source ]]></description>
            <author>admin</author>
            <pubDate>Mon, 19 Apr 2010 09:26:35 +0100</pubDate>
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        <item>
            <title>Consolidation – Music Business Strategy: </title>
            <link>http://www.grindstop.com</link>
            <description><![CDATA[In February 1999, Sheryl Crow found herself in the strange position of having won a Grammy Award for an album put out by a record label that no longer existed. In the weeks before the Grammys, A&amp;M &mdash; the record label that had signed her, nurtured her career, and overseen her rise from Los Angeles studio singer to international rock star over the previous decade &mdash; was gutted and folded into the Interscope label as part of the newly formed Universal Music Group. The demise of A&amp;M was the result of a $10.4 billion purchase of the PolyGram music companies by Seagram&hellip;.&nbsp;View Article Source ]]></description>
            <author>admin</author>
            <pubDate>Mon, 19 Apr 2010 07:22:07 +0100</pubDate>
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            <title>10 Free Resources to submit your music </title>
            <link>http://www.grindstop.com</link>
            <description><![CDATA[American Association of Independent Music  &nbsp;   The American Association of Independent Music (A2IM) represents a broad coalition of independent music labels. They list over 200 independent record labels with a write up on each label and a website link. Great site for finding potential labels that fit your style. &nbsp; This company has taken the extra effort to support independent musicians by contributing in 1 or more of the following ways: tips, articles, reciprocal link, contribution, Music Nomad discount, getting word out about Music Nomad This company offers free services or free sign up to help independent musicians This company offers a special discount to Music Nomad. Sign on to see the discount. Record Labels Guide  &nbsp;   Resource for record label and other music company contacts, articles, news, tips and more. List 90 independent record label links with brief write up on each label. Also list links to 16 major record companies &nbsp; This company has taken the extra effort to support independent musicians by contributing in 1 or more of the following ways: tips, articles, reciprocal link, contribution, Music Nomad discount, getting word out about Music Nomad This company offers free services or free sign up to help independent musicians This company offers a special discount to Music Nomad. Sign on to see the discount. A List of Record Label contact info  &nbsp;   This page lists the links to record labels companies and their contact numbers &amp; email address. &nbsp; This company has taken the extra effort to support independent musicians by contributing in 1 or more of the following ways: tips, articles, reciprocal link, contribution, Music Nomad discount, getting word out about Music Nomad This company offers free services or free sign up to help independent musicians This company offers a special discount to Music Nomad. Sign on to see the discount. Bandit  &nbsp;   Bandit will put you in direct contact with people in England, every month, who are actually looking to sign your type of act/material, putting you way ahead of all those 'wannabes' just hoping to get signed! Every monthly newsletter is full of new, exclusive, detailed information about people and companies in England that are ready now to consider signing your music or talent. &nbsp; This company has taken the extra effort to support independent musicians by contributing in 1 or more of the following ways: tips, articles, reciprocal link, contribution, Music Nomad discount, getting word out about Music Nomad This company offers free services or free sign up to help independent musicians This company offers a special discount to Music Nomad. Sign on to see the discount. Bands for Labels  &nbsp;   This website was designed to make it easier for bands to find a record label that matches their needs and vice versa. Bands can now limit the amount of promo CD's they send out by filling out the profile page and having a number of compatible labels pop up in front of them....that will save a lot of postage and returned packages! They charge $6.95/month for this service. &nbsp; This company has taken the extra effort to support independent musicians by contributing in 1 or more of the following ways: tips, articles, reciprocal link, contribution, Music Nomad discount, getting word out about Music Nomad This company offers free services or free sign up to help independent musicians This company offers a special discount to Music Nomad. Sign on to see the discount.Musiconnection  &nbsp;   They provide links to Record Companies Worldwide, Major Record Labels, Independent Recording Studios &amp; Companies, Record Producers, and dozens of useful music industry web sites. &nbsp; This company has taken the extra effort to support independent musicians by contributing in 1 or more of the following ways: tips, articles, reciprocal link, contribution, Music Nomad discount, getting word out about Music Nomad This company offers free services or free sign up to help independent musicians This company offers a special discount to Music Nomad. Sign on to see the discount.Nail Distribution  &nbsp;   One of the country&rsquo;s top national distributors of prime independent music. NAIL incorporates major level distribution capabilities though a unique multi-channel conduit system, driven by an emphatically label-centric, artist driven philosophy. &nbsp; This company has taken the extra effort to support independent musicians by contributing in 1 or more of the following ways: tips, articles, reciprocal link, contribution, Music Nomad discount, getting word out about Music Nomad This company offers free services or free sign up to help independent musicians This company offers a special discount to Music Nomad. Sign on to see the discount.  Rev Distribution  &nbsp;   Rev Distribution has been providing independent retailers and distributors with a one-stop solution for punk, hardcore, indie, rock, emo and metal music including hard-to-find releases. &nbsp; This company has taken the extra effort to support independent musicians by contributing in 1 or more of the following ways: tips, articles, reciprocal link, contribution, Music Nomad discount, getting word out about Music Nomad This company offers free services or free sign up to help independent musicians This company offers a special discount to Music Nomad. Sign on to see the discount. Sellaband  &nbsp;  Sellaband is not a record label but takes an interesting approach to raising money to produce an album. It is free to sign up your band but make sure you know what you are signing up for. On this site you try to raise $50,000 to from music fans/investors. Once you raise the money (they have 32 bands that have raised the full $50K) a top producer will record a full album in a recording studio. You own the master and share the album earnings 50/50 with your investors for 5 years. &nbsp; &nbsp; This company has taken the extra effort to support independent musicians by contributing in 1 or more of the following ways: tips, articles, reciprocal link, contribution, Music Nomad discount, getting word out about Music Nomad This company offers free services or free sign up to help independent musicians This company offers a special discount to Music Nomad. Sign on to see the discount.  Taxi  &nbsp;   Taxi helps unsigned bands, artists and songwriters get record deals, publishing deals, and placement in films and TV Shows List more than 180 independent record label links with brief write up on each label.&nbsp; ]]></description>
            <author>admin</author>
            <pubDate>Mon, 19 Apr 2010 09:30:17 +0100</pubDate>
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            <title>The Surefire Way To Music Success!! </title>
            <link>http://www.grindstop.com</link>
            <description><![CDATA[Sorry, if you were looking for the golden ticket, this is not the post for you. You read about artists who&rsquo;ve had success and you realize there are so many different paths.&nbsp; Some were in the right place at the right time, a lot toiled away for years developing a fan base, others found a believer early on who lead them to quicker success.&nbsp; There are a lot of factors involved. You can model someone&rsquo;s career, but they could have came up in a time where the net wasn&rsquo;t so prevalent,&nbsp; when most people bought CDs, or when the public&rsquo;s attention wasn&rsquo;t so distracted. We live in a world where creative execution or&nbsp; a happy accident can make a band or at least a song huge&nbsp; for a moment for little cost .&nbsp; You can make fans without first touring your **** off. You can make fans without ever being played on commercial radio. You don&rsquo;t need an album to get noticed. You don&rsquo;t need to suck up to a distributor to get your music into physical retail outlets, because hardly anyone&rsquo;s there (vinyl records are an exception, but even then, if you&rsquo;ve created something great that&rsquo;s gone viral, they&rsquo;ll probably call you). We live in a world where experimentation should be the name of the game. Rules are breaking, paradigms shifting, industries falling, new industries rising. It&rsquo;s scary but exciting. You get to make the rules! All that randomness said, the foundation still lies in good songs.&nbsp;View Article Source ]]></description>
            <author>admin</author>
            <pubDate>Mon, 19 Apr 2010 09:30:49 +0100</pubDate>
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            <title>Indie Artist Road Map </title>
            <link>http://www.grindstop.com</link>
            <description><![CDATA[Ever Since I started the independent artist | music journey on the web, I have been mining it for useful information and helpful resources on a daily basis to help guide me on my way. Need a great tip? Blogs are great pit stop. Want to learn form the pros? There is usually one at every at every other exit. Get lost and can&rsquo;t find your way? Google it. It is a wonderful road map to take on any journey. Just be careful when you drive past page 10 of the search results. You just might lose your way&hellip; unless you&rsquo;re specifically looking for back highway links to nowhere.Anyway, what&rsquo;s great about the wonderful world of the web (www) is much of the information on its pages is toll free. Blogs, Social networks Indie music, art, images, eBooks, videos tutorials, etc; many sites give away information freely, some on a daily basis. Most are great places to visit. I circle the best on my bookmark road map for regular return visits. Unfortunately on every journey, it is very easy to take a wrong turn off the information highway. There are many spy-ware dead ends, spam road blocks, redirect road maps and viral potholes that can slow you down on your journey, or stop you dead in your tracks; or worse redirect you to the back highway links to nowhere. Take it from me, its no where you want to be when you have websites to visit and information to find. Want to find great places on the internet? Well here are some places to start your road trip:&nbsp;View Article Source ]]></description>
            <author>admin</author>
            <pubDate>Mon, 19 Apr 2010 10:17:17 +0100</pubDate>
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            <title>Does Your Band Need A Manager? </title>
            <link>http://www.grindstop.com</link>
            <description><![CDATA[New performers looking to book concert and establish contacts often start looking for a manager to handle the business aspects of their music. This is especially the case in cities with big music scenes, like New York, Los Angeles and Austin. Before diving into such a relationship, however, performers should consider the pros and cons. Bands could determine that they do not need a manager. On the other hand, few performers could exist without any management. Realistically, the option a lot of the time lies among employing an outside manager and taking on certain vital responsibilities yourself.View Article Source ]]></description>
            <author>admin</author>
            <pubDate>Mon, 19 Apr 2010 09:37:33 +0100</pubDate>
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            <title>The Top 8 Things Unsigned/Independent Artists Do Wrong</title>
            <link>http://www.grindstop.com</link>
            <description><![CDATA[The top 8 things unsigned/independent artists do&nbsp;wrong How do all, after last week&rsquo;s shambles of a post I&rsquo;ve decided to do something that all encompasses the ethos of this blog, so this week I will be employing lexiphanism left right and centre as I humbly muse over the top 8 things that unsigned and independent artists do that arguably hinder their (potential) musical careers. Some of these points may have been made in previous blog entries but in more detail so I&rsquo;ll put a cheeky link at the bottom of them all so you can read the original posts. As the blog has increased quite significantly in readership since I started writing this stream of conscious regularly on a Monday then most of you won&rsquo;t have read it before anyway so enjoy:View Article Source ]]></description>
            <author>admin</author>
            <pubDate>Mon, 19 Apr 2010 09:38:14 +0100</pubDate>
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            <title>Your digital music industry future: </title>
            <link>http://www.grindstop.com</link>
            <description><![CDATA[Perhaps with some tweaking, here&rsquo;s what current wisdom tells you: Make music.Give your music away; it&rsquo;s your best advertisement.Organize into a business entity.Go on tour.Build an audience.Sell stuff and a bit of music when you can.Go on tour again.Sell even more stuff.And when you stop touring, your revenue stream will slow to a crawl. As new interactive digital products enter the marketplace (and they are), your digital future will look something like this: Make musicGive your music away; it&rsquo;s your best advertisement.Sell high-margin interactive digital products to fans.Go on tour if you want; it won&rsquo;t be necessary to making a living.The reoccurring revenue never has to stop. Make money from home&hellip; I&rsquo;m reminding everyone of this now because some of you are making serious decisions based upon the current wisdom outlined above. New interactive digital products will enable you to generate reoccurring revenue from your bedroom, provided that fans learn about you through your songs. Timeline: 2012 and beyond.  Illegal sharing and your digital future&hellip; Aside from the wildest interactive capabilities that you can imagine, the question that&rsquo;s on everyone&rsquo;s mind is: Will illegal sharing crush these products also? The answer is no. The products that will come into the marketplace will capture the personalized (and for example: weighted, scored and ranked over time) digital relationship that you have with each of your fans. Fans will not share (their login credentials to) these highly personalized products.  Preparing for this future&hellip; Artists have been giving away everything from baby pictures, to blog posts, to bedroom videos to sell music. Flip it all around and contemplate a day where &lsquo;everything&rsquo; is part of your interactive package, whilst your songs are simply your banner ads.&nbsp; Hold things back today, to include in your digital tomorrow. View Article Source ]]></description>
            <author>admin</author>
            <pubDate>Mon, 19 Apr 2010 09:39:42 +0100</pubDate>
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            <title>How to submit your music to get on XM/Sirius Radio</title>
            <link>http://www.grindstop.com</link>
            <description><![CDATA[XMU - XM 43 Music Submission Information Submit your music for consideration to: Billy Zero Program Director, XMU XM Satellite Radio 1500 Eckington Place NE Washington, DC 20002 Please include the Submission Form (PDF), a brief biography, along with your phone number, email address, and website address.  Submission Policy:Submissions must be in CD-format.All submissions are non-returnable.By submitting your music, you give consent to have your music played on XM Satellite Radio.XM Radio, in its sole discretion, shall decide whether or not to play a song.Please make a notation of  the tracks you recommend for airplay.If a submission is selected for airplay, XM Radio will report all spins to ASCAP/SESAC/BMI and Sound Exchange. Artists who are members of these performing rights societies will be eligible for royalties.Please, no phone calls or emails regarding the receipt and/or airplay of submissions. If your music is selected for airplay, you will be contacted by Billy Zero. XM Satellite Radio strongly suggests that you copyright your music before you submit. For more info please visit http://www.copyright.gov/register/sound.html. ]]></description>
            <author>admin</author>
            <pubDate>Mon, 19 Apr 2010 07:24:44 +0100</pubDate>
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            <title>Music Mastering For Independent Artists </title>
            <link>http://www.grindstop.com</link>
            <description><![CDATA[A lot of independent artist overlook an important step within the completion of their independent album. I believe that this happens due to their understanding of the importance of this step. What I am talking about is the song or album matering process. Below are a few videos that should assist you in understading what mastering is. If you have any questions please send me a comment and I will get right back to you.&nbsp;View Video Here ]]></description>
            <author>admin</author>
            <pubDate>Mon, 19 Apr 2010 09:43:43 +0100</pubDate>
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            <title>Innovation &amp; Inspiration for Musicians:</title>
            <link>http://www.grindstop.com</link>
            <description><![CDATA[For every instrument, there could be 1 million great players out there in the world, but who is actually creating anything?&nbsp; I&rsquo;m not a music critic, but it doesn&rsquo;t take a professional to asses that we are obsessed with duplicating and replicating what has come before us rather than creating anything new.&nbsp; I&rsquo;m a loud proponent of &ldquo;stealing and incorporating,&rdquo; but I think the incorporating part gets overlooked and then we&rsquo;re left with just stealing.&nbsp; After all, stealing and incorporating is a great way to achieve an attractive sound, but then you have to make it your sound.&nbsp; Are there any patterns of notes left for us to create or discover? &nbsp; Where are the people to replace Miles Davis, Harry Chapin, Robert Plant, and Sting?&nbsp; Is it you?&nbsp; Let&rsquo;s take a look at a small sample of innovators and truly examine what it is that made them great.&nbsp; You can throw a dart anywhere in history and make a case for an infinite amount of innovators, but since I&rsquo;m an American I&rsquo;ll start with Benjamin Franklin. Franklin was primarily known for his early civic duties as a politician and as one of the founding fathers of the United States, but he was also an author, satirist, political theorist, printer, scientist, inventor, and a musician.&nbsp; He played the violin, guitar, and even invented an improved version of the harmonica.&nbsp; Schoenberg was a painter and music theorist.&nbsp; Schoenberg is well known for developing the twelve tone technique and coined the term &ldquo;developing variation.&rdquo;&nbsp; John Cage was a philosopher, poet, music theorist, artist and print maker.&nbsp; He also collected mushrooms. What&rsquo;s my point with these particular people?&nbsp; These people were not bound by what came before them and more importantly: they all had other interests.&nbsp; Sometimes inspiration for innovation comes from music, sometimes it does not.&nbsp; I love music and it will always be my first love, but I also draw inspiration from other areas of my life.&nbsp; Believe it or not, I draw inspiration from food, from painters, and pondering the differences between bottles of wine.&nbsp; I also enjoy baseball, travel, spirits and cigars.&nbsp; Sources for inspiration are endless.&nbsp; Religion and poetry have inspired thousands of songs but what about rock climbing, philosophy, pathology, art, landscape, or cooking?&nbsp; Maybe it&rsquo;s time to think outside the box.&nbsp; Just because you are a musician or composer doesn&rsquo;t mean all your inspiration needs to be from music.&nbsp; Why not be the first to draw inspiration from a new place?&nbsp; I would venture to guess that Franklin drew some political and poetic inspiration from music, and Cage drew musical inspiration from Schoenberg as well as &ldquo;non conventional instruments.&rdquo;&nbsp; Be sure to familiarize yourself with Cage&rsquo;s 4&rsquo;33&rdquo; and the Prepared Piano. ]]></description>
            <author>admin</author>
            <pubDate>Mon, 19 Apr 2010 09:44:28 +0100</pubDate>
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            <title>Independent Music Blossoms On The Internet:</title>
            <link>http://www.grindstop.com</link>
            <description><![CDATA[Today, the Internet provides unprecedented opportunities for independent music to find an audience. Unsigned bands and solo singers can now build a fan base that will not only listen to their music, but to buy MP3 downloads.The Internet&rsquo;s Grassroots Movement It&rsquo;s indisputable that the Web has created a paradigm shift in the way we live our lives. We&rsquo;ve come to depend on the Internet for communications, information gathering, shopping, and so much more. With the advent of what is widely known as Web 2.0, the Internet has once again shifted into what could best be summed up by one word: democratization. For example, journalists are no longer affiliated with mainstream media outlets; they&rsquo;re researching, blogging, and breaking some of the top news stories of the day. Experts no longer sit in their ivory towers and publish papers in academic journals; your family members, neighbors, and co-workers are constantly refining the compendium of expertise known as Wikipedia. Throw in MySpace, YouTube, and other social networking sites, and the top-down information structure is tossed out the window, replaced by a bottom-up, grassroots movement. The Music Industry is Reeling Nowhere is this revolution more apparent than in the music industry. The Internet hasn&rsquo;t sent the industry rockin&rsquo; and rollin&rsquo; - it&rsquo;s sent it reeling. Napster, the progenitor of music sharing on the Web, is now viewed as ancient history, but the insurrection lives on. While iTunes is here to stay, some major record labels continue to resist the opportunities that the Internet provides, instead opting to distribute music only through traditional sources. During the first part of October, these dinosaurs faced another challenge to their survival when Radiohead released their much-anticipated &ldquo;In Rainbows&rdquo; on the band&rsquo;s website. The kicker? Fans could get online downloads for free, or pay as much or as little as they wanted. So much for the business model that the music industry has traditionally employed. How Independent Music Finds a Voice Prior to the widespread use of the Internet, musicians and singers had to pound the pavement, sending demos to music labels and radio stations in the hope of breaking through to the big time. Today, however, independent music can take a page from Radiohead&rsquo;s playbook, and speak directly to potential listeners and fans. Indeed, specialized music sites have sprung up to showcase independent music, and to give musicians, performers, artists, and bands a platform for promoting their work. These sites offer MP3 downloads for less than the cost of an iTune, while supporting artists&rsquo; work by giving them a 50-50 split of the proceeds. This is in start contrast to the deals that music labels give even the hottest bands, which typically receive only about 20 percent of the revenue generated by their music. The Music Aficionado&rsquo;s Advantage From the perspective of the music fan, independent music sites are a dream come true. In the music mainstream, a tremendous amount of talent is overlooked by labels in favor of &ldquo;packaged&rdquo; acts that are perceived to be revenue generators. Now, thanks to the Internet, music fans from around the world can hear and experience songs that might otherwise never have found an audience.Chris Robertson is an author of Majon International, one of the worlds MOST popular internet marketing companies on the web. Learn more about Independent Music Blossoms or Majon&rsquo;s Music directory.&nbsp;&nbsp;View Article Source ]]></description>
            <author>admin</author>
            <pubDate>Mon, 19 Apr 2010 09:47:05 +0100</pubDate>
        </item>
        <item>
            <title>Being Your Own Artist Manager</title>
            <link>http://www.grindstop.com</link>
            <description><![CDATA[Are you steering everything you do in terms of getting a record deal?&nbsp; I don&rsquo;t blame if you are still. It&rsquo;s been ingrained into our heads that a record label is the mighty savior. I just read a post by George Howard on what an Artist Manager should be doing in today&rsquo;s environment and he brought up an important reality check. To summarize, his point is that the major role for a manager in the old days was to secure a record deal. In today&rsquo;s world, it&rsquo;s about generating revenue from as many sources as you can. So with that in mind, how do you approach things if you&rsquo;re acting like your own manager. Today you can make and stay connected with fans without spending much money, you can release music relatively cheap (if you don&rsquo;t opt for making an album without having any fans and record 3ps instead), you can reach music supervisors without a publisher, you can book your own tour if you put in the work.&nbsp; Everything is at your fingertips to really make a go of things on your own.&nbsp; It may take a little more time and effort, but that&rsquo;s the price of not having a lot of dough to really expose an artistRead More.... ]]></description>
            <author>admin</author>
            <pubDate>Mon, 19 Apr 2010 09:51:03 +0100</pubDate>
        </item>
        <item>
            <title>Don't Fail in the Music Industry</title>
            <link>http://www.grindstop.com</link>
            <description><![CDATA[The music industry is a monster filled with different motivations and ambitions ranging from a need of creative expression, delusions of money, or egotistical influence. The harsh reality of the business reveals you have a greater chance of winning the lottery as opposed to making it as a musician. So in a nutshell- you will fail. I recently stumbled upon an excellent blog written by Loren Weisman, titled The Top Five Reasons You Will Fail In Music. This harsh article exposes many of the horrors that musicians shun away from; but as bitter as the writing may be, unfortunately it&rsquo;s true. For whatever reason, artists reject this truth despite they fact it is offered as insight into the minds of industry executives and the dark shadows of reality. As the article uncovers Wesiman&rsquo;s version of the five industry pitfalls, I agree with many and strongly oppose others. Elements such as (1) don&rsquo;t listen to your families/friends opinion on how great you are, and (2) pay attention to what you&rsquo;re signing- may prove to be obvious hazards, there are several blanket tips that can help musicians mentally prepare for the industry battle. As I commend Weisman for being unsympathetic, I want to provide more encouragement and industry tips in order to help musicians avoid the industry snags. After viewing the industry from a variety of angles: indie record executive, consultant, studio manager, entertainment law, manager, booking agent, and a variety of others (non of which involve being a musician) there are several consistencies that allow musicians to avoid the failures. Stop blaming others &ndash; As the referenced blog highlights this point, blaming others is the fastest ticket to failure. From a mental standpoint, musicians feel cheated, anxious for stardom, and anger towards the people who couldn&rsquo;t break them. This isn&rsquo;t healthy, but above all it is a creativity killer. Step back and embrace the reality of the business- more artists fail than make it. Knowing it&rsquo;s a crapshoot going in allows for a creative out of the box thinking that encourages you do to things different. Not following the trend millions of other bands have set may allow you to increase chances of exposure. Creativity is the formula that allows this to happen. Touching on another angle, blaming others causes a **** poor attitude that provides a swift dismissal by anyone you&rsquo;re trying to impress. If a band walks into my office who&rsquo;s angry they haven&rsquo;t made it big, regardless of their musical ability, they&rsquo;re an immediate turn off. Anger is baggage, and baggage requires more effort and energy for managers, agents, and lawyers. Musicians forget, agents, managers, and lawyers benefit from a musicians success and fail when the musicians fails. If a working professional acknowledges you&rsquo;ll be a headache on the front end, they know it makes their job that much harder. Just as the industry is a crapshoot for musicians, it&rsquo;s a crapshoot for business professionals as well so any extra baggage only lessens your percentage of success. Succeeding depends on your problem solving skills &ndash; This industry is constantly reinventing itself and so should you. When things aren&rsquo;t going as planned, step back, put your ego in check, and evaluate why things are working for you. At its core, the industry requires simple problem solving skills. Really that&rsquo;s it. As some problems are clearly harder to solve than others, successful problem solving skills insist on providing new techniques to resolving complicated issues. If you need more gigs, ask yourself what you&rsquo;re currently doing and how you can mold the plan to acquire different things. Obviously this is more difficult depending on the level of success and individual responsibilities, but when everything is stripped away it still just boils down to problem solving. You NEED managers, agents, lawyers, and most of all a record label. In the age of &ldquo;damn the man&rdquo;, musicians want to control all aspects of their career. Rightfully so, the major labels haven&rsquo;t provided the most positive motivation in molding musicians minds. These elements prove necessity for a variety of reasons. As Weisman and I part ways on this topic, signing contracts doesn&rsquo;t equate to signing away rights. A strong opposition to sign contracts that may elevate your career is the view of a creative control freak that will remain stuck a decade later. View contracts as delegating work rather than signing away your life. This doesn&rsquo;t encourage musicians to sign absurd contracts with local untrained managers, lawyers, and copycat labels, rather make smart moves. Read about why musicians need a record label. &nbsp; View Article Source ]]></description>
            <author>admin</author>
            <pubDate>Mon, 19 Apr 2010 09:48:02 +0100</pubDate>
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            <title>Getting A Record Deal</title>
            <link>http://www.grindstop.com</link>
            <description><![CDATA[Getting a record deal gets            harder every year. The days of record impresarios like Phil Spector            discovering a group, taking them into the studio and making them famous            overnight are long gone.  These days, the music business            is sometimes more about the business than it is about the music. While            record companies and music publishers still rely on hit songs falling            from the lips of superstars to make their profits, the way they find            their talent has changed a lot from the past.  There actually was a time            that an artist, band or songwriter could send their demo tape in to            a record company as "unsolicited" material—meaning that nobody from            the record company had requested the material. It was somebody's job            to open the tapes and give them a spin with the hope they would find            a winner.  As more and more people            began making demos, the task of listening to unsolicited tapes became            too formidable for the average label. The labels also became aware of            the legal ramifications involved in listening to tapes that came in            from the general public because of copyright infringement suits that            often landed them in court. Eventually, labels and publishers            would only accept tapes from music attorneys who were well-connected            or managers who had a reputation in the business for aligning themselves            with "hit makers." While it may seem like a            daunting task for someone in middle America to find themselves an "Angel"            who can get them through the pearly gates, it's not impossible.  One sure way to get your            band noticed is to become more businesslike yourself. Everybody loves            a winner—especially a record company. Take Hootie and The Blowfish            for example. Hootie couldn't get arrested by any of the major labels.            They had all heard the demo, and passed on the group. It took a 22 year-old            researcher at Atlantic Records in New York to get the band a deal. How?            Simple. His weapon of choice was a telephone.  The researcher made it            his business to call small town record stores to see if any local groups            were selling any product in their own "backyard." When the diligent            young man found out that Hootie had sold a whopping number of CD's in            Columbia, SC, he immediately went to Atlantic's vice-president of A&R.            The V.P. told the kid to take a hike.  That didn't stop him. He            went to the chairman of the board of Atlantic, who, as the story is            told, went to the V.P. of A&R and mandated that Hootie and the Blowfish            be signed immediately. The moral of the story is that if you can't find            a heavy-weight lawyer or manager to stand in your corner, you can still            get the big guns to come to you by doing the right kind of self-promotion.  But don't let me mislead            you. It takes serious planning and execution to sell enough CD's to            get the labels crawling to you. Rumor has it that our finned friends            from Columbia, S.C. sold between 50,000 and 100,000 units. That's a            lot of CD's for a group to sell on their own. To perform such a feat,            you need a few tools. The first of course is an incredibly good record.            "As good as" isn't really good enough. You need to sound unique and            have incredibly catchy tunes. Great timing doesn't hurt either, and            letting the public know who you are on a regular basis is crucial. By            that I mean touring.  Touring can start out small            and grow. I recommend playing gigs within your general area and once            you begin to reach saturation in those clubs, start widening your circle.            Play clubs within a hundred mile radius. Then 200 miles, then 300 and            so on. If you get press in those towns, send an advance person to hang            posters in every conceivable place and work with local radio stations            to promote your shows, you might get lucky enough to draw some serious            crowds which will in turn allow you to sell a lot of CDs.  One mistake I definitely            don't recommend making is to press up a thousand CD's without having            a marketing plan firmly in place which outlines how and to whom you            will sell them.  When planning your tour,            remember to start out small and grow. Keep your day job and just do            as many gigs as you can find that are within a three hour drive of your            home base. Once you hit the saturation point with those weekend gigs,            start thinking of creative ways to take Fridays off of work so you can            plan longer trips.  When you start making enough            money from your gigs (which is pretty hard considering most clubs pay            peanuts for original music), you can start to think about quitting your            day job. But don't act too hastily. First do the math. Total up the            cost of gas, van maintenance, road food and flea bag motels before you            take the leap. You may even want to think about sleeping in your van.            Ahhh, the glamour of rock and roll. Oh yeah, don't forget, you'll need            to pay the rent back home. And the phone bill. And the cable bill. And            your Mastercard monthly payment... you get the idea.  My point: It's still a            business. It takes a good business head to make enough noise for a major            label to find you instead of you getting frustrated trying to get to            them. Hey, if it was easy, everybody would be a rock star.  ]]></description>
            <author>admin</author>
            <pubDate>Sun, 20 Dec 2009 08:30:04 +0100</pubDate>
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