I just read a recent post from Digital Music News about iSound, a company building a Pandora-like platform in a beta phase that fulfills a niche for indie artists that Pandora doesn't seem to include in its catalog.

I think this is great news for indie artists as one of the biggest challenges for indie  musicians is simply being discovered by a wider potential audience.

With technology to record and produce music being ultra affordable these days and the digital music format making the delivery of music to fans even easier there is an abundance of indie music across the internet.  However, most often it's scattered and the potential for a larger portion of new fans to find your indie music on the internet with a somewhat radio-like random play mass exposure hasn't been perfected.  I guess time will tell if iSound can pull it off.

Posted By:  Nick Venturella

Many indie musicians, especially those early on in their career feel a self-imposed pressure that they need to take every single gig that comes their way.  Well, you don't, and in fact you probably shouldn't--at least not without considering a few things.

Define the value of the gig for yourself:  Are you taking it because it's a well-paying gig, because it's great exposure to your target audience (and there's a very good potential for gaining new fans), or because it's the kind of gig that you know you'll have a lot of fun doing.  There's no wrong answer here unless the reason you're considering the gig doesn't line up with what you've defined as the value of the gig.  David J. Hahn's blog post offers some great explanations of reasons to take or not take a gig.

For the purposes of this post here's an example of when it might be wrong to take a gig:  You are offered a gig that is a great paying gig, in fact about 3 times the amount of pay of most of the gigs you have been doing.  Certainly, you could use the extra cash.  The only issue is that it's a corporate gig and your cover band typically plays covers of hard-core metal likely not suitable for even the coolest of corporate events.  Also, the corporate event planner informs you that they want to hire mainly to if the band can play classic rock hits from the '70's.

Of course, your band can play classic rock hits from the '70's, even though that's not really what you're known for.  Of course, the money for the gig is excellent and would be very welcomed by you and the rest of the band.  Of course, the audience at the corporate event will likely love it because you're playing what they asked for.  However, does this gig help you further the brand of you and your band?  Likely, not if you're not playing the music you're typically known for.  Is this gig going to offer the opportunity for your band to convert new fans into your loyal following?  Perhaps, if you continue to be a classic rock cover band, which is what they would experience--but classic rock is not what you normally perform.

So do you pass on this gig?  My answer would be yes, but even if you took the gig that's okay as long as you define what is valuable to you about taking the gig.

Posted by:  Nick Venturella

I read a blog post from the Duct Tape Marketing blog that built an analogy of farmers helping each other out even though they're often in competition with each other, selling the their products to the same buyers.  The point of post was that maybe in business this sort of mindset should exist more often.  From my point of view in the indie music community it often does exist, but not always and it could be strengthened...

So here are my 3 tips to strengthen good karma in the indie music community:

1. Online: Engage with others on social networking sites.  A lot of indie musicians seek out other indies online because they are genuinely interested in their music and/or want to glean some advice from a different perspective regarding the common path both are on.  So if another musician engages you online be respectful and courteous enough to give them a response.  Even if someone has a negative comment or doesn't like your blog post or your music or whatever that's an opportunity to ask the other person to explain their comment further and get to the root of what's on their mind--even if you both disagree mutual respect can be built in the process.

2. At shows:  When you play shows and are on a bill with other bands, even if they're not of the same genre, don't be pretentious or egotistical or stand-off-ish or overly competitive to the point that you forget to just be human and easy-to-get-along with.  No one likes those shows having to perform back-to-back with other bands that think they're huge stars already and anyone they meet should be flattered to be in their presence.  Just be easy-to-work-with and get along with, be genuine and respectful because you never know exactly who you're going to meet--they could become your next best contact or they may know someone else in the industry who can help you by way of an introduction.  This is not an industry where you can afford to burn any bridges.

3. Overall:  What's great to see, after being in this industry after a while, is that you tend to run into the same folks often.  In other words it ends up being a smaller circle of regular players that you keep running into at various gigs and events.  As that happens you begin to become friends, and you now have a network of people to call when you have a gig and at the last minute get sick and need to find another musician to fill your slot.  And if you've built positive reciprocal relationships, what goes around certainly will come around, and those relationships will serve you well.

Summary:  So what did we learn here?  The common theme is that being a respectful, down-to-Earth, genuine human being will actually serve you well in building relationships in the music industry.  Be yourself and be sincere, offer your own advice and assistance as often as you can--trust me the more you give, the more you receive--and focus on building positive relationships.

Posted by:  Nick Venturella

I just read a blog post called BZTAT, Paul Gaugin, and the Dream Career Change, from Laurie Ruettimann's Punk Rock HR blog.  This particular blog was actually a guest post by BZTAT who talks about leaving corporate life to pursue her artistic passions. 

What's useful about the post for indie musicians is BZTAT talks about today's artists (I would include musicians in that category), "...must be creative entrepreneurs engaged in the world of business..." 

Essentially, she's talking about when you're actually engaged in making your craft your living the romantic notions most associate with being a passionate artist are not what it's all about.  In fact, most artists/musicians that make a living from their craft find that they work harder and longer hours than they ever did at a day job.  However, the difference is that passion drives the efforts making it a labor of love. 

Nonetheless, anyone who is a professional artist/musician (being paid for the artistic services you provide), whether part-time or full-time, must know that being a professional in one's passionate/craft is to be in business.  The sooner you realize that and embrace your entrepreneurial spirit you'll find your creativity, for both your craft and the business of your craft, will take on a whole new dimension.  You'll end up giving yourself an advantage by learning and excelling at the business side of your craft simply because much of your competition won't.

Posted by:  Nick Venturella