Today a guest post of mine was published on Broadjam.com.  I wrote about planning for the success of your music career, and specifically talked about a few music business processes that will help make your life easier if you take the time to think through them and even write them down. 

These are a few ideas I referenced in The Local Music Journey book, but I've expanded on them a bit further with this post. Please check it out!

Read Plans and processes for your music success

Posted By:  Nick Venturella

I finally got a chance to check out the SoundLot.  It's a service for musicians, as well as artists and filmmakers, to connect with one another.

At the SoundLot you’ll discover a group of like-minded folks to connect with locally.  The site boasts your ability to build relationships with local musicians, local artists and filmmakers to build an active community online that you'll hopefully be able to take off line to collaborate on projects, shows, etc.

I like the site.  It's super simple and clean - not a whole lot of navigation to figure out what you need to do.  The concept is simple.  It's apparent the idea is to build professional artistic relationships to learn from each other allowing those who participate to further their craft beyond what they could alone.

The site offers user generated resources, tips, other sites to check out and more.  If you're looking for a place to interact with others facing similar things as you, then the the Soundlot is the right place.

Groups are split up by the three main categories, music, art, and film and beyond that there are local groups by city.

Here are some of the features highlighted on the site:

-Field specific profile sections (music, art, film)
-Join local and regional groups
-Group forums
-Shared group documents (to keep info that the community can use)
-Rate posts (reward the best contributors)
-Share your bandcamp, soundcloud, flickr, deviantart, youtube, vimeo, twitter, and personal site

Also, here's an infographic explaining the site (click the image to make it larger):

Recently, the Chicago-based record company, and subsidiary of Dupée Productions, Level Next Music, contacted me promoting Taylor Mallory, a pop/soul artist on the Level Next roster. 

Taylor is a fun young talent with some great experience, and the right team behind him to help him get where he’s going. 

Along with the initial information emailed to me was a YouTube video link to Taylor’s most recent release, “Sunni’s Outside.”  I listened to the song and watched the video.  I felt like the content of the song, and the video imagery, had a smooth sincerity that told a carefree, slice-of-life love/friendship story.  I enjoyed it.  “Sunni’s Outside” was refreshing amongst the multitude of other releases I’ve experienced on YouTube as of late.

In addition, I was able to catch up with Taylor long enough to ask him a few interview questions.  The transcript of the interview is below, and don't forget to watch/listen to "Sunni's Outside" (embeded at the end of this post)

Interview with Taylor Mallory:
Who are you?
I am a pop-soul singer, songwriter, composer, and entertainer who's passion is in performing and rocking crowds.

What kind of music do you create/perform?
The type of music I create is a mesh of pop and soul music.
   
Where are you from, and where did you get your musical start?
I am from Decatur, IL which is known as the soy capital of the world.  However, I reside in Chicago.  I first started singing when I was 5 years old with a contemporary gospel boy band called "The B.O.Y.S." At the age of 13, I started creating my own music when my mom bought me  a  BOSS 4-track digital mixer, a Dr. Rhythm drum machine, a 61-key Casio keyboard, and a multi-recording software called Cool Edit Pro.

How long have you been involved in your craft (years)?
In total, I have been singing and performing for about 15+ years.

What is your current album/project/tour that you’re promoting and what should people know about it?
Currently, I have a single on iTunes called "Sunni's Outside". I also just released the music video for "Sunni's Outside" through my label Level Next Music. We used the video release as a vessel to raise shoes to donate to Soles4Souls, a shoe charity based in Nashville, TN.

What has been your best musical accomplishment to date and why?
My biggest musical accomplishment to date was getting one of my songs placed on the E! Network's reality show "How Do I Look" with my production team Dupee Productions.  In addition, I am very proud of the music video too - It was a lot of fun and hard work.
   
What is/was one of the hardest things to deal with or overcome as an artist in today’s music industry?
Since the industry is so over-saturated there are a million and one artists trying to make their dreams come true.  I would say the hardest thing for an artist to overcome is experiencing rejection, the lack of recognition, and finding a team of supporters.

What were some of the steps in your progression toward becoming a full-time musician?
I first started out interning at Dupee Productions and learning from a lot of great musicians such as Rich Patterson, Ivan Dupee, Kareem Wells, and other staff members.  During my college years, I had the opportunity to see how musical performances were coordinated and how to put on a great show.

What is your best piece of advice for other musicians/artists who are looking to make a full-time career in music?
My best piece of advice to anyone considering a career in music is to do it for the love of music and not for the love of money or fame.  You will go far if you work your craft.

How can people find you online and listen to your music?
They can find my current single "Sunni's Outside" on iTunes, Amazon and levelnextmusic.com. I am also available on all social networks.  They are as follows:

Facebook:
facebook.com/TaylorMalloryFanPage

Twitter:
twitter.com/taylormallory

YouTube:
youtube.com/taylormallory
youtube.com/levelnexttv

Label:
www.levelnextmusic.com

Posted By:  Nick Venturella

Not long ago I was contacted through the Local Music Journey website by Glenn, the creator of SongGIG.com.  The message encouraged me to take a look at SongGIG.com, a music video discovery service.  Glenn claimed it could be useful for my readers.  So I went over to SongGIG.com and discovered it and it's artists for myself.  I have to say, I really like the concept. 

For undiscovered musical talent YouTube is great, but it's over saturated with tons of videos in many categories that can make it hard to truly discover new music without specifically knowing what it is you're seeking.  On the flip side, if you are looking for new music and could at least narrow the parameters of your interests on a site that is only focused on music then you've just set the stage (pun intended) to make some fun, serendipitous music discoveries.

SongGIG.com is that answer, and it's free to use.  SongGIG is focused on making it easier for musicians, music professionals and of course fans to find what they're looking for, or make discoveries of music they didn't totally know they were looking for.  SongGIG allows you to search music by band name or artist name, you can even do an advanced search and select the genre of music you're interested in discovering.

If you're an artist SongGIG makes it easy to set up a profile with your bio.  Then you just need to shoot video of yourself performing your songs, post them to SongGIG.com and share them with the SongGIG community.  You can upload your own video or if you already have video on YouTube SongGIG makes it easy to embed your YouTube video to share on SongGIG.  That's what I did for my first SongGIG post.

It's free for both fans and artists to register and the site is super simple to navigate, which is refreshing.  SongGIG.com has one purpose:  to help users find undiscovered musical talent.

Here's a quote from Glenn, the creator of SongGIG:
"My daughter sings and it made me wonder just how new singer's get discovered or seen. There is YouTube, but there are so many videos on there and how does one get found on there? Unless you know what you are looking for. Some of the cream does rise to the top, but I am sure there are many great musicians on there that never get heard. I wanted to develop a resource for musical talent that is easy to navigate (think Apple simple) and for one purpose only."

The only suggestion I would give right now to SongGIG is is to offer Facebook "Like" buttons and one-click Retweet options on every song video web page on SongGIG.  Simple tools like this can help SongGIG fans and artists spread the word about their own videos or favorite videos (if they're a fan) to their social media audiences helping spread the word for the artists, fans and SongGIG.

Feel free to read about SongGIG straight from the horse's mouth.

Posted by:  Nick Venturella

I was recently followed by Indie Band Solution on Twitter.  This was my first introduction to Indie Band Solution.  I read their short bio on their Twitter account and quickly followed the link to the main Indie Band Solution site.

It turns out Indie Band Solution is a basic blog of useful information.  If you're an independent musician I think you'll find this site and the content there valuable.  I thought the content had some useful tips and ideas.  It's worth noting that I have no affiliation with Indie Band Solution, I just think the kind of information written about there is very much in line with the kind of information readers of the Resourceful Musician blog are interested in.

I especially like posts like:  THREE - Things Musicians Should Have In Their Dropbox, When Describing Your Music, and Artist Website + Flash = #FAIL.

Anyway, it might be worth checking out and following.

Recently, I performed a show where I went into a little more depth explaining the stories and concepts behind my songs prior to performing them.  I explained what I intended the songs to be about and what inspired me to write them.

About three-fourths of the way through the show I realized the audience had really connected to what I had been sharing about my songs.  They were intently listening for the various ideas and themes I had described as they listened.  It was kind of like I was teaching the audience how to listen to my music -- giving them "homework" of what to listen for in each song.  Now, you do have to keep in mind this was coffeehouse show, so it was a pretty intimate setting that allowed me to interact and talk directly to the audience and actually hear some of their feedback, for which I often ask during performances.

I recognized that over the course of a couple of hours I had built a relationship with this audience, of which none, save for two people there, had ever seen me perform before.

At the end of the night, as I stuck around, as I usually do, to chat personally with the audience.  I ended up selling more merchandise than I had in a long time at a show. I firmly believe that the merch. moved because over the course of the evening I helped foster a deeper relationship with my audience than if I had simply played my songs for them without giving them insight into my intentions for the songs.  This allowed the audience to get to know me.  Plus, sticking around after the show to get to know my audience is also a crucial step.

So if you're looking for ways to sell more at shows, then build better relationships with your audience.  Then continue to nurture that relationship online after the show (with email and social networking).

So you have a great idea for a killer concept album.  You’ve thought it through, lined up the perfect cast of musicians to help you record it, hired a graphic designer to visually bring your album art to life and you’re even creating a lot of pre-release buzz about your project online, but there’s one little hiccup:  you need just a little extra money to finish the production ensuring your project’s success.

Maybe you’ve been in the scenario above, maybe you’re in it now, or maybe you know someone in such a situation.  If you live in Dane County (in Wisconsin) you can actually apply for a grant from the Dane County Cultural Affairs Commission to potentially get some grant money to help you bring your grand artistic project to fruition.

In fact, I was recently asked to serve on the Music Grant Advisory panel to help review grant applications for music projects.  I was flattered and honored to be asked to participate, and even more excited to learn about the process and help promote it to others who could really benefit from it.  In hindsight, I wish I would have applied for a grant as I was compiling and completing my book, The Local Music Journey.

Anyway, I simply wanted to get you thinking about alternative sources of funding for your arts-related projects.  And if you do not live in the Dane County area, I encourage you to check out your local cultural affairs and/or arts community to discover whether or not something similar exists in your area.

Learn more about the Dane County Cultural Affairs Commission.

Posted By:  Nick Venturella