On our sister site (Music Industry How To), we now also offer a step by step study course for musicians wanting to make more money and gain more fans from their music career.

We’ve got a lot of useful information coming for you over the next few months, so sign up to the mailing list so you don’t miss a thing! You’ll also get a free ebook, & exclusive weekly guides & tips. Enjoy

Shaun Letang,
Independent Music Advice

First of all, I want to announce that the IMA Music Business Academy has officially re-opened as of today! For those that don’t know, the Academy is an online music business course that has helped well over 100 independent musicians, managers and industry figures progress their music career through better music business knowledge.

The course has been shut for a while while we’ve focused on existing members and improving it based on their feedback, but we’ve now re-opened it to a new set of members.

If you want to get on the course before the doors are shut again, you can get more information and enroll here. And if the thought of progressing your music career wasn’t enough to make you want to sign up to the Academy:

Win Your Own .com Website Worth Over £500 By Enrolling This Week!

As a bonus, anyone who signs up to the Academy by the end of this week (By Sunday the 6^th of May 2012) gets entered into a draw to win their own .com website made by myself! I will buy you your own .com domain name of your choice, get you unlimited web space to be hosted on our server, give you a premium site design, and install all the best plugins that will make running your website as easy as possible! In other words, I will make you your own professional music website free of charge! It will be free for a year, after which we’ll help you transfer it over to your own hosting which you can get for a few dollars a month.

This prize is worth over £500, so isn’t a prize to be sniffed at. You can see full terms and conditions of the prize at the bottom of this post.

What’s New In The Academy

So, what’s new in the IMA Music Business Academy this time round?

• Updated Lessons.
  We’ve made small updates to some of the lessons based on previous feedback. This means better lessons this time around!
• Different Location.
  We’re now delivering the Academy via the Music Industry How To website. This will give you a cleaner learning environment, and an easier to use system.

Other then that, it’s the same well received course that has helped a lot of independent musicians progress their music career.

New Posts Every Day This Week Only

Ok, so onto the next point. We’ve had a lot of very knowledgeable people sending us useful guides to publish, so instead of putting them out once a week like we usually do, we decided we’ll put out a new guide every day this week!

Sound good to you? If so, make sure you check Independent Music Advice back on a daily basis!

Some of the guides include setting up your own recording booth, how to make your own hip hop beats, tips on what to look for in a manager, and more. So make sure you check out this website every day this week for an article that could help you!

Make Your Own Music Website

For those that don’t want to wait and see if they win one, you can learn how to make your own music website by clicking here.

That’s it for today. For those that are interested, here are the terms and conditions for the above mentioned competition. I’ll see you tomorrow for a new guide!

Win A Music Website Competition Terms And Conditions

1. Competition closes Monday the 7^th of May 2012 at 00.01 GMT (London time). Anyone joining the Academy after that will not be entered into the draw.
2. Winners will be picked at random (‘Out of a hat’) 8 days after the competition closes.
3. Only people that join the Academy and stay past the trial period will gain an entry in this competition.
4. All enrollments into the Academy will count as a competition entry, regardless of what price plan you sign up on.
5. The winner will be informed of their winning status on the week beginning the 14^th of May 2012.
6. The domain name you win and hosting will be up for a year. Before the end of the year is up, it’ll be your responsibility to buy your own hosting and transfer your website across to it (Which we can help you with). You can get hosting for around $10 per month, a lot less if you buy for more years. If you do not transfer the domain over to your own hosting before one year is up (You’re advised to transfer it over at around the 9 month mark), you website could go down once the year is complete.
7. The website will be build on WordPress. While we’ll show you how to use the basics, it’ll be your responsibility to learn how to do everything you want on it.
8. You will have to provide the content for your website.
9. Only one entry allowed per person.
10. We withhold the right to change terms and conditions at any time without warning.
11. The decision of Independent Music Advice is final.

A Very Important Note About Becoming Famous

The most important bit of advice I’d give to anyone trying to become famous, is to GET IT RIGHT FIRST TIME! When people first get to know you, you want to make sure it is for the right reasons. If you’re first launched into the public spotlight in a negative manner, people are going to take a dislike to you. From there, it’s very hard to shake that image off. The media will play on image for a long time to come, and short of something amazing happening, that side of you will always be in the public spotlight.

I’d advice reading and carrying out the advice in Total Fame to make sure you become famous for the right reasons the first time around.

Can You Get Famous Overnight?

The simple answer: No. Having said that, you can learn how to become famous in a very short amount of time with today’s technological advances. If you want to truly become famous, you need to treat your quest like a business. You can’t just sing a couple of songs on Youtube and expect to become an overnight celebrity, it simply doesn’t work like that. You need to network with the right people, create your own website and online presence, get your photos done professionally, and get yourself out there as much as possible! Sound like a lot of work? I hope not, because it’s not all you need to do! Total Fame gives a full list of things you need to do to become a celebrity, so if you’re not willing to put the work in to achieve your dreams, you may as well stop reading now.

How To Become Famous: The Different Ways To Get Famous

These days, there are a number of different ways to get famous. Depending on what you want to achieve, you will go about your goals in different ways. Here are some ways you can become famous:

• Get Famous For A Talent.
  If you have a specific talent such as singing, dancing, magic, acting or modelling, then this could be your ticket to fame. All of these industries (And other similar ones) have a need for talented people, so if you excel in your talent then you’ve a good chance of getting noticed.
• Get Fame Through Association.
  If you’re finding it hard to get your talent noticed by yourself, all hope is not lost. You can always get famous by hanging out with famous people, and having some of that fame rub off on you. Once you’re in the spotlight, you can show people you’re a star in your own right! In order to make this work, you need to appear as fame worthy as the person you’re standing next to. That means you need to dress famous, eat and drink famous, and party like a famous person. Max Milias talks about this in his book Total Fame, so if you want to make this path to fame work for you then Total Fame is a must read!
• Get Famous Via The Internet.
  Many celebrities are popping up based on fame they’ve achieved on the internet. Websites such as Youtube, Myspace and Twitter can create celebrities in their own right, meaning your quest for fame has become easier then ever. People can become online celebrities for a number of things, from singing a popular song on Youtube, to making people laugh on Twitter. You can also become popular by blogging on a subject that touches people in some way, so if you have a way with words this is an option.

There are many other ways to become famous, it really just depends on what is right for you. Total Fame has a full list of the paths to fame, so if you want to maximise your chances of getting famous, try and go for as many different methods as you can manage.

How To Become Famous: The Different Levels Of Fame

There are also different levels of fame you can achieve:

• Total Fame.
  This is where you’re famous on a wide scale, and you’re pretty much a household name in a good percentage of the world. This is what most people aspire for, but only the most talented (And most lucky) people achieve. You need to know the theory behind what makes people get famous to achieve total fame, without that theory you’ll be hard pushed to make it happen.
• Regional Fame.
  This could be fame in your country, or even in your local area. This usually comes about if you are doing something that specifically interests the people around you. From here you can try and climb to reaching total fame, although it is not always necessary. Some people are happy with this level of fame, it’s simply down to your personal preference.
• Online Fame.
  Obtaining fame through the internet is becoming ever more popular, as is probably the easiest way to become famous! With the internet you can get in front of people anywhere across the world, and get famous for any number of different things. Website such as Youtube allow you to broadcast yourself with ease, and display your talent to your soon to be fans. Once you have achieved online fame, you will want to use that fame to get yourself known via other avenues. Fred for example got a film deal based on his popular Youtube sketches, and that was launched in cinemas worldwide. Here is a full list of Youtube celebrities to get you motivated and to see what’s achievable.

If you want to truly be famous, you need to use one level of fame as a stepping stone to the next. Keep going until you have reached your required level of fame.

To Get Famous You Need To:

Act Famous. While there is more then just this needed to become famous (A full list can be found in Total Fame), this is a very important piece of the puzzle. If you don’t act like fame is already upon you, you aren’t going to stand out from the crowd. In other words, you’ll just look and appear like everyone else. If you want to appear famous (And eventually become famous), there are a few things you need to do:

• Make Yourself Easy To Find.
  If reporters don’t know where you’re going to be, how are you going to end up in the news and gossip coloms? You need to be relatively easily accessible, without making it obvious or seem needy. Go to celebrity hot spots and be seen talking to well known people. Make sure your website and social media account are set up and easy to find online. Tip off the press when you’re going to be doing something out of the ordinary. Basically, keep yourself on the presses’ radar. Even if they don’t cover you at first, you will be getting your name in their head and they will remember you. As you start to achieve fame, they will be able to easily find you and probably run some of the back stories you have sent their way.
• Dress Famous.
  If you dress like everyone else in the world, what’s going to make famous photographers want to take pictures of you? You need to make yourself stand out in some way, although you may not want to over do it. Not everyone can carry off the Lady GaGa style of dressing, so you may want to differentiate yourself simply by looking extremely radiant in some designer or neat clothes. As long as you stand out from the crowd (By doing something different or doing the ‘norm’ the best it can be done), people will notice.
• Eat And Drink Famous.
  Another way to stand out is by what you’re seen eating. How many times do you see the top celebrities getting a take out from Mc Donalds? Not very often, I’ll tell you that now. Instead, you want to go somewhere where celebrities regularly eat. This will help get you photo opportunities, as well as getting you used to a different class of eating. If this won’t help motivate you to become famous, I don’t think anything will…

How To Become Famous Conclusion

Becoming famous can be a dream come true if you do it right, but it’s very easy to get wrong. When you’re in the public spotlight, you have to act a certain way or risk losing it all. Become famous too early, and you risk not being able to keep up with all the requirements. Leave it too long, and you may lose your chance to hit fame and fortune. If you want to learn how to become famous and do it right the first time around, I suggest you read Total Fame by Max Milias (See the link in the first paragraph of this article to buy Total Fame for a reduced price).

In the few short months that we’ve been in existence, Independent Music Advice has gone from strength to strength. Knowing that we had something useful to share, we decided to set up a place where people could get together and learn the business side of the music industry. Since setting up, we’ve constantly added more features to benefit you, such as this blog you’re reading now, our free Independent Musician Success ebook, our new interactive Facebook and Twitter pages (Links can be found on the right hand side of this page), and our top quality Music Business Resources page.

Today, we’re happy to announce yet another new feature to enhance the user experience, the opportunity to write for the Independent Music Advice website! The aim of this website is to empower our readers by giving them the knowledge they need to have a financially successful music career. And while we have more then enough knowledge to share with you (Make sure you’re subscribed to our mailinglist to be informed about all the latest news, we’ve some HUGE posts coming for you in the near future, you get a free ebook when you subscribe), we realise that there are other people who also have useful information which they’d wish share.
It’s doesn’t matter whether you’re a managing director of a multi million pound company or a runner to an independent record label, as long as you’ve music industry experience and have useful advice to share we want to hear from you.

So, What Are The Benefits To You?

Some of you may not be sure why this would be a good opportunity for you. If you’re still scratching your head, here are a list of reasons why this may benefit you:

• You’ll get exposure to our growing number of readers. This month we’ve had thousands of page hits, and our numbers are increasing every month. So, why not make our readers your readers?
• Writing good articles can help establish you as a knowledgeable person within the industry. So if you want to get your name out there more, this is the perfect opportunity.
• You get to build backlinks to your own website. If you know about internet marketing, backlinks are essential for ranking well in search engines. The more backlinks you have, the higher you’ll rank in Google and the more free traffic you’ll gain to your site.
• You get to do a bit of self promotion at the end of the article. In the final paragraph you get to let people know who you are and let them follow through to your website.

As well as all the above benefits, if you consistently write good articles for us, we may even open up other opportunities for you…

So if you’re good at writing and have any good advice to share with our readers, read the writing for Independent Music Advice guidelines and show us what you’ve got. We looking forward to seeing your entries.

We here at Independent Music Advice count ourselves as one of your links. If you’ve had a look around this website you’ll notice we have much useful advice and music business resources, all of which could benefit your music career in some way. Gaining all of this information would take the average musician years to find by themselves, yet we’ve included it all here for anyone willing to dig a bit and learn. You’re welcome.

But so far this relationship has been one way. True we’ve provided you with tons of the kind of information you’ll get from speaking to an established musician within your field, but we haven’t had the chance to hear back from you. Well now your voice can be heard! By following our blog you can comment on anything we have to say and let your opinion be known. See a fellow musician struggling with an issue or not sure about something yourself? Drop a comment and interact with other musicians around the world! And this is just the start…

In addition to this we have more lined up. While I can’t go into details of everything we’ve got coming for you in the coming months, I’d advise you bookmark this site and sign up to our mailing list via the right hand side of this page. What we’ve got for you isn’t something you’ll want to miss!

But that’s enough for now. Make sure you stay tuned to this blog for more intelligent music discussion. Don’t forget to read the advice section of this website for help in your music career, and sign up to the mailing list via the short form on the right hand side of all the pages. We’ll send you exclusive information to help further your music career as well as the ‘Independent Musician Success’ ebook, so have a look. Also leave us a comment below to let us know what you want to see discussed here in future. Until next time, keep it musical.