“There’s so much knowledge out there, I don’t disagree with you, but it’s scattered all around the web. Impossible to find the really credible resources!”

And then it hit me:

“Why don’t we stop whining and do something creative instead?”

Our First London Music Conference With Andrew Dubber

A week after, the first conversation with a famous music expert was a reality.

Darker Music Talks took place in London on a rainy Monday of January, with around 20 UK musicians asking questions to Andrew Dubber for about an hour.

The first bridge between serious knowledge keepers and passionate independent musicians revealed something promising: musicians can be really conversational about their music career when the chance is provided.

Especially when this person has tons of actionable knowledge they could benefit from, or advocates a refreshing, modern mindset.

For those who are not familiar with Andrew Dubber:

He is Reader in Music Industries Innovation at Birmingham City University, a public speaker, the founder of New Music Strategies and an adviser to Bandcamp and Planzai. He’s also the author of 20 Things You Need To Know About Music Online and Music In The Digital Age.

I’d describe him as a legend in the independent music scene and a charismatic speaker. That’s why I could see a lot of happy faces at the end of the event.

What Lessons Can Andrew Dubber Teach Us?

There is a strong tendency nowadays, and it has a lot to do with the way people consume information. We prefer distilled knowledge instead of long essays with too much in depth information.

I tend to prefer the second one by the way, because it alters your understanding of already existing stereotypes.

This conversation with Andrew contained valuable nuggets of wisdom that could sum up the proper mindset of a musician in the digital age.

Let’s go.

1. Being Social As A Musician

“There is just one thing you need to understand about music online: ‘This is a conversation’. And it seems like a really oversimplified way of looking at the Internet, but it just human beings talking to each other.”

Key Words: Be human.

In 1999, C. Locke, D. Searls, D. Weinberger and R. Levine published the Cluetrain Manifesto, which contained 95 theses about online conversation. They were difficult to digest at that time, but now things are obvious.

Thesis no. 3: “Conversations among human beings sound human. They are conducted in a human voice.”

Today, we see how these simplistic words have conquered the online word. This is what you should deeply understand, whether you’re a marketer of a coffee brand or a musician.

Be human.

Talk like you would talk in the physical world. Understand that you’re not talking to profiles or bots. There’s an alive human being behind each conversation.

Announcements and ‘screaming’ via press releases and ads is dead. Brand humanization is not merely a trend, it’s the consequent result of understanding how the Internet works.

2. Make Yourself Interesting

“In an online space there is the conversation and there is the things about which the conversation is taking place. You can either be talking to people, or you can be the thing about which they talk. But the easiest thing to do is make things people have conversations about. They’re called ‘social objects’. “

Key Words: Social objects.

This is the fancy way to say ‘be interesting’.

Jyri Engestrom has coined the term, and it has to do with the fundamental understanding that people talk every day about stuff, but they only pick stuff that make them sound interesting individuals.

Talking about the weather is not a topic that enhances your image, but some novelty that you recently discovered is worth talking about.

In general, this is the mindset behind virality. Think in reverse and spot something that people will be interested in talking about or some trend that the masses have not had enough of yet and you could ride while they’re hot.

Then make it real and give to people the chance to ‘discover’ it.

There’s a catch though. The aforementioned are seasonal tricks.

Most importantly, be originally interesting and show your real self. People cannot be fooled by imitators. Building an interesting character heavily depending on others’ creations will not take you a long way.

Being the social object because you’re an innovator is the path to fame after death.

3. Keep Your Fans Engaged And Interested

“Give them a reason to come back. Give them something that will encourage their engagement and will make them want to stay on the mailing list.”

Key Words: Keep them in the loop.

I figured it out with my own band, after being inactive for many months on social media: if you disappear from the public eye for a long time, don’t expect to be remembered.

It’s simple. Life goes faster, so does information consumption. The human brain cannot keep up with everything we encounter in our daily lives. We only remember information that is either on top of mind or integral part of our habitual living.

Short attention spans are satisfied with short and sweet posts that contain strong visual elements and bits of information without the fluff.

On the other hand, our favorite bands don’t have to be on top of mind, because they achieved something stronger: they’re a habit of our lives because we chose to.

The latter is the ultimate goal, longevity in other words. It cannot be achieved, though, without mastering the first step, which is to keep people in the loop and engage with them in a meaningful way. Once you break this barrier of disbelief against you, you can say you got yourself a real fan, not just ephemeral audience.

4. You Can’t Stop Music Piracy, So Don’t Sweat It

“In independent music, your problem is not piracy. Your problem is obscurity. You want people to have conversations about you. You want people to have things of yours they can share.”

Key Words: Don’t restrict.

Lots of debate against piracy, whether it’s wrong or right to copy and spread other people’s art on digital media, whether copyrights are helping or restricting etc.

There’s not much debate to be done on this topic, I reckon.

Andrew put it in a brilliant way; you should not care about piracy when you haven’t built awareness. Restricting the audience from sharing your work is plain nonsense for the digital age.

Personally, I see it as a blessing. Having fans to evangelize your work and spread it around the world is something everyone would wish for, and this should be the goal in the first place.

How can you make money if you don’t sell your music and let others pirate it?

Read further…

I hope you enjoyed some of what Andrew had to say about music in the digital age. You can read up a lot more about him on his official website.

About Tommy Daker, The Author

I’m Tommy Darker, the writing alter ego of an imaginative independent musician. I started ‘Think Beyond The Band’ because I feel proud of what I’ve accomplished so far and I like helping other fellow musicians that struggle with the same problems.

I love starting conversations, join me in The Darker Side to talk about the music business. If you share the same mindset, find me on Facebook and Twitter and let’s talk!

Photo Credit: Andreas.

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

I grew up heavily involved in my local music scene: I knew the bands, and the promoters well enough that I called them my friends. As soon as I was old enough I started organizing shows so my favorite local bands could be heard and seen more. I had a fair crack at it, but as the years went on other things took over, and I moved into other realms. I remember that time fondly, especially because I helped many bands get going, both fan base wise, as well as financially. Now, for many reasons I’m being drawn back into the world of promotion, and I’m noticing quite a few differences in the way the local promoters now operate: they don’t pay the bands.

This isn’t everyone, I just want to make that clear, but it is a lot. Saying that, I really don’t understand why this would be the case: social websites such as Twitter, Tumblr, and Facebook suggest that music is more alive than ever, so why is this the case?

I met rock band Pianos Become The Teeth after a show once, and they told me how they still have full time table waiting jobs back home to make a living. Okay, they’re not exactly a household name, but they are a hugely respected band who tour globally, and their media exposure, as well as the way people talk about them online would suggest they’ve somewhat “made it”. If they can’t make being in a band financially viable, how can local bands?

Well, I feel this is not just the band’s responsibility but largely the responsibility of the promoters that hire the bands to play as well.

There a whole range of cost involved in organizing a show, and right now some promoters see covering the cost of flyer printing more important than paying the bands. This shouldn’t be the case. Promotion is very important yes, but never ever as important as paying the band, or as I like to think of them as: the reason people are at your show.

I understand that ticket prices need to be kept as low as possible, but if cuts need to be made, this should always come from what the promoter pockets, and not the bands’. The bands involved are the artistic commodity: they are the things you are trying to sell, and they should be justly rewarded. You shouldn’t ask a band to play for “stage time”. A band asks for stage time, a promoter never offers it as payment. The completion of a job is always paid for in money, nothing else.

Some times a promoter does pay, but they don’t pay enough. From my experience this comes as a result of there always being someone who will work for less. As a way to save costs, some promoters will choose the act that wants less money. Over time this has forced bands to accept less and less to remain competitive. This has seriously devalued the Art form. It seems expected now that many bands should just play for free. This isn’t how a promoter should choose their acts: they should choose them on who is best, and then pay them a fee that reflects how much they trust them in doing a job…

About Event Organizer Thom Milson

Thomas still promotes events as well as working for Vistaprint – a printers who specialize in printing flyers, posters, and business cards. He also writes independent publications about music and comedy.

Your band’s presence and exposure on Facebook has just became all the more vital. Facebook Graph Search is on its way, and could possibly change the way potential fans hear and find your music.

There are many ways to market your band with little or no budget, and social media is an excellent place to start your online marketing strategy.

So far potential fans have been able to find your page by studying their friend’s list of recommended pages, or when enough of their friends comment on your bands posts. Facebook Graph Search however will be able to expose your band’s page to new fans in a way that Google search results have never been able to.

Read on, as we talk more about this new Facebook feature below.

How Does Facebook Graph Search Work?

Mark Zuckerberg describes its use: “Graph Search is designed to take a precise query and return to you the answer”, he said, “not links to other places that might take you to the answer”.

‘The Zucker’ in person at the Facebook Graph Search Press conference.

The new search function can understand a mixture of phrases. In the case of your band, a search for ‘Friends in Australia who like electro-funk’ core and going to gigs’ will show you exactly who this criteria matches. If your band’s page lists you as ‘electro-funkcore’, and their friends in Australia have interacted with your page, you may have just found yourself a new fan.

The varied use of this service, rather than searching essentially for music has other possibilities for your band page.

Online Dating- Yes. Yours could be the music of love. Who doesn’t appreciate a partner who you can share your incredible music taste with?

Searching for ‘guys in Manchester who like country music and eating out’. What are the chances of someone spotting they like your band, giving you a ‘Like’ for their own profile in order to feign interest and secure a hot date with them? Stranger things have happened.

How To Tune Up Your Band Page For Facebook Graph Search

Have your band page appear in as many search results as possible by completing these instructions. You will also be left with an informative and interesting page for your visitors.

1. Your band profile: place your band name, genre, and location in the main headings. This includes your URL and the ‘About’ section. Also include any other key words that you think people would search for in relation to your band. Fill in as many sections as possible so that every potential search category is complete.

2. Photos: Facebook shares your visual content a lot wider in your news feed than it does a long written post. Tag everyone present, including a tag for your band page. Title each one with its location and something that will stimulate discussion around them.

3. Privacy settings: the best settings are no settings. Remove any age limits and country restrictions on all of your band’s content. This makes them as widely available as possible for search results.

Here is Facebook’s guide on managing your page

What Matters Most For My Band Or Rap Page To Appear In A Facebook Graph Search?

• Engagement: creating conversations around your band has the ability to increase your visibility in someone’s news feed.

People are naturally curious about something already gaining plenty of attention.

The number of conversations around your band and positive mentions will become more important as Facebook Graph Search becomes more intuitive. Engagement is the first step to encouraging ‘Likes’…

About The Author:

Tom Siddle is a musician and experienced music industry writer who works on behalf of BIMM: Brighton Institute of Modern Music.’

Some guides on writing songs are overly complex, and often overload you with information you don’t really need to know. I’ve tried to avoid that in this guide, giving you just the steps you need to get started on writing your song within the next 20 minutes or so.

But anyway, I don’t want to waste time with intros. Let’s get right into this so you can move on to writing your first song.

P.S. This guide refers to writing lyrics, not writing music. If you find this guide useful, please share it using the social links at the top of this post. Thank you.

How To Write A Song – Picking Your Subject

Without doubt, one of the most important parts of writing a good song is getting down the right subject matter. While the backing track, the flow of your lyrics and more are all important, if you really want your fans to connect with your music, you have to sing or rap about the right things. Depending on your genre of music and how you want people to relate to you, the ‘right thing’ will vary for each individual musician.

So if you’re new to writing lyrics, how will you know which subjects you should be talking about in your songs? Well, there are two ways you can figure this out:

1. Write About Whatever Is On Your Mind.
   When you’re writing, you want to get a real part of you into your songs. This means you will often have to take what you’re feeling, and display it on a track for all to hear.
   Writing about your personal experiences, good and bad, will really allow the listeners to relate to you. If they can relate and see some of themselves inside you, it’ll make it that much easier to convert these people into long-term fans.
   While you don’t always have to write about total truths or do songs that are talking about you personally, this is a good way to get started and practice lyric creation. It’ll mean there’s no thinking about ‘what to write about next’; you already have the full story in your head so just let it flow out.
2. Listen To Similar Song Writers And Get Ideas.
   If you’re stuck for inspiration, hit up a TV channel or website that plays your genre of music. Have a look at the other acts on these channels, and see what the themes for their lyrics are. Is there a common theme that continues to come up song after song? If so, there’s a good chance it’s a proven song subject that is currently working at the moment.
   My advice is to write a song with this subject, but try and do it differently from the others. As you become a better song writer you will want to come up with unique ideas of your own, but while you’re still in practicing mode, it may be best to learn the methods that are currently working.

In addition to those two ideas, it’s never a bad idea to brainstorm a few subject as well. So once you’ve practiced writing to the above formed subjects, get as many weird and wonderful song ideas down on paper as you can.

Ask yourself if you’d want to hear a song about each of these subjects, and write to the ones you genuinely would. The ones that make people think, relate to you, laugh or dance are often the best subject ideas to go with.

Writing Your First Song – The Structure

Once you have your subject, the next stage is to write the song…

How To Write A Song For Beginners Conclusion

So there you have it, two more tips on how to write a song. As you may know though, song writing is a very big subject. My guess is that while I’ve now written a few thousand words on how to write a song, you still have some unanswered questions, and want some extra guidance in this process. If this is the case, your best best is to pick up a book on this subject.

There are many good ones out there, some of which go into much more details then I possibly could in such a short space of time. So if you’re serious about writing your first song, I suggest you check one of these out.

This book comes in the form of a PDF file, and lets you know the top 20 things musicians often do which stops them from getting where they should rightfully be. Thankfully, it also lets you know what you should be doing instead.

Are you doing any of these harmful things? You’ll only know if you read the book! Click one of the below social sharing buttons to reveal the download link for this book:

This book is a real eye opener, so I suggest you give it a read. Just be sure to apply anything you learn.

Feel free to share this around with any other musicians you know, either by showing them this page or by sending them the file directly.

If you haven’t already seen them, please start by reading the following parts before you go any further with this guide:

How To Form A Band Part 1.

How To Form A Band Part 2.

Once you’ve gone through those guides first, let’s carry on setting up and positioning our money making band.

The Thorny Bits – Money, Equipment And Who Does What

Running a band isn’t always going to be smooth sailing. In the previous parts, we’ve walked you through how to get the right band members, and how to start getting yourself out there. But there are going to be some other issues you’re going to have to deal with. Some of these can be touchy areas, so it’s best you think about them now so you’re prepared to deal with them if they ever come up.

Bands And Money

Lots of bands will work for beer (which cheapens the market for everyone else, but that’s another story). As a professional band however, you want to make it all about the money.

If you’re serious about making money, then ground rules should be established as soon as possible. Find a method that works for everyone. It took ages for things to settle in Celtic Clan, but we learned a lot along the way. Here are some suggested scenarios to make things easier:

Scenario 1 – You (The Band Leader) Takes A Cut

Presuming you do all the work, you must take something for this. I’d suggest 15%. The rest is then shared equally, with everyone equally sharing any expenses. Any objections – show them this article!

As the bandleader, you generally:

• Find the work. Negotiate the fee. Mail the band members any set dates. Work on the basis that unless they have booked out a date, it is available. This saves you having to ring around everyone to check they’re free.
• Deal with the paperwork. Always have contracts with weddings and private functions. Nothing fancy – just stipulate the client’s name and address, your details, the venue, and the timings.
  Ask for any special requests from the client’s party, and make sure there’s a clause at the end that says the deposit is non-returnable in the event of a cancellation. Take their deposit first, then send them two copies of the contract, both signed by you. They keep one, and sign and return theirs within 7 days. Arrange for either cash or check on the night, or for it all to be paid up-front 14 days before the event.
• Organize the final set list for gigs, which should be printed up and distributed to the band.
• Liaise with clients before the gigs to organize first dance requests, timings for arrival and set up, the length of your performance at the venue etc…
• Generate stories and publicity for the band. Look at what’s happening locally; what can you get involved in?
• Digital marketing. This is a HUGE job, and if you have the skills, could take up several days a week. This is any activity that promotes you online. Anything from putting free ads on Gumtree, to filling in your dates on websites like wherecanwego.com and registering your band on Google maps. There are countless free business websites available, and some of them can really help get your band out there. Things like blogging, tweeting, setting up a Facebook fan page or even guest-posting on other people’s sites can all help as well.
• Looking for new material, printing out song words, organizing tour schedules and accommodation, audition and rehearsing with deps (deputies), and lots more. It’s a major job!

If you do all of these duties or a good amount of them, then you deserve to take that extra 15%. If you do the majority of the work, you should get paid accordingly as band leader.

Scenario 2 – You Pay The Band A Set Wage

This is a tough one. It works on the basis that everyone gets a set wage, regardless of the gig. Of course, things can go either way…

This is a guest post by Ruth Graham, band leader of the Irish wedding/function band Celtic Clan. Take a look at their website for more useful information or to book the Midlands’ best Celtic and Irish function band.

How To Form A Band – The Ultimate Guide Part 1

This is a three part series looking how to set up and run a professional or semi professional band. If your aim is to form a band which can make money from gigging (Or you already have a band but want them to do more with themselves), make sure you read these guides in full.

Start off by reading the above mentioned guide, and once you’ve done, get started on this one.

Now that you’ve caught up with part one, let’s continue on from where we left off.

P.S. If you find these guides helpful, please share them on your usual social networking sites, and link to them on your own websites. The more shares we get, the more articles we’ll write.

Marketing For Maximum Exposure

When I set up my band Celtic Clan, I had the advantage of knowing how to market a product, as that’s my background (marketing and PR). Happily, this resulted in a full book of work, just 3 months after launching. We did around 100 shows in our first year, and were able to turn professional almost immediately.

Some of my ideas you’ll like, and some you won’t. When reading this guide, I suggest you take what works for you, but do bear in mind these are tried and tested methods. So many bands fail at this step because they don’t know what to do to get work, and people get fed up of waiting and drift off.

I’ll keep everything brief here, and if as a reader you’d like more expansive information, keep checking our website and band blog as I often post more up there.

Step 1 – Deciding Who Does What

Vital!!!!! If people have different skills to offer, that’s great. But everybody in a band has to pull their weight, otherwise resentment forms.

I’d recommend one person (the bandleader) handling this side of things if possible, so you can keep track more easily. And DO NOT be afraid to take a cut of the fee for doing this. I take 15% for managing the band – it’s all transparent and nobody minds, because without it, we wouldn’t be getting any gigs in the first place. If you’re the person in your band who gets gigs, you can see more advice on how to get gigs here.

Step 2 – Branding Your Band

A ‘brand’ is the uniqueness of something that makes it memorable. Think of all the great brands that spring to mind instantly: Coca Cola, BMW, Walkers Crisps, Cadbury’s Chocolate. All household names with recognizably. And that’s what you need for your band.

We chose a great logo for ours, a strap-line (the slogan, if you like), and a look; kind of Celtic, gypsy with coin belts, crushed velvets and waistcoats for the guys. It makes us look professional and we stand out.

Everything to do with your band should reflect the look or feel. This should ideally be sorted out during the stages where you’re first forming a band, but if you’re past that stage and haven’t done so yet, now is the time.

Step 3 – Building A Great Website

This can’t be under-estimated. Get a decent site build, it should cost around £400 – no more.

Note from editor: If you want another way to creating a music website for much cheaper, you should check out this site which walks you step by step through the process of how to make a music website.

A good site really sorts out the men from the boys. Again, keep the band colors, the logos and the ‘look’ in keeping with your branding.

If you can set up a website before you begin gigging, this is a huge help. I did this with Celtic Clan, and it helped make us look like an established band, before we really were. It requires planning and some financial investment, but if you’re all in it together…

So, firstly you need to register a domain name. Use a site like 123-reg.co.uk (Good value). Register your domain name before someone else does.

Then start planning how you want your site to look. Ours unfolds in a great order, is easy to navigate and is full of lively info. People remark on how professional it is all the time. Imagine you’re a punter looking for a band, what do they want to see?

Your site should include pictures, a promo video if possible, gig lists, write ups on the band members and audio recordings.

Lastly, you need to find a good web designer. We used Darren from iKandidesign.com – a really helpful independent guy who works for lots of entertainers. He’s based in Birmingham, so if you’re also based there you may want to check him out…

This is a guest post by Ruth from Celtic Clan, the Birmingham Contemporary Irish band that doesn’t just do Irish! Take a look at their website for more useful information or to book the Midlands’ best Celtic and Irish function band.”

So if you want to become a better producer, please check the below image. If you like it, please share it via Pinterest, Facebook, Twitter, or any other social networking site you are part of.

This image was supplied by the music event venue Boisdale. You can see how you can submit a music infographic here.

That’s the potential power of YouTube. According to YouTube, more than 800 million users visit the video-sharing site each month, and more than four billion videos are viewed daily. Even more amazing? Seven hundred YouTube videos are shared on Twitter each minute, a percentage of those being videos by musicians.

While your potential audience is massive, so is your competition. More than 60 hours of video are uploaded every day, which is equivalent to more than 176,000 full-length Hollywood movies each week. Independent musicians also have to account for competition from big labels paying to promote videos, and vying for your potential audiences’ attention.

YouTube success hinges on optimizing your video to maximize the chances that the right people will see and share your work. You didn’t create an amazing video of your newest song just so no one would see it, right? You need to get your music video seen, and we can show you how to do that!

Here are a few quick and easy tips to help you maximize your video’s exposure by optimizing your video for YouTube. This will work on music videos, your artist interviews, or any other type of video you will make.

Keywords Are The Key

YouTube optimization is a lot like search engine optimization – both rely heavily on relevant keywords to serve up the best content for searchers. Choosing relevant keywords is the most important step in optimizing your video for YouTube, and can mean the difference between 15 views and 15 hundred views.

There are four steps for optimizing your YouTube video with keywords.

1. Find Relevant Keywords.
   Review keywords on videos similar to yours, especially those with a high number of views, which will give you an idea what kind of keywords bring viewers to a certain video. Search for the keywords you might use to find your own YouTube video to determine if the search results are what you expected – you might have a different idea of keyword relevancy than your potential audience! Steer clear of adding irrelevant – yet popular – keywords to your videos. Irrelevant keywords might help your YouTube search results, but it’s not likely users will actually watch it. For a broader keyword picture, check out the YouTube keyword tool. It’s a free service that lets you see the most popular keywords based on language and country.
2. Getting Your Title Right.
   Start by optimizing your video title. Think of a newspaper or magazine. What type of headline are you drawn to reading? Choose titles that are descriptive, catchy and clear. You have 100 characters, including the spaces between words. Focus on the keywords you discovered in step one.
3. Choosing A Category For Your Music Video.
   Choose a category for your video. Search for videos similar to yours or browse the categories you believe would be the best fit for your own video. Think about using a less popular (but still as relevant) category so your video has a better chance of being seen.
4. Description And Tags.
   Add your description and tags. Your description should be as detailed as possible and include the ever-important keywords related to your video. You can include details like your location, genre, instruments or even the background of your song. You have approximately 800 words in your description, so use them wisely! Your tags, which have a 120-character limit, should also reflect your keywords.

All of these things will help your video be more relevant to any related search terms. This will help your target audience (And potential fans) find you a lot easier.

Settings To Set Your YouTube Video Apart

Keyword relevancy is only the first step to optimizing your YouTube video. YouTube also gives musicians a variety of further settings that can better help you optimize your video…

About The Author

Steven Payne is enthusiastic about all things to do with marketing promotions. While he isn’t busy with his day job, he shares his marketing knowledge with those in need. In this case, it just happens to be you cool musicians.