Independent Music Advice

Welcome to Independent Music Advice, the number one music advice resource for anyone who makes independent music. We provide quality guides and tips for independent musicians wishing to learn the music business inside out. Through this site we hope to empower more musicians to make money from their music career independently, and without the help of a record label.

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,
Independent Music Advice

Best Cheap Music Production Software

In a continuation of our topics on how to produce music, today we thought we’d look at what the best cheap music production software is. In those articles, we briefly touched on our favourite tool for producing music, DUBturbo. Today however, we will elaborate on why this is the best cheap production software you can get if you’re on a budget, and look at some of the pitfalls you need to avoid when buying cheap software online.

Remember, regardless of whether or not you’re on a budget, it’s still important to get a good quality music production tool. There’s no point saving money if the beats you produce end up being of a poor quality. Thankfully this isn’t the case with DUBturbo, but it’s something worth baring in mind when look at other software.
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Posted in Make Your Own Beats | 2 Comments »

Treating Music As A Business

If you want to succeed in today’s music industry, you need to treat your music as a business. There’s no two ways about it; If you aren’t willing to put in the work to promote and market your music, you may as well give up now. In order to be successful, you need to do what works. And what works right now is getting off your butt and putting the work in to the right places.

In this article we will be looking at the business of music, and why you need to learn this side of things if you want to do well in your music career. Whether you do independent music or you’re signed to a record label, you need to learn what it is that makes people successful, other then their vocals.

Knowledge is power, so read on and see how much of this you can apply to your independent music career today.
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Posted in Music Business Theory | 6 Comments »

How To Make A Music Video For Youtube

Today we’re going to look at how to make a music video for Youtube. I will be looking at some of the options available to you, as well as introducing you to my favourite tool for the job: Animoto.

There are two main ways to make good quality Youtube music videos: By recording footage with a video camera and editing it on your computer, or by using Animoto to make a video based on pictures and / or video clips you own. With both of these methods you can make a good Youtube quality video in a relatively short amount of time. Great if you want to make a low budget music video.

Below I will look more at both of these options, so you can decide which method is best for you.
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Posted in Make A Music Video | No Comments »

How To Make A Music Video Part 2

Welcome to How To Make A Music Video Part 2. This is the second part of our series outlining the steps needed to successfully create a music video. In How To Make A Music Video Part 1, we looked at why it’s important to pick the right song for your video, what to look at when thinking about a concept, and how to create a storyboard. In this part we’ll be touching on how you should go about finding a video recording company, things you need to prepare for the day, and more.

If you haven’t already read part one, I suggest you do that first. If you have, then let’s move on.
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How To Make A Music Video Part 1

Welcome to part one of the how to make a music video series. This is a two part series that will guide you through the process of getting a music video made. In this series we won’t cover how to use your own camera and record your own music video, that will be covered in a later post. We will however assume that you’ll be working with a camera man and a video editor, and that they are professionals who have their own equipment.

This guide focuses on everything that you personally need to think about and sort out to make your video come out how you want it. Many people fail to realise how much work needs to be put in to make a music video, so we’ve put this guide together to let you know step by step what you’ll need to do. In part 1 we’ll show you the importance of picking the right song to match your video’s aims, what factors you need to think about with regards to the look, feel and speed of the video, and how to create a storyboard that will get everyone on the same page when it comes to making it.
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Posted in Make A Music Video | No Comments »

How To Create A Storyboard For Music Videos (With Template)

In this article we will show you how to create a storyboard for music videos. Whether you’re recording your own music video or you’re paying someone to make one for you, at some point you will need to create a storyboard. Today we will look at what a storyboard is, why you need one when making a music video, what you should include in a music video storyboard, and finally how to put all those pieces together and create one. We also provide your with a free music video storyboard template so you can get started on creating your own one right away.
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Posted in Make A Music Video | 2 Comments »

How Selling Music Online Can Fuel Physical Demand

This is a guest post by Nick Lewis. If you have music advice to share with Independent Music Advice readers, please check the Guest Bloggers Wanted page for info on how to write for us.

Digital distribution has opened up countless new opportunities for musicians of all types. It has allowed artists to be (metaphorically) shelved alongside major label releases and those of their heroes on an equal footing. That’s not to say that physical releases should be ignored though, and actually, a well thought out approach to selling music online can actually aid in getting you physical sales. In this article I look at why you should sell your music online before releasing a physical single or album.
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Posted in How To Sell Music, Product Creation | No Comments »

Music Courses And Learning The Music Business

This guest post is by Alvina Lopez at AOC. Guest bloggers are needed, so if you have some music business advice to share with our readers then get in touch.

Music business courses, dvds, books and more can all help with learning.

As you may know, there are tons of options when it comes to educating yourself in the art of music. Methods of learning include music business books, DVDs, online lessons, private lessons, and formal higher education. Any of these resources can help, but some will suit your needs better than others. The way you choose to educate yourself on the music business will depend on how you learn best. For example, some people can get all the information they need by reading a book, while others may need a mentor near to answer any questions they may have.

Below are some of the options available for increasing your music business knowledge.
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Posted in Music Business Courses, Music Business Theory | No Comments »

The Benefits Of An Electronic Press Kit In Music

This is a guest post by Danielle of Artroom Melody. Guest bloggers are wanted for Independent Music Advice, so if you think you’ve got what it take then click the above link.

Today we’re going to look at what an electronic press kit is (Also known as a EPK) and what you as a musician would include in one. We also look at how having an EPK would benefit you. If you haven’t made an electronic press kit yet, now is the time to do so.

What Is An Electronic Press Kit?

First of all, what is an EPK? Well, a EPK is a press kit in digital format. If any journalists want any information about you or your band, they would search your website to see if you have a pack for the media. This will be your pack.

Some of the contents of musician’s electronic press kits can typically be found on their social networking pages, such as their Facebook, Reverb Nation, and MySpace pages. The difference between these sites and an electronic press kit however, is that the press kit takes the fragmented bits of information scattered across various profiles, and merges them into one concise entity. The end result is a single destination for every bit of information a professional in the music industry could ever need to know about you or your band.
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Posted in Music Promotion And Marketing | No Comments »

How To Produce Music For Beginners Part Two

How To Produce Music At Home For Beginners Part Two

Welcome to How To Produce Music For Beginners Part Two. This is the second of a two part series helping beginners get to grips with how to produce their own music. In part one we looked at why you would want to become a music producer, whether you should use a professional recording studio or produce at home with beat maker software such as DubTurbo (And why), how hard music production really is, and what you need to get started. In this part, we’ll look at what software you should use to learn the ropes, where to get your own samples to makes your songs more exciting, how to arrange your songs, and what you need to do if you want to create beats like a professional.

If you haven’t checked out part one yet, I suggest you read that first to get some background knowledge that will help you come a better producer:
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Posted in Make Your Own Beats | No Comments »

A Bit More About Independent Music Advice (IMA)

Sometimes I get emails asking about IMA and the work we do. Because of this, I thought I'd show you a bit more about what we do and why we do it. In short: This site is there to help independent musicians learn the business side of the music industry. Why do we do this? Because a lot of people could be making a lot more then what they currently do, but simply don't have the knowledge to make it happen. That is why we provide this information, to help guide you and make your music journey a much better one.

Why Learn The Music Business?

If you've ever tried to release a song or even give your music away for free, you'll know how hard it is to get people to listen. You need to ask yourself, are you making money from your music? Do you know who your biggest fans are in terms of sales and dedication to your cause? If you have a gig today, do you know which of your fans are most likely to turn up? Furthermore, would you even know how to get people to come down to your gigs?

The music industry is a lot tougher then a lot of people think. It's not as simple as creating a CD, telling people to buy it, and a load of people magically find your website and buy your music. There's a lot more to it then that, and certain things need to be done before people will be interested in buying your songs. In fact, there's a lot more that needs to be done before people are even willing to download your songs for free these days!

The freedom of the internet has meant that everyone has a voice, and the average music fan has got fed up of listening. So what can you do to get fans interested in your music particularly?

This is where independent Music Advice (IMA) come in! By learning the business of music, you will be in a position to properly market yourself in a way that will make people listen. You will learn key business practices to get your music on the map, and start making money from your music career.

We offer a lot of free music business advice on this website, but if you really want to take the music industry by storm and have your career take off, you need to check out the IMA Music Business Academy. This is where we give you a step by step guide on what you need to do to make it as an independent musician. It is possible to make a part time or full time living from your music, and it's possible to do that without the help of a record label or getting signed.

The problem I see a lot however, is musicians promoting in the wrong way. They are convinced that their marketing efforts are moving them forward, when in fact they are simply wasting their time and energy. We aim to put a stop to this, and only focus on what is proven to work in the music industry. While in IMA we cover a load of topics that people have requested from us, in the IMA Music Business Academy, we only cover things that are proven to move your music forward. No time wasting, no fluff: Only the good stuff!

Music Industry Knowledge

Independent Music Advice provide you with all the knowledge you need to tackle the music industry by yourself. The music industry can be a tough one, and one where good knowledge and advice isn't freely available. This is why we decided to set up this site, so you could find everything you need in one place.

Music Industry Jobs

If you want a job in the music industry, you need to be able to have a good working knowledge of how things work. There are a lot of different jobs you can take up in the music business: A musician, a ghost-writer, a wedding singer, a music producer, a blogger, and much more. Each of these jobs has pros and cons, so it's up to you to decide which is right for you. We give a lot of advice on all different types of music business jobs, so have a look around the site for more information.

If you like the information we provide on this website, please share it around via Facebook, Twitter, your own websites, or anywhere else you think other people will find it useful. This is only quick for you to do, but will mean a great deal to us. Thanks again for visiting Independent Music Advice, bookmark us and enjoy your stay.

To see older posts, check out the Independent Music Advice Archive >>

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