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Secrets to a Great Single Part One: Choosing the Right Song

By NationWide Source - Aug 11, 2015 Estimated reading time: 4 minutes

I was sitting in a dark room with my eyes closed, listening intently to the music that was pumping through my headphones. I was carefully analyzing each song that played, noting the melody, tempo, and feel of the song.

About half way through the album, I opened my eyes, ripped the headphones off, and exited the room brimming with frustration.

I was trying to choose the first single off my first album.

Admittedly, the dark room was my closet. And the analyzing that was happening was mostly me trying not to be too picky about what I wanted to change on my newly-completed CD. But the frustration was almost too real.

How was I supposed to know which song was single-worthy? I loved them all!

Choosing which song deserves to be a single can be a daunting task for any artist. Picking the right song-whether from an album or to record as a stand alone single-is vital for musicians in today’s world of short attention spans. Luckily,you don’t need to feel all the frustration that I went through. Here’s a list of criteria for singles, and four tips to make the process of choosing a single a little easier.

A Single Is…

Catchy. Your single needs to be instantly singable. You want people to be humming it hours after they listen.
Relateable. Your single needs to resonate with lots of different people. Everyone has their own story. Your single needs to find its way into a chapter or two of your listeners’ stories. That’s why love songs and breakup songs are so popular. Almost everyone has those shared experiences at some point or another. Your single doesn’t have to be a love song, but it does need to resonate with people.
Visual. Most singles have a music video to accompany them. While this is not strictly necessary, it is important to consider what a video to your single would look like. Good songwriting usually includes visual elements. If you can’t come up with any visual imagery for your song, you might need to re-visit your lyrics or pick another song as your single.
Promotable. If you can’t come up with any ways to promote your single, then it shouldn’t be a single. If it doesn’t lend itself well to video, if you can’t come up with some cool ideas for graphics, if you can’t think of ways to write interesting tweets about it, it’s probably not single-worthy.

Now that you know the criteria for your single, here are three tips on actually choosing the song.

1 – Follow Your Gut

As the creator and artist, you are intimately familiar with your music–all of it, not just the songs you’ve chosen to record. You know your art, and you can usually tell when you’ve written something that stands out. Don’t be afraid to listen to your gut feeling on which song is a home run.

2 – Don’t Follow Your Gut

This doesn’t make sense. I know. But sometimes when you are so close to all your work, you can’t see the bigger picture. Being humble enough to listen to someone else’s opinion could mean the difference between a great success and a huge failure. You may love your highly specific song about the exact feeling of happiness you get when your lawn is perfectly mowed, but that might not be the best single. Just because a song isn’t single material doesn’t mean it’s not a great song. It just means that it’s not a very universally appealing song. Often a single is used to drive publicity and hype, and you want to pick a song that can appeal to the masses.

3 – Listen to Your Fans

Get the opinions of your friends, family, industry pros, and, most importantly, your fans. Fans are the ones who will be buying your single, so they should be the deciding factor in choosing the right song. What song do they tell you they love after shows? What song do they ask to buy?

You might want to ask the fans on your mailing list their opinion. Give them a link to vote on the song they like best, or ask them to email you their opinion directly!

4 – Compare Yourself

This isn’t something I usually advocate for, but when you are choosing your single, take some time to study what’s currently being released in your genre. Create a playlist of singles that have been released in your genre (and maybe a few outside your genre!) in the past 3 months. Put your music in that playlist. What song fits well? You want to be unique and cut above the noise, but you also don’t want to be so out in left field that people click the skip button when your track comes up.

Now that you have the tools for choosing a great single, stay tuned for Part Two-The Unique Challenges of Recording a Single!
How did you choose your last single? Was your gut feeling right, or did you let the fans or an industry professional choose? Let us know in the comments below!

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10 Terms You Need to Know at Your Next Gig

By NationWide Source - Aug 7, 2015 Estimated reading time: 6 minutes

Have you ever listened to two computer programmers talk to each other? How about two or three people obsessed with the same video game? Maybe it was your Grandma and Great Aunt Betty talking about knitting techniques.

Often vocations or hobbies that have a very specific niche will also have a very specific vocabulary. The music industry is no different.

For musicians who are just beginning to venture into the world of live shows, the terms that get thrown around can be confusing. Even musicians who have been playing professionally for a while will occasionally stumble upon a phrase they’ve never heard before.

We’re going to help ease your mind as you prepare for your next gig by getting you familiar with the jargon before you head out for the venue.

Load In

Load in is the time when you are expected to be at the venue to bring all your equipment inside. This time is typically the same for all musicians, unless you’ve been specifically told that your load in will be directly before your soundcheck.

Soundcheck

This is your time before the show to get comfortable in the space on stage, make sure you can hear yourself well, and run over any last minute adjustments with the band. During soundcheck you will usually play each instrument individually, then play together so the sound guy can make sure that you sound amazing. Sound check is also when you need to let the sound engineer know if you have any special needs for your mix. If the violin needs to be cranked for the whole set, or if you have vocalists swapping microphones, they need to know about it.

Front of House

This is the mix of your music that the audience hears. The sound guy who makes all the magic happen for the audience is called the “FOH Engineer.” Always make sure you are extra polite and gracious to the FOH Engineer (and ALL the staff at the venue!), because they control how you sound. If you are playing a new venue, or you’ve never met the FOH Engineer at a venue you play often, take a few minutes and get to know them. Sound guys are the most important member of your band, regardless of where you are playing.

Monitors

Monitors are the speakers that are angled up at you onstage, and they are your best friends. Monitors allow you to hear a different mix from the audience, so that you can hear exactly what you need to perform well. This is called a monitor mix. If you are playing a small venue, they may only have one or two monitors. Bigger venues may have one for each member of the band. If possible, it’s a good idea to try and get a separate monitor mix for each member of the band. If that’s not possible, a drummer and bassist can usually share a monitor mix; guitars will probably have their own or share with keys, and vocalists will typically have their own. A keyboardist and vocalist can share a monitor mix if necessary. Some venues may also have a set up for in ear monitors, although the band usually brings that with them. Make sure you clarify what the monitor setup is going to be before the show so that there is no confusion when you get to your gig.

Green Room

This room may or may not be green, but it always refers to the room that performers can hang out in before they go onstage. In some venues, a green room may be replaced with dressing rooms, or there may be dressing rooms in addition to a green room. Sometimes only the headliner is given access to the green room, so if you aren’t headlining, you might want to clarify with the venue what their policy is.

Hold

This is a term that you will probably encounter as you are booking shows. This term is used most often by promoters and booking agents when they are talking to venues, but it’s important for musicians to understand what it means.

When a promoter (or band) asks for a “hold” they are asking that the venue not book anything else on that day. Typically holds are placed far in advance of the show date, and they happen on a first come, first served basis.

Many venues will place several holds on a date as they try to fill up their calendars. When this happens, each person with a hold is assigned a position–first, second, third etc.– based on when they contacted the venue. A first hold will have priority in booking the date. A second hold would only be able to book that date if the first hold decided they didn’t want it. For some venues, these holds can be 6 people deep as promoters compete for dates.

If you are booking yourself, and you’ve run into a “hold” on your perfect date, don’t worry. Just because there is a hold on a date doesn’t mean the date is booked. Be sure to follow up with the venue in a week or so to see if the hold is still there.

Guarantee

If you are getting a guarantee for your show, it means that no matter how many people show up, you are still going to get paid. This is every artist’s goal for each show they book, though a guarantee doesn’t always happen.

Door Cut

Door cut is not sawing the venue’s front doors into pieces and giving them to the band.

A door cut means that you are going to be paid a percentage of ticket sales. Your door cut might be a percentage of all ticket sales, or a percentage of the tickets sales for fans that came to see you specifically. Be sure to find out before you play, so you can tell your fans if they need to mention your name to the person selling tickets.

Set Time

This is the time you play, as opposed to when the show starts or when doors open. It can also refer to the amount of time you have to play.

Comp

Usually comps come in the form of drinks or food. A venue will usually “comp” each band member a drink or two for the evening.

Bonus! The Infamous Ceiling Point

This one really isn’t a term. It’s a gesture that you may have seen bands use during soundcheck. When it comes time to mix monitors, each musician will play individually, and then the other members of the band will either point up, down, or give a thumbs up to the engineer. This is a way of non-verbally signaling exactly what you need in your monitor. It’s much more efficient than constantly stopping to ask the monitor engineer to tweak something, especially for a band member who doesn’t have a microphone. Pretty much anytime you ask the sound engineer for a change in levels, you can use these simple signals to make sure you get your monitor levels where you want them. Just make sure you clarify what instrument you need turned up or down!

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5 Tips to Get More People to Your Shows

By NationWide Source - Aug 6, 2015 Estimated reading time: 4 minutes

Sometimes the hometown crowd is the toughest. It’s easy for fans to get burnt out, especially if you play frequently in your city. If you’ve been seeing your local show attendance and interest drop, how can you re-invigorate your home base and pull off a stellar show?

We’ve got five easy tips to make your next hometown show a home run!

1 – Stop Playing

Yes, you read that right. Have you ever spent a week eating nothing but pizza? The next week, if anyone even mentions pizza, you groan in disgust, and probably mutter something along the lines of, “I never want to eat pizza again!”

If you play too often in your home city, your local fans could be experiencing that same feeling. If you play 3 times a week in the same 50 mile radius, your fans are going to get burnt out. Try taking a break from shows for a couple weeks to write or record some new material. Try focusing some of that booking energy on getting a few gigs in the next city over, and building a fan base there.

We’re not saying you should never play your hometown. But by decreasing the frequency of your hometown shows, you will help to create demand for your shows. Then your fans can get excited about when you do play in your city.

2 – Create an Event

I’m not talking about a Facebook event, although you should probably create one of those too. I’m talking about making your concert special. Some obvious events are a CD release show, or a hometown show celebrating the end of a tour, but there are almost endless possibilities for creating events.

Depending on your band and brand, you could come up with some pretty crazy events to get people excited about your shows. Try a “Christmas in July” show, and grab a couple other bands to play some holiday tunes in the middle of summer (this is also a great time to start rehearsing and recording your new Christmas album!). You could do a birthday show for a band member, or a birthday show for your drummer’s 15 year old pug! The possibilities are endless.

If you want a less frivolous event, you could partner with a local charity and donate proceeds from the show. You could also use a concert to film a live music video. Invite all your fans to come out so they can be the stars of your video. In addition to creating buzz for the show itself, this is also a great way to get some free promo, because people are more likely to share the video if they are in it!

3 – Try an Out of the Box Venue

Everyone has seen artists play at the local downtown club. But there are lots of other places where you can perform that can drum up some additional interest. House concerts are the obvious choice for this, but there are many other places people don’t expect to see a live show. Why not contact the city to see if you could find a way to play an acoustic show while standing in a fountain? Why not be the first band to play a show in a small town museum or a fitness studio? Shows in odd places will have their own unique challenges, but the novelty of the show might be the kick in the pants your fans need to get out to a show!

4 – Create Exclusivity

Scarcity inspires excitement. If your fans will spread the word, a secret show could be a great tool. Or a show in a venue half the size of what you usually play. You could try only offering tickets to people who subscribe to your email list, or who retweet your last music video. This concept also applies to tip number one! The less shows you play in your hometown, the more excited people are going to be about coming out to see you!

5 – Bring Your Fans In

Everyone likes to feel like they are a part of something. Bringing your fans into the process of planning and executing a show can help get them excited about attending and bringing their friends. You can get fans to give input on the set list, or the band’s wardrobe for the evening. You could conduct a poll to decide which never-before-heard-hilarious-tour-story you’re going to tell onstage. You could even go a step further and have a contest to invite a few fans out for a post-show dinner and announce the winner at the show.

Have you experienced hometown burnout? Have any great tips to get fans in your homebase excited again? Let us know in the comments below!

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What Independent Musicians Need to Know About Fair Play Fair Pay

By NationWide Source - Aug 3, 2015 Estimated reading time: 6 minutes

Take a minute and journey with me into the muddy waters of licensing, royalty payment, and copyright. If you’ve had much experience with these things in the past, you quickly realize that the way that copyright holders in the United States get paid is a complicated mess.

Unfortunately, this mess is one of the most important things for artists and musicians to understand. If you missed our series on understanding copyright, I recommend you take a few minutes and read them.

These articles will help give you a good foundation to understand the rest of this article, and why Fair Play Fair Pay is important.

What is Fair Play Fair Pay?

One of the odd quirks of copyright law is that the performing artist does not get paid when their song is played on traditional radio. When a song is played on your favorite FM radio station, the station pays only the owner of the underlying musical work. This usually means that the publishing company gets paid, and then they pay the writers of the song. This is different from digital radio services like Pandora, Sirius XM, and Spotify, which are required to pay royalties to the artist and owner of the sound recording copyright, in addition to the owner of the underlying musical work.

Currently, the United States is one of the only developed countries in the world that doesn’t also pay artists and sound recording owners when their music is played on traditional radio. But the Fair Play Fair Pay Act is trying to change that.

If the Fair Play Fair Pay Act passes, the artists and labels who own the sound recording (SR) copyrights would be entitled to compensation from the radio stations that are benefiting from the public performance (each spin on radio is technically a performance) of those works.

How Will Artists Get Paid?

The royalties earned from radio airplay would be directly paid to SoundExchange, a non-profit organization that was set up by the government to collect royalties from digital radio services. SoundExchange automatically divides royalties between artists and the SR copyright owner. The primary artist on the track will receive 45% of royalties, labels and SR copyright owners 50%, and other featured musicians on the track will get 5%.

The act will also specify a minimum payment amount based on how the radio station (internet, terrestrial, or streaming) uses those sound recordings, and whether or not the use is promotional. The royalty rate will be determined by the Copyright Royalty Board and not set into law by Congress, which is good news for artists since it’s much easier to renegotiate rates with the Copyright Royalty Board than with the Senate and House of Representatives.

Direct, negotiated licenses will still be available, but payment for the use of the sound recording will still have to go through SoundExchange.

This minimum payment is great news for artists. It means that a service like Spotify, or even Pandora, could possibly pay a higher rate because consumers are more involved in choosing the music they will listen to, unlike traditional radio where all the music is chosen for the listener.

Royalties From Around the World

Though it seems like a small thing, the fact that America is one of the last developed countries to implement this kind of royalty payment for traditional radio is a really big deal. Because America’s royalty payouts don’t look like the rest of the world’s, the American music industry loses about 100 million dollars annually.

This is because of a little thing called “reciprocal rights.”

Basically, if a radio station in the UK plays a song, they have to pay to play the underlying song, and pay the artist/label for paying the sound recording. If the artist is American, that money will come back across the pond. But it will only be the royalties for the underlying composition, because America doesn’t have a reciprocal (i.e. similar) right that says artists have to be paid.

If Fair Play Fair Pay passes, those reciprocal rights would kick in, and American artists would be payed the same as their European counterparts.

Other Aspects of Fair Play Fair Pay:

This act also includes a provision to pay artists who released music previous to 1972, and do not receive any royalties when their music is performed. (You can read about that loophole in copyright here)
The act will also make sure that small broadcasters, like college stations, and public broadcasters, like NPR, will pay a reduced royalty rate so that the changes in the law won’t force them out of business.
The bill also gives SR copyright owners an easy way to make sure the producers and sound engineers who worked on their project get paid.
If this law is passed, it will keep internet radio stations like Pandora from trying to lessen their payments to artists. You can read about that fiasco here.

Why is Fair Play Fair Pay Important for Independent Musicians?

Fair Play Fair Pay will mean more money in the hands of artists. And if you are an independent musician who owns both copyrights to your songs, when your songs are played on terrestrial radio, you will get 95% of that royalty rate, plus what you would already be making from the underlying copyright.

This act is a step in the right direction for the major copyright overhaul that is desperately needed, and that musicians and other creators have been asking for since the early 2000s.
Independent musicians are by far the largest force in the music industry. Our main problem is that we don’t know how to band together and use our powers for good!

When legislature comes up before Congress that will positively affect musicians across the board, indie musicians should be the most excited. And in the case of a new law passing, musicians can actually do something by emailing their representative and senators, and getting involved with organizations like GRAMMY On The Hill, or the Future of Music Coalition, that are working to help get these bills turned into law.

If you’d like to get involved, you can click here to write to your congressional representatives, or even tweet at them!

Do you think the Fair Play Fair Pay Act should be passed? Do you think it will make a significant difference for artists? Let us know in the comments below!

Understanding Music Copyright: Originality and Ownership

What To Do AFTER You’ve Finished Writing a Song

Music Royalties: What You Should Know

The Difference Between Songwriting in Nashville and New York

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How to Take Great Band Photos in 5 Steps

By NationWide Source - Jul 29, 2015 Estimated reading time: 7 minutes

It was a freezing cold day. Sometimes Texas in November is kind, and you’ll get a beautiful 65 degrees with not a cloud in the sky! But this was not one of those days. It was overcast, drizzling off and on, and was easily in the low-30s.

But this was the day that we had booked the photographer, so out into the cold I ventured to take the promotional shots for my next album.

Getting in front of a photographer is a part of being a musician that I don’t really enjoy. I’m definitely not a model. I get self conscious, start to clam up, I worry the entire time how the pictures are going to turn out, and I spend half the shoot wondering if my hair looks super weird.

This time though, I promised myself I wasn’t going to worry. I was going to be prepared, and do some concrete things to make sure the photos turned out great. And they did!

I know that many musicians also struggle with taking great photos, so I’ve put together the tips that got me through my last photo shoot so that you can also take some amazing band photos.

Step 1 – Be Prepared

The best thing you can do to get great photos is know what you want. Do some digging, and find photos you really like. These might be photos of other bands, landscapes, album covers, or portraits.

Try to find about 10 pictures that you really love. Then try and pick out one or two things about each photo that you like. Colors, the “vibe” of the picture, the location, how people are posed in the photo, and the lighting are all things that you should look for. When you’ve defined why you like your 10 photos, you’re ready to start looking for a photographer. The photos you picked out will help you find a photographer with a style that works for your music and your brand, and will also help you to communicate what you want when you hire a photographer.

Step 2 – Choose Wisely

Photographers are artists. If you wanted to listen to thrash metal live, you probably wouldn’t go to a coffeehouse open mic. If you want photos that are a particular style, you need to find a photographer that works within that style.

I’m not saying that a photographer shouldn’t be flexible and try to get the shots that you want. But you should do your research, and find a photographer in your area whose current portfolio is similar to the look you’re going for. If all of their photos look a certain way, and you want something completely different, you should probably choose a different photographer.

When you’re communicating with a potential photographer, try sending them a link to your music. Listening to your music can help them to get a feel for what kinds of photos they will need to take, and if their style will mesh well with your band.

You also need to make sure you have permission from your photographer to use the images for commercial purposes. Remember, they own the copyright to the photos they take. Most professional photographers will have a protocol already in place for granting a commercial licenses for their photos.

When choosing a photographer, style is key. But you also have to look at price. Different Photographer price things differently, so chances are you’ll be able to find something in your price range. If you absolutely love a particular photographer’s style, but they are a little too expensive, it never hurts to shoot them an email to explain your needs and your budget. They may be able to work out a reduced rate or a shorter shoot time to accommodate you. Some photographers will also give discounts for a type of photo they don’t usually shoot. If a family photographer really wants to start shooting bands and live shows, they may offer a lower rate for the experience.

If you have practically no budget for photography, a good place to look is local art schools, colleges, and universities. If they have a graphic design or photography program, chances are their students are looking for models. A lower level student might shoot you for free, and an upper level student may have rates far below an established photographer because they need to build their portfolio.

Step 3 – Be Prepared…Again

Now that you know the style you’re after, and who you’ll be working with, begin to plan the actual photo shoot. Talk to your photographer about scouting locations for your photos. They might have some locations where they love to shoot, or you may discover the perfect location yourself. Be open to ideas from your photographer, and from your bandmates.

Once you’ve decided on a location (or two!) you need to decide what you’re going to wear, and if you need hair and makeup help. Remember, you are paying someone good money to record what you look like at a specific moment in time. Don’t waste that money by not taking a few minutes to focus on how you look. A good idea for your appearance is to take cues from what you would normally wear on stage. If you are a grunge band that only wears cut-offs and tank tops to perform in, don’t go to your photo shoot wearing a formal tuxedo (unless perhaps the name of the album you’re taking promo pictures for is “Irony”).

If you didn’t have a face to face meeting when you hired your photographer, make sure to have one before the day of the shoot. If you’re shooting with your full band, maybe invite the photographer to your next practice. That way they can meet everyone who will be in the pictures. Your pictures will come out better if everyone is comfortable around each other, and meeting face to face can help eliminate some of the initial awkwardness.

Step 4 – Create a Shot List

Musicians have very specific needs for photos, and if your photographer isn’t used to shooting bands, they may not be familiar with them. Do you feature individual bios of your band members on your website? Then you should probably take close up individual shots of everyone in your band.

You may also need several shots that are pulled very far back from the band. You can use these for posters, or online graphics that you’ll need to put text over. This way, the text is more readable, and you’re not covering up the faces of your members with the time of your next show. You may even need a few shots of only the background, especially if you’re shooting outdoors. These can be used for the inside of your album packaging, an album cover, or for promos and graphics. These are the types of shots that a photographer unaccustomed to shooting bands may not realize they need to get, but are vital for musicians.

Step 5-Relax

You look great I promise. The more relaxed you are, the better the photos will turn out. And let’s be real. Most photographers will take somewhere around 500-1000 pictures in one shoot. And you are probably only going to use 10 of those pictures. There’s no pressure to make every shot look fantastic. Be yourself, and don’t freak out.

This doesn’t mean don’t be aware. You need to make sure the shots on your must-take list are getting done, and you probably don’t want your drummer goofing off in every shot. But being aware doesn’t mean you have to be stressed. Relax, have fun, and good pictures will follow.

What do you do to prepare for a photoshoot? Have any great tips on taking the best promo picture ever? Let us know in the comments!

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Submitting Your Music to Blogs: The Five Blogs You Forgot

By NationWide Source - Jul 27, 2015 Estimated reading time: 5 minutes

If you’ve been on Facebook in the last six months, you’ve seen the epidemic. All your friends are sharing blog post after blog post, and your newsfeed has become so blog oriented that you literally jump for joy when you see an actual status update.

While all these blogs may be a little obnoxious, I bet you’ve clicked on one. Or three. Or 16.

No shame! Blogs are a huge part of what makes the internet great, and they are an excellent tool for musicians. Getting your music featured in a blog can put your music in front of a whole new set of fans. There are tons of music blogs out there that are specifically dedicated to helping their readers find great new music. Pitchfork, Consequence of Sound, and The Wild Honey Pie are just a few examples of some well-known music blogs.

And though working to get your music featured on a music blog is definitely something you should be doing, if you are only submitting your music to blogs that are just about music you’re missing out.

There are millions of other kinds of blogs out there that you could be submitting to. And these blogs don’t get hundreds(or thousands!) of music submissions thrown at them everyday. By pursuing blog coverage at a popular non-musical blog, you have a better chance of actually getting heard, and getting featured.

Just remember, if you are submitting to a non-music blog:

Look for a blog about something that you already have an interest in. It will be easier for the blogger to feature you (and interview you!) if you are excited about what they normally blog about.
Look for a blog that’s related to your music. Chances are that many blog “niches” are missing a theme song. So if you’ve written a very specific song or concept album, look for blogs that write about what you wrote about!
Look for a regional blog. If you live in a major city, there are probably blogs that are geo-specific to you. If the blogger likes your stuff, you may even be able to sit down with them face to face about being featured on their blog.

So if you’re ready to start looking for some alternative press features, here are the top five non-musical blogs you should consider submitting to!

The Food Blog

If you love food almost as much as you love music, you can probably find a blog that appeals to your taste buds. If you love to cook, or are passionate about vegan living, a food blog might be a great place for you to seek out a feature. There are also quite a few regional food blogs, so try finding one in your city. You could even offer to write a column for a them about the best places in your city to get great food and live music!

The Fashion Blog

Chances are that you have a specific sense of style. Whether you’re a country artist who wears a different pair of boots to every show, or a rock-a-billy songstress with a penchant for pin-up clothing, there is a good chance there is some kind of fashion blog geared toward your own clothing preferences. Submitting your music to a fashion blog could also work if you have some kind of “trademark” piece of clothing that you wear at every show that the blogger could talk about.

The Travel Blog

If you are a touring musician, a travel blog might be a great place for you to look for press. You have the travel experience, and you might even have a song or two about your life on the road they could feature. If you enjoy writing, you might even talk to the owner of the blog about having a guest post series detailing your next tour. Then your fans would get updates about your tour, and your music would get a regular appearance on a website besides your own.

The Frugal Living Blog

It’s no secret that independent musicians don’t make truckloads of money. A frugal living blog might be a great place for you to talk about how you tour (aka travel) on a small budget, or how you keep your grocery budget low so you can save up for gear. A frugal living blog might even be a great place to release that new single you were planning on giving away, since their readers will probably be excited about getting something for free!

The Extremely-Specific Blog

I know. This technically isn’t a category of blogs. But you know yourself and your music better than anyone else. Look at your hobbies outside music and see if you can find a blog about your random obsession with Hello Kitty, or micro-gardening. Chances are there are other people who love the same things you do, and would be willing to listen to your music! Here are a few more really specific blogs to get you started brainstorming:

Gaming
Craft Beer
Coffee
Sports
Marketing
Religion
Lifestyle
Sushi
Crafting/DIY
Tiny Houses

Have you had any success submitting your music to non-music related blogs? Do you have any other ideas about what kind of blogs to submit to? Let us know in the comments below!

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Live Streaming Your Performance with Stageit, Periscope, and Google Hangouts for Musicians

By NationWide Source - Jul 24, 2015 Estimated reading time: 5 minutes

We live in an era where new technologies pop up quickly, and disappear just as fast. Everyone is always looking for the next awesome app that’s going to make their life a little easier, and a little more fun.

Enter live streaming.

Although live streaming video has been around for a while, it is beginning to gain popularity and traction, and some new live streaming apps have appeared in the last few months. Here’s a quick run-down of our favorite apps and websites, and how you can use them to promote your music, connect with fans, and even earn some cash.

Live Streaming Concerts With Stageit:

There are lots of different services that will allow you to stream a show live. UStream, Livestream, and Stageit are platforms that can put your concert directly onto your fan’s laptops. But Livestream and UStream are expensive to use.

This is why we recommend Stageit. Stageit is a great platform that was obviously built with musicians in mind. Artists like Jason Mraz, Ingrid Michaelson, and Bon Jovi have all used the platform. Stageit is simple to setup and use, and is free for artists. It allows you to choose ticket prices(or let fans choose a price) and fans can tip you during your show. Shows are defaulted to last for 30 minutes, although you can have up to a 20 minute “encore.”

There is also live commenting enabled for fans and artists so that you can interact with viewers during the show. You will also have access to information about the fans who tip the most during your show, and Stageit encourages you to give fans that tip generously a reward, like a signed CD or poster, when the show is over.

Stageit is available on mobile platforms as well as desktops and laptops, so your fans can watch from anywhere. All you need to get started is a webcam, but you can upgrade to a more complicated set up with more cameras and different audio sources if you like.

There are two downsides to Stageit. When you use Stageit to live stream a show, nothing is recorded and archived. This is a great thing to promote the exclusivity of the Stageit show, but it can become a problem if something great happens and you have no means to capture and keep the video.

Stageit also uses their own “currency” during shows called notes. Fans pay for show tickets and tip during the show with notes that they pre-pay for. One note is equal to 10 cents, and fans can purchase them when they sign up for the site. While this isn’t a bad system, it can be a little confusing for new users, so you may want to explain it to your fans before your show.

If you want to get into live streaming shows, Stageit can be a powerful tool to connect with fans, and put a little extra cash in your pocket.

Periscope for Musicians:

Twitter’s newest app launched in March 2015 and it’s beginning to pick up a lot of buzz. Periscope is a social app that lets your broadcast live wherever and whenever you want. You simply login with your Twitter account information, give Periscope access to your phone’s camera and photo roll, and you’re good to go. Then other users can tune in to what you’re broadcasting live.

There are a couple of features in Periscope that help it to stand a little above its main competitor Meerkat.

Privacy Settings: You can allow anyone to watch your Periscope broadcasts, or you can invite specific users in. This is a really cool feature if you are offering a live broadcast as a reward to fans for a crowdfunding campaign, or if you only want members of your fan club or patrons to see your broadcasts.
Video Archival: Periscope lets other users see your broadcasts for up to 24 hours after you post them, a feature that Meerkat doesn’t have. It also gives you the option to save all your broadcasts to your phone. This means that your Periscope broadcasts are doing double duty capturing video that you can use later for YouTube or Facebook.

Periscope can help you communicate directly to fans like never before. People who love your music can experience moments with you as they are happening, and they can interact with those moments. Periscope displays comments in real time during your broadcast so users can communicate with you directly and affect what’s happening in your broadcast by giving their suggestions or asking questions. This is a fantastic way for artists to deepen their communication with fans.

Google+ Hangouts On Air and YouTube Live:

Google+’s live streaming feature is a great choice if you want your live stream to be recorded and archived, and if you want a little more flexibility in where your users can watch from. Since Google+ and YouTube are best friends(i.e. owned by the game company!), your Google+ Hangout On Air can go directly to your YouTube channel, and will be archived there. Live streaming with Google+ is also embeddable, so you can place the video into your website. This is a great way to encourage your fans to visit your website. Google+ Hangouts On Air are simple to set up (you can find instructions here). If Google+ isn’t your cup of tea you can set up your live stream directly through YouTube (click here for details). They function essentially the same, although on YouTube fans will only be commenting, not engaging through video. You can also earn money for ad revenue during live broadcasts through YouTube if your channel is set up for monetization.

Closing The Gap

Having a dedicated set of fans is the number one key to having a successful career in music. Giving your fans custom experiences through live streaming can help you strengthen bonds with existing fans, and open doors to creating new ones. And when fans are engaged with you and your music, you are one step closer to a sustainable music career.
Have you used live streaming before? How did fans react? Will you use it again? Let us know in the comments below!

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Get Your Music on iTunes and Spotify: Digital Distribution with ONErpm

By NationWide Source - Jul 22, 2015 Estimated reading time: 6 minutes

When it comes to digitally distributing your music, there are options galore. From the heavyweights like CD Baby and The Orchard, to smaller companies like Mondotunes, you have options, and can pick the distribution company that is exactly right for you.

In this article we are going to take a look at ONErpm. ONEprm is a digital distribution service based in Brooklyn, NY, with offices in Brazil, and a new office opening in Nashville. They are an iTunes preferred partner, as well as one of the largest multi-channel networks on YouTube. They have quite a few options for independent musicians and labels that distribute through them, and we’re going to give you the run down of their most notable features. Lets look at what your options are if you choose ONEprm as your digital distributor.

Pricing

ONEprm has 2 main pricing options. But a great feature of ONErpm is their free distribution service.

Premium Package-a one time fee of $40 per album, or $15 per single. With the Premium Package, they also take a 15% cut of royalties.
Arena Package– an annual fee of $30 per album, or $15 per single. You get to keep 100% of your royalties (besides Youtube, but we’ll get into that later).
Free Option– ONErpm also has a free distribution tier. This option will distribute your music to Spotify, Rdio, Deezer and more. If you choose the free option, you can still opt-in to other stores, you just have to pay a small fee per store. Adding an album to iTunes is only $5, and since ONErpm is a preferred partner, your music could go live in less than 48 hours. This is a really cool option for a single that you only want to release in limited formats, or if you are using streaming services as a marketing tool instead of a distributor.

All major retailers are included in ONErpm’s digital distribution, although you will have to pay extra for ringtone stores and services like Shazam.

ONErpm Stores — Digital Distribution Options on ONErpm

ONErpm’s services will cover all your basic digital distribution needs, but ONErpm stands out with a few features that aren’t offered on other digital distribution platforms.

YouTube Certified

One of the major advantages of digitally distributing with ONErpm is their relationship with YouTube. Right now, YouTube is the number one music streaming service in the world, and their music infrastructure is only set to grow. ONErpm is a YouTube certified company, and they have one of the largest multi-channel networks in the world. A multi-channel network, or MCN, is simply a company that works with channel owners to effectively monetize their channel, provide digital rights management, funding, and audience management.

When you distribute your music through ONErpm, you have the option to distribute to YouTube. This doesn’t mean that your music automatically get uploaded onto a YouTube channel, it simply means that ONErpm enters your music into YouTube’s ContentID. When your music is identified in YouTube’s system, you can manage how your music is being used. This means that when people use your songs in their videos, or even re-upload a video that you created, you can locate those videos, and either issue a take-down notice, or file a claim to receive revenue on that video.

ONErpm’s unique connection to YouTube can also help you get extra revenue from your own videos, since ONErpm works directly with advertisers to negotiate a higher ad rate for their channels. They will also help you optimize your YouTube channel for monetization.

Being a part of ONErpm’s MCN is free and open to any YouTube creator, even if you aren’t a musician, or don’t choose to distribute your music through ONErpm. A nice bonus if you live in the NYC area is that ONErpm has a video production studio that you have free access to as a member of their MCN.

A downside to ONErpm’s YouTube services is that ONErpm takes a 30% cut of all revenue generated from YouTube. However, it may be worth it to let ONErpm handle your YouTube revenue if the money you gain from their higher ad prices equals out the 30% you pay them for managing your account.

If YouTube is an important part of your music, and you’re interested in joining an MCN, ONErpm might be the best distributing option for you. Neither Tunecore or CD Baby offer YouTube ContentID tracking, and they don’t have an MCN.

Marketing Resources

ONErpm also has several marketing options for artists. Their basic package includes social media management, verified profiles on streaming services, and email marketing. You can also upgrade to their specialized marketing services.

Much like CD Baby, fans can also go directly to your profile on ONErpm’s website and download music there. ONErpm has several pricing tiers, and lets you choose which one best fits you. In addition to setting your own prices for your downloads, you have the option to give away a free download in exchange for an email address. You can then download those emails and export them into whatever program you use to send email newsletters.

ONErpm also provides a free Facebook app that lets fans download music directly from your Facebook page. You can use this app to sell singles, full albums, or give away a download in exchange for an email. You can make this app the landing page for your band’s Facebook profile, and use “fan-gating” to ask users to like your page before they have the option to download your music.

ONErpm also gives you analytics, and monthly sales reports. You get paid through Paypal, and can withdraw funds whenever you like.

Your Choice

ONErpm’s digital distribution has some great benefits, and they offer a great deal of flexibility to artists in terms of services and price points. This personalization helps makes them a good choice for indie artists.

ONErpm might be the right distributor for you if:

You are interested in flexible pricing options, or free distribution to streaming services
You would like to sell your music directly on Facebook
You are interested in joining a YouTube MCN, and want someone to help you monetize your YouTube account.
You want your distributor to give you marketing support.

As you are looking for a digital distributor, keep your individual needs in mind. With so many companies offering similar services, make sure you find the company that best fits your needs as an artist.

Have you used ONErpm? What was your experience? Let us know in the comments below!

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How to Get Started in the Music Business in 3 Simple Steps

By NationWide Source - Jul 17, 2015 Estimated reading time: 6 minutes

In the music industry, there’s a saying that gets tossed around pretty often. Though there are different variations, the basic mantra is this:

“It’s called the music business for a reason.”

This is what the pros are saying when they toss that phrase around:

For recorded music to reach a listener, 98% of the time, some kind of business transaction was involved. For every beautiful song, for every masterful lyric, there was a person doing business behind the scenes making things happen.

Lets put it this way- if you want an electric guitar to be amplified, you have to plug it in. If you are only playing to a few people who are about 3 feet away from you, you might not need to use the amp. But if you want more people to hear what you’re doing, you have to plug that bad boy in and crank up the volume. Your music(the awesome creative stuff that comes out of your brain) is the guitar, and the business (the money, the marketing, the networking) is your amplifier.

Unfortunately, many independent musicians I meet are only plugging the guitar in halfway. Sure, they look like they’ve got everything right, but a guitar that’s only partially plugged in still isn’t going to make much noise.

So if you’re just getting started on the business side of “music business,” we’ve outlined the first three things you should do to plug in, power up the amp, and start your journey in the music industry.

Step 1- Be Professional

This may seem a little obvious, but the way you present yourself is important. You need to be professional in every different facet of your music career, but a good place to start is your web presence. This means creating a nice looking website with a custom domain, a simple electronic press kit (EPK), and making sure your social media profiles are up to date. To add an extra touch of professionalism, it’s also a good idea to choose a font or 2 and try to stick with those when you are making your website, EPK, and creating graphics for social profiles. Creating a website and EPK show industry professionals that you are willing to put some effort and energy into your music, and updated social media profiles will help your fans get to know you, and know where to find you and your music on the web.

You also want to invest a little time in the way you present yourself to people face to face. It might be a good idea to have a few business cards made up (after you’ve already decided on a website domain!) to give to other musicians and pros you might meet. You also need to decide if you’ll have merchandise to sell, and make sure your merch set-up is functional and visually pleasing. And as much as we hate it, go ahead and take a look at what you’re wearing. Whether you like it or not, many people’s first impression of you is going to come from what you’re wearing, especially when you’re onstage. So take an extra five minutes before your next gig and think about if what you’re wearing is a good visual interpretation of who you are, and what kind of music you play.

Step 2- Be Organized

If you want to be a part of the music business, you have to treat your music like a business! Most well run small businesses started with a plan that detailed a mission statement, legal structure, and how daily business will be run. I’m not saying you have to have a complicated business plan. But there are two things you need to keep careful records of.

Money:

You need to know what you are spending money on, and what money is coming in. Not only will this make your taxes way easier at the end of year, (yes, you do have to pay taxes on the income you earn from music!) but it will let you know how your business is doing. If you make a profit for six months, and then the next three months you are losing money, you need to find out why, and detailed records will help you with this. You can use a spreadsheet (like Microsoft Excel or Google Sheets) or a more complex accounting program like Quickbooks.

People:

It’s also vital that you keep track of your contacts. You need to know who you’ve talked to, when you talked to them, and what you talked about. This helps you define and expand your network. You can easily create a spread sheet, or a word processing document to keep track of these things. I recommend Google Docs, since you can access it from anywhere as long as you have a Gmail account. This is the place to keep the phone number of the graphic designer you met in line at the grocery store, and the email of the booking agent of that festival you want to play. A database like this will help you to know when to get in touch with people, send a follow up email, and if you need to send any extra materials to them (maybe a demo or a press kit).

Step 3- Be Proactive

Great music and great business ideas don’t mean much if you don’t put action behind them. To borrow from our earlier analogy, you need to turn the volume up on that amp! Just like practicing your instrument takes time, energy, and commitment, the business side of your music does too. Start out by devoting a few hours a week to your business. Spend some time marketing and creating content for fans, or work on getting your music placed in some licensing opportunities. Opportunities in the music industry come to musicians who are looking for opportunities. Don’t just sit around and hope you’ll get discovered. Go to some local shows in your area and meet other musicians. Play as many open mics as you can. Do some research on ways to grow your career (like reading the blogs on this website!).

Most importantly: perform, and do it well. Playing your music live is the best way to get new fans, cement relationships with current fans, and meet other musicians and industry professionals. Putting on a great live show also gives you legitimacy as a musician. This means lots of practice time making sure your music is absolutely killer before you get in front of an audience. The relationships you form at shows, and the reputation you will gain by playing awesome shows, are major factors in propelling you to the next level of your music career.

Beginning the journey of turning your music from a hobby into a business can be intimidating, but it doesn’t have to be. Putting these three steps into practice can help you put your best foot forward, and begin that journey in the right direction.
Have any tips to artists just starting out, or any advice on beginning a career in the music industry? Let us know in the comments!

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Dealing with Self Doubt: Learning to Love Yourself and Your Music

By NationWide Source - Jul 14, 2015 Estimated reading time: 6 minutes

A Source Spotlight Interview with Collin Hauser

Here at Source we love local artists. Being located in the Dallas/Fort Worth metroplex means that there are hundreds of great musicians at our doorstep.

We know that there are some problems, and triumphs, that artists share so we are going to sit down with one artist every month and have a discussion about some of the issues that musicians face.

This month, our local artist feature is Collin Hauser. Collin is based out of Denton, TX and plays regularly around the DFW metroplex and around the country. He just finished recording his new self-titled EP when we sat down to talk to him, so we asked Collin a couple of questions about his new release.

As we were talking, I realized that Collin had some insight on an issue I know many musicians deal with.

As musicians, our songs are an extension of ourselves. We pour everything we’ve got into the music, and we want it to be absolutely perfect before we show it to the world. We worry if it’s going to represent us well in the future, or if our fans will love it. And though all of these things are technically about the music, we tend to personalize them, and place those worries onto ourselves.

When that happens, it can be difficult for us to pull the trigger on finishing our projects. We might afraid to make them public because we think they aren’t good enough and as an extension, we aren’t good enough. We can get so worried about what other people might think that we let projects continue on indefinitely, adding new parts and taking them away, striving to create the “perfect” album.

Although it can be difficult to admit to others, and even to ourselves, this is a common insecurity felt by many musicians. It’s also something Collin dealt with as he put the finishing touches on his new album.

What was your biggest struggle in creating this album?

Collin: “The most difficult thing is accepting yourself. I think as an artist we’re always worried about how other people are going to perceive our work. Battling and dealing with how things are going to come across is a struggle. You have to accept who you are today. You have to accept that this is what the songs are today. If I were going to re-record these songs next month, they would be different. They would be five completely different songs. At some point, you just have to say ‘Enough.’ These are the songs that are speaking to me right now, these are the songs that mean something right now, and I have to accept who I am, and these songs how they are.

It’s almost a relief when you come to that realization because you can say to yourself, “This gives me room to grow,” and hopefully the next project is better. I can always find something to do differently, but I can be excited about putting the songs down and simply saying ‘They’re real now.’

And it’s a beautiful thing on the other side of accepting who you are that you get to step back from your work and be proud of what you did. That’s my favorite part about creating this album. I can look at the effort I put into it, and I’m excited about the EP. And when it’s done, you get to put yourself in the mindset of a listener and hear the art that you created. When you can accept who you are, listening to yourself can actually be therapeutic.”

But being okay with yourself and the music on your new project isn’t just something you magically discover when the record is finished. Accepting who you are as a person, and as an artist, is something that you have to deal with during the entire process of creating a record. And often that process takes much longer than we hope it will.

How much time did you spend on your record, from planning stages up until the release?

Collin: “Honestly, it’s been two years, but it hasn’t been two years. I recorded all the music for two of the songs on the EP over two years ago, but I didn’t feel like my vocals were good enough yet. I had written the songs, I had faith in the music, but I didn’t feel like I was in the right place vocally. The music was so good, and I wanted the vocals to match that. I went to school for jazz, and everything in jazz is theoretical. So sometimes I hear the part, sometimes I feel it, and because I know it’s theoretically possible, I end up writing music that’s too hard for me, and I have to step back and learn it.

Between deciding on the songs, cutting the tracks for the songs, and getting my vocals to the place I wanted them to be, it took about two years. After that, I was able to say, ‘This is really my first step as an independent musician. It’s ready.'”

Artists pour their heart and soul into the music they make. Part of learning to accept yourself as an artist is learning to step back and take a critical look at what you create. This is especially important when it comes time to decide what songs go on a record. Sometimes we get particularly attached to a song that might not be the best choice. Knowing that this is a major struggle when it’s time to record a new album, we asked Collin about his process for choosing the right songs.

How did you decide which songs went on the record?

Collin: “Well, it changed a thousand times! Besides the two songs I recorded two years ago, it was a difficult decision. My favorite song on the record is ‘You Are More in Love’ and choosing that one was a no-brainer. I had the arrangement for that song already worked out in my head, and I was so excited to flesh it out. Some other songs on the EP were collaborations with friends that I really wanted to include.

My original plan was to make an 8 track record, but I started to see how long the recording process was actually taking me, and I knew I needed to cut it down so I could get the record out. I made a checklist, and if the songs didn’t meet all the requirements on the checklist, they were out. After that, I had four songs left out of the original eight. So I got those all ready for release, had them mixed, mastered and ready to go, and when I listened to it, it was missing something. So we went back and added the track ‘Love in a Minor Key.’ We recorded everything for that song really quickly, but it ended up being one of my favorites.”

Collin is a great example of an artist who has learned to accept himself and his music for what it is, and find joy in the self expression that is creating music.

You can learn more about Collin and his new release by watching the video below, or checking out a preview of his new EP on SoundCloud.