The Music Snob » Web resources

An Online Metronome for Practicing Musicians

brian — Wed, 13 May 2009 10:00:38 +0000

I got an email recently from MusicSupervisor in which they pointed out this sweet website:

No need to actually buy a metronome, just go to their site, click on the beats per minute you need, and magically you have your tempo. Awesome. As long as you are sitting near a computer! Rock on.

Sure beats the old version.

Staump.com – A Growing Online Community of Musicians We recently interviewed the founder of Staump.com, Tim Staump, to...

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How to Book a Music Tour – IndieOntheMove.com

brian — Mon, 29 Dec 2008 15:18:20 +0000

I just came across a great site called Indie on the Move.

What is Indie on the Move?

The site is a free database of booking information for music venues across the US, designed to help bands book tours.

Booking a Music Tour Just Got Easier

The information is helpful and to-the-point. Contact info and booking tips.
The site design is very visual, making it easy and pleasant to find what you’re looking for.

Nice job on the site, guys. This is akin to what I was hoping to start with the Music Snob venue wiki, but this site has better information in a more visually pleasing way.

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Mahalo – A Newish Search Engine

brian — Thu, 28 Aug 2008 19:46:45 +0000

The new search engine, Mahalo, seems worth checking out, both for musicians and marketeers looking to get a leg up. I’m too busy to learn more about it right now, and its “Add Link” function wasn’t working for me (Beta version), but there appears to be a ton of good music resources aggregated in a seemingly logical way.

Smoke it!

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Marketing is an Illness – So Cheer Up!

brian — Thu, 28 Aug 2008 16:26:53 +0000

The deeper I wade into the nuts and bolts of music marketing, the sicker I feel. Are all industries as over saturated and horrifying?

Of all things, music has been the closest to my heart forever. And so I can’t imagine how I would feel, marketing something I didn’t even like. Oh, wait. Actually I can. Last year I worked in marketing at a hi-tech company here in NYC. My job in a nutshell was to sell software that didn’t exist with features and benefits that the company could never produce, to non-existent customers. What a shithole. Try feeling confident when pitching imaginary products based on technology you couldn’t produce or even talk about intelligently, to Fortune 500 companies. Good luck!

Anyway. I just came across a really cool hip-hop biz blog. Justin Boland has a style that I can really identify with. As the Bobs would say, this guy is a “real straight shooter”.

Some of my favorite comments of his that I’ve come across so far:

Depression is counterproductive and self-indulgent. The time you spend brooding is time you could spend building.

I constantly have to remind myself that this is a path I chose, consciously and deliberately, and this frustration is the inevitable consequence of Doing It Right.

The music industry is a parasite, extracting and exploiting resources from their host organism, completely unable to sustain itself without fucking the little guy over.

Marketing is Simple and Boring as Fuck

MySpace is a demonic entity that sustains itself off the life-energy of it’s users. It is a Waster of Time and an Eater of Hours. I do not like it.

“New Business Models” Are For Rich People. The biggest disconnect between my theory and practice was this: here in reality, 95% of our planning doesn’t mean shit and never will.

I find it admirable that someone disposed to such flippant and cynical opinions is working 16-hour days to launch a record label. He’s also got some sweet advice.

Maybe he needs an intern?

But don’t worry. Back to the matters at hand. Coming up, we will have an article on Rumblefish, a review of the music licensing companies we’ve covered so far, and many enlightening interviews from fabulously successful people.

And remember, as I need to, that the music part is actually fun! The best thing I’ve done in the past several weeks was to play a few songs at a music festival at The Tritone in Philadelphia. Damn are those people nice!

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Some Good Advice

brian — Fri, 22 Aug 2008 12:23:54 +0000

Hey y’all, I recently came across Talk Music Biz, which covers a lot of ground that I think would be helpful for any of us poor and crushed musicians out there. The guy who maintains the site posts good videos where he talks about music industry stuff, and has some good tips for online marketing, getting licensed, internet radio, and on and on. Check it out.

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Down the Rabbit Hole

brian — Mon, 28 Jul 2008 14:57:02 +0000

The web seems host to an unending world of content, and each day I’m discovering more and more great resources for musicians. Articles on just about anything related to music marketing. Dialogue is happening on all levels, from high up at the corporate and start-up biz side, down to the nuts and bolts of engaging with one listener at a time.

Here are some sites I’ve come across that seem to be part of the solution:

Music Business 101

Bob Baker’s Music Promotion Blog

Music Marketing dot com

Music Think Tank

New Music Strategies

Unsprung Media

The Lefsetz Letter

Derek Siver’s Blog (Founder of CD Baby)

Indie HQ

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