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Category

Music Industry Tips

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An Interview with Anitra Jay from The Crafty Musician

Anitra Jay The Crafty Musician

Anitra Jay is an acoustic soul singer-songwriter based in Eureka Springs, AR. She tours regularly up and down the US from Vermont to Texas and everywhere in between. Her music is a sultry down to earth blend of soul, pop, and gospel. After being laid off from her job in 2007, Anitra decided to pursue a career in music. She took her educational experiences in Public Relations and her profe[...]

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How to License Your Music: A Simple Guide For Beginners

The Beginner's Guide to Licensing Music

My guest post today is from Charles Vallena, who wrote for me before (check out a list of important music terms here). I'm excited to have him back! Have you ever wondered how you can make money with your music?  If getting the right compensation for your musical work has ever crossed your mind, you may want to get to know more about music licensing. The permission to have your[...]

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Toplining Etiquette: How to Hire a Topliner

Hire a topliner

Toplining is a vague and confusing topic. The more I've been doing it, the more I realize that most people don't know what it is or aren't sure what it entails. I think it needs to be discussed and defined, so why not do it for you here? I've been a topliner since I was a kid, when my uncle would give me instrumentals to write over. I know, that's a really boring story, but I just wan[...]

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Music Success Tips: How to Be Like the Top 10 Artists of 2020

The Top 10 Artists of 2020

Top 10 Artists of 2020 - Each year I recap the most successful artists of the year and see what we can learn from their success. This year will be very different, due to Covid and tour restrictions. However, major artists are still making bank, and we can study them to learn how to emulate their success. Obviously, all of these artists are under major labels. I wrote about why that's i[...]

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Dolly Parton Success Secrets: Hulu and Netflix Interviews

Dolly Parton Documentary Review

Dolly Parton has become my most recent obsession. After reading her book (see here) and studying her vocal technique here, I decided I had to learn more about this captivating icon. I watched her interviews on Hulu and Netflix, and learned so much about the music industry. I want to share these with you, but I highly recommend watching them yourself! Hopefully these reviews will help[...]

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How Canva Pro Can Help Musicians with Branding

How Musicians Can Use Canva

I've been a long-time user and fan of Canva. I started with the free version, used it for maybe a year, then switched to Pro. If you're a long-time reader, you know how I love trying things out to review them for you. Some have gotten better reviews that others, but I strive to be honest and thorough in each post. I'm going to tell you all of the ways Canva Pro can help songwriters, si[...]

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I Have Misophonia. I’m Also a Voice Actor. Here’s How I Cope.

Tips for Dealing with Misophonia

Misophonia is known as "an intense hatred of sounds that don't seem to bother anyone else." I absolutely hate mouth noises of any kind. The little clicks and pops made by talking, eating and singing. ASMR was created by Satan specifically to torture me. While I've looked into misophonia treatment (it exists, but it's costly and I'm sure it's not covered by my terrible USA insurance),[...]

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Music Marketing: The Best [and Worst] Ways to Promote Your Music

Best and Worst Music Marketing Strategies

Music marketing is often overly-complicated and easy to get wrong. Many artists still don't market their music, under the (completely false) assumption that "good music markets itself." I decided to test a variety of music marketing strategies to see what would work. I found this article by Yael Keon called "54 Ways to Promote Your Small Business for Free." Musicians don't often consi[...]

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7 Important Self-Care Tips for Struggling Songwriters and Musicians

Self care tips for Creatives

As a basic white millennial bitch, "self-care" to me means painting my nails while watching Harlots on Hulu. But let's peel away the commercialism and focus on self-care, specifically for those of us in the music industry. I'm going to try all of these and I encourage you to do the same! Let's care for ourselves and each other! Self Care for Musicians If you're reading this,[...]