You are here: Home » Music Business

Music Business

I am a junkie for news about the music business. Which band is getting signed? What executive is being hired or canned? Which labels are gobbling up the little guys and even other majors? We deliver all of that to you in the Music Business News category.

5 Ways To Spruce Up Your Live Show

by

This is a post I found on Echoes, Disc Makers blog, about how to add some punch to your live shows. As a mix engineer I think about this topic quite a bit. How do you keep things fresh while playing the same material over and over? For those of you who aren’t professional mixers we will listen to the same song from 5 – 12 hours in a row to set the proper EQ and levels that will make the song great. That’s our job and we live for it.

As a touring musician, however, you play the same set of songs for months at a time. How do you stay interested in the material and make sure your audience doesn’t think that you’re bored of playing it? Well, Cheryl Engelhardt explains a few tips below so that you and your audience stay interested. Enjoy!

Freshen Up Your Live Show – 5 Ways To Spruce Up Your Live Music Performance

by CHERYL B. ENGELHARDT

Make a lasting impression and your fans will return in droves.

There are lots of reasons to want to freshen up your live show. Maybe you hit a point where you are performing songs off your new-but-not-that-new record and feel like the show is getting stagnant – not just for you but for your fans. Or maybe you feel like you haven’t found the sweet spot of what your live show should be. Perhaps you want to experiment a bit but don’t know how.

The good news is that there are some easy ways to shift your performance, from “ever-so-slightly” to “total overhaul,” and you can gauge the results immediately – i.e. people start coming out to hear your live music, stay the whole set, buy more CDs, have great comments afterwards, YOU feel great, you feel like you hit a stride, etc.

Here are 5 ideas and performance tips to help you freshen up your live music performances without losing yourself in the process. Take one on, or all five and really shake things up. (And add some of your own in the comments section!)

1. Go crazy with cover songs
No matter what cover song you do, as long as you do it authentically as you, you really can’t go wrong. To me, cover songs are about stretching yourself, giving the unexpected, and being playful with your audience. I’ve covered Gnarls Barkley’s “Crazy” (and folks, for obvious reasons, it doesn’t get much different than that) as well as Led Zeppelin’s “D’yer Maker.”

“…Branching out into the amazing history of delicious hits is a fun musical expedition.”

2. Change arrangements
I can’t tell you how bored I get when I do solo tours. Me and my piano, every night. On the other hand, I LOVE playing with my band (electric guitar, drums, bass), but I can sometimes overdo putting on the same show over and over. So, recently, I switched it up and did a show at Rockwood Music Hall in New York and had my guitarist play acoustic guitar and brought in Kristine Kruta, a cello player who played on my record.

3. Involve your audience more
I’m talking before, during, and after the show. While promoting on Facebook, Twitter, fan emails, ask people what songs they want to hear. Ask them what merch they’d like to see at the next show. Have a contest to see who can share the event page the most. Just before you start playing, go up to a fan and ask them to take on passing around your mailing list mid-set. Tell them you’d be grateful and honored and offer a free CD.

4. Switch up your lineup
This doesn’t mean permanently fire your band and hire new people with no reason other than you’re spring cleaning. It means making friends with some other musicians, doing a few gigs with them to see if anything sparks. Maybe these gigs are acoustic, or duets, or something other than your normal schtick. If you always play with the same people, it’s great to see what other musicians can do with your music. You may get ideas to bring back to your original players, and you may also forge a new relationship and want to add them to your regular lineup.

5. Change venues
Tired of the coffee house scene? The loud bar scene? The background-music restaurant, ski resort, hotel bar scene? Whatever it is you usually play, look into something totally different. Ask a friend to host a rooftop party. Call the booker for a bigger rock club you’ve been wanting to play and ask for an early slot six months from now, or start pounding the pavement to get an opening slot for a band you’d like to tour with.

“If you’re always playing loud venues, do a stripped-down show at a coffee shop to showcase your songwriting.”

You can read the rest of Cheryl’s article over at Echoes, Disk Makers blog for up and coming musicians.

How to Write Songs That Stick!

by

Below is an excerpt from an e-course I subscribe to by Morgan Cryer. Morgan is a Nashville based songwriter who has had airplay and hits on commercial radio.

That said, he is also a songwriting coach amd internet marketer. He’s the author of the e-book Strong Song Writing. I don’t pay attention to most e-books, but Morgan’s seems different. He cares more about providing in-depth guidance than fluffy content.

I don’t own his book, yet, but I do plan on purchasing it very soon because my next big music endeavor is going to be based around songwriting. 

So if your main focus in this business is writing songs you’re going to want to pay attention to my next few Round Ups. They’re going to be all about how to sculpt the best song you can write – every time.

In the meantime I hope you enjoy Morgan’s view on starting your song strong.

 

GET DOWN TO BUSINESS IMMEDIATELY

By Morgan Cryer

Morgan Cryer

Songwriter, Morgan cryer

One of the most overlooked secrets to writing strong songs is so simple you’ll think it’s stupid.   And yet it’s so important that I don’t know why songwriting authors and “teachers” have not made more of a big deal of it.

Here it is:  ALWAYS start your songs strong.

It sounds too simple to even be called it a “tip.” I can hear you saying it,
“Everybody knows that!”

But do they?  Out of 100 songs I hear at writer’s events, 97 of them will have weak first lines (actually weak first and second lines).  Just think of how crazy this is.  You book a flight, pay a registration fee, make sure you’re in the right room for the critique session, and then you patiently wait through all the other writers’ stuff.

It’s finally your turn!  They announce your song title and your name, and press
“play.”  ALL EARS ARE ON YOUR SONG!  AND…because you didn’t
start strong, all that rapt attention just bleeds out into the carpet while your first
two lines dribble out of the speakers like warm mayonnaise.

No (or low) impact.  By the time your lyric gets up to speed it’s too late.
The audience has quietly slipped you into the “just another wanna-be songwriter”
category along with 96 other people.

**Actually, you have 2 other “first impression” chances even before they hear
your first lyrics:  1) Your intro, which should “arrest” everyone quickly and reset
their mood, …even before that, 2) The moment you walk onto the stage, or into
the room, or into the publishing company office, your personal presence can
greatly help or hurt your chances of being taken seriously.

In my book, Strong Songwriting, I go into great detail about how to “ace”
all these first impressions.  You can check that out by clicking here.

How to write songs that stick!

WHAT ARE YOU SHOOTING FOR?

Your goal is not to make every song’s first line into an epic event.  Sometimes a song calls for an understated beginning.  However, understated is not the same thing as boring or un-engaging.

Here’s what I believe you should shoot for in EVERY first line you allow out of the house:

“Your first line should entice, dare, tease, or otherwise promise the listener that if they will listen to the next 3 lines, they will be happy they did.”

Remember that a song is a two-way communication.  A listener must literally give your song the time of day to even experience it.  If you don’t make (and keep) a worthwhile promise right up front, a split-second decision will be made
to bypass your song.  So keep this simple thought in your mind:

“Make the promise in the first few seconds, then keep the promise with the rest of the song.”

For Morgan’s next tip, he’ll talk about the simple differences between boring songs and interesting songs.

Just Sing The Damn Song!

by

This is a repost of an article written by Robin Hilton, producer and co-host for the popular NPR Music show All Songs Considered. He brings up a question I’ve discussed many times with music colleagues. “What’s more important? The lyrics or the melody?” Personally I’m a melody man. A song’s melody is very important to me, but [...] Continue Reading »