If you are planning to become part of the music industry, one of the first lessons you need to learn is to accept ‘no’ with as much grace as possible. Remember, this word is going to be an essential part of your daily living – no matter what you do and who you are. The fact of the matter is that as a musician, you are perennially trying to sell an idea, a tune, a song, or a kind of music to some one or the other and this listener is more than ready to say the famous word- ‘no’ without batting an eyelid.

While you take ‘no’ as part of your existence, and is not necessarily a disrespectful word for your talent, you also need to develop that immunity to face a rejection with a smile. Your demo has every chance of being rejected; your band has every chance of being refused concert dates and any proposal can be put in the trash can without assigning any reason whatsoever. But the good news is that even a stoic ‘no’ could be loaded with possibilities:

• Ask the music label that rejects you for their suggestions of any other company who they can recommend.
• Ask the promoter who refused to promote your music if he can put your band on to someone else who might be interested.

The list can go on endlessly. The essence is not to get de-motivated by a rejection. In short, never give up, if you are part of the music industry. Learn to take a refusal as impersonally as possible. After all, they do not mean any harm to you personally. When they refuse your music or your proposal, all that they are trying to say is that they are incapable of making good use of it. Such honesty could do your band some good too!

In fact, such frank and outright rejection is a better option than a company who sends out ambiguous signals – taking care of you when they run out of other options and so on. In case you do come across such a person or a company, in stead of venturing into an unknown and not-so-warm relationship, why not ask for his or their recommendations for another contact that could be more willing to get into a partnership with you? This saves you from entering a non-profitable relationship and helps you gain some useful leads which might prove lucrative sooner than you imagine!

Therefore, when you are in the music industry a ‘no’ is not necessarily a disaster, but could always prove to be a blessing in disguise! A ‘no’ should also not allow you to go blank. You just have to keep on trying, sometimes with only hope as your sole companion.  People who get back and those who do not, would always remember the grace with which you took the refusal and that itself makes your band memorable.  The music industry is actually inhabited by a large family where everyone knows everyone else. So make sure that you keep an impeccable reputation and maintain goodwill at all times at all levels. Who knows, the goodwill could be your stepping stone to a ‘yes’ in the near future?

If you are a musician and looking for band space in Brooklyn or Queens to practice,
contact Empire Rehearsal Studios for more information.

The internet has opened up new avenues for music promotion. Today bands are promoting their music through various social networking sites like MySpae and Twitter without having to spend a fortune. Musicians are also using blogs as an effective tool to connect and communicate about their music to listeners across the globe.

Of course the first thing that you need to do is to start your own blog, to be used for promoting your product. Blogger and WordPress are two of the most popular blogging programs which help you to publish your music without any problem. After you have successfully created your blog, you would require the knowledge to promote it.

Here is how you can use blogs to promote your music:

• Give the blog a name. The best option is to name it after the name of your band. This can help in quick identification.
• The rate of increase in readership of your blog is directly proportional to the frequency with which you update it and the quality of content that you put in there. The more you write the more reader participation you can expect. However, this important responsibility should be assigned to a specific member of the band or the job could be done on rotation. But never underestimate its importance.
• Your blog has more potential to connect you with your fans than a page in MySpace can offer. Not only do you post the news of your releases, gigs and tours, you could also involve your readers more by running contests and so on. In short, write and inform about more ‘inside’ news about your band on the blog. There are several creative ideas based on which you could make your blog work for you, like gifting a sample of your new release to one of the winners of a contest and so on.
• MySpace, Facebook, Twitter and other social networking pages can be used to promote your blog, by linking your intros on the site page back to the blog where the reader can click through.
• Try not to use your blog for overt promotion. This bores most readers. It could be a good idea to talk about other things including your views about a recent news story and then mention, quite by the way, about your album. This is a more effective way to promote your music.
• One way to get your blog noticed is to involve the press. You could run a contest in your blog and then send out a press release regarding the event. Of course the music media is a must, but also involve other digital media in your list of promotion.
• Though gossips are enjoyed by most readers of any media, all over the world, never misuse the space in your blog to talk badly about any other kind of music or any other band. This ultimately boomerangs negatively, especially if you are a new and aspiring band. Use the space for promoting your band only.
• Swapping links with other related bloggers can also help in promoting your blog to a wider network of readers. Link exchanging is a popular tool where at the end, everyone wins.

If you are a musician and looking for band space in Brooklyn or Queens to practice,
contact Empire Rehearsal Studios for more information.

A contract is a critical piece of document and a contract that you sign with your music manager is no exception. It is in fact easy for a professional and experienced music manager to take you for a ride, if you are new in the music business. So before you sign any contract at any stage of your music career, learn the basics. The music manager is an important person assisting you to achieve success in the music world. Here are some basics of a contract that you may sign up with this professional:

• Keep the contract simple. The bare minimum inclusions are: money; division of labor and the duration of the contract.
• Ensure that the contract benefits both of you.
• If you have any reason to doubt your music manager’s integrity before you sign the contract, there is bound to be trouble ahead. Sign the contract in good faith.

Then there are specific terms of the contract that you should pay attention to. For example, both of you should agree on the duration of the contract and a subsequent termination policy. A viable option is to sign a one-year contract, renewable after the period if both parties agree. Ensure that there is nothing in the contract which allows the music manager to extend the contract without your specific approval. Also, be clear how both of you can make a clean exit from the agreement.

One of the most important aspects of the contents of the contract with your music manager is his job specification. What you expect your music manager to do would largely depend on what stage your band is in. If you are just starting out, your music manager would be expected to expose your music to music labels, scheduling gigs and so on. On the other hand, if your band has already moved on, your music manager should ensure that the promoters are doing their job in promoting your music. But before you sign the music contract, come to a mutual agreement, as to the expectations you have from each other.

The second important aspect is his fees. The industry norm is that the music manager gets between 15 and 20% of the revenue earned by the band, and this includes, money from sale of albums, music company advance, and the revenue from any deal they have negotiated. They may not get any share from the revenue from sale of merchandise, royalties earned from song writing or any other deal where they have not played any negotiating role.

While it is not fair to expect that the music manager would pay out of his pocket the promotional expenses of your album, but you need to work out an arrangement in this regard, prior to signing the contract. For example, the band is not expected to pay for his office or telephone expenses but you have to pay for his business trips if he is traveling on your behalf as well as small incidentals like entertaining a label executive and so on. One of the ways to arrange this payout is once a month on the basis of the receipts the manager produces for expenses incurred. It is a wise decision to put a limit to the expenses, which if it goes beyond a certain amount, has to have your prior approval.

There is no golden rule in drawing up a contract with a music manager as situations vary according to individual circumstances. But the essence is to keep it simple and specific and include clauses which can cover you for events as you foresee in the future. Always protect the interest of both the parties when renewing a music contract. If you are already a recording artist, you might also like to seek professional legal advice before drawing up the agreement.

If you are a musician and looking for band space in Brooklyn or Queens to practice,
contact Empire Rehearsal Studios for more information.

You are a talented musician, keen to start a music band but do not quite know how to go about it. Here are some useful tips, aimed to make your journey to fame and glory a bit easier:

• The first step is to get some like-minded people together who play some kind of music. Usually a music band has a guitarist, a bass player, a percussionist and sometimes a singer. But this is not the golden formula. You could have two bassists, a keyboard player and a computer DJ if you want.
• Based on the kind of talents you assimilate, decide on the kind of music you would like to play. Though it is not essential to stick to one specific style, but it helps, especially during the initial stages. You could also decide the other way – decide on the style and then go about finding the people who fit the bill.
• Your next job is to find a convenient place for practice. Take care that you do not give neighbors any reason to complain. A soundproof room or a garage could be a good idea; or the local church? Think hard on this point.
• In case you do not have the requisite instruments, you could either buy them outright or pick them up on hire. The money could be pooled in from the band members or if you are lucky, convince your parents to bail you out of the situation.
• Get the band members to come up with ideas of music, songs and whatever tunes or ideas you come up with, make sure that you jot them down. What you are jamming on today, could be tomorrow’s super hit. Sit together and brainstorm about music ideas, lyrics of songs and so on. The local coffee shop could be a good venue to thrash out ideas.
• Work out a time, convenient to everyone to schedule your practice sessions. Write new melodies, new songs and practice them as soon as the band gets together.
• As soon as the band is ready with a few songs, spread the word around. Inform your local church, school, festival committees and so on. The more you play in public, the more people get to know about you. Participating in contests, playing at the school cafeteria after classes are over, birthday parties, etc are good places to get started.
• Record you music in CD or mp3 format and upload some of them on MySpace and other music-sharing sites. Free distribution of samples of your music could also help you to promote your music to a large audience in a short time.

Some tips for continued success:

• Never try to rule the show. Keep every member of the band in the loop when taking decisions. Share important information with band members, including contact numbers, etc.
• Choose a leader of the band and ensure that everyone stays in touch with this person.
• Beware of members who are aiming to steal the limelight. Try to tackle these problems before they go out of hand.
• Remember perfection comes from practice. Famous bands were not created in a day.

If you are a musician and looking for band space in Brooklyn or Queens to practice,
contact Empire Rehearsal Studios for more information.

If you think that luck and talent are the only two pre-requisites to succeed as a startup band, think again. In fact, it is not uncommon to find innumerable bands, with an envious pool of talent amongst its members, not even making it on stage at the local pub! While a lot of their failure could be attributed to poor practice skills, there is more to it, than meets the eye. Let us critically examine some of the factors which contribute to the success or failure of a startup band:

• Lack of punctuality and absence of a professional approach can kill the ambitions of a startup band like none other. Arriving late or not showing up for practice; showing off and wanting to steal the limelight; creating ego problems;  bringing in a girl/boyfriend who causes enough distraction for the band member; and several factors like these may apparently seem small and insignificant but can have a disastrous cumulative effect on the final output from a band. Therefore, to nip the problem in the bud, the band leader has to behave professionally and look for replacement of a band member who simply does not mend his ways, despite a few warnings.
• Deciding on a common goal is critical for the success of any startup band. You have to come to a consensus where you are going to play, at what frequency and ultimately the kind of money that you aim to make in a month as a group. One non-agreeing member could put the entire band in jeopardy.
• Practice sessions should be dealt with as professionally as possible. The notations of every new song should be given to the band members prior to the practice date and they need to rehearse and get familiar with their parts before they come for the practice. This can be a great time saver, as every member is more or less prepared and has role clarity. Try to keep at least one or 2 new songs in every practice session.  Keep the last half hour for running through the songs everyone plays well. This keeps the band in good mood and also helps them to memorize the songs better.
• One of the greatest learning tools, though most often ignored is a tape recorder to tape your rehearsals. You could run through this tape during the week to identify areas of improvement as well as recognize the mistakes.
• While practicing once or twice a week is a good idea if you are a part-time band, but if music is for a living, then you need to practice more often. But be careful about not getting into each other’s hair, due to over familiarity. Let the practice sessions be entertaining as well as productive. If every member has done his or her homework before the practice sessions, then the sessions automatically get more meaningful. 
• Finally let not personal preferences in regard to choosing the band members ruin the overall performance of the band. Your best friend may be a great musician, but is he the right choice for the band? The call is yours.

If you are a musician and looking for band space in Brooklyn or Queens to practice,
contact Empire Rehearsal Studios for more information.