MUSIC INDUSTRY BLOG

Martin Atkins puts the current state of the music industry into perspective, sharing wisdomisms such as “you’ve got to think outside the box”, “where’s the fucking box?”, and “I build my own boxes”.  The veteran drummer credited by NIN, Ministry, and Killing Joke, among others, has published a comprehensive guide slated to put an end to touring stupid.  Tour Smart (available on Amazon) is out and Martin has been unleashed on a new generation of artists living in a box and staring at the pretty wallpaper.  The scope and scale of this publication covers every aspect of the music ecosystem, from where to pour your gasoline to health & safety practices [when pouring gasoline].  The man has a plan and if you don’t follow it, you’re fucked.

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I’m delighted to announce the release of a landmark music industry resource co-authored by one of our very own panelists, Don Grierson.  It All Begins With The Music: Developing Successful Artists and Careers for the New Music Business is a practical guide and music business blueprint for artists, managers, agents and executives competing for a share of the ever-evolving music market.  Providing an in-depth view of the mechanics of artist development, music production, retail distribution, publishing, PR and marketing, Don Grierson and co-author Dan Kimpel, two industry veterans, have compiled a series of pertinent artist and executive interviews, insider tips, and autobiographical accounts to help budding and established music professionals navigate through the increasingly chaotic music landscape.

Available on Amazon and Barnes&Noble

Three very important shifts have taken place over the last decade.  All of them are having a major impact on the way independent artists build their career.  First, the record labels, movie studios, and other media companies no longer spend the time and energy they once did on discovering undiscovered talent.  They’re more interested in promoting established artists, which they believe is a safer bet.  Second, the tools to produce music, movies, books, and other kinds of art have been democratized: from ProTools to Garage Band to Final Cut Pro, they’re accessible and inexpensive.  Third, the channels to distribute all sorts of creative products have also been blown wide open: today, anyone can distribute a video or a song or an image to a global audience, for free, on sites like MySpace, YouTube, and iTunes. 

The result is the noisiest, most chaotic marketplace that creative artists have ever known.  That noise and chaos creates the two biggest challenges facing artists today: how do you cultivate a big audience for your work, and how do you leverage that audience to support your career financially?

Scott Kirsner wrote Fans, Friends & Followers to address those challenges with useful strategies, examples, explanations, and first-person success stories.  It includes an overview of the tools, sites, and services that pioneering artists are using to create a new relationship with their audience.  The heart of the book is a collection of thirty interviews with visual artists, comedians, animators, documentary filmmakers, musicians, writers, and others who’ve pioneered new ways to build a creative career online (and off).  It delves into the business models that can support leaving the day job behind.  Musicians in the book include Damian Kulash of the band OK Go, talking about how they collaborate with their fans; Jill Sobule, who financed her 2009 release, “California Years,” through her Web site; DJ Spooky; lounge lizard Richard Cheese; and Jonathan Coulton, who has legions of fans who produce their own videos for his songs.  And all of the material in the book was collected in 2008 and 2009.