Guest Post by Skip Taylor 
for SaskMusic's
"The Session". 
Reprinted with permission.

Things have changed drastically in the music business in the last 10 years. Physical CD sales have continued to spiral downwards and musicians have been forced to adapt and become smarter at how they handle all areas of their business to survive. More and more, merch sales have become a larger part of the average independent artist’s overall revenue plan.

Merchandise sales has become an area of great innovation and increased efficiency for those artists trying to maximize revenue. As the industry has gone through great transitions, many different business models have emerged. In this article I am going to be discussing some general “best practices,” but depending on your business model they may or may not be right for you. Ultimately, you will have to decide what is right for you and your business.
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Tags: Merch Sales | Marketing | Promotion | Guest Contributor | Skip Taylor | Sask Music

This is a guest post written by Marty Zylstra
from the Vancouver band Sweetheart.


Recently Sweetheart independently released an EP titled "XOXOX". Over the past few months we've been sending CDs out to press, getting college radio play, and local/regional commercial radio spins.

Using this experience I have distilled a "code" of how to promote yourself as an indie band locally/regionally into this simple formula:
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Tags: Guest Contributor | Sweetheart | XOXOX | DIY | Marketing | Promotion

The following is a guest post from my very good friend Chris Brandt, Music Business Instructor at Nimbus School of Recording Arts.

It's a beautiful piece that captures the essence and beauty of live music, the transcendental magic that happens in brief moments when watching a brilliant artist get lost in song. This piece was inspired after attending a theatre performance by Adele at The Orpheum Theatre in Vancouver on August 9, 2011.
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Tags: Chris Brandt | Guest Contributor | Live Music

This is a special guest post from Martin Frascogna, Entertainment Attorney (www.frascognalaw.com).

Thanks for the amazing insight Martin!

Concert posters have long been the standard when promoting gigs. It’s simple, efficient, and people generally love seeing these unique pieces of art. In today’s DIY market coupled with fading music sales, artists are beginning to rely heavily upon poster design as an additional merchandise revenue stream but few realize concert posters/design pack a hefty legal punch. In short: Who owns the concert poster? The band that’s performing? The designers who designed the poster? Perhaps the venue that booked the artist? If you don’t think these issues are important, think again. Concert posters are quickly becoming the hottest piece of merchandise, not only for growing indie acts but major artist as well. Indie bands with limited edition numbered prints have been able to sell good designs for $100, therefore banking more on posters than CD sales. Take an established group with a vintage concert poster back from the 60’s and it may sell for $10,000+. I can’t touch upon the global issues concerning concert posters due to the enormity of the content, nor will I address all the legal implications in detail, however I do suggest using the information below as a solid foundation, a brief flicker of insight into the multitude of issues that can quickly snowball out of control.

Use of concert posters have traditionally worked as follows: A music venue and/or promoter books a band and subsequently hires an artist to design a concert poster surrounding the performance. The band provides the venue/promoter with photography and logos who in return passes the information off to the poster designer. With new technology new methods are used. Now it may be common for a band to design a concert poster and later provide the poster to certain venues showcasing the venue logo/information. Others may hire poster designers who design, print, and distribute the poster. Regardless, every scenario identified consist of three major legal components, often ignored, which (especially in today’s music market) inevitable come back to bite someone in the ass. When these components are combined two questions emerge: who owns the poster and who owns the poster design? In order to touch upon these questions, let’s review the three legal components and how they’re used.
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Tags: Guest Contributor | Martin Frascogna | Entertainment Law | Copyright | Concert Posters

Our special guest contributor Kimberley Bjorklund, from K&B Management/Consulting in California, weighs in with some great tips for the independent artist.



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Tags: Guest Contributor | Kimberley Bjorklund