Understanding The Benefits Of The Music Modernization Act

The Music Modernization Act (“MMA”) has finally passed both the Senate and the House after the herculean efforts of some individuals and organizations who worked tirelessly to negotiate compromises to accommodate all sides. The MMA will finally move the recorded music industry forward in a way that should facilitate more artists and songwriters being able to make a fair living from making music. The MMA proposes to reform the music licensing landscape in several substantive ways to benefit artists and songwriters.

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Marketing For Musicians: 6 Essential Tools

This guest post by Patrick McGuire originally appeared on the Bandzoogle Blog

If you’re a serious musician, I don’t need to tell you how tough it is to cut through the literal and symbolic noise to find and reach audiences. Yes, creating great music should always be at the top of your list of priorities, but figuring out how to get that music in front of listeners is a difficult task you’ll have to think about if you want to sustain a career over the long-term.

Don’t have a clue how to market your music? Today, we’re highlighting 6 tools to help you get started:

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MusicThinkTank Weekly Recap: 10 Great Mobile Apps

• Evan Zwisler | 10 Great Mobile Apps For Creating Music From Scratch
• Courtney Myers | Music Copyright Law And The Consumer
• Daniel Matthews | Are Musicians Really More Likely To Use Drugs?
• Victoria Greene| Kurt Cobain & Elliott Smith 

10 Great Mobile Apps That Allow Me (And You) To Create Awesome Music From Scratch

Guest post by Evan Zwisler of Soundfly’s Flypaper

For such a long time, I resisted using apps to make music. I thought they must just be crappy, tiny versions of what they’re attempting to emulate (soft synthesizers, DAWs, digital instruments), or lame tools for musicians younger than I. Well, turns out I was wrong.

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Music Copyright Law And The Consumer: Understanding The Basics

When enacted, it serves to prevent the illegal sharing, misuse or distribution of that content through unauthorized mediums. But, what does that mean exactly and what or who does it cover? Let’s take a deeper look.

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Are Musicians Really More Likely To Use Drugs?

I used to do social work for a living, the kind of social work where you work with people in the field to reinforce what they’re learning in therapy. I was also (and still am) a musician. Throughout my time as a social worker, and really throughout my life, I’ve noted the pervasive picture of the musician as addict, the musician as drug user, and the musician as junky. 

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Kurt Cobain & Elliott Smith – Seattle & Portland: 2 Songwriters, 2 Cities, 1 Spirit Of DIY

Kurt Cobain and Elliott Smith are two musicians who share more than just a North West residency. Fiercely independent, and committed to doing things their own way, they epitomize the vibes of Seattle and Portland respectively.

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MusicThinkTank Weekly Recap: Why I Quit The Music Industry

• Nat Danger | Why I Quit The Music Industry To Join My Local Music Scene
• Warren Fowler | How To Prevent And Deal With Arthritis As A Musician
• Rachelle Wilber | Fortunate Musician: How Your Band Can Get More Gigs
• Brian Clark | How Music Affects Your Memory

Why I Quit The Music Industry To Join My Local Music Scene

In the spring of 2009, I was a college senior staring down the barrel of graduation, and I was clueless.

I knew just one thing: I wanted to make music. 

So I did the best thing I knew. I moved to Chicago, where I knew a few other musicians who had been making a living. I moved in with some friends in Wicker Park, built a home studio, and got to work.

I spent my days rushing across town to get the best busking spots, making phone calls to label reps, promoters, and distributors, and playing shows. In what little free time I had, I worked on my album. After a while, I had to get a day job to afford to live in the city, which made my music routine almost unmanageable. 

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How To Prevent And Deal With Arthritis As A Musician

Arthritis is a chronic condition that can jeopardize your career as a musician, but it doesn’t have to be so serious if you learn how it works and prevent major symptoms. In this post, we described the most common types of the disease and explained how to deal with it.

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Fortunate Musician: How Your Band Can Get More Gigs

Every band has to start out somewhere—even today’s most popular bands were once local bands looking for gigs to play. While you may get your fair share of shows here and there, you’ve probably found that combing through Craigslist and posting on social media isn’t enough to find the right shows. If you’re ready to get to the next level, read on for four ways you can guarantee that your band gets more gigs than ever before.

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How Music Affects Your Memory

Has it ever happened to you that you hear an old touching song that brought up beautiful memories? The power of music is so strong that it creates some special links in our minds, especially during the earlier stages of our lives.

Music can help people with damaged memory remember some events from their past. This is most useful with people suffering from Alzheimer’s disease and dementia.

On the other hand, playing a musical instrument can improve your memory as well. In this article, we’re going to discuss these topics and show you the major benefits that music can bring to your memory.

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MusicThinkTank Weekly Recap: Weird Mixing

• Michael Hahn | 7 Weird Mixing Terms And What They Mean
• Hazel Ramsell | Do You Still Think You’re A Music Expert After This Vinyl Challenge?
• Casa Palmera | Learning To Love Music Festivals As A Sober Person
• Victor Taylor | Crash Course On Using Spotify And Other Streaming Services
• Nate Talbot | Do I Need A Manager Pt. 1
• Lisa Occhino | How To Get Your Music Featured On Spotify Playlists

7 Weird Mixing Terms And What They Mean

Guest post by Michael Hahn. This article originally appeared on Soundfly’s Flypaper

Engineers can get pretty fired up when they’re talking about mixing music. Your sound is a difficult thing to describe — throw in a layer of technical jargon and it can be downright frustrating just to talk about your tracks.

Fortunately, there are some common terms engineers use to help communicate mix issues and the qualities of sound. I’ll go through seven of the most common “odd” mixing terms, what they mean, and how to deal with the elements of your mix they refer to.

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