How Musicians Can Build An Email List From Scratch

It’s fairly common knowledge today that email is among the most effective and affordable marketing tools. So let’s not waste any time with a bunch of statistics to prove what you already know.

Instead, let’s dive right into how to get started with email marketing.

The first thing you need is a list of email addresses to send your clever emails to. It might seem a bit daunting if you have no email list, but fear not - here are some simple tips on how to build an email list from scratch.

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MusicThinkTank Weekly Recap: Music Theory

• Ian Temple | Music Theory: Does It Still Matter?
• Jesper Skibsby | Tracking Service Puts Heat On Broken Radio Business
• Soundfly Team | Favorite Songs For Testing Headphones, Speakers
• Kenzie Fitzpatrick | Here Are The Top 2 Music Accessories You Need This Summer

Music Theory: Does It Still Matter?

Guest post by Ian Temple. This article originally appearedon Soundfly’s Flypaper

Last year, Rihanna’s hit single “Work” started an argument here at Soundfly. We come from an array of different musical backgrounds, styles, training, and instruments, and the question that kicked us off was:

What key is “Work” actually in?

It’s got that super repetitive synth bass line that returns to C# every time, giving the impression we’re in C# Dorian mode, but the key signature is B major, or G# natural minor. The melody floats around a C# note a lot, but it still sounds unresolved, except in a few moments where it lands on G#. There are even a couple moments that sound a little more major and could lead one to hear the B as an unplayed tonic (or “home base”).

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Tracking Service Puts Heat On Broken Radio Royalty Business Model w/ Latest Tracking Software

WARM, an acronym for World Airplay Radio Monitor, is a real-time radio tracking service and app, is offering unique access to radio airplay monitoring for musicians. This provides a game-changing and powerful new tool for artists, managers, and labels to improve control of royalty collection, optimize promotion strategies, target new markets and more. 

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Favorite Songs For Testing Headphones, Speakers

Guest post by the Soundfly Team. This article originally appeared on Soundfly’s Flypaper

Last week, we published a short playlist of songs curated by songwriter, performer, and author Evan Zwisler, featuring his “8 Favorite Songs to Use to Test Headphones and Speakers.” Since then, we’ve been pleasantly overwhelmed with your amazing suggestions of more songs that can be used for the same referencing purposes. Thanks so much for your input!

We’ve collected and added all of your suggestions into the following playlist, and below we’re highlighting some of songs and comments from the community that we found the most helpful. One piece of advice that came up a few times was that if you’re going to be using the headphones or speakers to mix your own music, you should test them using music that has a similar arrangement or production style to your own.

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Here Are The Top 2 Music Accessories You Need This Summer

For music lovers, though, summer simply isn’t the same without these two accessories: a Bluetooth speaker and a pair of great of headphones.

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MusicThinkTank Weekly Recap: Will Playlists Kill Albums?

• Daniel Matthews | Will Playlists Kill Off Albums?
• Joan Selby | 7 Ways To Engage More Fans On Twitter
• Kenzie Fitzpatrick | How To Choose The Perfect Music For Your Video
• Rachelle Wilber | 4 Easy Transportation Methods For Your Band’s Next Tour
• Kenneth Estrada y Santiago | Getting Your Solo Music Career Started

Will Playlists Kill Off Albums?

There’s a playlist for every occasion, and whether you get on a Spotify playlist can determine the success of your songs. Let’s take a look at the possibility of playlists rendering albums obsolete.

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7 Ways To Engage More Fans On Twitter

Have you checked out the list of 100 most popular musicians on Twitter? Twitter is all about creating a connection with the audience, and that’s exactly why it’s so valuable. 

So how do you do it? What if you’re not as famous as Lady Gaga? She has 78.4 million followers on Twitter at this point, and the level of engagement on her profile is huge. Does this mean you should make peace with the fact that you’re not popular enough to start using Twitter? Absolutely not!

Twitter can be a massive aspect of your personal branding efforts. We’ll suggest 7 ways to engage more audience on this social media platform.

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How To Choose The Perfect Music For Your Video

There are a lot of important elements that go into creating a successful video, but one that many often overlook (or don’t put any thought to until the last second) is music.  

Music can hugely impact the mood of your video, and that, in turn, can have an effect on its success.  

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4 Easy Transportation Methods For Your Band’s Next Tour

One thing that you may fail to consider as you start booking gigs for your band is how you are going to get to all of your gigs. If you have only small instruments, it may be easy to pile everyone into a sedan and pop guitars in the trunk. However, most bands have larger equipment, including microphones, speakers, cables and other items that can take up quite a bit of room. Here are four other options that can help you get from your home or practice space to a gig whether it is just across town or across the country.

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Getting Your Solo Music Career Started

This article by Kenneth Estrada y Santiago originally appeared on Soundfly’s Flypaper

Over the last 15 years, I’ve been part of seven different musical projects. I’ve played in all kinds of bands: a shoegaze trio, an experimental metal duo, an electronic pop group, an indie rock band, an ambient octet, a punk rock quartet, and a German teen pop group.

I ended up leaving all of them. Why? For various reasons, sure, but all with the same thread of ambition attached: I had a vision for myself and my own music making that these projects weren’t entirely satisfying. I wanted to write my own songs. But most importantly, I didn’t want to fight for every single idea I had in my head anymore.

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MusicThinkTank Weekly Recap: Fame Hurts

• Jeff Mowery| Are You Treating Your Production Cost Like A Business Would?
• Juri Kobayashi | Digital Music Distribution To China
• Lisa Lynne | How To Succeed With Self-Produced Concerts
• Marina K | How To Promote Your Demo Online Without A Budget

Digital Music Distribution To China

Musicinfo advocates independent musicians by connecting them to digital distribution and social media services in China.

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