Showing Guns in Music Videos: 7 Things You Need to Know

As a musician, artist or band, it makes sense that you’d want to represent your artistry in visual ways, whether that’s in your album covers or in your music videos. 

Artistic expression can happen in all kinds of settings, using all different tools and props to display your music can be the perfect way to stand out and build stronger relationships with your audience. That being said, some props are much more severe than others, which might come into play when you’re considering using weapons in your music videos.

Whether you’re an independent artist making your first video or you’re an industry veteran who is branching into other genres, you may be circling ideas of using weapons to make your videos look cooler. 

However, if you’re considering including guns of any kind in your music video — especially if you don’t have experience with guns — there are a few things you need to know before you get started. Here’s what you should know about showing guns in music videos.

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Music Through Pandemic: 5 Ways Artists Can Adapt & Continue Performing

This article is written by Charles Vallena, Managing Editor at Guitar Junky.

The COVID19 pandemic is not showing any signs of slowing down. Despite massive vaccination efforts, more virulent new strains keep cropping up. 

While economies remain steadfast amidst the pandemic, performing artists must do what they can to adapt and keep doing the things they love. Here are five ways artists can adapt and continue creating music through the pandemic.

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How to Make Your Daily Music Listening More Enjoyable

Music is beneficial in so many ways and has such far reaching impact across the entire world. It is impossible to traverse without hearing some form of music throughout the day and in truth, many of us cannot live without it. Music allows for expression, lifts moods, and can decrease anxiety and pain. Reliance on it, therefore, is not unlikely and is in fact, completely healthy. If you have been looking to maximize your listening experience when listening to your favorite song, or just music in general, these tips might help make listening to music more enjoyable for you.

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MusicThinkTank Weekly Recap: Summer shows & More

• M Banks | 6 considerations for summer shows
• Randi Zimmerman | Amazon Music debuts DJ Mode
• Kevin Gardner | How the radio can help you learn another language
• M Banks | How to survive the touring lifestyle: 7 tips

Amazon Music debuts DJ Mode

Guest post by Randi Zimmerman. This article originally appeared on the Symphonic Blog

In an attempt to bring live radio vibes into the realm of music streaming , Amazon Music has announced DJ Mode. A brand new, on-demand listening experience that blends music with commentary from Artists and Hosts, bringing fans even closer to the music they love. Here’s everything you need to know. 

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How the radio can help you learn another language

Have you ever wanted to learn a second language? Being bilingual, especially in Spanish, is a great asset, both personally and professionally. But learning Spanish can seem overwhelmingly difficult when you’re first starting. Taking classes and studying books are good tools, but they’re only helpful to a point. To truly become fluent, you need to hear Spanish as everyday people speak it. 

Fortunately, there is an easy and enjoyable way to listen to your target language every day and improve your skills. All you need is access to the radio. In fact, studies show that listening to radio stations in a foreign language is one of the most effective ways to absorb and learn that language yourself. Here are some tips for leveraging the radio to increase your Spanish-speaking skills.

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6 considerations for summer shows

There’s a lot to love about summertime shows and concerts. From a performer’s perspective, concert venues in the summer are usually outside which not only allow for more people in the audience but offer a more fun, festival-like performing atmosphere. Paired with the nice warm weather, summer shows prove time and time again to be a hit with performers and audience members alike.

But as a performer, you know that you must be prepared for anything to happen to ensure the most successful show possible. Take a look at our 6 considerations to make sure that you’re adequately prepared for your next outdoor summer show!

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How to survive the touring lifestyle: 7 tips

Hitting the road is an exciting time for any musician, whether you’re touring for the very first time or this is one of many tours you’re about to add to your list. If you’re a musician for any band, whether wildly famous or still up-and-coming, touring can bring about a unique experience that doesn’t always adhere to the conventions of normal life, and that’s totally okay. 

You aren’t always meant to live like you’re on tour, but that doesn’t mean you can’t take care of yourself to make sure that the touring lifestyle doesn’t get to you too much.

While each tour is inherently different — based on factors such as your budget and the length and span of the tour itself — there are a few universal tips that you can take into consideration when you’re packing up to hit the road.

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MusicThinkTank Weekly Recap: 8 songwriting mistakes beginners make & More

• Shaun Letang | 8 songwriting mistakes beginners often make, and how to fix them
• Soundfly | June is here: Are you ready to get to work on your musical goals?
• M Banks | How to cultivate your stage persona: 10 Tips
• Daniel Reifsnyder | The oldest song ever written

June is here: Are you ready to get to work on your musical goals?

It’s almost June, are you ready to get to work on your goals?

Soundfly’s community of mentors can help you set the right goals, pave the right path toward success, and stick to schedules and routines that you develop together, so you improve every step of the way.

But it all starts with that first, crucial step: finding someone who inspires and challenges you, and whose experience can lead you along the right path. Check out some available Soundfly mentors below, and click on a session topic that fits your goals for 2021.

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How to cultivate your stage persona: 10 Tips

Whether you’re a musician in a band, you’re a solo performer or you’re doing something entirely unconventional with your performance, whatever it is, cultivating a stage persona and having a presence that matches the work you’re doing is an important part of reaching your audience effectively. 

One of the beautiful things about stage presence is that everyone is unique and has something to offer, and that includes you. From your fashion sense to your interactions with the audience, your stage presence is your unique means of communication with your audience. 

While, of course, your work should speak for itself, there’s no harm in using other tools to assist you in that pursuit. No matter where you stand in the band or where you are on your journey, here are ten tips that will help you improve your stage presence.

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The oldest song ever written

Guest post by Daniel Reifsnyder. This article originally appeared on Soundfly’s Flypaper

It’s often said that songwriters need to strive to be the first to say or do something, or otherwise be the best or most unique at saying it. Music, in some form, has been around for at least 35,000 years, so being the first to say pretty much anything would certainly be a feat.

Knowing that, how old human music is, has led many to wonder what exactly the first song ever written was. While the actual first song may be lost to time, researchers have discovered the oldest song to be preserved in its entirety — which includes its notation!

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8 songwriting mistakes beginners often make, and how to fix them

There are probably as many ways to approach songwriting as there are songwriters.

But beginner songwriters are often only equipped with a handful of tools that results in them producing songs that are subpar at best.

We must all start somewhere, so that’s not the issue. Our skills develop with practice.

But you can increase the quality of your songs significantly if you avoid common mistakes.

Here are eight songwriting mistakes beginners often make and how to avoid them.

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MusicThinkTank Weekly Recap: Digital promotion & More

• Atul Naithani | Tips to promote your music digitally
• Brett Winters | 6 ways to create more consistent content.
• Juri Kobayashi | Listening habits of Chinese music fans
• Danny Mekonen | What are In-ear monitors, their benefits, and why do singers wear them?