Marketing & Business

For up-and-coming musicians, a music video is a great way to promote a new single. But how do you do it when your budget is limited? There are actually examples of great music videos that were shot using an iPhone or digital camera out there, but to pull it off, you need to know the basics of filming. Music video director Zeno Groenewegen is here to explain how you can achieve pro-grade results in twelve steps.

We don’t just buy records based on what we hear, but what we see. According to research, colours, images and even shapes influence our decision-making, so let’s take a closer look at how this works in the context of album artwork.

Play for free? Is it just something you have to do or can you refuse? Our resident DJ specialist Marc den Hurk is regularly asked if he can play for free and understands that it’s a bit of a dilemma. If you say no, you risk rejection and if you say yes, you’re essentially going to be paying out of your own pocket to play. If DJ-ing is just a hobby, giving your services for free can get very expensive very quickly. Here, Marc lends any conflicted DJs some friendly advice.

Having a certain identity is just as important for solo artists as putting out music. A good photoshoot can help define how people see you and think of you, but as always, there are various things you need to beware of before you start posing. Guest-blogger and wedding song writer Kevin Okkema is here to share his tips.

Getting booked to play a nice club night or party and playing a banging DJ set is great but is it enough to make a real impression on your clients? As a DJ, how do you make sure that you always come across as professional and make sure that you’ll be recommended by every booker you work for? Guestblogger, Amar Amlani (AKA DiceDJ) shares some of his hard-won experience.

As a band, whether it’s conscious or not, you develop your own unique character and image, which not only gives your music some colour and identity but your gigs as well. Some well styled photos can do wonders when it comes to putting your band in the spotlight and presenting the right image, but how do you go about making a good set of photos?

Know the deal? I’d be surprised if you didn’t: another rejection letter in your inbox in response to your latest gig-fishing email. It seems that the majority of the bands that are sending out their bio and demo to venues receive a ‘no’ – if they receive a reply at all.

Any paid-up superfan has gone on a journey from supporting an artist that no one’s ever heard of to seeing them flourish into the success they knew they always would be. Since it’s essential that artists build a relationship with their potential superfans, most of them stick to social media. But email is actually just as powerful a tool. Here, Guestblogger and musician Mirjam Sieben offers up some email marketing tips and reveals what something as simple as an email can do for your music.

Despite all the skill and musicianship involved, cover bands are often looked down on, which is a shame, since putting together a cover band is a big job and a lot of them are actually pretty awesome. So, what is it exactly that separates a great cover band from a mediocre wannabe? In this blog, we take a look at the essential ingredients that go into building a brilliant, successful cover band. We can already tell you that the first thing to be sure of is that you’re creating a band that has its own identity, rather than setting out to make a carbon copy of the original.

As an independent artist, promoting your events is essential to getting the word out and ensuring a successful turnout. In today’s digital age, utilising social media is an effective way to reach a wide audience. Facebook, in particular, is a powerful tool that can help independent artists boost event promotion and drive ticket sales. In this comprehensive guide, guest blogger Brookmyer McIntyre explores how you can use Facebook Pixel to promote your events and reach more people.

Amsterdam Dance Event, known as ADE, is one of the busiest and most interesting weeks of the year for dance music industry professionals. People from all over the world gather in Amsterdam for one week to discuss the upcoming year and to make their upcoming plans. It’s a true spectacle and celebration of dance music, and one of the most important weeks of the year for our community. The conference is a lot of fun, but it’s also a very valuable way of growing your network.

If you want to make a living from music – partly or entirely – then it’s worth having a good think about where exactly the money is going to come from. Almost every professional musician and music-maker has multiple sources of income, which in business-speak is referred to as a ‘revenue model’. To help you build yours, Guestblogger, Maaike lines up ten possible money-making options for your consideration.