Madalyn's Blog

Now here is a refreshing approach to digital downloads... you choose the price. SongSlide is a great concept for indie artists! Why not let people decide how much they want to pay for your music (don't worry, there is a minimum price!). If your fans love and cherish you, they pay more for your music which effectively supports your efforts. I find this win/win because it helps support the indie artist. YOU. I love that!

Founders (and musicians) Devin Brewer and John Hurd of Seattle have a great idea that I hope takes off for them. Their store is still growing but I see this as a great and much needed platform for indie artists.



Another digital download store with similar features is Hobbyhorse Cafe. Developed by Bay Area musicians Annie & Phil, they offer downloads with price plans that include a set price but gives you the option to "enter your price" as a Patron of the Arts. Great idea! Great concept!

What I love about the Internet is there are so many options out there to assist independent musicians when it comes to creative ways to sell music. I believe that digital downloads are the way to go and these are two examples of companies who "get it" because they themselves are musicians. I recommend checking out both sites.

Rock on,
Madalyn Sklar
IndieMusicCoach.com
~providing one-on-one indie music consulting & coaching~
http://www.indiemusiccoach.com/

Madalyn Recommends:
	Funding Your Next Music Project - Template Need help raising $$ for your next music project? This template can help! available in the GoGirls Music Store

Labels: indie music business digital downloads mp3 songslide

“Press & Promotion”

This teleseminar was recorded live July 18, 2007



Madalyn Sklar interviews Mara Hitner of Flying Coaster PR and Music Connection Magazine about using the media to promote your music, tricks for getting press and discounted advertising and the importance of your bio and press releases.

Order you copy at http://www.gogirlsmusicstore.com/

Labels: music business teleseminar madalyn sklar mara hitner gogirls

There is no sudden leap to greatness.
Your success lies in doing day by day.
Your upward reach will come from working well and carefully.

Good work done little by little becomes great work.
The house of success is built brick by brick.

Adopt the pace of nature. The secret is patience.
A bottle fills drop by drop.

THE DAILY GURU
****************************************
©2006 by Max Steingart

Madalyn’s 2 cents: Get rich quick never works. You have to work it one step at a time and be patient. You know the saying, great things happen to those who wait. It's so true. Make a plan and do the work, bit by bit, day by day. Keys to success: stay on path, always do the right thing, persist, don't give up and always strive to be your best.

Like receiving motivational stuff? Check out my new site, Motivation for Musicians.

Labels: motivation musicians indie madalyn sklar

Madalyn's Note: This is a cool web site worth checking out!

Vocal Downloads is the first of its kind website, committed to bringing a variety of quality vocal samples to your library without breaking your project's budget for royalty-free music production.




Vocal Downloads was founded by house music artist, D'Layna. It was during her 7 years in the house industry that she realized the lack of acapella vocal resources available to the DJ, Remixer and Music Producer. "Up till now, there has been no single resource to obtain these vocal samples," says D'Layna. "Vocal Downloads is not only a single-point resource, but it also saves people from buying an entire CD of vocal samples and then using only some of them."

http://www.vocaldownloads.com

Labels: acapella, downloads, royalty free, samples, vocal

Are you ready to unlock your potential and make it as an indie artist? Earn more money! Have more fans! Jumpstart your music career with this powerful seminar aimed to help you reach your goals.

In my DVD, Indie Music Success - Unlock Your Potential, I talk about branding your talents, the power of networking and community and share time management tips. It's a roadmap to what your future has in store for you.

What are you waiting for?



Indie Music Success - Unlock Your Potential is available at the GoGirls Music Store.

Rock on,
Madalyn Sklar
IndieMusicCoach
~providing one-on-one indie music consulting & coaching~
http://www.indiemusiccoach.com/

Labels: indie music business dvd success madalyn sklar

Have you checked out Facebook yet? It's yet ANOTHER social network web site. But this one is really cool and unique. I've been having fun with it lately and keep finding new uses for it.

For indie artists this is a great way to really connect with fans. I don't mean like your Myspace page. This is much better. You can post your gigs and/or events, chat with your friends, add your YouTube videos and even upload multiple scrapbooks. I know it's similar to Myspace but it has it's own style and I like it.

Check it out and add me as a friend. Just click here!

Rock on,
Madalyn Sklar
IndieMusicCoach.com
~providing one-on-one indie music consulting & coaching~
http://www.indiemusiccoach.com/

Madalyn Recommends:
	Indie Music Success DVD - Getting Motivated! Are you ready to earn more $ in the music business? available in the GoGirls Music Store

Labels: madalyn sklar facebook indie music gogirls

by Madalyn Sklar

So it all started February 2006. I wanted to celebrate 10 years of GoGirlsMusic.com, the oldest & largest online community of indie women in music. I'm the founder of this organization and for years people have told me I should get our cool logo tattooed on my body. I liked the idea but wasn't sure where I'd put it. Oh the dilemma!

On February 11, 2006, four of us got the logo on our ankles. Cool huh?



Fast forward to today and I'm proud to say that there are now 19 people in the GoGirls community who proudly display GoGirls "ink" on their bodies. It's pretty amazing. What started as a personal statement of 10 incredible years has quickly become a revolution.

Click here to see and read more about this INK-REDIBLE buzz!

#18 Kimbo

#19 Tony

Rock on,
Madalyn Sklar
IndieMusicCoach.com
~providing one-on-one indie music consulting & coaching~
http://www.indiemusiccoach.com/

Madalyn Recommends:
	Using Myspace to...create a buzz @ a music conference (newly revised edition!) available in the GoGirls Music Store

Labels: GoGirls Music community madalyn sklar tattoo

By Sheena Metal

For a musician, your songs are your art. They are the physical embodiment of your creative gifts. Every bit of anger, happiness, angst, joy, pain, elation, knowledge or humor goes into the story known as your song. You write and re-write it, scouring over each note and word…perfecting it for recording and live performance.

But when you play it for others, you’re not getting the reaction you expected. Your friends, fans and family seem less than enthusiastic as they dully respond, “Yeah. That was…um…good.” How could this be? You poured your soul into this piece. This was your “Stairway To Heaven”! This was your “Smells Like Team Spirit”! It’s a lyrically amazing ode about the persecution of pagan midwives in grass hut tribes! It flows, it breathes, and it’s seven and a half minutes of pure musical perfection!

Whoa. Stop right there, Mozart. You wrote a seven and a half minute song about the persecution of pagan midwives in grass hut tribes and you’re wondering why you’re thirteen year-old cousin fell asleep in the middle of the fourth verse? You wrote a seven and a half minute song about the persecution of pagan midwives in grass hut tribes and you’re confused as to why your drummer’s girlfriend began calling her friends on her cell phone before the song had reached its bridge?

It may be hard to believe when you’re penning an opus such as this, but the normal human brain is wired a little differently than an accomplished musician’s, like yourself. And although music is art, it’s also popular culture and the goal should be for others to enjoy your creative efforts as much as you do.

So, how can you make sure that your writing experience is as positive as your audience’s listening experience? What can you, as musicians do, to eliminate aspects of your songs that may alienate, confuse or just plain bore your fans?

The following are a few tips that may add success to your songwriting experience:

1.) After Four Minutes, It Becomes Background Music---Music aficionado’s aside, the average person has roughly the attention span of a young adult hummingbird. As a songwriter, you need to grab your audience’s attention and hold it until the end of the song before they flit off to something else more interesting to them. Although four minutes (or less) may seem like the blink of an eye when a songwriter is storytelling, it’s a very long time to expect your run-of-the-mill club-goer or web-surfer to stay fixated on your music.

2.) Tell Your Story As Directly As Possible---We all love allusions, allegories, vague references, and subtle metaphors but use them sparingly or become a beat poet. A little abstractness goes a long way when writing a popular song. Song lyrics fly into people’s minds as quickly as the bassist plucks out quarter notes. If you make your lyrics too complicated, then your audience may still be trying to figure out the verse when you’re already playing the chorus. This could prompt the average listener to tune out your masterpiece, order another beer and switch on their Ipod.

3.) If English Is Your First Language, Use It In Your Song---It’s great that you’re an educated, cultured, artistic intellectual sponge. But remember that most people who hear your music are not book worms or art whores. Big, involved words make for memorable song lyrics but use them occasionally. It’s good for your fans to ponder the meaning of a particular lyric but give them too many to ponder and they’ll get so caught up in the words that they may forget your song.

4.) Obscure Musicality Can Be Confusing Too---Lyrics aren’t the only way to confuse the average listener. Obscure time signatures, discordant instrumentation and avant guard drum lines may seem like genius to your fellow musicians, but if your listeners can’t tap and/or hum along, you may find yourself only invited to perform in underground opium bars where the audience members have all had one too many hash brownie.

If you’re not sure where to begin, start simple. Write a short, but sweet, song that packs an emotional punch in a universal way. Write about something everyone is familiar with: love, politics, lifestyle issues or the sociology of being a human being on the planet. Once people have fallen in love with your music, it will be easier to get them to give the extra listen to your more complicated, artistic pieces.

Remember that just because a song is popular or easily understood, doesn’t mean that it’s not good creativity. Art is subjective, and truly in the eye of the beholder. Your least favorite song could be someone else’s favorite. You never have to stop being creative or artistic, just acknowledge that there’s an audience out there that wants to hear what you have to say…but they’ll need to be able to comprehend it first.

Sheena Metal is a radio host, producer, promoter, music supervisor, consultant, columnist, journalist and musician. Her syndicated radio program, Music Highway Radio, airs on over 700 affiliates to more than 126 million listeners. Her musicians’ assistance program, Music Highway, boasts over 10,000 members. She currently promotes numerous live shows weekly in the Los Angeles Area, where she resides. For more info: http://www.sheena-metal.com.

Labels: sheena metal indie music business

A Distinctive Guide To The Music Industry's Lost Art
by Eugene Foley

Eugene Foley teaches up-and-coming artists, musicians, songwriters, managers and independent label owners the key elements regarding the most important topic in the music business, and one that is often ignored these days, Artist Development. Topics Include: Artist Development Techniques, Improving Your Songwriting, Press Kit Design, Choosing Advisors, Publicity, Media Buying, Radio Promotion, Music Videos, Touring, Record Companies, Distribution, Music Publishing, Alternative Career Options.

TESTIMONIAL:
"If you are looking for helpful information and advice on the music business, look no further. Eugene Foley has put together a comprehensive book that will guide you through key areas of the biz. From crafting songs to promotions, music publishing to distribution, there is something in this book for you. Personally, I found all chapters to be quite informative. Not surprising since Foley is a renowned agent, consultant and author. He's worked with clients earning Gold and Platinum records as well as Grammy awards. Bottom line, Foley is someone to listen to!"
Madalyn Sklar, IndieMusicCoach/GoGirlsMusic.com

This books is a GREAT read. It's available at the GoGirls Music Store.

Labels: artist development eugene foley music business advice

Did that grab your attention? Good! So many indie artists are not doing enough to gain attention or put out something buzz worthy. Why did this poster grab you? Think about it. Then go think about what you can do to create a good buzz for your next show or event.

Okay so what prompted me to put this show/poster together?

In the last year and a half we've had 18 people in our GoGirls community go out and get one of our logos tattooed on their bodies. Cool huh? So I wanted to put together something cool and unusual - the GoGirls Tattoo Tour. It's been in the works for a few months now. The show is coming up with Saturday. I wanted a poster with a look and feel that would translate to a "GoGirls Tattoo Tour". At the time I didn't know what that was but knew it needed a cool looking woman with our tattoos on her body.

I got in touch with Greta, my amazing graphic designer at GrowVision Graphics. I gave her some info about the show and told her we needed a photo of a woman with tattoos. In no time she put together this amazing poster. And guess, what people love it! We are getting attention for our show because of this cool poster.

So think about ways to create a buzz with your poster. Make it attention grabbing. If you are not a graphic designer it's totally worth it to hire one.

Rock on,
Madalyn Sklar
IndieMusicCoach.com
~providing one-on-one indie music consulting & coaching~
http://www.indiemusiccoach.com/

Madalyn Recommends:
	Using Myspace to...Promote You & Your Music (newly revised edition!) available in the GoGirls Music Store

Labels: indie music promotions buzz gogirls madalyn sklar

by Jerome Ford

In a very short time, Myspace.com has become the hottest music promotional tool available to anyone. Here are the 7 rules of successful myspace music promotion.

1. Get a myspace.com music page.
Getting a myspace.com music page is free so there is no reason not to have one.

2. Make sure your page is user friendly.
There are many would-be music business professionals who have myspace pages take too long to load. If your myspace page loads too slow, you could be losing potential fans. Mega bandwidth graphics and images will prevent your page from loading quickly. Your myspace page should take no longer than 20 - 30 seconds to load.

Many artists on myspace use layouts that emphasize their creativity but are a nightmare to navigate. Refrain from using dancing cursor's, raining text, and distracting images on your myspace music pages.

Other myspace artists have about me blurbs that go on forever. Keep about me blurbs short (no more than 1000 words), if people want to know more about you, they will ask.

3. Have your music on your myspace page.
Don't put someone else's music on your myspace page unless you were involved in the creation of the music. How can you be discovered if your music isn't on your page?

4. Reach out for friends.
Networking on myspace is one of the most powerful tools you can use to build your fan-base. Take advantage of the opportunity to reach people with like interests. Never ignore or decline a friend request. You never know who can help your career.

5. Treat your friends like friends.
Common courtesy applies on myspace just as in real life. Be willing to thank your friends for adding you as a friend. Respond to friend's emails (if appropriate). Never post your ad as a comment on someone's myspace page without acknowledging them. Limit the size of your "ad comments".

6. Promote yourself in appropriate ways.
Noteworthy career benchmarks, or new music added to your page are good reasons to promote yourself on myspace. List your performance dates on your page and use bulletins to let people know where you are performing. Limit the number of bulletins you post. Posting irrelevant bulletins, or posting bulletins too often, will force your friends to ignore you.

Let people know about your myspace.com page. Putting your unique myspace.com address on your website and business cards will make it convenient for you to build your network and fan base faster.

7. Provide ways for people to purchase your music from your myspace page.
If you sell your music anywhere online make sure there is a direct link from your myspace page to the location where people can buy your music.

Follow our rules and you will have fun and make many friends on Myspace.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Hope you enjoyed this article. If you don't have a Myspace page, get one! And if you have one, be sure to work it regularly. You can get great results!

Rock on,
Madalyn Sklar
IndieMusicCoach.com
~providing one-on-one indie music consulting & coaching~
http://www.indiemusiccoach.com/

Madalyn Recommends:
	Using HTML For More Effective Myspace Marketing available in the GoGirls Music Store

Tune into "The Music Shoppe" with author Joanne Ledesma on www.adrenalineradio.com !
Co-produced by Max Vasquez (Maxx Vaxx Music), "The Music Shoppe" is YOUR opportunity to gain vital Music Industry info YOU need to know!

Listen every Thursday from 2-3P.M. P.S.T. on http://www.adrenalineradio.com

In this groundbreaking show, Miss Ledesma will discuss all aspects of the business, including Marketing, Performance, Management, Gear, & Legal with industry experts. Plus more upcoming surprises and contests! Get in the know!!

"The Music Shoppe" - the REAL Showbiz Show!
only on adrenalineradio.com
Presented by Joanne Ledesma and Maxx Vaxx Music

Labels: music business radio

I arranged for a sweet discount at The Virtual Publicist. You can get $10 off by using discount code: gogirls1

What is The Virtual Publicist? It's a comprehensive updated music press list that you can download from your computer. There has never been such an extensive music press list like this made available to indie musicians before now.




Get your discounted copy today at www.thevirtualpublicist.com/

Hey, there is still time to submit for this year's Dewey Beach Music Conference. It's one of my favorites!!



This year’s Dewey Beach Music Conference & Festival will be held September 27-30, 2007 and will showcase 175 bands on 17 stages all within a 5 block radius. There is no cover charge or wristband fee for the public to get into the showcase venues at night!

The event includes two days of panels, clinics, tradeshow, mentoring sessions, and industry meet & greet cruises on the bay. There are also daytime acoustic stages sponsored by Sponsored by 96 Rock, World Café Live, Airport Circle and VIP parties sponsored by Bud Light. The event wraps up on Sunday with a free "Last Chance to Schmooze Brunch."

All bands that apply, whether chosen or not ALL get FREE Badges to attend the business sessions, parties, tradeshow, panels, clinics, mentoring/demo listenening sessions. So don’t miss this year’s Dewey Beach Music Conference & Festival!

Opportunity Website: http://www.deweybeachfest.com/

Rock on,
Madalyn Sklar
IndieMusicCoach.com
~providing one-on-one indie music consulting & coaching~
http://www.indiemusiccoach.com/

Madalyn Recommends:
	Professor Pooch's The Music Biz on a Disk available in the GoGirls Music Store

What if you could earn more money than you ever imagined as an indie artist. Do you have what it takes to succeed? Stop holding yourself back from the success you desire and deserve!

In my newest DVD, Indie Music Success - Getting Motivated!, I talk about the valuable keys to your success. It's a roadmap to what your future has in store for you.

What are you waiting for?



Indie Music Success - Getting Motivated! is available at the GoGirls Music Store.

Rock on,
Madalyn Sklar
IndieMusicCoach
~providing one-on-one indie music consulting & coaching~
http://www.indiemusiccoach.com/

The only national magazine that is by, for and all about Independent Artists. Singer & Musician Magazine provides singers, songwriters, musicians and bands with practical, down-to-earth information they can use in the real world of the music business. As a friend of Madalyn's Music Biz Blog you can save 49% off the newsstand price, 12 issues for just $19.95. Enter coupon code "GoGirls" when subscribing.

Singer & Musician Magazine

Did you know there are online music courses available through the prestigious Berklee College of Music? They've got it all! Whether you are wanting to learn more about music production or songwriting or maybe even music business it's all right here.

Check it out at http://www.berkleemusic.com/

Rock on,
Madalyn Sklar
IndieMusicCoach.com
~providing one-on-one indie music consulting & coaching~
http://www.indiemusiccoach.com/

Madalyn Recommends:
	Teleseminar: Artist Development Interview with Eugene Foley available in the GoGirls Music Store

Professor Pooch's The Music Biz on a Disk

A Music Business Resource Center... All on 1 CD!
Updated for 2007!

*Over 700 Easy-To-Read & Understand, Down-To-Earth pages!
*Complete Artist Development/Management, Songwriting/Publishing & Producing/Production *Company Courses + a 311 Page Book!
*You Will Save Thousands Of Dollars Over Schools & Colleges!
*You Will Find It Useful Today as well as For Many Years To Come!
*You will Learn What You Need To Know and Do to Get a Big Jump Ahead in The Music Business

You'll find this and other products in the GoGirls Music Store!