Tuesday, September 30, 2008 

Tha Producer Chik's ™ Blog

I met music producer Leslie Garner at PLAY:STL a few weeks ago and stumbled upon her blog today.

Tha Producer Chik's ™ Blog
The blog of an up-and-coming female music producer(Leslie G. Tha Producer Chik ™). Listen to clips of her music and read about her day, her thoughts on music, production, and the industry in general. Hope you enjoy!

She recently posted a PDF on how to mix your songs, courtesy of TuneCore and worth a read. Click here to get your hands on it.

So bottom line, this blog has useful links and insight into the world of a female producer. Nuff said!

Madalyn Sklar is a music business coach & consultant, blogger, social networks expert and author. She founded IndieMusicCoach and has spent over 12 years working with a wide range of independent musicians all over the world. Her goal is to help indie artists achieve greater success in the music business by working smarter not harder. She is also the founder of GoGirlsMusic.com, the oldest and largest online community of indie women musicians, with a vision of bringing together and empowering musicians from around the world.

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Tuesday, September 23, 2008 

An Update From Madalyn...

Hey everyone,

Well I finally got power back in my house on Saturday while I was out of town at PLAY:STL. But I'm still without internet. It's very, very frustrating! I'm having to drive over to Panera Bread and use their free Wifi. ;-)

So I wanted to let everyone know all is okay but not 100% back in order yet.

I had a blast at PLAY:STL. It was so nice getting away from Houston. I spoke on several panels including Music Biz 101. See pic below.

At the Music Biz 101 panel at PLAY:stl

I hope things will get in order soon. Thanks for your support!

Rock on,
Madalyn Sklar

Wednesday, September 17, 2008 

Closed Due To Hurricane Ike...

Hey everyone,

In case you are wondering why there have been no blog posts since Friday it's because I live in a suburb of Houston, TX and have been severely affected by Hurricane Ike. I cannot tell you what a nightmare it was. The good news is my family and I are okay. We have been without power for 111 hours now. It's unbelievable. Most of Houston and surrounding areas have no electricity. I have not seen the news since Friday evening when it hit us. I don't know what they are reporting but our fair city (the 4th largest in the country!) has been devastated.

Lucky for me I leave in the morning for St. Louis to attend PLAY:stl. It will be nice having luxuries like air conditioning and cold beverages again. ;-)

You can follow me at Twitter by going to http://twitter.com/gogirlsmusic. You can read my account of Hurricane Ike plus I'll be reporting in "real time" at PLAY:stl. It's a really cool music conference.

Rock on,
Madalyn Sklar

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Friday, September 12, 2008 

GoGirls Elite Interview with Terry Winchell

by Annette Warner

What drives your music?

The need to express how I feel and to understand more clearly my thoughts, desires, and reactions. The whole process (writing lyrics and music, performing and recording) leads to helpful, and sometimes surprising, insight about myself and about life in general.

When did you first know you had to do this thing called music or bust?

When I started playing live shows at around 17 years old. You could hear a pin drop in the audience. I knew I was connecting with people on a meaningful level. But , I’ve never thought about the bust part.

What kind of advice would you offer up and coming artists that get discouraged other than don’t give up?


Never forget why you started playing music in the first place: because you enjoy it. Remember to have fun.
Don’t be afraid to reinvent yourself if you feel stuck creatively.
Surround yourself with supportive and positive people.
Circulate your music to the public either by playing live or making CD’s (submitting music for film and TV is a good way to get on the map these days).
Don’t be hard on yourself. Life’s too short.

Describe your ideal venue.

One that has a sound person who is passionate about his job and who works well with artists. A creative lighting person is important also. I prefer amphitheaters and festivals -- playing outdoors under a starry summer’s night sky, which provides fresh air to sing in. I like to be in nature whenever I can, even when I’m playing music.

Describe your music's evolvement since your first release, compared to your latest release?

My solo debut CD release “Under The Veil Of Wilderness” was recorded in 1998 in Nashville. It was co-produced with Clay Mills, a very talented songwriter in his own right. There was more production on this CD then my latest. Everything sounded killer on it, but my voice should not have been set so far in the mix on a lot of the songs.

On my latest CD, “Vice Versa,” I wanted a warm acoustic sound, with a laid-back feel. I made sure my vocals were up front in the mix this time. I wanted it to sound the way my band sounds live, and I feel we captured that. The basic tracks were recorded in the small home studio of guitar player Mark McCarron; he also plays on “Vice Versa.” I then mixed it analog and mastered it , at Dubway Studios in NYC. This enhanced the warm natural acoustic sound I was trying to achieve.

Tell us about the inspiration for its tracks. 


There are 15 songs on "Vice Versa." Each song has its own point of inspiration, but collectively they come from my thoughts and experiences. I felt these songs belonged together on an album.
They range from songs that are up beat to ballads , songs about love, happiness, heartbreak, spiritual , to environmental awareness.

What do you think is number one for a musician to think about before recording a CD - and do you have any tips on saving time in the studio?

Get your budget together, and discuss your project with the people you will be working with in the studio. Work with an engineer or producer you feel comfortable with -- someone who’s on the same page with you, someone you can share your ideas with, someone who is supportive, creative, professional, and has a good track record in the business. It’s important that the engineer understands how much this means to you. Take your time picking out your best tunes before you go into the studio. Rehearse the songs with your band so everyone knows their parts. Make sure all your instruments are working and sounding great. Make notes about your songs, before and during your recording sessions. Having a good outline of what you want, before you start, helps tremendously.

What makes or breaks a musician just starting out in your opinion? 


Talent, confidence, passion.

Describe your toughest moment in your music career so far?


I recorded and released an album when I had some health problems, and then my mother passed away.

Are you planning a tour and if so…where do you plan to take your music outside of NY?


My latest CD “Vice Versa” got a considerable amount of radio play the last year and half, so I’m planning on setting up a tour to coincide with areas in which radio stations are playing me. In Europe I’ve been in the top ten most requested songs. Radio stations in Canada, USA and Australia have been playing my music enough to get me charted also.
I’ve decided to focus on a European tour first.

Along with making another album for a 2009 release, this tour is about keeping my music on the radio map and reaching people with my music with live performances.

Tell us something you want the independent music world to know about you.

The only thing I want people to now about me is my music.

What can your fans expect at a show?

Someone who sings and plays from the deepest part of her soul.
I’ll be enjoying the hell out of myself, and very conscious that sharing the music with others is a huge part of why I do what I do.

On GoGirlsMusic.com...

I have been a independent musician for many years, so I've learned a lot on my own. But I am always open to anything that can help my career. I'm constantly impressed by all the information that Madalyn/GoGirls sends me. From day one of becoming a member, I have felt it is a unique organization: on the pulse, and one that can guide and help musicians in many ways. Madalyn's upbeat enthusiasm, knowledge, professionalism, and most of all organizational skills, have impressed me the most. I 'm really glad to be a member of Go Girls Music. It's the real deal. It's hard enough doing it alone, and time is important . Being connected with other creative people is a huge plus, and any help is always appreciated -- especially coming from people who are on the level.

Learn more about Terry Winchell at
www.terrywinchell.com

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Thursday, September 11, 2008 

An Introduction to Music Publishing

I just came across this really cool video lesson on Music Publishing. It's on the Artists House Music web site. Enjoy! -- Madalyn

Former President of the storied Rykodisc label and founder of Slow River Records, George Howard is an accomplished musician, producer, executive, and educator. He is also the author of several books, including Music Publishing 101. In this video tutorial, George demystifies the crucially important segment of music publishing.


Find more videos like this on ArtistsHouse Music Community

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Wednesday, September 10, 2008 

Why I Love Stereofame!

I play around on lots of social networks sites and have come to LOVE Stereofame. Watch my little video. Tell me what you think. And hey... I made arrangements with them to give you 1000 points to start. Just click here to set up your own account and find mine by searching GoGirls.



Rock on,
Madalyn Sklar

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Tuesday, September 09, 2008 

Another Music Biz Domain Name? Are You Serious Madalyn?

by Madalyn Sklar



I know, call me crazy...

But today is a special day. I am the proud owner of yet ANOTHER music business domain name. I have to say this is the first time I was approached to buy one. It wasn't my original idea like all the others. But the name is so good. I gave it some thought and came up with a bunch of ideas in my head of how I could turn this into yet another one of my great web sites. All to benefit indie artists of course. But do I really need another web site? Do I really need to start another side venture?

Sometimes I just can't help myself. I want to help independent artists succeed in the music business. Is that my downfall?

I am the classic entrepreneur. When I was younger I had no idea this was in me. But it's been going strong for well over 13 years now. I am always coming up with new ideas, many are innovating. I think part of that is the techie in me. What sets me apart from so many others is that I'm not afraid to try something and see if it works. If I fail, I fail and move on. I learn from it and move forward, not looking back.

Okay so back to, "do I really need another web site?" I think I need some help here from you, my readers. Your two cents on this subject. Many of my peers are focused on doing just one or two things. And they do it well. I seem to thrive on juggling 5-10 things at a time. Sometimes I think it's great but other times I think to myself I can't do it all! It becomes overwhelming. You know?

Here's a run down...

I run GoGirlsMusic.com. I do one-on-one coaching & consulting at IndieMusicCoach. I oversee everything at Social Networks for Musicians. I blog regularly right here. I host monthly music business teleseminars. I host a monthly local GoGirls MEET UP as well as showcase events here in Houston. I travel 1-2 times per month to music conferences and/or GoGirls events all over the country. I develop and write eBooks and eCourses. I send out twice weekly motivational text messages for musicians.

Wow, writing out what I do just gave me a headache. Seriously! I know I do a lot. But I love it. At the same time I really do wonder if I could be more effective doing less. Hmm.

I would love to hear your two cents. Feel free to post a comment.

Copyright © 2008 Madalyn Sklar, IndieMusicCoach

Madalyn Sklar is a music business coach & consultant, blogger, social networks expert and author. She founded IndieMusicCoach and has spent over 12 years working with a wide range of independent musicians all over the world. Her goal is to help indie artists achieve greater success in the music business by working smarter not harder. She is also the founder of GoGirlsMusic.com, the oldest and largest online community of indie women musicians, with a vision of bringing together and empowering musicians from around the world.

Madalyn is available for one-on-one consulting and coaching at affordable prices. Check out http://www.indiemusiccoach.com/ for more info.

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Monday, September 08, 2008 

GoGirls is giving away a FREE ReverbNation tank top!



Sign up at http://www.gogirlsmusic.com


About ReverbNation
ReverbNation provides innovative marketing solutions that musicians need to compete, cooperate, and differentiate in an increasingly noisy online environment. Unlike typical "closed" communities, artists use ReverbNation as their home base for approaching marketing and promotion across the Internet as a whole — be it via social networks, blogs, or the artist's homepage. Tools like TunePaks, FanReach, and Widgets give the artist the power to spread their music and information virtually anywhere. Real-time stats then provide a 360-degree view of how the music is spreading, who is listening, and which fans are actually passing it on to their friends and posting it on their pages.

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Thursday, September 04, 2008 

GINA for Missing Persons FOUNDation

Oct 17-Nov 4 GINA for Missing Persons FOUNDation hosts a tour called The International Squeaky Wheel Tour® or SWT. For 19 days: Artists touring or playing anywhere in the world are invited to join us in profiling missing people local to their gig. Collectively this grassroots movement of artists like you have helped to profile 1000's of missing people and over 300 have been found. Many GINA Artists have taken this mission on as their own and have found that by profiling missing people their music is heard and by asking their audiences to take a missing persons flyer to post people are found and suddenly their music is worth so much more. To become a GINA Artist/SWT go to: http://www.411gina.org/ginaartists.htm#beartist

My band, Clementine headlines the tour traveling in a tour bus filming a reality TV series called FINDing Gina about a band on the road trying to find one of their members sisters.You may remember my sister Gina has been missing for 8 years. She vanished after a performance in Lincoln, NE Oct 17, 2000. She is the inspiration for all of this.

We have several openings in our schedule where we could partner with other artists or would simply love advice on good venues to play in the area. Many of our events are fund raisers as it is very expensive to make this happen. We aim for maximum press (Radio, TV, Print) wherever we go and the families of the missing join us in order to gain exposure for their missing loved ones.

If you have a venue that you think would be interested and/or you want to join us in the cause or you just want us to crash your gig please email me directly. Clemstreet@aol.com.

San Fran Oct 18 ( we have 2 venue's that are maybe's here nothing confirmed)
Sacramento or Reno Oct 20 ( we have a nonprofit working with us here)
Colorado Oct 22 ( we have a couple of possible venue's here nothing confirmed)
Chicago or Madison, WI Oct 28 ( we have a nonprofit and one artist here)
Nov 5-6 in Alabama, Tennessee, Arkansas or Oklahoma. ( we have several venues contacted nothing confirmed)
Nov 9 Amarillo ( we have a nonprofit supporting us here)
Nov 10 Sante Fe or Phoenix ( have a nonprofit and support here)
Nov 11 Las Vegas ( have a nonprofit and some artists here)
Nov 12 Los Angeles (lots of GINA Artist support here)
We web cast all events where high speed Internet is available.
We have several national TV shows filming us on select days during SWT.

Keep the light on...

Jannel Rap
Join The Squeaky Wheel Tour® Oct 17-Nov 4
http://www.411gina.org/
In honor of Gina Bos missing since Oct. 17, 2000
Clementine Tours US for 19 days www.myspace.com/clementinelive
YouTube - FINDING GINA 'To Connect"

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Wednesday, September 03, 2008 

BMI Tops $900 Million Mark in Revenues

BMI has announced that it earned more than $901 million in revenues for its 2008 fiscal year, including its subsidiary Landmark Digital Services™, LLC. This is the first time any copyright organization has topped the $900 million mark for music performance revenues, and represents a 7.2% percent increase from the previous fiscal year. BMI also set a historic high in royalty distributions, and will disperse more than $786 million to the songwriters, composers and copyright owners it represents, an 8% percent increase over the prior fiscal year. With more than 375,000 songwriters, composers and music publisher affiliates, BMI is the world’s largest music copyright organization.

Both figures represent milestones in royalty collection and distribution for the public performance of music. BMI President & CEO Del Bryant said, “BMI has been extraordinarily successful in signing the brightest and most popular new music creators across all genres, building upon a repertoire that already includes the most beloved songs of America’s legendary songwriters and composers.” Bryant pointed out that BMI has consistently embraced new media businesses that use music, and developed innovative licensing solutions to permit these companies to reach new audiences, while assuring that creators and copyright owners are fairly compensated. “Our pro-technology and pro-business attitude has made it possible for BMI to continue to grow our revenues more than 7% each year, on average over the past 10 years, almost doubling our income in that period,” said Bryant.

BMI generated an impressive $664 million in domestic licensing income, an increase of 8% or $51 million over the prior year. BMI’s leadership in licensing the explosive growth of music in cable, satellite radio and satellite television brought in revenues of more than $208 million, accounting for more than 23% of the company’s consolidated revenue. Traditional broadcast radio and television accounted for $340 million, or about 38% of revenue. Growth in revenues from the performance of music in retail and service establishments, including restaurants, bars and the hospitality industry, increased to a total of $97 million, accounting for approximately 11% of BMI’s revenue. BMI’s New Media revenues increased to a total of $15 million. Thanks to growth in the mobile, social networking and website categories, BMI now licenses more than 6,500 digital media properties, an increase of more than 50% over the prior year. International revenues were also an especially bright spot, accounting for $238 million, or more than 26% of BMI’s revenues.

During the year, BMI extended its eCommerce initiatives, significantly enhancing its business-to-business tools for songwriters, composers, and copyright owners, as well as its licensing customers. BMI added almost 30,000 new songwriters and composers to its rolls, with the vast majority joining online. The company launched new tools permitting licensees to initiate and renew contracts, report music use and pay license fees online. BMI also dramatically increased its royalty-processing infrastructure to handle the explosion of music reporting from its many digital licensees, processing more than nine billion feature audio performances during the year. The strategic use of technology in all of these initiatives permitted BMI to grow its business while lowering overhead to 11.7%, the lowest in the company’s history.

BMI’s fiscal year runs from July 1 to June 30. BMI’s consolidated financial information includes Landmark Digital Services™, LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary. Landmark provides advanced audio-recognition products and services to BMI, as well as third-party clients, including content providers, copyright owners and consumers of music and digital entertainment.

Learn what you need to know about the PRO's!

How To Choose The Right P.R.O. (Performing Rights Organization) For You

by Madalyn Sklar

How do you go about choosing the right PRO for you? Well it takes some research and maybe a phone call or two. Word of mouth doesn't hurt. This e-Book is simply a guide to help you decipher the information before making a decision on which to join.

Order online at http://www.gogirlsmusicstore.com/

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Tuesday, September 02, 2008 

Madalyn's Blog LOVES Crystal Clear!



CDs – DVDs – T-SHIRTS - PROMO
Madalyn Sklar at IndieMusicCoach & GoGirlsMusic.com recommends her friends at Crystal Clear Disc, Promo, and Apparel for your CD/DVD replication, T-shirt/apparel, and other music promotional needs. Serving the regional and national independent and major label music industry for over 35 years, Crystal Clear has grown to become one of the largest, most experienced and respected replication and music promotional products companies anywhere in the country. Visit them on the web at http://www.crystalclearcds.com or contact the head of Crystal Clear, Jim Cocke directly at 800-880-0073, ext 114 or jim@crystalclearcds.com. Be sure to let Jim know you were referred by Madalyn Sklar for great discounts and special offers!

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Monday, September 01, 2008 

A 3 Hour Internet Radio Interview? I Don't Think So!

by Madalyn Sklar

Sometimes we miss out on great opportunities because we think we know how something will turn out when really we are way off base. Keeping an open mind, going with the flow can do wonders.

That leads me to tell this story.

So it goes like this... on Saturday I was scheduled to be interviewed "live" on Paradize Radio. I was looking forward to it. It's always a great ego boost doing interviews and this was my second one for the week. I was on a roll! They asked if I would stay on for their 3 hour radio show. I'm thinking 3 hours, I don't think so! I had things to do but knew I could offer an hour of my time to do this. And I knew they would be playing tons of music but thought to myself, am I going to be bored while the songs are playing? Are they going to talk to me or will I stay busy surfing the web?

Oh was I wrong!

The lovely ladies, DJ Kathy and DJ Sexy, did such a great job interviewing me but really it was off air where we were having a blast. We talked and talked and talked. We bonded. We came up with partnership ideas. We laughed. We told stories. We watched Hurricane Gustav makes its way in the Gulf. We harassed one of our GoGirls members via text messaging to tune in if she wanted to hear her song played on the air. This just went on and on. So I decided to stay on for a second hour. They were thrilled. I was too.

So don't always think you know how something will turn out because you could be wrong. This turned into a great experience for me. I ended up with two cool new friends who rock AND I have a new Internet radio partner for GoGirls. DJ Kathy even announced on the air that she wants to get a GoGirls tattoo!

Opportunity. It's everywhere. Keep your mind and eyes wide open!

Copyright © 2008 Madalyn Sklar, IndieMusicCoach

Madalyn Sklar is a music business coach & consultant, blogger, social networks expert and author. She founded IndieMusicCoach and has spent over 12 years working with a wide range of independent musicians all over the world. Her goal is to help indie artists achieve greater success in the music business by working smarter not harder. She is also the founder of GoGirlsMusic.com, the oldest and largest online community of indie women musicians, with a vision of bringing together and empowering musicians from around the world.

Madalyn is available for one-on-one consulting and coaching at affordable prices. Check out http://www.indiemusiccoach.com/ for more info.

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WHO IS MADALYN SKLAR?


    Madalyn Sklar is a music business coach & consultant, blogger, social networks expert and author. She has spent over 15 years helping independent musicians and music business professionals achieve greater success. Her motto is: working smarter not harder. She also founded GoGirlsMusic.com, the oldest + largest online community of indie women musicians.

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    contact: madalynsklar(at)gmail.com

         

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