Friday, October 31, 2008 

Madalyn Sklar Releases New Myspace e-Book!

Available only in the GoGirls Music Store!

Need tips on getting more out of your Myspace marketing efforts? Madalyn Sklar breaks it down and explains image and branding as well as getting the most out of music conferences. Plus tips on simple HTML code for your comments, bulletins and blogs.

This e-Book is designed for beginners or those looking to gain a better understanding of Myspace Marketing as well as those who would like to learn some basic HTML code.

Click here to order your copy!

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Wednesday, October 29, 2008 

Raining Jane Interview & Performance Review - Houston, TX

Performance Review by Amber Dawn

Raining Jane
http://www.rainingjane.com/
http://www.myspace.com/rainingjane

I had the pleasure of seeing Raining Jane open for Sara Bareilles on October 23 at the House of Blues in Houston. They have a refreshing sound that blends vocal harmonies and acoustic guitars with a pleasing pop sensibility. Their 'drummer', Mona Tavakoli, played a cajon instead of a traditional drum set. It was an awesome change from the norm to hear a different form of percussion and watching her animated playing style was fun. Becky plays bass but took a two song break to play the sitar…in fact, my favorite moment in the show was when they played a song that will be on their new album called "Brown Town". Mai and Chaska both play guitar and sing. That dynamic really kept the entire set fresh and enjoyable.

After the show I held the camera while Madalyn Sklar of GoGirlsMusic.com interviewed the band (minus Mai who was working their merch booth). The girls were really funny! Make sure you take the time to watch Madalyn's interview below.

I had never heard of Raining Jane until I saw them live. After their set I will definitely take the time to see them again any time they come through town. R.J. is a band worth hearing!

Backstage interview with Becky, Mona and Chaska of Raining Jane:



Copyright © 2008 GoGirlsMusic.com

Madalyn Sklar is a music business coach & consultant, blogger, social networks expert and author. She has spent over 12 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.

Madalyn's Sites:
http://www.indiemusiccoach.com/
http://www.gogirlsmusic.com/
http://www.socialnetworksformusicians.com/

Amber Dawn is a talented singer/songwriter that performs and publishes under the name 71 Stars. An active member of the Texas music scene and a GoGirls Elite member, she has performed at many venues including Warehouse Live and Hard Rock Cafe. She is currently in negotiations to record her first full length cd in early 2009. http://www.myspace.com/71stars

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Tuesday, October 28, 2008 

An Affordable Music Marketing Plan

by Madalyn Sklar



There is a really cool blog post over at KnowTheMusicBiz.com titled The $52.45 Music Marketing Plan written by David Rose. It's a great read and I'd like to throw out my two cents and add to what he discusses in the post.

Marketing your music is not so difficult. The hard part is wading through the massive resources and finding the right opportunities for you. That is why it's wise to read music business blogs like mine and KnowTheMusicBiz.com. Attend music events, conferences, seminars, panels, etc. Do what you can to learn more about the music biz and how to take advantage of everything that is out there.

David says and I couldn't agree more...


There are numerous solutions now available for marketing music at a minimal cost but keep in mind that none of them can offer a magic bullet for success in the music business.

RADIO
When it comes to marketing your music I agree with David that Pandora and Last.FM are great radio resources. There is also XM Radio as well as tons of resources in the Indie Bible. And for "women in music" there is my favorite NetteRadio.

LICENSING
Again I totally agree here that Rumblefish and PumpAudio are two great resources worth checking out. Be sure to also check out Taxi's Film & TV Music FAQs. There are some great articles here worth a read.

GIGS
I have a few suggestions that are worth checking out when it comes to gigs. David mentions Sonicbids but we now have OurStage offering *FREE* EPKs. They have a new area on their site called "Marketplace" with gig opportunities. It's worth investigating. Then there's ReverbNation's Gig Finder that is FREE. ReverbNation also has their own version of EPK called Reverb Press Kits or RPK. Brilliant! It's not free but has more features than a Sonicbids EPK.

MOBILE
David mentions Broadtexter but I'm a fan of using Mozes for mobile texting. For the last two years I've actually used Mozes to broadcast a twice weekly motivational text message that goes out to indie musicians and friends. You can check it out at Motivation for Musicians or text keyword motivate to 66937. Yes it's really that easy and yes it's free.

AWARENESS
Here David mentions OurStage which I am a big fan of. I would add ReverbNation here because of their incredibly awesome FREE widgets that will help you create a buzz with your music on the Internet. Plus their Facebook applications are great.

So there you have it. A few extra resources to check out. I hope you find David's article useful as well as my added resources.

Send me your comments and feel free to add ones that are not listed here.

Copyright © 2008 Madalyn Sklar, IndieMusicCoach

Madalyn Sklar is a music business coach & consultant, blogger, social networks expert and author. She has spent over 12 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.

Madalyn's Sites:
http://www.indiemusiccoach.com/
http://www.gogirlsmusic.com/
http://www.socialnetworksformusicians.com/

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Monday, October 27, 2008 

TuneCore vs ReverbNation For Digital Distro?

by Madalyn Sklar

So this morning I'm reading what is turning into quite the interesting article and blog comments about TuneCore raising $7 million for its digital distro service.

Apple’s iTunes music-downloading service and its iPod music players disrupted the music industry’s CD business. TuneCore is helping to complete that process.

That’s how the company just raised $7 million in a first institutional round of funding from Opus Capital. The Brooklyn, N.Y.-based company allows artists to distribute their music, videos and films to iTunes and a host of other online vendors.

I'm happy for TuneCore. They have done a great job building this company up and now with $7M they can do even more. I've known Jeff Price for a long time and he's come up with a great way for indie artists to get their music into the digital arena at an affordable price. They don't keep a percent of sales. YOUR SALES! This is why I feel strongly that their platform is better than CD Baby's. Why give your money away to CD Baby if you don't have to? I have been recommending TuneCore for years.

But then I run into a very interesting counter post on this subject at hyperbot asking a simple question: TuneCore Gets $7 M From Opus Capital. Why? They question this because ReverbNation is now offering digital distro at a cheaper rate than TuneCore.


Opus Capital's Gill Cogan told VentureBeat that he'd "screened a lot of music internet companies but didn’t find any that could do what TuneCore does." Well, Opus and VentureBeat should both hire new research departements. The flat fee distribtuion model has already been adopted by several companies. The largest, ReverbNation, offers a similar and sometimes cheaper flat fee service to 250,000 artist members. And ReverbNation offers an integrated suite of free viral promotional tools that TuneCore would do well to spend its $7 million copying.

ReverbNation I love ReverbNation! I'm a big fan. They offer hands down the BEST widgets to promote your music on the Internet. I love their Facebook applications too. I have been recommending them to everyone for a long time now. And I was thrilled to recently learn they are now offering their own digital distro and it's priced better than TuneCore. So you can guess which company I started recommending to my clients and the GoGirls community. Yep, ReverbNation. Oh and by the way, it's not just because their pricing is better. Nope. I've spent time with the people at ReverbNation. They "get it" when it comes to indie artists. And they are damn nice.

Here's a tip to remember: people like to work with people they like. Always be likable in this business!

I think this topic is going to get interesting. I'll be keeping a watchful eye. Stay tuned as this develops...

Send me your comments. I welcome your thoughts on this and would love to hear what you think!

Copyright © 2008 Madalyn Sklar, IndieMusicCoach

Madalyn Sklar is a music business coach & consultant, blogger, social networks expert and author. She has spent over 12 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.

Madalyn's Sites:
http://www.indiemusiccoach.com/
http://www.gogirlsmusic.com/
http://www.socialnetworksformusicians.com/

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Friday, October 24, 2008 

OurStage is now available on your iPhone

by Madalyn Sklar



I'm very excited about the news that OurStage, one of my favorite social network sites for musicians, has an iPhone application. I just downloaded it (it's free) and have been playing with it all morning. I'm in love!

I have found that really only a handful of social networks sites that are geared for musicians are really doing it right. Adding an iPhone application is super smart. I already have Pandora and AOL Music on my iPhone. I like them both but really want a way to discover new music from indie artists. And you know what, this is the way to do it on-the-go with your iPhone. When I'm not tied down to my computer this has become my preferred method to listen to music. And like Pandora I can rate the songs with a thumbs up or thumbs down.

Sign up for your FREE OurStage account here. It's a great way to make new fans and get discovered.

And be sure to read: Sweet music to my ears: OurStage is now available on your iPhone

Copyright © 2008 Madalyn Sklar, IndieMusicCoach

Madalyn Sklar is a music business coach & consultant, blogger, social networks expert and author. She has spent over 12 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.

Madalyn's Sites:
http://www.indiemusiccoach.com/
http://www.gogirlsmusic.com/
http://www.socialnetworksformusicians.com/

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Wednesday, October 22, 2008 

The Power of a Music Community

by Madalyn Sklar



As you probably know, I founded and run GoGirlsMusic.com. It is the oldest and largest online community of independent women in music. The only requirement is one female in a band.

Our mission is to "support, promote & empower our members". I think we do this well.

What makes GoGirls so great is the vast numbers of musicians looking to get empowered and feel part of something great. When people discover our community, they tell me how much they need it, how great to find a place where they can share and be involved, receive information, resources and not feel so alone.

Here's what some members of our community say about GoGirls:



click here for more GoGirls videos

Community is most beneficial when you take away the "me" attitude... the what's-in-it-for-me. In the music business there is so much of this. Where does it get you? Nowhere! But if you can step back from this attitude and step up you have so much more to gain. And what I mean by stepping up is getting involved, helping out, helping others, not expecting anything in return. You do it because you want to. Because you see the big picture. You see the success it can bring you. People like to help people they like. Are you likable?

Over the years I have set up GoGirls Chapters across the country and even in Europe. I can't run them so I over see them all. I can't make anyone step up. But what's great is we've had members of our community step up and volunteer. They see the bigger picture. They see how they can benefit from this, from their actions, from their kindness. By leading. By not being afraid, not being held back. They don't make excuses.

Side note: I hear excuses from musicians every day. I see petty actions. You have the power within you to succeed in the music business. But it takes a combination of things. One of them is stepping up to the plate and stop with the excuses.

Find communities that can benefit you, where you can step up and take part. Look at the bigger picture. Look beyond where you are at now. It's an amazing thing when you do this.

If you'd like to learn more about joining the GoGirls community, click here.

Copyright © 2008 Madalyn Sklar, IndieMusicCoach

Madalyn Sklar is a music business coach & consultant, blogger, social networks expert and author. She has spent over 12 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.

Madalyn's Sites:
http://www.indiemusiccoach.com/
http://www.gogirlsmusic.com/
http://www.socialnetworksformusicians.com/

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Thursday, October 16, 2008 

You Cannot Succeed Without A Goal

I wrote this blog post back in October '06. It's so good I wanted to share it again. Enjoy!

The indispensable first step
to getting the things you want out of life is this:
decide what you want.

You must first establish your objectives if you're to accomplish anything in a big way.
Goals give you a starting place and a destination.
People with goals succeed because they know where they're going.

Determine what you want.
Decide on your major objectives,
targets, aims, and destination.
If you don't know where you're going,
how can you expect to get there?

Plant your dreams, nourish and begin to live them.
The most important thing about a goal is having one.

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

Madalyn's Note:

I love how it says “if you don’t know where you’re going, how can you expect to get there?” We must have a plan to succeed. We need a path to where we are going.

There was an interesting article in Sunday's business section of the Houston Chronicle. It was about a young husband and wife team. They started their own business and were not succeeding as they hoped. Turns out they did not have a business plan. Basically they did not write down their goals and their plan to grow their business. It made me think about us and our music careers. We HAVE to have a plan. We must write out our goals. We have to figure out what we want then plan out how to get there.

Makes you think, huh?

Please feel free to post your comments and share your thoughts on this.

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

Wednesday, October 15, 2008 

Tori Amos Interview Video from Amoeba Music



I just got my hands on this great video interview of Tori Amos that is worth watching. She is such an amazing songwriter and performer. Whether you are a fan or musician, you will find this worth watching.

Rock on,
Madalyn Sklar
music business coach + consultant, blogger, social networks expert and author

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Tuesday, October 14, 2008 

ReverbNation Is At It Again!

ReverbNation Adds Distribution to iTunes, Amazon for Any Band
Artists Pay Flat Fee, Keep 100% of Royalty Revenue, Comes with Promotion Tools

ReverbNation (New York, NY – October 14, 2008) ReverbNation, the preferred marketing and promotion platform for over 250,000 musicians, labels, managers and venues, has introduced a low cost ‘On-Ramp’ for musicians and bands that want to get their music for sale on ten of the top digital retailers.

The service allows any Artist to submit their music for sale on iTunes (worldwide), Amazon, Rhapsody, Napster and eMusic for a flat fee of $34.95. Coupled with ReverbNation’s highly acclaimed marketing and promotional tools like FanReach (free email for musicians), Widgets, and Social Network Applications, the service will allow Artists from all walks of life to sell their music AND give them the tools they need to drive sales and grow their revenues from their fan base.

“Our sole focus is to provide Artists, and those that support them, with the tools and technology they need to grow their business and earn money,” said Lou Plaia, vice president of Artist Relations at ReverbNation.com. “Getting music up on the major retailers is important. But Artists need to be able to tie that purchase opportunity into every fan touch point in order to be effective. ReverbNation Artists, labels, and managers already use our marketing and promotion tools to reach 30,000,000 uniques per month. Adding a buying opportunity will help Artists take advantage of the reach they’ve already establshed.”

The service, dubbed simply ‘Digital Distribution,’ is available to every Artist at ReverbNation via their Reverb Toolbox. The feature is powered by INgrooves, a leading distribution technology company who also counts Universal Music Group as a client.

“The world of digital distribution is constantly evolving. We wanted to find a partner that could fulfill our Artist’s needs today as well as tomorrow,” said Mike Doernberg, chief executive officer of ReverbNation. “INgrooves has the technology, credibility, and a focus on building innovative products.”

“ReverbNation has quickly become a leading marketing technology platform for indie artists, and it’s easy to see why,” said Robb McDaniels, president & chief executive officer of INgrooves. “Their creative products and treatment of clients as business partners help to empower artists in the digital world. We are looking forward to ReverbNation and its artists utilizing our technology platform to manage the distribution of their releases around the world.”

Learn more about Digital Distribution from ReverbNation.com.

About ReverbNation
ReverbNation provides the 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, email, IM, or the artist’s homepage. Tools like TunePaks, FanReach, TuneWidget, and Street Team Manager 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. ReverbNation empowers Artists to take the music to the people, no matter where they spend their time online. For more information, please visit www.ReverbNation.com.

About INgrooves
INgrooves is a digital media infrastructure company that provides various distribution and marketing services via its INgrooves and ONE Digital services. ONE Digital uses the company's proprietary software platform to provide distribution and administration to large distributors, record labels and film production companies at rates far below the industry standard. INgrooves provides clients customized distribution, marketing, promotion, synch licensing and administrative support to help maximize the earnings potential of specific releases or catalogues. For more information, check out http://www.ingrooves.com.

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Monday, October 13, 2008 

Why I Dig OurStage

by Madalyn Sklar

So you know I'm a Social Networks geek, guru, expert... what have you. Yes, in addition to all my music biz stuff at GoGirls and IndieMusicCoach, it just so happens I spend a great deal of my time working the Social Networks (Myspace, Facebook, Twitter, Flickr, Blogger, ReverbNation, OurStage, Stereofame, etc), explaining it to people, reviewing all the new up and coming sites.

It's exhausting! But I do find super cool sites that I love and make a point to mention here in my blog.

Today I want to chat a bit about one of my favorites, OurStage.

So why do I dig OurStage? Well it's a free site for bands, fans and industry peeps.

For music fans it's a great place to discover new music. As an indie artist, that is extremely valuable. Fans can vote for their favorite music, join fan clubs, chat with bands. It's endless!

For artists and bands you can get discovered by new fans, win prizes and even get gigs. Just load up your music, videos and pics to get started. They offer FREE EPKs!

It's also a great place for music biz people like agents, managers, promoters, publicists, talent buyers, venue owners, etc.

So check out OurStage and let me know what you think. I'd love to hear from ya!

Copyright © 2008 Madalyn Sklar, IndieMusicCoach

Madalyn Sklar is a music business coach & consultant, blogger, social networks expert and author. She has spent over 12 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.

Madalyn's Sites:
www.indiemusiccoach.com
www.gogirlsmusic.com
www.socialnetworksformusicians.com

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Thursday, October 09, 2008 

imeem Launches Site Redesign and Introduces New Social Recommendation and Discovery Features

imeem ( www.imeem.com), the world's largest social media network, is releasing a new layout and new features that make it even easier for people to discover and enjoy more music and entertainment. imeem will begin to roll out the new design.

The new features, including personalized playlist, music and video recommendations based on people's tastes and social activity, create new ways for people to experience imeem. They also open new opportunities for artists, brand sponsors and label partners to connect with imeem's global community.

Read full article here.

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Wednesday, October 08, 2008 

ReverbNation Secures $3 Million in Series B Expansion Funding

Leading Indie Music Marketing Platform Enables Over 250,000 Bands to Reach 30,000,000 Fans

NEW YORK, N.Y. and DURHAM, N.C. – (October 7, 2008) ReverbNation, the leading marketing and promotion technology platform for musicians, labels, managers and venues, has secured $3 million in Series B funding. The round was led by new investor ETF Venture Funds and included follow-on investments from Novak Biddle Venture Partners and Southern Capitol Ventures (SCV).

“ReverbNation’s comprehensive marketing platform makes it simple for musicians to communicate with fans wherever they are on the Internet,” said Tony Bifano, partner, ETF Venture Funds. “Over 250,000 artists have already selected ReverbNation as their marketing partner to promote their music and generate royalty revenues through brand endorsements.”

ReverbNation acts as the ‘home base’ for Artists that want to tap into the power of multiple social networks at once, including MySpace, Facebook, Bebo and Hi5. Artists can deploy powerful tools and interactive functionality to these networks, their homepage, or their blog - stimulating the viral spread of their music and tracking where it goes across the entire Web.

ReverbNation can also help Artists capture the value of their reach and influence by connecting them with consumer brand partners that want to engage their fan base.

“We have observed that Indie Artists are actually more influential, pound for pound, than their established counterparts. They know their fans personally, and have stronger relationships with them,” said Mike Doernberg, ReverbNation co-founder and chief executive officer. ”Alone, these individual Artists cannot deliver the reach that Brands need, but bundled together they can. We configure entire ‘portfolios’ of participating Artists based on the fan demographics the brand is targeting, and allow the Artists to opt-in to the program. These types of paid partnerships have traditionally eluded Indie Artists.”

“It is increasingly difficult to connect with consumers in a meaningful way via mainstream media,” said Jason Caplain, general partner, Southern Capitol Ventures. “ReverbNation’s Artist Influencer Network, comprised of millions of loyal fans, represents a focused evolution of permission-based marketing that works.”

For more information about ReverbNation.com, go to: http://www.reverbnation.com

About the company
ReverbNation provides the innovative marketing solutions that musicians need to compete, cooperate, and differentiate in an increasingly distributed 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, email, IM, or the Artist’s homepage.

Powerful marketing tools like TunePaks, FanReach, TuneWidget, and Street Team Manager give the Artist the ability to spread their music and information virtually anywhere. Users can see real-time stats and a 360-degree view of how fast music is spreading, who is listening, and which fans are actually passing it on to their friends and posting it on their pages. ReverbNation empowers over 250,000 Artists to take the music to the people, no matter where they spend their time online. For more information, please visit www.ReverbNation.com.

Facebook® is a registered trademark of Facebook Inc. MySpace® is a registered trademark of Fox Media.

Media Contact:
Jed Carlson
Reverb Nation
919.682.9593
jcarlson@reverbnation.com

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Tuesday, October 07, 2008 

The Independent Music Awards (IMAs)

New "Ringtone" Category and
12 Million More Fans Added to 8th Annual IMAs




The Independent Music Awards (IMAs) – the awards program for the indie revolution - and Myxer, the leader in ad-supported mobile content, break new ground with creation of a new Ringtone/Ringback category that was recently added to the current IMA program.

Submissions to this category will be accepted until November 21, 2008.

Read More...

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Monday, October 06, 2008 

Focus On What You Desire

by Madalyn Sklar



We all have dreams of what we want. Some of us want to be rich and famous rock stars while others would be content just making a decent living doing music. Our desires come in all shapes and sizes. But what typically lacks is taking the action necessary to make your dreams and desires come true.

I found this quote a long time ago and it says a lot...

"Remember, success in anything is all about focus, and if you focus on what's critical, then you'll get the results that you need to get right now."

Focus. It's one of the hardest things for us to do. We get caught up in every day life. And our families. And our work life. You know I can go on and on. But I won't because you can focus, you just have to set your mind to it.

It's October and the end of the year is fast approaching. Now is the time to focus and take action. What are your three most important goals you would like to accomplish by year-end? Jot it down. Every day you should look at your list. Focus on it. Take action on it. Do something every day! It will bring you one step closer to achieving what you want.

Another way to hyper focus on what you want is to remove the things that interrupt you like email, surfing the web, tv, your phone. It's so easy to get distracted. If you can just remove all distractions for an hour and really focus I promise you will be amazed at your results.

So what are you waiting for? Your dreams and desires await you!

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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Friday, October 03, 2008 

Placing Music in a Movie or TV Show

TuneCore has a super cool blog I was just visiting called TuneCorner. I was reading some of their extremely informative articles and really enjoyed one titled, "Supervision"--Placing Music in a Movie or TV Show. It's a great read that I recommend. --Madalyn Sklar

"Supervision"--Placing Music in a Movie or TV Show

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Thursday, October 02, 2008 

Why I Love Crystal Clear CDs?



They rock! Plain and simple. You know, there are so many CD manufacturers out there but who really knows their stuff and cares about the customer? Hands down, it's Crystal Clear. Give 'em a call and see why we are happy customers! -- Madalyn Sklar

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/gogirls 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!

Wednesday, October 01, 2008 

GoGirls Interview With The Snake Charmers

by Annette Warner

The Snake Charmers have come forward to confirm the fact, yet again, that you don't have be a touring band to be considered, a great one. My interview with the front woman of the band, Marie Angell, promises to share something a little wise, a little fun and something very attractive these days - that being the personalities of musicians who don't appear to really want fame...rather just a good local gig with happy listeners. Their first pro release, "Been Gone Too Long", though delayed because of Hurricane Ike in their region, is still going to be some ear candy around late October/early November. Stay tuned for more, and go visit their myspace for a taste. www.myspace.com/thesnakecharmersmusic - Enjoy!

What drives your music. When did you first know you had to do this thing called music or bust?

Since there are 4 of us in the band (Marie Angell, Will Blumentritt, Larry Meeker and Eric Blumentritt), we all have different, yet similar, routes to music lives. As the "frontman," I'll answer for everyone (that's what I do anyway).

For me, I always loved singing and performing. My mother said I sang before I talked. My father was an excellent singer and I was always surrounded by music. I memorized the hymns in church before I could read and sang and danced in grocery stores when we shopped when I was a little kid. I took piano, played organ and piano in church, started playing in pop bands when I was about 20. I've been in a number of bands, had my own bands a couple of times. I've played all kinds of music in all kinds of groups, but playing with The Snake Charmers has been the best time of my life.

Will says he took up the bass as an early teen to imitate, yet not be an exact copycat, of his older brother, Bruce, who plays guitar and sings beautifully. He attended HSPVA (High School for the Performing and Visual Arts) and so was immersed in music from that point on. He's been in several bands over the years. In high school he began playing with the variety band Midstream, some of that time with (GoGirls Founder) Madalyn Sklar's brother Maury, and stayed with them for almost 30 years. He's thrilled to be able to play the blues, especially original music, something he scarcely dared dream of doing.

Larry's father is a professional drummer and Larry originally took up the sax, but soon shifted to guitar. He studied music in college, has been in a number of bands and, although he is a very busy man these days, he makes music a very high priority. If he's not having a good time playing with The Snake Charmers, he's very good at faking it.

Eric's mother is a professional violist and his dad is Will, our bass player, so he was always steeped in music. He took piano lessons and was deeply intrigued by drums when he was quite young. In his teens, Eric began to seriously study and practice drumming, and he also plays guitar, bass and a bit of many other instruments, including mandolin, sitar and sax. Although he came to The Snake Charmers through nepotism, he has grown to enjoy being part of the process of creating an original sound.

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

As someone who has been discouraged and given up (and back on the horse again), the hardest thing to learn about this, or any business really, is you have to face rejection head on. Sometimes you're just not the right fit, sometimes it's factors you will never know, sometimes you're just not good enough. Understand why you were rejected and act accordingly. Try not to take it personally.

You have to be the best you can possibly be, work at your music, and then go forward. Decide what you're goals are and then figure out how to get there.

Most importantly, if you're going to do more than play in your living room, you have to treat your music career as a business.

Describe your ideal venue.

Our ideal venue is anywhere people show up and have a good time! Taking this question a little more seriously, we really love to play at mid-size rooms holding maybe 200-300 people with a good size stage and great sound.

But we've played at some magnificent hole-in-the-wall places and festivals with several thousand people, and as long as the audience responds, it's all good.

Describe your music's evolvement since you first started performing? Tell us about the inspiration for your first major CD release.

The Snake Charmers were founded by Will and I on the idea that we would "play what we like and like what we play." Everyone in the band, except Eric, spent many years playing music other people wanted, so we decided that, since we didn't need to make a lot of money, we could throw all caution to the wind.

I had a few songs that I'd written over the years I thought would be right, Will really wanted to play the blues and Eric tolerated us. So we started off playing a wide variety of music, mostly with substitute guitar players.

About 2-1/2 years ago we found Larry and decided that we would get serious about becoming a blues/blues rock band and start doing more original music. It wasn't so much a conscious decision as it felt so right when we were playing the blues.

In today's music world, you have to have a CD because it's so easy to make one. And none of us in the band had ever made a serious, full length CD of original music, so it was an exciting prospect. When I was starting out in music, you just didn't go and make a record unless you were with a label or rich.

We began messing around with a couple of songs I had written, although they weren't really a perfect match for what we were doing, but it got me into the right mindset for writing songs for The Snake Charmers. I began to crank out songs and we began polishing them up in live performance.

That gave us the confidence to know that we could definitely produce a full CD of original music. We intended to do a pretty basic, do-it-yourself kind of album, but once we got into it, we decided we wanted to have as professional a CD as we could. Will forked over the cash. He says that some men buy a boat or a fancy car, he bought a CD--which costs a lot less and you don't have to change the oil.

Ironically, although all the songs fall loosely into the blues/blues rock genre, the music, although it is all original, is a pretty eclectic mix, which reflects our first vision of "play what we like, like what we play" regardless of genre.

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

Learn from our mistakes! The first thing you should do if you want a polished, professional sound is to make sure you really know your songs. Play them in public for a while, really look at the lyrics, see if a different word or a different note seems to work better as you play it time and again.

Know what you're going to do when you go into the studio. Chart it out. You'll still have inspiration and happy mistakes, but it will save you tons of time and money if you have the arrangements laid out guiding you.

Find a good studio and work with a sound engineer you feel comfortable with. If you feel intimidated or you don't connect with the engineer, go elsewhere.

If you have to record yourself, which is certainly a viable option these days, get someone whose listening skills you trust to evaluate your tracks. If you can, pay a professional to give you some feedback on what you're doing. It will make a huge difference.

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

Be a good musician. You don't have to be a virtuoso to play popular music, but you need to be the best you can be. Most great musicians work at improving their whole lives. Learn your instrument, learn about songwriting or whatever you do.

Some musicians, especially those starting out, spend too much on things that don't matter, like top of the line equipment when middle of the line would do for now. Great equipment doesn't automatically make you a great musician.

Certainly, the rejection and the hassle that comes from working with clubs, other musicians, the whole business side can break a musician. You have to take a lot of things in stride and go forward.

Describe your toughest moment in your quest for a pro music career so far?

It's all tough! In music, or any entrepreneurial career (musicians are definitely entrepreneurs), you never reach a point where you can completely sit back and relax and say, I've made it! That's what makes even multi-platinum artists crazy. Which is not to say that you shouldn't enjoy whatever success you have and be satisfied with it.

What's been painful for us lately is that so many venues have closed and more will be closing. We just lost some great places in Galveston and the surrounding areas. It also seems as if many people aren't that interested in hearing live music these days, especially going to smaller venues with local bands.

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

We will probably never be a serious touring band, but we do intend to work in the wider region--Austin, Beaumont, maybe even Dallas. There's a great place out in Alpine we'd love to play. We'll be applying to selected festivals out of state.

Since we all have day jobs, we have to be very selective about combining out of town dates with vacations.

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

The Snake Charmers are a serious band but we don't take ourselves too seriously. Our music has a lot of variety, a lot of soul--you won't hear the same basic 3 chord songs over and over. In "Been Gone Too Long," we try to capture little slices of life that happen to everyone: heartbreak, flirtation, standing up for yourself in a way that makes them feel something, move around a little, snap their fingers maybe.

What can your fans expect at a show?

When The Snake Charmers play, we do our best to give everybody a rockin', swingin', bluesy time. We put everything we have out there on the stage--I'm always going to sing my heart out, the guys are going to throw themselves into the music. You're not going to hear what some people call "that same old blues crap" from us. We like to mix it up, play songs all across the blues spectrum and have a good time doing it. Our hope is that the audience comes along for the ride.

On gogirls music…

GoGirls Music has been a great help and inspiration. GoGirls has provided wonderful opportunities for us to play, given us some great insight into today's rapidly changing music world and we've met some incredible musicians.

Although everyone in the band has spent many years playing (including Eric since he started young), we haven't always been able to meet many people in the music community.

Through GoGirls, we've made some wonderful friends and we love Madalyn's energy. It's been nothin' but net with GoGirls. 'Cause, hey, chicks ROCK!

The Snake Charmers are:

Marie Angell: Vocals, Keyboards, Songwriting
Will Blumentritt: Bass, Project Manager
Larry Meeker: Lead Guitar, Energizer Bunny
Eric Blumentritt: Drums, Musicologist

www.myspace.com/thesnakecharmersmusic

In addition to being the Founder, and Editor of CoffeeHouseTour.com, Annette Warner is a freelance sales Copywriter and Web Resource Developer with her own business; Awesome Webs. She also enjoys duties as a part time event planner and booking and music entertainment manager for several local festivals. She holds the position of Editor with the oldest and largest online community for Women in Music, www.gogirlsmusic.com and is the SC and NC Chapter Coordinator for the organization. She organizes and promotes the Wilmington, NC based and successful AWEsome 'Live Performance' Songwriting Competition now in it's 11th year. She is the owner of A. Warner Entertainment, a Live Entertainment Publicity Planning Agency. In short..."Some serious A'netteworking since 1995." Annette resides in Wilmington, NC with her tiny Chihuahuas, Kirby and Sofe. You can reach Annette at Awarner at coffeehousetour dot com.

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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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