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Spotify is the current king of the music streaming universe, boasting 75 million users, 30 million of whom are paying subscribers. (By comparison, the next largest competitor is Apple Music [...]

When you release music, it's natural to focus on registering it with revenue-generating sources like Performance Rights Organizations (PROs), SoundExchange, and services like YouTube's ContentID. As we discussed in the [...]

Today it's extremely easy to release a song and get it distributed worldwide. With the click of a mouse, you can upload your latest track and sell it on iTunes [...]

Today's musicians are often asked to give away their music for free. Fans, creatives, and even for-profit enterprises such as television studios, production houses, software companies, and other media ask [...]

When you sell your music on iTunes, Amazon, and other services, you naturally get a percentage of every transaction. The same is true for merchandise that you sell. What many [...]

YOU WANT to record an album, go on tour, create new merchandise. The problem is, you don't have the cash on hand to make any of these things a reality. [...]

ONE SIMPLE formula applies to all business. It's true whether you have a multinational oil company, a taco stand, or a band: How Much You Make-How Much You Spend = [...]

THANKS TO the convergence of computers and media, there are more places to get your music 'out there' and discovered by new fans than ever before--from digital streaming and social [...]

If you choose any point in the 30-year history of Electronic Musician, it's a safe bet that the way musicians, engineers, producers, and performers make money from music was in [...]

There's a lot to do when you release your music: Distribute it, promote it, get it heard, and get it sold. Using the right strategies, you can maximize revenue and [...]

Most people who hear your music will never be in the same room as you, let alone meet you in person. Yet, once you put your music online, it's out [...]

YouTube continues to be the number one search engine for music, so many musicians have turned to video to promote themselves. As we outlined in an earlier article ('Five Ways [...]

IN OUR August 'Get Funded' Master Class, we described various options for funding your project, from sponsorships to patronage to grants. This month, we'll dig into crowdfunding, which has become [...]

CREATING MUSIC videos is one of the best ways to get exposure for your music. For one thing, YouTube is the number one search engine for music; it's where the [...]

WRITING GREAT songs is not just for generating sales, commissions, and licensing deals-you can also use your songwriting skills to increase exposure and stimulate interest in your music. You can [...]

WHEN THE Internet opened up the world to musicians, it didn't just create new ways to distribute, promote, and sell music. It brought entirely new ways to collaborate with musicians [...]

FOR MOST musicians today, the enemy is obscurity, not piracy. So, making your music downloadable and releasing it for free is one of the best ways to increase the likelihood [...]

IN THE past, only music labels, with their large marketing budgets and resources, were able to get the demographic information artists needed to understand their audience. They knew that by [...]

YOUTUBE HAS become the world's largest music search engine. Despite its less-than-stellar audio quality, it also has become one of the primary ways people share music, since the platform makes [...]

COPYRIGHT AFFECTS all the music you create. It allows you to protect your music and it's been the legal mechanism underpinning the recorded music industry for about a century. Its [...]

ALTHOUGH MOST musicians focus primarily on creating singles and albums to sell directly to their fans, licensing music continues to be another good source for music income. It's also a [...]

Less than a decade ago, when musicians would create music and release it into the world, the only feedback they'd get was from album reviews in the press, concert numbers, [...]

The article presents tips on how get music licensed for film, television (TV), trailers, and commercials. Topics covered include how a music supervisor's job necessitates equal amounts of artistry, love of music, technical skills, and knowledge about the legal issues, the types of music supervisors and opportunities for licensing, and preparing music.

The article discusses the monetary benefits of selling or merchandising music by becoming an affiliate of music or musicians. It offers step-by-step instructions in becoming and affiliate and earning extra income. The use of affiliate links as well as its implications on tax and business are also discussed.

The article offers marketing suggestions for musicians. The authors say that musicians need to clearly identify their target audience. According to them, musicians should create a cover song which may help them in selling entire albums. They add that musicians should also ask their fans to find opportunities for their music.

The article discusses the four music-funding streams that help to start a project related to the music industry. Topics include the sponsorships wherein both musicians and sponsors can benefit, one way to get an income is from the fans through their patronage, and crow funding allows the musician to pre-sell the albums, merchandise or concert tickets to fans to get money. Also mentioned the grants for music and the arts.

The article offers information on sixteen ways to make music be heard by listeners. It states that getting music played on commercial radio like radio stations would make music stand out. It mentions that music can be submitted to the National Public Radio (NPR) or in shows like "All Songs Considered" since they play music locally and nationally. It adds that the Internet radio provides opportunities to get music played by checking sites and finding stations that fits to the music.

The article focuses on the different methods to successfully release an album. It has been suggested that musicians need to exert effort for their music to be considered in a media outlet and radio programming director. Musicians must be able to get the International Standard Recording Code (ISRC) for each of the tracks to be able to uniquely identify each song.

The article offers guidelines on ways to hire employees for several positions in music business including in graphic design, public relations, and merchandising. Among the guidelines include the identification of employees needed in the business, the use of website or service that can attract the right talent, and the use of multiple sources to find the right employees.

The article focuses on music project fundraising through crowdfunding. It mentions that crowfunding is one of the most popular ways by which musicians raised money and for them to get fans involved in their music projects. It also discusses the things that should not be done when crowdfunding for music projects.

The article offers step-by-step instructions for crowdfunding with regards to attracting more backers. INSET: Unique Rewards Yield More Support.

The article discusses collaboration with other musicians through the Internet. Topics discussed include online jamming sessions, websites for music track sharing and remixing music. Also mentioned are virtual music players, finding local musicians and connecting with creative people in different industries such music, film and game developing.

The article offers tips for musicians to convince fans to buy their songs even if they are available online for free. These tips include using online streaming services such as ReverbNation, uploading the song on music search engine YouTube, and releasing alternate versions of the song for free. It also stresses the importance of creating a link for purchasing the song which are clearly marked to capture impulse sales.

The article provides information on the six online social networks that can be used in tracing the target market in the music industry. It says that social networks are useful in acquiring information about the artist's fans particularly the age groups, genders, and location. It mentions that Facebook, YouTube, and Twitter are among the six top social networks that can be used in music marketing.

The article offers tips to make money using own YouTube videos. It states that putting a music store link or iTunes in the first or second sentence of the line so the people can click the link if they want to purchase it. It mentions that putting additional material on the video to promote music sales. It adds that signing up to become a YouTube Partner, and if accepted, people can be eligible in personalizing channel pages, such as adding of links to music.

An interview with Jed Carlson, founder of the website ReverbNation, is presented. Carlson discusses how the Internet has changed music promotion and marketing. He advises artists or musicians on how to effectively use social media tools. He also predicts that the experience musicians generate has been monetized by the future of revenue in music for most bands.

An interview with Panos Panay, founder of Sonicbids Corp., is presented. When asked about the degrading value of music in the future, Panay refers to his found opportunities despite on the lost of sale, which is to find new strategies of selling recorded music. He emphasized recorded music has become commoditized in the modern period of music, wherein its monetary value ahs gradually shifted to zero. Musicians are advised to focus on building an audience and to pursue as a great marketer.

An interview with show creator and host Bob Boilen is presented. When asked about the technology that allows everyone to make music, he agrees that this is the best decade for music making. He reveals the technology that involves the unseen collaboration with machine and software. Boilen has suggested that musicians should be proud of their music and to give the first song its best material.

An interview with Ariel Hyatt, founder of Ariel Publicity, is presented. Hyatt reveals the various reasons why musicians should use the social networking site Facebook for music promotion. He also describes the difference between Facebook and Twitter. Moreover, he explains whether MySpace users would still need to sign up for Facebook.

An interview with Ariel Hyatt, founder of Ariel Publicity and expert on social media, is presented. When asked on the significance of Twitter, Facebook and other social-media sites to musicians, Hyatt states that these sites help musicians to build relationships with their fans. She adds that through social media, musicians can keep in touch in macro level with hundreds of thousands of people. She defines Twitter as a giant status update in the sky which has to be less than 140 characters only.

An interview with Eric Steuer, creative director of the nonprofit organization Creative Commons (CC) in the U.S., is presented. He explains why should musicians use CC's licenses since it enable them to increase the exposure of their music by allowing people to use it in a legal way. Steuer discusses the opportunities brought by CC license as well as the permissions it provide to music. He shares that they have an easy-to-use licensing tool for musicians to choose different types of licenses.

An interview with New York musician Jonathan Coulton is presented. When asked if what advice he can give to musical artists who are looking to build a fan based in the internet, he suggests that artists must start an online blog . He stresses that in order to begin a blog, a musician must pretend that the audience is there. He shares that people could easily download a music for free.

The article focuses on the means to know the comment of people on ones music. It mentions that commonly if musicians release a music, they could only obtain feedbacks from concerts, sales figures and press. It cites other methods to gain feedbacks including statistics, web sites and services. It notes that the said other methods disappear quickly, thus it is better to save the files.

The article offers tips for using copyrighted images for musicians' albums. It notes that musicians should secure a form stating that they own the rights for all the intellectual property they are using including art and music when manufacturing discs or providing digital distribution. It suggests that musicians can seek for legal alternatives in acquiring graphics royalty-free from the web. It also recommends the work-for-hire arrangement when employing a graphic artist or a photographer.

The article discusses how musicians generate publicity. It suggests sending a press release at least three months ahead of the event to give the publication or broadcast outlet more time to schedule the story. Also, it recommends sending a link to a video to improve changes of getting covered and using the new media to build up a history first such as blogs, podcasts, and websites.

The article presents a guide for electronic musicians on colors and formats of logos and graphics they create. It reminds electronic musicians that colors available on commercial merchandise and compact disc (CD) runs and computer screens are totally different. It also advises them to use CMYK colors when creating a logo's key graphics and to make format choices.

The article offers tips and suggestions on how to stream music from one's own website. It urges to choose songs into the site and adding a brief bumper of the song, preparing the music by encoding and filling out the ID3 tags. It cites two main ways to get the music on the site by using widgets from sites such as Reverbnation or YouTube. It says that YouTube has some advantages because it works on all mobile devices and provides a direct download link to the songs.

The article discusses ways of avoiding hidden agendas when uploading music on free hosting web sites. It mentions the three areas which users should look into and these areas are the web sites' user agreements, functionalities and known problems. It also cites several web sites such as MySpace and Bandcamp that offers free uploading of music.

The article focuses on how to maximize exposure during digital music release through format and ID3 tags selection. It mentions that the proper selection of music format can win more fans, provide information on music listeners and gain income from performance rights organizations (PROs). In terms of format, it suggests to create two version of each song compared to most musicians who only make one.

The article offers ways on how to market customized merchandise for musicians. Accessible websites related to shirt printing like CafePress, Spreadshirt, and Zazzle are introduced for personalized design ideas. It also discusses some of the issues associated with the use of print-on-demand services such as high prices, durability, and low quality.