Cover Letter Mistakes to Avoid At All Costs

Music employers often receive 50, 100, or even 300+ applications for each job opening, making outstanding cover letters critical. With this kind of intense competition, search committees seek any excuse to purge a file and narrow the pool. Yet hopeful applicants make all kinds of mistakes that get their materials immediately thrown into the...

How To Sell 15,000 CDs in 18 Months

This video features pianist/singer/songwriter Terry Prince discussing how he sold 15,000 CDs in a year and a half.  Here’s a hint: he regularly performs for large amounts of people.  Yet he spends just 30 hours per month doing this.  True, if you want to sell recordings, you should have a strong website, wide distribution, and a...

The Most Viable Instrumentation

The combination of instruments that make up an ensemble influences everything from timbral palette to literature available.  But from a business point of view, which instrumentations possess the highest potential of appealing to presenters and audiences?  Is it more viable to stick with standard combinations, or go out on a limb with a novel...

Why YOU Need a Website

Perhaps you’ve been toying with the possibility of a website, but haven’t gotten around to it yet. After all, there’s a lot going on in your life, and carving out the time necessary isn’t easy.  In the hierarchy of things, how important is this, exactly? For those hoping to thrive as a professional musician, the question is easily...

The Success Formula for Selling Music

This presentation by TechDirt founder Michael Masnick, featuring 280 Power Point slides in just 15 minutes, hypothesizes why Trent Reznor from Nine Inch Nails has been so successful.  The formula he derives is simple: Connect With Fans (CwF) + Reason To Buy (RtB) = The Business Model ($$$$)       Masnick explains his choice to study...

Marketing Is Everything (And Everything is Marketing)

Many musicians incorrectly believe that marketing is synonymous with advertising. Therefore, when trying to increase sales of a (hopefully outstanding) product or service, they focus disproportionate attention on this promotional method. Consider the following scenarios:           An ensemble wants to attract bigger crowds to their...

The Rule of Five

Many musicians despair routinely about how hard it is to succeed in this business: Things have really dried up since the economy went south.  The phone stopped ringing.  There are 500 unsold CDs in the basement collecting dust, and the damned record label fails to advertize it adequately.  A competitor adopted a gimmick, and now unfairly...

Writing an Approach Letter

In my recent post Career Mentorship: The Lost Education, I argued the benefits of seeking out individuals to serve as role models and coaches when it comes to career related issues.  The article generated a lot of questions, which I will address in this and future posts.  What’s the best way to make initial contact with a career mentor,...

The Musician-Blogger: Finding Your Niche

Of course! You don’t have time to blog.  You don’t even have enough time to breathe, with all your practicing, composing, teaching, career promotion, life responsibilities, and the occasional social engagement.  If there’s one thing you simply can’t squeeze into the schedule, it’s maintaining a blog! Don’t be ridiculous. That’s...

Why Purple is the Most Marketable Color

Many musicians spend a great deal of time focused on artistic excellence, and almost none on what makes them remarkable.  If you hope to attract significant attention, I suggest you prioritize both. In an over-crowded market, where hundreds of competitors often vie for jobs, concert engagements, students, or audience members, only those...