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I've been saying it for sometime now, but playing shows is everything in the future. Looking to get a deal? Play shows. Want more exposure? Play shows. Wanna gain experience? Play shows. Do you want to be successful? Play...you guessed it. Small shows, big shows, street shows (I found one of my favorite bands at a street performance), house shows, showwws perieod. And now we have the merger of live nation and ticket-master finally getting judge approval. Recorded music revenue is dropping, and i haven't really bought a cd for awhile, but what i have a growing feining for is some live shows. Where are all the live shows at?

Just because your making noise doesn't mean you are getting better. Silence is golden because it provides the perfect setting to reflect. Silence in your practice routines should be equal to the amount of time spent on playing in your practice routine. Meaning that everytime you play a passage it should be followed by slient analysis. The howtopractice blog has a list of questions that your silent time should be based around to get you thinking about so your hands will follow.

Wanna start playing more shows, gather an email list and once it's full swap your email lists with artists that are similar in musical style. That way you can increase the chances of getting some new faces out to your shows. Venues want to know that you can gather a crowd, so an extensive email list is a very good start.

Your Friendly Neighborhood Myspace Myspace is back. Ever since they dropped the ball on their no-money making music service, myspace music, they've been at listeners throats with all the advertising they can throw at us. First there was that annoying thing that started happening when trying to get a decent session out of an artists myspace player. I vivdly remember a picture of ugly lil wayne popping up everytime i tried to enjoy a couple songs in succession. Now there's word of experimentation with audio ads that must play before users can listen to free streaming music. Isn't myspace bogged down enough with bad user html and full page million dollar advertising slots? I guess my biggest worry is that more ads will just decrease the number of listeners trying to get an enjoyable experience from my myspace player.

Growing your brand on the internet should be similar to growing a tree in your back yard. The internet is an intimidating place when growing your brand as a musician, many bands have already have already racked up hundreds if not hundreds of thousands of fans, followers, myspace plays and you want nothing more to turn your 100 into as many as possible, you know, to catch up. Don't get caught up in the hype. Many of these followers are are faux. Some experiment's finding that 200,000 followers only led to 25 clickthroughs, because their following wasn't grown virally. Conversely, if you grow your 100 fans like a delicate plant it doesn't take long before your true fanbase overtakes the faux disconnected user base. On the internet Viral growth

Are The Record Labels Biting the Hand that Feeds Them Radio broadcasters around the country are growing increasingly concerned about the long-standing relationship with the music industry. The record labels are demanding an additional "tax" (not including the hundreds of millions of dollars paid annually to groups like BMI, ASCAP and SESAC, which goes to compensate songwriters and music publishers) on local radio stations for every song played. The music industry must be in panic mode to intentionally put a strain on the over 80 year mutually beneficial relationship that previously had radio promote record labels and artists and generate millions of dollars in music, hospitality, small-business and merchandise sales. Free local radio reaches 236 million listeners/week but record labels seem to not really give a hoot about free promo, pay up or shut down.

How nice of Alicia Keys to lend Alicia's Keys to the rest of humanity. Grammy winning award winner Alicia keys has teamed up with KONTAKT to release new software that recreates Alicia Keys' personal grand piano with outstanding authenticity and playability. Now musicians can use Alicia's acclaimed signature piano sound in their own music production, live performance and recreational playing. Using vintage microphones, high-end outboard studio gear and two years worth of meticulously recorded key sampling, Alicia's custom Yamah "C3 Neo" can now be passed down through the community instead of selfishly being hoarded away in some fancy million dollar studio.

I've been hearing some chatter recently about underground music going the way of the "black guy mohawk"-out the door. one definition of Underground music is music that refers to a variety of post-1960s rock, pop, or dance subgenres that developed a cult following despite their lack of mainstream. Even though music can't hide from the internet I still believe that because of the pressures put on todays bloggers and DJs to "play for pay" or "go where the money is" that underground music can still live and thrive and evolve on the internet. Hopefully we can help increase the underground network by strengthening long distance ties between musicians and their fans. Everyone is now the underground musician. Music will go back to its purest form where the main inspiration for doing it is the love and the respect.

I'm sure you've been hit with a barrage of goal setting blogs and news clippings since the ball dropped for 2010. I know i have, but nothing really struck a chord like the HAPPY HEALTHY WEALTHY game. READ MORE to find out how you can play.

Applying the Record Label Model to the Indie Artist You may already be familiar with the online world of myspace music and facebook pages, and the offiline world of shows and radio play, but as George Howard puts it "Err too far online, you fail. Too far offline, you fail". In order to be successful today you need to achieve the perfect balance between online and offline marketing. Eleetmusic's Kevin English outlines how to use the four R's (Radio, Road, Reviews and Retail) of the "Not so new record label model" to capture the audience statistically proven to be more receptive to trying to new things. College students.

Would you mind your child being taught by a computer music teacher? I was taught to type by a computer mavis beacon...could work.

JamSession provides a fun new way to practice without a physical backing band. Guitarists or other solo instrumentalists looking for a backing band to practice their lead should look into this app. Personally i haven't used the application but it should be an easy way for musicians to practice with the robot you call your iphone.

Forget the Record Deal, What about the Publishing Deal. While labels are understandably trying to mitigate their risk, by targeting artists who are already as "developed" as possible, it seems that publishers have taken on greater roles as nurturers of talent. Taylor Swift go her start by honing her songwriting abilities under the guidance of Arthur Buenahora at Songy/ATV Music publishing. Keri Hilson speaks about having first developed as a songwriter with Universal Music Publishing, and how that experience helped her launch her solo career with Interscope Records. HERE is a full interview with Eric Beale, who began his tenure in the industry as a songwriter, writing songs for the Jacksons and Diana Ross. Hopefully this interview gives you some further insight into the world of publishing and some hints on how you can either get into the publishing business as a working artist or as a career, helping other artists hone their skills!