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Take Your Social Media to the Streets The web seems to be the defacto when it comes to networking with like minded individuals and initiating relationships, but social media is supposed to strengthen our offline ties not replace them. We've all been guilty of networking with management, A&Rs or other industry execs online but failing to truly merge the online networking with the offline equivalent. John Jantsch gives the run down on 5 ways to use social media activity online to make it pay offline.

Long gone are the days of million dollar advances. Today only a fraction of a fraction of that number is needed to finance and promote a new project. Just take a look at the NYC rock band Kill The Alarm, who recently rose $15,000 in 6 weeks by tapping into their social network and email lists. If fan funding is something that peaks your interest then you might want to take a deeper look at Kickstarter.com.

The Nydailynews says that radio is not supposed to be here right now. First, the TV was supposed to kill the radio by changing it from an audio to a visual medium, that didn't work so much. Then MTV was supposed to be the radio killer back promoting a product that sucked the magic out of songs by pre-empting the listener's imagination - again the radio withstood the test of time. To be fair MTVs claim was that television and radio could work together, promoting and enhancing the other and thats exactly what happened. iPods, and social media are the disruptive technologies now but something tells me many other mediums will kick the bucket before our good ol friend the radio lays its head to rest.

A4A is the only site you will ever need for the promotion of artists and their work, whether you're an indie musician or the next Stanley Kubric. We help you to build a fan base that is both loyal and passionate about your work and then the promotion is a matter of sharing your video with your built-in fan base who will in turn share it with their social networks.

Theres been a lot of talk about how to survive the music industry, what social networks you should be on and online distributors you should be with but the simple truth is that the music you create is much more important than your current method of distribution. So i challenge you for 2010 to step your game up partner with that one drummer and create amazing music, be relentless and most importantly get out of the house and book some shows. Paying or non-paying, it doesn't matter if your the right person for this, the money will come.

The Leveling - Moore's law of Music The leveling is a theory that has been going on since the beginning of mankind. Eventually, as technology becomes cheaper to produce we all are gaining access to the same tools, the barriers that use-to provide advantages to those with the most resources is nearing an end. In the music/creative world, the first moment of leveling occured with the adent of ProTools (Digital Studios), then TuneCore (Digital Distribution) and Social Media (Digital Promotion). Now since everyone has the same ingredients how will your recipe stand out.

the machinery of culture is constantly changing and i hate to say it but that means as a creator of music you gotta be constantly changing too. To help soften the blow of the many more cultural changes down the road, then surrounding yourself with a real social network of musicians and partners that may be able to understand certain shifts more easily than yourself could be a good step in battling your future market woes.

Public Servants Arlene Goldbard raises some compelling ideas about how artists can help the economic recovery. Arlene, a writer and a social activist suggests that in order to help spark the recovery of the economy we have to recovery culturally, and who better to help us do that than the most creative ones in our society, the artists. She reasons that government initiates that put artists and musicians gifts at the service of schools, communities, hospitals and prisons are a good investment that worked in the 1950's to spurn recovery. Follow the link to check out the video, and if these are ideas that you support then there is a petition to support Art & The Public Purpose: A New Framework in the comments.

The Bonnaroo music festival cleverly cleverly uses its myspace page to unveil its latest lineup. If you head over to www.mysapce.com/bonnaroo right now you'll be greeted with cuckoo clock that reveals another act every 6 minutes or so. During the course of the day artists will be making their own announcements through the myspace page. Acts that have magically appeared from the cuckoo include: Cross Canadian Ragweed, John Foogerty, Medeski Martin & Wood, Weezer, The Flaming Lips with Stardeath and Wite Dwarfs perfroming The Dark Side of the Moon and the Avett Brothers. Head over to the bonnaroo myspace page and see how long you can wait inbetween announcements before you ADD kicks in and forces you to destroy your computer.

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.