Articles : Michael Mish "Getting Started"
cultivating resources
The music business will eat you up because they're all crooks. Every last one of them.
I've heard this since I started in this business..
And you know, it's pretty close to what is.
I just spoke with a guy about 5 days ago that was a leading producer in the 80's with a couple dozen national hits clustered in the top 10 on the charts. He might have even said those first two sentences above -- word for word in fact. And I asked him, "You mean even 'so-and-so' is a crook?" and he flatly replied, "ParTICularly 'so-and-so' ."
To which I probably said in true Leave it to Beaver style: "Gee whiz."
But are you going to let this stop you from getting your unique writing/recording style out there for people to enjoy?! Hell no, you're not. And I'll tell you why not:
Plastics, Benjamin, plastics. For those of you that DIDN'T see the movie 'The Graduate', what I'm saying is -- getting your stuff out there is only as limited as your imagination. Frankly, I'd say it's easier to get your stuff heard and bought now than it was in the 80's. Fewer crooks? Nope. Not at all. Many more of them. But the payola and the special favors...it's all being undermined by a new threat. US. You and me.
With the various and myriad ways in which merchandisers cross-pollinate, the way internet links are encouraged and all the streaming audio internet radio stations (I could go on and on) the vistas stretch as far as the eye can see.
This, fellow gee-whizzer, is a business that has been busted wide open because we are writing our own tickets to an industry that is not only completely different than it was 5 years ago, but far, far more exciting. Every writer/performer I know is now in their own entertainment niche. A niche that they literally invented for themselves. They're not competing with Britney Spears or the American Idol guys. They're doing stuff in the shadows of the business and making a whole lot of money, thank you very much.
The internet has flung the doors open on a world market that has never been accessible in quite the same way before.
Think of it this way, when you sit down to write a song, what part of you are you using?
Your incredible imagination...your child-like place...your anything-is-possible place.
Simply use the same exact place to market your stuff. You don't have to think business person anymore...that it's two hats..the artiste and the hard-ass business person. Now it's the same person doing both. Because ferreting out new and creative ways of marketing yourself and/or your music is fun and imaginative.
If you can't put that song you love…. the one that you always play when you go to your guitar or sit down at the keyboard. You know, that one that just feels good to you every single time you play it. If you can't get it in on 5 internet streaming radio stations in ONE afternoon, well, you haven't learned how to type words in a Google search engine yet. I didn't know how to do it.
Until I did it.
So try it.
In the meantime try these
http://homeschooling.gomilpitas.com/explore/radio.htm
http://www.kids.net.au/categories/Kids_and_Teens__Entertainment__Radio.php
http://dmoz.org/Kids_and_Teens/Entertainment/Radio/
http://www.childrensmusic.org/webcasthowto.html
You might wanna try Taxi which is like this tip sheet on who's looking for what for TV, film, commercials and recording. http://www.taxi.com
Also. Get your CD's on CDBaby.com so people can buy them easily. Get them on Amazon.com. Get them on Broadjam.com.
And if you have a website that doesn't have a whole shopping cart thing, have something on the site that points to CD Baby or Broadjam where they can purchase them easily. Remember: Easy is good.
And while I'm on the subject of websites. If you don't have one. Get one. There are software programs, like WEBSITE COMPLETE for friggin' $14.95 that can set you up in minutes.
(www.godaddy.com/gdshop/websitecomplete.asp?se=%2B&ci=150)
Or get that computer friend of yours with Dreamweaver to set you up. Everything you do or are going to do should be on this website. A page for where and when you're performing. A page to buy your stuff. A page that is like narcissus-city, a page for fun etc. A page of endorsements of your bitchin-ness. A page of every girl-friend or boy-friend you've had....hmmm, better not.
And everything you own should have your web address on it. On every business card. Every flyer. Every CD. Have it tattooed on your friends' stomachs. Every bathroom stall (don't tell the maintenance guys I told you to do this....now that I think of it, don't do it.) Every concert announcement. Imagine yourself as a radio station sending out airwaves to get people to your site. So that, everything you do points to your site. "So what's a nice girl like you doing in a place like...hey, you want my web address..."
This time in our evolution is like none other. We can literally imagine it and manifest it in very little time. The only road-block? Those voices in your head that you remember from the choir director, your English teacher, your mother, a friend's flip comment, a TV commercial...name it. If you've been tuned to the negative station, you'll find any number of people, places and things all contriving to derail your unique perspective on creativity.
Guess what. This is your life. I'm giving you permission.
GET YOUR STUFF OUT THERE FOR OTHERS TO ENJOY.
Remember what I said about the web address?
www.michaelmishmusic.com
Michael Mish is a songwriter and video producer.
(ed: Michael is one of our Select Artists, a veteran of the trade, and a children's music treasure, buy his cds and support this talent.)
Streaming Children's Music Webcast.
Childrens-Music.org