When you make and share music you are creating a community. It may be a big audience at a show, or a small group of friends blasting your tunes in the high school parking lot. In collecting an audience you are often bringing together people who have more in common then just an appreciation for your art, like the way they dress or the other music they listen to.

The promise behind Social Networking on the web is that it allows people to parallel   what goes on in “Meatspace” in virtual form. Ning.com is a site that helps your fans    connect with each other and keep up with your artistic endeavors.

Overview

Ning makes it super simple to create and customize a brand new social network. It allows you to go beyond the simple profile that the Facebooks and MySpaces of the world allow. Your fans can even create groups within your Continue Reading

So, in addition to being a superbly failed indie musician, I’m also a tv editor during the daytime. And I have been looking into other ways that musicians can make money in the future, as music as a commodity is everywhere. I use stock music everyday when I cut pieces into tv shows, and I feel that it might be a good way to at least pick up some coins until the touring money comes in. Or the T-shirt business fashion money comes in. Either way, it’s an interesting thing to get involved in to compose for TV. Sometimes the pay is good, if you’re good and sought after, and sometimes the pay is exploitative because there are always people trying to get in the door. Continue Reading

Google maps is the best!

As it gets harder and harder to tour for a small act, with gas prices and lodging and every other thing you need to go on tour costing all kinds of money, people are finding alternative ways to go on tour. People use myspace and facebook to connect with their fans and crash at peoples’ places. A few years ago, the band that I was playing in booked small tours where we rented a van and booked some bigger shows that paid some money, and then used that money to stay in motels and peoples’ houses. The amount of telephone planning and mapping and logistics took a good chunk of time and energy. One of the things that I’ve recently discovered, and maybe because I’m not as computer literate as my partner Craig, is using Google Maps to map and plan tours. You can create a customized map to mark Continue Reading

Music and musicians were a more rarefied group, or so it seemed to me. Not only did one have to practice on their own while everyone else was out playing, but it also required a certain expertise with esoteric information in order to learn and get better. It all felt like we were reinventing the wheel each time as we tried to figure out how come we didn’t sound as good as professionals on records. I still am trying to figure that out! But the production of the art, and the audience at gigs that consumed the art were able to share something cool in the same room. And that magical “live” feeling in a room where this is going on is important, and I believe it is the core of what has kept musicians in the game while the music business continues to crumble all around. Continue Reading