Diy Musician Podcast

The music business is constantly evolving. Streaming dominates. Markets are truly global. The way people promote & monetize music shifts every year. And videos are growing shorter and more important than ever before. In this episode, Kevin and Chris talk about some important changes at CD Baby that will help artists stay ahead of the curve. Distribute, monetize, and promote your music at cdbaby.com.

TikTok has more than half a billion active users, it's the most downloaded app in the world, and the entire platform runs on music! Now that CD Baby is delivering YOUR music to TikTok, Kevin and Chris walk you through TikTok culture, features of the app, and a few of the opportunities you have to promote your music with short video. Distribute your music to TikTok and 150+ other digital platforms at http://cdbaby.com.

Having your own pro website is even MORE important in an age where fan relationships are often owned by anyone but the artist. In this episode, Bandzoogle's Dave Cool talks about creating a good experience for your followers online, capturing their contact info, and using your website as the hub for your music career.

First time releasing music? Returning to music after a hiatus? Where do you even start? With a plan — then you build the foundation. In this episode, Kevin and Chris outline the basic steps artists should take before, during, and immediately following their first release. Distribute, monetize, and promote your music at cdbaby.com.

What kind of merch is selling in the streaming era? How do you experiment with t-shirts and other kinds of band merch without going broke? In this episode, Kevin and Chris talk through some of the things they've tried recently, both on tour and online, and some of the trends they see working for DIY musicians today. Distribute, monetize, and promote your music at cdbaby.com.

With over 600 million users on Instagram every day, you need your IG game to be strong. In this session recorded at the 2019 DIY Musician Conference, Rick Barker shows you how to use IG to build your music career. Learn the tips and tricks that have helped Barker’s clients take their IG to the next level. He will cover IG Stories, IGTV and IG Live in detail, giving you the most up-to-date strategies and tactics in real time.

"Everything about my music career will get better, easier, bigger, once I'm on a label." That's what musicians tell themselves, and in most cases it isn't true. In this episode, Kevin and Chris talk about nine things music labels don't want you to know — at least not until it's too late.

Music mastering can be the mysterious and stressful punctuation at the end of your creative recording process. Or it can bring out the best in your music, making it ready for streaming, CD, or vinyl. What should you expect in the mastering process? And what are some things you should beware? In this episode, Kevin and Chris talk about 5 things you need to know about mastering, and they use almost zero technical audio engineering terminology. Distribute, monetize, and promote your music at cdbaby.com.

Musicians are natural storytellers, but for some reason we don't apply that  talent to our music marketing. The best music marketing conveys a story that makes someone want to DO something with your music. In this episode, Kevin and Chris talk about how to liven up your music marketing so you're thinking way beyond uninspiring calls-to-action like "pre-save my music now!" The song Parked out by the Lake can be found HERE. Distribute, monetize, and promote your music at cdbaby.com.

The world’s most successful artists, brands, and companies have one thing in common: They understand their true fans. If you want to build a sustainable, thriving music career, you've got to understand how to work with target audiences. This session, recorded at the 2019 DIY Musician Conference, is a master class in marketing, funding, and developing your art so that it reaches your most enthusiastic fans. Mixing inspiration, information, and practical application, this session offers practical steps for you to dominate a niche market.  Distribute, monetize, and promote your music at cdbaby.com.

You can learn a thing or two (or seven) when you hang out with 1000+ DIY musicians for an entire weekend. In this episode, Kevin and Chris talk through their "takeaways" (which is an annoying word for "lessons") after the 2019 DIY Musician Conference in Austin, TX. Plus, the hosts get stumped, criticized, and praised during the listener calls and emails segment.  

Once upon a time crowd funding (or fan funding) offered artists the illusion of musical streets paved with gold, all paid for by their adoring fans. Fast forward to today, where many artist have hitchhiked down that hard road only to discover it's full of failed campaigns, extremely difficult work, and unfulfilled promises to both the artist and fans. What does funding look like for musical endeavors in 2019? In this live taping of the DIY Musician Podcast, Kevin and Chris will discuss that past, present, and future of funding for indie artists. Distribute, monetize, and promote your music at https://cdbaby.com.

Catch up on the first half of 2019's big music stories in less than an hour! Kevin and Chris talk through a number of recent news items that relate to independent music-makers. Plus, listener calls and emails that will blow your mind!

Musicians make a lot of assumptions about what it means to "distribute" a track or album. In the wake of Spotify jumping out of the distribution game (almost as quickly as they jumped in), what should you look for in a long-term distribution partner? In this episode, recorded live at CD Baby HQ, Kevin and Chris talk about the most important things to consider when you release music in the streaming era.

A life in music is full of high highs and low lows — but being down doesn't mean you have to stay down. In this episode, Kevin and Chris talk about five common ways musicians get discouraged, and how to prepare your comeback every time!

3 days could change the course of your whole music career. In this episode, Kevin and Chris discuss what sets the DIY Musician Conference apart from other industry events, and they preview some of the sessions, workshops, and opportunities they think will have the biggest impact on the way you make, market, and monetize your music. Plus listener calls and emails!

Are listeners leaning in at your gigs, or are they tuning you out? There are many ways to build a solid set list, but lots of ways to lose your audience too. In this episode, Kevin and Chris talk about the different kinds of sets musicians perform, and how to put the right songs in the right order for each occasion.

Good band names are hard to come by. Before you decide what you’re going to call yourself as an artist, listen to this episode. Kevin and Chris list a number of common problems with band names, how to avoid them, and WHY your artist name can spell the difference between success and obscurity.

Live-streaming gives you as a DIY musician a consistent, low-cost way to reach listeners on huge social platforms like Facebook, YouTube, Twitch, and more. You can also format your broadcasts in a number of ways: concerts, talking about your songs, AMAs, and more. In this episode, Kevin asks Chris Robley about his bi-weekly series of live-streamed concerts called “Lunch Songs Live.” The gear, the mistakes, and tips to get your viewers more engaged.

In this listener feedback episode, Kevin and Chris answer emails and calls from DIY musicians who are wondering how to market their music in the streaming world, how to brand themselves, how to make sure every sale counts, and more. Plus, news about Amazon and Google introducing free, ad-supported streaming to Echo and Google Home users.