Mike McCready

You hear songs about a lot of things, but this is the first time I've ever heard one about a garden on a private estate. The inspiration for this song is a garden in Loudwater Estate, Hertfordshire, UK.

It used to take years to know for sure where your music stood. Gone are the days of waiting months or years to find out you don't quite yet measure up when compared to your peers, instead of just being compared to piano recitals and local talent shows and open mics.

Assuming you're a performing singer-songwriter or are in a band, you basically have one supreme goal; to make enough money with your music to support yourself or even better, to live like a rock star. The sooner you come to grips with the way things are (as opposed to the way things used to be or the way you think they ought to be) the sooner you can get down to the work it will take to make your supreme goal a reality.

From time to time, our major political parties are taken over and held hostage by the most extreme wing. This time it’s the Republican Party’s turn. It’s unfortunate for the people who regard themselves as life-long centrist, family value conservatives but who don’t see eye to eye with the Tea Party far right agenda. But political parties are not like [...]

Sustained twenty-five percent monthly compounding revenue growth is not breakneck speed in the realm of booming Internet sites such as Pinterest or Instagram. But, it is very strong growth for a music tech company like Music Xray and what’s more, we’re measuring growth in revenue dollars rather than number of free users joining the site. That’s a BIG difference. Music [...]

At Music Xray, starting next week, we will release a weekly list of songs that have achieved Music Xray Certification. We hope the list quickly becomes an industry and fan reference point. In order to achieve Music Xray certification, a song has to have been heard and rated consistently high by five separate industry professionals on Music Xray’s 21st century [...]

I’ll just say it. Music Xray is hands down, far-and-away, no contest the best early stage song and talent discovery platform for music industry professionals. It’s not even close. If you are an industry professionals genuinely seeking to discover new, high-potential songs and talent and you aren’t using Music Xray to help you do it, you’re at a competitive disadvantage [...]

That’s right. I don’t think you should spend any more than it absolutely takes to achieve your goals (land the sort of deals you’re pursing). The shorter we can make the path and the more we can reduce costs, the more invaluable Music Xray will be to our community of musicians. Ultimately, we care most about building the best set [...]

I’m very excited that today we (Music Xray) have launched a new feature. The feature itself is just a small change to how Music Xray has always worked but it changes the game for musicians and songwriters everywhere because it provides you feedback as you execute your submission strategy. It’s like a GPS system to tell you if you’re getting [...]

For a long time, it has been getting harder to achieve the American dream. While average income for a full-time working male, adjusted for inflation, has remained pretty constant since 1973, the top 1% of US earners has gained ground decade after decade. The objective economic data supporting those facts is solid and has been well documented. The graphic below [...]

You can download the A&R Position Paper by clicking here. You can watch the video transcript of it by clicking the video below. I look forward to your comments and feedback at the bottom of the page.

Music Xray provides a series of tools to industry professionals to help them identify high potential songs and acts. Each tool works a bit differently and highlights different types of success potential. Today, we thought we’d tell you about one of them… Collective A&R Statistics You probably didn’t know that every time an industry professional receives one of your songs, [...]

What if you could be a fly on the wall in an A&R office? What if you could be a fly on the wall in hundreds of A&R offices and hear which songs repeatedly get passed over after a few bars or see which songs tend to grab the attention of music professionals? That’d be pretty cool. As long as [...]

Cue sad trombone (wah wah waaaaaaah). Still at 210 today. Not 209 like I intended. OK. It’s going to be a rough day because I’m so frickin’ hungry. I have a lot to do and a lot of people to talk to today so I need to hold it together. A beer sounds really good and it’s not even noon. [...]

I had lunch with Jeff Blue a few weeks ago and we talked about how he helps independent artists launch their careers. He doesn’t do it for free. But it’s affordable and he delivers. His client roster were no-namers pre-Jeff and are household names today. Blue has launched the careers of artists from Linkin Park to Macy Gray, worked with [...]

Weight – 210 lbs. OK. One day and one pound down. I know these first pounds are the easiest so I’m not planning on getting cocky. Yesterday, I did polish off a few carbs that were laying around the house so I wasn’t as strict as I will be from here on out. For protein though, I couldn’t ask for [...]

I’ve finally had it with myself! I used to have iron will power and a raw determination that I could apply to almost anything. As far as I know, I haven’t lost my drive but I can’t sem to get myself to buckle down and lose this extra 20 pounds I’ve been carrying around for too many years. I don’t [...]

Music Xray has been getting a little buzz recently. Given that I’m the public face of the company and that I’m the one out there doing a lot of the evangelizing, I get personified with the company. That’s my job and it humanizes a business organization which by its definition is just a legal entity. But the differentiating factor about [...]

There are three things musicians can do online to advance their careers. 1. Get deals 2. Get fans 3. Get better Music Xray is focussed on helping you get deals and providing you access to people who can help you get better. But getting fans? We think a lot about the challenge but Music Xray does not offer a solution [...]

This week, the Music Xray community is going to hear me talking a lot about BandMix – and for good reason. The idea behind BandMix is pretty simple – like all good ideas. It’s classified ads for musicians – but on steroids. Need a new drummer? Put up an ad and all the drummers in your area will see it. [...]