Mike McCready

After years of drought, we may now be moving into the best time to be a musical act in decades, if not ever. A time when there is less incentive than ever before for any business person to prey upon the aspirations and naivety of artists and a time when artists can hire their own business teams and be off to the races.

I think this is an interesting question. Let’s eliminate the dream vultures – those who prey on the aspirations and naiveté of artists. We know scammers only work for themselves. But the good thing about those guys is that it’s harder and harder to be a dream vulture in this business. The prevalence of social [...]

Great new music and discussion about the music industry. Listen here or subscribe via iTunes Alternatively, subscribe via rss here. This week I feature Simon Fagan, Grandson feat Richboy, Michael Trenhaile.

What does this mean? Mostly it means that if as an artist you want to stand out (and in addition to great music) you need a team. You need differentiating factors that will help you rise above the noise of every other artist out there trying to gain traction. It’s not unlike the challenges that are faced by a new company trying to enter a crowded market. You have to have marketing know-how, smart people who can execute a well-thought-out plan and you have to have the resources (read “money”) to make it happen.

Our Monk, Matt Adey, Ben Novak, Melodious Coe

Click here to listen to episode one of my brand new podcast that features great new music that I’ve come across recently. It’s the podcast that goes with my music blog at http://song.cat. Check it out. Update – The podcast was just approved and accepted by iTunes: Click here to get it on iTunes: http://itunes.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewPodcast?id=370842199 In this episode, [...]

We all pay for access whether we want to or not. The only choice we have is how we pay. For most people, the smartest choice is the path of lowest cost (in terms of time and money) that achieves the desired outcome, i.e. access. At Music Xray, we give artists access at the click of the mouse and for a fraction of the cost it would take most artists to access many of the same people. We don’t guarantee you place a song or that you get signed. That will depend on your song and perhaps the relationship / dialog you can strike up with the industry professional receiving the song.

These guys (Axis of Awesome) can show you that all you need are four chords (and a drummer) and you’ve got yourself a hit pop song. Take a look:

The nature of the business requires music industry professionals (MIPs) to view songs and sometime acts themselves as mere products. MIPs want to be efficient. If they express interest or disinterest in a song or an act they want to be able to dispatch with the business of it either way. They want smooth sailing on the business side if a deal is to go forward and they don’t want to be endlessly hounded by the artists and their managers if they don’t have interest, use or ability to move forward. From the MIP’s perspective it’s so much easier to deal with a professional they know and have dealt with in the past than it is to deal with hundreds or even thousands of emerging artists who more often than not do not know or understand the music business.

Let’s say you don’t work in the music business. Let’s just say you’re an average fan and a musician somehow gets your attention long enough to convince you to listen to their music. You listen. You hate it. Maybe it’s just not your style. Maybe it’s just plain bad. Either way, you’re less likely to give the next musician the chance. And you’re even less likely the time after that and so on until finally you’d rather kiss your sister than listen to another artist try to convince you to give their song a spin.