StudioPros

You’ve probably caught on to the fact that artists today should be sure to get on social networking sites like Facebook, Twitter and Myspace. They’re a great way to connect and communicate with fans directly and can work as excellent music promotion tools. But while it’s essential to get in the social networking scene because of the millions of built-in users, you should never overlook the importance of creating your own website. A website allows you to have a central hub for all things related to your music, a place to write blog posts, even for selling merch. You’ll never have to worry about your own site shutting down, unlike profiles on social networks. And the best part is, there are no restrictions to work within when you make your own content.

Even if you’re not too web-savvy, it’s not out of your reach to get a good website going.

Domain Name and Email

The first step is buying a domain name. The best one is, of course, just the name of your band. So if your band is called the Flying Blueberries, flyingblueberries.com is the way to go. If it’s not available, there are many other options, from adding words like theflyingblueberries.com or flyingblueberriesband.com, to changing the address to one of many “.com” alternatives such as flyingblueberries.net. You can check availability and buy domain names for very affordable prices through services such as GoDaddy.com.

Besides being your home on the web, a domain name is important for another reason: email. It’s about time to give up your Gmail, Yahoo mail, SBCGlobal mail, etc. in favor of an email address that sports your name. Not only will it look more professional on a business card, people are more likely to take you seriously knowing you went through the small effort to set up your own domain email.

Design and Hosting

After your domain name has been purchased, you’ll need to find a hosting service. This is the place where all of the files for your site will be stored. There are several services tailored specifically to musicians such as Hostbaby and Bandzoogle that can help you get the features you’ll be needing for a music site (like music players, email lists, etc.). These sites can also help you with designing your homepage as well if you’re not knowledgeable in web design—most of us aren’t! This can be a big plus as hiring a professional web designer could set you back thousands of dollars. The advantage to hiring someone, however, is that you can completely customize everything about your site’s look to your specifications, as opposed to working with a pre-made template.

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We’re always on the lookout for innovative songwriters. That’s why Studio Pros is giving away a free $1,000 production in our first ever songwriting contest! All you have to do is submit a recording of one of your songs via Sonicbids (link below). It doesn’t have to be a professional recording—we’ll take care of that for you if you win! One winner will get a full production package worth $1,000 for free.

The cost for submission is just $5. Submission deadline is Friday, February 11th. Good luck!

Submit your song online through Sonicbids! If you are not yet a Sonicbids member and want to submit online, visit http://www.sonicbids.com/studioprosproduction and sign-up for the Sonicbids Combo Package (includes your submission AND a discounted Sonicbids membership). If you are already a Sonicbids member, log in to your Sonicbids account and visit the Promoter Drop Box to submit.

When your production is finished, it’s time to start promoting your music. Millions of music fans are listening to Pandora, an online radio service that allows users to create “stations” based on their musical tastes. After a user creates a station, Pandora plays them a constant stream of music from artists with similar sounds. The best part about Pandora for independent artists is that if your music is in their database, your songs can be played alongside famous artists that we all know and love.

So you probably wouldn’t mind having your song follow U2, would you? Pandora’s library of music is called the Music Genome Project, a system which has them listen to every song in the database and assign specific characteristics to each one. This is how they can make recommendations based on the music you listen to. Inclusion in the project isn’t guaranteed, but here is what you can do to try to get in on all the Pandora fun!

Own Your Music

Before you do anything, you should know that you need to own the rights to the music that you’re trying to submit to Pandora. Submitting music that you don’t have ownership of is sure to be rejected, so it won’t be worth the effort!

Get Your CD Pressed

First things first: you must have physical copies of your CD available. This means investing a little money in CD replication (or CD duplication, but replication is more common). Make sure you have a professional music production that is mixed and mastered on a level that will allow you to compete with other music you hear on the radio (we can help you with that). There are many CD duplication and replication services online, but be sure to choose one that will give you a UPC code when they manufacture your discs. You’ll need it when you submit to Pandora!

Get Your CDs on Amazon.com

Another requirement before you submit to Pandora is that your CD is available to buy from Amazon.com. Note that this specifically means your physical CD… Just having MP3 downloads available through Amazon won’t cut it. You can learn more about how to get your CDs on Amazon by clicking here.

It’s important to note that no distribution company promise to get you onto Pandora, but some might be able to help you get your CDs on Amazon.

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As musicians, we want our music to be loved by everyone. Maybe not everyone in the world, but at least everyone who hears it (or everyone we know)

So we make up reasons why everyone we talk to will love our songs.

“If you like good music, you’ll like my music.”
“My songs transcend musical tastes, so just listen and you’ll love it.”
“Our band plays songs that appeal across generations and to every culture.”

The problem is, in our attempts to describe our music productions as having universal appeal, we actually end up selling ourselves short. The fact is, there is no music that exists that everyone likes. Period. Many, many people love The Beatles, but even they can’t say that everyone who hears them will love their songs. Even if you think your music has crossover appeal, there is a key step when promoting your music: find your niche, and stick with it.

This is one of the basic principles of music marketing. If you research strategies to promote your music, you may come across this advice: never be afraid to alienate potential fans.

Why you should find your niche

This doesn’t mean you should go out and insult people who like your music. It means you shouldn’t be afraid to tell something about your songs that might turn them off to listening to you because they don’t really like your musical genre. If you play hard rock music in the style of AC/DC and are talking to someone who strictly listens to Britney Spears, they probably aren’t gonna be that interested in listening. So trying to convince them that your rock music appeals to Britney fans is a lost cause.

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This is a pretty amazing time in the music industry. Sure, you might be hearing a lot about how the business is suffering, records aren’t selling, and all sorts of other stories of doom and gloom. But what you may not be hearing about is how exciting it is for independent artists at the moment.

Yes, big record companies are suffering at the hands of the Internet and file sharing. But there’s something else going on that you may also have noticed… Artists are finding success in unorthodox ways. Look at Justin Bieber: you may not like his music, but he’s nothing short of a sensation at the moment. And how did he start out? With a YouTube video. Soulja Boy got a number one hit song, and his career was launched by Myspace.

And they’re not the only ones, either. Lots of musicians are going from unknowns to having international followings because of social networking, viral videos, and other modern ways of reaching fans. Remember when OK Go came out with their “treadmill video?” Suddenly they became a household name. And if it weren’t for the wonders of the world wide web, these artists may never have gotten their big break!

But what does this mean for you?

It means that you could be the next overnight Internet success story. Thanks to modern technology, just about anyone has the chance of making it these days. But there is still one key aspect that you must have, and that’s a professional quality, radio-ready recording. Because if you get half a million views on YouTube but don’t have a recording that radio stations can play along with their usual playlists, they won’t play it.

In today’s music business, record companies demand that artists have done most of the work already—they have a fan base, and they have a recording that’s ready to go. The less investment necessary for them, the better.

So the solution is simple:
1. Write an incredible song that will be worthy of a million YouTube hits.
2. Record a radio-ready version of it that will be ready to hand to radio stations after your overnight success.

We want you to have that professional recording, so we’ve got our own state-of-the-art technology to get it to you fast. Click here to start a production today so you can be ready for success tomorrow.

It’s time to plan some amazing goals for 2011. It’s inevitable that this time of year we get bombarded by people talking about their New Year’s resolutions—losing weight, flossing more, eating better, finding a new job, spending more time with family, and so on.

These are all great things to work toward, of course. And it’s always a smart idea to do a little goal planning at the beginning of each year. It seems to be the season when we’re most inspired to enact change in our lives and correct some things we’ve been doing wrong for far too long. So why not include some music goals in your list for this year?

Now is as good a time as any to stop putting off doing what you’ve wanted to do forever: make music your career.

If you’ve never set musical goals before, it’s just like any other resolution you might make. Maybe you want to start doing aerobic exercse three times a week… You could also set aside time to write new songs three times a week.

Lots of folks resolve to spend more time with the people they care about. Maybe you’d also like to set aside a little more time to spend on your music.

Perhaps you think it’s high time you left your job and found a better one. You might also decide it’s time to record the album you’ve thought about for years now but never got around to making. You can break big goals into smaller tasks to make them seem less daunting. Recording a 12-song album might sound tough, but it’s not so bad if you record one song a month. 30 days sounds like plenty of time to record just one song, right? By the end of the year, you wind up with a brand spanking new album’s worth of material. How convenient!

You’ve got so many goals for your life, but it’s easy to let these goals get in the way of your musical aspirations. So do a little of both this year. As in, right now.  Remember, start small—all it takes is a little time here and there. Slowly you can build until you’ve got a solid music routine in your daily life. And when you’re ready to record that dream album, all you need is about 15 minutes a day if you record it with Studio Pros. That’s it.

You’d be selling yourself short if you didn’t give yourself a solid music goal for the year. We’ll help you achieve it so you can look back on 2011 and say you did everything you could to take your music career to the next level. Click here to get started on a production now!

Wouldn’t it be great if you got a huge, international hit with the first song you ever wrote?

Wouldn’t it feel good if the first album you recorded sold a million copies?

Most of us musicians picture scenarios like this. We write and record a great piece of music and think, “this deserves to be heard by millions and touch countless lives.”

We’re not wrong. It’s perfectly acceptable to shoot for the stars. Actually, if you don’t set your sights extremely high, you might not get as far as those who have loftier, more “unrealistic” goals. And who knows, maybe your first record will go platinum and launch you into superstardom. It’s not impossible.

But most of the time, it takes a few tries to get that big hit. It takes a little elbow grease and hard-earned experience. With each new song, we grow as artists and as people and get one step closer to that ultimate goal. Knowing this, it’s important to take note of why you didn’t have a crazy hit on your first try. Write down what you think the reasons are so you can learn from them for your next project. With each mistake you make, become aware of them so you don’t make the same mistakes on your next song.

It’s all a learning process, and you’ll only get better. Don’t get discouraged when things don’t instantly go your way, and remember that failure is in the eye of the beholder.

Just think of it like taking up a new hobby. Very few of us are great at something new the moment we try it. Most of us don’t bowl a 300 in our first game or hit the bullseye with our first archery lesson. You have to acquire a new skill set… Here at Studio Pros, one of our hobbies is remote control airplanes. We didn’t get to be great RC pilots without crashing a few trainer planes, but after learning from many mistakes, we finally gained the confidence to upgrade to our new corporate airplane:

Sure, it’s not as flashy as some other corporate jets, and it doesn’t actually fit a full-size human inside, but it’s still the result of hours of learning experiences!

One thing you can be sure of with your next project is that it can be a top quality, professional recording.  Get started on a project with Studio Pros today!

It’s that time of year once again: people are bundled up in their winter coats and mittens as they plow through lines at the mall, seasonal music is taking over the radio airwaves, and snow is pummeling the streets in an effort to close school early and give snowplow drivers a little something to do.  To be fair, though, we here at Studio Pros are nestled all snug in our Southern California recording studio, so there isn’t much snowfall or bundling up going on around here. We have, however, taken notice of the holiday music on the radio (and in commercials, and in movies, etc.). It makes sense that we would notice it, since recording music is what we do!

The thing is, every year it’s the same: around Thanksgiving time, we start hearing Bing Crosby singing “White Christmas” and Brian Setzer swinging on “Jingle Bells” to get us into the holiday spirit. And it’s not just limited to Christmas, either. How many times have you heard Adam Sandler’s “Chanukah Song” played in December as well? Probably quite a few.

After decades of yuletide bombardment, I came to a musical realization. To quote Stephen Colbert’s “Another Christmas Song:” one day it struck me—someone must write ‘em! I think most musicians have had a Colbert-like epiphany at some point in their careers when they think of the fat royalty checks some of the more recently written Christmas classics must gather. (Mel Torme, co-writer of “The Christmas Song,” has been quoted mentioning the money that rolled in from that song each and every year.)

If you can manage to write a Christmas classic—even just one—you could be set for life. From one song. Now that’s a pretty sweet deal! But how do you write one that will live on for the ages?

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Everyone loves being trendy.

The clothes we wear, the slang phrases we say, even the social networks we’re a part of.  Not too long ago, it was very trendy to be on MySpace. Since then, that has completely shifted to Facebook, so much so that many people started thinking it was even a little uncool to still be on MySpace.

I remember as a teenager in the ’90s when baggy pants were the “in” style. And I’m not talking loose, I’m talking really, really baggy. Today, skinny jeans and other generally tight-fitting jeans are the trend.

Music follows trends as well. All sorts of them, in fact. Certain styles of music will blow up in popularity, sometimes for a short period of time, sometimes for a long while. One artist will come along and start the trend, then a whole ton of bands who sound similar get to come along for the ride while the movement booms.

It can be tempting to change your style to fit in with the current trends in an attempt to catch a ride with that wave while it’s rolling. In some ways it’s a great skill to have as an artist if you can adapt. For example, while you want to establish your personal fashion style, you also will look more “in” if you adjust your image to the trends. Some artists even successfully adapt their music as trends come and go. Think about people like David Bowie and Madonna who have enjoyed long, successful careers by constantly changing, becoming musical chameleons.

But that’s really difficult to pull of, which is why so few people have done it. There are also plenty of examples of artists who tried to adjust their style to something that was popular at the time, but it was just painfully obvious that it wasn’t them and nobody took them seriously. Anyone remember when MC Hammer took a stab at gangster rap? That didn’t work out too well for him, because everyone knew it simply wasn’t his style.

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Do you check your email first thing in the morning?

Do you get up to date with the news online over an early cup of coffee?

Do you use the web to check your bank account balance?

These days we use the Internet for just about everything: communication with old friends via Facebook; updating our financial portfolios and checking stocks; even buying movie tickets for the 8:30 show. If you’re anything like me, the net is your go-to resource for just about everything. Sometimes I roll out of bed and land at my desk, checking my messages before I even brush my teeth. Now with smart phones providing Internet access just about anywhere, pretty much everything is tied to the online world. Even grocery shopping has moved from a notepad to an iPhone app for many people.

I use the web for music stuff, too. I like discovering new music, reading news about my favorite bands, even listening to streaming music online is simple now. But the net is not just a great resource for hearing other artists’ music; it’s also a great resource for your own music career.

Sure, there are sites that have articles about making it in the music industry today… So many in fact that it can be a bit overwhelming to read all the advice that’s available to you. But while many musicians turn to the Internet for tips on how to take their career to the next level, most don’t realize the Internet can actually be used to take their career to the next level.

I’m not talking about making a Facebook music page, although that’s certainly a good thing to do. I’m talking about using the web to record an amazing album.

That concept may even sound a little crazy to you. But ten years ago, the idea of being able to instantly watch millions of hours of video probably sounded a little crazy. And here we are, all regular users of YouTube without even thinking about that simple fact.

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