The Budget In this series of articles, I’m going to walk you through the basic procedure for planning your own radio campaign. We’ll cover topics such as choosing your target radio stations, creating a radio-friendly press kit, how to find media contacts, how to write a press kit cover letter for your radio campaign, how to handle follow-up calls, and…
-
-
Planning Your Own Radio Campaign: Part 2
Finding Media Contacts In this series of articles, I’m going to walk you through the basic procedure for planning your own radio campaign. We’ll cover topics such as choosing your target radio stations, creating a radio-friendly press kit, how to find media contacts, how to write a press kit cover letter for your radio campaign, how to handle follow-up calls,…
-
Planning Your Own Radio Campaign: Part 1
Choosing Your Stations In this series of articles, I’m going to walk you through the basic procedure for planning your own radio campaign. We’ll cover topics such as choosing your target radio stations, creating a radio-friendly press kit, how to find media contacts, how to write a press kit cover letter for your radio campaign, how to handle follow-up calls,…
-
Let Your Old Music Make Money for You
Most indie bands would love to be able to add a passive revenue stream to their work. Why not do that with your old music? As a fan of indie music, I occasionally get frustrated when I come across an accomplished indie band, and I can’t find anything but their current material available. I always try to get a feel…
-
Tax and Legal Issues for Musicians
Here are a few sample tax and legal issues that indie bands in the US will have to worry about, and where you can find more information: Taxes – If you make any money at all from your music (payments for gigs, CD sales, merch sales, etc.), you’re required to report the income to the IRS, no matter how small…
-
Tax Deductions for Musicians
In this week’s article, I’d like to continue discussing taxes as they apply to indie musicians. Last week I talked about the US self-employment tax. This week, it’s tax deductions. You should review the following list of possible tax deductions for musicians (in the US), and decide if itemizing your deductions and including them will save you more money than…
-
The Self-Employment Tax for Musicians
If you’ve read any of the past music industry articles on The Indie Files, you’ve likely heard me say time and time again that if you’re trying to make money as an indie musician or band, you’re most likely legally in business (whether you intend to be or not). Being in business has its benefits (like bigger tax deductions for…
-
Is Your Music a Business or a Hobby?
When you work as a solo musician, or in a band, and you’re trying to make money, you’re essentially working as a freelancer. So, is that freelance work (your music) a business or a hobby in the eyes of the IRS? Either way, your income is still supposed to be reported to the IRS, but having your music classified as…
-
7 Simple Things to Set Your Band Apart
Follow these 7 simple steps to set your band apart from all of the other indie acts around: 1. Pass out business cards. – Get band business cards printed professionally, NOT the print-at-home variety! Make them colorful, eye-catching, and include important information, like a contact name and phone number, the band’s name, logo and preferably location, an e-mail address, and…
-
Five Places to Sell Your Music Online
Consider these 5 places when deciding where to sell your music online: Your Band’s Website There’s no better place to sell your music than on your own web site, simply because you’ll have a higher profit margin and keep traffic on your site longer. CDBaby.com CDBaby is one of the most popular methods for indie artists to release their work…