But it doesn’t have to be anymore, EarMaster Aps have come up with the concept of ‘BandLoot’ which is an app that tracks your band’s ingoings and outgoings for you, and allows you to manage your band’s money in a transparent, easy and group-oriented way.

The app was originally designed as an in-house only project by EarMaster Aps employees who were also musicians facing the problems of dealing with money management in a band situation, and this is the solution they came up with. The result was so effective that the company decided to release the app to the public to help bands around the world sort and track their finances in an easy to use manner.

Functions of the app include monitoring how your band’s money is spent, sharing of revenues and expenses with bandmates, the ability to set specific shares for each band member, managing of your band’s ‘kitty’ together, and the ability to access your account from anywhere as it is stored in a cloud. The app however is simply a tracking and management tool as opposed to an app where any actual transactions take place, so you are safe from any possible transaction fraud. If you are constantly confused about who owes what money back to the band for selling some custom CDs or how much the band should be paying out to which members for what, then BandLoot.com might just be the thing you need to keep your band happy and financially on to it.

Sites like kickstarter.com and indiegogo.com are the standard go-to’s for this kind of endeavor and have been very successful for some artists and projects such as Amanda Palmer, one half of the Dresden Dolls as well as an artist in her own right, who raised over half a million dollars on kickstarter to fund her music and art book projects.

Now while sites such as Kickstarter are fantastic for funding something that results in a final product that you can hold in your hands such as a CD or a tshirt or a book, it’s not so much for the intangible or the less-tangible, such as a live show. That’s where Gigfunder comes in.

Gigfunder.com is a brand new website that shares a lot of similarities with sites like kickstarter, yet focuses itself on a whole new, as yet somewhat unexplored niche aimed at musicians and their fans. How the site works, is that bands can sign up and create a profile, or if a band does not have a profile, fans can tweet the band to set one up if they want to see the band live. Fans can then ask the band to come to their city, and the band can start a campaign for a certain dollar amount necessary to get to play a show there, and indeed can campaign to cover a whole tour.

How the money –making part works, is that fans can ‘pledge’ money, but much like kickstarter, you’ve got to offer them something back for their cash, such as tickets to the show that you’ll be putting on, up to much more creative rewards such as a personal performance through skype, or even putting on a show in their living room depending on how much you think you want to set pledges for and how creative you want to get. Another similarity with kickstarter is that if the whole funding goal is not reached, then the band doesn’t get any of the money that has been pledged – it all gets returned to the fans, so if you do decide to try out the site, make sure you don’t set your funding goals so high you have no hope of reaching them. It’s still early to tell how big the site is going to get and what new improvements it might make – such as for instance whether it will step outside the US market someday – but it’s a solid idea, and for early adopters, it could just be a solid way to tour the country. You can check the site out at gigfunder.com, and read their comprehensive FAQs here

Presenters and attendees this year included Carly Simon, Peter Frampton, Prince’s Musical Director and keyboardist Morris Hayes, Jared Leto, songwriting trio The Smeezingtons (one third of which is made up of Bruno Mars) and songwriting duo Stargate (songwriters for Katy Perry, Whitney Houston, Beyonce, Rihanna) to name a few.  The conference is well worth attending if songwriting or composing is your craft, but if you couldn’t make it out to Hollywood for the event, ASCAP have gladly made video footage of the EXPO all available online – for a price. For those that did manage to attend the conference, a password for the video footage to catch up on all those missed panels while out networking could have been scooped up for around $40, but after the fact and for those of us that weren’t able to be there in person, the price is $125, which you might consider a little steep for some online viewing  – you can watch a month of Netflix streaming for less than $20 after all but if you are a serious songwriter, composer or even just as musician in general, the value you could gain from the information contained in the footage could be worth its weight in gold. To check out the footage online – for a fee visit the site here.

However, as reported by Billboard.com,  as of April 26 2012, in a move that shocked staff and has sent ripples through the music industry, Wessels stepped down as CEO, followed by staff layoffs at Roadrunner Records worldwide, including the closings of some offices such as the Roadrunner Netherlands office with the UK and Canadian offices not far behind. In the US, around 16 staffers are thought to have been laid off with a skeleton crew left behind to take on the label’s responsibilities with Warner offices supposedly picking up the rest of the slack. With such huge cuts and outrage from Roadrunner signed bands and staffers, none of whom say they even knew the cuts were coming, this could spell the end of Roadrunner Records, at least as we know it. Though it is too early to tell what exactly might happen, a lot more changes are expected in the coming weeks with bands being dropped or jumping ship to other labels before they get the chance to get cut, which could see a huge shake up and shuffle in how the music industry operates, and where the major players in metal and rock today like Slipknot, Nickleback and Megadeth decide to let their loyalties lie after being dealt such a sudden and unexpected hand.

“Today is a sad day. It has been brought to my attention that many Roadrunner offices around the world have been closed permanently… This is very disheartening because our whole career has consisted of being involved with this personal family. This comes as very shocking news and in my opinion only, this is completely unwarranted and unacceptable….Everyone who no longer works with Slipknot will be greatly missed and as far as I’m concerned things will never ever be the same…. I am tired of things always changing in this business because of politics and people that have not taken the time to fulfill the duty to understand us as an art form representing a culture that is one of a kind. ..I also know how important these people who no longer will be working with Slipknot and Roadrunner are and how much of a difference they made to the most important people of all – the fans….Thank you for everything from the bottom of my heart. Your friend, your brother – The Clown.” – as posted on the Slipknot Facebook Fanpage.

Now with the economy like it is today and industries like the music industry seeing a lot of change, fan-funded projects, such as albums, could be the way to go, but does it make you and your band or project look less than professional? And worse, is it simply ‘cyber-begging’? First off in regards to professionalism, a lot has changed in the world with the advent of modern technology, computers, iPhones, the internet, and so has the way we do business. If your project is a legitimate project and is presented as such , you can still certainly maintain an air of professionalism, Kickstarter has a strict vetting process that ensures you meet all kinds of criteria (see their FAQ for more details) so that not just anyone, and not just any project ends up on their website. You have to be the real deal and that requires some modicum of professionalism, while there is certainly space for small projects and new artists and creators, the amount of work that goes into even just the application process for kickstarter, kicks most amateurs to the curb. Plus you’re in good company, there’s all kinds of projects in film, music and more on all kinds of subjects, including even a David Lynch documentary which far surpassed its original funding goal of $30,000 to raise a whopping $179,554 which is pretty amazing.

As to the claim of cyber-begging, in a way it is, and in a way it isn’t. Cyber-begging  ‘is the online version of traditional begging, asking strangers for money to meet immediate and other needs (money, food, and shelter)’ and often uses a ‘cause website’ to help solicit donations for anything from health issues to homelessness. While you are asking for money from strangers on a website to some degree, what is different about using a site like kickstarter is that, first of all a lot of the people funding your project are likely to be fans, friends and family as opposed to strangers, as they are more likely to care about your project and therefore donate. Secondly, it’s more like putting your business proposal out there and having it funded to create a viable business for yourself, a lot of the projects involve making a product such as a CD or book that will be available for sale, and the kickstarter funding acts as seed money that is invested in this in order to get it off the ground, rather than to just simply pay for something that won’t ever generate any future revenue or advance your career such as food or medical bills. Thirdly, kickstarter has a feature named ‘rewards’ whereby you reward your benefactors for giving you money, in this way everyone benefits and feels a part of the project, for example if you are going to be using the funds to record an album, a $5 donation could give the donor a free digital copy of the album when it’s complete, while a $10 donation could get them a physical copy of the CD, and $25 could get them a signed copy with a tshirt, a $100 donation could get them all that plus a night out with the band, or whatever you like, use your imagination. In this way it’s an exchange, you are not simply begging, taking something for nothing, you are giving back not only with your work that you create with the money but also with a tangible and specific reward to each wonderful person that has helped you make your dream happen.

So use Kickstarter if you feel it could benefit you, but don’t set your goal too high, because you don’t get any of the money if you don’t reach the goal! And try to use it only for the projects you think would best benefit from it, and avoid spamming your friends, fans and family too much about it on Facebook, and you might just get the funding solution you need without having to cyber-beg.

Founded in 2007 as a celebration of independent record store culture as well as vinyl itself, Record Store Day features all kinds of festivities including cookouts, performances, body painting, parades, and artist meet and greets. Participating record stores also offer special vinyl releases, some of which are available only on the day, others which are a limited run around the time of record store day, and various special promotions. Record Store Day is celebrated in many different cities and countries all over the world.

However, for those of us who don’t collect vinyl, or perhaps, shock horror, don’t even own a record player, can we participate? Yes, while Record Store Day definitely does have a vinyl focus, it is about more than just vinyl records, with special cd releases and promotions available also, not to mention the fact that a lot of vinyl accounts for the digital age these days by also coming with download codes to get the MP3’s straight into your computer as well as allowing you to play it on vinyl, or instead of – in which case you have a beautiful vinyl keepsake to display or hide away for a rainy day.

Furthermore, the day is about festivities, and the celebration of record store culture, some of which has certainly been done away with since the advent of the internet and iTunes and MP3’s.  So join in by getting down there, just being there is huge, and checking out the CD and vinyl promotions while you’re there and watching whichever artist is performing or DJ is spinning, and soon you’ll be having your very own ‘Empire Records’ moment whether you play vinyl or not.

Go to www.recordstoreday.com for more information on participating record stores and events.

Fanatic.fm,  a ‘music sponsorship platform where brands and bands can find each other’ is a new take on an old model of sponsorship of the arts by a company or companies who have the money that the artist needs to further his or her career, and in return is promoted by the artist. Now whereas this idea may leave a bad taste in some mouths, with the words ‘selling out’ perhaps coming up in conversation right now, Fanatic.Fm have done things a little differently in a way that even the most anarchic punk rocker might consider giving it a go.

You, the artist, decide whether you want sponsorship and from who, you can approach the sponsor or choose to accept or decline their offer to sponsor a song or album, current sponsors include Hennessy, Teddy Bear Museum, Samsung and the Fanatic.FM Corporation.  While the site is new, and the sponsors are still few, it is growing, and now is a good time to get in if you want to try this new model of band sponsorship out. There is also an added feature of Fanatic.FM sure to satisfy the naysayers who preach the corporate sellout mentality, and that is the charity section. Bands are able to nominate a charity from the selected charities available to send a small portion of their proceeds to and as the website states, makes this ‘a place where fans, brands, and musicians unite to create music that changes the world.’ Charities you can choose from include wellsbringhope.org, Little Kids Rock, Peacetones, Oxfam Ireland, Cambodian Kids Foundation and more.

If you want more money to get your custom cds printed and sold as your new album, or just have a song or two sponsored and maybe help improve a few lives through charity work with it, then Fanatic.FM might just be for you.

• Share interesting content, this one should be obvious, but the more strange, funny, silly, cute, scary, weird your content, the more interesting and therefore more likely to be looked at, liked, commented upon and shared. Interesting content is what takes you viral

• On that note, you want to be personal about it, promote your band, post band snaps, backstage snaps tour bus snaps, eating at truck stops on the road snaps, your band mate sleeping with his mouth open snaps, whatever you want, but add a personal touch – fans want to feel like they are getting to know you. Post things unrelated to your band and tour life too, funny things you’ve seen, pets, internet memes, whatever you want, but remember to throw some things in there that are band related if you want to promote yourself, which you really, really do.

• Add/ create hashtags related to your band. If you’re on a tour with a branded name, or even a name you just made up yourself, tag every photo related to that tour, such as show snaps, backstage snaps etc with a hashtag that involves the name or acronym of the tour and encourage your fans to do the same, making it easy to search that particular tour, or album or your band, or whatever you decide should be hashtagged – which is just about everything!

• You can also run contests through instagram using those hashtags – just have your fans take photos of something, be it your band, shows, wherever they find one of your stickers, and upload them to instagram with your chosen hashtag and voila you have a contest

• Link up to your other social media sites for maximum effect. If your band has a tumblr, a facebook, or a twitter, which it should (if not go make one now!) you can connect instagram up to these sites so that it posts your photos on all of them. This is a great way to involve those who don’t have an iphone or android, though iphones do seem like they’re kind of taking over the planet, there are still those without a smart phone out there!

• Another related point to twitter, tumblr and facebook is that consistency is key in terms of naming your accounts, if you can make them all the same username you are going to make your life a lot easier as well as improving your band’s brand awareness and making it easier for your fans to find you and know that it’s definitely you – plus you can also mention your new instagram account and ask your fans and friends to follow you on it on your other social media sites to get them to know you’re there in the first place.

• And lastly, post regularly, caption your photos, and like and comment on other users’ content, especially if it relates to your band, just like you would any other social network and soon you’ll be doing big things on instagram.

The site is divided into multiple categories, including everything from architecture to apparel, to Food and Drink, to DIY and to music, art and literature. Whatever your brand is, you can find a category to fit. There is also a ‘popular’ section, showing the most pinned posts.

Now there are many success stories all over the web of blogs and companies using Pinterest to generate traffic and sales, such as Ana White who gets 6000 hits per day to her carpentry blog from pinterest alone, but how are these successes leveraging Pinterest to their benefit?

First of all, when Ana White noticed how much traffic she was getting through Pinterest, she added a ‘Love this? Pin it right now!’ button to every page of her site. For brands with a lot of visual content, this is a really great way to encourage your content to go viral, particularly as when a post is ‘pinned’ on Pinterest, the link back to the source – ie. Your company, blog, site – is posted with it.

Secondly, since Pinterest, and indeed the internet itself, is such a visual medium,  you want to use this to your advantage by pinning photos of your products, designs, art etc, to be shared, but you want to also pin as many interesting and striking images as possible – whether this means you are a little bit more creative with the ways you have your products photographed so they stand out from the crowd, or whether it’s the items themselves that you choose to pin, this is definitely something to think about in terms of getting your content repined – the more striking, beautiful, interesting, cute or strange,  the better.

Third, Pinterest has a ‘gifts’ section, so if you have physical product, when you add your pins, there’s an option to create a price tag and link back to your site which adds the item to the ‘gifts’ section. Users can then browse the gifts section by price and buy products, including yours.

And lastly, since Pinterest is a social medium that is all about community, interacting with a connecting with your Pinterest community, friends, fans and followers – those who have liked or repined your posts, is paramount. Even if you just like or thank in a comment, users who have repinned your content when you can, a little goes a long away on the internet, and soon your brand will be spreading faster than a virus.

You’ve spent hours in the studio recording a masterpiece, the songs have been mixed and mastered narrowed down to ten or twelve tracks of amazingness, ready to be unleashed upon the world as your new album. But before you go about  getting your custom cds duplicated, there’s one more important step that must be completed – creating your cover art and completing your liner notes. This is one crucial component that should not be overlooked, having eye-catching cover art can not only help you sell more CDs, but when the right things are included in your booklet and on your front and back album covers, your CD becomes a great marketing tool as well as a piece of art to be enjoyed. The following is a list of elements to include in your cd booklet liner notes and album cover to take you to that next professional level.

Cover:

On the cover there are several things that should be included, most important is a striking image, but also almost equally as important is including the artist’s name and the album title. If the content is only suitable for a mature audience, you may also want to consider including a ‘Parental advisory explicit content’ warning as well.

Spine:

The spine is an often forgotten-about part of the CD, but it is very important that you remember to include your band name and album title on the spine, as well as UPC codes and record label name if you have one, as if fans store their cds with only the spines facing out, if you do not include this pertinent information, your cd will get lost in the mix.

Back Cover:

The back cover is the place to include your track listing  – with song titles, numbers and possibly song length if you wish. You also want to include a small copyright notice somewhere on the back cover, probably down in the corner that looks something like this – “© [year] [artist name]”. You can also include a published by notice “(P) [year] [artist name or record label]” or a copyright and published by notice like this – “(P)(C) [year] [artist name or record label]” depending on who owns the rights to the music, lyrics and sound recordings on the album. You also want to put your UPC bar code on the back cover, along with credits to the artist/s who created your cover art, a statement saying “All rights reserved. Unauthorized duplication is a violation of applicable laws” and also the country your cd was manufactured in if you wish. Another very important thing to include for marketing and promotional purposes would be your website or social media URL here. We will talk a bit more about this in the next section, but since your back cover is likely to get a lot more looks than the liner notes, you want to use this to your advantage by putting your URL in there somewhere small and unobtrusive but definitely therefor your fans to find.

Booklet Liner notes:

In the booklet liner notes is where you should have credits for who appears on and/ or wrote which tracks. If you don’t have a full booklet or enough room for some other reason, you could also include some of this information on the inside of the back cover instead. You should be crediting the artist, the songwriters, musicians who appear on the album, label, engineer, producers, and anyone else otherwise involved that should get credited. If you wish to include the lyrics to your songs here is the place to put them as well as a thank you section where you can thank everyone who helped you make the record or helped you to get where you are from your dog to your best friend to your manager. Copyright notices and publishing notices should also be included in the liner notes, as well as those UPC codes and “All rights reserved. Lyrics used by permission only.” You should also remember to include your band’s web address and social media links. If you really want to give fans an incentive to check out your site or facebook fanpage you could also offer a free download of a song not included on the CD with a download code in your liner notes that only works on your site or facebook page.