Newsletters are the most effective way to keep your fan base informed of what you are doing.

Newsletters are the key for promotions and are very cheap to produce using today’s technology. Most of your fan base is quickly becoming internet knowledgeable and they are using the computer to communicate and find out what’s going on with the artists that they support.

E-Newsletters are coming into vogue because it saves indie groups money to produce these newsletters. Your newsletters should have the same information as your web-site but in short form, which should include: band photos, performance schedule, music reviews, news, articles, song lyrics, band contests, merchandise and contact and booking information.

Your newsletter should entice your fans to come to your web-site so that you can sell them your product or music. You can use your newsletter as a marketing tool to give away free stuff, announce fan contests and test new songs.

Your newsletters should be active customers that frequently visit your site, buy your music and attend your shows. Your inactive fans might receive a newsletter with current information about the band in it every six months.

So newsletters can help you keep your current fan base informed and add more people to it.

Maintaining a stage presence isn’t just about hitting a note.  If you want to be perceived as a musician that can not only sing, but also has talent in other areas, you should study a main instrument to enhance their stage performance or to assist the composition of songs.  Even if it is the drums or percussion, knowing something other than your voice is important. A musical instrument will assist you in understanding music composition and where certain instruments fit at in a recording or live performance.

Most pure singers have the mindset that you need to be all world to pick up and instrument and learn it as you go along so it leaves them to the mercy of producers who determine their sound. One advantage to playing an instrument is the understanding of cues, rhythms, patterns and donation.

You don’t have to evolve into Duke Ellington to be a “music master” because you learn your instrument as you go. You also understand the concept of clashing (two instruments that don’t sound right when they are blended together). During a live performance, the audience loves to see the vocalist grab and instrument and play along with the band!

Many vocalists aren’t encouraged to pick up and instrument because many people have said that the voice is an instrument all by itself but it sure is a joy to watch a vocalist stretch out and do other things on stage with other instruments.

Most individuals have bad experiences when it comes to learning music theory. Most teachers are stringent and demanding. This makes music a pain to learn when you have teachers that cannot be creative and innovative.

Most people stay away from music teachers or leave music all together because of a bad experience that they had with a music teacher. Some people go to learn on their own and some people never get the fullness of the instrument that they are playing because they missed some BASIC steps.

The Internet is full of learning modules that will teach you basic music theory all which can be fun to go to, as well as flexible in teaching some basic concepts. Some of these sites feature prominent artists and vocalists with forums available to ask any kind of music theory related question that you would want to know.

Most web-sites have video tutorials and tutorials on instruments that demonstrate and show you how to improve technique and understand the basics of music such as time signatures, circle of fifths, grand staff, notation and counting and scale theory.

You don’t have to become a Mozart but understanding basic music theory will enhance your career and provide you with many other options to understand and perform different types of music.

Indie artists are special people that “keep it real” with the fans and with the music they are creating. In any kind of business, project or situation in life, there are some things that you want to avoid if your want to have longevity in anything that you do. There are some basic angles that you have to observe, take care of and watch out for.

Following are the “five” sins that can destroy and indie artist which are listed below:

Lack of Humility – You get more doors open by being humble with what you are attempting to do and your music. Humility actually will protect you from the industry “sharks” that lurk in the background. They look for unbalanced artists and promise them the world and artists with the big head usually fall head over heels and get stung in the end. Why? It’s because the artist has no humility! All humility means is having a balanced perspective, a reserve-ness with confidence and being honorable.

Circle of Friends – You don’t need friends that hinder your progress or that’s going to introduce you to things that are detrimental to your career. You need honest feedback and for friends to tell you that you are going down the wrong road. You don’t need lackeys! When the money and the fame are gone, the so called lackey friends are gone too! Strive to have quality people on your team that are striving to be balanced and well-rounded!

Groupies – The universe is full of music and everyone on Earth carries a musical vibration which means that as a musician, you are going to have groupies that have higher vibration than other people! You cannot bed every groupie that comes to you! Many careers have died over the “groupie” syndrome and artists getting involved with several groupies. Keep things in perspective! Know that you are making a statement in what you are doing and many people just want a piece of you. Thank them, be kind but be very watchful. Don’t let this destroy your career!

No vision of musical growth -   You’re doing rock today but will you be able to do the same thing ten or even 20 years from now? Where you start is not where you will likely end. Do you have a career progression chart that states where you want to be at in the future? Your plans should read something like this:

“I am a rock singer that wants to write symphonic music ten years from now for films, symphonies and stage performances”.

Draw out where you want to go across your musical landscape. Embrace diversity in your musical career!

And finally….

Not Understanding the Music Business - This is 2006 so the indie artist has information at his/her fingertips about the music industry that they’ve never had before. It’s now the artist responsibility to understand publishing, mechanical licensing, performance rights and copyrights. Yes, you will probably need an entertainment lawyer but its nice know that when someone is talking about these things that you have a basic knowledge of what they are saying.

Keep your career out of hot water. Avoid the five sins of the indie artist!

There’s a plague in indie music land that is under disguise. Indie nation is suffering from a fall in the ranks which hurts the very concept of “independence”. It’s the selling out of indie artist for faulty record contracts, hype and the surrendering of artistic value.

Many Indie artists think that to make it, you have to align yourself with a major record company. This is false. Even way back in the 50’s, your most powerful entity were independent labels which had a wealth of local talent to choose from and record. This is how Stax Records and Motown Records were created…through the spirit of independence. These labels started crashing when they aligned themselves with corporate entities. Sun Records and Sam Phillips, who was responsible for breaking in Elvis, Johnny Cash and others, started out as an indie label. Stax is the greatest example of powerful independent music label and operation that made a worldwide impact until the President started mingling with corporate distributors. I would advise any independent artist to read a copy of Rob Bowman’s book on Stax Records to see how an indie movement was undermined by the corporate big wigs.

There is now a chance for the Indie movement to come back like it did with Indie labels from the ‘50s.  With the knowledge, technology and possibilities that are now available, the Indie movement has the possibility to overcome major corporations and bring true music back to the stage.