Ben Minal (Crowdfunding Expert, Serial Entrepreneur, And Drummer From Dorje) [Interview]

UPDATE: TMMP has been reborn! This video has the full story:

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Over the past few years, crowdfunding has become one of the music industry’s most talked about topics. Adopted by acts as diverse as art-pop legend Amanda Palmer and Canadian tech-metallers Protest The Hero, crowdfunding has made headlines worldwide and opened many eyes to the power of direct-to-fan business models.

Ben Minal created one of the top Indiegogo campaigns of 2012 before he had even finished university. Beating a target of $7,500 nearly three times over, Ben was able to send his band Dorje (fronted by YouTube guitar star Rob Chapman and completed by guitarist Rabea Massaad and bassist Dave Hollingworth) on a two-week UK tour alongside The Drills, themselves fronted by regular Bon Jovi sideman and session legend Phil X. TMMP sat down with Ben Minal to talk about Dorje, crowdfunding, the future of the music business, his current projects and passions, and how a man ordering a pizza changed the course of four careers. Read more…

Posted on 11 June 2014

Give It Away – Or Just Give Up? [Music Business Advice]

Free Music.

Having read those words, your brain is most likely already overflowing with thoughts, ideas, and opinions. Free music is, to say the least, a controversial topic that raises all kinds of questions, such as these: Read more…

Posted on 31 May 2014

A Message For Musicians Who Live In The Real World. [Music Business Advice]

In 2014, fifteen years after the first warning signs heralding the now legendary decline of the recorded music industry, the blame throwing and endless infighting that centres around that most black hole-like of music industry topics – online file sharing – continues.

What cannot be argued, however, is the simple fact that what happened over the last decade and a half definitely happened. Now, it is time to either find a solution to the problem of making a living as a musician in the twenty first century, or continue looking backwards, missing new opportunities, and eventually succumbing to the musty bargain bins of cultural irrelevance.

A complete solution that is universally embraced and applied  by the whole music business has yet to appear. And before we can hope to reach that point, we have to ask: Where do we start? Read more…

Posted on 27 April 2014

5 Tips For Success: Submitting Your Music to Music Blogs

Note: Although this article is aimed at absolute beginners, more experienced acts may also benefit from the advice below.

So, you’re now the proud parent(s) of a beautiful new album, EP, single, or video. Maybe you’ve just given birth to the full set! You’ve dredged up your most emotionally turbulent memories; channelled them into your art; sworn and fought (and perhaps even calmly negotiated) your way through the songwriting / compositional process; suffered through painstaking take after take in the studio, striving to capture that elusive perfect performance; and finally it’s all done. You can’t wait to show off your baby to the world. You need help in getting the word out, you’ve found some awesome music blogs (such as this one – wink wink), and you’re wondering exactly how to make the most of this opportunity.

Here are five tips to help make your experience more rewarding, and less (or, ideally, not at all) painful. Read more…

Posted on 14 February 2014

6 Steps To A Winning Band Biography

Congratulations! If you’re reading this, you’re already ahead of 99% of your competition. You’re taking your music career seriously and paying attention to every last detail. That’s a great thing. In this article, we’ll help you polish your professional presentation skills and show you how to write a winning band biography. Read more…

Posted on 14 January 2014