How To Deal With Criticism [Music Business Advice]

Since becoming a music blogger, I’ve had some amazing experiences. Nothing gets me buzzing like the discovery of a brand new band capable of blowing my mind into smithereens. Artists as diverse as Dorje, Signals, Princess Slayer, Shrine, In Dynamics, Mike Dawes, Project RnL, Inner Pieces, and Lunatrix all knocked me for six when I first came across them – and the knowledge that tomorrow it could happen all over again is what keeps me writing.

However, it’s not all been great. I love what I get to do via TMMP, but there is a dark side to music writing. I’m not just here to be nice; I also have to be harsh at times. When reviewing music, I’m a critic – and the word ‘criticism’ is, as we all know, associated more directly with negativity than anything else. Criticism is a part of life, something we all experience, and it’s hard – sometimes impossible – to not take it personally. Often this is because the person doing the criticising is just letting out their own frustrations and not considering us at all. Read more…

Posted on 06 July 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

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

6 Steps To Happiness (Or, How To Deal With The Music You Hate)

“THIS SONG MAKES ME WANT TO KILL MYSELF!”

You know that feeling. Perhaps it arrived the first time you heard Rebecca Black, Justin Bieber, Miley Cyrus, or Hot Problems by Double Take. Whenever it came to you, you can remember exactly what it was like. First, you probably felt amused. Then irritated. Then angry. Then homicidal. Maybe all of the above simultaneously. And you almost certainly felt the overwhelming desire to cut off your ears and stick your head in some unset cement.

Regardless of the exact symptoms, you definitely know that you’re not alone in suffering this way. The number of YouTube comments, Facebook status updates, mainstream news pieces and online blog posts about the above musical phenomena (and many more besides) is staggering. Consider the following Google search figures: Read more…

Posted on 01 January 2014

Music To Fiction #1. Inner Pieces: ‘One’

inner pieces oneFor as long as Quinn could remember, the window had been there. The world around it was chaotic, turbulent, constantly changing; but through it all, the window remained.

Quinn hated that window. Beyond it lay an endless array of glittering, beautiful and alluring things that he knew, with an unquestionable certainty, that he would never possess. And the simple act of knowing made him crave them all the more intensely.

His obsession had been started through no choice of his own – he had simply been placed on a stiff old sofa, and allowed to stare into the window’s depths as a treat. Wonderful things could be found behind that glass; exotic visions and delights from across the known universe. He witnessed awe-inspiring natural spectacles, mind-boggling physical feats, the loftiest peaks of humanity’s cultural achievements. But over time he became bored with them all, and his focus shifted. The same sights that had once inspired him found themselves ignored in favour of objects. Read more…

Posted on 16 October 2013

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