Band Promotion: Get Off the Computer & Make Personal Connections!
You’re soooo busy promoting your band online- in fact you’ve been doing it 5 hours a day for 5 months now. You have signed-up to all the music-related sites you know MySpace, YouTube, Sonic bids, Kickstarter, Spotify, Playlist.com, the list goes on and on. Your aim is to make that viral video, to get 12,000 […]
CD Packaging of the Week: Gallucci You Wrecker
I like how the neon pink tape contrasts to the pale face portrait and how Magdalena Czarnecki strategically placed the tape in a position that makes us want to rip it off right away. The identity for the independent Punk band ‘Gallucci’ is designed on a roll of adhesive tape. The tape can be applied […]
Hot Hot Hot Music Packaging!
This week’s collection of music packaging is dedicated to the pyromaniacs. Here are LP and CD covers that involve lots of heat, fire, and burnin. If in the future you decide to have an artwork that involves fire, make sure to come back to this post to check whether your concept has been done by […]
Movie Merch: Creepy Exorcist Action Figures
I’ve had countless nightmares of Linda Blair’s rotating head and the epic stairway scene from the Exorcist. Ugh! The film’s images just stick to the head. Once you’ve seen the movie, you can’t just shake it off. There’s no doubt about it-It is one of the most influential horror films of all time. The 1973 […]
10 Websites Every DIY Musician Needs to Know
The playing field is now leveled. We all have access to the same online tools, the same websites, and preach the same message, ‘Hey! Come check out our band.’ So how is your band going to be effective on the web when everyone is given the same vantage point? How are you to know which […]
Indie Musicians: 4 Ways to Get Really Viral
So, you just finished an album and you want to come up with viral promotion ideas to market your music. You figured that viral marketing is the shortcut to getting the recognition and fame that your music deserves. With thousands of bands competing for recognition, it is indeed wise to come up with a gimmick […]
Graphic Designers: 5 Tips to Get to the Top
You love designing but you don’t want to stay in the same level 5 years from now. You do not want to be glued on your computer chair all your life working for the same kinds of people, on the same kinds of projects, at the same rate. You are simply ambitious and you have […]
Must-Read: The Art of the Album Cover
“How can something so square be so hip?” Designer Richard Evans, The Who’s in-house designer for 35 years, sets out to answer this question in the new illustrated history of the 12in album sleeve. In this glossy hardback, he provides a comprehensive overview of over 70 years of album covers. Evans recognizes that everything changed […]
20 Reasons Why Bands Don’t Make It (by an A&R man)
Here are 20 common reasons why some artists never make it to the next level written by experienced A&R/Producer Loren Israel. Even if you do not enjoy everything he says, he has been involved in the business enough to speak the truth. However, some of the stuff seems dated by a few years and a […]
Featured Designer: Joshua Marc Levy
About Joshua Marc Levy: Joshua was born Jan 27- the same day as Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart and Lewis Carroll. He graduated SVA with honors in 1998 and worked in Entertainment Advertising and the Record Industry afterward. Shortly after leaving SVA, he won many awards including Young Guns, Art Director’s Club and a “First Place Student […]