The Vans Warped Tour has become synonymous with a young generation’s views on life, music, and politics, engaging rock fans of all flavors. This year, the Kevin Says Stage accepted submissions from emerging acts to perform at the Vans Warped Tour, ultimately selecting one band in each geographic market. We caught up with some of these acts to check out what their experiences were like and what they took away from it.

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Want to know what a promoter is thinking when reviewing EPKs? Interested in industry and submission advice from the horses mouth? Check out our quick chats. (more…)

David Ellis, Promoter Account Manager at Sonicbids, shares some insider information and tips on working with promoters and understanding how they operate.

Since August of 2005 I have had the pleasure of working with all sorts of promoters – small music series, big festivals, films, magazines, conferences, etc. I absolutely love doing what I do and building relationships with these organizations. I thought that after hitting my 3-year mark here at Sonicbids, it was time I shared some inside information on our promoter community and offer artists some advice in the process.

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In 1997 when 80’s prog-rock band Marillion scheduled a European tour to support its new album, keyboardist Mark Kelly posted an Internet message stating that the band would not tour the United States due to a lack of record company support. Fans of the band worldwide joined forces to raise over $60,000 to underwrite it, and the band undertook its largest North American tour since 1991. Since then, Marillion has been able to tour and record several more times all based on direct fan support. As a result, such passionate, wholesale support has allowed Marillion to step outside of the conventional music industry and find their own path.

The thing that made the difference in the Marillion story was the Internet. The saga represents one of the first modern examples of “crowdfunding” via the Net, and illustrates the bottom-up strategy where the fan/customer is the new driver of music markets.
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This article was written by Scott DeMarko at Sweetwater.  Over the next few months, we’re publishing an entire series of articles in the Lounge from Sweetwater along with contests and prizes. Keep your eyes peeled and check back often!

We focus a lot on the proper cables and gear for recording and live sound, but perhaps we should take it beyond that. If you’re a new band looking for the next big break, how do you go about it? What steps do you have to follow for fame, glory, and a little money in your pocket? (more…)

This article was written by Kavit Haria, founder and consultant at Inner Rhythm in London.

The independent music world is really rocking right now, and if you’re going to take advantage of it and play the game the right way, you’ll need to operate for maximum results.

•   As independent musicians, we have tons of work to be doing, from making and performing music, to doing the promotion, booking the gigs, getting together a band, the accounting, networking and press.  It’s a lot of stuff. Most musicians see no way round it, but there is. Here are a few things to understand:

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I’ll admit it. After the years I spent studying Music Business in college and at conferences, I’ve learned a lot about the music industry…but not nearly as much as I’ve learned from actual first hand experience. As a professional, gigging musician for many years now, I’ve gone through plenty “you live, you learn” moments. I’d like to share one of the most important, even if you’ve already heard it a million times: Get it in writing.

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