Business

I inadvertently stumbled across some comments I wrote back in May of 2011 on a post over at Digital Music News called The Music Industry: It’s Becoming a Third World Country… written by Paul Resnikoff. After reading the original article and the subsequent comments again I realized that the points I made back then (seems […]

As the title of this blog suggests, I pride myself on being a working musician. This year marks my 10th anniversary of making a living through my music and I couldn’t be happier with how my life has turned out. When I quit my day job in 2001 I had no idea what my life […]

Over the last couple of days I realized that I’ve been feeling a sense of fear and anxiety about my Nick Drake Project. Not about the outcome – I know that the music we make will be incredible. Not about the process of making the music – the musicians involved are all dear friends who […]

Yesterday I found out that I did not receive the grant I applied for from the City of Seattle for my Nick Drake Project. While it would’ve been nice to have their support, I know that grants are a crap-shoot that I can’t expect them. The good news is that now I know and can […]

I’ve been following Mike Masnick ever since I first saw his presentation at MIDEM about Trent Resnor’s success with direct-to-fan marketing. The way he states the formula is the way I have been operating since I dove into the blogging/tweeting/social networking world: Connect With Fans (CwF) + Reason To Buy (RtB) = The Business Model […]

Thanks to The Sunbreak, I am now a published jazz journalist! I’ve been a fan of the online magazine for some time now. Their coverage of Seattle arts, politics, culture and news is perfectly suited to my tastes and gives an accurate representation of what our fair city is all about. I’m excited that I’ve […]

Writing this post the other day got me thinking about all the reasons I love playing weddings. It was actually hard for me to narrow it down to a list of 10 reasons! I know many musicians who don’t like playing weddings. I’m not one of those musicians. Weddings make up a big part of […]

OK, so I didn’t actually pay their rent. I did book enough gigs that paid enough money for each of them to cover their rent for the month, however. Three wedding gigs, to be exact, two on Saturday and one on Sunday. Wedding gigs are the life-blood of my business as a working musician. Over […]

Over the past year one of the people I have come to “know” and greatly appreciate is Amanda Palmer. I used quotes there because I only know Amanda in the internet sense, as I read her blog and follow her Tweets. I’ve written about her once before and I’m constantly amazed at the way she […]

I’m a big fan of sharing. I truly believe that we’re more successful when we share everything openly and honestly with those around us. It’s part of the reason I started this blog. It’s the entire reason I gave a free Ustream seminar on Touring. And it’s the reason that I’ve been considering offering consulting […]