In a world of free digital music how can musicians make money?

My recent advocacy of free digital music and my ongoing battle with a certain major label figurehead have drawn a lot of attention and reaction, public and private, positive and negative. It would appear that there are many people out there, mostly musicians, artists, photographers and other creatives, who have one huge problem with my argument. A problem that leads to the following question being asked over and over again. If all digital music is... Read More

The disconnection principle

The vast majority of my friends are musicians. That won’t come as a surprise to regular readers, particularly those who are aware of my career as a jazz musician. What might come as a surprise, however, is that many of my friends cannot believe that I am currently making a steady stream of income from an album that I am still writing. You can read about my micropatronage project, including my ongoing plan to release a self funded album once... Read More

You can take a horse to water but you can’t make it sell music online

Yesterday I endured a three hour consultation with a musician friend of a friend. I had been recommended to him by the drummer in a band I work with. Unfortunately, this new client was willing to pay for my time but not willing to listen to a word I said. The meeting ended with the client and two of his band mates walking out of the meeting, huffing and puffing and, frankly, asserting their wish to stay with their heads firmly in the sand. But that... Read More

Is it possible to get 400 unique daily visitors and Google Page Rank of 4 in just 10 days?

What do you think? Is it possible to build a brand new blog and generate four hundred unique daily visitors and a Google Page Rank of four in just ten days? Short answer, yes. Long answer, yes, if you are able to generate enough publicity and back links to drive that highly accelerated level of growth. The new blog that I have been promoting serves more than one purpose. It allows me to develop my own personal project whilst, at the same time, using... Read More