Limiting one’s creative awareness by focusing only on music is increasingly as big a career mistake as avoiding understanding the world of business. Social media has turned musicians into publishers, business is embracing design and creative networks are offering additional opportunities for musicians to find community while marketing their artistic brand. Such creative networks range from digital zine platform Convozine to creative center The New Hive to Diaspora and its increasing focus on creative expression. If you don’t follow business news beyond the world of music industry blogs and related publications, you might not realize that design thinking as a…

By Associated Press (via Billboard) — Kanye West will debut a short film titled “Cruel Summer” at the Cannes Film Festival. The rapper announced Friday that he’ll present the film on Wednesday at the French festival. West and his creative collective DONDA will screen the “short art film” out of competition in Cannes. West’s press [...]

FanCulture: The Evolution of Influence is a nearly 30-minute documentary focused on the relationship of brands with their fans. Created by Amplify, an agency specializing in "brand strategy, experiences and amplification," the documentary is somewhat of a meditation on the nature of fans and their interest in brands from a group of marketers and superfans. In some cases the brands are bands and in all cases the discussion is relevant to marketing music. Amplify’s FanCulture: The Evolution of Influence won’t be making the rounds of movie theaters for general audiences but is a useful tool for chilling out and considering…

Guest post by Langston Collin Wilkins (@LangstonVillain), a Ph.D. Candidate in ethnomusicology, who blogs all things music, tech, and culture at Soul 4 Sale. Whenever I re ad about the state of Black music on the internet, one of the main complaints I hear is that it no longer has meaning or that it’s not "saying something." These "critics" recall a yesterday where all black music consisted of impactful lyrics that fell deeply on the ears of listeners, stimulating their brain muscles while penetrating into the deepest regions of their soul. I’m not certain that this magical period ever existed,…

Recently both Hypebot and Music Think Tank posted a number of interviews with music supervisors and related industry figures on getting your music placed in movies, tv, video games and commercials. Here are the top tips and insights from those posts organized into five categories. The names of the supervisors are featured with a link back to each post which will have additional information of interest. The key concepts are to understand how the process works, to present your work in a manner that music supervisors prefer and to make sure you have a visible audience and a strong web…

A common problem that Chris Hacker of Cyber PR encounters is a band contacting the company to promote their new album that is coming out the following week. Before promoting a new album, bands need to have a marketing plan in place. In part 1 of a …

By Lauren Savage, N.Y. (Billboard) – ”It’s a lie, but it don’t even matter cause he supposed to be my man,” said Jill Scott, as she began her set for ” VH1 Storytellers” ready to share a narrative. “”He was born to be my man,” she continued, decked out in ripped jeans and long auburn hair. [...]

Both Evinar and Gyroskope are services that musicians can use to monetize streaming video. Evinar focuses on livestreaming via Facebook while Gyroskope features videos for which customers pay to stream as often as they like. Neither service is exclusive to musicians but both seem potentially useful to musicians attempting to diversity their revenue streams. Please let us know what you think about these options in the comments. And please consider answering this question, what are you looking for as a musician seeking to monetize video on the web? Evinar – Monetize Live Concerts on Facebook Evinar offers the ability to…