CLH Podcast Interview on “With a Voice Like This” with Jim Goodrich

On August 25th, I had a fun and impromptu interview with Jim Goodrich on his “With a Voice Like This” podcast. Among the many things we chatted about, we discussed:

* My Twitter for Musicians Workshop
* Is there a silver bullet to integrate the internet with the traditional music business?
* Copyrights
* The performance rights act

Check out my With a Voice Like This podcast interview with Jim Goodrich. We had a lot of fun making it. Enjoy!

How to Sell Music Blog – How to Sell Music

How to Sell Music Blog is a new affiliate site that I’ve created during the 2009 Thirty Day Challenge to improve my internet marketing skills.

As my Rock Star Life Lessons blog gets indexed quickly by Google, I’m helping my How to Sell Music blog get indexed quicker by linking to it from here.

If you’re curious, you can check out AutoPilot Music Income, which is the eBook that I’m promoting via How to Sell Music Blog – until I complete my own eBook on the subject, of course 😉

Thanks for reading!

Beat Making Software Blog – Beat Making Software

Beat Making Software Blog is a new affiliate site that I’ve created during the 2009 Thirty Day Challenge to improve my internet marketing skills.

As my Rock Star Life Lessons blog gets indexed quickly by Google, I’m helping my Beat Making Software blog get indexed quicker by linking to it from here.

If you’re curious, you can check out Sonic Producer, which is the actual beat making software that I’m promoting via Beat Making Software Blog.

Thanks for reading 😉

Keep Your Elbows on the Table ~ Guest Blog by Kate White

When I was about 12 years old, I started reading Cosmopolitan magazine, which has earned its reputation for sexy articles. But Cosmo also has a tradition of having Editor-in-Chiefs that also write books. Founding editor Helen Gurley Brown wrote Sex and the Single Girl, which became the catalyst for Cosmopolitan Magazine. Ms. Brown later wrote Sex and the Office, and Having it All, which also found their way into my personal library.

When Kate White took the helm of Cosmo Magazine, she wrote Why Good Girls Don’t Get Ahead, but Gutsy Girls Do, and 9 Secrets of Women Who Get What They Want, which features this article expanded as an entire chapter. This book has helped me navigate my way through various issues, and I’m including a snippet in the hopes that it may inspire you as well.

Keep Your Elbows on the Table
by Kate White

A few years or so ago Ted Koppel devoted one night of “Nightline” to opera, in conjunction with a special event at the Kennedy Center and one of his guests was. An eighty-something year old woman named Kray Vayne who in her prime had been considered one of the great opera singers of her time. And yet despite her extraordinary voice she achieved only a modest level of success. “I went forward,” she said, “but I never hit the jackpot. I was always on the periphery because I didn’t belong to any company.”

Why didn’t she achieve the fame she deserved? An opera critic on the show offered this explanation: “In order to make a career in any of the performing arts,” he said, “you’ve got to have elbows. It’s not enough to have talent. You have to have the ability to put yourself out there, to put yourself in front, and, quite evidently, she was lacking in the last of these qualities.”

It’s pretty sad to think that a remarkable singer didn’t get the attention she deserved simply because she refused to elbow her way to the center of the room. And yet that’s a fact of life. In some situations you will be given what you want because your passion bowled them over or your ingenious idea won the day, but there are times when you absolutely have to be a little pushy. If you want to be the one chosen, you have to be noticed—and noticed for the right things.

Consider what a male reporter said not long ago about Barbara Walters: “I always think back to the time when, as a reporter, she used to beat out the assembled male press corps, elbowing her way to the front of the pack and driving her high heels into the feet of her colleagues.” Barbara Walters wasn’t afraid to use her elbows when necessary.

You don’t have to go everywhere, but you should go places where your presence will remind the people who matter that you’re definitely in the mix. And don’t just show up. Wear something fantastic (have a couple of outfits to wear for these occasions) and introduce or reintroduce yourself to anyone in a position to change your destiny.

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In addition to being a book author, Kate White is the editor-in-chief of Cosmopolitan, the largest-selling women’s magazine in the world. Under her editorship, guaranteed circulation has increased by over 500,000 and Cosmo now sells on average two million copies a month on newsstands alone.

White became editor-in-chief of Cosmo in 1998. She is the recipient of the Matrix award, which honors “extraordinary achievements of outstanding women in the communications field.”

Kate White has now expanded into fiction writing, and you can read more about her and all of her writing at her Kate White website.

Focus on What You Desire ~ Guest Blog by Madalyn Sklar

Madalyn Sklar is the founder of GoGirlsMusic.com (‘Cuz Chicks Rock!), and an all-round cool gal with tons of music biz know-how and resources. Read her bio below to find more places where she shares her knowledge.

Focus On What You Desire
by Madalyn Sklar

We all have dreams of what we want. Some of us want to be rich and famous rock stars while others would be content just making a decent living doing music. Our desires come in all shapes and sizes. But what typically lacks is taking the action necessary to make your dreams and desires come true.

I found this quote a long time ago and it says a lot…

“Remember, success in anything is all about focus, and if you focus on what’s critical, then you’ll get the results that you need to get right now.”

Focus. It’s one of the hardest things for us to do. We get caught up in every day life. And our families. And our work life. You know I can go on and on. But I won’t because you can focus, you just have to set your mind to it.

It’s September and the end of the year is fast approaching. Now is the time to focus and take action. What are your three most important goals you would like to accomplish by year-end? Jot it down. Every day you should look at your list. Focus on it. Take action on it. Do something every day! It will bring you one step closer to achieving what you want.

Another way to hyper focus on what you want is to remove the things that interrupt you like email, surfing the web, tv, your phone. It’s so easy to get distracted. If you can just remove all distractions for an hour and really focus I promise you will be amazed at your results.

So what are you waiting for? Your dreams and desires await you!

Copyright © 2008 Madalyn Sklar, IndieMusicCoach

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Madalyn Sklar is a music business coach & consultant, blogger, social networks expert and author. She founded IndieMusicCoach and has spent over 12 years working with a wide range of independent musicians all over the world. Her goal is to help indie artists achieve greater success in the music business by working smarter not harder. She is also the founder of GoGirlsMusic.com, the oldest and largest online community of indie women musicians, with a vision of bringing together and empowering musicians from around the world.

Madalyn is available for one-on-one consulting and coaching at affordable prices. Check out Indie Music Coach for more info.

Success Leaves Clues

Success Leaves Clues
by Carla Lynne Hall

Excerpted from The DIY Guide to the Music Biz

So you want to be a rock star? Or perhaps you want to sell 5,000 copies of your CD? Or maybe you just want to pack the house for your next gig. “How do I do that?” you ask. In this life, there are no guarantees, but one way to become closer to your goals is to study how other successful musicians and performers got where they are. I’m not just talking about Behind the Music, although those shows are an education of their own. I mean studying the techniques that others have used to become successful.

In Anthony Robbins groundbreaking book Unlimited Power, he writes, “Success leaves clues. It means that if I see anyone in this world producing a result I desire, I can produce the same results if I’m willing to pay the price of time and effort. If you want to achieve success, all you need to do is find a way to model those who have already succeeded.”

This is a brilliant concept. Even if you tried, there is no way that you could really be a clone of anyone else. However, you can still learn skills from the best if you’re willing to put in the time. Be original, but you don’t have to reinvent the wheel.

We live in a wonderful time where information is as close as our fingertips, thanks to the Internet. A visit to the Google search engine can lead you to new ideas to take you closer to your dreams of success. Reality shows such as American Idol and Making the Band give you a private (although biased) peek into the world of the platinum-plated music industry. If you’ve decided that you want to reach the top, then you have to do your research before you get there.

Musicians – Go Back to the Woodshed!

Let’s Go Back to the Woodshed!

As the summer air is already turning cool and brisk, most kids and parents are thinking “Back to School!”
Here at the Rock Star Life Lessons blog, I’m thinking about going “Back to the Woodshed”!

In the good old days of the frontier, homesteaders had to set aside time at their woodshed. In order to have heat for their homes during the winter, they would chop wood into logs, and stack them in a dry shed. As wood logs burn quickly, and electricity wasn’t available, there would be lots of chopping and stacking going on – surely a tedious job – for months before the cold set in. But when the air turned cold, and the snows came, you knew that your woodshed would be filled with dry logs, and that you’d have heat.

In musician speak, “Going to the woodshed”, also referred to as “shedding” meant that a musician was going into a period of self-imposed retreat to study, practice and learn. One musician’s period of shedding may have focused on one particular song, or set of songs, for an upcoming performance, while another musician’s time in the woodshed would be used to sharpen or refine their style, or improve a particular musical skillset. Regardless of the reason, going to the woodshed, or shedding, enables a musician to bring the heat to their performances.

I realize now that I also went into the woodshed this summer, as I found myself drawn to certain activities that required me to stretch my capabilities as a musician. If you asked what I did for my summer vacation, you might think I went to summer school, as I found myself learning and stretching, via:

* Jazz Piano Lessons
* Private Vocal Coaching
* Performance Workshops and DVDs with Tom Jackson
* Cabaret Performance Debut
* R&B Open Mic Debut
* Songwriting Circles
* Mentoring and hosting an aspiring singer/songwriter

I learned so much from these summer experiences, and I know that these experiences will take my musical and performance skills to the next level.

While the current economy has a lot of people feeling nervous, now is actually the best time to invest in yourself, and your skills. This month’s Rock Star Life Lessons blog will present a collection of blog posts, articles, and interviews that will enhance your woodshed experience. Some articles you may remember from the “Recession-Proof Musician” series, while other posts may be brand new. The common theme will be topics to inspire and motivate, which is the mission of this blog.

Please feel free to share your woodshed stories with me here in the comments section. I look forward to sharing in your musical growth experiences.

Carla

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Photo Source: Celebrate Canada Blog [Nova Scotia’s wood-chopping John Brown (pictured) turned 79 this year!]