Archives

Contrary to the old idiom, people DO judge a book by its cover. And the same goes for musi ...

Given that there’s no ONE path to success these days, CD Baby has made sure to empower art ...

It may feel like there are few applicable lessons to learn from the unrivaled career of Th ...

Are you planning to release your first song? Or... your first song in a while? There is a ...

Even megastars "piece it together." Ticket sales, merch, streaming, publishing, appearance ...

One decision, whether to go solo or work with a group, can have a huge impact on how you m ...

What separates full-time from part-time musicians often comes down to merch sales — not ju ...

In this episode, which was recorded at the 2021 virtual DIY Musician Conference, Jackie Ve ...

As a DIY artist, you need to manage every aspect of your music creation and marketing. At ...

As a musician today, your VIDEO presence is likely what has the most impact on your abilit ...

Are you ready, like REALLY ready, for the return of live gigs? In this episode, Kevin and ...

Growth on Spotify. We all want it. And there are a hundred online courses teaching you how ...

DIY musicians don't actually want to do it all themselves. Nor should they! BUT... there's ...

We have big dreams whenever we releases new music — more fans, more money, more recognitio ...

As musicians, our most valuable resource is time. Yet we often spend that time on things t ...

The State of Streaming: CD Baby artist's revenue increased 26% in 2020 over the previous y ...

Can musicians succeed on YouTube if they're not "YouTubers?" Yes, though there are many le ...

Every musician's path is unique, but a lot of times we're all wondering the same thing. Ho ...

It's a new year with many challenges still facing artist as they try to connect with music ...

The way artists release music completely changed in 2020. As we approach 2021, artists are ...

In this episode Montse chats with musician Madisen Ward of the folky-blues-roots duo Mad ...

Whether you're launching a new album, promoting a livestream, or trying to shoot for somet ...

In this episode Montse chats with Shelby Means and Joel Timmons of the folk-rock duo Sal ...

Releasing music before the end of 2020? Listen to this episode, where Kevin and Chris talk ...

Sync licensing has grown into a huge opportunity for indie musicians to gain listeners and ...

The internet exploded with news that Facebook was no longer going to allow artists to live ...

Let’s get real for a sec: Musicians are well acquainted with rejection and failure. But we ...

Birds of Chicago are a husband and wife folk/soul duo based in Nashville, TN. In th ...

Few people are going to notice your music simply because you've made it. You have to do so ...

Musicians, it's time to get Reel. Instagram Reels — Facebook's answer to TikTok — is now a ...

Maya de Vitry is a singer, songwriter, and multi-instrumentalist. In this episode May ...

When it comes to creating videos to promote music, most artists and labels are still opera ...

Sunny War is a Folk-Punk musician based in LA. In this episode, Sunny talks about m ...

Mary Gauthier is a Grammy-nominated folk singer-songwriter who has struck a balance be ...

It’s time to rethink the way you release singles. Standalone tracks are no longer SOLELY t ...

EPISODE 2: Singer-songwriter Amythyst Kiah is a solo artist, and can be heard alongsid ...

DIY Musician Stories delves deep into the struggles, triumphs, process, and inspirati ...

With so many artists turning to live-streaming, it’s time to ensure you stand out from th ...

On this episode of the podcast, Kevin chats with Henry Invisible to discuss how he’s using ...

Like many artists, Dawn set her sights on Nashville in order to pursue her musical dreams. ...

Is your social feed crowded with seemingly every musician on the planet "going live" at on ...

You might have missed some important music industry news during the COVID-19 pandemic. Let ...

There are seven things that many musicians get mixed up — publishers and PROs, cover songs ...

What do you do when a gig or tour is cancelled? Touring musicians are facing a time of unc ...

Whether you want a gig, playlist placement, or press opportunity, you're going to need to ...

Promoting your music on social media can eat up a lot of your time. Sadly, most artists wa ...

The music business is constantly evolving. Streaming dominates. Markets are truly global. ...

TikTok has more than half a billion active users, it's the most downloaded app in the worl ...

Having your own pro website is even MORE important in an age where fan relationships are o ...

First time releasing music? Returning to music after a hiatus? Where do you even start? Wi ...

What kind of merch is selling in the streaming era? How do you experiment with t-shirts an ...

With over 600 million users on Instagram every day, you need your IG game to be strong. In ...

"Everything about my music career will get better, easier, bigger, once I'm on a label." T ...

Music mastering can be the mysterious and stressful punctuation at the end of your creativ ...

Musicians are natural storytellers, but for some reason we don't apply that  talent to our ...

The world’s most successful artists, brands, and companies have one thing in common: They ...

You can learn a thing or two (or seven) when you hang out with 1000+ DIY musicians for an ...

Once upon a time crowd funding (or fan funding) offered artists the illusion of musical st ...

Catch up on the first half of 2019's big music stories in less than an hour! Kevin and Chr ...

Musicians make a lot of assumptions about what it means to "distribute" a track or album. ...

A life in music is full of high highs and low lows — but being down doesn't mean you have ...

3 days could change the course of your whole music career. In this episode, Kevin and Chri ...

Are listeners leaning in at your gigs, or are they tuning you out? There are many ways to ...

A good band name is hard to com by. Before you decide what you’re going to call yourse ...

Live-streaming gives you as a DIY musician a consistent, low-cost way to reach listeners o ...

In this listener feedback episode, Kevin and Chris answer emails and calls from DIY musici ...

In this live taping of the DIY Musician Podcast, CD Baby’s Kevin Breuner and Chris Robley ...

A good producer can turn your songs into masterpieces. But a bad producer can ruin more th ...

The foundations of music marketing stay pretty solid: capture attention, offer value, lead ...

At CD Baby, we are always looking for new and innovative ways for artists to market and pr ...

Are you standing in the way of your own success? Are you accidentally making it harder to ...

As we close out 2018, we have another episode dedicated (mostly) to our listeners, where D ...

Our listeners ask great questions, so we thought we'd do a whole episode taking calls and ...

The holiday season is the perfect time of year to crank up your music promotion efforts an ...

Time to say goodbye to a few false assumptions that have been holding you back! The music ...

Do "real" artists do cover songs? What kind of songs should you cover? And what are the di ...

The European market has a rich live-music tradition, but artists often feel lost when tryi ...

Once you've finished recording your new album or single there is still some work to do in ...

Streaming has opened up new opportunities for artists to get creative with the way they re ...

The way musicians — heck, the way ANYONE uses Instagram today — is very different from ...

Whether you were at the 2018 DIY Musician Conference in Nashville, missed out, or didn't e ...

Let’s get beyond the basics of Spotify playlists. How do you determine which playlists wil ...

Rethinking everything you know about Spotify playlists means you have to revisit your assu ...

There are a million ways to promote a new release. In this episode, Kevin and Chris discus ...

The old ways and myths are strong. And many musicians are still making important decisions ...

Are you use Pandora AMP? It's a no-brainer; DIY musicians should absolutely take advantage ...

Have you been wasting your time on social media? Online tools and trends are const ...

If you’re like most artists, you’ve been collecting fan emails to build that coveted email ...

As musicians, we work hard to get press coverage. But when the moment arrives, we sometime ...

Independent musicians today have LESS time and MORE responsibilities. Plus, we can waste a ...

Artists that create original music will make more money from on-demand streaming over the ...

Show.co's music marketing tools make it easy for you to create online campaigns that will ...

Getting gigs and building out a tour is always a challenge for indie musicians. In this ep ...

What opportunities and challenges lie ahead for independent musicians in 2018, and what le ...

Want to know how to grow your YouTube channel and increase audience interaction? In this s ...

Releasing singles is arguably more important for artists today than any time since the 196 ...

It’s not too late for your music to get a bump from the holiday season’s dependable spike ...

Streaming success often involves bucking conventional music industry wisdom. Are bad habit ...

The tools are there for you to monetize with Live Streaming! See what Dawn Beyer did to ma ...

There's a big difference between making your music available and making your music connect ...

"I feel like I got $1000+ worth of information at the DIY Musician Conference," said guita ...

“How can I build a successful career without going on tour?” That’s one question we get as ...

What can artists learn and experience at 2017’s DIY Musician Conference in Nashville? ...

Spotify’s recent “fake artist” issue: a real streaming rights conspiracy, or a whole lot o ...

Many of the things you’ve probably heard about music streaming are wrong, yet those myths ...

Are you making a clear and powerful impression with your music releases, career choices, m ...

Kevin last spoke to Cathy on Episode #169 of the podcast where she detailed the opportunit ...

There’s a good reason why “poor musician” jokes abound: we aren’t known — by and large — f ...

Anyone can point a smartphone and hit the Facebook Live button. But can you put on a real ...

What rights are you entitled to when you create original music? WHY and HOW should you cop ...

Yes, the entertainment industry is obsessed with newness and youth, but your age doesn’t h ...

The biggest thing holding your music back might be YOU! In this episode you’ll hear Jack C ...

You’ve finished your first recording, but how do you turn that into the start of an actual ...

Recorded live at the 2016 DIY Musician Conference with Tony van Veen, Karen Marie Mason, B ...

The first step in establishing a playlisting presence on Spotify is to create your own pla ...

Getting your music onto a popular Spotify playlist is the modern-day equivalent of having ...

Checking the data — it’s probably NOT the most inspiring aspect of your music career, righ ...

We love getting listener feedback, whether it comes in on our listener line, by email, or ...

“Christmas time is here again," as the Beatles once sang, bringing with it a huge spike in ...

Are you really ready to release your new music? In the frenzied juggling act that leads up ...

Most musicians are terrible at telling their story and describing their sound. Why? We’re ...

You don’t need to completely redesign your website to keep your fans engaged. Sometimes al ...

How do you get music noticed in a world that has become so noisy? Is it possible to get an ...

Deep voice: "In a world where one thousand independent musicians take over a historic and ...

We like to think we're unique as snowflakes, but we musicians can be pretty similar when i ...

Bad reviews, negative YouTube comments, hecklers: we all experience them from time to time ...

Want your songs placed in TV and film productions? Had success in sync licensing, but you’ ...

A music video is a practically required these days when promoting new music. But most DIY ...

Just because you wrote a song and happen to be standing on a stage doesn't make you a grea ...

Once upon a time, the single ruled. Then, for almost half a century, the album dominated. ...

Blog premieres and exclusives have become a ubiquitous way of promoting new music, but are ...

Music Marketing: it's either the art of effectively communicating your story to potential ...

Audio mastering is often the last, mysterious step in preparing a new song or album for ma ...

Like it or not, photography plays a huge part in how people HEAR your music. Yep, it’s tru ...

Want to move twice as many CDs at your next show? Hear all about the merch-table makeover ...

SoundCloud provides artists with a unique ecosystem in which to promote music and build an ...

What are your music goals for 2016? Do you work best when other people can hold you accoun ...

Putting out a new album is a rare opportunity to rally fans, the press, and other segments ...

With Star Wars, George Lucas built an epic cultural touchstone, and then later left fans f ...

You’ve recorded a really unique cover version of your favorite song and you can’t wait for ...

Heads are abuzz and hearts are aglow after CD Baby’s first-ever DIY Musician Conference. W ...

Should you trademark your artist/band name? Should an artist even care about a trademark? ...

CD Baby has built a better, stronger, friendlier music conference geared specifically towa ...

Has the launch of Apple Music been a dazzling success or a dud? Will fans and artist actua ...

Micro-sync licensing might sound like small peanuts, but indie musician Josh Collum has ea ...

Apple has officially announced their new music streaming service called Apple Music. The n ...

Your music is the last thing that matters. But once someone’s listening, it’s the ONLY thi ...

Meet Rob Filomena, CD Baby’s Director of Music Publishing. In this episode we’ll discuss t ...

The recording industry has determined that Friday will be the new global record release da ...

A great tour can make you feel on top of the world. A bad tour can make you question every ...

It’s pretty much a universal experience that every artist has had; the drive home from a s ...

Is today's music industry healthier than ever? That's what rock's resident curmudgeon Stev ...

Dave is the founder and former CEO of Berkleemusic, the world’s largest music school, wher ...

Welcome to the "coolest" episode of the DIY Musician Podcast. In the news, YouTube has ...

Gretchen Peters is a Grammy nominated, Nashville singer-songwriter who has always been fie ...

In this edition of the remarkably entertaining and educational DIY Musician Podcast, The B ...

Jack Conte became well known for being half of the musical duo that makes up the band Poml ...

In the news, CD Baby gets featured in the New York Times. A study finds that 91% of people ...

Shanta Thake books artists and bands at Joe’s Pub at the Public, one of New York City’s mo ...

In this episode of the DIY Musician Podcast, Kevin interviews Americana Troubadour, Singer ...

Soundcloud removes music creation tools from their popular app. Google buys Songza. Music ...

Shannon Curtis is a touring musician and author. Her new book, "No Booker, No Bouncer, No ...

Is music dying? Recent comments by Apple's Eddie Cue, who spearheaded Apple's iTunes store ...

In this episode of the DIY Musician Podcast, Kevin interviews Mike King, instructor and CM ...

Ari Herstand is a singer/songwriter and blogger based in Los Angeles, California. Ari has ...

Benji Rogers founded Pledge Music to help musicians and fans share in the experience o ...

Kevin interviews Ariel Hyatt, digital strategist, international speaker, author, and owner ...

Thinking about touring Canada anytime soon? Think again. Canada’s new exorbitant performan ...

Pandora is one of the most popular internet radio apps available. Loved and listened to by ...

Dmitri Vietze is 14 year PR veteran and founder of StoryAmp, a platform for connecting mus ...

In the news: Pandora's controversial tactics to reduce what they pay artists. Japan is poi ...

This week on the DIY Musician podcast, Brian Thompson (also known online as Thorny Bleeder ...

In the news: Public performance royalties; Twitter launches Twitter Music; Google launches ...

Steve Rennie is a long time industry veteran who helped the band Incubus reach multi-plati ...

Music publishing is arguably the most confusing (and important) aspect of the music busine ...

Rumors of the DIY Podcast's demise have been greatly exaggerated. Mark Twain, on the other ...

Well it's been debated all over the internet in recent weeks. An intern at NPR, Emily Whit ...

Apple, Google and Facebook are the new media giants of our time. How do these companies af ...

Over the past decade, independent artists have begun to earn significant income from tradi ...

In the news: CD Baby pays you even more; YouTube adds a merch store; and artists wonder if ...

The Future of Music Coalition is conducting an online survey from Sept 6 - Oct 28, 2011 to ...

We're back! And with all sorts of news, tips and artist feedback. In the news: Steve Jo ...

iTunes releases juicy details about iTunes Match, a service that some say "legalizes pirac ...

Lots of launches this week! MySpace Launches a Facebook App. Google finally launches its c ...

While up at the ECMA music conference in Canada, Kevin (our host) witnessed Tom Jackson's ...

Do you believe in music in the cloud? Well it's coming whether the record labels like it o ...

Seth Godin is an author and thought leader who has written 13 books that cover topics such ...

Thievery, Revenge, and Karate moves gone wrong! In this episode of the DIY musician podcas ...

In the news, CD Baby's sister company, HostBaby, launches a new website builder; FaceBook ...

In the News: There's a new baby in town and her name is BookBaby. Apple makes lots and ...

What will the future hold? Flying cars, teleporters, and instant beauty pills? The Podcas ...

In this spell binding, spine tingling, breathe taking episode of the CD Baby DIY Musician ...

Listeners to this episode will be privy to a special deal from both CD Baby and HostBaby.  ...

Despite being around for a number of years, there is still plenty of confusion in the ...

In the News: Twitter is now #3 social network (if you count Hotmail as #2).  One report fi ...

Break out the champagne and celebrate with the dynamic trio (Chris, Kevin and the Bolt) as ...

Apple announces a new music event.  The ever popular Pandora radio adds genre stations.  M ...

Brian Meece is one of the co-founders of the crowd funding (aka. fan funding) site called ...

In the News: has the digital singles market hit its saturation point? Sound Exchange has m ...

Jack Conte of the indie pop duo Pomplamoose, joins us to discuss how they have used video ...

Apple announces the new improved iPhone (optimized for video). YouTube adds video editing. ...

Martin is a longtime musician (Public Image Ltd, Killing Joke, and Pigface) and a full tim ...

In the news, Facebook has caused quite a stir with privacy and policy changes that have le ...

Income from performance royalties is on the rise according to ASCAP.  YouTube is working o ...

  An amazing number of CD Baby artists have achieved success through their version ...

How will the iPad and devices like it change the way we listen to and create music?  Is th ...

You've emailed, called, and left comments on our blog.  You've got tips, and opinions, and ...

Kristin Thomson is the Education Director at the Future of Music Coalition, a national non ...

The value of music is undeniable. Music is woven into the fabric of every human culture. T ...

Giving away music for free: does it help or hinder an artist's career? There are those w ...

A new study confirms watching music videos is still the primary attraction on YouTube.  Ro ...

A strategic partnership is a relationship between the artist/band and a company that wants ...

Heard the Buzz about Google Buzz? How about the case of the disappearing music Blogs on Bl ...

Brian is a member of the Band I Fight Dragons, who after their first year, find themselves ...

In this exciting episode of the DIY Musician Podcast, Bolton gets his very own theme song. ...

Howard Massey is a recording engineer and producer turned writer and author.  He authored ...

iTunes and Lala tie the knot and tech blogs are a buzz with the news.  What does this mean ...

As we head into the next decade armed with faster internet connections and more bandwidth, ...

Apple and Lala sitting in a tree,  K-I-S-S-I-N-G!  What does the music giant have up it's ...

Corey Smith made headlines when his independent music career slowly grew into a multi-mill ...

We've been making our list and checking it twice!  Let the CD Baby Podcasters fill your st ...

An interesting study on audio listening habits reveals surprising results.  EMI launches A ...

Josh Rosenthal is a singer-songwriter living in Salt Lake City, Utah. Instead of making th ...

In an unexpected move, Robert changes his on-air name to Bolton. Google throws its hat int ...

Allison Weiss is a true DIY artist eager to get her music career moving forward, but being ...

The guys from Works Progress Administration definitely have plenty of label experience und ...

Kevin and Chris are joined by Portland’s music media guru Ryan Wines to discuss ways in wh ...

Klayton is an artist, producer, songwriter, plus more!  In true DIY style, he turned his m ...

iTunes, Twitter and Facebook updates in the news.  Kevin and Robert bring everyone up ...

After a brief summer hiatus, the podcasters are back with lots of indie tricks and tips fo ...

Getting out on the road to build an audience is a constant struggle for the average indie ...

Watch Christopher Weingarten's Twitter rant here. In the News: The RIAA wins it's case, ...

Bruce Houghton (Founder of Skyline Music) is a long time industry veteran who has been boo ...

Pandora adds a paid subscription option with perks. Walmart gets rid of its DRM'd songs. E ...

David Gray has done it all. He's been a musician, songwriter, publisher, producer, A&R ...

Paste magazine launches their "save Paste" campaign in order to preserve one of the top se ...

Artists and musicians spend a lot of time communicating with their fan community, whether ...

In the News: Mainstream radio is still a racket. Also, when is the best time of day to Twi ...

Whether you're slugging it out in small clubs, or selling millions of albums, there are co ...

iTunes introduces variable pricing. Facebook stays on top. The podcasters recap our last e ...

The internet is an irreplaceable tool for music promotion, but is it possible to build a m ...

How often do you post a new song, demo, album or blog post? In the web 2.0 universe artist ...

The cell phone has rapidly evolved. It’s hard to even think of another technology that has ...

News, calls, emails, tips and tricks! The Podcasters revisit last week's episode wi ...

Most indie artists have a day job in order to make ends meet.  For some, their “day job” i ...

The big 50! Kevin, Chris and Robert are pleased as punch to have delivered fifty info-pack ...

Dave Kusek is a musician who has been inventing the future of music for the past twenty-fi ...

Facebook's new terms get a rewrite. More on royalty rates and internet Radio. Myspace has ...

It’s tax time! Before you run away screaming, we’ve provided this resource to help guide y ...

The Boss gets hot under the collar over the Ticketmaster, Live Nation merger. A new perfor ...

Podcasting and internet marketing specialist Jason Van Orden, talks about podcasting, mark ...

Revisiting Tom Jackson's interview, the Podcasters offer their own thoughts on the importa ...

Tom Jackson is a performance coach. He works with major label artists from all over the wo ...

iTunes introduces tiered pricing. Microsoft releases SongSmith, a program that makes anyon ...

Not-so-secret secrets revealed! Social media do's and don'ts. What Bon Jovi, Bruce Springs ...

Alex Steininger, music journalist, 10 year veteran publicist, and founder of 'In Music We ...

Indie legends Wilco release an EP that's also a free application. Guns 'N' Roses finally d ...

Pandora radio has revolutionized the way online music fans listen to and discover music. T ...

Kevin, Chris, and Robert make true on their promise to deliver four indie-packed episodes ...

You may be surprised to learn that the legendary John Oates of Hall & Oates is an indi ...

Are SD cards the new CD? MySpace launches MySpace Music. YouTube decides to help sell musi ...

Excite, sweeten, widen, and color your mix. Mastering can make or break an album sonically ...

Surprise, surprise--The new Zune music player fails to compete with Apple's new line of ...

Songwriting is hard. It requires an ear for melody, a mind for poetry, and a heart to tran ...

Robert nearly burns down his apartment building. Yahoo Music folds along with the music th ...

Making a living as a full-time musician is a dream-come-true for most of us. But many arti ...

Myspace, Facebook, Twitter, Friendster, YouTube and Flickr. Are you on these these website ...

Don't set yourself on fire with bad lighting equipment. Back up your recording sessions. K ...

Get your music reviewed by your local weekly! Amy McCullough, is the music editor for the ...

Guess what? We've got a hotline: 206-426-5683. We've asked artists to call in and tell us ...

Kevin shares his adventures in the land of 10,000 bands at SXSW (South by South West). Rad ...

This is how to make money in indie music, plain and simple. In this follow up to our previ ...

See your music featured in movies, TV, radio or the web, and make money doing it! This is ...

Record companies and publishing houses duke it out for cash. Harry Fox throws indies a bon ...

David Harrington is the founder and visionary violinist behind the world renowned Kronos Q ...

Artist management may not be the first thing on your mind when you've got your amp cranked ...

Holiday music from our listeners, our favorite tips from past episodes, a follow up with R ...

What does Duff McKagan, bass player for Guns N Roses and Velvet Revolver, know about indie ...

Songwriting, record labels and music seminars, oh boy! Robert fearlessly signs up to write ...

In a time when worldwide distribution is available through companies like CD Baby for less ...

Famed British rock group Radiohead gives away their album for free. The RIAA strikes again ...

Recording Engineer, Jeff Saltzman, well known for his work with many of the North West's t ...

Are CDs going out of fashion or on their way back in? Why don’t MP3s sound better? What is ...

It's easy to promote in the real world right? All you need is a killer demo, a staple gun ...

  Today's Roundtable Episode is, well . . . all about video and how it can help yo ...

Moving Rushmore started out a little different than most bands. When the band was just t ...

Clubs, bars and coffee houses aren't the only gigs in town! In this action packed episod ...

Fran Snyder is a musician who's hit on something that can truly breathe life into your m ...

CD Baby artist Jonathan Coultan, a self proclaimed "codemonkey," blogger, and musician, hi ...

Kevin, Robert, and Chris welcome Jourdan to the podcasting ranks for a special roundtabl ...

Copyright Law – It’s what gives a copyright owner their power. Established by the framer ...

CD Baby's top selling artist, singer/songwriter Dan Zanes, has been making music for over ...

Club bookers can be an elusive bunch, but they stand between you and your next gig. Who is ...

Music promotion. Everyone from the first time songwriter to the seasoned pro, ponders th ...

Welcome to the maiden voyage of the DIY Music Podcast! We start off with an introduction t ...