Music

A collection of 273 posts

Music

Embracing Individuality and Abandoning Comparison

When you compare yourself to someone else, you automatically create competition between you and the other party, and undermine the value of individuality. When I first started playing shows and my set was after someone I thought was incredible, I would outwardly say how tough of an act they were

Music

Building A Community Instead Of An Audience

Have you ever wondered why your audience or listeners are listening to you? Do you know your audience? Or better yet, do they know you? I find today that a lot of artists around me are so focused on reaching everyone everywhere. They want the whole world to be one

Music

Independent Artists And Radio

“So you better do as you are told, You better listen to the radio” (Elvis Costello “Radio, Radio”) Contrary to popular opinion, radio is not dying and is still a viable medium for artists. Despite the number of streaming services available today, surveys have shown the majority of people list

Music

Respecting Your Elders

No matter which master you serve, always remember and honour those architects who laid the groundwork and template you are following as an artist. When you play their music it is not just a cover song in your set list.  By continuing to play the music, you not only become

Music

We Wrote Our First Song… Let’s Buy a Church

Every band or collaborative artist will eventually come to the point where their dreams need to be a little more organized and structured. That pivotal moment usually comes with questions to which we already have all the answers — or so we want to believe. What else could we look at

Music

Social Media Post Ideas When You Feel Uninspired!

Our brains are constantly working in overdrive to create content. Don’t over think it. Some days we can get caught up in our own minds and scrutinize our content. Try to be conscious of this as you create and share content. Here are the obvious and well-known days

Music

Promotion 101

A successful business relationship grows like a plant, slow and easy. After years of touring with Whiskey Jack and hundreds of shows later, I’ve compiled a rather comprehensive list of tools that I use to promote my shows. It is two pages, single spaced, of links, tips, names, phone

Music

Don't Release a Single Without Doing This on Musixmatch First

Getting your lyrics to show up on Spotify feels like it should be simple, and yet a lot of indie artists release a single with no idea it's even possible to control that themselves. Spotify doesn't manage lyrics directly. Instead, it relies entirely on Musixmatch, its

Music

The Guest Cameo Opportunity To Hop Up On Stage

Every now and then some of us are lucky and graced with the opportunity to hop up on stage with another band/artist/performer. Sometimes it’s simply some musician friends of ours and sometimes it just might be one of our heroes. I have had more than my fair

Music

The Unsigned Artist and Radio Airplay. Part Two: An Interview with Country Broadcaster Pete Walker

It’s cool. I’m the first to admit I’m not a country bumpkin by any stretch, but I will say this… country is absolutely kicking ass. Yeah, I’ve even penned my fair share of songs that I’d be over the moon to have any Luke, Kenny

Music

Know Who You Are, Use What You’ve Got…And Let The Rest Find You

The '60s and '70s heralded the Golden Age of singer-songwriters in the recording industry. The arrival of FM radio created a broadcast and consumer market for Album Oriented Rock (AOR) that paved the way for the labels to forefront singer-songwriters as feature artists without the immediate

Music

Rob Wells Music Talk

Rob Wells is a multi-platinum, award-winning, JUNO & ECMA nominated music producer and songwriter based in Canada. Rob has worked with Ariana Grande, Justin Bieber, Selena Gomez, Adam Lambert, Weezer, Mika, Backstreet Boys, Paloma Faith, Nelly Furtado, Nick Lachey, Katharine McPhee, Big Time Rush, Melanie Fiona, Pixie Lott,

Music

Musicians Writing Books

Professional musicians need to play. It’s why they get up each day. When Covid hit and their ability to perform disappeared, they were forced to find other outlets to satisfy their appetite. Writing autobiographies became a thing.   I have a shelf full of self published books to prove it.

Music

Getting Noticed

When asked, “what do you do for a living?”, I usually say, “I sell houses (RE/MAX) and songs (Whiskey Jack). It’s an honest reply but a more precise answer is “I prospect for customers (fans) by drawing attention to myself”. The same can be said of plumbers, lawyers,

Music

What is Zoom Fatigue and Why is it Important?

Virtual interactions have become increasingly prevalent in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic. However, this surge in video calls has given rise to a new challenge: videoconference fatigue, also known as Zoom fatigue. This phenomenon refers to the exhaustion and sense of detachment individuals experience due to prolonged or

Music

Recording Great Vocals

Consider a ‘great’ song sung by a mediocre singer, will be heard by the audience, as just mediocre. Whereas, a ‘mediocre’ song sung by a great singer has a much better chance of becoming a smash hit!  With well over one hundred thousand songs being uploaded on music platforms every

Music

Bliss, Ecstasy And Pure Joy Of Making Stuff

The world we're living in today looks and sounds the way it does because we humans have wild imaginations. From music and art, to buildings and inventions, they’re all here because we dream big. I still remember my folks' ancient unfinished basement where my siblings and

Music

Your Band is a Startup

Have you seen the TV show, Silicon Valley? It chronicles a tech startup from its conception through to its meteoric rise to enormous heights and then, well... spoilers and all that. Having spent a good part of my life chasing the entrepreneurial dream and taking more than a small part

Music

The Passion-Prudence Paradox

In the ever-shifting landscape of the music industry, a paradox exists that, while often overlooked, goes straight to the core of what it means to be a musician today. Picture yourself at a crossroads: to your left, a path ablaze with the brilliant hues of creativity, passion, and unbound

Music

How Streaming Actually Pays Artists in 2026

The numbers are bigger than ever - and understanding them is a genuine adventure. The Headline Number Is Remarkable In March 2026, Spotify released its annual Loud & Clear report with a genuinely exciting figure: the platform paid out a record $11 billion to the music industry in 2025, bringing its

Music

Switching From Recording In Studios To Self-Producing

For the longest time, I always thought that if a band or artist wanted to release music seriously, they would have to get it recorded at a studio with an engineer and producer. I was so set in this way of thinking that it only occurred to me after recording

Music

Writing With More Experienced Writers

I firmly believe, even though I have written a couple thousand songs on my own, that the best work involves a collaboration of some kind. There is no better way to stretch your musical sensibilities than to work with another writer on the same song. Yes, there are those genius

Music

How To Play Well With Others

I’ve said before that songwriting is really just a matter of listening to your inner voice. But how can you convey that inspiration to the musicians you’ve hired to play for you? They don’t know you. Or how you feel. Really, the first time you work with

Music

How To Outlast

When setting your sights on success you can outperform 99% of people just by having a long-term mindset. Using structured, strategic planning is the easiest way to follow your path for whatever thing you choose to focus on. You may not know how to get there, so it'

Music

How to Turn Casual Listeners into Superfans

Superfans are a small slice of any artist's audience, but they punch enormously above their weight. According to the 2025 Goldman Sachs "Music in the Air" report, superfans are projected to generate an extra $4.3 billion annually across the music industry by 2026, even though