The Only Opinion That Matters — Pete Ganbarg on What Independent Artists (and A&R) Get Wrong After nearly 16 years at Atlantic Records (the last six as President of A&R) Pete Ganbarg has a clearer view than almost anyone of what separates artists who break through [...]
The House Concert Business Framework: How Independent Artists Create Their Own Market Photo by @caleboquendo on Pexels.com Most independent musicians are competing for the same shrinking pool of venue slots, hoping someone books them. House concerts flip that model entirely — and the artists [...]
Physical Products That Actually Make Money – Thom Skarzynski Independent musicians with loyal fan bases are leaving significant revenue on the table by treating physical products as afterthoughts. Vinyl, CDs, and cassettes aren't nostalgia plays—they're strategic revenue channels when approached with the same rigor labels apply [...]
How Independent Music Venues Evaluate Artists Most independent artists treat venue booking like throwing darts in the dark—mass outreach with generic pitches, hoping something sticks. Christal Hector, founder of TuneHatch and member of the National Independent Venue Association's Industry Affairs Committee, explains what actually happens on [...]
The Economics of Niche Markets for Creatives Photo by behrouz sasani What if the best business decision you could make is accepting your music is "unmarketable"? Not in the sense that nobody wants it—but that it won't compete for Spotify playlists alongside mainstream artists. [...]
Image by @asim-razan on Pexels.com Most independent artists release their albums everywhere immediately—Spotify, Apple Music, every streaming platform. But what if that's backwards? Ezra Vancil sold his last album exclusively to his email list for an entire year before releasing it to streaming platforms. [...]
