10,000 Hours?

In 2008, Malcolm Gladwell published a book titled Outliers: The Story of Success.

This book presented studies that indicated that a professional required at least 10,00 hours of practice/study before he/she reached beyond the 'amateur' level.

The book is a bestseller, being widely regarded as a breakthrough guideline for many artists and sports athletes.

However, recently, there has been some controversy regarding the '10,000 hour claim'.

Several arguments have been presented against the claims, stating that it does not allow for factors like natural talent and intelligence, to come into play.

Other arguments center themselves around the question of what kind of practice (focused vs. rote) that a musician may be employing during those 10,000 hours.

A favorite of article of mine stresses that less practicing, coupled with more sleep and more focused practice, actually yields better results.

Another excellent study published through the New York Times outlines the importance of practicing better( rather than more) a little more scientifically.

What Does a Smartphone Do for the Modern Musician?

Answer: plenty.

It's all in how you choose to use it. I know in my case, I'm a little tech-shy, so it's taken me several months to get adjusted to the incredible power of the little device I carry around all day.

When it comes to you and your band, though, the smartphone's top uses are as follows:
 
    -Communication
    -Organization
    -Study


Communication:

Obviously, your smartphone is used as a phone. You call band members, your manager, and the owner of the new venue that just opened up in town within seconds(especially with the convenience of google-powered phone-number search).

In addition, though, you can use your and your bandmates' smartphones to all access the bandgroup's Twitter, FaceBook, Instagram, ReverbNation, SoundCloud, whatever-you-may-use for increased publicity and PR.

Organization:

I highly recommend linking everyone's smartphones to one main Google account. Google Calendar lets several different users view, edit, and cancel/postpone events within one account. Updating this way makes scheduling gigs a lot easier, and also lets band members double-check whether they really have an extra hour to catch a drink before load-in time.

Evernote is another constant for me when I'm on the road. It's a note-taking app that synchs with an online account pretty regularly, so I know that if my phone is lost or stolen, the info or song ideas I've saved to that app with be retrievable.

A GPS program will be your lifesaver on the road. Most smartphones come standard with these.

Study:

There are so, so many good apps out there for music study. I personally love Tenuto for theory study. I also use Perfect Ear Pro on a daily basis to keep up my aural skills. I use a basic Android Flash Study app to make flash cards on my phone that I can flip through during downtime.

Also, my Spotify app is one of my favorite time-passers. I have the paid version, so I have content downloaded to my phone even if there's no 4G data access. Spotify and new music are one of the ways I keep my mind and music-sense fresh-it helps keep my creativity churning.

Finally, there are a plethora of news-based apps that let you keep abreast of what's going on in the world you're working through. It's always good to have a handle on the world and local news, since your position requires the ability to make small-talk and seem reasonably intelligent and 'linked-in' to the art networks.





These are by no means an exhaustive listing of the applications and opportunities your smartphone offers. I just figured I could list the abilities that I found the most useful to this crazy new millennial lifestyle we all are learning to adjust with.

Taxes for Musicians

I know, it's not the most cheery of subjects.

Many musicians forget (or never even realize) that they have a different taxing process than many other citizens.

For example, if you've ever had a waitressing job, you know how to keep track of your cash tips and report them every year on your tax forms. Musicians have to keep track of tips and how much they're paid by different venues where they've performed.

Other things to keep in mind:

      -Double-check  whether you or anyone in your bands owes taxes in another state.

     -If you're touring outside the United States, you need to check regulations for the other countries you've passed through.

       -If you are making most of your living off your shows, your band is considered to have a 'Profit Motive' according to the IRS. This means it cannot be considered a hobby, and makes you liable for taxation.

      -W-2 forms have to be issued to band members if the band is considered a business by the IRS. The band members file taxes these with the typical 1040 individual tax-return form.

    -Along with the W-2s, musicians can use form  2106 to report business-related expenses (and reimbursements given from the band money-pot). Several purchases, ranging from travel expenses to instrument repair and even performance clothing are tax-deductible.




You can use either a logbook with a receipt-holder to keep track, or you can go electronic with bookkeeping software and scanned receipts. Just be certain that you do keep good records, because it is fairly likely that your music business will be audited at some point!



For some more detailed instruction, please check out this in-depth article published by Allegro.

Promoting Your Art: Soundcloud

Most musicians have, at the very least, heard of Soundcloud.

Soundcloud is based in Berlin, Germany, At last count(which was this time last year, July 2013) it had 40 million registered users and 200 million listeners.

Similar to ReverbNation, Soundcloud allows you to create an account as a listener or an artist. Users are encouraged to browse and favorite music, compiling a playlist of what they like.

Tracks can be uploaded for users to listen to or even download.
Users can also set comments on a specific part of the song, say at the one-minute-thirty-two-second mark.

 Further, each user has a specific URL, so Soundcloud can be used with/shared across other social media sites. Soundcloud has groups that users can join to share the accounts they're been browsing.


While Soundcloud is initially free, you can only upload about two hours of content. After that point, there are paid subscriptions availible for more space and more hosting ability. Paid subscriptions also make statistics visible to the user.


Soundcloud may not immediately feel like a "supercool", jazzy, or hip website, but almost every serious growing-from-the-ground-up artist now has one, and it's the site that most listeners check out if you hand them your card late at night after a good gig.

Promoting Your Art: YouTube!

YouTube is a HUGE  and (relatively) new resource for younger, DIY musicians.

The site can boast over one billion users, and the average number of video views per day is four billion.

Since the site is free, you have the potential to get your music, your shows, and your personality out to billions of possible fans.

But.

Since the site is free, you also have to rise above the incredible amount of muck that those billion users are contributing to.

So, here are some quick, important tips on how to nail a good YouTube music-based video:

-Incorporate your personality. Just like in 'real life' it is important to focus on your art, but getting someone to truly look at your art requires catching and holding their attention. For many, this mean the personality catches the fan first.

-Watch your backgrounds. Busy, moving, or otherwise unclean backgrounds look just a smidge too unprofessional.

-Spend the extra time and money to use (borrow or buy) as high-quality a camera as you can. People take seven seconds to decide if they're sticking with your video, and the quality has a huge effect.

-Keep the video brief; also, get straight to the point.

- Understand and expect that your audience, fans, and pageviews will not dramatically increase overnight(unless there's huge discovery and you go viral. That does happen).

Here are some additional resources:

http://diymusician.cdbaby.com/2010/05/5-tips-to-make-your-youtube-videos-work-for-you/

http://mashable.com/2010/11/28/viral-music-video-how-to/

http://mashable.com/2011/03/11/improve-youtube-channel/

http://evolver.fm/2011/02/08/how-to-get-better-sound-on-youtube/

TOURING, Hooray!

So, 'touring' for a band is just like 'taking a vacation' is for most Americans....

As in, you are really excited and pumped to go, but it often turns out to require much more planning than you expected and the end result is that you are emotionally drained by the time you get home.

So, here's the Millennial Musician touring post!

There are so many, many resources online for you, so I've just compiled some of them and picked out the most important aspects to keep in mind.

While planning:

Plan well, plan thoroughly, and plan for the unexpected/unlikely, because this is your job. This is your fan-base opportunity, this is your networking opportunity, this is your art on the line! Here's a pretty straight-forward how-to on planning.

Budget every expense possible, and then add another 10% on top for the 'emergency fund'. If you don't use it, great, you've got that extra cash for another time. If you do need it, it's saving your tail.

Check the transportation well before you depart. If something needs fixing, better to find out a good six weeks before you hit the road.

It seems like this should go without saying, but have your showdates all planned and confirmed, and keep the communication lines with the venues open. Also, make sure you know beforehand what kind of payment you're looking at for each venue.

Staying healthy (and mentally sane):

First of all, make sure you've planned your days off. These are not 'oh, well, we're driving all day so that's free time'. No. Book a few different days where you are stopped in a location, and you can explore, curl up in bed with a book, or visit a museum. Many bands do five days of show, three days of travel, and every eighth day is an off-day. However, there's a lot of variation depending on the length of tour and the destination paths.

Eat well, get your sleep. Obviously.
Take walks and help with the equipment on-site to keep your blood moving.

Here's an article from The Strad on mental heath while touring.

Here's another good one on keeping yourself healthy.

When you're on the road:

Have a pre-planned driving schedule.

Bring some sort of entertainment; half the tour is working like mad, and the other half is waiting around until you start working like mad.

Be a good person. I've spoken to many professionals in the industry, and one of the tips that comes up very, very regularly is this: people will remember you simply for being that nice, professional person who was respectful to those around him/her, and was on time. Sounds crazy, but I've heard it enough to this point that I wholeheartedly believe it.

Always, always play your best. Even if the venue looks like it's full of hobos and drunks, you never know who's just around the corner, coming in for the next set, or wandering past outside the venue and might decide to step in.

Here're just some extra tips for anyone looking at touring in Europe:

Here's a nice article from a traveling site, written from Europe(firsthand, always good).

And one more on traveling in Europe.





Here's a list of articles written by touring musicians:

http://thehub.musiciansfriend.com/artist-interviews/on-the-road-again-tips-while-touring

http://www.theguardian.com/music/musicblog/2010/nov/02/indie-professor-touring-rules

http://intelligenttravel.nationalgeographic.com/2013/01/15/travel-tips-from-touring-musicians/

http://bandzoogle.com/blog/advice-for-touring-musicians-nycas-on-how-not-to-travel

Here's some useful compiled tips on touring:

http://blog.musicinsidermagazine.com/2012/11/tips-for-the-touring-musician/

http://blog.discmakers.com/2012/01/tips-for-surviving-and-thriving-on-tour/

http://www.musicthinktank.com/blog/5-big-tips-that-will-save-your-bands-tour.html

http://www.ourstage.com/blog/tag/top-ten-tips-for-touring-musicians

http://www.sanctuarylane.com/articles/touring-tips-for-musicians-on-the-road.html




Last two resources:

TourSmart is a site with a regularly updated blog on touring, while IndieOnTheMove lets you set up an account and will help you out with specifically what you need to start touring.

Let's Touch on Copyrights for Songs

I'm not going to pretend to know everything about copyrighting music, but I can at least get you on the right track.

First things first, you should know that your work is your work, copyrighted, as soon as you put it into some kind of physical form (written, recorded, etc).

The reason we still go through with the paperwork of registering that copyright is that you want definitive proof of the date of your copyright. This way, if someone else write something that is specifically ripping off your work, you can prove that you're the one who came up with it first.

It's not a very complicated process. http://www.copyright.gov/ is the official site to which you submit your paperwork. There are two different forms, which are covered quite beautifully in this DIY Musician article.

There is a small fee, but it is worth it to know that you have the right type of legal proof in your possession. The last thing you need is an actual case where you're not in the wrong and you still wind up paying.

This copyright is your protection against that terrible situation- say another person were to hear that something you've been playing at shows for years, decide that it sounds remarkably similar to something he/she just wrote. Say he/she decided to insist that you either cease playing (or worse, pay them for) "their work". If they have the correct paperwork and you don't, you lose.