Blog - Indie Music Bus

22 06, 2019

Help Develop Our Next Act of the Month Series+

By Walter|2019-06-26T10:41:51-04:00June 22nd, 2019|Categories: Collaboration, Contests, Exclusive Features, Official, Opportunities, Promotion|Tags: A&R, Act of the Month, Collaboration, Judge|

We want to run another Act of the Month Series without submissions or fan votes. This is how I think it could work. Many of you have "rosters" or lists of some kind of the indie acts you love and support most right? Would you support suggesting your top 2 or 3 to us for an Act of the Month Feature here at IMB? Your part can be anonymous if you like. Our A&R will review the participants till we have 5 acts. Next the stories, music and websites of those acts will put in front of industry judging panel. Judging with be done either on a secret Facebook group or a section here on IMB or via email. Some of you might be thinking, what's in it for us? For one, you're helping the acts you love. Those of [...]

21 06, 2019

The Rose Monarch @TheRoseMonarch

By Walter|2019-06-21T13:54:21-04:00June 21st, 2019|Categories: Acts On The Bus|Tags: Alternative Rock, Chills, Echoes from the End, Goose Bumps, Soaring Vocals|

Echos from the End Cover The Rose Monarch, one of my favorite alternative acts to come on board this year. April Rose Gabrielli has an amazing vocal range that will give you chill bumps all over. The songwriting is also superb to say the least. They will make you feel all kinds of emotions, April tells emotional stories through song. There isn't a week that goes by that I miss listening to "Echoes from the End", it's so very good. But don't take my word for it, give them a listen now, that way, you won't forget, and then you never will! When you look at Rose, you wonder how can she put out so much sound!? I can't wait to see how far these talented artists can go! I believe they have the potential to go [...]

21 06, 2019

The Como Brothers @ComoBrosBand

By Walter|2019-06-21T07:47:56-04:00June 21st, 2019|Categories: Acts On The Bus|Tags: Blues Vibe, Brothers, Pop, Rock, Singer, Songwriter|

These talented brothers have been with us for a long time now so it's fitting that they should appear here! They were named our August/2013 Act of the Month by our panel of industry judges. On many of our trips around the state of Florida, my wife and I will listen to The Como Brothers and sing their songs together. We would also find them on XM Radio and be excited for them! We have always believed in them and feel they will someday get their big break! On our wedding day, their music was playing for all the people there. Related: Exclusive Interview | Mikey Jayy KGUP FM Emerge Radio Bio The Como Brothers, Matt and Andrew Como, are musicians (singers, songwriters and performers) from Long Island who are passionate about their music, heartfelt lyrics, and original music. Combining a [...]

20 06, 2019

Releasing an EP, how do you do it?

By Tom Oswald|2019-06-20T08:56:41-04:00June 20th, 2019|Categories: DIY Music Business, Tips|Tags: Album, CD, EP, Publicist, Radio Plugger, Releases, Tracks|

Releasing an EP: Making music may be an art form, but releasing it into the world and doing your utmost to make it sell-able is pretty easy to define. Let's assume you're a fairly established band with a fan base of sorts, but have never released, or recorded an EP before. What's the first thing you should do? I'm betting you're thinking 'Hit the studio?'? Nope. You need to do some customer facing trials, after all, just blindly recording music with no idea if your fan base likes it or not, who would do such a thing so blindly! Book a rehearsal room, and record, say, 10 tracks. This can be done on video, MP3, hell, use a tape recorder if you want too! Now, segment them up into each individual track, and segment each individual track into what you [...]

19 06, 2019

Should you ever give your music away for free?

By Tom Oswald|2019-06-19T04:39:19-04:00June 19th, 2019|Categories: DIY Music Business, Tips|

As a record label owner, we often have bands come to us and ask to record an EP and a single, with the aim of giving the single away for free, to encourage people to buy the EP. Our answer was always no. In the age of the internet, anyone can make music, and put it online in any one of hundreds of places. Unfortunately, for most musicians, this has led to a race to the bottom. This cycle just repeats itself endlessly; Make music, give it away for free, see few sales coming in, gig for free, give away everything for free in the vain hope that you'll be recognized and catapulted to stardom. This might work for 1 in 10 million, maybe 1 in 20 million. The odds of it happening to you are virtually zero. Should you [...]

18 06, 2019

Three Key Foundations for your Future in the Music Business

By Tom Oswald|2019-06-18T19:04:26-04:00June 18th, 2019|Categories: DIY Music Business|Tags: Music Business, Record Labels|

Your Future in the Music Business. You've got your band, you've been playing together for years and you've all decided to really give it a go to hit the big time. What do you need to do to give yourself the best chance of this happening from a business perspective? The vast majority of bands that we have come across in our time are 'all about the music'. This is fine if you're happy doing a few low key gigs and never really want to get too far within the music biz. (yes there are exceptions, where a musician can be plucked from obscurity and thrust into the limelight. But these are extremely rare and require a lot of good luck! I prefer not to rely on luck too much myself however, and you shouldn't either) So, what do you [...]

17 06, 2019

Song Review of On the Road by Celestial Blue Music

By Walter|2019-06-17T15:02:15-04:00June 17th, 2019|Categories: Music Review, Song Review|Tags: Billy Lefler, Folkrock, Kari J, On the Road|

This is a Song Review of On the Road by Celestial Blue Music Review by Walter and Darlene Hargrave "Celestial Blue Music is the solo project of Kari J., a New Mexico native collaborating internationally to create electronic-folkrock fusion based in organic concepts of empowered evolution, conscious liberty, synergy with nature, and psychoacoustic optimism." Wallyview: I feel that, On the Road is a feel-good traveling song. It’s about a person who can’t let the grass grow under their feet! Travelling towards the horizon and making long lasting memories along the way. Maybe the grass is greener, maybe it isn’t but, it’s the journey that matters. As you travel and see new things it lifts one's spirits. Discovery is the goal and the unique beauty is the reward. Taking all that in triggers strong emotions. It speaks of travelling with friends [...]

16 06, 2019

Song Review Down with the Devil – Taming Sari

By Walter|2019-06-16T10:18:27-04:00June 16th, 2019|Categories: Music Review, Song Review|Tags: Down With The Devil, DownWithTheDevil, Rock-n-roll, Taming Sari|

Today this Song Review: Down with the Devil by Taming Sari Review by: Walter and Darlene Hargrave "Taming Sari is a 5 piece Ottawa based band. Driven by a passion to breathe new life into the genre known as Rock and Roll." @taming_sariband I want to say up front that Taming Sari has succeeded in breathing new life to Rock and Roll! I hear influences of Rush, Aerosmith, Guns N' Roses, AC/DC, and more. Taming Sari's rich sound, mature lyrics and passionate vocal content combined, makes their song, "Down with the Devil," instantly likable and radio friendly. As mature adults, my wife and I could certainly relate to the lyrics, which is about a long-time relationship gone wrong. The story could be about a long-lasting love affair where mistakes were made early (“breaking all the rules”), it is too [...]

14 06, 2019

Appear in an Indie Music Bus Newsletter

By Walter|2019-06-14T08:47:49-04:00June 14th, 2019|Categories: Official, Opportunities, Promotion|Tags: Bands, Bio, Interviews, Music Fans, Radio, Record Label, Reviews|

How to Appear in an Indie Music Bus Newsletter That's right, you have the chance to appear in an upcoming newsletter by simply subscribing to the monthly Official Indie Music Bus Newsletter and leaving a comment below! To help indie music creators and industry as much as possible, this is a free service! Take advantage of it! Musicians and Bands Because music fans and radio subscribers will receive selected content from you guys. Tell us what you want to appear in the newsletter below! Include summaries of your biography, music releases, reviews or interviews. In addition to the newsletter, shout outs on Twitter too! Music Industry As a matter of fact, we welcome indie music radio stations, bloggers and record labels too! Looking for artists or have news to tell, then summarize below! Selected content will be sent to artists [...]

9 06, 2019

Seeking Writers For DIY Music Business Articles

By Walter|2019-06-13T09:36:49-04:00June 9th, 2019|Categories: Exclusive Features, Official, Opportunities|

Welcome, Walter here! In an attempt to offer DIY Music Business Articles at extremely modest once a year subscriptions, we are doing some research! After we determine the cost in paying the writers, we will consider the price for artists to read them. We are most interested in DIY music business articles offering help for independent do it yourselfer bands and musicians. During this research phase, we have some questions; What's fair pay for exclusive & non-exclusive content per 500 words? Would the writer like the option of royalties and paid a lower initial price? Because we may have forgotten something, are there other considerations? If there are enough interested writers, we will go forward and work to build up at least 10 articles before going live! Articles will publish only on Indie Music Bus with links back to [...]