List of free resources on marketing and navigating the music industry
Note: Many people /organisations offer ‘free’ resources as a way of enticing you to purchase stuff you may not need, so consider carefully before parting with your money. For most people without a large following the basic stuff is sufficient to get you going. This evolving list has some people with freely available offerings you may find useful.
(Please let us know if any of the links no longer work)
Aristake is run by LA based Ari Herstand. He has a book, a useful blog on his website and hosts the New Music Business Podcast on YouTube (and other streaming services).
Artist Collective is a music consulting company mentoring artists from part-time to full time. Based in Chicago, it was founded by Evan Price. Artist Collective has some free resources including a blog and YouTube videos on aspects of marketing your music. People can sign up to the community and courses for a monthly payment (which also has a Facebook group), or there are individual courses you can purchase. Evan himself has a website where you can also book an hour of his time.
Burstimo is a UK music marketing company based in London. It was founded by Alex Jobling and Maddy Raven and has a YouTube Channel. Their website also has a series of articles.
Bree Nobel is based in California and helps female musicians master the music industry. She hosts the Female Entrepreneur Musician Podcast and has a blog that draws on her experience as a musician and entrepreneur. She has also created online courses and a mentoring community exclusively for female musicians.
Data Transmission was founded by Grahame Farmer and is based in the UK. Their website offers resources specifically for DJs and dance music. They have podcasts, training courses and an internet radio show. Grahame hosts videos offering tips, advice and interviews for DJ’s and producers and has channels on YouTube and a Twitch channel broadcasting live with music, A&R sessions and tips for DJs and producers. To find out about Competitions, A&R Sessions & be part of a community of DJ’s & Producers, you can join his Boost Discord here
Damien Keyes, based in the UK, is a musician and educator. He set up BIMM ((The Brighton Institute of Modern Music). He has a series of YouTube videos on the music Industry, has written a couple of books and also runs the DK Music Business Academy.
Helen Meissner (Helenfonix) has a blog about self promotion and navigating the music industry that draws on her personal experiences of working in the music industry with independent artists and as an artist starting out: ‘Is it Shit or a Hit’
Indiepreneur has a podcast (Creative Juice) plus training courses that you can buy individually at a reasonable price. They support Full Stack Creative videos on YouTube, which are designed for any type of creative industry.
Indie Music Women is a website run by Linda Garnette. It offers articles and resources specifically for women. Linda also hosts a podcast and radio show that showcases female artists.
Michael Brandvold is based in San Francisco and has worked with both independent artists and famous acts. Together with Jay Gilbert, he hosts the Music Biz Weekly Podcast available on YouTube (and all the other streaming services). The podcast is sponsored by Bandsintown, but once through the adverts there is plenty of interesting chat and useful advice from a wide range of people in the music business.
Rick Barker is the former manager of Taylor Swift. His podcast, The Music Industry BluePrint Podcast, (on YouTube and other streaming services) has useful tips and tricks to help artists navigate the music industry.
Riff Taff runs free entry face-to-face networking events for independent musicians and people associated with them, enabling them to meet up and connect. Riff Taff also has a Facebook networking group where people can ask others for advice.
The Music Marketing Academy is run by Des Dreckett who is based in the UK and has a background in e-commerce. He runs a members only Facebook group and has videos on YouTube.
Work Hard Playlist Hard was founded by Mike Warner, an Australian based in California. He is an educator and the go to person for playlist strategies on music streaming services. He is also part of the Chartmetric Team and an independent artist/manager. The WHPH website focuses on music streaming and helping independent artists. It offers a number of resources including a blog and podcast. The WHPH Academy has a reasonably priced on-line short course, based on Mike’s book, that gets you started on all the main music streaming services. There is also a free introductory course.
Many of the industry professional bodies also have freely available resources on their websites. You will find these listed under ‘Representative Bodies’ on the GMN.