How to Remain DIY in a Truly Corporate Music World
The strength and power of every indie artist is what they choose to do themselves, in the face of letting labels and agents take it all over.
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Opportunities: CD Baby’s DIY Musician Conference Organizer on Building an Independent Music Career
CDBaby’s Second Annual DIY Musician Conference is coming up this September 30th-October 2nd in Chicago. Being a DIY musician myself, I was intrigued by an event that aspires to bring together independent musicians, songwriters, producers, labels, managers, and talent buyers to come for a weekend of talks, tutorials, gigs, photo sessions, jam sessions, and networking opportunities. It seems super exciting and inspiring, so I sat down with CDBaby’s Kevin…
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How to Make a DIY Vocal Booth in Your Home
Essential thoughts on how to set up a DIY vocal recording booth in your home, and techniques to avoid common pitfalls.
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8 Inspiring Books for the DIY Musician’s Shelf
We don’t always have all the answers, so it’s great to have a fully-stocked bookshelf to inspire us musicians to get through hard creative times.
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Why DIY? 6 Reasons to Bet on Yourself
Before you waste time, energy, and resources trying to please potential stakeholders, consider the power and freedom of DIYing it.
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How to Create a DIY Project Without Breaking the Bank
In the new music industry, DIY doesn’t have to mean artists going “broke,” here’s how to approach financial stability as a DIY artist.
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7 Steps to Organizing Your Own DIY Music Festival
By Jhoni Jackson Putting together a multi-day event in your city requires a little knowledge of booking and who’s who in your local music scene, but it’s not the impossible feat some might imagine. Organizing a festival is within the reach of nearly anyone who’s willing to commit time to planning, researching, and learning. It’s…
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Lessons in DIY Experimentation for the Sake of Listening Longevity
A concise meditation on growing up listening to DIY, lo-fi artists who experimented with their sound so that I could incorporate that ethos into my songs.
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The Best Subreddits for the DIY Musician in 2023
If you’re looking for an organic way to network in the music industry, grow your fanbase and get ideas for new songs, Reddit has you covered.
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Advice for the Indie Artist: 4 Things We Learned at CD Baby’s DIY Musician Conference
This past weekend, more than 1,000 musicians descended on the most haunted hotel in Chicago for CD Baby’s 2nd annual DIY Musician Conference. Over the course of three days, attendees heard from a wealth of speakers about opportunities and strategies for succeeding in the music world as an independent artist. It also included a jam…
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The Definitive Guide to Running a Successful DIY Public Relations Campaign
Spearheading your own PR campaign is no easy task. Putting the necessary tools in place requires a lot of grit, determination, and old fashioned time and effort. I won’t lie and say it will be easy or that it’s something you can learn in a few weeks. This is something that takes months to really perfect if…
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Matt Mehlan of Skeletons on How the DIY Golden Age of NYC Still Shapes His Music
Welcome back to Soundfly’s weekly interview series, Incorrect Music, curated by guitarist, singer, and composer Lora-Faye Åshuvud (of the band Arthur Moon). In this series, we present intimate conversations with artists who are striving to push the boundaries of their process and craft. Dre’s interview with Matt Mehlan (of the avant-garde pop band Skeletons) makes me smile…
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Be Your Own Booker: Advice on Booking Shows from NYC’s DIY Community
Countless idealistic, fresh-faced musicians move to NYC every year, and far too many of them are preyed upon by shady bookers who cancel last-minute, take unreasonable cuts of the door, and bill them with other bands who share no genre or potential audience reach. One of the first shows I booked in the city required…
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The Definitive Guide to Throwing a DIY House Show
House shows, and all sorts of DIY shows, are a great way to create an alternative, personalized space to hear live music in your community. If you aren’t near any good venues, need a place to host all-ages shows, or simply want to invite some people over to your house, apartment, backyard, roof, basement (you get…
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How the Internet Has Changed the Game for DIY Artists, Myself Included
In the age of the internet, DIY musicians have access to promotion, booking, and their fans easier than ever. But does the downside outweigh the good?
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3 Awesome DIY Soundproofing Hacks for Your Home Studio
Don’t rely on audio repair and noise reduction software to solve all your problems. These soundproofing hacks will help you reduce noise right at the source!
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Why Live Music is the Bedrock of Sustainable DIY Careers
Are you an artist looking to create some momentum, separation, or buzz in your community? Live shows beat social media every time. Here’s why.
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You Want to Book Better Shows? Just DIY It and Stay True to Your Artistic Identity
Booking a sold-out, or at least near-capacity, show is a major milestone for any band. Doing that every time with every show is how you know you’re on the fast track to success. Yet, when I asked bands their number-one struggle, overwhelmingly the response was this very thing. I find that a lot of the time, bands…
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DIY Touring Course Now on YouTube!
All 17 episodes of Soundfly’s “Touring on a Shoestring” course are now available on YouTube! Check out the full playlist here. With Soundfly courses on YouTube, you can easily share single videos, embed them in your own blog, or binge watch the whole series in a single sitting! And you can skip forward through the…
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4 Tips for DIY Drum Recording
For many musicians, the idea of recording a demo can seem a bit daunting, especially when taking a do-it-yourself approach. Fortunately for those of us who need a bit of guidance, Black Lodge Recording’s Vishal Nayak has helped the Soundfly team create a brand new course, full of tips for efficient, effective, and stress-free demo production. For many musicians, the idea…
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How to Build a DIY Hydrophone
Hydrophones enable us to record underwater, which is reason enough to worship and adore them. Better still, you can make your own very easily and cheaply. For the Canal Music tour (in 2009), I wanted to make myself a new hydrophone which included the pre-amp I made here. I have made hydrophones using piezo elements before, but…
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What Happens in New Brunswick Shouldn’t Just Stay in New Brunswick
James Bauman of the DIY New Brunswick venue Mount Moon discusses community building and running a music venue in a house basement.
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16 Podcasts to Inspire Your Inner Music Entrepreneur
There’s something kind of incredible about podcasts. As stories and reports told in audio, they have this way of transporting you to another world. Almost as if you’re being read to by someone very close to you, they can inspire in a way that’s unlike any other medium. If you’re like me and constantly on…
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The COMPASS: The San Francisco Bay Area, CA
By Rebecca Redman I moved to the Bay Area from a town where there were only two places to play shows — a garage and a supper club. Unless you could convince someone to let you plug in your amplifier in their living room, choices were slim. Moving up to the Bay Area came with a dramatic…
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Beyond the Boys Club: Striving for Diversity and Inclusion in Experimental Music
Whether we feel comfortable confronting it or not, there exists a fundamental hypocrisy in experimental music today. For me, a straight, white, middle-class male living in New York City, I’ve had to climb over no barriers in order to get deeply involved with what some may refer to as the “scene” here. Playing experimental, noise, or…
