Ten Essential Pieces of Advice for Composers
Stuck in a creative compositional rut? Struggling to think outside the box musically? Here are ten essential tips to help you write something extraordinary!
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Rebecca Foon (Saltland, Esmerine) on Exploring the Ocean of Her Subconscious
Welcome back to our 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. Saltland is the solo cello and voice project of Montreal’s Rebecca Foon, who also plays in Esmerine, and…
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6 New Year’s Resolutions Every Indie Musician Should Make
2016 is, finally, coming to an end. After an exhausting year like this one, I love looking ahead to New Year’s Eve. Not just because I love champagne and countdowns, but because it’s that special time of year to break out the new planner and set some goals in stone. This time of year is perfect for…
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Bach Wrote a Mini Comic “Opera” About His Love for Coffee in 1735
Bach’s Ode to Java Rocket fuel. Joe. Jitter Juice. These are just some of the nicknames we’ve given to one of the world’s most favorite drinks: coffee. It’s no surprise that artists over the years have been compelled to pay homage to the great brown muse; Frank Sinatra, Ella Fitzgerald, and even blues legend Mississippi John…
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On July 9, 1955, Rock ‘n’ Roll Went #1 for the First Time Ever
For someone my age, who grew up in the latter half of the 20th century — listening to the Rolling Stones, the Beatles, Nirvana, Led Zeppelin, heck, even the Killers — it’s hard to imagine life without rock ‘n’ roll. Even if that style of music isn’t your personal listening preference, can you even picture…
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12 Essential Guitar Pedals for Your 2016 Holiday Wish List
Happy holidays, dear Flypaper readers and Soundfly students! If you’re anything like me, that is, a chronically dissatisfied gear nerd, this is the time of year when many manufacturers and distributers offer great deals on their products, upon which we must pounce like the bargain-savvy consumers that we are. Heck, it’s our right as Americans! This year,…
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What Super Mario Brothers Has to Do With Music Education
If Super Mario Bros taught us anything, it’s that gamifying the learning process leads to more motivated and fearless trying…
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Some of Our Favorite Chiptune Covers in All the Chipiverse
Chiptune and cover songs. It seems like a perfect match, right? Who wouldn’t want to hear their favorite artists and hits filtered through their favorite video game console, creating the ultimate nostalgic remix?! Heck, many actual classic games even tried to include lo-fi, “chippified” covers of “real” songs in their gameplay soundtracks with varying degrees of…
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What’s in a Name? How Bands Make Use of Strange Symbols and Characters
Call it a trend, call it annoying to type and impossible to google, these bands will never have to be worried about being confused with anyone else!
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The 10 Best Day Jobs for Aspiring Full-Time Musicians
When you’re a musician, it helps to have a job that you can take off every now and then when you go on tour or into the studio, here’s a few of our faves!
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5 Reasons You Don’t Want the Record Deal of Your Dreams
Too many talented artists learn the hard way why major label record deals can be toxic to their careers. Don’t make that mistake yourself.
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How to Write a Song in a Day
Here’s seven of our strongest tips for songwriters who want to make writing music their full-time job, day in and day out.
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Want to Get More Done? Get Better at Setting Deadlines for Yourself
Here are eight great tips taken from behavioral science to help you get better at making and setting deadlines, to defeat your procrastination demons..
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The 9 Best Music Books of 2019 So Far
It’s half-way through 2019 and this year has already been chock-full of great books about music. Don’t stress, we’ll walk you though some of our faves.
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High Fives: The Soundfly Staff Chooses Our Top 5 Favorite Articles from 2018
Flypaper ran over 320 articles this year. Let the Soundfly staff navigate you through the best of the best in this list of our Top 5 articles from 2018.
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Why Are There No Saxophones in Orchestras?
A quick historical deep dive on the journey of the saxophone from French military pride to jazz band spotlight, but never the symphonic orchestra.
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Childish Japes on Making Art to Music and Making Music to Artwork
Welcome back to our 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. Join our weekly email newsletter to get more insights like this into how professional artists are making music,…
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What NOT to Do When Writing Your Artist Bio
Whether for a press release or an EPK, your bio is a sacred space that needs to communicate your story but not bore to death.
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The Surprising Origins of the Bagel Bites Theme Music
An exhaustive history of the catchiest ad jingle of all time. It goes so much deeper than we could’ve ever imagined and we break it ALL down.
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“Those Who Can Do, Teach!” – Why You Should Teach Music Online
If you’ve got music you’re passionate about sharing with the world, you probably have something to teach the world. Consider teaching music online!
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How the Drive for Musical Cohesion Can Stifle New Ideas
How can songwriters escape the trap of sounding “correct” in order to make work that embraces risk and explores new creative directions?
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5 Ways to Show Up That Aren’t Just Instagram Live
During this pandemic, social media has become super saturated by artists of all kinds — break through the noise with some of these Instagram tips.
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Austin Kleon Says You Should Rip Off Other Musicians (and He’s Right)
What does it mean to “steal like an artist” versus like a thief? Austin Kleon helps explain the difference, and we’ve got advice as to how to do it!
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9 Easy Places to Look for Creative Lyric Ideas
Whether writer’s block has got you down or you’re just looking for a few tools for consistent brainstorming, here are nine places to look for lyric ideas.
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Why You Should Always Be Booking
Booking shows is tough, but here are some solid reasons why it’s worth every ounce of your bands’ energy to keep at it and work hard to improve.
