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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Composer Erik Satie Was So Much Weirder Than You Realize
Erik Satie (1866-1925) is praised by historians for helping to provide the pre-war pathway to minimalism in classical music. His piano compositions, most famously the Gymnopédies suite of 1888 and the Gnossiennes suite of 1893, set the tone for experimentation within the next century of composers. These composers traversed new understandings of tonality, space, and emotion, even as academic trends in…
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From Discs to Digital: The Odd History of Music Formats
Physical formats have only been around since the 1870s — but in that relatively short amount of time, we’ve managed to come up with some pretty bizarre ways to release music. Each format on this list had its moment of usefulness. But looking back might make you ask “what were we thinking?” Regardless of how obsolete…
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Chorus Writing Strategy 101
+ Improve your songwriting with Soundfly! Explore our range of courses on emotional chord progressions, basic songwriting technique, songwriting for producers, and many more. Subscribe for unlimited access here. If ever you needed proof that there is joy in repetition, the contemporary pop music chorus is the smoking gun. The chorus gives the listener the entire point of the song summed up…
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Practical Approaches to Writing Lyrics (for Producers, Mainly)
For electronic home producers, writing lyrics doesn’t always come easy. Here are a few tried-and-true strategies culled from our newest online course.
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How to Pick the Point of View of Your Song
Here’s a quick lesson on songwriting perspectives with advice on how to choose your lyrical point of view when starting to write.
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You Must Do These 5 Things Before Licensing Your Music
If you’re interested in licensing music, make sure you’re well prepared with everything from spreadsheets to metadata with this checklist.
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How to Diversify Your Music Income While Maintaining Your Sanity
If you plan on making a living from your music, then you plan on being an entrepreneur. While many DIY musicians envision themselves more like a freelancer, focused on bringing in income from one main skill set, an entrepreneur creates multiple streams of income in order to ensure that there’s always money coming in, even…
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10 Facebook Groups Musicians Need to Join Right Now
Networking is everything in music. Discover our favorite Facebook Groups, full of career opportunities, community, support, and advice just for musicians.
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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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3 Ways to Immediately Increase Crowd Participation
Dealing with an unruly or unexcited crowd? Here are our tips for how to engage, or reengage your audience from the stage.
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10 Myths About Songwriting Busted!
People make so many excuses for themselves when they don’t feel up to writing. Here are ten common ones and why they’re all wrong.
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Re-Open for Business: Adjusting to Your Post-Pandemic Creative Life
Here’s how to adjust your musical goals for the “new normal” we’re about to experience, as the world slowly opens back up again.
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3 Ways to Handle Rejection and Take Action
Don’t let the fear of rejection hold you back from accomplishing great things. Here’s how to turn a “No” into a “Yes” opportunity.
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5 of the Most Unusual “Instruments” Used in Musical Scores
From natural sounds to mechanical devices, many unusual things have been incorporated into musical scores by daring composers. Here are 5.
