Originally Posted by Kaley Willow
What about.....Musician Grants, Residencies, Retreats as a category?

and here's another for the legal category, if wanted.
Copyrights & Legal Resources: Volunteer Lawyers For The Arts
http://www.vlany.org/resources/index.php

Publications (books, newsletters, magazines, etc.) OR Independent A&R ( If wanted, not sure which category?):
The Bandit A & R Newsletter:
http://www.banditnewsletter.com/index.htm

What's been an eye opener for me in reseaching is how quickly
organizations, web sites, etc up and disappear. Truly, Brian
...a tip of the Hat to you...on longevity.

Thanks Kaley!
I couldn't resist "Volunteer Lawyers", so I added it even though I never heard of them before. I'm sure Brian won't mind, but he has the final "say" on all listings, so no worries.

Bandit A&R Newsletter came to my attention about a year ago from a fellow CD Baby artist (Andy Martin) living and touring heavily in Europe. I looked it over and it does sounds like a pretty solid resource. Their based in the UK, Editor - John Waterman, and have been serving the music industry for over 20 years.

Grants, residencies and retreats sound interesting. Here's my thoughts: Grants will be either private or publically funded, so it's up to each artist to check out the "program" and see what fits them best and what kind of "strings" if any are attached. Residencies might fit under the broader "Education" category and Retreats might be included together with Conventions, Seminars and "Road Rallies". I'm sure there's a ton of those around. wink

The best private "grant" (think investment) program I heard of is called Artist Share:
http://www.artistshare.com
Amazingly they developed a program that funds artist's new projects directly from their fans who 'invest' in various opportunities. The service takes only a 15% administration cut and otherwise is free to qaulifying artists. I'm pretty sure Brian has heard of this and I'm sure he'd be supportive of these kinds of private funding plans.

And yes, it's true that there's a very high turn-over rate among internet based businesses. Purely online products & services have to be phenominal to survive for very long against all the global competition on the net. So that's another thing to watch for... How long has a service been around and building a good reputation?

Then there's also some exceptions to the rule, such as when cool new services blossom up overnight like the college kids that started sites like amiestreet.com and PureVolume.com That reminds me, we should probably add Amie Street!
You can check it out here:
http://amiestreet.com/page/about
Here's what they say:
"...we price music right - all songs start free and rise in price the more they are purchased. Our dynamic prices allow fans to buy music without breaking the bank and they serve as a useful tool for finding great music.

We support our artists by giving them 70% of song sales and never taking ownership of their creative work. We want all artists on Amie Street to be successful and we believe that our unique marketplace will accomplish this goal to a degree never achieved before."

I heard last summer that one of the larger indie labels signed a deal with Amie Street to promote their whole catalog! I think this is an indication that they developed a viable marketplace concept.

Michael


There's nothing remarkable about it. All one has to do is hit the right keys at the right time and the instrument plays itself. -- Johann Sebastian Bach

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