An interesting study on audio listening habits reveals surprising results. EMI launches Abbey Road Live a live music recording service that makes concert recordings available immediately after the show. Weezer bundles up with Snuggies. The Podcasters revisit last weeks interview with Josh Rosenthal, and discuss how targeting the right market can be just the thing to move your music career forward. Plus a mysterious stranger rebuke’s Bolton’s on-air name change.

Josh Rosenthal is a singer-songwriter living in Salt Lake City, Utah. Instead of making those long, costly treks to larger, more established music markets like LA, NYC, and Nashville, Josh spent his time cultivating a dedicated fan base closer to home. He concentrated on the smaller scenes that were within his reach. Armed with a public relations degree, a business plan, drive, and talent, Josh discovered that the most important step to success is building real relationships with his fans. In this podcast, Josh shares a bit of his plan and some of the promotional tools that have helped him win die-hard fans.
In an unexpected move, Robert changes his on-air name to Bolton. Google throws its hat into the music game. MySpace offers stats for their artist profile pages. Is iTunes LP a real option for indie artists? These questions and topics addressed, plus the Podcasters take on your calls as we dive into the ever changing landscape of indie music online.
Allison Weiss is a true DIY artist eager to get her music career moving forward, but being a college student makes touring and getting beyond her local scene a challenge. To keep the dialogue going with her fans, Allison leverages the power of Twitter, Live Stream, and You Tube to communicate with her audience and build an active fan base. When it came time to fund her most recent recording, she asked her fans for help. Allison encouraged her fans to help finance the recording through an online service called Kickstarter. The result was overwhelming as Alison reached her goal in only 10 hours! Are fan funded albums the future?
The guys from Works Progress Administration definitely have plenty of label experience under their belt from all their past projects (Toad the Wet Sprocket, Nickel Creek, Lyle Lovette). With WPA’s debut album, they find themselves doing much of the work on their own after choosing an independent path. The guys recently stopped by the CD Baby offices to record this interview for the Music Discovery Podcast, but since they touched on some of the issues concerning their new career path, we’re posting it here as well for our DIY Musician Podcast listeners.
Kevin and Chris are joined by Portland’s music media guru Ryan Wines to discuss ways in which artists are controlling their own musical destinies. In this episode the podcasters debate: Is the future of music free? Should you continue to shop your album or release it DIY? Where have all the A&R guys gone?
