Websites like MySpace have given EVERYONE the chance to showcase their music, whether you’re the next big thing to grace the centre stage, or a rookie musician with vocals flatter then a fried omelet. But with all this choice around, why should the consumer (The person you want to pay your wages by buying your music) choose to listen to and invest in you over the other thousands of people that do similar music?

Many people get overlooked because they don’t offer anything different. On top of that, many people get overlooked because they haven’t put that extra bit of effort into their music which in turn effects the quality. Whether you’re making a tune for MySpace, for your album or for a one off broadcast, YOU MUST ALWAYS MAKE SURE YOUR MUSIC IS OF THE UP MOST QUALITY! This will make you stand above the person that’s equally talented but doesn’t put as much effort into their music. Or the person who is equally as talented but uses an inferior recording booth so your vocals and mix down sound of a better quality then theirs. I can’t stress enough how important quality is in this over saturated music industry. It’s already hard enough for consumers to weed through the rubbish and find the quality, so why not make sure everything you do is of the highest quality and make it easier for them to find you?

Climbing the ladder to success in the music industry is a lot of work. It takes years of building networks, cultivating fans, practice, backbreaking work, and getting used to the word no. In the past, bands were just out of luck in getting their album distributed unless they could get signed by a record label. Getting signed by a record label took months or even years of work because of the intense competition in the music industry. Playing clubs and promoting your band can get you a lot of attention, but you can’t expect to make a lot of money without selling your music. Your fans want to be able to listen to you any time, and booking shows every weekend is almost a full time job. Times have changed, though, in recent years due to the popularity if the internet. It is now easier than ever to get your cd distributed to your fans.

In the music industry, you are the only one that is going to have a sense of urgency in making your product available to the masses. A&R Coordinators get hundreds of demo cds a week, and may not even listen to yours if they you don’t have a band manager to hound them. Even if you do get signed with a record label, they are dealing with hundreds or even thousands of other bands and musicians, so you aren’t going to be their first priority. Making money in the music industry is not about live performances in the beginning. You may make a little money from the club circuit, but chances are most of that will go to overhead costs like equipment, transportation, and practice space. Selling your music is the best way to get money from your hard work right away. Getting distribution was hard for a long time, until the internet came along. The internet is receiving a lot of criticism from the music industry because of illegal downloads, but the popularity of internet shopping could work in your favor. You don’t have to be signed with a record label to record your music. It’s not cheap, but you can purchase time in a recording studio to record quality, professional sounding albums. There is also new software that allows you to record from your own home. Home recording equipment is not optimal, though, so you may want to send your home recordings to a mastering technician to clean it up.

Once you have recorded and printed quality albums, you can offer them for sale on your own website, or sales sites like EBay or Amazon. Promoting your album is easier than ever too. Not only can you offer your albums for sale at your shows, but you can spread your website there as well. Your loyal fans will spread the word of your music, and direct sales to your site. Social networking sites are good for attracting new fans too. A link on your social networking site to your sales page will let new fans hear what you are all about. Once your album starts selling well, you might want to consider hiring someone to handle your distribution more efficiently.

You’ve chosen to make music your career. Many musicians don’t make a lot of money, but it doesn’t have to be that way. Distributing your own music is easy, and it promotes your band more effectively than you could possibly do through word of mouth. Don’t wait for someone to discover you to start making money. Take your career in hand and start distributing your own music.

A new debate has been coming to the forefront of the musical education industry. With the constant innovations being brought on by the internet, more and more people are taking advantage of its convenience to learn guitar (as well as numerous other instruments). It has certainly proven itself to be a productive means of teaching. And while it may be the best decision for so many aspiring guitarists out there, acoustic guitar lessons are also readily available in your local music academy. Live and in person lessons have a wide array of advantages that you will want to take note of before making up your mind about whether going with an internet website or a local guitar instructor.

One of the biggest and most obvious advantages to taking acoustic guitar lessons with a live instructor is the interpersonal communication. The internet offers several methods for dialogue between students and instructor, and they are all quite efficient, but nothing can replace the ability to walk to an office, sit down, and have a live conversation with your music teacher about your performance. In a live acoustic guitar lesson one can learn a lot just by watching and mimicking the instructor’s technique. Feedback is also quite easily received when you are in the same room with the person doing the teaching.

Another benefit to live lessons is, for some, being able to learn along with other classmates who may be asking questions you do not think of. Hearing them along with your instructor and yourself may allow you to refine your skills. Obviously, this is not the case for everyone. This is something to be said for learning the guitar in your own room with your own guitar and computer. Online lessons are an extraordinary alternative to the music academy down the street. Not everyone learns in the same way, so it is pointless to insist that one means of learning the acoustic guitar is always superior to the other. It is up to the student.

The guitar is a wonderful instrument, and that is probably why you decided to start playing to begin with. You really want to get your money’s worth in lessons, so shop around. Compare prices between the different music academies in your area. What credentials do the instructors have? Are the lessons private or classroom oriented? The answers to these questions will all factor in to the decision you will eventually make. And do not forget about online lessons either. They are frequently cheaper and may be the best route if you are short on cash but ready and willing to learn.

The label was primarily made to warn parents against musical content that may allegedly affect their kids undesirably. Its advocates and members of the recording industry were armed with data that showed a link between violent and aggressive lyrics and the incidence of violence in their listeners. Some of the musicians who pushed the envelope for these special interest groups included the likes of Eminem, who sang about guns and kids who use them, and Marilyn Manson, who has used American flags as toilet paper in his concert acts.

Although the problem is real and the link may be substantial, the parental advisory label may not be serving its purpose. Critics have also forwarded the theory that youngsters may find that the label makes the album more enticing, and they’ll buy it, anyway. And this could be the reason why recording companies aren’t as discriminating as they’re expected to be in deciding which records get parental advisory labels. In essence, the advocates may have to find a better way to regulate the distribution of records and to warn the parents of what’s out there for kids. On the other hand, the counterargument always is that there may be other factors that lead to these unwanted consequences that they’re avoiding. Parents may think about discussing these issues with kids openly, so they can be challenged to think beyond what they see and hear. They must learn to accept that music isn’t always the convenient scapegoat.

You’ve got two options. I’ll offer the first one as the “easy” way, then the second as the “best sounding” way.

Option 1: Use a Distortion Stomp Box (Effects Pedal)

This is pretty straightforward. Set your amp to get the clean tone you want, then put a distortion pedal in line between the guitar and the amp. Now, when you want distortion, hit the pedal with your foot. Then hit it again to turn it off and return to the original sound.

This works pretty well, except it sounds horrible. The whole reason you bought that big amp in the first place is because of the wonderful tone it creates, so why ruin it by making it sound like a cheap imitation (which is what pedals do)? This works as a quick fix, but is hardly the way to enjoy your musical investments. Which brings me to:

Option 2: Roll back the volume knob on your guitar

It’s really as simple as that. By bringing the knob back, you’re cutting off the amount of juice that flows from the pickups to the amp, which cleans up the tone very nicely. You might have to experiment to get the best sound, but the result is that you’ll get the full, rich sound out of your amp the organic way, and without having to resort to cheap pedals to do it.

Basically a backing track is a recorded piece of music. This is especially useful if you play in a four piece band that has no keyboard player for example. You wish to play a song that has a keyboard part and the backing track will play the keyboard part while the rest of the band does their usual thing. It will contain a click track for the drummer to play along to on one channel, while playing back the music on the other channel. The music and click track are separated by any number of ways, i.e. a “Y” type connector connected to the headphone output on an i-Pod to keep things easy. Simply plug a set of headphones into the click track side of the connector and run the music to the FOH (Front of House) board. The sound man will ensure the music track comes out of the mains for the audience to hear and out of the band’s stage monitor system at the same time so the band knows what they’re playing to. The drummer is responsible for having good enough meter to stay on the click track so the band does not lose their place in the song.

You can add parts like keyboards, horns, strings percussion etc. I’ve even seen people add bass lines and guitar lines. I personally am not a proponent of this. I don’t mind using tracks for missing instruments but I generally think that the band should make every effort to cover the parts that they can when on stage. I realize that when you start using tracks it becomes easier to overlook this but when you put too much on your tracks then your show becomes a sort of karaoke show really.

Professional backing tracks differ from MIDI backing tracks because they either use real instruments ar high quality VST instruments. I’ve seen people use MIDI files as a backing track and to be honest, they sound a little like a junky little keyboard you might buy for you kid at Sears or something. Using real instruments or VST instruments is the way to go. I’ve tried both. I like the idea of VST instruments because you don’t have to hire anybody to play the instruments for you. Simply assign the proper VST instrument to the track and you have pro sounding tracks. They usually come in an MP3 format so you can play them with an i-Pod.

Having these instruments with you on stage is going to help make your band sound more complete. Especially when you’re playing in a tribute band of some sort. Having all the right parts naturally makes the song sound better. This translates into the audience hearing a better show, giving your band a better response and eventually make you stand out from the rest.

Some people think that using backing tracks is a way to cheat on stage. I agree that if you put too much on them then there is an element of karaoke, however, it takes a certain amount of skill to be able to play to tracks so that should be considered as well. Use them for the parts you need, a complex vocal harmony or two, and that’s about it.

Professional backing tracks are enormously helpful in making your band sound better. Many people don’t know notice that fact that you’re using tracks and just realize that you sound great. This is what sets you apart from all the other bands in your circuit so consider giving them a try.