If you are one of those artists who believe they never should pay for interviews, you should reconsider. When a publication interviews you for free, you answer questions that serve the interests of their target market. You do not control the content. I agree that free publicity and fresh internet real estate are all good things. However, there are many advantages to paying a professional to produce a featured interview or post, because you can control the questions, answers and many aspects of promotion. Get Asked the Right Interview Questions First, decide why you want to be interviewed. There are many reasons why artists want to be interviewed and tell their stories. Do you want to be interviewed because you just released a new song or film or book? Are you going on tour? Are you launching a crowdsourcing campaign? Are you looking for management or to beef up your electronic press kit (EPK)? Answering the why not only influences what questions you want to be asked, but also what order you want the interviewer to ask them. People have short attention spans, so make sure the interviewer asks you the most important questions first. Next, decide who you want to target. How you choose to answer your interview questions can vary widely, depending on your target audience. For example, you may want to provide short answers if you are talking to new fans, but go more in-depth if you are talking to die-hard fans. You may want to use different language and behave more professionally if you are answering questions to for potential managers. Because you know the questions you’ll be asked in advance, you can prepare your answers, rehearse for your interview and give your audience a fabulous performance. Take Charge of Interview Promotion...

Tell Your Story  and Sell More Art We know that fans support and buy from artists they know and like. Video interviews are a great way to let your fans see you when you are not performing and to hear you talk about your background and your art. They are also a great way to introduce yourself to new fans. Since most of us cannot get booked on The Tonight Show or David Letterman, find websites like Amused Now that provide opportunities to be interviewed and post those interviews on your own website and social media sites. Imagine how much more you could sell if right next to that Buy button, you had an interview where you shared the back story about your song or film or book. Remember when you were younger how much fun it was to learn all about your idols and what your favorite song or movie or book was really about? Artists who tell their stories have a competitive advantage over those who don’t. Artists who film a great interview have an advantage over those who film a crappy interview, because fans are more likely to watch the whole thing. Booking the interview is only the first step. So, how do you prepare for a great interview? Here are some tips I’ve learned from interviewing hundreds of artists. Set the Stage Get yourself a good webcam, so the film quality of your interview is maximized. Webcams cost less than $100, and the film quality they record are much better than if you used the default webcam in your Mac or laptop. Do not conduct interviews from your phone or tablet. The aspect ratio is not right. Before the interview, sit down in the same place you plan to record...

The X-Factor is back on our screens. Love it or hate it, you can’t deny that it is a great platform for people looking for a break, but it got me thinking. Surely there must be other (less painful?) ways to share your talent with others? There is! I came across this gem of a website. Cleverly titled The Talent Bank, that is exactly what it does – provides a place to submit the results of your creativity and have it reviewed by others. If good enough, the material is submitted to the right people who can help make it happen. Unlike the X-Factor, The Talent Bank is not just about music or, rather, the singer. I like the concept that it is a portal for all genres of talent, including photography, comedy, film and even design. I didn’t have anything to upload, yet, a couple of hours later, I was still browsing. My attention was drawn to The Talent Bank’s charts pages. Each category has a chart, which has been compiled based on visitor reviews. What a great way to keep in touch with fresh ideas, whether you’re looking for new music or fresh jokes. On top of these specific charts, The Talent Bank has its own list of the highest rated submissions. The highest rated submissions are put in front of experts to review and, if the work impresses, the site sends them on to a top organization within that industry who has agreed to evaluate the category. Not bad at all, a clear process rather than a drop in a black hole. If you’re a little sceptical about the site’s influence in the grand scheme of things, you only need to look at the list of its agents. These are professionals...

Hi, I’m Rachel French. First, let’s start with a little about me. Through high school, I found a love of journalism and graphic design. I coordinated my high school’s online newspaper and simply fell in love with the ability to reach an audience and actually have something useful to say. I asked myself how I can do this for the rest of my life. So I started a company: Squeaky Chair Publications. I know the name may sound odd and confusing, but I made an agreement with my father when I was younger that if I ever named a company, I would call it Squeaky Chair or Kaleidoscopic Bedazzlement. So, out of the two, Squeaky Chair seemed more plausible. My company specializes in writing blogs and coordinating social media for clients. I personally write the blogs and am surprised that so many companies are unaware of the benefits of blogging. Blogging can raise traffic to the website, increase customer interest, and help with branding. All of these advantages in turn build authority within an industry and, hopefully, increase revenue. But, a blog is not enough. A blog cannot be useful if no one is reading it. That is why my company expanded into social media. We noticed that if companies simply blogged and expected their customer base to seek them out and find the new posts, they did not get the results they wanted. Exploiting social media for all its worth by tweeting, posting, and screaming from the rooftops about blogs is a great way to build a loyal reader base. Now, let’s talk about you and any help I can offer. Many artists can benefit from maintaining a constant and persistent social media and blogging account. Since artists depend on people viewing and...

I can’t believe we are celebrating the first birthday of The Amused Now Blog and YouTube channel. I have met many talented artists and shared many interesting stories and helpful advice. Indie artists are the bravest and truest artists in the world. This past year has been more rewarding than anything I could have imagined.  Yes, Amused Now is becoming known as one of the premiere sites to promote indie artists; but what really excites me is the community and partnerships that we are building as we grow. I love how we support each other and share each other’s successes and introduce each other to those who can help advance our careers. How many sites can say that? I want to celebrate the successes of our five most popular posts this year. I am often asked how artists can increase their reach and attract new fans. Well, I’ll let these real life examples answer that question: #1 Smiz the Moneykid ~ Office Boys NY These guys are promotion machines! Smiz the Moneykid and Villa Dom have multiple Twitter accounts, one for each of their projects. I just looked up their post and, since their post was published in February, they have over 1700 tweets. They heavily promote on Facebook and Google+ too. Lesson learned: The lifetime value of your post depends on you. As a promoter, when I publish your post, I give it my undivided attention for 1-3 days. As long as the information in your post is relevant, you can link to it from your website and social media accounts for long after the publish date. Take advantage of all your internet real estate and pump up the volume! #2 Chris Browne ~ Busker Rhyme I love Chris Browne’s positivity. I asked...

The Office Boys NY is made up of Smiz The Moneykid and Villa Dom, and we are the new wave marketing and promotion gurus of this new digital, social networking age of the music industry. Many major artists and labels are somewhat confused about how to reach the millions of fans who thirst for new music, but we’re not, lol. With the emergence of satellite radio, internet radio and digital streaming services, the indie artist now has a level playing field when it comes to having their music played and being heard by millions of fans. The first step for any artist is song protection and proper song registration. Companies like Soundscan, BDS and Radiowave all do digital radio tracking, and Sound Exchange is the exclusive company appointed by the Library of Congress to collect and distribute royalties to artists and copyright owners for music being played throughout various streaming services and digital radio stations. You no longer have to be signed to a label in order to receive royalties, but the key is still good music. A hit song is a hit song, whether you’re indie or signed. So once you have a hit, the next step is to get the copyrights and then have song registered with a P.R.O. or a performing rights organization like ASCAP, BMI, SESAC or the Harry Fox Agency. These companies distribute royalties for your music that’s played on terrestrial radio (FM radio). They pay the songwriter, the composer of the music and the publishing company who indexes and administers the business side of a song. Although these services charge a small fee, you will be able to receive royalties directly to your bank account or mailbox. Aside from being the new wave marketing and promotion gurus of...

Hi, I’m Cynthia Kahn, Founder of Amused Now. 2013 has been a wonderful year! Since I launched Amused Now Blog with the Artists Helping Artists post on May 13, we have helped over 55 Featured Artists and guest bloggers! Well, it’s that time of year to reflect back on all my blessings and to thank those who have helped me along the way. I could not have launched this blog without the help of two fabulous friends: Joseph Gier and Libby Baker Sweiger. Joseph taught Libby and me how to use Google+ Hangouts for the first time. Did you know that I did not record the first Featured Artist video interviews? It was Libby took the reins and blazed that trail for us, creating those first video interviews for YouTube. Thank you Joseph and Libby for all your help launching the Featured Artist Series: http://www.youtube.com/amusednow I’d also like to thank those artists who believed in me and our mission to “create a world where artists can make a living doing what they love.” Since we have so many new fans, I thought it would be fun to share some insight into Amused Now’s beginnings and to show my appreciation by giving our first five Featured Artists and bloggers a little added exposure. Featured Artist Damien Cripps ~ The Music Has the Power It seems funny that we know so many indie artists in the US, yet our first Featured Artist resides in Australia. Libby has been social media friends with Damien Cripps for years, so she reached out to him for the series. What a trouper! Libby got up and dressed and interviewed Damien at 4:30 am her time, just as Damien was getting ready to go out and play a gig. The video quality...

Music, it’s a five letter word, right? Correct, but it has so much more meaning and value to so many of us. Music keeps us going everyday, keeps us sane, gets us through so many things in life and makes us feel like we have a purpose. Music is the only industry that many of us feel we will always belong to. Well, that can definitely be said about me, about how I am with music and about how I feel. My name is Cassie Werner. I’m the founder of the music promotion pages called Aesthetic Heart Promotions. I’m 20 years old, based out of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. I promote and support all things music in all states and everywhere around the world. What is Aesthetic Heart Promotions? It’s a free music promotion company, founded in March of 2011, that strongly believes in supporting everything music. Aesthetic Heart Promotions promotes bands, record labels, recording studios, music promotion pages, venues, show and tour flyers, event pages, music booking companies, clothing companies that sponsor bands, graphic designers that help bands, band photographers, music media websites and music production companies – anything that involves music and helps the music scene or industry. We are  highly devoted to the music industry and we have an unlimited amount of passion for everything on our websites. We want to make a difference in the music scene, and we want everyone to know that there are people out there who care about the music scene and support it. That’s what Aesthetic Heart Promotions stands for. We truly and genuinely care about advancing music careers. We believe that everyone in the music industry should be heard and get their message out there!  Also, most importantly, Aesthetic Heart Promotions helps keep the music scene alive. How do we...