The Unstarving Musician

In this episode, I'm diving deep into the world of tracking and collecting music royalties on YouTube. As an independent musician myself, I know how complex and often confusing this topic can be. That's why I'm breaking down YouTube's intricate royalty system for you, from the basics to advanced aspects. I'll walk you through: The four types of YouTube royalties and how to collect them Requirement...

This episode of The Unstarving Musician explores how independent musicians can effectively use donations as a viable income stream. The conversation covers: The historical precedent and modern relevance of fan support Crafting compelling donation requests Popular donation platforms and payment options Creating a dedicated donation page Offering incentives to encourage support Tips for successful c...

This episode dives into the complex world of music composition, master recording ownership, royalties, and income opportunities for independent musicians.  Discover the benefits of owning your compositions and the importance of master recording ownership in protecting your creative work.  Learn essential tips for navigating the music industry, from Performing Rights Organizations (PROs) to mechani...

Songwriting and selling merch at shows were topics of a recent edition of Liner Notes. As I dip my toes back into the waters of writing original material, I looked up the tips du jour to see if I could find some worth sharing. I found a few interesting tips and added a couple of less common thoughts. Selling merch has been on the top of my mind in recent months, so I thought I'd include a continua...

Finding podcast guest appearance opportunities is a cost-effective way to promote your music, share your ideas, attract new fans, and build meaningful connections. It's also a great way to practice for live radio interviews. In this episode, I cover getting started, how to screen podcasts, giving podcast hosts what they want and need from guests, crafting a compelling guest pitch, being prepared f...

The 2023 Unstarving Musician listener survey indicated that many Unstraving Musician listeners and Liner Notes subscribers were interested in learning more about selling merch and music and how to do it better. Music royalties are a long game, and most musicians won't earn much in royalties in the beginning. An alternative is direct-to-fan music sales. Physical merch and VIP packs are viable means...

This episode is about how musicians can create gigs. I have written much about finding and booking better gigs, but my perspective has expanded since I started the podcast. If you'd like to read about how I started finding and booking gigs consistently, check out The Unstarving Musician's Guide To Getting Paid Gigs. This episode is inspired  a strategy fellow musician ​Arlene Paculan​ (featured in...

Whether your art is in music or some other realm, leveraging your email list is paramount. Email marketing is a topic near and dear to my heart. Once you have an established email list, the easiest way to leverage it is by sending regular emails to subscribers. They are your supporters, after all. Begin by considering how often you will send emails. In my experience, this can be a challenging comm...

In May 2018, Julia A. Miller became the CEO & President of Delmark Records LLC. That same year, Delmark Records LLC purchased Delmark, the oldest continuously operating jazz and blues independent record label in the United States. Delmark was founded in St. Louis, Missouri in 1953. Julia and company celebrated Delmark's 70th anniversary by releasing a 70th Blues Anthology and a forthcoming 70th Ja...

Tracee Perrin is a graduate of the Musicians Institute (MI) in Hollywood, where she learned how to produce and engineer her own music. In 2010 Tracee was accepted into the ASCAP Lester Sill Songwriters Workshop, an experience she says reinforced her desire to build a career in music. Tracee has its roots in the Los Angeles, but now lives in Nashville. She has a new single out called "Poison In The...

Athxna is a Nashville-based, New Orleans-raised R&B pop singer who started her musical journey on piano at age five. She has a new release coming very soon, recording sessions in her home town of New Orleans, and plans to release more music this year. Athxna has a new sync contract, which she attributes to pursuing a music business education and career. She works for an all female PR firm based in...

Ady Parzentny of Hit The Road Studio has recorded with a mobile studio in the desert of Morocco, and has audio mixing and production course content on PromixAcademy.com. Ady says he does what he does to make the world a better place by helping people make good records, go on tour, and do what they love. As a Mixing Engineer & Music Producer, Ady works with Musicians World Wide in Pop, Rock, Jazz,...

Terry Carleton of Bones & Knives Recording Studio has recorded music for major TV shows, indy films, commercials for radio, and, in some cases, has led to helping clients procure major record deals.  Terry studied classical, jazz, and composition on full scholarship. Playing in bands for the better part of 40 years. Has played live with many notables, including rockabilly legend Link Wray, pop and...

Jennifer Roig Francoli is a violinist, coach for musicians, and Creator of The Art of Freedom Method for Conscious Living and Masterful Artistry. She's had multiple solo appearances at Carnegie Hall and with orchestras such as the Pittsburgh and Berlin Symphony Orchestras. Jennifer is also a former Associate concertmaster and soloist for the Grammy-Award winning baroque ensemble Apollo's Fire, for...

LA-based producer Lars Deutsch recently released a whimsical album called "Boum Dans L'Espace." He also created a series of short videos for the project, inspired by his appreciation for early sci-fi and the slightly out-of-tune. Lars is a two-time Emmy winner whose bio reads like this: "He went from heavy metal guitarist to singer, to songwriter, to a Masters in classical composition, to internat...

Miss Velvet  channels vocal styles like Janis Joplin and Robert Plant into a unique sound that comes through loud and clear on her new solo album "Traveler." The New York native has performed in over 100 cities worldwide, including an opening tour for George Clinton. She's entered a new stage in life and career as a mother with a changed outlook on life and a fresh sense of style. Miss Velvet is w...

Johnny Burgin  has been making waves in the U.S. and abroad as a blues player entrenched in the Chicago blues style. He has performed and recorded with blues legends like Tail Dragger, Sam Lay, Billy Boy Arnold, and Pinetop Perkins. Johnny made a name for himself in the late 90s in Chicagoland blues clubs, a record deal with Delmark, and several European tours. He plays on average more than 200 sh...

Andy McCluskey is a founding member and lead vocalist of  OMD (aka Orchestral Manoeuvres In The Dark) . His band has sold over 40 million records worldwide. They are electronic synth pioneers and one of Britains' best-loved pop groups. OMD conquered the United States with their 1986 hit, "If You Leave" from the Pretty In Pink soundtrack. They have also achieved 12 top 20 hits on the UK Singles Cha...

My guests, Chris Raspante and Jesse Spradlin, are The Vintage Yell. Chris appeared in episode 2 and episode 186 of The Unstarving Musician, which are among the most popular for the podcast. Chris and Jesse joined forces to form The Vintage Yell somewhat recently and have a lot of new music coming soon. You can find their new single "Goin' On Swinging" at  TheVintageYell.com .    Jesse, Chris and I...

This is a rewind episode featuring blues guitarist Johnny Burgin . What is a rewind episode? It's a previously published episode, one of my favorites, and one that I think merits re-publishing. I give these episodes a fresh edit, which means you will find it even more enjoyable from a listening perspective. Johnny Burgin, the coast-to-coast (intercontinental) Chicago blues man, first appeared in e...

One of the best voices in rock has been used to describe J.R. Richards. He's the original singer of Dishwalla, one of my favorite bands to emerge in the 90s. Richards has sold millions of records, written some chart-topping hits and has toured globally. Perhaps his most noteworthy accomplishment was writing "Counting Blue Cars," which he performed and recorded with Dishwalla. That song won the Bil...

Susan Rogers teaches Music Production and Engineering at The Berklee College of Music (Berklee Online). She holds a doctorate in psychology from McGill University, where she studied music cognition and psychoacoustics. Her research focuses on auditory memory, the perception of musical signals, and the influence of musical training on auditory development.  For two decades before her science career...

Rory Kenny is a co-founder and CEO of Loudly , a platform that helps create AI-generated music in seconds for your videos, social channels, advertising media, podcasts, apps, and more. It's 100% royalty-free and easy to use. Every sound on Loudly is human-made and restructured as samples, loops, and stems. Loudly allows users to download stems from AI-generated tracks and use them in their project...

Garry Peterson  is a founding member and drummer of The Guess Who. Garry has been making music for over six decades. Garry also performed with Bachman Turner Overdrive, during their support of the Van Halen 5150 Tour, a show I attended long ago. He has to his credit fifteen albums that have charted on the Billboard 200, fourteen singles that have charted on Billboard's Top 40, including two #1's,...

Nichole Wagner has a new album titled Plastic Flowers coming soon. The Austin-based songwriter released her first album in 2018. Her music is blends soulful country-rock with funky Americana sounds. She comes from the small town of Louviers, Colorado, studied Journalism at Arizona State University, eventually landing in Austin. We talk about this, plus rebooting her Patreon, a college corresponden...