Active Listening, How To Listen To Music
Active listening is one of the fastest and most efficient way you can improve your songwriting and music production skills. The first step to understand (and make!) music you love.
Learning From The Best: Patti Smith
I read Just Kids by Patti Smith. What struck me the most about her? How much she trusts the creative process and patiently lets her projects mature.
Licensing Your Music Without Making A Costly Mistake
9 tips to avoid costly mistakes when you start licensing your music. Navigate the licensing world with confidence and purpose.
How To Copyright Music, A Guide For The Fast And Furious
Understand why music copyright is important. Make the difference between copyright ownership and copyright registration. Learn how to copyright music in a fast, affordable and efficient way.
Who Cares What I Think?!
Seeking approval is only human. But it can kill your music if you don't watch out. Especially if you ask the wrong questions to the wrong people.
F**k Social Media, Your Music Career Doesn’t Need It
Successful musicians all have one thing in common. And it's got nothing to do with a fancy website or an elaborate social media strategy.
Finding The Best Music Distribution Service For Your Needs
Sneak-peek inside my favorite music distribution service. Learn how to get your music on Spotify, verify your artist page and start building a following in no time.
Self-Publishing Music: The Pros, The Cons and How To Get Started
Self-publishing music can mean more money, more control and more freedom. But it requires more time spent on administrative work, networking and sales.
Learning From The Best: Miles Davis
Kind of Blue. What musicians and songwriters can learn from the making of Miles Davis' most popular album. Whether they're into jazz or not.
Keep Calm and Create
Toolbox to help artists get out of a rut and keep a creative mindset. How to stay creative and productive, even when life gets rough and inspiration dries up.
Selling Art Under A Pseudonym
Selling art under a pseudonym gives you the freedom to experiment and explore a multitude of creative projects without compromising your reputation.
Music Production Tips: 5 Things You Can Start Doing RIGHT NOW To Improve Your Mixes
Music production tips for beginners that are free and easy to implement. Will improve your mixes overnight, even if you're working in a home studio.
Songwriters Block: Creative Tricks To Beat the Blank Page
Creative techniques to overcome songwriters block. Borrow from different art forms and cultures to trigger your imagination and build your creative muscle.
Music Conferences for Sync Licensing
Top music conferences for sync licensing. How to prepare for music industry events. How to stand out once you get there.
Submit Music For TV Placement
Learn how to skip the middlemen and submit music for TV placement. Work directly with music supervisors and filmmakers to keep 100% of your licensing revenues.
Music Production Workflow To Finish What You Start
Music production workflow ideas to help songwriters. Come up with song ideas. Keep momentum in the music studio. Finish what you start.
ISWC vs ISRC, What You Need To Know
ISWC and ISRC numbers help songwriters and music producers get paid. Learn how to get the ISWC and ISRC codes you need and embed them in your audio files.
Networking in the Music Industry For The Shy And Busy
It's hard to stand out and get noticed when you're networking in the music industry. It's even harder if you make these 3 common mistakes....
Recording Studio Equipment List for Beginners and Procrastinators
The essential recording studio equipment list to help you write, record and produce radio quality music in your home studio. This post is for songwriters who want to start producing their own music and music producers who love their gear but struggle to finish tracks.
How To Choose The Right Music Licensing Companies For Your Songs
7 questions to help you determine what music licensing companies are a good fit for you.
6 Top Music Libraries For Music Producers
What are the best music libraries to send music? That's a question I get asked at least once a week. I've previously written about how you can find the right music library FOR YOU. Today, I'm going to save you a bunch of time and research [...]
Can Licensing Hurt Indie Musicians?
How to get a record deal? How to get a publishing deal? How to get your music heard? Music Licensing can be the answer to all of these questions BUT.... As an indie musician, if you're not careful, music licensing can also hurt you. 7 Minutes To [...]
Composition vs Sound Recording
Understanding the difference between a Composition and a Sound Recording is KEY to understanding how people get paid in the music industry. And you want to get paid, right? 😉 A Composition and a Sound Recording are two very different things, two types of assets you can build your [...]
How To Prepare Audio Files For Licensing
Once you get the green light from a music library or music supervisor, best be prepared to deliver what they need! This post will list all the audio files you need to maximise your chances of getting your music licensed. That's the promise of this post. If there's [...]
The Strange Case of Dr. Tags and Mister Metadata
No more confusion around metadata for your music!!! That's the promise of this post. Feel free to correct me in the comments section if anything is still unclear after reading this.... Most of the confusion comes from the fact that there are 2 sorts of "metadata". [...]
What Kind Of Music Do You Need To Get On TV?
The first thing you need to wrap your head around is... You’re ALREADY writing music for film and TV. Yes, even if you’re writing in an incredibly weird and niche sub-genre, there is room for your music in films and/or TV and/or video games and/or advertising. Don’t believe me? [...]
12 FREE Online Music Courses to Master Your Craft
Free Courses and Resources. That's the promise of this post. If you'd like to share other cool music resources and online courses or tools that are 100% free to use, the comments section is there for you.... What's the Use of Online Courses? Open Your [...]
Earning A Living As An Indie Musician With Justin Tessier
This post is a bit special..... I'm interviewing Justin Tessier, drummer extraordinaire for The Blue Stones. Justin and Tarek Jafar met in high-school. They are the duo behind The Blue Stones, a blues-rock duo based in Windsor, Ontario. 3 Reasons You Don't Want To Miss What Justin Has [...]
How Do You Know Your Music Is Ready For Licensing?
You don’t! BAM!! That's it for today! Thank you very much..... 😛 No, seriously, until you earn a music placement, there's no hard and fast way to determine if a song is ready for licensing or not... Why? Because NOBODY has a clue!!! JK Rowling received a LOT of [...]
Is Your Day Job Getting in the Way of Your Music Career?
When you’re a parent or have a demanding full-time job or both, it’s hard to find time to work on music. In fact, it’s much easier to forget about music for weeks at a time and only wake up every few months feeling discouraged and defeated because, despite all [...]
How To Be Insanely Productive In The Studio
How many songs did you write last year? 2? 5? 10? 20?! What if I told you that you can easily DOUBLE your output in the studio? What if I told you that you don’t even need to spend more time in the studio?…. Would that be interesting for you? Ok, I’m teasing…. I [...]
Debunking big music licensing MYTHS with Chuck Hughes
This post will show you how to be financially successful licensing your music. In the process, it will challenge pretty much every single pseudo-truth you’ve heard about music licensing! The bottom line is this…. What you actually need?…. Quiet persistence. What you DON'T really need?…. A large catalogue of music and contacts within the industry. [...]
Finding The Best Production Music Libraries FOR YOU
Where should I send my music? What are the best production music libraries for hip-hop/folk/electronic/[fill-in-the-blank]? How can I find royalty-free libraries that are a good fit for my music? This post is for you! I'm going to answer ALL of these questions and tell you exactly WHERE to [...]
Keyword the SHIT out of your Music!
Your music has been accepted by a music library... Great, congratulations! You've arrived! Well, almost... It's actually only the beginning 😉 I don't know if you've noticed but it's not rare for a music library to have thousands of tunes on offer. Step 1 was getting in there. You've done [...]
One Simple Trick To Improve Your Music Writing Skills…
Whether you’re a complete beginner or seasoned music composer, there is ONE, unbeatable trick that will ALWAYS improve your music writing skills… And the best thing is that it’s FREE! So what is it? I know, I know, you’ve probably thought about that one before 😉 and yet, until now, [...]
The 7 Day Challenge to Kickstart Your Career in Music Licensing
Have you been hearing a lot about music licensing without really knowing what it means or how to do it? Would you like to understand how you can get your music working for you while you sleep? Yep? GREAT! You’re in the right place! I’ll tell you exactly what [...]
What Kind of Licensing Deal Should You Sign?
Are you devaluing your music by signing non-exclusive license agreements? Do music supervisors privilege exclusive deals? What are the risks of signing an exclusive deal? Are you shooting yourself in the foot every time you sign a non-exclusive deal with a new music library? These are some of the questions [...]
The Big (Not So) Bad Re-Titling Deal
Ever come across a music library who was offering a non-exclusive retitling deal? If you’ve been in the music licensing business for a while, chances are you’ve heard good and bad things about them. If you’re just starting out, you might want to understand what you’re getting yourself into. Here’s [...]
Booohooo…. I’m not famous or rich yet…
Do you know what's the best way to freak out? Comparing yourself to others! And what's the best way to keep your sanity? Take it step by step, little by little, Celebrate your accomplishments and never EVER forget: YOU'RE ONLY HUMAN! It's fine if you binge on TV shows once [...]
Mozart and David Bowie Are Not That Great…
Or are they? ? STOP comparing yourself to others in the public eye! While there are some genius exceptions and some not so genius exceptions (hello reality-TV)… QUALITY COMES WITH QUANTITY, wait for it…. OVER TIME! 99.9% of the time. In other words, practise, practise, practise, create, create, [...]
You’re not a morning person (yet)
Here's how you can write bucket loads of music even, if not especially (!), if you have a 9 to 5 job to contend with. I didn't think I'd ever be able to wake up regularly at 5 or 6AM to work on music before heading to the office but [...]
The Truth About Time? You have plenty of it!
Think you don't have enough time to do anything? Think again 😉 Every week is made up of 168 hours. Here are a few assumptions: 8 hours in the office 5 days a week 8 hours of sleep every night 1.5 hours to get ready in the morning 1 hour [...]
Hey there lazy, this one’s for you!
You know that feeling you get when you start thinking about all the things you have to do? It's the same feeling you often get when you compare where you are to where you want to be. You've been busting your ass off and can't seem to make any progress, [...]
The Muse Strikes by 9 A.M.
Building a morning routine that includes a 30 minute music session has been the single most impactful decision in my life when it comes to composing. Before that, I used to wait for inspiration to strike. For periods of time, the muse showed up fairly often and then it stopped, [...]
Can a creative be productive?
Mmmmm... let me think... Many many years ago, a pompous math student argued that artists don’t produce anything of value. I looked at him, just as confused as he looked at me. We simply didn’t get each other. Since then, I’ve thought a lot about what artists in general and musicians [...]
10 steps to get started
Hi there, This is a post for composers who don't know where to start, beginners or seasoned musicians who are in a rut and want to get going (again). Step 1: block out the next 30 minutes, set your timer and commit to no distractions until it goes off Step 2: open [...]