In order to be a successful in this day and age, musicians must not only be great artists but also smart business people.

Mason Reed exemplifies the hard work and entrepreneurial spirit of a new generation of independent artists who are able to create their own paths to success.

Reed combines new technologies with traditional ways to make fans and promote his music.

I asked him some questions about his music, his “never ending tour,” his opinions on the music industry, and the record label he’s working to start so that he could share some of the lessons he’s learned with our V11 readers.

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When sifting through the many interesting topics which were covered in April music blogs, I came across a guest post on Future of Music by Fran Snyder called “Direct to Fan – the art of the house concert,” which discusses a new trend of independent artists playing concerts in people’s homes.

At first I wasn’t terribly impressed with the idea, but the more I read and the more I thought about it, the more I realized Snyder was actually on to something that could be a valuable tool for independent musicians.

Considering other articles I’ve read recently about the importance of direct to fan sales in facilitating independent musicians ability to make a living, the concept of making the live show available as a direct to fan item makes a lot of sense, and seems like the next logical step in direct to fan sales.

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Like many others in the tech/start up world, we get excited when learning about new products, and then when they start to get too popular we sort of want to begin tearing them down.

Not cool anymore…. So-and-so is actually better for that…. They don’t do this… They can do that better….

Well I am going to admit it. Facebook is great!

It frankly solves so many problems for promoting bands that I am beginning to worry about all the other companies that have entered this space.

When we started working with bands in 2006 there were several things I wanted to do with a band’s website: blog pages for fan interaction, easy ways to post photos of recent shows, easier and more convenient ways to promote and brand, etc.

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With a 16 year career, over 2 million albums sold, and six top 30 singles, Sister Hazel’s journey stands out as a an example of the type of long and successful career that every artist aspires to have.

With their combination of great music, extensive touring, and unique fan centered events, Sister Hazel hasn’t just acquired fans, but built a community.

I got to experience the Sister Hazel’s fan phenomenon first hand when I attended the band’s annual event The Rock Boat this year. I was so amazed at how well Sister Hazel has succeeded at building and maintaining their fan community that I wanted to find out how they did it.

I had the opportunity to ask Sister Hazel drummer Mark Trojanowski my questions.

Here’s what he had to say:

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For March’s post of the month, I chose Media Killed the Radio Star by Eric Beall. The article raises some interesting questions about why the music industry is struggling, and tries to address how musicians and the recording industry can get ahead in today’s world.

According to Beall, the problem is that music industry relies on a business model that leaves the industry at the mercy of gatekeepers, making it “a pawn in a game that it doesn’t control.”

While the music industry is good at finding and developing artists, it lacks the ability “to see that the power lies with those who understand how to use music to attract an audience.”

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You’ve been working on promoting your band and your music for quite a while now, but things are stagnating.

Perhaps it is time to re-evaluate your marketing plan.

What would you like to achieve on and off line with marketing?

Are you using Facebook as well you you can? Are you networking like you should in your local music scene, or even networking as you should with folks who can help you move up the ladder in the overall music industry?

It may be time to sit with your band mates and/or business friends and advisers to reconsider these points.

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These days our bandwidth can be so low from working and maintaining relationships with family and friends how do you keep up with the latest and greatest? Easy; use Twitter to follow the people that actually create the technology.

That brings us to Lee Martin – he takes care of Them Crooked Vultures and Beck’s Web needs, and he is also a developer within the Web Music Technology community. I am a little late on being completely blown away by his Twitter app to stream music – twt.fm. To be exact I am up and over 1.7m users late!

Within maybe 30mins I had uploaded links to 3 songs of my band Life Love Misery, including links to purchase from iTunes and it was played almost 200 times. Imagine if you band is popular; watch your bandwidth!

Once you log in and start an account this is what your twt.fm page looks like.

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In his blog “Viral growth trumps lots of faux followers,” Seth Godin aims to debunk the myth that when it comes to social networking, the more followers you have, the better.

Godin reminds us that in the new climate of social networking, producing quality content is still a better method for success than simply striving to have the most followers. Just because you have 200,000 followers does not mean that any of them are actually paying any attention or visiting your page.

Rather, Godin argues a better strategy would be to start with a small number of followers who are actual fans, then produce quality content that those fans be excited to pass along. This should not only cause more long term growth, but result in a move valuable type of follower that is not just a number.

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If you aren’t using Pandora Radio, you are missing an amazing chance to share your music with new fans.

Pandora is the largest and fastest growing radio platform in the world with 45 million registered listeners and growing in the United States.

Pandora offers a unique opportunity to independent musicians – Pandora prides itself on selecting music using a level playing field, where music is considered for inclusion solely based on quality.

Once music is selected for inclusion, the unique musical identity of a song is analyzed through the Music Genome Project. Those attributes are then used to create personalized stations for each listener based on their musical tastes.

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I had the opportunity to ask Pandora founder Tim Westergren some questions about the role of independent music at Pandora. Here’s what he had to say:

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If you really want to give yourself the best chance to succeed, make an impact, and get noticed you need to be different.

Some people can just be so special at playing guitar that they will stand out no matter what – hello Jimi Hendrix and those folks – but that is the exception. Just about everyone plays guitar, which means there are more ultra-talented guitar players.

The better way to make it is to compete in an area with less competitors. If guitar is your calling, then so be it, but if you have a choice, find the most obscure instrument around and become amazing at it.

Then see what happens…

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