Kindiecomm co-host Robert Drake fills us in on how Kindiecomm 2016 is different from the previous 2 years, tells us about some of the event's special guests and offers a few tips on networking without "networking."

Musician, author and software developer Chris Seth Jackson shares how his online gig booking service, BamDing, will help you build up your gig schedule while freeing you up to grow your kindie music business. Go to http://www.bamding.com/kindie for a special risk-free offer to begin booking gigs.

Mista Cookie Jar has appeared on dozens of other kindie artists' records, co-produced videos and created bold new forms of family entertainment with his fellow community members he's come to know both online and in person. His work often inspires me to free myself to think more flexibly about how different genres can be combined to create unique listening experiences.

In this episode I address the issues and questions that were raised in conversation with Tor Hyams about the value of artist community, sharing some real-life success stories that come from involvement in artist community. I temper my support of community time with setting realistic expectations of what you will give your community of fellow artists and what you want from that community.

Grammy-nominated producer and major festival promoter Tor Hyams offers you ways to take stock in your career in children's music, plan your path forward and evaluate what it might take for your music or media project to develop to a point where the biggest players in the industry like Disney, PBS or Nickelodeon might perceive real value to them in developing your project. Tor will push you to question what you hope to attain from time spent in community building/social mode with fellow artists. Parental warning-adult language is used in this interview.

Sponsored by KindieComm (http://www.kindiecomm.com), this episode features Kaitlin and Tommy from the Alphabet Rockers, talking about their big project, a new web TV series and how you as a children's artist might take on that big project you had in mind.

KindieComm co-organizer Robert Drake walks us through what to expect and look forward to at this year's conference for children's music professionals. I share some of my fun memories from the 2014 inaugural KindieComm.

David Brownstein (a.k.a. Groovy David) talks about what relocating means for a kids' entertainment career, how he participates in the overall kindie community with his podcast, and how artists can enhance their local scene.

Live Music Producer Tom Jackson fine-tunes his stellar live performance advice to fit the needs of the kids-and-family music setting and shares how you can increase your revenue from live performance while also helping children around the world meet their basic needs. If you think your live show is pretty good, spend some time getting to know Tom's services to go from "good to great!"

Steve Pullara, leader of the Cool Beans Band, offers kids-and-family artists some of his keys to credibility and longevity in the field; he's been entertaining families for over 30 years and now offers a folk album "Another Happy Sole" intended for the adults who grew up listening to him.