The last few weeks have been full of fear and what ifs...  When will this end and everything get back to normal...  The thing is, "normal" is no longer what we used to know as "normal"...  Normal will be an entirely new standard yet to be determined.  There is one thing that be certain though...  If you continue to live in fear you'll never survive as a musician..  Now, in this time, it is more important than ever to set goals for the future and turn our fears into hope for good things to come.  So, how do we do this?  

Putting my money where my mouth is.. I created the Musician's Survival Kit. It's exactly that.. how to survive in tough, lean times. It's the life preserver for gigging and aspiring musicians. It's actionable steps you can take right now to ensure you come out any crisis on top and with momentum.   It costs absolutely nothing and it's my way of giving and spreading hope to fellow musicians.  Go to https://GigFasterUniversity.com and get started today.

https://www.gigfasteruniversity.com

https://gigfaster.com

One thing that I see a lot that people don't do that they should really be doing is updating their Facebook page. That's not what I'm telling you right now, but most people like to have a Facebook page and they might post to it here and there, but it's more like a billboard more like, here I am here I am. But like what we're trying to do now is we're trying to connect with people as a community where what we're doing is we're going one to one. I mean it sounds like a lot of work, but this is how you build up your community and get more people to be super fans. You want super fans, your super fans are the ones that are going to show up at every show. They're going to pack the house, you're going to be able to play these great gigs where everybody's responsive and it's a large crowd and it's fun and you want more money.

https://www.gigfasteruniversity.com

https://gigfaster.com

Getting views for your music and videos can be tough. Mostly because the majority of people don’t know how to do it.

Chances are you already know where your fans are hanging out.

What bands do you sound similar to? Where are their fans hanging out?

That’s where your fans are too! They just don’t know that they’re your fans yet.

There are 3 types of traffic and I’ve pretty much borrowed this concept from Russell Brunson.

He’s arguably one of the best marketers on the planet right now.

I’m going to use his general concept on traffic so you can determine where it would be best for you to target.

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GigFaster University - https://www.gigfasteruniversity.com

The 5 Minutes Podcast For Musicians is produced by Craig Kelley, founder of GigFaster.com.

GigFaster helps musicians and bands book gigs, promote their music and submit to independent record labels.

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Instagram music marketing is another simple but super important piece of your journey to your first 1,000 fans and beyond.

The first thing you have to consider is if your audience is even on Instagram. Only you can answer that.

Is that where you hang out? Is that where people that like your style and music hangout?

Chances are, it is.

I think it’d be very rare for any musical audience to not be on Instagram.

So, what can you do to maximize your fan reach on Instagram and grow your fanbase?

What is the magic formula?

It’s funny that everyone believes there must be a secret to success in music and marketing your music on Instagram.

The truth is:

Success is the result of being persistent and never quitting!

Most artists, try and quit before they hit their tipping point for fans.

If you’re committed to keep pushing forward and not quitting then stick with me.

https://blog.gigfaster.com/52-instagram-music-marketing-101/

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GigFaster University - https://www.gigfasteruniversity.com

The 5 Minutes Podcast For Musicians is produced by Craig Kelley, founder of GigFaster.com.

GigFaster helps musicians and bands book gigs, promote their music and submit to independent record labels.

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You want your music in the hands of record label executives? Good, I’m happy for you.

Now, don’t blow your chances of even getting heard or seen. If you’re all in then you need to learn how to submit your music to record labels.

There are a ton of record labels out there.

Obviously, most of them are small independent record labels.

That’s good for you. If you can find and connect with a small label there are many benefits.

If they love you then you’ll get a lot of devotion and attention from them.

You won’t be just a small fish in a huge pond like artists on major labels.

Small indie labels will usually work with you on artist development as well.

Keep in mind that when you see a new artist on the scene, chances are they’ve been groomed for a while behind the scenes by their management which in most cases is the label itself.

So, if you want to start submitting your music to record labels follow these guidelines below.

https://blog.gigfaster.com/51-how-to-submit-your-music-to-record-labels/

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GigFaster University - https://www.gigfasteruniversity.com

The 5 Minutes Podcast For Musicians is produced by Craig Kelley, founder of GigFaster.com.

GigFaster helps musicians and bands book gigs, promote their music and submit to independent record labels.

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Over the last few weeks we've been focusing on booking gigs using emails.

The numbers from 2019 were overwhelming in favor of sending email instead of calling.

Venues and music promoters don't want you calling them.

Think about it... do you answer unknown numbers? Absolutely, not.

So, now that we know we should be reaching out to clubs using emails let's dive into what your first email should look like.

The first thing we need to understand is that we are "cold" emailing the venues.

If you don't know them then they are a stranger.

That means, you never want to send too much information right out of the gate.

If you think about the sales process, it requires a lot of trust these days.

To sell something, they say, you need at least 21 touch points.

That is, they need to see or hear, directly or indirectly, something about you before they're sold.

Thankfully, we don't need that many touch points when booking gigs with email.

What we need is to get a basic conversation started.

So, first things first in booking gigs using email....

https://blog.gigfaster.com/50-what-to-include-in-the-first-email-booking-gigs/

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GigFaster University - https://www.gigfasteruniversity.com

The 5 Minutes Podcast For Musicians is produced by Craig Kelley, founder of GigFaster.com.

GigFaster helps musicians and bands book gigs, promote their music and submit to independent record labels.

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Today we’re going to dig into a simple email subject line for booking gigs.

Sending emails to venues to book gigs was the clear winner last year and it is the preferred means of being contacted by almost all booking agents.

Often times the subject line is the last thing artists think about when contacting clubs or music blogs.

It’s just a required field on the form.

But when you’re contacting venues to book gigs, the subject of the email is critical.

It needs to get the booking agents attention.

Otherwise your message will be overlooked, instantly deleted or could possibly be sent to the SPAM folder.

https://blog.gigfaster.com/simple-email-subject-line-for-booking-gigs/

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GigFaster University - https://www.gigfasteruniversity.com

The 5 Minutes Podcast For Musicians is produced by Craig Kelley, founder of GigFaster.com.

GigFaster helps musicians and bands book gigs, promote their music and submit to independent record labels.

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In the last podcast I shared what we learned in 2019.

It was more of a confirmation that email is the way to book gigs.

Today we’re going to dig into the key ingredient to making email work for booking gigs.

It’s important that you approach sending emails the right way when contacting venues for gigs.

We’re not going to talk about the proper “content” for your subject line today.

Instead we’re going to focus on the strategy of the follow up email for booking gigs.

Article:  https://blog.gigfaster.com/book-gigs-using-follow-up-emails/

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The 5 Minutes Podcast For Musicians is produced by Craig Kelley, founder of GigFaster.com.

GigFaster helps musicians and bands book gigs, promote their music and submit to independent record labels.

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Hindsight is 2020. If you are like me, you learned a lot in 2019.

Let’s look at 2 clear lessons learned.

Article:  https://blog.gigfaster.com/how-to-book-gigs-in-2020/

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The 5 Minutes Podcast For Musicians is produced by Craig Kelley, founder of GigFaster.com.

GigFaster helps musicians and bands book gigs, promote their music and submit to independent record labels.

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The new year is quickly approaching.

Now is the time to get your act in gear. It’s time to get your musical goals and products in line so you can kill it in January and beyond.

A new year always offers hope, a new page, a new opportunity for success and change.

The truth is, you don’t have to wait for a change in the year to start.

The people who have abs on the beach didn’t get them with New Year’s resolutions. They got them by working hard all winter long.

The same applies to music.

Article:  https://blog.gigfaster.com/5-things-you-need-to-do-before-the-new-year/

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The 5 Minutes Podcast For Musicians is produced by Craig Kelley, founder of GigFaster.com.

GigFaster helps musicians and bands book gigs, promote their music and submit to independent record labels.

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