There was a time in my life when I quoted Fight Club religiously. Any remark could be deftly answered with a snarky remark from the movie, demonstrating my discontent with our capitalistic and materialistic society rewarding personality rather than character. At that time I had an extreme amount of entitlement for my skills and what [...]

A widely held view by those in the mainstream and college music Industry is that SXSW is one of if not the most important yearly event for breaking new bands. A list of the bands on national PR and press radar is generated around the yearly event held in March in Austin, TX. Parties celebrating [...]

When large numbers of Houston musicians jumped onto Myspace several years ago it was an effective tool for communication, promotion and music discovery. It was also simpler to set up than a personal website, and provided international visibility for the mostly insular, strongly DIY Houston Music Community. Fast forward several years, though, and people have [...]

Today’s Bandcamp was a perfect demonstration of the wealth of knowledge that individuals in the Houston Music Community are holding. Through an open discussion about online presence, tips, tricks and best practices for bands were unlocked. Every attendee walked away with a fresh outlook on utilizing the internet for active or passive promotion of their [...]

Your website is one of the most important tools you have as an artist. It’s a place for people to discover and listen to your music, contact you, purchase your merchandise and more. Your website acts as a promoter, publicist and dj and it does all this 24/7 for anyone in the world. In addition [...]

Every month at Caroline Collective, members of Houston’s Music Community meet for open discussion and to learn new skills that can help them succeed in their craft. Tomorrow is the monthly Bandcamp session, focusing on Touring. The session will be led by Gretchen Schmaltz of Western Civilization, Sara Winter of Warehouse Live and Terry Crane [...]

Touring is one of the most important practices of a successful band. If you have any aspirations at all of making your band or your craft your career it’s important to tour regularly to stay in the public eye and to expand the geographical borders of your audience. There are few bad reasons to tour. [...]

Equipment theft will always be an eventuality for touring and recording musical artists. Even the most popular musicians are not above this situation as can be seen from a simple Pitchfork search. Theft can be traumatic, costly and seemingly strikes at inopportune times, when gear is located in the least safe places, on tour, in [...]

If you left Bandcamp early on Sunday, you missed everything. Those present for the beginning were able to catch some of the most successful in the traditional music industry that Houston has to offer. Dan Workman (@producerboy) of Sugar Hill Studios, one of the oldest and well respected recording studios in the nation. Ross Wells [...]

Any to-do list for becoming an active participant in a local music scene includes knowing your local music writers. These critics, bloggers, writers and champions provide a valuable chronicling of people, places and things that contribute to the activities of the living, breathing organism of music culture and enthusiasm. Audiophiles can keep up to date [...]