INDUSTRY

From pounding the pavement to get fans to shows to placing her music in TV shows, commercials and on websites like CollegeHumor.com, Cheryl's self-generated successes have earned some serious street cred in the music industry. She has received invitations to speak on panels at SXSW and the Millennium Music conferences, and also acts as a consult and judge for the annual international Song Circle songwriting contest. Her blog, "Living On Gigging", includes articles that have been published for Performer and Keyboard Magazines. She caters her writing to other bootstrap musicians aiming to step into a life full of creativity and financial stability. In addition to her writing, Cheryl has collected her experiences and tactics and developed a seminar called "Pursuit of Passion: Creating A Creative Career" which she has given at several other festivals, universities and high schools across the country including the Sundance Film Festival, The Millennium Music Conference, New York University, the University of Connecticut and Cornell University. The premise of her seminar is having participants outline what they want to contribute to in the world, and then translate that to a sustainable successful creative career doing what they love. Cheryl is now working on her first e-course and online workshop. Stay tuned!

E-Course CoverCheryl's E-course on jump starting your music career is officially released!! It's called In The Key Of Success: The Five Week Jump-Start Strategy. Get your copy!

If you are interested in one-on-one artist career consulting with Cheryl, get in contact by sending an email to info @ cbemusic dot com.

The 9-Step DIY Fan Funding Checklist

Posted on January 9, 2012 by Cheryl
This entry was posted in Living on Gigging, Marketing, Music Business and tagged , , .

The following is an excerpt from the e-course “In The Key Of Success: The Five Week Jump-Start Strategy”. You can get the rest of the course here to jump start your career today!

The next opportunity I want to suggest to you is asking your fans to pay for your new album. From June 2010 to March 2011, I raised over $25,000 in fan donations to fund the production of my record ONE UP. It’s possible, people. But no one will give you a dime if your campaign is “I really really want to make a record- please give me money!”. You need to create an opportunity for your fans that will inspire them to participate.

I offered different levels of donation from $50 to $5,000, which meant bigger prizes for those who donated more. Play big! Never think no one will ever give little old you that much. You will be surprised. The prize for a $1,000 donation was singing with me on a song. This is an experience exchange. Someone did donate $1,000 to my record, and she told me the studio experience was worth it ten times over. A couple also donated $5,000 and I wrote a song for [read more]

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5 Ways to Make the Most of the Holidays

Posted on November 22, 2011 by Cheryl
This entry was posted in Living on Gigging, Music Business.

While the corporate world and almost everyone else are out of the office for the holidays, I often struggle with this forced “downtime”; as a full-time musician, I’m never not working. I’m either plugging my next show, looking for the next film placement, writing a song, scheduling a band rehearsal, calling booking companies, or, at the very least, thinking about one of these things. This time around, I’m lucky to be releasing an e-course which is keeping me busy (shameless and important plug: if you are reading this article, you need to check out the Jump Start Strategy). But normally, most of the things we do as musicians are hard to do when the entire music industry is hibernating for a week, and an inbox full of “out of office” auto replies is simply useless to me.

I’ve come up with a solution for RMS (restless musician syndrome) that allows me to be a part of the holiday season and spirit without abandoning my work-a-holic diligence. I want to share it with you. (This is my present to you, so don’t expect a fruitcake this year, mmm kay?)

1) Write or remix a song to have a holiday [read more]

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Posted on October 24, 2011 by Cheryl
This entry was posted in Living on Gigging, Music Business and tagged , , , , .

Writing, for me, is like running. They are both good for me (and for those around me), yet they both take a marching band-sized cheering squad to get me started. The amount of debating, procrastinating, dodging, and fidgeting I do when I know it’s time to open a blank Pages document or put on my running shoes, is ridiculous. I’ve been on my own, making money and getting my own gigs, for YEARS. You’d think being a freelance composer and an independent artist (not to mention a personal trainer back in the day) would require mad discipline and skills to overcome the temptations of procrastination. So why have I been feeling so stuck lately??

The answer came to me recently while developing an E-course for independent musicians looking to make new strides in their careers. Through this process, I had to examine my own practices and habits. I learned that the moments of feeling stuck in my career were usually followed by moments of occupational breakthroughs. Seemingly insignificant opportunities, where I was dragging my feet to complete small tasks, opened up bigger doors. Just knowing that feeling stuck is my personal way of resisting the success that lies ahead has allowed me [read more]

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The Baby Committment

Posted on July 13, 2011 by Cheryl
This entry was posted in Living on Gigging, Music Business, On a Personal Note.
me and violet

This gallery contains 1 photo.

It’s been a while since I’ve written. You’ve heard this before, right? From other artists whose mailing lists you are on. Maybe you’ve heard it from a friend over email. Or perhaps you’ve written it yourself. The cause of such a hiatus, I have observed, is usually due to the creation of something that takes all of one’s energy and attention. I’ve heard it from my friends who just had a baby. And I’ve heard it from friends who were looking, and then finally bought a house. And I’m writing it now, to you, because I released a record.

For the past year and a half I felt like I was at war. Or at least in a very intense wrestling match… With myself, with my bank account, with my loved ones, with my music, my lyrics, with everything. It felt dramatic, pressurized, urgent, as if this was IT, the last chance, the final statement. Very theatrical, I know. Really, what was happening, is that I was making an album. That’s all.

I’ll have another post soon about my exact process of raising $25,000 from fans and sponsors to fund the record, and the process of selling [read more]

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“Exposure”Exposed: 6 Ways to Create It Yourself

Posted on September 28, 2010 by Cheryl
This entry was posted in Living on Gigging, Marketing, Music Business.

exposure |ikˈspō zh ər|
noun
• an act or instance of being uncovered

The unseen artist yearns to be seen. The unheard musician needs to be heard, and the under budget company wants to under pay everyone. While this may be more of my more cynical points of view, I’d like to start off by saying that while promises of “exposure” in exchange for goods (in this article, for the sake of argument, we’ll use a track off your recent, self-released record) is usually a scam, that is not always the case. My tour mate Shaun Ruymen has a track in the new movie “You Again”, and he most certainly has a great chance of exposure. The opportunities for exchanging your music for real, mass exposure are out there, rare as they are.

That being said, I move on. MOST of the time, when promised exposure in exchange for use of your track, chances are it’s because there’s no chance of being paid. And in most areas of the music business where there is an audience (a real audience, where you will really get said exposure), there is usually money. The PROs (performing rights organizations like ASCAP, BMI and SESAC) are close behind, ready [read more]

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The Task of Asking

Posted on September 7, 2010 by Cheryl
This entry was posted in Living on Gigging, Music Business, On a Personal Note and tagged , , , , , .

The logistics of staying small are quite voluminous. Even being a perfectionist is a form of procrastination. The comfort of “being a starving artist” is overwhelmingly powerful. As a sense of urgency for change crept in, I got clear that I had to create a context of fearlessness, creativity and freedom for myself and let this new context propel my next actions. Continue reading →

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Extraordinary Fences: Hosting the Circle

Posted on August 6, 2010 by Cheryl
This entry was posted in Living on Gigging, Music Business, On a Personal Note, Published Articles and tagged , , , .
Song Circle 8/2/10

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as written for Song Circle Music

When I got the email from Tina Shafer (New York Songwriter’s Circle founder) asking me to guest host the Circle at New York’s famous Bitter End, I was beyond honored. This is the thing… I’ve played the Bitter End a dozen times, and performed in both the New York and Philly Circles several times. What made this Circle so special to me was that I didn’t feel I did anything extraordinary to warrant such an invitation. For years, I was a fairly normal indie artist on one side of the fence. The people on the other side were those who choose contest winners, picked singers for publishing deals, got musicians on commercials.

Let me explain. It’s not that I don’t think I AM extraordinary. Clearly, I’m fabulous. But I didn’t win any contests, get any major record deal, or have anyone dance to a song of mine on So You Think You Can Dance. I was a finalist in the first year of the Songwriter’s Circle contest back in 2006, but I didn’t even get top three. Since then, I’ve just been a familiar [read more]

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Homemade Acoustic Treatment

Posted on July 29, 2010 by Cheryl
This entry was posted in Living on Gigging, Music Gear/Processes and tagged , , , , , , .
Hammering the frames together

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When my roommate moved out of his portion of our 3-bedroom Harlem apartment, I packed up my stuff and moved too…. into the other two rooms while giving my old room to a new roommate. One of my new rooms is slowly turning into a studio. A real space where I can write, record and produce my music. Of all the upgrades I need (the list includes a new computer, printer, audio interface, cables), I chose to start with the room itself. As the corner room of my apartment building, the room is quiet, but full of echos when empty. I reserved one corner of the room for vocal recording, then decided to treat the big wall above the couch as a reflective surface- the spot where sound would be bouncing most directly from my speakers. I wanted to spice up the vibe of the room as well as make any decorations acoustically useful. Thus began my project.

I decided to make ten 1′x1′ panels out of wood frames, foam and cool fabric. I found some wood in my dad’s basement and cut a whole bunch of 1″x1″x12″ pieces. If you don’t have access to free wood, Home Depot sells a [read more]

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Solving the PR Puzzle

Posted on April 6, 2010 by Cheryl
This entry was posted in Living on Gigging, Marketing, Music Business and tagged , , , , , , .

As far as I know, every musician is looking for more exposure. To be heard by other people is to have our art honored, accepted and justified. It is a connection, a performance, an intimate relationship to have our words, melodies and creations shared with the world. And it is our livelihood.

The question is an ever-changing how? How do we use new technologies to gain exposure? How should we spend our money and time on reaching more people? How should we shuffle through the dozens of public relation and promotion companies to choose the right one to develop OUR relationship with the public? And is it worth it?

This is what I have learned: you need to know what you need before taking on a PR plan. It doesn’t matter if your plan is to put up posters all over town or hire the top PR firm in your area to make elite connections for you. You need to know what it is you and your music needs. I’ll tell you my story and my mistakes and hopefully help you figure out your PR direction.

After I produced my very first album, I had only done a few shows and had [read more]

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Sh!ts and Giggles From Iraq

Posted on February 8, 2010 by Cheryl
This entry was posted in Living on Gigging, Music Business, On a Personal Note and tagged , , , , , , .

Like many entrepreneurs, start-uppers, project initiators, and believers in the impossible, when launching my One Up project to write and release one inspiring song a month for 2010, I knew that the money to make it happen would come. I had no idea it was going to come from Iraq.

On my One Up webpage, there’s a big red button to donate to the project to help cover costs of producing the songs, in return for some fan perks like t-shirts, singing on a tune, a private house concert, etc etc. For the month of January, as my e-mail program dinged with alerts from PayPal that another fan had donated a few dollars, my heart would swell with gratitude. Last week, however, I thought it was going to explode when I got notification that a US Military Sergeant (with a mailing address that includes “Troop” and “Calvary”) nearly tripled the amount of money I had raised this year with a single donation. His note in the line labeled “Donation Purpose” read “Sh!ts and giggles.”

Luckily, PayPal gathered his email address for me and I was able to write him a sincere thank you. His light-hearted response to my thanks was that [read more]

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