It’s refreshing to get contributions from guest bloggers who are kind enough to share their experience and their expertise with readers here so as to provide insights that will shed more light on various aspects of the entertainment business. There will certainly be more of such in 2019.
However, before publishing any of those, and in follow-up to last Monday’s “Most Read Blogs of 2018” post, here’s a look back at the top ten most read on this site last year from guest writers.
10) “To Fill Out Seats in a Popular Joint is Musician’s Dream,” by Michael Szymus - Sure, it's practical to think globally but act locally and look at smaller venues that might be realistic to perform at, but at some point your sights get set on - and hopefully your performance career gets on a course for - playing some major venues such as those named here.
9) “Dealing with Difficult People for Creative Professionals,” by Nancy Fulton - Based in Hollywood, Nancy Fulton works regularly with writers, screenwriters, filmmakers, and other creative professionals and, as a result, has extensive experience - unfortunately - dealing with difficult people.
8) “Copyright – Better Safe Than Sorry,” by Chris Tanner - An artist, musician, and inventor himself, patent attorney Chris Tanner writes here about the importance of securing copyrights for your music and how easy it is to do such, even providing screenshots of the website where you can do it yourself.
7) “7 Intangibles for Getting Booked for a House Concert,” by Barb Routen - Barb Routen is a musician but, along with her husband, has also hosted and booked house concerts, so she shares insights into what will help you secure those types of shows.
6) “Some of the Best Indie Clubs on the Las Vegas Strip to Get Gigs,” by Harvey Pratt - For those performers with designs on making it to one of our country's entertainment meccas to get on stage, this guest blog names a handful of places you might want to try to target.
5) “So You Want to Perform on a Cruise Ship,” by Laura Wright - Singer, songwriter, dancer, actress Laura Wright performs regularly in Las Vegas but also is an entertainer on cruise ships and writes all about what that involves.
4) “Musicians Take Note – ‘Google Forced a Change in Copyright Enforcement’,” by Chris Tanner - Patent attorney Chris Tanner writes about where YouTube has come from to now be "the number one music destination site on the planet for music discovery and search," but also, as a result, what their Content ID system means in terms of policing potential copyright violations by the average user/uploader.
3) “Music Modernization Act Heads to Oval Office,” by Erin S. Hennessy, Jonathon K. Hance, and Annie Allison - Three attorneys from a law firm in Houston talk about a bill that was headed to President Trump's desk aiming to "provide a significant update to how artists are paid for their music."
2) “The Music Business – Not for the Weak of Heart,” by Danny Brooks - Veteran singer, songwriter, guitar player Danny Brooks walks you through various steps that have been key to his four decades in music and why these are important if your entertainment career is going to stand a chance at flourishing.
And the number one, most read guest blog on this website in 2018 was…
1) “Even the Stars Had to Knock on Doors,” by Tony Michaelides - Citing the early (early!) years of now music legends U2, Tony Michaelides tells first-hand of how even they had to get their start doing the grind that indie artists are grappling with now as everyone strives for that 'household name' success of groups like Bono's.
Which one of the above was your favorite and/or helped you the most? Talk about these ten and your reactions to one or more of them in our Facebook group!
Bruce
14 January 2019
By: Various