In the mid-1990s a fresh, Do-It-Yourself approach to producing album art began to percolate through the post-punk, emo and hardcore music scenes in the US and Europe. The visual material that is gathered together inDIY Album Art: Paper Bags & Office Suppliesshowcases a unique aesthetic and usage of materials borne out of financial necessity and creative imperatives. While a great number of the bands have not endured, their hand-made, screen-printed, glued, photocopied, drawn on, sewn together packaging paved the way for the potential of innovative, non-traditional music packaging.

Imagine a time before everyone stared at a screen, before fonts, icons, mice, and laser printers, before Apple and Microsoft? But in El Segundo and Palo Alto, Xerox engineers were dreaming and secretly building the modern personal computer. Who were they? Why did corporate management just want to sell copiers and printers?The author, Albert Cory,* was one. Inventing the Future is based on the true story of the Xerox Star, the computer that changed everything

Whether your band is just starting out or touring the nation, here’s how you can build its identity by making your own unique gig posters, custom T-shirts, album covers, record sleeves, and stickers. Fans want cool and creative band merchandise, and this book gives you the tools and information you need to create your own. Author Ruthann Godellei is an artist and printmaking professor at Macalester College in St. Paul, Minnesota, with vast experience making gig posters as well as teaching band members how to make their own. She explains, with step-by-step instructions and photos, techniques like screenprinting, photocopy art, mixed-media collage, stencil, stamping, and other guerilla art styles. Included as well is a gallery of art and artists to inspire you in creating your band’s look with your merch.

How Do I Promote My Music On A Small Budget? How Do I Get My YouTube Videos to Spread? How Do I Turn Casual Fans Into One’s Who Buy From Me? How Do I Get Written About On Blogs? How Do I Increase Turnout At Shows? How Do I Make Fans Using Facebook, Twitter, Tumblr And SoundCloud? With every day that passes, the power the major labels once had dies a little more. The chance to get the same exposure as your favorite musicians gets easier and easier. The hurdles that would only allow you to get popular, if the right people said your music was good enough, are gone. You can now get exposed to thousands of potential fans without investing 1% of what musicians used to by building a fanbase based on listeners love for your music. No more writing letters hoping that A&R writes you back. This book explains how you do it. While many books will tell you obvious information, legal mumbo-jumbo and marketing catchphrases that don’t help you get more fans. Our experience working with real bands - from upstarts like Man Overboard and Transit to legends like The Cure, The Misfits and Animal Collective, has led us to understand the insider tricks and ideas that go into some of the most important groups of our time. We produce records, do licensing deals, negotiate record contracts and get the musicians we work with written about on websites like Pitchfork and Vice. We have worked with bands who started off as nothing and became something. Unlike any other book written on the subject we have compiled the knowledge no one else has been willing to print in fear of obsoleting their own career. We give you thousands of ideas on how to get people to hear your music and turn them into fans who pay to support your music. Whether you are a label owner, musician, manager, booking agent or publicist there is information in this book that will help you do what you do better. Enjoy! For more information see GetMoreFansBook.com

Do it yourself and succeed! More and more artists are taking advantage of new technologies to try and build successful careers. But in this expanding competitive marketplace, serious do-it-yourself musicians need structured advice more than ever. In Music Marketing for the DIY Musician, veteran musician and industry insider Bobby Borg presents a strategic, step-by-step guide to producing a fully customized, low-budget plan of attack for marketing one’s music. Presented in a conversational tone, this indispensable guide reveals the complete marketing process using the same fundamental concepts embraced by top innovative companies, while always encouraging musicians to find their creative niche and uphold their artistic vision. The objective is to help artists take greater control of their own destinies while saving money and time in attracting the full attention of top music industry professionals. It’s ultimately about making music that matters, and music that gets heard! Updates include: New interviews highlighting current marketing strategies for the new music market Info on how to leverage digital marketing and streaming playlists Updated stories and examples of current music marketing principles Future forecasts and trends into music marketing New and revised services, tools, references, and contacts that can help musicians further their careers New marketing plan samples for bands/solo artists and freelance musicians and songwriters

ELLEgirl, the international style bible for girls who dare to be different, is published by Hachette Filipacchi Media U.S., Inc., and is accessible on the web at ellegirl.elle.com/. ELLEgirl provides young women with insider information on fashion, beauty, service and pop culture in a voice that, while maintaining authority on the subject, includes and amuses them.

Focusing on the semiotics, poetics, and rhetoric of album covers, Coverscaping gives a serious study of this neglected art form. Working from the assumption that record sleeves may be found to represent a visual genre in its own right, the essays in this book engage in various ways with the analysis of what one might call the pictorial component of recorded music. The contributions, from scholars in many different fields, run the whole gamut from close readings of individual covers to more theoretical or philosophical explorations of the aesthetic nature and artistic value of album covers.