Hey I'm Jeanine, and I am the lead singer for a Richmond, VA based band that tours the Mid-Atlantic region and is starting to expand to the rest of the East Coast – and hopefully the rest of the country! As an independent musician I am learning to pretty much be a jack of all trades – writing, recording, producing, managing, marketing, booking, designing, publishing, and that’s only the tip of the iceberg. That also means I am continually looking for inclusive resources, and when I came upon AH several things struck me: how current the site is, the extent of the content, and the quality of the content and the contributors.

Current

AH keeps up with the latest developments in the music industry. George Howard just wrote an excellent article about the revolutionary Apple/Starbucks announcement – with the proverbial ink barely being dry on the agreement. Mike King and George Howard just posted an excellent article on the new Radiohead album. This is stuff that is happening now, and shaping the music industry now – and AH gives me a way to not just keep up with it, but also to understand its significance.

Extensive

There are many helpful websites for independent musicians, but one of the struggles I, and I am sure many others have, is limited time to actually find and evaluate these sites – let alone use them. At AH, I can get a birds-eye view of lots of significant topics – but I can also go deeper if desired, and if I need a more thorough understanding of a certain subject. Additionally, a lot of music resource sites focus on one area – music business, songwriting, music education – AH is not only deep, but also broad – whether you are a performer, a manager, a teacher, a booking agent (or a little of all of the above), you will find helpful and thorough information on the site.

Expertise

It never ceases to amaze me to see the names and credentials of AH contributors. Artists, professors, music business specialist, label executives – all experts in their field (in fact, I feel oddly out of place writing here!). A few examples: former RCA CEO Bob Jamieson, Loyola University and Berklee College of Music Professor George Howard, founder of Island Records Chris Blackwell, founder of Ticketmaster.com Fred Rosen. And the list goes on.

There are three main ways AH is structured as far as the format of information offered goes:

Articles

In-depth and informative articles on topics like:

• Promoting your music on MySpace

• The importance of touring

• Getting people to your gig

• Starting a record label

• The anti-genre of psychographics

• Developing a small rock band/jazz combo program

• Tips for concise writing

• How to get your CD on – and back off! – the shelves

Essential Questions

Quick reference articles on topics like:

• What is Soundscan?

• How to create a press kit

• How do I record someone else’s song?

• What is Creative Commons?

• How do I get someone to review my record?

• Where can I find free music lessons online?

You can also send questions to the staff writers of AH, and if the question has a broad enough range they will answer and post it.

Videos

The shorter videos tend to be between 2 and 6 minutes, and I usually run them while I am doing mindless things around the office. It’s sort of like a podcast, but you also get to see the person talking, which can be cool. A random selection of topics:

• Excellent video on copyright and copyright laws

• Building your online fanbase

• Artists management ethics

• How to market a new artist

• How to succeed as a career musician

There are longer videos as well, complete classes that run between 30 minutes and close to an hour and cover topics like sound design, in-depth instrument lessons, and an extensive interview with Todd Brabec of ASCAP.

Editor’s Guides

There are longer pieces that help to connect the dots using all of the above resources. How to create a marketing plan, How to find a good lawyer, An Editor’s Guide to Management, and more. These pieces are like having your own personal mentor walk you through some of the important topics that all musician’s and industry folks are dealing with everyday.

Miscellaneous Cool Things:

• Really good links. From Tunecore to The Future of Music Coalition, from Newbury Comics to the Music Manager’s Forum – AH is an amazing source of links that you should check out.

• An extensive tag-section with keywords site pages, and contributor pictures. All searchable and linked.

I hope that has been helpful in providing a guide to the rich resources on AH.

All the best to you in your musical journey!

Jeanine