I had coffee last week with someone who is doing something very cool in the DIY music community. His name is Kevin Breuner and he leads the CD Baby DIY Musician Podcast - one of the most valuable strategy and knowledge resources available for independent artists. He also enjoys Stumptown coffee just as much as I do, so he’s obviously a very smart guy.
I think it goes without saying that CD Baby has always been a leading tool and resources for indie artists. Derek Sivers founded and ran the company as a virtual hippie commune, always trying to do what is right for artists and maintain a sense of loyalty and integrity for hard working musicians. And while Sivers has moved on and CD Baby is now under ownership of big, national CD replication/duplication giant, Discmakers – the DIY Musician Podcast lives on as a testament – the epitome of what CD Baby was founded on and has long stood for.
Exploring some of the most important areas and needs of DIY artists, I cannot applaud the efforts of Kevin enough for what he’s done with this podcast. Along with his trusty co-hosts, Chris Robley and Chris “Robert” Bolton, these guys have developed something really special. Possibly the most valuable component of the weekly podcast is how they seek out some of the foremost experts in the industry and bring them onto the show for enlightening and rewarding interviews.
We at Team Marmoset have some favorite episodes that we highly recommend you take the time to listen to. We’ve listed these below, each with a little description. Moreover, every smart and responsible independent artist needs to subscribe to the podcast and take time every week or two to catch-up on some critically important insider and industry knowledge. You can subscribe here:
Team Marmoset Recommended Listens/Downloads:
Episode #42 – Microblogging Your Music Career – Insights on blogs, Twitter and why artists should embrace these tools.
Episode #40 – Alex Steininger – PR Veteran, Alex Steininger, gives some tips on how to get press and tell your story.
Episode #29 – Ariel Hyatt – Online PR gal, Ariel Hyatt makes sense of social networking, Myspace and more.
Episode #26 – Amy McCollough – Former Willie Week music editor, Amy McCollough explains what and what not to do.
Episode #14 – Jeff Stuart Saltzman – Arguably the best engineer in town – Jeff Saltzman sheds some lights on mixing.
Episode #16 – Dylan Magierek – Dylan Magierek of Badman Recording talks the ins and outs of small indie labels.
Episode #3 – Alicia Rose – One of the most influential people in the NW music scene – Miss. Rose gets brutally honest.
Episode #2 – Lisa Lepine – Veteran Promotions Expert, Lisa Lepine, gives you exactly what you need.
Happy listening…
PS – Minor sidenote and moment of shameless promotion – which is what I do best….
Aside from running the CD Baby DIY Musician Podcast, Kevin Breuner is also a very talented musician himself, with a DNA that includes some impressive musical accomplishments in his career. Most interesting is his latest project, Hello Morning. They are only in the infant stages, but undoubtedly have great potential, purely based on the band lineup. In addition to Kevin, who was a founding member of national act Smalltown Poets, they’ve got Henry Curl of Jonah belting out the vocals, along with Benjy Rickard and Peter Swenson, both formerly of Jonny Ragel’s project, Boy Eats Drum Machine. Nice pedigree, huh? You can listen to the early iterations of Hello Morning here: www.myspace.com/hellomorningband
And I should probably pimp my friend, Chris Robley, too. His band, Chris Robley and the Fear of Heights, is damned good and will be co-headlining the new and improved Mississippi Studios on March 27th with The Dimes. You might notice that the intro music for the DIY podcast is one of Chris’ latest singles, User Friendly Guide to Change.
