Inspired by the Twitter feud between LeVar Burton and Michael Ian Black, Benjy has thrown down the gauntlet and declared a war against the other Sonicbids staffers on Twitter.  If Tess, Tony or myself are not able to get more Twitter followers than him by the end of March, Benjy has demanded a USB Powered Air-Conditioned Shirt as patronage.

Only you can save us from this fate by following us on Twitter.

Benjy	Lou	Tess	Tony

Hi friends,

Happy belated Valentine’s Day! Just thought I would give a little update about what happened this past week at the Sonicbids office.

Last Thursday we hosted a meeting for the Boston Young Entrepreneurs (BYE). BYE  is a non-profit that helps young entrepreneurs in Boston develop, launch and grow their businesses.  It was actually co-founded by our very own Panos Panay (seriously, does this guy ever get any sleep?) in February, 2005–just four years after founding Sonicbids. It’s a great organization that helps young professionals realize their dreams of starting their own business, which ultimately helps bring business, jobs and capital into the city of Boston. In this crazy economy, I’d say something like that is pretty important! On the third Tuesday of every month, BYE hosts “a business plan presentation by a member entrepreneur,” and then the group analyzes the plan so they can help the member strengthen his or her company.  To learn more about it, check out http://www.bostonyoungentrepreneurs.com/

A bunch of us in the Sonicbids office hung around to see what it was all about (check out some photos I took below) mostly because we realize entrepreneurs and artists aren’t all that different! If you think about it, both groups need to know how to sustain themselves using their talents, find the right niche of people to connect to, and develop a plan to grow their resources… the similarities are endless. There are a lot of resources out there to think about your own business plan as an artist that I encourage you to check out.  I did a quick search through some cool music blogs and here’s just one that I found by Kavit Haria on Inner Rhythm: http://www.innerrhythm.org/blog/how-to-write-your-music-business-plan/

Feel free to post any other articles or links you think might be helpful for your fellow musician-friends.

Enjoy!
Tess

We wanted to bring to your attention an amazing recording opportunity that is being made available by the T.J. Martell Foundation.  The T.J. Martell Foundation was founded in 1975 by music business executives and today is a world leader in funding Leukemia, Cancer and AIDS research.  In their 33 years, The T.J. Martell Foundation has raised over $225 million to support innovative medical research.

In celebration of the annual T.J. Martell Foundation Family Day taking place at Roseland Ballroom in New York City on March 8, the T.J. Martell Foundation is auctioning off a once in a lifetime recording experience.  This is your chance to spend the day in the studio recording with the legendary Elliot Mazer who has produced such as albums as Neil Young’s Harvest and Janis Joplin’s Cheap Thrills. Elliot will record and mix one song for you at the famous Tainted Blue Recording Studio in New York City where everyone from the Rolling Stones to Snoop Dogg has recorded.

Here is the link, please check it out and if you can – BID ON IT!

Remember all the money raised goes to Leukemia, Cancer and AIDS research.

Hey all,

First, let me say what a great conference Eurosonic is.  I spent 4 days in Groningen, NL meeting with artists, talking with promoters about working with them for the 2009 season, and seeing some great music.  For those of you who aren’t aware of the conference, Eurosonic is a three day conference in the Netherlands that provides a unique opportunity for European acts to showcase their talent directly to some of the largest music festivals in Europe. Sonicbids has worked with the conference for the last 3 years helping to subsidize selected Sonicbids artists with a $1,000 stipend to travel to the festival and perform at the festival for these festival buyers.  This year, Sonicbids helped 8 bands travel to the conference and perform.  You can check out these great acts here through their EPK’s.

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