For those of you who haven’t heard, as of last Monday, Nominees for the 2014 American Music Awards have been announced.  

Just a side note for all of the dreamers out there,  if you’re wishing of having you’re name on that list and you have this crazy drive in you that knows you can accomplish such a goal, then take the initiative to help yourself out here.  It’s hard work, but there’s curtain companies out there that can do the heavy lifting for you, and actually want to help you get your name on that awards list.  


For the rest of everyone, here are the nominees:     


Aussie rapper Iggy Azalea comes in at the top with a total of 6 nominations. John Legend, Katy Perry and Pharrell Williams are all up for five nominations each.  Lorde is in the running for four honors.  Beyonce, Eminem, Imagine Dragons, OneRepublic, and One Direction were all nominated for three awards.  Drake, Luke Bryan, Sam Smith, and Bastille each received two nominations for the fan-voted awards show. 

Winners will be announced along with live performances on November 23 through a live broadcast held at the Nokia Theatre at L.A. Live in Los Angeles, CA on ABC starting at 8p.m.  

Artist of the Year
Iggy Azalea
Beyonce
Luke Bryan
Eminem
Imagine Dragons
John Legend
Lorde
One Direction
Katy Perry
Pharrell Williams
New Artist of the Year as Presented by Kohl’s
5 Seconds of Summer

Iggy Azalea
Bastille
Sam Smith
Meghan Trainor
Single of the Year
Iggy Azalea Featuring Charli XCX “Fancy”

John Legend “All of Me”
MAGIC! “Rude”
Katy Perry Featuring Juicy J “Dark Horse”
Pharrell Williams “Happy”
Favorite Male Artist Pop/Rock
John Legend

Sam Smith
Pharrell Williams
Favorite Female Arist Pop/Rock
Iggy Azalea

Lorde
Katy Perry
Favorite Band, Duo or Group – Pop/Rock
Imagine Dragons

One Direction
OneRepublic

If you are ready to take your music career to the next level and be apart of the biggest events in the music industry submit your best songs to submissions@promusicrecords.com. 

How to gain a strong fan base

Having a strong online presence is vital to a musician’s career, but standing out and gaining a following in today’s YouTube/Social Media generation is no easy task. 

It’s easy to get buried in an internet search-pile and remain unknown and unnoticed. 

The key to an artists’ success is to learn how to effectively promote oneself so that he or she can find, build, and maintain an active, engaging fan base. 

The most essential tools at an artists’ disposal are to: 
  1. Create a visually stimulating website that effectively communicates the musician’s style and message. 
  2. Develop a strong reputation on major social media accounts that exhibits professional photos, music recordings, and videos.
While these are the cornerstones of developing a fan base, (and an image that record labels will find desirable), these tasks alone not enough. 
Without integrating strong SEO (search engine optimization) methods into your website and onto your social media accounts, you can still get lost in the already-inundated market. 
In a matter of months, Pro Music Records & Entertainment does for artists what takes artists years to do on their own, (without the struggle, guesswork, and uncertainty). 
From guiding, developing, and recording top-of-the-line work, to creating and maintaining a fan base, Pro Music Records & Entertainment uses our experience, research, knowledge, and personal guidance to help launch lasting careers in the music industry. 

5 Music Submission Mistakes

When a music manager or A&R department receives music submissions, they often tend to skip over e-mails that are incomplete or require too much work when it comes to listening. Moreover, an e-mail that barely contains a message, bio, or any contact information is most definitely going to be moved to the trash. While the quality and content in your music is of primary importance, getting your foot in the door is the first step. Don’t make the following mistakes and you can rest assured that your music is, at the very least, being listened to.

1 – Sending Incomplete Tracks. There’s no point in sending something that doesn’t represent you as an artist to the best of your abilities. Waiting until your song is mixed and mastered allows the concept and personality of your music to shine through.
2 – Attaching the Song with No Concept. A lot of times, when a song is downloaded from an e-mail it shows up anonymously (ie. “track1.mp3”). This offers no information about you or your story. You’d be much better off attaching an EPK, or at the very least a photo, so that the receiving end actually has some insight into what they are listening to. Adding links to your site and social media pages also shows that you have an online presence.
3 – Messy Files. When you attach too many of your files to an e-mail in a disorganized way, managers get fed up and are more likely to skip to the next submission. Your best bet is to put your soundcloud, reverbnation and bandcamp links in the body of your e-mail. This showcases your work in a clean and efficient way, allowing people to listen to even more of your songs without the hassle on either end. Use safe links to popular platforms.
4 – No Contact Info. Too often e-mails get sent without any contact information. As silly as it may seem, make sure you write your full name with your phone number and e-mail address so that if someone likes your work, they can actually tell you!
5 – Little-to-No Bio or Press Release. A poorly written bio or press release is an immediate turn-off. Providing too few details or even too many can instantly send a message about your professionalism as an artist. While there is no need to write a life story, it is important to create a brief and relevant bio about where you’re from, what kind of music you create, and what you’re doing now. 
Pro Music Records & Entertainment Media can make sure that you have the tools to send a complete e-mail music submission that gets you heard. From a website to a well-written bio to a thorough press release, we do it all. Visit us at www.promusicrecords.com for more information.

Your Band as Your Business: Promotion Tools

Independent musicians often tend to think they can do it all, but the reality is that everyone needs help. Running a band like a business requires tools and outsourcing. Not only is it necessary to be a great musician who plays great music, but you’ll also need to promote yourself. This can be done in a number of ways, but an important one is building and nurturing relationships with fans. 

                   
Turning strangers into fans is your main goal. You can also achieve this through your social media profiles by interacting with followers. Those fans are the ones that are going to spread your music like wildfire and attend your shows with their friends. Commenting on their content is going to keep them interested in your work. You can also use these platforms to build excitement and momentum before releasing your singles and videos.

But, in order to be successful, you have to be in it for the long haul. Daily work of promoting, booking, designing posters and mercy, selling, and touring is all part of the game. To keep progressing, you need to leave time to write your music, of course. Setting up a promotions and marketing plan is going to allow you to focus on what you do: music. Pro Music Records can set you up with a Project Manager to keep your social media up and running by posting new content and attracting more fans. A website, blog and merchandise shop can also be set up so people have even more ways to find your music. Allotting some of your budget now to maintaining these crucial aspects of running your business will guarantee you success for years to come.