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You don’t have to say yes all the time. “No” can be a freeing word. And sometimes, you’ll need to use “no” when deciding where to play gigs. But how can you figure out which venues to turn away and which to embrace?

In this post, I want to help you figure that out. I’ll encourage you to ask direct questions of yourself as well as taking The Perfect 30 Test.

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Knowing how to promote your music and get it in front of the right audience is crucial for any artist. No matter how amazing your music is, word of mouth alone is unlikely to get you the exposure you need to grow your fanbase and your profile within the music industry.

However, bands don’t necessarily need to hire a costly publicist to promote their music well. With a bit of hard work and clever strategy, any band can get their music in front of journalists, radio hosts and influential bloggers that can help them reach their core fanbase.

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In 2012, we saw the band fun. go from relatively unknown to suddenly topping the charts, peaking at number one on the Billboard Hot 100, and having their song on nearly every radio station with sales skyrocketing. In 2013, American Authors went from just starting to gain a strong following to massive commercial success.

So what is this seemingly magic overnight success maker I'm talking about? Licensing, of course.

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Not too long ago, I published an article on some of the best music business podcasts. Prior to delving into things, I hadn't realized there were just so many – and quite a few of them very good. I just didn't have room to get it all into one bite-sized post. So now, I present an additional list of four great music business podcasts you may not have heard of!

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Here on the East Coast, it's finally starting to warm up and feel like we might actually be entering that blissful time of the year known as spring. The sun is shining, the birds are happily waking me up with their chirping at 5am, and every band is beginning to announce tours in the coming months. It’s a beautiful time of year.

Now, whether it’s your first time touring or your 50th, if there’s one thing you can probably attest to it’s that no band is immune to a little tour trouble now and then. Sometimes it’s minor, and other times it can feel like the entire tour is cursed — but the truth is, it’s just a fact of touring. Nothing ever goes as smoothly as you’d hoped, and there’s always a few bumps along the way to contend with.

That said, I’m a big believer in preparedness, which is why we’ve put together this list of common tour disasters and a couple quick fix ways to deal with them as soon as they arise.