Advice For DIY Musicians: Adam Bernard’s ‘Muscle For Your Hustle’

Music and entertainment writer Adam Bernard recently released "Muscle For Your Hustle: What Every DIY Musician Needs to Know". In this ebook, a steal at $.99, Adam shares "firsthand advice from things I've experienced, or..the advice other artists have given me about what works for them." As always, Adam shows that his perspective on the industry is solid and grounded.

I first encountered Adam Bernard, longtime music blogger at Adam's World, when he left a comment supporting Mickey Avalon on a blog post I wrote critiquing Avalon's appearance in a tv commercial with Young Jeezy and Jermaine Dupri. It was a bad first national look for Avalon but Adam stepped right up to show his support and I immediately accused him of being a publicist in disguise!

Adam handled that moment quite well and we went on to be friendly fellow music bloggers. Soon thereafter I began a weekly post at ProHipHop featuring Adam's B-Listers, his recently retired Artist of the Week series, that profiled 260 indie acts over the course of five years.

Adam's support of indie artists has always gone well beyond that of most music bloggers so I was happy to see the release of "Muscle For Your Hustle", an ebook subtitled "What Every DIY Musician Needs to Know".

Muscle For Your Hustle is divided into three sections:

Promotions – "Because everything you do is essentially part of a careerlong PR campaign even if you may not have the money for a publicist yet."

Performance – "It's the one time you get to interact with your fans face to face and they're going to remember it forever."

People Skills – "I could have titled this section 'Networking,' but I was really feelin the whole 'P' theme."

Adam shares some great stories and examples along the way but you'll have to read the ebook to catch those. And just so you know he's no snake oil salesmen, here's what he says in the intro:

"There’s no such thing as an overnight success. If someone tells you they are, they’re lying. If someone tries to sell you an event, or a book, by saying it will instantly launch you to the highest heights of the music industry, they’re full of crap."

"What this e-book will do is help you lay the groundwork for your promotions, performances, and people skills, so that as you’re working towards your goal you make the most out of every interaction you have."

My one complaint about this ebook is the lack of graphics. A little art can go a long way and my professional recommendation would be to feature pics of Adam's steadfast assistant, Rocko The Intern, one of my favorite famous-on-Facebook cats!

Hypebot contributor Clyde Smith maintains his freelance writing hub at Flux Research and blogs at All World Dance and This Business of Blogging. To suggest topics for Hypebot, contact: clyde(at)fluxresearch(dot)com.