This has been on my mind lately as I've been interacting with more local musicians here in Portland.

Here goes:

You can have a killer website, get on twitter, facebook, tumblr, itunes, vimeo, cdbaby, youtube etc to expand your reach and get your music to more people. These are all great and a fantastic way to increase your audience. In the final analysis though, these are simply peripheral tools and are WAY less important than things like:  rehearsing regularly and getting regular gigs.

This seems obvious but there are musicians out there who sometimes get wrapped up in promotions and forget that you have to have something real and genuine to promote first. The best and first thing an independent artist can do is to simply have a fierce dedication to their music, find like-minded individuals to collaborate with, rehearse consistently and go get regular gigs wherever they will let you play.

For more in depth information go to musicianwages.com .  It is a great resource for independent artists.

Thank you,

- Matthew

I auditioned for the Bureau of Standards Big Band under the direction of James Gregg and got the gig! Wow! I'm looking forward to singing with them along with Deanna Maio for my debut with them on Friday Feb 26th at Tony Starlight's Supperclub and Lounge .  I'm going to be singing regularly with a real live big band straight from the Rat Pack era! How cool is that?

I have also begun a collaboration with a great musician and all around good guy, Peter Lance. We have our debut gig at The Camellia lounge @ the Tea Zone on Fri, March 19th. This acoustic show will debut some original material as well as some covers from groups like The Cure, Jimmy Hendrix, Cold Play, Jeff Buckley and others. Drop by my calendar to see more concert dates.

Another debut coming up on April 13th, The Matthew Gailey Band will do our first show with special guests Ron Steen and Clay Giberson back at Tony Starlight's

That's all for now!