Empowering
female musicians
with creative skills for life
Coaching
As an independent musician it often feels like there’s a secret manual for how the industry works. Like everyone else knows how to unlock the door you desperately want to open, but no one is willing to give you the key.
I’ve learned a lot of those industry secrets in the last 20 years, and collected a bunch of keys, but I don’t see any value in keeping them to myself. I want you to have them too.
There are many slices of success to go around.
The music industry isn’t pie.
Coaching for musicians, artists, and bands.
I help beginners and professionals with the following:
Branding
Social media
Marketing strategy
Website design
Electronic Press Kit / One Sheet
Kickstarter campaigns
Networking
Goals
Album and tour planning
One-hour coaching calls are available to book on your schedule with no minimums.
Includes an hour-long Zoom call, chat via email as often as you need to work through any questions or challenges, and follow-up communication from me, including customized marketing plans, release calendars, and detailed content frameworks.
We can work on anything you need, as often as you want, for as long (or short) as you like.
Coaching Calls - $150
Why female musicians?
For most of my 20-year career, I’ve been the only woman on stage, the only woman in the recording studio, the only woman in industry meetings.
If we want to change that, female musicians must do everything possible to uplift, support, inspire, educate, and encourage each other.
Empowering female musicians and business owners through teaching, supporting, and community-building is how I’m striving for this change.
Website Design
Most musicians’ websites are outdated and soulless because it’s expensive af to pay someone to design an excellent one for us. But updating them ourselves with no web design knowledge feels impossible too.
That’s why I created Design, Update, Upskill: a collaborative and educational Squarespace solution for musicians.
The website update you want, with the upskilling you need.
Options include website design, biography interview and writing, online store, and EPK.
You’ll have the killer website you dream of, plus the skills to update it yourself next time.
Education = power.
Just want someone to build it for you, no learning necessary? Let’s talk.
“Vanessa McGowan took my limited knowledge of Squarespace to the next level. The photos she chose and the colors she recommended for my website were all cohesive to building my brand.
The fact that Vanessa is a musician is instrumental in how she assists her clients. She focused on what differentiates me as an artist and applied that to the video placement, biography and chosen photos.
One of my favorite aspects of working with Vanessa is that she listened to my suggestions which she transformed into a user friendly website producing organic growth.”
- Laura Sawosko, Nashville
Biography
Your story is the central core of your digital marketing plan.
Where you’ve come from, where you are now, and where you want to be in the future impact every area of your business plan and marketing.
Whether this is your first professional biography or you need an update for a new album or tour, I will interview you, learn all about your music and history, and provide you with:
A full biography, ideal for use on your website and as background for press interviews
A boilerplate, perfect for gig listings and ads
Single-line bio, great for sub-headings and social media profiles
Uses for your full story include on your About page, in press kits, and as the basis for your content marketing strategy.
I’m a professional writer, published in newsprint, magazines, and on my Music Mindset blog.
This option includes:
Completing a short questionnaire for basic information
An hour-long Zoom interview
A review of your music
Biography interview and writing is $150.
EPK
An Electronic Press Kit is essential for providing up-to-date information, press assets, and technical specifications to venues, journalists, and promoters.
I’ll create a professional one-page electronic press kit (EPK) and one sheet styled to match your site, perfect for both pitching your music and supplying venues and promoters with your current info, including:
Artist Overview
Downloadable photo links
Download links for your single-line bio, boilerplate, and full-page version
Embedded music links (password-protected if featuring unreleased music)
Links to stage plot and/or channel list (if needed)
Check out mine here.
Creating a custom EPK and one sheet is $100.
You will provide the assets (photos, bio, text, links, stage plots, etc.)
One sheet
EPK
“Sharing myself in an organized and intentional way boosted my confidence and gradually unveiled my enthusiasm for engaging my audience online.”
- Megan Palmer
“Vanessa’s ability to break down the steps of self-promotion and offer clarity on such a daunting process is invaluable!”
- April Pirie
“I am beyond grateful for Vanessa’s encouraging guidance and kindness to me on this chapter of my journey”
- Hannah Jane
Online Store
The real reason most musicians don’t sell their music or merch? Because they haven’t made it easy for their fans to buy it!
It sounds rudimentary, but it blows me away how many musicians’ websites have either no clear links to listen and buy music, broken links, difficult-to-find links, or some janky-looking request to send money to a Ca$hApp.
Make it easy for people to give you their money!
I offer three different online store options for musicians at all levels. All include product descriptions and images, secure payments, are fully customizable, and can be embedded into your website.
Direct payment links. Perfect for musicians with one or two items for sale, embedded links on your site are a simple but effective way to sell music and merch. Free (except for credit card fees) once set up and excellent if you’re fulfilling all the orders yourself.
Squarespace Commerce. Ideal for musicians who have a few albums for sale and a few pieces of merch. There is a small bump in Squarespace subscription cost to get the commerce features and it is ideal if you’re fulfilling all the orders yourself but growing the store. This option will let you create discounts and sales, help the SEO of your site, and allow you to integrate with Square to sell at the merch table.
Shopify. This is the solution for artists who sell dozens of products in multiple markets and want a highly customizable and powerful online store. Perfect for an artist fulfilling orders themselves or working with a team, some incredible features include integration with Spotify for Artists, Google and YouTube shopping, Facebook and Instagram shopping, and custom web addresses and translations for different countries.
It also allows you to set different prices for single products based on the location so that you could have a t-shirt selling for a higher price in a more competitive market and the same product set to a lower price in another. Includes sales funnels, abandoned cart recovery, and the ability to sell in person at gigs.
Shopify offers a 3-month trial for $1/month, basic plans starting at $40/month, and includes discounted shipping rates negotiated with multiple carriers.
$ - Store sizes and requirements vary widely; email me for a customized quote.