Musicians are some of the most creative people on the planet. They’re incredibly committed, passionate, and oftentimes very particular about almost every aspect of their lives. So when it comes to gift giving for a musician, we can see how that can be quite the task.
Not to worry, we will give you some creative and practical ideas for gift giving in this gift guide for musicians.
Career Boosting Books
If your musician is independent, odds are they are always on the lookout for anything that can help build their career. Books that can give them new marketing ideas, help them organize and plan out their promotions strategies, provide them lists of gigging resources, and any number of ways they can advance in their career would be the perfect gift for a musician.
Here are a few of our recommendations:
How to Make it in the New Music Business by Ari Herstand
Ari Herstand is a working musician who has years of experience promoting his own shows, organizing and booking his own tours, and earning money as an artist without the help of a label. He has a no-nonsense, practical approach to making it as a singer/songwriter DIY style.
How to Be Your Own Booking Agent by Jeri Goldstein
Being a musician often means spending lots of time on the road touring. This book gives you the nuts and bolts of how to do that covering everything from goals, mindset, pitching, promoting, public relations, booking and more. It’s the best handbook out there for a traveling musician to learn the ropes of touring.
Any book by Bob Baker
Bob Baker is a God-sent to musicians wanting to learn how to be self sufficient. With a strong focus on DIY style marketing, Bob Baker can help any musician transform themselves exponentially in the areas of fan engagement, fund-raising, and making money from their music. Take a look at his line-up of incredible books he offers. There are quite a few to choose from.
Music & Money by Danelle Harvey (Written for the Female Musician)
A practical guide showing music entrepreneurs how to set up their business in order to make money. This book teaches musicians how to identify custom strategies and tactics to reach their specific goals. Plus it gives practical tips on how to reach those goals and how to make money in the process.
Calendars & Schedulers
Calendars and Schedulers are a must have for a musician. Whether it’s electronic or paper, a working musician must have a way to keep track of their shows, meetings, practice times, and any other business activities. Day Calendars, schedulers, journals, and notebooks are easy and affordable gift ideas for a musician.
Voice Recorders and Video Cameras
If your musician friend is more electronically oriented, then a voice recorder or a video camera is the way to go.
The voice recorder is perfect for recording song ideas and new melodies. It’s small enough to take it on the go, and it comes in very handy when you have a fleeting idea and need to capture it and save it for another time.
A good video camera is great for recording live video footage which is a constant activity for independent musicians. You want to be sure you get a camcorder that records quality audio and visuals. One of the best small cameras on the market right now is the GoPro. It records high quality video footage which is something musicians need for recording their shows and for uploading good video to YouTube. It’s tiny and sleek and has an automatic stabilization feature that allows for steady shots even when your your capturing video with your hands.
Water Bottle
This might seem odd, but a working musician is always in need of water to keep their vocal chords smooth as well as to maintain adequate hydration throughout their performances. Depending on where they are performing, water is not always readily available. That’s why it’s always good to keep a nice, durable water bottle handy. A good water bottle that can keep hot liquids hot and or cold liquids cold is even better.
Bell cart or dolly
If your musician friend is a traveling musician, odds are they could use a dolly. A good dolly cart can help musicians load in and out with just one trip. It makes for easy and fast set-up and breakdown especially when the car is a ways off from the stage which is usually the case.
Gift Cards
They are not the most creative idea of the bunch but gift cards can be a practical gift when you just don’t know what to get your musician friend. There are several online stores to choose from such as Musician’s Friend, Guitar Center, and Sweetwater. However, the best gift card you can get for a musician will be from a local music store in their own town. Not only will you be helping to promote a local economy, but your musician friend can most likely get better deals as well as better advice and customer service from a local store versus an online retailer.
Magazine Subscriptions
There are several musician specific magazines available discussing industry hot topics, providing valuable music lessons and feature articles relating to music from a musician’s perspective. Some examples are Acoustic Guitar, Bass Player, Drum, and Guitar Player. For general topics in music you can also go for Billboard Magazine or Rolling Stone.
T-shirt or Merchandising Shops
Lastly, working musicians especially ones who tour regularly could always benefit from having merchandise. Merchandise is an excellent way to increase revenue at gigs by offering keepsakes and memorabilia for their fans. The catch is that you have to buy it all upfront first and hope that you can resell it at your merch table. So it can be hard for musicians to keep a full stock of merchandise at any given time due to cash flow. Therefore a gift card to a popular merchandising retailer such as MerchNow can help your musician friend shave off the cost of buying merch upfront.
Thoughtful Keepsake
Another idea is to hone in on your musician’s friend instrument or genre of choice and get something that coincides with their special interests like a personalized mug from VistaPrint or a custom t-shirt from UberPrints. You could even get an extra special music themed gift from the various shops on Etsy.
In conclusion, anything on this list would make the perfect gift for your musician friend or loved one. This list is certainly not the end all to gift giving ideas for musicians but it can at least be a launching pad to help you brainstorm some ideas of your own. If we had to sum up this entire gift guide, we’d say that the perfect gift for a musician is either something practical for their work flow or something that supports the growth of their career. Another thing you can try are personalized keepsakes. These types of gifts are thoughtful and unique. If you want to know what gift to get for a musician, these categories alone can give you scores of gift ideas to choose from. The possibilities are endless.
What are your thoughts? Tell us in the comments section what your ideas are for a good gift for a musician. Musicians, please chime in, what are some good gifts to get you for the holidays?
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