How do I sell my songs to successful artists and receive royalties?

Here's a funding route I love for all sorts of situations: Start small, and go directly to your intended audience. Use a pre-sale campaign with a tilt mechanism (one that requires crossing a certain threshold before anyone is charged - so that you can ensure you will cover your costs and not leave anyone with unfulfilled obligations). In this way - you are raising funds and marketing in a single bound - rather than dividing your efforts in two. Ultimately, if you raise funds from an investor (not sure where Chamber Music Concert Investors are to be found outside the usual patron of the arts set, but that's a different issue) you'll then need to repay that investment from the sale of tickets, boxes, memberships, packages or however you intend to charge your end audience. Happy to expand on this notion and tie it to your specific goals - I'll just need some more details.

While I don't specialize in band management or promotion, I have some second-hand advice as my boyfriend is a signed musician to a major label. From my understanding of your question, it sounds like they have some sort of following already - from here, I'd identify within the US or Europe where you strongest following is - then target that area first for a more local-focused tour. For example, an LA-focused tour, New England or Midwest tour. This will help keep costs low while creating more fans that can act as band promoters. If there is no following at the moment, you should consider shopping the band and their cover for press coverage to some major music blogs such as pitchfork, ear milk, indiecurrent, etc. Here is a great list of music blogs: http://www.digitalmusicnews.com/permalink/2014/03/26/20blogs. I also know that Perez Hilton often writes about covers that he knows will resonate with his readers. You could also identify music tastemakers for their style on Spotify and build a relationship with them to see if they're interested in including the band in some of their upcoming/new playlists. Many of these folks like being the "first to" knowledge and up-and-coming bands, so this can be a great and sort of easy go-to. Find some of the influencers who are a little lower down on the influence-scale (think a 6 or 7 instead of 10's like Pitchfork) and see if they're interested in interviewing the band via Skype, in person, or would provide coverage for "first access" to new releases. Great examples of these blogs are are "We Found New Music" or "Obscure Sound." Lastly, you could always try to have them signed to a booking agency that best represents their style. Some examples are Windish (https://twitter.com/windishagency) which is large and known for more indie bands. A some new ones like Boston Music Scene (https://twitter.com/bostonmusicscne). I hope this helps! Promoting music now-a-days is a totally different beast from what it was several years ago, but there are more channels/mediums now, which create more opportunities for them to get heard. Good luck!

A fresh game plan is key. I've been there. Every artist is different. I'd suggest creating categories for the level each artist is at. I look at them as race horses. Each horse daily changes its location around the track- until someone wins at something. Managers have a super hard job of constantly keeping things moving and networking with the right people. But you have the challenge of keeping your artists happy whilst being realistic. If we had a call I'd like to suggest we do an audit of a day in the life of you. What are all the moving parts you have going? What can you do to create a structure and a simple action plan that will help you and your artists get some real wins. This biz is tough BUT I can help you get clarity.

I have a lot of background in live event promotion and also dealing with investors. Really it depends on the type and size of the event you are wanting to promote. Sometimes sponsors are enough to get you going depending on what the target market it is and if the ideal audience for the concert matches the sponsors marketing goals. In the event you want to go that route, you'd need to set up some sponsorship packages etc. (also something I've done). Finding investors can be really tricky if you've never put on a concert before. Usually, It is best to get some sort of track record first- again, I'm not sure the actual context here, but generally you have to create an investible story (i.e.- The first time we did this we only had x amount of money to start with but we accomplished y- so if you will invest Z in the next event- we'll be able to make 10x as much money. Lastly, Im not sure who the big concert promoters around Ohio State, but I'd look into maybe doing a summer internship with AEG live or AC entertainment in Nashville, or find out who the local promoters are and try and learn from them. Happy to talk more anytime- Hope that helps. JS

Make certain songs or part of songs, interviews, etc available until you get X amount of thumbs up on Youtube or Likes on Facebook. Gate it so they have to bring a crowd to open up the doors to new content.