LIFE IN A CHANGING MUSIC INDUSTRY: A profile of The Dirty Guv’nahs. “They have methodically built themselves a reliable paying audience across the Southeast without the benefit of a label or professional management. Aside from a booking agent, the band members handle their own business. Their success has come not just on the strength of their bluesy, swaggering brand of Southern rock ’n’ roll and a reputation as tireless performers, but by having a sensible 21st-century business plan and sticking to it.”

Key bit: “Instead of thinking, ‘What can I do to blow up and become the next Adele or Mumford and Sons?’—artists that get crazy popular but still get regarded as ‘authentic’—focus on things you know you can do that will increase your crowds 20 percent next year.”

Plus: “Last fall, when they announced a $20,000 Kickstarter fund-raising campaign to pay for those recording sessions, fans pledged the full amount in three days. The Guv’nahs eventually raised more than $36,000 through Kickstarter to record and promote the new disc.”

UPDATE: Reader Scott Boone writes that I should include a link to their website, which the Metropulse article didn’t include.