A generation after the launch of MTV, major record labels are hoping to revive the music video business online by creating a single digital destination for their artists’ output.
Plans under discussion include: a partnership with Hulu, the online television and film joint venture between News Corp and NBC Universal; the creation of a premium service on YouTube, Google’s video sharing site; or, a standalone venture between some or all of the four largest recorded music groups.
Industry members had hailed deals struck with YouTube last year as a new way of driving profits from the popularity of professional music videos and the soundtracks to amateur efforts on such user generated content sites.
However, some are now questioning whether either side has made much money from arrangements which require YouTube to share advertising revenues and, in many cases, pay a few tenths of a cent to the music company each time a video is streamed, regardless of how much advertising is sold.
Universal Music, the industry leader, has said that it makes “tens of millions of dollars” from YouTube.
Warner Music failed last week to agree a new deal with the site, however, saying it was not being adequately compensated and demanding that the site take down its artists’ videos and amateur content using songs from its publishing arm such as “Happy Birthday To You”.
Representatives of two music companies, who would not be named, said they were in discussions with Hulu, adding that no partnership announcement was imminent but that the site appeared to be the favoured partner. “If it happens at all it will be with Hulu,” one said.
Both added, however, that any such deal to create a standalone music video service would not replace existing deals with YouTube, and that there was interest in supplying content for a potential premium service on YouTube, which has begun to offer high definition videos.
Warner may yet return to YouTube should it agree new terms.
Screen Digest, a media research group, estimated last month that Hulu and YouTube would make about $70m and $100m respectively in US advertising revenues in 2008, but that Hulu would draw level with YouTube next year because advertisers are more comfortable with its professional content.
The industry’s search for new digital income comes amid collapsing compact disc sales, which have not yet been offset by digital revenue growth. Warner, the only quoted music company, reported 39 per cent growth in digital revenues for 2008 to $639m, or 18 per cent of total sales.
EMI, owned by Terra Firma, the private equity group, said full year digital revenues rose 29 per cent to £166m, while Universal, owned by Vivendi, reported 33 per cent growth in digital revenue for the first nine months of its financial year, saying in September it believed digital initiatives could soon return the music industry to growth.
Monday, December 29, 2008
Monday, December 22, 2008
Wednesday, December 10, 2008
Internet Radio in Your Car?
How About Your Choice of 100,000 Streams?
KVH Industries in Middletown, Rhode Island, wants to put Internet Radio in your car. If you thought Satellite Radio increased your choice universe, imagine what it would be like if you could access any of the Net's audio streams, estimated by some to now surpass 100,000.
Internet Radio in your car isn't just some idle talk, either. KVH already has a system that provides TV and Internet to RVs and boats. The company feels its TracVision A5 antenna could be adapted and developed into a feasible receptor for standard road vehicles to receive streaming audio.
In effect, it will partially work like Satellite Radio. The company will beam digital content via satellite to wherever the TracVision A5 happens to be mounted. Since it's only 5 inches in size, the antenna fits easily onto the vehicle roof.
The user, in turn, will be able to interact with the Internet for channel selection, etc. by sending data back via standard telephone or cell phone. Of course, by the time the company markets Internet Radio for your car, they'll make the installation easy and non-technical.
The ramifications of making Net Radio available to cars will bring a certain legitimacy to Net Radio which it sometimes seems to lack. Granted, there are some great streams online, but at the moment we are all tied to our computers for them.
Even though there are some new products which allow Internet Radio to be "broadcast" from the computer to other radios in the house but, until those streams can be unshackled from the computer chip and the home, they will never rise to the level of acceptance and success that other Radio signals already have.
Check out Slacker Radio....
http://blogs.cars.com/kickingtires/2007/03/slacker_radio.html
KVH Industries in Middletown, Rhode Island, wants to put Internet Radio in your car. If you thought Satellite Radio increased your choice universe, imagine what it would be like if you could access any of the Net's audio streams, estimated by some to now surpass 100,000.
Internet Radio in your car isn't just some idle talk, either. KVH already has a system that provides TV and Internet to RVs and boats. The company feels its TracVision A5 antenna could be adapted and developed into a feasible receptor for standard road vehicles to receive streaming audio.
In effect, it will partially work like Satellite Radio. The company will beam digital content via satellite to wherever the TracVision A5 happens to be mounted. Since it's only 5 inches in size, the antenna fits easily onto the vehicle roof.
The user, in turn, will be able to interact with the Internet for channel selection, etc. by sending data back via standard telephone or cell phone. Of course, by the time the company markets Internet Radio for your car, they'll make the installation easy and non-technical.
The ramifications of making Net Radio available to cars will bring a certain legitimacy to Net Radio which it sometimes seems to lack. Granted, there are some great streams online, but at the moment we are all tied to our computers for them.
Even though there are some new products which allow Internet Radio to be "broadcast" from the computer to other radios in the house but, until those streams can be unshackled from the computer chip and the home, they will never rise to the level of acceptance and success that other Radio signals already have.
Check out Slacker Radio....
http://blogs.cars.com/kickingtires/2007/03/slacker_radio.html
Saturday, September 13, 2008
Digital Distribution for the Indie Artist
I get many emails asking how I have my music available on many download websites such as iTunes and Beatport. I use 2 different services and will go over them for you now.
The first service is offered through CD Baby. Now at this time, you cannot upload a single track to CD Baby. I have read they are moving in that direction. For what they do offer, it is worth it and from a business perspective is a bit more sensible.
Any CD that you sell through CD Baby you can sign up for their digital distribution. The best thing about their program is they take nothing from you ever. The only thing that is required is a bar code. If you have a bar code for your CD, then you can sign up your CD for free with them. If not, a bar code is 20 bucks. Not a bad deal when you see the digital stores you will be submitted too.
- Apple iTunes
- Amazon
- BuyMusic
- GreatIndieMusic
- GroupieTunes
- iSound
- Last.fm
- Mix And Burn
- MP3tunes
- MSN Music
- MusicNet
- PayPlay
- Rhapsody
- Txttunes
- Verizon
- Zune
The only deal with CD Baby is that you must submit your CD to them to sell to be able to enroll in their digital distribution program. To me, I feel it is worth it. You get your tunes on the bigger websites that are for the consumer or fan. Sites like iTunes & Amazon alone are worth it.
From a business point of view, it is smarter to get the CD out before you start to sell your Mp3s of the CD. Milk your CD sales for what you can for at least 60 days. Then get those mp3s listed and promote it as "Now Available on iTunes!"...
The second service I use to distribute to the DJ consumer would be Symphonic Distribution. They deal with labels only. They supply a wide range of websites that cater to the DJ. Here is a list of some of the stores they distribute too.
- Beatport
- Breakbeat Alliance
- Breakbeat Online
- DJ Download
- DJ Mag.com
- DJ Mr
- Juno Download
- Mixmag
Now Symphonic Distribution does distribute to stores that CD Baby also distributes too. Stores such as Apple iTunes, Amazon, and Rhapsody. You can choose from each service what stores you want them to distribute too. Just tell Symphonic Distribution not to distribute to stores that would be a conflict. Most major stores do not appreciate your music being submitted from more than one source.
Now if you are an independent artist, you will not be able to use Symphonic Distribution. They only cater to labels. The only way to get your tunes on Beatport is to find a label that would submit your music to Beatport. Beatport has strict rules and is one of the hardest stores to get your music on. It is also one of the ones with the strictest rules.
Wednesday, August 27, 2008
What Makes A Winning Music Business Strategy?
by Kavit Haria, Music Business Consultant
I asked myself this crucial question when writing my latest e-book, "What are the important skills and practices required to create a winning and profitable music business apart from good music?"
The answer rests in being a good leader of your ship, having a well-designed and communicated strategy and a good marketing plan that can be executed to promote your music in a structured way.
If you re-read that last paragraph, you'll see how much I emphasize the idea of strategy and structure. It is with this careful planning and well-understood principles that your music business will become profitable.
STRATEGY
A strategy comes to life through its ability to influence hundreds and thousands of decisions, both big and small, made by anyone from the director level to the street team level. It is, at its core, a guide to how you behave and provides an external reflection of your music business.
A good strategy fuels and ignites your fire to more compelling actions and results. It leads you to a destination that is clear in your mind. A bad strategy on the other hand leads you to a less competitive, less differentiated position. It is simply a waste of time and energy as it does not move you forward; instead, it keeps you where you're already at.
The word "winning" is important in this context. An average strategy plan, when executed, gets you mediocre results and may not be a fair reflection of your true talent. A winning strategy plan on the other hand transforms your current situation into monster success through developing the right tools, people, techniques and street teams to share your art with the wider world.
As musicians, we are explorers. As explorers, our job is to explore the depths of our hearts and souls to share the music that feels most at home to us. Our job is to experiment, and experimentation takes time before it is successful.
Your music business needs a framework for achieving results that can be built upon to achieve your specific goals in your specific music genre. When you start to put together a puzzle, you would start by finding the corners and the edge pieces before building and assembling the inner pieces. It is the same with putting together the framework for your music business.
Constructing a music business plan is the first step in gaining clarity and direction in what you'll do, how often you'll release an album, how you'll market your music and how you'll make money. The framework of your music business is what holds it all together - the operations, the marketing, the management and the finances. Let's look at each one separately.
OPERATIONS PLAN
Your business operations is the activities your music business will do in order to share your music. These are usually gigs (what type of gigs?), recording (how often? when?), distribution (whom? how?), sponsorship, and other avenues of generating revenue.
MARKETING PLAN
The activities and tactics you will undertake to promote your music through your music business. These may include PR, social networking on Facebook, Myspace, etc, blogging, podcasting, video blogging, flyer and poster marketing, etc.
MANAGEMENT PLAN
Who will form your core team for your music business and what will they do? Regardless of whether you have the capacity to get these people involved, knowing what you want is core to getting a framework to build your music business.
FINANCE PLAN
Knowing what money goes out and what comes in is crucial to understanding how your music business can be successful. My accountant often tells me that the success of my business is equal to how well I can understand the numbers on my cash flow sheet. He is right and I pass this advice on to you.
I asked myself this crucial question when writing my latest e-book, "What are the important skills and practices required to create a winning and profitable music business apart from good music?"
The answer rests in being a good leader of your ship, having a well-designed and communicated strategy and a good marketing plan that can be executed to promote your music in a structured way.
If you re-read that last paragraph, you'll see how much I emphasize the idea of strategy and structure. It is with this careful planning and well-understood principles that your music business will become profitable.
STRATEGY
A strategy comes to life through its ability to influence hundreds and thousands of decisions, both big and small, made by anyone from the director level to the street team level. It is, at its core, a guide to how you behave and provides an external reflection of your music business.
A good strategy fuels and ignites your fire to more compelling actions and results. It leads you to a destination that is clear in your mind. A bad strategy on the other hand leads you to a less competitive, less differentiated position. It is simply a waste of time and energy as it does not move you forward; instead, it keeps you where you're already at.
The word "winning" is important in this context. An average strategy plan, when executed, gets you mediocre results and may not be a fair reflection of your true talent. A winning strategy plan on the other hand transforms your current situation into monster success through developing the right tools, people, techniques and street teams to share your art with the wider world.
As musicians, we are explorers. As explorers, our job is to explore the depths of our hearts and souls to share the music that feels most at home to us. Our job is to experiment, and experimentation takes time before it is successful.
Your music business needs a framework for achieving results that can be built upon to achieve your specific goals in your specific music genre. When you start to put together a puzzle, you would start by finding the corners and the edge pieces before building and assembling the inner pieces. It is the same with putting together the framework for your music business.
Constructing a music business plan is the first step in gaining clarity and direction in what you'll do, how often you'll release an album, how you'll market your music and how you'll make money. The framework of your music business is what holds it all together - the operations, the marketing, the management and the finances. Let's look at each one separately.
OPERATIONS PLAN
Your business operations is the activities your music business will do in order to share your music. These are usually gigs (what type of gigs?), recording (how often? when?), distribution (whom? how?), sponsorship, and other avenues of generating revenue.
MARKETING PLAN
The activities and tactics you will undertake to promote your music through your music business. These may include PR, social networking on Facebook, Myspace, etc, blogging, podcasting, video blogging, flyer and poster marketing, etc.
MANAGEMENT PLAN
Who will form your core team for your music business and what will they do? Regardless of whether you have the capacity to get these people involved, knowing what you want is core to getting a framework to build your music business.
FINANCE PLAN
Knowing what money goes out and what comes in is crucial to understanding how your music business can be successful. My accountant often tells me that the success of my business is equal to how well I can understand the numbers on my cash flow sheet. He is right and I pass this advice on to you.
Saturday, August 16, 2008
Brief History of Dance Music Tops
During the eighties, disco was a very important music-style in Holland. Producers like Stock, Aitken & Waterman made hit after hit over here. But in the late eighties this style began to lose interest, and other styles became popular. These styles weren’t successful everywhere, some, like hiphop, became popular in America, others, like dance, in Europe. Hiphop wasn’t very successful in Holland, over here there were just a few HipHop songs who made it into the charts.
A much more popular style was eurodance, which got large influences from the hiphop. And sometimes there were hiphop versions of dance songs like a hiphop version of "I Cant Stand It". Groups with a lot of influence in the Eurodance were Mars ("Pump Up The Volume"), Technotronic ("This Beat is Technotronic") and C&C Music Factory.
In the year 1989 the Dutch producer Ruud van Reijen created Twenty 4 Seven. This became something totally new: a female singer, doing the "angelic refrain" together with a male rapper. This combination together with a very happy sound, a melody, you can’t get rid off, became very popular in the Netherlands and beyond.
Nance Coolen had been chosen to be the female singer and Captain Hollywood became the rapper. They, together with Hanks & Jacks, who did the male backing vocals, made a song called "I Can’t Stand It", which became very popular in the disco’s & clubs in Holland & beyond. But the song entered the charts very carefully, and didn’t reach that high.
After "I Can’t Stand It" Twenty 4 Seven released "Are You Dreamin’" around Christmas 1989 and so in 1990 they released the album "Street Moves".
At the end of 1991, Captain Hollywood had a little argue with Ruud van Reijen and left the band. After this he created the Captain Hollywood Project, a band like Twenty 4 Seven, Hollywood being a rapper and some female singer for the refrain. Only his project constantly changed people, several female singers joined & left his band.
During this time Captain Hollywood became more popular than Twenty 4 Seven. Hits like "More & More", "Only With You" became popular in whole Europe. Twenty 4 Seven seemed to be fallen asleep.
After Captain Hollywood left, things became really quiet around Twenty 4 Seven. Things were that quiet that Nance decided to take a job at a local supermarket. Can you imagine shopping in a store while Nance is sitting behind the counter??? But producer Ruud van Reijen wasn’t planning to stop. He asked Nance to join the group again, and asked if she knew someone instead of Captain Hollywood. That’s were Stay-C enters the scene, Nance knew Stay-C from some concerts, were they both performed, Nance asked Stay-C. He was positive about it and joined the group. The first song they recorded together was "It Could Have Been You". But this song didn’t become a hit at all.
During these years Eurodance became really popular. Bands like 2 Unlimited (same concept, female singer, male rapper), Captain Hollywood, Double You (Cover of KC & The Sunshineband), Def James Dope reached higher and higher in the charts.
A much more popular style was eurodance, which got large influences from the hiphop. And sometimes there were hiphop versions of dance songs like a hiphop version of "I Cant Stand It". Groups with a lot of influence in the Eurodance were Mars ("Pump Up The Volume"), Technotronic ("This Beat is Technotronic") and C&C Music Factory.
In the year 1989 the Dutch producer Ruud van Reijen created Twenty 4 Seven. This became something totally new: a female singer, doing the "angelic refrain" together with a male rapper. This combination together with a very happy sound, a melody, you can’t get rid off, became very popular in the Netherlands and beyond.
Nance Coolen had been chosen to be the female singer and Captain Hollywood became the rapper. They, together with Hanks & Jacks, who did the male backing vocals, made a song called "I Can’t Stand It", which became very popular in the disco’s & clubs in Holland & beyond. But the song entered the charts very carefully, and didn’t reach that high.
After "I Can’t Stand It" Twenty 4 Seven released "Are You Dreamin’" around Christmas 1989 and so in 1990 they released the album "Street Moves".
At the end of 1991, Captain Hollywood had a little argue with Ruud van Reijen and left the band. After this he created the Captain Hollywood Project, a band like Twenty 4 Seven, Hollywood being a rapper and some female singer for the refrain. Only his project constantly changed people, several female singers joined & left his band.
During this time Captain Hollywood became more popular than Twenty 4 Seven. Hits like "More & More", "Only With You" became popular in whole Europe. Twenty 4 Seven seemed to be fallen asleep.
After Captain Hollywood left, things became really quiet around Twenty 4 Seven. Things were that quiet that Nance decided to take a job at a local supermarket. Can you imagine shopping in a store while Nance is sitting behind the counter??? But producer Ruud van Reijen wasn’t planning to stop. He asked Nance to join the group again, and asked if she knew someone instead of Captain Hollywood. That’s were Stay-C enters the scene, Nance knew Stay-C from some concerts, were they both performed, Nance asked Stay-C. He was positive about it and joined the group. The first song they recorded together was "It Could Have Been You". But this song didn’t become a hit at all.
During these years Eurodance became really popular. Bands like 2 Unlimited (same concept, female singer, male rapper), Captain Hollywood, Double You (Cover of KC & The Sunshineband), Def James Dope reached higher and higher in the charts.
Tuesday, August 12, 2008
The Vinyl War Begins
Press Editor Mike Lloyd spotlighted me in his weekly column this past Sunday, and he mentioned I started this blog to track what's going on at independent music stores.
While that's clearly not the only thing I write about, the indie-music world has been a big part of it, and I'm grateful to have a mainstream platform to vent on behalf of a relatively esoteric subculture. Here's one of my quotes from his column I'm rather proud of:
The silver lining for indies in the past few years -- the survivors, anyway -- has been vinyl.
The reasons for the LP's most recent comeback are numerous and well-catalogued, and the benefits for retailers are obvious. The customer base is loyal, and the product can sell at a higher profit margin because not many stores carry it. (Disclosure: I hang out at Vertigo, like, all the time.)
It was with a bit of sadness, then, that I read this article the other day. The big dogs, apparently, have gotten a whiff of vinyl, whose skyrocketing sales couldn't have stayed under the radar for long.
So the indies gear up for yet another fight. But when it comes to the battle over vinyl, my money's on the record-store geeks, not the blue shirts...
While that's clearly not the only thing I write about, the indie-music world has been a big part of it, and I'm grateful to have a mainstream platform to vent on behalf of a relatively esoteric subculture. Here's one of my quotes from his column I'm rather proud of:
- "There are music fans who appreciate the chance to shop at stores where the personnel did more than put on blue shirts."
The silver lining for indies in the past few years -- the survivors, anyway -- has been vinyl.
The reasons for the LP's most recent comeback are numerous and well-catalogued, and the benefits for retailers are obvious. The customer base is loyal, and the product can sell at a higher profit margin because not many stores carry it. (Disclosure: I hang out at Vertigo, like, all the time.)
It was with a bit of sadness, then, that I read this article the other day. The big dogs, apparently, have gotten a whiff of vinyl, whose skyrocketing sales couldn't have stayed under the radar for long.
So the indies gear up for yet another fight. But when it comes to the battle over vinyl, my money's on the record-store geeks, not the blue shirts...
Monday, August 11, 2008
Hammerhead
HammerHead is a simple TR-909-like drum computer program aiming at the dance-scene. You can use it to create perfect Techno loops, Jungle patterns or House beats, but it's also suitable for Hip Hop, Triphop, Rap, Industrial and almost any other music you can think of.
HammerHead features six separate channels, 29 built-in drum sounds, six complete breakbeats and the possibility to import six samples of your own. You can save your patterns to completely noise-free CD-quality wave files to use them with your sampler, tracker or sequencer program.
HammerHead is not Shareware, it's Freeware! No frustrating save-disabling, no grayed-out-menu-features, no paying serious money, no annoying messages and most of all no time limit...
HammerHead is not a Bossa Nova tool. This means that you won't find any Tom-Toms, Shakers, Cowbells, Congas or Bongos in this box. What you will find is cool 909 stuff, bad overdriven bass drums, lots of snare drums, claps, and complete breakbeats to spice up the lot. Buckets-o-fun for making Jungle.
A must-check-it-out for everyone who has always wanted to make his own block-rocking beats!
http://www.threechords.com/hammerhead/download.shtml
Sunday, August 10, 2008
Bands Favoring Web Over Major Labels
Thousands of fans. A jam-packed tour schedule. A CD for sale. And no record label behemoth behind it all?
That’s today’s music business, according to Chris Bowes, the drummer for the Connecticut band Columbia Fields. And such independent success is fast becoming music industry standard for up-and-coming musical acts trying to build a brand, a following and a sound.
Columbia Fields, whose sound Bowes describes as a sort of Dave Matthews Band meets John Mayer, is among a growing number of musical groups making music independently, without a record label.
All on its own, Columbia Fields has amassed more than 14,000 fans on Myspace.com, booked shows in venues across the state and landed airtime on local radio stations WTIC 96.5 FM and KISS 95.7.
Over the past decade, the music industry has changed. It used to be that a band needed a record label to hit it big. Labels had the power to finance, distribute and promote new music.
New Opportunities
But starting with the days of Napster, technology has given emerging acts new opportunities. Now, artists can amass a substantial following through Internet music downloads, social networking sites like Myspace.com and individual artist Web sites. They can produce CDs in the comfort of home and sell them through online record stores like Cdbaby.com.
“I’m one of those guys who, when I was a kid, always saw myself up on stage, playing in front of thousands of people,” said Bowes, who’s been with Columbia Fields for about two years. The band’s first CD, “When the Night Falls,” has sold about 750 copies at shows and through online distribution with Cdbaby.com.
“The industry’s a little different now,” he added. “Bands don’t necessarily need labels to get in front of large audiences.”
“The heart of all the [industry] changes is definitely technology, bottom line,” said Adam Gootkin, co-owner of the recording studio Onyx Soundlab in Manchester. Half of his studio’s business is with major labels, artists and corporations, like Dell; the other half is with independent artists.
Gootkin’s latest project is a new track for R&B artist Brandy.
Marketing Tools
The music industry is going all digital, said Gootkin. Album sales are down, he added, and that means less income for labels, which are set up to sell CDs. Without the need for distribution, record labels become little more than banks, he said. Large labels have yet to adjust their business model to fit the digital times.
Declining revenues from CD sales has had one immediate impact on the industry, namely that labels are becoming more selective in whom they choose to sign, Gootkin said. That means musicians who are looking for the financial backing of a major record label need to come to them prepared, pre-packaged with an image, a brand and a following, he said.
“The closer you are to helping them see the vision, the closer you are to getting a deal,” Gootkin said.
Part of that challenge for young musicians is marketing, said Sheri Ziccardi, public relations manager for The Hartt School, the arts school at the University of Hartford. Ziccardi has spent years helping students in creative fields market themselves. The tools certainly have evolved, she said.
“Thinking about marketing and promoting themselves can be a challenge for creative types, who do not necessarily want to think about the ‘business’ side of the industry they choose to enter,” Ziccardi said in an e-mail. “Fortunately, today’s students have been raised in a techno-heavy culture and are comfortable with utilizing technology for self-expression and communication, so marketing themselves may become easier for them in some ways than it was for their predecessors.”
Staying Independent
If musicians can grasp the ins and outs of the industry, staying independent can be a viable option.
Music industry veteran and songwriting instructor Bill Pere maintains that it only takes a band about 10,000 fans to be able to make music full-time and remain independent of a label. He’s seen it happen, when musicians are industry-savvy.
“A person is now able to get their material to a wide audience,” said the Mystic-based Pere, who has put out 16 CDs but makes most of his royalties from digital downloads. “The trade-off is that in the old school … the record label basically does everything for you,” he added. “And all you have to do is your music.”
But artists attached to a label get a small piece of the pie, if anything at all, he said.
For example, a band signs a contract with a label and gets a $500,000 advance to make an album. Any royalties that come from the sale of the resulting album must first go to pay back that advance, Pere said.
“If you don’t sell enough, you don’t get anything,” Pere said. “It takes a heck of a lot of sales to make any money.”
Keeping Profits
The independent market doesn’t offer the connections or the budget. “But you get to keep 100 percent of everything you make,” said Pere, who has remained independent throughout his musical career. “You are the one issuing contracts to other people to do work the way you want it done.”
Downloadable music has also created the need for a more strategic approach to songwriting, Pere said. Sometimes listeners only get to sample the first 30 seconds of a song before deciding whether or not to purchase it. Long intros won’t get a song downloaded; those first 30 seconds have to rock.
“It’s a totally transformed world, with its good sides and bad sides,” he added. “It’s not a matter or right or wrong. It’s about having your eyes wide open.”
That’s today’s music business, according to Chris Bowes, the drummer for the Connecticut band Columbia Fields. And such independent success is fast becoming music industry standard for up-and-coming musical acts trying to build a brand, a following and a sound.
Columbia Fields, whose sound Bowes describes as a sort of Dave Matthews Band meets John Mayer, is among a growing number of musical groups making music independently, without a record label.
All on its own, Columbia Fields has amassed more than 14,000 fans on Myspace.com, booked shows in venues across the state and landed airtime on local radio stations WTIC 96.5 FM and KISS 95.7.
Over the past decade, the music industry has changed. It used to be that a band needed a record label to hit it big. Labels had the power to finance, distribute and promote new music.
New Opportunities
But starting with the days of Napster, technology has given emerging acts new opportunities. Now, artists can amass a substantial following through Internet music downloads, social networking sites like Myspace.com and individual artist Web sites. They can produce CDs in the comfort of home and sell them through online record stores like Cdbaby.com.
“I’m one of those guys who, when I was a kid, always saw myself up on stage, playing in front of thousands of people,” said Bowes, who’s been with Columbia Fields for about two years. The band’s first CD, “When the Night Falls,” has sold about 750 copies at shows and through online distribution with Cdbaby.com.
“The industry’s a little different now,” he added. “Bands don’t necessarily need labels to get in front of large audiences.”
“The heart of all the [industry] changes is definitely technology, bottom line,” said Adam Gootkin, co-owner of the recording studio Onyx Soundlab in Manchester. Half of his studio’s business is with major labels, artists and corporations, like Dell; the other half is with independent artists.
Gootkin’s latest project is a new track for R&B artist Brandy.
Marketing Tools
The music industry is going all digital, said Gootkin. Album sales are down, he added, and that means less income for labels, which are set up to sell CDs. Without the need for distribution, record labels become little more than banks, he said. Large labels have yet to adjust their business model to fit the digital times.
Declining revenues from CD sales has had one immediate impact on the industry, namely that labels are becoming more selective in whom they choose to sign, Gootkin said. That means musicians who are looking for the financial backing of a major record label need to come to them prepared, pre-packaged with an image, a brand and a following, he said.
“The closer you are to helping them see the vision, the closer you are to getting a deal,” Gootkin said.
Part of that challenge for young musicians is marketing, said Sheri Ziccardi, public relations manager for The Hartt School, the arts school at the University of Hartford. Ziccardi has spent years helping students in creative fields market themselves. The tools certainly have evolved, she said.
“Thinking about marketing and promoting themselves can be a challenge for creative types, who do not necessarily want to think about the ‘business’ side of the industry they choose to enter,” Ziccardi said in an e-mail. “Fortunately, today’s students have been raised in a techno-heavy culture and are comfortable with utilizing technology for self-expression and communication, so marketing themselves may become easier for them in some ways than it was for their predecessors.”
Staying Independent
If musicians can grasp the ins and outs of the industry, staying independent can be a viable option.
Music industry veteran and songwriting instructor Bill Pere maintains that it only takes a band about 10,000 fans to be able to make music full-time and remain independent of a label. He’s seen it happen, when musicians are industry-savvy.
“A person is now able to get their material to a wide audience,” said the Mystic-based Pere, who has put out 16 CDs but makes most of his royalties from digital downloads. “The trade-off is that in the old school … the record label basically does everything for you,” he added. “And all you have to do is your music.”
But artists attached to a label get a small piece of the pie, if anything at all, he said.
For example, a band signs a contract with a label and gets a $500,000 advance to make an album. Any royalties that come from the sale of the resulting album must first go to pay back that advance, Pere said.
“If you don’t sell enough, you don’t get anything,” Pere said. “It takes a heck of a lot of sales to make any money.”
Keeping Profits
The independent market doesn’t offer the connections or the budget. “But you get to keep 100 percent of everything you make,” said Pere, who has remained independent throughout his musical career. “You are the one issuing contracts to other people to do work the way you want it done.”
Downloadable music has also created the need for a more strategic approach to songwriting, Pere said. Sometimes listeners only get to sample the first 30 seconds of a song before deciding whether or not to purchase it. Long intros won’t get a song downloaded; those first 30 seconds have to rock.
“It’s a totally transformed world, with its good sides and bad sides,” he added. “It’s not a matter or right or wrong. It’s about having your eyes wide open.”
Friday, August 8, 2008
The Rise & Rise of Independent Music
The Association of Independent Music (AIM) is holding a special event to celebrate 50 years of successful independent music which will include a gig, a five part television series, a one off auction on ebay and the release of a double CD full of "independent" covers. Artists including The Prodigy, The Charlatans and Maximo Park have all given their backing to the cause and plan to donate songs for the album. Songs to be covered include Joy Division's Love Will Tear Us Apart, PIL's Public Image and Ghost Town by The Specials.
Independents Day marks the anniversary of Chris Blackwell and Graeme Goodall's indie label, Island Records. The Jamaican-born label signed giants U2 before selling to Polygram in 1989, a trend which many independent labels followed. Creation and Factory records disappeared in the 1990's whilst others folded through a calamity of errors from over expansion to cashflow problems.
Independent music is responsible for more than 25% of the UK's music scene and is claimed to have pioneered the music industry for many years. Alison Wenham, Chairman for AIM stated that [independents] had been "at the forefront of every single new musical movement over the years."
For proof of this, just take a look at every popular music scene over the last 50 years: There was the DIY punk scene in the seventies, the indie guitar sounds from New Order in the eighties and the massive dance music boom in the nineties.
Today, we are seeing the independent label make a comeback. Domino Records have given us two recent chart toppers; Scottish band, Franz Ferdinand and northerners, Arctic Monkeys. The internet has provided a new platform with which to promote this music. Sites such as Myspace, Youtube and Facebook all promote bands young and old, signed and unsigned for general consumption. These social networking sites have allowed users to access new music much easier than ever before with some 40% of users embedding music within their pages.
Russell Hart, chief executive of Entertainment Media Research added "Social networks are fundamentally changing the way we discover music... the dynamics of democratisation, word of mouth recommendation and instant purchase challenge the established order and offer huge opportunities to forward thinking business."
Local label, Signature Tune is making the most of these sites and one of their bands, Lakes is reaping the benefits of using an independent label. Scott Byatt, the band's drummer said "As a band on an independent label, advances in communication and technology mean we can communicate with bands and promoters the world over helping us network and get shows with ease... Our CDs can be bought in many high street stores and our tracks can be downloaded from iTunes, once again without the help of a major."
Radiohead were perhaps the first big band to see the change in direction and act upon it. After the end of their contract with music giants EMI, the band went solo with the release of their latest album, In Rainbows. The album was released as a digital download in October 2007, allowing customers to pay as much, or as little as they liked for it. The group took ownership of their own songs and released ten tracks online more than one month before the tangible album was released in the shops.
Front man for the band, Thom Yorke noted the growing number of pirate copies of their music being appearing online and in an interview with Wired he said, "every record for the last four - including my solo record - has been leaked. So the idea was like, we'll leak it then." Yorke's attempt to beat the pirates seem to have worked. On average, the electronic download sold for 4 GBP. Not bad considering you could download it for free if you were feeling too tight to pay.
The return to indie worked wonders for Radiohead. Although the downloads from the website, inrabows were not counted in the album charts, the band did manage to create enough hype and speculation around the release of their album that when the CD actually hit the shops, it reached number one in the UK album chart, the United World Chart and the US Billboard 200.
Other groups may do well to take note of this action when considering future releases. Of the music industry, and in particular their ex record label, Yorke added "What we would like is the old EMI back again, the nice genteel arms manufacturers who treated music [as] a nice side project who weren't too bothered about the shareholders. Ah well, not much chance of that."
Au contraire, EMI boss, Guy Hands is keen to seize upon the opportunities presented by smaller, independent labels. These labels have always maintained a stronger working relationship with their artists and are much more keen to try their hands at new promotional techniques. With the renaissance of DIY music and bands creating music for music's sake, independent labels cannot be ignored. EMI declared that they are planning on working like a larger version of the indie label, with many smaller labels working under their umbrella.
So they may be more willing to try new techniques, but the problem of shareholders still remains. Wenham continues, "If you have shareholders to please, inevitably it becomes about making music from the music." Indie music is very much about the music and as long as the shareholders give the smaller labels a wide berth, we should continue to see more impressive acts pushing the scene forward.
Independents Day marks the anniversary of Chris Blackwell and Graeme Goodall's indie label, Island Records. The Jamaican-born label signed giants U2 before selling to Polygram in 1989, a trend which many independent labels followed. Creation and Factory records disappeared in the 1990's whilst others folded through a calamity of errors from over expansion to cashflow problems.
Independent music is responsible for more than 25% of the UK's music scene and is claimed to have pioneered the music industry for many years. Alison Wenham, Chairman for AIM stated that [independents] had been "at the forefront of every single new musical movement over the years."
For proof of this, just take a look at every popular music scene over the last 50 years: There was the DIY punk scene in the seventies, the indie guitar sounds from New Order in the eighties and the massive dance music boom in the nineties.
Today, we are seeing the independent label make a comeback. Domino Records have given us two recent chart toppers; Scottish band, Franz Ferdinand and northerners, Arctic Monkeys. The internet has provided a new platform with which to promote this music. Sites such as Myspace, Youtube and Facebook all promote bands young and old, signed and unsigned for general consumption. These social networking sites have allowed users to access new music much easier than ever before with some 40% of users embedding music within their pages.
Russell Hart, chief executive of Entertainment Media Research added "Social networks are fundamentally changing the way we discover music... the dynamics of democratisation, word of mouth recommendation and instant purchase challenge the established order and offer huge opportunities to forward thinking business."
Local label, Signature Tune is making the most of these sites and one of their bands, Lakes is reaping the benefits of using an independent label. Scott Byatt, the band's drummer said "As a band on an independent label, advances in communication and technology mean we can communicate with bands and promoters the world over helping us network and get shows with ease... Our CDs can be bought in many high street stores and our tracks can be downloaded from iTunes, once again without the help of a major."
Radiohead were perhaps the first big band to see the change in direction and act upon it. After the end of their contract with music giants EMI, the band went solo with the release of their latest album, In Rainbows. The album was released as a digital download in October 2007, allowing customers to pay as much, or as little as they liked for it. The group took ownership of their own songs and released ten tracks online more than one month before the tangible album was released in the shops.
Front man for the band, Thom Yorke noted the growing number of pirate copies of their music being appearing online and in an interview with Wired he said, "every record for the last four - including my solo record - has been leaked. So the idea was like, we'll leak it then." Yorke's attempt to beat the pirates seem to have worked. On average, the electronic download sold for 4 GBP. Not bad considering you could download it for free if you were feeling too tight to pay.
The return to indie worked wonders for Radiohead. Although the downloads from the website, inrabows were not counted in the album charts, the band did manage to create enough hype and speculation around the release of their album that when the CD actually hit the shops, it reached number one in the UK album chart, the United World Chart and the US Billboard 200.
Other groups may do well to take note of this action when considering future releases. Of the music industry, and in particular their ex record label, Yorke added "What we would like is the old EMI back again, the nice genteel arms manufacturers who treated music [as] a nice side project who weren't too bothered about the shareholders. Ah well, not much chance of that."
Au contraire, EMI boss, Guy Hands is keen to seize upon the opportunities presented by smaller, independent labels. These labels have always maintained a stronger working relationship with their artists and are much more keen to try their hands at new promotional techniques. With the renaissance of DIY music and bands creating music for music's sake, independent labels cannot be ignored. EMI declared that they are planning on working like a larger version of the indie label, with many smaller labels working under their umbrella.
So they may be more willing to try new techniques, but the problem of shareholders still remains. Wenham continues, "If you have shareholders to please, inevitably it becomes about making music from the music." Indie music is very much about the music and as long as the shareholders give the smaller labels a wide berth, we should continue to see more impressive acts pushing the scene forward.
Thursday, August 7, 2008
Cerwin-Vega Releases Bass Management PA Guide
Cerwin-Vega announces the release of a bass management guide for performers entitled: “Understanding Bass Management in PA Systems: A Guide for Performers”.
The document provides in depth detail on bass frequencies and their properties, why subwoofers are important, the types of subwoofers available and their characteristics, the history of bass in PA systems, system configurations for various applications, setting up powered and non-powered subs and full range cabinets, cables and connectors, and setting up crossovers.
“We did a survey and discovered that most people have a lot of questions regarding the proper use and set up of PA systems,” states Mike Newman, Brand Director for Cerwin-Vega. “We wanted to create a series of informative guides to help people get the best sound out of their performances. What better place to start than with bass? – which of course has been the foundation of our reputation since the company started in 1954.”
The bass management user guide is free of charge and can be found at www.cerwin-vega.com in PDF form to download now.
Click Here:
http://www.cerwin-vega.com/pdf/Understanding_Bass.pdf
The document provides in depth detail on bass frequencies and their properties, why subwoofers are important, the types of subwoofers available and their characteristics, the history of bass in PA systems, system configurations for various applications, setting up powered and non-powered subs and full range cabinets, cables and connectors, and setting up crossovers.
“We did a survey and discovered that most people have a lot of questions regarding the proper use and set up of PA systems,” states Mike Newman, Brand Director for Cerwin-Vega. “We wanted to create a series of informative guides to help people get the best sound out of their performances. What better place to start than with bass? – which of course has been the foundation of our reputation since the company started in 1954.”
The bass management user guide is free of charge and can be found at www.cerwin-vega.com in PDF form to download now.
Click Here:
http://www.cerwin-vega.com/pdf/Understanding_Bass.pdf
Wednesday, August 6, 2008
43 Million Reasons to Use MySpace.com
by Andre Calilhanna, Discmakers
The indie music universe is constantly waning and expanding: new bands emerge, old ones dissolve, conferences come and go, new web sites pop up as older ones fall out of fashion. As with any other industry or business model, these indie music offerings fail and succeed with their ability to create and meet market demand for their service.
Enter MySpace.com. Incorporating successful elements of MP3.com and IUMA, and eclipsing PureVolume and Friendster as the place to be online, MySpace is the epitome of what an online community can be. In it’s short life it has adapted and evolved to meet the evolving needs of its user base, and it has expanded to a network of over 43 million users in the process. Thanks, in large part, to the bands.
Billionaire Boys Club, from Jersey City, NJ, boast the distinction of being the first band ever to grace the front page of MySpace. Through good timing and good tunes, BBC caught the attention of MySpace co-founder Tom Anderson and ushered in a new wrinkle in the MySpace universe. The band is still listed as one of Anderson’s MySpace favorites.
Fireflight, from Orlando, FL, recently signed to Flicker Records, and attribute a lot of their growing fan base to their efforts and presence on MySpace. Through their page on MySpace, the band sees continuous growth and interest, which should only increase as they release their album in July and start playing a full regimen of shows.
We sat down with these two indie music veterans and gleaned some insights into the finer points of MySpace marketing. Here’s our list of five phenomenal reasons to use MySpace!
One of the tenets of good marketing is to target your market. You wouldn’t pitch your Crunk Speed-Metal band with an ad in Today’s Grandparent magazine. The idea is to figure out who your market is, find out where they are, develop your message, then figure out how to get that message in front of the people who might want to buy what you’re selling.
MySpace delivers this in spades. Pockets and niches of users, called “friends,” gather around each other and share info on bands they like. For instance, let’s say you like My Chemical Romance. You can go check out their site, listen to their music, and read their blog. Then, if you want to find bands with a similar sound, you can check out the band’s friends, which include a host of other bands. Presumably, these are bands that have something in common with My Chemical Romance, so you go and check them out.
There are also fans listed as friends, and they typically have a bunch of bands on their pages. So someone into My Chemical Romance will have a number of other bands posted. You might be interested in checking some of them out. It’s viral marketing in its purest form, and the friend network is what really sets MySpace apart from other band sites.
It’s also why Isac Walter, who does marketing and programming for MySpace, says major labels are clamoring to get their bands on the site. “With 43 million users, it’s almost better than going to TV, what with the way people watch TV nowadays. People come to this site to discover new music, and what better way to expose an artist than to leak a band to this audience?”
As a band, this works the other way, too. Once you start developing a fan base, you can communicate to them when you have a show or a news event to broadcast. MySpace provides a service where you can target the friends you contact by region.
Billionaire Boys Club, from Jersey City, NJ
“They added this feature,” says Leigh Nelson of BBC, “where you can set up an event, and you can say I want to invite all my friends in a radius of x number of miles from this zip code. So we’ll do a show in New York and set up an invitation and invite all of our friends within 50 or 100 miles of the city. So we’re directly targeting that audience, where with email you end up sending show announcements to people in Germany. These are things that get added one little bit at a time. Tom really seems to get how people are using MySpace and what they want to do with it, and they’re always adding functionality based on that.”
Communication Runs Both Ways
The internet has completely changed the way we communicate, particularly in terms of marketing. Take something as simple as a band mailing list, for instance. In the early 90’s, that meant printing post cards, labeling them, putting stamps on them, and lugging it all to the post office weeks before the gig. It sounds like the Dark Ages, doesn’t it? It cost a bunch of money, and fans could only communicate by seeing you at a show or writing a letter. Email changed all that. Now it’s free to email your announcement, fans can immediately reply, and you don’t need to plan your promotion months in advance.
MySpace has taken that even further. MySpace not only allows you to communicate with your fans quickly and cost effectively, but it allows them to communicate with you and each other.
Fans can tell you what they think of everything on your page – a picture, a song, a blog entry – and their response is posted immediately. They can then spread your news to their friends with a couple of keystrokes. It’s an amazing development, and there are many ways to take advantage of it to create drama and stir up a buzz.
Fireflight, from Orlando, FL
“We started leaking the news about our signing to Flicker on MySpace because we knew people were going to be reading our blog,” says Justin Cox of Fireflight, “but we got way more response than we thought we would. That generated more interest in our page than anything had in a long time. You could see us singing a contract but you didn’t know with who, and that blog is the most visited we have. We put it on our regular site, too, but we don’t have it set up where people can comment, so it’s cool to know that so many people were keeping track and were genuinely interested.”
There are examples of bands booking shows to meet the demand of their MySpace fans, tells Walter. “There’s this band Cut Copy from Australia who did the Franz Ferdinand tour, and when they played Los Angeles they had enough people on MySpace saying, ‘Oh I wish you were playing your own show!’ So they booked a show at a smaller club called The Echo and gave discounts to their MySpace friends and sold the place out. Bands like that who keep in contact and get a little more personal with their audience can really have success.”
And Nelson explains that opportunities are coming to them by way of MySpace. “We used to get a decent amount of fan email, but now all those comments are pretty much coming exclusively from MySpace. Also coming in are show offers, booking people who are interested, soundtracks who are interested in songs… a lot of that comes via MySpace. It makes us more likely to follow up, too, because we can get a better idea of who these people are by looking at their page.”
Motivated fans who find you and help promote you
Indie bands need help. It’s a lot of work to do promotion, book gigs, sell merch, rehearse, write, and do the hundreds of little details involved with a band. Street teams and helpful fans have been the solution to much of that, though not always easy to assemble and coordinate. MySpace, with its younger demographic and infectious network qualities, makes it easier to find folks ready to jump on and paint your bandwagon. Sometimes, the band doesn’t even know it happening.
“We have this banner on our MySpace page,” explains Cox. “I was surprised to find that people who were our friends were taking it and posting it on other people’s MySpace pages, trying to drive traffic to us. So let’s say there was no MySpace and you had a web site, and you had that same banner. It’s cool, but what are people going to do with it? Now that we’ve got MySpace, they take those banners and post them as comments on other people’s pages and blogs, and people read the blogs and then automatically they’re going to your site for no other reason than that it’s there.”
Finding where your MySpace fans are coming from can lead to unexpected market research, like expanding your gig radius based on fan input. “I can search for BBC across the whole site and see how many people have added us and said we’re one of their favorite bands,” says Nelson. “It’s really cool to see fans crop up in markets we’ve never even been to. All of a sudden we see there are a lot of friends in upstate New York, we get in touch with them and find out where we should play and then go do some shows. In the past there was no way to find that kind of information.”
Crossover Marketing
At its best, one marketing endeavor feeds another, and spills into your other efforts. As Walter says, “The bands who promote their MySpace pages become the biggest bands on MySpace, hands down.” By linking from your regular web site, adding your MySpace URL to all your stickers, t-shirts, etc., you drive people to your site, and more likely broadcast to all those MySpace users that you’re on there, too.
It also works in reverse. MySpace traffic drives traffic to your regular web site, and people to your shows. “Traffic on our site has increased drastically as well,” says Cox, “and I’m sure that has something to do with MySpace because it’s been a steady ramp since we’ve been on there.
“I can also remember instances specifically where people have come up to me at a show and say they heard us on MySpace and decided to come check us out, which to me is the best. It’s just a big network and a big word of mouth kind of thing and you can’t get that kind of exposure unless you’re playing shows every night. It’s just been this awesome marketing tool.”
Free Marketing is the Best Marketing Ever!
Sounds obvious, and it is! But it can’t be understated or undervalued. Many of the band web sites out there offer great services, and there’s no reason not to be on every site you can get to. MySpace has the unique distinction, though, of offering just about everything you could imagine wanting all under one roof: a potential fan base, an opportunity to broadcast your music, a place to hang your photos, a web presence with a decent amount of customization… the list goes on. Not to mention the features and functions that allow you to be a smart marketer.
“The thing that sets MySpace apart from sites that are just for bands,” touts Nelson, “is people sign onto MySpace every day, just to check their messages, read, and communicate. I use it every day, to check in and see what’s going on, look for any bulletins from bands, figure out what’s going on tonight in the city. So just by putting your journal or show dates or advertisements and songs up there, you’re simply going to get a lot more exposure than people just randomly checking your web site. People spend more time on it than anywhere else. I guess credit to Tom there, for setting it up in such a way that makes it so addictive!”
The indie music universe is constantly waning and expanding: new bands emerge, old ones dissolve, conferences come and go, new web sites pop up as older ones fall out of fashion. As with any other industry or business model, these indie music offerings fail and succeed with their ability to create and meet market demand for their service.
Enter MySpace.com. Incorporating successful elements of MP3.com and IUMA, and eclipsing PureVolume and Friendster as the place to be online, MySpace is the epitome of what an online community can be. In it’s short life it has adapted and evolved to meet the evolving needs of its user base, and it has expanded to a network of over 43 million users in the process. Thanks, in large part, to the bands.
Billionaire Boys Club, from Jersey City, NJ, boast the distinction of being the first band ever to grace the front page of MySpace. Through good timing and good tunes, BBC caught the attention of MySpace co-founder Tom Anderson and ushered in a new wrinkle in the MySpace universe. The band is still listed as one of Anderson’s MySpace favorites.
Fireflight, from Orlando, FL, recently signed to Flicker Records, and attribute a lot of their growing fan base to their efforts and presence on MySpace. Through their page on MySpace, the band sees continuous growth and interest, which should only increase as they release their album in July and start playing a full regimen of shows.
We sat down with these two indie music veterans and gleaned some insights into the finer points of MySpace marketing. Here’s our list of five phenomenal reasons to use MySpace!
- Super-targeted viral marketing.
- Communication runs both ways.
- Motivated fans.
- Crossover marketing opportunities.
- Free marketing is the best marketing ever!
One of the tenets of good marketing is to target your market. You wouldn’t pitch your Crunk Speed-Metal band with an ad in Today’s Grandparent magazine. The idea is to figure out who your market is, find out where they are, develop your message, then figure out how to get that message in front of the people who might want to buy what you’re selling.
MySpace delivers this in spades. Pockets and niches of users, called “friends,” gather around each other and share info on bands they like. For instance, let’s say you like My Chemical Romance. You can go check out their site, listen to their music, and read their blog. Then, if you want to find bands with a similar sound, you can check out the band’s friends, which include a host of other bands. Presumably, these are bands that have something in common with My Chemical Romance, so you go and check them out.
There are also fans listed as friends, and they typically have a bunch of bands on their pages. So someone into My Chemical Romance will have a number of other bands posted. You might be interested in checking some of them out. It’s viral marketing in its purest form, and the friend network is what really sets MySpace apart from other band sites.
It’s also why Isac Walter, who does marketing and programming for MySpace, says major labels are clamoring to get their bands on the site. “With 43 million users, it’s almost better than going to TV, what with the way people watch TV nowadays. People come to this site to discover new music, and what better way to expose an artist than to leak a band to this audience?”
As a band, this works the other way, too. Once you start developing a fan base, you can communicate to them when you have a show or a news event to broadcast. MySpace provides a service where you can target the friends you contact by region.
Billionaire Boys Club, from Jersey City, NJ
“They added this feature,” says Leigh Nelson of BBC, “where you can set up an event, and you can say I want to invite all my friends in a radius of x number of miles from this zip code. So we’ll do a show in New York and set up an invitation and invite all of our friends within 50 or 100 miles of the city. So we’re directly targeting that audience, where with email you end up sending show announcements to people in Germany. These are things that get added one little bit at a time. Tom really seems to get how people are using MySpace and what they want to do with it, and they’re always adding functionality based on that.”
Communication Runs Both Ways
The internet has completely changed the way we communicate, particularly in terms of marketing. Take something as simple as a band mailing list, for instance. In the early 90’s, that meant printing post cards, labeling them, putting stamps on them, and lugging it all to the post office weeks before the gig. It sounds like the Dark Ages, doesn’t it? It cost a bunch of money, and fans could only communicate by seeing you at a show or writing a letter. Email changed all that. Now it’s free to email your announcement, fans can immediately reply, and you don’t need to plan your promotion months in advance.
MySpace has taken that even further. MySpace not only allows you to communicate with your fans quickly and cost effectively, but it allows them to communicate with you and each other.
Fans can tell you what they think of everything on your page – a picture, a song, a blog entry – and their response is posted immediately. They can then spread your news to their friends with a couple of keystrokes. It’s an amazing development, and there are many ways to take advantage of it to create drama and stir up a buzz.
Fireflight, from Orlando, FL
“We started leaking the news about our signing to Flicker on MySpace because we knew people were going to be reading our blog,” says Justin Cox of Fireflight, “but we got way more response than we thought we would. That generated more interest in our page than anything had in a long time. You could see us singing a contract but you didn’t know with who, and that blog is the most visited we have. We put it on our regular site, too, but we don’t have it set up where people can comment, so it’s cool to know that so many people were keeping track and were genuinely interested.”
There are examples of bands booking shows to meet the demand of their MySpace fans, tells Walter. “There’s this band Cut Copy from Australia who did the Franz Ferdinand tour, and when they played Los Angeles they had enough people on MySpace saying, ‘Oh I wish you were playing your own show!’ So they booked a show at a smaller club called The Echo and gave discounts to their MySpace friends and sold the place out. Bands like that who keep in contact and get a little more personal with their audience can really have success.”
And Nelson explains that opportunities are coming to them by way of MySpace. “We used to get a decent amount of fan email, but now all those comments are pretty much coming exclusively from MySpace. Also coming in are show offers, booking people who are interested, soundtracks who are interested in songs… a lot of that comes via MySpace. It makes us more likely to follow up, too, because we can get a better idea of who these people are by looking at their page.”
Motivated fans who find you and help promote you
Indie bands need help. It’s a lot of work to do promotion, book gigs, sell merch, rehearse, write, and do the hundreds of little details involved with a band. Street teams and helpful fans have been the solution to much of that, though not always easy to assemble and coordinate. MySpace, with its younger demographic and infectious network qualities, makes it easier to find folks ready to jump on and paint your bandwagon. Sometimes, the band doesn’t even know it happening.
“We have this banner on our MySpace page,” explains Cox. “I was surprised to find that people who were our friends were taking it and posting it on other people’s MySpace pages, trying to drive traffic to us. So let’s say there was no MySpace and you had a web site, and you had that same banner. It’s cool, but what are people going to do with it? Now that we’ve got MySpace, they take those banners and post them as comments on other people’s pages and blogs, and people read the blogs and then automatically they’re going to your site for no other reason than that it’s there.”
Finding where your MySpace fans are coming from can lead to unexpected market research, like expanding your gig radius based on fan input. “I can search for BBC across the whole site and see how many people have added us and said we’re one of their favorite bands,” says Nelson. “It’s really cool to see fans crop up in markets we’ve never even been to. All of a sudden we see there are a lot of friends in upstate New York, we get in touch with them and find out where we should play and then go do some shows. In the past there was no way to find that kind of information.”
Crossover Marketing
At its best, one marketing endeavor feeds another, and spills into your other efforts. As Walter says, “The bands who promote their MySpace pages become the biggest bands on MySpace, hands down.” By linking from your regular web site, adding your MySpace URL to all your stickers, t-shirts, etc., you drive people to your site, and more likely broadcast to all those MySpace users that you’re on there, too.
It also works in reverse. MySpace traffic drives traffic to your regular web site, and people to your shows. “Traffic on our site has increased drastically as well,” says Cox, “and I’m sure that has something to do with MySpace because it’s been a steady ramp since we’ve been on there.
“I can also remember instances specifically where people have come up to me at a show and say they heard us on MySpace and decided to come check us out, which to me is the best. It’s just a big network and a big word of mouth kind of thing and you can’t get that kind of exposure unless you’re playing shows every night. It’s just been this awesome marketing tool.”
Free Marketing is the Best Marketing Ever!
Sounds obvious, and it is! But it can’t be understated or undervalued. Many of the band web sites out there offer great services, and there’s no reason not to be on every site you can get to. MySpace has the unique distinction, though, of offering just about everything you could imagine wanting all under one roof: a potential fan base, an opportunity to broadcast your music, a place to hang your photos, a web presence with a decent amount of customization… the list goes on. Not to mention the features and functions that allow you to be a smart marketer.
“The thing that sets MySpace apart from sites that are just for bands,” touts Nelson, “is people sign onto MySpace every day, just to check their messages, read, and communicate. I use it every day, to check in and see what’s going on, look for any bulletins from bands, figure out what’s going on tonight in the city. So just by putting your journal or show dates or advertisements and songs up there, you’re simply going to get a lot more exposure than people just randomly checking your web site. People spend more time on it than anywhere else. I guess credit to Tom there, for setting it up in such a way that makes it so addictive!”
Tuesday, August 5, 2008
Top 10 Mistakes Artists Make
By David Hooper
If you want to get a record deal, get people to your shows, or sell music like crazy, the answer isn't some kind of "magic pill" website that you post your music on, blindly sending out a bunch of demos, or anything to do with having good music... although good music certainly helps. The answer is to develop a mindset that naturally attracts people to what you're doing as well as an understanding of how the music business game is played.
As you develop as a person, your music career will develop with you. Sounds crazy, but it's true, and I've seen it time and time again, with thousands of acts that I've worked with, from garage bands, to the guys selling out arenas.
Of course, part of developing includes making mistakes along the way. Check out these ten common music business mistakes, and ways to avoid them...
10. Being Too Difficult (or too nice)
First of all, let’s get this clear... Just because you wrote a few good songs and recorded them, it doesn’t mean the world revolves around you. Lots of people write and record good songs, so get in line.
Contrary to what the online rumor mill or media would have you believe, people in the music business are involved because they love music, and they’re not making enough to deal with jerks. And they won’t deal with jerks. If you’re a pain, they’re just go to the next guy, who also writes good songs, but has a better attitude.
With that said, don’t be too nice. You don’t have to say yes to everything. Pick your battles. If there is something you really feel strongly about, don’t settle for anything less.
Bottom line: Keep your ego in check and behave with courtesy and respect. At the same time, don't let anyone treat with you anything less.
9. Trying to Convince People of Anything...
You play music, and people have strong opinions about music. Either people get what you’re doing or they don’t.
So, some reviewer, booking agent, or manager doesn't like your new album. Let it go! Don't try to convince him he'll like it better after a second listen. He won't. And the more you press him to give your music another shot, the more he’ll remember how annoying you were. This means he’ll be far less open to ever listening to you again.
There are a lot of people who won't "hear it" when you approach them. So what? Move on. There are plenty of other people in this business who can help you. Go find the people who do "hear it" and put your energy into building good relationships with them instead.
8. Looking for Industry Approval
There was a time when the "industry" had a lot more pull when it came to breaking an artist, getting them distributed, and everything else. This is a new time, so we're playing with different rules now.
Distribution is easy. Every day, more and more albums and songs are being sold online, physically and digitally. Recording music is easier than ever. You are not limited by a lack of options for getting something recorded that sounds professional.
But more importantly, once you get a recording together, you don't need the industry to tell you your music is worthy. The consumers, the people who buy music, are really the only opinions that matter. And when you have the love of the consumers, the industry will come around.
The thing is, in the music industry, technology has changed faster than mindset. Stop believing you are at the mercy of any record label executive. You're not. Connect directly with your fans on your terms. The feedback, loyalty and money you receive from them will be far more gratifying than you spending your time beating your head against a wall trying to figure out a way to get an approving nod from a record label.
7. Not Building Strong Relationships with Fans
People aren't stupid. They know when they're being marketed to. They know when you're looking to sell them something.
Do they mind? No.
In fact, if you have a good relationship with your fans, they won't mind being marketed to, and if you do it well, they look forward to being marketed to. However, they have to know you care. Building relationships with fans take time. You have to show them you care.
Do things like:
- Give them a few free songs to download.
- Have message board on your website and build a community there.
- Do a "fan appreciation" show.
- Record a holiday album or an EP that you give out exclusively to members of your fan club.
Show them in special ways that you not only care, but that you're willing to go the extra mile to show your appreciation. In turn, they will buy your music, travel to see you play, call radio stations on your behalf, and promote you all over the web.
Every day – no matter if you're busy recording, on the road, or at home worrying about how you're going to find the money to make your project happen – do something (no matter how small the gesture is) to reach out to your fans.
6. Not "Getting" How the Fan / Artist Relationship Works
You’re the leader and your fans do the following. You make the offer, they choose whether or not to accept.
Take charge, record the music, play the shows, print the t-shirts, and let them have the options of buying your album, coming to see you, or getting something to wear.
The average person has enough leadership duties to deal with in his or her own day. People are looking for somebody else to take control, so take control and let them ride along for a little while.
5. Laying Everything on the Table...
You're a rock star. You’re living the dream. Keep up that fantasy. Don't tell people how broke you are, that you're still living with your mother, or anything else that breaks the image of you fans have in their minds.
One of the reasons people like music is because they have the opportunity to live vicariously through the people they are listening to. When you are on stage, they're up there with you. When you're on the road in your tour bus, they're riding shotgun. Don't take that away.
Give them insight into your life and what it's like in your world, but always remember, you're not just selling music – you're also selling a persona.
4. Thinking the "Key to Success" is Just Musical Talent, Money, or Looks
Yes, if we're talking about pop music, MTV, or the major label system, a certain amount of a contrived "image" probably helps sell records.
Obviously, money helps things. And it's always good if you can play and sing.
But "image" without marketing won’t get you on MTV. Good songs without marketing won’t get you on the radio. You can play well, have money, and look like a model, but if you don't have the marketing to back you up, none of it matters.
You know what? If you don’t have a good, solid marketing plan in place, everything else doesn't matter so much.
3. Giving Up Power
Keep control as long as you can. Yes, a label deal will give you opportunity that being an indie won't. And a professional manager has connections that you don't.
But when you sign with these guys, you're handing over your career to somebody else. Nobody cares as much about your career than you do. When you and your talent are the most important commodity you have to offer, do not give up your power easily and without a damn good reason.
Your music is worth something. You are worth something. Think of your career as being "virtual real estate" which, if marketed correctly, will pay dividends for years to come. So, treat it like that.
2. Jumping at Every Opportunity
You don't have to say yes to everything. In fact, sometimes, saying no to something can be more beneficial to your career than saying yes.
Why do you say yes to things? Take a look at your standards and make sure they’re high enough. As an example, just because a club has a PA system, it doesn't mean that it's worth playing there. There are some gigs that just aren't worth playing. There are some connections that just aren't worth developing.
When you say yes to something, especially something that takes your time, you're likely saying no to a host of other things by default. Leave yourself open to saying yes to the opportunities that really matter.
Trust your own judgment. If something doesn't feel right and you want to say no, it's okay. At that moment, you may worry you're passing up a great opportunity and will be missing out. The reality is better opportunities (that are a better fit for you) will come if you are open and ready for them.
1. Not Getting Help
You don't know everything. This business has been around for a long time – long before you were involved.
Read books, get advice from people who work in the industry and keep studying every aspect of the industry. Don't be afraid to ask for help. You can bypass a lot of the problems you're likely to run into simply by asking people who have already been in, and dealt with, the situations you find yourself in.
Remember this: Time is worth more than money. You can always earn more money, but you have a limited amount of time. Don't waste your time. If you don't know something, or need specific help, don't be afraid to pay somebody to help you deal with whatever obstacle you face. Don't let anything stop you from having all the knowledge and know-how you need to have the success you aspire to have.
David Hooper has been serving the independent music community for over a decade and is host of the syndicated radio show, Music Business Radio. Visit www.MusicMarketing.com for more information on David and additional music business advice. For more Top 10 lists, go to www.musicmarketing.com/top_10/
Cutting Up Vocals in Acid
I get asked quite frequently how I cut up my vocals in my tracks. In a recent remix I did for Jennifer Glass entitled "Return to Love", I not only edited the vocals to sound cut up, I added a pitch bend to the cut up section the second time you hear her vocals cut up in the song. The end result in this track was a great way to drop before the chorus. I have used this technique of cutting vocals in other tracks like "Sapphira", "Rain" & another recent remix for Major Attitude Records, "You Are Love".
It is a very easy technique. I am going to tell you how I do it. You may find other software that you prefer or another way altogether. This is just the best way I have found. As with most of my posts, this comes from my own personal experience and I am only passing it on.
I use the program by Sony called Acid. I like using Acid for this because it allows me to cut in tempo an exact amount I want each time. ie: If I want to cut say each beat in half, I would zoom in my view in till the eraser deletes exactly half a beat and wahla. Half a beat deleted. Your cuts can be at an exact BPM also. Acid cuts in quantize and quick fades the edges making using this program hot for this effect.
You will want to turn on loop mode. Go to "Options" menu at top and choose "Loop Playback".
Now you will want to adjust the loop length. At the very top of your tracks you should see a blue line with a thin beginning line and ending line. Once you are set up your view, you can begin to cut. I do a few cuts and listen. Usually you want to cut each beat in quarters. That means every 1/4 of a beat, you will erase the next 1/4 area. Once done, your cut on 2 beats would look like this.
It is a very easy technique. I am going to tell you how I do it. You may find other software that you prefer or another way altogether. This is just the best way I have found. As with most of my posts, this comes from my own personal experience and I am only passing it on.
I use the program by Sony called Acid. I like using Acid for this because it allows me to cut in tempo an exact amount I want each time. ie: If I want to cut say each beat in half, I would zoom in my view in till the eraser deletes exactly half a beat and wahla. Half a beat deleted. Your cuts can be at an exact BPM also. Acid cuts in quantize and quick fades the edges making using this program hot for this effect.
You will want to turn on loop mode. Go to "Options" menu at top and choose "Loop Playback".
Now you will want to adjust the loop length. At the very top of your tracks you should see a blue line with a thin beginning line and ending line. Once you are set up your view, you can begin to cut. I do a few cuts and listen. Usually you want to cut each beat in quarters. That means every 1/4 of a beat, you will erase the next 1/4 area. Once done, your cut on 2 beats would look like this.
This will give you an edit or cut up sound. Simply export your loop and import it into your existing track. On vocals, it is best to just render them from the original program dry (with no FX), then open that rendered track of vocals in Acid. Remember to set the tempo the same as your existing project. After your cutting, export the edited track and replace the vocals in your existing project. This way the cuts can have FX on them.
- Try cutting small pieces of the beginning of the sound, then paste it several times before the sound plays to create a stutter effect.
- Try cutting in different patterns instead of every other one. Make the cut s more rhythmic.
- You can use this technique on all your different tracks. Try it on the drums or the synths.
....the possibilities are endless....
You can really get creative with your cuts. It is not hard and adds a nice touch to your tracks.
Thursday, July 31, 2008
July 2008 - 43 Places to Promote Your Music
This month's newsletter features the listings that were submitted to me this past month.
The contacts listed are sorted into FIVE sections.
- Publications that will REVIEW your music
- Radio Stations/Shows that will PLAY your songs
- Labels, Vendors and Promotional Services that will help you to SELL your CD
- Sites where you can UPLOAD your band's MP3s or videos
- A wide range of Helpful Resources for recording artists
Saturday, July 26, 2008
Friday, July 25, 2008
Introduction to Music Licensing
By Brent McCrossen, Audiosocket
Most of my career I've seen the great aversion bands and musicians have toward "Music Licensing". It would appear that many of them find the subject too complicated to grasp. It's not. They only need to spend the necessary time developing their knowledge of this amazing tool. It will push the exposure of their art and drive revenue from the music they make. It's impossible to cover the entirety of the subject in this article. However, this will dispel some of the fears and act as a quick tutorial.
You've seen the drastic changes that have happened in the music business over the past few years, right? People are buying less and less music. File sharing has impacted artist's ability to make a single dime off of their work. We're not here to debate the good and the bad of that. We're here to discuss a remaining channel of revenue and one that can really blow your band's profile into the mainstream. That channel is music licensing.
In following shows like The O.C, Grey's Anatomy, The Sopranos and Entourage it's easy to see the impact they've had on emerging artists. With commercial radio's reputation on the decline people are seeking new avenues to discover cutting edge, quality music. More often people are finding that new band while watching TV or hearing some killer track on a web site. It's the new way. It presents great opportunity for the artists that know how to meet it.
With the price of gas being what it is, touring is expensive. Still worth while but costly. IF you've got a record deal, in most cases, you need to sell enough records to "recoup" the cost in making and promoting that record. Then, and ONLY then, do you get 10-12% of the records sale price. At that rate you could sell 100,000 records and only make 0-$8,000.
Now imagine this. You own the rights to your music, or have a good publishing deal and a TV show wants to license your hit song. They can pay a lot of money for this. For example, let's say they make you an offer of $25,000 to use your song in the background during a car chase on CSI Miami, most of that $25,000 is going straight into your pocket. IF you're an indie artist that owns the rights to the music and has no agent, 100% of that money is going in your pocket. How much would you have to tour to make that? How many records would you have to sell?
Consider this equation.
Most of my career I've seen the great aversion bands and musicians have toward "Music Licensing". It would appear that many of them find the subject too complicated to grasp. It's not. They only need to spend the necessary time developing their knowledge of this amazing tool. It will push the exposure of their art and drive revenue from the music they make. It's impossible to cover the entirety of the subject in this article. However, this will dispel some of the fears and act as a quick tutorial.
You've seen the drastic changes that have happened in the music business over the past few years, right? People are buying less and less music. File sharing has impacted artist's ability to make a single dime off of their work. We're not here to debate the good and the bad of that. We're here to discuss a remaining channel of revenue and one that can really blow your band's profile into the mainstream. That channel is music licensing.
In following shows like The O.C, Grey's Anatomy, The Sopranos and Entourage it's easy to see the impact they've had on emerging artists. With commercial radio's reputation on the decline people are seeking new avenues to discover cutting edge, quality music. More often people are finding that new band while watching TV or hearing some killer track on a web site. It's the new way. It presents great opportunity for the artists that know how to meet it.
With the price of gas being what it is, touring is expensive. Still worth while but costly. IF you've got a record deal, in most cases, you need to sell enough records to "recoup" the cost in making and promoting that record. Then, and ONLY then, do you get 10-12% of the records sale price. At that rate you could sell 100,000 records and only make 0-$8,000.
Now imagine this. You own the rights to your music, or have a good publishing deal and a TV show wants to license your hit song. They can pay a lot of money for this. For example, let's say they make you an offer of $25,000 to use your song in the background during a car chase on CSI Miami, most of that $25,000 is going straight into your pocket. IF you're an indie artist that owns the rights to the music and has no agent, 100% of that money is going in your pocket. How much would you have to tour to make that? How many records would you have to sell?
Consider this equation.
- You wrote a great song that gets licensed
- You get paid for it
- There is no three. There is no maze for you to traverse between you and the cash. It's not necessarily that simple but it really isn't that hard.
Let me explain a few more details.
Every show, commercial, website, DVD or video game that has a song or melody in it required a license to use it for that specific production. The process to secure the license is called "Music Clearance". This license allows that user to feature the music in their project for a certain amount of time, in a certain area and for a certain feature. This is called the "Use". The type of use often helps determine the price of the license. If your music is in the background and barely heard it won't make as much as say being in the opening credits.
Music Supervisors are the people in charge of selecting music for any one project. These experts work closely with the producer and director to make sure that every scene requiring music is enhanced by its presence. To date music supervisors are becoming the tastemakers for today's audience. They can't be underestimated. In many cases they have more influence over a bands growing popularity then the DJ's of yesterday. One placement on a popular TV show, while paying potentially over $50,000, can help bring your music to the limelight and slam you through the door of success. Music supervisors are one of the gatekeepers.
There are a number of technical terms that one needs to know about music licensing. The most crucial components pertain to the licenses themselves. In order for music to be cleared music supervisors needs to secure two separate licenses, the "Master" and "Synchronization". A Master License pertains to the actual recording of a song. It doesn't manner who wrote it, this license applies to the recording of the track. The Synchronization License or "sync" license allows the user to reproduce a musical composition "in connection with" or "in timed relation with" a visual image, e.g., motion picture, video, advertising commercial. Read it again. Let it "sync" in. You'll get it.
There is a lot to know about music licensing but that shouldn't shy you away from the education. If you've got some great songs, trust me, people need them. There are 100's of 1,000's of films, TV shows, video games and websites in production everyday. One reliable way to gain access to this opportunity is to work with a Licensing agent. Licensing Agents represent bands, musicians and composers for placement in film, TV, Video games and all media. There are a number of licensing agents like me out there. Take the time to do the research and see if you can turn the head of one or two of them. A good licensing agent is another gatekeeper. Their alliance and contacts with the nations top music supervisors can provide a lot of benefits. In most cases they take a % of the licensing fee for their work. Others take a % of the royalties you receive when your song airs on a show etc. It's still wise to arm yourself with information so you know when you have a "good" agent. The more you know the more likely you are to succeed.
Keep writing great songs, studying the industry and playing music. With a little effort and knowledge you're sure to succeed.
End of the Diva
In this day and age of technology, every female vocalist must come to the realization that there is a human being behind them that makes them a diva. Without the music, the production and the beats, no one would be dancing to their acapella. I hate to be so blunt, but I see to many young ladies who can sing and think that is all that is required of them to be rich and famous. They feel because they have placed their vocals & lyrics on top of a track that people should bow before them. This is just non-sense. The music is just as important as the vocals. The drums, melody and rhythm helps give the listener a better feel of the emotions being expressed. It is the mixing of the two elements from both parties that create the magic of the track.
The vocalist that only sings and maybe writes lyrics get off easy. The hard part is the creation of the track, the production of the track and the mix down of the track with the vocals. Most of the time you must use auto tuning software on the vocalist to repair their mistakes. What makes most of the vocalists sound so great is the recipe of effects the producer uses on their voices.
If it wasn’t for the producers there would be no divas. Sure Gloria Gaynor brought something unique to the disco classic “I Will Survive”, but the music in this track is an emotional roller coaster. She could not have expressed such great heart & soul without such an emotional track under her.
Sometime in mid 2006’ I met a young lady after I had posted a message online looking for a female vocalist to appear on some tracks. When we first met she was very humble. She was happy to be getting the chance to sing on some tracks. I agreed with her that any profit that comes from the music projects we collaborate on together I would split with her.
We began to make tracks together. The power between us was amazing. The first two tracks were very good. The creative power together was amazing. I would write a beat with the basic melody and send it to her over the Internet in mp3 format. She would then write a song to this beat I created. Then she would record her vocals for me as I would work on the track getting it ready for vocals. After she sent me her vocals, I would mix them into our song.
The process was complicated because I was not in a studio with her to direct her on how I wanted her to sing; it was very hard doing this online.
When we first started working together and I saw the power between us, I warned her of what I call fiends. A fiend is basically a hater except a fiend will want what you have that they hate on. They will then conspire to take or ruin what you have so they can have it. Just like a dope fiend. If a fiend wants something you have, they will get it one way or another. I knew that there would be jealous producers that would try to step in between us.
Once we had completed a few tracks, I began to create product and promote us. Everything I did for us was out my personal pocket. Never once did she offer to help with any of the costs. If anything she only expected money. I pressed a CD and 2 records. I also promoted our work. I spent over $3000 dollars on product and promotion of our projects. The total revenue from this investment is about $1200 dollars. This is not even half of what I invested into our work.
The tone with my vocalist began to change after the 3rd solid track we created. She began accusing me of stealing from her. She told me that others were telling her what I was really making from her. Today I laugh because what I warned her about happened. She was listening to other producers who were not in my shoes, judging me. Of course they will bad mouth me if it means you will sing with them.
Shortly after this she began working with other producers. I will not lie, I felt betrayed. I enjoyed the magic we had and I saw no reason why she needed to work with other producers. If she was trying to gain fame then more power to her. I will not stand in her way. It just blows what I thought we were doing together, even though I did all the work and paid out all the expenses.
I figured these new producers were the ones she was talking to behind my back. The same ones that were filling her head with thoughts that I was getting rich off of her. Even today I laugh at that. In this business, it is possible to hit it with one track, but in most cases artists and bands can take 10 years of hard work to make a name for them selves. That is a lot of commitment that most who try do not have. At this point in my career, I had been producing for 7 years. I had showed my commitment and heart. She had only been singing on tracks a few months. She was getting an easy ride, but as in most cases it was not good enough for the diva.
Eventually her attitude pushed me away from her. I began to get tired of her moaning all the time about how I wasn’t making her a star fast enough. She had become demanding, expecting me to send her money when she wanted it. I could not help her. There was no money. I did agree to split the profits, but this includes losses too. The revenue is still in the negative compared to costs. There is no money to give her.
This was not good enough for the diva so I let her go. I figured maybe she will appreciate it more if she has to work herself for it. What I had done for her was much more than beyond the call of duty. What I was doing for her was something I only wish someone would have done for me when I was only one year into the scene. You would think that a rational human being would be grateful for what has been done for them, especially when someone spent over $3000 dollars on them out of their personal pocket. Let us not forget about the time invested, the opportunity presented and the exposure. How could you not be grateful for these things?
After I let go of her, she began spreading her vocals from tracks we created together to other producers all over the Internet. Still as of now, I have no idea why. I have seen way too many remixes of tracks that we wrote together. The best part is none of these kids give credit to me for writing the original version.
When the vocalist and I made our first or any song together, we created what is called a joint work. Since we had no contract, copyright law would hold that both of us each own an undivided interest in the whole of the copyright. This means in essence that we each own 50% and you can each exploit the entire work so long as you account and pay royalties to the other. What she is doing is copyright infringement and exposes herself, the remixer / producer who changed the works and any website exploiting those works without my permission to legal action and damages.
The vocalist that only sings and maybe writes lyrics get off easy. The hard part is the creation of the track, the production of the track and the mix down of the track with the vocals. Most of the time you must use auto tuning software on the vocalist to repair their mistakes. What makes most of the vocalists sound so great is the recipe of effects the producer uses on their voices.
If it wasn’t for the producers there would be no divas. Sure Gloria Gaynor brought something unique to the disco classic “I Will Survive”, but the music in this track is an emotional roller coaster. She could not have expressed such great heart & soul without such an emotional track under her.
Sometime in mid 2006’ I met a young lady after I had posted a message online looking for a female vocalist to appear on some tracks. When we first met she was very humble. She was happy to be getting the chance to sing on some tracks. I agreed with her that any profit that comes from the music projects we collaborate on together I would split with her.
We began to make tracks together. The power between us was amazing. The first two tracks were very good. The creative power together was amazing. I would write a beat with the basic melody and send it to her over the Internet in mp3 format. She would then write a song to this beat I created. Then she would record her vocals for me as I would work on the track getting it ready for vocals. After she sent me her vocals, I would mix them into our song.
The process was complicated because I was not in a studio with her to direct her on how I wanted her to sing; it was very hard doing this online.
When we first started working together and I saw the power between us, I warned her of what I call fiends. A fiend is basically a hater except a fiend will want what you have that they hate on. They will then conspire to take or ruin what you have so they can have it. Just like a dope fiend. If a fiend wants something you have, they will get it one way or another. I knew that there would be jealous producers that would try to step in between us.
Once we had completed a few tracks, I began to create product and promote us. Everything I did for us was out my personal pocket. Never once did she offer to help with any of the costs. If anything she only expected money. I pressed a CD and 2 records. I also promoted our work. I spent over $3000 dollars on product and promotion of our projects. The total revenue from this investment is about $1200 dollars. This is not even half of what I invested into our work.
The tone with my vocalist began to change after the 3rd solid track we created. She began accusing me of stealing from her. She told me that others were telling her what I was really making from her. Today I laugh because what I warned her about happened. She was listening to other producers who were not in my shoes, judging me. Of course they will bad mouth me if it means you will sing with them.
Shortly after this she began working with other producers. I will not lie, I felt betrayed. I enjoyed the magic we had and I saw no reason why she needed to work with other producers. If she was trying to gain fame then more power to her. I will not stand in her way. It just blows what I thought we were doing together, even though I did all the work and paid out all the expenses.
I figured these new producers were the ones she was talking to behind my back. The same ones that were filling her head with thoughts that I was getting rich off of her. Even today I laugh at that. In this business, it is possible to hit it with one track, but in most cases artists and bands can take 10 years of hard work to make a name for them selves. That is a lot of commitment that most who try do not have. At this point in my career, I had been producing for 7 years. I had showed my commitment and heart. She had only been singing on tracks a few months. She was getting an easy ride, but as in most cases it was not good enough for the diva.
Eventually her attitude pushed me away from her. I began to get tired of her moaning all the time about how I wasn’t making her a star fast enough. She had become demanding, expecting me to send her money when she wanted it. I could not help her. There was no money. I did agree to split the profits, but this includes losses too. The revenue is still in the negative compared to costs. There is no money to give her.
This was not good enough for the diva so I let her go. I figured maybe she will appreciate it more if she has to work herself for it. What I had done for her was much more than beyond the call of duty. What I was doing for her was something I only wish someone would have done for me when I was only one year into the scene. You would think that a rational human being would be grateful for what has been done for them, especially when someone spent over $3000 dollars on them out of their personal pocket. Let us not forget about the time invested, the opportunity presented and the exposure. How could you not be grateful for these things?
After I let go of her, she began spreading her vocals from tracks we created together to other producers all over the Internet. Still as of now, I have no idea why. I have seen way too many remixes of tracks that we wrote together. The best part is none of these kids give credit to me for writing the original version.
When the vocalist and I made our first or any song together, we created what is called a joint work. Since we had no contract, copyright law would hold that both of us each own an undivided interest in the whole of the copyright. This means in essence that we each own 50% and you can each exploit the entire work so long as you account and pay royalties to the other. What she is doing is copyright infringement and exposes herself, the remixer / producer who changed the works and any website exploiting those works without my permission to legal action and damages.
Thursday, July 24, 2008
Review: Image Line FL Studio 8 XXL
I first encountered FL Studio 4.5 (formerly known as Fruity Loops) in 2004, when the Sytrus synthesizer was still new and used it on the underscore and theme of a sub-B-budget zombie film, The Waking Dead. Although I got to know FL Studio 4.5, I ended up reverting to Propellerhead Reason and Ableton Live, my faithful standards. Now, as neither a novice nor an expert, I wanted to judge the ease and intuitiveness of FL Studio 8's workflow by rearranging a colleague's song. I had already planned an arrangement: new instrumental tracks and new vocals. Recorded acoustic instruments would be the most fitting accompaniment for it, so I would use FL Studio 8's samplers to fill out the mix. But testing FL Studio 8 by recording acoustic instruments would be like judging a Swiss army knife on the merits of its corkscrew. Because FL Studio 8 is full of juicy synth content — many Image Line synth demos and a bundled version of Synthmaker (yes!) — I found time for two recorded projects: a traditional track and an electronic theme.LISTEN ALL Y'ALL, THIS IS SABOTAGE
Eager to get started, I decided to record with matched condensers and an old Tascam US-122 ($269; www.tascam.com). MIDI came from an M-Audio Axiom 49 ($329; www.m-audio.com), and FL Studio 8 found both devices with no difficulty. Hitting the Record button on FL Studio 8's transport panel raises four recording options: record audio into the playlist, record score and automation, record everything or — new in version 8 — record audio into the Edison audio editor. Also new in version 8 is the record filter. One example of how the record filter works is if you want to record the score but not the automation, just right-click Record and uncheck “automation” to keep unwanted automation changes from creeping in by accident.
I chose to record into the Edison editor. For a ghost track, I dragged an MP3 of my original arrangement into the playlist and matched the tempo. Then, I began planning how to record parts on mandolin, piano and vocal from a singer I had already booked.
After learning lots from Image Line's vigorous tutorial videos and settling into a very comfortable work flow, I hit a formidable snag: the notorious blue screen of death. Loading E-mu Emulator X as a VST plug-in crashed my computer. Moreover, opening Synthmaker or Image Line's Collab — a dedicated P2P software that gives users of FL Studio 8 a convenient file-sharing system — also crashed the computer every time. Suddenly the blue screen of death was upon me at every turn, appearing even after simple actions such as opening the C drive.
All that couldn't be normal. Other hosts handled Emulator X fine, and Image Line wouldn't have released version 8 if Collab and Synthmaker made it crashed it. I suspected my drivers, but the problem proved more ambiguous. I dragged the computer across town to have Windows freshly reinstalled, which solved all problems. But by that time, my vocal session had fallen through. However, I knew that with these upgrades, FL Studio 8 could kick up a bad-ass electronic theme in no time.
RIPE FOR THE PICKIN'
To dive into all of FL Studio 8's new stuff, I pulled down the plug-in picker, FL's graphical plug-in menu. There was a new limiter and a visualization plug-in called Wave Candy. Reading the names of the remaining new plug-ins, sparks of incredulity arced across my synapses: Toxic Biohazard, Soundgoodizer, Fruity Dance? I guessed correctly that the Soundgoodizer was an enhancer/exciter, but what did that last one do, a fruity dance? Well…yes. Adding Fruity Dance to a channel creates a tiny, dancing Anime character who syncs to the track's tempo and whose moves you can tweak in the Fruity Dance editor. Thanks, Image Line, I needed a little cheering up.
Next I tried Wave Candy, which depicts your track in a small transparent window using either an oscilloscope, spectrum view or peak meter. At first I thought, “Sweet, but impractical.” When I discovered Wave Candy could float on top of any software's window, that sentiment diminished. You can use Wave Candy to check the mix for clipping while doing other work in other software programs — if you enjoy that level of multitasking.
Other small changes demand attention. The score logger, which records MIDI performances in a three-minute buffer (whether or not FL Studio 8 is recording), prevents the loss of inspired improvisations. Slip-editing, the ability to mask sections of audio and MIDI (and move data back and forth within that masked section) is a handy function that I use in other programs, as well. Finally, a permanent link between the MIDI controller and various plug-ins is now possible. Once you have decided which knobs and faders should control which parameters on synths or effects, you don't have to do it a second time, simplifying workflow dramatically. Assigning parameters to Axiom 49 faders and knobs was a snap.
FRESH PRODUCE
First on FL Studio 8's updated arsenal list: Slicex, a slicing tool similar in purpose and design to Propellerhead Reason's Dr.Rex. Slicex is divided into four panels: Master, Articulator, Wave Editor and Keyboard. The Master panel allows you to assign crossfades between slices using either velocity or modulation. Crossfades can be within the same clip, or between two clips: one in Slicex's deck A, and one in deck B. Thus, it's possible to use velocity to crossfade between a hi-hat slice and a bass-drum slice. Slicex is a bit more flexible in all than the Dr.Rex player.
The Articulator section adds even more flexibility. To its left, there is a section of controls that determine, per slice, what changes occur to the signal — volume, pan, filter, frequency, etc. Then there are the articulators — eight groups of parameters that determine modulation of those parameters. There are two rows of tabs along the top of the window that specify a modulation source and destination. It can get pretty in-depth, so Articulator settings can be saved as their own files. Impressive.
Check out the Wave Editor functions. Loading audio into Slicex is simpler than loading into Dr.Rex for the very simple reason that no format conversion is necessary (i.e., no REX files.) To import a WAV file, you only have to find it in the file browser, right-click on it and select “open in new Slicex channel.” Immediately, the sound file is separated into editable slices you can trigger via MIDI. The implications that has for remixing are huge.
Even more detailed editing comes courtesy of per-slice modifications using the Wave Editor menus. A “run script” function allows you to add effects to specific slices, giving you the option of bit reduction, “destructoid,” limiter, “old school” and ring modulation — all with adjustable parameters. In the Wave Editor menus, you find many of the familiar Dr.Rex functions, and the list of options goes on. With Slicex, you can sink hours into editing a single groove and not have wasted your time.
On the keyboard, sliced regions are triggered in sequential order from left to right, so if a new region is added somewhere in the middle (even if it's within another region), the sequence of keys is reorganized to accommodate that addition. That's convenient for the sake of organization, but if you don't want your MIDI content to change, have all your slices sorted before you start creating MIDI patterns. After a thorough once-over of this awesome plug-in, I picked two drum loops I thought contained distinct and appealing slices and split them between deck A and B.
EXECUTE MASTER PLAN
Image Line's instructions are brief, blunt and clear. Its online instructions for accessing the Synthmaker content are: 1) Open Synthmaker, 2) Open the Content Library, 3) Refresh the content list and 4) Enjoy the new content. Done. Synthmaker, like Directwave, links to a large online cache of goodies, and I greedily downloaded everything on the list in the content library.
The Uniretro arpeggiator gave me some very provocative beginnings. I recorded them into Edison and saved them to my hard drive. After that, I keyed line after line of MIDI data using a free VST synth, the Rhodes in FL Keys and Freehand. I soon locked into a downtempo, bluesy Secret-Agent-style groove. I happened upon a sound file that fit perfectly into the mix and brought it into the Play List with no trouble. The Synthmaker Ping Pong, Sweepy Q, and Filter delays all opened exciting new doors. I opened Slicex and began to improvise beats, and before I know it, it was mission accomplished.
FL Studio 8 is one of the smoothest DAWs to use. Is it, as Image Line says, the fastest way from your brain to your speakers? Depends on how big your ideas are.
Get 10 Percent Off FL Studio 8 XXL At This Link!
http://www.flstudio.com/promo.asp?p=EECCE341
Be Committed!...You'll Never Be Famous If You Don't Show Up!
by Sheena Metal, Music Highway Radio
Everyone wants to be famous: live in a mansion, drive a sports car, tour the world in your private plane, date a model, float around in the pool while collecting royalties for CD sales, and drink beer right out of your private tap. But not everyone is aware that, with any career that has the potential to end in a bounty of riches and beautiful babes, climbing your way to rock stardom is very hard work.
So, how does your average musical genius go from penniless Pop Tart-eater to Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous? How do you move on up from mom's garage to a deluxe apartment in the sky? What's your first baby step on the Yellow Brick Road to fame and fortune? That's simple…be committed!
It sounds silly, but many a musical boat has sailed with a crestfallen unsigned artist standing confused on the dock, for lack of nothing else but follow-through. Commitment to your deeds and plans is the single most essential skill towards achieving your goal of Ultimate Superstardom. Entertainment is a fickle business and chances don't come along every day. One missed opportunity now could have spiraled into dozens even hundreds of opportunities down the line.
It may be true that talent is a gift you carry with you from birth, but commitment is a learned skill that you need to hone every day. So, how can you make sure that you've got what it takes to gather up your supreme musicality and conquer the universe with it continuously?
The following are a few tips that may help you to make sure that you're truly committing yourself to your musical career on a daily basis:
Everyone wants to be famous: live in a mansion, drive a sports car, tour the world in your private plane, date a model, float around in the pool while collecting royalties for CD sales, and drink beer right out of your private tap. But not everyone is aware that, with any career that has the potential to end in a bounty of riches and beautiful babes, climbing your way to rock stardom is very hard work.
So, how does your average musical genius go from penniless Pop Tart-eater to Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous? How do you move on up from mom's garage to a deluxe apartment in the sky? What's your first baby step on the Yellow Brick Road to fame and fortune? That's simple…be committed!
It sounds silly, but many a musical boat has sailed with a crestfallen unsigned artist standing confused on the dock, for lack of nothing else but follow-through. Commitment to your deeds and plans is the single most essential skill towards achieving your goal of Ultimate Superstardom. Entertainment is a fickle business and chances don't come along every day. One missed opportunity now could have spiraled into dozens even hundreds of opportunities down the line.
It may be true that talent is a gift you carry with you from birth, but commitment is a learned skill that you need to hone every day. So, how can you make sure that you've got what it takes to gather up your supreme musicality and conquer the universe with it continuously?
The following are a few tips that may help you to make sure that you're truly committing yourself to your musical career on a daily basis:
- Follow Up On All Leads---No matter how insignificant they may seem at the time, it's important to follow up on every musical lead that's thrown your way. Letters, calls and emails should be answered politely and in a timely fashion. New contacts should be logged in your address book for future correspondence. Opportunities should be taken, invites accepted, and chances to network relished. By starting out with just these simple rules you'll watch your resources and mailing list grow. Suddenly you'll have music community friends with which to share your leads and ideas, ask advice, trade experiences, and combine talent and energies. Through these friends, you'll meet new friends and fans and from them even more new connections. Soon, you'll have so many opportunities that your concern will change from lack of opportunity to lack of time in the day to pursue each new chance.
- Just Show Up---Sounds so simple it's stupid, but you'd be surprised how many talented people have fallen by the wayside because they were unable to simply show up. Cancelled gigs, forgotten meetings, and missed auditions say to the Musical Powers That Be, "I'm a huge flake who doesn't think your opportunity is worth a half-hour of my precious time." This is a really bad thing. Entertainment is a small town with a huge memory. Don't give people any reason to think that you're not the person they want to work with, give the job to, book for the gig, sign to their label, write about, talk about, and help any way they can. Remember there are tens of thousands of musicians waiting to take your place, so step up to the plate and seize each chance with optimism and enthusiasm.
- Take Initiative---Don't wait for opportunities to come to you. The world is a virtual cornucopia of information, so reach out and nab yourself some chances at stardom. Comb the internet, join music communities, visit open mic nights, take classes and workshops…put yourself out there where there are cool musical happenings and let others know that you can be relied upon and want to be involved. By going out and seizing your own opportunities, you may double, triple, etc. your resources and chances, and expedite your journey to success.
- Do The Best Job You Can---As important as it is to show up, it is also essential that you come off efficient, talented, and professional when faced with a new opportunity. Being there is half the battle but the other half is being the best that you can be and impressing industry, press, clubs and your fellow musicians enough to make them want you to be involved in anything and everything they do. Make a commitment to put on the best live show possible, to have a terrific CD, to make a professional presskit, and to spread the word about your music. Be punctual, be courteous, be positive and be fun. Don't give anyone any reason not to work with you again and you'll see that it becomes easier and easier to get what you want for your artistic career.
It really is as easy as simply showing up, following up and giving it your all. Making it in music is not impossible; it's just a lot of elbow grease, a little organization, a bit of strategy, and the simple sculpting of your talent into a marketable commodity. There are thousands of chances offered every day to musicians...reach out and grab them by the handful, make every opportunity your own, get everything you want from this business and when you're richer than Oprah and more famous than Madonna, remember that it was you who made it happen. You were a pro. You showed up. You committed.
Wednesday, July 23, 2008
What is Logos?
Logos is an important term in philosophy, analytical psychology, rhetoric and religion. It derives from the verb to count, tell, say, or speak. The primary meaning of logos is: something said; by implication a subject, topic of discourse, or reasoning. Secondary meanings such as logic, reasoning, etc. derive from the fact that if one is capable of (infinitive) i.e. speech, then intelligence and reason are assumed.
Its semantic field extends beyond "word" to notions such as "thought, speech, account, meaning, reason, proportion, principle, standard", or "logic". In English, the word is the root of "logic," and of the "-ology" suffix (e.g., geology).
Heraclitus established the term in Western philosophy as meaning both the source and fundamental order of the cosmos. The sophists used the term to mean discourse, and Aristotle applied the term to rational discourse. The Stoic philosophers identified the term with the divine animating principle pervading the universe. After Judaism came under Hellenistic influence, Philo adopted the term into Jewish philosophy. The Gospel of John identifies Jesus as the incarnation of the Logos, through which all things are made. The gospel further identifies the Logos as God (theos).
Psychologist Carl Jung used the term for the masculine principle of rationality.
Its semantic field extends beyond "word" to notions such as "thought, speech, account, meaning, reason, proportion, principle, standard", or "logic". In English, the word is the root of "logic," and of the "-ology" suffix (e.g., geology).
Heraclitus established the term in Western philosophy as meaning both the source and fundamental order of the cosmos. The sophists used the term to mean discourse, and Aristotle applied the term to rational discourse. The Stoic philosophers identified the term with the divine animating principle pervading the universe. After Judaism came under Hellenistic influence, Philo adopted the term into Jewish philosophy. The Gospel of John identifies Jesus as the incarnation of the Logos, through which all things are made. The gospel further identifies the Logos as God (theos).
Psychologist Carl Jung used the term for the masculine principle of rationality.
Soundcard - Audiophile 2496
4-In/4-Out Audio Card with MIDI and Digital I/OThe Audiophile 2496 embodies a quantum leap in computer audio fidelity and performance unequaled by other audio cards in its price range.
This critically acclaimed PCI card features premium digital audio converters, elegant board design, and ultra-stable drivers just like the rest of the Delta line, but with a simpler I/O configuration. As a member of the Delta family, the Audiophile 2496 supports all computer platforms and major software programs, ensuring seamless integration and rock-solid performance.
All Delta cards contain a 36-bit embedded DSP enabling a software-driven patch bay / router for all analog and digital I/O—all with extremely fast throughput for low-latency software monitoring. A single unified control panel provides settings for clock and sample rates, buffer sizes, individual signal levels for every input and output, adjustable +4dBu/-10dBV pad controls and digital I/O control on up to four installed Delta cards. All controls are also easily accessible through most professional audio software applications for seamless integration and operation.
If you are wondering how you can improve the sound quality of your productions, simply upgrade your sound card!
Technics SL-1200MK6 Turntable
Technics just announced the newest member of the 1200 family which will be labeled as the Technics SL-1200mk6. It will be available in black and classic silver finishes. The updates to this new 1200 are:There isn't much of an update here at all, but with the 35th year of the 1200 approaching, I guess they saw it fitting to release a new deck. Also for purchase is a limited 1000 qty run of SL-1200mk6k1 editions which will include a gold framed disc and a 55 page book which shows all 35 years of the 1200 legacy. No prices have been released as of yet...
- -High-quality materials OFC (oxygen-free copper wire) adopted by the S-shaped tone arm
- -Further vibration damping to the realization of the three-tiered cabinet
- -Continuous pitch control accuracy improvement
- -Long-life high-intensity blue LED needlepoint adopted
Tuesday, July 22, 2008
iTunes Hits Two Billion Sold Milestone
Apple today announced that more than two billion songs, 50 million television episodes and over 1.3 million feature-length films have been purchased and downloaded from the iTunes Store.
“iTunes has crossed another major milestone by selling over two billion songs—with over a billion of them sold in the last year alone—making it by far the world’s most popular music store,” said Steve Jobs, Apple’s CEO. “And by selling 50 million TV shows and over 1.3 million movies to date, iTunes is already the largest online video store in the world as well.”
The iTunes Store features the world’s largest catalog, with over four million songs, 250 feature films, 350 television shows and over 100,000 podcasts.
“iTunes has crossed another major milestone by selling over two billion songs—with over a billion of them sold in the last year alone—making it by far the world’s most popular music store,” said Steve Jobs, Apple’s CEO. “And by selling 50 million TV shows and over 1.3 million movies to date, iTunes is already the largest online video store in the world as well.”
The iTunes Store features the world’s largest catalog, with over four million songs, 250 feature films, 350 television shows and over 100,000 podcasts.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)