Control Your Image: Women Musicians Seize On Social MediaListen: to the story:

This story is part of Hey Ladies, our ongoing series of radio and online reports about women musicians working today. Read stories, get advice and discover music here.More women than men use social media, according to several studies. And more women musicians seem to be finding it a good way to connect with fans and sell records without having to resort to some of the old marketing cliches.If there is a poster child for the independent woman artist of today it might be Zoe Keating. 

The 38-year-old cellist comfortably supports her young son and husband by performing and selling her music.Keating is classically trained — though she has played with a rock band or two. Now she usually plays solo with a Macbook at her feet. Using a software program she wrote Keating creates interwoven loops of her music on the computer as she performs.She says the music industry didn’t know what to do with her. “When I first started out doing this and I approached record labels and managers and agents they all said, ‘Well, what you do is interesting, but what’s the story?’” she says. “‘We can’t figure it out. It’s complicated. And it seems kind of niche, and it doesn’t really seem like it would go anywhere.’”If Keating’s music wasn’t easily classified, then her look wasn’t right for the record companies either. “I do think it’s kind of harder for women to be noticed if they’re not young and sexy and hot,” says Keating. “And I don’t think I’m young and sexy and hot.”

 Keating is striking in a very unconventional way. She has a pile of red dreadlocks on top of her head and pale, almost translucent, skin. She’s a former Information Architect and made a living in the tech world before she became a full time musician.

“I think that social media is really, like, the only way for somebody like me to craft my image,” she says.And Keating has done it masterfully. She has more than 1.3 million followers on Twitter, which she adopted early on. She tweets about everything from how best to get her cello on a plane, to where she’s playing next, and how much she loves the view from a cabin in Colorado.“That’s what fans want now,” says Keating. “The want to know you.”Keating’s fans pushed her most recent album Into the Trees to number seven on the Billboard Classical charts — and that’s without any formal publicity.Older musicians are tapping social media too.

In 1987 Suzanne Vega hit the top of the international charts with “Luka” off her second album Solitude Standing. Although many of Vega’s subsequent albums got good reviews, she never had that kind hit again. Vega was dropped by two record labels.“The idea of putting out a new album with nobody to release it was disturbing to me,” says Vega.

Vega began to use social media to gather up her fan base. She assembled more than thirty thousand friends on Facebook and has more than 800,000 views on her MySpace page. She is also rerecording and releasing — on her own label — all of her old material so that she can reap the performance royalties. Whereas the information on her old albums was devoted to her dark lyrics, with social media Vega’s fans can see more of her.

“Because what I do through Twitter, and what I do through the Facebook and even sometimes the blogs is I’m much more able to show off my sense of humor and my personality than just say the lyrics which tend to be very serious,” Vega says.Vega has a list of the people who follow her and respond to her postings. “

The idea that there could be someone in Turkey, for example, who was a fan that I didn’t know that could write to me directly and when I when to perform in Turkey she would actually be there at the shows — that was amazing to me.”

But it isn’t so surprising to Linda Abraham, an analyst at Comscore who did a study of how men and women use social media. Comscore tracks online behavior. The study found that 56 percent of women say they use the Internet to stay in touch with people compared with only 46 percent of men. In general women spend more time online too. And that was true not matter what country Comscore studied.“You often find one pattern of behavior in one part of the world and a different pattern of behavior in another part of the world,” she says. 

“But the study that we did with regard to social media specifically — regardless of the cultural differences — this tendency for women to be more social on the internet superseded those cultural differences.”But hearing a marketing person talk about social media is exactly what worries Rebecca Gates. In the old times Gates was one half of the Spinanes.

“Now you will have a Facebook page and you will have a Friendster page and a Posterious and on and on,” she says. “I’m kind of like, ‘Oh, dude.’ I thought this was the new — this was the new times.

“When the Spinanes hit almost 20 years ago they were sold as unusual combination of chic singer and guitarist, and a drummer. Thanks to social media Gates can fill out the image. “I’m getting a chance to present a lot more well-rounded and sort of faceted persona.”

Or as Keating put it, for a lot of women the only way to move forward is to make your own path, get out your machete and cut your way through. Or click your way through.

“How many hours/day should I practice my guitar?”

This is a very important question if you want to learn not just guitar but anything really.
If you ask around, people will advise you that exercising at the very least four hours/day is the best way to learn to play guitar fast. Well, a lot of comments could be made to this statement.

First, playing the guitar involves many skills that need to be practiced separately. Here are a few:

    * Right hand exercises (finger/plectrum picking, rhythm)
    * Left hand (practicing chord changes, scales, arpeggios etc…)
    * Reading
    * Sight Singing
    * Ear Training
    * Improvisation

These are just a few aspects of guitar playing of course but each of them demands conscious attention in order to be mastered.

So, what do you do? Do you spend hours and hours practicing each specific skill, before
moving to the next one?  Do that and you will soon get completely bored only by the idea of going to your practice room!

What you can actually do is to choose to practice 3 times a week. In my experience, 3 hours/session are plenty.

Here’s what I like doing. I work on 2 or 3 skills that I want to develop. For example:
    * Chord changes
    * Rhythmic patterns
    * Improvisation on a particular song that I decided to add to my repertoire

That’s lots, believe me! Once I have decided the topics, I divide my practicing time into 3 (e.g., 45 minutes on each topic/skill). I also take breaks, drink some tea, stretch etc…every 20-30 minutes.  In doing so, you give your brain the opportunity to work on as many as skills as possible, skills that are necessary to work together during performance.

The last, and perhaps, most important step, is to spend the last 20-30 minutes practicing just for the fun of it. With no attachment whatsoever to the outcome. In doing so, you’ll relax, feel free of making mistakes and guess what…you’ll practice playing out of your intuition, with no rules to observe…

This, altogether, will leave in your brain a feeling of pleasure that will motivate you to start your next practicing session. Practicing even complicated tasks will become fun-
and not a chore…

So, to summarize…

Go to your practice room, spend only a few minutes practicing one single skill and then stop. After a few minutes, a good cup of coffee and some stretching, start working on something else…you will soon build up a standard practicing schedule that will take your guitar playing to the next level in no time.
This is what I personally do. As with any advice you decide to take on board in life, you might want to adapt my approach to your particular situation. Bear in mind that practicing your guitar should always be fun and something to look forward to each and every day. So let go of your frustrations if you relize you need more practicing sessions in order to master a specific skill. It will happen, I promise.

Francesco

Also visit: www.topguitarlessonsreviewed.blogspot.com

http://www.topguitarlessonsreviewed.com

Blueberries, The Power is in The BLUE!

Blue is the color of powerful anti oxidants, Blue helps reduce cardiovascular disease. Blue is the color that fights cancer, improves memory, aids digestion and improves your vision. Blue is the color of Blueberries.

Most of this little berries power is in a substance called Anthocyanin, the pigment responsible for the blue color. This along with an abundance of vitamin C and other vitamins and minerals make blueberries a super food. Here are just a few of the many health benefits.

1. The Highest antioxidant capacity of just about anything. Anti oxidants boost your immune system, reduce aging, and fight cancer.

2. Eating blueberries regularly can keep memory sharp and improve learning capacity and motor skills. They will help improve memory and concentration especially in people suffering from Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s. They will even improve your mood. (who could possibly be crabby eating blueberries)

3. Blueberries are high in the fiber you need to keep away constipation and lower cholesterol.

4. The eyes have it. Blueberries have been found to slow down visual loss as well as fight macular degeneration, cataract and myopia.

When picking out berries, the darker blue the better. Choose berries that are firm, have a uniform hue and have a whitish bloom. Shake the container. If they don’t move freely, they may be soft or moldy. They should be free from moisture because water will cause them to decay.

Keep the cold and don’t wash them till you are ready to use them. To get the most of the nutrients, they should be eaten raw. Writing this made me so hungry I devoured a carton just now and they were sooooooooo good. You should have at least one serving a day. You can put them on your cereal, in yogurt, in a smoothie, in chicken salad (really yummy) or just eat them like I just did. They are high in the good stuff, low in calories and taste great. (and gluten free).

Want to learn more?? Check out these sites.

Women’s Fitness.net - Top 10 Health Benefits of Blueberries
Natural Health Ezine.com - Blueberries Health Benefits & How To Grow Blueberries in Your Own Garden.

Wonderful classical sound to the vocals on this song. The flowing & very fast and artistic shots lend a feminine & masculine vibe. Wonderful close up of her make-up shot. Sounds like the lyric, partially audible is actually a long poem set to melody. Met this band at MySpace & am trying to sign a couple of their songs into our music catalog. They are Factory Of Dreams.

by Devin Coldewey on February 11, 2010

Yesterday, in response to allegations of DMCA violations, several popular music blogs were wiped off the face of the net. They were hosted by Google via Blogger, and it was only after they were completely erased that the owners received emails to the effect of “We got one too many complaints — you’re deleted. Love, Google.” It’s trending around the net as “Musicblogocide 2010,” but that puts too much of it on Google’s lap, I think. After all, it’s the clumsy and outdated DMCA that actually led to the blogs being deleted.

It’s a bit of a sticky wicket, speculating about the legality of these things, but with such a decisive and bold action as the one Google has taken, we can probably reach some conclusions about how it should have gone down.

The sites in question were, of course, walking the line in terms of legality. MP3 blogs are scary to the music industry, because they represent such a challenge to the established promotional and sales flow. This is not the place for a whole argument about fair use, but I think most of what these blogs did would fall under that definition, woolly as it is. They hosted MP3s of artists they were discussing or promoting, but not whole albums. One of the bloggers notes that “everything I’ve posted for, let’s say, the past two years, has either been provided by a promotional company, came directly from the record label, or came directly from the artist.” I used to have an MP3 blog myself, and never received anything but thanks from the artists I tried to promote. So what happened here?

Well, Google is probably limited in what they can discuss publicly, but chances are that these blogs were fingered by some overzealous lawyers using the same sort of technique to catch copyright offenders as commercial fishermen use to catch tuna. These lawyers likely did a little searching for their clients’ names and properties, found a few MP3s, and then added the domains and any related domains to a list. They then filed DMCA violation paperwork against everyone on the list. How could a blog that had permission from the labels or artists to post every item get stuck in this net? Well, at the risk of stretching the metaphor too far, the DMCA isn’t exactly dolphin-safe.

I’m not a lawyer, so I won’t attempt to criticize the DMCA on any sort of technical grounds, but more eminent authorities have concluded that the act and its related laws are admirably well-designed to preserve the status quo. It’s clear that the laws had the interests of labels and such in mind, who certainly had a hand in setting them up. How else would it come to be so easy to get an innocent, probably beneficial personal blog completely effaced from the net?

The Blogger authorities have responded, somewhat, in this post. Essentially they’re saying “well, we just followed the rules.” And that’s true. They offered this service for free with a EULA and what they did was, if not the best move, at least not unprecedented. There are at least two problems presented, though.

First, the burden of proof is on the accused. That’s a bit disturbing, isn’t it? Any allegation is assumed to be true unless the person at which it is directed disputes it — a person who likely little understand of the technicalities of the law, and furthermore is often not even informed which track or post is allegedly in violation. Their recourse is limited and obscure. And mistaken or fraudulent takedown notices are far from rare. One of the bloggers affected cited four he’d received in the last year that had turned out to be out of order.

Second, the sites that were taken down were more than lists of links to MP3s. There was a lot of content on there that was most certainly not violating any law. Specifically, all the writing done by the bloggers and commenters. Some of these blogs had been going for years, and had built up large readerships as well as an enormous archive of commentary, history, interviews, all that kind of thing. Blogger threw the baby out with the bathwater, and there should be some kind of protection against that.

On that last point, it should probably be noted that while the blogs were described as being completely removed, I have no doubt that they’ve simply been taken offline. The content has not been zeroed off the servers and so on. After all, what if the owners challenged the DMCA notices and won? They could conceivably sue Blogger for destroying years of work that had nothing to do with the allegedly offending content. That last part I’m not sure about (Google is within the law in taking the blogs down) but a sympathetic judge might see the harm done and blame Google for acting rashly and negligently. So I’m guessing all that content is still around, though much damage will have been done whether the blogs are ever restored or not.

Of course, it’s not just music pirates who are now worried. Since these blogs were popular and (in a relative way) legitimate, it seems that the dagger now hangs above every person that ever dared to share. It’s like the immense fines levied against minor P2P offenders: the RIAA and its lawyers are barking up the wrong tree and biting the wrong ankles. And since they show no sign of changing their tack, we must appeal to the middle man — in this case, Google and Blogger. What could they have done?

Well, to begin with, a presumption of innocent would be nice. They say that they usually just put the offending post in draft status and alert the owner. So far, so good. But what line was crossed that these blogs were not only removed, but removed with no warning? A cordial notice of suspension would be a hundred times better than a real removal:

“We’ve received several complaints about your blog. Because of their number and previous complaints against you, we’ve temporarily suspended your account until this issue can be resolved. View the complaints here. If you feel these allegations are baseless, fill out this form and we will forward it to the complainants. We apologize for any inconvenience.”

Wouldn’t that be nice? If you’re going to give someone the means to walk in the margins of the law (and free blogging accounts are certainly that), then it would be ethical to provide some means of negotiating with it. Google offers a loaded gun to anyone who asks; there’s no need to defend someone if they take the gun and hold up a bank with it, but if they do, at least make sure they get read their rights before they get hauled off.

Lastly, lest I be accused of promoting kid-glove treatment of those ignorant of the law and EULA, people who intend to work in the margins of the law should make sure they know what those margins are, and how to navigate them. It is their responsibility, after all, and ignorance is not a valid defense. I was careful to add a disclaimer that was linked in every MP3 post I wrote which provided contact information and copyright acknowledgment. I’m guessing these blogs did as well; they wouldn’t have been so friendly with the musicians they worked with if they didn’t. But it’s a first line of defense, and if I (and they) were serious about having a website that provided a questionably legal service, I would have put some serious CYA boilerplate in there.

This little fracas is, I am guessing, far from over, so we can expect further developments. But I felt it was important to weigh in following the event itself in order that I can weigh the actual results against what is most desirable. These disputes don’t always end happily, but they often serve to further demarcate ambiguous areas of the law, and future settlements will walk more freely once they clear the backs of their fallen brethren. That came out a bit more dramatic than I had intended, but you understand me. We’re making a new media omelet, and some eggs are about to get cracked.

There are many people out there who just love to sing or imagine themselves with a great singing career.  However, there may be a few things lacking from their technique or ability that will set them back from others in the music industry.  While there are many different things that can help a singing voice to become better, following some singing tips will greatly improve the chance of making it big.  Even for those who sing only for small groups or in a church choir, the tips that are given by others in the music industry can certainly improve just about any voice.

As any vocal coach will say, singing should be a relaxing hobby, so there is no need to be tense.  Those singers who are much more relaxed with their mouths and tongues will have a much better sound than those who keep their mouths more closed than open or have their tension in their tongues.  These two singing tips alone can greatly improve a singing voice as this is where the majority of the problems come into play.  Many singers find it useful to sing while looking in a mirror so they can determine if their mouth needs to open further or their tongue is too tense.

Understanding the correct way to breathe while singing is also important to have a great singing voice.  Many people tend to take in too much air or don’t breathe deeply enough to maintain a note for any length of time.  It is important to allow breath to come naturally as it does in everyday life.  Some other great singing tips include believing what is being sung and having the energy to sing the song.  Since it often take a lot of physical energy to actually produce the notes to sing any song, a singer must be energized in order to hit higher notes and keep the note held for any length of time.

Following as many of these tips is essential for any singer to do a much better job.  It really doesn’t matter if someone is singing in church or on stage in Nashville, they must understand that these tips will allow them to be the best singer they can be.  The hard work involved in perfecting a singing voice will pay off when singing in public the next time.

This is just a follow up from Kurb promotion talking specific stuff for musicians websites and blogs when you’re dealing with music business and Online Artist Management. If you’re looking for music marketing services or free regular advice visit kurb’s music marketing, management, and blog! Here’s some tips on developing your artist blog or music website- posts spaced months apart make the site look dead and inactive, we need to get the posting frequency up so fans see that the band has an active presence and the website is worth coming back to or recommending. Our key outcomes for visitors that is: sign ups, sales, and social networks, free downloads must be prominent. Often I will include these prompts at the head of each post so visitors are always made aware of particular propositions we are pushing.

Having a lot of written content on your site is essential if you’re going to bring in Google traffic, so we need to produce written content. Usually when I’m doing content and branding work for Online Artist Management we aim for 1 post each week on the blog then we collate these 4 posts with any other content available to make up our monthly email mail out. I’ve been doing my blog for 2 years now but it averages 200 hits a day and I am never short of leads, when you can get that kind of traction you should be able to pick up fans without even the benefit of other more aggressive But I’ve written 300 posts in that time so that’s the kind of commitment you’re looking at, but from my perspective it’s worth it because I never have to look for “fans” now, there’s always someone ready to pay me for what I do.

It’s a great struggle for me because the written word is my natural medium, whereas a lot of artists find it more of a chore. If you can make this part of your promotion routine it would be great, with some other clients. I have to write their blogs etc. for them and I have to charge them significantly for this and it still doesn’t substitute for the artists directly contributing this to engage the fans. So you want to be concentrating on writing as much down as possible, but we also want strong visual content. Sounds like you’ve got the video stuff covered so I’ll wait and see what you come up with before making any detailed suggestions, although long term it probably be advisable to improve the presentation of your site, and also stay mindful of what exactly our key propositions are (whether that’s an email sign up or sale of a product or service).

I think initially we should start with a free song in exchange for an email sign up and to push the album, design a landing page for the album to push fans toward and also think about another page where we might develop an alternative offer compromised of other offerings outside your album. I have been doing some Google promo for bands and musicians website, but I think it’s important for us to discuss improving your homepage. I think you said you could do the changes yourself? I think it’s really important to get the feel of the site and social pages right before launching into some of our Artist Management and promotion strategies. For more information visit us at:

www.KurbArtistManagement.info

August 12^th, 2010 at 1:05 PM

Neil Young to Tour Gulf Coast

Neil Young will be touring the Gulf Coast this September in an effort to aid those affected by the BP oil spill. He will be performing four concerts in the region and has asked that concert goers bring non-perishable food items to the shows. Those items will be donated to the Bay Area Food Bank, which serves communities in Alabama, Florida and Mississippi. Young has also enlisted the help of Tyson Foods, who will be donating 100,000 pounds of chicken—the equivalent of 400,000 meals—to the food bank. Additionally, all profits from the sale of limited-edition t-shirts, available only at the concerts, will go to the food bank. Young also hopes that the concerts will help bring funds to businesses in the area affected by the BP oil spill. “Millions of people who live along the Gulf Coast struggle with hunger and the economic impact of the oil spill has only made matters worse,” Young said in a recent press release. Dates for the concerts are below.

9/20 – Panama City, FL – Marina Civic Center
9/25 – Biloxi, MS – IP Showroom
9/26 – Mobile, AL – Saenger Theatre
9/28 – Pensacola, FL – Saenger Theatre

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Apple loses big in DRM ruling: jailbreaks are “fair use”By Nate Anderson | Last updated 2 days ago