Here’s a call for a female vocal with guitar.  That’s it.  Nothing fancy.  If you’ve got one, go on over to Music Dealers.com and submit.  Good Luck.+

~ Roberta  

Due Date:

07/06/2010 - 10:00am

Submit

• TV Show - Melodramatic Singer Songwriter

Music Call: 

Client is looking to license and buyout a melodramatic singer songwriter song. For a funeral scene of a show where female character will be singing and playing acoustic guitar on the show. 2 minute use. Think about songs that talk about how beautiful the person was spirituality.

Genre: 

Singer Songwriter

Emotion: 

Melodramatic

Vocals/Instrumental: 

Vocals - Female

Explicit Lyrics: 

No

Duration: 

Full Songs

Other Info: 

• Please not this will be a BUYOUT.
• The studio will own the master and the publishing of the song.
• You will keep 100% of your writers share, there should be very nice performance royalties.
• They only want vocals and acoustic guitar, no other instruments!
• The songs need to be at least 2 minutes!

From our friends at Music Dealers.com.  To submit a song, visit their website, make an account and upload your submission right there.  Fast & Easy & Good Luck!  

Due Date:

07/06/2010 - 4:00pm

TV Commercial - Light Beer

Music Call: 

Client is looking to license music for an upcoming television commercial.  They are looking for indie pop music with a soulful edge, breakbeat style drums would be great!  The drums should definitely be organic sounding and driving.  The spot is geared towards a young, twenty-something, crowd.  The lyrics should be geared towards living an active lifestyle, motivation, movement, etc…  They want a very cool piece of music, nothing corny!  Male or female vocal is ok, although male is preferred.  

UPDATE: The client would like to hear some more tracks for this.  They want to concentrate on very cool, hip, tracks with male vocals, and NO rapping!  The track shoud have some driving organic drums and lots of energy, but not too crazy, just a good, hi-energy groovy track!  

UPDATE: Need more tracks!!  The target for this campaign is 25-40 men & women.  The song should promote an active lifestyle, going for it, at all costs!  They want a modern, upbeat track that is the next cool track.  The song should be able to make it on people’s “get movin’” mix, whether it’s a track to play while going for a run, working out, playing frisbee in the park or rock climbing. The music should get you exited to move!

Possible Lyric Themes:
Go
On The Go
Move
Never Stop
I’m Gonna Run
Nothing Can Stop

i.e. anything that supports being active and movement!

Genre: 

Indie Pop

Emotion: 

Driving, Soulful, Energetic, Positive

Vocals/Instrumental: 

Vocals - Male

Explicit Lyrics: 

No

Duration: 

Full Songs

Other Info: 

The spot is :30, but it would be great to get as close to full songs as possible! Also, be sure to have instrumentals handy, upload them to your profile so we have them ready for the client!

ALL SUBMISSIONS DUE BY June 15, 2010 4pm Chicago time 

New Music Dealers Opportunities

Hey Everybody,

There are new opportunities on the Deal Board at http://musicdealers.com/deal-board/active

-Your Friends at Music Dealers

6 Music closure ‘defies belief’, says music industryRecord industry bodies the BPI and Aim protest over BBC plans, while broadcasting minister Ed Vaizey backs digital station

From a Bob Lefsetz letter:

People just don't care. 

Every day I get e-mail castigating me that I've pissed on someone's favorite act, or haven't given enough coverage to another. I don't doubt that you like these acts, but what fascinates me is most people don't. Music is now niche. Kind of like knitting or needlepoint, but a bit bigger.  

Maybe we'll spread the analogy to sports. Music is tennis. Gargantuan decades ago, most people just don't care today. Billie Jean King, Jimmy Connors, even McEnroe... Today we've got Federer and Nadal and I can't tell them apart and might turn on a match once a year, whereas I used to watch religiously. But now there are few stars. Few personalities. And on the men's side, the game has become so damn fast as to be something completely different, the same way music veered off into hip-hop and divadom and most people stopped caring. Sure, some people cared, but relatively few, otherwise Mariah Carey would be selling out arenas every night, and she's not, and a rapper other than Jay-Z could do 20,000 a night too. 

Or maybe we should look at golf. There's one superstar, Tiger Woods, getting the whole nation golf-crazy, but if he's not playing, viewership drops dramatically. Sure, Phil Mickelson is a great golfer, but only golf devotees care about him, the average citizen might know his name and nothing more. 

We're under the illusion that music is king, that it drives the culture, but it's not. Music has become the sideshow. Even on "American Idol"...does anybody expect Lee DeWyze to make it? We're interested in the comings and goings of Simon Cowell, not the contestants. Sure, music is featured on the show, OLD MUSIC! 

And many people will go to hear old music live. But fewer each year at higher prices. 

After you've heard that famous act do its hits live, do you really need to go back? And the old acts are truly in it for the money, they've got no dignity, otherwise, why would they be shilling on TV, appearing on "American Idol"...I'm stunned they didn't lobby for a crawl with a link to tickets. Then again, everybody knows you go to ticketmaster.com for an experience you endure, but hate. 

This business will not be vital again until there’s a stable of stars, hopefully a plethora that people follow and want to see. And it would be great if they had something to say, if they were three-dimensional. GaGa is a start. Sure, she’s got train-wreck value, but people believe there’s substance underneath, and it’s not what you think, it’s what they think. Then, who else? 

Everybody else lives and dies on the hit single. If Christina Aguilera had fans, she’d be able to sell tickets without airplay. But she needs hits to get bodies into seats. In the old days, bands could tour without hits whatsoever. But that was back when music drove the culture, when you knew the players like sports team members, when you had to go to the show, when you were addicted to the radio. 

The radio. And then MTV. They centralized focus. They delivered a platform for star-building. Someone left of center could get exposure and make it. Like Culture Club. MTV broke Boy George big, radio followed. But FM radio built Hendrix and Cream, the music was so exciting you listened every night. Because everyone was different, everyone was testing limits, everybody wasn’t the same. And if you don’t think everybody’s the same today, try listening to Top Forty radio. 

So where do we go from here? 

Attention without substance is worthless. In other words, if you shoot someone, we’ll all know your name, but soon we’ll be on to the next headline. 

The audience demands universality, something mainstream. And mainstream does not mean compromised, it means quality! Something so good that it cannot be denied! Do you really think people care about a black/Asian golfer? Of course not, what drew people to Tiger was his ability, his greatness! So you’ve got a band that you like, are they so good that you can drag almost anybody to see them and they’ll like them too? If not, they’re niche. 

But, like I said, the whole business is niche. Labels believe if file-trading is stopped, an impossibility, sales will go up dramatically. I doubt it. People don’t care about music that much, they’re satisfied with free YouTube play. And certainly most people don’t care about the individual acts purveyed…how do we get them to care? 

It would be great if there were a Website, like Yahoo or Amazon or Google, actually more like the Huffington Post, to focus attention and build acts. But the site builders are only interested in money, not music, and therefore they focus on advertising, everything but the consumer experience. MySpace had a music focus, but its user interface sucked, still, how come every year there’s a new Net phenomenon, Facebook, Twitter, Foursquare, and there’s never one solely music based? Ever think about that? 

The new Spotify is great, the social-networking elements trump iTunes, playlist sharing with instant listening ability is so cool…but it still doesn’t solve the problem that we’re lacking hit acts. 

I don’t want a world of endless niches. It’s incomprehensible. 

And the public doesn’t want one either. Which is why sales are so damn bad. It’s not like they just invented a new file-trading technique. No, most people can live without the music that’s being sold. 

You solve the problem the way you always have, with hit music. And the public doesn’t believe today’s music is full of hits. Their opinion, not yours. If you’re happy in your private little backwater, salivating in front of the stage before your favorite niche act, fine. But you’re not, because you keep telling everybody they should like your act too. 

But most people are never going to like the Hold Steady, the National or the Black Keys. Never gonna happen. And the fact that you’re a big fan and react to my point by going ballistic and e-mailing me does not solve the problem. I like “The Deadliest Catch”, shouldn’t you? No, that’s too mainstream… I like A&E’s “Intervention”…shouldn’t you? No, that’s pretty successful too. You can watch either of them even if you’ve never fished or never been addicted, because they’ve got underlying human elements that appeal to all. That’s the way music used to be. And it’s not that way now.

Mark Miller

Jeanne Kelly is a professional singer, conductor, and pianist who has worked for many years with major opera companies and symphonies in the Washington-Baltimore area, where she lives. In 2001, she was directing the Levine School of Music’s Arlington, Virginia, program when Dr. Gene Cohen approached her with an idea.

Dr. Cohen, who died in 2009, was one of the nation’s leading researchers on the effects that creativity can have on older adults and the aging process. He directed the Center on Aging, Health, and Humanities at George Washington University, where he was a professor of health-care sciences, psychiatry, and behavioral sciences.

Cohen helped to create a national movement around positive aging and argued against the old stereotype that aging leads inevitably to a decline in physical and mental capacit. His pioneering research demonstrated that life after 65 can be an important period of creativity and intellectual growth.

Encore chorales are made up of singers 55-plus. Some read music; some don’t. The goal of the groups is to sing, rehearse, perform, and have fun.

Cohen wanted to talk with Kelly about a new research project that would attempt to measure the impact on older adults of participation in a professionally run arts organization. He asked Kelly to help get the project started by forming several chorales for older adult singers that he could study. She’d need to start two new singing groups to join with a seniors’ chorale she already was directing at a local senior living facility.

Kelly formed the groups, which embarked on an ambitious and professionally oriented program of rehearsal and performance. Cohen’s research—conducted over a three-year period—focused on comparing the singing seniors with control groups that didn’t participate in similar activities.

The key finding: Sustained involvement in Kelly’s program resulted in a measurable, positive impact on overall health and longevity, doctor visits, medication use, falls, loneliness, and morale.

Meanwhile, Kelly—who was 51 herself when she first got involved in Cohen’s work—got hooked on arts programs for older adults. In 2007, she founded a not-for-profit organization called Encore Creativity for Older Adults to manage and develop the senior chorales. “I decided that I wanted to simply do art for older adults. We’ve expanded enormously since then, which tells me that people are retiring and they want sophistication, and that they want to carry on what they were doing in their careers or find something wonderful they have never done before.”

Jeanne Kelly

When Kelly first formed the chorales, the average singer’s age was 80, and many of them are still singing with Kelly 10 years later. Chorales have been formed in 10 locations around the Washington-Baltimore area, with singers ranging in age from 55 to 97. Encore Chorales are “no-cut”—anyone can join—but they’re dead serious about performance and professionalism. “Some have a background in singing, and some have never sung in their lives—someone at some point told them, ‘You shouldn’t sing.’ But if you teach someone to sing they will get it. We just seat them next to someone who is strong.” The chorales rehearse for two 15-week sessions each year; they give eight concerts in May and another eight each December. Their performing venues include the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts and the Smithsonian American Art Museum.

Encore Creativity for Older Adults also runs 206 camps for singers at the Chautauqua Institution in upstate New York and at St. Mary’s College of Maryland and a dance-and-movement program in Arlington, Virginia. Most recently, Kelly launched a singing program designed for residents of assisted-living facilities. “I hated the idea of assisted living being a real dead end, especially artistically,” she says. “Many people are there because of mobility problems, and the program has had excellent results.”

“This post is republished with permission from Music After 50 (http://www.musicafter50.com), where it first appeared.”

Mark Miller writes the nationally syndicated newspaper column “Retire Smart,” and publishes Retirement Revised, featured recently in Money Magazine as one of the web’s top retirement planning sites. This article is excerpted with permission from Mark’s new book, “The Hard Times Guide to Retirement Security” (Bloomberg Press, June 2010).

Guitar Care: String Cleaning Did you know that a clean fretboard will help extend the life of your strings? If you change your strings without cleaning your fretboard, the bottom of your new strings will pick up any grime and other buildup left on the fretboard as you play, which can shorten the lifespan of your strings by as much as 30 percent. If you haven’t cleaned your fretboard in a while, the next time you change your strings, take a moment to clean the surface of the fretboard and frets with super-fine steel wool (0000 grade), followed by a touch of boiled linseed oil (a little goes a long way). For a step-by-step refresher, see our informative “Clean and Restring” demonstration video (Parts 1 & 2) on the Taylor website.

Part 1 = http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZbsCnV2XvdM

Part 2 = http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LKwasgm1Y3g

UK recorded music sales rise for first time in six yearsStrong performance of digital market sees music industry enjoy first sign of growth since 2003

The British music industry has enjoyed a moderate increase in sales for the first time since 2003, despite a continuing decline in CD purchases. The digital market contributed to a 1.4% rise in sales to £928.8m in 2009, with singles performing particularly well. Successful releases from Susan Boyle and the Beatles also buoyed industry sales. Statistics revealed by the British Phonographic Institution (BPI) show that consumers continue to be drawn to online retailers and ad-funded services, such as Spotify. The report states that online revenues, including digital tracks and video sales, rose by 51.7% to £154m in 2009. However, a spokesman for the BPI said that this did not necessarily signify that the end was in sight for physical music formats. “Digital sales now account for a fifth of all music sales, but you can see from strong releases by Robbie Williams and Lady Gaga that the CD is still the bedrock of the industry. It is too early to sound the death knell for the CD just yet,” the BPI’s Adam Liversage told the Guardian. Earlier this year, industry figures revealed that the singles market enjoyed its best year ever. This was largely down to the success of X Factor finalists and the Christmas chart battle between the reality TV show’s winner, Joe McElderry, and American rock band Rage Against the Machine. Liversage said at the time: “Prior to their closure last year, Woolworths and Zavvi accounted for approximately 17.9% of album sales. Their demise meant that their were fewer places to buy music on the high street.” Liversage now says that CD sales faired better than many predicted given last year’s high street conditions. The burgeoning success of online models such as Spotify has also given the music industry pause for thought. The recently launched social music site Mflow, which offers listeners discounted music when they succesfully recommend new tracks to fellow users, is one of the many ways in which consumers are being offered cheaper, alternative ways of purchasing music. The BPI chairman, Geoff Taylor, was optimistic about the latest statistics, but warned that illegal downloads continued to have a detrimental effect on sales. “It’s encouraging to see industry revenues stabilise and even show modest growth in 2009. But let’s put it in broader perspective: 2009’s modest result follows a five-year drop in annual income, and total industry income has not exceeded £1bn since 2006. The pace of growth of new digital services is encouraging, but the size of the market continues to be constrained by competition from illegal downloads.”

Source: The Guardian

Digital economy bill rushed through wash-up in late night session

Government drops clause on orphan works but inserts amendment criticised as over-broad which could block sites based on ‘intent’

The House of Commons during the Committee stage of the digital economy bill, April 2010 [this caption was amended on 8 April 2010. It originally said that the Bill was at the third reading]

The government forced through the controversial digital economy billwith the aid of the Conservative party last night, attaining a crucial third reading – which means it will get royal assent and become law – after just two hours of debate in the Commons.

However it was forced to drop clause 43 of the bill, a proposal on orphan works which had been opposed by photographers. They welcomed the news: “The UK government wanted to introduce a law to allow anyone to use your photographs commercially, or in ways you might not like, without asking you first. They have failed,” said the site set up to oppose the proposals.

But despite opposition from the Liberal Democrats and a number of Labour MPs who spoke up against measures contained in the bill and put down a number of proposed amendments, the government easily won two votes to determine the content of the bill and its passage through the committee stage without making any changes it had not already agreed.

Tom Watson, the former Cabinet Office minister who resigned in mid-2009, voted against the government for the first time in the final vote to take the bill to a third reading. However the vote was overwhelmingly in the government’s favour, which it won by 189 votes to 47.

Earlier the government removed its proposed clause 18, which could have given it sweeping powers to block sites, but replaced it with an amendment to clause 8 of the bill. The new clause allows the secretary of state for business to order the blocking of “a location on the internetwhich the court is satisfied has been, is being or is likely to be used for or in connection with an activity that infringes copyright”.

The Liberal Democrat MP John Hemming protested that this could mean the blocking of the whistleblower site Wikileaks, which carries only copyrighted work. Stephen Timms for the government said that it would not want to see the clause used to restrict freedom of speech – but gave no assurance that sites like Wikileaks would not be blocked.

Don Foster, the Liberal Democrats’ spokesman for culture, media and sport, protested that the clause was too wide-ranging: “it could apply to Google,” he complained, adding that its inclusion of the phrase about “likely to be used” meant that a site could be blocked on its assumed intentions rather than its actions.

The Lib Dem opposition to that amendment prompted the first vote - known as a division – on the bill, but the Labour and Conservative whips pushed it through, winning it by 197 votes to 40. The next 42 clauses of the bill were then considered in five minutes.

Numerous MPs complained that the bill was too important and its ramifications too great for it to be pushed through in this “wash-up” period in which bills are not given the usual detailed examination.

However the government declined to yield – although it had already done a deal with the Tories which meant that a number of its provisions, including clause 43 and the creation of independent local news consortia, would not be part of the bill.

Source: The Guardian