Guitar Care - String Cleaning

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Monday, May 17th, 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

Tags: guitar care, Music, song licensing, songs, string cleaning
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UK Recorded Music Sales Rise

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Monday, May 17th, 2010

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

Rosie Swash

guardian.co.uk, Monday 26 April 2010 14.58 BST

Article history

Robbie Williams in concert, Sydney, Australia Sing when you’re winning … Robbie Williams’s return sees rise in record sales. Photograph: James D Morgan/Rex Features

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

Tags: , song licensing, songs, songwriting, UK recorded music sales
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Digital Economy Bill Passed In UK

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Monday, May 17th, 2010

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

Charles Arthur

guardian.co.uk, Thursday 8 April 2010

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

The Commons debates the Digital Economy bill, April 2010 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

Tags: digital music UK, Music, song licensing, songs, songwriting
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Spotify Slammed By Songwriters

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Monday, May 17th, 2010

How much money do artists really make from Spotify? According to Swedish paper Expressen, 2009’s standout breakthrough artist Lady Gaga and her songwriter Redone made just SEK1150 (£100.76; $166.56) in songwriting royalties from one million Spotify plays of her hit Poker Face in Sweden in the first five months after Spotify’s launch in October 2008, according to figures from the Swedish Performing

Source: The Guardian

http://www.guardian.co.uk/music/2010/apr/13/spotify-songwriters

Spotify slammed by songwritersA songwriters’ association has criticised the Spotify streaming service over ‘tiny’ payments to musicians

Dan Martin

guardian.co.uk, Tuesday 13 April 2010 10.10 BST

Last year it was claimed that 1m Spotify plays of Lady Gaga’s hit Poker Face earned her just $167. Photograph: Axel Heimken/AP

An association of songwriters has hit out at Spotify, casting fresh doubt on the streaming service’s capacity to generate income for musicians.

The British Academy of Songwriters, Composers and Authors (Basca), which represents 2,000 songwriters, claimed yesterday that the payments generated are “tiny” and called for the company to be more transparent about the nature of its business.

At the moment, Spotify does not disclose details of its deals with labels and publishers, and Basca chairman Patrick Rackow says this is leading to a climate of fear and distrust.

He told the BBC: “At the moment, the amounts of money that are actually being received are tiny. That might be because there is no money there. But there is no clear trail that can be established so that the songwriter can trace back what they ought to have got. These things are behind a blanket of secrecy, and that is extremely worrying.

“The danger is that these deals all become so secret that the mist that descends creates uncertainty, creates fear. That allied to the fact that the sums being paid through are very small creates a climate of suspicion. I think it harms Spotify, it harms the writers’ perception of Spotify and this is a service they want to support.”

The Swedish-owned company has been hailed in some quarters as a saviour of the music industry, offering users free streaming of a huge catalogue of music punctuated by short adverts. A monthly premium of £9.99 gets users uninterrupted access to the catalogue.

But last year it was claimed that over a five-month period, 1m plays of Lady Gaga’s hit Poker Face – one of the most popular songs on the site – earned her just $167.

With record labels themselves owning a stake in Spotify, Rackow reckons that returns are “unlikely to filter down into payments to the artists”. He continued: “It is pretty tough for the average successful songwriter to make a living. It is hard to say that anyone has a right to make a living out of writing songs but if you write songs that people actually want to hear then I think that does give you a right to get some renumeration back.”

Spotify would not comment on the Basca claims, but has continued to insist that as more subscribers sign up and advertising revenue increases then that money will trickle down to the people who make the music.

Tags: Music, songs, songs for licensing, songwriting, Spotify
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Artist-as-entrepenuer Cont. #2

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Monday, May 17th, 2010

Q: Is music your primary source of income?

NG: Yes. Specifically, playing live is probably 90% of my income at the moment. I’m working on another CD now, so I expect that number to shift when that is released. Playing live includes touring different markets that do pay artists to perform, and street performing. I also used to do a lot more live shows online and plan on doing more of that again soon. My live shows are where most of my CD and merch sales are too.

SK: It is. We all live together, eat together and play together. We have quite a simple routine, which doesn’t require much more than a roof over our heads, a few bottles of wine, and our studio/practice space.

K: Currently, it is part of our income. At the moment, I also trade in the stock market. But ideally, I am aiming to have it as my prime income.

NS: Music is now starting to be my primary income, especially from my songwriting. Placements in TV shows, movies and commercials is currently one of the primary sources of my income. That should be a goal of every indie artist, to combine forces with a great sync agency.

Selling music and merch from my own website and also on tour keeps the engine running. This includes handmade, besoke tees that have been designed with my stylist Ella Pearce Heath. I am also starting to film and produce my own shows with Ian Harding from Crispy Dog Productions that will be available from my site.

I am now exploring other ideas, including developing my own fashion line with a great friend of mine and L.A. fashion designer, LAVUK, and also brand partnerships.

Q: What are the challenges of being an entrepreneurial artist?

NG: When you are the one holding yourself accountable it’s also easy to let things slide and not be disciplined. I occasionally get jealous of my friends that work 9-5 jobs because they can leave work at work. What I do is really a part of who I am, so I am always working. I have a long list of things that need to get done too, so going out to hang out at a party with them isn’t always an option.

SK: Being innovative. It’s tough to catch people’s attention these days. It feels as though fans have a shorter attention span, and you have to be able to seize the moment when an opportunity arises. Offering something a little different than the next band is both important and challenging. For example, we’re in the middle of creating a tiered subscription system via our website, in which fans can become “members” of our family. Different pledges assure different perks. Anything from a signed CD to a private show, and a night on the town with the band will be available too.

K: Getting exposure and having people that matter, taking notice of your songs. You need to persevere and convince people that it is worth their time to listen to you. It is hard to compete with the major labels. They have huge marketing campaigns and budgets, which make it much harder to get exposure and get your songs airplay when its pay for play. For every ten approaches you may make, you might be successful only once, but that once could mean everything! In May 2009, KISS-FM NY gave our single some airplay. To everyone’s surprise, simply by request, it became and stayed at number one at the station in June and July. Everyone was wondering who was Kotadama!

NS: To ensure one spends enough time off the computer and phone, dedicating your attention 100% to music. It can consume you, but as long as you’re aware of that, you can switch it off, but it requires discipline.

Q: What are the benefits?

NG: As hard as it is to be your own boss it is a blessing. As a “baby” artist, you are still figuring out who you are and what your message is. By doing it yourself, you have lots of opportunities to make mistakes, have real experiences, and figure things out faster. It’s important to realize how much work goes into making a career. Then you’ll appreciate your team when you have one.

There are no boundaries as an entrepreneurial artist but the ones you place on yourself. You don’t have to follow the rules that a label does to recoup its investment. You have a lot more freedom in the music you release, when you go on tour, what sort of opportunities you take, etc.

SK: The freedom. Being in control of your own career. Sleeping in.

K: Having the opportunity to create what you want, however you want, without being dictated to by a label’s idea of image or style. It allows you to retain complete control and individuality in a musical sense.

NS: You are in control of your destiny, most of the profits come back to you. It’s kind of like being a little speedboat in comparison to a big cruise ship. As the market changes, one can move and adjust rapidly, and also innovate. It is a very challenging experience, and I believe very self-fulfilling. Also, you know that any mistakes along the way, one can only blame oneself–we are only human and that’s also part of the journey.

Q: Have you ever worked with a consumer brand or is it something you would consider?

NG: I work with a great clothing company called Alpine Stars (www.alpinestars.com), wearing their new women’s line when I perform. I think we are going to see more and more emerging bands working with companies. Its no longer seen as selling out, but actually, more of a level of success for artists. For brands, it’s a great way to get in front of new customers who care but aren’t paying attention to traditional advertising anymore. I definitely want to do more of it in the future.

SK: Yes, we’ve worked with a few. It’s a vital piece of the puzzle. Large label advances and other traditional chunks of change are scarce these days. Brands are a band’s best friend.

K: It would depend entirely on what the brand was and what it represented. We think there’s a fine balance between keeping your values/beliefs and doing what you have to do to get exposure. If sacrificing a little helps you in your goals, then you have to weigh-up the costs.

NS: I have worked with consumer brands in the past, and am in talks with a few at the moment. Yes, I believe, as long as it is the right partnership where you have common beliefs and common ground with the brand, then it can be really great for both parties. For me, it should be a brand I would personally use and feel 100% comfortable combining forces with. I love organic foods and brands, so I am currently looking at those opportunities.

Q: What gigs have you booked using Sonicbids?

NG: Through Sonicbids, I have performed at festivals, placed in songwriting contests getting helpful feedback, booked shows in new regions, and booked showcases at the NACA conferences which helped me book dozens more shows. It’s been incredibly helpful to let me know what’s available for me to apply for and submit my music to, and what to step-up when I don’t get selected.

SK: Sonicbids has been a great resource. We booked a show last fall opening for Ben Folds with the Boston Pops, as well as playing their party at this past SXSW. We’re a huge fan of the work they do.

K: To be honest, there are too many to name them all. At present, there’s something like a 150 gigs booked on our sonic bids EPK, and we have several international publishing houses waiting for the final release of Dichotomy.

Our highlights for the last year include:

*Reaching the number one spot at KISS FM, NY in June/July 2009
*Showcasing our album in Osaka, Japan in September 2009
*Being invited to perform at the closing ceremony at the BAM festival, Barcelona, September, 2009
*Being invited to perform at The Charlotte Music Awards Night, Carolina, November, 2009
*Having our single nominated for the Hollywood Music and Media awards, November, 2009
*Being invited to perform at the Viper Room, LA and subsequently have a tour organized for us in LA and New York by these professionals.
*Winning the Festival4stars International Singer/Song Writing Competition and being flown over to UK.
*Forming a partnership with LA producer David Kershenbaum

NS: Sonicbids for me personally has been amazing. So many opportunities that would not have been available to independent artists in the past due to the innate closed circle created by major labels for their artists. Suddenly, we’re a click away. I started booking high profile shows, and have met some people who have been invaluable to me and my career. It really does open doors which, in the past, were closed. I believe Sonicbids is an essential tool to an independent artist.

Q: Is a deal with a major label your ultimate goal?

NG: It’s not my ultimate goal, but either a major label or great indie label (most likely under a major’s wing) is part of my game plan. My ultimate goal is to be in the music business singing, writing songs, and performing for lots of people for as long as I can.
Right now, I am expanding my career and taking the next steps by slowly adding people to my team. I have a lawyer and a booking agent, and over the next few months, I will choose the rest of my team as I find the right people. It’s so important to work with people you trust and to know they believe in you and are in it for the long haul.

SK: No, it’s not a goal. Ideally, our band will continue to grow without major support. While it may not be a goal, we’re always interested to hear what they have to say.

K: In the last few years, major labels have changed their roles and their terms would have to be looked at very carefully. We are very happy with our partnership with David, and ultimately, some sort of distribution deal with a major label would be ideal.

NS: There are still some areas that are extremely hard as an indie to reach, doors that are closed. I enjoy being independent having learned a lot about this industry and am still learning. Having said that, I personally have always seen myself as a global artist, so I would consider the right deal with a major label if the opportunity arose.

Q: What’s your definition of success?

NG: There are different levels of success, and I’m happy where I am at right now being able to support myself and work at this full time. I feel the momentum building which feels great and might be my definition of success–expansion and momentum. When things feel stagnant, the phone hasn’t rung all day or I don’t have some gigs coming up, those are the times I don’t feel so successful. I know that things like buying a house and supporting my family with my music are possible for me from what I’m doing now. I would love to have songs at the top of the charts and tour the world for a long, long time but it’s possible to have lots of success without any of that stuff too.

SK: Sticking together and gaining fans one at a time. Collective achievement is sweet.

K: Success to us is an overrated word that other people use to measure your life. The ultimate kick out of making music is knowing that others may experience your music and just enjoy it or possibly take something positive from it. We are very strong believers in the power of words and the intentions behind them. We believe if we have inspired someone, made someone cry, or elicited an emotional response in some positive way, then we have succeeded. Knowing that you may have changed someone’s life would be the ultimate reward for all this.

NS: Waking up in the morning loving life and what you do!

Q: If you could offer one piece of advice to someone who’s thinking of going DIY, what would it be?

NG: My advice is just to not get too wrapped-up in all the DIY stuff, and if its draining you or taking away too much from writing songs and making your show better, then don’t be afraid to let some of it go, ask for help or to accept help if its offered to you. Anyone else can do that stuff, but only you can be the artist people are going to come out to see. Also, keep expanding your network of friends that are making music and perusing their dreams. It’s important to have that support when some people are telling you you’re crazy for doing this. Learn to detach yourself from the results and appreciate when people are honest with you in this business. More than anything, just start doing it

SK: Focus on the music first, then everything else second.

K: Well, firstly, always follow your gut instinct and don’t feel pressured to sign with anyone. There’s no rush and there’s certainly no such thing as an overnight success. It’s very easy to get overwhelmed with what’s available on promotional websites and electronic EPK sites. Sites such as Sonicbids are to be highly commended for DIY musicians. They have given us amazing opportunities, which have taken us on this journey. Lastly, you have to endure when it gets tough, and always remember why you’re doing it.

NS: Be aware that it is a tricky, very time consuming route to go. But if you have the tenacity, vision, can’t see yourself doing anything else and music is your life, then now is the time, more than ever, when you can have a career going DIY, and you will have an amazing experience like no other.

To continue reading:

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/mike-ragogna/the-business-of-music-ii_b_527570.html

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The Business of Music II - A Look at the Artist-as-Entrepreneur

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Monday, May 17th, 2010

The Business of Music II - A Look at the Artist-as-Entrepreneur

Over two years ago, the music business began a series of major layoffs at virtually every label to stop the hemorrhaging of money as music chains like Tower Records and various “brick and mortar” storefronts disappeared from the marketplace. As Wal-Mart, Target and Best Buy scaled back purchasing new releases and back catalog, Amazon and similar online stores became the easiest fulfillment houses, with iTunes emerging as the champion of downloads.

With the growth of alternative purchasing possibilities and the proliferation of direct-to-consumer websites, the music business’ bottom line apparently has stabilized with a label or two still struggling to eliminate their almost insurmountable debts. In essence, what is emerging is a new music business, leaner and, sadly, meaner but more profitable as less risky decisions and commitments are being made. They have been forced into creating alternative revenue streams, resulting in the ominous 360 deal that surrenders everything creative and marketable to the record label which absolutely is unacceptable for many artists.

However, it seems that new opportunities and a new attitude is rising from the chaos. The music business’ misfortunes have forced artists of all kinds to take control of their own careers and realistically evaluate what it is they truly want out of their calling. If it’s a goal such as superstardom and the stereotypical rock or pop fantasy, then their American Idolic dreams might be best realized with a major label whose promotional machine could achieve this. Maybe. But if one’s goal is for financial and creative success–plus stability and profitability in his or her creative field–other smart models and mindsets are becoming available.

In the first of what hopefully will be an informative, continuing series on how the creative community can not only survive but thrive as it helps to rewrite the rules on marketing music, Panos Panay’s company Sonicbids–a multi-service website for independent bands and artists–will be at the center of this interview with its owner and a few extremely satisfied clients.

Q: How is starting and running a band like running a business?

Panos Panay: With both a business and a band, you start with a vision and a blank canvas. To make the vision a reality and to fill that canvas with a picture that everyone sees, you need a team of people to believe in your vision, and then you need to go out there and get fans/customers to buy into your creation. You start with no resources and no money and everyone thinks you’re crazy for doing it. And usually your girlfriend breaks up with you because she’s tired of playing second fiddle to your obsession.

Q: You’ve referred to “the artistic middle class” online, what is that?

PP: It’s a class of artists that’s completely redefining the way the music business works and the way that music is experienced and discovered. They consider themselves entrepreneurs, not just artists who create art for art’s sake. They don’t wait around for someone to come and do things for them; they make things happen for themselves. They play by their own rules, not the rules of the mass market, and they use social media and the internet as the primary means of connecting with their audience. They use tools like Facebook,Twitter and Sonicbids to create their own army of superfans and interact with their fans in the collaborative way of the internet, not in the monologue of the broadcast era. They understand that the new music business is about a mass of niches, not a mass market.   

Q: What individual tools are in the DIY artist’s toolkit, and how are they using them?

PP: If you look at the four things that a major label used to do for artists–besides funding them (more on this later)–they primarily helped artists record music; distribute it; market it; and then leverage it through a network of professional connections like a publisher and a booking agent. The internet has made it possible for artists to gain access to these services for a fraction of the cost: they use tools like Apple’s Garageband to record music on their laptops; sites like CDBaby and Tunecore to distribute their music to stores like iTunes and Rhapsody; Facebook, Twiiter and MySpace to market themselves to large audiences; and sites like Sonicbids to get bookings and license their music.   

Q: Lately, the discussion has turned a bit negative when it comes to recorded music, as in is there any value to it anymore?

PP: Is there value? Yes, recorded music is invaluable from an emotional standpoint. Will people be willing to pay money for it? No. Look at the internet browser. In 1995 it used to cost $50 by mail. Then Microsoft offered it free as a bundle of something else. Can you point to one person who is willing to pay $50 to download a browser?   

Q: So, where are independent bands making most of their money these days?

PP: Live music, merchandising, licensing music, performance royalties and sponsorship. We just helped match several thousand artists with over $4 million in unclaimed performance royalties through a relationship with SoundExchange. How cool is that?

Q: With record labels cutting promotional money and staffs to the bone and not as willing to take risks, who are the new patrons of the arts?

PP: We have seen many, many consumer brands, like Diesel and Gap and JanSport step in and create programs for independent artists that promote and sponsor them. Last year, about $2 billion was spent by these consumer brands to sponsor all kinds of music-related initiatives. We’ve seen a shift of those dollars to the artistic middle class instead of the top-tier artists. Why? Because the relationships that these artists have with their fans are intimate and meaningful and organic. They essentially are buying permission to reach these consumers through the artists, but at a fraction of the cost. Again, it’s a mass of niches, not mass market.

Q: How does an independent artist go about partnering with a consumer brand?

PP: Two ways–either by licensing music through a music supervisor that works with an ad agency that represents them, or by joining a group of artists that are attractive to a consumer brand as a group that reaches a very large group of consumers for the reasons mentioned above. Platforms like Sonicbids are great for that.

Q: Which countries have the best programs in place to help entrepreneurial artists?

PP: Clearly the US has the best and most advanced artistic middle class scene. Entrepreneurialism is part of the American social fabric. That’s why I migrated to this country. But other countries are realizing that this is a fast shifting movement and they are catching up. Europe and Australia and very actively involved in helping their artists reach new audiences.

Q: What success has Sonicbids’ approach had in the way independent talent is booked?

PP: We’ve leveled the playing field. Just this week, there is an artist from Iceland that’s touring China for two weeks, that booked the tour using Sonicbids. In June, there will be over 60 indie bands playing Summerfest in Milwaukee, the world’s largest festival, who got booked by using our platform. If you take any of the 42,000 Delta flights in the US this month, you can hear music from awesome independent artists in special all-indie channel programmed by using Sonicbids. That would have never happened a decade ago. In 2009 we had more than 71,000 gigs that were booked using the site–that’s three times more gigs than what Live Nation, the world’s largest promoter booked. It’s just as easy today for an artist from Boise to have access to the same types of opportunities as an artist from Berlin, or Boston or Brisbane or Bahrain. Plus, I am sure we’ve saved a tiny part of the ozone layer too…that is, no physical press kits required.

Q: What is your company doing to directly support these entrepreneurial artists?

PP: Because we started losing track ourselves, we actually set up a special area on the site where we outline all these programs which we are increasing every day, http://www.sonicbids.com/supportsindiemusic is the url. Last year, we spent more than $500,000 directly sponsoring bands to travel and to play on stages at festivals around the world. We’ve distributed more than $3 million to music promoters from all over the planet for the purpose of creating special slots allocated to independent music and encourage them to use these funds to pay these artists. We work hard every day to convince people that have grown up in the broadcast/mass market era paradigm that independent music–not a term that I love by the way–belongs on their stages, video games, toys, bookshops, coffee shops, college festivals, podcasts, TV shows, magazines, clubs, restaurants, house concerts, retail stores, marketing campaigns, etc. Our mission is to empower this new class of artists by helping them connect with all these promoters and bookers and programmers. That’s what we are passionate for, that’s what we wake up every morning looking forward to.

**********************************************************************************************

To get artists’ perspectives regarding Sonicbids and beyond, the following questions were put to Natalie Gelman, Sebastian Keefe from Family Of The Year, Kotadama, and Noush Skaugen. (Warning, they’re all true believers.):

Q: These days, in addition to writing and performing, what other skills does an  independent artist need to have in order to be successful?

Natalie Gelman: I think more than ever it’s about the humanity behind the music and artistry. People want to connect to you and be moved not only by your music and live show, but just by who you are. That’s why Twitter, blogging, responding personally to emails, and hanging out with your fans after shows is so important. Besides connecting with your fans, you should reach out to other artists. Some of my best opportunities have come from other artists who were fans of my music. Not to mention that you can support each other and know what each other is going through. The specific skill is being a people person.

One of the best ways to move forward is to realize it’s about them, not you. I try to listen, ask questions and see how I can help someone by thinking: “How can I make their job easier?” That goes for your fans, a music supervisor, a writer…anyone involved in your career. If you help someone they will remember your support and come when you need them to.

It’s important to be organized, disciplined and able to prioritize. There are so many things you need to keep up with as an independent artist. However, I don’t think the skills are as important as being determined. If you want to make a living as an artist and are 100% determined to do it, you will find a way.

Sebastian Keefe: It is very important to think of your band in the context of building a small business. Once your recordings and live show are in place, the next step is to get yourself organized and set some goals. Nothing too far fetched to begin with, but this creates structure, and in turn, leads to accomplishment which then turns into momentum.
Kotadama: Self-belief in what you’re doing and why you’re doing it…a positive attitude and much perseverance. Thinking outside of the square. If you are told that this is the only way to get there–as we were by a music director of a major radio network here–question it, and investigate other avenues.

In our case, we decided with the help of Sonicbids, to send our songs overseas and put it out there. Also, don’t accept second best for your efforts. We went to several recording studios initially to record our songs, but came away dissatisfied with the results. Expensive lessons. Others thought they sounded good, but we still were not happy. This became our next major challenge and we taught ourselves how to record, produce and master our songs to our satisfaction.

Kotadama: Self-belief in what you’re doing and why you’re doing it; a positive attitude and much perseverance; thinking outside of the square. If you are told that this is the only way to get there–as we were by a music director of a major radio network here–question it and investigate other avenues. In our case, we decided, with the help of Sonicbids, to send our songs overseas and put it out there.

Also, don’t accept second best for your efforts. We went to several recording studios initially to record our songs, but came away dissatisfied with the results. Others thought they sounded good, but we still were not happy. This became our next major challenge and we taught ourselves how to record, produce and master our songs to our satisfaction.

Noush Skaugen: The market today is very different from what it was 10 years ago, even a few years ago. No longer can you just be an artist, soley focusing on writing and performing, but one who must also have a business and entrepreneurial mind with the willingness to work long hours and give much of your life to your dream. Organizational skills are a must. It is a balancing act between ensuring one dedicates the time needed on constantly challenging your musical skill set, rehearsing and writing abilities while personally chatting with your fans regularly via the social networks, nourishing the most important aspect without whom an artists would not have a career; booking and managing the logistics of tour and local show productions; promoting releases and shows; coordinating your team and making sure they are all on the same page with regular meetings.

Essentially, what has happened is that the manager and the artist are performing much of what the record labels would have traditionally handled in the past. Now an artist such as myself, currently managing myself, all these functions fall on our shoulders. I believe it is necessary therefore to find the right specialized team players to support oneself. In some ways, it is a great thing because you are in control of your own destiny, and by out sourcing roles and projects to a specialized professional, you can get great results. One example of this is team member Frank Jonen, who advised me to start using Twitter before most of the music world caught on. This has been hugely helpful in my career. The issue, as always as an independent artist, is funding, therefore, we must be creative and find people who truly believe in us, who are passionate about music and, in particular, the music the act writes/performs. One must also put the business cap on and look for investors, presenting them with a coherent plan. In a way, it’s going back to the roots of how the great bands first started, making it all about music, and it lets the truly passionate and hard working artists run the marathon.

Q: What tools do you use to help you accomplish everything beyond songwriting?

NG: Here are some things I used that save me time:

www.Sonicbids.com - They let me know what opportunities are out there and clearly lay them out so I can decide quickly if its something I should apply to or not. The uniformity of both profiles for artists and gig listings makes it really simple to submit and start communicating with a festival, show or contest. Plus it’s a very transparent process. You can see if/when/what they listened to by checking your stats and who they ended up going with if you weren’t selected. It’s so important to use stats and information on what’s working in any business to help you improve.

www.Bandzoogle.com - My website, email, newsletter, and hosting is done by them. They have an easy to use and good-looking website design system that lets you update your own website. I also love their stat system which has lead me to realize I was getting lots of hits from specific parts of the country and other parts of the world.

www.ArtistData.org–I post new shows here and they post the show on all my websites for me. They also have a feature that submits the show to local press.

SK: We use a variety of social networks to stay in touch with our fans, mainly Facebook and Twitter. There are many ways to use the Internet these days. For example, we use Justin.tv to stream live video, and Indaba music to collaborate though cyber space. We also like to keep things personal and close to the heart. We record and produce our own music, use artwork made by our families, we’ll even send you a personal postcard from the road.

K: Pro Tools for recording, being innovative with our existing computer storage, and getting anything else we can, including secondhand unwanted sound gear that we can pull to pieces and use. We also have various online sites for researching plug-ins and social sites that we try to utilize for expansion of our fan base. The most significant site for our marketing and exposure so far has been Sonicbids. Without them, we would not have had the opportunities that we have experienced so far.

NS: My Mac laptop and my Blackberry. I feel like they are attached to me via an intravenous drip. Sometimes I have to cut this off completely to give myself a break and keep my sanity. Technology is running our lives, so I try and tread the tightrope to make sure I keep a balance.

Continued in next blog=

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Phoenix’s Musical Instrument Museum

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Monday, May 17th, 2010

Music Instrument Museum opens in Phoenix
Category: Music

Beating the drum for Phoenix’s Musical Instrument MuseumFormer Target CEO Robert Ulrich wants to represent the musical culture of every country on the planet.

“What has more impact on people’s lives day in and day out than music?” asks Robert Ulrich, with curator Christina Linsenmeyer, at his new facility in Phoenix. (Holly Metz / Musical Instrument Museum)

By Randy Lewis

April 18, 2010

Reporting from Phoenix

Not long before Robert Ulrich stepped down from his long-held job as CEO of Target Stores upon reaching the company’s mandatory retirement age of 65, he was on a trip through Europe indulging one of his extracurricular passions as a museum junkie.

On the trip was his friend and fellow African art aficionado Marc Felix, who, over beer in the Grand Sablon square in Brussels, asked Ulrich what he had most enjoyed during their day of museum hopping. “I said this was fun, and that was fun, but that musical instrument museum — I still think that was so cool!” Ulrich recalled recently, referring to the Belgian city’s century-old Museum of Musical Instruments. “Right away he says, ‘Well, why don’t you build one?’ ”

The result of the dinner challenge four years ago will open to the public Saturday in northern Phoenix: the $150-million, 190,000-square-foot Musical Instrument Museum. Its mission is little short of astonishing: to represent the musical culture of every country on the planet, both with displays of the instruments on which that music is played and with regular live performances by those who play them.

To realize that, Ulrich, his staff of five curators and more than 100 consultants have put together one of the largest instrument collections in the world in barely three years. The 4 1/2 -acre building now houses more than 13,000 music-making contraptions, including ancient German krumhorns and sackbuts (an early trombone), Kenyan mbiras (thumb pianos), Chinese pipas and some of the coolest electric guitars Leo Fender ever made.

Among the latter, on short-term loan, is “Brownie,” one of the Holy Grail Stratocasters played extensively by one Eric Clapton. MIM’s inaugural celebrity collection also includes the banged-around upright piano on which John Lennon wrote “Imagine.”

“Bob and I are grand aspirers,” said Bill DeWalt, whom Ulrich hired three years ago from the Museum of Natural History in Pittsburgh to be president and director of MIM. “If you don’t think big, you won’t accomplish anything big.”

The setting may seem unlikely, but Ulrich is quick to list the many reasons he chose Phoenix, among them the city’s robust growth over the last couple of decades into one of the five largest urban areas in the U.S.; its proximity to major tourist attractions such as the Grand Canyon, Las Vegas and Los Angeles; and expanses of affordable real estate. MIM joins the Heard Museum of Native American art, the Desert Botanical Gardens, Phoenix Opera and Phoenix Symphony in the area’s expanding cultural life.

Ulrich, who now divides his time between homes in Phoenix and Minneapolis, brings to this project the same style and team-building skill that helped him transform Minneapolis-based Target from a moderate-sized company with 215 stores when he became president in 1984 to a widely influential industry giant with more than 1,600 locations when he retired as CEO two years ago.

“There are numbers of museums that try to do encyclopedic [music] collections — the Met, the Smithsonian, the Louvre — and there are people trying to do the same thing with natural history museums, in a different sort of way,” said Ulrich, dressed workday casual in a blue denim shirt with sleeves rolled up and khaki pants that could have come off the rack of a Target store. He was seated at a table in a conference room at MIM headquarters, his blue eyes flashing the kind of fire not usually associated with retail chief executives when discussing the museum’s mission to connect through music. “But no one represents [all] the different countries of the world in music and yet arguably what has more impact on people’s lives day in and day out than music? It seemed like a tremendous void.”

Ulrich is applying many of the same principles to MIM that have made Target an American business success story. One of the key strategies was identifying and filling a market niche. Target distinguished itself from the pack of discount merchandisers by emphasizing a designer aesthetic for budget-conscious shoppers.

Ulrich brings some of Target’s nomenclature to the museum, referring to visitors as “guests,” and he emanates a Walt Disney-like, all-encompassing focus on the guest experience in everything from the forgiving woods used in floor construction to the open-airy gallery layout, all chosen to make MIM as guest-friendly as possible. Admission runs $10 to $15, with kids 5 and under admitted free.

Hands-on visit

The instruments themselves for the most part won’t be sequestered inside glass cases but out in the open where museum-goers can practically touch them, even though MIM supports the museum world’s time-honored “look but don’t touch” credo throughout its five “geo-galleries.”

In the museum’s experience gallery, however, touching and actual music making are 100% legal.

“When you talk about musical instruments,” Ulrich said, “who wouldn’t want to hit a great big gong from Indonesia, a gamelan from Bali, or pluck at a harp from Peru or play a resonator marimba from Africa. It’s just so cool to have that kind of ability.”

Ulrich personally signs off on the choice of color of paint for the walls, the pattern and fabric for the carpet and design of the furniture — much of which was paid for out of Ulrich’s campaign-leading $10-million donation that puts his name at the top of the donor plaque inside the main entrance.

“He wants every aspect just so,” DeWalt said, “and he’s been willing to rip some things out and redo it if it wasn’t quite right.”

To get everything just so, Ulrich has enlisted Michael Francis, Target’s executive vice president of marketing, as president of the MIM board of directors, and the company’s marketing and public relations consultant, Gail Dorn, as board treasurer. The building was designed by Richard Varda of Minneapolis and Phoenix-based RSP Architects; Varda also is head of store design for Target and designed the $1-billion Kingdom Centre in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.

The museum has formed corporate partnerships with a variety of music equipment manufacturers, including Fender, C.F. Martin Co., Yamaha, Remo and Zildjian percussion makers. The museum also is getting cash or in-kind donations from at least two dozen more companies.

Such corporate alliances bode well, said associate curator Christina Linsenmeyer, whose musicological domain is Europe and mechanical instruments such as player pianos and music boxes. “They’re so keyed to marketing, which is not always the case in museums. But that’s what is going to keep the doors open when we’ve seen so many museums closing and their collections put in storage.”

Although MIM is 100% privately funded, DeWalt said Phoenix officials have been supportive in a number of ways, and Mayor Phil Gordon has proclaimed April 24-30 as Musical Instrument Museum Week in the city.

Robert Santelli, executive director of the Grammy Museum in downtown Los Angeles, noted that “they’ll be challenged with self-sustainability like all museums are today. They’ve got a potential to create this niche . . . and if they’re smart about their marketing, they can make it a world music site.”

The museum’s live music component launches April 25 with folk-bluegrass fiddler, singer and songwriter Laurie Lewis and in coming weeks will feature the Sierra Leone Refugee All-Stars (May 8-9) and Afro-pop standard-bearer King Sunny Ade (May 13). The museum aims to offer 12 to 15 concerts a month in its 299-seat theater adjacent to a full-fledged recording studio.

Audio and video recordings will add to the multimedia materials the museum is amassing on the road to becoming a major research center as well as a tourist destination akin to other major musical instrument museums in London, Paris, Berlin, the newly reopened Musical Instrument Galleries at the Metropolitan Museum in New York and the National Music Museum at the University of South Dakota.

On the prowl

The newly hired curators have been working overtime to acquire instruments to fill in the blanks from the master wish list they assembled. Earlier this month as several curators strolled the exhibits, many of which were still being built, workers lowered a giant Japanese taiko drum onto its massive wooden stand by way of a winch suspended from the ceiling.

Some items they’ve bought at auctions, such as the pink Selmer tenor saxophone Linsenmeyer snagged that’s identical to one John Coltrane famously played.

Others have come en masse, such as the Fiske Collection of 1,500 instruments MIM bought from the Claremont Colleges in Pomona. Still others have been purchased from other institutions, private collectors and ethnomusicologists in various parts of the world, and some directly from musicians in remote parts of Southeast Asia, Africa or central Europe.

A few have been commissioned and created for the museum, such as a set of bagpipes from an area of Malta where the regional style of bagpipe playing has been dying out.

Matthew Hill, associate curator in charge of instruments of North America and the museum’s guitar collection, noted a heavy concentration of Native American musical instruments he’s working with, most of them new, because typically instruments that have been played ceremonially are considered sacred and therefore off limits for museum exhibitions.

Cultural issues, as well as social and political ones, abound. Curator Jennifer Post arrived in Mongolia in 2008 to bring back a number of instruments just as a state of emergency had been declared after a contentious election.

During ensuing riots a cultural center including many musical instruments was set on fire; Post had to persuade local authorities on the lookout for looting that her acquisitions had been acquired legitimately.

Given the speed with which the collection has been built, not surprisingly there are gaps some of the curators are looking to fill. Hill would love to track down a homemade double bass played by Roy Talbot of the Talbot Brothers calypso band from Bermuda, while Amanda Villepastour, hired less than a year ago, is aiming to bolster the collection’s representation from several regions of Africa.

Curators also have to be alert to instruments made after the Endangered Species Act of 1973 governing international trade. Another hurdle is fully realizing Ulrich’s vision for a new-model 21st century museum.

“What we’ve done here from the very beginning, and something I’m absolutely the most passionate about, is I don’t want to create a museum and then leave it as is for 25 years, or even 10 years,” De Walt said. “We want to be a museum that’s constantly in evolution. . . . Two weeks after opening, we’re going to continually be changing as we get better things.”

Source: LA Times

Tags: music compositions, musical instruments, song licensing, songs
Posted in Music News | No Comments »

BMG Eyes Snapping Up Its UK Rivals

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Monday, May 17th, 2010

Sunday, May 02, 2010

BMG eyes snapping up its UK rivals
Category: Music

BMG eyes snapping up its UK rivals By Gerrit Wiesmann in BerlinPublished: May 2 2010 17:46 | Last updated: May 2 2010 17:46

BMG, the German music publisher is eyeing the purchase of UK rivals – though not, for now, EMI – as it tries to make good on its ambition to become a dominant music rights manager alongside Universal or Sony.

Fresh from an eye-catching deal on the other side of the Atlantic, Hartwig Masuch, BMG chief executive, told the FT: “We’ve positioned ourselves in the US and now we want to do the same kind of thing in the UK.”

To continue reading article: Source: FT

Tags: BMG, EMI, licensing, Music Publishing, songs
Posted in Music News | No Comments »

Pay Monthly Music Service - Next Big Thing?

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Monday, May 17th, 2010

`Cloud’ music plans no longer just pie in the sky

By RYAN NAKASHIMA (AP) – 22 hours ago

LOS ANGELES — There’s no more need to own songs before being able to listen to them at your convenience.

No more buying music to download onto computers and mobile devices — and certainly no more stacking CDs on shelves. Virtually the whole world of recorded music is at your fingertips at any time, for a subscription, over the Internet.

Services that make this scenario possible haven’t proven very popular yet. But new price cuts and advances in technology could finally drive the idea to the mainstream.

For instance, Rhapsody International Inc. and Thumbplay Inc. now offer the ability, for $10 a month, to choose and play almost any song or album instantly on a mobile device that can connect to the Internet over a cell phone network.

Justin Darcy, a 32-year-old sales director at a resort company in San Francisco, says he consumes so much music it would cost him $10,000 a year if he didn’t have a Rhapsody plan. He calls it “one of the greatest values in consumer goods I’ve ever come across.”

Given the obvious benefit of being able to listen to millions of songs as if they were in your personal stash, why haven’t services like these gotten more use?

Partly because of poor marketing, previously clunky execution and the fact that people are more familiar with compact discs and downloading songs from Apple Inc.’s iTunes music store. People who spend less than $120 a year on music also wouldn’t see the subscription plans as such a great deal.

But the music providers hope they can get more customers by making the services easier to use, taking advantage of increasingly robust cell phone networks to deliver the music. And in general, consumers are getting more comfortable using many kinds of services that rely on files stored on distant computers and accessed remotely, a concept known as “cloud computing.”

The subscription services have come down in price — they generally were $15 a month until recently — and broader adoption could push prices lower still. One big boost could come if Apple begins offering such a service. In December it bought an online music retailer called Lala.com that offers access to songs that users can store in a digital locker. Apple declined to comment on its plans.

The subscription services funnel royalties to recording companies, which are eager for new revenue streams to replace CD sales. That once-lucrative business has been declining for years as consumers have shifted to buying individual tracks or pirating music altogether.

“We are very bullish on the prospects of subscriptions over time,” says Michael Nash, executive vice president of digital strategy for Warner Music Group Corp.

One problem is finding the right price for the service and having as many people as possible sign up. If only hard-core music fans subscribe because it lets them reduce their spending, the music industry might end up cannibalizing its other sales.

Right now the median U.S. music buyer spends about $80 a year — not enough to make these new services a revolutionary deal, according to Sonal Gandhi, a Forrester Research media analyst. More than half of consumers don’t spend anything at all.

She predicts the number of U.S. subscribers for such plans will rise from 2.1 million now to 5 million by 2014. Why not more? Among other things, “not everyone wants to be tied to a monthly bill,” she says. One solution could be for wireless carriers to bundle a music subscription with their monthly services. Nearly 450,000 Vodafone customers in Europe signed up for unlimited access to 2 million songs last year when the plan was added to a wireless data package for 3 euros ($4) a month.

Previous music subscription plans had another problem: They made consumers download songs to their computers and transfer them to approved mobile devices — and none included the iPhone or iPod.

That’s changing. A $10 monthly plan from MOG Inc. will let people stream music instantly on iPhones and devices that run Google Inc.’s Android software, beginning in May.

Users can make unlimited downloads to the device so they have access to music on a plane or in other settings without wireless coverage. MOG’s service also has an intelligent shuffle function that lets people control whether randomly selected songs come from just one artist or many similar sounding ones.

MOG’s CEO and founder, David Hyman, predicts such services will prove so popular that they’ll replace CDs and downloads eventually.

“If you’re the kind of consumer that spends $6 to $10 a month on music, this just blows everything else away,” Hyman says.

Another new service, Thumbplay, works on several BlackBerry models, and there are plans to launch it on Android devices and iPhones soon, also for $10 a month. To ease iTunes users into the service, the application can copy iTunes playlists immediately over the air, saving potential converts the trouble of remaking them.

“The first thing that we want to do is just accept that probably 100 million people out there are using iTunes and make it easy for them to make the transition,” says CEO Evan Schwartz.

Each of these services has a huge catalog that includes songs from all the major recording companies and many independents. MOG has 7 million tracks. Thumbplay boasts 8 million and Rhapsody claims 9.5 million. None, however, has access to bands that have chosen to remain away from digital outlets, such as the Beatles.

There are other ways to listen to music from the cloud, of course. But subscription plans are needed if you want to pick exact songs or albums.

For instance, free services like Pandora’s Internet radio allow you to select tunes by genre or theme and hear them on portable devices, but you can’t choose the precise song or artist you want. Online music services such as MySpace Music allow you to select specific songs or albums — for free, with the site supported by advertising — but you can listen to the tracks only on a computer.

No distributor has been able to combine the elements of Pandora and MySpace Music and launch a free, on-demand, mobile music service. Advertisers aren’t yet willing to pay enough to cover the higher royalties that recording companies charge for mobile song streams.

That leaves many people in the music business hoping that the marriage of subscription plans to better mobility will be the spark that helps reverse the industry’s decline.

“The Holy Grail is going to be cross-platform, meaning that one subscription lets me hear it on my connected device, on my home computer, on my stereo, in my car,” says Donald Passman, a music business lawyer in Los Angeles and author of “All You Need to Know About the Music Business.”

That multi-device capability was the appeal Rhapsody’s service held for Alex Barberis, a 27-year-old software engineer in Miami.

Barberis got a Rhapsody subscription as a Christmas present from his brother, but he was about to cancel the plan because the website was slow and he didn’t have an approved device on which to transfer downloads. However, Barberis changed his mind after Rhapsody released an iPhone application that allows unlimited streaming of 9.5 million songs for $9.99 a month on iPhones and Android devices and works with home stereo systems and in cars.

Barberis says the service isn’t perfect. It hiccups if he loses cell phone reception in his car. But Rhapsody says it will fix that problem soon by allowing songs to be stored on devices for playback outside of cell phone coverage.

“I think overall I’m probably going to try it out for a little while more,” Barberis says.

Source: Google

Tags: monthly music service, music compositions, song licensing, songs
Posted in Music News | No Comments »

MusicDealers.com Needs Artist in West Hollywood Area

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Thursday, May 13th, 2010

Due Date:

05/19/2010 - 12:00pm

Live Nation - House Of Blues Performance

Music Call:

Hey Everyone,

Here at Music Dealers we are always seeking new and innovative ways and ideas to put your music to work. With that being said we have a great opportunity for those artist/band(s) of the Music Dealers community!

Music Dealers and promotion giant Live Nation are going to be throwing our second industry night at the House of Blues Foundation Room in West Hollywood. Live Nation will browse through our completed artist profiles that have submitted one song and select one artist/bands to be the opening act at their industry event on May 27th. The event is part of a monthly Thursday showcase with Live Nation and Renaissance artist management.

To be eligible for this your artist profile must be 100% complete, meaning accurate and up-to-date picture, bio, PRO, and contact information. We will be calling the winning artist/band via the number in your profile - so be sure that is accurate, so we can let you know that you’ve won.

Keep your eyes peeled for emails and notifications of future opportunities as Music Dealers has some great things in the works for 2010. Don’t miss out!

Thank you for being a part of the Music Dealers community.

Genre: All

Client: Music Dealers & Live Nation

Use: Performance

Due Date: May 19th, 2010 12PM CST (12:00)

Other: Submit your best ONE (1) song and Live Nation will search through your submissions and pick 2 artists/bands to open at their party.

Contact your C.A.R.E. Rep with any questions.

Tags: Call For Music, instrumetals songs for licensing, Music, music licensing opportunity, songs
Posted in Call For Music | No Comments »

Posts Tagged ‘songs’

Guitar Care - String Cleaning

UK Recorded Music Sales Rise

Digital Economy Bill Passed In UK

Spotify Slammed By Songwriters

Source: The Guardian

Artist-as-entrepenuer Cont. #2

The Business of Music II - A Look at the Artist-as-Entrepreneur

The Business of Music II - A Look at the Artist-as-Entrepreneur

Phoenix’s Musical Instrument Museum

BMG Eyes Snapping Up Its UK Rivals

Pay Monthly Music Service - Next Big Thing?

MusicDealers.com Needs Artist in West Hollywood Area

Due Date:

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