Buddy Guy opens Harvest Jazz and Blues Festival
Harvest Blues Festival ignores disabled
2
Category Archives: Music business
Crimson and Clover Tommy James and The Shondells
Classic rock song from 1969 was recorded at mobbed-up studio and released accidentally to the public
Tommy James, Crimson and Clover
Guitarists know Crimson and Clover as the best song for testing their Tremolo and Delay pedals.
It is still one of the most popular songs of the 60s. It has been covered by Joan Jett, Dolly Parton and Prince.
The biggest hit record for Tommy James and the Shondells was recorded as a game-changer to get the band into the new soft-rock FM radio stations in 1968. Continue reading
Robbie Robertson inducted into Hall of Fame but did he really write those songs
The songs Robertson is known for may have been written his band mates without attribution or compensation
Musician Robbie Robertson (THE CANADIAN PRESS / Fred Chartrand)
“The music business is a cruel and shallow money trench, a long plastic hallway where thieves and pimps run free, and good men die like dogs. There’s also a negative side.” Hunter S. Thompson
Robbie Robertson was recently Robertson inducted into Songwriters Hall of Fame. Robertson’s songwriting fame comes mainly from his work with The Band.
We loved The Band and their music. Guitarist Robbie Robertson is credited with writing most of their songs but according to band-mate Levon Helm Robertson stole them.
Before The Band, Robertson wrote no songs of any enduring interest. Continue reading
Clinton Curtis Connects With Fans And Gives Them Good Reasons To Buy New Album
Using your website as a marketing hub for music promotion
Clinton Curtis, innovative connection with fans through web
By Matt Stine, 27 Sound , from TechDirt (corrected Matt’s name)
Ever since Mike introduced the concept of CwF + RtB, he has been confronted time and time again with the argument that this concept can only work for well-known artists with large established fanbases. Continue reading
Give ‘em something free – 8 Tips for Musician’s Website
#3. Collect emails not $.99
Bob Lefsetz reminded me last month that you’re better to collect email addresses than $0.99 for your songs.
Trade free music downloads for your fans email address. Most people understand the trade-off and don’t mind.
Lefsetz said if you don’t have 2,500 rabid fans, give them your music in exchange for email addresses. Later you can mail them about the latest release.
A mailing list entry from a fan is worth more than $1000. Continue reading
Put The Music First – 8 Tips for a Musicians Website
#2. Hit them with your best shot which means music
Hit them with your best shot, Pat Benatar
Put the important stuff on Page One of your musicians website.
People want to listen to and watch music – put your best songs and videos right on the front page.
Make sure the music starts within 5 seconds. Check out the Pat Benatar video on Vevo after the break. The music doesn’t start until 1:20 after a 15 second advertisement. Why are they giving us 60 seconds of crowd shots?
You have about 5 seconds tops to keep the viewer’s attention, unless you are a # 1 star. Then you might have maybe 10 seconds. Most people have moved on to another site.
Make sure the music player works on all browsers including Apple iOS (iPhone, iPad, and iPod).
Host your videos on an Apple compatible site, not YouTube. Apple supports the H.264 video codec. I’m not saying you shouldn’t be on YouTube because you must be there. YouTube, however, will clutter your website with their advertising messages which is what you want to avoid.
Continue reading
8 Tips For Building a Fan-Based Website WIIFM
Musicians can learn a few tips from business when marketing themselves with a website
WIIFM - me is the centre of the universe (illustration - National Journal)
Your music website can be a place to promote your business or an Arctic out-post that only your family visit.
Here are a few tips to making your music website work.
1. What’s in it for the me
Unless your site screams WIIFM, no one will stop by more than once.
Believe it or not, your fans only care about meeting their own wants and needs, with wants coming first.
This may be a shock to your ego but no one cares about your music (or any business) except to the extent it helps them get through their day.
Effective marketing and advertising must meet the WIIFM test for the visitor – what’s in it for me.
That’s a tough question and if you don’t have something for fans (or customers), go back to the drawing board.
Self-serving statements about what you are up to are boring, boring, BORING.
You gotta give the audience something – make ‘em laugh, make ‘em cry, or make ‘em dance.
You can read about WIIFM in a gazillion places – here’s one and it’s free.
Tomorrow – Tip 2 Hit them with the music first
PS – I was in technology sales and marketing for 20 years and learned the hard way how to sell intangibles and make money at it. Jerry Goodis (At Speedy you’re a somebody) taught me the WIIFM golden rule.
Daniel Lanois dislikes the sound of Pro Tools DAW
Lanois and his long-time engineer Mark Howard avoid the industry standard DAW Pro Tools
Neil Young, Dave Howard and Daniel Lanois recording LeNoise at Silverlake Studio, LA (picture Sound on Sound)
Daniel Lanois has won three Grammy Awards as producer for album of the year. He also likes to avoid Pro Tools and other software based audio recording software.
“I don’t like the sound of Pro Tools, and I also don’t think it’s a reliable platform: it crashes too often,” Lanois’ engineer Mark Howard told Sound on Sound (Feb 2011).
That statement is heresy in the world of music recording where Pro Tools is the creme de la creme of digital audio workstation software.
Lanois has been known for unconventional thinking in music production. His last two albums were Neil Young’s LeNoise and Black Dub.
Neil Young won the 2011 Grammy for Best Rock Song for Angry World off Le Noise. Lanois must be doing something right. Continue reading
Cakewalk needs to start charging for premium support
The time for free support of mission critical DAW software is over
People who use Sonar Digital Audio Workstation (DAW) in business are losing money when the product is buggy.
Cakewalk supports Sonar as if customers are not in the business of recording music.
Update – Sonar X1b now ready for prime time
I respectfully submit that Cakewalk needs to develop a tiered support level to keep it’s customers happy and to pay for the support businesses expect.
This is not a problem with Cakewalk’s employees: it’s a failure of management to put the proper customer service systems in place.
Forget how buggy Sonar X1 is. The support of the Online Forum and email support doesn’t cut it when time = money in business. Continue reading
Summerside falls into honey trap for $1.3 million
Beyoncé not coming to PEI
Our leaders are the finest men and we elect them again and again
Francis Ford Coppola artists should steal
Director of The Godfather Apocalyptic Now says art should be copied without penalty
Francis Ford Coppola says that art should be shared not bound with copyrights (photo Grazia)
Excerpted from Francis Ford Coppola: On Risk, Money, Craft & Collaboration by Aniston Anderson in 99%
Is it important to veer away from the masters to develop one’s own style?
I once found a little excerpt from Balzac. He speaks about a young writer who stole some of his prose. Continue reading