Category Archives: Music business

With MySpace shrinking where can musicians go?

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Musicians and bands need the best tools to promote their music business which includes Facebook, Twitter, Reverbnation and your own website. MySpace announced this week they are laying off 47% of their staff. EOL MySpace

Illustration SF Weekly

Musicians and bands need the best tools to promote their music business which includes Facebook, Twitter, Reverbnation and your own website.

MySpace announced this week they are laying off 47% of their staff.

The death of MySpace can’t be long off. What will that mean to musicians on MySpace for fan reach?

That is one more indicator that musicians who want to control their business success have to maintain their own websites from which they can interact with fans, sell music and swag and create a unique place to belong.

Musicians have already migrated to Facebook and 1 million of them to Reverbnation.  Continue reading →

Todd King Dude Rock

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Still living the rock and roll dream one hot lick at a time

Todd King

Todd King is out in Calgary living the rock and roll dream.

I always have respected him for doing what he did and getting free (Bob Dylan paraphrase).

The Calgary Beacon profiled him with a story about his music and new CD for Stratabuse.  Calgary Band Stratabuse Looking to Break Out with First CD

He’s not pushing paper at Music PEI or the government.  Todd did both those jobs but he left them to be a rocker.

You can’t be a rocker conforming to the system. Rock and roll is about rebellion against the system, telling the establishment to shove it.

On PEI, the dependence on government money is corrupting rock and roll into a civil service job.

Unless musicians are willing to curry favour with the government and Music PEI, they don’t have a chance at the grant money that floats around twice a year.

With the new attempts by Music PEI to control the PEI Music scene, rebellious musicians will be out of work.

Not to worry – the whole government controlled music scene is imploding under the weight of its own paperwork.

Soon the ECMAs will be a phone in affair.  Continue reading →

Roland rolling out Sonar X1

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Merger with music industry giant paying off for Cakewalk Sonar and customers with new, more powerful DAW

Sonar X1

Update – Sonar X1b now ready for prime time

Roland will be releasing a new and easier to use version of Sonar’s X1 digital audio workstation software on December 8, 2010.

The recent merger of Cakewalk with music equipment giant Roland has given Cakewalk Sonar a shot in the arm and the new release is eagerly anticipated by Sonar users.

DAW software from simple programs like Garage Band to Apple Avid’s ProTools 9 are allowing musicians to record their own music without paying huge fees to studios. Along with the internet, DAW software is fueling a revolution in music. ( Update – Avid owns ProTools – the program sticks in my mind as Apple since it is meant to run on Apple OS)

Sonar X1 promises a new and improved user interface for Sonar 8.5. This will be a big boost for current users. Sonar is as powerful as any of the top DAW’s but it’s interface has become cluttered over the past decade with annual feature updates.

In many ways Sonar has pulled ahead of the pack with native support for 64-bit processing and an early jump on the Windows 7 platform.

The Cakewalk announcement says “SONAR X1 Producer has everything needed to deliver the polished, “radio-ready” recordings – all in one box. Included are all of SONAR’s cutting edge music creation tools plus an unparalleled collection of world-class instruments and effects. From the innovative Skylight interface to the legendary, “big-studio” sound of the ProChannel console strip, SONAR X1 Producer is the ideal choice for anyone serious about music production.” Roland   Continue reading →

Bob Lefsetz in love with Hyundai and Pomplamoose

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Our cute and catchy couple captures heart of music’s curmudgeonly counselor and critic

Pomplamoose capture Christmas for Hyundai

By Bob Lefsetz,

Felice wants an Equus.

We’re sitting around the table at dinner, shooting the shit, and Stephen starts complaining that his Smart Car is just too anemic, he puts the pedal to the metal and nothing happens for seconds, he’s got to buy something new. Therein, the great L.A. car debate is engendered.

Felice drives a Lexus GS300. A 2002. You could drive that car forever, but she’s beginning to become annoyed by the rattles. And you can’t buy a new Lexus.

BECAUSE TOYOTA DOESN’T CARE ABOUT PEOPLE!
Continue reading →

Our Dave Skinner goes to Nashville

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Manager of Long and McQuade and recording studio owner takes junket

Canadians on the prowl in Nashville Jon Treichel, Andrew Deadder, James Evangelos, Remy Bazinet, Tim Ryan, Jonathan Graves, Matt Strawson, Dave Skinner, Jeff Cowling, Domenic Flibotte, Joe Fernandes, Chris Ghidoni, Jeremy Berger (image 12th Fret)

I was checking out the new guitars on 12th Fret this morning. Don’t ask: guitarists do this all the time. It keeps us out of pool halls and off Lavalife. I found some off-time pics of Dave Skinner.

12 Canadians were taken by Yorkville Sound to Nashville to tour the Gibson Guitar factories and have a little R&R.

I love factory tours because they are free and you get to see how your favourite guitar is made. Cool

The 12th Fret guy on the tour posted some pics and coverage.

Lo and behold there is Dave Skinner from Long and McQuade in Charlottetown in the midst of the group.

Dave is the manager of Long and McQuade in Charlottetown and a darn good salesman. He must have won the tour for his good efforts on behalf of his employer, who actually owns Yorkville Sound, the Canadian Gibson distributor.

Quel surpris!

Continue reading →

Save on Cakewalk V-Studio 700 Music Production System

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Offer extended to September 8th in Canada for only $2,500 a $1,500 saving

Cakewalk Sonar V-Studio 700

Update  September 1, 2010 - Roland extends the offer to September 8th

The joke  “Only in Canada you say” seems to be true in this under-promoted special from Roland Canada on their flag-ship digital recording workstation (DAW).

This limited quantity special is available only from some Long and McQuade stores and Axe Music, although Axe didn’t confirm it yet. Ron Huestis, a fellow Islander in Halifax and DAW salesman for Long and McQuade, has the V-Studio at home and says it smokes the competition.

The Cakewalk V-Studio 700 Music Production System combines Sonar 8.5 Professional with an integrated mixing deck, I/O and Fantom VS midi synthesizer. All of those products can be purchased separately but the beauty of the V-Studio 700 is you can get an out-of-the-box experience without the hassles of connecting gear from different companies.

For people who struggle with the complexity of home recording, the V-Studio solution is very appealing. Getting Sonar 8.5 Producer running requires hundreds of complex hardware and software integration decisions. Some people like to play with gear and that includes me but I get tired of the hour setup of the Lynx Aurora to Sonar on the computer to midi connections and the Mackie control surface.  Continue reading →

Are You Too Old to Make It?

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Most musicians find as they get older they didn’t achieve fame and fortune

Dave Harris (image: Rennett Stowe on Flickr)

By Scott James, Echoes – Most musicians I know hold a dream to someday ‘make it’ in the music business. To play in front of huge crowds and live a lifestyle that they can only imagine. Many of us believe that we’ll someday get there. Unfortunately most of us find ourselves growing older with an ever increasing fear that we’re missing the boat.

We’re conditioned to believe that if we’re going to make it then we have to do it at a young age. I had already started to have this feeling when I was in my early 20′s. I felt like I was slacking because I hadn’t ‘made it’ yet.

So how old is too old? Well, I think what we need to look at is the fundamental equation the whole business boils down to. It’s a value exchange between the audience and the artist. The audience pays money for the value they get from the artist. So ask yourself: how old would a performer have to be before you stopped receiving value from them? Would you not pay for a great artist who was 65 years old? I would. One of the best performances I’ve ever seen was a rock and roll band of men who were all in their 80′s!  Continue reading →

The Pixies email and a website can engage fans

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Bands don’t need complicated computer systems to increase fan contact and build revenues

The Pixies (image: Wonker on Flickr)

Shane Richmond, Telegraph.co.uk – I saw the Pixies play in London a couple of months ago. I’ve been a fan for 20 years or so but this was the first time I’ve seen them. They were excellent, in case you’re interested, but it’s the technology-savvy approach to the gig that I wanted to highlight.

I first found out that the Pixies were playing in London through a service called Songkick. It uses my Last.fm profile to find out what I listen to and compares that with London concert listings – though it does other cities too. Then it emails me with forthcoming concert dates. There are other services – Bands in Town, for example, that do the same thing.

As soon as I got the email I went to the Pixies’ website and bought tickets. The tickets – not a receipt but the tickets themselves – were emailed minutes later in PDF form. I printed them off on the day of the gig and they were scanned at the venue by an iPhone-wielding staff member.

I haven’t come across that before. Perhaps there is a risk that a print-it-yourself ticket can be photocopied but I would imagine it’s a small risk. It might be riskier to do this with a stadium tour where there is more incentive for people to try to sell fake tickets.

Anyway, a couple of weeks before the show I got an email from the Pixies:

“If you’re reading this email, it means we’ll see you at TROXY London for two shows in June. We’re looking forward to it. What songs do you want us to play? Reply and tell us.”

Just before the show they emailed again thanking everyone who sent requests and saying that they had a setlist they thought we would like. Now for all I know, some guy who works for the Pixies might have dealt with all the emails and the band themselves may never have looked at them but it doesn’t much matter. The engagement – even if it was an illusion – helped to build my excitement about the gig.

A few weeks after the gig, the band emailed again, this time sending me a link to a download of two songs from the gig I went to. So I now have a very nice souvenir of the show too.

Shane Richmond, Telegraph.co.uk

It’s great to see a band engaging with their audience before and after shows. The tools they used are hardly complex – though their web operation is powered by Topspin, mostly they just asked for fans’ email addresses when they bought tickets and then sending a few emails. Imagine how much further they could take it with Twitter or Facebook or even Foursquare.

Who else is doing this? And who is taking it further?

The Americanization of Prince Edward Island

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PEI lavishes $3 million on US culture while throwing scraps off the table at local artists

Taylor Swift at Cavendish Beach Music Festival, $3.5 million for "come from away" talent

The Cavendish Beach Music Festival starts today, a five day extravaganza of American country music. Big US artists like Taylor Swift, Keith Urban, a few Canadian acts and even fewer Island artists thrown in as tokens will entertain the tourists and locals. Cost to the taxpayers $2 million this year and last.

We just got finished with a 4 day Cirque du Soleil festival. Sure they are from Montreal but this is really a Las Vegas act, certainly not local PEI talent. Cost to the taxpayer $250,000 to $500,000.  Next week, we are importing US talk show hosts Regis and Kelly at a cost of $1 million plus.

Add it all together that comes to $3.5 million spent to fund cultural events on PEI for the tourists with almost zero Island culture. Or is the money being spent to entertain voters prior to the next election?

The Province did put up $300,000 over three years to kick start the Festival of Small Halls which is all about Island artists and talent. The total commitment to promoting Island artists is 1/10th the money spent on big name acts from away.   Continue reading →

Canadian Copyright Bill: Flawed But Fixable

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Fair Dealing and Digital Locks will make Canada’s new copyright law a restriction of personal freedom and will only help big US interests

By Michael Geist

This afternoon, the government introduced the Copyright Modernization Act (or Bill C-32), the long-awaited copyright reform bill.

It is nearly two years since C-61 was introduced and nearly a year since the national copyright consultation, yet discouragingly some things have not changed. As I reported several weeks ago, Canadian Heritage Minister James Moore won the internal fight over Industry Minister Tony Clement for a repeat of C-61′s digital lock provisions and against a flexible fair dealing approach and today’s bill reflects those policy victories.

However, over the past month, Clement made steady in-roads in trying to restore some balance in the bill and achieved some wins. The bill contains some important extensions of fair dealing, including new exceptions for parody, satire, and (most notably) education.  It also contains more sensible time shifting and format shifting provisions that still feature restrictions (they do not apply where there is a digital lock) but are more technology neutral than the C-61 model.  There is also a “YouTube exception” that grants Canadians the right to create remixed user generated content for non-commercial purposes under certain circumstances. While still not as good as a flexible fair dealing provision, the compromise is a pretty good one.  Throw in notice-and-notice for Internet providers, backup copying, and some important changes to the statutory damages regime for non-commercial infringement and there are some provisions worth fighting to keep.  Continue reading →