Perfect Bedfellows
DIY culture is throwing up some interested new record labels, that are more than just labels, but are building on the relationship with the visual arts. Home Tapes, based in Portland, Oregon is home to a group of bands and musicians such as left field Hip-Hop stars CYNE and the excellent Slaraffenland, and a bunch...
Dear Musician & Brand – Is your sound irresistible?
Robert Wolf, London musician and drumming teacher to my son, is finishing up his album right now. Getting noticed is a big challenge for every musician, but there was something he said to me today that really resonated. He said is is going to make his music sound irresistible How many musicians aim for that?...
And the winner of the 2009 Mercury Music Prize is…
…Speech Dabelle. Wish I’d had the common sense to put a few quid on this, the citizensound favourite for this year’s Mercury Music Prize. And YES once again we got it right! Former Mercury Award winner and fellow citizen Paul Martin, who won it with Roni Size Reprazent in ’97 (famously beating Radiohead’s OK Computer)...
See me, Feel me, Touch me, Hear me….
I admit to being a teenage vinyl junkie. The way the sleeves looked and felt, the way the vinyl sounded, and even smelt, made it a truly sensory experience that became almost a life long obsession. But in the late 80’s, like so many, I was lured by the portability and ease of use of...
What do grass-roots bands want from brands?
While at Unconvention last week I met up with Rich Dale, bass player in Befast based Escape Act. Rich has been invovled in the grass-roots music business in Northern Ireland for 15 year, and was one of the coordinators at Unconvention in Belfast. With brands increasingly playing in the DIY and unsigned arena Rich gave...
Martin Atkins on how to sustain a career in music
Martin Atkins, legendary drummer with Public Image Ltd., Ministry and Killing Joke was one of the speakers at Unconference. He shared some of thoughts on the DIY music business as well as some of the insights from his new book Tour:Smart, the ultimate guide to the business of touring. Martin took a few minutes of...
Success is…?
I attended my first Unconvention this weekend, a music conference for the grass roots music industry held in Salford, Manchester. The first panel session I attended at the event, Outside The Box, looked at what it was like for those musicians and labels who choose to operate outside of the mainstream of the music industry,...
Money for nothin, but the equity ain’t free
On Monday evening I went to First Monday, a music industry networking night run by Sybill Bell, who manages the rather excellent Post War Years. Much of the talk was not about doing label deals, but how to raise money for the artists to do it themselves. Recording and distribution seemed not to much of...
Surge of complaints for emusic and Sony raises the question: What is the value of music?
It looks like I spoke too soon about the benefits of emusic’s deal with Sony Music for the users. What wasn’t immediately clear was the impact on the price that users would have to pay for their downloads. Some of the most loyal users have seen a 40-50%Â increase in the price they are paying....
Sony Music seeks the power of recommendation
Yesterday’s New York Times announced that Sony Music will be making some of their back catalogue available via download store emusic in the US, which up till now has only carried music from independent labels. Although the major labels have never been keen on emusic’s pricing policy (an average 40 cents per track), the site’s...
What do your fans want from you? (Part 3)
Artists are increasingly embracing Twitter as a great way to connect with their fans. But its not just its simplicity as a communication tool that is attracting ‘celebrity’ users, it can also be a useful tool in helping you grow your fanbase. US indie band Jimmy Eat World accumulated some 200,000 new Twitter followers in...
What do your fans want from you? (Part 2)
Writing regular blog posts for your fans is not up everyone’s street. But who said you had to write? Kanye West’s blog is a great example of what you can do by developing a visual approach to blogging. Kanye regularly posts up images and videos that have grabbed his interest – be it some arresting...