Happy New Year everyone!

Here are some updates from some of the awesome people/bands that have appeared on Lyric L. and Amy V's UK Featured Music Live in the past:

AraPacis

AraPacis has recently signed with Femme Metal Records of Canterbury, UK. Their album, yet to be named, is set to be released something this coming spring. Femme Metal Records, founded by Carrie Sharp, exclusively produces female fronted metal bands. For more information about either the band or the label, visit www.femmemetalrecords.com and/or www.arapacis.com .

CIRCA:/Billy Sherwoodhttp://profile.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=user.viewProfile&friendID=163846258

CIRCA: will be on tour in Italy from February 4 – 11, 2009! The tour will begin at the Alcatraz Theater in Milan, then continue on to Torino, Bologna, Firenze, and Rome before their final show in Naples at the Casa Della Musica Federico . They will be joined by Bobby Kimball (lead singer of Toto}, and will be performing music from CIRCA:, Toto, Yes and more...!

The ever-prolific Billy Sherwood has also had his latest solo release, "At The Speed of Life" nominated for 2008 Best Prog CD of the Year at USAProgmusic.com, so don't forget to show him some love and vote!

Judy Dyble

The amazing Judy Dyble's newest album 'Talking With Strangers' is almost finished and set to be released in March of this year. It has contributions from Robert Fripp (King Crimson) Ian McDonald (King Crimson,Foreigner) Jacquie McShee (Pentangle) Pat Mastelotto ( King Crimson Tuner,KTU,etc) Simon Nicol (Fairport Convention),Julianne Regan (All About Eve) Celia Humphris (Trees) and Sand Snowman and many other fabulous musicians. She has had a marvelous time working with Tim Bowness(No-man) and Alistair Murphy (Cromer Museum) as producers, arrangers and collaborators , so stay tuned for the result! J

M O T H S

The ever talented Winged Ones have released their first album, entitled " Here Lies The Question" online to many positive reviews; it can be downloaded from http://www.indmill.com.

Pale Hollow

Pale Hollow's S/T CD was selected 5 in Absolute Power-Pop's top 125 CDs of 2008;
you can read more about it at http://absolutepowerpop. blogspot. com/ Congrats, all!

RoSfest 2009!

http://profile.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=user.viewProfile&friendID=60322662

The 6^th Annual Rites of Spring Festival , held at the historic Keswick Theater in Glenside, PA ( just outside of Philadelphia) from May 1 – 3, 2009 has the most exciting line up to date!

Appearing this year are: Nektar( UK, Germany); Apocalypse (Brazil); Iluvatar (USA); Lazuli (France); Frost (UK); Abigail's Ghost(USA); Moth Vellum(USA); John Lee's Barclay James Harvest (UK); Mangala Vallis(Italy); Moonsafari(Sweden); and Touchstone (UK).

Tickets are now on sale via the Keswick Theater Box at http://www.keswicktheatre.com and also available through Ticketmaster at http://www.ticketmaster.com. For the first time, single day tickets for individual bands appearing on Saturday and Sunday during the festival will also be available…although I recommend you purchase the full package for the true RoSfest experience– it is the festival to beat all festivals! If you don't attend any others in the States, definitely choose this one!

It is time for people to get real.


We are all financially stressed right now, and many for quite a while.


We have lives,crises,hardships,etc...

We surround ourselves with music,books,plays,movies,magazines,art,to help make these struggles easier to handle.


Imagine doing what you do for a living, going to cash your bi-weekly paycheck, getting to the bank, and finding out that your paycheck is actually an invoice for your work.


Would you be outraged,clamoring about fairness,justice,etc.
,ad nauseum?

Well, this is exactly what you are doing to independent musicians,writers,filmmakers,artists , community theaters and others when you don't support performances, buy bootlegged CDs and DVDs of independent artists,lithographs of art stolen by Walmart and Disney,rely totally on downloads, look constantly for gratis only services from all of the above.


Not only is it not fair, it is a disrespectful to treat those who provide you with inspiration,relaxation,pleasure,humor, and otherwise help indirectely with your own journey through life.


Kudos and compliments are lovely,everybody needs and appreciates these things, but independent artists cannot pay the mortgage or gas bill with admirtion only, anymore than you could.


We can either support in whatever way( and it doesnt take alot of money really) those who do what artists are supposed to do...that is,create lovely,orignal,inspirating things in this world or just sit back and cynically continue allowing this reptilian brain appealing backround noise palaver being hoisted upon us from the mainstream as music,art,writing,etc.finally take over a disengaged public.

Amy V.

We're asked often about song placement in film and television, such as explaining  the concept of "Master Rights deals with material that is not original (rearrangements, etc.). How does one go about obtaining " Master Rights" to a piece?

 

"Master Rights" refers to owning the original MASTER sound recordings, and having the right to use the recording as you feel fit.

Unless otherwise agreed upon with a record label, publisher, or other entity, you own the rights if you created the recording - just as with copyright.

It is highly recommended that you obtain a copy of '

All You Need to Know About the Music Business' , by Donald Passman. His book is still one of the most well read, and considered to be one of the most comprehensive books on this and many other music business and legal topics.

You can find it on Amazon.com.

You can read more about Master Rights and Recordings specifically on Wikipedia here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Master_recording

Happy reading and recording!

Lyric 'SEZ':

People question me constantly on everything from how to write a better tune  to starting  a record company or a publishing company. Other people suggest that I CREATE the "new" music industry.
The suggestions would easily total in the thousands if I counted them all up.

Got someone  in the music business you can trust.? I have a handful, and I know thousands upon thousands .  Most of the people who send me the emails include links to their MySpace pages or web sites. Much of it is good,  but greatness, that takes staunch musicianship and devotion to one's craft for a lifetime. 
  

 The record companies and music publishers generally don't accept unsolicited demos or CDs -- they know what the odds of finding the GREAT artists or songwriters really are -- almost non-existent.
The people who email me and want me to change the world (as it relates to the music industry),  and I wish that I COULD make it easy for them to sell their music. But it's not about THEM. It's not about me or corporations lowering the bar to accept songs or artists that are just "pretty good."

It's not even about the people at the major record labels. In the end, it's ALWAYS about the consumer, the music lover -- the fan -- yes, it's about making great music that gets your fans to tell their friends about you and your songs. No matter WHO is in power, great songs will always rule the day. Especially in a more decentralized music industry where musicians will market directly to their fans. The days of shot-gunning your demo out to every A&R person in a music business directory are toast!

The days of the multi-million sellers are mostly behind us as well. The dawn of the empowered artist may be cresting the newly lit horizon, but hold up there just one little minute!

~~Don't you HAVE your MySpace page cranking, boxes full of great looking CDs in your basement, your music on a bunch of digital music distribution sites and every other thing you can do to sell your music?

~Haven't you found that you don't NEED the "man" to sell your music or to share the royalties with?

~What's that? You're not selling enough of your music to quit your day job, let alone fly around in your Gulfstream IV?

~You don't have the time or the money to market your music in any significant way?

~You're just a songwriter or a band . . . an ARTIST and certainly not an expert in the music BUSINESS -- what?!

~Well then, how are you going to make it in the "new" music business? Who's going to fund your recording?

~Who's going to market your music?

~Who's going to take care of all your music business needs like hooking you up with the right producer or tour manager or making sure you get paid?
Not the major record labels, because they'll be gone. Illegal downloading has all but wiped them out.

How will YOU do it without a manager, a publisher, a record label, a publicist, a tour manager, a music attorney and a host of other support staff?

How many singer/songwriters or bands can you name that have sold multi-millions of records without a major record company behind them? Maybe one or two at best?

And how long will their careers last? They're probably over already or they've gone to the dark side and signed with a record company to take them to the next level.

And don't give me that "Radiohead"/"Arctic Monkeys" made millions by letting their fans decide how much to pay" crapola. They wouldn't have HAD the millions of fans if not for their major label helping them build their career for a decade prior to their grand experiment.

What would happen if you tried the same thing tomorrow?
Don't get me wrong. There's no bringing back the major record labels with their rosters of hungry A&R people. Maybe not even the top Indie labels. They ARE doomed. I just don't want to see the entire music business doomed along with them! I don't want to see songwriters, bands and artists become a footnote to YouTube or video games.

The best thing you can do to ensure your place in the "new" music industry is to write GREAT songs. Not good songs. Good ain't good enough, no matter what form the new music business takes.

Why do you think we all still love the Motown classics, the Beatles, Zeppelin and the Stones? Because their songs are still GREAT. Great sells itself. Always has. Always will.

FROM SUSAN NIELAND:

FOR THE MUSICIAN, A TRIBUTE WRITTEN BY SUSAN, OF MYSPACE:

Being a musician is a vocation. Many people pray, but not all are monks. Many people cook, but not all are chefs. Many people paint & draw but not all are artists. Many people make music but not all are musicians.

I've come to believe that there is a part of a person so deep and invisible, so completely unique in it's vocational essence that is the fiber of the tapestry from which the entire person is woven. This tapestry then becomes the base from which all of life is experienced. That person as regards this blog is the musician.

Only from the understanding and self-knowledge that comes from life experience, both painful suffering and unspeakable joy, does the musician fully sink into their purest vocation with a passion unparalleled.

While musicians are born, the musician will grow into their own skin over time. The interior of the musician will at some point feel a rather startling shift in their reasoning's and thought processes about their craft. When that happens, there is a spark that ignites their soul as if nothing else in the world mattered ~ but their being true to themselves and their vocation as a musician.

At this point, the music created, the music yet to be written and performed, the memories, the dreams for the future are lifted up to a real world of understanding that too few people grasp. There becomes a lightning of the talented musician. The sadness, hard-knocks, disappointments, inequities and/or abuses endured in the 'industry' become fuel for their fire. They rise above as if their feet don't touch the ground any longer.

To a certain extent altruism becomes natural for things music and music minded. For the person with a true music vocation this indeed seems to spill out over time. The need to teach. The need to "give away" what they have been gifted with, while precious life is theirs to live. The true need to be heard ~ to bring joy and solace to the weary souls that music feeds and rejuvenates.

All human emotions continue to exist as they do for everyone ~ but now every experience can be brought to the music playing field and is fair game. Anger, joy, frustration, happiness, mystery, love, compassion, death, empathy, birth, jealousy, the darkest moods, the insights and hopes. These become the jewels of humanity placed upon the tapestry of the musicians being.

A most beautiful and stunning cloth now, a warming protective shawl over the mass of humanity to provide true comfort.

The language between musicians that is spoken without words is amazing to witness through collaboration as projects develop. As vision becomes reality. Sometimes the musician becomes the pure gold piece that puts the whole puzzle together for a masterpiece ~ other times the genius work is tossed and scraped like excess useless grout. But the motion of the vocation continues forward, always forward.

To be a musician in a full gift of a music vocation is something the entire world needs to understand and deeply respect. This needs to be pondered more than ever in the fast techno world some of humanity resides in. Electricity only in the last one hundred years. No lights or central heat or flushing toilets & quite suddenly an iPod with thousands of songs smaller than my recently engineered cell phone in my pocket or rooms of the house making big sounds out of seemingly nowhere.

We can deepen the respect for the vocation of musician in many ways. Sponsorship is fantastic. Bringing the musician to be heard to your part of the world through you. Contributing what you can in organizational skills, providing them information about venues, the music environment, the type of crowd likely to come out, selling tickets, finding lodging etc. This can be done by a group of individuals or a person alone ~ communication between the artist and sponsor can be fun and rewarding for both. The artist will soon be heard in another part of the world!

Another is to encourage musicians to mentor, teach and/or encourage new vocations as they are able. It would be great to hear of the music greats of recent years sharing through scholarships, building & supporting music schools, making local concert arrangements, providing funds and trusts. Teaching at Master Classes at a University's music department is amazing as well. These things to encourage music vocation possibilities for young new musicians barely starting out on their path are invaluable.

Fully I would support the recent music greats in the day's of vinyl (where musicians were paid very large sums of money) networking and supporting their current peers in the industry. There are genuinely true amazingly gifted musicians out there that may merely need to be hooked up with one other particular person to make great things happen musically. What could happen with one phone call. One dream, one vision ~ fully the resources are out there, let's work together.

What a mere $10,000 could do to boost the career and lift a current vocation to it's fullest potential. It's often enough pocket-change to the biggies of vinyl not that long ago. One musicians vocation supported is worth it's weight in gold for everyone. And on it goes... :-) Simply everyone deserves a break at some point in life. Helping one of your own is rewarding.

A musician with a true vocation will know this intuitively. That their craft truly in it's purity is not about them and at the same time it is all about them. It's really only 'theirs' in the measure that they can give it away. Both fulfilling and self-sacrificing. The community of musician's might do very well to become united in their uniquely creative endeavors to reach people, nurture people ~ most assuredly in that is the caring of their own in the industry.

The community of musicians do very well when statements of work are prefaced with us or we - rather than I. The painfulness of "aloneness" ~ in a world of music where more is actually 'shared and mutual' than very far different could grandly be reduced and alleviated with a little bit of generosity, a great deal of humor and huge amounts of fearless commitment to a community of peers that in turn serve humanity.

If music isn't and above all about the celebration of the natural world and it's people ~ I'm not sure is is understood all that well. If something sounds good to me as the true musician (dormant or active) a vocation is speaking it's heart honestly ~ to share. Hearts are lifted when one creates a sound so vital to a work, equally so when another musician surprisingly adds that last riff or harmony to lift the dynamic work to entirely new ground. The end often enough is, 'this is fantastic we have to get this out there or over to so and so' ~~~~~ projects are born, celebrations and smiles for music created. A ripple in the ocean of goodness on earth begins - a new forward movement - born of love.

If we aren't above all about others as well as our own well being than I would venture that life as hard as it is may seem at times may be even more difficult.

Homes, automobiles, travel, diamonds, fashion clothes, major publicity and widely huge paychecks may be a draw and temptation and actual acquisition for many with a true music vocation. Celebrate! Life has been very good to you in "worldly" terms. I'd encourage you to go one step further ~ and support your fellow musicians with their own equally true vocation. Network and get things going together. Fun and exciting large revenue makers now and again. We love when you band yourselves together for some aspect of hurting humanity to heal. Pick your cause.......AIDS kills a person every 10 seconds - the list is endless.

May thousands gather in honor of your goodness and craft as you help humanity, the planet, the animals & fish. Allow us to cheer you standing on our feet in blissful joy :-) ~ Find the up and coming ones as well and give them a break ~ encourage them in the green room ~ and truly meet up again without hesitation when the whole gig is over.

I guess my bottom line seems to be that when you receive a gift such as that of a music vocation I am of the mind that it comes with a lot of responsibility. To yourself, to your family, to the public, to the world ~ well to just plain all of us. Equal to that and of lesser known degree is that we people of the world that listen to the music & experience the music you create need to deeply respect and revere the person(s) with a music vocation - the musician.

This respect needs to be shown and expressed in very concrete ways. This driving force of music in our world may seem to be in a time of upset or turmoil with technologies out the door faster than one can finish a project. As a person of music appreciation ~ Do purchase full CD's either at the performance or by the means the artist chooses to make it available. Buy each and every one of the full pieces of work you enjoy. It's odd many won't hesitate to buy over-the-counter pain medication to soothe a headache for $15.00 or $20.00 for name brand ~ but do not want to pay the same money for a CD that will last indefinitely to soothe them through much more than the occasional headache. Listen to the entire CD ~ there is a reason those songs are compiled together. Rather than buying one song here and another there.

Please do get out of the house and go to concerts monthly. It's good for you, it's good for the children, it's good for the elderly. Make the effort, pile in the car, drive in the weather, scurry in the building, get a nice hot or cool drink, kick back and enjoy yourselves! You are becoming educated, counseled, more relaxed, and involved in the community. Have your children exposed often to music live! Talk about it afterward. Buy the CD for the house. Adults get out yourselves for some R&R monthly.........leave the kids at home with a sitter and get out for a good time of listening, dancing, learning! Get inspired :-) This won't become a priority unless you make it a priority.

We are cheating ourselves to think there is a better way to experience music than being part of that experience that unites and gathers people together. The summer concert, the farmers market corner, the local large venue, house concerts, local clubs and wineries, colleges and universities, pubs and taverns ---- you can find live music! Often the finest experiences are truly by artists you might likely never "heard" before doing all original music. These experiences are so over the top rewarding. New music so fresh it breathes in the room! You've just been hugged by the heart and soul of a true musician. It is real. It is their gift to you.

Perhaps musician's might come up with a way to let people know what they can do to help things along better. A way to allow us to help by letting us know your needs and how we can fulfill them. As you become a more united force through mutual support of your peers ~ perhaps the more united we can become in getting out to hear you, seeing you perform and seeing you to the peak of your careers. Each musician's uniqueness shines all that much brighter when we work together. Truly there is so much you do that goes unnoticed ~ The grueling work of a musician expressing the fullness of their vocation over a lifetime is nothing to be taken lightly.

You are probably one of the most powerful forces humanity has in dealing and coping with the very real harsh realities of life today. And as many of us know sometimes life seems incredibly long, incredibly hard. Our solace comes from you.

My how I love each of you. Never stop making music.

Susan Nieland

4/13/08

WE POST NASHVILLE STAR KEVIN MONTGOMERY "S UK TOUR SCHEDULE...he is touring with Tommy Alsup, a dear friend of our family who shared the stage many times with my beloved father!!

Speaking of the UK ...I will be touring in England and Scotland starting May 29th-June 20th. The tour will be "An Evening with Tommy Allsup and Kevin Montgomery" ... Tommy played with Buddy Holly, and is THE guy that flipped the coin with Ritchie Valens ... Ritchie won the toss, and got Tommy's seat on the ill-fated plane. He is a part of rock "n" roll history, and his stories are amazing.

Last year's tour was so much fun that we decided to do it again ... in case someone missed it. We've added two or three dates since the last writing, so here is the full updated schedule. Get your tickets now! We already have one sell out, and all the dates on this tour will end up that way.

Here are the dates:

Thursday, May 29th - Fishbourne, Chichester, England - The Barn Bullshead - 01243774641

Friday, May 30th - Brighton, England - Joogleberry's - 01273687171 or info@joogleberrys.com

Saturday, May 31st - Bedford, England-Harpur Suite Corn Exchange - 01234269519, or Mike at 0718493053, or http://www.wegottickets.com  

Sunday, June 1st - London (putney), England - Half Moon Putney - 02087809383 or Carol 07919027281 or carol@kevinmontgomery.com  

Tuesday, June 3rd-Leicester, England - The Musician - 01162510080

Wednesday, June 4th - St. Andrews, Fife, Scotland - The Inn Lathones - 01334840494 or http://www.mundellmusic.com

Thursday, June 5th - Edinburgh (Leith), Scotland - The Village-Rahel on 07866662497 or ra6@lycos.com

Friday, June 6th - Irvine, Scotland - Harbour Arts Centre - 01294274059 or keith@marwick.biz

Saturday, June 7th - Mitton, England - Aspinall Arms - 01254826223 or 07919027281 or simon@aspinallarms.co.uk

Sunday, June 8th - Mitton, England - SOLD OUT

Friday, June 20th - Pensford (Near Bristol), England-call Guilly for 07973683839 or tonyguilly@aol.com - Note: this is sort of my birthday party ... it takes place at a beautiful, ivy covered B&B in a lovely village ... with a marquee in the garden ... ampitheatre style sloping backyard ... perfect for a picnic ... this will be a special gig ... get tickets now!

Tommy and I played the Liverpool Philharmonic in March, and here is a little video i shot from backstage ... Tommy is quite the comedian .... http://vids.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=vids.individual&VideoID=31364212

If you notice the split in the tour ... we head to Crete for a week (June 10th-17th) for the 3rd annual Songs in the Sun-Crete with Tommy doing guitar workshops every day. I, along with Danny White will be doing songwriting workshops daily, and then we have two concerts at the end of the week. It all takes place in my favorite vacation spot ... reserve your spot!

http://www.kevinmontgomery.com/songsinthesun/

Well, i better go. I have a meeting with my therapist for trauma caused by the Queen's driving skills ... and i'm booking the 50 States in 50 Days tour, too!!! Let me know if you know anyone that wants to host a house concert in the US!!?? Just email me ... or, a house concert anywhere really!! Here is a little video i made last year about house concerts ...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gaMf86l5mbM

Oh, and don't forget to put in your details at http://www.kevinmontgomery.fanbridge.com It is very important that you put in your zip code at least ... so i can give you geographically relevant news! Thanks in advance.

Ok, now i really have to go ... take care, and hope to see you soon!

Sincerely,
Kevin Montgomery

http://www.myspace.com/kevinmontgomery2
http://www.kevinmontgomery.com
Skype Name: kevmontgomery

 
..

How do I record a bass guitar?
Using a direct box is the most common way to record a bass. Coming out of the direct box into the console's preamp or an outboard preamp will give you the ability to get the appropriate amount of gain. For a cleaner, more direct route, try going into, then out of an outboard preamp, directly into your tape machine input on the appropriate track.

Most engineers use a limiter/compressor on the bass. It gives the bass a fatter sound by controlling peaks so that all the notes coming out of the bass have roughly the same level. Many engineers prefer to use a tube limiter such as a UREI LA-2A to get the fattest and warmest sound possible. It's an expensive piece of gear, but it works great. Most engineers set the threshold and ratio knobs so that the bass signal is always getting "squashed" by 2 to 5 dbs. A typical "ratio" setting is 3:1, meaning that for every 3 db of peak signal over the threshold, the limiter will only output 1 db.

For a more punchy bass sound, set the threshold so that the signal is getting hammered, and when soloed, it sounds obviously squashed. When in the context of the entire track, the squashed sound will tend to be less obvious, while making the bass much more apparent.

Other limiters that are often used include the UREI 1176 (also not cheap), and the DBX 160 (fairly inexpensive). The 1176 is famous for its wide range of control on the attack and release, as well as its "classic" sound. The DBX 160 is a favorite of engineers looking to get a snappy, poppy bass sound often used on dance records.

The DBX 160 X (notice the X) is also a good inexpensive limiter for bass recording. It combines the range of controls of the 1176 with the fast attack and release times of the DBX 160.
EQing a bass for recording is usually pretty straight ahead. Add a little bit @ 100Hz to make the bottom fatter. Try 60Hz if you want to go even lower and fatter, although most car radios won't do a great job of reproducing 60Hz. If you're recording in a digital environment, it's always a plus to use a tube equalizer such as a Pultec to warm up the sound. The natural distortion caused by the tubes tends to add desirable harmonics to the bass signal.

To get more "bite" from your bass, try adding a couple of dbs @ 2.5Khz. When recording a bass, it's always good to be aware of the octave that the part is being played in. The octave may dictate where your most effective eq points are.
Some people prefer to record a mixed signal that comes from a direct signal as well as using the sound coming from a bass amplifier. A more advanced engineer might typically combine or mult the signals to just one track of tape. For a less experienced engineer, it might be a good idea to record the two signals to two distinct tracks, then combine them at a latter time.

 It's extremely important to remember that when recording the same signal from two sources that you are likely to encounter phase anomalies, meaning that the two signals will arrive at slightly different times. The result will often be comb filtering which will make some frequencies less audible the others. The bottom end is usually the first thing to disappear. This can be fixed by engaging the phase switch on the console, moving the mic closer to the bass amp's speaker, or using a very short delay on the direct signal so that it hits the console or tape machine at the same time as the later, amp/mic signal. This is a pretty tricky endeavor, and not recommended for novices.

When using a mic on a bass cabinet, it is usually desirable to try a condenser mic that is well-known for its bottom end, and to place it a foot or two back from the amp's grill. The reason; bass notes have long waveform, and require some air to fully manifest themselves. Rule of thumb, the closer your mic is to the amp, the more attack and edge you will hear. Farther away will give you more bottom end.

We're all plagued with some mental disorder, so we might as well have a sense of humor about it, right?! Well, at least I am, so feck it-

CHRISTMAS CAROLS FOR THE DISTURBED ...we're all a bit 'barmy'

* 1. Schizophrenia --- ''Do You Hear What I Hear?''

* 2. Multiple Personality Disorder --- ''We Three Kings Disoriented Are''

* 3. Dementia ---'' I Think I'll be Home for Christmas''

* 4. Narcissistic --- ''Hark the Herald Angels Sing About Me''

* 5. Manic --- ''Deck the Halls and Walls and House and Lawn and Streets and Stores and Office and Town and Cars and Buses and Trucks and Trees and..... ''

* 6. Paranoid --- ''Santa Claus is Coming to Town to Get Me''

* 7. Borderline Personality Disorder --- ''Thoughts of Roasting on an Open Fire''

* 8. Personality Disorder --- ''You Better Watch Out, I'm Gonna Cry, I'm Gonna Pout, Maybe I'll Tell You Why''

* 9. Attention Deficit Disorder --- ''Silent night, Holy oooh look at the Froggy - can I have a chocolate, why is France so far away? ''

* 10. Obsessive Compulsive Disorder -- -

Jingle Bells,! Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells, Jingle,Bells, Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells , Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells,  

Last week's entry on the decline of the music business really struck a nerve with this column's readership. The outpouring of responses was surprising, as was the overall sameness of the themes. Most blame the industry's predicament on large corporations—the ones that took over the record companies and the ones that control radio, taking the biggest hits. Let's examine each.

First, record companies used to DEVELOP ARTISTS, over time and throughout the calendar year. The mantra would be to spend and break the record over the first three quarters of a year and then cash in on the results in the heavily-trafficked fourth quarter. Also, a multi-album strategy was the norm, wherein an artist would achieve artistic success on a first album and commercial success in the second or third go-around. The takeover by big corporations created the need to achieve quarterly profits and then month to month profits to appease Wall Street. So the necessity to score and score quickly turned the culture on its head. There would be no more success stories like that of Bruce Springsteen, a critical darling who grew with each release and who didn't deliver profits until album three. These days, if an artist is not "on the boards" with the first release, there will rarely be a second and almost never a third turn at bat. So, the culture of A&R changed and evolved with the need to achieve immediate success and the talent scouts weren't looking as much for pure talent as they were and are for the big hit single and instant gratification.

Concurrently, the conglomeration at radio led to more of a national than a local radio strategy. Instead of being able to break and develop artists in markets or regions, the sameness of radio pushed the game further and further toward the national hit single that would instantly call out and deliver. The stations, like the record companies, were and are also being judged by short-term success, which resulted in programmers taking fewer chances and having to justify to corporate every song they added to playlists. Additionally, in an effort to chase national advertising buys, the stations all began to program to the older buyer and ward off teens. And, as we know, the older we get, the less new music becomes a priority in our lives. So, as time went on, new and innovative sounds practically disappeared from America's airwaves. And as radio moved away from the younger audience, this audience grew up without radio as their friend and adopted other means of satisfying their entertainment needs. Radio needed the quick and instant gratification hit singles as well as more familiarity of programming, so they increased the mixture of recurrents and pushed back the priority of breaking new music. Hence, more than any loyalty to hit artists and appreciation for talent, they converged with the new A&R culture around songs and one-hit wonders to fill in around the comfortable proven hits that created audience comfort with the familiar.

And then the future hit. The Internet soared and took time and focus away from the music. Videogames became the new generation's best friend. Social networking became all the rage. Television offered more choices, and TiVo let you watch what you wanted when you wanted. Whereas generations had previously been defined by their "record collections," people now had unlimited choices besides music and the radio, and they took them. One generation learned how to find and steal music online and then taught their younger siblings the ropes. And while all this was going on, the leaders of the record companies, who were so obsessed with their short-term bottom lines, were unable to deal with the macro issues of how to plan for the future. And the future is an easy thing to ignore, while the present presents the pressure to succeed NOW.

And so we are in an awful mess. The consumer eventually realized what was going on, that individual songs had become far more alluring than bodies of work, and iTunes confirmed that assumption and gave them the choice to cherry-pick songs instead of albums, causing the current near-apocalyptic outcome.

So where do we go from here? It's easy to criticize, and many of you have. Corporate greed—that's easy to criticize. Think on it, get back to us at UK Featured Artists "LIVE"!!

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Contact: Dino Maddalone..:namespace prefix = o ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office" /> Dino M4 Recording Studio    Email: invites@krissearle.com

2367 208th Street Suite 7 Torrance, CA (310) 365-0136

Kris Searle

Press Release

 

November 30^th, the highly anticipated debut album event by London recording artist Kris Searle has arrived! We cordially invite you to a private listening preview of this exciting and exhilarating new album with a power-popping night of promotion, marketing, and networking with other artists and industry contacts.

This event includes

v  Welcome and introduction of Kris Searle by host Dino Maddalone

v  Album listening review

v  Complimentary EP, gift and poster

v  Light refreshments

 

Kris Searle and Dino Maddalone celebrate with you the album launch via  Kris Searle's new independent record label,"Inspire U"!!

 

              Please RSVP via email to be included on the guest list and any additional attendees.

 

 

Kris and The 'Inspire U' RecordsTeam

www.krissearle.com

www.myspace.com/krissearlemusic