If you are sick of reading about marketing your band on myspace, or how to get people to buy your mp3’s, or come see your show, this post aims to help you regain a little focus on the big picture by taking the emphasis off all the made-for-musician free advice floating around the web and focus for a moment on where our current music opinion leaders get their music marketing inspiration. Often this inspiration comes from highly creative and innovative sources outside of the music industry. For this reason, I’ve chosen to write about the importance of wisdom. Every appearance of the word wisdom in this post has a unique link to a different place of wisdom. None of the wisdom destinations are music-centric. But all can be applied to your music business.

By James Pew

Turn on your wisdom magnet.

Always be looking for and open to wisdom.

Consider two types of wisdom

1. The simple that we often pay little attention to even when following it.
2. The impressive and profound, provoking thought, and inspiring creativity.

Recognize the difference but realize that wisdom is wisdom regardless of which type. Don’t underestimate the simple it is often the most profound.

You never know when wisdom will present itself.

If your wisdom magnetic is perpetually charged, you can pick up empowering wisdom when you least expect it. But if you’re not constantly open to receiving wisdom, it can consistently pass you by.

Places you may consider Likely to find wisdom.

Classrooms, books, seminars, blogs, forums, mentors, etc. are traditional places we default to when in need of wise advice. As an indie artist you are not only an artist, you may also be an entrepreneur, a marketer, an event promoter, a road manager, a booking agent, a web designer, among two dozen or so other things. So attending classes, reading books, blogs, and forums about music entrepreneurship, music marketing, music management, music event promotions, music web design, etc. is probably the best place to start.

But remember, all the other indie artists are sponging the same music-centric advice that you are. So try looking beyond those music focused resources for a while and take in some of the method found in places specializing in, for example, general marketing.

A big part of being successful in the music business is being interesting and unique.

By broadening the scope of information resources you use, and studying successful techniques of non-music industry sources, you may find inspiring ideas not yet considered, or fully implemented, in the music business. As long as you can make the connection, and relate what you discover, about branding for example, to your music business.

Places you may consider – unlikely to find wisdom.

Listening to songs, watching movies, talking with friends or family etc., are some of the places you may find great ideas and wisdom if you’re receptive to it. Take for example Tradition is the illusion of permanence or, Our lives consist of how we choose to distort it – two quotes from Woody Allen’s film Deconstructing Harry – apply these to yourself and your approach to the changing music industry, and you’ve got some solid ideas to base and form strategies. And that’s from a movie I saw last week!

The point is wisdom is everywhere, and the wisest choice is to let it find you.

Cliche’s

Cliche’s are well… cliche. Take for example, A failure to plan is a plan to fail, or the one about the dangers of assumption and how an ass is made of the people involved.

Cliche’s become cliche because people repeat them. People repeat them because they make sense in broad and diverse ways. And most importantly they are wise.

Take a closer look at a few cliche’s now and then the two above are universally accepted and often universally ignored. Why is that?

Complexity Theory

To mathematicians and scientists complexity theory has something to do with chaos, and how all things affect all other things in a world connected throughout the spectrum of natural and unnatural systems. This is the butterfly effect talked about in Jurassic Park.

This is romantic sci-fi stuff. Its cool and interesting. It blows our minds. So much so that it has led me to believe that we no longer appreciate simple theories, ideas, or wisdom.

My own complexity theory is that lust for the clever and complex impairs one’s ability to fully see or appreciate the simple. Consider the billion dollar diet industry and Michael Pollan, author of The Omnivore’s Dilemma. In Pollan’s book, In Defense of Food, you can find under the title some profound yet simple wisdom it reads:

Eat food, not too much, mostly plants

Instead of taking this advice to heart, North Americans are more likely to continue spending the billions on diet pills, books, scams, and plans.

Occam’s Razor

Occam’s razor is another scientific theory often paraphrased like so – “All other things being equal, the simplest solution is the best.”

Not quite as impressive as the butterfly effect of chaos-theory, doesn’t make a very good movie premise either. The unromantic wisdom rooted in the world of everyday life can be the most useful, most profound, and sadly the most overlooked.

Here are my top 5 favorite pieces of wisdom.

1. The harder I work the luckier I seem to get. Thomas Jefferson

Repeat this to every person that thinks luck is the only way to succeed in the music business.

2. Unlearn what you have learned. Yoda

This does not mean forget what you have learned. It means place it aside so it does not interfere with the learning of new things. But always keep it in within your reach.

3. Learn the art of rushing. Freddy Gabrsek

When we are first learning something it is recommended we go slowly and pay close attention to the details and subtleties of what we are doing. To follow that wisdom inevitably leads to mastering the task. This is when the art of rushing can be applied. Now that you’ve mastered the correct procedure your next challenge is to perform it quickly with the same level of accuracy and quality expected from a master. After all, you are an indie wearing many hats and fulfilling many tasks you haven’t a moment to lose. So rush dam it but do it artfully.

4. Do what you love and money will follow. – Marsha Sinetar.

Do not endlessly chase money; raise it if you need seed money but get on with doing your thing and focus on doing it well.

5. Do the Never Seth Godin

Find out what’s the always. Do the Never.

Looking for Wisdom beyond Music Resources by James Pew is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 3.0 Unported License.

Technorati Tags: Cliches, Complexity Theory, Freddy Gabrsek, James Pew, Michael Pollan, Music Business, Occam's Razor, Seth Godin, Wisdom, Woody Allen

You know how a particular smell or perfume, or a song, can bring back a powerful memory of a person, place, or time in your life? Certain stimuli can trigger strong emotional states. For me, if I smell Calvin Klein’s ‘Eternity’, I’m back in grade 9, going out on my first date, and I’m madly in love. It’s as if I’ve time traveled on an emotional level, re-living all those strong feelings from those turbulent times.

In this phenomena lies a key to enhanced creativity and unleashing inspiration.

As artists, we know both sides of the coin – those times when you are stuck, you are in a rut, you need and try to come up with ideas but you are banging your head against a wall. Everything seems hard, and nothing comes freely. Then there are those high-flying times, when you are ‘in the zone’ – ideas come fast, and there seem to be no barriers between you and inspiration. Even the challenges that arise are fun to deal with, and the solutions are exciting and inspiring.

I don’t think there’s any reason not to be able to spend every moment in the zone when you want to. Especially when you HAVE to be – if you are up against a deadline, or you are in the studio and valuable time is going by, and morale is slipping. You should be able to make every creative moment a pleasure and a joy, and ensure that great results can come out of any and every session. Maybe, we can even challenge Edison, and make the part of success that is inspiration more than a measly 10%!

What is Creative Flow?

By looking at the following characteristics suggested by psychologist Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi , you’ll see why this is advantageous to you as an artist/creative person (from Mark McGuinness‘ blog, Wishful Thinking):

• “There is immediate feedback to your actions. Not only do you know what you are trying to achieve, you are also clear about how well you are doing it. This makes it easier to adjust for optimum performance. It also means that by definition flow only occurs when you are performing well.

• There is a balance between challenges and skills. If the challenge is too difficult we get frustrated; if it is too easy, we get bored. Flow occurs when we reach an optimum balance between our abilities and the task in hand, keeping us alert, focused and effective.

• Action and awareness are merged. We have all had experiences of being in one place physically, but with our minds elsewhere – often out of boredom or frustration. In flow, we are completely focused on what we are doing in the moment.

• Distractions are excluded from consciousness. When we are not distracted by worries or conflicting priorities, we are free to become fully absorbed in the task.

• There is no worry of failure. A single-minded focus of attention means that we are not simultaneously judging our performance or worrying about things going wrong.

• Self-consciousness disappears. When we are fully absorbed in the activity itself, we are not concerned with our self-image, or how we look to others. While flow lasts, we can even identify with something outside or larger than our sense of self – such as the painting or writing we are engaged in, or the team we are playing in.

• The sense of time becomes distorted. Several hours can ‘fly by’ in what feels like a few minutes, or a few moments can seem to last for ages. The activity becomes ‘autotelic’ – meaning it is an end in itself.

Whenever most of the elements of flow are occurring, the activity becomes enjoyable and rewarding for its own sake. This is why so many artists and creators report that their greatest satisfaction comes through their work. As Noel Coward put it, “Work is more fun than fun”.”

So how do you do it? By using Ancient Ritual Magic!

Ok, first of all, you’re going to need to put down that knife and let that poor goat go. That’s totally not what I meant.

What you want to have is a ritual or a set of repeated behaviors, that you will go through before your creative endeavors. This way, you’ll have something which locks you into a creative zone, and as you use it, the more powerful it’ll become. You are basically performing self-hypnosis, to enter what psychologists call a High Performance State.

Here’s what you need in order to have a ritual that’ll be a powerful trigger for this state (from Mark McGuinness’ post at Lateral Action )

• “Emotional intensity – the stronger the original emotional state associated with the trigger, the stronger the emotional response whenever the same trigger is encountered in future.

• Distinctiveness – the more unusual the trigger, the less diluted the emotion will be with other associations.

• Repetition – the more often the intense emotion is experienced in combination with the distinctive trigger, the more powerful the trigger becomes.”

There has to be something unique and distinct about what you do – it can’t be something you do all the time, like drinking a beverage. It has to have strong emotional intensity. You might drink a cup of a special tea blend reserved only for this moment, from a special mug you got on that trip to The Hit Factory, and you do that every time before you engage in creative work. Eventually it becomes a powerful symbol that will lock your brain into that creative zone – and it’ll happen quicker and quicker over time if you consistently ‘work that magic’.

What are some examples of rituals?

Rituals don’t have to be elaborate or particularly esoteric – they just have to have an emotional tie, they have to be particular and unique to that moment, and they have to be consistently repeated. One of the most common is the pre-show ritual many bands have – they huddle, clasp hands, say a chant together – it prepares them to hit the stage ‘psyched up’.

According to The Telegraph, English rugby players Jason Robinson and Mark Cueto have some interesting habits: Robinson “Has a strict routine for his strapping, choosing certain times before a match for each bit.. [and].. likes to head out of the tunnel first”, while Cueto “Eats the same meal of beans on toast, puts his left boot on first and ensures he is last off the coach and last out the changing room.”

For more examples of interesting/unusual creative rituals employed by some well-known creatives, check out this fascinating blog: http://dailyroutines.typepad.com/daily_routines/

Do you have any cool rituals that you employ to get into the Zone?

Photo by entrelec

Voodoo Your Creative Flow: Using Rituals To Maximize Your Creativity by Adrian Ellis is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 3.0 Unported License.

Technorati Tags: Adrian Ellis, creative rituals, creativity, Mark McGuinness, Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi

by Duke

We thought it timely to compile a Top Ten list of Loudness-War-related stories and videos.

And here it is:

1. Dinosuar Jr’s Album Recalled For Being Too Loud by Ryan Dombal

2. How Spotify Might Defuse the Loudness War from Production Advice

3. Welcome to the Land of Loud? by James Pew

4. Declaring an End to the Loudness Wars by Barry Diament

5. Why Mastering Sucks in the 21st Century by Ian Shepherd

6. Remastered Dire Straights from wado1942

7. The Loudness War Analyzed by Paul Lamere

8. If Smells Like Teen Spirit Were Released Today…

…and the sequel by goodrob13…

Comments? Suggestions? In the time-honored words of Dolph Lundgren, “I’m all ears.”

Technorati Tags: daley, diament, lamere, Loudness Wars, pew, shepherd

By James Pew

Last week at Euphonic Sound we filmed a quick video on some important do’s and dont’s when it comes to the hand held microphone techniques of live performers. Big thanks to Mindbender Supreme for the awesome demonstrations!

Technorati Tags: euphonic sound, James Pew, microphone, Mindbender

By James Pew

I didn’t contribute much to Studio Manifesto last summer because I was tied up Producing the new Andrea Gauster record “We’re Not Lost.” Some day I’ll write a post about it, but for now all I can say is what an awesome record, artist and summer. Andrea Gauster is a one of a kind folk singer/songwriter. Check out the short documentary below (produced by companero Sean Sirianni) on the making of “We’re Not Lost.” Or go to andreagauster.com to hear We’re Not Lost.

This was also the summer of the Euphonic Sound Presents charity initiative United in Flow. We auditioned over 60 local MCs, narrowed it down to the top 29, and are now producing a mixtape, and throwing a UIF live event this coming Oct. 21st. I am the producer of this collaborative mixtape that brings together diverse areas of the hip hop world. United in Flow, being a celebration of the hip hop arts – features not just MCs, but dancers, beatboxers, slam poets, musicians, beat makers and producers. Just last week I cut a track with the legendary Mindbender Supreme, look out for the first single release from United in Flow Vol. 1, by Mindbender Supreme called “When you get connected.” United in Flow beats produced by the infamous Duke Buzzy.

Below are a few videos (produced by companero Emma McKee) related to United in Flow,

Check out UnitedInFlow.com for a ton more of in-the-making documentaries as well as MC, beatbox and dance video auditions all filmed on site at Euphonic Sound.

And lastly check out the first “What Makes Us United?” video from our 4 part series leading up to the Oct. 21, 2010 United in Flow live event…also produced by Emma!

I have decided that I am going to start making regular contributions to Studio Manifesto beginning this fall. Pretty much starting with my last post “Generosity Among Professionals.” This time around I plan to write about my own experiences in the indie music trenches. Specifically my work at Euphonic Sound, which mostly revolves around Studio 2.0 (a unique indie artist development program offered at Euphonic Sound), and the various community building initiatives led by the Euphonic Sound Community.

The promise

I will try to keep my commentary focused on providing insightful useful new music business/culture observations. I will share what works for me, my team and the artists we develop. I will do my best to offer up my opinions for why and why not. After all Studio Manifesto is a resource of modern innovative, new music business/culture thinking. Please share your thoughts and experiences by leaving a comment.

Technorati Tags: Andrea Gauster, euphonic sound, Folk, James Pew, United in Flow

By James Pew

I’ll never forget one of the tensest moments of my career. It was about 3 1/2 years ago. I was sound engineering, and hosting the sessions at my then new studio Euphonic Sound, for Producer Freddy Gabrsek on a debut record for acclaimed Canadian  performer Jeff Madden. This is of course the same Freddy Gabrsek who has mentored me through to this day on my entire career as a music producer. Freddy is a brilliant technical engineer, he is far to vast to describe here, so go here to get the Freddy Factor.

Jeff played Frankie Vallie in the Dancap Productions critically acclaimed smash hit musical Jersey Boys that recently wrapped at Toronto’s Centre for the Performing Arts. Jeff received the DORA award in 2009 for his live performance portrayal of Frankie Vallie. Before that Jeff was a leading singer/actor at the Shaw Festival for many years. Jeff has always done nothing short of excellent work. He sings. He dances. He acts. He’s got it all!

The record Freddy was producing for Jeff is called “Taking the Wheel.” Jeff makes no attempts to sound like a pop artist. He stays true to himself. He is a theater performer. Not only does he know it…he celebrates it with “Taking the Wheel.”

The production of “Taking the Wheel” was fairly complex. And this was at a time when the studio had only been operating for less than a year and was largely untested for the types of sessions that Freddy & Jeff were bringing to Euphonic Sound. I was very tense about working with Freddy and Jeff – two guys I greatly admire and respect – and was very anxious that the sessions run smoothly without technical failures or interruptions. Everything did run smoothly and the entire experience of working with them was instructive and awesome. Everyone was happy with the project.

But there was a moment when, with a studio full of anxious musicians, musical directors, conductors and others involved in the process , where I made an error that caused an interruption of what was sounding like a great take by all the string players and supporting musicians. It was a critical and  challenging passage of music (A post modern string arrangement being conducted and performed in the Euphonic Sound live room) – in the end we did end up capturing something amazing, but thanks to my error it took a little longer than it should have.

Here is what happened:

Freddy was standing behind me to my left…Jeff to my right. I was sitting down at the controls operating the session. My job was to do exactly what Jeff or Freddy directed me to as quickly as possible. The need for speed in these situations is because the artist is paying an hourly rate to about 14 different people. The hourly rate of one string player is greater than the hourly rate that Euphonic Sound charges. In other words these sessions were costing Jeff a lot.

Freddy and Jeff communicated to all of the musicians through our control room talk back system. We worked fast and we worked efficiently. Everyone on site was pro. Practically all of the musicians, arrangers and musical directors were also lending their talents to the Shaw Festival at the time, so the studio was packed with talent.

Freddy gave the direction “roll tape,” which I did. The conductor and musicians where given their que to begin and the music started. My eyes were glued to the input meters of the entire single chain looking for any sign of an input overload that would cause the track to distort. My ears, Freddy’s and Jeff’s were totally focused on the sound. Our three heads all crouched down sharing the middle sections between the two speakers we were tracking through. The piece was intricate and challenging and the goal was to get it in one live take…as opposed to punching in or editing multiple takes.  So about half way through the first take I experienced something that never happened before or since…my hand spontaneously twitched a little bit! And since it was positioned about 2 inches from the keyboard of the audio system, my thumb lightly tapped the space bar causing the audio to stop. The quick key for “Stop” at Euphonic Sound (and most studios for that matter) is the space bar!  The musicians had to stop and start again.

When it happen we got a sharp look back from the conductor and all his musicians through the glass panels that separates the control room and live room. He snapped at us “WHAT HAPPENED!” Feeling like a a complete idiot, I quickly told Freddy and Jeff that my hand just jerked forward unexpectedly!

Freddy just smiled at Jeff. Jeff turned on the talk back mic and said something like “oh nothing just a technical glitch.” He put his hand on my shoulder and told me not to worry about it. They down played it and brushed it off. No one outside of Freddy, Jeff and myself knew that the error was not a technical glitch, but a James glitch. I will always remember their response as one that was very generous, considering how high the stakes were – and how annoying this particular James glitch was at a time of such urgency.

The point of this post is, by all means hold the people you work with to high standards but be generous when they err…they’ll remember you for it.

Technorati Tags: Dora Award, euphonic sound, Freddy Gabrsek, James Pew, Jeff Madden, Jersey Boys, Shaw Festival, Taking the Wheel

Companero Jack here with another interview that I didn’t do. Emma and Shawn sat down with Roguesix, a Toronto pop/rock band. The audio interview is, as always posted below.

Quick note: Be sure to subscribe to the podcast in iTunes. Just search “Studio Manifesto” and you’re good.

So you guys have recorded? What do you have out there?
Joe: Well, right now we just have a 4 song demo EP that we recorded last year at Wellesley Sound Studio that we give out for free at shows It’s kind of hard to sell, and I think it’s better just to get the promotion out there and get people listening to our music. I’ve done a little survey myself and I’ve noticed that if I say, “Hey do you want to check out this CD?” people would say “Ah, I dunno…” But once I say, “I’m giving it away for free,” they love it. We took those 4 songs and a friend of ours had approached us last year about recording a song, because he went to the Metalworks Studio for Recording and Producing, and his T.A. happened to hear the song we were recording and he loved it, and he asked for our demo and goes, “Anytime you guys need to record again, come to me.” So we went to him and we did our 8 song album that we should have done. We started recording it in January, and then we went back and decided that we wanted to put 8 songs together, with the first 4 that we did previously, so we’re remixing those and then we’re repackaging everything.

What do you guys sound like? How would you define your sound?
Ashley: We’ve been compared a lot to Paramore, and in our writing, our new writing especially, we’re trying to get away from that. Not that it’s a bad thing, but we just want to come up with something more original.
Joe: Exactly. I think it’s hard to have a female-fronted band and not be compared to either Paramore or Metric, and it’s kind of hard to capture your own sound. The first 4 songs, we were just kind of being genre-specific, like “This is what we are.” But the stuff that we’re writing now is kind of more like you’ll hear our songwriting and our actual influences.

Upcoming
“Victory, Sweet Victory” Album Release Party
August 13, 2010 @ The Poor Alex Theatre
772 Dundas Street Weas

The album will be available on iTunes on August 10.

For more info about Roguesix, and to check out some of their music, check out their Facebook and MySpace pages.

Technorati Tags: Euphonic, indie, interview, Manifesto, pop, recording, Rock, rogue, roguesix, six, Sound, Studio

It’s that time of the week again – Guitar Wars at GP Kartways in Toronto. For those of you unfamiliar with Guitar Wars, it’s a battle of the bands style competition, where the winner will walk away with a three Song Studio 2.0 package at Euphonic Sound Recording Studio. All of the runners up will receive some time at Euphonic Sound as well.

Here’s how the artists of the evening fared:

James’ Thoughts:

- The first act of the evening saw the Sausage Boys take the stage with a powerful rock / metal vibe

The Prarrie Belt Sausage Boys sounded about as unique as their name. For a young band that has been playing together for just over a year, these guys sounded surprisingly tight. Their humor, quirkiness and originality shone through their set. The music was technical and well arranged and they pulled it off in a very relaxed and fluid manner. Clear indication that this band has spent many productive hours in rehearsal. I was pleasantly surprised by these guys and am very interested in seeing where they go from here. As far as the music goes, keep doing what you are doing boys. Where you guys need improvement is in developing and understanding of the business/promotional aspects of this industry. This of course has nothing to do with how we judge bands for the Guitar Wars competition, but after the show I spoke with the band and really got the impression that beyond writing and playing music, these guys are a little green regarding what to do next. Something like Studio 2.0 could really help these.

Unlimited was the winner of the evening. These guys described themselves as an extreme metal band. They were heavy, and they were definitely extreme, but they were less one dimensional than last weeks “Our Lady of Bloodshed.” There was something in the music of Unlimited that made them much more accessible to the uninitiated – more melodies & varied grooves. Unlimited were very tight, great energetic stage presence. My only criticism musically would be to tighten up the arrangement of some of the music – some songs seemed a little long. Remember the cardinal rule of show business – Leave the Audience Wanting More…

Courage My Love

Courage My Love was my favorite band of the night. This band is a three piece – guitar/lead vox, bass, and drums. These guys were heavy but extremely melodic with tightly arranged songs and catchy hooks. One amazingly beautiful song by Courage My Love featured a guest performer playing electric cello and singing harmonies – this was a big high point of their performance. All songs by Courage My Love had great vocal delivery from lead singer and great harmony work by the other members. These guys rock…I am a BIG fan! Exactly the type of band I would love to work with (Hint…).

Shawn’s Thoughts:

The first act of the evening saw the Prarie Belt Sausage Boys take the stage with a powerful rock / metal vibe. A few pointers for these young musicians:

- Move around more on stage, you were really fun to watch but there is room to be more interesting on stage.
- Audience participation was great!
- Thanks for the free EP. More artists need to embrace the concept of “Free as a price point” and you guys did it.
- Open your sets with your later material as it was a little better than your opening material. First impressions!

The next band was “Unlimited”. These guys had a very Children Of Bodom feel with more melodic elements. The harmonies and musicianship were fantastic. While they gathered the crowd to the stage, one thing they needed was more audience participation and more announcements regarding upcoming events and band happenings.

- Shorten the intro; the music was interesting but a tad too long.
- Interact more with your fans. Make more announcements regarding all of your current happenings (other shows, contests, promotions) Euphonic Sound’s Studio 2.0 assists artists with all aspects of brand management, promotion strategy and fan interaction.
- The guitars were hard to be heard during most of the set due to the keyboard. Focus more on the heavy driving guitar sound than the keyboard.

The final band of the competition was Courage My Love. These young artists have a great thing going for them, with a power punk vibe reminiscent of Not By Choice and Green Day. The female drummer and female guitarist add a great dynamic to the feel of the band.

Courage My Love Fan rocking out!

- Great vocal harmonies.
- Pause in between songs; it’s great to powerhouse through a set and keep the energy going, but make sure to interact with fans.
- Your style is great for the type of music you play, but take it to another level and create more intricate parts. Another member (Guitar or Keyboard) would possibly help.

Check out the Downloads page for all of the hi-res photos from every Guitar Wars event!

Fantastic playing from all of the bands this week!

This was only round two! Here are the other dates for the Guitar Wars qualifying rounds:

Fri, April 16
Sat, April 17
Fri, April 23
Sat, April 24
Fri, May 14
Fri, May 28
Fri, June 04
Sat, June 05

Come on out and see some awesome indie bands battling it out…and don’t forget to say hi. The Euphonic Sound crew will be judging every show! …and posting reviews here on Studio Manifesto.

Technorati Tags: 2010, 85 East, Events, Guitar Wars, Our Lady Of Bloodshed, Shaun Sutter, Toke 2

The Euphonic Sound crew headed out to the Grand Prix Kartways, in Downsview park in Toronto this past Saturday to judge the first night of Guitar Wars.

The bands competing were Shaun Sutter, Toke 2, 85 East and Our Lady of Bloodshed.
We want to help these independent artists grow and expand, so we’ve decided to give some criticism which we hope the artists will take with them throughout their careers.

Shaun Sutter

James

Shaun Sutter was first up. He had a sound that was easy to like. Melodic pop leaning toward the adult contemporary side of things. Shaun’s strong point is definitely his voice. Through out his set every song suited his voice perfectly, and his vocal execution was great. The biggest weakness of the set was the drummer that sat in. I think this was the first time this drummer played with Shaun – I don’t think they rehearsed previous to this show either. I think its a big mistake to have an unrehearsed musician sit in with you during a music competition – for this, and even though Shaun himself was quiet good, the act lost marks for musicianship (the drummer was all over the place clearly not knowing the form of the songs Shaun performed). Next time just play solo Shaun!

Toke 2 was a really cool band. These guys don’t sound like the typical bar band at all. I think they have a long way to go in developing their sound – but they are headed in the right direction. Notable mention to this bands guitarist – he had it all, great tone, great playing, and a unique unpredictable approach to each song. The weakness of the set to me was lead vocals. The singer actually is really good! The kind of singer I like – a little crazy, unpredictable, and creative in his vocal styling. However, there were a few missed notes and voice cracks that I think is a result of over singing. In any case this singer needs to learn better control of his voice – the best piece of advice would be for him to relax – No singer can pull off this type of ambitious vocalizing while straining the vocal chords. Learn how to hit those high notes without pushing – relax man!

85 East was my favorite act of the night simply because they form a complete picture of who they are. They have their sound, and their act, entirely together. These guys are a hard hitting heavy band with a rapper as front man. A little bit of Rage Against the Machine Influence but leaning more to the heavy side as opposed to the funky side. The confidence in delivery and the well rehearsed execution made these guys really stand out. I predict big things for this band!

Our Lady of Bloodshed was easily the most unpopular band of the evening. When they hit the stage with their abrasive death metal they virtually cleared the room. I am a fan of this genre and I thought these guys were great! The guitarists played quite a few awesome technical death metal riffs. The singer has it together as well – his death metal screams, vocal stylings and stage presence are bang on for the genre..maybe a little too bang on (he could use a little more originality to sound less like all of the other great death metal vocalists out there). But the biggest problem with this band is simply the fact that they do not fit at Guitar Wars…not the right gig for these guys. Stick to the metal shows and festivals and you guys will do great! Avoid shows where the audience members are not die hard metal heads.

Shawn either punching a racer or driving a car.

Shawn

Shaun Sutter is great with an acoustic guitar, and had interesting harmonies throughout each song (which was impressive since he was the only one singing). I was impressed at his timing and pitch.

• Stick to a solo act, as James mentioned.
• Move around a little more on stage.
• Play as many open mics as you can – you seem perfect for that kind of environment as opposed to a band competition.

Toke 2 gave a great performance and the light show absolutely complemented the feel of their music. They had a Pink Floyd meets Avenged Sevenfold’s “City of Evil” album. Melodic, intricate… very cool.

• Don’t open your set with the songs you used at Guitar Wars. They give off a false first impression. Open with one of your more epic songs to show who you really are.
• Minor pitch problems with the vocalist, but nothing some training can’t improve.
• More trippy guitar textures!

Toke 2 hitting the stage at Guitar Wars 2010

85 East has an amazing post-hardcore hiphop vibe that should be heard by fans of metal and hip hop alike. Keep an eye out for these guys in the very near future.

• Great mash-up of genres.
• Fantastic stage presence.
• Bass was very quiet at the show – more bass guitar next show.

Our Lady Of Bloodshed had amazing technical ability with their instruments, along with a cool style of hardcore metal. The one thing that would make your songs more interesting is more blast-beats. Songs were structured nicely.

• Awesome stage presence – not many fans there, but they rocked out the hardest.
• Great instrumentation from all members of the band.
• I agree with James – stick to the shows that suit your genre and you’ll grow exponentially.

This was only round one! Here are the other dates for the Guitar Wars qualifying rounds:
Sat, April 10
Fri, April 16
Fri, April 23
Sat, April 24
Fri, May 14
Fri, May 28
Fri, June 04
Sat, June 05

Come on out and see some awesome indie bands batteling it out…and don’t forget to say hi. The Euphonic Sound crew will be judging every show! …and posting reviews here on Studio Manifesto.

Technorati Tags: 2010, 85 East, Events, Guitar Wars, Our Lady Of Bloodshed, Shaun Sutter, Toke 2

by Duke

Before getting into a history of rap or Hip-Hop, I wanna distinguish between the two. As KRS-One put it at last year’s Rock the Bells, “Rap is what we do; Hip-Hop is what we live.” For those who don’t know: Rap is a collection of vocal styles; Hip-Hop is a culture.

It’s also worth pointing out that I know this history is incomplete. A real history of rap alone would take a big-ass book.

Nuff said.

Roots of Rap

Rap is said to have begun in New York – more specifically the South Bronx. I’ve heard stories from as far back as the 1930’s about guys in the Navy who rapped on their down-time. It began as a way for young people to pass the time by rhyming off each other. Eventually this became a kind of competitive sport. Rappers teamed up with DJs to get house parties amped up. The music that was popular at the time was called “Disco,” and the thing that would later be called “Hip-Hop Music” was rooted in running the fuck away from that. Funk and Jazz were the rule.

This new music gained traction and popularity over the course of the 1970s. Eventually, record labels began to show interest in mass-marketing rap. The rappers of the time thought that was crazy. To paraphrase one of them, “You can’t sell this shit. It’s just for parties. You’re crazy to try and put it on a record.” Whoever that guy was, there’s a reason we don’t remember him.

Sugar Hill Gang

The first rap group to break the pop charts with “Rapper’s Delight.” It was a funk-based loop with party lyrics that were written on the way to the studio. These guys apparently barely knew each other, but they came up with a 14-minute party anthem that not only gets sampled more than Mario Batali’s cooking, but still gets massive rotation at weddings all over the world.

They also had another minor hit (later sampled on Ice Cube’s “Check Yo Self”).

The 1980s

Hip Hop Culture’s rise continued. New York’s Rap scene exploded with the likes of Biz Markie, Slick Rick, KRS-One, Public Enemy and others.

Over on the West Coast, Los Angeles acts like Ice-T & NWA were garnering attention with their own distinctive sounds and not a small amount of controversy concerning lyrical content. In 1991 NWA would become the first band in history to receive a warning from the FBI to back off & shut the fuck up; the song in question was called “Fuck tha Police,” and called for the indiscriminate slaughter of LAPD officers. In fairness to the authors, the LAPD is the most hated police force in the free world for some good reasons (refer to Rodney King, the 1992 LA race riots, and police brutality in general).

On the other side of the social spectrum, a certain DJ/MC duo from Philadelphia were making their own waves. DJ Jazzy Jeff and the Fresh Prince achieved the coveted “crossover” status in 1986 by lacing funk-inspired beats with some of the dumbest, most hilarious rap lyrics ever written (and some wicked transformer scratches). People who had never heard of rap (or who had heard of it & written it off as a bad fad) suddenly started buying rap records. Jazzy & Prince became a kind of gateway drug for people who couldn’t take the hard stuff. It’s been railed against by haters of all stripes, but it’s still around…

During this decade of Reagan and Bush Sr, Hip-Hop solidified as a cultural presence with not only its own music, but attitude, politics, dance, art & mode of dress. Graffiti and breakdancing came into their own, fashion lurched awkwardly into styles inspired by clothing that was simply more practical for street hustlers.

This was all happening at the same time as the Hardcore explosion of machine-gun punk songs in Washington DC – a development that would soon have a palpable effect on the sound of Hip-Hop music.

More and more, the mainstream audience came to recognize the validity of the movement, and even to contribute to it. By this time the music (and with it the culture) had crept beyond the USA into Canada, Mexico and the UK. Public Enemy, Ice-T and others were selling out stadium shows worldwide, and it looked like the only way things could go was up.

The 90s

In the early 90s, Hip-Hop was in the throes of an identity crisis. Public Enemy’s Flavor Flav was in drug rehab, NWA was wracked by conflicting egos in the band, Ice-T was trying out his acting chops, and Vanilla Ice was topping charts the world over. Shit was ugly.

Enter NWA alumnus, Dr Dre. With 1992’s “The Chronic,” Dre took a shoestring budget, a couple of outdated keyboards, a Roland TR-808 and a bunch of guys from LA and dropped a Hydrogen Bomb on the music industry. “The Chronic” not only made him and Death Row Records rich beyond the dreams of avarice, but introduced the vocal lineup that would be ubiquitous throughout the decade – Snoop Dogg, Nate Dogg and Warren G, among others. The label would later sign Tupac Shakur (fresh outta jail, no less) & take Gangsta Rap to the mainstream.

This was the smooth, polished West Coast gangsta shit that took over for a long moment.

At the same time, an affiliation of rappers & producers with ethnic backgrounds ranging from Cuba to Latvia were breaking new ground by bringing together the West Coast flavor and the jagged, noisy ruckus dominating the East Coast. These were the “Soul Assassins,” led by Cypress Hill. The unsettling psychedelic beats, the bare-faced pragmatism of the lyrics and the bizarre vocal deliveries made them a mainstay of the culture, as they still are now. Let’s not forget the impact they also had on the Marijuana Legalization Movement either…

By now, Hip-Hop was being embraced by adherents to another culture – the Metalheads. First Anthrax arrived in the 80s with a Beastie Boys parody entitled “I’m the Man.” Soon afterwards an LA quartet would merge the sounds of England’s Black Sabbath and Washington DC’s Black Flag with rap lyrics inspired by socially conscious New York rappers like Chuck D and KRS-One. Rage Against the Machine took political rap to the next level. These guys had an agenda – revolution and true democracy. Zack de la Rocha’s lyrics uncover injustice in any form or geographic location – from the Pine Ridge Reservation in the USA to Saigon.

The two musical genres continued to blur the lines between them over the next few years. Anthrax revisited Public Enemy’s “Bring the Noize” as a vocal duet featuring Scott Ian and Chuck D.

The “Judgment Night” movie soundtrack brought rock bands together with rappers in some really unexpected ways – Booyah Tribe rhyming with Faith No More, Ice-T screaming with thrash band Slayer, and even Del the Funky Homosapien rapping over Dinosaur Jr. It was a landmark & a killer record. Years later, Cypress Hill would revisit the concept by joining with Sen Dog’s band SX-10 for a few songs on the “Skull & Bones” and “Stoned Raiders” albums.

We won’t talk about that other rap-metal band… You know which one. Here’s some Onyx & Biohazard instead.

Meantime on the East Coast, upstart producer Sean “Puffy” Combs was building the foundation of his own empire, Bad Boy Records. Everybody knows Biggie was the best thing that ever happened to him. Sadly, the worst thing that happened was Suge Knight’s psychopathic thuggery, which would rob both labels (and the world) of the two best emcees in the game at that time. The two had been friends until Suge’s tutelage brought out the worst in Tupac, leading to the most notorious beef (and double homicide) the game has seen to date.

Regional Differences

Not just the East-vs-West beef, which is ancient history (despite the lack of inquiry into who actually planned & committed the murders)… Stylistic differences can be traced by geography for the most part, although the evolution of these styles is much faster now. The world is getting smaller & collaboration over great distances is getting easier, but there are still differences in style from place to place.

The West-coast sound was defined by big beats with lots of bass tones & weed references and polish (a style that was bitten off & chewed to shit by the aptly named “Dirty South”). Lyrically the West has tended towards gangsta rap from various perspectives – from the Boss Player’s omniscience to the vigilance of the homeless street hustler. Politics has a place here, but it’s second place; even the political raps from Tupac leaned more towards social commentary than political discourse.

West Coast rap plays on a cool counterpoint. The music tends to conjure up images of slow & easy days in the desert sun, while the lyrics paint a portrait of a gilded warzone – diamond-studded generals and foot-soldiers with more money than Davie Crockett.

East coast rap & the music behind was generally unpolished, abrasive, socially conscious and politically motivated. Acts like Public Enemy, BDP/KRS-One, Onyx and Wu-Tang Clan defined the East-Coast sound with samples of music from the Civil Rights Movement & the Jazz Era (a.k.a. the “Harlem Renaissance”), combined with grimy vocals and gritty drum loops.

The “Dirty South” really launched with OutKast, Goodie Mob, Nappy Roots, Missy Elliott and the Neptunes, although the South’s first act to go 3X platinum was none other than 2-Live Crew (a Miami outfit that laced electro beats with rock n roll samples and some of the nastiest shit ever said by anyone anywhere). Their success owes less to inspired lyrics & solid beats, more to being banned in Broward County – a decision that was overturned in favor of 1st Amendment rights.

Later came the likes of Lil Wayne & the Cash Money Family, Lil John and Ludacris. The sound is defined by the blending of club-based dance music with the hard-hitting party beats of the West, along with the southern tradition of story-telling. It gave rise to the thing we know as “Crunk,” which need not be confused with the rest of Southern Hip-Hop (music or culture). Lyrics in the South aren’t just about “sippin on sizzurp” either, although you’d never know going by what you hear on radio; much of the lyricism relies on metaphor and simile, and the B-sides are often packed with biting social commentary.

One more thing… In the summer of 1998, a skinny, pill-popping white kid from Detroit wandered out of Dr Dre’s office and completely changed the way rap lyrics were delivered. Just thought that was worth mentioning.

Today

The culture – music, fashion, dance & art – has gone global in a big way. You not only hear Tupac and Wale played anywhere from Paris to Magadan. You also hear Siberian emcees praised by Russia’s Prime Minister Putin, see breaking crews from China, and hear about the underground rappers of Iran. Palestinian emcees spit about the impact of political oppression in their own lives, and Somali rappers chant on hope in the midst of chaos & murder. The world hasn’t just caught on; they bring new modes to the music & wisdom to the culture.

The biggest drawback to this fact is that the culture has also been hijacked by corporate interests who neither understand nor care about its roots or future. When this happens, the culture dies… generally. The cool thing about Hip-Hop is that it’s used to being hijacked and steered off track. Whenever this has happened before, there was always some little bastard somewhere who stuck to his guns, broke the rules and found their audience… who in turn are inspired to revitalize the real. The mainstream interpretation dies while the underground movement creeps up & takes over the spot. Examples of this range from Busta Rhymes, Eminem, Talib Kweli and Mos Def to the Roots, Kardinal Offishall, Sweatshop Union, Nas and the indefatigable KRS-One.

It’s as though the music follows a trajectory that rises and falls like the tide… or like life in general. A real artist breaks out with some revolutionary shit that sends everybody back to the lab, and the imitators grab hold & ride it to death. This usually takes about 3 or 4 years. When the music has gone so far down into the pop machine that you think it’ll never come back, another hard-nosed grass-roots artist with reality and focus on his side burns it all down and rebuilds some shit. And the cycle continues.

Toronto

Here in Toronto, we import a lot of our talent… and then export it for some reason. Toronto rappers come from Somalia, St Vincent, Nigeria, Jamaica, Guyana… and sometimes even Canada. The cultural influence on our city is so varied it adds up to more than the sum of the parts. Kardi touched the tip of the iceberg with that line from Bacardi Slang: “You think we all Jamaican, but nope – many are Trinities… Bajans, Grenadians… Guyanese and ALL the West Indies combine to make the T-dot-O-dot one of a kind.”

After finding their Canadian fans, it quickly becomes apparent that you can’t make a living off Hip-Hop in Canada. This needs to change or everybody’s gonna jump ship the first chance they get (or die penniless and insane). Then we end up with atrocities like Kardi rapping alongside Akon. We want you to come home, man… but not if it means you gotta be broke like the rest of us. Like Toronto native Bishop was heard to lament, “Canada’s industry’s a joke/ I’m a rap star and still flat broke.” …or words to that effect.

This leads to a lack of leadership in the community; a Hip-Hop brain-drain.

How are we gonna solve this? This is one of things we wanna address through “United in Flow.” It starts with all of us, cuz it ends with all of us. It’s bigger than music and a mixtape; it’s about recognizing & fostering a culture of life that’s been quietly growing in our midst; it’s about reaching out to the youth and the elders to bring it all together. It’s also about letting people know Toronto is more than just grunge and reggaeton (no offense to artists there), that graffiti is more than just tagging (although tagging is a big part), that b-boys and b-girls do more than just stand around with their arms crossed, and rap is more than blunts, forties and bitches.

Above all, we trying to knock down Toronto’s status as the Screwface Capital – with more haters per capita than any other city.

Good news: Between new developments like Studio 2.0 and United in Flow, this is a very real possibility. We just gotta put in the work.

Peace, Love and Dope,

- Duke “Buzzy” Ellis

See also: Hip-Hop Timeline
and Wiki-Synopsis

Technorati Tags: hip hop, history, rap, studio 2.0, United in Flow

by Duke

As previously reported, we’re in high gear getting this event going. Heather has been in dialogue with a couple of sponsors who could really take this to the next level. It’s exciting and (speaking as a noob in the world of event planning and promotion) nerve-rattling. The experience of positive stress… and I think I like it.

Finding a venue is turning out to be easier than I thought. So far the Toronto Opera House and Berkeley Church have responded favorably, and there are others from whom I expect to hear soon. The former has a capacity of 850 heads & is fully staffed to meet our needs. That’s a lot more than the 300+ fans we’re aiming to draw, but it’s better to have the space & not need it than to need it & not have it.

This week Shawn & I shot a promo video a couple days ago with Emma – Euphonic Sound’s energetic new cadre – behind the camera. That’s to let artists know how to get in on performing at the event & on the mixtape, and it’ll be up real soon. It was fun to be in front of the camera again. Like riding a bike. Been a few years.

So much for the legwork.

This whole thing is also an exercise in categorical thinking. When you hear the word “success,” what comes to mind? When it comes to United in Flow, there are a few things to consider. Is success going to be judged by how many people show up? By how much money we raise? By the number of units we move? By how many people are wearing a United in Flow T-shirt the next day? By my reckoning it’s a matter of how much we raise for charity; the other categories serve that end.

But afterwards I’ll be looking everywhere to read up on or hear what people have to say about it after the fact. That’s how we’ll know if we’re doing it again next year; that’s how we’ll know it was a success.

Meantime, if you haven’t already gone over to the Euphonic Community and set up your profile, do it now! It’s the surest way to get the info you need to be a part of this thing.

That’s it for now. I’ll be back as soon as I’ve got more to say about it. Peace!

Technorati Tags: charity, hip hop, United in Flow

By James Pew

In case you missed it here is Open Your Mind To The Social Web Pt. 1

3. Who is the ME in Social Media?

At the end of January, media futurist Brian Solis published an insightful piece on his blog entitled Who is the ME in Social Media? Since Open Your Mind To The Social Web is a series aimed to orient the creative person and best enable them to deal with the emergent media of the social web, I thought Brian’s post is a valuable addition. The ideas presented delve into the contentious privacy issue, and I believe, thoroughly solve the overarching dilemma…

From Who Is Me In Social Media,

“As Erick Schonfeld observed in a public and online discussion with Andrew Keen on Twitter, “instead of making the private public, we will make the public private. When public is the default, you deliberately select what to keep private instead of the other way around.”

From Social Scientist Stowe Boyd,

“There is a countervailing trend away from privacy and secrecy and toward openness and transparency. . .And on the web, we have had several major steps forward in social tools that suggest at least the outlines of a complement, or opposite, to privacy and secrecy: publicy. The idea of publicy is no more than this: rather than concealing things, and limiting access to those explicitly invited, tools based on publicy default to things being open and with open access.”

From Laurent Haug’s post “Publicy”, the rebirth of privacy,

“Privacy is here and doing well. It is just different, and not something that is granted at birth anymore. You have to create it, using the tools that were supposedly taking it away from you. You used to have to build your public image, now you have to build the private one. It’s a small change if you know how to do it.”

4. Here are 5 Insightful TED Talks on Social Media

Here’s my favorite,

Technorati Tags: Brian Solis, Erick Schonfeld, Laurent Haug, Publicy, Social Media, Stowe Boyd, TED Talks

by Duke

Since the first post on United in Flow we got a lot of ducks lined up. For those just joining us, Euphonic Sound and Studio 2.0 are gearing up to launch “United in Flow: Celebrating the World of Hip-Hop” – a charity fundraiser and showcase for vocalists, dance crews, turntablists and visual artists in the GTA. It’s a massive undertaking, so I’m kind of resorting to crowdsourcing in a way.

Charity & Sponsors

Here’s the thing: We want to launch this event in October – with CDs, t-shirts and a venue – all for $20,000.00 give or take (not counting Euphonic Sound Studio’s contribution of time and resources).

Anybody with suggestions for sponsors or charitable beneficiaries, we want to hear from you yesterday. We have a charity in mind (an outfit dedicated to getting violence out of schools by encouraging youth to channel their energies into artistic expression via the 4 pillars of hip-hop culture), but the decision is a long way from final at this point. We’re still exploring the options.

In terms of sponsorship, we hope to find support with companies that have an understanding of hip-hop culture, and are both free from sweatshop/child labor and environmentally responsible. While corporate money seems to come in big drops when it comes, we want to focus on those sponsors who have found the strength in being small – owner-operated, agile and close to the street. That’s the kind of company we’d be proud to work beside. Know someone who fits that bill? Leave me a comment!

Venue

We’re still looking for a place to hold this event. We want to avoid the pitfalls of holding it in a bar or club; wouldn’t it be better to have a musical event in a place that’s geared less towards shouting over the music & more towards actually being part of the whole experience? Massey Hall and the Berkley Church are great, but pricy; after all, giving a whole bunch of money to the venue would take away from the money going to Unity… and that would defeat the purpose of doing this.

In a nutshell, I’m looking for a place in (or close to) central Toronto that holds 300+ people (liquor license optional). Suggestions? Leave me a comment!

Phase 1 – Planning

This is the first time most of us have done anything like this (or at least on this kind of scale). Consequently we’re glad to have Heather Garand on board; she has loads of experience in marketing and promotion, which has already proven invaluable in these the early stages of planning.

Launching the Contest

Some of the artists on this CD & event will be selected from outside our little circle; we want videos of vocal performances and dance crews in the GTA. We’ll have beats on the Euphonic website for downloading. Drop your flow on that and we’ll have a spot for you to upload it for consideration.

Spots will go fast, so get on it as soon as the beats are available!

We’ll announce the winners on the STM blog & through the Euphonic Community. Membership is essential to getting inside info on United in Flow. Go to the Euphonic Community and sign up now!

…and leave me a comment!

Technorati Tags: charity, dance, hip hop, rap, United in Flow

by Duke

My first recording studio was comprised of a $100 Yamaha keyboard, a Roland 505 drum machine and two Sony boomboxes. It was all wired together with cannibalized walkman headphones – cut, pealed, twisted and wrapped up in electrical tape. A mummified fire hazard. Nothing was balanced, and the noise floor was unbelievably high.

It would have made H.R. Geiger proud, Tank & Dozer embarrassed, and any self-respecting audio engineer cringe. But to me it was a work of genius. For a while.

I’d nearly forgotten about it til today. It was brought back to mind by NPR Music’s little documentary on the boombox’s history:

Thanks to whitneymcn at Artists Paid for finding this one:

I’d forgotten how controversial these old monsters were. In the day of the iPod, smaller is better (anybody actually see the “I Spy” movie?). Back in the day of JVC and the Cadillac, “Bigger and Deffer” was the rule. It made a statement, and that statement was “Go big or go home.”

Too much noise in the street as it is? That’s why they were so loud – to bring that music through. How you gonna complain?

May the beast rest in peace.

Technorati Tags: blaster, boombox, ghetto, history, npr

This post is the first place we send new Studio 2.0 clients and new Euphonic Community interns to learn about the social web. We always share what we discover about the new music business, the social web, and all things related to direct-to-fan, the long tail and 1,000 true fans with our Studio Manifesto readers as well, so please recommend to us any sources on these topics that you may have found helpful, or any techniques you may be using to forward your musical brand on the social web.

The Social Media Connect portion of our Studio 2.0 service is designed to help artists find the right balance of social networks for their brand, as well as set them up with a socially dynamic home base website.

A big part of Social Media Connect is showing artists how to interact in the social web and aggregate those interactions (content) back to their website. The next developmental stage is building community around the brand (the music), through engaging and participating in social networks, identifying interest and communicating relevant information to “targeted” individuals.

I use the term “targeted” loosely because engagement and participation on the social web, even if you are after potential fans or customers, is not at all like aiming a gun at a target and shooting. This is the strategy that most indie bands take – blasting out thousands of banner ads or show invites, continually annoying random people that they don’t know.

The age of the social web is much more about knowing, interacting, and empowering people, and less about “targeting” people.

1. Social Media for Audience Development & Community Building

This is the first post by @Documentally recommended to Studio 2.0 artists, Interns, friends, readers, and fellow producers and musicians.

I haven’t seen a more comprehensive analysis of the components, strategy and mindset needed for effective use of the social web then this great post by @Documentally

Please read Social Media for Audience Development & Community Building – then come back and we will go through some key things to take away from @Documetally’s summary of social media for community and audience building.

In explaining social media @Documentally says,

If you’re using social media properly your audience is your community, social media is about communication, and community building.

And points out that,

This is Not a New Way of Communicating…This is just communication, through a different medium. It’s just talking. As you’d talk, laugh, and converse in real life, you do so online. Don’t try and view it as a different language, engage with it using your own. Be yourself.

So how do we communicate on the social web? Through the exchange of content (everything from emails and tweets to blogs, youtube videos, shared photos, streaming or down loadable audio, etc.)

@Documentally breaks content into three categories:

1. Front facing: Your website/blog
2. Realtime: status updates view twitter, facebook/myspace, friend feed, 12 seconds etc
3. Audio/video/images

@Documentally walks us through each of the above categories of content. There is much actionable advice here that should not go ignored. Notice an important trend or as @Documentally puts it – how the three areas of content “cross pollinate” – forming an integrated machine with a clear message and objective.

An interesting case study showing social web communication in action is included. The case study, designed for a small business works very well for a band – who should definitely be thinking about how to synchronize their communications like an effective small business would. Also very useful that @Documentally includes the social media actions taken when promoting an event.

This is a case study for a small company, with actions for an Artistic Director, and a General Manager/Administrator. The more people who are feeding content into your streams the better (though if more than 2 people tweet from an account, consider personal ones that are re-tweeted by a main one, or signing tweets with your initials)

Don’t worry if any of the terms so far referred to don’t mean anything to you – consult the glossary of social media terms at the end of the post. There is also a brilliant social media glossary of terms on Radical Trust

Social Media for Audience Development & Community Building has become the starting point for Studio 2.0 artists in 2010. This post breaks down the essentials and gives you actionable things to do to get you moving in the development of your presence on the social web.

The moment you have a community, you have participants, not observers. People. Not Bums on Seats.

Also check out this great guide @Documentally links to written by @hannahnicklin called Twitter for Arts Organisations

2. Web Strategist Jeremiah Owyang analyzes and explains the five eras of the The Social Web.

The Five Eras of the Social Web:

1) Era of Social Relationships: People connect to others and share

Currently we are at a mature stage in this era. If you are on facebook, Myspace, and/or Twitter, or other social platform – and have made “friends” and shared content, than you have already entered this era. Congrats!

2) Era of Social Functionality: Social networks become like operating system

We entered this era in approx. 2008. This is where social networks, as Jeremiah Owyang puts it, become like operating systems, in that third party developers can design applications to function with these social platforms. When this era reaches a more mature stage it will be easy and ubiquitous for bands to have custom built applications for facebook/Myspace or where ever or whatever platform happens to be popular. We are already seeing this with Apple’s app store and a myriad of indie bands offer custom apps for the iphone. Mobile Roadie can make your band a low cost iphone app.

3) Era of Social Colonization: Every experience can now be social

When every single website on the web becomes social (weather wanted or not). Platforms like Open ID and Facebook Connect already make this a reality. We are just beginning to move in the direction of this era – it won’t be long before you will be able to find out what your friends (and the rest of the world) think about virtually any product or service at the touch of a button.

4) Era of Social Context: Personalized and accurate content

Digital ID’s (that people always have with them) become more common in this era. The ID information is shared with whomever a person chooses, in exchange for a more personal experience. This puts relevant information about social web activity, tastes, purchasing habits, etc. into the hands of the makers of products and services. Meaning communications (advertising) becomes more relevant – less random and interruption based.

There is already a ton of information on the people you connect with on the social web. From facebook profiles to personal blogs people offer many details about themselves. If someone is constantly sharing punk music on blip.fm then that is a good indicator that they are a punk fan – who may just become a fan of your punk band too.

When a band sends a random show invite or free download to an unknown person there is no context. How does the band know the people being sent the message are even fans of music at all? Its important to recognize the relevancy of your message to the people you contact and connect with, otherwise you are playing the lottery. Keep your eyes open for platforms and applications that help you connect with like-minded people and gain access to relevant information about them. Without the info you won’t have context.

5) Era of Social Commerce: Communities define future products and services

“When communities start to look an act like companies and brands on their own.”

Imagine a band’s fan community playing a role in planning the tour, selecting art work for album covers and merchandise, sometimes creating the artwork, deciding where to get merchandise manufactured (based on what they are willing to pay for the end product) – or even tweaking the final mixes of the new single or correcting the lighting on the new fan produced video.

The era of social commerce sees a blurring of the lines between producers and consumers. Everyone becomes both.

Technorati Tags: communications, Documentally, Jeremiah Owyang, marketing, Social Media, social web

If you haven’t seen the first five parts of this discussion, here you go… Pt.1 Pt.2 Pt.3 Pt.4 Pt.5

Recently I had the chance to sit down and talk shop with Terry Kerr, Department head at the Nimbus School of Recording Arts. A school co-founded by legendary Canadian producer Bob Ezrin, GGGarth Richardson, Mike McCarty and Kevin Williams. This is part 6 of 6.

This is my favorite segment in this discussion. At times it may seem despairing the way Terry describes the mainstream music industry as in decline and “not hiring” young people seeking “careers” in the music business. But the hopefull message is much stronger, I think, in what Terry says is a “Brave New World in a good way.”

The opportunities for “careers” in the music biz are in creating your own opportunities, starting your own businesses, creating your own scene, in going DIY or (IDIY more accurately), in any case definitely NOT waiting or relying on anyone else to make things happen for you. More on this line in my post Thoughts on How To Ignore Everybody, and Shawn’s post 5 Key Points of “Ignore Everybody” for Musicians

Technorati Tags: audio education, Bob Ezrin, Farm Studio, nimbus, Terry Kerr

By James Pew

If you haven’t seen the first four parts of this discussion, here you go… Pt.1 Pt.2 Pt.3 Pt.4

Recently I had the chance to sit down and talk shop with Terry Kerr, Department head at the Nimbus School of Recording Arts. A school co-founded by legendary Canadian producer Bob Ezrin, GGGarth Richardson, Mike McCarty and Kevin Williams. This is part 5 of 6. Topics covered are everything from the album format vs. the singles format, Napster, the philosophy of Nimbus, the current climate of pro audio education, analog and digital audio tools.

Technorati Tags: audio education, GGGarth Richardson, James Pew, Napster, nimbus, recording, Terry Kerr

If you haven’t seen the first three parts of this discussion, here you go…New Music discussion with Terry Kerr and James Pew Pt.1
and here is New Music discussion with Terry Kerr and James Pew Pt.2
and here is New Music discussion with Terry Kerr and James Pew Pt.3

Recently I had the chance to sit down and talk shop with Terry Kerr, Department head at the Nimbus School of Recording Arts. A school co-founded by legendary Canadian producer Bob Ezrin, GGGarth Richardson, Mike McCarty and Kevin Williams. This is part 4 of 6. Topics covered are everything from the subtleties of permission marketing and general communications to newsletter subscribers, utilizing fan feedback, the “Brave New World” of fan involvement, Studio 2.0, blogging, Euphonic Sound online community, and Exploring the Possibilities of indie.

Here is Part Five of New Music Discussion with Terry Kerr and James Pew.

Technorati Tags: Bob Ezrin, indie marketing, James Pew, nimbus, Social Media, Terry Kerr

by Duke

Everyone knows now that Hip-Hop Culture is a global, socially conscious movement. There will always be times when it is highjacked and exploited by maniacal capitalists, or ridden by unscrupulous thugs with no interest in making the world better (often the same people). Those are the times when the music gets boring and the lyrics get vapid; but those times are always limited.

Hip-Hop – like jazz, rock & roll and heavy metal before it – began with the “underprivileged,” and it returns there every time. And when that happens, the music raises your pulse again, the lyricism returns, the culture thrives.

The ancient traditions of hip hop’s roots have re-emerged from the cities and the wilds alike, firing up the diverse artistic elements of Hip-Hop with a new and vibrant sense of purpose.

Toronto has been one of the centers of this revival. I’m not just talking about Kardinal here (although his success is warranted, deserved and something to celebrate). I’m talking about underground artists – still struggling to find their place in the independent music community, still dropping mixtapes for free, still working full-time to pay the bills while chasing this crazy dream of building a life on genuine art.

I’ve been at Euphonic Sound Recording Studio for a little over 6 months now. Between the metal bands, folk singers and even neoclassical composers coming through our doors, I’ve had the privilege of engineering for some first-class emcees. If strength is in numbers, why have we not brought them all together?

Therefore, Euphonic Sound presents “United in Flow: Celebrating the World of Hip-Hop.” This is a beast with many arms. At the center is a charitable fundraising event (TBA) celebrating the power and vibrance of Hip-Hop Culture, and a mixtape by Toronto Hip-Hop Artists to be released on Broken Window Records.

Who are the performers at the event and on the mixtape? In a way, that’s up to you.

Go to the Euphonic Community and create a free profile. Or forward this info on to any emcees you know… Once you become a Euphonic Community Member you will have access to additional information about this event.

Euphonic Community members can audition for United in Flow, as well as have a vote in selecting the performers for the live event & mixtape. United in Flow is for artists and fans alike; after all, they’re often the same people.

If you are selected to perform, you’ll be invited to Euphonic Sound Recording Studio to record a song for the mixtape for free.

In short: We are looking for lyricists, singers, rappers, deejays, dancers, painters, photographers, videographers, filmmakers… anybody who loves and contributes to the culture of Hip Hop to help us make this live event a memorable one. We are also looking for sponsors and unorthodox promotional ideas. If you would like to be involved in any of these aspects, we want to hear from you.

Sign up for your free Euphonic Community profile now, and get all the breaking developments regarding United In Flow: Celebrating the World of Hip Hop

More on this on a NTK (Need-to-Know) basis… That means soon.

Technorati Tags: contest, event, hip hop, Mixtape, United in Flow

By James Pew

If you haven’t seen the first two parts of this discussion, here you go…New Music discussion with Terry Kerr and James Pew Pt.1
and here is New Music discussion with Terry Kerr and James Pew Pt.2

Recently I had the chance to sit down and talk shop with Terry Kerr, Department head at the Nimbus School of Recording Arts. A school co-founded by legendary Canadian producer Bob Ezrin, GGGarth Richardson, Mike McCarty and Kevin Williams. This is part 3 of 6. Topics covered are everything from the monetizing free, calling fans to action, the value of modern music, social networking vs. viral marketing, sponsorship opportunities for indies, targeted permission marketing, Seth Godin, Top Spin, and more.

Here is Part 4 of this new music discussion with Terry Kerr.

Technorati Tags: Bob Ezrin, euphonic sound, indie, James Pew, nimbus, Seth Godin, Terry Kerr, youtube

Here is another excerpt from my book Studio Manifesto: Exploring the Possibilities of Indie. As always please leave your thoughts in the comments section. Thanks for reading.

“I wanna disconnect myself pull my brain stem out and unplug myself”- Henry Rollins

Disconnect from what? From everything you assume and take for granted – from culture itself.

“Stay ahead of the culture by creating the culture” – from the book Ignore Everybody by Hugh Macleod

Wipe your operating system clean and start from the beginning – but this time ignore the prevailing culture and find your individual. Create your own culture.

Being indie can mean a lot of things to many different people, among them the belief that indie means individual or independent from the normal. It is the individual person captivated by the notion of independence and the process of discovery involved in individualism. It is breaking free from a larger dominant collective that is the impetus of indie.

Why do we have indie artists? This question cannot be looked at seriously without first looking at the process that initiated what we’ve come to view as the basic human behavior of being an individual.

To the person engaged in cultural studies or studying the human and societal effects of media (technology), it is well known that before the appearance of two very powerful media man existed in a tribal state. Sometimes referred to as tribal sleep. The two media, or technologies, I’m referring to are the phonetic alphabet crossed with the mechanical process of printing. Typography.

The new medium of the book at first was a means of accelerating the tribal message of Christianity. The first repeatedly printed books were restricted to the Guttenberg bible. But soon this medium became the means by which individual man emerged. The Guttenberg printing press catalyzed the detribalization of man, ushering in the age of typographic man. This age created the separate individual, and the private point of view, among other powerful effects described later.

It was not long after Guttenberg that Edison came along with new electric media, disrupting things and returning us to our tribal roots.

The information age, which is based on electric media has been gradually retribalized since the appearance of the Edison’s light bulb and many other equally pervasive electric media that followed (telephone, radio, TV, internet). The explosive process started by the Guttenberg technology is reversed under the stress of electric technology.

Mechanical Age = Explosion
Electric Age = Implosion

In Marshall McLuhan’s 1962 book the Guttenberg Galaxy, he lays out the following framework based on his study of the human effects of media.

Up until 1450, society could be described as a blend of the following,

Pre-literate or Pre Guttenberg culture:

Oral Culture
Tribal
Active, Participator, Social
Balanced Senses
Community
Connected

From 1450 to 1900, people became individuals in an explosion of innovation.

Literate/Mechanical Culture:

Books are the dominant medium
The Eye is emphasized (senses not in balance)
Visual
Individualism
Detached
De-Tribalized

From 1900 to the present,

Post Literate/Electric Culture:

Books are no longer the dominant medium
Electronic Media
Senses in balance again
Simultaneous
Invlovement
Re-Tribalized Man
“Global Village”

Here is a great youtube video by roddy99 tracing the history of media.

From the most ubiquitous electric media since the light bulb, and more recent inclusive forms like social media, and even older inclusive forms of media (TV, Telegraph/Newspaper, Radio), they all tend to arrange us into societal patterns not unlike the ancient tribal structures of humankind. Involvement and participation on behalf of tribal members is key.

The difference now hinges on a crucial factor. Awareness, or awake-ness. Are we blindly being led back into tribal sleep? Or are we marching headfirst into a new tribalism fully aware of what’s happening? James Joyce best expressed this concept in the Irish Classic Finnegans Wake. Coded in the title is what Marshall McLuhan called the Finn cycle, or tribal cycle, occurring egan or again. But now the character of Finn is Wake, or awake. Finnegans Wake.

There was an old man named Michael Finnegan,
He grew whiskers on his chin-egan,
The wind came out and blew them in again,
Poor old Michael Finnegan, begin again.
There was an old man named Michael Finnegan
He went fishing with a pin-egan,
Caught a fish and dropped it in-egan,
Poor old Michael Finnegan, begin again.
There was an old man named Michael Finnegan,
Climbed a tree and barked his shin-egan,
Took off several yards of skin-egan,
Poor old Michael Finnegan, begin again.
There was an old man named Michael Finnegan,
He kicked up an awful din-egan,
Because they said he could not sing-egan,
Poor old Michael Finnegan, begin again.
There was an old man named Michael Finnegan,
He got fat and then got thin again,
Then he died and had to begin again,
Poor old Michael Finnegan

Traditional Irish Folk Song – Michael Finnegan

When you awaken to what you feel is an undesirable situation you are more likely to want to exercise your independence in a way that reorders the situation to fit your liking. At the heart of indie is awakening. To Do-it-yourself is to separate from the convention of do-only-what –you-are-told. To be indie is to recognize, and to some extent reject, the pattern of monotony that established order favors.

To be an indie artist is to fully understand the implications of indie. This awareness will help you build mankind’s road map so desperately needed in our process of collective awakening.

Many people alive today are quite happy ignoring, to the best of their abilities, the new inclusive tribal media. This person consciously decides to remain in the mechanical age, and he revolts at tribal electric man.

The opportunities for independence have compounded in the electric age and provide far more expansive forms of individualism. Take the blog for example. Its closest ancestor seems to be the book in that it allows the individual to express a private point of view. To the reader though, the book is a private experience. By contrast the blog allows the reader to react and express their private point of view, in what results in a tribal or communal dynamic of conversation and deconstruction amongst the readers/community members.

The indie artist retains individuality in spite of the pressures of greater human interrelations through the complex of digital networks and modern tribal communities. However, unlike the person who chooses to exist in the previous age, the artist must live in, and deal with, the present one.

“The artist is the man in any field, scientific or humanistic, who grasps the implications of his actions and of knew knowledge in his own time.” – Marshall McLuhan

Awareness allows the artist to, escape the full hyptnotic effect of electric media, and retain the most favorable qualities of his typographic ancestry, namely the formation of his individual. All of this while thriving in a re-tribalised creative culture.

Here is another roddy99 youtube video on the impact of the printing press:

Technorati Tags: artist, hugh macleod, ignore everybody, indie, James Pew, marshall mcluhan, media

By James Pew

Recently I had the chance to sit down and talk shop with Terry Kerr, Department head at the Nimbus School of Recording Arts. A school co-founded by legendary Canadian producer Bob Ezrin, GGGarth Richardson, Mike McCarty and Kevin Williams. This is part 2 of 6. Topics covered are everything from the economics of indie, Direct-to-Fan, Permission Marketing, Social Media, as well as the general state of the music industry and of educational institutions offering programs in music industry arts, music business management, and audio production.

Check out part one of this new music discussion with Terry Kerr. Also see, Thoughts From Terry Kerr – Dept. head at Bob Ezrin school

Here is Part Three of New Music Discussion with Terry Kerr and James Pew

Technorati Tags: Bob Ezrin, GGGarth Richardson, James Pew, Jenn Essiembre, Kevin Williams, Mike McCarty, Nimbus Recording Arts

by James Pew

In December Derek Sivers sent out an invitation via his email newsletter asking musicians if they would like a free copy of one of the many marketing books that he recommends to the readers of his blog. Derek’s idea was to send out copies of these books to interested musicians, who would in turn write their thoughts about the book on their own blog. And, of course much discussion and learning will follow.

The book I received form Derek is called Ignore Everybody: and 39 other keys to creativity. Written by Hugh Macleod artists & author of the awesome blog gaping void. It has cartoons! …most of the time!

I read Ignore Everybody in one sitting the day I received it. For a creative person, its like having your past re-read to you by someone without the emotional involvement, who has enough sense of the modern ethos and of the symptoms of the failing artistic endeavor of the common creative person. Who sheds light and empowers you to exceed any notion of expectation.

Although it is sometimes very tough to hear, it is imperative that the message in Ignore Everybody does not itself go ignored.

I have purchased three additional copies of this book that I’d like to give away. I also added a little inscription on the inside cover linking to this post, and asking the recipient to read the book and pass it on.

Two copies are for a couple creative people I know locally who I feel could really benefit from Ignore Everybody (I’ll keep you posted if that turns out to be the case). The third copy I will mail out to the first interested reader who emails me at james@euphoniccsound.com (Update: The last copy has been given away).

The message in Ignore Everybody is an indie artists only hope of successfully ignoring everybody and leading their own movement.

“The more original your idea is, the less good advice other people will be able to give you.” – Hugh MacLeod

This puts the artist in the position of leader. Relying on others to lead has become a thing of the past.

Another book on Derek’s list is Tribes by Seth Godin. The message is that “the market place now rewards (and embraces)” the leaders, or as Seth refers to them “heretics.”

“Heretics are the new leaders. The ones who challenge the status quo, who get out in front of their tribes, who create movements.” – Seth Godin

New media brings about new forms of human association. Today an artist must be a leader to her fans; there must be a movement and there must be a reason for people to care. Weather the idea or movement is big or small matters little. The artist is viewed by the tribe as tribal leader and is very much in demand by the tribe. This is the natural dynamic. The artist’s role is to cultivate this.

Thoughts on how to Ignore Everybody is being included in my book, the work-in-progress, Studio Manifesto: Exploring the Possibilities of Indie. Go here for the orientation. For regular readers this means the subject at hand is approached with the same reconsideration of Marshall McLuhan’s Media Theory as has been the other sections of Exploring the Possibilities of Indie. Just a warning to new readers…☺

Here are my thoughts on Hugh Macleod’s Ignore Everybody:

Since Marshall McLuhan’s time the global media environment has utterly wrapped all people into a mesh of constant electronic information – it is electronic media (telephone, telegraph, radio, television, photograph, movie, etc.) that give tribal cues defining our self-images and where we fit in the tribe. Weather it is the posture of the model in a magazine ad telling us what to wear and how to gesture, or the rock star on MTV showing us the rock star “way of life,” we have always seemed utterly paralyzed to act in any way different then the roles that have been pre-formed in the media environment.

However as we all know the newest electric media, the internet, has disrupted this pattern of mainstream media indiscriminately broadcasting to virtually all individuals, to a new segment where individuals narrow-cast to each other in both directions (and sideways too). From this we are seeing the formation of smaller tribes, or movements, entirely based on the strength of the new tribal leaders and their ideas.

McLuan was right when in 1960 he said electric media re-tribalizes man. With every news headline or episode of American Idol, North Americans are sharing in a collective tribal experience. But we have yet to succumb fully to a phenomenon, which seems to accompany the tribal order – that being tribal sleep.

It was the explosion side of the tribal cycle, the Guttenberg technology (printing press) of the 1500s that created the individual and woke us from a many centuries long tribal sleep. That phase was detribalization and is represented by everything from the previous mechanical age; assembly lines, factories, books, automobile, currency, economics, corporations with top down structure, etc.

Now it is electric technology that retribalizes man and could very well result in our being placed back into the somnambulistic state of tribal sleep.

The electric age represents an implosive re-tribalized phase. The ethos of today is about dismantling the mechanical age structures that separated people from one another. New digital media has brought back an ancient tribal situation to humankind. We are connected and involved with each other in ways lamented for by our ancestors from the industrial revolution. All notions leftover from the mechanical age will be clung too by people who will never understand what is happening, and shed by those who leap fully into the new age of Tribalism.

Hugh MacLeod’s book “Ignore Everybody” is about resisting tribal forces of sleep and conformity. A tough, but necessary, pill to swallow for many creative individuals.

Hugh’s message is to do things for the right reasons – not for any expectations or romantic notions you may have. Because things rarely, if ever, work out the way you plan them or expect them to. And because life simply isn’t fair and seems to take a morbid joy in crushing even the most passionately dedicated romantic.

Here is a sample:

“Your plan for getting your work out there has to be as original as the actual work, perhaps even more so. The work has to create a totally new market. There’s no point trying to do the same thing as 250,000 other young hopefuls, waiting for a miracle. All existing business models are wrong. Find a new one.”

In describing Hugh’s own artistic endeavor – drawing cartoons on the backs of business cards – he said, “There was no commercial incentive or larger agenda governing my actions. If I wanted to draw on the backs of business cards instead of a “proper” medium, I could.”

Hugh’s point is you can not be concerned with anything outside of the idea itself – will it make me money or famous? Will it get me girls? Or played on the radio? Forget all that stuff. If your goal is to write, record, and perform great songs then you must go “all in” in doing that. Forget about fame and money and sex and all the clichés that many aspiring musicians can’t seem to get over.

If you are creating art for these misguided reasons then the art becomes secondary, generic, and uninspiring. And it won’t be a pleasant experience for you. The notion of the tortured artists is a romantic one placed there by the media. Be real.

The scariest part is that people pick up on the level of love and authenticity that goes into your work, and you can be forgotten faster and more often, if you don’t create something that is uniquely yours, truly inspiring and free of all the insane and ridiculous notions of what an artist is supposed to be.

Here is another example of the “tough pill” nature of Ignore Everybody:

“If your business plan depends on suddenly being “discovered” by some big shot, your plan will probably fail.”

Or,

When your dreams become reality, they are no longer your dreams.

At times Hugh seems like he has crossed over to the dark side of cynicism, but then he says:

“Everyone is born creative; everyone is given a box of crayons in Kindergarten.”

And,

“The more you practice your craft, the less you confuse worldly rewards, and vice versa. Even if your path never makes any money or furthers your career, that’s still worth a ton.”

And, two of my favorites…

“The best way to get approval is not to need it.” And “Stay ahead of the culture by creating the culture.”

One idea that really struck a chord with me was the Sex & Cash Theory.

“The creative person basically has two kinds of jobs: One is the sexy, creative kind. Second is the kind that pays the bills. Some times the task at hand covers both bases, but not often.”

This is advice I could have used several years ago when I quit my day job to become a music industry mogul. It didn’t quite work out that way and needless to say the need to pay the bills (and to further seed my music business) forced me back into the demoralizing servitude of the “day job.” Years later I was able to quit the day job again, this time for good.

Now I spend my days (and nights) working on music at my business Euphonic Sound Recording Studio. But the Sex & Cash dynamic is a big part of the balance we seem to have struck at the studio. On the sex side of things is Studio 2.0, this is my idea, my movement, how I have become a leader and ignore everybody. Others have joined me and our business is a success.

Besides working with artists under Studio 2.0 I also spend a little time working on my own music – which I have zero expectations for. Having zero expectations is what makes it fulfilling to do. If your art is not fulfilling, then its forced.

With our Studio 2.0 approach we get to work with great artists like new folk singer/song writer Andrea Gauster, who we also represent on our label Broken Window Records or metal band Volition Aire. Its mostly sunshine and lolly pops and lots of love and creativity. ☺

But there always has to be the cash side of the sex & cash equation. I am definitely not creatively fulfilled by every artist I record – although, there are different types of fulfillment that go along with helping someone achieve their dream, doing a good job, and getting paid fairly for it.

Sometimes, to pay the bills we do commercial or educational music stuff too. Hugh Macleod’s other job as a copywriter provides the cash equation for him, similar to the scenario at Euphonic Sound. Sometimes we work with great artists and contribute artistically both as producers and musicians; sometimes we only engineer. Guess which one is more satisfying? And sometimes we get commissioned to compose and produce something for some other application, like music for corporate youtube videos, or for someones web site or web product. This balance allows us to “keep the lights on” so we can work on what we really love.

Final quote from Hugh MacLeods Ignore Everybody – “The only people who can change the world are the people who want to. And not everybody does.”

Do you?

Thanks to Derek Sivers for sending me a copy of Ignore Everybody. Check out the other great books recommended by Derek Sivers.

Technorati Tags: Derek Sivers, hugh macleod, ignore everybody, James Pew, marshall mcluhan, Seth Godin, tribes

by James Pew

Here is another excerpt from my book Studio Manifesto: Exploring the Possibilities of Indie. As always please leave your thoughts in the comments section. Thanks for reading.

Looking at it from a technical point-of-view, the musician is like a musicologist. The word musicology “is used in narrow, broad and intermediate senses”. “In the intermediate sense of musicology, it includes all relevant cultures and a range of musical forms, styles, genres and traditions. In the broad sense, it includes all musically relevant disciplines and all manifestations of music in all cultures.” –Wikepedia

How often do musicians consider music in this broad sense? The disciplined musician sees music in a very broad sense concerning herself with the things described above and much more. This is an interdisciplinary conception of an indie artist’s role.

The point here is to not let your specialty become your excuse. As in I’m not a technician I’m a musician. You don’t have to be a technician to think like one. You don’t have to, and probably shouldn’t think like a technician all the time anyway. Consider it the ability to turn on and off various disciplines, modes, or points of view. Like uploading an essential bebop for soloists plugin or a guerrilla marketing theory patch, or maybe an understanding acoustics script, or some other upgrade to your minds internal operating system. This can be done by independent artistic or intellectual pursuit. Work away at new things in a process similar, although less intensive then the one applied in your specialty.

If the trumpeter has already uploaded Miles Davis 4.0 to his minds operating system, there is no reason to think he can’t take a couple days and install Photoshop 8.0 – considering the amount of Photoshop work that goes along with being an indie artist today.

I’ve seen musicians use their specialty as an excuse for a multitude of problems – He’s not an amp tech so therefore not responsible, or even aware, of any maintenance his amp may require. She’s not a web designer so therefore not responsible for the lack of design quality or the poor public interest in her web presence.

An IDIY artist takes responsibility for everything related to their brand, or at least for those things that are approximately within their control. When things go wrong she takes immediate responsibility, turns it into a learning experience and starts working on the solution. There is no need to waste time and energy complaining that your Photoshop guy didn’t deliver fliers in time for the show. The Photoshop guy is not the source of the problem and not within your power to control. However, your decision to work with that Photoshop guy is – there is your responsibility. It ends there so move on. The solution lies in making new arrangement’s for future Photoshop work – so get going!

The theme of fragmentation and specialism is an important one that will be explored in much more detail in the coming chapters of Studio Manifesto: Exploring the Possibilities of Indie. Marshall McLuhan showed us that specialism is a product of the mechanical age. An age when people held specialist positions or jobs. In the electric age (information age) there are no jobs, there are only roles. The work of man has shifted to the gathering of information (knowledge) used to fulfill the demands of role.

Technorati Tags: indie, Inormation Age, James Pew, marshall mcluhan, miles davis, musicology, Photoshop

by Duke

When I saw the new Music Think Tank article from Bruce Warila this morning, my first natural response was shock, closely followed by anger. That’s what happens when you start reading these things before getting a coffee.

I gotta stop taking satire at face value. But it’s a tightrope. After all, when I read about ACTA, it sounded like a bad joke. It continues to look and sound ridiculous.

And in a province where the process of getting a driver’s license is a song and dance worthy of Rogers & Hammerstein, it makes one think twice before discounting something as a joke.

So when I see that you’ll need a license for self-promotion on the internet in 2010, there’s a certain amount of double-take before the obvious sets in (especially before the coffee kicks in).

Either I’m getting old and silly, or satire & reality have a lot in common.

In the spirit of good satire…

See Bruce Warila’s article at Music Think Tank

Technorati Tags: Bruce Warila, internet, license, music think tank, satire, self-promotion

Collected by James Pew

1. Top Ten Internet Moments of 2009

2. Top Ten indie albums of 2009

3. Quick Before it Melts is Defining a Decade with Ten album picks from 2000 to 2009 (Still in progress)

4. Ten Tips that Every Musician Should Apply to Their Career

5. Top Ten Tips for Email Newsletters

6. Top Ten web trends to watch in 2010

7. Top Ten Mobile Social Apps

8. The Top Ten Most Important Tweets of 2009

9. The Ten Most disappointing albums of the Decade

10. Top Ten youtube videos of all time

Technorati Tags: indie, James Pew, mobile, music, Social Media, Top Ten, web

By James Pew

Recently I had the chance to sit down and talk shop with Terry Kerr, program director at the Nimbus School of Recording Arts. A school founded by legendary Canadian producer Bob Ezrin, GGGarth Richardson, Mike McCarty and Kevin Williams. This is part 1 of 6. Topics covered are everything from the economics of indie, Direct-to-Fan, Permission Marketing, Social Media, The Album Format, as well as the general state of the music industry and of educational institutions offering programs in music industry arts, music business management, and audio production.

Also check out this post Thoughts From Terry Kerr – Dept. head at Bob Ezrin school

Here is Part Two of New Music Discussion with Terry Kerr and James Pew

Technorati Tags: Bob Ezrin, euphonic sound, James Pew, nimbus, Terry Kerr

Here is another excerpt from my book Studio Manifesto: Exploring the Possibilities of Indie. As always please leave your thoughts in the comments section. Thanks for reading.

“Even specialist learning in higher education proceeds by ignoring interrelationships; for such complex awareness slows down the achieving of expertness.” – Marshall Mcluhan

Great musicians do not ignore the interrelationship among the elements of a piece of music. A great musician arranges his part to compliment the parts of the other musicians in the band, she understands that the strength of her “parts,” and her role in the band, is dependent on a cohesive interrelationship of the other players.

It may be helpful to stop thinking of yourself only as a guitarist or drummer, or any other variety of specialist. You are an artist and a musician. Most forms of modern music deeply involve multiple disciplines; electronics, acoustics, sound engineering, instrument tech-ing, production, etc. Not to mention the different specialist functions of music itself; performance, composition, arrangement, etc.

“Interdisciplinary approaches typically focus on problems thought to be too complex or vast for adequate understanding with a single disciple.” – Wikepedia

I know from my experience working with young indie recording artists, that they often view the music industry as something too complex or vast to fully, or even adequately understand. And I’m sure they would agree that a single point of view makes big picture understanding even harder to attain. The tendency to approach things from a single discipline comes from the previous Guttenberg Age of man. And age of linearity, sequence and point of view. However, the modern age is interdisciplinary.

Not all people have adapted fully to this (we are still in the early years of a fairly young electric age). Many people alive today are quite happy living in the previous age. The artist though, must live in his present age. The artist, by McLuhian definition, must deal with the present. He is compelled to do so. The art he makes is an extension of this inner compulsion. The artist exemplifies the character of the modern age – an interdisciplinary approach is guaranteed in a modern artistic approach.

“The artist picks up the message of cultural and technological challenge decades before its transforming impact occurs. He then builds models or Noah’s arks for facing the change that is at hand.” – Marshall McLuhan

DIY or Do-It-Yourself does not by any means me Do-It-All-Yourself, however an interdisciplinary approach to all things related to your music, including non-music functions like promotions, booking, management, network marketing/social media is a must. Even though you may work with others who will facilitate certain specialist functions, like promotion, it is important that you view the specialist in this case as an extension of your will and capacity.

In this sense you take responsibility for the specialist. If the specialist fails, you step into his role and fulfill his function, until you find a new “specialist” to free you up for other functions.

The Medium is the Message

Any new medium, or technology, creates new environments, new situations for human association and human perception, which works upon the whole man, as well as the whole society.

In approx. 2004 new disruptive media, social media/web 2.0 (a concept based around information sharing, interoperability, user-centered design and collaboration – all tribal dynamics), seemed to “take hold,” and capture the imagination of many. Today it continues to shape 21st century art, economics, and technology, in what many people describe as a Brave New World. We are on the upswing of a cultural explosion! Artists are playing a leading role as innovators in this new hybrid economy and creative culture. The M.M. quote below is important because it expands the definition of who we typically think of as artist.

“The artist is the man in any field, scientific or humanistic, who grasps the implications of his actions and of knew knowledge in his own time.” – Marshall McLuhan

Artists taking things into their own hands and exercising greater control toward positive outcomes is the essence of IDIY (interdisciplinary do-it-yourself) of the present age. The corporate music industry would do well if it re-modeled its business around facilitating the new artist to fan relationships emerging today, instead of pushing an old business model on new social/economic mediums. As McLuhan shows us, the content of a new medium is always the old medium.

Its not surprising that the major labels are attempting to use new media to facilitate their old ways (the old content). However a new unexpected form has emerged, completely separate from the major label system, created by the artist and fan over social mediums, in an entirely new association of artist/fan. We have barely begun to see the cultural effect of this.

At the time of this writing the out look has never been more dire for the corporate music industry. However, the independent music industry has never looked better. Studio Manifesto aims to shed light on the engine of today’s indie recording artist. How he thrives artistically and economically in a world connected through digital social mediums is a key point of analysis in the coming pages.

“The artist is always engaged in writing a detailed history of the future because he is the only person aware of the nature of the present” – Marshall McLuhan

Technorati Tags: indie, interdisciplinary, James Pew, marshall mcluhan, web 2.0. social media

Duke’s Note: Speaking as one with something of a “vested interest” in artists’ embracing of the web, I’d like to apologize on behalf of aspiring producers everywhere. Admittedly I’m a bit of a noob to the new music industry, and I appreciate deeply the reiteration of basic truths that have been taken for granted by those of you who are considerably more ahead of the curve. Were it not for repetition, those of us arriving late to the game wouldn’t know how to play.

But even I have been finding it harder and harder to sort through the growing category of “stuff I knew already.” My reader has started to feel a little watered-down lately. The following article caps it off better than I could…

by Ed Bayling

Embrace the web! It’s the same mantra that we hear day in, day out, from various sources; always those who have a vested interest in convincing us that artists are not doing so. These people seem to be the pundits, or people who want music to be free, and artists to make money in other ways – either by touring or by ‘monetising their experiential awareness’.

Are these people the only people in the world who don’t receive a thousand spams a day from bands on Myspace, from people on Facebook suggesting that they become a fan, from dullards on twitter? Are they the only people who can’t seem to visit a music website without tripping over a free download from this producer or that band?

Honestly. What year do they think it is? Every band worth their salt has a Myspace page, a Facebook page – has had them for years in fact, and I can tell you that most of them are also engaging extensively with blogs too. I get more stuff sent to my blog than I could possibly publish, and it’s not all that big in the grand scheme of things.

It seems, from where I’m standing, that everyone HAS embraced the web, and there is now a cacophony of voices all trying to achieve the same end: i.e. use the internet to get publicity, to sell t-shirts or other, more esoteric concepts such as mentions in song lyrics, and so on. Which, as these pundits insist, is some kind of answer to the issue that no-one wants to pay for music any more.

The kicker to all that, though, is that all this stuff has progressively less impact, the further it goes along. Five years ago, giving away a free track would guarantee you some publicity. Now, of course, producer XYZ can give away all the tracks he wants on blogs and his myspace, but it will pale in comparison if (say) Orbital give away a free track on the NME website; so we return to a situation where those with the loudest voices and biggest marketing budgets get heard.

The clincher, of course, to really nail down the fact that in 2009 a commentator doesn’t know the state of things on the ground and is in fact just parroting what the last guy said, is to cite Radiohead and Nine Inch Nails. Two great bands; yes. Two examples of pushing new, creative and genuinely innovative (if arguably gimmicky) business models; yes. Two examples of what can be achieved with the internet if you’ve got a ready-made fanbase, a few million pounds in the bank, some staff and a couple of decades of major label marketing behind you. How are they relevant to a band starting up today, who don’t have access to this kind of money and infrastructure? Certainly, these bands set some balls rolling, but In Rainbows was over two years ago; the pay-what-you-like model is already essentially useless to indie musicians.

The main lesson to take from these artists, I think, is to have an innovative idea and market the crap out of it. Unfortunately, the average aspiring artist can only get as far as step one there – marketing budgets are not an option.

Read the whole story at Music Think Tank

Technorati Tags: ed bayling, music think tank, Social Media

For the purpose of providing context for my book STM: Exploring the Possibilities of Indie, here are some McLuhan montages found on youtube. I’ve replayed them many times an I’m always shocked at the depth of McLuhan’s understanding of the “total pervasive effect of media.” – James

Technorati Tags: global village, marshall mcluhan, media, studio manifesto

Here’s the deal with my new “book” Studio Manifesto: Exploring the Possibilities of Indie. If you haven’t read them the first two sections are The power of visualization in a new age of indie music and Reject the Woodshed: De-construct with criticism.

I don’t want to write a traditional book, or be confined to text alone, or even my point of view alone.

What I want to do instead is simply communicate and develop ideas. Big ones, about culture, economics and technology, and the role of the indie artist ( typical Studio Manifesto readers and Euphonic Sound clients).

I don’t want to write these ideas into a static text bound by a beginning and an end. I want to start somewhere in the middle and have it grow outward in all directions. I want it to change at the pace of awareness. When ideas get both expanded and rejected, I want a real time update to reflect the change.

I’ve been describing this “work” as one part indie artist survival guide, and one part reconsideration of Marshall McLuhan’s media theory in the context of emergent indie culture.

The thought of a linear sequence, a book, is totally at odds with a central McLuian theme I wish to communicate. Not point of view, but total inclusion of all data. An organic process, a mosaic approach, interdisciplinary, and non-linear.

Sections or First Drafts of random threads of thought, plucked randomly from available data, posted to the Studio Manifesto blog. As responses and additional information comes in, presumably in the form of comments, tweets, and emails – understanding is adjusted. We develop this together.

All posts relevant to this work can be found in the STM: Exploring the Possibilities of Indie category.

It does not matter if you are a music industry expert or not, a musician or sound engineer or producer or not. I value all input…so please keep sending me your emails, tweets, FB’s, STM comments, and however else you wish to connect with me.

Connect with me here.

I am working on a summary of relevant McLuhan theories, but until that’s ready here are some great youtube videos that I find relevant and helpful to the subject at hand.