Money & Music Don't Rhyme

Make Money From Your Music Online

2011-05-17T20:05:00.000-07:00

How to make money in the music industry is a lot easier than you think, however, people often complicate it till this very day. Too many people make the common mistake of beginning and never finishing in any venture that they try. I feel that when it comes to music, this mistake is too common. I'm going to briefly help you lessen your mistakes and make the most out of your music venture.

Sign Up for as Many Social Networking Sites as You Can
This is a very important step that many people fail to take because they feel as if they only need one website to market their self. You need to have as many social networking pages as possible because this creates maximum exposure. If I were to sell 10 CDs a day in front of my house, I would possibly make decent money. If I were to get 10 people selling 10 CDs a day in front of their house also, I will more than likely be more successful in the music industry. The same thing applies to social networking sites such as MySpace, Facebook, YouTube, and more. For one, it's less work that you have to do in the long run and two, more pages equals more people, meaning more money in your pocket. Another trick you can do is sign up for Myxer.com and Soundstation.com. You can use Soundstation to sell your albums directly to your fans and use Myxer to sell ring tones right on any of your social networking sites by embedding the code's onto your pages. So many people struggle trying to figure out how to make money in the music industry and one of the answers is as simple as the above.

An Extra Street Marketing Tip
As I said before, the more people you have to sell for you, the less work you have to do. Too often I run into people who have fans that are so into them, they feel it not robbery to enthusiastically tell the artist as if they were in love with the musician and the response the artists will give the fan is "thank you very much." This is the worst response you can give someone with that much enthusiasm from listening to your music. If you offer to pay them a percentage of sales for the number of records they promote and sell for you, they will more than likely take it because they love you that much. This is a trick that many musicians don't follow, therefore, now that you know about it, you have an edge on them.

Selling Music Online

2011-01-24T18:23:00.000-08:00

First, you need to take advantage of the independent music resources that are available to you online. These are numerous, and can be used to spread the word about your songs and music, as well as assist you with album sales. Chat rooms, websites, online radio broadcasts, communities of music lovers, and even online stores that sell music can all be ways for you to get your name and music out there. Remember, the people visiting these sites are already interested in music, and many times specifically your genre, so you will have a captive audience to listen to, critique, and purchase your music.

Selling your MP3 downloads is a great way for you to get your music out there without spending a small fortune. Focusing on selling CDs works for some artists, but a lot of times the money will not come in quickly due to the costs of packaging, shipping, and other items associated with CD production. Selling MP3 downloads can allow you to save on the majority of these costs, making each sale nearly pure profit. Plus, there are plenty of ways for you to market your MP3s, from your own website to music communities. While you may have to pay a fee to the website, you still end up selling your music at a high profit. You can also ask friends or other website designers to sell your music as well. A flat fee or percentage of the sales can be enough of an incentive for other people to help you sell your music. Plus, you may find that using others can broaden your fan base and bring in fans from places you may not have even considered. Lastly, you can use the efforts of other musicians to teach yourself how to become successful at marketing music online. Watching other musicians that have had success can help you to get an idea of what works and what does not. You can find music interviews to study, picking up the strategies that have made other musicians money. You may also be able to avoid common pitfalls of marketing your music online.

Download Music Legally

2011-01-01T20:32:00.000-08:00

Internet Music downloads have come a long way in a small amount of time. Just a few years ago music companies and individual artist were in an uproar over music download sites. Music download sites such as Napster allowed online users to share and download music for free. Many individual citizens that would never consider doing something illegal figured it was okay to get the music for free and stopped buying it in stores!.

The trend became so popular record sales took a nose dive and companies and artist were out of millions in potential revenue. The music industry fought back and Napster as well as similar sites were accused of stealing music, and forced to close up their businesses.

They may have been down but they were not out for the count! Napster and similar websites revamped and came back this time offering one hundred percent legal music downloads and still free to join.

Legal music downloads are becoming more and more popular due to the rise of the MP3 player. The digital revolution made buying legal music downloads a must for many people. People no longer feel its okay to get music for free especially with the risk of persecution. This new attitude has helped the industry continue to expand. Some people still choose to get free music downloads through illegal means but more often than not they pay the price.

There are still many Internet sites that offer music for free. But as the old adage goes you get what you pay for. This "free" music comes with a very heavy price. Most of it is littered with spyware and viruses that could cause permanent damage to your computer. Every single time you download music from such sites you are putting your computer at risk and you could even have charges filed against you for stealing music.

Don't put yourself or your computer at unnecessary risk. Download one hundred percent legal music. To legally download the 12 track album "Mean Business" (below) simply enter the codeword thistle to get the album for $5.00 (AUD).

Indie Music Prices. Who Decides?

2010-09-27T22:57:00.000-07:00

If you are a faint-of-heart music lover or independent musician who records purely as a hobby, then this may be a good time to stop reading.

There are many sources from where you can get music. But in such an economic condition people are hesitating to spend money on any entertainment items. Many of them are planning to save money, buying recreation items is a mere extravagancy to them. So, what will they do? Will they live life without entertainment? I doubt it. There is a solution to every problem. They can get cheap music, if they apply some simple strategies.

The concept of online shopping is gaining much popularity these days. Many people are selecting this option to buy their favorite things. Music is also a popular item in the online entertainment market but due to the sheer size of major music distributors, smaller distributors are beginning to go by the wayside or are just scraping by. Late last year, iTunes bought Lala...6 months later, Lala was closed. Tunecore has dropped Lastfm from its books and ReverbNation seems to be adding more 'paid upgrades' every week....which don't help make your music sound better.

Music addicts love to scroll through the music sites to find their favorite music. These are the supporters that independent musicians dream about finding them. Cheap music portals offer a great selection to appeal to the audience. It is better to plan well before purchasing any music stuffs online. You need to take wise decision on this issue. Tag your favourite independent musician and when time allows, 'Google' them to see where they are and what price variations exist. You will be surprised and it will be time well spent.

You need to keep in mind certain important points. First, you need to decide what you want. Select your option and then click the button. There are many titles available for MP3 players to appeal to the audiences who have love for music. There are many choices. From New Age to Classic, Reggae to Rap, music enthusiast can find each and every type in the online music market. Buying music had never been so easy.

Music lovers leave no option left to buy their favorite music. Their love for music is quite evident from the large sales of mp3 albums. Music can be ordered both as albums or singles. Internet technology makes it easy for us to buy our favorite items online. Music CDs and DVDs can also be ordered online. But before making any deal, you need to check whether the company is offering secure payment method or not. You should also check whether there are any hidden charges or not.

There are many music price comparison sites. You need to compare the price and the other features of the music CDs and DVDs from these sources. By doing so, you can make a great deal.

It is always better to scroll through the search engine before striking the deal.
Many people are buying cheap music online. Music downloading is in. But you need to download music from an authentic source. Otherwise you may have to face problems. So, check whether the site is authentic or nit before taking any decision on this issue.

Independent musicians such as myself are constantly seeking sites that allow us to set a fair price for fans without selling ourself short.

Get your copy of "Mean Business" for $5 (AUD) by using the codeword thistle

<a href="http://bobfindlay.bandcamp.com/album/mean-business">Mean Business by Bob Findlay</a>

Indie Artists Deserve Every Cent

2010-08-22T19:21:00.000-07:00

Unbeknownst to the vast majority of music fans of the independent musician, climbing the ladder to 'success' in the music industry is a lot of work. It takes years of building networks, cultivating fans, practice, backbreaking work, and getting used to the word no. In the past, bands were just out of luck in getting their album distributed unless they could get signed via band managers to a record label. Playing clubs and promoting your band can get you a lot of attention, but you can't expect to make a lot of money without selling your music. Your fans want to be able to listen to you any time, and booking shows every weekend is almost a full time job.

Luckily times have changed drastically. In recent years due to the popularity of the internet. It is now easier than ever for an independent band to get their music distributed to their fans. I haven't performed a live gig in several years but am quite confortable selling my music over the internet as an independent musician. No band managers, no band politics, no egos. There is, however, quite a lot of work involved when distributing ones music exclusively on the internet as mp3 downloads. Having said this, I am slowly but surely turning my marketing and promotional activities into a well-oiled machine.

In the music industry, the musician is the only one that is going to have a sense of urgency in making your product available to the masses. A&R Coordinators get hundreds of demo cds a week, and may not even listen to their music if they they don't have a band manager to hound them. Even if they do get signed with a record label, they are dealing with hundreds or even thousands of other bands and musicians, so they aren't going to be their first priority. Making money in the music industry is not about live performances in the beginning. Independent musicians may make a little money from the club circuit, but chances are most of that will go to overhead costs like equipment, transportation, and practice space.

Selling their music is the best way to get money from their hard work right away. Getting distribution was hard for a long time, until the internet came along. The internet is receiving a lot of criticism from the music industry because of illegal downloads, but the popularity of internet shopping could work in favor of the internet musician. As previously mentioned, they don't have to be signed with a record label to record their music. It's not cheap, but they can purchase time in a recording studio to record quality, professional sounding albums. There is also new software that allows them to indulge in recording at home. This is a fraction of the cost of a professional studio but with the right audio recording software combined with the right 'ears,' (ideally a sound engineer), home recording is the way to go and I am already hearing vast differences in the quality of home recording efforts by independent musicians....and let's face it, audio recording software is only going to get better.

<a href="http://bobfindlay.bandcamp.com/album/mean-business">Snake Eyes by Bob Findlay</a>

Once an independent artist has recorded an album to the standard that the desire, they can offer them for sale from their website, Amazon and so forth. I have began distributing via Bandcamp. The player to your left allows you to listen to the entire "Mean Business" album as often as you wish. Should you want to buy it, enter the codeword thistle and receive a 50% discount....thus making the album only 5.00 AUD.

Promoting an album is easier than ever too. Not only can albums be offered for sale at shows, but independent artists can spread your website there as well. Loyal fans will spread the word of the music, and direct sales to the band webssite. Social networking sites are good for attracting new fans too. A link on a social networking site to the bands sales page will let new fans hear what the band is all about.

The independent musician chose to make music their career. Many musicians don't make a lot of money, but it doesn't have to be that way. Distributing ones own music is easy, and it promotes an independent band more effectively than what could possibly be done through word of mouth.

Independent musicians work hard. Don't let the speed of the internet fool you into thinking otherwise.

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mp3 Or CD?

2010-08-19T22:42:00.000-07:00

For musicians, most of the revenues come from the rights to their songs and the albums that they sell. For an independent musician especially, money can come in very slowly if at all. However, the power of the worldwide web can help them to gain higher profits. There are more resources than you can ever use available online. Plus, you can reach new fans anywhere in the world quickly and easily and sell them your music. Here is a look at ways that you can use the internet to your advantage as a music artist.

First, you need to take advantage of the independent music resources that are available to you online. These are numerous, and can be used to spread the word about your songs and music, as well as assist you with album sales. Chat rooms, websites, online radio broadcasts, communities of music lovers, and even online stores that sell music can all be ways for you to get your name and music out there. Remember, the people visiting these sites are already interested in music, and many times specifically your genre, so you will have a captive audience to listen to, critique, and purchase your music.

The internet is a literal pool of millions of music listeners and the people that create the music. Musicians of all types and all skill levels are available for download, so expect some competition. At the same time, many of these musicians are finding ways to profit from the demand for independent music online. Now is the time for you to get out and share your individual music and talents with a captive and awaiting audience.

Grab the 10-track album "Mean Business" for only $5 (AU) by entering the codeword thistle<a href="http://bobfindlay.bandcamp.com/album/mean-business">Snake Eyes by Bob Findlay</a>

Save Your Band Money

2010-07-19T16:27:00.000-07:00

Music promotion, having a plan and knowing the business of independent music makes the difference when it comes to being successful in today's indeoendent music industry.

You may have recorded a dynamite CD that sounds great! However if no one is paying attention, radio doesn't know you exist, and the CD's are just sitting around your apartment gathering dust it doesn't matter what you sound like. If this is you, chances are you have made one of the three common mistakes that many bands/artists make when breaking into the music business.

Mistake #1 You spend every last cent you had on making a top quality CD. You hired the best engineers and studio help that you could afford. You rented the best studio and equipment you could. It sounds logical, spend the money to make the best CD you can.

Unfortunately, failing to budget for promotions, including radio promotions' is one of the biggest mistakes that talented musicians make. They see the CD as the end product when in actuality it is just one piece of the puzzle' one part of the overall roadmap to success in the independent music business. Before you hit the studio to record, you need to find someone with experience in the music business, experience helping to plan and develop your music career goals. Part of this plan will be promotion; namely a manager. Any decent independent musicians manager won't hesitate to bring the bands credit card into play as they are ultimately accountable. Financially, it's their neck on the line, not that of the independent musician.

Mistake #2 One of the most tragic mistakes that a manager can make is signing a contract that relinquishes their bands publishing rights. Before signing any contract, especially those dealing with publishing rights, ensure that your manager speaks with an entertainment/contract attorney. Mistakes at this stage in your career can carry far reaching consequences. A penny saved today on attorney fees can cost you a fortune down the road when your song hits the top of the charts and you find out you no longer 'own' it.

Mistake #3 Self Promotion. You have a great CD, you own the publishing rights now you are going to get radio to play your music. So you get a list of radio stations and their addresses and you send them a copy of your CD. You include a nice 8x10 glossy picture and a brief bio of the band. Then you wait...and wait...and wait... and you don't get played on the radio.

Don't be surprised as well over 95% of all independent releases that cross a music director's desk never get heard. There are just too many to listen to and to little time. You have to be able to get a music director's attention - right away - or risk never being reviewed for airplay. You really need to find someone that has connections within the music-radio industry. If you want to be heard. There is so much more to getting radio to play your music then sending them a CD. A good promotion company or manager has spent years cultivating a relationship with key radio personnel. These people, music directors, trust a promoter to supply them with quality music. It is this trust, this relationship, that makes a promoter so valuable to an artist and so necessary.

So if you are an artist or a group that is trying to get your career moving in the right direction in the music business, avoid these costly mistakes and you will be miles ahead of those that don't.

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You Don't Need A Record Contract

2010-07-12T20:58:00.000-07:00

The Internet has made it easy for musicians to make money if they can hustle in the real world. With the right tools (plus a little talent), you can literally write a song in the morning, record it in the afternoon, and be making money off it that night as you sleep. The best part is that you don't even have to be a big star to do this. You just have to get out there and hustle.

At this point, you may be asking:

If it's so easy, why isn't everyone making a living by selling downloads on the Internet?

Steady on. I never said it was easy. There are a lot of pieces that need to fall into place, chief among them, talent. Only a tiny minority has the talent to write and perform songs that move people, and most of them lack the business sense to make money. If you have talent or have a friend or client with talent, read on, because I'm going to give you the step-by-step. You don't need a lot of business sense, just determination. This is a simple formula. It has worked on a limited (limited by my lack of time for performing) basis for me personally, and it has worked very well for others who have more time to devote to their passion.

For the sake of simplicity, let's say you have a catalog of songs to work with, all recorded and produced, dressed up and ready for the ball. If you don't have such a catalog, you need to start building it. After you have at least nine well produced songs, come back and read the rest of this article. Otherwise, you're just wasting your time.

The first thing you need to do is stop spending so much time on MySpace. It's an echo chamber in there, and even if you have a lot of friends, most people aren't going to buy anything. Even if they do buy it, your cut is minimal. Forget MySpace. Forget A&R. Forget record companies and iTunes. In this day and age, all you need is a guitar and a computer... and talent (did I mention that?). You can certainly use MySpace, but only on a very limited basis and only as a promotional tool to drive people where you really want them: to a site where they can exchange their money for your stuff, a site that is all yours and that doesn't involve any middlemen.

You've probably guessed that the next step is to build your store. Doing it right requires investing a little money - probably around $500-$1,000. You'll get it back in the first month, maybe even in the first day of going "live" if you already have a following. What you're building is more than a store, though. It's kind of like MySpace without the crappy-looking templates, middlemen, and sleazy underbelly (unless a sleazy underbelly is part of your brand, in which case you can do it much better in your own space than on MySpace). Here you will have a blog, photo galleries, videos, a forum, a gig calendar, an audio feed to broadcast stuff for free (people love free, and music is its own best advertisement).

The whole point of the thing is the store, though, really... and the gig calendar since that will make it easy for your fans to find you performing in the real world. In the store, you will sell downloads. You can sell CD's if you want, but I find them to be more trouble than they're worth. They cost a lot to get pressed and it's a hassle to ship them. If you have merchandise, you can sell it in your store, but be careful not to bite off more than you can chew; you will actually have to fill the orders.

Speaking of which: Set yourself up as a business. Register a business. Set up a business bank account. Talk to your lawyer about what kind of legal structure is best for your needs. If you don't have a lawyer or are just getting started, a sole proprietorship should do for a while. Eventually, you'll want to incorporate, though.

After your music is recorded, and your site is set up and working well, you are about 25 percent of the way there. The next step is the toughest and most critical: promotion. As mentioned, use any existing web presence to drive traffic to your new site, but I can pretty much guarantee that this will not be enough. Get out and perform at every opportunity. Make some stickers with your stage name and website address. Hand out free stickers at your gigs. Stick the stickers everywhere... without resorting to vandalism. Give them to your friends and have them stick them everywhere. But the most important thing is to perform.

Even if you have to play little coffee shops, open mics, or subway stations. Kick it live. Rock it as hard as you can. If you're any good, you'll see the traffic to your site grow. I guarantee it. As I mentioned before, I don't intend to perform my own music in the foreseeable future, but one occasion someone recognised me at the largest market in the state and asked for an autograph. I obliged. This happened only about 20 times that day. Each person got my autograph....on the back of my business card. 20 fans turned into 500 visitors within 24 hours, I don't know, but that's how it works. Hustle, hustle, hustle. When you're ready to collapse, hustle some more. You will reap rewards.

Get your 50% discount for "Mean Business" by entering the codeword: thistle

<a href="http://bobfindlay.bandcamp.com/album/mean-business">Snake Eyes by Bob Findlay</a>

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How Record Companies Really Work

2010-07-01T15:46:00.000-07:00

Music is an art, however, when it comes to the music industry Music is about money! If anyone or any company feels that your music will not make them money, there will be absolutely no interest in your music. That’s it in the nut shell. Remember, to always remember this. The Music Industry is about Money!

There are a few sources of money to be made in the music industry. They include but are not as limited as record companies will have you believe.

If you are an artist and want to get into the music business, you need 3 very important very good people in your corner batting for you on a daily basis. They include:

Personal Manager: The most of important of the three. They should have contacts in the music industry, keep on eye on all your affairs, advise you on things to do, help promote your music, producers to hire, who to sign with when to go on tour, etc. The personal manager will receive 15% and 20% of an artists gross earnings and have good contacts with record companies A&R, Marketing / Sales, and Promotion departments.

Music Attorney: A good attorney specializing in the music will know how to properly negotiate and structure the deals an artist makes. They should have good contacts and be trust worthy. Expect to pay between 100 and 200 per hour for a good music attorney. If an attorney thinks you will get signed, they forego a set fee and charge a percentage of artist’s earnings. In bigger cities, you’ll pay more than in smaller cities.

Music Agent: Book concerts and special appearances. A Personal Manager will help the artist with selecting a good agent.

If you blow up and start generating the big money, then a good Manager / Accountant will be needed to handle your tax situation, review royalty statements, financing tours, offer invest advice and how to manage your money.

Getting recognized by mailing your demo to record labels isn’t impossible, however, 99.9% of the time your material will not get listened to. Even if you have the best song on the planet, it will not be listened to. Record labels want to limit their liability, so they do not listen to unsolicited music. Record labels don’t want to listen to numerous songs and then be held liable if someone claims their material was copied.

If you do decide to mail your CD to record label, send the “solicited” material. First get a contact, preferably an individual in the Artists & Repertoire (A&R) department. Call and first speak to someone. After sending your CD follow up to determine if the targeted individual received your material and another follow up call to determine if it was listened to. Submit 3 to 6 songs and send a bio and picture of yourself. Again this isn’t the preferred way to submit your material to major record labels.

Until you have music business advisors in your corner trying to promote you and there is a “buzz” going around about you, your demo will not reach the decision makers at the record labels. Record companies on a daily basis receive thousands of unsolicited CDs. Most likely your CD will be tossed into a bin located in a remote room filled with overflowing bins of CDs.

Record labels like to deal with artists who have a history of record sales. These are artist that may have produced and sold their own CDs locally or regionally. Record labels like to deal with artists who have performed their material and there is this “buzz” going on about them. MC Hammer, before he became famous, performed his own materials and sold his own records until a major record label signed him. MC Hammer had a lot of leverage in negotiating a good contract because he already proved on a local basis he could sell records.

Record companies want to limit their liability. If you are signed, you are considered an investment that will require some money and they want to see a premium return on their money invested in you. The more you can prove that you can sell record, the better chance you can get signed.

If you get signed to a record company, you the artist will go into the studio and record songs for the record company. The record company makes copies of the master recording and ships it to a distributor. The distributor is a wholesaler who then sells the CDs to retail outlets like Best Buy, Sam Goody and Tower Records. The record company then pumps money into marketing by advertising and promoting your music with hopes of selling records, thus making you a superstar and becoming rich!

It is not as easy as it sounds. It takes a lot of hard work by a talented group of people. Everyone has to work together to make this happen. There are usually many people behind the scenes working to make an artist a superstar.

Record companies often categorized into 4 groups: · Major label record companies - have the recording and operating resources to complete all function to sell records. Major label record companies are integrated in that they can handle the promotion, sales, marketing, and distribution to sell music. Major label record companies are Arista, Atlantic, Capital, and Sony.

· Major label affiliate labels – have special agreements with the major label record companies, where the major label may fund the smaller labels recording and operating expenses in exchange for a portion of the smaller label profits.

· Independent labels - distributes records through major labels. Independent labels have few employees. They tend to find talent, sign the talent, sees to it the music is recorded and contracts with major record labels to perform the promotion, marketing, and other functions.

· True independent labels – Has no association with a major label and distribute their music through independent distributors.

The A&R (Artists & Repertoire) Department

The A&R department is the talent scout. They are in charge of finding new talents. They are the eyes and ears of the record company. However, not because you get signed to a record label because an A&R representative likes you it doesn’t mean your CD will ever get produced and released. Executives higher in the company could cancel your deal if they feel your CD will not sell. A record company will have to invest several hundred thousands of dollars to release your CD, so they will be extremely cautious on whom they release.

The Marketing and Sales Department

This department is responsible for getting the public excited about your music and first selling to retail stores the idea of carrying your CD. They are responsible for promotional merchandise, advertising your CD, in store displays, publicity, your CD cover, etc.

The Promotions Department

This department is responsible for getting your music played on the radio. The individuals in this department will visit the various radio stations to convince them to play your material. If your material doesn’t get played, no one will now how you are. People will look at your CD in the retail store and wonder who you are. There is also a direct correlation with CD sales vs. how many times a song for that CD gets played on the radio. More air time on the radio equals more CD sales for the record companies.

Remember music is art, but to the record companies, it’s about money. Keep in mind that it’s a business. Keep in mind everyone is out to make money. The minute people believe that you will not make money for them, you will be dropped and these same people will turn to seek other new artists that they believe will make them money. Unfortunately, the record business doesn’t believe in grooming people. If your first CD isn’t a success, you are out. There are rarely second chances. There are always other talented people behind you who what their shot at fame.

Distribution: Most major retailers such as Tower records will not carry a CD unless the record has a distributor. A strong distributor ensures that your CD will be available in enough places so your CD will sell to ultimately make money. Major labels use large distributors who are better able to get record stores stocked. After years of consolidation, there are only 5 major national wholesale distributors in the US who are owned by conglomerates who also own major record labels. They are:

· BMG (distributes Arista, BMG and RCA)

· EMI (distributes Capital and Virg.)

· Sony Music (distributes Columbia, Epic and Sony)

· Universal Music Group (distributes Interscope, Island/Def Jam, and MCA)

· WEA (distributes Atlantic, Elektra and Warner Bros.)

Distribution via the Internet Record labels and artists are increasingly using the web to distribute their music. Unknown artists can also use sites like this mZeus.com, http://www.mZeus.com, to generate buzz about their music. However, unknown artists will still have to work hard to get the buzz going about their music. Ultimately, signing a contract with a major record label is the way to go. The major record labels have the financial muscle and people to give you a good shot at becoming famous.

Let’s face it. It’s all about money! Yes, the entertainment industry seems fun and exciting, but people are in it to make money. As an artist the most important contract in the music industry is the record contract. The royalty is a portion of money from record sales paid to the artist for his/her music. The record contract which is a negotiated legal agreement between the record label and artist will state how much royalty an artist is entitled to among other things.

An artist should have a good understanding of how royalties are calculated. A good music attorney will help with this process by making sure the artist is paid what he/she deserves. A 13% royalty for one artist may be a lot of money, however a 13% royalty for another maybe “chump change”.

So this is how the numbers work. An artist successfully signs a record contract. The artist goes to the studio and work diligently to create a CD that the record company fully supports. The record company via its distributor sells the CD with a suggested retail list price (SRLP) of $17.99 to a retailer for about $10.99. The distributor will take 10% - 14% of the $10.99. Therefore the record company will get about ½ the SRLP of $17.99. Independent record companies may receive less than ½ the SRLP. Major record companies will pay artist royalty as a percentage of SRLP.

Rates will vary of each artist depending on how successful their record sells. For a new artist who never had a record deal or has sold less than 100,000 albums will get a typical royalty rate of 12% to 14% of the SRLP. For an independent record label it maybe 10% to 14% of the SRLP. For established artists who have a track record of selling 200,000 to 500,000 albums the royalty rate maybe 14% to 16%. For artists who have sold over 750,000 albums the royalty rates maybe 16% to 18%. As you can see, the more successful the artist is, the higher the royalty. Additionally, royalty maybe based on how well the record sells. For instance, the record contract may state that an artist will get 12% for the first 100,000 units sold, 14% for 100,001 to 300,000 units sold, and 16% for over 300,000 units sold.

But hold your horses. If you sell 500,000 albums and have a royalty rate of 12% doesn’t mean you will get 12% of 500,000 at a SRLP of $17.98 which would equal $1,078,800. This is because as specified in the record contract, there are deductions (expenses) that have to be deducted.

To start off the bat, the record company will deduct a “packaging charge” from the SRLP which is typically 20% for cassettes and 25% for CDs.

Second, more often the artist is responsible for paying the record producer a portion of his/her royalties. Typically a producer will receive 3% to 4% of the SRLP.

Third, in the record business, the contract may state that the artist’s only generates royalties on 85% of the unit sales. For every 100 albums sold, 15 albums sold, the artist gets no royalty.

Forth, the record company will hold a portion of the royalty money because the distributor typically has an agreement with the retail outlets to take back and credit the retail stores money from unsold units. This is very important, because a good portion of your album could be returned to the record company if the album doesn’t sell! The money that’s held back is called a reserve. Reserves maybe held for 2 years before it’s paid to the artist. Typically a major record label will hold a reserve of 25% to 40% of the royalties.

Fifth, advances paid from the record company to the artist are deducted from the artist’s royalty. Advances include but are not limited to the:

· Recording studio expenses (new artists to an independent my get an advancement of $0 to $80,000, new artist to a major record label $150,000 to $400,000

· Hiring independent promoters to help sell the albums

· Cost of making a music video (promotions and an inexpensive music video can cost $150,000 to $200,000.

When money is made for the record sales, these costs are deducted from the artist’s royalties. This is called re-coupment. Therefore, if the artist’s record isn’t successful, the artist may never see a dime. If the royalties are less than the deductions, they artists may well owe the record company money by being in the red! This negative cost maybe carried over to the next album release. A good record contract will not allow a negative cost from one album to be carried over to another album (cross collateralization). If there isn’t another album the record company generally eats the loss.

There are many other costs that the record company will not charge the artists. This includes marketing and in-house promotions (free CD give away, etc.).

So how much does an artist make for a gold album (500,000 albums sold).

Check out the math:

CD (suggested retail list price SRLP) = $ 17.99 Less CD Packaging of 20% = $ -4.50 NET = $ 13.49 Times: Net artist royalty rate (12% - 3% to producer) = X 9% Gross royalty per CD (9% of $13.48) = $ 1.21 Times 500,000 albums = $ 500,000 SUB TOTAL = $ 605,00 Times: Royalty bearing % (15% o = no royalty) = X 85% Gross Royalty = $ 514,250 Less advances: Recording, promo, music video, tour = $ -350,000 TOTAL ROYALTY TO ARTIST = $ 164,250 - Reserves (35%) returned by retailer) = $ -57,487.50 (1) ACTUAL ROYALTY PAID TO ARTIST = $ 106,762.50

(1)Reserves will be paid to artist in 2 years if no CDs returned by retailer

Remember the artist still has to pay TAXES! Don’t forget Uncle Sam has to get his cut! Also, don’t forget the Personal Manger, the Attorney, the Accountant, the Agent and other numerous expenses.

However, there are many other royalties that an artist can acquire. They include, Record Clubs, Compilation CDs, Samplers (low-priced albums in which a few artists are featured), Premiums (albums sold with other products, such as cereal), Film Soundtrack Album, Music Video Sales, Greatest Hit’s Album, Foreign Royalties (song played in some foreign country radio stations pay royalties, unlike the US), Master Use License (music used in a movie, television, commercial, the Internet, CD-ROM and DVD), etc.

Of course because of the Internet, the rules royalties are changing. Many people now buy their music via the Internet. Just think, no packaging required and no distribution to traditional retail stores needed. Some websites allow customers to buy individual songs as oppose to an album. Changes are currently taking place on how royalties are calculated because of the Internet. Many attorneys are pushing to have royalties be based on each song sold as oppose to each album sold. So stay tuned!

Musical Options

2010-06-06T19:06:00.000-07:00

The only 'constant' in the world is change. This is pretty hard to dispute and why anyone would bother is beyond my realm of interest. I am finding, however, that people are increasingly bemoaning commercial music as all sounding the same. To an ever-increasing extent they have a valid point and it has been the subject of many an interesting conversation in the now global music world.

With an exhaustive list of genres of music, ranging from emo to disco, country and western, blues, rock and roll, heavy and ambient to name but a few one wonders how music can begin to sound the same. The obvious answer to this is that most music lovers only regularly listen to two or perhaps three genres of music.

Prior to the advent of the phonograph and radio people would listen exclusively to live music. This could be a neighbour playing an acoustic guitar or banjo, the local choir or a few friends having a singalong. Maybe even parts of all of the above. Irrespective, they were listening to live music without all of todays' glitz such as massive P.A. systems, screaming crowds, dazzling light shows and outrageous ticket sales. These small gatherings many years ago were simply part of life and no thought was given to the intimacy and 'realness' of hearing music performed live. There was also the option of not attending such gatherings.

As time and thus technology progressed people were able to listen to music on their phonograph or radio. A phonomenal advent at the time to think that one could listen to music that was not only from a different country but was also of a genre' that they had never heard before.

It was at this point, the point where people could choose which genre' of music that they could listen to, that musical commercialism in its' earliest form arose. Radio stations, record labels and record stores popped up left, right and centre as people sought out their favourite artist. This led to great anticipation of the next song to be made available by their artist of choice.

The next thing to occur was a flood of different artists and different genres of music from all over the world. Music has always been a global affair but it took technology to unite it. Again, this was an extremely exciting, creative and productive time for world music. In the grand scheme of things, however, it wasn't too long before music became a competition with every participant racing for the golden egg; namely money.

As music became more readily accessible this competition became rather vicious with lawyers and large corporations becoming involved. Large corporations and lawyers don't belong anywhere near music but the sad fact is that they have made themselves so.

When the internet began, the floodgates were open to all and sundry as people have access to so much music and are willing to pay through the teeth for it in droves. I view this 'syndrome' as the dumb leading the dumber. I am yet to fathom the necessity of a tiny device that can store more songs than can be listened to in a lifetime.

Music marketing became so 'in your face' and one-sided that it made me feel ill. It still does. Seeing the same names, images and song titles at every turn have numbed me to it all. Although my personal preference is rock and roll, I am in no way prejudicial to these ever present 'big names.' I have gone out of my way to listen to their material objectively and to be perfectly honest I think consumers are being roped in and robbed blind.

I have noticed, however, in very recent times music sites such as Nimbit which allow the artist to set their own price for downloads are increasing in 'searchability.' Despite Googles' latest venture in making artists searchable directly from their toolbar in conjunction with iLike I doubt very much that this will benefit independent musicians. I am uncertain as to how this will affect music sales and have discussed this topic in detail elsewhere.

Only this morning I received an email from ReverbNation saying that they had finally launched their much awaited webstore. On further investigation I noted that the software they are using is identical to that of Audiolife.

With the likes of Bandcamp, Nimbit, Reverbnation and Audiolife making it possible for independent artists to make their material available for purchase with no up-front costs things are definitely looking more promising for grass roots independent musicians. Promotion and growing a loyal fanbase, leading to music sales can now be placed firmly in the hand of the artist as opposed to the invisible people who have had too much control for too long.

Discount Voucher Code For "Redemption" is: raunchy

<a href="http://bobfindlay.bandcamp.com/album/redemption">(You & Your) Poison Pen by Bob Findlay</a>

Sell You Music Before Your First Performance

2010-06-01T21:55:00.000-07:00

The vast majority of independent musicians are of the opinion that they had entered a new frontier when the advent of internet music thrust itself upon the world, only to be hunted down by unscrupulous corporations & bled for every penny that they are worth. The harsh reality is the unscrupulous corporations were here well before we were.

These sharks were circling before we even arrived!

These guys had such a head start it's laughable! They knew the ropes & what was coming next and being in the positions they were, all they had to do was what they would do were musicians any other commodity. Wait for the market to be willingly flooded by products that PAID to be there and make sickening amounts of money on the trickledown effect for them almost as an afterthought.

Yes, we were all dazzled when we first saw our photo & bio on iTunes or Amazon & heard our songs being played on fancy little widgets. How long did THAT novelty last before you realised something wasn't adding up?!? Some folks still enjoy that superficial side of the internet which is, sadly, only perpetuating a badly flawed system.

Never Mind The BoLLockS!

The horse has bolted on the online music industry for the small-time independent musician as far as creative freedom, financial viability & competitive conditions. “What can we do, Bob” I think I hear you think.

Firstly, instead of emailing ME, post the overall angst of your emails to sites that provide message boards & forums.*

(*Don't get me wrong, I DO appreciate your emails*)

Keep it tidy. Keep it clean. You're on display.

Introduce yourself on these boards & get involved, but conduct yourself in a professional manner. These boards are excellent places to subliminally advertise yourself for FREE!!!

How many musicians go to such places? Why is this? Because it's not “cool.” Well,

forget about being “cool.” That died off in the 70s. If you're being yourself, then you're cool.

Make a point in these forums, on these boards & in discussion groups of making music LISTENERS aware of how the online industry is actually run, the actual pressure put on independent musicians (use yourself as an example to personalise the message) to provide free music & how much this 'free' music costs YOU. Make mention of how you feel cornered & overpowered by the big guns & how dedicated & serious music listeners are being seriously misled instead of being given the TRUTH by those who can afford to force-feed the market. In other words, call it as you see it.

You can PRE-SELL an album here!

I receive EXTREMELY surprised & genuine feedback from music lovers from these forums. I have been as surprised by their misconceptions as they are aggravated by

the way the online music industry operates.

The most effective way of informing music lovers of the state of the online music industry is to write to YOUR followers. ReverbNation & Facebook in particular allow you to write DIRECTLY to your followers. It doesn't get more personal than THAT online.

Spend some time writing your letter, keeping it concise & relevant. Save a copy and use the same letter for wherever else you have the ability to email followers of your music. Point out how music lovers are being kept in the dark about online music without even REALISING it. Avoid 'ranting & raving' & stick to the facts. Making the reader feel 'involved' isn't even a task as they already ARE involved. Suggesting any course of action is purely up to you & you WILL be humbled by the dedication of your followers. Believe me, I know.

Complacency doesn't work.

As irritating & time-consuming as it may seem, 'read the fine print' on every online document before agreeing to ANYTHING. Yes, they all appear to be the same and yes, certain online places suggest you skip the formalities & tick 'I Agree.' After being seconds from entering several song competitions when I initially began in the online music industry when I scrolled down to read of the 'non-refundable fee.'

WHY organisations practise this subversive activity is, to my mind, far from ethical. They are, of course, 'legally' entitled to operate this way but it's not in the spirit of what music is all about.

YOU can help keep the online music scene real.

Discount Voucher Code for "Redemption" is: raunchy

<a href="http://bobfindlay.bandcamp.com/album/redemption">(You & Your) Poison Pen by Bob Findlay</a>

Come Gather Round People, Wherever You Roam.

2010-02-19T16:29:00.000-08:00

Not many

musicians actually start off with the notion of making a career out of it but when the remotest of possibility of this becoming real occur, people tend to literally lose their minds. All of a sudden they begin to dress differently, speak differently, behave differently and worst of all treat people differently, depending on who they are. We perform music. That's all. Anything that happens either side of this is for the musician & the music enthusiast to opt to pursue....or not.

Primarily we're performing for people who truly enjoy our music and enjoy it enough purchase it and provide well-informed feedback that displays that they are actually listening. Some musicians, however, are 'performing' for solely for major distributors hoping that somehow, some major player will find their needle which is placed in a multitude of haystacks. This is no musical performance. This is when the seedy business side comes into play.

It is here that my grievances with so-called 'music distributors' begins.

Firstly, from a musicians perspective, these organisations couldn't care less who you are....and they don't. Keep paying your annual/monthly subscription and they'll continue on their merry way, oblivious to the fact that you're even there.

They have their subsidiaries telling eager independent artists the benefits of this, that and the other....ALL of which are at a cost and from what I've seen & heard, do little to further the musicians career.

Perhaps if independent musicians were shown the tiniest piece of courtesy & ALLOWED IN to this equation that, in theory, revolves around them & their followers, I suspect they would not be getting somewhat annoyed, as I am aware they are.

In 2009 this was highlighted when Warner Music Group finally managed to get iTunes to introduce their variable pricing scheme.

This allowed them to increase single downloads from their usual 99c as high as $1.29 and as LOW as 69c. The immediate result was a marked downturn in sales. It's infuriating to note that this was implemented during a global financial recession. Doh!

Interestingly the word 'musician' didn't feature in that equation. Hhhmmmm.

I found this news EXTREMELY heartening as music enthusiasts were able to make their displeasure known by not blindly following these price increases.

With the recent launch of the iPad, I am wondering if the same greed will hit such a tranquil activity as reading. It's common knowledge that the digital book industry has been working hard to increase THEIR prices. The great advantage that the ebook industry has is that it is early in the 'adoption cycle' which is a much stronger position to be in as far as securing financial flexibility.

With the book publishing industry having more flexibility than the music industry ever had, us consumers are left wondering which way the balance will swing. With Apple raising prices above $9.99 so early in proceeding, will this over-ride the other option of lowering prices & selling more ebooks.

Sometimes I just feel like just going out & buying an L.P. and a paperback.

Complete Blues Guitar Method: Beginning Blues Guitar

Your Ad Here

Garageband And ilike For Newbies

2010-01-22T16:18:00.000-08:00

Whether it's a global phenomona or purely reserved for Australia, Garageband.com is very much an under-rated site for independent musicians.

Returning to the music industry in a recording capacity early in 2007, Garageband.com was one of the first sites that I staggered across. Initially I was somewhat wary, as I usually am, about the site as there is great emphasis on 'get this.' This is my green light to run away but for some reason I didn't.

Before creating an account at Garageband.com, I'd suggest creating a musicians account at iLike.com.

I'll get to that part further on. Once you have your iLike.com musicians profile hot-to-trot, jump back to Garageband.com and we're ready for business. Bare in mind that I'm giving you a combination of Garageband.com procedures and my own personal preferences. I'll be sure to clearly delineate the two.

Using the same login details on Garageband.com as iLike.com create your profile. Keep your profile blurb concise and consistent with any others. The next step is to go to your 'garage.' This is where you enter your artists' name. Once that's done, on the right of your page, to the right of your bands' picture is the option (amongst others) to 'upload a song.' The steps are clearly set out. Songs can be uploaded at 128kbs. Details such as 'sounds like who,' I find somewhat pointless,as I do with 'song lyrics.' I soon tired of 'song description' too but these choices are obviously yours.

Prior to clicking 'upload' there is the option to make a song 'free download,' free for Garageband.com fans' or 'streaming only.' Choose carefully here as changes may take up to 24 hours to take effect. These options are followed by the obligatory legal spiel, below which is a somewhat pseudo-cool statement to the effect of "....smoke something that you rolled yourself while the upload is in progress....." Oh, please.

I have had no problems uploading to Garageband.com but do find the absence of a progress bar somewhat irksome. Uploads take about as much time as it takes me to boil the kettle, make a coffee and smoke two or three things that come in a packet, courtesy of Rothmans....about twenty minutes. You are notified by email. Click the link and you're taken back to your 'garage' where a low-bit-rate and a hi-bit-rate version of your track awaits your approval. It isn't necessary to play either version prior to clicking 'approve' but I'd strongly recommend it.

That's the bare bones of Garageband.com from an independent musicians perspective. There are, as per usual, the paid promotional offer and subscriptions, etc. Additionally, Garageband.com seems very big on reviewing other artists. I managed to do four before I realised that reviewers are judged (!), hence I haven't bothered since. (Judged against what or who, I don't know). As mentioned, like most other music sites, the actual music isn't the priority for Garageband.com. Having said this, I can guarantee that you won't be bombarded with emails with 'special offers' and so forth.

The major plus with Garageband.com is that your music, once uploaded, will transfer to your iLike.com artists page. This can take anywhere from a few hours to over 24 hours.

I have found that the longer your Garageband.com and iLike.com pages are active, the speed of transfer increases. Don't waste five minutes trying to upload directly to iLike.com as you'll only be re-directed to Garageband.com.

iLike.com is perhaps the goose laying the golden egg with regard to online promotion for independent musicians. Although it doesn't come at any physical cost, there are a few 'quirks' that could be improved upon.

The fact that one doesn't have a remotely accurate time-frame for new releases arriving there unlike with Nimbit where a release can be planned to the second, makes concise pre-promotion impossible, so a "coming soon" has to suffice. If your band has quite a few tracks that you want to upload and upload them a day or even days apart, these uploads usually only show in the updates section to your fans as all being released simultaneously. This sluggish response time on the part of iLike.com is also reflected if you decide that you wish to 'hide' a song that has been uploaded. It can take up to 72 hours and even then the song title is still visible.

Another aspect to be aware of with iLike.com is that fans, and possibly yourself, when they play any of your songs, are given the impression that they are for sale on iTunes. Unless you have made that song for sale on iTunes, then this is not the case and is out and out deception. I have contacted Garageband.com, iLike.com and iTunes on this matter and have received a deafening silence in return.

Having pointed these drawbacks out, there are many strong positives regarding iLike.com for the independent musician. iLike.com has always been a major player on the music promotion front but since jumping into bed with Google mid-late 2009, it really has surged ahead.

Getting in as soon as possible to iLike.com and having a solid profile page is, without question, the best start that any independent musician can have as far as 'searchability.' I am in no way engouraging you to dive in head-first with every song that you have ever recorded; quite the opposite. Plan everything.

It is imperative that your bio and website are exactly as you want them. Once your iLike.com page is into Google, there's a whole lotta people who are going to be seeing it; whether they want to or not. Have everything in place before you press a single button.

From your artists page you can post updates to your fans, post messages directly to Twitter, view statistics, write blogs, send new songs to your fans there. Videos can also be uploaded directly to iLike.com with no fuss at all. Additionally, all of these activities can be easily transferred to other sharing sites. In my instance it's generally to the Bob Findlay Music Page on Facebook. Embeddable playlists are a simple affair to set up too and a step-by-step guide is provided. I would recommend, however, that you place your playlists on sites with light-coloured backgrounds as the playlists appear as dark blue only.

Outside of the excellent promotional nature of iLike.com, the fact that it really is a low-maintenance site for the independent musician is the icing on the cake. I've found that this allows more time for interaction with people who enjoy what I'm doing, as opposed to be a seething lunatic waiting for a song to upload and generally not being in the mood for pleasantries by the end of it.

Listeners at iLike.com are very much music enthusiasts. To become a listener there they too have to have a profile page, so someone isn't going to go out of their way to create a page because they like your music unless they really mean it. Likewise, listeners who are already there are less likely to add you as an artist if there's any chance of it jeopardising their credibility.

Pay no heed to the numbers of fans on iLike.com. Quality counts. This should apply anywhere.

Accidentally Like A Martyr

2009-10-25T01:38:00.000-07:00

For the purposes of this entry in which I shall be discussing the recording process measured against the end result, I'll be talking of my own recording escapades over the last two or so

At the risk of sounding patronising, which I'm not (I save that for 'real life'), most people who listen to music and have no connection with musicians don't give any thought as to how a song actually comes to fruition. I certainly didn't until my early teens.

I have been asked by countless people where a song comes from plenty of times and it's such a broad question that any number of perfectly reasonable answers could be given. My answer has been the same ever since I began writing. It usually stems from a line of an overheard conversation or, more commonly, when I'm sitting out the back thinking of nothing in particular.

This is the embryo of the song. It may only be a few seconds in length but it's more than enough to run with. I get particularly enthused if a part of a bass-line enters me. It's a cakewalk once that foundation is there. Words have always come easily to me, infact I've never spent more than 20 minutes sitting with a pen & paper writing lyrics.

This doesn't mean that they come instantly. I may have been sitting on a notion for days, weeks or months. Finding words to rhyme & make sense have never been much trouble either. I DO pay particular attention to phrasing, emphasising particular words & even half-speaking some. Let's face it, a song is a story put to music. Bob Dylan and the late Warren Zevon are the best two for this by light years that I have encountered.

Sometimes my songs are from personal experience but I often swap from singing in the first person to singing in the second person. I often swap the gender of the subject of a song. Why? I have no idea. I guess it's just how a song was meant to leave me. I'm rather fond of the notion that pieces of music are floating around everywhere and every now and again 'converge' within someone who is able to convey them.

Once written and firmly entrenched in my head, the next step is to record it. To do so, one must have instruments, recording equipment, a place to record & the time to do it. I've had a small mixing desk and all of the necessary instruments for many years. One also has to know how to operate the recording equipment. Initially this is very time-consuming but after a while one gets the hang of what frequency will suit what vocal best or what guitar effect will suit a particular song best. My effects are very limited as I prefer that 'pub sound' so I can literally mix blindfolded....but not quite.

Once the song is recorded to the standard that I'm happy enough with, the next thing to do is to get it onto the internet. One needs a computer for this and some know-how about converting sound files. Again, more expense and time.

I've heard many songwriters prattle on about the weeks of torment & anguish that they subjected themselves to in order to 'capture' a song. Firstly, a song isn't there to be captured. It's either there or it isn't. Deliberately subjecting oneself to torment and anguish for the sake of a 3 or 4 minute song is either lunacy or a lie.

Due to the life that I've led I have plenty of horrific memories to draw on if I wanted to go down that road. I do throw snippets in now and again but always ensure the song has an upbeat and thought-provoking message.

So, to the casual listener, every song that you hear on the radio or on your iPod or wherever has an awful lot more go into it than the few minutes that you hear.

Every single song can't possibly have a price put on it. One download of 99c nowhere NEAR reflects the time and money spent on even making that song available to you to purchase. The fact that it has been made available for you to purchase instantly would have been laughed at not so long ago.

Irrespective of how quickly the internet can make this option possible, the fact remains that the songwriter & recording artist still has to put the same amount of time, money and effort in to getting their songs to the public.

This leaves many a musician the dilemma of how to price their music. Had my surname been Dylan I imagine I'd be selling an unfathomable amount of material at much higher prices. As it stands my surname is Findlay and I make every effort possible to make my material not only easily accessible but also as affordable as possible. Only recently I have made my commercial releases available as physical CDs at 'audiolife' at more than competitive prices.

Gone are the days of me making many songs streamable or free downloads. My songs are as important and as personal to me as any 'major' musician. I may not recall the entire lyrics of all of my songs but I can give you an in-depth description of what each song is about, why it was written & what it means to me.

So any song that you may hear from independent artists, bare in mind the time, money and emotional effort that goes into those 3 or 4 minutes.

The Jugglers & The Clowns.

2009-10-24T00:17:00.000-07:00

"You never turned around to see the frowns

on the jugglers and the clowns

when they did their tricks for you....."

One can interpret this particular line of Bob Dylans in so many ways. For the purpose of this entry I'll be borrowing it to use with regard to the music caper. It's so blatant that the frowning jugglers and clowns performing tricks are the musicians trying to make something of what they enjoy doing.

They do this for a number of reasons. Initially it's out and out enjoyment but listening to ones' own music wears pretty thin, to this writer at least, after a very short time. The next logical thing to do is to have others hear it. If enough people enjoy it then it's obviously worth pursuing further if one feels that need. This is where things begin to 'bend.' By bend I mean one can lose ones' focus.

Not many musicians start off with the notion of making a career out of it but when the remotest of possibilities of this becoming real occur, people tend to literally lose their minds. All of a sudden they begin to dress differently, speak differently, behave differently and worst of all treat people differently, depending on who they are.

I consider myself fortunate in that, ever since I was old enough to be allowed, I've always liked wearing drainpipe jeans, winkle-picker boots & truckloads of jewellery. My hair has varied from being down to my backside, shaved bald and even bleached white more than once. By the time I became known as a musician, no-one batted an eyelid at my appearance. Even now I can walk around the small town where I live and be 'normal.' This is, unfortunately, not the case in other towns and cities in Tasmania....so I don't leave here much.

The most irritating aspect that I find with some musicians is that they seem to think they're doing the world a favour merely by being present. We all know the sorts; the ones' who look around to see who's looking at them. I've been introduced to many such folks who overly-proudly introduce themselves. More than once I've replied, "Neither am I."

So us musicians, us jugglers and clowns, are performing tricks for whom? We're performing our little tricks for an unbelievably constipated mass. So congested is the internet that one really has no idea of who and how many people really dig our music.

Primarily we're performing for people who truly enjoy our music and enjoy it enough to purchase it and provide well-informed feedback that displays that they are actually listening. Some musicians are also doing their tricks for major distributors hoping that somehow, some major player will find their needle which is placed in a multitude of haystacks.

Far from being a frowning juggler or clown, I'm more than happy getting my music across to people who may get enjoyment from it. I have made it as accessible and affordable as I can for those who enjoy it enough to download it, infact just this week I have found an avenue for making physical CDs available. This happened one day prior to me being asked (again) if I had any CDs for sale. I was absolutely over the moon to finally be able to say "Yes."

I shall continue recording in the knowledge that there are a few folks paying attention and will also be continually on the lookout for cheaper alternatives for people.....happily.

Positively 4th Street

2009-10-20T00:56:00.000-07:00

If you're familiar with the Bob Dylan song "Positively 4th Street" then you have a fair idea of where this entry is headed. If you haven't heard the song, may I suggest brandy....and plenty of it....before reading further.

If you've read anything at all about me then you'll be aware of my 23 year long battle with alcohol abuse, namely vodka. It has cost me almost everything and has caused untold distress to those close to me, an avenue that I don't discuss.

Having pushed things as far as I could without actually dying by drinking two bottles of vodka daily for the majority of last five years as an 'active' alcoholic I have learned more than a thing or two. I never have and never will profess to being 100% sober. Putting a mountain like that in front of oneself is tempting fate.

One of the major things that I have learned over the last two or so years is that people rarely give genuine responses. It is almost impossible to gauge this on the internet, but not quite. I'll get to that shortly.

Returning to the title of this entry I temporarily re-discovered so many people who seemed to have vanished during my darkest times. In no way am I blaming them for this. Who would want to see a shuffling, bloated zombie who used to be the life of the party, whether it was a party or not? So far gone was I that I didn't notice. I rarely left the house and my phone was constantly off the hook. I was quite content (so I thought) listening to Warren Zevon, Dylan, The Stones an so forth at full blast with a cup of vodka in one hand, cigarette in the other gazing at the rather scenic view from my window.

On more than one occasion I 'woke up' to find myself in hospital, wondering why I had a beard and tubes hanging out of me. These occurrences became life-threateningly closer together.

It wasn't until a few months after I had moved back to my parents house in Stanley on Tasmanias' far North-West coast in April 2007 and was 'stable' enough to do something musical again that I began recording. Very soon after this I was doing rather well on the internet and was actually selling some physical CDs too.

Then came the 'friends' who had vanished all full of praise, pats on the back and so forth. I've never been one to manage compliments well; I get embarrassed. What else can one say to a compliment except "Thank you?"

Having played in bands since the age of 16 I've become almost immune to compliments and insults alike....almost. These long-lost friends really got up my nose. It takes a lot to irritate me to the point of responding but I have. Firstly I don't reply to them at all online. I also don't take their calls. Most commonly I respond in more than a few of my songs. It's usually a single line or word that only they will know about. This is generally followed by loud bleating almost to the point of hilarity. The wiser ones say and do nothing. I like that.

I was particularly annoyed when asked to attend a barbeque or some such gathering and "...play a few songs..." or "....can I have a copy of your new CD?" Is it just me or was I quite within my rights to remind them that I hadn't seen them for several years and that I wasn't a f***in' puppet?

As far as the internet goes, it's too easy to click a button to 'like' something or type a few words to that effect. Equally, it is just as easy to badmouth an individual without their knowledge.....for a while. Eventually, search-engines and 'Google alerts' trip people up without them even knowing. Anything written on the net can pop up at the most unexpected times.

Even something someone might say can trip them up internet-wise. Case in point: Just last week I was in the supermarket. A young girl who knows my parents but not me literally corners me and says (loudly), "I love your new album, Bob!" I could only assume that she was referring to "Catharsis." As a joke I asked her how much she paid for it (there is only one price). The dumbfounded look on her face and the deafening silence saw me shuffle off smirking in search of eggs.

It's all very well to congratulate someone but I guess my horrific experience with alcohol abuse has made me somewhat cynical and reluctant with regard to the actual sincerity of compliments. They're a terribly difficult thing to quantify. Those who know me know full-well that what may sound a rather negative blog entry is far from it. It's intent is to let people know that I still treat compliments with suspicion and at best, even at 42 years of age, I still do get embarrassed by them. Luckily not too many folks get to see me blush these days.

"Do you take me for such a fool,

to think I'd make contact,

with one who tries to hide

what it don't know to begin with." (Bob Dylan).

Silvio, Silver And Gold

2009-10-14T23:00:00.000-07:00

"....Silvio, silver and gold. Can't buy back the beat of a heart grown cold...."

The simplicity and depth of this line from the Bob Dylan song "Silvio" still blows me away. "Why?"....I think I hear you think. Those true of heart musically can never be 'bought' into music that they don't believe in.

This is not to say that because your favourite band puts out a clanger that they should be burned at the stake along with anything else they've ever done. Every band puts out clangers. Even 'The Beatles' on side 4 of "The Beatles" (more commonly known as "The White Album"). 'Number 9' the track is called. Personally, I think it should have been called 'Bad Acid Trip.'

Less than two years later they were standing on top of the Abbey Road Studios, freezing, pumping out 'The One After 909' which is a classic rocker penned by Lennon back in 1959.

My favourite band, The Rolling Stones, have had plenty. On listening to the first four seconds of the 'Undercover' album I almost fainted in disbelief. They remain my favourite band because I believe in them musically. The law of averages dictate a certain amount of 'discrepancies.' Having said this, one mans poison is another mans wine....or something like that.

This....is where my grievances with so-called 'music distributers' begins.

Firstly, from a musicians perspective, they couldn't care less who you are....and they don't. Keep paying your annual subscription and they'll continue on their merry way, oblivious to the fact that you're even there.

They have their little subsiduaries such as Tunecore and the likes telling eager indie artists the benefits of this, that and the other....all of which are at a cost and from what I've seen and experienced aren't worth a damn cent. It's all fluff.

The next tier down from Tunecore and their buddies are the likes of ReverbNation and iLike. ReverbNation does provide great promotional widgets and stats but are constantly 'encouraging' artists to upgrade; in other words "spend money because we get a kick-back."

I find it out & out deception when my songs are placed on ReverbNation and iLike but I have not posted them for sale, as many supporters are led to believe. I have received more than a few angry emails accusing ME of deceiving supporters.

Listen up!!!....Those of you who have written these letters (those of you who haven't, have a read and a laugh)....ALL new releases are now only available via Nimbit. Surely that's not to hard to digest. Give it a couple of minutes; it'll sink in.

My material that IS currently on iTunes is in the process of being distributed via Nimbit. This way, exact release dates can be announced well in advance. This will continue to be the case as I find it's the right thing to do.

This is another cause of consternation. My latest album, "Catharsis," was released at exactly 9pm, A.E.S.T. by myself and IMGlobal©.....simply because we could. The album had, infact, already been released by iTunes several days earlier. Like previous iTunes releases, no notice was given. This sort of behaviour is downright rude and unprofessional.

I wonder if Celine whats-her-name or Robbie the singing English midget have these issues? I suspect not because they have large amounts of MONEY behind them and are making iTunes large amounts of MONEY.

Perhaps if indie musicians were shown the tiniest piece of courtesy I suspect they would not be leaving in droves, as I am aware they are, which is giving iTunes the perfect 'excuse' to increase their prices to $1.29U.S.

Instead of fessing-up to the downright obvious they will no doubt patronise the masses with feeble excuses leaving indie artists even worse off by being there. No doubt a large percentage of folks will blindly follow their fluff, gimmics & toys.

Sticking my neck out & keeping my songs at $0.88, I may well be doing as Bob Dylan said in 'Silvio,' but I have to in order to stay true to myself musically.

"....I've got to go; down to the valley only dead men know."

Fakery.

2009-10-04T15:53:00.000-07:00

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Who would have thought the word 'fakery' could be used at all in a song, let alone be used with concise & devastating effect? Typically, Bob Dylan managed it in the song 'Sign Language' in the mid-70s. In this somewhat drunken & disheveled track, featuring Dylan, Ronnie Wood and Eric Clapton, he casually throws in the line "....was down by the bakery, surrounded by fakery...."

I didn't hear this song until the mid-8os but the term 'fakery' is a constantly used term in my vocabulary, albeit often mentally for reasons of courtesy.

Fakery is alive and well in all aspects of life but it's rampant in the music 'game.' It's so easy for artists and listeners alike to publically view their overwhelming approval of a band, an album, a song. When it comes down to it, most people can't possibly have the time to fully appreciate the multitude of material available to us....but the are drawn to the notion of being 'seen to.'

I imagine most indie artists have had the same giggles that I have when a compliment is passed by someone about a recent album. On further questioning it becomes blatantly obvious that the person hasn't listened to it. I stopped questioning quite some time ago to save time & to avoid embarrassing people.

Some months ago I made a bit of a 'big-deal' of a track, purely for research purposes. I made the track exclusively available in a site where listeners/song plays can be tracked. The song was no better or worse than any other. The compliments came flying in. I left the track where it was and noticed a massive difference between feedback received & song plays.

I let the song 'sit' for a week, then followed up the aforementioned compliments as best as I was able by asking what it was about the song that people liked. Overnight, song plays skyrocketed in direct proportion to the amount of emails that I sent out.

I imagine by now that most of my followers are now furious. Please don't be. I'm more than aware that you all lead busy lives and my musical endeavors aren't high on their list of priorities....& I certainly hope that they aren't. This is akin to me not being particularly interested in "Ethels Crochet Classes For Beginners."

Musicians themselves do likewise. Between writing, recording, performing, their personal lives we can't possibly be expected to give fully-fledged & credible support to fellow artists. I have a handful, all of varying genres, that I do 'follow.' They know who they are. It's all that time allows. I do keep in touch online with several more artists usually more on a personal level as well as I think that, not only are they good musicians, they are genuinely good people.

Rarely do I maintain close regular contact with followers as time on both sides doesn't allow. We are all aware of this. Even rarer, do I divulge my personal life in any great depth. No-one's that interested & those who are I find somewhat worrying, particularly when questions not relating to music are constantly raised.

This may all sound rather ego-centric. Those who know the first thing about me know full well that I'm not capable of this. I've always known how good my music isn't. I am finding that the "Bob Findlay Music Page" on Facebook is slowly but surely becoming more interactive. Myself & Haych Storm© attempt to keep wall posts regular and fresh in content. All feedback is really appreciated, however, expletives and divergence from what the page title suggests aren't encouraged & are often deleted. I'm sure there are other avenues for such activities.

Feedback on the music page seems more informed as opposed to on my regular wall where people tend to click 'like' & comment on a wall post that they clearly haven't read.

To quote the Keith Richards album title, "Talk Is Cheap." I guess that's why so many people do it.

"Money Doesn't Talk, It Swears." (Bob Dylan)

2009-09-18T22:17:00.000-07:00

The term "music has become a commodity" has been thrown about for many years. The fact is that music has always been a commodity.

The rapid advancement in technology has seen us bombarded at every turn to buy music. Every trick in the book is being used to the point of overload. Major companies in the music 'game' are abusing the listeners good faith and almost ridiculing serious independent musicians.

A monetary 'note' can be quantified. It can purchase you an item that you want. A musical 'note' can't be quantified, yet the powers that be seem fixed on making the public think otherwise.

A childhood friend of mine, Gordon Walker, used to sit on the footpath outside of his house practising his bagpipes. I would often sit next to him. It wasn't long before passers-by would

gather around to listen to him. This inevitably led to people throwing coins into the guttering as a sign of appreciation. Unbeknownst to us both, Gordon became a commodity. His music, to some people, was worth paying for.

This carried on for quite some time. Gordon never changed track. He continued to practise on the footpath. His genuine love of playing was, and still is, unwavering. This has led to Gordon winning every piping medal in Scotland. Although Gordons' musical journey varies in nature to the vast majority of indie music artists, there is one glaring similarity. Staying true to himself.

With the advent of the internet it is now possible for indie artists to have their music heard globally within seconds of creation without even having to leave their home. A wonderful thing but it comes at a price; many prices.

Firstly the indie artist has to have the equipment to produce and distribute their music. This is not cheap. The time spent on the creation of a song cannot really be quantified in financial terms for the indie artist. Often it is done in their spare time.

The next step for the indie artist is to choose what websites to put their music on. This is an area that is well worth spending time on. Research each site before submitting any music there. Read the monotonous fine-print.

Initially it seems like a great idea to put your songs and as many of your songs on as many sites as possible for free. Through experience I have found that this ends up being very time-consuming

keeping up with each site as ones' fanbase grows. Spreading oneself too thin has a two-fold negative effect on the indie musician. Firstly, the artist themselves struggle to maintain the initial enthusiasm and secondly listeners become either wary or tired of seeing the same artist pop up on every imaginable site. This is a very difficult juggling act for the musician to balance. More often than not, less is more. Researching and targeting ones' audience is paramount.

As I've mentioned, select your sites carefully. I am not going to recommend or dismiss sites. Different sites are more appealing to different artists.

With this in mind it pays to remember that whilst your music is being heard world-wide you are also advertising for the site from where your material derives. Many sites encourage you to have at least one free download available on their site, their rationale being that this encourages people to revisit your page on their site thus increasing your fanbase. Going by my personal analytics I have found that people do visit the sites that I am on, download any free

music that is available and vanish. For this reason I now have only one free download on the internet, a track ironically titled "I'm Money." In the hope that listeners, promoters, the media and so forth 'get the message,' I deliberately used an expletive in the song....once.

It is a logical move for indie artists to have their music played on the radio, commercial or internet. Radio station policies vary greatly and, again, it is well worth spending time reading the fine print. Research a stations' amount of visitors, demographics, scheduling, genres and

so forth. Although this will narrow your options it will increase your odds of having 'real' followers. It is imperative that an airtight release form is attended before submitting any material. You may wish to have certain terms used each time a song is played, such as the bands' website, what album the track is from and where it can be purchased.

Many major stations request several physical copies of your album 'for consideration.' I have always avoided this. In the 21st century I cannot fathom why these major stations require several copies of a CD, let alone one. In addition they also tend to emphasise that your CDs will not be returned which leads to the question, "what becomes of these CDs?"

Another option for gaining maximum exposure for distributing your material for sale is in digital format, which seems to be rapidly increasing in popularity in recent times. Again, it comes at a price. There is the initial cost of putting a digital album, single or video for sale in whatever digital store (or stores) that you choose or, in the case of many indie artists, can afford. Each of your products have an annual fee to keep your material in-store. In return, you get the distributers logo to put on your website or wherever you choose. Initially this is rather exciting to view but, again, you are advertising their company....and paying for it.

So....this leaves the indie artist with many dilemmas if they wish to, as I have recently decided to, make a living from their music. Most indie artists perform live which has many benefits but it has its' pitfalls too.

The major benefit of performing live is obvious. Fans of your band get to hear and see you in real life. At gigs you may have CDs, merchandise, website signing forms and so forth to sell, as well as the money that you make from the gig itself. You also have the opportunity to personally interact with the people who have paid to hear and see you. This is of

paramount importance and I believe that, if possible, be as 'accessible' as is practicable at gigs. There is nothing better to the avid follower than meeting one of their favourite bands, let alone seeing them perform live. In addition, word of mouth advertising is a terribly under-rated form of advertising. It is well worth noting crowd attendances at every venue and keeping stats on venues, locations, age-groups and so-forth.

The pitfalls with performing live....and I'm going to bore you indie artists here because you know them....are numerous and the majority of which go unseen by fans. The bands personal commitments, writing the songs, deciding on songs, rehearsals, travel, sound & lighting equipment, sound engineers, road crew. If any one of these factors go awry, it will be noticed at a gig.

For the indie artist who does not perform live, such as myself, there are also benefits and pitfalls but of a different nature. The advantages that I have are that I write, arrange and record my own material. I can do this whenever I choose and avoid 'band politics,' schedules and conflicts of interests. I have 100% control over what and where my material is presented.

The pitfalls are that I do not have the personal interaction with fans who enjoy my music. I keep fans as up-to-date as possible with my musical endeavours via my website www.scotsbob.com and on the "Bob Findlay Music Page" on Facebook. I am also reluctant to send my material to radio stations as, through careful analysis, irrespective of their promotional promises, 99% of the time they simply don't happen.

I have recently been increasing my presence on Twitter. I am slowly but surely fine-tuning my tweets to targeted audiences whilst being conscious of not posting similar tweets to similar 'groups,' making my tweets relevant with regard to demographics and to peoples interests. In addition I have also been fine-tuning my merchandise store at Zazzle.

In conclusion I believe that indie artists should thoroughly investigate every site that they intend to utilise and bare in mind that you are promoting these sites as much as they are promoting you, irrespective of their flashy graphics and promises. At the end of the day, people are either going to like your music enough to buy it or they're not. Force-feeding doesn't work.

In my case, I'm not after wealth and certainly not fame. I am simply attempting to make a sustainable wage from my musical endeavors and doing it the best way that I know how; careful research, caution, selective advice and, like Gordon Walker, staying true to myself

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