Wampus Multimedia

5 Tips for New Authors: Q&A

2012-02-13T12:16:16Z

Jason Warburg, editor of music-review site The Daily Vault and author of the just-published novel Believe in Me, shares the trials and tribulations of producing a successful debut novel.

As evidenced by the worn notebooks discarded in coffeeshops or banished to storage lockers (or, yes, set aflame), the fortitude required to produce a first book — the planning, the execution, the discipline — is enough to drive budding scribes to sunnier climes. But just absorbing a few simple thoughts before sitting down to write can make all the difference when the going gets tough. Just ask Jason.

1. Believe in Me is packed with musical references. How important were “the little things” — the arcane details — to the story?

I think they were pretty important. Like any distinct segment of society, the music world has its own lingo, history, and social conventions. The details provide that extra layer of texture that hopefully helps to give the narrative authenticity. But they were more than just stage dressing. As a bit of a musicologist myself, I’m passionate about those details — the memorable lyrics and musical moments that have been a part of the texture of my own life. My hope/ambition was that my passion for those details would feed into the characters’ behavior, and that their intense engagement with the world they were living in would make the story that much more compelling.

Those little details might be a bit less important for a different kind of story than Believe in Me, but I think that anything that contributes to the creation of a fully-realized, three-dimensional universe for the reader to step into is going to make your story a better story.

2. You’ve been writing about music for a long time. This is your first foray into fiction. Does an author need to “write what they know”?

Yes and no. Our own experience is always a safe harbor from which to begin the journey of writing a novel. Taking the need to do a lot of extra research out of the equation tends to make the task feel more achievable. And one of the joys of reading fiction for me personally is being introduced to ideas and settings that I’m not familiar with; if you have a particular expertise or unique set of experiences that others might find intriguing, that can become a compelling setting for, or element of, your story.

That said, if you’re just writing your own story, it’s not really fiction, is it? It’s just an idealized version of your own life, in which you get to revise and extend your remarks and make things turn out the way you wish they had. And life tends not to deliver clean, clear story arcs of the kind that make for compelling novels; real life is messier than that. So, while the author’s own experience and expertise can definitely form a foundation for fiction, I think that to write engaging characters you have to get outside yourself and fully inhabit new personas that see and feel the world differently than you do. In my experience, that’s where the real “juice” — the unexpected insights and twists that you hadn’t necessarily planned on — come from. Once you’re able to get outside your own head, the characters come to life and sometimes even start to dictate the story to you.

3. Is it important for an author to “begin with the end in mind”? Or is writing a book necessarily a process of discovery, with the end unknown?

It depends on your personality type. No, seriously. I have read about plenty of authors — including one of my favorites, Robert B. Parker — who claim they never outline their stories ahead of time, and in Parker’s case, never revise. They just write, and keep going until they finish.

I feel about that approach roughly the way I feel about bungee jumping, as in, no way, no how. I simply can’t function that way; I need more preparation and control. I’m taking pretty much the same approach to the novel I’m currently working on as I did with Believe in Me. I start with a core set of characters in mind — not set in stone, but sketched out in my mind so that I have some idea how they would probably interact. And I start with a basic story arc: they start out here, two or three or four key events take place along the way, and they end up roughly there. Those events and the final destinations of the various characters are likely to change somewhat along the way — you have to let the story and characters dictate those outcomes rather than forcing things — but for me, I need to have a basic shape and arc for the story in mind before I start. I’ll leave the analysis of why that is to the amateur shrinks out there… I just know what works for me.

4. How do you know when a book is finished? At what point do you know it can and will make a meaningful impact on the reader?

This is a really hard one. It’s easy to just keep revising and revising and revising… I can always find something I think could be better, even now, after publication. For me, I need to do at least one thorough review/rewrite after I’ve had some time away from finishing a story. There are always things I missed, either opportunities to add telling details, or pieces that, on reflection, didn’t fit together quite as well as I’d hoped. I also often find bits that in retrospect feel like I either over- or undersold along the way, that need recalibrating once I have the perspective that you can only get by finishing and stepping away. I just can’t get that reader’s perspective when I’m fully immersed in writing the story.

I think there are two ways to tell when you’re finished. Scientifically speaking, when you hit the 90-10 point — where 90% or more of your read-through is just reading and less than 10% is actual editing — you’re probably done. Emotionally, I think it’s when you reach the point of accepting that your story for what it is, and recognizing that your “writing” has devolved into tinkering. Tinkering rarely improves a story; it just prolongs the birthing process for the parent.

5. What advice do you have for the aspiring writer with the “manuscript in the drawer”? How important is it to share the work with an audience?

I think this is another question whose answer really varies from person to person and manuscript to manuscript. The real question is why — why is that manuscript still in the drawer? Is the issue confidence in the product? Fear of revealing too much of oneself? Shyness about promoting your own work to agents/publishers/the public? If it’s confidence in the product, have three or four people whose judgment and honesty you trust read it over and give you feedback, and then improve it if you can (or stick to your guns, and believe in what you wrote). If the issue is either of the latter, then you need to ask yourself why you wrote the manuscript in the first place. What was the purpose or goal behind that effort? Maybe your purpose was not to be published, but to either exercise muscles or exorcise demons. Either is a perfectly legitimate pursuit. You are the author; you are in charge.

I actually have a manuscript in the drawer at home that fell into the “exorcising demons” category. Once it was done, it was more important to move on than to share it with an audience. The next project I began working on after that was Believe in Me. From the very beginning, this was a novel intended for an audience, and the reality that it’s out there now and in the process of finding an audience is tremendously fulfilling for me.

Hear-Like-Buy: Why Spotify Is Marketing, Not Commerce

2012-01-31T13:47:17Z

You can’t read an article in the music press without tripping over somebody complaining about Spotify royalties. You’ve heard the chorus: Spotify is destroying what’s left of the CD market. It is cannibalizing iTunes. It is ripping off indie artists. And so on.

So, you think. Spotify must be pretty bad.

But is it? If you have released original music of your own — as a download, or on CD, vinyl, or cassette — take this little poll:

Take Our Poll

Do you think of your music as a product or as a service? Examples of a product would be a CD or a download, or any physical package that contains your music. Examples of a service would be a radio play or a performance, or any act that conveys your music. Which matters more to you — the package your music comes in or the performance of it? Are you delivering your actual music to the world — the essence of who you are as an artist — or just knock-offs of it?

Unlike Amazon and iTunes, Spotify is not selling a product. It is selling a service — i.e., elegantly designed access to a massive and diverse library of music. It is not a retailer selling “units,” but a facilitator of the spread of creative works. It more closely resembles the original Napster than it does Amazon or iTunes. But unlike Napster, it recognizes the validity of copyright and conducts its business accordingly. It tracks and pays artists for every exposure of their work, no matter how small.

Spotify is providing access to this platform not just to the major labels (who used to control the distribution of music to Tower Records and every other retail chain), but to legions of aspiring, unknown songwriters tracking demos in their garages and bedrooms. More importantly, it is allowing those unknowns — most of whom are not yet commercially viable — to maintain a searchable presence on its garishly financed, cutting-edge platform, and to benefit from that presence.

Spotify doesn’t charge artists for that exposure. No, it pays a modest royalty, which is more than Megaupload or Napster or mixtape makers ever did.

The Power of “Hear-Like-Buy”

Make no mistake: You can stock the shelves of Best Buy or Walmart to the ceilings with your music, but if people can’t listen to it, they will not buy it. They won’t know it from a gaping hole in the ground. If they can actually hear it, though, it’s a quick hop to liking it. And if they like it enough, they can — and will — buy it.

Just like they’ll buy anything they value.

All you need to do is make your music readily available — through social-media marketing, through live performances, through music-sharing sites like Spotify, and via whatever recorded-media retail you choose. You are not selling widgets, you are not “moving product.” You are providing a service. You are conveying your brand, your identity as an artist, to an audience.

If people like what you’re offering, the rest will take care of itself.

This thinking goes back a long way (to at least the Sermon on the Mount): Don’t hide your light under a bushel. Shine it so everyone can see.

If you’re a recording artist and have read this far, you should subscribe to Wampus.

SOPA: Your Role as Artist and Advocate

2012-01-27T19:50:18Z

Some people think the Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA) is about censoring content creators. Others think it is about guarding intellectual property. Either way, the proposed legislation is about the control of creative works. It promises to have a measurable impact on everyone who disseminates and accesses content via the internet.

In a (generalized) nutshell, the pro-SOPA lobby represents factions that control the most valuable creative content. These include the Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA), the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA), and other big-business groups. The anti-SOPA lobby represents factions trying to introduce and build value in new content, such as independent content creators, tech innovators, and third-party content aggregators (Google, Facebook, Twitter, etc.).

Sound familiar? Food for thought:

Infographic via: Business Insurance Blog

Aside from its promise to generate plenty of legal red tape, SOPA is a complex bill with both potential drawbacks (censorship) and potential benefits (control of creative works) for recording artists. As you sift through the propaganda on both sides, consider this: Sen. Al Franken, one of the most progressive legislators in Congress (and a lifelong creative), supports SOPA. Rep. Ron Paul, one of the most reactionary, opposes it. If that surprises you, you should get up to speed on SOPA before you sign any petitions. There are corporate interests lined up on both sides of the aisle, and none of them are particularly interested in the fate of your latest song.

The debate goes far deeper than piracy, to who really owns digital content. Do you know where you stand?

You don’t need to worry about the interests of Microsoft or Facebook or Dell or Google or Sony or eBay (despite their gaudily financed pleas). Instead study and understand how SOPA will affect the long-term viability of your creative work. And then raise your voice to the rafters.

Jason Warburg: On Believing and Becoming

2012-01-27T19:49:13Z

In his new novel, Believe in Me, Jason Warburg wrestles mightily with a Catch-22: to achieve something, we must believe we can achieve it. Yet if we haven’t achieved it before, how can we reasonably believe?

Aside from resorting to self-delusion, we can listen to those who believe in us.

According to the book jacket, Believe in Me is a gripping story of rock ‘n’ roll and political activism. And it is that, but it’s a lot more. Warburg, a music critic and political scientist by trade, traces the bonds between artists and activists, and between everyone who has ever made a leap of faith to try to help make the world a better place. When we take that leap, he suggests, there is a lot to discover in the world and in ourselves.

While writing this book, Jason occasionally mused aloud on his setbacks and breakthroughs and creative travails. He sometimes questioned the wisdom of working so hard on something that seemed to be fighting against him.

Again and again, his answer was the same. And the Catch-22 – believing, achieving — was history.

Buy | Read a sample chapter

Press release

Spotify Royalties Rising?

2012-01-27T19:48:29Z

All right, artists — have you bought your first sandwich yet with your Spotify royalties? We first examined streaming royalties in August, and are taking a fresh look at them now.

Until the successful U.S. launch of Spotify last summer (before which the popular streaming service was Europe-only), Wampus recordings had generated an average Spotify royalty of $.004 per streaming play during 2011. As paltry as that sounds, it appears the service is beginning to support artists in proportion to its growth. In the short time since its U.S. launch, Spotify has quietly upped its average royalty per play to $.0053 — an increase of more than 32 percent.

Might be a blip, might be a trend.

To be successful in the marketplace, Spotify obviously needs to pay its own light bill. It also needs to keep its prices low enough for subscribers (and advertisers) to participate in droves. Finally, it needs to compensate artists at a competitive level — i.e., at the level at which the competition does.

That’s how iTunes became the leader – by supplanting the status quo.

If Spotify — along with Rhapsody, Pandora, Napster, and others — can grow margins enough to step up their royalty rates (to the range of, say, $.04 or more per play), they could challenge iTunes. And not just as the preferred access system for consumers, but as the preferred delivery platform for artists. A strong relationship with artists is key to market dominance, as streaming services will lose their access to content if they fail to pay enough for it.

Spotify, are you listening? What is your compensation plan for independents?

Johnny J Blair: Return to the Street

2012-01-27T19:47:15Z

We met “singer at large” Johnny J Blair seven years ago when we produced his live-in-studio record, Treadmarks. The passion, commitment, and standard of performance he brought to that session were unforgettable. Treadmarks went on to bend ears, garnering comparisons from Amplifier magazine to Steve Forbert, John Wesley Harding, and Billy Bragg.

One of the record’s best songs was a splashy toe-tapper called “I Like the Street.” It was about a world that contained every conceivable kind of person — “the grifters and the starstruck / the poets and the punks / the PhDs, the jailbirds / the models and the drunks.” In this lyrical sketch, Blair said more in four minutes than some novelists say in 400 pages.

Before long he decided to expand the song into a full-blown album, I Like the Street. The characters, streetscapes, and spiritual quandaries proliferated, and rendered a familiar world in three dimensions.

Thanks, Johnny, for disregarding every story except the one you had to tell.

Press release.

Buy at Amazon | CD Baby | iTunes

Johnny J Blair – If I Could Dress Like Clive Owen

Spotify: 3 Tips for Artists

2012-01-27T19:45:27Z

Depending on whom you ask, the music-streaming service Spotify is either the savviest music-sharing platform ever or the canniest artist-fleecing apparatus ever. Either way, it just might be the future of music distribution.

As an indie artist in a Spotify world, you have a choice. You can either mistrust Spotify or you can make it work for you. Here are a few clues to carry as you navigate the streaming jungle:

1. Spotify is not a revenue stream (yet).

Imagine your new single blows up on Spotify. How many plays equal success? 10,000? 100,000? 500,000? For enjoyment’s sake, let’s say your song is played a million times. Hundreds of thousands of people are listening to it. How much revenue do you see?

Spotify pays a royalty of $0.002 to 0.008 per song. A million plays generate about $5,000 in royalties (compared to $700,000 for a million iTunes downloads). If your song is played 10,000 times, you make about $50. If it’s played 1,000 times, you see about the same profit as you would from the sale of a single CD.

2. Spotify is free advertising.

If Spotify isn’t a revenue stream, what is it? Legalized piracy? Royalty-free radio? No, it’s free advertising. It’s free exposure for you.

Artists used to refuse to sell their music on Amazon because the store paid them “only 45%” of the retail price. How, they asked, could Amazon justify keeping that whopping 55% for themselves? Wasn’t it just a ripoff? No, it was cheap advertising. It was cheap exposure for the artist.

Spotify, like Amazon — and Facebook — is a powerful marketing platform. It features and disseminates your music. It provides a sleek search capability to help people find and listen to you. It gives you links to your own content that you can spread, willy-nilly, to everyone you know. And it doesn’t charge you. Instead it pays to expose you.

3. Spotify is a multinational mixtape party.

With its deep social-media integration through Facebook, Spotify is a lot like a traditional mixtape party. Only this party is enormous (and growing). Your Facebook friends can share playlists that include your tracks, making it easier than ever for your music to spread rapidly through your social circle and beyond. If that sounds like a legitimization (and legalization) of file sharing, it’s because that’s what it is. It’s what everyone has wanted all along.

Your music isn’t a product — it is a manifestation of your identity as a recording artist. Use it as a doorway, as a means for reaching the audience waiting for you.

Lessons of R.E.M.: Breaking Up Is Hard to Do

2012-01-27T19:46:23Z

Reactions to the recent breakup of R.E.M. ranged from shock to nostalgia to acceptance. After 31 years — effectively three times as long as The Beatles were on the radar, or five times as long as The Clash had our attention — R.E.M. packed it in with a simple, matter-of-fact update on their website. After 15 studio albums and umpteen world tours, and lionization by some as one of the greatest American rock bands, R.E.M. just stopped the bus and got off.

Was it past time?

We loved their best albums — Murmur, Lifes Rich Pageant, Automatic for the People — as well as others that were nearly as great. They never released anything boring (unless you count 2004′s Around the Sun, which, in fairness, only seemed dull next to everything else they did). They somehow sustained a recognizable identity over three decades while continually showing different facets of it. We ultimately saw every room in the R.E.M. house, through every door and window.

The wheels started to come off for R.E.M. in the mid-’90s, when drummer Bill Berry suffered a brain aneurysm while the band was touring Europe behind Monster. He soon retreated to his Georgia farm, leaving Peter Buck, Michael Stipe, and Mike Mills to soldier on as a three-legged dog. Sometimes this mattered and sometimes it didn’t, but the balanced chemistry the band had enjoyed since the beginning — driven by Berry’s straight-ahead, propulsive style — evolved, or dissolved, into a more mannered, less lively formula for music-making. After the exhilarating experiments of New Adventures in Hi-Fi, R.E.M. settled into a cozy studio domesticity with Up and Reveal, coasting through the millennium and gently scraping bottom with Around the Sun.

So why didn’t R.E.M. just break up when Berry left? Because they needed to find out what was left for them. The remaining members were loath to stop short of The End. Regardless of how it played out, it’s hard to begrudge them their courageous pursuit. Their last albums, Accelerate and Collapse into Now, fit comfortably, even admirably, into the heart of their canon. In light of the inevitability, after three decades together, of repeating themselves, making something fresh was likely more difficult than it appeared.

And now R.E.M. knows. Breaking up is hard to do — until it’s all that’s left.

New Release: ‘Saint-Denis’ by The May Bees

2011-09-27T15:38:14Z

The new album from The May Bees, Saint-Denis, is out. And because you’re reading this right now, you can download it instantly from Bandcamp and get the CD for free (with free shipping, natch) through Friday, September 30. Good? Uh, yes, it kinda is.

We met May Bees leader Gregory Orange about five years ago when he was looking for a label home for The May Bees’ first album, Drop Little Boy. We heard the rough mixes and flipped. The single, “The Enemy’s Scientist,” soon became a Wampus staple. We were hooked.

Thanks, Gregory, for making that record — and for eclipsing it somehow with Saint-Denis.

For the deets on Saint-Denis and the band that made it, check out the press release.

Buy at Amazon | CD Baby | iTunes

It’s “Life of the Troubadour”

2011-09-25T13:12:56Z

We’re rolling out a new podcast series this week: Life of the Troubadour.

For the inaugural episode, “A Girl in Every Port and No Health Insurance,” I sat down with Grahame Davies of The Crowd Scene. And by “sat down,” I mean on a dusty floor in a house devoid of furniture or anything at all but Grahame and me. Grahame and his musical (and wedded) partner Anne Rogers are moving soon into this manse with their two daughters, and the kitchen and bathrooms are in a suspended state of rip and tear. And yes, our conversation echoes over the hardwoods like water through a concrete tunnel.

They say to create something you first have to tear down whatever stands in its way.

We talk about Michael Penn and The Soundcarriers and Picasso and Brian Wilson and Lady Gaga.

Listen:

Life of the Troubadour #1 – A Girl in Every Port and No Health Insurance