GreenDux - Sustainable life in the Entertainment Industry

How to Look Good Onstage

2011-10-21T05:00:00.000-07:00

I read this article and found it super interesting... I like the idea of the "uniform" that helps brand you. Read on...

John Mayer gives a workshop on music at Berklee

2011-07-13T10:38:00.001-07:00

John Mayer had some great advice for the students at Berklee - read all about it here...

Healthy Wealthy and Wise

2011-04-25T07:11:00.000-07:00

Can Rock Stars be Healthy Wealthy and Wise?

April 22nd, 2011 | Author: haydenr

How do some of the biggest rock stars keep balance in their lives while touring the world?

Favorite Tweet of the Day

2011-04-23T12:17:00.001-07:00

DavecharlieR @AnthonyTRC haha probably a FAQ but what do you normally eat on tour? I'm interested in healthy touring! Haha

AnthonyTRC @DavecharlieR chicken. Protein shakes. Food supplements. Vitamins. Rice cakes. Vodka.

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What were they thinking in the first place?

2011-04-23T12:12:00.000-07:00

Last week, after a sixth controller was discovered napping on duty, the Federal Aviation Administration said it would change scheduling practices for air traffic controllers to combat excessive sleepiness, often a result of stacking shifts too closely. The F.A.A. also announced an end to single-person staffing on the midnight shift at 27 towers nationwide.

!!!!!!!!

Makes me amazed that more accidents haven't happened...

Top 5 Apps for Healthy Touring

2011-04-09T14:12:00.001-07:00

#5 - IFitness

A great thing about fitness is that you can take it anywhere, and the same can be said for this app. The iFitness app provides the user with dozens of workouts -- everything from a major routine to a quick stretch -- and explains exactly how to execute them. This app is perfect for any scenario. Stuck in an office waiting for a late colleague? Search for a stretching workout to keep you in shape while you kill time.

#4 - Locavore

Based on your phone’s GPS location, Locavore will make searching for in-season, local food a breeze by pinpointing farms and farmers’ markets nearest you. Read all about them on their profile page, find that specific local item you have been looking for or just check out what’s in-season right now. Plus, you can get recipe suggestions to make with your delicious local food and then, brag about it to all your friends through Facebook.

Note: They only have data for the United States at this time.

Features:
1 - Browse what’s in-season and soon to come
2 - Locate farms and farmers’ markets nearest you
3 - Learn about your food and who is producing it
4 - Get details about your local farmers’ market
5 - Find recipes for local, in-season items
6 - Post what you ate locally to Facebook

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# 3 - Babelingo

Babelingo is an incredibly fast and easy-to-use phrase book communicator, allowing anyone to show a professionally translated phrase to a foreign language audience.
Babelingo can translate to and from 10 different languages, including English, Spanish, Italian, Portuguese, French, German, Czech, Hindi, Japanese and Chinese. Each phrase is carefully translated by highly skilled professional translators and displayed in a large, beautifully rendered script that is easily read from a distance. With the latest version users can enable viewing of phonetic phrases for Japanese, Chinese, and Hindi (Romaji, Pinyin, and Romanized Hindi respectively).

Feature highlights include:

Over 300 useful phrases and words
Each and every phrase carefully translated by highly skilled professional translators
25 different categories
Large and beautifully rendered translations
Native language responses
Phrase search
Favorites list
No network connection required

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#2 - Travel Health Guide By WaKi Apps Limited

A lot of musicians can't afford health insurance in the U.S. While this app is clearly not a substitute for health insurance, it may help you out in a pinch on the road. Things happen on tour, and if you can take care of yourself when minor things happen, you could save yourself money and precious time. This app can also help you determine when you MUST go to the doctor, and not just tough it out.

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and the #1 App For Healthy Touring is...
No matter where you are, you can find a place to recycle all the bottles and paper that pile up on the road:

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Honorable mentions:

Biodiesel Buddy

Want to use biodiesel, but have trouble finding local stations? This app's for you. It uses iPhone's location (or city or ZIP code) to find nearby biodiesel retailers, telling you which blends are available. It even lets you call the stations directly. How often have you gone to a new station, only to find out they're not open late?

The app also tracks your fuel economy and tallies how much CO2 you've saved! This makes protecting the environment easy and fun.

Station database includes 1400 biodiesel retailers and counting.

Made in the USA by a TDI-driving tree-hugger in Seattle, WA. Granola power!

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Gas Buddy

Gas Buddy searches within a ten mile radius for all of the gas prices. You can sort by distance or by price to find what you need. Click on the location you want, and you will get directions to the gas station. With prices drastically changing the way they are now, this is an app that every driver should be using.

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Restaurant Nutrition

Nobody is perfect, and even if you’re an active person who takes care of their body, you might have the occasional junk food craving. The Restaurant Nutrition app allows you to check the nutritional information -- fat, sugar, sodium, and so on -- of popular restaurant food before ordering it. It will bluntly remind you that your craving for a double cheeseburger and milkshake often isn’t worth it.

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The North Face Trailhead

This app is a must if you live for the outdoors. It provides a database of trails designed for hiking, skiing, mountaineering, and other outdoor activities, and thanks to its built-in GPS, you’ll be able to see how close you are to each trail, as well as read user reviews and tips about each one. You can view user-submitted photos to be sure you know what you’re getting into, as well as upload your own snapshots and write a review after your journey is done.

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Local Eats

Application features:

• Only the best restaurants in top U.S. cities — plus many smaller cities around the country — with detailed descriptions for all

• NO NATIONAL CHAIN RESTAURANTS — Local places only!

• Quickly see what's “near me” via GPS and customize your own search radius

• Find restaurants near a particular address or city

• Get COUPONS and Dining Savings for some of the country's best restaurants

• Make reservations quickly

• Book a taxi instantly

• Filter restaurants by Top 100, All Picks, Cuisine, Neighborhood, Feature, Savings, Price Range, Hours, Bar Information, Patio Seating, Vegetarian Friendly, etc …

• Driving directions

• Integrated mapping (view results via list or map with pop-up dialogue)

• Detailed descriptions

• View user comments about the restaurants

• Submit your own reviews of restaurants

• Submit your own photos of restaurants

• Save your "Favorite" restaurants, cities and searches

• Share your favorite restaurants with friends

Cheap Flights

2011-04-04T11:37:00.000-07:00

The Travel Hacking Cartel

2011-03-31T11:37:00.001-07:00

I'm signing up for this ~ I'll let you know how it goes...

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Travel can be free or low-cost, but you have to know how. That’s where the Travel Hacking Cartel comes in—telling you exactly what you need to do to accumulate Frequent Flyer Miles, and what you need to do to redeem them for fantastic trips. Specifically, the Travel Hacking Cartel commits to help you:

Hit the ground running. Screen-capture modules and a series of emails will make it easy for you to benefit right away. You’ll learn about glitch fares, Round-the-World tickets, padding out your mileage account, earning elite status, and much more.
Take advantage of real-time updates. They’ll give you the right info, exactly when you need it, with timely Deal Alerts of late-breaking offers. You’ll learn exactly what you need to take advantage of a travel hacking opportunity right when it breaks.

Cartel membership is backed up by the World’s Greatest Guarantee: you’ll earn at least four free plane tickets for every year you remain a member.

Oh, and the cartel also offers a Refer-a-Hacker program where you can easily earn free travel rewards for introducing us to your friends. Sound good? Sign up here for your $1 trial.

Practicing what she preaches...

2011-03-29T11:30:00.001-07:00

For more videos and info, go to: http://cleancuisineandmore.com

Hotel Room Yoga

2011-03-18T10:08:00.000-07:00

Eco Friendly Hotels

2011-03-10T10:21:00.000-08:00

Green Hotels: Eco-Friendly Hospitality Must Strike A Balance

Original article from Huffington Post

Joanna Zelman

HuffPost Green Contributor

Posted: March 1, 2011 04:39 PM

Liquid or wrapped soap? Bottled or filtered water? Incandescent or CFL light bulbs? Eco-friendly hotels make calculated decisions with every item they select to represent their brands. And in doing so, they strive to prove that going green does not mean forgoing comfort. But just how green is green enough?

Hotels are fun. You can take long showers with insane water pressure while indulging in all kinds of miniature plastic bath products, in a room heated to whatever temperature your skin pleases... all part of the hotel experience. These hotel perks are also all part of the reason that one hotel guest room contributes an estimated 218 gallons of water and 28 pounds of wasteper day. According to hospitality studies produced by the N.C. Division of Pollution Prevention and Environmental Assistance, a 350-room hotel can spend $300,000 per year on electricity and $50,000 on natural gas.

Some hotels now recognize the astronomical amount of waste they produce daily, and a green hotel movement is underway. The Hilton Americas-Houston generates a reported 675,000 pounds of dirty linens per month. With the purchase of an AquaRecycle water recycling system, they reduced their water usage by 75%, from 630,000 gallons to 157,500 gallons per month. The Times Square InterContinental features a green roof, an energy-generating elevator, and instead of cutting a ribbon at their opening, they cut a vine. Then there's Starwood Hotels -- reportedly the first company to require all of its Element hotels brand-wide to pursue U.S. Green Building Council's LEED Certification. They have purchased 35% of their electricity from renewable sources, their low flow fixtures save over 5,000 gallons of water per room per year, and their efficient lighting uses 75% less energy than incandescent bulbs.

Element Times Square West is Starwood's most recent endeavor, an "eco-chic" hotel located on W. 39th street in New York City. The hotel proudly touts recycling bins in every room, complimentary bikes, reusable laundry bags, silverware instead of plastic, dispensable bath products, and an organic on-site pantry.

But right next to the reusable laundry bag is a plastic laundry bag, beside the ceramic mugs are paper cups, across from the dispensable soap is an individually wrapped bar, and after consuming your organic food, you can rest your guilt-free head on a bunch of down feather pillows.

So where should the line be drawn? If this hotel took out the on-the-go coffee cups, forced visitors to put wet clothes in cloth bags, and swapped out the comfy pillows, would the chic, luxury-loving crowd still come? Does the very definition of luxury -- living in excessive abundance -- go against intrinsic principles of conserving the environment's resources?

Starwood Hotel's Brian McGuinness feels it's about finding what green practices work within the context of a quality hotel: "Sustainability... does not need to be equated with giving up creature comforts. It's a way of being more aware and doing our part. It's been critical for us not to greenwash and push practices that will not work operationally." McGuinness reports that his green hotel brand receives some of the highest guest satisfaction ratings across all Starwood brands.

Alexandra Zissu is a green writer and guest of Element Hotels. She chooses eco-friendly hotels because "stuffy, perfumed, unventilated rooms with plastic water bottles, un-local/un-organic room service, bowls of perfumed potpourri and bleach residue on the sheets all get to me when travelling." To her, the line is ever changing. "I push myself to change my own answer to 'green enough' all of the time... I'm pretty sparing with the air conditioning but I certainly turn it on for 100 degree NYC August days! But I do so many other things every single day that other people might draw the line at -- not driving, only eating local/organic food."

Element's Corporate Director Randall Savage offers tips that travelers can embrace to be more eco-friendly. He suggests that guests unplug chargers when not in use, turn lights off, and take advantage of linen reuse policies. While many of these practices are a way of life when travelers are at home (how many people change their sheets every day?) all sense of conservation flies out the window when a traveler hits the road.

Perhaps it's because when traveling, guests rarely see the effects of their waste. Instead of having to carry out your trash, it magically disappears with the housekeeping. Instead of paying your high electric bill, any energy you waste is just hidden in the price of the room that you already paid for. You could leave your sink and shower running water throughout an entire stay, and beyond perhaps flooding the room, you wouldn't see a single ramification of your waste. The desk manager will still thank you for your stay. If there's no accountability for your wasteful actions while traveling, then either travelers must find intrinsic guilt in harming the environment, or hotels must make it harder for travelers to live so wastefully.

Ultimately, Element lets the visitor determine what is green enough. Willing to drink your coffee from a mug while remaining in one location, or will you take a paper cup to go? Prepared to sweat/shiver a bit, or will you adjust the thermostat? Happy to throw your laundry into a reused bag, or will you grab the new, plastic one? The choice is yours. Kudos to Element Hotel for at least making a green choice available. Although who can really resist snatching the miniature plastic bottle of lotion to go?

Above, an Element hotel room offers both dispensable soap and an individually-wrapped bar. Photo Courtesy of Starwood Hotels and Resorts.

Raw Food Travel Tips

2011-03-06T21:45:00.000-08:00

To balance out my earlier post of the grilled cheese sandwich made with a hotel iron, here are some raw food travel tips:

Your tips for Healthy Eating on the Road

2011-03-06T20:36:00.001-08:00

I want to know how you're staying healthy out there on the road.

Click here to contribute to our database of recipes, tips and tricks.

Here's one person's idea of a good hotel meal:

Oatmeal in a coffeepot

2011-03-06T09:17:00.000-08:00

Todd Snider Presents "The Phoner"

2011-03-04T17:25:00.001-08:00

Scenes From a Desert Island: Folk Alliance

2011-03-01T08:18:00.000-08:00

By Paul Schatzkin at CohesionArts.com

Last week, after I returned from the Folk Alliance International annual conference in Memphis, somebody asked me “so, how was Folk Alliance?” and I found myself blurting out rhetorically, “like three days on an overpopulated desert island.”

The more I think about that spontaneous response, the more apt it becomes.

I know, the whole “desert island” analogy paints a rather bleak picture. But it’s pretty hard to look at most of what constitutes the “music industry” these days and not think “bleak.” Like these charts that have been flying around the Internets in the past week serve to illustrate.

Fortunately, tectonic shifts, declining prospects, and undefined new business models do little to deter the legion of 1,500+ souls who descend upon the Downtown Memphis Marriott Hotel every February for four days of keynotes and panels of endless nights of showcases, some in actual meeting rooms but most on three upper floors of the hotel where ordinary rooms are turned upside down to create impromptu performance spaces.

And however slim the pickins of the “industry” may be, there was no shortage of outstanding performances. The days and nights were rich with newcomers and veterans alike, displaying awesome talent on the one hand while struggling to come to grips with vanishing business models on the other.

(Unnecessary, shamelessly self-promoting historical reference: Folk Alliance was very much at the center of my constituency in a former life. In 2000 my company,songs.com had the largest single booth in the Folk Alliance exhibit hall, sections of which were farmed out to individual artists in the roster. It was pretty impressive, if I do say so myself, which of course I just did. But I digress…)

So here with are some of the ideas that the inhabitants of the island were offered as to how they might find the hidden nuts and berries that could sustain them until some sort of rescue vessel arrives to take them off the island…

Thursday morning (Feb 17), the business portion of the conference began with a Keynote Interview with Jac Holzman, the 79 year-old impresario who founded Elektra Records in a college dorm room in 1950. Holzman could well be considered the dean of “indie” American music (I still consider some of the albums his company released in the 1960s among my all-time favorites – Tim Buckley’s “Happy/Sad” in particular). Interviewed by veteran music journalist David Marsh, Jac was a font of sage wisdom, starting with the qualities he sought when considering new acts for his label:

1. Is it something I haven’t heard before, or a new take (on something familiar) ?

2. Can they grow as an artist?

3. Is there enough material for two albums – before recording the first one?

4. Can I do the job?

5. Are they crazy?

That last one seems borne of experience: In a later panel, Jac noted that in any enterprise, you are going to make mistakes, so “make interesting mistakes.” I suspect he made more than his share.

And then there were Jac’s rules for success, among them:

1. Always live up to your end of the bargain

2. Once you make the commitment, unseen forces will come to your aid

3. If you go outside your comfort zone for the wrong reasons, you’ll get your ass kicked.

Other trenchant observations from the interview:

On Bob Dylan going electric at the Newport Folk Festival in 1965: “that proved you can think and boogie at the same time.”

Lamenting the apparent shift from “albums” to “singles” in the digital era: “The album is a construct of both content and context. The single says something about the song; the album says something about the artist.”

Other panel discussion highlights:

Indie Label Symposium:

Dave Macias (Nashville’s Thirty Tigers) addressed another recurrent theme: when considering clients for his multi-faceted “label services” company, “we’re always looking for the narrative. If you can’t tell a compelling story, what do you have to take to radio & the press?” Given the fire-hose torrent of information we all experience everyday, “the audience has to be hit with multiple impressions” through coordinated efforts with press and radio,” all stressing, again, the word that Dave used repeatedly throughout the conference: “narrative.”

On his own career experience, Dave describes his “15 years in sales and marketing with a major label – putting country artists product in Wal-Mart – is as far from ‘art’ as you can get.”

Jim Olsen, founder of the venerable Signature Sounds (I’ve heard a lot of their catalog and can’t think of a single release I’ve ever heard that wasn’t outstanding), says that “goal #1 for new artists it to make them an international touring act.” And the only way to do that is through a lot of roadwork’.”

That expression, “roadwork” was pretty much the operative theme for the whole conference. If you want to make a living as a musician – especially some kind of ‘folk’ musician – you’re going to have to “do it on the road.”

Managers and Agents:

Question from the audience: “which is more important to an artist today, an agent or a recording contract?” Answer across the board: “the agent.” See previous note re: “roadwork.”

The next big question on everybody’s lips “what does an agent look for when considering an act for their roster?” Answer: at least three years of touring history. Which means you’ve got to book yourself for that long before anybody is going to consider doing the booking for you. Good luck with that…

The New Music Business:

This is why we have conferences like this, right? Because it’s a “new music business” and everybody with a song in their heart or a guitar in their hands wants to know what that’s supposed to mean. So we get to hear from people like…

Wayne Leeloy of Topspin Media: “Direct to Fan (DTF) is typically only 10% of the whole revenue picture, but offers a much higher rate of actual return than most other sources, and [unlike online retailers like iTunes] “you get the data.” The average transaction through Topspin runs in the $25-35 dollar range. “Everybody wants a larger audience,” Wayne says, “‘free’ is part of the discovery process.”

Ann Blonston of Airshow Mastering/Festivalink.net stressed something called “event based and venue based distribution.” Whatever that means…?

David Macias (again) suggests subscribing to Pollstar Pro “to find where similar artists have played, and steer your artists in that direction.”

But my favorite panel might have been the last one I sat in on. “Dispelling the Myth of the Starving Artist” offered the most practical, constructive – and encouraging – recommendations I heard over three days, and a lot of them had to do with “adjusting your state of mind.” Sorta like “stop looking for nuts and berries on the island and see if you can put together something resembling a fishing pole…”

Mary Gauthier

Mary Gauthier enthusiastically stressed that her own experience has been that “people want to give musicians money. Our job is to find ways to make that easy for them.” When the music itself is essentially free, the trick is to come up with some kind “daily use” merchandise. She cited the example of beer coozies she has added to her merch line. They feature the title of one of her signature songs (conveniently, “I Drink”), cost a whole quarter to manufacture, and she sells them for $5 (“…that’s like a 2,000% markup!). To “make it easy for them,” she bundles the $5 coozies with her $15 CDs. Total transaction = $20. Just hand us your Hamilton, no change required. Brilliant.

Mary was just full of clever insights, like quoting the inimitable Ray Wylie Hubbard: “The day person’s job is to make the money, the night person’s job is to get the day person’s money.”

Tania Elizabeth (now 27, who has been a “touring pro” since she was 15, including the five years she was “homeless” while touring with The Duhks) mentioned Fred Eaglesmith as the “merch king.” Check out all the stuff Fred offers besides CDs. Tania talked about her years with The Duhks, “we were always looking for a story.” They found one they made the effort to make their tour “green,” with healthy eating habits and biofuels.

Emphasizing that point, somebody on the panel, I don’t remember who exactly said, “Give me a story besides ‘she’s a great singer/songwriter.’” (See David Macias, “narrative,” above.)

Creativity Coach Suze Casey discussed the challenge of blending and separating art and commerce. She sequesters “three hours for writing before noon six days a week. Before noon is for writing. After noon is for business.

Veteran agent Val Denn (who started her business booking the aforementioned Ray Wyle Hubbard) has a business that is with an Austin, TX address and phone line. But she runs the show from her organic farm in Nova Scotia. Go figger (and shhh… don’t tell anyone…) Like Suze, she’s a farmer in the mornings, a business woman in the afternoon, which works well from Nova Scotia since it’s two or three time zones ahead of most of her business.

That’s pretty much it from my notes for the “day parts” of the conference. But as fate would have it, after I’d gotten this far in the initial draft of this post, I was alerted to this considerably less penurious assessment of the Folk Alliance by the aforementioned Mary Gauthier.

Mary, it turns out, is a Pisces — and it shows in the way she approaches her business as a musician: while others keep scavenging around the island, Mary has gone fishing.

I want you to read Mary’s whole post to get a detailed account of the whole Folk Alliance experience from an artist’s perspective. But I am also going to take the liberty of exceprting from the penultimate paragraph, because it is such an encouraging expression of what I’ve been advocating in this space for a while now.

For starters, take careful note that Mary is has captured what I have emphasized earlier in this post is the zeitgeist of the day: she’s conveying a compelling narrative– and she’s done her roadwork. After re-tracing much of her career — beginning with her first Folk Alliance over a decade ago — she delights in coming “full circle” with the measure of cache that a decade of dedication to her art and craft have afforded her.

This time around, Mary is granted an “official” showcase. But half-way into her second song, it threatens to go off the rails when her violin accompanist’s PA feed goes dead. The sound man tries to fix it, but before more precious time is lost, Mary takes a different tack:

I instinctively jumped off the stage and went into the audience to play the next song – Tania followed, and we played Last of the Hobo Kings as a sort of impromptu house concert. Standing on the floor in the audience with the stage lights no longer in my eyes, I looked out into the packed overflowing room and saw friends from so many places… Without amplification, standing in the aisle between the seats, I felt and SAW people lean into us. I felt and SAW love and support in the room, felt the energy in the room come together in that moment, united in song. I felt the power of unity, the power of people holding me up, of people joined in a spontaneous moment of oneness, of togetherness. It is a feeling money cannot buy, the feeling of being one in a room packed with people. I think it’s one of the things that drives musicians down the endless highways, the desire to experience this feeling over and over again, no matter the cost.

What Mary so clearly illustrates with her story is what I believe makes this “Folk Alliance” universe of mostly acoustic music so compelling. This is why I keep going to this conference though I am mostly a civilian, a spectator. Because here we see the active expression of music on a human scale. We witness the dissolution of the proscenium that separates performers from the audience. In this new reality, we are all artists, we are all audience.

In that narrative, we have left the desert island behind, and frolic joyfully in warm, clear, bountiful waters.

Originally posted at CohesionArts.com

Kickstarter

2011-02-28T09:07:00.000-08:00

Yancey Strickler of Kickstarter explains their unique new way to fund and follow creative projects.

(Originally from Hypebot.com)

They say CDs are not dead, but the machine is

2011-02-27T11:05:00.000-08:00

There's been all sorts of talk in the last few years about CDs being dead, that there's no point in making a full length album and releasing it physically any more - that downloads, both legal and illegal are going to dominate the world of music in the future.

Recently, at the New Music Seminar conference in Los Angeles, founder Tom Silverman opened by revealing that CDs were still 74% of music sales in 2010. As Kyle Bylin says, "It’s important to realize... that it’s the economic engine that’s built around CDs – not the CDs themselves – that’s dying".

Is this denial, or is there truth to this

I know of plenty of artists that walk that indie/midsize label line who have seen a noticeable decrease in online sales, but less so at live shows.

Having said that, every musician I know has a story of someone right in front of them offering to burn a copy of their album for a friend standing in line at the merch table.

So what makes a physical album compelling? There's a thriving market for artisan packaging, eco friendly options and package deals (buy a CD, poster and sticker for a slightly discounted price).

What kind of things are you doing to increase table sales?

What kind of merch is your biggest seller?

The Top Five Employers of Musicians – And What the Economic Recovery Means for Us

2011-02-26T10:47:00.000-08:00

BY: Musician Wages

Two years ago, I wrote an article about finding work in the midst of the recession. Part of the advice I gave was to focus on building clients at schools and churches, as they seemed to be the only institutions surviving the financial crisis.
It’s time for some new advice.
Now, certainly, I’m no economist. I took one, required, econ class in my whole life and I spent most of it looking pretty glassy-eyed. I can only tell you what I’m seeing in my own career and you can tell me in the comments below if you are seeing the same.

The Five Employers of Musicians

There are 5 basic employers for musicians.

For-profits (i.e. corporate gigs, cruise ships)
Non-profits (ballets, symphonies)
Individuals (weddings, parties)
Education (schools, universities)
Churches/synagogues

As soon as the recession hit in 2007 (it came early in the arts), the first three on that list took a big hit. In 2008 I was working a sweet guest performer gig on a big ‘ol cruise ship in Hawaii. Then one day the act got canned and replaced by a juggler. They said one juggler was cheaper than the seven of us. That’s showbiz for you.
Once the recession came in earnest in 2008 non-profits in the arts started closing up shop. Famous theaters from California to Akron to New York closed their doors for good between 2008 and 2010. Nearly every symphony orchestra in the country took a pay cut, including untouchables like the Chicago Symphony and the St. Paul Chamber Orchestra. The Honolulu Symphony folded altogether and the Charleston Symphony was nearly turned into a community band. Eleven Broadway shows closed in late 2008, taking 150 musician jobs with them.
It got pretty ugly. I’m sure you remember.

Run and Hide

Many of us, myself included, retreated into academics and churches. They seemed to be the only organizations hiring musicians at the time. Before the recession hit I’d never played a church organ in my life, but when a church gig opened up in the Bronx in 2008 – you bet I learned!
I also landed an accompanying gig at NYU. It was a great gig and NYU – a university as big as a municipality – seemed too large to be impacted by the recession.
As I said, I’m no economist.
In late 2009 it was clear that universities were losing the value of their endowments at an alarming rate. Eventually this loss of equity began to impact the number of accompanist positions as well. See? Trickle down works.
Churches held on much longer, but eventually they have also felt the hit. The Archdiocese of New York recently announced the closing of 32 schools, and a list of church closings is bound to follow.

The Recovery

The end of the recession was announced last year by people smarter than me, so I suppose we should believe them. The guys on Wall Street are certainly back to making money.
Economic indicators, like the recent increase in consumer confidence, seem to suggest that we’re in the middle of the recovery, even if unemployment is still at 9%. Obama is prodding the private sector to start hiring again (they’ll need to make up for all the public sector jobs that are about to be liquidated with the new budget…).

Predictions

So what does this mean for working musicians? Here’s my updated advice:

With the slash in the federal budget that’s almost certainly going to come out of our new congress, I suspect we’ll see more cuts to arts funding in public schools. Couple that with the school closings that churches are facing, and we have a looming arts education crisis.
My prediction, though, is that the private sector will take up (some of) the slack here. If schools decrease or lose their arts programs, after-school programs, arts camps and private teachers will see an increase in business. In my work I’ve already seen an increase in teaching gigs for these kinds of supplemental arts education programs.
Did you see that consumer confidence is at a three-year high? Christmas sales at the big retailers did pretty well, too. That’s good for us.
For this reason, and the one I just mentioned above, now is the time to start building your teaching studio back up to where it was before the recession. Read our article on starting your teaching business. Greg wrote some great advice in that article, and I suspect your hard work will get more traction this year than it did in the last 3 years.
Remember the 5 employers I mentioned above? I think the first 3 are starting to come back (for-profits, non-profits and individuals). Here’s the thing though – they are coming back, but different.
My grandparents lived through the Great Depression. Like many that lived through that time, they had an amazing talent for saving money and planning for the future. Their lives were forever colored by the difficulties of the Great Depression.
The Great Recession has taught our generation lessons as well (topics like: What is a subprime mortgage and how can it ruin your life?). I think the post-Recession costumer is going to be more savvy and receptive to added value.
So whatever your product is – your new album, lessons, a new concert series, etc. – I think you’ll get a lot more interest if you are able to raise it’s perceived worth with some kind of incentive. Try quantity discounts, hand-made packaging or access to members only content – or maybe something no one has thought of yet?
I think jobs with for-profit corporations are on their way back. Cruise gigs, tours, corporate gigs – I can’t prove it, but I think we’ll slowly see these gigs creep back into our lives over the next two years (right in time for the 2012 elections, how about that?). I know that I’ve started to get calls for the kinds of gigs I thought had gone extinct entirely: concerts, tours, new musicals, etc.
The arts were one of the first sectors of the economy hit by the recession, and I think we’ll be one of the last to recover. I can’t help but feel that non-profits will take the longest to recover, as they are privy to the financial support, and whims, of both private and public funding.
May the NEA and it’s (soon to be cut) budget save our ballets, symphonies and operas. Amen.

There’s Still a Long Way To Go

Again, the arts will be one of the last industries to recover fully, so while I think we can feel positive about our future – I know we’ll also have to wait patiently for it’s arrival.
I do think, though, that we should be using this time to build our businesses, careers and brands so that when the recovery does finally hit us – we’re ready to ride it as far as it will take us.
_____________________
David J. Hahn is a music director, pianist and songwriter in New York City. He is the co-founder of MusicianWages.com, a career website for working musicians, where this article originally appeared.

Recycle your songs

2011-02-25T10:53:00.001-08:00

If you've traveled to Europe recently, you're probably aware of Spotify - a Swedish music streaming service offering unlimited streaming of selected music from a range of major and independent record labels including Sony, EMI, Warner Music Group and Universal.

Though it has historically only been available in certain parts of Europe, it is very popular, and as you can imagine, there are many people trying to jump on this particular bandwagon. (update: Reports say that Spotify is "a few weeks away" from signing a U.S. distribution deal with Universal Music Group, the world's largest music label. If this happens, Spotify will have access to 68% of the market.)

Enter ReDigi: touting itself as "the world's first online marketplace to legally recycle, buy and sell, used digital music files", launching this summer in the U.S.

On the ReDigi Marketplace, music "owners" can "manage their music libraries by selling their unwanted digital music, or purchasing the music they do want, at drastically discounted prices".

Exactly how ReDigi will identify ownership or navigate the legal objections that labels have thrown at previous attempts (like Bopaboo) to resell digtal music is unclear; but there are a few hints:

"Being a group of computer geeks when someone tells us something can't be done, we immediately set a course to figure out how to do it," says the company's Larry Rudolph, a former member of the MIT faculty. "There are many layers that go into ReDigi that make it work, legal and technical being just a few. Our team figured out what could be done to legally ensure that consumers regain the freedom to manage their own personal music collections."

In addition to unspecified technology that ReDigi says will satisfy rights-holders, the company is also "granting a portion of each sale to artists and record labels each and every time a track resells."

A look at public portions of the site and an intro video show that at least some track sales on ReDigi will be in trade for credits that can be used to obtain other tracks rather than a cash transaction.

-------------------

Information on Redigi comes from an article from the Celebrity Access Newsletter, a tremendous resource for music industry professionals.

Behind the scenes at Stumptown

2011-02-23T13:08:00.000-08:00

I am in love with Stumptown Printers. It's been a slow but steady build up, but I'm ready to shout it out to the world. They are hip, eco friendly and are a perfect fit for the localvore culture of Portland, Oregon, their home, but you don't have to take my word for it;

Aimee Mann and Sarah McLachlan - housecleaners?

2011-02-21T10:38:00.001-08:00

Portlandia: Sorry About the Music Industry’s Downfall, Aimee Mann and Sarah Mclachlan

Check out this hilarious skit featuring Aimee Mann and Sarah Mclachlan.

"Fred and Carrie are faced with the direct results of downloading the music from one of their favorite artists when she shows up one day as their cleaning lady. How awkward is the situation? Very. They grapple with Aimee's crappy job cleaning their house but also feel guilty over being partially to blame for her being there at all." - Watch it all go down above.

Folk Alliance

2011-02-20T10:07:00.001-08:00

Hey folks.

I just finished up an eventful weekend at the Folk Alliance in Memphis, TN.

People from all over the world came to play music, socialize and share information and resources with each other, with the hopes of being able to continue to make a living in the music business.

While it wasn't as heavily attended as I've seen in past years, it remained a cacophony of banjos, guitars and fiddles, singers, dancers and storytellers, not to mention agents, artistic directors of festivals and promoters from some of the most vital venues in North America and beyond.

If you were there with me and are visiting GreenDux for the first time, welcome to the site! I hope you get some great ideas here, and I welcome your feedback and ideas.

Best,

Tania

:: Do You Tour?

2011-02-20T06:01:00.000-08:00

Are you a Touring Musician, Dancer, Tour Manager, Crew member or Circus Performer?

I want to hear from you!

I'm conducting a study on how people live on the road, the effect it has on them and the solutions they find.

Come and take the online survey now here.

Thanks!

-Tania

Rock and Wrap it up

2011-02-17T08:12:00.000-08:00

Rock and Wrap it Up! is a non-profit organization that was formed by Syd Mandelbaum in 1991. The independent anti-poverty think tank is based in New York, but works with partners across the country to develops greening solutions that address the issues of hunger and poverty in America. The organization works by increasing financial assets available to fight poverty by identifying new revenue streams through food and other basic assets obtained without cost. The group started by recovering food that was prepared, but not served from venues like Nikon at Jones Beach Theater. Next, the organization started working directly with bands to see that surplus food would be donated instead of being thrown out.

Rock and Wrap it Up! works with Band management to help them green their tour and put the food donation in their contract language. A member of the tour is selected and acts as the contact for RWU agencies in the cities where the band performs. This allows for smoother recovery as security is tight at all venues. The larger tours generate about 100 meals per city for the recovering agencies.

This video shows an example of how Music Wrap! works. Music Wrap! distributes prepared food from NY music venue, Roseland Ballroom, to the non-profit The Bowery Mission, who then feeds a great meal to appreciative, poverty-stricken New Yorkers. This food otherwise would have been thrown away!

Writing a great stage plot/tech rider

2011-02-16T18:35:00.000-08:00

I love this... but don't do this!

The “Necessary Evil” Of Paperwork: Rider & Stage Plot Clarity Can Really Pay Off

An experienced mixer and production manager shares a few ways of insuring that he gets what he wants and needs for his clients

Excerpt from ProSoundWeb: Nov. 05, 2009, by Chris Kathman

There are a few ways I’ve developed to insure that I get what I want for my clients.

A few years ago, I made a new backline sheet, input list, and stage plot for a band I was touring with. The plot was faxed to the agent’s office, and the input list and backline sheet e-mailed to his administrative assistant. I requested, specifically, that she destroy all other previous versions in her possession.

However, I discovered shortly after that there is another task to perform – rewriting the basic tech rider that goes out with the contract.

Many sound companies and venues automatically provide a drum fill that includes a sub, but we went to play an outdoor festival at a beautiful site in rural Northern California, where many of the other acts on the bill were quieter.

After the show, the drummer said to me, “Man, I was dying up there! I couldn’t feel the kick at all!”

I looked up by the drum riser and saw a single 12-inch-loaded wedge, so I asked the monitor tech from the sound company about why he didn’t bring a “real” drum fill with a sub.

He looked me right in the eye and calmly said, “You didn’t ask for one.”

As a result, the stage plot drawn up for every band I work with says, “Drum fill with sub” next to the drum riser.

List out those inputs, and feel free to explain seemingly strange requests. (Click to enlarge)

The drummer in another band I worked with carries his own mini-mixer that he hears a click from, and also puts up an ambient mic behind himself.

When the drum fill does not put out enough energy, he is very self-sufficient and has an XLR Y-split that he will insert on the kick mic, and run it to the mini-mixer for his IEMs.

Speaking of stage plots – if you don’t have a computer-based program to generate them, just use a Sharpie!

That is what I do, and one time the veteran stage manager at the Key Club on Sunset Strip actually congratulated me on it,saying, “I can tell you’ve seen a lot of these!”

It’s true, I have, and from that experience, I go with the simplest representation possible. I hate the plots done by an excitable person with a new whiz-bang software program that has countless little symbols all over the place, that you can’t easily decode the meaning of.

With my plots, the techs will know where to put their mics and stage boxes, we will get power drops where we need them, I indicate where the playback outputs are located, and my phone number is also on the sheet if they need to know anything else.

It’s important to speak to the sound company yourself ahead of time, since promoters are notorious for not passing on the info we provide. Also, there may still be operator error, even if you personally fax the paperwork directly to the sound company.

Left At The Shop

Once I worked a show at a resort hotel on the East Coast, and took the precaution of walking by the area where the stage was being assembled a couple hours before our scheduled load-in time.

Introducing myself to the monitor tech, he confessed that he’d left our input list and stage plot at the shop.

Over the years, I’ve learned a lot from people whose main goal is a successful show instead of making other people feel small or stupid, oo I didn’t castigate or humiliate this person; I needed him on my side later on. It wasn’t going to help matters to cuss, frown or roll my eyeballs sarcastically.

This is where learning to bring more sheets with me paid off, instead of assuming, “Oh, I faxed these to them before we left, I don’t need to bring any more.” That one has ambushed me in the past.

This time, I was able to smile and say, I smiled and said, “No problem, I’ve got some extra copies down in my room. I’ll go get them and bring them back up to you.”

So what if that takes 15 minutes out of my life? I’d rather do that than spend eight hours a day driving a messenger car all over Los Angeles, or holding pieces of steel against a grinder in a lab animal cage factory, or chop frozen pork and make tostada shells in boiling oil – all of which I did when I was younger.

I’m grateful for the way I make a living now. So what if it takes faxing, sending e-mails and taking a little time on the phone to insure my show days run much more smoothly?

I’ll gladly spend the time, and a few dollars, to do it.

Chris Kathman is a veteran mixer and production manager, and he also served as an editor in the formative days of ProSoundWeb.

Tour Manager Joke

2011-02-14T09:13:00.000-08:00

I found this joke on Starpolish:

An FOH, LD, and Tour Manager are walking down the beach one day and see an old bottle in the sand. The FOH picks it up, wipes it off, and a beautiful genie suddenly appears. The genie says, “I will grant each of you one wish. Anything in the world is yours.”

The FOH speaks first: “I wish to be the wealthiest man in all of Europe. I want to have the largest mansion in Paris and be surrounded by beautiful women wishing to marry me.” The genie snapped her fingers and the FOH disappeared.

The LD spoke next: “I wish to be a captain on a yacht in the Caribbean, flocked by a crew of beautiful women.” The genie snapped her fingers and it was done. She turned to the tour manager.

“I want those two guys back on the bus RIGHT NOW!”

Artists' Residencies

2011-02-09T13:30:00.001-08:00

Ever thought that you might accomplish great things if only you could just get away from it all? Maybe you should consider applying for an Artists' residency.

"Artists' residencies (also called artists' communities, colonies, retreats, workspaces, and studio collectives) provide dedicated time and space for creative work. Beyond this core value, these creative communities are a diverse group, and provide artists of all disciplines with many different styles and models of support.

The difference between a residency and working in your home studio is more than just dedicated time and space. Residencies offer an opportunity to expand your own resources, whether in the form of community, support, access to equipment, collaborators, or presentation of your work. Choosing a residency can be similar to selecting a college--it's not just the reputation that matters, but the people, the environment, the alumni support, and the style of the place that makes it a good fit." - http://www.artistcommunities.org/

Here are some links to check out:

http://valerieatkisson.wordpress.com/2010/08/31/all-you-need-to-know-about-artist-residencies/

http://www.artistcommunities.org/

http://www.djerassi.org/

http://artcroft.org/

http://www.youkobo.co.jp/

Tourganizer

2011-02-06T12:38:00.001-08:00

If you're trying to tour as pro as possible but you're on a serious budget and can't afford the crew of your dreams, I recommend buying this program. I've used it over the years and it's everything you need to get the job done.

Tourganizer is an easy-to-use tour management system. Navigating through Tourganizer is intuitive and simple. The six main advance screens, "Production", "Venue", "Contract", "Hotel", "Travel" and "Band" contain fields for all of your tour related data. Once data is entered you are just one click away from creating professional looking tourbooks, day sheets, room lists and guest lists.

Tourganizer also contains a sophisticated merchandise inventory system that not only gives you everything you need to count-in and settle your merchandise at the show, but it automatically tracks the inventory of each of your merch items based on your daily sales.

Conduct professional production advances and impress venues and promoters with your great looking tourbooks, guest lists, daily sheets and merchandise settlements.

http://tourganizer.com/

Will the Music Industry Ever Learn?

2011-02-02T13:14:00.001-08:00

The music industry has endured more than its fair share of trouble over the past decade, through Napsterization, the collapse of CD sales, the rise of iTunes and more. But few labels have been more affected than EMI, one of the “big four” labels which was taken over by U.S. finance titan Citigroup yesterday. The deal wasn’t even worth much in cash terms — Citigroup simply called in the debt EMI owed it, wrote it down by $3.5 billion and took control. Read more here.

Great NY Times Article

2011-01-30T11:55:00.001-08:00

The Hobo Ethical Code...

2011-01-18T20:58:00.000-08:00

While doing some research for a painting I'm working on, I came upon the Hobo ethical code, and it struck a chord with me...

An ethical code was created by Tourist Union #63 during its 1889 National Hobo Convention in St. Louis Missouri. This code was voted upon as a concrete set of laws to govern the Nation-wide Hobo Body; it reads this way:

Decide your own life, don't let another person run or rule you.
When in town, always respect the local law and officials, and try to be a gentleman at all times.
Don't take advantage of someone who is in a vulnerable situation, locals or other hobos.
Always try to find work, even if temporary, and always seek out jobs nobody wants. By doing so you not only help a business along, but ensure employment should you return to that town again.
When no employment is available, make your own work by using your added talents at crafts.
Do not allow yourself to become a stupid drunk and set a bad example for locals' treatment of other hobos.
When jungling in town, respect handouts, do not wear them out, another hobo will be coming along who will need them as bad, if not worse than you.
Always respect nature, do not leave garbage where you are jungling.
If in a community jungle, always pitch in and help.
Try to stay clean, and boil up wherever possible.
When traveling, ride your train respectfully, take no personal chances, cause no problems with the operating crew or host railroad, act like an extra crew member.
Do not cause problems in a train yard, another hobo will be coming along who will need passage through that yard.
Do not allow other hobos to molest children, expose all molesters to authorities, they are the worst garbage to infest any society.
Help all runaway children, and try to induce them to return home.
Help your fellow hobos whenever and wherever needed, you may need their help someday.
If present at a hobo court and you have testimony, give it. Whether for or against the accused, your voice counts!

It kind of makes me wish we had something like that!

Save money on tour...

2011-01-10T10:24:00.001-08:00

These are my favorite tips from the article "11 Tricks to Cutting Travel Costs in 2011"

DON’T PAY TO CHECK A BAG Checking bags can quickly add up, with airlines charging between $15 and $35 a bag. Delta’s SkyMiles-branded American Express card allows you and up to eight others on the same reservation to each check a bag at no cost. And American Express introduced a travel-rewards card — the Blue Sky Preferred Credit Card — that offers travelers an annual $100 allowance to cover checked baggage, in-flight meals, entertainment or Wi-Fi purchases, and other fees, on any airline.

SAVE ON PARKING YOUR CAR Bestparking.com steers drivers toward the cheapest parking at off-airport lots near 79 North American airports. Rates are updated frequently, and sold-out lots are highlighted. A recent search for parking near Newark Liberty International Airport offered a snapshot of rates and locations on a map. The Renaissance Hotel lot was among the cheapest at $12 for 24 hours. There is also a free app for iPhone, Android or BlackBerry users.

BUY ON TUESDAY Most airlines begin sales on Monday evenings, and by the following day other airlines have usually matched the lowered fares on the same routes, said Anne McDermott, editor at Farecompare.com, which tracks price trends. Last month, for example, Virgin America had a sale on Dec. 13, with one-way fares as low as $79 on some routes, according to Farecompare. The next day, there were sales from AirTran, Southwest and American, with one-way fares from $59. Because sales are hard to predict, travelers looking for the best deal should start their searches three to four months in advance, when airlines begin to look closely at which routes may need a sale to fill seats.

SHOP “PRIVATE SALES” A growing number of Web sites, including SniqueAway.com, TabletHotels.com andJetsetter.com have flash sales of 20 to 60 percent off hotel packages to travelers on an invitation-only basis. Jetsetter, for example, recently offered a Friday night in January at the Angler’s, a boutique hotel in Miami, for $255 a night, down from the $359 offered at the hotel’s site. Another site,TripAlertz.com, works like Groupon for travel, meaning that the more people who book a deal, the lower the rate. For example, a four-night, all-inclusive stay at the Hilton Papagayo Costa Rica Resort & Spa was initially offered to members for $1,496, or 15 percent off, last month. After 55 bookings, the price dropped to $1,220. At TripAlertz andLivingSocial.com, which offers last-minute getaways, all you have to do is create an account to access the deals. A Google search for “Snique Away invite” turned up a registration form for SniqueAway.com that got me in.

A veritable smorgasboard of missed music

2011-01-09T14:00:00.001-08:00

Farewell 2010? Not quite yet. There’s always the nagging-conscience pile: the music that didn’t get timely attention as the year rushed by. Here are some stragglers.

The Art of Girl Talk

2011-01-08T09:32:00.000-08:00

I just read this fascinating article on Gregg Gillis (aka Girl Talk).

As someone who is incredibly unfamiliar with dance music, DJ-ing and even most pop music, I suppose I'm somewhat late to the game, but it seems to me as if Gillis has created a new form of art.

While I'm truly surprised that no one has taken legal action against him for sampling music and using it for profit, I have to admit that he seems to have taken the concept of sustainability to a whole new level - With only one person (and one output!) onstage, and I assume, one soundperson and perhaps a tour manager, he is able to keep costs down lower than probably anyone else out there touring these days. As far as touring goes, he would have the ultimate amount of flexibility in all aspects of daily life and overall tour planning.

Equally appalled and compelled as I am (which I suppose is a hallmark of modern art), I recommend:

The NY Times article on Gregg Gillis of Girl Talk

Book of the Month

2011-01-07T07:59:00.000-08:00

This month I'm reading Mansion On The Hill: Dylan, Young, Geffen, Springsteen, and the Head-On Collision of Rock and Commerce, by Fred Goodman.

A true look behind the scenes of the music scene in the late 60s and 70s, Goodman, a contributing editor at Rolling Stoneand occasional EW writer, frames the book largely by the colorful and often dramatic stories of such artists and visionaries as Bob Dylan, Neil Young, Bruce Springsteen, and David Geffen.

You can read a review of the book here.

Win A Solar Backpack!

2011-01-04T10:56:00.000-08:00

Attention all you eco friendly travelers - Planet Green is giving away two solar backpacks a week, no strings attached. Use the bag to charge your laptop, iPod or virtually any electronic device. The backpacks are provided by Voltaic and come with batteries to capture energy collected in three solar panels. As another green spin, the bags’ fabric is made from recycled soda bottles. Enter each week until January 21 for a new chance to win!

LEFSETZ LETTER

2010-12-27T09:32:00.000-08:00

Today's Music Business Paradigm
Posted: December 23, 2010
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703727804576017592259031536.html?mod=ITP--fridayjournal--0

Read this. Not because it's a blueprint for your success, but because it illustrates the decline of the major label paradigm. Today you've got to do it for yourself. If you're waiting for someone else to help you, you're waiting to be enslaved, if anybody pays attention at all.

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Attention... How do we measure that?

Major labels use old school metrics. Primarily record sales and traditional publicity. Yes, majors are investing heavily in online video, but if you think one spiking YouTube video establishes success, you just haven't watched the Evolution Of Dance on YouTube (158,981,597 views and counting: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dMH0bHeiRNg).

One thing we do know... Music lives online. It's a digital medium. The fact that majors still get the most revenue from CD sales illustrates their fear of the future. If you've got nothing to lose, you take chances. If you're the steward of a dying business, you don't want to take the blame. You want to blame everybody else. But the blame game is done.

In order to make money you've got to have an online presence. You've got to build your name to the point that people know who you are and are interested in following your next move. Once upon a time a hit made fans interested in what came next. Now a track is seen as an isolated event. You can quite literally be here today and gone tomorrow. How do you succeed? By burrowing deep online.

1. Match your music to visuals. Music should be enough, but if you can get someone to stop what they're doing and pay attention to your work online, you've got a better chance of hooking them.

2. Constantly create. You have to engage your fans on an almost daily basis. It doesn't always have to be new music, although that helps, but interaction and innovation should be your credo. Constantly put something in the trough that hooks fans.

This is the primary reason the major labels are dying. They're massaging tracks for long term radio success. And radio is dying just as quickly as they are. Everything has a short shelf life online. It's the accumulated mass that establishes you.

3. Ask your fans to help. It's not as simple as building a street team. Sure, you can ask for money, but that's kind of cheesy. Ask them to put up posters. Ask them to house you and your road crew. Ask them to sell food at your gig in an alternative location. You may view it as crapwork, but that's not how your fan feels. A fan feels involved, like a piece of the puzzle, and his beaming countenance and frothing description of his interaction with you will gain more followers than an e-mail imploring someone who doesn't care to listen to your MP3.

4. Music is your calling card. If you don't think it should be free, you're destined to the dustbin. The key is to charge for it in different forms. Maybe you personalize songs for fans. Or you create special packaging. Or you stream it online and it's downloadable at the store. iTunes is about convenience. Many people aren't savvy enough to know how to download from the Web, or don't want to take the time. In other words, you can give it away and still sell it too. The key is to get someone to listen.

5. Forget trying to make it by the old rules. It will only hold you back. Gain enough success so the old school people come to you and offer you a deal on your terms. Still, old school people can do less for you than ever before, and want more money for their efforts because they make less income. If you're not about making the money for yourself, you're not successful.

6. Only you will know if you've made it. Sure, "Billboard" and BigChampagne have newfangled online charts, but they can't calculate the number of fans and the quality of the bond. Only you can. Using your own metrics. Do you get more e-mail? Have more friends? Is attendance at the gig increasing?

We are living in an era of chaos. And it's unsettling to oldsters and newbies who want to get a ride on the old train. The oldsters are refining their paradigm to the point of ridiculousness. They want cute kids who in many cases haven't even reached puberty who can appeal to impulse buyers, those their same age. If you're twenty five and play anything but beat-infused tunes and you're wondering why the major isn't interested in you you've got your head up your ass.

Maybe, at some point in the future, we'll find a new way to measure music success. But sales of recordings is no longer it.Old schoolers think albums don't sell what they used to because of theft. The real story is albums don't sell because not enough people care. The audience is scattered. Then again, it's easy to reach everybody online. You can gain great success.

I applaud OK Go, but I'm not sure where they go from here. Their success demands constant stunts. But they started in the major label game, looking for instant attention.

Don't do that. Grow slowly. Over time. So that when someone hears about your act from friends multiple times over years, they finally decide to check you out. They figure you're in it for the long haul. They believe you're for real. They want to know what all the fuss is about.

MTV rocketed acts into outer space and they quickly fell back to earth. Corporations are the twenty first century equivalent. Everyone is looking for the easy way out. But if you want to sustain, involve no middlemen, keep yourself pure. Just keep building the bond with your fans. Spend nights thinking how you can get people more involved, not what third party you can get to pay you. You don't want to be owned by anyone but your fans.

KoL Sets London 'Ablaze'

2010-12-24T10:10:00.000-08:00

Posted: December 21, 2010

LONDON (CelebrityAccess MediaWire) -- A sold out crowd must have been "fuming" when the Kings of Leon's Tuesday night show at London's O2 was cancelled due to a tour bus fire.

The early morning fire aboard a tour bus parked at London's O2 Arena caused the concert to be postponed, a venue spokesman announced late Tuesday morning.

"Whilst there is no damage to the O2 there is now insufficient time to rig the arena for tonight’s performance," the spokesman said according to CBC News.

"We are sorry for the inconvenience and we will announce a new date shortly."

Dozens of firefighters were called to the O2 at about 8 a.m. local time Tuesday morning to battle a serious fire that allegedly started on one tour bus belonging to the Grammy-winning rockers before engulfing a second bus according to CBC News.About 60 firefighters and 12 engines were engaged to deal with the fire, according to the London Fire Brigade.

No one was seriously injured, but six people were reportedly treated for smoke inhalation at the scene.

"Our primary concern was that nobody was hurt," the band said in a statement.

The fire, which had broken out in a loading bay area, was snuffed and there is no damage to either the venue's dome or the structure itself, said a fire brigade spokesman.

"The O2's sprinkler system successfully activated and this helped firefighters bring the blaze swiftly under control," he said, adding that officials will remain on the scene for some time to investigate according to CBC News.

Tuesday night's concert was sold out several months ago and was to have been the final show of a U.K. arena tour by the alternative rock band.

Drummer Nathan Followill told Twitter followers, "I'm so bummed about 2nites show. Sorry 4 the fans, 4 our crew who lost all their s***, including passports. I'm thankful everyone's safe."

-- Crystal Lynn Huntoon

Holiday Cheer

2010-12-23T09:58:00.001-08:00

I couldn't resist.

Google Is Looking Internally for Its Music CEO...

2010-12-22T16:32:00.001-08:00

presnikoff

Wednesday, December 22, 2010

Everyone loves a good game of guess who. But according to several well-placed sources, Google is leaning towards an internal executive to lead its upcoming music initiative. "They're not ruling out an outside pick, but also not having active discussions with any outsiders," one source told Digital Music News earlier this week.

That was corroborated by another source inside Google, who noted that the issue has been actively discussed. And, there are certainly some reasons for selecting an established music industry player to steer the ship. But so far, chats with music or media executives have been limited.

Still, the Google source stressed the fluidity of the situation, especially considering the presence of different groups tied into the project. And, the source noted that some limited conversations have been happening. That includes a meeting with at least one music executive, who apparently "called [Google] for the meeting [while in LA], not the other way around." Other phone and email volleys have also apparently occurred.

None of this means that music people won't get hired. Already, Google has roped ex-Rhapsody exec Tim Quirk (as first reported by Digital Music News). Elizabeth Moody, the barrister picked from Davis Shapiro Lewit & Hayes, is a critical addition, and one source pointed to potential label relations and music programming slots.

But why keep the fun indoors on the big chief? Given the relative unimportance of music to Google's overarching strategic roadmap, an executive with an intimate knowledge of the broader Google goal structure and culture might make more sense. And, the number of truly effective music industry 'operators' or 'fixers' is actually very limited, especially as the industry continues to fragment and shrink.

Digital Music News

Memoirs By Rock Stars We Wish We Could Have Read

2010-12-21T12:27:00.001-08:00

The Huffington Post Posted: 12-21-10 07:14 AM

In the wake of punk rock legend Patti Smith winning a National Book Award for her memoir "Just Kids," and the boom associated with the publication of Rolling Stones guitarist Keith Richards' memoir "Life," 2010 might well be remembered as the year of the powerhouse rock star memoir. These two works provide unique insight into the histories of two cultural forces, illuminating some facts behind the myths of their personae.

But all too often with rock musicians, whether it be from drug overdoses, wacko fans or other strange circumstances, they die way too young. From Jimi Hendrix to Kurt Cobain, there exists a slew of rock stars who died before they had the chance to write a memoir.

Which rock stars would have written awesome memoirs? Here's our list of 15.

John Lennon, activist, artist, celebrity, poet, and, of course, Beatle, was assassinated on Dec 8, 1980. Widely regarded as one of the greatest songwriters of all time, as well as being in the biggest band of all time, Lennon would undoubtedly written a riveting memoir.

Janis Joplin, a seminal part of the 1960s cultural revolution, died at the age of 27 in 1970. As a singer, she was a pioneer in the world of rock n' roll and is widely regarded as one of the greatest voices of all time. She was also one of the few women to come to prominence in the 1960s music scene.

Widely regarded as the best electric guitarist of all time, Jimi Hendrix died at age 28 in 1970. Having headlined the legendary Woodstock festival, Hendrix is widely associated with the psychedelic drug movement of the '60s and as one of the most influential musicians of the 20th Century.

Dying in 1971 at 28 years old, Jim Morrison, iconic front man of The Doors, will be remembered as one of the greatest performers of all time.

The iconic member of The Who, Keith Moon innovated behind the drum set in both sound and style, as an incredible musician and dynamic showman. He died at the age of 32.

Kurt Cobain took his own life at age 27 in 1994, only after achieving commercial and critical success with his alternative-rock, game changing band, Nirvana. Cobain has been credited with inventing a music genre, as well as with defining the sound of a generation.

Singer-songwriter Elliott Smith wrote melodic songs with confessional lyrics and is survived by an intensely devoted, even cult-like, following.

Lead singer and front man of the band INXS, Michael Hutchence was a wild rock star in the classic breed. He died at age 37 in 1997 from an apparent suicide.

Elvis Presley, the King of Rock n Roll, had a long, turbulent and extremely influential career. Unfortunately, Evlis died at age 42 and was unable to share his life story in the concise, written format of a memoir.

Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award winner and Rock N Roll Hall Of Famer, Frank Zappa was an influential composer, guitarist, singer-songwriter and director. Despite his long and influential career, he never wrote about his life in the form of a book.

Stevie Ray Vaughan pioneered the blues rock sound and was instrumental in developing the Texas blues scene. He died in a helicopter accident when he was 36 years old.

Hank Williams was a natural storyteller, penning many of the greatest country music songs of all time, many of which pivot on moving narratives and empathetic characters. He died at the age of 29, only after becoming one of country music's biggest stars.

Townes van Zandt was a country-folk singer-songwriter who retained a devoted cult-like following and generated much critical praise, despite never crossing into the mainstream. He died in 1997 and although books have been written about him, the singer never wrote about his life firsthand.

Bob Marley, legendary singer-songwriter and the man who popularized reggae music, remains a mythic figure in American popular culture today. He died at age 36 and was never able to write a book about his own, incredible, life.

Co-founder, singer and guitarist of the massively influential British punk band The Clash, Joe Strummer lived to age 50. Despite his influential nature, he never penned a book about his life.

Lead singer and songwriter for the influential '90s band, Sublime, Bradley Nowell died in 1996 from a heroine overdose.

Otis Redding, the King of Soul and the unforgettable pioneer of blues and rock n roll music, died in a plane crash at age 26. Despite his untimely death, Redding has been one of popular music's greatest influences.

UK DJs Busted For Buying Own Music On iTunes With Stolen Credit Cards

2010-12-20T17:46:00.000-08:00

DJs from the UK have been charged with using 1,500 stolen or cloned credit cards to buy their own tracks on iTunes and Amazon. The eleven DJs, aged 19 to 41, racked up $780,000 / £500,000 in purchases which netted them £185,000 ($288,000) in royalties and caused their tracks to chart in the top ten. The DJs employed music distributor TuneCore to get their music on iTunes.

The group allegedly downloaded the songs 6,000 times between January 2008 and June 2009. Lamar Johnson, the youngest member of the gang and who is currently serving a five-year prison term for grievous bodily harm, pleading guilty to one count of conspiracy to defraud in court and admitted being responsible for about 2,000 of the downloads.

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1339047/Teenage-songwriter-bought-singles-stolen-credit-cards-500k-iTunes-scam.html#ixzz18IySGxcx

The fake buys also boosted them up higher in the iTunes sales rankings, generating further buzz and more royalties. The DJs may have gotten away with it had Apple not been slammed with Stop Payment orders from several credit card issuing banks stating that the cards were stolen or faked.

Music & Business

2010-12-19T12:20:00.000-08:00

I just read "10 Essential Tips for Making a Living with Your Music" by Chris Knab, and while I appreciated the appeal of the format, I connected most with #10:

Musician...Educate Thyself!

If you want a record deal, learn what a record deal is, and learn something about the business of music. Naive or mis-informed musicians are a menace to themselves. Enough already!

Over the decades there have been countless stories of musicians who were ripped off by their record labels and music publishing companies. Why? Exploitation was the name of the game for a long time. Keeping musicians in the dark was standard business practice. However, the past has passed, and today any musicians who sign a record contract (and learns later what he or she signed) have only themselves to blame. Even 20 years ago, it wasn’t that easy to gain access to the inner workings of the music business. (There are more letters in the word business than in the word music.)

Today there are dozens of outstanding books available on every conceivable topic related to the business of music. They can be found in bookstores, libraries, and through the Internet. In addition, there are many schools that now offer 2- 4 year programs on the business of music. Seminars, and workshops are available on a year round basis in most major American cities. Consultants, Attorneys, and Business Organizations are all around and so it is only myth, superstition, stubbornness, and immaturity that stand in the way of any musician making a commitment to educating themselves about the business that exists to exploit their music.

I cannot stress how important I feel this issue is. I am here to tell you, one and all, that you have been told many things about music that you did believe. "Spend money on quality instruments and equipment"... you have done that. "Spend time and money on practicing and rehearsing", you have done that, for the most part."Spend time and money finding the best recording studio, producer and engineer you can"... you have done that. "Spend time and money learning all you can about the business of music"... well, no one told you to do that did they?!

It has been said about education that we don’t know anything until someone tells us. If that is true, the fault in "not telling" musicians that they MUST spend some time and money on educating themselves on music business issues is the fault of the businessmen and women who kept their clients uninformed. (Ignorance IS bliss as far as the old guard of music executives are concerned). But,KNOWLEDGE IS BLISS should be the byword for the musician of the new millennium. Please...spend some time and money educating yourselves about the music business, a few hours now, can protect your future forever!

-----

Christopher Knab is an independent music business consultant based in Seattle, Washington. He is available for private consultations on promoting and marketing independent music, and can be reached by email at: Chris@Knab.com

Chris Knab's new book, 'Music Is Your Business' is available NOW from the Music Biz Academy bookstore.

Visit the FourFront Media and Music website for more information on the business of music from Christopher Knab.

Montreal Rock Band Your Favorite Enemies Produces A Powerful Video For Human Rights Day

2010-12-18T10:33:00.000-08:00

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Actively supporting Amnesty International for more than a decade, the members of the rock band Your Favorite Enemies have crafted an empowering and mobilizing video for The Universal Declaration of Human Rights Day, held on December 10th. Produced in English, French and Japanese, the videos strong and engaging message is already spreading over the planet: "Your voice really makes a difference, expose yourself!"

Expose Yourself! from Your Favorite Enemies on Vimeo.

Top Ten Tools for Healthy Touring

2010-12-17T13:44:00.000-08:00

# 10 - Eye cover and ear plugs -

Trying to block out unfamiliar sounds in the hotel room or just your annoying bandmates' repetitive jokes in the van? Create a little solitude with these trusty tools.

# 9 - Tennis Balls -

Is your back out of whack? Tied up in knots from hours in the backseat with that cute young groupie? Just take a moment when you get to the hotel (or any flat surface), stick these babies parallel along your spine anywhere it hurts (I like to start at the hips and work my way up to the shoulder blades) and lie there and breathe. Things will have a way of sorting themselves out.

# 8 - Reusable bag -

Infinitely useable and small-packing; having one or two of these stashed in a convenient location just might save your day. My personal favorite is the RePETe bag, by Chico.

# 7 - Where The Locals Eat Ap p -

The app to end all aimless drives around the venue looking for something halfway decent to eat while wasting precious time before the gig. And you save fossil fuel!

# 6 - To-Go Ware -

Say goodbye to plastic knives, forks and spoons and balsa wood chopsticks that split the wrong way. This kit brings a feeling of homey familiarity whether you're chowing down salad in the van or snacking on late night sushi in your hotel room. You can even get it through airport security, 'cause the knife is not all that sharp (though it will cut through an avocado in a pinch).

# 5 - Kotobuki Fruit Knife -

When you do need to cut or peel something, this knife awaits you. Though you have to check it in your suitcase when you fly, you'll be thankful you have it when you get to where you're going. With a snug fitting sheath, the knife stays sharp and you don't have to worry about it causing mayhem in your bag. At $10, you can't go wrong.

# 4 - Reusable Water Bottle - Studies have shown time and time again that more often than not, bottled water is no better than tap. As long as you're traveling the Western world, you can save time, money and the planet by using a reusable water bottle. My personal favorite is Kleen Kanteen, and I'm standing in line to get their new Special Edition "Reflect" bottle, crafted using just sustainably harvested bamboo, food grade silicone and stainless steel.

# 3 - Aerobic Oxygen/Cell Food -

Touring exposes you to different seasons, humidity levels and huge groups of people aka hosts to various airborne illnesses. Aerobic Oxygen kills all anaerobic (infectious) bacteria while leaving untouched bacteria that is harmless / good for you AND it aerates water (adds oxygen to it, keeping harmful bacteria from growing in it).In addition, the stabilized oxygen molecules add oxygen to your blood and body, rejuvenating tired muscles.

Cell Food contains 78 minerals, 34 enzymes, and 17 amino acids. It utilizes a proprietary water-splitting technology that provides a powerful stream of bio-available oxygen plus 129 nutrients directly to the cells.

I use both to boost my system on the road.

# 2 - Greens Plus Bars -

I love any of the chocolate coated Greens Plus Bars, but over time, the Chia has proven to be the best for touring on the road, due to its' filling and fibre rich properties. Greens Plus bars manage to taste like serious indulgence while delivering organically-grown superfoods, soy protein, and high energy herbal extracts to produce a delicious, cold-processed, alkaline-forming green food bar.

# 1 - Dr. Bronner's Liquid Soap - A little goes a long way with this stuff, and its' versatility is legendary. I've been known to use it for body soap, laundry soap, shampoo and even toothpaste in a pinch. The peppermint is brilliant and helps with those super early mornings, but try them all!

iTunes and the Death of Liner Notes

2010-12-17T11:24:00.000-08:00

Don Was

Record producer

Posted: December 17, 2010 12:41 PM

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Got an e-mail the other day from my old friend, Steve Jordan -- one of the greatest drummers on Earth... he's played with everyone from Keith Richards to Sonny Rollins and produced a slew of artists like John Mayer, Solomon Burke and Buddy Guy. Steve asked, "How can NARAS [the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences] nominate an album for best engineered recording and fail to nominate the mastering engineer?" It's a great question: Denying the Grammy to the mastering engineer is the musical equivalent of awarding a Super Bowl ring solely to the victorious quarterback while ignoring the contributions of his receivers and offensive linemen. In the football analogy, it's more difficult to overlook the other players because we see them on TV, hear the announcers mention their names and read about them on the sports page. How many of you readers have even heard of a mastering engineer? Don't feel badly -- it's not your fault. These days, you have to launch a dedicated hunt to find out about these things.

Since I started making records 30-some years ago, we've always made a point of mentioning the recording, mixing and mastering engineers along with the musicians, arrangers, songwriters and producers who contribute to the records. When those credits were printed on a 12-inch album jacket, the letters were large enough to actually read. Fans got a real sense of both the collaborative nature of recorded music and of all the work and dedication behind every album. Subsequently, smaller CD booklets necessitated an almost illegible print size. These days, the nation's largest retailer of music -- the iTunes store -- has essentially eliminated credits, liner notes and printed lyrics from their digital packaging. I'm at a loss to explain Apple's ambivalence about upholding the quality and value of the product that has fueled the success of their hardware. For those of us who grew up in Detroit, this kind of corporate cockiness should have a certain ring of familiarity: It's an early symptom of the same shortsightedness that brought down the Big Three automakers and sent the city into an economic tailspin.

In the summer of 1966, I bought an album called Freak Out! by a then-unknown group called the Mothers of Invention at Lou Salesin's Mumford Music Store on Coolidge Highway in Oak Park. It was a double album with an amazing gatefold jacket that retailed for $4.99. Inside there were extensive liner notes written by Frank Zappa that changed my life. In a subsequent interview, Frank said that the Freak Out!album package was designed to be "as accessible as possible to the people who wanted to take the time to make it accessible. That list of names in there, if anybody were to research it, would probably help them a great deal." He was right: The first time I heard of Charles Ives, Willie Dixon, Captain Beefheart, Lawrence Ferlinghetti and Eric Dolphy was when I read that list of 150 random notables (titled "People Who Have Contributed Materially in Many Ways to Make Our Music What it Is - Please Do Not Hold it Against Them"). My friend, Michael Loceff, and I took a trip to LA later that summer just to check out all the locations that Frank listed as Freak Out! hot spots. When we finally reached the hallowed portals of Ben Franks restaurant on Sunset, we felt like we'd become part of a movement -- even if it was 10 a.m., and there wasn't a freak in sight! Years later, I got to hang out with the Mother's drummer, Jimmy Carl Black. I was tongue-tied and awestruck to be in the presence of this cat whose mystique, for me, was based solely on his portrayal on the inside of album covers. Frank Zappa schooled us in counter-culture history, gave lost teenagers an identity along with a mythology and provided four sides of groundbreaking rock 'n' roll for five bucks! Some 44 years later, I'm still a fan -- that's what the music business is about.

If Zappa released that same music today, we'd browse the 30-second samples on the iTunes store without the benefit of reading those mind-blowing liner notes. There'd be no context or depth to the whole experience. It's no wonder that kids don't wanna pay for music anymore -- downloading a file of zeroes and ones for 99 cents has the same cultural allure as ordering a Ronco Veg-O-Matic from an 800 number.

I suspect that the blame doesn't fall solely at the feet of iTunes. For all I know, they may be willing to offer all of the digital packaging that they're supplied with. It wouldn't be surprising to discover that it's also the record labels who feel they can't afford the time and expense required to make this information available. Distracted by the tsunami of horrifying financial trends, maybe nobody in the music business is seriously addressing the possibilities for digital liner notes and the improvement of digital albums. We're missing the point that, just like domestic automobiles, if we offer better records at a reasonable price maybe people will start buying them again!

Years ago, we felt that the iTunes store was the only hope for the future of recorded music. They were treated with kid gloves by the musicians and entrepreneurs who devoted their lives to making and selling records. Nobody, myself included, wanted to rock the boat. Now I'm starting to wonder if this laissez-faire attitude towards iTunes is becoming part of the problem and contributing to the devaluation of the album experience. Ten billion downloads later, it's time for everyone -- Apple, the record labels, artists, ASCAP, BMI, the Federation of Musicians, SAG , the recording academy, music publishers -- to ante up and show more respect for music fans by insisting on providing them with the complete experience of recorded music. A great, timeless album is more than just an entertainment app.

Knowing the name of the mastering engineer and honoring his work is a sign of a healthy culture -- an essential component to a functioning society. Right on, Steve!

Hotel Room Germ-Fighting Guide

2010-12-15T11:26:00.000-08:00

Travel expert Peter Greenberg has slept in hotels all around the world and knows just where germs are lurking.

By Peter Greenberg

Expert Content | June 15, 2010

Pop quiz: What's the dirtiest thing in your hotel room? If you said the toilet, or even the door handle, you're wrong. In fact, it's the remote control! Think about how many people have used the remote control before you and whether anyone has ever thought to clean it.

When you travel, always carry a pack of disinfecting wipes. You can use them to clean not just the dreaded remote control, but also the phone handset and doorknobs. The big risks you face from these surfaces are E. coli and enterococci, bacteria that can be transmitted on public surfaces and lead to unpleasant problems.

(And since you have them, go ahead and use the wipes to clean off the armrest and tray table on the airplane too. )

Now, in most hotels, you can assume that the sheets and blankets have been washed. But what about that bedspread? Every time I enter a hotel room, I do not stop; I do not pass go; I grab that bedspread and toss it into a corner. Then I never look at it or think about touching it again!

Are you worried about the bathtub or the bathmat as a source of germs? There's something even dirtier in your bathroom—the water glasses. When a hotel maid is cleaning your room at the end of an eight-hour shift, don't fool yourself into thinking those glasses came straight from the dishwasher. The most you can expect is a quick wipedown of those glasses. Your job? Rinse them under hot water for a couple of minutes before using

And how about that ice bucket? You guessed it. These buckets are rarely cleaned, so always use the disposable liner that comes with it, or give it a good scrubbing yourself.

The lesson here? You can't always assume that a hotel room is up to your standards, despite how it looks on the surface. And if you end up in a really dirty, dingy and downright disgusting hotel room, alert the general manager immediately to request a refund.

From DivineCaroline.com