Creating a Description of Your Band
November 28, 2006 by Jo Minor · Leave a Comment
Two Easy Steps to Describing Your Band for Greater Web Traffic and More Fans
By Marc Gunn
It continues to boggle my mind how many bands don’t take the time to come up with a decent description of their music. It’s extremely important, and when you’re marketing yourself online, it’s essential.
So grab some paper, we’re gonna create two simple band descriptions that will help you earn you web traffic and help you with all aspects of your music promotion. Whether you’re looking to promote your band to someone in an elevator, on the phone or submitting to a directory, these two descriptions will serve you well. Read more
Music Schools Offer Career Advancement
November 28, 2006 by Jo Minor · Leave a Comment
Music Schools Offer Career Advancement
By Michael Bustamante
Are you looking for a career as a musician, singer, choral director, or music teacher? Music Schools can provide you with opportunities to prepare for a professional career in music by offering knowledge and experience that can result in certificates and/or college degrees. Performers, scholars, and music educators alike can benefit from training received from Music School.
Music Schools offer a variety of degrees: Associate of Arts (AA), Associate of Science (AS), Bachelor of Music (BM), Bachelor of Arts (BA) Bachelor of Science (BS), Master of Music (MM), Master of Arts (MA), Master of Music Education (MME), Doctor of Music (DM), Doctor of Music Education (DME), and Doctor of Philosophy (PhD). They also offer the Artist Diploma and Performer Diploma, as well as graduate certificates in education, music theory, musicology and library science.
Prospective students will begin their music education with a two-year associate degree in areas such as performance and production in audio technology, singing, costume construction, string instrument technology, and others. Bachelor degrees provide for concentrations in performance, and composition. Read more
Keeping Rock and Roll Alive
November 27, 2006 by Jo Minor · Leave a Comment
Keeping Rock and Roll Alive By Supporting Rock and Roll Bands
By Chris Robertson
Is Rock and Roll destined to go the way of Big Band music - a quaint but dated genre appreciated only by a certain generation? Rock and roll fans answer that question with an emphatic “No way!” and are determined to promote and encourage both famous rock bands and unsigned bands.
Whether they’re into punk music, grunge bands, vintage music, or hard rock and roll music, fans want more from their favorites and want to hear the voices of new, unsigned bands. They show their appreciation by wearing rock and roll T-shirts or their favorite band T-shirts, and by displaying rock music posters, rock concert posters and other band posters on their walls. Read more
Foreign Talent
November 27, 2006 by Jo Minor · Leave a Comment
When people speak of music and the people behind it, the US and the UK are the names that frequently emerge - often because these places are generally accepted as the birthplaces of most of the musical talents we have come to listen and love over the years.
Be it rock or jazz or pop, the US and the UK have been steadily exporting hundreds, or even thousands, of acts - be they singers, bands (sadly, those of the “boy†and “girl†types, too) or instrumentalists - for decades. This oligopoly of sorts has produced some of the brightest stars of the music industry, often casting a dark shadow on smaller nations of lesser repute.
This phenomenon is slowly ceasing to be, as these smaller nations - notably during the past few decades - have generated an immense amount of talent that can’t be denied or overlooked by anyone. The result - more and more artistes and bands from lesser known countries are making a name for themselves on the international stage of music.
In this article I hope to describe some of these countries and their respective talents, and I would like to start off with the Land Down Under - Australia.
Australia has been home to some of the best known rock bands of our times - hard rocking AC/DC and their younger, more contemporary countrymen Silverchair are some of two of the countries largest exports. Recently, The Vines and Jet have emerged from this land of didgeridoos and kangaroos, and on the other end of the musical spectrum The Berzerker has carved a name for itself as one of the fastest bands in the Extreme Metal genre.
Next up is Germany, a nation with a respectable and widely-known track record in sports and culture.
Germany can take pride in being a country that has produced one of the best rock ‘n roll bands of all time - The Scorpions. The band has garnered millions of fans in their illustrious 40 year career and is a household name in hundreds of countries worldwide; and still tours to this very day. The country has also contributed to certain sub-genres of Heavy Metal - in this case, Power Metal and Thrash Metal - through monumental bands such as Blind Guardian, Kreator and Destruction, to name a few.
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We head north to the icy lands of Norway and Finland - home of the greatest names in Black Metal and Power Metal.
Norway has been under the spotlight of controversy for many years, resulting from the deviant acts of certain church-burning members of Black Metal bands such as Emperor and Mayhem. Controversies aside, Norway has single-handedly produced one of the biggest sub-genres in Heavy Metal called - rather simply - Norwegian Black Metal. Fusing haunting yet symphonic orchestral elements with eardrum-shattering guitars and drums, Norwegian Black Metal has spawned some of the best bands in Heavy Metal history. Some of these bands include Dimmu Borgir and Carpathian Forest.
Finland, on the other hand, has produced some of the best Power Metal bands of recent times. If you have heard of bands like Children of Bodom, Nightwish and Sonata Arctica, then you should know that they all originate from Finland. These mentioned bands are the forefront of this fast yet melodic sub-genre of Heavy Metal.
Our last stop is Poland - the most remote example of a country exporting huge talent.
Poland is home to only two notable bands - Behemoth and Vader - but the contributions of these bands to the Death Metal sub-genre is enough to certify this secluded country as a genuine contributor to Extreme Metal. Behemoth and Vader have worked hard to place themselves on the same level of recognition as their more popular American counterparts such as Morbid Angel and Nile - thus giving their homeland a much needed popularity boost. These Polish bands continue to tour the States and Europe regularly.
Air Guitar Shirt
November 27, 2006 by Jo Minor · Leave a Comment
Air guitarists rejoice!
There may yet be hope for all you budding Slash and Hendrix wannabes! Oh yeah, I heard you emo bastards asking “Who?â€
Richard Helmer at the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO) in Australia has developed a, well…shirt for air guitarists.
What is it, and what the hell does it do exactly?
The “wearable instrument shirt†is made out of an ordinary shirt (like the one you have on you now, unless you’re one of those nudist or naturalist hippies) which is fitted with an array of sensors. The sensors pick up the motions of the arms - notably, one arm to mimic guitar chord patterns and the other to pluck the virtual strings. This wearable instrument of sonic mayhem is then attached to a PC which then picks up the motions and converts them into digital guitar sounds.
Sounds like fun, huh?
Since the art of air guitar has been around for the longest time, this device should bring a dose of hope to those about to rock but lack the required musical skills (but then again, Kurt Cobain DID make a name for himself as a guitarist; but I know better not to make fun of an untalented junkie who had a bitch for a wife and took the easiest way out of life’s problems).
Future plans for the shirt are unclear, but mass production might be in the works so keep a lookout for this one!
Rolling Stones Beat U2
November 25, 2006 by Jo Minor · Leave a Comment
NASHVILLE (Billboard) - Though they’ll surely live to fight another day, U2’s brief stint holding the title of top-grossing tour ever is over. That distinction returns to the Rolling Stones, whose A Bigger Bang tour is now the top-grossing tour in history.
From March 28, 2005, to March 2, 2006, U2’s Vertigo tour rang up grosses of more than $333 million. That put U2 ahead of the Stones’ $320 million Voodoo Lounge tour of 1994-95, and the band’s 10 stadium makeup shows this month will take the total to 121 shows and a gross of about $377 million.
All Bands Need Agreements
November 24, 2006 by Jo Minor · Leave a Comment
Musician’s Guide To Band Agreements
By Andy Whitehead
Band agreements.
If you write songs within a band, you need to plan for the day when you will be earning royalties from your songs, and be clear what will happen if a member of the band leaves or if the band splits up.
The best way to deal with this is to all agree what is fair, and then put this in writing as a formal agreement which you all sign. This way there is little chance of any comeback if the band splits for less than amicable reasons.
Here are a few specific points you should consider:
- If a member of the band leaves, do they forfeit all rights to the songs, and the songs remain the sole property of the band?
- Are the songs written by one person, or a few principal writers, who wish to retain all rights?
- If a band member leaves would both he and the band both retain a claim to the song, (this is probably the most likely option).
- How do you determine each persons share?
Do you base it on a song by song basis ranking each members input, or use the same formula for every song.
Do you simply divide everything up equally, (i.e. 5 members each own 20% of all the songs and therefore receives 20% of the proceeds/royalties), or do you rank each individuals input? - If a member leaves, can he/she perform or profit from the music outside of the band.
Sample band contracts can be viewed and downloaded from the following sites:
http://undercurrents.com/agreements/agreement-bandmember.html,
http://www.blues101.org/articles/promotion1.htm and
http://www.musicianassist.com/archive/contract/files/member.htm
The advice from the UK Copyright Service on this subject is:
“Where music is written as a group effort, we recommend that you draw up an agreement to clarify issues, such as which rights belong to which member, and how royalties would be distributed in the event that members of your group leave.
For successful commercial bands, incorporation is also an option. As with a normal incorporated company, the band members would own shares in the band/company. In this situation, a band member would typically sell his shares to the other members if he decided to leave.”
Resources
Band member agreements
Music Copyright Factsheet
No Such Thing As Bad Press
November 24, 2006 by Jo Minor · Leave a Comment
It’s All Good: There Is No Such Thing As Bad Press!
By Sheena Metal
It’s one of the oldest riddles in the history of music: If a band rocks hard in the forest and there’s no one there to hear it…did it ever really happen? It’s a fact: you may be the most talented musician in the galaxy, but if no knows about you, you’ll probably never advance past playing to your one and only fan in the mirror in your mom’s garage.
Writing, recording and performing terrific music is half the battle, but the other half may be even tougher than the challenge of creating a #1 hit…the task of publicizing it. Without publicity, your great opus might very well sit, gathering dust on your closet floor with the other 999 copies you had printed, cased and shrink-wrapped. Getting your name/your band’s name out there is quintessentially the most crucial step to: gigs, management, fans, radio, label exposure and rock ‘n’ roll stardom. Read more
Why Lyrics Are Important
November 20, 2006 by Jo Minor · Leave a Comment
Why Lyrics Are Important
By Joseph Kenny
What makes a good song so appealing to the people who buy CDs and MP3 files? Is it the background beats or the guitar riffs played? Is it the voice of the lead singer or how high he or she can take his vocals to? The truth is that the most important part of most songs, techno possibly being an exception, is the lyrics, or the words of the song. The lyrics are the meat of any song, and are usually the part that is most recognizable from any song. They are an integral part of any music tune and it would be a mistake for any artist to take them lightly.
As mentioned before, the most recognizable part of any song is usually the lyrics. What this means is that when someone is looking for a song they heard on the radio, they will probably remember some key lines from the chorus. They are not, however, likely to remember a well-done guitar solo or something of that sort. While instrumental play is important as well, people usually link songs with the words inside the music. This is because words are not only much easier to remember than instrument music is, they are also easy to translate to someone else. For example, it would be much easier to find a CD if you know the words to a song than if you knew the drum beats from a song.
Lyrics are often commonly considered to be the single artistic part of music as well. While this is certainly not true from a musicians standpoint, as guitars and drums take a lot of practice and time to master, it doesn’t change the fact that many people feel that a good song must have quality lyrics. Good lyrics will relate to a person’s life and make them feel better about a bad situation. Bad lyrics will focus on trivial parts of life that really don’t matter and will have no deeper meaning to them after the song is over. Artists will find that after a while people tire of hearing the same old stuff about showing off gold chains and shaking behinds. Many music fans are looking for songs that have meanings, and this in turn means that artists need to spend more time on their lyrics.
Remember that before it was stated that lyrics are important because of how they can be recognized. This is double-fold when you consider that good lyrics in one song can sometimes single-handedly assure an artists legacy. Journey is one good example of this, as their biggest hit in “Don’t Stop Believing†is a pop culture hit that has never lost fans throughout the decades since it’s release. On the other hand, artists without a standout lyrical song will often find themselves fade out of the picture as their era in music ends.
All in all, lyrics are an important part of any song and the words are the part fans look to the most for inspiration and meaning. Artists who come up with great lyrics are usually the ones most revered long past their prime, so it is important that they focus on this part of a song!
Joe Kenny is the webmaster at the free music lyrics website, with free music lyrics to Damian Rice songs. Visit today: http://www.lyricspost.net
Bono And Pearl Jam Protest In Australia
November 20, 2006 by Jo Minor · Leave a Comment
Irish rocker Bono made a surprise appearance at a Make Poverty History concert staged in Melbourne to coincide with a meeting of the world’s most powerful economic leaders.
The U2 frontman and fellow band member The Edge teamed up with Pearl Jam to perform a rendition of Neil Young’s “Rockin’ In The Free World” before a 14,000 audience at the open-air concert.
Bono told the crowd to maintain pressure on Group of Twenty (G20) leaders meeting to work to eliminate world poverty at their meeting in Melbourne Saturday and Sunday . “Politicians all have to do what you tell them to do, scream it from the mountains,” he said.
Earlier this month, Bono made another surprise appearance at a Sydney concert by Australian singer Kylie Minogue, who is making a comeback after receiving treatment for breast cancer. He is in Australia as part of U2’s “Vertigo” tour.
