LAUNCH: Panel - Marketing Your Band (4 of 6)

This continues the series on LAUNCH music conference with another panel.

Panel:
Sol Amstutz - Freelance Artist
Jeff Royer - Black Lodge Publicity / Xfinity Music
Josh Maloney - Dean Guitars
Mike Eaton - The Artery Foundation
Portland - Sons of Nero / Good Fight Entertainment
Daniel Wagner

Discussion: Marketing Your Band

• How does someone stick out?
• SA: running your band is a business
• consistent imagery - branding your band
• JR: give yourself a backstory
• a compelling reason for people to check you out
• JM: "Fundamentally, just don't suck"
• JM: branding - be clear and concise
• P: put out consistent, good music
• P: show an overall look of being a solid artist
• How important is a standard website?
• P: with the rise and fall of myspace, guesswork was taken out of the equation
• however, this is too easy and has made way for too much sucky music
• P: it's more important to be creative in promotion
• JM: use your website creatively
• Everyone: Myspace is DEAD
• DW: fan interaction is a big part of a successful website
• P: the idea of having a website:
• to keep web presence
• to keep people coming back
• a place to put all social media outlets in one spot
• SA: fans want to connect with bands
• through tweets, facebook, etc.
• tour like mad
• don't rely solely on social media for fans
• Is there any way to overkill connectedness?
• SA: try to keep up some sort of mystery
• keep a barrier between fan/band and real life
• failing to do so can result in fans feeling entitled (wanting to get into shows for free because you talked to them once on facebook)
• JM: word of mouth is still a huge thing
• P: very dependent on target audience
• "look at that girl with that Friday video - she's massive and she's HORRIBLE"
• JM: keep your content in check
• keep content interesting
• set short term goals
• be realistic about what you want to do

Video of Me Opening for Caleb Hawley

Sometime last week I posted on the Caleb Hawley B-Sides concert. Check out the review here.

In the review I mention opening up for his song, Gone For Good. Well, a youtube video has surfaced with this. I'm playing my Caleb Hawley inspired song, Doppelganger.

B-Sides Review: Zola Jesus

Tonight's B-Sides was Zola Jesus. Only a few days after playing to a sold out Bowery Ballroom in NYC, the act came to Grantham, PA - population: Messiah College.

Before the show, I knew nothing about Zola Jesus. I didn't even know that that wasn't her real name. It's a pseudonym for Nika Roza Danilova. "Zola Jesus" is a lot easier to remember ...and to say. Not knowing anything about her, when I walked into B-Sides and was ...well, shocked. I guess I had heard through the grape vine that her music was dark, but this was kinda disturbing. In the moments that I debated leaving, someone clued me in to the fact that there was an opener. It may have been good to someone, but definitely not to me. I was banking on Zola being worth it.

As it turns out, it totally was. Just hearing "dark" really doesn't describe too many things very well. Within the spectrum of dark there is everything from the angry to the depressed to the sadistic. Somewhere, nowhere near those extremes, is Zola Jesus.

To paint a better picture, you need details such as: Danilova took 10 years of opera lessons, she's young and really tiny, the instrumentation is: Zola, drums, and 3 synth players, and they have a sound that could fill a stadium. We're talking huge, deep, boomy vocals, slow, rhythmic toms, and layer upon layer of dark synth. This sound would fill a stadium in the way that an 80s rock ballad would, but with a completely different presence.

And presence was a huge part of this show. Throughout the show, a projector projected screens of white noise and slow, pulsing patterns onto the band, casting their shadows on the screen behind them. This strange arrangement allowed Zola's trance-like dancing and drape-like thing-that-she-was-wearing to become part of the light show. This reminded me of Maynard from the band Tool, but a lot less terrifying.

Eventually, the stage was just too constraining for Zola. The music moved her onto tables, chairs, and even trash cans. Then, after parading around the Union on both floors, she returned to the stage, everyone got up, and they left.

LAUNCH: Panel - Getting Sponsorships For Your Band (3 of 6)

This continues the LAUNCH coverage. I have yet to decide whether I'll just release all of these posts at once or if I'll do them a day at a time... By the time this is actually released, I'm sure this will be obvious. Anyway, same format as the last one.

Panel:
Leah Urbano - Crimson Management
Yogi Allgood - Outerloop Management
Josh Maloney - Dean Guitars
Mike Eaton - The Artery Foundation (moderator)
David Silbaugh - Grammy Chapter Board Advisor/Summerfest
Rick Gadd - LAUNCH Music Conference co-director

Discussion: Getting Sponsorships For Your Band

• RG: you need to be popular / bring a crowd
• ME: ask yourself if you really want to play this brand
• DS: don't just play something because it's free
• be invested in your instruments
• ME: make everything personal
• ME: make sure you're in it for the long haul
• JM: don't be a dick
• don't sell gear you get from a sponsorship
• JM: sponsorships are a whole support system, not just the physical instruments
• RG: have a lot of dates on your tour calendar before sending any propositions
• ME: have a word document for all of your tour dates EVER
• ME: condense your career to your biggest accomplishments to present as a more palatable form
• JM: take your work seriously - be prepared
• JM: nothing is worse than wasting someone's time
• LU: go to companies outside the box
• not just companies that deal with music gear
• think of products that you would want to be associated with
• ex. candles, clothing, etc.
• JM: be realistic about what you want

B-Sides Review: Caleb Hawley

Now it may seem like I talk about this guy a good bit. Talk to me and you'll hear me mention bands like MR.BUNGLE and artists like Trace Bundy a lot too. I talk about these guys and build hype about these guys because they really are that good. These guys take their genre and they do things to it that are innovative and fresh. They make music that is interesting and perform shows that are intimate as well as immensely entertaining (obviously MR.BUNGLE excluded since they broke up a while ago). That's what it takes for me to hype an act.

Every time I see Caleb Hawley, it's something new. The first time I saw him, he was with a trio and what stood out was when he played Reach the Zenith with interpretive dance in the background. The next time I saw him was in a barn in the middle of nowhere, as a solo act. What struck me there was his ability to adapt to his circumstances and still be able to have fun playing a gig that, very clearly, sucked. After that, I played a gig with him in a writers in the round styled gig where all of the artists really built off of what had been played before them.

This time was yet another different arrangement - a full band. I had heard rumor of this band and had heard that it was a fun show. My thinking was that it'd be like a lot of his recorded work, which had been done with a full band. While that was somewhat the case, this was more along the lines of a single act variety show. Every song was so distinctly different from the others, yet was held together by the overriding jazz and soul infused themes and the antics of Hawley's style.

While other shows had one or two specials throughout the show, this evolution of Caleb's set was peppered with things going above and beyond the singer/songwriter repertoire.

• The first of these was the mario theme breakdown. It just ...happened. It fit, but was totally unexpected.
• A few songs later, I opened up Gone For Good with a version of my piece, Doppelganger. The transition was completely unrehearsed, yet seamless.
• At some point, I'm not entirely sure of the order, Fargo made an appearance during Who's Your Doggie? by running up onto stage to say hi.
• After that, he switched over to electric guitar. This allowed for some nice bluesy solos and some rocking out. After the show I saw a tweet from a fellow student that read something like "Caleb Hawley reminded me that guitar solos can be cool"
• A cover of Boyz II Men's I'll Make Love to You. My sister thought this was creepy, but by this time Caleb had developed his personality on stage and this parody fit perfectly. It included an a capella section where all of the members of the band could barely hold it together. Then to add to the perceived creepiness, Caleb got out the pitch shifter and dropped his voice an octave or so so that he could get a real sultry deep voice. It was hilarious.
•  To end his set, he started by singing a song about baking cookies. Apparently he wrote this funk inspired tune when he was 15. This is where he brought out some crowd participation. First, he had people cheer for their favorite type of cookie. Some cheering - nothing big. Then, he brought some kids up on stage to dance ...and taught them the cookie dance. Which obviously led to everyone in the union singing and dancing "Pour it, pour it; stir it up; stick it in your mouth and shake your butt."

And I leave you with this:

LAUNCH: Panel - Licensing Your Music (2 of 6)

I sat in on 5 panels at LAUNCH music conference. Not everything in here is going to help everyone, but these are at least some of the points that I felt were important enough to write down. Schooling has done a good job of teaching me to take notes. However, keep in mind that these are only the notes that I've taken - not my own thoughts on them or anything. So pretty much you can pretend you were there (without the live music).

The Panel:

Todd Shill - Entertainment Lawyer - Rhoads & Sinon

Chad Taylor - Live/The Gracious Few

Miguel Molinari - Rock Gamer Studios

Mike Eaton - The Artery Foundation (moderator)

David Silbaugh - Grammy Chapter Board Advisor/Summerfest

Matt Friction - The Pink Spiders

Discussion: Licensing Your Music

• How can you break through in regards to licensing deals?
• CT: find new revenue streams - gaming, film, tv, etc.
• CT: non-traditional sources - actors, directors
• CT: have songs recorded with and w/out vocals
• TS: make sure you know whether deals are exclusive or non-exclusive
• What kind of money is out there
• CT: example - $500k for a GMC licensing
• CT: example - $1 million for Batman movies
• CT: shot it down because it didn't seem like a good place to showcase Live
• DS: it's cool now to be associated with product
• How can artists prevent being taken advantage of?
• CT: weigh each and every opportunity
• CT: big massive army (industry giants) vs. guerrilla warfare (indie artists)
• independent artists can adapt faster and more efficiently than the major labels
• CT: find people who love music
• MF: get set up w/a Performance Rights Organization (PRO) such as BMI, ASCAP, or SESAC
• CT: w/an established revenue stream from royalties, a PRO can become an interest free lending source
• TS: copyright music before it is released
• Additional stuff
• IMBD pro package gives you access directly to movie directors/producers and their respective movies a year in advance - possible to make connections this way
• To start a publishing company, go through a PRO

LAUNCH: Intro (1 of 6)

The past few days I've been at LAUNCH music conference in Lancaster, PA. It's been a great few days of showcases and panels. I've learned a lot and have gotten some great contacts from it. Over the next few days I'll be posting notes from the panels that I was at.

As far as my part in the showcasing, I played at Annie Bailey's Irish Pub on Thursday. The food was good, but it had, arguably, the worst acoustics possible for my setup. Between the background noise of a pub and the brick walls/stone building, I was set up for instant feedback from the start. Thankfully Greg from An Early Ending was running sound and we figured it out between the two of us. Maybe it wasn't the best sound, but it was the best that could be done in that environment.

Afterwards I got a card from Lu at iRiseMusic. I talked to him today and he's interested in having me perform on some R&B tracks. It'd definitely be something completely different. It could be fun, but I've got a ton of other stuff going on in life, so we'll see how that ends up working out.

-Alex

Dedication is Knowing There's a Tornado Outside

People are hard to read. Look up one minute and they appear to be listening intently, but the next they are trying to mentally remove themselves from the situation of listening to you play. The long-time musician who stays for your set might never say a word to you as they walk out the door, yet the musically inept may stick around to talk ...music.

It seldom works out just the way you want it. You're either beat and want an escape from the crowd, or you're pumped from playing an awesome set but no one seems to care. Yes, this is a bit dramatic, but polarized experiences make for good points.

This past weekend I had an absolutely amazing time at this tiny little venue, Live @ The Hub. The first time I played there I packed the place out with somewhere between 40-50 people at any given time. It was phenomenal, but I knew most of the people. Playing to people you know is easy. It's "safe." There's always someone to catch up with afterwards.

Playing to strangers is different. It goes back to not being able to read people too deeply. You really just never know.

On Saturday I had my second gig at Live @ The Hub. I knew two people there of maybe 20-30 through the night. A lower turnout for sure, but consider the following:

• torrential downpours
• flash flooding
• tornado warnings
• ...and a tornado that touched down 10 minutes from the venue

To say that these guys risked their lives to come out may be a bit of an exaggeration, but at the very least, they risked some safety. They may have come innocently, but they stayed because they were genuinely interested.

By the end of the night I had met more really great people, gotten more email addresses, gave out more business cards, and sold more CDs than shows where I average twice as many people. That is what having a love for music is all about.

-------

And on a side note: though the gig was over before 10 and was about 45 minutes away, I didn't get home until after 2am because the roads to my apartment were all flooded. I ended up trying to go to a friends house, where flooding made us turn around, and then I found a back way into my apartment that had likely been flooded earlier. So yeah... it wasn't too great a night to be out unless you were in it for the music.

Projects

If you get my emails, you know that I've got some fairly big news concerning my musical endeavors. For those of you who don't get my emails, let's change that:

Another thing before "big news;" some more background on myself.

Most people know me from my solo work. In high school I played in a few bands and had a great time, but it was a lot of work. Playing solo is easy to organize and a lot less work. Being in a band was frustrating and writing my own material has since been a lot more rewarding.

As you may have figured out, I'm once again in a "band" of sorts. I'd view it a lot more as a side project, but still it's a huge change for me. This project consists of singer/songwriter David Hampson, cellist Chris Yoder, and me. Unlike my solo work, this isn't anything technically dazzling. It's just for fun and for the sake of making music. It's accessible and has vocals. Basically, it's the side of music that my solo work is not.

So how did this get started? Well about a week David and I got together to work on some of his songs. Occasionally I help him out with some chord voicings and that was the original purpose. When we met up, we decided to work on something for the Messiah coffeehouse that there were auditions for the following day. While trying to figure out what to write, David briefly mentioned a song he had been working on to have cello with. Coincidentally, no more than 5 minutes later, Chris walked by the room we were playing in, on his way to practice a cello piece. One thing led to another and we ended up jamming for a couple hours, writing a song and jamming on a few others.

Tonight was coffeehouse, the trio's debut. We were able to close out the night with our nearly 10 minute long piece. Not progressive so much as improvisational. Everyone seemed to love it and we all had a great time. We'll be continuing to play together and will hopefully be playing out a bit over the summer or something like that. I'm looking forward to it.

In addition to this project, I've been talking to percussionist Mark Hunsburger about a project similar to the Andreas Kapsalis Trio. That will also be happening this summer as well. And... if time permits, I may start a project with singer/songwriter Joseph Strider. As these things materialize, more will come of them.

In a few days I'm also hoping to have a video of tonight's performance. Every time I try to get video of my solo stuff something doesn't work out, so hopefully video with this project will work better.



EDIT-----------
Here's a facebook link to a video of the song we played. Once I have the file, I'll embed the video on here and perhaps youtube? In the meantime, I don't think you can embed youtube videos. Hopefully everyone can see this:

http://www.facebook.com/video/video.php?v=528093955022

FE Exam

Things on here have been a bit slow lately. By that, I mean that I haven't posted anything up here in something like two weeks. Definitely not the most responsible thing to be doing...

A large portion of my lack of internet presence was taking the Fundamentals of Engineering exam last weekend. The FE is an 8 hour long engineering test that's cumulative for 4 years of engineering courses. After taking it, I found that it had a lot in common with recording.

Yes, that's a bizarre connection. And I know everyone's experiences with recording are rather different from one another, but this is at least with my experiences, which may at least be in common with a few people out there.

• Preparation
• For the FE, I had to review 4 years of course material. That included just about everything I've learned at college. Likewise, before going in to record, you've gotta bust your butt to get every note of the songs that you plan on recording. Sometimes these are pieces written over a few years and so you've got to relearn all of that stuff. It's a ton of sucky work, but ends up being really beneficial.
• Early Mornings
• Unfortunately, for both of these, it's important to get lots of sleep the night before. For the FE, I went to bed around 9:30 and was up by 5:00AM... It's important to go into these with a clear head to be able to concentrate and last through the day.
• Endurance
• An hour long engineering test is enough to render you brain-dead for the rest of the day. The FE was the most exhausting test I've ever taken. The first section (4 hours) were a breeze. Got through that and felt great about it. However, by the second section, I was mentally shot; it didn't matter how well prepared I was for it. With recording, you're usually recording for hours on end. As a solo act, when I'm in to record, it's me playing, and playing, and playing... The first half goes great, but as the day wears on, it ends up not mattering how well you practiced - it will get you. Your technique starts to get sloppy and the quality that you're able to produce drops off.
• Exhaustion
• Not only did the FE ruin the days leading up to it, but it also sucked pretty bad a few days afterwards. It was an early morning followed by a late night and just the inability to function properly. I took a nice  break from being productive after that. With recording, you need a break afterwards, too. When I recorded Deconstructing The Temporal Lobe I was in the studio for 22 hours over the course of 2 days. Afterwards, I needed a break and didn't play for a few days.
• Waiting
• You can't record an album and have a final product a few days later. It doesn't work like that. If you're getting CDs pressed, it'll probably take a few months from recording through post-production and pressing. The FE, for whatever reason, takes 12 weeks to grade. At least with recording there's a legitimate reason for it to take so long. The FE is a scantron... all you do is have a computer read them. No reason that should take so long to grade.
• Reward
• As an engineer, one of your goals is to become a professional licensed engineer. You can't take your PE test until you pass the FE and work for a few years. In music, one of your goals may be to be able to make a career out of music or to at least have your name and music spread. You can't make much money if you don't have any recorded material of yourself and you can't get by on word of mouth without recordings either.

So it's a strange connection, but they're very similar. Hopefully I'll be able to get back into the studio sometime soon... And  hopefully they figure out that you can grade tests like the FE in like 3 days and don't take 12 weeks to get back to me.

-Alex