Brian Casey from the "In The Groove" music house came to speak to the CaLM class about how he has managed to find a way to live the dream. A music house makes music to sell to ad agencies for commercials, and for licensing in television shows and movies (licensing library). He makes up whatever music he feels like playing, professionally records it, then categorizes it on a website so commercial and corporate entities looking for specific music for their ad, show, or movie can find it easily. One way he advised to try to get into the Ad business was to make original music for ads off of youtube. These can be used as demos when looking for work. Brian also suggested offering to do demos for free for music houses competing to win contracts with ad agencies. Some other music houses are Modern Music, Echo Boys, Squirrels On The Move.
After hearing all of the different projects he has done for the company, it seems silly for musicians to have "a band" and put all of their eggs in one basket. Brain has like a dozen virtual bands that make money for him without even having to have bandmates or play shows. I think I like this concept.
Sunday, December 5, 2010
Sunday, November 28, 2010
Why Didn't I Start Saving In Utero???
According to Wallet Pop, an online investment calculator, in order to retire with a million dollars at age 65 I need to start investing $1,036 per month. Done. I just need to sell my house, move into an RV, and start really appreciating Ramen noodles. If I would have started at 16, I could have retired a millionaire for $339 per month. Better yet, If my parents had started investing for me from the age of 1 it would only take $144 per month to live out my golden years in style and comfort. I definitely need to start generating more income if I want to be able to afford a proper midlife crisis, which I am going to have prematurely if I keep thinking about how unprepared I am for retirement. At least I can still count on the Lottery.
Wednesday, November 3, 2010
Kareem kicks my ass in the 21st century
Frankly, Kareem taught me too much. namechk, soundcloud, extendr, RSS, hootsuite, tweetdeck, VEVO, kickstarter, does your brain hurt yet. Of course it does. Will I make use of some or much of this all too relevant information in the near future? You're damn right I will! How else will I compete with some eighteen year old kid for the gigs I want to get, and the fans I want to bedazzle? The answer is there is no other option, get ahead of the pack in internet technology, or get swept under the tidal wave. I already used namechk to grab some dustinkiels on myspace, soundcloud, and will grab some more soon. I will soon start using extendr to consolidate my online presences, and will soon after that start using hootsuite to automate and consolidate my tweets and twitters. After that I need to start getting RSS feeds of the blogs and sites I want to be updated on regularly.
Wednesday, October 20, 2010
Art, Fear, and Bunko
Here are some of the concepts that stuck with me from my reading of Art and Fear, and The Adventures of Johnny Bunko:
Utilize your strengths instead of focusing on your weaknesses.
The career of an artist is fluid, and doesn't follow any predetermined plan or path. Be flexible and ready to take advantage of unexpected opportunities.
Audiences automatically respond better to art they are already familiar with, or have reference for. Completely new concepts will take a while to be processed and accepted by your audience.
The process of growth as an artist REQUIRES doubt and self criticism.
The process of making art is what's important. The more you create, the better a creator you become.
Artists learn from their mistakes, so don't be afraid to make mistakes!
Utilize your strengths instead of focusing on your weaknesses.
The career of an artist is fluid, and doesn't follow any predetermined plan or path. Be flexible and ready to take advantage of unexpected opportunities.
Audiences automatically respond better to art they are already familiar with, or have reference for. Completely new concepts will take a while to be processed and accepted by your audience.
The process of growth as an artist REQUIRES doubt and self criticism.
The process of making art is what's important. The more you create, the better a creator you become.
Artists learn from their mistakes, so don't be afraid to make mistakes!
Sunday, October 10, 2010
Dessa Darling spills the beans
Dessa recently visited the CaLM get together and shared the secrets of her growing success. It turns out that all you have to do is be a genius, and have lots of hard-working, co-operative minded friends. Easy.
Some of the highlights of her presentation were:
2 essentials to success- promptness and a bangin' bio
assemble a thorough press list. Target publications that tend to buy what your selling. Try to match a publications needs. Have several press shots to choose from.
Tips on self promoting and networking without being slimy: Use "carefully considered intuition" when dealing with people. Fair exchanges of services can be mutually beneficial (i.e. I'll write you a bio if you help me take a press shot).
Capitalize on momentum. It is better to bounce 10ft high once than 5ft twice. The higher you bounce, the more attention you get, which creates opportunities.
Building a career is like putting bricks on a seesaw with a heavy weight on the other side. It takes a long time of putting bricks down before it begins to swing, but once it goes, it starts moving fast.
Many of Dessa's suggestions pointed back to the fact that she has strong mutual support from her collective Doomtree. It seems that pooling resources and talents has helped Doomtree smash through a lot of the obstacles that hold individual artists back. The lasting impression that I will have from Dessa's presentation is that I need to start working in conjunction with like minded artists because, as the proverb goes, many hands make light work.
http://www.doomtree.net/dessa/
http://twitter.com/DESSADARLING
http://www.myspace.com/dessadarling
Some of the highlights of her presentation were:
2 essentials to success- promptness and a bangin' bio
assemble a thorough press list. Target publications that tend to buy what your selling. Try to match a publications needs. Have several press shots to choose from.
Tips on self promoting and networking without being slimy: Use "carefully considered intuition" when dealing with people. Fair exchanges of services can be mutually beneficial (i.e. I'll write you a bio if you help me take a press shot).
Capitalize on momentum. It is better to bounce 10ft high once than 5ft twice. The higher you bounce, the more attention you get, which creates opportunities.
Building a career is like putting bricks on a seesaw with a heavy weight on the other side. It takes a long time of putting bricks down before it begins to swing, but once it goes, it starts moving fast.
Many of Dessa's suggestions pointed back to the fact that she has strong mutual support from her collective Doomtree. It seems that pooling resources and talents has helped Doomtree smash through a lot of the obstacles that hold individual artists back. The lasting impression that I will have from Dessa's presentation is that I need to start working in conjunction with like minded artists because, as the proverb goes, many hands make light work.
http://www.doomtree.net/dessa/
http://twitter.com/DESSADARLING
http://www.myspace.com/dessadarling
Wednesday, September 22, 2010
Sean McPherson presentation
Some of the things I took away from Sean's presentation are:
There are no hard and fast rules to "networking". Passing out cards and introducing yourself to every musician in the cities isn't necessarily going to generate work. You have to approach every situation appropriately. If you want to play at the triple rock it is possible that drinking with the sound-guy until you vomit, and then sleeping on the floor of their apartment may be you best career move. It's about developing relationships, so being authentic is key.
Get as knowledgeable as you can about as many aspects of the music business as you can, so that you can at least make an educated guess as to what is standard and what may be a bad deal. Go off of your "gut feeling" but then do your "due diligence" and research before coming to any under-informed decisions. If someone presses you to make quick uninformed decisions, that may be a gauge of whether they are a legit business person or not.
Take functional aspects of your strengths and apply them to your weaknesses. For instance, talking about theory is a strength for me, but going to gigs and meeting musicians can seem awkward and is a weaker trait of mine. So one thing I can derive from my strength is that I really enjoy talking about something I am very knowledgeable about, which could be applied strategically to networking by asking people about things which they are particularly knowledgeable about. They will presumably enjoy talking to you, and you can learn things from them simultaneously. This is obviously a fairly abstract concept, and is useful in developing new strategies for fortifying your weaknesses.
There are no hard and fast rules to "networking". Passing out cards and introducing yourself to every musician in the cities isn't necessarily going to generate work. You have to approach every situation appropriately. If you want to play at the triple rock it is possible that drinking with the sound-guy until you vomit, and then sleeping on the floor of their apartment may be you best career move. It's about developing relationships, so being authentic is key.
Get as knowledgeable as you can about as many aspects of the music business as you can, so that you can at least make an educated guess as to what is standard and what may be a bad deal. Go off of your "gut feeling" but then do your "due diligence" and research before coming to any under-informed decisions. If someone presses you to make quick uninformed decisions, that may be a gauge of whether they are a legit business person or not.
Take functional aspects of your strengths and apply them to your weaknesses. For instance, talking about theory is a strength for me, but going to gigs and meeting musicians can seem awkward and is a weaker trait of mine. So one thing I can derive from my strength is that I really enjoy talking about something I am very knowledgeable about, which could be applied strategically to networking by asking people about things which they are particularly knowledgeable about. They will presumably enjoy talking to you, and you can learn things from them simultaneously. This is obviously a fairly abstract concept, and is useful in developing new strategies for fortifying your weaknesses.
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