We’re about halfway thru the latest Rock Your Net sessions. Wednesday night I was emphasizing the importance of community in any artist/songwriter/musicians’ marketing efforts. That’s when it hit me.
The generosity of community has been so vital to the success of Outside The Box Music and Rock Your Net. I hope you’ll indulge me and let me recognize some folks who have been so important in the arc of this project.
This year the mainstream music establishment was preoccupied with letting the indie/DIY community know they were "Not Good Enough." In fact, some gatekeeping factions of even the DIY/Indie community seemed to reinforce this theme (more on this later).
The rumblings started in February at The Grammys when Esperanza Spalding won Best New Artist over better known names like Mumford and Sons and Justin Bieber. So much so, A member of Bieber’s Army hacked her Wikipedia site to say "Who Are You Anyway?"
Last night Jason Lucas of Monsta Nash directed a music video shoot on location for the first single off the upcoming record. Part of the shoot was on private property owned by CSX. And I guess the guy in the control tower got really nervous about us hanging out by the bridge/trestle. So he was gonna call the cops on us. Fortunately for us, we got the shoot done just in time and hightailed it outta there…Any night you don’t get arrested is a good night…
It was overcast, wet & miserable. But it added to the ambience & vibe of the video. Made everything look moody. The raw footage looked awesome!
When we have something to show you we’ll give you a heads up. Many thanks to Jason, Alicia, Ross, Dane, Michael Lovett & Kara Madden for making it look so good. But the mother of all props goes to Rosie, our taxi driver, for putting up with all of us and regaling us with great stories about her profession. I swear the woman should put up a blog and tweet about her clientele…
Last Sunday Jason Lucas of Monsta Nash – helped me shoot a live performance video to submit to the NewSong Music Contest judges and fans. The sweet & incredibly gifted Sarah Zimmermann showed up to help and we ended up with this:
I was floored Thursday afternoon when a dear friend informed me that I had qualified as a regional finalist for the 10th Annual Mountain Stage Newsong Contest.
I’ve got rejection emails at least 15-20 deep from all the contests I’ve entered over the years. So to say my expectations were low, is an understatement.
I manage another artist’s musical career and I was submitting her as a contestant and thought "I am already here, I might as well."
I’ve made a pact to do some things even if historically they haven’t been successful because Keb Mo’ once told me something about the music business. We were talking about a mutual friend who always keeps working. No matter what. That somehow preserves his forward momentum. "It’s just physics" he said. That rang true for me.
So to get that text from my dear friend left me totally dumbfounded.
Of all the song competitions out there, NewSong for me, is one of the coolest cause some of the people I admire most have won it.
Folks like Ingrid Michaelson, Liz Longley and my dear friend, Diana Jones. This totally rocks!
Pretty soon here my friend Jason Lucas is going to help me shoot a live video to submit to the NewSong Music Contest judges and fans. Hopefully Jason won’t make me do this…
Will let you know what his coffee tastes like…
Take me to the river, people…
Updated Aug 29th – The video we made for NewSong.
As I sat in Vanderbilt Stadium enrapt with the spectacle that was the U2 concert…It hit me. Music is a super power! Especially if it’s done right…
Full disclosure – I am an U2 nut. A total Bono & gang superfan. The show at Vanderbilt on the 2nd of July was my first time seeing them perform live…and it was an unforgettable experience. In this era of marketing and hype – I think sometimes we forget that it really is about the music and the experience – and how you build community & a movement via music (see The One Campaign).
And the boys from Dublin brought it!
I mean c’mon! They recorded Mark Kelly, Sen. Gabriel Giffords‘ husband while he was in outer space saying, “Hello Nashville, tell my wife I love her…” before performing “Beautiful Day.” That’s some serious juice.
And again, what an unbelievable event. The audience that was there will not soon forget that show – and neither will one particular sight impaired fan. Here’s some video I shot of Bono singing “All I Want Is You” for the guy’s wife while being accompanied by the fan, Adam Bevell. At the end of the song, Bono gives him his Irish Falcon Gretsch guitar. One of 13 ever made:
Yes, music is a super power and U2 are super heroes. It was a gift to be there.
Ariel Hyatt has been added as a keynote presenter to the Rock Your Net event. There’s a special session featuring Ms. Hyatt on Monday, May 16th. It’s free if you sign up for the entire 5 part series. Only $25 if you just want to attend the keynote.
On May 11th, we begin a series of hands-on, interactive internet music marketing workshops targetting musicians, artists, songwriters, publishers and their affiliated managers.
Click On Image For Event Details
By the end of the series you will be able to:
For more information go here: Rock Your Net
On Thursday, March 31st at 6 pm, I host a Tin Pan South show. Here’s what the Nashville Scene had to say this week about the show:
Well, that was a great week (or two…) For those wondering, my carpal tunnel release surgery went great. My hand is healing extremely well and will be ready right on schedule for…
I just heard that I get to again host a Tin Pan South round with some stellar singer/songwriters. Beginning last year – I’ve tried hard to pull together a round that is pretty diverse not only ethnically but musically. My hope is that Tin Pan South provides a great platform for what these artists do and that Nashville is recognized for it’s entire musical palette.
(more…)
My friend, Fett, recently joined FaceBook. One of his first status updates for the New Year was a request for civility. In fact here is what he said,
“Here’s my main wish for 2011: A return to CIVILITY in all aspects of our culture: politics, religion, international affairs, personal relationships, etc. We’ve all been screaming at each other for far too long; we’re way overdue for some good, ol’ fashioned kindness toward each other. And it starts right here, right now, with each of us.”
Roughly 4 days later, Rep. Gabrielle Giffords, a Federal judge and a host of others were shot outside a Tucson, AZ supermarket. Soon after, the shouting began – again. We all looked for folks to blame and if one person or another was either solely or at least partially responsible for the actions of, by all accounts, a mad man.
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