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Firstly, there are almost no successful all-girl bands. Even for rare ones, like Spice Girls and Pussycat Dolls, their songs are still written by a man. Despite the fact that these groups are supposed to represent girl power and all that jazz, they still had to run to guys to manufacture their hit songs. So - the question in title, why can't women create good music just by themselves without the help of a man?
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I want to make one thing very clear at the beginning of this post. I have never been THE leader of a band. NEVER! I have owned three businesses, I have never owned a band. The biggest disappointment of my career was because the leader of the band went to rehab not once, but twice, because of being a drug addict. This resulted in the band, The Wolves, NOT being signed to Geffen Records and becoming a national tour act with major label backing. He was the leader because the band operated with the aid of his money as he was wealthy. This was also why he could afford to do hard drugs not because he was some low life out of disillusionment. He did it purely for pleasure. Good bands require a lot of money and it has to come from somewhere. Someone’s job at the garage will not be enough and if he stops working, there will be no money at all if you do not have someone booking you gigs. I have always been the willing follower of someone whose money or status kept the band alive and working. My primary skill is being a Bandleader and Musical Director in a studio or in an act fronted by an Artist. I acquired these skills by being a good follower. This is different from being the Artist or owning the band and making all the business decisions. Every time I ever made money on stage I was a follower of someone who was the leader. I have never made money where everyone voted on things. I have not played in that type of band since college. I direct a band in playing not the artistic or business direction. This is what Chuck Leavell does for the Rolling Stones. He plays keyboards and directs their backing musicians. This is what Steve Van Zandt does for Bruce Springsteen. In early 2020 I was hospitalized with Covid-19 for 28 days and suffered neurological damage. This severely hampered my ability to play and can no longer do so at a professional level. This is not as tragic as it may sound as I am 70 years old, played my first gig in 1969, and I am financially secure from a combination of my musical career, the businesses I have owned, and my wife being the Executive Director of a major national nonprofit foundation. I record Music now because I enjoy it and feel I still have an artistic contribution to be made as I am musically different from the average commercial artist. These are basically the same two reasons I write here. Based upon 50 years of experience I say a band either has to be a business or a hobby with friends there is no middle ground. They should not function as a democracy. They have to have a clear direction in which they are going. They have to have a clear top down structure from the beginning. Otherwise it will be an anarchy of “Yeah man I don’t want to do that I’ve got other plans that day.” There would be a constant struggle for control. To not believe this is nativity. The least desirable circumstance is a struggle for power. I have seen this happen over and over and over again with other people’s bands. There is no ideal world of sunshine, flowers, and rainbows in anything which makes money. Two people can share decision making power in a band after that it becomes chaos. Look at any major band and it will usually comes down to a center of one or two people. They will all be contributors to the music but not in the direction of the career moves. Charley Watts complained later in interviews that Mick Jagger made him wear his hair long. Several members of The Mothers of Invention had the exact same complaint about Frank Zappa. Few things designed by a committee are good because the attempt is to try to please everyone’s separate interests. This is a form of weakness because of lack of actual unity. There is no real unity only a consensus of individuals representing their own priorities. What are the qualities of good leadership? Someone who is a good leader thinks of the benefit of his followers in order to keep his organization alive. Wealth and power usually comes either from some form of being the servant of others in helping them to succeed on their own or family inheritances. The leader of The Wolves was a BAD leader because his personal whims destroyed the band. After this was when I became an AFM union member. Union musicians have a great deal of power because of belonging to the union. This prevents them from being abused because of the union’s power. The American Constitution is the child of James Madison which was helped to be birthed by Thomas Jefferson. Put another way it is the result of two leaders bringing the other members to agreement not individuals finding their own path to consensus but following a path in which they were led “in order to form a more perfect union” as it reads.
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So my band has recently just released some music and we went to try and get some press to write about it so posted the album on a music submission website. Anyway we have only received offers from bloggers asking us to pay them money for an interview/review. Personally I had no idea this was even a thing, these blogs aren't exactly big time blogs that are going to be giving us loads of quality exposure, admittedly an interview with my band isn't exactly going to do much for them. But it feels like it is a mutually beneficial arrangement, we give them some content and they give us some promo. It just seems like anyone with an english degree now can just create a wordpress page and ask bands to pay for a write up, I have even seen bloggers posting things on fivver offering to do interviews and put them on their blogs. Surely if someone is serious about their blog they would want to carefully curate the things they write about and develop a reputation for giving good tips, not just write about any eager band who wants a simulation of what it is like to have a critically acclaimed album. Seems like a cheap way to make a quick buck off of the naivety of young musicians. Am I being too harsh? Am I wrong to be so dismissive of these blogs? Have any of you payed a small time independent music blog for a write up and if so was it worth it?
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I am a Songwriter. I write lyrics and compose music for both Female and Male artists in all tempos in Pop, Rock, R&B, and Dance. I have a collection of 81 professionally recorded songs (54 for Female and 27 for Male Artists). I also compose the music for the movies. Two of my songs: BROKEN DREAMS and ALONE are featured as part of the movie: Unfit Misfit, by 3 Angels Power Inc. a movie company from ... read more See Full Bio
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Greetings! This is Graham Zima, producer of Music Sucks on the Zima Podcasting Network. We recently joined this forum because we are super enthusiastic to share with you our conversations with some of the most exciting bands in the Midwest area. When I say Midwest, this show primarily focuses on bands that are playing shows in the Minnesota/Wisconsin area. So far, we have talked with some excellent musicians from bands such as Honey Creek, Dystopian Echo, and Telethon. We look forward to interacting with everyone on this forum and really generating a conversation on the blossoming music scene in this area. Show Page! Check our Latest Talk with Telethon
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Hi, My name is Steve Rieck. I'm looking to meet new writers/players and network. Here's a few edits of a few of my songs to give you an idea of my style. You can find all my contact info at www.steverieck.com http://www.steverieck.com/snd/collage.mp3 Hope you like it. Thanks!