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  • john

    Songstuff Writer and Artist Development Challenges

    By john

    Independent writers and artists face several large disadvantages when they are compared to signed, mainstream writers and artists.  Disadvantages that add up to making it a competition that indies can’t win. Hell they can’t even compete.   Lack of budget and poor contacts are fairly obvious disadvantages. Lack of experience and a lack of knowledge restricts songwriters and artists alike. Lack of an overall strategy, and a limited set of incomplete tactics, makes for a critical problem
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Music Business Discussion Group

Next session of the Music Business discussion group is in 35 minutes, 12am midnight GMT. Earlier session covered web presence and promotion, band management and building contacts amongst others.... Watch the shoutbox for hot topics....
john

john

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Music Business Discussion Group

Next session of the Music Business discussion group is in 35 minutes, 12am midnight GMT. Earlier session covered web presence and promotion, band management and building contacts amongst others.... Watch the shoutbox for hot topics....
john

john

0

Red Room Post-mortem...

Well, I broke a string. It was partway through the last song, so I just played without it. Some folks said afterwards the guitar sounded a little distorted, and the broken string was part of that—other contributing factors were my using my old D’Armand pickup (which gives the acoustic guitar a very electric sound) and playing through a little amp instead of the Red Room’s sound system. All fixable. It did go well. We had a big crowd—virtually every seat in the place filled—and since mo
roxhythe

roxhythe

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Pre-gig Promotional Thoughts...

UPDATES: There are a few people who appear determined to reimburse me for the “Broken Record” CD, and since I have no job and no money, I guess I will not stand in their way. I have one extra copy of the CD, and I’ve sent it to Brian, head of the Just Plain Folks organization, suggesting that he auction it off as a fund-raiser. Poster’s done for the Bay City gig, and it’s getting its first little distribution; the Arts Center has it, and so does the Tillamook Library (and I’ve gotten the
roxhythe

roxhythe

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An Idea--custom Cds?

Here’s an idea. (Not mine. I collect ideas.) Pretend you’re a consumer. (A lot of us used to be consumers, back when we had jobs and money.) You’ve got some extra bucks, and you’re going to buy A RECORD. Not Top 40 stuff, of course—that stuff is mostly tasteless pap these days, and overpriced to boot. You’ve got your eye (or ear) on an independent person—not in thrall to the big record companies, in other words—that you think writes pretty good stuff. Thing is, you really only wa
roxhythe

roxhythe

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Five More Days...

Five more days… The Portland Band is as ready as they’re going to be. There are a couple of songs that could use more work, but we’re out of time. This coming Friday is the Big Gig. I only got posters up in a couple of high-traffic music businesses in Portland (one selling records, the other instruments), but all of us in the band have friends and relatives coming, so maybe it’ll be okay crowd-wise. I may have the Local Band together. Dick Ackerman is willing to be the harmonica player
roxhythe

roxhythe

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And Yet Another Paying Gig?

YET ANOTHER PAYING GIG… The managers of the Garibaldi Museum called from Virginia, asking me to play at the Museum 27 JUNE (it’s a Saturday) 7 P.M. Hour-long set—I told them I’d bring a band if I could. They want promotional photos and bio (which I have), and asked me to send them a contract (I’ll send something simple, basically agreeing to what they said). I sent them a promotional poster, too—they haven’t seen one of my posters yet. It was this second gig that got John (the heavy-met
roxhythe

roxhythe

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Another Paying Gig...

ANOTHER PAYING GIG! This one’s on the Coast, at the Bay City Arts Center, five miles from Garibaldi. SATURDAY, 7 MARCH, 7 P.M. $5 cover charge, split between me (60%) and the Arts Center (40%). They’ll sell refreshments, and I’ll sell CDs. They were excited about the idea, which was really gratifying. (And many thanks to my daughter for making the suggestion.) I would like to be playing with a band for this gig, too. The Arts Center, an antebellum-style Masonic Lodge built in 1927, h
roxhythe

roxhythe

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The Band Is Good...

Okay, the band is good. We can take over the world now. Things clicked at practice when Donny came outside while I was taking a break and announced, “Sharma’s playing the bass—and she’s better than I am!” I suggested, since Donny plays harmonica (among other things) that we try “Armadillo on the Interstate” (which we’d had trouble with) with him playing harmonica and Sharma playing bass—and it was beautiful. We subsequently revised the whole setlist to do it that way. So there’s the
roxhythe

roxhythe

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The Ghost Hole (again)...

Performed again at the Ghost Hole here in Garibaldi (two blocks from the house), and again, it was just two of us. I concentrated on uptempo numbers, since the other fellow doesn’t do any (he said he’s working on it, though—he did notice the crowd liked them), and he did lots of Neil Young and Bob Dylan. He’s got a couple of originals that are a real good fit with what he does, and I complimented him on them—they really are better than most of the Neil Young stuff. He should do more. And aga
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roxhythe

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The State Of Play

The Times They Are A Changin'... Time to baton down the hatches is an understatement. The Music industry has been struggling for a long time, but too many pundits that was no real surprise. In many ways the major labels have written their own obituary, and the minor and indie labels haven't done much better. The labels, that for so long provided an investment opportunity for bands, moved away from long term investment some time ago, preferring to milk what they had and to get quick hi
john

john

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Workshops And Online Meetings

Would you be interested in coming along to take part in focused online meet ups and workshops? It could be a specific day, or a specific hour on a specific day. For example: Every 2nd Friday Songwriting Every Other Friday Recording, Mixing and Mastering Every 2nd Wednesday Guitar and Bass Guitar you get the idea. The aim is to get as many people interested in a specific subject online at the same time or at least within a short timeframe. So we are gathering opinion
Songstuff

Songstuff

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Practice With The Band...

OFirst practice with the band Saturday. Spent most of the day at it—bass player and drummer and Sharma on electric guitar in the morning, lead guitarist in the evening; we’re planning on having everybody together in one place next Saturday. It’s still pretty rough. That’s partly from Doug and Donny (drums and bass) not being familiar with the material, and part because they’re coming from a punk-rock background, where the instruments are just played differently. I’ve suggested to Sharma
roxhythe

roxhythe

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Whitehouse Finalist Within 15 Categories Of The Effigy Award

Award Summary for Whitehouse Artist Finalist Best Overall Artist Best Group Best Artist in Style - Latin Most Popular Artist Most Popular Band Best FG Profile Song Finalist "Nobody To Blame" - Best Song in Style - Country "The Games That People Play" - Best Song in Style - Rock L "Terrina" - Best Overall Song "Terrina" - Best Production "Terrina" - Best Songwriting "Terrina" - Best Song in Style - Power Ballad "Terrina" - Most Popular Song "Sol En
Rai

Rai

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More Updates...

Might be about to get busy. This week, I will have made two trips to the Squirrel House (one to retrieve the pellet stove); in addition, I went to that advertised jam session at the local tavern, I have practice with the Portland musicians, and I have a job interview. (Local job.) I’ve got two more jobs to apply for, too—one local and one not. Picked up an application to drive school bus, too, after I got another city manager rejection letter in the mail. I have the tracks from Albert f
roxhythe

roxhythe

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Still redecorating

Guess what - redecorating took much longer than I expected. I guess I should not be surprised, it is probably a law or something. Anyway - starting to see the end now, and I'm also getting some recording done where I've moved some of my equipment to my mum and dads' place. One of these equipments is my Marshall 8100 amp with cabinet, doing the guitar on Testament I want to sound like it's moving air around. Anyway - it's looking like there will ready for some paint on the walls here soon -
FinnArild

FinnArild

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Bay City...

BAY CITY went real well. I had Dick Ackerman there to play blues harp, so we did “Armadillo on the Interstate” (which he’s been practicing), “Tillamook Railroad Blues” (which he knows), and “Milepost 43” and “Vampire Roumanian Babies” (which he did real well on). And the audience did love every one. (Yes, Bay City audiences have historically been very appreciative—but this time, with the open mike taking place right after a fancy fund-raising dinner, there were relatively few people there who
roxhythe

roxhythe

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Working On The Website (&c.)...

And when we can’t think of anything else to do, we write, right? Dick Ackerman’s willing to do the harmonica lead on the “Armadillo” song; might be able to record that in the next couple of days. Following that, I want to record Beth Williams’ “Kidney Stone Blues,” and then do harmonica parts for “The Tillamook Railroad Blues” and “Milepost 43.” The railroad song especially should be a one-take thing—we’ve been playing it for years. The Tascam’s digital-camera chip “brain,” which allows
roxhythe

roxhythe

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The Philippine Christmas Album!

I received the PHILIPPINE CHRISTMAS ALBUM—took three weeks to get here from The Philippines by their version of registered mail. (Must’ve swum.) It is definitely a rush having somebody else’s record with my song (and name, and photo) on it. I’m not the only american on the album (there are two Stan Good songs, too); some of the songs are in English, and some not. Some of the music would be quite at home in an American bar or concert hall, even though the singing isn’t in English—I guess
roxhythe

roxhythe

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Just Updates...

Just updates… I can’t produce the songbook, even in black-and-white, for five bucks—not when my printer goes through a $20 ink cartridge in less than 200 pages. (Yes, I need a cheaper printer, as soon as I can afford one. And Lexmark needs a Very Nasty Letter about their equipment, which I am not going to buy any more.) I’ll have to print one master, and take it to a print shop that does work for college students, and see what that costs. There’s none of those around here, but I have a littl
roxhythe

roxhythe

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The Red Room--and An Open Mike...

Went to the Red Room to check the place out (I always try to do this before a gig) and to drop off a CD and posters. It’s a pretty big place, with a decent-sized stage, and good speakers (though the sound system is primitive compared to what the Friday Night Group has). I’ll definitely want my own singing mike. It’s on NORTHEAST 82nd, not Southeast as I originally reported (and if you go to the SE 82nd address—like I did—you will end up at a Chinese restaurant, which just happens to be pa
roxhythe

roxhythe

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185 (3 Pics)

Sometimes good news sinks in more than once and over time. Last week my rosy cheeked, good humored 18yr old boy asked, "Hey Ma, guess how much I weigh?" When I found out the answer >BAM< I really took it in.... The following pictures of this beloved firstborn, Dylan, were taken on 7/7/07. He was intubated, on paralytic drugs, fighting for his life in the ICU at Children's Hospital, St. Paul. Dylan "lost" 8 days of his young life during this time, at age 17.
Donna

Donna

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