[Outlaws and Criminals]

42 minutes ago, john said:

The funny thing is how often a sanitised version of the outlaw theme is reintroduced to mainstream

 

The same thing happened with Rock with all the hair bands playing corporate music power pop ballads posing as bad boys who were "Rockers".

 

I was on a panel at the Billboard magazine annual convention* in LA years ago when they played a Bon Jovi video of them riding motorcycles like they were a biker gang.  After it I said it was cotton candy pretentiousness.  My remark did not go over well with the crowd as they were expecting to hear how cool it was.

 

* I was selected at random from the UCLA Music Business and Creative Arts program.

[Helping Others]

35 minutes ago, GregB said:

It's such a shame that children and young adults aren't given the confidence to identify and work with their strengths.  Instead, society is still hell bent on hammering round pegs into square holes.  More accountants and lawyers, anyone?

 

I had two Colonels in my parents generation, one Army and one Air Force, and my mother's family was deeply religious.  Their expectations of me were to be either a military officer or an evangelist.

 

I rebelled in an unusual manner by going into Fine Arts in Theater.  I had dual BFA programs one in Playwriting, the other in Stagecraft, a combination of Sound, Lighting, and Set Design.  I started playing Music because I did it for fun in college bands and other people thought I was good at it.

 

I switched directions after college uponI realizing Theater was even a smaller career opportunity than Music.  However it came useful later as I was trained in theatrical production for doing live events.  So I basically got "schooled" again by playing with professional people rather than attempting to start a band with amateurs like I had in college and fumbling around.

 

Most people don't realize that training, in its many different forms, is a shortcut.  You then can leapfrog over problems others struggle with for years.  What professional musicians taught me was not complexity and virtuosity but the power of simplicity.  Keep things simple but powerful to hit an audience on an emotional level.  Emotion is the name of the game.

[How many artists are earning enough to live from Spotify and other streaming services?]

1 hour ago, Peggy said:

I think most, probably have  additional income source(s) probably even as the primary income.  Did you work with a studio as a session musician?

 

I have in several, not for the studio but picked for an individual assignment. In early 2020 I was hospitalized with Covid for 28 days and suffered neurological damage.  This severely hampered my ability to play and can no longer do so at a professional studio level.  

 

I although I am a member there I have never lived in Nashville only gone there on short trips for work, usually staying with a friend who passed away from a stroke in 2020.  I don't like tourists.  

 

I actually live in a very small town just outside of DC in Maryland.  It is close to the city for dining and entertainment but very quiet, with no crime, as it is upper income with more police than you can imagine. There are so many cops you cannot leave home without seeing at least one and there are often 5-6 squad cars in a group on the main street. 

 

I keep my union membership more out of solidarity with AFM than for income.  I am a big believer in unions and collective bargaining to protect musicians. 

 

This is when I started my first DAW recordings last Summer.  I never used one until then.  I also built my first home studio in a spare bedroom at that time.

 

 

[How many artists are earning enough to live from Spotify and other streaming services?]

24 minutes ago, Peggy said:

I know it's a pain in the a**, but I've always been a big proponent of merchandise for artists and bands (start small) as an additional income source.  Especially now, with such inexpensive availability of the music.  I surely have a lot of t-shirts, decals, pictures/artwork, probably mouse pads and socks, too. Haha.   

 

The lion's share of my income has come from owning an Events Production company and a commercial website development company for businesses not individuals.

 

I have made money playing Music both live and in a studio however the other two produced much, much more which allowed me to pursue Music. I am a union member so I make good money when I play.  However that has never been my sole income nor did I wish it to be.

[How many artists are earning enough to live from Spotify and other streaming services?]

@GregB

I am in the same situation as you and believe we are also the same age.  I have owned businesses alongside playing Music and the union also has a pension fund.  My money has always come from having multiple sources of income.

 

I do this now simply because I can and I enjoy doing it.  I would not expect to live off selling music on the web.  Both our overheads are probably too high to risk on that assumption.

[3.25.22]

2 hours ago, Steve Mueske said:

Everything else is just necessary capitalist bullshit.

 

I became good at running businesses because I preferred it to working for a corporation.  Almost every dime I have ever made in Music though came from working for someone else.  The combination of the two is why I survived

 

This last year was the first time I ever attempted doing my own thing as an artist.  

[3.25.22]

Whichever direction you go, forming an LLC as well as having a business bank account is highly beneficial.  It means being able to take tax write offs for any business related purpose such as your website and Office subscription as well as adding legitimacy should you ever make a move such as seeking investors.

 

I use Blue Host myself.  I have found them to be very good overall.  I did have problems with the initial setup as they default to a Wordpress format.  My HTML5 pages appeared as code. This was easily fixed but I did have to contact Support more than once initially.

 

Their SSL certificates also expire and you have to get Support to update them.  If you do not use HTTPS rather than HTTP many browsers will flag your site as unsafe.  

 

Their certificates have expired twice within the last year.  They use a general certification not one specifically linked to your domain.  The counter balance is they are free (at least with my account).

[What Year is It? Nearly a Third of the iTunes Top 100 Taken By Oldies, New Releases Not Catching On]

I believe this is due more to record labels still controlling the lion's share of print media.  I see articles about ancient bands in my newsfeed every singe day.  I think, "I thought they were all dead."

 

I stopped caring about what The Who did after Keith Moon died but there is an article in the Entertainment section almost every week about their latest resurrection.  I think Pete Townsend keeps announcing their retirement just because he gets press coverage.

 

Does anyone really care what Slash thinks anymore?  I saw a video of G&R from a festival last summer and Axl could barely waddle from side to side on the stage dressed the same as the 1990s.

 

These acts show up with a feature article regularly along with a cast of a thousand geezers I stopped following decades ago.  Remember the term payola?  It's not dead.

 

Record companies may no longer control production but they still control a disportioncate amount of publicity machinery.

[I need to slow down..]

@Mahesh I wrote a post in Musicians Lounge about this last year.  Before I got Covid in early 2020 I was a session player and never did anything except play.  Now I cannot play at my previous level and had to retire from studio paying although I still hold my union membership.

 

This whole experience is new to me except for websites.  I had never used a DAW before last Summer.  The concept of recording without other musicians had never crossed my mind.

 

 

[Our Songstuff Community on YouTube]

Woo Hoo! Thank you!

 

It's great to be a part of this community!

[Bandcamp Acquired By Epic Games]

@john I got the same email from Bandcamp.  I have mixed feelings as I don't know if this is a good thing, a bad thing, or simply doesn't matter.

 

I get more plays from both SoundCloud and Spotify than from Bandcamp so the overall effect will probably be negligible.

["Realize - Live at Her Village" - my new release has been in planning for a while.. So glad it's out!]

@Mahesh This is a very beautiful song.  It has a very Beatles type of melodic structure while still reflecting your Indian roots.   

 

Have you ever considered using harmony singers?  You have a great voice for this, with supporting vocals this could be very powerful.

 

I wish you well with your upcoming EP.

[System Updates]

All the computers we have owned since 1999 are Macs so my heart goes out to you.  My wife has to use a Del laptop with Windows 11 for her work.  As a result I keep a pair of earplugs nearby for when she begins screaming and cursing at it.

[Ground Zero - Again]

You know how much I like your work Steve and this is my favorite of everything I have heard you do. It is in a class by itself.