Higher Ground, Seven Days, 104.7 The Point and OKAY!! OKAY!! are pleased to present THE BRAVE LITTLE STATE in Ballroom on Friday, September 23^rd at 7:30pm. Local musicians Chamberlin, Rough Francis, The Wee Folkestra, The Amida Bourbon Project, DJ Disco Phantom and comedian Pat Lynch have all generously donated their talents to this concert/silent auction/goods drive to support the ongoing flood relief efforts. The artists themselves are taking a hands-on approach to the fundraising efforts, coordinating with appropriate agencies and even transporting donated items to their recipients.

Organizers envision a strong goods-donation component to the event and have worked closely with the Vermont Food Bank and Youth Services Inc. of Brattleboro to ensure that all items collected will be distributed to those most in need. Patrons are asked to bring non-perishable food items; gently used, clean clothing; clean bedding; and basic household items and office supplies. Of especial need are children’s clothing and outerwear, new toys and stuffed animals. Soft goods have had to be disposed of due to mold, and many children are without toys. The weather is also growing colder, so bedding and outwear are becoming more important.

Donors for the silent auction include: JDK/Iskraprints, Green Mountain Harley Davidson, Burton, Gardener’s Supply, A.M. Saddler Photography, and more to be announced. Cash donations will be submitted to vt211.org; food donations to the Vermont Food Bank; clothing and children’s items to Youth Services Inc. of Brattleboro.

For more information check out the Facebook event.

Time: Doors 7pm, Show 7:30pm.

Ages: All ages

Tickets: $10 advance, $10 day of show

Tickets are on sale now.

Purchase:

Online: www.highergroundmusic.com

Charge by phone: 888-512-7469

In person: Higher Ground Box Office, 1214 Williston Rd, S. Burlington

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE JUNE 11, 2011

BURLINGTON, VT– Art Helps Japan is hosting an online auction featuring work from close to 50 internationally known artists including Chuck Anderson, Scott Lenhardt, Thomas Campbell, Michael Leon, Tyler Stout, Cody Hudson, Terje Haakonsen and many more; the online auction is active Wednesday, June 8^th-25^th. Art Helps Japan is a fundraiser for our widespread community of art lovers and artists to lend ongoing support to the many victims dealing with the profound damage caused by the recent earthquake. Marin Horikawa, a Design Director at JDK, created the project with the idea that although the aftermath of a natural disaster can feel overwhelming, “art, and people willing to extend a hand, can help.”

Sponsors JDK Design, Iskra Print Collective, Burlington Bay Catering, Cabot, Driven Studio, Ben & Jerry’s, Burton Snowboards, and OKAY!! OKAY!! have come together to put on a live auction in Burlington, VT. The event will take place on Friday, June 24^th from 6-10PM on the 1^st floor of JDK, at 47 Maple St. in Burlington. The live auction will take place from 8-9PM at JDK’s café, Maglianero.

The online auction is up and running now; those interested can check out the work and begin bidding at arthelpsjapan.com. 100% of the proceeds from Art Helps Japan will be donated to the Japanese Red Cross.

For more information on this event and to check out the artists’ work, visit arthelpsjapan.com.

###

Song For All The Girls from TalkboyTV.com on Vimeo.

CISCO ADLER TO PREMIERE SHORT FILM SONG FOR ALL THE GIRLS

ON VALENTINE’S DAY

FEBRUARY 14, 2011

MALIBU, CA – Cisco Adler, SoCal producer, songwriter, and Bananabeat Records founder, is adding actor to the list. The short film, made possible by Adler’s brand partners at Oakley, New Era, and Muscle Milk, will premiere on Valentine’s Day.

The 10-minute film, which was screened during the Sundance Film Festival to rave reviews, is a nod to the slasher vigilante genre; it was filmed in the Grindhouse tradition ala Quentin Tarantino and Robert Rodriguez. The video, directed by Mikey Easterling of TalkBoyTV, features supermodels Barbara Stoyanoff, Lydia Hearst, and Melissa Brown along with Bananabeat Record’s premiere signee Chris Young The Rapper. The bloody Valentine’s event is a well-balanced pairing of gore and tongue-in-cheek humor.

“This is not a music video. It is a short film with a one-song soundtrack. My music is known for being poppy and upbeat, so I hit Talkboy with the idea of going the polar opposite direction. The song is about realizing that saying “I love you” doesn’t always mean the love is true. What better way to show that than to murder my ex-girlfriends…with a wink and a smile!" said Adler.

 
To watch the “Song For All The Girls” trailer visit http://www.ciscoadlerpresents.com/ or http://vimeo.com/19687424. To listen to Cisco Adler’s “Song For All The Girls” featuring Chris Young the Rapper visit http://ciscoadlerpresents.bandcamp.com/track/song-for-all-the-girls. To find out more information about Talk Boy TV follow http://www.talkboytv.com/.

-96% of Gen Y are members of social networks.

-If Facebook were a country, it would be the world's 4th largest.

-Ashton Kutcher and Ellen DeGeneres have more Twitter followers than the entire populations of Ireland, Norway and Panama combined.

The revolution will not be televised.

via: socialnomics.net/

I posted a message on Twitter yesterday stating I thought The Beastie Boys and TopSpin Media "got it right" regarding how to sell music in this day and age. Here's a link to their store:

[illcommunication.beastieboys.com]

Shortly thereafter, I got some responses from people stating the usual "yeah, if you're an established artist – what if you're just trying to get heard?" argument. In an interview I did recently this topic came up and I'll reiterate what I said here.

If you are an unknown / lesser-known artist trying to get noticed / established:

* Establish your goals. What are you trying to do / accomplish? If you are looking for mainstream super-success (think Lady GaGa, Coldplay, U2, Justin Timberlake) – your best bet in my opinion is to look at major labels and prepare to share all revenue streams / creative control / music ownership. To reach that kind of critical mass these days your need old-school marketing muscle and that only comes from major labels. Good luck with that one.

If you're forging your own path, read on.

* Forget thinking you are going to make any real money from record sales. Make your record cheaply (but great) and GIVE IT AWAY. As an artist you want as many people as possible to hear your work. Word of mouth is the only true marketing that matters.
To clarify:
Parter with a TopSpin or similar or build your own website, but what you NEED to do is this – give your music away as high-quality DRM-free MP3s. Collect people's email info in exchange (which means having the infrastructure to do so) and start building your database of potential customers. Then, offer a variety of premium packages for sale and make them limited editions / scarce goods. Base the price and amount available on what you think you can sell. Make the packages special – make them by hand, sign them, make them unique, make them something YOU would want to have as a fan. Make a premium download available that includes high-resolution versions (for sale at a reasonable price) and include the download as something immediately available with any physical purchase. Sell T-shirts. Sell buttons, posters… whatever.

Don't have a TopSpin as a partner? Use Amazon for your transactions and fulfillment. [www.amazon.com]

Use TuneCore to get your music everywhere. [www.tunecore.com]

Have a realistic idea of what you can expect to make from these and budget your recording appropriately.
The point is this: music IS free whether you want to believe that or not. Every piece of music you can think of is available free right now a click away. This is a fact – it sucks as the musician BUT THAT'S THE WAY IT IS (for now). So… have the public get what they want FROM YOU instead of a torrent site and garner good will in the process (plus build your database).

The Beastie Boys' site offers everything you could possibly want in the formats you would want it in – available right from them, right now. The prices they are charging are more than you should be charging – they are established and you are not. Think this through.

The database you are amassing should not be abused, but used to inform people that are interested in what you do when you have something going on – like a few shows, or a tour, or a new record, or a webcast, etc.
Have your MySpace page, but get a site outside MySpace – it's dying and reads as cheap / generic. Remove all Flash from your website. Remove all stupid intros and load-times. MAKE IT SIMPLE TO NAVIGATE AND EASY TO FIND AND HEAR MUSIC (but don't autoplay). Constantly update your site with content – pictures, blogs, whatever. Give people a reason to return to your site all the time. Put up a bulletin board and start a community. Engage your fans (with caution!) Make cheap videos. Film yourself talking. Play shows. Make interesting things. Get a Twitter account. Be interesting. Be real. Submit your music to blogs that may be interested. NEVER CHASE TRENDS. Utilize the multitude of tools available to you for very little cost of any – Flickr / YouTube / Vimeo / SoundCloud / Twitter etc.

If you don't know anything about new media or how people communicate these days, none of this will work. The role of an independent musician these days requires a mastery of first hand use of these tools. If you don't get it – find someone who does to do this for you. If you are waiting around for the phone to ring or that A & R guy to show up at your gig – good luck, you're going to be waiting a while.

Hope this helps, and I'll scour responses for intelligent comments I can respond to.

TR

TopSpin Media info:
[topspinmedia.com]

(disclaimer)
This was written on a bumpy Euro-bus ride across the wilderness – may ramble a bit but I think the point gets across.
TR

UPDATE 1:
Thanks for the insightful comments already – when I get a moment (and a reliable internet connection) I'll respond to some of your very valid points. Please keep in mind – these were just some thoughts I quickly wrote down and posted and not meant to be a complete guide by any means. I've neglected to get into publishing and some other things. I'll update pretty soon.

UPDATE 2:
Here's a message from Ian Rogers of TopSpin
[forum.nin.com]

UPDATE 3:
Here's a few responses – more to come when I get time.

Bandcamp
[bandcamp.com]

This looks excellent to me. I have not used it but it appears to be great. This would cover your digital distribution of files and the collecting / amassing of your database. Looks like you'd still need someplace to handle fulfillment of merchandise / physical goods (like the Amazon link above).

Pay-what-you-want model
This is where you offer tracks or albums for a user-determined price. I hate this concept, and here's why.
Some have argued that giving music away free devalues music. I disagree. Asking people what they think music is worth devalues music. Don't believe me? Write and record something you really believe is great and release it to the public as a "pay-what-you-think-it's-worth" model and then let's talk. Read a BB entry from a "fan" rationalizing why your whole album is worth 50 cents because he only likes 5 songs on it. Trust me on this one – you will be disappointed, disheartened and find yourself resenting a faction of your audience. This is your art! This is your life! It has a value and you the artist are not putting that power in the hands of the audience – doing so creates a dangerous perception issue. If the FEE you are charging is zero, you are not empowering the fan to say this is only worth an insultingly low monetary value. Don't be misled by Radiohead's In Rainbows stunt. That works one time for one band once – and you are not Radiohead.

Why put something on iTunes for a price fans can get it from your site for free? Won't it piss people off?
Do it and don't worry about it. Lots of people apparently shop at iTunes exclusively and that's where they get their music. They are generally not the people that would be mad to discover they could have gotten the same record (at a better bit-rate) for free elsewhere. We put The Slip up at nin.com for free at all fidelities and STILL sold a fairly large amount of copies at iTunes for $9.99. At the time iTunes did not allow variable pricing (I don't know what the deal is now).

My Flash comments
I don't hate Flash, just go easy on it and avoid anything that takes time to load – ESPECIALLY your front page.

Managers / booking agents / small labels
Any or all of these may be good for you – or not. Here's a truth: nobody knows what to do right now, me included. The music business model is broken right now. That means every single job position in the music industry has to re-educate itself and learn / discover / adapt a new way. Change can be painful and hard and scary. If any of these entities we're discussing are interested in you, ask them about their strategies IN DETAIL. None of them know for sure what to do. Some of them have an idea of how to negotiate these waters. Most of them don't. If you are young and use the internet, you know more about your audience than they do – for sure. This is a revolution and you can be a part of it. The old guard is dying, if you have good ideas – try them.
Bottom line – before getting involved with anyone else, ask yourself what it is they can clearly bring to your table and is it worth their cut. Do they know what they're talking about, and does their strategies match yours?

I have not gotten into the basics which I believe are self-evident: believe in what you do, do the best work you can, work hard, practice, practice more, find your voice, hone in on it, take chances, play live (if applicable), practice more, keep believing in yourself and prepare for the long haul.

via: www.nin.com

These are just snapshots of recent snow, skate and surf exposure meters, make sure to check twbiz for updates!

via: business.transworld.net/

Group Y hosted the panel discussion “How to Maximize PR Opportunities & Expand Brand Awareness” at The Grove in Anaheim. Panelists included representatives from Burton, Bungalow and Vans. Check out the hot tips at business.transworld.net/.

“When approaching a crisis situation in your company, it is very important to keep the senior management in the loop at all times as you are making your decisions. It’s also important to inform them of any changes/developments as they happen. In addition, never approach the heads of your company with the problem without having at least 3 different solutions for your company to choose from to resolve the problem." -Shana Frahm of Burton on Crisis Communication

Via: business.transworld.net/