Cerebellum Blues

New mixes! And more thoughts on record companies.

After many months of only posting rough mixes, I have now posted mixed versions of Here Comes The Weather and Money. They're both on the player to the right, so give 'em a spin and let me know what you think!

Back to the topic of record companies. As Dave pointed out in his comment, they mainly do advertising these days, and are intermediaries between artists and manufacturers. Regardless, unless I'm picked up by a major label and given some sort of massive publicity push, I won't be working with a label at all, and will need to find other ways to sell CDs to more than just friends and family -- no easy task. Also, since I don't see myself performing regularly, that avenue for buzz building isn't exactly open to me. So, what is? What can I do to get my name out there and attract a few fans?

First off, I'm going to make it easy for folks to get my music. I'll post it for download here on my blog, at CD Baby, Amazon, iTunes, etc. I'm also going to have everything distributed free of DRM (digital rights management or copy protection), so that pass along is easy. Another thought is to cook up T-shirts and a few other items (might as well, right?). Yet another idea I have is to take advantage of the fact that my home town is a MASSIVE tourist capital, and I plan to leave cards with instructions on where to get my music in strategic places. What else... well, I'm going to enter a few song contests, and if I win -- a BIG if -- I can use that info to help attract listeners. I'm going to call Paste Magazine and find out how to get on their sampler (fat chance, I know, but what have I got to lose?). I'm going to call Starbucks, Wal-Mart and Target and ask about music deals. Um, I'm also going to try to get at least one really famous person to sing on the record (total long shot, I know, but I gotta try). Uh... well, that's about it for now.

Other interesting paths to explore for indies such as myself are:

TUNECORE: When you use Tunecore, they place your song on iTunes, Rhapsody, Amazon and others and pay you 100% of sales, while allowing you to keep all rights. The catch: you have to pay them to do this for you! Luckily, the rates are reasonable, but a touch complex. Click here to read the deets.

AMIE STREET: A very Web 2.0 outfit, Amie Street prices songs based on popularity, with the most popular songs going for $.99 and the least for, you guessed it, zilch. Amie touts their model as one that encourages experimentation, since members will try new music without hesitation given that it's free. As for cost, Amie seems fair: posting is free, and once your song has earned $5, Amie Street keeps only 30%. Obviously, there's no DRM and you can join without having to be exclusive.

THE ORCHARD: Sounds like a horror movie, I know, but there's something worthwhile here, I just can't figure out if it's for someone like me, or only for labels. I'm going to call them soon and find out.

CDBABY: These guys have a sterling reputation, and will get your music on all the major sites, including their own and iTunes. If you have a full album of material, CD Baby is probably the way to go; if you want to sell physical CDs, they are definitely the way to go. However, if you're like me, and have miles to go before your CD is done, CD Baby doesn't look as compelling to my eye as Tunecore. I'm going to call CD Baby tomorrow, though, and ask about their digital only distribution. Costs for physical distribution: $35 set up and $4 per CD sold, 9% of each dowload sold. If you go digital only, there is no set up fee, and you get 91% of revs. Not sure how this last bit works, though. For example, if someone downloads your song from iTunes for $.99, I doubt iTunes sends CD Baby the full $.99 and then pays you 91% of that. Gotta find out about this. Cost for digital distribution is nada, but CD Baby keeps 9% of revs (again, not sure if this is 9% of actual sale price or 9% of what CD Baby gets from, say, iTunes.

APRICADO: I first heard about Apricado from Mark Sanders, the most brilliant expert of all things web I have ever met, and it sounds like a really killer service. It's not live yet -- in beta -- but should be soon and when it is, it will be perfect for a la cart types like me, who want to post songs, as opposed to whole albums. No fee, payout is 80%, and Apricado will offer widgets for myspae and Facebook. As soon as there here, I'm there!

SONICBIDS: These guys bill themselves as a connector of bands and promoters. In other words, if you're in a band and you're looking for places to to gig, Sonicbids is for you. But what about the poor bastard without a band, such as yours truly? More important, what about the poor bastard without a band who refuses to play solo, such as, yup, yours truly? Well, Sonicbids is still a good choice. For people like me, Sonicbids is like Taxi (see below), conecting you with folks looking for music in television and film. My friend Dave Tutin told me about Sonicbids, and I signed up straight away. I haven't submitted anything yet, but I will soon. Really, I will. Fees: $6 a month or $60 for a year. Cheap!

TAXI: Taxi is a lot like Sonicbids. In fact, I'm not sure how the two differ really, except that Taxi has historically been more about placement and talent discovery and less about gigs. In fact, they bill themselves as an independent A&R dept. I was going to sign up with Taxi -- and might still -- but Sonicbids is a lot less money, so I figured I'd dip my toe in the water with Sonic, and then, when I have more tunes ready, pony up for Taxi, which, by the way costs THREE HUNDRED DOLLARS PER YEAR.

In the coming months, I'll post more about each of these services and any others I hear about. Stay tuned!

I'm thinking... who needs a record company?

I've hinted recently of an agreement that I might be signing with a record company, and I want to clarify something: this agreement is not a "deal" in the classic sense. It's the opposite, really, because rather than offering me something, it prevents me from getting something. But forget all that for a moment. The real question is this: why does anyone need a record company?

The answer used to be simple: manufacturing and distribution. Back in the days of physical media, if you wanted to have any hope of selling a significant number of albums, you had to make and distribute a significant number of albums. Really, there was no way around it. And the only companies set up to do this were record companies. No more. Today, no one needs a record company. Oh, sure, they're nice to have, but you don't need one. With online distribution, you can make 0 copies and sell one million.

So what are record companies still good for? Promotion, of which manufacturing and distribution are certainly a part, because every physical CD out there is, in essence. an ad for the band/musicians on it. But barriers to promotion are a lot easier to overcome than barriers to manufacturing and distribution. And -- to bring this post back around to where it began -- while I would like to have a record company backing me, if I have to go it alone, I think I still have a chance. As of now, I own my copyrights, my publishing and my masters, and I can probably make 10 times the profit per album that I could make going through a record company, assuming, of course, I can make any sales at all! So, watch this space, as I look for ways to figure out how to sell 1000 songs (downloads) in the next year. There, I've said it, that's my goal. Not very lofty, I know, but wait till you hear my goal for next year!

Mad for Madison.

I love this town! First and foremost, the summer weather is true summer weather. Warm days, warm evenings, not much wind. What a contrast from my home town of SF, where sitting outside to, say, read a paper, is just asking for a brain aneurysm, because the constant WIND makes it impossible to read anything but an electronic gizmo, and you will get so frustrated by pages flipping into your face that a blood vessel in your brain will burst and you will die (only a slight exaggeration).

Madison also sports not one, but two, nice lakes. In fact, the main town is located on an isthmus between the lakes, so if, like me, you are staying at, the majestic DoubleTree, which is darn near the center of the isthmus, you can walk to a lake shore of your choice in mere minutes. Nice.

Another appealing thing about Madison is the architecture; everywhere you look there are gorgeous old houses with porches and balconies (and not just for decoration, mind you; because of the aforementioned nice weather, you can actually enjoy your outdoor space).

But not all is perfect. Dining has been iffy. My first night, Sunday, I trekked off to Essen Haus, a German eatery of some renown, and ordered schweine haxen, imaging that a plate would soon appear before me filled with a falling-off-the-bone tender pork shank, coated in a crispy layer of layered fat awaiting my fork. No such luck. The pork was dry and tough around the edges, and the skin looked like ham: pink, smooth, not crunchy at at all. Underneath the pork was some decent saurkraut, but it could not begin to make up for the main dish's lack of satisfyingly meaty fatty crunchy moistness that I so loved when I would order shweine haxsen from Haxenbauer in Munich.

My dinining experience on Sunday was a little better, but not by much, save for the company, which was awesome. My aunt Jean and her husband Bob took me to Tutto Pasta, and catching up with them was a lot of fun. They drove 3 hours to see me! How cool.

Tonight, I might go to Harvest, which was recommended to me by foodie extraordinair and fellow blogger Fatehma (click here to visit her food blog), but I'm hesitant, because the looks a little fancy for a single diner. We'll see.

For my morning coffee, I've found the modern day McDonald's -- Starbucks -- but I am determined to find a more local java joint. I have a bead on place near Starbucks, and I'm going to check it out today for lunch.

Really wish I could talk about my med stuff I'm doing here, but the instructions were clear: no blogging about what you experience. Sigh.

Live from Madison, Wisconsin, it's... me.

Many moons back, I posted that I might be heading out to Madison, Wisconsin for some brain stuff. Well, I am writing from Madison at this very moment! Sadly, I can't comment the study I'm taking part in, so I'll have to simply post about other stuff: Madison, writing songs in new places, how Starbucks is the new McDonald's, etc.

Expect a proper post tomorrow, since tonight I'm a bit tired from my first day at the lab and an unexpectedly long walk.

Note: the ducks are paddling through Lake Mendota, the larger of Madison's two lakes. See all that algae? Heavy rains mean heavy runoff, and heavy runoff means dead zones. Lovely, no?

Aftermath: My laywer visit.

On Wednesday, I drove across the Golden Gate to meet with an entertainment attorney, who was fabulous but who delivered some tough news.

Briefly, my agenda was to talk about copyright, publishing and an agreement I've been asked to sign by a local record company (not a contract!).

First, up, copyright. As of very recently you can now visit http://www.copyright.gov and access a single form for all of your copyright needs. In the past there were two forms, but this new one combines everything into a single doc, which you can fill out and submit online. Pretty cool, YOU NEED ADOBE READER 9. It's free, so it's no big deal.

For singer/songwriter types, there are two kinds of copyright you need to worry about: Performance and Sound Recording.

If you write songs, you want the performance copyright, which is a little confusing. Essentially, though, it protects your right to determine who can perform your song. Utterly unenforceable, to be sure, but when it matters -- say when GM wants to hire someone to sing your song -- you're protected.

The other copyright protects your recording. Say you do the end-all-be-all cover of Yesterday. Well, this copyright ensures that anyone who wants to use your recorded version has to get your permission. Naturally, this copyright can also protect a recorded version of your own song, which, according to my lawyer, is not a bad idea.

Next, publishing. Um, we didn't get to this really, except to note that my sole proprietorship of a publishing company is legit and a good idea.

Finally, and this is the bad news, the agreement I was asked to sign. I'm not going to say who the company is or what it's about, but suffice it to say, what the company wanted me to sign was not viewed as fair or even necessary by the entertainment attorney I met with. This is crushing, but not unexpected. So me being me -- he of thin skin -- fired off an email to the record company, and the email wasn't as professional as it could have been. I apologized right after sending it, but still, I feel like a dope. I want so much for something to work out, that I think I let my emotions get the better of me. Also, I was very busy with my other life -- a marketing writer -- all week, and perhaps I just didn't allow for enough time for me to write a proper note to the record company. I'll try again soon. Lesson learned: always be nice!

I'm a goddamned moron.

Earlier tonight, my friend Toby emailed me saying he was confused about my recent post regarding the SF Chronicle's review of Lark Gayl's CD, Two Hands. Toby pointed out the the album was reviewed YESTERDAY and today's piece was just a homage to a fine, new songwriter.

Toby -- as usual -- is right.

Goddamn, I feel like a Neocon Republican: stupid as hell... wait... I KNOW I'm stupid. Your average Neocon Republican thinks he's a genius.

S---t.

Anyway, none of this incompetence matters.

Larkin Gayl's new CD is a fine thing and if you disagree, well, you're a dope, smarter than a Pet Rock, yes, but not by much.

So, without further adieu (!), here is a link to the SF Chron's note about Larkin Gayl's new CD. Quick note: the reviewer must be part Pet Rock, because of the way he criticizes "I Do".

For your reading (and listening) pleasure.

Today's SF Chronicle wrote a STELLAR review of Larkin Gayl's new CD, but I'm not surprised. In my opinion, the review couldn't have been effusive enough.

Here's a link to the review.

And here's a link to Amazon, where you can preview Larkin's tunes.

When working out your melody, sing it loud and sing it proud.

If you're like me and cursed with a terrible singing voice -- plus a little bit stupid -- you might be a touch shy about belting out your melody and really making sure it works before heading into the recording studio. DON'T BE. Sing it loud and sing it proud, because that's the only way to know for sure whether it will work. Trust me, I speak from experience. Just the other day, I happily trotted off to Hyde Street to do some mixing, and I figured I'd quickly lay down a few scratch vocals to a new tune I've been penning and -- I kid you not -- in the second line of the first verse, I realized one of the chords was wrong for the melody that had been looping through my brain for days. Luckily, ace engineer Jaime Durr set me up to overdub the right chord, but by then I was rattled. Further, there were phrasing problems galore and, well, the whole process was a fiasco. So, again, sing out your melodies before committing to recording them. The best place is probably in the car -- just make a rough MP3, pop it on your iPod, and you're good to go -- but even better might be using an acoustic instrument (guitar, piano) and singing while you play. If you're not sure of your notes, use scales to find what works and what doesn't (yes, sadly, it pays to know your scales).

My advice to aspiring songwriting superstars: get a lawyer.

It's the truth: we live in a litigious society. And the music industry is especially fraught with complex laws that you run afoul of at your own considerable risk.

You could be a modern type, and use the Internet to discern all the various terms and what not governing musical endeavors, but unless you've got buckets of time and a big brain, my guess is that speaking with a lawyer would be much more efficient. Which is why I've scheduled an appointment next week to meet with an entertainment attorney.

On my meeting agenda are copyright law, publishing, licensing and an agreement* I've been asked to sign by Larkin Gayl's record company (she's the magical voice on Here Comes The Weather). The price for my one hour of legal insight will be nearly $400, but I figure it will be money well spent. After all, getting this stuff wrong can cost far more than $400 down the road.

Stay tuned for what I learn.

* Turns out Larkin is under an exclusive contract to About Records, so I can't use her voice to propel me to worldwide fame and fortune. Lucky for me, though, About seems like a very cool company, and they are willing to accomodate me within reason. But even cool companies have to abide by the shackles of law, and the agreement they sent me made my head spin even faster than usual. Hence, I will be going over it with an attorney to make sure I understand what it's saying, and to get ideas for how to make it the best agreement possible for me and any company -- including About -- that might work with me in the future.

Take it to the bridge, er middle 8, no wait, bridge, um...

The other day, a post appeared on Measure for Measure discussing bridges. Personally, for me, a bridge has always been a confounded thing, because I was never sure what exactly a bridge was. The source of my confusion is the interchangeable way people use the terms bridge and middle 8. Well, sometime in the last few years, I finally settled on what I think the definitions of the terms should be: a bridge is exactly that, it connects one part of a song to another, usually a verse to a chorus; a middle 8 is a tangent, a detour into some other musical territory that while different from the bulk of the tune still fits.

To me one of the greatest  bridges ever happens in U2's Stuck In A Moment. The way the music moves so gracefully and builds so powerfully from the verse into the chorus gives me goosebumps. And a lump in the throat.

Actually, that same song also has a fabulous middle 8 starting with "I was unconscious". I mean, wow, wow, wow. For me, only the Beatles outdo U2 for songcraft. Speaking of the Fab Four, they were the kings of the middle 8. Lennon's in We can Work it Out is one of their very best.