Today we have some unfortunate news, the landmark Georgia Theatre in Athens, GA suffered immense fire damage. It had just undergone serious renovations in the recent months, but was still acting as a very booked music venue. The future of what will happen to the venue is unclear.
Recently, many blogs and thinkers have been applauding a study that says to not announce your plans, since it will make you less likely to complete them. In the last week as this study has been passed around the Internet, I have been putting a lot of thought into it. The more and more thought I have on this subject the more I think now matter what this study says, this is bad practice for musicians for a variety of reasons.
First off, in the musicians community announcing your plans helps get people around them to help get them accomplished. For example, when someone tells me they are starting a new solo project I may know musicians for them. Putting your plans out to the world gets the word out to people so interested parties can come aboard or follow you and keep up to date if they are interested in the results.
It goes deeper then this though. I think the inherent wiring of many performers is a fear of embarrassment. This fear motivates a lot of us to work harder. I personally dread the idea of announcing any of my plans since my fear of failure is so intense, once I tell someone I am going to have to work so hard at it, I will be exhausted every moment of the day. As wel,l this study was not performed on "creative types" it's main foundation is built on testing law students, whose minds I don't think could be more different than most musicians.
While I don't deny this study has merits and can be great advice for some people I think it is important to consider your own personality into the equation before deciding if it is right for you. Over time you start to find what helps motivate you and for me and a lot of my friends it is indeed a intense fear of failure. While this study is interesting and may help some people, use it to raise your awareness of your own patterns of motivation, rather than using it as a definite key to better success in your endeavors.
First off, in the musicians community announcing your plans helps get people around them to help get them accomplished. For example, when someone tells me they are starting a new solo project I may know musicians for them. Putting your plans out to the world gets the word out to people so interested parties can come aboard or follow you and keep up to date if they are interested in the results.
It goes deeper then this though. I think the inherent wiring of many performers is a fear of embarrassment. This fear motivates a lot of us to work harder. I personally dread the idea of announcing any of my plans since my fear of failure is so intense, once I tell someone I am going to have to work so hard at it, I will be exhausted every moment of the day. As wel,l this study was not performed on "creative types" it's main foundation is built on testing law students, whose minds I don't think could be more different than most musicians.
While I don't deny this study has merits and can be great advice for some people I think it is important to consider your own personality into the equation before deciding if it is right for you. Over time you start to find what helps motivate you and for me and a lot of my friends it is indeed a intense fear of failure. While this study is interesting and may help some people, use it to raise your awareness of your own patterns of motivation, rather than using it as a definite key to better success in your endeavors.
Philadelphia's Pfunkt is a quirky beat maker with a penchant for dirty beats and party anthem sing-alongs. He's also a master at self-promotion and has developed a successful image that is quickly turning some heads in the scene. This week we sat down for an interview with Pfunkt to discuss impersonating strippers at airports, golden boomboxes and why your first recording take is often your best. Follow us after the jump and we'll go one on one with the self-described "D.I.Y. pop pelvic fury"
Today it brings us great pleasure to tell you that three of our favorite pieces of software have received much needed updates.
- Ableton Live has updated to 8.0.4
- Garageband has updated to 5.0.2 which fixes some bugs acessing loops and helps to make it easier to purchase lessons.
- iPhone updated yesterday to 3.0 software. Creativityist dishes here on features he loves.
RadioShack is a blessing and a curse for us musicians/ recordists. On the one hand, when you need something small there is usually one close by. On the other hand they are notorious for being a little lax in their quality control. As always, Consumerist has the inside scoop!
The more concerts I go to the more I see singers employing a second mic for distorted vocals. The problem with this tactic is if the mic is left on, you can be exposed to nasty feedback as well as all of the stage bleed being crunchy and going through the PA. Often times soundmen get lazy and don't know when to turn this mic on and off when they "set it and forget it." You can help avoid all these plagues with one simple piece of equipment know as the ProCo Power Mute. This pedal will allow you to turn off you effects mic saving you from the horror of a soundman that is asleep at the wheel. Check out more here.
Today we have an interview with awesome eltropopprogrockers Telepathe. If you tune into the indie rock world for more then a few minutes you probably hear their infectious single "So Fine," which you can hear above. Their album Dance Mother is an awesome listen with awesome Dave Sitek (TV On the Radio) produced textures abound.
If you read Musformation, you know we are not fans of Live Nation's scummy tactics and their proposed merger with TicketMaster. In the last week news broke of independant concert promoter Seth Hurwitz lawsuit against Live Nation. Instead of linking the biased coverage The Journal of Dead Music Industry Ideas Billboard gives to their buddies at LiveNation, we want to link you to the article the artist friendly awesome blog The Future Of Music Coalition has posted on the subject. Check it out for a real perspective on this lawsuit!
Hey! Guess what? Your hope and savior President Obama is not going to let the IRS tax your "work" cell phone that you send n00dz from and gossip about Amy Winehouse on all day. We know that this is one of the few deductions nearly all of the music industry uses every year, so breathe a sigh of relief and bow towards Washington D.C. From The Wall Street Journal Of Free Market Propaganda:
"IRS Commissioner Doug Shulman on Tuesday asked Congress to repeal the 20-year-old law to ensure that neither companies nor workers will be subject to taxes for employees' personal use of work cellphones...He said the IRS proposals were aimed at clarifying a poorly understood law. "Some have incorrectly implied that the IRS is 'cracking down' on employee use of employer-provided cellphones. To the contrary, the IRS is attempting to simplify the rules and eliminate uncertainty for businesses and individuals," Mr. Shulman said."For more head over to the The Wall Street Journal Of Free Market Propaganda.
Previously, we told you how much of a difference a Netbook can make in your bands productivity both on and off tour. Which one to buy is still not a clear answer seeing as this technology is new and not yet fully tested. Luckily, LifeHacker recently posed a poll to their readers about which Netbooks they have found to be the best for their uses. Seeing as their users are pros who work hard with their Netbooks, this is a very useful article for anyone thinking about making their life easier with a Netbook.
Bad news everyone... I know we all wear ourselves down overworking, touring, hanging around a bunch of dirty people in the music business and subsequently get a cold. A lot of us then turn to Zicam. Well unfortunately the FDA has issued a report that this may be associated with a loss of the sense of smell. For the full deal, head to Consumerist.
Today for 10 Questions we have an interview with the band Terra Terra Terra. The band currently has their first single "Transmission Lost" being added to an insane amount of alternative radio playlists, making you bound to hear their Indie Prog-Pop this summer. This Lakeland, FL has their debut LP Mind Like A Man, Soul Like A Child coming out soon. Check out what they have to say.
Logging vehicle expenses is one of the most annoying parts of touring. If you are doing it into a laptop you have to go into your computer constantly and open a new App etc. In walks Road Trip an awesome new iPhone App that has the facilities to easily capture all this data and export it as a CSV file. For $4.99 you get:
- Maintenance and Gas expenses log
- Maintenance reminders (such as tire rotation and oil change)
- Odometers
- Full Microsoft support
Every band gets screwed. And every band has some bad shows. There's no
way to avoid it, but there is a way to avoid making it worse: Don't
bitch about it on your blog.Bands do this all the time: Something goes wrong, and we're all treated to a vitriolic 1,000-word tome about how this club sucks or this band sucks or this town sucks because no one comes to shows.
Yes, all those things are annoying, but to blog about them and volunteer information that makes your band look bad is just about the worst thing you can do. That blog takes on a new life. It might spread around, or somewhere down the line someone who wants to book you might look at it and decide you're a bunch of prima donnas or whiny brats, or untalented morons who can't draw a crowd. Perception is reality, and if you're perceived in a bad way, you just made things that much harder on yourself.
The moral of the story: Bad things happen. Keep them out of your blog.
John Zaremba is the guitar player, tour manager and booking agent for Say When, a rock band from Boston that has been touring the country independently for two years. He can be reached here.
Astute commenter Eric Schnare pointed out a very good consideration in our post about Straight Pedal Couplers. He said:
"For all tone buffs out there, the max amount of shielded (guitar) cable you can run is 30ft before getting some signal loss. Using couplers cuts down on all the in between footage and allows you to run proper cable length. Planet Waves makes really good (a little pricey depending on where you buy) couplers and also offers offset ones encase you're running anything other than ibanez or boss pedals."This is a great tip for everyone out there and we would like to add to it that we often see musicians buying Noise Suppression and Noise Gate pedals unnecessarily when really they need to simply use shorter cable runs with better shielding and dial their gain better.
Selling tickets for small bands is a time consuming pain in the ass. If you are playing any of the many mid-sized or small venues that ask you to meet ticket quotas to play with national acts you probably spend a significant amount of time getting tickets to buyers and keeping track of things. That can begin to be minimized with a new service called TicketLeap. This site will also allow promoters to take credit cards at the door by using nothing more then a laptop. While it seems some of these services could also be accomplished by using the MobileRoadie iPhone App, where TicketLeap takes it to the level is, you are able to choose whether the customer takes on the service fee ($.97 a ticket), as well as providing accountability and promotional tools for your events. Pretty awesome!
(via Christian of Royal Crime Syndicate)
(via Christian of Royal Crime Syndicate)
We know you are all upset about being back at work. Team Musformation has decided that we will take it upon ourselves to cheer you up every Monday. Click the jump for some choice humor!
In the wee hours of Saturday morning, we informed you of Facebook's nasty little clause that Facebook pages with under 1,000 friends couldn't get their own URL (if you haven't yet experienced this yet and don't know what we are talking about go here). Anyone who missed out on getting their Myspace URL to another band who is using the same band name knows the pains it has since brought them. If you are worried about another band getting to your desired Facebook URL before you, it is time to get to work at getting those 1,000 friends (though we would not recommend taking this very seriously, it's not like it is going to be the end of the world if you have to add your states initials or "rock" to the end of your name, there are plenty of better things you could do for your band with your time). As well, you can always get your URL the old way.
If you NEED that Facebook URL you got your mind set on we have a few suggestions for you:
If you NEED that Facebook URL you got your mind set on we have a few suggestions for you:
- We wrote an extensive article on some of the tricks bands are using to gain more Facebook friends, with a few ideas for you.
- Mobilize your Myspace/Twitter/Facebook friends telling them you need their help to get something. Bands often have much more success with getting their fans to do something when there is a tangible result to what they would be helping with.
- Send out an email to your email list using the same technique as above.
- Get to work on making sure your Facebook is linked on all of your other sites so your fans are aware of how they can friend you.
It's after Midnight and you can now get your Facebook URL. All you need to do is click the words that say "Set Your Username Now" above the box where you write all the stupid things on your mind. If you are are looking to get your Facebook Band or Musician Page first select your personal URL and it will then ask if you would like to select URL's for your pages. Here is where the dissapointment sets in. If your band has less then 1,000 fans you won't be able to select a URL. LAME! Better start making some Facebook fans! Or just get a URL the old way!
This weekend we have the amazing documentary RIP: A Remix Manifesto. This doc is a great way to get acquainted with the subject of Open Source and Creative Commons. Watch the rest of the movie here!
As someone who has made hundreds of records over the years I see a pattern in the things I regret over the years. I will listen back to a record I made a year ago and I will find one little flaw. This flaw then drives me crazy and it is then all I can hear in the song. The sad thing is, usually I heard this flaw while I was listening back to a mix I just didn't write it down.
Once I mix a song I like to take it home listen a bit and then take it for a spin on headphones on the way back to the studio in the morning. The one thing I have to do while doing this is to have something to write down every little gut feeling I have. If I forget one thing, I may miss it and it will haunt me forever. I am sure if you have made even one recording you have went through this too. This is why it is so important to always have something to write on when evaluating a recording of your song.
David Allen author of Getting Things Done goes into this theory a lot. He argues that your mind is the worst retention device and even those people with a great memory are going to forget some things. I could not agree more. What I have found is the best thing to do when listening to a mix or a demo is to make sure I can email, text, or write down any idea I have. Personally, I email myself all of the changes with the name of the record as the subject so it is easily searchable, even if I do mix changes months later. If you can't email from your phone and it is all you have, you can text an organized band member with the idea and have them copy it down. Just don't lost the idea what ever you do or you will be haunted by the ghost of song flaws past for all of eternity.
Once I mix a song I like to take it home listen a bit and then take it for a spin on headphones on the way back to the studio in the morning. The one thing I have to do while doing this is to have something to write down every little gut feeling I have. If I forget one thing, I may miss it and it will haunt me forever. I am sure if you have made even one recording you have went through this too. This is why it is so important to always have something to write on when evaluating a recording of your song.
David Allen author of Getting Things Done goes into this theory a lot. He argues that your mind is the worst retention device and even those people with a great memory are going to forget some things. I could not agree more. What I have found is the best thing to do when listening to a mix or a demo is to make sure I can email, text, or write down any idea I have. Personally, I email myself all of the changes with the name of the record as the subject so it is easily searchable, even if I do mix changes months later. If you can't email from your phone and it is all you have, you can text an organized band member with the idea and have them copy it down. Just don't lost the idea what ever you do or you will be haunted by the ghost of song flaws past for all of eternity.
It's real complicated. Use two tow trucks!
The Unsigned Guide has some troubling news about another set of scam artists. The latest swarm of scum bags are claiming they represent Nuclear Blast or Metal Blade Records and then ask for a deposit from the band claiming this is standard business. A word to the wise, no label ever asks you for a deposit. If you ever feel like someone could be misrepresenting a label make sure you contact the label (via their website) and make sure the person is legit. If you write a polite letter it will not be offensive, if the person from the label is for real.
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