Musician’s Notebook

You’ve noticed that, with every post, I always try to include a pic or two here in the Notebook. It sorta gives the blog a little more color, and you’ll know what I’m gonna be jawjackin’ about.

But, sometimes, those pics can be so humongous that I have to re-size ‘em to fit the post size.
Awww, I know you may have the same problem … and that’s why I wanna share this free app with ya. Y’see, you can avoid the hassle by downloading a little gadget called Irfanview!

Here’s how it works: Whenever I haveta send band pics to a station or A&R, and they’re too large to send by email (rule of thumb: The larger the pic you send, the more memory it uses on the recipient’s computer. Sometimes, it keeps the pic from downloading), I’ll re-size them by using this little wonder!

So I pull up the pic using Irfanview (when ya first use it, go to “Options” then “File Associations” and click the normal formats [.jpg, .gif, .bmp, .png] to be sure the files open with the app).
Then, I’ll click on “Image”, followed by “Resize/Resample”. Here, ya wanna be sure your “preserve aspect ratio” box is checked. If it is, then type in your width for a comfortable “200″ or “300″; the “height” box will automatically re-size that part for you!

After that, just click “File” and “Save” as you normally would, and it’s ready to send!
BTW, I used the Irfanview app to resize this promo pic of the famous UK indie band, THE FORE. It was originally 425×283.

So I’d really recommend gettin’ this for your PC now! Then go ahead and take all the pics you want …
Of course, there are many more things you can do with this free app, like enhancing colors, changing the pic to black-and-white and even more!

Okay … normally I’d be jawjackin’ about the latest happenings or doohickies in rock music, right?

But, y’know, sometimes yer PC just doesn’t wanna behave when you’re doin’ the Last Writes (meaning, finally posting your finished copy)! It becomes so S*L*O*W* that you can only hope it’ll be published sometime before Barack Obama leaves office …

There’s good news though, campers! I’ve found a little app that’ll clean your computer and get rid of all the junk you’ve got layin’ around yer C: drive.
Best of all: It’s free!

It’s called “CCleaner” (short [honestly!] for Crap Cleaner!) and, when ya run it, you’ll be able to clean your files, registry and manage your startups (those applications that start when your computer does).

And it does it all with 100% efficiency!

Now, the best way to run it is to close all your browsers first (whether IE, Firefox, Opera or one yer mama made for you at Christmas). That way, you can get maximum cleaning!

Before ya know it, your PC/laptop/whatever will be running a lot more smoothly!
CCleaner™ is a product of Piriform, Ltd.® and is available by download from this site.

Activision Blizzard is releasing three new music-based video games this year — “DJ Hero,” “Guitar Hero 5″ and “Band Hero” — and has confirmed that “Guitar Hero: Van Halen” is on tap. The company provided few details on any of the games. “DJ Hero,” which previously was confirmed, still doesn’t have a full set list in place, but the company has released new details about the controller. It will be a single turntable device with three colored buttons similar to the five fret buttons featured on “Guitar Hero.”

And while Max Clifford has undoubtedly helped to make his client Jade Goody famous, the author Hunter Davies, who became acquainted with The Beatles during the 1960s when he was working on their authorised biography, disputes the ubiquitous publicist’s claim that he somehow “made” the pop group when, at the age of 19, he was working in the EMI press office.

“I have about 500 Beatles books, plus about 2,000 magazines, programmes and articles about The Beatles, yet I have not read one reference in them to Mr Clifford’s contribution,” harrumphs Davies.

“I was with the Beatles for 18 months and from none of them, or from Brian Epstein, did I hear the words: ‘Thank God for Max, we would not have done it otherwise.’ ”

He says that while Clifford may, as a junior assistant at EMI in 1962-63, have “shifted a few handouts”, Epstein was responsible for The Beatles’ “real publicity work”.

Margaret Forster’s husband has the good grace to add: “The truth, of course, is that no PR person made them. They made themselves.”

Hey … do we have the future of music right now, on our computers?

There’s a little computer application called Spotify. It pops up on my screen as a sleek box. You can install it in seconds.
And it’s easy to use. In fact, one day soon, Spotify (or something very much like it) will provide all your music needs, anywhere, anytime, at the click of a button. For free.

Spotify is an unlimited music “streaming” service, so you don’t download the music, you listen to it in real time. But it is fast, accessible, you can make up your own, and it has deals with all major labels, giving it a vast (and ever expanding) catalogue to rival iTunes. It is paid for with
15-second commercials every half hour, but unlimited music without commercials is available for a £9.99 per month subscription.

Spotify’s major flaw is that it is purely computer based, so you can’t listen anywhere you want: on your Mp3 player or in your car, for example.
But when mobile phone and Wi-Fi computer broadband technology converge (as they inevitably will) then it really will be ‘game over’ for CDs, records and even downloads (paid for or pirated). There will be no point to iTunes, no function for record stores. There will be nothing but music, sweet music everywhere, a big digital jukebox on the web!

That is, if anybody can afford to make music any more. Whether advertising revenues and subscriptions can support the music business is open to question.
Yet record companies are embracing Spotify in the hope that it will bring an end to rampant illegal downloading.
When the U2 album first leaked online, it was downloaded over 100,000 times in the first 10 hours. But now you can listen to it on Spotify, faster and easier, without breaking the law.

Did I mention it was free?

Okay … we already know the effects of the Beatles’ first appearance in America, right (hey … if not, how long were you under that rock?)?
And, natch, there were thousands of stateside boys who began puttin’ together groups in hopes that, somehow, some of JPG&R’s success would rub off on them.

The first group that successfully copied the British Beat was The Beau Brummels. These guys had all the elements: harmony, strong rhythm, good backbeat, and cool stage presence. To this day, Sal Valentino — the leader of the group from the get-go — is performing with the same cool sounds he made way-back-when. It’s a real relief from the crazy, slap-together “music” found everywhere nowadays. (Waitaminnit.  The dude provides relief by singing his group’s old tunes? Does that make him a “BRUMMEL-Seltzer”?)

But the US group that made the most lasting impact was probably The Monkees (WHAT?!? Has the man lost his everlovin’ mind?? Read on, oh shocked ones …)  Okay, it’s true: the “preFab Four”  only sang on their first records, while a different group did the music. But, eventually, they got really ticked off about not being allowed to play their own instruments (remember Mike putting his fist through a wall?) and forced the producers’ hands to let ‘em do it.

And, rockers, that’s when change started to happen. Lemme give ya just a taste of the impact these four guys had:

• They introduced the Moog Synthesizer (the predecessor to today’s computerized keyboards) to rock audiences (they had the second one here in America. The first went to Buck Owens’ C&W group).
• They pretty much sacrificed their career to promote a guy who joined them on tour back in ‘67. Although he didn’t last through the entire tour due to his wild and eccentric playing (having been booed off stage by the teenyboppers who came to see the main act), Jimi Hendrix went on to superstardom in his own right.
• Another band needed a hand in financing their stage act, and the Monkees were quick to oblige. The fact that they were three guys backed with a tremendous wall of sound intrigued them. So they scraped up their nickels and dimes, and Three Dog Night became a mega-hit of the late Sixties to the mid-Seventies.
• Of course, where would the Relic be if he didn’t mention Michael Nesmith? His collaboration with Todd Rundgren (he of the Nazz) and inspiration from the videos done on the Monkees TV show gave them the germ of an idea: take the $26 million his mom left him (she created Liquid Paper), invest it in a TV production company that would specialize in rock-related videos!
  Thus, MTV was born (The Nesmith company that it grew from was Pacific Arts Video).

And there ya have two of the most influential US groups … one fab, one prefab … both instrumental (pardon the pun!) in the construction of the group-rock scene, USA-style …

QUIZTIME: Okay … here’s the Relic’s Q-without-the-A for ya: Although they sang, The Monkees didn’t perform their own music on the first two LPs they released. For 1,000 points (I don’t wanna put this thing in Jeopardy, though!), What was the name of the group that did the actual MUSIC? First one that answers right gets a mention on the blog. If no one gets it, I’ll publish the answer in about a week, right here.
So, that’s it for now. ‘Til next time, remember: Keep your eyes on the skies, your feet on the ground, your heart with the music … and I’ll see ya on the flip side!

Remember that draggish "elevator music"?

They say it’s just a routine Chapter 11 re-org …

Muzak, the company that provides the sleepy  elevator music that sends people running to escalators, filed bankruptcy papers Tuesday after it missed a $105 million payment to creditors.

But the company says the music’ll continue to flow (stairs, here I come …) as it restructures its debt during the Chapter 11 process.
The company’s CEO, Stephen Villa, said, “Muzak is a solid business with an outstanding customer base, but we are burdened with substantial debt obligations established over a decade ago.”

Along with its elevator music, Muzak and its 14 privately-owned affiliates also produce on-hold messages and install sound systems, digital signs and drive-thru systems for retail businesses.
Muzak owes its largest creditor — U.S. Bank — about $370 million, and nearly all of it due this year.

Muzak spokeswoman Meaghan Repko said the filing was voluntary and in cooperation with the creditors.  It probably was — but, then again, doesn’t this sound like a means of escaping their responsibility to their creditors — something we’ve seen others do just before they closed their doors?

Stay tuned …

NAMING YOUR BAND …

Thought I’d forgotten, huh?? Well, by now, you probably have a workable name for your band, right? But, just in case you’re not satisfied with it, or don’t have a permanent one, lemme share some quick pointers with ya:

First of all, make it short; the longer the name, the harder it is to remember it. Some bands have names that signify their sound (like Metallica) while others adopt everyday phrases (for example, Black-Eyed Peas).
You can modify them (such as, The Fore; there are definitely moving to the Forefront of rock!), but just be sure it’s a solid one (and here’s a hint: Once you’ve decided — and if no other band has the name — get it copyrighted to avoid others from using it!).

Unfortunately, there are a few bands out there who think they’re hot, and have used the “F” word in their names. Man, that is NOT the way to get gigs, fans — or decent recording contracts! Stay away from anything controversial!

Okay … that’s all for this edition … but stay tuned: there’s more to come in less than 24! Until then … I’ll
see ya on the flip side!

A studio of your own? For only a C note? Yep … with Alesis Company’s “Studio-in-a-Box” , you can get on the microphone and podcast yourself!

Packaged with headphones and a CD copy of Audacity (a great recording tool!  I’ve used it often myself), Alesis’ podcasting kit is as close to a studio-in-a-box as you’ll get for a hundred bucks.

The mic installs easily and, unlike others that’ve been tested, it has a gain knob right on the body—no need to wade through software to adjust your levels. It sounds great, too, rendering full, rich tones.

WIRED: Best features-to-price ratio. Stand has a rubber mount so your coffee-fueled foot tapping won’t jack up your ‘cast. Bundled headphones sound decent and save you some startup cash. Comes with 30 days of free hosting at cyberears.com.

TIRED: Deep voices lose some resonance. Audacity’s user interface is confusing, and it crashes often. But hey—it’s free, right?

So, if you’re into recording or even broadcasting yourself, this package is meant for you! And with Audacity packaged with it, how could ya go wrong?

GIG UPDATES

Despite the death of keyboard player Billy Powell, Lynyrd Skynyrd’s previously announced UK tour will go ahead as scheduled.
While it’s as still unknown who will replace Powell in the band, Live Nation (who, just yesterday, officially confirmed its merger with Ticketmaster) has confirmed that the dates will go ahead as scheduled.

And Coldplay will kick off a North American summer tour July 10 at the Amphitheater at Clark County in Portland, Ore. So far, 14 dates are set through early August, with more to be announced. The British band made a lot of headway in the Grammys on Sunday with their album “Viva La Vida or Death and All His Friends” and song “Viva La Vida,” so they’re pumped up and ready to rock!

Okay … that’s it for this edition. More coming up in about 24, so I’ll see ya on the flip side!

It’s been called the ultimate ‘cheat-board” … a ‘proprietary audio processor’ created by Antares Audio Technologies that corrects pitch in vocal and instrumental performances and disguises inaccuracies and mistakes to produce more precisely tuned recordings. In fact, sometimes it’s used as an effect to deliberately distort the human voice!

Probably best-known for Cher’s use of it in her 1998 hit, Believe, it’s been panned by most rock artists as a “cheap way out” for performers who don’t want to take time to rehearse their vocals — or are basically “tone deaf” anyway.
At the same time, it’s been praised for its economical side — cutting down on studio time, mixing and more.

Performers as diverse as T-Pain, Reba McIntyre, Faith Hill and Cher have used these to save re-takes and give their songs the “perfect pitch” it calls for. They don’t have to worry about missing notes or whatever, because this program can make even the worst singers sound heavenly!

Here’s what it says on the Antares Tech page:

“Auto-Tune is used daily by thousands of audio professionals around the world. Whether to save studio and editing time, ease the frustration of endless retakes, to save that otherwise once-in-a-lifetime performance, or to create striking special effects, Auto-Tune Evo is the tool of choice.”

Now, I’ve been in the business for thirty-plus years, and, quite frankly, I see this thing as a poor substitute for adequate vocal/instrumental rehearsal. If you’re good, you’re good. If not, keep on rehearsing until ya get it right! Don’t depend on a machine to correct your mistakes, because, onstage, you might not have it to rely on!

If the greats from all genres didn’t have to use it (Beatles, Stones, James Brown, Johnny Cash, etc), why do acts need it now?

Heck … all they did was rehearse until they got it right. And, if they had a vocal or instrumental “glitch” onstage, it gave the gig even more substance, because the fans knew they were seeing it all live and raw … they loved the fact that their musical heroes were human and not fed through some machine that did their work for them!

‘Course, that’s just my opinion. I’d like to get yours. Just give me a shout-out by comment or email and let me know what you think.
I’ll be happy to print your feedback here …

Eddie Van Halen is, without a doubt, one of the most colorful and lively super-rockers on the market today.  He’s a writer, guitarist, songwriter, dad, and soon-to-be husband to his girlfriend/publicist.  Through it all, he maintains a great sense of humor and a passion for his work.

Sometimes, that passion would take strange turns — especially onstage, where he would end up with his guitars broken.
Now, that could get any axeman frustrated … but, in true EVH style, Eddie took it upon himself to build one that was indestructible!

Introducing:  THE NEW PEAVEY EVH WOLFGANG!
(you see Eddie playing it in the photo at the top)

After years of wearing down metal frets and having pieces of his guitar rip off or malfunction during shows, he’s built a guitar that even he can’t destroy (and, as an experiment, he’s tried. He’s thrown it down, knocked it up against various and harder objects — even left it out in the rain — and still it wouldn’t do anything less than sound perfect!)

On the Wolfgang, frets are fashioned of stainless steel, and metal gadgets are custom-made by a company that specializes in medical tools. Sections of wood are left unpainted so the instrument can breathe and age — “like a Stradivarius,” Eddie explains.

He worked on the guitar for over two-and-a-half years, finally debuting it during their last tour.  It’s now “NASA quality”, he proudly says of his creation — one that he named after his 17-year-old son (who’s also the band’s bass player).  “The new Wolfgang is a combination of all the years of tearing things apart, ruining things, creating things and coming up with things that I later found out I could patent.”

Now, it has a price tag of around $3,000 but, as any rock guitarist will tell you, an indestructible guitar like that would be more than worth  the price …

Your ability to contact your audience is paramount to your success.

Mailing lists, for instance, have been the crux of many band’s campaigns from garage band to hit-maker in the past.

When it comes to your blog, the best thing you can do is have readers subscribe to your blog’s RSS feed, either in a reader or by email.

The first step, of course, is to make subscription a prominent choice. Keep an RSS button in the header. Or put a FeedBurner email subscription form in the sidebar. When you put that form in your sidebar make sure it will appear above the fold (the top part of a website that can be seen without scrolling down - anything that you can see only after scrolling is below the fold).

Getting those email addresses is simply too important to your success.

You should also refer to the ability to subscribe in your posts. Some blogs use tag lines at the end of each blog post that say “Enjoy this post? Subscribe today” or something similar - the bottom of this post even has one.

Make it prominent, make it clear and make it easy.

If you have a 5-step process before your reader can subscribe, you’ll probably lose them after the second step. Make it as simple as putting an email address into a form and confirming from the email account, or just clicking an RSS button that instantly opens your feed.

Making it easy to subscribe is perhaps the easiest yet most effective thing you can do for your blog.

Get your fans coming back for more and make subscriptions prominent.

Last time on Band Blogging: Podcast Your Tunes.

Last time on Band Blogging we spoke about keeping the conversation going on your blog; this time we’ll talk about using podcasts to promote your music.

I came up with the tuneback concept for my own band which has worked exceptionally well. The premise is that each week, we spend an hour, and an hour only, writing, recording and publishing a new song.

This has gained us many friends and listeners online, as well as secured us coverage in respectable and popular media outlets such as the Sydney Morning Herald.

Technically, this is just like a podcast. You can take the concept further and make a show of it, discussing the development process of the song and its roots in inspiration, before or after playing the song itself.

Podcast Directories

The next step, after you’ve got your regular song (or show) together is to submit it to various podcast directories for exposure, such as the iTunes podcast directory (here’s how) or PodcastAlley.

Isolating yourself from the rest of the web community is a bad idea when it comes to blogging and podcasting, so get the show in as many different directories as possible.

On that note…

Don’t Be Afraid To Network

You can find other blogging musicians whose work you enjoy and do shows together, or even start a podcast network and support and promote each other’s podcasts.

Blogging is one arena where you should adopt the viewpoint: collaboration, not competition. Blogging is truly about relationships and connections, and embracing this can only benefit everything you do online.

Simply Another Medium

There are so many ways a musician can draw attention to their music; band art, blog posts, street teams and the like are all mediums to direct someone’s attention and put it on the music itself. Podcasting is just another way of doing this - of course, like radio, the medium is more suited to the purpose simply because it’s an audio medium.

Let me know if your blogging band has started up a podcast of their own!

It’s been quite a while since we last discussed the topic of band blogging. We’ve talked about the software you should use to set up your blog and how to plan for releases of music through your blog.

We’ve also talked about emailing the people who leave comments on your blog.

This post is about a related practice, keeping comment threads active. We email those who comment on our blogs to develop loyalty and relationships, but we keep comments active for another reason:

Social proof is formed by perception.

A glaring “0 Comments” on every blog post is very bad. See, there’s something called social proof and in essence this means that, since people are generally scared of the unknown, they wait for others to get involved before taking an interest of their own.

In other words: if nobody else is commenting, people assume you suck. Then, they leave.

If you keep comments active, your social proof is proof indeed.

People start to take an interest; if others are getting so actively involved, it must be good, right? So they download your tunes, leave their own comment of gratification, and then happily hand over their email address for your mailing list.

Well, that is, if you have all the other elements of your site - such as eye tracking - in place.

Keeping the conversation going

Social proof for marketing purposes isn’t the only reason for getting involved in the comments and replying to your listeners. Developing relationships with your listeners also builds strong loyalty, especially as they begin to perceive that relationship as friendship.

This builds an extremely loyal Core Audience, which is absolutely vital to getting your music out there. Word of mouth is the most effective may of building your brand, and Core Audience is the group of people that starts that word of mouth motor.

To summarize, what you need to start doing on your band blog:

• Encourage people to comment
• Reply to comments, whether they are positive or negative
• Don’t censor, but do keep spam and abusive content in the bin - keep the environment pleasant
• Don’t dominate the comments - if you’re the only one commenting on your own posts, it actually has the opposite effect on your social proof

As always, if you have any questions or comments, I’m more than happy to read and reply to them.

See what I did just there?

I really should not be supporting stereotypes regarding drummers, or making jokes about them. One of my best friends is a drummer and I’ll probably receive a clobbering for that. That’s partly why it was hard to resist.

But on to the news:

Gibson is bringing out a robotic guitar.

And while it will not fight in the war between guitarists and drummers, it will tune your guitar.

As in, for you. Automatically.

All you have to do is flick a switch that tells the guitar which tuning to use, and it’ll do it all on its own.

Don’t throw your guitar in the bin or pawn shop just yet; there will be a limited release before the public release next year. In the meantime, there’s a nice picture for you to look at.

My father has been using the same tuner for the last twenty five years or something crazy like that. Maybe he was holding out for this thing.

Gibson have been making great guitars for many decades, including the Les Paul which is played by many well-respected and talented guitarists, such as Slash from Guns N’ Roses and Greg Cameron from Midnight.Haulkerton (jeezuz, that was a shameless plug).

What does the Gibson Robotic Guitar mean for musicians?

It means that you won’t instantly the flick the “Amateur” switch on in your audience’s mind when you tune your guitar as your tongue fumbles around a long, boring introduction to the next song. Just friggin’ play already!

Nancy Prager, a copyright lawyer and writer whose articles I am a frequent reader of, has had some great commentary on the Radiohead “controversy” in the past couple of weeks (as well as the emerging “controversy” regarding Reznor and Saul Williams).

Prager’s conclusion on the whole thing:

“While In Rainbows may be a musical work for the ages, it wouldbe inappropriate to use Radiohead as the poster child of bands pursuingalternative paths if its journey leads them back to the major labels.”

I believe her to be correct. Free music downloads are a friggin’ great way for musicians to start building an audience. I’ve done it myself for most of this year. By the time I’d published the third tuneback, I was building buzz and had a few major publications, such as the Sydney Morning Herald, interviewing me and even releasing my songs on their site.

That’s not bad growth for three hours work (the tuneback concept imposes a rule of one hour spent writing and recording a song).

But building a career? You can’t do that by releasing free music forever, and in an age where - as Nancy says - some don’t even want to pay $1 to obtain the album and go over to the file sharing sites, you might want to wait until the ass-end of your career before you start giving fans entire albums for free.

Radiohead can afford to do this. They are sitting on more money than George W. Bush is sitting on stupidity. But if you are reading that, chances are you’re not sitting on that much cash. If you are, my email address can be found in the right sidebar (I have a bad case of starving artist syndrome). If you don’t charge for independently released albums you won’t be able to make any income from your songs. On the other hand, the tuneback is a minimal time and effort investment for building audience. There’s a balance when it comes to freebies.

The scary part is that Radiohead and Saul Williams are setting a dangerous precedent. Pubs already pay insulting rates to bands because they know they can get a cover band in for free. The problem of piracy has begun to plague album sales in the same way. This can only make it worse.

Or maybe, NDK was right when he proposed that Radiohead were really asking their fans: given the opportunity to steal from us, will you?

Tags: radiohead, in rainbows, saul williams, trent reznor, free music

Peter Kirn of Create Digital Music has some updates on Native Instruments and MOTU compatibility with Leopard. He points out that it’s the first OS X upgrade without real benefits to musicians. It seems to be causing more problems with audio software compatibility than previous releases. As I posted yesterday, Logic Pro won’t open if you’ve got Melodyne ReWire enabled. Native Instruments “kind of” works, but not at all if you need to use the installers, and MOTU is still testing their stuff.

Er… wrong Leopard…

I’ve gone whole hog and upgraded both my Macs to Leopard. Aside from Logic failing to run while the Melodyne ReWire files were still lying around, it’s gone smoothly on my music-making machine. My iBook, on the other hand, has had to suffer a bit more with quite a few repeat visits to the install disc. Mind you, one of these times was thanks to my own stupidity in trying to get a Tiger-tested version of XAMPP to run on Leopard.

How long before it’s safe to upgrade? That really depends on the third-party companies, as Apple’s done their bit to get audio software up to grade. If you can’t live without MOTU, Native Instruments, or Melodyne integration with Logic, then you might want to hold off for one-to-two months.

Melodyne have not published any news regarding Leopard compatibility on their website, but MOTU and NI are both posting ongoing updates on their websites as they get these issues sorted.

Has anything in your audio rig broken after an upgrade to Leopard? Have you noticed anything working after a clean install that didn’t work after a standard upgrade install? Let us know in the comments - and if you have any fixes for the problems, please do share!

Almost two days after installing Leopard, I’ve finally decided to stop fiddling and get back to work recording a tuneback. But much to my surprise, when trying to open Logic Pro 8, the program spends a few minutes trying to load before crashing and closing. A look at the error report reveals something to do with a file controlling Melodyne’s ReWire options.

Logic Pro will not work under Leopard if Melodyne’s ReWire files are installed.

In order to get Logic working again, navigate to the following directory:

/Library/Application Support/Propellerhead Software/ReWire

Once in the ReWire app support folder, you’ll see a bunch of files (the number of these will vary depending on how many ReWire apps you use). Two of these will be Melodyne files; simply trash them and empty the bin. For one of those files, you will be asked for the admin password on your computer. Don’t be alarmed by this - if you want to get back into Logic, you’ll need to trash both files.

Once the trash is emptied, try starting Logic again. It’ll most likely check all your Audio Units, and then you’re up and away again.

I’m not sure if this will be a problem with Logic Express or earlier versions of Logic Pro. The problem does lie with Melodyne, not ReWire or Logic, and hopefully we’ll see an update from Celemony soon so that we can continue using Melodyne with ReWire (I dread using it stand-alone!).

This issue with Logic also brings up the issue of Apple’s release tactics regarding Leopard. Despite the fact that a retail version of Leopard leaked online a few days before its release, Apple decided that developers would get their hands on the final copy of Leopard at the same time as the public. Developers had access to betas, but smart developers will only begin altering popular applications on the final release, because anything can change. If Apple had been more sensible about releasing Leopard to developers in advance, would we have this problem?

From a marketing stance, building up such a huge buzz by locking everything down so tightly can be effective. But the same buzz can be achieved by deliberately leaking a product in a strategic way. Many bands have done this over the years to build up anticipation for second, third, fourth (and so on) albums. If a huge marketing buzz can be built without sacrificing third-party application compatibility, why not do it that way?

I’ll also be looking at how MainStage operates under Leopard soon.

The last time Apple released a music product was the jam pack released concurrently with iLife 08. Recently the company released Logic Studio 8, the latest update to their pro musician’s package, and within it, a new product called MainStage. MainStage allows musicians to take their Logic effects and MIDI queues to the stage. All the programming you do at home when recording a track in Logic can be duplicated any time live, and the gap between studio and live versions are bridged that much more.

The product features a 3D interface designed for the stage, so the information that you need at a glance is the most prominent. It works with MIDI keyboards, drum pads, control surfaces, and pedal boards - anything that has a MIDI output or USB port, really. The program offers the most powerful feature in conjunction with the keyboard using a feature Apple has called “keyboard racks” - layer up studio instruments and effects and then split them to various sections of the keyboard.

You can throw out your guitar effects pedal; gone are the days of various stomp boxes lined up in meticulously wired set-ups. That is, if the quality of the effects in this program is as good as Apple claims. Presumably, the software can switch the guitar rig depending on which part of the song you’re up to.

I haven’t had the chance to play with this yet but I’m very intrigued and excited about this package. If you’ve had the chance to play with it, tell us how it is in the comments. You can find out more, or purchase Logic Studio 8, here.

DevDad.com is the blog of stay-at-home dad Mike from Tampa Bay, Florida. He’s a 21 year old father, and I can sure sympathize with him for working out of home with a (wonderful) distraction running around. It’s interesting for me, personally, to read his blog and see how he handles business and family simultaneously. It’s a great blog, especially if you’re a parent of any kind. My son was conceived near the end of high school, and since most people tend to be in their thirties before having kids in this era, I feel more of a bond with what’s written on his blog than I might if he were 31.

Mike is running a competition, the Stay At Home Dad iMac Give-Away, for readers of his blog. The iMac is a fantastic home studio machine (for those who can’t afford something like a Mac Pro) - sure as hell beats the Mac Mini I have to forge my demos on - and I figured that readers would appreciate the heads up on this competition. If you can win this one, you’ll be churning out great new songs and tunebacks like a dog on heat. Go and check the Stay At Home Dad iMac Give-Away, and even if you don’t enter, subscribe - it’s a fun read.

This competition is sponsored by SitterCity, a leading American babysitting agency (it even does petsitting!), and while I’m out here in Australia and would more babysitting for Axl, I know Mike would not be partnering with them unless they were the best in their field. Thanks for the opportunity, SitterCity.

What are you still doing here? Go enter!

Apple quietly slipped out the latest jam pack after the latest version of Garageband was released a few days back. This jam pack focuses on the human voice, providing soloists, choral ensembles, and even human percussion (beat-boxing and the like).

Jam Pack: Voices gives you over 1,500 Apple Loops featuring professional soloists and choirs in multiple genres and styles. It also provides more than 20 software instruments, including voices, choral ensembles, and amazing drum kits built on the human voice and body. From the Apple website

I suspect that what makes this jam pack useful are the choral ensembles that allow garage-bound artists to fill out their songs with rich vocal backings. I don’t think anyone expects to use a jam pack to replace the role of lead vocalist, though!

The Jam Pack: Voices retails for US$99 from the Apple store.

Apple has just released iLife 08, which features an updated Garageband. I’ve yet to play with it, but when I do, I’ll let you know what it’s like (I prefer Logic at home).

The main new feature that caught my eye was the Magic Garageband feature (pictured above), that allows you to assemble a backing band and play the instrument of your choice over the top. This seems to be a good thing for musicians needing to practice more regularly, especially in the area of improvisation.

The downside seems to be a lack of customization. From the videos I have seen, there’s no way to change the melodies or chords played by the backing band, and no way to override the genre settings which define a limited number of instruments for your use. Having not used it, I can only speculate, but this seems to be the case. And if it is true, the usefulness of this feature will be quite restricted.

More news coming when I can get my hands on a copy of iLife 08.

Here’s a tip for you: with band blogging, more than many other forms of blogging, it’s important to build a sense of loyalty and relationship with your readers. In the early days, you’ll want to email new commenters and maybe have a round of friendly email conversation. Developing this personal relationship means you retain their friendship for the long term, translating into ‘band brand loyalty’.

Music, like all art, is a form of communication, and thus, especially in the early phases of the blog, it is important to reinforce the fact you have important things to communicate paramusically, through communication with commenters and readers, and through writing about those opinions on the blog.

Even once you’re pretty well established, make sure you send out an email once in a while. It helps!

In the last post on Band Blogging on the PodPress plugin, we were setting up an infrastructure so we could go on to discussing strategies for releasing music online, through the blog.

There are three factors to consider in releasing music:

1. Timing
2. Audience
3. Situation

Timing

If you have ten songs you want to release on your blog, don’t do it all at once, and not on the first day you launch the blog, either. Again, strategy is required! Consider these things. I stress this because most musicians are all about throwing stuff out there without a plan or a care to thought, and then wonder why nobody’s listening.

Only ever release one song at a time is a golden rule in this situation. This is not like releasing an album to retailers. This is using an asset to build a loyal audience. So if you have a finished recording and three demos, release the finished recording, and if that particular song builds a following of its own, you can leak a demo every few months to keep the enthusiasm going. Same goes for remixes and varying versions of the same song.

If you set a schedule of release that listeners expect you to keep, stick with it. I promise my listeners a tuneback a week. When unforeseen circumstances get in the way of this, my listener count suffers a bit of a drop.

Audience

Unfortunately, not everyone remembers to come back and check the site all the time. Make sure you collect email addresses from anyone you come into contact with, and offer a mailing list subscription service on the blog. The most important thing you can have is a mailing list. Also, let interested parties know. One of my early tunebacks was inspired by Cory Doctorow’s work. I let him know as a gesture of goodwill, and he linked back. Got some good traffic from that experience, and some stuck around to listen.

Situation

Using the first two factors will give you a pretty good release strategy. However, there’s the more variable ’situational’ factor that comes into it. You need to consider what else in the environment may influence your releases. Midnight.Haulkerton is going to be releasing an official website soon, and we’re holding back blog-wise and in terms of tunebacks while we prepare for that. At one time, I had severe family problems. They weren’t the usual kind; in fact, they were problems that meant I had more time on my hands than I wanted. But that meant I couldn’t create tunebacks and hence had nothing to release.

Other situations may warrant a quicker pace of release, particularly when you have two songs ready around the same theme and the first catches some public interest. This was the case with Overclocked and World Ending.

The main lesson is this: don’t treat releases flippantly. You need to have a plan and live by it. Throw all your songs out there at the same time and you’re throwing a whole bunch of assets to the wind.

The 2007 Digital Media Survey, carried out by Entertainment Media Research, indicates that social networking sites have democratized the way many people listen to music. This is great news for independent artists. Why? Because if people are choosing their music via social networking - by nature a social process - then big corporations are not picking and choosing the music people can or cannot listen to.

Undoubtedly, the likes of MySpace, which is owned by Murdoch and friends, rigs the system to promote the musicians and labels they have commercial relationships with - but it’s still an improvement for independent artists, going from no exposure on big media platforms (that is what MySpace has become, after all) to some exposure.

The internet as a whole has really opened the world up for artists, and social networking is just one part of that. There are plenty of ways to get exposure online that don’t even involve MySpace and other corporate properties, but it can still help. Every listener counts.

Over the next few posts we’ll discuss how to release music via your blog, but the first step is to put in place an infrastructure that allows you to do so easily and effectively.

Throughout this series, we’ll assume you’re using WordPress, simply because nothing beats it for a good blog!

MightySeek’s PodPress is a good plugin for WordPress that will allow you to set your music releases up as podcasts in your posts. The advantages of this are:

• Easily track the number of song downloads
• Allow users to play the song from the post page
• Give the user the option to then download the song, if they like it enough

There are some who believe that giving users the option to listen from within the browser is a bad idea - it’s best to get a copy on the hard drive. But if they don’t like it, it’s going to be deleted or left around. People don’t listen to music just because they have a copy of it! So, this is faulty logic and you’re more likely to score a loyal fan if you can make the experience of listening seamless and enjoyable.

Installation is simple: upload PodPress to the WordPress plugins directory, then sign in to the administration interface of your blog and activate the plugin.

Next time, we’ll discuss some strategies for releasing music, and we’ll do it using the PodPress plugin.

There are many different ways of blogging, and each suit a particular set of endeavors, but today, we just want to know what works for musicians and bands who blog.

There are two major methods of blogging:

1. Free blog communities, such as Blogger.com and WordPress.com.
2. Self-hosted blogs, using software such as WordPress or Movable Type.

Free blogs have two major drawbacks: they’re unprofessional and they’re not very configurable. But they are free, which always a good thing for a starving artist. Self-hosted blogs are flexible and configurable, and professional, but they also require a few dollars a month. Their other drawback is that maintenance can be somewhat confusing, or even downright unthinkable for some. If you go with GoDaddy for hosting, there’s one click install available for some blog clients, including WordPress.I would recommend shelling out a few dollars, keeping a tech-savvy friend onside, and going with a self-hosted blog. Furthermore, I recommend WordPress as the best blogging software out there. It’s definitely one of the easiest to use for musicians with a bad case of techophobia!

Of course, if you don’t have the money (or the friend) on hand, you can always go with a free blog community. It’s better than nothing. Try out WordPress.com.

Once you’ve got your hosting set up and your blog software installed, you’re ready for the next steps…