GARRISON’S BLOG

Welcome to Music Quench, Stella. Your credentials in the music industry are as impressively diverse as are the cultural and musical influences that have shaped them. Would you please share your Fodor’s-ish journey from your rural South beginnings in the heartland of country & bluegrass music to your operatic & classical evolution in Europe.

As most people in the South, I grew up in church. Music was everywhere. Bluegrass, Country, Gospel, R & B were a part of every day exposure. The South is full of festivals. Music is always a central focus. James Brown lived 45 minutes away, and had huge Birthday parties that were legendary. Johnny Mercer was the pride of Savannah. This list could go on and on. It was simply the musical journey that my life traveled.

In church, the singing was based on the Masters as they wrote Cantatas, Requiems, Preludes, Oratorios throughout recorded music history. It was actually all very natural and organic for me. My early talent in music of course led me toward a music education where the Classics are part of the Post Grad Degree Programs.

As an award-winning songwriter currently writing for television and film scores, you are incredibly adept across genres: classical, adult alternative, new age, healing, country, Latino, Broadway, and light jazz. To what do you ascribe your ability to write so excellently in each of these styles and to be able to seamlessly and creatively move at will from one genre to another?

A love of music, exposure, a curious mind, a desire to express myself, and the study of theory.

Your new orchestral work consists of Opus 1 through Opus 22 merging the coloration and ambiance of many cultures as reflected in it’s name: THE TRAVELER, due for release Spring 2011. Can you provide some insight into how specific cultures came to play a part in this work?

My studies in Opera made me very aware of other cultures. I had both a love and respect for other cultures’ musical “folk influences.” For example in the Opera, Carmen… though it is true to Operatic form, Bizet obviously wrote with great Spanish folk influences.

On the human side, through travels I realized that people are first and foremost, “Human Beings.” Humanity transcends race or culture, and music is the universal language that we all understand, regardless of language. Though I could not speak French when I was a little girl listening to Carmen for first time, I innately understood every emotion as a powerful human experience.

You are an award winning ASCAP Plus new songwriter, a 2006 Finalist in three categories of the ISC International Songwriting Competition and a finalist in the ISC People’s Choice Awards. If you could create the ideal songwriting award you could receive, what would be written on the plaque?

Hummmmm. That is a tough one. I see any award is an honor.

You are a Metropolitan Opera and Southeastern Opera Vocal Winner, a post-graduate student of Vocal Pedagogy and you list voice as your primary instrument. Is the “Pop-Opera” route of such crossover performers as Andrea Bocelli and Josh Groban one that you see as the ideal path for your classically-trained voice as you’ve successfully done on your Singer/Songwriter CD (eg, “Shattered Dreams” and “Changing Winds”) or is the next step taking your vocals up some as yet uncharted road?

I think as an artist lives, they grow, they change. Great artist evolve. Artists must be nurtured and encouraged. I think what an artist becomes is just part of processing their creative inclinations. In Opera, we refer to the singer finding their “fach,” German for “voice.” I think songwriting/composition is the same thing. The artist must find the place where their art form is a simple as their next breath.

Your CD The Hermit Songs with music composed by Samuel Barber for voice & piano is a phenomenal performance showcasing the classical side of your vocals. What inspired you to select this impressive body of work, which no one has seriously attempted since Leontyne Price?

I have heard recordings in very recent history of other singers singing Barber’s Hermit Songs. I performed this cycle, because I am a huge fan of Samuel Barber. What an amazing composer!

Your Live In Concert CD is an incredible mosaic of classical vocals in German Leider, French Chanson, Russian Art Song and Opera Arias, each performed in the language of its origin. How did you select the music you chose?

The Art of Recital/Concert must have form, either by language, period, theme, or composer. Usually we start with Early music and move to more current composers in the Post Romantic or Contemporary Era of music. So there is usually a theme. This CD consist of works that I loved as a singer. Pretty simple.

The Songwriter CD takes me back to your rural south roots (“Tossing the Dice,” “No Trash in this Trailer”) to Latin/bossa nova (“Meaning of Love,” “Secret Nights”) to adult alternative (“Shattered Dreams”) to a touching New Age tribute to your late father (“His Father’s Eyes”).  Has this CD been a major marketing tool for promoting your songwriting for film and television?

Songwriting/Composition is just part of who I am as an artist. I never gave it much thought. It is like a painter who paints. The more a painter paints, the better they become. Music like any art form is hard work. A painter has a portfolio, and a Songwriter or Composer has a catalog.

VMD Productions is the label listed on your CD’s. Can you tell us about your relationship with VMD?

VMD GROUP, LLC is a Publishing Company owned by me. SB Productions, LLC is my own Label.

In addition to your “live” performances you interact online with your fans on Facebook and on your blog. In what ways has the social media helped you connect with your fan base?

Psychology was also a part of my higher education. To me, music and psychology go “hand in hand.” In music we communicate brief sectors of “the human experience.” Music is for people. Out of the masses rises a voice of consciousness. I think that it is important not to become so consumed with what the industry wants, but to hear what people think and feel. Music is a reflection of all of our emotions. We hear a song, and it speaks to us as listeners.

Videos have been a larger component of how you market yourself. Will you be coming out with new “live” performance videos?

I plan to do so.

What advice would you give upcoming singer-songwriters as regards songwriting and marketing their music?

Two part question:

For singer/songwriting, be organic, and get really good at the craft. Listen to a lot of music. Get organized. Think of singing and songwriting as a way of life. Have something to say in short order. Follow form.  Always remember the joy that music brings, because as in anything, it becomes work. Work hard everyday and keep working hard.

Marketing… I think that there are still experts in marketing such as managers and agents once the artist has a finished product. A good entertainment attorney is a must. If an artist can find a good A & R person, then they are a step ahead of the game. We have lost so many A & R people due to industry changes. Remember above all, music is a business.

In closing, our culture is changing and music reflects our culture. Here we are speaking on line. Nothing ever stays the same, and we are in transition. Remember Miracle Plays were the soup of the day during the Dark Ages. Times change as does the voice of the masses. Music simply reflects the emotions of the people. During these times, try to find your center, extend to others, and keep the joy in your work. Be as good as you can be and shine light to others from the darkness of these times.

Warm regards…

Stella Black

On behalf of Music Quench, thanks for your time and insight, Stella, and continued success to you. We’ll be listening! Garrison

Singer/songwriter Natalie Gelman is quickly gaining acclaim and recognition for her music. Her passionate songs and voice have brought comparisons to Sheryl Crow, Tori Amos and Jewel. Upon releasing her debut album Natalie rollerbladed 1500 miles up the East coast from Miami, FL to NYC raising money for charity in concerts along the way. Currently the NYC native is touring the country in support of her album as well as performing in the NYC subway.

42nd Street Subway

Natalie, I was impressed with your debut CD, “Natalie Gelman.” You have made an amazing transition from being a decorated opera singer with two Carnegie Hall performances to your credit to become a folk/rock singer-songwriter who can hold your own with the best of them. You epitomize today’s “indie” artist in how you’ve taken your career into your own hands, right down to bringing your music to the people on New York’s subway system which brought you a lot of attention (a grass roots PR lesson for every artist!).

It was in The NY Times, NY Post, NY Press, Daily News, AM New York ad I think a few others.

Who has influenced your music the most and what factors have gone into how you’ve branded yourself so uniquely as you’ve evolved as an artist?

I grew up listening and studying classical music and I think a lot of that seeped into me and fostered an appreciation and talent for great melody writing, phrasing and singing in tone. I still love Mozart, Vivaldi, Bernstein, Gershwin and Rogers and Hammerstein’s music but these days I listen to Patty Griffin, Sheryl Crow and a lot of my peers’ (upcoming singer/songwriters) music. Its funny how music can serve so many purposes and I think a lot of the music people are writing today and have been for the past 50 years has been for the people. I can’t say for sure but a lot of classical music is unapproachable and academic. It was more about how technically difficult and impressive you could be and have it still sound beautiful.

It isn’t necessarily new to have music that revels in its humanity and in highlighting our flaws, troubadours were doing what I do hundreds of years ago but there is more of an expectation with the globalization of our whole society and the internet that someone is going to hear this. I definitely write with the idea in the back of my head that I will share the song with people and I hope it will move them. Creatively, I have a lot of stories and experiences accessible to me because I am connected to my fans and hear what they are going though.

All of that said, I think that I am definitely influenced by people that I meet on the road and in street performing. Playing live has made me sensitive to the humanity of a song and that there are feelings and experiences in there that people can relate to and that keeps the show accessible. I have done so much street performing that it naturally became what I branded myself as. It happened to work out really nicely because it’s a very accessible image and it represents the grit, soul and real-ness of my voice and songs.

You’ve got an aggressive schedule of appearances coming up. At what point did you transfer booking yourself to using Degy Booking International and what factors went into your decision?

Natalie Gelman

I am actually at the very beginning of making that transition right now. I was on the fence for a long time about signing with an agency because I wanted to stay completely DIY. I was doing really well booking myself at colleges and took a lot of time and money to break into the market. It came to a point though that I realized I was actually losing shows and opportunities, not planning great tour routing and generally not having time to do what I really wanted to be doing – writing music and improving the live show. The whole point of creating for me is because I want to share it, like I said. So adding someone to my team allows me more time to focus on creating better work and will hopefully pan out to more opportunities to perform and get those songs out there.

Getting into why I chose Degy: I want the best team I can put together and I had narrowed it down to my two favorite agencies. They both had great reputations with schools and the artists that they represented. I thought about it a lot and when I decided that Degy was who I definitely wanted to be represented by I reached out to them and showed them that I already had a lot of success on my own and would be an asset to their roster.

I turned down a few agencies that had reached out to me earlier and after the success I had because I didn’t think they were the best to represent me and offer my anything more than what I was doing for myself. I think the guys at Degy are very selective in the acts they represent, passionate about what they do and great at it. It was maybe a few minutes after they announced that I was going to be a part of their roster that someone from a school reached out to me saying congrats. They are very respected and having their name behind me will be a big help moving forward.

How do you manage and balance “live” appearances with building and developing a fan base online?

I think they go hand in hand. A lot of my ‘online’ fans are fans because they have seen me live. So that definitely had grown my followers in terms of numbers. I haven’t been great at blogging and posting enough footage and feedback after shows as I should lately considering how much I am playing live. My goal is to do that more as this transition into having Degy handle all the business of my college touring will save me a lot of time moving forward.

I think that is the key – to do them interchangeably so you keep engaging people and keeping your fans satisfied with enough content from you. I have been good about tweeting a lot on the road because I enjoy connecting with people on there and its easy for me to manage but I definitely want to get back to posting more videos, photos, blogs and making as many shows as possible also online shows.

I want to send you a big KUDO for being the very First Winner of Facebook Idol. That’s a huge achievement! As a true indie artist, you’ve embraced the social media to promote your music and build your fan base by establishing a presence at YouTube, MySpace, SonicBids, ReverbNation, Facebook, iLike, Twitter, StereoFame, Eventful, CDBaby, Music Alley, Music Nation and iTunes. Has there been a “master plan” you’ve built to market yourself online and how do you manage your social media activities with songwriting, performing and touring?

There is a master plan in some ways as far as keeping track of where my fan base is building the most so I can keep or start investing more time into that media. I do what I call my Numbers Check-in every three months to keep me on track for yearly goals and make sure I am giving a fair amount of time and attention to people that can’t make it out to a live show but are still great fans.

I am fast to try a new website or promotion/connection idea and when I do notice that something is working I am even faster to make a point of doing more of it. There are definitely websites where I spend more time and there have been times where I decide off the bat that I just don’t have time to keep up with that community.

CC Chapman said a great thing at one of the Podcamp Boston conferences a few years ago which was that you should sign up for a website and take your name/url/email just so someone else doesn’t take it and pretend they are you. I had a little incident last year where someone put up a page on Facebook and was pretending they were me. I have a few places to connect on Facebook (Personal page, music page and a group that is ‘closed’) but someone decided to start their own Natalie Gelman page and whoever was managing it was actively promoting my music. This would have been great but some of my professional contacts would add that friend and not the real me. I asked them to change the profile and be clear that it was a fan or a fan site or take the page down and they were very agreeable and changed the name and kept posting updates about my touring and activities for a while but slowly stopped posting over time. My lesson in all of that is to always take your band’s name (url) if there is a new and popular website online, even if you don’t plan on doing something with it.

How does your website fit in with your overall marketing?

I always direct people back to my website primarily. That’s where I control their experience, there are no advertisements to annoy them and I can give them anything I think its fun or necessary (guitar chords to my songs, the crazy things I’ve been tipped on the subway or just having a store to sell my music and merch to those that want to support it). You can do that stuff on a lot of the social media websites out there but in general you can’t do much to change the design or your fans experience on the site.

I noticed your newsletter that you promote on your website. How has this helped you to promote yourself and what do you do to build your mailing list? Was giving free MP3’s to folks who sign-up your own idea?

It keeps anyone who wants to be up-to-date on the latest shows so they can make it out if I’m playing nearby or just forward the information to friends who might be interested and become a fan themselves. Giving away the MP3’s is in no way my idea or a new idea but I do think it’s important to immediately thank someone for joining and inviting you into their life and what better way to do that? The free MP3’s definitely sweeten the deal when I play at colleges because college students love free things and lately I even throw in some free cookies if they join. At shows I try to make it clear that they can unsubscribe at any time and try to combat the lazy/scared issue of coming over to the merch table to sign up with passing it around, the cookies or some of the other free swag they can pick up at the table. A lasting fan is so much better than a sale because that’s why I am doing this. I want them to keep coming out to shows and writing me so I know I have someone to write for and someone who will be listening at the shows.

You’ve done a great job of getting press attention for your music. It seems that you’ve found the knack for supporting your music and “live” appearances with press including Billboard and the coveted front page of The New York Times.

That is all work and preparation meeting opportunity and pure luck! The Billboard bit was because of a Famecast contest that I placed in and The NY Times (and NY Post etc) was because of a Music Under NY audition. There are two pieces of advice for any artist trying to get more press that have definitely helped me land some smaller exposure opportunities.

1. Have GREAT photos. If you have a picture that is interesting, clear, well lit you will get more press because of it. Not to mention that the photo will probably be put in the news outlet. This also has booked me more shows.

2. Highlight the important stuff in your press releases and bio and save them time. In fact, for anyone you want to help your career think about how they job is hard (or just ask them) and be the answer to their prayers by making their job easier. Papers often have very limited space and if you want your quote or story to make it in there you should serve up the juicy and important stuff to them with a big yellow highlighter or in bold font in an email.

What advice do you have for indie artists, in particular, those starting out, to generate the kind of impressive, total marketing approach you’ve taken and been successful at with your music?

I talk to so many artists that just sound scared to do anything and take chances so the first thing I have to say is just do it. You really don’t have much to loose. Even me, there is so much to be done all the time that I just have to keep moving forward even when, especially when everything isn’t in place.

I think people forget to be creative outside of the studio and writing songs. Seth Godin talks a lot about how every company and product tells a story and to decide what that is based on who your target market is. Your marketing and packaging should be especially creative and tell the story of YOU and your music. That is what you’re selling and what is going to separate you from all the other artists out there.

Co-write and network as much as you can. Lots of opportunities will come from your peers and not from the places or people you think they will come from. And, your best chance with those people is to impress the heck out of them as much as you possibly can and make their job easier when they work with you and just because they know you.

On behalf of the indie artist community, thanks for your time and insight, Natalie. I’ll be anxiously awaiting your next CD while I continue to indulge in the current one! Check out Natalie’s website for updates: http://www.nataliegelman.com/fr_index.cfm

You guys have come a long way so far on your musical journey from the Tyneside flats where Overspill Poets was first conceived and developed between delivering sandwiches to office workers and watching endless re-runs of Auf Wiedersehen Pet with spirited impromptu jams. There are a lot of up & coming bands that can benefit from learning about how you’ve approached the business and marketing of your music as well as creating the music itself.

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Well it’s nice of you to say so.  I don’t think we have all the answers by any means. We’re learning by trial and error really.  We’ve done some things that have worked and others that haven’t but we’re very happy to share what we’ve learnt in the hope that it helps other people get what they’re doing heard.

What have been the factors you’ve brought to bear in “branding” Overspill Poets’ songwriting, recording and performing identity to establish your “artist uniqueness and identity?”

Overspill Poets

I hate the term “branding” because it sounds as if we’d studied a market demographic and worked out a sound and image targeted specifically at that profile. We’re about as far away from that approach as it’s possible to be.  If we had approached things that way, we might have sold a few more records but to be honest I don’t think I could sustain an interest in something that artificial.

On the other hand, establishing your own identity is vital and unfortunately there is no quick or easy way to do it.  I think most musicians have some kind of a feel for where they want to go, but it usually doesn’t come in the form of a road map – it certainly didn’t in our case.  It’s more a case of trying a lot of stuff out and recognising the germ of an idea with potential when it strikes.  We try to aim high – continually comparing what we were trying for against our favourite records to see where they fall short.  You need to be self-critical. Ditch songs that don’t really cut it.  Don’t accept clichés and make sure what you’re doing says something about you.  You have to try not to get defensive about constructive criticism but learn to stand your ground when other people simply don’t get something you know is right.  As I said – not easy.

When you’ve got a sound together and you’re trying to promote yourself, you have to grow a thick skin and  not be precious about what you say and what you don’t.  You may know there are subtle nods to dub reggae in the middle eight and chord progressions gleaned from medieval madrigals, drum fills borrowed from 70’s funk and vocal inflections with a knowing nod to Nick Drake all underpinned by a punk sensibility and jazz phrasings and all that just isn’t going to be done justice by billing yourself as “techno folk” or whatever glib phrase someone is suggesting.  Unfortunately, what most people want to know is “do you sound like the kind of thing I might be into”, which generally means asking “who do you sound like?” or “what are your influences?”.  Answering “we don’t sound like anyone in particular” or “oh lots of different influences” simply means people won’t fall over themselves to check you out.  Then again, saying we sound like Nirvana, The XX, Portishead, REM, Radiohead or the Hoobs isn’t really going to get you much further (well maybe the Hoobs – if your audience is young enough).  So you need to convey an interesting twist on a familiar frame of reference.

Sometimes saying what you’re not about works.  I started out in a Newcastle band called Hug.  Newcastle was home to Kitchenware records who’d had some success with bands like Prefab Sprout and Martin Stephenson & the Daintees.  At the time nearly every band in Newcastle sounded like one of those bands.  We billed ourselves as “the only band in Newcastle who doesn’t want to be on Kitchenware”.  It worked so well we ended up signing to Kitchenware – well they already had Prefab Sprout and The Daintees – it turned out they were looking for something different.

A little humour, especially if its slightly self-deprecating, can go a long way.  I always loved the Housemartins’ “4^th best band in Hull” claim.  We bounced ideas off friends and tried out phrases out for size.  With Overspill Poets, a friend of ours quipped “Bob Mould crashing into REM”, others hooked on to the alt country angle so we put it together as “Bob Mould crashing into REM on Johnny Cash’s iPod”.  Several journalists picked up on that so I guess it did the job.

How do you manage and balance “live” appearances with building and developing a fan base online?

With ease, given that we haven’t done any live performances to date. Overspill Poets started life as a recording project with no plans for live work.  As such, the album was promoted exclusively on line and to a lesser degree in print and via airplay. To be honest that gave mixed results. We were able to generate some great press feedback and build up a solid network of friends through MySpace, Reverbnation and Facebook.  On the other hand we discovered that people who seek out new music on line, tend to listen on line.  As such, we sold less than we hoped.  In retrospect, I’d have to say that if you really want to try and attain a degree of commercial success you need to get out there and build a live following.  (Which really is how it should be). I think until you’re really established you have more chance of selling CD’s at gigs than anywhere else.  A live performance can make a lasting impression that is hard to match streaming MP3’s on social networking sites.

Hug toured relentlessly.  With Overpill Poets, the decision not to gig was purely down to practical considerations.  Overspill Poets’ singer Tim Taylor lives a fair distance from me so I tend to put things together bit by bit in a home studio and then draft him in when it’s ready for a vocal.  He then gets involved with the vocal arrangements, harmonies and scrutinising the mixes.  The other members of the band credited on the album and MySpace are really just pseudonyms (nicked from Auf Wiedersehen Pet – those endless reruns you see) because I didn’t want to take the blame for the bass and drums. This is all about to change, however.  At the end of last year, we got asked to do a live acoustic session for a radio show and that fired our imaginations with whole new possibilities for the songs.  A promoter from the North East subsequently found us on MySpace and offered us an unplugged gig, which spurred us into action with the result we’re going to make our live debut on May 1^st at Jay Jays in Bedlington supporting, of all people, Martin Stephenson and The Daintees (funny how things come around).

You guys have embraced social media to market yourselves creating an online identity at: iTunes, hmv.com, THE GENEPOOL, Ditto Music, PLAY.com, amazon.co.uk, emusic, CDBaby. Spotify and cdUniverse. Is there a “master plan” or “grand scheme” to where and how you market yourselves online? How do you choose where you’re going to promote yourselves online?

There was no grand plan at all. It was simply a case of trying things to see what works.  Myspace is at the heart of everything we’ve done, because it’s so easy to send friend requests to people you think might like you.  We regularly check out the new friends of established bands we have something in common with and selectively send out friend requests.  This is something you have to take care about as SPAM on MySpace is a real pain.  Again, you have to use yourself as a frame of reference and figure out a message you would not only NOT find irritating but actually be amused or intrigued to receive.  We always tell people why we targeted them “as a fan of REM or Bob Mould (or the Hoobs) or whoever”… and use a little self-deprecating humour (in the same spirit of “4^th best band in Hull”).  I’m not going to give away the exact wording we use – that’s a  trade secret – but we avoid saying things “You have to check out this band” … because, no actually, you don’t – and messages like that get right up my nose so it’s a fair assumption they aggravate other people too.

The downside of MySpace is that it isn’t easy to do effective targeted mailings to groups of friends.  Reverbnation is excellent for that and that’s what we use.  You can embed their “Join the Mailing list” widgets (as well as music players and many other helpful things) into your MySpace page, link into Facebook or Bebo, hook up with Twitter (which we’ve never got round to) or into your own web site.  Facebook is good in other ways.  Posting links to reviews etc on your wall keeps your friends in the loop and you can get good dialogs going with people.

Beyond that, we tried to seek out up and coming music blogs, internet or community radio stations through MySpace and send them stuff – CD’s (even home burned demos), MP3’s, photos etc if they showed an interest.  NME-Europe (as in Nick’s Musical Express rather than the better know New Musical Express) became an early ally. We’ve ended up getting airplay all over America, Europe and the UK on smaller community and internet radio stations.  We used Google to find other webzines and radio stations and emailed them stuff.  Some picked up on it, some didn’t but it’s always worth trying.

We got onto the download stores (iTunes etc) through Ditto music’s digital distribution service.

How does your website http://revengewestern.com/ fit into your overall marketing approach to Overspill Poets and how do you orchestrate all the parts of your marketing plan?

We created the website initially so we could look half professional when we put the album out.  However, it’s been a lot of fun to do and allows you to express yourself a little more freely than the templated pages of social networking sites.  Also, it’s now attracting Google and Yahoo referrals so it can become self-promoting (you do need to get hold of “Google rankings for dummies” so you get a little bit sussed about how or how not to put it together – or better still buy beers for someone who enjoys doing that kind of stuff).

You decided to release your debut album Thompson Falls on your own label, Revenge Western Records. What decisions went into creating your own label and how did the name Revenge Western Records come about?

We’d been recording various ideas for four or five years on and off, but in the last year and a half we had a body of material which seemed to coalesce into an album.  The sound crystallised into a blend of very American guitar influences with very English sounding vocals, which we thought was interesting.  We’d started the MySpace page and were surprised and encouraged by the positive response we were getting from people and started to think about ways we could try and get heard a little more widely.  We came to the attention of some journalists and bloggers and got featured on Diskant and NME-Europe, but webzines and publications won’t usually feature you unless you have a record out.  Turning what we had into a finished album seemed to be the logical next step but we wanted to keep control of it.  I’d already had the experience of making records for someone else with Hug and although Kitchenware Records was a really creative, music focused label, there were inevitable trade-offs and compromises and above all small budgets that couldn’t be exceeded.  The upshot was that we made records we didn’t always feel truly represented us. So, we opted for making a record at home.  What we lacked in sophisticated equipment and experience, we made up for by being able to scrub things and do them again until we got it right.  Sound on Sound magazine (and their website) was a really useful resource in finding tutorials on how to use reverb, EQ, compression etc effectively.

The name Revenge Western (like so much else to do with Overspill Poets – including the name Overspill Poets) was borrowed from Auf Wiedersehen Pet and a scene where Barry confesses to have starred as the Banquo Kid in an amateur production of Macbeth staged as a Revenge Western.  The term Revenge Western seemed to resonate with what we were trying to do – the alt country and indie influences – and the Auf Wiedersehen Pet / Shakespeare association gave it bizarrely English twist that amused us and felt right.

Was it complex setting up your own label?

It was surprisingly easy.  Basically you just have to register with the PPL (Phonographic Performance Ltd) who issue you with a unique record label code you can use to in creating your own ISRC codes (International Standard Recording Codes).  These are codes that uniquely identify a sound recording (a bit like ISDN codes for books).  PPL is the UK body.  Different bodies perform a similar service in different countries.  Registration is free.  Once registered you are officially a record label.   You assign ISRC’s to your recordings and register these in the PPL CatCo database.  The ISRC’s are digitally encoded onto your CD’s when they are replicated (disk burning software like Sony CD Architect allows you to do this yourself but CD replication houses will do it for you) and enable automatic monitoring of radio play etc.  The PPL then collect performance royalties (due to the performers and label) from radio play etc for you on your behalf.  A separate body (PRS) collect the royalties due to songwriters.

There are other technicalities such as getting a product bar code for an album (again CD replication houses can often supply these) and registering with the Inland Revenue or IRS or whoever.   Befriending photographers, graphic designers and web designers is extremely important if you’re working on a shoe-string budget.  Creative people with a passion for music like to get involved and will often offer “mates rates” or even do stuff for free if they think it looks good on their portfolio.

Persistent use of Google furnished us with CD replicators, physical and digital distributors and music PR and promotion services.  Again, you have to make decisions here about what you can afford to do.  You can release recordings digitally for next to nothing.  CD’s cost money and employing a professional to help with your PR and promotion costs more still.  However, if you shop around none of this has to be extortionate.  It depends what you’re after.  Our main aim was to get some press and get our stuff more widely heard.  Most magazines, websites and radio stations still prefer stuff on CD.  A small run of CD’s (less than 500) doesn’t cost much less than 1000 so it can be worth going for the larger quantity and if you can try and sell the rest online or at gigs you might make some of your money back.  You might even make a profit but don’t count on it – don’t spend more than you can afford to lose.  We spent less than many people spend on an annual summer vacation and for me the experience was infinitely more rewarding.

Physical distribution is a lot trickier than digital distribution as, although distributors work on a percentage, you often pay for warehouse storage and many stores get CD’s on sale or return.  Returns cost the distributor money and they will pass on a charge to you and they still get their cut because their job is to get the store to take it.  It’s your job to ensure someone buys it from the store.  All this means, if you don’t sell enough you can end up owing the distributor money.  If you don’t want to risk national distribution for CD’s, sites like TheGenePool.co.uk or CDBaby.com will sell your CD for you through their online stores.  You supply them directly which is pretty risk free. Digital distribution is easy – there are many companies offering this:  Genepool, CD Baby, Tunecore, Reverbnation to name but a few.  We went with Ditto but you should shop around and decide whether you want minimal up front charges but to give away a percentage or keep all the royalties and pay a fee.

The Thompson Falls CD is getting terrific reviews from the press:

“A living, breathing lexicon of catchy, hook-laden lo-fi opulence infused within layers of guitar driven alt-country and entrenched in the indie/pop sensibility. Multifaceted cleverness indeed.” (Writers Choice Subba-Cultcha-Best of 2009)

“One of the best albums of 2009…a worthy addition to any discerning music collection.” (Rock n Reel Magazine)

“Whoever described Overspill Poets’ sound as ‘Bob Mould crashing into REM on Johnny Cash’s iPod’ git it just about right. Thompson Falls,their debut, is as heavyweight as any of the former Husker DU man’s solo recordings, has the vibe of the Athens, Georgia mob at their jingly-jangliest, and wears the hardcore troubadour spirit of Cash on its sleeve.” (Rock n Reel Magazine)

In a spirit of irrepressible self sufficiency the Poets have set up their own label, Revenge Western Records (named after an ill-judged amateur dramatic misadventure of Fendig’s). Overspill Poets’ debut album, Thompson Falls is out now on CD and as a download.

“Passionate, heartfelt and with enough grit to give it some real traction, this is stirring stuff and well worth seeking out.” (The Crack Magazine)

“Literary stylings and Byrd-like country rock make for some intriguing listening.” (Tasty Fanzine)

“If drive-time country rock is your bag you could do worse than visit the stretched out highway that leads to Thompson Falls.” (Artrocker magazine)

What have you done to market your music and “live” appearances to the press? How do you build a relationship with the press?

You can do much without spending money – we’ve made some good contacts through MySpace but we also employed Alan Jepson at Vision Music to push the album to the press.  He did a good job but it’s tough.  The fact that you can record an album at home and put it out yourself means everyone else can too and the press are literally deluged with “unsigned” material so the competition for column inches is fierce. As such, employing a professional is no guarantee of reviews.  We did all we could to promote the album ourselves as well, and roughly half the reviews the album received we got through our own efforts.  Read that anyway you like.  We could have saved money and still got press but, looking at it another way, employing Alan got us twice the coverage we’d have got on our own.

What advice would you give indie artists, in particular those starting out, to generate the kind of impressive, total marketing approach Overspill Poets’ has developed?

I think I’ve already probably answered this in my overlong replies to your previous questions but in summary I’d say work long and hard on the music before you release anything.  It’s got to stand out if you’re going to get anywhere.  Put in the hours online – make contacts – don’t overlook the smaller sites and blogs who may be on the up and remember no-one owes you anything.  No-one is under any obligation to listen to your stuff let alone like it or write nice things about it.  It’s up to you to capture their imagination – entice don’t demand. And if you can get out and play live.  I miss it and I’m really looking forward to get back to doing gigs (even if they may be fewer and more sporadic than in years gone by – but then again there’s only some many years you can spend in the back of a transit van, sleeping on floors and living on junk food).

Thanks for your time and insight, George. And keep us posted on any new developments with Overspill Poets!

Garrison

I have been asked to write a series of posts about the business of music, in particular, marketing strategies for helping you promote your music in today’s marketplace which I am excited to do. Before kicking that off I just want to say a few words about what an exciting time it is to be making music, having experienced the transition from analog to digital firsthand and how it’s changed not just recording itself but the entire way music is packaged, marketed, promoted and sold.

I left college in 1970 to join London Records downtown on West 25th Street in New York City as a songwriter at the invitation of some of the company’s veeps who had heard me performing up on the east side at Malachy’s. It wasn’t long after I started writing tunes that there was some head shuffling going on and Walt Maguire who ran A&R asked me to oversee U.S. recording and mastering studio operations. This college dropout (I actually finished my Bachelors and went on to get my Masters while working for London) was thrust from suburban academia to working with artists such as The Rolling Stones, The Moody Blues, Al Green (I did the sound for his “live” debut at Catch A Rising Star), Dave Edmunds, John Mayall and the Bluesbreakers with Eric Clapton as well as producing artists myself like prolific jingle writer-turned-performing artist Leslie Pearl, Armadillo World Heaquarters house band Greezy Wheels and jazz legend Erroll Garner.

My new studio gig also gave me the opportunity to work in some of the coolest rooms on the planet since studios in the ’70’s still continued the ’30’s trend toward toward concert hall design for the recording of large symphony orchestras.  The best of these larger acoustically “live” halls were actually converted churches. One of my all-time favorites was Media Sound built by the producers of the original Woodstock and designed by the best of the best, Harry Hirsch. In fact, I started using Media Sound so often that I rented an apartment next door at 311 just to be close to what was going on and to have a place to chill, grab some food, plan sessions and rehearse harmonies. Another great studio was the Columbia Records 30th Street Studio in New York City which began its life as an Armenian church and boasted a ceiling over a hundred feet high. The recording engineers who trained in this period learned to take advantage of the complex acoustic effects that could be created through “leakage” between different microphones and groups of instruments. They became extremely skilled at capturing the unique acoustic properties of their studios. While purist engineers working at smaller studios focused at the time on maximally separating sounds by using vocal booths and movable partitions, recording in converted churches created a whole new technique of creatively incorporating leakage as an intended effect to produce an even larger sound. Microphone placement became the art of pushing the bigger sound even farther (I am still a Neumann U47 devotee, by the way). Smaller studios built echo chambers underneath the control rooms that sent the recorded signal from the mics in the studio through the chamber to a sub-mic enhancing the signal but never capturing the full resonance of the cathedral-like grand rooms. Independently manufactured compressors, equalizers and reverberators were added to the audio arsenals.

With multi-track recording (thank you, Les Paul!) the ability in the ’70’s to layer parts at different times became possible. Rhythm tracks first, then vocals, then guitar leads, for example. Or, you could record everything at once but allocate separate tracks to each instrument which made mixing an exhilarating art. I remember going through many security gates at airports en route to mixdown studios with huge, heavy boxes of 2″ multi-track tapes making sure they weren’t x-rayed. Using 24-track recording equipment opened up infinite possibilities of separation and it set the stage for what you’d do later on in mixing. We began increasing the possibilities by synching up multiple 24-track recorders and doubling up the available tracks.

My analog teeth were cut working in the Bell Sound, Columbia and Media Sound Studios and in the classrooms of the Institute of Audio Research. I’ve embraced the new digital technology but retained my purist analog roots because I want all of the signal I’ve recorded, not just parts of the wave.

What I do find thoroughly exciting is the affordability and convenience of the new digital technology to enable bands to create their own PC-driven studios right in their own garage or basement. The stringed instruments can be recorded direct and effects added later. Conversely, I’ve heard some amazing open mic techniques used on stairwells and “hot” cellar corners that have created amazing live” sounds. Digital Audio Workstations (DAW’s) have proliferated along with very cool software like Pro Tools. And, the list keeps growing. Most users embrace the Apple Mac but Windows is attracting its own software developers.

It’s a whole new generation of mouse-driven recording and mixing. Today’s generation of youthful artists are the new wave of digital technology who I wish could have experienced firsthand the evolution from analog as I and others have. And today’ generation of artists have pushed the applications of social media as it relates to marketing their music. From the same Mac keyboard they’ve recorded and mixed their music on, artists can distribute and promote their music online as well as build their fan base and sell their music. It’s a far cry from having to schmooze the rack jobbers and retailers at quarterly record company sales meetings to carry the maximum number of vinyl units in the stores, chains and outlets and for the promo guys to be working the terrestrial radio stations promising a jump on the next Al Green single if they played a new Ann Peebles record.

Never have there been so many incredible opportunities for indie artists to get their music heard on such an even playing field. And, sharing the trends and strategies of how to market your music will be an exciting journey I am looking forward to taking with you. There will be interviews with some outstanding indie artists from around the world so stay tuned!

Congratulations, Dennis, on receiving your star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. You are a gifted actor, director and producer and the essence of cool.

Easy Rider

Apocalypse Now

I amusedly refer to myself as an analog guy living and working in a digital world. I spent my early producing and engineering days in such studios as Media Sound and Bell Sound in New York City. I even got my first apartment on 57th street above Media Sound so I’d never be far away from what was going on. Over the years my choice for vocal mics were Telefunken and AKG ultimately relying on the Neumann U47 and its foilier cousin the U58. But, my roots in tube amps and the sounds they produce has delightfully bled over to the Blue  Bottle Rocket Stage Two tube mic which a friend let me try. Being into the bottle cap logo of Music Quench and the historic soda caps that influenced its graphic design, I similarly found Blue Bottle’s nine interchangeable microphone capsules a very cool way to experiment with different sounds. Give the BB2 a try next time you’re doing vocals. It rocks.

I was reading Ben Parr’s article, “HOW TO: Use Social Media for Sharing Music”

http://mashable.com/2009/04/18/social-sharing-music/

and I was reminded of the Bob Burg & John David Mann book, Go-Givers, notably, the authors encouraging advice that “giving is the most fulfilling and effective path to success.” In his article, Ben talks about listening becoming a “richer and more meaningful experience” because of social sites like Last.fm, Pandora and Apple.

Over the last few years, social media sites for sharing music have blossomed. With great companies such as Last.fm, Pandora and Apple iTunes revolutionizing how we consume music, listening has become a “richer and more meaningful experience” giving people the opportunity “to find, discover, share and reinvent music in new and interesting ways.” I want to pay particular attention to the word “share.”

We’ve all become resourceful and have developed an expertise for using the social media to get our tunes out to fans, friends and fellow musicians. MySpace, Twitter and Facebook have become our audio soapboxes for telling the world about our music. We continually increase the number of followers exponentially who are able to listen to our music. Social media and related software, links and widgets have made it easy for our network to give a listen to what we’ve created. Yet the one thing we want people to do, listen to our music, has become, for the most part, a one-way street. As Ben states and I agree, “You can’t just send out your favorite songs and expect people to listen if you aren’t listening yourself. Take the time to listen to some of the new bands your friends recommend, and keep an open mind…This could change an artist’s life.” Burg & Mann offer the simple yet profound suggestion to “focus on creating value for the other person.” It will definitely reverberate back to you. One of the most influential activities we can engage in is to acknowledge and motivate the creative spirit of the indie artist by listening and feeding back.

Unless an unsigned band has been able to negotiate a spec deal with a studio for recording and mixing time in exchange for a co-producing royalty share, the costs incurred will be directly absorbed by the artist. Add in mastering and the costs increase even more. That’s why it’s so crucial to control expenses without compromising quality. It’s part of the business of music. One way to do that is to be well rehearsed before the recording light even goes on, especially if this is your first CD. You don’t want to waste precious time and dollars so before you go in here are some suggestions:

Pick a studio to meet your budget but don’t compromise on equipment and talent. If this is your first time recording, tour the studio with someone who’s been around them, preferably an experienced engineer, and inventory everything. It’s your money you’re spending and you want a suitable facility with the best board, microphones and bells & whistles. Ask about who they’ve recorded and listen to samples of the final products. If they have several engineers, get the one best suited for you. Find out who they’ve worked with and ask for tracks you can listen to. Shop studios and engineers like you’d shop a car or a good instrument. This is your CD, not theirs. Make sure the acoustics rock. You don’t want to stop your best take because the furnace goes off! And, if you’ve never recorded before get an experienced producer who can guide your recording with a critical as well as motivating third ear.

On the financial side, make a recording budget. Estimate the hours you’ll need to record and mix and allow for overage. Get someone with studio experience to help you estimate your costs. Calculate the hourly rate against how many hours you’ll need and negotiate blocks of time with the studio. You may be able to get price breaks by recording at times when the studio is lean on other bookings. And, most importantly, stick to your budget and know where the money’s coming from and when. You don’t want to get all your recording done and not be able to afford the mixing.

Make a list of the songs you’re going to record. Collectively, the songs should be diverse enough to give the best overall representation of your sound. Then rehearse the heck out of them. But not the way you’d rehearse for a “live” gig. You’ll be doing the rhythm tracks first and overdubbing the final vocal and instrumental leads at the end. Get used to performing your songs as rhythm tracks only. It’s a different experience altogether than playing on stage. And make sure your gear is in top condition and that you’ve got extra picks, strings, etc. There’s nothing worse than having to stop recording to drive to the local guitar shop to get a cord. Bring everything with you including your favorite drinks and snacks and plenty of them.

Some housekeeping rules: shut the cell phones off. There’s nothing worse than a singer laying down the best vocal track of the day and his mobile goes off. Agree to which non-band members are going to be allowed into the studio (eg, roadies, gearheads) and who’s not (eg, fans, squeezes). I’ve seen a lot of recording sessions fall apart because the girlfriends of the band members were arguing about things unrelated to the music tasks at hand. Rehearse and record without booze and drugs. If you do them, save them for afterwards. Laying the music down better than you’ve ever done should be the ultimate high. Get rid of any band disagreements before you record or at least agree to compromise. Don’t spend your recording budget settling issues that should have been settled pre-studio. And, show up on time prepared to work. Once your CD is out on the social media and you’re selling them at gigs, you can’t change things so go for the best performance your band has ever done.

It’s okay to allow some room for improv doing leads but at least have the basics figured out and rehearsed before you record. I’ve worked with lead guitarists who are totally unprepared to lay down a lead on top of which they  get stoned to find inspiration. As an engineer and producer I don’t allow that on my watch and I stop sessions when it happens. The dynamic between the lead singer and the lead guitarist can make or break the instrumental solo. Capture those dynamics and encourage them by letting the guitarist play off the singer and vice versa. Record these together. On one take you might not get the ideal performance of the two individually but you’ll get closer to an inspired combined performance  to if the emotion and interplay is there versus trying to construct it in separate performances.

Plan your rehearsals. Make an outline of what songs you’ll be recording in what order and stick to it. Do your harder, edgier songs separately from your lighter, acoustic ones so that you’re creating a recording “moodset” and minimizing your instrument and, for the engineer, mic’ing and set-up changes. Stay loose in the studio. Warm up playing some of your best tunes. Be disciplined but not uptight. Listen to each completed track before you decide what you’re keeping or not. Every member of the band will be focused on his or her individual performance so be sure you’ve got the band’s best ears listening to the overall takes and deciding which ones you’re going to declare final. This is especially important during the mixing stage when members are tuned-in to being sure their particular part is loud enough.

Rehearsing for a recording session and working in the studio are a balance between managing the band’s time and money (the business of music) and creating your best performances. It’s new learning for lots of bands and takes discipline, leadership and problem-solving skills. But, it’s part of the overall evolution of the band as a business as well as an artist. Make sure you allow yourself to breathe in the experience and pure enjoyment of recording. It can be exhilarating and incredibly fun if done right.

Now in its 24th year, the SXSW Music and Media Conference has established itself as THE must-attend networking event for the 21st century music industry giving nearly 2,000 musical acts from around the globe unprecedented exposure on over 80 stages in downtown Austin, Texas. http://sxsw.com/

And, now  there’s a new venue getting prepping to rock the indie scene right across the border on the grounds of a drive-in movie theater beginning March 20 in  Monterrey, Mexico. MtyMx is the brainchild of Todd Patrick who has helped develop the indie rock scene in New York City. While its 78 acts pale in comparison to SXSW’s 2,000, Patrick’s intent to stir a true indie flavor and not buy into the ever-growing corporate backdrop of SXSW is evident. According to Patrick, “I’ve never enjoyed going to big multivenue festivals. Everyone knows that those bands are going to be playing the worst set of their lives. Everyone’s drunk, you never get any sleep the whole time, and it’s all networking and schmoozing. It’s a necessary evil, but afterwards you kind of want to wash it out of your hair” (http://www.nytimes.com/2010/03/10/arts/music/10fest.html, A New Frontier for Indie Rock, Down in Mexico by Ben Sisario).

It remains to be seen whether the Mexican drug war, visa restrictions and and a recent travel alert sparking concerns about safety put a damper on MtyMx making 6th Street in downtown Austin a safer if not sober bet.

Indie artists haven’t forgotten MySpace’s using them to create traffic in volumes impressive enough to shmooze the big 4 record companies to partner up in a sweet deal that basically left the indie artists out in the cold. Now, American Idol contestants are getting that same feeling following a message on March 3rd received by Twitter, Facebook and MySpace followers of individual American Idol contestants:

“Thanks so much for following me/joining my Fan Page! All my updates from now on will be on our Official American Idol 9 Contestant Page, please become a fan there to read all my updates throughout the season!”

It’s not hard to speculate the real message behind the “official one,” namely, that in light of only a few of the AI contestants getting much social media attention they’re consolidating the traffic onto the AI mother ship site where it’s more important to impress the sponsors with aggregate numbers than it is to  let each contestant take a grass roots approach to branding themselves and creating a direct relationship with their fans. But, that’s not surprising. AI is more concerned with skimming the revenue off the top contestants and the show as a whole than it is genuinely engaged with individual artistic branding.  And, social media numbers take center stage when it comes to banking on ad dollars so AI has no qualms about erasing the individual online musical identities of its contestants to create a bigger corporate deposit slip. AI should divert a portion of its ad revenues to each contestant to fund individual artist marketing and branding campaigns as a benefit of being on the show.