Just returned from Dfest. The event was truly awesome. Tom and Angie, the power couple behind the Tulsan extravaganza, cut no corners and personally addressed every detail to ensure one of the most enjoyable and professionally productive weekends I have had in a very long time. I am confident that this sentiment is shared by my fellow panelists and the 30,000 odd music fans who congregated to bear witness to the likes of Cake, The Black Crowes, Citizen Cope, Gogol Bordello, and many many others. Whether you’re an industry pro, musician or music fan, make sure that Dfest is in your schedule for next summer!
ArtistForce, an online CRM solution and marketplace for the entertainment industry, made a controversial appearance at SXSW with a racy promotional campaign involving a hot blonde in a liquid latex sheath passing out flyers with “Thousands of artists get screwed every day. Protect yourself with ArtistForce.com” printed on them and attached with complimentary condoms.
Founded in 2006, ArtistForce provides an online environment for entertainment industry professionals and talent to conduct negotiations directly, manage their business administration, track activities, and more, through proprietary technology applications and consultation services.
Remember Hanson? Well, they’ve been operating independently for some years now and been doing so with as much flare and vigor as any bootstrapping hero taking the stage today. Their self-released album, “Underneath”, which debuted at #1 in the Billboard Top Independent Albums in 2004, remains one of the most successful indie releases of all time. Hear them now.
This year, SXSW, the Austin mega music festival, will showcase a rare collaboration indeed: former Smashing Pumpkins guitarist, James Iha; Cheap Trick drummer Bun E. Carlos; Fountains of Wayne bassist Adam Schlesinger; and Hanson’s very own Taylor Hanson taking the mic. Ladies and gentleman, Tinted Windows have arrived!
The ridiculous feud between Gene Simmons and Bob Lefsetz came to a head at Canadian Music Week yesterday and has since been getting a lot of coverage. The entire exchange portrays both parties as ungainly and slapdash, and the issues neither relevant nor compelling. Just silly… but a good laugh. See for yourself if you haven’t already.
As an artist, getting your ass on stage and performing to as many people as often as possible is key. In the US, SXSW is arguably the largest draw of both music fans and artists, certainly independent artists. Should you get on a SXSW stage? Of course you should. However, assuming that you are not yet well known, playing live at an over-crowded and super competitive event has its limitations. Sometimes, you have to get off the stage in order to truly make an impact and, year after year, I’m seeing more independent artists attending music conferences, on their own behalf, and with their business hat on. Although the largest of the lot, Midem in Cannes and Popkomm in Berlin, also offer a variety of live performance opportunities to acts big and small, the true event value is in the aimless wondering between the booths and random handshakes with industry professionals. I’m not joking. You’ll meet a lot more people on the floor than on stage. If you meet someone who wants to hear you play, both Midem and Popkomm have listening rooms big enough for you to perform acoustically. If nothing else, attending these events will teach you a lot about the current music market and provide you with the confidence to approach prospective partners who may [or may not] invest in your next recording, touring, licensing, or writing initiative. You never know.
South by South West in Austin, Texas, is one of the largest music events in the world – and a truly fun weekend for fans and musicians alike. For artists, access to Austin’s best venues is a career development must and Tinderbox Music, in association with RedGorilla, provides the means to get new acts on stage at a set-up cost that’s lower than the spectator entry fee into SXSW. RedGorilla caters to the Austin venues that are not included in the SXSW line-up, mainly due to festival logistics issues. Each year, these venues open their doors for artists to enjoy the SXSW reception and provide attending music fans with a free alternative. Last year, RedGorilla hosted 300 acts at eight different venues. In 2009, showcases will take place from Wednesday, March 18th, to Saturday, March 21st, on Austin’s 6th Street, right in the heart of the action. Tinderbox Music has a number of slots open for interested parties. RedGorilla is an unsanctioned event and not a part of SXSW.
For booking details, contact:
Jon Delange
jon[at]tinderboxmusic.com
(612) 375 1113
Songlines Magazine Songlines Magazine covers the world’s most exciting music from traditional and popular to contemporary and fusion, featuring artists from all around the globe, from Afghanistan to Zimbabwe, from Miriam Makeba to Mariza, from Gilberto Gil to Gogol Bordello. http://www.songlines.co.uk
Monolith Festival
For today only, Monolith Festival is giving you $5 off your submission. By submitting, you will have the opportunity to share the stage with this year’s amazing line up at the incredible natural amphitheatre, Red Rocks. Monolith alumni include The Flaming Lips, Justice, Cake, Band of Horses and many more. http://tinyurl.com/6ks6el
Songwriters Circle The New York Songwriters Circle Loft Series is a monthly gathering designed to support a thriving community of musicians at all levels and abilities through education, information, and peer-to-peer interaction. http://www.songwriters-circle.com
We Are Listening & MTV Two months after We Are Listening panelists selected Tim Mahoney as winner of The Singer/Songwriter Awards, We Are Listening, together with Tinderbox Music, secured Tim’s music on MTV’s hit television series, “The Hills”. In addition, Tim closed an attractive digital distribution deal with IODA and is looking forward to additional licensing opportunities currently in the works. “Companies like We Are Listening are the reason why independent artists make it”, Tim wrote to We Are Listening, adding, “Talking with the founder, Lior, and shaping a custom television placement campaign was the best prize I could have ever hoped for. I was impressed.” http://www.wearelistening.org/about_contest.php?type=ssa
Band Camp Bandcamp, a free publishing platform for bands, provides artists with the most relevant content management and social marketing tools, with a super clean interface and friendly user management system. Bandcamp update. http://www.bandcamp.mu
We Are Listening is delighted to announce the successful completion of its first-ever World Music contest, the World of Music Awards. The winning entry was submitted by Ghalia Benali, a native of Tunisia currently residing in Brussels. Growing up in Tunisia, Ghalia was raised with a strong background in Arabic music and poetry, as well as external influences including French chansons Egyptian and Indian musicals, melodies from Syria and Iraq and the ‘tartil’, the sung lectures from the Koran.
Throughout her carer, Ghalia has performed with a variety of talented World Music artists including Shahnez (Arabo-Flamenco), Yoda (Ethnic), Alpalna (Arabo-Indian), Maak’s Spirit (Jazz), Hh Kaly (Electro, Arabo, Indian), Timnaa (Arabo, Spanish, Folk), and many more. Ghalia is currently touring with her most recent project “Romeo en Leila”, a musical spectacle where Arab music meets traditional western music and jazz. Besides a successful careet as a singer, Ghalia also performs as an actress and played the role of Meriem in “La Saison des hommes” in 1999, under the direction of Tunisian producer Mouffida Tiatli and danced in the film “Swing” from Tony Gatliff in 2001.
As the winner of the World of Music Awards, Ghalia will join World music expert, Dubi Lenz, and a host of other WOMEX delegates in Sevilla, Spain, for a weekend of networking, music promotion and career development. She and the nine other finalists will also receive a free one year subscription to Songlines, the leading World music publication. We Are Listening is proud to welcome Ghalia Benali to the team and looks forward to helping her achieve all of her musical dreams and aspirations.
Nashville is Music City in every sense of the term. One of the locals I met boasted that it’s the only place in the world where a bank will accept a record master as collateral for a loan.
In this town, folks in the music business are surprisingly approachable. At no point did I feel surrounded by moguls nor did the landscape suggest music empires. At Warner Chappell, I sat in an office bare of furniture and ornaments. The only desk in the room was pushed back to make room for a stage, lighting gear, a Wurlitzter and Orange amps. Very cool. Universal’s offices are a converted, two story house with a wooden porch. The infamous Music Row is a quite street of residential housing with lawn trimmings and picket fences. Walking through a major publisher’s door is no feat.
I’m told that you’re four times more likely to get a Country song cut than a song in any other genre and this rings true with Nashville’s consistent output of Country chart toppers in the US. The city offers an occupation in songwriting like no other place on the planet. Writers flock to the city in search of a publishing deal that will pay their monthly salary (advance against residuals), allowing them to write full time for a living. Quite literally, hundreds of writers wake up each morning, travel to work, write songs and check out at six. Publishing companies will often keep several ‘writing rooms’ vacant and songsmiths will get together to bond – probably over coffee at Fido’s on 21st Ave. – before attempting to collaborate on a future hit at any number of cosy locations arranged by their Creative Directors. Co-writes are common practice and often involve shipping writers out and importing them in. How is that for a day in the office?
The live scene is awesome and rich in variety. Deceptively Country, Nashville has a well-established and esteemed rock scene. Come to think of it, I didn’t see a single cowboy hat and pair of boots during my four day visit. I returned to London with a stack of CDs by fledgling indie, emo and garage acts. Did you know that Kings of Leon are Nashville natives? A far cry from Country music, I know, but they too started out as Country writers before renowned artist manager, Ken Levitan (Vector Management), suggested that the brothers form a rock group. So with that, a parting shot from the band that made it big almost everywhere but back home in N’ville:
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