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This week myself, Berklee student, Justin Travis and Heather McDonald your About.com Musicians guide tackle music for free, a bit of Trent Reznor, hobby-musicians vs. career-musicians, and getting the most out of your a career in music, and the new Universal Music video channel.

Check out the latest and greatest music news from MusicBizWeekly: http://ow.ly/31lm

Here are a few of the issues we covered in this week’s MusicBizWeekly podcast.

iTunes tiered pricing
QTrax relaunching
Universal Music and YouTube laucnhing a music video site
Jeff Price from Tunecore’s iTunes promotion tricks

Cheers!
Doc

Go-getter, and future music industry super-star Justin Travis, a student at Berklee, About.com Musician’s Guide, Heather McDonald, and myself have put together a weekly podcast about what’s happening in the music business, entitled Music Biz Weekly. It’ll be an ongoing dialog about various events happening in the music business. . .that we hope will serve to not only keep you posted on what’s going on so when you’re being interviewed for your internship, or first gig as a recording engineer, promotions person or brand ambassador, you’ll know what you’re talking about!

Listen to the podcast here:

http://ow.ly/2wIg

This week we talked about these stories:

• SeeqPod Files for Bankruptcy
• Online Listening Replacing Music Acquisition
• FREE!: The Kind of Music Nobody Wants To Own
• Why Interruption is a Crappy Music Business Model

So, we’ve just uploaded the first podcast. . .you can download it to your iPod as well. Here’s the link: http://ow.ly/2wIg

Enjoy! We look forward to your comments and suggestions!

Cheers,
D

Hi everyone, just popping in today with a quick video that’ll start your mind racing with all sorts of approaches you can use to snag your first radio job this week. No kidding, watch the vid and get movin’!

Here are the links mentioned in this video:

Clear Channel’s station search tool. Good if you know the call letters, otherwise, not so good!

Wikipedia list of seemingly every Clear Channel Station by state

Knock ‘em dead, and I’ll see you at the meet and greet!

Cheers,
Doc

Check out our new Music Industry Jobs and Internships board at MusicIndustryJobs.com It’s FREE!

Okay folks, we’re experiencing a dearth of “right out of the box” great music these past few weeks. Sure there is plenty of stuff coming out, but nothing has struck a chord with me until I heard this song today from Taylor Swift. If you’re a country fan, you might know it already, but if you’re listening to Top 40, it’s just now burning up the charts.

Now, first let me say that I’m not typically a country music fan. . .my tastes typically run toward rock and alternative, but I do know a good song when I hear one, and this is a good song. The other two contenders for this week were BuckCherry’s “Too drunk to. . .” (You figure out what the last part of that phrase is . . .) and Mercy Me’s “You Reign”.

Mercy Me is a Christian band, and the song is catchy, but I’m typically picking songs that I think have the most potential to be heard and liked by the majority of people. Buck Cherry’s song is cool, but. . .wow. . how will it ever get played on radio. . .and Mercy Me’s song is catchy too, but for those not receptive to the message, it could be a turnoff. I but both of the songs could be considered polarizing to say the least. Judge for yourself, I suppose.

This video from Taylor Swift, however, a lot of folks can relate to, and it’s catchy as hell.

Three things of interest about Taylor Swift thing might help you if you aspire to a career in entertainment:

Unlike a decent majority of country music stars who enlist songwriters to create songs for them, Taylor Swift wrote or co-wrote every song on her debut record.
At age 11 Swift traveled to Nashville from Pennsylvania (with her parents help, no doubt) to drop off a demo of her singing along to Karaoke songs at every label on Music Row. How’s that for determination??
As of this date she is currently ranked at 15 for the most MySpace visits for ALL genres of music. Not bad, eh?

Album Facts you should know:

Album Name: Beautiful Eyes
Record Label: Big Machine Records
Most likely to be heard on the following radio formats: Country, Top 40 (CHR Pop)
Album dropped: July 15, 2008
Available: Only at WalMart

Other Goodies:

The Official Taylor Swift website

Taylor Swift at the American Country Music Awards Live doin’ a little flashdance of sorts

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Today’s New Tunes Tuesday hit is currently going for adds on Top 40 stations across the US. So, if you’re in some of the bigger markets you might be hearing this track “pop” a bit over the next few weeks. I think it might have potential on a number of other formats as well, including stations slanted toward R&B and HipHop as well as some of your more open satellite stations. I also think it’s got some potential on Alternative at some point. Anyway, I thought it was worth listening to here on New Tunes Tuesday, so I’m happy to share. I really dig the monster chorus!

As far as I can tell, “One Block Radius” has yet to release an official video for “You Got Me”, but the YouTube vid below will at least allow you to take a quick look-see at the band and the links below will help fill you in a bit more on what they’re about. Check out the video for the band’s new single “You Got Me” below:

Three things of interest about “One Block Radius” thing might help you if you aspire to a career in entertainment:

1. Two members of the trio were also members of Scapegoat Wax who, hands down, put out one of the hookiest pop tunes of the last 10 years with: “Space to Share” (I had this baby in heavy rotation when I programmed for NetRadio.com!)
2. One Block Radius’ Marty James provided the hook on The Federation’s “I wear my stunna glasses at night”
3. Marty has also been blessed with producer/songwriting credits on the Baby Bash hit, “What Is It,” featuring Sean Kingston, as well worked on projects with JR Rotem, Diane Warren, DJ Felli Fel, E-40, Lil Jon, The Grouch, Paula DeAnda, Luckyjam, Mozella and Turf Talk, among others.

Album facts you should know:

Album name: ?
Record label: Property/Mercury/IDJMG
Most likely to be heard on the following radio formats: Top 40(CHR Pop), R&B (Urban Contemporary) CHR Rythmic
Album Drops: September 2, 2008

Other Goodies:

Join the “One Block Radius” Mailing List

The “One Block Radius” Official MySpace Page

Get it on iTunes!

If you didn’t click on the Space to Share link above, check out the video. . .you’ll be glad you did. Looks like a production of a few folks from UC Chico.

One of my great interests in life is learning about cultures different from my own, and when I was just beginning to get my feet wet with knowledge about the music industry, one of my more favorite sections to read in Billboard, was the International section. If you’re at all like me, and dream of yourself mixing records and working with bands in foreign lands, then you should take a look-see at the School of Audio Engineering (SAE), the world’s first school to offer “practical audio education” as SAE refers to it.

SAE Institute, the world’s largest media arts and sciences academy, operates 46 schools on four
continents, four of which are in the good old US of A. Today we’re going to take a quick look one of SAE’s more recent campuses: SAE Atlanta. Facilities at the SAE Atlanta location were built by world-renowned studio builder Michael Cronin of Michael Cronin Acoustic Construction, and occupy a 17,500-square-foot building above the Hard Rock Cafe in downtown Atlanta. The campus has more than 20 studios and workstations, including a 5.1 surround sound mixing theater featuring a Digidesign ICON control surface and ProTools HD system, housing the most advanced professional audio and multimedia technology
systems available.

Every new student receives an Apple laptop computer, audio interface, and Pro Tools M-Powered, BIAS Peak and Logic Express software to further enhance and encourage each individual’s educational experience.

Why I like SAE for its international vibe is that it is headquartered in Byron Bay, Australia and has a network of 47 campuses all over the world, opening up opportunities for study abroad, and international connections that almost never exist in traditional engineering school environments. If you’re at all interested in working overseas in the entertainment industry, I would encourage to take a serious look at SAE by requesting information about their schools.

SAE offers diploma and full degree programs in audio, multimedia, digital filmmaking, animation and gaming. SAE is part of the SAE Technology Group, which also owns and operates leading mixing console manufacturer AMS Neve, Studios 301 (with locations in Sydney and Byron Bay, Australia, Cologne, Germany, Studios 301 is a collective group of state-of-the-art recording and mastering facilities), the Computer Graphics College and Qantm College.

They have a rolling application deadline, which means that instead of thinking you have to wait until fall to go to school, they’ll take your application now. And in my book that’s a great deal.

To learn more about any of the SAE campuses and receive your FREE information packet about the school, fill your information in their quick form on the next page, and click SUBMIT. You’re only as close to your dream as the action you take. Get started on your dream career today and lay down some thumpin’ beats at SAE Atlanta

Learn recording engineering by the beach at sunny SAE Miami

Rock out with the cats at SAE Los Angeles

Hang your hat with legendary songwriters in music city at SAE Nashville

One thing I love about music is finding something that is totally new to me. Sometimes I’m on the cusp of the new stuff, sometimes I’m behind the curve a bit. So, depending on how close you keep your ear to the ground, you may have already heard some of these tracks that I’m going to introduce to the rest of the audience this week. While looking for a new place to live this week, I popped my head in a Border’s for a quick half hour break. Searching for a new place to live can be mind-numbing, and the break was much needed.

Perusing the aisles, my ear caught the beat of the song playing on the sound system, and I went up to the cashier to ask who it was I was hearing. Actually, I first asked if it was Amy Winehouse, ’cause the production sounded much like that familiar 60’s soul sound she and her marvelous production team is bringing back to the fore, but I didn’t think the pace of the music was like her style. And, for sure, it wasn’t. Who it was/is, though was another great artist you should check out if you haven’t already had the pleasure. The name of the gal singin’ this great tune bustin’ out of the speakers at Borders Music belongs to Welsh singer, Duffy.

No doubt you pick up on some similarity in vocal styling as well as in the production value of her songs, but who the heck cares, groundswells in music always occur as people start trying out the same sounds, work them over time and are “discovered” seemingly all at once. Think about the early 90’s “Seattle Sound” for a brief history of how what is familiar to some becomes “new” to most in a heartbeat.

Duffy’s style seemed so fitting this week as well because I’m currently reading John Farinella’s “Producing Hit Records” book which is one of the coolest, insightful books on record production I’ve read in a long time. Farinella not only teaches the reader what’s important to learn about how to get a job in the music industry as a recording engineer or record producer, but also highlights the critical role a producer plays in working with artists to get that “sound” that knocks your socks off. Having spoken with some of the most innovative, respected and legendary producers music has today, Farinella’s book is a true gem that should be on your reading list this summer. My full review of the book will come next week. Be on the look-out for it. It’s long overdue!

Anyway, check out these tracks. I’ve included a few more videos than normal to help catch you up with UK and European listeners who are months if not years ahead of us on this sound. Oh, and I’m tagging this post with something really cool from Atlanta, Georgia’s Gnarls Barkley to see what some American-made 60’s retro sounds like as well.

Sorry this “New Tunes Tuesday” is a day late! Good music is always welcome regardless of its delivery date, anyway, right? Cheers, D

P.S. The Imeem videos load a little slower than YouTube, but they work.

Duffy - Warwick Avenue

Duffy - Rockferry

Duffy - Mercy - Official Music Video (anyone else hear Ben E. King’s “Stand by me” in those first few notes!?)

Gnarls Barkley - Run

Three things of interest you might want to know about Duffy as an entertainment career wannabe:

1. Duffy was influenced by artist performances on the 60’s show Rock Steady Go
2. Bernard Butler of Suede helped create her “new” retro soul sound.
3. Along with Amy Winehouse, Estelle and Adele, some in the press are calling this group part of the new “British Invasion”
   

Album facts you should know:

Album name: “I am Duffy”
Produced and co-written with Suede’s Bernard Butler

Most likely to be heard on the following radio formats:

AAA
Alternative
Top 40
Rock
Adult Hot A/C

Album already dropped May 13, 2008

John Mellencamp — “My Sweet Love”

Swing those hips baby, its John Mellencamp, swaying the house with this great track from his new album “Life, Death, Love and Freedom” Backing vocals are courtesy of Little Big Town’s Karen Fairchild. I would swear that’s Kurt Neumann from BoDeans on guitar. Great song. Nuff Said. I love Mellencamp.

Pick it up wherever you buy your records, cds, itunes, etc. these days.

Three things you need to know about this record and John as an entertainment career wannabe:

1. He’s a legend.
2. He’s a legend. (that’s not a typo)
3. He’s working with Steven King on a Southern Gothic musical, that’s right. . .musical to debut in April of next year in Atlanta. The name? “The Ghost Brothers of Darkland County”

Album facts you should know:

Most likely to be heard on the following radio formats:

AAA
Americana
Rock
Adult Hot A/C

Album drops July 15, 2008

Visit John Mellencamp online at his official site
Request the song at: Radio Locator

Like the John Mellencamp “My Sweet Love” video? Download the single today from iTunes!

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One of the more enjoyable reasons for opening my email box in the morning is to read my daily Napoleon Hill Foundation quote. If you don’t know Napoleon Hill, you should check out the book many successful business people point to as the one that changed their lives, and helped place them firmly on the track toward completing their life’s goals. Hill’s “Think and Grow Rich” is a simple and direct motivational book filled with all sorts of gem’s that can help you get your rear-end off the couch, away from your PlayStation or XBox and on the phone to generate entertainment industry career prospects. I would highly recommend it.

These Napoleon Hill daily emails help me start my day off on the right foot, and today’s message I thought might be interesting to share with you for two reasons. One is that I believe it serves as an excellent reminder of one way to make yourself worthy in any job environment worthy of your creative input (they’re not always one-in-the-same!), and secondly, because of the recent entry of Topspin into a sector of the marketplace not necessarily familiar to the majority of indie bands out there.

Below is the quote I was greeted with this morning, courtesy of The Napoleon Hill Foundation:

It’s common knowledge that the person who knows the most about how to improve the productivity of any job is the person who holds that job. Why is it, then, that we are often reluctant to offer suggestions for improvement? Perhaps we’ve seen too many layoffs and reorganizations to trust the cracker-barrel wisdom that our goal should be to work ourselves out of a job-so that we can move on to a bigger and better position. Nevertheless, the old wisdom is still sound. If you find a way to do things better, faster, or cheaper, you increase your value to your employer. You will be asked to participate in planning sessions and quality circles because you’ve demonstrated that you know how to make things work more efficiently. It’s inevitable that you will be promoted, because you will become one of those exceptional employees who are too valuable to lose.

The quote of course assumes that you’re in a business that values your input, and doesn’t just pay lip-service to the idea of innovation. Unfortunately, I find lip-service is often easier than placing oneself in the eye of unforeseen obstacles. Call it human nature, or whatever you will, but I have always found the attitude to merely be representative of one characteristic: fear. The good thing is, I believe that unlike many other fields, the entertainment industry is a wee bit more open to creative input than you’ll find elsewhere.

That’s not to say that every “great” idea you have will be put into place, or that you won’t clash against people with grand egos steadfast in the belief that their creative solution is better than yours, but I do believe you’ll find more creative people willing to listen to your ideas, then toss fear aside in favor of finding what the solution to the problem at hand.

And that’s where Topspin comes in.Topspin has been working on a solution that enables indie bands to better manage and communicate with their fan bases in ways not commonly available today. The way I’m reading it at the moment, it’s a way for bands to leverage the power of enterprise-level CRM (Customer Relationship Management) solutions combined with technology-driven indie-distribution to better stay on top of their fan base, their sales and their marketing.

While Topspin is in limited release at the moment, I look forward to seeing how the product offerings from the company enable indie bands and other artists to take advantage of what the types of software tools available to other businesses, so as to craft a solution that works with the changing music industry landscape.

Topspin’s founders are helping to create a solution that aims to widen current industry bottlenecks, and while they kept it under their hat for awhile to ensure the time was right, they’re taking steps in the right direction to help create a new business, and help you and your band run your own business. You should always aim to do the same.

Napoleon Hill would be proud, eh?

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You bet your Casey-Kasem, Rick-Dees lovin’ asses it is.

Without a doubt, radio is still is among one of the more powerful mediums for introducing the majority of people throughout the world (don’t forget media exists outside the US, folks), to new music, news about musicians and bands on tours, and general entertainment industry revelry. Its almost always free, and accessible just about everywhere humans tend to populate.

(Heck, even my phone, a Sony Ericsson, is a phone/walkman. So, I can get radio on my cell phone, and I didn’t have to pay a friggin’ dime more for the privilege, unlike other carriers who offer a fancy download plan that, in my opinion, just serves to add yet another monthly bill to your cash outlay.)

Despite all those that claim radio is as dead as they claim the entire music industry to be, radio is very much alive and well. It’s different, of course, than it was ten years ago, but it’s still there, and I can’t forsee it disappearing any time soon.

Too often, people mistake change for obsolescence. The type of radio that existed at its inception is a completely different beast than radio as we know it today, and I suspect, the fascinating developments in music, radio, the concert business and everything else affected by the maturation of technology and culture that gets everyone so excited, will no doubt be bandied about as “dead” in another few decades as well. Actually, given its current momentum, it’ll probably happen a lot sooner than that.

So why is radio still relevant? Here are 5 reasons why I believe it to be so, feel free to argue away if you disagree, or call out points you might find valid. I look forward to the discussion. I’m interested in learning as much possible about the realities of this situation myself, so feel free to “call me out” if your own experience suggests it’s necessary.

By the way, I’m interested in interviewing radio veterans from the fifties and sixties about their time on air. If you know of someone interested in chatting for a story I’m working on concerning “race music” during this era, please drop me a line at doc @ music businesspage.com Cheers. Doc

Okay, so here we go:

1. The operation of radio is typically overseen by the federal government. As far as I know, governments tend to have a vested interest in maintaining their own structure. Plus, radio serves a purpose in times of emergencies that overshadow the need to play your favorite music.
2. Radio sells records. Yup, indeed it does. And lots of ‘em too. Now I don’t care if we’re talking about singles, digital downloads, full-length albums (sic) or “free” records from artists like Radiohead or Trent Reznor, when songs get played on radio, people pay attention. And frequent “impressions” of those songs on our silly little brains that enjoy repetition and reminders about the things we like, drive us online — or into some record store — to buy that little nugget. And that little nugget puts money into the pockets of your favorite artist and the gazillion people behind them including record labels, publishing houses, songwriters, entertainment lawyers. . .everyone. One song adds up, and it often starts at radio.
3. Radio is still a business - and they generally adhere to a format. Even JackFM, famous for playing “what they want” is following a very strict programming format. So every time you hear that slammin’ AC/DC song followed by Annie Lennox (a hit is a hit is a hit!), you can bet your radio-format-hatin’ rear-end that several people sat in a room for a very long time analyzing the computer data that tells them about beat counts, song transition, what the consultants say, what the listeners say. . .all to come to the conclusion that Annie Lennox should follow Bon Scott, and that the combination would make you feel happy. Maybe happy enough to keep listening to the music long enough to hear the advertisement that follows those songs. Then, of course, maybe, just maybe you’ll buy the product that is advertised, or visit that service establishment spending their hard-earned money to have you listen to what it is they offer the marketplace. Radio is an economic juggernaut with tons of people and businesses interested in its survival. Think about that. Especially if some day you want to own your own business, or be a performer and hope you sell YOUR wares on radio. Gulp! So don’t “wish it away” too soon.
4. Radio is all about reach. Who hears it, how many hear it and where do they hear it. Many critics of radio, look at its quality, or perceived lack thereof, through their own myopic lens (or ear buds. . ). And most of those who dislike radio are so inclined because they can’t relate to the music that’s on the air any longer. They’re either too old (like me in some instances), or their preferred style of music just isn’t played on any regular format station. Styles like death metal, ska, rockabilly and Celtic music come to mind as easy examples. However, projecting their own tastes on an entire entertainment medium, prevents them from looking at radio and the music industry objectively — setting up the inevitable “doomsday” scenarios. Those of us who love Led Zepplin will always love Led Zeppelin, yet Zep will not always be on the radio!I have always found it intriguing to watch how when people of similar positions gather to “discuss” a topic, their shared conclusions never change, and, in fact, often become heightened as a result of their mutual animosities and presuppositions. Its quite a fascinating phenomenon, and one that plays itself out every day in the media, across numerous and varying topic areas. Just turn on the television, and listen to the news about the impending economic doom to get a feel for what I’m referring to. . .listen to it often enough, and talk to enough people who think their in for a rough haul, and low-and-behold, that rough haul becomes a reality. However, if you were to speak to someone benefiting from today’s economy, you’ll have a much different view of what’s “really” happening. 90% of what becomes real is perception, and the supposed “death” of radio is no different. I view these changes more like the “death” of the critics favorite type of radio, the type they grew up with, then the absolute death of a medium.
5. Radio is designed to play hits. Sure there are songs tested out that are uncertain winners from a radio programming perspective, but the idea is to play songs that work. . .songs that will sell. YouTube, MySpace and the previously heralded MP3.com (where is it now?), are at the moment at least, marketing tools for unsigned bands to generate a fan base to better their chances of getting signed by, you guessed it, a record label. Like it or not, that’s still the model, and still the one a great number of the talented artists we can find online are pursuing. Making records costs a lot of money folks, touring costs a lot of money, and playing hits costs a lot of money. When you’re the one with a vested interest in profiting from your talent, how much do you want to leave to chance? Can a new band afford to give away their records for free? Come on. Sure, Radiohead and Trent can do it, but they’re already huge money-making artists. The free record is at once a publicity stunt and a way to generate income via different means. If either one of these recording artists were still “starving artists” you can better your bottom-dollar, they’d be gigging till they couldn’t stand anymore, and trying to squeeze every dollar out of every fan they had. That’s the truth. So, artists need radio, just like they need the internet. But in order for radio to need them, they’ve gotta’ be good, they’ve got to be able to write more than two good songs (in other words, generate scale), and the fickle consumer who we hear only buys singles any longer wants them to be good too. So, I don’t think you’ll be hearing any live feeds from YouTube getting piped through your FM dial any time soon, any more than you’ll hear even a small percentage of these most “clickable” of artists getting signed to a record deal, or putting out their own records on their own label. How many true hits are there on MySpace and YouTube, and do you really want to hear the rest on radio?
6. Baker’s half dozen bonus: Lastly, for readers of the page who want to work in the music industry, you already know that I believe radio is still one of the simplest entertainment industry workplaces to penetrate as either a career changer, or a newbie with zero experience. There are often so many things to do in radio, and enough turnover at stations, that if you’re persistent enough you could almost guarantee yourself a spot at the station of your choice within a year. Try it, you might be pleasantly surprised.

(By the way, music biz wannabes, stay tuned to Jeff Leeds’ reporting at the New York Times, his stuff rocks, and he’ll keep you very informed for your job interviews.)

Long live radio. . .even those stations we don’t like!