Music Marketing [dot] com

Remembering James Brown

As you know, James Brown is dead.  Check out this article from the Tennessean...

James Brown's music got early boost in Nashville

by LEE ANN O'NEAL and PETER COOPER
Staff Writers

Before he was the Godfather of Soul, back when he was just a struggling young singer from Augusta, Ga., James Brown had a guardian angel — in Nashville.

His name was "John R." His call letters were WLAC. And where most angels might have had wings, he had an AM radio signal as powerful as Brown was funky.

As Brown's passing Monday morning — in Atlanta, of apparent pneumonia at age 73 — was mourned, music fans remembered the role that Nashville's WLAC-AM had in launching his career.

Starting with his 1956 hit, "Please, Please, Please," the station and disc jockey John Richbourg gave Brown's music its first exposure to a national audience, said Don Boner, a writer from Indianapolis who has researched WLAC's history.

"WLAC broke James Brown and introduced him to the nation, just because they had so many listeners," Boner said. The station was at its pinnacle when John R. started playing "Please, Please, Please," he said.

Brown performed on the Grand Ole Opry in 1979 at Porter Wagoner's invitation. Saying he spent many childhood nights listening to the Opry, he performed "Your Cheatin' Heart," "Tennessee Waltz" and his own "Papa's Got A Brand New Bag."

iTunes is HOT!!

2006 ended a great year for iTunes.  And it got really good over the last few days... So many people got new iPods and iTunes gift cards over the holiday that users this week have received error messages and slowdowns of 20 minutes or more for downloads of a single song.

More...

Country Artists Bitch Too Much

Yesterday's post about the recent FCC hearing in Nashville got me thinking...

Why do traditional country artists always bitch about media?

Seriously...  Is John Cougar bitching that radio doesn't play his new stuff?  Is Klymaxx pissed that they're not on MTV these days?

Don't get me wrong... When it comes to media ownership, I think there are some major issues that need to be looked at.  But trends change, tastes change, technology changes, and business changes.

And that's a good thing.  This isn't a "gloom and doom" situation.  All of these changes are an amazing opportunity to get new fans and sell things in different ways.

Innovate.

FCC Hearing in Nashville - Gavel-to-Gavel Coverage

Craig Havighurst of String Theory Media posted some great details on the FCC visit to Nashville.  Worth a read for those who are interested in the business of radio...

More thoughts on this tomorrow...  Craig did a great job with an overview of why local media is important and I don't want to take away from that with my comments on what was said by the traditional country artists who attended.

If you like what Craig has to say, make sure you catch the episode of Music Business Radio that we did with him from earlier this month...

Kulak's Woodshed and Gay Porn Stars

Kulak's Woodshed has had zoning problems for some time now.  In just a few days, they're shutting down...

As it turns out, gay porn star Jeff Stryker, best known for direct-to-video hits like Powertool and Santa's Cummin', is involved...

Jeff Styker's side of the story.

Long Commute? Try This...

The Bad News: America's daily commute it getting worse...

The Good News: You can get my best-selling audio CD, 14 Qualities of Successful Musicians, for only $3.  People on Amazon are paying $39.95.  And unlike them, you'll get mp3 files you can download instantly.

So hit musicbizcd.com and get the download for $3 now.

It's a great way to turn your commute time into something productive.

WWJD?

Woke up this morning and asked myself, "What would Jesus do?"

Then I looked in the Bible and saw God took a day off.  And, assuming Jesus is the Son of God, I figured he'd probably do the same thing...

So that's what I'm doing...

If you celebrate Christmas, hope you have a great one!  And even if you don't, I hope you're able to take some time off today.

This Video Shows 2 Important Things

Caught this video and think it does a great job of showing a couple of things...

1.  It shows how important innovation is to making great music...

I played guitar on a daily basis, sometimes for 3-4 hours at a time, from when I was 15 until about 26.  I've got a degree in music and have taken lessons with some of the best players in the world.  And very rarely was it brought up that I should (or could) do anything with my instrument other than play it the standard way.

I think it's important to know the rules, as they exist for a reason, but following them to the letter can limit creative expression.  Who says you can't bang on a guitar and get
great music out of it?

2. It shows how much adding another element (video) to your presentation can help things.  I think this is a great song, but seeing how he performs it makes it that much more impressive.

On a related note, this guy's video has been seen by about 900,000 people.  Think he's sold any music?  Probably...

5 Things You Didn't Know About Me

There's this crazy version of a chain letter going around the blogsphere where bloggers are posting "5 Things You Didn't Know About Me" and then challenging five other bloggers to do the same. Bob Baker, author of Guerrilla Music Marketing, tagged me, so I'm it!

1. Around 1997, I was in a prank calling group known as the Phone Militia.  I got a job at a psychic network, which later became know for its spokesperson, Miss Cleo, and pulled pranks on people who called in.

2. I do yoga daily and have done so for almost ten years.  In 2002, I attended Southern Institute for Yoga Instructors where I completed a 1000 hour course on teaching yoga, but I never bothered to do the paperwork and get the certificate.

3. I had the first paid-membership site on the Internet which wasn't related to pornography.

4. I'm vegetarian.

5. When I was in high school, I joined the school orchestra as a bass player, even though I didn't know how to play, because I wanted to meet a girl who played viola and that was the only way to make sure we had a class together.

How to Join a Band

Caught the video below on YouTube.  He's not looking to join a band, but I think that the concept would work well for somebody who is...or a studio trying to get new business, or whatever.

Check it out and post your comments and ideas on how to use something like this in the music business.