Music Marketing [dot] com

Prince's Free Album Angers Retailers

The last big Prince tour in the US pissed off record retailers and the RIAA because he gave away copies of his then latest release with every ticket sold.

Well, he's back doing something similar...  This time the free albums are included in upcoming edition of the British newspaper Mail on Sunday...even though the official street date of the album isn't until July 24.

Paul Quirk, co-chairman of the Entertainment Retailers Association, said Prince's decision "beggars belief."

"The Artist formerly known as Prince should know that with behaviour like this he will soon be the Artist Formerly Available in Record Stores," he said.

"It is an insult to all those record stores who have supported Prince throughout his career. It is yet another example of the damaging covermount culture which is destroying any perception of value around recorded music," Quirk told a music conference in London.

My thought?  It's his music and he can do what he wants with it.  True, it's not good to bite the hand that feeds you, but the music business is changing and Price is getting great publicity by doing this.  Not only does he get press, but his album gets into the hands of new people who probably wouldn't purchase it (or even know about it) otherwise.

You Have to Want It BAD

You may be reading these words because you’re trying to motivate yourself to make changes in your life.   Perhaps something to do with your music business career, or perhaps something else.  Whatever it is...you've got to really want it, because although there is always "ease" to it, change isn't always easy.

Whether you have a solid goal in mind and searching for the incentive to make it work or you simply need a little push to do something more than you’ve done so far – these words are only as good as your own desire to break out of whatever holds you back.

No matter how motivated you are at the starting line, you won’t take charge of your life until you decide that you want change badly enough.  If you don’t truly want to change at a core level, you won’t be able to keep going.

What many of us do is try to trick ourselves into thinking we’re ready for change, but this falsehood makes itself apparent at the first sign of an obstacle in our path.  Suddenly we realize that we don’t want it as badly as we thought, and we turn back again. 

In order to develop the burning desire that acts like fuel to propel you toward your dreams, you have to decide that there IS no going back.  Close the door you just walked through by deciding that your existing circumstances are absolutely unacceptable and you can’t stand them a moment longer.  You have to decide that you’re sick to death of playing small, that you’re ready to do whatever it takes to make some changes, and then you have to commit to TAKE ACTION!

You will only be successful at this if your goals are important enough to empower and inspire you even in the face of obstacles.  What makes a goal important?

Choose a goal that makes you feel incredibly passionate.  Make it something that MEANS something to you.  The more passionate you are about your goals, the more likely you will be to continue on through obstacles and challenges, and the greater your chances for success will be.

You should also feel excited about the possibility of change in your life.  Stir up your emotions and allow yourself to be filled with excitement and awe about the possibilities before you.  This may prove challenging because many of us have become so accustomed to holding an attitude of resignation and defeat that we’ve forgotten how to get really excited about something.  Learn how to let your emotions run wild and fuel your desire for positive change, and you will find yourself with a greater amount of motivation than you’ve ever experienced before.

Finally, your goals should be life-changing.  Don’t pick a goal just for the sake of having something to do with your time.  Make it a goal that will have powerful, life-changing effects.  Whether your goal is related to your career, health, family, romantic life or anything else, you’ve GOT to make it something that will have a huge impact on you and your life circumstances.  Make it something that would so drastically change your life that you’d never be tempted to settle into mediocrity again.

American Idol Auditions

If you're interested in trying out for American Idol, here's the info...

Season 7 auditions include:

July 30, San Diego (Qualcomm Stadium)

Aug. 6, Dallas (Texas Stadium)

Aug. 10, Omaha (Qwest Center)

Aug. 14, Atlanta (most likely, the Georgia Dome)

Aug. 18, Charleston, S.C. (North Charleston Coliseum)

Aug. 22, Miami (AmericanAirlines Arena)

Aug. 27, Philadelphia (Wachovia Cente

Get more details....

How Choosing The Wrong Band Name Could Be The MOST Expensive Decision Of Your Career

by Nick Nanton

MusicDish Network Sponsor

Ok, so you and all of your buddies sit down one day and decide to form a band. You sit down at your first impromptu "business meeting" over a case of cold coke (insert other favorite band beverage here) and you start your checklist:

1. Instruments: Check
2. Rehearsal Space (Your Friend's Garage): Check
3. Molly Hatchet Songbook: Check
4. Band Name: ...............

... a blank stare stretches across everyone's face, and thus your band has hit its first of many roadblocks on the road to becoming "The Next Big Thing." So, you do what every other band does, you think back to your favorite band names in movies, your favorite one liners in Monty Python skits as well as "Saturday Night Live," and all of your other favorite shows and FINALLY someone comes up with a name that everyone loves (or more likely everyone can somewhat live with) and The Band is born.

For the purpose of this illustration, let's suppose that your band picks the name "Blind Cheetah." While you're positive that a record deal, scantily-clad members of the opposite sex and suitcases full of money are just inches away, there are a couple of things that you may not be aware of, important things like -- Is there another band called Blind Cheetah anywhere on earth? Before you start printing up t-shirts, buying BlindCheetah.com and building your MySpace page, this is a serious question that has to be answered.

"Why does it matter?" you may ask. Well, there is a large body of law in the United States, as well as in almost every other nation in the world, that prevents competitors from using the same name.

If there is another Blind Cheetah performing anywhere in the good old U.S. of A. (we'll leave the rest of the world out of this for now) and if you were to start performing in area night clubs and selling t-shirts with "Blind Cheetah" emblazed on them in hot pink, then the other (undoubtedly horrible sounding) Blind Cheetah "impostors" could have a Trademark Infringement Claim against you.

If they were to pursue it, it could be very costly because if you are served with a lawsuit, you are REQUIRED to respond to it, no matter how ridiculous it may sound. And, as you might have guessed, at this point you will need to hire a lawyer to handle this situation.  I can tell you that this call is much more expensive than the option I'm about to tell you about.

The truth is that this is a very common issue that sometimes goes unnoticed, but often ends up in a costly visit to the courtroom. So, you have two choices. You can wing it or you can opt for the safer route: do a little homework for yourself and then call an attorney who specializes in trademarks.

I know that the mere mention of the word "attorney" conjures up many feelings in all of us, but I can assure you there are some very cool attorneys out there... I can think of at least one right now! And the trademark process is really not that expensive. Certainly it's not nearly as expensive as defending yourself against a multi-million dollar record label or disgruntled band. Trust me, or you can learn the hard way for yourself.

I do, however, advise you to do a little homework first because there are so many bands in the world that the likelihood of your band being the first one ever to come up with a particular name, as ingenious and innovative as you are, is about as good as the likelihood of coming up with a reality show that is productive to society... In other words, don't count on it.

Here are a few things you can do to avoid spending money before you have to:

a. Search Google, Yahoo, MySpace, YouTube, purevolume and every other portal you can think of to see if any other band, musician or entertainment company is using the same name or a name very similar to yours (the names don't even have to be identical to get you in trouble, a similar name is all it takes)

b. Search the Worldwide Band Name Registry at www.bandname.com. This registry is "the most comprehensive list of bands in the world." You can search for a band name here, and you can register your band name if no one else is already using it.

c. Check to see if anyone owns any of the domain names with your proposed band name in it, after all you are going to need one anyway. Try these first: BandName.com, BandNameMusic.com, BandNameOnline.com, BandNameRocks.com and anything else you can think of that might lead you to an answer.

If, after checking the above resources, you are still confident that your band name is available, then it's time to make the decision to spend a little money now or a lot of money later. If you're at that crossroad, and you'd like to discuss that further, feel free to give me a call.

Provided by the MusicDish Network. Copyright © MusicDish LLC 2007 - Republished with Permission

The Real Value of Your Life

Do you believe that you are here on this earth for a reason?  Even if you don’t believe in some airy-fairy concept of fate and destiny, do you at least feel that there is a higher reason for your existence?

Whether you believe in a pre-set destiny or having the power to choose your own destiny, it’s important to develop an understanding of the very real value your life has.

What is the value of your life?  Let’s first define “value” so we have a clear understanding of how it relates to your life.  The standard definition of value is a fair equivalent of exchange, or the monetary or relative worth or importance of something.

If you look at your life as a commodity, it is a rare one since there is only one of you – now or ever.  No one else on the planet has ever or will ever have your unique set of talents, skills and abilities.

What would something of such rarity be worth in relative or monetary value?  Putting a price tag on something so rare and precious would be difficult at best.

Instead, let the value of your life rest in the value you GIVE to others.  If you spend your life hiding in a cave, what value has your existence added to the planet?  Not much.  On the other hand, if you make it your mission to add value to the lives of others, your life also begins to grow in value.

People often feel an inner stirring to do something meaningful with their lives but they don’t know what it should be.  They are besieged by questions like, “What is my life purpose?  What should I be focusing on while I’m here?  How can I make a positive difference in the world?”

Whether you feel a vague inner stirring and you’re just beginning your search for answers or you already know what your “purpose” is – you MUST put it into action in order for your life to provide real value.

Here’s a simple way to find your purpose and create real value with your life.

1)    First, figure out what brings you the most joy.  It doesn’t have to be a vocation exactly; your life purpose could easily end up being something separate from your job unless you choose to make your living from it.

2)    Then, find a way to share your joy with others.  Even better is if you can find a way to HELP others with what you do.  Create a product that enhances lives.  Offer a service that helps others by saving time, saving money or reducing stress.

3)    Throw yourself into it with abandon.  Give as much of yourself as you can to everything you do, and it will be reflected back to you tenfold.

You are still valuable even if you don’t do anything spectacular with your life.  But it’s kind of like stuffing a million dollars into coffee cans and burying them in your backyard.  What good is it if you don’t USE it?

Refuse to Settle for Where You Are

Have you given up on your dreams because they seem too difficult to achieve?  Have you decided that you must be destined for a life of struggle and lack because you just can’t seem to make lasting positive changes?  Facing disappointments like these is never easy.  In fact, they have the power to immobilize us permanently if we let them.

However, settling for where you are is one sure way to guarantee that you’ll end up stuck there.  If you want to break out of the rut of disappointment, you need to develop a strong dislike for your current circumstances.  You need to vow to never settle for less than you deserve.

If you’ve reached a certain level of success in your life, it’s great to feel proud of your achievements but you can’t stop there!  To keep positive momentum going in your life, there are two things you must do after every accomplishment:

1)    Take time to enjoy the scenery of your new location.  YES – you should enjoy the fruits of your labor!  Absolutely take time to feel good, enjoy the benefits of whatever you’ve done.  Live it up, take a break, enjoy life for awhile!  The length of time you do this will be your personal preference.  It might be days, it might be weeks, it might be months.  But then…

2)    Get moving again!  Don’t stay in one place for so long that you become lethargic and create inertia again.  Start thinking about your next goal, your next level of achievement, your next big accomplishment.  You should ALWAYS have a goal in the works, even if you’re in the initial brainstorming stage.  Keep pushing yourself to excel beyond anything you’ve done so far.

Refusing to settle for where you are shouldn’t take away from anything you’ve accomplished – it should only ADD to it. 

In fact, with every goal you set, you should be looking at the long-term vision.  Don’t just think about the immediate benefits but look farther into the future and recognize the possibilities for greatness in your life.

Obviously, there is a process involved with this.  You don’t have to take on the whole world right away, but rather continuously work toward something greater than what you can envision for your life right now. 

Whatever you do, don’t trick yourself into believing that you’ve accomplished all you can!  Even if you’ve reached the absolute pinnacle of your field, there is ALWAYS a higher roost you can climb to.

Don’t be afraid to switch paths either.  Just because you’ve reached a high level of achievement in your chosen field or preference, you can always begin exploring other paths and creating high achievements in other venues also.

The main point is to look at where you are, and consider where you might go from here.  When you reach a new level of accomplishment, do the same thing.  Then do it again at the next level.  And again, and again!  Doing so will keep you on a rewarding path of enrichment and satisfaction.

How Dare You Play Small?

Have you ever questioned your own worth or worried that you weren’t the right person to accomplish something great?  Have you ever been derailed by thoughts along the lines of, “Who am I to think I can do this?”

Thoughts like that are a sure sign that you are playing small!

“Playing small” means dismissing or diminishing your own inner power.  It means not recognizing and honoring your strengths.  Each one of us plays small from time to time, and some of us play small our whole lives. 

Playing small is directly tied in with our perceived self-worth.  A person with poor self-worth won’t be able to see that they can achieve anything worthwhile.  They won’t set goals (or they won’t give their full effort to them, so they continually fail at whatever goals they do set); they won’t work on bettering themselves because they don’t feel they deserve it; they avoid intimacy in relationships because they don’t feel worthy of love; and it gets much worse.

People with poor self-worth also fail to see the incredible positive impact they could have on the world around them.  They doubt their abilities, dismiss their talents and neglect opportunities to grow.  In this way, they not only deprive themselves of valuable experiences, they deprive the world of the joy and abundance they could share.

Do these descriptions resonate with the feelings you have about yourself?  If so, you may need to work on building your self-worth before you’ll be able to get motivated about anything.

Here are 3 simple ways to begin:

1)    When you start asking yourself, “Who am I to think I can do this” (whatever your goal may be), pause for a moment and ask yourself, “Why NOT me?”  Ask yourself if you’re so different from any of the great figures in history.  Ask yourself why other “average” people have been able to do great things.  You have to convince yourself that you have at least as much POTENTIAL as anyone else in the world!

2)    Begin honoring your ability to learn and grow.  Just because you believe you don’t have any great talents right now, doesn’t mean you couldn’t develop some later.  Just because you believe you’re not good at something right now doesn’t mean you can’t be good at it eventually – especially if you work at it until you become good (or great) at it.

3)    Believe you are worth the effort.  Whether you’re focusing on building your self-worth or psyching yourself up to take the plunge on your goals, know that you deserve success and happiness.  Every step you take to improve yourself or your life is well worth the effort involved.

Finally and most importantly, make a vow to yourself that you will stop playing small beginning right NOW.  Don’t deny yourself or your dreams or the world any longer.  You are not serving anyone by doing so.

Make a commitment to share your uniqueness with the world.  Find the medium that best expresses your natural abilities and begin moving in that direction.  The world will thank you later.

Send Music Business Radio a New Jingle!

Last week, Music Business Radio started looking for new jingles.  This week, those who were on top of things are getting their jingles played.

The video below, a clip of one of our guests, contains a jazz tag from Michael Gregory.

Want your music featured?  Get details on how you can send us something.

Get Motivated by a Bigger Purpose

Have you ever suspected that your life could be more than it appears to be right now?  Have you felt that you are capable of greater things than what you’ve done so far?  Have you ever had a niggling feeling that you were meant to do something important while you’re here?

Whether you believe you have a lofty, predestined mission or simply have an inner knowing that you want more and are capable of more, know that you have the power to turn your life into something incredible, something that will change the world in powerful ways, and something that will result in an immense feeling of purpose and satisfaction that can sustain you for the rest of your life.

Even if you don’t have a solid purpose in mind (few of us do), you can motivate yourself to create one simply by choosing to do something worthwhile with your life.  This is especially helpful if you’ve ever felt bored or uninspired by your daily activities, like you were stuck in an endless cycle of mundane nothingness.

In order to escape the boredom, you have to choose something bigger, something that inspires passion and purpose within you.  You have to be unwilling to settle for what others have, or what you have settled for so far.

But how do you get one of these purposes?  When most people start thinking about their life purpose, they usually try to find it somewhere “out there” or they seek guidance from external sources.

I’m going to suggest just the opposite to you today and urge you to CREATE YOUR PURPOSE.

That suggestion will likely bring up a lot of questions in your mind, such as, “What if I choose the wrong one?  What if I create something that makes me unhappy, or poor?  What if I’m meant to be doing something specific and I mess it up by choosing something else?”

Let me tell you a secret:  you can’t choose wrong if you follow your inner guidance.  Furthermore, your “purpose” will likely change several times as you progress through the phases of your life.  Don’t be afraid to make a wrong choice.  It is impossible.  You may choose a path that you’ll ultimately decide isn’t for you.  That’s fine – just move to a different path!  Nothing is set in stone, and you always have the power to choose something else.

There has never been, nor will there ever be, another YOU.  Think about what that means.  It means you have been given a great gift, and you are expected to DO something with it!  It means you have an amazing opportunity to create a work of art out of your life, and use it to make a positive difference in the world.

Once you have a strong purpose in mind, nothing will be able to stop you.  You’ll have more motivation than you know what to do with.  In fact, you may need to learn a few new relaxation methods to temper your enthusiasm! 

How to Become Lucky

Thanks to the Secret DVD, a lot of people are aware of the "Law of Attraction."  Earn Nightingale talked about it years go when he said, "You become what you think about."  It was also made popular by Napoleon Hill in his book "Think and Grow Rich."

Have you ever noticed how some people have "all the luck" and other's can't seem to do anything right?  This is the Law of Attraction in action...and it works as well for those in the music business as it does those in any other profession.

You may be accustomed to thinking about luck as some mysterious, fleeting quality that you either have or don’t have – but the Law of Attraction teaches us that we can consciously choose to become lucky.

While the dictionary defines luck as “chance or good fortune” – studying the Law of Attraction awakens us to the understanding that chance has little to do with it.  It is our thoughts, emotions, beliefs and actions that determine the outcome of any situation, not some random quirk of fate.

In other words, it is much more about the type of person you are and the things you consistently do that determine how lucky you are.  Through the conscious use of the Law of Attraction, you can easily and quickly become the luckiest person on the planet!  You just have to understand how to get some good energy flowing through your life by adopting the mind-set and demeanor of a lucky person.  This involves learning how to alter your thoughts, emotions and actions in such a way that they attract opportunities, abundance and good fortune.

How do you do this?  If you’ve ever observed the people that seem to be naturally lucky, you may have noticed a few interesting things about them.

•    Lucky people are optimists.  They always expect the best outcome with whatever they do, and they very often get it!  They don’t spend time brooding over missed opportunities or a lack of options.  Instead they focus on the positives and MAKE situations work for them.  At the same time, they have learned the art of detachment.  They let go of any “need” for a specific outcome and instead remain open to the many good things that life has to offer.  This very mind-set is what attracts great opportunities into their lives, and also gives them the keen awareness to recognize such opportunities.

•    Lucky people live in the moment.  They don’t spend time obsessing over negative things that happened in the past, and they don’t harbor anxiety about the future.  Instead, they simply grasp the joy and passion that life has to offer them right NOW, and let the future take care of itself.  This also contributes to clearer thought processes, which enables them to be more aware of the potential that exists in each moment.

•    Lucky people take action without hesitation.  You will rarely see a lucky person hesitating, doubting, or holding back on something they really want to do.  Instead, they leap ahead when they see something they want.  They’re not afraid of hard work, but they also seem to have an innate ability to make any endeavor fun and exciting.  They don’t groan about how hard life is; they take control of the wheel and steer their lives where they want to go!

If you consciously begin taking these actions yourself on a regular basis, you will notice a gradually increasing flow of good fortune.  Not only will you attract better outcomes in every situation, you will call forth endless opportunities to keep improving all areas of your life.

Want more info on the subject?  I've written an entire book on the Law of Attraction.