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Christian Music Conference in Nashville, TN

Indieheaven.com has just announced their 5th annual CIA Summit conference being held March 28-29, 2008, near Nashville, TN.

The Summit has established itself as an event that focuses on the independent musician, encouraging attendees to create momentum, and to pursue passion and excellence in their music mission. The event is quite different than other industry style music seminars, as no talent contests are held, or battles of the bands competing for industry attention.

CIA Summit founder Keith Mohr states, "There are plenty of idol types of contests and seminars, but our focus has been and will always be to renew the artist mind that they can be successful as an independent artist if they create content of excellence, have a strong work ethic, and engage in community with other independent artists. We are seeing many success stories from artists joining and using our Indieheaven.com organization, and cultivating strong relationships on our Network.

Teachers and speakers include: Indieheaven President, Keith Mohr, Sue Ross of The Inner Vizion, mainstream music guru Bob Baker of The Buzz Factor, Rick Cua, Tom Jackson, Robert Beeson of The Kindred Group, Eric Copeland of Creative Soul, Brad Mathias of Infinity Music Distribution, with many more to come!

Also planned for the days leading up to the CIA Summit, Tom Jackson will share his vast knowledge of live performance tips in a special one day seminar on March 26, 2008. On March 27, 2008, CMS Productions will hold their 2nd annual Nashville Songwriters Bootcamp, with Charlie Peacock and representatives from the CCM industry including EMI, Provident, Integrity and others. Songwriters will have their songs critiqued, and learn about the craft of writing from a seasoned panel of industry pros.

For more information on the CIA Summit and all of the events coming up in late March 2008, visit the Summit website at: www.ciasummit.com.

Cracking Pandora - How to Write a Hit Song

Had Tim Westergren, founder of Pandora.com, on Music Business Radio a couple of weeks ago, and I've been playing around with the service ever since.

For those that don't know about Pandora, let me bring you up to speed...

Pandora is an online radio station, which gives users an individual "station" based on their likes and dislikes.  You pick a song or artist and Pandora takes it from there.

Songs on the service are organized based on 396 characteristics.  With each song played, you have an opportunity to say "I like this" or "I don't like this."  If you like a certain song, you get other songs with similar characteristics.  And if you don't like a song, you get less of those songs.

For example... Just now, I created a station based on the band U2.  The first song played was "Miss Sarjevo."  The second song was "Every Breath You Take" by the Police.  Third song, "Jenny Was a Friend of Mine" by the Killers.

Here is what I found interesting...

Unlike Amazon, which makes selections based on "People who purchased X album also purchased Y album," Pandora doesn't look at sales records or what it thinks you might like based on demographics or anything like that.  The only thing it looks at is the uniqueness of the music itself.

My assistant lives in Toronto.  The morning I was interviewing Tim, I had her on the phone, going over the day's schedule, and we were discussing Pandora.  I typed in Aldo Nova, a well known Canadian musician, just to see what would come up.  And I got other Canadian musicians from the same time, such as Honeymoon Suite, Loverboy, and Triumph.

Interesting, right?  Especially since Pandora isn't looking at geography or time period.

But here is where it got really interesting...

Bon Jovi kept coming up.  Specifically, songs from their self-titled album, such as "Runaway."

Why?  Pandora said it was this...

electric rock instrumentation
a subtle use of vocal harmony
acoustic rhythm piano
repetitive melodic phrasing
a vocal-centric aesthetic
minor key tonality
electric rhythm guitars
a dynamic male vocalist

But the interesting thing to me was that Aldo Nova actually played guitar on that record as well as co-wrote several of the songs.

Obviously, there is some kind of "footprint" being left behind by Aldo Nova, even though he wasn't the artist.  And that same mark went on to brand other songs during that time and from his area of the world.

Do all songs have a "footprint" like this? Assuming they do, could it be that Pandora has the ability to "decode" a hit song for you?

Think about it...  People who a certain genre of music, enjoy more than one act from that genre.  But not everybody who likes "rock music" will enjoy every song in the genre.

But what if you took the "genre" of a specific song and split it into 396 characteristics...  Couldn't you recreate it in a new song that lovers of the original song would also enjoy?

Something to think about...

For those of you interesting in writing a commercial song, hit Pandora.com, start a new station based on something hot, and see what characteristics pop up.  Probably little things that you never would have analyzed before-- type of hi-hat, slight use of vibrato, etc.

And if you're not interested in a commercial song, but want something more "artsy" that will impress even the most apathetic of indie record store clerks, you can analyze songs like that also. 

Whatever you want, Pandora looks at it all the same, which is what I find so interesting about it.  One characteristic isn't any better than the other, it's just different.

If any of you try this, please let me know how it works for you.  And if you have any thoughts on the subject, feel free to post them below.   

How to Reach 10,000,000 Music Fans

You've surely head of Pandora, a streaming radio service which creates a custom station for each individual user.

But what a lot of people don't know is that Pandora treats independent and major label music just the same.  And that means, based on the company's 396 characteristics for analyzing music, you have as much opportunity to have your music played as anybody else.

I recently interviewed the founder of Pandora, Tim Westergren, on Music Business Radio.  Below is a video we shot while taking Tim to his next appointment, which explains more about how users can submit music to Pandora and what they're looking for.

The full interview with Tim is currently being edited, but will be available to you via the Music Business Radio podcast shortly.

And more of my thoughts on how you can use Pandora to develop new material as well as a promotion strategy will be available shortly as well...

Tori Amos Yells at Fans, Then Kicks Them Out of Show

Last week, Tori Amos was performing in San Diego and got a bit agitated at a couple of fans whom she didn't feel were paying as much attention like they should.

Video is below.  It happens around 2:25.

In my opinion we've certainly come to a place in this country where people don't really know how to act in movies or other performance situations.  It's common to see people take phone calls and otherwise interrupt the show for others.  But is getting up out of your seat to get a drink something that warrants this kind of abuse?

I've always thought that the show needs to go on, regardless of who is in the audience or how they are behaving.  In other words, you can't blame people for being bored.  Keeping the audience entertained is the performer's job.  And these two people paid a premium price for these seats.  Last time I checked, that was Tori's qualification for obtaining the tickets...she didn't limit buyers to "people who appreciate music." If you're paying for a show, it's obvious that you appreciate it on some level.

I've never seen something like this happen with an independent band, but I've certainly seen examples of acts who expect to audience to behave a certain way.  Again, it's the performers job to make this happen.  If the audience isn't standing up and dancing, as the guy with the mic and PA system, that's your responsibility.

Take a look and let me know what you think...

Opinions? What do you think of the general situation?  And what do you think about this specific incident?  Did Tori help or hurt herself?

Old Men Who Run the Music Business

More thoughts on old men who run the music business.  This time, from Frank Zappa...

Trent Reznor of Nine Inch Nails on the Grammys

“While the music industry is doing everything they possibly can to go out of business, can we all make sure to rid ourselves of the Grammys, too? Out of touch old men jacking each other off. ENOUGH!”

Those are the words of Trent Reznor of Nine Inch Nails.

I know how he feels.  I was a member of NARAS, now known as the Recording Academy, the organization which does the Grammys, for about ten years, before getting sick of how slow they were to move on new things such as technology and the changing face of the music business. 

And it did seem like an old man's gig, with people like Michael Greene running the show.  He pissed off Rudy Giliani so much that the Grammy Awards were BANNED from New York.  And there were multiple sexual harassment allegations on him, including one by former executive Jill Marie Geimer, in which NARAS trustees voted to pay out $650,000.00 in order to settle.

But the organization does seem to be changing, even if it's slow.  Michael Greene was forced to resign in 2002 and new leadership is in place.  For more info on what they offer now, visit Grammy.com.

Take a Picture with the Band - Viral Marketing Idea

Here is a cool marketing idea from Rascal Flatts that anybody can do.  It looks impressive, but you could hire somebody to make this happen for just a couple hundred bucks at a site like Scriptlance.

If you really wanted to go balls out, you could do a video (or animation) of your band performing and have it so that people could join you.

Again, this stuff is cheap and easy to do.  And almost no indie band is doing it.

An Open Letter for Music Business CEOs to Ignore

An interesting open letter from Vic Steffens of Horizon Music Group...

In the course of doing general business I’ve been forced to put some serious thought into the overall plight of the industry. It was a great exercise in analyzing where we are, so I decided to document it. Once written, well, why not share it with the folks that REALLY make this all work….the rank and file. Who meet here on the Rope.

I really want to address the upper ten percent of the music industry pay scale. You are the people that get paid to be the caretakers of this thing that is very dear to me. You are also the folks that generally speaking have lost touch with the reality of what has evolved.

The fact is, whatever the reason, internal or external, we are all failing. Those of you who run this thing: if you aren’t prepared to deal with it, you should step aside. If you choose to do neither, you will be pushed aside. Granted, you will probably be pushed aside with a huge golden parachute that will further hurt the industry you once loved even more. But if you are that person you won’t care. I happen to care. I’ve spent my adult life with the talent, and these days also with the kids looking to get into what THEY love, and have managed to survive. So even though I don’t make 7 figures, I’ve earned the right. My thoughts:

1) Take a pay cut. A pretty good one that reflects the contraction in business. Like 25%. How about if you show the people that REALLY make your company work, the worker bees, that you need them and respect them and their situation. Lets also acknowledge that generally speaking top level salaries are out of proportion with the size of the industry today. Sure, take an incentive that will reward you for bringing it back. Remember when you were a kid and your survival was based on what you did TODAY? Put some pressure on yourself to succeed. Stop paying yourself for a garrison mentality.

2) Stop paying stupid money for “superstar“ A and R. You are paying that guy for something he did for someone ELSE. Sure pay him a reasonable salary, but let him earn his bread the way we all do: with his output. This business is too weird to assume that because some guy had a hit over there, he will have one or more for you. Also, reward people that sign acts with legs. Its too easy to find some chick with a great ass and pay waaayy too much for some (insert name) Superstar producer track (that was actually done by someone else) and throw it out there with a bundle of cash to get it on big radio. That isn’t making a hit….that’s BUYing a hit and if you look at the numbers, you didn’t make all that much on it anyway. Plus, you really don’t have an artist, you had an event. Here’s a clue: If the artist can’t sell a hard ticket with a top ten record, the artist isn’t really generating any interest. You might have created the illusion of interest, but it’s not real. Regarding superstar “track producers” and big A and R, if YOU weren’t paying them this ridiculous money to do this…what would they do? Damn, they would have to risk their OWN bread to put out this stuff. The ONE thing you still have is some control over that conduit. How about if you use it wisely and control the upfront spending.

3) Reinstate artist development at your company. IF you find the words “360 deal” falling off your lips, be prepared to accept the responsibility of that kind of relationship. Buy a booking agency and put them to work making sure your artists are exposed. Assuming they are any good you will actually MAKE money on that. Same with publishing. Do NOT make your publishing company a filing cabinet called “mechanical royalty reducer”. DO something proactive to place songs and grow your artist.

4) LEAD your company. Take a cue from that guy you hate that we’ll discuss later Steve Jobs. The guy who’s stock was under 10 dollars not too long ago. He talks to his employees, excites them, builds a team attitude, takes a 1.00 salary and the rest in options that become worth more the better the company does. Remember THAT concept, reward is commensurate with risk? Do you even realize that most of the people that work for you are EMBARRASSED but much of the crap you market? No, you probably don’t. Perhaps you should ask them once and a while. You might also want to Google names like “A and M”, or “Geffen” and filter out anything from the last 20 years. Even “Victory” gets this point.

5) Look FORWARD, not backward. We all know where its going in the end don’t we? Could we replace the kicking and screaming with some creative thinking? How about if we stop calling Steve Jobs the devil and sit down and say “what could we do together”. If you showed something other than contempt for the lifeline he threw you, you MIGHT find enough common ground for some new initiatives the people might not mind PAYING for. The fact is, you have to EARN that right from the consumer, and you have generally lost it. But trust me, that right will not be restored by legislation, but by education, mutual respect, and a product that folks think is worth something.

Vic Steffens

Feel free to post comments below...

Ho Ho Ho - Time to Spread Some Holiday Cheer

We've got a few big holidays coming up this month and that's the perfect time to do something nice for your fans.  It's quick and easy to record an album of holiday music or do a special show.

Who is your favorite band?  I've got Joan Jett on the radio right now, so let's say it's her.

If you liked Joan Jett and she sent you a CD with some holiday music, wouldn't you be thrilled?  Imagine gathering your family around the yule log and playing a rock version of Jingle Bells...

Well, your fans will feel the same way when you send them a CD of your band doing some holiday music.  Or when you do a special holiday show and give everybody who comes a CD, as a token of your appreciation for a great year.

There are so many things you can do during the holidays.  If you're doing something creative, I'd love to hear about it.  Post below...