Blog posts and interviews on the music industry
Tom Lubin has engineered in some of the worlds greatest studios, taught sound, edited a magazine, had a rock and roll hotel, toured the US for Fostex, made instructional videos on recording that are required viewing at many universities... all the while still making records! In '87 he moved to Oz, and was increasingly involved in film, TV, games, and digital media.
Sarah Gavigan has placed literally thousands of indie and unsigned artists to TV ads. She has been in the commercial production industry since 1995. In 2000, Gavigan created Ten Music, the first company to represent independent record labels and artists to advertisers for music licensing. Recently, she built HANK (hankmusic.tv), the first online music supervisor. Gavigan has licensed music to well over 1000 commercials for such companies as Adidas, Nike, Nissan, Hummer, Target, Microsoft, Old Navy, and Payless Shoes.
Tommy Marolda is a respected songwriter, musician, record producer, engineer and music publisher who has appeared on more than 50 albums either as an artist, producer or composer. He has been nominated for a Gammy Award and has worked on gold and platimun albums with artists such as Cher, Bee Gees, The Killers, Rod Stewart, Kurupt, DR. Dre and Richie Sambora from Bon Jovi. Working in the music business for more than 30 years, Tommy and his two bands, THE TOMS and HORIZONTAL LADIES CLUB, continue to record and release alternative and independent music.
When it comes to success it seems that successful people know what they want and don't give up until they reach their goals. Even the interviews I post here have that in common: every one made a conscientious decision to make their career in the music industry and none of them have ever given up.
If you commit yourself wholeheartedly and believe that what you are doing is the right thing, chances are it is! If you know what you want, you have a goal and are committed to obtaining it then sooner or later it happens!
Along with being a Music Supervisor, Kyle Merkley also coordinates everyone’s needs including music submissions, licensing administration, and all the other fun stuff that comes with music supervision. As an avid musician and the top-ranked graduate of his year in the Music Business Management Program at Durham College, Kyle possesses a firm grasp of music licensing from both sides of the fence.
Mark Hornsby is an acclaimed music producer, audio engineer, musician, writer and marketing consultant – widely considered to be one of the most diverse figures in today’s music business.
Mark is the former co-owner of one of Florida’s largest recording and rehearsal studios – Ridenour Studios – whose clients included New Found Glory, Foreigner, Ricky Martin, Joey Kramer, Steve Winwood and Johnny Depp.
I recently spoke with Jack Conte of Pomplamoose about the couple's incredible success and how YouTube has helped generate a full-time income from music sales. Although the band has recently completed a mini tour of the US's east coast, up until this point the band's success was mostly online. The band created some well edited videos of popular covers and made YouTube's "suggestions" function work for them. They created artistic videos showing the duo recording covers and uploaded them to YouTube. YouTube's "suggestions" function helped draw fans of the original artist to Pomplamoose's versions. Soon enough the videos were getting massive views and the band was adding their original music to the channel too. The point of true success came when they were able to convert their online followers to paying fans. This happened when they released their album "Tribute to Famous People" on iTunes and had 30,000 downloads. Since then the band's success has only grown and now when the phone rings it's Toyota and Hyundai asking to synch their music in commercials. We all know how lucrative that can be...
Work your craft, hone your skills, become the best you can be, get out and play, learn from mistakes,... but do the business too! The reality is, that as an artist you're an entrepreneur and a business owner! If you can't invest time into to all aspects of your own career then no one will!
Something to consider is the fact that if a song is not written by a band member then it is the writers that are going to see no return on the free giveaways. Many bands give their music away with the hopes of generating more fans and consequently more ticket and merch sales, etc... this however does not benefit the writers (except that with more exposure can come more opportunities to license a track).
I have heard a lot of really good music and a lot of really bad stuff too! But some of the bad stuff is "technically" really good... What do I mean by this? I mean people can hit all the right notes, have a great melody, great lyrics, great production,... and still the song does nothing, it doesn't move me, it doesn't stir an emotion, it doesn't transmit anything. 9 times out of 10, it's because the performances are coming from the brain instead of the heart.
As a musician you can compare your career to that of an entrepreneur, you build your business from the ground up and you stick to a plan. You set your goals and then you follow your road map. The ultimate life lesson for me was climbing in South America in high altitude. It wasn't easy and the lack of oxygen didn't make it easier. I would take ten steps, stop to rest, then keep going. The lesson I learned and have applied ever since is that if you put one step in front of the other and and don't give up you always reach your goals.
I first interacted with Stacey when she was working at Vapor music with David Hayman, who's interview you may remember. Through Stacey I was introduced to Michael Perlmutter whom she has also worked with. Over and over, networking proves to be the most important tool in this industry. I love how Stacey got started in Music Supervision and how it has taken her from Victoria, British Columbia, to The Big Apple, NYC!
A few years back I came across Thorney Bleeder Records and their free compilation, "Get Thorny". Since then, it seems that Brian's name, along with that of Thorny Bleeder, are constantly associated with exciting music updates and a wealth of music business knowledge. Brian's DIY Daily and blog posts carry some priceless insight for bands that should not go unread. Getting the chance to pick Brian's brain on a topic he knows better than most was interesting and insightful to say the least. Thanks again, Brian, for sharing your knowledge!
David Weiss is President of D Media, Inc. (www.dwords.com) and is an internationally published freelance journalist. He is the NYC editor of Mix magazine, the world's leading pro audio publication, and his work has appeared regularly in publications such as Systems Contractor News, Archi-Tech, Digital Television, TV Technology, Time Out NY, Remix and Drum! magazine. He is also co-author of the book Music Supervision: The Complete Guide to Selecting and Licensing Music & Sound Design for Media, published by Schirmer Trade Books in September, 2005. Mr. Weiss is a music supervisor for retail, restaurant and hospitality environments, guiding content and music management systems while working with one of New York City's premiere A/V integrators, Essential Communications.
Michael Perlmutter is a Music Supervisor and owner of instinct entertainment. He finds songs for films, TV shows, docs. and commercials. He loves music. He loves the arts. And, happy to admit, the Toronto Maple Leafs. He has been asked to speak/moderate on panels at various conferences including: MIDEM (Cannes), Winter Music Conference (Miami), Billboard Dance Music Summit (NYC), NXNE (Toronto), ECMA Music Conference (Maritimes), Atlantic Film Festival (Halifax) and CMW (Toronto).
Ariel Hyatt is the founder of Ariel Publicity, a social media PR firm based in New York. Their Cyber PR ® Campaigns place musicians on blogs, podcasts, and Internet radio stations and coach them to create authentic relationships with fans. Since 1996, Ariel Publicity has represented over 1,500 independent musicians.
Her book Music Success in Nine Weeks has helped over a thousand musicians get in control of their online strategies and her ongoing blogging challenges keep artists accountable through the reading process.
Over 140 million records sold ww (albums/singles) during his career as Head of A&R, Managing Director / CEO and European A&R Executive.
Hits and recordings with: Christina Aguillera, Jennifer Lopez, Britney Spears, Janet Jackson, Celine Dion, Santana, Clay Aiken, Carrie Underwood, Katherine McPhee, Jessica Simpson, Ronan Keating, Sugababes, Danity Kane, Duffy, Christina Milian, Monrose, Danity Kane, Sophie Ellis-Bextor, The Saturdays, Ben's Brother, No Angels, Thomas Godoj, Shinee, Super Junior, Girls Generation, F(x), BOA, Namie Amuro, Tata Young, Daniel Schumacher, Till Brönner, Thomas Godoj, Cinema Bizarre, Tarja Turunen, Millencolin, Baxter, Sugarplum Fairy, Infinite Mass, Rachel Stevens, and many, many more...
As Head of A&R and International for Sony BMG Canada from 2000-2004, Berry was responsible for the development, recording and international marketing of Sony BMG Canada’s domestic roster, including artists such as Keshia Chanté, Wyclef, Shawn Desman, Sloan, Rascalz, Treble Charger, Gino Vannelli, In Essence, The Guess Who, Ryan Malcolm (Canadian Idol), Kalan Porter (Canadian Idol) and many more.
Brian Cannon is a British graphic designer, art director, photographer, and music video director. He is best known for his Microdot graphic design company and its work in the 1990s, which created the album cover for Oasis' record breaking debut album, Definitely Maybe, in 1994.
Dave is an executive music producer, music supervisor, published author, artist manager, producer, voice-over artist, on-air talent, and writer for TV, Film, Advertising, New Media, and Live Events. Dave was awarded for his contributions to a Daytime Emmy Award for Outstanding Achievement in Music Direction and Composition for a Drama Series, "All My Children" (ABC / Disney). During his tenure at ABC, Dave made on-camera appearances on shows like Live Regis and Kathi Lee as well as NBC’s Maury Povich Show…
