Expose Yourself: Grammy Time

If you have had the pleasure of releasing a CD with at least 4 songs, it is time to get yourself some street cred and join the Recording Academy. Not only will you have access to purchasing tickets to the big show each year, you get a groovy membership card that goes great with the ASCAP card as well as the chance to vote for who wins.

It also gets you access to Insurance benefits, invitations and access to some great events and speakers and also puts you in the thick of the music industry.
Register Online
or download the PDF and fill it out and fax back.

Expose Yourself - NAMM 2009

Every year around this time the music industry descends upon Orange County, California, just outside Disneyland to hold the annual NAMM Show. The National Association of Music Manufacturers is a great place to be if you can get in. BAck in the glory days when hot chicks and craziness surrounded the show, the public was able to attend for a price. Funny how the second they cleaned up the show, the barred the public from getting access. Fear not, there are several ways to get tickets of you are not on the "inside".

The first an easy bet is to become really good friends with your local music store. On more than a couple occasions we were able to get in via this route. Not always a guarantee, but it has worked. Getting a job at Guitar Center might increase your chances as well. Another thing is to find anyone you may know who is in the music manufacturing business. Say someone who makes a part that is used on guitars or something.

Now let's say you get your passes, next step is how to approach being in the den of musicians. The key thing here is to have a reason for a manufacturer to want o get behind you with a sponsorship. In our case, this year the band d will be filming on a episode of HBOs Entourage. This kind of clout will not always be at your disposal, but you will need a compelling story, other wise the only reason for being at the show is looking at gear and taking photos with famous musicians.

The troops are at NAMM today, and will give feedback on this years adventure. I missed out on going because I checked my text messages a few hours too late...which is definitely a way not to get to go!

NAMM 2009

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!!!

Hope this new year is good for everyone and that the music and fun keep getting better!

Resource of the Day - Broadtexter.com

This is a very clever tool for broadcast messaging your fan base to their phones. Just another way to reach out and touch someone. Here is our widget:





Here are some of the sites you can embed:


Myspace Profile, Myspace Bulletin, Myspace Blog, Facebook Profile, Facebook Pages
Orkut, Blogger, TypePad, Friendster, Tagged, LiveSpaces, Freewebs, Zorpia
BlackPlanet, Xanga, Tagworld, Piczo, Multiply, Your Website (easy)

Choose one of the sites to the left to display your widget code and directions for posting. You can post your widget on any number of places. The more people that see it the more subscribers you'll get.

Checkout broadtexter.com

Go Live - Lighten Up the Stage

New Post type called Go Live. This type of post will relate to all things that I have found helpful in putting on the best live show.

As we approach the New Years Eve show one of the things that came to mind was to put on a show that extends beyond what we normally do for our fans. As only the set really changes over the course of the year we thought there must be a way to do something on the cheap yet extend the experience.

So a few thoughts on improving a live show from just beyond the normal house lights.

1. Hmmmmm, what holiday just passed that involves lots of lights? recycling your Christmas lights into the stage show can go a long way in a very cost effective manner.

2. Guitar center has a section of lights that can be a great resource to get ideas for retro fitting lamps or buying one of their low end lights. Usually they start around $27. Over time just adding 2 more to your line up each month can really begin to add character. Also, look into getting a DMX controller which can really add to your show and remove a need for someone else running the lights.

3. Something I did a ways back that really worked in a previous band was to put together a video mantage and string it across a few old tube TVs, color and black and white. Tube tvs are littering the planet, I gurantee these will be easy to find. I did this with ease on VHS, so I am sure, if you have a computer, putting this together onto a DVD will be a piece of cake. I combined this with my white christmas lights and the result was a very theatrical, low budget stage show.

In the end, challenge yourself and your live show. You rehearse to sound good, so why not put that same creative energy in how you present yourself. Subtle things can make a big difference and by no means am I suggesting a strobe light for a folk act...this is where your creative energy comes into play.

For Your Submission: 2009 - Picking up the pace.

So with the 2009 year looking to be the most active year in both d and Mystic Nation, i can assure you that there will be many more resources utilized and blogged upon. It is amazing to see the effect many of these tools have had on our progress and the exposure the tools have brought has been worth the efforts.

This year's focus.

1. Expanding the live show. Now that we are doing roughly 54 shows a year, give or take a few, the next phase is going to focus on the live show. Larger events, more stage tuning. Look for blogs on this process.

2. Marketing expansion. Many of the posts so far have focused on a wide range of tools. Some will work better than others for all types of scenarios. What works for us, might not work for you. This is why I focus on a wide spectrum of online resources rather than just the ones I have had complete success with.

3. Studio tips and tricks. Being that Mystic Nation is going back into the studio i am more than sure there will be many more posts on the subject.

These appear to be the main three focal points moving forward as I hone the old blogging skills and bring you the resources that hopefully will make being a struggling artist/band a little more easy.

Good Luck and Happy New Year!

d and proof in the pudding...having belief...

I am in a band d and over the last few years we have been using many of the tools listed here as a means of pushing our music out into the world with little to no resources.
event
d recently went on to win a talent event that involved many artists across many genres of music. Initially we were very sceptical and honestly did not really intend to enter this event.

The good news is we decided to give it a chance realizing that any exposure is good exposure.

The sum of the story is had we chosen not to participate in the event we would not have been given the exposure in front of record comapnies and grammy award winning producers, and all sorts of other contacts within the music business. Not to mention that had we not entered the event, our band would not have won and we would not have received a guest performing appeaance on HBOs hit Entourage in the upcoming season.

Lesson learned. Taking risks and putting yourself out there is all a part of the game. Now if I could only maintain this blog better!