HowToBand.com Blog

Bands are, primarily, built by the members onstage. There are critical members of the Band that work in the background offstage, however without the onstage people, there is no Band. Many times, the onstage people have strong personalities and carry strong Egos. I think that is okay and wonderful, yet it does bring about the chance for conflict.

Without the Ego, there wouldn’t be a sense of confidence that is required to stand onstage and present your own ideas and feel good about it. It takes passion and belief in your own needs and identity. When you mix a handful of these strong passionate people together though, you can have a tension built on the difference of opinions.

Beware of the conflict that comes from this and respect it. This energy, many times, is the same thing that makes your Band ‘tick’. Sometimes it is the conflicting interests and desires that bring an exciting energy to the performance and experience your audience enjoys.

It is a challenge to keep the Band together when Egos battle. Realize this and make it a goal to work through the challenges you have together.

Do you think that there are strong and conflicting Egos on a professional Basketball or Football team? Well… There are, and without the continued efforts of the coach and the team members, working together on a unified goal like a championship title, then the team would fall apart and the championship would only be an unattainable dream.

MusicSubmit.com is a online business that helps you promote your music and gain powerful exposure and you can use their services for free.

With their service help, you can submit to genre-specific Internet Radio Stations, Online Music Magazines, Online Directories, Blogs, Podcasts, and other electronic music media. There goal is to help save you hundreds of hours of promotional work.

If you want to learn more, visit:
http://www.musicsubmit.com/

Music Nation is a video music competition for Independent Artists and they are offering you a chance to win a global recording contract with Epic Records and expose your music to Fans all over the country right now.

Good opportunities are important to act on. You want to find them and make decisions quick to get ahead. When you see opportunities like this… Check the details and just make a decision. Is it right or wrong for you? And… trust your gut.

If you want to look into this - Go To:
http://www.musicnation.com

The Los Angeles Music Awards is the largest and longest running Hollywood red carpet event for Independent Artists in the world! They want to hear your independent, underground music from anywhere you are in the world!

Join them in the heart of Hollywood for the biggest show ever in their 17-year history. So, submit your music now!

Al Bowman, founder of Los Angeles Music Awards writes to All Music Artists:

“As founder of the largest and longest running awards show and showcase series in the world for independent artists, allow me to personally invite you to participate in our nomination process for 2007. Being a part of the Los Angeles Music Awards gives you and your band a legitimate shot at being publicly recognized in a series of high profile events that will lead up to our main event currently scheduled for November 29th, 2007 at one of Hollywood's most recognizable entertainment venues! There is no better way to achieve your goals as a music artist than to utilize our massive publicity machine to market yourself into a popular, celebrated public icon.”

To Learn About the THREE Ways to Participate Now, Go To:
http://www.lamusicawards.com/submit.html

Deadline: March 15, 2007

I get information on and off from various companies and businesses that are out there helping Bands. HearCand.com sent me an email this week and let me know of their service offering. I thought it was worth sharing with you.

Their main purpose is to help you get your music heard by new people and to help build your Fan base through their song promotion and listening services. I haven’t used them, so it would be important for you to check into them and see if they are right for you.

They work with whatever pre-existing tools you have including a MySpace page. Their goal seems to be to make it simple for you.

You can learn more about them at:
http://www.HearCandy.com

Below is a sample email I got from them showing how they promote Bands via Email.

HearCandy.com Sample email

You could sell a small PDF document that shares insights on how you created one of your popular songs.

The questions many like to ask are:
How did you think of the idea? Did you start with the music or the lyrics first? Or did you write them at the same time? What’s it about, ‘to you’? When did you write it? Where were you when you wrote it?

You can also add copies of any of your early notes, original sketches or doodles from when you created the song.

THE BASIC RULE AND RESPECT GUIDLINE:

Make it a simple downloadable e-Product like a downloadable PDF or an exclusive audio recording in MP3 format. You send an email out to your Fans and let them know that you have this available for them to purchase for only $3 and they get ‘Instant Delivery’ because it is a downloadable product once the pay. The payment system could easily be PayPal or if you have another payment system.

You can also offer a product like this in printed out formats at your shows. Print it yourself or make copies.

Offering a product like this can be fun and builds a stronger connection with you as an artist to your Fans. They are your Fans. They want to know more about you. And, they want to know more about how you do what you do.

KEEP THIS IN MIND: People can easily get the music, however are fascinated by the creation process. If they like you as a musician, then they are curious to know more about you and your process. Offer it to them.

I hope this gives you more ideas. Keep in touch with your Fans, they want to hear fun and interesting things about you. Send an email out to your Fan Email List and offer something to them they might want that they can’t buy anywhere else.

I’m down in Vail, Colorado right now, and they just had their Mardi Gras parade. Within the parade I saw the usual floats, however at the end of the parade (the last float), there was a float that stood out better than the rest.

The float was simply a truck pulling a flat trailer. The trailer was like the ones you can use to put a single car or a tractor on. On the trailer was a Rock Band with all of its gear and playing live as the truck moved along. They were running their amplifiers and PA system off a fairly quiet generator (or at least one that we couldn’t hear because the music was rockin’ over the sound of it).

Not only did the Band do a full live set of music on the float trailer, yet they also were advertising themselves with large banners on the side of the float. They wanted to wish you a Wild Mardi Gras.

Well done.

They got themselves out in front of a large amount of people that would probably not have heard of them otherwise, and they did a good job exciting the celebrating crowds. Whoever wanted to enjoy the Band more knew where to go also… The name of the Club they were playing at that evening was on the banners also.

This made me think of the creative ways that Bands can get out in front of new large audiences. Bands can get a lot of good exposure and other benefits by playing at events that are not the usual locations.

Can you think of any events, benefits, public celebrations, or charity drives that you can ask to play at. The benefit to them is entertainment for their audience, and you can benefit by getting in front of a new audience that might love your music. Not everyone goes out to music clubs to listen to Bands. You, however, can go out to new and unique places to play where audiences can discover and enjoy you.

You can sell a quick mix of your in-work studio recordings to your fans.

These recordings offer an exclusive secret peek into your working process and personality.

The recording mix might show funny mistakes that you made while recording. Bizarre – but – cool results sometimes come from a mistake or random jam you did while recording, or even some random conversations caught while you were working.

Some people would love to just be a “fly on the wall” while you are doing your creation work. It even seems magical to some people because they don’t possess music talent skills – You do.

Having an MP3 mix down they can pay $3 for and download instantly could be really exciting to them.

THE BASIC RULE AND RESPECT GUIDLINE:

Make it a simple downloadable e-Product like a downloadable PDF or an exclusive audio recording in MP3 format. You send an email out to your Fans and let them know that you have this available for them to purchase for only $3 and they get ‘Instant Delivery’ because it is a downloadable product once the pay. The payment system could easily be PayPal or if you have another payment system.

You can also offer a product like this in printed out formats at your shows. Print it yourself or make copies.

Offering a product like this can be fun and builds a stronger connection with you as an artist to your Fans. They are your Fans. They want to know more about you. And, they want to know more about how you do what you do.

KEEP THIS IN MIND: People can easily get the music, however are fascinated by the creation process. If they like you as a musician, then they are curious to know more about you and your process. Offer it to them.

I hope this gives you more ideas. Keep in touch with your Fans, they want to hear fun and interesting things about you. Send an email out to your Fan Email List and offer something to them they might want that they can’t buy anywhere else.

What do you think is one of the biggest challenges a Band faces? When you think of Bands you see or ones that start touring, what happens to them? Does the word Fight come to mind?

Well… Successfully working as a team is a big challenge. How many Bands do you know of (or maybe you’ve been a part of) that break up even after they have a few good shows? If fact, it happens many times after the Band starts seeing good results that the Band breaks up.

What are the reasons?

• Conflicting Egos
• Someone else wants to be the ‘front man’
• Conflicting ideas of musical style and energy
• The bad habits of one or more band members (drinking, drugs, tardiness, etc)
• Girl friends or boy friends
• And on, and on…

The reason sometimes is good enough for change. However, a Band needs to know that difficulties, conflicts, and arguments will come up. It is critical to have your purpose for being a Band more valuable than any of the arguments though.

A Band is a united group of people that are suppose to be working on the same goal. If you are not working toward the same goal, than don’t work together. Don’t become a Band.

When you join each other, write down a unified goal you are all working toward. That will help keep you focused when the hard times come up. Just as a sports team has a goal to be champions in their league, or a military group has a mission to accomplish, you need to have the same. And it has to be important to you all otherwise you won’t stick it out.

It is sad to see a Band get all the way to spotlight of radio stations and televisions only to ‘disband’ because of internal conflict or differences of opinion.

What holds your Band together? What is big enough and important enough that you will stick together as a Band even when fights do break out?

Find your goal.

Do you play piano, or some other instrument in a Band that is key to a song? Do you have the skills to (or do you know someone who could) just jot down your music score onto some musical staff paper?

Create a small PDF document showing the Music Score of one of your popular songs. You could offer this for any of your songs, however one of your popular songs would be more appealing because your Fans already like it and want to know more about it. Take the time to create the music score of your song, add the words to the song along with the score, and make it into a PDF document. It’s ready for sale.

THE BASIC RULE AND RESPECT GUIDLINE:

Make it a simple downloadable e-Product like a downloadable PDF or an exclusive audio recording in MP3 format. You send an email out to your Fans and let them know that you have this available for them to purchase for only $3 and they get ‘Instant Delivery’ because it is a downloadable product once the pay. The payment system could easily be PayPal or if you have another payment system.

You can also offer a product like this in printed out formats at your shows. Print it yourself or make copies.

Offering a product like this can be fun and builds a stronger connection with you as an artist to your Fans. They are your Fans. They want to know more about you. And, they want to know more about how you do what you do.

KEEP THIS IN MIND: People can easily get the music, however are fascinated by the creation process. If they like you as a musician, then they are curious to know more about you and your process. Offer it to them.

I hope this gives you more ideas. Keep in touch with your Fans, they want to hear fun and interesting things about you. Send an email out to your Fan Email List and offer something to them they might want that they can’t buy anywhere else.

It is great to learn from others and see what they are doing. Today, I am going to share a Snapshot of one of HowToBand.com’s Readers. It is of Indie Musician, Cary Judd.

During a recent consultation with him, he shared some good insights into the current position of his career. Read and see what he is working on and has accomplished. Within the stories of other musicians and Bands are ‘example model paths’ for you to follow.

Indie Musician, Cary Judd:

Indie Musician - Cary Judd

Cary Judd has been touring as a solo artist for the last few years. Recently, he has started bringing a keyboard player with him and is hoping to bring a bass player along soon, as well.

He hails from Moose, Wyoming, and works hard and smart toward building his growing Indie Music career.

In 2003 he started touring. He left town with $100 in his pocket and a lineup of about 30 shows. It took about the same amount of days to do the shows and carried him from L.A. to Washington D.C.

About a year and a half ago Cary convinced an agency that specializes in booking events on college campuses to book him. Now he is doing 50-60 dates a year that they book. On the college circuit he has pulled in between $500-1500 per show. He is on tour a lot driving back and forth across the country, and keeps it usually routed reasonably well so that it's profitable. He is pulling in $50K before expenses, probably $25-30k after that, not getting rich yet, but it's enough to make a living by.

Cary Judd sold almost 2000 copies, more including iTunes’ downloads and such, of his last year’s CD and just shy of 3000 copies of the one released 3 years ago when he began touring.

Now, he has in place an intern from a local college that works with him. The intern works at setting up radio & press at the colleges that he is playing at. Also, they’ve been writing emails to bands that are touring big clubs and small theaters in attempt to network and explore new opportunities. Their goal is to hopefully get on tour with them as an opening act.

Two of Cary’s songs were licensed. Once in a show called "men in trees" (it's on right after Grey's Anatomy) and the same freelance placement company contacted him about another possible placement in a movie.

Cary Judd feels he is able to put on a show that he’s very proud of just as a soloist, but recently brought in a keyboardist that fills out the show even more. He would like to add a bassist. Right now, Cary is only able to have the keyboard player on the road with him though. He feels lucky that it works out. It works because the keyboardist, at this time, requires just basic living expenses on the road with a few minor bills covered.

Cary’s current goal: To be able to increase the pay to his keyboardist and give the same pay to a bass player as soon as he can add him/her.

Cary Judd feels ready to share his writing and performing with any major label artist.

Learn more about Cary Judd by visiting:

www.CaryJudd.com

Create a small PDF document showing the Guitar TABS of one of your popular songs. You could offer this for any of your songs, however one of your popular songs would be more appealing because your Fans already like it and want to know more about it. You just take the time to create the TABS. You might even find the TAB-style notebooks at music stores near you or free online. Then you simply fill in your TABS for the song, add the words along with them, and make it into a PDF document.

THE BASIC RULE AND RESPECT GUIDLINE:

Make it a simple downloadable e-Product like a downloadable PDF or an exclusive audio recording in MP3 format. You send an email out to your Fans and let them know that you have this available for them to purchase for only $3 and they get ‘Instant Delivery’ because it is a downloadable product once the pay. The payment system could easily be PayPal or if you have another payment system.

You can also offer a product like this in printed out formats at your shows. Print it yourself or make copies.

Offering a product like this can be fun and builds a stronger connection with you as an artist to your Fans. They are your Fans. They want to know more about you. And, they want to know more about how you do what you do.

KEEP THIS IN MIND: People can easily get the music, however are fascinated by the creation process. If they like you as a musician, then they are curious to know more about you and your process. Offer it to them.

I hope this gives you more ideas. Keep in touch with your Fans, they want to hear fun and interesting things about you. Send an email out to your Fan Email List and offer something to them they might want that they can’t buy anywhere else.

You and your Fans help each other. You give them an experience or present them with something they find exciting through your music and/or show, and they provide you with the financial means to increase your ability to give them more of what they like and want. Each one of your Fans is a mini-investor in your business. You and your Fans share an exchange of positive benefits.

Be thankful for them and be respectful of your Fans. Without them, you can’t do what you love to do.

If you or your Band gig in the College Circuit, here are three easy things you can do to increase your Fan base leading to increased success in your profession of choice:

1.
Make sure you visit two popular near-campus CD stores. Give a free CD to them so they can play it in the store (stores are looking for music they can play for free). When people go in they hear your music. If they like it, they will ask who it is and where they can get it.

Make sure the CD shop knows where they can get it (usually they will just grab the CD Case to find out more – consider having a small sticker put on the CD cases you give to the shops that says where they can buy the CD Music from).

2.
At the colleges you do shows at… Line up guest spots on the local college radio stations. Radio Stations need good content just like any newspaper or magazine, except Airtime is more powerful for you because you are a musician. You work in a sound related industry. Written articles will reach some music fans, however articles reach more readers rather than music listeners. People that are bigger Fans of listening to music will listen to shows on the Air.

On-Air Interviews make for good content and gives you some good airplay. When you set up your On-Air Interviews, send ahead some prepared questions for the Host to ask you on the air. This helps the radio station have an idea of what their listeners can enjoy when you are on. The questions can be about you, your music, your career so far, why you are in town, your CDs and where they can learn more about you, hear your music, and get your CDs.

A BIG KEY TO HELP YOU LEVERAGE THIS RADIO SPOT THE BEST is to also have about three copies of your CD for the Host to give away as prizes. They can give the CDs away to listeners that call in to ask you questions on-air (or however they want to arrange for callers to call in to win them). This helps the radio station build more happy and excited listeners and increases your chance to build your name, sales, and AIRPLAY.

3.
Do you take someone along on your tours to help you with business functions such as collecting Fan emails for your list and selling merchandise during your shows?

I helped someone about a week ago with two performances (a Friday and Saturday show). I pulled together some merchandise and arranged for a merchandising table. The merchandising for the two shows alone brought in an extra $1,300.

This is a great way to increase your profits. And, keep in mind… the people excited enough to buy the items you are selling are new passionate Fans – people that want to have a memento of the experience you bring them and want to have a connection with your world. Why turn these people away by not having items for them to buy?

You and your Fans help each other. You give them an experience or present them with something they find exciting through your music and/or show, and they provide you with the financial means to increase your ability to give them more of what they like and want. Each one of your Fans is a mini-investor in your business. You and your Fans share an exchange of positive benefits.

It’s amazing how some things are so easy and so obvious that we don’t do them.

Okay, collecting Fans is critical to your development as a Band. This is your following, your market, your customers for future shows and sales. Your Fans are your reason for developing a Band. So… Are you collecting them?

The easiest place to collect them is at your shows. And a simple, proven method to collect them is to have an ‘Email Signup Sheet’ available for new interested audience members to:

• Keep in touch with you
• Find out about your next shows
• Find your website
• Know what CDs you have for sale
• Know what other products you have for sale

Scot Alexander, Bass player from Dishwalla, said in an email exchange with me, “Bands can put so much of the picture together themselves these days (myspace/CDBaby/iTunes) and potentially make far more money on their own rather than signing with some label, all the while retaining full ownership of masters and publishing to further put more money in their pockets with libraries and soundtracks.” You have this power. And… if you have the Fans, you can offer them what they want, the music, image, and products from your Band.

So, are you collecting them? Are you collecting them at your shows?

Make sure that at every show you have someone helping you with this simple little task. It adds incredible value to the purpose of your shows.

Have a person sit at a table in an easy to see area, someplace where the majority of people traffic passes, and have the following:

• A sign showing the name of your Band, even if it is just on paper
• A piece of paper titled “Email List Signup”, including a column for name, email address, and regular address or at least zip code (If they put their regular address or zip code down, you can track the locations you have Fans. This helps with future gig planning and bookings)
• Any product you want to sell
• And, Consider having a Free give-away for those that signup on your Email List

Make it a goal to collect at least ten new Fan email addresses at each show (many times you can collect a lot more). If you have ten shows, then you will have at least one-hundred Fan email addresses to contact about upcoming shows, new Music or product you have for sale. Many times, each Fan will have around two friends they tell about you, so you can triple your email list or Fan-base fairly rapidly.

Fans are your Band’s Lifeblood. Collect them and treat them like they deserve to be treated… like your best friends.

Remember This: Your Fans help you become who you want to be and you help them become what they want to be. You won’t be a Band for very long if you don’t have Fans. Your Fans are helping you accomplish your goals. Respect this relationship and share with your Fans and care about your Fans. They care about you and share their time, money, and energy with you.

A question that I’d like to ask you is, “Why do you have a Band?” The following sentences are going to be a series of questions to trigger your thoughts:

Have you ever thought about this? Do you know why you want to have a Band in the first place? Have you let yourself enjoy visions of what you see yourself doing with your Band? Can you hear exactly the tone of your music that you play to your audience and the echoed response they share with you? Can you feel what you are giving and enjoying while you are onstage or playing for others, and what type of energy your audience of loving Fans are giving back to you?

Can you imagine not getting the response you want from your audience?

Are you enjoying your purpose while you play for your audience during your shows?

So, why do you have a Band? Are you interested in being pure entertainment, or do you have a message you want to share? Are you a blend of both?

I have seen many different types of Bands out there and there is not one type that is better than another, in general however, knowing what your purpose for having a Band is, remains critical for understanding what you want to do with it.

Some people want a Band simply to just have fun, never make it a lifestyle and only to meet the opposite sex because they have trouble reaching out any other way. Then, there are people that focus in on the effort to make it a lifestyle, make the music addictive, and sell it to everyone they know and meet. You can see quite a few of these types of artists showing off their “Cribs” on MTV, VH1 or elsewhere on TV. I even know some artists that have a passion for getting their music out to as many people as possible because they have so much fun making it that they think others like them, need to have access to it.

Whatever your reason for making music and forming a Band, understand it more. Than, share it with others for that reason alone. This will be your quickest way to building a bigger more influential Band. It will also make it more fun for you.

The other day, I saw a little girl about 9 years old cry because she lost her paper cup and plastic straw. She wanted to keep them because she got them from a birthday party she just attended and she thought they would be good memory items to collect. She was really upset. Nothing else would substitute for the paper cup and plastic straw ‘that she had’.

This event made me think of the critical value we, as people, give objects sometimes. Things that, if we lost them or couldn’t have them, would help make us feel better by having them. Do you have something that you would feel bad to loose? Something that seems like it might have little value to a stranger, however because of the value of memories, stories, beliefs, emotions, and perspectives we have with the object, it has great value to you?

This is what your music or products do for your Fans. The images or artwork on them are Flags to your Fans.

Are you offering memory items to your Fans?

WE ARE LISTENING Ltd. have built a Singer/Songwriter Contest, and you can Submit to it by March 1st. They have a panel of judges from all over the world. The judges are professionals in the music industry as singer/songwriters, music publishing, music distribution, music production, film and creative purchasing.

If you win an are selected to be one of the "six gifted artists" they select, you have a big treat ahead. You will be flown to London for a luxurious weekend stay at myHotel (see: www.myhotels.co.uk). In addition, you will get an Exclusive Recording Session with producer Steve Williams, who produced artists such as Sting, Eric Clapton, and Seal. Your recording session will be at Sphere Studios (see: www.spherestudios.co.uk).

That is just the beginning.

Learn more by going to:
http://www.wearelistening.org/singer.php

American Songwriter Magazine sponsors a bi-monthly amateur lyric contest. No music - only lyrics needed, and all genres of musicare accepted. The winning lyrics, along with the four runners-up, will be published in an issue of the magazine. The contest is open to any amateur songwriter - AS defines an amateur as a songwriter who has not earned more than $5,000 from songwriting related royalties, advances, or works for hire. Submission deadline: March 21.

For over 20 years, the American Songwriter Amateur Lyric Contest has helped thousands of songwriters become involved in our community. Established in 1984, America Songwriter magazine sponsors six contests per year that run in conjunction with each issue published. Entrants should send lyric sheet only, no cassettes or musical direction. The winning lyric, along with four runners-up and ten honorable mentions from each contest, will be published in the issue of American Songwriter that follows the deadline of each contest. The writer(s) of the winning lyric for each contest receives a DX1 Martin GuitarTM (valued at $669). One guitar per contest will be awarded. The bi-monthly winner will also receive a package of D'Addario and Planet Wave products, including a year's supply of acoustic guitar strings and accessories.
Don't miss the opportunity to see your work in print! The annual winner, chosen from the six contest winners, will receive round trip airfare for two to Nashville on American Airlines and a master production demo from Music City Music Productions, Inc., valued at over $1500.

To Learn More or Enter, Goto:

http://www.americansongwriter.com/?content=lyriccontest

By Mike Kobrin

Published on WIRED Technology News, Jan, 31, 2007. Please visit WIRED Magazine online or pick up a copy from the store. Among the technology articles, they have incredible articles covering changes and new developments in the music industry and they are well worth reading.

Visit WIRED at:
http://www.wired.com

A new online service is about to launch that will allow bedroom musicians worldwide to play together in real time -- without leaving their own bedrooms.

In March, eJamming will introduce eJamming Audiio, an online music studio that uses peer-to-peer connections to eliminate lag times between live performers.

The software may have a big impact on learning how to play an instrument. Playing with other musicians in a live situation is critical to musical development, an idea that's undisputed among music educators.

eJamming Audiio, an Online Music Studio

"It's the interaction that's important, that opens you up," says Don Hahn, a former instructor at Columbia University and active trumpeter who's played with everyone from Buddy Rich and Maynard Ferguson to the Beach Boys. "You respond to each other, and you both come up with something new -- it actually broadens you. (It's) like talking to yourself as opposed to having an actual conversation."

EJamming is showing off the technology at this week's Demo 07 conference in Palm Desert, California. When eJamming Audiio debuts, the company will also launch a community website where musicians can meet up and schedule online jam sessions.

The current version of eJamming's software already supports MIDI (musical instrument digital interface) instruments. The new version will add support for acoustic instruments like horns, drums and vocals -- providing the closest thing to a live jam session that the laws of physics will allow, the company says.

EJamming co-founder Alan Jay Glueckman says the latency problem was tough to solve using digital instruments, and even harder using analog sounds.

"MIDI is small pieces of data which trigger sounds," he says. "With real audio, we had to create sound that was pleasing and acceptable to musicians and actually encouraged them to use it without having to shove huge amounts of data over the internet, which would create enormous latencies."

The software uses a peer-to-peer network to exchange audio signals between participants' computers. Eliminating a central server cuts latency in half.

But it's not only about lag times -- synchronizing the musicians with each other is also crucial.

"We delay your own sounds until the sounds of the other players arrive where they're supposed to be," says eJamming co-founder Gail Kantor. "You can naturally accommodate that delay the way you do when you play in a symphony orchestra."

In an orchestra, there is a roughly 1 millisecond-per-foot delay between, say, a flautist and a bassist, who can be seated up to 50 feet apart. Humans typically notice delays of 15 to 60 milliseconds, depending on the individual. That's one reason an orchestra needs a conductor to keep players in sync.

EJamming said its delay times will be roughly the same as an orchestra's -- and that the software will act as a conductor for the virtual band.

Users will need a broadband connection and a simple computer-based home recording setup. An audio interface like M-Audio's FireWire Solo, a microphone and a good pair of headphones should do the trick. Upload speed is critical to online collaboration, so a robust DSL or cable broadband package will allow musicians to collaborate with more players at greater distances.

One of eJamming's goals was to simplify the software's user interface. The software has a feel similar to Apple's GarageBand. Audio from online collaborations will be automatically recorded in a lossless format on each user's machine, and can be dragged and dropped into other audio applications.

The sound quality of the transmitted audio is impressive. (You can check out a sample online).

Online music collaboration has a checkered past. In the late 1990s, Rocket Network allowed musicians and producers to make changes to each others' prerecorded tracks within their favorite recording software.

Another company, Ninjam, tried to solve the latency problem by adding digital pauses to live performances. But musicians were measurably out of sync with their virtual band mates -- one measure, to be precise. It was a big step, but not quite up to the original dream.

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Watch the Interview with Larry Magid on CBS News:

http://www.cbsnews.com/sections/i_video/main500251.shtml?id=2423694n

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More About eJamming® AUDiiO

From eJamming.com

eJamming AUDiiO will now connect ALL musicians online in real-time, and more importantly, in sync. So whether you’re a vocalist or guitarist or bass player, or you play horns or strings or grand piano or the harmonica, you’ll be able to connect and play and record your work with other musicians, whether on MIDI or audio. If you’re a drummer, you’ll need to mic your kit or better yet, connect your MIDI drums to eJamming AUDiiO.

You’ll need at least a Pentium-3 PC with Windows XP/Service Pack 2 or a Mac running at minimum OSX.3.9 (Panther), and we support Tiger on both PowerPC and Intel processors as well - plus a microphone (USB or XLR), an audio interface like the M-Audio Firewire Solo, and a broadband connection (either DSL or Cable modem; minimum recommendation is 300 kilobits per second UPLOAD speed – check your download and upload speeds at www.speakeasy.net/speedtest ). The faster your Upload speed, the more musicians you can jam with over eJamming AUDiiO and the further away you can be.

If you’d like to participate in our Public Beta, send an email to AUDiiO-Beta@ejamming.com and they’ll let you know soon when you can sign up to start playing together with other musicians over eJamming AUDiiO’s Public Beta.

eJamming AUDiiO Screen Shot

Watch the eJamming® AUDiiO Demo at DEMO-07:

http://www.demo.com/demonstrators/demo2007/91300.php

While searching around online, I came across some new services that I thought you might be interested in. They are tools and training that are available instantly. I included easy links so you can look at more information as to what this mini-catalogue lists.

Mini Catalogue:

1.

Jim Lee. How To Play Slap Bass Guitar Like a Pro.

Play Slap Bass Guitar Like A Pro. FunkyChops 101 Slap Bass Riffs, Vol. 1 By Jim Lee. Instant Download Video. No Theory Music Instruction. -- CLICK HERE.

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2.

Drum Basics. Tips and Tricks. Includes Free Metronome!

Drum Basics. Music Lessons Every Drummer Should Know - Tips & Tricks To Take Your Drumming To The Next Level - Includes Free Metronome! -- CLICK HERE

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3.

QuickBeat. Jam With A Drummer Now!

Jam With A Drummer Now! For Guitar & All. QuickBeat Instant Download. Jam With A Drummer And You'll Be A Better Musician. Fun Music Lesson In Groove. -- CLICK HERE.

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4.

Bandit A&R Newsletter. For Bands looking for Music Deals.

Bandit A&R Newsletter. Newsletter For Bands/singers Looking For Music Deals. If you're a talented band, singer, songwriter or producer, let Bandit help you find A&R people that are ready to sign your music. -- CLICK HERE.

FishThemMusic.com has started a whole-new promotional service called "Artists' Explosion in Japan" for you. It plays your music on our web-radio "music-islands.com." It's already had more than 15,000 unique users/a month, and 1,500 visitors/a day, with over 500,000 page-views (Nov, 2006). Playing your music on the website makes it easy for you to be heard not only by Japanese music fans, but also by the Japanese music biz scene. Submission Fee is only 3,000 JPY ($26.00). Why don't you join fishthemusic.com to get exposure in the Japanese Music Market?

Learn more by going to:
http://www.fishthemusic.com

I only live about an hour and a half away from the ocean, and when I can, I love to “escape” there to relax and feel connected again (at least that’s what I say to myself). I finished a performance on Saturday evening, and felt like I have been going and going before that. I wanted just a little break from my pattern, so I decided to hop in the car and drive to the coast just to stay over night, because I had to be back by the following afternoon.

Just being there helps me relax and change gear. Hearing the ocean waves soothes me and helps me think of what I like and where I want to go next with my work.

This is the same experience I get when I go to see a band, go to a concert, show or any other type of entertainment environment I like.

This is what a Band offers to its Fans, an escape.

A Band brings an environment that helps its Fans escape from their regular life pattern. It helps them feel connected to their community. It helps them connect with themselves and realign with their passionate goal path. Many times a good band helps them speak and radiate the emotional and mental energy the Fan hides away the rest of their day. Then, at the Band’s show, the Fan can let loose, relax, and feel like someone else shares the same feelings or thoughts that they do. This is why a Fan wants to listen to the music over and over when they go through their day, and why they love to get to the show when they hear of show tickets going on sale.

Imagine the example of a someone who is very angry with the way people treat them through their day, they have to wear clothes that they don’t like for their ‘job’, or they have to work under abusive conditions. Then, they get to go out at night and see a hard-edged Band that screams out lyrics that sympathize with their emotions and thoughts. They can crazily bounce around and sweat out their energy. It helps them cope and fall asleep better.

Now, imagine a person who works in a fast paced environment, loves what they do however feels like they are moving at warp speed every second of their day. Then, at night, they get to go out and listen to a Band play a mellow dream-like musical show. Everything about it helps them slow down and process what they are doing now in their lives and what they want to do next. This person goes home and sleeps much better.

Next time either one of these people need to escape from their day, they will remember the benefits that they got from 'that Band' last time and get excited when they see that they are playing again. And… They most likely will take some of their friends (similar to them) that they already told about the Band last time they enjoyed their show.

What type of environment do you offer your fans? What do your lyrics say for them? What kind of energy does your music help them release or enjoy?

What kind of people like what you have to offer? These are your potential Fans or already your Fans.

Are you aware of what you offer to your audience? Do you let people know this when they ask: “How would you describe your band?”

The following article is from FastCompany.com , a magazine dedicated to sharing good news and information on business as it happens and the trends to follow. I read the magazine continually and like the articles they have. This last issue had some great articles about the music industry, its changes and the success even new Indie Bands can benefit from in this new music market. You can learn more about FastCompany by going to: www.FastCompany.com

From:
FastCompany.com | January 2007 | By: Alyssa Danigelis and Chuck Salter

Last year's acquisition of Musictoday was part of a larger transformation within Live Nation, the biggest concert promoter in the business. Here, Rapino discusses how the company has been changing its tune -- and the concert experience -- since spinning off from radio giant Clear Channel in late 2005.

How has Live Nation changed its focus?

Our mission is no longer limited to the two-hour concert. It's about taking that two-hour experience and turning it into a 12-month relationship. There's so much around the show itself that we realized we should be selling: a photo at the show, song downloads, the concert poster. We realized we should be selling this stuff not just to the people who went to the show but also to fans who didn't make it there. We need a portfolio of businesses to offer these products and services around the concert ticket.

That's where Musictoday comes in?

Exactly. Before, when I was chasing artists and tours, it drove me crazy that I was putting up money to get tours only to have artists say, "We're going to use Musictoday to run our fan club and do our Web strategy and do the ticket presale on our site." I thought, Geez, we're taking the risk on the tour, We'd like to sell those new products. Now we have the conversation with someone's agent or manager and say, "And of course we'll use Musictoday for this." There isn't a manager or agent of substance who doesn't know the company.

How does offering those new products and services affect the way you think about your place in the industry?

For 20 or 30 years, every promoter was a business-to-business brand. It was about servicing the artist and the artist community, not the consumer. Part of calling ourselves Live Nation was about starting to shift the way we think, to be first and foremost fan-focused.

What did you do to start reaching fans?

Last May, we launched LiveNation.com. We went from a nonexistent Web site to (depending on what metric you use) a top two or three site in America for fans to search for tickets. We think it's a huge step forward because it gives us a way to communicate with our direct buyer now. So if you're in New York and you want to see a show, whether we're promoting it or not, we want to provide you with a one-stop concert portal.

Why tell fans about the competition's events?

Some of my promoters didn't get it at first, but we said to them, "Listen, we're in the business of understanding the fan better than anybody and having a relationship with as many concert buyers as possible." We don't have 100 percent market share. But if I know your name and start a relationship with you, the odds are you're going to go to one of my shows. We can talk about the next show that you might go to that's a similar type of music or in the same genre.

So the data is the key?

Sixty million people come to our shows in a year. That's more than the NFL, NBA, and NHL combined. And historically, we've never asked for their names. It doesn't make a lot of sense. We know that they're not there for us—they're there for the band. But we are the host, and it would be nice if they signed the guest book. The greatest part of having a relationship with the fan now is he or she talks back. We have 300 or 400 consumers a week who tell us what's good or bad. We do exit interviews for the first time at all of our shows. If you went to a show at Jones Beach, we'll send you an email and say, "Thank you for going. Would you like to participate in our survey? We have some ways of rewarding you if you do." Was the parking good? Did the food suck? The sightlines? How can we make it better? It has helped us immensely when it comes to understanding the fan better and making changes.

What have you learned?

Some of the complaints are small: The parking didn't work; the view was bad. We have a policy now that says not to debate them. They're right. That's a real cultural shift. There wasn't a promoter in the business that had a customer-service department before. Now we have a full department that spends every day taking care of customer complaints. They go to the management team, and I get copied on them. They have to show me on this tracking system that the complaint was solved to the customer's satisfaction. We trained all our staff this year on customer service for the first time. We created ambassadors at all of our venues so somebody on-site has full authority now to go make things right

Such as?

One venue, I think it was in Hartford, seemed to have a lot of fans complaining about the way we were directing traffic. We got that to the general manager, and he instantly changed the way we were bringing traffic in and out of the venue to speed it up. A lot of the complaints were about the lines at the beer stands. Now we walk around with beverages and hawk them so you're sitting in your seat and don't have to get up. Sounds simple, but we've got a lot of basics to fix still. We hired a team and a senior executive to really look at everything we're doing in food and beverage and how can we provide better variety and better pricing. Every city's got a famous rib place or coffeehouse or dessert place. We let them set up shop to provide better variety around their brand power instead of generic hot dogs and drinks. Believe it or not we never used to serve energy drinks. This year we cut a deal with Monster and put them all in our venues. We have the on-site upgrade now too. If you bought a lawn ticket at our amphitheater, we'll now go right on-site and say to you, "Do you want to buy an upgrade to a reserved seat if we have capacity?" If they were already invested in the day and maybe didn't know about the reserved seats or maybe it wasn't what they wanted to buy at the time, why wouldn't we make it easy for them to say, "I'm here and I'm now passionately involved and I want a better seat"?

How else do you use customer data in new ways?

We did an upgrade program called the Guest List. Because we now have a database, we were able to go in and say, "We've noticed that you haven't bought a ticket for a show in an amphitheater this summer, but you came last year. You're a valued customer and we'd like to give you one free ticket to come to a show, knowing that you're probably going to come with somebody." It was a great way of bringing back a casual buyer. We're doing more consumer segmentation. We know that the average fan went to one or two shows last year, and the avid fan went to five. We know 30% of the population attended a live show. Who are they? What's the commonality between the teens and 40-year-olds? What else do those fans want to consume? How about the fans who didn't go? Do they want to buy a copy of the live show? We just started Live Nation Studios, which turns our venues into a studio. We're wiring our 150 venues to record shows. We haven't given fans a lot of options in the past. But that's changing.

How often do you go to shows yourself?

I went to three last week when I was in New York: Shakira on Monday, the Rolling Stones on Wednesday, and Eric Clapton on Thursday. I probably go to 100 shows a year. It's truly the best place to go see my full staff. And if I'm going to talk the talk, I've got to walk it. I come in the next morning and tell my staff, "I waited too long in line" or "Why did it shut down so early?"

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For more information visit:

www.FastCompany.com

The Note-A-Day calendar series now has a voice calendar available for 2007. Elizabeth Lavenue, an accomplished singer, performer, and teacher, has collaborated to create this 365-day compilation of tips, trivia and mini voice lessons, which are valuable for singers of all musical styles and vocal ranges.

Key features include vocal techniques, ear training lessons, musical theater exercises, audition preparation, music theory lessons, and improvisational ideas geared toward advanced beginner through professional singers.

This calendar makes a great gift for singers or voice teachers, and requires no music-reading ability.

The price is $17 for a paper-bound copy and $10 for an instant electronic copy, which will be emailed to you.

Note-a-Day Calendar for Voice
by Elizabeth Lavenue

The Note-a-Day Calendar for Voice, by Elizabeth Lavenue, can easily be purchased at her website by going to:

http://www.elizabethlavenue.com/calendar.php