Beware The Undertow!!

It's funny how you can set out with a really great agenda, I don't know, something like just do a weekly update about the state of the music industry and what it means to Indie musicians, maybe. Then you get out in the deep water of it and the undertow just sucks you under and you resurface ten miles down river. I hate swimming.

This week EMI did something. They're still fighting Pirates in some bay in Sweden. Bob Lefsetz is still trying to save face from his thrashing at the hands of Gene Simmons. Metallica, the gods of Thrash Metal and fan abuse, are being inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Iggy Pop is getting older while, for some odd reason, Paul McCartney is getting younger. Chris Brown and Rhianna have gotten back together and are singing about it. Diddy continues to be on the right side of awesome. And last, but certainly not least Britney's p&%*y is hanging out. However that happens.

Yep, stuff keeps happening in the music world, but this week only one thing really stood out to me as REALLY cool. The members of Blur reunited for SXSW. How cool is that?

The thing I like about Blur is that every member of that band seems to personify the passion of music making. It exudes from their albums, and you can hear every laugh, every tear, and every bit of tension that took place in the making of it.

That bit of news this week was the branch overhanging the river for me to grab onto and pull myself out of that mess a couple paragraphs back. It was also the mirror to remind me of why it is that I love making music so much.

So, I've been doing some thinking. I really appreciate the feedback that I've gotten from some of you and hope to continue that relationship, but I felt the need to start guiding this blog in the direction of more of a chronicle of the time I spend in the studio making music. After all, isn't that what we're all about? I hope you all continue on with me, but I understand if you decide not to.

Love and Rock n Roll!

Paul

Well how about that!

Right on. My last post about Simmons Records made it to the front page of their website, http://www.simmonsrecords.com/.

Mr. Simmons, it's quite alright that you don't know me, or my accomplishments, and you certainly don't need my advice, but hey, at least you didn't have to pay for it. : )

I do, sincerely, wish you all the luck in the world in your endeavour and do, in fact, admire the empire you've created.

I stand by my assessment of the music industry though. Change is inevitable and those that don't roll with it will be left behind. Now is the time to be on the bleeding edge of innovation and not relying on the "tried and true". When we stop looking forward with an eye to make new paths, we get tangled up in the weeds where we stopped to nap.

Our Savior!! Or Canada's maybe????

So, Gene Simmons from Kiss has decided that he's what the "talented" but neglected Canadian music industry needs, so he's forming Simmons Records.

It appears that, in a serious bid to jump start the ailing music industry, Ol'Gene is fully embracing the standard business plan of the 20th Century record label. Seeing as how the same old tactics and such are garnering such stunted sales in most categories these days, it should work really well for him (/sarcasm).

In all actuality, I wish him luck. He's not a dumb guy, a little set in his ways and unable to cope with a changing musical climate maybe, but not dumb. Maybe he has come up with a plan that the Majors here in America are not willing to try. Maybe he's got a secret weapon that is going to convince millions of music listeners around the world to buy more CDs and stop sharing music files. Maybe he really can take the "superior talent" of Canadian musicians and turn them into the next Beatles (or since they're Canadian, maybe the next Glass Tiger, or Loverboy), or maybe he just plans on trying the same thing again, and again, and again, and expects a different result. I truly hope not.

Mr.Simmons, if you find this, as you appear to be awfully adept at sniffing out criticism, please understand that the game has changed. If you expect to come in and do things the way they have always been done, you are not going to succeed. Use that Entrepreneurial spirit that got you where you are to innovate a new plan and a new path. The Old Road is overtrafficed.

http://www.rollingstone.com/rockdaily/index.php/2009/01/27/gene-simmons-starts-canadian-record-label-hates-on-the-doubters/

Later,

Now does this sound like jeopardy?

Hello Indies!

There has been a lot of talk in the music industry about illegal downloads and the impact they are having on the industry as a whole and, as a label owner and musician, I've been following it with what can only be called "rapt" interest. In many areas direct sales of recorded media seem to be in a slump, leading many people to worry about the future of the music business and, in the case of Gene Simmons of Kiss, to even declare that the music industry is "dead", and that it is all the fault of the fans.

So, imagine my "surprise?" when I started looking through the last weeks sales totals for acts such as Lil' Wayne and Coldplay. Last week Lil' Wayne broke a staggering One Million units, and after only six days on the US charts, Coldplay has already broke 720,000. The impressive part, for me anyway, is that both of these albums had been available for complete download prior to release, and both had been heavily pirated prior to release, yet both are selling phenomenally well in conventional (legal) channels.

Is this just a fluke? I don't know, but it does seem to me that by embracing the fact that their fans want access to as much of their material as they can get ahold of, and putting in the extra effort to provide it, they are still able to monetize the support of their fans.

It makes me think that the more you include your fans in the process, the more you make them part of the process, the more they emotionally invest in you. Emotional investment usually leads to financial investment, and all of a sudden you have found a way to innovate your marketing plan.

It really is an interesting time in the music industry.