Category Archives: A to Z of Making It

A to Z of Making It, Copyright, Music, My Stories, Piracy, Stupidity, Treating Fans Like Shit, Unsung Heroes

The Money Business

As bad as the RIAA makes out the piracy epidemic sound like the end of the world, is piracy really taking away from sales of recorded music.

I have been looking at some metal sales recently.

All up, from June 18, 2014 to July 2, 2014 in total there have been 289,810 hard rock/metal sales. It total that is a retail gross taking close to 3 million dollars. Not a bad take for two weeks.

Mastodon’s “Once More ‘Round The Sun” makes up 12% of that total. And that is their label “Reprise” only entry. Eleven Seven Music had two entries with “Hellyeah” and “Nothing More” and those sales in total came to 6% of the total.

Warner Bros along with “Linkin Park” take up 50% of those sales. And this fits right in with the “Blockbuster” strategy of Anita Elberse that has proven that a very very small percentage of artists make up the majority of the sales.

Warner Bros also have Avenged Sevenfold and Gemini Syndrome on their roster, with Avenged Sevenfold having moved 490,000 units of “Hail To The King” in the US and Gemini Syndrome having moved 22,000 units of their “Lux” album in the US since their release dates.

Yep, that Avenged Sevenfold release in actual sales has generated close to $5 million for Warner Bros. And of course, let’s not forget the streaming income, radio plays income and so on.

There is a few takeaways from this.

There is still a lot of money in hard rock and heavy metal music.

Aggregate sales of 300,000 over two weeks, equates to 7.8 million sales in the U.S alone for 52 weeks, with a gross retail sales value of $78 million. And of course, let’s not forget the streaming income, radio plays income and so on.

The issue is that the sales are spread over a lot of releases.

And it’s good to see labels like “Artery”, “Fearless”, “Prosthetic” and many other independent ones flooding the market with releases. It’s good to see a lot of bands self releasing and recording sales. And you still have the regulars like “The Pretty Reckless”, “Five Finger Death Punch”, “Chevelle” and “Volbeat” still moving units.

And yes, the recording business still generates a lot of money. It’s just a shame that every band is held captive to the creative accounting of the record labels, especially the larger ones. It’s also a shame that every band is configured with band agreements that take into account payments to managers, accountants, lawyers and the band members themselves. Heaven forbid if a band member leaves. Then the money business starts to get messy.

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A to Z of Making It, Classic Songs to Be Discovered, Copyright, Derivative Works, Influenced, Music, My Stories, Piracy, Unsung Heroes

Life In Lucidity

“Today I Caught the Plague” was first. I thought the band name was crap but the debut album “Lore” was a real stand out for 2011. I came across the band by sheer luck when I saw a tour poster from “Protest The Hero” and it had “Today I Caught The Plague” as one of the supports.

Their 2011 debut album was over 10 plus years in the making.

While “Lore” was an independent release, “Life In Lucidity” is on Sumerian Records which is the home of PERIPHERY. A label that is perfect for them. Because labels are still the answer to get your name out to the masses. As much as the internet was meant to level the playing field, the labels have more power than ever. So if you want to be on a label, you need to be on a label that specialises and deals with bands that are of similar styles.

The first song I listened to was “Heritage” and I bought the album on iTunes not long after, ordered the CD from Amazon and put it as a favourite on my Spotify playlist.

The album title alone gets me thinking about “Silent Lucidity” from Queensryche. Vocalist David Journeaux explained the title meaning in the following way;

“The album title, Life In Lucidity, relates to the concept of life being nothing more than a very lucid dream, wherein if you were to wake from it you may either wake in to another dream or in to true reality. It also toys with the notion that if you can realize you are dreaming within this world you can gain complete control over everything that happens within it; complete responsibility for the path your life takes.”

Wolvish

“Wolvish” is a perfect concise musical and melodic statement of the djent and progressive rock movements. That opening riff is absolute killer.

It’s got horns, it’s got groove, it’s got meter changes, it’s got a spaghetti western flavour, it’s got a cabaret circus big top feel and that Coheed and Cambria inspired chant ending is just sublime. Basically it’s got everything that a progressive song should have and it all sounds natural.

I must go
Off alone in wild
Where I just might escape my restraints

So simple and one of the best lyrical lines of 2014. It is a simple summation of just cutting yourself free from the society and the life that is unjust. Jump in the car, hit the gas and escape the restraints of society into the unknown. Or in some cases, go online and escape that way.

Heritage

The frantic intro with the chants got me interested, however it was the build-up in the middle from 2.28 that got me hooked.

I would be happy to pay good money to see the band pull off the song. It actually starts out with a quote from “Johann Wolfgang von Goethe”.

“He who cannot draw on three thousand years is living from hand to mouth”

The song’s topic is what the Copyright Industries are fighting against.

“Heritage” explores the idea about building upon the knowledge of predecessors, by understanding what came before and then applying our own thoughts and ideas to them.

Music is a perfect example of building upon previous works and changing them enough with our own ideas and words. And it’s got a perfect summation for what it is to be human.

Now, stand on the shoulders of history’s tallest thinkers
See that their height is borrowed from predecessors
And even the worst ideas can spur better conceptions
Pushing humankind along an evolutionary rite of passage

We are copyists, borrowers. We always have been and always will be.

Everbound

Again the mathletic intro hooks me in and the old school style vocal melodies seal the deal. A song that deals with being away from a loved one. It will not be as big as “Turn The Page” or “Wanted Dead or Alive” because it is an intelligent ode to life on the road.

On long nights, the feeling grows so strong
But still stronger, my resolve that all I need is her word
Nothing can shake this
For twin hearts, inherently kindred
Know all despair will be resolved at companion’s side

An Evolution Of Thought

Is the level that Tool should be at right now. The song has everything in it that I love.

Old School. CHECK.
DT style prog. CHECK
Coheed and Cambria style prog. CHECK.
Tool style prog, CHECK.
Protest The Hero style prog. CHECK.
Periphery meets Scale The Summit style prog. CHECK

And yeah, those vocals kill it. It’s well written, and once again features an ending buildup that leads to an atmospheric chanting chorus that hangs around long after the song is finished.

Ebb and then flow
In time may we learn we never knew one thing
Ebb and then flow
In time may we learn we grow staying open
Ebb and then flow
In time may we learn from those we would estrange
Ebb and then flow
In time may we learn the laws of change

We knew once that the Earth was flat. We believed it. Now we know that is not the case. The takeaway is the line “WE GROW STAYING OPEN”.

Decades

Just look how everything can change
Perspectives falling through with age

Tell that to the Copyright Industries. They don’t want nothing to change. They want it to be like it was twenty years ago. Gated Releases, distribution controlled by them and politicians on their payroll passing laws to benefit their business models.

No moment’s ever the same
Embrace the shift

Seeing the change that the Internet has brought to my life is exponential. Embrace it, don’t fight it.

Years pass by, what was is changed
As years pass by, what is was revised
As years pass by, what was gives rise to now

Again, the perfect takeaway of what life is. What was, is changed. What was, is revised. What was, has given rise to something new. Steve Jobs is the definition of this principle. He took what was invented, revised it, changed it and out came the iPod, iPhone and iPad.

Millennia

The blues’iness is perfect and brilliant. For an instrumental I didn’t need the feel to skip it. Love the Pink Floyd feel it gives me, ala “Dark Side of The Moon”.

A Grand Debate

Interpret the words unspoken
The benefits they bear

The one who controls the story is the one that controls the narrative. That is what the Copyright industries like the movie studios and the record labels are trying to keep control of. If they lose the narrative, then they lose the debate.

Do you see that our lies disguise shortcomings?

A perfect lyric.

Seekers and Servants

The lyrics drive this song.

How’d we become so pliable?
How’d we get so loose with trust,
Giving it up to the likes of the ruthless few who
Exploit naive, to ensure their incomes will grow?

Yep, while our parents focused on building a home and saving, the ruthless few kept on plotting and scheming. So what we have is a world that allows the criminals of the GFC to go on public speaking tours. What we have is a world that allows Corporations who contribute nothing to culture to lock it up. What we have is a world that allows democratic governments to spy on its citizens, acting the same as the totalitarian governments they went to war against.

Let’s choose to educate ourselves; question everything

Truer words have never been spoken like this.

But what we’re told and what we’re sold relate
So keep an eye on bottom lines

Living in a world we’re the leaders that we vote in work for the corporations instead of the people. Living in a world we’re everyone focuses on the bottom lines.

If initially we knew to
Work upon ourselves, not everyone else,

Any change happens by starting on numero uno. Get that right. But instead, we want to mold and shape everyone to conform.

Dreambender

Shape the life which you’ve defined

Again another classic lyric.

Like A Long Life

Greed deceives,
Turning everyone to slavery
Causing everyone to live life for salaries

Slavery in 2014 is just that. The rich are not stupid. They lost the war on slavery in the eyes of history, but what they did and what they created is much worse.

Why live a short life like you’re living a long life?

So wrapped up in building mansions for a life that is so brief.

Progressive music in general is having a pretty good run recently and I’m not complaining one bit. The step up from “Lore” to “Life In Lucidity” is a god damn big one.

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A to Z of Making It, Music, My Stories

The Death Of The Traditional Charts

The “traditional” single release used to get marketed and promoted for months. It would then get radio airplay and with all of the hype that goes with each single release, the record label and the artist would hope that the single would sell.

After the single does its run it would be removed from sale. During this period thousands or maybe millions of people would have purchased the single. They would hand over their money at the store and then take it home and play it as many times as they liked. The actual sale of the single was counted by the charts but all of those plays at home didn’t count for nothing.

Until now.

One sale is just one count towards the artist.

But now with streaming, a song/single can continue to have traction for months, years or decades. And there is the paradigm shift right there.

Albums were designed to have a longer shelf life. Singles were designed to have a short shelf life. Now with streaming, the border lines between singles and albums have dissolved. But the record labels and artists still insist on spending three to nine months recording albums. That was fine once upon a time, when albums did have a longer shelf life due to gated releases, but in 2014, albums have a shorter shelf life. Release frequently is the norm today, but nearly every established artists refuses to do it.

An artist will continue to earn a streaming income on a recording for years from their fans, whereas that fan would in the past have only paid once. Actually, if the artist gave their rights away to the record label for an advance payment, then it would be the record label that will continue to earn a streaming income on behalf of the artist.

Artists need to negotiate better. Sell your rights away for an advance payment, however have a clause in there that stipulates that if a song reaches a certain target, then a different rate of payment kicks in or the advance needs to be topped up. Because at the beginning no one knows how big or how low the actual song could go.

Going back to the new charts.

I am expecting the best to rise up again, the classic songs that we have known. Don’t be surprised if AC/DC and Metallica make a comeback to the charts. Journey will be there with “Don’t Stop Believin’ and Bon Jovi will be there as well. Old recordings will reappear. I have no doubt about that.

But with any technological product, it is open for misuse and I am sure that streaming services could skew the results based on their corporate deals with TV Shows and Record Labels.

But in the end it is a change and a big one.

Are the Heavy Metal artists and their fans ready?

This is their chance to bring Metal and Rock music back to the masses because the power of the radio and the labels is diminishing in this area for now.

The power is in the hands and ears of the individual streamer. The fans of the artist have the potential to control the musical career of their favourite artists. As an artist this is a good thing.

And business models around streaming and ownership of music will continue to grow.

“We can say with a high level of confidence that it no longer matters how many albums an artist has sold. All that matters now is how many listeners that artist can convert into owners.”

The words above are from the Arena CEO.

Who is Arena you ask?

Arena is another player on the scene and their business model is very different. Once a listener streams a participating single song 5 times, Arena then gives the listener the MP3 file to download and own. Arena then will pay the artist $0.85, in addition to the $0.21 for the 5 streams, as if the listener had purchased the song to own directly. This is a combination of streaming and ownership, because if peer-to-peer downloading has taught us one thing, it is that fans of music still want to own and they want to own music for free.

What Arena is paying is well above the industry standard rates from Pandora, Spotify, Beats Music, and YouTube. To top it all off there is no monthly subscription. If Arena will take off, or if it will get swallowed by Spotify is a different matter. What is clear is that it is addressing a gap in the record label business model that is still unaddressed.

And that is peer-to-peer downloads of mp3’s. And how these five streams = 1 download will count on a chart is another matter in its entirety and it further highlights how out of date the current charts are.

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A to Z of Making It, Classic Songs to Be Discovered, Derivative Works, Influenced, Music, My Stories, Unsung Heroes

Asphalt Ballet

It’s 1991 and “Use Your Illusion” parts one and two have hit the charts. However it was Asphalt Ballet’s debut album that initially had the most radio take up, beating out the juggernaut that was Guns N Roses.

And what a great band name, using a police slang term for a motorcyclist crashing and skidding along the road at high speed.

Their so called overnight success was over 14 years in the making that began in different states and different cities, far removed from the Sunset Strip of LA.

Vocalist Gary Jeffries has a huge story to tell. He put in a lot of time playing the bar circuit and his origin story dates back to the Seventies. Eventually he came to L.A in the mid Eighties to audition for QUIET RIOT after original vocalist Kevin DuBrow left. He didn’t get that gig, losing out to Paul Shortino from Rough Cutt.

After that he played with guitar virtuoso Alex Masi, Passion, Baronette and Broken Rule. That eventually led to a group called Mistreated which by sheer luck rehearsed next to Jeffries other bands. Guitarists, Danny Clarke and Julius J. Ulrich along with bassist Terry Phillips and drummer Mikki Kiner all came from “Mistreated”.

And before recruiting singer Gary Jefferies in 1989, Mistreated had a Bon Jovi meets Warrant pop rock sound. As they once said, “it wasn’t a believable thing and that they were doing it make a buck.” With Jeffries in the fold, Mistreated became King Kong and then Asphalt Ballet and the sound went to a more organic southern delta blues rock vibe.

As was the norm back then, bands needed to get a buzz happening and Asphalt Ballet did just that on the Los Angeles bar circuit, which eventually got the attention of Virgin Records via a recommendation from Myron Grombacher, drummer for Pat Benatar.

Start with the debut album. They wanted to call the album “Mood Swing” and once you sink your teeth into it, that is exactly what you will get.

It was produced by Greg Edward who paid his dues as an engineer on big albums like “Scarecrow” from John Cougar Mellencamp and “Like a Rock” from Bob Seger and the Silver Bullet Band. Virgin Records released the album and it looks like they had no idea how to promote the band or the album in a changing musical landscape.

“Soul Survive”

What a song and what a groove. It gets the head nodding and the foot tapping. It’s written by guitarist Danny Clarke and it’s rooted in the AC/DC style of blues rock.

“I’ve seen the system fall apart from the rules
And all our Presidents lie
I’ve seen the needle and the damage it’s done
The wreckage left behind”

The system has gotten worse and the war on drugs has been lost. We have our own democratic governments spying on us and storing our information in massive data banks.

“I’ve seen the broken dreams and broken hearts
I’ve seen the strong be cruel
I’ve seen a man driven by success
And break the golden rules”

It seems that all we read about today are people committing some form of crime. All in the name of money. The RIAA claims that they are victims of copyright infringement. Then you get the minority and the poor claim that they are victims of corrupted or over zealous law enforcement officers. And the list of injustice just goes on and on. All the name of money.

Instead of singing “WAR, WHAT IS IT GOOD FOR?”, the catch cry of 2014 should be “MONEY, WHAT IS IT GOOD FOR?”

“Tuesday’s Rain”

It’s the complete opposite of “Soul Survive” and this one is written by guitarist Julius Ulrich. It’s the Yang to Clarke’s Yin.

“As I wait for my new high
And sit on my mood swing
And drift out like the tide
Into the deep blue sea”

That’s what life in general is all about. Mood swings and reactions that move us about each day.

“End Of My Rope”

Another melancholic rocker written by Julius Ulrich.

“Well it’s a ruthless world with a painted face
Ain’t nothin’ gonna change but the time and place”

Aint that the truth. Different cities and different people all over the world are experiencing the same pain. Heartbreak, the loss of a loved one and so on.

“Winners and losers, beggars and choosers
Talkers, doers lost in illusion
Lawyers, villains, hometown killings
It’s all the same to me down at the end of my rope

Well lord, I’m losing hope, yeah!
Down at the end of my rope”

That’s it, right there, the unwritten law of the street. There are winners and there are losers. There are beggars and there are choosers. People that talk it up and there are people who actually do it. But when you are always hanging on, all of the shit that goes on up top is all the same. It doesn’t make a difference to you down at the bottom.

“Heaven Winds Blow”

Another song written by Danny Clarke and this time it’s got this Southern Skynyrd vibe happening.

He said you can’t stop and worry about the things that you’ve done
There’ll be no more looking back when the judgment day comes
Judgment day is coming, yeah!

A conversation with the Lord Almighty. We are a long time dead, but alive for a little while. So live it up until the heaven winds blow.

“Blood on the Highway”

Written by Julius Ulrich and Gary Jeffries. The “When The Levee Breaks” groove is hypnotizing and it hooked me in from the get go. Bon Jovi and their Nashville songwriting team ripped them off for “We Got It Goin On” from the Lost Highway album in 2007. But then again, it is a typical blues rock groove and Keith Richards once said, “YOU CANT COPYRIGHT THE BLUES”.

Living like there’s no tomorrow
Lovin when it comes my way
Well it’s a lonely road, a new town to go every day

So many songs written about life on the road. It isn’t a pop culture phenomenon like “Turn The Page” or “Wanted Dead Or Alive” but man, this song is a classic song just waiting to be discovered.

“Goodbye Yesterday”

It is written by guitarist Danny Clarke and Julius Ulrich. It is “Tuesday’s Rain” merged with “Soul Survives”. And for some reason I can’t stop shaking that Tesla connection from my mind when I hear this song.

“Wasted Time”

People might not know this song, but man its got the best lyric line ever committed.

Life done wait for you
Precious wasted time

Julius Ulrich, West Arkeen and Danny Clarke wrote this song. West Arkeen (RIP) also did some work with Guns N Roses and the “Use Your Illusion” albums. It’s got that Blues Gospel vibe that I dig.

Hearing this song again today, seventeen years after West Arkeen’s death due an accidental drug overdose, it sure is wasted time. The Skid Row song of the same name just hits home.

“Is it all, just wasted time
Can you live with yourself
When you think of what
You left behind”

“Taking a Walk”

This is a great song, again written by Julius Ulrich. The whole album is showing the eclectic style of Ulrich. In this case, he has crafted a song that merges the Van Halen SoCal vibe, with some pedal point metal riffing and a lot of swing.

“Do It All Over Again”

It’s a simple 12 bar blues acoustic ditty written by guitarists Clarke and Ulrich.

I’m no social grace, I’m no millionaire
I don’t wear a tie, I don’t comb my hair
If I sing out loud to myself, give me the stage

I’ve got a few things I can call my own
My TV’s broke, I ain’t got no phone
I’m doin’ just fine and I thank you just the same

Don’t mind the shape I’m in
I don’t mind if you let me in
‘Cause if I had the chance
I’d do it all over again

I get by on caffeine and alcohol
Some days I walk and there’s some I crawl
A few bad moves, it’s just a part of the game, yeah it is

A lot of artists just stopped soldiering on once they lost their deals in the wake of Grunge or they changed their styles to match the Seattle Grunge sounds.

The Record Labels and their predatory exploitive practices are to blame here, more so than Grunge or the saturation of the market place with inferior hard rock bands. The artists slaved away without a chance in hell of recouping because no one monitored or regulated the creative accounting practices of the labels.

Vocalist Gary Jeffries decided to leave during the tour for the debut album. The band had been out on the road for 12 months and in the majority of the cities they played, no one could find a copy of their album.

They did in stores and acoustic gigs in record stores and there wasn’t a copy of the CD in the store.

Back in 1991/1992, the rule of thumb was that if a band plays a city and rocks the audience, then those fans would go out and buy the album. In the case of Asphalt Ballet, the album wasn’t in the stores so how can the fans buy it. Basically, the record label failed their artist. To top it off, the label then pulled the plug on any further touring because sales weren’t high enough. How ironic.

That was when their manager stepped up and financed a tour with “Shotgun Messiah” which as the headlining act, had no pull. Eventually, after living on $160 a week and with Virgin pushing the band to get a little bit more grunge sounding, vocalist Jeffries went back to Louisiana and a few days later he was working a normal job, trying to make an income to support his pregnant wife.

The band was thousands in debt based on the recouping label formula. Asphalt Ballet’s manager sweet talked Virgin to front up enough cash for a new album and after doing the CD, “Pigs”, they were dropped before any tour began.

But we have the debut album. Cherish it as a great piece of rock and roll music.

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A to Z of Making It, Copyright, Music, My Stories, Stupidity, Treating Fans Like Shit

What Do Artists Need? Stronger Copyright Laws or Better Business Models

I absolutely support that musicians should be paid for their work.

What I don’t get is how the record labels and misguided artists feel entitled to push for stronger copyright enforcement as a way to guarantee an income which is contrary to the foundations of what copyright was designed to do.

As we all know, Copyright laws have been hijacked by Corporations that at this point in time, copyright is contrary to freedom, and in particular freedom of speech, to a degree where it is illegal to sing “Happy Birthday” at a birthday party.

The “Happy Birthday” song goes all the way back to 1893 and right now it is “protected” by copyright until 2030 because someone decided to retroactively place it back under copyright. If that doesn’t tell everybody that something is very wrong with Copyright then I really don’t know what will.

Because people who really believe in stronger copyright laws believe that if those extra enforcement laws do not exist then musicians will cease to create. Those same people believe that if people are not paid upfront to write an album, then musicians will cease to create.

The maximalist viewpoint doesn’t seem to be supported.

Look at Sweden, the birth place of Spotify and The Pirate Bay. Guess what, the country has a thriving culture around music. Sweden to me is the scene to be at right now. Other policy changes by the Swedish Government around making medical care free has also contributed to this vibrant music scene. And all of this has been achieved with the threat of copyright infringement.

Remember all of the lies that have come out from the entertainment industries.

“Home taping killed music” was a good one. Guess that is why the music business and as a by-product the recording business grew exponentially once cassettes came into the market. I guess that is why no popular music has been made since cassettes came into the market.

The point is that copyright protectionism is purely about protecting old business models. Stronger Copyright has nothing to do about supporting thriving new industries. Stronger Copyright has nothing to do about finding new ways of doing things. The thing is the Copyright cartels have had a big win in successfully skewing the argument that file sharing is “theft”.

Remember all of those commercials about stealing that seemed to appear on a legally purchased DVD. The irony. I purchase a DVD and then I get blasted with ads that links copyright infringement to theft. BUT, if file sharing was actually “stealing”, then file-sharers could no doubt be prosecuted under existing theft law.

But they don’t. Because file sharing is not theft of property. It is a violation of copyright. That’s an important difference.

Duplicating a pile of 1’s and 0’s does not deprive anybody of the original content. What all of this copying does is drive down the value of the product. What is the price of a song when the internet is littered with millions of copies of the same song and they are free.

That right there is a market with a customer base in the billions and it needed to be satisfied. And that is where YouTube, Spotify, Pandora and other streaming services come into play. They are there to monetize that market by competing with free through ad-supported business models. Hey, if it is good enough for the free to air TV networks, why can’t it be good enough for music networks.

But this “free market” has a big problem when it runs up against Government protected monopolies.

And the thing is, people do also pay for music. Many studies are actually showing that the biggest consumers of illegal media are also the biggest purchasers of legal media. Ultimately this seems to show that people are more than happy to pay for content they enjoy.

Metallica’s self-titled Black album is still moving on average 2000 units a week. And it is doing this even though millions of copies of the album are available to be downloaded for free. It is doing this even though it is available for streaming on Spotify and YouTube.

Volbeat has been selling records on a weekly basis in the U.S since 2011. They are doing these numbers even though their album/s are available to be downloaded on peer-to-peer networks. They are doing these numbers even though their albums are available for streaming.

Same deal with Five Finger Death Punch, Avenged Sevenfold and Skillet. Still selling, regardless of the state of piracy.

So what is it. Do artists need stronger copyright laws or better business models and terms that pay them a fair days pay for a fair days work?

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A to Z of Making It, Copyright, Music, My Stories, Piracy

Then (1984) and Now (2014)

Then
A large marketing budget broke bands.

Now
Fans break bands.

Then
Musicians and bands were picked out of a pool of people by record label representatives based on the strength of the songs and the buzz around them.

Now
Musicians and bands are still picked out of a pool of people by record label representatives based on how they look and dress.

Then
Radio fed us streams of crafted products created by the record label machine.

Now
Radio hasn’t really changed however people can stream songs on playlists that they have created.

Then
You HAD to go into a big expensive studio to record.

Now
Musicians at home can record, mix and master their own work with little money.

Then
Bands/Artists wrote what they wanted and then the record label told them what they wanted and then the bands would go back and re-write songs to what the record label wanted.

Now
Bands/Artists can create whatever they want and in the version they want.

Then
A record label was needed to release music.

Now
Bands and artists can release their music in the way they want. No label is needed.

Then
It was hard being a musician. There was no guarantee that a band or an artist would make money from music.

Now
It’s still hard being a musician. There was no guarantee that a band or an artist would make money from music.

Then
Unknowns had no way of reaching millions.

Now
Unknowns can reach hundreds of millions of people with their music.

Then
Piracy was an issue however it still didn’t deter bands and artists from creating new music.

Now
Piracy is still an issue and it still doesn’t deter bands and artists from creating new music.

Then
Musicians rarely banked on making cash from recordings

Now
Musicians feel entitled that they should be making cash from recordings because they poured their heart and soul into it.

Then
Musicians focused on creating, recording and playing live.

Now
Musicians have their fingers in a lot of pies to make a living.

Then
Musicians obsessed about booking shows. That is where people went to find new music.

Now
Musicians hardly play shows. They are more selective. And people don’t go to watch unknown bands anymore, as they have so many different avenues to find new music.

Then
Music was the event.

Now
TV Shows are the events with music being relegated to a sideshow.

Then
Musicians made a living by putting the hours in.

Now
Those same musicians are still making a living by putting the hours in.

Then
Musicians did the hard work of building up a local fan base.

Now
Musicians want to take over the world in an instant.

Then
There was a monopoly on the distribution. There was a monopoly on the price.

Now
That monopoly has been replaced by the internet.

Then
The cream of the crop always rises to the top.

Now
The cream of the crop still rises to the top. It just takes a little bit longer.

Then
The record labels killed off genres by pushing acts they signed to copy other acts.

Now
99 percent of artists and musicians still copy other acts. That 1 percent that do it differently are the ones that have a career.

Then
The Record label set up was basically a lot of non-creative people living off the backs of those who create content

Now
The record label set up is still the same, however it is starting to diminish.

Then
Artists believed that once they got signed by a record deal, fame and riches would follow.

Now
Artists know that there is no single solution and they are aware that record labels rip off the artists.

Then
Artists and Bands had two paths of getting our music out. The record label path or the do it yourself path.

Now
Artists and bands have hundreds of paths for pushing our music out. They just need to work harder at it.

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A to Z of Making It, Copyright, Music, My Stories, Piracy, Stupidity

Billion Dollar Deals and Still No RESPECT for Pre-1972 Artists

How would you feel as a musician and as a creator today as you hear and read about all of these board room deals taking place between technology companies and the record labels?

Millions upon millions are exchanged from a technological company to the record labels.

WHY?

Because if a technological company wants to offer a music service they need to license the music catalogue that the record labels hold. And the music catalogue that the record labels hold is music created by artists, songwriters and producers, including those same artists that are supporting the PRE-1972 RESPECT ACT. So where is the windfall for the artists from all of these backroom deals. In a nutshell it is their music that the record labels are using as leverage.

The RESPECT ACT says that some of the biggest digital radio services in the world have decided to stop paying royalties to artists who recorded music before February 15, 1972. It looks like the record labels never paid any royalties to these artists.

The Allman Brothers have sued Universal Music and Sony Music for unpaid iTunes royalties. The Temptations sued Universal for not paying iTunes royalties properly. The Beatles sued EMI over unpaid royalties. Martha Reeves sued Motown for unpaid royalties. Roger McGuinn, from the Byrds, has never received royalties (beyond a “modest advance”) for the 15 albums he recorded with the band.

The RESPECT ACT says these companies believe that they can use pre-1972 recordings for free, forever. It looks like the record labels use these pre-1972 recordings to negotiate licensing deals, without any compensation to the original artists and the writers.

The RESPECT ACT says that while the artists of today are paid royalties every time their songs are played, the inspirational artists who came before them — Motown acts, the legends of Jazz and Blues, and the musicians who gave birth to Rock n’ Roll — all get nothing. Um, those acts never got nothing in the first place from the record labels. Modest advances maybe.

The RESPECT Act states that the decision by these companies to cut off royalties for pre-1972 recordings caused artists and record labels to lose an estimated $60 million in royalties. Music is how artists pay the rent, provide for their family, and plan for the future.

Um, what about the estimated millions of royalties that the artists have lost due to creative record label accounting.

And what about all of the producers and songwriters that worked on those music catalogues that the record labels now own and use as a bargaining chip. Based on all of the research funded by the RIAA, producers and songwriters are the ones that are hurt the most because of piracy. It looks like they are really hurt by the streaming licensing deals.

Seriously think about it.

SPOTIFY had to pay a hefty license fee to operate and in the US they had to give up half the company.
BEATS also had to pay a license to the record labels and give up some equity.
APPLE also paid the labels to license their music.
GOOGLE, AMAZON and PANDORA also have paid the labels. The list just goes on.

Some could argue that the artists, producers and songwriters got paid a decent advance for their music. And the norm in the past has been to give the songwriters and the producers a modest advance for their work in exchange for any future royalties earned. But at that time when the advance is paid no one knows how big that potential song or album could be. Or vice versa, no one knows how bad that song or album could be. But if the song or album does blow up, it doesn’t mean that the producer or the songwriter will start getting some decent royalties.

Because then the maths start to get more complicated due to that record label black hole formula known as RECOUPED. When that formula starts to be applied to any money earned from royalties there is a 99.9% chance that the artists will not receive a cent.

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A to Z of Making It, Classic Songs to Be Discovered, Music, My Stories, Unsung Heroes

Daybreak Embrace And The Music Business

Let me tell you a truth.

Once upon a time, back in the Record Label controlled music business no one would have heard any music from Daybreak Embrace is outside of their South Florida scene. Back then, bands would release independent EP’s and singles in the hope to generate a big enough buzz at their live shows that they would get signed. Then once they got signed there was no guarantee that the band would still get a chance to release music on that label.

So a band like Daybreak Embrace could be at it for a long time before the world could get a chance to hear their music. However that is not the case in 2014. And I for one, am glad about that.

I really enjoyed Daybreak Embrace’s 2010 EP “Tomorrow Awaits”. From that EP “Thirty–Six” is a dead set classic and “Sanctuary” is not that far behind. This is where people should start.

So I was curious as to what new music they had released since then.

I go to Spotify, type in their name and I see that they have new music. The “Mercury” EP was released in 2013. Damn, how did I miss that. The Modern Rock scene in the U.S is a very crowded marketplace. You have bands like Shinedown, Three Days Grace, Three Doors Down, Alter Bridge, Lifehouse and many more. So if a band is to rise above the saturated marketplace, then they need to be great.

Producer and songwriter, “Paul Trust” has played a big part in recording the band at a high level. Sometimes all bands need these kind of experienced people. Daybreak Embrace by the way is James Wamsley (vocals), Giann Rubio (drums), Dan Cartagena (lead guitar), Keneth Figueroa (guitar) and Dani Costa (bass).

Yep, I know they are not rock star names like Slash, Nikki Sixx, Jay Jay French or Ace Frehley. But that doesn’t mean they don’t rock.

With all the beautiful things that the Internet has brought us, one thing hasn’t changed.

It is still difficult for a band to get attention and the odds of success are still very low.

However good bands always came from left field and from a place completely unexpected. They are around for years before they are fully embraced. Like all technological startups there are early adopters before critical mass.

For any band, first comes the music and then comes the fan base.

For managers and record labels, they don’t care what the music sounds like. They only care that it has an audience.

And that is the hardest part for any band. Proving that it has an audience so that they can gain entrance into a bigger league. And that doesn’t happen overnight or within a year or within five years. Remember that every overnight sensation is years in the making.

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A to Z of Making It, Classic Songs to Be Discovered, Influenced, Music, My Stories, Unsung Heroes

Kamelot

I don’t mind my fix of metal that is now known as a whole separate genre called power metal or symphonic metal. Back in the Eighties it was just metal. Pure and simple. I think that the press at that time just needed something to define certain styles of metal. So they started to come up with different names like Pop Metal, Thrash Metal, Hard Rock, Glam Metal, Death Metal, Power Metal and so on.

In relation to Power Metal here is my own 10 second wrap up of a whole genre beginning from the Seventies.

It started with Deep Purple, Rainbow and Iron Maiden. Then Yngwie Malmsteen and Helloween came along. They both increased the tempos and Yngwie Malmsteen exaggerated the classical elements which led to the current Power Metal movement which is just a higher tempo version of the beast that Yngwie Malmsteen and Helloween inspired.

The thing with power metal at the moment is that there are so many acts out on the market that are just not good enough to be there. They think by playing at break neck speeds it makes them good enough. They think by having a hot female opera singer in the band makes them good enough. Basically if the song is shit, then the whole band is shit. Like in Sport, you are only as strong as your weakest link.

Kamelot is not one of them. Because Kamelot is not all about higher tempos. There is more variation in their music.

Symphonic – CHECK
Progressive – CHECK
Groove – CHECK
Classic NWOBHM – Check
Hard Rock – CHECK
Classical – CHECK

Credit Thomas Youngblood, one of the bands original founders. In 1991 he along with drummer Richard Warner founded a band steeped in technical guitar playing. He stayed with that style during and after the Grunge wave. Eventually in 1995, Kamelot released their first album on the German Record Label “Noise”.

Yep, it’s that same label that specialised in melodic speed metal and they also had Helloween on its roster. It’s also the same label that took Helloween to court and won a seven digit payout in their favour when Helloween broke ranks and went to the majors direct.

So I’m listening to “Silverthorn”, Kamelot’s tenth studio album and their third concept story.

It’s the song “Veritas” that connected with me. And the connection comes in the form of a band called Savatage, who I am a big fan off, especially the era of Criss Oliva. Because it sounds like something that could have been recorded for a Savatage album. And the song is not even well-known. YouTube has a few fan audio videos with numbers less than a thousand. Spotify doesn’t even rate it in the Top 10.

The next song that appeals to me is “My Confession” and its the Within Temptation and In Flames connection that hits home. On YouTube, the video to “My Confession” is at 1,176,127 views. The other single from the album, “Sacrimony (Angel of Afterlife)” is at 1,141,127 views. Actually, the bands YouTube numbers are way better than their Spotify numbers. If I was the band’s manager I would be taking note of this. The fans like the clips and the visuals that go with it.

I can’t say that I like everything that Kamelot has put out, however they have done enough on each album to keep me interested to come back and invest my time to hear each new album. And that is what matters today.

Are people listening to your music on a daily basis?

That is more important than how many first week sales are achieved.

One final note, when the cover by Stefan Heilemann reminds me of a cover that Gustavo Savez did for the last band I was in. I just found it bizarre that the styles are so similar.

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A to Z of Making It, Classic Songs to Be Discovered, Copyright, Derivative Works, Influenced, Music, My Stories, Piracy, Stupidity, Treating Fans Like Shit, Unsung Heroes

Invasion Of The Swedes – The First To Embrace Streaming and Guess What… Their Scene Is Flourishing

What do all of these bands have in common?

Evergrey, Corroded, Yngwie Malmsteen, Crashdiet, Avatar, In Flames, Europe, Soilwork, Jeerk, John Norum, Angeline, Baby Jane, Arch Enemy, April Divine, Cervello, The Night Flight Orchestra, Pretty Maids, Wig Wam, Fatal Smile, H.E.A.T, Hardcore Superstar, Scar Symmetry, M.ill.ion, Machinae Supremacy, Meldrum, Meshuggah, Overload, The Poodles, Shotgun Messiah, Sister Sin, Coldspell, Kee Marcello, W.E.T, Work Of Art, Audiovision, Dream Evil, At The Gates, Angelica, HammerFall, Tad Morose, Hollow, Pain Of Salvation, Opeth, Sonic Syndicate, Dead By April, April Divine, Bonafide, Crazy Lixx, Diamond Dogs, Plan Three, Treat, Takida, Royal Republic, Renegade Five, Vains Of Jenna, Amon Amarth, Bathory, Candlemass, Karmakanic, Degreed, Diamond Dawn, Eclipse, Gemini Five and House Of Shakira.

They are all from Sweden. And it was “Tearing Down The Walls” the fourth album from the band H.E.A.T that got me thinking about this invasion.

And the thing is they have always been producing so many good bands and great music. But when the record labels controlled the market, we didn’t know of the bands unless they broke big like Europe, Roxette, Yngwie Malmsteen and so on. Now with the internet, we know a lot more.

“Address The Nation” from 2012 was the first piece of music I heard from H.E.A.T and then I went back and heard their 2008 self-titled debut and it’s 2010 follow-up “Freedom Rock”. I liked them all, so I had high hopes for the fourth album. Going in blind, “Point of No Return” didnt disappoint. After listening to Bonfire a few days ago, I can honestly say that H.E.A.T reminds me of a cross between Europe and Bonfire. And that is a good thing.

Which melodic hard rock band these days isn’t from Sweden. It’s a Viking musical invasion in so many ways.

Max Martin is rocking the Billboard Top 10 charts with his pop formula. Other artists are also breaking through. Avicii and Swedish House Mafia are the big EDM artists that have crossed over recently.

And a lot of the hard rock and metal bands that I mentioned earlier would probably not tour the Americas or Australia on a frequent basis however they have a career touring around Europe and Japan. And trust me, they are big markets to hit.

H.E.A.T for example have shows all over the continent. And you know their name is built on the backs of song number 14 on album number 1. Yep, “1000 Miles” almost has 3 million streams on Spotify.

And for a Swedish band, H.E.A.T’s new album is not even available to be streamed.

Which is a big contrast to say the band called “Takida”. Yep, they are another Swedish band and their song “You Learn” from their 2011 album “Burning Heart” has 21,853,323 streams on Spotify. WTF.

I can tell you that a lot of American major label acts do not have those stats. I just checked Five Finger Death Punch and they are nowhere near this figure. To prove that it is not a one-off fluke I checked out some of their newer material from 2014 and the song “One Lie” is sitting at 900,000 plus streams. I went deeper and the song “Curly Sue” from their 2007 album is sitting at 7,677,597 streams. Bands would kill to have these stats and I bet a lot of people reading this would be saying, who the fuck is Takida?

The same could be said for the band “Mustasch”. Their song “Double Nature” from 2007 has 8,627,129 streams. Yep they are another rock band from Sweden. If you want to compare streams, Dream Theater’s “On The Backs Of Angels” has 1,419,649 streams.

Then what about the band called Sabaton? Their song “Ghost Division” has 7,817,664 streams. Or the Swedish band “Dream Evil” that features Gus G. Their song “The Chosen Ones” has 1,161,146 streams. Or the band “Dead By April” and their song “Mystery” that has 11,643,378 streams.

Isn’t it funny how the home country of Spotify also has one of the most vibrant rock and metal scenes in the world. But wait a second. I am sure I have heard the RIAA and their proponents scream that because music has been devalued, no one will create anymore.

Well it looks like someone forgot to tell the Swedes.

But, the RIAA and their proponents still screams piracy and the copyright industry still screams for stronger copyright enforcement. But the truth of the matter is that all eyes should be on Sweden. Here is a country that has embraced streaming and guess what, their musical scene is flourishing.

Once you add in all of the crossover artists like Swedish House Mafia and Avicii, along with songwriting king Max Martin (aka Martin Sandberg) it is safe to say that free music to a consumer DOES NOT MEAN THAT CREATORS HAVE NO INCENTIVE TO CREATE.

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