Category Archives: My Stories

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

The Music Industry Is A Competitive Marketplace. Just ask “Burning Yesterday”.

I have had some music laying around that I earmarked once upon a time for a re-listen in a proper way. Proper to me in this day and age means headphones.

Burning Yesterday is the first band and their album from 2009, “We Create Monsters Not Machines.” Burning Yesterday is based in Nashville. The sound is polished and for an independent band, they sure sound like a major label act. All the songs are pretty solid.

If you like bands like Red, Papa Roach, Breaking Benjamin, Skillet and Disciple then you would rate this album very highly. If you don’t mind those bands, then you will not mind this album. If you don’t like those bands, then you will not like this album.

From all the bashing that the album format has gotten, one thing I do like are the connections. For example, on this album Robert Venable was the producer. For those that do not know, Robert Venable has worked on the following albums;

  • Megadeth – The System Has Failed
  • Spoken – Illusion
  • Love and Death – Between Here & Lost
  • Disciple – Horseshoes And Handgrenades
  • Disciple – O God Save Us All
  • Seventh Day Slumber – Love and Worship
  • Seventh Day Slumber – Anthem Of Angels

A point of interest is that in their electronic bio, it states the following;
“We Create Monsters Not Machines” was produced by Travis Wyrick (P.O.D., Disciple, Pillar, Since October, 10 Years).”

CD Baby also states the above comments, while Allmusic and Wikipedia has the producer as Robert Venable. My interpretation is that Travis Wyrick was used in a songwriter/executive producer role, while the actual album was produced by Robert Venable.

So if the album is good (and it is that good that it made my Top 20 for the year) why didn’t it set the world on fire? The answer is simple. COMPETITION IN THE MARKETPLACE and TIME.

2009 was a tough year for any new artist releasing music. Actually every year is a tough year for any new band. For the fan base that Burning Yesterday is trying to appeal to, they had to compete against the following bands and their releases for that year;

  • Red – Innocence and Instinct
  • Pillar – Confessions
  • Breaking Benjamin – Dear Agony
  • Casting Crowns – Until The Whole World Hears
  • Thirty Seconds To Mars – This Is War
  • Seether – Finding Beauty In Negative Spaces
  • Daughtry – Leave This Town
  • Stryper – Murder By Pride
  • Chevelle – SciFi Crimes
  • Veer Union – Against The Grain
  • Adelitas Way – Adelitas Way
  • Three Days Grace – Life Starts Now
  • Skillet – Awake
  • Madina Lake – Attics To Eden
  • Halestorm – Halestorm
  • Thousand Foot Krutch – Welcome To The Masquerade
  • Smile Empty Soul – Consciousness
  • Decyfer Down – Crash Love
  • Ten Second Epic – Hometown
  • Cavo – Bright Nights, Dark Days
  • Papa Roach – Metamorphosis
  • Muse – The Resistance
  • Burn Halo – Burn Halo

The thing is I could go on forever about similar sounding bands and styles that had reasonably good albums released in 2009. For any artist that is starting out, piracy should not be their biggest concern. Their biggest concern should be competition. How do they compete in the market place in this day and age. Piracy should be used as a metric of demand.

So Burning Yesterday spend their time and money on getting a good production team and recording an album of good tunes. They actually entered the studio with producer Travis Wyrick in 2007. The album came out at the start of 2009. So they release it into a market place, that is saturated with hundreds of new releases on a daily basis. Apart from the core audience who are aware of the band, it doesn’t spread.

My view has always been the same. Musicians are entrepreneurs. They are people who organize and operate a business, taking on the financial risk to do so. They have to give people a reason to buy their product against all the other competing products. The Michael Jackson superstar business model created by the record labels in the early Eighties is dead and buried. It is never coming back. Different superstars will rise within different genres and communities, however they are the ones that will need to create the buzz.

The days of record labels breaking really great bands to the public are over. It is the bands that need to break themselves. Sure, Record Labels can be useful as distribution agents, however the final marketing starts and ends with the band.

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

Cervello – A Great Band That Is No More. Find Out What They Could Have Done Different.

I heard Cervello’s debut album today. Released in 2011. And it’s good. Really good.

So I did what everyone does, I went looking for more. And that’s where it all fell apart.

I typed “Cervello” into Google and landed on a progressive Italian band from the ‘70s. Wrong decade. Wrong band. Wrong everything.

Strike one.

Then I went digging. Facebook. Twitter. Scraps of information. Half a story. No clear signal.

Strike two.

By the time I figured out who they actually were, I’d already done more work than most listeners ever will.

And that’s the game now. If it’s hard to find you, you don’t exist.

Here’s the brutal truth: Cervello didn’t fail because of the music. They failed because of everything around the music.

No real website. No consistent presence. No strategy. No signal that anyone was steering the ship.

Just a band shouting into the void and hoping someone shouted back.

No one did. Look at the engagement. Posts with 3 likes. 6 likes. No comments. That’s not bad luck. That’s feedback.

The market was talking. They just weren’t listening.

And then there’s the big one. They made an album. Ten songs. Full release. The traditional play.

But here’s the problem, by 2011, the world had already changed.

This was a singles economy. Attention comes in fragments. Discovery comes in moments. Fans are built track by track, not album by album.

Gotye built a career off one song. One moment. One entry point. Cervello dropped everything at once… to no one.

And look at the competition they were up against. Machine Head. Dream Theater. Five Finger Death Punch. Trivium. In Flames

These bands weren’t just releasing music. They were occupying space. Constantly.

Cervello weren’t even on the map.

Then in 2013, it was over. A Facebook post. A quiet goodbye.

“Internal problems.”

That’s how it ends now. Not with a bang, but with a post no one sees.

Here’s the part that stings. They had connections.

Max Martin. John 5.

That should have been leverage. Attention. A story to tell. But even that went nowhere.

So what went wrong?

No discoverability. No consistency. No strategy. No patience. And maybe the biggest one:

No understanding that music isn’t a product anymore. It’s a service.

You don’t release and disappear. You show up. Again and again. You build something that compounds.

Because here’s the uncomfortable truth: The modern music game doesn’t reward the best song.

It rewards the artist who stays in the game long enough for the best song to be heard.

Cervello didn’t lose because they weren’t good enough. They lost because they disappeared.

And in this era… disappearing is the only unforgivable mistake.

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Music, My Stories, Review in 40 Words

Review in 40 Words – Dream Theater – Dream Theater (2013)

Download “Illumination Theory”, “Behind The Veil” and “The Looking Glass”. “The Bigger Picture” also has some great musical sections.  As for defining what Dream Theater is about right now; technical wizardry comes first and the actual song comes second.

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Music, My Stories

Review In 40 Words – Five Finger Death Punch – The Wrong Side Of Heaven and The Righteous Side Of Hell Volume 1.

“The Wrong Side of Heaven and The Righteous Side of Hell Volume 1”,

It is a pretty solid album, sticking to what they know best. I would rank it the same as “American Capitalist”, part two of what came before.

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Alternate Reality, Music, My Stories

Cold Case – Connecting The Dots With Motley Crue And It’s Vocalist Problem.

“MOTLEY STILL SINGERLESS” is the headline from a news break item that did the rounds in an issue of Hot Metal from June 1992.

For everyone that had a vested interest in hard rock music knows, Motley Crue and Vince Neil parted ways in February 1992. The actual argument took place on February 11, 1992, with Motley Crue issuing the official statement on Neil’s departure on February 14, 1992.

Now from all evidence, it looks like the band started working with John Corabi immediately, from as earliest as February 17, 1992, however it wasn’t until September 27, 1992, that John Corabi officially signed a contract to be Motley Crue’s new lead vocalist. The below is from the June 1992, Hot Metal magazine and it is an update from Walt Woodward III (RIP);

In a conversation with Walt Woodward III, drummer with much touted and Hot Metal-approved The Scream, we just had to ask what exactly was going on with the band’s singer John Corabi? It seemed to those on the outside that just as The Scream was about to explode Down Under, John Corabi was gonna bail for Da Crue.

Well, as of April 15th no confirmation had been made. Says the very friendly Walt, “We’ve just finished recording a song with John. It’s for [MTV comedian] Paulie Shaw’s new movie Encino Man. Sure, Motley Crue are really interested in John. He’s been writing with them, and whether the songs end up on our album or the Crue’s is yet to be seen.”

Walt went on to explain that he was a big fan of dedication. Y’see, since becoming The Scream, John Corabi, Walt, Bruce Bouillet and John Alderette”…had really grown together, become good friends. I would hope that dedication would win through.”

If John was to bail from The Scream though, things would definitely go on. Says Walt, “We’ve all talked about it and if John did leave I can honestly say that there’s a couple of cool cats out there who’ve rung us up and will definitely blow some people away.”

The above is interesting for two reasons. As far as the guys in “The Scream” where concerned, the songs that John Corabi was working on, could have ended up on a Motley Crue album or a new Scream album. That would mean that even though John Corabi was working with Motley Crue, he was still technically or legally in The Scream.

This also goes against Nikki Sixx’s viewpoint on the matter that John Corabi was the only guy on the scene. The comments from Walt Woodward, gives some street cred to Sebastian Bach’s claim that he did in fact audition, as it was almost seven months from when Vince Neil left to when Motley Crue officially announced John Corabi as the replacement. The other vocalists that also auditioned are Stevie Rachelle from the band Tuff, Marq Torien from the band Bullet Boys and Stephen Shareaux from the band Kik Tracee.

Now if Sebastian Bach did audition in 1992, it would have had to have been between February 1992 and September 1992. Due to the fact that John Corabi had to wait until September to be officially recognised as the lead singer, it points to one thing; some reservations existed within the Motley Crue circle of managers, record label reps and road crew if John Corabi was the right man.

During the period December, 1991 and June 22, 1992, Skid Row was touring the U.S. Plenty of free days in between to tee up an audition.

From July 8, 1992 to August 11, 1992, Skid Row did a South American tour and wrapped up the month of August with an appearance at Castle Donnington in the U.K. Again, plenty of time to fit in an audition after the tour ended.

Skid Row didn’t hit the road again until October 1992 for a small Japanese tour and then they wrapped up the “Slave To The Grind” cycle, by supporting Guns N Roses on their “Use Your Illusion” Australian tour from January 30, 1993 to February 6, 1993. Of course by the time this cycle completed, Sebastian Bach had committed to Skid Row.

It is not uncommon for different theories to emerge when band members are replaced. Even Dream Theater got caught up in it, when the stories came out that Marco Minnemann got the Dream Theater drummer spot when Mike Portnoy left. That is why on the videos of the drummer audition that came out, you don’t see footage of Dream Theater telling Minnemann that he didn’t get the gig, however there was footage of when they told all the other drummers that auditioned they didn’t get the gig.

By connecting the dots, Marco Minnemann got the gig and then turned it down when he was told he needed to relocate to the other side of America.

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Music, My Stories

Dream Theater Sales and Box Office Predictions

Okay so here we are. It’s almost September 24, 2013 and the new self titled Dream Theater album will be “officially” released on Roadrunner. I put the word officially in inverted commas because in my opinion, once you offer a full stream of an album, that’s it, the product is out, end of story. 

Anyway, lets go back almost two years to September 13, 2011. This is when Dream Theater released “A Dramatic Turn Of Events.” In the end, the album sold in total 95,000 units.

Dream Theater – A Dramatic Turn Of Events
Week 1 – ending 21 Sept 2011 – 35,750 units sold
Week 2 – ending 28 Sept 2011 – 8,030 units sold
Week 3 – ending 05 Oct 2011 – 4,430 units sold
Week 4 – ending 12 Oct 2011 – 3,120 units sold
Week 5 – ending 19 Oct 2011 – 2,600 units sold

With Roadrunner putting a lot of money into Dream Theater, they would want the above figures to increase by at least 20%. The market at the moment is showing a shrinkage in sales compared to two years ago, due to licensed streaming. In the end, based on my initial listening of the new album, I believe it will sell less a touch less than “A Dramatic Turn Of Events”.

Here are some box office scores from 2011 and 2012 as well. These are the figures that Dream Theater would want to have increased by 20% in 2013.

Sept. 24, 2011, Dream Theater, Trivium, Warfield Theatre, San Francisco, Calif.
TOTAL GROSS – $96,295
ATTENDANCE – 1,978 / 2,350
Ticket Prices – $65, $47.50

Sept. 25, 2011, Dream Theater, Trivium – NOKIA Theatre, Los Angeles, Calif.
TOTAL GROSS – $161,910
ATTENDANCE – 3,675 / 4,318
Ticket Prices – $65, $20

Oct. 3, 2011, Dream Theater, Trivium, Royal Oak Music Theatre, Royal Oak, Mich.
TOTAL GROSS – $41,843
ATTENDANCE – 1,044 / 1,200
Ticket Prices – $45, $39.50

Oct. 7, 2011, Dream Theater, Place Des Arts, Montreal, Quebec
TOTAL GROSS – $158,511
ATTENDANCE – 2,832 / 2,960
Ticket Prices – $76.30, $42.71

Oct. 8, 2011, Dream Theater, Pavillon de la Jeunesse, Quebec City, Quebec 
TOTAL GROSS – $115,298 
ATTENDANCE – 2,070 / 2,495 
Ticket Prices – $67.02, $52.55 

Oct. 22, 2011, Dream Theater, Ruth Eckerd Hall, Clearwater, Fla. 
TOTAL GROSS – $55,153 
ATTENDANCE – 1,238 / 2,028 
Ticket Prices – $64.50, $49.50, $39.50, $19.50 

Oct. 27, 2011, Dream Theater, Verizon Theatre, Grand Prairie, Texas
TOTAL GROSS – $69,308
ATTENDANCE – 1,520 / 2,355
Ticket Prices – $49.75, $39.75

June 19, 2012, Dream Theater, Lifestyle Communities Pavilion, Columbus, Ohio
TOTAL GROSS – $27,475
ATTENDANCE – 785 / 3,500
Ticket Prices – $35 

Aug. 24, 2012, Dream Theater, Pepsi On Stage, Porto Alegre, Brazil
TOTAL GROSS – $124,665
ATTENDANCE – 2,214 / 6,952
Ticket Prices – $78.98, $49.36

Aug. 26, 2012, Dream Theater, Credicard Hall, Sao Paulo, Brazil
TOTAL GROSS – $373,840
ATTENDANCE – 6,278 / 6,339 
Ticket Prices – $171.60, $44.13

Aug. 29, 2012, Dream Theater, Chevrolet Hall, Belo Horizonte, Brazil
TOTAL GROSS – $127,029
ATTENDANCE – 2,752 / 5,226
Ticket Prices – $88.20, $58.80

Aug. 30, 2012, Dream Theater, Citibank Hall, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
TOTAL GROSS – $188,790
ATTENDANCE – 3,179 / 7,772
Ticket Prices – $146.39, $73.20

July 1, 2012, Dream Theater, The Crimson ProjeKct, Warfield Theatre, San Francisco, Calif.
TOTAL GROSS – $81,644
ATTENDANCE – 1,578 / 2,374
Ticket Prices – $65, $49.50

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Music, My Stories, Stupidity, Treating Fans Like Shit

Bon Jovi – The “Because We Can” Tour will be renamed to “Because I Can”

The “Because We Can” tour needs to be remained to “Because I Can”. Based on the drop off rate of musicians, it looks like Jon Bon Jovi will be the last man standing.

It began with controversy and the absence of lead guitarist Richie Sambora. In my opnion, Richie Sambora is the reason why a lot of the metal and rock community enjoy Bon Jovi’s music. He gave the band some street cred, while Jon Bon Jovi went and played all his little games like “I want to be an actor” or “I want to be a football franchise owner” or “I want to be a politician”.

Isn’t it a huge coincidence that when Richie Sambora pulled out on the eve of the show, Jon Bon Jovi had a replacement for Sambora on the same day. By connecting the dots, Jon Bon Jovi knew this was coming. In the weeks after the departure, Jon stated that the show must go on and that he is not beholden to anyone. Of course, the angle that Jon put out there was that he cares about the people that work on the show and how those same people need to know that they are being taken care off by their employer and that they can put food on the table and make house payments.

Let’s look at the departure of Richie Sambora a bit more. On September 18, 2012, Richie Sambora released his third solo album, “Aftermath Of The Lowdown.”

At that time of the albums release, Richie Sambora stated that “What About Now” album was recorded before his solo album “Aftermath of the Lowdown” was completed. From reading interviews between September 2012 and February 2013, one would get the impression that Richie Sambora is a bit upset that he had to go out and promote another Bon Jovi album, while he also had a new album out. In other words, Richie felt that Jon Bon Jovi was killing off his solo record.

In order to appease Richie Sambora, it was decided that the new Bon Jovi album, “What About Now” will include a track from “Aftermath Of The Lowdown” as a bonus track on the deluxe edition. It looks like it wasn’t enough.

Fans then started to vent their frustration at the lack of information from all involved. The Bon Jovi shows kept on selling out in new markets, and shows in the common markets of Europe and North America kept on selling well with the hope that by the time the “Because We Can” tour rolled into town, Richie Sambora would be in tow. This didn’t happen and it took everyone by surprise, including Richie Sambora, who believed that he would have returned to the band by September the latest. The issue about money was banded about on various websites and with Jon Bon Jovi trying to get rid of his New York penthouse for $40 million since April 2013, the money angle theoretically holds true.

Then on September 10, 2013 Tico Torres undergoes emergency appendectomy surgery and the band POSTPONES their Mexico concert. Based on Jon’s assertion when Richie departed, the show must go on and that he is not beholden to anyone. However in this case Jon Bon Jovi was caught by surprise. To be fair, Jon Bon Jovi would have seen the departure of Richie Sambora rising on the wind, so he did have a back-up plan for that, however when Tico fell ill, there was no back-up plan and he had to cancel. However, this would have gotten Jon thinking about having a back-up plan for Tico Torres and Dave Bryan, just in case they all pull out.

So when Tico fell ill again, New Jersey native and Kings Of Suburbia drummer Rich Scannella was called to fill in until Tico is cleared to play.

Again the show goes on. With super large merchandise deals signed, Jon Bon Jovi cannot stop the tour. He might not be beholden to his band mates however he is beholden to the contracts. Merchandise deals become very expensive to the artist if they are broken or if the sales do not meet targets or if the promised shows are not delivered.

I have tickets to see Jon Bon Jovi live in Sydney. I cannot call the band Bon Jovi anymore, as it is not a band. The tour wraps up after the Australia shows. It will be interesting to see what Jon Bon Jovi plans to do next. In my view, he will still try to get every penny out of the Bon Jovi name, regardless of who his backing band is.

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