An Opinon Survey – Part I

I want to twist your brain a bit today and plus, this will be fun! I have written a series of questions below. Think about the following and then leave your answers at the bottom of this blog.  In a few days, I will explain what you answered and why it is important.

You do not need to explain your thoughts unless you want too and there is no wrong answers, so do not be shy!

1.  You are thirsty and you have three options for water. You can either:
A.) Purchase water that has additives and not all that great tasting for a monthly fee plus a percentage based on consumption and have it delivered to you through your faucet.
B.) Go to a natural spring, flowing with delicious and refreshingly pure water five miles from your home and fill up jugs and bottles for free.

2.  The United States of America has implemented a new economic plan for the country that has also been adapted by other Countries. The plan pertains to your residential dwelling and in this example, you have a home that you have built from ground up and have paid for completely over the years.  Now, here is the situation:  The US Government has created a group called The Habitat Building Association (HBA) and they send you an agreement that you have the option to sign.  If you sign, the HBA will own your home and you will be required to pay them a fee for an extended period of time to retain partial ownership over something you once owned 100% of.  In return, they will place their HBA sticker of approval in your window. They will do nothing further for you. Do you:
A.) Sign the HBA Agreement
B.) Refuse to sign the Agreement?

3.  You love chocolate, a lot! Hershey introduced a new chocolate bar that just came out into the market, so you immediately go out and buy a few.  After the first bite you discover that this chocolate might just be the greatest candy on the market; and you decide you MUST share this chocolate with a friend. Do you:
A.) break a piece off and give it to them to try.
B.) describe to them how amazing it is and then advise them to go buy a bar because you aren’t sharing!

4.  You buy a revolutionary new type of Frozen TV Dinner. It heats in the oven at 350 degrees for 25 minutes and becomes a mouth-watering meal.  The label states is “Do Not Heat In Microwave and/or any other heating device under ANY circumstances.” Do you:
A.) Follow the instructions.
B.) Be a rebel and put it in the microwave just to see what happens?

5.  You have a successful lemonade stand. You sell the drink for $2.00 a cup.  One day you find a better cup than your wax coated paper cup.  This new one is made of a harder substance.  Though its not a reusable cup, it doesn’t get soggy and comes with a complimentary straw! What makes this even better, the new cup costs WAY less than the old cardboard one.  You decide to increase the charge to $4.50 a glass. Is this:
A.) Fair and Free Enterprise at its best.
B.) A rip-off since the lemonade hasn’t changed.

6.  Americo Vespucci stumbled across land that was populated with Indians. He then placed his Countries flag in the ground and said he discovered this great land that later became known as America.  Is it right to claim Ownership over something when it already has been in existence and controlled by others for years?
A.) Fair
B.) Not Fair

7.  Back to your lemonade stand.  You are racking in cash like crazy since you added your new cup line. Your Lemonade maker comes to you and says he would like a higher percentage of the profits since there is much more than before.  You say:
A.) Sure, fair is fair and even with giving him a higher percentage you still will be making more than you did pre-hard cup days.
B.) No Way! Your idea, Your cup, Your money!

8.  You cut firewood for the National Lumber Association. Your current contract with them says that you must travel where they tell you, cut down X amount of trees, cut them into log pieces and stack in area specified.  As a reward, if you choose, you can cut extra to take home to your family.  After a few years of this, the Lumber Association has fallen on hard times (according to them) and they tell you that you can continue to do what you are doing, BUT a percentage of the personal lumber you are cutting must go on their trucks for other areas they service. Do you find this:
A.) Fair since they do employ you – one hand washes the other.
B.) Complete Bullsh*t, it’s your wood and basically you would be working for free.

Place your answers below and soon, I will explain. There is NO wrong answers, so don’t worry about picking “properly”.

Have Fun!

Are You a Myspace Rockstar?

Are you a Myspace Rockstar?

Are you ready to call a venue and tell them to book you because of how popular you are on Myspace? Are you ready to call the shots when it comes to negotiating the guarantees because your band is above the typical “free beer and door deal”?

Let’s see just how “popular” you and your band are. Follow the steps below and if you are STILL a “rockstar”, I want to manage YOUR band!

1. Delete all friends that everyone has. ie: Tom, ForBidden, Butch Walker, Tia Tequila, Dirty Shirty, Pamela Anderson, etc. This includes all porn stars pages and pin-up girls. (Yes, I know, one day you will have groupies that look just as good, if not better) but for now, they AREN’T fans…delete them.

2. Delete all of your favorite National Bands. ie: Tracy Atkins, Justin Timberlake, Avril Lagvine, Kelly Clarkson, Metallica, Alice in Chains, Velvet Revolver. (They don’t know you and they are not coming to your local show.) You are THEIR fans, not Vice-Versa.

3. Delete all Movie Promos & Festivals. (Trust me, Taste of Chaos is NOT trolling your page and neither are the producers of Rambo 4).

4. Delete all pages that spam you with Budjoint and Profile trackers. Their pages have been hacked! If they can’t control their spam it’s because they have a life and could care less about their Myspace profiles.

5. Delete all people who only added you to “add you”. They are the ones leaving those “Thanks for the Add” comments.

6. Delete all red “X”‘s that are of deleted members.

7. Delete all family members, high school friends, best friends and girlfriends/boyfriends.They aren’t fans, they are moral support. Their job is to LIE and tell you how “amazing” you are even when you aren’t.

8. Delete all Radio Stations UNLESS your band is in ROTATION! (And No, sending your cd and/or music links to them a half a million times DOESN’T count!)

9. Delete all Magazines (Hustler, BillBoard,Spin etc), Record Labels, Out of State Venues, Organizations, Major Labels (those pages aren’t controlled by the VP’s and/or anyone who is listening…sorry!)

10. Delete all Actors, Comedians, and any “Myspace Train’s”. Open your bulletins…The ones who want to show you how to get “more friends now” – delete them ALL and anyone listed in those emails that you have added previously.

11. Delete all friends under the age of 16, they aren’t coming to your show!

12. NOW, if you are preforming in a venue in NY, delete ALL people who reside outside of NY State and/or outside of your immediate 50 mile radius. They will not travel to see you in this point of time unless they are family and we deleted them earlier, so it doesn’t matter. (and again, if they come to see you they want in for FREE, hence the famous “guest list”.)

Now, how Many fans do you have coming to your show on Wednesday Night? Yeah, I thought so.

Everyday, talent buyers are bombarded with requests from bands to book them. Whether its in Upstate NY, Atlanta or Los Angeles; there is only one thing the buyer wants to know – “How many people are you worth”? Most people inflate this number in which many buyers will deduct 65 immediately per hundred. “Oh, we can bring 100!” translates to “We can bring 35 AT BEST!”

Don’t believe me? Ask ANY club/bar owner if they can relate to the following and see what THEIR response is:

Top 3 Signs that the Band will bring No One to the Show
1) 2 Weeks before the show they say “Man, we are BLOWING UP on Myspace and We’re gonna pack your place!”
2) 1 Week before the show they ask – “What’s your capacity again?”
3) Upon arriving at the gig they ask “So…how many people do YOU usually get on a Thursday night?”

To be successful in the Music Business means to recognize it for what it is; A Business. Music requires as much leg work as possible to promote yourself and the venue you are performing at. Lately, many bands have become “brainwashed” into believing that they never have to leave the comforts of their bedrooms because they can promote on Myspace for their audience. This is simply not true since Myspace is accountable for less than 2% of attendees.

If Music is your passion, then you need to earn your fans one at at time. From word-of-mouth, posting flyers around town, to attending local venues handing out sample CD’s and swag! People love free stuff and the chances of them listening to your CD on the way home is MUCH greater than them randomly finding your Myspace. Hard Work? Yes, it is. Building a fan base isn’t just about having talent. You must put yourself out there to become known. If you leave it to Myspace, you will be in the same spot two years from now…On the couch with a laptop wondering what went wrong!

Be realistic. If you tell a bar owner what your fan base is, LOW BALL it instead of Highballing. This will guarantee their respect as well as a repeat booking.

Stay away from the “Myspace Promoters” that do NOTHING for you. They want to ride your coat tails and take a part of YOUR money! If you are drawing less than 150 people, you aren’t exposing yourself enough. If you are pulling more than 150 people to your show, your local talent buyers KNOW WHO YOU ARE! You DO NOT need a manager UNLESS you are the “Local All-Stars” and ready to take your career further. The Golden Rule: If you can’t make it in your home town, you’re not likely going to make it elsewhere!

Play original music. If you are looking to be signed, playing covers won’t cut it. Yes, it may be popular because everyone knows the tune, but Music Execs will never give you the time of day.

Education and Networking is Key! From participating in charity shows to submitting to multiple Music Festivals and Conferences! The more people you are in front of, the better chances you have. Talk to the professionals and accept criticism with stride and appreciate ALL feedback. This is the only way you will become better.

Remember, if the Music Business was as easy as posting a few comments and bulletins, EVERYONE would be a Rockstar! Until then, keep to the grass-roots and work your way up. If you have something amazing, the labels will find YOU!

Corie L. Anziano

The Definition of Talent

Talent. Such an amazing word but what does it mean? Webster would lead us to believe it is “a person of special ability; or a group of persons of talent in a field or activity in which they exceed”. Sure, that may be the definition, but in today’s society, talent has become synonymous with popularity, in which you must “look” talented rather than possessing the actual gift. When did our ideology become so skewed?

In the days before MTV, people relied on their ears to tell them what was good and what wasn’t. Print media went a step further and showed us what the Artist looked like, but if you were already in love with their music, it didn’t matter.

Print did, however, help the musicians who had a “look” but with little to no talent. They played on society’s twisted visual concepts. Example: “Wow, this singer is gorgeous; therefore, they MUST be really good.“ (And, yes, it works!)

The good news was, the majority of people didn’t turn to magazines to find new music, therefore it didn’t have a major impact on the musician’s chance of reaching stardom. FM frequencies had the strong hold and talented musicians still had a chance to “make it” on their abilities. Bands worked hard in hopes of hearing their names announced in the wakes of Casey Kasem.

It wasn’t until August 1^st, 1981, when the music industry was changed forever with three simple initials, MTV.

The Music Industry used MTV as a great marketing tool, but they also used it for those who didn’t have talent. Music evolved quickly into an industry that became about how you looked with the knowledge that your sound could be created.

MTV was responsible for creating many artists that had been pro-tooled to stardom as well as capitalizing on pure sex appeal. Madonna is the most classic example of this. She didn’t have an amazing voice, but what she did have was a brilliant mind for marketing. Her controversial ways is what she is most noted for. She would have been hard-pressed to even have a “one-hit wonder” in the days of radio but she saw an outlet and took full advantage of the opportunity. Granted, Madonna is one of a few with great success, but who really paid the price of MTV?

After years of turning out “one-hit wonders” and highly “over-sexed” artists, we are left with a broken industry, lacking talent. MTV sent the message that talent is a look, not an exceptional ability. We accepted the definition without realizing what we were being brainwashed into. We supported it, we paid for it and now, we hurt from it.

As we fight our children to wake up to see something that took us nearly a decade to see; we must recognize the best resource that currently fights our battle with us. The source that has almost killed MTV completely; the Internet!

The internet is the tool that is bringing life back to music. We will rely on our ears yet again to hear talent, instead of being shown what talent is. No longer will talent be what corporate executives perceive it to be. Musicians will possess real talent. They will perform live in order to succeed. They will build their fan base by earning it. All genres will have the same opportunity to be heard and we will decide if we like it or not. Artists will make money for the first time in their careers because the labels will be non-existent and we will have something we have been lacking for a long time, True Talent!

Please, Support Independent Music and Remember, Music is a feeling that creates the vision. Don’t let your eyes deceive you!