Catself is busy working on her album. I talked to her last week to hear how album production is progressing. She tells us who will work with her on the album, about her support of Talentcast team and her further plans …

50K MUSIC: You have reached your target on SellaBand in February this year. Can you please tell us something about what happened since then?
Catself: Aaah… This is difficult to tell because quite a lot has happened. Lately, every day has been bringing something new, new facts and new ideas.

The first month after reaching my target, I concentrated on my shows in Helsinki. I had a number of them in the spring, and I wanted to play at least one very new song at each of them, so I practiced a lot. But all the time I was thinking about the album – both the songs and the practical things. I wanted to make the right decisions because I knew every decision I made would affect my album, and if I made a mistake, there would be no way to fix it.

I wanted to record my latest songs after the shows but I got very sick because of Finnish street dust (from the studded winter tyres that people drive on for half a year in Finland although the soft ones are better!). I had problems breathing, speaking, and recording was impossible. But I could plan and think. So, I thought a lot about the songs, and I still do, but the biggest thing was choosing the right people to work with. Last year I thought I would record in Morocco but I realised it would take too long. I didn’t want to risk a big delay. So I had to make other plans. Deciding who to talk to was a challenge. You know, I have always made music in a particular way – I have sometimes played live with different people but when I composed and recorded, I was always by myself, doing what I wanted in my own way and not talking to anyone. I wanted to find people who I could work with in a comfortable atmosphere and I wanted it to be an interesting project for them too, and I wanted them to enjoy it. I guess it might sound naïve and unprofessional to some people but for me it was very important. When I record my music alone, it is an adventure, discovery. I knew this couldn’t be missing from my project because it would then all go wrong. And apart from all these things, I had to think of the practical things too. I didn’t want to only work with people long distance, and sending files to each other, I actually wanted to be able to work together in the same room.

So… after a lot of thinking, but also some subconscious thought brewing, I thought I would talk to…

50K MUSIC: … don’t keep us in suspense …
Catself: …ah, but it’s so hard because I haven’t told almost anybody yet! OK. There is a band that I really like, a band that has existed for over 20 years, and, accidentally, they happen to be from the city where I grew up. Once I was listening to their CD and I realised that the combination of their sound and my music could create something very special. Once this thought came to me, I couldn’t believe I hadn’t thought of that before. Everything suddenly clicked. I had to escape from Finland (from the dust) for some time anyway, so I travelled to Lublin, Poland and met the band: Saint Nicholas Orchestra.

Saint Nicholas Orchestra is a busy band – they are the best known folk band in Poland and tour a lot, in Poland and abroad. I was happy when they said they would think about it, and when they said that the most important thing was if it would be musically interesting for them, I had a good feeling about this. Last week they visited Helsinki because they had been invited to play a few shows here – one of them at a well-known Midsummer Bonfires event in Helsinki. In between the shows, they had a few days off so we had our first rehearsals. We even managed to arrange an extra show in Espoo, at Otaniemi Chapel, and we already played a couple of my songs together.

And it went great! It sounded exactly as I had imagined we would. At the end of that week, the band decided they were in. They will record part of the album with me – I don’t want to tell yet on how many songs – but quite many.

50K MUSIC: And who else will be involved into the album production?
Catself: Orchestra recommended a person they had worked with before, and I had already known his name because he had worked on some of their albums, and I had looked him up on the album sleeves because I was impressed with the sound. I don’t want to tell the name yet (sorry, secrets again!) – but I will soon. I will now tell you that he has worked on some beautiful albums, known also outside Poland.

50K MUSIC: You started another project on SellaBand only a few days after you had reached the target of the first one – The Catself Promotion Project. Please tell us what the 20,000 € will be used for.
Catself: If I manage to raise the full sum of 20 000 €, it will be used mainly for touring and some small part of it for other promotion. But touring mainly, especially now that I cooperate with Orkiestra. I would love to play some shows with them after the album’s release, and of course touring with a band costs much more than just by myself. So, I hope I will manage to raise the 20,000. If not, I will lower the target in time before the deadline (I do hope it will reach the SellaBand minimum) but I hope there is a chance for me to raise the whole sum, especially that I offer a completely new album in the incentives – downloads and physical copies… and my red guitar… I have some nice and carefully thought-out incentives and no matter how much I manage to raise, the believers will get them.

I want to advertise the Promotion Project more, and better, but I haven’t been able to do it more intensively so far with all the album-related work. Also, it will sound silly, but it would have been awkward to push it when so many artists on the site are still on their way to their first target with the deadlines getting closer. Of course I guess people don’t think in this way that “if that artist was not fundraising, I would buy parts in another one”, at least I don’t, but I both didn’t feel comfortable about it and felt it would be seen as wrong and greedy if it looked as if I was trying to immediately try to draw attention to myself, and still before my album was even made. So, I have been shy advertising it, but I think it is wrong and a bit stupid, because if I have a project open, I should be fair to myself and advertise it. I will need some funds for promotion immediately after the album is released, so I have to stop being shy. So: please have a look at my Promotion Project! I do have nice incentives! Let me know what you think about them. And yes, that second album is really already written, and I even have plans for the cover and the title!

50K MUSIC: How about your work with the TalentCast team. Do still have time to support them?
Catself: Luckily TalentCast is going on a two-month summer break after next Saturday, otherwise it would be quite difficult. It does take rather a lot of work, especially for Johan, but I also spend some hours every week looking for info on artists so that the newest and most interesting news is included in the programme, or writing texts about the winner of the Song of the Week – two each week, one for TalentCast and one for SellaBand News. They are not copied from somewhere, they are all new original promo texts, and it takes some effort to write it twice each week about the same artist so that it is more or less interesting. Especially when the same artist or band wins a few times and I have to tell the same story in a different way again and again!

50K MUSIC: Do you have plans for gigging this summer … any festivals?
Catself: I was invited to a nice big festival but the sponsor was late with booking the tickets and backed out, which unfortunately messed up my summer plans and not only mine. These things happen. I was also invited to play in Italy in the summer but I couldn’t afford to fly with the instruments, and by car it would have been just as expensive – I wouldn’t like to sleep in the car while travelling by myself. Before I always did everything to get to the gigs, and I think it was the first time I had to say no, but I hope there will be another time. I had plans for more gigs in the Netherlands this summer but then things started speeding up and now I have to mainly concentrate on my album. So I will use almost all the summer for working on the album – there can never be too much time for it. But I do have one gig booked in the Netherlands: on Sunday August 14th in Hoogeveen, at Moonlightstudio! And who knows, maybe something will still come up close to that date.

50K MUSIC: At last: one thing you want your fans and believers to know.
Catself: Once again, I want to take the opportunity to thank all my Believers because without you, all this would not be happening. So – THANK YOU! I am working on my album full time, as well as I can and as wisely as I can. It is the biggest project in my life so far. I hope it will all go well and that you will like it.

And to all my other Fans – thank you for enjoying my music! And please follow me on my sites so that you know when my album is out! And in the meantime, there will be other things: updates, some live videos, a few shows. And don’t be shy to send me a message if you feel like it. It is really nice to hear from you. Meow!

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Follow Catself album updates on SellaBand
Help Catself promote her album
Join Catself on Facebook!
Catself website – welcome to say hi in the Guestbook!

50K MUSIC: For all those who don’t know Unbuttoned Heart yet (in case there is anyone), please tell us something about you. Where do you come from, what are your roots?
David: We are 5 guys from south Germany, and live in a town called Ulm. Our roots are Rock´n Roll music.

50K MUSIC: You started to raise funds for your album on SellaBand in August 2010. What were your expectations then?
David: At the beginning we didn´t have much expectations, I´d say we saw new opportunities. For a young band without a record deal, it´s always hard to produce an album and even harder to share it with your fans. And that is what we saw in Sellaband, a way to do what we love. And that is: to make music and share it with our fans and friends”.

50K MUSIC: How did you spend the time on SellaBand?
David: We just kept on going our way, with the difference that we took our believers and followers to every place we where going. From small Pubs to big arena shows with the Scorpions or BonJovi. And it feels great sharing all the experiences we make with people that believe in us.

50K MUSIC: You have reached nearly 70% of your budget now. What are your plans once you will have reached your target? What will you use the budget of 21,000 € for?
David: Our Plan is to produce and promote a record that can compete with other international acts. The 21.000 will be used for the production of the record, the incentives for our believers, and of course all the promotion tools a record needs, from a video to a radiopromoter. For more details and incentives you can check out our plan on SAB.

50K MUSIC: It looks like you’re well-known in Germany yet, how about the rest of Europe?
David: I´d say we are working on becoming well known in Germany, and after that we´ll concentrate on Europe.

50K MUSIC: You’ve been opening for the Scorpions, Foreigner, Saga and some more bands of the last century last month. Aren’t you afraid to get lumped together with them and people could consider you to be a little bit antiquated?
David: We never asked or ask us this question when it comes to a live show. In our opinion, it always depends on what the artist makes out of an opening slot he plays. Besides that, we like all kinds of bands from “Journey” and “BonJovi” to “Queens of the Stone Age” so why not open for any band you enjoy listening to. The most important thing for us is to reach people and there is no better place than the stage.

50K MUSIC: There is a bunch of believers who strongly support you on SellaBand at the moment. How do you involve your fans into your funding project?
David: Our believers and fans are the most important thing for us. So, we always try to give them the feeling that they are with us, not matter if on tour or later in the studios. We want to show them, that they are doing the right thing when believing in us and that we are moving forward. Of course it´s a bit easier with people that can come and visit our shows. We hang out, drink a beer and chat with them afterwards. That of course is harder with believers for example from New Zealand, but that is the challenge, to show everyone that we are glad to have them, no matter where they live and who they are.

50K MUSIC: Are there any other ways you do involve your fans?
David: Yes, we have our Unbuttoned Heart Street Team. Fans can promote us in their city and we invite them to our shows or into our rehearsal room and the studio to listen to new songs.

50K MUSIC: What are your plans for the next few months?
David: Make us and our believers happy by recording a great album that shows our views and feelings and of course go out and play live shows to meet all of you!!

50K MUSIC: And last thing: Please tell us one thing about you and your music everybody should know.
David: It´s all about having a good time, come visit a show, meet us and join our SAB ride!!

www.unbuttonedheart.com

UBH on SellaBand

50K MUSIC: For all those who don’t know you yet, please tell us something about Sandbox Theory. Where do you come from, what are your roots?
Steve: Sandbox Theory is an idea that came from Steve Maher who was fascinated by the way that technology has taken over our lives and changed us – now ruling us forever. Steve got together with Jay and Ollie to write a Concept Album that would encompass all of the subject in musical form.

50K MUSIC: In 2008 you joined SellaBand and it worked quite well for you. Why did you leave SellaBand in 2009?
Steve: Well at the time we had worked very hard and climbed well up into the “Page One” top ten, and then out of nowhere the “Chaos Year” took out over half of the hard earned funds that we had made in a sort of ‘Wall Street Crash’ – each week we were watching as out believer were panicking and taking their money out. Three of our strongest supporters stayed with us and we decided that if Sellaband was going to go bust we should get together with them and produce a smaller project. We did – it was a great CD – and I have no regrets at all – If we had not done that it would have been all over within another month for us. We didn’t actually leave Sellaband – we just took a break and privately funded the album.

50K MUSIC: And why did you come back lately?
Steve: As I said we never left – Just had to take the break and make the smaller album. We always intended to come back once/if Sellaband survived.

50K MUSIC: What happened in the meantime? Why did you change your name into Sandbox Theory?
Steve: The name change was because we found out that there was girl pop band in the UK called Sandbox who had released CD’s under that name – The name is integral to out whole project so… after much thought we modified the name to Sandbox Theory.

50K MUSIC: Have you noticed any changes on SellaBand when you came back?
Steve: Yes – It is now very hard to raise funds as the new Management have messed with the ingredients too much. So the believers need to come back again.

50K MUSIC: You are looking for intelligent investors now? Which attributes or talents should an intelligent investor have from your point of you?
Steve: The whole issue of ROI is really a nonsense… how can an artist or band with no real infrastructure say that they will police and service an ROI for lots of one part believers. Firstly they just do not have the organisation, second the returns are so small that it is not worth the trouble for band or believer.

Sandbox Theory are just trying to get our music out there – we give plan to back to the believers something better than a few cents every now and then – we want to give them kick arse value for money. Thats why this time around we are personally financing the recording part ($ 18,000) and only asking for funds to pay for packaging and promotional stuff – its all coming back to you guys.

50K MUSIC: You brought a more outspoken style to SellaBand. Do you think it is needed there?
Steve: YES – There are just way to many sucky sucky artist blowing smoke up everyone arses and we are sick of seeing it LOL

50K MUSIC: What are your plans now on SellaBand?
Steve: KEEPING IT REALLY SIMPLE – Revenue Share is a waste of time! Most artist (including us) just don’t have the infrastructure to account for this PLUS we believe that the profit for the believer is not worth the trouble!

Maybe to some this is an unpalatable fact – But it is true!

So lets do this thing – We have all the new material – We have already self-funded the Recording Studio – We are prepared to put ALL THE REMAINING FUNDING into a product delivered to you and within six months – No False Promises!

Our incentive aims and objectives are simple and achievable, and will allow us to make another world class album, and album which you can be a part of, as were Paul McMaster, Shane Seymour, and Veblen who stepped up during the ‘Chaos Year” and helped us to create our first album.

The next step for us is to go into the studio and finalise the Sandbox Theory Concept – To do this we have decided to make a 5.1 surround sound DVD containing 16 tracks (including remixes of the original album) – Plus 16 Mp3 tracks for your ipods – Plus Videos of the songs.

THE PLAN
Here is our simplified plan:
*** Special Promo – the next thirteen new believers buying one part get the ltd ed DVD ***
1 part = Download of ALL tracks from new project
2 parts= DVD
For 10 parts or more invested you get:
1 x Personally signed LTD Ed “new” 5.1 surround DVD (Album 2)
1 x Personally signed (Latest Recording) Sandbox Theory (Album 1)
1 x Sandbox Theory T-Shirt
1 x Sandbox Theory Guitar Pick
1 x Sandbox Theory Sticker
Backstage Website passes to: Remixes, New Material, Videos, Demos and Exclusive offers on the Website
*** PLUS YOUR NAME LISTED ON THE ALBUM ***

50K MUSIC: How can we support you?
Steve: Spread the word everywhere you can – get us to our target (We are %58 already)

50K MUSIC: And what are your plans in the “real world”?
Steve: CD Baby for Ltd Single downloads – CD Baby Album Download – DVD Made available on our web site
PLUS – some really cool merchandise deals
T-Shirts – Caps – Badges – Plectrums – Stickers.

Everything starts in the sandbox …

50K MUSIC: You just came back from your US trip. You travelled New York, Austin and Los Angeles. Please tell us some details … first about New York …
Alex: Yeah. Just back from the most amazing trip across the US. New York was everything you would imagine it to be. Every street corner makes you feel like you’re in a film. I was lucky to be staying with friends who looked after me and showed me a good time. I played three gigs in four days and for the most part they went really well.

50K MUSIC: … and what about Austin? You have joined SXSW there, haven’t you?
Alex: The main reason I made trip was that an invitation to play at SXSW. Initially it looked like I wouldn’t be able to go, due to the costs of getting there, etc but some very generous fans part funded it. They thought it was it, an offer like that doesn’t come up everyday, and looking back they were right. I met lots of good industry people, made some friends, brought people onboard in general. Two thousand bands played the convention so its hard to stick out but my manager knows what he’s doing and my showcase was a big success.

50K MUSIC: … and your third destination was L.A. Did you meet Ashton Kutcher there? Please give us all the details.
Alex: In a word. No. I only played one gig in LA, at the famous Hotel Cafe, and he couldn’t make that night. Which was a pity. I nearly got arrested trying to get to touch the Hollywood sign. You’re not allowed up there but no one was about, so I climbed up the hill. I ended up running away from a cop who said he was going to arrest me. I’m still officially on the run.

50K MUSIC: How do you think this trip has influenced you?
Alex: It made me realise how hard you have to work to get anywhere in this business. I missed home, my kids, my wife, and that was hard but writing songs is all I’m good at. So I’ve got to make it work. I made some really good contacts too.

50K MUSIC: Did you get some new ideas for new songs maybe?
Alex: Yeah. I think so. stuff seems to come to me out of the ether so I expect my experience will manifest itself somehow.

50K MUSIC: What about your upcoming album? When can we expect it to be released?
Alex: The plan at the moment is a single release on May 21st. Another in the summer and the album to be released properly in October. We’re talking to folk at the moment about how we do this. Whether to release it ourselves or not. There are pros and cons either way.

50K MUSIC: What other plans do you have for the next few months?
Alex: Lots of gigs & make a video or two.

50K MUSIC: And last one: anything you want the world to know?
Alex: If you’re in LA go to the In & Out burger. It’s the best, by a mile just don’t go for the “Animal” option – that’s very important.

Alex on Facebook
Alex Highton Fans

Photos by Howard Monk

50K MUSIC: Where do you come from? What are the roots of Metibla?
Riccardo: I’m from Rome, Italy, but I’m not so proud to be Italian. I mean… we had a lot of wonderful Art in the past, and we had probably one of the best movie and literature scene after the world war two…but today, Italy is just a useless country for old people. No work, No art, bad quality of life. My life is NOW, not in the past, and It’s so ridiculous that the only thing that you can save of this country is the food. Nowadays my country’s economy is based on the restaurants; people says “Ok we’re dying but we have a delicious kitchen!”. Everybody are depressed for that but nobody is able to react anymore. Italy needs a revolution right now. The roots of Metibla are the “genuine” Italian roots: I tried to take the best from my country … Cruelty, Cynicism, Romanticism. Italy never had a good rock scene in the past because we were too busy to putting bombs against politicians instead of live our youth and create our “rock & roll” revolution. Most of the people in Italy don’t know classic rock because the Christian democracy a long time ago was against the music of the devil. In that way, Metibla is against the Christian Democracy.

50K MUSIC: With your music project you follow a quite different approach. Please tell us something about that.
Riccardo: All my songs are composed in my room, alone or when I’m drunk. I switch on the pc and I start to record something. If the day after I still think about that song, I start to work on it, composing an electro base for my friend/guitar player Paolo Alvano. When we think that the song is finished we record it at Home Lobo Studio, where V Fisik start to think about arrangements that could satisfied both of us.

50K MUSIC: You’re an old hand at SellaBand, you have already joined in 2007. What are your experiences through all these years?
Riccardo: Well, It has been a pretty good experience. Some years ago SAB was a bit less professional. There were a lot of believers disposed to invest money and support their favourite artist. Today the platform is much better, there’re a lot of wonderfull options and links with partners (I appreciated very much the soundcloud link for example) but everything is a bit more “cold”. I mean, people doesn’t support bands in the same way of some years ago, and my profile will be deleted on September if I won’t reach my goal. It seems more like a record shop where you can buy music.

50K MUSIC: You have only raised 17 % of your budget so far. Do you think you can still make it to your goal?
Riccardo: I really don’t know, but I’ll try! I’m hard to kill. I’ll be on SAB until the date of expire of the profile (September). Then we’ll see.

50K MUSIC: Let’s talk about the time once you’ve reached your goal. What will you use the money for?
Riccardo: I will choose 5 songs (“Christmas time” will be one of them) and I’ll record the E.P. at the Hombre Lobo Studio in Rome. Then I’ll print some copies for my believers following the instruction of SAB. It’ll be a Christmas EP, so, if everything will go in the right way, It could be ready for December. Fingers crossed!

50K MUSIC: How can we support you raising the money you need?
Riccardo: Just listening to my music and, if you really like it, buy some parts and tell other people to take a look at my profile. If you have Facebook this is my band page. I don’t want to seem hypocrite, If somebody wants to buy parts is more than welcome, but the most important thing for me is to have fans that listen to my music and feel something through my songs. This is the best support I can aim.

50K MUSIC: What kind of album can believers and fans expect once you’ve raised your budget?
Riccardo: As told before, A Christmas E.P., with a Christmas song (Christmas Time) re recorded and re arranged and other four new songs of sadness, iconoclasm and love for life.

50K MUSIC: And finally: Anything you want your believers and fans like to know?
Riccardo: I really like to know their opinion about my music. Come on fans, don’t be shy! You can insult me but, please, tell me what you think about my music. Reaction is the key of everything.

Metibla on
SellaBand
Facebook

50K MUSIC: You have raised over 130% of the budget for your new album on Pledgemusic in two months. Did you expect it to be that easy?
Billy: Never! But we are so glad that it has been so successful and that our fans want to get so involved in the process of making the record! We feel that they have contributed more than just paying for the music and listening to it – they’ve actually helped us make, and we love the idea of breaking the barriers between the band and the fans!

50K MUSIC: How did you find your way to Pledgemusic? What were your reasons to join PM?
Billy: We’d seen some of our favourite bands getting involved and we saw how cool it looked. We’re always trying to find out what our fans think and feel about our music and our shows and we love meeting our fans after the shows for pictures and to get to know the people who feel the music speaks for them. Pledge Music suited us perfectly.

50K MUSIC: Do you understand this project rather as funding/pre-ordering the album or more as involving fans into your work?
Billy: A little bit of both. The fans are helping us in a lot of areas – by ordering the album now they’re helping us financially in making the album in the studio, and also we’re listening to what the fans would like to see us do when we come to tour the album!

50K MUSIC: I guess fan-funding an album or involving fans this way is a whole new experience for you, isn’t it? Please tell us how you deal with this.
Billy: We’ve always wanted fans to come and help out singing in the studio, and we’ve always wanted them there with us and experiencing the process of making an album anyway, so for us this feels very natural and fun.

50K MUSIC: Does it mean your label will no longer finance your albums?
Billy: It means that we’ll license the album to whoever likes the finished article. We’ve had nobody intruding and suggesting things to us artistically apart from our producer, Stephen Street, which has worked brilliantly for us! We own the album, so we do whatever we like!

50K MUSIC: Do you think fan-funding could be THE way for you to finance your albums in the future?
Billy: It’s an interesting prospect for us on this record, though we’re always wanting to try different formulas in doing things for each album. It’s been fantastic so far, so I can see us seriously considering it again for future projects.

50K MUSIC: You’ve announced your album to be out in 2011. Can you give us a release date yet?
Billy: I wish I could, but even I don’t know yet! Summertime! That’s all I can guess at!

50K MUSIC: You’re in the studio with Stephen Street at the moment. Please tell us something about your work in the studio.
Billy: Well we’ve been demoing and rehearsing these songs for so long now, that by the time we started our first day in the studio with Stephen the songs were pretty much there. Stephen’s sound is exquisite, and he’s made everything sound perfect, adjusting the drum patterns and the feel of certain parts of the songs so they sound just right.

50K MUSIC: Will your fans and/or pledgers be involved in the album production? How are you going to involve them?
Billy: We’re having fans in to sing a gang vocal in the next few days, and we’ll also be playing them some tracks and listening to some opinions! We’re very excited about doing this!

50K MUSIC: What can we expect from the album? Will it be a typical Subways album or will we listen to some new sounds?
Billy: Heavy pop songs! That’s how we like to describe this record. A combination of the first and second records, but every single song we wish we could release as a single!

50K MUSIC: Do you plan a release show once the album is out?
Billy: We may do a release show, though by the time the album comes out we may be somewhere deep in Europe touring! We’ll maybe crack open a bottle of champagne!

50K MUSIC: Will we see The Subways on stages in Europe soon?
Billy: As soon as we can we’ll be playing all across Europe! We’re getting ready now! Lots of noise, fun and sweating!

50K MUSIC: And finally: Anything you want your fans and pledgers like to know?
Billy: We love you, and we’re going to make this the best Subways album ever – just for you guys!

www.thesubways.net

50K MUSIC: In December 2009 you signed up to SellaBand and in January 2010 we’ve featured you as a Promising Newcomer here on 50K MUSIC. Please tell us what has happened since then.
Gussie: I have been working on perfecting my profile on Sellaband and reaching out to the community overseas and here in the United States. I realized that I needed more video on the site, so I got together with indie director Jonathan Lewis and we produced a few EPK (Electronic Press Kit) videos to create more interest in my project. The first one is already posted on SAB and YouTube, and the next one will be posted soon to hype the release of my first single.

50K MUSIC: You have just raised about 800 € and you’re still far away from reaching your goal. Are you disappointed that fan-funding on SellaBand has not worked for you so far?
Gussie: I would have to say that I had hoped that things would have gone a lot quicker…but then again, I probably need to reach out to the SAB community more often, so I can’t actually blame them. I have really worked hard to give them more content and more new music.

50K MUSIC: What are you working on at the moment? You have announced to release a single soon? Is that right? Please tell us something about it.
Gussie: I have been working long and hard on the release of my first single from “Forever Plan” which was entirely self funded to show the SAB community that I am a viable artist and that I am worth investing in and believing in.

The single is called “What More Can I Say” and was actually the first song I started recording back in 2001 one when I decided to start a solo CD. This of course was WAY before SAB but had a few things that slowed me down like a divorce, a custody battle for my kids, and then a incredibly bad hard drive crash that wiped out most of the data on two different drives, so I really had to start from almost scratch. After having to recover the drum tracks which were played by Tris Imboden of the legendary group Chicago, also had to put all the guitar parts back in the right places. The guitar parts were pretty easy since I had actually cut them first with my dear old friend Reggie Boyd Jr. who is a well known session musician here in Los Angeles. I then moved on to re-doing the keyboard parts which were originally all played by me into MOTU’s Digital Performer before I started using Logic Pro. Somewhere around 2007 I asked my musical director friend Alex Alessandroni to come by and replay all of my keyboard parts since he just smokes on everything he touches..LOL It was actually right after those sessions that I had my horrific hard drive crashes (they were Lacie Drives) and I would NEVER use one of their drives again! When I finally got back to working on the CD in 2010 after a bunch of personal stuff, I asked my friend Valerie Davis, who is a veteran L.A. session vocalist to come by and sing on the backgrounds with me, and at the same time we also cut the EPK shoot during these sessions so I have a lot of great stuff that we be seen soon. After that I asked my longtime friend Cleto Escobedo of ABC TV’s Jimmy Kimmel LIVE fame to blow some sax on the track so I would have some choices, and to rap it all together, my mentor legendary mega producer Peter Wolf to play a Bass part on the track which tied it all together! I am very excited about the quality of the performances and I’m very happy with my vocal as well!

50K MUSIC: What more plans do you have for the next few months?
Gussie: My main focus will be mixing and mastering the single and getting it out on iTunes, Amazon, Rhapsody, Cdbaby, spotty, Napster and Emusic worldwide and producing a music video for the single as soon as possible, which will be directed by Jonathan Lewis and assistant-directed by my son Nate Miller and produced by Kellie Yackie. We will be in full PR promotions mode to get the word out about the CD project and use those funds from the sale of the CD single to help fund the rest of “Forever Plan”

50K MUSIC: And again my question: How can we support you to reach your goals?
Gussie: I could really use all the promotion I can get. Links to my SAB profile would be great, and in general spreading the word about me and my music all across the world!

So please support Gussie’s efforts and spread the word.

http://artismusicai.blogspot.com
www.sellaband.com/projects/gussiemiller

50K MUSIC: You have just raised 100% of the budget for your new album on Pledgemusic in a little bit more than one month. Did you expect it to be that easy?
Tjinder: No, we didn’t really know what to expect, but our label took it on with enthusiasm & we all put a lot if work into it as well as receiving a lot of support from PledgeMusic themselves.

50K MUSIC: How do you feel now?
Tjinder: We are very happy & excited about it. Aswell as peoples pre-orders we also collate very warm messages from them – most of them are as happy as we are, & there is an excitement to see certain items being taken up. There still pre-orders coming through, & it will all help, not only to put the album out, but also in the means if how it will go out.

50K MUSIC: Do you see this project rather as funding or pre-ordering the album or more as involving fans into your work?
Tjinder: The basic summary of it is all of these things and more. It helps to get out the foot soldiers of support & then also allow other peoples know we have an album coming, & then let the campaign help finance the endeavour.

50K MUSIC: Was this your first experience with crowd funding/fan funding?
Tjinder: This was our first experience with this type if funding, & it has been bolstered in our minds by efficient procedures of PledgeMusics system backend & the issue that artists retain their Copyright.

50K MUSIC: Do you think it’s THE way for you to finance your albums in the future?
Tjinder: In the future, we would certainly consider this again, but getting back to the music, it will depend on how good the music is, as to our ability to enthuse people to pre-order. Having said that, the music of our whole catalogue is why the campaign went so fast & smooth.

50K MUSIC: In September 2009 you’ve announced your next album for 2010. You are bit late, aren’t you?
Tjinder: I don’t think there is any notion of being late, only doing it till you’re satisfied, & as we are our own label, we have always given ourselves as much time as we need. The day we stop that is the day we finally end the group.

50K MUSIC: Does it bother you when you’re mostly remembered for your hit single „Brimful of Asha“?
Tjinder: It doesn’t bother me because I think it’s a song that deserves to be praised, & is political & pertinent as ever. Appreciation for both versions is strong, we more people preferring the original, the more they get older. In the preorder campaign it was nice to see that it was the 3rd most popular handwritten music sheet ordered. Add to this that even our earlier stuff is gaining in popularity, so we are happy to see things going & growing as they are doing.

50K MUSIC: We have already listened to Bubbley Kaur on your single „Topknot“. Could you please tell us something about the collaboration with her on your new album? What kind of album can we expect?
Tjinder: I started working with Bubbley Kaur before she had ever recorded a note. It was a learning curve all the way & as pleasurable as how Cornershop worked in the beginning.

I was brought up on Punjabi Folk Music, so to bring it out with modern western influence & not have it sounding like Bhangra (which I always disliked on the grounds that it was purely a commercial arranged marriage), is a challenge, & one I have wanted to do for a long while now.

50K MUSIC: Is there any change in band lineup for the upcoming album?
Tjinder: There is no change in the lineup. I think everyone is into it as much as they ever have been, despite its change in remit.

50K MUSIC: When will the new album be released?
Tjinder: 14th March 2011. There will be a video for United Provinces Of India prior to that.

50K MUSIC: Will we see Cornershop on stages in Europe soon?
Tjinder: Nothing is planned as yet, as we have been so busy setting up ample play as label as it takes it’s baby steps into the world.

Cornershop:
website
pledgemusic
myspace

Sure most of you will know The Mekons – now an independent film produced and directed by Joe Angio is going to tell their story. At the moment Joe is funding the budget for this film project on Kickstarter – with huge success. I talked to him about the film and his further plans…

50K MUSIC: I guess there’s no need to introduce The Mekons here. But what is the Revenge of the Mekons all about? Please tell us something about your project.
Joe: The film is an attempt to share with a wider audience the story of a band that I believe has a remarkable story — and one that’s all the more remarkable because of the fact that they never “made it.” Especially since they’re a band that has such a devoted following (not to be confused with large following!) and one that enjoys something close to unanimous critical support. In fact, I’ve thought long and hard about this and I have been unable to identify another band where there’s such a huge gulf between the level of critical acclaim and widespread indifference, certainly in regard to the numbers of records they’ve sold over the years. It’s appalling, really!

So the film tells a number of stories. On one level, it depicts the day-to-day process of a working band, one that must overcome enormous hurdles just in order to work, first, there’s the sheer number of them (8); then, toss in the geographical obstacles: three live in London, one in Devon (in southwestern England), one lives in NYC, two in Chicago and one in LA — it’s a small feat just for them to be able to gather in one room, let alone set aside time to write, record, tour, especially when they all have to scrape by with jobs of one sort or another and some of them have families to support. So that’s one thing.

Another aspect of the film deals with the Mekons as visual artists. They were born, more or less, as an art collective from the start (and before the term was fashionable, I may add) and through the years, have had art exhibitions — as Mekons, in collaboration with others (for example, their mid-90s collaborations with Vito Acconci and Kathy Acker) and, in the case of Jon Langford and Eric Bellis (Rico Bell), as working solo painters. I’m intrigued by the fact that if they feel a group painting exhibition better conveys what they want to say than an album, then that’s the form it takes.

The questions that drive the entire film are How do you keep a band together for so long, especially one that has seldom been able to make a living from their work and, more important, Why do they bother?

And last, and certainly not least, there’s this amazing body of work that I want to introduce to a wider audience in the hopes of helping them get the attention they deserve.

50K MUSIC: Where does the idea for this film come from?
Joe: The answer to this probably lies in the answer to the previous question, but at the base level, I just really wanted to do a music documentary. I’m a huge music fan and when I was thinking about bands or performers who had a story that I felt was worth telling, the Mekons just jumped out at me. And to reiterate a point from above, I find the fact that they’re somewhat obscure after all these years intriguing. Nothing against the recent documentaries on people like Dylan, Springsteen or the Page/Jack White/Edge film, but we always see films on the “winners”; I’m more interested in—well, not the losers, but those who continue to work in the trenches.

50K MUSIC: How are The Mekons involved in this project apart from starring in the film of course?
Joe: They’ve been incredibly supportive and cooperative. They still have their Socialist inclinations from way back at University in Leeds, where the core of the band studied under these Marxist art professors, so they had to agree unanimously to do the film with me, which, thankfully, they’ve done. They’ve let me shoot whatever I want.

50K MUSIC: You almost reached your goal of 20,000 $ on Kickstarter (Note: as I’m writing this post the project has actually reached a budget of nearly 25,000 $). What will the budget be spent for?
Joe: Pretty much every dime from Kickstarter will go toward the edit: paying for an editor, renting a facility. I still need more — I really need an archival researcher to come on board before long — but this will help us go a long way toward getting a rough cut together.

50K MUSIC: What are your further plans once the film project is finished?
Joe: Presumably you mean with this film… I’ll submit it to film festivals and really try to work that hard. Regional film festivals have become an important cog in the indie film machine, especially since the theatrical market is so competitive and over-saturated. If I can raise enough awareness for the film on the festival circuit, I will hopefully have a big enough market to support the DVD release. There will undoubtedly be some online component, which from the amazing initial response to the Kickstarter campaign has proven, can be quite effective for projects like this. Time will tell!

50K MUSIC: How can we support you spreading the word for your project?
Joe: Well, by spreading the word! Seriously, every enthusiastic blog, every forwarded email, every forwarded Facebook/Twitter post — they add up. I’m seeing that now with Kickstarter.

50K MUSIC: Anything I have forgot to ask but is important to know.
Joe: Can’t think of anytihng, but if you do, don’t hesitate to ask.

Project on Kickstarter

www.mekonsmovie.com

About Joe Angio:
Joe Angio is an award-winning documentary filmmaker and magazine editor. He is currently in production on Revenge of the Mekons, a feature-length film chronicling the career of the beloved British punk-country band. His previous film, How to Eat Your Watermelon in White Company (and Enjoy It), a biographical portrait of Renaissance Man Melvin Van Peebles, played in numerous international film festivals, including Tribeca, Chicago, Los Angeles, and Melbourne. The film was the opening-night presentation at the 2005 Full Frame Documentary Festival and was awarded both the Lancia (jury) Award and Audience Award at the 2006 Biografilm Festival in Bologna, Italy, as well as Best Documentary Feature at the Festival Internacional de Cine Las Garzas 2006 in Panama City, Panama.

Angio is also the co-producer, -director, and -editor (with Joel Cohen) of the documentaries More than a Game (1991), a 50-minute film on playground basketball in Chicago, and A Feast of Fools (1987), a 25-minute film on the clash of cultures at New Orleans’s Mardi Gras. More than a Game has been broadcast in more than 25 countries and A Feast of Fools was awarded Best Documentary at the Festival of Illinois Film & Videomakers.

Angio is the former editor-in-chief of Time Out New York magazine, where he started in 1998 as executive editor. While at Time Out, Angio was nominated for three National Magazine Awards by the American Society of Magazine Editors and, in 2006, was awarded a gold medal for cover design by the Society of Publication Designers and was cited for Best Service Cover by the Magazine Publishers of America. Prior to Time Out, Angio was the articles editor at NBA Inside Stuff (1996–98) and the managing editor of Vibe (1995–96). Angio started his magazine career in 1993 as an associate editor at Men’s Journal.

From 1983 through 1991, Angio was a newswriter, assistant director, and associate producer for SportsChannel, Chicago. From 1989–91, he was also a producer and Video Correspondent for The 90’s, a PBS magazine-style program that featured the work of independent filmmakers from around the world.

Angio was born in Chicago and graduated from Milwaukee’s Marquette University.

He has done a lot of hard work to spread the word about his music over the last weeks – radio and online promo. His strongest and truest fans support him spreading the word. I have talked to Tim Bennett about the first single “Anybody” from his upcoming album “Miseducated” and his further plans …

50K MUSIC: A few days ago you released the „Anybody“ video from your upcoming album „Miseducated“. It’s got more than 1.000 views on YouTube within the first week. How do you feel with all this attention and support from your fans?
Tim: It’s been an incredibly rewarding experience to receive so much attention with the video. It did break the 1000 barrier within 5 days and it’s now over 1247 in the first week! It seems that people are really enjoying the video and are passing the link onto their friends and families to watch also. If this continues then it might just go viral (a term given to youtube videos that grown exponentially through word of mouth) – fingers crossed it will do this. By the way here is the video:

50K MUSIC: Bambi Monroe, aka Taylor Horn, is starring in the video. Please tell us something about the work with her.
Tim: Bambi aka Taylor Horn is a very talented American song-writer and singer and is building a loyal fan-base across UK, Italy and USA. Due to the constraints of the budget available for making the video, I could not afford a crew, camera-person, director, producer or actors. So I asked Bambi Monroe to help with the project. She not only helped me with filming but also co-directed and co-edited the video. She also offered to play the lead role of the ‘Tragic Heroine’ who is questioning her life. She hasn’t really done many acting roles so it was interesting to see how she would cope with the role. As soon as I began filming I knew she had all the attributes of an actress and also a special chemistry with the camera. I was blown away and very very excited with the way she let all her emotions pour out. She felt a kinship with the role and I think it shows.

50K MUSIC: A while ago you have already written songs for Taylor. Please tell us something about this collaboration.
Tim: I met Taylor / Bambi in London 2008 when she was visiting London to shoot with celebrity photographer Alan Strutt ( well know for pics of Madonna and Keith Richards amongst many others). She knew and liked my work with Civilized Tears and was eager to co-write some alt/rock style songs. Although she had worked with a few award winning writers in Nashville she wanted more edge to her sound. We clicked immediately, writing a huge amount of material on acoustic guitars. I introduced her to my industry colleagues including producer Steve Bush (Stereophonics). We spent a couple of days working with Steve in his studio in London on some new material which we still hope to re-work at some point. In 2009 Taylor and I recorded her first EP in England with the help of my band Civilized Tears who played rhythm and guitars. The EP gained the interest of a few publishers and BMI in London and was the beginning of a new writing team. One of the songs we wrote ‘Tears’ previewed on WAFB Television in Louisiana. We are now working on her second EP, to be released early 2011.

50K MUSIC: How did you find the executive producer for your video?
Tim: The Executive Producer, Christian Schuett, has been a great supporter of my music both financially and motivationally, ever since he discovered my music on Sellaband in 2008. The relationship has become a very positive and industrious one and we have plans for more projects together in the near future.

50K MUSIC: What are your further plans with the single?
Tim: I have just released ‘Anybody’ as the first single on Reverbnation which distributes to iTunes and Spotify amongst other on-line stores. The single will be available on iTunes within the next few weeks, perhaps sooner depending on their processing time.

In fact, Black Rain was meant to be the first single but the video for Black Rain has been delayed due to scheduling reasons and so I decided to do a quick video for Anybody in the interim. The video was received with extremely positive feedback, including being picked up by various promotional sites and radio stations including award winning FEEDME MUSIC ( featured video of week) and COLLEGE UNDERGROUND MUSIC (featured artist and video of week). I therefore realised that by default it had become my first single.

50K MUSIC: Let’s talk about your upcoming album „Miseducated“. When will it be released?
Tim: It is now in the printers and manufacturing process. So depending on this it should be available within the next 6 to 8 weeks.

50K MUSIC: What do you plan for the album release?
Tim: At first it will be an on-line release coupled with an intense promo campaign that I will orchestrate from my laptop ! and with the help of my wonderful friends, supporters and fans. However, I am in talks with a company about a full media launch for the album in 2011 and I hope to do a UK and European tour in 2011. Fingers crossed !

50K MUSIC: Most of the songs on the album we know already, I suppose. Or do you have a surprise in store?
Tim: There are ten songs, some that you will know and there are few that will be new to most people.

50K MUSIC: Will we hear Taylor on the album too?
Tim: She won’t be on this album, although we have plans to record a song we wrote in the UK called ‘ Right from the Start’. It’s an acoustic rock song which we’ll probably record in Nashville. She may appear on the next album. Let’s see?

50K MUSIC: What other plans do you have for the next few months – gigs, online activities, …?
Tim: Basically it’s going to be a non stop promotional blitz! This includes daily updates on all my sites, news feed, blogs, (currently getting around 5-6,000 views a week on Myspace – which is meant to be dead but obviously there is a healthy pulse still beating there), social networking, video up-dates and filming new music videos for the album.

I’m currently in talks with my team about the next music video which will be a step up from the Anybody video. It will be more elaborate and I hope to have a proper crew this time I’ve already got the rough script drafted and it’s…….okay, I’m keeping that a secret for now. LOL My other immediate plans include strategic meetings with my entertainment lawyer at Loeb & Loeb, more talks with my advisers and consultants, and this week I have meetings with potential manager/agents. I’m also talking to labels and publishers.

Also, I intend to increase the radio exposure of my music over the next few weeks. I already have quite a lot of radio play going on at the moment both Fm and internet and this is thanks to ‘fan-power’. I can’t afford to pay a radio plugger yet and my fans, friends and supporters have been incredibly pro-active with getting the Tim Bennett name and music out there and I am so very grateful for their support. As I like to say – “there are no individual heroes in the music biz, it’s all about the team effort.” In addition, I’ll be doing a live radio show on Reputation Radio in UK – That is set for December 13th. They usually get a few million listeners so that will be interesting!

50K MUSIC: How can we keep on supporting you?
Tim: Please forward the links to my video “Anybody”: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KMOroEKExBM and let’s see if we can make it go viral – i.e get it into the ‘thousands-of-views” category with word of mouth and forwarding it to everyone we know! Also, please just keep doing what you are doing and spreading the Tim Bennett name and music. And also please buy the album when it comes out and tell all your friends! Also if you have any friends who are DJ’s on radio tell them about my music and let’s see if they’ll play it. It’s a really old fashioned way to grow an artist’s reputation but it stands the test of time! In addition, please leave requests asking Vicki Blight to play my songs Black Rain & Anybody on Absolute Radio’s facebook page – or their discussion page – http://www.facebook.com/topic.php?topic=17208&uid=43384996273.

50K MUSIC: Do you think fan funding is THE way to finance an album? Would you go this way again?
Tim: Fan Funding was perfect for this album and I’m really thankful to the team at Sellaband – the timing was great for me. I think fan funding could be right for the next album, but let’s see when I get to that point. At the moment I’m thinking I might set up my own platform, rather than go through a third party, although I guess there will be a few twists and turns in the music industry landscape before then.

50K MUSIC: And last question: Anything else people should now about Tim Bennett?
Tim: Ha ha – well I guess the most important thing is that I’m a very dedicated, hard-working musician always looking for the best solution in this minefield of an industry. I believe in team work, I believe in good ethics in business and I believe that ‘good guys’ can win! I also believe in taking chances in life and music and not being too safe with creativity. I am sure that “Inspiration comes from the risks and adventure of life”.

So Tim seems to be unstoppable now. And with the support of his fans his upcoming album will be a huge success, I guess. Keep on spreading the word and keep on listening to his music.

<<< Back to part 1 of this interview

50K MUSIC: In your bio you state: “Blues and Jazz are my teachers, both as a guitarist and a singer … it’s all about soul; heart and soul.” Could you please tell us more about what Blues and Jazz has teached you? How much of your heart and soul do you put into your music?
Woody: Well, I put all of my heart and soul into my music. There is no way to quantify that. I believe in performing like it’s the last thing I may ever do. I feel that be a professional musician is a privilege. I never wanted to do anything else. I learned from the blues and from jazz what is important to me about being a musician – respect for the music and musicianship. These are forms of American music that are the equivalent of what Classical music is to the Europeans. Blues and Jazz are the American Classical forms. Robert Johnson, Duke Ellington and BB King are, you know, like the Bach, Beethoven and Mozart of American music. I’m always learning, always studying, whether I’m writing a new song or cutting heads with another guitarist at a blues jam. I love the way horn players phrase and my harmonica player, Jose Ruiz, is one playing motherfucker who studies constantly and pushes me to dig deeper. Blues and jazz players are constantly trying to develop because the music demands innovation. These forms aren’t museum pieces, they are ever evolving musical adventures and you got to have chops to hang with the best players. There is a lot of improvisation, obviously, and that takes years of practice and study to be able to make your own statement as a player.

50K MUSIC: Who would you refer to as the ideal Blues musician, who is your ideal?
Woody: There is no one blues musician who is my ideal. I can’t narrow the hugely influential blues canon down to one ideal artist. Each has had his or her own impact on the form, in some cases reinventing it and breathing a whole new life and generation in to it. That’s what the blues is about, forward momentum and the ability to carry on. Younger blues musicians carry the torch of the blues forward, reshaping it to reflect the current scene. Again, it’s not a museum piece. Neither is jazz. That’s what I hope to do with my blues, carry the music forward while respecting the tradition itself. The blues is a celebration and it’s great to see more and more people coming to blues gigs, people who might only know the blues as some kind of lowdown vibe, but it’s not. It’s a music that has many facets and interpretations and when it’s done right live blues, in particular, is absolutely transcendent. You’re praying and reflective one minute and partying and grooving the next… that’s the mojo an audience feels at a blues gig. You don’t go to a blues or jazz gig to feel lousy, you go to feel better, to feel elevated above your own worries and troubles.

50K MUSIC: In your blog you wrote about a gig for children. Do you think Blues can be a healer to this world? Do you see a chance to make this world a better place with your music?
Woody: I think music definitely heals, motivates and inspires. I believe the world is enriched by the presence of this mysterious thing we call music, yes. Whether or not it’s a better place because of my music is not for me to say or to even consider. I do the best work I can with my music. The children for whom we perform are kids in need of a positive experience. Their parents are junkies in many cases, and these kids are going hungry. My blog tells the story of that first performance. I was moved by the enthusiasm these children had for my guitar. We intend to do more lunchtime shows, to give them the opportunity to dream a little bigger, to play some instruments and have a bite to eat. If the music we bring to those neighborhoods inspires even one of the kids to dream of a way up and out of the rather bleak situations they live in, it’s been a healer. I don’t become the healer, the music does. Like John Lee Hooker said for whatever reason, “blues is a healer”. Yes, I believe that. I know music has healed me many times over.

50K MUSIC: Can you please tell us something about your SXSW experience? Is SXSW worth the hype?
Woody: SxSW is an important event in that it is hugely hyped and does garner a lot of press. Is it a life changer, a career changer for 99% of the bands that perform? Probably not. Living in Austin, I have the opportunity to play music here all the time in this legendary music community. It’s a great city for live music in many respects. I imagine it’s a real buzz for bands to have an opportunity to perform here during SxSW. I performed at SxSW a couple of times and I’m always amazed to hear that the next band up is from Scotland or some such place and that they’ve come to the U.S. to perform a 45 minute set at SxSW. That blows my mind, that kind of investment by those bands. It is something to see, to be a part of the festival, though not mandatory for one’s career, no. I have issues with the amount of money made by the organizers of the event versus the amount kicked back to the bands which are the fundamental core of the profit being made. It’s an argument I’ve heard many times being a local, but it’s not likely to change. It’s considered a lucky break to get a coveted SxSW slot, so you do the gig and hope for the best audience. I’ve met some great people at those shows from all over the world. At any rate, I suppose it looks good on your performance resume.

50K MUSIC: What are your plans to promote “Up Against It”? What other plans do you have for the next few months?
Woody: Again, I go back to playing live as the main thing I do. I have some PR in place and I have the usual radio campaign efforts underway. It’s a constant job to promote one’s work. I just keep meeting people, making connections and pushing the music, the new album, to ears that will have it. I don’t worry about who doesn’t dig it. I spend my time taking care of the sources and resources that show potential. I reach out to my fans, new and long-time fans, making sure they know I’m still here and carrying on. I try to offer something new for those who’ve been around for a long time so that they continue to hang with me, you know. With the blues, there is an audience for that music, a community, really. There are, thankfully, so many resources in place that are blues specific and that helps me target who is interested in my music. But truthfully, I’m interested in performing more, including tours to Europe, so that is a primary focus. This is what I do professionally and live shows are where it’s at. People love live blues gigs, so do the musicians. The blues, and “Up Against It”, is about community and that’s where I take the music, to the people in that community. I’m a working musician with a family, so I have to stay employed as a musician. It’s kind of a nuts and bolts thing, you know. It’s not rocket science.

50K MUSIC: And last thing: Please tell us one thing about you and your music everybody should know.
Woody: Ha! One thing…alright. If you are a fan of blues and soul, check out my new release and please support it if you like what you hear. Contact me, talk to me. I’d love to hear from you. Being a musician, especially in this economy, carries some extra weight to it. People want to have music in their lives. Most people can’t imagine their world without a soundtrack, you know. But music, like food, isn’t free. It’s my passion, yes, but it’s also my job. Artists create art to add to and share with the world more color, more inspiration, more beauty and more intellect. To be compensated for one’s creation seems to be a huge issue currently. I believe in sharing it, definitely, as long as people continue to support it, financially, with a legitimate purchase now and again of a concert ticket or an album on CD or via download, whatever. It’s critical to the survival of the arts. If you want milk and bread, you don’t just go take it from the grocery store, you have to buy it. There is no distinction between buying food or gas and other products, including music, books, art, etc. As a consumer of music, you should feel compelled to support it, because on the other end of your purchase is a family – much like my own – who quite literally need the money to pay our own bills. I think most people get that, but it scares me that a lot of folks so casually argue that music should be free, like the air we breathe. But, man, I can assure you that it costs money to produce an album or even a single song. Record companies over-priced their CDs, that was a fact. But now, with this independent, entrepreneurial music business in place, artists are setting reasonable prices for their music and most, if not all of the money, goes directly to that artists account so that they can carry on creating the work that you dig. Again, it’s nuts and bolts, man. In terms of the current financial crisis in the U.S. and the difficulties people are faced with; losing homes, jobs, health care, etc., the “soul of a man” continues to be nourished by the fundamental beauty of music. Throughout time, that has been a fact. The “language” of music has brought people together and had a positive impact. We are fortunate to be able to perform quite a few free concerts here in Austin which brings it to those folks who don’t have money to spend on a ticket or cover charge, you know. If you can afford it though, buy an album and drop something in the tip jar next time you’re knocking back a beer at your local hang. That band in the corner could use the money and I guarantee they are going to put that money right back in to their local economy. Anyway, I began the process of writing and recording this album thinking it was a solitary sort of artistic statement, but have since then come to realize that it’s truly something we all share at one time or another. In making this record I came to understand that the feeling of being “Up Against It” is a universal one. If you’re a blues fan, get out and support your local blues scene. It makes a huge difference to the musicians who are working it and you might find yourself hanging with some great people. We all could use a little more community in this ever shrinking, internet obsessed, world we live in. Facebook only resembles a “social network”. Nothing beats a live blues gig at your local pub for some true social experiences.

<<< Back to part 1 of this interview

www.woodyrussell.com

50K MUSIC: For all those who don’t know Woody Russell yet (in case there is anyone), please tell us something about you. Where do you come from, what are your roots?
Woody: I’ve been a musician since I was handed my first guitar at the age of 7 or so. I was born in Portland, Oregon but spent most of my childhood in Montana. I was a guitar-crazy music junkie and a ski-bum as a kid. There wasn’t much for musical opportunity in Montana, but I did get to spend my late teens around a great songwriter, Kostas, who went to Nashville and became a huge success. He had an amazing record collection. I learned quite a bit from him, watching from the sidelines, as it were. When I was 19 or 20 I moved to Seattle – the closest “big city” – to follow my own musical ambitions. I got in to that music scene right away, worked on the fringes of the grunge explosion, watched that come and go. I did my thing, played a lot of clubs and recorded a few albums – sort of anti-mainstream songwriter stuff (before that became popular again) – until I had an opportunity to move to Austin with my wife in 2001. I’ve played thousands of gigs, big and small. I just released a new album called “Up Against It” on my own CUTS Music Group label and it’s doing very well, which I’m naturally very pleased about.

50K MUSIC: You started to raise funds for your album on SellaBand about two years ago, then you left SellaBand. Now you released your album in July this year. How did you finance it in the end?
Woody: Both SellaBand and Slice-the-Pie were experiments, professional curiosities if you will, and almost entirely negative experiences for me as an artist. Though not all of the feedback was negative on either site, it was immediately noticeable, particularly on Slice-the-Pie, that the systems were not based on what I would consider to be professional feedback. In the case of Slice-the-Pie, it was clearly based on some variation of a peer-to-peer voting system which truthfully amounted to a lot of competitive bashing from other artists.

I wasn’t necessarily trying to raise any money to record a new album, I couldn’t take either of those sites that seriously within the short time I was active on them. But, I did want to see how the systems worked. SellaBand was financially strong for the first week or two though it stalled quickly. Slice-the-Pie, however, was littered with seriously negative feedback from “haters”, amateurs and people who like to bash others from the comfort of their online anonymity. It’s embarrassing, really, the kind of thoughtless “reviews” others would post. It was, for me, hugely negative. Any voting system in place that puts an artist’s music in front of an audience of listeners who are not at all familiar with a particular genre (in my case- contemporary blues) which then means those listeners are completely unqualified to make any judgment about the quality of one’s work is, at its core, totally flawed. Most of what the internet offers musicians as far as “professional feedback”, on not only these sites but hundreds of other services and schemes, is a lot of opinion and noise coming from sources that don’t have any initiative to develop the processes any further than collecting a submission fee. The premise under which Slice-the-Pie operates is a joke, with supposed “peers” evaluating/reviewing your music in order to deem it worthy of investment through some sort of voting scheme. SellaBand was simply too much of a “game” based on earning status within the site itself. The recording “deal” offered by SAB, the contract itself, was not respectable. SellaBand was taking a huge percentage from funds earned by the artist and, as reported many times, was very ineffective in using the remaining money to generate any kind of positive momentum for the artists they “signed”. It then went bellyup for a time; I haven’t taken a look at it since then. Personally, I had too much to do outside of the “virtual” financial systems of SellaBand and Slice-the-Pie, much more important work engaging and motivating my existing fan base through live shows and my own site, to be playing the SellaBand promotions game. Slicethe- Pie was over for me within a few days – a ridiculous waste of time.

And it’s not only those sites that are faulty, there are many. Take for example Music X-Ray which has offered single song reviews for $150. Now, no matter how you look at that scheme, offered as a single song review from an A-list “industry professional”, it’s a rip-off. They offer other price points, of course, but the mere fact that those over hyped, over priced offers are listed should not be overlooked by aspiring musicians. Less savvy artists may not see that as an issue, but I see them as big red flags on certain websites. I think it represents something very corrupt about the new music business models, which are also struggling to survive, and I would warn any of my colleagues – until I was blue in the face- against paying $150 for a single song review. You’ve got online music business consultants charging extraordinarily expensive submission fees for feedback; it’s simply not smart business practice for any indie musician to engage financially with someone who has literally no idea who you are until you press the “buy now” button. Way too many scams exist to rip artists off, which is no different than how the traditional music business was thought to operate. Fact is, no new indie artist needs $50k to release an album. It can be done very effectively for one-fifth of that cost. CD sales are at an all time low – about to fall below the earliest reports on CD sales in the history of the product.

Live music, however, is still magic stuff that audiences cannot dismiss so easily as your internet presence. If you are a great musician who can work the stage, you will survive. It’s easy to look and sound great on the internet, but a live performance is something that takes a lot of hard work to nail. Artists fall way short in their live shows as compared to their slick online representation. You see it all the time. That’s what I love about the blues, it’s still about playing live, it’s still about musicianship and respect.

I believe the internet is a great equalizer for many independent musicians, but it is also a complete disaster in many respects. I am all for taking full advantage of the global promotional reach of the internet. The services and resources available for musicians are staggering in numbers, but the actual value of many of those services is negotiable. With respect to being a blues/soul musician, nothing can compete with getting out and playing the music live for your fans and potential fans. Internet radio, e-zines, blogs and such are valuable, but contests and other schemes can be really ineffective and expensive, particularly if you are an artist outside of the Pop genre. There are just too many distractions online for recording artists when the truly important job at hand is taking your music to people in a live setting. I don’t ignore, by any means, the value of my online presence, but I do try to refine my use of the available music sites to create a presence at appropriate sites that reflect my level of professionalism.

What I did with my “In Session Project”, perhaps subconsciously responding to those negative experiences with SellaBand and StP, was to create my own fan based funding system for my new album. I knew didn’t want to just open up a donation process of gathering funds, that didn’t feel right. I was compelled to offer something tangible in return for my fan’s advanced investments. Though I won’t go in to the details, I will say that through pre-sales I was able to generate funds to support the recording. I offered my version of a behind the scenes look at my recording process for this new CD, “Up Against It”, in real time. The idea is not new, not necessarily mine, but my take on it was designed to deliver a variety of options based on varied price points, levels, of an individual pre-order package. It was a truly a one-to-one experience with a handful of dedicated fans that helped me achieve certain goals, both financially and artistically. It was a ton of extra work in addition to recording the new album, but I consider it to have been a very valuable artistic experience and one that I will improve upon for the next project. Every dime of each purchase was used to create the final products: the CD, merch and a new website. I also figured in a percentage of the pre-sales as a donation to the SIMS Foundation here in Austin (SIMS helps musicians struggling with mental health issues get the medical attention they need). So all around, the money was put to very good use… all of it. I think what my fans got in return was a uniquely personal experience with my music, something they may have never had an opportunity to be involved with before.

50K MUSIC: Would you agree when I say that your new album celebrates the Blues more than “Salt” did?
Woody: Oh yeah, “Salt” is not a blues album. It’s an album that sort of wraps up my singer-songwriter thing very directly. It has bluesy tracks on it, as all my records have, but it was not about addressing the blues directly. I released “Salt” at the Newport Folk Festival and it went on to be nominated for an IMA “Album of the Year” so it did very well for me. But, “Up Against It” is an album I’ve been wanting to record for a very long time. I grew up with blues being a primary influence on my music. “Up Against It” represents a beginning for me in that respect, my first completely realized effort to address the blues that I want to play, that I hear as a songwriter and guitarist. I was also angling to record some soul sounds, as a vocalist primarily. In writing and recording the new album I discovered a lot about my take on, my personal approach to, this music that I played all my life, albeit outside the framework of my earlier recordings. None of my previous albums address the blues fully. “Up Against It” is an album that I had to record for myself, I wasn’t going to create another singer-songwriter type of record.

Stay tuned for part 2 …

www.woodyrussell.com

Read exclusive 50K MUSIC interview about where she comes from and where she wants to go:

50K M: For all those who don’t know you yet (if there is anyone at all) please tell us something about you. Where do you come from, what are your roots?
Tula: I am a 28 years old self trained pianist (started at the age of 5), I compose, write and and sing. I was born in 1982 in Tel Aviv , Israel.

My dad is a former trombonist, son of a Lithuanian Symphonies and Opera Writer, stopped playing 40 years ago, since in his eyes music was only for the soul and when he stopped playing professionally he stopped playing. My Parents didn’t accept my music and till now they still think I am just dreaming and will come to my senses eventually.

For a long time I tried to be someone else , I got a Molecular Biochemistry Degree to please my parents. I worked in labs like the “mad scientist” in day time, waiting for it to be night so I can make my music, take the mask off and be me.

I worked for years in the pharmaceutical industry , trying to combine my ultimate passion and a way of means.

Then a year ago, I met the love of my life, my dutch fiancée, in the Netherlands, and one month after he came to live with me in Israel. We went through a lot of struggles to be together, but we believed and still do. We currently live in Antwerp, Belgium. I left Everything behind for my love and for music. I couldn’t have done it any other way.

50K M: How would you describe your music and your style?
Tula: I make Gothic Symphonic Metal music. This is a genre that combines Heavy Guitars and drums parts from the metal music with the beauty of Gothic dark notes of my piano and Symphonic orchestrations.

I was influenced by artists like : Evanescence, Within Temptation, Nightwish, Epica, Kamelot. Anouk is one of my favourite artists and a lot of people compare me with her, which is a huge compliment.

50K M: You are member of Dream Team. How has this influenced you? How do you think this will help to get more believers and fans?
Tula: Joining the Dream Team really changed my life. I met Sommersby (Phil) on SAB and he invited me to join the team. The team is a very warm, supportive group of independent talented artists from all across the globe. It was very exciting to meet people who are artists like me and are pursuing their dream in a very unique way. Supporting and helping anyway they can, truly amazing.

I recently met Phil, Inge M, Cecile More, and Lindy at Inge’s House in the Netherlands. I can say that was a great experience. We shared thoughts about music, listened to music, and enjoyed a great company, while Phil made us laugh all through the evening.

I think that the Dream Team is an amazing platform, it gives exposure due to Phil’s Great support and devotion:
We have our own Facebook Group Page and it’s already starting to draw a lot of attention from believers and fans. We have a newsletter which is updated every week with news and events. I feel there is a Team of people behind me, pushing me towards my dream coming true. It’s the best feeling in the world.

I am also part of “The Pack”, which is a group of independent artists from all around the world. I want to personally thank WolfMan, the founder of the pack, for his support of us artists. He made an amazing website for the pack: http://www.wolfmandesigns.com/wolfpack/blog/ with a newsletter, a blog and social networking exposure. He is a true Believer, gives endless support, and an amazingly supporting soul. I can say that I feel like he gave me the family who believes in my music, the one I never had.

I think that joining these two fabulous groups of artists has donated a lot to the exposure of my music.

With the help of the Dream Team and The pack I won Indie top 10 Radio Noise Corporation Belgium competition which landed me a 3 months hearing in the playlist of the radio.

Another great thing is meeting artists and making connections via Facebook communication agencies that helped me with promoting my fan page on Facebook, the live stream TV shows of other artists as Aly Cook has helped a lot with exposing my “Hey You” Video.

50K M: You’re raising money even for two projects at the moment – for a single on AKA music and for an album on SellaBand. This means a lot of work for you I think. What are your plans in detail?
Tula: On AKA I am raising funds for a single album (15k). I mostly turn to the French audience, since AKA is more French and concentrate on exposure on French Stores and online sites. In the end of the fund raising I will release an Psychosomatic EP which is almost completely recorded to the French media.

I started on SAB, and I would like to say that recording a full length album is my ultimate goal. I am raising 50K on SAB to not only fund the my album “My Music My Drug” , but to also work on the “Psychosomatic” show. I give a physical CD to every Believer and a very generous incentive plan for my believers. I have a couple merchandise surprises up my sleeve for my believers, I think they deserve it all. I also give 50% of my revenues to believers, since the album is their like it’s my own.

My Detailes Plan is to raise 50,000$ which will be used to:
Record my album “My Music, My Drug” with producer and music legend , Oliver Philipps (Everon). He is the German producer in charge of the new upcoming metal star “DELAIN” and “SERENITY”. He worked with musicians form “Within Temptation”. Like him, I am loyal, he was the one who made my demos, who believed me when I didn’t have a dime, and he made My Music My Drug for me. We would start working as soon as we reach the Funding Target.

The amount will also cover costs for the Psychosomatic show, that will run through Europe, focusing on the Netherlands, Belgium, Germany. This new concept of a show, never seen before, combining my Molecular Biochemistry abilities (yeah I am a scientist) with making music. At the end of the Psychosomatic show my believers will receive a special recipe from my Music Laboratory, a new surprise each time (New Singles, T shirts, Backstage passages and more to go). Some of you may also Play with me on my Secret Formula Piano.

I am donating 10% of my rights revenues and income to charity for animals, since I am a hard believer of giving. I also have 2 dogs I adopted from a shelter, and they mean the world to me, you should see how much love an animal can give, it’s incredible. My plan is to invest in each of you, cause you are precious to me for believing in me.

50K M: You have raised 1,200 € on AKA music and 1,690 $ on SellaBand so far. Wouldn’t it be more effective to concentrate on one project?
Tula: I think the two platforms are approaching different exposures, one more to the French Audience (AKA) and the other is a more global platform (SAB). I also have different targets, one is for an existing EP to make a more appropriate exposure and the other, which is my mane goal is to record a full length album.

I think having both platforms only promotes my music, my fans and believers can join both my projects, and that brings a different crowed to every platform.

It’s not about effectiveness, for me, it’s about getting the music to the listener’s ear, that’s why I am also using Reverbnation, Facebook, Myspace and other platforms.

50K M: How can we support you raising your budgets?
Tula: You can always help with exposure to Believers and Fans, become a believer yourself is always great and supportive. I think the idea of the 50K music squad is very cool and I would love to be part of it. I think the key to supporting an artist is exposing his music to the crowed, so thank you for doing that for me .

50K M: It’s still a long way to go on both platforms, but have you already thought about your plans for promoting your single/album?
Tula: Sure, my Gemini personality always makes me vision ahead, so here are my plans:
The remaining fund after recording the album would be to
- hire a professional promoter specializing in the METAL/ROCK field to advertise and promote the album and the Psychosomatic show via social networking (Facebook fan group currently 650 people, Myspace 90,000 hits), book interviews on TV and written music magazines. He would also use to daily update my official website with special surprises (backstage passages to believers and purchasers of the album, through a special internet code)
-The promoter will also contact Festivals organizers such as Park pop, Pink pop and other big musical Events and shows to get the psychosomatic show in.
- Contact a Publishing company to start spreading the news about my music to get the album in stores across Holland, Belgium, Germany and France.
- Produce promotional merchandise (Tula logo shirts, which I already made the design for) and pay for design work, as well as covering manufacturing of specially packaged limited edition copies of the album and a run of standard packaged copies of the album to distribute to my believers first and to the market later as special limited edition items.
- I have already started working with my producer Oliver Philipps (Delain, Serenity, Imperia, Ancient Rites, Everon), which puts me on the map immediately in the eyes of the media regarding interviews about the album.
- I want to have a special appearance artist on my album, (his identity is still a secret), the artist will donate his musical talent to help me promote my music.

I think this is just the beginning. I have a lot more ideas … stay tuned…

50K M: And at last: one thing you always wanted to tell your believers, fans and investors.
Tula: Oh, I am so glad you asked that, since they are the reason for all this. I want you to know that inside that rough angry Metal Singer, lies a little girl, who only needs a hug.

You give it to me each day, and I just want to say Thank you , from the bottom of my heart.
This one is dedicated to you:
You’re my music , You’re my drug.
You’re my saviour , you’re my hug
You are everything I’m not, and all I really am
You’re the power of my thoughts, you make pleasure out of pain.
(Tula, My Music My Drug)

Tula on SellaBand

There are already the Dream Team and Wolfman’s Pack for supporting and promoting artists in- and outside of SAB. I’ve thought about starting another team of artists who get my special support and superior promotion on 50K MUSIC.

50K MUSIC Squad combines a wide range of music styles. It represents my favourite music and therefore it’s a very subjective choice I have to admit.

And this is what I have in mind supporting the Squad members:
- focussing on Squad members when investing on SAB, aka music, STP,…
- special promo activities on 50K MUSIC, Facebook, …
- own profile for Squad members on 50K MUSIC,
… more to come.

These are the members of 50K MUSIC Squad so far:

Al Highton

BOA

Civilized Tears

Fleur Jack

Stay tuned for more ….

I can’t reveal everything we talked about – sorry. But I will give you a comprehensive report about everything I am allowed to unveil – and that’s a lot anyway.

Until our date I knew Stefan only from the „Bomba“ video. So I expected a man sitting in the pub with a moustache and curls. Maybe you can imagine how surprised I was when I saw him waiting there. He almost looked like the guy from next door.

After chatting the world a while we came to talk about the real important things. First I digged a little deeper asking Stefan about their, I think, most successful single „Bomba“. It has become an absolute chart hit in the Netherlands and Stefan told me why: „There was one man, DJ Eric, who played a big role in this success story. He loved „Bomba“ from the beginning and played it on heavy rotation on Dutch radio station 3FM. So it hit the charts there. On Radio 538 „Bomba“ made it to number 15 finally.“ Also on MTV.nl the single was extremely successful hitting number 5 on the charts there. And last but not least it was number one on itunes.nl.

To my question what they think about the reasons of this success, Stefan is convinced that the combination of the song, its party character and the video turned out to be crucial for this success. And Kontrust are working on continuing the success in the rest of Europe. The wave from the Netherlands rolled over to Germany and Austria in parts, Stefan comitted….

…. Read the full story in
KONTRUST Special Edition of 50K MUSIC MAG.

KONTRUST website
www.ontherunfor.com

50K MUSIC: For all those who don’t know you yet, please tell us something about you. Where do you come from, what are your roots?
Matt: I’m a french singer/songwriter. I’m influenced by bands and artists such as Depeche Mode, U2, Coldplay, Keane, The Killers, Robbie Williams and many more… I started in music by playing the violin!

50K MUSIC: You have already raised a budget of 15.000 € to produce your single “Things I’ve said”. What were your experiences during the funding process and later the production of the single?
Matt: It was a great experience. During the funding process there was a lot of exchanges with the 372 believers. They gave me advices and we also had a lot of fun!! The recording session was also a fantastic experience! It’s been recorded at Modern World Studios in the UK with acclaimed producer Greg Haver (Manics, Melanie C.) and mastered in NYC by Ryan Smith (Beyoncé, Nada Surf, Erasure…). I worked with cool and great people : Andy Taylor, Beth Gibson and Clint Murphy. I really enjoyed the session and learned a lot!

50K MUSIC: When will the single come out?
Matt: The single will be released in september. It will contain 2 tracks. On one hand, there’s “Things I’ve Said” that creates a relaxing cyber-atmosphere, which puts you in a half-sleep state, and on the other, there’s “Haunted” which makes you want to get off your chair and shake your booty. The idea behind my work has always been to uplift the listeners to a state of emotional well-being!

50K MUSIC: Are you satisfied with the fundraising for your album “Erase All Data” so far?
Matt: Absolutely! I started the fundraising for the album about one month ago and we already reached 34% with 124 people investing in this project. I think it’s great known that the single isn’t out yet. I hope that the release and the promotion of the single will also help the fundraising of the album!

50K MUSIC: What are your plans for album production and promoting the album once it’s released?
Matt: I’ve already written about 10 tracks for the album. I’m very pleased about the sound of the single and I hope to work with the same team for the album! Greg Haver did an awesome job on the single! The album will be distributed in France by Universal. I also really enjoy the promotion process : going to radios, getting interviewed… Music is great as it could bring people together!

50K MUSIC: On your akamusic profile you state that you want to bring the 80s into the present. Do you think this could work?
Matt: 80′s music is a big influence for me! Depeche Mode, U2 and The Police were the first bands I listened to. I also enjoy bands and artists such as Coldplay, Keane, The Killers, Muse. I think they’re all a bit 80′s influenced! I found the sound I’ve been searching for in the studio. Greg Haver really understood what I’ve been looking for : the songs have an 80′s and “poppy” structure, at the same time, they are clearly and gently sprinkled with catchy rock instrumentations and dreamy electronic sounds. A modern sound with an 80′s spirit! I hope it will work!!

50K MUSIC: You are hailing from Alsace but your songs are in English. Are there any reasons why you don’t sing in French?
Matt: I’ve always been really found of english pop music that’s why I wanted to work with english people and that’s why I sing in English. I wanted that my music has an “english sound”!!

50K MUSIC: Your producers on akamusic get 40% of the benefits and a CD. Are there any more incentives for people who invest in your music?
Matt: Yes, they get 40% of the benefits and a signed CD before its release! They could be involved in the production if they want to. We share a lot on akamusic. Believers can give advices, choose the tracks they prefer with polls for instance…

50K MUSIC: Do we have a chance to see you on stage this summer?
Matt: No, I have no musicians for now. But I’m looking for musicians to go on stage and promote my songs! After achieving a first dream recording my songs with a great producer, I dream to play gigs and share my passion playing live!

50K MUSIC: How can we support you raising your budget?
Matt: You can help me spreading my name around the world and sharing my music with your friends and family!

50K MUSIC: And last question: Please tell us one thing about you and your music everybody should know.
Matt: I make music with passion and my only dream is to share it with the world!

Matt Springfield on akamusic.com.

I talked to Eric St-Cyr, singer and guitarist of the band, how the album was received and about their further plans.

50K M: You have finished work on your album „Chance Encounter“ lately. Are you satisfied with the result?
Eric: I’ve honestly never been so satisfied with an album.  I’ve done a few studio albums with different acts, and so have the other guys in the band, but nothing that compares to this.  It really is a great showcase of where we are at as a band, and what we’re trying to do with our music.  It’s not an album that fans of heavy stuff will like, and at the same time, if you’re looking for just fluff, this isn’t it either.  It ended up being a great mix of pop/rock, songwriting and talented musicians.  I’m really proud of everybody in the band for what we accomplished!

50K M: People can listen to your album since the end of April. What kind of feedback did you get from your fans?
Eric: We’ve taken five of the twelve songs on the album and have posted it on our various internet portals, and so far the reaction has been great.  Everybody has really understood not only the subtle change in music, but we’ve received strong feedback from everybody that have known us as a band from day one.  We used to have a grittier, looser sound, and our new stuff is very tight and polished, and everybody seems to be eating it up, and wanting the cd sooner than later!

50K M: You are terribly busy with sending all the CDs and tees out to your SellaBand believers at the moment. Is there any time for sleep?
Eric: I’m ever busier than you can imagine – and honestly, sending out our cds, tshirts etc., while it is definitely in my top 5 priorities, can’t unfortunately out weigh the business I run, or my family at home.  I’ve been pacing myself, making sure I send out at least 10 every day, so we should have everything sent out by the end of the month!  Every day a few new people get back to me with their mailing info, and I’m still waiting on a few believers to send their info.  So, if you’re reading this, and haven’t sent your mailing info yet – get on it!  It’s up to you to provide that so we can send you this cd!

50K M: What are your plans for album promotion now?
Eric: Once June 4th, the release date of the cd hits, and we go through our initial wave of sales, that is when we’ll start putting together a promotional plan.  As for right now, I’m just trying to get those pre-releases out to the believers!  From there, we’re mainly looking for movie placements, and promoting the album online to various music communities.

50K M: How about touring? Will we see you on stage soon?
Eric: Well, that depends who you consider “we”.  Are we coming over to Europe anytime soon?  Well, if somebody would like to make that financially possible for 5 band members, then we’ll gladly come over.  As for now, we’ll be playing around in Canada, the usual places such as Ottawa, Montreal, Toronto.  We’ve got some prime showcase gigs lined up for the summer in our home town and nearby, which we hope will get us in the spotlight of some new fans.

50K M: Do you think fan-funding is a sustainable way to finance your music? Would you go this way again?
Eric: Fan funding was a great idea for this debut studio album.  It gave us the push over the cliff to make the album a reality.  However, our plans are to use any profits we receive from this album to fund the next venture ourselves.  It’s not that fan-funding isn’t appealing to us, but I can’t help but feel guilty about it.  I suppose we were all raised to not ask for any handouts, which is why I can’t help but feel like that’s what we’ve done for some of it.  That is why we made sure that people were properly rewarded with tons of incentives – we constantly gave away mp3s throughout the process, and all the cds, tshirts, guitars that we’re sending out is the only way I can justify using these peoples money!  So studio album #2 will most likely be done completely on our own dime, but hopefully all the believers will still buy the album for 10$, despite not having a vested interest in owning shares.

Album Review Competition

Write a review of Epyllion’s album “Chance Encounters” for 50K MUSIC and win two tickets for a gig of your choice.* Send your review to mario(at)50kmusic.com or leave a comment here.

* You should write a review with at least 100 words, I will choose the best written review, the winner gets two tickets for a gig of an artist featured here on 50K MUSIC (see tags), the value of the tickets is limited to 50 €.

50K MUSIC: On 25th March you finally reached your goal on SellaBand. Please tell us how you experienced that day.
The Jeffersons: It was an exciting moment when we went to our Sellaband page and saw that we had reached %100. We also enjoyed receiving all the congratulatory comments
from many of our Believers….we felt very supported.

50K MUSIC: You have a budget of 12.500 $ at your disposal now. What are your plans to spend this money?
The Jeffersons: We will putting this money primarily towards recording studio costs and for the musicians.  We managed to secure some external funding which made it possible for us to decrease our budget to this amount.

50K MUSIC: Who will be the producer of your album? Why did you choose him/her? Who else will be involved?
The Jeffersons: We originally had planned to work with Brian Ahern who has a recording studio in Nashville, however,  we decided for a variety of reasons that it would best to record in Canada.  Once we made that decision, we quickly decided to self produce.  Paul was the primary producer on Lisa’s last solo project and given the intimacy of much of our music it just makes sense to produce the album ourselves.

50K MUSIC: Do you already have a time line for the album production? Please give us some details.
The Jeffersons: We will be recording the album May 17, 18 and 19 at The Bathouse Studios in Kingston, Ontario, Canada.  Its a fantastic studio in an old house that was built in 1842.  The great thing is that there are accommodations right in the house so that everyone can stay right in the same place.

50K MUSIC: Did you experience or notice any changes in the collaboration with SellaBand after the bankruptcy and with the new management?
The Jeffersons: Not really.  We had good communications with the new management right after the bankruptcy and have confidence that they will get SellaBand back on the right track.  It is a new way to fund music and it is to be expected that there will be hiccups and road bumps along the way.

50K MUSIC: Do you think fan-funding is still the way for you to finance your music?
The Jeffersons: We think the concept of fan funding could potentially be the ‘new model’ for the recording industry. We certainly believe in the idea and so far it’s worked well for us…..hopefully it will be a good experience for the fans as well.  Ultimately, people like us make music not just for ourselves, but for others.  So why not truly involve fans in the process.

50K MUSIC: Back to the music, what kind of album can we expect? Do you already know which songs will be on the album?
The Jeffersons: The music will have an alt/country feel to it. Something like Fleetwood Mac meets The Everly Brothers…. We have a pretty good idea of what we’ll be recording. Most of the songs are written by one of us or both.  For sure, a couple of the songs that were on our SellaBand page (Almost Like We Meant To and Take My Heart) will be on the album.

50K MUSIC: How are you going to involve your fans into the album production process and later into promoting the album?
The Jeffersons: We hope to update our fans through our online blogs to let them know how it’s going step by step.

50K MUSIC: What other plans do you have for the next few months regarding gigs, promotion, …?
The Jeffersons: Right now we are really focussed on the recording of the album.  Once it is complete we will turn our focus to a single and album release.  Undoubtedly some touring will follow…

www.thejeffersonsmusic.com

www.facebook.com/thejeffersonsmusic

I was picked up at Amsterdam’s Schipol airport by the Traveling girl herself, Lille Mulder. As we knew each other only by email, we both did a few laps around the terminal before the process of elimination successfully put us into the car together. The two hour drive to Dick Kemper’s Studio in Doetinchen gave us a chance to tell our life stories and lay the groundwork for the two week’s work ahead.

S&K Studio reflected all the know how of the seasoned musician/engineer/producer that is Dick Kemper. Dick toured the world as the bassist of Vandenberg sharing major concert venues with Metallica and Ozzy and that experience combined with the intervening years of recording have served to create a consummate studio pro. I was here to work with Lille only on the vocal tracks but a quick tour of the studio and a listen to the basic tracks told me that she would have plenty of inspiration to draw upon when it was her turn on the other side of the glass.

As good as Dick is at his job, any engineer or producer will tell you that they are only as good as the talent holding the guitar or bass, or in the case of Nico Groen, hitting things with sticks. And in this department Dick had plenty to work with. The producer of The Traveling Girl is my good pal Casper van Vulpen and Casper started the project off with plenty of wind in his sails by choosing great songs to record and the right combination of players to make the magic happen. This project was truly an international effort as Casper had gathered the forces of a Russian from Poland, a Polish songwriter from England, a British writer from London, an Austrian from Los Angeles, a rhythm section from Holland and one of the best singers I’ve worked with in years. Lock the doors and get the coffee going. This was going to be more fun than a pick up game at the Fourth Street cage in the Village.

Lille was a dream to work with. Many singers can be temperamental, moody or demanding. Lille was all of these but in a very unique way. Where some singer’s moods or demands are driven by insecurity, inability or lack of preparation, Lille took full responsibility and her demands were only of herself. And where some singers might hit the wall of their endurance or storm out of the room blaming it all on the headphone mix or the color of the pop filter, Lille forced every mood directly through the microphone and into her vocal performance for upwards of eight hours at a stretch.

The main focus of my involvement was in creating authentic and sincere vocal performances with a singer in English as a second and sometimes third language. Regrettably, I only know how to say “Goddammit” “Two Beers” and “Screwing in the kitchen” in the Dutch language but Lille and I were able to work together in German as well as English. I find sincerity to be the most attractive element of any vocal performance and this must be based on not only a thorough understanding but also a convincing belief in the lyrical content of a song.

Whenever studio rats get gather in the temple of sound they follow a timeless ritual. Everyone let’s everyone else know who they know, which new plug-ins they use, choice of recording software, past, present and future drug, alcohol and gambling profile and whatever other factoids seem pertinent to the session. It’s just a bit of canine butt-sniffing really, but it serves to lubricate the initial get-to-know-you period better than passing out resumes. We already knew each other via the internet so the circle sniff was just a bit if handshaking and joke telling. Before I hit the pillow that first night I felt warmly sniffed into the pack.

My second day in Holland Lille and I went to work in earnest. As we went line by line dissecting the finer points of pronunciation we also discussed the inner meaning of every phrase. Sometimes when writers create in a foreign language they might say something that makes perfect literal sense but loses symbolic meaning or poetic value in the translation. There were a few corners to smooth over in this department and we changed a few words or phrases to insure that Lille was portraying the feeling behind the meaning with belief, conviction and precision.

I had initially thought to coach Lille into a strictly American pronunciation but her delivery has a certain international charm which we certainly did not want to lose. So we concentrated on clarity and those areas where letter sounds differ between Dutch, German and English while retaining the feel and passion which went into the original demos of the songs. On a technical level, most problems arise when losing the distinction between voiced and un-voiced consonants. Using the word “Love” as an example, the ‘V’ must have pitch. Dutch and German speakers pronounce the word as “Luff” because their ‘V’ is our ‘F’ and so “Live” becomes “Life” and “Very” becomes “Fairy.” Another pitfall is the American ‘TH’ sound which doesn’t exist in many European languages. To make the sound one must extend the tip of the tongue between the teeth and blow out a puff of air. Euros tend to replace the ‘TH’ with either the hard ‘D’ or the sibilants ‘Z’ or ‘S’ as in “Vaht do you Sink about ziss.” And, as the sentence indicates, even our ‘S’ sound has voiced and un-voiced versions as does the ‘TH’…hear the difference between “This” and “Think” “What’s” and “Was.” And then there is our ‘W’ which is their ‘V’…so our “Was” would be pronounced “Vass” two corrections for the price of one on that one.

The key was to make the corrections seem effortless and allow the vocal performance to be driven by Lille’s amazing sense of phrasing. As I got to know her day by day I learned that Lille is fierce when it comes to learning new things. She was hell-bent on mastering whatever I suggested and made notes on the lyric sheets, wrote on the leg of her jeans, pounded the table and repeated the ‘TH’ sound until I had to cover my coffee cup. But I didn’t want her to obsess so the best and most efficient learning came through simple conversation. We decided that when in the studio we would speak only English and I would try to catch and correct every mispronunciation as it happened.

There are many structured exercises aimed at engaging the diaphragmatic-intercostal musculature but none is more efficient than uncontrolled laughter. Being among new friends gave me a fresh audience for the jokes that elicit groans from my stateside friends and I took full advantage. Teaching the jokes to Lille was also a way to practice Americanized idiomatic pronunciation. What seemed to be breaks in the work were actually quite useful and her delivery of the songs as well as her complete understanding of the intent behind them improved at a fast clip. Two weeks later my job was done and Lille dropped me at the airport where she had first found me. We were in the studio every day and the two weeks seemed like one long session. Working with Casper, Kostek, Dick Kemper and especially Lille had made the time go much too quickly and on the Los Angeles bound flight I wished that we had been making a double album. The musicians played their asses off, Lille sang her ass off, Dick engineered his ass off and now my ass was off for home.

Traveling Girl will be available online and represents the hard work of very talented people from all corners of the globe (yes, I know that the globe doesn’t have corners, just go with me on that one). It was a ton of fun to be involved with the project, the music and, most importantly, the people. I hope you all enjoy it.

This post is taken from Pete Strobl’s blog on www.petestrobl.com

All photos of Angie Arsenault by www.BenoitChampagne.com

I wanted to know what her plans are and about her motivation to rejoin SellaBand. That’s why she had to answer the following questions:

50K MM: For all those who don’t know you yet (if there is anyone at all) please tell us something about you. Where do you come from, what are your roots?
Angie: Where to start? Well, I am an Acadian francophone who grew up in rural Prince Edward Island, Canada. I come from a very musical family and as a young girl, I used to step dance to my mom’s fiddle playing. At every family gathering, we would hurry up and eat so the music could begin! I later performed in high school and community plays and toured with a French rock band for a few years. After high school, I studied a few years of Classical music at the Moncton University in New Brunswick and spent my summer breaks singing, acting and dancing in a dinner theatre. That’s the musical side that probably most people know already, but many are surprised when I say that I was student council president at my school after being treasurer, vice-president and member of countless committees. I wasn’t an extrovert (far from it!), but you could say I loved getting involved. My first year of university studies was actually in … business management! But it was not long before I switched to music! Lol

50K MM: It’s almost exactly one year since you released your fan-funded album “Once Upon A Dream”. What happened since then?
Angie: It takes my breath away when I notice how fast time flies! Following the album release, I gave a few performances and then began a campaign for radio promotion in the Canadian market. We had a decent success, averaging about 160 plays per week with my song “Turn Around”. I have also kept busy with a few other projects and ideas, including a website that I had been working on with 2 partners for the last 2 years having to do with my teaching career (I give private voice lessons at my home studio). The idea was to give my students a training support system for their practices at home along with a blog and a singer’s forum to stay connected. You can visit the site at www.singg.tv, which was launched a few months ago. At the moment however, the largest percentage of my brain is occupied with finishing up some new songs that are in the works and putting up a brand new show!

50K MM: How come you played a gig at Rotman School of Management last year?
Angie: I was asked to participate in the presentation of a study lead by professor Ajay K. Agrawal who has been closely observing Sellaband since the beginning and he wanted to have a real example to show his audience how the platform was working for artists like me. I suppose he was also looking at the entertainment value as well…! Agrawal takes a deeper look into the consumption of art and I found his studies to be quite interesting and… thorough! He knew more about my Sellaband statistics than I did that’s for sure! It was great to be a part of it all and meet some new people (including none other than Sellaband CEO Johan Vosmeijer). A video of the event was nicely put together which can be found on youtube:
Part 1: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=is 8W7uchciM
Part 2: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O5 bm295Ez-Q

50K MM: How known is SellaBand in Canada?
Angie: Sellaband is still very new here and not very well known to Canadians. When I was on my way to raising 50K for my album, I had been featured in a very popular Montreal journal called “Le Métro”, but other than that, I have not heard or read much about Sellaband here… yet. Slowly however, word of mouth is getting the news around.

50K MM: How have SellaBand and the album changed your life?
Angie: Sellaband was, for me, the missing piece in the puzzle. A few people had approached me in the past with propositions that made me quite weary about the music business and I always new in my heart that it was very important to keep creative control over my music and image. I was able to bathe in that type of freedom with my 50K album production and gathered a team of talents who had my trust and who gave nothing short of their 100%, putting their trust in me as well. The albums existence has changed everything in that it is proof that amazing things can happen with a little dreaming… and a lot of hard work and support! It also reminds me that I have a lot to be thankful for and I must keep on pushing forward, for me and for my believers for I do not want to let them down.

50K MM: You are back on SellaBand for a second round. What will the budget be used for?
Angie: This time around, my goal is to raise 25K which will be used to promote the album and also to promote a little tour I am putting together for May (Canada) and end of September / early October (France, Netherlands, Germany, and possibly a few more spots…). Jocelyn, my husband and manager, and I are financing the trip ourselves for our 10 year anniversary treat – and of course it all coincides with wanting to get out there and perform for my followers who are mostly all from Europe – and this is true for followers on Sellaband and off including many from France. The optimal goal is to raise the budget by end of May 2010 in order to begin the promotional activities in the early summer.

50K MM: Who will be the partners for promotion and marketing in Europe?
Angie: All funds will be used to hire radio promoters and publicists to help with promotion in the European Countries mentioned before. We are also looking at making a music video for the song that will be launched to radio. Names are being thrown around but it is too early to announce anything official yet.

50K MM: So we may have the chance to see you on stage in Europe too?
Angie: Absolutely. I am putting up a brand new solo show to make things easier for my very first tour there. That said, do not expect a singer-songwriter piano only type of performance. I have never been able to express myself fully in that setting and so I am putting together something that will allow for a little more nuance – a type of show that perhaps I could title “Once Upon a Dream; a theatre of music performed by one”. But I do not want to give away too much – you will just have to wait and see!

50K MM: How can we support you raising your budget?
Angie: There are many ways you can support this project. One is by getting on board as a Believer and in return, I will share a small percentage of Publishing from all songs on the album “Once upon a dream”. As a believer, you will also have access to an exclusive EP of brand new songs I am currently working on. Another way to support the Sellaband project is by helping me spread the word by posting on sites such as facebook, myspace, or even just old-fashioned word of mouth. Even just stopping by to write a few words of encouragement on my wall really helps. Yes, this is a budget raising and investment project, but the terms “believer” and “supporter” can be represented in many ways for an artist whose music you enjoy and I have always truly appreciated the interaction I get from the online communities. It helps keep me motivated and focused… and makes it fun! Another big one is that when my performance dates and venues are announced, I will need all the help I can get to promote the events – because a sold out show is always more fun for the audience… and for the artist of course! ;D

50K MM: On your website you can read ten short & strange stories born from the sleep. Please tell us something about that.
Angie: Oh boy… lol! Well, this is a project I have had in mind since the conception of my semi-concept album, but the stories have a part of me for a long time now. “Once upon a dream” represents my entire creative process and if you have read my biography, you know that the dreams are often the reason for the existence of my songs. The short & strange stories show a parallel representa-tion of the 10 main songs from the album; in another light, but from the same source in essence. I have been working with illustrator Nicolas Bourges, showing him my drawing ideas and thoughts for the visuals I had in mind for each story, and he puts all that together in his own style which has remained throughout stories 1 to 10. There are also thoughts of revising everything and adding in more illustrations in order to fill a small book format… we’ll see what happens! I have yet to post the very last story, which will coincide with a contest that will take place in March… so stay tuned for more details to be announced on my website! www.angiemusic.com

50K MM: And last question: Please tell us one thing about you and your music everybody should know.
Angie: Well, sometimes I wonder what people imagine of me when they listen to my music, especially after hearing the rather dark, somber pieces! I would want people to know that I am not sad or depressed! Lol … and that is in big part because of music. Having this kind of platform for self-expression has been a blessing and the people who surround me on this musical journey of mine, are also a blessing.

So if you decide to support Angie raising her promo budget go to her SellaBand profile http://www.sellaband.com/angie or check out her website

www.angiemusic.com

This article is also published in issue #12 of 50K MUSIC MAG – discover it and a lot more here: www.50kmusic.com/50kmusicmag12en.pdf

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