In all honesty, I wouldn't want Brian Casey's job.I'm not being a hater, it's just not for me. For one, I don't write jingles. Mostly because I'm a drummer and also because I like to Write songs with the intention of them being full length songs for performing, not 1-2 minutes or less for adds. I think what Brian does is super cool and is still a better 9-5 then the average business desk job. I'm sure it's rewarding when a song he makes get's put into an add but for me, the pressure of writing for someones specific needs is over bearing and sort of drains my creativity. Musically it's not the path I'm looking to take in my career. I would consider working for a music house later in my career when I've accomplished my goals as a performer and recording artist or teacher, but jingle and advertising writing/recording is very low on my list of goals and I don't think I'm really qualified. The advantages to working in an environment like Brian would be having a ton of different instruments at my disposal and I would have a lot of time to find shortcuts for figuring out what works and what doesn't in the studio and the ability to practice different recording techniques. He mentioned after a while, it gets easy to find the the sound he's looking for because hes done it for so long. Another benefit would be the ability to put my own music into the house catalog, and the chances of people hearing or using my music outside of my city or state would be much greater.
Brian seems like a good guy and is definitely good at what he does, it was also nice to learn a bit about the operations of a music house and here his insights on day to day life in his profession. It's good to be aware of unfamiliar career options in the music industry but I don't see myself pursuing ITG or any other music house in the near future. However, it's also good to know that ITG and other music houses accept music from local bands to put in the catalog for commercial use if a TV show or film is looking for hot new music to use. I do see myself contacting them for that reason
I guess when it comes down to it there is a lot of good to say about the music house industry, but a lot that turns me off as well. It's music made with a purpose to tell the listener how to feel, and its almost all music that "sounds like so and so" or "this and that," but it's still creative music and props to the guys at ITG for making it happen. Thanks for the visit Brian
Tuesday, December 7, 2010
Sunday, November 21, 2010
Money Matters
Money is a subject that affects everyone, everyday. College is a time when money is especially tight for most of us and budgeting is a needed skill in order to get through daily life.I go to school five days a week and I have to make sure I have money for parking, food, gas and school supplies.I spend about 60 dollars a week alone just going to school. Managing my money is something I need to work on if I ever plan on not living paycheck to paycheck, but even without spending money on things I don't "need", living is expensive. I felt that most of Evans info would be more helpful a few years down the road when I have some extra money and want to be smart about investing it. right now I'm struggling to even make rent and don't have any money to spare if I want to live comfortably. I do like the idea of having a budget and keeping track of every penny I spend in a week just to see what I could cut back on and save on. I think a budget would help me realize how much the little stuff adds up. Another piece of advise that I've heard over and over is to to take a percentage of every pay check and put it in a savings account so by the time I'm thirty Ill have a large chunk of money saved and it will keep growing fast. the only hard part is I've ended up needing the money I put in my savings because I can't keep up with expenses or emergencies that come up so it's not really growing.However, I did learn that it's really easy to invest your money and there's a lot of ways to do it. I thought there was a lot more to investing but it's catered to be user friendly and pretty simple.I wasn't aware you could do it all online. when I graduate I feel I'll have a lot more money and won't be so stressed out about it because I'll be working full time. Right now I work in the summers and make a lot of money but when school starts I loose it all because of the expenses it takes to go to school and I get a fraction of the hours I do during the summer.
Some other points I found interesting during the discussion with Evan was the importance of knowing what you can and can't write off or deduct on your taxes as a self employed free lance musician. I see myself having someone, a tax agent or accountant or whatever the title is to help me get everything right. I still feel a little insecure about how to do my taxes right but I think I just have to do them to learn them.I'm willing to pay someone to do them for me too. I learned that a lot of doing my taxes right is really keeping track of expenses throughout the year. I would rather just be responsible for knowing all of my expenses, spending, and keeping receipts, and have someone else organize and figure out deductions so I don't have to work that hard on taxes. Maybe that's lazy but that's how I feel. let someone who went to school for that stuff take care of it for me.
Some other points I found interesting during the discussion with Evan was the importance of knowing what you can and can't write off or deduct on your taxes as a self employed free lance musician. I see myself having someone, a tax agent or accountant or whatever the title is to help me get everything right. I still feel a little insecure about how to do my taxes right but I think I just have to do them to learn them.I'm willing to pay someone to do them for me too. I learned that a lot of doing my taxes right is really keeping track of expenses throughout the year. I would rather just be responsible for knowing all of my expenses, spending, and keeping receipts, and have someone else organize and figure out deductions so I don't have to work that hard on taxes. Maybe that's lazy but that's how I feel. let someone who went to school for that stuff take care of it for me.
Thursday, November 4, 2010
the world of internet media
I feel that all of the different internet and social media leading the world of self promotion and networking are overwhelming. For one, Facebook MURDERED Myspace along time ago in terms of popularity, relevance, function and any category of media you want to share with the world to the point where myspace is obsolete. My hat goes off to the people who capitalized on the new trend and got famous off of myspace exposure and buzz like Soulja Boy, drake, Colby Callet and many others. Don't get me wrong Facebook and myspace are effective tools for social networking but its hard to keep up with the constant change of whats hot or relevant and all the different sites like twitter and blogging. I like the idea of having one website for everything so I don't have to go down the long list of all the different places you can check me out. I want to be able to say "heres my website everything is there." I think the online portfolio with david lewis is an excellent source for that structure and I plan to take full advantage of it. However, Facebook seems to have all the capabilities that the McNnally profile does and everybody is already on Facebook. you can post videos, pictures, music, messages (blogs) pretty much tweet by updating your status, promote shows and events and even start fan groups. If you put enough effort into having a professional Facebook, you have all the social networks like myspace, twitter, you tube, and your own domain name on the same free site.
My favorite part of Kareem's presentation was when he had us google ourselves to see what the top hits are for our name or our band were. When I searched my self I wasn't anywhere, but when I searched my band Lazlo Supreme the entire page was filled with our content: images videos and links which is great. our name is very original and it feels good to know that were not hard to find. I like how he explained that the key words for googles top spots are internet real estate and people pay for key words and my band has the prime real estate. Kareem had a lot of interesting sites that can be beneficial for a band or artist but the one that stuck out most to me was www.kickstarter.com where you can set-up an online fundraiser for band projects like touring or recording. It's an effective way to promote yourself and offer prizes/rewards for supporters of your cause and increase the reward depending on how much money they donate. Brilliant!
here are some popular media sharing sites that are useful for musicians and artists
My favorite part of Kareem's presentation was when he had us google ourselves to see what the top hits are for our name or our band were. When I searched my self I wasn't anywhere, but when I searched my band Lazlo Supreme the entire page was filled with our content: images videos and links which is great. our name is very original and it feels good to know that were not hard to find. I like how he explained that the key words for googles top spots are internet real estate and people pay for key words and my band has the prime real estate. Kareem had a lot of interesting sites that can be beneficial for a band or artist but the one that stuck out most to me was www.kickstarter.com where you can set-up an online fundraiser for band projects like touring or recording. It's an effective way to promote yourself and offer prizes/rewards for supporters of your cause and increase the reward depending on how much money they donate. Brilliant!
here are some popular media sharing sites that are useful for musicians and artists
- Photography and art sharing: deviantArt, Flickr, Photobucket, Picasa, SmugMug, Zooomr, BetweenCreation
- Video sharing: sevenload, Viddler, Vimeo, YouTube, Dailymotion, Metacafe, Nico Nico Douga, Openfilm, TubeMogul
- Live casting: Livestream, OpenCU, Skype, Stickam, Ustream
- Music and audio sharing: ccMixter, Pandora Radio, Last.fm, MySpace Music, ReverbNation.com, ShareTheMusic, The Hype Machine
- Presentation sharing: scribd, SlideShare
- Blogs: Blogger, ExpressionEngine, LiveJournal, Open Diary, TypePad, Vox, WordPress, Xanga
- Social networking: ASmallWorld,Cyworld, Facebook, Hi5, LinkedIn, MySpace, Orkut, Tagged, XING
Tuesday, October 19, 2010
Johny Bunko Reflections
Daniel Pink's unique career guide Johny Bunko tells the story of the common situation many people face when deciding what they want to do with their professional lives. Do I follow my passion and do what I truly love to do, or do I take a safer route to ensure financial stability. As someone who chose the path to follow their heart without question, this was not a difficult choice for me. However, I also did not have parents, teachers, and friends discouraging me from that decision but everyone has a different situation. Johny Bunko loved to illustrate and wanted to pursue a career in the arts, but his family pressured him and made sure he went into accounting and now is stuck at a dead-end job and is very unhappy. Bunko is suffering from mind numbing repetition, deadlines, work overload, and boss pressure. what he wanted was a satisfying successful career. throughout the book Bunko learns the six career secrets in order to be successful and satisfied no matter what your field is.
1. There is no plan
2. Think strengths, not weaknesses.
3. It's not about you
4. Persistence trumps talent
5. Make excellent mistakes
6. Leave an imprint
I know I can apply all of theses points to myself and how I pursue a carer in music. There is no plan: I certainly have an idea of where I would like to be 10 years from now but I also realize that no matter how hard I set a plan, I have no idea where or what I will be doing or what oppurtunity's will come and take me in a new direction. X might lead to W and W might lead to Red. Life is not an algebra problem. I think you can have goals, but not a set plan. Think strengths, not weaknesses: in music practice, there is so much emphasis on practicing what we aren't good at, which is necessary but it is more important to know what your strengths are and capitalize on them. I'm a really good rock drummer so I play in a rock band, not a Latin band. I have a "flow" with rock that I'm confident with that isn't there with latin so if I'm looking for a gig I go for what I'm good at. It's not about you: this makes me think of writing cover letters or applying for a job. Focus on what you can offer them and how you help them rather then what you can get from them. how will they benefit from having you. Teamwork, cooperation an problem solving are positive and effective ways of realizing its not about you. Persistence trumps talent: I do agree with this but I do feel that there are exceptions. Some poeple are extremely talented and don't have to work as hard as others in order to achieve a goal, on the other hand persistence leads to success 100% of the time regardless of talent level. Hard work pays off and that's a fact. Make excellent mistakes: everyone knows we learn from our mistakes, you can't be afraid to take risks and make some mistakes because that's how we grow, and many times as a musicians we stumble onto something really new and cool when we mess up. Leave an imprint: Do things that matter and are larger then yourself. dream big and make an impact. Create new sounds and ways to approach music even if its dumb or you think people won't like it. I feel like I've found my place and purpose in the world now it's up to me to do something with it.
1. There is no plan
2. Think strengths, not weaknesses.
3. It's not about you
4. Persistence trumps talent
5. Make excellent mistakes
6. Leave an imprint
I know I can apply all of theses points to myself and how I pursue a carer in music. There is no plan: I certainly have an idea of where I would like to be 10 years from now but I also realize that no matter how hard I set a plan, I have no idea where or what I will be doing or what oppurtunity's will come and take me in a new direction. X might lead to W and W might lead to Red. Life is not an algebra problem. I think you can have goals, but not a set plan. Think strengths, not weaknesses: in music practice, there is so much emphasis on practicing what we aren't good at, which is necessary but it is more important to know what your strengths are and capitalize on them. I'm a really good rock drummer so I play in a rock band, not a Latin band. I have a "flow" with rock that I'm confident with that isn't there with latin so if I'm looking for a gig I go for what I'm good at. It's not about you: this makes me think of writing cover letters or applying for a job. Focus on what you can offer them and how you help them rather then what you can get from them. how will they benefit from having you. Teamwork, cooperation an problem solving are positive and effective ways of realizing its not about you. Persistence trumps talent: I do agree with this but I do feel that there are exceptions. Some poeple are extremely talented and don't have to work as hard as others in order to achieve a goal, on the other hand persistence leads to success 100% of the time regardless of talent level. Hard work pays off and that's a fact. Make excellent mistakes: everyone knows we learn from our mistakes, you can't be afraid to take risks and make some mistakes because that's how we grow, and many times as a musicians we stumble onto something really new and cool when we mess up. Leave an imprint: Do things that matter and are larger then yourself. dream big and make an impact. Create new sounds and ways to approach music even if its dumb or you think people won't like it. I feel like I've found my place and purpose in the world now it's up to me to do something with it.
Wednesday, October 13, 2010
A Darling visit
Rapper/ vocalist Dessa darling of Doom Tree had plenty of great information on promoting myself/band and getting into local press or other media sources. She brought to my attention the most important aspects of promotion and materials I need to catch the attention of a local newspaper or radio station. I really liked her attention to detail and awareness of all the little qwerks of the different newspapers, like knowing what color clothing to where for black and white photos and knowing the space on the page that the picture will fill. The most important thing to have is a "Bangin' Bio" and have more then one. I need to cater to the source that I'm trying to get involved with. The less work the person receiving my info has to do the better, and everyone is looking for something different.It is also good to have multiple press shots so you can fill the need for multiple scenarios. You can never have to much stuff! But it's also more important to have quality meaningful content that people are going to respond well to and want to keep checking out. she also pointed out that a lot of young groups don't promote as much as they should because in social situations it feels slimy or wrong.You don't need to be overbearing or pushy but positive self promotion is necessary in order to get yourself known.
One thing I never thought about that Dessa discussed was exchanging services with creative fair trade. What do I have to offer, other then money, that will make both parties benefit from what I need to accomplish. I can't think of an examples in my current situation that I could use but now that I am aware of this strategy I will certainly look for a situation to put this concept into practice.
I mentioned in class that my bands song "What Makes You Happy" was aired once on the 89.3 the current and that I didn't feel it was beneficial because one air play doesn't really launch much exposure and nothing came of it. Dessa responded with a philosophy that maybe nothing did come of your one air play but maybe the next step you take like getting in the Vita.MN will raise the brow of someone and gives us some type of opportunity. the point being, I need to do twenty things and maybe only one of those promotional things will lead to something else beneficial, and maybe it wont, but if you just keep working at it and trying to make things happen, something eventually will.
Dessa also mentioned having web content that fans can check out even if its dumb playful stuff that is just for fun to show your personality and raise awareness of who you are. Below are a couple of links to promotional videos my band made that have had good reactions and are similar to dessa's example.
Rapper/ vocalist Dessa darling of Doom Tree had plenty of great information on promoting myself/band and getting into local press or other media sources. She brought to my attention the most important aspects of promotion and materials I need to catch the attention of a local newspaper or radio station. I really liked her attention to detail and awareness of all the little qwerks of the different newspapers, like knowing what color clothing to where for black and white photos and knowing the space on the page that the picture will fill. The most important thing to have is a "Bangin' Bio" and have more then one. I need to cater to the source that I'm trying to get involved with. The less work the person receiving my info has to do the better, and everyone is looking for something different.It is also good to have multiple press shots so you can fill the need for multiple scenarios. You can never have to much stuff! But it's also more important to have quality meaningful content that people are going to respond well to and want to keep checking out. she also pointed out that a lot of young groups don't promote as much as they should because in social situations it feels slimy or wrong.You don't need to be overbearing or pushy but positive self promotion is necessary in order to get yourself known.
One thing I never thought about that Dessa discussed was exchanging services with creative fair trade. What do I have to offer, other then money, that will make both parties benefit from what I need to accomplish. I can't think of an examples in my current situation that I could use but now that I am aware of this strategy I will certainly look for a situation to put this concept into practice.
I mentioned in class that my bands song "What Makes You Happy" was aired once on the 89.3 the current and that I didn't feel it was beneficial because one air play doesn't really launch much exposure and nothing came of it. Dessa responded with a philosophy that maybe nothing did come of your one air play but maybe the next step you take like getting in the Vita.MN will raise the brow of someone and gives us some type of opportunity. the point being, I need to do twenty things and maybe only one of those promotional things will lead to something else beneficial, and maybe it wont, but if you just keep working at it and trying to make things happen, something eventually will.
Dessa also mentioned having web content that fans can check out even if its dumb playful stuff that is just for fun to show your personality and raise awareness of who you are. Below are a couple of links to promotional videos my band made that have had good reactions and are similar to dessa's example.
Wednesday, September 22, 2010
Don't be a sucker!
I enjoyed Sean's visit to our class on monday. It was nice to know that with all of his success he's still a humble person that wants to improve as a musician, and didn't let his early accomplishments get to his head. Sean recognized that he is comfortable with the music business side of the professional world and has capitalized on that, but was also smart enough to know that success doesn't mean he's the best he can be in the music world. What I gained most from the discussion was the importance of knowing my comfort zone and strengths in my semi-professional music career, as well as knowing my weaknesses and uncomfortable areas of the biz, and filling in the gaps. As a performance major, the majority of my time is spent learning and practicing my craft (the drums). There's more then a lifetime of things I can always be working on to become a better drummer/performer/teacher or whatever I do professionally, but what I was reminded of with sean was the music business side of the game, most importantly the money aspect. I have been in a pop/hip-hop group called Lazlo Supreme for the last four years and I have enjoyed playing with this group very much. However aside from the joy of playing and enjoying each others company, money has always ben an issue. My only form of income comes from my day job at a restaurant which I only work on the weekends during the school year. Unfortunately weekends are the only times we schedule shows so that we can get a good crowd. This becomes a major issue for me because I rarely get paid for our shows due to the debt we have as a band. None of this debt came from my pocket and all the choices about the expenses were not cleared or discussed with me, which makes playing with this band a huge financial sacrifice. Until the last year I never really cared about what the money deal was. I trusted the leader to do the right thing and I was just playing for experience. Now its such a serious issue I have to say no to playing shows and there has been arguments between band members. Sean and the rest of the class helped me realize that I have to address this problem to the leader and address it with a professional negotiable manner and to start paying attention to how much money were getting per show and knowing where all the money is going. To make a long story short, I can't be a sucker. At this point in my playing career I feel that my skills and professionalism should be accounted for financially with every gig I play. the time energy and talent it takes to tour and put on good shows deserves some form of pay wether its 15 dollars or 100. The good news is, I did talk to my band and we have an agreement that I will be paid for upcoming shows to cover what I would be making if I was working my day job regardless of band debt. I also don't want to give the wrong idea about the leader of my group. I do trust him and he's not trying to cheat me, I think he just makes some bad choices. Thank you sean for your helpful insight into the wonderful world of music.
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