Fans Rule! - the new music business model

If you're not into social networking and you want to sell music, you either need to get into it or get someone who IS into it to become a part of your marketing team. Instead of being depressed, I have to say I'm energized by the way music business's apple cart has been turned over and the bottlenecks are irreparably broken. Now listening and concert-attending FANS are driving the business, instead of the other way around. I say, "long live fan-archy!" hehehe...

There are awesome stories on the net of music marketing successes using this new model. Go here to read about some) .

Don't be fooled...It's HARD WORK doing business this way. To become successful... (and I am borrowing from the writings of Internet marketers such as Mari Smith and Brian Clark) ... you must:

1. Connect with your fans.
2. Interest your fans in staying around.
   
3. Motivate and excite the fans so much that they want to buy from you.
   

Think you'd have to make millions of fans to "make it"? ... Here are two links to a debate going on about the premise that it only takes 1000 "True Fans" to make a living in the music business:

http://www.kk.org/thetechnium/archives/2008/03/1000_true_fans.php

http://www.kk.org/thetechnium/archives/2008/04/the_case_agains.php

Social networking sites I recommend for you to put up your profile and become active:

1. Myspace.com
Recommended resource: Bob Baker's "My Space Music Marketing" (about $20)

2. Facebook.com
Recommended resource: Mari Smith's "Facebook Fortunes" (free)

3. Twitter.com
Recommended resource: "Why Twitter Isn't A Waste Of Time" (blogpost)

Anybody out there have other suggestions to share? Click "comment" below this post!

Pop Quiz... Got vocal issues?

Time...
It's time for me to do an inventory on my focus in this blog. It takes time to write each post and time for you to read it. To keep it worth our time, I'd like to increase its usefulness to you. And I'd like to ask you to take a few moments of your time to help me get you the information you need and want.

If you could ask your most urgent, puzzling, frustrating or curious question about anything relating to the voice (fitting for a subject to explore on "All Things Vocal") what would it be? Got multiple vocal issues or questions? List as many as you can.

To begin your thinking process, look at these random vocal issues and let me know which one(s) you'd like to see me add to "our" grand list (if you want, tell me what you're NOT interested in as well):

1. You have uncontrolled, excessive or missing vibrato issues.
2. You consistently sing either sharp or flat.
3. You want to know how to make money with your voice.
4. You need info about your speaking voice.
5. Your voice is tired and strained.
6. Your voice is thin, weak, lifeless, nasal or edgy.
7. You want to increase your range.
8. You have some strange, mysterious problem that occurs when you speak or sing.
9. You don't know what style you should sing.
10. You have a frustrating vocal break.
11. You feel numb or fake in performance.
12. You can't get the magic in your studio vocals that you get in live performance.
13. You want to know how to correctly sing and play an instrument simultaneously.
14. You want to know how to choose great vocal training.
15. You want to protect yourself from getting ripped off in the music business.
16. You want to learn and keep up with how the music business news.
17. You'd like to learn how use breath more efficiently when speaking or singing.
18. You want to learn to read music or the Nashville number system.
19. You want to know how to fire up your creativity.
20. You want to know what "Power, Path & Performance" vocal training can do for you.
21. You are interested in ideas to keep the voice healthy.
22. You want to know how to co-write.

OK... your turn... just click the comment link at the bottom of this post and list numbers of issues of interest to you. Then add your own. And thank you for joining the conversation!

Benefit concert for guitarist Byrd Burton

This Saturday, February 23, there will be a benefit concert for my dear friend, legendary guitar player Barry "Byrd" Burton, who is suffering from a recurrence of leukemia.

Here is the blurb with details which I received via email today (thanks to Ronny Light):

"Byrd was a founding member of the Amazing Rhythm Aces and won a Grammy while he was with the group. He has been on many recordings, including a number of Don Williams' classics, including "Living on Tulsa Time". He has worked in the studio & live with Nancy Griffith, Judy Rodman, Dan Fogelberg, Dolly Parton, Brooks and Dunn and many, many more.

The benefit concert will be held at the Jet Harbor Maintenance Hangar at Gallatin Airport in Gallatin, TN from 2 p.m. until 5 p.m. Byrd is an accomplished aviator and this event is being called "Fly Like a Byrd". Merlin Gene Grigsby will perform and serve as host for the event. An all star band has been put together of some of Nashville's finest session players and there will be many more of us there to perform and help raise money for Byrd. He is in the hospital now taking treatments.

For more info, contact Kathy at Jet Harbor, 615-230-9763 or email Merlin at sparkchaser5@yahoo.com.

If you'd like to make a donation, checks can be made payable to:

• The Barry "Byrd" Burton Benefit Fund and mailed to:
• The Barry "Byrd" Burton Benefit FundC/O First Tennessee Bank 429 West Main Street Hendersonville, TN 37075 ".

Byrd and my family go way back... when I lived in Memphis, Tennessee before I moved to Nashville, I used to sing at a jingle company called "Pepper Tanner". My husband John played drums, with Byrd playing guitar, for jingle sessions there. One day Byrd told John about this group he was experimenting in, (which turned into the Amazing Rhythm Aces) quipping something to the effect that "we don't know what we're doing, but we're having fun". It was history waiting to happen.

Later, after the Aces split up and I got a record deal, Byrd started playing in my road band, again with my husband who was playing drums. We did some great shows, such as opening for Meryle Haggard at Harrahs; we also did some "pay your dues" shows in the mud and rain at fairs, in the smoke at clubs, etc... But even though Byrd had been used to the "big time", he never made me feel insignificant, and always - always enjoyed playing music. It was wonderful to be able to spend time, make music, laugh at funny "bus tapes" and really catch up with him (and I'm sure he still remembers the day the band had to be picked up in a laundry truck to get to the airport on time!)

Byrd, though with the physique of a tall bear, is a gentle presence in this world. He lights up any room he's in. Please consider a donation to his medical expenses, try to attend this benefit and hear some great music, and by all means, keep him in your prayers.

How to get work as a background singer

I got another question I thought you readers might be interested in from my website today.

The question:
"How does one go about getting started if they are interested in singing bgv's (background vocals)? Thanks!"

My answer: To sing background vocals you need-

1. vocal training to be able to perform the feats of what I call a "stunt singer". It takes more stamina and control to be a great background singer than to be a lead singer, because you will have to trace and blend with another voice perfectly, taking on the lead voice's tone, personality, rhythm, phrasing and accent, or adding whatever different texture of voice the producer wants to offset the lead singer's voice.
2. to be able to change your voice at the producer's request.
3. to be able to hear and create harmony parts.
4. experience singing background parts with live performers and/or backing vocals in a recording studio. No matter what kind of training you have, there's no substitute for actual experience. It's a catch-22; you need experience to get experience, so take whatever opportunity you can possibly find or afford to get in front of a stage or recording studio mic.
5. a demonstration (demo) recording of your voice. This can be a simple guitar or piano/vocal, a karaoke track with your voice recorded over it, or can be full instrumental tracks created just for you. Just make sure that your vocal performance is the most important thing you record. Don't spend money on tracks without budgeting enough time for great vocals. duh.
6. referrals from people you've sung with and sung for.
7. networking, networking, networking. This takes time and persistance; people skills are very necessary. Go to writers nights and to concerts, hang out with musicians and songwriters you know. If you know any session singers, you might ask them to sing with you and assess how well they think you do.
8. to realize that you may need to keep your day job. Background work is very competitive and usually has a great deal to do with being at the right place at the right time. Sometimes when someone else can't make a session, an untried singer will get a chance. However, it is important to be generous of spirit, to support and recommend other singers trying to get work as well. Undercutting your fellow session singer will come back to bite you. It usually takes years to break in to regular session work. Make sure you build the right reputation.

Background singers tend to be hired for the following qualities:

1. They sound great with the lead singer.
2. They learn their parts fast.
3. They can do "head charts" (just come up with the parts in their heads), read the Nashville number system (if in Nashville), and they can read written music (traditional notes). You can get hired without being able to do all three, but you are considered a much more versitile singer if you can work whatever way the producer, artist or group leader wants.
4. They have positive, professional attitudes and work well with others.
5. They can be depended upon to show up on time, every time.
6. They are nice people. The music business is a small world, and it gets to be community where where you like to work with friends and good hearted people.

Some of my best friends in the world are background singers. Good luck... and let me know about any work you get so I can share it in my newsletter!

Audition Cattle Calls and Vocalist Abuse

OK, I'm back and I'm mad!

Yes, I'm finally moved into my new digs and will now get back to regular posts on this blog. I hope you missed me-

This one is going to be a rant. I have a question for everyone who sets up audition "cattle calls" for these American Idol shows and spin-offs. Why do you have singers standing in the extreme cold from the wee hours of the morning (say 3 or 4 o'clock am) until you finally allow them to sing- cold, tired and numb- sometime in the latter part of the day? Do you know these are human beings? Do you know that their voices, not to mention their bodies, are affected by such abuse? These people are worth more than this. They allow themselves to be treated this way, then usually leave with their hearts broken. Yes, the music business is hard, but does it have to be CRUEL?

Why can't you designate a warm, dry, safe place somewhere for people to wait for their auditions? Maybe have a cutoff after so many show up, then hold auditions for more days? You know, money considerations sometimes have to make room for basic human rights. If you auditioners ran a third world country, we might not be trading with you.

I've heard these horror stories from my clients for a couple weeks in a row, and I'd like to join any other voice teacher who'd like to throw in on this protest. I'd also like to hear from any of you reading this blog who have had similar experience with this kind of auditioning. Maybe we can raise our voices and get these practices changed. Click the comment link and tell us your story.

Recording engineer Ronny Light Tangles with Tornado

Community of true friends in the music business is never more important than when you run into trouble. Recording engineer and producer Ronny Light, trusted-friend-to-many of us, tangled with a tornado about two hours south of Nashville last night and lived to tell about it.

Ronny called me about 7pm and told me that a tornado had picked his car and the back end of an 18-wheeler up and slammed them together. The semi was coming head on. Miraculously, both Ronny and the truck driver walked out of the wreck with minor injuries. As I was trying to figure out how to go get him, he also called a couple of other music buddies and Roger Ball was already on his way to the rescue when I called Ronny back.

Ronny is resting (phone off the hook, hehehe) today, lucky to be alive. He is the type of friend who would be the first on the scene if any of us called him from the scene of any literal or figurative tornado we had run into. He has always made time to develop deep and lasting friendships, and now it finally was his time to be on the receiving end.

May we all remember how dear our friendships are. May we take the time to say "how are you" and mean it. Our business can be an isolating one; I've learned in the last few years that no man or woman can make it as an island. It does take time out of our busy schedules to actually join a community in a meaningful way, but what good is it to have successes or failures without those with whom we can share those experiences?

Too many times we are jealous of others' successes or we want to distance ourselves from those who seem to be failing. This is where love is a verb. And it's worth it. The music we make will be sweeter, and indeed when we look back on our lives, it's the love generated around the music that will have been the important thing.

Thank you, God, that you left Ronny with us a while longer. Thank you, Roger, for being the angel sent to rescue him from the disaster zone. And thank you, Ronny, for the honor of your friendship.

Now, there's got to be a country song about love, tornados and cellphones. Isn't there?

Last Week at Huntington Ridge Drive!

OK, I'm really doing it... moving-my-office-day is this Friday, Oct 5th, vacation the 10th and I'll be back on the 16th.

I'm still doing voice lessons amid the boxes I'm packing... (thanks to my vocal student Darby Haas who brought 2o boxes over) so if you are scheduled, walk carefully so you don't trip- and forgive the clutter! I can't remember the last time I got in bed before 2:00am, so if you emailed me you might notice I am checking in the wee hours. In my spare time (!!??**) I have been writing Runaway Home songs manuscripts to send off to the people with the "Finale" software which turns it officially print-ready. My husband John (who was a professional drummer) is helping me figure out how to make the complicated rhythms easily read.

All I can say is, thank God for friends and family who are helping - it feels like and old fashioned barn raising (ok, if you're too young to understand this phrase, ask your grandparents) But it is going to be wonderful for all of us to have the room, sunlight, and scenery of this beautiful new place.

I will be going on vacation Oct 10th (which is nuts, trust me, my husband and I booked the vacation before we knew when my office was moving!) and will get back for lessons Oct 16th. I will have a laptop to check email sporadically while on vacation but will try to do this on a very limited basis (or my husband will kill me :) I so look forward to the trip; it's been way too long since I took off. St. Augustine is calling... and the ocean I grew up around. (Nashville thinks of itself as the Third Coast, but I'll be danged if I've seen any sandy beaches or salty water around here!

I'll be a better teacher/producer/writer for the break... Thanks to everyone for all the precious friendships and music made at Hunting Ridge Drive - See ya soon at Sherbrooke Court!

Bob Baker Workshop review

Bob Baker is an indie marketing guru. He is known for his focus on empowering the indie musician and artist to truly succeed in the marketplace.I attended the "Guerrilla Music Marketing Workshop" Bob held in Nashville last week and thought I'd give you a review.

I don't want to give away intellectual material, so to summarize, Bob gave us a step-by-step understanding of the core of music marketing. I already knew a lot of it, from studying Internet marketing last winter, but he made perfect sense of it, tying it together into lists of things like "7 Secrets to Low-Cost Music Promotion", "3 Steps to Effective Music Marketing", "The 4 D's of Music Promotion". He showed how important it is to be persistent through what Internet marketing master Seth Godin calls the "dip" in your career. A dip is, by definition, right before a climb.

Bob had several special guest speakers join him- and I learned as much from them as from Baker himself.

• Doak Turner of The Nashville Muse ezine talked about everything from having business cards on you to NOT shoving your demo down the throat of music person you meet for the first time!
• Pop artist CC (don't remember last name) of http://www.firepitfriday.com/ podcast talked about this dynamite new Internet talk show opportunity- for artists by artists.
• David Hooper of Music Business Radio (I blogged about this show to you in a previous post) encouraged people to have accountability partners, to support the "scene" and the "scene" will support you, to be yourself when you ply your craft and suggested that all your marketing efforts must get a return worth the effort.
• Keith Mohr of Christian indie distributor IndieHeaven talked about finding a niche, connecting with musicians and artists similar to you, to start local and build regions of fans from there, to remember that bigger is not always better, that procrastination is your enemy, and - important- NOT to put mediocre content online. (uh- some of you may want to check your online audio clips!)

Bob and his special guests discussed ways to reach fans and bypass industry bottlenecks. He very much believes that you must chip away at success a little at time to build a prosperous, lasting career.

I came away feeling better than ever about the real possibilities of building a money-making career without being signed to a major label, IF you want to work hard and smart at it. What's that old saying..."Where there's a will there's a way!" I invite you to share your thoughts and experiences by clicking the comment link below this post.

Music marketing workshop alert, Taylor Horn on Access Hollywood

Attention indie market people:

Bob Baker, of TheBuzzFactor.com and "Guerrilla Music Marketing Handbook" fame, is coming to Nashville, TN Sept. 6th and to Asheville, NC Sept. 10th to hold a couple of workshops. Check out the info here: http://www.bob-baker.com/buzz/music-workshops.html.

I've been reading this guy's blog for a while, I purchased some of his programs and I'm very happy with the ton of information I'm getting from him.

Also, watch for my student and production client Taylor Horn, who was just interviewed for "Access Hollywood". Her interview may air as soon as tomorrow!

Got news? Let me know... I'm compiling stuff for my September newsletter.

Welcome to my new "All Things Vocal" Blog!

Hi there! You are now looking at my brand new blog!

I will be posting several times a week here on "All Things Vocal", just like on my old blog at http://judyrodman.blogspot.com/. That blog will remain up; it's full of vocal information you may wish to go back and read there.

Besides writing articles for this blog, I also will be emailing a newsletter about once a month. What's the difference between my blog and my newsletter? The newsletter will contain news updates about myself and my clients' activities and performances, important announcements, links to favorite blog articles you may have missed and more. Please contact me with your news so I can share it in the newsletter.

You can sign up to receive blog updates through one of the "subscribe" links you see in the left column of this page.

You can sign up to receive the newsletter in your email by clicking the "Newsletter" tab in the menu of this website.

Be sure and click around this website for all kinds of information and fun stuff. Let me know what you think of it. And let me know what you want me to write about here, will you? I intend to fill this blog with posts about what YOU want to know. I love the idea of community among music people; it's a hard world out there without friends! Click "comments" after each post to ask questions or give your viewpoints.

See ya round the blog!