The Nashville Feed

Looks my favorite little website Twitter.com might not be little for too much longer. Actually it hasn’t been small for quite a while but in my circle of friends I was one of the few that used it. As I encouraged friends to join they liked it and it spread from there.  The ease of use and variety of ways to contribute to Twitter makes it addictive and simple. According to Digital Media Wire Twitter traffic is up 70% in the USA and 485% in the UK.

In the past I’ve blogged how you can use Twitter as a cheap way to set up a SMS list and now with the updated iPhone you can now even find people near you Twittering. I do believe the killer app is one that is one that is super simple easy to use.

Further Reading:

• Analysis: Twitter UK Traffic Up 485% This Year, 70% Higher Than USA
• SMS Mobile Marketing for an Artist

Ask the song hounds — producers, artists and other music bizzers who sniff out hits in haystacks of demos — what it takes to find a smash, and they’ll often describe their special blend of market savvy and musical sense as “ears.”

Maybe ears get too much credit. What about the inner ear’s basilar membrane, which triggers millions of neurons that set off a psychedelic light show of electrical impulses in the brain?

As long as Nashville has been a songwriter’s town, there’s been a lot of talk about exactly what makes for a great demo. Some say all they need is a rough work tape — just a voice backed by a single instrument — to spot a great tune. Others say a fully produced demo is the key to understanding if a song or an artist is worthwhile. It turns out the answer could be more physiological than either side suspects.

“How a demo is perceived may lie at a sensory encoding level as opposed to a cognitive level,” said Jeremy Federman, a researcher and Ph.D. candidate at Nashville’s Vanderbilt University who specializes in audiology and music perception and cognition. As a former L.A.-based songwriter, Federman brings more than one perspective to this discussion.

“When I was pitching a song to Bonnie Raitt’s producer, he said they didn’t want fully produced demos because they like to do whatever they want to songs, with no preconceived ideas,” Federman related. “But all of my demos were fully produced because of an intuition that a lot of people don’t really know what they are listening for.”

Federman cautioned that “music perception and cognition is a brand new area of research and conclusive results are just emerging.” However, experiments have revealed that more electrical impulses occur, while listening to or performing music, in the brains of musicians than non-musicians because more brain areas are activated, and that the basilar membrane within the inner ear, which converts vibrations from sound into signals in the brain, is more stimulated by a full band than a solo performance.

“Other factors — the skill level of the musicians, the mood and emotional state of the listener — can also affect perception,” Federman added. “But more complex signals do generate more excitation in the inner ear and brain. So it’s possible that a fully produced demo could get a better reception because it causes more neurons to fire.”

Meanwhile, the debate continues on Music Row.

“As a producer, I prefer getting work tapes,” said Rivers Rutherford. “That gives me an opportunity to hear my own interpretations.” But in addition to producing albums for Montgomery Gentry, Jamie O’Neal and other artists, Rutherford has penned smashes for Brooks & Dunn, Faith Hill, Tim McGraw, Brad Paisley and Gretchen Wilson — and in submitting his songs for consideration, he has learned that sometimes a solo demo just doesn’t do the trick.

“I’ve had it work both ways,” he attested.

Rutherford has also found that the process of recording a full-band demo might even improve a song’s structure. Nine years ago, he and co-writer Tom Shapiro had a guitar-and-voice work tape of a tune they believed in. “But it didn’t get any interest,” Rutherford recalled. “Then we went to demo it in the studio, and I realized while hearing the band play that the work tape was six to eight beats a minute too slow. So we sped it up.”

The result was Brooks & Dunn’s No. 1 single, “Ain’t Nothing ’Bout You.”

At typically $800 to $1,000 per song, recording a demo with a band in a Nashville studio is an expensive lottery ticket. But if it hits, the payoff can be big.

Tom Hambridge won an ASCAP Song of the Year Award in 2007 for co-writing Keith Anderson’s Top 5 hit “Every Time I Hear Your Name,” which was shopped as a fully produced demo. Although he’s had tunes recorded by Rodney Atkins, Billy Ray Cyrus, Joe Nichols, Montgomery Gentry and many others, Hambridge is, like Rutherford, also a solo artist and producer, with albums by Susan Tedeschi, George Thorogood and Johnny Winter among his production credits.

“Because I’m a songwriter, when I’m producing I can hear a good song whether it’s just a singer with a guitar or a full band,” Hambridge said. “But I always do full productions of my own songs that I’m going to pitch, including background singers. In Country Music, the bar is so high that you need to get your song across in the best way possible. The greatest songwriters in the world are here in Nashville, vying for spots on big Country albums every day, and not every decision maker hears things the same way.”

This means presenting each of his songs in a form most likely to help a variety of listeners hear its particular strengths. “Some producers are wizards behind the board, but they need to know what a finished song might sound like,” Hambridge said. “A&R staff may help pick tunes — or management or maybe even the president of a record company. If a label or artist is really going to bet on a song, the marketing department might be asked for an opinion on whether radio will play it. And chances are not all of those people are songwriters.

“Let’s put it this way,” Hambridge summed up. “If you really want to knock somebody out, do you give them a shiny new car or the old one that’s back in the shed?”

How To Make Your Demos Real Contenders

Before you or your engineer push the “record” button, here are some demo basics and not-so-basics to consider:

• Get It Done: “A work tape is crucial,” said Rivers Rutherford. "Specifically, it's a blueprint for demo studio musicians. Beyond that, with just one instrument, one voice, and a cheap digital recorder, it might be all you need to bring a tune to life. Just be sure you’re got the structure of the song tight.”
• Hit Your Groove: “Make sure your tempo is correct for the song and that it’s locked in,” said Rutherford. “The groove has to be on the money for a song to be convincing.”
• Sing It Pretty: “You need a believable vocal performance of a good melody,” Rutherford noted. “You don’t want to get too over-emotive. This is a song-driven market, not a record-driven market like rock ‘n’ roll, so you’re just trying to get the spirit of a song across.”
• Buddy Up: A good studio crew can cut four or five songs in an afternoon session. Tom Hambridge suggests sharing sessions with other writers. “Sometimes there are five or more different writers at a session, all splitting the cost to get good demos of their best tunes.”
• Trust Your Musicians: “In Nashville the session musicians are the best in the world at getting demos done,” said Hambridge. “Songwriters are not usually producers, but good musicians spend so much time in the studio playing on all kinds of songs that they often know exactly what you’re going for. Listen to their ideas.”
• Polish Your Sound: Hambridge likes the sheen added to his demos by a final run through the various compressors, EQs and other devices used in mastering. “My demos sound like commercial recordings,” said Hambridge, “because that’s what most people are used to hearing.”
• Get Personal: Once you’ve got demos to pitch, network through artists’ rights organizations, publishers, showcases, parties, etc., — wherever you can find the industry people best positioned to help place your song. And make friends. “There’s no guarantee that artists, managers or label people are going to hear your demos,” Hambridge said. “You’ve got to get out there and make them interested in you.”

By Ted Drozdowski | © 2008 CMA Close Up® News Service / Country Music Association®, Inc.

This month’s UnSpun is all about killing time. We’ve all been there before and we’ve all explored the best time killers Nashville has to offer. I’ve added the first few and now it’s your turn to add what you do.

All you need is an Amazon.com account to add comments, new items and other things. Click the up or down arrow next to each as a vote up or down. If the item gets more votes than the one above it moves up. Vote for each one. So get to it!

More from Nashville Feed Unspun lists.

While driving to and back from Florida last week I discovered how bad of a position radio is in; its way worse than I had thought just flipping through the dial in Nashville, TN.

There was almost nothing on while I scanned the spectrum, well almost nothing. I found repeat of Casey Kasem’s Top 40 featuring up comers of the 80s. It should have been named “Top 40 One Hit Wonders that you don’t hear from until they appear on a reality show or The Soup.” Kind of long but it would have been better.

It was so bad I almost thought of re-activating my Sirius sat radio the next time I road trip then cancel it after I’m back. It would have been worth the $12.95 for the week. Lucky for me I had a few podcasts in my iPod which got me home.

What to Do

So what is radio to do? Radio business professionals are saying HD digital radio will save them. For example:

• More variety. Nearly half of all HD channels feature formats rarely found on the dial these days, from gay-programming-oriented Pride Radio at Hartford's KISS 95.7 to "mashups" such as Cincinnati's WOFX 92.5, whose Mother Trucker pairs classic country such as Merle Haggard with rockers such as ZZ Top. "This is unique content you wouldn't get anywhere else," says Jeff Littlejohn of Clear Channel, with 800-plus HD stations broadcasting in its markets.
• Connecting to iPods. A new HD Radio feature called "iTunes tagging" lets listeners hit a "tag" button on their radio when they hear a song they like. iTunes will list the tagged songs after syncing with the iPod for previewing and purchase.
• Less expensive hardware. The first wave of HD Radios were pricey, up to $500. New radios to be announced Wednesday include sub-$100 models from Sony, Coby and iLuv and others for less than $200.

(Source USAtoday.com)

I really think the only thing that will save radio is the break-up of the major conglomerates allowing for more stations owned by more people willing to take risks. The consolidation of the radio industry has created a death spiral. And just when radio needed the funding aka ad dollars Bloomberg.com is reporting that internet ad spending will overtake radio this year.

Artists Moving On

Even if they get their act together it might be too late artists are moving on beyond radio. They are expanding and reaching out to fans online and now the mobile space. Even though getting a hit on radio today reaches large audience it’s not a profitable as it used to be. The artists are going direct to the fans and they are responding with arms open.

Changes are Happening

Whatever will happen radio will not have the power over the music industry as it once had. The artists are moving on to new opportunities. They are finding ways where they don’t need a label to get played for an audience. They are using new technologies that sidestep the establishment.

Further Reading:

• HD Radio sends strong signal, but audience weak – USA Today
• HD Radio stations tune in to everything – USA Today
• Internet Ad Spending to Overtake Radio in 2008, Publicis Says – Bloomberg.com
• Music Radio Should Be More Like Talk Radio – Nashville Feed

I'm at the beach for the week so I'll be doing some linkfests and light postes until after the 4th holiday. Enjoy and don't work too hard. - mdave

Music Business & Sales

The Changing Face of the Music Industry - Tenneseann.com

• Music Row faces new realities
• Falling CD sales force retailers to try new strategies
• Music fans can hear more music, spend less money
• New routes take music to the fans

Rock's New Economy: Making Money When CDs Don't Sell - Rolling Stone
TV, games, tours and more: How smart bands thrive today

Report: Amazon MP3 Gains Don't Affect iTunes - PC Magazine
Gains for Amazon's MP3 service have not significantly affected Apple iTunes sales, due largely to the different demographics the two services attract, according to a report from NPD Group.

Hair metal grows back on the 'Net - Seattle Times
..for many, love for hair metal was not destroyed — just tucked away along with 1989 tour memorabilia. Now, the Internet is allowing these fans to find their inner teenager, dust off their fandom and relive the days when rock stars dressed like rock stars, and music was delivered irony-free, one power-chord at a time.

Anyone Seen My $4.2 Billion? - Esquire
There's a lot of money out there in the economy that people used to spend on CDs. The question is, where, exactly, did it go?

Social Media

Why Gen Y Is Going to Change the Web - Read Write Web
Gen Y is taking over. The generation of young adults that's composed of the children of Boomers, Generation Jones, and even some Gen X'ers, is the biggest generation since the Baby Boomers and three times the size of Gen X. As the Boomers fade into retirement and Gen Y takes root in the workplace, we're going to see some big changes ahead, not just at work, but on the web as a whole.

Analysis: Facebook, Twitter, Google and The Future Of The Web - Digital Media Wire

The big buzz on the Music Row in Nashville has been Mobile Marketing but I don’t think it’s quite prime time yet. There is talk of reproducing on your mobile phone what you get in-front of your computer including ways of monetization. Problem I see is that the technology hasn’t caught up with the vision and to be honest I don’t think anybody has figured out the net yet. When the money online equals what is made via selling a physical product then you can try to reproduce it via the mobile platform.

I primarily think the online world including mobile is for marketing and then secondarily a source of revenue. Using social networking, video and your own website is the vehicle to expose your music to new fans and connect with existing fans.

Mobile lists are the not as easy as your standard email list. The mobile phone networks are not open access and each provider is the gatekeeper with different rules. Unlike email if you a deemed a SMS spammer the providers aka in the states Verizon, at&t, T-mobile, Sprint and others will ban you from not only their network but probably come after you legally.

There are online companies that have set up relationships with these providers and offer list services to you with out the hassle. Problem is they are expensive and I doubt return on investment can be achieved. I don’t know too many independent artists that can afford that cost.

Another solution is using micro-blogging sites like Twitter.com that notify their users via SMS message when you make an update. The drawback of using another site is that there is one more step (or site) to sign up. Also you don’t control if people allow Twitter to send them SMS messages and you can’t segment your list like you would with SMS list services. Usually with Twitter you updated as needed but if you’re going to use it for SMS messaging you might want to have two accounts. You would have one for the usual Twitter tweets and the other for SMS which is only updated when important information needs to get out.

What other ways or services have you used to reach your audience via SMS?

What’s the best way to acquire new fans and keep existing ones? Don’t piss them off. It’s as simple as that. I wish I had thought of that topic but someone else has. MuchMusic out of Canada (FUSE is their American channel) has a blog post on that very topic. They name the top 10 and really target the big artists but its good to know. I’d say its common sense. My favorite is “Don’t Be Metallica.” In another post I’ll go into ways for a smaller artist not to irritate their fans.

• 10 Ways Musicians Piss Off Their Fans – MuchMusic