The California Gurl: Katy Perry

 Born in Santa Barbara, California, Katy Perry was a confident and talented performer even at a young age. Thus, it is not surprising that she has become one of the most loved music artists in this era. Her originality, fascinating style and infectious charm helped her reach the top – and she just keeps getting better and better with her latest hits and performances!

A Star Is Born

Katheryn Elizabeth Hudson, who is best known for her stage name “Katy Perry” was born and raised in Santa Barbara, California. Having both parents as church pastors, she was immersed in music, mostly gospel music, at a young age. However, she and her siblings were discouraged from listening and singing along to secular music. There were some exceptions, though, since her parents allowed her to listen to some artists including Billie Holiday, Edith Piaf and Ella Fitzgerald because of the wholesome lyrics and meanings behind their songs.

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CRUCAST: A New Dance Music App and Youtube Channel

Introducing CRUCAST:

A New Dance Music App and YouTube Channel

CRUCAST is an exciting new resource for dance music fans, allowing them to discover new and classic mixes from their favourite DJ’s and stream great music at home or on the move. CRUCAST features dance music of all styles and genres and is constantly updated, in order to provide subscribers with the freshest mixes from the best DJ’s in the world. 

The CRUCAST App is simple to navigate, easy to use and better still it’s absolutely free. The CRUCAST Youtube channel is a comprehensive library of ever diversifying DJ mixes, allowing fans to discover and enjoy brilliant electronic music.

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5 BOOKS EVERY INDIE MUSIC ARTIST SHOULD PURCHASE RIGHT NOW

As an independent artist, no matter what your style, genre or sound, there are a few things that you have at your disposal that many mainstream or major artists don’t or can’t always claim: extreme flexibility, genuine grassroots connections at a local level, and the ability to be more adventurous and creative with your music. But one of the most important things an independent artist must realize they have a great advantage in is something that may at times be taken for granted or even shunned: self education.

Any independent worth their weight should at least be in the process of building up their personal library filled with books that they can use as reference guides to their own success. There are tons of music business books any artist can find at their local bookstore or major chain. The key is to have a solid idea of the information that you want and a plan on how to use it.

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Do We need a NEW Myspace?

Almost a decade ago Myspace was at the top of it’s game. It was not only a new way for users to interact with other users through bulletins, comments, and messages it was a social mecca. I mean heaven forbid you moved someone down from the number 1 spot on your top 8 and connection between bands was just as strong. 

DIY was always around and DIY will never die but Myspace gave DIY a steroid boost. Unlike most social networking sites bands and artists alike could reach out, talk to and add users without being deemed “spammers.” Bands could also track their daily hits and track plays and by those results be ranked on their performance on the Myspace Music charts.  

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Selling Yourself: The Art of the Killer Bio (Part II)

How you tell your story is as important as what you tell

If you remember back to high school English you probably recall the idiom “show don’t tell” which is especially relevant for writing artist biographies. If you were an agent or talent buyer, would you pursue an act with a bland, cliché-filled, unimaginative bio that reads like a college resume or an engaging, moving, interesting or funny story that comes alive on the page?

Language is a tool, like any other, and one that you can use to convince potential supporters of your value. If you can tell your story in a way that engages and triggers the emotional centers of the brain, you are much more likely to get a “yes” when it comes to critical career-building opportunities.

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PRINCE’s NEW DEAL WITH WARNER BROTHERS RECORDS IS A PART OF THE RIPPLE EFFECT OF THE ISSUE OF COPYRIGHT TERMINATIONS UNDER U.S. COPYRIGHT LAW.

The music business headlines are touting the story that Prince has returned to Warner Brothers Records after 18 years with a deal that will see him regain ownership of his back catalog of recordings. This deal marks a new era as the ability to terminate master recording copyright after 35 years was granted in the Copyright Revision Act of 1976 and became effective in 1978, the year that Prince’s debut album came out. 

Just as the record business has been staggering back to its feet after the digital assault started by Napster over a decade ago, another hard blow to the record industry business model is starting to have ripple effects. Recording artists and songwriters from 1978 and after are now entitled to start terminating their contractual transfers and demanding back their copyrights.

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Get the Show on the Road: 3 Ways to Finance a Tour

Dizzyjam, an online merchandising firm that caters to musicians, asked 207 bands (mostly from the U.S. and U.K.), about their financial situations. Seventy-two percent of them said they earned some money, but not near enough to live on; 23 percent lost money making music, and only 4.3 percent earned enough to live solely off their music. You already knew that making a career out of music would be difficult, but it's doable, especially for persistent bands with a decent following. Even if you don't make it big, touring the country is a priceless experience. Here are three ways to raise the necessary funds to get your tour started:

Crowdfunding

The crowdfunding industry raised $2.7 billion in 2012 and $1.5 billion in 2011, and the financial consulting firm Deloitte estimated that 2013's crowdfunding efforts would raise $3 billion total (we have yet to see exact numbers for last year). The money is there, if you put forth the effort—5,067 music-related projects were successfully funded on Kickstarter in 2012, the most across all industries. In 2012, Amanda Palmer (of the alternative rock duo Dresden Dolls) raised more than $1 million via Kickstarter for her tour and record. It can be done.

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BandFriend Announces New Version 2.5 with In-App Messaging

The popular free social networking application for musicians now with new chat feature.

SAN DIEGO, CA, April 24, 2014 – BandFriend, the popular free social networking application for musicians available on Android and iOS devices, is being upgraded today to version 2.5 and features new in-app messaging.  BandFriend helps local musicians discover, connect, and share all things music.  Now with BandFriend’s new in-app messaging feature, finding musicians nearby to jam and collaborate with has never been easier.

BandFriend’s unique mobile collaboration and sharing approach fits the on-the-go lifestyles of musicians creating a great mobile networking app experience for musicians.  BandFriend helps musicians discover local talent, connect to jam or share ideas, and capture inspirational moments with a mobile device and share using SoundCloud and YouTube integration anyplace, anytime. 

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Auganizer v1.1.1 as used by Steve Angello, Swedish House Mafia

A major update for Auganizer has been released, bringing it to version 1.1.1. It adds numerous new features and addresses all known issues.

Auganizer allows you to rename, reorder, organise and arrange your Audio Units the way you want to. Until now, renaming and arranging your Audio Units in Logic, Garageband, Main Stage or other Audio Unit hosts has been impossible. Since its release by Apple the Audio Unit standard has not allowed for your own naming and organising conventions. Now, for the first time, Auganizer makes it simple to arrange plugins by group, sub group and custom name, for straightforward filing and identification.

The Auganizer team said “v1.1 is all about adding compatibility and functionality across the board. We’ve made lots of changes on the backend of the software to cater for just about every plugin out there. Everything is silky smooth and running great and we’ve added a whole bunch of features since v1.01.”

So much so Steve Angello of Swedish House Mafia fame was quoted on Twitter as saying “This has changed my life” - https://twitter.com/SteveAngello/status/457481322055745537 certainly a ringing endorsement. 

Auganizer v1.1 is available now from auganizer.com for $34.99.

New Paul Maddox Ableton Push House Production Online Course

The Producertech team are pleased to let you know about our latest course release, House Production with Ableton Push Part I by Paul Maddox (Spektre).

This course is for anyone wanting to get into producing house music with Ableton’s Push. Presented by renowned producer and Producertech tutor Paul Maddox, the lessons show how Push can be used to create music in a totally hands-on way, focusing in this set of tutorials on creating a classic, retro house groove.

The lessons go from starting out with a new session, through drum instrument selection, loading, playing, sequencing, editing and mixing, showing a variety of different techniques such as live recording and step- sequencing, and ensuring that all parts are locked into the same groove.

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Why Music Licensing and YouTube Are Officially Frenemies

Why Music Licensing and YouTube Are Officially Frenemies

Yes, Music Dealers knows that today’s music licensor has enough to watch out for: publishing, legal, creative, budgeting, etc., etc. But, to ensure you keep yourself covered, and are avoiding a daily regimen of banging your head on your desk while muttering curse words under your breath, we’ll be adding one more item to your music licensing watch list.

A dilemma is beginning to emerge for music licensors who post content to the largest video sharing site on earth, YouTube. A system designed to help compensate artists is beginning to piss off music licensors.

It’s becoming like that one friend who is pretty cool most of the time, but you sometimes secretly hate—the frenemy.

The Story

In a frenzy, a long-time client of Music Dealers called up one of our directors of business development. She expressed great concern about whether or not Music Dealers or its artists had any intention of monetizing content posted on YouTube through paid advertising.

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recordJet on a platinum flight with Milky Chance

Berlin-based music distributor recordJet is celebrating one of the greatest successes since its inception in 2008: recordJet passenger Milky Chance’s single “Stolen Dance” has reached platinum status by selling 300,000 units.

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Food Truck Chefs, Rehab and Building a New Artisan Class

On February 1, 2014, I decided to take the improbable leap into DIY-dom. Whether it was fear of letting go of an old paradigm, or just the misconception I had of DIY, it was a path I never dared take until now. My dreams of being The Next Big Thing proved to be more than just a hinderance. Like being in a bad relationship and wondering why my partner didn’t love me, I spent the majority of my career waiting for approval that would never come. My core values had been screwed up. After years of banging my head against a wall, I needed to make a change. If I was true to myself, sustainability would follow.

For the longest time my perception of DIY comprised a guy playing lounge jazz covers in a booth at the Arts & Crafts Fair. It just didn’t seem cool. To the layman, DIY is still perceived as amateurish, and frankly, kinda crappy. Because I have a BA in music and a I am veteran of the music industry, I prefer to see myself as a trained Chef who chooses to run a gourmet food truck. A chef is still a chef, no matter the setting.

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How (and why) to write a brief music music bio for live event promotion

As a concert presenter, I’ve found that many artists are lacking an easy-to-use bio. By that, I mean a bio that is ready for cutting and pasting. The key to putting together a good event-oriented bio is to understand what it is most often used for. Typically, it will be used by presenters to create a press release, a web site listing and perhaps a Facebook event for your show. So it’s important that your bio is not too long, or too short, and that it presents you in the way you want to be presented. Keep in mind that what you write is often exactly what will appear in print or on a web site.

As an added bonus, having this type of bio readily available will be appreciated by the presenters you are working with, and save them lots of time. This will increase the chances that they will do everything the can and should do to promote your show, and it might make them more eager to ask you back again.

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