I know I’m late to the party. Blogs, TV, newspapers, and my sister have been yelling at me to check out the Avett Brothers. I’d heard their stuff months ago and was captivated but for some reason did not investigate further. I finally did, and wow. These kids know what they’re doing.
We’re not only talking about music, which is quality, but in terms of building a career. They’ve carved out a solid community of fans.
For those fans, the Avett Brothers have forums, they select featured fans, and interact in a way that I didn’t realize any folk band did.
Through constant quality music, constant touring, and constant quality contact with their fans the Avett Brothers have created a fine blueprint for a career. When fans feel invested in your success they will tell the entire world. There is nothing better then sharing great music from your favorite band.
So once again. 1. Make honest, real, authentic, amazing music. 2. Provide your fans with way of interacting with you (Twitter, YouTube, Email lists, etc) 3. Get on the road and tour and build that career.
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I’ve been cruising youtube for Jackson videos, mainly to catch more live show footage. I always knew the songs were great, but damn, the performances are beyond fantastic. Every song he’s giving it all he’s got. He’s not going through the motions. He’s feeling every song.
I stumbled on a fan made live music video of “Man in the Mirror” and it made me think how message music is missing from the mainstream. I don’t really pay that much attention to the mainstream scene, but I’m betting there isn’t much with substance out there. I think the world needs more songs that mean something more than a catchy hook or about getting your drink on in the club.
Millions of people are having their lives flipped upside down due to the recession. Where are the songs that bring them back up?
Music has the ability to take a message to the people like nothing else. It has the ability to deeply affect people. MJ wowed us with his voice and super human dance powers, but it’s the songs that kept us, and it’s the songs we’ll remember for a long time to come. The way the world responded to his death just shows you how much he affected people.
Now, my friend, how are you going to affect people?
When Michael Jackson wrote Billie Jean he knew it was a hit. Quincy Jones, the moron/genius, didn’t like the song. He wanted to cut it from the album. Can you believe that? Billie Jean!?! Quincy Jones wanted to cut, what for me is, the most iconic MJ song ever off of Thriller!
Luckily for us Michael stuck to his guns and didn’t listen to Quincy. In fact, because the demo that Michael did was so close to the final product, MJ wanted to cut Quincy’s producer credit to only a co-producer credit.
That’s ballsy, that’s confidence, that’s what has to be done when you believe in your music.
So often people, even well meaning people, get in the way of our ideas and visions. Whether that be a vision for a song, or for an album, or whatever. They’ll tell you their opinion and give you their advice and I know in my case, too often I listen to them.
But no more I say. I will listen to myself first and foremost. I will follow through with my vision and accept no compromises. Reason and good advice will be heard, but if the music of Michael Jackson has shown us anything, is that without confidence in ones own self we would not have amazing music. Trust yourself.
As more and more details of the Michael Jackson world crop up, it’s interesting to hear about the state of his finances. It seems that Michael was spending a lot more then he was making and yet even with his mounting debt he didn’t sell out some of his most valuable possessions. Mainly the rights to The Beatles catalog. There was some refinancing, and his grip over The Beatles music was loosened, but he never sold it.
Michael knew that having the rights to ones own music, and music like The Beatles, would be where the real money would be made. Even in today’s world of rapidly declining copyright it’s still important to have that final say of where your music can be used. Radio spins may not pay the bills anymore but movies, TV, commercials, and video games are still looking for great music. I don’t need to tell you all of the bands who’ve parlayed a successful commercial spot to bigger and better opportunities.
Since many musicians own their own publishing and copyrights they therefore find excuses to remain uninformed about the topics. But it’s always good to know about what the music copyright and publishing world entails (Check out the New Rockstar Philosophy book for a quick look). So when the day comes where you are looking at a publishing deal you can make the right move and maybe buy your own crazy ranch in California.
Check the vid at 5:00… wow.
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What Green Day and Michael Jackson Have in Common
I went to see Green Day last night.
I got free tickets and wanted to be 14 again. I haven’t heard much of the new stuff or even much in the last little while. I wanted to go hear Dookie and remember what it was like seeing them 10+ years ago.
Besides the Nickleback-esque pyro and rock star antics, they pulled off a pretty impressive set for being how how old they are. As I hoped, they did end up playing 3 or 4 songs off Dookie.
The cool thing was, you knew a song from that era was coming up because the guitar Billie Joe was using. It was the same guitar he used in those days.It was a visual cue, exciting fans for what’s coming up. It’s a piece of Green Day’s identity.
So what does this have to do with Michael Jackson? Michael Jackson had his own visual cues too. The white glove, the white socks/black shoes thing, the red “beat it “jacket, the moonwalk, and the crotch grab are all unique to Jackson (I know the moonwalk wasn’t his, but he’s the one who took it to the masses).
All these elements create points of focus and make-up your image. They may not be necessarily important, but they make you stand out, because it’s uniquely you.
So what can you take away from this? Besides your sound, there are elements you can create to develop your own visual identity. It’s up to you and your creativity to come up with something uniquely you.
Take Control of Your Music
Hoover
The New Rockstar Philosophy
from → Music Business Commentary