This is a great interview with Scooter Braun, and Michael Rapino. Scooter gives some of the most valuble info about adapting to today’s music industry. This is the type of info, any artist band can use.
“Hit record” The most over used words in the music business
My opinion to why I feel the word Hit in regards to a Hit Record, is one of the most over used word in the music business.
Banjo Funk!
This is the result of listening to Madonna’s Hard Candy album a lot this week. I felt like keeping it funky. And what instrument is the most funky? A Banjo!
Allen Stone
I love it when I hear music that gets me excited and inspired. There are times you have to reminded why your in the field your in. Our minds get jaded with being broke, trying to make money, dreams of “making it”, and the joy gets sucked out of you. A song may play that gets you excited, just because it made you hum along, tap your foot, dance, pick up an instrument and play along to it. Yes, money, and getting a lot of work is great, but the feeling of hearing a great song that moves you, is incomparable. Hearing Allen Stones album made me forget that i’m broke, forget how hard this business is, and it made me want to create for the sake of creating.
I first heard of Allen Stone on one of the late night talk shows, it was either conan, fallon or leno I believe. Any soul music fan was shocked due to the quality of that mans voice coming from this nerdy looking white guy. After a few months I kinda forgot about him, until a number of friends and family mentioned that he’s coming to Toronto. After watching a few videos of him to remind myself why I liked this guy, I grabbed my ticket. Allen’s show at the Mod Club in Toronto was fantastic. His showmanship was outstanding. He knows how to keep it funky, and knows how to make soul music vibrate through the entire venue. I had the pleasure of meeting Allen Stone along with a few of his band members Jason Holt (drummer), and Mark Sampson (keys). The entire Allen Stone crew were approachable and open to hang out and talk for a bit after the show.
Take a listen to see why this guy deserves the recognition.
Brian McKnight Adult Mix Tape – Stunt? or trying to prove a point?
Before I go into my rant. For those that are not on twitter, you are sooooo missing out on stupid, crazy, informative, insightful, gossip, that revovles around the inter-web. So follow me lol @supercmusic
15 mintues ago, i’m on twitter, and who do I see as the top trending topic? Brian Mcknight ( @itsBMcknight ). it’s not everyday that a 90s RnB star is at the top of twitter’s trending topic. I start reading the tweets about Brian, and all I see are comments about how people are shocked and offended by a video he just put up of a new song. And the title of this song is ‘ If your Ready to learn’ aka ‘Show me how your pu$$y works’ I was shocked too! like everybody else. Although he took it down (which means nothing) the video was obviously already re uploaded by someone else. The song is about him showing a girl how ‘IT’ works, but over a soulful piano progression. That combination of talking about sex over a melody that sounds really good, is a part of what made it brilliant. (the video http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p_3kgGPb8YY ) type Brian Mcknight and go to Filter/upload date and you’ll find it.
I find Brian’s twitter, and I see him trying to explain to people why he did this. Most people will tend to make their own opinion without hearing what he had to say. But i’m a bit more logical than that, and I wanted to come to my own conclusion. Some of his tweets: this isnt for the radio just like a few prince songs this is for those who actually want to stir the pot – its just an experiment and im amazed how closed minded and one sided people can be - funny how most of these folks have never been on my timeline when i wrote safe songs hmmmmm one sex filled song and im trending lol
Brian does have a point. Our (people under 35) attention span is so small. In order for us to pay close attention to something, we need to hear and see, images, audio, and video of something that demands our attention. This is common in news, music, movies, ads etc. Twitter is notorious for gossiping. Everyone quotes twitter. Trending Topics is such a brilliant yet deadly invention.
I take pride in knowing what style of music is hot, and who the top charting artist are. What I find crazy is how shocked and offended everyone was. Saying ‘everyone’ may not be fair, but if your a fan of trey songs, wacka flaka, ying yang twins. Than you shoudnt be shocked. I wasn’t. I found it hilarious. The point being, a song like ‘how your pu$#y works’ is a pretty common topic for todays hip-hop and RnB. May I remind or inform you of songs like Khia – My neck my back, Ying yang twins – the whisper song. The question I have is, if Trey Songz was to do ‘Show me how your p*$$y works’ would people flip out as much as they did with Brian Mcknight?
Jessica Sanchez almost kicked off American Idol! Does America like RnB music?
Does America like RnB music?
That’s the question i find myself asking, when I see my mom yelling at the TV that Jessica recieved the least amount of votes. I just tend to express my opinion on twitter. Jessica chose to sing a song called Stutter by Jazmine Sullivan. The song is a straight up soulful RnB record. If you like Maxwell or jill scott, you’d enjoy this song. I guess America, or atleast the idol audience has never heard of those artist or listen to that style of music. Jessica performed Stutter with absoloute ease and emotion. The professionallism pouring out of this girl at 16 is outstanding. For whatever reason America chose to look past her amazing vocal talent, and focus on the fact that they have never heard of the song. Does this ruin the credibilty of the show? I’m sure fans of The Voice would say yes, and fans of xfactor would say no, and that she just picked the wrong song.
I like to dig a little deeper into what I feel is the reason. When we think of music stars nowadays, we think of Lady Gaga, Adele, Madonna, Justin bieber, One Direction etc. Rarely do you see RnB artist in that category. There really are only a handful of RnB artist that have come out in the last 15 years that fall into that category. Usher, Alicia Keys, Mary J Blige, Chris Brown, are some of the rare few. Usher and Chris Brown tend to change with the times, but Alicia chooses to stay exactly where she has been since Fallin was released. There are many RnB acts that are still making records and going on tours, but there either playing theaters, clubs, or opening up for someone who is more well known. People in the business will tell you that they blame the people with money, or ones who have an important impact on music. Whether it’s record labels, radio programmers, TV producers, etc, they all usually get blamed. But when a show like American idol, where the winner is chosen by the public, it makes me question the listener, rather than the ones calling the shots. So does America like RnB music?
This was the performance that put Jessica Sanchez in the bottom three with the least amount of votes.
Can every month be this busy?
Charts, Rehearsals, charts, shows, more charts, more rehearsals, practice, practice. That best describes my month, and it’s the routine of a working musician. It’s unfortunate that the majority of the year has not been as busy as the past 30 days. When I describe my life as a musician, I always say how much I love the unpredictability of it. Yes, it’s scary having no idea when your next gig will be or how much you’ll be paid. But I wouldn’t sacrifice the feeling of doing what you love to do. They crazy thing is, as I type describing how busy this month has been, I probably won’t be making much money from it.
Anytime a musician gets asked to do a gig, you always want to know the where, when, and how much. We have to ask ourselves how much will we really make on the gig. If your making a $100, you have to factor in the expenses, like transportation. Are you taking the bus to get to rehearsals, or renting a car to get your gear to the gig. And of course the dreaded gas prices. Maybe you needed to rent or buy a new piece of gear, get strings, drumheads etc. Depending on where your playing, having a couple of beers and meal can end up costing $20. All of that is coming out of that $100. The only way for sure that you’ll make money is having multiple paying gigs. The gigs that I tend to get are with solo recording artist. I instantly know when accepting a solo artist gig, I won’t make much money from it, because they are still trying to ‘make it’ themselves. The reason why most musicians take a gig like that, is the potential of it being a big success. I’ve been down that road where I’ve played with an artist for a good number of years, and it never became as big as I hoped. It’s the chance you take when embarking on a long term gig. Hopefully it will payoff one day.
Have you heard of Alysha Brillinger ?
I”m pretty picky when it comes to singers. I must get that from my parents because we are a bunch of simon cowells, and randy jacksons when it comes to judging singers. Its rare that I hear someone that literally gives me goosebumps when they sing. Acoustic singer songwriters in Toronto are a dime a dozen, and Alysha is on a whole other level. She has a very playful, jazzy, and soulful voice. Her songwriting, melodies, and lyrics are great and refreshing. And a gorgeous girl to boot. Overall this girl is The Shit!
I had the pleasure of performing with her at a pub in Hanover. It was a long drive, a lot of money spent just getting there, but it was totally worth it. Pub gigs are so unpredictable to begin with anyway. People are drunk, their talking, their eating. You often wonder if people actually give a shit. Surprisingly they did somewhat give a damn about the incredible talent on stage. After all of our sets were completed, their was so much praise over Alysha’s voice, along with some drunk dudes trying to hit on her. Alysha is someone to follow and pay close attention to. As I like to say, it’s only a matter of ’when’ not ‘if’ Alysha Brillinger will be very successful.
All I ask is to take a listen, watch the videos, and hopefully get inspired like I did when hearing her.
By far one of the sexiest renditions of this song i’ve ever heard
Chad Price New Single Another Day
The time has come for Chad Price to release his debut album In This Dream on March 6th. Produced by Bill Bell (Jason Mraz, Justin nozuka). His first single called Another Day is about to hit radio, and is already being shared on facebook, twitter, youtube, and the feedback has been amazing. He’s signed to Attack Records, and being distrubuted by Universal/Interscope. I’m glad to be drumming for him, and sharing the journey to bring great music to the world. I’m super excited about it, and when you hear the song, I guarantee you’ll be singing OooWooOh Oh Oh OooWooOh when it’s over.
Check out his Website http://chadpricemusic.com for all the updates and info you want to know
There is hope for Soul/R&B Music D’Angelo is Back!!!!!
I freaking love the internet. why? because an hour into D’Angelo’s first show in a long ass time, the footage from a fan hits youtube and goes viral. And why are people excited? because D’Angelo’s Voodoo album is one of the most respected and loved R&B Soul albums ever created. It was an album that needed to exist. After 10 years from the release of Voodoo, he is finally back.
