How to get a good one
Should a review be free or should you pay?

In the scramble to get your press kit completed you want to have several essential things included: a good head-shot or picture of the band, a snappy description of your album, a short bio and some press clips. Ah the press clips. Where do they come from and how do you go about enticing some unknown author to write something nice and constructive about your tracks? Can just anybody write something about your work? Does it matter if the byline of the author is Rolling Stone or Podunk Weekly? And, should a review be free or should you pay? Read more

Here are some interesting items I’ve run across on the web recently.

Derek Sivers’ new Blog
· Anyone who has any interest in the indie-music business should subscribe to this blog. Derek is the founder of CDBaby.com and not ony does this blog cover music, but it also talks about the business mindset and how to approach your music as a business. Must reading! More on what Derek is up to…

Facebook Tackles Music, Movies
· Do you use Facebook? This is an interesting article concerning those Musician Pages you’ve probably put up and the new Facebook templates.

ReverbNation
· It seems there is a new platform for digital distribution all the time. But so far it doesn’t seem that one site has everything a band needs to keep in contact, have a webpage, send emails, locate venues and create a general web-presence. It seems that ReverbNation has created something close. Try it, it’s free… See my RN page…

Episode 18
8.11.08
Writer, musician, philosopher and everyman Chris Belden is in the studio this time around to talk to Unsigned Underground about his latest CD release entitled Camouflage. Solidly rooted in the pop tradition, Camouflage is a collection of soulful songs about everything from political protest to celebrity photographers. Chris and I have had one of those classic NYC relationships where we have been in the same room many, many times but never really met. Now that we’ve both moved about 75 miles outside of NYC, we finally get together to talk about music.

 

 Unsigned Underground Episode 18 ~ interview with Chris Belden [48:53m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

Quick Shots #1
7.29.08

This is the first shot of a new, more abridged version of Unsigned Underground. The best tracks from the CDs I have yet to play or from CDs I have played and wanted to play more of. Rock the house with a quick sampling of tracks just layin-round the studio: Osgoods, Narayan, Joe Beleznay, Hey Molly & BFA.

 

 Quick Shots #1 on Unsigned Underground [20:08m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

Episode 17
6.23.08

You’re in for a treat – I had an opportunity to talk to one of the veterans of the indie music scene, Jefferson Thomas. Jefferson has been on the road since he was 16 and has played all over the world. His new CD Western Front is his second studio CD and he has a live CD out there as well. I always find it inspiring to talk to someone who runs his own business and Jefferson Thomas is definitely an entrepreneur in this competitive business of independent music. He has his own label, books his own tours, contracts his bands on two coasts and then oh yeah, writes some kick-ass tunes.

 

 Unsigned Underground Episode 17 [47:26m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

Here are some things I’ve found that might be of interest to y’all:

- Measure for Measure blog
As a subscriber to the NY Times, I noticed this blog and got hooked right away. The posts from Roseann Cash are heartbreaking.
With music now available with a single, offhand click, it’s easy to forget that songs are not born whole, polished and ready to play. They are created by artists who draw on some combination of craft, skill and inspiration. In the coming weeks, the contributors to this blog — all accomplished songwriters — will pull back the curtain on the creative process as they write about their work on a songs in the making.
- Digital Cafe Tour
I found this to be an interesting new development in the ever expanding frontier of web-exposure. For those of you lookng to produce a high quality video, this may be of interest. Check it out.
- Rode University
This site apealed to me because I own a studio, but as I looked over the site I thought that this might be a great resource for an atist that doesn’t know a lot about the recording process. The tutorials are very “Recording 101″, but they’re good for the person that is going into the studio for the first time. You can get an idea of how to mic your instruments, what types of mics they might use and where they might be placed. Of course Rode is trying to sell their mics, but hey, it’s still a cheap and informative course. Check it out.

I just recently had the opportunity to use my pitch correction software for the very first time. I was always of the mindset that the singer should sing the part right. Hey, don’t ask me if I have the software to correct your voice before you even try to sing - just sing in tune! I really never even thought about the software until I got a call from a client that said the background vocals on a track he recorded with me were slightly out of tune in a few places and they couldn’t get back to the studio and needed the mix now. I started to sweat because I didn’t know how to use the software, but as it turned out it was easy, too easy. Read more

Episode 16
5.8.08 - This is going to be a laid back show with some more mellow, singer-songwriter types; songs where it’s more about the words and the story and how you’re pulled into the performance. We’re featuring Melissa Faith Cartoun, Mimi Burns Band, Doug Egdell, Lesley Young and Tony Ormond.

I’ve also been doing some thinking about the nature of this podcast… I’m starting to think that this is more of a boutique podcast – not just a stream of music nor a vehicle for my personality. I thought about this as I was looking for the artists to include on this podcast – I really want to include the artists out there that are offering a quality recording, well written songs and what I would call a vision – The vision thing is my assumptive insight into what I hear and what I see – If it looks like the person who sent this CD to Unsigned Underground is working as an artists, I want to do all I can to further that.

 

 Unsigned Underground Episode 16 [43:12m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

Here are some things I’ve found that might be of interest to y’all:

• The John Lennon Songwriting Contest is up and running for another year. $30 to submit a song - Have some confidence in your songs and see where it can take you… you never know
• This is something I picked up from Sonic Bids about Creative Common Licensing. Read more
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