Tribes

I've been thinking a lot recently about brand loyalty. Since i've become more immersed in music and in learning about band i've realized that I have a lot more loyalty now to the things that I admire. I no longer download music, not for any moral reason or whatever, it's just that if I like a band, I want to support them. If they're giving it a way for free, more power to them. I'll actually find out if they are selling anything just so that I can get it. I think that's what bands have to realize. The importance of loyalty. So, Here are the things that I am loyal to:

Music:
HoneyHoney
Rocco Deluca and the Burden
Ironworks Records
Cold War Kids
Beck
Kings of Leon
WakeyWakey
The Who
Brett Dennen
Copeland
Lupe Fiasco
Ray LaMontagne
The Rocket Summer
*Pump House Gang

People:
Bob Lefsetz
Hypebot
Seth Godin
Tucker Max
Philalawyer
Bill Gates/Steve Jobs

For the musicians, these are bands that I would buy their CD's as soon as they are released or as soon as I could afford them. I would buy paraphernalia and concert tickets if I could. I would tell my friends about them.
* I would love to be loyal to this band, but they are making it exceedingly difficult to be

For the people, these are all people who's opinions I trust. If they write something, i will read it. If they publish something, I will buy it. I don't even have to know what it's about. Because they wrote it I will give it the benefit of the doubt. I don't always agree with what these people say, but I will always give them a fair chance and I will always listen

Tribes

I finished Seth Godin's latest book Tribes yesterday while at work. It has really got me thinking about a lot of new things. Between finishing the book and right now, I made a decision that may have altered my future (although, really, what decisions don't do that), came up with another crazy plan of mine, and was re-enthused with excitement about music and my role in its future. 

My next few posts will probably be about things from the book that really affected me. It sincerely is an amazing, amazing book. It's clear, concise, and very inspirational. I highly recommend that you pick up a copy. I'm fairly certain there are free copies of it online, I know for sure there is a free audio version. I'm more than willing to lend mine out to anyone who wants it, in fact, Godin asks his readers to do so at the end of the book. Because for those who care, it's not about the money--it's about the idea. 

If i'm not posting about the book, then i'll probably be writing about either AmieStreet or about Lala. Both sites have their flaws, but I really think that they may be on to the next great way to spread music. 

I am so excited for what is out there! I can't wait to be a part of it!

WakeyWakey! again.

I'm even more excited about Amiestreet. It's what i'm going to be using for now to help spread some of this music that I'm discovering and loving. So, without further ado, my first real music posting:

Listen. Share. 

Amie Street/WakeyWakey!

I am becoming a huge fan of Amiestreet.com. Music priced by it's popularity? It's genius. It's the first place i've heard of that does something like this. I can get full CD's for 5 bucks. Just because other people don't recognize the genius. Or other CD's for free, because I found it before tons of others did. And because the site isn't all that popular, at least not yet, most songs and most CD's are cheap.

So far I've received a free compilation CD that has a lot of great indie. And a full CD from one of the bands on the CD, WakeyWakey! And man, am I glad I did. They are great. An indie band from Brooklyn that seems to be headed by one guy and has some brilliant songs. It's a simple band but they seem to at least sometimes have a violin and piano. The lyrics are my favorite though. Maybe it's because I can relate to the feeling but one song, Blame You, resonates.

So you are the only person in this room
I can't take my eyes off you
I bet you can't guess what I would do
to kiss you in the middle of the room.

He has a great voice. It isn't raw or powerful or anything like that but it's sincere. That's actually probably the best way to describe the band, sincere. You know that they are never going make it big. Sincere bands do not make it big. Not today. That's too bad.

Timing is Everything?

I've come to realize that timing can be everything. And that scares me. Because you can be so prepared but if the timing isn't right, you can't take the action you want. It's like that for relationships. And I am starting to believe it's like that for the music industry.

Relationships and the Music Industry. Damn. I always have bad timing. Even if both of us want to be in a relationship, even if both of us think that good things can come of it, the timing isn't right. He's leaving. Wrong place, wrong time.

What if it is this way for the industry. Everything is changing. Is it possible for me to miss it? That it will be ready for my talents but that I am not yet ready. I'm not in LA yet, I still can't freely go to shows whenever I want to or have to. Am I too young to get involved in what could be a revolutionary time? I just turned 18. What can I do? I would love to be involved right now. I wish I could join a company like Ironworks and begin now. But it seems like the time isn't right. When do you know? When do you know when you're ready or when they are ready?

Hotel Cafe

I am really starting to hate the Hotel Cafe.

It is not my fault that I am not 21. It is not my fault that this country has arbitrarily chosen 21 as its drinking age. I'm 18 now. I should be allowed to drink but I understand that I can't. What I don't understand is why you insist on not letting me see my favorite bands. I'll buy drinks, fine. I'll pay extra, fine. But let me see my favorite fucking bands!!

Honey Honey, Rocco Deluca and Brett Dennen at the same show. At a political event supporting Barack Obama and I still couldn't be there?! 

Honey Honey is having a release party there too. A release party. For their first CD. Which I am already planning on buying. And I can't be there. 

Holy Hell. That is not fair. Don't penalize me because of a stupid law. Let me in. Please.  

Today and Tomorrow

You're not supposed to die at 18. You're not supposed to get killed right after high school. That's not the way it's supposed to go. If you have dreams, you're supposed to be given the opportunity to pursue them. If you have talent, you're supposed to live up to it. You're supposed to live.

But life doesn't go how it's supposed to.

I've wondered if I should write about. How I would write about it. It's been one week since the train crash. One week since what wasn't supposed to happen, did happen. Maria was a great person. She was fun, vivacious, kind, and extremely talented. She was supposed to be someone. She was supposed to become a designer. One who I would be able to say, "I knew her when". When you hear about something like a train crash you don't think that it is gonna affect you. I didn't. I felt a momentary sadness but then I ignored it. When the death toll reached 18, I cringed. When it reached 25, I was sad. When Maria became that 25, I was devastated. You aren't supposed to know the people who die in those accidents.

She never even had the real chance to be someone. We plan for the future because we expect it to be there. I planned to live for the future. It didn't matter if I didn't do all that I wanted now because I could do it later. I would put off opportunities to work hard because I was young. I chose to postpone my own happiness. But I can't. She never did.

I want to be in the music business. I want to manage a band. I want to work for Ironworks. I want to plan a music festival. I can start now. I should start now. I'm emailing companies, figuring out my major and where I want to transfer to. I'm going to talk to the college and see if we can set up a festival. And I'm going to do it now.

Maria's death should be a wake-up call. A reminder. Life doesn't go the way you plan it so you should live it.

Maria taught me that. Plan for tomorrow but live for today.

Let's just hope I actually do it.

Pseudo Mentors

It is ridiculous the amount of time that I spend on the computer reading blogs. At the moment my favorite is Lefsetz Letter. A man who was in the music industry back before i was even born and now writes against their current practices. Along with others like Godin and Hypebot, I've learned so much. Not just about music business but all business and just dealing with people in general. The amount of information and advice that you can get for free on the internet is outstanding. Tucker Max and Ryan Holiday talk a lot about getting a mentor and learning from them but until i can the wisdom that get from these guys online will have to do.

Industry Problems

Free WiFi should be a staple at all hotels. It is ridiculous to charge ten dollars a day for something that can be received for free in so many other locations. It's a sad day when in the a nice room in a hotel on a busy street in a large city, I can not get an internet connection.
The thing I have noticed is that smaller hotels will provide free WiFi as an enticement while the larger ones already know they will have their customers so they refuse to go that extra bit to make their stay more comfortable. Why not? It is not as if the cost is that high for them. If the smaller hotels can do it, so can the larger. I guess it is an entitlement issue. The larger hotels feel they are entitled to their customers while the smaller have to earn them.

This is the same problem that major labels have. They believe they are entitled to charge what they want. They are entitled to ripping off not only the people who are buying the music but the artists themselves. An audience can't be expected or demanded, it should be earned. That's why P2P and the internet is so great. It is starting to show the major labels that they are not entitled to anything. They can cry and sue all they want right now, but there is a major shift in the system and unless they start catering to the audience they are for sure going to become extinct.

The major hotels should watch out. They may not be at the same point that the record companies are but it does not mean that it will not happen to them. It is a changing world with changing customer demands and if companies do not keep up they will find themselves desperately clinging to their illusions of their own importance.

City Stars

As much as love looking at those celestial bodies when I am out in the suburbs and beyond, here in the city, I don't miss it. Here I am, eleven stories up in a hotel in Long Beach and i can see the city lights stretching out for miles in front of me. As a kid, driving home at night we would pass the Valley and I would always see the city below us, the lights twinkling like a mirror of the sky. I always knew that we were almost home then. And if i squinted my eyes, the lights would blend together and the city would become nothing but glimmering yellows and whites.

Say what you like, but I'll take my fake stars anytime.

Pump House Gang

It's pretty rare that a new band gets me excited. Even more rare for a band without at least some critical success to do so. But it can happen and It has. I have never been so excited for a band as I am for the Pump House Gang. Hailing from a Los Angeles high school they are one of the most amazing bands that I have heard.

I first heard them in February. The hotel room was crowded with people that i didn't know. K and I were sprawled on one of the beds talking with some of the people from the other teams. Techno music was coming out of the stereo but someone was playing a Led Zepplin song on an acoustic guitar while others were softly singing along. When he finished, the guitarist, Thomas, mentioned how he was in a band. He even had one of their songs, a cover of Red House, on his ipod. Lying on the bed, eyes half shut, listening to beat of the bass and hearing the singer's growl, It was as if the lights had dimmed and the room had been transformed into a dingy club. The music was so raw, so powerful, it was hard to believe the guitarist was the same kid who was sitting on the other bed. The song ended, but i stayed where I was, just revisiting the notes that made my breath catch.

That same night K and Thomas got rather close but nothing came out of it. For me, this caused the focus to go to the performer and not to the band so I mainly forgot about them.

Until recently. I was on their myspace and i listened once more to their music. Once again, I fell in love with the dark bluesy feel that soaked into my every pore. I downloaded every song that they had up and have been listening to them on repeat for the past few days.

I can't begin to say enough about these guys. The guitar is smooth and sharp in all the right places. The bass and drums just blend perfectly in the background moving the song along. But what really gets me, what makes me want to give all that I can for this band, is his voice. Those gravely notes that lead you down to that shadowy room where there are no rules.
My favorite so far has been Detached. It starts off quiet, mournful. And that's a feeling that remains even as the song picks up pace and falls back again. This is a band that speaks the truth. And the truth is in a time where it is all about being polished to selling perfection there are still some bands that are gritty and real.

It's bands like this that make me want to get into the music business. If i could manage any band, risk my future on any group of musicians, it would be the Pump House Gang.

I Love L.A.

It's the weirdest thing living just outside of Los Angeles. I am close enough so that i could go every day, but I don't. Being seventeen, It's just not something that is plausible. And so, L.A. is still a bit of a mystery. Sure, I know what it's like to visit frequently, I know the city's layout, I know a couple stores and restaurants and the major attractions. But i still don't know what makes it run.

I sit here at my home reading the blogs of people describing L.A., and it's not one that i recognize. People in L.A. always hate L.A. They describe the people and the lifestyle as fake, shallow, uninteresting. I've been there many times and yeah, some people may be like that but they were the same way in New Mexico, the same way in Egypt, the same way here in the suburbs. And those people are part of the reason I love the city. I know that they are there but i never have to deal with them. Maybe it's because when I am there I am usually dealing with professionals or at least those who know how to act professional or maybe it is just because in L.A. you can find every type of person.

Visiting The Getty, or Olvera Street, or the Watts Towers, or even Fox Studios, I have met many great people who are artistic and passionate and truly care about who they are and what they do.

Maybe the people who complain about the city just are not attracting the right people. Or maybe I'm still too young and too much of an outsider to have really met the people they complain about. Either way, I still love L.A.

Why not?

Last Saturday I went to the Getty for their Summer Sessions. I went early to check out some of the exhibits and then spend the rest of my night listening to what I was hoping to be some good new music. The three bands that I listened to: J. Sole’s Musaics, Fool’s Gold, and The Budos Band, were all amazing. All were an eclectic mix of funk, soul, and afro and they were unlike anything I have ever heard.

The pavilion where the music was playing was packed with all sorts of different people. Old and young, families and singles, people dressed up and people in shorts, every type of person was there. The only thing that was uniting them was the music. It’s a rare thing to get that many different types of people in one place in order to listen to music. I kept thinking about what a great opportunity it was for these bands to promote themselves to a wide audience. But as the night wore on I noticed that these bands were not taking advantage of the opportunities provided.

With multiple bands playing one of the most important things would be to distinguish themselves from the other bands in the minds of the audience. How so? Simple. By repeating their name. I listened to three bands and I only knew two of them because I went and got a brochure afterwards. I had to go an extra step just to remember who the bands were. When you have an opportunity to promote yourself, you want to make it as easy as possible for the audience to remember and have access to your music.

That’s where there second mistake comes in. Fool’s Gold was playing on the lower pavilion so I had to go down to listen to them. I separated from my group and managed to catch their last few songs. After they finished I was walking past the stage in order to get back to my group and I passes a merch table that they had set up. I looked at the table and all I could see were 7” vinyls. I stood there for a good full minute simply staring thinking that I must be missing something. Surely that could not be the only thing that they were selling? But it was. They didn’t have CD’s, they had vinyls. I was told they were collector’s items. Why the hell would they do that? Why would I buy that? I didn’t want a collector’s item; I wanted a way that I could listen to their music in the car. I wanted a way to share the music with my friends. I’m 18. I don’t usually listen to records. This just seems like such an utter waste. I understand that they are artsy and they want to different, whatever. But why let it get in the way of actually promoting their music.

This leads me to their biggest mistake. When the merch guy told me that they did not have a CD, I asked if there was a way for me to download their music. I mean, they obviously don’t care about selling their music why wouldn’t I just get it for free? They laughed and told me to check Myspace. When I got home that night, that’s what I did. I myspaced and googled all three bands, looking for any music or info I could find. In the age of the internet, none of these bands knew how to really use it. None of the bands had a website. Only two had myspace. And neither of them looked like they updated often. In a time when people with no talent (souljaboy) manage to market themselves to fame, bands with an incredible amount were floundering.

Why don’t these bands use their resources? They all were given a wonderful opportunity to widen their audience but because they didn’t communicate properly they missed it. Someone told me that maybe they don’t want to be famous. Why not? Isn’t the point of music to share it? This is America. Hell, it’s Los Angeles. People come here to make it. Why wouldn’t these bands try? There are so many opportunities, why not use them?