Globe University? Or The Institute Of Production and Recording. Let’s Get IPR Some Extra Exposure!

I jumped at the opportunity to get into Scooter’s Commercial Music Business class at IPR, for I knew I would be exposed to additional ways to use my knowledge of audio production and engineering to broaden my lane on the career highway. As an assignment of this program, I was to produce a thirty and a sixty second radio spot containing an original soundtrack and copy(what is said) to make a radio-ready commercial. In doing so, my eyes were overted from the golden idea of being the next Rick Rubin, to a more realistic career in the commercial music business. Listen and let’s get IPR some extra exposure!

Boredom Is To Stupidity, As Stupid Is As Stupid Does

Are you broke, flat-busted, bored and seeking excitement? Then get your rudey-poo behind off that couch and into household items made of flexible plastic! What a better way to spend a rainy afternoon than to embark down the stairs of rug-burns and peril, and onto the landing of chiropractors and Advil. Yes, we all have been there; the communitive brainstorm for idiocratic ideas. These ideas, performed by yours truely, were fabricated from such a boredom- induced collaboration.

Filters: We get it. Now what?

Now that you are familiar with the different options when it comes to filters on these selected social networks, use them to help better your results as a social network-using upstarting musician/industry professional.

With networking sites like those previously stated, you can find out who likes what kind of music in what location, and use that to your advantage while booking shows. Also, you can see who is looking at your page, what they like or dislike about your page, and are able to keep in touch with those that are giving you the feedback you need to maximize your ability to communicate with fans.  Lastly, having these networks allows you to connect with other artists and business professionals to further grow your personal network in the right locations, genres, and media types that suite you best.

Options To Filter Already Filtering Filters: What Came First; The Filter, or The Filter

Following these few words is a list of social networking websites, and the filters they use to help you, the User, from being bombarded with unwanted content.

Twitter - By enabling Geotagging, you can allow third party applications to annotate your tweets with location information.  You can also “protect your tweets”, allowing only those you choose to follow your tweets.

Flickr – This photo-sharing network gives you the privacy options of choosing which of your contacts can view your email address, IM names, your real name, and your location.

YouTube – This network allows you to choose to only let your friends send messages or videos, and lets you be discovered by your email by outside parties if desired.  Also, you can choose whether or not the advertisements attached to your page are relevant to what it is you are doing.  Lastly, with youtube, you can choose whether to show your statistics and data for your entries as well.

Vimeo – Surprisingly enough, I was unable to find any sort of filter for my account on this social network.  IF filtering is available, please comment with a how-to.  Thanks!

Guitar Tabs: The Cure for Plateau-ed Players?

Bored with the same old riffs, chords, and scales you’re used to practicing?  Learn some of your favorite guitar parts of your most adored guitar solo, riff, intro, or outro, and open the gates for guitar skill enhancement and growth.  Not only will this free you from the same old same old, but you now know how impress your friends with a face-melting Dragon Force solo.  Take this tip and give it a try to open up more avenues for all types of guitar playing. It really works!

Weather The Storm: Ideas And Ways To Stay Afloat In The Music Business Today

Through the years, many record labels made a fortune from album sale revenue.  But, what happens when album sales plummet and leave big wig record label owners scrambling for an answer?  They go extinct, leaving the artist to freely run, organize, and promote their own career.
In a world where there is overwhelming piracy and illegal downloading happening by the second, one might ask how an artist can survive in this vicious business alone.  Well, for starters, grab that dingy and paddle out into the vast ocean of online music.  Cast out a line, and see what bites.  My bet will be placed on the artists connecting with fans, and giving them a real reason to buy.

Brian Setzer is a perfect example of an artist going above and beyond to keep himself and his orchestra afloat in the musical sea.  To stay connected with fans, Brian’s sight contains links to other means of contact such as Facebook and email.  Tour, release, and upcoming event dates are posted on a frequently updated calender to always keep his fans engaged and in-the-know.  Before the release of his latest album, Songs From Lonely Avenue, Setzer held an album art contest for his fans, then placed the winner’s art in the cover booklet.  It’s ideas like that which keep a fan’s attention and commitment. So he has the albums art, but how does he sell the album?
With sites like Itunes, web distribution is a cinch and a must.  Brian also printed LP versions of his latest album that include digital downloads for all his vinyl-junkie followers.  The list keeps getting bigger as Brian boasts the Deluxe Set of his new album which includes four 12″ LP 45′s of songs exclusive to this set, the actually LP(including CD version), custom guitar picks, turntable slip-mat, glossy photos, picture book, and to top it all off, multi-track sessions from the album that allow fans to put their own spin on the music they love.  Reason to buy?  I think there may be a few!
Aside from the albums, Brian has many other extras to offer his fans such as t-shirts, hoodies, key-chains, jackets, blinky pins, bowling shirts, and even concert tour programs.

Radiohead is another band that has come to meet the storm with open arms, and crash the waves by giving their music away for free!  Via digital download, fans can own Radiohead’s new album In Rainbows for whatever they’re willing to pay thanks to Radiohead’s ”tip jar” method.  They found that most takers were more than willing to pay for the music, and the revenue lost from the ones that didn’t was compensated with the sale of tickets and other merchandise.  Oasis and NIN are two other bands setting trends in the ever-morphing music business with Oasis releasing live versions of songs free online and NIN giving fans an album containing their own mixes of his songs.

Sure the music business is in the midst of a major transition, but creative artists fear not.  We as musicians, artists, singers, songwriters, designers, engineers, and producers will strive forward yet again.  After all, without us, the world is just a big wet ball.

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