Actually, anybody that tells you there is an exact formula you can follow to get
signed is lying. The truth is, there is no exact formula that will land you a record
deal, period. This may be disappointing for some to hear: I know I was disappointed
when I first heard the truth.

Although a record deal can sometimes come about just by being in the right place
at the right time, there are several things you can do to maximize the possibility of
attracting a major label or production company to get them interested in signing
you.

First and foremost, be ready! Make sure your skills are developed to the point that
they can compete with the best the industry has to offer. A&R, managers, and the
like are subject to hearing some pretty awful stuff. If you can offer something that
sounds amazing, it should greatly increase your chances of getting signed.
Remember if your stuff is not as good or better than what’s already out there, the
only thing your demo will have a good shot at is the office garbage can.

If you have to spend money somewhere, spend it on production and mixing. This
can’t be stressed enough. It all boils down to having good product. You can do
everything in your power to attract attention to your music, but If it sucks nobody is
going to care. Although some label A&R claim they can hear talent through low
budget production, in my experience it pays to have the best sounding product you
can. Because it is sometimes extremely difficult to get heard at all, it makes sense
not to blow it when you finally do get a chance by delivering the musical equivalent
of nails on a chalk board.

Now that you’ve got the skills and a tight product, you should be doing everything
in your power to create a buzz for yourself. In order to do this you’re going to need
a plan and a team to help you carry it out. You should be doing shows, selling CD’s,
trying to get some radio support (even if it’s just college radio), and doing anything
and everything else you can to get some kind of following.

It helps to have an established following, a good street team, and some strong
independent sales when seeking a record deal. The more you do on your own, the
less the label has to do, and ultimately the happier they are. In fact, A&R will often
seek you out (eg. come to your show to hear what all the fuss is about) if you’ve
done a really good job of promoting yourself.

Next you are going to need a manager. Now you might be thinking you want to
manage yourself. Think again. Your buddy that follows you around to all your
shows, again, bad choice. At this point, you should be seriously considering seeking
out a professional manager. The right manager will make all the difference when it
comes to getting signed. What I mean by the right manager is one who digs your
music and will really hustle to get you put on. This manager should also have some
pretty good industry connections; otherwise the help he can offer you will be
limited.

As well as a personal manager, you’ll need a good entertainment attorney to
negotiate all your contracts (including the one with your manager) so you don’t get
screwed. Also, a good entertainment lawyer (one that actually has industry
connections) will be able to help get your music into the right hands as well. Make
sure the lawyer you retain is working for you, not the label or your manager!

Ok, so let’s recap. You’ve honed your skills, produced a tight product, created a
strong buzz, and got yourself a good personal manager and lawyer. Now what? Well,
from this point on your manager will basically put a plan of action together for you
and together you will carry it out. You should now be well on your way to your first
record deal. This can be a long road, so it’s important to keep a positive mental
attitude. Make sure everyone around you (your team) also stays positive. The music
business isn’t for the faint of heart! Good Luck!

Matty G is the creator of
The Record Deal
Doctor. The best resource for up and coming
Hip-Hop, Rap, and R&B artists and producers
seeking to further their careers.

I blame Eminem.

Prior to his sampling of Dido on his 2000 track Stan, I would have assigned Rap to the domain of angry disenfranchised African Americans like Iced Tea, Tupac Shakur or Snoop Doggy Dog. Now it would seem that most of the Top 40 is riddled with Rap Artists.

So when did Rap become mainstream? Is it that Rap Music has become more melodic or have we just broadened our listening tastes?

Basically Rap is a form of rhyming lyrics spoken rhythmically with a musical backdrop and, love him or hate him, Eminem has managed to bring Rap squarely into the Top 40 realm. Witness the turnaround of mainstream commentators who once claimed he and his lyrics would poison our children’s minds to his 2002 Oscar win for Lose Yourself from the film 8 Mile. The comparisons to the King himself, Elvis Presley are inevitable. And like the Rolling Stones, who helped translate blues to the white mainstream, Eminem’s lyrical talents turn stinging lyrics into hum-a-long pop tunes.

But Eminem is not the first white artist to create crossover hits from the Rap genre. From Bob Dylan’s 1965 Subterranean Homesick Blues to Blondie’s 1981 Rapture to 1986’s Aerosmith Run DMC collaboration Walk This Way and even Vanilla Ice’s 1990 Ice Ice Baby. And now the likes of 50 Cent, Nelly, Ludacris, Beastie Boys, Missy Elliott, Beyonce, Outkast, Usher and The Game continue the tradition.

Is it mere coincidence that Hate It Or Love It on The Game’s 2005 CD The Documentary reminds me of PM Dawn’s 1997 hit Set Adrift On Memory Bliss?

Is it the increasing reliance on sampling of other hits which have permeated our subconscious or using broader instrumentation and orchestration or the synthesized electronically programmed equivalent that pushes these tracks up the charts? Or is it the catchy choruses? I mean it may be just me, but who, but the most street cred Rap connoisseur, understands the allegorical coda of these yrics, while we can all hum or sing a long to the chorus just enough to want to buy or download the track and maybe even the whole album.

And it seems now that almost every rapper has at least one or two ballad style tracks, preferably with an R & B style mainstream artist to assist with that crossover. 2002’s Dilemma duet of Nelly and Destiny Child’s Kelly Rowlands or Work It with Justin Timberlake from the same album proves the rapper can also sing in these fusions of Soul meets Rap which hit the top of the charts and stay there.

So has Rap become mainstream or does the likes of Eminem merely represent a contrived marketing plan by Record Companies to pick up where Pop has sadly left off. Now that boy bands have almost died out and the titanic phenomenon that is American (or substitute your own country here) Idol has steamrollered over the singer/songwriter traditional pop consciousness has Rap merely mellowed to fill the void?

Sadly I cannot answer these questions definitively. The music industry and the record buying public are a fickle lot. Technology brings a two edged sword of making more music more available by downloading but also shrinking the market place income to the need for record companies to rely on “sure things”.

And Rappers aren’t that different to any other musician or anyone else with something to sell. They may be in the industry for all very noble purposes of being an artist or saying something important with their lyrics. But ultimately they too want to sell their records and make money and live comfortable celebrity lifestyles.

So Rap music over time has become more commercial and more digestible to the mass black and white audiences. Melodies are now familiar to Generation X, Y and Z and the Baby Boomers. Remixed to suit nightclub or coffee shop audiences.

And ultimately no matter how cynically we want to look at it, the more variety of music there is out there the more diverse our listening habits become.

And that can only be a good thing.

Peter Shuttlewood is the author of webzine freshread which contains articles on Popular Culture with an Australian slant. freshread - the everyday in a fresh way.

Not every guitarist records. In fact, most guitarists will never make a recording of themselves. However, many of the burdens associated with the task of recording have been, in recent years, pushed aside. In the past, it was necessary to assemble an entire team of people to make recordings. You had to have one or two engineers, usually a producer, several band members and generally a few hangers-on who just wanted to get in on the action. As technology has increased, the amount of labor associated with recording has decreased, along with the number of people needed to produce recordings.

For most guitarists who want to record, especially in a home studio, the recording environment will consist of three primary things: the guitar, the amplifier or direct device, and the recording device. All three of these are of equal importance in producing quality guitar recordings.

First, you must make sure that your guitar is of quality and in good working condition. If you’re not up to the challenge yourself, take it to a quality repairperson who will be able to make sure that your string heights are adjusted correctly, the action is comfortable and that your electronics are in working order and free of buzzing and other electrical noise.

Second, the amplifier or direct interface. More and more these days, guitar recordings are made with direct recording interfaces, such as the Line6 POD. These types of devices can be great time-savers in the studio and, more and more, can offer you a tone equivalent to or better than a traditional amplified signal. If you’re more of a purist, make sure that you have a quality microphone to pick up the signal from your amplifier (the standard is a Shure SM57) and that your signal is free from interference. This means making sure that your amplifier, microphone and microphone cables are free of buzzing and that all fluorescent lights in the recording environment are turned off. Fluorescent lights, although great energy-saving devices, reflect up to sixty percent of their energy back into the system. If an amplifier or loudspeaker is hooked up to the system, a beautiful 60-cycle hum ensues, ensuring that whatever recordings you make are utterly useless.

Third, the recording device. For most of us these days, our primary recording device is a home computer. Macintosh has been the industry standard for years, but most PC makers have revved up their models enough (and made them crash-free enough, thank you very much) so, although the majority of studios still use Macs, the only real difference is your personal preference. Whatever type of computer you decide to purchase, however, make sure that you max it out with speed and memory.

Although many computer programs and direct recording devices will have some pretty good-sounding presets, to get original tones, make sure that you experiment and try to come up with something that sounds original. Many presets are loaded with gain and effects to make them sound impressive to first time hearers. Remember, a whole lot of great guitar sounds have been recorded with a minimal amount of distortion, and effects can always be added later, so don’t risk screwing up a great take by committing your effects to tape right away, without being sure of the tone that you’re going for.

Good Luck!

You can find more information about guitars, recording and recording techniques at http://www.guitar-4u.com

I can’t believe how poorly Caruso and others were copied by experts! Often, the technician or intellectual copies the old recordings at the wrong speed making the vocal horrible, out of tune and, for the fine ear, unrecognizable. Here’s some observations on the old recordings. I’ll also cover how to improve the sound of the copy.

Make sure that the old disc is clean. Gently wipe away dust with a camel’s hair brush.

If you have an old mechanical device such as a Victrola, set the microphone about 18″ from the front sound hole. Try a few recordings to see where exactly to place the mic for the least machine noise.

I believe Edison disc were recorded at 80 rpms. Don’t let that throw you. The trick is to record the Edison disc on a cassette deck that has a variable pitch control. After getting an acceptable recording-On playback, bump the pitch contol up a few notches.

Here’s part of the trick. All songs are recorded in a particular “key”. That is, the note should correspond to some note on a piano or other musical instrument. If you are not a musician, try to get a friend that know a little bit about music. If you have a keyboard, that would help too.

Now, when you play back the cassette, attempt to find the “key” on the piano or keyboard. If this doesn’t make much sense. Stop! Get that music friend to help you. What you should do is try to find the “key” of the song. If the music sounds flat, turn the pitch control forward. If the music sounds sharp, turn the pitch control backwards.

Remember, country songs from the twenties won’t be in F#, they probably will be in F major. There shouldn’t be any in G#, etc. Use your ear to approximate the original “key” hence the original speed.

You only want to bumb up the rpm speed replicated on the cassette tape by two rmps. Sooo..take it easy, you might go beyond the original key. Don’t move the pitch control too far. This take a little time to get the feel of it.

Victor records as with other phonograph records were recorded on mechanical machines. I heard that they recorded at 76 rpms. I don’t know this one for sure. Try to bump up the pitch control to get the right “key.”

If you can download copyright free music-like public domain stuff. You can later convert to analog on a cassette disc with a pitch control and do the work of getting the right speed. Some of these recordings on the web are done quite well except for the proper speed. In other words, they have done most of the work for you.

Good Luck. I think you’ll have a blast preserving the past!

When memorizing music there are several things you can do that will make your job that much easier. Memorizing music is important as most people know you play better when having the music in your head rather than having your head in the music. So where to start when memorizing music effectively?

I agree with Fred Noad, when discussing memorization in his book, Solo Guitar playing, he states…Learn to play a piece from beginning to end with absolutely correct fingering and with complete continuity (however slow) before committing it to memory.

To learn music in this fashion helps with an overall visual memory of the piece and it helps with continuity rather than have the piece sound disjointed and fragmented. If you think about it you will realize that our thoughts and memories are nothing more than powerful images or, pictures, if you like.

To prove my point let’s say I ask you to think of an elephant. What do you see? Is it the word elephant written down (which could be a picture) or is it a picture or part picture the animal itself? I bet you I know the answer. Another test would be to ask how you dreamed at night. Do you dream in words or are your dreams a series of pictures rather like a scene from a movie?

You need to work with your brain rather than against it. Why not utilize the natural operation of your memory? It’s crazy not to!

I also know from my days at Teacher’s College that most people have different strengths when it comes to learning something new based on the body’s different senses. Some people are visual learners, some learn better with their tactile (touching) sense and some are strong auditory learners.

What is clear in most literature about memory is that a combination of as many of your senses as possible is a stronger way of learning anything. Because of this we should employ most of our senses when learning a new piece of music. Of course we can’t include taste and smell to any great degree (unless you want to eat your music!) but we should definitely try to use our other senses of sight, hearing and touch.

So, having established a method of learning a new piece of music what comes next? What are the nuts and bolts, so to speak?

I would actually take a step back. That is, start not with playing a piece of music but rather just reading it, just like a book, on its own. What I would be looking for is how it is put together. I would look at the key, form, and structure of the music? What about sequences and repetitions? What about dynamics, articulation and tone?

Breaking a piece up into its component parts first before you start to play it and get a visual memory of the piece allows you to take a short-cut of sorts. If you understand where the repeats are, for example, you have already cut down on the amount of bars you have to memorize. If you know about the dynamics of the piece before you play it physically your brain won’t have to deal with too much information at once.

As Sharon Isbin says in the Classical Guitar Answer Book…”The more you understand the language and structure of a piece, the easier it will be to memorize.”

I liken it to driving to an unfamiliar place or suburb in your car and using a roadmap. If you just turn up and expect to find the street it would be very difficult indeed. But if you look at the map beforehand you stand a much better chance of finding your destination by noticing the signs along the way. You recognize where you are, with much less stress!

Of course, I’m talking about reading the music AWAY from the guitar. This should be your very first step. I would then employ the Noad method after this.

Next I would test my memory by playing the separate phrases in the music. If you definitely know a phrase, try to string it together with the next phrase in the piece and so on until you get to the end of the piece. If you are not confident to play phrases try playing one bar at a time and going back to the printed music when a bar is forgotten.

In this way the music can be overlapped until the whole piece can be played by memory.

I would leave the piece for several days to a week after that. Then I would test my memory again by trying to play the whole piece, making note of where I faltered or needed to consolidate. Leaving it for a period of time allows your subconscious brain to keep “working” on it for you. The subconscious is really quite powerful and when you get out of its way, you’ll be amazed at what it can achieve.

Studying a new piece in this fashion should yield results. And remember, the more you practice (properly) the easier it will become. Good luck!

Trevor Maurice is an Australian, living in beautiful seaside Maroubra, in the eastern suburbs of Sydney.

He’s been involved in playing guitar (mainly classical) for longer than he cares to remember and has also taught the instrument for many years. He is teacher trained, having a Diploma of Education (Majoring in music)

He has also taught Primary (Elementary) school for many years and had a long-held dream to build a quality website for the classical guitar that is of use to anyone even slightly interested in this beautiful instrument. He has now made that dream a reality with the highly rated…

http://www.learnclassicalguitar.com/index.html

Music Review

Title: “Set It Off ”

Artist: Harliquinny’s and Bunker Crew

Year: 1986

Label: Champion Records (London, England)

Time for a histroy lesson. While I was shopping at Everybody’s
Records in Cincinnati, Ohio I came across a reprint of this
song. I knew this record was digitally remastered so I brought
it!

This song at the time was a monster hit in the Cincy area clubs
and on the radio mixshows. The beats at 110 beats per minuite
(BPM) This song wasn’t hardcore nor to fast. Just right to
groove with your guy or girl or just groove by yourself. For
DJ’s This track is very easy to mix in and out of. This was a
very very good crowd pleaser.

Another version of ” Set It Off ” by a group called Streffe (
The Male Version). This is still being played in some clubs in
this area. If you are into “old School” music check out these
songs and send us your reply on what you think.

Don’t Hate On Music

$habba Staff Writter- shabba Staff Writter-
http://www.cincinnatiohioonline.com/blog

“The Earth Has Music 4 Those Who Listen”- Alexander O’Neal

You’re sitting at the piano playing your favorite song but you
can only play the notes on the sheet music in front of you. You
long to play that song the way it is running in your head but
you just don’t know where to begin. Does this sound like you?

Years ago I could only play the music in front of me. I knew the
sound I wanted but I couldn’t understand how to play it. Then
one day I was listening to a cd of some favorite tunes and I
could recognize what the pianist was doing. In a nutshell he was
playing the scale notes in between the melody! Along the way I
discovered there was a bit more but I have it down to formula
that works for me now.

1.Sing the song first: Even though at first I was only
improvising on songs I already at least had a melody line and
chord for, I now improvise a number of songs in my head before
even sitting at the piano. Many times your creativity with a
song will stop at your fingers. If you sing/humm the song first
you will notice a lot more creativity happening because you were
proficient with speech first.

2. If you can’t make it then fake it: If you’re having problems
coming up with your own tunes, turn to a fake book and start
your improvising there.

3. Don’t be afraid to use the whole piano: Next time you are
around a good pianist, say the one at your favorite department
store, notice how they will do several runs up and down the
piano. Or how they play those wonderful deep notes in the bass
of the piano.

4. Don’t get discourage by your first results: You’re not going
to sound good at first. Well you might but since 99% of us won’t
just go with the flow and don’t give up.

5. Keep at it: You will get better with time. Practice makes
perfect or at least much better sounding.

Some things to keep in mind. If you aren’t already familiar with
chords and scales, get to know them. This will greatly increase
your improvising abilities. Invest in some good learning tools,
for this. Books or videos the choice is yours. Choose depending
on your learning style.

STEP Analysis

The STEP analysis of the Colorado Creative Music aims at analyzing macro-environmental factors of the music business the company is engaged into. These factors fall into political, economical, social and technological groups (Pearce, Robinson, 2000).

Political factors affecting music business in whole and CCM in particular: strong political stability in the United States; regulatory and legal issues concerning music business including copyright laws for copyright protection of both music writing and recording, copyright-related legislation touching upon the issue of virtual internet promotion and distribution, such as The Audio Home Recording Act (1992), No Electronic Theft (NET) Act (1997), “The Digital Performance Right in Sound Recordings Act (DPRSRA) 1995, The Digital Millennium Copyright Act, “Pending legislation: Music Online Competition Act and the Consumer Broadband and Digital Television Protection Act (CBDTPA)” and others. Environmental regulations and employment requirement do not affect business CCM is engaged into. As for the tax policy, in 2000, from total income of $216,614.05 the company had to pay $4,744,97 of taxes, which is not high rate and amounts to nearly 2 percent from the total income. In whole, it should be noticed that political factors are favorable for music recording industry and for CCM particularly.

Economic factors include indexes in the macro economy that can affect music recording industry. Here also, macroeconomic factors, such as economic growth, interest rates and inflation rate are favorable for CCM. Thus, the U.S economy kept growing steadily since 1995. CPI falls down in 1997, 1998. Unemployment rate decreased gradually from 1995 to 2000.

Social factors, covering demographical and cultural aspects of the environment external to music recording industry are rate of population growth, age distribution and carrier attitudes. The population growth in the United States is steady and age distribution also favors the music recording industry. It should be noted that for music industry in whole, teenagers and 20-years-olds are primary customer segment, but CCM aims at attracting people of 40-60 age range. Thus, the considerable share of American population fits this target market.

Technological advancements in music recording, promotion and distribution have several effects on the recording industry. One aspect of the issue is that musicians are no longer dependent on major recording labels to create or distribute their products. (Viljoen & Dann, 2000) The MP3 software alternative to the CD becomes more popular since 1998. In the space traditional audio can fit 12 to 15 audio tracks; MP3 software can store approximately 150 music tracks. “The move towards MP3 as the new format to replace CD just as the CD replaced vinyl albums have been accelerated by the rush of new portable MP3 players on the market - some for less than conventional Sony Discmans.” (Viljoen & Dann 2000, p. 173). On the other hand, new digital technologies which appeared in late 20 century not only facilitate the process of music recording, but make it considerably cheaper, providing the possibility for multiple firms with limited resources to enter the market. Thus, if in 1980s, professional recording studio with all recording equipment, working on vinyl or tape carriers, cost several million dollars and therefore was a domain of 5 or 6 major recording companies, in 2000, assembling professional recording studio could be carried out at cost of only $5,000. All the equipment and hardware, due to the global advancements in technology, are much more affordable for an average artist or businessman.

SWOT Analysis

Strengths

* Cost advantages with new technology arising from the digital revolution. Not only assembly of studio with all necessary equipment and hardware is cheaper, but duplication of CDs, storage and shipping are less expensive as well. Low cost of production, duplication (duplication of 500 CDs ranges from $1.90 to $3.63, duplication of 2000 CDs costs about one dollar per CD), shipping and storage makes the final product less expensive and more affordable for the customers, thus widening the range and scope of the target market.

* Positioning of CCM in a distinctive market niche. CCM is microlabel recording company which specializes on classic and traditional instrumental music.

* Growing customer base and customer loyalty within target group. Customer base growth due to expansion of product lines (4 already, each year 2 new product lines emerge), and geographical coverage of listeners.

* Good customer service shown through the direct contact between Darren and his fans.

Weaknesses

* No clear strategic vision: CCM needs a long term vision which includes all areas of the business, from marketing and management to distribution and human resources. At the moment the company faces a dilemma of further strategic development, which will be focused on either enhancing or developing the recording company or more active promotion and distribution of the products through the possibilities of other companies (the company is currently regarded by its management as potential object of acquisition or investment)

* Competitive disadvantages: CCM are not able to enter the retail market due to its current level of sales. Competitors such as major labels have advantage because they have major market power and influence. Such firms can specify when their music should be played on radio and negotiate large contracts with distributors and retail outlets, hence giving themselves broader appeal.

* Limited channels of distribution: at present moment the company heavily relies on such distribution sources as direct sales, which include sales at the gig, shopping mall distribution and sales in the back end (800 number order, website order processing and mail orders). These channels are major sources of profit for the company. Nevertheless, to expand its consumer base, the company needs to acquire formal distribution channels, such as sales through traditional music distribution networks and others.

* CCM is short in financial resources to pursue new opportunities. Profits are thin, meaning new opportunities may be unobtainable and long term improvements may not be afforded due to initial costs. To conclude a contract with major labels, which would provide the company with the access to traditional product distribution, the firm needs to sale at least 15,000 copies of its products per year. From the other hand, high sales numbers are impossible to obtain without good traditional distribution channels.

* CCM is losing ground to larger firms because of limited exposure. CCM at present does not reach global or national audience like independents and major labels. CCM needs to broaden its reach and widen its customer base.

Opportunities

* Serving additional customer groups by expanding co-operation with other artists and enlarging the Acoustictherapy and other product lines with new marketing strategies.

* Internet through expanding e-commerce and releasing MP3s.

* Expanding sales nation wide.

* Acquiring channels of traditional distribution to reach wider customer base exposure

* Developing new technologies to cope with the driving forces of the industry.

* Releasing compilations with other artists has proven popular. One strategy could be to assembly the songs (such as Accoustictherapy) at the studio, and sell the completed disks at a discounted rate back to the performing artists in their hometowns. This method would cover the costs up front and give the players a financial incentive to push the product.

* Pushing sales into non-traditional areas such as weddings, shopping center music etc.

Threats

* High number of new entrants and growth of other smaller labels due to the digital revolution. In addition, major labels or independent labels could decide to enter into CCM’s domestic markets and try to drive the smaller labels out of the market.

* Lose sales to substitute products like mp3s or internet downloads

* Vulnerability to industry’s driving forces because of CCM’s weak position in its industry, taking into consideration the fact that the company occupies microlabel segment of the market and is profitable primarily due to the low costs of digital recording.

Five Forces Model of Competition

Michael Porter’s model of competition (Porter, 1980), if applied to music recoding industry, comprises the following components: Rivalry among sellers of recorded music (competition for better market position and competitive advantage); artists and other suppliers of music to producers or sellers of recorded music; distributors, retailers and individual customers of the music; competitive pressure coming from substitutes of recorded music towards winning customers; and threat of new entrants to the industry of recorded music.

Perhaps, the strongest competitive force belongs to such factor as Rivalry among producers and sellers of music products. The music recording industry has 4 clearly identifiable segments: major recording studios, independent labels, microlabels and vanity labels.

Major, or first-tier, companies have large quantities of artists under contracts, reaching the number of 100, specialize on multiple types of music - rock, country, jazz, classical, traditional and other, and have formal and reliable national and international channels of distribution. The examples of such companies are Columbia, Sony Music, EMI, GMG, Warner Brothers, Atlantic Records and some others. As the mater of fact, such companies are not numerous and their recording equipment is rather expensive, amounting to no less that couple million dollars, since these studios record music with analogue and not digital equipment, thus receiving three-dimensional, saturated, rich sound, instead of correct but plain digital sound.

Independent labels have 10-100 artists under contract, focus on recording of one or two major music styles and have either national or most often regional distribution channels. Examples of independents are: Higher Octave, Metal Blade Records, Rhino Records, WAR, Windhan Hill, Soundings of the Planet. Such companies are more numerous than first-rank companies and can use analogue equipment as well as digital. Generally, independent labels strive to grow into major ones, but for that they need to invest large amount of money into amelioration of their equipment.

Microlabels have less then 10 artists under contract and are tightly focused on definite style of music. They are characterized by small staff and manager performing as the leading artist of the studio. Microlabels have rarely formal distribution system and heavily rely on direct sales to fans and wholesale to clubs and specialty retailers. On American market, microlabels are presented with Etherian, Evol Egg Nart, Cuneiform Records, CCM and a large number of others. Generally, such companies survive competition due to low cost of digital recording.

Vanity labels are the fourth, the last and the most specialized segment of the music recording industry. They are founded by independent artists for recording and selling their products. Examples of vanity labels are Bob Culbertson, Watson and Company, Lao Tizer, Esteban Ramirez and many others. (Darren & Winn , 2003). At present, CCM is the microlabel that strives to convert into independent label.

In the first place, the competition among rivals is carried out on the basis of popularity of the performer and songs recorded by their companies. Recording studios intensively compete to attract popular of promising artists to sign contracts with them. If the songs or artists are highly popular, price is secondary factor which may influence the competition. However, if the artist is lesser-known or songs recorded are not very popular, price does play role as the competition and strategy factor. In the distribution process of the rivals, the particular importance is attached to getting access to traditional channels of music distribution, such as retail musical stores, major chain record stores, independent record stores and Internet distributors such as Amazon.com. These means are very important for selling CDs of the artists apart from direct sales on their performances. Also, another factor that greatly influences CD sales is advertising of songs and radio promotion and transmission.

For CCM, rivalry is by far the most important competitive pressure source. The strong competition from rival producers and sellers of music can be explained by the fact that the performers of CCM are not known to the wide public in comparison with the artists of the first-tier and independent labels.

The competitive threat of new entry, is, to the opposite, by far the weakest competitive force, ranked between weak and moderate. Barriers for entry are not high for the new producers of recorded music, especially those targeting limited segment of the market and employing cheap digital technology of recording. CCM can serve the brightest example of such entry. Such cheap digital recording technology can be assembled nowadays for no more than $5,000. Still, expensive analogue technologies keep costing hundreds thousand or even millions. The technology employed by the firm automatically determines its resources and rank in the music recording industry. Besides cost of the equipment, the main subject of the competition for new entrants will be distinct market share and sales volume. Considerable sales volume, in its turn, depends on the ability of new entrants to attract famous, popular or widely known performers and singers whose songs are able to get to the top of the popularity charts. Given the fact that virtually all popular artists have already signed contracts with major recording studios, this is significant barrier for new entrants. Another important barrier is gaining considerable channel of distribution. Generally, large distribution centers and music CD retailers are interested in selling the music of famous performers and unwilling to accept the products of relatively unknown artists. For the CCM, the threat of new entry is not very strong, since the company targets rather narrow market segment. Though, if the new entrant uses the same recording technologies, distribution channels and targets the same niche in the market, the fact may become an issue of major importance.

Competition from substitute products can be considered moderate competitive force in the music industry. Such substitute products are be presented in the form of providing consumers with possibility to listen music with other that CD means such as radio, cable TV music channels, live concerts, local bars or night clubs with live performances or recorded music, and internet. Internet has become by far the most important and strong substitute to traditional buying CD, since music provided on the web is most often cheaper or completely free and is not much inferior in quality than .wma format of CDs. Therefore, for certain amount of people these means serve as effective substitutes, but for music fan, buying official CD is obligatory. In the case of Colorado Creative Music, people can enjoy the performance on live concerts of these artists and decide not to buy their CD. Therefore, from CCM’s viewpoint, this may be regarded as fairly significant competitive force.

The forces left are bargaining power of suppliers and bargaining power of buyers and collaborative buyer seller relations, which are both strong competitive force.

The first, bargaining power of suppliers depends on the popularity and reputation of artists. Those who are popular and whose recordings sell well, have strong bargaining power, they can chose among numerous recording studios. CCM specializes on recordings of infamous artists, and therefore it enjoys weak bargaining power, since artists involved with CCM do not have many alternatives for studio record and CD distribution.

Bargaining power of buyers and collaborative buyer-seller relations is very strong competitive force. The major distributors of recorded music supply CDs to the leading music stores and other retailers of music, these leading distributors stock about 40,000 copies of a CD and work on 60-90 working schedule retaining the privilege of full return of investments for the unsold copies. So called “one-stops” are distributors which provide products for the independent music stores in smaller quantities and very often with limited range of music types. Generally such distributors prefer to handle stock CDs of the very popular artists or at least well-known artists and often they are not interested in going into distribution of CDs of unknown performers. Therefore, CCM faces great difficulty in acquiring decent and formal distribution, especially in getting its products sold by such music stores as Sam Goody, Tower Records, Borders Books and Music, and Barnes and Noble.

Also, a great role in the distribution process is played by getting the music heard by people so that they would be more willing to buy the CDs. This includes playing the music on the radio stations, on TV music channels and including soundtracks into movies. Until the performers and artists of CCM become so famous that they are asked for in retail music stores, the company has little chances to receive considerable representation by major CD distributors. The manager of the company, Darren Skanson, has contacted some retailers on his own and found out that it is very time-consuming and onerous task to get his CDs distributed by retailers in his own local area. The people he hired to tackle the problem had little luck either. CCM has had some experience of selling the CDs through one-stop distributor, but it was not very successful due to high markup imposed by the distributor on the CDs of CCM. In the long run, Darren plans to make his product lines such as Darren Curtis Skanson, Music for Candles and other artists, popular enough to have their CD distributed through major music stores. But at the present moment, predominant part of CCM sales volume stems from direct sales such as sales at the gig, shopping mall distribution and internet, mail and telephone orders of the musicians’ CDs.

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It is no secret that over the past couple decades country music has struggled with it’s identity far more than any other genre in the industry. At this point nobody can really claim to be a country music fan without being questioned what kind of country fan? The answers being seemingly endless, I’ve broken them down into a few main categories (but really, there could be so many more).

Pop Country

This category could really be referred to as “Nashville Country.” It hosts probably about 90% of the country music out there. I often find people not wanting to admit in conversation that they’re fans of this category. They like to talk about how they love Willie Nelson and mouth the words to Merle Haggard songs even though it’s obvious their faking it. Then they get alone in their cars and unwind by driving down the highway, blasting Shania Twain on the radio, and singing along at the top of their lungs. Let me just say, there’s nothing wrong with that, like what you like. Nashville record labels pick very talented, often attractive singers that perform with some great bands. They also have some of the top songwriters and composers in the industry working for them.

One criticism I would have against this category…In recent years, there has been a rebellion of sorts against Nashville music from musicians in both the Rebel and Texas sub categories (see below) with songs booing Nashville and praising the old timers. Sometimes this gains them popularity and they get so popular that they land a big contract with a Nashville record company and for some reason everybody is perfectly comfortable with this phenomenon. This is what I like to refer to as “Pat Green Syndrome”.

Rebel/Rock Country

Very liberal people are who you tend to find in this category. These artist just do whatever they feel like doing, and consequently there are not many of them, or at least not many of them that stay popular after their initial shock value wears off. They are usually independent and like letting it all hang out. A good example currently in the limelight is Gretchen Wilson. Others that haven’t quite reached her popularity level, but have been around for a while include Ray Wylie Hubbard and Todd Snider.

Sometimes the guys in this category derive quite a bit of their rebelness from incorporating rock into their music. Good examples of this are Robert Earl Keen and James McMurty (I highly recommend both of them).

Texas Country

This category has developed into somewhat of a music cult, and it stretches all over the United Sates. (Note, this last month there was a huge three day Texas music festival in Colorado). It’s popularity started off with the likes of Willie Nelson, Jerry Jeff Walker, and Gary P. Nunn. What really sent it off in recent years was the popularity of Robert Earl Keen, Cory Morrow, Pat Green, and Jack Ingram. It plays extremely well in frat houses across the Lone Star State. While the guys mentioned earlier have taken off in a different direction, new artists like Max Stalling, Mark David Manders, and Ed Burleson have started to take their place. If you ever watch this development, it’s easy to see that the Texas music industry is growing so fast that it will probably soon be just as big as Nashville’s.

Old Country

If you can sing the words to three or more Willie Nelson, George Jones, and Johnny Cash songs please come in. If you can sing along to Patsy Cline, Charlie Rich, and Hank Williams please take a seat. If you can croon all night with Bob Wills please let me get you a beer, I’m glad we met. Welcome to the old country category, sadly a lot of people find it boring here.

Real Old Country

Most people in this category know how to yodel. They’ve probably witnessed someone play the bones, if they do not already know how to play them themselves. The people in this category refer to each other as “folks” and recognize that country’s roots derived from folk music. This category requires being able to enjoy sitting on a front porch sipping ice tea in the middle of the summer while some old man plays “Streets of Laredo” on an old Gibson. Indulging in campfire banjo playing helps as well.

If you’re like me, you probably have your favorite category and then like some things out of each one. There’s not really any one way to define country music, and with it being an ever-changing industry there probably never will be. One thing that doesn’t change though, no matter which category, you can still dust of your boots and take just about any country song to the dancehall with you.

Sarah Francis

This article, written by Sarah Francis, was first published at MusicShopper.info - a great resource for music lovers. Providing information and resources about music shopping, it also has an extensive range of music reviews, music competitions and giveaways, and a popular discussion forum. It is also an important music reference source with a music website directory of more then 1,000 hand-picked sites listed. MusicShopper forum and newsletters subscribers are entered into monthly draws for Amazon voucher.

I guess you practice on your guitar in the hope of becoming a better guitarist with the joy that follows. However, many learning processes are active when you practice on your guitar.

After reading this article I hope you will be more aware of factors that can limit your progress as a guitarist and that your guitar practice sessions will be more effective.

At times when you practice on your guitar you might find that you are nervous and don’t feel too good because you feel forced to play due to a guitar lesson coming up.

You feel that you haven’t done your homework or maybe other negative feelings are present for some reason.

The feelings you have when you practice a certain piece of music have a tendency to be evoked anew when you play the piece at another occasion.

Can tensions stick to your sheet music? Yes, in a way at least.

My experience, also confirmed when reading about this topic, is that your actual tension level when playing a musical composition on your guitar also tends to be present when you play the same piece of music in public.

In short, it will be harder to perform a piece of music in a relaxed way when you have practiced it with too much tension.

Can you learn not to play a piece of music on your guitar?

Well, You practice on your guitar in order to become a better player and maybe to learn a piece of music that you like.

The fact is that if you don’t concentrate on your guitar playing you can make a lot of mistakes when trying to learn a piece of music. These mistakes tend to slow down the learning process, or rather, they will be a part of the learning process.

The more times you make mistakes playing a particular passage on your guitar the harder it will be for you to play it right because of those earlier mistakes trying to get your attention!

Can the secret learning processes become your friends?

Can you actually use these principles to your advantage? Yes and yes! In accordance with the before mentioned dangers when practicing you can:

1. Make your guitar practicing sessions to joyful and peaceful moments in your life. The joy will follow your music to your listeners.

2. Always practice a new piece of guitar music slowly so that you can play it with a minimum of tension and with correct posture.

3. Once again, practice slowly! Then you will be able to practice a guitar piece without mistakes and you will learn faster and feel better.

Peter Edvinsson is a musician, composer and music teacher. Visit his site Capotasto Music and download your free sheet music and learn to play resources at http://www.capotastomusic.com