Our friends over at We All Make Music have started a new series called “The Couch Sessions,” in which Rock Shrink Lisa Thaler, LCSW, tackles the music career-related anxieties and fears of indie musicians. Check out the first two installments below and then submit your own question/concern for some free professional advice and insight!

Volume One
Volume Two

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A move to a tapeless-based production is not an easy one but in the end should prove to be rather beneficial. Of course, no technology is without a downside. If you are on the fence about a move from tapes, this article is the perfect starting point.

Advantages of Tape Based Productions
Tapes have one big advantage that even today still shine through. Tapes are very durable. Some tape collections can be decades old and still work.

Disadvantages of Tape Based Productions
Degradation – Tape degrades over time and sometimes portions of the tape can be so badly degraded that the content is unrecoverable.

Storage – Tapes take up a lot of space and will fill shelves quickly. Depending upon how well the tapes were labeled, it can take a long time to find something. A constant updating of the library is essential.

Advantages of Tapeless Production
Stable recordings – If properly taken care of, digital media will not suffer from the sometimes-bizarre jittery behavior that can often occur when using tapes.

Reliability – Once recorded you can quickly make copies of what you shot on site. Often times once backed up elsewhere you can reuse the same cards and hard drives over and over again without loss of quality. Digital transfers do not degrade, no mater how many copies of the original are made.

File based recording – Files make indexing and retrieving a file easier. Naming of files is entirely personal and can be quickly changed.

John Devcic is a freelance writer and videographer.

Read “Weighing In on the Tapeless World” at VideoMaker.com.

Related posts:

1. Craig Hanna on Video Post-Production and Authoring – Part I
2. DIY Performance Video – Part 2: Post-Production
3. DIY Performance Video – Part 3: Titles & Distribution

9/8/2010 Neal Ewers compares the recording electronics with the H2, and presents what sounds like identical recordings on this $99 recorder with the same electronics as the Zoom H2. 39.1 MB

Apple announced last week that they were launching a new social network called Ping which is integrated into their ubiquitous iTunes player. Ping allows music fans and artists to interact and share details about their listening habits. This is another great way for musicians to market themselves, share content, display concert info, and boost sales (artist profiles link to iTunes artist pages). Unfortunately, Apple is currently only allowing artists to start profiles by “invitation only,” though anyone with an iTunes account is welcome to start a user profile. CD Baby is currently investigating the possibility of getting indie artists included in this new network.

Features According to Apple’s Website:

• “Follow your favorite artists with a click and become part of their inner circle.”
• “Get in on the action with artist photos and status updates. Even add comments to join the conversation.”
• “Find out what music an artist likes and pick up a few recommendations.”
• “Ping is built into the iTunes app on iPhone and iPod touch. So you can see artist updates from anywhere.”

Granted, it has only been around for a few days, but Ping does still have a few big obstacles to deal with before it becomes a runaway smash hit. The two big oversights thus far are that Ping has no Facebook integration or friend-importing function. Check out this article from All Facebook for more more info on Ping’s weaknesses. Steve Jobs has said already that Facebook integration is not out of the question, but it would require more favorable terms.

It is tough right now to gauge Ping’s impact on the music world, but the next few weeks will be telling. Do you have thoughts, opinions, or knowledge to share on Apple’s latest unveiling? Feel free to comment below.

Related posts:

1. Where Social Meets Creative
2. Musicians Should Only Enter Data Once
3. Why You Shouldn’t Post YouTube Links on Facebook

Excerpted from Moses Avalon’s book Confessions of a Record Producer, published by Backbeat Books.

So one afternoon you sat down and wrote a simple four-chord song and made a rough recording on your home hard-disk multi-track. You sent it to a friend who liked it, and the next thing you know, a top artist heard it and fell in love. They want it for their next album. A few months later, the song is on the radio and it’s a hit. You’ve won the jackpot.

Suddenly, as if from nowhere, your mailbox is being stuffed with large, thick envelopes from various companies. Who are they? What do they want? There seem to be hundreds of them and they all have thick forms and legal documents for you to fill out. You’re hearing from record companies, performance rights organizations, publishing companies, promotion companies … It is staggering how many companies are associated with a marketable song.

All right, so the above example is a bit oversimplified, although I have seen songwriters with successes almost that dramatic. The point I’m making is that most artists and songwriters are at first unaware of the amount of paperwork and legal documentation that goes into the simple four-chord song they wrote and produced in their living room. Here is a basic list of some of the main companies and what they do. They are the entities we speak of when we speak of “the music industry.”

Record Companies
Record companies are in the business of making bets. Every band they sign requires an outlay of cash. If it’s a major label or a major-owned indie, it could be anywhere from $200,000 to $2,000,000 per act. If it’s an independent, the tab is usually no more than $50,000. In essence, record companies are really banks that specialize in lending money to musicians. The idea that a record company gives an artist money is the most common misconception among new artists. In reality, record companies loan the artist money.

When you read about an artist getting a one-million-dollar recording contract, it means that the record company offered to loan that artist up to a million dollars over the course of the contract. The artist is expected to pay it back out of the royalties that their record earns.

Aside from loaning money, record companies offer promotional and distribution services to a recording artist. These services can range from merely supporting distribution for an already finished record, usually for about 25% of the artist’s profit, all the way to the other end of the spectrum of financing the recording of the record and then promoting and supporting its distribution. For this, the take is generally up around 90% of the proceeds from record sales.

Production Companies
These operate in one similar way as record companies – they invest in talent – and one vital way that they do not, in that they do not have a specific distribution contract with a distributor to get their recordings into a retail environment. This is no small exception – if you can’t get the records in front of customers, you usually can’t sell very many of them.

Production companies, which I sometimes call “vanity labels” or “three-deep labels,” are usually owned by producers or recording studios. They sign artists and produce demos and shop them in hopes of getting the artist a record deal.

Many production companies dream of being record companies and often seek an affiliation with a major label or distributor to handle their product. But don’t be fooled. Unless the production company has secured a distribution contract with a legitimate distributor or has found a way to independently release their recordings, they are no more capable of selling records en masse than you or I.

Publishing Companies
The role of the publishing company is easy to comprehend, even if publishing deals themselves are not. Simply put, publishing companies control and safeguard the copyright by dealing with the complex renewal regulations, and they collect the money that is due to the songwriters whose copyrights they acquire. They also litigate on behalf of their authors in case of infringement, and they shop your songs to various other companies to use in movies, commercials, TV shows, and so on.

In exchange for these services writers agree to hand over the copyright of their songs and receive a percentage of whatever the songs earn – usually about 50%.

If you’ve written a song that is going to be released on a major record label, you are going to make money. Because the Copyright Act of 1976 requires record companies to pay for the use of a song on a record. The rate labels have agreed to pay is called the “compulsory rate” (sometimes called the “statutory rate”). It is paid to each author who writes a song that’s on any record they distribute. As of January 2006 the rate is 9.1¢ per song for each record distributed.

So, to continue our mock example, you wrote a song that will now be on a big record. The record company agrees to pay the owner of the copyright a compulsory licensing fee of about 9¢ for each song on a record, and for each record sold. A million-seller has huge potential.

The publishing company sees an opportunity to collect some easy coin, so they will try to make a deal to collect writers’ royalties, since writers seldom want to go to the trouble of pounding the phones and hiring accountants to do this nasty work themselves. The publishing company will also negotiate and collect the synchronization license fees for a song. A synchronization license is the fee that a movie or television company pays for the right to use the song as part of the soundtrack in a film or TV show. These fees can be quite high.

For the use of Sonny and Cher’s “I Got You Babe” in the movie Groundhog Day, the film’s producers paid the song’s publishers $80,000. Not bad. In recent years publishing companies have found new sources of revenue in “clearing samples.” Samples are the small sound bits used mostly in rap and R&B to make up pieces of the groove of a song. The publishing company owns the rights to the songs embodied in the samples, so they can negotiate a fee for use of the sample in a new song. Then there are ringtones, a revenue stream worth about $1 billion a year to publishers.

As an artist or writer, you may be asking yourself, “Why do I need this?” Well, you may not. Starting in the ’60s, many artists who wrote their own material realized that they were giving up 50% of their money to a service that they didn’t require, because they were the artist recording the material. Why hire a company to sell the material to others? They began to make publishing arrangements directly with the record companies. In order to compete with this new trend, publishing companies started handing out big advances to new artists, as high as $1,000,000 for a new act; superstar writers can get five times that amount. In fact, this still is a common practice. But still, why would an artist accept any amount of money to give away 50% of their music when they don’t have to?

Over the past few years, in an attempt to compete directly with publishing companies, several entities have sprung up that will gladly collect a songwriter’s (or publisher’s) money and enforce his rights for a mere 10%. They call themselves copyright administration companies. They don’t generally shop songs (but most publishing companies don’t do that either these days) nor do they give you large advances. But if you haven’t tied up your administration rights with a standard publishing deal when luck strikes and one of your songs is placed in a major project, signing with one of these has huge advantages. You retain most of your rights, and these companies perform most of the same services that you would expect from a publisher. Some of these companies also administrate the copyrights of sound recordings, something traditional publishing companies do not do as yet.

The one type of revenue that publishing companies and copyright administration companies let others collect for them are performance royalties – that is, the royalty that the writer/publisher of a song gets each time that song is performed publicly on media like radio or network TV.

In the music business, “perform” has a unique definition that goes beyond the normal use. When you see a musician play a song live on TV, you’re obviously watching a performance. But did you know that when a DJ spins a record in a club, what you’re hearing is a “performance” as well, even though it’s originating from a machine? This also goes for cover bands playing at weddings, as well as jukeboxes in bars, DVDs, turntables in nightclubs, and any other type of music that is experienced in a “for profit” public place.

So, yes, the common interpretation of law says that each time a radio station plays a song for its hundreds of thousands of listeners or a DJ spins a mix in your favorite dance club, the writer should get paid a few pennies for the “performance.” If the song is a hit, this can add up to quite a few pennies. But how can you ever know how many times each station or club plays a song, or how many wedding bands are turning your cool hit into “the bride cuts the cake”?

Performing Rights Organizations
Enter the PROs, that is, the performing rights organizations: ASCAP, BMI, and SESAC. (Also called “Societies.”) In the United States, they represent the writers, the little guy out there trying to make a buck in the super-duper Big Brother environment of the broadcast industry.

These three companies monitor clubs, venues, theaters, and the airwaves and keep track of who plays what and how many times. They collect performance fees (which vary according to the approximate listenership of each station or size of each venue) and distribute this money to the writers who are registered with them. Because the costs of negotiating millions of transactions would be prohibitive, a system has evolved using these societies in similar ways that unions represent laborers with collective bargaining. Each society negotiates a “blanket license” (kind of like a set annual payment) that permits broadcasters and venues to play music by its members.

Since you cannot belong to more than one PRO at a time, and since hit songs earn a ton of cash, these organizations compete fiercely for membership. The rivalry between ASCAP and BMI has filled the pages of several other books, all worth reading before you venture into joining either. To attract members, each sometimes offers cash advances to a new artist/writer who just signed a big deal (although they “officially” deny this practice), and each also boasts about its unique monitoring system. BMI’s pitch is that they have the largest membership in the world.

But there is currently much debate over how fair the systems for ASCAP and BMI are because to some it seems as though the payouts favor certain writers or types of music. SESAC has managed to dodge this bullet for the moment, since they use an “objective” computerized monitoring system – but it is likely that they, too, will be under scrutiny soon as their membership grows.

There are other PROs in other countries. In fact, each European, Asian, and South American country has its own versions of ASCAP, BMI, and SESAC, but you need not concern yourself with them. For those with international hits originating in the U.S., the three main PROs mentioned above will attempt to collect from each of the smaller ones in the individual countries.

SoundExchange
Due to the internet, a new type of PRO designed strictly for collecting the performance royalties for digitally streamed sound recordings has been created. These days “digital streaming” means through the internet and over satellite radio. Why is this new? Well, in the U.S., sound recordings were never paid a royalty when publicly “performed.” That means, in simple terms, when a song played on the radio, the songwriter made a royalty, but the people who own the sound recording of that song made zilch. This includes the record company and the artist who performs the song. Hard to believe, but true. (In Europe and Australia both the song and the sound recording of the song are subject to performance royalties).

However, a new statute that allows for the collection of royalties from “digital sources” has opened up a fresh revenue stream for artists and their labels. This royalty is supposed to be split between the artist, the label, and the collective other musicians who played on the record in a 50%/45%/5% split, respectively. (The musician’s share actually gets paid to the musician’s union, the AFM, which supposedly distributes it to members using its own formulas.

While it’s true that so far the only sources for earning “digital sound recording performance royalties” are things like internet steaming/downloads and Internet and satellite radio, it’s a given that in the not-too-distant future many forms of transmissions (and distribution) will be digital, and thus we will see artists making additional money from these “performances” of their records. Examples might be the digitally “beaming in” of music to restaurants and stadiums, as well as cell phone ringtones and many other mediums.

Unlike PROs, who collect royalties for non-digital performances, wherein you have a choice of ASCAP, BMI, or SESAC, there is only one PRO to collect this new money: SoundExchange. SoundExchange collects and distributes millions of dollars a year to artists and labels. They have approximately 31,000 artist accounts and approximately 3,500 independent labels as well as the majors. In 2007 they took in $141,546,442 and for 2008 gross revenue is projected to be $154,260,000. Since they claim that their overhead is only about 7%, that means that over 93% of all this new money is getting split between artists and their labels.

Get 25% off and free shipping when you buy Confessions of a Record Producer by Moses Avalon from MusicDispatch.com. Just use the code DM9 when checking out!

Echoes readers get 25% off and free shipping for selected titles from Hal Leonard Books purchased at MusicDispatch.com. Click here to see a list of all eligible titles, and use code DM9 at check out.

Related posts:

1. Music Business 101 – Publishing

9/2/2010 Joseph Lee discusses touch screens and how blind users can use them. He specifically describes the Mobilespeak screen reader with a Windows based cell phone. 19.9 MB

9/1/2010 Earl Harrison explores the features, functions, and benefits of this new digital recorder from Olympus that includes text-to-speech and the ability to play Daisy content. 20.1 MB

Sell your music better and you’ll have resources to make more music, better-sounding music, and get more people to hear it. Here are five tips to help you generate more sales:

1. Believe In Your Product
It’s difficult to look someone in the eye and ask them to buy something that you don’t believe is a good deal for them. If you’re trying to sell a CD to someone for $10 that you believe is worth $5 then you’re going to have a hard time selling it. The idea is to focus on ‘giving’ them something that’s valuable to them at a fair price. You can always tell when someone is just trying to ‘get’ something from you. Don’t underestimate the intelligence and intuition of your fans. Nothing is more powerful in sales than the truth. The first step is creating a product that you believe in. Your belief and enthusiasm will shine through.

2. Examine Your Beliefs About Sales
Sales is really just about connecting people with things that are valuable to them. If you have other feelings that make it difficult for you to sell then you might want to examine your beliefs. Try this: Get out a piece of paper and write the words “People who sell are…” and then write down the first 10 things that come to mind without censoring your thoughts in any way. The first step to changing your beliefs to something more empowering is to become aware of what your beliefs are. You may have had bad experiences in the past or inherited beliefs from your parents that are holding you back. Once you become fully aware of what you believe you have the power to choose and adopt more powerful and supportive beliefs.

If you have a hard time promoting or asking people to buy things from you then you’re going to be severely handicapped in your efforts to make money with your music. If you get these first two right then this should get much easier.

3. Have a Clear Pitch
You need to be clear in your communication from the stage, on your website and beyond. Ex. “We have CDs and T-shirts in the back. Go see Tina – she’s right over there.” Have clear and clean linked images on your website where people can purchase your music and merchandise. Remove obstacles and make buying easy.

4. Repetition, Repetition, Repetition
Sales are not usually made on the first pitch. Tell people more than once that you have CDs and merch for sale. Make your mailing list a priority and put clear purchase links in all of the emails. Selling as an indie artist is not a one-shot deal. You’ll need to build repetition into your strategy and you’ll need to…

5. Build Relationships
Sustained success as an artist isn’t about tit for tat, it’s about giving as much as you can to as many people as you can for as long as you can. It’s about real relationships with people who you care about and who care about you. You don’t need everything to happen for you right now. If you continue to take care of the first four things on this list while building relationships, you’ll be playing the game to win for the long-term.

Related posts:

1. Sell More Than Just Your Music – 9 Quick Tips to Boost Gig Sales.
2. Top 10 Mistakes Artists Make
3. What’s Next for Independent Music Retail?

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Article originally posted on 8/3/10 on HostBaby’s Blog.

Home recording has exploded over the past decade as digital technology has given musicians more and more powerful tools for capturing and mixing music on laptops and desktops. One of the key choices a musician or engineer must make is which DAW to invest time and money into.

What’s a DAW you say? Well, why don’t we see what good ol’ wikipedia says:

“Originated in the early 1980s, the term digital audio workstation (DAW) originally referred to a tape-less, computer-based system such as New England Digital’s Synclavier and Fairlight that used hard drives for media storage. ” – Wikipedia.org (read the full article)

The term DAW accounts for both software and hardware based production systems. However for maximum flexibility we’re going to just concentrate on computer-based DAWs today.

Choosing your DAW is much like shopping for a car. While your friend or co-worker may love their 4-wheel drive SUV, you might not find that it fits your needs as a commuter.  The same goes with DAWs. The main rule to remember in choosing a DAW is that there is no “one DAW solution”.  Though there may be a “one DAW full” solution for you (get it? one-daw-full.  Sorry, couldn’t resist.)  You may not get all your desired features in the DAW that you choose, but it’s important that you get most of them. The key here is to ask yourself “What’s most important to me?”

Here are some points for you to think about when choosing a DAW:

• Price
• Audio Editing vs MIDI Editing Capabilities
• Workflow
• User Interface
• Compatibility with 3rd party hardware/software
• Included Plugins (synths, samplers, effects)
• Update Frequency
• Customer Support
• System Requirements
• Stability

The important thing to remember is do your research. Again, buying a DAW is like buying a car. You want it to last long, fulfill all your needs, be cost worthy, and run well. Like buying a car, don’t buy your DAW on a whim! Read reviews, look at features, visit some forums and get opinions!

Below we’ve listed a number of DAWs. Please keep in mind we can’t list every DAW, as they are numerous. There are also a number of free DAWs out there, but since most of them lack a few key features, we’ve focused on more commercial/paid-for DAWs.

FL Studio

Signature Bundle: $299
Producer Edition: $199
Fruity Edition: $99
Express: $49

Feature Comparison Chart
Download Trial

Platform:  PC

“FL Studio is a full-featured, open architecture, music  production environment capable of audio recording, composing, sequencing and mixing, for the creation of professional quality music. The FL Studio philosophy is creative freedom!”

Reaper

Full License: $225
Discounted License: $60

Download Trial

Platform: Mac/PC

“If you currently use another DAW, you might be reading this because you’re contemplating shelling out $150 for the next over-hyped version that doesn’t address any of the bugs you’ve been complaining about for five years while adding a bunch of features you couldn’t care less about. What does REAPER have to offer you? For starters, REAPER is coded by a small group of dedicated engineers, not multiple software units under the central command of product marketing. That means REAPER is lean, efficient, and stable. REAPER starts up and is ready to record in seconds, balances processing loads intelligently across multicore systems, and doesn’t fall over when you start to tax it. That means you spend more time recording and editing, instead of staring at the start-up splash screen.”

Garageband

Garageband comes with some versions of Mac OSX and iLife ‘09.

There is no downloadable trial.

Platform: Mac

“GarageBand turns your Mac into a full-featured recording studio. Build a beat with the included loops, then plug in a guitar, bass, or microphone. You can even play (or sing) into the mic on your Mac. GarageBand captures the audio and turns it into digital files you can manipulate using a host of recording and mixing tools. It also includes the expertise of a built-in recording engineer, so you always sound your best.”

Logic Studio Pro

Logic Studio Pro: $499
Logic Studio Express: $199

There is no downloadable trial.

Platform: Mac

“Under the hood, GarageBand, Logic Studio, and Logic Express share the same technologies. So when you open your GarageBand projects in Logic, you can start right where you left off. A lot of things will feel familiar, only now you can track a new part with a vintage keyboard or classic synth. Try out endless combinations of virtual amps, speaker cabinets, and pedals. Build up your songs with 20,000 Apple Loops and all six Jam Pack collections. Pull off sophisticated edits and mixes. And bring it all with you to the stage.”

Cubase

Cubase 5: $499
Cubase 5 Studio: $299
Cubase 5 Essentials: $149

Feature Comparison Chart
Download Trial

Platform: PC/Mac

“Steinberg Cubase 5 combines the latest composition and mixing tools with a streamlined workflow to help you bring your creative visions to life.Fully integrated new tools like Loop Mash, Groove Agent ONE, VariAudio und Pitch Correct for working with beats and vocals combined with new enhancements such as VST Expression und REVerence (the first VST3 convolution reverb), a host of additional improvements, and support for Windows Vista 64-bit technologies help you to take your musical creativity to new heights.”

Nuendo

Nuendo 5: $1800

There is no downloadable trial.

Platform:  Mac/PC

“Nuendo 5 is the newest incarnation of Steinberg’s solution for demanding professionals working in audio, live and post production. Nuendo 5 allows for an ADR-like workflow (including EDL support), comes with excellent surround features, and also provides a unique automatable bus-destination routing system that lets you create different mix versions in one go. A completely new video engine guarantees stable video playback in SD and HD, and the ability to work with multi-mono files means industry openness. An array of additional enhancements and 64-bit technologies boost performance and enables Nuendo 5 to handle even the largest projects.”

Digital Performer

Digital Performer 7: $395 (this is listed as the upgrade price from a competitive product)

There is no downloadable trial.

Platform: Mac

“For beginners and experts alike, Digital Performer delivers advanced features in an intuitive, streamlined design. With support for built-in Mac audio and MIDI, you don’t even need additional audio hardware. Whether you’re completing a surround sound DVD, or you just want to write a song and burn a CD or MP3 file, Digital Performer gets you there quickly with elegance and ease.”

Sonar

Cakewalk SONAR Producer: $499
Cakewalk SONAR Studio: $199

There is no downloadable trial.

Platform: PC

“SONAR 8.5 Producer gives you what you need for recording, composing, editing, mixing, and mastering. Get innovations that matter, from exclusive features to ignite creativity and perfect your tracks, to groundbreaking technologies that always keep you in control, all backed by the industry’s leading 64-bit audio quality. And SONAR 8.5 Producer delivers the go-to production tools you want with the best collection of virtual instruments, mixing, and mastering effects found in any DAW. With version 8.5, SONAR continues to innovate on all fronts. New beat creating and arrangement tools, a new drum instrument loaded with stellar kits, enhanced audio quantizing, new multi-stage effect plug-ins, and more combine to make SONAR the most complete, professional, and best sounding DAW on any platform.”

Pro-Tools

Pro-Tools M-Powered: $299

Note: Digidesign does offer much higher packages, however they often are included in bundles that are priced very high.

There is no downloadable trial.

Platform: PC/Mac

“Pro Tools 8 is the most advanced audio creation and production software, featuring a gorgeous new interface, dozens of new virtual instruments and plug-ins, exciting new scoring and MIDI features, amazing new workflows, better ease of use, deeper controller integration, and much, much more. You’ll never work with music or sound the same way again.”

Studio One

Studio One Pro: $449
Studio One Artist: $249

Download Trial

Platform: PC/Mac

“Artists of all levels, from beginner to seasoned professional, will find Studio One a serious alternative to the intimidating, bloated offerings currently considered the standards.  It’s a groundbreaking music creation and production application for Mac OS X and Windows XP/Vista/7 that makes audio recording, MIDI sequencing, and audio mastering ridiculously simple right out of the box. Studio One changes the rules of the game with fresh code, innovative drag-and-drop MIDI mapping and plug-in management, auto-configuration with PreSonus hardware, insanely good audio quality, unlimited tracks and plug-ins per track, and a powerful, inventive Start page.”

Sequel

Sequel: $99

Download Trial

Platform: PC/Mac

“Sequel 2 is a new generation of Steinberg s music creation tool. Simplicity itself to use, Sequel combines recording, editing, mixing, instruments and effects in one affordable, easy-to-learn package. From the creators of Cubase world s most popular music production software – a brand new and easy-to-use music studio designed for first-time computer music enthusiasts. Sequel 2 combines lightning-fast recording, editing and mixing with on-board instruments and effects, plus powerful arranging and performance features. Sequel 2 runs on both PCs and Macs and comes with a massive library of more than 5000 loops, over 600 ready-to-play instrument sounds, stunning effects and the same state-of-the-art audio engine that is preferred by many world-class producers all around the globe. It’s never been more fun to create music on a computer!”

Sony Acid

Acid Pro 7: $299
Acid Music Studio: $64

Download Free Trial (Acid Music Studio)
Download Free Trial (Acid Pro 7)

Platform: PC

“The ACID family of music editing software includes ACID Music Studio and ACID Pro software. Whether you are new to music editing software or a seasoned professional, there is an ACID solution that is perfect for your needs.”

Albeton Live

Albeton Suite 8: $699
Albeton Live 8: $449
Albeton Live Intro: $99

Download Trial

Platform: PC/Mac

“Ableton Suite is a complete software studio. Suite 8 gives you all of the features in Live 8 plus SOUND, with a radically new Library packed with beautiful new sounds and a wealth of useful resources. Suite 8 contains 10 Ableton instruments including synths, a sampler, electric and acoustic drums, mallets, numerous sampled instruments and the new, reworked Operator. Two completely new instruments, Collision and Latin Percussion, round off the set. Ableton Suite 8 is a complete package: the tools AND the sounds.”

Related posts:

1. When It Pays To Have a Home Recording Rig
2. Do You Need a Direct Box for Home Recording?
3. The $999 Home Studio

[Play IHR #82 now] On IHR #82, we celebrate Inside Home Recording’s fifth birthday, Dave talks about an orchestral library shootout, Derek reveals the secrets of public-address audio at Disneyland, our listeners discuss drum replacement and hip-hop mixing, and we contemplate the future of the IHR forums. With Derek K. Miller and Dave Chick. If [...]

8/21/2010 Dean Martineau explains organizing, arranging, and managing home screens on the iDevices, iPhone, iPod Touch, and iPad. 21.9 MB

Article originally published on KnowTheMusicBiz.com on July 20, 2010.

I am sitting at the edge of the Grand Canyon with a teaspoon trying to fill it in. That’s what marketing and self-promotion can feel like in the digital age or at least, that’s the way it feels to me.

I walked into a cavernous Barnes and Noble a few months ago. They opened another location by me on East 86th street in New York. I can’t begin to describe how big it is. I’ve lived in Manhattan my entire adult life so I do a double take when I see wasted space- but this? This place is ridiculous. It completely freaked me out. I felt a primal fear that I haven’t felt since Sylvia Rhone (former CEO of Elektra) used to scream at me- but that’s a whole other blog post. I’ve spent considerably more time than I originally thought I would writing and creating content for various websites and to realize that this one store contained a million or more books and these were just the books that were deemed the best by major publishers meaning the total volume of writing out there is… staggering.

What could I possibly have to offer that wasn’t already written somewhere?

It made me think about the quality of what I write as well as the quality of music being made today.  You really have to be exceptional to make it these days.  It reminded me of a conversation I had with my friend Mark Hermann recently about “just because you can – should you?”

We were talking about music and how there were no more barriers to entry and how on the one hand – what a wonderful freedom! On the other hand – how can we hear any one thing if we are in a stadium full of people screaming and demanding to be heard? Would we know if one of these voices was the next Beatles? Probably not. I love that image and wish I could claim it as my own but it belongs to Mark and I think he’s right on. One of the larger music management companies in New York has a sign on the door that reads “It’s about the music, stupid.” I think we are very quick to forget that these days.

I have been consulting and coaching artists informally for years but have only really begun Musician Coaching as a business in the last year which is when my site went live.  Sometimes I need to spend more time telling people to continue to develop their product and how best to do that because it can be worth the wait. The Beatles wrote a hundred songs before you ever heard note one of their first record and had played covers for several years. R.E.M played pizza joints in Athens Georgia in complete obscurity for a long time. Peter Frampton toured non-stop for three years before recording Frampton comes alive.

I can wake up tomorrow, write and record a song and have it up on MySpace tomorrow but should I? I’m not saying there is anything wrong with doing so but I do think if you are just starting out you should have realistic expectations of your abilities and the level at which you expect people to respond.

Why doesn’t anyone care anymore? It is simply because there is too much mediocrity out there. I say this often “There is no one in the audience because everyone is on the stage.” Cheap recording gear and low or no cost international distribution are now tools that are in everyone’s hands. The music business is no longer an exclusive club – if you’ve got an Internet connection and a mic in jack you can now be considered a member.

“It’s about the music, stupid.” It’s a great reminder. All I am suggesting is write 100 songs and put the best one of those 100 out for people to hear. I am suggesting that if you have to cut your teeth playing live and are struggling making it solo- try to do it as a sideman or a hired gun. 99% of the “overnight success” stories you hear involve someone working their ass off behind the scenes for a long long time before they broke. If you want a good read- check out the Hendrix book “Room Full of mirrors” – Jimmy played 2nd fiddle to a ton of people before going out on his own.

In America there seems to be this feeling that everyone gets their 15 minutes or worse yet- everyone deserves their 15 minutes. We have been sold this vision that at any moment fame and wealth may strike without working for it. There is something tattooed on the back of our brains that somewhere out there Ed McMahon is looking for each and every one of us with an over-sized check and that the rest of our lives will be taken care of from that moment on… I’m all for the Lotto slogan “Hey, you never know” but I’m sure as hell not building my business plan around it.

What is my point? My point is, and I don’t exclude myself, we have to spend less time on marketing and more time making sure we have products that are worth marketing. There is more music out there than ever before- everyone you know is a “musician” or at least a hobbyist and consumers are very jaded. Before shotgunning your product out there and whipping your fans into a frenzy about your new release you had better make damn sure that you have a product that is not only competitive but stronger than most of the stuff you see and hear or it’s over before it starts.

Rick Goetz is a Musician Coach and Music Consultant by way of a fifteen year career as a Major label A&R executive at Atlantic and Elektra Records a musician and a music supervisor. Throughout his career he has played bass for members of the Cult and Sharon Jones & the Dap Kings and on the industry side has worked with artists like Kid Rock, Matchbox 20, Sugar Ray and Damage Plan. His current client list ranges from musicians just starting out to Grammy Award winners to corporations in need of music rights. You can check out Rick at www.MusicianCoaching.com or twitter.com/musiccoaching.

Related posts:

1. Three Ways to Make Money While Making Music
2. Online Music Marketing: 38 Metrics and 7 Tools To Measure ROI
3. 10 Marketing Basics for Musicians

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