#95 Chris Robley- Singer/Songwriter, Blogger, Podcaster & Music Industry Professional!
The featured guest on this episode is Chris Robley. He is a blogger, podcast host and singer-songwriter based in Maine.
Festival Alert for this week is the Tidal X concert in Brooklyn. This year, the streaming platform and partners are supporting criminal justice reform across the country. One hundred percent of ticket proceeds will support non-profit organizations such as #CUT50, Equal Justice Initiative, Innocence Project and REFORM.
There is still time to register for PAS (Percussive Arts Society) and attend PASIC (Percussive Arts Society International Conference) this coming November 14-17th (Not 11th-14th) in Indianapolis, IN.
March 3rd-10th 2019 you can travel to Cuba with Aldo Mazza and his Kosa group.
The iconic recording this week is the “Pinball Number Count” by Walt Kraemer (written in 1976), arranged by Ed Bogas, and released in 1977. It features the Pointer Sisters (all 4 of them)-vox, Andy Narell-steel pans, Mel Martin-sax, David Dunaway-bass, Dave Creamer-guitar, Chick Corea(???)-fender rhodes, George Marsh-drums, & Ralph MacDonald(???)-congas.
The counting of the form is this (the numbers indicate how many beats are in each measure)……
7 - 7 (Intro)
(when the vocals start, the head is…..)
4 - 4 - 3 - 3, 4 - 4 - 3, 4 - 4 - 3 - 4, 4 - 4 - 3 - 3 - 3
The solo section is 14 measures of 4/4 time and one measure of 2/4 time.
Depending on which version (there were several versions, all can be seen in the video above), the ending is the intro again (7 - 7) and a variation of the head.
Music News for this week…..
The Shimon robot can play the marimba and to some extent, improvise short phrases. Philadelphia songwriter, Daniel Marino, was awarded $44 million for being left out of songwriting and publishing credits for work with Usher. The U.S. Copyright Office wants your help and has published a notice of inquiry requesting written comments on how to improve the regulations and practices related to the registration of copyright claims in the digital age. BREAKING NEWS, CD Baby has announced a new partnership to help creators get their works copyrighted fast by partnering with Cosynd. These are the current standings for the fan voting of this year’s Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. You can vote to help induct your favorite artist(s) on the list. Rihanna declines the offer to perform at the Super Bowl, standing (or kneeling) in solidarity with Colin Kaepernick. Pink and Cardi B have also been rumored to have declined the offer. Amy Schumer urged Maroon 5 to also turn down the offer that they have accepted.
The song leading into the interview is “Let You Go” by Chris Robley.
First mentioned is getting a website so you have a “home base/store front” for all of you activities and business dealings. If you are unsure about jumping into a wordpress site or squarespace page, you can start with Bandzoogle for building an artist website, and by clicking our link this provides you with a month for free and then a 15% discount for the year when you sign up. Another site is an About (dot) Me page to get you started as well.
If you are in a band and you write some songs and want to get royalties, you need to figure out percentages and fill out split sheets. You can find more info on the details of that, as well as free templates you can use. Click HERE or HERE.
We talked about what a PRO is and what they can do for you. Here is a comprehensive breakdown. This LINK HERE goes into a little more detail for the PROs overseas (not the USA).
ASCAP on Stage is the site you submit your songlist to to collect royalties for playing live (as ling as the venue pays their live music dues to the different PROs).
Also mentioned is Sound Exchange. This LINK tells you who they are and what they do for you.
Damon mentioned Loudr for getting songs mastered, but that is incorrect. Loudr is for licensing cover songs. So, if you record a cover song and want to release it on your album, you need a license to do so. You can pay for that at Loudr.
The correct company for mastering is called LANDR. Chris mentioned Cloudbounce as another option. A third option is (soon to be friend of the show) Nate Wood. Not only is he a great drummer, (and actually multi-instrumentalist), but he has a state of the art (affordable) mastering suite and actually mastered Damon’s album.
Discmakers has you covered with all your duplication of CD, DVD, Vinyl, Flashdrive, Download Cards and more!
The polaroid package that Damon describes put out by the artist David Ryan Harris can be seen below.
Chris talks about CD Baby for distributing your content worldwide. There are different tiers and options you can choose to fit you best.
If you sign up with CD Baby, you can have an account at Show (dot) Co for use of their music marketing tools.
Soundcloud and Bandcamp still need to be uploaded separately regardless of what distribution service you choose.
Tunecore is an option you can look into to see if that suits your needs.
A couple other sites that can be used are ToneDen for reaching your fans and helping sell your merch. TuneSpeak is a site where being a fan can get you prizes from your favorite artists.
Charles Alexander started a company called Streaming Promotions (and another in the works called Systemic Music)when he wanted to figure out streaming (specifically spotify) for his clients. He has become one of the gurus in understanding this platform, and if you have it in your budget, you might be able to hire him to help you have a presence on a streaming platform.
This is a blog post on how to get your music on spotify playlists. This is the link to the video Chris made in trying to track down the spotify playlist curators. Here is one more link to a collection of blogs that might answer some other spotify questions.
This is a three part interview with Charles on streaming. Part 1, Part 2, & Part 3.
Chris brings up that singles might be a better option to release instead of an album.
When you’re reaching out to music supervisors and playlist curators, you can use this proven email program put together by (friend of the show) Cheryl B. Englehart called Prime Your Pitch.
CD Baby allows you to opt in for Sync Licensing to have your music placed on commercials, TV and films.
Some of the licensing houses for music mentioned are Jingle Punks, Crucial Music, Song Freedom, Getty Images Music, and Rumblefish. Make sure you do your homework and are prepared before reaching out to them. Special shoutout to Alexandra Patsavas and Chop Shop Music.
You can follow Chris on his Website, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Spotify, Apple Music and YouTube.
You can check out CD Baby, The DIY Musician Blog, The CD Baby DIY Musician Podcast, & The DIY Musician Conference
The song leading out of the interview was Louise, Louise, Louise Louise by Chris Robley.
