Everyone will claim the same story in fear that they will be called a hipster otherwise but back in '99 through about '03 I was a frequent Goodwill shopper. I always enjoyed walking in the store and being instantly hit with the odor of some stranger's damp musty basement. Not to mention finding a few pieces of my childhood just laying there on a shelf or two or some pretty neat articles of clothing from yesteryear. Spending time meticulously looking through everything in the store could also net you an Ebay treasure or two as well, score one for bonus bucks!
Not too many people are aware though that Goodwill has their own website (www.shopgoodwill.com) where you can shop in an auction style manner on items from around the country. The best part of all this in particular is the vast selection of musical instruments and equipment. Now you have to take your time here and go through and weed out the massive amounts of FirstAct items but every so often there are some great pieces that you could snag up for very low prices. Some are vintage and some are just off the beaten path which makes it a great place to find a few unusual and unique items.
At the time of writing this, some highlights of the items you could find are:
- Vintage Black Autoharp
- Green River Dulcimer w/case
- Scherl & Roth 3/4 Laminated Stand Up Bass w/case
- Washburn Lyon Electric Guitar
- Vintage "Serenader"
- A Homemade Polka Instrument
- Darelectro "Grilled Cheese" Distortion Pedal
The only catch here is that you have to pay shipping of the item(s) which really isn't that big of deal considering you are paying a fraction of the price for a decent instrument or equipment. For those looking to expand their musical endeavours it is a great place to find experimental items that you normally wouldn't look twice at. Sure they may be used but why spend vast amounts of money when you don't have to? Check it all out at www.shopgoodwill.com
So I was trolling my way through YouTube checking out some videos and trying not to be sidelined by the insane amounts of side swept hair and skinny jeans when I decided to give one or two of these videos a shot. I have no problem with being honest in stating that there are a handful of these bands that I don't mind. But the thing is, this genre _____core (fill in whichever of the five million there are these days) will be viewed ten years from now exactly the way nu-metal is viewed by most people these days. Oddly enough, ten years or more ago when nu-metal was hugely popular it was 80's metal that the kids hated. Pop culture, she's a bitch I tell ya! Anyway I was trying to set my own personal viewing record of one of these videos (the longest being about 32 seconds) when I stumbled upon something. Quickly I viewed the next video in the related videos section and sure enough, there it was again. Video after video for the next half an hour or more I found it again and again. What is it?, you ask. Well, it seems that more and more bands care about a very specific percentage of our population and I don't think any of them will ever admit to it.
The percentage of the population I speak of? I would think it would be obvious that I was speaking about our vast amounts of over weight and obese youth. Alot of these bands have cornered the market when it comes to people under the age of 20. According to Troubledteen101.com, 14% of adolescents in the United States are overweight and believe you me there is no person who is actively in a touring band that likes to bang fatties on a nightly basis. "Bullshit!", you say. "I don't know of a single band or label that goes out and promotes these kinds of things!" Au contraire, my friend. Rise Records specifically loves these same type of bands that are into healthy practices. Not to mention there is Auto-tune a plenty! I understand your thoughts here are one of two things: "Wut??" or "You sir, are fucking crazy!". But alas, I am not crazy at all. Most of these videos almost play out as an aerobics videos with four key exercises. Currently as far as I am aware, none of these exercises have any names or descriptions, so I'm going to do just that. I will also give you some great examples.
-The Toddlertantrum
This is where all or most of the members of the band bounce together in a violent manner throwing there heads down. Adding the action of raising your instrument above your head and bringing it back down can increase resistance, working the arms.
-The Toddlertantrumonapogostick
A variation of the Toddlertantrum, this incorporates full on jumping for working the legs. Specifically the calf muscles.
-The Holyshitsomethingischasingme
Here you have all or most of the members of the band running in place for an unknown amount of time. Tough guy looks on your face or the act of reaching for something that isn't there are a plus.
-The Crabstanceabcrunch
Squat as low to the ground as possible while keeping your back straight and holding your instrument. Holding this position works the mid and lower body quite well. You can also move around slowly on the heels or balls of your feet to get some added resistance to your legs.
Now, let us take a gander or two at a few examples...........
First off let me state that there is just about an endless supply of videos with examples in them. I just happened to randomly choose these four with the exception of the Attack Attack! video and you'll see why.
Here we have the video for "To The Wolves" by The World We Knew. This is the only band in the list that I personally enjoy. They only do one of the four exercises I have mentioned but it gives you a little taste of what I am talking about. Now there are hints of the Toddlertantrum and Crabstanceabcrunch at random points but nothing definite. The key highlight of the video is at the 2:21 mark through 2:31 where we see the Holyshitsomthingischasingme executed by the entire band.
This is the video for "A Prophecy" by Asking Alexandria. I will say that the one thing that these fellas did right was film in the rain to keep from sweating. Video highlights include the Toddlertantrumonapogostick at the 0:23 mark with the entire band performing the exercise at the 0:43 and 3:20 marks. You will also see the Toddlertantrum at the 0:32 mark with the entire band doing it at the 1:07 and the 2:51 marks. These guys take the Toddlertantrum even further by doing a rep or two while raising their instruments above their heads and bringing them back down at the 3:20 mark.
Next up is the video for Abandon All Ship's "Take One Last Breath". For some reason their lead vocalist sticks out like a sore thumb to me. I mean, where the hell is the longer side swept hair?? Plus he looks as though he could have been cousin Vinny's grandson had they made a few sequels to My Cousin Vinny. There is even a bonus Guido Fist Pump at the 1:00 mark. Exercise highlights include the Toddlertantrumonapogostick starting at the 0:15 mark with the entire band going to town at the 0:21 mark. At 2:06 we see bits of the Holyshitsomethingischasingme followed by the Toddlertantrum at 2:42.
Now for the Creme de la Creme if you will. This band and video raises the bar completely by giving you all for exercises in one place. Ladies and Gentlemen, I give you......"Stick Stickly" by Attack Attack! Most of the "big four" run throughout the entire video. The Toddlertantrum starts early at the 0:08 mark and they even step up their game for the haters by doing a rep while raising their instruments above their heads and bringing them back down at 0:59. You can see sporadic bits of Toddertantrumonapogostick around the 1:02 mark. They even pull out all the stops and we see the Crabstanceabcrunch at 1:17 and 2:41. Last but not least they top all of this greatness off with the Holyshitsomethingischasingme with just the lead vocalist @ 1:37 and the entire band going bonkers at 2:53. Thats how Attack Attack! rolls sucka!
So if you follow a good diet and use these four basic exercises on a consistent basis, you too could have a record contract in you hands in no time. You'll also be a few pounds lighter. Hell, I don't even think you need all that much talent in playing your instrument. You certainly don't need to have any vocal abilities (once again, its why the good lord invented Auto-tune!) And who says that music doesn't give back to the community??
Don't let the title get your panties in a bunch, not all kids these days are lazy as hell. There are quite a few individuals out there that are highly driven by their love of one thing or another. But really, one useful tool I have noticed making it's painful jaunt in the same direction as the late 90's swing movement is the Street Team. Wikipedia (the only place for cold hard facts, ha!) defines a Street Team as a term used in marketing to describe a group of people who "hit the streets" promoting an event or a product. "Street Teams" are a powerful promotional tool that has been adopted industry wide as a standard line in marketing budgets by entertainment companies, record labels, the tech industry, corporate brand marketers, new media companies and direct marketers worldwide. Please correct me if I am wrong but at one point in time it seemed as though you couldn't get away from the damn things. They were everywhere and there was hardly a product, brand, or band that didn't have one. Now, in my time, I was only involved in one local Street Team which was for Spine Productions out of the Bloomington/Normal area so my knowledge is a bit limited. Or, maybe my age is just showing and I'm not hip enough for the times but lets take a look at Street Teams and why I believe they should still be a relevant way of getting the word out to the masses. We will also take a look at why I believe social networking has hindered the ability of the Street Team, in turn, making the entire process a bit lazy.
Its a simple win-win for everyone involved:
Please read over this segment of a statement from the Wiki article again: "Street Teams" are a powerful promotional tool........Not only are they a powerful promotional tool but for the band being promoted, there is very little to no cost at all for the promotion. There are a few different ways that Street Teams work:
1.) Proof of your activities. This is where you would get a picture of yourself hanging up/handing out flyers or a picture of a display you may have made at a local record store.
2.) A "diary" entry of the different ways you may have promoted in which you would log the date and times of activities done. Pictures would also be added here.
Either way the outcome is nearly the same, compensation. The individuals representing the band being promoted would either compensate you with various items or you would be awarded points that you could save up or turn in for rewards. For the most part the rewards are worth your time and effort, things like limited edition merchandise, free concert tickets, meet and greets, etc. made it a pretty appealing and lucrative venture for your time. When all is said and done the rewards as well as the promotional material sent out to Street Team members are a minimal expense in the marketing phase for the band. Not to mention, the fan who supports the band by putting time and effort into the Street Team is compensated for all of their time with items that few individuals get access to.
Social networking and the lazy factor:
Don't get me wrong here, there is a very good chance that you may have learned about this site from one social networking resource or another. They are certainly not the Antichrist and can help spread the word of your band extremely quickly. So where does the laziness come into play? The lack of footwork and actual use of physical items. It is all too easy these days to make a status update with a link to a YouTube video. Social networking has left a majority of us with the attention spans of a goldfish so its status update then off to find the next unknown "cool" to share with our friends. Generally if I see someone taking the time and effort into getting my attention, I usually give the effort more than just a quick glance. With social networking, its just not so. The people with actual talent tend to get buried and forgotten about because there is just too much going on in a short amount of time and the "meh" process begins. There has gotten to be an elitist attitude where people assume you know all the information is out there because one or two status updates had been made.
To give everyone a better view of what it is like to be a part of a Street Team, I contacted a friend who has been involved in more Street Teams then anyone else I have ever known. The following are my questions and her answers:
Q: How many street teams have you been involved with?
A: Oh lord lets see...
I have been on 5 Street teams: Astralwerks, RoadRunner, Century Media, Street Wise and Matador Records.
Q: How hard is it to get involved with a Street Team?
A: It was easy to get involved: You'd just email them, give them a little info about where you lived, what the town was like and the music scene here and that was it. They use to have links on their main web pages for street teams as well. Doubt they do anymore.
Q: What was the first street team that you actively became a member of? Why?
A: I *think* it was Astralwerks. I don't really know why, but I joined. Probably because I just started working at Co-op and wanted to get more promo stuff in for the store.
Q: What were some of the pros/cons of being involved with a Street Team?
A: Pros: Free cds, promo stuff, free shows and sometimes backstage. Cons: Handing out flyers at concerts. The worst thing ever. No one wants your shitty flyer, even if it's for a band they like.
Q: Normally, when being extremely active in a street team, the band or label you are helping to promote will ususally compensate your time in free merch of some sort....what was the best thing you have ever gotten as compensation?
A: Best thing I ever got: I was PAID to be on Astralwerks for a short time before they let me go due to they wanted to focus more on bigger cities (which I didn't blame them). I think I got around $300/month for about 4 months. At that time, Astralwerks was mainly a electronic label, lots of obscure bands. Now they've stepped it up and broadened their horizons.
Q: Do you have any advice for someone that has found a Street Team they would like to be apart of?
A: Advice: Good luck! Their basically non-existing anymore, at least IRL. Now it's all internet promotions. Hell, Roadrunner rarely even contacts us for stock checks. If you have some internet savy to you, and are apart of a lot of message boards, that is probably a plus. Many times they'll want you to post a banner, or something to that nature. But good luck trying to get them to send you anything physical anymore.
When it comes right down to it in today's age the right people can help take your band's promotion to the next level at a very minimal cost. Not to mention having a focused person or group of people on your side can really help spread the word without having to rely exclusively on social networking making the promotion stand out that much more.
No doubt, your mp3 collection is probably nearing the quantity of particles there are in the universe, but, really, how many did you pay for? While Amazon tries to improve its data and win over more users, they're pushing down their prices to compete with iTunes. Their top 100 songs are being sold at $0.69. Consider a 10 song album for $5, that's $0.50 per track. The best part? Amazon is taking the hit for the sake of data and marketshare. The price decrease isn't affecting the artists' return. This is your chance to give back.
I spent some time trudging through about 1000 of the 1500 albums being sold for $5 and picked out some of my favorites. For fun, I've also listed iTunes' price for the same album. You can check out Amazon's complete list here. Have I missed some great albums? Let us know in the comments.
Genres have become so obscure and great in number that I'm going to divide this list by two properties: light and heavy. Otherwise, each and every one of them would be in their own category. This is partly in hopes that bands will not be ignored on the basis that they have been minutely misdescribed or misinterpreted by some small generic title.
You get your first guitar, learn all of your favorite band's songs, and play them in your room with one foot on your chair, as a small fan blows your long, metal hair into a messy array of tentacles whipping oxygen into carbon dioxide, effectively killing all living things around you (well, besides the plants). At least, that's how it goes in your head, as you imagine yourself on stage, in front of thousands of fans throwing up their rolling fingers, motioning “meedly meedly” with their mouths. (This is all happening in slow motion, of course.) Along with that is the assumption that you're not playing on your $300 dollar guitar and a tiny amp that's hooked to your belt. You've got a wall of cabs behind you, right? I mean, after all, you're banking hard.
It's the rockstar dream. We've all been there, at least once, before we accept that it'll likely never happen. Some of us keep telling ourselves that we don't care. In fact, we'd rather be underground, poor, and doing it for ourselves, our fans, and for the love of the music. It's almost tacitly assumed that we're either rich or we're poor in the music industry. But, does it have to be that way? Not any more.
The Music Industry: Then And Now
Let's look at how the industry has changed. Paul Resnikoff of Digital Music News released a series of charts portraying the difference in revenue contributions by format over the last 10 years. (Note: The information in the charts comes from data based on RIAA figures.)
Here's what the music industry revenue scene looked like in 2000:
CD sales dominated alternate revenue streams, mostly for the reason that 2000 was largely prior to the advent of the digital music age. (MySpace and the iTunes Music Store weren't even founded until 2003.) For a band, that means the distribution of their music relied heavily on creating a physical product and spreading it as far as their little arms could reach. Tour, tour, tour and pass out as many CDs as possible. That costs money and that's exactly what a new band lacks.
What does the industry look like today? (Well, last year. You can see the change, year by year, here.)
You'll quickly notice that, not only have CD sales drastically decreased, but all sorts of new formats have cropped up: Mobile, Subscription, Download Album, Download Single, etc. These are the kinds of formats that people are using to consume music. You want to be on the up and coming and that's digital distribution. Physical CD sales are dropping. (An interesting point is that LP/EP sales have increased. Now that physical copies are no longer as heavily desired, when we do get physical copies, it seems some are opting for the more interesting, novel formats.)
*If you're going to do physical media, do something unique. Include a free digital download coupon, if it's Vinyl.
All of this should seem fairly obvious to you. Physical is moving out and digital is moving in. It's been here a while, actually. Now you just have a graph. But, here's where we get to the important bit: You now have more power than ever. The creation of a physical product (including recording costs), along with distribution and, most importantly, marketing that product to the masses, was an expensive endeavor. Now that these digital formats are so popular, we can play the game in a whole new way.
Creating The Album
Record your own music. You can get an Mbox with Pro Tools for less than $300 dollars. In fact, you can get all kinds of interfaces that include a DAW (Digital Audio Workstation) on the cheap.
I think a lot of bands are initially turned off by this. (Although, this is becoming less and less the case.) First, it's a hell of a lot of work. You're going to have to learn how to use the software. The learning curve is not exactly forgiving. Inevitably, some of your sonic potential will be suppressed by your ability to merely operate the virtual knobs on the screen – and that's after you figure out what they're suppose to do. But, why isn't that okay? Surely, some of the music you write is already suppressed by your ability to play your instrument. What do you do? You practice and you get better.
Second, recording at a studio, or even having a friend do your recording at a low hourly rate, can get expensive, real quick. The studio is where you find out the bass player didn't actually know some of the riffs and that the drummer never actually set those fills in stone. It's when you find out the guitar player is smooth as butter on stage and shaky as a vibrator when that little red recording light is flashing. Time is money and by the time you're done, you could have probably bought all the equipment you needed to do a rough take of your own. Sure, it might not be as good, but you've just gained a skill. You put out what you can, to the best of your ability, and use the momentum it drives with shows and the money you make from merch to work on the next one. On the plus side, now that you own the equipment, you can take as long as you need.
There are also sites that will help you raise the money you need to create an album. Of course, in order to rally support, you'll likely need some kind of following to begin with and evidence of your dedication. Look in to these sites after you've taken matters in to your own hands by doing some recordings of your own. There are people out there who will support good music with their hard earned cash and you can use that money to improve the quality of product you're able to make by buying the equipment you need.
Kickstarter is an interesting way to raise funds for a project. You keep all the rights. If you aren't able to raise your goal, all the money is returned to the supporters.
On Kickstarter's second birthday, April 28th, they released some great data regarding their projects and their success rates. The following graph indicates fan-funding by category.
You'll see Music standing proudly in second place, just under Film. Over the course of 2 years, fans have poured $13,094,547 of their hard earned cash into various music related projects.
Of more than 20,000 projects (spanning all categories) that have launched on Kickstarter, over 90% are successful if they are able to raise at least 30% of their projected goal. Kickstarter reveals that only one project that raised 30% of its goal failed to, in the end, successfully reach its goal.
The overall success rate for a project started on Kickstarter, according to data accumulated over the past 2 years, is 43%. This is much higher than their expected success rate of 5%, but, they concede, it's hard to say what is good or bad on this new model.
Keep up with technology. If you planned on just making a bunch of CDs and selling them at shows, you're screwing yourself. Remember that chart? There are all kinds of ways that people will hear about your music and you've got to have the options in place to handle those requests. Never let someone steal your music because they couldn't find out where to purchase it online. Then, it's practically your fault, isn't it? If they're going to steal it, let your hands be clean of it.
So, how do you get your music to where all the people are? Check out some of these services, if you haven't already.
Aside from the services being offered, there is something a little more subtle you can take away from this video. You should be treating your band like a business. Each member needs to take on some responsibility, such as distribution, social media/marketing, and recording, to name a few.
One of your first questions might be, “How much?” It's $9.99 a month. (Sell a shirt?) If you want a recorded demo of the features, check out this video.
For an upfront fee ($10/Single, $50/album), TuneCore can get your albums on iTunes, Amazon MP3, eMusic, Zune, and several other digital distribution services. Of course, some of this is possible to do on your own, if you're willing to put the time in to it and keep track of everything yourself. The nice part about TuneCore is you have a centralized location to view sales and collect your money.
The Point
The music industry is changing and the power is shifting into the hands of the bands. New technology is allowing artists to fill the role that record labels have been/should have been filling for a long time. In fact, some record labels are using web tools like TopSpin, themselves. Why not cut out the middle man? As musicians, we need to have a mindset that matches the current state of the industry. Treat your band as an entrepreneurial start up. Take time to read news, keep track of technology, engage your fans and don't be afraid to market yourself. Lose the getting-signed-will-solve-our-problems mentality. If you treat your band like a business, you're building a foundation that can allow you to succeed doing something you love, even if you're never picked up by a label. And, maybe you'll never need one at all.
Some people come into the world with different abilities that exceed the normal populace, the young boy who played with toy cars grows up to love racing or the little girl who sorted out her Skittles by color goes through life loving numbers and becomes a talented accountant. I have always found a love for music. But, it would seem that I am in somewhat of my own nitche as I am not great at any one particular thing but I'm more ok or decent at a bunch of things collectively. These latter days I'm discovering that my love for technology (mainly video games) was really a colossal waste of time and did absolutely nothing but hold me back from learning how to play an instrument or do something much more productive and I'm hating myself for it.
As far back as I can remember music and the arts have been a huge part of my life. My mother once told me that she would sit me in front of the television, turn on MTV, and I would be completely focused on it for hours. Keep in mind that this was when that channel wasn't an absolute shit pile.......they played music videos, actual music videos! As it turns out the video for J. Geils Band's Centerfold was one of my favorites.
It would be in these younger days that I would start to sneak down into the basement and go through my parents vinyl collection. I loved everything about it especially the musty smell and the album artwork. One that still particularly sticks out in my mind is Elton John's Captain Fantastic & The Brown Dirt Cowboy. There are a shit ton of awesome things happening in the album's artwork.....I still find myself pulling it out of their collection every now and then when I am at home visiting.
Fast forward a few years and I'm fifteen years old and about to see my first concert "on my own". By this I mean that my folks took me to the venue and dropped me off with a friend. The bands.....Goldfinger and The Bloodhound Gang. I've written about it before here and there but this will always remain a life changing night for me as it would give me an absolute love of seeing a live show that I will always have and I met people who to this day remain really close friends. After that, I was hooked and would go to a live show at any chance I would get even if I didn't even really enjoy the bands that were playing. At that time it was one of the Madison Theater's hay days and there would be a live act playing damn near every weekend. A couple of years and a string of Madison shows later I would learn of local bands playing at places like Tiamat Records, The Vineyard, and the East Peoria Legion Hall. Being the wise young lad that I was, I picked up my first job and thought it would be a great idea to work later hours so I could sleep in. I missed alot of shows because of this decision but went to them when I could.
Since that time, I've gotten married and started a family but I've always tried to keep my eyes and ears open to the local scene. My love for music still remains as strong as ever and I have no doubt in my mind that one day I will be the creepy old guy that still goes to concerts and hangs out in the back and I couldn't be any happier about that. In fact, it is that driving force that has made me step back out and revisit the talent that Peoria has to offer. With thepeoriacollective.com my goal is to have fun while passing on information. Even with today's social networking abilities I consistently run into people that would attend local events if they knew when and where they were. Thats where the site comes in......we are just a few like minded individuals that want to shine a light on the somewhat hidden talents of the area in which we live.
Thanks for taking the time to read my own little lame history. This will be the first post of many and I hope that this site will continue to grow. If you have any input at all please do not hesitate to let me know good or bad I would love to hear from you.
Everyone will claim the same story in fear that they will be called a hipster otherwise but back in '99 through about '03 I was a frequent Goodwill shopper. I always enjoyed walking in the store and being instantly hit with the odor of some stranger's damp musty basement. Not to mention finding a few pieces of my childhood just laying there on a shelf or two or some pretty neat articles of clothing from yesteryear. Spending time meticulously looking through everything in the store could also net you an Ebay treasure or two as well, score one for bonus bucks!
