Special thanks to Matt Brodka for his design work on this blog,
April 25, 2008
5 Steps To Acheiving Your GoalsIn The Music Business
We all hope to achieve success in many areas of our lives, but sometimes the road to success seems to be paved with difficulties and events that we hadn't planned for.
Most people want everything fast, including success in the music industry, but a microwave mentality is not the way to success. In order to be successful in the music business and in life in general, you need to be in it for the long haul.
The following steps will help you to clearly define what it is that you hope to achieve in the music business and in life as well, so that you can make your goals and make your dreams become a reality.
Things You'll Need:
* A sound mind to realize that you are changing for the better and increasing your finances/prosperity for the rest of your life.
Step1 Take small steps Walking a mile takes about 2,000 steps and you want to be sure to tackle them one at a time. There are no short cuts. And every one of those steps is a tiny success that brings you closer to your goal. The same thing is true of any other big goal. Your goals need to be broken down into tiny steps. Plan your short term goals so you have something within reach to shoot for. Don't make light of little victories. Small successes breed large ones. Ask yourself, what small steps can you take now, that will help you to overcome the huge successes that you wish to see for yourself in the music industry?
Laugh at setbacks
One of the big differences between successful and unsuccessful people is how they respond to setbacks. Successful people are able to laugh off setbacks and get back on track. Having a bad day does not mean you have a bad life. Remind yourself that 10 days forward and one day back still gets you to your goal, so if you have a bad day at the studio, recording or writing that next hit song, shake it off and keep on moving.
Step2 Make it Fun You will keep doing things if you enjoy them. try and only do the things that match your passion and that you like to do it.
If it's something you hate and have to make yourself do, it wont last long term, no matter how much money you make. The goal is to develop a life of spiritual and emotional joy, and that should be part of the payoff along the way.
Make it Convenient If you are a busy person- which I am. you will have to make success convenient. And there is no downside to convenience because it isn't how hard you try; it's the results that matter. For instance, choose to only write songs that make you feel good about yourself and what you are contributing.
Step3 Reward Yourself
Don't estimate the power of rewards. Treating yourself to that new pair of shoes you've wanted may be an appropriate reward that keeps you striving to reach your first short-term goal. Keep the rewards for meeting your main goals and smaller tokens for your daily positive reinforcements. And remember, it pleases God when you take care of yourself.
Step 4 Communication
Communicate effectively. This isn't a one man show, so knowing how to be clear and kind when dealing with others is a skill that will greatly serve you on your path to success.
Step 5 Be a person that DOES!!
One of the most important steps in reaching your goals is to simply take action! Nothing big is ever gained without taking action. In fact I have put together tons of resources that will help you to take any type of action you desire in order to be a success in this industry. Visit my website over at http://clicks.aweber.com/y/ct/?l=I_XsJ&m=1eNZaKmJjOTK6H&b=NF2XofJAFateVxjY9O8egg to see some of them.
Thats it for now, take this post, print it out and tape it up somewhere where you'll see it on a daily basis and be sure to pass it onto others as well, they'll thank you for thinking of them :)
posted by Jambox Entertainment & Recording Studios NYC @ 12:52 PM
These are the 8 reasons why the death of the music industry (as we know it) wont kill off music producers. They shall live for ever.
1. Music producers spark creativity.
It happened when Jay-Z went into the studio and heard Kanye West’s indelible master mix of Bobby Blue Bland’s, “Ain’t No Love in the Heart of the City.” It happened when Timbaland took an unknown pop group on My Space, added his productive flare, synonymous with perfection, to their debut single, “Apologize”, and made it a three-times platinum hit in the U.S. The “it” refers to creativity. Producers, whether in the basement of their homes or a posh office building in Manhattan, spark creativity in the artist. Their ability to mix sounds and create beats is the formula for the “musical coffee” needed to wake a song up!
2. Producing is not just for songs.
A producer provides a creative box or formula for an artist to work with, yet, ironically, their craft envelopes a broad spectrum of creativity. They are constantly thinking and performing outside of the box. The skill of a producer allows them to explore, create, and master production throughout many diverse facets of entertainment. From the score of a major motion picture, to the crash sequence of sounds in a popular video game, neither would be complete without their touch.
3. Record sales are on the decline, but producers’ royalties do not reflect the current market.
The NPD Group, a leading consumer sales tracking company, reported music acquisition increased 6 percent in 2007. However, 48 percent of teens (who purchase most of the music) did not purchase a single CD in the same year (NPD Group Press Release Feb 2008). Digital music acquisition only accounted for 10 percent of music sales in 2007. With that said, there is plenty of music still being recorded, but the sell of it continues to decline. What does this mean to the producer? There will always be music to produce no matter how many people want to buy it.
4. Producers control the fad in music.
This should be so obvious that it doesn’t need to be stated. But it does. We have the Minneapolis manipulated sounds of Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis to thank for the 1980’s. We all hailed Prince’s reign, asked Morris Day, “What Time is it?”, and stood in awe as little Penny from “Good Times,” (Ms. Jackson if ya Nasty!) took “Control.” Teddy Riley infected the early 90’s with the New Jack Swing and had everyone dancing to the “Rump Shaker” influenced beats. Though we’ve only named a few, lest we not forget Dr. Dre who gave us the West Coast invasion of the “G-Funk” (Gangster Funk) sound. Fast forward to the 21st Century and the music industry has witnessed the infectious influence of too many producers to name, from Kanye West, to N.E.R.D, to Will.I.AM, to Dark Child across not only Hip Hop, but all genres of music.
5. Its all relative…and so are producers.
Producers are the chameleons of the music industry. They are not only able to adapt their style to whatever is relevant to the times, but are also able to overcome and change a style that is not conducive to the making of beautiful music. For example, if the current style of music is in need of an extreme makeover, all it takes is one producer to inject his or her sound into the mix of any genre. If the sound is hot, it sets the standard. The same is true if the sound of the times is already hot. A producer can make beats that are in line with the standard his colleagues have already set. Any music lover can relate.
6. We are privy to all of the latest technology to enhance our craft.
Technology has a strong influence on a producer’s ability to create a new sound. The industry has evolved from analog equipment and instruments to all digital. Producers use sophisticated equipment to perfect a sophisticated sound for their artists. Because of the constant changes in technology, they are able to capitalize on the best possible sound production.
7. Artists come often, but a great producer comes few and far between.
The fact of the matter is many can write a hit song, some even have the talent to sing, rap, or play an instrument fairly well. But there is a reason why producers can charge a rate equivalent to the average American’s yearly salary just to produce one song. The reason is not all songs are great. The current state of music today is indicative of this fact. One doesn’t have to be a great singer or song writer to have a hit. But you must have great production. How many times have you cringed at the lyrics of a song or rap, but could not help but bob your head to the beat? Our ears have the beat creators to thank for that.
8. “With this beat, I thee wed.” Everyone needs production.
The relationship between an artist and a producer is a lot like a marriage. Without the producer, a song is just a few words on paper with a melody. A video game is just a cartoon. A movie with no score is just a play. For these reasons and many more, music needs production to be complete.
posted by Jambox Entertainment & Recording Studios NYC @ 9:59 PM
JAMBOX ENTERTAINMENT invites you to our After Work Meet & Greet Week Open House Monday Mar24-Friday Mar28th 5-7pm JAMBOX ENTERTAINMENT & RECORDING STUDIOS 352 Seventh Ave. btw 29th & 30th Suite 203 stop by after work, network with us, have fun. refreshments and drinks served RSVP 212 979-8324
CD RELEASE PARTY "PHASE 1" at "SPOTLIGHT LIVE" in Times Square For The Naked Cowboy
03.07.08 review
So didja make it? Well it turned out to be the stormiest night of the year. Airports closed down, flooding traffic jams and delays abounded and became the norm for the day. Great time to stay home relax and check out a DVD.
NOT SO...for all the troopers that showed their support and came out to The NAKED COWBOY's Pre CD Release Party at Spotlight Live's Penthouse given byJAMBOX ENTERTAINMENT and 4SIGHT Music Propductions(in association with TMR Records, out of Nashville.)
On behalf of JAMBOX Entertainment, 4SIGHT Music Productions, and The Naked cowboy, we all thank you from the bottom of our hearts for coming out and representing on such a rainy nght. But, then again, we are such a relentless breed, and that's just one of the things that makes us special.
We got together and we all got loose and had a BLAST!! Good people, snacks and one helluva kick ass show! Here's how it went down.
Rapper W Gleamz and KANO opened the show. Gleamz (of Brooklyn Zoo fame) is a natural performer. Gleamz and sidekick Kano rocked the house with 2 cuts from their upcoming cd. This group is a much needed breath of fresh air in this hip hop world where everyone wants to sound like everyone else and no one is really bringing anything new to the table. These guys are the new deal! They put on a strong show hightlited with Kano doing an accapella rap from SLLLLOOOOWWWWW to FAST with precision that rivaled Twista
Special personal big up to W Gleamz and Kano. I called them to tell them about the shoe on Thursday 1 day before the show, and they got really amp'd about performing. Only thing, they were all the way in Houston Texas, and we were about to have that storm. So I tried politely to convince them not to come, for their sake. There'll be other gigs I said. Gleamz answered...What time is soundcheck? We'll be there! Sho nuff, 15 min into soundcheck. They arrived soaked from head to toe, but crazy energy...AFTER A 30+ Hr DRIVE FROM HOUSTON TEXAS! They still went on to give every person in the joint a memorable performance...so these guyz are some of the real INDUSTRY WARRIORS...whatever it takes babbee...get it DONE...Gleamz Kano and crew know it. We all love you! Reform Records recording artist Lori Michaels (THE Dyke Diva) and The Girls put on a hard to follow performance. She had the whole place riveted to the stage as she performed cuts from her new about to be released CD. Surrounded by her ultra sexy dancers (The Girls: sultry Kimberly and Sizzling Jamisin Lee), Lori Michaels tore it up. One thing you can always bet the ranch on...Lori Michaels will ALWAYS put on a great performance
Of note: clubbanger "Partay" with mantra: "sway if you're gay, if only for today" NYC Times Sq. icon The Naked Cowboy. Put on a surprisingly good show in his 1st NYC Times Sq. appearance.He performed cuts from his new cd "Year Of The Cowboy" The cowboy whose been doing his regular shtick in Times Sq. has been on tour with his band, so he is developing into a strong performer. Laced with the sexy Lori Michaels and The Girls as backup performers, he provided a strong finish to a stellar show. Performing his hot buzzing single "Get Naked" and anthem type "Get Your Ass Kicked (by a man in his underwear) The Cowboy is really showing out strong.
of note: Just in case you're livng under a rock and haven't heard, NC is suing Mars M&M Candy Co. for 6 mil for trademark infringement... thats right. and... this gig at SPOTLIGHT LIVE was RIGHT NEXT DOOR to Mar co. To add fuel to the fire, Naked Cowboy ads for the show were streaming on the Spotlight Jumbotron . Smack in the face a little? hmmmm.
Naked Cowboys CD has been getting great reviews and making many skeptics heads bounce. Check it out for yourself. You can listen to a sample or purchase it right here: www.nakedcowboysmusic.com You can also purchace it on itunes, cd baby, rhapsody and most digital distributors.
This inspirational short video was sent to me a couple of months ago. I checked it out again today, and just felt I'd be doing a disservive to you by not sharing so, here it is...
posted by Jambox Entertainment & Recording Studios NYC @ 7:56 PM
Gnarls Barkley is back! Last we saw the eccentric oddball pairing of Cee-Lo Green and Danger Mouse they were the auteurs behind what eventually became the pseudo-underground cult album of the year. I say "pseudo" because obviously the music conveys that feel, even though everyone and their grandma was bopping to "Crazy". Well not my grandma. Or Lori's. But everyone else's.
Anyways the GB has returned to the scene, and it sounds like they're packing the the same hip-hop infused soul-groove-thingamajiggy that made their last album St. Elsewhere a hit. Here's the first single, "Run," which features a guest appearance by Justin Timberlake. Remember: it's not a cool edgy video for the kiddies if JT doesn't make a cameo:
And now here's the second one, just leaked yesterday by ?uestlove of The Roots. Pretty sure this isn't the actual video just ?uest playing around with the song itself. But still pretty cool. And you hearing it before "the masses," which makes you cool too!
Hey folks , for those of you that may have missed it, Here's a pic taken by my partner Gman on his new 12 megapixel camera. Great shot. This is how the moon looked right outside of JAMBOX. Check it out now since the next eclipse isn't scheduled till 2010
posted by Jambox Entertainment & Recording Studios NYC @ 9:39 PM
Have you heard of Imogen Heap? Here's the link to here wikipedia entry. I hadn't heard of her until a friend sent me this youtube clip of her making awesome for 103.1 FM (apparently):
Besides being a wonderful introduction to an artist, I like this clip because it's a great example of the music-making process creating wonderful content. Even if the song isn't your cup of tea, the first couple minutes watching her create something out of nothing is still compelling.
I'd encourage artists to take advantage of video, and get footage of them creating their music. There's little downside to having the clips to play with, and visually seeing you create the song might give a track that extra oomph in connecting people with your music. I'm all about Imogen Heap now, and it's all because of this clip.
Maybe we can get Lori or The Referee to shoot a little video magic for us sometime in the near future.
The source: “Rockonomics: The Economics of Popular Music” by Marie Connolly and Alan B.
Recording industry officials have tried legal, legislative, and technical methods to stop teenagers from downloading free music. Nothing has worked. Now performers are responding with their own economic strategies: They are taking their music on the road and boosting ticket prices. The results suggest that the music industry may be facing a deeper crisis than many imagined.
The top 35 pop artists worldwide now earn most of their money from concerts, not recordings. Paul McCartney grossed $64.9 million from concerts in 2002, and $2.2 million from recordings. For Céline Dion, the figures were $22.4 million and $3.1 million; for Britney Spears, $5.5 million and $1.8 million.
“Income from touring exceeded income from record sales by a ratio of 7.5 to 1 in 2002,” write Marie Connolly, a Ph.D. candidate, and Alan B. Krueger, an economist, both of Princeton. “The top 10 percent of artists make [some] money selling records,” manager Scott Welch told the economists. “The rest go on tour.”
Radiohead, which offered its latest album as free downloads last week, has seen 1.2 million downloads of “In Rainbows.” With no label, no promotions, and direct access to fans, Radiohead gave up its music for free and asked for donations, whatever fans deemed reasonable, in return. What the band got was an average of $8 per album sold, bringing estimates of profit to about $10 million. Not too shabby for one week. The number of albums sold in the past week exceeded the launch week sales of its three previous albums combined.
So what’s the takeaway? Artists that are big enough to have this kind of pull can more easily leverage this model. It illustrates the way in which the music industry is changing, and artists are practicing in a new marketplace where production costs are low, the middleman is less important, the Internet is ideal for distribution, and the supply is meeting the demand in a nearly perfect match. Other artists are beginning to take this approach as well, even those with smaller labels and less recognition (we all know that the true longtail of music artists has no choice to to use this model of Internet marketing and distribution).
But as Throwdown pointed out a few weeks back, it’s not the albums that artists make money on–it’s the tours, the t-shirts, and everything else surrounding the actual music, middleman or not.
How bad are the numbers? Well, no rapper was more diminished by 2007 than 50 Cent, who challenged Kanye West to a sales battle and lost. His solid but not thrilling recent album, “Curtis” (Shady/Aftermath/Interscope), has sold about 1.2 million copies, according to Nielsen SoundScan; considering that he’s supposed to be the genre’s biggest star, that’s a disaster. (His 2005 album, “The Massacre,” sold more than five million.) In fact “Curtis” has sold about the same as T. I.’s “T. I. vs. T. I. P.” (Atlantic), the underwhelming and underperforming follow-up to his great 2006 album, “King,” which sold about 1.6 million.
50 Cent, above, challenged Kanye West to a sales battle and lost: Mr. West’s “Graduation” has outsold 50 Cent’s “Curtis” by about half a million copies.
This year veterans like Jay-z and Wu-Tang Clan also returned, pleasing old fans but not, for the most part, making new ones. And Lil Wayne released another slew of great mixtapes — available for free download, not for sale. Meanwhile Mr. West’s “Graduation” (Roc-A-Fella/Island Def Jam), which stands at 1.8 million sold and counting, is the only hip-hop album of the year that really seems like a hit, although he loves to portray himself as outside the hip-hop mainstream. Only one problem: After a year when the hitmaker Fabolous and the bohemian Common sold about equally, as did the BET favorite Yung Joc and the indie-rap alumnus Talib Kweli, it’s not clear that there’s still a hip-hop mainstream to be outside.
Daily Hip-Hop News: SOHH Exclusive: J Records Drops Ruben Studdard written by Janeé Bolden
SOHH has learned that former "American Idol" winner Ruben Studdard has been released from J Records. After a promising start as winner of the second season of "American Idol," Studdard seems to have fallen short of expectations and has been dropped from J. A rep from his label has confirmed the artist's departure to SOHH. Studdard's first J Record release Soulful, released in 2003, is RIAA certified platinum. His 2004 gospel follow up, I Need An Angel also fared well - reaching gold status. However sales of his 2006 project The Return have been unable to match his previous success, moving barely 235,000 copies. Studdard has been putting in work to strengthen other aspects of his career. In November, he spent time touring alongside Robin Givens in a play called "Heaven I Need a Hug" and according to the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, he is currently preparing to play jazz great Fats Waller in a national theatre tour of "Ain't Misbehavin'." more
This blog aims to share with you the day to day crazzzy experiences
here at JAMBOXrecording studio in Midtown NYC.., the music capital
of the world. We'll make it fun, informative, and a home base
with alot of interaction with everyone. Artists, labels, businesses,
radio shows. If it rocks, we'll get it right here!
