Pirate bay to be blocked in Ireland

  On Wednesday the 12^th of June 2013 SIX IRISH INTERNET service providers have been ordered by the High Court to block access to The Pirate Bay website. Justice Brian McGovern issued an order which had been drafted by music publishers EMI, Sony, Universal Music and Warner Music in collaboration with the six internet providers. The order will apply not only to any current incarnation of The Pirate Bay, but any other address at which the service becomes available in future according to Journal.ie

  The Irish independent reported that UP to 20 internet sites are to be targeted by an organisation representing record companies in a move to stamp out the illegal pirating of music and other copyright material.

  EMI, Sony, Warner Music and Universal had alleged the Pirate Bay activities were causing them €20m in losses annually and sought the orders against UPC, Imagine, Vodafone, Digiweb, Hutchison 3G Ltd and Telefonica O2 Ireland Ltd.

  €20 million? So basically they are saying that if Pirate bay is blocked, there will be 2 million more albums sold in Ireland? How on earth do they get away with these figures?

   Here is my two cents worth on the subject. First of all this imaginary €20 million, lets just say that it would be true, that in Ireland last year Pirate bay took away €20 million worth of album sales. I will use some U.S. Statistics here to compare as I do not have the exact Irish figures. In USA 2012 the independent labels had a record braking year by getting a whopping 32.6% of the market share, according to The Nielsen Company & Billboard's 2012 Music Industry Report. There are some quite large Independent Labels in USA, so I would hazard a guess that In Ireland the major label share is bigger, but that's just my guess. So anyway, according to this information next year the Irish independent record labels would make extra 6.5 million thanks to this court ruling? Now does any one seriously believe this? If so, we're all on for a great year ;-) Personally I have my doubts... 

   Second thing here is much more important to me. So now the Irish government and the high court decides what websites we can access? Now don't take me for a fool, I'm sure there has been certain level of censorship happening all along (just my suspicion , not a proven fact), but now it is official that Irish government will openly do this. And especially when big corporate companies Like the above mentioned major labels pushes them... What happened to freedom of information? I for one am furious!!!

Bob Baker sharing some of his best advice

  Here is a great little inspirational video from Bob Baker ( http://music-promotion-blog.blogspot.ie ).
For those of you who don't know of Bob Baker, check him out. He has some very valuable information for musicians who wants to go the independent rout. I have mentioned him before here, but he really provides wealth of information time and time again.




  Just a quick point here though. From time to time, I think it is ok to slow things down a bit and use this time to do some of the research Bob mentioned in the beginning of his video. I mean it is great to have a good game plan and go for it with blazing guns. But from time to time it is good to take a break and refocus.

  I know it looks like we have disappeared from the planet, but quite contrary we have been busy preparing lots of things. Soon you will hear more from us:-) On Saturday the 10th we are back playing live in the Pint. More info on this and many more things to follow soon.

  J.P.

Are the days of promoting your band on the Facebook gone?

Part 95

  Why is it that every time you come across some great promotional tool, service, company etc. Eventually there comes a time at the end of the story when they ask for your credit card details? I am not saying you can buy your self a career, but you most certainly can buy your self a small bit of fame, if you wish to do so. Then we have the great promotional tools like the Facebook. But hold on, once again they changed something... If you have a band profile on Facebook, you have under every post a number that represents how many people your post has reached and a percentage of how many that is from your total fans. On average on posts that posted in the past month or so, the reach is around 19%. Once the post is up for longer time, I am happy if it reaches 40% in a month. So not so good news for the next show you are putting on. Seems like you got to go back to the good old fashioned posters... Unless people not only like your band page, but also subscribe to your news feed, most of them wont see your posts... Why is this? Well it comes down to the same thing, they are hoping to get your credit card details. Beside the reach figure there is a promote drop down menu, that promises to reach about 1500 of your fans for €5. That is if you have 1500 fans and I am still wondering what happens to your money if you don't... So yeah, here is the bad news, Facebook as it is right now, does not work as a free promotional tool. What bugs me even more is the fact that once again they decided to do this without letting us know and in the shadow of the company entering the stock market. Seven months ago it was very easy for me to reach about two to three hundred people a day with this blog, but just due to a small change in the Facebook, those days are gone. And I can only imagine how many bands put on shows, posted it on Facebook, and their fans actually never heard about it until long after the show.

  So here we go, if you are reading this blog, you have been warned! And once again we go back to the old truth, you need your website and your mailing list. No social media site is going to ever replace these tools.

     J.P.

Concert cancellation and how to deal with it

Part 84

Picture by www.music-shoots.com You can find him also on Facebook:http://www.facebook.com/MusicShoots

 
  In this weeks blog I'd like to talk about when things go wrong. Last night we were supposed to have the JPKALLIO.COM's first concert of the year and our first concert as a four piece. We had been practicing a lot to get Patryk up to speed with the songs and it was all sounding great. We decided to have one more rehearsal in the afternoon before the gig and every one turned up at the rehearsal rooms. While playing the songs, I started to feel pretty confident. Our hard work had payed off, the band was playing well, all the elements joined together in to one unit. These moments are rare, but when they come by it feels great. We had rehearsed 10 songs so far, that Patryk had put his own flare to and we were ready to go out and play live. We had done all our promotional work as well. We blogged, twittered and promoted the concert on facebook. We sent text messages to all our friends and followers on our mailing list. We had told every one about the show. I was also hoping to capture some video from the show, as to document our first show as four piece.


   Then the bad news came in... Two hours before the show time, tonight's concert was canceled. My heart sank... This was not supposed to be part of the plan. Not sure of the details exactly but I could hear from the promoters tone of voice that things were not going to his way and he promised to put on few weeks down the line. What followed was frantic texting and posting on social media, trying to let people know that the gig was canceled. I can tell you, it is not a nice situation to be in. You do feel like you are letting everyone down, even when it is out of your hands.

   In my 15 year career as a musician, I could probably count with my fingers how many times this has happened. So what do you do when this happens? Do you go on a rant on how you will never work with this venue/ Promoter? Do you curl in a ball and cry? No, you will get on with it. Be understanding to the promoter, they obviously are not having a great day and what ever frustration you are feeling, I'm pretty sure they are feeling it ten times more. If this happens regularly with the same venue or promoter, then it is different story. I personally think it is the responsibility of every one involved to try to get the message to as many people as possible, to avoid people making the trip for nothing. But at the same time, there is only so much you can do. So you get on with things, like we did. Instead we played a longer rehearsal and after went for a pint first time as a band all four of us. Most of all, we concentrated on the next concert, which by the way is in the Adelaide bar in Sligo on the 13th of April. Any one fancy a road trip? Also we were supposed to be playing last night with the wonderful Kerouac, but now we will be playing together in the Thomas House on the 4th of May, this is going to be a great night:-)

   The point is, music is very turbulent business and things will go wrong. When they do, you pick your self up and go again. What does not kill you, only makes you stronger!

   Once again, our apologies for any one who did not get the news in time and made the trip for nothing. We hope to see you all soon at one of our shows soon.

    J.P.

Must-Follow Music Business Blogs

Part 76

  When you write a blog that has anything to do with music business, you are always on a look out for other bloggers. Some of these bloggers have a wealth of information to share, so I thought I'd mention few of my favorite ones here. I have mentioned in the past Bob Bakers Indie music promotion blog at: http://music-promotion-blog.blogspot.com/  and I am sure I will mention it again in the future. This blog must have been one of the first ones that I started following, and I must admit it has changed my way of looking at the music business big time! Now much later I came across Chris Rocketts blog Promote your music at: http://www.promoteyourmusic.net. Even though internet promotion for your music is pretty global thing, both of these blogs occasionally do include the good old fashioned street level promotion (gigs, etc). So what attracted me towards Chris's blog lately is the fact that he is based in London, which not only geographically is closer to Dublin, but also this “street level” stuff work much in the same way than in Dublin. Chris also has more hands on mentoring glasses, where you get more one on one guidance for small fee. But at the moment he is offering some of his lucky followers years access in to his Music marketing classroom. Chris really do have some serious ideas to share, so if you are looking to get a bit of a boost to your music promotion, this would be a great place to start. Check out the competition at: http://www.promoteyourmusic.net/music-marketing/win-music-marketing-classroom/comment-page-1#comment-860

Here is also a video to explain how it all works:



  Both Bob and Chris are great examples of the welth of information on the net to help you on your music career. Other two blogs I would need to mention here, and highly recomend you follow them: Brian Thompsons Thorny Bleeder has been a source of so much up to date info in the past few years for me. He's daily news letter is priceless! You can find his blog at: http://www.thornybleeder.com/ . And another great blog is Michael Branvolds: http://www.michaelbrandvold.com/
  There are hundreds, if not even thousands more out there (including yours truely), so keep looking. You can and will learn something new every day. Do you follow some music business, or otherwise music related blogs? If so, post them here in the comments for all of us to discover.
   J.P.

Work hard and smart in the music business

Part 75

  On a trip back home to Finland over the holidays I was reading n in flight magazine of certain Finish airline who I shall not mention here (until they sponsor me with bag full of free flights). There was an article on Finnish working mentality. Finns are known for being hard workers, but this does not mean we work every waking hour... well... not in general anyway. We use term work hard, work smart. The term stayed with me and has been playing around my head since then. It is very often you can get overwhelmed on all this promotional stuff in your music career and I think implementing this way of thinking can be pretty crucial to your success. Sometimes music business can feel like looking for a needle in a hay stack. You need to turn over every rock, look around every corner even for a small bit of success. Personally I find when you spend as much time on this as I do, the tools you use become very important, this is where that Finish work hard, work smart comes in play. So lets start from a few simple task management things. I hear you say how hard it is to find time to do everything and especially if you have full time job as well. It is very important you get organized. Arrange your schedules for the week. See when you have the band rehearsals, see when other parts of everyday life take over and what amount of time you are willing to commit to the promoting of the band. Now let me be honest here, it does take lots of time, and there are tasks along the way, that will require longer than hour here or there. But still you can be smart about your time. So lets say you have only one our at a time, maybe three to four times a week. For these precious hours to make difference you need to work smart. I have learned to work on the move, so give me a corner of an airport with WiFi and I am good, but it took me time to get to that point. To get organized I started in my small office (probably bit smaller than your average box room), desk, computer and a note pad. Decide what it is you want to do today, find a new concert for your band, create a video, locate a good studio for your next recording, work on your website or social media sites etc. Now decide how much of your time you want to dedicate for this task. Set out to do this task and only this task! Turn of your Facebook chat, only answer urgent phone calls and get the task done. Trust me on this one, you'll be surprised how much more productive you can get this way.

   Now as to tools. One simple bit of advice I can give you that probably has saved me minutes every day, and probably hours every week: for the love of all the good things... stop using Internet explorer and swap over to Google chrome. Now this is very specifically advice for PC, on mac I believe Safari is still the way to go. But there is nothing more frustrating than spending time waiting for your browser opening the simplest pages... Firefox is good, but in my experience Chrome is still faster, especially when you start running multiple tabs. So do your self a favor and try it out.

   Another simple tool that you should never under estimate is the simple note pad. And here I don't mean the one in windows, but the one you should have beside your computer and you write with pen;-). Write down all your ideas as they pop up. This can be lot more effective than you think.

   What are your tools you for making you work smarter?

   Talk to you more next week.

      J.P.

Music before Business

Part 72

    We get so often lost in the world of all this modern music marketing, your YouTube views, twitter followers, Facebook likes and so on, that sometimes we can forget what is the most important thing. You need to have a good song and a band that can make them sound great. I do wave the flag for all the tools of modern music business and for your DIY recordings and all that, but this is only going to work if you have good product to start off with and by this I mean well rehearsed kick ass songs. Only then can you set out to record them. To do this you do need some skill. I know you can buy a Pro tools set up for next to nothing compared to what they used to be, but all that fancy gear means nothing unless you know what to do with it. I am not saying that this is something you cant learn and do, but sometimes we just assume if we get the gear then it all gets done.

    You have to remember that music business very often can be all about the first impression. Sure there were bands over the years who were not so great to start with, but learned to play along the years. The thing is that there is so much music out there today, that for you to stand out, you really need to be better than good, you need to be great. You need to stand out from the crowd. Ok again there have been exceptions to this, where some acts get past it all by some freak elements. But I personally don't think you can create any sustainability by blowing through YouTube charts with great visuals, but no substance in the music. There is a reason the music comes before the business;-)

    And I would also go as far as saying this comes down to individual members of the band. Your band is only as good as its weakest link. So man up and take responsibility for your own playing. If it needs work, put the hours in to it! Only way to get better as a musician is to practice. You won't find the answer to the almighty question of how to get a record deal on the net if your music is not ready yet. Make sure you can play in time and accurately. There is nothing worse than listening to some one try to play a guitar solo when they just can't... If you can't play it note to note perfect slowly, what on earth makes you think you can play it fast. Oh yeah, and lets throw in as much distortion as there is on the tap to cover up any fluffs... I think over thinking your own abilities can be sure way to slow down or even stop your progress, trust me on this one, I was there once. The day you admit to your self that you know very little and you need to learn so much more, is the day you start the road to real development. There is that old saying that it takes 10000 hours to get good at something. So if you worked 40 hour weeks on your playing, it would still take nearly five years before you could even think getting close of perfecting an instrument. And personally I don't think any one can perfect an instrument, as music evolves all the time.

    You know, it is one thing playing in front of all your friends and them cheering you on, but until you play in front of lets say thousand strangers and they all think you are amazing, only then you will be moving heads and it will be a matter of time when you either get offers for record contract, or you have the required skills to put out your own records.

    And to go back to the “product” meaning your songs, it is exactly the same thing. No one is the best songwriter in the world naturally. It takes work. You need to work on your song writing as much as you work on your playing. “Ah, but songwriting is an art” you might say. Well yeah, but it is also very much a craft that requires some serious skill.

   So if you want to take your music seriously, start practicing seriously:-)

   J.P.

A&R and Festivals, oh yeah and Merry Christmas

http://www.freedigitalphotos.net/images/view_photog.php?photogid=2365

   Last week I went on bit about how music business is more about hard work than luck. I thought I'd look little bit more in to this as there are lot of us out there dreaming about the big break. First let’s look at the record company "thing" and how it has evolved in the past, let’s say ten years. I still get blown away how bands and musicians still believe everything works the same it did twenty years ago. So let’s look in to few major changes in the business that so many people seem to be in denial about.

   I mentioned the word A&R quite few times last week. A&R stands for Artist and Repertoir. It is a department in a record label. Depending on a size of the label, it could be just one person, even the only guy in the label, or it could be a team of people working for a major label. They are responsible of finding new acts and back in the day helping the artist to grow in to something that the record label would be interested in signing. There has been times when these people have changed music, but most of the time and I'd say 99% of the time, they have played it safe and in return actually made record companies loose money in the long run. Good example is the end of the Disco era. Every record company was signing as many disco acts as possible and throwing out albums. As a result the general public got tired and the retail stores send back millions of records. Well, we all know any of these commercial booms in music don't really have any longevity. Some of them came from underground, and have returned there and have their own loyal following. For example metal, punk, ska, rockabilly etc. They never went a way; they just dropped out of the limelight. But then there are those manufactured genres, teen pop, boy bands and what have you, that didn't have enough substance to start with, that hey will just fade away. All you might get from them is reminiscent revivals that just smell like money making machines, but then again, that’s what they were to start of with.

   The big twist here is that now that we have the internet, Facebook, twitter, YouTube and all the hundreds of other sites, hard working artist can build a name for them selves. It's not easy, but then again it never was. As a result record companies are luckier than ever before, even though they'd like to say other wise, they can pick acts that have already build following, sometimes international, they have worked on their music and played it live extensively. This is good news for the artist and the record company, but not for the A&R guys, as their job has become, well... unnecessary... This leads me to the point I am trying to make here once again: if you expect a record company to pick you up, guide you by the hand and pay for the ride, it is not going to happen!

   The other point that I have come across are the festivals. It is like that magical idea of a concert that you get to do in front of a big crowd and it will go down in history... OK I'll give you this: I have played with Sliotar somewhere near enough of 100 festival concerts all around Europe in the past 10 years or so. Some of my best musical moments have been on those festival stages. But it took us lot of work and shitty pub gigs to get to play those festivals. And I have talked to a promoter I know through Sliotar, who works with big acts and we were talking about festivals. We all would love to go and play festivals abroad, wouldn't we? Well here is the thing. Between flights, hiring a driver, putting the band up even in cheap accommodation, food, equipment rental etc, and your band is going to cost the festival about €2000. Is your bands name on the festival program going to sell €2000 worth tickets? Heck, if you could do that in your home town I'd be impressed. But isn’t the festival organisers supposed to take risks and introduce the audience some up and coming bands? Well here is some news for you, most festivals in 2012 are trying their hardest not to loose money! The overhead of running a festival are huge. In Ireland it is actually probably even harder due to massive public liability insurances.

   So what are we left with in this modern music business? Well I'll tell you, an opportunity like never before. If you know your music is good enough, get it recorded, bring out EP, full album or what ever you prefer and make videos for them, be inventive, and show some of your personal creativity, play gigs, lots of them. I still believe the best thing any band can have is an addictive live show that news about it will spread like wild fire. If for one year you pack up clubs full of people who can't get enough of you, I'd be pretty sure you will have a festival organisers looking to talk to you :-). Just don't forget, the word "Business" is there for a reason, you might be playing music for a bit of fun, but most people in the business take it very seriously.

   Now, it is that time again, holidays are upon us. I'd like to wish you all on behalf of JPKALLIO.COM happy holidays. I'll be back next week, so the wishes for New Year can still wait :-) Have good one every one, hope you get some time to rest and stuff your self with some good food.

   J.P.

The big secret behind success in music business: Hard Work.

Part 66

  I was talking to a friend of mine about all the things I have been up to in the past few years. It really has been a roller-coaster ride. It got me thinking once again about how interesting time it is to be a musician. I have learned so much. But the thing I really like and would like get it through to every one, when I started this, yeah I had some experience in music business due to the fact that I had played in bands since I was about ten, but as to music promotion and trying to break a band through I was new to it all. All I had in the beginning was hand full of songs, laptop and a bag full of enthusiasm. So I set out to learn more. And I still do every day! If I need to get something done, first I try to see can I do it my self. If I can, I try to learn how to do it really well. If there is something I can not do, I try to find some one who can and ask for help. Most of the information on band promotion I have acquired, I found through Google. Sometimes it can take time, but usually persistence is rewarded. I get a great buzz out of it when people come to tell me how well we promote JPKALLIO.COM, but at the end of the day I can tell you this: There is nothing I have done that any one with bit of enthusiasm and internet could not do. If you need something, look for it and I can bet you will find more on the way as well. There are some great blogs out there on music business, and I think you should be reading them. It is very important to keep up to date with everything in today's music business.

  And here is another one of my favorite rants:-) We have all met these people in the past, the ones who said they are going to start a band and it's going to be better than anything else out there. Yeah, and that band never even leaves the pub or plays a note. I am sure you have all seen it at some stage. Now the truth is that I was once one of these people, even though I always played in a band. I still had an idea brewing at the back of my head of the "ultimate band". Did I do anything about it? First, no. But eventually I decided to take control, get the ball rolling and since then I really haven't stopped. It has been some of the most rewarding time musically in my life, and not only does it show in JPKALLIO.COM, but in everything else I do. I have pushed my self harder than ever before. The point I am trying to make here is that you can do it as well. And If you get off that bar stool, or sofa for that matter, watching X-factor and giving out you could do it do much better, if you bothered;-), I bet you will have great time doing it. You will be rewarded. I mean, yeah you need certain amount of talent, but most of it is just hard work! There you go, that is the best tip I have given you in all the blogs I have written so far, HARD WORK!

  Some of you know already that JPKALLIO.COM did advance to the final of the Rocktober battle of the bands in Fibber Magees. We had two great gigs at the competition so far and got to play with some great bands and made loads of new friends. Unfortunately the final falls on a day that Qra will be in Poland to visit a doctor about his on going back problem. So we are sad to pull out of the competition, but obviously Qras health comes first. We'd just like to wish all the other bands good luck.

  So that's all for this week. I shall be back for more next week:-)

     J.P.