Merchandise has always provided artists with a great outlet for promotion. But let’s face it, as cool as t-shirts, posters, and other common merch table items can be, they don’t always help to spread exposure, and set you apart from all of the other struggling artists out there. Unique designs are great, but I couldn’t tell you how many cool band t-shirts I’ve seen on the street or in a club and have instantly forgotten about.

That being said, it’s a breath of fresh air for me when I come across some truly unique merchandise. Take, for example, Get Busy Committee, a recently formed group consisting of underground hip hop stalwarts Apathy and Ryu. While they’re certainly talented, I’m not a particularly huge fan of either artist, and normally wouldn’t think twice about them. But after seeing the custom 2GB Uzi-shaped USB flash drive that comes packaged with their CD, I certainly won’t forget about them. I might even buy the album. (more…)

Okay, let me start off with a little disclaimer. I know Panos already commented on our beloved King of Pop, and as a huge fan (yes, I bought tickets and was willing to cross an ocean to see him last July and now have tickets to the midnight premiere of This Is It) I know I’m a little biased. I also know that not all musicians have any desire to reach commercial fame. Regardless of all the above facts, I think there are some good tips we can all learn from the late Michael Jackson. I’ll try not be too biased about how much I love him… oh who am I kidding? Why bother?

(1) Evolve
There are always the exceptions (see: Rolling Stones), but if you want a long career in music, you’ll need to continually challenge yourself to think differently than you have in the past. MJ re-invented himself through time and it was a huge reason why he was able to appeal to such a wide spectrum of people. He started with the Motown soul and R&B, danced his way through Disco with “Off the Wall,” added some rock here or there (‘Beat It’, ‘Dirty Diana’), then started trying some Gospel (Man in the Mirror, Will You Be There?). If that wasn’t enough, he beat-boxed his way through Dangerous and HIStory, the Blood on the Dance Floor featured some pretty awesome mixes for you DJs out there, and to top it off, he crooned some serious slow jams on “Invincible”(Example: ‘Butterflies’ – released over 8 years ago and still sounds like something Justin Timberlake would release tomorrow.)  With all the changes and genre bending, the most accurate way to classify Michael Jackson’s music was just “Pop” — because Popular was just about the only consistent thing. (more…)

This article was written by Ira Greenfield at the USA Songwriting Competition, currently in its 14th year.

Many songwriters have asked me what makes a winning song. As VP of development of USA Songwriting Competition for the past 14 years, I have heard winning songs years through the years, and I think a winning song should be creative in both music composition as well as the lyric composition. A good example is the top winning song of 2008 competition “Home” written by Jordan Zevon, Jordan Summers and Morty Coyle. Musically, it displays surprises in Chord changes and the lyrics about coming home are not the clichés of what you hear on radio. It didn’t hurt the song that chorus was catchy.

Another example is the winning song of the country category in 2007 “I Can Live Without You,” written by Mary Danna and Troy Verges. One would think the song is about someone who doesn’t want to live with another. However, there is a twist at the end of the sentence in the chorus “But I just don’t want to.” They have taken a love and heartache song and given a “surprising twist” in the end. Also, the bridge was short, surprising and also emotionally high (with the melody hitting a high note at the end) and yet sad. That song still remains a favorite at the USA Songwriting Competition. (more…)

Head over to Google real quick and search for your band name. It should only take about 0.25 seconds so I’ll wait for you to come back…

Alright, is your band the first thing that comes up in the search results? Is it on the first page?

Anyone looking for info about your band, be it a fan or a promoter, will probably start with a Google search (and if you’re lucky, they might even spell your band’s name correctly). If they can’t find you easily in the search results, you’re missing out on new fans and gigs.

If your band isn’t coming up, what can you do? (more…)

Last month I started reading a book on the history of Stax called Soulsville USA: The Story of Stax Records.  It’s ridiculously detailed (the author interviewed nearly everyone that had anything to do with Stax) and provides a fascinating look back to a very different music industry.

One of the most interesting parts so far is reading about how Stax songwriters analyzed Motown songs and then used the formulas they discovered to churn out their own hits.

“David Porter figured out the lyric structure for ‘Don’t Look Back‘ and it applied to a number of Motown hits.  He deduced that they all had an opening that laid out the scenario, followed that with a bit of action, and then some sort of denouncement.  All were in first person, and none of them ended with complete resolution.” (page 91)

The first song that David Porter wrote using that formula (with Isaac Hayes as a writing partner) was ‘Hold on I’m Coming‘.

Whats your take on the Motown formula?

This article was written by Ben Priceat Sweetwater. We’ve publishing an entire series of articles in the Lounge from Sweetwater. Keep your eyes peeled and check back often! And now for some motivation.

Equalization – or EQ, if you prefer – was created in the early days of telephony to counteract the frequency loss in the signal when it was sent over long transmission lines. Broadcast and studio engineers adopted the technology as a creative tool for adjusting the timbre or sound quality in reproduced sounds.

There are tons of resources out there for understanding the technical side of EQ, so I won’t get into that side of it here. In this article, I want to get into a more esoteric topic: microphone placement as EQ. Yes, before you reach for the EQ in your desk, rack, or DAW, try moving that microphone around. The relationship of mic placement to sound source offers unlimited variances in tonality and frequency response.

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This article was written by Forrest Powell at Sweetwater. We’ve publishing an entire series of articles in the Lounge from Sweetwater. Keep your eyes peeled and check back often! And now for some motivation.

I’ll start off citing a source, surely to some of my readers’ chagrin: I was at church today (I even saw a dude from work there). While I was there, this great pastor mentioned something stirring and brilliant that coincides with my attitude toward music:

“The word ‘amateur’ was never intended to define a second-rate person.”

It’s a common misconception of our audiences and our age that “pro” is somehow inherently superior to “amateur. I think of all the musicians out there, working hard and playing hard and not getting paid, and I just have to grit my teeth, because many musicians who DO get paid churn out emotionless pig-fodder. Pigs will eat anything, and it seems that so long as radio or the “professionals” can polish a turd, they will never have to go hungry.

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