Last Wednesday I posted about The Flaming Lips documentary The Fearless Freaks, and in that post I cited a few memories in my life around the time I was first turned onto The Flaming Lips.
Yesterday I came across two pieces of media that featured Terry McBride, CEO of Nettwerk Management. 1) A Be The Media interview, and 2) A YouTube video of Terry’s TEDxVancouver speech. In both of these pieces of media Terry talks about the emotional power of music and its ability to bookmark moments in our lives that we can return to whenever we choose. Immediately I thought about my post from Wednesday, so I had to share:
The Be The Media interview:
http://www.blogtalkradio.com/be-the-media/2010/02/03/terry-mcbride-ceo-nettwerk-music-group (kinda long, but worth it-1hr total)
TEDxVancouver speech:
For the last few years, I’ve looked to Terry McBride as a major source of inspiration. The principles upon which I founded Radical Notion (independent media) are very much non-traditional, outside the box ideas. And ever since I founded this company, I’ve been searching for new ideas, finding inspiration everywhere I could, and seeking to better understand what these new ideas and inspiration I have are. This search of knowledge for what the future of the music business looks like is what ultimately led me to Terry McBride and the ideas he shares.
Terry McBride has an understanding of this subject matter which is astonishingly articulate. I hope one day I can understand all of this half as eloquently.
Having knowledge of the tools-understanding them-is an important part of your artistic process.
The results and character of what you get with pen and paper is certainly different from what you get with keyboards and electrons.
Recording to tape using a collection of vintage tube mics is not going to make your art any more or less compelling. But there is a specific inspiration you get from recording to tape, and another specific inspiration you get from recording to a DAW. And neither one of these is “better” than the other-they’re just different.
Make sure you understand the tools. Don’t ignore one thing because it’s too “new” and another because it’s too “old.”
Utilize a collection of tools throughout all your creative processes, whether recording, writing, taking photos, or anything else creative. You will be pleased with the way it changes your style and character, and the different nuances within the results you get.
Since last Friday I’ve been battling a terrible cold, and have not been able to get much sleep. Out of frustration I gave up, and decided to just watch movies on Hulu instead. Last nite I came across The Flaming Lips: The Fearless Freaks, which is obviously a documentary about the band The Flaming Lips.
Although I’ve never collected or listened to a lot of The Flaming Lips music, I’ve always been very interested in and inspired by the band. I remember being turned onto the band by my older sister, who is responsible for turning me onto a lot of the now legendary bands which shaped rock music from the late 80’s through the early 90’s.
I think it was 1994, and my sister was all about this new song hitting the independent radio airwaves-I believe back then there was this really cool station in Nashville called Thunder 94, which played some of the most fantastic underground indie/grunge rock-the song was She Don’t Use Jelly.
She came to me and told me all about it, “You have to hear this song!” She put it on a mix cassette tape, and we would listen to it in the car on the way to school.
Shortly after, I went out and bought the CD, Transmissions from the Satellite Heart. I listened to it, tried to like it, didn’t get it, and ultimately traded it to my sister for The Smashing Pumpkins record Pisces Iscariot. A few years later, when my sister went off to college, I went digging through the CDs she left behind. I was so excited when I found that she had left Transmissions from the Satellite Heart. I listened to the CD from start to finnish, and this time I understood the appeal. I loved the guitar tones, the timbre of the lead vocal, the riffs, and the instrumentation.
Like a lot of bands, though, for some very strange reason I didn’t continue to follow The Flaming Lips, or buy any more of their records. Throughout the years there have been a lot of bands I’ve really enjoyed, but never bought their records. Best I can tell, this all had something to do with my obsession with The Smashing Pumpkins-I was too busy studying their records to pay much attention to anything else.
The Flaming Lips have always held some kind of special inspiration for me, and throughout the years, as the band periodically popped up on my radar-one of the Batman movie soundtracks; when they hit critical mass around 2002 with Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots-it’s always stirred an excitement in me that I can’t quite put my finger on.
And watching The Fearless Freaks last nite helped me understand a little bit more about what the excitement and inspiration that comes from The Flaming Lips is. It reminded me of a time in my life when I was first realizing how important music was to me, and it reminded me of specific memories for which the band’s music served as the soundtrack.
The Fearless Freaks served as an intimate window into the lives of The Flaming Lips, and made me realize that through all these years this band has been astonishingly forward-thinking, lead by risk takers who are pure artists, and visionaries-always remaining true to a specific set of ideas.
I’ve always been inspired by The Flaming Lips, but watching The Fearless Freaks I saw that I’m now inspired by the band on another level-an entrepreneurial level-as they more or less have been doing for around 20 years, what I’m attempting to accomplish now. Building something that is remarkable.
Have you read Unleashing the Idea Virus or Tribes by Seth Godin? Or The Tipping Point by Malcolm Gladwell? All very inspiring books about how truly great ideas can spread and gain traction when the right people are rallied around the idea.
Jackson’s Science Fair Project is the current living example of these books. I met a band from Canada a few weeks ago-Oceanship-through a friend of mine. Turns out there is a 7th grader, Jackson, who really likes this band, and has decided to connect people together by creating a tribe on Facebook. It’s all a part of a science fair project assignment he is completing for school.
This is a perfect example of how new marketing can be very powerful for the music industry. Jackson’s Science Fair Project has been very successful very quickly because it creates meaning, tells a story, and connects Oceanship fans to one another.
When everything is perfectly in tune in a recording you end up with a boring recording. It’s as if the music was created in a laboratory by machines mixing chemicals together.
Consider the best, most timeless works of literature. They are often crafted with themes of imperfection, struggle, and the reformation of someone or something. Likewise, the best songs are often written using similar lyrical content. The advantage a songwriter has is that they are able to more powerfully evoke the desired emotional experience with musical accompaniment.
The producer has the opportunity (perhaps the responsibility?) to augment the emotional evocation, by utilizing production techniques which subconsciously provide context. One of the best ways to communicate the emotional imperfections and moral complications of human beings, is by using slightly out of tune instruments.
For examples of what I’m talking about, dig up your old Bob Dylan, Velvet Underground, or Pixies records. There are no shortage of fans who will regard each one of these record catalogues as timeless masterpieces, despite the fact that you can find many instances where the instrumentation is blatantly out of tune (I don’t even need to bring up Kurt Cobain, who quite possibly may be the poster child for out of tune rock guitars). And you know what? They’re right it sounds great!
Spin The Wink by The Velvet Teen is an example of a fairly recent song which has always stuck out in my mind because of the out of tune piano, which is very prominent in the intro. I don’t know if the piano is deliberately out of tune, but it certainly inspired me as a record maker. I love how the piano being out of tune adds depth, tension, and complexity to the recording.
In each one of these examples, the “tastefully out of tune” instrumentation worked. It sets up the context for the lyric. It augments the emotions in the story with human imperfections. Work to provide context for the emotions that the artist is evoking, by experimenting with the textures of slightly out of tune instrumentation.
The following is a post that was originally published on 4/28/08. Due to a data loss issue producer notes suffered yesterday morning, I am republishing it today. It is the first of four posts that will be republished in an attempt to retain the integrity of producer notes.
This past weekend I went to my friend Aron Wright’s show at Portland Brew here in Nashville. It was a fantastic show featuring the intimate sounds of Aron Wright, McClain and Robby Hecht.
Visit them each on the web:
Aron Wright [www.myspace.com/aronwright]
McClain [wwwmyspace.com/tfmcclain]
Robby Hecht [www.myspace.com/robbyhecht]
But I really wanted to tell you this morning about something remarkable Aron did for the show. He set up a live video broadcast over the internet using a service called UstreamTV [www.ustream.tv] This is something that I have been planning on incorporating into the shows that Radical Notion promotes. I knew I would be able to set up a live broadcast of audio, but being able to offer video was something that I was still brainstorming. So it goes without saying that I’m very fired up about this service. Look for our live broadcasts in the near future here: [www.ustream.tv/RadicalNotion]
Check out Aron Wright’s broadcasts here: [www.ustream.tv/aronwright]
Anyone else already using UstreamTV? I would love to see what you are up to. Post links to your broadcasts in the comments below.
I was away in Florida all weekend for a wedding, so I am a little late to the party about the Walter Yetnikoff interview. If you have not already seen it, you should watch it. [Walter Yetnikoff Interview]
I first learned about Walter Yetnikoff a few years back when I picked up a copy of the book [Hit Men: Power Brokers and Fast Money Inside the Music Business] by Fredric Dannen.
This interview is awesome. Yetnikoff has some great insight on how major labels are run today as opposed to when he was head of CBS Records. He also rails a bit on Hit Men.
Here are some blogs/articles I have stumbled across over the past couple of weeks. I subscribed up to these blogs, and I suggest you do to. It’s priceless information written by some of the best music business thinkers/marketers.
[http://sivers.org] Derek Sivers’ blog, the founder of CD Baby
[http://newmusicstrategies.com/?p=508] Came across this from a link on Derek Sivers’ blog. The article is written by Andrew Dubber as a post on his blog. Great perpective on piracy vs. sharing, and how it really fits into our industry.
[www.openp2p.com/lpt/a/3015] Another great article about piracy that Derek Sivers linked to on his blog. This one is written by Tim O’Reilly.
[www.musicthinktank.com/blog] A great new music business blog that has multiple authors all sharing very thought provoking ideas, and building a community around those thoughts. Authors include: Andrew Dubber, Derek Sivers, Bob Baker, Ariel Hyatt and plenty of others.
[www.futureofmusicbook.com] I googed Paul McGuiness because I wanted to read the speach he made at Cannes. I ended up at Dave Kusek’s blog. He and Gerd Leonhard co-wrote the book [The Future Of Music: Manifesto for the Digital Music Revolution] Oh yeah, and he posted a [full transcript] of the Paul McGuiness speech.
The guys over at [www.youngentrepreneur.com/blog] are running the “Young Entrepreneur Challenge.” It’s an interview of 20 questions that you answer on your own blog, and then comment with a link back to your post. They are giving away an iPod, but I’m just doing this for fun. I have never participated in something like this before, so I thought I should give it a shot. Hope you enjoy my answers.
1. What ignited the spark in you to start a new business venture or to make significant changes in an existing business?
I have been in love with music all my life. I knew at a very young age that I needed to be in the music industry. I got interested in the studio because I wanted to have full control over the sound of the music I made. Over time as I became more and more involved in the music industry, I saw how hard it was to get your work recognized. I thought to myself, “if I want to produce a hit record, then I need to make the records I produce a hit.” I started Radical Notion (independent media) so that I could produce records and then promote them instead of leaving it up to someone else.
2. What is your definition of success and has your company achieved it?
My definition of success is to not give up. Thomas Edison once spoke about failure saying, “I have not failed. I’ve just found 10,000 ways that won’t work.” When you set out to do something new; to cover new ground in your life, you are going to learn a lot of new and valuable life lessons. You are going to fall on your face a few times. Success is defined in how you react to falling down. Do you give up? Then you fail. Do you get back up, dust yourself off and try another apporach? Then you have been successful. Radical Notion is still here. In my book that makes us a success.
3. To what do you attribute your company’s recent achievements?
Many things. Patience, perseverance, passion, community, positive thinking, taking the time to pay attention to detail and do things right, communication, our fans/audience, trust, honesty.
4. How important have good employees and team members been to your success?
Integral. You cannot have success unless you form a strong team with your business partners, and communicate. You all have to share a common goal/vision. My business partner, Jonathan Harms, is a team player. I am a team player. The artists we manage are team players. We all share a common dream. We are a true family.
5. What three pieces of advice would you give to high school or college students who want to become entrepreneurs?
- Be a mavrick. There is no right or wrong. Learn the fundamentals of your trade, but be willing to throw the “book smarts” out the window. Be wise. Just because a text book says to do something a certain way does not always mean that is the only way. Often times the people who made a big splash did not do so because they colored inside the lines all the time.
- Have passion. Jonathan passed on some great advice to me over the weekend. It came from his mom, “Don’t do something that keeps you alive, do something that MAKES you alive.”
- Here is something I have learned the hard way: Don’t miss out on life because you were too busy working. Yes, you do want to pick a vocation that makes the line that divides work and play very blurry, but too much of any one thing is a bad thing. Don’t neglect spending time with those you love. You will only get burned out, which will suck all the enjoyment out of something that was once fun.
6. What have been some of your failures, and what have you learned from them?
I have been known to talk too much. I learned to be confident, and say exactly what I mean. If you believe in yourself, then who cares if someone else doesn’t?
I have made the mistake of waiting too late to do something because I didn’t know every little detail about how to do what I wanted to do. I figured out that I should be “learning by doing.” You don’t have to be an expert in an area to get started. You don’t have to be an expert to have a good idea. Just do it. If you don’t, someone else will.
I have made the mistake of talking without thinking. I learned to “look before you leap.”
7. Describe/outline your typical day.
Wake up at 6:00 am, make coffee or tea (depends on my mood). Sit at my desk with the computer off. Relax/think/meditate for about 30min to an hour. Write out some ideas. Read for a bit. At around 7:30 or 8:00 am I begin to consult my lists. I prioritize my projects, and develop an idea for what I will get done for the day. I turn on my computer and check my email. If it is a Monday I post an article on my blog. Around 8:15 or so I jump in the shower. After my shower I tidy the apartment. If it happens to be a recording day, then around 9:00 am I head to the studio. I will then spend the day recording, mixing, or producing music. If it is not a recording day, then around 9:00 am Jonathan shows up. We sit and talk over some coffee about where we are regarding our current business affairs. We go over our objectives for the day, and then set out to promote, book shows for, market or generally manage the careers of the artists we represent. From there it depends. I could be in the studio all nite, my business partner and I may have to go to a show and sell merchandise or we may not have anything planned. Overall, my days are pretty unpredictable and wild.
8. Where did your organization’s funding/capital come from and how did you go about getting it?
Our funding/capital has come partly from some money we had saved up, and partly from our loving families who support everything we do. I cannot express how much I appreciate them! They believe in us wholehartedly.
9. What stops you from throwing in the towel and giving up when you are frustrated?
My passion. I am so passionate about what I do, and it is such a part of me that I cannot even imagine doing anything else. It is a dream come true. There is no defining line between what I do for fun, and what I do as work. Setting that perspective makes it illogical to walk away from something I have so much fun being a part of. It does not matter what you choose to do with your life-you will feel frustration from time to time no matter what. It would be silly to just walk away from something because you got frustrated for a moment.
10. Do you believe there is some sort of pattern or formula to becoming a successful entrepreneur?
Yes. Perspective, passion, patience, wisdom. People who are innovators, adapters, and opportunity seekers.
11. Who has influenced you most and been your greatest inspiration?
This is a very hard question for me to answer. First I have to mention my parents. They taught me so many priceless things. To pay it full tribute would be impossible. Outside of that, it would have to be Jacquire King, Butch Vig, Billy Corgan, Thurston Moore, Robert Smith, Roger Moutenot, Terry McBride, Steve Jobs, Mark Montgomery, Seth Godin.
12. What book has inspired you the most?
The Ragamuffin Gospel by Brennan Manning
13. How do you go about marketing your business? What has been your most successful form of marketing?
So far we have done the majority of our marketing simply by making a presence online. We are utilizing social media such as myspace, facebook and blogs. We are in a startup phase of business right now, and doing most of our marketing through a grassroots word of mouth approach.
14. In one word, characterize your life as an entrepreneur.
Dreamist
15. Excluding yours, what company or business do you admire the most?
echo music
16. How do you achieve balance in your life? Or do You?
This is honestly a daily struggle for me. It’s very difficult for me to achieve balance working in the entertainment industry. It is one of the hardest industries to work in. Entertainment never sleeps. Entertainment never stops.
17. Where do you see yourself and your business in 5 years? 10 years?
In 5 years I see us as a profitable artist management/publishing/recording company. In 10 years I see us moving into other media circles in addition to music such as, video and web technology.
18. What’s your exit strategy?
There is not one. That is not an option.
19. If we could introduce you to anyone, who would it be and why? (you never know who we know!)
Terry McBride. I feel he has achieved what I am setting out to achieve. I would love to sit and have coffee with him for an hour or two. I could learn so much.
20. If you were conducting this interview, what question would you ask?
Are you happy?
Seth Godin wrote a blog post today that is titled “Opportunity of a lifetime.” It sums up in a small paragraph exactly why I think it is the perfect time to get into the music industry. Read it here [sethgodin.typepad.com/seths_blog/2008/03/opportunity-of.html]
I’m not going to be here on Monday. We’re crunching to get everything ready for two big shows. The Wes Sp8 EP release show on 3.28.08; and Street Corner Champs EP Download Party/Website Launch on 4.3.08. Stay tuned for the details…
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