Song Submission Contest

I am not a fan of song contests but sometimes it can't hurt to compete right?  That being said, I was on twitter and saw that MIDEM posted a Song Submission Contest for their promotional trailers and immediately felt like this would be fun and worth it.  For those of you reading this that have never heard of MIDEM: MIDEM is the acronym for Marché International du Disque et de l'Edition Musicale which is held been annually in and around the Palais des Festivals et des Congrès in Cannes, France. The event, which is billed as the world's largest trade fair for the music industry, has been held since 1967. Several thousand musicians, producers, managers, and journalists from around the globe regularly attend the event, which is currently held at the end of January.(source:en.wikipedia.org/wiki/midem).  The contest has the following guidelines and benefits:

What we are looking for?

• An original creation – doesn’t matter if it’s acoustic or electronic, instrumental or vocal
• Music with a dynamic, cool & joyful sound
• An audio track to act as the keystone for midem’s sound strategy in our corporate communications and mainstream marketing

Benefits

• Access global audience of senior music executives, brands, advertising agencies, artists, and more
• Receive two free registrations to midem 2013
• Get a free one-year SoundCloud Pro account (worth ~€ 250).
• Gain massive visibility in midem marketing channels (including our newsletter, midemblog, social media, and more)
• Your name and copyright will be included at the end of each trailer

Click here  for more information

Summer, Summertime...

The semester is almost over and people are already making plans for fun in the sun!  Seeing how I have lived my whole life in the Tri-state area and have never won the lottery, I have learned to surf the cityscape of New York City with power of frugality!  Unfortunately for you guys the days of being able to make it from Newark to New York with five dollars to cover transportation and food are over.  There was a time when roundtrip on the PATH train was a total of two dollars, but that was a different era.  In the summer there are a ton of FREE events that are fun and exciting!
Most of the NYC parks have their own concert series that are totally free with very few exceptions.  The granddaddy of them all is Central Park Summer Stage that is located by the bandshell near Columbus Circle, the exception here is usually a top tier concert where you can buy tickets.  The free shows at Central Park Summer Stage are strictly first come first serve and are usually crowded.  I personally have watched Chester French, Raphael Saadiq, Gil Scott-Heron, Q-tip, Sharon Jones & the Dap Kings, and plenty more.  New York City also does movie screenings outside in the park, the mainstay here is usually Monday nights, HBO Presents: Movies after Dark and I'm pretty sure one of the parks down in Battery Park City also show movies after dark on specified days.  For those of you who live in the North Jersey area or within reasonable distance to New York City should keep your eyes and ears open for free and interesting events and I will include a link to get you started, enjoy!
NYC SUMMER STAGE SCHEDULE

Opportunities sprout up in all forms and in the most unlikely places, which brings me to the reason for today's post. My mother, who is a big supporter of green living and organic eating, sent me an email that contains an opportunity that anyone in the Creative Arts and Technology department could partake. I plan to donate my time for this project and I encourage others to do the same! Below is what was contained in the email for your opportunistic dining:

We’re working long hours everyday on our feature length documentary, which exposes more evidence of GMO health dangers than ever before. The timing is just right. California will have a labeling measure on the November ballot, and voters need a big dose of hard-hitting facts that will inspire them to avoid GMOs, not just label them.

For greatest impact, we’re beefing up our visuals and sound, and can use your help. Our wish list includes people with skills in:

• Motion graphics
• Animation
• Visual effects
• Sound engineering
• Sound track production
• Theatrical trailer editing
• Camera work (for shooting additional “B-roll”)
• Translation (lots of languages for global distribution)
• Filmmaking/editing (To use the footage to produce trailers, short pieces, PSAs, and TV commercials)

We also need researchers to search the web for script-related images, footage, articles, etc.

While we have some funds due to the generous donations and matching grant from Mike Adams of NaturalNews.com (thank you all so much), we certainly prefer donated services, so we can stretch our budget for maximum promotion and distribution.

We will not be releasing the film in April as originally targeted, since the project has grown way beyond what we were first planning. This is big. Very big.

Send inquiries to gmovideo@responsibletechnology.org

You can also support this important work by donating to the film today.

Link not working? Copy and paste this into your web browser: http://bit.ly/x8s5KW

Thanks again for your support.

Staff at IRT

Free Webinar by SoundExchange

I urge all music creatives to RSVP for this and check it out live, Soundexchange is the source of income for many artist. They provide royalties for songwriters, producers, record labels, session musicians, and more. It's free and it doesn't not air until April 27th, Friday at 2:00pm Eastern time. Click here to RSVP

Student Garden Ground Breaking

GREEN HEARTS PRESENTS: Student Garden Ground Breaking behind the Deacon's Den this Wednesday March 21st! Come out and be apart of the BC Community of students, staff, and faculty! Enjoy the company of your collegiate neighbors with free food and drinks and special guest performances!

EMP POP CONFERENCE AT NYU MARCH 23 - 25

The Experienced Music Project (EMP), based in Seattle, is a museum and cultural institution devoted to popular music. Every year, they sponsor a conference of talks and panels related to all areas of pop music.

This year, the conference will be held in New York City, sponsored by NYU.

Admission is free, but you must make reservations.

And FYI - I will be involved - along with Abraham Gomez-Delgado, Ned Sublette, Zack Layton and Elio Villafranca - in a special presentation of VIDAS PERFECTAS on Saturday at the conference.

Do check it out!

PG

Tips on Releasing music the DIY way!

Almost every week as I walk through Westminster Hall a student proclaims that they are releasing a mix tape, cd, or single next week or tomorrow or the day after. I always find it exciting when people have completed their creative process and feel confident enough to share that project with the world, there is no doubt this can pretty intimidating! When I worked at a record label our busiest days were weeks before the release of a record as our months of planning continue to unfold. Any student that has had my class in the fall knows my attitude with releasing music on your own, its a lot of work and best handled with a plan already in place. This is an extremely difficult task, just ask established artists that have teams already in place to help with their releases. I believe there is a misconception with most Do It Yourself artists that money and the backing of a label would help streamline this process, I would respectfully disagree to a point. Like the saying goes: more money, more problems, this can also be true. If you haven't done the basic research regarding your market or let alone how to release a record even with funding you will find yourself still frustrated with the process. Some people are lucky and their music will carry them over most hurdles but in this day with half the world trying to be the next big thing the cards are definitely stacked against you but at the same time they are in your favor. With the masses of artists pushing for that coveted position of number one, the proliferation of the world wide web, and the denigration of the old music industry many tools have emerged to fullfil this new need in the marketplace for DIY distribution, promotion, and marketing. Companies like Tunecore, CDBaby, BandCamp, Onesheet, and plenty more all cater to the DIY artist and give support in the way of information via articles and blog posts. I follow many of these entities on Twitter and have improved my knowledge base and kept abreast of changes as they come down the pipeline.

There isn't one 'correct' way to promote and sell music, but without a plan and the proper research you could be wasting a lot of time. The easy part, for creatives at least, is producing the product and then the real work begins. If you take the DIY route or are seeking funding or a record deal I suggest you educate yourself as best you can and make this business of music your new reading interest. This is only an investment in yourself and your intellectual property! So before you decide to release that new mix tape and spam your friends and family via email and Facebook and any other social outlet take some time to find your true audience and figure out how to find them, reach them, and garner their attention. Its always better to have an audience of 200 people that you targeted and know how to reach than an audience of 1,000 anonymous people that you cannot reach directly for your next release. There is a great article by CD Baby to help the DIY artist navigate a release and prepare properly. I suggest this as a good start for your research and good luck on your career!

Internships and Jobs

We are already half way through the month of February and quickly the semester will be over once again. For those of you who have internships or plan on applying for them for the summer and the fall I would suggest you start now. It gives you plenty of time to prep your resume and have it reviewed by the Career Center so that you can focus on cover letters and finding the right spot for you. Sometimes we think we 'want' a specific position because it seems glamorous or has more appeal than other positions but from my experience you have to play it be ear and see how each situation can work to your advantage. One of my earliest internships was for a small marketing company that had a whopping one employee and two interns including myself, and for various reasons it turned out to be profitable to me in many different ways. The most important was the connection made with the owner/operator Tanisha Nash Laird, who has hired me back as a freelancer later on down the line and was a great mentor and wealth of information regarding marketing and the entertainment business. It showed me the true value of interning: a chance to learn with someone who is doing what you want to do and opening my eyes to the various avenues I could travel to accomplish my professional goal. I interned with her approximately fifteen years ago and maintain communication with her and her husband with whom I've crafted my own friendship over the years.

There are a lot of young people who would love to get their start in entertainment as producers, engineers, rappers, singers, song writers, etc and are currently mapping their plan to achieve that goal through internships and volunteering at events in their area. Never forget that you are competing against a sea of applicants and that preparation is your best way at standing out.

I urge anyone interested to immediately respond to these postings, don't waste time by stopping me, Toriono, in the hallway with questions about the postings, do your research and apply in a swift manner. Good Luck.

• Busy Recording Studio and Entertainment Company has an internship position available.
• Summer 2012 Internship: Sony Music Entertainment
• An internship with Warner Music Group provides students with the opportunity to obtain real world experience at one of the top music companies in the industry.
• Multicultural Arts Management Internship Program
• Reverbnation Internship

This is only a few to help get people started. Now is a great time to start looking for that fall and summer internship.

Tips on Music production and being a producer

I think its safe to say that this is the age of the producer, whether you are talking in the traditional sense or the new edge of electronica and hip-hop. In the music tech program I am affiliated with a lot of our students are striving for that coveted position of super producer. So when I came across these articles I immediately thought of the students in our program. There are two articles, one that gives tips on how to be a better producer in the traditional sense and tips from a mix engineer for hip-hop producers.

HAVANA TO BROOKLYN SAT. FEB 11TH

For those who don't know our new adjunct of World Music - Cuban, Ned Sublette, this would be a good chance to hang out with him and his class when they check out the show Havana To Brooklyn, in Brooklyn at Roulette. The show features singer and percussionist Pedrito Martinez. If you wish to check out the show, students should contact Peter Gordon(peter_gordon@bloomfield.edu)