When I look at the photo below, it brings back powerful memories of a challenging 2 days back in June, 2010. In the photo you see to the left James Mitchell, Larry Marrs in the middle, and Howard Duck up to the right (all three have killer
Twang!). In this "still" moment, we were making adjustments to the room mics during the early stages of the tracking sessions.
I took the photo from the vocal booth on because I wanted to preserve this piece of my history. It reminds me of making decisions, and what we decided in this moment changed the entire sound of the record. As I look at it today I am once again reminded of the speed of the world - how
fast time goes by - and how deciding fully one way or the other is a key for progress. It also makes me think about the importance of
now.
In my last post I left you with the inspiring result of Charlie & Fredrik over in Karlshamn who are out making things happen, and taking their own world by storm. For me, these two guys are a great reminder of my my need to
walk my own talk, after having challenged them to "make things happen" instead of "hope for things to happen".
Hope is not a strategy.
I have also shared with you a little about how a catalyst name Desmond Harty got me moving in the right direction years ago. I'll share some more of that twisted road as we continue our conversation here, but today I want to forget about the past and focus on the now & the future. I find myself at a point where I need to make key decisions in order to "Turn it up to 11!". I borrow this phrase from Tom Jackson, a live show producer based in Nashville. I own a DVD of his with that title. I love the title because it speaks to me in volumes, and says..."defy limits". And in this case I am referring to my own limits that I sometimes put on myself (as we all do from time to time). I could easily allow what I have invested to this point in
Still Crazy just run it's course, and fade out by "hoping" that what I have done is enough to generate what I want from it (to get the music to it's rightful audience), or I can heed my own words of advice to Charlie & Fredrik and "make things happen".
My decision boils down to this: invest in a radio promoter/tracker or not?
I have European radio to contend with, which, in the country genre consists of a number of radio stations that have what I like to refer to as "pocket programming", meaning that they program country/americana music perhaps once per week in small blocks of an hour or two. I think it's wonderful that people/stations have enough love and respect for country music to do this and not completely limit the opportunity for country to be heard on this side of the Atlantic. The genre is too important to not be heard. Remember, Rock'n Roll came from Country...not the other way around. Anyway - with regard to European radio, the programming of country is so limited that "frequency" is nearly not an option due to the mass amount of music being produced and all of them looking for airplay. Frequency & repetition breeds awareness. Awareness increases potential record sales. Because of the "pocket programming", whatever airplay I am currently getting won't last. Frequency & repetition will be defeated before too long. So I think I'll stick with my current strategy for Europe which includes radio delivery via digital means. So far, this relatively cost effective method has gained me airplay in Denmark, France, Germany, Spain, The Netherlands, Australia, New Zealand, the U.K. & Austria, U.S. and some college stations in Canada.
As I communicate this, my decision is forming. I guess that's why I write my thoughts - to crystallize them. Thanks for reading.
Here is another side of the radio story. In the U.S., there are literally hundreds of radio stations that program country 24/7. And many of them are programmed by consultants who program hits and songs/artists who will nearly guarantee hit status. Most of which are "core" artists, or established artists with hits behind them already. This is also limiting for guys like me, although it is possible to gain airplay on independent stations - this already proven with my campaign in Nebraska. The challenge is getting them to listen, finding someone you trust to get the work done...not to mention that radio promotion in the U.S. is a significantly more costly venture if/when you involve professional promoters.
The 3rd side of this is Canada - my home country. In Canada, there are approximately 130 stations that program country music 24/7. A percentage of those are what we refer to as "reporting stations", others are secondary stations. Reporting stations are the ones where "charts" come from, meaning if you gain significant/frequent airplay and rotation on these stations - they report to BDS (Broadcast Data Systems) and a song moves up the chart by frequency of airplay. Secondary stations are often subject to a "promise of performance" in their programming stating that they will only play hit songs (this because advertisers pay for stations that people like to listen to - and in general people like to listen to songs that are familiar and are hits...makes good business sense, but it's tough on unknown artists). So they don't play the songs unless the reporting stations play them and they have charted well. What this creates is a bit of a vacuum for guys like me and a slight
Catch 22 - in the way that I can't get airplay on a significant number of stations unless you get airplay on a few select reporting stations that determine if your music is good enough to become a hit or gain frequent rotation. And these stations are supremely difficult to get airplay from if you are not a "core artist" with a proven track record at radio already. I am a big fan of DIY (do it yourself), but stations no longer talk to artists directly, only professional promoters due to the thousands of artists looking for airplay and having the need to talk about their music.
Multiply all of the above with the number of releases by major labels, the increasingly stiff competition by independents turning out better & better music + the desolate state of the music industry and declining record sales = YIKES! DO I DARE INVEST MORE MONEY TO COMPETE WITH
MY MUSIC? ..............Hmmmmmmm...........do I believe in it enough??? Should I pay a radio promoter to test the value of my music against giants?.............Hmmmmmmm.........how else will I know if it can stand up?.............Hmmmmmmm.............how else can the music reach its rightful audience? Will I kick myself in the ass later in life if I don't find out???? ANSWER to the later:
Yes. DECISION based on the later question:
Go for it! Go for it with a Canadian radio campaign! Sink or swim, baby!
Decisions like this remind me of when I met my wife in Dallas, Texas in December of 1998. A long story short - it was an extraordinarily romantic lightning strike of a meeting, and at one moment in our conversation we had to decide. When I asked her when the last time was that she felt something so powerful, she replied, "Never." I then suggested that we talk about what was happening, and she asked "Wouldn't that make things more difficult?"...I gave a split-second, gut response, and said..."Absolutely!" So, we talked all night about life, dreams, values, and the ideal future. The next day I flew back to Vancouver, she flew back to Stockholm. I sold all my things & moved to Sweden in '99. We've been happily married for nearly 10 years now. Decisions...
So I guess in summation of this post, 2011 for me is a year to "Turn it up to 11"!
I hope that you do the same. Life is too short! See you in the next post where I will share a bit more of my twisted artist road, plus feature a local Malmö musician who I feel has a whole lot of
Twang!
//E
