From Ariel December 17 , 2008 Newsletter #73 Hello from Ariel! In This Week's Issue:
Pre-Cleared & Podsafe is Off For The Holidays We here at Cyber PR celebrate the holidays the same as everyone else, so the newsletter will be taking a mini-vacation. The regular bi-weekly Pre-Cleared & Podsafe newsletter will be returning on Wednesday, January 7th. See you in 2009! Just a Reminder: Sound Advice TV Cyber PR is now VLOGGING! Make sure to tune into our new vodcast - Sound Advice TV This week's webisode of Sound Advice TV is "The (CD Baby) Back Story" This vodcast will be 16 installments featuring Derek Sivers. Subscribe to our YouTube Channel so you do not miss a single episode! Don't want to wait 16 weeks to get all of Derek and Ariel's knowledge BUY THE WHOLE DVD: http://www.arielpublicity.com/soundadvicedvd Where's Ariel? Home in NYC for the Holidays :) After a lot of traveling this year I will be home catching up on cooking, nesting and family time. I already have tickets to see the Rockettes kick their impossibly long legs at Radio City Music Hall, I will ice skate in Rockefeller Center, and I'm going to catch all of the beautiful windows on Fifth Avenue, cause that's what living in New York is all about! Sound Advice Ezine: A Key Component For Your Future Success - Your Mastermind Group One key thing I have learned over the past few years of attending workshops and garnering techniques from some of the world's most successful people is: Those people did not get there alone. Success takes support and this issue of Sound Advice will show you how to create a support group that can help you stay on track and achieve your music career success. It's called a Mastermind Group. I hear it all of the time - musicians call me up and say: "If only I had a manager," or a booking agent or a record label etc. And I in turn say: It's hard to get a manager when you are just starting out However its not hard to get some help! For those of you in bands: Does this scenario sound familiar? One person is in charge of doing all of the business affairs and the other members of the band just show up (sometimes they don't even show up on time!) If you've got a band of hired guns, this sadly is your cross to bear. However, if your band is considered an equal team, I highly suggest that you include your band members in your mastermind group. If you are the only active member of your band on the business side that's OK - you can build yourself some great support with non- band members. You can continue reading this article on my website here: http://www.arielpublicity.com/sound_advice/your-mastermind-group.html THIS WEEK'S FEATURED ARTIST Cyber PR Artist Josh Charles gives back! Cyber PR would like to commend our artist Josh Charles for his help in the Make it Right New Orleans Foundation (http://www.makeitrightnola.org/). He was so moved by the devastation of Hurricane Katrina that he wrote "Healing Time" in an effort to bring light in a time of darkness to people's lives affected by Katrina. Visiting New Orleans again in 2006, performing at Jazz Fest and Piano Night, Josh was shocked at how little had been done. What matters to Josh the most about the Lower 9th Ward, as a musician, is its cultural significance. As an environmentally conscious artist, Josh holds near and dear to him his dedication to rebuilding the Lower 9th Ward with environmentally sustainable housing and bringing people back home.
Dare Dukes
Chris Huff
Featured Artist Video: With a soulful voice equally suited for the ballad or the breakdown, Eoin's well crafted musical style pairs the narrative, story telling eloquence of James Taylor with the emotive passion of Van Morrison.
THIS WEEK'S FEATURED RESOURCES:
Featured Blog:
Featured Podcast:
Featured Internet Radio Station:
New Media Pioneer: Jason Tippitt of Mental Nomad Podcast and Pod Across America http://mentalnomad.libsyn.com/
Mental Nomad Podcast: Eclectic music podcast. I play almost every sort of music, though geared a little more toward singer-songwriters. Pod Across America: Also an eclectic music show, but each episode focuses on one American state at a time. Q: How long have you been broadcasting? A: The Mental Nomad Podcast started in March 2007; it was initially a twice-a-week show but has been weekly for about a year now, with a few exceptions. The show's eclectic, with an intention toward including music from outside the United States and music from female vocalists in almost every episode. Pod Across America started in October 2008 and will be two episodes a month, usually one episode per state. I started in Delaware, the first state, and will go through Hawaii, the 50th state, in order ... a few states will get two episodes just due to the sheer number of musicians from those states. Q: In your opinion, what does a good song need to consist of? A: To me, a good song is one that gives me some sort of emotional reaction ... thrilling to the highs, coasting through the lows, laughing at a clever turn of phrase or feeling my stomach churn over some emotional conflict that rings true to me. A song can be really simple and yet really powerful: Bob Dylan's "Tomorrow Is a Long Time" and Queen's "Bijou" contain very short, very simple lyrics but the mix of the lyrics, the vocal delivery and the music turns them into something magical. Most of the music I really enjoy has lyrics, and usually the lyrics are in English. I do listen to some instrumental music, and I do listen to some non-English-language music, but the instrumentalists or vocalists really have to soar above and beyond for me to really engage the music.
Q: What is your favorite band or favorite genre of music and why? A: Attorney and writer Andrew Vachss has observed that "blues is truth," and I agree wholeheartedly. Blues gets down to the core of the human experience, the raw truth of emotions laid bare. It's naked and honest, and even when the blues singer engages in bragging, the exaggerations point the way toward his or her insecurities. More broadly, music that tells a story is what really gets my attention. Blues, certainly folk music, certain rap and rock 'n' roll, the cabaret storytelling of a Tom Waits or the deeply emotional jazz of Jimmy Scott ... music with personality. Q: What changes in content laws, broadcasting rights, etc., have affected you most? A: I feel unqualified to answer this question. I haven't paid a lot of attention to the legal issues, whereas I probably should pay more attention. In early episodes, I was a lot quicker to download a song from MySpace and play it, then ask permission after the fact. I wouldn't dream of doing that now. Using a content provider such as the Podsafe Music Network and working with publicists such as the folks at Ariel Publicity -- where the music is pre-cleared and podsafe -- is the smart way to go, I've found. I'd rather be able to find new music I might not have heard before and play that than risk getting sued for playing a U2 song that everyone's going to hear all over the place, anyway. So the limitations put in place by respecting the law challenges me to look for the next Bob Dylan, the next Tom Waits, the next Emmylou Harris. Q: A recent study found blogs to be more effective than MySpace in generating album sales; do you feel podcasts have that power? A: I haven't personally experienced any huge revenue surge from doing podcasts and the blogs associated with them, though I do include links to both the music I play and, to a lesser extent, to the videos that strike my fancy from artists podsafe and non-podsafe. That said, I have absolutely discovered new music that I've subsequently bought through blogs and podcasts. Blogs and podcasts offer a great way to sample a lot of music that I wouldn't hear on heavily formatted local radio or even the music channels on digital TV. Podcasts come to you. Blogs come to you, if you syndicate their feeds
through a reader. They require less effort than logging into MySpace
or Facebook, slogging through the many pages of contacts you have, and
noticing when a particular band has updated the profile. So yes, I
think podcasts are a more forward-thinking way of marketing a band --
it's letting other people be your street team, rather than trusting
people to find you. ABOUT US Ariel Hyatt founded Ariel Publicity & Cyber PR 12 years ago and her firm has worked with over 1,000 musicians and bands of all genres. The Ariel Publicity mission states that all artists deserve to be heard and there is a place for artists of every level to receive exposure. Ariel Hyatt has managed to place tens of thousands of artists in countless outlets from national magazines and TV to the most grassroots online fanzines. Her company is now 100% digital and helps artists increase their online exposure. She is also the co-founder of Bandletter.com, a company that creates newsletters for musicians. Ariel Publicity's SoundAdvice
is a free bi-monthly e-zine for musicians & entrepreneurs who want
marketing, promotion and PR tips for navigating the new music business.
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