Happy Monday! Today I want to stress how important it is to show support to your acquaintances in businesses similar to yours. While possibly giving work to them and minimizing work for you, it strengthens your relationship with them and assuring you possibly getting referrals from them. I believe it is okay to refer business to others who would appreciate the assistance and also build a stronger network of owners who can help you out in the event that you have more than you can handle. Don’t be afraid to refer others’ work. It’s a benefit, not an obstruction. Refer a friend!

List 1:

James Jamerson, Jaco Pastorius, Paul McCartney, Larry Graham, Stanley Clarke, Ron Carter, John Entwistle

List 2

Tommy Lee, Max Roach, Alex Van Halen, Tony Williams, Dave Lombardo, Phil Collins,Josh Freese

What do these people have in common?

Is it possible to have a band without a drummer? With today’s innovation, I would say yes, but with that being possible, does that make the band better or worse? I really need to hear from bands that have or don’t have drummers, and have them share how they are affected by it. What would really be dope is having the drummers to chime in on their pros and cons about what is or isn’t better. Now single artists may not have a need for a drummer because they mostly sing-off tracks and that’s usually a beat machine with pre-recorded music, but that doesn’t mean that they couldn’t have their drums recorded by an actual drummer. Some bands believe that if they at least have a bass player, then they can survive without a drummer, but are they right? Let’s look back in time a few years and see what bands operated without a drummer. How about Jonas Hellborg and The Silent Life? Or, maybe John McLaughlin, Paco DeLucia, Al DiMeola – Friday Night in San Francisco. These are truly some great musicians who utilize what they have and make beautiful music. Can anyone suggest some other bands or artists that went drummerless? There seem to be very good possibilities with and without drummers, and whether you have a need for them or not, creative work can still be made. Play on.

I would like to make an acknowledgement to all of the keyboardists past and present, who spent countless hours, days, years, and decades shaping notes and chords into some of the best music heard by the world. They brought a story to life, entrancing listeners and allowing adversaries an opportunity to think about alternative ways to settle disputes. The creativity in mixing major and minor notes and giving each note their own identity, and the ability to pull you into a world wind of possibilities, makes you appreciate all the countless hours spent on their instrument , just to please you. Though I dare not attempt to name each and every one of them, I will say that everything they have done musically, has made it easier for us to believe that there is hope for the upcoming keyboardists in our future. Keep on composing.

Don’t ask me where this topic came from, I’m just frustrated with people blaming others for their slow starts. Check it. You’ve been dreaming about becoming a successful artist every since you can remember, and your window of opportunity has approached, but for some reason, everything is going slow. You’ve been honing your craft and posting on your social media sites, asking your friends and family to help spread the word, but you’re not growing in sales. You’ve heard about different posts that haters made pertaining to your music, and automatically conclude that they are the reason for your lack of support. Like they are the ones handling your business. They are the ones who decide who buys your material. You go on a rant speaking about how you feel about them, when in retrospect what you’re doing is giving them free publicity. If you put more effort into boosting your product and marketing yourself better, you’ll see better results. You can’t do anything about what others may say or think, but you can promote you and what you do. I refuse to let someone else dictate how I succeed. Stop complaining, build yourself a good business plan and market yourself where everyone will get a chance to hear you. It may not stop the talking, but if they’re talking about you, then that means somebody is checking you out to see if it’s true. And what do we call that? Good marketing strategy. How do you feel now? Just saying.

Going back in time is very possible and has been for a long while. We’re just concentrating on the wrong avenues to get there. Just think about it, if you wanted to know about what happened in the 1800’s, you just play a song from that era and allow it to take you on an otherwise impossible trip. And for some, they just want to go back a few decades to remember when they were younger. The creating and developing of music over the years allows us to step back in time and live or relive the past, even for just a few moments to get away from it all. Some musical time machines take you an exact date and time when you fell in love, or that year you first left home. Whatever and however you use your time machine is totally up to you. So the next time you want to go back in time, look into your favorite album, artist, band or compositions, and lose yourself for a while. Happy travels.

It’s Friday, and that means trivia time. I think I get anxious for the weekend to start so that I can get to the trivia. Ok, so what can I trip you up with today? Are their any Beatles fans out there? Yeah, ok this trivia is for you. I’ll start with something easy.

1. Name all of the Beatles.
2. How long were the Beatles an active group?
3. What was the most popular Beatles album?
4. Who wrote the majority of the Beatles songs?
5. Where were the Beatles from?
6. What is the name of the place where the Beatles recorded their songs?
7. Why were the Beatles so popular?
8. Name 3 of the awards given to the Beatles.
9. When did the Beatles band begin?
10. Why did the Beatles break up?

This should be easy for true fans and challenging for newcomers. Leave your answers or guesses in the comments below, and enjoy your weekend. Happy Labor Day for those who celebrate it.

 

At one of my Audio Engineering Society (AES) conferences, I was listening to a pair of some of my favorite headphones, Audeze. As I was talking to some of my colleagues, who were newly introduced to AES about how great these headphones sounded, one of the representatives of the company, who was also listening to my conversation, asked me to listen to a song that he felt was not a great recorded song, but still sounded good on the headphones. I was shocked to find out that the song was a gospel tune. On the headphones, the song had clarity, as was expected, but what was also exposed, was how poor the quality was in the recording. And a question popped into my head. Though not every gospel recording is bad, why is quality ignored in the gospel community? Gospel music is a motivating force for Christians. So, why is their product not better? Could it be, possibly, that material recorded is being rushed into the release? I understand the excitement knowing that all of your hard work will be heard by many, but don’t you shouldn’t cut corners. Allow the engineer and/or producer to ensure you that what you’ve worked so hard on will be appreciated in quality, as well as the message that you are delivering. I listen to all genres of music. And in my opinion, some, if not most of the gospel music released, is not adequately presented. As stated earlier, the songs are inspirational, but the material deserves more regard than what is given. I would like to encourage the gospel community to take the time to get it done right. and not be anxious to get it out there just to say it’s finished.

For as long as artists have been aware that it works, gimmicks have been practiced. I am not aware of any groups, soloists, rappers, or musician who hasn’t considered or attempted to come up with a gimmick of some kind that would help them benefit in popularity and wealth. Now if asked, they may deny it, but if you look at all the attention, both negative and positive, what they have done was attract attention to themselves that made everyone want to know who, what, why, where, when and how. Some of the most famous culprits are Niki Minaj, Kanye West, Rihanna, Beyonce, Madonna, and the list goes on and on. I’m not speaking negatively about what they’re doing, but I have a question. Is it necessary? And if so, how far is too far? Would you parade around naked in the city like Erika Badu, or put on little clothing as tolerable to get viewers? Are the consequences worth the reputation placed on you? For the moment, followers appear to be desensitized to the antics. It’s almost like they’re expecting someone to come up with the next big thing. So, whether you like it or not, gimmicks are probably going to be around for a while, and as long as it’s effective, artists are going to use them.

Here’s a little something for you to think about. That is if it describes your situation.

In order to become successful, you need three things.

These are the words of the rap star/ film mogul, Curtis Jackson III, most of you know him as 50 Cent. Like some of you, Curtis (50 Cent) Jackson III lived a struggled life, being abandoned by his father at birth, and growing up in a broken family. His mother had him early as a teenager and was killed in her twenties, leaving Jackson spending his teenage years without a family to support him.

Some of you can identify with some or most the same type of story and, Jackson decided to do what most of you did, turn to sell drugs in order to support himself and his lifestyle. He also took up boxing and has claimed that the focus and determination it required was instrumental in his future success. Arrested in high school, he was sent to a military camp to improve his behavior. The exact opposite took effect. He turned to rapping, sensing that it was the best way for him to leave a life spent on the streets. Does this sound familiar?

Some of you believe that you’ll just do this long enough to come up, then get out the game and build your musical career, but it doesn’t always work out like you plan does it? As a matter of fact, you’re still trying to come up, huh? Well, let me encourage you not to give up. I don’t know exactly how you’re going about it but use wisdom. Maybe selling is not for you. Maybe there is another direction for you to go in. Either way, remember what 50 Cent says.

You must have:

• Intelligence
• Vision and ambition
• Hustle

It doesn’t take a genius to know what intelligence is, but for those who don’t, it is the ability to acquire and apply knowledge and skills. 

Vision is the ability to think about or plan the future with imagination or wisdom, and Ambition is the ability to think about or plan the future with imagination or wisdom. Lastly, Hustle means to have the courage, confidence, self-belief, and self-determination to go out there and work it out until you find the opportunities you want in life.

This is what gave him his success. What will your story say?

Information from successstory.com, Top 23+ Famous Rappers List|Famous People