In This Issue First of all, as I type this there is a war going on. This forum is to talk about all things music related, so I won’t really touch on “the war.” My only point will be as you stress out over learning new songs, people have bullets and bombs zooming by their heads (and it kind of puts things into perspective). This issue we deal with a few sites for the ladies. We have an "improved" Spotlight artist page as I was able to "interview" a tremendous talent in Maria V (her story is almost as phenomenal as her voice), I give you my input on a GREAT book, and we look at some free software to help you keep your instant messaging under control. I’m glad to say our community is picking up steam as we now have 604 members (both the message boards and battle of the bands promotion are picking up. I need some help with a "QUESTION FOR THE GROUP" as it deals with getting gigs outside your city (I haven't done a ton of that). -All comments welcome - Dave Contact Us Spotlight Artist - Marina V This talented singer songwriter has the music press saying things such as: One of the most promising new singer/songwriters of the year" ~Keyboard Magazine "a sweet and beautiful voice" ~ Music Connection "Her piano-based pop is melodic and unique" ~ Onstage Magazine With a voice that is absolutely hypnotic, it is no wonder that her music is being used on “The Real World” as well XM satelite Radio. Her openly emotional songs have huge hooks and memorable melodies. Marina's soft, quirky voice, injected with a subtle Russian accent, provides an experience you will not forget. Read Dave's "Interview" with Marina V Questions From/For the Group. Giging Outside Your city & Online Concerts In getting to know the current Spotlight Artist” Marina V I noticed that she will be participating in an online concert. This is scheduled on 3/28 and can be viewed by going here I also noticed that Garage Radio (an old friend of the MCC and the newest affiliate), is getting ready to have an online concert On April 8th. Kill By Inches (the heaviest band on the indie scene) will be performing LIVE from the GR studio! According to their website, they will be webcasting LIVE streaming video of the event via Quicktime for broadband users. You can even contact garageradio.com to set up your own concert on the net. My questions is this: Is anyone aware of any other resources for online concerts? The next questions comes from Sue. “Now, on the topic on getting gigs... that has not been a problem locally for us. I am in Los Angeles, a city with lots of opportunities for all-ages bands/fans. Its getting OUT of the city that is a problem for us... How do you get into a venue where you are an unknown... where the venue wants a min draw and where you won't "pay to play"! Advice? Sue (Large Marge's garage band mom) Sue, First of all anyone reading this with info please chime in. I live in Akron (south of Cleveland) Ohio. When my band wanted to move to Cleveland, or east towards Pennsylvania, we did it one club at a time. If a club had never heard of us, we would mention we played a club close to theirs. This also helps as you can slowly build your audience in these new areas, while hopefully bringing some of the loyal faithful fans along (in my case, fans from Canton Ohio were not driving 90 minutes to hear us play). Some other ideas I’ve heard of is “Gig Swapping.” Now straight up, I’ve never done this –so if YOU (reading this) have help me out. Apparently you find a band that wants to come south, and you want to go north. You set it up that they do one set to “open” for you and you do the same for them. This acts as an “Audition” for the new bar owner. Depending on the set up, you either pay for free, or take part of the cut. If you are playing for free, at least you’re only playing one set (and have the rest of the night for other activities). Realize a club owner may not let this idea fly. They have to take your word that this band is good (which is why it’s a good idea to do this with a band you have checked out). This is where the old technique of "explaining in a fashion showing how they are going to benefit" comes into play. This might include: Two bands for the price of one. Maybe the bands will use the same drum set so there will be very little time between bands. If you are looking for places, and contact names out of your area, you might try the Musician’s Indie Bible. I finally found someone who purchased one (Joe Clem of Sky dog music www.skydogmusic.com ) and he said, The Indie Contact Bible is probably the most helpful thing I've found. I've gotten several different books of that type and it's by far the best. Well worth the money.” It might be looking into. -Dave C’mon Cooler Friends Help Sue Out. I’ll be putting Sue’s question in the Message Board, or you can send an e-mail to answer. Battle of the bands Haggis is still our reigning “champion” (special thanks to Endever for participating). It was a tight race, but in the end, Haggis made a GIANT push to win. In the last two weeks I’ve been marketing the promotion, and we have some new folks taking advantage of the cheap publicity. Haggis will take on Contact High in the "Hard Rock" category. Christine Martucci will take on Tycoons in the “Rock” category. In the "Alternative" category we have “Large Marge” going up against Exhibit F. In the Metal category we have E. X. Vortex going up against Morning Glory. If you’re up for hearing some new tunes, this is place. We have Olio in the Funk/R&B category looking for a challenger is that you? To listen and vote go to www.jammindave.com/mainevent.htm Also, remember Musician Cyber Cooler affiliates earn 15% on every band that signs up from their web site. To get your band involved go to www.jammindave.com/battlebands.htm I Want to Go Vote! Click Here to Sign Up (Deadline for next round is 4/5/2003) Hey Ladies (Internet Sites For the Female Musician) Here are some sites specifically designed with the female rocker in mind Gogirlsmusic.com Here is a site for anyone with a female in the group. GoGirlsMusic.com, is the oldest online community of independent women artists (started in 1996) GoGirls produces the GoGirlsMusicFest and GoGirlsRock! Madalyn Sklar started GoGirlsMusic.com with a vision of bringing together other indie women musicians from around the country and world. They have a list of coming events. This is nice as you can see what is available before you submit your $35 registration fee (Needed to be included in the shows, and other opportunities). You can pay by credit card or use your paypal account. If you are looking for free stuff. The site has interviews with different artists, reviews, articles and more. They recently added a feature called gigpage where you can pay less than 5 bucks a month and have your calendar on your site (no need to learn programming, or search for a fee java script). Guitar Girls http://guitargirls.com This site is founded by Lynn Carey a singer/songwriter/guitarist and co-owner of Los Angeles studio that has done work for artist such as Madonna, Michael Jackson, Boys II Men, Snoop Dogg, Foo Fighters, Guns n' Roses, k.d. lang, and Elton John. Lynn herself has recorded and released music, including a song featuring Brian May of Queen.The site has lots of resources including articles on singing,tutorials on guitar, sheet music links, reviews and more. Sparklecraft.com This site features “Rock Fashions” such as designer guitar straps (much like Cheryl Crow’s No War” strap) and more. Get Your Band Out of the Basement - New Free Sample Ever thought of buying Dave's Book "Get Your Band Out of the Basement (and keep them out of the asylum)? Now you can receive a sample a day for a week (unsubscribe at any time). Here is what others are saying about the book: Great Book! I read your book last night, I think it will be a great tool for my band. Thanks alot for all your help,I'll tell other bands I know about your book and hopefully they'll purchase a copy. Larry Lynn www.homestead.com/silentecho To receive a free sample send a blank e-mail to bandbook@freeautobot.com Got a web site? Earn 15% as a Musician's Cyber Cooler Affiliate. More info. Confessions of a Record Producer - Great Book! Confessions of a Record Producer : How to Survive the Scams & Shams of the Music Business When I picked up this book I expected another boring book from some out of touch “has been” trying to make a buck. Instead I found a book full of insight. Half way through the book I was blown away with the amount of knowledge (and I still had half a book to go). Fact: the music business is full of weasels. They feed on the excitement of new (naive) artists, get them to sign a poor contract, and milk them dry. Well this book shows you the business from many including the artist, producer, label, and lawyers side (and more). From assembling your team of managers, lawyers, producers, to payola and kickbacks, to copyrights, publishing royalties, sneaking lawyers tricks Moses Avalon covers everything in great detail. Typically when a book is this thorough there are parts that you end up skipping as it doesn’t apply, but Moses insights of the “squeezing”, back stabbing, and shenanigans kept me glued to every page. If you are thinking that life would be great if you could just get signed to a major label, you REALLY need to read this. Moses shows you how you can sell 1,000,000 records and still owe $107,707.03. He shows you every detail, and then brings it home by breaking down in a table format (making it easy to see exactly where the money goes).The section titled “A Major Label Deal is like having a Credit Card at 66% was extremely eye opening. OK, anybody can throw number on a page. So who is Moses Avalon? It turns out he has worked with Warner Brothers, Atlantic, and BMG. He has worked Grammy wining artists (he has worked on 5 platinum recordings). He is also a composer who has had his compositions used in commercials, and award winning independent films. If you are someone looking for management, or getting airplay now and on the verge of breaking, READ THIS BOOK. It’s available at Amazon for $13 bucks, and at half.com for $10 (as of 3/15/2003). When snakes surround you, it pays to know which ones are poisonous. Look For this Book at Half.com Check out the Success Library Café Press Now Offers CD Manufacturing Café Press best known for making merchandise without any up front costs, has now added CD manufacturing to their stable of products. What’s the catch? They are not the cheapest game in town (for sure). If you order under 99 your price will be 8.99 (for the CD, sleeve, and jewel case) or $4.49 is you want a paper sleeve. While they prices do go down when your order more ($6.99 and $2.99), this still is more expensive than many “one off” dealers on the Internet (www.mixdown.com). The customer will be able to stream samples of your CD before they buy it. The advantage of having Café Press handle your CD is you may already have your t-shirts, etc with this company. This way a customer could add a T-shirt and a CD all in the same shopping experience. As with all of Cafe Press item, the other advantage is there is no up front costs. You only buy what you need. In the future they will add data CDs, and publishing More Info on Cafe Press www.Cafepress.com Trillion: Connect to AIM®, MSN®, ICQ®, Yahoo!®, and IRC! at the SAME TIME OK, typically when I review something I have taken my time to really dig deep into a topic. When I loaded Trillion as I was putting together this newsletter, I thought, “Hey this is pretty cool.” What is Trillion? It is an instant messenger tool that lets to connect to all major chat networks, including AIM®, MSN®, ICQ®, Yahoo!®, and IRC! Unlike other multi-IM products, no accounts need to be registered with Cerulean Studios (the creators) to begin. That means you can type in your old messenger account names and passwords - and start right away! So I did, and it works. While (being the typical adult American) I didn’t read the manual, so I don’t know exactly what is going on, but as I was typing I had a conversation with a friend on ICQ, and then a friend on AOL’s IM. In those cases a different icon represents the different networks. I can also choose to log out of certain networks (while remaining in others). The best part is it’s FREE. OK, if you stick with the free version you will have to put up with some advertising. The great thing is the “Pro” version is only $25 and they accept PAYPAL! The Pro version also allows you to change to download and change the "Skin" of the interface. Trillion's Web site http://www.ceruleanstudios.com/ Conclusion Next Issue, another Book review, Oilio, and more. SIGN UP FOR THE BATTLE OF THE BANDS CONTEST. Contact Us Dave Jackson Moderator Band Aid Cyber Group (Check out Dave's New Hard Rock CD) http://www.jammindave.com/recess Get Your Band Out of the Basement (And Keep them Out of the Asylum) Order this book full of communication, marketing, and promotion ideas now It's only $8.99, and you receive the CD Consignment FREE http://www.jammindave.com/merchandise.htm CD Consignment Guide Got a CD you want to sell on the Internet. There are LOTS of places to choose form. This guide spotlights 18 different sites. (Free when you purchase "Get Your Band Out of the Basement). http://www.jammindave.com/merchandise.htm Finding Time To Achieve Your Goals This guide leads you through making SMART goals, that lead to success. Check this out and more (including the new cyber mentoring service). http://www.jammindave.com/goalcenter New FREE Ebook From Dave Jackson Look Before Leaping into Cyberspace. Learn how to plan your web site before you build it. http://www.jammindave.com/lookb4leap.pdf (You need adobe acrobat reader to view this document) You can download adobe acrobat reader at http://www.adobe.com As always this is produced with great passion, but a general lack of sleep. Please forgive any typos.

©2003 Dave Jackson