http://bit.ly/JklNh6 One day I was at a barbershop when another guy there was already conversing with my barber. This guy must be in love with himself because he kept peering in the mirror he was holding and constantly brushing his hair. This 6-foot, 20-30-something, muscular pretty boy in a white t-shirt and jeans actually seem to be somewhat knowledgeable. As he and my barber were speaking, I would doze in and out of sleep, because I waited over 2 hours to get a haircut. Next time, I will make an appointment. When I finally sat in the barber chair, the guy told a story about a soon-to-be-entrepreneur. We’ll call this entrepreneur “Jake.” Jake had a soon-to-be-mentor. Let’s call him “Andrew.” Jake once told Andrew that he wanted to do big things in life. Andrew said, “Oh, yeah? Let’s meet up at the beach tomorrow and we can discuss your plans.” The next day, Jake wore a business suit as he walked to the picnic area of the beach and saw Andrew in a t-shirt with shorts. This is weird, Jake thought. The two seemed incompatible. Jake told Andrew a little more about what he wanted to do in life. They also discussed Jake’s weaknesses in life that may impair his success. That’s when Andrew made some sort of signal. Suddenly, Jake was surrounded by several guys. WTF, Jake thought to himself. All the men dragged and carried Jake to the sand area and threw him in the water, business suit in all. They were deliberately drowning him, allowing him to gasp for air in increments of a split of a second. Jake fought for his life, twisting and turning, arms flailing his arms wildly. But he was no match to the goons. After some time, Andrew finally told the other men to pull Jake out of the water. As Jake sat on the sand, his body shivered, water dripping down his face. He couldn’t speak. He was too busy taking fast, deep, and noisey breaths. Andrew looked at Jake and said, “Now you have an idea of what it means to be determined. As you were drowning, the only thing you were worried about was getting oxygen, right? As you were fighting for your life, you weren’t thinking about money or girls. You weren’t thinking about material things. You just wanted air. Now, apply this lesson to your business. Many people say they want to be a success, but they aren’t hungry enough. You gotta be hungry for this thing.” My barber and I looked at the storyteller and said our oohs and aahs. It was a great story. I’m not sure if it was a true story or something that actually happened. Crazy things like this do occur in life. I have to admit, though, I don’t have the story down to its accuracy as the storyteller said it. But the gist of it is precise. How do you feel about this story? Does it inspire you to be hungry? Christopher Patton Hot Bird Music producer@hotbirdmusic.com The business and music development services at hotbirdmusic.com helps you beat 90% of musicians and companies that fail.
Monday, December 23, 2013
Tuesday, August 6, 2013
Simple Tricks to Polish Your Lyrics – Part 3: Using Rituals to Make Great Music
Some musicians found out that a particular order of events or sequence of circumstances can be purposefully manipulated in order to write great songs. They find participating in certain non-musical activities actually compel them to craft music. I'm not saying just any activity would do. For instance, some musicians and songwriters may realize taking a jog, bathing, and then watching television in that specific order drive them to creativity. Others, like Michael Jackson, may only feel comfortable writing music when their pet llama or pet donkey is in the same room with them. For you to be on your musical A-game, a ritual must occur in your day to trigger certain emotions, inciting you to grab a pen, paper, headphone, and possibly your crotch.
When I say "ritual," I'm not referring you to light candles around a pentagram. This is no séance. It's bad enough many of us already believe popular musicians joined the Illuminati. Your ritual should be a list of ordered activities carried out to induce musical inspiration.
Ask yourself this: "When was the last time I felt pretty good writing a song because the creativity kept coming to me?" After you remember that day, you must now remember what all took place that same day before you started writing. Be sure to write your answers down. Then think of another day when you were driven to write lyrics without being diseased with writer's block. Can you remember the events that occurred beforehand? Try to remember all of the days you performed well in generating a new song. Start documenting your everyday life. You will eventually notice a pattern leading to what works and doesn't work concerning the catalyst of your musical A-game.
As I said in Marijuana and Its Use for Creativity, some artists' ritual is to smoke to acheive creativity. And then there are Christian musicians and other singers with religious overtones who feel the need to say a prayer before they write or perform a song. These may be parts of a creative ritual, but I don't believe lone activities will spark craftsmanship. Again, the idea is for you to think back to all of the events that led up to the times you remember "being in the zone" jotting a new song. Smoking kush alone will not spark creativity, nor will the Holy Spirit because your faith in making great music is dead if you don't put in the work to hone your skills.
I found coming home from work in the morning and cleaning my office gave me energy to write lyrics. So what gives you energy? Remember to document what went on in your everyday life in order to see a pattern. Write everyday even if you don't plan on working on music for a particular day. Something that occurred two days ago in addition to what happened today may get your creative juices flowing. Commit to your newly discovered pattern whenever you need a personal push to write music.
Christopher Patton
Hot Bird Music
producer@hotbirdmusic.com
Need improvement with the production of your music? Or would you like to collaborate with a producer who can add new sounds to your work? Read the Pre-Production and Session Coaching catalog to see how Hot Bird Music can assist you.
This blog post appears on hotbirdmusic.com.
When I say "ritual," I'm not referring you to light candles around a pentagram. This is no séance. It's bad enough many of us already believe popular musicians joined the Illuminati. Your ritual should be a list of ordered activities carried out to induce musical inspiration.
Ask yourself this: "When was the last time I felt pretty good writing a song because the creativity kept coming to me?" After you remember that day, you must now remember what all took place that same day before you started writing. Be sure to write your answers down. Then think of another day when you were driven to write lyrics without being diseased with writer's block. Can you remember the events that occurred beforehand? Try to remember all of the days you performed well in generating a new song. Start documenting your everyday life. You will eventually notice a pattern leading to what works and doesn't work concerning the catalyst of your musical A-game.
As I said in Marijuana and Its Use for Creativity, some artists' ritual is to smoke to acheive creativity. And then there are Christian musicians and other singers with religious overtones who feel the need to say a prayer before they write or perform a song. These may be parts of a creative ritual, but I don't believe lone activities will spark craftsmanship. Again, the idea is for you to think back to all of the events that led up to the times you remember "being in the zone" jotting a new song. Smoking kush alone will not spark creativity, nor will the Holy Spirit because your faith in making great music is dead if you don't put in the work to hone your skills.
I found coming home from work in the morning and cleaning my office gave me energy to write lyrics. So what gives you energy? Remember to document what went on in your everyday life in order to see a pattern. Write everyday even if you don't plan on working on music for a particular day. Something that occurred two days ago in addition to what happened today may get your creative juices flowing. Commit to your newly discovered pattern whenever you need a personal push to write music.
Christopher Patton
Hot Bird Music
producer@hotbirdmusic.com
Need improvement with the production of your music? Or would you like to collaborate with a producer who can add new sounds to your work? Read the Pre-Production and Session Coaching catalog to see how Hot Bird Music can assist you.
This blog post appears on hotbirdmusic.com.
Simple Tricks to Polish Your Lyrics – Part 2: Forming Your Cadence
In Simple Tricks to Polish Your Lyrics - Part 1, we learned to enhance our songs by avoiding cliché rhymes. Now we're going to learn to develop a vocal cadence, or rhythmic singing, for our music. For those of you specializing in rap music, you are probably more familiar with the term "flow" or "delivery." The way you sing (or rap) over an instrumental beat is an art and science in of itself. Always remember the saying: "It's not what you say, but how you say it." The same can apply to music. So let's delve into some examples of vocal cadences.
For the sake of this lesson, let's practice with a simple two-bar lyric:
Now there is a combination of ways you can say the same exact words. You can experiment with adding pauses in between words, drag certain words out, and shorten the time you say other words. Here's an edited version of how you may recite the two bars
Notice I added three periods (...) to indicate a pause between words. And because I lengthened some of the syllables, the two bars may have expanded into four bars instead. It's a matter of playing around with your syllables until you come up with something comfortable.
Here's a fun game to try: Do you know the lyrics to the song Mary Had A Little Lamb? First, sing it in the traditional way in which you were taught. Now sing it differently by adding variations. This should give you an idea of how forming rhythmic words can give your own songs a twist, allowing your music to stand out from others.
Some artists, such as jazz and funk singers, may sometimes have a looser cadence by placing two or three words in a bar without dragging the words. They'll say those few words as if they were talking regularly and stride with long pauses before they sing the next bar. Here is what their lyrics may look like:
Pretty simple, right? But on the other hand, rap artists put more effort in writing their words for each bar. Eminem, for example, tend to have dense and complex rhyme schemes. He may write ten rhyming words within two bars alone. Fast pacing rappers, like Twista, have the ability to say 34 syllables in just one bar.
Another trick to forming a vocal cadence is to participate in scatting. Scatting is the idea of mumbling empty, nonsensical words to a beat. Before you begin writing any words on paper, scat to the rhythm of a drum pattern or to a melodic pattern you hear. You can either match your vocal cadence to the rhythmic pattern exactly as you hear it in the music, syncopate your cadence against the rhythmic pattern, or use a combination of both.
Remember, your voice is an extra instrument to an instrumental beat. Treat your voice as if it is being composed along with a kick drum, snare drum, hi hat, guitar riff, bassline, and synthesizer. When composing music, your instruments may engage in call-and-response or play in unison. Your voice, too, must play a roll. So when you're forming a vocal cadence, allow it to creatively interact with the other instruments.
Christopher Patton
Hot Bird Music
producer@hotbirdmusic.com
Need improvement with the production of your music? Or would you like to collaborate with a producer who can add new sounds to your work? Read the Pre-Production and Session Coaching catalog to see how Hot Bird Music can assist you.
Image courtesy of Pixomar - http://www.freedigitalphotos.net/
For the sake of this lesson, let's practice with a simple two-bar lyric:
I didn't fall in love, I stumbled upon you Like the rising sun, my love dawned on you
Now there is a combination of ways you can say the same exact words. You can experiment with adding pauses in between words, drag certain words out, and shorten the time you say other words. Here's an edited version of how you may recite the two bars
I didnnnnnnnn't fall in love... I stuuuumbleeeddd upooonnn you... Like the riiiiiiising sun... my loooove dawned on you
Notice I added three periods (...) to indicate a pause between words. And because I lengthened some of the syllables, the two bars may have expanded into four bars instead. It's a matter of playing around with your syllables until you come up with something comfortable.
Here's a fun game to try: Do you know the lyrics to the song Mary Had A Little Lamb? First, sing it in the traditional way in which you were taught. Now sing it differently by adding variations. This should give you an idea of how forming rhythmic words can give your own songs a twist, allowing your music to stand out from others.
Some artists, such as jazz and funk singers, may sometimes have a looser cadence by placing two or three words in a bar without dragging the words. They'll say those few words as if they were talking regularly and stride with long pauses before they sing the next bar. Here is what their lyrics may look like:
Hit me......C'mon...... Don't trick me...Whoa...
Pretty simple, right? But on the other hand, rap artists put more effort in writing their words for each bar. Eminem, for example, tend to have dense and complex rhyme schemes. He may write ten rhyming words within two bars alone. Fast pacing rappers, like Twista, have the ability to say 34 syllables in just one bar.
Another trick to forming a vocal cadence is to participate in scatting. Scatting is the idea of mumbling empty, nonsensical words to a beat. Before you begin writing any words on paper, scat to the rhythm of a drum pattern or to a melodic pattern you hear. You can either match your vocal cadence to the rhythmic pattern exactly as you hear it in the music, syncopate your cadence against the rhythmic pattern, or use a combination of both.
Remember, your voice is an extra instrument to an instrumental beat. Treat your voice as if it is being composed along with a kick drum, snare drum, hi hat, guitar riff, bassline, and synthesizer. When composing music, your instruments may engage in call-and-response or play in unison. Your voice, too, must play a roll. So when you're forming a vocal cadence, allow it to creatively interact with the other instruments.
Christopher Patton
Hot Bird Music
producer@hotbirdmusic.com
Need improvement with the production of your music? Or would you like to collaborate with a producer who can add new sounds to your work? Read the Pre-Production and Session Coaching catalog to see how Hot Bird Music can assist you.
Simple Tricks to Polish Your Lyrics – Part 1: Avoiding Cliché Rhymes
If you write your own song lyrics, do you tend to rhyme words that your listeners expect to hear from you? In other words, are you writing cliché rhyming words? Here's a test to see if you fall into the same exigency as other songwriters: Think of a word that rhymes with girl. Go ahead. Think of one. Imagine you're hearing the Jeopardy waiting tune with Alex Trebek. Did you think of a rhyming word? Good. If you chose "world" or "pearl" as your word, then there's a possibility some aspect of your lyrics are cliché and uninspiring.
Tuesday, July 23, 2013
6 Steps to Making Your Own Music Video on the Cheap (Video)
QUOTE: So many bands and musicians have had success through viral music video outlets like Youtube. The demand for video is only increasing so it's time for you to get in on the action. Youtube is still the second largest search engine in the world, and in case you forgot, that's how Justin Bieber was discovered (how could you forget?) Here are six steps on how to make a music video on your own for free.
You can find more of Gregory Douglass's videos at http://thecreativeadvisor.com/.
Don't leave your friends and band members hanging. Be a real pal and share this video with them. I'm pretty sure they want to make their own music video, too.
Christopher Patton
Hot Bird Music
producer@hotbirdmusic.com
This blog post appears on hotbirdmusic.com. If you enjoyed reading this, click on the link and share it with your friends.
Like Hot Bird Music on Facebook
Follow Hot Bird Music on Twitter
Become a fan on Reverb Nation
You can find more of Gregory Douglass's videos at http://thecreativeadvisor.com/.
Don't leave your friends and band members hanging. Be a real pal and share this video with them. I'm pretty sure they want to make their own music video, too.
Christopher Patton
Hot Bird Music
producer@hotbirdmusic.com
This blog post appears on hotbirdmusic.com. If you enjoyed reading this, click on the link and share it with your friends.
Like Hot Bird Music on Facebook
Follow Hot Bird Music on Twitter
Become a fan on Reverb Nation
Thursday, July 18, 2013
Marijuana and Its Use for Creativity
People smoke marijuana for several different reasons. Some smoke because they see their friends doing it. Others do it for relaxation or to temporarily get their minds off of life's hardship. The THC chemical found in marijuana is what causes the psychoactive effect, meaning that a person's state of mind is altered.
In addition, there are weed smokers who believe marijuana is a medicine. According to ProCon.org, marijuana is used to treat cancer, AIDS, multiple sclerosis, pain, glaucoma, and epilepsy. About 19 states in America, including the District of Columbia, legalized the prescription of medical marijuana. (I've also learned that cocaine is not totally illegal and can be prescribed under a doctor's supervision. But that's another story.) In contrast to popular belief, marijuana is illegal in Amsterdam. I remember watching a documentary on the topic of marijuana on the History channel. Although it is illegal, Amsterdamian police tend to "tolerate" the sale and use of it, at least in certain areas. Moreover, weed is not even legal in Jamaica. So drop the stereotype.
When it comes to music, some musicians feel as though weed and alcohol are catalysts for creativity. During the process of writing a new song or during the recording session at a music studio, they pull out a joint and light it up. They inadvertently believe marijuana allow the right side of the brain (the creative side) to overpower the left side of the brain (the analytical side). It is true that people sometimes over think something and potentially bar themselves from innovation and breakthroughs. Therefore, weed is believed to lessen the influence of logical thinking to maintain a state of craftsmanship.
But is smoking marijuana really a productive thing to do? Does it do more harm than good? Is there an alternative to smoking that inspire musical creativity?
I've read about brain waves corresponding to the different levels of consciousness: beta, alpha, theta, and delta brain waves. What's significant about these brain waves is that each represent a deeper train of thought than the one before it, with beta being the intentional awareness of your surroundings (the most conscious) and delta being deep sleep (total unconscious). Some musicians, designers, athletes, chief executive officers, and religious leaders find themselves with great achievements because they were operating their duties in deep states consciousness (towards delta), which lead to higher forms of creativity. These states of mind could be the alternative to the use of marijuana.
There have been several times in which I would have a great idea when sleeping. I'd intentionally try to grasp the idea and memorize it. Unfortunately, the more I try to memorize it, the faster it flees my mind. The idea seems promising in my sleeping state but I know I won't be able to remember it once I wake up. I don't know if it really was a great idea or just a false sense of inventiveness. My brother even told me he's more creative making music at night, when he's closer to being sleepy and life has quieted down, than during the day. In her book Awakening the Mind, Anna Wise describes techniques to intentionally accessing each level of consciousness without falling asleep. Honestly, this book is a bit dull to me, lacking fire. I prefer to--as well encourage you to--listen to music whose sole purpose is to activate your brain waves, inducing your creativity. I suggest we turn this type of music on before or during our study/performance. We will then have a sense of creativity.
The video below is an example of delta-induced audio. You get best results by listening with headphones or earphones.
Conduct your own research on the different brain waves to further your knowledge on accessing them. We may not have to resort to psychoactive substance for creativity after all.
Christopher Patton
Hot Bird Music
producer@hotbirdmusic.com
This blog post appears on hotbirdmusic.com. If you enjoyed reading this, click on the link and share it with your friends.
Like Hot Bird Music on Facebook
Follow Hot Bird Music on Twitter
Become a fan on Reverb Nation
In addition, there are weed smokers who believe marijuana is a medicine. According to ProCon.org, marijuana is used to treat cancer, AIDS, multiple sclerosis, pain, glaucoma, and epilepsy. About 19 states in America, including the District of Columbia, legalized the prescription of medical marijuana. (I've also learned that cocaine is not totally illegal and can be prescribed under a doctor's supervision. But that's another story.) In contrast to popular belief, marijuana is illegal in Amsterdam. I remember watching a documentary on the topic of marijuana on the History channel. Although it is illegal, Amsterdamian police tend to "tolerate" the sale and use of it, at least in certain areas. Moreover, weed is not even legal in Jamaica. So drop the stereotype.
When it comes to music, some musicians feel as though weed and alcohol are catalysts for creativity. During the process of writing a new song or during the recording session at a music studio, they pull out a joint and light it up. They inadvertently believe marijuana allow the right side of the brain (the creative side) to overpower the left side of the brain (the analytical side). It is true that people sometimes over think something and potentially bar themselves from innovation and breakthroughs. Therefore, weed is believed to lessen the influence of logical thinking to maintain a state of craftsmanship.
But is smoking marijuana really a productive thing to do? Does it do more harm than good? Is there an alternative to smoking that inspire musical creativity?
I've read about brain waves corresponding to the different levels of consciousness: beta, alpha, theta, and delta brain waves. What's significant about these brain waves is that each represent a deeper train of thought than the one before it, with beta being the intentional awareness of your surroundings (the most conscious) and delta being deep sleep (total unconscious). Some musicians, designers, athletes, chief executive officers, and religious leaders find themselves with great achievements because they were operating their duties in deep states consciousness (towards delta), which lead to higher forms of creativity. These states of mind could be the alternative to the use of marijuana.
There have been several times in which I would have a great idea when sleeping. I'd intentionally try to grasp the idea and memorize it. Unfortunately, the more I try to memorize it, the faster it flees my mind. The idea seems promising in my sleeping state but I know I won't be able to remember it once I wake up. I don't know if it really was a great idea or just a false sense of inventiveness. My brother even told me he's more creative making music at night, when he's closer to being sleepy and life has quieted down, than during the day. In her book Awakening the Mind, Anna Wise describes techniques to intentionally accessing each level of consciousness without falling asleep. Honestly, this book is a bit dull to me, lacking fire. I prefer to--as well encourage you to--listen to music whose sole purpose is to activate your brain waves, inducing your creativity. I suggest we turn this type of music on before or during our study/performance. We will then have a sense of creativity.
The video below is an example of delta-induced audio. You get best results by listening with headphones or earphones.
Conduct your own research on the different brain waves to further your knowledge on accessing them. We may not have to resort to psychoactive substance for creativity after all.
Christopher Patton
Hot Bird Music
producer@hotbirdmusic.com
This blog post appears on hotbirdmusic.com. If you enjoyed reading this, click on the link and share it with your friends.
Like Hot Bird Music on Facebook
Follow Hot Bird Music on Twitter
Become a fan on Reverb Nation
2 Ways to Find Your Niche Industry for Better Marketing
When writing a business plan and marketing plan, you should have an accurate view about the industry or industries you are operating in. You may think you're in one industry, but the government and certain information providers (such as Dun and Bradstreet) may categorize you in another. For example, musicians may think they are only in the music industry when they could possibly be in multiple other markets. That's because some business organizations and governmental agencies use what are called NAICS codes and SIC codes to understand the type of business you're in.
So what are NAICS and SIC codes and why are they important?
According to an NAICS webpage, the purpose for these codes was to have a statistical analysis of the U.S. economy and where the economy would lead to. Thus, NAICS and SIC are numerical categories of businesses. They can also be used for tax incentives or for the eligibility of certain business relationships. Once an organization or individual have a clear description of their business nature, they must then find the code that correctly correspond to that description. After you find one code that labels the core nature of your business, you may then find several other codes to label your individual products and services.
You can either use NAICS or SIC codes to label your business and products. The main difference between the two is that NAICS tend to list a larger number of industries and have greater detail about each than SIC would. Because of this, most organizations prefer NAICS over SIC. But it is still good to have both types of codes in case someone requests you to provide one or the other. One type can be converted into the other.
The image below shows examples of codes you may choose from.
These codes can possibly guide you in having a precise understanding of your market and improve your business marketing efforts. So they are actually not useless.
So how would musicians use NAICS codes?
When you visit the census site, you will see a list of major industries that lead to an expanded list of smaller industries your business may be in. Musicians, record labels, music publishers, and record producers would either have to click on the number 71 (the Arts, Entertainment, and Recreation industry) or 51 (the Information industry, which includes sound recording and music production). Skim through these two lists to find all of the descriptions that match your business and your business products. Those descriptions are assigned to a 6-digit number. For example, music artists are labeled as 711130 and music publishers are labeled as 512230. If you sell merchandise that has nothing to do with music (e.g. clothes, perfume, shampoo, books, etc.), you would then find other codes to fit those types of products.
So am I really operating in the music industry?
Depending on the core nature of your business, you may be ironically placed outside of the expected industry. For example, Hot Bird Music is not in the music industry, but rather in the consulting sector. Although Hot Bird Music does sell musical pieces and its customers happen to be musicians, the core nature of the business is business consulting. Still, the entire company is found in three industries: (1) professional and technical development industry, (2) sound recording industry, and (3) internet publishing industry.
I'm sure there were times (or there will be times) you had to fill out surveys and business forms asking you about your industry type, and you had to select from a drop-down box or a list menu. Most of you may readily click on "Arts and Entertainment" just because you see yourselves as musicians or music companies. However, selecting "Arts and Entertainment" may not always be politically correct. The Fruity Loop, Native Instruments, Pro Tools, Cubase, Propellerhead Reason, and Cakewalk companies would select "software" or "technology" as their industry even though their products pertain to music.
I hope I didn't confuse you on this blog post. Please let me know if you need further explanation.
Christopher Patton
Hot Bird Music
producer@hotbirdmusic.com
This blog post appears on hotbirdmusic.com. If you enjoyed reading this, click on the link and share it with your friends.
Like Hot Bird Music on Facebook
Follow Hot Bird Music on Twitter
Become a fan on Reverb Nation
So what are NAICS and SIC codes and why are they important?
According to an NAICS webpage, the purpose for these codes was to have a statistical analysis of the U.S. economy and where the economy would lead to. Thus, NAICS and SIC are numerical categories of businesses. They can also be used for tax incentives or for the eligibility of certain business relationships. Once an organization or individual have a clear description of their business nature, they must then find the code that correctly correspond to that description. After you find one code that labels the core nature of your business, you may then find several other codes to label your individual products and services.
You can either use NAICS or SIC codes to label your business and products. The main difference between the two is that NAICS tend to list a larger number of industries and have greater detail about each than SIC would. Because of this, most organizations prefer NAICS over SIC. But it is still good to have both types of codes in case someone requests you to provide one or the other. One type can be converted into the other.
The image below shows examples of codes you may choose from.
These codes can possibly guide you in having a precise understanding of your market and improve your business marketing efforts. So they are actually not useless.
So how would musicians use NAICS codes?
When you visit the census site, you will see a list of major industries that lead to an expanded list of smaller industries your business may be in. Musicians, record labels, music publishers, and record producers would either have to click on the number 71 (the Arts, Entertainment, and Recreation industry) or 51 (the Information industry, which includes sound recording and music production). Skim through these two lists to find all of the descriptions that match your business and your business products. Those descriptions are assigned to a 6-digit number. For example, music artists are labeled as 711130 and music publishers are labeled as 512230. If you sell merchandise that has nothing to do with music (e.g. clothes, perfume, shampoo, books, etc.), you would then find other codes to fit those types of products.
So am I really operating in the music industry?
Depending on the core nature of your business, you may be ironically placed outside of the expected industry. For example, Hot Bird Music is not in the music industry, but rather in the consulting sector. Although Hot Bird Music does sell musical pieces and its customers happen to be musicians, the core nature of the business is business consulting. Still, the entire company is found in three industries: (1) professional and technical development industry, (2) sound recording industry, and (3) internet publishing industry.
I'm sure there were times (or there will be times) you had to fill out surveys and business forms asking you about your industry type, and you had to select from a drop-down box or a list menu. Most of you may readily click on "Arts and Entertainment" just because you see yourselves as musicians or music companies. However, selecting "Arts and Entertainment" may not always be politically correct. The Fruity Loop, Native Instruments, Pro Tools, Cubase, Propellerhead Reason, and Cakewalk companies would select "software" or "technology" as their industry even though their products pertain to music.
I hope I didn't confuse you on this blog post. Please let me know if you need further explanation.
Christopher Patton
Hot Bird Music
producer@hotbirdmusic.com
This blog post appears on hotbirdmusic.com. If you enjoyed reading this, click on the link and share it with your friends.
Like Hot Bird Music on Facebook
Follow Hot Bird Music on Twitter
Become a fan on Reverb Nation
Tuesday, June 25, 2013
Photography or Rip Off: Prepare to be Photoshopped
A few weeks ago, I had the opportunity to participate in a professional photoshoot for the Hot Bird Music website and social media profiles. It was my first commercial shoot and I would like to do it again in the near future. Although photography can be exciting, it is also a business, and I want you to be prepared in case you haven't been to a commercial photoshoot before. If you've already been to one in the past, perhaps I can clear some things up you had not understood.
Here's the story: I was already a member on Elance (http://elance.com), a website similar to Craigslist that allow people to hire professionals of any occupation. I typed in something in the likes of "photographer in Cleveland" in the job search and found a candidate to hire: Jenn Simmons. She and I traded information and set up a date for the shoot. I gave her a set of pictures as examples for how I'd like my photos. She conducted her own research for inspiration and downloaded photos that displayed music producers and casual businessmen.
While waiting for the day of the photoshoot, I tried getting in contact with a Recording Arts and Technology department manager at the Cuyahoga Community College, a school located here in Cleveland, Ohio. I studied music production and music business at this school and was hoping that I could get a few shots in one of the school's music recording studios. I kept calling and left two messages, but the department manager never returned my calls. I have to say it was partly my fault I didn't get a few pictures at a recording studio because I didn't attempt to contact the manager until four days before the shoot when I had plenty of time a few weeks before to contact him. I could've easily called a few other recording studios in Cleveland, but why do that and pay sound engineers for my time being there when I could possibly go to the college with free admissions?
On the day of the photoshoot, I brought about four outfits with me to the photography studio. All of my clothes were on hangers inside one plastic garment bag. Lesson #1: Never place all of your outfits in one garment bag. Buy separate garment bags for each outfit you will bring to a shoot. Duh! Luckily Jenn had a steamer to get the wrinkles out of my clothes after all the time I spent the night before ironing. Thanks, Jenn.
During the camera flashes in different angles, Jenn shouted some suggestions for posing in addition to the poses I struck on my own. We were feeding off of each other for ideas. There were times in which I was void of inspiration for posing. Lesson #2: Rehearse the poses you will use at your photoshoot. Each outfit you wear may be a representation of a particular theme. You could think of poses that correspond to all of your themes, but it is also important to have specific poses for each outfit and background of your choice. I was at my shoot for about 4 hours and there was no time for running out of ideas.
After the photoshoot, the photographer e-mailed me a link to a webpage where I can download proof sheets. These proof sheets were pdf. files that contained about 300 pictures of me taken that day. I noticed a watermarked word across every picture that reads "proof." This indicated that the pictures were copyrighted and wasn't necessarily mine unless I bought each picture (except for 6 photos she would work on at no extra charge) in addition to the photography service I paid for the actual shooting.
Was this a rip off? I admit I was a bit shocked when I saw the word "Copyright" written in the footer of the proof sheets (not my copyright), but then I remembered what I learned about photographers when I was studying music business. Lesson #3: It is not uncommon for photographers to set up their transactions in this way. Once I remembered that lesson, I then became ok with the proof sheets. What you can do is negotiate with your photographer before the actual photoshoot starts and ask him or her to agree to lend you the copyrights to all of the pictures of you and allow you to have immediate access to those pictures after the shoot is completed.
Just because I do not have immediate access to all of my unwatermarked pictures doesn't mean I will not re-hire Jenn. She's a skilled photographer and I already recommended others to her. Whichever photo I'd like to "purchase" from her, she would polish it to meet the standards of other professional photos we see online and in print. So I'm grateful. Click here to check out Jenn's blog post about the photo session.
Hopefully I have inspired you for your next photo shoot. Whenever you are looking to hire a photographer, try going to Craigslist, Elance, or Odesk and search for one in your local area.
This blog post appears on the Hot Bird Music blog. If you enjoyed reading this, click on the link and share it with your friends.
Christopher Patton
Hot Bird Music
producer@hotbirdmusic.com
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