Managers. Remember Why You Are Doing This.

Last weekend I headed down to Tampa to watch my friend perform an acoustic set with rock legend Marty Balin. For those of you who don't know, Marty is the real deal when it comes to the music industry.  He was one of the founders and lead singers of Jefferson Airplane, the psychedelic rock group that graced the original Woodstock stage in 1969 and was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1996.

Marty's performance last week in Tampa was much more intimate. Together with a small acoustic group he performed for an intimate crowd at the home of his lead guitarist for a Christmas party. My friend brought me along to watch him play hand percussion with the rock legend. On the way to the gig he asked me if I would run sound for the group.

Now, I have a degree in music business, and I have been on the road long enough to know my way around a soundboard. I possess "just enough" sound knowledge to know how to get the best possible mix for a band, as long as they are in a small room and there aren't too many wires or requests for "more of "me"" in the monitor. So I said yes, and for the entire evening I made sure Marty sounded as best as he possibly could.

I am not sharing this experience with you to tout my own sound engineer horn. I am sharing this with you to promote another point. A point about the evolution of the music business.

When Marty and Airplane were coming up in the early sixties there were no college trained music business majors, sound engineers, or even musicians to help them out. Bands during this era came together mostly through chance. When the Beatles needed a new drummer they didn't hold weeks of auditions. They just found the next closest guy with a kit and a decent voice. John Entwistle was asked to join Roger Daltrey when the future Who singer saw him walking down the street with a bass guitar hung over his shoulder.

And back in those days it was easier to find band mates than managers or sound engineers.  Michael Jeffery went from a fledgling club owner to the manager of The Animals and Jimi Hendrix. Peter Grant went from a small time actor to the manager of The Yardbirds and eventually Led Zeppelin. And Owsley Stanley went from LSD supplier to sound man for The Grateful Dead.

These happenstances played heavily into every realm of the early development of rock and roll from performance to management. For now let's take a look at the management side of the equation.

When I started my first company, my business partner and I were just 20 years old. We had no idea how to properly run a business. What we did know was that we needed to "make money" so we did everything we could to get more customers, more orders, and thus more cash in than we were spending.  Simply put, we were hungry.

These untrained managers shared those same traits. Many lacked formal business training and thus had to make up the difference with sheer determination and will. They probably didn't understand a balance sheet, or a profit and loss statement, but did know they needed to make more money than they spent for their artists. Like us they were hungry, and that hunger carried over to pushing their bands to play better, challenge the status quo, and perform as much as possible.

During the 80's large corporations started buying up record labels and replaced these "down and dirty" managers with stuffed suits concerned only with the bottom line. And with that the music business management style change drastically.  Artists soon found themselves being managed by people who didn't necessarily enjoy their music, or even listen to it.

So how did this change the music business?

When your manager is so concerned with business and not as much with your music he, or she, will encourage you to do everything, but play out live. As someone who holds a degree in music business management, I can tell you we spent far more time on licensing, contracts, and balance sheets than on developing a great show, theory, or performance.

Those earlier managers lacked this formal training so they had to make up the difference in an other avenue of their business model. Because they truly loved the music they were representing they pushed their artist to make more of it, either live or in the studio. The net result was the development of superior musicians and songwriters because they had played more shows and recorded more albums.

Last weekend I was reminded about that fact. Watching a true rock legend from that era surrounded by people who absolutely loved his music trying to help him out. His manager was there running a video camera, his girlfriend decorating, fellow band mates brought food, and an unknown fan ran sound for the evening.

If you are in the music business I encourage you to take a moment and remember why you got into this gig in the first place.  Hopefully it is for the love of the music. If that is the case than take a page from the history of rock and follow that down and dirty management style where managers wanted to see their bands play more and encouraged them to do it. You may be surprised by the end result.

Here are some Spotify links to some great Airplane!

Jefferson Airplane – White Rabbit
Jefferson Airplane – Somebody To Love
Jefferson Airplane – Leaving On A Jet Plane

Classic Rock is Here to Save the Day!...Again

During last evening's 121212 Concert for Sandy Relief classic rock and rollers once again proved why they will never be forgotten and that they can still help change the world.

The sponsors of last night show didn't ask Bruno Mars, Rihanna, or Ke$sha. There was no Lady Gaga,  Maroon 5, FUN, or Bieber. Instead they brought out the big guns, rock's royalty if you will, with The Rolling Stones, The Who, Eric Calpton, Bruce Springsteen and The E Street Band, Roger Waters, Billy Joel, and Sir Paul McCartney.

In fact there were only three artists unqualified for AARP last night. Chris Martin, Alicia Keys, and Kanye West, and only one of them wore a leather skirt.  Thanks for the endless jokes and future Saturday Night Live sketch Kanye.

So why bring in rockers of yesteryear?

How awkward was it to see a 68 year old Roger Daltrey jump around with his leathery chest hanging out during The Who's set?

The Twittersphere was on fire during Billy Joel's performance with countless tweets comparing him to Darh Vader and Walt from Breaking Bad.  One Tweet by comedian Jeffrey Ross had many in stitches by spoofing a Joel classic with his elderly age: "Billy Joel is gonna have a heart a tack ack ack ack."

And how about all the parents who had to explain to their technology driven children that Dave Grohl used to play drums for another band called Nirvana? And the guy with the lime green pants was the bass player.

So why do these sponsors choose rock and roll relics over younger shinier models? 

You can ague all you want, but when Sir Paul McCartney ripped into "Live and Let Die" you were probably either singing along or swaying in your seat.  And after watching Kanye run around screaming obscenities in a leather skirt you were blown away by Billy Joel's performance with real music, real harmonies, and a killer band.

I give huge props to today's artists. Many work hard, and they are facing a radically different industry and consumer base with interests that change by the Tweet. All of this has led to a different style of musician.  Today's artist must stand out in a huge sea of competition.  To do that they must promote how great they are every day via marketing, social media, and any other means necessary.  They must capture consumers with everything BUT music.  Is it any wonder that today's artists go through costume changes during a show and yesterday's just change their guitars?

The artists that made up last night's bill were brought up in a different musical era.  To stand out they needed to play their instruments better than the next guy.  That's why Eric Clapton could kill it with a power trio and nothing else at last night's show. These artists needed to create songs that stuck with you for years to come.  I think everybody was singing along with Billy Joel during his set. And finally these AARP rockers came up during a time when the youth believed they could change the world...and they actually did. That's why The Who is a statement and not a question.

Sponsors seek out these aging rockers for a number of reasons.  First, they know a bill with Eric Clapton, The Who, The Rolling Stones, Billy Joel, and Sir Paul McCartney will easily fill seats with virtually zero marketing effort. Second, they know the music will be good...real, real, good.  And finally they know that these acts have already helped change the world so they have experience when it comes to doing it once again.

Regardless, I encourage all of you to drop a few bucks to the Sandy relief effort.  These people need our help. You can still donate to the Sand Relief effort by visiting their website at http://www.121212concert.org. And soon you can purchase the show from iTunes with proceeds going to the cause. 

What will you do without your own music library?

For years I collected tapes, then CD's, and then digital downloads to build my own personal music collection. When I got hold of a third generation iPod back in 2003 I started to dump all of that music into my iTunes library. Today that library holds about 15,000 tracks.

But over the past year I, like most of you, have switched over from purchasing new music to streaming it through an online music provider. There are many of these services out there. Most notably Spotify, Pandora, and MOG. I choose the later, MOG, and pay about $10 per month so I can download as much music as I want to my fourth generation iPod Touch and iPhone.

Now, I have been pretty impressed with streaming over downloading.  It has allowed me to investigate new music, find new indie bands, and catch up on some old favorites, all without having to drop 99¢ per track or $10 per album. It just seems to make financial sense in these tough economic times.

But with every great idea comes some sort of risk.

I have been following music industry related news for a while now and have noticed two reoccurring themes that trouble me when it comes to my music collection. The first started in October of this year when financial analysts deemed Spotify's business model "unsustainable". You can read the article here.

"In almost a one-for-one scenario, every dollar Spotify is generating immediately exits the company due to licensing fees..."

The second reoccurring theme that is troubling is what is happening right now on Capitol Hill in regards to intellectual property. For months now Pandora has been leading a charge to get Congress to reduce the online royalty payments for artists. It seems investors for the online streaming service need the business to make more money, and they have deemed the best way to do that is by lobbying our Nation's leaders to reduce royalty payments do to the musicians' whose works they are exploiting for profit. Former TuneCore CEO Jeff Prince wrote a great article on this conundrum for Hyperbot. You can get to it here.  

So what do these two themes mean for us streamers?

The answer is simple. The two biggest leaders in the streaming market have been deemed unsustainable. Spotify is surviving through the assistance of venture capital and Pandora is trying to create a stronger business model by challenging the artists they rely on for product. Eventually the venture capitalists backing Spotfiy are going to want out, especially if their forecasts continue to demonstrate they may not get a return on their investment. Investors invest to make money, not for charity. And if Pandora continues to challenge the royalty payments of their artists, those artists are going to stop providing the second giant with product. And if you think musicians need Pandora, just ask Taylor Swift and her management team who proved streaming is a benefit, not a necessity.

This could lead to consumers without a decent streaming service. And for those of us who haven't purchased a CD in months that could lead to thousands of consumers with stale music collections. Imagine what would happen if Spotify and Pandora fell off the map. Sure other companies would take their place. That is the power of capitalism, but consumers would be scared, and chances are they would go back to downloading their favorite music through services such as Amazon and iTunes in record numbers. Maybe Apple and Amazon stock isn't a bad idea at this moment.

Now, I am not saying that streaming will fall off the map, and to be honest I am still streaming over downloading as I write this article, but imagine what would happen if these companies disappeared. How much would you have to charge to your iTunes account in the day after, the week after...the year after?

A Drumming Thankful List

This Thanksgiving I wanted to make a list of things drumming related that I am thankful for. Some items on the list may appeal to every drummer, others to just a few of you, and the remaining are special to me. Enjoy and Happy Turkey Day to all.

1. Buddy Rich - I am thankful for Buddy because he continues to inspire me to this day.
2. Modern Drummer Magazine - Thanks to all involved for giving the drumming community our monthly Bible.
3. Ludwig - For giving us the first bass drum pedal in 1909, paving the way for future generations of drum set players across the globe.
4. Steve Gadd - Thanks for giving us the white whale of drumming with the groove to "50 Ways to Leave Your Lover."
5. Kenwood Dennard - Thanks for never giving me a perfect grade during my private lessons, thus teaching this young drummer there is always room for improvement in everything he does.
6. Steve Jobs and the iPod - Thanks for giving me a convenient spot for all my albums so I can jam anywhere my kit takes me.
7. Amazon Kindle - Thanks for giving us drumming instructional books in digital format. Finally I can have all the lessons of the masters with me wherever I travel.
8. Electronic Drums - My neighbors thank you, and I thank you for giving me a way to practice without getting evicted from my apartment. 
9. Duct Tape - Thanks for giving me a way to fix my kit on the fly, help kill overtones, and for the million other uses you supply while on the road.
10. All the musicians I have and will play with - Each of you has and will continue to help me evolve into a better player and happier human being.

That's my list. What are you guys thankful for?

The Drumming Community... Another Reason it's Great to Play the Drums

I was on a mini vacation this past weekend and making my way around a small seafood festival with a margarita in my hand when another patron stopped me and said "hey man nice shirt".  Now, I had forgotten that I was wearing my Modern Drummer t-shirt and took a quick look down to remind myself, before giving him a heartfelt thanks followed by the appropriate question: "so are you a drummer too?"

That question opened up a small conversation between us. In a short time span we talked about the local music scene, the music scene from his hometown, who I was playing with, who he was playing with, and the types of tubs we used. It was nice to run into a fellow drummer on my mini vacation.

As I walked away I couldn't help but think that this is something very unique to us drummers. We seem to share a community that is open to anyone who bangs those skins. I believe we have more clinics in more towns than the players of any other instrument. We have strong magazines with long histories such as Modern Drummer and Drum! that are dedicated to our craft, and we have a plethora of websites that enhance our knowledge of that craft including www.drummersorld.com, The Drummer Cafe, and VicFirth.

It seems that drummers, more than any other musician, want to share their passion and the lessons they have learned with the future generations of players. You have Steve Gadd on his popular clinic tours across the U.S., Rich Redmond hosting his technical and business based Crash Courses for Success, and Tommy Igoe crafting manuals that help the next generation of drummers step up their game. This is something I am proud to be a part of, and why I developed my own book Rudimental Technique and Analysis.

I think the biggest reason the drumming community is so open and welcoming has to do with the nature of our instrument.

Drums were the first instrument on this planet. In fact drumming is even older than the human voice. This happened because the drum represents the heartbeat, and what early tribesmen saw as the soul of the body. To this date the most indigenous tribes in Africa still revere the drummer as the only member capable of speaking to the Gods. In their world the drummer is more powerful than our president.

I like to think that even today this tradition carries forward in every drummer out there. We are the heartbeat of the band and we still represent that pulse that gives music life. We are all part of the eldest instrument on the planet, and it seems we are all proud of what we do. No matter how big or how small.

Here's to the drummer!

Internet Radio...A Modern Drumming Practice Tool.

When I was a younger drummer we didn't have iPods, iPhones, or even computers small enough to set-up next to our kits. We had Sony Walkmans and a little later on CD's.  While these mediums were great to utilize in a practice session they had their drawbacks. Most importantly you were stuck to the single artist on the cassette or disc. If you wanted to change up your routine you had to waste time changing discs or worse yet make a mix tape before you began hitting the drums.

To counter this problem I would play along with FM radio. This allowed me to practice to a variety of artists without having to change out CD's or cassettes after every song. Jamming to the radio had some great advantages. First it allowed you to practice along with a multitude of artists and second it always kept you "on your toes" because you had little time to prepare for the next song in cue. For me this proved beneficial because it trained me to handle the many pick-up situations I would eventually encounter during my drumming career.

Thanks to the Internet and streaming services today's drummers have a radio on steroids to accomplish this same task.

I currently use Slacker Radio in the same fashion that I used the FM dial so many years ago. But Slacker has a number of benefits over traditional radio. First users can select a number of genres to listen to, or if you are a musician jam along with. These genres include country, jazz, hip-hop, rock, classic rock, hard rock, R&B, and even Christian.  Each of these genres has a number of sub-genres that allow you to dive deeper into a particular style. For example under the jazz heading you can choose classic jazz, modern jazz, smooth jazz, and vocal jazz, among many other sub-styles.  And all of these stations remain in radio format so you can stay on your toes as you move from artist to artist.

With such a deep selection of stations the drummer can really focus their practice routine on a particular style or a multitude of genres.  On some days I move from Slacker's modern country station, to classic R&B, and finally their classic jazz channel.  This has really helped me to stay on my game, find new artists, and develop my playing repertoire in each style.

Slacker isn't the only streaming service available. Available radio based stations include Pandora,  iHeart Radio, and Last.FM. There are also a number of streaming services such as Spotify, MOG, and Grooveshark, among many others that allow you to listen to virtually any artist of your choice instantly. Many like MOG allow you to listen to customized play lists that match the artist of your choice with similar acts. So if you like Hendrix you can listen to a station with Clapton, Stevie Ray Vaughn, and Jeff Beck thrown in the mix.

All of these Internet streaming companies can be enjoyed via a web browser, or through one of their apps, which allow you to enjoy them on your iPhone, iPad, iPod touch, or Android device. And if you opt for their premium services you can even enjoy their music offline. This allows the drummer to have a pocket full of musical genres and artist to jam along with no matter where they are in the world.

Happy drumming!

Why You Should Love Rich Redmond

If you don't know who Rich Redmond is, let me help you. He plays for this little known country star named Jason Aldean. 

I hope you caught my sarcasm on that one.

Rich has also recorded, performed, or toured with other artists including Bryan Adams, Miranda Lambert, Jewel, The Pointer Sisters, Trace Adkins, and Hank Williams III among many, many others. Just visit his website at www.richredmond.com to see the overwhelming complete list of people he has kept the back beat for.

For all you music nuts out there you will be very impressed to know that Rich got his formal training at The University of North Texas and held the drum seat for their one o'clock lab band. For those who don't know that lab is the world series of higher level music education performance.

Besides his discography and impressive education here are four reasons drummers should check out Rich Redmond.

1. He ACTUALLY plays on all of Aldean's studio albums. 

This is a huge feat in Nashville where different drummers are allocated for an artist's studio and live performances, and a huge testament to Redmond's skills on the kit.

2. He has earned a refined groove.

Many drummers think that it is all about complex grooves, busy fills, double bass, and blazing speed. It is only after the artist develops himself over time in the studio and on the stage that they realize the best drummers keep it simple, pick their fills perfectly, and replace technique with an infectious groove. Rich has clearly done that. He plays for the song. That is a true testament to his superstar drumming status and puts him in line with greats such as Steve Gadd, Joe Porcaro, and Bernard Purdie. 

3. He puts on a show.

When Rich is in front of an audience he is an animated player. This elevates the experience for the fan, and helps him lock into the pocket. Watch this live video and see what I mean.

4. He gives back to the drumming community.

Over the past couple of years Rich has supplemented his extensive recording and live calendar with drum clinics across the country. Titled Rich Redmond's Crash Course for Success these clinics give drummers insight into his playing, practice routines, and how this chart topping drummer handles the business side of his craft. It is empowering and unlike any clinic you have ever witnessed.

These are just some of the reasons I enjoy Rich Redmond and his musical ability. I encourage you to check out his website www.richredmond.com for more information. 

To hear his amazing studio playing check out Jason Aldean on iTunes.

If you want to witness one of Redmond's clinics check out his Crash Course for Success Web page.