The fear most of us have happened to me on Friday morning. I turned on my laptop and it wouldn't boot up and it also emitted a beeping sound. Uh oh.
After Googling the issue, I found out the "beeps" were part of the Beep Code that helps computer repair people diagnosis the computer or laptop. My beep was a fatal code that pretty much said my motherboard was a crispy critter. Argh.
I purchased my fifth laptop since 2006 on Monday. Luckily, I had money saved for unexpected stuff like this but it definitely wasn't an expense I wanted to have. But I'm glad to be back up and running again. The only thing left is trying to figure out how to recover my 40 gigs of songs I had on my laptop. Of course I didn't back anything up. Lesson learned.
And if you want to help me with the unexpected expense, please click on the Amazon or iTunes links on the site to help me recover some of the costs of buying a new laptop. I would really appreciate it!
Truth be told, I'm not the biggest Lights fan but I admire what she's done. And I think her new video for Seconds Go has a great concept behind it but I wish it had a better song to go with it.
Seconds Go appears on The Listening album that peaked at #4 on the Billboard Heatseekers chart and #129 on the Billboard Top 200.
Watch the video gem below and let me know if its worthy of the tag. Leave comments below!
The Performance Rights Organizations (ASCAP, BMI, SESAC) are supposed to look out for the artists on their roster and collect performance fees anytime their artists music is played in venues, on radios, TV shows, movies, sports arenas or anywhere else music can be played.
Apparently, the next step for the group is to go after small, mom-and-pop cafes that cater to unsigned bands.
In Henderson, NV, a local cafe called Mocha Joe catered to unsigned bands and only unsigned bands. They never charged a cover and never paid the bands. It was an outlet for unsigned artists to play their music in a public environment.
According to ASCAP, since the unsigned artists COULD play a cover song by one of their artists at any time, Mocha Joe is required by law to pay an annual fee to ASCAP to have live shows. The other performace rights organizations stepped in and sent letters to Mocha Joe's as well.
Because the yearly fee's would approach $1,600, Mocha Joe's decided to stop having unsigned bands perform in their coffee shop. To ensure they complied, an ASCAP representative even went to the cafe to make sure the music equipment was taken down and the flyers removed. Seriously?
As the owner of Mocha Joe's pointed out....
"Where do you draw the line? Eventually, you're going to be driving down the street and have your radio on at a stop sign and it's a public performance. Are you going to license me there, too?"
This is getting out of hand. Next on the list: skate parks, schools and house parties. Leave your comment below!
A few days ago, I posted my article on 5 ways bands can benefit with Foursquare. The bands that have the highest Foursquare following can literally increase their show attendance and merch sales amongst other things. Foursquare is in its infancy so new ways to monetize it for bands will be found and created.
Foursquare has over 1.2 million users. Look for it to be as big as Twitter and MySpace in a year.
I have an obsession with Vimeo.com. And there are some amazing videos on that site from up-and-coming videographers and animators. There are also inspirational groups using videos to gain attention.
The video below was created by the people at TheDistrictRhyme.com (edited by AlwaysOnProduction.com) to spread the word about using hip-hop to educate and inspire the young of Washington D.C. And they used the music from Phoenix and the song 1901 to help get the message across using slow-mo breakdancing moves.
As one of the guys at The District Rhyme said.....
"If you don't want a gun in your face tomorrow, then put a book in their hands today."
Innerpartysystem has put up their new song American Trash on their MySpace. The track is the first single of their new EP also called American Trash which comes out on May 25th.
You can also download a free Starkey Mix version of American Trashhere.
This band is building an incredible underground fanbase that will propel this band to stardom. This is one of the few bands out today that really excite me.
Go listen to the American Trash single and download the free remix. Also, check out their video gem for Don't Stop below. If you never heard of Innerpartysystem, the video below will give you plenty audible and visual stimulation.
An article by Businessinsider.com has been released that shows the working and living conditions of the Foxconn Factory in China. The factory is responsible for almost all iPhones, iPods, iPads and Macs being manufactured in the world.
The article attempts to paint the workers life as miserable and brings up the fact that there have been 9 suicide attempts already this year. But that is out of 400,000 employees. Workers work 8 hour days standing up and the article states that "the workers is living through life like a clock."
The workers have living quarters at the factory but some say they don't even know their roommates name.
The article tries to convey that the workers are being mistreated which is leading to the suicides but, honestly, a lot of Americans work long hours standing up and "dream of being rich someday." The suicide rate at the Chinese factory is actually less than the general population.
But what the article failed to focus on is that the Chinese workers are being paid $130 a month. They can't even afford to buy the products they make. That is the real travesty. According to Justlanded.com, the bare minimum salary to survive in China is $400 a month. The average monthly income is $1,000 a month. The Apple factory workers are getting paid way lower than is needed.
Apple is making a TON of money off this "slave" labor and should really pay these people more, don't you think?
As I Lay Dying's new album The Powerless Rise hit #10 on the Billboard Top 200 album chart with 38,000 copies sold. This is 2 spots and about 1,500 albums less then their previous album An Ocean Between Us.
Here are the notable Billboard Top 50 albums according to HitsDailyDouble:
New animator Gabe Askew created a "fan video" of Grizzly Bear's song Two Weeks which uses stunning animation to tell a complete story. It's a video you just can't stop watching because it pulls you into a visual world.
Their new video for the song The Space In Between is a dark, visual masterpiece that captures Reznor's disturbed vision that he conveyed so well with Nine Inch Nails (who haven't broken up).
The video depicts a newly wed couple (fittingly enough it's Reznor and Maandig) on the night of their honeymoon bleeding to death on the floor of their hotel room. The bride is still wearing her dress. Maandig (the bride) sings in a calming voice as she and her husband are left to burn alive by their killer in this macabre moment.
Their self-titled EP will be out later this summer
Foursquare is the latest social networking craze that will soon be as big as MySpace, Twitter and Facebook (FB is launching it's own version soon). Foursquare isn't another social network per se. It's a location-based social network using the GPS system off your mobile devices. Once you download the application to your phone, you "check-in" wherever you go in real life and acquire points and badges at each location. You can check-in everywhere you go from getting gas, restaurants, post office, Home Depot, church, etc.
You acquire friends and see where they go and hang out. If you go to a location more than anyone else, you become "mayor." Businesses are now giving mayors power to issue coupons for their location. It's a pretty addictive application.
But how do bands benefit with Foursquare? Here are 5 ways:
1. Your fans will no never miss your shows. Your fans can no longer say "I would've went to their show if I knew about it." Let's face it. Promoters are a dime-a-dozen and most are horrible at their jobs. They'll post a MySpace or Facebook message and that's the extent of their "promoting." And you end up paying this person 15% of the door (or your booking agent).
With Foursquare, as soon as you check-in at the venue, all your friends get an instant message on their phones. You can also attach a "shout" where you can announce when doors open and your set times. Foursquare also integrates with Facebook so your check-in location will be automatically updated on Facebook.
By using MySpace, Facebook, Twitter and Foursquare, you pretty much insure that your diehard fans (the ones that actually buy tickets and merch) will know about your show. Hell, you might as well get rid of the middlemen and promote the show yourself and/or fire your booking agent :)
2. Meet fans at record stores. The day or week of your CD release, why not meet up with fans at various locations around town that carry your CD and sign the CDs after they buy them. As soon as Foursquare checks you in at the store location, send out a shout to let your fans know how long you will be there. Do this to 3 or 4 stores in different areas of your city. This will help fan interaction and album sales. If it's an independent store, you might be able to attach a special or coupon to your Foursquare message for the time that you are there.
3. Get free food. This will work great during this recession. Restaurants are hurting and need customers. Bands are always hungry and tired of eating ramen noodles. Team up with a restaurant and tell the manager that if you bring "x" number of people to the restaurant, in exchange, you get discounted or free food.
With Foursquare, you can also have the mayor of that location announce a discount to everyone that has checked into that location in the past to get the word out to people you don't even know.
Giving away 5 meals to a band that brings 10 to 20 people isn't much to a restaurant.
4. Fans will no longer get lost going to your events. Because you need GPS to use Foursquare, every event you check-in to comes with built-in directions. Fans won't get lost going to the venue, your in-store signing or random house party you throw. They will find you.
5. Sell merch on your days off on tour. Do you have 2 or 3 days off in a row and wish you didn't? Chances are that you have fans in the towns your passing or spending the night in that want to buy your merch and meet you. Check-in at a location in that city and let your Foursquare friends know you are in town and want to hang out with them. Also, let them know you have merch for sale too!
Foursquare is still pretty new with only 1.2 million users. But by registering now, you are ahead of the game and will undoubtedly find other uses for Foursquare. It's a free service that can literally make you a lot more money with ticket sales, merch sales and fan interaction. The trick will be to build up your Foursquare friends list but it won't be hard. This baby is about to explode in popularity!
If you have any other uses for Foursquare, leave them in the comments! Add me on Foursquare!
Louisiana grindcore band iwrestledabearonce has released the most bizarre music video I've ever seen for their song (if you want to call it a song) See You In Shell. Be prepared to be "shock and awed." Words like "wtf", "gross", "sick" and "disgusting" will probably cross your mind. Watch the video below.
Last week was the first full week back for Bandology.net since January. There were over 1,100 visits to Bandology.net over the last 10 days and here are the first week results:
Top 5 Posts Viewed (out of 20 posts)
1. Smashing Pumpkins 19yo Drummer is "Pissed Off"(120 page views) - I posted Mike Byrne's press release where he is tired of being called the teenage drummer of the Pumpkins and wants you to know he's now 20 dammit!
2. 5 Ways to Get On The Billboard Charts(118) - This was the first post to Bandology.net back on July 12, 2009. It continues to get a lot of traffic from Google. I will be updating this article in the next week or so.
3. As I Lay Dying "The Powerless Rise" - Top 5 on Billboard?(90) - This was a question posted last week with the release of their new album. We should find out today or early tomorrow if the band made the Top 5 on the Billboard charts.
4. Better Late Than Never...(74) - The first post to Bandology.net since January with the completed Top Albums of 2009.
Top 5 Countries Visiting Bandology.net (out of 28 countries)
1. USA
2. Canada
3. United Kingdom
4. Phillipines
5. Germany
Top 5 States (out of 43 states)
1. Arizona
2. California
3. New York
4. Texas
5. Indiana (Where are you Idaho, Wyoming, North Dakota, Nebraska, Arkansas, West Virginia and Vermont???)
Top 5 Cities (out of 327 cities)
1. Tempe, AZ
2. New York City
3. Indianapolis
4. Phoenix
5. Los Angeles
Thank you for visiting and the site should run more smoothly with the new site design. There are still a few kinks to work out.
This whole world of Christian rock music was unleashed on me from the very beginning of my music business life. Greeley Estates, the band I started with back in 2003, were Christians in a band playing loud, hard, screaming music inside churches. I can't tell you how foreign of an idea this was to me at the time. Yet, there were countless rock, hardcore or screamo shows going on across the Valley (Phoenix, Tempe, Mesa, Glendale) with hundreds of kids and dozens of churches willing to house this "un-churchlike" music.
But the positive messages hidden behind the loud music and screams is what brought the kids, churches and a religion together. It was an odd local movement back in 2003/2004 that was also brewing in other cities. Take us to the present and the list of rock, hardcore, screamo and indie Christian bands (or Christians-in-a-band) have not only skyrocketed but have hit mainstream.
The list of bands that promote positive messages (sometimes not so positive imagery and actions) are growing profoundly. Below is a comprehensive list of rock bands that are Christian bands or Christians-in-a-band that cater to the Warped Tour-type crowd and I want you to help me build it!
I want people to leave comments with new bands (as I'm sure I have left off many) and I'm sure there will be plenty of debate on if a band should or should not be on the list. I've broken it down by genre's to make finding bands a little easier. Let's start the list (all bands can be listened to for free and bought on Amazon for under $10):
has a great concept behind it but I wish it had a better song to go with it.
album that peaked at #4 on the Billboard Heatseekers chart and #129 on the Billboard Top 200.
.
and the song 
to help get the message across using slow-mo breakdancing moves.
on 
below. If you never heard of Innerpartysystem, the video below will give you plenty audible and visual stimulation.
make it in the Top 5 on the 
.
61,000 copies sold
55,800
43,500
43,000
18,700
14,600
14,000
12,000
9,500
sits atop the chart with their new self-titled album to be released on May 25th on Atlantic.
at 
