Derek Stroh Blog

The future of music is an independant Grammy's type event or category....

Just caught this article on examiner.com by the beautiful and whacky Erikka Innes

Grammys are Still Out of the Loop on Indie Music

In the article she recoginizes that lack of an independant music face and wonders about the future of the Grammys and independant music as we know it.

I think that award shows are going to have to embrace independant music at some level, or another type of show will pop up in it's place.

As we foray into breaking the incredibly talented, Derek Stroh we cant help but watch the Grammy's and really consider some of the questions that Erikka brings up in this article.

What do you think about the Grammys for independent music?

I think that something like this has to happen eventually. Let's face it the music industry is changing. As Michael Laskow of Taxi calls it we are witnessing the rise of the "Musical Middle Class" and that means that award shows are going to have to adjust.

Should they have an indie music category and include more independent artists?

I think this could be a great option. I mean to create categories based on artists that sell under a certain amount of songs or that do not have a traditional deal may be the way to go.

However let's not forget that what you see on the Grammys show is not all the Grammys being awarded in smaller categories that do not merit television coverage. Like the guy who has won 18 grammys as  in the Polka Category, Jimmy Sturr and has never played on the show.

Or do you think of indie as underground - meaning a submission or win at the Grammys would compromise the whole idea of being an independent, non-mainstream artist?

I hate that people hate good music just because it's popular Good or great music should rise to the top.Our musical ears in this country are not as sophisticated as they used to be thanks to the lack of musical education but I think the mp3 player and independent music is slowly fixing that problem.

I mean the fact that a kid can download all of Led Zeppelin, Cheryl Crow, Bach and Christina Aguillera and actually list to all of it is great. However it also means that the buffett of music is no longer limited to the top 40.

We are going to see more and more smaller trends of pop culture. Instead of the whole world loving one song. It's going to be a small campus loving one song while another caomus loves another song.

David Kamatoy (www.davidkamatoy.com) and Tony Woodroffe of Noyz Boyz Productions are Co-Producers on the Derek Stroh "Stand" Album project. We invite you to join the email list and subscribe to the blog as you can help uscreate the story of Derek Stroh's journey to a Huge Success.

Gene Simmons Starts a Label in CANADA. Looking for Canadian acts...Eh?

SIMMONSRECORDS.COM is Gene Simmons New Label loooking for three acts to break out a year. It's a bummer that they need to be Canadian. Can you imagine the next Celine Dion signing with Gene Simmons. lol

Seriously if you are Canadian and want to submit then go to his website. Apparently he is looking...

photo by www.totalaldo.com 

Gene Simmons Starts Canadian Record Label, Hates on the Doubters

David Kamatoy (www.davidkamatoy.com) and Tony Woodroffe of Noyz Boyz Productions are Co-Producers on the Derek Stroh "Stand" Album project. We invite you to join the email list and subscribe to the blog as you can help uscreate the story of Derek Stroh's journey to a Huge Success. 

Wow! Layaway Concert Tickets..."A Sign of the Times"

Coronado,CA- So I was eating at the Night and Day Cafe one of the oldest Greasy Spoons in Coronado CA. The girl working the counter, the cook etc. was a cute Girl named ACE. Since the last time I was there they added a Flat Screen TV and digital tv. She was playing some footage from Coachella and would continue to reference the many times that she was at a show. 

It was great to hang out with such an avid fan and I couldn't help but think to myself how the new economy was going to affect events like this. What a brilliant idea...

Music festivals offer fans the option of layaway tickets by Edna Gundersen

Layaway was commonplace before the Credit Card was common. So it begins to make sense that this would happen. I have to admit it does seem weird since were so used to buying stuff with a Credit Card. But hey what a great option.

This will make Coachella and other events like this more of a thought our decision rather than a last minute decision. Which I also believe has become a fabric and trend of our culture. 

My Nephew and I spoke this week in addition to the lost art of groups,tribes, social interaction. I think one of the good things about the waning economy is that were going to see communities coming together, communities formed, the art of bonding is returning. 

Tough times for musicians mean silent nights...Is this true everywhere?

On CNN.com Tough times for musicians mean silent nights- By Karin Caifa

If your a performer would love your comments, is the economy effecting your gigs this season?

This article covers a difficult subject but one that's ultimately felt by our brethren that are entertainers and arts organizations. While the media has a tendency to cover the big name actors, musicians and entertainers. There are many of us that have made a living by being artist, usually it's a combination of performing independent gigs, running shows, teaching and administration of arts organizations.

As the economy slows these pick up gigs and attendance will slow. I talked to a Corporate musician that said while hes still getting gigs hes seeing a decline of the use of walk around or atmosphere entertainers. One of my other associates said that he has a noticeable decline in gigs this Holiday Season.

We in California already had a culling of the arts organizations a few years ago due to California's budget cuts. We saw the same thing happen. A decline in the number of classes being offered. Staffing cut down to a bear minimum. A lot of people getting out of the Non-profit world and moving back into the private sector and even physically relocating to another state to go where there was still a budget.

As a performer I believe that you have to be able to be flexible in your performances and rates. There will be fewer opportunities to perform at your standard rate so you may want to try contacting the people that have booked you in the past and figure out if there is a negotiable deal. You may also consider keeping your chops up by creating your own performances. A coffee shop or club venue that can help keep your brand out there.

There will be a lot of hit or miss out there which means that you need to play LONG BALL. It's a game of attrition not the lottery. Which was also mentioned in this article...

"As artists we can only hope that what the arts community here is suffering is short-term," Bitner says. "And that we can survive for the long term."

I think the hardest are the kids that will not be attending some of these arts programs for one reason or the other. The bummer about it is that with less discretionary income "practice" or honing a skill would be great use of time.

My advice is to be as professional as possible without being pretentious. It's easy to get into that mode when your not being paid what you think your worth but realize that most likely so are your patrons. As this economy adjusts to less credit and more cash so will our entertainment values. It's time to pay your dues again and be willing to put in those extra shows to make ends meet and/or make a name for yourself.

The reality is that it's times like these when you can build a solid foundation of work and fans because while everyone else was whining you were doing the work.

As this pertains to the  Album Project. Our whole goal was to take Derek Stroh to the next level by giving him a physical product, the album "Stand" by doing so it opens up his financial opportunities to get placement it TV, Fim, commercials and grow his online following. Turning that fan base into a more traditional tour or record deal will follow naturally the larger his fanbase / database becomes.

HELP US TAKE THIS INCREDIBLY TALENTED YOUNG MAN TO THE TOP...JOIN THE EMAIL LIST AND WELL LET YOU KNOW THE RELEASE DATE.

-David Kamatoy  is co-producer along with Tony Woodroffe (Noyz Boyz Productions) of the Derek Stroh "Stand" Album project. They are extremely excited to take this project to next level with it's release in 2009.

We invite you to join the email list and subscribe to the blog as we greatly welcome the support. HAPPY HOLIDAYS!

Playlist.com now has SONY BMG MUSIC ENTERTAINMENT...Cool

If your not familiar with Playlist.com it's the leading Social Network Music Site which allows you to create music playlists that can be posted on your social pages. It's a cool application.

Alicia Keys, Il Dovo,Dido,AC/DC, Leona Lewis...What a playlist.

Sony, BMG creating a a deal is a great indicator of exactly how much the music business is focusing on online revenue and distribution. We are watching the music industry change before us but the exciting thing about a project like ours is simply that it's so much easier to get the music heard.

It's getting to the point where you won't be able to imagine
 the music industry without the internet.

Comically Myspace.com has now blocked the use of Playlist which makes sense since they are trying to protect their revenue and they are making strong moves to protect and increase revenue.

If you use playlist let me know, please comment. I need to play with the application a little.

-David Kamatoy  is co-producer along with Tony Woodroffe (Noyz Boyz Productions) of the Derek Stroh "Stand" Album project. They are extremely excited to take this project to next level with it's release in 2009.

We invite you to join the email list and subscribe to the blog as we greatly welcome the support. HAPPY HOLIDAYS!

Warner Music Removes Its Videos From YouTube...It won't be the same

Warner Music Removes Its Videos From YouTube as Licensing Talks Stall- By BRIAN STELTER

Whatever happened to MTV? Youtube happened people. Up till today you could find a TON of music videos and content on Youtube, owned by google. Warner Bros. is removing all content due to an workable deal at the moment regarding licensing etc.

The deal currently is that music comapnies recieve a licensing fee and a share of revenue based on advertising.Warners deal expired and they have not worked out the new deal.

Youtube and Social Video Media sites are going to be paramount for us and any artist in getting music to the public. Now that it's off youtube where can you go to see Warner? Myspace and AOL.

Wow Myspace is so Happy right now!

-David Kamatoy  is co-producer along with Tony Woodroffe (Noyz Boyz Productions) of the Derek Stroh "Stand" Album project. They are extremely excited to take this project to next level with it's release in 2009.

We invite you to join the email list and subscribe to the blog as we greatly welcome the support. HAPPY HOLIDAYS!

A Lesson In Diction With Joe Cocker, 1969

Shelli Frances sent this to me...lol Gotta laugh people.

-David Kamatoy (www.DavidKamatoy.com) is co-producer along with Tony Woodroffe (Noyz Boyz Productions) of the Derek Stroh "Stand" Album project. They are extremely excited to take this project to next level with it's release in 2009.

We invite you to join the email list and subscribe to the blog as we greatly welcome the support. HAPPY HOLIDAYS!

Digidesign Ships Pro Tools 8 Software...Can't Wait

I met with Brandon  last night to go over a few things on Pro Tools and also just catch up on projects. As we were sitting there he told me that he got a chance to sit with the Digidesign team and have input on this next version of Protools.

Digidesign Ships Pro Tools 8 Software-press release on Market Watch

That being said he told me of several exciting features including...

-- Fully integrated MIDI and Score Editor windows for greatly enhanced
 MIDI editing functionality and professional score editing and printing

MIDI mapping: Audio tracks can be converted to MIDI and it can be scored.

One of the biggest collective challenges of ProTools is that you have to bounce or export tracks in real time. This will still not be fixable. For right now it still has to be done in real time. Which makes sense when you start thik about all the 3rd party plug ins that have been created and a lot of those plug ins duplicate sound processors in actual studios like where we recorded Signature Sound. So the signal still has to run through the processor as it would in it's real worl component. At least for now!

In addition during the recent music trade show he attended Pro Tools 8 was rampant and it was showcased as running on Vista on many of the 3rd party plug in trade show booths. Comically it would occaisonally crash. Again more of a Vista issue than a Protools issue.

Seriously though, we are excited.

-David Kamatoy (www.DavidKamatoy.com) is co-producer along with Tony Woodroffe (Noyz Boyz Productions) of the Derek Stroh "Stand" Album project. They are extremely excited to take this project to next level with it's release in 2009.

We invite you to join the email list and subscribe to the blog as we greatly welcome the support. HAPPY HOLIDAYS!

Radio Meets the Internet: Convergence is happening

"There's an old expression, 'Adapt or die,' which I think is very pertinent,"
-Greg Thompson, Capitol Music Group executive vice president of promotion for North America

Radio stations untangle more direct Web connections- By Ken Tucker

On December 3, CBS Radio announced an agreement to power Yahoo Music's Launchcast Radio. A newly created CBS Radio player will be made available for the Firefox and Safari Browsers.

 One thing is clear that the convergence is happening between the world of traditional radio and the internet. That still leaves the artist with the challenge of deciding where to promote and in which order.

We still cling onto "radio play" as the ideal situation but the reality is that getting to radio play is completely different than it was pre-internet. Now if you have enough people viewing,clicking,listening, caring about your musical product you can leverage that into sales, gigs, press coverage and then the coveted radio play and then a traditional record distribution deal.

Our goal on the "Stand" project is to have a solid project that is ready to go to retail but we want gain our momentum on the internet because it has such exponential returns if we can push all the right buttons.

David Kamatoy (www.davidkamatoy.com) and Tony Woodroffe of Noyz Boyz Productions are Co-Producers on the Derek Stroh "Stand" Album project. We invite you to join the email list and subscribe to the blog as you can help uscreate the story of Derek Stroh's journey to a Gold Record.

Sell an Album versus Download Single Digitals...What will we do?

Kid Rock and AC/DC have "successfully" not sold digital single and have only sold albums. While Lil Wayne "Lollipop" single alone sold more than 3 million copies and then continued to pre-release tracks on itunes leveraging into record album sales for the project.

Read the article here...

Music stars' digital strategies still in flux-By Antony Bruno

The reality is that the above projects had some serious resources aka money and in most cases existing branding in the marketplace. The question for us is simply what will be our strategy for our project. I think with a new project with adult-contemporary sound we can't ignore an internet strategy first. Driving and pushing a single along with a complete album.

I personally, like albums. I want to get to know the artist and the concept. In getting to know the music industry itself there is an often held belief that albums really were always about 2 -3 singles anyway and the rest would be filler. The reality is that only a few albums have ever created an entire album of hits.. Michael Jackson and The Beatles come to mind.

That being said I also love hearing and looking for new songs I like and grabbing them instantly. I can see the merit of both worlds. From a bottom line standpoint. 3 million sales of singles or in album format would be fine either way...

In addition the adult-contemporary marketplace lends itself to album versus single sales. I think the popularity of Lil Wayne's download, his audience I can easily see downloading just one tune because it's the way they now traditionally buy music.

QUESTION: DO YOU BUY ALBUMS, DIGITAL SINGLES, BOTH and what are your feelings about albums now that singles are available? Please Comment...

David Kamatoy is Co-producer of the Derek Stroh "Stand" project with Tony Woodroffe of Noyz Boyz Productions. They are committed to producing and promoting this outstanding project. David is a musician amoung a few other things and can be found blogging at www.DavidKamatoy.com.

Please join the email list and subscribe to the blog. We would appreciate your support in turning this into a gold record project. Thank you in advance.