COLUMN: You are driving through town, one eye on the traffic and the other on the stereo, when suddenly you hear something every musician dreams about: your music is being played on the radio. And not just any channel, we are talking about a highly-promoted and highly-rated station.

That is a thrill only some artists get to experience. For example, while my songs are played on the radio in Europe and many have been played here on college and Internet radio, my experience being on the “big stations” is limited to having my music used in commercials. So I can only imagine how much greater it would be to hear one of my songs played without a pitchman talking about the wonders of Verizon Wireless or Goodrich or the Auto Club or any of the other fine firms that have licensed Golosio songs.

Will It Happen to You?
Unless you and your band are part of a well-funded promotional campaign, radio airplay is often out of your reach no matter how lovely your song and how well-produced your track. A lot of things have to occur before traditional radio will broadcast your song. There are “gatekeepers” who zealously guard access. One of the requirements seems to be that a song sound exactly like some other song that has already scored well in their research, which is often a focus group but sometimes the result of listener call-in voting.

The main requirement for getting your music disseminated, however, is money. For example, if you want to make it to “the charts,” it takes lots of cash. As recently as 2006, Mike McVay, programming consultant to about 400 radio stations owned by media giant Clear Channel, was asked about the cost of getting a record on the charts. Depending on your genre, he said the amount is “a hundred thousand dollars up to a quarter of a million.”

Payola Under a New Name?
Wait, I hear you say. Didn’t New York state Attorney General Elliott Spitzer effectively end payola? He brought suit against the four major record companies, EMI, Warner Music Group, Sony-BMG, and Universal Music Group. And he also sued CBS Radio, Citadel Broadcasting, Clear Channel Communications and Entercom Communications. He won those suits, but payola continues with a new set of techniques, often using promotional considerations and middlemen to handle the transfer of funds. But we’re not necessarily talking about payola. And we’re not necessarily talking about charting your song, just getting some airplay.

There is a firm that is offering opportunities for legally purchasing airplay. Yes, you read that right: a legit way to buy your way onto the airwaves.

Here is our exclusive interview with Randy Blumhagen, Founder of ToneStac.

G: What is ToneStac and what does it do for musicians?

RB: ToneStac provides an affordable way to market and promote your music on terrestrial radio stations that also use the Internet to capture a larger global audience. We are reinventing radio for the digital age by allowing open access to radio for any musician. You are guaranteed airplay through ToneStac.

G: You say you are reinventing radio. . . ?

RB: We eliminate the gatekeeper and allow artists to voluntarily advertise their music and make it available for public criticism. We put the freedom to access radio in the hands of the artist. In addition, the audience gets more freedom to determine for themselves what they think is worthy of their attention.

G: ToneStac sells an ad for a song, or does it place the song? Explain this for me.

RB: We provide a way for artists to go around radio programming departments by purchasing infomercials that feature one of their tracks played in full.

G: Is this for terrestrial or Internet radio?

RB: Both. First and foremost, ToneStac guarantees access to radio, but since radio only broadcasts locally it is imperative that the radio station also streams to the Internet. The combined marketing power of terrestrial radio with the global reach of the Internet gives your music the greatest possible exposure in multiple media markets at the same time.

G: So in the broadcast on terrestrial and ‘Net radio, an artist’s music essentially becomes what you might call an extended commercial, or infotainment, or as you say, an infomercial that just happens to be the length of your song plus introduction?

RB: Correct. Your music is the advertisement. At our radio station there are no other commercial interruptions, just music and a few Public Service Announcements.

G: You say “our radio station,” singular, but I’m not certain how that works for an artist seeking national attention.

RB: Terrestrial radio is the single most popular audio media and it will get more popular as more and more radio stations embrace streaming technology. If other radio stations can hear the quality of your music, by listening to our stream, then it will influence them to play your music. We believe radio play influences more radio play for example, our service recently caught the attention of ABC Radio and influenced them to test-market a similar service in their Spanish broadcast stations.

G: What happened with the ABC Radio experiment?

RB: Due to our influence, ABC opened 33% of their total Spanish broadcasting
time to sponsored tracks. That’s a huge win for us and for independents everywhere! Whether we play the music or influence major broadcasters to embrace our system as their own, ToneStac is creating more opportunities for independent musicians.

G: Is this written up on your site?

RB: I can give you the URL: abcnews.go.com/Entertainment/wireStory?id=8795713

G: People think of infomercials as having a pitchman talking all the way through.

RB: That’s the accepted method for TV. In the case of radio, music is the sole source of content, so other than a brief song introduction to promote your music and a few PSAs there are no other commercial interruptions to distract the listener from your music.

G: What is your music sales capability? What are the choices for an artist?

RB: Radio is a big advertisement for your music. Radio allows you to announce locations where fans can buy your music either on ToneStac or at a preferred ecommerce site. We allow single song sales that can be purchased onsite at the time your song is being played or when it’s being reviewed from your profile page. We allow you to link from your profile page to offsite ecommerce sites to sell music or merchandise. In addition, corporate affiliates can purchase your music for limited use in a downloadable mix disc. Keep in mind, ToneStac does not revenue share in your music business sales.

G: Your site talks about music fans getting involved.

RB: Discovery is as important to fans as it is to artists. However, some fans are pioneers, some network and some just like to listen. To satisfy the needs of the pioneers we give each artist 500 points to allocate to their songs. Any music enthusiast can log in and collect points for reviewing new music and after they collect a number of points they can use those points to buy music and the artist gets paid. If the pioneers like your music they
have the option to recommend your music to other music fans in their network, or they can join your mailing list and follow your work.

G: How much of a cut does ToneStac take?

RB: There is no revenue split at all. ToneStac does not revenue share in your music sales. After the nominal merchant costs, 100% of the income goes to the artist.

G: Can anyone use your services?

RB: Yes. ToneStac is an incredible marketing tool for many industry professionals. It is especially useful to recording studios to help get that new CD more exposure, or PR firms that want to guarantee your songs get played, or independent labels with a few shining stars or independent musicians who are starting to make the break to full time performer.

G: What’s to prevent someone from opening an all-infomercial station and just featuring paid placements of songs?

RB: That’s exactly what we do! We offer 100% of our broadcast time 24 hours per day, 7 days per week commercial free.

G: Some musicians are skeptical about your approach.

RB: Some musicians are skeptical about the merit of a song when anyone can pay to play and some are skeptical about being able to access radio to market their music business. Let’s talk about marketing first and merit later.

G: So the skepticism is fine with you.

RB: Sure. Artists have a right to be skeptical. They been told so many times that their music is not good enough for radio, it’s not the right fit for the format, they are too new, they are too old, or they don’t have label representation and on and on. Why shouldn’t artists be able to market their music business on the most popular audio media just like the big boys do? The answer is that they should be able to and now they can. ToneStac guarantees access for professional musicians who are moving to the next level of their career and are interested in elevating themselves above all the Internet congestion and free-for-all noise.

G: There are people who have wondered if your approach is legal in all states.

RB: Yes, it is. I have almost memorized Section 317 of the Communications Act of 1934 which requires broadcasters to disclose to listeners or viewers if subject matter has been aired in exchange for money, services or other consideration. The announcement must be aired when the subject matter is broadcast. We conform to all of those provisions, so ToneStac is completely legal. The audience has a right to know that the musicians on our radio station paid to advertise their music because they are confident that their music is good enough to be on radio. But, in the end the audience gets to determine quality.

G: There’s also some sort of affiliate marketing program. How does that work to help artists?

RB: The music industry has lost over 2,700 retail distributors in the last few years. ToneStac is trying to reinvent the album of the digital age by allowing any business entity that wants to use music to market their products and services, without the legal hassle of having to clear the copyrights or pay royalties, to purchase music from our members and distribute it to their customers.

G: As a music publisher, that sounds ominous.

RB: Innovative ideas can be ominous but hear me out. Our Affiliate Marketing Program (AMP) is an exclusive music service that allows any business entity to have limited use of music with all copyrights cleared and paid. Notice, I said, “limited use” and “paid”.

G: That one word, “paid,” is an important one.

RB: Absolutely! AMP allows Affiliates to purchase music from our members to use in a mix disc that can be played in the background or downloaded. Here again, listening is free but the download is paid for, in advance, by the Affiliate. AMP combines the intangible benefits of marketing as a community service, with the tangible benefits gained by the holding power of music. It integrates brand-sharing with interactive customer response, network marketing and a free give away resulting in viral growth at a low customer acquisition cost.

G: Your promotional materials also talks about Mix Discs. What can you tell me about that?

RB: The Mix Disc cannot be sold, it can only be listened to in the background while customers shop online or downloaded for free. Here how it works: A mix disc is a DIY (do-it-yourself) compilation of the best songs from the hottest new and emerging artists on our site, wrapped with your “Private Label” CD cover. An individual or business can buy between 10-20 songs in specified quantities to give away as a free download. The music plays in the background from our site while customers shop on the Affiliate’s site and if the customer likes the music they can download it for free. It’s a great way to get tech-savvy customers to your ecommerce site.

G: I’ve seen people talk about payola and then lump your service into their comments. What’s your response to that?

RB: Legally advertising a song is completely different than payola foolery. However, this brings us back to the topic of merit. Which marketing process do you think displays greater artistic merit? Allowing a hard working professional musician to advertise a song and telling the audience that the song is an advertisement, or bribing a radio station to play a song to fool the audience into thinking that the music was selected by virtue of its artistic merit?

G: With the Elliott Spitzer lawsuits, payola was highlighted, and then fell out of the public eye again. Yet everyone who will discuss the subject says it continues under a different name. Do you think payola is responsible for why radio stations still play songs that sound the same within each genre?

RB: There is no short answer to this question, payola is part of the problem but independent promotion is also an issue with the way the system works, as you noted previously.

G: How does the system work?

RB: The top four radio broadcasters have established a symbiotic relationship with the top four record labels. The broadcasters actually use music as a loss-leader to sell advertising. Broadcasters use a very narrow selection of music to attract a certain type of listener that is highly appealing to advertisers. For our purposes, it is important to note that those listeners also happen to buy lots of music.

G: I wish they bought more, but go on.

RB: Under that established business model, broadcasters reserve the prime hours of the broadcast day for the songs that attract the most advertisers meaning lots of repetitions for just a few songs, played in between lots of commercials. Some of those prime-time broadcast hours are available for sale through independent promoters who purchase the time and resell it to labels at a higher price. Labels spend millions of dollars every year with independent promoters to get the top one or two percent of their artists into the prime broadcast channel where the music buyers are.

G: So you are saying that broadcast music is really a matter of marketing, research, budgeting, media buying, and so on, the same as for advertising a product?

RB: Right, and thousands of independents don’t have huge marketing budgets to pay for prime airtime. So they are denied access, leaving only the vampire hours available to new music.

G: Vampire hours! You mean after midnight and before sunrise?

RB: Essentially, yes.

G: But ToneStac slots for music are open all hours?

RB: Yes. In order to reinvent radio for the digital age, ToneStac provides guaranteed access to radio 24 hours per day, 7 days per week, commercial free. We give musicians the freedom to market their music business in multiple media markets simultaneously and we allow the audience to hear a much broader selection of music.

G: Are there some examples of artists who have used ToneStac successfully?

RB: We just recently launched the radio station and website at the end of July. We are very excited about the response we have received from the artist community but it’s a little too soon to measure success.

G: How did you come to be involved with this marketing concept? What is your business background?

RB: I was influenced by some of the work that we produced at MP3.com where I was an integral part of the operations team responsible for internal infrastructure before I moved to DivX where I had similar responsibilities. Prior to entering the software industry I ran my own construction company for a number of years and later started a company that developed safety products for the home where I co-patented our first product off the drawing board.

G: How did ToneStac get started?

RB: The idea behind ToneStac started after I read the “Joint Statement On Current Issues In Radio” published on the Future of Music Coalition website. I realized that there was a huge dysfunction between radio and the music industry and I set out to resolve the problem.

G: How do you sum up the advantages to an artist using your service?

RB: Any artist can now access radio to market their music business giving the audience the freedom to determine merit instead of allowing a gatekeeper to decide for you. Getting airplay in one specific market can also lead to you playing multiple venues in one area. It also can open up lines of communication with programmers on other stations, especially those that want to compete for the attention of fans interested in new and emerging artists.

G: Running a music publishing company and writing a column means that people are constantly giving me music to consider. Some of it is great and well-recorded. Some songs are excellent but the tracks are just scratch demos or bootleg quality live recordings. And some songs are just mediocre, no matter how well-recorded they may be. Does ToneStac screen out poorly recorded work or bad songs?

RB: For the most part, we deal with independent labels and artist management companies. These businesses have pre-filtered their portfolio for dedicated, professional musicians that they believe are marketable, ready for live performances, and capable of selling music.

G: But if an indie artist approaches you, what then? What if it’s a nice song but poorly recorded? Or what if it is just a piece of dreck?

RB: One man’s trash is another man’s treasure, hence we have eBay. Since we are broadcasting live over the air we must comply with FCC decency regulations. Other than that it’s up to the artist to decide if they want to pay to advertise their music. Then, it’s up to the audience to log in and tell the artist what they think, good or bad. That’s one reason why artists come to ToneStac, they want listener feedback.

G: Let me come back to the publishing side of things again. How do you handle the question of copyright and royalty payments?

RB: You are only granting a non-exclusive right for ToneStac to disseminate music in broadcast form so you retain your copyrights. You are waiving the collection of royalties on the performances you are purchasing but retain those rights elsewhere. Or…You retain ownership of your music and grant us non-exclusive rights to broadcast and sell music on your behalf. Since the broadcast is a paid advertisement you waive the rights to collect performance royalties. For all the legal aspects of it, you can just go to the “Terms of Use” section of our site.

G: If people want to know the process, procedures and prices, where should they go?

RB: Visit us online at www.tonestac.com where you can get answers to all those questions.

INTERVIEW: Writing and producing songs, composing film themes, and creating music for advertising are distinct art forms. Or perhaps they are commercial enterprises. Or both. Doing all three quite well is a rare accomplishment but that’s what Shari Verona does, day in and day out in various studios from Florida to New York to Southern California. For the past seven years she has been writing and producing mainly in Miami, “But now I’m back in L.A. and am energized by the people on the move even if the traffic is not, lol!”

Shari Verona.

All Styles of Music
She works in all styles of music but has a special affinity for R&B, having been partnered with a member of 2 Live Crew and was a writer/producer on tracks for rap artist E, Rough Ryders South, Rayzor Blaze, Polygram’s Shantel Baker, and The Delfonics (she created the “more” on the album “The Delfonics’ Greatest Hits. . . and More”). Other collaborators include Rodney Trotter, Dave Appel, Greg Williams, Motown’s J. Levine, Gary Hall, and Dave Waterbury (Pink, Paul McCartney, Spirit).

“When I was working at Platinum Studios,” she says, “it wasn’t unusual to be interacting with some really great artists.” Coming through those hallways were Ludacris, Rick Ross, Money Mark, Ghostface, Trick Daddy, Dirt Bag, Pitbull, Jacki-O, Big Tigger, Jolli Boi, Lil’ Jon, Uncle Luke, JT Money, and Fresh Kid Ice.

Music on Screen
Verona has a song in the “Mr. Honesty” reality show pilot, a song in the film “A Cabin In Time,” another in the film “Lost Everything,” and one in a new Fred Willard comedy. “Licensing songs is a big part of the business,” Verona says, “which is why we have assembled a large library of music in many genres.”

Talk Talk
Verona gives good phone and good microphone, as evidence by her stint as the sidekick in “Matchola,” a dating radio program originally airing on Florida’s WVCG, which has since changed its call letters. She got the gig after writing the program’s theme song. Her quick wit in the studio when recording the track led to her being invited to move from the producer chair to the on-air talent role. “The show was a lot of fun but I have to admit I prefer being the producer rather than the personality.”

History of Success
Verona joined ASCAP at age seventeen and almost immediately had three songs signed to a music publishing company (Lovey Music.) When in her twenties, she received her first production contract from Joe Tarsia and ended up working with Philadelphia International, the legendary production company founded by Kenneth Gamble and Leon Huff. In the nineteen nineties, she switched her PRO (performing rights organization) affiliation to BMI. “The songwriting continually moves forward,” she states, “with interesting ideas, fresh songs, and opportunities that come from unexpected places. That’s one of the things that you can look forward to in this industry: that you won’t ever get bored.”

A tiny dynamo, Verona has written and co-written with a who’s who of newcomers and old school hit makers. “The best thing about this business is you find yourself working with new projects and new songs all the time. It’s exciting.”

For more information: www.veronamusic.com

INTERVIEW: Music does not hook up with money very often these days. In fact, they’re not even dating. Piracy, both personal and corporate, affects the creators of music in many ways, none of them good. But there is a glimmer of hope that is currently hiding as close as your mobile phone.

A company called DataRevenue.Org is looking to monetize the use of copyrighted material when it is transferred from one mobile user to another. The following is an interview with the organization’s founder, Max Davis.

John Scott G: Define the concept of data revenue. That’s with a lowercase “d” and “r.”

Max Davis: Basically, data revenue is what wireless carriers charge for sending and receiving two types of messages. First, text messages, commonly called SMS for “short message service.” And second, multimedia messages, or MMS. The wireless carriers transmit SMS and MMS via their data infrastructure and charge users a fee based on the size and number of the messages.

JSG: And what is DataRevenue .Org, the organization?

MD: DataRevenue .Org is a newly formed professional association of rightsholders who believe there should be a statutory rate established for multimedia messaging. We see this as a natural application of existing copyright laws. It is simply taking the current “delivery of a phonorecord” and applying it to the delivery of multimedia via data infrastructures. In particular, mobile2mobile multimedia.

JSG: Is this just for musicians and songwriters?

MD: It’s for anyone who holds a copyright on any multimedia intellectual property, but it may be of most interest in music right now. We believe that sending or sharing music, videos or images via mobile2mobile would constitute a comparable “delivery of a phonorecord” or actually the “delivery of copyrighted materials.”

JSG: People are already being charged for this, correct?

MD: Absolutely. The wireless carriers are already charging everyone for this, but it’s our belief they are in violation of existing copyright laws by not giving the rightsholders a fair share of the pie. The goal is to establish laws specific to data. We believe that will create a new and lucrative revenue stream for the creative community.

JSG: What’s the size of the market where DataRevenue .Org would be working?

MD: There are more than 280 million mobile phone users in the USA already. Of those 280 million, approximately 80 million are able to send and receive multimedia data products. But these numbers are growing every minute.

JSG: Any estimate of the current charges for mobile2mobile multimedia file transfers?

MD: Yes. Right now wireless carriers are charging an average of $1.99 per megabyte of usage per user for MMS.

JSG: They charge the sender and the receiver of the data?

MD: Yes.

JSG: What were the first steps you took in terms of government legislation?

MD: We currently have Petitions for Rulemaking in front of the Library of Congress’ Copyright Royalty Board and the FCC.

JSG: And both the CRB and the Federal Communications Commission have accepted the Petitions?

MD: Well, the good news is they have not rejected the Petitions. Usually that happens within 30-45 days of submission. Our petitions were submitted in October 2008, almost 6 months ago. We have received a communication from the CRB asking for clarification of some statutory issues. We clarified those back in November of 2008. And, we are now communicating with the proper office within the FCC, the Bureau Chiefs office of the Wireless Telecommunications Bureau, (WTB). As you can probably imagine, dealing with large government agencies calls for a special resolve as it’s easy to get lost in the shuffle. Our research shows the key to this is knowing the existing rules and regulations well enough to show how the new rules would naturally and reasonably apply to a new technology or service.

JSG: Is this the right time for your proposal, or would it be better to wait?

MD: This is exactly the right time. There are benefits to being first. We believe data is in its very early stages and this would be the best time to establish a statutory rate. The way the process works, we will need as much support as possible from the creative community to see this through.

JSG: What kind of support? If a musician, songwriter, or music publisher is reading this, what can they do to help gain this new revenue stream?

MD: I would point anyone within the creative community to our website, www.datarevenue.org. They will get a very comprehensive overview of what this movement is all about and hopefully support the movement by joining us. After all, data represents a measurable and secure form of multimedia delivery. This would provide the very things missing from Internet delivery that should have been established when the Internet was very young. There was a missed opportunity then; let’s not have another missed opportunity now.

JSG: Anyone can join now?

MD: Anyone can join now and begin data optimizing their music or products to be ready for what we see as explosive growth of mobile2mobile communication and data transfer.

JSG: What does it cost to join?

MD: An Associate Membership is $49 per year. Keep in mind DataRevenue .Org is a newly formed non-profit Professional Association so your membership may come off your taxes as a business expense.

JSG: Would you say that DataRevenue .Org would be somewhat similar to the Harry Fox Agency?

MD: Spoken like a music publisher! Yes, basically you can consider DataRevenue .Org as “the Harry Fox of data.” Harry Fox is the premier entity collecting and licensing mechanical rights on behalf of its member publishers. “Data optimization” is a new form of multimedia that is separate and distinct from a phonorecord and even digital delivery such as an mp3. At DataRevenue .Org, we only deal with data optimized products and we’ve developed a method of accountability and data revenue distribution that is distinct in the world as far as I know.

JSG: What makes it different?

MD: Well, we have more than one way to monitor, collect and distribute data revenue on behalf of our members. One way is through tracking software that sorts the metadata. The other is a more social and participatory method involving our learning institutions.

JSG: What are your learning institutions?

MD: By that I mean we have a system and method that would bring most types of learning institutions into the loop. Colleges, universities, high schools, middle schools, and maybe even elementary schools. I prefer this method as it will give those learning institutions a new revenue stream as well.

JSG: Why did you start the organization?

MD: It was the development of mobile content that caused me to start thinking about these things. I am the founder of Luvdarts LLC which has already developed and is currently distributing mobile2mobile data optimized products.

JSG: What is Luvdarts?

MD: It’s a firm that sells or provides free downloads for mobile2mobile use. Sending a Luvdart is like sending an animated greeting card with music. Or an animated Mother’s Day card with music. Or you can even mix your own multimedia message with a more businesslike appearance and use it to announce a new product launch, or welcome everyone to a trade show. There are personal and professional uses.

JSG: Anyone can use them?

MD: They can be used on any 3G-compatible phone on most 3G networks, plus the data optimization is forward compatible with 4G on up. You save them to your computer and install them on your phone as needed. We started distributing free product about a year ago on mobile sites like mywaves .com and more recently myxer .com, funformobile .com, digipie .com and of course luvdarts .com.

JSG: And this somehow lead you to DataRevenue .Org?

MD: In a roundabout way. At first, Luvdarts was just a fun creative venture. Well, fun but also a lot of work. We bootstrapped this startup company with our own money and sweat equity from our small staff. But it was exciting and the products are very entertaining, so I say it was fun. But during the course of Luvdarts’ first year, we were promised by a major wireless carrier we could sell product directly from their multimedia messaging category. This is known as being “on deck” with a carrier. But when the time came the carrier reneged and backed out of all they promised and offered us an expedited “shortcode” as an option.

JSG: That is a Common Short Code, or CSC?

MD: Right. It’s the inter-carrier connection for your mobile application.

JSG: Like when ESPN asks you to vote on who will win a sporting event and they say “for UCLA, text 54321, or for USC, text 12345.”

MD: That’s right. The problem is that this wouldn’t have involved much support from the carrier and it would have cost us money we didn’t have. So even though to this day Luvdarts is still one of the most subscribed products in the mobile community, that company couldn’t stand by their word. This pissed me off and I began to think about the data revenue our product would have generated for them and how they were really missing that opportunity because our products are ideal for sharing. Then it hit me. Since our products are data optimized to go mobile2mobile, why do we need to be an “on deck” content provider anyway?

JSG: Plus, you decided to follow the money.

MD: Certainly did. After all, why do the wireless carriers get to charge people for sending and receiving our copyrighted materials without sharing the revenue with us? Everyone who owns the copyright to a song, an image, or any intellectual property should be asking the same thing. But we’re concentrating on music and video first.

JSG: So when they backed out of the deal, an entirely new form of revenue generation for the creative community was conceived?

MD: Yes, a cause was born. After extensive sifting through the United States Code relating to copyright law and other exciting reading on the irs.gov sites, we came to the conclusion that in the case of mobile2mobile multimedia content, the wireless industry was basically and probably unwittingly committing copyright infringement.

JSG: That has large legal ramifications.

MD: Sure, but think about it: Even when you take a mobile video or picture with your camera phone, the law says it becomes copyrighted material the moment it is in fixed form. So now you send it to your mom or friend, and they like it so they also send it to their friends. Guess what, the wireless industry just charged for those actions and didn’t pay you, the rights holder, diddly squat. At DataRevenue .Org there is a distinct category for the event just depicted and as an associate member you would have been paid for those actions.

JSG: So the rallying cry might be “Give us our fair share of the pie.”

MD: Right. Or even “Hey, we own the rights to that, not you!”

JSG: What are your goals for this year?

MD: Primarily, we want to develop the DataRevenue .Org organization. Our commercial products and projects are still moving forward, but I wonder about pushing them so hard when there is no one there to collect our money. We believe the future is about the transfer of content mobile2mobile, consumer2consumer or business2consumer and that now is the time to move on monetizing this.

JSG: What are the roadblocks to making this happen?

MD: Unfortunately, the industry leaders are still somewhat asleep at the wheel. Imagine the industry growth potential if someone with vision would have rallied the creative community to put a statutory rate on all multimedia downloads from the Internet back in 1992. Millions of dollars would have gone to the creators of multimedia!

JSG: Could that have happened?

MD: I think it could have been simple. Remember, back then, the industry had more clout than Internet Service Providers like Yahoo and AOL. I think it is of utmost importance to the creative community to help get this rulemaking done now. So my main goal is to try my best to galvanize this movement at every opportunity.

JSG: Looking a bit further forward, what is the five-year plan for DataRevenue .Org?

MD: I would like to see our Charter Members at the leadership level filled within the next 6 months. Associate Members may come from all walks of life and it would not be unreasonable to double the number of Associate Members every 12 months. In five years we will have shown this new revenue stream to be a valuable asset to the creative community. This will be increasingly apparent as the wireless carriers build out their networks. That will allow the delivery of even richer mobile2mobile content.

JSG: What do you say to those who are skeptical of your business plan?

MD: I would ask everyone in the creative community this question: Can you really afford to sit back and watch technology evolve and take away the growth of your livelihood? You create because you have a passion to do so, but that passion can be negated or destroyed if someone else makes money from your work. Go ahead and be a skeptic, but the rest of us are working to ensure that creators are paid for their work. Write your Congressperson and ask them to consider establishing a “per megabyte royalty to compensate content producers and publishers.” Then consider joining DataRevenue .Org and help make this thing happen.

Full disclosure by the author of this article/interview: I have accepted an invitation to serve as a charter member of the organization.

INTERVIEW: When you hear the name DoubleVision, you may think it’s a byproduct of too much drinking. Instead, DoubleVision is a singing duo of identical twins from South Australia. Recording in a country-pop style, Candice and Nadinne are making waves down under and having a blast doing so.

G: What’s the first music you remember hearing?

Nadinne: That would be Roy Orbison, Bobby Vinton, Elvis, Gene Pitney, Barbra Streisand. All the oldies!

G: You heard music at home, in the car. . . where?”

Candice: On the road. Our Mum used to do a lot of traveling. She had a transport company.

G: Was she a trucker?

Nadinne: No, she wasn’t a truckie! She had to go to meetings, etc. She would bundle us in the car and off we would go, usually on the interstate, with music all the way there and home.

Candice: We knew and sung along to Bobby Vinton songs, Roy Orbison and Elvis by the time we were about 10 years old.

Nadinne: Our Mum loved the early rock n roll stuff from the 60s.

Candice: We grew up on that.

G: Did that change over the years?

Nadinne: It was when Shania Twain came out that we took an interest in modern country. We used to sing all of her songs. Know them all! We started having guitar lessons at around 16 and that’s when we got our first guitars. We aren’t as good as some but we get by. Hmmm, should we admit that?

Candice: We can carry a tune with them and use them for songwriting.

Nadinne: Yeah, and we’ve used them on stage, so good enough to play when performing but we prefer the band play.

G: When did you start performing publicly?

Nadinne: We were in school choirs and started having professional vocal tuition at around the age of 12. Our very first public performance as a duet away from the school environment was at a Boys College!

Candice: Later we were asked to sing at the Pimpinio Country Music Festival.

G: How much later?

Candice: We were 14.

Nadinne: That was a tiny little town. If you blink you’d miss it, but people from miles around used to go to the festival. The response was overwhelmingly supportive and everything has taken off for us from there.

G: How about your instruments?

Candice: We didn’t pick up a guitar until we were about 16. Our passion was, and still is, singing.

Nadinne: We also used to sing quite a lot of duets for the schools we were in throughout the years at assemblies and any special occasions to do with school. We went to a campus where there were three separate schools and we were always asked to perform for the different schools for their special events. We’ve sung at various Country Music Festivals and Clubs.

G: When did you first try songwriting?

Nadinne: We first took an interest in songwriting when we were 16. Our Mum entered us in an International songwriting competition. At around the same time we met a musician named Richard Davidson, who has since become our record producer and very good friend.

Candice: Richard is now owner of RDMS recording studio, and recorded a demo of our very first completed song called ‘Never Look Back’ in June of 2000.

Nadinne: Richard suggested to us that we enter the song in SCALA’s (Songwriters, Composers And Lyricists Association) annual National and International songwriting competition.

Candice: We later forgot all about it, not thinking we would get anywhere. And studying for end-of-year exams made it easy to forget.

Nadinne: After a month or so we received an invite to go to the awards but it was getting close to exam time so declined. Then, a couple weeks later we got a phone call. It was one of the organizers asking if we were going to the awards, we told her no and she said that the numbers for audience were very low and could we please try to find some time and come for a couple of hours? Award night was that same night!! So we talked it over with our Mum and she took us to Adelaide where the awards were held. We didn’t know anyone there all we were thinking of was our study.

Candice: And tired!

Nadinne: But we stayed anyway.

Candice: There were a lot more people than we expected there and we wondered why she wanted us to come. We were just about to leave when they announced that they were going to present the award for the Demo section.

Nadinne: Which is what we entered, so we thought we’d hang around and see who won….. It was us! We won a professional recording of our song. Which we thought turned out disastrous! That was done at a different studio to where we normally record.

G: Can you talk a little about how you view the music industry?

Nadinne: Like most young artists starting out we had to do our time with the competitions and things. I think that’s part and parcel of being an entertainer isn’t it? You’ve got to do the hard yakka and climb over wall after wall and a lot of times falling flat on your face just to see if you’ve got what it takes. Every time a door opened, a door closed. But hey, it’s fun in between and it’s a learning experience. That’s still the case. We performed for the Olympic Games festivities in Adelaide in the year 2000. We went on and entered several other competitions. Our Mum was our biggest supporter and always sat in the front row of these comps. Who out there and just starting out doesn’t have that kind of doting Mum.

Candice: Yeah, so cute!

G: She was right about your success, wasn’t she?

Candice: We won the New Talent Award in Adelaide for 2001 and also won the Australian State Championship for an international vocal competition 2001. Then recorded our first CD at 16.

G: Did you have any formal training?

Nadinne: We’ve really had training for our voices since we started primary school. That continued well after we completed high school and in college. We stopped having training in about 2005 I think. But we are thinking of going back I don’t think you can ever have enough of that! The training keeps you true to yourself vocally. Training is a lot more than singing; it involves exercise and proper diet as well.

G: Would you say you are driven to make music?

Nadinne: Most definitely! Any musician would be able to answer this with a big fat yes. If you’re not driven, then why do it? Music has been a part of us since we can remember, always making up silly songs when we were younger. And when we reached our early teens, we discovered we could take our writing seriously and start to make some great music. We can’t see ourselves not making music in one way or another.

Candice: We have tried to take ‘breaks’ in the past and we’ve always been drawn back to music. It’s in our blood and I don’t think we could ever completely stop doing it. When I think of music, I think of fun and while its fun, we’ll continue to sing and write.

G: What are you searching for in songs that you listen to for pleasure as opposed to songs you want to sing?

Nadinne: Generally, if we hear a song we like, we want to sing it. I love songs that tell a story, whether it makes you laugh or cry.

Candice: I think Nadinne is on the money here… songs that tell a story are more entertaining for me. I like songs that are different and aren’t harping on the same old same old. Australia’s Adam Harvey, Beccy Cole and a favorite American country singer of mine, Brad Paisley, are great for their ’story songs’. As for songs I want to sing, great melody is the key. I like a song that can spark someone’s interest in the first few lines of the first verse.

G: Can you say what touches you most: melody or lyrics? Or does it depend on the song? Or your mood at the moment?

Nadinne: Oh, it’s a combination. There are songs that have beautiful lyrics but the melody and or music leave them feeling cold. Songs have to have an equal balance of both fantastic lyrics and melody, you can’t have one or the other, otherwise you won’t have a great song.

Candice: Nine times out of ten the lyrics touch me most. I love it when I can relate to a song personally. It makes it that much more powerful. Every now and then though, a song comes along that has amazing music and it just blows me away. I love fast picking on guitars and banjos… it almost makes me jealous as I’d love to be able to play like that myself! I think we both agree that sometimes it can depend on our mood at the moment as to what we listen to though.

G: Can you say how music is able to touch people’s souls?

Nadinne: Music has the great ability to be able to alter your mindset. If you’re sad, and listen to a great upbeat song, it instantly brings your mood up. Music can make you angry, can make you happy or sad. Music can bring so much comfort to someone who is hurting. There are many a time when we ourselves have turned to the great healing powers of music.

Candice: I’ve been in situations where I have been feeling a bit out of sorts, then listened to a great song which has altered my whole state of mind and I’ve instantly felt so much better. I believe that music can touch people’s souls, even if it’s just one amazing song that really hits home with one person. It doesn’t have to affect hundreds of people. If we do that for someone, it would be the best feeling in the world!

Contact:
www.soundclick.com/doublevision
doublevisionnc@hotmail.com

Technorati Tags: DoubleVision, country music, pop music, singer songwriter, Australia indie bands

INTERVIEW: Managing at least 5 interlocking careers, Los Angeles-based Sheena Metal maintains a wickedly funny view of her life on the radio, on stage, and behind-the-scenes in the swirling worlds of music, movies and TV.

The first time I saw Sheena Metal perform was in a real dive. Let’s call it Magee’s. It was popular (at least it was that night) but it was the kind of scummy place that openly defied health regulations. Thus, it was an ideal venue for the visual and aural onslaught of Ms. Metal’s band, Beer Bong.

Their set was moving along at a nice clip. Mixed with a KISS cover song or two were original rockers with lyrics that were alternately profane and more profane, but laced with acerbic social commentary that was as funny as it was shocking.

Between each song, one of the drunks at the crowded bar would yell out something in that booming piercing thunderous annoying voice that you often hear at sporting events. He was berating the band, the songs, the costumes, and Sheena herself.

Unlike the rest of the drunks in the place, he seemed able to stand up, move about, and even dance a bit. But his physical size and wild-eyed glare made many of us hope he maintained his place at the bar.

Trouble was, Sheena was answering him with put-downs that were too clever by half. Each comeback of hers zoomed right over his head but caused titters from those who got her jokes.

About halfway through the gig, he began to get threatening. Without skipping a beat, Sheena shushed the crowd and said she had an announcement to make about “our vociferous friend at the bar.”

I shuddered, imagining the brawl that was about to ensue, so you can imagine how surprised I was to hear Sheena proclaim him “King of Magee’s.” She bowed in his direction and asked for a round of applause, then went right back to the songs.

The idiot was quiet for the rest of the show and came up to congratulate the band afterwards. Now that’s crowd control. When I asked her about it later, she said “Most people like that just want some attention. I tried verbally battling him, but that made him madder. So I tried flattering him, and that worked.”

“What if that hadn’t worked?” I asked.

“See those extra guitars at the side of the amps? Those are the ones we don’t mind using on people if we have to.”

I knew right then I was going to like Sheena Metal. The following interview took place recently, several years after the Incident with the King of Magee’s.

Scott G: You host a late night radio show. Tell us about that.

Sheena Metal: Actually, this is the first time that my show hasn’t been only late night. As a Los Angeles radio personality, I made a name doing both talk and music radio in the middle of the night. Music Highway is my first syndicated show and it’s so odd for me to be airing at six and seven a.m. in some markets. It sure makes me think twice before getting too raunchy…which is my natural inclination. But the show is on 2,400 affiliates in four countries at nearly every hour of the day and night, so each week we create a show that will be as suitable for a housewife in the American Bible Belt as it is for a porn star in Australia.

You’re also the lead singer of Beer Bong. That band is a visual and aural outrage. The music was well-done yet the experience for the audience was often right on the edge of comedy. That was primarily your influence, I think.

Absolutely. I wanted to create a band where people could rock out and laugh their butts off concurrently. The tunes are musically hooky and catchy and the lyrics so irreverent that if not for our Beer Bong Song Books (provided at each show) the average audience member might not believe they actually heard what they heard. And as for the visual outrage…I am as God made me. [laughs] Seriously, it’s the same as the songs. I want people to leave the show first thinking, “What the Hell was that?!?” and then, “I loved it!!!”

Another one of your careers is booking bands into clubs. What’s that job like?

Sometimes I feel like I’m running a daycare for psychotic divas…and those are the good days. [laughs] Truthfully, I love putting on shows, seeing the bands live, and enjoying the entire process. It’s the music business and nobody said it was easy. Weather, holidays, current events, world disasters, traffic…these are all factors that affect the ultimate success or failure of a show. It’s like walking into a Las Vegas casino and popping $10,000 on the roulette wheel. There is never a dull moment…that’s for sure and when you add in the delicate personality of the creative genius, it’s an E-Ticket ride for sure.

As a journalist, you have written seriously about many aspects of show business, but often with a humorous point of view. As a musician, your lyrics are almost always funny or satirical. Is that your view of life?

It’s funny because my mom is hysterical. She makes me seem dull and humorless, but she’s very shy. I spent a lot of my childhood alone with her and she would satirize everything…life, humanity, the earth. She’s very smart and very, very deep and I think it was how she stopped herself from going nuts. So, I grew up thinking of things in terms of humor. Don’t get me wrong, I can be very serious and I love intense dramatic music, films, literature, etc. but I can always see the sideshow…the twisted carnival that lies just under the surface of life. I’m also a tad macabre. Did I mention that? [laughs]

Oh, we get the macabre side all right! Often mixed in with the humor is a social-political undertone to your work. Which is your primary goal?

Well, the laugh is always a goal. Laughter is more healing and cathartic than even a high colonic, but I do have a socio-political side. I think that art should come in layers so that anyone of any level of intelligence, emotionality or depth can take from it what it speaks to them. So, if I scratch my behind, someone in more of a banal mood will giggle because my rear-end itches while a deep thinker will realize that I’m scratching my butt in protest of the inhumanity of dictatorships in third world countries. Not the best example, but it works.

On a daily basis, how difficult is it keeping on top of your various careers?

It’s unreal the schedule I keep. I get around 300 pieces of e-mail every day, I promote 10-12 shows monthly (including a new weekly residency at the Knitting Factory Hollywood), I write 3-4 freelance pieces a week (music reviews, film reviews, celebrity interviews, etc.), I have two syndicated music columns (the former has over 80 affiliates; the latter has just become syndicated), I host and produce a weekly syndicated radio show, I’m involved in a live theatre group that does charity productions of the “Vagina Monologues,” I have a film coming out next year, I front a band and am starting a second band in 2008, I run a musicians assistance program with over 10,000 members, I was just this week named president of Sea Hag Ent. that is developing a myriad of television and film projects, and next summer I’ll return to performing/promoting comedy. It amazes me that I even have time to brush my teeth and feed my cats. Luckily, the cats yell at me if I forget…which I do sometimes…and I’m embarrassed to say, my teeth are kind of scuzzy at the moment. But aside from that, I just sit around on my couch in my underpants eating cheese puffs and watching “Judge Judy.”

Who first dubbed you “the queen of observation”? What about the other phrase, “the queen of the nighttime world”?

In 1998, I co-hosted “The Nastyman Show” on KLSX (97.1 FM) in Los Angeles. That station was the Howard Stern affiliate at the time and our show was driven by sex, strippers and rock music. Nasty ran the show like an outrageous ringmaster and my job was to add insightfully sardonic commentary on the crazy guests and bizarre topics. It was Nasty that dubbed me the “Queen of Observation.” He was a great guy, my favorite co-host and the most fun I ever had in radio was on his show. “Queen of the Nighttime World” was a name I picked up on my first radio show on KIEV (870 AM) “Sheena Metal After Midnite.” It’s a pun on the KISS song “King of the Nighttime World.” A listener referred to me that way and I loved it and started repeating it. Nastyman didn’t like it and never used it. Maybe he was worried Gene Simmons would sue him.

Your media material says you’re developing a mockumentary reality TV series. What can you reveal about that?

It’s all very hush-hush or I’d spill it all. I hate secrets! I will say that I’m co-writing it and that my new entertainment corporation, Sea Hag Ent., will be producing it. Oooooh, I want to tell you all about it. I really do!

Tell me on “deep background.”

[Pause for feverish whispering]

Cool! Okay, we’ll have to reveal that when the time comes. Last question. Your Web site is www.sheena-metal.com but have you ever visited www.sheenametal.com?

Not lately. A fan bought it to give it to me as a present and then never gave it to me. Every once in awhile I send him an email, still looking in vain for my cyber-domain love gift, but it never arrives. Why? Is it a porn site? Fat chicks and dwarves in rubber masks depicting ex-presidents? That would be a hoot!

Technorati Tags: Sheena Metal, radio personalities, satire, social commentary, music, radio programs, singer songwriter, rock, live music

INTERVIEW: Lead singer of indie bands Pope Jane and Junkie Cousin, film actress, political clothing designer, and outrageous singer/songwriter, Danielle Egnew has a huge voice, legit stage training and a compulsion to rock. Scott G interviews the forceful yet friendly femme fatale.

G-Man: You have created more music than anyone else from Billings, Montana, I believe. Between the Pope Jane material and your own recordings, there are a dozen albums now, is that right?

Danielle Egnew: Oh yeah, there are. The thing is, I do so many different kinds of music that eventually I compile enough for several different albums. I’m almost done with “Red Lodge,” my solo CD that’s sort of taken it in the shorts schedule-wise with everything else I have had going on, and Paul Houston and I are starting to record our Junkie Cousin CD, so it’s going to be ‘album central’ for me for awhile. Plus, I just love album releases. Any good reason for a big event, and I’m in!

You have a Broadway theater voice, but you’re a singer-songwriter, an alternative rocker, a creator of meditation music, and even an experimental art rocker. Would you agree with that assessment?

Why yes I would. It’s weird to be considered a pop artist but have a voice that’s better suited for “Wicked” than it is for “American Idol.” Just look at Jennifer Hudson – that girl has singing pipes on her for days, and they bounced her right off of Idol and into an Oscar for “Dreamgirls!” So I guess there is hope for us big-voiced broads! I’d love to do more musical theater, actually. It was my college major. I’d like to see some edgy new musicals, but the singy-dancy nature of the musical doesn’t really lend itself to being edgy. Although, I have been working on writing a musical that’s got some edge to it, so we’ll see what comes of it.

How do you like to differentiate the music for your various projects?

Really, it boils down to which songs go together. Sort of like tonal Garanimals, those clothes we wore as kids where you matched the animals on the tag to see which pants and shirt went together? I’ll end up creating a song and if it doesn’t go with an album I’m working on, I just put it aside until I get enough songs that “match” for a body of work. Then that body gets evaluated and earns its own genre, whether it’s rock, ambient, or country. I had a problem with my album “Red Lodge,” as I really, really wanted it to be a stripped down acoustic album with all acoustic instruments, and sometimes a real huge production rocker would come out of me during a session, so I’d record the big rocker, and just put it aside for the next album. “Red Lodge” has been a challenge to keep it true to my idea for the album in the first place. But it’s sounding great, now that’ I’ve weeded out the stray huge production numbers!

Are you compelled to make music? What drives you?

Yeah, I am compelled, all the time. It’s sort of creepy and maybe irritating for people who live with me. Sometimes I’ll be sitting out at fancy dinner with my honey, and a song will just fly through, and I have to start writing it on a napkin until it’s finished. I sort of have musical Tourette’s. For me, music “comes through” in the ethers, and you grab onto whatever song is trying to make its way through your built-in radio antennae, scribbling like crazy until you can catch it all before you lose the signal. That’s if the song has lyrics. Sometimes I just go back into my studio and I start composing, and it’s the same process, only instrumental. I’m constantly outputting music. I think something may be wrong with my brain, like John Travolta in “Phenomenon.” Maybe I should get a CAT scan.

What are you searching for in a song?

I guess the more accurate way to put it for me would be, why is that song searching me out? The songs always seem to be finished when I pick up on them and try my best to get them out before I lose the clock on them. When I record, I always feel like I am doing it twice, because it’s all finished in my head. All my songs tell stories. I think that’s part of my western culture heritage, being from Montana, which is a yarn-spinning state, and I’m not talking about knitting! I also tend to write songs when I am trying to figure out something in myself or someone else. Or I use the song to process my feelings when I feel very, very hurt, and I’ll tell someone off in a song. That’s not very mature, but it’s true, and it makes for a great tune, because there are a lot of people out there who want to tell people off but can’t form the words to sum up their journey in three and a half minutes, and they can really relate. Some of my best albums have been after break-ups. I don’t write very happy happy joy joy lyrics, though I tend to write very uplifting instrumental music. That’s a weird dichotomy. I’ve got this song, “Cracker Jack Box Hero,” that’s being used in the film “Changing Spots,” and it’s got this bouncy, happy pop/Americana arrangement in G, but the lyrics are about someone who is hideously unhappy and drowning in their own life. Yeah, I’m a ball of fun.

What’s first in your head: melody or lyrics?

Both, at the same time. I get the finished choruses first, and have to build in the verses. Or, if I’m writing songs with Paul, he’ll be strumming along, and I’ll get the melody first, and then the lyrics. But if it’s something I originate, then it’s both at the same time.

Describe how music touches people’s souls.

Wow, I think that the way it touches people is as unique as the person it’s touching! All things made of any sort of particle exist on a frequency. Atoms resonate at a certain frequency. Light waves get to earth from the sun on a certain frequency spectrum. Depending on what those light waves bounce off of, some of the light is absorbed and some is reflected, and a person may see blue, or green, or red. But the light “creating” the color is the same. Music, by its very nature, is a frequency based form of communication, and works affecting the soul of an individual in the same manner as a light wave does. Depending on who the music is bouncing off of, someone may be touched to feel happy, or sad, but the music is the same. I believe that the terrain of a person’s soul directly determines what music is absorbed, and what music is reflected back. So I think more people could use music to help figure out parts of their souls that they can’t find with their naked eye, much like sonar assists in finding parts of the bottom of the Mariana trench that are miles beneath the ocean’s surface. A ping is sent down, bounces back, and is returned with information about the bottom of the dark crevice that we would otherwise never see, because it’s out of our reach. But it’s not out of the reach of frequency. If a person pays attention to what bounces back in them when they listen to certain music, maybe they’ll find some deep places in themselves that they were never able to see before, just by paying attention to the emotional image in what is reflected back? Music as a tool for emotional self discovery and healing is unparalleled, in my opinion. Better than the freakin’ Discovery Channel.

There are 3 merchandise pages online, one for you as personality and singer, another for the band Pope Jane, and then there are the slightly shocking Vision Duds items on Café Press. There may soon be a merch page for the Junkie Cousin band. Tell us about how you see the gear in a career.

Whooo-hoooo, I am a gear junkie! Gear is the best! Swag rules! I myself buy tons of gear from bands and films and TV shows that I love. I completely dig wearing another band’s T-shirt. It’s like bumper stickers for bodies. I think gear is a way to connect with your fans and supporters by creating something that’s a little piece of you, and getting it to them. I especially think that because I do all of my design for my projects. It’s important to have retail items because not only does the sale of the items help offset other hard costs, like pressing CDs, advertising and such, but it really is a great way to get the feeling or tone of your project out. Not to mention, it is just so much fun to design! I just love graphic design and marketing. It’s a guilty pleasure, and it’s half the fun of releasing a project. It’s like styling your own hair once the hairdresser finishes the cut. Swag rules, rules, I tell you!

What are your ideas behind Vision Duds?

I just wanted to re-claim the actual character of Jesus for the masses, not as a boutique savior with only the Right wing in mind. I thought it was about time that He stopped getting passed around as the poster child for judgment, when in fact Jesus was the original peace-lovin’ anti-establishment hippie guy. My Vision Duds clothing line brings the focus back around to what the documented character of Jesus Christ truly is, in an attempt to remind so many people who claim to be Christians that taking a tone of judgment toward another person is in absolutely no way being “Christ-like” or Christian. A big part of my interest lies in activism. As a gay woman, I’m a big human rights activist, and one of the things that really chaps my hide is when any one person or group claims that another group does not deserve the same rights as the other. We find this in our society, especially in terms of religious groups utilizing iconic figures such as Jesus to push their own opinion as legally credible, based on a religious reference. This gets confusing in a country where the law is supposed to be separate from religious beliefs. I’m all for anyone believing anything they want to, but I think it’s a cop-out to blame a personal opinion on a religious icon, as in “the devil made me do it,” or “god told me to.” The Vision Duds clothing design line is a statement on how religious organizations use the identity of Jesus to back up actions that are very un-Christ like, such as hate and war. My designs all include a picture I created of Jesus Christ, with sayings beneath them addressing a lot of the dichotomous Religious Right propaganda. One of the sayings is “My name is Jesus. I don’t hate anyone.” This was of course inspired by how the Religious Right likes to push the notion that Christ was anti-gay, which is absolutely not true according to biblical texts, but the Religious Right’s anti-gay propaganda conveniently eliminates this important historical fact, teaching its congregations otherwise. According to record, Jesus was a very inclusive individual who only took outward offense to those who judged and condemned others. Though my personal spiritual belief system is pretty varied, I have a ministry license, and I’ve pastored Christian churches, and I have poured over the life of Christ. He himself was a tremendous activist who spoke out on unconditional love for all people. Another hideous piece of the Religious Right’s propaganda has to do with the war in Iraq, how we are waging a holy war, etc. One of the Vision Duds T-shirts says “My name is Jesus. I died for Peace.” My dad was a captain in the US Army, and I wholeheartedly support our troops, but I think that pretty much sums it up. Frankly, the best Christians I have ever met are Buddhists.

Would now be the right time for me to ask the standard skeptic question about your being a psychic?

Hey, right on, man, all’s fair in love and press! I think it’s good to be skeptical. I work in this field, and I’M skeptical! Everyone alive has intuitive abilities, as its part of our design as spiritual creatures, but not everyone is aware of them, or knows how to use them well. And there are a lot of people out there who claim to be psychic, but really, don’t have those abilities developed, but they have an interest and bought some Tarot cards and a black cape, and they love the ego of being the guru, so they start up a practice on Venice Beach. So using some discernment in the whole issue of psychics is a good idea. I don’t actually like the word “psychic”. I go by clairvoyant, or clairvoyant channel, as I look at what we consider the future, and chat with all sorts of entities who can help me do that more effectively because they’ve got a better view than I do. It’s no different than shouting up to the guy ahead of you on a hike, who gets to the mountain top first, because you want to know if he can see a river below because you’re thirsty. Basically, I’m an interpreter. I interpret a language of energy signatures that come in the form of visions, sounds, pictures, smells, analogies, you name it. I’m the chick who reads the tickertape that gets pushed through the ethers on behalf of a client or law enforcement case. I’m no different than the guy on a submarine who looks up the periscope and reports back what he sees. We all captain our own boat, but we often seek help in navigating. That’s my job, to help – not to make the navigational choices. I do all sorts of other stuff in terms of reading frequencies, or “energy fingerprints,” especially when dealing with law enforcement cases, or I utilize what’s called remote viewing to help find lost people and items. But in essence, this is all just glorified talk in describing the translation of energy signatures. It’s not nearly as mysterious as it seems. It has to do with reading frequencies – the same aptitude I use when I write songs! There’s a lot more science to it than mysticism, I’m afraid. I have my own private practice in Los Angeles and I really enjoy helping people. But word to the wise, real “psychics” don’t remove curses because curses aren’t real. We don’t cast spells, we don’t sell love potions, no one alive can ever tell you exactly who you are going to marry as love is a free will issue, and no human being is ever 100% accurate. Some of my best friends are still skeptical about all the psychic stuff, and I can’t say I blame them with all the wackos out there. I don’t even tell people I do clairvoyant work most of the time. It’s not worth the eye roll I get! But I understand where it comes from. Dionne Warwick and Miss Cleo really haven’t helped the plight of us clairvoyants much. Ah, well, I guess it’s up to Jennifer Love Hewitt and Patricia Arquette to represent to mainstream America. People like myself with clairvoyant or psychic abilities aren’t freaks or charlatans or occultists, for crying out loud. We’re interpreters. We’re here to help you navigate. You don’t see people accusing OnStar of heresy.

(Photo of DE by Paul Houston. Photo of DE with Minarik Samhain by Alexa Yassir.)

Technorati Tags: Danielle Egnew, Pope Jane, Paul Houston, Jesus, psychic, alternative rock, singer songwriter, indie music, religious right

INTERVIEW: Singing, songwriting, recording, and playing lots of gigs may be the traditional way for an independent music artist to get ahead. With the release of “The Kitchen Sink” by Sean Wiggins and her band Lone Goat, the singer shows that the quality of the work may be as important as the quantity.

G-Man: Your songs seem very personal and yet universal at the same time. Is that deliberate, or is that just the result of you writing what you feel and it turns out a lot of us might say “I’ve been there!” as well?

Sean Wiggins: Some are stories that may not be something I have completely experienced, and is more of a creation from my mind and what I have seen. But mostly they are stories from my life and then as a writer I add to it and make it a better or sadder or funnier story (laughs).

You guys describe the album as having many styles. What are your influences?

Hmmmm. I love all sorts of music, so I’ve been influenced by many people and styles. Stevie Ray Vaughan, Aerosmith, Joni Mitchel and Alan Jackson, just to name a few.

What is your process when creating a song?

I usually get a hook in my head, just words or maybe words and a melody. It usually comes to me when I’m driving down the street. I call my machine at home and sing the idea into my machine and then I go from there. I grab my guitar and I start to sing and play with words and chords: they sort of go together for me. After I get the basic idea, I sit and hash out the words.

Do you give any thought to the mystical nature of music touching people’s heart, mind and soul? Does that change for you when you’re writing as opposed to when you’re performing the songs?

Certain tunes of mine are very close to my heart and soul, and I think when I’m writing them I hope to touch other people with the words and to write them in a way that could be accepted by many as opposed to just venting my own situation. So, I try to make it open to interpretation by the listener. When I perform, it is very personal and I hope the fact that it is so close to me will let people get close to the song for themselves — if that makes any sense at all.

Absolutely. Growing up, what were you: nerd, class president, bad kid, dreamer, loner, or…?

I was all of the above. What does that say about me?! Student body president and loner, locked myself in with a piano for hours a day and I didn’t even really know how to play.

When did it click with you and you just knew it was music that would be your life?

I always sang. . . used to sing my tent-mates to sleep at night at camp. I would sing entire musicals for them. But seriously, I joined my high school jazz combo at about 15 years old and I started to perform professionally at 16 and was writing and singing my own tunes by the time I was 17. I was ready to run away from school and try to make it on my own in New York when I was about 16. Luckily my parents stepped in and got me to focus thru high school. I have been nuts ever since!

Why “Lone Goat”? Or, I guess I should say, “lOne gOat” as it’s spelled on the CD?

Paul Houston, my right hand man and guitar player, travel a great deal together doing shows all over California and the U.S. We bonded with a lOne gOat on our way up the 101 and that’s all she wrote. There was something in that lone goat that spoke to us (laughs).

Okay, we’ll live with that. Can you talk a bit about how you view the business side of the music business? Like it/hate it, why are contracts so long, etc.

Well, I wish I had more business, but I have piles of contracts. Unfortunately in this day and age, watch your back and cover your ass. I think you have to play by the rules of today’s world and a handshake does not do it anymore.

Talk about CD distribution: how are you marketing and moving your product? Any merch going on?

I sell through my Web site (www.seanwiggins.com), Amazon and CDbaby. But I would say most of my CD and T-shirt sales come through live shows.

How many gigs are you guys going to play this year?

Probably 150-200.

Are you doing the booking?

Yep!!! It’s all me!

In your sound, I hear alternative mixed with country and a sprinkling of troubadour folk-rock. Kind of like Bonnie Raitt singing with Beck’s band doing Woody Guthrie if Woody Guthrie just finished reading ee cummings.

Wow, can I use that quote? The best one I have heard EVER! Seriously!!! That is me!

Fine with me. I like it when I hear what an artist hears in their music. You guys have a great sound. Who are the players?

The amazing Paul Houston on electric, slide and acoustic guitars. Robert Dill on drums and Todd Connelly on bass. I had two other bass players on the album, Sylvia Owens and Jim Patterson. I just love all of the players. We don’t even rehearse: it is magical! It’s like they read my mind and Paul leads the way in hooking it all together with the perfect guitar lines! I warble and play acoustic.

Technorati Tags: Sean Wiggins interview, Sean Wiggins and Lone Goat, The Kitchen Sink CD, singer songwriter, country folk rock, Gman, Scott G, music industry news, indie music distribution

INTERVIEW: Delvian Records has been called aggressive, brash, quirky, fanatical and a secret weapon for indie artists. Company president Benjamin van der Wel talks with Scott G (Delvian recording artist The G-Man) about music, marketing, mojo, media, and the madness of running a record label.

Scott G: Some people say you have to be a little bit crazy to run a record company. So, how mad are you?

Benjamin van der Wel: Totally mad but we trust it’s in a good way! In the past, the business of music has always been one that’s attracted the opposites: sensitive artists bearing their souls to hardened, insensitive businessmen-accountants looking through them to a horizon fabricated entirely out of the bottom line. We’re quite pleased to be something quite different from that old scary vision.

You’re actually running two companies, Delvian Records and the Gate Media Group. Let’s start with Delvian. How is it different from other indie record companies?

Well, the biggest difference is that we don’t take away an artist’s intellectual property, especially their copyrights and performing royalties. Usually when you sign with any label, they take ownership of everything you do and are entitled to. We think that is fundamentally unfair, outmoded and frankly ridiculous. Delvian works with an artist, not against them, to get them into distribution, find them airplay and help them with their careers. Sure, it sometimes goes a little slower than the old way, but the artist gets to keep control of their lives, creative and otherwise.

How do you select your artists?

We’re fortunate that we get a lot of mail! Our past successes and unique business model are very attractive to those artists that want to advance without signing their lives over to accountants. Obviously being happy as a smaller company, we can’t work with everyone we’d like to. But we end up with a diverse group that is usually a joy to work with and see advance. In fact, one of the artists longest on the label, Gentle Thunder, was nominated this year for a Grammy Award — not bad for a “little indie label!”

What are your distribution arrangements?

We’re part of the digital revolutions and also part of the traditional CD sales methods. As excited as we are to be in on the start of digital music and downloads, we also know that about 95% of all music sold in the United States is still on CDs, so we’re going to keep selling them as long as people are still buying them. For our artists, we set them up on iTunes, Real’s Rhapsody and make sure their titles are available in almost all major retail stores nationwide. From that point, it depends on the artist’s plans: are they touring? Do they have a specific market they’d like to go for? Essentially, we put everything into place and then customize retail plans based on the artist’s ideas and goals.

You received a lot of press when you were one of the first two indie labels to sign a deal with iTunes. What was that like?

That was so cool it blew our minds entirely! We knew that meeting at Apple was something special when it started by Steve Jobs walking in and saying hello, then leading the meeting himself. It really felt like one of those incredible moments when you just know you’re witnessing history being made. It was a pleasure and privilege to be there. At the time Jobs said iTunes was to be “all about the music,” and so far Apple is doing pretty well by that. The promises they made that day have held and if this is the future of music we’re pretty happy with it.

The Gate Media Group is the parent company of your organization. Tell us about The Gate.

The Gate started decades ago when a bunch of long-time indie music folks got together one evening and came to the conclusion that things could be done much, much better in terms of CD manufacturing. At the time, there were few manufacturers out there that did much but ape the major label models, which meant low quality, bad designs and poor service. We figured that we could do a much better job starting fresh, without all the baggage of old-line ways, methods and equipment. We certainly had the talent and experience so we took a very, very deep breath, emptied our bank accounts and just went for it. Since then we’ve added a lot of other services, features and new stuff like DVDs, printed CDRs, poster printing — you name it, we can do it and do it with not a little style.

How do you compare the Gate with your competitors?

We usually don’t do much of that because over the years we’ve watched them copy our websites, attempt to duplicate our offerings and play catch-up with us. We’re flattered, actually. They can try, again, to ape the models of the big corporations. We’re not aiming to be a Microsoft and be big by “Volume! Volume! Volume!” while putting out questionable products, but rather to be more like Apple, happy to have a good market share, to be an innovator in new products and services and to be seen as a leader in the industry.

How did you guys meet? Was it really one evening?

Yes it was! One of those moments that sneaks up on you in its significance. There we all were, grumbling about the state of things and, most fortunately, someone said, can’t remember who, something like “Well, why don’t we do something about it?” That was in Los Angeles sometime in 1994.

Are you personally involved with any of the bands on Delvian Records?

Since we’re a smaller label, we’re involved personally, to some extent, with all our artists. But we like to be involved as much as we’re needed and wanted. Some artists come to us with a very clear path and everything in place, others need a lot of advice and counsel as to how to proceed. And as you know, in music, its hard not to take things personally! Music is such an intimate experience of the artists’ minds and being that anytime you’re involved in a real way, you can’t help but being involved personally. That is if you care at all about them. We do. Very much so.

What do you love about music?

How much time have we got? [laughs] Well, if I had to pick one thing, I’d say it is those moments when I get a new CD or someone sends us their demo and when I pop it in the player, that indescribable something comes alive in their sound. That deep eternal and eternal movement, that dance. That something that can raise the hairs on your neck or cause an entire room of people to pause and listen in a kind of awed wonder. Those moments are amazing.

What do you like/dislike about the music business?

Honestly? Well, the fact that it has to be so much about “business” and so little about “music” sometimes. At its best, music is a gift to the world, but in our current culture, it’s a commodity to be bought and sold. And as such, the rules of commodities apply whether we like it or not. That’s the philosophical side! The practical side is adjunct to that: the old major music labels. They’re not adapting to the 21st century very well and in not doing so, they’re causing everyone else a lot of problems. Those big ships leave a mighty big wake wherever they go, even if they’re obviously way off course!

What do you see for the future of music?

The transparency the internet has brought to all information in general is helping people to rediscover what they really like in music in particular, not just what is in power rotation on a radio station. They can search whenever they want for new and different kinds of music. I think we’re also hearing a general rise in the overall quality in what is available, thanks to recording and production becoming possible on laptops and such. The whole digital revolution is making, in our cash economy world, the creation of music much more affordable for many people. So when talent and inspiration combine with a much lower cost to make it, the sheer amount of musicians and artists that can create is going up, practically immeasurably.

Are dance clubs and what they play still influential in the whole music scene?

To a certain extent, yes, especially in the dance and electronic genres, where you’d expect that. But we’re also seeing clubs having more specialty nights and playing a wider range of music. We think it’s still a great way for new music to get out there. And while more people are deciding what to listen to by scanning samples on their iPods or iTunes, there will always be a pretty big group of people that likes to go out and listen to new music at clubs. iPods are wonderful but clubs are somewhat more social! Besides, it’s a lot easier to find some company for the night if you’re able to see them gyrating next to you. Cool new music is especially helpful in that aspect.

What should we look for from Delvian Records and/or The Gate Media Group?

We’re continuing to do what we do well, which is making and distributing music. We’re also watching closely how music is being put in physical formats such as the new DVDs coming out. A lot of artists are now interested in releasing double sets, one CD of music and one CD or DVD of music videos or other visual accompaniments to music. We’re happy to help this trend come alive, the combining of pure sound and vision for what many see as a more total experience. And of course, we’d be happy to have another artist or several nominated for more Grammy Awards!

What do you think about all the talk of change from albums to single song downloads?

This is a very sad, weepy cry made public only by the old major labels. We’re happy that, finally, people can buy what they want and now artists can structure their works as they want, too. If an artist feels an album is a complete unit, it can be made available only that way. Or they can make a few songs or all available for single downloads. We think it’s all good. I should note that it is having the effect on artists to really push for an entire album of good listening instead of having a few “filler” tracks in there to flesh out a contract, the real reason it was done that way for so long. The lawyers required it.

Any thoughts on DRM (or the end of DRM)?

This was brought up at that first iTunes meeting and what was said then I still think is essentially valid. Basically, Apple decided most folks would be happy to download music with some DRM on it and there would always be a smaller number who would find any DRM not so good and attempt to evade it. They decided to go for the larger “legal download” audience and let the others do what they’ve always done. They were proven right for a long while. Their recent decision to now give artists the possibility to offer DRM-free music at a slight premium seems like a good idea. It will be interesting to see how this all plays out. In any outcome, though, we think that the easier it is to get music to people the better. Sure, artists would like to be able to make a living doing what they love to do (who wouldn’t?) and I don’t know if a totally DRM-free world would make that possible. But it is still very early in the world of downloadable music and we look forward to seeing what happens.

Technorati Tags: Benjamin van der Wel interview, Delvian Records, Gate Media Group, indie music, independent record label, music distribution, digital downloads, gman, Scott G, DRM, music industry news

INTERVIEW: Born to sing, Astrella Celeste is attempting to fuse pop music to an inner spirituality. In an interview with Scott G, she talks about how songs are a part of life, love, memory and peace. Pop music is a strange business. No one knows that more than Astrella Celeste, a tiny creature whose talent makes her appear to be quite large when she’s on stage. It’s not that her lovely voice is one of those huge tidal wave type of things, but that she seems to be glowing.

This magical effect can be felt during many passages of the songs on her forthcoming album, most of which reside in that delicious netherworld where jazz meets folk on the way to the symphony as urban beats snuggle up to Latin rhythms.

We spoke in Los Angeles and by e-mail as she and her husband were in between recording sessions at their home in Mallorca.

G-Man: Can you describe the way music was in your life as you grew up?

Astrella Celeste: It would be easier to answer how it wasn’t in my life as I can’t recall a moment or aspect in my childhood that did not involve music in some way. The making of music, the enjoyment of music, and my favorite, the celebration of music.

Is making music a magical experience or is it work, or is it both?

Definitely a bit of both.

Who or what are you trying to connect with in your singing?

Hmmm…. Music was always a strength-giving element in my life and I want to share that with everybody else.

Do your songs have certain moods for you, or do they change over time?

For me, a song generally maintains the mood I was in when I wrote it.

How do you work when creating a song?

Depends. If I’m on my own, I shut myself in a room. When I’m working with someone else, I’m feeding off them.

How do you work in the studio?

Very hard! And try not to waste any time.

Can you describe that feeling when everything just “clicks” and you know the performance is really cooking?

Oh, that’s just complete satisfaction.

What do you like or hate about the music business today?

I like the changing of the formats and the excitement of what’s to come.

What do you call your music? Are there genres or style names you prefer?

This is a hard question. I guess I would have to say my music is HEALING. It’s meant to soothe and calm the listener, allowing one to breathe and reflect. I tend to stay away from titles or labels, preferring to have no preconceived notions of what one should expect. I get enough of that being my father’s daughter.

(Note: She is the daughter of Donovan, legendary performer of such songs as “Catch the Wind,” “Sunshine Superman,” “Season of the Witch” and dozens of other hits.)

Do you think some music is mystical or magical?

Yes of course I do. Just as my music is meant to give strength to listeners by providing comfort and solace, so does a lot of other music but with a different approach. Whether you’re singing out loud to your favorite song, tapping your toes with a smile on your face or feeling blue with a tear rolling down your cheek, it’s helping you to feel and in many cases bringing you back to a specific time or place. That is what I call magic.

Do you think music can affect people in a spiritual way?

It really depends on what you think spiritually is. Music is as the beat of one heart, which makes it spiritual to me, but I try to keep my religious feeling to myself, hoping the music will take you on your own trip no matter who you are or what you believe.

How would you describe an ideal evening of music?

A small group of close friends and family, sitting around a bonfire playing and singing our favorite songs!

Can you describe the perfect song?

Each song is perfect in its own way.

Who are some of your musical influences?

My dad, of course. He will always be my biggest influence. But there are so many great artists I love, like Nina Simone and Sade. I get a lot from Chet Baker, Tori Amos, The Cardigans. . . This could be a very long list.

Maybe we should just let people hear all of them in your music.

That would be great!

Technorati Tags: Astrella Celeste interview, healing power of music, daughter of Donovan, music industry news, Scott G, gman, songwriting

INTERVIEW: A performer needs a good name, so when Marcel Oosterom started appearing in clubs to play mixes of what was called raggamuffin’ and hiphop beats, he did so as DJ Insane. Did that help draw a crowd? Undoubtedly. But it was the quality and intensity of his music that kept the crowds coming back.

The artist now known as DJ Insane began with a delightful mix of hard club thump (the classic boom-boom-boom-boom dance or rave approach) and hiphop’s more sophisticated beats.

Working constantly, DJ Insane quickly built a following in the Netherlands during the early 1990s. His style underwent a change when Holland began rocking to house music, a fusion of electronic synth with some funk-oriented basslines (do a search on “house music” if you want to see some longer definitions). Insane created his own version of house for the Dutch lowlands, where it became known as hardcore gabber.

He was also quick to incorporate tones and sounds from his native India, offering audiences new flavors and textures in an increasingly boombasstic dance club scene. Playing before larger and larger crowds, DJ Insane became too big for one name or one persona, as you’ll see in the interview.

(Note: The album “Crazed + Dazed,” by DJ Insane and The G-Man, was released 05/15/07 by Delvian Records.)

G-Man: Do you call some of your music “trance” or “electro-beat” or “hard club thump” or. . . ?

DJ Insane: I have various styles of mixing. That’s why I’m producing under three
names to keep my styles separated.

Tell us about them.

For example, when I’m DJ Insane, I work in hard/jumpstyle, hardcore, and techno. These are the harder styles of house music. When I work under the name M-V-O, the music is club, trance, electro, latin grooves, and dance. The smooth styles of house.

And there’s a third side to your musical personality?

Yes, called INDIAN ARTAFFECT, where I compose and perform Desi, Drum ‘n’ Bass, Asian Underground, and Asian Fusion. These are the experimental styles of house.

Multiple personalities, but in a good way. Is that why you make a distinction in the musical styles?

The reason why I keep these styles separated under 3 various names is I don’t want fans or anyone to be confused in what I’m going to play that night. For example, if I was playing all these styles under one name, people don’t know what sound to expect.

Do you think some trance music is mystical or magical? Can it take listeners to another place spiritually?

Yes it does. I find any music made with emotion and devotion is spiritual and a medium. Especially trance, if you hit the right chords and melodies and make the entire track from the heart. That is usually what I do, and then you can easily spread your emotion in it.

When you began the songs on “Crazed + Dazed,” did you try them out in clubs or just do them in the studio?

Most of the time when I make records that are meant for the club, I try them out. I love to see how the crowd is reacting on the new sounds I bring. And what I did with “Crazed + Dazed” was really involved. I was playing demos of the album in clubs every night and remixing the songs on the spot with new beats and loops. Then, after the party, I added those ideas again to the tracks.

It was a layering of sounds?

Yes, starting with beats, then adding more beats and tones and loops. The whole thing kept getting bigger and more exciting every night.

Name some of the clubs and festivals where you have performed as a DJ.

I have a huge list of parties I play throughout Europe. A few names of the biggest clubs are:
Club Butan – Germany
Club Pacha – Spain
Club Aria – Greece
Club NRG – Greece
Club The Hideout – India
Club Baja Impariale – Italy
Club Carnaby – Italy
Club Fuse – Belgium
Club Now & Wow – Holland
Club Las Palmas – Holland

Some of the events where I perform are:
Lowlands festival
Fast Forward Dance Parade
Radioactive Zone
Megarave
Citysounds
Kriti vibes
Hardbass
MOH

If someone wants to start making songs, what do they need in their heart?

You have to be into the music 24 hours a day. You think, eat and drink with melodies and beats. When you hear music and you don’t just hear but also are experiencing the music from the inside, that’s a sign that you really are feeling it with your heart. It’s the same way if you compose a remix or a track.

And what do they need for equipment?

Equipment for starting to mix, well, for just the basic stuff you can easily get a music software pack and start experimenting with music. Nowadays there are so many musical toys in software and hardware for music. Find out which program lies within your range and capabilities and let your heart flow with the sounds.

How would you describe the perfect dance club?

A huge club filled with lights and strobes, decoration, full of stars and a moon, girls with angel wings and magic wands, huge projector screens, a high-tech deejay booth with state-of-the-art equipment, and a dance floor with various platforms, so everybody dances on different levels, and a huge chillout lounge above the dance floor. And the most important thing is a very loud and clear sound system.

How would you describe the perfect dance song?

For me, the perfect dance song of all time is Donna Summer’s “I Feel love.”

Right, with music by Giorgio Moroder and Pete Bellotte.

Every time I hear the track, I always get some new ideas. That track is so magical, I always get new inspiration by listening to it. The same thing I have with Kraftwerk’s “Computer Love” and New Order’s “Blue Monday.” I hope someday that someone will feel the same way about a track from “Crazed + Dazed.”

Technorati Tags: DJ Insane interview, Crazed and Dazed CD, trance music, house music, dance clubs, CD releases, music composition, audio production, Scott G, gman