SEATTLE, Wash. /Music Industry Newswire/ — D.a. Productions in partnership with Brain Grenade Entertainment proudly announced the release of D.a. Thompson’s new extended play album titled “Disclaimer” on Tuesday, August 18th, 2009 in Seattle, Washington. ‘Disclaimer’ is now available for purchase on CD Baby, iTunes and on dathompson.com. The first single off of D.a. Thompson’s EP is entitled, “Fool-Hearted.”

Disclaimer is a piano driven pop/rock/funk extended play album with fun arrangements and relatable lyrics. The EP delivers memorable hooks with hints of such artists as Billy Joel, Tears For Fears, and Jason Mraz. Disclaimer was produced by Loren Weisman, mixed by Scott Ross and mastered by Mark Alan Miller in a total of 110 hours over 13 sessions in the month of June 2009. 25 percent of this EP’s sales are being donated to artists working with Brain Grenade Entertainment in the FSRP program.

D.a. Thompson, a Seattle Washington based writer, speaker, and musician is tackling some of the front burner issues of today through a unique and diverse worldview. D.a. is expanding restrained horizons by mind, mouth, and music.

This is a Freedom Solutions Recording Plan (FSRP) album, meaning it was achieved using organizational recording methods developed by Loren Weisman. The goal of FSRP recordings is to help artists successfully budget and plan the production process. The FSRP also keeps the artist in control and full ownership of their music and involves giving a percentage of profits to a charity in which the artist believes.

More information about D.a. Thompson, his CD and his upcoming book delivering a faith-based argument for providing room on the pew in today’s most conservative churches to partnered gay persons are available at www.dathompson.com .

Source: D.a. Productions
Contact: D.a. Thompson, D.a. Productions LLC
+1-206-453-3896
info @ dathompson.com .

Web site: www.braingrenademusic.com

Note to editors: Review copies of “Disclaimer” CD available to media pros on request.

COLUMN: How many times have you put off a challenge, a job, a plan or an assignment and claimed you would get to it when the time was right? We all have, but a sad fact still remains: it’s never the right time and it never will be. Do it anyway, even during the tough times, you will find the endurance, the drive and the will to work under any circumstances that are occurring around you.

Loren Weisman

The Problem

A strange equation seems to come into play when people are scared, overwhelmed, intimidated or just plain tired. They justify the reasons why they are not doing the things they know they should be in exchange for shortcutting or procrastinating. These people even convince themselves that procrastination is the right it is the way it has to be and they are doing the best they can or at least they are trying.

I hate the word trying. I can’t stand when people say that they are trying. I feel like the word trying is turning into more of an excuse than the actual action of trying. I don’t think people have to be perfect; I don’t think everything you attempt must work, but if you are not doing your honest best while making things a little better than the last time, you’re spinning your wheels and wasting time. And you certainly aren’t trying.

When someone tells me, “I’m trying,” I ask him or her how they are trying. I dig deeper and find out what he’s doing to complete his project or goal. What problem solving measures are in play? What improvements, no matter how small, are being seen? Usually, a great deal of them can’t answer. They are using the word trying as an excuse or they go to the blame factor of everything mentioned before from the economy to being tired and money to not having enough hours in the day and on and on and this and that.

Are they using “trying” as an excuse or a cover for the excuses? It seems to me that in the sentence, “I’m trying, but the economy sucks,” trying is the cover-up and the economy sucks is the excuse. The two ideas are very well intertwined, but I do not believe the real problem lies in saying, “I’m trying,” but in actually believing it.

The Reasoning

As a society, we have allowed ourselves and each other to settle for less than what we dream, desire and truly want. We have allowed ourselves to accept that everything happening around us is way too much for any person to deal with. We have justified why things are hard and why we can’t achieve the dream and we have bought right into our own lies. The blame, the excuses and the reasons have allowed us to feel that it is okay to shortcut ourselves and dismiss our dreams.

The Right Time?

Realistically, the right time is never going to come. Money will always be an issue. Relationships will always be an issue. The problems around the music industry and every other industry will always be there or they will show their forms in many other ways that will be just as hard, if not harder. New problems will arise once old ones go away. It is not being negative; it is being honest. This is not negativity; this is life.

Barring your Mega Millions lottery ticket coming in and taking away the bulk of your stresses and your pressures or you receive the deal of the century; there will always be problems. Whether you are rich or poor, happy or sad, hard times do not discriminate, they just show their ways in different forms. This is ten times as true in the music industry or any artist-based career.

Quit yer bitchin!

Complaining does not answer or make things better. Making excuses and assigning blame does not further your career. These actions only drain energy and time that you could be using to advance your dream.
A number of years ago, I came across a great analogy in a book. The author said that the common person complaining and making excuses is like ten people standing in front of a burning house trying to figure out how the fire started instead of dousing the flames or calling the fire department. No one is trying to solve the problem at hand. Sound familiar? Kinda stupid when you look at it that way, huh?

Problem Solving

So it is not going to get any easier and if you continue to wait for that right time, it will be years till you might realize it is just time to get underway with what you want. So why not get underway now?

We all know things are going to be hard. We are stressed out and tired. AND WE ALWAYS WILL BE! People talk about “stress” as if it’s going to go away, like it’s this thing that only exists right now. I shake my head at them. We all have our stresses, our problems, and our fears. We know that people can use these very things against themselves and then justify why they are not doing or going after what they truly want.

Simply put, the problem solving action is buck up, step up and move forward no matter how small the steps.

This does not mean you must add extra hours to your schedule. There are not enough hours in the day to get everything done. But what if you can lay out an action plan that involves working toward your goal for only five or ten minutes a day? Most people can find ten minutes. Also note, there are approximately 14 minutes of commercials in the average hour long television show. People can find ten minutes.

Organize your goal like it is your full-time job. List the small steps, break the big things into manageable pieces. You may not be able to do it all at once and it may have to be spread out over a period of months and even years, but if you are productively and effectively making progress each day, it may inspire you more on those days when it is a little bit harder. Plus, it becomes habitual. Bonus.

Make sure the steps you take and the work you are doing is the right work and the most productive. Don’t take the short cuts; they will make your work substandard. You have limited time, so use that time to do it right the first time.

Execution

If you can problem solve, create realistic, daily plans, and refuse to shortcut, you can make it happen. If you can do this work in these hard times, it will make you stronger, it will give you the endurance, the patience and the abilities to handle all sorts of difficult situations in your career.

Attention to detail is key, so pay attention to all of the small elements that make up the whole. Time management is crucial. You need to know that you are getting the most out of the limited time you have and making it as effective as possible.

Your success is founded on organization, adaption, learning and keeping sight of your goal. Put these pieces in place and be aware that the directions that lead you to your dreams may change as the industry does. Those that grasp these elements will find a faster route to what they want.

Conclusion

I was quoted a while back and still stand by this statement: “It is going to be a harder road than you thought and short cutting will only short your career in the end. Step out, step up and step forward. If you can’t take those steps, you don’t belong in music or the arts”.

It may seem harsh. It may seem mean, but it’s true. In a world where so many have given up on their dreams and in an industry where people are shortcutting with excuses and blame that quote stands true.

If you are not doing all you can in the hardest times just like you claim you would do when it is that “right time”, then you’re getting nowhere fast. If you are short cutting and skipping steps you know you shouldn’t skip, they will catch up to you down the road. Stop making bad excuses.
Doing it the right way and in the smallest steps doesn’t mean it will not be hard and it doesn’t mean that success will show up fast either. Still, if you are doing your best and working through the rough times while taking the correct steps, you have a greater chance of achieving those dreams and goals. You will also stand out, because it is a rare few that are actually following through the right way, right now. Be one of them.

Watch out for Loren Weisman’s book “The Artist’s Guide to Success in the Music Business” coming in late fall 2009. www.braingrenademusic.com

COLUMN: With the creation of the updating and micro-blogs such as Twitter, Rejaw, Plurk and Kwippy, as well as the status updates featured on sites like MySpace, Facebook, Imeem and other social sites, getting a quick message out to the masses is easier than ever. People can send a text from their phone or update from their computer and immediately send out information to the masses. But when is it too much?

Where is the line between marketing and sharing too much information? Does too much information end up hurting more than helping?

Separate your personal life from your professional life.

These microblogs provide an easily accessible means to provide others with information. However, every nugget of personal information—from what you had to dinner to the crappy day you had–may be too much information, especially when you have fans following your updates.

Separating your personal life from your professional life is a good idea that will keep the bulk of people subscribing to your updates interested and actually reading.

Maybe you have a Facebook site or something that is strictly limited to you personally. This should be the place where you can share personal information with people who know you and care. Your other internet sites–MySpace, Twitter, Last FM, Etc,– bear the weight of your profession. These are what the rest of the world will read.

Mix these two and suddenly everyone subscribed to your feed knows that you’re about to go to the gym or going for a walk at this specific park. What if you or your band has crazy stalker fans? What if by sharing personal information, you put yourself in danger? Another good reason to separate the two, don’t you think?

And now for the latest

Let your band sites, your music networking sites, and your micro-blog sites all reflect things that are pertinent and related to you musically.

An effective and productive example feed may read:

- Link to pictures from our Show in NYC last week
- New blog on the latest recording sessions
- Update from the road – Austin
- Show cancellation info for 3-10-09
- New song available today on Itunes
- We are on the line-up for this festival
- New video link from our Saturday show
- Link to a new article about us in The Boston Globe
- We are appearing on this TV show on this night
- Anyone know of good restaurants in Atlanta? We are playing there Friday.
- Check out the band we opened for the other night
- We are launching our new website tomorrow.

These links pique interest and I might follow them to find out more information. There aren’t excessive or irrelevant posts, so I’d probably stay subscribed to this feed.

It is true that some of the heavy-hitting celebrities have thousands of people flock to their updates just to hear that they’re out for a jog. But it’s doubtful that a new fan—or even an established fan who actually, you know, has a life—is going to want hear all of your personal thoughts on life, politics and the universe in general.

Don’t be one of unprofessionals who flood their feeds with superficial and stupid updates. If you are only putting up interesting, informative and solid updates, then you will maintain the fans and followers you already have and potentially draw others to you.

Bad examples or what not to do

These are a couple examples of pointless updates that I found on three different sites in less than five minutes.

I hate you Jim. No, well maybe a little.
I’m Hungry
Madoff pleaded Guilty; he could get one hundred years.
I’m frustrated with Twitter
Chris Brown is a dick
Is kinda bored and cant wait till tomorrow
Sitting at my computer and never going to make it in music.
You’ve got to let me go
No one showed up last night, our fans really suck
A beer
Watching Seinfeld and don’t feel like practicing
Says go donate money so we can go out on tour

And this is one I saw yesterday and is the reason I wrote this article:

I’m going to the (band x) show alone tonight since my friends are standing me up. They suck, why doesn’t someone meet me there.

This was listed on one of the sites where anyone can see anyone else’s post. Upon following the link, I found this person’s music profile, their link, and their location. For the reasons I’ve already highlighted, this was not a smart move.

Astoundingly, this is very real and happening everyday. Not only can too much information be damaging to your marketing and promotions, but it can be downright dangerous.

Conclusion.

Separate your personal life from your profession. I know that music is a passion, but I don’t care what you had for lunch today. I want to be interested in what you post. I want to discover things that would make me want to buy your music and your products. I want to receive updates that are professional, but fun, as well as intriguing.

With people supplying an excess of information that might only apply to a very select few, limiting your posts can be one of the key elements that will get people to actually read your posts. Your goal is to organize your pertinent information in a manner that will optimize your marketability and bring you positive promotion and exposure. Write in order to hook new fans and to maintain the existing ones. It is the best plan and approach to get the most out of these sites.

If you still want to post about your personal life, be my guest, but do it on a site that you keep strictly personal and limit it to your friends and family. You will appear much more professional, much more interesting and you will be much more likely to have fans that will subscribe to and read your professional posts.

Watch out for Loren Weisman’s book “The Artist’s Guide to Success in the Music Business” coming in late fall 2009.