The Music Gardener - Artist Manager, Music Marketer

Beth Whitney

The Music Gardener has found the perfect new music to usher in the fall season! The September “Pick of The Month” is a wonderful singer/songwriter out of Snohomish, WA named Beth Whitney. I am so thankful that her producer, Brandon Bee, introduced me to her music. Beth’s new record “Yellow” has become a favorite around our home. Her perfect blend of pop and folk pairs well with any dinner, coffee or hang time on the porch like my wife and I do so often . If you enjoy music heard on TV shows such as Grey’s Anatomy or Brothers & Sisters, then I think you will really like Beth’s new album titled “Yellow” Please visit the “Pick of The Month” page to hear more about Beth and sample some of her music.

http://www.artistgardenentertainment.com

Disclosure of Material Connection: I am the President of Artist Garden Entertainment, an artist management and marketing company. I only recommend music that I personally believe is exceptional and would be enjoyed by my readers. I was not compensated in any way for reviewing this record or for the “Pick of The Month”  I did receive free music for review. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255: “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”

Circleslide

Seattle, Wash. (August 16, 2010) - Save the City Records is excited to announce the signing of critically acclaimed Christian rock band Circleslide, whose debut project landed on Christianity Today’s 2006 Year in Review “Best of” round-up, among other accolades.

Since then, the band — frontman Gabe Martinez, lead guitarist Jonathan DeAnda, bassist Eric Vickers and drummer Lee Yoder — has toured unceasingly, refining their modern rock ruminations, while keeping their ministry agenda firmly in focus. In addition to shows with Newsboys, TobyMac, MercyMe, Casting Crowns, Salvador, Jaci Velasquez and Downhere, the Nashville-based band has headlined everything from clubs to churches and colleges, with plenty of youth camps and outreach events in between — all of which build off the group’s Youth With A Mission beginnings.

“Throughout all the traveling, our goal has always been to make music that could inspire people, touch hearts and lead them to Christ,” says front man Gabe Martinez. “We’re so excited to be a part of the Save the City Records family, because we know that is where their hearts are as well.”

“We are proud to partner with Circleslide, one of the highest-caliber and hardest-working bands in Christian music today,” comments Derek Hoiem, President of Save the City Records. “They are full of energy, excellence and passion, as their many fans can attest. Their new album showcases their versatility and artistry, and they are a fantastic addition to our artist family.”

Circleslide is currently in the studio putting the finishing touches on their upcoming project, Echoes of the Light, set to release in October.

For more information on Circleslide, visit http://circleslide.net

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School starts back this week in Nashville and in other cities around the country over the next couple of weeks. Parents begin the task of getting their kids up early and ready for school. Pressure and stress rise to peak levels as the new schedules make it tougher to get to work. Wouldn’t you like something to get your morning going along with that cup of coffee?

THE ANSWER - Listen to Byron “Mr Talkbox” Chambers new song “Get On Up” Play it for your kids as they are getting ready or on the way to school. Then play it for yourself as you are rushing to work. This is guaranteed to give you a positive start for your day! Leave a comment here on the blog today and win a chance to receive a personal morning wake up call from Byron “Mr Talkbox” Chambers himself!

YOU CAN OWN “GET ON UP” FOR ONLY 99 CENTS!  Click Here!

http://www.artistgardenentertainment.com

Disclosure of Material Connection: I am the President of Artist Garden Entertainment, an artist management and marketing company. I only recommend music that I personally believe is exceptional and would be enjoyed by my readers. We do manage Byron “Mr Talkbox” Chambers and are compensated indirectly when someone purchases his music. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255: “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”

Brandon Bee Creation West 2010

The Music Gardener spent the last two weeks of July on a musical adventure that took my wife and I on a journey through the beautiful states of Washington and Oregon. While its good to be back home in Nashville, we are already missing the cool dry northwest weather.

Our first stop was Enumclaw, WA for the Creation West festival. The new festival location made for a different experience than in the past. The views from the Gorge of past years were missed, but Mt Rainier as the new back drop wasn’t such a bad thing. One of our artist, Brandon Bee, had the privilege of playing for the communion ceremony just after the Newsboys performance. I must say that Brandon did a fabulous job leading 10,000+ people in worship while Harry Thomas, founder of Creation, presided over the ceremony.

The following day, another one of our artist, Holly Starr, took the main stage revealing some new songs from her soon to be released record, Tapestry. Showing a new rock side to her show, Holly strapped on a Fender Strat for the first couple of tunes. It is always nice to see an artist you work with, giving it everything they have to entertain and engage an audience and Holly did just that!

Mr Talkbox, Mike Silva, Kevin Thornton

After Creation, we took a drive down to Albany, OR for Mike Silva’s Willamette Celebration. Circleslide took the main stage on Friday evening and rocked out 18,000 attendees just before Skillet and the Newsboys. The following day Brandon Bee and Byron “Mr Talkbox” Chambers brought their music to the festival. Brandon Bee and his band really rocked it out in the 100 degree heat just after the Metal Mulisha did their motorcycle stunts.  Byron “Mr Talkbox” Chambers the did his thing bring the crowd to their feet and making the evening a blast for festival attendees.

We then traveled up the Columbia River Gorge towards Quincy, WA. What an unbelievable drive! Diana and I spent a couple of days on Lake Chelan in strategy meetings with our newly signed artist, Holly Starr. We held most of our meetings on a boat sitting in the middle of the lake. I think that has to be one of the best meeting locations we have ever used! Isolated from the rest of the world, we were able to accomplish some great planning.

From Lake Chelan, we made our way back to Seattle via a scenic pass through the majestic mountains of Washington. Another beautiful drive! Seattle then became our home base for the remainder of the week. We had marketing meetings with our partner, Save The City Records, and prepared for the Soul Shine event topping off the week. Byron “Mr Talkbox” Chambers, Bejiman, Kevin Thornton and Rachel Lampa really brought an incredible show to the Experience Music Project in Seattle on Friday night!

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“We Are Nashville” is the slogan that Nashville residents adopted after the major flood that destroyed much of the city and surrounding areas this past Spring. The national media was scolded for not covering the floods and eventually Anderson Cooper showed up and apologized for the media not giving Nashville the attention it deserved. Meanwhile, as the “help your neighbor” spirit was building within the Nashville community, the Gospel Music Association was apparently fast at work making plans to move the GMA Dove Awards Show to Atlanta. While the Nashville Visitors and Convention Bureau is scrambling to keep tourist coming to town, the Gospel Music Association decides to move the Dove Awards show to Atlanta? Now, that’s the perfect way to show love to the city that has supported your infrastructure for 41 years and is now in desperate need of tourism dollars. Yes, I can see the GMA is trying to be cool like the Country Music Association who took their awards show to New York a few years back but is this year really the year to be cool? The GMA should take notes from the CMA who kept CMA Fanfest in Nashville this year and they donated proceeds to Flood Relief. What the Gospel Music Association is really saying through this move to Atlanta is “We Are Not Nashville”

Seeing the GMA make this decision, makes me feel really embarrassed that I am a GMA member. I think back on all of the benefit shows that Christian artists rushed to put together to help the flood victims and now the industry totally misses the simplest way to help. I don’t plan on being in Atlanta for the Dove Awards Show this year even though Atlanta is my hometown and it would be a very easy trip to make. Instead, I will be donating the money I would pay for my 2011 GMA membership to the MusiCarers Nashville Flood Relief fund.

I don’t normally like to write negative posts but the news of the GMA moving the awards show to Atlanta really struck an emotional chord in my soul. I witness many businesses and friends struggling to rebuild from the flood disaster.  There are still thousands of Nashvillians who are jobless due to the flood. This decision to move the awards show will have a negative impact on jobs and local businesses in Nashville and surrounding cities.

http://www.artistgardenentertainment.com

Audrey Assad

Since the Music Gardener is hitting the road for the rest of the month, I decided to go ahead and put up the August “Pick of The Month” up a couple weeks early. The August Pick is Audrey Assad, a voice that you are sure to love! If you like Sarah Mclachlan then you are going to love Audrey. Please visit the “Pick of The Month” page to hear more about Audrey.

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Disclosure of Material Connection: I am the President of Artist Garden Entertainment, an artist management and marketing company. I only recommend music that I personally believe is exceptional and would be enjoyed by my readers. I was not compensated in any way for reviewing this record or for the “Pick of The Month”  I did not even receive free music for review. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255: “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”

Taylor Swift

I often wonder why people in the music industry like to bash successful recording artists? Could it be they are jealous of their success? It often seems as if people in the music industry feel like they have been assigned the position of judge for talent after the talent has already succeeded. The funny thing is, consumers and their wallets actually the judge who gets the top positions on the sales charts. When an artist has the one of the top selling records in the country, the majority of the public is saying “we like this artist,  they are worthy of our dollars and they should be put at the top of the list” Taylor Swift has been a perfect example of this over the last couple of years. She is currently one of the top selling recording artists and has the #3 grossing tour for the year. (Probably could be the #1 but she chooses not to gouge her fans with the exorbitant ticket prices that other artists are serving up) A day doesn’t go by where I don’t hear someone in the industry bashing her. Why is this? New artist Beckah Shae, recently tweeted the following “What if.. the music industry, Instead of being comparative, competitive & critical, Began to celebrate & cheer for each other?” I love that! I was personally convicted and have decided to take on that challenge. There will of course be exceptions in the case of artists who give music a bad name through stupid antics on and off stage and I will have a difficult time cheering them on. But for the rest, I would like to say thanks for your contributions! You keep this music thing going!

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I received many comments on The Price Is Right? post that I put up a few weeks ago. Some of the comments were posted on-line while others were given to me live and in e-mail form. What really surprised me is how many people still defend the argument that music should be cheaper now than it was 15-20 years ago based on the argument that it is cheaper to make and deliver digital music than it was for physical music in the past. Really?

Let’s take the economics of one song and break it down. We are going to assume the ideal scenario for a song that is written, recorded and marketed quickly. Our assumption will be based on an eight hour day which is definitely the exception for creating, recording and marketing a great song.

- A song that takes very little time to write still probably takes the better part of a day (eight hours) What should the hourly rate for a song writer be?

- A song that requires little amount of time to record will usually take at least a day (eight hours) What should the hourly rate be for the studio full of recording gear even if it is in a garage or basement?

- What is the engineer’s time worth based on an eight hours of work?

- What is the producer’s time worth on an eight hours of work?

- Let’s assume you have a marketing person who is able to pull a marketing plan together and execute it in a day. What is eight hours of his time worth?

- You also have the designer who designs the record cover which is required even in the digital age. What is eight hours of his time worth?

- Someone has to upload the music and work with iTunes in order to get it positioned and pictured. What is this person’s time worth?

- A radio promoter spends hours of time calling hundreds of radio stations making them aware of the song and asking them to play it. This is impossible to do in a day but what do you think their hourly wage should be?

- The publicist spends hours of time calling and emailing hundreds of magazines, TV shows, internet sites to set up interviews and record reviews. What should their hourly rate be?

- Magazines, Facebook, MySpace, Twitter, Reverb Nation, and even Google require a nice photo in order to feature the artist. What do you think the photographer’s hourly rate should be?

- Someone has to collect the money and make sure the songwriter’s, artist and Uncle Sam are paid. What is this person’s time worth?

In conclusion, let’s look at the .99 cent price of a song. iTunes keeps .30 cents leaving .70 cents to cover everything listed above. If we take the twelve people listed above (and there are many we left out) and divide up the .70 cents, each person would get roughly 6 cents per song sold. There are no guarantees that a song will sell more than 1 copy and many don’t. At 100 copies sold, each of these people would make $6 total. Based on eight hours, that is .75 cents an hour. Minimum wage is $7-$8 depending on which state you live.

Is this really how we want to value music?  Can we change the perception in consumers minds?

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As both an artist manager and a music marketing consultant, I sometimes find that the two hats which I wear conflict on certain issues. One of those issues is the price of music. The manager in me thinks the price of music is too cheap while the marketing side understands the need to be competitive.

Here are a few things to think about. The price of a single song on iTunes today is .99 cents which just happens to be the same as it was for a cassette single twenty years ago. Twenty years ago a gallon of gas was $1.08, a dozen eggs were .89 cents, and movie tickets were $4.00. Last week my wife and I went to a movie and paid $12/ticket resulting in a $24 purchase for the two of us to be entertained for a couple of hours. On the way home, we purchased gas at $2.70/gallon and bought a dozen eggs for $2.50. This bodes the question “why is the price of music suppressed and not allowed to increase in value?” Do consumers think less of music than a pack of gum, a soda, or a loaf of bread? The answer is sadly a resounding and obvious yes. But why? Is there anything that can be done to change the perceived value of music in the consumer’s mind?

One of the key principles of economics is supply and demand. It appears the supply of music is too great for the demand. I often wonder what would happen if the creators of music stopped production for a while.

What are your thoughts on the price of music?

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The Soul Shine Tour

If you are in the Seattle area, you don’t want to miss this tour. Byron “Mr Talkbox Chambers (keyboardists for NSYNC, Britney Spears, Tobymac), Kevin Thornton (Color Me Bad) and Benjiman team up with Save The City Records and Luis Palau to bring an incredible night of entertainment to the Experience Music Project in Seattle. Get your tickets now at iTickets.com. Stay tuned as other dates will be announced soon!

http://www.artistgardenentertainment.com