Sentric Music's Blog

I'll Manage By Myself – 28/5/07.

2007-05-29T05:40:00.000-07:00

I'll Manage By Myself – 28/5/07.

Fuck me you lot didn't like the blog last week did you? Only 2 comments and they were both by Sentric artists?! I'd better up my game eh?

This week: Managers, just what do they do and do you need one?

There are many types of musicians in this world. You get musicians who only want to dedicate their time to making music and nothing else: they need a manager. You have musicians who want to both play and manage themselves although they do nothing to keep up with the industry and think that managing is just making demos and sending them out to venues around the country: they need a manager. And you have musicians who have a passionate interest in the music industry, reads every music based press going and whose musical abilities arguably suffer due to their commitment to managing themselves: they need a manager.

A good manager is a necessity, simple as that. But also, and here is the beauty of it all, a bad manager can be a huge hindrance.

A good manager needs to be either one of 2 people:

1) Passionate as fuck about your music. Regardless of experience or contacts, if they genuinely love your music, have a good demeanour, the gift of the gab, semi organised and are friendly, then they should do a good job. These are the kinds of managers who are mates with the band, the bass players brother etc and are usually the kind of manager that will be pushed aside when the band signs a major deal and they get someone 'more professional' in (although I know there are several examples where this hasn't happened).

Or

2) Semi-passionate about your music, but have got more contacts then you can shake a shitty stick at. It's a massive cliché but unfortunately it does ring true in the music industry: It's not what you know, it's who you know.

So what do managers actually do? I suppose the definition would be "to take away the responsibility of everything from the artist, bar the music bit'. I'm going to use a friend of mine as an example, lets call him/her 'X':

X has been a musician for several years now, he's (that's given one thing away) a bloody talented songwriter producing constantly insightful lyrics and his technical ability on the guitar is staggering. He's had an album out on an indie label which did better then expected but he's now looking for another label to release his 2nd L.P.

I was having a drink with him the other day, talking about general music banter, as you do, and I asked him if he'd submitted a demo to PopKom. No. Midem? No, have you looked into the department of trade and industries program to take British music to SXSW for next years festival? No. X just wants to write and play music, and that is something that I can't argue with. Arguably a manager should be doing things like submitting demos to international conferences, checking out for new competitions which will result with good PR and strong experience (e.g. the Jack Daniels unsigned competition last year before they made it into a shitty battle of the bands competition). They should look out for new ways to grab peoples attention (e.g. the XBOX competition that Enter Shikari are hosting where they're looking for unsigned artists to use in new XBOX games), they should be looking for new ways to enter the market, reading about the DIY model, what it means, what it could do for your band. They should be calling in favours left right and centre (the music industry is practically run on favours between contacts). They should be giving you advice on your sound, telling you what works live and what doesn't, telling you what songs to start on, to finish on. They should be finding ways to make money for the artist, they should be researching into royalties, what the artist is entitled to, how they can get them (cough-Sentric music-cough). They should be reading Music Week, NME, Q, Sentric Music's Blog. They should be buying books like 'All you need to know about the music industry' and 'The Longtail', they should be findings ways to finance themselves attending conferences like In The City in Manchester, keeping up with trends, spotting potential areas to exploit. They should be buying sound techs a drink during the sound check, they should be making databases of contacts of promoters, digital aggregators, PR companies, venues, marketing companies, CD duplicators, drug dealers. They should be fun, smart, willing to go an extra mile, be able to command respect from the artist, be able to keep ego's in check and more.

A good manager earns his/her 20%

Any thoughts?

What I'm listening to this week: The Invention (these guys are shit hot live) and 28 Costumes

Stay tuned

Sp

Oh, did someone say something about a secret Justice gig on the 11th june? Did they? Oh, what? Myspace you say? Eh? Fair enough.

Live Live 14/5/07

2007-05-29T05:37:00.000-07:00

Live Live 14/5/07

How Do!

Today's blog is basically about gigs, the best I've seen, a little bit of analysis and then hopefully conclude with some 'how to be good live' advice…

I'm doing this blog as this weekend I went to see the Klaxons in Liverpool and they were completely underwhelmingly average. Now I'm not a massive fan of the Klaxons but I went to check them out as I do like the singles and especially think that 'Atlantis To Interzone' is a fecking cracker of a song. On the CD the production values are awesome, the drums are spot on and it basically makes you want to dance like you've never danced before. Unfortunately live it sounded too 'busy' (but then again that might have been the sound engineers fault), the bass was all wrong and as my good friend Clipe Sexo Amador mentioned; 'they did fuck all on stage'.

Its not that we were expecting them to put on an aesthetic festival for the senses, but they just moped about without really putting much into it. All in all, the weren't bad, just incredibly average.

This made me think about the best gigs I've been too, so here they are with reasons on why there were so good. Be aware in this list you may find artists that I wouldn't list as my 'favourites', but I'm a big fan of giving credit where credits due, and if they impressed me live then I'll praise them to all that will listen:

Winner of the 'I've just witnessed something special award' - Arctic Monkeys:

Being a Sheffield lad with a passion for the music industry I've followed the Monkeys from pretty much the beginning of their attempt to take over the world, I've seen them quite a few times now (the first one being at a tiny club night in Liverpool which was ace) but the one that makes this list is their first headline appearance at the Leadmill. The Leadmill is to music lovers in Sheffield, a second home. It is quite simply the best music venue I've been to for a whole plethora of reasons, the stage set up, the sound, the club nights, the amount it holds (not too much but not too little, it's the Goldilocks and the 3 Bears equivalent to a music venue). So when the Monkeys announced they were to headline the said venue after the release of their debut EP '5 Minutes With The Arctic Monkeys' me and my friend from home who were fans of the demos decided to go and have a gander. What we witnessed was awesome (in the true sense of the word as well, proper 'awesome'), the crowd were fucking amazing, singing along to every track, jumping to every beat and girls falling in love with Alex Turner every other word. After the relentless 45 or so minutes was over, me and my friend went into the bar, sat down, and didn't speak to each other for 10 minutes. For the first time in my humble life, I was speechless. Before I went to that gig I thought the Arctic Monkeys had the potential to be successful, after the gig, I was certain.

Winner of the 'Sing-a-long-til-you-can't-speak-no-more award' - Maximo Park

Maximo Park are one of my favourite bands, great tracks, very good lyrics (sometimes bordering on superb), catchy riffs, a brilliant frontman and topped all off with a fantastic live show. Paul Smith simply demands your attention but not in a cocky look-at-me way, but more in a 'I really want to hear what he has to say' way. I was a fan of Maximo Park's singles and my mate lent me a copy of 'A Certain Trigger' a couple of days before we went to see them during the NME awards show (with the Arctic Monkeys, We Are Scientists and A.N. Other), and I didn't listen to it once as I was looking forward to see the Arctic's and not much else. There were a few reports regarding that particular award tour saying that it was peaking too early with the Arctic Monkeys taking the stage before Maximo Park, and although I could see some truth within that during the Liverpool show, Maximo Park were worth the ticket money alone that night. Kicking off the set with 'Graffiti' and finishing on 'Going Missing' they kept me hooked all the way through the set even though I only knew about 4 of their songs. A Certain Trigger is now one of my favourite albums ever.

Winner of the 'Not really bothered about seeing that but I'll go anyway just for the craic but then be amazingly impressed with what I saw award' - Bruce Springsteen

I've grown up on Bruce Springsteen (not actually on him of course, that would be both bizarre and a hindrance to his career) thanks to my parents love for him, and although my dad has played a hugely significant part in moulding my musical tastes, Bruce Springsteen was never really one that I enjoyed too much. I think it was mainly due to his song 'Cadillac' where he repeats that word so many times it used to last the whole ride from home to school in the morning. So several years ago when he announced a gig at the Old Trafford Cricket Ground and my whole family were off to watch him, I went along on my dad's recommendation. This particular concert was to support his 'Rising' album which is an album that never sat right with me (every song on the album is regarding the 9/11 attacks on New York, a subject obviously close to his heart due to him being from New Jersey himself) and although he did play a good few songs from it, he pulled out all the old classics as well. 3 and a half hours worth of classics! Now I don't know how old Springsteen is but jesus he's got some stamina! A great show where every track was performed with real emotion and also an honourable mention should go out to the E-Street Band who are also quality (I'm running out of superlatives!)

'Winner of the amazing, astonishing, astounding, outstanding, remarkable, wonderful, incredible, startling, marvellous, miraculous, mind-blowing, mind-boggling, staggering award' – Muse

Muse are the fucking dogs bollocks. FACT.
I've seen them several times and every time they just blow me away, pre 'Black Holes and Revelations' the sound that they used to make for just 3 people was indescribable and impossible to justify just how they did it. When they play now they do have a cheeky fourth member, but it does nothing but add to a master class of a live show. The drummer is a human metronome, the bass player has the funkiest fingers in Western Europe and Matt Bellamy is a genius. And I honestly mean that: he is a genius. What he can do with a piano, a guitar and his voice just baffles me. When I saw them in November and he played the solo in 'Invincible' my jaw hit the floor. I was certain that on the album that breakdown was a synth or some random effects but of course not, that'd be too easy! Instead, Mr Bellamy finger taps at around roughly 3,000 times per minute to create a sound that I don't think existed until he invented it writing that song (http://youtube.com/watch?v=ienhU2senlc). And it's not only the sound with these guys, it's the aesthetics as well. A pure gallimaufry of visual feasts complement the music in such a way that it's the thing that I want to witness when I finally close my eyes to die. Beautiful in every sense of the word.
For me, every Muse gig I've ever seen would be on this list but the 1 I'm going to choose is Doncaster Dome in support of their 'Origin of Symmetry' album. I refer to this gig as my 'musical puberty' as when I left, sweaty, tired, bruised and elated, I'd changed as a person. In a good way.

Just. Fucking. Brilliant.

Some honourable mentions should also go to the following gigs:

The Killers (with support from Bloc Party, Kaiser Chiefs and The Futureheads), Ocean Colour Scene, Def Leppard (Pre the awful 'Slang' album), Bon Jovi, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Muse (again), The Darkness (on their 1st album tour), Green Day, The Who, Foo Fighters (when Queen joined them on stage – amazing), Magdalen Green (quality unsigned act).

A few more awards for the individuals I've seen live:

Best Drummer – Taylor Hawkins (Foo Fighters)
Best Bass Player – Flea (Red Hot Chilli Peppers)
Best Guitarist – Matt Bellamy (Muse)
Best Voice – Brandon Boyd (Incubus)
Best Front Man – Mick Jagger (The Rolling Stones)

So, if you're in an unsigned band and reading this blog, what can you take from it? Well you can't just copy Muse or impersonate Mick Jagger, your live show should be individual to you or your band. Each persona will be different with regards to the genre of Music, so look at successful artists in the same genre to you, see how they do it and see how you can make it individual to your own needs. I can't apologise for the lack of advice because quite simply there isn't a 'magic formula' you can use.
Righto then, come on people I want to hear your voices this week, I want to know who your favourite live artists are and why!

What I'm listening to this Week: Muse and Queen

Stay tuned

p.s. If you're reading this David Unsworth, I owe you a pint

Gig + etiquette = Getiqutte 30/04/07

2007-05-29T05:36:00.000-07:00

Gig + etiquette = Getiqutte 30/04/07

Today's Sentric blog is to do with how artists should 'behave' at gigs. This is due to a certain artist messaging me telling me that he/they enjoyed the blog and this said artist has in the past played for the gig night that I run 'Quids In' and were a fucking nightmare to deal with.

The reason I got into gig promotion is because I managed the band Karmen Vega for a year (now split up, but singer Eugene McGuiness has gone solo and is doing rather well, best of luck mate) and the amount of poorly managed gigs we played was ridiculous so myself and my partner in crime thought to ourselves 'Fuck this, lets do it ourselves'. And we did! Rather well to I'd have to say (not wanting to blow the old trumpet or anything, but every gig we did filled the venue to over capacity and several artists told us it was one of their favourite gigs they've done).

I'll give you a quick idea on what Quids In is about as it'll make the rest of the blog make more sense: Quids In is a gig night that we try to make 'all about the music'. We only charge £1 to get in and all the money we make goes into future nights and to the bands for petrol money – we don't pocket any of the cash for ourselves. The venue we use holds 130 and we get them to put on drinks promos so it's only £1.50 a drink. Now the venue is an important part of this story because a) it's in a great location which is one of the reasons it fills up so well, b) it doesn't charge us because it makes more then enough cash on the bar and c) the equipment is shit.

The equipment being shit has always been an annoyance but so far we've decided to keep it there as the benefits completely out weight the negatives, so, onward with the story…

Band 'X' arrived to soundcheck an hour late – not the best start – they then went on to moan quite audibly about the lack of monitors and the not-so-great-quality of the sound. Fair enough, I don't mind that, I personally would be a bit annoyed if I was in their position but I kept reassuring them not to worry, as when the venue fills out the sound changes quite a lot and the atmosphere more then makes up for it. They then started giving the sound techs quite a bit of grief which is a completely fucking stupid idea as they can make you sound as shit as Hard Fi with 2 turns of a dial. The keyboard player then kicked off as he couldn't find his sustain pedal, it soon became apparent that he'd left it in Manchester so he went and fetched it (nothing wrong there, it was his prerogative but driving to Manchester and back for a sustain pedal? Bugger that, have a pint instead). They then started making a couple of requests; 1) can we have some beer? And 2) can I have 2 beer crates to sit on.

1) I'd told them that we didn't do riders as the whole 'ethos' of the night revolves around keeping costs down. They knew this before they agreed to do the gig so why they thought asking me several more times whilst at the soundcheck would help surpasses me.
2) My reply was an honest 'no, but we can get you a chair', which he dismissed pretty bluntly. This didn't piss me off to much as all he was trying to do was to strengthen the image of the band to therefore promote the brand (which regular blog readers know that I'm a fan of), but after I tried 2 more times to get some beer crates to no avail, it would have been nice for him to accept the chair

So after all this malarkey which included them 'threatening' to walk out on 2 separate occasions, they eventually played the gig and low and behold! They fucking loved it! 2 of the band members approached me afterwards all smiley and fucking chuffed at the amount of people there and the atmosphere of the gig.

No apologies though.

Pissing off a promoter can be a rather stupid thing to do. Quite often before I confirm a band to play at a gig, I'll email or myspace a promoter they've played for previously to ask them what they're like to deal with. If that promoter says they're a fucking nightmare then unless I really love their music then there's a chance I might pass on them.

So here are my top tips on good 'getiqutte':

v Arrive on time for sound check – this one in important. We once had a band on the bill who were all based in Liverpool but came to the soundcheck at 2 hours late, pushing the band who came down from Scotland, on time, back.
v Buy the sound tech a drink – the sound tech can make or break you, offer to buy them a drink and do not piss them off. I'm aware that every so often you come across a shit sound tech but unfortunately that comes with the progression of venues that you'll naturally play. Here is one tip: sound technicians hate being told what to do. So it's not even worth doing.
v Be nice – quite a simple one here, but if you're nice to the promoter, sound techs, bar staff etc then quite simply people will fecking like you as a human being and will be more willing to go out of their way to help you
v Remember that you are not the Rolling Stones – band 'X' in the example had recently won a high profile competition and they thought they were the dogs bollocks and therefore their egos were more inflated then Rik Waller on pancake day. Remember that you aren't the Stones yet (unless you are, then in that case, hello Keith and the boys) so be humble

In theory, all this stuff should be common sense, but for some reason, there are still bands out there who can be arses.

What I'm listening to this week: Eugene McGuiness and the Mama's and Papa's (the official sound track of the summer)

Stay tuned

sP

Money Money Money – 23/04/07.

2007-05-29T05:33:00.000-07:00

Money Money Money – 23/04/07.

Bands are funny creatures.

Some are all mouth, "we're the hardest working band we know. We practice twice a week and we once travelled to Portsmouth for a gig!"

Ask them how much cash they invest? "Eh? Fuck that, I can barely afford my 10 Silk Cut!"

Then you get some bands who don't shout from the roof tops about how much elbow grease they dedicate to their band, that they regularly travel nationwide for gigs that could be the shittest ones they've ever played and that they all give £200 each per month from their earnings towards general 'band funds'.
Now I know its different for everyone. Students might not be able to throw cash at their band and some artists may have other commitments; kids, wives, dogs etc but when are the majority of artists going to realise that what they're doing is an investment?

I suppose there are 2 train of thoughts here, 1: we are in a band as a hobby and nothing more so whatever money we make is a bonus and we're happy enough playing our local area (i.e. the north west).
Or 2: We want to be fucking massive and for as many people to hear our music as possible. This blog is regarding the people in number 2…

The fact of the matter is, your average unsigned band ain't going to make any cash. Its going to cost you to get to and from gigs (which may put you off travelling, but travelling is a good thing), its going to cost to make demos, its going to cost to buy/repair equipment, its going to cost to secure rehearsal space, its going to cost to record your material etc etc, you already know all this so I'm not going to insult you by going on about it.

The one thing that pisses me off the most is unsigned bands that flog their demos at gigs. Whats the fucking point? Straight away you are alienating a few members of the audience who either a) can't afford to buy one or b) liked you and would tell their mates about you if they had a CD, but didn't like you enough to spend a £5 on a tatty demo. The more people who have access to your music the better, simply because the best form of marketing is word of mouth.

You can get CD's pressed for cheap enough these days, but if you're making CD's to hand out at gigs then you don't need anything more then a plastic sleeve and a CD-R with black marker on it, the people at your gig just want to hear what they just heard in their bedroom/kitchen/car, they won't be that bothered about the aesthetics. They'll get all the aesthetics they need when you are signed and playing the M.E.N Arena – lasers included.

I believe the best way to make money as an unsigned band is merchandise. Get yourself a funky logo and get some t-shirts printed up for cheap online. You can flog them for a fiver at gigs (pocketing about £2 - £3 profit per shirt) and it also works as marketing as all of your fans will be walking about with your name on their chest. I've got a bit of a weak spot for band t-shirts, my favourite one is a Pink Grease t-shirt I picked up a couple of years ago at one of their gigs. I bought it mainly because the logo was shit hot and I actually forked out a tenner for it! (I've put an ! on there as I was deep in the depths of student poverty at the time).

Or you could something with a bit more creative thinking like what Enter Shikari did and import a load of cheap plastic LED rings from Japan and flog them to all the young ravers out there. Entrepreneurialism at its best. (top tip, its all about the scrolling LED belt buckles you can get on ebay from Hong Kong – buy them now before someone else does)

Anyway, what you reading this for? Shouldn't you all be out buying the Arctic Monkeys new album?!

What I'm listening to this week: Clipe Sexo Amador's new demos and Mark Ronson's Versions

Stay tuned

sP

Super-marketing sweep: How to get noticed. 16/04/2007..:

2007-04-16T03:48:00.000-07:00

Super-marketing sweep: How to get noticed. 16/04/2007..:
As mentioned a couple of weeks previous I'm going to do the blog this week on how to potentially market an unsigned band successfully for cheap/free.
So to start, I'm breaking this blog down into a number of sections: community sites (myspace,bebo etc), Youtube, flyers, street teams, personal website…
Community sites
As we all know there are a shatload of community sites out there offering to help promote your band, put up your music, photos etc etc and lets be honest, there is only one that matters and that is Murdoch's myspace
We all know the great things about myspace, the fact that you can type in pretty much any band you've ever heard of and hear 4 of their songs, the fact that you can see when your favourite band are playing in your area next, the fact that you can look at pictures of that bird you used to go to school with and see if her tits are still as good as they ever were. But it's the negatives that are starting to outshine the positives recently and regular users of the site will know what I'm on about: the constant spamming (I couldn't give a fuck if I could make a living from filling out surveys or getting a free handbag by clicking this link) and the fact that we see the words 'Sorry, a technical error has occurred" more than we see peoples profiles these days.
So here are my tips on a good myspace:
Make it aesthetically pleasing and not too 'visually noisy'
If you just happen to have a graphic designer as a band member then do something different (check out http://www.myspace.com/thebedfordincident)
Make it for the fans rather for the A&R – Don't make it a fecking press release, sites like myspace are about making new fans and keeping their attention for as long as possible, check out the content of The Alphites myspace, it's funny and matches their music brilliantly http://www.myspace.com/thealphites
Blog often to keep fans kept up to date with what's happening in your camp, but make it interesting and not just "we're in the studio, keep checking for new songs"; no one wants to read that, not even your mum.
YouTube
If you can get this right, then you're sorted. OK GO pissing about on treadmills have now received over 20 million views! And rightly so because arguably it's one of the best and most innovative music videos ever, both for its simplicity (one camera, one angle, one room) and yet for its complexity (quality choreography). Also, their video previous (dancing in the back garden) and their latest one (with 'the wallpaper') are great viral videos.
The Sick Puppies who's track was used on the 'Free hugs campaign' video has received over 13 million views and from this signed a unique 1 song deal with a major label. And these aren't the only 2 using Youtube to their advantage, out of the most viewed videos of all time on the site, 7 from the top 20 are music videos.
My tip on making a good youtube video? Comedy.
You have to make a video that makes the viewer want to copy and paste the link into an email and send it to everyone in their address book who then all forward it to their address book and so on and so on and from my experience, these 'viral' videos are 9 times out of 10 comedy videos. But beware! Getting comedy wrong is a fucking disastrous thing to happen (have you ever been to a comedy where the stand up has died on his/her arse? It's a cringe worthy experience and one that you don't want to be associated with your band)
Top links:
Ok Go: http://youtube.com/watch?v=pv5zWaTEVkI and http://youtube.com/watch?v=iAQZ_uui1SY
Sick Puppies: http://youtube.com/watch?v=vr3x_RRJdd4
Flyers
Waste of money and paper (think about your carbon footprint!). Let the promoter worry about these, it's much more cost effective to do 2 text outs, 1 a week before the gig and 1 on the night of the gig. Nominate a band member to be the official 'texter' and put EVERY single relevant (not your local pizza hut) phone number from all of the band members phones into that one phone (most newer phones let you make groups of contacts, do this to keep it nice and organized) then get yourself over to O2 or Orange online and take advantage of their free sim packages which come with so many thousand free texts per month depending on how much you top up by (the one I used to promote my gig night was on orange, if you topped up £15 a month you received 1,000 free texts which was more then enough).
Top Links:
O2 https://shop.o2.co.uk/tariffs/Pay_and_Go#simonly
Orange http://shop.orange.co.uk/shop/sim/payg_sim
Street Teams:
Street teams can be great if you've got fans dedicated enough, the only problem with street teams at an unsigned level is that you haven't got much to offer them in return. Free entry to a gig at the M.E.N Arena is great but free entry to a gig at Yeovil Working Men's Club isn't that hot.
Bribe them with free tickets, merchandise, drinks etc and get them to collect emails at every gig that you play. Email addresses can be very valuable assets, especially if you can get yourself a good little collection of them:
Top Tip: get yourself down to ebay and get a cheap as fuck PDA so when you collect email addresses you can actually read them the next day rather then trying to figure out if that is actually a D or an O where some pisshead had dropped his fag on the paper
Top Link: Ebay www.ebay.co.uk

Personal website
Not much need for these anymore with the rise of myspace and the such but if you do have a personal website then make sure it's good. A crap website is always a turnoff and from my perspective all the info an A&R person needs can be found on your myspace page so the only reason I'd visit a bands website is to see it as an extension of the brand of the band.
Top link: The Raconteurs amazing website - http://www.theraconteurs.com
Righto! Long one this week but I hope you can take something away from it. Any comments or suggestions then I'd really be happy to hear them.
What I'm listening to this week:
The Arctic Monkeys & Dan le Sac vs Scroobius Pip (I agree, thou shall NOT question Stephan Fry)
Stay tuned
sP

DRM RIP THX EMI – 9/4/07 Sentric Music Blog..

2007-04-11T05:47:00.000-07:00

DRM RIP THX EMI – 9/4/07 Sentric Music Blog..
I was planning to do the blog on effectively marketing an unsigned band this week following on from last weeks PR lesson but alas, major events have taken place in this industry we call music. Yes, I'm of course referring to EMI's decision to sell its music without DRM (Digital Rights Management) on iTunes so plebs like me who don't own a iPod can listen to music unrestricted.
"EMI takes locks off music tracks
Music giant EMI is taking software locks off its digital music sold via download sites such as iTunes
http://newsvote.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/6516189.stm?dynamic_vote=ON#vote_music_downloads"
Hurrah I say, I fucking hate DRM and I'll be glad to see the back of them. I still remember the first time I 'discovered' the concept of DRM after I'd downloaded a song from mycokemusic.com (what was I thinking?) only to discover that my MP3 player at the time wouldn't play it. I was well pissed off. If I've just bought it, why can't I listen to it whilst on the move? If I wasn't so addicted to the fizzy smack I'd have boycotted coke a long time ago…
Lets put the for and against into context:
For DRM:
· It helps protects music against piracy
Against DRM:
· It restricts the consumer
· It's fucking annoying
Granted, that's quite a short for and against list but they're the major points at hand. I understand the need to protect music and I understand the need to stop piracy. If noone bought music then Hard Fi might not be able to buy dinner (yet another thing they could moan about. God I hate Hard Fi). I was talking to Ann Harrison (author of 'Music: The Business' and Robbie Williams' lawyer) the other day and she believes that we as an industry have sold music too cheaply. Although I was quite surprised by this statement I can see where she's coming from. Making music can be an expensive process, to then sell that music for 79p a track you'll struggle to make any cash at all. These new DRM free tracks will cost 99p which I personally will be willing to pay if it means I can do what I want with the music.
As consumers we've never had restrictions before, tapes and CD's can be swapped and copied with ease so why do it now? The music industry is like that of a scared child, it appears to always go for the negative rather then the positive. Granted, it got stung big time when they decided that this internet malarkey was nothing more then a fad and it wouldn't really effect the way people bought/listened to music, but surely they should learn from these colossal mistakes? Arguably maybe they are, EMI have took a bold step but I feel it's the right one, we'll now have to wait and see if the other big 3 follow.
This does put one thing into jeopardy though and that's the new subscription model that companies such as Napster use. I personally like the idea of a subscription service (i.e. £15 a month for unlimited music, but as soon as you stop paying for it, you can't listen to it any more) and in my infinite wisdom I predict that music will become more of a service than a product in the future. You can pay Virgin £70 a month for TV, broadband, a phone line and mobile phone, so why not pay £80 and have your music chucked in with as well?
Steve Jobs described EMI's decision as "This is the next big step forward in the digital music revolution - the movement to completely interoperable DRM-free music." Call me a cynic but surely its this interoperability that could damage iTune's monopoly on the market? I think Mr Jobs is smiling for the cameras but cursing inside. The fascist.
What do you lot think then? Is DRM a good or bad thing? Do you think other companies will follow suit?
What I'm listening to this week: Art Brut and Kings of Leon "I'll BEEEE there"
Stay Tuned
sP

PR or Liar? - Sentric Music Blog 02/04/07:

2007-04-03T06:47:00.000-07:00

Sentric Music Blog 02/04/07: PR or Liar?..

First of all, can I just point out the greatness of this weeks blog title?! What a pun!

Anyway, this weeks blog was influenced by myspace member 'Matty' who left a comment on last weeks blogs stating…

"(with regards to Enter Shikari) The scary thought is that they sold out the Astoria with only one single released! Them and the Arctic Monkeys in a fashion are good examples to young bands that if you proper work your arse off you can somewhere!"

(with regards to the Arctic Monkeys ) Here it seems that Matty has been sucked in hook line and sinker by the wonders of the PR company – truly powerful, all knowledgeable beings that twist and spin news to the delight of the great British public, and who are arguably some of the most important people in an artists roster.

The 3 most popular 'myths' at the moment are:

Arctic Monkeys: Not as grass-roots as everyone believes, they had help from the beginning and they themselves confessed that they were unaware what myspace was until the 'phenomenon' had already started rolling

Lilly Allen: Miss Allen had already had a previous deal with another label a few years previous and has had help from the start. Also it has been reported that her dad, Keith, is rather good friends with someone who works rather high up at the Observer Music Monthly

Sandi Thom: Sandi Thom had released 'Punk Rocker…' previously but it did fuck all, all this bollocks about the webcasts she did receiving 250,000+ views is nonsense. The expensive streaming company she used refuses to say the exact number of viewers she had saying that they 'don't know', but they can tell you the percentage split of where in the world they were watching from!? (How do they figure that one out then?!)

These are brilliant examples of the power clever PR can have on an artists career, they can also help with damage limitation. Take Britney Spears for example, she's basically gone mental but the PR machine went into overdrive with stories that had angles such as 'She's had so much pressure with the babies', and 'Her divorce really effected her', 'She still loves Justin' etc. If that was any regular person we'd think they were a compete fuckwit, but the PR has made her mental breakdown into a human interest story similar to that of a sack of kittens being saved just before they were drowned in the local canal.

A friend of mine penned this great term in a presentation she gave the other day, she described the current industry as an 'ametromedia industry' – basically saying there are so many channels for news to be accessed currently, the 'art' of PR becomes incredibly difficult as within a matter of hours, the whole world can know about a juicy bit of gossip. So to all you budding rock stars reading this, please only snort that coke of the prostitutes breasts if you really, really need to.
But hold up! I hear you cry, it's all good you telling us what not to do when we're famous, but how do we become famous? Well keep on reading young 'en;

Max Clifford – what a guy – stated the top 10 tips for becoming famous:

1. Appear on a reality series
2. Enter a talent contest
3. Be abysmal on a talent show
4. Gain fame by association
5. Date a celebrity
6. Flaunt your body
7. Date a Royal Family member
8. Make a home sex video
9. Be a success on MySpace
10. Be in the right place at the right time

I love the blasé statements that are number 9 and 10 – alight Max, I'll get onto bedding Princess Fergie, writing some songs about it then slapping them up on myspace… idiot.

So in conclusion, a good PR company could arguably make you more sales then a record company can in today's 'ametromedia' industry. So think twice before sending all them demo's you spunked your last £70 on getting printed to just record labels…

What I'm listening to this week The Idiot Rate and Muse (Invincible is simply brilliant)

Stay tuned

sP

Enter Shikari and all that malarkey - Sentric Music Blog 26/03/07

2007-04-03T06:45:00.000-07:00

Enter Shikari and all that malarkey - 26/03/07

So, have you heard? It's finally happened! The death of the music industry has arrived!

Yes of course I'm referring to Enter Shikari who Last night entered the album charts at number 4 without the help of a record label either major or independent. ITS JUST THAT EASY!
Of course it isn't but they are a grand example of the old DIY model that is getting thrown around these days and pops up in this blog every other week, so how did they do it?

o First of all they toured for about 3 years non stop all around the country (one of the members of the band was quoted as saying they've played over 600 gigs)
o They didn't get giddy the second they realised that record companies were interested, and turned down multiple offers
o They utilised myspace very fucking well, so much so in fact it spurred John Webster (the guy who runs the BPI and set up the Mercury Music Prize) to say to that they are the 'first genuine myspace bad' in a masterclass he gave the other week.

So what Enter Shikari have done is prove that the DIY model is do-able, but by no means easy. There are companies out there that can help you in various areas of the music industry without taking ownership or copyrights of your songs for a unfair amount of time (cough-did someone say Sentric?-cough)

Here's my suggestion on how to get people to stand up and notice you…

o Gig regularly and don't expect to play anything glossy or big and don't expect to get paid
o This bits quite important – make some good fucking music
o Utilise free online tools like myspace for example
o Don't think that making your band into a brand is 'uncool'. It's just clever if anything
o Once you've got your fan base (of a good few thousand, nationwide) approach PR companies rather then record companies – You can get digital distribution without took much hassle (through us obviously) so once your music is out there all it takes is some clever and original marketing to make people stand up and take notice

I'd suggest cooking these ingredients at a constant temperature for around 2-4 years minimum. Also remember that if you're in a new-ish band, the music you'll be making in 12 months time will be distinctly different to what you are making now, no matter how good you think it is so be prepared to put time into your passion.

I'm aware that the blog this week is quite short but I've just got back from a weekend in Amsterdam so I wouldn't say my brain is going at 100%.

I ask you all to leave me comments on your thought or questions you may have so I make up for the lack of words with a gallimaufry of wisdom.

What I'm listening to this week - The Randoms and Enter Shikari

Cover (your ears that's bloody shite) songs - Sentric Music Blog: 19/03/2007

2007-04-03T06:44:00.000-07:00

Sentric Music Blog: 19/03/2007 Cover (your ears that's bloody shite) songs.

After mixed reviews of the blog last week (one member of a certain band said it was the best and most useful yet whereas Clipe Sexo Amador on the other hand quite publicly said it was both boring and too wordy – Cheers Clipe, good luck with that PR mate) I've decided to now discuss a subject that's both completely subjective and based entirely on my opinion – cover songs.

Throughout this blog I want to talk about good ones, bad ones and why it could be argued that its necessary to do one for a new band so off we go…

My inspiration for this blog came thanks from the cheeky dyke scouser Mel C with her latest release 'I Want Candy' which is to be the signature tune for the brit flick of the same name. The song sounds as bad as the movie looks in my humble opinion and she's completely wasted my time, your time, and indeed everyone's time by spitting out these 3 minutes of derge in our general direction. Here's a sentence I never though I'd utter: I actually prefer Aaron Carters version.

Now this isn't a go at Mel C as I believe she's produced the best solo songs out of all the Spice Girls (although it can be argued she didn't have stiff competition), who could forget such classics as 'Goin Down', 'Northern Star' and 'Never Be The Same Again'? Rumours are currently abound though that Mel C is the only one of the 5 Spice Girls left who is unsure about reforming for a 'whirlwind 6 month tour', Mel, if you're only going to produce shite like this from now on then please do it. You'll get paid shitloads of cash, potentially take too much coke and do the nasties with ginger spice. Surely that's much more fun than doing the soundtrack of British film that critics are calling 'a flimsy cliché'?

Other terrible covers include:

Westlife – anything they've ever done (do these lot even sing original songs anymore?!)
Vanessa Carlton – Paint It Black
Madonna – American Pie
Ronan Keating – Fairytale of New York (he even censored 'faggot' – grow some balls Keating)
Limp Bizkit – Behind Blue Eyes
Sheryl Crow – Sweet Child O Mine
Britney Spears – I Love Rock and Roll (if you love it, why take out all the guitars in the cover? For me this was the first sign of her going mental)

There are obviously many many more awful covers and please leave your suggestions with me.

My Favourite covers:

The Manic Street Preachers – Out of Time
Goldfinger – 99 Red Ballons
Paul Anke – Jump (or pretty much anything on the Rock Swings album)
Stereophonics – Summertime
Jimi Hendrix – All Along The Watchtower
Soft Cell – Tainted Love
Jeff Buckley – Hallelujah
Gun – Word Up

For me a good cover version is someone who takes the original and changes it to their own sound, take my favourite cover song off all time: 'Back For Good' by McAlmont and Butler. This was featured on a Warchild album which was full of covers including Oasis' take on 'Merry Christmas Everybody' and The Prodigy's take on 'Ghost Town' (it's a very good album, you should all go buy it). Now the original Take That version of Back For Good is already a bloody good song but from the opening E note ringing on Butler's guitar to the final crescendo of strings that ends the song, it is basically a fucking brilliant cover version. McAlmont's feminine voice complements the cacophony of noise made by both Butler and the orchestra in the background to make something truly beautiful; I really do recommend you purchase it.

So should you do a cover song?

Well if you want to get a few cheeky sales then apparently the answer is yes, Derek Sivers who is the founder of CD Baby stated in a talk during the music conference London Calling that those who did a cover version of a popular song often witnessed increased sales as customers who were searching for the original would occasionally buy a cover version as well. Remember: you DON'T need permission to cover someone else's song as long as you pay the correct royalties to them afterwards.
The other way around it of course is to make a song with the same title of an already famous track e.g. Oasis' Stand By Me, this method also means you get to keep all the money to yourself so it's a win win really.

I'm interested in hearing what you're favourite and most hated cover versions are so please leave a comment below telling me what you think…

What I'm listening to this week: McAlmont and Butler and Ricky Graham

Stay tune

Image rights and wrongs - Sentric Music Blog 12/04/2007 –

2007-04-03T06:43:00.000-07:00

Sentric Music Blog 12/04/2007 –Image rights and wrongs

This weeks blog is to do with image rights (or the lack thereof in the UK). You may have recently read in the press about Kate Winslet taking Grazia Magazine to the cleaners:
Winslet accepts libel settlement

Actress Kate Winslet has accepted a "substantial" settlement in her libel action over a magazine claim that she had visited a diet doctor.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/entertainment/6434081.stm

the simplistic way to put this so it is relevant to this weeks subject:

Grazia calls the perfectly sized Winslet fat, she sues saying that is damaging her reputation within the eyes of the public, Grazia cough up loads of cash. Simple.

Or is it? You may be surprised to discover that there isn't actually an Image right law in the UK (not surprised? Well I was and that's what matters), this quote explains it pretty substantially:

"'Image Rights' however do not exist per se in the UK, but are based upon a number of statutory common law rights, none of which are specifically designed to protect the unauthorised use of a personality's image"
(Braithwaite, Pennington 2003)

And what are these statutory common law rights I here you scream at me? Well here they are and what you have to do to break them:

• Trademark Infringement è if you register something as a trademark then you have the exclusive right to use it and to also stop other 3rd parties from using it without your permission. Don't get your hopes of trademarking your band up though, getting registration of a trademark is both fooking expensive and also hard to get. Alex Ferguson tried to trademark himself in 2005 but was rejected (there were legal reasons but I suspect whoever had the final decision either supported Man City or basically any other team apart from Man Utd)

• Copyright Infringement è copyright can protect a drawing or a picture and class it as an artistic work but it cannot protect the individual in question. So basically be careful when choosing what to have for your artwork. DO NOT just go to google fucking images and choose the first thing you think will look pretty on iTunes. Some one took that picture and therefore owns the copyright, and the last thing you need when starting a band is to get sued after your first E.P.

• Libel è As with 'Chubby' Winslet above, she successfully claimed libel as the statement that was said about her, she claimed, 'lowered her reputation within the eyes of the public', this is very similar to…

• Malicious Falsehood è as with above for someone to do you over with malicious falsehood you'd have to make a statement about them which when the public read, would make the great British public think they're complete bastards. For example "Robbie Williams' recent trip to rehab was actually a cover up for his trip to the newly reformed Hitler Youth, an insider said "Robbie was really passionate about securing the future of the Arian race and wore his swastika with pride… along with that trademark cheeky smile" (naturally this isn't malicious falsehood as it is in context with the blog. I love you Robbie, don't ever forget that.)

• Passing off è no this is not the act of farting within the courtroom as my flatmate believed it to be, but in fact is misrepresentation. The most famous case (and the closest the UK courts have come to recognising a 'celebrity right') of this was Eddie Irvine vs TalkSPORT, where TalkSPORT took a picture of Irvine holding a mobile phone and doctored it so it looked like he was holding a radio with the TalkSPORT logo on it then distributed it without his permission (http://www.ucc.ie/law/restitution/archive/englcases/irvine.htm). So remember that time when you first discovered Adobe Photoshop on your computer and very cleverly stuck an image of your mates head on a picture of 2 men in the throws of passionate homosexual relations? Well he could actually sue you for misrepresentation as that picture could suggest to the public that he actively endorses gay sex.

• Human Rights Act and the Data Protection Act è this one just protects you under the basic right that everybody has to privacy. So quite dull and hard to make a joke out of.
I'm quite aware that this blog may seem quite educational but don't be scared, knowledge is power remember and its good to learn something once in a while.

And anyway, next week I think I'm going to do the blog on shit cover songs after just witnessing Mel C's latest offering of 'I Want Candy'. I can tell you one thing for sure, if she's wanting candy then I'm not going to be the one to fucking give it to her.

What I'm listening to this week:

Maximo Park's new track and The Balor Knights

Stay tuned

sP

Sentric Music's blog history

2007-03-06T06:18:00.000-08:00

Stifled er, erm, y'know, creativity 26/02/2007 Current mood: creative
26/02/2007
Sentric Music Blog – Stifled er, erm, y'know, creativity
I'm currently 1 hour 30min into my working day here at Sentric and usually my Monday morning blog is one of the first things that I do but alas, I have no idea on what to do it on. Britney Spears going mental? The Oscars? (Little Miss Sunshine should have won more awards but this is a music blog not a movie blog), Morrissey confirming that he won't be doing Eurovision this year? (like he would ever fucking do it anyway! Imagine him moping around the stage singing about cutting his wrists whilst Latvia's entry sings 'Happy Happy Kittens and Rainbows') so I thought I'd take my blank mind and turn it into a subject: How to overcome writers block.
So, after a bit of research the marvellous and always reliable Wikipedia states that "Writer's block can be closely related to depression and anxiety" Can it really? So this morning I suffered from 90 minutes of depression and/or anxiety? Jesus, I better call my mum at lunch.
During my time as a student I had a masterclass with Amy Winehouse during the time she released her first album, when asked the question 'how do you cope with writers block?' by a nervous music student, she paused. Looked at her manager. Paused for thought once more. Looked once again at her manager. Then said "Well I smoke a lot of weed"… Can't argue with that now can you? So drugs could be an answer to stifled creativity (note: this is not the opinion of Sentric Music nor am I encouraging the disgustingly illegal act of taking drugs. Naughty readers) baring in mind Ludwig van Beethoven produced such pieces as 'Music, Love, Wine, Opium 108/1, sounds like a good Friday night to me but in them days opium was more like we'd see Tizer in the modern world: "I know I shouldn't but…"
And I could open up all kinds of conspiracy theories here for example the Beatles with Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds, which contains lyrics such as;
Follow her down to a bridge by a fountainwhere rocking horse people eat marshmallow pies,everyone smiles as you drift past the flowersthat grow so incredibly high.
I suppose the counter argument here is even if you do have writers block would you want to take drugs if you end up writing tripe like that?
Another way to stir some creativity from a sober brain? In the words of Suggs "It must be love, love, love"
Random radio check shows:
Radio 1 è James Morrison: Last request.
Smash Hits è Christina: Dirrrty.
Galaxy è Akon: I wanna love you.
So there you've got heartbreak, lust and fucking Akon proving yet again that he is ever the wordsworth and so beautifully displaying his emotion for a girl with, no doubt, a big booty.
And finally the 2 biggest selling UK singles of all time? Elton John: Candle in the wind and Band Aid: Do they know its Christmas?
So short of knocking off a member of the royal family, you could sing about anything that will tug on the heartstrings of the Great British public (may I suggest not getting your hopes up over Harry getting knocked off in Iraq because I'm highly cynical he'll be anywhere near the action).
So I've narrowed down defeating writers block to Drugs, Love and Death. Go forth and multiply, get high and commit homicide.
And remember, however bad you think your writers block is, spare a thought for Henry Roth who's writers block apparently "persisted for sixty years and was caused by a combination of depression, political problems, and an unwillingness to confront past problems". Gutted.
What I'm listening to this week: Freemaker and The Gossip
Stay tuned
sP
p.s. I said I'd talk to John Webster who set up the Mercury Music Prize about awards ceremonies this week. I did, and after I asked him basically what my blog was about last week 'Do awards ceremonies care anymore' he replied;
"You tell me."
Cheers John
Currently Listening : Standing in the Way of Control By Gossip Release date: By 24 January, 2006
4:10 AM - 1 Comments - 2 Kudos - Add Comment - Edit - Remove
19 Feb 2007
And the winner is... noone. 12/02/07 Current mood: sympathetic Category: Music
19/02/07
Brit awards, NME awards, Q awards, MTV Europe awards, MTV video awards, Mercury Music Prize, Digital Music awards, World Music awards, MOBO's, Urban Music Awards, Kerrang awards, Grammys, Music Week awards etc etc oh… and don't for get the Smash Hits Awards.
With the Brits seemingly passing us by on Valentines Day, this week I ask 'Do music awards matter? And if they do, which ones?'
With the Brits going live for the first time since Sam Fox and that massive bloke did it in the 80's with disastrous consequences, ITV felt getting "Faux Victorian Piss Merchant" Russell Brand to host the 'edgy show with an edgy host' would pay dividends to this once British institution and alas, it didn't, receiving 5.3 million viewers compared to BBC's 6.2 million watching the gooners give Bolton the once over.
I personally like the Brits, and I like Russell brand (I know a lot don't, but I admire a man with an extended vocabulary, init) but why are they becoming less popular? I reckon its 2 reasons, firstly, saturation. There are so many of the bloody things these days that an 'in' band could be winning an award for something or other every fortnight and thus people progressively begin to care less and less. 2ndly is because of the DIY model (every week this thing pops up but hey, lets push things forwards). Simply put: Before you used to be told what to buy. People respected music press much more then what they do now, the magazines still sell as much if not more than they've ever done, but because of the 'long tail' (the crazy amount of choice we have now and the easy access to it) we can pick and choose exactly what our ears like. So if the Arctic Monkeys win best British band at 12 award ceremonies this year, chances are then consumer already knew they were the best British band about a year ago.
There are arguments that some of the awards mean more then others, for example you rarely see the 3 words 'Mercury Music Prize' in a sentence without the prefix of 'Prestigious' before it, but again, I think award doesn't have the same oomph that it used to (but I'll be meeting Jon Webster who is responsible for starting the award on Thursday so I'll see what his feelings are towards this).
Although I'm bashing these awards ceremonies, I still think there is the need for them if anything just for the stories in the press the day after. And I'm sure all the big wigs who get pissed on behalf of the company they're 'representing' would be rather ticked off if they had no where to go practice their lines midweek…
Get Well Soon Tony Wilson.
What I'm listening to this week: Quartershade and Kid Carpet
Stay tuned.
sP
Currently Listening : Ideas & Oh Dears By Kid Carpet Release date: By 07 July, 2005
1:35 AM - 1 Comments - 0 Kudos - Add Comment - Edit - Remove
12 Feb 2007
"Ain't Talking Tout Love" - 12/02/07 Current mood: apathetic
Sentric Music Blog week 5 - 12/02/2007
'Ain't talkin tout love'
Auntie Beeb report è
Ticket touts could face tighter controls on big events like the Concert for Diana under new plans being considered by the government. The Department for Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) has praised moves to combat touts, such as clearer resale information and exchange facilities.
Good old Tessa Jowell looking out for us all, protecting us against 'Them touting bastards' who take all our money, exploiting our passion for some extra money because they know someone will pay 4 times the face value to see their favourite band in a specific venue. But are touts the bastards we make them out to be?
In my time I've bought tickets off ebay for a couple of gigs, Green Day at Milton Keynes and Maximo Park in Sheffield. With Maximo Park I bought a pair of tickets for my sister and brother in law as they liked the certain trigger album I leant them a month earlier. For them I paid 60 quid for 2 tickets, which was double the price of the face value (£15 a ticket), after a couple of listens to the album I thought 'bugger this, I want to see them too' even though I'd only seen them a few months before on the NME tour. So back I went to ebay and got 2 tickets for £40! I was chuffed, my sister wasn't.
With the Green Day tickets I got 2 for a fiver less then what the seller originally bought them for, so what's the problem? Isn't it just simple economics?
When demand outweighs supply then the prices will increase, it happens across the board, it happened with the Xbox 360 and you can bet your house it'll happen with the Playstation 3. So why does everyone get shirty when it's over gig tickets?
I think it basically comes down to sour grapes. Don't get me wrong, when I miss out on tickets for something I really want to go to (especially when you get up hungover at half 8 so you're ready for the 9 o'clock sale) it's fucking annoying. And yes, the thought that someone's just bought 4 extra tickets then he/she doesn't need to flog on to probably me at double the price is frustrating but fair is fair, he/she got there first and made a nice little profit for themselves.
And don't forget the people who had tickets for a gig but then something came up and they couldn't go anymore? They get chucked into this 'bastard' category as well although there is no malice in what they're doing.
So lighten up everyone. I do believe the true fans will be able to get the tickets they desperately want, and every so often they might have to pay a little bit extra, but hey lifes a bitch eh?
What a depressing line to end on
What I'm listening to this week: Maximo Park and Bongo Fury
Stay tuned
sP
Currently Listening : A Certain Trigger By Maxmo Park Release date: By 31 May, 2005
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04 Feb 2007
It's Grim Down South 4/2/07 Current mood: cynical Category: Music
Sentric Music blog 4/2/07
It's grim down south…
The Sentric blog comes a day early this week as I'm off down to the big smoke tomorrow for a couple of meetings, this gave me the inspiration for my next topic: Is London really that important with regards to the music industry?
As we deal with mainly unsigned and independent artists here at Sentric, we often get asked "Should we go to ..:namespace prefix = st1 ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:smarttags" />London?", "Can you get us gigs in London?" etc and it is often viewed as the holey grail when it comes to getting signed and becoming the next big thing. This is simply not true in my opinion, the majors have scouts absolutely everywhere around the country and simply if you're good enough then they will come to you. Now I'm not saying you should ignore it, on the contrary if your at a level where you gig around the country then you should definitely get a few gigs down there but lets face the facts; its fucking expensive which is something that unsigned artists simply do not need.
Look at the artists who've come out in the last few years; Kaiser Chiefs, Sunshine Underground, The Music all from Leeds. Arctic Monkeys, Bromheads Jacket, Milburn all from Sheffield (note: I didn't say Little Man Tate on purpose as they're shite). Maximo Park and the Futureheads are from the North-East and Manchester's continuously coming up with the goods. And lets face it, the North is both cheaper and friendlier! As a Sheffielder working in Liverpool, I fucking love the north. Don't get me wrong, I like London but in small doses. Whenever I pop down for pleasure or business I like to take in the sights and sounds and all that malarkey but the train home (of if I'm really skint: The Mega bus) is always a pleasure to be riding.
With venues like The Leadmill in Sheffield, Night and Day in Manchester, The Faversham in Leeds and The Magnet in Liverpool, who needs Coco's? I couldn't give a fuck if Pete Doherty occasionally pops up to do an impromptu set, he should come up north where the drugs are cheaper and then he might be able to afford some new clothes as well as sustain his crazy smack lust. (disclaimer: all opinions of author and not of Sentric Music)
Crazy Smack Lust… Now there's a good band name.
What I'm listening to this week: Clipe Sexo Amadors new E.P and The Happiness
Stay Tuned
sP
2:40 PM - 1 Comments - 0 Kudos - Add Comment - Edit - Remove
29 Jan 2007
“This is our last gig, honest… Well, if you put it that way” Current mood: melancholy Category: Music
"This is our last gig, honest… Well, if you put it that way" – 29/01/07.
Take That, All Saints, Pink Floyd, Rage Against The Machine, Crowded House, Van Halen, James, Jesus and Mary Chain, Genesis, The Smashing Pumpkins, My Bloody Valentine, Sugarcubes etc etc
All the above have reunited recently, but why?
So the Sentric Music blog enters its 3rd week with week 2 receiving a massive 83 views (an increase of over 200% for all you fact fans out there) and even 1 comment! Still, not enough to get Aztec Camera back in the charts though, I obviously don't have the power of Mr Chris Moyles… Yet.
This weeks topic comes from inspiration thanks to the BBC (http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/6298779.stm) so shed loads of bands are getting back together which raises a couple of questions in my mind. Firstly, does it matter? 2ndly why are they doing so? Is it as predictable as cash? Or are they doing it for the music?
So firstly, does it matter? I'm going to say yes on this one – for the positive. No one who claims to be a music fan can deny that Take That's comeback single 'Patience' is a great pop record. Now I'm not saying I went out and bought it, but Gary Barlow's a brilliant songwriter and knows what he's doing (for example, to write a song such as 'A Million Love Songs' when you're only 15 or 16 years old is quite an achievement. Actually, didn't George Michael write 'Careless Whisper' when he was only 16 also? Bugger me Lil Chris has got some homework to do…) and my sister said that they were nothing short of ace live, a statement which was confirmed when I watched their 'Audience With' on ITV (albeit ignoring Barlow's cumbersome dancing). Allsaints' comeback single was also a strong pop song, they'd probably admit themselves that they'll never ever do a song as good as never ever again but that's a fecking hard song to top. So if Take That and Allsaints can continue making good quality radio 1 fodder, then surely that's a good thing?
When the genres change I believe is where the grey spot becomes apparent. Rage Against the Machine were/are a great band, and quite foolishly I was quite keen on Audioslave (who cares what the band is as long as you've got morello's riffage?!) who were also ace live (but I do believe that's where the similarities between Take That and Audioslave end). Before we went to see Audioslave, myself and a good friend of mine had nothing short of a full row at our local over whether or not they should play some RATM songs in their set. I was against this, as even though RATM are/were a great band, I've paid to see Audioslave and I don't want to see them playing Killing In The Name of just to please the crowd. My friend (who I shall call 'Dave') went tits at this statement and a row ensued. It turned out they did play some RATM songs and some Soundgarden songs in fact, and although disagreed with it… it was bloody enjoyable.
I feel I've gone off on a tangent a bit here so I'll shoot forward to question 2, why are they doing it? John Lydon (AKA Johnny Rotten) said on the Sex Pistols reunion tour "We have found a common cause, and it's your money," Can't argue with that now can you? But on the contrary, 'big' Phil Collins states "We're all loaded enough not to worry about where the next million or two is coming from," and claimed it was all about the music. It seems the fence is being well and truly precariously balanced on between financial gain and artistic expression and in my opinion it might've taken a punk to state it but I think he wasn't rebelling this time. They fecking love the cash. (btw, did Lydon lose his punk status when he got covered in seeds and feed to the emu's whilst Forehead and Dec watched on?)
I've no idea if I've answered the questions I set out to at the beginning of this blog.
What I'm listening to this week: Ian Britt and Eugene McGuiness
Stay tuned
sP
Currently Listening : One Day I... By Ian Britt Release date: By 21 July, 2005
1:58 PM - 0 Comments - 0 Kudos - Add Comment - Edit - Remove
22 Jan 2007
Billie, Koopa, Moyles and me Current mood: pensive Category: Music
Week 2...
So the Sentric Blog enters its 2nd week after receiving 39 views! Who were those people who read my grammatically incorrect ramblings?! I obviously spurred no passion in any of them as no comments were left, nor any kudos received. Something I must work on…
So, topic of the week: Honey to the BBC (clever title nicked from Music Week)
So Billie Piper gets to number 17 in this weeks chart due to the new rules that downloads are eligible even if there is no tangible counterpart available to buy. Now I'm all for this new ruling, in fact, I think it's the best thing that's happened in the music industry for a while. The opportunity for unsigned or independent artists to get easier access to the charts is great, further adding to the current DIY model. Like this Koopa lot, proof that tenaciousness pays off; play a shitload of gigs, get a fanbase, be aware of your target audience, use a clever technique of roping in fans to buy your single (they told all their fans to pre-order the track via text during their gigs, over half of their sales where done buy this) and watch your single fly in at the dizzy heights of the top 40. They may not have got in the top 10, but the press they received from achieving this will have most labels in the country thinking "if these lads can get this far on their own, how much could they sell if we chucked some cash at them?"
The hot topic that's been flying around our office is the Billie issue. She's got to number 17 thanks to 'roly-poly, motor mouth' DJ Chris Moyles trying to 'influence' the charts. Now I'm a fan of Chris 'marmite' Moyles but is this abusing his power? The BBC is a publicly funded body which should be impartial, is Moyles getting everyone to buy a classic 90's track because he probably fancies her morally correct?
DJ's have been championing music for years, John Peel – undertones, Zane Lowe – Arctic Monkeys, Jo Whiley – anything Zane Lowe told her to champion, and that is generally accepted across the board, but is what Moyles' doing really that different? Does he feel the same passion for Billie Pipers music as what Peel did for the undertones?
I'm really not too sure about this as I write (what a conclusion eh?) but it's interesting to hear other peoples perspective. Our office seems to be pretty anti Moyles but I know plenty who are the polar opposite.
So who's next to get a cheeky re-entry to the charts? I hope it's the B52's or, and this would be fucking amazing, 'Aztec Cameras' classic track 'Somewhere in my Heart'. (if you don't know it then go get it, then compare it to 'The River Runs Wild' by The Killers on their new album)
See, I'm doing it now! GO BUY AZTEC FECKING CAMERA… I look forward to seeing the charts on Sunday.
What I'm listening to this week: The Wombats and The Twang
Stay tuned.

sP
11:29 AM - 1 Comments - 2 Kudos - Add Comment - Edit - Remove
15 Jan 2007
About time? Current mood: curious Category: Music
Everyone's talking about them, everyone's doing them, everyone thinks people want to know what their opinion is about 'stuff' so here we are, giving in to current trends and beginning the Sentric Music blog (current? I know we're already 3 years behind)
So what is 'blogging'? I think it'd only be sensible to start with a definition:
blogn.
A weblog.
intr.v., blogged, blog·ging, blogs.
To write entries in, add material to, or maintain a weblog.
So according to the lovely people at Collins English dictionary (who may I add, have a Scrabble indicator on their website which informs you if the word you are searching for is valid or not in the family fun game, a little homework for you type in 'Quat' and see if you can understand why it isn't found in the dictionary, but is valid for scrabble?!) the Sentric Music blog should be something to both write entries in and add material to, should be easy yeah?
But then a morale battle begins to brew in my simple head, do I give my personal opinions about the world and more specifically, the music industry? Possibly raising both issues and opinions that would be both unprofessional and could possibly cause legal action to be taken against the company I work for? Or do I just go on about how fucking grand the artists are that are signed to Sentric?
The Answer:
The Alphites are fucking grand! Currently in the studio preparing their EP for digital release to coincide with an appearance on one of the nations favourite soaps (debate below)! Check out www.myspace.com/thealphites for pop-punk-filled-tasticness.
Seriously though, my opinions will be expressed throughout the course of this blog and some people may find them interesting, others not. I'm just not sure on how it works at the moment. Do I write about something in the news? Do I write about something that's happened to me recently? About any new music I've discovered? Maybe I need to do some more research, but maybe I don't! maybe that's the whole point!
I've just realised that last paragraph sounds like a verse from a bromheads jacket song so I should probably ease up now…
What I'm listening to at the moment? The Alphites (no joke of a lie!) and Wolfmother (I know its not exactly finger-on-the-pulse up to date but you gotta love that albums riffage)
Stay Tuned
sP
Sentric Music

Sentric Music Blog 05/03/2007 – High Ho Silver Lining!

2007-03-06T06:15:00.000-08:00

Sentric Music Blog 05/03/2007 – High Ho Silver Lining!

My muse for the Sentric music blog this week is Kyle Falconer (who?!) of The View fame (oh, him.) the following extract taken from BBC News:

'The View singer's cocaine penalty
The lead singer of chart-topping rock band The View has been fined £1,000 for possessing cocaine.
Kyle Falconer's conviction will make it "next to impossible" for the group to tour the US, his solicitor said.'
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/scotland/tayside_and_central/6412105.stm

Aw bless, did someone get a little excited with their new found (and soon to be short lived) fame and thought they'd dabble in a bit of Keith Richards dandruff?

I do have a little bit of sympathy for Mr Falconer as being tempted by drugs in an industry where they are so rife is most probably an easy trap to fall into when you're constantly being called 'the next big thing' and people are throwing the white stuff up your nose. But 2 weeks before South by SouthWest in Austin? One of the music industries biggest and most important conferences? One of the ways to break the elusive US market? Questions I'm sure have been fired at him by his label and his manager as we speak. Ah well, it's a good job they're average at best.

I touched on drugs in the music industry last week in my blog about stifled creativity and mentioned The Beatles harping on about acid within Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds. The cheeky scamps also dabbled in other substances though as the song 'A Day in The Life' featured on the same album contained such lyrics as 'blew out of his mind' and 'I had a smoke and fell into a dream'. The BBC actually banned this song from its stations due to the weed references contained within it. Obviously times have changed and you could most probably get away with such meretricious references on Radio One these days but surely drugs within the music industry should stay behind the scenes?
The third best selling album of all time worldwide is 'The Wall' by Pink Floyd, which is described by Matthew Simpson as "A tale of loneliness, desperation, alienation, and drugs". Bret Urick in 2002 wrote a complete analysis of 'The Wall' and within his paper he mentions drugs no less then 29 times, but although 'The Wall' does have strong drug references, it is in no way glamorising the effects that they can have simply because they can kill. Just ask Jimi Hendrix…

Songs such as 'Purple Haze' even became the street term for LSD in the late 60's as its lyrics were, just like the Beatles, strongly hallucinogenic;

Purple haze all in my brain

Lately things just don't seem the same

Actin' funny, but I don't know why

'scuse me while I kiss the sky

Quite ironically the substances that helped Jimi Hendrix write some of his classics, were also to be the demise of his career. On September the 18th 1970, Hendrix was found dead. The cause? A drug overdose.

An incredible example of ignorance was by the BBC with the song 'Perfect Day' written by Lou Reed. Wikipedia (I know it's not a 'proper research tool') describes the song as: '"Perfect Day" is an elegiac paean to Reed's addiction to heroin.' Basically he wrote it about how much he loved being off his chops on Pete Doherty's best friend.

Just a perfect day,

You made me forget myself.

I thought I was someone else,

Someone good

Reed's lyrics showed how the drug made him euphoric and feel like a better person, (a far cry from the feeling of nothingness that is described in the song 'Heroin' by the Velvet Underground). All in all a strong representation regarding the ups and downs of a drug addiction. The BBC however felt the song was simply about having a nice day, walking around in the park, feeding animals in zoos, laughing at monkeys and what not. So much so in fact that in 1997 they used the song as part as an advertising campaign: "In 1997 The BBC broadcasts the much praised "Perfect Day" corporate advertisement, featuring 27 artists singing lines of Lou Reed's original. The song later becomes a fund-raising single for Children in Need." So not only did the BBC use a pro-heroin song to advertise themselves, they also sold their version of the record to raise money for Children In Need, some of which will go towards rehabilitating teenage drug addicts! Awesome.

Now I'm not pro or anti drugs on this blog, I'm actively doing a 'Switzterland' and sitting on the fence. We all know that drugs kill but we also know that some of the greatest music ever made was done so under the influence of something. So I'm going to leave you with this quote:

As Barry LePatner said, "Good judgment comes from experience, and experience comes from bad judgment."

What I'm listening to this week: Journey and Aerosmith (current I know!)
Stay tuned