I've Moved!

Thank you for following my blog here at Between The Music. Ever since starting this blog, I started thinking about incorporating it into my website, and I've finally taken that step. The writing that I have been doing here will now take place directly at the new and improved:

http://www.cameronmizell.com

If you'd like to continue following my posts, you may update your RSS feed or subscribe by email with these links:

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Thanks again for your continuous support and comments thus far. See you at the new website!

Seth Godin - Eternal September

I don't normally repost other people's blogs in their entirety, but I like this recent Seth Godin post too much to not share it:

Eternal September

Our story so far...

Back in the 1960s, TV shows took great pains to catch you up on what had happened so far. Batman spent a minute or so recapping last week's story. So did The Fugitive. The thought was that while most people had seen the show just seven days ago, what about the people who missed it?

Fifteen years ago, someone coined the term, Eternal September. Because each September sees an entire crop of freshman showing up at college, you need to assume that you have to start teaching protocols all over again. Once a year, it's a whole new audience, and they need to learn the ropes.

The Internet has been stuck in September ever since. Every day, new people show up at your blog, on Facebook, everywhere. Every day it's a whole new crop that need to figure out what RSS is and how to subscribe. Every day there are people who spam their address book because it feels like a fine thing to do, then learn their lesson and never do it again. There are new people who need to learn the proper etiquette for interacting on your site. Can you imagine if the real world worked this way? If people walking into your store had never been to a store before? If drivers on the highway had never driven on a highway before?

It's going to be a long time before the medium stabilizes enough for the newbies to catch up, so the only alternative is to accept that it's always September.

Last week I listened to George Harrison's All Things Must Pass for the first time. I've been exploring more of the individual Beatles' solo albums recently, along with a couple friends that I work with about once a week. It just goes to show that, even for the Beatles, there are people out there that will hear your music for the first time more than 30 years after you made it. There's an endless supply of fans out there.

Collaboration

Over the past year, I've been working with more people on different projects. In all cases, there is no boss. No deadlines other than what we set for ourselves. No standards other than what everyone involved agrees is best. Nothing is done until everyone says it's done.

Writing music is generally a very private activity. The ideas that form in your head usually marinate in there for a while, and you play with different possibilities each time you pick up your instrument or whenever you find yourself alone to think. By the time anyone else hears your new tune, you've probably spent 100+ hours on it. At least, that's how it usually works with me.

When collaborating, new ideas are immediately judged by whoever you're working with. You have to trust those people enough to be seen artistically naked. Either somebody likes your idea and starts to work with it, or your idea simply gets ignored. There's little room for ego, and a lot of room to take risks. The worst that can happen is your craziest idea just gets ignored.

Everyone I've worked with has a different style. Some people are meticulous with every note--it might work, but is it the best choice? Others work from their gut--if it feels right, it's right (and if it needs to change later, that's OK). Others come to the table knowing what they want and it's my job to first give them that, then start throwing curve balls until they realize what they really want is something else. Each approach is excellent as long as it's not closed off to new ideas.

I've learned a lot while collaborating with my friends. My ear has gotten better (ideas are usually spoken on the instrument, not by yelling out a chord). I've gotten a glimpse of how everyone else writes, and it helps get me out of jams while writing alone.

If you need to expand your creative palette, work with a friend.

Practicing

This past week I've been practicing at least twice as much as my usual average. This is for a number of reasons: 1) I'm trying to learn more music. 2) Recordings of a couple recent gigs really kicked my butt. 3) And I'm just trying to force a dedicated practice schedule into my routine.

The last few days I've been working on some new concepts. Ideas that keep popping in my head while performing, but I'm never able to execute them (see #2 above). The first three days of working on these concepts was like pulling teeth. My own teeth. The patterns were somewhat awkward to play on guitar, there are countless variations that confuse my brain and my fingers, and it has to be played really fast to sound right. It's just supposed to be a flurry of notes--something I hardly do when I improvise but want to have in my bag for the right moments. I stopped and asked myself everyday, "Is this worth it? Will it even sound good?"

This morning it all just clicked, at least after priming the pump a little. I could throw it into the right spots during a solo and it sounds great, exactly how I've been hearing it in my head.

The lesson here is an old one. Don't give up. I talked about it with my buddy Dave today, and he described practicing music as a set of stairs, not a ramp. It's a series of walls and plateaus. You bang your head against a wall for a while and then one morning, if you've stuck to it long enough, you'll get up to the next plateau.

If you're a beginner, you face the same obstacles as somebody that's played for 20 years. We're just in different places along an endless staircase. Whether your victory is finally getting that bar chord to sound right or you've finally mastered your melodic minor modes, we can all relate to each other. Keep putting in the hours.

Head Down, Plowing Through

I've started another recording project, this time with vocalist Erika Lloyd, who fronts an indie rock band called Little Grey Girlfriend. We're doing a set of cover songs. While we haven't scheduled a formal release date, I think we're on pace to finish recording by the end of May, so it may be available by early July.

Erika and I met in Bloomington, Indiana. We were in the same music theory class at IU. She also lived down the street from me, just off campus. We got to be pretty good friends, and then she moved to NYC shortly and me. Her boyfriend also happens to be Brad Whiteley, who plays in my trio and appears on a couple of my albums. It sometimes makes me feel old to think about having "couple friends," but Brad and Erika are definitely one of Jill and my best couple friends. It's nice to have such talented friends, and even nicer to be able to work with them.

So far we've tracked for six songs:

"Creep" by Radiohead
"Heart of Glass" by Blondie
"Hey" by The Pixies
"Nobody Home" by Pink Floyd
"One Caress" by Depeche Mode
"The Fool On The Hill" by The Beatles

On deck we have:

"Everything Means Nothing To Me" by Elliot Smith
"Faith" by George Michael
"Soul Love" by David Bowie
"Alabama Song" by The Doors
"Don't You Worry 'Bout a Thing" by Stevie Wonder
"All I Want" by Joni Mitchell
"Cherry Coloured Funk" by Cocteau Twins

Once we get into the mixing phase I'll start posting the works in progress for preview. But so far things are sounding pretty good and we're having a great time in the process.

Twitter CD Giveaway, Spring Cleaning

The other day I woke up and looked at my cat sitting on top of a stack of six unopened boxes of CDs. She climbs up there first by hopping on a bench, then stepping on a stack of four unopened boxes of CDs before reaching the summit. These boxes have been sitting there for nearly two years, long enough to blend into the background and become cat furniture. There's almost 1,000 CDs in those boxes.

The nice thing is I actually got rid of just as many. I ordered 2,000 digipaks of Life Is Loud back in 2007 with the thought that a few hundred could go to press, radio, booking, and any other promotional purpose a good looking, physical package might give you an edge. I mailed a ton of freebies, and sold hundreds of others.

Initially, I wanted to sell these myself--taking orders through PayPal or accepting checks by mail. I made many trips to the post office, and in Brooklyn that gets old really quick. I started sending traffic to my album's page on CD Baby, but believe it or not, I've only sold a measly 46 through them. That's not their fault though, it's simply a matter of less demand for CDs by the time I started sending traffic that direction.

Nearly two years after it's release, Life Is Loud sells about 7 albums a week, mostly digital downloads. That's not a lot, but if you look at the facts, it's still pretty damn good. I'm not really doing much to directly promote that album. I play mostly new music at gigs, which are less frequent because I'm getting ready to record a new album. Most of my efforts online are simply to raise awareness of me, Cameron Mizell, the guitarist. The musician. And oh yeah, and I have some albums over here you might be interested in checking out.

So how can I get rid of a few CDs and get people to notice me? I have a bunch of people following me on Twitter, I wonder how many of them would like one?

I've been using Twitter since last summer. I don't use it to promote or sell anything. Actually, that's a lie. If you know me--if you've been reading this blog or my articles at MusicianWages.com or even following me on Twitter--you know I can't help but try to use the internet to bring people to my music. But it's really a form of pre-selling. I might get into that another time, but not now.

The point is, I've got a fairly sizeable group of people that I interact with on Twitter. I like them, and they put up with me pretty well. The next step was to engage them in a way that would:

1) Teach me something about them.
2) Help them learn something about me.
3) Get rid of some of those CDs.

My solution? Trivia!

Every day at noon I ask a question about anything I find interesting. The first person to answer correctly gets a free CD. So far one question was about Bootsy and Catfish Collins, another about Take Five being the first jazz single to be a million seller. Finding out who knows the answer helps me learn a little more about them. And the point is never to stump everyone, rather to just get them to play the game. While the first correct answer is technically the winner, if somebody answers correctly every day but never gets their answer in first, I'll probably send them a CD just for playing.

After asking some general questions that tell me about you (mostly, are you interested in the same things as me?), I can ask questions that tell you about me. Since any of these questions can be answered by doing an internet search, why not create questions that will ultimately drive people to my website looking for the answers?

This will only work if people care to play. If you use Twitter to constantly bombard people with information about what you do professionally or try to push your product on them, everything you say is just noise.

Chris Brogan recently wrote an article that you might have already read: Promoting Without Being That Guy. His article gave me the final nudge I needed to actually try this trivia promotion. I had been afraid that it would come off too pushy, or as a blatant marketing scheme. But in his article, Brogan lists '10 Ways to Build Relationships Before You Ask for Anything' and I realized I'd been building these relationships for many months.

Lucky for me, it's worked so far this week. I've had some fun coming up with questions and conversing with the people that come up with the answers. I've even had some nice notes from people that aren't playing but are definitely noticing, and they love the idea. I only planned on doing it through Friday, but I may bring it back in a couple weeks. Maybe somebody else will pick up the idea and give me a chance to help them clean out their apartment.

New Article @ MusicianWages.com

I'm writing a series of articles on the self-released album over at MusicianWages.com. Today we posted an article titled The Self-Released Album 101: The Basics. If you're planning to release your first album yourself, I recommend reading this. I'm trying to dump everything I know from my own experiences releasing about 200 albums, from my own self-released titles to large budget albums for the Verve Music Group.

Irony, and the Small World of Jazz

Almost a year ago, Life Is Loud was placed in the "New Releases" section on the iTunes jazz page. This section displays eight albums at a time on the home page, and then you can click over to the next eight, etc., for four pages of albums. As new albums are added, the older titles slide down the ladder until they fall off the last page.

Life Is Loud sold fairly well for a self-released album, reaching #31 on the iTunes jazz chart. Around that time it was added to a new feature they stuck in the middle of the jazz page, called "Major Releases." It's been there ever since, but as you can see in the picture above, it's about to get bumped.

The word "Major" can mean several things, but in the music business it typically means having to do with one of the major labels. I worked at a major label, but my album was released on my own. In fact, if you browse this small corner of the iTunes Store, most of the albums in the jazz Major Release section are not on a major label.

There are only two types of jazz I really see being released on major labels now:

1) Crossover Jazz/Vocal. These are releases that are perhaps made by artists that can play jazz, but the music on their albums is a watered down version of what they can really do. Diana Krall, who's new album was just released by my former collegues at Verve, is a great example of this. The woman can play some great jazz piano, but how long has it been since we heard anything that really turned our heads (as far as jazz musicians are concerned). There are plenty of male crooners that fall into this category as well.

Typically, if people use the word "jazzy" to describe your music, it's just another way of saying the music is "jazz-like" which is another way of saying "not quite jazz."

2) Jazz Legends. Herbie Hancock, Wayne Shorter, Sonny Rollins... these guys can release albums on major labels because they are iconic figures among the jazz populace. People still take note when they release albums, even if their albums don't make much money for the label (though they can also make plenty of money for the label because of the relatively low marketing budgets associated with these albums).

Of course, for every jazz icon that releases an album on a major label there are many more that go the independent route. Similar to what we saw with Radiohead and Trent Reznor, these are artists that have well established reputations and large followings, so they're going to sell records even if it means fans have to go to their garage sale to buy them.

There are exceptions to both these rules, of course, but the majority of cutting edge jazz is being released on small labels or entirely independently. Jazz has been a niche genre ever since the '50s when big bands (of the swing/dance variety) started to decline in popularity and the rock'n'roll generation started listening to, well, rock'n'roll.

I'm not trying to blog a music history lesson, I'm just trying to make the point that in terms of market share, jazz has long had a small but dedicated fan base. And it gets divided even amongst the fans to even smaller sub-genres. I'm sure there are plenty jazz police who would never consider my music to be jazz. That's ok though, because there are plenty of people who like it, at least enough to sustain a dozen or so album sales every week.

Jazz used to be a bad word, but I think the current shift in music consumerism is going to change that. It turns out people are willing to listen to almost anything online, try new kinds of music and form their own opinion. Genres have always been labels given to music to help record stores organize their bins, but stores like CD Baby have been expanding their genre and sub-genre listing to help people explore very specific types of music. To most people, music is just music. Everyone is influenced by everything else, and artists shove all their influences into their heads for a while in hopes of making some kind of music that's completely unique and recognizable.

So perhaps the word "Major" will start to take on new meanings in places like the iTunes jazz page. Instead of having something to do with an album's means of release, it'll be more about the impact of the music.

Another kind of grind.

This is a busy week for me, perhaps the busiest since quitting my day job last May. I have a handful of gigs and rehearsals, but I also have some writing to do and a lot of office work. I need to come up with an organized system to track my income and expenses, rather than just jotting it down and putting receipts in a folder to sort out at tax time next year. I'm also still catching up on emails after being out of town last week.

Perhaps I'm just feeling reflective this morning, but I'm beginning to settle into the routine of not really having a routine. I try to practice guitar consistently, and I make time to write music every week, but it all must remain flexible to work around whatever else comes up. I don't think there's a way to create formal structure around a freelancer's lifestyle, and I'm perfectly happy with that. I feel very comfortable in this new role.

Now I just need to keep building revenue streams so I can keep it this way!

Small Town Love

Here's a video from the set Lauren and I played on the Cayamo Cruise last week after she won the open mic contest.

"I'm the guy with the Tele and hat."

That's basically what I ended up telling people on the Cayamo cruise last week when asked what I do.

"I'm the guy with the Telecaster, snap shirt and hat off to the side of the cute girl singing and playing guitar."

The Cayamo cruise is essentially a singer/songwriter oriented music festival that floats around the Caribbean. There were six headliners and many more "side-stage" acts playing all day throughout different rooms of the ship.

My wife and I went this year, along with Lauren, who was also on board with her family. As many of you probably know, Lauren Zettler (pictured above) is the cute girl singing and playing guitar, next to whom you'll find me with my Tele and hat. On this cruise, many of the female singer/songwriters had a sideman that fit that description, and so it was the easiest way to describe my occupation.

While we took this trip as a vacation, it was definitely much more. We saw performances by Lyle Lovett, Patty Griffin, John Hiatt, The Indigo Girls, Shawn Colvin, and Brandi Carlile as headliners, and caught shows by Kathleen Edwards, Tift Merritt, David Ryan Harris, Jim Bianco, Marc Broussard, Girlyman, Edie Carey, Ken Block, Over The Rhine, and more at various times during the trip. And because you're on a cruise ship, you run into the artists all the time. Lyle Lovett was all over the place, talking with people in the buffet while holding his tray of food. It's all just part of the experience. I could say good things about every performer, but to keep this to one post I'll just hit some of my favorites.

The Indigo Girls have the kind of career any of us should want. I don't care if you don't like their music, you can't deny that they're a couple of talented women. They write great music that stays true to their brand, and a huge fan base that seemed to dominate the ship. Every show they played brought people to their feet, even in a theater on a moving boat designed for sitting.

Kathleen Edwards was the first show I saw in the designated listening room. We walked in just after her set started to find her on stage with an acoustic guitar and a guy with a telecaster and snap shirt off to her side. Lauren looked at me and said, "That looks familiar." The guy with the tele was Colin Cripps, who ended up being my favorite sideman on the boat. Very tasty playing and added some really nice textures to Kathleen's music. Jill and I talked to them briefly after their set, and they were both very nice people. I think it's because they're from Canada, a country that seems to produce happy musicians.

Tift Merritt. If more female singer/songwriters performed like the incredibly talented, dynamic Tift Merritt, guys with Teles and hats would be out of a gig. She simply exudes a positive energy on stage, but plays as if she's holding it all back, ready to explode at any minute. Her songwriting was elegantly simple, and her dynamics and musicality more than covered for her lack of sidemen. Frankly, if I had that sideman gig, I'd probably lay out most of the time and just let her work her magic. She was on the same flight as us back to NYC, and I told her how much I enjoyed her set on the cruise while we were waiting for our bags. She was extremely friendly, as was her boyfriend Zeke, which sort of seals the deal for her newest fan.

David Ryan Harris was unknown to me prior to the cruise, but I won't soon forget his performance. We first saw him during the Indigo Girls set, when they invited him onto the stage and let him do a song all by his lonesome. During his own set at a couple days later, it was clear that whatever it is that makes some people's music so captivating, he's got it. He plays with the patience of an old soul, and you can tell his roots run deep. He's as much of a blues musician as an acoustic singer/songwriter, a great guitar player, and superb singer. At times, he reminded me of Maxwell, and then he threw in a Maxwell quote towards the end of his set.

Finally, I've got to give props to my boss, Lauren, who won an open mic contest which meant we got to play a set the following day. She gets props not because I was surprised to win, but because she pulled it all off with a head cold that was wearing down her voice. It takes a lot of energy to sing in the presence of your favorite musicians even without a cold.

The funny thing about this vacation though, was that I was excited to get home. It wasn't like I was getting away from an office or some 9-5 that's been stressing me out. I love what I do, the music on the boat inspired me to do it better, and now I'm looking forward to a week of gigs and rehearsals.

This is going to be a good year.

House Concert

Lauren and I played a show last night at the Black Sheep Ranch in Clinton, CT, hosted by Andrew and Suzanne Wallach. Also playing that night was Sarah Blacker from Cambridge, MA.

I'll be honest with you, I had no idea what to expect. But coming away from the show, I have a whole new respect for well organized house concerts. There were about 30 people there, all for the single purpose of listening to the music. Because it's still cold out, we played in the living room, so it was very cozy. I actually sat on the edge of the couch while I played, so it was a lot like playing at home minus the flannel pants. We go back in July to play outside, where they say there are sometimes 50+ people filling their backyard.

Lauren sold some of her CDs, a lot of people were interested in both performers upcoming releases, signed their mailing lists, etc. Some of the guys there even noticed some of the nerdy music stuff I do when I accompany Lauren, something that doesn't usually happen. It's always kind of fun to geek out with somebody about the lack of well placed voice leading in a guitar accompaniment.

If you know of similar house concert series around you, or you live close to the Black Sheep Ranch, I suggest checking them out.

Music Mileage

I spent a great deal of last weekend writing an article for MusicianWages.com. It felt like it was sucking the life out of me because the whole time I was trying to find the right words, I felt like I should have been playing guitar. The article is really just about getting to work. Tackling those things that seem impossible, or finally doing the small, simple tasks that you put off just because they take time.

I used to be a competitive distance runner, and sometimes getting up at 5 to get an extra few miles in before class seemed like a waste of energy, but no matter how bad I felt on the run, I knew I was getting better than the guys that were sleeping in. It's not always about running faster than the competition, it's about running more. As long as you're putting in the miles, you'll see results.

Lauren Zettler's new EP

I've been working a new EP with Lauren Zettler. You can pre-order it from her here. We're in the home stretch. It's been a very cool, laid back process. The recordings should reflect the vibe of the sessions, which means they'll be good.

This will be the fourth DIY recording I've finished in the last 18 months, and the first with vocals (though I did the Follow Through album in 2001, and recorded Matt's vocals last summer). It's impossible to compare any of them to each other, but I always feel like the most recent is the best.

So head over to Lauren's MySpace page, listen to some of her new tracks, and order the EP. It's going to be goo.

Live recording coming soon

The sound guy recorded our show last night. Rose Live Music is a relatively small club, but mostly in that it’s narrow, and the stage faces across the width of the room. In other words, there’s a space to walk past the front of the stage, then a row of tables along the wall with chairs facing away from the stage and a booth style bench on the other side, looking in.

The close quarters makes you keep your volume down. For a funk band, lower volume is actually a good thing. There’s a deeper groove when you don’t hit the drums as hard, and a lot more dynamic space to build to a frenzy whenever necessary. This played in our favor, and along with an agreement to PLAY LESS, it could have been one of our best performances.

The sound engineer needs to bounce down the recording at his studio, but I have my fingers crossed it comes out nicely, because I really feel that musically, it was a step in the right direction for our group.

Play less.

That's what I'm telling myself from now on. I've written before about playing rests, but I've been falling off the wagon. The other night I had a great conversation with a friend that plays some great tenor saxophone about this very thing. We talked about how Miles and Dave Liebman would just lay out for 4 or 8 bars at a time and just let the rhythm section play.

My trio has a show this Monday at Rose Live Music in Williamsburg. I intend to record it and hopefully share some of the tracks with all of you. We'll see if I'm able to execute.

Speaking of the trio, I've nearly finished the new tune and will finish blogging about that process soon. It's coming together pretty nicely.