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.