With A Voice Like This

Whether it's Music or Media - this is the Voice you're looking for.

You are here: Home / Archives for website

120 – The Chicago Music Commission on the Web

Recorded 1 December 2009

This episode of With A Voice Like This is all about the Internet presence of the Chicago Music Commission. I talk about all the offerings for the Musicians and music lover alike (In an effort for full disclosure, I am on the Board of Directors for the Chicago Music Commission). Here are the links talked about in the show:

  • The Economic Impact Study commissioned by the CMC
  • The Musicians At Work Forums page
  • The Airport Music Program page, including the link to FlyChicago.com‘s Terminal Tunes [Edit:  site no longer exists] and the latest CD submission e-mail [Edit:  form no longer exists] sent to the CMC e-mail list
  • The Chicago Event Promoter Ordinance updates page
  • The CMC’s Blog page
  • ChicagoFestivals.net [Edit: site no longer has a schedule on it] showing all the Free music festivals put on by the City of Chicago in one place
  • The Chicago Area Music Business Database  [Edit: site no longer displays] with maps and the ability to submit a business for inclusion in the database
  • The Contact Us page where you can also sign up for the CMC’s e-mail list.
  • The Chicago Music Commission on Facebook

[00:23:07]
[audioplayer file=”http://recordings.talkshoe.com/TC-52008/TS-296600.mp3″]

Listen above or download by right clicking and saving.

105 – Multing, Usenet and CD Baby Twins

Recorded 7 July 2009

The topics on this week’s show include:

4-AM
I talk about the recording 4-AM did the previous Wednesday and the technique called multing. what it is, how it works and my general feelings on its use.

At Any Rate
This show’s At Any Rate is all about the June 30 Ruling by a Federal Judge finding that Usenet.com is liable for copyright infringement from this Ars Technica article. I think this is a landmark finding that open up more doors  to futures suit of this type. I talk about how Usenet.com really shot themselves in the foot with this and my opinoins on the outcome of the case.

News You Can Use
This section gives birth to twin CD Baby happenings:

Comments From the Podcst Gallery
A brief statement regarding the passing of Michael Jackson in response to a question from the Podcast Gallery.

[00:26:00]
[audioplayer file=”http://recordings.talkshoe.com/TC-52008/TS-239569.mp3″]

Listen above or download by right clicking and saving.

060 – Come See About Me Or YouTube Or…

recorded 03 July 08

On this episode of With A Voice Like This:

At Any Rate (00:00:54)
I take a look at the Judges’ ruling made Thursday in Viacomm’s suit against Google which instructs Google to turn over approximately 12 terrabytes of YouTube data to Viacomm, including Login IDs and IP addresses of users. People have issue with the case itself, but it’s to be expected that Corporate representatives of traditional media and the Internet go head to head to help definewhat’s allowable and what isn’t. Is the customer’s loss of privacy acceptable collateral damage in the court battle?

4-AM update (00:09:00)
There was a lot to talk about again this episode regarding 4-AM, the group and the website. So I talked about a lot of the work I’ve done on stage.4-am.net before go live. Plugins galore, starting with the Search Engine Optimization plugin in All in One SEO Pack and all that’s gone into that. Then the new tiltviewer Photo Gallery using both the NextGEN Gallery and NextGEN FlashViewer plugins, which are great and you need to see what you can do with them using your own flickr account. Amazing.

Then a quick discussion of what’s happening with the group, a new business direction and of course another new arrangement we did. This week’s was the Supremes’ Come See About Me. And we’re getting closer to a gig where we can do a live video stream so you all can see what 4-AM is all about.

And of course, Comments From the Podcast Gallery.

Speaking of, don’t forget you can always call in your Comments From the Podcast Gallery to the comment line at 630.492.0487. I’m more than happy to have your comments and to put them on the show.

[audioplayer file=”http://recordings.talkshoe.com/TC-52008/TS-127504.mp3″]

Listen above or download by right clicking and saving.

Poll Dancing – Bleeding Edge Style

While working on the 4-AM website, I had a couple (okay, more than a couple, but I’ll start there) decisions to make about what goes on the website and what will work best for my target audience which is bleeding edge, New Media early adopter types like you. Yes, you are, you’re reading this, aren’t you? Anyway, that’s why I’m asking you. It’s always best to go straight to the source and there you are. Let me know what you think, I have no doubt that you will come up with some things I’ve never even thought of, you’re good like that. The other choice works even if you choose one of the choices in the list, so don’t hesitate to add it, if you think of something.

 

 

Thank you for letting me know what you think.

046 – What’s In It For You?

A tribute to Gene Puerling (March 31, 1929 – March 25, 2008)

In this episode: I have three question when it comes to a band’s website

  1. What do you need to see?
  2. What do you want to see?
  3. What do you wish you could see that you’ve never seen before?

Discussing the website for 4-AM and the groups it needs to speak to, Booking Agents, Clients and Fans. What belongs, what is the best use of New/Social Media and some of the resources I use to help me with the ideas.

Links:

Hot Hits, Cheap Demos by Nadine Condon

Promoting Your Podcast by Jason Van Orden

Musician’s Cooler Podcast with Jammin’ Dave Jackson

[audioplayer file=”http://recordings.talkshoe.com/TC-52008/TS-103329.mp3″]

Listen above or download by right clicking and saving.

The Perception of Value

So what’s it worth to you?

How do you quantify a service to someone who has no frame of reference? I have a Masters Degree in Vocal Pedagogy, which is part performance and part teaching voice, and I’ve spent tens of thousand of dollars on training my voice. If I don’t have name recognition does any of that mean anything to someone who’s looking for some music for their event or venue? What if I’m part of a group, where my name doesn’t come up as much if at all?

I deal with it all the time as a musician. A rule of thumb on how to deal with it is how much you charge, but even that can vary widely. I have an “I won’t step outside the door for less than…” figure. Now that figure for me as a solo singer is 66% higher than that same figure for me as a part of an established group currently. What do I base that on? It’s not like I have production costs to base that figure on to show someone. I have talent, knowledge, expertise and experience, but if you’re working with someone who has no frame of reference, those things don’t mean anything to them. And the money itself? I’ve had people not bat an eye at that money and I’ve had people politely (and sometimes not so politely) brush me off. So what’s the answer?

They don’t know what they don’t know

I learned the answer I use through singing weddings for friends. I was reminded of it because I did a wedding not too long ago, for friends. It’s the perception of value. I used to sing weddings for friends for free because I thought of it as my gift to them. And you know what happened? Nothing. Not even a thank you. It didn’t take me long to feel under appreciated and frustrated by that. Didn’t they know how much that was worth?

And that was it. No, they didn’t know. At least not in a way they easily understood. They had no frame of reference. After all, if I was giving it away, it must be worthless, right?

Flash forward to this wedding I just sang for friends. They knew they wanted to use me in the wedding, but they were looking at additional musicians as well. They did their research and saw what the market was around the Chicago area. When we finally discussed money, they said they’ll pay me whatever I wanted.

I quoted them a price of 20% of my solo figure I talked about earlier. The phone went silent for a few moments, then I heard “Are you sure?” I told them this is my friends’ discount and the rest was my wedding gift to them. I got the now standard reaction which was many, many thank you’s and other people coming up and almost falling all over me to talk to me about it.

What I gained by defining my value

I had given my friends a good frame of reference, a perception of value that they understood and everyone was happy, even ecstatic to the point that they shared it and so on and so on and so on…

That’s the biggest benefit to me. People were excited enough to talk about me and to me. That means I’m more likely to:

  1. Be handing out business cards
  2. Be remembered
  3. Get that next gig

Even though I’m doing a friend a favor, I’m still getting a lot out of it. All because I was able to communicate the value of what I was doing. That’s the answer I needed.

I was reminded of that because I’m working on the website for an a cappella quartet I sing with. How do I communicate the value to three different groups; Booking Agents, Clients and Fans to the point that they share it willingly? With all the social media tools, I don’t have that answer yet. But I know the value. What’s your take?

 

Photo by Redd Angelo on Unsplash