Women of Substance- Radio

Found out this week I have been selected through Sonic Bids to be featured on Women of Substance Radio.
Check it out HERE : )

Reviews

I have been collating together some of my favorite reviews from the album so far. Here is the link : ) Reviews of -ri-solv-

Reaching out to the world

Although I have summarized my experience with Music Success in 9 Weeks in the last post there are a few things on my list which I want to complete. Including : a list of my favorite blog sites, some more stories about the power of reaching out and some thoughts on the idea of creating a funnel and some exciting merchandise options for this. I am also working on writing A Web 2 Guide - Supporting Independent Musicians For Friends, Fans and Supporters of Independent Culture. S.I.M.F.F.F.S.I.C

In this post I will look at ideas about how to approach bloggers, podcaster, music critics. What Ariel suggests and what definitely seems the most successful approach, although more time consuming, is to simply make friends online. I mean really..... find people who are doing things you think are great, who inspire you and let them know you have heard, seen or read their work. Participate in their blogs and/or tell them you have read one of their reviews or listened to their podcasts. Actually using the media as a consumer, that you are hoping to be promoted on, is instructive and inspiring in terms of the other musicians you may meet and..... realistically if you don't like the music they are playing/promoting they probably won't like yours.

There are a few bloggers/ internet radio folks I would like to mention for being so wonderfully supportive. The Justin Wayne Show, Miss Morrison's Mix, Dan Herman of Radio Crystal Blue, Don Campeau of No Pigeon Holes. There are more but these are the folk who have been particularly supportive of my work. So ... Thanks : ) To be honest I am still working on my list of 50 blogs. I have about 20 so far.

This week I had another great communication with a music writer who writes for Pop Dose. Rob Smith.

I noticed that he had written a review of a recently released album by one of my favorite singers Clare Burson. So I wrote him an email saying I loved the review and telling him about how I had made contact with Brian Siskind in New York City (who mixed and mastered my first album -ri-solv- through email) via Clare Burson and Mike Scott of the Waterboys. I sent links to my music as well. He replied-It turned out he loved Mike Scott and so I sent him the longer version of the story. He really loved the story, listened to some of the album and is planning to write a review of it : ) Life really can progress through a series of inspirations from other people. Focussing in on what REALLY inspires you and telling people about it is what Ariel does and suggests others do. It really does seem to work. Its a lovely way of operating in the world : ) Here is the story I sent to Rob Smith.

.............................................
When I was 13 I thought the Waterboys and Mike Scott were the most amazing thing. I loved their loose passionate sound, the pounding piano and his VOICE!

So... I wrote my first and last ever piece of fan mail to Mike Scott.
Weeks later I received this back : )



I was 15 and in my first band. It made a huge impact on me. Someone who i admired greatly had just reached through the ether, via the old fashioned postal service, and given me a real sense that anything was possible. I could indeed be a musician : )

More than 20 years later after working in the music scene as a percussionist, touring with influential indie pop line up 'machine translations' nationally and internationally, I finally got around to developing my own work and I joined myspace.

Setting up my first online presence involved filling out the 'Your influences' section. Hmmmmmmmmmmmmm Mike Scott....... hmmmmmmmm that card..... I ran down stairs to the treasure box in the garage, scrummaged through a number of boxes and .... there it was....

I walked back up stairs with it in my hand, remembering the impact it had had on me and.... thought... hmmmm I wonder if Mike Scott is on Myspace?

Yes he was : ) So i scanned the card and sent him a message and again received a lovely message back : ) ( which reminds me I must send him a copy of the completed album : )... )

Anyway in the process I noticed a young singer from NYC who Mike had discovered on myspace and had given her the support slot to the Waterboys for their NYC shows. Clare Burson. I loved the sound of her album
'Theives' so I did some research on how it was produced and discovered Brian Siskind had co produced it. I heard his sounds and was blown away. There is something about his work which stands out. Its complex and yet spatial, carefully constructed and yet completely organic. He creates sounds you want to inhabit not just listen to from afar. I befriended him on myspace left a comment on his site thanking him for his gorgeous sounds.

Almost 12 months later I received a lovely message from him saying he was really enjoying my sounds and that he would like to come to Australia and produce a record! Once again that wonderful sense that anything was possible imbued my life and being. 12 months later we had made an album together. Completely via email and internet uploads. Files recorded uploaded listened to, tweaked, re recorded uploaded tweaked... conversations going back and forth on sounds, frequencies... I would wake at 3 in the morning and check my inbox.... or wake at 7am knowing it was afternoon in NYC and feeling like I had slept in.

It was an amazing time in which I learnt so much- ensconced in headphones marveling at the 3 dimensional spaces he was creating with my work.

So - ri-solv - is the result. I am proud of it. I think it is a beautiful album. I guess it is an out come of reaching out and having people reach back and make you feel like anything is possible : )

9 Weeks?????

Somehow 9 weeks have passed. 9 weeks that have made a real difference to my focus and clarity around who I am, what I do and why I am doing it. 9 weeks which have given me the tools to move forward with a sense of both adventure and surety.
The beauty of Music Succcess in 9 Weeks is in posing the right questions as much as giving you some great answers and starting points for discoveries.
As Derek Sivers (music biz guru) pointed out....... one of the hardest things to do as a musician is to actually admit you want to make money! To actually admit that you want to be successful. There can be a real resistance to working out how to combine art, the core of your being and art as commerce. Art and commerce do not have to be opposed. Commerce can be imbued with ethics, social responsibility and creativity. Art can be completely crass commercialism. Music Success in 9 weeks gives you the tools to find your own creative middle path between these things.
What is wonderful about Ariel's approach, and the approach made possible by web 2 technologies, is that 'success' is as diverse as the people seeking it. Music success is no longer something industry driven by a hand full of men in suits and A& R folk. Success does not have to mean selling out, handing over your rights, being served white powders on plates or waltzing around with 10 sexy young things on your arm. Success might just be gaining some well deserved respect from your peers, making global connections with people who keep you inspired, who may well become "real" friends, who make your day by saying something you need to hear, who excite the hell out of you and make you want to promote them as much or more as you want to promote yourself : )
Music Success in 9 weeks and Web 2 technologies are about reaching out to the world- Reaching out to people who you think are doing great things and saying, hi !
Derek Sivers again is the master of this. If he thinks you are cool. He doesn't just say you are cool he says... you are 'totally super awsome'. If you reach out he reaches back.
This is what is so exciting about web 2 technologies. It allows communication across the world with people who seriously excite you. People who, pre web 2 technologies, your chances of communicating with were slim. Web 2 technologies and the approaches in Music Success in 9 Weeks can have you casually chatting to people who can change the color of your day and your career: )
Music Success in 9 weeks has helped me become clearer about who I am and where I want to take my music . It has enouraged me to reach out to the world, make new friends, approach the world as endless opportunities to find people to share with, to help out, to say good things about... to inspire and to be inspired by.

Music Success in 9 Weeks rocks and so do You Ariel : ) Thanks !

Heading out of Town

Heading off for 10 days of dancing, music and catching up with some of my
favorite and inspirational mentors, friends and collaborators. YAY. I am testing blogging fro
my phone.... Hmmmm it's a little fiddly... I need a lap top! I have much to report but must sleep now early start :)