2010...And Beyond

So, who's ready for this next decade?

I know that if you sit down and thought about how many different signed acts came and went in the last 10 years, you'd just scratch the surface of the actual number.

Technology also has been the thorn in the record label's sides.

In 2000, people were still buying CDs. Take for example, N'Sync's "No Strings Attached" sold 2.4 million copies in its debut week alone. That set a U.S. one-week sales record.

According to Nielsen Soundscan for the week ending 12/27/09, the ENTIRE TOP TEN CD sales only equaled 2.24 million copies sold.

With the advent, of iTunes, Napster, LimeWire and a whole host of digital music providers, the whole music landscape has changed. The days of a band hoping to be signed by the major record label for millions of dollars are mostly gone. The level of work that an unsigned act has to do has jumped exponetially. While you can use the social networking sites to get your music out to the world, how does an individual looking for your type of band find you? There are millions of other unsigned acts trying to do the same thing as you are around the world.

My advice for you is this; embrace all technologies current and future. Continue to search out networks of other bands looking to promote themselves. Maybe you can work together.

Find other networks or online entities that can promote you to a larger audience base. Plus, take advantage of college and commercial radio stations (including ROCK 108) that are playing unsigned bands.

Some of this may be elementary to some of you. You may already be on this path. If you are, grab someone else and help them along.

If you have any questions about this or UNSIGNED & UNLEASHED on ROCK 108, email me at unsignedandunleashed@rock108.com

Happy New Year!

UNSIGNED & UNLEASHED Live! #2

Since its inception on August 1st, UNSIGNED & UNLEASHED has featured 54 different unsigned rock bands. These include bands from Iowa, Minnesota, Illinois, Nebraska, Kansas, Missouri, Wisconsin, Indiana, New Jersey, California, Brazil and Austrailia. The goal is to continue this tradition of featuring Iowa first, but also giving bands that are not getting support at home, a chance to be heard.

We also have landed several bands on shows with national acts. A few of those included:

Illegal Smile with Royal Bliss
Hazer with Tantric
Austin Taft with Midnight To Twelve
Marcato with Shaman's Harvest

..and had our own UNSIGNED & UNLEASHED/ONLINE shows:

1/23/09 - Lost Nation / Freaklabel / Neumatic @ 1st Ave. Live
5/17/09 - Agony Of Defeat / Illegal Smile / Lost Nation /NeWickeDream / TenTonHalo @
Tornado's Grub & Pub parking lot for Houby Days
11/18/09 - Fighting Blind / Failure Of Progress @ Tornado's Grub & Pub
12/17/09 - Lost Nation / Agony Of Defeat @ Tornado's Grub & Pub

Alright, enough of what we've done. What are we doing for 2010 and beyond? We will continue to feature everything that we've done listed above, but we plan to expand our reach. I have my targets set on Des Moines, Minneapolis and Chicago to try and establish more contacts. I want to see Iowa bands work together to try and make this thing work. If we do not work together, it fails.

THE DEBUT : 8 / 2 / 09

Okay officially it was 11:59 p.m. on August 1st when we started...

Here is the rundown of what we had:







INTERVIEW WITH ARI FROM DESTROPHY:



I have known Ari the entire time I have been with ROCK 108. I remember of the first events that I attended as a member of the staff was the ROCK 108 Battle Of The Bands at the old Shag's in Cedar Falls. Destrophy won that night and I spoke with Ari about his future. Ari said that he was shooting for the ultimate dream, which was to tour nationally.

Fast forward to the present. Ari, Phil, Bruce and Joe as DESTROPHY have been signed to Victory Records. They have started a schedule of dates as direct support for their label-mates, Otep. The closest shows are all a 4+ hour drive away from the listening area, but I encourage you to go see them.

The interview itself covered where Destrophy had been, what it feels like to be signed and the work that is ahead for the band. We followed the interview up with "Way Of Your World."

"COMMON REGRET" by ILLEGAL SMILE

This band submitted their material just before the deadline of the debut of UNSIGNED & ONLINE. Some of the members were originally from Parkersburg. The opening month of UNSIGNED & ONLINE (July 2008), they played at a benefit for the town at The Hub in Cedar Falls.
Since then, they have shared the stage with Hurt, Caroline's Spine, Royal Bliss and Future Leaders Of The World, to name a few.
Check them out on their Myspace page.

"MILES AWAY" by MARCATO

MARCATO was the winner of the last Battle Of The Bands that ROCK 108 promoted. I hope it will remain the last because I don't like what B.O.T.B. do to the relationships between bands, radio stations, promoters, club owners, fans and the like. (But that is a story for another blog.)
MARCATO has recently moved their home base from Cedar Falls to Des Moines and has seen added success.
They just released "The World Is Drowning." This CD is an evolution of MARCATO's sound. I am impressed with the quality and composition of this album.
Check them on their main webpage or their Myspace page.

"EVERY DAY'S THE SAME" by COLD STEEL

The sheer tenacity of this entire project, from the band itself, to the manager is refreshing from a group that is not signed. Several members of this band are still in high school. Tell me you knew that by listening to them.
The video for their song "Stuck" was featured on Fuse-On-Demand.
They are in the process of recording their new EP with Tom Tatman at Catamount Studios in Cedar Falls. I heard a demo of one of their new songs and it sounded finished to me. It shows the talent of all involved in this project. We should get a preview of some of the new stuff in a week or two.
Check them out on their Myspace page.

"IT HAPPENS AGAIN" by HAZER

This is the first track to their Peach Fuzz EP. I was immediately grabbed by the way this sounded like the stuff I used to listen to in high school. They kind of proved me right when they said in their UNSIGNED & ONLINE interview that they really dug some of the grunge-era acts.
HAZER opened for Local H during Cornstock at Spicolis and has a date on 8/15 with 8Foundead, Illegal Smile, The Goodyear Pimps and more at Spicolis.
Check them out on their Myspace page.

Frustrations and Solutions

I had an extensive conversation last night with someone in the music scene in Cedar Rapids. The name of this individual isn't important, but some of the points that they brought up were valid.

The discussion ranged from: attendance at shows, online and physical promotion of a band, merchandise sales and other frustrations that plague local acts.

The only perspective I could provide to the conversation, was my own.
I played in a band in high school for exactly 8.2 minutes. Our one "gig" was a house-party where I literally had to learn a song while we were playing it. We were a band in the loosest sense of the word. The drummer from that "band" has gone on to have a decent run with a few other bands. But me, not at all.

With that being said, I do not understand all of the nuances that go into the writing, recording, rehearsal and performing process. What I do understand, is the business part of this industry.
Local or national, small crowds or big, you have to be able to make somebody money.

I feel bad about this part of the conversation. Music shouldn't be about money.
It should be about evoking an emotional response from an individual when they hear your audio art. It should be about the way we used to feel when we heard our favorite song. You turn it up and don't have a care in the world for the length of that composition.

But, in this day and age, it is about money. How many people can you put in this performance space in the allotted time? How much beer sales can you help to generate? This is just a fact. If a club owner isn't making money, he can't pay his rent or other commitments, then that performance space is no longer. I feel that some acts don't realize this fact, or if they do, don't care. It is someone else's fault that they are not being booked or the audiences aren't there.

So, what are my suggestions for making your local act a viable commodity, in a business sense?

1. Make a realistic goals for the next year.
If you are a new band, make a goal for the number of shows that you want to play in the
next 365 days. Are you working on material? Make a goal to have a CD release with all
of the promotion that goes with it. When you play shows (that you are not opening for a
national act) have a realistic number in mind of people you want/need at that show.

2. NETWORK!
Any time that you are playing or attending a show, make sure to take time to talk with
the bands that are on the bill. Talk with the bar manager or booker (if on-hand) and
introduce yourself. If a radio station representative is present, make sure to say hi.

3. Promote your band shamelessly.
What good is playing a show if nobody knows about it? I don't see a lot of bands locally
using the free/low-cost promotional tools that are available to them. While I know a lot
of bands have a Myspace page, how are you utilizing it? How does it look? It may be
one of the first impressions you have on a person. Make it look good. Do you have an
active Facebook fan page? Why doesn't anybody distribute handbills anymore?
When a major show wraps up, be there with something telling them where they can see
you or hand out sticker / CDs. If your goal is to get your name in front of as many people
as possible, take advantage of it.

I haven't said anything that others already have touched on hundreds of times before. But maybe some will heed this advice now that I am providing an opportunity to get your music heard on ROCK 108.

CHEAP PLUG ALERT!
UNSIGNED & UNLEASHED begins August 1st at 11:59pm. It will showcase unsigned, original rock bands ONLY.
After the debut on Aug. 1, UNLEASHED will run every Saturday at midnight. 30 minutes and I'll try to feature as many bands as I can.
If you are in an unsigned, original rock band and would like the opportunity to be on the show:

Send your CD and Press kit to:
ROCK 108's UNSIGNED & UNLEASHED
c/o BRIAN MARSHALL
514 Jefferson St.
Waterloo, IA 50701

I look forward to hearing your material.

Brian Marshall - Host of UNSIGNED & UNLEASHED on ROCK 108

Debut of A New Opportunity

The one thing I was always hearing from unsigned bands in this area, "When are you going to put my stuff on the radio?" The answer two years ago was. "We don't do that right now."

Jump to when Destrophy's "Way Of Your World" was in rotation on ROCK 108. At that point, I knew that the answer should change. So I approached management with an idea. That idea became UNSIGNED & ONLINE. This opportunity was great, but we were only able to feature one band at a time.

NOW..

With the success of UNSIGNED & ONLINE, the continued response and a few U/O shows with decent attendance, we were able to put this project on-the-air.

UNSIGNED & UNLEASHED debuts on August 1st at 11:59 p.m. It's regular time slot will be Saturday nights at midnight. The goal is to feature unsigned, original rock bands. The main focus will be Iowa acts, but we will also feature bands from the region and around the world.

The first few shows will be music-intensive, with the goal to get interview and other pieces of programming into the show as we progress.

Please spread the word. We are on Myspace (both UNLEASHED and ONLINE), we have a group on Facebook, we will have a Twitter account and there is this blog here.

Any questions? unsignedandunleashed@rock108.com

Brian Marshall - Host of UNSIGNED & UNLEASHED