Why Indie Bands Should Want the Sirius and XM Merger to Go Through

Right now in Cleveland Ohio (the biggest market I’m near) you can’t find much (if any) local music on the radio. In Akron you may find some on the college radio (but only if you play a certain style). Canton Ohio used to have a “Local licks” show, but I think that is gone as well (and probably on Sunday’s at 1 AM).

Right now we are waiting for the FCC to approve the Sirius and XM satellite company merger. This would be a good thing for local bands, and here is my thought behind this. If the two satellite companies merge, they create a great “National” level of radio stations. A person can drive from New York to San Francisco and never change the channel. They will focus on “National” acts.

So how will the local stations compete? They will need to find a niche? The niche is the locality. They can start featuring music you don’t here anywhere else (the current claim I tell to people when I’m speaking of Satellite radio).  It's time to start being nice to the DJs and program directors. It will take them some time to figure out, but eventually they will need to do something to set them apart from satellite, and that may just be playing your music.

I'm always happy to listen to Dona Oxford play the piano. She's like Chris Angel - a total mindfreak. You watch her play, and the hwole time going, "How is she doing that?" Check out this video. It gets insane about the 4 minute mark when she start explaining what she is doing.

Buy her CD at CD Baby.

I could tell you what's in the video, but really, you just need to watch it. It's cool. Very David Copperfield.

One way a musician can make extra money is to give lessons (guitar, piano, voice, whatever talent you have you can teach others). The problems that some times rises is the scheduling of these appointments. People are calling you in the morning after a gig, or you have to play email tag to confirm an appointment.

Now you can show your calendar to the world, and get paid for your lessons. All these tools had similar features in that you can set how a person cancels their appointment, how much lead time is required to schedule an appointment and more.

Gen Book is a online service that allows you to set up services (with different prices) and has a very cool feature in that they give you a "book now" button that you can put on your website, your myspace, craigs list, etc and people can click it, schedule an appointment, and its done. You receive an email stating that the appointment has come in (in some cases you can get a text message). They have a free version (that won't accept payments) and the fulling functioning version for $40 a month.

Booking Calendar is a site with a TON of features that can handle ANY booking situation. Its $20 a month, and there is a 30 day free trial. Their site is slick, and they have tutorials to help you out.

Web Appointments is $9-$12 a month. Much like booking calendar it has some great features (multiple people, multiple locations, etc) The interface of their site is a little bland, and I'm not sure how customizable the look of their system is, but if you looking for functionality on a budget, this may be your best shot.

You drive to practice.

You drive to the gig.

You dirve to the music store.

They say gas could go to $5.00 a gallon this summer. How would you like some of that money back? When you file your taxes you can claim your mileage. However, carrying around a notepad with scribblings is a pain in the butt (and more than likely will not make it to next April, or will not be readble by next April).

 Enter the mileage tracker. You simply plug this GPS unit into your car and drive. It beams your milage to a website where you can login and write notes about where you went. It tracks your milage ready for the IRS.

In 2008 mileage will be .50 a mile on your taxes. If you have alot of work related travel then the Mileage Tracker will still pay for itself ($314, plus $15 a month) . The good news about the buying price is (if you use it for work, and what else would you use it for), it could be tax deductable.

No more log files, scribblings, and the ability to get more tax money next year. Check it out at mileagelogger.com

www.Emusic.com/musicnews is a sponsor for one of my podcasts (the Music News Podcast) so I went over to check out the site. They have a ton of music there and you can get 35 songs for free. The trial ends in 14 days, and if you don't like it, you can cancel and keep the 35 free songs.

I logged in and found some of my favorite blues artists. Then I search for Sheryl Crow (no dice), and Metallica (no dice), why? Because their labels don't get it. You see emusic doesn't put DRM or ANYTHING to stop you r from burning it to a CD, etc. So the labels that use this service actually trust the consumer. What a concept.

So while I didn't find Sheryl, I did find Shannon Curfman. I loved Shannon's first CD (on a major label), but being that she has talent, she is no longer on that label. But her new label, and new CD are awesome (I've contacted her manager to get her on the Podsafe Music Network). I found Tommy Castro, Ray Charles, Robben Ford, and the North Mississippi Allstars. These are bands I used to purchase when I had "local" music stores. Those poor stores have been run out of town by the "Best Buys" of the world who now only carry 20 Blues CDS TOTAL. So finding, um, TALENTED artist at Best Buy is a struggle.

While I originally thought I would sign up, get my free music and cancel before my subscription started, I did the opposite and downloaded my 35 songs and then almost immediately signed up to get another 75 more. I also need to see how local musicians can get their music into emusic as there is a powerfull "If you like this artist chec kout this artist as well" feature that had me discovering all sorts of new music.

You can check out my "tour of emusic" at www.musicnewspodcast.net/tour or just go to www.emusic.com/musicnews to sign up today.

Journey's NEil Schon tirned to YouTube when he needed another singer (what are they on like singer #7 now?). He found a singer and sent him an e-mail. Now Journey is set to release a 3 Disc set (containing new songs and rerecordings of classics, plus a DVD) at Wal-Mart later this year.

FULL STORY

I interview John Waterman of the Bandit Newsletter where they get you in direct access to people who need your music There is no huge up front fee. You can actually get a free issue by entering your name and email into the form below.

In my last podcast I talked about handling constructive criticism, and how the best thing to do is NOT flame out on the reporter. Instead I said to ingore it. Why? Because there are people like the guy from Maxim magazine that gave the new Black Crowes CD 2 out of 5 stars. The interesting thing is - there is no way that he could listen to the whole album as it didn't exist yet. Maxim has released an official policy. Full story.