I Wanna Get On MTV!!! (…or Much Music)

Been awhile, sorry!  Busy, but here we go…head first!

When I was younger I discovered a LOT of music through videos.  Note, there was no interweb tubes at the time, so these videos were shown on these shows or stations that played videos ALL THE TIME!  MuchMusic was my drug, and I could only watch it at my Grandmas since she had cable and we didn’t.  I also had Video Hits, which if I rushed home after school and after school activities I could catch.

Through Video Hits I was able to keep up with the times, fell in love with Janet Jackson’s ‘Rhythm Nation,’ knew of Men Without Hats and Corey Hart’s comeback attempts (‘play the geetar‘…’A little love will make it alright, a little love will make your heart go BANG BANG‘)

Through MuchMusic, I discovered AMAZING music!  The Wedge introduced me to Underworld.  I even (somehow) discovered an amazing indie celtic folk band named Imaginary Heaven.

Because they used to play all kinds of music.  And FULL videos.  They had an annual celebration of the worst videos called ‘Fromage.’  It was a station devoted to video and music.

I am NOT saying that the new MuchMusic is bad.  It’s different.  It’s not about the music videos anymore.  People watch videos on YouTube.

…but…and this is where I was getting…most artists still believe getting their music on MuchMusic (or MTV, or VH1, or whatever…) is a major step in making the big time.  Many of these artists remember MuchMusic from the 80s and 90s.  Many remember the rock videos, the weird videos, the unique artists.

MuchMusic, like radio, is for a very VERY specific kind of artist.  Want proof?  Here are the videos added this week to MuchMusic:

…

Oh…erm, I guess that won’t help.  Nothing was added!  Want to see what’s playing in general?

• Kimbra – Warrior
• Kreesha Turner – Love Again
• Maroon 5 f. Wiz Khalifa – Payphone
• Ed Sheeran – The A Team
• Emile Sande – Next To Me
• Faber Drive – Do It In Hollywood
• Far East Movement f. Tyga – Dirty Bass
• LMFAO – Sorry For Party Rocking
• Olly Murs – Dance With Me Tonight
• Selena Gomez & The Scene – Hit The Lights

I’ll be honest, I don’t know half these people!  And MuchMore, which used to be more of an ‘Adult Contemporary’ thing, pretty much plays the same music.  Just less of it.  Which is ironic…since it’s called MuchMore…

These videos are polished, cost a LOT of money, and there isn’t much space for new music by new bands.  You’ll also notice…there really isn’t much in the way of rock, or folk…or anything other than straight-up pop.

If you want your video to be seen…your best bet is to take the effortless approach: put it on YouTube and tell your fans!  If it’s good, people will spread it around.

If you want your video on Much, or MTV (which doesn’t even play videos), or anything like that here’s my advice:

• Watch MuchMusic and find out who directed the videos
• Get in touch with one of them and hire them to do your video
• Make your video look like all the others on Much right now
• Hope that it’s good enough to get by the major label and major indies who are also battling for one of the…well, zero spots available…

…or make a clever, unique video that your fans will love, and put it online for them.

One last thing…ask yourself: do fans of your music sit and watch MuchMusic all day waiting for videos to come on?  If your answer is no…stop thinking about it!

Final comment: I actually like MuchMusic the way it is now…of course I miss the old days of Videoflows and music discovery, but YouTube is a HUGE Videoflow.  If you accept Much and MTV for what they are, they’re doing a great job.  They’re supplying entertainment for their audience, and suiting the times while doing it.

If you wanna keep up with me more often than once every couple of weeks, Twitter is your best bet: @Potoroo.  I’m also on Facebook…if you find me, I’ll add you and give you a cookie too!

Now Is A Great Time To Reunite

One can dream...

We laugh.  We scratch our heads.  We reminisce.  We compare new to old.  We wonder ‘Why now?’  We think ‘They must need the money!’

A million thoughts go through the music-lovers brainmeats when a band reunites.  Maybe it’s because the band wasn’t that popular to begin with, maybe it’s because they were SO popular it was shocking when they broke up, maybe because they broke up so violently it’s shocking there were pieces to put back together!

But it’s a fact of life.  Bands break up.  Bands reunite.  Months…years…decades later.  Or, if not reunite…re-emerge.  Different band members, usually the same front man (or woman!)

Some are very exciting.  At least for me.  Toad the Wet Sprocket is one of my high school bands…I have all their albums, know all their songs.  Sunny Day Real Estate got back together, but I missed it because I’m dumb and wasn’t watching to see…well, if they would get back together!  At The Drive-In are back together.  I don’t want to miss that when it comes through town.

YES!

The Get Up Kids…I saw their last show in Toronto…and now they’re back together.  I saw Toads last show in Toronto as well…I was semi-disappointed at their reunion.  That show was EMOTIONAL!!!  How could they ruin it by playing music again!?!  SHEESH!

The Cranberries.  They’re on the cover of one of our free daily papers today.  ’Back with the lads’ the headline reads.  I’m listening to their new album right now.

Bush got back together last year…well, Gavin’s back out leading the band.  Full-disclosure…they actually came to my company to do their radio.  It seems to have paid off.  Maybe you’ve heard a little song called ‘The Sound Of Winter’?  If not…you aren’t listening to rock radio…because it went to #1 on the charts!

Recently, I was lucky enough to sit in on a listening event for a new album…from The Cult…yes, that The Cult.

I'm sorry...what are you selling again?

Now is a GREAT time to reunite.  People seem to want some familiarity.  The 90s (and 80s) kids want their music back.  And radio, the media…people are paying attention.

If you were in a popular band in the 90s, hell even if it was just regional or maybe just in your local town…get back together!  Now!  I see it as a once-in-a-generation opportunity, because many people are disheartened by music today.

They shouldn’t be…there’s GREAT music out there.  It just can’t get any attention because no one knows where to look, who to trust, what to believe.  Every band has ‘hype,’ every band is ‘the next big thing.’  There’s no central source for music.  MTV and Much don’t play music anymore.  YouTube can’t tell you much except what tween girls like.

I am falling in love with dozens of bands in all genres these days and none will get play on their respective genre radio stations.  I shouldn’t say none…let’s say the chances are slim.  A blogger might love them, doesn’t mean the next will.

But…if you’re a name from the big label days…who used to have posters up all over town, videos on Much or MTV, songs on the radio, t-shirts sold in mall kiosks…you have a fighting chance!

I’ve never seen City and Colour on a free daily newspaper despite hitting #2 on the charts, having a best selling album, going platinum…but the Cranberries.  Their album came out today, the first in 11 years.  And they’re on the front page.

The point I’m getting at…despite our best judgement, I think 80s and 90s kids miss the days of the big labels, the price gouging, the cassette and the cd.  Everyone knew every artist with an album on new release day because there was SO…MUCH…PROMOTION!

That, or we need a trustworthy source for music to emerge again.  Where GOOD music gets the spotlight, and we don’t have to spend all our time scouring the internet hoping to stumble on something great.  There are good sources out there…but I don’t trust them.

NOT THAT I TRUSTED MUCH MUSIC!  Or any kind of enterprise that tried its best to avoid biting the fingers of the major labels as they fed them table scraps in exchange for airplay.  Things are so fractured there’s no one place to look.  To sift through the thousands and thousands of new albums that come out each week and give them a fighting chance.

Maybe it’s better that way, though.  It allows for discovery, ownership, and word of mouth distribution.  It means that the trustworthy source are your friends, your group of friends who bring you what they find in exchange for you doing the same.

And it also allows the bands from our childhoods to surprise us every so often by appearing on the front page of a paper, announcing their return.

Maybe it’s time to get Brillohead back together again…hmmm…

What Radio and Video Want

I wish I ran a radio station…also, a music video network.  I’d like to think my choices would be pretty good, that the music would rock, that opportunities would be given to people who created unique and original music.

Thing is…I know I wouldn’t be able to.  In the end, the bills need to be paid.  Broadcasters don’t exist to play music…they exist to sell ads.  And to do this they need to make sure people are watching and listening.  Experimental folk is unlikely to keep the status quo glued to their seat.

It would keep me…and I’d probably become loyal to any business who advertised during the ‘Experimental Folk’ hour.  But I’m not status quo.  I’m abnormal.

Selling ads.  That’s the whole reason…that’s why stations let television shows interrupt the commercial break, and why radio lets songs get in the way of yet another ‘Two people having a conversation that ends with a cheesy punchline’ ads.  Because they know we aren’t listening for ads, we’re listening for entertainment…so really, it’s a big trick.  A ruse!  …roos?  Hmmm…

What do video stations want?  Easy…I’m going to tell you right now, before you spend $2000 on a video that you KNOW will make it on MTV:

THEY WANT YOU TO SPEND MORE THAN $2000!!!

Imagine if you watched videos all day.  You would know a cheap production (even if it’s masked by a clever premise and amazing help from your friend who does colour correction for network television) from a big budget.  Picture the video you want to make sandwiched between this:

And this:

That’s what they’re looking for.  Something that fills the gap.  Obviously, you can’t spend $2,000,000 on your video.  But they are looking for more than just creativity in what you’re filming.  They want POST-production.  Is it broadcast ready, sharp…as a co-worker asks ‘Does it sparkle.’  If you’re serious about getting on Much Music or making an impact with a video do your research: who is directing videos that are getting on TV (in Canada, look at Canadian bands who are making it to air).  That’s the level you have to aim for.

Now…for radio…there are important things to remember as well:

• If you’re a pop artist, again…EXPECT TO SPEND A LOT OF MONEY!
• If you’re a rock artist, expect a battle (even to make it on your local rock station)
• If you’re a unique, creative artist…don’t expect to get airplay anywhere

The Foster the People’s, Mumford and Sons’ and Adele’s of the world are few and far between.  They started as bands and musicians unlikely to make it to radio.  They lucked out.  You could too…thing is, I doubt for most artist’s like this, that radio was a goal.

Writing to get on radio is not the way to go…write music that you want to write, and if it’s good, radio will come (…once you’ve built a fanbase, and online presence, and have played many shows, and worked very hard).

It always comes back to the same thing, in my humble opinion…good song, good attitude, and hard (smart) work is what leads to success.  And if it doesn’t lead to success, who cares, you have a good song and feel good about it!

Success shouldn’t be measured in radio spins and video adds.  When you’re successful, you’ll know.