Today’s interview is with Lee Parsons co-founder of Ditto Music.

Ditto Music is a digital music distribution company with offices in Liverpool and Nashville. As CEO of Ditto Music Lee Parsons overseas distribution and marketing campaigns for over 20,000 worldwide artists including Suzi Quatro, Finch, Lil Wayne, Prince, Sir Paul McCartney and Kid British. Starting from their bedrooms in 2007 Lee and His brother Matt launched the first ever unsigned artist into the UK Top 40 singles chart which got them into the Guinness Book Of World Records. Ditto Music have now had 11 UK top 40 singles, all with unsigned artists. Ditto have since been hailed by The Guardian and The Independent as a serious threat to the domination of major labels and launched their own TV show on Sky. Lee spends his time in between Ditto’s US and UK offices overseeing projects, speaking at events and opening new doors for independent artists.

The interview was conducted at the Ditto US office on Music Row in Nashville Tennessee. We had been talking for some time however I met Lee a couple days before at a music industry gathering for drinks and appetizers. When Lee walked in everybody stopped what they were doing to greet him, he’s just a magnetic type of guy, you can tell when he enters the room. Just an observation. I like to pay attention to people’s personalities, mannerisms, and facial expressions when I meet in person. In my quest to find out what it takes to rise “Above The Noise” everything needs to be taken into account!

I hope you all enjoy our conversation as much as I did. Lee shares a ton of insight on how he built his career and of course there is always a lot to learn from the experiences of others!

If you are releasing your album and are looking for distribution, Ditto Music come with my highest recommendation!

Aaron Bethune. Music Specialist. Creative Collaborator.

www.playitloudmusic.com  www.abovethenoise.ca  @playitloudmusic

Interview with Lee Parsons

To learn more about Lee and his company Ditto Music please check out:

www.dittomusic.com

@CEOleeparsons

Lee’s LinkedIn

Today’s Interview is with vocal coach extraordinaire, Brett Manning. Brett has worked with many well known artists including Taylor Swift, Hayley Williams, Keith Urban, Wes Hampton and has also coached several Grammy and CMA Award winners, as well as recent Broadway casts of Les Miserables, Jekyll & Hyde and Elton John’s Aida.

Brett is the author of the “Singing Success” a “learn at home” vocal training program. Manning currently runs a vocal studio on Music Row in Nashville TN “Brett Manning Studios” where he teaches along with his associate teachers Shelby Rollins, Jeff Mathena and Jason Catron. Brett teaches his vocal techniques through seminars and workshops around the world. In 2008 Manning was featured as a vocal coach and judge on CMT’s television talent search, Can You Duet.

The interview was conducted at Robbie’s house, a mutual friend in Franklin. Robbie was somebody I chance met a month or so ago on my way out of a coffee shop after just meeting with Tom Jackson. I kept up the communication and headed back to Tennessee to strengthen the connection. It was Robbie that set up the meeting with Brett. Lately the interviews have been really leading themselves to the next person and I have been happy to follow where they lead me!

I hope you enjoy this one and the insights that Brett has to share.

Aaron Bethune. Music Specialist. Creative Collaborator.

www.playitloudmusic.com  www.abovethenoise.ca  @playitloudmusic

Interview with Brett Manning

For more information on Brett and Singing Success please visit his websites:

www.singingsuccess.com

www.brettmanningstudios.com

Today’s model seder is at the Tucson Jewish Community Center at their preschool.  It is so much fun, because we actually re-enact the story in a very preschool friendly kind of a way.  We have a baby Moses in a basket from one of the infant rooms, and my husband dresses up as grown up Moses every year, too.  The hilarity of it all makes it fun for the kids and so special for all of us to put on.

Last year, I wrote a guest blog for the Tucson JCC on child-friendly seders.  Rather than reinvent the wheel, today I’m going to redirect you to that blog post for the song of the day.  The Tucson JCC offers incredible programs, and the ECE model seder and the Chocolate Seder (Click HERE for more info) are two of my favorites.

So, check out my April 2012 guest blog post, “When You Believe,” by clicking on this link:  http://www.tucsonjcc.org/2012/04/when-you-believe/

Happy Passover season to all who celebrate!

Today it is my pleasure to be speaking with a true Jazz legend, trumpet player, composer and record label owner, Dave Douglas.

This is an occasions where I am getting to interview somebody I studied when I was in music school, somebody who in his field is a total celebrity. I was very humbled yet excited when Dave said he would like to be on the podcast.

From the perspective of the business side of music I am curious to find out some of the differences between the jazz world and the commercial world. How artists are heard above the noise in a genre that requires being a master of your instrument, and the focus is entirely on the music.

Dave and I talk about improvisation, music education, the perspective of time, collaborations, getting in the zone, what is success, his latest work, what’s to come in 2013, and much more.

This is also the first podcast to feature a track, so be sure to check out “Be Still My Soul” off the “Be Still” album.

DAVE DOUGLAS is a prolific trumpeter, composer and educator from New York City. His unique contributions to improvised music have garnered distinguished recognition some of which includes a Guggenheim Fellowship, Aaron Copland award and Grammy-nominations. Douglas has developed his work for several unique ensembles with whom he’s currently active including his quintet, electric sextet Keystone, Brass Ecstasy, Sound Prints Quintet, co-led with Joe Lovano. His new Quintet released their debut recording, Be Still, in September 2012 with singer Aoife O’Donovan, the first time Douglas has featured a vocalist on a recording. Since 2005, Douglas has operated his own record label, Greenleaf Music, releasing his own recordings, albums by other artists in the jazz idiom, and continues to prove himself as a forward-thinking leader in the realm of digital music distribution. He served as artistic director of the Workshop in Jazz and Creative Music at The Banff Centre in Canada 2002 through 2012 and is co-founder and director of the Festival of New Trumpet Music, which celebrates its tenth anniversary in 2013.

Aaron Bethune. Music Specialist. Creative Collaborator.

www. playitloudmusic.com & www.abovethenoise.ca  & @playitloudmusic

Interview with Dave Douglas:

For more information and music releases please visit:

www.davedouglas.com

www.greenleafmusic.com

@dave_douglas

In 1995 he met Scott Weiland and the two became friends. In 1998 he partnered with Scott to form Lavish studios (Burbank Ca) At the same time the two began collaborating and writing together. One of the first songs they wrote together “Big Black Monster” is featured on the newest Weiland solo record “Happy in Galoshes” it is one of 16 songs Grean co-wrote on the record as well as co-producing, engineering, mixing and playing guitar, bass, lap steel, banjo and keyboards. Grean also plays in Weiland’s solo band and acts as his musical director.

In 2005 Doug Grean appeared on the 47 th annual Gammy awards with Velvet Revolver as keyboardist performing with an allstar cast including Stevie Wonder, Norah Jones, Bono, Steven Tyler, Brian Wilson and Allison Kraus.

Doug Grean has worked or performed with many talented artist including. Sheryl Crow, Riki Lee Jones, Glen Campbell, Stone Temple Pilots, Scott Weiland, Slash, Velvet Revolver, Tim Mcgraw, Cindi Lauper, Annabella Lwin (Bow Wow Wow), Corey Glover (Living Color), The Crystal Method, Camp Freddy, DJ Hurricane and John Taylor (Duran Duran).

Between his own career and those of the people he has surrounded himself with, I want to find out what he feels the key to success has been and how to be heard above the noise!

Aaron Bethune. Music Specialist.

Interview with Doug Grean

You can visit Doug’s site here: www.douglasgrean.com

Today I am talking with Nashville based music and technology entrepreneur Mark Montgomery.

Mark is a pioneer in the e-commerce and business to consumer marketing space. Over the past 15 years, he has worked with hundreds of entertainment and corporate clients, including names like Sony, Kanye West, Keith Urban, RIM/Blackberry, His Holiness the Dalai Lama, Bon Jovi, Pearl Jam, Best Buy, Gnarls Barkley, Rascal Flatts, and General Motors to name a few.

Mark has been working in the web space since the early 90′s, launching his first B2C ecommerce play in early 1996. In 1999, he co-founded echo, a company focused on building communities around entertainment brands. He was the co-creator of the patented platform echotools™, a direct to consumer delivery and data management system which ultimately grew to serve millions of users and distribute hundreds of millions of pages, data feeds, and e-commerce transactions. In 2007, the company was acquired by Barry Diller’s IAC/Ticketmaster for eight figures.

A winner of multiple “Best in Business” awards, as well as “Entrepreneur of the Year” in 2007, Mark is a frequent keynote speaker and panelist in the US and Europe for corporate functions as well as conferences on a variety of topics.

He recently founded FLO {a thinkery}, and maintains his role as the Entrepreneur in Residence for Claritas Capital, headquartered in Nashville, Tennessee. Along with his EIR role, he holds several board seats in the profit and not for profit companies. In addition, he maintains a small list of consulting clients focused on overall strategy, business development, branding, and technology initiatives.
Aaron Bethune. Music Specialist.

Interview with Mark

To learn more about Mark:

Personal Website: www.hellomarko.com

Company Website: www.findyourflo.com

Since 2005, David Hayman has led a strong team of music supers at Toronto’s Vapor Music but has now left to start up his own shop SUPERSONIC CREATIVE + CONSULTING who’s clients include Coca-Cola, McDonalds, Hershey’s, Buick and other top brands, and networks like ABC, NBC, CTV and Global television.

David has had great success working with some of the worlds most impressive brands, including Coca-Cola, Nike, Ford, Budweiser, Right To Play, P&G, and every mobile company to name a few. David was an integral part of the team that created the phenomenon that was “Dove Evolution,” and the campaign for real beauty. David also divides his time working on feature films, new media ventures and supervising music for A-list televisions series like HBO’s “Less Than Kind” and CBC’s hit comedy series “The Kids In The Hall – Death Comes To Town”. David is also lead music supervisor on the new Ubi-Soft video game “Shaun White Skateboarding.”

Last year David supervised the music on a feature film called “Textuality” where he produced five inventive covers of popular tracks featuring Ron Sexsmith (“Since I Don’t Have You”), The Midway State (“True”), Chali 2Na of Jurassic 5 (Rump Shaker), Aceyalone & Treasure Davis (Hit The Road Jack), which is being hailed by the Ray Charles Foundation as “the greatest cover of Hit The Road Jack ever”. He also supervised “Bang Bang Club”, “Don’t You forget About Me” and “The Whistleblower” in 2011. David is currently working on the film “Old Stock” and recently competed his work on the films “Love Me” and “Hiding”.

Follow David on Twitter: @davidhueyhayman
Visit David’s website: www.supersoniccreative.com

Aaron Bethune. Music Specialist.
Interview with David Hayman

This week’s podcast is with Cameo Carlson, music industry mogul. Get out your notepad and start taking notes, there is a ton of great information here!

Cameo Carlson is currently head of digital business development at Borman Entertainment, a management company that takes care of artists including country stars Keith Urban and Lady Antebellum.

Cameo has been at the forefront of the digital music revolution from its earliest stages. Billboard Magazine named her one of the industry’s top mobile executives.

She has been involved in radio, from terrestrial to online, and was the rock and alternative music director for AOL Music. She spent three years as manager of label relations and music programming at iTunes and has been the executive VP of Universal MoTown Republic where her role included mobile, online and digital sales, promotions and business development for artists such as Drake, Amy Winehouse, Lil Wayne, and Jack Johnson to name a few.

With Lil Wayne, she made the rare move of releasing six songs from “Tha Carter III” as individual downloads on iTunes before the album was released, using the “Complete My Album” feature to drive album sales. The result: 52% of his digital album sales came as a result of “Complete My Album” purchases.

She has been responsible for three of the 10 biggest digital albums in history as well as breaking mobile ringtone records for first week sales, top-selling of all time and number of multi-platinum sales. To say Cameo can share some insight into the current industry is putting it lightly!

We talk about all kinds of things including digital strategy, how to engage fans depending on the music genre, how to get featured on the front page of iTunes, and a whole lot more!

Aaron Bethune. Music Specialist.

Interview with Cameo Carlson

To learn more and follow Cameo please visit these sites:

Twitter

LinkedIn

I was first in touch with David after reading a book he co-wrote on Music Supervision, a book I recommend everyone interested in music supervision. With a vast background in the music industry ranging from working at Myles Copeland’s label I.R.S. (the first to sign REM) to running SonicScoop in NYC, David has a ton of knowledge when it comes to music and it’s business. David is intensely involved with the NYC music scene and knows what it takes to be “Heard Above The Noise” in the Big Apple. He shares a ton of great information in this interview!

Aaron Bethune

www.playitloudmusic.com

Our conversation includes:

• How we use words to sell our music
• Where is the money in the music industry?
• The future of the music industry
• The power of the mind and how we create our future.

David Weiss is President of D Media, Inc. (www.dwords.com) and is an internationally published freelance journalist. He is the former NYC editor of Mix magazine, the world’s leading pro audio publication, and his work has appeared regularly in publications such as Systems Contractor News, Archi-Tech, Digital Television, TV Technology, Time Out NY, Remix and Drum! magazine. He is also co-author of the book Music Supervision: The Complete Guide to Selecting and Licensing Music & Sound Design for Media, published by Schirmer Trade Books in September, 2005.

Mr. Weiss is a music supervisor for retail, restaurant and hospitality environments, guiding content and music management systems while working with one of New York City’s premiere A/V integrators, Essential Communications.

In addition, Mr. Weiss is the founder of D Media, Inc. a marketing/PR consultancy for the pro audio, broadcast, A/V, music and fiber optic industries. Clients have included the NYC video editing facility Rhinoceros, communications firm Marcomm Group for clients including Canon, Ikegami, Chyron, Videotek, Vinten, and D Data, fiber optic carrier Q Media, A/V specialists Essential Communications, and post house Planet V.

Interview with David Weiss

When it comes to music marketing, Michael Brandvold is a name that constantly comes up, he is a music marketing master!

This particular interview is from a while ago, however with the recent release of Michael’s FREE e-Book I thought it couldn’t be released at a better time.

There are a lot of valuable music marketing tips shared in this podcast so you might want to listen to it more than once! 

Aaron Bethune

Michael Brandvold is a freelance music industry consultant based in Northern California. Having launched Michael Brandvold Marketing to leverage his years of experience to provide direction to large and small clients in the areas of online & social marketing as well as e-commerce and customer acquisition and retention.

Gene Simmons of KISS first tapped Michael’s skills as a pioneering online marketing strategist to launch and manage all aspects of Kissonline.com’s multi-million dollar enterprise, including their ground-breaking VIP ticket program.

Michael has also managed the online efforts for Motley Crüe, Rod Stewart, Ozzy Osbourne, Madonna and Britney Spears to name only a few.

Michael is also a advisor to a couple start-ups . He has been a speaker or panelist at many events across the country, including SXSW Interactive, California Music Industry Summit, Quicktime Live, NARM, The Conclave, Driven Music Conference and NARIP.

http://www.michaelbrandvold.com
http://www.playitloudmusic.com

But rather than shedding a tear, I’d be more inclined to smile and raise a big glass of ‘who gives a fuck’. Why? Because for me it deserves to go bust. And why? Because the people that run it lost sight of the real value in its chain, if they ever even realised in the first place.

Frankly, I doubt they ever did: the music (and then film) market was a pretty easy cash cow to milk for many years – it wasn’t rocket science. So, when the heat went on in the noughties, just like with Tower Records (RIP 2006) and Our Price (RIP 2004), it all started to collapse. HMV has held on to the rail the longest, but that grip is really slipping. Won’t be long now.

Am I a twisted former employee? Hardly. I had a few weeks as a HMV Christmas temp in the 90s and had a nice time, right up until I got a better offer (ie, a permanent post) at another retailer (not a record shop). I bear no grudge and worked with some nice people; I can’t remember having a single unpleasant experience while I was there.

Am I a twisted former rival? Hardly that either. I spent five years at Our Price Music (or just Our Price, depending on your age), with HMV being our biggest competitor, but beyond being sent out to price check on occasion, my subterfuge went no further. In fact, I came away from my music retail years with better friends from the local HMV stores than I did the Our Price ones, thanks to workers from both stores drinking in the same pubs post-work (such as good friend and fellow blogger Exile On Main Street).

So what am I then? Just another former member of retail staff who would probably still be doing it if the business paid a living wage (well, living for anyone who doesn’t want to live like a student, or with their parents). And that’s where the point comes in: what HMV, Our Price, Tower, Andy’s Records, you name them, all missed – it was their staff they should have valued beyond all else, rather than paying them peanuts, ignoring their wisdom and chasing pure profit.

High street retail has historically had two things going for it: customer interaction and product interaction. But importantly, until the interweb, it also had a pretty captive audience (if you take away a small percentage for phone orders, catalogues etc) which led to a certain amount (read: massive) of greediness and complacency.

This is why soon, all we’ll be left with are cafes, chicken shops, opticians and tourist tat shops. To that you can add the kind of places that simply don’t convert online so well, or that are more immediate impulse stores: for example, newsagents, tailors, or antique/curiosity and charity shops.

High street stores, like the music industry in the case of downloads, is looking to blame anyone and everyone except themselves. But the truth is simple: the internet is cheaper, due largely to lower overheads (ie, no shops), which means the likes of HMV are forced to fall back on the tactile nature of their stores and the service/expertise given by their frontline staff – oops.

If you’re currently working at HMV and giving good customer service (I know people that are), good on you – I’m certainly not wishing to criticise individuals, or tar the name of music store staff in general. What I’m saying is, Mr HMV, how much better do you think they’d be as employees if you invested in them, paid them a decent wage, listened to them; basically valued them?

When I started at Our Price, around 1990, the terrible money was tempered by a series of benefits I felt made it worthwhile. While being encouraged to play things we didn’t know anything about, we took it in turns to choose what to play within reason (no swearing, popular stuff at lunchtimes and on Saturdays). I got a musical education that I feel has really benefitted my life.

While we were working for a chain with more than 200 stores, there was still a feeling of independence. The vast majority of ordering was done in store, reps visited weekly to sell in new releases – we even made up our own charts.  That Beta Band moment in High Fidelity – that kind of thing went on with regularity and made you happy to do the job.

But over time, all those parts of the job that actually felt like perks dried up. We started being sent compilations from head office to play at lunchtimes, alongside charts to put up. Ordering become more and more centralised, reps dried up and a good range was replaced with computer games. We lost vinyl too, despite still selling a good amount – company policy, we were told.

So as we turned into till monkeys, with more and more limited chances to improve our knowledge on the job, the promos and fun went too. I’m sure those on high would’ve argued all these measures were necessary because the old model wasn’t working, but I think the fact the company soon folded with a whimper would suggest making their staff miserable and centralising the chain into total and complete blandness wasn’t the answer.

Recently conversing with two staffers in my local HMV was a pretty depressing venture. I don’t get the feeling of ‘music specialist’ that record stores used to strive for; it was closer to lowest common denominator. Sure, the haircuts screamed ‘music fan’ but the teenage frumpiness screamed ‘I don’t care’ even louder. Their attitude, demeanour and lack of verve tells you most of them won’t be around long – because they have no value in their job, in their company, in their ability to make a difference. And that’s a shame.

Compare it to the experience you’ll get in John Lewis, where employees are invested in the company, or to a retailer where expertise is taught and valued – a proper optician, or a tailor – to see what I mean.

If high street retail wants to get off its knees, it needs to stop feeling sorry for itself, stop cutting corners, and wake up to the fact that the only advantage it can possibly have over online shopping is a friendly smile, a knowledgeable recommendation, a cup of coffee, an enjoyable environment to shop in plus every chance to listen, touch, read etc. And it’s your staff who can do the former, and tell you how to do the latter.

HMV – you had a plan and it didn’t work. As the song so rightly says, rip it up and start again. And if you don’t believe me, just ask your staff and find out how many of them know who wrote that lyric. You might be horrified by the answer.

Every time I write my own little blurb in between interviews I find myself thinking about the “other” side of success, the role of the mind!

I have a son who is going to be two in December and when it came time to choosing his name the whole topic of “does the name make the person or does the person make the name…” came up. Now, I have a friend who’s called Rocky and his brother is called Harley and, as the name might suggest, they are two big, muscular guys. One is a bodybuilder and the other is a rugby player. The thought is, did their names shape their lives or were they destined to be born with names that would perfectly suit their beings…? One would suggest we get to become who we want and the other would suggest things are pre-determined…

It may appear sometimes that a person is pre-determined to excel at certain things and that what is a struggle for one is effortless for another. What is clear in my mind is that you get to make decisions and choices as to who you want to be!

When it comes to success it seems that successful people know what they want and don’t give up until they reach their goals. Even the interviews I post here have that in common: every one made a conscientious decision to make their career in the music industry and none of them have ever given up.

If you commit yourself wholeheartedly and believe that what you are doing is the right thing, chances are it is! If you know what you want, you have a goal and are committed to obtaining it then sooner or later it happens!

My point of this little rant is that you have to commit to success, you have to go out and get it, for the most part it doesn’t come find you and it certainly doesn’t come to the people who give up easily!

Aside from making the right business decisions, crafting the best marketing campaign, let alone writing your “hit” song you have to have mentally decided to be successful in the career path you choose. You would be surprised at how many people think they want something but when it finally starts to come their way they are afraid of what they wished for. I call it fear of the summit.

Here is my story of fearing the summit. I’ll be short:)

In January 2001 I was the youngest climber on Cerro Aconcagua. It is one of the 7 summits and the highest in the world outside of Asia. I have always had a passion for mountaineering and adventure and had spent the 6 months prior to the expedition working my ass off to be in the best physical condition possible. I was living in Spain at the time and the Picos de Europa mountain range was my backyard. Everyday I would run 18km, hike up a mountain with rocks or bottles of water in my backpack, practice martial art breathing techniques, even top it off somedays with a vigorous mountain bike trail. (I will add that it was thanks to my location that I was able to get this much training in as well as make a living!). My point is I worked really hard, always focusing on the summit and imagining myself reaching it. Skip ahead to the Andes mountains in Argentina. I remember after days on the mountain finally coming in sight of the summit. The feeling that I got was of fear, I suddenly realized that I had spent so much time focusing on getting to the summit that I had never envisioned complete success… getting back down again. I had trained to get there, not to get back. The idea that what I had been dreaming of was actually becoming a reality was overwhelming and I wasn’t sure after all if I wanted it to be any more than a dream. What happened after that moment was nothing short of an adventure, and every moment I spent in the Andes has been nothing but a life learning experience. I learned that if you put one foot in front of the other, no matter how slow it can take, no matter how many times you have to stop to try and breathe, you can get to where you want to go (and back!). However, if you don’t visualize yourself reaching your goals, decide before you even begin that you won’t give up no matter what, and above all believe in what you are doing and that you are ALREADY doing it, then you won’t make it!

A bit of a spiel but my point is that mental success is just as important as the physical. In this business if you are not strong in the mind you will be weak everywhere else!

Not everybody is going to agree with what you do, however running with the herd isn’t going to make you stand out. It is the people that are successful that take the biggest risks, make the biggest statements and end up standing out above the noise. If you believe in yourself everyone else will too! And if you’re lucky the herd will follow you!

Aaron Bethune
www.playitloudmusic.com