Articles

You know what they say – longevity matters. Or something like that. In any case, longevity does matter in the music business. As a veteran of many bands myself, I realize a band is essentially a musical house of cards,…

At OnlineRock, we received around 50 to 100 CDs every month from artists and PR firms looking to get some sort of coverage. These packages include anything from just the CD to elaborate photographs and multi-paged biographies. Some include candy,…

I apologize for my lack of postings lately. I’ve had a few projects over the summer that have limited my ability to stay in touch as much as I wanted to. Things have pretty much cleared up now so I…

A few weeks ago I went to see the Winterpills perform at Café Du Nord in San Francisco. The setting was perfect, the acoustics were great, and their sound was really dialed in. One problem, though. Some blabbermouth behind me…

Well, I’ve recently returned from another stint of networking, partying and ear bleeding at SXSW (the only way to do Texas). As usual, the week was a blast. But as I took in dozens of bands in nearly as many…

Neil Young is one of those artists that amazes me each time I see him and he did it again when I saw him at the Nokia Live Theater in Los Angeles on Tuesday night. The structure of the show…

It’s that time of year again. When the days grow longer, birdsong fills the air, and I prepare for my upcoming trip to Austin, TX for the South by Southwest Music Conference and Festival (SXSW), March 12-16. This will be…

I don’t know if this is the case where you are, but the Bay Area’s major newspaper, the San Francisco Chronicle, is giving short shrift to the region’s pop music scene. It’s sad to see, as the Bay Area has…

After returning from Sierra Leone, the US State Department asked me to go back to Africa and talk to musicians about the industry. I thoroughly enjoyed my travels to Sierra Leone so I signed on.  After about thirty hours of…

About three months ago I was asked to travel to Sierra Leone to speak and participate in a conference entitled “Moving the Music Industry Forward”.  The trip was sponsored by the US State Department and was the second time I’ve…