New Tunes

Joy #4

Four Months Today and A Free Download

Four months and still no word from Def Jam or Island Records. I have started contacting other record companies again. Hoping to hear back from Sub Pop.

I really need a breakthrough soon. I had to sell furniture to finish covering the rent a couple of months back, and I've been putting off getting new glasses for over six months. I thought I finally was able to get something as simple as that, but my car tags renewal notice came in the mail. That's top priority, so there went my glasses money for this month. Maybe next month, but I don't know. I have to take an extra $50 out of every paycheck (I get paid once a month) to cover taxes for next year. That pretty much takes all the extra I have after I pay bills. I have no debt, and I only have three bills to pay every month, so I'm actually in good shape that way, but I just don't make enough money. I sacrificed everything for music. It was and still is my passion. I just need a major breakthrough.

Some people have been telling me lately that my music is complete and utter crap; that I shouldn't bother waiting for a record deal, because it is never going to come. Maybe, but I was signed once with a former band and I'm way better than they ever were. I also toured for several years and even made it to England. If it could be done then, then it could definitely be done now!

I also contacted some recording studios in town to get my foot in the door some other way. Haven't heard back from anyone yet.

All this lack of interest, response, or even eagerness from others sure gets my hopes up (he says sarcastically). ...sigh....I really hope the naysayers are totally and completely wrong about me.

I've been reworking the post production on my most recent album, "The Lemon Revolution". It is less harsh, and has a warmer "feel" to the overall sound. I put together a meta album complete with artwork, lyrics, and artist notes. Here's a free link to download it. Please enjoy it and share it with everyone you know:  Buzzhead Republic - The Lemon Revolution

Three Months and Fifteen Days

It has now been three and a half months since I went to the Def Jam/ Island Records music showcase. I still have not heard back from anyone even though they said they would contact me. ....I don't know what to think. I just don't. I believe I'm really good, and I would only be better with the help of professionals. And, I know my sound is different, but I'm sure it has high market ability in Europe.

There have been times when I have felt like giving up, but I can't give up now. Not when I am this close. It has been hard though, to keep hanging on; and going through the same hard routine day in and day out, hoping against hope that it is just a matter of time. In trying to stay focused and positive I have been envisioning what I want.

This is what I see:

I quit my job as a janitor.
I am recording my first album with Island Records.
I am doing studio and production work for Def Jam.
I have the same producer that My Bloody Valentine had (and that Nine Inch Nails had on "The Fragile").
I am touring all over the world but primarily Europe promoting my new album.
I have multiple hit songs on the radio and music videos on MTV Europe and elsewhere.
I went to the dentist and didn't get turned away because I didn't have enough money.
I bought a car so I wouldn't have to borrow one anymore.
I hired a caregiver to help my disabled mom while I am gone on tour, and recording, and being busy with my career.
I am not a one hit wonder.
I have a life long career doing what I love.
I continue to use what I have been blessed with to bless others, but in even greater ways than before.

Those thoughts (and more personal ones) are what keep me going on. I know it will happen! It has to happen!

Here is a new song and video I finished today:

New Video: Goodbye To All That Was To Be

 This is pretty much what my life feels like right now.

Peace

One Crushed Melon

The One About Pay To Play

Well it's been two weeks since my last post and I thought I'd write a little about what's been going on with my music. As I said in a previous post, I have a really well produced album in the DIY sense. I have found out though, as I have been trying to figure out how not to have my album shelved indefinitely while I raise money for production, that the industry expects you, with today's technology, to present them with a professionally mastered and produced album. It is the least you could do in their eyes. As I have also said before, pay to play is a whole lot more expensive than it ever was. Kurt Cobain had nothing to complain about. He had it easy. So, just to protect my rights as an artist and get the privilege of being listened to by any professional in the industry, I need to do the following:

1) have my album mastered at a minimum cost of $890
2) get individual ISRC codes embedded into each track on the master copy, which I have a sneaking suspicion also costs something and therefore will bring the mastering cost up
3) buy a bar code for only $20. I wish everything else was this cheep. This allows someone to keep track of sales so that I know how many units are sold. Great, except I can't sell anything I don't have a record or distribution deal. I've been told you don't need to be signed to sell albums, but when you are a one man band it's kind of the only way to get your name out there. This bar code needs to be part of the artwork so I need to redo my album art.
4) I can get my album art done professionally, which I'm going to have to do (sorry Nate) because I have discovered that the sizing and design for the type of release I want to do is way to complicated for a DIY to look good. Cost for this is $1890 but may be higher due to the fact that this is a double album and I can't get a price quote because double albums are now considered custom jobs.
5) use Discmakers to produce the album and sell it online. The minimum cost for a professionally pressed album including the packaging and promotion (100 posters and 24 shirts) is $4494 and also may be higher because of it being "custom".
6) I also need to copyright this and register it. I have no idea what the cost is for this. Discmakers will probably help with this.

Grand total (and this is a minimum estimate): $7294

Now the sad part for those that don't know. I'm a janitor. I only take home $12,000 a year. Thankfully, I have no debt, but the cost of living takes about 3/4 of what I make per year. So if I can manage to have no additional expenses like new glasses, tires for my car (which isn't even mine, I'm borrowing it. I just have to take care of it.), oil changes, eating out, etc., etc. So if I do nothing and spend nothing extra than the minimum to live off of, then I will be able to save the money for the cost of this in two and a half years. Even sadder is I didn't include the six singles I wanted to release at the same time. Sadder still, I have to do this just so I can have an acceptable album to submit to the record labels. Submissions also cost anywhere from $4 for a chance to get played on an internet radio station to $79 for a guy from a major label to listen to it not for a potential record deal but for his critique. I'm not joking.

A Most Revolutionary Disappointment

I have been working on my double album A Most Revolutionary Lemon for nearly two years. I finished the recording and mastering part almost six weeks ago. The artwork was done about a month ago. I have six singles to go along with it too.

In the past I have made my albums as internet only mp3 releases, but this time I poured so much time and energy into this album that I wanted to make at least a hundred physical copies of it. It has taken several months to get all the material ready. I'm about halfway done with the packaging. I haven't been expecting to sell them very fast because I don't have a venue where I can sell them. I would sell Physical copies through the internet, but everyone wants money upfront to do this. I don't have enough disposable income to do something even as simple as that. Usually the starting level (for anything worthwhile to a musician) is a months wages or higher for me. To save up that kind of money with what little extra I have every month would take me at least two years. This is why I have only made internet releases until now. Like I said, I put too much into this album to make it an internet only release.

In addition to making physical copies I was still planning on releasing this the same I always had through the internet. That was through We7.com. They are a company that includes unsigned artists in their catalogue with signed artists. The idea being that it gives us unsigned artists a fair chance. We still had to pass a pier review before getting on the site, which I did. In short, it was my best chance to get noticed, because it didn't cost me anything (which I couldn't afford anyway), to get some of the exposure I needed.

Today I have found out that even though I am on We7.com I now have to submit all my new releases, not through the internet but in physical form, to somewhere in England, and if my release passes some new review then it will get to be released on the site that all my other music is already on. Maybe this will be a good thing in the end. I still have to read more about it, but from what I have read it looks like it is going to cost me, again, more than I can afford.

So what it looks like right now is I have an amazing double album and six singles that may get shelved indefinitely. Obviously, I'm a little ticked off. There is nothing left that I can do except save my money for the next two years, hope no one steals my truly original and unique sound (I'm not kidding)in the meantime, and trust that God will take care of it. Really, at this point, only He can do something. He has done amazing things in the past. I can attest to that. Sometimes it's hard though to realize you are helpless without Him.