Author Archives: Grand Poobah

How Do You Make Money From Music?

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Being a musician these days is kinda complicated …

The Future of Music Coalition (FMC) is conducting an online survey from September 6 to October 28 called “How Do You Make Money From Music?” as part of the Artists Revenue Streams project. The FMC is collecting information how musicians and composers generate income these days and how this has changed over the past five years. Material World Alert: Participants are eligible to win prizes, like an iPad or gift certificate.

If you are a US-based musician (any genre) and are 18 years of age or older, you can participate anonymously.

In 2012, FMC will be sharing the data with policymakers , organizations, arts advocates and musicians. Call me Pollyanna, but maybe this will lead to wise decisions by our fair leaders in Congress ….

Find out more about the Future of Music Coalition at their upcoming Policy Summit

 

Songs for September 11

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Many of my musician friends will be singing today in remembrance of our fellow Americans who were mass-murdered by criminal cowards on 9-11-01.

Here is some background info on songs you might want to add to your repertoire:  Songs for September 11, 2011

Footnote: I am fascinated by how many of our beloved patriotic songs were written by folks with a connection to the church…and also how many of the tunes were borrowed from the popular (i.e. pop) culture at the time.

Future of Music Policy Summit

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Future of Music Poicy Summit

I’ve been attending the Future of Music Policy Summit 2011 for a number of years – it is a great way to network with other musicians, policymakers, arts and media representatives, technology pros, and industry figures to discuss issues at the intersection of music, technology, policy and law. If you attend, you can find out about current trends and try to figure out what career moves you might make during the next year. .

There are scholarships for working musicians.

Musicians – Learn This…Then Contact Congress

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Hard Times Come Again No More by Stephen C. Foster (1854)

Sing Out: Please sing this song. If you are a musician, please perform it and teach it to others.
Take Action: Tell your Congressional leaders that you’ve added this song to your repertoire, and you are giving out their contact information at your gigs.  Real Americans are really suffering. Ask him/her to stand up and LEAD! Contact Congress
Not good with words? Don’t know what to say? Try this…
Wikipedia Info: Hard Times
YouTube: Hard Times (as sung by Mavis Staples)
PBS Special: Stephen Foster
Lyrics:

Let us pause in life’s pleasures and count its many tears,
While we all sup sorrow with the poor;
There’s a song that will linger forever in our ears;
Oh Hard times come again no more.

Chorus

‘Tis the song, the sigh of the weary,
Hard Times, hard times, come again no more
Many days you have lingered around my cabin door;
Oh hard times come again no more.

While we seek mirth and beauty and music light and gay,
There are frail forms fainting at the door;
Though their voices are silent, their pleading looks will say
Oh hard times come again no more.

Chorus

There’s a pale drooping maiden who toils her life away,
With a worn heart whose better days are o’er:
Though her voice would be merry, ’tis sighing all the day,
Oh hard times come again no more.

Chorus

‘Tis a sigh that is wafted across the troubled wave,
‘Tis a wail that is heard upon the shore
‘Tis a dirge that is murmured around the lowly grave
Oh hard times come again no more.

Woody Guthrie Fellowship Program

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Okey-dokey fellow songwriters and artists. Here is a different kind of Double Dog Dare…

If you want to change things through your music, read up on Woody Guthrie. AND, while you are at it, check out the 6th Annual Woody Guthrie Fellowship Program. The purpose of the short-term fellowships is “to support scholarly use of the Woody Guthrie Archives Research Collection for research work related to Guthrie’s life, work and contribution to American music and world culture.”

Interested? Read about the fellowships here: BMI Foundation

Learn about and get teaching resources about Woody Guthrie

Thanksgiving – Double Dog Dare

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What a groovy, cool concept – a day devoted to giving thanks…
Kumbaya, Baby, Thanksgiving is far out (!)

This day is about gratitude, where folks gather together to celebrate goodness and bounty and other people and to ponder hopefully the greatness of a beneficent higher power. So I have a Double Dog Dare for you on this fabulous day. Give thanks by doing some good for folks you don’t know. Here are some links to organizations I really like:

1. Charity Navigator – want to be sure your donation isn’t wasted on adminis-trivia? Check out a non-profit’s rating at Charity Navigator before donating. Please note that there ARE legitimate reasons why some great charities aren’t evaluated by them, but this is a good starting point to help you make wise decisions.

2. Fisher House – This organization provides a home away from home for family members of injured soldiers. You can donate money or time.

3. World Hope International - we forget that slavery is NOT a thing of the past in most of the world… an estimated “27 million people are enslaved around the world today”, according to World Hope . Many sex traffic victims are enslaved children. This organization’s work includes abolitionist activities and meeting the immediate needs of rescued slaves.

4. Doctors Without Borders – this organization is often one of the first providing relief in areas of disaster or conflict.

No place for creative types?

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I recently attended a conference and heard a presentation on the value artists bring to communities in need of redevelopment. It was very encouraging until one audience member spoke up to say that BECAUSE of the value musicians and artists had brought to her previously declining neighborhood, she and other musicians were now being forced to move elsewhere.

The good news is that savvy cities see the economic boon of creative communities and are welcoming artist refugees with open arms. Read More about artists being forced out of New York City and where they are heading.

NOTE: In a big ouchie for the DC area, one executive is quoted as saying New York City could become “a Washington, D.C.,” a sterile, planned city with a number of cultural institutions but few artists—certainly not a place known as a birthplace for new cultural ideas and trends.” OUCH!

How-to…Arts Advocacy

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Do you know about the Performing Arts Alliance? Here is how they describe themselves:

“The Performing Arts Alliance is a national network of more than 18,000 members comprising the professional, nonprofit performing arts and presenting fields. Membership in the Performing Arts Alliance is a member service of American Music Center, Association of Performing Arts Presenters, Chorus America, Dance/USA, Fractured Atlas, League of American Orchestras, National Alliance for Musical Theatre, National Performance Network, OPERA America, and Theatre Communications Group.”

Are you interested in learning how to represent your group to decision makers? If so, check out their guide on arts advocacy and lobbying.

Here is a link: The Performing Arts Alliance