Author Archives: Cheryl
The Baby Committment
It’s been a while since I’ve written. You’ve heard this before, right? From other artists whose mailing lists you are on. Maybe you’ve heard it from a friend over email. Or perhaps you’ve written it yourself. The cause of such a hiatus, I have observed, is usually due to the creation of something that takes all of one’s energy and attention. I’ve heard it from my friends who just had a baby. And I’ve heard it from friends who were looking, and then finally bought a house. And I’m writing it now, to you, because I released a record.
For the past year and a half I felt like I was at war. Or at least in a very intense wrestling match… With myself, with my bank account, with my loved ones, with my music, my lyrics, with everything. It felt dramatic, pressurized, urgent, as if this was IT, the last chance, the final statement. Very theatrical, I know. Really, what was happening, is that I was making an album. That’s all.
I’ll have another post soon about my exact process of raising $25,000 from fans and sponsors to fund the record, and the process of selling [read more]
“Exposure”Exposed: 6 Ways to Create It Yourself
exposure |ikˈspō zh ər|
noun
• an act or instance of being uncovered
The unseen artist yearns to be seen. The unheard musician needs to be heard, and the under budget company wants to under pay everyone. While this may be more of my more cynical points of view, I’d like to start off by saying that while promises of “exposure” in exchange for goods (in this article, for the sake of argument, we’ll use a track off your recent, self-released record) is usually a scam, that is not always the case. My tour mate Shaun Ruymen has a track in the new movie “You Again”, and he most certainly has a great chance of exposure. The opportunities for exchanging your music for real, mass exposure are out there, rare as they are.
That being said, I move on. MOST of the time, when promised exposure in exchange for use of your track, chances are it’s because there’s no chance of being paid. And in most areas of the music business where there is an audience (a real audience, where you will really get said exposure), there is usually money. The PROs (performing rights organizations like ASCAP, BMI and SESAC) are close behind, ready [read more]
The Task of Asking
The logistics of staying small are quite voluminous. Even being a perfectionist is a form of procrastination. The comfort of “being a starving artist” is overwhelmingly powerful. As a sense of urgency for change crept in, I got clear that I had to create a context of fearlessness, creativity and freedom for myself and let this new context propel my next actions. Continue reading
Extraordinary Fences: Hosting the Circle
as written for Song Circle Music
When I got the email from Tina Shafer (New York Songwriter’s Circle founder) asking me to guest host the Circle at New York’s famous Bitter End, I was beyond honored. This is the thing… I’ve played the Bitter End a dozen times, and performed in both the New York and Philly Circles several times. What made this Circle so special to me was that I didn’t feel I did anything extraordinary to warrant such an invitation. For years, I was a fairly normal indie artist on one side of the fence. The people on the other side were those who choose contest winners, picked singers for publishing deals, got musicians on commercials.
Let me explain. It’s not that I don’t think I AM extraordinary. Clearly, I’m fabulous. But I didn’t win any contests, get any major record deal, or have anyone dance to a song of mine on So You Think You Can Dance. I was a finalist in the first year of the Songwriter’s Circle contest back in 2006, but I didn’t even get top three. Since then, I’ve just been a familiar [read more]
Homemade Acoustic Treatment
When my roommate moved out of his portion of our 3-bedroom Harlem apartment, I packed up my stuff and moved too…. into the other two rooms while giving my old room to a new roommate. One of my new rooms is slowly turning into a studio. A real space where I can write, record and produce my music. Of all the upgrades I need (the list includes a new computer, printer, audio interface, cables), I chose to start with the room itself. As the corner room of my apartment building, the room is quiet, but full of echos when empty. I reserved one corner of the room for vocal recording, then decided to treat the big wall above the couch as a reflective surface- the spot where sound would be bouncing most directly from my speakers. I wanted to spice up the vibe of the room as well as make any decorations acoustically useful. Thus began my project.
I decided to make ten 1′x1′ panels out of wood frames, foam and cool fabric. I found some wood in my dad’s basement and cut a whole bunch of 1″x1″x12″ pieces. If you don’t have access to free wood, Home Depot sells a [read more]
LOST and found
It’s very hard to get people to like you. Welp, I should speak for myself. Not being the cool kid in high school taught me that early on. Fact: Being president of the drama club and starting a school recycling program does not win you an invitation to the hockey team parties. To get people to like you enough to buy your music, come to your show and donate some of their hard-earned money to support your artistic endeavor, no matter how positively inspiring and worthy, seems like the last path a socially nonchalant individual should follow. Yet here I have found myself.
For the last five months, I’ve been getting more and more excited every time the 23rd rolls around. Today, my excitement was exasperated by 3 sleepless nights in the studio mixing, stressing and cooing over a new song. And now that it’s out in the world, I feel like a fan after the series finale of LOST… empty, sad, strangely satisfied, wondering what’s next and overall just pooped.
I made a promise to myself last December that I would feel full of purpose [read more]
Solving the PR Puzzle
As far as I know, every musician is looking for more exposure. To be heard by other people is to have our art honored, accepted and justified. It is a connection, a performance, an intimate relationship to have our words, melodies and creations shared with the world. And it is our livelihood.
The question is an ever-changing how? How do we use new technologies to gain exposure? How should we spend our money and time on reaching more people? How should we shuffle through the dozens of public relation and promotion companies to choose the right one to develop OUR relationship with the public? And is it worth it?
This is what I have learned: you need to know what you need before taking on a PR plan. It doesn’t matter if your plan is to put up posters all over town or hire the top PR firm in your area to make elite connections for you. You need to know what it is you and your music needs. I’ll tell you my story and my mistakes and hopefully help you figure out your PR direction.
After I produced my very first album, I had only done a few shows and had [read more]
Sh!ts and Giggles From Iraq
Like many entrepreneurs, start-uppers, project initiators, and believers in the impossible, when launching my One Up project to write and release one inspiring song a month for 2010, I knew that the money to make it happen would come. I had no idea it was going to come from Iraq.
On my One Up webpage, there’s a big red button to donate to the project to help cover costs of producing the songs, in return for some fan perks like t-shirts, singing on a tune, a private house concert, etc etc. For the month of January, as my e-mail program dinged with alerts from PayPal that another fan had donated a few dollars, my heart would swell with gratitude. Last week, however, I thought it was going to explode when I got notification that a US Military Sergeant (with a mailing address that includes “Troop” and “Calvary”) nearly tripled the amount of money I had raised this year with a single donation. His note in the line labeled “Donation Purpose” read “Sh!ts and giggles.”
Luckily, PayPal gathered his email address for me and I was able to write him a sincere thank you. His light-hearted response to my thanks was that [read more]