Corprorate Gigs

Had the opportunity to go by The Avalon (it will always be the Palace to me) in LA last evening for a private event hosted by Verizon/Blackberry to help launch their new smart phone, Blackberry Bold . The event hosted performances by Queens of the Stone Age and the Foo Fighters. It's always great to see these performers back in more intimate settings with their game on after years of hard work and the team and machine that elevates their live performances to pro level. This event was was surprisingly refreshing as it engaged real fans who were not only there to test the new phone but more importantly to them to see Dave Grohl and Company deliver. Often times these corporate gigs are nothing more than a performance to a tired national sales staff who may or may not be a fan being delivered by an artist who are cashing in for the pay these dates demand, often 3-5x their normal guarantee. As stated to me once by a prominent artist, these are the days "we mow the lawn". Fortunately last night's event was much more than that and I applaud both Blackberry and Verizon for making it a special evening for real fans.

The Grateful Dead

Take a look at probably the most fan engaging live bands of all-time, the Grateful Dead and their performance of Viola Lee Blues on June 18, 1967 at The Monterey Pop Festival . It all makes sense...

Audience Recordings

Audience recordings have been the most common type of recordings that have been available over the years. These are more often captured through sound equipment "smuggled" into the venue as most artists and venues prohibit this form of recording. Examples of these can be found all over YouTube. However, with the advent of the Internet and the increase of portable recording technology (cellphone, etc.) more and more artists are starting to realize the promotional power of allowing such an activity to take place. Although most are still labeled as bootlegs (an audio and/or video recording of a performance that was not officially released by the artist or under other legal authority) many artists recognize the promotional value behind it and allow it to take place regardless. I personally keep a rather neutral position regarding this type of content as I understand the fans eagerness to obtain what is often poor quality recordings but respect the rights of the artists. One of the objectives of Total Live Music is to bridge the gap of such recordings, offering fans a higher quality recordings that the artists feel is a proper representation of who they are.

Live Music Recording Types

I am going to begin a series of posts regarding the types of live music recordings that are available on the world wide web. I will discuss in non technical terms the way that music is captured, the post or professionalism applied (if any) and the applications of such music on the web and the marketplace and what it means to both the band and the fan. I will try to do these posts in a timely and linear fashion and hopefully will touch all the bases so that people can understand what they are listening to (or not!) after a performance. Hopefully this will give you a better understanding of the offerings that will be found on www.totallivemusic.com

www.totallivemusic.com

We have opened our site and although it says it is Beta, in theory we should have called it Alpha. We are already working with a new web design team and I have been fortunate to bring on board some very talented people to help me get this going. Alot has happened since my last post, I have had the opportunity to be involved with some very big productions in the live music space and I hope those opportunities continue, even in this terrible economic climate. I welcome anyone to please go visit the site and offer any input they may have as to what we can do to bring an enjoyable experience to the online live music fan. In the meantime, I'll start getting back to regularly writing on this blog and keep you updated on the live events happening around the world everyday.

James Taylor/Carole King at The Troubadour

I had the wonderful opportunity to attend an intimate performance by James Taylor and Carole King performing together at The Troubadour here in Los Angeles on Wednesday evening. It was the first show of the evening that is slated for two performances a night over three nights. It was amazing to see two of the most talented songwriters and performers in music sharing the same stage in such an intimate setting backed up by Russ Kunkel (drums), Leland Sklar (bass) and Danny Kortchmar (guitar). It is in these settings that I see the magic of music being created that I have based my new business model over. There are abundancies of these types of magic happening on stages all over the world every evening that I find are untapped to the consumer based on either geographical or time limitations. I will explain more later but my mission is simple;

To connect people to live music.

Younger Guard

Howie Klein, former President of Reprise, responds to Doug Morris's interview in Wired here As a former A&R person, had I continually missed on opportunities on artists that touched the commercial masses I would have lost my job (fired by someone like Howie, although I never worked for him). By his own admission, he failed to execute on what could have been a industry saving "catalyst" due to corporate "experts"? As more and more of these guys get out the first thing you always hear is that it was someone else's fault (except for all those records that touched so many people, that was solely due to them).