Support ya Mates!

As mentioned in a previous blog I am a huge supporter of the Gold Coast band, Enacio. Last friday night saw the band play two shows in the one night, that’s a big ask for any band. The fact that they had to play two shows is not a problem but the fact that on both occasions their audio was an issue. The first gig was at the Benowa Tavern as the support act for the Presidents Bush. The night started off well but as it progressed the audio was worse and worse. At the Benowa Tavern, they had issues with their microphones provided by the club. The audience ignored the bands troubles and partied on, singing and dancing to their tunes. This was not the bands fault and was the only dampener. The second and final gig the band and their ever growing supporter base take 30 minute drive up to the Imperial Hotel in Beenleigh, the Grand Final of the 2007 Rock Quest, with the winner receiving $2000. Enacio was the final act of the night and the red hot favourite to take out the competition. As the band begun to play their first song trouble was insight, the speakers were playing up and playing when they felt like it. At one stage there was an no vocals, it felt like an instrumental piece. These problems continued throughout their 45min set. The sheer energy and performance got them over the line to win the competition.

At no stage during the night did the band attempt to give in to their technical issues. Their fans didn’t give in either but cheered more. All in all, just because a band isn’t having the best of nights continue to support them, if you start to give in, it will let the band down as well, which would then be reflected in their performance.

I recommend to anyone to watch these guys play live, when a band can incorporate the bongos into a rock performance you are in for something special. Many rock bands just stand up and play, many stand in the same place and at times this can be boring to watch. Enacio never have a dull moment especially with Jack on Bass Guitar, he is the one to watch, facial expressions that will keep you amused for hours!

The internet: Is it a threat to the music industry?

Industry experts predict that the music industry is suffering from the abuse of peer-to-peer networks (P2P), file sharing networks from people all over the world (Lam, Easely). However, there are other online communities (MySpace) that are allowing the music industry to thrive, specifically bands gaining recognition (Wastradowski).

Many people that are participants of file sharing networks argue that if you cannot buy that record at your local CD store that you should be able to download off one of these networks. What is someone supposed to do if their favourite bands music isn’t released in their country?

Through the use of MySpace, an online community of people and bands, bands are able to make a presence online without having to leave their lounge room. Promoting themselves to people in far away places, that they have never able to access before. Why employ a PR person, when you could did it yourself and potentially reach a larger audience.

Here comes the argument, if I was to go online and access www.myspace.com to search for my favourite band that lives in Odessa, Texas. I listen to the music on their page and I thoroughly enjoying listening to it. I see that they have released an album and the following day visit my local record store to see if they stock their album. Searching the store I realise that they do not have it, I ask a staff member and they have never heard of them. So I go to the next store, they to don’t have the album. What do I do? I go home and open Limewire, an online file sharing program. I search the database and find that someone is sharing the album, I proceed to download it. Should I be able to download the CD because I did take the initiative and went to my local CD store to buy it but they didn’t stock it?

With the intended release of a MySpace music store which will allow unsigned bands and independent labels the ability to upload and sell music from their page (Levine), this could possibly reduce the need for people that download a record because of its unavailability. However it won’t stop those who download because they don’t want to pay for the album.

The future is blurred in terms of the music industries presence in the online market. Possibly the MP3 is a threat but in a few years time there could be a new technology that will cause a new controversy. However, bands seem to be thriving with the help of MySpace and soon Bebo (a similar online community) will launch Bebo Bands to rival that of MySpace. I say bring on the competition!

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Easely, R. "The Mp3 Open Standard Andthe Music Industry’s Response to Internet Piracy." COMMUNICATIONS OF THE ACM 46.11 (2003): 90-96.

C, Lam. "The Internet Is Changing the Music Industry." COMMUNICATIONS OF THE ACM 44.8 (2001): 62-68.

Levine, R. "Myspace Music Store Is New Challenge for Big Labels." New York Times September 6 2006, Late Edition (East Coast) ed.: C.3.

Wastradowski, M . “Bands find groove on MySpace”. Knight Ridder Tribune Business News. Washington: Mar 16, 2007. pg. 1

Entertainment + Good Voice vs. Moshing + Feet Tapping Rock Music

There is nothing better than seeing your favourite band or artist live in concert. I have made a habit of trying to attend concerts in the last few years, I’ve been to concerts ranging in size from large stadium shows to small intermit gigs at the local pub, from divas to garage bands. Personally, I like indie music but I do have a soft spot by pop music artists like Beyonce, people that can actually sing, none of these lip-syncing non-talented people (sorry!, “artists”) like Paris Hilton or Ashlee Simpson.

After watching parts of the DVD,”Before the Music Dies” in week nine’s lecture showing that anyone with a half a voice could record music. The documentary used a model to record a song, her voice had terrible pitch problems and the producer was able use an editing program to correct her voice and make her voice sound “wonderful”. This made realise that there is no way in this world that Paris Hilton can sing, her producers must have used software of this kind. Why would someone that is consistently in the public eye decide one day to record an album? If she did in fact have a “great” voice, wouldn’t she have done this earlier? I believe that it was the work of what I call “studio magic” as mentioned above. To add further, if you did indeed have a voice wouldn’t you want to tour on the back of your album release to try and capitalise on its success, like a “true” singer/ band would. My pet hate is lip-syncing, if you were truly a singer, would you want to ruin your credibility by lip-syncing to your audience, a famous example of that is Ashlee Simpson on Saturday Night Live, where she began lip-syncing the wrong lyrics to the guiding track being played.

In my opinion, I believe Beyonce is a true artist with a fantastic voice, I was able hear this for myself on April 22 at the Brisbane Entertainment Centre. She sang songs from her debut solo album, Crazy In Love, songs from her current album, B’Day and a medley of several Destiny’s Child hit songs. From the variety of songs she sung you could really tell the scope of her voice, singing slow yet powerful songs and time and time again hitting those high notes whilst dancing around the stage. Her show was more than just a concert, each song told a story and had a costume to match. This is something that a rock concert can’t convey; bands just get up and rock. I would much prefer to attend a pop diva’s concert like Beyonce than a rock concert because of the entertainment value with the added bonus of someone that can sing (however with other artists this may not be the case) and has a beautiful voice. Rock concerts are great if you just want to see your favourite rock and sing their tunes and don’t want the added frills. Rock concerts are especially fantastic when the crowd gets into the vibe by either moshing or tapping there feet along with the rhythm.

I enjoy both atmospheres but I don’t believe that you could successfully combine both the features of both a pop concert to those from a rock concert, unless you are U2. U2 are able to provide you with the music to mosh to and an electrifying show with multiple costume changes by Bono. When it comes down to the crunch peoples likes and dislikes in tastes of music have the final say, not a performance. A person isn’t going to go to a U2 concert just because they want to see a show, they will go because they like their music. Would you want to go to an Ashlee Simpson or Paris Hilton concert if you knew they were going to lip-sync?

Making it big on My Space

When people speak of MySpace there is a lot of negative trash talk, and parents complaining that it’s bad, etc. These days you don’t hear of many people that don’t have a MySpace page, this includes bands.

For many bands today they use MySpace of a free way to promote themselves to a wide audience that a few years ago would not have been able to happen. There has never been a tool that has allowed an unknown, unsigned band the ability to promote themselves to people in far and distant countries. "MySpace has allowed anybody and everybody to find their audience," says Jerry Goolsby, a professor of music industry studies at Loyola University in New Orleans. With its tech-savvy user base only a click away from contacting its favourite musicians, Goolsby calls MySpace "the most beautiful marketplace in the world."

I would like to provide the example of a friend’s band, Enacio. They are a local band from the Gold Coast who have played together for two-three years, gigging around the Coast and Brisbane. They have had a MySpace page for a while now because they wanted to be able to provide their fans and supporters a place where they can find out where they are playing there up coming gigs. My Space has allowed them to make contacts with other bands on the Gold Coast to allow them to play more gigs and have a larger fan base.

The Angels, a successful Australian hard rock band stumbled across there page looking for a local Gold Coast band to play at there Gold Coast show on the national tour. The Angels asked them to play and of course they accepted, after they did the show, the Angels asked them to tour with them on the rest of their tour. However, the boys had to say no because they had jobs that they couldn’t leave.

This is only one case where My Space has allowed unknown artists to attract attention from the music industry. British Pop artist, Lily Allen, was an internet sensation before her debut album, “Alright, Still,” had been released. While recording her album, she posted regular blogs about her status and also uploaded songs she was going to include on her album to her MySpace profile. Another band successful from the internet is punk band My Chemical Romance, who first established themselves on the internet generating now a fan base of over a 100, 000 followers.

Check out Enacio on My Space: http://www.myspace.com/enacio3

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Wastradowski, M . Knight Ridder Tribune Business News. Washington: Mar 16, 2007. pg. 1

Cohn, D. "_­Bands Embrace Social Networking". 1 May 2007. http://www.wired.com/culture/lifestyle/news/2005/05/67545 .