The Mid Week Beat: Dancehall, Mod Soul and a Hip Hop Brass Band!

October 23, 2013
By Jimmy Berg

Some good stuff coming up this week kiddies! We got a legendary Jamaican dancehall artist in Austin tomorrow night, an excellent night of mod soul and vintage reggae in San Diego on Friday and a Halloween masquerade of legendary proportions in New York on Saturday.

If you live in or near any of these towns, do not miss these shows. I got to say, being stuck here in Seattle, I’m a little jealous. Anyone want to buy me a plane ticket for the weekend?

Enjoy!

Thursday, October 24 I Capleton – Austin, Texas

Capleton, is a force to be reckoned with in the fast-moving world of dancehall reggae. Fame and success are hard to obtain and easy to lose. Fans can be fickle, and trends change in the blink of an eye, leaving most entertainers with painfully short career spans. Only a rare few can remain relevant from year to year, holding their audience’s attention and leaving them crying for more. Capleton’s lyrics are deep, precise, and thoughtful. His stage shows are nothing less than dynamic, explosive performances. But his remarkable staying power and longevity may be Capleton’s greatest gift.

Capleton was born Clifton George Bailey in St. Mary, Jamaica. As a youth, he was given the surname of a popular St. Mary lawyer and friend of the family, Capleton, as a nickname by his relatives and friends. As a teenager, he would often sneak out of his home to catch local dancehall acts, eventually leaving St. Mary for Kingston at the age of 18 to work on his career as a dancehall deejay.

When Capleton first arrived on the scene in the late 1980s, slackness and gun talk were the dominant lyrics in the dancehalls. The pre-Rasta Capleton had a string of hit songs from “Bumbo Red” to “Number One on the Look Good Chart” and “No Lotion Man.” In 1989, he got his first big international exposure. Stewart Brown, owner of a Toronto-based sound called African Star, gave the untested artist his first break, flying him to Canada for a stage show alongside Ninjaman and Flourgan.

The Mid-Week Beat: Goblin & Horror Rock!

October 2, 2013
By Jimmy Berg

In honor of the scariest month of the year, today’s Mid-Week Beat is focused on a band who is best known for their chilling soundtracks to some of the most iconic horror films.

The Italian prog-rock band Goblin formed in the early 1970s. They were orignially named Oliver until Cinevox, their record label, changed their name to Cherry Five. The band was influenced by the prog-rock titans of the time: Genesis, Yes and King Crimson. However, Cherry Five had their own strange and cinematic sound and Cinevox mostly published film soundtracks, so the band was often called upon to perform and arrange various composer’s soundtrack compositions. This made the group very familiar with the musical techniques that were unique to soundtrack work.

In 1975, the band was called in as a replacement for composer Giorgio Gaslini for the film Profondo Rosso (Deep Red) after he had a conflict with the film’s director Dario Argento. They changed their name to Goblin in an effort to differentiate themselves from Cherry Five, who had just released their debut LP. The Argento soundtrack albums ended up being huge hits, selling more than a millions copies, and from then on, Goblin’s music would forever more be associated with Argento’s films.

The success of the Profondo Rosso soundtrack kicked off the most prolific and successful period for the band and they would go on to provide the scores to many horror classics including Suspiria, Zombi and the European release of George Romero’s Dawn of the Dead. This prolific period ended in 1978 when the band began to splinter. What remained of the original group continued to provide sountracks to Argento’s films including Tenebrae in 1982 and Non ho sonno (Sleepless) in 2000.
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Breaking in: How to build your music career from the ground up

May 23, 2012
By Rachel

Fundraising

It takes a village to make an artist. This message sounded again and again at a discussion with swoon-worthy industry experts at SXSW. There is no magic elevator to the top. Today’s musicians build their careers with an entire community pitching-in. Read what the experts say about building your music career and start building your village today.

Don’t expect success to happen over night. As Dez Dickerson ofPavilion Entertainment said, “Musicians think that they’ll go from obscurity to fame in one fell swoop. More like boxing. Rather than one big Mike Tyson punch, it’s more like the knock in the 12th round.” He added, “You can’t just put your music ‘out there’. You have to build awareness and differentiate.”

Even once you get your foot in the door, your work is not done.Jonathan Daniel of Crush Music Media Management shared this with us, “When you get into the business, you think you’ll get a record deal and then be huge. After four record deals, we realized that wasn’t the case. You have to work and preserve and hone your craft. The record deal cannot be the goal.”

Musicians expecting to simply sit back and expect the label or agent to do everything for them are in for a shock. Daniel said once you get a deal, “It’s roll up your sleeves and do it yourself time. Build your village—radio, TV, video and advertisers. Stay humble and you’ll have much better success. Major labels can be incredibly valuable, but they can’t be your only tool. It’s your job to get it started.”

Sara Baer of 4Fini Sponsorship & Marketing, which organizes theWarped Tour, tells us that even the big names hustle during the shows. “On down time, smart bands work the merchandise booth and find non-profits to partner with.”

Jenna Lomonaco of Glassnote Records (known for breaking Mumford and Sons), wraps up the discussion with this, “There’s a lot of pieces to an artist breaking in. Every piece of what you’re doing will make change.You need to tie everything together—interviews, television, performance, tours, blogs, digital sales and social media. Really reach out to the bloggers and let them know what’s happening and what’s going on. You need to build up all of the pieces. It’s vital that artists develop relationships with their audience. It’s the weird stuff that builds the loyalty.”

Building a career in music is a worthy and challenging goal. We support your efforts and applaud your awesome courage! We hope to be there for you ever step of the way.

Need help getting started? We’ve got a whole department dedicated to assisting you with Event Promotions. Call (800) 838-3006 (Option 5) or email Promo@BrownPaperTickets.com for free personalized support today! We’d love to help.

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Powerful combination: How to mix music and philanthropy

April 27, 2012
By Brown Paper Tickets

You can make a positive impact on the world through your events. We were lucky enough at SXSW to ask three music industry insiders how emerging musicians can create change. Their insights apply not only to bands and solo artists growing their careers, but to all of us that hold or organize events. You have a stage. Here’s how to use it for good:

Size doesn’t matter.

Of your audience, that is. As long as you have one fan, you have one person you can impact. Mike Martinovich, manager for My Morning Jacket and Flight of the Concords had this to say, “It doesn’t matter if you’re playing pubs, or an arena, you can make a difference. Collect emails. Collect a donation at the door. Tweet. The earlier musicians do it, the sooner it becomes institutionalized within themselves and their fans.”

Erin Potts, Executive Director at Air Traffic Control Education Fund agreed. “Musicians have historically been important allies in social justice… music helps people feel personally connected to issues. Musicians have incredible reach. Even small, beginning artists have email or social media lists larger than most non-profits.”

Respect your authority!

As an entertainer, you hold the great ability to reach and influence others on a very personal level. Andy Bernstein of HeadCount (which promotes such established groups as Pearl Jam, Phish, Death Cab for Cutie, and Dave Matthew’s Band) explains, “Social currency is everything. Musicians have the power to bring issues to the forefront with their social currency.”

Tip: You can watch Andy tell exactly how he helps artists make an impact in this video.

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GIVEAWAY: Nectar Lounge Brings Earth Day for All Ages to Seattle!

April 19, 2012
By admin

(Just want to win tickets to the Earth Day extravaganza? Scroll to the bottom of this post!)

It’s always a treat to work with our neighbors over at Nectar Lounge! The venue/bar is a fantastic spot, committed to sustainability, good times, nightly events, and patio beverages. For this Earth Day weekend, Seattle can have it all, with all-ages activities and music during the day and of-ages party action during the night at the Fremont Earth Day Festival — and all it sets you back is $15 or an old bike. Proceeds benefit the Cascade Bicycle Club Education Foundation.

While the party for grown-ups goes all day and all night, the daytime is geared toward kids and families, opening at 11 a.m. both days this weekend begin with a dance party, going into a special performance each day at noon: Bubbleman (a bubbleman) on Saturday, then the Not-Its (kindie rock!) on Sunday, plus some Earth Day-themed activities to keep them busy.

Later, once you’ve gotten a sitter (or if you don’t have kids and you’re just ready to party), the of-ages happenings start with a chill but fun-loving, diverse lineup of folk, R&B, reggae and more, including songwriter Sarah Christine, acclaimed jazz/funk/world collective Snarky Puppy, and improvisational rocker Nefarious Jones, spread over both Saturday and Sunday nights for a full weekend of eco-minded grooves. The full line-up is available here.

Snarky Puppy in action:

The Mid Week Beat: Dancehall, Mod Soul and a Hip Hop Brass Band!

The Mid-Week Beat: Goblin & Horror Rock!

Breaking in: How to build your music career from the ground up

Powerful combination: How to mix music and philanthropy

GIVEAWAY: Nectar Lounge Brings Earth Day for All Ages to Seattle!

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