Behind Their Music

Tara Divina is a singer-songwriter who makes healing, mystical music with a World flavor. She was born in Ottawa, Canada and is now happily based in sun-soaked, spiritually rich California. After spending over a decade as a successful record label executive, she decided to leave the corporate world to pursue her own artistic calling, and rediscovered her creative gifts. In 2016 she released her fully-crowdfunded debut album, True Beauty. For information on Tara and her music, you can go to her website http://tara.vision. For more information on Laura you can go to her website www.laurapowers.net and you can find the podcast by searching Behind the Music with Laura Powers on Facebook.

In this interview, Laura talks with Cody Qualls from the band Face Vocal Band. Face is a rock acapella band and that also does pop and many other genres. Cody was formerly in a band called Kindred for 10 years. He started with Face and they built a large following quickly. Fifteen years later they are doing it full time. Face was on season 1 off The Sing Off. Unlike some acapella groups, none of Face band members are acapella nerds, they listen to pop and other mainstream music. Some of the band members did acapella in college and started to form sound but they stand out because approach from a rock or pop versus acapella. They recently crowdfunded $40k through Kickstarter for a European tour so we talked about that as an option for bands who want to tour. They are 5 guys, artists, friends, and in business. We discussed how if it’s part of your purpose, it has to manifest. They have lots of free shows you can check out and you can find them on Instagram and twitter. For information on Cody go to www.Codyqualls.com. They will be appearing on September 13, 2016 for their 15 year anniversary show at Ellie Caulkins Opera House in Denver. You find more information on them at www.facevocalband.comher website www.laurapowers.net and you can find the podcast by searching Behind the Music with Laura Powers on Facebook.

In this podcast, Laura interviews Ritch Esra from The Music Business Registry. We discussed how the model has shifted from a copy model to an access model (from cd’s to streaming for example). Ritch addressed how musicians and artists really need to figure out what their aims are in terms of music. We also discussed how the industry is changing so quickly and it is really important for artists to understand what is happening in the industry in order to be successful. It is currently difficult to make money from recorded music. For most recording artists, less than 6 % of their income is coming from recorded music. What constitutes a successful artist is you must be a live performer. The good news is there are no more gatekeepers, the bad news is there are no more gates so the ability to get people’s attention is paramount. Think of your life, how many times in a day is someone trying to get your attention? The worst enemy is obscurity. With these changes, there is so much more choice which is great but it can be even harder to be seen. For example, the first Sundance film festival, they had 62 submissions, last year they had 2,800. This year there are 412 scripted TV shows this year. It can be hard to be seen in that environment. It used Even if people are gifted, they will not be successful unless they have drive as well. We discussed how the model has changed from making money from selling recorded music to selling merchandise or live shows. According to Forbes, Katy Perry made $135 million last year and only 8 % came from music sales. One thing Prince did in 2006, he gave $3.5 million in cover mount cd’s in the newspaper (cd’s given away for free on the cover) with that very aim when he had 21 nights of shows in London. That said this kind of large-scale success is rare. Ritch mentioned that 18 percent of people watch TV networks, and that nothing in the 82 dominates. Last year, Live Nation did a study looking at why 35% of their tickets weren’t selling and it was because people didn’t know their favorite bands were playing. That said, now it is possible for more people to make a living as an artist than in the past. The importance of educating yourself on the industry is paramount so that you can guide your work and focus in a smart way. Ritch recommended professional development including attending conferences, workshops, and events and listening to podcasts etc. In fact, Laura and Ritch connected through the ASCAP – I Create Music Conference. Educate yourself on trends and resources. Ritch also recommended Music Business Television as a resource http://mubutv.com/. Twitter recently launched music industry insider series on Mondays. If you want to learn about the Music Business Registry and different service offerings, you can go to www.musicregistry.com. You can connect with Laura and learn more about her at www.laurapowers.net and follow the podcast on Facebook by searching Behind the Music.

In this podcast, Laura interviews Ritch Esra from The Music Business Registry. We discussed how the model has shifted from a copy model to an access model (from cd’s to streaming for example). Ritch addressed how musicians and artists really need to figure out what their aims are in terms of music. We also discussed how the industry is changing so quickly and it is really important for artists to understand what is happening in the industry in order to be successful. It is currently difficult to make money from recorded music. For most recording artists, less than 6 % of their income is coming from recorded music. What constitutes a successful artist is you must be a live performer. The good news is there are no more gatekeepers, the bad news is there are no more gates so the ability to get people’s attention is paramount. Think of your life, how many times in a day is someone trying to get your attention? The worst enemy is obscurity. With these changes, there is so much more choice which is great but it can be even harder to be seen. For example, the first Sundance film festival, they had 62 submissions, last year they had 2,800. This year there are 412 scripted TV shows this year. It can be hard to be seen in that environment. It used Even if people are gifted, they will not be successful unless they have drive as well. We discussed how the model has changed from making money from selling recorded music to selling merchandise or live shows. According to Forbes, Katy Perry made $135 million last year and only 8 % came from music sales. One thing Prince did in 2006, he gave $3.5 million in cover mount cd’s in the newspaper (cd’s given away for free on the cover) with that very aim when he had 21 nights of shows in London. That said this kind of large-scale success is rare. Ritch mentioned that 18 percent of people watch TV networks, and that nothing in the 82 dominates. Last year, Live Nation did a study looking at why 35% of their tickets weren’t selling and it was because people didn’t know their favorite bands were playing. That said, now it is possible for more people to make a living as an artist than in the past. The importance of educating yourself on the industry is paramount so that you can guide your work and focus in a smart way. Ritch recommended professional development including attending conferences, workshops, and events and listening to podcasts etc. In fact, Laura and Ritch connected through the ASCAP – I Create Music Conference. Educate yourself on trends and resources. Ritch also recommended Music Business Television as a resource http://mubutv.com/. Twitter recently launched music industry insider series on Mondays. If you want to learn about the Music Business Registry and different service offerings, you can go to www.musicregistry.com. You can connect with Laura and learn more about her at www.laurapowers.net and follow the podcast on Facebook by searching Behind the Music.

In this podcast, Laura interviews artist, musician, and songwriter Cuchi. He is a rock, indie, and folk singer from Mexico City. We talked about musical inspiration and how Cuchi plays he guitar more like a drum. We also posed the question, if your life had a soundtrack, what would it be? It was a fun interview! You can find Cuchi on Spotify and Facebook by searching for Cuchimx. Cuchi’s website is www.cuchimusic.com. You can connect with Laura and learn more about her at www.laurapowers.net

In this podcast, Laura interviews singer, bass player, songwriter and musician Christine Webb. Christine started playing bass before it was very common for women to play bass. We talked about her story, being a female bass player, the International Blues Challenge and her groups she currently plays with including Papa Juke and Fifty Shades of Blue. You connect with Laura and learn more about her at www.laurapowers.net.