Songwriter's Corner: Heroic Speech

In Songwriters on Songwriting by Paul Zollo, the author dives into conversations with super-songwriters about their craft, and his interview with Bob Dylan offers this gem: "Then it just becomes a question of how heroic your speech is. To me it's something to strive after."

To help wrap your head and craft around this, here's some quotes on heroism:

“I like it when a flower or a little tuft of grass grows through a crack in the concrete. It's so fuckin' heroic.”
― George Carlin

“Heroes didn't leap tall buildings or stop bullets with an outstretched hand; they didn't wear boots and capes. They bled, and they bruised, and their superpowers were as simple as listening, or loving. Heroes were ordinary people who knew that even if their own lives were impossibly knotted, they could untangle someone else's. And maybe that one act could lead someone to rescue you right back.”
― Jodi Picoult, Second Glance

“Anyone who does anything to help a child in his life is a hero to me.”
― Fred Rogers

“One part brave, three parts fool!”
― Christopher Paolini

“To be heroic is to be courageous enough to die for something; to be inspirational is to be crazy enough to live a little.”
― Criss Jami, Venus in Arms

“Heroism doesn't pay very well. I try to be cold-blooded and money-oriented, but I keep screwing it up.”
― Jim Butcher, Dead Beat

“So you love war. I used to think you were a decent man. But I see now I was mistaken. You're a hero.”
― Joe Abercrombie, The Heroes

“Long ago I yearned to be a hero without knowing, in truth, what a hero was. Now, perhaps, I understand it a little better. A grower of turnips or a shaper of clay, a Common farmer or a king--every man is a hero if he strives more for others than for himself alone. Once you told me that the seeking counts more than the finding. So, too, must the striving count more than the gain.”
― Lloyd Alexander, The High King

“Heroes are people who face down their fears. It is that simple. A child afraid of the dark who one day blows out the candle; a women terrified of the pain of childbirth who says, 'It is time to become a mother'. Heroism does not always live on the battlefield.”
― David Gemmell, Dark Moon

“Perhaps a hero is someone who doesn’t register his own vulnerability. Is it courage, then, if you’re too daft to know you’re mortal?”
― David Benioff, City of Thieves

“He found that it was easy to make a heroic gesture, but hard to abide by its results.”
― W. Somerset Maugham, Of Human Bondage

DAILY HABITS CHANGE YOUR LIFE

While on lockdown, I looked up well over half a dozen music education sources, from free classes online to books, workshops and lessons. This included a wide range of resources. What I noticed among all these varied sources was the emphasis on daily habits. Change what you do each day, and change your life. 

For music makers, this means to write every day, perform every day, practice every day and learn every day.

Resource: a book on this topic is "Atomic Habits". The main take-away is adding new habits to habits you already have. It was interesting to see that multiple sources had this same principle to share; certainly there's something to it.

Results of the Curveball: 2020 Impact on Live Music

Many venues were dark March 2020

Image source

While 2020 saw a historic decline in live show revenue--such as that Live Nation revenue declined 83% year-over-year--there was a 9% increase in recorded music revenue nationally. This is the fifth straight year with rising revenue, led by music subscription services like Amazon Music Unlimited , Apple Music and Spotify. Since there's nowhere to go but up, Live Nation's second quarter of this year had an increase of over 670%. Not bad.

While no industry is risk-free, the music industry especially is known to be constantly changing, and having tight profit margins and many cases of cut-throat business practices, along with ten-year overnight successes and millions of musicians over the decades who have tried to find the magic formula for success, which until proven otherwise is a lifetime of hard work plus a dash of luck. Last year, the brave souls who made the music industry home were thrown the curve ball of the century. Perhaps even the curveball of the past 500 years. For the first time in history, people could not gather. This wasn't optional. It was the law. Venues closed. Stages were dark. Musicians that were entrepreneurial looked to livestreaming to satiate fans and the inner creative beast. But the blow to the live music scene was historical and astronomical.

However, musicians and the music industry folks are not known for uncreative ideas or lack of gumption, and I predict music fans will be eager to get back into music for both its emotional release as well as its social aspects i.e. "where you at?" People will be just kind of eager to see live music again.

Lollapalooza festival Chicago 2021

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WHAT OLD BOOKS AND LIBERAL ARTS CAN TEACH US ABOUT HOW TO LEARN MUSIC

Music is about dance? See #6 and weigh in.

When it's recommended that you read old books, like Aristotle, Plato, and the ilk, in addition to books that are more current the reasoning is simple: these books don't just teach you things, they teach you how to think. Teaching students how to think is also one of the tenets of liberal arts education, and ironically, that got me thinking. In the subjects of Philosophy, Literature and Science, there are "great books" which stand as either classics or do the ultimate job of teaching the reader how to think. Meanwhile, in the subject of music, there is no such thing.

Music is tied more closely to culture and expression, and is constantly moving. While major composers like Bach, Beethoven and Mozart are of course widely known and respected, ultimately the older music is the more "dusty" it is, the less hip, the less current, etc. There are exceptions as listeners enjoy music that stands the test of time and there are many classic songs and styles that outlive their makers. However, it remains that there are no 'go to' texts about music that teach one how to think about music. 

So, I will take a stab at it and continue to update this article as it develops:

1) Your ear, your ears, yes there's two of them!

Sheet music is a language and understanding music theory, composition and such is a skill, but never lose sight, or um, never lose hearing...music is in your ears.

2) Know the instrument. 

The instrument is an instrument in the truest sense of the word. Measure it. Weigh it. Smell it. Look at every angle. Understand every nuance and mechanic of it.

3) Know the melody

There's lots of chord charts out there, but do you know the melody? How well? Intimately?

4) It's about the audience, not you

It's liberating to be freed from the self, so check the ego at the door.

5) It's about you, and the audience of the universe

An addendum to #4, you need some ego to get the fire started, but the expression is higher.

6) Dance

Not always, but very often, music is ultimately about dance. This can be dancing with the body, or even dancing of the mind and heart.

This is just a start. What ways of thinking about music are important to you?

Image source: here

YouTube: Three Subtle Downsides to this Super Site

What's your favorite part about YouTube? More importantly, what are the downsides to this resource?

1) Learning

Enough said. While there is a lot of fluff to sift through, overall, learning about nearly any music topic or technique is a search word away. This is very very different than decades past where you needed to be at the right place, at the right time, in person, to learn many of the things YouTube shares readily. Plus, you can get many perspectives on the same topic.

The downside: information overload. Plus, it is sometimes it's just easier to learn with a human. YouTube video watching is addictive, and while learning here saves time, the extra time you saved could be eaten up. What giveth, also taketh.

2) Locality

When radio was king, each region had its own sound. This was because the musicians in one area would play with one another, creating a style. Now, there is less emphasis on geography and music is drawing from influences far and wide. This could make for an ecclectic stew. 

The downside: as music rises to the top when it appeals to the masses--who on the Internet are a bunch of bored people--the result could be that the artform of music just becomes a bunch of clickbait horse#hit. Let's see how it plays out in the coming decades.

3) It's the radio now...and the library...and your cool friend's record collection

YouTube includes many songs from the past and present which are searchable. You can create playlists, and find nearly any song you seek...all without visiting the record store. All without paying the artist nor the record label. Of course, you still pay, that is what those annoying ads are. Yet, despite these ads, being able to find nearly any music imaginable is worth its weight in gold. 

The downside: as an artist you are not just competing with the music happening now, you are competing with all the music that ever was.

Feel free to share your favorite part about YouTube in the comments. 

Image source: here

Social Media Break: Update

I challenged myself to take a break from social media for one year. That was in August and August is rolling around again. So far, mostly good. I scroll occassionally, I click like occassionally, I see what people are up to and even discovered some new music. 

For the most part, I have kept to my guns and am taking a break. I used to feel my IQ melting like an ice cube in the sun on a hot day in Cuba, and somehow wind up posting an irate comment on someone's wall whom I didn't even know. It was in some of those moments, I had to let go. What really made me pull away and set the proverbial gun down was that the rage and comments in social media have real life impact. The way we think and imagine the world to be affects people's lives, and deaths. 

It was kind of heavy. I had to stand outside and look at the sky for ahwhile. Virtual reality is a thing unto itself, but social media is also an example of virtual reality. Our preconceptions, stereotypes, concepts, world view, et. al.--they are all a form of virtual reality in the sense that much of the world exists only in our head. 

Clearly, COVID times allowed me to get philosophical but it was well overdue. Lockdown allowed to the world to stop--and suddenly all those things I "had" to do, well, I didn't really have to do them. It was an illusion of productivity and an illusion of urgency. Of course, we must fill our days with something. We don't even "have" to go to the grocery store, but we have tasks and goals that we set our mind to, whether we are fulfilling Maslov's needs, or some higher vision or lesser impulse. Being able to let go of not one but almost all of my "must do" items on the list wasn't just liberating it was show-stopping. I could create my life, my own life, like clay from the ground when the world started.

The first part of this reinvention was setting down the painting that had been created of me. Social media photos are from reality, but the sum is greater than the parts. That, I believe, is the point. Like iconography in a church or temple, it creates myth and reinforces it. This is perfect for music and entertainment, branding and self identity.

Social media is itself also entertainment. People use it for fun! Somehow, though, the seriousness of the myths and ideas we create, and how they affect us all was a concept that is prevalent (so prevalent it's hard to see it like the forest through the trees) that social media was like the prism that showed the beam of light on the wall. I finally "got it"--Eureka.

Each platform is different, for example while Facebook is more about self identity and a public scrapbook, TikTok, from what I understand (I do not use the platform as I am too busy hollering 'get off my lawn'), is like copper for the electric current of trends, allowing them to speed through culture at the rate of 100mph. Twitter is about hashtags. So, for awhile yet...I will be #creatingmyreality.

The Breadcrumb Trail Back to My Roots

I had to search through multiple emails and passwords before finding my way back to the login of this account. I feel like Hansel and Gretel, returning home and promising to pack more breadcrumbs next time. After turning On Axis Music into a proper website, and almost going into the oven of a corporate identity I have decided to cool out and redirect the URL back to this blog, where it started. My main focus is Music with a capital M and sharing my thoughts with you here. 

Survival of the Fittest vs. Survival of All

The theories of evolution, while great at describing variations of feathers on pigeon wings, bacteria in petri dishes, and camouflage colors of butterflies, it is awful for eugenics and justifying superiority. In commerce, which can be likened to survival of the fittest, products and services best suited for market make money while those that do not, do not. In art, it's understood that value of something doesn't relate directly to its commerical value.

However, technology makes it possible to flood the digital space with more music than has ever been available at any given time in the history of the human race (go with me on this). People can record at home, on their phone, in a bus, on a street, in a school, even while eating green eggs and ham. Sites ranging from Soundcloud.com to Pandora and Spotify are platforms to share music by Jane Doe as well as major well-known acts. While it makes sense to have sites that are likened to libraries of digital music, searchable by artist and genre, playlists, etc...it is the ability to share music by unsigned, hobby-level artists, and semi-professional artists that is the focus of this article. Before I get too dry and academic, let me pose the question:

Isn't competition, and standards of musicality, healthy to stir men's and women's (and transgender, yo) souls toward greater musical victories...rather than to simply be excited to hit the "share" button every time we noodle something that almost works, before editing it ten times...to a new definition of OK?

I'm convinced that the finger was photoshopped in.

Content Creators Get the Short Straw in the Internet Draw

A recent Forbes article, brought my way by ASCAP newsletter, talks about impending changes to the Internet. Read it here.

 After reading it, I have more questions than answers:
 - Is the Obama policy for Internet better or worse than what is being proposed now, and why?
 - How would new policies affect content creators?
 - How would new policies continue or impede the monopoly of major Internet companies?

Art by HJ Frank

It is clear that over the past ten years, the content that creative people make is offered for free online in many forms; whether audio, video, photos and writing.

While the Internet offers a place to showcase work, and to view portfolios, it also cuts out the "retail" element that the music industry relied on, in the past, to generate revenue.

The content creators are made to feel like we are lucky to be able to show our work online; meanwhile, Internet and smartphone companies keep the lights on.

 While the Internet is often toted as a "great tool" it is also the bane of the entrepreneur who creates content.

Looking Back and Forward on Musician and Artist's Rights

This video shows Frank Zappa testifiying before Congress, and serves as a reminder about the importance of musician's and artist's rights. Here is a run-down on songs, recordings and relted copyrights, licensing and royalties. Here is a video about owning your own publishing. Even if you are only partially in understanding of this topic, please use this as an excuse to dig deeper, research more and become informed. Here is one more about the importance of Publishing...food for thought!

Six Website Strategies

by Hannah Frank

Some sites offer the kitchen sink while others are like an intriguing first date. Here are some categories to help your online game. Organize your site by deciding your purpose: sales, familiarity with your brand (soft sell), presentation of data, email capture (ongoing communication) or "internet tourism".

  1. Sell, Sell Sell: The homepage features an immediate "call to action" and display of merch. The goal is clear: the site "first impression" is designed for clicking and buying. This isn't necessarily bad: if fans will come to the site to find out how to buy a product, this is a declaration that the website is a trusted POS (point of sale).

  2. Pleased to Meet Me: Many website designs are focused on blogging, but that doesn't mean you need to invent yourself as something more interesting than you are. This type of site is a labor-intensive collection of videos, blog entries, essays, poems, artwork, pictures of cats, etc.  It's time intensive for the artist (most sites in this style are built directly by the artist) and not focused on sales. While this type of presentation can be magical in giving a quick feel to the artist's creative process and inner workings of their mind, it also requires serious fans willing to browse it at length. It creates a personal connection with the artist, yet the conversational tone can be unfiltered (TMI) and familiarity can breed contempt and boredom. For some artists that operate in a niche or are truly working in an advanced multimedia style requiring explanation, the shoe may fit. However, for the most part, get your head out of your ass already.

  3. Search & You Will Find: Organized information about artists, projects, releases and/or services. The goal of this site style is to give brand credibility and build a legacy. It tells readers "this information is important." It is extensive, but feels respectful. This type of site is high on easy to find information and low on drivel. It will likely have crisp bios and professional photos. Be careful of being too slick...make sure the deep content is as good as the surface.

  4. The Overwhelming First Date: we just met, but can we have your email address to take this further? Sites with a lot of content often want to share it, but can invest more time in learning about the viewer. If your site has a lot of content to share that's great. But consider ways to learn about the readers, or make different areas of the site for window shoppers, customers, public and/or industry partners so that all viewers are not funneled down the same chute.

  5. Bits and Pieces: This type of site is a destination, you can almost feel a breath of fresh air as the browser opens. It includes integration with social media, image-based blog entries (look at the pretty colors), and plenty of subtle calls to action. There's no single call to action, and the website style encourages browsing. While this style is great for not hitting viewers over the head, make sure it's "sticky" enough to give them a reason to return, share and buy. If branding is the goal, and only goal, then show the bits.

  6. The website for offline...seems counter intuitive, but consider if your website or online presence is actually meant to drive action off line. Examples are readers attending an event, physically walking into a brick and mortar store, or another offline activity. Hard to believe, but there is life beyond the screen. Take this to heart and make sure the online world you create isn't more interesting than real life. Hope this helps as you build a new website or tweak an existing site for maximum leverage. As the Internet, especially with the combo of social media and smart phones, makes it possible to capture and share just about any content designers desire...make sure it's what your readers desire also.

  Media Bonus: The magic of the Internet allows us to view this video in regards to #1. Coffee is for closers, but will hard sells cause the reader to close the browser? That is the question.

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 Reach Hannah at axis.contact@gmail.com or Twitter @HannahFrankSong