Gary Powell, Composer/Producer

Table Topic: How to Create Great Art and Save the World at the Same Time

Congratulations to SHSU for raising $57,000 with your annual event, Let’s Talk. Presenting as a “Conversation Leader,” I was pleased to be involved with this worthy program. Having my former professor and friend, Walter Foster and Jeri Lyn Foster, who were most influential in my educational upbringing, was a great surprise. Renewing my relationship with the university through Mike Bankhead, has also been a pleasure and an honor. Thank you Rhonda Ellisor, and Nancy Gaertner for a beautifully run event! Written below is a quick follow-up of the discussion held at our table.

Okay, so maybe I didn’t quite get to the “saving the world” part of my table topic. Saving the world is actually an ongoing negotiation I am having with record companies, distributors, social-media sites, networks of friends, lawyers, publishers, allies, supporters and with myself as well – all the while trying to compose and record some worthwhile music, identify talented deserving performers and musicians and earning a pot-load of money to fund it all.

The opportunities open to recording artists have been profoundly transformed since I began my professional career in 1976. The idea that a musician could record an album in their living room with a laptop and two decent microphones and then acquire worldwide digital distribution for a few hundred dollars would have been thought to be crazy talk even ten years ago. Nonetheless, now we have that ability. For the first time, I myself have pushed three of my personal album productions to iTunes in the USA, Australia, New Zealand, Canada, Japan, United Kingdom, and the European Union. The albums are also available for download on Amazon MP3, Rhapsody, Napster, eMusic, and LaLa. Apple’s iTunes store alone has now sold over six billion songs since it began on January 9, 2001. About 200 of those sales are credited to me personally (not counting my work for Disney), so you can see that there is another hurdle to jump through in learning how to find and direct customers to buy our music.

It’s an exciting time to be a musician and artist, for not since 1776 have talent and integrity had such an opportunity as this. – Gary Powell

A producer’s or professor’s development of an aspiring musician who can compose and produce a marketable album has never been enough for success. Like politics, it has taken the power of movies, television, nepotism, secret deals and every other sordid ideal to make it to the top of the charts. It’s just that now, we as musicians no longer have to wait for what we thought of as our big break. Now, utilizing many of the emerging distribution and marketing technologies, we can finally take control of our careers while implementing our production and marketing strategies incrementally. Refer back to the 200 units sold digitally by me online. Before I posted those three albums for sale, there were another 127 albums composed and produced by me for different clients and record labels. Those albums have sold some 45 million albums in 47 countries. These kinds of numbers do not happen because the proverbial cream has risen to the top. There is much more to this music business than just writing and recording. Unfortunately, entrepreneurship is is not taught to most aspiring musicians, so until we rise to the challenge of learning how the business of music works, we will continue to miss the opportunities offered us through new marketing and distribution technologies.

Obviously, the major record labels are not thrilled about the democratization of the music business, but, they should be. These opportunities are renewing the public’s interest in discovering and maybe buying music again. Regardless, here we are – millions of musicians, singers and composers for whom the record companies are becoming irrelevant. That is not entirely true just yet, but broadening our educational arts curricula to include basic entrepreneurship courses will give talented individuals tools and hope for building a sustainable business – a business they can solely own and from which they can prosper directly. It’s true that we all can have a chance to swing the bat for a home run, as long as we can build and own our own stadium. Thus, this effort will require some very serious skills beyond learning counterpoint and spelling major-minor seventh chords.

It’s an exciting time to be a musician and artist, for not since 1776 have talent and integrity had such an opportunity as this. I just made that up, so please don’t make me defend this bold statement. But, hope really needs no defense, as long as it is accompanied by education and discipline.

For further information, please check out the links below.

We mentioned briefly the idea and principles of viral marketing and how to use it.

Playing for Change is a very cool idea of using one song and recording it all over the world.

Trevor Romain is a personal friend of mine with his own kids show on PBS. He supports an orphanage in Africa.

Craig Hella Johnson and I taught at the University of Texas School of Music together for a brief time and have remained friends. This professional choir is his full-time position now and they presented a two hour special on PBS this month called Company of Voices. It’s beautifully produced and lovely to hear and watch.

I have produced and arranged nine albums for Joe Scruggs since 1982. He is responsible for introducing me to family music. He and partner Pete Markham created a full-time career performing for children by owning their own production company and record company.

CDBaby is a website for individuals who wish to sell physical product online. They provide digital distribution as well and all fulfillment in collecting and distributing money and mailing product to customers for $4 per unit. The artist sells the CD for whatever price they want.

Tunecore is an aggregator site for musicians to upload their music directly to iTunes. This is my current favorite site for this revolutionaly kind of service.

John Smither, you brought up an important discussion on open source software. It’s a rather huge topic as you know. I use Wordpress, an open-source platform for my own website. Michael Tiemann was an early innovator in this movement. He found me online and came to Austin to spend two days talking about how to change the paradigm of artists having to pay for recording time in professional studios. He is building his studio, Miraverse, now in Chapel Hill, NC which will at least offer a different business model which musicians should find favorable to say the least. “Revolution OS” is a movie which features Michael for his vision and being an innovator concerning open-source software.

Ted Kryczko is my friend and client from Walt Disney Records. He was the “conversation leader” at another table at our event. We have produced over 1,000 tracks together since 1989.

This category on my own website, Music Business Insight has 25 articles I’ve written within it to help educate and inspire musicians. I hope you will pass the link along to anyone whom you think might find these words helpful. If there is anything else I can help you with or if you have a singer or musician you would like to refer to me, please do. Having worked in both Hollywood and the Goree Unit, I can tell you that my studio in Austin is unlike either one of these places.
(Pictured above are SHSU music students, Rachel Namkin (L) and Jessica Borski (R).)

Gary Powell’s Personal Music on iTunes

“Rhapsody of the Soul”

John Lee’s “Thunderstorm in Mentone”

Jeff Hellmer’s “Christmas Jazz”

Gary Powell’s Music for Walt Disney Records as Available on iTunes

“A Bug’s Life Sing Along”

“Party Beats”

“Sleeping Beauty and Friends”

“101 Dalmations and Friends”

“Love-a-byes”

“Pirates of the Caribbean – Swashbucking Sea Songs”

“Cinderella and Friends”

Helpful? Then Copy, Paste and Tweet It:
“Let’s Talk” Music and Entrepreneurship in the Arts with Gary Powell at Sam Houston State University. http://tinyurl.com/c4c8zf

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Filed by Gary Powell at 6:47 am under Music Clinic & Lecture Notes
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by Gary Powell

This March 15, 2008 I shared my birth date with the SXSW Music Conference in Austin, Texas while serving as a panelist for their new “Quickies Session”. Instead of the typical panel full of self-serving musical contradictions and pandering, this experience was different. Not unlike “speed-dating”, each panelist sat, with no more than four pre-registered participants, for a twelve-minute jam session of ideas and brainstorming. Its subject being centered on studio production, there were few, if any, beginners participating in this panel. The main question I inferred from the participants was, “what do I do next?” That, of course, is the question for all of us regardless of where we are developmentally. Consequently, there were no questions about how to become a better musician. Being a competent musician seemed to be a given and that fact should, of course, never be a given. I found myself not talking about gear, recording techniques, how to work with singers, financial issues, producing, or my connections. I did find myself talking predominantly about creating relationships, which was the one skill or strategy noticeably absent from most of these participants. We humans have done a poor job of integrating our humanity within the technically evolutionary construct of the past two decades. “Future Shock” is now here, delivered and filled with all our many creative tools and technologies which are often isolating.

If born after 1981, then this isolation is possibly all you know. Unless humanity takes an overwhelming evolutionary leap backward, humans will be still, very unconsciously, be making decisions about whom to work with the same way we have in the previous hundred thousand years. it will and always has been about relationships. Who are our allys? Who are not our allys? Who can you trust and who can trust you?

Let me introduce you to Canadian singer/songwriter from Toronto, Kate Schutt, who was one of the participants at the “In the Studio” panel. Yes, I left that session with many CD’s handed to me from other participants. Two days later, however, Kate is the one who followed up with me by writing a personal note with her enclosed Artistshare download card. Her note made her music personal to me. Now I wanted to hear it. How simple was that?

Kate has also adopted and implemented the paradigm shift of Web 2.0 by including her audience in her music production ideas. You can go to her ArtistShare site and submit personal love stories from your own experiences. If chosen, Kate will write up to four songs drawn from her audiences’ own experiences to be released in August, 2008 on her album entitled, “The Telephone Game”.

Fortunately, Kate Schutt is also the real deal. Within her jazz leanings, she is a songwriter (and I don’t give that title lightly), arranger, guitarist and sings with a seductive and whispery vocal timbre. This is what we want to see; talented writers and performers who not only hone their craft and deepen their artistic expression, but also take the initiative in taking care of themselves rather than Waiting for Godot.

Other Helpful Links from the SXSW 2008 Convention Floor

Find recording session musicians and collaborators using the online tools of file sharing and professional networking of INDABAMUSIC.

SONGNUMBERS provides your music with a unique telephone number for listening and downloading songs to your customers.

FIZZKICKS lets you create custom designed download cards for your music.

Get, for the first time, an accurate counting of airplay worldwide for your songs with STREAMSERF. Thank you, John Waite for this valuable service.

MYXERTONES creates ringtones directly from your music.

Provide your customers with music downloads of your music even on your own site with ARTISTXITE.

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All Content of Gary Powell’s Site is Licensed Under a
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Filed by Gary Powell at 4:35 pm under Music Clinic & Lecture Notes
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by Gary Powell

Every singer, regardless of where they are in their recording careers, needs an outside ear of someone they trust who is a competent coach in the recording studio. As a vocal coach, helping to sculpt a vocal performance of a talented singer is one of the most exciting musical events in the studio.

After getting a feel for what the voice might be able to do, I listen for pitch accuracy, tone, weight, phrasing, color, air and any missed opportunities across all of the singer’s performance choices and gestures. That may be even the right order for my listening hierarchy. It all happens sort of at the same time though, so it’s hard to know which comes first for me.

Concurrently, while discerning the capabilities of the voice it’s a mistake to not also consider the person playing the instrument. The psychology of the artist will always be present in a recording session even if it’s unconscious. Fear, anxiety, nervousness, feelings of inadequacy, overconfidence, and arrogance are all likely to show up in the studio, especially with singers. A singer’s instrument of choice is already integrated in a physical-emotional-walking-talking-singing-human-unit. Chances are all the disparate parts of that human unit are actually not, however, very well integrated. Making conscious the unconscious in a respectful and effectual way should be the goal. Insightful observations will help any coach discover the person who is in the studio or on stage with you. Knowing when and how to actually share these observations is a skill as important as what we know about the voice itself. I strongly suggest becoming a student of the psychology of an artist and of yourself BEFORE attempting to interpret or intercede. Stepping up to the next level for a singer will not only be about their singing capability. Step lightly. There is a human being behind that voice.

Singers hoping to transition to the recording studio after having had some success in live performing present a special issue for a vocal coach. The excitement alone of a live performance can mask many vocal problems of a singer. Audiences can respond emotionally to shear bravado and volume. A $10,000 signal path of preamplifiers, tube microphones and compressors is not as easily impressed as human audiences. This electronic audience simply listens in more detail than we humans do. I’ve often said that no one learns to sing until they start recording. That said, there are some great voices out there whose recorded performances sound just terrible. Seldom is it the fault of the microphone! Usually, it is either the fault of the vocal coach or… the lack of having a vocal coach.

Most recording producers are secretly intimidated by singers. A producer’s skillful use of technology can help mask their lack of knowledge and experience.

Nashville likes the term vocal producer. The term producer has become meaningless to me, so I prefer the coaching model.

Learning to sculpt a vocal performance takes years of mindful experience especially if your goal is to have singers still enjoy their singing after you’re gone. Veteran vocal coaches work in VERY fine detail not unlike the aforementioned signal path. Some singers will fall into this experience willingly and with great joy. Others might be resistant or even confrontational. It’s our job to discern when someone’s singing is being enhanced by our presence and when it is not. Hopefully, we can ALL know that much.

In the meantime, nurturing the awakening of a person’s talent in a way that both sustains the voice and the singer should be the goal.

Specials thanks to DeSales University theatre arts student, Chris McGuiness for his great attitude and the photo above.
All Content of Gary Powell’s Site is Licensed Under a
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Filed by Gary Powell at 11:45 am under Music Clinic & Lecture Notes
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by Gary Powell

My semesterly sojourn to Glenn Richter’s music business class at the University of Texas is like a performance. Professor Richter is School of Music’s Professor of Instrumental Conducting and the Director of the Center for American Music.

I think all my best teachers and professors have had a bit of performer in them regardless of the subject. This class was the kind that allowed some improvisation. Below is a list of what I THINK we talked about. If I left anything out, please add it in the comments.

If you are under the illusion that these students are not on top of all the issues discussed below, then visit the site of violinist Rebecca Browne, who is the class member pictured second from the right in red. Also, you can listen to the wonderful voice of singer Azniv Korkejian, (pictured center in the white jacket/maroon collar) who sang for me after class.

I opened by singing “I’m Gonna Get My Needs Met”, my interpretation of Joseph Stalin. Then the following topics ensued.

The size of the musical palette needed in order to accommodate the size of the idea expressed.

Learning our own personal philosophical leanings as defined by how we view ourselves in relation to others and our own identity and responsibility.

The source of the creative urge or spark…..trusting the mind to assimilate all the “loaded-in” disparate parts into the whole. (See drawing at right to help make sense of this and yes, I know I can’t draw!)

How to keep the gig? Don’t miss deadlines! Don’t go over budget! Don’t whine!

When it is time to take care of yourself, take care of your client at the same time whenever possible.

How do you get the gig? Get lucky first, but back it up with training, discipline and a prodigious work ethic just in case you have to actually work for a living. Be brave. Be bold. Go to parties.

The fine line between arrogance and confidence.

Don’t let adults perpetrate the big lie about “arriving” or “the cream rising to the top”. Here is what adults don’t tell you. At 55 years of age I have the exact same challenges you have. Get comfortable with the constant reinvention of yourself.

This class was really fun for me. I met some wonderful and talented young people and we cut a wide swath across the professional music field. Teaching another person how to be successful is a slippery prospect. Even after 30 years as a composer, musical arranger and musician, I have just a sliver of knowledge about how it all works. NO ONE knows how it all works. However, when we come together we can share, learn and inspire each other from our own experiences, the good and the bad of it, in spite of our own prejudices and our ever-expanding philosophical and ever-changing emotional selves.

Best regards to all of you and especially Glenn Richter for sharing his class with me.

Filed by Gary Powell at 6:15 am under Music Clinic & Lecture Notes
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Thank you, Glenn Richter, for another great day with you and your students. Here are links to some of the topics we hit on in both your classes for those students interested in following up. See you soon. — Gary Powell

News on Podcasting
Antares Auto-Tune and A-Vox

I don’t remember which student in the morning class turned us on to this, but this site is exactly the kind of thing I was talking about. It figures someone has developed this kind of idea so completely. I’m lovin’ this. Please tell the student (on the back row) thank you for me: Artistshare

This PBSYOU program will be helpful to anyone with an individual spirit: Entrepreneurship Classes on PBSYOU

Powell Studio Productions in Austin, Texas uses the following music production applications:

For Sample Library Playback:
Tascam GigaStudio
Real Guitars with Modeled Guitar Sounds:
Line6
For Digital Audio and Sequencing:
Digital Performer
For Music Notation:
Sibelius

Filed by Gary Powell at 7:02 pm under Music Clinic & Lecture Notes
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by Gary Powell

Glenn Richter teaches this class of freshman Plan II students and has invited me to guest lecture October 5th. I always enjoy spending a day with Glenn and his students each semester.

A Note to the Class of TC 301

The college experience is going to be wholly different for you than it was for me when I was a freshman music major in 1969. The ego-driven, autocratic classroom learning model of “I know everything and you don’t” is hopefully dying. Music is a dynamic subject, meaning we must learn together how to negotiate the rapid changes in technology and sociology.

“Just because something has always been doesn’t mean it should always be!”

As freshmen, you are probably feeling some of this life dynamism right now. As we age, the game only intensifies. I remember being surprised in learning that adults never really “arrive” at what might be called the “best expression” of their lives. So, how does this life and artful dynamism relate to musical performers? Plenty! Certainly you have your favorites. This is the perfect class whereby the examination of a performer’s art and life might become an examination of your own!

Here’s where you, the young student, gets to hear someone else’s truth unprotected from “spin”. I remember, when presented with a chance of talking with a professional, feeling like I didn’t know enough to even know what my questions should be. I don’t want you to have a lost opportunity.

So, instead of asking questions, I suggest that you, the student, individually post a comment here that will help prepare me for visiting your class. I also suggest that you actually make comments rather than ask questions.

Why Comments Instead of Questions?

Like I said, sometimes we don’t know enough to ask a question. As Plan II students, I know you can write and comment on what’s around you. For instance, the photo at the right has plenty to comment on if you are interested in the performing arts. If we can move the conversation toward cogent and thoughful concern for YOUR experience then my brief visit might be helpful to you. If nothing else, you will learn that your education is YOUR responsibility regardless of who’s paying for it or who’s teaching you. So, post away. Having trouble getting started? Here are some ideas on how you might start your post:

I’m concerned about …
I’m observing that…
My experience has been that…
When I hear “whatever”, I feel that…
My hope is that…
My fear is that…
The music business is…
Dude, wait ’til you hear this…

I will assimilate your comments and try to facilitate a meaningful class for you.

Need more stimulation?

Check out my Lecture Topics and see if any of this has something do you with YOU. Let’s see if we, together, can make this a memorable day. Thank you, Glenn Richter, for inviting me into your already successful program. I wish this course had been offered in 1969!

Filed by Gary Powell at 5:03 pm under Music Clinic & Lecture Notes
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