The Importance of Early Registration

I can't tell you how many times I see clients who forget to register their copyrights, or do not register their copyrights soon enough.  So, how soon must a work be registered? The quick answer is within three months of publication.  

The primary advantage to registering within three months of publication is eligibility for the statutory damages provisions under the Copyright Act.  For example, if someone willfully infringes on your registered (within three months of publication) copyright, you can receive up to $150,000 per violation! Even if someone unintentionally infringes, the statutory damages range from $750 to $30,000 per violation.  You also get attorney's fees under the statutory damages provision of the Copyright Act. See 17 U.S.C. Section 412. 

On the other hand, if you fail to register on time, you are not eligible for attorney's fees and must be able to prove the amount of your actual damages. 

The moral of the story: Register your copyrights as soon as possible!

The First Twitter Defamation Case

The first twitter defamation lawsuit has been filed, and it is against none other than Courtney Love.  The erratic rocker and Kurt Cobain widow apparently had some very unkind things to say about her former fashion designer.  You can find a story on the defamatory statements and the lawsuit here, and Courtney Love's official twitter page here. Finally, a copy of the complaint can be found here. 

After reading the complaint, it appears that one of Love's best arguments may be that her statements are so incoherent that a reasonable person could not understand what she is talking about - or, in other words, she is so incomprehensible that she is defamation-proof.  It should be interesting to see what happens. 

Thanks to Pete Jones for alerting me to the case.

Tony Castricone's Central Ohio Sports Blog

A local (and sometimes state/nationwide) celebrity - who happens to be my roommate - Tony Castricone, has started a sports blog for Central Ohio Sports fans.  Tony hosts pre-game shows for Ohio State Basketball and Football, occasionally co-hosts with Herbstreit, Spielman, and Hooley on The Big Show, and has his own show in the fall, The Sunday Brunch.  He is an expert a national expert on Big Ten football (and NCAA football in general). 

Check him out: Tony Castricone's Sports Blog

Why Twitter Matters - And For Whom It Matters

While walking around in Austin, Texas at South By Southwest, the power of Twitter became obvious to me.  The number of social media websites is enough to make one's head spin.  But Twitter stands out from the pack, especially if you need to have instant updates on what a large number of people are doing. 

For those of you who are not regular tweeters, Twitter is a website that asks one question: What are you doing? Each person has a very brief profile and can choose to "follow" their friends or their favorite celebrities to receive instant updates.  In that way, Twitter is like an immediate newsletter that you choose to receive only from people who interest you.  Most people use twitter through a software application on their cell phones.  A tweet is limited to the same amount of characters as a cell phone text. 

At first, I thought that Twitter was another pointless technology for hipsters and high school kids. After all, Facebook has a status update function.  But Facebook has so many other features that take time to load on slower cell phones and get in the way of the very simple and distilled information that comes on Twitter. 

Still, Twitter is not necessary for most folks.  However, it is indispensable for anyone who either needs very fast information from a source on twitter or for anyone who wants to build and maintain followers (fans, blog readers, clients, voters, etc.).  Bands can use twitter to update fans on what they are doing and when they have upcoming shows. Politicians can tell their supporters about the latest fundraiser or rally. And businesses can alert customers to sales or Twitter code specials. 

At South By Southwest, I followed a Twitter schedule update.  With surprise performances, such as Metallica and Kanye West, Twitter was the only way to keep in the loop of what was going on. And EVERY person I met there was on Twitter.  In that way, by simply checking my phone, I had exclusive up to the second information about show changes and the latest news on where and when surprise performances would occur. 

If you are interested in maintaining fans, or just being in the know, you should strongly consider getting on Twitter. (Rhyme not intended, but I noticed it and kept it in anyway.) :)

SXSW Observations, Tips, and Highlights

Now that I have had some time to process what happened over the last week in Austin, I'd like to supplement the other posts with more thorough descriptions.

General Observations:

The conference was pretty much what I expected it to be: extremely crowded, full of big names in the music industry, exhausting and exciting. There were a few surprises, however.

The conference is very indie-centric. There seems to be an attitude, especially among the fans attending the showcases, and among some of the music industry professionals, that the only legitimate music is indie rock music that is not currently on the radio or (preferably) will never be on the radio. I found this attitude a bit unwelcoming, since I am a fan of accessible singer/songwriters and pop-rock music. This phenomenon can be best summarized by a t-shirt that I saw on Sixth Street: "Oh yeah, the band that I like doesn't even exist yet." (Having said that, there were a few excellent singer/songwriters, particularly at the BMI Showcase and the Hotel Cafe Showcase.)

I was also surprised that there were so many concerts and showcases during the day. Most of these parties allowed people with badges to receive free food and drinks. I only attended one party (to see an Ohio band that I know), but most people seem to split their time between the parties and the panels.

TIPS:

1) Bring very comfortable shoes to SXSW! The venues are spread over approximately 1.5 miles. I expected to do a lot of walking, but not nearly as much as I actually did.

2) Stay downtown if you can. I stayed with a friend's mom in Central Austin and took the bus in to town every morning. The Austin bus system is reliable and safe. However, the busses do not run very late at night. Many of my fellow conference-goers attended the panels during the day and went to dinner until about 7:00. Then, went back to their hotels and rested until about 10:00, when they would go out to see showcases until 2 A.M. I did not have the luxury of resting because I would not be able to get back downtown in time by taking the bus. This forced me to be downtown from 11 A.M until 2:30 A.M. on most nights. Also, catching a cab after the showcases end can take up to an hour. Downtown hotels are costly, but are worth it if you can afford them.

3) Prioritize your reasons for attending the conference. During the day, this is a big issue. There will certainly be times when there are conflicting panels and parties that you would like to attend. Decide what the purpose of your trip to SXSW is before you arrive. This was especially problematic for me because I had multiple goals (learning, networking, seeing new bands, seeing bands that I already like, etc.) I am happy with the way that I balanced my time, but I didn't realize how much of an issue it would be.

4) Join twitter and follow SXSW Sched. The schedules change all the time during SXSW. There are also surprise guests. For example, this year Kanye West and Metallica both played unannounced! However, SXSW Sched will provide you with updated artist listings and, potentially, with gossip about added surprise shows.

5) Bring a lot of business cards.

6) Play in the softball tournament, or at least attend it. This will give a chance to meet people whom you otherwise would not have met and to bond in a way that can only be done through sports. Also, there is free beer and bbq.

HIGHLIGHTS:

I like to rank things. (High Fidelity is one of my top five favorite movies. (The people at SXSW would say "film".)) Accordingly, here are my 2009 SXSW top fives:

Conference Panels:

5) The Risks And Rewards of Festivals. The creators of Bonnaroo and a number of European festivals spoke about details for festival planning. Most festivals take three years to make a profit! That was shocking news, but is good to know. Also, Bonnaroo does not spend a dime promoting the festival. Instead, they book bands with loyal followings and rely on word of mouth. This is a very smart business model. It is no surprise that Bonnaroo is so successful.

4) Music Licensing For Unsigned Artists. The moral of this story, as told by the music supervisors for film and television, is that, other than having an appropriate song, all that matters is knowing the right person. Ultimately, you most likely must go through a song plugger (or similar service) or have a stroke of luck to get a placement. Those are the only options for an unsigned artist.

3) Demo Listening (with A&R). This was a golden ticket opportunity! A&R people (I've heard them called A&R "people" or "reps". I use both terms interchangeably.) from two major labels, along with music critics, selected demo cds from a box, played the first verse and chorus of one song on each selected cd (for the entire room), and gave their thoughts on the music. This provided a unique situation to see how high the bar is to be signed to a major record label. I heard 25 songs or so. Out of those, according to the panel, 10 were terrible, 12 were average, but not good enough, and 3 were excellent and "worthy of listening to the entire track." Those artists who the A&R reps liked were asked to follow up with the A&R reps after the panel - a rare and amazing opportunity! Listening with objective ears, I agreed with the A&R people. I left the panel comforted with the knowledge that I have similar taste as the A&R people.

2) A&R 3.0. An A&R person from every major label answered questions from artists about the mindset of an A&R representative. While they did not accept any records after the panel, the A&R reps did provide helpful information about where the music industry is headed. Hint: It has to do with computers.

1) Issues facing major label attorneys. This panel featured general counsel from Interscope and Sony, along with a major artist attorney. It was fascinating to hear the issues that the big labels are concerned about. Perhaps even more interesting were the ones that they did not talk about (copyright termination).


Artist Performances:

5) Meiko. She had great songs, very funny banter, and an excellent performance. My favorite was "Reasons To Love You."

4) Alice Russell. This neo-soul singer from the U.K. sounds like a mix of Duffy and Amy Winehouse. The songs were not always great, but the backing band was outstanding, particularly the offensive lineman sized violinist. Having a violin in a british soul band with organ doesn't seem like a good idea. But it is for them.

3) Brother Trouble. These guys were like Big & Rich, except they are actual brothers. Their harmonies were tight and the songs were catchy. I expect to hear them on country radio sometime soon.

2) Five Times August. I caught the end of their set at the Driscoll. Brad and the and, particularly the cellist, were a step above almost every other comparable act at SXSW. If you have not heard of the band yet, trust me, you will.

1) Ten out of Tenn. The performance was great. But the concept is even cooler. This is a group of 10 songwriter friends from Nashville who rotate singing their own songs and playing an instrument in the other songwriters' back up band. Seeing Erin McCarley, Griffin House, Jeremy Lister, Katie Herzig, and Andy Davis on the same stage was all that I thought it would be - indescribably good!

Experiences (ranked in order of memorability):

5) Watching Third Eye Blind Play Their New Record. I made some nice "single serving friends" before the show who were fans from the 3eb message board. I have always been a Third Eye Blind fan and have all of their records. This is why I was shocked at how bad the lyrics are to every new song. But, the music still sounded great and we were about 20 feet away on a 68 degree cloudless night in Texas.

4) Walking down Sixth Street on Saturday Night. Chaos! Crowded streets with guys in very tight jeans with ironic hipster mustaches. Standing in the middle of the Sixth and Trinity intersection, I could hear about 10 different venues melding into one awful noise. It was pretty cool.

3) Interviewing Griffin House. As I will explain in the future, I am working on a music industry book. Griffin graciously agreed to be my first interviewee. He went out of his way to make time for me and was truly a class act and all-around good guy (even though he went to Miami (Oh)) (Go Bobcats!).

2) Watching Rocco DeLuca perform from 30 feet away while standing next to Matthew McConaughey. (Speaks for itself.)

1) Sitting next to Leonard Cohen during the Webb Sisters set (though I did not realize it until the next day). I sat next to an older gentleman and made some small talk. During our chat, someone came up to him and said that they admire all of his work and thanked him. I assumed he was some sort of British producer or something. I had no idea he was one of the most prolific songwriters of our time (and behind one of my favorite Matt Mackey cover songs).

Day 4 SXSW

Yesterday was the second day of the Continuing Legal Education. The panels were on music litigation decisions and issues facing major label lawyers, among other topics.

There are high hopes among the record label attorneys that Congress and the Obama administration will pass the performance rights act, which would compensate the owners of master sound recordings for performances on terrestrial radio (and broadcast television) for the first time. Currently, the U.S. is among North Korea and Iran as countries that do not compensate the owners of sound recordings for public performances on terrestrial radio. Since the U.S. does not pay such royalties, U.S. artists are unable to collect their own royalties in other countries (aka reciprocity). If this act passes, it will be a serious boost to the music industry.

I was interested to hear that the major label attorneys did not really have a take on the impending 2013 termination of copyright issue (I will post a detailed blog about it at some point in the future.). All of the attorneys whom I asked either said that they are not thinking about it or that it is a problem and they just don't want to draw attention to it. This leads me to believe that the issues is pretty serious after all. (The basics are that in 2013, recording artists who assigned their sound recordings "masters" to record labels in 1978 will be able to terminate the assignment and get their masters back, allowing the artist to profit from the master instead of the record label.)

I saw a little bit of music and comedy last night too. I checked out a few bands at the Park the Van showcase, a label founded by the team behind all of the Sublime records. The Peakers were very good. They sounded like Rilo Kiley with more instruments. The best band of the day for me was Parachute, from Charlottesville, VA. I have a feeling we may hear from them again. Finally, I saw Third Eye Blind play new material. It is surprising how bad Stephan Jenkins' lyrics have become.

Today is the softball tournament and BBQ.

Sxsw day 3 summary

Today was the start of lawyer education classes. After attending two very informative panels, I visited 2 day showcases. More details ok that are forthcoming.

Artists whom I heard:
Dave Ritz, Brother Trouble, Ben Harper, Waz, Erin McCarley, Five Times August, Rocco DeLuca.



-- Post From My iPhone

Sxsw day 2

First of all, sorry that I was not able to post more blog entries yesterday. I think March Madness + huge blogging crowd made the cell networks slower.

Day 2 was just as busy as Day 1. I went to a panel called "bloggers are now in charge" about the power of music blogging in building a name for a new band. The theme from the bloggers was "we blog about music we like and if you don't like it, we don't care."

Probably the most beneficial panel was with A&R reps from major record labels (the mysterious people with the power to sign new bands). It takes millions of dollars to get a song on pop radio. This usually takes the form of a nationwide marketing campaign at radio stations. The panel said that, contrary to popular belief, labels are still looking for new artists. In order for a new artist to have a chance at getting signed, they must have a lot of myspace plays and a live show that draws consistent crowds in the town where the act lives. I agreed to be the ears on the ground in Columbus for one of the labels who lacked an Ohio scout.

Other panels in included one about how to put on a festival, which was very Eurocentric, although the founder of Bonaroo provided good insight. Festivals don't expect to make a profit until the third year. That was surprising.

I also attended a management discussion, where I met John Mayer's manager.

Music-wise, I saw Alice Russell (no doubt + Boyd Tinsley with Duffy singing), Lenka (Dave Barnes-ish but weirder and female), Landon Pigg, and Meiko (funny singer/songwriter with a breathy voice and good songs).

The lawyer CLE program begins today.

-- Post From My iPhone

SXSW Day 1 Review/Licensing Recap

Now that I have had a chance to decompress (and an opportunity to type on a real keyboard), I have some further observations on SXSW Music Day 1.

The most informative panel that I attended was licensing unsigned bands for tv and film. The director of music supervision from MTV networks (which includes VH1) and the music supervisor for a movie company, among others, provided practical instruction for getting placements in television and film as an unsigned artist. In summary, the panel agreed that unsigned artists:

should NOT send unsolicited emails to music supervisors with links to view mp3s
should send hard copy press kits if sending unsolicited mail
should follow the proper format for submission when there is one listed. The music will get heard (they assured the audience).
should seriously consider hiring a song plugger. All panelists agreed that music supervisors trust a limited number of people. Many of them are professional song pluggers. Specific song pluggers mentioned were Talenthouse, The Orchard, and Sir Groovy.
should NOT suggest what scene the music would be appropriate for.
should be touring and actively engaged in a music career. Particularly for MTV and VH1 artists, the music supervisors want to be part of advancing an artist’s career. If it doesn’t look like the artist is even trying to have a career anymore, the music supervisor will likely move on to someone else.
should make instrumental mixes of all songs.
should have a relationship with a performing rights organization and register their material with that organization.

The panel said that the common deal terms for licensing for an unsigned band, dependent on the length of the song, the nature of the placement, and the profile of the band, varies from $ 500 to $ 5,000, with bands being paid on the back end for public performances by performance rights organizations.

PERFORMANCE SUMMARIES: (one line)

Southeast Engine – Sounded like Ryan Adams meets Wilco.
The Webb Sisters – Acoustic duo with guitar and harp. Excellent harmonies.
Dignan – Xylophone + accordion + keys + pop hooks = nice.
Peter Mulvey – effortless skilled acoustic guitar playing, great songs.
Girl In Coma – very punk, but great stage presence and the crowd loved them.
Ten out of Tenn – awesome concept for 10 established songwriters, sounded great!

Exhausted

My first day at sxsw is finally over. Tonight I saw great sets from Peter Mulvey (used a lot of interesting capo positions), dignan, girl in a coma, Jed Hughes, and ten out of tenn.

I'm bringing a charger tomorrow so I can blog more during the day.

Goodnight.


-- Post From My iPhone

Day 1 - at 7pm

The day was extremely productive. I attended seminars ok management, licensing, recording, and booking. I also got to see a Leonard cohen tribute performance by a band from Athens, oh. The licensing panel was, by far, the most productive. I will post details about it later.

Right now, I'm sitting in the Hilton lobby. Not sure exactly who I will see tonight. I'll update tonight or early tomorrow morning.


-- Post From My iPhone

Registration

The first order of business at sxsw is picking up your registration badge. I waited in line for about 15 minutes and went up and down a series of escalators. In line, I met a British guy who was starting his own label and is a 5 year veteran of sxsw.

Everyone has been very nice and accesible so far. On to the first panel. . .

-- Post From My iPhone

iPhone

I'm trying out the iPhone during sxsw. So far it is harder to type than with blackberry, but otherwise far superior. I will be blogging here and tweeting from it.

Stopping in Nashville for a quick visit with Tris before arriving in Austin tonight.

-- Post From My iPhone

Final preparations for SXSW

For those of you who don't know, SXSW (South By Southwest) is the biggest music industry event in the world.  People from all areas of the industry come to Austin, Texas for five days of music classes (during the daytime) and live performances at night.  Historically, SXSW is where artists are "discovered" by major record labels (John Mayer, for example).  Today, many artists who are already established play showcases at SXSW (usually in support of a new record). 

Here is a brief list of artists whose showcases I plan on attending: Aqualung, Meiko, M Ward, Peter Mulvey, Ten out of Tenn, Fastball, The Decemberists, Billy Bob Thornton (yes, that one), Superdrag, Landon Pigg, Erin McCarley, Andrew Bird, Greg Laswell, Cary Brothers, Rocco Deluca and the Burden (Jack Bauer's band), Ben Harper, Eric Hutchinson, The Hold Steady, The Used, Third Eye Blind, Ra Ra Riot, Shiny Toy Guns . . . and probably many more singer/songwriters whom I have not yet heard of.

I expect chaos and massive crowds.  I also hope to figure out how to navigate Austin, find some quality BBQ, and play softball on Sunday in the official SXSW tournament. 

SXSW Next Week

I am happy to report that I will be blogging (at least daily) from SXSW in Austin, TX. While I'm sure there are many of them out there, I was not able to find a journal explaining the basics of SXSW for a first-timer. I'm hoping to keep everyone updated and give an idea of what an average day in the life of SXSW is like.

Stay tuned . . .

The Royalties You Never Knew You Had

If you, or your band, are the primary artist on a recording that has been played on satellite radio, digital cable music channels, or internet radio, Sound Exchange may have money waiting for you. Likewise, if you sang, performed, or otherwise worked on a record that was in the Soundscan top 100 (or maybe even the top 150), cash could await you. The history of laws and cases surrounding these new royalties are complex, but noteworthy.

While many musicians have heard of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act, which deals with technology, most musicians have not heard of the Audio Home Recording Act of 1992 (“AHRA”) and the Digital Performance Right in Sound Recordings Act of 1995 (“Sound Recordings Act”). Recording artists and performing musicians, including producers and engineers, need to know about the AHRA and the Sound Recordings Act because those laws put money directly into their pockets. In fact, the money may already be theirs, waiting to be claimed.

The AHRA was enacted to compensate the music industry for losses due to home recording. It requires importers and manufacturers of digital audio recording devices to pay royalties based on device sales. Initially, income from AHRA royalties looked promising for artists. However, that potential income was seriously limited by RIAA v. Diamond Multimedia Systems Inc., a case establishing that MP3 players and computer hard drives do not fall under the Act. (Imagine the amount of revenue that would have been generated if every iPod and computer sale had to pay royalties!) Nevertheless, the AHRA brings royalties, divided into two distinct funds, to the music industry from importers and manufacturers of CD duplication machines and digital audio tape recorders, among other equipment.

The AHRA was the first act to mandate the way that royalties are allocated, but it accounts for far less revenue than the Sound Recordings Act. The Sound Recordings Act boldly changed copyright law by requiring the payment of royalties for certain public performances of sound recordings. Although the act does not require terrestrial radio, television, and most cable television operators to pay royalties to sound recordings, it covers new and emerging areas of public performances, such as satellite radio, internet radio (including webcasts from terrestrial radio), and digital music cable channels. The pool of money from the Sound Recordings Act is much larger than the AHRA because it includes about 7.5 percent of the gross income from satellite radio companies, XM and Sirius.

Like the AHRA, the royalties from the Sound Recordings Act are divided among different groups. The Copyright Office designated Sound Exchange, a non-profit organization, to collect royalties for Sound Recording Copyright Owners (SRCOs) and Featured Artists. Half of all of the royalties go to the SRCO, who is usually, but not always, a record label. The Featured Artist, who is the individual or group that is most prominently identified with the recording, receives 45 percent of the royalty.

The law is unclear on whether the royalty must go directly to the Featured Artist, or whether the SRCO receives the Featured Artist’s royalty under the terms of the Featured Artist’s recording contract. In fact, the legislative history for the act shows that the House of Representatives intended for the royalties to bypass the artists (featured and non-featured) and go directly to the SRCO under most circumstances, and that the Senate intended for the royalty to go directly to the artists, regardless of the terms of the artists’ contracts with the SRCO. As a practical matter, Sound Exchange pays Featured Artists directly, a practice that will likely continue until the policy is challenged by SRCOs in the future.

Non-featured musicians and non-featured vocalists split the remaining 5 percent of royalties under the Sound Recordings Act. This process is similar to the AHRA’s allocation of royalties. However, the Sound Recordings Act differs from the AHRA because it is slightly more favorable to non-featured vocalists. Royalties for non-featured performers under the Sound Recordings Act and the AHRA are determined by simply looking at the album credits on a CD jacket. Thus, receiving a performance credit on an album is not just a matter of principle — it has financial importance. Non-featured musicians and vocalists must register with the American Federation of Musicians and American Federation of Television and Radio Artists Fund to receive their royalties.

Despite the declining revenue (due to the Diamond case) from the AHRA fund, royalties from the Sound Recordings Act have continued to increase. The proliferation of internet radio, combined with the steady rise in satellite radio subscribers, has been the catalyst for that consistent growth. In 2007 alone, more than $141 million was collected by Sound Exchange for SRCOs and Featured Artists. This means that more than $63 million in royalties will be awarded to Featured Artists from 2007. For non-featured musicians and vocalists, the revenue is smaller, but will also continue to increase.

Keep your eye on Congress to extend the Sound Recording Act to terrestrial radio, television, and cable, something that the Obama Administration has hinted at supporting.

Mercy

I don't understand why Duffy's song Mercy is stuck in my head all the time. Maybe its because I've always wanted to like Amy Winehouse, but couldn't. Maybe its because I still can't figure out what she says during the bridge, so I'm forced to keep listening closely. Maybe its because her voice sounds unreal, not in a good way, but in an artificial way. Still, I like the song. I think it must be the Doors-like organ during the chorus that takes the song away from bubble gum territory and makes it unique and, actually, enjoyable.

Check it out.

Getting Songs on TV

I got an email from a friend of mine today. I won't say his name because I didn't ask his permission to use it. (I think he'd be cool with it anyway, but why risk it.) I had emailed him before asking him what the secret is for getting film/tv placements. This guy has made an entire career off of them. His answer was "Don't put the cart before the horse."

In order for to get a song licensed for use in a movie/tv show, you have to know someone on the inside who is making decisions. A lot of people spend years trying to send press kits to people who either 1) never open them, or 2) open them, but lose track of the artist even if they liked the song but couldn't use it. My friend said that almost all of his placements have come from people who were fans that he met early in his career and then, as they achieved more decision making authority in their jobs, he was the beneficiary.

One TV show theme song that he authored was from a fan who he spoke with briefly only once. She remained a fan and asked him to write the song for the TV show when it was picked up by the network. This artist just did what any artist should do. He established his career by touring and building relationships with fans first. Then, he started getting placements. Not the other way around!

The moral of the story is that all artists need to value their fans. This means you need to respond individually to myspace and facebook comments. Don't use a bot. That is patronizing. Fans know that a bot is a bot. The more that you love your fans, the more they will love you. When you aren't a huge star with millions of fans, you need your hundreds (hopefully) of fans to be dedicated.

Utterz and others

There is so much ridiculous new technology available for bands and artists to promote themselves without coming across like the same old, same old. One example of this new phenomenon is utterz. If you go to utterz.com, it takes about 10 minutes to sign up and you can text, email, or send videos to any utterz connected site. It is super easy to connect the sites also (although, myspace and facebook are apparently not yet utterz friendly). In my phone call, I wasn't completely articulate, but me talking on my phone was posted to a website within about 8 minutes of my call. This is wild. Imagine the possibilities!

The key for new marketing is that it is about the individual user, not about the artist. You need to be accessible and you need to address your fans on an individual level, like friends. The fact that someone posts a song on their myspace or facebook page isn't for the purpose of glorifying the artist. Not anymore. Now, its all about the user expressing themselves through song choice.

We live in a world of show and tell. And if you are trying to be a relevant indie musician, the best thing you can do is be a part of it.