Category: Music Business Insight

Copyright Law for Songwriters

by Gary Powell

Beethoven Score
Copyright law regarding songwriting is written in a way which upsets the balance of musicianship and credentials. You, as a songwriter can be easily compromised by the law lending support for all kinds of pretenders to lay claim to the intellectual property they had little or nothing to do with. For example, a song has three major components: the melody, the lyrics, and the chords under the melody. Chord structure is musically understood as the harmonization of the melody. For every one melody note, there are two handfuls of notes giving the melody its meaning and place. Thus, a melody and lyric can be masterfully harmonized any number of ways to broadly effect their color and tone. In that regard, harmonization plays a compositional role that melody and lyrics cannot alone achieve. Yet, the United States Copyright Office only recognizes melody and lyrics as official parts of a song. Really? That’s right! All those years spent in the study of music theory can be cast off just that easily with one bad law. And whom does this oversight favor? Thanks to the copyright office having been taken hostage, just humming a little ditty with a lyric like “Happy birthday to you” is all it takes to lay legal claim to being a songwriter or even a composer. This favors anyone who has ever hummed a tune, which for the good and the bad of it, is all of us. Professionally, however, composers disaffectionately call these people hummers.

“…one of the criticisms of the current system is that it benefits publishers more than it does creators.” – History of Copyright Law, Wikipedia

In the meantime, answer this question before you start hijacking the credit you don’t deserve: If left alone with only a piano and staff paper, would you be able to deliver a musical composition ready to be played by an orchestra waiting for their parts in the rehearsal hall next door? If not, then you’ll need a team of lost-voices or some very cleverly designed music-making software – of which there is plenty to choose from. But remember, if you can hum or even be in the room when someone else is humming, the the law is on your side. So, what happened to the music itself after the adoption of these copyright laws? Turn on the television or radio and listen, and you’ll immediately know.

Next I’ll be writing about how we are unwittingly supporting a system which progressively lowers the bar for the arts and ultimately in society.

Helpful? Then Copy, Paste and Tweet It:
How Copyright Law Effects Creativity for Songwriters. http://tinyurl.com/7pn5qq

To Learn More, Please Consider These Reference Links:

The Mechanical Elements of a Song
Library of Congress: History’s Wordsmiths

All Content of Gary Powell’s Site is Licensed Under a
Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 2.5 License

.

by Gary Powell

Beethoven Score
Copyright law regarding songwriting is written in a way which upsets the balance of musicianship and credentials. You, as a songwriter can be easily compromised by the law lending support for all kinds of pretenders to lay claim to the intellectual property they had little or nothing to do with. For example, a song has three major components: the melody, the lyrics, and the chords under the melody. Chord structure is musically understood as the harmonization of the melody. For every one melody note, there are two handfuls of notes giving the melody its meaning and place. Thus, a melody and lyric can be masterfully harmonized any number of ways to broadly effect their color and tone. In that regard, harmonization plays a compositional role that melody and lyrics cannot alone achieve. Yet, the United States Copyright Office only recognizes melody and lyrics as official parts of a song. Really? That’s right! All those years spent in the study of music theory can be cast off just that easily with one bad law. And whom does this oversight favor? Thanks to the copyright office having been taken hostage, just humming a little ditty with a lyric like “Happy birthday to you” is all it takes to lay legal claim to being a songwriter or even a composer. This favors anyone who has ever hummed a tune, which for the good and the bad of it, is all of us. Professionally, however, composers disaffectionately call these people hummers.

“…one of the criticisms of the current system is that it benefits publishers more than it does creators.” – History of Copyright Law, Wikipedia

In the meantime, answer this question before you start hijacking the credit you don’t deserve: If left alone with only a piano and staff paper, would you be able to deliver a musical composition ready to be played by an orchestra waiting for their parts in the rehearsal hall next door? If not, then you’ll need a team of lost-voices or some very cleverly designed music-making software – of which there is plenty to choose from. But remember, if you can hum or even be in the room when someone else is humming, the the law is on your side. So, what happened to the music itself after the adoption of these copyright laws? Turn on the television or radio and listen, and you’ll immediately know.

Next I’ll be writing about how we are unwittingly supporting a system which progressively lowers the bar for the arts and ultimately in society.

Helpful? Then Copy, Paste and Tweet It:
How Copyright Law Effects Creativity for Songwriters. http://tinyurl.com/7pn5qq

To Learn More, Please Consider These Reference Links:

The Mechanical Elements of a Song
Library of Congress: History’s Wordsmiths

All Content of Gary Powell’s Site is Licensed Under a
Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 2.5 License

.

The “Shared Role” Model of Music Education

by Gary Powell

The role of the music educator is being transformed. Music education has always offered a rich environment for listening, analyzing and experiencing the most masterful compositions in history while students study under expert tutelage. Transitioning a student from academia to a global market economy, however, presents new and specific challenges for us as educators which we are seldom able to wholly grasp. Why not? Higher education emphasizes and demands compliance, not just for the student, but for any person working within the institution. The successful student, in order to prosper within this educational, system, is unconsciously creating a thought process that will most certainly work against success in the less compliant world – a world where your ever maturing and less compliant self actually lives. ListenYou will probably, like me, find yourself needing to turn the page quickly, without even knowing you are being taught from the wrong book. In this societal time of personal imprudence, systemic corruption and waste, and the uncertainly of leadership, the teacher and the student now find themselves as unlikely roommates in their freshman year at WTF University!

Listen inwardly, then express outwardly by nurturing relationships with individuals who are fair-minded and also your equals in intellect, passion, and talent.

Compliance by definition requires action, not of your own choice, in applying learned quantities to known stimuli. Formal education is built on the wealth of accumulated human knowledge. Educators teach what is known. Obviously, they can’t teach what is not known, so who or what, exactly, is going to teach you the future? Sorry, but this next college degree is going to be up to you. Hopefully, educators will at least have the capacity to forecast and teach technological and market trends. If you are studying the arts, then the news for you is even worse. However, experiencing the historical perspective which education offers the music student is where you as the student have the most to gain. Conversely, most professors will not have experienced any of these paradoxical paradigm shifts in the market or emerging production technologies first-hand. Most are either not aware that changes or shifts have occurred or they abhor these career threatening inevitabilities altogether.

I suggest bringing your teachers into your world of experience. Your experience will not be their experience and vice-versa. Because of these rapid technological and societal changes, you, the student, now share nearly equal responsibility with your teachers in your music education. You will now need to take on the responsibility of relating to your teachers and music professors in an inclusive, yet respectful way. Invite them into your world, and if they find it wholly irrelevant to their curriculum, then look outside the hallowed halls for what you know you need. This is your responsibility to yourself. They in turn, as your professors, have the responsibility of keeping their perspectives current and relevant. There is no subject that has not been touched by technological and sociological change. Taking on the personal responsibility for your education through awakening your insight, beyond the ivory towers, will build relationships facilitating knowledge and a cogent path for you to follow during times when we all experience murky indecisiveness; a time when absolutely no one has the answers you need. Listen inwardly, then express outwardly by nurturing relationships with individuals who are fair-minded and also your equals in intellect, passion, and talent.

Helpful? Then Copy, Paste and Tweet It:
The “Shared Role” Model of Music Education. http://tinyurl.com/8j79mf

All Content of Gary Powell’s Site is Licensed Under a
Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 2.5 License

.

by Gary Powell

The role of the music educator is being transformed. Music education has always offered a rich environment for listening, analyzing and experiencing the most masterful compositions in history while students study under expert tutelage. Transitioning a student from academia to a global market economy, however, presents new and specific challenges for us as educators which we are seldom able to wholly grasp. Why not? Higher education emphasizes and demands compliance, not just for the student, but for any person working within the institution. The successful student, in order to prosper within this educational, system, is unconsciously creating a thought process that will most certainly work against success in the less compliant world – a world where your ever maturing and less compliant self actually lives. ListenYou will probably, like me, find yourself needing to turn the page quickly, without even knowing you are being taught from the wrong book. In this societal time of personal imprudence, systemic corruption and waste, and the uncertainly of leadership, the teacher and the student now find themselves as unlikely roommates in their freshman year at WTF University!

Listen inwardly, then express outwardly by nurturing relationships with individuals who are fair-minded and also your equals in intellect, passion, and talent.

Compliance by definition requires action, not of your own choice, in applying learned quantities to known stimuli. Formal education is built on the wealth of accumulated human knowledge. Educators teach what is known. Obviously, they can’t teach what is not known, so who or what, exactly, is going to teach you the future? Sorry, but this next college degree is going to be up to you. Hopefully, educators will at least have the capacity to forecast and teach technological and market trends. If you are studying the arts, then the news for you is even worse. However, experiencing the historical perspective which education offers the music student is where you as the student have the most to gain. Conversely, most professors will not have experienced any of these paradoxical paradigm shifts in the market or emerging production technologies first-hand. Most are either not aware that changes or shifts have occurred or they abhor these career threatening inevitabilities altogether.

I suggest bringing your teachers into your world of experience. Your experience will not be their experience and vice-versa. Because of these rapid technological and societal changes, you, the student, now share nearly equal responsibility with your teachers in your music education. You will now need to take on the responsibility of relating to your teachers and music professors in an inclusive, yet respectful way. Invite them into your world, and if they find it wholly irrelevant to their curriculum, then look outside the hallowed halls for what you know you need. This is your responsibility to yourself. They in turn, as your professors, have the responsibility of keeping their perspectives current and relevant. There is no subject that has not been touched by technological and sociological change. Taking on the personal responsibility for your education through awakening your insight, beyond the ivory towers, will build relationships facilitating knowledge and a cogent path for you to follow during times when we all experience murky indecisiveness; a time when absolutely no one has the answers you need. Listen inwardly, then express outwardly by nurturing relationships with individuals who are fair-minded and also your equals in intellect, passion, and talent.

Helpful? Then Copy, Paste and Tweet It:
The “Shared Role” Model of Music Education. http://tinyurl.com/8j79mf

All Content of Gary Powell’s Site is Licensed Under a
Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 2.5 License

.

Social-Media is Your Convention Floor

by Gary Powell

Austin psychotherapist, Amy Person, gave me the perfect metaphor for explaining how we might maintain a professional presence within our social networks, whether it is Facebook, Plaxo, LinkedIn, Twitter, or some other social site. She contends that your social networks are an ongoing 24-hour a day convention for your business. To make the point, I’ll write only about Facebook. Please apply this idea to all your social networks which you intend to use professionally.

Your ConventionYes, your Facebook Wall is an ongoing 24-hour a day convention for your business. In that, the content you post on Facebook, or any other social networking site, should be tightly controlled and consistent with your goals and then purposefully managed for the benefit of your convention-goers. We all want to attract people who will derive some benefit from our services and therefore visit often, and possibly even hire us or buy our products. We want them to see us as a valuable resource, right? Think of your future business leads and then consider how you would like them to see you. Are they interested in ground-breaking facts about your new hair color? How about that fascinating esophageal laparoscopic surgery I had this year? Wait, surely your future client, and the one client you have always waited for, will want to be notified when you walk your dog, are warming a can of Campbell’s soup or when you are waiting for your hair to dry.

Worse than just not caring, if they are indeed looking to you as a serious business partner, they will be judging you through what they experience on your site. Therefore, I suggest keeping your Wall as clean as possible and sweep the convention floor as many times a day as needed to control the endless drivel and to keep your content relevant to your goals.

Gary Powell's Facebook profile

Some personal content at your convention can give visitors insight into who you are and even humanize you, but Facebook is notoriously permissive and indulgent of a ridiculous level of triviality. Maybe you don’t have a problem with that, but you probably don’t want it on your convention floor either. Scrub the floors with great purpose. Deliver positive, helpful information through all the media you have at hand. Post it on your Wall, Tweet it, Blog it, Flickr it, but don’t trivialize your life, dump your garbage, or air your laundry there. Once you run a well-organized convention, your Facebook audience will grow in a healthy way and keep coming back. And maybe, most importantly, Google will love you for your efforts.

Helpful? Then Copy, Paste and Tweet It:
How Social Media is Your Convention Floor. http://tinyurl.com/6re9g5

All Content of Gary Powell’s Site is Licensed Under a
Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 2.5 License

.

by Gary Powell

Austin psychotherapist, Amy Person, gave me the perfect metaphor for explaining how we might maintain a professional presence within our social networks, whether it is Facebook, Plaxo, LinkedIn, Twitter, or some other social site. She contends that your social networks are an ongoing 24-hour a day convention for your business. To make the point, I’ll write only about Facebook. Please apply this idea to all your social networks which you intend to use professionally.

Your ConventionYes, your Facebook Wall is an ongoing 24-hour a day convention for your business. In that, the content you post on Facebook, or any other social networking site, should be tightly controlled and consistent with your goals and then purposefully managed for the benefit of your convention-goers. We all want to attract people who will derive some benefit from our services and therefore visit often, and possibly even hire us or buy our products. We want them to see us as a valuable resource, right? Think of your future business leads and then consider how you would like them to see you. Are they interested in ground-breaking facts about your new hair color? How about that fascinating esophageal laparoscopic surgery I had this year? Wait, surely your future client, and the one client you have always waited for, will want to be notified when you walk your dog, are warming a can of Campbell’s soup or when you are waiting for your hair to dry.

Worse than just not caring, if they are indeed looking to you as a serious business partner, they will be judging you through what they experience on your site. Therefore, I suggest keeping your Wall as clean as possible and sweep the convention floor as many times a day as needed to control the endless drivel and to keep your content relevant to your goals.

Gary Powell's Facebook profile

Some personal content at your convention can give visitors insight into who you are and even humanize you, but Facebook is notoriously permissive and indulgent of a ridiculous level of triviality. Maybe you don’t have a problem with that, but you probably don’t want it on your convention floor either. Scrub the floors with great purpose. Deliver positive, helpful information through all the media you have at hand. Post it on your Wall, Tweet it, Blog it, Flickr it, but don’t trivialize your life, dump your garbage, or air your laundry there. Once you run a well-organized convention, your Facebook audience will grow in a healthy way and keep coming back. And maybe, most importantly, Google will love you for your efforts.

Helpful? Then Copy, Paste and Tweet It:
How Social Media is Your Convention Floor. http://tinyurl.com/6re9g5

All Content of Gary Powell’s Site is Licensed Under a
Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 2.5 License

.

Big Sails – No Wind

Big Sails No Windby Gary Powell

At full sail, we can realize and create our purest artistic vision at our highest performance level and understanding. We can then come to enjoy the benefits from the realization of working at that highest and best use. I’m suggesting that in between fate, hard work, discipline, luck, favoritism, and talent, we can occasionally find our wind and be at full sail. In these snippets of time when chance collaborates with our fullest and best expressions – we forget time, place and even the context of our artistic origins. Life floats on the gentle and effortless waves of creativity and success, and we have indeed found our wind.

This is a time when our individual character either out-smarts or out-works the stillness of misfortune.

Conversely, we more frequently find ourselves in a dead calm. While we own the best vessel with all our gear at the ready, we simply have no wind. These are the periods of Big Sails – No Wind, which can be most disheartening, or something worse altogether. Within this metaphor, rations become scarce, resources diminish, and emotions turn to despair. The solution is to absolutely know that this will happen and to provision for it. Before World War II, the precept of economic prudence was a core value of most Americans. Few of our grandparents ever bought anything on credit. Having a good credit rating is not a bad thing, but it is not provisioning for the dead calm.

The dead calm may also require the use of a paddle. This is a time when our individual character either out-smarts or out-works the stillness of misfortune. Regardless of whether the dead calm seems engineered through circumstance, is self-inflicted, or is being masterminded by people who would shield the wind from your sails, the antidote is to provision, provision, provision, and don’t forget to buy a paddle.

Helpful? Then Copy, Paste and Tweet It:
Big Sails, No Wind-How to Survive the Arts in a Dead Calm. http://tinyurl.com/45mr4j


All Content of Gary Powell’s Site is Licensed Under a
Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 2.5 License

.

Big Sails No Windby Gary Powell

At full sail, we can realize and create our purest artistic vision at our highest performance level and understanding. We can then come to enjoy the benefits from the realization of working at that highest and best use. I’m suggesting that in between fate, hard work, discipline, luck, favoritism, and talent, we can occasionally find our wind and be at full sail. In these snippets of time when chance collaborates with our fullest and best expressions – we forget time, place and even the context of our artistic origins. Life floats on the gentle and effortless waves of creativity and success, and we have indeed found our wind.

This is a time when our individual character either out-smarts or out-works the stillness of misfortune.

Conversely, we more frequently find ourselves in a dead calm. While we own the best vessel with all our gear at the ready, we simply have no wind. These are the periods of Big Sails – No Wind, which can be most disheartening, or something worse altogether. Within this metaphor, rations become scarce, resources diminish, and emotions turn to despair. The solution is to absolutely know that this will happen and to provision for it. Before World War II, the precept of economic prudence was a core value of most Americans. Few of our grandparents ever bought anything on credit. Having a good credit rating is not a bad thing, but it is not provisioning for the dead calm.

The dead calm may also require the use of a paddle. This is a time when our individual character either out-smarts or out-works the stillness of misfortune. Regardless of whether the dead calm seems engineered through circumstance, is self-inflicted, or is being masterminded by people who would shield the wind from your sails, the antidote is to provision, provision, provision, and don’t forget to buy a paddle.

Helpful? Then Copy, Paste and Tweet It:
Big Sails, No Wind-How to Survive the Arts in a Dead Calm. http://tinyurl.com/45mr4j


All Content of Gary Powell’s Site is Licensed Under a
Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 2.5 License

.

Your Outlook on Life is a Direct Reflection

of How Much You Like Yourself

Your outlook on life is a direct reflection on how much you like yourself.I photographed this little shop window in September, 2007, while visiting Victoria, British Columbia on Vancouver Island. I’m not sure if this statement on their storefront window is true, but I found it appealing nonetheless. I walked in with cheery confidence and bought a groovin’ t-shirt which has indeed made me like myself more. Fortunately, there were no guitar stores on this street or I might have fallen into a narcissistic coma.

DISCLAIMER

In creating your lesson plan for life, remember that Retail Therapy is not for everyone. It should only be administered when in the company of someone who knows your credit limit and is bigger than you are. Under certain circumstances, Retail Therapy might actually be more detrimental to your self-worth than supportive of it. Use great discretion when undergoing Retail Therapy and remember to never shop alone especially when audio gear or musical instruments are involved.

Photograph by Gary Powell

All Content of Gary Powell’s Site is Licensed Under a
Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 2.5 License

.

Your outlook on life is a direct reflection on how much you like yourself.I photographed this little shop window in September, 2007, while visiting Victoria, British Columbia on Vancouver Island. I’m not sure if this statement on their storefront window is true, but I found it appealing nonetheless. I walked in with cheery confidence and bought a groovin’ t-shirt which has indeed made me like myself more. Fortunately, there were no guitar stores on this street or I might have fallen into a narcissistic coma.

DISCLAIMER

In creating your lesson plan for life, remember that Retail Therapy is not for everyone. It should only be administered when in the company of someone who knows your credit limit and is bigger than you are. Under certain circumstances, Retail Therapy might actually be more detrimental to your self-worth than supportive of it. Use great discretion when undergoing Retail Therapy and remember to never shop alone especially when audio gear or musical instruments are involved.

Photograph by Gary Powell

All Content of Gary Powell’s Site is Licensed Under a
Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 2.5 License

.

The New 1776

by Gary Powell

This site is a very personal self-help manual for me. When beginning my career in music, the kind of mentoring insights, like the ones found here, were either absent, misleading, or simply wrong. Within this site we have visited Benjamin Franklin, Galileo, Aristotle, Rosa Parks and even Joseph Stalin. All of these people have a connection to the American holiday of July 4th; all positive ones, excepting the latter. american music flag gary powellJoseph Stalin represents the worst of what human beings are capable of when our institutions, governments and lizard-brain fears become enmeshed.

Parallel to our American heritage, my experience with institutions is that they simply have no idea what to do when a person who colors outside of the lines shows up. Missing the contribution of individuals, or not identifying talent which does not fit nicely into an existing 18th century societal curriculum, is still common to this day. Within this blind spot is where the institutions must adopt and change or risk becoming irrelevant. England rejected the idea of their own irrelevance and neither prepared for it or won the war. Fast-forward 232 years and we can project that the shear muscle of tradition, branding-power and sweat-shops won’t be enough to sustain similar institutions after The New 1776 goes world-wide. What’s this got to do with music or a successful career in the arts?

With some 45 million of my productions having been sold in 47 countries it’s hard to argue that I have not been successful. This, however, is not a simple success story. It is one that is best understood within the context of how and what I have contributed to and negotiated with – both small and large organizations and even individuals. There are not just insignificant nuances to understand about a career in music of this length. There are also accidents of fate, manipulations, weather, betrayals, luck, and bold personal moves. The New 1776 is about understanding everything in our careers until that time when old strategies transform into bold moves. The Declaration of Independence was THE bold move of our country. This came after decades of negotiations and measured strategies which did not work. We each have to know when OUR time for a bold move has come.

Most of my words here are written as fuel for personally stretching to reach my own goals. My goal is to achieve a greater integration of my talent, education, skills, self, and experience within a musical expression. Here, within this music-business blog, I have slowly been granting myself authorization to move forward in bold new ways.

In this regard, this blog is a very personal self-help manual.

It’s 1776 all over again for people like me, maybe you are another, who with conscious intention to serve the whole of the good, can now directly contribute and profit from your own individual authority. This is how we can best design and realize our well-earned and prosperous futures. I’m ready for the right people to win. The world is ready for the right people to win. How do we do it?

I’ve been supporting my artist friends since entering music school in 1970. However, I have ignored my own artistic vision to a fault. Now I find my vision pregnant with rich content – born from my own bitter wars of disappointment and the abject folly of success. Within this context, which only experience brings, I have lost all fear.

Here are some guidelines I’ve set for myself.

  • Do not follow or artistically try to find my audience. That’s what record companies are good at, not artists.
  • Invite my audience into my own musical experience, even if I know it expects more from them. I have found most individual adults hungry for music which reflects the complexity and beauty of their own lives.
  • Through continued study and experimentation, both musically and otherwise, let my music show a personal reflection from these quests for understanding.
  • Boldly put this music out there. It was healing to write it, so now share it with great pride and little expectation.
  • Ask my friends and colleagues for help and support in any way with which they feel comfortable in participating.

    From this 2008 Independence Day forward, on my site you will begin to find more links to iTunes and other download sites as well. I am now asking in a direct way for your help by forwarding my announcements to your friends and networks. You can also connect with me on Plaxo, Twitter, Facebook and Linkedin where I will be keeping my “Pulse” in regard to future releases. I will look forward to creating these new works and sharing them with all of you. We have so many ways to help each other now – through our social networks, writing and subscribing to blogs, and simple email, we can refer our support for each others’ efforts therefore inspiring more people to reach higher for others and deeper within themselves. This is how we build a world that we wish we were living in just as Thomas Jefferson did for us in 1776!

    This is The New 1776 for the entire globe. It’s time to go inward and come out with a healing hand which only inspiration and aspiration can lend, remembering that within this freedom, we all contribute and support each other by our own choice. Happy 4th of July to the whole world. I’m choosing to win.

    • Helpful? Then Copy, Paste and Tweet It:
    The New 1776 and How We Claim Our Own Authority. http://tinyurl.com/5tscyv

    All Content of Gary Powell’s Site is Licensed Under a
    Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 2.5 License

    .

    by Gary Powell

    This site is a very personal self-help manual for me. When beginning my career in music, the kind of mentoring insights, like the ones found here, were either absent, misleading, or simply wrong. Within this site we have visited Benjamin Franklin, Galileo, Aristotle, Rosa Parks and even Joseph Stalin. All of these people have a connection to the American holiday of July 4th; all positive ones, excepting the latter. american music flag gary powellJoseph Stalin represents the worst of what human beings are capable of when our institutions, governments and lizard-brain fears become enmeshed.

    Parallel to our American heritage, my experience with institutions is that they simply have no idea what to do when a person who colors outside of the lines shows up. Missing the contribution of individuals, or not identifying talent which does not fit nicely into an existing 18th century societal curriculum, is still common to this day. Within this blind spot is where the institutions must adopt and change or risk becoming irrelevant. England rejected the idea of their own irrelevance and neither prepared for it or won the war. Fast-forward 232 years and we can project that the shear muscle of tradition, branding-power and sweat-shops won’t be enough to sustain similar institutions after The New 1776 goes world-wide. What’s this got to do with music or a successful career in the arts?

    With some 45 million of my productions having been sold in 47 countries it’s hard to argue that I have not been successful. This, however, is not a simple success story. It is one that is best understood within the context of how and what I have contributed to and negotiated with – both small and large organizations and even individuals. There are not just insignificant nuances to understand about a career in music of this length. There are also accidents of fate, manipulations, weather, betrayals, luck, and bold personal moves. The New 1776 is about understanding everything in our careers until that time when old strategies transform into bold moves. The Declaration of Independence was THE bold move of our country. This came after decades of negotiations and measured strategies which did not work. We each have to know when OUR time for a bold move has come.

    Most of my words here are written as fuel for personally stretching to reach my own goals. My goal is to achieve a greater integration of my talent, education, skills, self, and experience within a musical expression. Here, within this music-business blog, I have slowly been granting myself authorization to move forward in bold new ways.

    In this regard, this blog is a very personal self-help manual.

    It’s 1776 all over again for people like me, maybe you are another, who with conscious intention to serve the whole of the good, can now directly contribute and profit from your own individual authority. This is how we can best design and realize our well-earned and prosperous futures. I’m ready for the right people to win. The world is ready for the right people to win. How do we do it?

    I’ve been supporting my artist friends since entering music school in 1970. However, I have ignored my own artistic vision to a fault. Now I find my vision pregnant with rich content – born from my own bitter wars of disappointment and the abject folly of success. Within this context, which only experience brings, I have lost all fear.

    Here are some guidelines I’ve set for myself.

  • Do not follow or artistically try to find my audience. That’s what record companies are good at, not artists.
  • Invite my audience into my own musical experience, even if I know it expects more from them. I have found most individual adults hungry for music which reflects the complexity and beauty of their own lives.
  • Through continued study and experimentation, both musically and otherwise, let my music show a personal reflection from these quests for understanding.
  • Boldly put this music out there. It was healing to write it, so now share it with great pride and little expectation.
  • Ask my friends and colleagues for help and support in any way with which they feel comfortable in participating.

    From this 2008 Independence Day forward, on my site you will begin to find more links to iTunes and other download sites as well. I am now asking in a direct way for your help by forwarding my announcements to your friends and networks. You can also connect with me on Plaxo, Twitter, Facebook and Linkedin where I will be keeping my “Pulse” in regard to future releases. I will look forward to creating these new works and sharing them with all of you. We have so many ways to help each other now – through our social networks, writing and subscribing to blogs, and simple email, we can refer our support for each others’ efforts therefore inspiring more people to reach higher for others and deeper within themselves. This is how we build a world that we wish we were living in just as Thomas Jefferson did for us in 1776!

    This is The New 1776 for the entire globe. It’s time to go inward and come out with a healing hand which only inspiration and aspiration can lend, remembering that within this freedom, we all contribute and support each other by our own choice. Happy 4th of July to the whole world. I’m choosing to win.

    • Helpful? Then Copy, Paste and Tweet It:
    The New 1776 and How We Claim Our Own Authority. http://tinyurl.com/5tscyv

    All Content of Gary Powell’s Site is Licensed Under a
    Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 2.5 License

    .