Archive for October, 2007
The tricky business of cover songs
I’ve blogged in the past about cover songs, and I guess I just find myself fascinated by this aspect of the dance music business. On my final day at the Billboard DMS (see other recent blog entries for more about that here and here), I was having dinner with my better half and some members of the CAPP Records team (Rikah and Dom), Tim and Ron from GoRainbowRadio.com, as well as artist Ohsha Kai, and this topic happened to come-up and got me thinking again.
The night before, we watched Marian Records recording artist Ella perform her new single, Missing, a cover of the Everything But the Girl song. Ella is young and attractive, and she has a terrific voice with tons of commercial potential. I found her stage presence in need of some work, but that’ll come with time and practice. I didn’t find a whole lot to dislike, honestly—except the song choice. I had made a remark that night, and again at dinner with the folks above, that the song was too recent to warrant a cover.
Today, I think I might well retract that remark. For starters, it’s disingenuous; one of my very favorite new songs right now is Uninvited from Freemasons and Bailey Tzuke, a cover of an Alanis Morissette song that, like Missing, is roughly 10 years old. While I still didn’t like her song choice, on reflection, I think my issues with the song are three-fold:
A final report from the Billboard Dance Music Summit
Yesterday (Wednesday, actually; I’m finishing this post two days later) was the second and final day of Billboard Magazine’s Dance Music Summit (DMS) here in Las Vegas. As I finalize my packing for the flight back home, I find myself reflecting on the DMS and the dance music industry in general.
Honestly, the DMS was everything I expected—and so much less.
On the up side, as I said in my other report, I had the opportunity to meet a number of dance artists, label people, producers and others. I made a number of new friends here, and learned a thing or two in the process. And truly, any conference or trade show is more about the networking than anything else.
But the DMS itself was very nearly a joke. The panel discussions were, by and large, more about the speakers’ egos and/or self-promotion than anything else. The best (or perhaps worst) example was the final panel yesterday, which was ostensibly about thinking outside the box in terms of marketing, and was directed at labels and artists. Not a single, real, tangible, practical, useful idea was presented during the entire panel. The focus of the discussion steered repeatedly away from the subject, and typical of nearly every panel I attended, there were disagreements between panel members.
Show notice: Tracks (Denver), Thursday, October 11
I’m pleased to let everyone know that I’ll be spinning at Tracks, one of Denver’s hottest dance clubs, on Thursday night. I still don’t have an exact start time at this point. DJ Brian Howe, well known club jock and a regular on XM Satellite Radio, is the headline DJ Thursday, and he’s invited me to spin with him.
Since I get back to Denver Thursday afternoon, I won’t have a lot of time to pull together the details last-minute, but if I have the opportunity, I’ll edit this posting with more details and a start time.
If you happen to be in the Denver, Colorado area, I hope you can come out.
Report from the Billboard Dance Music Summit
Yesterday was the first official day of Billboard Magazine’s Dance Music Summit (DMS) here in Las Vegas. Following is a mish-mash of thoughts and observations and things done since arriving here on Sunday. (We arrived early to take-in some Vegas, and to attend some of the events of the related Vegas Alliance Music Experience [VME], a series of club events with major DJs, dance artists, etc.)
This trip was my first opportunity to meet in-person my many friends with CAPP Records, an indie dance label out of San Francisco. I talk about CAPP and CAPP artists often. I do that because I genuinely like the people, they are passionate as heck about what they do, and they have a positive attitude and outlook that I admire and share. It was incredible to finally shake hands with Dom (the label owner) in-person, and to give a hug to Rikah, one of CAPP’s artists, who is beautiful, delightful, and very positive about herself and about life. Dave, Rudy, RP, Armando, and the rest of the team were awesome as well.
Listen to Internet dance radio?
If you are someone who listens to Internet dance radio, I’d like your help in answering a few short questions in this survey.
Truth be told, I’m tossing around some ideas with a colleague of mine, and your responses to the survey would be helpful in thinking some things through.
Thanks in advance for your help.
Are you people deaf? (OK, not you, them…)
I don’t often go off on a rant, but brace yourselves, because I’m about to…
I continue to be amazed at what producers and masterers can (and will) do to murder a perfectly good piece of music. With all due respect to the hearing impaired, I have to ask with a fair amount of incredulity, “Are you people deaf?”
There are three major complaints I have here, which are as follows:
