– BERNARD BAURassisting people with multiplesclerosis (MS) to live independentand full lives. Additionally, a brickand mortar facility tentativelycalled “The Rock House” isin the planning stages and willprovide, free of charge, multipleprograms and opportunitiesdesigned to heal the mind, bodyand spirit of all those whoselives have been affected byMS. See http://facebook.com/RockAgainstMSFoundation.The 10th MusiCares MAP Fundbenefit concert will honorBlack Sabbath’s Grammywinningsinger-songwriter OzzyOsbourne and owner/CEO ofThe Village recording studios JeffGreenberg. Taking place at ClubNokia in Los Angeles, CA on May12, Osbourne will be honoredwith the “Stevie Ray VaughanAward” for his dedication andsupport of the MusiCares MAPFund. He is being recognized forhis commitment to helping otheraddicts with the addiction recoveryprocess. Greenberg will be therecipient of MusiCares ’ “From theHeart Award” for his unconditionalfriendship and dedication tothe mission and goals of theorganization.All proceeds will benefit theMusiCares MAP Fund, whichprovides members of the musiccommunity access to addictionrecovery treatment regardlessof their financial situation. Visithttp://musicares.org for moreinformation.Jac Holzman, the founderof both Elektra Records andNonesuch Records, received theNYU Steinhardt Music BusinessProgram’s “Visionary Award” at aceremony on March 12. The honorwas presented by Music Businessstudents during an invitation-onlyevent in the University’s FrederickLoewe Theatre. Holzmaninteracted with students anddiscussed his six-decade careerwith Phil Galdston, NYU FacultySongwriter-in-Residence andMaster Teacher in Songwriting.Launched in 2007, its previousrecipients are Irwin Z. Robinson,the dean of American musicpublishers, and Tim Westergren,the founder of Pandora, thegroundbreaking music service. Visithttp://nyu.edu.General Mills has announcedthe launch of its third annualOutnumber Hunger campaign,which has provided more than25 million meals to Americansin need as part of a partnershipwith Feeding America and BigMachine Label Group. Eachyear artists join the initiative toraise awareness for the hungerissue. This year the campaignkicked off with Country sensationFlorida Georgia Line as the faceof the 2014 campaign. See http://feedingamerica.org.THE BIZINgrooves Music Group hasannounced that the companyhas deepened its relationshipwith UK-based Republic of Music(ROM). ROM will partner withINgrooves for its physical distributionneeds in territories outside ofNorth America, including the U.K.,Europe, Asia and Australia.Parton To Release Blue SmokeDolly Parton has signed with APA for North American touring and personalappearances. Parton will kick off her “Blue Smoke World Tour” with datesacross the U.S., New Zealand, Australia and Europe. Her eponymous BlueSmoke CD is slated for release this May. Parton established Velvet AppleMusic (BMI) early in her career so she could own the copyrights andpublishing for her vast songwriting empire. She also formed her own label,Blue Eye Records. During the course of her career, Parton has garnered 7Grammys, 10 CMA Awards, 5 ACM Awards, 3 AMA Awards, and is one ofonly (of five) female artists to win the CMA’s “Entertainer of the Year Award.”Pictured (l-r): Danny Nozell, CTK Management; Parton; and Steve Martin, APA.DIYSpotlightDynasty ElectricTHE BEST DIY ACTS learnto evolve and adapt. DynastyElectric, an indie, electronicduo from Brooklyn, NY, isa perfect example of thatpremise. Fronted by JennyElectrik, their retro-futuristicsound is crafted by SethMisterka (Anthony Braxton,Shy Child, Hot Chip),featuring layered productionsand live instrumentation.The duo formed their own label, Newsonic in the late ‘90s, whichtransformed into an event space and recording studio that morphedinto a musical community. That community allowed bands and DJsto play together at monthly parties and events.Their activity caught the attention of hip-hop mogul DamonDash and led them to work with legendary producer Ski Beatz(Jay Z, Camp Lo, Curre$y), who infused their electro-popmelodies with signature beats, creating a sound that infiltrated theNew York nightlife scene.Recently, Newsonic was re-launched as a media and label group,along with Newsonic TV to showcase other talented musicians.Dynasty Electric’s approach to recording their latest albumEuphoria was unique, to say the least. Recording only skeletalversions of the songs, they reached out to producers and musiciansacross the globe —via social networks and crowd-funding sites—tohelp produce and remix the songs. That led to 15 collaborativetracks.Dynasty Electric have been named an iHeartRadio “Artist toWatch” and have been featured on NME, Nylon Magazine, MTV,Time Out NY and more. Their songs have also been licensed toVictoria’s Secret for ad campaigns.This dynamic duo has played venues and festivals such asBurning Man, SXSW, Tinderbox Fest, Brooklyn Museum, WebsterHall, Gramercy Theater, The Bowery Ballroom and more.See http://DynastyElectric.net.Have a successful DIY strategy to share? Email bbatmc@aol.com.Under the new deal, INgrooveswill integrate a number of itsemployees with ROM and willhave direct relationships witha network of local distributorsaround the world. In addition,INgrooves is adding personnelin its London office to overseephysical pro-duction. The firstrelease under the new deal isa brand new album by longtimeINgrooves client, ThieveryCorporation.AMP (Artists, Managers,Performers), the recently formedalliance between the Musicians’Union, the Music Managers’Forum and the Featured ArtistsCoalition, is calling for streamingroyalties to be split equally betweenthe artist and the label. AMP arguesthat streaming is not a sale in thetraditional sense and does notinvolve any of the associated costsfor the label. The alliance believesthat the current standard practiceof paying streaming royalties on asales basis makes no sense andis unfair to artists. Visit http://bit.ly/1m33Emq for more details.HeadCount, a non-partisan,non-profit organization with amission to promote participationin democracy through musiciansand their music, and iCitizen,a civic engagement platformthat makes citizens involvementin democracy easier throughthe use of sophisticated mobiletechnology, have announced apartnership. In connection withtheir common goal to increasecivic engagement, iCitizen andHeadCount will join forces througha combined and co-brandedpresence at major music festivals,concerts, and other events inwhich HeadCount is involved.Such festival programs will bedesigned to facilitate non-biasedissue education, express tofestival goers the importance ofvoting and much more. You canget full details at http://headcount.org and http://icitizen.com.BERNARD BAUR was voted one of the “TopMusic Business Journalists” in the country.Bernard is the connection between the streetsand the suites. Credited with over 1,200features in a variety of publications, he’s aContributing Editor at Music Connection.24 April 2014 musicconnection.com
– BERNARD BAUR“I’ve Stopped Snickering at These Ads…Want to Know Why?”Keith LuBrant – TAXI Memberwww.KeithLuBrant.comI used to think TAXI was justfeeding on poor artists andsongwriters like me who wanted tocatch their big break. Years went by,and I never thought twice aboutjoining. Those people at TAXIweren’t going to “fool” me!I don’t live in Nashville, L.A. orNew York, so my chances of gettingmy music out there seemed prettyslim. I saw the TAXI ad again lastyear and noticed they offered amoney-back guarantee. I probablynever read that far in theadvertisement because I was toobusy feeling sorry for all those“poor” artists and songwriters“wasting” their money!The Shocking Truth!I figured I’d be asking for mymoney back at some point, but thensomething happened. I submittedsome music that was just hangingout on my hard drive, doingabsolutely nothing. TAXI sent it to acompany and it was placed in a TVshow. I was shocked!Next, I wrote some musicspecifically targeted at a few ofTAXI’s Industry Listings, and oneof those songs ended up being usedon the TBS show, Saving Grace.The sync fee for that song alonewould pay for my TAXImembership for many years tocome. And that doesn’t eveninclude the royalties I’m making onthe back end!Need Relationships?TAXI has helped me buildrelationships with companies thatkeep asking for more of my music –a lot more! My songs startedshowing up on MTV and VH1almost immediately.The World’s Leading Independent A&R Company1-800-458-2111Soon afterwards, a Mattel Hot Wheelscommercial, then in sports trainingsoftware, and most recently, mysongs have been added to AmericanIdol’s database for upcomingseasons.I’ve also signed deals with severalFilm and TV music publishingcompanies. The possibilities for mymusic have now grown beyond mywildest imagination. Does TAXIperform miracles? No, but if yourmusic is right for what the industryneeds, TAXI can get it to the rightpeople.My Only Regret…My one regret is that I didn’t joinTAXI years ago! I try not to thinkabout how much money I couldhave earned during the years I wasstill snickering at these ads. I neverdreamed I could be placing so muchmusic on so many television shows.And my wife is happy that we don’thave to move to a big city!Stop snickering and call TAXInow. It’s real.April 2014musicconnection.com25
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