Ariel Publicity

Our Cyber PR Holiday Fundraiser is winding down. In conjunction with raising money for charities we promised our Holiday Fundraiser artists that in retrun for them participating we would do an Online PR Campaign pushing their holiday music! Wanted to give a quick update and a great BIG thank you to all the social media makers that featured their holiday songs!

Spud Show Podcast :
featured: Jana Mashnee – O Holy Night
http://spudshow.libsyn.com/index.php?post_id=415683

Mental Nomad Podcast
featured: Carla Lynne Hall: “Please Come Home for Christmas”/Sam Marsh and the Happy Room Orchestra: “Super Saturnalia”
Jana Mashonee: “O Holy Night”
http://mentalnomad.libsyn.com/index.php?post_id=415857

Windy City Radio
featured: ALL of our Holiday Fundraiser Songs during their holiday special!
http://www.ustream.tv/channel/windy-city-radio

Unsigned and Underground Podcast
featured: Call That Christmas – Bryan Field
http://www.unsignedunderground.net

Artist House Music
Included our Cyber PR Holiday Fundraiser Artists in the Artists House Commmunity Christmas Compilation!
featured: Peace to the World – Andrew Hand/Please Come Home for Christmas – Carla Lynne Hall/Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas – Carla Lynne Hall/(Moist Paula Henderson) SECRETARY feat. Big Boss/O Holy Night – Jana Mashonee/Christmas Morning – Tom St. Louis/Call That Christmas – Bryan Field/What Do You Want for Christmas – 308 Boyz
http://artistshousemusic.tumblr.com/post/66183522/artists-house-community-christmas-compilation

WZAP Radio
Added our Cyber PR Holiday Fundraiser Artist into the Christmas music rotation!
They featured:
Peace to the World – Andrew Hand/Christmas Morning – Tom St. Louis/What Do You Want for Christmas – 308 Boyz/O Holy Night – Jana Mashonee/Call That Christmas – Bryan Field/(Moist Paula Henderson) SECRETARY feat. Big Boss/Please Come Home for Christmas – Carla Lynne Hall/Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas – Carla Lynne Hal
http://www.wzap.net/

Podsafe Christmas
featured:“O Holy Night” – Jana Mashonee
http://podsafechristmas.com/?p=102

Again its NOT TO LATE to include our Cyber PR Holiday Fundraiser songs on your site: http://www.arielpublicity.net/clients/2526

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So our Holiday Fundraiser is well underway! Just received an awesome report from Tom St Louis who is participating in our fundraiser for the charity Sleeping Children Around the World!

Tom Wrote…

Update…on fundraising…

so far, 7 bedkits x $35 = $245 Canadian.

May not seem like much, but seven kids will be thrilled and will significantly benefit, so I thank you.

Awesome News!

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Cyber PR Holiday Fundraiser: Musician Participants

As our way of celebrating the holiday season, we want to work with musicians to raise money for musicians in need, and contribute to the future of creativity and music! We are thrilled to announce our First Annual CYBER PR 2008 Holiday Fundraiser

Here are our Holiday Fundraiser musician participants and the charities they are raising money for!

You can download any of their Christmas song for your site and find out more about the participants here:
http://www.arielpublicity.net/clients/2526

Jana Mashonee – Grammy Nominee -Charity: Jana’s Kids
Song: O Holy Night – Jana Mashonee
http://www.janamashonee.com/
Jana’s Kids is a 501(c)3 organization that helps Native American youth achieve their dreams through it’s programs and scholarships.

308 Boyz -Charity: NOAHH – New Orleans Area Habitat for Humanity
Song: What Do You Want for Christmas – 308 Boyz
http://www.myspace.com/the308boyz
The Musicians’ Village is providing local musicians and other qualifying partner families the opportunity to own a home in a thriving community of committed individuals and families.

Brett Ryan Stewart/ Wide Eyed Sleeper -Charity: Musicians on Call
http://wideeyedsleeper.com/

Musicians On Call uses music to promote and complement the healing process for patients, families and caregivers. Musicians On Call, a nonprofit organization formed in 1999, brings live and recorded music to the bedsides of patients in healthcare facilities. Musicians On Call uses music to promote and complement the healing process for patients, families and caregivers.

Tom St. Louis -Charity: Sleeping Children Around the World
Song: Christmas Morning – Tom St. Louis
http://gmsiamovie.wordpress.com/
Sleeping Children Around the World (SCAW) donations provide bedkits to children of any race and/or religion who will benefit the most; typically being located in underdeveloped and developing countries.

Andrew Hand – Charity: World Hunger Year & Musicians on Call
Song: Peace to the World – Andrew Hand
http://www.andrewhand.com
WHY is a leading advocate for innovative, community-based solutions to hunger and poverty. WHY challenges society to confront these problems by advancing models that create self-reliance, economic justice, and equal access to nutritious and affordable food.

Carla Lynne Hall- Charity: Songs of Love Foundation
Songs: Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas – Carla Lynne Hall
Come Home for Christmas – Carla Lynne Hall
http://www.rockstarlifelessons.com/
Non profit organization that provides a personalized song for children and young adults with life threatening illness.

Chris Huff- Charity: National MS Society
http://www.huffmusic.com/
The National MS Society is a collective of passionate individuals who want to do something about MS now—to move together toward a world free of multiple sclerosis. MS stops people from moving.  National MS Society exist to make sure it doesn’t.

Larry Johnson- Charity: NOAHH – New Orleans Area Habitat for Humanity
The Musicians’ Village is providing local musicians and other qualifying partner families the opportunity to own a home in a thriving community of committed individuals and families.

Moist Paula Henderson – Charity: Sweet Relief
Song: Holiday Expectations – (Moist Paula Henderson) SECRETARY feat. Big Boss
http://www.myspace.com/moistpaula
Sweet Relief provides assistance to all types of career musicians who are struggling to make ends meet while facing illness, disability, or age-related problems.

Anthony Taylor – Charity: MusiCares &  NOAHH
The MusiCares Foundation, Inc., was established in 1989 by the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences. Meant for musicians to have a place to turn, in times of financial, personal, or medical crisis, its primary purpose is to focus the resources and attention of the music industry on human service issues which directly impact the health and welfare of the music community.

Cyber PR Holiday Drive Social Media Partners

We want to send a BIG thank you to all of our new media friends who helped us get the word out about our Cyber PR Holiday Fundraiser

Lou Plaia of Reverb Nation was able to place our Holiday Drive on every page of ReverbNation.com!
http://www.reverbnation.com

Thank you to Jason Tippitt with Pod Across America and The Mental Nomad Podcast
http://podacrossamerica.blogspot.com
http://mentalnomad.libsyn.com

Thank you to Bond of Bonds Big Leather Couch blog
http://bondsbigleathercouch.blogspot.com

Thank you to Allen Sale of Astral Audio Productions
http://www.astralaudio.net

Thank you to Rod G of Blockhead Radio
http://blogtalkradio.com/blockheadrod

Thank you to Zack Daggy of the Mothpod Podcast
http://holidayz.zackdaggy.com

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http://mentalnomad.libsyn.com/
http://www.myspace.com/mentalnomadshow

Mental Nomad Podcast: Eclectic music podcast. I play almost every sort of music, though geared a little more toward singer-songwriters.

Pod Across America: Also an eclectic music show, but each episode focuses on one American state at a time.

Q: How long have you been broadcasting?

A: The Mental Nomad Podcast started in March 2007; it was initially a twice-a-week show but has been weekly for about a year now, with a few exceptions. The show’s eclectic, with an intention toward including music from outside the United States and music from female vocalists in almost every episode.

Pod Across America started in October 2008 and will be two episodes a month, usually one episode per state. I started in Delaware, the first state, and will go through Hawaii, the 50th state, in order … a few states will get two episodes just due to the sheer number of musicians from those states.

Q: In your opinion, what does a good song need to consist of?

A: To me, a good song is one that gives me some sort of emotional reaction … thrilling to the highs, coasting through the lows, laughing at a clever turn of phrase or feeling my stomach churn over some emotional conflict that rings true to me.

A song can be really simple and yet really powerful: Bob Dylan’s “Tomorrow Is a Long Time” and Queen’s “Bijou” contain very short, very simple lyrics but the mix of the lyrics, the vocal delivery and the music turns them into something magical.

Most of the music I really enjoy has lyrics, and usually the lyrics are in English. I do listen to some instrumental music, and I do listen to some non-English-language music, but the instrumentalists or vocalists really have to soar above and beyond for me to really engage the music.

Q: What is your favorite band or favorite genre of music and why?

A: Attorney and writer Andrew Vachss has observed that “blues is truth,” and I agree wholeheartedly. Blues gets down to the core of the human experience, the raw truth of emotions laid bare. It’s naked and honest, and even when the blues singer engages in bragging, the exaggerations point the way toward his or her insecurities.

More broadly, music that tells a story is what really gets my attention. Blues, certainly folk music, certain rap and rock ‘n’ roll, the cabaret storytelling of a Tom Waits or the deeply emotional jazz of Jimmy Scott … music with personality.

Q: What changes in content laws, broadcasting rights, etc., have affected you most?

A: I feel unqualified to answer this question. I haven’t paid a lot of attention to the legal issues, whereas I probably should pay more attention. In early episodes, I was a lot quicker to download a song from MySpace and play it, then ask permission after the fact. I wouldn’t dream of doing that now.

Using a content provider such as the Podsafe Music Network and working with publicists such as the folks at Ariel Publicity — where the music is pre-cleared and podsafe — is the smart way to go, I’ve found. I’d rather be able to find new music I might not have heard before and play that than risk getting sued for playing a U2 song that everyone’s going to hear all over the place, anyway.

So the limitations put in place by respecting the law challenges me to look for the next Bob Dylan, the next Tom Waits, the next Emmylou Harris.

Q: A recent study found blogs to be more effective than MySpace in generating album sales; do you feel podcasts have that power?

A: I haven’t personally experienced any huge revenue surge from doing podcasts and the blogs associated with them, though I do include links to both the music I play and, to a lesser extent, to the videos that strike my fancy from artists podsafe and non-podsafe.

That said, I have absolutely discovered new music that I’ve subsequently bought through blogs and podcasts. Blogs and podcasts offer a great way to sample a lot of music that I wouldn’t hear on heavily formatted local radio or even the music channels on digital TV.

Podcasts come to you. Blogs come to you, if you syndicate their feeds through a reader. They require less effort than logging into MySpace or Facebook, slogging through the many pages of contacts you have, and noticing when a particular band has updated the profile. So yes, I think podcasts are a more forward-thinking way of marketing a band — it’s letting other people be your street team, rather than trusting people to find you.

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Just an old soul who decided he needed a place to express himself and stumbled into blogging.

http://bondsbigleathercouch.blogspot.com

Q: How long have you been blogging?

A: I began back in 1972 on the campus of RIT in Rochester, NY. I then went on air at the local FM station for a time. I have also worked with a company that distributes content to stations around the country who need to fill air time. Recently, my music disbursement is mainly through my blog “Bonds Big Leather Couch” (http://bondsbigleathercouch.blogspot.com), where I review new artists, new CD’s and also put together history’s of artists and bands. I am also affiliated with BlogTalk Radio, where I am part of the team of hosts for “Doctor Blogstein’s Radio Happy Hour”. We have had many new artists on the air for interviews and are always looking for new talent to feature. I am also in the middle of trying to get airtime on the local community radio station here in Memphis.

Q: In your opinion, what does a good song need to consist of?

A: For me, a good song contains real musicians playing real instruments. I tend to lean toward rock, but enjoy all genres. When listening to a new CD, I am listening to the interplay between the rhythm section and the lead instruments as well as the depth of the music itself. A great song does not have to be complicated in it’s arrangement. Some of the great songs of our time are simple 2/4 – two chord songs. Lyrics are also important. I am looking for the story…the guts to what the composer was trying to get at. Of course, it is not always a straight line to their meaning, but that is part of the fun.

Q: What is your favorite band or favorite genre of music and why?

A: Favorite band has to be the Allman Brothers. They opened the door to so many other bands from the south including Skynyrd, Charlie Daniels, Marshall Tucker etc…I am partial to the Southern Rock genre, but also have a deep love for the San Fransisco sounds of the 60′s and the Delta Blues artists of early last century including Sonny Terry, Howlin’ Wolf, Pinetop Perkins…and I could go on for 3 pages!

Q: What changes in content laws, broadcasting rights, etc. have effected you most?

A: Not sure I have been effected by the new law changes, as I honor the artist’s rights to own their music. I tend to shy away from music that uses graphic language or that promotes violence, so i don’t have to worry about content, though that really is not a new concern.

In the 70′s Janis had many live songs where she would drop the F-bomb and we tended to not worry about it for a one time shout.

I do believe the record companies have gone to the extreme with the rash of court cases against individuals over peer-to-peer sharing. The rash of artists taking control of their own music through self-recording, or making individual distribution deals and by sharing their music on sites like MySpace and Facebook or on their own individual web sites is bringing the power back to the artist and stripping the record companies from owning everything.

Q: A recent study found blogs to be more effective than MySpace in generating album sales, do you feel blogs have that power?

A: As a blogger, I want to agree with that statement. I am not a user of the MySpace area, though i have visited the sites of artists I have been introduced to and want to find more about.

I can speak from experience that a number of the new artisits or albums I have reviewed have generated a response from my readers and they went out and purchased product.

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Sound Advice TV with Derek Sivers - youtube.com/ArielPublicity

Derek Sivers is a dear friend of mine and has long been a beacon of light for most of us in the music industry. To celebrate the launch of my new Sound Advice Video Series featuring Derek as my premiere guest, I wanted to share some of his marketing basics.  These are highlights from a talk he gave at Bob Baker’s Indie Buzz Bootcamp.

I constantly like to return to the lessons that Derek teaches. I have heard him speak many times and I always walk away feeling inspired. I am delighted that he is my first guest on Sound Advice TV.

Derek Sivers 7 Critical Marketing Basics Every Musicians Should Know

Here are 7 wonderful lessons, which are great to revisit no matter how strong your marketing muscles are.

But before I dive in I want to start with how Derek got his own music career off of the ground. This speaks volumes about how he achieved his CD Baby success later in his career.  There is a huge marketing lesson in this story…

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