Ariel Publicity

Indie on Air! & Music in Action w/ host “Classic”
The Voice of Independent Music featuring industry professionals & great indie music.
Indie on Air! broadcasts live every Friday 12:30pm CST from Chicago via the BlogTalkRadio platform
Music in Action broadcasts live every other Wednesday 2:00pm CST from Chicago via the BlogTalkRadio platform
Both shows are available 24/7 as an archive immediately following the live broadcasts.

www.blogtalkradio.com/indieonair
www.indieonair.com

Q) Tell us a little bit about your Internet radio show. What inspired you to start it?

A) I actually host 2 Internet music shows under the Indie on Air! banner. The original Indie on Air! is a weekly 1 hr show that features an interview with an industry professional and also great indie music from various artists within different genres. My second show is Music in Action, which is live bi-monthly and is also a 1 hr program. However, on this show I feature indie artists who are using their God-given talent to help others & increase awareness of specific social causes. This is a more in-depth interview where I play only the music of my guest and discuss their personal involvement in the issue at hand.

My inspiration to start both these programs came from following my heart & doing what I love. Plus, I believe it is a natural progression of my career path as I have managed venues as well as produced music events for many years. I have a degree in Restaurant, Hotel & Institutional Management from Purdue University.

Q) Why do you believe new media resources (i.e. blogs, podcasts, Internet radio stations) have become so popular? How have they been beneficial to artists? How have they been detrimental?

A) I liken new media resources to On-Demand TV. People want to read, watch & listen to what they want, when they want. Specifically most Internet radio shows are archived and available 24/7. This, obviously, allows greater flexibility for the listener.

The Internet itself has opened the entire globe as a potential target market for artists. A few of my guests have developed a niche for themselves overseas after being heard on the net. My shows themselves have a pretty decent fan base from the UK & Eastern Europe though I broadcast from Chicago. Therefore, my industry contacts have increased greatly since the inception of the shows.

The only detriment I can see is you may have to weed through unprofessional blogs, shows, music, etc. to find quality material. However, in my mind, the hunt is half the fun.

Q) Media 2.0 has changed the way artists communicate with fans. Where do you envision online communication going next? Any thoughts on what Media “3.0” will look like?

A) The “I Want it Now” reality in which we live leads me to believe that internet TV & live events broadcast via the internet will flourish. Also, mobile phone applications will improve to view & listen to events. This will allow one to sit on the beaches of Southern California & watch or listen to a live event in New York, London or wherever. It is all about convenience for the consumer.

I truly feel that Media 3.0 will reflect the aforementioned capabilities but in a more global & socially responsible sense. I envision communications being instantly translated to allow immediate & direct responses between individuals from different countries & cultures. Media 3.0 will help break down communication barriers & usher in a new global cohesiveness & understanding. With that in mind, I feel all the people of this planet will come to realize we are not that different. Then, we can focus on addressing social concerns & natural disasters in a more “globally aware” sense. People will learn that they need not rely on their governments or mainstream media so much. Entertainment, music & technology will be the bridge that brings the world together as one. In fact, it is already happening.

Q) What does an artist have to do to get your attention? Are their specific characteristics that you look for?

A) I tend to look for artists who are professional, polite & hard working. They must be timely with their responses to inquiries but also do as requested. If I ask for mp3’s, don’t send me mp4’s. However, I am just as apt to play music from a new teen band as a touring band. Excitement, enthusiasm & common courtesy go a long way. Another strong factor is a song needs to grab my attention quickly. I listen to so much new music it can be overwhelming at times. But, overall I am very easy to contact. Interested artists should submit “mp3’s” (lol) to me @: greenplanet219@yahoo.com.

Q) What do you ultimately hope to accomplish with your show?

A) Number 1, I hope to make people smile. I love to introduce my listeners to new artists they would probably never hear otherwise. There is nothing I like more than one of my listeners thanking me for introducing them to someone new.

Number 2, I hope my shows inspire others to follow their hearts & do whatever they love. Specifically, I hope Music in Action inspires artists to use their creativity to help others.

Personally, I hope the shows lead me to a larger platform, so I can reach even more people around the world. I also would like to work directly with an indie label or network that shares my visions & thoughts on music & where the industry is headed. We need more positive messages & programming in our On-Demand world.

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http://www.suchcoolstuff.net

Celebrating Independent Artists

1. What are your favorite blogs/audio blogs featuring new music do you like to visit?

You know, it’s funny. I don’t really read any music-related blogs on a regular basis. I’m a bit of a chronic Googler, and that’s how I find most new (and new to me) music, both for my blog and for my own enjoyment. I read other blogs regularly, particularly in the left-leaning political and feminist blogosphere, but I’m pretty fickle when it comes to subscribing to blogs about the arts.

2. What inspired you to start site?

I very briefly tried to run an Etsy shop, but I found I was far too lazy to keep it up. One of the biggest challenges I had was getting my name out there, so when I decided to start a blog with the idea of profiling things I enjoy in general, I quickly saw that I could use it to help other artists promote themselves and their small businesses.  Then I e-mailed a few artists I admired and got things moving. Initially I profiled only visual artists (painters, photographers, fashion designers, etc), but I really wanted to expand to include music.

I’ve been quite literally surrounded by music all of my life.  My father was a studio musician for years, and my uncle was played with Dobie Gray in the 70’s.  My sweetheart is also a professional musician, so our house is filled with music all the time.  It was only natural for me to want to expand my blog to include music.  Much like the artists I began Such Cool Stuff! with, I started by e-mailing musicians I admire, and before I knew it things really took off.  I love playing my small part in helping artists of all types get their name out there.

3. What do you think is the impact of blogs, internet radio, and podcasts on independent music?

It’s just huge. This is a frequent topic of conversation in our household.  With this new media there is a lot more access to the public than you had back in the day. Anyone (like me!) can start a blog and become an instant media outlet, and smaller artists have a greater chance to get their name out there.  On the downside, with the pool of both talent and media so large now it will take an extra measure of effort for those who do gain exposure to make it meaningful.

One of the things I mourn about the way new technology is impacting the industry is that the digital availability of music has pretty well killed the concept of the album. I’ve always been a big fan of looking at an album as a whole, as a story with a beginning, middle, and end. Now with things moving to a digital format, that’s being lost.  Every track needs to be able to stand on its own. There aren’t any B-sides now in the traditional sense.  Such a shame. My favorite songs have typically been the B-sides.

4. When you started your station, did you anticipate that blogs would have such an upscale trend as it does now?

I actually only started the blog about a year ago, so there hasn’t been that much of a change for me personally. I do think it’s astounding to look at the way the internet has changed our lives on a massive scale. Just twelve years ago I’d never even used the internet. Now I use it for pretty much everything, and whole industries have had to change everything about the way they do business.

5. What are the ultimate goals you wish to achieve through your site?

Such Cool Stuff! has always been fairly experimental. I started it without a clear idea of where it was going, and the direction has proven to be ever-changing. It’s a hobby for me (my day job is in a very different industry), so I have the luxury of letting the current take me where it wants to go with regard to the blog. I’m excited to see where we end up!

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Rew and Who? is the new indigent radio show hosted by Rew of ‘RewBee – The Jewel of NYC’. It’s pure entertainment that will leave you wanting more, more, more!  With their “Anything Goes” mentality, Rew and Who? is spontaneous and informative giving its audience an inside look on today’s indie music and entertainment scene through the eyes of Rew.

http://www.arizzmaradio.com/rewbeesworld/index.html

1. What has to be done in the technological sense to monetize music to a greater degree on the internet?

Are you talking $$$ ? Well it’s a strange world right now everyone seems to be saying and a strange business, musicians can have all their music pretty much downloaded for free on the internet. in my opinion licensing is the way to make the bucks, royalties. I got a song on “Bad Girls Club” & that was the nicest amount of money I ever saw, it did happen through emails so i guess that counts as the internet! Keep knocking keep sending, doors open when you aren’t looking, at least that’s how my life works.

2. Where do you see the next trend in social media? What else can be done in terms of having an online conversation? What is the next “What are you doing?” question?

That’s funny cause as I’m doing this i am IM-ing, facebooking and texting. The next I guess is beaming!

3. What inspired you to start broadcasting/blogging? It that still your source of motivation?

Actually i fell into it and it has become so much fun and so time consuming and so rewarding all at the same time. I love meeting creative people and giving them a place to strut their stuff. I have been an artist for a while and it does seem like the Iinternet is the place to go. It’s here & it’s staying. I feel really fortunate to be on it at this time with *ReW & WHO?*

4. What are some things bands can do to get your attention to be featured on your broadcast/blog? Do you ever cover a band that you are not particularly fond of musically?

I am a firm believer in ‘beauty is in the eye of the beholder’. I believe talent is widespread, it’s what one does with it, almost like you gotta have the what so when you meet the who something can happen. Who you know does matter! I guess I now know many **Who’s**, I will give anyone a shot at their 15 minutes of fame, it’s up to them to be asked back again, it’s a vibe thing, a chemistry thing, I don’t have to like your ‘art’ per-say, but how you present it & how real you are, that’s what works best for me. Also getting lots of viewers to tune in is a giant perk!

5. Will major labels ever be the gatekeepers again, or have they lost all of their power to the internet forever? Can they somehow return to prominence?

I can’t predict the future, I don’t even know what’s going to be 5 minutes from this moment. It’s a big adventure out there right now it’s really anybody’s game and I think it’s fair that everyone can promote their music and dream BIG. Still to get real airplay, payola does exist, that’s what i’ve heard and it’s small at the top, but the Internet let’s everyone swim, its a big ocean and everyone can have a shot. It takes luck, passion and believing. I always say I’m an optimist or that I live in total delusion. I don’t know the difference. Thanks!

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New Media Pioneer

Todd (Racer) and John (Pope JTE) of The Ripple Effect

http://ripplemusic.blogspot.com

The best music you’re not listening to.™  Reviews of lost classics and obscure titles.  Unheralded bands and songwriters. New bands deserving of greater attention. It’s all here, on The Ripple Effect. The Ripple Effect is a top 100 music site, dedicated to spreading the word on new, unheralded and lost classic artists.   The Ripple Radio show puts our money where our mouth is, playing all the great music that’s going unheard.

Q: What has to be done in the technological sense to monetize music to a greater degree on the internet?

A: A great question and one that far greater minds than ours are trying to figure out.  The answer of course is as multi-faceted as the problem.  First and foremost, bands have to put out quality material.  The days of filler songs stuffed in between two killer cuts on an album are long gone.  With each song now having a downloadable monetary value, those filler songs are a waste of everyone’s time and energy.  If the product is good, it still sells.  iTunes numbers for top singles shows that people are willing to pay for music they feel to be of good value.   So the problem to us isn’t how to get people to buy music on the internet, they already are, the problem is how to get them to buy more.

This becomes complicated on a couple of fronts.  One, bands frequently give their music away to build a fanbase.  This is a good strategy for new up-and-coming bands to get their music into the hands of listeners, but then it sets a precedent that music has no inherent value and should be free to access.  Obviously, that isn’t a sustainable business model.  The other problem, besides filesharing, is the ready access to free music on sites from AOL to YouTube.  The consumer today has an infinite amount of resources to hear music.  A far cry from when AM radio was the only choice.

So what’s the answer?  We think that as people spend more and more time on the internet, the value of social networking sites will continue to gain in importance.  Music social networking already exists, like Imeem or Last.fm, but these sites don’t allow real-time social networking to the extent that Facebook does. We think a model that uses music as a subscription service or business enhancement will be the answer.  One new site, Jango, is a cross between an Internet radio station and social network.  The business proposition is to license the ability to stream the music as an online radio station (as opposed to striking deals with individual recording companies), build a social network around that streaming music, and then sell targeted ads. This type of model may work.  Get people gathered together, talking about the music, listening to streaming music of their common choice, actively engaging in social networking.  We think this sort of model will gather more steam– using music as an enhancement to another business model, then paying for the music with subscription or ad revenue..

Q. Where do you see the next trend in social media? What else can be done in terms of having an online conversation? What is the next “What are you doing?” question?

A: As far as music social media, we’re going to stick with some version of the Jango model, building true social networking sites around music.  Music is still something that excites people, builds passions, and stimulates conversations.  But we don’t think that’s the real question.  The real question is,  “How can bands use social media to better build their fanbase and listening audience.”

With the advent of Facebook, Myspace, and Twitter (and whatever comes next) the relationship between band and fan has never been more important.   Fans don’t want the aloof rock star, standing on a pedestal, handing down their next album from Mt. Sinai.  They want –rather they demand– a personal interaction with the band.  Random updates shot across a Twitter screen isn’t going to cut it anymore.  The fans want a personal relationship, not a promo post.  They want to feel that they are as important to the band as the band is to them.  Any way a band can accomplish this, or work towards satisfying this mentality, is going to place them head and shoulders above the rest.   At the Ripple Effect, we’re constantly trying to come up with new ways for bands to do just this, like promoting exclusive video content or exclusive giveaways.

Q. What inspired you to start broadcasting/blogging? It that still your source of motivation?

A: That’s an easy one –the music.  For years, we’ve been addicted to digging through discount bins in record store’s CD and vinyl racks, searching, mining for that great unheard band.  And we’d found tons of them.  Hundreds.  Bands that became our favorite artists, bands of unequaled talent.  These bands weren’t in the cut out bin because they were horrible, they were there because no one had ever heard of them.  The label failed them.  The marketing machine failed them.  And, in truth, it physically hurt us that no one else was hearing what we heard.

With that, we decided we had to tell the world about all this great, unheard music, and The Ripple Effect was born.  Our mission statement says it all, “The Best Music You’re Not Listening to.”  Reviews of lost classics, unheralded singer/songwriters, new bands deserving of greater attention.  That’s The Ripple Effect. 

Initially, The Ripple Effect started out as a blog, a site for us to rave about all the great music people should know about.  We’re not hip and trendy, we’re honest.   Within about a year, the site became so popular that we were ranked as one of the Top 100 Music sites.  From there, it only seemed natural that we start broadcasting the music we were writing about and the Ripple Radio show was born on Blogtalkradio.  Again, initially, our modest goal was to hang out, play some Ripple music, and describe to folks what we were hearing, but things started to grow and grow.  Soon we started getting calls from bands wanting to be on the show, then guests like Marky Ramone, Fee Waybill, and Cy Curnin starting popping in.  It’s been great fun.  Now our radio shows are available as podcasts on our webpage and iTunes.

Having done this for two years now, we can safely say that we’re more motivated now than ever.  Through the Ripple, every day, we continue to get submissions of great music that we’d never heard.  Fantastic bands from around the world, all genre’s.  With the prominence of the internet making it possible for any band to claim a piece of cyberspace, more than ever, it’s important for us to find those bands that really have something to offer and do everything we can to spread the word.  Great music should never go unheard.

Q. What are some things bands can do to get your attention to be featured on your broadcast/blog? Do you ever cover a band that you are not particularly fond of musically?

A: There’s only one way to get out attention; play great music.  It doesn’t matter what genre.  We cover everything from Scandanavian Death Metal to acoustic singer/songwriter, African to Reggae and everything in between.  The only common denominator is that the music moves us.  That’s what music is supposed to do.  If you want us to dance, then write something that makes it impossible for us to stay in our chairs.  If you want us to feel your pain, then do it.  Music is emotion.

On top of that, it really does help if the artist is friendly.  We like personal letters and have taken extra time to review an album simply because the band was friendly, nice, or some times, a riot.  Letters that make us laugh are always a plus.  It also helps for bands to understand how busy we are with the Ripple.  Artists can’t expect us to drop everything for their sake.  We have at least a 6 week lead-in from the time a CD gets sent in until review, and only after it’s made the Ripple Effect can it be played on Ripple Radio.  Someone who is pushy, rude, or pompous will probably find their CD continually dropping towards the bottom of the stack.  In this business, like all others, it really does help to be nice. 

Through the process of all the submissions and interaction with the artists, we’ve gone from being fans to friends with the bands. We’ve developed personal relationships with many artists as they’ve asked for our input on new material, development advice, etc.  We come from a place of respect for the musician above anything else.

Having said that, we will never feature a band on the website or the radioshow that doesn’t satisfy these basic requirements.  We’re not critics, we don’t review music.  We’re music lovers and write/talk about the music we love. That’s one of the things that may set us apart from other sites, the passion we have for what we’re doing.  Our goal is to spread the word on the music and the bands we like — make some ripples

Q. Will major labels ever be the gatekeepers again, or have they lost all of their power to the internet forever? Can they somehow return to prominence?

A: The impact of the internet can never be understated and it has definitely altered the playing field, but that doesn’t mean the majors have lost all their power.  It’s true that the majors will probably never be the gatekeepers again, but they will always remain the star makers. 

Any band can now record an album, sell copies, get thousands of Myspace or Youtube hits without major label support.  In fact, small labels are great at being the gatekeepers.  They can recognize talent, promote it, gain an audience, mold a band.  But it still takes big money to make a star.  Touring costs a bundle, and as music becomes exchanged more and more often for free, touring becomes where bands will make their money.  Here’s the problem.  With fewer people buying CD’s who pays for the tour?  A small label can’t afford to spend $200,000 to put a hot new band out on tour when they’ll only sell $10,000 worth of CD’s.  This is where the majors come in with their publicity machines and unlimited budgets.  They can create the demand, they can fill the stadium, they can make the star.

In order to do this, majors are now requiring 360 degree contracts, where the label will get a percentage of every aspect of the band’s business, from CD sales, to tour revenue, to t-shirt sales.  And this is fair, the label is providing a service and they deserve to get paid.

The biggest problem with the majors is the impersonal approach they take towards the music, the bands, and the fans.  This is where small labels have the advantage.  They have the ability to really form the relationships that can make a project a success.

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http://www.thelinkradio.org

A family friendly station with a wide blend ranging from Contemporary Christian to Christian Rock.

Q:  How long have you been broadcasting/blogging?

A:  All together my wife Angie and I (Merton) have been broadcasting for a year and 3 months. We started out as a mix station with Teen pop and Christian music mix but quickly realized that our listeners wanted more. So as we prayed about it we felt that God wanted us to go more toward the Adult Contemporary Christian direction.

So we have just let God take things over. As a result he has blessed this station in ways that we could never have done on our own.

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

A: Wow that is a real good question. First of all I feel that it starts out in the needs of the person. Some people feel that as long as it has a good beat the words mean nothing  and that is a great song. But to my opinion a good song is like a great restaurant. When you go out to eat at a fast food place you just remember the chain but not that specific restaurant. But when you eat at really good restaurant you leave full and happy.

It moves you  to want to come back. That is how I feel a good song should be. One that not only has a good beat but is composed of words that relax or even change your heart. One that fills you up and makes you want to come back for more. If it doesn’t move you then it really isn’t one that stays with you and you won’t come back.

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

A: As far as Genre is concerned that is easy. I think that is why we are having no trouble programming this station. We both love Adult Contemporary Christian music and that makes it both easy and enjoyable to us. As for favorite bands/artist Michael W. Smith ranks way up there with me and Angie is a big fan of the Newsboys.

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

A: The new laws have affected everything we do but I feel the worst area it is affecting us is in the area of special features. If you want to do a feature artist or a special show that involves multiple songs by the same artists, For instance; New artists intro show or even the countdown when it has multiple songs by the same artists in the countdown you have to put in fillers just to make it able to play.

Q: A recent study found blogs to be more effective than MySpace in generating album sales, do you feel that that is a true statement?

A: We are really new to this field. In fact we just now set up a website www.thelinkradio.org that has the option to blog on it.( We haven’t set that part up yet but it will be real soon). But that actually makes sense though. It brings a more personal touch between the Band, Artist, etc … and the person interested.

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