FreshNerd

“I don’t got no lyrics” – Wocka Flocka

Hemway Industries is proud to announce the launch of a new print by David Choe, “Haitian Girl”, with all proceeds being donated to benefit the Haitian Relief Effort.

Personally paying for the cost of the prints, David Choe created “Haitian Girl” with all proceeds going to Yéle Haiti, a foundation created by Wyclef Jean.  “Haitian Girl” measures 18×24 and is a giclée print on archival paper.  Limited to 50 editions, the print is hand-signed by David Choe and costs $300.  The print is available now for pre-sale but will not ship until February 21, 2010.

David Choe’s next solo exhibition featuring new works, “Character Assassination” opens on February 5, 2010 at FIFTY24SF Gallery.

BUY HERE

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The realest, most true, most beautifulest post I’ve ever read from any blog. I really thought I was alone when it came to the LA promise. Derek Sivers nailed it (pause):

When I lived in Los Angeles, I noticed they have a strange speaking pattern.

Everyone speaks in future tense. (Or, more specifically, present-tense inaction, future-tense action.)

“This guy from EMI is interested and going to be presenting it to the VP.”

“We’re in talks to do a pilot for the fall.”

“I’m getting ready to work on some new material with a writer from Friends.”

Of course these are the things some people have to tell themselves to be hopeful when facing another day of challenges.

But of course nothing materializes. You never hear it mentioned again, and you politely don’t ask. (Surprising circumstances always foiled the certain event.)

I felt like wearing a t-shirt that says, “TELL ME WHEN IT’S ACTUALLY HAPPENING.”

So now when I hear a future-tense sentence, my ears shut down. I’ll say “cool!” and hope it helps, but I don’t believe a word.

Try noticing this in yourself and others for a week. Are you speaking more in future tense or present tense? Are they?

- Derek Sivers

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Artist, Derek Hess, took time out of his busy schedule to talk to Fresh Nerd. After my first posting of he and Kent Smith’s book Please God Save Us, I wanted to get inside of their heads a bit to get some insight on where these thoughts and ideas come from. If you guys haven’t checked out my initial post of the book, please do so here. Check out the comments as well, I think I offended some folks by posting that art. So without further ado, here’s the interview:

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Shout out to DA of Chester French for the retweet. Very, very, very good post from Trent Reznor and his thoughts on being an indie artist A.G. (after Google). I’ve been trying to tell yall but hey…what do I know. Check out what Trent has to say:

(disclaimer)
This was written on a bumpy Euro-bus ride across the wilderness – may ramble a bit but I think the point gets across.
TR

I posted a message on Twitter yesterday stating I thought The Beastie Boys and TopSpin Media “got it right” regarding how to sell music in this day and age. Here’s a link to their store:

[illcommunication.beastieboys.com]

Shortly thereafter, I got some responses from people stating the usual “yeah, if you’re an established artist – what if you’re just trying to get heard?” argument. In an interview I did recently this topic came up and I’ll reiterate what I said here.

If you are an unknown / lesser-known artist trying to get noticed / established:

* Establish your goals. What are you trying to do / accomplish? If you are looking for mainstream super-success (think Lady GaGa, Coldplay, U2, Justin Timberlake) – your best bet in my opinion is to look at major labels and prepare to share all revenue streams / creative control / music ownership. To reach that kind of critical mass these days your need old-school marketing muscle and that only comes from major labels. Good luck with that one.

If you’re forging your own path, read on.

* Forget thinking you are going to make any real money from record sales. Make your record cheaply (but great) and GIVE IT AWAY. As an artist you want as many people as possible to hear your work. Word of mouth is the only true marketing that matters.
To clarify:
Parter with a TopSpin or similar or build your own website, but what you NEED to do is this – give your music away as high-quality DRM-free MP3s. Collect people’s email info in exchange (which means having the infrastructure to do so) and start building your database of potential customers. Then, offer a variety of premium packages for sale and make them limited editions / scarce goods. Base the price and amount available on what you think you can sell. Make the packages special – make them by hand, sign them, make them unique, make them something YOU would want to have as a fan. Make a premium download available that includes high-resolution versions (for sale at a reasonable price) and include the download as something immediately available with any physical purchase. Sell T-shirts. Sell buttons, posters… whatever.

Don’t have a TopSpin as a partner? Use Amazon for your transactions and fulfillment. [www.amazon.com]

Use TuneCore to get your music everywhere. [www.tunecore.com]

Have a realistic idea of what you can expect to make from these and budget your recording appropriately.
The point is this: music IS free whether you want to believe that or not. Every piece of music you can think of is available free right now a click away. This is a fact – it sucks as the musician BUT THAT’S THE WAY IT IS (for now). So… have the public get what they want FROM YOU instead of a torrent site and garner good will in the process (plus build your database).

The Beastie Boys’ site offers everything you could possibly want in the formats you would want it in – available right from them, right now. The prices they are charging are more than you should be charging – they are established and you are not. Think this through.

The database you are amassing should not be abused, but used to inform people that are interested in what you do when you have something going on – like a few shows, or a tour, or a new record, or a webcast, etc.
Have your MySpace page, but get a site outside MySpace – it’s dying and reads as cheap / generic. Remove all Flash from your website. Remove all stupid intros and load-times. MAKE IT SIMPLE TO NAVIGATE AND EASY TO FIND AND HEAR MUSIC (but don’t autoplay). Constantly update your site with content – pictures, blogs, whatever. Give people a reason to return to your site all the time. Put up a bulletin board and start a community. Engage your fans (with caution!) Make cheap videos. Film yourself talking. Play shows. Make interesting things. Get a Twitter account. Be interesting. Be real. Submit your music to blogs that may be interested. NEVER CHASE TRENDS. Utilize the multitude of tools available to you for very little cost of any – Flickr / YouTube / Vimeo / SoundCloud / Twitter etc.

If you don’t know anything about new media or how people communicate these days, none of this will work. The role of an independent musician these days requires a mastery of first hand use of these tools. If you don’t get it – find someone who does to do this for you. If you are waiting around for the phone to ring or that A & R guy to show up at your gig – good luck, you’re going to be waiting a while.

Hope this helps, and I’ll scour responses for intelligent comments I can respond to.

TR

Hank Willis Thomas holds no punches when it comes to getting his point across. The piece above is from his “Branded Series” in which he takes an ad that you may see day in and day out and shows the underlining racism that is present. His Branded series is definitely one that makes you think whether you agree with it or not. He uses the comparison of the NBA trade to the slave trade showing the similarities with a mashup of ads and images. Definitely something to think about…..

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So my boy Shep’s Obama cover will be on newsstands by the time you nerds read this, but he had a little something to say about Rick Warren’s participation during Obama’s inaugural address. This was spotted over at Fairey’s website (we need more people like this guy):

Tomorrow my illustration for Time Magazine’s  “Person of The Year” hits the newsstands. While I’m very honored to be validated by a periodical that is nothing short of an American institution, the moment is bittersweet because I’m very disappointed by Obama’s appointment of Rick Warren to deliver his invocation during Obama’s inaugural address. Rick Warren is against gay marriage and reproductive rights, and he does not believe in evolution (maybe he offers himself as proof of lack of evolution). I understand that Obama is trying to appeal to conservatives and evangelicals, but this move is symbolically a slap in the face to many people. Warren is not a uniter, but a divider… he is intolerant in many of his views. I still think Obama is the best choice for president, but I can’t condone Warren’s involvement in Obama’s inauguration, no matter how insignificant it is. While I’m on the subject of gay marriage, I will be donating a chunk of the proceeds from an inauguration poster of Obama I was asked to create to the movement to overturn Prop 8.  At first I was considering pulling my inauguration poster, but I think re-directing funds from it to put into a cause I care about is actually more constructive. Plus, I wouldn’t want withdrawing the image to come across as a blanket boycott of Obama.  I’m sure I will ultimately disagree with Obama about many things, but I think I will agree with him on more. I think it is important to speak one’s mind, but also to not let the narcissism of petty differences sabotage our unity and progress.

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Saigon has always been one of my favorite rappers as far as lyrics and common sense (for the most part). Here is Saigon talking about the state of hip hop and I must say that I agree with him. Rappers need to start pushing boundaries and setting new standards. BTW, is his album still dropping. I hope its not on the same time line as Dr. Dre’s Detox.

By now you nerds know that I gotta hit you with a flintstone vitamin or two every once in awhile. Jay hasn’t posted in a New York minute, but now he seems back to business as usual. Its funny because I found myself hesitant to post my thoughts on one of the greatest wins for American history as well. I guess I’m waiting until I have the right words to describe everything that is about to go down. I feel like its almost a contradictory win but more on my thoughts later. For now, here is Jay…