Industry with no know

I’m not getting dragged in to the Idol mass debate, I’m done,  I’ll wait until they finally arrive at a decision regarding the new judges. I thought Tyler and Lopez had been confirmed but apparently not. Actually I’m suprissd at myself more than anything for being taken in by all the furore, I’m not that type of guy. I’m a cynical old fool when it comes to the record industry. That’s how I survived, I saw it as fun first and foremost. I thought it was a total hoot that someone was going to pay me to indulge in my hobby. I thought, if it lasted 6 months it would be a great six months and I could tell my grandchildren, but it lasted over thirty years. A lot of fun and a load of hard work, but what’s work when you’re having fun?

There were a good few of us from that era did it proud though, we LOVED making a living out of a hobby. It isn’t hard to get up in the morning when you love your job. There was no such thing as Monday morning…… Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, bring it on. Midday or Midnight, we were there. We believed in the dream because we made the dream a reality. If someone gave me a great record to promote I felt it my duty to tell others, and what an honor it was. I couldn’t wait to run round the country and barge in to every radio station and enthuse. I had people just as receptive in radio and television, they wanted good tunes and I had shit loads of them! My belief became their belief.

Island Records was a pretty damn fine place to start, Bob Marley, Steve Winwood, John Martyn, Robert Palmer and then of course U2. It could have been worse because there were still a few labels thinking shit worked. Well it didn’t. In fact I’d ask people if they ever gave me a shit record what did they expected me to do with it. And that included you Mr Cowell !  Power Rangers, Zig and Zag and some bus conductor from Coventry. And a dreadful all girl band from Australia who came and went in around a week, thank God. Reminds me, it’s nice when crap doesn’t sell. He thought they’d be the next Spice Girls….more like The Lice Girls. Good bloke though, shit taste in music but a good bloke. He senses a hit and makes it happen in just enough time before the public gets wise to it. By then he’s robbed them of all their cash and it’s on to the next. He’s Robin Hood.

It never ceases to amaze me how a music industry for so long thinks things are always going too be the next so and so. Pray tell 40 years later where are the next Led Zeppelin, the next Pink Floyd, The Beatles, Neil Young or Bob Dylan. They don’t exist, great talent that lasts is unique, you  have the dross that filters through but it never lasts. We all get dog shit on our shoes but we flick it off once we know it’s there. There is a dictionary for the word talent, please use it.

I’m still a believing kind of guy, what was that all time famous karaoke song Journey gave us, ‘Don’t stop believing?’  Too many times we’ve had the midnight train going nowhere and still the music industry assumes the public are thick and will buy what they are told to. Well the public just woke up, shit doesn’t sell. Back in the day the lovable Monkees told us, ‘I’m a Believer.’ Let’s hang on to that notion and believe in real talent, let’s encourage it to come through. But can we please have some help from those who are in a position to help? OK, I expected as much.

OK TM time, we’re back in Time Module. Let’s go back to Elvis, to The Beatles to a whole host of relevant exciting bands and artists that got everyone on the same playing field. We all needed music in our lives because it enriched all our  lives. It made them happy, it made us happy. It sent them to work happy it sent them in to relationships happy. It got them paid and it got them laid.

I am about to enter a very noisy time about the music industry, trust me I know me as well as anyone. There are things that need debating and thank you Mr and Mrs Internet for giving me that platform to vent. Why sit around in music industry conference and debate it amongst yourselves, what the hell will that solve.? You got it wrong for so long now and you’re still getting it wrong. Let Joe and Jospehine public have their say.

If it’s anything else and it’s gone past it’s sell by date they remove it from the shelf, here they just repackage it and force feed it us again and again! Plenty more to come but for now, I am at peace.

Filed under: About The Engine Room, record companies, View from the room, Island Records, music industry, Record business, Simon Cowell

Creating an artist

Over the years the artist benefited from a music industry swelling with a backroom of talent. It was the creative infrastructure of the music industry and what I like to call ‘The Engine Room.’ It’s where collaborations were born and where the road used to begin.

When you signed to a record company it was the beginning, it meant the start of a relationship. And the better the relationship the greater the chance of success. You see success was something everyone used to share and it was an industry that drove people to succeed. The pleasure was shared with everyone because everyone played an equal part. Today with a rapidly diminishing return I don’t think it’s a unity, it’s a jungle mentality. Eat or be eaten, artist against the record company. They want a piece of every part of the pie.

Many of the things that worked so well in the past seem to be lacking today. Yet so many of these things are quite simple when you think about it. Everyone is scared of losing their jobs and even the artists nowadays are scared of being dropped. Why should that be any different though? It’s supposed to be a risk business, it’s supposed to be about taking chances and pushing out that little bit further. We lost our mavericks and we lost our risk takers. We lost our innovators and we lost our way. We are not creating anything anyone is going to remember. And before I hear you say Carrie Underwood, Taylor Swift or Kelly Clarkson, Beyonce, Justin or even Jay Z. They’ll be here next year but I doubt they’ll be here next decade.

The relationships were everywhere, the artist with their manager, the manager with the label, the label with the publisher. Then the producer and the A and R manager and it went on. The only thing that may have changed as we face up to the demise of the ‘pop star’ is that the fan has a closer relationship with the artist. Or they should have if both parties are reaching out like they should.  Today artists should be connecting with their audience, a bit like John Mayer until he has his sudden whacko swings towards lunacy and he over communicates to the detriment of others and damages something he worked so hard at creating.

Filed under: About The Engine Room, Managing Creativity, record companies, social networking, A and R people, artist development, creating talent, record companies

Let’s go round again

Let me tell you what it’s like when you get older.  You have those glorious gazing out the window times when you smile as some truly wonderful moments start to flash by. And for no apparent reason, I’m having one right now. Calm and serene and away from the madness we all have going on from time to time, everything stops for that moment. I’m happy that I’m having a bunch of those moments right now and savoring every minute of them. You start to reflect on the fun you had growing up, where, when and with who.

Sometimes we all need to lighten up a little and not become too self absorbed. We need to drag ourselves out of our own little life cocoon. What do we have if we don’t have laughter and anyway, why wouldn’t you want to smile? If you smile there’s a good chance you’ll get smiled back at and if you frown people look the other way.  If you’re not Basil Fawlty you won’t get away with it. And if you want to walk around with a glum face then get out of mine.

And when you start reflecting you look  back on pivotal moments in your life. And it always involves people and places. How clear those moments become and how vividly you can see those people etched in memory. Yet for that one moment they are there. You can almost touch them. You stop and you turn and you think, My God how long ago was that! I don’t ever want to lose the romance of my youth and the beauty of my friends, everyone of them with their own curious little idiosyncrasies. Each worthy of friendship and most at some time, motivating. And the ones you fall out with, you don’t really fall out with you just start to move in different directions. It’s the circle of life and for all it throws at us I’m glad it’s there. It helps us to define where we want to go and what we want to do but more importantly who we are. Those times when our eyes are shut and we’re the only ones that don’t see it. It shades opportunities and it blurs reality.

Now I’m sure there must have been lousy days working in the music business but I don’t remember them. It’s my Led Zeppelin moment. There are some things that happen that you don’t want to remember so you blur them out. Why, because they don’t matter anymore, you’ve moved on and there really is no point dwelling on them. You start to realize that it could never have been as bad as it appeared anyway. Hell, I’m here aren’t I ? Be grateful for what you have and not for what you don’t have. Life was an adventure, a hell of one. The experience invaluable. It makes me more aware of those poor people that spend their life in jobs they hate. They have reason for remorse, where some can change others can’t.

This blog is the perfect home, for the people and the places. There are a whole host of things I have meant to blog about that I haven’t. So now is the time to rectify that and no matter where Tiger takes his pants there has to be room for stuff that matters. I am feeling the love and love makes you want to put back. Stand back!

And with the job I even loved the crap ,you felt for the people who were giving it and getting it. If it meant having them calling you to vent then so be it. If that’s their way of releasing tension then that’s fine. I’d rather have them shout at me for no reason than have them keel over and have a coronary.

When this all began I said I had a bunch more things to say and after 120, 000 words I haven’t. Life got in the way. I had to take care of stuff that cropped up and when I wrote it was more about the current and less about the past. Apart from the lessons learned there weren’t as many of the stories I’d promised. The people and the places are too valuable to sit on the back burner.

Until now. Sit back while I light the touch paper.

Filed under: About The Engine Room, About Tony Michaelides, View from the room

What makes a great record?

This all started with the question, ‘What makes a great album.’ I can only offer my own conclusion because if I ever went in a recording studio I can guarantee one thing, that I wouldn’t come out with a great album. I can’t play or sing, maybe a great spoken word album but then again people might return it saying the needle’s stuck. Oh right, you don’t know what a needle is, oh dear.

It would be great to see an artists definition of this, ‘What does make a great album’? I’m thinking belief, talent, commitment with a dash of reality and an understanding that no matter how good you think it is you need to leave it at the mercy of others to make that final decision. If your manager, should you have one doesn’t like it and if they don’t say so what’s the point of having them as your manager? The record company then would be the first to stand up and offer their opinions and here’s where it’s changed, would of!  There were times an A and R person could be driven to tears going down to a studio to hear the end result from a band they’d signed, and feeling visibly moved. And more than likely they’d matched the producer with that artist. Had it worked? He/she was the proudest person on earth, all the hard work to get to this stage and now the anticipation of finally hearing it. More often than not they’d be down the studio intermittently during recordings to see how things were developing and eagerly awaiting the final playback. And the artist couldn’t wait to show them what they’d come up with. THAT”S what made a great album, people sensing greatness, always wanting it but never knowing if or when it might come. But it was enough to keep them striving for it. Part of being great is knowing you can be great.

I’d love to have the opportunity to ask people like Roger Waters or Dave Gilmour from The Pink Floyd, ‘What did it feel like when you were recording Dark Side of the Moon?’ Did they know they were creating history or did that come later? Was there any time in the studio they thought, ‘Oh my God!’ Maybe one day I’ll get the chance to ask them, I’d love to know. Was there that moment in the studio when they were listening back to it when they thought, ‘Fuck!’

Likely they’d all be together at the studio listening back to it, band , record company, manager and maybe even their publisher. I know how I felt as a kid just waiting for a new album by some of my heroes. I’m thinking as an artist you cared, you took pride in your work, you didn’t want to let people down. After all it’s your audience that put you there and they have a right to judge you on merit, you set your own standards. Was it as good as your last album and if it wasn’t could it be that maybe it’s just a change of direction, would it grow on you? If you’d made a great record were you really great, could you sustain that greatness or had you had your moment? Whatever it was it still kept you hungry and wanting whether you recorded it or you bought it.

As we discussed before and we’ll ponder over again no doubt, where is the drive and the ambition? Do you make a record knowing that not many people will buy it, does it affect how you go about making it? If that’s the case then give it away, just make sure you give it away to enough people to find out what they think of you. That’s if you care, because if you don’t care then don’t expect anyone else to. So many basic human ingredients are infectious, they rub off on you. If you’re passionate enough about something and are sincere people buy in to it. It’s easy and you know why? It’s because you’re not trying to convince people, it’s there and it’s natural. And you mean it. You’re exposed for what you are, just someone being themselves, behaving naturally. People feel comfortable and relaxed about you and interested.  Be real to see for yourself if you are real and let others decide for themselves if you are real. Real artists can believe they can make great records. Do we have enough?

Filed under: About The Engine Room, record companies, View from the room, A and R people, great records, The Pink Floyd

Belief and Simon Cowell

I remember each time I used to go to London for the Arista Records marketing meetings Simon Cowell would call me in to his office to find out what my people thought of his records, the ones I was promoting to regional radio. Even though we’d discuss these same records at the marketing meetings he knew they wouldn’t receive the attention he wanted because other records would be discussed too, and some at greater length. He wanted the one on one’s and who was I to argue, there’s no point working with people who aren’t keen to vibe you up on their projects. As much as he would offer his observations he’d always listen, Simon was a good listener. As I said in the book, I told him records like Zig and Zag, The Teletubbies and WWF wouldn’t get radio while he was still telling me they were hits, even if they wouldn’t play them. We were both right! Simon knew the power of television in selling records before anyone. The records he was putting out would get TV exposure, kids watched TV and bought records by people they saw on television.It was a lesson in culture, if you were on television the perception was you were famous. If it was good, crap or indifferent you were still famous.

When he moved from Arista to RCA he had a point to prove. The management at Arista at the time said they could no longer justify the overhead. They were basically saying, you’re an A and R guy and you aren’t giving us the hits we need, off you go. Considering that at the time I doubt he was earning a huge wage and only occupied a small office with his PA, Vanya that was quite some rejection. By his own admission he never saw eye to eye with the hierarchy at Arista then so I suppose it was only a matter of time. Still,  a great lesson in getting a knock back and rising far far above it. He moved out of one part of BMG in to another and had hits with the same records his previous employers had turned down! That has to be the greatest confidence boost of all,  and then passing people in the corridors weeks later who didn’t believe in you. There was hardly had to tell them you were right and they were wrong.

It’s stuff like that that makes him what he is. Whether it was with me or the head of a record company, he made people believe in him because of how he believed in himself. Sometimes the look on his face was amazing, I don’t think he realized it but he would look at you as if you’d lost the plot. ‘How can you say that?’  he’d utter when you looked at him, almost apologizing in advance of what you knew people were going to say about these ‘non radio friendly ‘records. I loved the banter because I was doing what I was paid to do which was , as much as getting his artists exposure telling him the truth! If they hated it and wouldn’t play it then why was I to blame for that? In a way you have to understand that an A and R man has to believe in his artists and he did. Even though they were glove puppets, burly wrestlers who grunted a lot and The Teletubbies, the bastard love children of Mr Blobby. I have to admit I too couldn’t understand why he wasn’t believing that these media people weren’t believing in his artists.

Personally I never saw a threat to the legacies of Dylan, Elvis and The Beatles by Simon Cowell. I loved it because he always kept you on your toes, I was paid to be accountable and I was accounting. Secretly I was shit scared of my credibility with my radio people though. I’d spent  a lifetime trying to build a reputation on the quality of the artists that I was promoting.

Filed under: About The Engine Room, Opportunity, PR, View from the room, Arista Records, BMG, Simon Cowell

No longer behind the scenes

Simon Cowell and Simon Fuller have single handedly changed the way Americans watch television. The show that every network turned down is now the only show that makes a difference. If you’re a pop act and you have a record out and you get asked to appear, then you do it.

It must be heartening for any artist to hear the stuff people turn down. What happened with American Idol happened with The Beatles, The Stone Roses, you name it…..  they had the knock back. Ponders the question, who are the people elected to pick what works and what doesn’t work? TV and the music business has become dull because of the people making the decisions. They clearly have no idea what people want. Hence we have the most popular  ‘music show’ ever where the public actually has to tell them what they want.  And then one success spawns a thousand unimaginative carbon copies. Where once we had an act that attracted an audience now we have an audience that can attract any act because they all have to do it, appear on that show! Simple really, if you want to get seen or heard you line up at Simon Cowell’s door. It’s a monopoly and it’s dangerouse. Further more they’re not budging,  not at least any time soon.

Record companies have no clue whatsoever. (It might have something to do with the fact that most of the people who work there have no idea about music)They constantly turn down what ultimately pays their own wages. Record companies can no longer sign bands because they do not know how to develop bands. They have no fucking idea and what’s worse is they don’t care. They don’t care that what made generations integrate, love one another, even give us a healthy foreign export all revolved around music. Call me idealistic I don’t care, but the people who sit in their halcyon towers crunching the numbers have no feet to put on the ground. They want to see a return straight away when  no relevant band in history paid the rent from day one. What they did do was build a base for an industry to thrive for a very long time until the pendulum swung and the lunatics took over the asylum. Not only did they run it, they enrolled the inmates. We are now fed a staple diet of stuff that doesn’t require us to ponder over whether or not it’s good or not, it’s just there. Who cares if it’s good, as long as it can sell instantly and we can get a return. The law of averages says a proportion of the cattle will chew the cud. Or is it sheep, lemmings even? It’s just fodder when all is said and done.

Where are we going, well as Bob Dylan so rightly said, ‘No Direction home’ There is no route. Over the coming weeks months, years , decades I may be granted time on this turntable we call earth I intend to bring forth and interrogate those that matter, those who gave me a purpose, a reason to get up in the morning and throw myself in to what was an unbelievable place to be. The artists and the record industry, the record stores, the bands, the media we all worked as one . And you know what, we were fucking good. Too good to sit back and see what this industry has become, a playground for the people who were once behind the scenes. We are creating immovable objects, Clive Davis was a music man, once.  There was a time when he wanted to create stars to see what they could become, to let them grow and flourish, to see them last and then to influence others. And now, it’s not because of what they are but because of what they can do for him. The ego is mightier than the music. When in all it’s years have the people behind the scenes become bigger than the artists? I don’t think it was meant to be that way was it? Who’s more successful than Simon Cowell or Clive Davis? Instead of making them (the artists)they made themselves! Simon Fuller is equally as powerful and with an astute mind, a marketing genius…….. but at least he doesn’t have a need to grab the limelight. Instead of pop stars we now have  industry stars.

Filed under: About The Engine Room, Journey Through The Past, record companies, TV, american idol, Clive Davis, music industry, Simon Cowell, simon fuller

Lessons learned and stories to tell

Seeing the U2 show last week reminded me of how they became as huge as they are. They had a bunch of songs that helped but it was so much more than that. I’m using my blog to blatantly advertise how we’ll be looking at how artists become successful and what they do to get there. They’ll be the website( http://www.insightscollection.com) A new You Tube channel called speakmusic.tv , podcasts on I Tunes . Check out http://www.tincan.tv, http://www.manchesterradioonline,co.uk and keep glued to this. And I don’t have a clue what might happen tomorrow

There’s a lot going on and I’m really lucky to have a team of highly talented people around me to help me with the stuff I’m totally crap at. I just found out I’m shit at a bunch of things but it’s the more technical stuff really thats take me an eternity to get my head round. I love what it can do but I get frustrated at the time it takes to get it right. I’m amazed to watch people do ‘stuff.’ Wow, cool is getting cooler. Wouldn’t it be cooler than the cool of cool if someone invented ‘non nerd voice recognition pro tools.’ Software that you can say ‘Edit the stuff out where I sound a twat’ and it does. Mmmm dangerous though, letting a machine decide your level of incompetence. Anyway I think I know what i’m trying to say. Read on and you all might get a chance.

In fact my techo slow go is why I never became a producer. The band would have written another album before I’d recorded the first. Maybe I’m good at people and not machines? That’s OK. If you get on with a computer and you work well you can’t go grab a beer together after work can you? As it happens I like people, a few have let me down over the years but that happens. You dust yourself down and move on. Another slice of life, a stab at growing up. Shit, I don’t want to do that!

You’re lucky you’re at the end of a computer screen, I’m unbearable right now. I’m so excited about where we’re going with all this, so totally fired up and the people I’m working with all are here for the ride too. They can identify my crap better than I can identify it myself. They’re crap savvy. Position people where they work best and everyone benefits. It’s what motivates us all, we are seeing it all start to take shape.

Interpersonal skills are what got me this far, I think. And if they didn’t then I’m fucked because I’ll have no one to talk to. I even want to teach people about people now. How to work with those you admire and how to tolerate those you don’t. Music schools teach students to be adept at pro tools but that’s no good if you don’t know how to interact with a human being. Who’s going to want to work with anyone who’s a plank?

It’s a bit early so I’m all over the place. I’m currently writing to do lists  but it’s a bit early for that too. I can’t read some of them and I can’t find the others.

And now the sun’s coming up.

Later.

Filed under: About The Engine Room, About Tony Michaelides, Uncategorized, Interpersonal skills, U2

Houston, you’re the problem

In all my years in the music business I don’t think I’ve cared less about any person than Whitney Houston. I can’t stand her. Well that’s not true, when I first heard ‘I want to dance with somebody ‘ she looked vibrant, energetic and it was a good little pop song. Ever since then she and Clive Davis’ double act make me want to hurl. Clive did many good things in the 60’s and 70’s but put these two ego’s together and it’s scary, all that glorious, pretentious, I love you so much sicko babble. Yuk. They just can’t stand it when people don’t pay attention. Of course Clive has American Idol too now where they can place him up on his throne and say how wonderful he is but that’s not important, he knows that more than anyone. Clive Davis is the most important thing to ever happen in the music business and it probably says so on his business card.

Just look at the obscene amount of money being spent on yet another comeback. Is she running out of money? Clive should have told her she’d been making shit records for too long instead of proving yet again how artist’s careers are down to him. Wasn’t it last comeback time he recruited a bunch of people to appear on the album and sing with her. Help a Whitney time again. We’ll be having Whitneythons next.

She was the crooner and balladeer for eternity, but since when did eternity have a place on earth. There’s ballads and there are crap ballads……Dolly, I will never forgive you for letting her do that song. ‘Whitters’ made it her own and turned it in to an anthem, albeit at funerals but hey, it’s a powerful song and she sung it well. And she can sing, it’s just everything else that comes out of her mouth. Do we need  Oprah to give her the voice to tell us that Bobby Brown was a train wreck? He’d been a write off for ever, it’s his prerogative. Weird business when you can make a career out of one song. And it’s OK for her to spill out her drug addiction now to win back her fans. Are we supposed to feel sorry for here since she helped to settle Peru’s national debt?

Well there’s a suprise, she’s got a new record out. Funny how you don’t do these things when you DON”T have a record out and you’re on the front page of a newspaper looking like a char woman but less sexy. What’s the point, there’s no money to be made and you can’t let us know ‘I’m back.’ Cos you’re not, you’re slipping out the back.

Just go away, this is (was) a business about embracing new talent and unless you’re relevant (Elvis Presley, The Beatles, Led Zeppelin or The Pink Floyd and there are plenty more, just not you , luv) you’re history, and not good history at that. It’s about the great records you gave us. Step up to the table and tell me one great record you’ve plastered your name and face all over? There aren’t any, you just have a mentor who or for some reason thinks you walk on water. My cup runneth over, you suck.

I could go on forever about you woman but it’s still more publicity and you don’t deserve it, you’re just one of those people that can’t stand the thought of being ignored. Well hopefully the world will realize that you’re a waste of theirs and everyone else’s money.

How can you justify what I just read in the Sun newspaper….

Her comeback could cost her a whopping £6.8million.

That’s the amount leading accountancy firm AAT has calculated it will take for the pop queen to launch a comeback in these credit crunched times. The legendary solo artist’s record label faces shelling out £675,000 for an album, £5.6million for a world tour, an image update at £16k and nearly £11k for a team of hairdressers, stylists and make-up artists.

And in the current economic situation that’s nothing short of obscene. Money that could be spent on new exciting talent that record companies no longer want to spend. Well how can they when they are to spend THAT on THIS. How many careers could you launch with that instead of habitually reigniting the dying embers from someone who should have long since faded. How many of those talents would ever be afforded two days on Oprah seeking forgiveness(record sales)

Whitney Houston never did any promo when she didn’t have to, and now she does she gets the biggest show on earth. If God had a chat show she’d be the first guest. Now the reality is that no one would give a toss whether or not she made a record, it just means that whatever they need to spend to make her feel the Queen of all Divas they will. And they do even though she KNOWS she’s the Queen of the Divas. She invented it.

Bye bye Whitney, gone and forever forgotten you’d hope. But as long as Clive Davis is around how many more Whitney Houston comebacks will we be forced to endure. If you’ve gone away, there’s a reason. Please stay away.

Filed under: About The Engine Room, About Tony Michaelides, Clive Davis, sun newspaper, Whitney Houston

Insights, foresights and wherever it may go sights.

I’ve been spending the last few weeks gathering equipment, software and generally learning the workings of everything. It’s funny where a blog can take you, and not very funny where filling your head with too much technology can take you. The Insights from the Engine Room started life as a blog until it took on a life of it’s own. Spending all but a year of my working life in the music industry certainly gave me something to talk about ! But it isn’t until now I realized the speed of my own mouth. ‘Whoa boy, slow down’ I thought. What’s the rush,let if flow. I make no excuses other than the boyish enthusiasm that’s got me through life so far and long may it continue. The excitement that the recollections of youth bring make me to want to share those experiences and tell the stories. The thought of thoughts is enthralling!

Now where was I? Foolishly I had VHI on in the background and the Shakira video just came on. I needed to get some water. I feel invigorated but I must convince myself it’s from the desire to tell the stories and not the Shakira video. Thank God I don’t have a dvd recorder, be gone Devil Woman. But not too far, eh?

So back and focused I’m putting some semblance to my disorder. As regular blog visitors may have noticed there is a certain randomness to all of this that I want(have) to continue. I have this overwhelming desire to share those life and times but I also want it to both entertain and educate so for that reason I welcome the ‘new order’ ( No, not them). I’m putting my life in order….no get up, I don’t need help! I decided that writing a book, The Insights from the Engine Room was a natural progression but as soon as I’d finished it I had others I wanted to write so IFTER becomes the first in a series of Insight Collections. Then came the realization from others ( thank you Darrin, Brain and Paul) of how this could develop and in what different forms, a bit like me really!

IFTER (picture paints a thousand words, then why can’t I?) Well I can. Content is already up on a new site http://www.tincan.tv where I have my own page and you can hear both audio and video and more scribblings. They are serializing the book and each week there are audio excerpts, I’m there blabbering.  In addition to that the coming weeks will see the introduction of the Engine Room’s own You Tube channel and Lord only knows what will be uncovered there. And in amongst it all the unearthing of the Insights Collection website. I’m selling up, it’s where I’m going to live. I’ll be issuing laminates shortly.

There’s more, http://www.manchesteronline will allow me to revisit radio and more on that very shortly. In short, there will be no getting away from me now, unless you’re on another planet but I know all about that anyway!

I’m off for a walk on the beach now with Shakira and gather some more thoughts. Time for 5 mile an hour and not 100 mile a minute. I am so excited at the prospects, I think Shakira will be too.

I do, I really t doesn’t need to be feels like a rush to get i all out

Filed under: About The Engine Room, Book Tony Michaelides, insights, manchester radio online, tin can

Hometown Homemade

Stealthily creeping back in to the world of blog there a whole bunch of things I need to say, write about. There has been lots going on with lots more to come. I met a bunch of nice people over the last week and I’m sure that’ll act as all the inspiration I need. That and driving across bridges over The Gulf of Mexico certainly help. Why would anyone move in summer with this humidity? But then you’d have to be me to understand that. Fortunately you’re not.

I’ve just participated in a local Tampa Bay event, Homemade Music Symposium (www.artistsandwritersgroup.com) Hampton and David organized the whole thing via this for non profit organization and I’d personally like to thank them for all their efforts in staging a very cool, pleasant and informative event. Any community needs people like them to give all those grumbling out there somewhere where they come and complain about the local music scene or whatever grumblers grumble about on any given day. And who could forget Laura at BAAMO (www.baaamo.org) for all the hard work she puts in and all for the love of it. And a personal thanks for all her help, guidance and opinions on my book, presentations and life in general. Go girl!

The event was well supported by the local area music scene who turned up to play all around Ybor city…..and on porches in the less than pleasant Florida summers. You deserve an award, I was frying just watching!

Panels littered the weekend offering us valuable information on press, marketing and new media. Especially interesting for me as it’s something I’m rapidly trying to get my aging head around. I’m lucky to have the panel moderator Darrin guiding me in this area. I now have a twitter account he has set up for me. My excuse for not using it…..he neglected to give me the password. Twatter!

I’ll be back later with a little more , and then a little more. Followed shortly after by a lot more but for now it’s final editing stage for the book as we are putting together a digital version too. I feel like Iron Maiden with a bunch of remixes.

I’ll also let you know about twitter, just as soon as I do!

Filed under: About The Engine Room, About Tony Michaelides, Book Tony Michaelides, BAAMO, Homemade Music Symposium