Chris Marion

Last week we profiled Ashley Gorley in Songwriting 201 – Profile of a Hit Songwriter. In the long and short of it, Ashley has penned 14 No. 1 songs for various country artists, was the 2013 ASCAP and Billboard Writer of the Year respectively, and has won the prestigious CMA Triple Play (having 3 No. 1 songs in one year) Award twice. He is still going strong and is one of the hottest, most in demand writers in Nashville period. Last weeks article detailed some of the ways Ashley got to this status as a writer and he offered some sage advice to the aspiring writer. This week we visit Ashley one more time to take a look at some hit writing technique. Obviously, there is no tried and true generic formula for writing a hit. If this was the case, you could read a book, apply the logic and catapult yourself into a 7 figure income and summers in the Hamptons like me (if you count 7 figures with a loose decimal point placement and summers in the Hampton “Inn”). Yet, there are some great ideas to follow from Gorley in regards to his writing style and practices that will help you take your own craft to the next level. They ultimately illustrate what it means to be professional. 1. Always be a student of the craft – In last weeks interview excerpt, Ashley spoke of spending hours daily listening to songs in various conditions from demo to master. He was able to gauge good songs from bad songs as well as recognizing style variation and what artists are looking for. Even now as a hit writer with over 100 cuts to his credit, Ashley still listens to songs and styles in various genres and absorbs this into his own style and technique. 2. Immerse yourself in the craft – in any profession, practice and application improve your skill set and proficiency. Ashley writes daily several days a week. He often has two or three writing sessions per day. Most pro writers treat it like a job, putting in the hours both writing and performing their songs. Ashley even learned how to play guitar in order to enhance his ability to contribute accompaniment and arrangement ideas in a writing session. Put the time into developing your skills. 3. Collaboration and Critique – Ashley admits that he really prefers co-writing with other writers. One of his favorite co-writers is Chris Destefano with whom he’s co-written several number one songs. Writing solo is difficult because you really get no feedback on how lyrics and ideas are gelling. Someone else in the room can give you feedback on an idea, improve your idea or present a better idea. Co-write and you double the creativity. Another application of critique is participation in writers nights or performing your own material live. There is nothing like a live audience responding either positively or negatively to give you ideas on what will or won’t work. 4. Don’t set boundaries on your style or abilities – Ashley spoke of feeling humbled being in the room with hall of fame writers who have way more experience or knowledge than he does. But it pushes him to bring a better game and think outside his comfort zone. He also works hard at keeping a variety in how he writes. Sometimes he brings a melody, sometimes a lyric or just a line, and other times he might have a chord progression or even a track to work with. This way you don’t get stagnant and bring freshness to the writing environment you are working in at the time. As well, Ashley intentionally tries to insert variety into his style approach. Sometimes he and co-writers might try to write for a particular artist who is cutting. Other times they might try to write a song in a particular style or format. Focusing on one style exclusively can often lead to stagnation or being pigeon holed as just a “ditty” writer or a ballad writer. 5. Make your work environment and approach fun – this was one of the first things that Ashley mentioned as a priority in how he approaches writing. Sometimes it might be the physical environment that you need to manipulate for your comfort. If you can’t concentrate because you’re too hot or cold, can’t hear over the ambient noise or don’t have the right tools at your disposal (ie: instrument, paper or computer) your efficiency and your productivity will be effected. Pro-writers often have writing suites that are provided by their publishing companies (something we’ll discuss in the subsequent article). However, controlling your environment should be something intentional and not an after thought. 6. Documentation and record keeping – One thing that Ashley collects constantly like many hit writers is ideas. He is intentional in the way he keeps up with ideas, lyrics or melodic ideas. When he comes to a writing session, he brings these ideas to be able to present and work on with co writers. This is so easy to do now with smart phones and note keeping apps. They make entry easy and even allow you to collate by key words or date of creation. Most of these apps like Evernote even allow you to create audio recordings and attach pertinent annotation. Don’t lose or forget an idea that could be your next hit! As well, making a work recording or demo is imperative for keeping up with ideas even if it’s a rough with just a chorus. It’s not always easy to get something back if you don’t save it in some format. 7. Be self aware of your values and keep a balance – in the last article, one of the key pieces of advice to aspiring songwriters was find a balance in life. Ashley is a Christian yet often writes about activities that are perhaps on the fringe of his personal values. He works at hard at honoring his values yet still writing material that speaks to issues and the real life that country music usually laments. You might say that he tries to keep it real. This sincerity makes an Ashley Gorley song very relatable and accessible. It remains the reason why artists are drawn to his songs time after time. They hear the genuine humanity in his lyrics whether they are about a small town Saturday night, the pride that a parent feels for a child, or just the pain and pleasure of raw emotion. As always, it’s difficult to provide THE comprehensive list of writing technique that will be the formula for your career success. But these suggestions and the previous article’s profile illustrate a craftsman who is diligent. Ashley has a great work ethic. While he might prefer a fun work environment, he and writers on his level are very serious in their drive and creativity to produce quality. It was a great pleasure to spend some time speaking with Ashley. I am proud to see how far Ashley has come from those early post Belmont days in a little publishing studio. Yet, it’s encouraging to see how he has acclimated his success into a thoughtful lifestyle that is fulfilling and will no doubt sustain through a robust career. As always and certainly in the example of Ashley Gorley, write and live wisely my friends. Chris Marion is an American musician best known as a member of Little River Band and for his contribution to the gospel and country music industries. Although graduating college with a B.A. in Psychology, he is a classically trained pianist and has worked in the music industry professionally for over 35 years. As a resident of Nashville, he is involved in the recording industry working in the genres of Gospel, Country and Rock. Since 2004, he has toured globally with the classic rock act Little River Band as a keyboardist and vocalist. For more useless trivia and minutiae concerning Chris or to contact him directly, feel free to visit his personal website www.chrismarionmusic.com.

In our first installment of this series, Songwriting 101, we explored the demographics and logistics of songwriting. I used a song entitled “I Write The Songs” as a demonstration of the royalties and revenues that can be generated by a hit tune. Before we move onto 201, I have some clean up and crow to eat. As a storyteller, I often find that my excitement in finding a story distracts me from accurately telling it. Specifically, when I found the back story on “I Write The Songs” written by Bruce Johnston, a long time member of the Beach Boys, it mentioned in one line his disclaimer that the song was not written about his band mate Brian Wilson. Sadly, that one line was all it took for me to hastily craft the back story exchanging Bruce’s first name with Brian’s. It was a junior varsity editing error that went unnoticed at the time of publication on Friday. Imagine my surprise and then my complete embarrassment when THE Bruce Johnston tracked me down by phone on Sunday to point out the incorrect name. He was actually very generous and despite the butchering of his name complimented the remainder of the article's content. He even graciously agreed to an actual interview. We will close out this series with an interview of this hall of fame rocker who does indeed write the songs. Today we will profile another hit songwriter by the name of Ashley Gorley. While you might not recognize his name, if you listen to country radio you will recognize his songs that play on a typically hour by hour basis. In any given week, he will likely be a writer on 3 or 4 songs in the Billboard Country Top 10. His bio is brimming with accomplishment: Two time recipient of the CMA “Triple Play” award for having three No. 1 songs in one year, 15 No. 1 songs to date (possibly more – this bio is a couple of months old…), Billboard’s No. 1 Country songwriter of 2013, 2013 ASCAP songwriter of the year, and multiple Grammy and CMA nominations. All totaled, he has had over 100 cuts by over 50 different recording artists including Carrie Underwood, Rascal Flatts, Luke Bryan and Brad Paisley. I first met Ashley when he was a new graduate from Belmont University and began writing for a publishing company where I worked and wrote. I remember this fresh faced kid from Kentucky who would vacillate from working on a country song one day with a cowboy from Texas to composing hip hop beats with college friends the next. This depth and versatility serves Ashley well today as he navigates the various music styles that make up modern country. Ashley started early preparation for his profession like so many have with a passion for creative writing. “I loved creative writing; it was a life changer for me in middle school. I had a great teacher who sparked an interest in me for words, writing short stories and poems even then.” Although there was no specific songwriting degree program offered at Belmont University, Ashley majored in music business with an emphasis in publishing. He took advantage of the extensive internship opportunities in the Nashville music culture very quickly. He points out that this is really where he learned the "craft" aspect of songwriting as he worked in the infamous publishing company tape room making pitch tapes and cataloging. “While interning at a publishing company, I was able to watch songs go from work tape to demo to coming back and being pitched, held (a term used for when an artist chooses a song as a possible candidate for recording and “holds” it to prevent another artist from recording it until the holding artist either records or releases), cut or released. I developed a gauge for a great song as I had to listen while making copies from beginning to end. I could see the science aspect of how hits are crafted both from a writing standpoint to how they are pitched to artists.” Gorley even went back to Belmont to give back to aspiring students teaching as an adjunct professor in the area of music business and publishing. He carried that desire to mentor and nurture other songwriters a step further as he started his own publishing company. He currently has three writers signed with plans to add more to the roster. It’s refreshing to hear a certified hit writer revel in the success of his writers when they beat him out for a cut or see the single success happen for them. “I get to know my writers on a very personal life basis and coach them through the process of writing or celebrating their successes. I want to grow that family of writers and rear of a different style of publishing company that’s even tighter knit than a corporate scenario.” In the current country music scene, there is some sharp criticism of one particular style of song that is loosely called “bro-down” or “hick hop”. It’s characterized by the blending of urban beats with country instrumentation and features lyrics about cruising, drinking, trucks or picking up girls in daisy dukes and boots. It’s ironic that much of the criticism comes from artists who have nothing on the radio, songwriters who can’t write hick hop and can’t get cuts or music critics whose benchmark for country music died with Hank Williams. What kind of quasi-investigative reporter would I be if I didn’t query Ashley about this criticism since he has written several hit songs that get bunched into this category? “I write a lot of different songs with different writers and artists. But many of the songs that we have written in the past few years are intentionally not meant to be deep. They’re about having fun. Music is a diversion for people just like movies. You don’t want every movie to be an Oscar winning tear-jerker. Sometimes you want to see a mindless action movie and relax. Many of the music fans that are listening to these songs are living the life that we describe lyrically – they’re driving around after work, stopping at a bar to unwind with friends, dancing and having a beer. They want a musical accompaniment for having fun and living life.” It’s significant to point out that Gorley has a host of other songs that read like Oscar winning dramas forcing you wipe away a tear whether you have a heart or not. A good writer is able to float freely between styles and cater to the demographic or the artist in mind. Interestingly, when asked about his favorite writer or greatest influence, he’s hard pressed to name just one. He leans more toward songs that capture his imagination like a recent hit by Miranda Lambert, “The House That Built Me” (writers: Tom Douglas and Allen Shamblin) or “I Drive Your Truck” by Lee Brice (writers: Jessi Alexander, Connie Harrington and Jimmy Yeary). “Songs like these are awesome and I feel like I would never have thought of them. Then I hear songs by pop guys like Max Martin (writer of hit after hit from ‘N Sync, Britney Spears and Backstreet Boys) that pay so much attention to melodic flow. I try to weave all that together to craft my own songs.” Gorley’s success has certainly put him into co-writing rooms with numerous hall of fame writers and artists. He claims that it’s a humbling experience to know these writing masters have so much of a stronger composition and instrumental background (Gorley learned how to play enough guitar to be able to bring that to writing sessions). But, these situations challenge him to bring his “A game” and be a better writer. As to the best pieces of advice to the aspiring songwriter, Ashley offers this: 1. There is no Junior Varsity Songwriting league. You are in direct competition with every other songwriter in the world. So try to raise that bar and bring your best. 2. Try to write somebody’s favorite song whether it’s your mom, family, girlfriend or your pals back home. Keep that distinction in mind when you are writing a song. 3. Learn the difference between a good song and a great song. You have to write a song that makes an artist feel like they absolutely have no choice but to record it. 4. Life is more than writing songs. Keep a balance in your life. This last bit of advice is perhaps one of Ashley’s greatest personal priorities. As a matter of fact, as I interviewed him, he was driving out of town for an outing with one of his children. He says the demands are great and you’re always trying to keep songs out there. “My goal is to achieve balance and not make this career my life. I don’t want to be remembered as just the guy who writes catchy country songs; there’s a lot more to it.” While Ashley does indeed craft a catchy country song, it’s inspiring to see a young man who has accomplished so much in a relatively short period of time still marvel humbly at the process and the privilege. He might be one of the more balanced creative types that I’ve come across in this journey. In the next installment of this songwriting series, we take a look at the process and technique that Ashley applies to his successful craft. Until then, write wisely my friends! Balance… For examples of some of Ashley's hit catalog (all three week No. 1's): Chris Marion is an American musician best known as a member of Little River Band and for his contribution to the gospel and country music industries. Although graduating college with a B.A. in Psychology, he is a classically trained pianist and has worked in the music industry professionally for over 35 years. As a resident of Nashville, he is involved in the recording industry working in the genres of Gospel, Country and Rock. Since 2004, he has toured globally with the classic rock act Little River Band as a keyboardist and vocalist. For more useless trivia and minutiae concerning Chris or to contact him directly, feel free to visit his personal website www.chrismarionmusic.com.

Do you write “the songs the make the young girls cry” as Barry Manilow proclaimed in his 1976 Grammy winning #1 single “I Write The Songs”? Ironically, Barry’s song was actually written by Bruce Johnston of the Beach Boys. But, the song content really speaks of the power of a song in its relationship to the essence of love and life. While songs can certainly be identified and immortalized by the artists that record them, the ultimate beneficiary in the success of a recorded song is the songwriter. In the next series of articles about the anatomy of songwriting, we’ll explore the demographics of songwriting as a career, we’ll profile some hit songwriters biographically and then examine their technique and writing sensibilities. Songwriters are ultimately compensated through royalties - a sum of money that is paid to the creator of a work for each public performance or instance of that work. There are basically four different types of royalties that a songwriter can be paid: 1. Mechanical royalties or licenses: The songwriter is paid a mechanical royalty for each time a song is mechanically reproduced or downloaded in some type of online media at a rate of 9.1 cents for a three minute song (1.75 cents per minute of playing time with additional 1.75 cent increments per additional minute). These royalties are paid at the point of duplication (regardless of how many units actually sell) or periodically from download. 2. Performance Royalties: Each time a song is played publicly either on radio or television, the songwriter receives a royalty of around 8 cents varying slightly from a large market to a small less populated market. The number of airplays are calculated by reporting stations and tracked for royalty disbursement by performing rights organizations like ASCAP, BMI and SESAC. These royalties are usually distributed on a quarterly basis either directly to the affiliated writer or publishing company. 3. Synchronization Royalties - These royalties are generated from the use of a song in a movie, television or commercial. A writer could earn up to $300,000 dollars if the song is used in a film or commercial paid upon release. 4. Print Royalties – These royalties are paid if your song is notated and released either as a single piece of music or in a collection. With the demise of the print industry, this type of royalty is a bit more obscure. However, back in the day, especially in religious music, it represented a substantial component for compensation from songwriting. The standard royalty rate for print release is 12.5% of the retail price for a solo piece of music. Obviously, collections like a hymnal or songbook would disburse royalties divided amongst each songwriter or published song. Yet, if you consider the fact that the classic Baptist Hymnal has sold tens of millions of copies, the cumulative incremental royalty could be potentially substantial. Since we started this article with a tongue in cheek mockery of Barry Manilow, let’s just use his “I Write The Songs” as an example of what a hit song can generate in royalties. I guess the joke is really on us scoffers when you look at the hard numbers for Barry’s song. First, let’s consider the mechanical royalties generated: - Not only did “Trying to Get The Feeling” (the record that contained the single “I Write The Songs”) sell multiplatinum, but several of the subsequent greatest hits compilations also sold multiplatinum. All totaled, there were 18 million units sold that contained the song. 18 million times 9.1 cents comes out to a whopping $1,638,000 dollars. Not bad mailbox money… Then let’s calculate the airplay royalties collected: - According to estimates, “I Write The Songs” is in the 3 “million air” category. 3 million times 8 cents adds another $240,000 to Bruce Johnston’s bank account. I would suspect that Bruce probably made more income off of Barry’s recorded version of his song over a three-year period than he made as a member of the Beach Boys. Most artists will make more income off of songs they’ve written and recorded rather than their percentage of mechanical sales as an artist. With classic rock radio playing classic hits on a recurrent basis, many singles continue to generate considerable royalties on a yearly basis. In an interview with Don McLean, writer of “American Pie”, he reports that after 40 years, the song still generates in excess of $300,000 per year in royalties. Of course, not every song can be a “Happy Birthday”. Since 1893 when a couple of kindergarten teachers wrote that little ditty, it has generated over $50 million dollars and still brings in a cool $2 million per year. It costs $25,000 dollars just to use the song in a movie or television show. Obviously, not every song recorded is going to be a gigantic hit. In 2010, there were about 75,000 documented records registered and copyrighted. With an average 12 songs per recording, a rough estimate would be that around 900,000 songs were recorded on nationally released projects. For perspective, there were only 17 different songs that reached number one on Billboard’s pop charts. Every hit songwriter has to start with his or her first song. They all bring their own story to their tradecraft as well as varied examples of preparation or training. In the next installment of Songwriting 101, we’ll examine the profiles and backgrounds of several successful songwriters. While they share common success and have written a long list of hit songs over several decades, they each have different backgrounds and techniques that manifest in their respective catalogs. Until our next installment, write wisely my friends. EDITORIAL UPDATE: Two days after this article published on Friday, June 13th, I received a call from the aforementioned writer, Bruce Johnston of the Beach Boys. It seems that I had inadvertently credited him as a writer by the name of Brian Johnston. In the fast and furious effort to get an article completed, I was distracted by the byline that he had not written the song about bandmate Brian Wilson. Stupid oversight on my part. However, it was rather cool that Bruce took the time to reach out to me after reading the article and had kind words about the overall content. The Beach Boys had just played Wendover, NV where LRB will be playing in a few weeks. Bruce is a nice fellow. He also assured me that although the mailbox money for "I Write the Songs" was great, touring with the Beach Boys has it's compensatory benefits! Chris Marion is an American musician best known as a member of Little River Band and for his contribution to the gospel and country music industries. Although graduating college with a B.A. in Psychology, he is a classically trained pianist and has worked in the music industry professionally for over 35 years. As a resident of Nashville, he is involved in the recording industry working in the genres of Gospel, Country and Rock. Since 2004, he has toured globally with the classic rock act Little River Band as a keyboardist and vocalist. For more useless trivia and minutiae concerning Chris or to contact him directly, feel free to visit his personal website www.chrismarionmusic.com.

Now there’s a provocative title, eh? Coming of age in the 70’s presented me with two distinct schools of thought on this issue, pun intended. My parents were blue collar factory workers. They were from an era in which a handful of people received post high school training and going to college meant something. It was associated with a secure future and the promise of success. My parents wanted more for me than they had in terms of education so from earliest memories, I was conditioned to believe college had to be in my future. The other school of thought centered in the realization very early in high school that playing an instrument and being able to perform with it could get several things that a teenage boy holds in high regard (like girls and quick money). I was a hustler playing several nights a week for anywhere from $50 to $100 a night. Add that to a paper route and the occasional quartet gig on Sundays and there were times when I was pulling down more cash than my 20-years-of-plant-working Dad was. I even had a run in with the IRS one of those teen years because a club had been cutting 1099’s for my band on the cash they paid nightly. Suffice it to say, I felt like I had what it took to have a career in music without a college degree. I suspect that I am not the first and certainly won’t be the last. What is different today than 1979 and how feasible is it to plan a career in music that does or doesn’t include some formal training in your craft? That’s what we’ll explore in this article and then finish with some links to great resources to help you make a determination for yourself, whether you are a graduating high school student or a middle aged guy who wants to jump in for real in your life. For any big life decision, it’s pretty common advice to compile a list of Pros and a list of Cons for that particular decision. If the Pros outweigh the Cons, then conventional wisdom says it’s advisable to move ahead with the decision. It’s apropos therefore to present this collection of variables in the same manner with some insight added from a guy who not only graduated from an accredited university but also from the school of hard knocks. Here goes nothing… or maybe something. PROS OF FORMAL EDUCATION 1. Training and enhancement of your impassioned skill set - There is nothing that is any more helpful to advancing in your career than precision training in your craft or giftedness, whether you want to be a guitarist or someone who works on guitars. If music is your game, then learning all aspects of music from technique to history to theory will only make your skill set more marketable. Some of my ear training and theory classes have ended up putting food on my table when just my playing skills would not have. I was able to translate those skills into notation, arrangement, orchestration and even training and teaching the skills to other aspiring students. Look at it upgrading the quality and functionality of your tool set. 2. Expansion of your skill set to other music related opportunities - When I attended college as a music major, there was no music business or recording track. Now there are a multitude of options in training that are as diverse as the ways you can make a living in the music business. As I perused various majors listed in the course offerings of many music business schools, I was amazed to see training offered in aspects of the business where people are making great money in support functions like publishing, management, staging, recording arts, songwriting, and even marketing/accounting. 3. Vocational counseling and direction - One phenomenal advantage of attending a college or technical school is having trained faculty that usually represent many years of experience in the business areas you’re interested in. It’s not uncommon to go into school with one plan and switch one or more times when you find your niche. Professors can help you recognize your strengths or your weaknesses and direct accordingly. Now there are multiple options and course tracks that can give you mobility within your instruction. 4. Networking and Relationship Building - Although I had worked in bands since my early teens, the experience I had in college helped me to develop leadership skills, inter-relational skills and communication skills that enhance my marketability in my business affairs even today. Most importantly, I became friends with other like-minded musicians and artists that enhanced my skills and taught me things. They also provided opportunities to plug into their musical activities and endeavors. As their careers prospered, I was afforded opportunities to prosper mine. I can’t tell you how many times that a relationship or friendship has given me the opportunity to advance my brand – just by association. 5. Job and Career Placement - Most music business schools will have calculated their placement rates or in other words how many of their graduates they were able to help place into careers. Many schools feature internships in field specific corporations and businesses. It’s like getting on the job training before you have to get on the job. I know many students who interned in their desired profession only to end up being hired by the company. This represents even one more networking opportunity that can definitely translate into work. 6. Developing other life skills - A liberal arts education specifically comes with a broad swath of exposure to the big world we live in. General educational cores include everything from English to Math to Social Sciences. While you may not use Algebra to specifically play Eddie Van Halen licks, being able to apply the self discipline, study habits and work ethic to learning those licks is ironically very similar to the demands that higher education place on a student. 7. Having an opportunity to grow up just a little more - While this would make the typical teenager angry to hear, there is still a lot of growing up left from 18 to 21 in those typical college years. Being able to do this in a moderately protected environment is a great luxury. If nothing else, it can represent an opportunity to get a little closer to finding yourself. Now, if you’re a 30 year old guy living with your parents and you are going to Full Sail to learn how to be an engineer, you better focus on learning your trade and hope to God you’re already grown up and making a wise investment with the money you’re going to invest. CONS FOR FORMAL EDUCATION 1. Cost and accumulated debt - As I was looking through many of the music school and conservatory demographics, tuition rates for the year ranged from around $10K to as much as $60K per year. Depending on what kind of financial aid you qualify for, $240,000 dollars of student loan debt is a pretty big obstacle to making a reasonable living upon graduation. Some entry-level music business jobs are notoriously low in salary range. 2. No guarantee of job placement - The guy who served me coffee this morning at Starbucks is a recent music business school graduate. He was a percussion major at a prestigious conservatory. He can play the heck out of a drum kit with expert paradiddles. Yet, to make ends meet, he is forced to develop some expertise in the area of the caramel macchiato. (It was an excellent blend but I’m not sure his heart is in it…) 3. Limited vocational options at a school - I can’t stress enough how important it is to look thoroughly at several specific institutions as you make a decision. The broader the cirriculum base the better because it gives you options as you dig in. For instance, if you go to a specified school for audio engineering, they’re not going to train you in music publishing or business accounting. Having some things to change to if you see the need is an asset. 4. Unnecessary training for your skill - If you are as I described before a middle-aged person who is changing careers mid stream, going to a full scale liberal arts college for specific training might not be for you. Taking a speech class if you want to learn how to record and mix a record is a waste of your time and resources, especially if you have a mortgage, family and life. A fast track technical school that deals your specific vocation might be a better resource for your mid stream change. 5. Entry level with or without the training - Our front of house engineer also manages a production company. He muses about the fact that some of his audio engineer graduate employees come in at the same level as high school drop outs and are often harder to train than the drop outs. In-school training is certainly valuable but you will start at the bottom regardless and you’ll be doing a lot more heavy lifting than pushing faders. It might not be necessary for you to pay $100K to acquire a skill if you can learn the same thing on the job. 6. Walking away from or neglecting existing music opportunities - There are a lot of world-class musicians as well as heavy hitter executives in all aspects of the business who never even graduated from high school. As a matter of fact, they would have probably missed the opportunities that put them in the right place at the right time for success had they went away to school. There is no tried or true method to achieving business success, no matter what people might say or even write in articles like this. That’s basically true because everyone’s particular story is unique. Regardless of where you fall in this list of Pros and Cons, the most overwhelmingly important factor in you being successful in any life endeavor is the undying belief in yourself. All of my high school time was spent planning on college. I drank the Kool Aid, was a great student and ending up getting a full ride to go to technical school to be a civil engineer. Over the summer before I was to be spirited away to a lifetime of pocket protectors and khakis, you guessed it – I met a girl. Over many evenings of life and summer affection, she convinced me that my passion for music was worth the investment and sacrifice. The decision to follow this dream and change colleges and majors was not well accepted by my family, especially when we learned that it was too late to apply for scholarships related to my course change. I was willing to dream big and take a chance. Even though I ended up changing majors and graduating with a degree in Psychology, the musical training in those first couple of years and the relationships and experience I garnered were priceless (not to mention that dealing with crazy people is just as common in music as it is in psychology). Not too long after graduation I took another chance and moved to Nashville with those big dreams. For the last 25 years, I’ve made a good living with the skill set that college enhanced and nurtured. It was precisely instrumental in directing me to where I am today. Billboard Magazine has compiled an awesome list of some of the best music business schools and programs across the United States in what they call Schools of Rock. This list contains individual school listings, tuition scales, courses of interest and even synopses of course and school highlights. This is a tremendous resource if you are considering the investment and commitment. I recommend that you visit the respective websites and consider what each school offers to see if it lines up with your desired direction. I also recommend that you exploit any opportunity to speak to other professionals in your industry or vocation of choice. Pick their brains and see how they pull it off. The voice of experience can be a bright light shining into the dark milieu of your indecision or lack of definition. Educate wisely, my friends! Chris Marion is an American musician best known as a member of Little River Band and for his contribution to the gospel and country music industries. Although graduating college with a B.A. in Psychology, he is a classically trained pianist and has worked in the music industry professionally for over 35 years. As a resident of Nashville, he is involved in the recording industry working in the genres of Gospel, Country and Rock. Since 2004, he has toured globally with the classic rock act Little River Band as a keyboardist and vocalist. For more useless trivia and minutiae concerning Chris or to contact him directly, feel free to visit his personal website www.chrismarionmusic.com.

Let me start this review with a disclaimer and then a qualification. I am not a guitar player. But, in the last 35 years of my professional experience I have traveled the world playing with some of the best guitar players and I’ve literally recorded 1000s of songs listening to world-class guitar tone. In my experience with these phenomenal players, there are two things that are extremely important to guitarists, especially road warriors: tone and mobility. The Shure GLXD16 Wireless Guitar System addresses both of these issues with preeminent quality. Let’s dig in! While Ken Shaffer, an American inventor and rock publicist might have invented the first wireless guitar unit in the mid '70s, no one can argue the fact that Shure has become a heavy hitter in the wireless world of microphones and guitars. They continue a fine tradition in product quality with the GLXD16 System. My band put the unit through its paces in a variety of venues and circumstances over a two-week period from little clubs with lots of impediments to big 2000 plus seat halls. The GLXD16 System performed consistently regardless of the location. In one of the small clubs, the cross talk from other wireless units was so bad that our in ear monitor units were picking up Mexican radio mixed with the local crew radio units. The Shure unit transmitted clean signal and adapted to frequency interference issues with ease. INCLUDED COMPONENTS 1-GLXD6 - Guitar Pedal Receiver with Integrated Tuner 1-GLXD1 transmitter pack 1-Premium 1/4"-to-TA4F guitar cable with locking thread connects the bodypack transmitter to a guitar or bass Out of the box, the GLXD16 System was a breeze to set up, plug and play through. Upon the first powering up, the receiver and transmitter link, forming an audio channel that never has to be linked again. FEATURES 1. Adjustable Audio Gain - The transmitter pack has adjustable output gain that gave us plenty of headroom potential without any audible distortion even at higher settings. Transmitter gain has a range of -20 dB to +40 dB in 1 dB increments. 2. Built in Digital Tuner – A footswitch engages the tuner. You can choose between needle or strobe mode. The display features a large bright red LED that is easily seen on a dark stage. The tuner can be detuned up to 5 steps sharp or 6 steps flat from standard tuning 3. Operates in the 2.4 GHz spectrum – this ISM band is global so the unit can be used anywhere in the world license free. The GLXD1 unit transmits on the best three frequencies available across the 2.4 GHz band. It continuously scans to avoid troublesome frequencies, instantly avoiding interference and therefore an audio interruption. We witnessed this first hand when the slag in one particular club was really messing with some of our other wireless units. Kudos to Shure for this continuous scanning feature. 4. Solid Metal Construction – The frames of both units are stout and will travel well under the rigorous demands of the road. 5. Rechargeable Lithium-ion battery packs – this is a great feature that will save you a great deal of money over the life of the unit. An included micro USB charger will give you multiple options for recharging the pack including the included AC cable or even plugging the unit into any USB port. A 3 hour charging session from an AC power source will reportedly give you 16 hours of continuous run time. However, if you have to play guitar for more than 16 straight hours, you’ll have more important worries than battery failure. 6. AC Compatibility - Receiver is compatible with any standard 9 Volt DC positive or negative tip power supply as long as it meets the 250mA minimum amperage standard. The stock AC chain has the transformer in the middle of the run. On one end of the chain is a regular single phase plug with about 6 feet of wire and on the other end of the chain is the 9 volt end of the chain with another 6 feet of wire. If you are using the unit in a stand alone capacity, this will give you a bit more flexibility for powering the unit. However, if you are planning on bolting the receiver into a pedal board set up, you might be best served to purchase a second wall wart adaptor that meets specs and avoid taking up real estate on your board with the midline transformer and wiring. Speaking of pedal board insertion, Shure recommends that you place the GLXD6 receiver at the beginning of your signal chain. EVALUATION Let’s evaluate the GLXD16 System using those two important variables to the guitarist: tone and mobility. I initially had planned to include audio in this review to compare the guitar tone running through the Shure unit to the guitar tone running directly to the amp. Shure will be pleased that I report there was virtually no distinguishable difference in the tones. This was confirmed by not only the guitarist using the GLX but by our front of house engineer. He’s not one to mince words and is just as invested in receiving the best audio possible to mix a show with. Not only was the tone quality almost identical, this tone quality showed no variance or deterioration within the normal range of the unit. The GLXD16 detects the most important audio in the signal and prioritizes this, filtering possible WIFI or Bluetooth bursts. It is still operating in this ISM bandwidth and could be potentially prone to interference. Shure recommends that you avoid placement of the receiver near non-Shure 2.4 GHz units as well as WIFI or Bluetooth devices. Humorously, they recommend this not because these devices will interfere with GLXD16 operation but predicts that the awesome power of the GLX System will interfere with the other products. Apparently, the GLXD16 is the Genghis Khan of 2.4 GHz and takes no prisoners. It’s good to be king. From the mobility perspective, the GLXD16 System performed very closely to manufacturers promises. Shure recommends that you not exceed a range 200 feet (60 meters). We played The Cannery, a great casino in North Las Vegas that features an indoor/outdoor room. The stage manager indicated that the edge of the bleachers outside was just at the mark of 200 feet. Our guitarist walked all the way to the top of the bleachers, just outside of 225 feet from the receiver and the unit continued to transmit successfully. Keep in mind that it is recommended that you keep an open line of site from the transmitter to the receiver. This is fairly standard in wireless devices. The Cannery room was unique because of the fact that the last 125 feet was outside while the receiver remained on the stage inside. The only way we could get the unit to fail was to walk behind the side wall of the outside of the building and then it just stopped transmitting audio. This is still optimum rather than transmitting white noise or clipped distorted audio. If your guitarist needs to go into another building, he’s probably not worrying about finishing the lead anyway. Shure also warns that high ceilings can sometimes interfere with wireless transmission. We played a performing arts center in NJ that had very high ceilings and we sent the guitar tech up to the “nose bleeds” in the back with the guitar. Although he was winded and fatigued from the steps, the GLXD16 System chugged on without a hitch or interruption. Honestly, the typical guitarist who ventures off the stage into the crowd will not get past the hot chicks in the VIP section. CONCLUSION With a MSRP of $561 (typical street price of $450), you cannot go wrong with the GLXD16 Wireless Guitar System. It met or exceeded manufacturers predictions in every aspect of performance. It is very easy to use right out of the box but features some sophisticated programmable features for a user that wants to dig in. Wireless technology has come a long way from those early days of the Shaffer-Vega wireless system. That first unit also retailed for over $4000 and would transmit thin audio from a distance comparable to the average length guitar cable. But, it gave guitarists that extra little dash of freedom and mobility. The GLXD16 is light years ahead of those early days of wireless and will be a functional addition to your rig. As a matter of fact, it received the ultimate endorsement from our guitarist – he wants to buy the unit for himself! Link to Shure website for more GLXD16 information Link to Musician's Friend for GLXD16 pricing Chris Marion is an American musician best known as a member of Little River Band and for his contribution to the gospel and country music industries. Although graduating college with a B.A. in Psychology, he is a classically trained pianist and has worked in the music industry professionally for over 35 years. As a resident of Nashville, he is involved in the recording industry working in the genres of Gospel, Country and Rock. Since 2004, he has toured globally with the classic rock act Little River Band as a keyboardist and vocalist. For more useless trivia and minutiae concerning Chris or to contact him directly, feel free to visit his personal website www.chrismarionmusic.com.

In Part 1 of this series, "Let's Make A Deal", we explored the ins and the outs of the proverbial record deal. I gave you more information than you could ever want but certainly need in considering whether a record deal is for you. But, let me sum up your chances with these demographic statistics. Current world population: 7 billion. Number of artists signed to recording contracts across all major labels worldwide: about 4000. This means that you have about a 1 in 1.7 million chance of getting a record deal. Now that’s still better odds than winning a lottery (currently running about 1 in 175 million). You do have a better chance of being struck by lightning than getting a record deal (1 in 700,000 in the US). Depressed yet? Take heart, weekend warring daydream believers! If you followed Part 2 of this series: "Making Your Own Record" then I offer congratulations! If you have produced and duplicated a CD, you are now technically an Indie Label executive and are probably already functioning as a sleezy weasel (no offense to honest hard working weasels). According to the RIAA, music industry revenue in 2013 stayed flat at $ 7 billion dollars. The good news to Indie weasels like you is that the independent label portion of that big pie was an astounding 32.6%. That’s better than the big guys are doing like Universal (23.9%), Sony (22.5%), and WMG (14.8%). Now I know that maybe you’re feeling a little non-creative with all these big numbers and percentages flying freely. Now that you are a label suit, you must be able to sling them effectively to impress girls at the bar and reassure your grandmother who fronted the money for your first indie CD. Nothing gives you swagger with the chicks and protects granny from foreclosure any more than putting dollars in your pocket from sales. In this article, we will investigate some solid outlets to generate CD and digital sales to keep Weekend Warrior Records in the black. Now that you have 1000 CD’s scattered across multiple boxes in a corner of the Weekend Warrior Records warehouse (AKA the living room of your apartment), what’s next? The first thing a label weasel has to do is calculate how many he has to sell to break even. Let’s say that you were able to record and duplicate your first record for $5000. To recoup your expenses at a per CD cost of $10 (by the way – with a retail sales price of $16.95, this is about what a major label makes per unit after distribution and duplication), you have to sell 500 units. Wow, this record mogul thing doesn’t look as lucrative now. Still, that means you can potentially make another $5000 of clear profit. At a profit margin of $5 dollars per CD, selling more than 1 CD per hour is still better than a minimum wage job at McDonald’s. Look who’s talking success now, big label guy! PHYSICAL SALES There’s really no better marketing or sales technique than selling hand to hand at gigs. Always have a merchandise table at your gigs with the best looking girlfriend in the band hawking your CD. If fans like your music and they haven’t spent all their money on admission and beverages, you have a good chance of sending music home. Here are some finer points of raising the potential for physical sales: - Have an eye catching attractive display. Get a banner and buy a couple of floodlights to illuminate it. Create a grid or something to get demos or banners up above the hot girlfriend’s head so people can see it. They have to come to the table to make a purchase. - Hawk your CD from the stage. Don’t wear it out but remind people that you have product for sale, specifically this music. - Always plan on going to merch table after the show to greet fans, sign autographs and personalize the experience. The hotties will wait for you and you might be able to afford to buy a round from the sales. - Have a bank for the seller. You need to have a bank with various denominations of bills to complete sales. There’s nothing worse than missing a sale because hot girlfriend can’t make change (or even worse, can’t count). Make it easy on customers (and hot girlfriend). - Get yourself a Square Up account for credit card sales. I coordinate merchandise sales for my band. On any given night, our sales increase by 50 to 75 percent if I offer the option of using a credit or debit card. Square Up is a service that allows you to use your iPhone or Android phone as a card reader to process credit transactions. They send you a free card reader that plugs into the headphone jack of your phone. If you have 3G or 4G service, you have a ready to go CC terminal in your pocket. They charge 2.75 percent per swipe with no long term contract or fee and the funds are transferred into your designated Weekend Warrior Records bank account within a couple of business days. Swipe and cha-ching – easy. - Always keep a few CD’s with you. Of course, there’s nothing more annoying than some dude always trying to sell you his latest CD. But, you can’t sell them if you don’t have them with you. Be sensitive, be thoughtful, but be a good self-promoter. If nothing else, go to your local screen printer and get a short run of baby doll t-shirts displaying your artwork for all the girlfriends to wear. Nothing is beneath you now that you are a label weasel… DIGITAL SALES In 2013, digital sales or in other words products sold over the web either by physical product fulfillment or mp3 sales represented around 32 percent of total music sales globally. The internet is an outstanding potential marketplace for the independent artist. With the right marketing and promotion, you have an unlimited supply of potential customers and you are on the same playing field as Jay-Z or Justin Bieber. Let’s look at some of the mechanisms for digital sales. Artist Website – With the advent of services like Go Daddy or Web.com, building your own personal website has never been easier or more economical. It will always be the best and most personalized portal to promote yourself and market what you do. Most of these services have merchant and commerce portals to sell products from your website and have SEO (search engine optimization) features that will generate traffic to your site from web crawlers like Google or Bing. If you don’t want to have to package and fulfill orders for your products, there are even fulfillment services like Merchmo that you deliver a few of your CD’s to and they handle all the commercial transaction, collection and shipping for a percentage. Bottom Line: don’t miss this obvious outlet for promotion and sales. Pick the smartest guy in the band (usually the keyboard player) and designate him the webmaster for capturing your share of the market place. Aggregators – Essentially, an aggregator is a company or service that takes your product and disseminates it across the large variety of digital retail points. CD Baby is probably one of the most well known of these aggregation services. You create an account, send a few copies of your CD to them and they go to work for you. Not only do they sell your CD’s on their well- trafficked web site, but they also distribute your product digitally to services like iTunes and Amazon. By having a physical web address associated with your CD (and a bar code), you are then able to get your tunes streamed through service like Pandora or Spotify. Looking at digital distribution revenue by retail channel, it breaks down as iTunes with 77.4%, Amazon with 10.5% and CD Baby site sales at 4.5%. That represents over 90 percent of the market that you are guaranteed to have a shot at by using their aggregation. However, keep in mind that all of the aggregator services come at a price. They take a percentage of your sales. However, with commissions paid of over $50 million dollars last year, aggregation services like CD Baby are obviously doing something right. Your portion of that pie might be sweeter if you share the risk. Do It Yourself – So you’re a lone wolf label weasel? You can do it! But, let me add a caveat to this sage advice, my mogul friend. It’s a dog eat weasel business. Most label suits I’ve known have a hard time keeping a job (you’re king when your artists succeed, pauper when they fail), become alcoholics (business gets done over happy hours and it’s always five o’clock somewhere), and can’t keep a girlfriend (Maserati payments decimate your potential for Tiffany blue bagged gifts). By the way, a Maserati makes a poor carrier for gear. You can’t even fit a mic stand in the trunk. But here are some pointers if you are a one wolf pack. 1. Get a UPC barcode for your new CD - Before you can sell "Greatest Hits And Near Misses" on iTunes, Amazon or in physical retail points, you have to place an imprinted UPC (Universal Product Code) code usually on the back of your j-card packet. There are multiple ways to obtain this discrete code and all of them cost some of your mogul money. Often if you work with your CD duplicator ahead of time, they can obtain the UPC and either include it in artwork they produce or get a jpeg file for you to supply to your layout artist. You can find a slew of vendors for UPC codes online. Typically, you’re going to pay about $10 per code. Keep in mind that some digital retailers like iTunes require a separate UPC for the digital version of your project from the physical CD version. 2. Get an ISRC (International Standard Recording Code) for each of your tracks. Grab your head that is trying to spin around and settle down. iTunes and most digital distributors require each track to be assigned this code that uniquely identifies that specific track for the purpose of tracking and royalty calculation. You can apply for codes at the ISRC website (http://www.usisrc.org) for a fee of $80 that will cover 100,000 code assignments per year. There are also ISRC management firms that will coordinate all of this craziness for an additional fee. You did want to go it alone… 3. Get a Tax ID. Did you think that Uncle Sam was going to allow you to be a successful US label weasel without taking his cut? If you are going to be receiving payments to Weekend Warrior Records, I recommend that you get a discrete tax ID for your new endeavor versus using your own Social Security number. There might be a little more paperwork come tax filing season but it makes keeping up WWR revenue easier. Go to www.irs.gov, apply and you can get your ID within minutes. 4. Digital Vendors - now that you have paper, start hitting the big vendors like iTunes and Amazon first. You’ll need to have product on these sites before you can approach streaming vendors like Pandora or Spotify. Each of these vendor sites have easy applications and very detailed submission procedures. If you’ve completed tips 1-3, you’ll be submitted in no time. 5. Local Small Vendors – many local retail shops that sell CD’s will allow local artists to sell product on a commission basis, especially if you have a commercial looking, shrink wrapped product with a UPC code. Keep in mind that these locations are going to want stock of at least 10 CD’s and will want a commitment for several months. There’s no guarantee that you’ll get endcap or check out placement but it’s still cool to have a local presence. 6. Box Vendors – don’t even try to get your CD into Walmart or Target. These type of vendors have distribution companies that coordinate stock. Walmart uses a national company called Anderson Merchandising. I had a record deal on an Indie label with charting singles and 50,000 units sold and still couldn’t break into Anderson’s roster. However, the mixed blessing here is that you would have to drop off about 100,000 units of Greatest Hits and Near Misses at the Anderson Warehouse to get into the supply chain. You would have to sell the Maserati. Take baby steps, my indie friend. Wow, that was a delightfully sobering overview of the dark side of being your own distributor. Before we close and you take your antidepressant, it would be apropos to at least mention the back side of distribution / disbursement (or divvying up the spoils). I know that it feels like there will be very little pie left over once you’ve paid the piper. You need to have a strategy for how you will disburse your mechanical royalties from sales. Obviously, make it a priority to pay off your grandmother who fronted the recording budget first if this is the case. Then, most major record labels reinvest about 30% of profit into new artist development. It might be good to stash some of the proceeds into a recording budget for the next set of greatest hits and near misses. If there’s anything left, it’s also good to set aside a portion for subsequent CD duplication. You might actually have a best seller and need more! There is some potentially useful information in the paragraphs above. But, there’s no guaranteed procedure for success in these types of ventures. The key ingredient in any entrepreneurial endeavor is an undying belief in yourself and your product. Get busy and proactive. Sometimes even an Eskimo needs ice for his drink while he listens to your new CD! Venture wisely my friends. Chris Marion is an American musician best known as a member of Little River Band and for his contribution to the gospel and country music industries. Although graduating college with a B.A. in Psychology, he is a classically trained pianist and has worked in the music industry professionally for over 35 years. As a resident of Nashville, he is involved in the recording industry working in the genres of Gospel, Country and Rock. Since 2004, he has toured globally with the classic rock act Little River Band as a keyboardist and vocalist. For more useless trivia and minutiae concerning Chris or to contact him directly, feel free to visit his personal website www.chrismarionmusic.com.

Let's Make A Deal— The Ins & Outs of Record Deals (Part 2) Our last article dealt with the proverbial record contract and took a realistic glance at the ins and outs of working with record labels. To sum up the article, it established that there are basically three functions that a record label executes and allows for through the recording contract: recording, distribution and disbursement (or accounting for the non business major). I am going to have to introduce you another phenomenon of record contracts – the stipulated addendum. Record contracts allow for an addendum or change to be stipulated in writing to all contracted parties with due notice if necessary for the faithful execution of the contract. In other words, the label can change the rules if necessary to faithfully exploit your recording for more revenue under the illusion that more revenue for the label means more revenue for you. **See recoupable. I digress. Honestly, I said this would be a two part series. I would be doing a disservice to the aforementioned three label functions if I tried to lump them into just one article. Harmony Central pays me for articles, not novelettes. Today, we’ll look solely at one function – the business side of recording. Now the folklore of half million dollar recording budgets would lead one to think that actually recording a typical 10 song CD would be out of the reach of the common man. This could not be further from the truth. With the advent of high quality yet economical recording technology, many great recordings are being made daily in garages around the world. What could be a better location to record for a garage band? First, let me present a caveat for your protection. If you are still fixated on getting that record deal in spite of the fact that we’ve moved on to alternatives, you won’t have to dig deep on the internet to find sites and “producers” promising to bring you to Nashville, Los Angeles or New York to record for the sole purpose of getting the deal. They’ll claim to have “connections” and have a litany of names to drop for which they’ve been exclusively and intimately involved in breaking as artists. In the unforgettable words of Jenny from Forrest Gump, “Run, Forest, Run”! 999 out of 1,000 of these guys will take money that you’ve borrowed against a second mortgage on your parent’s house and leave you with a mediocre recording and a broken promise. If you’re not sure, I beg you to visit my website listed below, find my contact information and let me behoove you personally to avoid this. Don’t be one of those proverbial suckers born every 15 minutes. In these next two articles, I am going to give you some ideas for making an economical recording and then creatively marketing and exploiting it to create your own revenue stream. It might not be a global pie per se but you will end up with 100 percent of it to share with your band. And, your parent’s can keep their house. 1. Finding the right studio – as I mentioned before, the availability of world-class gear at very affordable prices has made recording and therefore the creation of boutique economy studios very common. Warning, don’t make your first band recording be your own introduction into recording technology and studio operation. If you are already operating a studio and you have the gear and the real estate to record your full band – great. But I don’t recommend that you go out and spend 25K for a rig that you don’t know how to operate and set it up in your bedroom that is not insulated or fabricated for isolation recording. Good studios with competent engineers and well-designed space are available in most urban areas for decent rates. Search on Google, visit your local music store and ask around. Once you’ve found some prospects, check their websites, visit their rooms and listen to recordings and mixes from their studios. The proof is in the pudding – A higher hourly rate doesn’t necessarily indicate better sonic quality. 2. Budgeting for your recording – one thing that record labels do very well thanks to bean counters and CPA’s is budget. You have to sit down and consider the amount of time that it’s going to take to record your project from start to finish. Then consider this against the hourly rate of the studio you plan to record in. If you don’t have studio experience, you need to budget extra time to track your instrumentation and sing vocals. A good benchmark is one hour per song. This gives you time to run through the song a couple of times and flush things out. Often playing in the studio with headphones will illuminate issues in arrangements or rhythms that you might not have been aware of. An hour should give you adequate time to ferret these issues out and capture your track. The same goes for vocals. Give yourself adequate time, especially for the lead vocals. You’ll need to establish with the house engineer how long he or she usually needs to mix each song. Also consider the potential expense for things like vocal editing or tuning, mastering or even something as simple as piano tuning. The studio manager will be helpful in getting figures and helping you estimate costs. Put all of these figures into a written budget so that you can viscerally see exactly what the process will cost from start to finish. You might even do a recording budget for each potential studio for cost comparison. One great way to save some money on studio costs is to be willing to go in during non-peak hours. Often, studios will offers great rates for late evenings or even over night recordings because of less demand for these hours. 3. Preparation for your recording - this is where you can really save yourself costly studio time and therefore recording budget. Don’t wait to practice your material in the studio with the clock running. Schedule adequate rehearsal time before the sessions to work through your material. If you have the capacity, mic everything and practice with headphones on. Playing live with wedges is much different from monitoring through headphones. It will be excellent prep work to be familiar with headphone recording. It is also an excellent way to hear what everybody else is playing. The same goes for vocals. It’s even harder for a singer to get used to relying on the headphones for reference when you are used to the physical sound of your voice in the room or on the wedge. Also, make sure that your gear is functioning properly. Nothing is more of a groove buster and cost multiplier than getting set up in the studio only to find that your amp needs a tube or the right side of your keyboard output is not functioning. 4. Recording Day – plan adequate time for arrival and set up. If you know it takes an hour to set up drums, make sure drummer is there accordingly to allow for the designated start up time. Studios usually don’t start the clock until the specific time you booked for recording rolls around. They usually allow for some set up time. Don’t waste an hour with late arrivals and poor planning. Plan your day realistically. Try to plan tracking instruments and vocals on different days. Everything in the process is important from instruments to vocals to mixing. Give each part of the process your best. Finally, plan on taking time for proper nutrition and hydration for the day. Don’t come in hung-over or plan on using alcohol or chemicals during the recording. You might think that you play better with a couple of shots but the odds are that your attention and dexterity will prove you wrong. There’s an old saying in the industry that “tape don’t lie”. Even though most modern recording is digital, the spirit of the axiom is true. Garbage in – garbage out. Save the celebration for after you’ve completed a great day in the studio. 5. Mixing Day – Every engineer has his own preference for mixing with the artist there or getting up a basic mix and then having the artist show up. By the time you’ve tracked and sung everything, the odds are that you’ve articulated your production preferences from song to song. It’s very helpful to keep a song hit list to keep track of what you’ve recorded. You can use this to keep production notes and therefore create a good roadmap that the mixer can use to fashion mixes from. I recommend that you come in after the engineer has a good start and fine tune. It gives you the advantage of having fresh ears and objectivity. If it’s possible, take the mixes and give them a listen in multiple mediums with varied outputs like car stereo, home stereo, jam box, or iPod. Your fans will be listening in a variety of mediums so try to make sure there is continuity from device to device. If it sounds good on a $12 pair of ear buds, it’s probably going to translate to your high fidelity system. Usually, mixers will offer one or two tweaks for a mix if after referencing you aren’t hearing something or hearing too much of something else. Even if you have to pay for another hour, it’s worth it if something is going to bother you for the rest of your natural life. 6. Mastering – this is a post mix process that enhances a mix and improves things that perhaps you and the mixer missed. It can also normalize every song to a consistent mix level and even sequence the songs for your master CD that you use to duplicate. 7. Preparing for duplication – I want to say a word about mechanical royalties here. When you record material written by someone else for the purpose of commercial sale, you are legally responsible for paying mechanical royalties on the units duplicated prior to the actual duplication. This is made very simple by visiting the Harry Fox agency, (https://www.harryfox.com) the industry standard royalty aggregator. This agency allows you to purchase a mechanical license to duplicate and sell the song you’ve recorded. The website will search an exhaustive database of song titles and then distribute the funds correctly. The statutory mechanical rate for any song under 5 minutes is 9.10 cents per song. Doing the math, this would mean for a 10 song CD of which you are duplicating for 1000 units, you would owe $910 in royalties. But, if you sell your CD’s for $10 each, you are holding potentially $10K in sales. Be honest. These are your brothers and sisters who write the songs and deserve to receive compensation for you using their intellectual property. Also, you need to have some pro photography for your CD cover. Don’t plan on going out with your camera phone and snapping something coming out of the elks club. Remember, j cards require hi resolution photography for templates so take the time and expense required to give layout people something to work with. Finally, make sure that you have all of your copy written with song titles, thanks, and track acknowledgements ahead of time. Have someone else proof it prior to duplication. 8. Duplication – You can do a Google search and find hundreds of resources for duplication. The going rate for a Digipak (cardboard sleeve) is about $1.00 per CD. This includes layout and shrinkwrap. You can find cheaper alternatives but it makes sense to stick with a company that has a track record for good service. There is nothing worse than taking the time and expense to print 1000 CD’s only to see that the j cards or Digipaks look like grade school renderings. Often, customers will buy something on a visual basis as much as having heard you. This is certainly not an exhaustive list but it a good consideration of some of the broader points of recording from the perspective of a musician and/or band owner. I encourage you to explore the process. Don’t be afraid to go into a studio and record, even if it’s a shorter EP with fewer songs. It’s still something that you can sell and pad revenue for the band. It’s a great promotional tool, both for potential gigs and sending home CD’s with fans from shows. Next week: distribution and disbursement. No more stipulated addendums… Record wisely, my friends! Chris Marion is an American musician best know as a member of Little River Band and for his contribution to the gospel and country music industries. Although graduating college with a B.A. in Psychology, he is a classically trained pianist and has worked in the music industry professionally for over 35 years. As a resident of Nashville, he is involved in the recording industry working in the genres of Gospel, Country and Rock. Since 2004, he has toured globally with the classic rock act Little River Band as a keyboardist and vocalist. For more useless trivia and minutiae, you can visit his personal website at http://www.chrismarionmusic.com.

Let’s Make a Deal – The Ins and Outs of Record Deals, Part 1 By Chris Marion Ah, the elusive record deal – the end all benchmark for real success as a musician. Or is it? There’s an old joke that floats around the jaded road dogs of summer: How do you make a million dollars in the music business? Start with two… While this is probably over simplified mathematics, you don’t have to dig too deep to find horror stories of artists selling hundreds of thousands of units but never seeing a penny of royalties in return. Signing your John Hancock on an 85-page document that only your hourly billing attorney can decipher may feel exhilarating in the moment, but it’s certainly no guarantee you’ll be compensated for seeing your name in the marquee lights. In this two part series, first we’ll look at some pros and cons of working with a record company with your music and some of the finer points of the proverbial record contract. Then, in part two, we’ll explore some feasible alternatives to record companies in terms of distribution and promotion. You might not have to start with two million. I joined the elite fraternity of the contractually damned back in the '90s as a member of a country band in Nashville. We were quickly introduced to exciting new terms like recoupable - record company speak for “we get paid before you do.” Like most new artists, we ended up with a 15% royalty rate for retail sales. To date some 20 years later, our attorney is the only one in the organization that ever received actual compensation related to that two-inch pile of printed material. Over the next few years of two records, three videos and multiple charting singles, we racked up a half million dollars in debt with sales of just over 100,000 units. Apparently it takes money to lose money. Here’s an excellent pie chart from Root.com that illustrates how for every $1,000 of music sold, the average musician makes a mere $23.40: You might read this and truly question why any person in their right mind would want to venture down this dark corridor of record label sadism. But, it’s worth acknowledging that the record company is taking all of the actual commercial risk here. In exchange for the exclusive right to exploit your music (to which they now summarily own the recording copyrights), the record company finances the recording, promotes your artistry, promotes your singles, finances the duplication of your product (any idea what it costs to duplicate 1 million CDs?) and negotiates the distribution of your product to retail locations. This is a gargantuan business model of which any one component could bankrupt the typical garage band. Just the duplication alone would typically be a deal breaker for the average musician in that duplicators require payment on 30 day net terms while distributors typically pay for product on a 90 – 120 day net basis. In other words, you have to pay for the CDs 2 to 3 months before you see one penny of proceeds from fulfillment. Platinum takes on a whole new meaning if you have to front the money to print a million units. While the game has changed with the advent of the internet, digital distribution and social media, there is still no substitute for the commercial clout and marketing machinery that a global record company brings to the table for an artist. Let’s look at some of the basic components of a recording contract: 1. Term of Obligation – the contract specifies that the artist agrees to record a specific number of songs and turn over the mixes to the record company in a required period of time for reproduction. 2. Options – the contract will also specify that the record company has the option to require the artist to record subsequent projects upon notification. 3. Contractual Exclusivity – the contract stipulates that the artist is bound to record exclusively for the record company or with their permission on other projects. 4. Recording Budget and Advances – the contract will stipulate a specific budget for the recording process and usually outline what if any of this budget will be available to the artist as an advance. 5. Domestic and Foreign Distribution – the contract will define how product will be distributed and outline various rates of payment for domestic versus foreign product, retail pricing, and reserve terms. If product doesn’t sell, it is returned to the record company for refund. 6. Royalties – the contract stipulates what the royalty rate for the artist and or producers will be and defines the accounting process therein. The typical artist royalty rate is anywhere from 12 to 20 percent. Of course, royalties are disbursed after recoupable expenses are satisfied. 7. Cancellation – the contract usually outlines the mechanism for the termination of an artist contract and generic circumstances that would ensue termination. Examples might include failure of the artist to present recording projects in a timely fashion or breach of contract. Obviously, successful companies need to choose artists wisely knowing that the investment is going to be the same whether they pick a winner or a loser. While your Americana Polka project might sell briskly in your polka circles, it might not be the right project for a record company to be able to exploit in the big way they need to for staying in business and keeping stockholders happy. A record deal is not for everyone. In the next installment of Let’s Make a Deal, we’ll explore alternative models for the burgeoning garage band that just can’t snag that major label deal. Until then, “sign” wisely, my friends. Chris Marion is an American musician best know as a member of Little River Band and for his contribution to the gospel and country music industries. Although graduating college with a B.A. in Psychology, he is a classically trained pianist and has worked in the music industry professionally for over 35 years. As a resident of Nashville, he is involved in the recording industry working in the genres of Gospel, Country and Rock. Since 2004, he has toured globally with the classic rock act Little River Band as a keyboardist and vocalist. For more useless trivia and minutiae, you can visit his personal website at http://www.chrismarionmusic.com.

The Art of Putting on a Show: Part 4—Me, Me Media by Chris Marion You might have a killer repertoire for your show, phenomenal staging, and the PA that will make you sound like a million bucks, but you still need to put people in the room or it’s all for naught. Let not your heart be troubled, aspiring band mates – there has never been a better or easier time to self promote using all of the various social media resources at your disposal. We’ll review some of the more prominent formats with some effective applications therein. First it would behoove me to acknowledge that just signing up for various social media formats is not enough. Successful promotion is not like the “Field of Dreams” adage – “build it and they will come”. Your band or your artistry is a product that requires salesmanship. It’s wise to take deliberate steps to integrate social media into the business of your band. Insert all of your various media point ID’s into printed materials (like band photos or brochures), banners you hang from stage or merch areas, and even in plugs from the stage during the show. Invite your fans to participate and connect. You will reap the benefits. Once you have the connection, there are two essential components to keeping it – routine attention and content. The last thing you want to do after four sets at the American Legion with copious amounts of pizza and adult beverages is post a status update on Facebook or tweet about the show. But, these are actions that keep fans connected and affirm their concert experience. With smart phone apps that give you a mobile portal to your sites, you’ll have something to do while you’re waiting on your post show greasy bacon and egg order at the all night diner. And, this effort creates content. Content is what keeps traffic coming back and generates interest or buzz. We’ll talk about some creative but easy ways to pump up your content and ultimately keep fans wanting more. On to the formats! 1. Facebook – here are some numbers to give perspective on just how gigantic of a footprint Facebook has in our culture: • Total number of Facebook users worldwide - 1.26 billion • Total active daily users – 757 million (128 million US) There is no denying that this is a powerful network of relationship and an excellent portal to connect with your fans in a variety of ways. Facebook also integrates well with other social media sites like Twitter, Youtube, and Instagram so as you post in these sites, your posts can automatically populate your Facebook page. This is an easy way to aggregate your posts with one fail swoop. Here are some tips to maximizing your Facebook content and traffic: - Post photos from every show. My band takes a moment at the end of each show to take several photos from the stage. We’ve turned it into a routine and invite attendees to visit our page and tag themselves. It’s amazing how much traffic this creates and it also further connects fans to the experience. In a period of just a couple years, we’ve added over 90,000 likes. - Integrate a band calendar into your page. There are several calendar programs like Bandsintown, Bandpage, and Reverb Nation that will populate your Facebook page with updates about coming events with links to pertinent websites and even invitations to fans to attend. Keeping information current and informative takes some time. Unless you are a national act and have aggregate services like Ticketmaster or Pollstar tracking your schedule, you will have to manually enter the information date by date. But, it’s a worthy use of time that will ultimately get people out to your show. - Create event pages for your marquee shows. Obviously, taking the time to create an event page for your rendition of the national anthem at the middle school hockey game is overkill. But, if you have a marquee festival date or you’re finally opening for Five Finger Death Punch, put the effort into creating an event page and sending out invitations to fans who have liked your page. This creates a specific location that fans can comment on and also gives you a great way to update schedules and keep fans in the loop. It’s easy to do but heavy on focused promotion. - Create a storefront on your page. Facebook is an excellent commerce platform and it’s imperative that you create a portal to give fans a method of purchasing merchandise you sell. Many services like Payvment and Storefront Social integrate right into your band’s page with a tab insert. Keep in mind that these fulfillment services usually come with a monthly subscription and take a portion of the sales proceeds. However, this gives fans immediate access to your merch and takes the hassle out of selling products, boxing, shipping and collection. 65 percent of a sale that you couldn’t have made is still better than no sale at all. 2. Twitter – who knew that a media limiting you to 140 characters could be so pervasive. Twitter also touts a robust user base with 243 million active monthly users. Yet it can be an extremely effective tool for dispensing information and connecting with fans. How about some suggestions for power tweeting: - Get into the daily habit of tweeting a band update. It could include a photo/video or just a pithy anecdote with your wisdom. 140 characters keep your wisdom concise and to the point. Daily tweets keep mobile fans in the loop. - Make sure to link your Twitter account with Facebook so that your tweets populate your Facebook page as status updates. - Encourage fans to create a link to your band or conversation by including a hashtag entry at the end of the tweet. Within Twitter metrics this also creates a way to track trending topics. Who knows – maybe you’ll have a Miley Cyrus VMA “twerking” moment that creates over 300,000 tweets per minute. - Use a tweet to share a song or video. You can embed a link within your tweet to download a new song or link to a show video. Encourage fans to retweet this to their followers and create your own wildfire of promotion. Twiturm is a great tool for uploading songs to share via Twitter. - Contest, contest, contest. At the start of your show, encourage fans to follow you and tweet about the show. Then choose one of the new followers to receive a free CD or picture at the end of the show. Everybody loves a good contest and in the process of participating, you enhance your network. You can even direct tweet the winner. 3. YouTube – it’s important to realize that not only is YouTube for videos, it’s also the second most popular search engine behind Google. Because it’s such high authority domain, other search engines like Google or Bing will tend to list YouTube results near the top of searches. Take advantage of this and here are some great ways to do just that: - Encourage fans to record live performances and tag the uploaded video with your band name. This optimizes any search using your band name and will improve potential for discovery. - Upload your own material and post links on your other social media to attract fans to your YouTube page. While they’re visiting, YouTube lists related videos that will keep your fans in enraptured bliss for hours. - Use annotations to generate traffic to your other sites. YouTube allows you to embed annotations or links to other URLs with clickable CTA’s. Use these annotations to link to commerce sites or even to bulk out your email lists. These are three of the most prominent social media services and can certainly play an amazing role in promoting your band. There are other services that deserve a mention as well. Vimeo is a great video resource for storing and sharing video – a bit more professional since there are no advertisements and you have more control over look and feel. UStream and Livestream are awesome video streaming services that would allow your band to live stream a show to fans. Instagram is a great photo oriented media site that also integrates well with other medias. Fanbridge is a great tool for emailing and texting fans who sign up. And finally, Bandcamp is a great resource for uploading and distributing your music with great potential for customizing your user’s experience. It’s important to remember that social media can be a great tool. But it is only effective when it is used in a deliberately consistent manner. Delegate this responsibility to your nerdy band mate who has a great sense of humor and spends most of his time alone in the hotel room anyway. Exploiting social media can have an amazing and immediate impact on your career success. Use it to tour wisely, my friends. Chris Marion is an American musician best know as a member of Little River Band and for his contribution to the gospel and country music industries. Although graduating college with a B.A. in Psychology, he is a classically trained pianist and has worked in the music industry professionally for over 35 years. As a resident of Nashville, he is involved in the recording industry working in the genres of Gospel, Country and Rock. Since 2004, he has toured globally with the classic rock act Little River Band as a keyboardist and vocalist. For more useless trivia and minutiae, you can visit his personal website at http://www.chrismarionmusic.com.

The Art of Putting on a Show Part 3—Can You Hear Me Now? by Chris Marion You have chosen the material for the show and you’ve formulated a plan as to how you are going to stage your band to leave a lasting visual impression on attendees. Now comes the question of audio, production and exactly how your crowd is going to hear your music. Since most bands don’t have a nerdy guy in glasses to roam around the crowd saying “can you hear them now”, you have to take dependable and adequate steps to make sure that you bring the right guns to the gun fight. Otherwise, you’ll look great but the people who count won’t be able to hear your brilliance. Here are some specific areas to focus on in this foray into audio fidelity. 1. Advancing the Show – We’ve talked about this in previous posts but it’s extremely critical to the issue of production. If you are walking into a club or festival that is providing production, you need to know EXACTLY what this includes. Often opening acts will have a limited number of inputs so you need to be prepared. As well, small clubs typically have very limited in-house PA and speaker coverage. Be prepared and I will offer some pertinent suggestions to do just that below. 2. Input List – We touched on this in Part 2 but it bears repeating in this section as well. Before you can make a decision about what your PA needs truly are, you need to establish how many inputs you need on a console to get everything in the mix. The best approach is to have a small set up list and a full set up list. If you are playing a small room like a coffee house or club, you might be able to get by without placing microphones on drums and amps. The only inputs would be vocals and any instrument going direct. For playing a club that is providing production, you might be able to send them a stereo feed from your own console – thus you still control the individual mix instrument to instrument and the house guy just sets the level. For larger venues, placing mics on drums and amps could be necessary to create a full mix of instrumentation and vocals. The obvious issue is how many inputs you have on your console or how many inputs you have available in the event of a festival. You can incorporate your input list with each station of your stage plot. I recommend ultimately that each band member be responsible for getting his or her signal to a snake or to a DI. The onus is on the player to make sure he has a duplicate patch cord or cable. You can also create a checklist to make sure that you not only brought everything you need to connect your band but you can also cross check as you pack up to make sure you go home with all you brought. 3. Patching, cabling and power – TIP – always have multiple back ups for each cable, patch cord or power cord you use. In the flurry of packing and unpacking, the risk is high to not only forget cables but also to inflict adequate stress to damage cables. I would recommend having at least 2-3 extra of each cable or cord. Even without failure, you might need the extra length for power or for getting to and from the console. Try to get in a routine for how you unpack and patch. Run power drops first and follow up with cabling to the console. Patch your instruments last as to allow for ease in gross patching and to protect your instruments from damage. Make sure that you use properly shielded cable for microphones and instruments. This will help with ground loops and general electrical interference. Remember that you really get what you pay for in this department. You might even invest in a snake that will help you get multiple lines to the console and in the process really clean up the stage. Give yourself some slack – don’t run cable so tight that there are raised lengths to trip on. And finally, try to tape down cables in high traffic areas that are more likely to be tripped over. Gaffer tape is perfect for this because it’s meant to be applied to rubberized cabling without binding to the sheathing of the wire. You may also use industrial door rugs to create covered crosswalks. These rugs are available at any hardware store in various sizes. 4. Consolation – choosing the right console. Let’s face it—most venues are not going to really provide an adequate mixing console that is predictable and dependable. The only way to guarantee consistent reproduction unless a pro production company is providing it is to carry your own console. Here are some points to consider: a. Inputs – how many inputs do you really need to adequately reproduce your instrumentation and vocals?The difference in price from 8 inputs to 12 to 16 inputs is somewhat negligible. Buy a mixer that will be ideal to accommodate your large venue set up if you want to add drum and amp mics. Try to have a couple channels left over in case Bruce Springsteen wants to sit in and you need a channel for him. b. Powered versus unpowered – although you can get smaller combo heads that have a limited mixer combined with a power amp, there is a danger in having everything in one piece of hardware. If one part goes down, everything is down. The optimum situation is to plan on components for mixer and power amp/speakers or at least powered boxes. Your set up can be expanded if necessary and you also have substitution options in the event of equipment failure. c. Inboard versus outboard effects – many pro consoles also come with built in effects. This makes set up and patching easy. However, you’re often limited to one or two effects and real time changing can be tricky. This is a preference issue and depends on how much you really make multiple effects changes, especially if you run sound from the stage like most bands. One outboard effects unit that can be invaluable in a volatile live situation is a graphic EQ (or two) that help you trim frequencies that are feeding back. There are also feedback isolation preamps like the Behringer DSP 110 that will help you notch out the feedback in a mic or group of mics. You might not be able to tell the difference between 3 and 4 K but your audience can sure tell when a vocal microphone is constantly feeding back. 5. Microphones and DI s – For years, the go to vocal microphone has been the Shure SM-58 while the go to instrument mic has been the SM-57. Both these microphones are workhorses and are very effective in their designed ranges. There are great dynamic microphone sets that are designed specifically for drum kits and usually come with mounts or stands for each instrument. Again, your guide to how many mics you need will be how many inputs on your console you can afford. With DIs, it depends on how much signal you need to get to the console. Passive DIs are adequate to convert a line level input to an XLR signal and don’t require a power source to operate. Active DIs have a hotter output but also usually require either phantom power from the console or separate AC or DC power. They’re also going to be more expensive but make a great input point for keyboards. 6. Speakers and Amps – these components mix into one category very well because they’re designed to work together from output to input to output. There are even many great powered speakers that are very efficient and weigh not much more than their passive cousins. The first step is determining the coverage you need to make for the show to be heard in all functional locations of the venue and the power you need to accomplish that task. One general rule of thumb is 4 watts of continuous output for each person you need to reach. So for a crowd of 200 people, you should have somewhere in the neighborhood of 800 watts of output spread across your stage speaker configuration. Since adequate coverage can vary depending on inside or outside events, you can increase that rule of thumb to at least 5 watts per person for outside events. Another big consideration is whether to add subwoofers to the configuration. The wide sound waves of bass and kick drum can overtax regular dynamic speakers. Adding a sub or two to your configuration with appropriate crossovers will send that lower energy to speakers designed to handle it while allowing your mids and highs room in the regular speakers to shine. You’ll increase your headroom and spare your regular speakers possible damage. The ideal situation is to have a component system that you can add to or take away depending on the venue demands. It’s better to have headroom to spare than to bring too little PA and not be able to cover the room. There have been hundreds of complete manuals written about the subtleties of putting together the right PA system for your needs. I don’t pretend to have answered every question in these 1500 words. But, my final advice is this:know the vocabulary, know the venue needs, and know what your band needs. Spend some time at your local music store looking around and getting feedback from pro audio reps. Take a copy of your stage plot and input list in with you and do some comparison. Make educated decisions with the most information you can gather. If you don’t own it, then at least you’ll know what you need to rent and your built-in limitations. If you follow these basic concepts and tailor your set up to fit your needs you will as always tour wisely, my friends! Next up – Me, Me Media - social media to the rescue! Chris Marion is an American musician best know as a member of Little River Band and for his contribution to the gospel and country music industries. Although graduating college with a B.A. in Psychology, he is a classically trained pianist and has worked in the music industry professionally for over 35 years. As a resident of Nashville, he is involved in the recording industry working in the genres of Gospel, Country and Rock. Since 2004, he has toured globally with the classic rock act Little River Band as a keyboardist and vocalist. For more useless trivia and minutiae, you can visit his personal website at http://www.chrismarionmusic.com.

Master The Details: A Guide To A Successful Event By Chris Marion Entertainment productions and events are powered by details. Master the details and you are the master of successful event planning. This article will present three different vehicles to organize and collate your details and in turn hopefully raise the level of mastery in your event management. 1. The Database Back in the good old days, the Rolodex was the status quo for information management. It gave you rotary access to index cards containing names, addresses, and pertinent demographic information for your contacts. With the advent of personal computers, the amount of demographic information you can collect and organize is unlimited. Modern applications allow the user to search by any field within the database or even within a specified range of information. In most database applications you can even create multiple layouts to suit a specific need. For instance, one layout might be for contacts by city while another layout might be collated by club manager names. A database gives you instant access to the info you need. We even have a layout for the set list that is associated with the specific event. One of my personal favorites in database programs is Filemaker Pro. This Mac-based program is extremely powerful and versatile. Not only can you create an infinite number of layouts within a database, it even gives you options within fields to create scripts to calculate, link to email, link to URLs and even store jpegs or audio. In the PC world, Microsoft Excel is a very powerful spreadsheet program that can serve as a database. Even your smart phone integrated with your gmail account is a fairly powerful database to keep track of contact information. 2. The Time Line I introduced this format in the two part series titled Book ‘Em Dano that discussed the merits of being your own effective booking agent. The time line is a powerful graphic display of gig details. Look at it as a chronological to-do list. However, I’ve found that the best way to create a dedicated timeline for a gig is to create a separate calendar within your calendar program for that event. In most calendar applications, you can select or deselect which calendars you want to display. When there are deadlines that are associated with that specific event, I create alarms that generate texts or emails with the task list that is due on that day. When you highlight that specific event timeline, you can also print a week-by-week calendar with the tasks or deadlines. Once the gig is completed, you can either delete that calendar or even archive for future reference in the case of a rebooking. Most calendar programs integrate into your contact list as well as mapping programs to track locations and routing. Using a calendar in this manner can really help you keep all of the bases covered in preparation. 3. The Day Sheet All of the planning, preparation and gnashing of teeth is complete – now it’s the day of the gig. The day sheet is the ultimate key to getting everyone on the literal same page. It contains all pertinent information from times, schedules, addresses, contacts, percentages, entrances and anything else under the sun that you need to know on the day of the gig. It is essential that everyone involved in the event has the same day sheet. We create a day sheet that is forwarded to every member of the band by email in pdf format as well as being placed in a community dropbox folder that we can access on our smart phones. There are printed versions on the bus and even in the dressing room. Gone are the days when you had notes under your hotel room door or thick tour books you were always trying not to leave in a hotel room. Incidentally, our day sheets are also generated from our master database – it’s just one more specific layout. It’s often the case that creative types are the worst in dealing with details. Yet if you don’t master them, they will master you. Take charge of your details and as always, tour wisely my friends. Chris Marion is an American musician best know as a member of Little River Band and for his contribution the gospel and country music industries. Although graduating college with a B.A. in Psychology, he is a classically trained pianist and has worked in the music industry professionally for over 35 years. As a resident of Nashville, he is involved in the recording industry working in the genres of Gospel, Country and Rock. Since 2004, he has toured globally with the classic rock act Little River Band as a keyboardist and vocalist. For more useless trivia and minutiae, you can visit his personal website at http://www.chrismarionmusic.com.

Congratulations, you booked the gig! Now comes the real work of preparing to give the clients the show they had in mind when they booked you. There are three hard and fast rules in developing the right set list for a show: 1. It’s not about you. 2. It’s not about you and finally, 3. It’s not really about you. While these rules are perhaps from the department of redundancy department, it is important to realize that consistently making the client happy will keep your van and PA payments current. There are indeed some logical steps to keep client satisfaction the rule and not the exception. 1. Keeping An Accurate Repertoire List – this is perhaps the most daunting task that troubles bands. There are songs you all know and do well, there are songs that you are all pretty close on and then there are just as many more that maybe only one of you knows (and likes). Those latter songs do not need to be on a Repertoire List. Take the time to do an honest survey of your material. Make a list of song titles, tempos, keys, and who sings lead. If there are songs that are close, plan rehearsals independent of a booked gig and bring those songs up to par. Then, plan consistent rehearsals to pad your list in weak spots or areas that need diversity. Your rep list is your ingredients list. Advertise truthfully! 2. Preshow Client Consultation – Here is where you put your repertoire list to work along with your salesmanship. Sit down with the client or the club owner and talk about material they would like for the event. If you’re booked, they’ve already heard something they like. Establish what that is and build on it. If there are some holes in your rep list, this gives you an opportunity to add exactly what the client wants. It’s still up to you to organize the material and make it your own but the consultation shows your engagement in the event’s success. 3. Set List Development to Match Event – Once you gotten feedback from the client consultation, it’s time to develop that customized set list to suit the event. No matter where you are on the food chain of international success, you still have to consider what the event calls for. I play for a band that has sold 30 million records and has had hits across 2 decades. Yet, we still played Auld Lang Syne with a local contest winner on New Years Eve making a hero out of a local girl for 15,000 attendees and making the City of Tallahassee look incredibly good. If you are booked to be a dance band, fill your set lists with dance music to fit the demographic. If you agree to provide quiet dinner instrumental music for 30 minutes, resist the temptation to play your version of Bohemian Rhapsody (as good as it probably is.) Be deliberate and discrete in your song selection to match what you can do with what you’re asked to do. Try to represent the best that your band offers and show it’s depth and diversity but only if this shows strength. If your bass player sings one song in the show but it doesn’t fit the night, disappoint the bass player, not the client. 4. Set List Flow – this is definitely the most artistic and aesthetic part of putting on any show. There is something magical about putting together the right flow from song to song and feel to feel. Historically, for dance bands, a rule of thumb has been 3 up, 1 down (in other words 3 up tempo dance songs, one slower dance song). However it makes more sense to look again at the event than allowing thumb rules to dictate. If you are going to have a huge dance floor with people ready to celebrate, they are going to respond to more tempo and entertainment oriented music and less performance or intuitive orientation. Likewise, if your crowd is gathered around the stage seated at dinner tables, the set might be better received with more performance orientation coupled with conversational engagement. If you do your homework ahead of time, you should at least have an idea of what you’re walking into to plan accordingly. 5. Time Management – As you formulate your set list or lists, it’s imperative to account for everything. If you have 60 minutes per set to fill, plot out the time in 5 minute increments. List the songs you plan to do in the set with the estimated lengths of the songs. If you want to welcome the group, list this 1-2 minute entry on your set list. Over plan so that you are not fumbling around in front of the client and his clientele trying to figure out what’s next. 6. Be Flexible But Maintain Control – You can be flexible even as you control and manage the gig. If someone makes a request, offer to do it in the next set. If you don’t know the song, offer to do an alternate song from that same artist or a song that is similar. It’s all about keeping a dialog and flow going in the show. It is so much more professional to disappoint one attendee by not knowing the song than disappointing everyone in attendance by butchering a song you don’t know. If you thrive on improv and living on the edge, wait until the last set at least to dust off the Russian Roulette of live gigging – the request. If there’s an open bar, the crowd might even enjoy your comical adventure onto thin ice. Know this—every artist in the history of live entertainment has struggled to find the right combination of songs in a set. Musicians are artists, and the set list is a palette from which we draw the colors to create our masterpieces. In our next installment of The Art of Putting on a Show, we will discuss staging in a post that I have entitled “As The Stage Plot Thickens”. Until then, tour wisely, my friends! Chris Marion is an American musician best know as a member of Little River Band and for his contribution to the gospel and country music industries. Although graduating college with a B.A. in Psychology, he is a classically trained pianist and has worked in the music industry professionally for over 35 years. As a resident of Nashville, he is involved in the recording industry working in the genres of Gospel, Country and Rock. Since 2004, he has toured globally with the classic rock act Little River Band as a keyboardist and vocalist. For more useless trivia and minutiae, you can visit his personal website at http://www.chrismarionmusic.com.

The Art of Putting on a Show: Part 2—As The Stage Plot Thickens By Chris Marion Now that you’ve thoughtfully prepared your set list, it’s time to prepare to stage your show. Remember, performance is as much visual as it is aural. Sometimes attendees tend to remember what they see more accurately than what they hear. As someone who attended a Kiss concert in the late ‘70s, I can’t tell you what songs they played. But, I can describe their costumes and the amazing stage show they put on that evening. With that in mind, be deliberate in the way you prepare to stage your band. 1. The Stage Plot – This is essentially a two dimensional graphic representation of how your band will occupy the stage. It’s good to have a generic layout that you can modify to suit the particular event. In your first advance contact with the venue, try to gather as much information about the stage as possible including exact dimensions, power drop locations, in-house lights or production, height of ceiling, in-house trussing, proximity to crowd (ie: dance floor or table seating). It’s also helpful to know the size and capacity of the room. We’ll deal with those variables more in the 3rd installment of this series concerning production and PA. Your stage plot should show where each member is located by name and instrument, where personal or stage monitors are stationed, the approximate foot print of each station dimensionally speaking, need for risers, microphone and inputs for each station, location of any amps, and the location of any lighting rigs or house speaker placement. If you have an opportunity to play a festival or open for a national act, your stage plot might insure that your gear is where it’s supposed to be when the stage gets turned. It’s usually a local crew that moves gear on and off the stage so without a diagram, it wastes time that you might have used to get a line check. 2. Stage Layout – think aesthetics here. While you might usually just have a corner with fluorescent lights at the Moose Club, often you do have some control over the way your stage will look to the crowd. Try to consider the appearance from a three dimensional perspective. Create balance in placement and present visual depth by staggering personnel and using risers when you have access. This allows for maximum exposure for all members and also offers something interesting to look at for possibly 4 hours. Leave room between layers and stations for movement and interplay between personnel. Consider where members are standing in relation to speaker stacks and whatever lighting you have in-house or with your rig. It’s also important to keep line of sight between members for communication. 3. Branding, Stage Props and Costuming – Sometimes it’s the little things that go the longest way in leaving an impression. I had an old manager whose motto was “if you would feel comfortable wearing your outfit in the grocery store, it’s not a stage costume”. This guy also sat in with my band in a white tuxedo with tails and white patent leather boots - but that’s a different story. His point is well taken in that it’s important to be deliberate in what you wear to perform in. Obviously, if you’re working in a club where most of the patrons are wearing t-shirts and jeans, this is not a time to break out the tuxedo. Or is it? Wear something that says you’re the entertainment, not the janitorial staff. Be thoughtful about the venue details – maybe a black tie event would be better represented by a step up from the weathered AC/DC t-shirt. It is about your brand. One of the best investments you can make is in developing a logo and getting a banner with logo and website displayed. String it up behind your stage or across the front of the stage if height allows. This can be a simple as nylon ropes through the grommets on the edges or even a couple of extension tripods to either side of the back of the stage. The crowd will associate whatever is on this banner with what they hear and see all night. Maximize the exposure value. Kinko’s is an excellent economical resource for this type of investment. If there’s not a Kinko’s in your town, local print shops can create custom banners to fit your needs, even offering logo development. Not everyone can afford to take pyro and elaborate stage sets for you’re their four set gig at the VFW. But, if there are some props that promote your image or feng shui, incorporate them into your stage set up as long as they don’t prohibit your lead guitar player from carrying his set of inflatable dolls and guitars to the gig. Priorities… 4. Lighting – Although this is typically an area that is dealt with in production, in some ways it’s more of a staging issue so we’ll talk about it here. Obviously, you could have the coolest stage set up of all time and if you play in the dark, no one will see it. Establish early on in the advance contact exactly what stage lighting is included in-house. If there is none, it’s imperative that you plan to bring enough lighting on your own to adequately illuminate the band. If you work in a wide variety of venues under constantly changing circumstances, investing in a basic 4 to 8 can lighting system with dimmers and stands is a must. You can literally add a decent system that will light your band and actually give you some control over different scenes for about $350 at your local mega center music store. Do one gig for the lights if you have to. If not, you can probably rent a rig from your local music store for special events. Warning - it won’t take many of those rentals to equal just buying one outright. Likewise, the last thing you want to do is try to learn how to run the light show on a new rig when you’re worried about performance. So far in this series we’ve dealt with set lists and staging. The next installment will be concerning production and entitled “Can You Hear Me Now”. In the art of putting on a show, you can never minimize that artistry in staging and appearance. Until next time, tour wisely, my friends! Chris Marion is an American musician best know as a member of Little River Band and for his contribution to the gospel and country music industries. Although graduating college with a B.A. in Psychology, he is a classically trained pianist and has worked in the music industry professionally for over 35 years. As a resident of Nashville, he is involved in the recording industry working in the genres of Gospel, Country and Rock. Since 2004, he has toured globally with the classic rock act Little River Band as a keyboardist and vocalist. For more useless trivia and minutiae, you can visit his personal website at http://www.chrismarionmusic.com.

If you Google “secret weapon for success,” within seconds you'll be inundated with an exponential number of links to blogs and articles that promise a treasure trove of secrets for success—some free, some for a one-time contribution or subscription to a monthly newsletter. If you visit your local music megacenter, you’ll not only find kiosks of printed material with tutorials to achieve success in your musical career and touring band, you’ll also encounter beaming reps that will joyfully assist you in navigating this quest, albeit with the latest, greatest piece of gear to complement your journey to the holy grail. What all of these resources ultimately offer you is truly the secret weapon for success in any venture: information! It’s knowledge and information that can make or break a career and the success of a tour whether it involves instruction, logistics, organization or even implementation. And what is the most obvious portal to the information of the world? Here's a hint: there are 7.1 billion of them in operation. 61\% of Americans own one, and I would be willing to bet that most of your bandmates are included in that number. It’s the real rocket in your pocket—your smart phone. Having toured for almost 35 years, I can honestly say that no piece of gear has become more essential to what I do on a day-to-day basis. I want to highlight four smart phone apps that I won’t leave home without. Dropbox (https://www.dropbox.com) - this is perhaps the most lethal weapon in my smart phone arsenal. This free, cloud-based storage service allows you to store any type of data file and synchronize your files across all of your devices, from smart phone to tablet to laptop to desktop. Your free account comes with 2 gigs of storage space and they offer space upgrades as you refer new subscribers. Dropbox also facilitates simple file sharing between your files and any subscribed Dropbox user. Here’s what we share in my band’s group folder: day sheets, itineraries, audio files of new material, pdfs of charts, the latest jpegs from photo shoots, CD artwork for approval, contracts, DAW files, stage plots, production worksheets and even rooming lists. You can see why this is truly an invaluable tour resource. Gone are the days when you carried briefcases filled with tour books and reams of paper files. Rainforests are breathing sighs of relief. Evernote (https://evernote.com) – where Dropbox is limited to storage of data files already created, Evernote allows you to create content that will also synchronize across various devices and formats. This free app allows the user to create notes and lists within its word processor functionality, take photos that are encoded with date, time and GPS location, make audio recordings also encoded with data, as well as bookmarking or clipping website URLs with offline recall. I use Evernote for a variety of tasks including lyric sheets, audio recordings of demos, and keeping records of receipts by photographing then notating time, date and who I discussed business with. The IRS loves detailed receipts. Finally, all of your Evernote content is backed up to your cloud in the background as you edit and can be accessed or edited from your home computer in both PC and Mac format. Tripit (https://www.tripit.com) - for the traveler organization and planning are essential. Tripit makes organization as simple as forwarding an email confirmation. Their free service organizes and collates your various air travel, car rental and lodging details into one accessible itinerary through their app or web based portal. It tracks delays and cancellations, confirmation numbers, routes, flight information, addresses of destinations and departure centers and even gives you a weather update for your destination city. You can also create travel groups and keep up with details of travel plans within your group. A premium pro upgrade will also track your loyalty and rewards accounts, send you text messages or emails in real time with gate changes, delays or cancellations and even recommend alternate flights and airlines. You can subscribe to your itinerary feed within your various calendar programs and have Tripit populate your calendars with your travel details. There is nothing more reassuring than arriving late for a connection only to turn my cell phone back on and find a Tripit text waiting with my gate and departure information. Now you can travel with confidence and let Tripit do the worrying. Google Maps (https://maps.google.com) - this app comes by default on all Android devices and finally has solid functionality on iOS devices. As the title suggests, at face value it is a maps program with navigational capacities. Combined with the power of Google’s search engine algorithms, it becomes your personal tour guide for most any location in the world. Stay logged in to your Google account and it keeps up with locations, businesses, addresses, and even preferences on a day-to-day basis. I often wake up in a different town every morning. Google Maps tells me what’s around the hotel to eat and drink, the distance from hotel to venue, public transportation stops, location of the nearest music stores, and even suggests the name of that sushi place I visited the last time I was in Wichita Falls. Insert an address of the venue into your calendar, click on the link and Google Maps automatically opens with a map of the location. Save an address at home and you can scroll down to that in your smart phone app for smooth location. Find the location of every bank ATM within walking distance. Find your way back to the hotel after a late night of post concert celebration with a voice prompting you to turn at the next corner. It will not warn you that you’re about to trip over the curb in three steps, but perhaps that’s coming next year. Honorable Mention Utilities – There are some apps that I use regularly to streamline my road effort that deserve an honorable mention. Banking apps allow you to pay bills, manage your accounts and even make deposits from your smart phone – invaluable when you are in a state that doesn’t have a banking location. Other travel apps like Orbitz and Kayak make booking travel, lodging and auto rental simple and allow you to shop for the best deal in one location without a fee. Password management apps like Keeper make it easy to keep up with account numbers for credit cards, passwords for various accounts and all of your valuable data in one encrypted secure location. Musical Swiss army knife apps have built in tuners, metronomes, and even basic recording functionality that will add mobility to your creativity. So, put your hand in your pocket and pay respect to the container of your secret weapons cache. If these four weapons aren’t part of your arsenal, give them a spin around your daily road experience. Tour wisely, my friends. Chris Marion is an American musician best know as a member of Little River Band and for his contribution to the gospel and country music industries. Although graduating college with a B.A. in Psychology, he is a classically trained pianist and has worked in the music industry professionally for over 35 years. As a resident of Nashville, he is involved in the recording industry working in the genres of Gospel, Country and Rock. Since 2004, he has toured globally with the classic rock act Little River Band as a keyboardist and vocalist. For more useless trivia and minutiae, you can visit his personal website at http://www.chrismarionmusic.com.

Book ‘Em Dano – Be Your Own Booking Agent, Part 2 By Chris Marion, Harmony Central Contributing Editor Like we established in the first installment of this series, a booking agent is a sort of gig detective: finding work, protecting the act from damage and insuring fulfillment of contractual agreements. It is often an awkward situation when the artist also acts as a booking agent. It’s difficult to be the bad cop to get your paycheck then put on the good cop persona to entertain the crowd that has no idea what a stooge the club owner is. The secret weapon for avoiding ugly situations is managing the details. If the devil is in the details then most certainly you’ll experience hell if you don’t pay attention to them. Just like detectives spend an inordinate amount of their time filling out paperwork, the self-booking musician must sweat the details and make sure every T is crossed and I is dotted. Here are two specific strategies that can have a significant impact on effective booking and even repeat booking. Contracting Never (I repeat, never) do a show without having a mutually signed contract between your band and the buyer that documents the terms of the booking. Contracts can be broken and legal proceedings can ensue but if worse comes to worse, it’s easier to argue your case if everyone signed off on the terms. It also helps all parties to understand exactly what the arrangements are. It makes things easier to plan, makes the day of the show go smoother and it makes it easier to consistently pull off touring successfully. Here’s a link to a basic generic contract: http://hiphopproduction.com/contracts/booking\_contract.htm I recommend that you customize this to fit the parameters of your band from gig to gig. Do the paperwork now and save on headaches later. Contracting needs to happen as soon as you get a verbal agreement or commitment for the gig. I would be reluctant to work for any buyer who would not want to join you in a contractual agreement. You will notice in this generic contract that it stipulates how the show pay is to be dispensed and when. This might be the most important detail in the contract. Many national bands receive a partial deposit prior to the gig to secure the date. Local or regional acts don’t always have this luxury, especially if you’re playing for a portion of the door proceeds. Regardless, agree on a protocol with the client so you don’t get stuck with a check that bounces or with the owner skipping out the back with the cash drawer. It’s also imperative that you spell out things like any meals, refreshments, dressing rooms, duration of show, club or stage location, merchandise sales and percentages, or even if you get a bump in percentage if the door sales exceed a certain threshold. Personally, I recommend that you ask to get your show pay before the last set of the night if not before the show. Ticket sales are usually completed at this point and they’re already counting that cash drawer. Festivals and special events usually prepare checks ahead of time but it’s still imperative that you decide when and how the payment will be made and stipulated in the contract. Timeline Development The point in creating this for each gig is not as much to have a rigid timeline but more of chronology for the many contacts that go into booking. It helps to see when each contact was made and then have a plan for when subsequent contact will be made and for what purpose. As aforementioned, after the commitment is made, the first dated entry in the timeline should be contracts completed and mailed. If you plan to do any self promotion with print or radio, these contacts should be made at least 4 to 6 weeks prior to the booked date to allow for print schedule and materials being mailed. 2 to 3 weeks prior to the gig, you should contact the production manager for the club or the event to coordinate your input list and production needs. If you provide your own production, you still need to coordinate with the in house audio guy to find out AC and staging parameters. There is nothing like getting to the gig with a 25 foot power cord when the power outlet is 30 feet from the stage. 1 week prior to the event, it’s always good to make a complimentary call to the buyer or the manager just to demonstrate that you are thorough and to cover any last minute changes. Day of the gig – leave time for band, arrival time, departure time, other details. In future articles, we will talk about the importance of creating a day sheet that contains all essential information that is made available to all band and crew members. It literally and figuratively gets everyone on the same page. 1 week post gig follow up – this simple act of courtesy can often be as important to rebooking as a successfully completed event. It says you care about customer satisfaction and want to make sure you got it right. Sometimes the feedback can be invaluable to improving your product. At a minimum, you have an opportunity to say thanks and to articulate your desire to work for the client again in the future. Even if the gig is an epic failure, you’ve taken the classy high road. As mentioned in part one of this booking series, organization and planning are absolutely essential to successful self booking. Creative people are often disorganized to their own demise. Operating a band is ultimately operating a small business. Get into the good habit of incorporating some of these sound business strategies and as always, tour wisely my friends! Chris Marion is an American musician best know as a member of Little River Band and for his contribution to the gospel and country music industries. Although graduating college with a B.A. in Psychology, he is a classically trained pianist and has worked in the music industry professionally for over 35 years. As a resident of Nashville, he is involved in the recording industry working in the genres of Gospel, Country and Rock. Since 2004, he has toured globally with the classic rock act Little River Band as a keyboardist and vocalist. For more useless trivia and minutiae, you can visit his personal website at http://www.chrismarionmusic.com.

For all intents and purposes, a booking agent is much like the aforementioned Hawaii Five-O detective. An agent goes on the hunt for your gigs, does the legal paperwork and ultimately protects you from being victimized by felonious evil promoters and ne’er do well club owners. All of this official protection comes at the usual fee of 15\% of your gross. This sounds like a great deal for the band until you consider that after you calculate travel expenses, food, lodging, and maybe bar tab for a 5-piece band, the agent is getting a bigger slice of the pie than you and your bandmates. Conversely, the deal may not be that great for the booking agent either. To earn his 15 percent, he typically puts in five to six man-hours per booking, pays telephone and office expenses, duplication and printing for promotional materials, shipping costs, rent or lease for office space, as well as banking and transactional expenses. An agent might bring home a bigger check and be loved more as a greeter at Walmart versus being a booking agent for a weekend warrior bar band. Most national booking agencies will not accept regional or local bands for this very reason. 15 percent of a $30K guarantee goes a lot farther than 15 percent of a $1K guarantee. That said, there are some great strategies pro agents use that you can superimpose into your own booking schemes. Organization and planning are key to successful booking. Mistakes from bad planning end up costing the agency and artist money, and damage the business reputation of both for future work. Here are several basic strategies that will raise the bar for your booking game. What-Who-What - successful booking requires that you know what you are selling, who you’re selling to and what they are buying. Booking is fundamentally an effort to sell your act to a potential client – you’re a salesman. Without covering the WWW bases, you’re basically making a cold call. Dale Carnegie says that cold calling has a 6.1 percent success rate. In other words, without covering your bases, for every 100 calls or packets sent out, you might get 6 confirmed bookings. Raise your odds! - Know what you’re selling. If your band plays polka music with an accordion, don’t market yourself as a top 40 cover band. Make sure that your pitch represents your repertoire. Look through your set list, ask trusted friends or fans and consider what kind of style the bulk of your material represents and pitch accordingly. - Know who you’re selling to. Do your homework to find out accurate information about the name of the client or club, location, management and hours of operation. If it’s a festival or event, find out who controls talent coordination. It’s often someone completely different than the operational management and knowing will save time and possibly even promotional materials. - Know what they are buying. If you are a country cover band, don’t try to sell your band to a metal club. Do some recon by visiting the club or checking out their website to see what kinds of bands play there. For a festival, ask around about who has worked there in the past. Prepare Your Pitch – This is the part of booking that usually defeats acts before they get out of the blocks. Many of these clubs and talent buyers receive hundreds of packets in various degrees of professionalism and presentation. Yours better jump out of the pack or it will likely be filed in the circular file cabinet (trash can). All of the materials should be in a professional looking packet. This is where you can spend a little money and get some printed manila envelopes with your band logo with an attached business card. Here’s some things you should have inside to PYP: - Cover letter. One paragraph that days hello, is addressed to the guy who makes the call, expresses that you’d like to work for him and compels him to read and consider the enclosed materials. - One-sheet bio. This tells the potential client who you are, how to contact you, where they look for additional info, references of past clients, style, and membership. It needs to be no more than one page because you’ll by lucky to have them read past the name and style. Anymore is wasting paper and rainforests trees. - 8x10 that shows how beautiful you and your bandmates are. - Demo CD – This should not be your last 14-song CD. If possible, take your five best recordings that represent a good cross section of what you do and edit them into a 1-3 minute continuous playing track. You’ll get no more time than that and it will show your consideration for the buyer that he didn’t have to skim through 5 CDs to hear your version of Freebird. Meet and Greet – It is recommended that if at all possible, hand off your packet in person. Nothing makes your connection anymore compelling than taking the time and effort to personally pitch your band. If you can’t personally make the hand off, definitely try to at least talk to the buyer or manager before you agree to mail a package. Hedge your bets that they will remember the name when said packet arrives and actually give it some due diligence. In Book ‘Em Dano, Part Two, we will look at some procedures and strategies to streamline the process once you have a commitment from the client including contracts, contact timelines, collection, and follow up. As always, tour wisely my friends! Chris Marion is an American musician best know as a member of Little River Band and for his contribution to the gospel and country music industries. Although graduating college with a B.A. in Psychology, he is a classically trained pianist and has worked in the music industry professionally for over 35 years. As a resident of Nashville, he is involved in the recording industry working in the genres of Gospel, Country and Rock. Since 2004, he has toured globally with the classic rock act Little River Band as a keyboardist and vocalist. For more useless trivia and minutiae, you can visit his personal website at http://www.chrismarionmusic.com.