Our video on Youtube

Example of our final storyboard

Soul music research

Here is some research I found on soul music:

Soul music combines rhythm and blues and gospel music, originating in the United States. According to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, soul is

"music that arose out of the black experience in America through the transmutation of gospel and rhythm & blues into a form of funky, secular testifying."

Some Soul Subgenres

Mowtown: Strongly rhythmic, and influenced by gospel music. The Motown Sound often includes hand clapping, a powerful bass line, violins, bells and other untraditional instruments.

Deep soul and southern soul: Combining R&B's energy with pulsating southern United States gospel music sounds

Blue-eyed soul: Usually performed by white artists, blue-eyed soul is often characterized by catchy hooks and melodies

Neo soul: A mixture of 1970s soul-styled vocals and instrumentation with a contemporary R&B sound, hip hop beats and rap interludes. The style first appeared in the mid 1990s

Soul Artists and some of their Videos

Old:

• Gladys Knight & The Pips

"The End Of Our Road"

• The Marvelettes
• Diana Ross & The Supremes
• Elvis Presley

"Jailhouse Rock"

• Jackson 5

"ABC"

New:

• Joss Stone

"Tell Me Bout It"

• Lemar
• Lauren Hill

"Everything Is Everything"

• Aaliyah
• Alicia Keys
• Amy Winehouse

"Rehab"

Press Releases

In terms of press Releases musicbizacademy.com has everything you need to know. I will at some point copy and paste the most important parts of i and put it into this blog, but until then here is the link:
http://www.musicbizacademy.com/articles/pressrelease.htm

Choice FM

I was listening to Asha's Request Hour on Choice FM and she was talking about how independant artists could send them their singles/albums and they would listen to them and give them feedback. They have even aired some idie artists on some of their shows (not just the late night shows but Masterstepz 6-8). this shows that even some radio stations help indie artists by talking about/airing their songs.

Music Promo Tips

(http://www.bardscrier.com/musicbiz/)

· The cheapest and most effective way of marketing your music is by not doing it at all. Rather, it's by getting other people to do it for you: The easiest way to do this is by causing people to know about you by word of mouth. For example if you reach one person then they can talk about you and invite you to their gigs.
· But I became a fan and started telling my friends about them when Larry Kirwan, the lead singer of Black 47, emailed me back: through blogs such as Myspace people are able to find out more about you and your band not only through your page but because you are able to comment them back, making them feel a sort of personal connection because not every band takes the time to do this

· Although exposure is critical to success in the entertainment business, the high cost of traditional marketing has made generating widespread publicity beyond the reach of many independent artists, labels and emerging companies: To overcome this many online companies have opened up in order to cater for those independent artists trying to distribute their music to the public. For example there is the Billboard and Vocus Music and Entertainment SEO Press Release Service which was launched on the 24th October 2006.
· Top 13 Music Marketing Articles of March 2006

1. The Price Is Right: Making Money With the Real Deals
2. Passive Income for Musicians
3. 5 Unique Ways To Get FREE Advertising for Your Band
4. Making Money with Free Stickers Inside
5. Don't Lose Web Traffic Through Your Email
6. Two Easy Steps to Describing Your Band for Greater Web Traffic and More Fans, Part 1
7. Promoting Your Music Through Amazon.com
8. Who Needs Flyers? How to Generate a Flood of Local Web Site Traffic for your Unsigned Band
9. How to Write Testimonials that Sell Like Magic
10. How to Sell CDs from your Website and Still Keep Your Fans Happy
11. How to Effectively Sell Your CDs Online
12. Cats Know Good Music Promotion When They Hear It
13. eBay auction madness offers a great lesson viral music marketing

Promoting your music via Myspace

For a long time now it has been known that Myspace is a good tool for music artists to promote their bands/themselves as a means to reach more fans. Many people start off on Myspace and grow from the fan base that they create from there. A man named Bob Baker wrote a book on how artists can use Myspace to their full potential. Here are some of his ideas
(go to this page for the full information
http://www.bob-baker.com/af/7myspc.html):



"Attract more fans, sell more music, bring more people to your shows — I guarantee it!" – Bob Baker

With more than 185 million registered users and hundreds of thousands of music acts setting up free profiles on the site, MySpace.com has become a godsend for countless independent artists.
I spent several months researching MySpace and uncovering how the most successful acts use it to reach thousands of fans, make connections, and advance their music careers.
I searched far and wide for useful how-to information on MySpace music marketing ... and couldn't find any. So I decided to publish it myself. Therefore, to help you reach thousands of new fans and make valuable music biz contacts on MySpace (especially if you are just getting started with the site) ... I have published a 132-page, first-ever, one-of-a-kind book called ...

Here's a quick look at some of the Contents:

MySpace: The Big Picture

• What "social networking" is and how it can help you market your music to the masses.
• What successful indie acts like Relient K, My Chemical Romance, Tila Tequila, DJ Heavygrinder, and Hawthorne Heights (as well as major acts like Madonna, Coldplay, Foo Fighters, Black Eyed Peas, and Death Cab for Cutie) know that you don't.

How to Set Up a Killer MySpace Profile

• What most bands do wrong with their profile headline
• Insider tips on fine-tuning your MySpace profile for maximum punch
• How to use the "Influences" and "Sounds Like" sections to reach your ideal raving fans
• The one thing you must do with your song files

• An awesome song sample trick hardly anyone is doing
• What you really should and shouldn’t do with your default photo
• How to maximize your Profile Settings
• Special resources to help you spice up your profile's look and feel (with an important word of warning)

Using MySpace to Turbo-Charge Your Indie Music Career

• The 7 types of "Friends" you need to make on MySpace
• How the most successful bands build huge and loyal friend lists
• Four ways to uncover your ideal MySpace friends and music business contacts
• Top tips for sending and receiving friend requests
• The "Smart Way" and the "Dumb Way" to leave comments
• Three things you need to know about sending and receiving MySpace messages

• Why you need to post Bulletins and add your Upcoming Shows to the calendar — and how to do it effectively
• Advice on posting killer content to your blog and joining MySpace groups
• Why you should create your own MySpace group to attract fans like magnets
• The best ideas on working the Forums and posting in the free Classifieds section
• More hot tips on uploading your videos, scouring the MySpace Music Directory, and using Music Search