Como Os Músicos Deveriam Usar O Facebook Live Para Alcançar Os Resultados - Parte I

This is how musicians should use Facebook Live to get results! (Part 1)

First of all thanks to Wade Sutton for this article.

I’m going to say something that is going to upset a lot of musicians.

I totally understand why you feel the way you do when you complain about fans at shows constantly having their phones out and taking pictures or videos of the performance instead of just watching it without using mobile devices.

But with cell phones, cameras, and social media all playing such a major role in society and the way we communicate, we have to understand that they are not going away any time soon. So we can either keep bitching about them…or we can find a way to make them work to our own advantage.

This was the internal dialogue I was having in my own mind a few months ago while driving to Austintown, Ohio to work with the lead vocalist of one of my client-bands, Amanda Jones & the Family Band.

And it was during that 30-minute commute on Interstate 80 that I started kicking around an idea, one that I knew Amanda and her band would be the perfect band to experiment with.

This article, the first of two parts, is a detailed look at that idea, how we implemented and rehearsed it, and some of the important decisions that had to be made going into it. The second part, which I’ll release in the next week or two, will delve into what happened the night of the show, problems that arose and how we dealt with them, and will include video of the entire Facebook Live broadcast as well as video shot from the floor of the venue.

But I’m also going to talk about the things that could have gone better than they did as well as what I think we should do differently the next time we attempt something like this. Even the most planned out shows can have things go wrong or pop up forcing musicians to think on their feet and adapt. Like boxing legend Mike Tyson used to say…everybody has a plan until they get punched.

[Not yet set up with a Facebook page for your music? Go HERE.]

THE PEOPLE INVOLVED

It would be a good idea to introduce you to the folks involved and why all of this went down in the manner that it did.

For those of you reading this not already familiar with me, I’m Wade Sutton from Rocket to the Stars – Artist Development and Music PR. I work with bands all over the world (thanks to Skype) and provide to them an array of PR-related services like bio and press release writing (I have an extensive journalism background), website and press kit creation, live event production, and more.

The band involved in this little experiment — Amanda Jones & the Family Band (an actual family band) — is from an area just outside of Youngstown, Ohio, which is about half way between Pittsburgh and Cleveland. They have been clients of mine for about one year and we were just recently beginning to really dig into their live show.

Their current set list is made of up a healthy combination of originals and covers. And while their music would most certainly fall under the country genre, their original music, individual style, personal likeability, and energy gives them an incredible amount of crossover appeal.

They also don’t burn out their local audience, instead making it a point to book dates outside the Youngstown area, including shows in Cleveland, the Pittsburgh market, and even down into West Virginia.

So this is a group that has worked hard to grow beyond being a local band and, while they aren’t famous or well-known, they are performing and operating on a regional level.

LOOKING FOR SOMETHING A LITTLE BIT DIFFERENT

Back to the day I was driving to work with Amanda.

This idea of artists blasting audiences for using their phones at shows was weighing on me and I kept coming back to one question: If fans at a live show will have their phones out, what can we do that will get them to use those phones in a manner that benefits the bands?

I knew a couple of things going into this. I wanted it to be something that involved Facebook Live and I wanted it to be something much different than what people typically see of a FB Live broadcast.

Using Facebook Live in a different way

I began formulating an idea that was born from two immensely popular performances I had seen over the past few years.

The first source of inspiration for the idea was a U2 performance I saw a couple of years ago in which the band invited a member of the audience to join them on stage. The woman they selected was given a cell phone tied to the band’s Periscope account. For one song, the fan was given free reign to walk around the stage showing whatever she wanted on camera and it was all broadcast live on Periscope. If I remember correctly, this all happened in that time period between when Twitter really started pushing Periscope (in direct competition with Meerkat) but before FB announced that it was working on the now popular Facebook Live feature.

The second source of inspiration for the idea was when Bruce Springsteen performed during the Super Bowl halftime show several years ago. The thing about that particular show that I always carried with me after watching it wasn’t how much energy Springsteen had on stage but was how he interacted with the cameras in addition to playing to the live audience. It created a sense of breaking the fourth wall and made for a television broadcast that was much more engaging for those watching on TV.

So taking those two performances as sources of inspiration, I knew we wanted to do something that was extremely engaging for both the audience attending the show live as well as the folks watching on Facebook AND we wanted to create something that would encourage people to share the video AND we wanted to walk away from it with incredible footage that the band could then re-purpose and use for marketing materials, including a sizzle reel that could be shown at trade conventions or to send to colleges at which the band is hoping to be booked.

Why is most Facebook Live concert footage boring?

There is an inherent problem with the vast majority of Facebook Live broadcasts done by music artists wanting to air portions of their live show. More often than not, the artist places their phone on a tripod (or has somebody else hold it) and the phone is situated off to the side of the stage. The artist then performs for their audience and totally ignores the camera. So it leaves the viewer watching online feeling like they are a fly on the wall…a passive observer.

It results in a very strong feeling of detachment for the viewer, something that is in direct opposition of the engaging experience artists should be trying to create for fans.

What were we going to do different with FB Live?

When I arrived for my appointment with Amanda, the idea was pretty much fleshed out and we immediately began planning it:

We were going to take a three song portion of an upcoming live show, put together a high-energy performance for those three songs, and broadcast it live on Facebook Live… we were going to have the camera operator moving around on the stage with the band. This meant making sure the camera operator knew everything that was going on performance-wise so she would have the camera on the appropriate band member at any given time and so we could capture specific angles at specific times. And, most importantly, the band was going to be performing to the camera as much as the audience at the venue.

We were essentially creating a live mini-television production for FB Live.

We then decided to add an additional layer by erecting a video screen at the venue on which the broadcast would be shown as it was happening live. The reason we did that was because we wanted to encourage fans at the show to break out their phones, share the broadcast with their own Facebook friends, and leave comments so they could see their own names and comments pop up on the screen next to the stage…all things that would make Facebook detect the video as “interesting content” and hopefully push it into more people’s news feeds.

WHAT WE HAD TO DECIDE

In planning out this three song broadcast, we had to make some pretty important decisions. The two things that jumped out immediately were figuring out what three songs would be performed during that broadcast and during what live show would the broadcast take place.

Choosing the right songs to broadcast via Facebook Live

As far as what three songs we would use, we took a look at all of the band’s options. As I said previously, their set list includes a combination of originals and covers. I suggested to Amanda that we stick to using only originals for the broadcast. As many musicians know, Universal Music Group has been on a tear pulling down covers of their songs done by music artists and posted on Facebook. Even though we could have used covers owned by other publishing companies, I felt the broadcast and video content was too important for the band to risk butting heads with any publishing companies. And it wasn’t like they were lacking quality originals that could be used for the broadcast.

I also wanted them to use originals that were upbeat because the performances during that broadcast were going to utilize an extensive amount of movement. I wanted the entire broadcast to be full of energy so anything remotely close to a ballad was tossed from the start. We eventually whittled it down to three songs: “Jones Family Reunion,” “Ready to Fall,” and “Wine, Whiskey, and Beer.”

“Jones Family Reunion” was the perfect song to start the broadcast with for several reasons. Not only is it a very fun and upbeat song, it also does an incredible job reinforcing one of the most interesting aspects of the band’s branding in that most of the members are family. That was extremely important because it is one of the things about the band that a lot of fans remember when they are first exposed to them. So starting the broadcast with that song allowed us to introduce people watching it to one of the things about them that is different from most other bands out there and it was done in a very high-energy manner.

“Ready to Fall” was a natural fit for the second slot. It gave us an opportunity to do a song that was about falling in love but wasn’t a weepy, slow song. And while it was upbeat, it was one we could bring down the visual energy (for the first half) by having Amanda sing at the mic stand and putting more attention on the lyrics for a period of time. We did this on purpose because we wanted to come out of this song and ramp up the visual energy for the end of the broadcast but we needed the audience to SEE the energy increasing over that time period. Doing so keeps the show visually interesting for both the audience at the venue and watching on Facebook Live.

“Wine, Whiskey, and Beer” was the finale for the three song broadcast. The song is a fan favorite and includes a call-and-response. It was also a very appropriate song to continue increasing the visual energy coming out of “Ready to Fall,” enabling us to keep a very natural flow to the show and the Facebook Live broadcast. It also gave us an opportunity to show that even though the band’s performances are branded as something that families can take their kids to, the band can still let loose in a manner that parents would be okay with having their children at the show. It is a party…but it is a controlled party.

So all three of the songs were selected because not only were they catchy and energetic, they all had their own way of reinforcing the band’s brand and image. This is an area in which I’ve always felt too few bands are giving their attention and it is holding them back in a big way.

Choosing the right gig to broadcast via Facebook Live

The next thing on our plate was figuring out at which show this Facebook Live performance was going to take place. We had several options available to us but there were two that stood out: the band’s appearance at WinterFest in downtown Cleveland or at their show at a venue called Bootlegger’s near Yankee Lake, Ohio.

WinterFest was a great opportunity for them. It was a performance that was tied directly to a much bigger event (so they weren’t solely responsible for bringing in the crowd) and it was one at which a lot of people were expected to turn out. But there were some cons to trying to do the broadcast there. Because the show was going to be outdoors on a November Cleveland day, I was concerned the wind would nix any plans to erect the video screen on which the FB Live broadcast would be shown. One strong gust and that thing would have been sailing into the air and out over Lake Erie. And even though we knew attendance for the festival was expected to be pretty high, we knew attendees would have a lot of things to do and look at and we didn’t know to what extent that would suck people away from the stage to do other things. Lastly, WinterFest was right around the corner from when we started fleshing out this idea and we wouldn’t have very much time to rehearse for it.

Bootlegger’s was the other attractive option. The band had performed there on two other occasions and, both times, had big turnouts. The venue is pretty much in the band’s backyard and, like I said earlier, they make it a point to not over-saturate the local market by doing too many shows locally. The show was booked for late January and gave us more time to prepare. And, most importantly, we discovered that the venue had just spent major cash on a new lighting and effects system that would blow people’s socks off. Having decided that we wanted to take video from this performance to use for marketing purposes, this was too good of an opportunity to pass up.

We circled the Bootlegger’s date as the show during which the Facebook Live broadcast would take place.

INTO THE REHEARSAL ROOM

We set aside two Sunday afternoons to work on the production of the broadcast, with each session lasting two hours.

In helping the band with this, I had to focus on two things: Making sure their performances were planned out with a lot of energy and I had to work with the camera operator on walk her through everything we would need her to do. Remember that she needed to know everything that was going on during the performance, where on stage it was happening, and where she was going to have to be to get the best angle. A friend of the band, Alyce, volunteered to be the camera operator so I asked that she be present at both rehearsals.

We addressed the performances first. Fortunately, the band brings a lot of experience to the stage as well as a willingness to try new things, is fantastic at accepting coaching (a rarity in this business, believe it or not), and already came in with a greater than average level of energy and enthusiasm. So it wasn’t difficult to get them to ratchet the energy up a few more levels. We then focused on creating visuals that would stick out to people watching the show. This included sections in the broadcast in which Amanda was on her knees with Michael and Nathan on either side of her, Amanda tossing beach balls out into the crowd, and Amanda actually singing while riding on Nate’s shoulders while he walked around playing bass during the finale of the broadcast.

It was all stuff that would look great performance-wise even without the impressive lighting at the venue. Since we had only a couple of hours to sort everything out, we took a “broad strokes” approach creating and working on these very cool visuals in cleaning up any major problems that popped up.

While we were hammering down all the movements that would take place during the broadcast, we also had to hash out things like when Amanda and members of the band would be performing to the camera operated by Alyce vs when they were performing to the crowd attending the show at Bootlegger’s. Proving that they were in fact the perfect band to run this little experiment with, the band had no problem hamming it up for the camera during rehearsal.

Positioning the camera operator

Once all of that was done, we had to address the final layer: Alyce’s presence on the stage during the show. I wanted to make this as easy as possible for her so grabbed Brittany’s iPhone (the same one we would be using for the Facebook Live broadcast) and I had the band run through each of the three songs while I recorded the video as if we were doing the FB Live broadcast. We then sent the video file to Alyce so she could study before the second two-hour session. It basically provided her with a video walk-through of where she had to be and where the camera had to be pointed at any given time.

The second two-hour session was spent doing repeated run-throughs of the three song set. We also worked on Amanda’s delivery during the transitions when she would direct the crowd to sign-up for the band’s e-mail list, give them the rundown on the merchandise giveaway that was being run through sharing the FB Live video, and directing the audience on the call-and-response going into the last song. And this gave Alyce several opportunities to operate the camera through the entire set while we made adjustments to the performances and added more movements to the show.

We wrapped up that second rehearsal with a ten-minute FB Live broadcast during which the band and I discussed the work that went into it.

WRAPPING UP PART 1

So now you know about everything leading into the show and the Facebook Live broadcast. In Part 2, you will get a very detailed look at everything that took place during the show, problems that popped up, things that went exactly the way we were hoping as well as aspects of the show that could have gone better, and you will get to see the actual Facebook Live broadcast in its entirety as well as video of the performance shot from the floor.

9 Dicas Para Escrever Um Grande Refrão!

9 Secrets to Writing a Great Chorus

First of all thanks to Robin Yukiko  for this article.

One of the main tools in your songwriting arsenal is the almighty Chorus. Sometimes it comes naturally, sometimes it is elusive. Oftentimes, it gets lost in the other sections and needs a way to stand apart. Here are nine unabashed ways to make a chorus sound more like a chorus.

1. Use your hook at the beginning AND end of the chorus. Bookending it gives the listener a chance to hear it again and makes it clear that it’s important.

2. Place a solid I (one) chord at the beginning. Example: if you are in the key of C, give us a nice big C chord (or A minor) for that sense of arrival that marks a chorus. Bookend it for a classic chorus, or make it the second chord, but the ear wants it in there somewhere, especially at the start of the section. Avoid it, and your song will sound like it’s in a constant state of transition.

3. Write big sweeping melodies (wide intervals, long tones) or short rhythms. Whatever you have in your verse, make it the opposite in the chorus--and make it extreme. These are often the most memorable.

4. Change the feel. It doesn't have to be as dramatic as Alex Clare going into dubstep in “Too Close”. No Doubt did it in Sunday Morning to smokin' effect going from half-time reggae to four-on-the-floor(ish).

5. Keep the chorus's melody in a different range to differentiate it even more. Typically the chorus is higher in pitch, but not always.

6. Get vague. The time for lyrical specifics is usually in your verses. Let your choruses generalize/label, say how you feel, or have a catch phrase that will mesh with your entire song.

7. Add a pre-chorus or transitional bridge. Taking a few bars before the chorus to set up the change can make all the difference in defining your sections. (There are lots of ways to use this section, including making phrases twice as long or twice as short to highlight that something different is coming, especially if your chorus is similar to your verses.)

8. Color. This one is a little trickier but, if you can manage it, adds extra finesse to your lyrics. Create line in your chorus which, when repeated after each verse, takes on a new meaning. This is advanced stuff!

And finally...

9. Know when you need a chorus. Sometimes, when you have a rocking verse, all you need is a refrain (a short hook that gets tacked on like "Come Together right now over me"). Sometimes the song calls for AABA and all you need is a bridge.

Serve the song and she will serve you. Happy writing! 

Como Peter Hollens Mudou A Indústria Da Música De Sua Sala - Video

How Peter Hollens Changed The Music Industry From His Living Room

First of all thanks to Danny Ross  for this article.

Peter Hollens didn’t plan for this. In fact, he never thought of it as a possibility. Yet, he's become a model for how to succeed in the modern music business as an independent artist. Hollens has accomplished a lot in his young career, starring in the NBC reality show The Sing Off and innovating the music business on Patreon, just to name a few accomplishments. He's also garnered millions of fans on social media, with over 400 million views of his self-produced videos. And he’s found a way to do it all without leaving his cul-de-sac in Eugene, Oregon. On a snowy day in New York, I was fortunate to get Peter on the phone:

Danny Ross: Let's start at the beginning. How did you fall in love with music?

Peter Hollens: My mom forced me into choir in high school. Thank god for mothers…. My choral director basically gave me my life. I was such a miserable kid, super depressed. I wanted to be able to do that for other kids. Quickly found out that classical music zapped the life out of me so I started an a cappella group to counterbalance Bach and Beethoven. Quickly fell in love with the recording studio after. Saved up to get my master’s degree and purchased myself a home studio.

Ross: You first made money in music by recording a cappella groups as a producer-engineer. How did that come about?

Hollens: Literally, I would fly out to New York and for $25 an hour, I’d record an a cappella group in a dorm room. Eighteen hours a day, an entire album in a week and a half. I did that at Yale, and I did that at Cornell, at Georgia. I loved it! I slept in a sleeping bag. After recording for tens of thousands of hours for all these groups, I started doing it for myself. I was already very proficient at it.

Ross: And this experience led to The Sing Off?

Hollens: I was at home recording my own group at the time when the producers of The Sing Off called, and they were trying to get more groups to audition for the second season. The producers go crazy trying to find contestants. I was helping put together a girls group for them, and I was convincing my guys' group at the time (“On The Rocks”) to audition. They had me come down and audition with them, and I ended up being the soloist on the show.

Before that I wasn’t performing as a solo artist, I was just completely and 100% content being a producer. I loved working with singers and getting the best out of them. I truthfully had no delusions of grandeur of any type of solo career whatsoever. I loved singing with all my heart. The only way I knew how to make money was either performing on cruise ships and then the recording stuff.

After the show, it gave me the impetus to start recording stuff myself. Not because I got thousands and thousands of fans–I probably got two hundred people that added me on Facebook. But my dad was actually dying of cancer at the time and he always asked me to record some of my own music. I thought, ‘Why don’t I just turn this mic on myself and stop recording these college kids?’

Ross: And what was the first step in launching a solo career?

Hollens: I started reverse-engineering what I saw succeeding online at the time. And it was pretty apparent to me in 2010-2011 that YouTube had a few success stories–Kurt Hugo Schneider, Boyce Avenue, Tyler Ward. I had seen my exact genre of music succeeding on there with a kid by the name of Mike Tompkins, a Canadian who was doing a cappella.

I thought ‘I could do that. I already know how to record a cappella music like that, and I can teach myself how to do video like that.’

Ross: So you produced tracks and created videos by yourself in a home studio?

Hollens: There’s truly no reason not to teach yourself every aspect, from concept to execution. Content is the king, music video is the queen and those two things need to be married. Otherwise, you don’t actually have a product. I don’t believe in an album anymore, everything needs to be a single.

I did it all myself because I wanted to have no overhead, because I didn’t have that much money, and I was living in someone else’s house eating ramen noodles with my wife. I was learning a lot in those first 18 months, I wasn’t gaining that much traction.

As I gathered steam, I took my gross revenue and started bringing people on because, in the end, it’s about making your product as good as possible. I’d bring on audio editors, mixing engineers and mastering engineers. So the only thing I was doing was recording myself and I’m the executive producer. I’m working on 15 to 20 projects at once.

I’m an adviser for the company. It changed my life. It saved me.

Ross: Soon Lindsey Stirling took notice of you, and that collaboration quadrupled your fanbase. How did that come about?

Hollens: I started learning the basics of everything–business, marketing, social media. When you see something working, you can go back and say ‘How are they doing this? What metadata are they using?’ And researching what thought-leaders in the space are saying because they’re not that tight-lipped. Just like I’m not.

I started viewing artists on YouTube as peers, not as competitors. The second an artist can change their mind from looking at it about making money, to helping others and doing it because you love it, it’s insane how much more successful you’ll be. I always give more than I get. Always. From the first penny in gross revenue, I’ll usually split everything in perpetuity. So it’s not about money; it’s about relationship-building, transparency. The relationship you have for decades is much more important than a one-off where you try to siphon a few more dollars from somebody else.

Ross: Your success on YouTube led to a major record deal. What happened?

Hollens: I never wanted a record deal but because I was moving so many units I was able to negotiate terms. Everyone should realize that every contract is negotiable (Hello!). I quickly realized that someone like myself should never have anyone telling them what to do. I’m a digital brand. I can create an entire career never leaving my cul-de-sac in Eugene, Oregon.

I thought I knew better than they did, and they didn’t like artists acting that way. Once you have control of something and you build it yourself, it’s very hard to relinquish. I don’t want to be some famous millionaire -- that’s not my prerogative. I want to create something that’s meaningful to my fanbase, meaningful to me. Going on the road 200 days a year is not going to make me a good father and a good husband, and I don’t think musician’s need to do that anymore. [It was] the biggest speed bump you could ever have in a career.

Ross: You’ve since managed to thrive as an independent artist through the site, Patreon. What is it?

Hollens: It’s a community management tool that actually pays you a salary. You can look at it like a Kickstarter that never ends. Why would you do an entire marketing campaign and bombard your entire fanbase to do something once, and make one lump of cash, which in the end is worthless?

A Kickstarter is a great tool to fund a CD. But do you want to fund a CD or do you want to have a great career doing what you love? And a company being built by creators for creators is the only way to succeed in perpetuity. Nothing exclusive from a contract perspective, something that never ends, and allows us to grow our own companies. As musicians, we are digitally media companies.

Ross: How has Patreon helped to develop your business model?

Hollens: Knowing that I had a few thousand people on Patreon giving me X amount of money per video guaranteed that I could have longevity to my career. The only thing that matters in a music career is your community. I believe that Patreon is the first company that has truly understood where we’re going in this 'Creator Revolution.'

When I joined the first week it came out, I was like, 'You want to give me money? I better check this out!' I quickly realized this was recurring at a 95/5 split, and I just flipped out. Now I’m an adviser for the company. It changed my life. It saved me.

Playing live just doesn’t pay. Even with millions of followers online, I would have lost $10,000-$15,000 on a 20-city tour. There’s just no reason to do that anymore.

Game Of Thrones - New Demo Soundtrack - Video

Game Of Thrones - New Demo Soundtrack

Hi everyone

Here is other demo soundtrack that I called 'Pre-Battle'.

I start this one when I was playing a video game 'Dark Kingdom', after listen several soundtracks during the game I decided to do something like that more 'Epic'

As Game Of Thrones new season will be released soon then I choose to put this soundtrack into a taser as you will see I edit the video and cut in 2 minutes.

That is it! Please make you comments good or not always will be welcome.

Incubus Esta De Volta

How Incubus Got Their Groove Back

HUNTINGTON BEACH, CA - JULY 07: Singer Brandon Boyd (L) and guitarist Mike Einziger of the band Incubus perform onstage during the Grand Opening of The Bungalow Huntington Beach at The Bungalow Huntington Beach on July 7, 2016 in Huntington Beach, California. (Photo by Matt Winkelmeyer/Getty Images for Bolthouse Productions)

First of all thanks to Steve Baltin   for this article.

Incubus recently released their new single, “Nimble Bastard,” from their forthcoming album 8, due April 21. The album is the band’s first full-length in five years and you can feel how the break has rejuvenated the long-running Southern California quintet.

Propelled by producer Dave Sardy, an impromptu collaboration with Skrillex on “Familiar Faces” that came about from their friendship -- Skrillex was just in the studio and decided to work on the song --  and the love they are receiving from their new label, Island, Incubus have delivered a monster rock record, one they cannot wait to take on tour this year with Jimmy Eat World.

I have known the Incubus guys for years and over the past few years Monica Molinaro and I have been fortunate to have several in-depth conversations with frontman Brandon Boyd. So when we jump on the phone with him the day after the Grammys it is like reconvening with an old friend. In that spirit he opened up immensely on the state of the band, how Sardy pushed him, Beyonce and how he finds it best to write political songs in these crazy times.

Steve Baltin: How is it to go back into the Incubus machine after focusing on your artwork?

Brandon Boyd: It helps to have the might of a major label pushing a project and also, being super behind us too.  We haven’t experienced this kind of enthusiasm from a record label in a long time, which is so heartwarming just because we put everything we have into what we do.

Baltin: It definitely feels like this record had a thematic element. Did you notice that?

Boyd: I’ve really only, in the past couple of months, started to pick up on a couple of these things. It will be some time before a larger, more cohesive unifying theme reveals itself to me. But some of the themes that have come up, some of the thru-lines, are around raging, obsolescence, themes around paranoia that I’m picking up on, noticing patterns that have been repeated where you’re sort of waking up from repeated patterns, whether psychological or emotional patterns, attempting to want to break them perhaps and the sort of scariness and also the excitement of trying something brand new.

Monica Molinaro: What was exciting to me in listening to the album was sensing some frustration. It gave a great energy to your vocals and the guitar and bass parts really stuck out to me too. 

Mikey and Ben came into full Mikey and Ben formation when we were writing this. Everything Mikey showed was like, “Check this out,” all these boner riffs. It was fun to hear what they kept coming up with over and over again. I think if anything the process of writing this album was probably the hardest on me because what I was going through in my personal space, but also Dave Sardy, who produced the record, did not take it easy on me as a singer and lyricist. He was like, “Yeah, you’re awesome, man, but try that again and how about again and again and one more time.” We just chipped away at it until it was as awesome as it could be. But I’m actually really happy with how it ended up, so hopefully our fans will feel the same way.

Baltic: Do you feel like you also have more of an appreciation for this period of creativity having gone through ups and downs? 

Boyd: Mikey and I have been talking a lot about it in the past few weeks as we’ve been finishing the record and talking to people a little bit about it and playing it for some close, trusted friends and that’s really where we keep landing, like, “Holy s**t, we have been a band for 26 years and we’re still in love with the process of making album.” As difficult as it can be sometimes it still, at the end of the day, brings a level of joy and creative satisfaction. I’m certain that the challenge inherent in writing music and writing original music and hopefully writing innovative music is something that keeps us coming back to the table.

Baltic: What did you learn about yourself from this album?

Boyd: Working with Dave, he really, really challenged me. I love this dude to the end of the earth, but I would come to the studio and be like, “I did it, check it out, I got this badass chorus.” I’d sing it, lay it down and then go in the studio like, “Check it out, it’s cool, right?” He’d be like, “Hmm, no, I just…” He was just not there with me. And he kept reminding me, “I’m one of your biggest fans, Incubus has meant a lot to me over the years. So I’m coming at producing this album like I am a super fan who gets to finally produce an Incubus record. And I am not letting you get away with anything that’s not amazing.” So, on paper, it’s like, “Right on, man, that’s a great idea.” But the reality of it was holy s**t, he was hard on me. He did not let me sleep on any part. I did every part like a hundred times and he would kind of like brutalize my voice to the point where I would start to lose it towards the end of the day and he’d be like, “Just one more.” Then that was the one he would use. You can hear the strain in my voice on this album. As far as I can tell it’s never really been there. It sounds kind of cool cause he was able to unearth another layer of my voice as a singer. I think it’s a really good producing ethos for any band or artist coming up, work with a producer who knows what you’ve done thus far and has really enjoyed it, but also has really unrealistically high hopes for what you can still achieve.

Molinaro: When you talked about stretching your vocals it made me think of the Beyonce song “Sandcastles,” where she cracks in it. It’s like heart wrenching and it makes you more invested in the music because you can tell it’s really special and meaningful to them. 

Boyd: Yeah, there’s something to that. I just heard the song today funnily enough and I heard the same thing. I was like, “Wow, I’ve never heard Beyonce kind of crack, I’ve never heard the grumble in her voice before and it makes me like her more.” It’s interesting because we live in this time of incredible technologies where any person can go into a recording studio and go, “Ah, ah” into a microphone and a producer can turn that into a hit song. So there’s something fascinating about that, but there’s also something that’s lost in that, where we have to remind ourselves sometimes we’re human beings with instruments and we’re making sounds out of nothing. I think that’s something that Dave helped us chip away at hopefully on this record and hopefully our listeners hear the album and pick up on that.

Molinari: Were there other collaborations or partnerships that were influential to this work besides the Skrillex one? 

Boyd: Off the top of my head, no. We’re mostly very insular and mostly everything is in house, kind like a music factory, but also the art and the videos, so it’s all kind of in our close creative family. Maybe it can be limiting sometimes, so we’re always open to inviting new people into our weird polyamorous cult that we have. But, for the most part, it was just us in the man cave creating music.

Molinari: And was it important to incorporate your thoughts in this political climate?

Boyd: It is definitely one of the most interesting times politically and socially, interesting being the operative term or lack of a better term. I feel like the kind of creative sentiments that are going to be the most beneficial are the ones that are a little bit more lovingly subversive. Yes, there’s the need for open protests, like go into the streets protest. I did the women’s march downtown, it was one of the most beautiful afternoons I’ve ever spent in my city here. I was so proud of Los Angeles, I was so proud that many people could peacefully gather and walk in the streets in opposition to so much of what the coming administration stands for. But, from my point of view, I feel like the types of ideas that are going to be the most lovingly effective and lasting are the ones that people don’t even realize they’re being infected with. So people in Trump country are like, “I love this song.” And they’ll be infected with this kind of west coast ethos.

Baltic: Talk about this tour with Jimmy Eat World, how that pairing came about and what you look for in bands you tour with.

Boyd: You can usually get a sense of that by the kind of music that people are making. I don’t know the guys in Jimmy Eat World very well, I’ve met most of them like in passing. But they’ve always seemed like really rad, genuine dudes that I do very much like their music and I know that they also are doing very well with their new album. So it’s cool, we’ll piggyback with other bands like we did with the Deftones. They were planning on being on tour and we were going on tour so it was like, “Hey, let’s go tandem together forever.”

Vevo Está Agora Financiando Vídeos De Música E Jorja Smith Foi a Escohida

Vevo Is Now Funding Videos, Starting With Drake-Approved Jorja Smith

Jorja Smith performs at Radio 1's Future Headliners Live Music Event at Maida Vale Studios in London. 

Vevo is now in the business of funding music videos, starting with the new single from British singer -- and Drakefavorite -- Jorja Smith. In November, Vevo selected Smith as one of this year's Dscvr Ones to Watch artists, and now the video platform has produced the video for her song "Beautiful Little Fools," Music Week is reporting.

"It was clear from the outset of meeting Jorja that she has an amazing talent," said James Moodie, senior manager of music and talent at Vevo. "It’s been a privilege to be part of her journey since, lending a hand to support her vision."

The video, which has not been released, was shot at London's Rivoli Ballroom and directed by Hector Dockrill. Smith recently performed a pair of tracks for Vevo's Dscvr Live program. She got an even bigger promotional boost in early February when Drake posted a photo of the artist's EP, Project 11, on his Instagram.

9 Minutes De Exercício Para Desenvolver Sua Habilidade De Escrever Música

The 9-Minute Songwriter Workout

First to all thanks to Clay Mills or this article.

These three songwriting exercises are designed to get you into the flow of writing without thinking. Your best ideas come from your subconscious—and, you can tap into this with regular practice. Remember to do these exercises quickly, spending three minutes on each in rapid fire succession. I set the timer on my iPhone. Don’t judge or question ANYTHING you write down. This isn’t a test! The sole purpose is to train your creative thinking to respond on command. I find it helps to write with pen and paper, instead of typing. A lot of studies show that your brain responds differently when writing, as opposed to typing.

Pen and paper? Timer set? Okay, let’s go!

1.Write down every song title that comes to mind without censoring yourself. Work fast. Spit out titles. No judgement. Go wherever your thoughts take you. Note: These are your own original titles, not pre-existing song titles!

2.Choose one of your titles to play word association. Write down every word or phrase that relates to your title. Don’t think! Just work as quickly as possible. This will free up your subconscious. Here’s an example of how I free associated with one of my Darius Rucker #1 hits:

Title: ”Don't Think I Don't Think About It"

Associations: regrets, missing you, could've been, should've been, wrong choices, 

mistakes, do I cross your mind?, looking back, rear view mirror, where are you today?

3.Choose a word in your title and play poor man’s rhyming dictionary. Write down as many rhymes as you can. Example: My title is “Don't Think I Don't Think About It,” rhyming the word, “it.” Work your way through the alphabet and add consonants to the beginning of the word. B-it, F-it, Gr-it, H-it, S-it, W-it, etc. Not all letters will work, so move quickly to the next. Today, there is less emphasis on perfect rhymes, so don't be afraid to cast a wider net: D-itch, W-itch, S-witch. In the example song, I chose to use the word "regret" as a rhyme with “it.” The meaning of the word, coupled with Darius's delivery, made it work beautifully. This exercise will strengthen your rhyming skills, so that it becomes second nature. Your goal is to spend less time “thinking" of rhymes while writing. 

Congratulations, you did it! Repeat daily!

Write On!