My blog was started back in 2006 with WordPress and over time the categories have gotten crazy out of hand. I write about the shows I work on, my original productions, science, religion, software and everything in between. It’s bad practice from an SEO standpoint and bad for focused business marketing, but it’s my personal blog so it is what it is.
How Music Works – Elements of a Vibrant Music Scene
David Byrne’s book “How Music Works” contains an interesting list of 8 elements he considers important for a vibrant music scene (Hardcover edition p. 253-263). David Byrne’s book is fascinating, the highlight for me being his dissection of how performance spaces affected the composition and orchestration of classical music.
But on p. 253-263 he dissects in more detail the elements that encourage talent to thrive in a vibrant scene. I think this list is a well thought out dissection of the music scene he was part of, but by no means a dissection of the elements needed for “any” vibrant scene.
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85 writing tips for play writers and screenplay authors
What is the one piece of advice you’ve received as a play writer or screenplay author that you wish someone had told you when you were starting out? That question was posed to a writer’s discussion group I belong to and here are over 85 answers.
Many of these are basic 101 type insights but I think even seasoned writers will find a few that will give them pause for thought. There are a few that say the same thing in different ways that I have kept in for reinforcement. To a writer, a piece of advice worded in a new way can lead to a different thought process and outcome.
Also, there’s at least one tidbit on this list that most people would say is “wrong”; so keep your critical eye on these and consider each one not as a rule, but as an element to consider absorbing into your creative process.
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Shure VP88 Battery Compartment
I’ve been going crazy trying to remember where the battery compartment is for my Shure VP88 microphone. I could not find any info online to open up the battery and put in a new battery for the VP88.
Askland Records Artists
Askland Records is an easy to deal with one-stop that represents publishing and master owners. Default publishing is Askland Publishing (ASCAP) and Conrad Askland is an ASCAP writer. Formerly under the Road Records label.
As of 2016, Askland Records represents the following artists:
(alphabetical order)
- 760 Crew
- Baby Sleep Ensemble
- Benjamin Trucale
- Cheer Trax (Cheer Tracks)
- The Barking Dogs
- Conrad Askland
- Cybermonsters
- Dr. Akula
- Hal Loween
- Halloween Sound Effects
- Jam Track
- Los Dorkos
- Meditations For Life
- Nature’s Music
- Nursery Tunes
- Rap Track (Rap Trax)
- Santa’s Farting Elves
- Zakari Music Therapy
Comparison and Contrast of the Advent of Commercial Radio vs. the Advent of Music Streaming Services
Comparison and Contrast of the Advent of Commercial Radio vs. the Advent of Music Streaming Services
Conrad Askland – 27 January 2016
Commercial radio broadcasting in the United States began in 1920 after the end of WWI and grew steadily in popularity through the late 1920’s and early 1930‘s. The dramatic effect of radio in the 1920‘s vs. the newspaper industry was that radio could deliver the news immediately as it was taking place. In addition, radio was free to listen to and easy to understand for those who had difficulty reading.
Two Copyright Scenarios with YouTube
Two Copyright Scenarios with YouTube
Conrad Askland – 26 January 2016
I would like to look at two similar uses of copyright on YouTube that had two different outcomes. Both samples are highlighted at TechDirt.com.
Sad State of Copyright: Guy Using Short Clips of Music In Viral Videos Accused of Infringement.
Steve Kardynal is a popular maker of funny online videos. One of his series is called “Songs in Real Life” where every so often the dialog is a short 3-10 second clip from a popular song.
A year after it was posted he received a takedown from Sony. Knowing that three strikes meant he would lose his account, he set his other songs to private to avoid getting any other strikes. So, essentially he had to shut down his account until he can figure a way around it. I went to view secondary uploads of his videos but even those were set to private. So it would look like Sony “won” and Steve Kardynal was shut down as a derivative artist in this manner.
The Project Management Song
The Project Management song by Conrad Askland.
I wrote this as part of a Project Management class I took with Berklee School of Music. I am currently working on some massive long term projects and took this class to refine my skills in project management. It was well worth it and I highly recommend the class. I’m pretty sure this is probably the first dance song ever written about Project Management.
My Top Picks for 2015 Technology Customer Service
As music producers we use a lot of different software formats. With my music libraries alone I counted 18 different companies that I’ve worked with in the last year. Most needing their own installation procedures and authorizations. It’s just part of the business and quickly leads to the no-fun zone.
Overall I think customer service across the board has improved greatly in the technology and music app sectors over the last ten years. There are three companies which have really stood out to me above all the rest in 2015 for outstanding customer service.
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Failure: How Artists and Entrepreneurs Can Benefit from Failure
Gerald Slavet, executive producer of the series “From the Top” says:
“There is no such thing as failure in the creative world.”
With each “failure” is the opportunity to refocus, change directions and make adjustments so the final outcome is success. Those few words are extremely powerful IF you are willing to honestly take stock of your progress as you move along on your creative project.
In my title for this blog post I say “Artists and Entrepreneurs” because the process of developing an idea is very similar (or the same!) for entrepreneurs and artists. Both go through this process:
- You get an idea, a kernel of inspiration for a new work, or are assigned a new property to develop
- You visualize the possible areas to explore on that property, look at it from different angles or perspectives, a period of discovery to find how many different variations of the final product or create process you can come up with
- Create a plan to begin creating the property
- Execution phase: Now you actually have to work!
- Assessment, Evaluation and Valuation: Is everything going to plan? Does it need adjustment? What are the roadblocks to the final developed property and how do you overcome those? Is this project on a trajectory of success?
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