• Songs from the Vault, vol. 1 is now available on the iTunes Music Store. Hooray!
• The next edition, SFTV2, will be available for Matthew Ebel dot net members as soon as the artwork is ready to go.
• At long last, The Entourage has come to Matthew Ebel dot net. Now those fans that want to become patrons of the arts (and get everything I’ve ever released, and ge ttheir name in the credits for my albums, etc.) can sign up for this exclusive group. Membership is limited to 5 people per year, so check it out at Matthew Ebel dot net

The Plot (and Mo) Thickens

Anyhoo, thus far my fans and I have only raised about $185 for the cause. ACK! This is pitiful! It’s not even close to the $1,250 that C.C. Chapman has raised! This is unacceptable! We must TAKE HIM DOWN! All you have to do to assure victory (and help fight cancer) is donate right here…

C.C.’s Inferior Mo

Or Buy It Right Now!

Details for how to get the free CD will be announced during the show, but the CD (or CD’s) will be given away at the end!

Just show up tonight at 6pm Eastern US Time at http://matthewebel.com/ustream

• I want to start playing house concert shows again, at least once a month! If you live within 100 miles of Boston and want to host a house concert, please let me know!
• Polyphonic’s reply was a disappointment, but an open-ended one. If you think you can help change their minds, be sure to let me know or drop them a line here or here. Be polite and sincere if you do!
• I’m going to try and get a Christmas album out before Thanksgiving. Therefore, you won’t see or hear much from me in the next few weeks. I’ll be chained to my studio, making a lot of noise in a very short timespan.

However, if you’d rather get all of these songs as soon as they’re released, it’s not too late to sign up! Every All-Access or VIP Pass holder gets new music from me every single month. You can sign up at http://matthewebel.net/subscribe.

• It’s Movember, time to grow that ’stache and help raise funds to fight prostate and testicular cancer. Join me as a Mo Bro or Mo Sista and see what your face can do!
• I’m submitting my application to Polyphonic today. It’s an intriguing new VC-style way of approaching the music industry. As the brainchild of Terry McBride and the people that brought you Barenaked Ladies and Sarah McLachlin, there’s some real industry clout behind this. If there’s anything you can do or anyone you can reach out to to help me get on board with this, please do!
• Songs From The Vault, vol. 1 will soon be available via iTunes, CD Baby, and elsewhere! The second volume’s almost ready to release to the subscribers at Matthew Ebel dot net, so volume one will move on to the rest of the fan base sometime this month!

• Listen to some of my music here.
• Buy a CD, MP3, or Subscription here.
• Watch some of my videos here.
• Catch my weekly UStream concert recordings here.

Other than that, just take a look around and tell me what you think. Thanks!

www.matthewebel.com/movember

In case you didn’t hear the latest episode of Accident Hash, I’m challenging C.C. Chapman and others to grow out a ’stache to help raise awareness and funds for men’s cancer research.

So do me and every man a favor… go to www.matthewebel.com/movember and donate some cash (or grow your ’stache). All proceeds are split between the Prostate Cancer Foundation and the Lance Armstrong Foundation, so every dollar helps!

Long story short this week: Got 3 recordings to release, one of which is a full concert recording. No time to do anything else, more news next week!

Furfright 2009

If you attended Furfright 2009 and wish to send some feedback about the Holiday Inn in Waterbury, CT, here are a few resources:

hi-guestrelations@ichotelsgroup.com

This is the email address for customer relations with Holiday Inn corporate. Be sure to mention if you were a paying hotel guest.

lward@waterburychamber.com

Email for Lynn G. Ward, President and CEO of the Waterbury Chamber of Commerce. Be sure to tell her what local business you visited in addition to the hotel.

http://ct.bbb.org/File-Complaint/

File a complaint with the Better Business Bureau and be sure to mention if you were a paying guest of the hotel.

tips@consumerist.com

The Consumer Reports website that will quite frequently bring local horror stories to national attention.

Update: Your General Manager for the weekend: Chris Costabile

Be sure to mention any problems you had, such as:

• Registered hotel guests being barred from the atrium at night, even with no noise complaints
• Illegal lights-out in the atrium at midnight (against CT fire code)
• Hotel management falsely claiming that these policies were at the convention staff’s request
• Inconsistent barring of late checkout for no apparent reason (there were not scheduled events at the hotel that day)
• No a/c in convention space even after repeated requests for adjustment
• Of course, any other problems that may have arisen during your particular stay.

I spoke with a local business about the kind of boost this convention is for the local economy. I was told very clearly that nothing- NOTHING brings a crowd to Waterbury like the annual Furfright convention. Hence why many of us are so puzzled as to why the Holiday Inn would allow not just bad service but illegal violations of fire code simply to try and break their contract.

Who knows? And frankly, who cares? All we can do is send feedback. I had a great time and I’ll be posting pictures later today.

• Heading to Atlanta for a house concert on October 24… get your tickets at http://lucey09.eventbrite.com
• Facebook continues to suck. If you aren’t able to find my Facebook page, don’t worry- neither can I. A lot of Facebook users have seen their profiles and pages just disappear for over a week now. I’m not out of business, I’m not leaving Facebook, I just wish they’d get their shit together.
• A lot of you who responded to my survey mentioned you’d be okay with receiving text message updates before a show. Right now I’m looking for a service that will do a mass text message for free (or for really, really cheap). The service also must let my fans opt-out on their own at any time. If you know of any, please drop me a comment here!

• Listen to some of my music here.
• Buy a CD, MP3, or Subscription here.
• Watch some of my videos here.
• Catch my weekly UStream concert recordings here.

Other than that, just take a look around and tell me what you think. Thanks!

• The guy that sent the email is John Wall from Marketing Over Coffee, a show I listen to weekly (and I’ve been on it too). John’s been donating some of his weekly hours over the past few months to help me handle some of the business stuff. I really can’t thank him enough for handling some of the uglier sides of being an entrepreneur. I can send emails and look at web site stats until I go cross-eyed, but he can tell me what the results actually mean.
• If the previous bullet point didn’t make it obvious, yes the survey was indeed legitimate. In fact, it’s necessary at this point. I don’t know how much people actually know about my weekly UStream shows or Matthew Ebel dot net. We figured a quick survey would be a good way to find out.
• If the early results are any indication, you folks are okay with getting updates via text message as well as email. This is cool! Now I just need to find a way to make that happen once I’m touring again.

So thanks to all of you who filled out the survey. I’m pretty sure all emails in the future will actually come from a matthewebel.com email address, so sorry if there was some confusion there. In any case, your communication keeps me pointed in the right direction and I really appreciate it!

• Podcamp Philly 3 was a blast, bigger than ever, and educational. Now let’s see if it helped anyone else out there.
• Much discussion about Matthew Ebel dot net took place over the past month. Today I must decide how the system is going to change, hopefully all the advice and feedback will work for the better.
• Yes, I am now a ham nerd. My current call sign is KB1SZT, but I have an application in to change that. I’ll let you know when it’s permanent!

As seen, heard, and read on WBUR

That idea doesn’t sit well with everyone, including Boston musician and rock critic Dave Wildman. “I don’t know, it freaks me out,” he says with a laugh. Wildman likens Ebel to a talented street performer on the information super highway.
WBUR.org

It’s success if that’s what he wanted, definitely. If not…then no, he’s still got more work to do.

My guess? Dude still has a lot more work to do.
Justin Boland, comment on Hypebot.com

These two comments, though lamentably myopic, are understandable. Believe me, I can level with these opinions by making only one assumption: Their definition of “success” is stuck in the coke-filled limousine of Motley Crue, 1985.

Back then, a “successful” musical act played to hundreds of thousands of screaming fans in any venue the bus rolled up to. Anything less wasn’t worthy of a mention by a VJ on MTV, let alone the envy of aspiring musicians around the globe.

Fast-forward to damn-near-2010 and see where that definition of “success” has left the music industry. The big-production high-overhead “success” acts are barely staying afloat through flagging CD and online sales while the record labels try to own more and more of the artist’s work. So far only one forward-thinking group of industry insiders has put their finger on the pulse of the problem:

For the past 50 years the Artist business has been fractured with multiple competing interests. A) Record Companies whose main interest was the exploitation of the artists recorded music (masters). B) Publishers whose interests are similar but share in mostly the same income pot as the Record Labels. C) Live concert promoters, focused on selling concert tickets and sponsorships. D) Merchandisers mostly focused on selling various clothing and souvenirs at concerts and traditional retail.

Mixed in with all this you have Business Managers, Lawyers, Agents and Artist Managers whose roles are to not only coordinate the Artists schedules and business strategies but also have all of the above parties cooperate with each other.
Terry McBride, founder of Nettwerk and co-founder of Polyphonic

So given the current state of the economy, the music business, and technology, this leaves us with the million-Euro question: What is Success in the Music Business? I believe it is the same success that has driven Apple since day one… profit. If a music act can continue to bring in more money than it spends, it’s a success.

Take it a step further and we arrive at the crux of my definition of success as an artist: If you can remain profitable and grow as a business, you are not a success– you are a series of successes. Every step up is another success, a bigger success, and another bit of weight to add to the momentum like Katamari Damacy building the moon.

1. I released self-produced albums. Success.
2. I backed up a star at the Grand Ole Opry. Success.
3. I no longer need a “day job”. Success.
4. I have thousands of fans in more than a dozen countries. Success.
5. I no longer need to play shitty 4-hour Journey-and-Bon-Jovi-laden bar gigs to pay my rent. Success like you wouldn’t believe it.
6. Update: I just got mentioned in Amanda F*cking Palmer’s blog. Success, if only ’cause she rocks.

Is Mr. Boland correct? Absolutely. I am only beginning this journey and God only knows where it will lead me. Am I where I want to be? Yes… but not where I’ll want to be tomorrow. That means I can’t rest on some deflated view of “success”, I have to move forward. Am I a failure because I don’t own a private jet powered by strippers and hundred dollar bills? Absolutely not.

We are only failures if we subject ourselves to the narrow limitations of others. I choose to be a success.

• What budget should I set for Sellaband’s new format? I can pick anything from $10,000 to $100k, but right now I’m only at $5,000. What should I shoot for?
• The robot band is cute, but is it worth it? Tell me what you think about my performances with backing tracks vs. without. I really want to know!
• Of course, you can see the difference for yourself tomorrow at 6pm Eastern Time at http://matthewebel.com/ustream

sellaband.com/matthewebel

That’s all changing. SellaBand is becoming less like a make-your-own record deal and more like a straight-up micro-financing site for musicians. I’m excited about this and more convinced that this is how I want to finance my next album. Read on for details…

Major Changes at SellaBand

They finally posted their plans on The SellaBand Site, but I’ll give you a breakdown of how this will affect you (my fans and investors) and me (the guy making all the noises in the studio)…

The Goal Is Now $10,000

Actually, the goal can be anything from $10k to $100k, it’s up to me (and you). I made Goodbye Planet Earth for about $5,000 including duplication, so two or three times the budget would mean I could hire a real engineer, more than one other musician, and maybe even a producer to help me improve my sound.

I Can Set My Own Incentives

Now I can add things like remixable tracks, posters, stickers, house concerts, or whatever I want as incentives to invest. Want to contribute $500 to the cause? You’ll get the deluxe box set with a video documentary about the album’s creation. $1,000? I’ll write you a custom song. It’s all up to me (and you) now!

Revenue Sharing Is Optional

Most of you who signed up have already told me you don’t care about the .01% (or whatever) of the net revenue you’ll get from album sales. Good, ’cause that posed two problems: It’s an accounting nightmare to keep track of all that. Also, it meant I had to sell exclusively through SellaBand’s store so they could do the payment processing. Fortunately…

I Can Use CD Baby, iTunes, and Amazon

I can distribute the album any way I want, which means it’ll still be available via iTunes, CD Baby, and at live concerts when it comes out. If there’s revenue sharing involved, it’ll be up to me to handle the accounting, but SellaBand is now willing to trust the artists to run their own business. Shocking, no?

“Artists will always own the master recordings and keep 100% of publishing rights.”

I put that in quotes ’cause the direct line from SellaBand is explanation enough.

Sellaband’s Fee: 10% of the goal

They will not keep any revenue from CD sales, just a tenth of whatever goal I set. Sounds fair to me considering I’m already at $5,000.

That last comment is the important one… Your contributions have put me at about $5,000 right now- exactly what it cost me to produce my last album. If we can double or triple that budget, I could create something truly stunning. I think Sellaband could be the best thing to happen to indie albums since the iTunes Music Store.

These changes won’t be enacted for another month or so, but I’m assuming it’ll take me longer than that to generate enough cash to produce “Songs for Geeks” (or whatever I’m calling the next disc).

WILL YOU HELP ME GET THERE?

Photo by Barton Creative

Photo by Easternblot

To be honest, most music sites are a waste of time. Unless it’s iTunes, Facebook, or Amazon, the only people that visit the site are other musicians. Not fans, other musicians. If you’ve ever played an open mic night, you know how this works: You’re onstage baring your heart and soul for a crowd of people who are disinterested and just waiting for their turn to do the same. Posting your music to these sites would be like trying to sell time-share condos at a telemarketing convention.

My advice, for the curious, is simple: Go where your fans are. I say “your” fans, not “the” fans because there are so few “music fans” and so many “songs about robots” fans or “electric bluegrass” fans. If your fans are into manga comics, go post your music on art sites that feature manga comics. Are you an activist? Go post your music where people are supporting the cause. If you don’t know what your fans are interested in, that should be your first step: ask them.

It’s so much easier (and effective) to spread the word in communities you’re already a part of, rather than trying to build a taller billboard than the band next to you.

ENN September 21, 2009 (MP3 download)

I want to try and update YOU, my fans, once a week by a quick and dirty audio post. Via the miracle of podcasting, you can get these little blurbs from me by adding http://feeds2.feedburner.com/MatthewEbelBlog to your iTunes or other podcast catcher. This week I’m covering:

• New recording to be released today: Waking Up Alone
• Now booking shows via Virtual Assistants
• Sellaband is changing… not sure how or why. Stay tuned!

Photo by altemark

It’s all about the image you portray to the public. We all have two sides- every person, company, organization, even our pets. You have the public face and the private face. The reason we keep the two separate is not because it’s dirty or reprehensible, it’s because the private does not necessarily reflect the interests of the entire group.

Our military kills people, but the recruiter won’t tell you “join us so you can shoot people.” That’s not our military’s main purpose.

Our mothers and fathers spank their children, but they don’t announce it to people they meet for the first time. “Hi there! I whipped my boy’s butt last night!” That’s not what parenting is about.

Public relations is all about putting your best foot forward and making the right first impression. When you know your group or company is already fighting an uphill battle, everything you say and do speaks to the conduct of all involved. The fine line between private and public image must be made clear.

Don’t be ashamed of what you do in private, but don’t be ready to jump in front of the press corps and announce it either.

Anyone involved in emergency planning faces the same challenge on a daily basis: apathy from the “what’s the big deal” set. It ranges from eyerolling to grumbling to outright hostility. “We can’t leave now. We’re in the middle of an important meeting.” “It’s cold outside. Why can’t we go to our offices and get our coats?” “Fire drills are stupid. They do nothing but feed the egos of the control-freaks who think they’re God because someone gave them a megaphone.”

Rick Rescorla (1939-2001)

Eight years ago on a warm and sunny Tuesday morning that I remember all too clearly, all but six of the 2700 Morgan Stanley employees made it out of Tower #2 safely. They had left their offices and filed down those stairs countless times before, and thus knew exactly what to do, where to line up, how to keep moving, and what to do when they reached the street.

The picture above was taken that same morning by a secretary as Rescorla herded the employees downstairs, using his megaphone to keep them calm by singing Men of Harlech (he was Welsh) and other rousing songs. It was the last photo of him ever taken. Just as the last of the Morgan Stanley employees reached the street level, United Airlines flight 175 struck Tower 2. Rescorla ran back inside to try to locate the stragglers. He was last seen headed upstairs from the 10th floor landing. Someone shouted to him to get out of the building; his reply was, “As soon as I make sure everyone else is out.” He was not seen again and his body was never found.

I like to keep Rescorla’s story in my mind every time I conduct a fire drill at work and listen to all the sighs and the impatient grumbling and the “why the hell are they wasting our time with this?” It gives me and all other emergency planners the courage to do our jobs when we think of our fellow control freak with the megaphone and the nearly 2700 people who are alive today because of him.

Dr. Conway’s original post and comments can be found here.

And then there’s a little something I put together from Megaplex 2009. The venue had a camera on me the whole time, so I threw this up on YouTube to share with the world. Feel free to spread it around!