"The most important factor of them all, yet (for the newbie) the most neglected.  Yet it is this one factor, over all the rest, that will determine whether you are successful or not.

What is it?  Napoleon Hill calls it a "Definite Chief Aim".  Unless you have a very clear goal of where you are headed and, with it, enough belief in yourself that you can make it, you will fail.  It's as simple as that. 

Everything you do, every success, and every failure, starts in the attitude of your mind.  So, if you really want success, you had better start by getting your mind in shape.

Fortunately, that is easy to achieve - if you would just dedicate yourself to the task of self-improvement.  Is it any surprise, then, that the more successful people are, the more they spend on self-improvement books, tapes, seminars, and coaching?

Professionals get personal coaching, amateurs try to teach themselves.

If you want to be rich in any business no matter what it is, then do as the rich do: invest in your education and personal development.

Dr. Noel Swanson is the owner of several successful niche websites, and author of "The GOOD CHILD Guide", available
from: http://www.good-child-guide.com .

"Life is too short to sit on the sidelines; it is much more fun to give it your enthusiastic best."

bob apple

Support fellow subscribers and members?

"Check Fat Cats out when ya get the chance
http://www.thefatcats.net/   

cheers     
Ian
 
Honourable Shareholders,
 
First of all, apologies for our absence over the last couple of months.  We have been rehearsing, recording and pulling each others hair out, but we now tentatively reach out to you with news that our 2nd album is finished and that we've got a few shows coming up! 
 
Sat 12th February - The 100 Club, 100 Oxford Street, London. UK £10 door/£8 flyer/£7 members.  Please reply with your postal address for flyers.
Sun 20th March - The HiFi Club,  Central Rd, Leeds.  UK Free Entry - 01132427353
Sat 9th April - Moles Club, 14 George Street, Bath. UK www.moles.co.uk"

Success Stories and Thank-You's:

========================

USA [my thanks to Charles in the USA for supplying this]

(1) Let Me Love You, Mario 3rd Street

(2) 2 Step, Ciara Featuring Missy Elliott

(3) Soldier, Destiny's Child

UK

1)  Eminem - 'LIKE TOY SOLDIERS'
2)  ELVIS PRESLEY -  'ARE YOU LONESOME TONIGHT'
3)  BRIAN McFADDEN & DELTA GOODREM -  'ALMOST HERE' 

UK Download Chart  [now the most important chart in the UK]

It goes on and on [when is it going to stop?  We ask ourselves]  Elvis at number Two...well b*gger me!  Some kind of a marketing joke?  It is really denigrating a giant in our industry...ruining the memory?

I am in love with the USA chart...appreciation of good chart music and loathe to change...I just love it!  The demo consultation stuff I get is leaning more and more toward the USA style....and rightly so [whoops! I've made a few enemies in the UK?]

Now that the UK Press has let everyone know that the Download chart is more important...low and behold, the download chart changes by the second...what a surprise? [meant with sarcasm!]

Interesting fact about 'Toy Soldier':

'Like Toy Soldiers' takes as its hook the sampled chorus from 'Toy Soldiers' which was the debut hit single for Martika back in 1989 - the single reaching Number 5 on UK shores. Martika was at the time being hailed as the next big thing in American pop and even had the dreaded "new Madonna" label planted on her by some. Sadly it wasn't to last and despite some well received Prince collaborations on her second album in 1991 she got married, retreated from showbusiness and vanished off the radar - until this year when the Eminem sample prompted her to emerge from hiding.

 " Dream and dare to be different"
donald carrie

 Subscriber's Section:

In all our history I have always refused to send the full ten months of 'How To Make A $Million From your Music' all in one sending.  For a good reason.  The program is careful set out over the ten months...with a h*ck of a lot of work to do and changes to make...mostly on yourself and your attitude to music....D****** insisted on having the full ten months...we compromised and I sent the downloads one every day or other day...see what he says:

Dear Dec
 
Although I felt I knew pretty much about music and composing business, your course helped me a lot. Thank you very much for that.
 
But I still have fundamental long-term problem (which is really my main concern for years) - how to construct catchy and strong (chorus) melody. After listening countless of chart songs it is easy to spot often very strong, intelligently build, interesting fresh melodies: BSB, N'Sync, boybands etc. They are repeating similar quality time after time - so it is not pure coincidence or sudden 'muse hit'. There must be some methodology involved , because different composers come with similar quality hi-end melodies all the time.
 
I simply feel that my melodies are not good enough (compared to above mentioned chart songs). Yes, I rewrite and rewrite, but somehow cannot find right way in doing that. As you said, you cannot succeed by repeating same things that didn't bring you success in the past.
 
Maybe you can give me some hint about how to approach that 'melody writing' task. Is it ok to try what KLF manual says; take other people songs and turn them around. What methods do other successful writers use? Is it really 90% talent (although I have some talent surely)?
 
I feel this issue as my main obstacle in pursuing lucrative music career (and you helped minimize other obstacles).
 
Thank you in advance for your devoted time.
 
regards,
 
D****** C*****
member pin NET1**7**0W

My Reply:

D******

I keep repeating to you that this is a ten month program.

I also repeat that, with a lot of enthusiasm, applying my stuff 100% [not just taking what YOU want from it] it will take 3 years minimum, to have success with a mentor like me, or 10 years minimum on your your and having an enormous amount of luck.

I advised piano lessons [acoustic piano, not synth keyboards].  This is the ONLY way to understand the theory of music and the proper theoretical construction of melody and harmony.

I also advice being immersed in the chart...not just listening, but analysing.

I also advise, as an exercise, making an EXACT copy of a chart toon to show you how complex and sophisticated the programming, playing, arrangement and vocal arrangement plus performance is.

I keep bashing members over the head with the idea of repetition.  Better to spend 8 hours honing one line to repeat 8 times than writing 8 differing lines [which 97% of novices do.  Aiming for the ultimate song of one note and one word [John Lennon ]  As Dave Stewart famously said "the better the artist the fewer the brush strokes".

I repeat and repeat that there should be no more than 29 differing main words in a song....that the title should be repeated and repeated and repeated throughout the song and not just once or twice in the chorus.

I keep repeating that it is essential to picture the girls screaming the main hook in the pub on a Friday girl's night out.

I keep repeating that there should be more hooks than a pirate convention.

And if you hadn't noticed, from the above, the most important ward in music making and song writing is repetition.  Tchaikovsky understood that, Chopin, Dvorak, Copeland.  But the melody has the be strong enough to bear repeating ... as do the lyrics.

And finally the main melody should NEVER be more than 7 notes.

<<<<<<<<<<Is it really 90% talent >>>>>>>>>>

Yes.....but more importantly, realising that this is a highly sophisticated profession, much like a brain surgeon's profession....that has to be learned....nobody wrote a Hit record by accident!

DEC [Cluskey]
dec@makehits.co.uk