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A service from 'The Serious Writers Guild' at MAKEHITS.COM
Written by Dec Cluskey
This Email first mailed to all Members of 'The Serious Writers Guild' and subscribers to 'One Minute With Dec' on 24.11.02
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"My Emails are written in good humour, and should be read with a smile"
In your last "One Minute With Dec" you had a section on internet scams and so here's a few things that some of your members may not be aware of:With regards to PO Boxes - if you ring the Post Office and ask, they have to give you the full postal address relating to the PO Box by LAW!If the "internet scam" has a website - log on to the website of any "web hosting" company such as UK2.net if you follow the links and type in the web address / domain name then it will tell you who owns the domain name and therefore the website. Unfortunately this doesn't work for "yahoo.freehomepage.com" etc but does for all others for example - if you typed in www.makehits.co.uk it will come up with yourself (or whoever does your website).Also this doesn't stop people setting up PO Boxes for rented offices (as is often the case) or giving false details to "web hosting" companies and getting away with it anyway but hopefully this information may be useful to a couple of your members - if we only catch a couple then at least collectively we all feel a little better! Keith Norman manager of MYBE k.norman@ntlworld.com
"... IF VOTING COULD CHANGE THE SYSTEM
THEY WOULDN'T LET YOU DO THAT EITHER"
[Ian Warrener]
I always forget to welcome new Members of 'The Serious Writers Guild' and new subscribers to 'One Minute With Dec'. WELCOME - In the 'One Minutes' you will get general current information, new tricks and new angles to success and my speciality: showing you how to make money from your first love 'music'. But the real 'method' for gaining that elusive 'success' is contained in the program that all new Members of The Serious Writers Guild get when they join as members [membership is for life, by the way]. www.makehits.co.uk/swgintro.htm is where you start the journey.
Any value in joining in the discussions on Music Groups on the Net?
I get a lot of guys asking me is there any value in joining in the discussions on Music Groups on the Net.
Well, the honest answer is that there are guys who make the music, make their own success and make a lot of dosh and then there are guys who discuss it all on Newsgroups. But, in my position, I have to keep abreast of everything and every side of the Music Business. So, odd times I will 'drop in' on newsgroups.....just to check 'em out.
The best and most active one around is Rec. Music Making Songwriting. Just go to 'Newsgroups' on your server's Email program and enter that title and the Server will do the rest. It is free to join the newsgroups...but be warned! You will be shocked at the nastiness and insulting, denigrating language on there. You will also be shocked at the 'bad' language. You will also be shocked at the downright rudeness, you will get back, when you give valuable contributions to the 'threads'.
Threads..what are they?
Threads are the themes or titles to the discussion in progress. If you join in and title your Email to the group with a new theme then that will be the new 'thread' title. You can set up your Email program to either read the Emails, from contributors, by the thread or simply by the times the Emails come in. I am no expert on this and tend to flick between the two methods.
There will be little on there to improve your career
Sadly, there will be little on there to improve your career [my opinion and the opinion of most successful music makers] as the large percentage of guys contributing are novices. My definition of a novice is one who has not made a $Fortune yet. Sadly, again, any well meaning new contributors with valuable contributions get chased off in double quick time. None of my pals continue to contribute.
As I have said, I consider it to be part of my music business to keep up to speed on newsgroup matters. You may find them useful...at least check 'em out. I dropped in last week and got a flurry of private Emails from contributors. Like this one:
Simon went on to carp about some of the contributor's vitriol towards me - I replied:"Hi Dec,
See you've been having fun on RMMS again - nice to see your posts again -
certainly worth reading :-)
Just a quick question and one you may have already touched on - but a lot of
your advice seems geared to producing a hit for a band/artist - is the
advice still apposite for someone like myself who would ideally be looking
for a publishing/licensing deal but not interested in performing the songs
themselves ??
I read a lot of conflicting advice about how good demo material has to be
when submitting to publishers/managers etc - and my gut feeling is it has to
be as good and as "today" (or even "tomorrow") as you can make it. In which
case I need to get myself a good producer !!
Anyhow - maybe the quality of demos for songwriters is something you might
like to address in one of your articles (if you haven't already !).
all the best
Simon"
I'll start from the bottom of your post up....
As you can imagine I get a heap of private mail from RMMS guys who pick my brains etc. Sadly there are a core of guys on there who would not be satisfied if you sold them £20 notes for £10...they would still say it's a 'con' and some would even demand their money back!
That is a sad fact of life...and years ago I was warned never to reply to certain guys and also never to give my Email address so publicly.....I have never believed in hiding .... and certainly it wouldn't suit my style.
One friend from RMMS put it beautifully to me yesterday when he said that there were thousands of guys out there just waiting for a scheme to turn the millions of dusty old tunes in their desk drawers into instant hits with no work attached. Sadly that will never happen.
Pseudonyms ...always use them in your career:
As regards my success in the past five years....nothing would impress those guys....and I don't intend to make my 'pseudonyms' known to anyone [would ruin the whole idea of hiding behind pseudonyms] would they be impressed that I am sending off the first six mixes for a major project for 'This Morning' - or that I am meeting with the owner of the biggest independent TV studios in the UK on Wednesday when he wants to run his ideas past me? Would they be impressed that the biggest independent record distributor in the world is eagerly awaiting me finishing my latest project so he can market it?
No - they wouldn't be satisfied even if I was at Number One world wide
singing with my brother! [that would be another miracle!!!!!]
Simon, guys who have had no success in their lives absolutely HATE anyone who has.....fact!
Always run with a 'fast' crowd:
I am the opposite...I always mix with successful guys, meet with them, run with them....that is the certain way to success yourself. They want to mix with me...we learn from each other....Buy a bottle of Chateau Haut Brion Premiere Cru 1974 for £6,750....just to see how it feels....certainly changes your life perception. Take some risks...nothing was ever achieved without...
Hey! I'm lecturing again.
Pushing material without being a performer:
As regards pushing material and not performing...very difficult. I deal in showing guys the highest percentage chance to gain success. Couple that with the fact that most Record Companies now want totally finished material...then you can see the problems. Add to that again that they can smell a 'home production', 'self produced' at a hundred yards - then you begin to see the real 'pro' world.
There is a vast difference between what I produce [or Dr, Max Martin etc.] to the demos that are sent in their thousands to record companies. I never produce demos, I only produce Potential Hit Records...that is a totally different attitude...in fact, I have never sent a demo in my life!
Having said that, if a totally innovative style comes along [Craig David? Bjork? Sophie Ellis-Bextor?] then everyone sits up! And anyone with a unique, new, sought after, innovative style could just sit at a keyboard in an A&R office and have his hand snatched off for an offer.
I do not put my name anywhere near credits
I, personally, do not put my name anywhere near credits. I wouldn't dream of singing on a demo [I am probably the best vocal arrangement singer in the UK]...and although I can programme better than most and play better than most, I use other guys so that I can pick their inventive brains and then 'produce' the Hit sounds....
I am producing for a major 'crew' in London
I am producing for a major 'crew' in London at the moment...they send me the back tracks....David and myself write the toons, he plays...I produce him...he sings...maybe I will help with stuff he can't do....I produce him [last week 42 tracks of vocal on one toon]...rewrite the stuff, invent the vocal arrangement....then, when he goes away, the serious work starts...cleaning up, perfecting, shifting, effecting, clearing clutter, making stiff, 'not so nice' choices and eventually ending up with a mix from heaven.....he has learned the game from me....so he likes to work that way himself...he will rarely be at a mix....a 'today' mix can last for days...and it's bl**dy boring if you are not the 'hands on' person.
My advice?
Use the best singers you can find and pay for [never ask for favours and don't book your friends...they must be sh*t hot and 'tomorrow']. Use the best producer you can afford...and only work on Top Three Potential material, that passes all the tests. My latest 'Serious Writers Guild' product, being released soon, is causing a storm: "57 secrets of a Hit Record"...you can actually tick off the 57 and know, by a points system, that you either have, or you have not a hit...then you can tweak your toon and make sure you have....before you ever get to the studio. That is precisely what I do.
By following the advice, above, you can make money...lots of it...
any other way loses you money....time - and eventually your career
and your enthusiasm.
There is currently, and always will be a great need for new material....but sadly only .0001% of writers know what is required by the industry...I teach what is required....the guys who listen and do it buy Porches, like Kas....they get deals with Sony, like 'Boniface', they produce the great artists like Ian Wood.
Regards
Regards
Dec
"Any woman who
thinks the way to a man's heart is through his stomach is
aiming about 10
inches too high."
Adrienne E.
Gusoff
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Tip of the Week: "Never entertain idiots....there is nothing to be learned from discussing 'anything' with a dum-dum.....particularly music. You will never get him to think like you - but the danger is, he could get YOU to think like him"
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Gag of the Week [don't know where they get them but they keep rolling in!]:
A
blonde goes to an electronic store. She goes up to the salesman and says "I'd
like to buy this TV" the salesman replies "sorry I don't sell to blondes" the
blonde, very angry goes home.
Heard enough, want to apply to join 'The Serious Writers Guild'
and receive the award winning ten month program: "How To Make A $Million
From Your Music" now?
The next day she dresses up very
professionally, pins her hair up and puts on a pair of glasses. She goes back to
the store and says to the same salesman "I'd like to buy this TV" The salesman
again says "sorry but I
don't sell to blondes" Now the blonde is very
angry.
The next day she dyes her hair brown and puts on the glasses and
goes back to the store. Again she says to the salesman "I'd like to buy this TV"
and again the salesman replies "Sorry I don't sell to blondes" The blonde starts
yelling "I'm not blonde, look my hair is brown. Why won't you just sell be the
damn TV?"
The salesman replies "Because it's a microwave".
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