This Email first mailed to all Members of 'The Serious Writers Guild' and subscribers to 'One Minute With Dec' on

28 April 05

 "

 "All knowledge is good knowledge ... But have the goalpost fully in your sights at all times!"

Dec Cluskey

MENU:

• Check out the equipment first?
• The day of the mega session.
• Good lyric stuff from a Member
• The Music Business is a lot to do with self promotion
• The ultimate 'downer'?
• Interesting Idea?
• Success Stories
• Charts
• Chart Comment
• Subscriber's Section
• The Gags

"A lyric is not a poem because of the speed at which words go by. Lyrics are not on a page, so there isn't time to reflect and ponder all the different possible meanings. Hence, lyrics can't be ambiguous, which in turn means that you have to be very careful about your use of figurative language in a song.

 

There's such a thing as vowel sound cadence in lyrics where vowel sounds in stressed positions actually descend/ascend a scale naturally when the lyric is spoken. (that blew me away)

 

You need to have a clear idea of the time and place in which the 'action' of the song is taking place. Not having this in your mind can result in inconsistent imagery and sequences that are hard to follow.

 

Songs need to communicate one clear emotion.

Rob Sturgess"

 

"It amazed me to discover that over 87 percent of the people I surveyed felt extremely uncomfortable with the concept of self-promotion.
Many of these same people hold themselves back from too many missed opportunities to become successful because of it.

 

Where did the fear of self-promotion come from?  Many learned the opposite from their parents as they were growing up.  They where taught to believe that it was not polite to talk about themselves; if they do, it will come across as pushy, rude or they will appear to have a big ego.

 

Some parents may have taught that, and also said, "Go out in the world on your own and be successful." This combo-belief goes against the grain of all sales and marketing success!

 

How can you be successful in music if you don't tell others what you do and how you can help them?  You can't! If you don't self-promote, you are holding yourself back from too many missed opportunities and the success that you truly deserve!

 

Undeniably, there is unethical self-promotion.  We've all witnessed it, and maybe even lost business to it. But unethical or ineffective self-promotion is not what we're discussing.

 

You can do successful self - promoting with class, ethics and service to others. Begin to look at self-promotion from this day forward as serving others instead of self-serving.

 

I'm sure you are passionate about music and truly want to help your customers. If that is the case - don't you want to help more and more people that could use your services and/or products?

You can't do that if you don't successfully self-promote and tell more people about what you do.  Tell others why you are the expert and share success stories from your customers.  Your self-promotion, when done well, helps people to get what they desire.

 

The most successful people in the world are all self-promoters.

These are the people that talk in elevators!  In fact, behavioural scientists, George Dudley and Shannon Goodson, have made a career out of studying the science of self-promotion to prove it.  Their assessment identifies the ways in which we unconsciously avoid self-promotion and limit our success.  Their research studies discovered that "self-promotion is directly related to success."

 

It you don't toot your own horn, you can't enjoy the music.

 

Debbie Allen"

 

Debbie is an international professional speaker and author of four books, including best selling, Confessions of Shameless Self Promoters.  Download a free chapter, www.DebbieAllen.com

 

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

Charts:

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

(1) Hollaback Girl, Gwen Stefani

Dear oh Dear...what a run Peter Kay has had at the top of the British chart...even after the disaster of Tony Christie singing live on our UK telly with no mic. switched on for 45 secs.  What an embarrassment...he couldn't have known he just kept on singing....what a 'pro'?

The single now matches the run of Black Eyed Peas' 'Where Is The Love' from 2003 to gain joint honours as the longest running chart-topper of the decade so far. Next on the horizon is the job of equalling the seven week run of 'Believe' by Cher from back in 1998, and would you really back against it? Six weeks at the top is also enough to make 'Amarillo' the longest running charity Number One of all time. Yes, the single was released in aid of Comic Relief - surely we can't all have forgotten this?

And the download chart is showing it's teeth in being different to the combined UK chart.

Subscriber's Section:

A question I get a lot...literally how do I start?  Shoe string gear?  Or full Mac driven solid gold stuff?

Hi Dec!

 

A quick question!

 

Do you know a good but small ear protector?? Has to fit with a headphone! During my DJ sets my ears get very tired and I don´t want to ruin them.

 

Any suggestion?

 

F**

 

Answer:

"Why does a round pizza come in a square box?" 

Regards

You may use any part of this 'One Minute' in your own publications...we simply require you to add:

Start ============

'One Minute With Dec' is written each week by Dec Cluskey. Dec's advice?

Get in touch personally to discuss what you want to achieve in music dec@makehits.com

web: www.makehits.com or call +44 (0)1323.728005

Finish===========

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

The gags:  [The old ones are the best?]