Please, if you find yourself with a spare five minutes and like my song best of all of the nominees, vote for me for Song of the Week on Talentcast! Link here: http://forum.sellaband.com/viewtopic.php?f=3&t=12964 for information. You have until tomorrow lunchtime. Thank you very much!
Last Friday, Hunted was played at …Deviation, a goth/alternative night in York. It was quite odd to hear it, I have to say, and gave me food for thought about mixing songs for Very Big Systems. Still, it sounded great, and I look forward to writing/producing more electronica based music. Usually writing it is something I do largely for my own enjoyment, given that it’s so difficult to perform live, but I think there may be an audience for it if it’s good enough, and this makes me very happy! 
What else, what else? Well, I’m up to $420 on Sellaband, so I’ll be writing SOMEBODY a song in just $80, as well as hitting the first major milestone on the journey to $50,000. And my summer hols start in just a week and a half, so music will be a gogo.
Finally, I’m currently tidying up Summertime and On Tim Burton’s Farm for submission to the annual Fawmpilation CD (deadline July 1st) so wish me luck!
Have a great rest of your week!
New songs online
June 17, 2009
So, there was giggage at the Steer Inn last Tuesday, and very well it went too, given how ill I had been in the run-up! No-one threw projectiles, and all of the CDs were snapped up, and I had a conversation with one of the other artists, Maggie Allred, about how live performances are always better than CDs. It’s certainly how it should be, and it was nice to know that it holds true for me too. I always worry that without all the bells and whistles I can add in a recording, that my songs will fall rather flat, so it was very nice to get feedback that that is not the case!
A new song was premiered on the night, called Beggars at the Feast, which I had completed only two days previously. It seemed to go well, and so I have recorded it proper, like, and it is now online on the music player. Also, due to popular demand, the FAWM track Midnight Blues has also gone up, unedited and unaltered. Enjoy!
Finally, I’m very excited about this Friday, because Hunted is getting its first play by a DJ at Deviation at the Winning Post, York. Admission is a snip at under £4, and the music is 80′s/electronica/goth. It’s a great night, so come along if you can! I’ve never had a song played by a DJ before! *bounces*
I have to go now and get ready to teach (I’m SUCH a rock star…) so I shall see you all soon!
On power and celebrity
June 7, 2009
This morning I bring you some observations brought to my mind by these tweets by the NIN maestro Trent Reznor and this blog
Now I don’t know about you, but I can make head nor tail of what has happened here. It seems as though Mr Fred Garretti (“Know this. YOU WILL NOT TRACK ME DOWN”) has taken issue with some of Mr Reznor’s tweets, and interwebz dramaz has ensued.
Quick straw poll. Raise your hands if you have never EVER aired dirty laundry, or even used the web for a quick whinge. Excellent. Most of us have at some point, even if we don’t do it now because the attention of trolls became too much to bear. I, personally, find it very hard to stay silent if I’ve been attacked for something, or if someone has misunderstood something I was trying to say, and inevitably, even though I try not to let it, drama can ensue. But wait. That’s ok. Because I is not a Celebritee. Celebritees are strictly forbidden to be human. God help them if they fall off the carefully crafted pedestal that people place them on.
The same thing happens daily in the press. Charlotte Church was the target of vitriol for doing what thousands of teens do every day – not satanic ritual, not murderising small kittens, not dealing drugs from her south Wales lair… it was far worse than that. She got drunk. There is no hope for the rest of us, when Charlotte Gets Drunk. Next will come swarms of locusts and rivers of blood. Oh the rest of the people getting drunk in city centres across Britain every Friday and Saturday night? No, it’s ok, they are not famous.
Because famous means role model. Famous means perfect. Famous means hundreds of unrealistic expectations that no mere human can hope to reach. Famous means not being allowed to respond in a human way. Famous means you can’t be angry or depressed or anything other than the template your fans create for the imaginary you they are best friends with.
Here’s what I think. I think we have no right placing responsibilities like that on ANYONE regardless of status. Every single person has the right to free speech and behaviour within the bounds of the law. If you don’t like celebrities falling off pedestals you build, stop building pedestals.
As for me, I sincerely hope to be successful, but never ever famous. I have waaaay too much dirty laundry.
A warning to everyone using Reverbnation
June 2, 2009
Before I continue, I must stress that usually I adore Reverbnation and all of their wonderful tools and tips. Unfortunately the issue I’m about to describe has soured our relationship.
I went to send out the monthly newsletter on Sunday. Usually I have most people set up on a Gmail filter and I work from that, but some of my fans come from Reverbnation and have signed up through FanReach. So for them, I do a copy of the newsletter and send it out using the FanReach tool, as when people signup, I don’t get access to their email address. April’s newsletter was fine going out this way, but on May’s, I got a pop-up screen telling me that I have to add my ACTUAL PHYSICAL ADDRESS at the bottom. So I do this, imagining that it will be hidden on the final email.
It’s not.
Reverbnation have implemented a new rule that means that to use the FanReach tool, you must be prepared to put your actual address on an email to people who may or may not be strangers. There is no option to hide your address. You may, if you have one, use a PO box or a label address, but given many of us are unsigned, that’s not practical or possible. You may lie about your address, but this puts you in the position of having to lie to your fans, which I find extremely objectionable.
I emailed Reverbnation and they informed me that there is nothing they can do, they are obliged by law to do this because of the Internet Can Spam Act to prevent spam and so that people have the option to contact an artist physically by snail mail if there is an issue or to unsubscribe.
I argue that there are flaws in the design, namely that:
* The fans email address is never revealed to the artist, so there is no risk of spamming. In any case, bots can always work around such issues and frequently do.
* Fans can simply click to leave FanReach for a given artist.
* The Act in question has actually been around since 2003 and is in no way recent legislation
* It would be a simple matter for Reverbnation to require a physical address on joining and then keep it hidden, and implement a “contact me” button for fans to use.
In short, I am dismayed and upset that I can no longer use such a useful tool. And also, I now can’t send mailouts to those of my fans using FanReach. If you are one of those fans, please drop me an email on caseewilsonmusic@googlemail.com with your email address and I’ll add you to the main list. I promise not to spam you.
