As I approach my 45th birthday, March 23rd to be exact, I thought this would be a great time to reflect on my past year at Ourstage. What a year it has been , I have made lots of new friends, made lots of new music and experienced the thrill of having my songs in an Ourstage final, not once, but 5 times. This far exceeded any expectations that I had.

Shortly after joining Ourstage last April I found my way to the Judges Chamber. The first person I met there was Mr. Ball. Mr. Ball welcomed me with open arms, he answered all my questions and helped me navigate through the Ourstage maze, I had made my first friend!

I continued to explore Ourstage and I was amazed at the talent I found here. I started listening to the folk channel since I was a folk singer/songwriter myself. The first song I put into my favorites list was War Is The Presidents Weed by Kenn Amdahl. I later went on to discover other talented songwriters and wonderful fans like, Amanda Richards, Brian Fortner, Daniel Palmer, Lauren Barrett, Antje Duvekot, Cathie Fredrickson, Lyndie Diamond, Scientific Method, Jewbei, Erick Baker, Jessica Rasche, Lori Cunningham, Phijayy, The Stations, Invisible Man, Dole, Little Lisa, Wordman, T-Nile, Impeller, Mecctro, Oozing Greatness, Eric Schmitz, Wharmton Rise, Celtic Sunshine, Alyesa, Joy, Greg Caldwell, She SaiD/Australlia, Garsher, Leeia, spirit21, Kevin Lee Smith, ToniLee1, Sugar Bear Trio, Tammy Harris, Shiloh, Copperhead, What’s Next, ybridge, Kommander Kilwalski, Papaya Boy, Meritolbas, Joni Fred King, MoNgoOz7, Bearce, Louise Browne, Philadelphia Slick, Mario G, Norman Peterson, Lee Cooke, Zstar, Zanderah and of course DiCarlo. I am proud to call all of you my friends and I hope I did not leave anyone out. I apologize in advance if I did.

As I mentioned earlier I arrived at Ourstage as a folk singer/songwriter/storyteller. Today, I am the jack of all genres and only because of the inspirations I received from fellow Ourstage musicians. Not only have I grown as a musician but I have watched many of you grow as well. I have seen talent like Lori Cunningham release her first album and Erick Baker go on to perform with big name stars. I have fond memories of many of you but one of my fondest memories came from Eric Schmitz partyline on gear talk. Lots of talk, almost none of it about gear..LOL. We talked, bonded and laughed a lot. Along with the fun, at times there was controversy, Zanderah’s Z Grams, and of course the infamous endless Blog by Dicarlo. All and all it has been a wonderful journey and despite the controversies it always seems like we pull together as a community in the end, Long live Ourstage!

Those are some of my memories here, what are yours? Leave a comment about your most memorable moment here on Ourstage.

Your Friend, Marshall

While reading and posting on some of the other blogs on Ourstage I realized that a lot of members came here to exchange ideas. That is why I decided to write this blog. Instead of a blog with endless debate I wanted to write a useful blog that as musicians we could use to help make better music or to further our careers and market our music. So, how about everyone think of one great idea and post it on this blog.. Be creative, it could be about anything really. A Website, a service, a mixing technique, a recommendation on recording equipment or instrument. Here is my great idea I would like to share.

While searching for a way to distribute my music online I stumbled upon CreateSpace.com. CreateSpace is owned by Amazon.com. It is a website designed to allow independent musicians, film makers and writers publish their own works so they can be sold on Amazon.com. The best part about this service it’s FREE.

How it works. First you need to upload your music to CreateSpace, CreateSpace will also ask you about the songs, genre, and your band so they can categorize your music. Now here is the cool part, you get to create your own CD with jewel box and artwork. They provide the templates to design your own CD w/jewel box. This includes front cover, back cover, art to be placed directly on the CD, and a booklet where you can include pictures of your band, info about your band or lyrics. I just received the proof of my CD and it is completely professional and exactly what you would expect to find in your local music store. If you don’t already have a UPC code for your CD. CreateSpace will create one for you at no charge.

Once you have up loaded your artwork and music they will send you a proof of your CD. As soon as you approve the proof Amazon.com will start selling your CD online. CreateSpace will Print the CD’s to order so there is no need to print a thousand copies upfront.. Again all for free.

Of course it is not totally free, CreateSpace does take a percentage for every CD sold, but there is no upfront money. The percentage they take depends on the exposure you want for your CD. As you know where your CD is placed on a website can greatly impact your sales. With CreateSpace you get to choose where your CD will be placed on Amazon. Of course the more exposure you want to get your CD, the higher the percentage you pay. The way I look at it as a new musician trying to get exposure for my music I am willing to pay more to get featured on Amazon.com.

Just in case you were wondering they will also offer your mp3’s for sale on Amazon.com as well. You also get to set the selling price of your CD and individual songs.

So, that’s my great idea for anyone who wants to create a cheap CD and get it distributed online….What’s Your Idea?

What is music? Is all music art? Is all art…..music? As mentioned in an earlier blog I am a self taught musician. I got into music because in High School some friends of mine were starting a band and they needed a drummer. I volunteered having never played the drums in my life….hey, but I loved music, I thought to myself how hard could it really be to play the drums?…LOL. I purchased a drum set and let’s just say, the rest was history. Later, I purchased my first guitar and started practicing everyday with the help of my magic chord guide. I learned all my favorite songs and started writing some songs of my own. When I got to college I wanted to learn more about music and I enrolled in a music theory class. Early on in the class I got into a debate with the music professor who argued that Bob Dylan was not a musician. Well, me being young, idealistic and rebellious argued back. “Of course Bob Dylan is a musician!” After all, he was one of my hero’s, someone I admired and I even tried to write songs like him. Blasphemy, I thought and I dropped out of music theory class. Which brings me to the questions of this blog….What is music? What is good music? What is bad music?

It has been said that Video Killed The Radio Star, we went from the The Rolling Stones to Millie Vanillie, and from Janis Joplin to Britney Spears. Today, we can compose music on computers using samples and loops, Is That Music? Mozart used to compose music in his head, write it down on paper and then give it to others to play for him. Is that much different from writing songs on a computer and then playing it back by using samples and loops?

What about Bob Dylan? Is he a true musician? Laurie Anderson? Tom Waits? Yoko Ono? How about Biz Markie, you know who I am talking about the guy who had a hit with “You Say He’s Just A Friend”. What about that person on a street corner using buckets as drums? Is he a musician? What about Leonard Cohen who is in the Rock N’ Roll hall of fame, a great poet but some people say he can‘t sing, is he a musician? Rappers? Beat Makers? Or is music in the ear of the beholder?

I believe they are all musicians! Yet, some will argue that music is black or white…if you can’t read music, understand music theory then you are not a musician. I argue that music comes from feelings, personal experience, music is living, soulful and without boundaries.

I was motivated to write this blog due to the amount of emails I have received here on Ourstage about the quality of the music here. Some of these emails suggested that somehow we try to eliminate or censor some of the songs on Ourstage. Do we dare go down that slippery slop? In some way I believe art/music should not be judged at all yet, that is the irony we call Ourstage. I believe music should be created for those who want to appreciate it, no matter how small the numbers.

It’s funny I still remember my grandfather calling the music I listened to as a child “crap”. Bands like The Beatles. So, what is music?

What do you think music is? Do you believe that music can be judged? What are your thoughts? Can just anyone create music or are there only few that can really create music?

I joined Ourstage in April of 2008. Since then I have enjoyed some success but most importantly improved my craft. Why did I join Ourstage? And where do I go from here? These are two important questions I will answer in this blog. I am a self taught musician, which from a music standpoint limits me a bit. When I was young I did some performing with a musical duo called Hillary Boob and then some solo work. Today, I very rarely play live except for an open mic or two. My strength has always been my songwriting, particularly my lyrics. Because of budget restraints I have always had a hard time getting good recordings. Recently I have started to create electronic music because it can be recorded easily, cheaply and cleanly in my computer. I did purchase a USB mic to record vocals but still haven’t been able to get a clean sound. So, that brings me to my two questions.

First, Why did I join Ourstage? I fell in love with the Ourstage concept as soon as I saw it. I saw it as an opportunity for a life long musician like myself to get exposure, meet other musicians and make friends. So, far Ourstage has exceeded my expectations and I have even enjoyed some success with several top ten songs and a number one song in experimental. Our stage has also inspired me to record my first full length CD (Electronic Music) which will be released on I-Tunes in March.

As far as where do I go from here? Well, I am 44 years old, my ambitions of becoming a rock star and touring the world are long gone. My dreams now consist of doing soundtracks for film or TV. Another dream is to have other performers record my music. I consider myself a songwriter not a performer. Many of my songs are raw but have great potential. That’s were you come in my fellow Ourstager’s. I am inviting you to take a good listen to my songs, listen to the lyrics and imagine what you could do with them. I am inviting you to record them and make them your own, maybe even creating a hit song! One can only dream. I believe there is so much talent here on Ourstage and I would be honored to work with any one of you. So, if you are interested let me know. I would love to hear from you and I would love to hear what my songs can become. I currently have over 40 songs posted on Ourstage. Songs I would suggest you listen would be, Times Man Of The Year, Don’t Offer Me Shelter, Of Mice and Men, Once I Was An Optimist, Crazy Boys Conflicted Girls, Time To Say Goodbye, Voodoo Witch Doctor, The City, Mississippi Blues, Lets Start A Revolution, Simple Farmers Life, I Was Walking On A Rainbow, I Can’t Wait To Get Home, Time Is Slowly Drifting, Story Of Love.

My musical ability plus my low budget for recording and equipment has limited my songs. I need your talents to make my songs come to life and realize their potential. Hope to hear from some of you soon.

Marshall

July was certainly very exciting for me and I have my fans to thank for that. Mississippi Blues finished 4th in the John Lennon Song Writing channel, Time To Say Goodbye finished 6th in Traditional Country, The Music Is Moving finished 1st in experimental and then went on to finish 39th overall in the music finals. Just being near the top is an honor considering how many talented people there are on Ourstage.

This month should be exciting as well! I have one new song entered as well as two old songs.

The first song Don’t Offer Me Shelter was originally entered on Ourstage as an acoustic song with just me and a guitar. I have taken that same song, added a complete band and re-recorded it as a rock song.

My other recycled song is Times Man Of The Year, This time I have entered it into country because I believe it is a good blue collar class song with a modern country feel. Although, I did not re-record this song, I did re-engineer it on my computer, The result is a faster more upbeat tempo song which will hopefully keep the attention of the listener longer.

The third song I am entering is Frequency Modulation #7, a song inspired by the group Kraftwerk as well as the rhythms of house music. I am still fairly new to electronic music and am learning new stuff every day. I guess that is why I was so surprised to win the experimental channel last month. Frequency Modulation #7 will be entered in the Electronic / Electronic Pop channel.

Also, in August be on the lookout for my new song Crazy Boys, Conflicted Girls. This song is currently being worked on in studio and should be ready for release and uploaded near the end of the month. Currently, you can hear the original acoustic version that was recorded in my living room by going to my profile. The new version will feature drums, guitar, piano and bass.

Again thanks to all my supporters and fans on Ourstage. I also want to wish everyone who has songs entered this month Good Luck!

Marshall