I CHALLENGE YOU TO —

1) A duel – 30 paces, your choice of pistols or sabres!

2) A hot dog eating contest, the winner gets all the leftovers!

3) Buy Music – support your favorite OurStage artists!

Now I don’t really know you, so why would I want to hurt you, even though I am an excellent shot, and I love hot dogs as much as the next guy, but you might be a vegetarian, so why would you accept my challenge?

So, let’s explore # 3 !

We all love music. Why else would we be here and on 100’s of other music sites? What’s on your ipod, mp3 player, turntable, 8-track? In the old days (and yes I am older than dirt, AND watched the Beatles on the Ed Sullivan Show), we used to buy the music that we really liked. Whoa! I know, why would anyone do that? Hey, music is free now, right? I can go online and find a thousand sites that will let me download anything for free, whether it’s legal or not!

Now before this deteriorates into a discussion of legality and morality (and trust me, I have plenty of opinions on both subjects), let’s steer it back to my challenge.

There are likely close to 100,000 artists here on OurStage. Out of that large number (and I’m just guessing here), maybe 10% are active, full-time, I wanna make a living out of music, kind of artists. I’d guess another 25% are really good enough and have the desire to be full time Rock Stars, but can’t quite figure out how to make that happen. Another 50% are good enough, but will likely never get there because Life Happens. The other 15% are likely just Rock Stars in their own mind, and we still love them, cuz they are good people, mostly.

—PLEASE BALL, get to the point, this is painful!

Ok, this challenge is all about supporting the artist community. There is no better feeling for an artist than

1) I just heard my song on the radio for the first time!

2) Someone just bought one of my songs!

Think about how much hard cold cash you spend on iTunes, Rhapsody, Amazon Music. Why not redirect part of that budget to support OurStage artists? Let’s send some of that money back here!

HOW DOES THE CHALLENGE WORK?

I challenge you to support OurStage Artists! We all give it lip service, and I think it’s time to step up to the plate! I am willing to put my money where my mouth is. I am going to peruse the OS artist community, and BUY, yes, you heard me, BUY 25 tracks. Yes, I am going to add those 25 OS tracks to my mp3 player. Whenever you buy a track on OS, the artist gets about 80 cents back. That’s better than the 70 cents that iTunes pays.

Now 80 cents isn’t enough to pay the light bill. That’s why I am issuing the challenge. Look, I realize that not everyone is rich like MrBall and can spend a whopping $25 on music. So, how much can you afford? Can you spend $20, $15, $10, $5, $1 on music? $100? How much are you willing to part with for some really great music?

Not only am I going to buy the music, but I am going to tell you what tracks I bought! I want you to do the same and let me know what you bought! I’m kinda of a Country/Southern Rock kinda guy, so I am going to focus on those genres most likely. In fact, I have already picked out my first 10 tracks. Some of these first 10 tracks have a bit of selfishness and self promotion built in (while I have your ear), but mostly, these are my favorite current tracks.

That leaves 15 tracks I need help with! Can you help me. Reply to this blog, and tell me which of YOUR tracks I should buy and tell me WHY? In fact, I hope to get so much response that we will exceed the comments on the NOW FAMOUS DiCarlo blog (now at ~136 comments). So convince me. I am a tough promoter, so give it your BEST sales pitch. I will consider ANY GENRE for my final 15 tracks. Everyone one of these tracks will make it into my player.

So as part of the challenge, forward this blog around to your fans. Let’s encourage everyone to go out and buy music from OS artists. Take my challenge, don’t leave me hanging! Tell me how much you spent, and who’s tracks you bought! Come on, who’s with me? ARTIST — HINT – Do you have your Paypal Account set up? Get busy, we are coming to listen to your music. If you don’t want to sell your music, I’ll still love ya, but I’m moving on to the next artist! I’ve got COLD, HARD CASH, and it’s burning a hole in my pocket!

As always, join my fan club and drop me a note and tell me what you think!

-Ball

Here are the first 10 in my shopping cart, in no particular order:

1) Erick Baker – Stay Awhile

2) Shannon Haley – This Is Gonna Hurt Me

3) Elyse Saunders – Bittersweet

4) Tim Kinsey – Just Go Away

5) Lori Cunningham – Inside

6) ZStar – Walk With Me

8) Holly Staiton – Again (I know – Shameless Self Promotion)

9) Michael Thomas – Speed Of Life

10) The Sunflowerz – Edge Of My Seat

Yes, why music?

Everyone knows that MrBall can’t sing! That’s just a fact. But as I think about that fact, I wonder, why would I even want to? Why is it that on Sunday morning, I am singing as loud as I can in church (sorry Jerry, but I told you not to sit in front of me). Why do I sit in my car and jam with the tunes from US99 on my radio? Why do I spend so much time in my studio listening to new tracks, or old stuff from the 70’s? Why do I break out my Bari Sax on a whim and play til my lips fall off? Why do I sit at my desk at work and marvel at the talent of the artists on OurStage?

There must be something to music more than notes, chords and keys. Music has the ability to touch your soul, to reach into that hidden place and pull out the best or worst of you. I have often thought about this, but never really quite knew how to express it. A musician friend of mine has a friend who has a son that attends the Boston Conservatory. His son sent this link to a welcome address to the incoming freshman class by Karl Paulnack. The address is posted on the school’s website, and when I read it, all kinds of lights and bells came on, and my musical desires started to make sense.

Here is the link to Mr Paulnack’s welcome address.

http://www.symphonymusicians.com/WelcomeAddressbyKarlPaulnack/tabid/87/Default.aspx

Give it a read, and as always, let me know your thoughts. Oh, and if you see Jerry at church, well…oh it’s ok, I’ll tell him.

-Ball

As Harry Carey used to say, HOLY COW!

This last year has been a real whirlwind for me and the artists I represent. I signed up Holly Staiton and Smith and Harley up on OurStage back in November of 2007. I had heard about this site through an article I was reading that simply mentioned OurStage in passing. Being the curious fellow that I am, I checked it out and was very impressed with what I saw. It looked like and interesting marketing opportunity, and I bit… Yep, I signed us up.

I spent November judging and making a few friends, not too sure that we wanted to actually put our songs here. I gotta tell ya, after judging my first few hundred battles, I was HOOKED! I called my artists and told them to get their butts online and have a look at this place. I got a polite, ‘Yeah, so?’ from Ronnie and Bill (Smith and Harley), and a ‘Cool’ from Holly. It was at first a tough sell to get them involved, but, being the persistent …ahem…nice guy that I am, I prevailed and they jumped on and had a serious look. hehe.

The rest is history. I uploaded Smith and Harley’s 1st track in December, and Holly’s 1st track in January 08. Smith and Harley took 2nd in Country in December, and Holly took #1 in Country in January! Since we began, we have taken 7 – #1’s 9 – Top Tens, and a pile of Qtr finals tunes.

Quite and accomplishment for a small Indie Label. And oh yeah, they are real excited about this place now.

So, OurStage? YOU ROCK! I want to thank you for creating ‘The Destination’ for Indie Artists. Your hard work has been noticed, and I am completely amazed at the level of talent this site has attracted. Month over month, I listen to the new material coming in, and think, how in the world can we compete with this level of quality material? But somehow, we hang in there.

Because of OurStage, we are going to be adding a new band to our flock. This is a group of Indie Rockers that have (…WAIT A SECOND!…Did he say Rockers? Dude what’s wrong here, remember, Country Label? Whoa!) been around since the 90’s and have a great sound. This is the teaser, hehe. Wait for it!

So, year 2 has started, and we have hit the ground running. I can’t wait to see how this new year is gonna turn out. I love my friends and fans, and hope to make more. Join us in the Judges Chambers, I love getting all the perspectives on the Music Biz, and just getting to know everyone.

Keep Rockin,

-Ball

Hey Fans,

Ball here.

Now everyone knows that MrBall can’t sing. It’s just a fact. However, every once in a while, you just get that urge to make some music. Ya know what I’m talkin about?

Well, My brother, Scooter Staiton was judgin hard one day in the Country channel when he came across a Rap song. Rap? In Country? What’s that all about?

So what’s a songwriter supposed to do? He wrote a song about it! And he wanted me, MrBall, to sing it. Hehe, big joke. When he heard my singing track, (and after he picked himself up off the floor from that laughing fit), he came on up to Chicago and recorded it right here in Ball Studios.

Ok, So I’ve posted it in my profile. Now what do I do with it?

We need your help. There is no Channel for RapGrass. Where do we enter it? Help!

Swing out to my profile and give “Scooter Went Onto Ourstage” a listen. Leave a comment, and help us figure out where it goes.

-Ball

I Love OurStage!

Have I ever told you that? OS is quickly becoming ‘The Destination’ for Indie Artists on the web. Not only have they listened to the artists (thanks Daniel!) and created lots of cool marketing toys for us, ie… Marketplace, Cool Banners, Blogs and the Party Line, but they have also made a huge effort to reach out to fans all over the web. Recent partnerships through AOL, KnowtheMusicBiz.com and tons of others have brought in new fans in droves to OurStage, which benefits each and every one of us by exposing our art to new folks every day. OurStage is helping to launch careers every day, and I say we should give them a BIG Shout Out!

When I first heard about the ‘30 Free Downloads’ promo, I have to say that I had mixed feelings. On one hand, you hear every day about sites exploiting music for their own benefit, and the artists getting left behind financially, and my first thought was, ‘here we go again, another fine site corrupted’. But, you know, when I signed my artists up here, they were experiencing moderate success, and I was simply looking for more exposure for them. This site provided an additional avenue for exposure, and that can never be a bad thing. I have always run my Record Label and Publishing Company as a business. While I always have my artists and writers best interests at the forefront, I have occasionally had to make decisions to give some of their music away, and trust me, I have caught flack for it. In each case though, it has proven to be huge in record sales or additonal publicity for the artists, and in the end everyone is meeting their stated goals.

Now I know what you are thinking. It’s like, ‘Hey Ball, get to the point. Why do you have a picture of Holly at the top of this post?’

Well, imagine my surprise when I went to get my FREE DOWNLOAD packs (Yes, I am a music fan too!), and found Holly Staiton’s track ‘AGAIN’ included in the country pack! WOW! Now that’s exposure!

There are 6 tracks in the COUNTRY DOWNLOAD PACK. They are:

(1) Haunt — Run, Run, Run

(2) Or, The Whale — Call and Response

(3) Holly Staiton — Again

(4) American Babies — Invite Your Friends

(5) Oneside — Got To Go

(6) Amanda Kaletsky — Shower Song

Is that great company, or what? So come on OurStagers, let’s get to downloading. Invite your terrestrial friends and family to come on out and join OurStage. Tell them that the next megastars are already here. You spend a ton of time and effort to create your art, and partnering with OurStage is one of the best ways to get it exposed to more fans.

Oh, and by the way, have I ever mentioned that I LOVE OURSTAGE?

Leave me a comment, I would love to hear what you think.

Ray