Creation,
business & getting your music heard… in the age of the web 2.0
I
must admit, this is my first blog. Still, being a (part-time) journalist in
real life (or let’s say beside music), l’ll try to get to the point and sell
you my ideas, or let’s say, my product: music.
I
always knew, beginning my artistic studies - yeah l’m also a cinema teacher
when there is jobs out there - that I won’t live to make money, but to make
art. Expressing myself is vital, (as well as eating yeah!) Writing, teaching,
singing, require the same abilities - for me: having something to say and
saying it in an interesting way (OK if it’s to students in a classroom, readers
in a magazine, or drunk people in a bar, the means of communications are pretty
much different, but if it’s not interesting, the message won’t get heard anyway…(Today, you have to be more
interesting than a cellphone -or Facebook, or Twitter, or Angry Birds, etc.-
and unfortunately, the challenge is there…)
In
music, yeah, I do have something to say.
My
passion for music have been consistent for the last decade & I always
followed my own path as a singer-songwriter, launching in 2014 my debut album
called Confessions, a 12 track album, in my native French speaking language.
Thanks to Gilbert Cantin, my great friend & composer through this journey.
I remember the time when I went to France & Belgium to sing some of my
original material. It turn out as a failed collaboration with another composer…
But today, I must admit, thanks to wisdom, this experience made me stronger and
gave me the chance to meet Gilbert and the amazing musicians I’m with now!
Plus, performing in both France & Belgium was an amazing opportunity to
meet and discuss with the European crowd, enabling me to hone my musical skills
while adding a new perspective to my artistic portfolio. Why l’m I talking
about touring? Because being a musician is all about seducing new ears with
your music in every parts of the world. But touring needs funds. And I am no
Taylor Swift. (l’ll never have her beautiful blond hairs, height or her amazing
career - at such a young age…but hey, why being so negative?, she’ll never have
my natural big brown curly hair neither)…
OK l’m getting lost in my thoughts here. Let’s go back to my subject.
Touring
yeah. OK before touring & presenting your songs, you have to create them.
Creating my own musical universe, for me is expressing my ideas, which come
alive in the form of stories and short films. French or English, it doesn't
matter. Only heartfelt stories does. In my song Can you imagine? (The
Killing of John Lennon) I told the story of my birth. Or the first time I
died…It depends on how you read it… In the song Silk Stocking District,
I told the story of a girl who won’t sleep her way to the top to succeed. Kind
of a feminist song. OK, the first show I went to as a teenager was Alanis Morissette… I love to tell stories, autobiographical or not, but still
heartfelt stories. But to share these stories, I have to record them…(cause I
want more than my mom as a fan;)
(Now
l’m getting to my selling pitch part of the blog.)
Writing
great songs is only the first part, because these songs have to meet their
ears, with recording and touring, because without ears to listen to, music
looses all it’s meaning. The life of a musician is both on the road and in the
studio. And the life of an independent musician is investing a lot of money to
achieve your dreams. And often we invest without getting any money in return (remember
l’m not Taylor Swift). So what if you could help? What if you could share my
dream? That’s why I thought making a crowdfunding campaign would be amazing!
The money raised will be use for both a mini Canadian spring tour and a mini
album! Every dollars count, you can give 5$, 10$ or get a reward depending on
the amount of money you give to the project; it can be an album, we can cover a
song you request, and we can even make a private concert to your house, or in
your backward (if you live near Montreal). Plus, your money will also serve to
a charity, cause in music the heart and sharing matters. And not every people
in the world have the chance to actually make music, because they don’t have
access to the basics, which are the musical instruments. So the extra funds of
this crowdfunding campaign will go to Instruments Beyond Borders (IBB) and the
Landfill Harmonic Orchestra they support. They delivers musical instruments to
youth orchestras in disadvantaged communities at home and abroad. By example,
they help the Recycled Orchestra of Caetura, in Paraguay, where children play
instruments made out of recycled garbage. and the St. James Music Academy in
Vancouver’s Downtown East side, where up to 200 children receive free
after-school music lessons from professional teachers. This means that you
don’t have to play a Gibson of a Stradivarius to make music!
But
still, to make music today, in the age of web 2.0, you still have to get access
to exposure and minimal financial resources, and touring and recording with
great musicians needs money. And you know, in the age of social media and web
2.0, sharing (my music, my blog) is also kind of (virtual) money. So I hope
I’ve sell you my product, meaning my music, and that you are now inspired to
share it, or even spend some money on my dreams in exchange of great rewards!
Thank
YOU! (and a Big Thanks if you read this until the end;)
Musically,
Julie
