Artist to Know - R &B Singer Curtis Fields

How amazing is this guy?! I was watching "The View" this morning and was absolutely blown away by this kid playing on his this soulful single "Opposites Attract" Iphone! 

The Montgomery, Alabama native planted his musical roots singing gospel, and continued to develop his singing career while attending Fisk University as a "Fisk jubilee Singer". He's shared the stage singing backup for R&B singers like John Legend and Eric Robertson

Like all of most of us in the industry with the talent - but no resources or money to try achieve the level of success we've dreamed - Curtis is a true inspiration to those of us who don't want to give up the chase but don't know how or what to do to keep going. 

Watch his introduction to the world (called one of the 9 Most Memorable Moments at the "BET Awards" ) below.









For more about Curtis - visit his website: thecurtisfields.com

Bobby V talks to "The Crew Scene" about new EP, Peach Moon

From breaking out into a solo career back in 2005 with his hit single, “Slow Down”, Bobby V became a household name in R&B.  After releasing Dusk Till Dawn last October, Bobby felt like something was missing. In between touring and working on his new EP, Peach Moon, Bobby V made time to dish on details about the recording process, learning to play the piano, and what the “Back to Love” movement is really all about.

Read excerpts of our interview below and listen to it in full.

On using more live instrumentation on his upcoming EP… 

Bobby V: I’ve always had live instruments on my album. It was more or less keys and guitars but that’s it. But now I’m pushing the envelope even farther by having live drums, live horns, live violin, and we’re just really developing a groove for Peach Moon.

On a release date…

BV: We haven’t set one as of yet. I been working on this project since January and it’s so tough because…this kind of music right here is a totally different transition, subject matter, production wise. Because I put so much time, so many blood, sweat, and tears to it, I just don’t want to throw it out there and it get lost in the sauce. I want people to appreciate this music because I put so much into it.

GP: Since we last spoke on my radio show, has the love bug hit you yet?

BV: I get bit by the love bug all the time. You know there’s so many beautiful young ladies in the world and I get bit, I just got to find the right catch.

Contributor Georgette Pierre is an on-air personality, writer, and Executive Producer of her own radio show "Off the Record with Georgette Pierre". 

Check out her website www.georgettepierre.com 
Twitter: @GeorgettePierre

Artist to Know: Still I Stand

 Albany based metal group, Still I Stand is this week's "Artist to Know!" 

Formed in July 2012, the progressive metal group consists of vocalist Andre Williams, guitarists Anthony Vincent and Josh Whaley, rounded out by Kyle Kazor on bass.

Unique within a genre, which is assumed to be associated with death and a negative message overall, Still I Stand sets out to inspire their fans, writing music with a positive message challenging them to inquire and access life and challenging situations.

As explained in the band's  Facebook "about" message: 

"The purpose of our music is to help anyone feeling any sort of negativity in their lives. we strive to write positive songs that will help people get through tough situations of any sort with a level head. All of us had had our issues in the past, but what's done is done. We will no longer add to the statistics; Instead, Still I Stand tries to do their part to help people in anyway no matter how small through our music and performances. We are all human beings and we share common ground, and that will never change."

In a time where there is a lot of superficiality and negativity in music, I applaud these guys for going against the grain and uplifting their fans.

They are currently preparing for a busy summer - last week, they digitally released their EP, "Fortitude" and will be touring this summer. They are also competing for a chance to open for the Rockstar Energy Drink Mayhem Festival and an opportunity to get signed with Leakmob Records. 

If you want to check these amazing guys out, find out tour dates, download the EP - follow them on: 

Twitter - @StillIStand518

Facebook - www.faceboook.com/StillIStand518

                                                           Listen to the teaser of E.P "Fortitude"!

                                       


Hope to see you guys out on the road! #SupportIndieMusic!

Tyler the Creator Reported to the Police After Verbal Attack

Already used to controversy, some very crude at best, Tyler the Creator, is under fire yet again but this time because of his music. Talitha Stone, blogger and member of Australian grassroots movement Collective Shout, reported him to the police after he decided to verbally insult her on stage.

According to Stone’s tweet below, she was going to protest at the clothing store hosting his album signing for his violent lyrics against women.

have to visit @culturekings tomoz to protest against @fucktyler he will be there at midday. I think they need educating on #misogyny
— Talitha(@littleredfox17) June 5, 2013

Shortly after sending her tweet did she receive an onslaught of threats and more after Tyler retweeted it to all his followers. To build more evidence on her end, she attended the show where she was on the receiving end of his tirade. Footage of the rapper’s insults (which were frankly disgusting and immature) could be heard very clearly during the clip. He continued to egg it on to the point where the audience was yelling and cheering along with him.  

            

With the love/hate relationship hip-hop has with misogyny, it’s so disheartening that expressing yourself and taking action turns into blatant disrespect and being scared for your life. I commend Talitha Stone for standing up but will her actions be in vain or silenced by the government?

Let us know your thoughts about the situation in the comments below.

- by Georgette Pierre




Contributor Georgette Pierre is an on-air personality, writer, and Executive Producer of her own radio show "Off the Record with Georgette Pierre". 

Check out her website www.georgettepierre.com 
Twitter: @GeorgettePierre

How to Become a Good Producer/Engineer

This is a question I see and hear frequently, my answer to this question is a very simple one: Put your client first! Whether you are the producer, recording engineer, mixing or mastering engineer or all the above, always remember that the client is your lifeline in this industry. (along with your ears)

Collaboration between you and the client should be a producer/engineer's main focus, because an audio production is a team effort between all people involved, not just what YOU want. If you are just starting to work with a new artist, one of the best ways to get on the same page and understand each other's point of views is to have a pre-production meeting.

This is one of the most vital aspects of a recording; be it a single track or an entire album.

What is a pre-production meeting? This is the earliest stage in the recording process, generally you'll want to sit down with the artist (and their manager if available) and listen to some demos with them (especially if you are acting as producer) and help with any arrangement/composition issues you may hear, this is basically a brainstorming session that will really bring you and the artist closer as a unit, you will bring your ideas and wants up while listening and hopefully reach a median between what you would both like to hear in regards to their musical direction.

A pre-production meeting can last one day or a few days,however long it takes to establish that common ground which I like to call harmony. However that is not all that is involved in the pre-production stage. You will also decide upon which studio you wish to record at (unless a label or manager has the most say), who it will be mixed by and where it will be mastered at.

Other things such as which microphones will be used on what instruments is another thing to be discussed, create a list before you go into the studio and show it to the recording engineer and be open to any suggestions they may have to replace a particular microphone or three on your list, generally you'll want to think about leaving vocal microphones out of this list as every vocalist has a different voice and you will want to try out 3-4 different microphones to find that perfect match for your artist.

I view a pre-production meeting as a communication session. Get to know your client as a person, not as a dollar sign, find out what they are about and what their goals, standards and interests are. Even a simple interest phone call can work wonders if you have spoken to a client but had not heard back from them, ask them how they're doing and see if there is anything you can help them with.

Establishing friendships and showing interest in your fellow human beings can take you very far! After all is said and done, you may just have a new friend and client for life if you follow these small but simple rules. I cannot give answers to specific scenarios here because every scenario is different and requires a different answer for people involved.

Knowing when to say things and how to say them is a vital part of the communication process as well. If something is bad, never flat out say "That was absolutely terrible!" You could really hurt someone's feelings (especially a passionate vocalist). If you are in a session and a musician keeps making mistakes, offer a suggestion that will help them out, take a break, do whatever is needed to get them back into shape.

Every individual has a certain personality and not every producer/artist relationship is a positive one, sometimes some screaming and hollering will happen, remember to keep your cool though and try to get everything back on a positive playing field for everyone as negativity makes any session turn sour real fast. Empower your artist with positive comments: "That's great!" "Perfect!" and "keep going!" are some empowering comments but you must truly mean them and be enthusiastic about what you say, false flattery will get you nowhere! If something needs to be re-recorded, tell them that what they played was fine but you want to get some more takes to be on the safe side.

In closing, I cannot emphasize enough how detrimental poor communication skills are in the music industry and life in general, show interest in the people you are working with and carry a positive attitude as much as you can, wear a smile and walk tall!

Josh Hayward

Contributer Josh Hayward is a recording/mixing engineer trained at Willie Nelson's former Arlyn Studios. He teaches various classes such as Pro Tools and music marketing training and is the owner of Astral Plane Studios. For more on Mr. Hayward, his classes and Astral Plane Studios:

  Website: http://www.astralplanestudios.com
Facebook: www.facebook.com/astralplanestudios
   Twitter: @AstralPStudios

Artist to Know: Carmen Caserta

   Indie singer/songwriter Carmen Caserta's story of her journey as 
   a musician is as compelling and powerful as her music. 
  
  Although she discovered and developed her love for music at an 
  early age, her struggle with uncertainty kept her from submitting 
  herself to her true passion and decided to pursue other ventures. 

  After several years (two degrees in psychology AND law!) and 
  some encouragement from a fellow musician, Carmen got her feet 
  wet reworking the compilation of songs she had written over
  the years, while playing local gigs and open mics. 

  Carmen finally released her debut album, The Hive, 
  full of songs where she bared her soul and emotion. 


   Want check out Carmen's music or know more about her   
   story? Maybe follow along on one of her many endeavors 

  (she's also a producer behind "Mighty Green Vaqueros"!) 
  click on the links below. In the meantime, watch her amazing 
  cover of Joni Mitchell's "A Case of You". 







Follow Carmen on her website: http://carmencaserta.com/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/CarmenCasertaMusic

                                 
Twitter: @CarmenCaserta
                               
YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/user/CarmenCaserta



Lets Support Indie Musicians!

Top 5 Ways to get noticed in the Music Biz

Is that something you always dream about? Well, I have something for yoooouuu! I am a member of a facebook group called StooshPR and these tips were shared. I thought that these tips were absolutely worth distributing and would be helpful to you musicians. Thanks to Jane from StooshPR! 

P.S - Join this amazing group (StooshPR) for networking, tips, support and much more! Get Stooshed! 

Top 5 Ways to get noticed in the Music Biz

1) Write and record stellar music. 

This one goes without saying, but if your songs aren’t (at a minimum) catchy, provocative, unique, and meticulously recorded, then you need to invest as much time and effort as it takes to get them that way. The days of getting picked up by record labels on the basis of extremely low-budget demo recordings are pretty much over. So you basically need suck it up and spend some cash. Speaking of which…. 


2) Manage your finances effectively

It’s pretty much common knowledge that record labels no longer have huge stacks of money to invest in “artist development.” This means that you absolutely must manage your music career like you are running a business, watching your cash flow very carefully and keeping yourself in the black. Artists who fail to demonstrate responsibility and discipline in financial matters will simply get passed over by the labels. Period. Bottom line—you need to resist the urge to live the rock star lifestyle until you’ve got the bank to support it.

3) Play lots of gigs

The benefits of playing out on a regular basis are numerous. First of all, it helps to improve your musicianship through practice & repetition, forcing you to perform well under pressure. Secondly, it helps you to establish and refine your brand, personality, songwriting, and unique sound. Thirdly, it will help improve your charisma and social skills because you’ll be constantly fielding comments and questions from fans. And lastly but certainly not leastly, it will put money in your pocket, which of course helps with #2 above.

4) Develop and streamline your social media presence

In today’s all-digital music industry, this is an absolute must. You need to have a solid social media marketing plan in order to reach the maximum number of people and get as many ears on your music as possible.

So how do you do you go about developing such a plan? I’m so 
glad you asked. :) 

Here are a few tips:

Create consistent and professional-looking branding. Unless you’re super-handy with Photoshop and/or Illustrator, bite the bullet and hire a graphic designer.Design an eye-catching (but tasteful) Twitter background, YouTube Channel, and Facebook page using your custom branding. 

Upload your music to sites like ReverbNation, SoundCloud, and the BandPage app on Facebook, and promote it onall of your other social media channels

Create (and stick to) a regular posting/tweeting schedule to remain“top of mind” with your fans. Keep them informed of your upcoming shows, share pics & videos, and occasionally share off-topic items that you think they’ll enjoy.

Set weekly goals for increasing your following, and constantly engage with fans. Never let a question or comment go unacknowledged.

Remember that achieving success with social media is a journey, not a destination.


And finally, we arrive at the most important tool in your arsenal 
when it comes to getting noticed in today’s music industry….

5) Get some truly amazing promotional photos

Time and time again, the first thing that potential fans (or talent scouts, venue managers, or even <gasp> A&R reps) will see typically see when they come across your stuff for the very first time are your photos. Make a great impression, and chances are good that the person in question will bother to click your link, rummage through your press kit, or <gasp> actually listen to your music. Right or wrong, we all “judge a book by its cover” from time to time, so it’s no surprise that people will instantly make certain assumptions about you based solely on the quality and impact of your promotional photos. It doesn’t matter if you spent eleventy billion dollars on your album— if nobody’s listening to it because your pictures suck, then for all intents and purposes, you do too.

You might literally only have 2 seconds to catch someone’s eye, and bear in mind that in today’s caffeine-fueled world of 140-charatcer status updates, there will always be countless other things competing for that same sliver of attention. So the bottom line is that, when given a chance, you better make it count. As the great lyricist Eminem said, “you only get one shot, do NOT miss your chance to glow.”

By Russ Robinson

Staying Relevant - as an Indie Musician

                                                                 Image courtesy of receptivemusic.com
 


So you've finished your album, you're done touring and promoting. Time to take some time off! 

Not so fast... 

Unless you are done with your career as a musician, you need to become that artist/band where your fans are desperate for new material. 

How do you do that? 

By staying visible. 

Most of the time, musicians only connect with their fan base to promote and sell. Independent artists do not have the luxury of putting music out once a year, promoting and touring for three months, then going back into hibernation. Don't disappear! Stay connected to your fans!

Create a content calender containing all the social media you utilize for your music. Plan out how you will use each channel (ex. Twitter 3x's a day, emailing a newsletter once a month, blogging twice a week). Plan each post, pic, tweet or status.  Most types of social media will let you time these, so you can take a day to set all posts up ahead of time to be published at a later date. Be sure to check insights to see where your views are at the highest so that you have the max outreach. 

Find ways to add to your fan base. It would be to your benefit to do some research on how to use social media to its full potential.

Post and and tweet out photos of you writing or composing music, share demos and ask for feedback. Do a weekly video on Ustream and let them see you test out a new song. Tell them what your up to, how the music is sounding, and keep them engaged. Allow them to help you evolve and make them hungry for the end result.

Sneak peek of Princess' new video "Gonna Love Ya"

If you've follow us on Facebook or Twitter, you'll know we've barely been able to contain our excitement about our upcoming interview with UK legend Princess. 

She came on the music scene in 1986 with dance hit "Say Your My Number One". Her debut solo album, Princess, climbed the charts to Gold status and continued to release several top 20 hits.

Over the past several years, she dedicated her time to writing music and her humanitarian efforts, receiving The Award of Distinction from UNICEF, raising awareness for Darfur and launching the HRS Princess foundation.  

Now, Your Highness is ready to share her new material, releasing not only an album but a trilogy "The Emergence, The Passion, The One"!

The Crew Scene was privileged to be on the set of Princess' new music video for the first single, (and guaranteed hit) "Gonna Love Ya", filmed at NYC celebrity hot spot Sen - here's a sneak peek!

Stay tuned for our interview this week, where we talk with Princess about her new album, how she feels about the music scene today and much more! 

Follow Princess on Twitter: @HRSPrincess
                            Facebook: www.facebook/HRSPrincess
                            Soundcloud:  soundcloud.com/HRSPrincess         


Special Thanks to: Donovan Heslop and Beast of the East Productions

Still Photography: Joe WooSung Jeung 

Week In News

                                                       Image courtesy of Hollywood Reporter


Excited to start our new biweekly feature: Week In News. Middle and end of week will we share a few of the industry's top headlines with links for more reading. 

TV

Scandal gets upgraded from 13 to 22 new episodes, Deception cancelled. Did your show make the cut? Read the Network Scorecard here to find out: -    http://goo.gl/vcysP


Yea yea, whatshername got eliminated but yo dawg, Randy Jackson is finally out! Leaving Idol after this season: - http://goo.gl/2Lz9V


BSkyB invests another $1.9 million into U.S/European TV streaming platform - http://goo.gl/OSQv3


"Young and the Restless" legend Jeanne Cooper passes away at 84 -  http://goo.gl/lUWP

Film

Ugh, is this ever gonna happen?! Jurassic Park postponed again -
http://goo.gl/8Ju5g

Kickstarter founders address celebrity funding controversy -  
http://goo.gl/AeQIX

How great is the Great Gatsby worth the hype? -http://goo.gl/7eho4


Tax loopholes for Hollywood -  http://goo.gl/5visz

Music

Green Day vs. Psy? - http://goo.gl/HXHmF

Mariah's back with "#Beautiful" ft. Miguel. Watch it here -

http://goo.gl/5i4j4

Business and Media

UTA is going after another former client, Donald Faison your it!
http://goo.gl/5ISUZ


Advertisers excluding Rush Limbaugh...shocking?..think not!
http://goo.gl/coeLO



Local Cleveland station apologizes for smear campaign against Charles Ramsey - http://goo.gl/4lTzA