Author: Jamie Bonk

I'm a guitarist/composer/producer and I have released seven LP's, two EP's, and eight singles of my own recordings. Just about every day you can find me in my studio writing, recording and practicing.

The Sweet Indie Label Software Suite

So you’re a musician and you want to start up a record label, eh? Well, it’s not all fun and games. For me, the most not fun thing is all of the business I have to do. And if you’re an indie musician like me, you’re going to have to do the same not fun things that I have to. Lots of not fun things. If you want to keep your focus on music and not business, I’ve found one “trick” is to streamline your business software. And the best way, in my opinion, to do that is to buy a Mac. Yeah, I’m biased. I’ve used Macs since the early 90’s and yes I do some music seminars for Apple. But still… buy a Mac. You’ll thank me later. So this is what I’m using to meet my day-to-day business needs:

  • Bento.  It’s a kind of FileMaker Pro lite, but not really.  If that makes any sense.  You get some of the functionality of FileMaker (which I’ve used for over 10 years) in a much simpler, clearer interface and you get the ability to sync up your contacts with Address Book.  Which then syncs up to Mobile Me and your iPod/iPhone.
  • Mail. Sometimes I think my life is e-mail. Sure there are lots of e-mail programs out there, but Mail is integrated with many other Apple programs. I don’t think e-mail can be too much easier.
  • iCal. If this program can keep me organized, it can keep anyone organized!
  • iChat. If you’ve never done video conferencing, you don’t know what you’re missing. With iChat when I’m talking with someone, I feel like they’re sitting right across from me. Works brilliantly. I also use it for file exchange when I’m working on a project.
  • Mobile Me. You can back up all of your important files to Mobile Me, use it for file exchange, and the web gallery feature is my new best friend. If you use iPhoto you can create a photo album that can be instantly posted to Mobile Me. Saves a tremendous amount of time, and the web galleries look first rate.
  • iPhoto. Keeps all of my photos organized and makes editing photos a breeze.
  • Safari. I like it because the browser is super quick and works with the other Apple programs I use.
  • Quickbooks. Clean and lean. Does what it says it’s going to do. Invoicing and accounting don’t get much more simple.
  • Square Space. I’ve just started using this service (my site is hosted by Square Space) and it’s made any work I have to do on my website a breeze.
  • Firefox. I primarily use this as a secondary browser to check out my website. I like the program, but right now I’m more into Safari.

That’s about it! With this setup you’ll have most of the tools you need to get your music out to the world and still leave time for the most important thing — music!

Record Companies Rediscover Innovation

This seems like a good idea.  The bundling of records, merchandise, live shows, etc. has been done before, but whether through creative thinking or simply lack of choice, the record companies look like they are changing.

Music In The Cloud – The Music Industry’s New Internet Problem

Lots of good questions, but few real answers. My guess is the further we go down this road, the more important live performance will become. It remains to be seen if online streaming music services can make a go of it.

Schiller – “I Feel You”

This track off of Buddha-Bar VIII has been in constant rotation on my iPod. The composition and arrangement of this remix by Sam Popat are outstanding, but it’s the vocal by Peter Heppner that puts the tune over the top for me.

You can check out the original version of this track here.

Jeff Beck – “What Mama Said”

I just saw this 1999 video of the Jeff Beck Group live… Wow! What a terrific tune played by an amazing band! I grew up listening to Beck, but I’ve never had the chance to see him play live. Hopefully, he’ll come to Toronto (or near by) soon.

No Doubt

I realize that for many “name” artists it’s now all about the show, but No Doubt’s latest tour has truly hammered home the point. To help promote their upcoming tour, No Doubt is giving away their entire recorded catalogue with every ticket over $42.50! This is a pretty gutsy move. I wonder how this will affect the rest of the industry.

Bandcamp

I just uploaded all of my albums to Bandcamp. I absolutely love this site — very clearly laid out and extremely artist and consumer friendly. Basically, Bandcamp let’s artists upload their tracks and then sell downloads directly (via PayPal) to their audience. Artists can also set whatever price (all the way down to zero) they’d like for their downloads. At this point, Bandcamp isn’t taking any sort of cut of the download, which I hope they change in the future. They need to make money to stay in business (they acknowledge this). One striking plus to Bandcamp’s downloads is that they come in a very wide variety of formats — MP3, AAC, Ogg Vorbis, FLAC and Apple Lossless. And they are completely DRM-free. So head on over to the Bandcamp site!