My Next CD

I've been starting to get questions from people asking me when I plan to put out my next CD effort.

Good question!

I've been thinking that myself, actually. In the back of my mind I had the idea of hitting the studio this Fall and trying to put out the release by next Summer. That is still a possibility, but what is more likely is getting into the studio during the early part of 2010 for a Fall release.

There are several factors that have held me from releasing a new album over the past couple of years. One thing has been my schedule. I have had such a dense schedule the past couple of years (thank goodness) that I simply haven't had the proper time to plan anything out, or to write new music for that matter. The second factor, and perhaps the most significant, is that I became a father last Summer. Anybody who is a parent knows that you can't get a whole lot of work done when you have a baby around.

All that in mind, there are a few reasons present as to why I can't start on the album right away (this Fall). Probably the biggest reason is MONEY.

Even though I'm signed to a record label (Tierra Records of Dortmund, Germany), I still have costs to have to cover from out of my own pocket. Simply put, the label I'm signed to is a small independent label and their budget isn't such that they can simply throw me 15 or 20 thousand dollars to do an album and properly promote it. Most of their help comes on the distribution end and in helping me with sales overseas.

Another hurdle, which is somewhat related to money, is the fact that I need to write some more songs. How does this relate to money? Well, on my first album I have several cover tunes (jazz standards) that I recorded to help give listeners some tunes that they may be familiar with so that purchasing my album wouldn't be such a risk for them.

What many listeners don't realize is that by doing so I had to pay a good amount of money in licensing to be allowed to record and sell those cover songs...nearly $2,000 extra on top of the other costs involved with recording and manufacturing the CD. Bare in mind, that I was discovered by Tierra Records AFTER I had already completed the album. So, all of the expenses were completely out of my own pocket.

My next album will be all original compositions to both help me get MY voice out, and to help me cut costs.

I have been stirring some song ideas around, but I'm taking my time. I really want this to be put together right and for the songs to be right for what I think my next move should be musically. At the same time, I realize that it's been awhile since I put out my debut album and I don't want it to be too much longer before the next one is released.

So, with that I think I will end this post. But, one thing is certain. I would definitely like to have a new album out by sometime in 2010.

Online Communities

I've been keeping pretty busy lately and haven't been able to get away to leave a post in a spell. My initial, unspoken goal of putting up a blog post at least 3 or 4 times a week has evaporated! The fact of the matter is that there are just so many lines of communication that I have open, it's getting tough to keep track of all of them.

As of this moment, in addition to trying to keep this blog up to date, I'm also trying to keep my website current, I have a monthly email blast to construct on an ongoing basis, and I'm on all of the "big 3" social networking sites: Facebook, Twitter, and Myspace. Not to mention I have a Youtube account that is painfully neglected. Most of my attempts to stay on top of all of these different sights are thwarted by my normal, day to day activities of being a dad, trying to keep our house from falling on top of us (or just plain trying keep the house at all!), so on and so on.

One thing I have to say about all these social networking sites is that they have been great in getting me in contact with friends and relatives who I have not seen in a very long time. In fact, an old childhood friend of mine recently contacted me who I don't believe I've seen since perhaps 2nd or 3rd grade! I also get to talk to a few of my close friends that I don't get to see in person very much because of my performance schedule, or our respective family lives.

My venturing into the social networking scene was somewhat calculated. I first joined Myspace a couple of years ago as a marketing experiment. I learned a few things from that experience, but mostly that it is an over saturated media to try and get your voice heard as a musician. It seems that everybody and their grandmother is trying to promote their band on Myspace, making the whole experience a little overbearing.

Facebook was my next move. Oddly enough, I didn't join because I wanted to market myself. My first objective was to find a lost family member that I had evidence showing that he may be a Facebook member. My second objective, and less important to me at the time, was to try and find a booking agent that I had been told about.

The result was that the person who I thought was a long lost family member wasn't who I thought he was (the search continues), and the booking agent turned out to not actually be a member of Facebook. However, the booking agent's name was very similar to the name of an old friend and former girlfriend of mine and caused her name to come up in the search results. It lead me to the discovery of someone I had not seen in something like 15 years or so. In fact, my wife and I just recently had dinner with her and her husband. We all had a great time and she and my wife really hit it off!

So anyway, I guess online communities are cool and all because you can keep in touch with people that you may not be able to keep in touch with through other more "traditional" means, but it sure is a handful juggling your attention between them!