Friday, October 26, 2012

St. Deluxe - how to market yourself

St. Deluxe is a Glasgow-based fuzz-pop rock band. I interviewed them a little over two years ago for AOL and St. Deluxe was appearing a SXSW in Austin. They were a lot of fun to talk to -- they took their music seriously but not themselves. I've kept in touch with them over the years. I joined their mailing list, liked their Facebook page, and dropped Martin Kirwan, their spokesman, an occasional e-mail. Martin and St. Deluxe do a great job of getting their content to the pubic. They are releasing a new album December 3rd and are reaching out to all of their fans and friends. I received an e-mail directly from Martin. The news is also on their Facebook page, Twitter feed, and of course, their web site. Their web site isn't fancy, but it has everything they and their fans need: bios, news releases, testimonials, and of course, videos. The great thing about the internet is that we can reach our audience directly. But so can everyone else. I've heard that every year the world creates as much content as was created from the Babylonians through 1980. Standing out is a challenge. it's important to create compelling content possible. But it's also important to find your audience. If you can do both, you are well on your way to making a living from your content. You can check out St. Deluxe on social media and their website: www.stdeluxe.co.uk

Saturday, October 20, 2012

Spirit in the Sky

Norman Greenbaum, the writer and performer of the iconic hit, "Spirit in the Sky," turns 70 this year. His story provides hope and inspiration for all of us who create content. Norman was born in 1942 and raised Jewish. He dropped out of school to become a singer/songwriter, and after watching Western movies came up with the fuzzy guitar riff and gospel-style lyrics that became "Spirit in the Sky." Warner music released the single and album in 1969, and the single sold two million copies in 1970. The song is still played today on adult contemporary, oldie, and even gospel channels and is featured prominently in several movies and commercials. You may remember it being used in Apollo 13 and other films. Norman released other albums and had some other charted hits like "Petaluma" although his other most famous song is the novelty hit "The Eggplant that Ate Chicago." Norman's royalties from "Spirit in the Sky," and ancillary products available on his website, support him to this day. Norman still writes and performs -- if you go to his website you can get information about his upcoming concerts: www.spiritinthesky.com. I'm sure after Norman recorded "Spirit in the Sky" he and Warner thought they had something -- but I'm also sure that no one predicted that the song would resonate as long as it did. Something in the music and lyrics makes the song timeless. I believe they'll be singing and playing "Spirit in the Sky" far in the future, when people live throughout the solar system and are sailing for the stars. That's why you must keep creating content, and doing your best with every piece. We never know which song we write is the next "Spirit in the Sky," which television series will be "Seinfeld," or which movie will be "Titanic." If you keep working, your content will become more compelling and your instincts for good work will improve. But we can never know until which one of our creations will be a hit until we send it into the world. So keep working -- perhaps your next work will be the one the Spirit in the Sky smiles on.

Thursday, October 11, 2012

When is my content protected by copyright?

You're protected as soon as you write it down. According to US Copyright law, your work is "under copyright protection the moment it is created and fixed in a tangible form that it is perceptible either directly or with the aid of a machine or device." Therefore, if you've just composed a hit song in your head, it's not protected by copyright until you write out the sheet music or record it on an audiotape, digital file, or digital video. The same for your novels, poems, films, and any other content you create. You must create it in a fixed and tangible form to have protection. Once you do this, you are entitled to put your 'c' copyright on your work, whether or not you register the work with the copyright office. So why would you want to register your work? Because you can't sue anyone for copyright infringement unless your work is registered. The best protection is to register your work within five years of creating it. That is considered prima facie evidence for a court of law. If you don't know what prima facie evidence is, you haven't watched enough legal shows on TV. You don't have to pay a lawyer to register your copyright. The US government has put your tax dollars to work and created a website, www.copyright.gov, that is full of information on how to register (and is also the source for this post). I urge you to look at it if you are concerned how US copyright law helps protect you. Don't assign your copyright to a corporate entity, record company, manager, or any other person. The owner of the copyright owns the work, and the only way you can maintain control is to maintain ownership. There may be times when you are working for a company that the content you create is 'work for hire' and is owned by the company. Other than that special case, if you are writing a novel, creating a web video, a new song, cartoon, poem, or any other personal content, it belongs to you by law. Don't give it away.

Sunday, October 7, 2012

The Story of Rodriguez - Why we create

The story of Mexican American folk singer Sixto Rodriguez should give hope to all of us. His story was told in the documentary "Searching for Sugar Man," and also on '60 minutes' and various cable news outlets. In brief, Rodriguez released two folk albums in the early 70s, 'Cold Fact,' and 'Coming from Reality' on a small label owned by Buddah records. The albums didn't sell, the record company went out of business, and Rodriguez worked as a day laborer in Detroit to survive. Unbeknownst to him, both albums became wildly popular in South Africa. South Africans who grew up in the 70s and early 80s said that Rodriguez's albums were the soundtrack of their lives. His songs gave hope to those struggling against apartheid. Since Rodriguez didn't have the money or record company support to tour, rumors persisted in South Africa that Rodriguez committed suicide. This only increased his mythic status. Of course, Rodriguez wasn't dead, just poor. Finally, in the 90s, some South African fans tracked him down and he gave some concerts to screaming fans, before returning to his life as a day laborer in Detroit. A few years ago an unknown Swedish documentary filmmaker, Malik Bendjelloul, learned about the story and made a film called "Searching for Sugar Man." Benjelloul took four years to complete the film, because he had no funding and no distribution. Last year some producer friends submitted it to Sundance, which not only accepted the film but also opened the Festival with it in 2012. Rodriguez' story captivated the festival, and at the age of 70 he is finally a hot property in the US as well as South Africa -- touring, making and selling music. Malik Benjelloul is also finding it much easier to get his next job in film. If someone had written this story as fiction, I don't think anyone would have believed it. Yet it happened. This is why we need to keep creating our own content and send it into the world. Yes, the competition is fierce and the odds of earning a living at your art small. Like Rodriguez, you may never know what positive effect your work can have on other people. If you believe in what you're doing create it anyway. Maybe, just maybe, you will be recognized for it in your lifetime. It's a sure thing that if you don't create your content, you certainly won't be recognized. The poet W.S. Merwin summed it up beautifully in the last stanza of his poem "Berryman," which relates his meeting with the great poet John Berryman. In the poem Merwin asks Berryman if one can ever be sure that what you write is really good and Berryman answers, "you can't you can never be sure you die without knowing whether anything you wrote was any good if you have to be sure don't write."

Tuesday, October 2, 2012

Stan Lee: Top Ten All-Time Movie Box Office Star

According to the web site "The Numbers," movies in which Stan Lee have appeared have grossed 3.44 billion (with a 'b')dollars, averaging a gross box office revenue of $191,565,937 million. That puts Stan ahead of Daniel Radcliffe in total and average box office gross for his films, which are, of course, all the Marvel blockbusters. Of course, Stan is not a professional actor. He's the legendary former head of Marvel Comics and creator of such great Marvel characters as Spider-Man, the Fantastic Four, Thor, Daredevil, and of course, the Avengers. Stan no longer heads Marvel, but to honor his contribution (and probably a contractual obligation) the producers cast Stan in cameo roles in all of the Marvel super hero blockbusters. You can see him as a librarian in the current reboot of Spider Man with Andrew Garfield and Emma Stone. The Numbers' list is not adjusted for inflation. Still, Stan Lee's inclusion demonstrates the power of creating compelling content. Stan Lee created Spider Man in the early 1960s, over 50 years ago, yet Spider Man still makes hundreds of millions of dollars for Marvel and for Stan. But when Stan created Spider Man, he was just creating another character for a disposable pop culture magazine aimed at kids. How did he do it? He adhered to two main points: 1. No matter how fantastic the stories got Stan made sure the characters' reactions remained as real as possible. Yes they featured super powers, super villans, amazing inventions, and space travel. At the same time, Spider Man had real problems -- making a living, taking care of his elderly aunt, finding a girlfriend, etc. 2. Stan never patronized his audience. He was writing comic books for kids, but he led his team to make each story as rich as possible -- filled with character details, nuanced reactions, and believable situations. No matter what type of content we're working on or what audience we try to reach, we should apply the same two principles to our work.