Enjoying and Producing Music

The West Coast Songwriters organization has for many years been a source of guidance and inspiration for me and for many other local songwriters. At this years conference, AlsTunes had the opportunity to meet CD Baby founder and industry legend Derek Sivers (who, it turns out, is a fan of web programming language PHP, and who has some opinions about Ruby on Rails, which we will surely discuss further in the future). 

AlsTunes received some encouraging words and insightful advice from LA-based producer Jason Brawner, and also movie music supervisor Marcus Barone, who is gathering songs for an upcoming Sony Pictures project. Stay tuned for updates!

AlsTunes used Final Cut Studio to put together this visual interpretation of “I Belong on This Side Now” from the Amy Holloway CD, featuring stock photos from the U. S. Army:

Thank You Troops

We think Amy’s haunting vocal performance works pretty well with these images.

Rachel’s live performance of her original song “Tell Me You Love Me”  at last May’s vocal showcase, supported by yours truly on the guitar, is now available on YouTube:

Tell Me You Love Me

Thanks to Rachel’s dad for shooting the video. I used Final Cut Studio to add a few titles and tack on a small trailer. Enjoy!

Great news! You can now buy Rachel’s CD from the iTunes Music Store! This is where the sales should really pick up, and where we must focus our marketing efforts. Fans of Rachel! Please go to the I Get It! page on the iTunes Music Store and write reviews, and create iMixes. Here is the link: 

Thank you to the TuneCore service for setting up the digital distribution.

The gifted students of our favorite vocal coach, Claire Yarrington, held a showcase at the California Theatre Arts Crossroads Theatre this evening. The packed house was treated to some very entertaining performances. Of course, one of Claire’s standout students is AlsTunes recording artist Rachel Shapiro, and I was privileged to share the stage with her on one song, playing acoustic guitar while she sang her terrific original tune “Tell Me You Love Me”. That’s track 5 on the CD. (If you have the CD you know that, and if you don’t have the CD, WTF?)

Congratulations to Claire and all her students, and thanks to the many audience members who bought a copy of Rachel’s CD.

The out-of-stock situation at CD Baby only lasted about a day. We knew the first batch would sell out quickly so we sent the second batch on May 9; the first batch sold out on May 11, and the second batch arrived on May 12. So after the one-day pause, sales resumed. In addition to the good news from CD Baby sales, we hear good news from Rachel’s mom on direct sales.

AlsTunes is still recovering from an awesome CD kickoff party held last night at the house of Rachel. It was pretty amazing; lots of friends and family; mainly human, although there were dogs, one snail, a big fly, and rumors of a turkey. The highlight of course was Rachel’s performance of her song “Tell Me You Love Me” which brought the house down. That and the cinnamon cookies. Stay tuned for updates, photos, and possible videos. And thanks to Rachel’s mom for organizing a truly memorable evening.

Since the CD was released a few days ago, your support has been really gratifying, and the first batch of CD’s is now sold out on CD Baby. But that’s only temporary; I’ve already sent a restock batch to our friends at CD Baby, so sit tight. You should be able to resume buying CD’s when they receive it in a few days.

You can now buy Rachel’s CD at the Internet’s favorite CD retailer, CD Baby! Check it out! Write a review!

Today is the targeted release date for “I Get It!”, and although CD Baby confirms that they have received the first batch of CD’s, they still have some processing to do before the link goes live. Watch for updates here; it won’t be long!