NHT Blog

We’re into March now.  How is the new year going for you?  And by that I don’t mean have you stuck with your new year’s resolution.  (Well, unless it was a business goal that you set instead of something personal.)

But how IS 2017 looking so far in terms of business?  Were January and February this year better than those two months were in 2016?

I wonder if the expression “sound like a broken record” is lost on the millennials, in light of music being primarily digital.  Granted, some artists actually are releasing on vinyl again, but I’m sure that there is a huge segment of the population that doesn’t know what those large size black discs are all about.  Oh well, I digress.

Last week I wrote about leaving a legacy.  I urged the reader to not just settle.  My desire was to have you, the musician, finish the blog and be left with the feeling of, “Yes, I need to move with a purpose.”

On the episode of “Now Hear This Entertainment” that will come out on Wednesday*, NAMM Director of Public Relations and Social Media Chalise Zolezzi says, “From our first heartbeat to our last dying breath’s rattle, we’re music.”

Yes, throw a yellow penalty flag.  I too am going to be among those in the long line of writers using last night’s Super Bowl as fodder for content today.  Mind you, I will stick to the topic of this weekly blog, which is music-related.

As an aspiring performer, you're constantly looking for your next gig.  It's great to have a place or two (or three) where you perform regularly.  Maybe the venue has you play there once a week, once a month, or somewhere in between.  Even still, you're always looking for other "one-off" gigs, as some people like to say.  As someone who's always thinking from a promotional perspective, I prefer "one night only."

The Winter 2017 NAMM show ended yesterday here in Anaheim, California.  For four days, thousands packed the Anaheim Convention Center to talk, view, and demonstrate audio technology.  The attendees ranged from beginners to intermediate to pros.  The latter included the likes of Stevie Wonder, John Mayer, Billy Bob Thornton, and even Johnny Depp, among others.

You only have one chance to make a good impression, and this past weekend a bad impression was made on me.

Two days ago the auditions began for the next season of “America’s Got Talent.”  It’s a big deal.  They have a whole website set up just for this phase of identifying potential participants for the show.  There are ten cities on the list where they will watch people show them their routine or sing or dance or whatever their act is.  The website even has a section for video

I once gave out a tip on an episode of “Now Hear This Entertainment” where I said that, “If there’s something you feel really strongly about, post it as a status on your (Facebook) page, not overly wordy, either, and consider even tagging people in your post, those that you know will attend and also be an ambassador for you.  So, ‘We’re playing at x and are excited to see a lot of yo