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Patrick McManamon's Beside the Point: Another wacky, crazy Browns week
Area students' charitable effort flows around world
Youngsters at helm trying to grab Wagon Wheel
Jobless rate climbs to 26-year high
LeBron dominates by leading all scorers
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Robbers order bar patrons to empty pockets
Family found dead in Ohio home
Man gets 3 years in prison for having sex with horse
Akron man turns himself in after authorities turn up heat
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Boy tells 911 operator he shot father in anger
Akron police follow blood trail to murder suspect
Man appears alive at own funeral
Park service wants to replace historic Tinker Creek Aqueduct
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Patrick McManamon:
Saturday entertainment continued …
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No. 1 UA hopes to be perfect on Senior Night
Tribe Matters:
Tribe makes roster moves
Cleveland Browns:
Lewis doesn't like boycott
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Kent State @ Akron | Preview
Cleveland Cavaliers:
Gameblog: Cavs at Knicks
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Weekly ‘B’ Deck Report – New Mexico St.
Varsity Letters:
Wrestling, bowling teams prepare for season
All Da King's Men:
Bigger And Better Boondoggles
Blog of Mass Destruction:
The Shooter
Akron Law Café:
NEW U.S. Supreme Court Database
See Jane Style:
Muffle Your Muffler
Car Chase:
Perfect Weather for an Autumn Drive
Let's Talk Real Estate:
RUMORS: Downtown Restaurant Explosion
Ohio Travels with Betty:
Jack is looking for a trip to Southern Ohio the week of November 16.
Sound Check:
The Black Keys to perform benefit concert at Musica on November 27
HRLite House:
Personal Rant – Why People Do Not Live in Northeast Ohio
Akron Gamer:
New 'Call of Duty' could set entertainment record
By Malcolm X Abram
Beacon Journal
POSTED: 11:02 a.m. EDT, Apr 24, 2008
As the record business dies, the music business has had to slowly and reluctantly deal with the new rules of a game it has they have controlled for decades. Among those new rules is one that says an aspiring artist can get millions of people to listen to his or her music and even reach a level of fame without signing any contracts or watching his or her advance money go up in smoke to endure/pay for photo shoots, radio ads and other promotional costs that have been the record labels' forte.
In 2008, for musicians looking for some attention, online meeting places such as MySpace are the 21st-century equivalent of busking in a subway. Online you can bring your entire band, and instead of thousands of people catching a snippet of your music as they go through their day, there are millions of potential listeners who can hear your entire catalog without leaving their chairs.
While the new model has sent plenty of label folks to the unemployment line, it has also evened the playing field a bit, as artists can build their own fan base simply with their music.
For many young artists, the success stories of performers such as indie hipsters Vampire Weekend and young singer-songwriter Colbie Caillat (who will perform her hit Bubbly and other songs from her platinum-selling debut Coco at E.J. Thomas in Akron on Tuesday) are harbingers of the future and musical rays of hope.
Vampire Weekend's fame grew almost entirely out of kind words given to it on hip blog spots such as Stereogum and Pitchfork, which garnered the group the cover of Spin magazine before the release of its debut.
Caillat, a 22-year-old Malibu, Calif., native, was raised amid the old record business as the daughter of engineer Ken Caillat, founding partner and current president of 5.1 Digital Production Services, which co-produced/engineered Fleetwood Mac's Rumours, Tusk and Mirage.
She grew up hanging out with the band's namesakes John McVie and Mick Fleetwood, who were her dad's buddies, and listening to the music that was always around. But it wasn't until she saw and heard ex-Fugee Lauryn Hill in Sister Act II and a few years later with the Fugees' version of Killing Me Softly that she had an epiphany and discovered her life's calling as a singer.
The young singer added the ''and songwriter'' to her dream after her father advised her that songwriters get more respect and connect more directly with listeners, prompting Caillat to begin writing songs in her bathroom, where the acoustics were favorable. She picked up the guitar for the first time at 19 simply because she needed an instrument to facilitate her writing.
After a fortuitous chance meeting with producer/songwriter Mikal Blue, the then-15-year-old singer was hired to perform music on some fashion show he was producing. Appreciating the young talent, he introduced her to Iowa City songwriter Jason Reeves, and the trio began collaborating on what would become the bulk of her debut, Coco.
Aside from her father, Caillat got sage advice from friends who suggested and then showed her how to post her music on MySpace.com. Nothing much happened for several months, until she posted a song that she wrote on a rainy day for no one in particular.
That song, Bubbly, a perky, mellow acoustic-based single about the tingly feeling of a fresh crush, caused her MySpace traffic to rise exponentially. In a few months, she went from several thousand hits to more than 30 million (she's at 38 million and counting), making her MySpace's top unsigned artist four months in a row and garnering the attention of record labels desperate for a sure thing.
Caillat signed with Universal, bringing with her the upper hand. With the knowledge that what she was doing would be successful, there was no chance for label minions to try to change her sound or look or spend googobs of (her) money to promote a song that was already a hit.
Since the release of the album, Caillat has bought her first house, toured the United States, Europe and South America and seen her song and album become huge hits all over the world, selling platinum in more than eight countries.
Just as with the song, the album Coco (Caillat's childhood nickname) is built primarily from those early demos. It contains a dozen mostly mellow, simply recorded acoustic guitar-based songs. Caillat's voice is pleasant with a light soulful edge, and her melodies are catchy.
Her songs mostly deal with her emotions and the confusion that comes with the transition from teenager to 20-something. Caillat makes music that an average parent would gladly play in the car on the way to the kids' soccer practice.
The odds of a Colbie Caillat sex tape scandal, DUI arrest or rehab stint appear to be remote.
So far in her young career, Caillat's story is almost more interesting than her music. The sharp-eared producers of American Idol turned her down twice, even though she sang a nascent version of Bubbly at her first audition for the talent-seeking show.
Honestly, as pleasant as Coco is, one could probably visit any dorm at the nearest liberal arts college (or its nearest coffeehouse) and find several young women armed with a guitar, five chords and a notebook full of thoughts and feelings who could match the young star's blossoming singing/songwriting skills. (Bay City product Kate Voegele comes to mind.)
But Caillat's meteoric rise, Top 5 album and No. 1 single shouldn't cause her musical peers to lament her apparent lack of dues paying.
Instead, her story should engender the idea that with all the new millennium outlets that exist for music makers, good songs/artists have a better chance of finding a natural audience without makeovers, marketing meetings, managers, lawyers and record label suits telling them how great they are before asking them to change everything about themselves.
Malcolm X Abram can be reached at mabram@thebeaconjournal.com or 330-996-3758.
As the record business dies, the music business has had to slowly and reluctantly deal with the new rules of a game it has they have controlled for decades. Among those new rules is one that says an aspiring artist can get millions of people to listen to his or her music and even reach a level of fame without signing any contracts or watching his or her advance money go up in smoke to endure/pay for photo shoots, radio ads and other promotional costs that have been the record labels' forte.
In 2008, for musicians looking for some attention, online meeting places such as MySpace are the 21st-century equivalent of busking in a subway. Online you can bring your entire band, and instead of thousands of people catching a snippet of your music as they go through their day, there are millions of potential listeners who can hear your entire catalog without leaving their chairs.
While the new model has sent plenty of label folks to the unemployment line, it has also evened the playing field a bit, as artists can build their own fan base simply with their music.
For many young artists, the success stories of performers such as indie hipsters Vampire Weekend and young singer-songwriter Colbie Caillat (who will perform her hit Bubbly and other songs from her platinum-selling debut Coco at E.J. Thomas in Akron on Tuesday) are harbingers of the future and musical rays of hope.
Vampire Weekend's fame grew almost entirely out of kind words given to it on hip blog spots such as Stereogum and Pitchfork, which garnered the group the cover of Spin magazine before the release of its debut.
Caillat, a 22-year-old Malibu, Calif., native, was raised amid the old record business as the daughter of engineer Ken Caillat, founding partner and current president of 5.1 Digital Production Services, which co-produced/engineered Fleetwood Mac's Rumours, Tusk and Mirage.
She grew up hanging out with the band's namesakes John McVie and Mick Fleetwood, who were her dad's buddies, and listening to the music that was always around. But it wasn't until she saw and heard ex-Fugee Lauryn Hill in Sister Act II and a few years later with the Fugees' version of Killing Me Softly that she had an epiphany and discovered her life's calling as a singer.
The young singer added the ''and songwriter'' to her dream after her father advised her that songwriters get more respect and connect more directly with listeners, prompting Caillat to begin writing songs in her bathroom, where the acoustics were favorable. She picked up the guitar for the first time at 19 simply because she needed an instrument to facilitate her writing.
After a fortuitous chance meeting with producer/songwriter Mikal Blue, the then-15-year-old singer was hired to perform music on some fashion show he was producing. Appreciating the young talent, he introduced her to Iowa City songwriter Jason Reeves, and the trio began collaborating on what would become the bulk of her debut, Coco.
Aside from her father, Caillat got sage advice from friends who suggested and then showed her how to post her music on MySpace.com. Nothing much happened for several months, until she posted a song that she wrote on a rainy day for no one in particular.
That song, Bubbly, a perky, mellow acoustic-based single about the tingly feeling of a fresh crush, caused her MySpace traffic to rise exponentially. In a few months, she went from several thousand hits to more than 30 million (she's at 38 million and counting), making her MySpace's top unsigned artist four months in a row and garnering the attention of record labels desperate for a sure thing.
Caillat signed with Universal, bringing with her the upper hand. With the knowledge that what she was doing would be successful, there was no chance for label minions to try to change her sound or look or spend googobs of (her) money to promote a song that was already a hit.
Since the release of the album, Caillat has bought her first house, toured the United States, Europe and South America and seen her song and album become huge hits all over the world, selling platinum in more than eight countries.
Just as with the song, the album Coco (Caillat's childhood nickname) is built primarily from those early demos. It contains a dozen mostly mellow, simply recorded acoustic guitar-based songs. Caillat's voice is pleasant with a light soulful edge, and her melodies are catchy.
Her songs mostly deal with her emotions and the confusion that comes with the transition from teenager to 20-something. Caillat makes music that an average parent would gladly play in the car on the way to the kids' soccer practice.
The odds of a Colbie Caillat sex tape scandal, DUI arrest or rehab stint appear to be remote.
So far in her young career, Caillat's story is almost more interesting than her music. The sharp-eared producers of American Idol turned her down twice, even though she sang a nascent version of Bubbly at her first audition for the talent-seeking show.
Honestly, as pleasant as Coco is, one could probably visit any dorm at the nearest liberal arts college (or its nearest coffeehouse) and find several young women armed with a guitar, five chords and a notebook full of thoughts and feelings who could match the young star's blossoming singing/songwriting skills. (Bay City product Kate Voegele comes to mind.)
But Caillat's meteoric rise, Top 5 album and No. 1 single shouldn't cause her musical peers to lament her apparent lack of dues paying.
Instead, her story should engender the idea that with all the new millennium outlets that exist for music makers, good songs/artists have a better chance of finding a natural audience without makeovers, marketing meetings, managers, lawyers and record label suits telling them how great they are before asking them to change everything about themselves.
Malcolm X Abram can be reached at mabram@thebeaconjournal.com or 330-996-3758.
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