independentpathwaysjayconway

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Journal Week 12 Ever-Changing Music Industry

What do we need to survive in the short term? Having a sense that there is support out there if we need it, not just in terms of financial support through funding and grants, but also mental health support through organisations that know how the music industry operates and how it can at times be stressful for artists and workers putting all of their time and effort into making things work. The fact that people regard art as being an essential part of everyday life and that it has a positive impact on their ability to stay healthy, understand others, accept differences, connect with the community, learn new skills and have new ideas, is enough to know that your skills are always needed and appreciated.

What are some of the growth opportunities for the performing arts as we recover from Covid? I think with the pace at which technology becomes more accessible to poorer countries, their needs for music and digital artwork is going to increase at disproportionate rates, bringing the desire to ingest art and music from the international market into their mainstream culture. This could become a gold mine for the Asian music sector, including countries like India and China. If we start producing tracks that appeal to the broader international market, we might be able to also grow an international audience market.

How do we thrive ongoing? Community is always a nice place to start when bringing people together to celebrate or share experiences in a positive light. From these stories of experience, we gain knowledge and strength on how to tackle problems we may face in life, or in our careers. A more focused approach would be to establish a system of hearing and sharing that applies to the different individual minority groups (i.e First Nations people, LAGBTQi) with an outcome similar to Alcoholics Anonymous that gives members a platform to share from. These meetings can then be used to better equip minorities with skills to carry them to a better understanding of society, and how it can be used for their gain.

What are some of the longer-term growth opportunities for the performing arts sector? I think focusing on medium-sized festivals that incorporate not just music but also art, food, and culture with the aim of actively bringing together minority groups with the aim to educate them on the themes of love, brotherhood, acceptance, tolerance and teach them how to embrace education for the betterment of society as a whole.

END JOURNAL WEEK 12 INDEPENDENT MUSIC PATHWAYS

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Journal Week 11 Sustaining Your Music Practice

This week's class looked at ways we can keep ourselves busy in times when we are not working on creating music to be released, and also ways of avoiding burnout and ways we can practice good health not just physically but mentally as well.

One way of creating a safety net for your mental well-being is to become part of a community that is supportive of you and are aware of any support you may need to overcome certain challenges faced when engaging with the industry. There are also organisations like SupportAct that provide services for people in times of hardship with depression, anxiety, alcoholism, and loneliness.

I myself have schizophrenia and have had for over 20 years, and am aware of how bad things can get, luckily I do have a support network of doctors, carers, and family that are aware of my current situation.

Another big factor that can contribute to mental health problems is burnout, and we need to know how to identify it if we are trying to operate while suffering burnout. It can appear as something people don't want to admit to or think, 'that would never happen to me'. But burnout affects a lot of people in the music industry. One way of handling burnout is by taking self care and doing things that you love. If you're a musician this would include taking time to do things like making music that appeals to you, even if you're the only one that likes it, or finding ways of experimenting with stuff you don't normally do, like even trying to find that new genre that no one was expecting.

Other ways of staying busy would be to go to already-established music businesses and organisations offering to work for free or volunteering your time to get a look at the different ways the industry works but from the inside. Or looking at ways of generating funds to propel your work in a forward motion by investigating which grants you can apply for, the application process, and then applying for those grants. Grants can be seasonal so the timing of the applications have to be in line with the different organisation's submission requirements to be considered for any funding. Most grant application submission dates close during the month of October.

If we are feeling burnt out or need a little help with our mental health there are apps that can be easily accessed that help you build and sustain healthy self-care habits. A couple of really good ones are Headspace, Reflectly, and Woop.

END JOURNAL WEEK 11 INDEPENDENT MUSIC PATHWAYS

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Journal Week 10 Planning a Music Release 2

For week 10's class, we drilled down even further into planning for a music release. We looked at ways of creating plans based on strategies that will inform us on how to organise the mammoth task of a future major album release. These would include a timeline of events with a deadline for the project and key milestones to keep everything on track, and the creation of an EPK with its elements used to inform any magazine or radio interviews. The EPK would also include an artist bio, album bio, artist photos, artwork, merch info, album tracks, music videos, links to all social media channels, artist website and artist streaming sites, and any possible links to any previous magazine or radio interviews.

Another aspect to keep in mind when releasing an album, its singles and video clips, is the timing behind its release dates. You want to keep the audience in anticipation and entice them at just the right time, so as not to have too much time between releases. I would think 4-8 weeks between each single otherwise your audience may forget who the track is from. Another aspect of timing single release dates is planning for radio and magazine interviews. Traditionally it is recommended to contact radio stations with your artist bio and album bio 4-6 weeks before the planned date for your release. If you do manage to secure an interview but the date is a couple of weeks away from your planned date you would have to rearrange the release date so it can then be promoted during the interview.

Another part of releasing a major release is the post-delivery phase which is when you have completed all interviews, released the album as a whole, and its music videos, and made available any merch or artwork associated with the album. This is when we can take time to try to understand the industry, its market and how they operate, and also any challenges that may have occurred during the process and how we overcame them. We should also look at how other successful artists are engaging with the industry and how their actions can help direct any of your future strategies.

At this point, we may also want to do a SWAT or Kernal analysis to look for ways of improving your next delivery.

END JOURNAL WEEK 10 INDEPENDENT MUSIC PATHWAYS

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Journal Week 9 Planning a Music Release 1

This weeks class looked at the different ways we can prepare and deliver a music release. These techniques will be invaluable when it comes to crunch time and I have enough content that is radio-ready and I want to start engaging with an audience. One of the first steps is creating a timeline that is practical and I think will suit my own pace. At this point further planning can be fleshed out using a music release template, the one we are looking at is the planning, pre-production, production, delivery and then post-delivery.

One handy method to use when planning a music release is piggybacking or dropping easter eggs through the campaign. This involves releasing multiple parts of the whole release in phases. So phase 1 (of 3) when announcing the album also announce the 1st single and music video for the single. Phase 2 would be to announce any live shows connected to the album release with a second single and video clip, and then phase 3 is the album release and the 3rd single from the album, with an accompanying music video.

Some of the things that need to be done way before any easter egg drops is the actual process of contacting media outlets, and in the process, developing good relationships with people you deal with in the media industry. This in one way that can potentially make or break you and your career, so any of the information they receive while dealing with your brand and image needs to be of the highest quality at all times, in all aspects.

I am very much looking forward to creating a persona that I can use to connect with my fans, (that I don't have yet), and am hoping to use it as a platform to share all of my crazy ideas, theories, artworks, photos, videos, and any other aspects or ways of improving society in big step processes that might appeal to the greater community on a whole.

END JOURNAL WEEK 9 INDEPENDENT MUSIC PATHWAYS

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Journal Week 8 DIY Music Promotion

This week's class looked at the different ways we can as artists handle most of the promotional work we would otherwise rely on a label, publicist or graphic artist to do, to do ourselves. This saves a lot of money and also gives you more creative control over what is seen by your fans. A very important part of this process is knowing who you are as an artist and how you want to be perceived by your fans or audience. The more you know this, the more you can tune into your genre and become the image your fans want to see, helping expand your audience growth in a healthy way.

Part of this process initially is setting up ways for your audience to access your music, so Bandcamp, Facebook, Instagram, Soundcloud, and if you dare Ticktok. Another step in the journey is radio airplay, so sending your music to radio stations on a national level to maximise the chances of your work receiving airplay. For this, you will need an Electronic Press Kit which includes examples of your work in WAV or mp3, press releases, artwork, and photographs. You can get this stuff done professionally, but these days its easy enough to get pretty good results by doing it yourself or finding friends that can do it for a lot less.

Something that has to be consistent throughout the process of organising your EPK is your Branding, your style or aesthetic, your artist values, your core statement, and your statement of difference, as these are the factors that will resonate with your audience way before they even hear your music or see your artwork. These factors can also dictate how you write your music or create your artwork.

For my free time at the end of class, I decided to create a Facebook page and Instagram account under my stage name, and something happened when I was doing it. It occurred to me that this was it, this is the point where I am committing to something that I did not know where or how it would take me, but it would, and I had to be ready to commit to it every day, for at least the next 10 years. The only thing I needed for everything to begin was a song. One song that is commercially ready, with an attached persona to connect with its audience, and then a constant flow of material being pumped into the pipeline that is JC London, (my stage name).

Additionally, it also occurred to me that you could have multiple personas with targeted branding to tap into different genres and markets, but before any multigenre crossing can be experienced, you still need that very first one that kicks it all off in the beginning.

END JOURNAL WEEK 8 INDEPENDENT MUSIC PATHWAYS

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Journal Week 7 Presentations

This week's class was presentation time, with 3 different groups presenting information about organisations that support musicians, music workers, music professionals, and venues in the state of Victoria. I found each presentation to be of great value in that it contained so many different levels of help and supportive opportunities for all involved. It was amazing to see the community culture that supports not just the Victorian music scene, but the Australian scene as well. The most important word in that last sentence is the word community, which was presented to be rich, diverse, and very accepting of anyone who may feel they need support, whether it be financially, mentally, or for networking with business's and organisations within the industry.

Something that I didn't realized was the amount of information given by this Degree on this section of the industry is invaluable and would be very difficult to navigate on my own.

Having other students deep dive into 3 different organisations that can help and guide me through the dark forest that is music industry also gave me confidence. Seeing other artists that have become successful using the services offered was also comforting. I think the amount of information presented was enough to represent what is actually out there in terms of services available.

This class definitely put a feather in my hat and gave me a much more detailed plan of action to take when the time comes to start releasing my own music.

END JOURNAL WEEK 7 INDEPENDENT MUSIC PATHWAYS

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Journal Week 6 Supportive Institutions

For this week's workshop, we looked at some of the institutions that support musicians not just locally, but on a national level. The deep dive was into APRA and AMCOS, and basically how they operate and what services they provide for Australian musical artists.

APRA is a company that handles rights management for all musicians in Australia and New Zealand, so they handle copyrighted use of peoples music that is performed or broadcast on radio, television, online, live gigs in pubs and clubs. APRA then distributes the royalties from these licence fees back to their composer, songwriter and music publishers

AMCOS handles the rights for musical works that are being reproduced by 3rd parties via CD, DVD, vinyl recording, downloading, or streaming, issuing what are known as mechanical rights and distributing mechanical royalties to writers and publishers of the music.

I myself have not registered with either of these companies but plan to do so at some point in the near future. I did question whether or not I needed to join AMCOS but there is a track that I have written that I am planning to rework, and it does sound a tiny bit like Lionel Richie's 'Dancing on the Ceiling' so I am thinking I could add a breakdown section that does elude to 'Dancing on the Ceiling' and credit it to Lionel himself.

I think once I have registered with APRA the next step would have to be to get my music on as many radio stations as I can within Australia and New Zealand, I don't know how much airplay my songs would get in New Zealand as I am part Maori, and that could be viewed as some sort of selling point. That would probably mean I would have to learn the 'Haka', and learn about my Maori roots, which could be very interesting indeed as I am related a Maori princess that married a wealthy Scottish Settler.

END JOURNAL WEEK 6 INDEPENDENT MUSIC PATHWAYS

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Journal Week 5 The Community and Culture that Supports Australian Music

Independent Music Pathways Long-Term Thinking Exercise

What do you want to achieve as a musician? To be able to write and produce all musical elements of songs or ideas on my own, on as many different instruments and styles as possible. Also being able to not only produce myself, but other artists as well, trying new styles and genres influenced by other artists, and collaborating with other artists occasionally. Then building a fanbase by releasing music on radio stations and streaming services, and social media.

How do you want to feel in your music practice? Free to explore, anything, from experimental to mainstream pop, even writing music for film and television, and music libraries. Also creating live soundscapes with multiple forms of instruments for live shows in front of audiences.

What impact would you like to have on your community? Hopefully, the community will be global, even breaking into the Chinese, Indian and Middle Eastern markets, with different projects having different branded imaging to be accepted by the larger communities of those countries' societies.

What do I need to do in the next six months to move towards my goal? Getting into the DAW and working on finding my style of production, and also vocal layering and recording techniques, and getting a good vocal sound. Learning how to find and create good sounds and clean recording techniques using microphones. Always looking for new sounds and music, while still staying true to my favourite styles and sounds.

What do I need to do in the next month to move towards my goal? Start making short clips or tracks that dive into styles and genres I want to emulate, also looking at breakdown clips from artists and producers I like. Keeping an open mind when it comes to new sounds and rhythms

What can I do each week to move towards this goal? Spending any spare time I have making beats and bass lines, of multiple genres, start listening to local and independent radio stations on my phone and in my car, also sign up to local radio stations, and join memberships if available. Spending 5 hours each week to develop new sounds.

SMART Project Goal Statement In 5 years time, I hope to be releasing tracks and music to a global market, with a sound that is current and modern, appealing to a very large mainstream market sector, spanning across multiple boundaries. The tracks will be receiving airplay on radio stations, TV, Youtube, and streaming services, and engage with audiences at a basic level, with familiar branding and logos that are recognised instantly. These activities should be bolstered by undertaking a PhD in a musical-affiliated program that makes investigations into the effects different sonic frequencies play on our minds and mental states. This is definitely an area of activity I would like to be a part of as I think it holds the answers to a lot of questions we have, but have not identified. Being pessimistic I would guess maybe after 10 years of investigations we might start seeing some answers.

END JOURNAL WEEK 5 INDEPENDENT MUSIC PATHWAYS

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Journal Week 4 Artists Relection

Genesis Owusu Artist Reflection by Jay Conway

I think the way Genesis released a lot of singles, over 20 single releases, over a period of 6 years, would have given him a really good feel for not only developing his sound, but also how to interact with his fan base. Finding out how different tracks are received and or not received, and learning different approaches to releasing tracks, and finding the most effective ways of engaging with an audience. Also his approach to working and collaborating with other artist, something I noticed later was how none of the people he worked with were super well known, they were still from the outer fringes of the industry, and now seeing Genesis in the spotlight is helping them get more exposure for themselves through his efforts.

Genesis also has a very strong branding image, which is now present in just about everything he does, from stage costumes, playing at some of the biggest festivals around the world, and appearances on Triple J and other music shows, to all of the merch on his website, and the website itself. He is always incorporating the colours black and red, in one way or another. His music clips are now shot with some of the best in the business and with the recent release of his new album, I don’t think there is any way of stopping Genesis taking over the world one song at a time.

After researching Owusu I feel like I have more of a tangible plan of how to approach releasing singles to begin with to help me find my sound, but also how to interact with a fanbase, and to hopefully not just idle around at that level. I need to find a way of getting my work to the next level. I suspect it would have something to do with a lot of hard work, and trial and error, and seeing how different styles and genres are accepted by their different fanbases. Like how heavy metal will get a completely different reaction to Electronica and EDM. Or how Low Fi fans react, I think finding the audience is part of the hard work as well, seeing how quickly one fanbase reacts to new material as opposed to another. It is all very interesting but you also need dollars in the bank to fund marketing campaigns, it’s seems like a very broad landscape to navigate across, but I am sure Genesis is there, he has reached land and found the ground he was searching for.

END JOURNAL WEEK 4 INDEPENDENT MUSIC PATHWAYS

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Journal Week 3 Branding Statement

Genesis Owusu Branding Statement

1.Genesis is a Ganian born Australian rapper hailing from Canberra, multi Aria award and Australian Music Prize winning artist with an extensive back catalogue stemming back to 2017, of 30+ singles, 1 EP, and 1 award winning LP “Smiling with No Teeth”, and an extensive list of Australian collaboratorations under his belt. 2. Genesis’ tour schedule is picking up pace to sold out shows across the country promoting his latest album release ‘Struggler’, this tour will also take him to North America, London, Paris and Berlin. 3. With his new LP planting his feet into the global scene we can expect to see a lot more from this new and emerging exciting young Australian artist over the next 12 months. Catch him if you can.

END JOURNAL WEEK 3 INDEPENDENT MUSIC PATHWAYS

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Journal Week 2 Audience Engagement

Multi-genre Concept Album Based Experience by Jay Conway

Connecting with the audience in a multi-genre experience gives me a heightened sense of achievement, not just for myself, but for the audience as well. A performance needs to be approached as a multi-layered experience, not just whipping out 10 songs from your catalogue. Understanding the way my music affects its audience informs me of all the different aspects, not just of my performance, but of my work as well, it being visual and or sonic simultaneously. This multi-format experience includes 3D projection mapping, stunning visuals, and concept album soundscapes, combining aspects of disco dancefloor philosophy, future-found concept album strategies, and harmonic structuring based on a chakra level of intuition.      

END JOURNAL WEEK 2 INDEPENDENT MUSIC PATHWAYS

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Journal Week 1 Values

FREEDOM - Having a space to write and create anything I feel needs an audience.

My use of the word Freedom here as a value is positioned in the reality that due to today's technologies i.e. laptops, we now have the freedom and ability to create, write, produce and release music from the comfort and convenience of our own bedroom. The 2nd reason I use Freedom as a value refers to the musical freedom of instead of focusing all my time on one musical style, genre, or musical sound, I can use that time to explore any way I feel takes me, and with the advantage of having just about any instrument at my fingertips with MIDI, those explorations are only constrained by time.

POWER - Understanding the effect my art has on its audience, and its ability to inform the decisions and actions made by its audience. There is a responsibility held by musicians and songwriters that people rely on to guide them through times that are extremely difficult, fun, sad, emotional, and even religious. Someone may be contemplating whether to propose marriage to their partner, and you, as a musician, have the ability to send them in one direction or another, but essentially, at that moment in time, the person is looking up to you as an oracle or god of some sort, that knows exactly what they should do in that life-changing moment. That is why songs need to be created in a way that is aware of this, and also that it is happening everywhere, all the time, all at once. Music and art speak to people on the deepest of levels, but also the darkest of levels, and will often be used to find the answer.

PERSONAL DEVELOPMENT

Using the creation process of my artwork to shape myself as a listener.

Through the implementation of my creative process, and the most minor of incremental changes to that process, I can find growth/processes, that then inform me of ways to improve not only the process but myself as a creator. I think the strength of this action lies in the exploration of different styles, genres, and musical movements. By creating a solid foundation of learning to accept genres I would not normally consider in my comfort zone, will accelerate the personal/musical development process, and open my eyes to a different level of understanding of the process. I think the key item of note is the word experimentation, not just in music, but in art of all its forms, as it has led to the greatest of discoveries, but also the most destructive.

END JOURNAL WEEK 1 INDEPENDENT MUSIC PATHWAYS