New Ditty Bops Album! Summer Rains

The Ditty Bops have a new album out! It's called Summer Rains, and this is their first video from it, for the song I Stole Your Wishes:


Feed and email readers may need to come to the blog to see the video

These girls constantly amaze me with their creativity and activism. Their activism appeals to me because it's less of the "beat you over the head and/or guilt trip" you kind and more of the "hey we think this is super cool and important" and then they look so cool while they are doing it that you can't help but want to do it too. Like when they did their cross country bike tour, or their farm tour.

You can download Summer Rains on
but as always, it's best to go straight to the source. For one thing, the artists get more of the money, for another The Ditty Bops website is super cute and worth checking out, not to mention this album art sounds amazing: "A nostalgic throwback to the times when record packaging was as exciting as the music itself, this interactive cd pack incorporates elaborate pop-up art made from 100% recycled paper."

While you're at it, check out their 2008 Ditty Bops Save the World Calender. Heck, check out all the calenders, they do a cute one every year.

Hotel Cafe Tour! (or Boy, Am I In Trouble)

As I discover more and more artists, one place that comes up a lot where they play is The Hotel Cafe. I finally checked it out online - it's a cool little cafe in LA that is also a listening room for singer-songwriters and acoustic artists. (Listening room as in, people come to listen to the music, not to hang out with music in the background.) People are comparing it to the late 60's and 70's when the whole singer-songwriter thing really blossomed in LA before. So far the Hotel Cafe scene has grown up very organically and it seems like a very real, unpretentious place with a whole lot of awesome music coming out of it.

One thing they've done for the past couple years is a "Hotel Cafe Tour", where a bunch of the people who play at the cafe go out on the road together.

Feed and email readers may need to come to the blog to see the video

Since the chances of me actually getting to see the tour are slim, and I needed a theme for my radio show, I thought I'd check out some of the ladies who've been on the tour in the past and present.

And that's where I got into trouble.

Usually I sort of discover artists one at a time and I have the chance to really listen and get to know them, but THERE ARE SO MANY GREAT ARTISTS FROM THE HOTEL CAFE TOUR!!! Can we say "Kid in a candy store"? I could quickly go broke buying up all their albums. (and that's just the girls, the guys are awesome too.) I already had some - Ingrid Michaelson, Jessie Baylin, Imogen Heap, Priscilla Ahn, The Weepies, Mandy Moore and KT Tunstall - but I had to restrict myself to just one song each from other artists to do the radio show.

Go here for the playlist, complete with links to all the artist's websites.

Sweet like candy. For your ears.

Excuse me while I go bounce around on my sugar high.

Crazy! Win Handwritten Lyrics from Lori McKenna

But first this important message:

This week's theme on the Lyrical Venus Radio Hour is Crazy! From slightly strange to completely insane, that off-center state of mind is familiar to many a female singer songwriter, even if only through observation!

Listen Tuesday 9AM CST. Tune in to 100.1 FM in Fairfield, or kruufm.com online from anywhere.

One of the songs this week will be I'm Not Crazy by Lori McKenna. Regular readers know I'm a big fan of hers. So of course when I heard about Lori's latest contest to win a sheet of framed handwritten lyrics I was happy to post her contest widget:


Feed and email readers may need to come to the blog to check out the widget

The widget is set to open to the contest tab, but click around on the other tabs to listen to song samples and watch videos. And if you love Lori too and want to put this widget on your blog, Facebook, MySpace or other webpage, just click the "Grab it" button on the top right to select your proper snippet of code for re-posting.

The other reason I wanted to post about this is I've been seeing a few musicians both offering widgets and giving away lyrics as prizes lately and I think both are pretty cool ideas. It also reminded me of this blog entry by Bob Baker. In it, he highlights one of Seth Godin’s 14 "things you can learn from the music business (as it falls apart)."

One of the most fascinating parts to me from Seth’s article was this:

“Many musicians have understood that all they need to make a (very good) living is to have 10,000 fans. 10,000 people who look forward to the next record, who are willing to trek out to the next concert. Add 7 fans a day and you’re done in 5 years. Set for life. A life making music for your fans, not finding fans for your music.”

10,000 is the number of people living in my city. That doesn’t seem like so much. Of course not everyone in one town is going to like the same type of music, but it puts things in an interesting perspective. And as Bob points out “Of course, it's not the number of people on your list that allows you to make a living. It's how you use it and deliver benefits and experiences that people are willing to pay for. But building the list is the crucial first step.”

I'd never heard of this 10,000 person threshold, but it makes a whole lot of sense, as does Bob's advice to use that list well. There’s a big difference to me on MySpace between the people who apparently randomly request to be friends, and the ones who take the time to leave a message or the new little quick note you can leave when making that friend request. It can sometimes take me a month to approve new friends because I want to properly take the time to listen to their music and leave them a comment. But if someone sends me a personal note about why they like my music, I’m much more likely to approve them right away. It’s those second types of people who are building their lists intelligently and have a greater chance of success. It’s also those people who are more likely to respond to my comments and messages and build a relationship that ensures the minute they come out with a new album I’m more than happy to part with my hard-earned cash as a small token of thanks for all they have given me. I’m also more likely to write about them in my blogs, post their banners on my site and re-post their touring information bulletins. And think of it this way too – isn’t it a lot harder to say no to a friend than to a stranger?

Relationships of any kind aren’t something you can manufacture, they take time and energy to build and maintain, but once you’ve established a good one, it’s often easy to slip back into a comfortable rapport even if you haven’t seen the person for a while. And there’s a big difference between building a true relationship and just beefing up your list. For example, again on MySpace, the difference between someone who writes a “Hey, we should be friends, listen to my music!” and someone who writes, “Wow, your song [title] really moved me.” or even “Hey, I’m a fellow songwriter coming through your area, can you recommend to me any places to play?” (People like to be asked for help, it makes them feel important. :D )

And of course I think all of this applies to other areas of life too, besides music!

So there’s your deep thought for the day, even I wasn't expecting it, heh heh. I’m curious, has anyone else heard of that 10,000 people threshold?