AriKoinuma.com

If I had a band it’s another story, but I am a Self Sufficient Musician — a one-man band. I program the drums (which is time consuming, though not without its own merits) and play and sing everything else.

If I worked full-time for a month, how many songs should I be able to write and record?

That’s the challenge I’m setting up for myself for March. I’m taking my new recording studio for a test drive. I just switched from Sonar to Logic as well (I was running Sonar on Windows via BootCamp) so I am afraid I’m not going to be as fast as I was on Sonar — hopefully the switch will pay off in the long run, as Mac OS is more stable than Windows.

I know I just started this site but because of the above, I’m going to be more sporadic with updates for March. There’ll be loads of goodies to share after that, though, so stay tuned!

Sorry I’ve been neglecting this blog — my business vision is still constantly evolving, and it really hasn’t settled down.

But here’s a milestone. My studio is finally operational. I’m not finished with setting it up, but it’s taken long enough to get to this point, so I’m going to put a halt to setting up and start making music.

Me in my studio/office.

My weapons (they don't call'em axes for nothin'!)

Boy, the place looks still quite clattery and crammed in these pictures.  It’s a 10×15 room filled to the gills — so it’s definitely a one-man studio.  But it has a tall ceiling (14 feet?) so it doesn’t feel too claustrophobic, actually.

Above all, just the sight of my guitar all lined up at my arm’s reach, ready for action at any moment, is what makes me giddy with glee.

I am doing what I’m born to do.  I’m making music.

Here’s one of the fundamental concepts of promotion.

Communicate your success.

As musicians, we want to be honest, authentic and (perhaps) personal — but that doesn’t mean you should flag your dirty laundry in public.  There’s a fine line between honesty and tellig what’s not being asked.  Some people mistakenly try to attract people by inviting pity and sympathy.  It’s one thing if you just lost your family in an accident — but your CD selling only 5 copies is not a tragedy. It simply means you have a lot of work to do to build up your fan base.  So that’s not something you want to communicate in your promotions — don’t lie if people do ask, but otherwise, keep that information to yourself.

Now that being said, success is in the eye of the beholder.  You can find positive sides in just about any situation.  Here are some ways to change your point of view and display a positive, uplifting side to the public:

• Just lost a band member -> It’s an opportunity for somebody to join your bandwagon
• Only sold 5 copies of your CD -> Focus on the positive feedback from those 5 people
• Don’t have gigs coming up -> It’s time to write some new tunes, or record!

And so on.  I’m not saying you have to be dishonest, but glass has to be half full when you’re promoting yourself.  People are attracted to confidence, momentum, and positive attitude.  Even when you’re a death metal act, this is true.  Keep that in mind at all times when you’re out representing your music — which is all the time!

How do you start a song?

My answer: anywhere I can.

Songwriters are creatures of habits just like everybody else, and they tend to develop a single method of writing that they stick to. Then they fall into a rut or hit a writer’s block, and wonder why they’re stuck. 

In reality, songs don’t have to be born any certain way.  While it’s not wrong for a songwriter to have a primary/favorite method of writing songs, being aware of other entry points can greatly enhance your writing and reduce the chances of you getting stuck.  Below, let’s list up all the places where a song begins to hatch out of its egg: (continue reading…)

I’m sure we’ve all done it: playing to an empty house. And my story is probably a familiar one, if not mirroring your own.

Back when I was performing as a solo singer/songwriter, this is what happened all the time.  I was getting whatever gigs that I could get, thinking that a little exposure is better than no exposure.  And I was counting on the club or the coffeehouse to have a “house crowd” that I could play to, because while I always had friends, the kind of people I associated with were seldom bar patrons or live music enthusiasts.  But the venue was counting on the acts to bring in the crowd — thus, both parties looking to the other to produce the audience.

On another level, I knew that playing with an acoustic guitar by myself, I was never that good.  While I could write songs that sounded good with just an acoustic guitar, it sounded so incomplete and boring to my mind.  And my singing isn’t my strongest suit — I would never impress anybody with my vocal= prowess alone.  I knew that my strength was in songwriting and arranging and without a band to bring out the intricacies of my songs, my performance was flat.  (continue reading…)

In just about every other areas of music instruction, they encourage students to analyze, learn and steal from the greats.  Guitar students start out by playing along to their heros.  Singers sing along.  Classical music students analyze Bach, Mozart, Beethoven and likes and learn what stylistic elements identify their compositions as their works.

Rightfully, this is a tricky topic with songwriters, because we’re so afraid of plagiarism.  Even if you don’t end up in court, being accused of plagiarism, being a copycat, is a major insult.  And I’m not advocating that plagiarism is acceptable — it’s not.  But learning from the greats is still the most effective way to learn a craft.  What you do is instead of copying bits of music — though that’s where everyone must start — you analyze songs and learn the system that makes the great songs great.

And this also extends to the art of record producing — great arrangers, engineers and producers are constantly analyzing what they hear in recordings.  Instrumentation, mix, types of reverb used — all that information is available to those who know how to listen.

Once you start analyzing, you’ll discover that each piece of music/recording contains an amazing amount of information.  It’s packed full of techiniques that you can employ into your own songwriting and production. Below let me identify what you can glean from a recording, so that you can start developing the skill of listening critically. (continue reading…)

There is a right answer to that question — what you must say if you are to become a Self Sufficient Musician.

The answer: “I am.  I am my biggest fan.”

Well, and just saying it isn’t enough, obviously.  You must believe it.  I once read Steven Tyler of Aerosmith saying “You think you’re my biggest fan?  No, you’re wrong.  I am my biggest fan.”

Now, I am not saying that you have to be a narcissist.  There is a fine line between egomaniac and loving your own work.

And there are at least three reasons why this is required for your success in music business: (continue reading…)

I’ve been running a poll to see what the perceived obstacles people are facing in their music career pursuit. Is it luck? Is it the industry? Is it the competition?

Well, I’ll give away the answer here. The biggest obstacle between you and your success is YOU.

That’s right.  You’re the only one standing in your way.  Or to put it another way, if you figure out how to get out of your own way and unleash the real, unrestrained you, you will succeed.  You won’t be able to prevent your success.

Does that sound all abstract and new-agey?   Would you rather I discuss the proven-and-tested technique to win 1000 fans instantly? (continue reading…)

I know that among some musicians — particularly rock musicians — it’s glamorous to say that you don’t know much about music theory.  Knowing too much will spoil it, they say.  It ruins the mystery and stifles creativity.

In response to that, let me tell you a little story.  I once heard a man who is a famous speaker designer, well-established in the high-end audio circles.  He said that when he was little, he used to take apart everything: radios, TVs, typewriters.  And tried to put them back together.  Some of them he couldn’t put back, but this activity gave him great insights into how electronics worked.  I don’t know when and what kind of education/training he received, but it sounded like that came after this era of taking things apart.

How We Learn and Understand

Among guitar players, we encourage beginning to intermediate players to learn from their heros.  Copy them, actually — learn to play what they played, by ear, preferably.  We all have to start from imitating — like little kids do with speech — and this gives us insights about how things work, even if they don’t know the system behind it.  Little kids don’t know grammer or spelling, but during the course of acquiring language skills, sooner or later they realize that there are systems and there are rules.  Learning these guidelines help them figure out what to do, for example, when they encounter words that they hadn’t heard before. (continue reading…)

It’s a common attitude among musicians.

“I’m an artist.  I’m not into promotion.  I don’t care about commercial success.”

Well, my friend — don’t you want to make a living creating your art?

I’m sure the answer is yes, though it may be followed by some forms of “but”:

“but I can’t do it on my own.  I need a label and management.”

“but I really would rather not ‘make it’ if that means selling out.”

“but I don’t think it’s possible.”

And so on.  Well, to the #1 folks, I’d say, best of luck, because you’re gonna need it.  And be sure to have a plan B for your life, in case that all-important luck isn’t there for ya. (continue reading…)