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a list of great songs that make me smile! please feel free to comment with other great songs

Throughout the history of modern music, there hasn’t been a musical artist/band who doesn’t think that their songs are all #1 hits just waiting to be discovered. Many of these artists have been correct and have stood by grinning as their tunes screeched up the charts. This inspires a new crop of musicians every year to feverishly pen their potential hits in hopes of making it big.

Musicians write. They rehearse. They play clubs and hope that one day they’ll encounter that special A&R guy (or gal) that will, see them, dig them, sign them, and make them stars. But surprisingly enough, many of these bands never complete what is probably the most important tool for any musician signed or unsigned…they never record a CD.

It cannot be stressed enough that the CD is at the heart of any musical project. It is the physical embodiment of the song, the combination of writing and performing. It’s any musician’s skeleton key for: club gigs, reviews, and radio play. CDs enable you to draw the attention of fans and industry at the same time. Whether containing one song or twenty, the possibilities of the unsigned artist’s CD are endless. Post them on the web. Get them to the press. Give them to your friends. Sell them at your shows. Send them to the record labels. Your CD lets the world know who you are and what you sound like and gives anyone who digs your music the opportunity to listen to it again and again.

So, how can you make sure that you’re CD does your music justice while appealing to fans and industry alike? While there is not one set way to record a CD, there are certain key elements that every professional CD should possess.

The following are a few tips that may help you to make sure that your CD will help your band instead of hindering it:

1.) It’s Not The Size, It’s What You Do With It—It doesn’t matter how long your CD is, only that it accurately portrays your sound and vibe. If you don’t have a lot of time or money to spend in the studio then record for quality instead of quantity. It’s better to have one really kick ass tune recorded then a full length CD that sounds like it was recorded on a boom box in your basement. But that doesn’t mean that your CD needs to be expensive or time consuming. The advanced technology of digital recordings has afforded musicians/bands the opportunity to record in smaller home studios and still come away with professional sounding recordings. It’s now all about finding an engineer with a fantastic ear and the mastery of his/her own gear regardless of how inexpensive it may be.

2.) Record And Mix For The Song—Remember a song is a collaboration. Even if you’re the sole musician and engineer of your CD, recording a song is still an ensemble project. Instruments, voices and effects must all work together as a team to produce the best possible finished project. If a guitar line is too busy, a kick drive is too loud, or a voice is perpetually off key, the overall quality of the finished product is compromised. There is a delicate balance of creativity and technology, of art and electronics that comes together to produce the wonder that is your CD. Treat that balance with respect. Put your ego aside and record with the songs as your absolute priority.

3.) Less Talk And More Action—Certainly there is a great deal of preparation that is required before recording. Mapping out the arrangements of your tunes can be an arduous process usually much more complicated than the live performance of the song. One guitar part becomes three, or five or ten, a basic drum part now includes percussion and electronic beats, two backing tracks can become twenty. Sometimes you feel as if your brain will certainly explode from the mapping out of all of the musical and vocal parts required to give your song a professionally recorded sound. But don’t get so lost in the charting and practicing of various parts and forget that time is of the essence here. It’s all well and good to tell those who inquire that you’re “in the studio” or “currently recording” but if a CD does not materialize in a reasonable amount of time both fans and industry will grow disinterested and move on to someone who has a finished product.

4.) If It Sounds Good, Make It Look Good—After the time and energy you’ve spent to make your CD sound amazing, don’t scribble on it with a blunt sharpie, throw it in a used envelope and expect a record label to be impressed with it. If your CD looks unprofessional, it will be dismissed as such and will probably spend its days unlistened to, lining the bottom of some A&R intern’s birdcage. Simple packaging is certainly acceptable but make sure your CD’s first impression a good one…your graphics are high quality, your text is neat, your paper stock is professional and all materials are unused. Even the most poorly recorded CD will get a listen, if it comes in a pretty package.

Now that you have a professional CD recorded, your possibilities are endless. Send it to anyone and everyone! Get your name out there! Make new fans! Grab some press! Get a record deal! Stand back and grin as your single goes screaming up the charts. Anything is possible if you have a good CD and can share your music with the world.

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Everyday, new bands come out wanting to make it big in an industry that is so highly competitive and full of talent. Live performances of music bands are one of the most popular displays of how good a band is. This is also a chance for their fans to see their favorite bands live and for all other reason, a promotion that can either make or break their career. Existing bands, new and aspiring has to promote their gigs to make it big in the music industry. A successful gig can give that desired break .

Every gig is an opportunity to showcase your band and an opportunity to breakthrough the music industry. Follow through is the key not the lack of information.

If you are playing in the same venue for an extended period, it is preferred that the cycle of your audience would be every 3 weeks at least to ensure that different people are watching you every time you perform. Promote only upcoming gigs and not recent ones to give fans the impression that they can only watch you on those days and that your current gigs are already sold out. This will give you a chance to spread out your audience. Promote every show like it’s the only show. If you do not promote, nobody will come, if nobody will come, no one will want you to play again.

Bands get noticed for their unique style of presenting themselves. Some may sport weird hairdos or wear self-expressing wardrobes to get noticed. The point of it all is expression. That is what gets the eye of people no matter how weird it may seem.

Conservative bands normally fail to make it big because they lack character. They don’t have anything different from the usual bands that have made big strides. But while that is a given fact, it would be wise to consider it to support your band music’s success. It is bound to become a step towards fame and fortune.

One is, if the band should come back together, would everything be the same? Can everyone co-exist in the same way that they were planning to get back on top?

There are things to consider and that is the fact of being sincere and aiming to make good music together. If and when all egos are defeated and everyone is open to starting anew then there is a chance to pick up where you left off. But one thing you can be sure off, the opportunity lost is already there and the chance to shine has already passed.

Normally, there are people who would become egotistic. They feel that they can perform even on their own. If that is the case, they do not need to be in the band. They can go solo.

This is something we often see in bands which break up when they are on the verge of fame and success. We have seen great bands disband due to selfish desires. It should not be surprising if you see this happening if the band members do not complement and get along.

So you are thinking of getting yourself a broadband connection or already have one and now want to find some cool free music videos and internet radio stations which are available at broadband quality for you to get the most out of your fat broadband pipe.

Well a great place to start looking for quality music videos is Lycos Free Music Videos which is at http://entertainment.lycos.com/music/videos.php where you can choose and watch a big selection of the latest music videos all for free as well as the not so easy to find, lesser known music videos. Lycos also have interesting band biographies and lots of picture galleries of your favorite artists for you to look at or download. They also have a music news section, a music download section and the latest music charts for you to catch up on.

Another great website for watching free music videos is Yahoo Free Music Videos which you can find at http://music.yahoo.com/musicvideos/default.asp where you can watch videos at 300k broadband download speed or 100k if you prefer. If you watch them at 300k download speed, you can watch the video in full screen mode which is a nice touch. The Yahoo music video catalog covers thousand of music videos and many music styles including pop, rock, top 100, dance, rap, R&B and country. They also have album reviews, singles reviews, album charts, singles charts, live reviews, downloads and latest music news for you to enjoy for free. Yahoo also give you access to hundreds of free internet radio channels through their Launchcast radio service covering all possible music tastes.

Talking of free internet radio stations, a really cool site where you can listen to thousands of different radio stations is Shoutcast Broadband Internet Radio which is at http://www.shoutcast.com.They have a huge choice of music styles for you to enjoy including: Alternative College, Industrial, Punk, Ska, Blues, Folk, Cajun, Contemporary Classical, Opera, Symphonic, New Country, Electronic Ambient, Drum And Bass, Trance, Techno, Downtempo. House, Breakbeat, Acid Jazz, Hip Hop, Rap, Latin Jazz, Swing Jazz, Big Band Jazz, Classic Jazz, Smooth Jazz, Classic Pop & Rock, Pop & Rock Oldies, 80’s, Metal, Pop, Rock, R & B, Soul and World Music

If you are looking for international radio stations which broadcast in different languages, then you can find them at Broadband-Television.com’s Broadband Internet Radio Webpage at http://broadband-television.com/music/index.html From this site you can find and listen to international radio stations from Mexico,France, Finland, Japan, Canada, United States and Switzerland. They also have a good selection of English speaking radio stations covering Rock, Classical, Golden Oldies, Top 40, Country Music or Contemporary music styles.

Music video for ‘Your Rocky Spine’, from Great Lake Swimmers album Ongiara. directed by Scott Cudmore. 2007.