Rob Mazurek on Indie Music Spotlight this Sunday!

We've been talking it up on the show for the last couple of weeks, and now the moment of truth is upon us...lol

Musician Rob Mazurek will be on the show this Sunday night, the party kicks off at 9 p.m. eastern time over on blogtalkradio.

Rob is always a hoot when he's in chat, so to have him on the show is going to be a total riot.

Here's a short bio;

I'm Rob Mazurek from Winnipeg,Manitoba,Canada. I've been a huge music fan since I was a little kid. Growing up I listened to Aerosmith,Zepplin and the stones. Started playing guitar at age 6, (well at that point it was more like just driving my family crazy with the guitar..until I started learning some basic chords.lol) I was always a popular kid at school- being about 6 feet tall back then (I'm 6'6" now) I was basically harassed by my friends and teachers to join the basketball team. (never really had a huge interest in sports back then-was more into music and girls..as you look at my friend list you can tell that some things never change huh ?..LOL) Anyway, I started playing guitar more heavily,took lessons to read music and learn scale patterns . (Up to that point I played by ear really) Had a Great teacher by the name of Andrew Wasson (He was a GIT Grad) He still runs his school Creative Guitar Studio out of Winnipeg here (see his link here at : www.creativegtrstudio.com ) Took lessons with Andy for a few years and would come out and occassionally check out his band here at the local clubs when he had some gigs to play. if you live in Winnipeg and want to learn to play guitar..I strongly urge you to check out Andy's school ! (He's a really great instructor and a fun guy to chat/hang out with) Growing up, I was hugely influenced by a large assortment of guitar legends, my two favorites though are Slash and Zakk Wylde. They both have very unique styles and great guitar tone. Aside from Music also took an interest in acting, having appeared in some films shot here over the years. but Music is really my main interest. (although I still consider some acting roles now and then - if the right offers happen to come my way,and I really like the film thats being shot) On a personal level, I'm a very laid back type of guy, friendly with everyone I meet and quite Down to earth. I dont take myself too seriously and make music for myself really..if others happen to like my music then that's great too ! , I'm not impressed by appearances and have never been a very materialistic person. I judge people on their actions and personality really. At least this is my formula for choosing my personal close friends anyway. Anyway,I hope you enjoy these brief tunes here and wish to thank you for your e-mails,friend requests/adds ,and sweet comments. !! I've got the best friends here at myspace ! ...Thanks guys ! , My song "Out For Blood" is commercially available on i-tunes,Rhapody,Amazon,and a host of other fine online music stores for purchase/download.

I stole that off his myspace page, which you can find right here which by the way, if you like pretty ladies his friends list is full of 'em...lol

Here's a link to the show, again it starts at 9 pm eastern time and we hope to see ya there.

Click here to go to showpage

For Independent Musicians, How to Get Airplay on Internet Radio Shows...

Here is the scenario....

While conducting her show either on blogtv or blogtalkradio, Deb will get a request from a musician asking if they'll play their music on her show................

I'll get an email from a musician asking to come onto the show.............

What is the criteria for us to play your music on our shows?

Lately, given the music industry's current model of lawsuits and intimidation for copyright infringement, and the fact that they could easily shake us down like they do public music venues that is a really good question.

Honestly, in many cases we would really like to, we really would. Unfortunately there are things as online radio hosts we need to consider, the main one being that we need to cover our own ass.

Many unsigned, independent musicians who play in bars, coffeehouses, nightclubs, and open mic nights know that the venues they play in have to pay licensing fees to the Performance Rights agencies, the big ones being BMI, or Ascap. Others could tell stories about some of their favorite venues not being able to play music anymore because they didn't have a license from one of the PRO's (Performance Rights Organizations) (also known as the music mafia) and those same venues have had to pay a sizable fine. Those fines could run into the thousands of dollars.

That's nothing compared to what internet broadcasters are supposed to pay if we play music. Ever heard of Sound Exchange? How about the RIAA? Oh, you've heard of the RIAA, well, Sound Exchange is basically the RIAA.

Ok, now that I've mentioned the RIAA, does the word lawsuit come to mind? Who filed the lawsuits on the file sharers? Who sued many of the wrong people including 12 year old girls, a homeless guy, and a dead woman among others?

The RIAA.

SoundExchange is the RIAA.

The RIAA, via SoundExchange want internet broadcasters who play music that belongs to their members in excess of $20,000 (U.S. dollars) to play that music. Now, I don't know about you, but I don't have that kind of cash laying around to play music for a once a week show.

For that matter, while Deb primarily plays music on her shows, from what she's said, she doesn't have that kind of cash either.

Independent musicians, if you are with one of the members of the music mafia which include but not limited to the RIAA, BMI, The Harry Fox Agency or Ascap, your membership with one of these Performance Rights Societies will limit your airplay on internet radio because we can't afford the licensing fees, and don't want to run the risk of losing our homes, and everything we've worked for in our personal lives just because we played a song, never mind that you sent us the file and asked us to play it. I'm sorry, but even though you asked us to play it, if the music mafia were to come after us it wouldn't matter.

So since I mentioned all that, let me tell you independent guys and gals, who want your music played on independent music shows on the internet, the best possible ways to get airplay on internet radio.

1) If you are a member of one of the Performance Right Organizations, forget it, most of us who play music on the internet aren't willing, or able to pay for the licensing fees. I know that Deb would love to play your music on her show, and get you some exposure, and honestly I would too. We know, better than most people, how the industry totally screws over the independent artists. One of the ways that they got ya by the balls? Well, you are a member of one of the licensing agencies that have you by the balls, and broadcasters as well. We would love to give you exposure, we would love to give you airplay, but because we are 9 to 5 workday people, and while we are independent broadcasters, unfortunately we are not also independently wealthy. I can't be any more plain then that.

2) So, if you are a member of the Music Mob? Did you also license your music under Creative Commons? Well, guess what? Because you signed with them, even if you also license your music under Creative Commons, the agreement you signed with BMI, ASCAP, Harry Fox or whichever agency you signed with takes precedence over your Creative Commons license. In fact, according to the Creative Commons website, you can't use a Creative License at all.

I got this right off of the the Creative Commons Website so I know it's legit.

Oops, did that link take you somewhere else? Oh yeah I'm sorry, the link I posted is some of the crap those of us who broadcast on the internet have to deal with.

I wanted to give some of you folks who want your music on the internet, who thought this blog post was a bit long, something longer to read. Just a taste of the hell that responsible internet broadcasters have to deal with.

Since you have made it this far, I'll be nice and keep it simple.

As a result of the warranty disclaimer, before using a Creative Commons licensed work, you should satisfy yourself that the person has all the necessary rights to make the work available under a Creative Commons license. You should know that if you are wrong, you could be liable for copyright infringement based on your use of the work.

So, even if you license your music under Creative Commons, your original agreement under your licensing agency applies. In fact, if you have already signed your rights away with a member of the M.O.B. (Muthas of Broadcasting) you can't even license your music under Creative Commons.

Click the link and do your own homework, because responsible internet broadcasters are gonna do ours. Even if you license your music under Creative Commons, if you also are with one of the major licensing agencies, guess what? Your agreement with BMI, Ascap, ect will supersede your Creative Commons license, like I said before, Creative Commons doesn't even apply at all. You shouldn't even try to license your music under Creative Commons, it will only make legit internet broadcasters think that is O.K. to play your music. It might be O.K. with you, but it is not gonna be O.K. with the "music mafia", that I promise you.

So, simply put, if you feel that you have to be a member of one of the Performance Rights Organizations, or the Music Mafia, or the PRO's, you are going to have a problem getting played on internet radio shows that would like to play your music. If you skipped the above post hoping to see why, then you are gonna have to just scroll back up.

Sorry. You signed your name to the paperwork long before you knew of me.

3) If you really and truly want Deb to play your music on her show, then you are going to have to sign a waiver. The waiver basically states what she is going to do with your music (play it, nothing else) what her rights are (which is to play it on her show, again, nothing else)

If ya got this far, then I know what you are thinking, which is Holy Shit, what am I signing my name to? Well, I know that Deb understands that the Music Industry is so screwed up that you guys are afraid to sign your name to anything. All Deb is asking is your permission to play your music on her show. She's trying to cover her ass, and can you say you blame her?

They have found ways to screw you indie guys, well guess what, they've found way's to bend us over and get us too.

So, in short, well I can't make it short and sweet, you really have to do your homework, just like we need to need to do ours.

If you want your music played, you have to jump through 50 hoops. If you are listed with one of the major licensing agency's, then I hope you are in really good shape, because you are gonna have to jump through a million hoops to even get us to play your music. We want to, we just can't without some paper to cover us.

As an internet broadcaster, we have to cover our ass as well, because of the industries current business model, we really are left with no choice.

We'd love to play ya, really we want to.


Make it possible for us. Don't sign it away to an industry that wants it for themselves.

Don't sign your music away to the music mafia.

Take a look at the Creative Commons website, and read the whole agreement.

The majority of us won't play ya otherwise. I'm sorry, but the industry won't let us play your music otherwise.

Ike Turner

When you see the post title, what is the first thought you have?

Be honest, do you think monster? Wife beater? Saw the movie "Whats Love Got to Do With It"?

Ever wonder what the other side of the story was?

You do know there are two sides to every story right?

Back when we interviewed JC Martin from Black Angel in January, one of the many things we touched on was his working relationship with Audrey Turner, who coincidentally was married to Ike Turner.

JC knew a different Ike Turner.

Ok, I'll just say it now, yes, he did beat Tina. Ike even admitted as much in his book "Taking Back My Name".


Forget the movie for a second.


In the words of JC Martin "Ike wasn't nearly as bad as people thought, and Tina wasn't as good as Oprah thought she was."

First, in reality, Ike was always buying his grand kids clothes, always having them at his ranch, when his kids got in trouble with drugs Ike was the one that got them off the street, got them into rehab, and cleaned up.

My favorite story is when Ike took his grandson Randy out, and got him a whole cowboy outfit. He bought him the 10 gallon hat, the vest, the cowboy shirt, the belt with the big cowboy buckle, the jeans, chaps, boots, the whole nine yards.

The next day Randy came out dressed in this outfit, and Ike came out wearing an identical outfit to go ride horses with his grandson.

On the other side, when Tina came to town one time, Ronnie (Ike and Tina's only son) was living in a two bedroom apartment, in fact the kids had to share a bed. Tina picked up Ronnie in a limo (Tina didn't like Ronnies wife) spent a bunch of money on him, gave him a bunch of cash, bought him a Lincoln Continental, didn't see her grandkids because she didn't like their mother.

Three days later Ronnie went to a recording session with Black Angel, he had blown the money on drugs, wrecked the Continental, ect.

So compare the two stories.

Ok, granted Ike was a different person when he was on drugs. In fact according to JC, Audrey left him when he got back on drugs about 3 to 6 months before he died. When he was on drugs he was a totally different guy. I understand that you can't blame the drugs, at the same time as Deb pointed out when we were talking about Ike last night, we've all seen people change when they get on drugs, or alcohol, lets be honest people do change when they are wrecked on drugs.

Here's an interesting point....

Right when Deb's show Unsigned Musicians went on the air, she had been talking to Audrey Turner about helping to launch the "Unleashed" show. The day after Deb talked to Audrey, Ike passed away.

Deb did a tribute show to Ike Turner (and does every year on December 12, the date Ike passed away) and made sure that the musicians she plays on the tribute show were ok with it, afterall Ike Turner is a controversial guy.

The response was overwhelming, people who knew Ike, had no problem with it.

We talked about Ike Turner at length this week. The show is in the archive, and if you are interested in hearing more about the real Ike Turner, listen to the show we did with JC Martin. I have it featured on my showpage on blogtalkradio right now, but if you can't find it, the original air date was January 11, 2009. The best way to listen to the part about Ike would be to download the show, open it in your own media player, and scroll down to the 2 hour mark.

As I said, none of us are perfect, go try walking on water.

Otherwise, be sure to get both sides of the story.



On another note, we are still working on the petition to President Obama, I'll be sure to post here when we have it ready.

We have to stop the Performance Rights Act folks.

Some Awesome Callers Last Sunday!

Really had a great time on the show last Sunday.

Deb and I started discussing the Performance Rights Act that is currently in committee in the United States Congress. As we discussed it seems that some very rich musicians like Sheryl Crow, and Dionne Warwick need more money and think that terrestrial radio stations should have to pay the same outrageous royalties that internet radio now pays, which is close to $20,000 a year, per station. So think of all the radio stations in the country, nice welfare for the music industry.

(holy shit, Dionne Warwick, who even listens to her anymore? I guess the psychic friends thing isn't working out for her anymore...)

Over the course of the conversation, we did have a couple of awesome guests in the chatroom one of which was kind enough to call in.

First and foremost, I have to give Be Heard, who was kind enough to call into the show. He's starting a website for Indie Artists, and people who support them. It's a really nicely done website, independentartistworld.com go there and check it out. Like I said it's still just getting started, but you won't be disappointed. Be Heard is a really great guy. He feels the same way that Deb and I do about the industry, and like us, wants to help out the indie artists, hence his site.

Coincidentally, he's also starting a show over on blogtalkradio, it's on at the same time as Debs show on Saturday unfortunately, but I will be checking out the archive, I think it's going to be awesome, he's a really cool guy.

Also hanging out in the chatroom, was Iradiomagazine. Their website is http://www.internetradiomagazine.com/, alot of great info there to. I was honored that they were in the chatroom, it was really unfortunate that they weren't able to call in, but hopefully they will be able to next time they drop in.

One of the things we were talking about is starting an online petition, for the Obama administration in regards to the Performance Rights Act. We should have this up very soon, in fact it's on my to do list for this week. I'll post another blog update when I have it up.

I think it would be very interesting to see how the man who said he was going to change the way things are done in Washington reacts. Will he bend the way of his buddies in the music industry who contributed a Quarter of a Million dollars to his presidential campaign, or will he be the candidate for change that he promised to be?

Are the independent artists out there about to get even more screwed over by our politicians, and the industry?

Stay tuned.........

Troy Castellano on Indie Music Spotlight last Sunday!

This was a really good show. It simply amazes me how we keep getting awesome guests and Troy was no exception. Amazing guest, amazing musician, we really had fun on this one.

First let me toss out some web links....

Troy's website is www.troycastellano.com/. While you are there be sure to sign up for his newsletter.

Here's his Myspace here, and he also has a ton of music on his youtube page.

We talked about his songwriting process, some of the things he's been up to lately and played some of his songs. It literally took my breath away, this music is totally amazing.

I don't remember ever seeing the chat room so packed. Deb and I thought it was amazing the amount of support he is getting, especially from his family. We almost had a riot at one point while I was waiting for some songs Troy sent me to upload and process. Thankfully the files processed pretty quickly (which surprised me considering some of the issues we've been having on blogtalk lately) and we were able to get the songs played before the live portion of the show ended.

Especially listen to the story behind the song Angelene after we played it, names changed to protect the guilty of course, and one of many light hearted moments we had during the show.

We did continue the show after the live stream ended, in fact we ran close to 3 hours, so the best way to enjoy this one would be to go to the actual showpage (click here) and listen from here. Blogtalkradio does have a "pop out" player that does seem to work, well most of the time anyway.

Having said how long the show was, I also have to say that 3 hours wasn't long enough to talk about the stuff we wanted to talk about.

Guess that means we'll have to have him on again, I'm looking forward to it!