Day 459

Post #24 of ANNIE B.'s D.I.Y. MAGAZINE: The Importance of COMMUNITY
"I promise to post blogs here, sharing some daily activities & the work I do to achieve my career goals, and when I do win that Grammy, YOU can say you followed me all the way! I also hope to give inspiration, information, & advice to indie artists, and I hope you take a little something away with you when you read my posts, whether or not you are yourself an artist!"

If you ever have ANYTHING you'd like to respond to in my blog, PLEASE find me at Facebook.com/AnnieBMusic
THANKS!!!

Today I am so excited - getting a lot accomplished!! Got a drum kit secured for Artbeat In The Heat, secured the Jeanna Salzer Band for the show & the compilation CD, and got some leads on a sound guy. Also, will be checking out a band called I'm Not A Pilot tonight at Linneman's, then it's a going-away party for a friend & loyal Annie B. fan who is moving to China!! Looking forward to a fun-filled night, although I will certainly miss my friend Alon!

Just got off the phone with the Sunset Playhouse, they sound like a fantastic venue for my CD release party, with seating from 80-150 in their studio theater. And they also have a kitchen (but don't serve/sell their own food)... we'd be able to bring in appetizers. It should be lots of fun. Will be checking out more venues soon.

As I was talking with J. Christopher Hughes at the studio yesterday, the point came up about how an artist he used to work with (a hip-hop guy) was able to sell 1000 CDs from "the back of his car" in just a few months. We were talking about how many of the artists who make the most money are actually not very well-known, but underground artists, who are working on creating their own success, NOT relying on labels. Then he also brought up the jam bands, and how they are also very successful on their own, with no label support. This got me to thinking, what's different about the hip-hop world and the jam bands that they have sort of a built-in means to success? What they have is something that some other music communities don't have (except the punk scene, for sure): A real sense of community that seems to go hand-in-hand with that genre. These people hang out with each other and become friends with their fans. It's certainly got to be a huge factor in how successful they are. So it's now got me thinking... I've got this new idea on an artist/fan collective, where there are events that really involve the fans, and it becomes more of a community, and it's also artists who agree to promote each other. They try to play shows together, and they share their mailing lists with the whole group. I would have to put some thought into this, but I want to start up a little group of bands who are like-minded who want to be a part of something like this, and track the success of each band involved. It would be a little experiment, and if it works, how cool would that be?

Wanted to work on the poster today too... those need to go up this weekend but Kevan at Clark Graphics is not back in until Monday.

Tomorrow is Lisa's Lakefront Splash - looking very forward to that! I hope it's not too windy!!!!!!! The wind was not good to me when I played outside at Starbuck's two weeks ago!!!

I have to be up early to take my Mom to the clinic... she needs some antibiotics, and that's at 8am tomorrow morning!!!

Just got off the phone with the Sunset Playhouse, they sound like a fantastic venue for my CD release party, with seating from 80-150 in their studio theater. And they also have a kitchen (but don't serve/sell their own food)... we'd be able to bring in appetizers. It should be lots of fun. Will be checking out more venues soon.

Hope you have a spectacular Memorial Day Weekend!!!!!!!!!
:)
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