“You can’t make it in the old system anymore.

This ain’t about theft, this ain’t about copyright infringement, this is about opportunity.
For a new golden era. Where the artist sits at the top of the pyramid.

Are you ready to climb up and take control?

Then make great music.
Respect your audience.
Give people the tools to spread the word, never rip them off.
Know that growth will be slow. But that the edifice you’re building is solid, that it will pay dividends like the old record company pension plan, but now the beneficiary will be YOU, not the fat cats.

Believe in yourself. But don’t be delusional.

Is your record… lightning in a bottle?

If not, keep your day job.

Forever. ”
- Bob Lefsetz, 2008

Our first year has been great so far despite the economic times we live in, we’ve been working with a total of 9 fantastic artists!

Here are some of our top blog posts of 2009 in order posted:

Tips from a successful DIY indie musician…

Music and the Mobile Phone

Automatically posting your blog feeds to Facebook etc.

How many ‘active’ fans do you have?

The new music business model – Connect With Fans!

Is Music for free really a good idea?

The 10 Commandments of Music 2.0

A brave new era of music self release…

How to get people to come to shows

DIY takes more time than many think

Thank you to all the artists we work with, you have made this a great year, helping us take the music business into the future!
In return, we hope expanding your career to new heights has made this a great year for you as well.

We’ve got some fantastic new things planned for our artists in 2010, and were looking forward to a great year!
Happy new year to all of you, all the best for the year ahead.

Director Jarome Matthew, and the Pro Soul Alliance Team

THANKS TO ALL THE ARTISTS WHO ENTERED OUR CONTEST – WE WILL NO LONGER BE CONSIDERING CONTEST SUBMISSIONS. BEST OF LUCK TO THE 2 LUCKY MUSICIANS. WE WILL BE POSTING OUR DECISION DECEMBER 1ST!

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Receive 6 months of professional management and promotion to take your career to the next level!
Services and support selected artists will receive include:

• professional phone consultation and education with CEO of Pro Soul Alliance on the artists development *and career
• a professional blog based website they can edit and update, complete with hosting by Rackspace, one of the best in the world, with artistsname.com
• Professional bio and press copy writing, blog development and updating
• Search engine optimization for effective search ranking
• Graphic design, photography and image assistance for promo materials
• Social networking configuration and integration, connecting with fans (ReverbNation, Facebook, MySpace, Blip.fm, Twitter, Youtube, Ourstage etc)
• Offline & online marketing assistance, radio airplay, follow up, and tracking
• Product development, design, CD production and digital distribution through major online retailers worldwide including ringtones and mobile phone
• Licensing and song placement; electronic licensing options online
• Scheduling of show dates for live performances
• Video Production; Youtube promo viral marketing videos

To narrow down the 2 winners, Pro Soul Alliance will be choosing the artist that is the most marketable, and has already shown commitment, and dedication to their career.

Contest ends October 30th. Details, entry information and music submission can be accessed here: http://www.prosoul.com/contest

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Founder of Pro Soul Alliance, Jarome Matthew,  just posted this on his own blog, a must read for any performer and artist.

An important part of my role as a music producer is to get the best possible performance from artists in the studio both technically and emotionally.

I find I often fall short in this area though because unless they are professionals who have done large live performances for many years, most vocalists are often unable to deliver to their full potential. This doesn’t necessarily mean they don’t give great performances, it just means they could have done even better.

This is usually because the vocalist is not in optimal physical shape. Your health and physical fitness level has a huge impact on your vocal performances in the studio, and of course live. Sure, how comfortable you are with letting go and giving your all emotionally in the studio is also very important.  But to get a great performance, you really need to have a lot of power to deliver strong, clean vocal phrases. Without this power and energy, your performances will sound weak and shaky, quivering, particularly on the ends of longer words or sustained melodies and this drastically reduces the quality and impact of the performance.

Studio tools and tricks can rarely correct these problems effectively, so that’s why it’s so important for singers to keep in top physical shape if they want to give the best performance they’re capable of live and in the studio. Eat healthy food that gives you lots of energy, and adopt a regular cardio exercise routine at least 4 times a week.

Another recommendation, in addition to warming up properly before a performance and singing regularly in a choir, is opera training, or a great vocal coach such as Brennan Barrett, to help you get as much power as you can without exerting yourself more than you have to, and to assisting with effective breathing techniques that will give you better phrasing and power in the right places.

A producer can only do so much, and in my case, I can work a lot of miracles to make you sound great no matter what, but ultimately, I can only use the best you give me! Make sure that really is your best, as you never know who will hear your finished performance, or how far it will spread.

It would seem that the Isle of Man, a small island of 80,000 people between Ireland and Britain, has come up with two new tactics to fight music piracy. 16 years ago, Ireland would punish misdemeanors by a so-called “birching” law, meaning, one would receive Birch wood lashes. Luckily, they have taken kindly to a new approach; defeat. The white flag has been raised regarding piracy in Isle of Man. Unfortunately,  they have instead proposed a new tax that is approximately 1.45$ a week that will be paid directly to the recording companies. This allows the citizens of Dublin, Ireland to download as they please. This also means that even those who do not even download and listen to music are paying for it. Does that make any sense? What business runs that way, forcing payment on people who may not even be interested in their goods?

Across the Irish Sea just 50 miles away, record companies in Ireland have reached a huge agreement with the country’s largest Internet provider to combat piracy. Consumers found guilty of piracy are now being punished in a new way; Total disconnection from the Internet. The music industry sure loves extremism doesn’t it!

These two islands are being watched very closely by the world’s eye. This experiment is likely to further confirm the results of combating piracy by force. We all know the music industry is desperate to find a solution, but our prediction is that both of these ideas will fail miserably as have all the efforts of major record corporations in fighting the inevitable. Interesting how many corporations are so resistant to change, they would rather face failure and destruction than do so.

We’ve been working for some time now on a new video that explains what’s been happening in the music industry and what Pro Soul Alliance is doing for artists.

This video attempts to look at what is happening in the music business, how we got to this point, and where things are going. It looks at how all this affects artists, and what artists need to do to become successful, while still keeping control of their career, and all their profits. It looks at how Pro Soul Alliance is one solution in assisting artists in this process. You can view it on our home page:
www.prosoul.com

Many large companies these days seem to be fine with releasing videos using south park style animation, and voice overs from the developer using a $5 headset mic… We tried to do something a little better than that, putting some time and effort into it. Hopefully we achieved that.
That being said, this is still an early beta version of the video, and we’re working to improve it over time, so we would love your feedback and criticisms. Let us know if it helps explain where things are going and what we do clearly.

Thanks to Gerd Leonard for some visuals, and Ken Joonyer for the voice over. Music composed by yours truly.

- Jarome