Album Studio Blog 2010 Week 28

[Greg]

Week 28 of "Hot Wire" Album (13/09/10) - Finishing off the last of the videos for our P/Vox CD/DVD of the ABC2 gig. Very prouda this one!
Pat and I did a photo session on Thurs for the 2011 calendar and the "Hot Wire" album cover ... We used the same photographer (Martin McCready) who did our last two albums "Open Soul" and "Xmasday" ... it was a fun day ... tiring tho! ... here's some stills from the camcorder footage Louise took ...

... We went to the beautiful Missoni Hotel in Edinburgh ... Pat's call ... and then down to Leith Docks. I think we got what we needed ... we'll see when Martin sends us the contact sheets ...
And on Saturday (09/11) it was my birthday ... 44 fekin years old! ... Life's highway a wee bit shorter ... thank you all for the cards and Facebook messages ....

... Also on Saturday nite, Pat and I played 3 songs (Labour Of Love, Looking For Linda and Mother Glasgow) at the Great Scot Awards at the Hilton Hotel in Glasgow ... I really enjoyed it ... Pat in fine voice ... we went down well. But the true stars of the nite where the winners of the awards ... felt very humbled.
Putting together all the assets for the DVD of the ABC2 gig this week and then back to "Hot Wire" next week ... I will finish it before Xmas ... cannae wait to get back to it :)

On Saturday nite, I spent a lot of time with my friend Chris Gorman ... he's had a successful career ... and now finds himself on the board of Sony/RCA records ... he's very passionate/optimist about the future of the record industry ... we'll see ... But I got into a heated debate with him about the album format. I've been studying "Objective C" coding language for a few months now ... reason being, I think that the future of the album format has to include an application for the album on iOS and Android operating systems. Wouldn't it be exciting to be able to buy the "App" for an album ... as creators, we could include so much more stuff ... "making of" vids, out-takes, commentary, explanations of music and lyrics ... etc, etc ... really endless possibilities :)

I really do think as an album "producer" u should have these skills ... when I produce an album, I'm kinda in charge of what direction it takes. I use all of the skills I've acquired over the years to get the best results. I try my best to get to the end of an album with as many of the initial ideas for the album intact ... if I knew the album was going to be offered as an app, and I knew how to create that app, it would have a huge effect on the decision making process during the creation of the album ... exciting times!

[Andy P.]

HMV DIGITAL has the complete Stevie Wonder on their site....why am I telling you this ? well i-tunes wont allow you buy the remixes and rare tracks unless you buy all his albums in this pack...HMV let you buy whatever tracks you want for 99p each.....now where is my credit card :o)

[Greg]

Thanks Martyn ... I enjoy doing the blogs, its my way of keeping a diary of how an album comes together ... 9/11 ... not the most popular date :-/ ... But i like it!

G

[martyn ledwidge]

Hi Greg, love the blogs and just realised that you share your birthday with our daughter Rosa.......she is now 4

[Andy P.]

Indeed Paul !

[Paul McNally]

'all noise'

[Greg]

Thanks Andy ... the internet is all noise ... we built the Music Club to give Hue And Cry fans a "walled garden" of peace and calm where we can all have an soulfull conversation ... I initially put our videos only on the Music Club but changed my mind after a year and now embed from our Youtube Channel ... It brings people to Music Club ... same with our bandcamp site and our LastFM site ... All is going well with the Music Club Andy ... A presence in main stream media demands too many compromises for me ... been there, done that ... tough!

[Andy P.]

Interesting first chapter will download the book. It harks back I think to the 3 chord trick really ? Keep it simple keep it light and engage as early as possiable. Interesting Goody 2 Shoes piece my Ant friends will be interested in that.

What I dont get is why you would put your music on say lastfm or the like when the audio can be stolen from the stream thus no need for the listener to purchase the music ?

I think an artists biggest problem is fan loyalty today....to quote Adam Ant "When you get a number one the only way is down and if you hit a sticky patch they start looking around" this Im afraid is rife today.

No longer are fans prepared to invest their precious time in a band who dont cut it on their 2nd album...used to be the record companies who did that to ya.You lads are kinda blessed that you still have maintained a loyal fanbase even through your hiatius. As for attracting new fans well that my friend is up to the likes of me and others on here to spread the word cos like Cliff you are afforded little or no airtime on commercial radio.Last Stop should have been a big hit but was not....that is your delima...superb songs fantastic singer great band but no media airplay.

FaceBook youtube and Music Club are your real window or am I being a little unfair ? I do think you have lots to offer musically but Im afraid you need to think out of the box and I do mean out of the box.

No pressure Greg but I am biggin up the new album to everone I know and thats before Pat sings a note on it lol

[Greg]

Andy, its so good have such passionate music people around us ... I mean it ... It hurts me to watch the best musicians give up 'cause they don't understand what's happening now ... they just want to write great songs ... but thats not enough anymore ... there's a great book called Future Hit DNA

... Its another must read ... I don't entirely agree with everything he says ... but it touches on some very important themes ...

[Andy P.]

For the most part the multi format from days gone by was a means to rip off the consumer eg free poster,free badge advent pic sleeve,win Nick heywards radio...all bollocks. The good was alternative mixes,double packs,picture discs etc.

Bands today paul have the biggest shop window at their disposel the Internet yet that alone cannot a will not sustain any artist unless the goods are worth buying.I believe Open soul Deluxe was spot on with the exception of the ommision of the bonus tracks info...we only get as far as connect and that was it....small gripe but one that is negated by the fact that we have close contact weekly with the band so if you need to know then there is your oppertunity to find out.

Whatever you choose for the new album greg I think you can maximise your profit (i hate that word when talking about music) by just putting out a standard cd which comes with a barcode...when we purchase this cd we go online giving the last 3 digits of that code which then entitles us to a further say 3 tracks...this ensures you that I have purchased a legit copy of your album and my reward for doing so is this exclusive content.I think xmasday box set would have beniffited from this also.I have the ABC audio on my ipod but not everybody knows how to do this so giving a link to the audio would please more people.

As for the apps I reallly still dont believe it will be your bread and butter but your passion for it is obvious.

In an ever changing world of music bands need to create hype around an album and lets face it Greg Hue And Cry are no different....vocals not laid down yet plenty of time to create something that you can market ahead of its release.....think on mate

[Paul McNally]

I think it's simple. Maximise the options and it's more likely to be heard/purchased. It's all good.