Radio has had a profound impact on my life, both as a listener and as an employee of the industry, and I have very fond memories of what radio used to be. So it was quite disheartening to hear about John “Mr. Magic” Rivas’ untimely passing 2 weeks ago (due to technical difficulties, I had to hold off on posting this until now). For those who are unaware, Mr. Magic was one of the first to bring raw, independent hip hop to the commercial airwaves back in 1983 with his groundbreaking Rap Attack show on WBLS in New York City. With a young Marley Marl on the 1’s and 2’s, Magic exposed his audience to music that may not have been heard otherwise on a weekly basis, never kowtowing to the execs that would rather have him play the commercial hits of the time.

Mr. Magic inspired many. His name has been dropped in countless hip hop classics (Whodini even dedicated an entire song to him with “Magic’s Wand,” peep the video for a nice throwback treat), and is a bonafide pioneer of the hip hop radio game. Outside of radio, among many other accomplishments, Magic was instrumental in the formation and exposure of the Juice Crew, and also, unintentionally, launched the career of KRS-One by not playing his records (and subsequently spawned the Bridge Wars).

I can’t lie, I didn’t grow on up on Mr. Magic, he was a little before my time. I’ve listened to plenty of his shows, but only as archived mp3 files and streams. That being said, Mr. Magic might not have had as immediate an impact on me as he did on others. However, as an avid hip hop junkie, and former hip hop radio host, his influence is definitely felt and appreciated. And while urban radio has certainly changed since Magic’s reign (many would argue for the worse), I think it’s safe to say that we’d be even worse off today than we are if it weren’t for him.

Whether or not you think radio is dead, it’s unfortunate times like these that can make us all reflect back on the glory days of radio, and what it used to mean to us, if it still doesn’t mean the same thing to you now. RIP Mr. Magic, you were a true pioneer.

– Brad Holmes

Hello to all our dear Sonicbids friends!

Every year, October kicks-off our busy travel season during which we get the chance to hit up tons of great events and meet lots of good friends from all corners of the earth. We’re very happy to be officially kicking off our “events season” this year with an event as awesome as the CMJ Music & Film Marathon 2009 in New York City! See that picture to the left of yours truly? That’s from the Beauty Bar two CMJ’s ago. Getting pretty.

If you’re planning to attend CMJ 2009 as well, be sure to stop by the Sonicbids booth at the Tradeshow (we’re booth #7) and say “Hi”! I’ll be there along with Tess and Aliki and we’d love to chat with you in person. In addition to our sunny disposition and helpful tips and advice, we’ll also have some cool treats for people who visit, including a Marshall halfstack (MG100HFX head and MG412A cabinet), a year supply of D’Addario XL Strings (20 sets), a Planet Waves Instrument Cable Kit and the entire First Official Beatles Strap Collection by Planet Waves.

You should also check out the “Specific Business Concepts Applied For The Modern Day Music Artist” panel that our founder, Panos Panay, will be moderating on Tuesday, October 20^th at 12:30pm, in Room 905/907 at NYU’s Kimmel Center (located at 60 Washington Square S.). The panel will cover topics that will help the modern-day empowered musician like you manage the business aspects of your career.

If you’re also showcasing at CMJ, we’d love to catch your set; post your showcase info here (date/time/location)! We’ll see you at the CMJ Artist Lounge too, where we’ll be giving away even more gifts by D’Addario and our good friends at Jakprints.

Last but not least, don’t forget to follow Tess on Twitter (@SonicbidsTess), as she will be keeping you posted with the latest event news and fun stuff!

See you in New York!
Mike

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UPDATE FROM TESS:

Hello from NYC!  Thanks for all the responses and comments, everyone. We’ve been having a great time meeting you and checking out the showcases. We still have some t-shirts and Sonicbids undies to giveaway so come by to our booth (we’re #7).  We’ll post another full blog post when we get back, but I just wanted to make a quick update to say thanks!  — Tess

1. You have a moving truck on reserve for Sunday morning in case this date goes well.
2. You need to call it a night since your cat’s performance of Les Miserables is at 7am.
3. You spent last weekend at a marching band competition.

Since you and I are not on a first date right now (although the way you look at me makes me wonder your intentions), I feel OK telling you that I spent last weekend at a marching band comepetion.

And it. Was. AWESOME.

Last weekend, the Boston Crusaders hosted a small Drum Corps show in Lawrence, Mass. Drum Corps (for those unfamiliar with toe-roll and pops-to-the-box) is like major league marching band, but without the steroids, gold chains or fantasy leagues.*

My Very Pretty Girlfriend™, being from a music family, is not a music person. Being a field hockey player, she understands competition but not how a bunch of dudes wearing doofy hats walking around in unison on a football field can be competitive (or fun to watch).

So I brought her along to experience my little guilty pleasure.

Being that this-here blog is read by music people, I think it’s safe to assume that most of the people reading this blog were probably in their high school band. And if you were in your school’s marching band, you understand the time and effort that it takes to put together a 10-minute show throughout the fall.** Multiply the hours and heat by 10 and now you’re starting to understand what it’s like to march in a drum corps. It’s hardcore. (Hard corps? eh?)

The show started off with an exhibition performance by a senior corps – made up of members who are too old to compete with their corps and lead normal lives otherwise. They didn’t move and were (understandably) not as polished as a World Class corps. At the risk of hurting a few feelings (send complaints here), the exhibition was pretty boring. This was MVPG™’s first show at a drum corps competition and her comment to me during their performance has been redacted by the Sonicbids management. It wasn’t what you would consider a “positive” remark.

But then something incredible happened. And that something incredible was The Crossmen*** from San Antonio, TX. Their show started out with a loud, fast hit that gave me goosebumps immediately. Their ballad was slow and awesome. Their finale brought everyone to their feet. MVPG™ ate it up and from then on, compared every other corps to The Crossmen.

Corps after corps performed and she would go on about how x and y were great, but they weren’t better than The Crossmen. She would hold her breathe when the guard’s rifles went in the air and clap for a great soloist. We made plans to travel to the 2010 Allentown, PA show before the fourth corps had even stepped off. She was finally understanding why I had been so excited for this one night.

Unfortunately, The Crossmen didn’t win that night (MVPG™ says they were robbed). But in addition to seeing some great performances by Phantom Regiment, Madison Scounts, Boston Crusaders, Colts, Jersey Surf and Spirit, I feel like I can finally watch a random corp’s peformance on my laptop without feeling her silently judging me from the other end of the couch.

If MVPG™ can get pumped about a drum corps show, you can too. The 2009 season ended with the DCI World Championships on Saturday night, but next summer there will be more than 200 corps performing all around the country that would love for you to give them a chance at giving you goosebumps.

* Business idea. I called it first.
** And the effort it takes to not punch someone when they say how much they loved that “Drumline” movie.
*** I didn’t know there was a drum corps wiki either!

Recently we had Chris Barlow of Hot Pink DeLorean come by the office.  Some bands may not know we have an open door policy here for our members – if they’re in town, or just passing through.  Chris lives over the river in Cambridge.

He stopped by to personally pick up a sweet $1,000 dollar check: payment for Hot Pink DeLorean’s selection and performance at Ultra Fest,  North America’s largest Electronic festival, which took place in downtown Miami’s oceanfront Bicentennial Park.

They performed alongside major headliners including Prodigy, Black Eyed Peas and Moby. Not a bad gig. Then again, they seem to have it together because the print on their hoodies matched the print on their shoes – and a band that can coordinate that well offstage is even more coordinated onstage. Not to mention they tour the USA and Europe heavily. You may have also seen them at SXSW performing in Austin which they also applied to using Sonicbids.

Congratulations to Chris and Hot Pink DeLorean! We’re proud to have you onboard.

Hello friends,

It’s time to hit the road again, this time to sunny Austin for SXSW! I can’t express how excited I am to get into some nice weather and speak with a lot of fine folks while I’m there – not to mention seeing shows from the nearly 400 bands that booked their SXSW gig using Sonicbids.

In case you haven’t heard yet, we’re hosting an Official SXSW party at Maggie Mae’s on Friday, March 20 from 11:30 a.m. – 5:30 p.m. Of course, you are cordially invited to join us… but if you RSVP in advance, or present the printed invitations/laminates we’ll be distributing on site, you will have “priority access” to the party. (Yup, that means you’ll get to cut the line.) You can RSVP and also check out the 13 amazing bands that will be playing HERE.

Be sure to also stop by the Sonicbids booth at the trade show (you can’t miss us; we’ll be right across from the Stevie Ray Vaughan Exhibit). While you’re there, don’t forget to enter our giveaways… and let me tell you: we’re not messing around with these giveaways. You could win a Pro Tools 8 Studio Giveaway Package, a Taylor SolidBody Classic Electric Guitar, a Guitar Amp, Pocket Pod, Pod Studio (courtsey of Line 6), or a Sonicbids lifetime membership!

You can get your fill of industry tips and info by checking out the “Artist As Entrepreneur” panel that our very own Panos Panay will be moderating, Wednesday at 1:30.  And if that’s not enough for you, Sonicbids communications guru Adam Ritchie will be part of the “Crash Course #4: Online Resources panel” Wednesday at 3:00.

Last but not least, don’t forget to follow me on Twitter @SonicbidsTess since I’ll be traveling around the conference taking photos, doing interviews, video blogging—all that fun stuff.  I can’t wait to see you in Austin.

Until then,
Tess

In celebration of the annual T.J. Martell Foundation Family Day taking place at Roseland Ballroom in New York City on March 8, the T.J. Martell Foundation is auctioning off a once in a lifetime recording experience.  This is your chance to spend the day in the studio recording with the legendary Elliot Mazer who has produced such as albums as Neil Young’s Harvest and Janis Joplin’s Cheap Thrills. Elliot will record and mix one song for you at the famous Tainted Blue Recording Studio in New York City where everyone from the Rolling Stones to Snoop Dogg has recorded.

Here is the link, please check it out and if you can – BID ON IT!

Remember all the money raised goes to Leukemia, Cancer and AIDS research.

I have something cool and unique going on here that I wanted to announce.  A great promoter of ours who’s running the Florida Music Festival (currently open for submissions) are giving away randomly drawn prizes to artists who submitted through Sonicbids. The coolest part is that its filmed. Check out the video:

FMF09 GIBSON Giveaway! from FMF09 Promotions on Vimeo.

Congratulations to the FMF2009 GIBSON LES PAUL winner Swampnoise , from Mississippi. The band was selected randomly from the Early Submissions on Sonicbids. Don’t worry the next deadline’s contest winner is even bigger. One band will be selected on Jan 31st to receive: $1000 cash for travel/hotel costs, VIP passes for the entire group to all VIP and Industry Parties and Events, and a Mainstage Showcase Slot! You must submit by Jan 31st here.  Or for more information go to www.floridamusicfestival.com! Look for the new FMF09 Interactive website and blog in a couple weeks.

They have another drawing coming up, so stay tuned!