Archive for December, 2009

Artist Spotlight: Ryan Farish

Saturday, December 12th, 2009

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Ryan Farish

Grammy nominated, 2008 GMA Dove Award Winning songwriter/producer/composer Ryan Farish, first launched his music career on the first generation mp3.com, where his music quickly took to the masses obtaining a whopping 1,800,000+ downloads of his trademark, electronic-jazz-world music.

Los Angeles music Industry magazine, “Music Connection” refers to Ryan Farish as a “Download King”.

Ryan’s national debut album, Beautiful (Dist by Capitol/EMI), quickly climbed to 10 on the Billboard Top New Age chart, and also ranked 1 on Music Choice’s Soundscapes Digital Music channel. Ryan’s sophomore record, From the Sky, smashed the New Age charts again, hitting 3 on the Billboard chart only five weeks after its release, and was the second most downloaded Jazz album on iTunes for two consecutive weeks! Ryan’s song from that album, “Living Water” was even featured by iTunes, as the “Discovery Download of the Week”.

Ryan’s music has been featured on The Weather Channel’s Local on the 8’s; he also composed the theme music for their prime time TV show, Storm Stories; and most recently was featured along with Jazz Superstars Chick Corea, Dav Koz, Najee, and Jeff Lorber, to name a few on the 1 Top Billboard Chartting Jazz compliation, “The Weather Channel Presents:Smooth Jazz” (Midas/EMI). Other honorable mentions to Ryan’s music credit, have been having his music used as part of the Freedom Towers documentary in NYC, Access Hollywood, Universal Music Publishing, Red Cross, Lifetime Network, Sony, Columbia Tri Star Pictures, just to name a few.

Ryan’s unique sound, and inherent ability to communicate through music, has touched thousands of lives, and entered the homes of millions across the world.

Christianity Today.com says: “Ryan Farish is something of an instrumental music superstar.”


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Ryan’s latest release, “Spirit- A Ryan Farish Christmas” is available through iTunes and Amazon.com. It reached Amazon’s top 100 album list within the first week! Read the official Press Release.

For Immediate Release, Dec 9, 2009. Los Angeles, CA.

Ryan Farish, releases his first ever Holiday/Christmas album, “Spirit – A Ryan Farish Christmas”.

Farish, who is both recognized around the world for his signature voice on the piano as a recording artist, and for his unique touch to music production, has finally reached out with his first Christmas offering, “Spirit – A Ryan Farish Christmas”.

Ryan’s music has touched the lives of hundreds of thousands, and entered the homes of millions via his extensive work as a composer. Many learned of Ryan Farish’s music via the Youtube video “Remember Me”, which ranks as one of the most viewed videos of all time, at 28,000,000 plus. Additionally, Farish’s music is heard daily on hit shows like 20/20, “What Not to Wear”, the Sopranos, The Weather Channel, Speed Channel, Discovery Channel, MTV and VH1, just to name a few.

The Weather Channel recently credited Ryan Farish on their new music website, saying “Ryan Farish has been a Weather Channel music staple for over a decade. His music has been an integral part in giving The Weather Channel a musical identity. This artist can’t be roped into any one genre unless you just create a genre called “Great Music” and in that genre he is one of the best.”

Ryan’s music has been selected as “Discovery Download” of the week by Apple’s iTunes, and has been downloaded millions of times via multiple sites like mp3.com, iTunes, Amazon.com, Rhapsody, and ryanfarish.com. With all of Ryan Farish’s music reaching the masses, Farish just signed a deal to have his signature sound piped into the air, literally… putting his music into the on air flight entertainment systems to all the worlds major airlines, like Delta, Virgin, American, etc. 30 in total.

“Spirit – A Ryan Farish Christmas” now enters Farish’s discography, and Farish along with his label RYTONE Entertainment invite you to enjoy the sounds of the season, in a new and refreshing way, with “Spirit – A Ryan Farish Christmas”.

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We caught up with Ryan for a quick interview

What avenues of the music industry are you involved in, besides your mainstream albums?
I am also involved as a composer, producer, and publisher.

How did you get involved in composing work? Did companies find you or did you reach out to them? And how does your composing differ from the music you make personally?
My composing originally was just my Artist Albums, the exposure I recieved on the first gen mp3.com led to companies all around the world contacting us to license my songs. This then, eventually led to me getting contracts to compose custom music, in various genres from Theme songs to hit TV shows like “Storm Stories”, to Major motion Pictures for Companies like SONY, Columbia Tri Star, Universal, Capitol/EMI. etc.

What’s your favorite part of producing music? What gets you into the new piece of work as you make it?
My favorite part, is when I start to feel that the idea is developing into something that in a way is its own thing… its all about communication to me, and serving the listener… anything that I create that has those qualities, becomes a song, and once I feel a song is coming through, I can hardly keep up with recording the notes, as they come.

What is your favorite digital download store to sell your music on and why?
iTunes. They have a very simple, clean interface which is great for suggesting new music (Genius). They are the largest music retailer now, and so exposure on iTunes today, is like being on a wall display in Best Buy from years past. Truly, we are living in exciting times to be artists.

What are your career or music goals for 2010?
Tour, tour, tour!

Do you have a favorite piece of equipment that you use to make your music, such as a keyboard, program or outboard gear?
Yes. My Mac. After that, I love working with Apple Logic 9. Its an incredible program, that inspires songs and creativity.

Are you actively marketing yourself to increase your fan base? If so, what are the tools you use to do so? (social networking, advertising, website)
No, actually, and we probably should look into that ;-) .We are not involved in any marketing campaings, never have actually, although I do take time to maintain myspace and facebook pages, a little tweet here and there too.

What does your album Spirit mean to you?
Its very special to me, I had wanted to do a Christmas album, for many years, but I didn’t want to do it until I knew that I had something to bring, to these timeless classic songs, which mean so much to many of us. I wanted to wait until I completely had defined the “RF” sound, and could then offer that, to these classic songs which mean so much to many of us.

Stay connected with Ryan on Twitter, Facebook and Myspace
www.ryanfarish.com
Ryan Farish on iTunes

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Your Sharpie CD Sucks

Saturday, December 12th, 2009
Pack of Blank CD-R’s: $25… Sharpie: $1… An unprofessional disc that is unexciting and doesn’t make the listen excited to hear what’s on it… WORTHLESS
When you put out a demo CD the music you pour into it is a work of art so why shouldn’t the disc be a work of art too! Let’s face it, a sharpie CD just sucks. You potentially ruin the presentation of your product by scribbling the info on it.
Why even make a CD when you could just put an MP3 on your myspace page or on blogs? Well that is pretty passive… Any artist with a decent fan base is likely to tell you that getting something personal and physical into the hands of their fans is an absolute necessity. I go more into depth in <this> blog on the subject and I will be expanding more on the need to get out on the streets to sell yourself as a brand in upcoming blogs.
The saying “first impressions are everything” hold true even when it comes to a simple demo. I guarantee you If I put a sharpie CD and a basic black thermal text printed disc side by side, anyone would take the thermal disc over the sharpie disc. Same goes with black text versus full color. You get what you pay for when it comes to the wow factor, so you should make a small investment into marketing yourself and have a good quality presentation. In pretty much all of our day to day activities here at Eternite Media (whether it be marketing campaigns, equipment purchases, even sales) we are always looking at our ROI or Return On Investment. Basically, how successful is the results of the investment we put into something, be it time, money, labor, etc. A lot of times it is hard to measure that return when it comes to the actual impression we have made on people. The same is true about your demo CD’s. In a sense, if you get that person to sign up for your mailing list or you see them at your next show, you will know that you have made a good return on that investment. It is up to you to decide if stepping up your demos to professional duplication is a worthwhile investment for your personal goals. Be sure not to forget that your time is money, and often times the added value of quality duplication plus the time you save from creating copies yourself is a much better choice.
That being said, I am in no way attempting to say anyone is less of an artist if they don’t have their demos done with a duplication company. Your content should be your number one priority and is the one thing that truly matters. My goal is to get you thinking about whether stepping up your investment on your discs is a worthwhile expense.
I feel so strongly that I have to decided to offer anyone who has not done work with us in the past an amazing opportunity. Send me up to 10 of your sharpie CD’s and I will send you back the same amount back with our black thermal printed CD’s and your music on it, plus a sample of our full color thermal printed discs. If you have a sticker label or inkjet printed CD I will send you our Full Color thermal discs with your music on it plus a sample of our black text thermal printed discs.
A few
-Only new customers who have not ordered disc products from us in the past can participate
-You will need to cover the postage out to Los Angeles and we will take care of the return.
-We can transcribe your sharpie CD to black text (we will use a font of our choice)
-If we are sending you full color discs you will need to provide us with your own artwork
-Your content must follow our intellectual property rights policy and terms of services, which we can send you through email.
Please contact us at info@eternitemedia.com for full details and to get your free discs.
I am really excited to offer this, and I wish I could do it all the time, but this is only valid for a very limited time so tell your friends, and get in contact with us today before it is too late.
Ryan Powell
President
Eternite Media, LLC

Pack of Blank CD-R’s: $25… Sharpie: $1… An unprofessional disc that is unexciting and doesn’t make the listen excited to hear what’s on it… WORTHLESS

When you put out a demo CD the music you pour into it is a work of art so why shouldn’t the disc be a work of art too! Let’s face it, a sharpie CD just sucks. You potentially ruin the presentation of your product by scribbling the info on it.

Why even make a CD when you could just put an MP3 on your myspace page or on blogs? Well that is pretty passive… Any artist with a decent fan base is likely to tell you that getting something personal and physical into the hands of their fans is an absolute necessity. I go more into depth in this blog on the subject and I will be expanding more on the need to get out on the streets to sell yourself as a brand in upcoming blogs.

The saying “first impressions are everything” hold true even when it comes to a simple demo. I guarantee you If I put a sharpie CD and a basic black thermal text printed disc side by side, anyone would take the thermal disc over the sharpie disc. Same goes with black text versus full color. You get what you pay for when it comes to the wow factor, so you should make a small investment into marketing yourself and have a good quality presentation. In pretty much all of our day to day activities here at Eternite Media (whether it be marketing campaigns, equipment purchases, even sales) we are always looking at our ROI or Return On Investment. Basically, how successful is the results of the investment we put into something, be it time, money, labor, etc. A lot of times it is hard to measure that return when it comes to the actual impression we have made on people. The same is true about your demo CD’s. In a sense, if you get that person to sign up for your mailing list or you see them at your next show, you will know that you have made a good return on that investment. It is up to you to decide if stepping up your demos to professional duplication is a worthwhile investment for your personal goals. Be sure not to forget that your time is money, and often times the added value of quality duplication plus the time you save from creating copies yourself is a much better choice.

That being said, I am in no way attempting to say anyone is less of an artist if they don’t have their demos done with a duplication company. Your content should be your number one priority and is the one thing that truly matters. My goal is to get you thinking about whether stepping up your investment on your discs is a worthwhile expense.

I feel so strongly that I have to decided to offer anyone who has not done work with us in the past an amazing opportunity. Send me up to 10 of your sharpie CD’s and I will send you back the same amount back with our black thermal printed CD’s and your music on it, plus a sample of our full color thermal printed discs. If you have a sticker label or inkjet printed CD I will send you our Full Color thermal discs with your music on it plus a sample of our black text thermal printed discs.
A few details…
-Only new customers who have not ordered disc products from us in the past can participate

-You will need to cover the postage out to Los Angeles and we will take care of the return

-We can transcribe your sharpie CD to black text (we will use a font of our choice)

-If we are sending you full color discs you will need to provide us with your own artwork

-Your content must follow our intellectual property rights policy and terms of services, which we can send you through email
Please contact us at info@eternitemedia.com or 323-284-4733 for full details and to get your free discs. We would love to show you what we can do, and even work with your budget.

I am really excited to offer this and I wish I could do it all the time, but this is only valid for a very limited time- so tell your friends, and get in contact with us today before it is too late!

Ryan Powell
President
Eternite Media, LLC

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Police Seize DJ’s Laptops

Tuesday, December 8th, 2009

San Francisco Bay Guardian Reports:

San Francisco Police Department officers have added a controversial tactic to their aggressive raids on house parties (see “Fun under siege,” 4/22/09): they’re seizing laptop computers from DJs at the events.

While SFPD officials deny the laptop seizures is a new policy, they admit it has been condoned by Police Chief George Gascón, who took over in August and last month told the Guardian’s editorial board he wants to make the SFPD more transparent and accountable to the public (see “New coach, new approach,” 10/14/09).

“The police chief is aware that officers are being proactive in gathering evidence,” Sgt. Lyn Tomioka told the Guardian when asked about a string of laptop seizures by undercover cops over the last 10 months, most of them in cases in which the DJs weren’t even charged with a crime. (read the whole article here)

This is a new world now. In the past officers have confiscated audio equipment as evidence for underground events but now DJ’s need to be extra careful. In the future I have a feeling this could be common practice around the country as a scare tactic to DJ’s. It is important to back-up your laptop before events and I feel that if this does become common practice, and you are playing an underground event, that you need to have a laptop JUST for DJing. Keep anything and everything of personal value off the laptop and be sure that you have a complicated password on it to keep the man from snooping.

What concerns me is that there is always the possibility of a DJ not being aware that an event is fully permitted. DJ’s are hired and I would be hard pressed to believe that they are legally obligated to insure the event has it’s paperwork in line. If you play underground events often and use a laptop it may be a good idea to seek the advice of an attorney on what your legal rights are. If I was put in this situation I would probably demand that I be charged with a crime before allowing the officer to seize my personal property. It would be good to tell the officer that you were hired for the event and are not affiliated with the promoter or venue owner and therefore should not have my personal property taken. It probably won’t work, so be sure to ask the officer for his identification, get his badge number and name and immediately go to the police station to file a complaint. If he refuses call 911 and report that someone claiming to be an officer is refusing to produce identification and you need help. Do anything you can to make the taking of your property difficult but within your legal rights.

A laptop to a DJ is just like a drum set to a drummer. It is the tool of their self expression and as such should be respecting as a freedom of speech. There are some people who are concerned that the RIAA is behind the laptop seizures as part of a larger scale attack on performance rights. I see both sides of the fence on this issue, but I also know that most of our friends who are DJ’s play music given to them BY the artists to play as promotion.

Stay safe out there, have fun playing and keep your head down.

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