sampfeifle's Blog
Sam P, Male, 33, Gray, ME, US
“
http://www.myspace.com/thegrassholes
I'm the music columnist for the Portland Phoenix, secretary of the Portland Music Foundation, and guitarist/vocalist for the Grassholes. I'm pretty much a sucker for the singalong.
Member For: 6 months, 3 weeks
Posts: 43
Posts: 43
Member of: Portlandmusicfoundation Forum.
Top Post By sampfeifle (most thumbs up):
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Recent Posts by sampfeifle:
Poll: What do you read most?
December 1, 2008 by sampfeifle
I'm curious which outlets for music news/reviews you check out on a regular basis. Which mags or online sites do you like and why? What do you think makes for a good music read? Are you author-based or genre-based?
Re: Practicing tips?
December 1, 2008 by sampfeifle
One thing I was told early on, and which I still stick to, is to make practicing like brushing your teeth: You don't go to bed without doing it. Even if it's for 15 minutes, that every-day mentality seems to be crucial.
I know Carter Logan of the Jerks went more than a year practicing at least four hours a day on the banjo. I can't even imagine that.
Networking Mixer - Nov. 25, at Freaky Bean in SoPo
November 21, 2008 by sampfeifle
That's right, true believers, the Portland Music Foundation is back with a late-fall Mixer, whereby musicians and others affiliated with the local music industry can get together to talk shop, swap music, and make connections in a casual setting.
Here's the Facebook event page for it if you want to get details/join our PMF Facebook group.
For you non Facebookers, Freaky Bean is at 740 Broadway in South Portland, and we'll be there from 5 to 8 p.m. on Nov. 25. See you there.
Re: Last PMF Event: Word doc of Curdo Notes?
November 19, 2008 by sampfeifle
I've got an email in to Curdo. Hopefully this will get posted soon.
Where to find what songs radio stations actually play
November 17, 2008 by sampfeifle
Some people heard me mention this at the last event, but if you weren't there, check out www.radioandrecords.com where you can get all kinds of industry news and the top-played songs for just about every station out there. For example, you can go here and scroll to the bottom, and type in WCLZ in the search box, and see that Jason Spooner got 14 plays last week, 12 plays this most recent week. Pretty cool. Oh, and WCYY gave Sparks the Rescue 24 plays, Dead Season 14 plays.
Go check out other cities' stations and see if they have local bands in heavy rotation. Our local stations are pretty great.
Re: New Member Introduction - Who are you?
November 12, 2008 by sampfeifle
Wait a second: Adam plays bass? We've got to get him in a band!
Re: username Change??
November 11, 2008 by sampfeifle
To be clear, there's nothing on this forum that should cost you anything.
Re: New Member Introduction - Who are you?
November 6, 2008 by sampfeifle
Hey Josh, thanks for joining up and starting this topic. Great idea.
I remember a Sontiago point from one of our first ed sessions: Never assume people know who you are. So, for the sake of contributing to the discussion, I'm Sam, I'm the music writer for the Phoenix (and have been since 1999), I'm the guitarist and singer for the Grassholes, a bluegrass band that plays around the state fairly often, and I'm the secretary and a founding member of the Portland Music Foundation.
All I'm really here for is to dispel some of the mystery around the music industry. It's really not that hard, but people don't have a great resource for finding out how you get your song played or reviewed, etc., and we hope the PMF can be that great resource.
Re: Port City Music Hall, 504 Congress St.
October 30, 2008 by sampfeifle
good to see progress, stage looks a little small to me though...
-detuned
I saw that and I kind of thought the same thing. It's hard to tell from the pictures, though.
Online and Radio Promotion Seminar, Nov. 5
October 29, 2008 by sampfeifle
Portland Music Foundation educational seminars, round 3
Members-only event Nov. 5, thanks to a grant from the Maine Arts Commission, looks at radio and online promotion
PORTLAND, Maine—The Portland Music Foundation’s educational series continues with a members-only educational event Nov. 5. It will be held at 6:30 p.m., with doors open at 6 p.m., at One Longfellow Square, in Portland. The PMF educational series, “Music as a Profession,” is presented thanks to a grant from the Maine Arts Commission.
Educational sessions have drawn hundreds of attendees to events held this year. The organization now has more than 225 total members.
• The Nov. 5 event will feature two in-depth educational sessions on the following topics (membership sign-up will be available on site—$20 gets a membership that will be good through 2009):
Radio Promotion 101 will be hosted by Herb Ivy, program director and operations manager for WCYY and WBLM, and feature Pete Kilpatrick, a local musician with four full-length albums released; Ben Briggs and Toby McAllister, both members of Sparks the Rescue, Double Blind Records recording artists with just shy of a million plays on Myspace; Mark Curdo, host of WCYY’s “Spinout” and head of Labor Day Records; and Jan Wilkinson, music director for WMPG and host of WMPG’s live-music show “Local Motives.”
The panel will discuss ways to get music heard on the radio, how radio hosts think you should communicate with them, and what these musicians have found to be successful in utilizing radio to support their new albums and touring activities.
Internet Marketing 101 will be run by Pat May, PMF president and Northeast agent for Skyline Music booking agency, who works with dozens of bands, helping them to promote their shows and successfully attract fans. He will be joined by Samuel Cousins, a search engine optimization expert and someone who’s created a number of Wiki’s, Facebook and Myspace pages; and Kris Currier, webmaster for Citadel Broadcasting in Portland, in charge on online marketing for WCYY and WBLM, and who helped design local web site guidelines for the entire Citadel corporation.
The panel will discuss the ABCs of creating a web presence, with strategies for taking advantage of the exploding number of social networking sites and music blogs, as well as using Google and other search engines to increase visibility.
In-depth sessions will be followed by a Q&A session, and all panelists will be available after the event for further discussion.
Further open introductory open seminars and in-depth, members-only sessions will follow in Jan./Feb. of 2009.
For more information, email info@portlandmusicfoundation.org.
Re: Networking Page
October 25, 2008 by sampfeifle
I think that's a really good idea, JT/Dan. Sam Cousins, if you're looking at this, could we make this part of the Wiki you've already got set up? Could you set up something quick we could link to?
Press kits are crap
October 15, 2008 by sampfeifle
So, I had a question today from someone who's got a disc coming out, asking me what should be in an emailed press kit. I thought I would post my response here for everyone's benefit. I said a lot of this stuff in the PR 101 event we put on way back in January, but it's good to rehash it from time to time. Not every reviewer/music writer is like me, but a lot of them are:
Hey xxx,
Well, I'm a little bit abnormal, since I only review
local bands and it's pretty rare that I haven't at
least heard of a band before I review their disc. But,
that said, I don't think the press kit matters in the
slightest, to tell you the truth. I've hated getting
hard copies of anything for a good five years, and
these days I want everything to just be text and
links.
For example, I'd heard of this band whose email I'll
copy below, but didn't know them well. I ended up
giving them a glowing review about a month and a half
after this email started an exchange back and forth:
"Hey Sam,
This is Tom Tash from the Portland based band "The Bay
State". I am contacting you in regards to possible
inclusion in an upcoming local music section to focus
on our new EP "Let's Turn This City On", which is set
for release on October 1st. I'd be more than happy to
send a copy of the CD over to you but have not been
able to find an actual mailing address. I'd love to
get some more info on how to go about this.
oh and I also wanted to thank the "8 days a week" crew
for the very large photo and caption of us that was
placed on page's 12 and 13 of the July 25th-31st
Issue. It was a nice surprise.
Thanks.
-Tom Tash
www.myspace.com/thebaystate
207-xxx-xxxx"
I checked out their myspace, liked what I heard, and
asked for more information. He sent along a bio and
some information about the disc, then sent a hard-copy
(CD-R, actually) of the disc and I loved it. When it
came time for the official release, I gave it a great
review because they're a great band.
My advice would be to identify those reviewers -
blogs, mags, newspapers, whatever - and try to
cultivate a relationship with them. Then, send out a
similar email, always addressing everyone personally
by name (mass emails are always deleted), saying, hey,
I've got a band with a new disc coming out, it sounds
like such and such, and I think you'd dig it. Do you
want to take a listen? Here's a link to their myspace
and here's a link to a few photos, and here's a link
to their bio. Where should I send the hard copy of the
disc?
If they don't reply, send a follow-up or call directly
and ask them if they got the email (I think it's very
bad manners to not reply to a question in a
personalized email, but not all of my colleagues
agree). If they still don't reply, they're not going
to review the disc no matter what you do. If they do
reply, then you've got them hooked, and they're
probably at least take a real listen and probably give
you some coverage.
Hope that's helpful.
Sam
Best decision you ever made?
October 10, 2008 by sampfeifle
In honor of last nights discussion at One Longfellow Square, which provided some great insights about the way the music industry works, I'd be interested in everyone's "best decision."
For me, it was taking Carter Logan up on his offer to give me flat-picking lessons. I loved the Jerks and was a huge bluegrass fan, but never thought I'd actually play bluegrass for other people. Making time to learn from a great player (and practicing) took a lot of work, but it's always been worth it. There's not much that's more exciting than playing music for people and having them respond to what you're playing.
Also, I guess deciding that working at the Phoenix for $6.25 an hour was worth it wasn't a bad call in the end.
Re: BaROCK the VOTE October 10 at The Asylum
October 6, 2008 by sampfeifle
Thanks Dan. However, just to be clear (in case the IRS is watching), the PMF can actually engage in exactly zero lobbying efforts. It violates the rules of being a 501c3 non-profit organization. We can't espouse any official political opinions on behalf of the organization.
If someone wants to form a musician's rights PAC (political action committee, essentially a sanctioned lobbying organization), I would certainly donate to the cause...
Re: BaROCK the VOTE October 10 at The Asylum
October 2, 2008 by sampfeifle
Nice poster!
i'm certainly rooting Obama, but it strikes me as a little strange that musicians are donating their time to raise money for politicians that are millionaires themselves and who have already raised hundreds of millions of dollars.... I know it's the way things work today, and I'm not criticizing anybody involved with this, but I'd love to see the day a political candidate holds a fundraising rally for local musicians.
Re: History of Portland, Maine Punk Rock
September 30, 2008 by sampfeifle
Hey, I found this site recently. Seems like it might help.
Re: Dave's Garage Recording Studio is booking sessions
September 25, 2008 by sampfeifle
Man, anyone would sound good with Dave, Denny, Ed, Dick, and Robbie playing back-up.
Re: Show exchange?
September 23, 2008 by sampfeifle
The Grassholes are looking for bands who want to get in on a loud Americana night at One Longfellow on a Thursday night. A Dust Up at One Longfellow, if you will.
Re: Poll: What topic would you most like to see addressed in our next educational workshop series?
September 22, 2008 by sampfeifle
I think this is spot-on, Bob. With more and more radio stations using live streaming technology on the web, it's an opportunity for WCYY, WCLZ, etc., to leverage their local content in broadcasting to the world. When every "active rock" or "adult alternative" station plays the same 40 songs all the time, there's no way to differentiate, but if a station like WCYY or WCLZ has a direct pipeline to our local talent, they can use that to differentiate and gain worldwide listeners.
Hint, hint. Herb, cough, Herb.
Looking for CD duplication?
September 19, 2008 by sampfeifle
Hey everyone,
I hate to not go with a local guy, or to endorse one company over another in any way, but I've got to say this company I just used to print up discs is the cheapest, by far, of anyone I looked. They're called Mastertrack, they're in California, and they were really easy to work with. 10-day turnaround, too. Almost too good to be true, but it happened.
Check them out, and by all means post other good places for this, too, if you know of them.
New PMF officers for 2008/2009
September 18, 2008 by sampfeifle
Congratulations to Pat May, our new president of the Portland Music Foundation, and Lisa van Oosterum, our new treasurer. Sam Pfeifle, me, remains the secretary.
I'll put up a press release on our web site soon.
Re: Arts event looking for performers 10/18
September 18, 2008 by sampfeifle
You should try contacting 317 Main Street, a bluegrass academy of sorts in Yarmouth. Many bluegrass bands teach and learn there.
Re: MySpace vs Website??
September 12, 2008 by sampfeifle
This is a great point about the promo possibilities. Sure, you can pay for search engine optimization, but who just goes to Google/Yahoo and types in "emo band" or something? No one. But they definitely search Myspace, etc., by genre and/or location, and you can optimize yourself in those results, which is a great way to get yourself seen. That just doesn't exist with the normal web site.
Re: MySpace vs Website??
September 9, 2008 by sampfeifle
As someone with a band that just has a Myspace page, as well as a music writer who's probably been to every band web site and myspace page that a Portland band has created, this isn't a hard one for me:
Myspace is convenient. Personal band web sites are not.
I can't tell you how many bands have web sites that are way, way out of date, but have Myspace pages with relevant information. No matter how easy html, etc., might seem to someone comfortable with the web, there's just no denying that Myspace's ease of information input (and more important, automatic elimination of shows that have passed) and editing is far easier. And the music player on Myspace is easy to use, and even has the online store functionality (whether anyone gets paid or not, who knows).
Plus, Myspace is free.
Sure, bands doing regional tours and the like should probably have a dedicated web site, but if you want compete with what the general consumer expects, you've got to hire a designer, or have a really dedicated fan/friend, and once you run out of money/friends, you've got yourself a dated web site that you're not capable of updating very easily.
And this may be yet another idea for a thread, but does anybody actually go to dedicated band web sites? I never do unless I'm doing research.
Re: Port City Music Hall, 504 Congress St.
September 2, 2008 by sampfeifle
The question is really whether this is going to be a bar with music or a music venue. If it's a music venue first, book bands that people are willing to pony up decent money for and make money on the ticket sales, with concessions an add on. Booking bands of caliber is an art form and a skill, and not something you can just start doing without any experience, and is the most crucial role at a music venue. At a bar with music? Less important, obviously.
Re: Why don't more bands and artists take advantage of RSS feeds?
September 2, 2008 by sampfeifle
Is there an easy explanation of how to use RSS one of you could post? I like the Google home page, personally, and use RSS to add to it, but am not a huge RSS user. What would be some interesting ways for bands to use RSS?
Yay! We hit 50 members!
August 26, 2008 by sampfeifle
Okay, so maybe my jubilation is unwarranted, but congratulations to us for getting 50 members here on the forum. We need to hit 100 in a hurry. These things only work if there are a lot of people posting fairly often. Tell your friends. Get them signed up.
Re: band members looking for band members?
August 24, 2008 by sampfeifle
Maine's premier FUNKtion band Color Blind is looking for a new
female lead singer. Our current singer will be relocating this
fall. So, we're looking for someone who can start asap.
If you're interested in making extra money having fun with an
established band of seasoned musicians give us a call to schedule
an audition! Here's what we're looking for:
Mature adult
Experience singing on stage
Not shy about moving to the music
Easy going
Sense of humor
Flexible Can commit to rehearsals once a week in Portland & approx.
2 gigs a month If you fit the above please contact Scott to schedule an
audition, smcilwain@maine.rr.com OR 207-878-8446
In the meantime, check out our website for more info!
We look forward to hearing from you.
http://www.colorbband.com/
White Water for a cause
August 20, 2008 by sampfeifle
Paranoid Social Club is playing a benefit on Saturday September 6th at Northern Outdoors in The Forks. While it's a great cause, it's also fun. I think they are offering some deals on rafting/lodging over that weekend.
Here is a link if you any of you are interested.
http://www.northernoutdoors.com/site/about_us/in_the_news/hayley_desjardins_fundraiser.html
http://www.northernoutdoors.com/site/about_us/in_the_news/hayley_desjardins_fundraiser.html
