Building the Band Brand Steal a song that has been a hit Part tres/trois

Bueller, Bueller, Farris Bueller? Hey, how are you chicks?20th Century marketing no longer works

Just like the missing Farris Bueller, I Love You Beth Cooper is gone from movies’ Top 10 after three weeks at the box office. While a movie like G-Force comes in with $32-million on its opening, I Love You Beth Cooper hasn’t even grossed half that in three weeks.

On sister site TweenMusic.blogspot.com I mentioned I Love You Beth Cooper star Hayden Panettiere was nowhere in sight promoting the film. No Twitters, no appearance other than like Letterman and Regis and Kelly. No Conan, I believe, no Jimmy Kimmel. Don’t believe she did the morning shows. No web casts – de rigueur today in entertainment marketing.

When will marketing people realize the game has changed and we’re in the 21st Century? You wouldn’t go into a bar and say, “Hey, how are you chicks?” Yet most marketing agencies are still deploying that same ‘70s mentality in their marketing “plans.”

Building the Band Brand: Steal a song part deux

A month ago I said a way to stardom is to steal someone else’s song. Kristinia DeBarge has a hit with Steam’s 1969 #1 hit, Na Na Hey Hey Kiss Him Goodbye.

I was in Hollisters tonight and heard what I thought was John Lennon's Oh Yoko.

It was someone named Griffin House. I haven’t figured out if it was The Guy That Says Goodbye To You Is Out Of His Mind or Better Than Love. Both sound like Bob Dylan ripping off Johnny Cash who ripped off Oh Yoko.

Building Band Brand Add this song to your set

It’s going to be the biggest hit of summer. Haven’t been near a guitar to learn since unveiling it to the world – 3 chord key of G progression – G, D, A. Be the first one on your block to offer it in your set. Song not yet available on Amazon, iTunes or usual outlets – you’ll be first!

Why you need voice lessons Building the Band Brand: Becoming famous in the 21st Century

If your goal is to become a famous musicians, pay attention. If you’re content to play a gig or two a month, you’re at the wrong blog. Building the Band Brand: Becoming famous in the 21st Century is for those who want to reach the stratosphere in their career.

While writing the upcoming book - Building the Band Brand: Becoming famous in the 21st Century – there is a chapter on why you need to continue to take voice lessons, guitar lessons, piano lessons – whatever your musical prowess.

Spoke to Rich Labbadia this past week. He manages his daughters, the Labbadia Sisters. He openly admits the girls are still taking vocal lessons, even after their careers are taking off; opening shows for Ryan Cabrera and other high points most acts just dream of.

The forthcoming book will feature voice training, marketing, strategic planning and more. Pre-order today through MediaRelationsExpert@yahoo.com.

The vocal training chapter of the book features Linda Ronstadt. This woman grew out of the same Sonoran desert as this Bedouin. We knew the same people. We both listened to Frank Kalil play the Smokey Robinson version of this song on KTKT – AM. We never met. My neighbor was her voice coach – chronicled in Building the Band Brand: Becoming famous in the 21st Century. She had hit after hit and was the most successful female vocalist EVER throughout the ‘70s. Ask yourself, do I want to be that famous? Read the book if the answer is yes. Also consulting – ask some Hannah Montana stars!

Building the Band Brand Steal a song that has been a hit

Gale Brooks passed June 28, 2009. She, like Pat Boone, was famous for covering popular songs by Black artists (known as Race records) and recording them for white audiences.

An example is I Hear You Knocking. The original done by Smiley Lewis reached #2 on Billboard’s Rhythm and Blues chart in 1955. Storm’s version landed at #2 on Billboard’s regular chart, meaning Dot Records realized a whole lot more $$$$ than Lewis’ unknown label.



One of Storm’s hits (she covered Frankie Lymon’s Why Do Fools Fall in Love? among many other race records) was a folk song done by John Jacob Niles. Storm covered it two years after I Hear You Knocking.



Bob Dylan was 16 and probably heard the song on his radio. His future girlfriend, Joan Baez did a cover of the Niles song about three to five years after Storm covered it, as best I could learn.



So, how does a young and hungry guy from Hibbing, Minn. build his band brand in the 20th Century? He takes Niles song, re-titles It Ain’t Me Babe and it becomes one of his first and biggest hits.



How to make more $$$? Get the leader of country music, Johnny Cash, to cover it in 1965.



To make even more $$$, realize a Los Angeles band, The Byrds, had a big hit with your Mr. Tamborine man – launching the band.

Why not launch another LA band with the song Johnny Cash currently has a hit with? Yes, Dylan was a marketing genius. He owned the mid-1960s.

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If you look closely at the Johnny Cash clip, it must be from Saturday Night (SNL - Howard Cosell owned the name Saturday Night Live). That is G. E. Smith, husband to the late Gilda Radner, on acoustic guitar. Also Duck Dunn on bass and can not place the harmonica player, but he also got to play harmonica with Peter Tosh the night Mick Jagger showed up on SNL to sing with Tosh.

Building the Band Brand Guess who top touring bands of 2008 were Clue – not Miley Cyrus, Taylor Swift or Jonas Brothers

From Doonesbury 6/28/2009 Click on image